MWSS keeps Laiban dam tender secret, even to NEDA
THE Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) could be exposing itself and the government to undue financial risks under a negotiated deal with San Miguel Corporation to build the P52-billion...
View ArticleAhead of contract, San Miguel starts to court Laiban residents
SAN ANDRES, Tanay, Rizal – We were wondering why Sofia de la Rosa seemed a little agitated with our presence. After all, it’s not every day that visitors bother to come to this remote barangay nestled...
View ArticleMWSS officials address Laiban project
MWSS officials address the apparent haste in the tender of the Laiban dam project. MWSS officials talk about ‘take or pay’, and whether the company explored all possible options to secure the best...
View ArticleLaiban deal requires RP’s performance undertaking
MORE THAN just a “take-or-pay” stricture, the P52-billion joint venture deal between the state-run Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and food-beverage giant San Miguel Corporation will...
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Gloria & her SONAs: Long on show, short on substance
First of Two Parts HER HANDLERS portray her as a hardworking president, but after eight years in power, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is looking more like being long on show and short on substance. Indeed,...
View ArticleFaster growth under Arroyo: Reality or statistical illusion?
The first part of this report reveals how the Philippines had, in fact, recorded declines in education and employment figures. Also see this perspective piece by Dr. Benjamin E. Diokno, former Estrada...
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Gloria’s 9th SONA: Apologetic, boastful — or both?
TODAY President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will deliver her valedictory State of the Nation Address (SONA). The act is the highest level of public accountability for the president that is mandated in the...
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Opaque LGUs the norm in NCR
First of Two Parts POLITICS and government, business and finance, education and culture. In all these and more, the national capital region, Metro Manila, is supposed to lead the rest of the nation....
View ArticleAccessing information tough task in the metro
Last of Two Parts THE apparent inability of majority of Metro Manila local governments to respond quickly and fully to citizen requests for asset disclosure records of local officials, as well as...
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Tiempo Muerto for Negros, Tiempo Suerte for Filipinos?
PAGLANSANG KAY HESUS The nailing of Christ to the cross is re-enacted during the Kalbaryo or the Calvary of Christ in the central Negros city of La Carlota. The start of the Holy Week also signals the...
View ArticlePCIJ asks PNP, PDEA, DDB: Why inflate, deflate, reboot numbers?
IN A SERIES recently, PCIJ conducted separate, extended interviews with senior officials of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Dangerous Drugs...
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Health, nutrition, and our children
ON June 25, 1974, or exactly 43 years ago, the late strongman President Ferdinand E. Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 491 or The Nutrition Act of the Philippines. By this edict, the National...
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Only 54 overspenders of 44,600 bets in May 2016
ONE WOULD think that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) should be happy that the number of candidates who went over the prescribed campaign spending limits in last year’s elections plunged...
View ArticleIloilo City bets for mayor fail to report full bill for radio ads
IN THEIR bid to be Iloilo City’s chief executive from 2016 to 2019, then incumbent Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog (Liberal Party) and Dr. Marigold Gonzalez (Independent, but with support from the United...
View ArticlePasay City bets for mayor deflate, omit key election expense items
ONE OF them was determined to keep his post while the other two wanted to wrest from him the title of Mayor of Pasay City, one of the smallest cities in Metro Manila but which is nevertheless...
View ArticleBask in name recall, spend a mite: Or how Duterte’s kids win elections
CANDIDATES IN Philippine elections usually complain about what many of them say are outdated, low campaign-spending caps. But the Dutertes of Davao City apparently have no problem with spending limits...
View ArticleBets for president, VP, senator splurge P5.8B in May 2016 polls
ELECTIONS 2016’s 50 candidates for national office and the political parties that fielded them spent P5.8 billion across the 90-day campaign period, PCIJ has found in its review of documents submitted...
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Media most blessed
THE EXPENDITURE totals usually don’t quite add up and tallies from different entities don’t match. But there is no question that among those who strike it big during elections are media outfits, and...
View ArticleSome 50 TV, radio, print outfits did not submit all pol ads docs?
SOME CANDIDATES may have willfully mocked their lawful duty to file election-spending reports with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) but they are not the only ones who did so. Like these wayward...
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Spotlight on Agriculture
Philippine crop production volumes, from 1993 to 2015. AS OF the latest official census in 2015, there are now a total of 100.98 million Filipinos. One in every three lives, works, and draws...
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