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4 Ombudsmen, 4 failed crusades vs corruption
FOUR anti-graft czars and 22 years since its birth on Nov. 17, 1989, the Office of the Ombudsman of the Philippines has failed to strike fear in the hearts of crooks, or summon…
By Malou Mangahas·February 9, 2011
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Mercy high profile on media, Ombudsman stingy with data
ANIANO DESIERTO, the country’s second Ombudsman, used to be a broadcast newsman, but current chief graftbuster Merceditas N. Gutierrez has turned out to be more of a media creature…
By Karol Ilagan·February 8, 2011
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Barangay captains top crooks in jail; majority skirt slammer
WHO has been jailed for corruption in this country? In its search for answers, the Philippine Threshold Program launched a study on “Time Served for Corruption” covering 118 cases…
By Karol Ilagan·February 7, 2011
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Ombudsman a failure, despite flood of funds
ALLEGATIONS OF millions of pesos given and received as send-off money to a string of Armed Forces chiefs of staff have been traded on the floor of Congress. The charges have been…
By Malou Mangahas·February 6, 2011
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Are you still ‘special’ if you’re poor?
MARAGONDON, Cavite – In theory, Jaime ‘Jay’ Divina Jr. should have been able to go to school, despite the poverty of his family and his own physical shortcomings. After all…
By Karol Ilagan·January 5, 2011
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Maguindanao Massacre: One Year After
On November 23, 2009, 58 people were murdered by a local warlord from Maguindanao in the worst case of election violence in Philippine history. Police have charged members of…
By Ed Lingao·December 28, 2010
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Predators now protectors of Tubbataha marine park
RANGER STATION, TUBBATAHA REEFS – At around noon each day, eight strapping young men wait for Valerie to make her appearance. Her daily entrance, coming almost like clockwork, is…
By Ed Lingao·December 16, 2010
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The spirits, flora, fauna thrive in Mount Kitanglad
MOUNT KITANGLAD, BUKIDNON – A peso coin drenched in chicken blood is the welcome offered to visitors to this mountain, which soars 2,899 meters over the city of Malaybalay, and the…
By Jaemark Tordecilla·December 15, 2010
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RP scores so-so in survey of budget transparency
TRANSPARENCY in government is a cornerstone policy that President Benigno C. Aquino III has promised to uphold. It has been put in doubt because of his perceived reluctance to…
By Karol Ilagan·October 19, 2010
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Broken police, broken legal system broke hostage-taker?
IT ALL started late night of April 9, 2008 when Christian M. Kalaw was arrested by the police for alleged illegal parking and driving without license in Manila. Two years and four…
By Malou Mangahas·October 14, 2010
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From Day 1, P-Noy wanted to save Lim, Puno, Verzosa
ON THE day he received the 82-page report of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) about the Rizal Park Hostage-taking Incident – and without even a full reading…
By Malou Mangahas·October 12, 2010
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Bold blows vs corruption, cautious steps vs poverty
BENIGNO Simeon ‘Noynoy’ C. Aquino III became the Philippines’ 15th president on June 30, 2010 or exactly 70 days ago, triggering a contagion of hopefulness among Filipinos. He…
By Malou Mangahas·September 7, 2010
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Rx for health: Not just money or dole-outs but real reforms
IN HIS message that accompanies the proposed government budget for next year, President Benigno C. Aquino III notes that the allocation for health is 13.6 percent higher than…
By Che De Los Reyes·September 6, 2010
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RP far behind goals to lift plight of children, mothers
IT WILL be his first official trip overseas as the country’s chief executive, but President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III has little reason to look forward to his upcoming visit to…
By Che De Los Reyes·September 5, 2010
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All right to lie, cheat, bluff? Election laws gray, untested
IT WAS 1992; Fidel V. Ramos had just been voted as president, and Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada as vice president. Presidential bet Miriam Defensor Santiago was crying foul, saying she had…
By Che De Los Reyes·August 12, 2010
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Party-list groups, 4 top bets conspire to skirt caps on ads
THEY are avowed representatives of the poor and the marginalized, but in the May 10, 2010 elections, 12 party-list groups allied with two candidates for president, one for vice…
By Annie Ruth Sabangan·August 11, 2010
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Top bets for Prez, VP, party-lists in orgy of omissions, half-truths
BY ALL ACCOUNTS, the May 10, 2010 polls was the costliest ever in Philippine electoral history. The top candidates for president and vice president alone spent P4.3 billion on…
By Karol Ilagan·August 10, 2010
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Only 308 donors funded campaign for presidency
AS A veteran fund-raiser for presidential candidates tells it, there are fewer awkward moments in the campaign than a meeting between the candidate and a potential donor…
By Adminnewspack·July 20, 2010
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Illicit list? Arroyo’s 977 ‘midnight’ appointees
LAWYERS at the Palace have been burning the midnight oil scrutinizing nearly a thousand appointments made by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in various government agencies…
By Tita C Valderama·July 19, 2010
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Wheels of justice grind slow, results, audit of funds slower
NUMBERS – people, cases, funds – are a messy, maddening mix in the courts. The numbers defy all myth and romance about the majesty and dread that literature ascribes to the men and…
By Malou Mangahas·July 8, 2010
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Rush FOI law, observe disclosure rule even now
THE 15th Congress must adopt, refile and pass with dispatch the version of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act that was aborted in the 14th Congress because of the feigned absence…
By Philippine Center For Investigative Journalism Pcij·July 4, 2010
