neocolonialism
BBM’s US trip: It’s all about US
May 9, 2023
The current Marcos Jr administration will have US support despite its deeply corrupt, dynastic and rights-violating character. Or at least as long as the US keeps getting what it wants, and the Philippines doesn’t ask for anything that the US doesn’t want to give — like real freedom and development, or sovereignty and independence.
Large landholdings amid peasant landlessness
November 15, 2017
After a series of failed land reform programs, the large landholdings of the country’s big family names remain. These include plantations of coconut, sugar, banana, pineapple, palm oil, and mango orchards. Their monopoly control extends over the country’s natural resources through mining tenements, forest leases and management agreements, foreshore leases, special economic zones, and tourism […]
Dutertenomics: lost cause?
July 20, 2017
During the Duterte administration’s first year, there was all the hype about aiming for inclusiveness and championing the common Filipino family’s dream for a comfortable life. The President took important, some unprecedented steps including hinting nationalism, willingness to work with progressives in the cabinet and pursuit of peace negotiations. Yet the administration capitalized on bloody […]
