Activity Updates


September 2010 - Launch of the maiden issue of the Focus on the Global South Policy Review

September 19 - In Malaysia will be held the forum called "Regional Strategy Meeting on Emerging Social and Cultural Concerns in ASEAN: Climate Change, South East Asian Peoples’ Right to Information, Labor Migration and Domestic Work and Platforms for Civil Society Engagement with the ASEAN."  Focus Philippines will make a presentation on "Building a Case for an ASEAN Protocol on Freedom of Information"

September 23 - 26
- Asean People's Forum in Hanoi, Vietnam. Fore more information, please send inquiries to the following: <apfhanoi-pc@aseanpeoplesforum.net>, <apfhanoi-ws@aseanpeoplesforum.net>. Ms Dorothy Guerrero, who is in the Bangkok office of Focus, seats in the Program Committee.

September 27 - October 1 - Freedom of Information Advocacy Week

September 23 - FOI Forum
     
September 27 - R2KRN will visit the Senate to renew the FOI campaign
     
September 28 - R2KRN will meet with Representatives of the Lower House

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Newsletter
FOP Number 2 :Academics, Power and the Crisis of the University PDF Print E-mail
In this issue

We feature an article by Walden Bello based on a speech he gave at Linggo ng KAPP (College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Week), University of the Philippines at Diliman, Feb. 15, 2005.

The article first came out in BusinessWorld on February 21, 2005.

Walden Bello is Professor of Sociology and Public Administration at the University of the Philippines at Diliman, Quezon City and Executive Director of Focus on the Global South.
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FOP Number 1: Can the Philippines Handle Globalization? PDF Print E-mail
FOP # 1: Can the Philippines Handle Globalization?
By Walden Bello

In this Issue

For issue number one of FOP in 2005, we feature Walden Bello’s speech “Can the Philippines Handle Globalization” delivered at the ‘Karangalan 2005’ held recently at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. ‘Karangalan brought together recent Filipino winners of international awards in an effort to dispel the loss of confidence and collective despondence that afflict many Filipinos today. In his speech, Bello addresses what he calls the “ crisis of spirit” plaguing the Philippines. Bello zeroes in on Philippine elite-democracy as one of the causes of this crisis. “(O)ur failures have less to do with our culture or our so-called personality as a nation but with the failure of the institutions and policies established by our national elite post-EDSA I to deliver both genuine democracy and development.” Another major cause of the crisis according to Bello is the “neo-liberal and fundamentalist policies that have been followed by EDSA administrations from Aquino to Macapagal”, policies that have opened up the economy to the exigencies of global trade. Far from just discussing the systemic failures however, Bello re-articulates his proposals for a post-edsa development strategy, one that puts “the interests of the people ahead of that of our elite and that consistently puts national development in command instead of free trade and the free flow of corporate capital.”

Walden Bello is a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award for 2003. He is professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines and executive director of the Bangkok-based Focus on the Global South.



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Focus on the Philippines Number 45 PDF Print E-mail
FOP 45: Water Politics : Access to water and the role of IFIs,TNCs, and States
By Mary Ann Manahan

In this issue

PRIVATIZATION, like liberalization has become a favorite neo-liberal mantra. According to Dean Rene Ofreneo, privatization in the Philippines has been undertaken in stages. First stage was the privatization of government assets. Stage two is the privatization of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCS) and stage three is the privatization of services including vital public services like energy and water. This article explores the politics behind the process of water privatization. The author asserts that “the experiences from countries that have embraced this model (privatization) showed (that)it has limited or impeded the access to water of marginalized sectors of society, especially the poor.

Mary Ann Manahan is a research assistant for Focus on the Global South. She’s doing research and advocacy work on common property resources and international financial institutions. She is also the coordinator of the Land Research Action Network (LRAN) in the Philippines.

This paper was presented at the conference, “What Feasible Common Future?” organized by the Political and Ethical Knowledge on Economic Activities (PEKEA) Research Programme on November 1-3, 2004 at DPU in Bangkok, Thailand.
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Focus on the Philippines Number 44 PDF Print E-mail
FOP 44: The Trade Conundrum
WTO, bilateral and regional trade agreements, what’s the real deal and where are we headed?


By Joseph Purugganan
Focus o­n the Global South

In this issue

Over a year since Cancun, we see an even more aggressive push at various levels for the agenda of economic liberalization. At the multilateral level, the WTO has bounced back and going full-speed ahead fuelled by a new framework agreement even as governments rush to begin and/or conclude bilateral and regional free trade agreements.

This article is a revised version of the briefing paper distributed to the SNR! members during the trade consultation and meeting conducted last week. A consensus was reached at that meeting to work together o­nce again o­n a coordinated national campaign o­n WTO and Trade Liberalization. A week earlier, groups in Mindanao also vowed to restart the second phase of the SNR! campaign in Mindanao.

Joseph Purugganan is research associate of Focus o­n the Global South and was campaign coordinator of the Stop the New Round! Coalition (SNR!) in 2003.
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Focus on the Philippines Number 43 PDF Print E-mail
FOP 43 : Hunger and Poverty in Mindanao: Two Perspectives (Part 2)


[1] CORPORATE FARMING WON’T EASE HUNGER IN MINDANAO
by Billy de la Rosa

[2] BREAKING MINDANAO’S GRIDLOCK IN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
by Ibarra Malonzo

In this Issue

We feature part 2 of the debate on agricultural development and anti-poverty policies in Mindanao. Billy dela Rosa of AFRIM asserts that corporate farming in Mindanao, particularly the one he describes as (being) “spearheaded by government and the landlord–transnational combine in Mindanao,” has not eradicated poverty and hunger in Mindanao. Ibarra Malonzo of KFI counters that it is a lack of investments in agriculture in Mindanao, has resulted in what he calls a “rural development gridlock”. He asserts that “agrarian reform has made difficult, if not impossible, access to large tracts of land in Mindanao for oil palm development by agribusiness corporations.” He argues that “no agribusiness investors in their right mind will invest hundreds of millions of pesos for plantation development without a secure and valid land tenure instrument.” Malonzo proposes a “way out of the gridlock by drawing the different stakeholders – the landowners of eight million hectares of Mindanao’s land and the agribusiness investors with capital and knowledge-- into a convergence strategy.”

The Dela Rosa-Malonzo debate reflects the sort of tensions and issues that complicate the question of agriculture, food and even trade policies in the Philippines particularly in the resource-rich but conflict laden region like Mindanao.

Billy dela Rosa’s article came out in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on 17 October 2004. Ibarra Malonzo’s piece is a rejoinder that has been submitted to PDI for publication.
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