We need the defenders of our democracy to help restore the sovereignty of our elections.
May 2022 presidential race
Is there prospect for the hybrid election system (HES)?
Bobby M. Tuazon
CenPEG / 17 Nov. 2022
Twelve years after CenPEG called for electoral reforms including replacing the Smartmatic-outsourced Automated Election System (AES) with a Filipino-designed hybrid system, the poll body Commission on Elections (Comelec) finally convened a forum on Nov. 16 to tackle the urgency of instituting electoral changes.
Comelec chairman Garcia (extreme left); 3rd to 5th Natalie Pulvinar, Hector Barrios, and Commissioner Celis
Rightsizing and reengineering bureaucracy
Nelson Celis / The Manila Times column / August 10, 2022
Posted by CenPEG, 16 August 2022
The rightsizing and reengineering of the bureaucracy in the DICT would be a good model for other government agencies with similar cases by obliterating services and processes due to usage of obsolete technology or irrelevant procedures through the merger of redundant business processes.
(NOTE: CenPEG Fellow and long-time AES Watch spokesperson, Nelson J. Celis, has been recently appointed as the new commissioner of the Commission on Elections.)
The May 2022 Elections and the Marcos Restoration: Looking Back and Beyond
Posted by CenPEG.org
22 June 2022
The new administration of Marcos, Jr. and Sara Duterte faces a daunting set of governance challenges rooted in festering structural and institutional constraints amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and rapid changes in the regional and global environment.
Voters wait for their turn to vote (Courtesy: AlJazeera)
Poll automation a sinking ship; time to use a hybrid system
Posted by CenPEG / 21 May 2022
Comelec’s AES – outsourced from foreign company Smartmatic since 2010 – is now a sinking ship that should be replaced immediately by a more reliable election system.
FIT4E convened by CenPEG in 2011 proposed alternative voting system.
MOMENT OF TRUTH
Voters go to the polls on May 9
MONTHLY POLITICAL ANALYSIS No. 14
Center for People Empowerment in Governance
April 2022 / Public Edition
If the rebranding stories are true, many of the votes that could go to Marcos, Jr. on May 9 can be said to be the result of social media manipulation.
Cambridge Analytica
Disqualification cases roil Marcos camp; biggest Left political bloc backs Robredo-Pangilinan team
Posted by CenPEG
14 February 2022
Whatever their final outcomes in the Comelec, these legal cases will almost certainly be appealed to the Supreme Court and its consequences for the entire presidential race are immense.
A Race for Power of Political Dynasties
Bobby M. Tuazon
Posted 26 Jan. 2022
The May 2022 elections will further entrench the country’s ruling political dynasties while the Filipino people will continue to be marginalized from exercising their democratic rights to governance. Once again, we will see familiar faces and the same political dynasties not only in Malacañang but also in Congress and the provinces.
Photo by The Atlantic
Clash of political dynasties
Accents May 2022 elections
November 2021 Monthly Political Analysis
Posted 17 Dec. 2021, CenPEG
The May 2022 presidential race is turning out to be a repeat of previous elections – a feud among the country’s dominant political dynasties. The jockeying for power has resulted in the split of the ruling political party, political realignments, and moves by one clique that are apparently meant to mislead rivals. In the end, these dynastic conflicts leave many voters puzzled and others, outraged.
Photo: Tribune.net
What are geopolitical implications of U.S. defense chief's visit to the Philippines?
Bobby M. Tuazon
Reposted by CenPEG / 03 February 2023
Austin (left) is welcomed by Marcos, Jr. at Malacanang. Photo by SunStar
The Marcos government's deepening defense ties with the U.S. with all its strategic goals against China would risk damaging relations with Beijing, not to mention mutual agreements on economic cooperation and assistance.
Configuring Philippines-China ties under Marcos, Jr.; Philippine Development Plan and controversial funds
December 2022 Monthly Political Analysis
Posted 13 January 2023
Universal Periodic Review at the UN headquarters in Geneva Philstar.com
For decades, the Philippine government’s human rights record has come under close scrutiny by the UN and other rights watchdogs over its failure to end extrajudicial killings victimizing social activists as well as drug suspects.
MARCOS, JR. FACES GRINDING WOES; ARE REFORMS POSSIBLE?
Posted by CenPEG / 08 November 2022
Because of the institutional and structural fault lines comprehensive economic and political reforms remain unattainable. Unless these systemic problems are effectively addressed, it is unlikely that the six-year presidential term of Marcos, Jr. could usher in and sustain meaningful reforms.
Multidimensional Poverty Index
Marcos, Jr. pivots to the US; faces tough economic challenges
Monthly Political Analysis / September 2022
Posted 28 Oct. 2022
In just two months, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. took a reverse gear in foreign policy from pledging to promote an “independent foreign policy” in July to a pivot shift to the United States.
Marcos, Jr. meets Biden (NBC News)
Analysis
Marcos, Jr. in cryptic ties with China
as he commits to U.S. defense alliance
Posted by CenPEG
14 September 2022
Marcos, Jr. (left) and US State Secretary Antony Blinken (right). Photo courtesy Philippine Star
A tentative analysis of the major challenges confronting the Marcos, Jr. government shows that such challenges are not only deep-going but also institutional with their roots traceable not only to the first 70 years of the post-independence present republic but to the enduring semi-feudal and semi-colonial foundations of the country’s political system that have persisted for centuries.
Philippines - a geostrategic battleground?
Roland G. Simbulan
Philippine Daily Inquirer / August 24, 2022
Posted by CenPEG 27 August 2022
We are a hairbreadth away from a miscalculation of grave consequences that threaten human existence.
RIMPAC 2022
The other side of Shinzo Abe: historical revisionism, denial of war crimes
Roland Simbulan
Philippine Daily Inquirer / July 26, 2022
Posted by CenPEG / 21 August 2022
Abe seconds before his assassination. (Photo: NPR)
Abe is credited for his Indo-Pacific strategy with the United States, Australia, and India, which committed Japan to a more aggressive role in the united front against China. The irony of it all is that, even though he tried to remilitarize Japanese foreign policy, his career as a modern leader of Japan was ended by an ex-member of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force.
Indonesian leader's China visit: Elevating bilateral relations
Bobby M. Tuazon
CGTN 28 July 2022
Posted by CenPEG, 29 July 2022
Like Quad, the AUKUS trajectory is aimed at China – which American President Joe Biden has tagged as a "global security threat" – and is a threat as well to Indonesia and other major countries in the region whose bilateral and multilateral relations with China are anchored on economic growth and peaceful cooperation.
The U.S. Corporations Profiting from the Israeli Occupation
It’s not just defense contractors—many U.S.-based companies are profiting from business with Israel, directly or indirectly enabling the Israeli state’s crimes against Palestinians.
BY NICK FRENCH | MARCH/APRIL 2024
Posted by CenPEG.org
November Monthly Analysis
Published 06 November 2024
Dynastic feud heats up as Philippine fracas with China deepens
November 2024 accentuated the growing feud between the Philippines’ reigning political dynasties – the Marcoses and Dutertes – over issues of death threats, the imminent arrest of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte by the police arm of the International Criminal Court (ICC), impeachment charges against Vice President Sara Duterte, among others.
The Constitution allows the heads of the branches of government and constitutional commissions to realign their respective budgetary savings to other items in their budget. (See Art.VI, Sec.5, 1987 Constitution.) This is a bad budgeting rule that opens the door to misappropriation of public funds.
MARCOS CABINET REVAMP & CORRUPTION IN GAMBLING; STRENGTHENING OF US-LED ALLIANCE SYSTEM VS CHINA
Naively, the Marcos government narrows down foreign policy into an alliance security system forever in the grip of the US. It suffers from a cognitive dissonance that is unable to comprehend seismic shifts in the world system.
JAPANESE warship visits Philippine harbor (Rappler photo)
DANGEROUS TIMES: Marcos rejects diplomacy and cuddles militarism
Bobby M. Tuazon
CenPEG / 28 July 2024
Under Marcos, peace remains elusive after dropping diplomacy. War has been his
penultimate choice.
PHILIPPINE-CHINA BELLIGERENCY HEIGHTENS
After just 2 years, Marcos regime faces stability and economic challenges
CenPEG / 06 June 2023
In the international forum, Marcos thus once more placed himself squarely on the apron of the US which projects itself as a force stabilizer by military means.
M142 HIMARS, High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, Raytheon DeepStrike Missile
MARCOS’ POLICY OF MILITARISM OVER DIPLOMACY
Bobby M. Tuazon
People’s Daily
Since his ascendancy to power in May 2022, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has played a key role in transforming Southeast Asia generally from a region of peace and stability to one that is mired in greater tensions and instability.
Philippine coast guard boat (below) trails Chinese coast guard. (newsweek.com)
CenPEG / 07 May 2024
Two Years of the Marcos Presidency: Political and Governance Trends
As the Marcos administration starts its mid-term cycle, it faces an increasingly volatile environment of economic recovery and local and global conflicts that threaten the stability of its rule.
MONTHLY ANALYSIS PAPER
02 May 2024
Marcos courts war by enabling US provocations; El Niňo hits hard, amnesty for rebels rejected anew
VICTORY OR DEAL?
Russia-Ukraine war drags out
MARCOS EXPANDS DEFENSE ALLIANCE VS CHINA
Congress rifts over economic charter change (Cha-cha)
Posted by CenPEG
11 April 2024
CenPEG marks 20th founding with public forum on Cha-Cha
Posted 17 March 2024
CenPEG
Contending views on Cha-Cha bared at UP forum – University of the Philippines
March 15, 2024 | Written by KIM G Quilinguing
Posted by CenPEG.org
PIVOTAL RIFT IN RULING COALITION; ICC probe, charter change & peace talks deepen the feud
CenPEG launches new book
CenPEG / 25 January 2024
The new book, Spies, Clan Politics, and A New World Order, was launched on January 19 at the Pandesal Forum, Kamuning Bakery, in Quezon City.
BUMPY ROAD TO PEACE TALKS
Jeepney drivers fight for their last breath; Marcos OKs spotty spending plan
CenPEG / 06 January 2024
- When politicians rule the public discourse
- A policy independent of Philippine sovereignty and integrity
- Rethinking democratization in the Philippines
- Obama’s Gift to Putin
