The children with scholar Esther Anne Cabrillas Badion, 12

Donations of books and clothes were given to children from urban poor communities in Quezon City by the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) Dec. 17 last year. The donations were given during CenPEG’s Christmas party for urban poor children held at the Alumni Café, University of the Philippines, Diliman campus in cooperation with the Office of UP President Alfredo Pascual.

Left photo (L-R) Comelec Commissioner Gus Lagman, Chair Sixto Brillantes, Nelson Celis of PCS Foundation, and Pablo Manalastas, CenPEG IT consultant. Right photo(L-R) Atty. Ona of Lente, ex-Gov. Grace Padaca, Sr. Gloria Carmen Eamiguel, FFM, of Biliran Kawsa, Makabayan’s Satur Ocampo, and UCCP Bp. Gabriel Garol

Non-government election watchdogs, poll officials, representatives of Congress and political parties, and IT practitioners pledged on Dec. 13 to work for a voter-friendly, fraud- and glitch-free synchronized elections in May 2013. The pledge of commitment was made at the conclusion of the half-day Multi-Stakeholders RoundTable Discussion sponsored by the Automated Election System Watch (AES Watch) at the University of the Philippine – Information and Technology Training Center (UP-ITTC) in Diliman, Quezon City.

Huge crowds of Wall Street protesters marched north to a boisterous rally in New York’s Times Square, 10/15/11. (Getty Images) FilAms (right photo) also occupy Wall Street.

The world bears witness to a show of force by people who have been driven to the fringes of society by economic depression long besetting the center of capitalism – the U.S. – and other financial capitals. For several days now, Wall Street has been the stage of activists, workers and employees joined by many from the middle class galvanized by the new buzzword OWS – Occupy Wall Street.

There should be an end to the fruitless process of reforming laws and crafting development strategies where the dubious intention is in furtherance of elite governance sugar-coated by meaningless concepts of “transparency and accountability”, LGU-civil society or “public-private partnership.”

The signals that the Aquino administration is sending so far are to provide a climate conducive to foreign investment and to project the image of a President determined to pursue reforms particularly in anti-corruption. At the moment though, they do not remove suspicions that what is unfolding only dramatizes a feud between political dynasties and a motive to make the high court more like pro-Aquino than being pro-Arroyo.

Clearly, the presidential strategy with regard to the FOI bill is to put heavy restrictions so as to make the government in control of public information. Such impediments will favor the state if and when the bill is passed – or would make legislation more protracted so as to stall its final enactment.

The U.S. is now trapped in a global war of its own making. It will be embroiled in more wars possibly in the next 10-20 years as a result of which it will create more enemies and make the use of force a long-term necessity.