Reform: The Making of a Philippine Presidential Campaign (tags)
There is real possibility for a significant leap in the reform process in the Philippines after the 2010 elections. If, as seems likely at this time, Noynoy Aquino wins the presidency, a number of converging developments could produce the conditions necessary for change. The first is Noynoy himself, who has successfully embodied the political legacy of his mother Cory, and his father Ninoy. This, in turn, has introduced a new dimension of enthusiastic voluntarism to the election campaign. Finally, the people running Noynoy’s campaign constitute the leading core of an enlarged reform constituency.
PHILIPPINES; A CAPITALIST CALAMITY (tags)
Filipinos now see more clearly the calamitous state of the system.In the morning of Sept. 26, tropical storm Ondoy (international codename: Ketsana) pounded Metro Manila and the surrounding regions, dumping a month’s worth of rain in just six hours and causing the most massive flooding seen in the last 40 years. A week later, super typhoon Pepeng (Parma) hit Northern Luzon, inundating farmland and causing mudslides in the mountainous mining region of Benguet, including Baguio City, a U.S.-designed community.