By Yvonne T. Chua and Luz Rimban | VERA FILES
(Conclusion)
When Quedancor negotiated with the banks, it was already in the red because of its various failed lending programs.
Second Part: Politicians Dip Hand Into Quedancor Funds
First Part: Quedancor Swine Program Another Fertilizer Scam

By Yvonne T. Chua and Luz Rimban | VERA FILES
(Second of three parts)
The Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor) does not only give out loans to the poor. It also “lends” money to “needy” politicians, congressmen included. Insiders say Quedancor is the one government corporation politicians know they can run to when they want cash — for political reasons or otherwise. The “loans” are known within Quedancor as “political accounts.”
First Part: Quedancor Swine Program Another Fertilizer Scam

By Diosa Labiste, Luz Rimban and Yvonne Chua | VERA FILES
(First of three parts)
Documents and interviews show that officials involved in questionable Quedancor transactions were the same ones implicated in the P728-million fertilizer scam: then Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo, who chaired Quedancor, and then Agriculture Undersecretary for finance and administration Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante who was at the time also a director of the Land Bank of the Philippines from which Quedancor obtained billions of pesos in loans.

By the Policy Study, Publication, and Advocacy
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
Peace is not just the absence of war. It is the outcome of settling an armed conflict by addressing its fundamental roots toward a just and lasting peace. Unless the causes are addressed, any peace that is forged is just a means of preserving an unjust status quo leading to bigger tensions. The peace process can bring about a simulated peace -– but not the ultimate solution to the Bangsamoro people’s historic and just grievances.

By Carlos H. Conde
“Clearly the MILF are really frustrated. After years of back and forth negotiations, breakdowns in talks, etc, they finally reached a territorial deal. But the Supreme Court imposed an injunction, stating that the agreement could be unconstitutional, something that I have warned about. For the MILF, it is not checks and balances of democracy but evidence of a fundamental lack of commitment to the peace process by the government.”

By Claire Delfin
It was 1984. Hadja Amina Jed, then 29 years old, packed her things, left Maguindanao in Western Mindanao and sailed north to Manila. “Life was hard. During times when father had no catch, we also had nothing to eat,” says Amina. Amina was determined to change her family’s fortune. Going to Manila and finding work seemed the only option.

(The report below is from The International Tobacco-Control Network and was prepared by Ronald M. Davis, M.D. in 1998. Dr. David was the director of the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention of the Henry Ford Health System in the United States.)
CONTENTS
1. Background and author’s qualifications
2. How tobacco [...]

Children across the Philippines are being denied the right to an education which is contrary to Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which states that “everyone has the right to education.”

They paid fixers operating around the Philippine consulate to be able to go back home but were instead made to live under a bridge. They asked the assistance of the consulate but were taken to the Saudi police. They endured cramped cells with very little food and water in two deportation centers. And now, some of them are back to describe their harrowing experiences, of dreams turning into nightmares.

SPECIAL REPORT | By Jeremaiah M. Opiniano | Reliance on money from Filipinos overseas hasn’t helped the country get out of the poverty rut. In fact, according to an economist, remittances may be contributing to the persistence of high inequality in the Philippines.

The first Universal Periodic Review of the Philippines at the UN Human Rights Council takes place on April 11.

Despite efforts by Philippine call center companies to glamorize the industry, call center agents are resigning, job-hopping, transferring or being fired by the hundreds as fast as they are being hired.

Spratly Deals Cover 6 Philippine Islands

OFWs Struggle for Survival in Kuwait

Sheila, Valerie and Bridget hail from poor families in Mindanao and have set their sights to as far as Manila, Brunei and Japan for jobs as domestic helpers. But instead of finding work, they ended up as prostitutes.

Did the Philippines surrender to China its claim over the Spratlys islands? Such a surrender, the suspicion goes, is seen as the reason why Beijing is showering Manila with billions of loans, several of which are hounded by allegations of corruption.

The violence in Sulu the past weeks, which was punctuated by the series of bombings in three key cities on Feb. 14, indicate that the objectives of the 1996 peace agreement are far from achieved.
By Carlos H. Conde
MANILA – Nearly a decade ago, the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the first [...]

By Carlos H. Conde
More than any other Moro leader, Salamat Hashim reawakened the Islamic consciousness of the Moro people. He made them proud of their identity. He gave them a vision.