John Berthelsen connects the dots in Rice Smuggling Threatens Indonesia, Philippines: The Philippines’ massive purchases of rice at sharply increased prices from its neighbors are creating a fast-buck opportunity for traders in Indonesia, where prices are controlled, to smuggle the commodity out through Singapore for eventual sale in the Philippines. Rice in government-controlled storage in [...]
Even as Farmers fleeing ancient centre of Philippine rice,government tries to look busy and at the same time give the impression it’s not lurching from one policy to another: It seems the NFA bought some very expensive rice from bangkok last week. and a rice trader there says if we buy more, we’ll end up [...]
Think about it: Burgos family still searching one year after. Think about it: Pinoys believe Lozada claims on NBN-ZTE deal, SWS says. The PCIJ reports, Malacañang is No. 1 agency with excess exec hires  CSC. Meanwhile, the scuttlebutt on the upcoming round of cabinet musical chairs is that the expected appointment of Gen. Esperon [...]
As chronicled by John Markoff in one essay in “The Rise and Fall of the French Revolution (Studies in European History from the Journal of Modern History)” (University of Chicago Press Journals)“ the Great Fear was paranoia in the rural areas, as a political crisis engulfed France in 1789. Rumors began to spread that the [...]
In his column, Marvin Tort looks at the scuttlebutt concerning the latest round of executive reshufflings: With Ricardo Saludo moving out, the position of Cabinet secretary becomes available. Coffee shops are also rife with rumors that outgoing Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon is likely to be appointed to the Defense post, while [...]
My column for today is An unnecessary breakdown in distribution. I have been trying to keep up with The Rice Problem (GMANews.tv has a microsite going, too, The Price of Rice). See in particular, Long lines for rice not the first time in RP history. But (as an unpublished entry for this blog, postponed and [...]
Baler During The American Period: The Reign Of Quezon by me. Among the Baler, Aurora Book Exerpts Online @ Aurora.ph.
Notes from Big Brother and Empowered Sisters: The role of new communication technologies in democratic processes, Uppsala, April 16-17. See Also the ICT for Democracy blog’s entries. Related sites are Sida and in particular, Spider. For bios of speakers, see here. Day One I. Introduction: Mia Melin & Helena Bjuremalm In Tanzania, Civil Society, citizens [...]
My column for today was inspired by Mahar Mangahas’ column, The important right of civil disobedience, which had these interesting findings, based on the 2004 Survey on Citizenship of the International Social Survey Program, which makes possible a comparison of Filipino attitudes and behavior to that of other peoples, particularly in our part of the [...]
Am in Sweden now, attending Big Brother and Empowered Sisters. The role of new communication technologies in democratic processes, a conference organized by the Collegium for Development Studies, Uppsala University. This will be my PowerPoint presentation: uppsalafinalmlq3.ppt
