Although the Marcos administration placed “social protection” as one of its budget priorities for “human capital development,” Sonny Africa, executive director of the nonprofit IBON Foundation, noted that the total allocation for these programs in 2023 is P33.28 billion less than the P262.67 billion for 2022.
While Marcos did garner the highest number of votes in Philippine electoral history, his share of the vote (58.7%) in the May 2022 balloting is only the country’s third highest vote percentage, next to former presidents Manuel L. Quezon (67.9%, 1935) and Ramon Magsaysay (68.9%, 1953).
Press freedom in the Philippines does not fare better than Singapore and Malaysia, according to the Paris-based World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s recent pronouncement on granting cash assistance and subsidies amid the COVID-19 pandemic runs counter to Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno’s view on the matter.
Responding to questions from a panel of independent human rights experts during the 136th session of the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva last Oct. 11, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla claimed that ABS-CBN was “not shut down” but merely denied a new franchise. This needs context.
