POLITICAL PARTIES & ELECTIONS

A Broad Perspective on the Current Controversy about Election Return Transmissions In Particular and on Our Voting Automation Issues In General

We need the defenders of our democracy to help restore the sovereignty of our elections.

May 2022 presidential race
May 2022 presidential race


Is there prospect for the hybrid election system (HES)?
Bobby M. Tuazon
CenPEG / 17 Nov. 2022

Twelve years after CenPEG called for electoral reforms including replacing the Smartmatic-outsourced Automated Election System (AES) with a Filipino-designed hybrid system, the poll body Commission on Elections (Comelec) finally convened a forum on Nov. 16 to tackle the urgency of instituting electoral changes.

MOA signing
Comelec chairman Garcia (extreme left); 3rd to 5th Natalie Pulvinar, Hector Barrios, and Commissioner Celis


Rightsizing and reengineering bureaucracy

Nelson Celis / The Manila Times column / August 10, 2022
Posted by CenPEG, 16 August 2022

DICT

The rightsizing and reengineering of the bureaucracy in the DICT would be a good model for other government agencies with similar cases by obliterating services and processes due to usage of obsolete technology or irrelevant procedures through the merger of redundant business processes.

(NOTE: CenPEG Fellow and long-time AES Watch spokesperson, Nelson J. Celis, has been recently appointed as the new commissioner of the Commission on Elections.)


The May 2022 Elections and the Marcos Restoration: Looking Back and Beyond

Posted by CenPEG.org
22 June 2022

The new administration of Marcos, Jr. and Sara Duterte faces a daunting set of governance challenges rooted in festering structural and institutional constraints amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and rapid changes in the regional and global environment.

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Voters wait for their turn to vote (Courtesy: AlJazeera)


Poll automation a sinking ship; time to use a hybrid system
Posted by CenPEG / 21 May 2022

Comelec’s AES – outsourced from foreign company Smartmatic since 2010 – is now a sinking ship that should be replaced immediately by a more reliable election system.

FIT4E
FIT4E convened by CenPEG in 2011 proposed alternative voting system.


MOMENT OF TRUTH
Voters go to the polls on May 9

MONTHLY POLITICAL ANALYSIS No. 14
Center for People Empowerment in Governance
April 2022 / Public Edition

If the rebranding stories are true, many of the votes that could go to Marcos, Jr. on May 9 can be said to be the result of social media manipulation.

Cambridge Analytica
Cambridge Analytica


Disqualification cases roil Marcos camp; biggest Left political bloc backs Robredo-Pangilinan team

Posted by CenPEG
14 February 2022

DQ-MRCS-JR

Whatever their final outcomes in the Comelec, these legal cases will almost certainly be appealed to the Supreme Court and its consequences for the entire presidential race are immense.


A Race for Power of Political Dynasties
Bobby M. Tuazon
Posted 26 Jan. 2022

The May 2022 elections will further entrench the country’s ruling political dynasties while the Filipino people will continue to be marginalized from exercising their democratic rights to governance. Once again, we will see familiar faces and the same political dynasties not only in Malacañang but also in Congress and the provinces.

ntm-ntdPhoto by The Atlantic


Clash of political dynasties
Accents May 2022 elections

November 2021 Monthly Political Analysis
Posted 17 Dec. 2021, CenPEG

The May 2022 presidential race is turning out to be a repeat of previous elections – a feud among the country’s dominant political dynasties. The jockeying for power has resulted in the split of the ruling political party, political realignments, and moves by one clique that are apparently meant to mislead rivals. In the end, these dynastic conflicts leave many voters puzzled and others, outraged.

tribune.net photo
Photo: Tribune.net

GOVERNANCE

What are geopolitical implications of U.S. defense chief's visit to the Philippines?
Bobby M. Tuazon
Reposted by CenPEG / 03 February 2023

photo
Austin (left) is welcomed by Marcos, Jr. at Malacanang. Photo by SunStar

The Marcos government's deepening defense ties with the U.S. with all its strategic goals against China would risk damaging relations with Beijing, not to mention mutual agreements on economic cooperation and assistance.


Configuring Philippines-China ties under Marcos, Jr.; Philippine Development Plan and controversial funds
December 2022 Monthly Political Analysis
Posted 13 January 2023

UN
Universal Periodic Review at the UN headquarters in Geneva Philstar.com

For decades, the Philippine government’s human rights record has come under close scrutiny by the UN and other rights watchdogs over its failure to end extrajudicial killings victimizing social activists as well as drug suspects.


MARCOS, JR. FACES GRINDING WOES; ARE REFORMS POSSIBLE?
Posted by CenPEG / 08 November 2022

Because of the institutional and structural fault lines comprehensive economic and political reforms remain unattainable. Unless these systemic problems are effectively addressed, it is unlikely that the six-year presidential term of Marcos, Jr. could usher in and sustain meaningful reforms.

MPI-photo
Multidimensional Poverty Index


Marcos, Jr. pivots to the US; faces tough economic challenges

Monthly Political Analysis / September 2022
Posted 28 Oct. 2022

In just two months, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. took a reverse gear in foreign policy from pledging to promote an “independent foreign policy” in July to a pivot shift to the United States.

Marcos_and_Biden
Marcos, Jr. meets Biden (NBC News)


Analysis

Marcos, Jr. in cryptic ties with China
as he commits to U.S. defense alliance

Posted by CenPEG
14 September 2022

Marcos-Blinken-Phil-Star
Marcos, Jr. (left) and US State Secretary Antony Blinken (right). Photo courtesy Philippine Star

A tentative analysis of the major challenges confronting the Marcos, Jr. government shows that such challenges are not only deep-going but also institutional with their roots traceable not only to the first 70 years of the post-independence present republic but to the enduring semi-feudal and semi-colonial foundations of the country’s political system that have persisted for centuries.


Philippines - a geostrategic battleground?

Roland G. Simbulan
Philippine Daily Inquirer / August 24, 2022
Posted by CenPEG 27 August 2022

We are a hairbreadth away from a miscalculation of grave consequences that threaten human existence.

RIMPACT 2022
RIMPAC 2022


The other side of Shinzo Abe: historical revisionism, denial of war crimes

Roland Simbulan
Philippine Daily Inquirer / July 26, 2022
Posted by CenPEG / 21 August 2022

Abe seconds before his assassination. (Photo: NPR)
Abe seconds before his assassination. (Photo: NPR)

Abe is credited for his Indo-Pacific strategy with the United States, Australia, and India, which committed Japan to a more aggressive role in the united front against China. The irony of it all is that, even though he tried to remilitarize Japanese foreign policy, his career as a modern leader of Japan was ended by an ex-member of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force.


Indonesian leader's China visit: Elevating bilateral relations

Bobby M. Tuazon
CGTN 28 July 2022
Posted by CenPEG, 29 July 2022

China Indonesia ties

Like Quad, the AUKUS trajectory is aimed at China – which American President Joe Biden has tagged as a "global security threat" – and is a threat as well to Indonesia and other major countries in the region whose bilateral and multilateral relations with China are anchored on economic growth and peaceful cooperation.

GLOBAL CURRENTS

The U.S. Corporations Profiting from the Israeli Occupation

It’s not just defense contractors—many U.S.-based companies are profiting from business with Israel, directly or indirectly enabling the Israeli state’s crimes against Palestinians.

BY NICK FRENCH | MARCH/APRIL 2024
Posted by CenPEG.org

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Events

MARCOS CABINET REVAMP & CORRUPTION IN GAMBLING; STRENGTHENING OF US-LED ALLIANCE SYSTEM VS CHINA

Naively, the Marcos government narrows down foreign policy into an alliance security system forever in the grip of the US. It suffers from a cognitive dissonance that is unable to comprehend seismic shifts in the world system.

Japan-warship JAPANESE warship visits Philippine harbor (Rappler photo)


DANGEROUS TIMES: Marcos rejects diplomacy and cuddles militarism

Bobby M. Tuazon
CenPEG / 28 July 2024

Under Marcos, peace remains elusive after dropping diplomacy. War has been his
penultimate choice.

MISSILE-LAUNCHER


PHILIPPINE-CHINA BELLIGERENCY HEIGHTENS
After just 2 years, Marcos regime faces stability and economic challenges
CenPEG / 06 June 2023

In the international forum, Marcos thus once more placed himself squarely on the apron of the US which projects itself as a force stabilizer by military means.

HIMARSM142 HIMARS, High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, Raytheon DeepStrike Missile


MARCOS’ POLICY OF MILITARISM OVER DIPLOMACY

Bobby M. Tuazon
People’s Daily

Since his ascendancy to power in May 2022, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has played a key role in transforming Southeast Asia generally from a region of peace and stability to one that is mired in greater tensions and instability.

CCG-and-PCGPhilippine coast guard boat (below) trails Chinese coast guard. (newsweek.com)


CenPEG / 07 May 2024

Two Years of the Marcos Presidency: Political and Governance Trends

As the Marcos administration starts its mid-term cycle, it faces an increasingly volatile environment of economic recovery and local and global conflicts that threaten the stability of its rule.

biden-marcosBiden, right, escorts Marcos to the oval office, May 2, 2023 following joint US-Philippine war drills


MONTHLY ANALYSIS PAPER
02 May 2024

Marcos courts war by enabling US provocations; El Niňo hits hard, amnesty for rebels rejected anew


VICTORY OR DEAL?
Russia-Ukraine war drags out

After more than two years of the Russian-Ukraine armed conflict it remains fuzzy which warring side is winning.


MARCOS EXPANDS DEFENSE ALLIANCE VS CHINA
Congress rifts over economic charter change (Cha-cha)

Posted by CenPEG
11 April 2024

The most encompassing strategy that defines Biden’s foreign policy on China remains the same – a bipartisan policy of encirclement and containment on China.


CenPEG marks 20th founding with public forum on Cha-Cha
Posted 17 March 2024
CenPEG

A public forum on the proposed Charter Change was organized by CenPEG in light of its 20th founding anniversary last March 8 – also International Women’s Day. We celebrate CenPEG’s 20 years of dedicated service, new ideas, and action-driven advocacy!


Contending views on Cha-Cha bared at UP forum – University of the Philippines
March 15, 2024 | Written by KIM G Quilinguing
Posted by CenPEG.org


PIVOTAL RIFT IN RULING COALITION; ICC probe, charter change & peace talks deepen the feud

Forged in the May 2022 presidential race, Marcos Jr.’s alliance with former President Rodrigo R. Duterte has been shaken as battle swords are unsheathed for a month now. Marcos enhances his pro-U.S. and anti-China policy with a united front deal with Vietnam.


CenPEG launches new book
CenPEG / 25 January 2024

The new book, Spies, Clan Politics, and A New World Order, was launched on January 19 at the Pandesal Forum, Kamuning Bakery, in Quezon City.

book


BUMPY ROAD TO PEACE TALKS
Jeepney drivers fight for their last breath; Marcos OKs spotty spending plan

CenPEG / 06 January 2024

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Center for People Empowewrment in Governance (CenPEG), Philippines. All rights reserved 2021