The Salvador P. Lopez Centennial Academic Conference

The public is cordially invited to take part in an academic conference organized in celebration of the birth centennial of former University of the Philippines (UP) President Salvador P. Lopez. Entitled, “The SP Lopez Legacy: Issues and Challenges,” this conference will be held on January 19, 2012 (Thursday) from 7:30 in the morning to 5:30 in the afternoon at the Pulungang Claro M. Recto (Faculty Center Conference Hall), Rizal Hall, College of Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.

The conference will feature discussion and debate on the contemporary relevance of six major themes associated with former UP President SP Lopez: democratic governance in UP; leadership and the UP system; literature and society; progressive diplomacy; freedom of information; and peace and human rights.

Speakers include UP President Alfredo E. Pascual, Dr. Teresa S. Encarnacion Tadem, Dr. Carolyn I. Sobritchea, Dr. Rolando B. Tolentino, Dr. Judy M. Taguiwalo, and Dr. Bienvenido L. Lumbera. Reactors from the academe, the government, and civil society will engage the speakers in discussing the key issues raised in the presentations.

This conference is organized by the UP President’s Committee for the Commemoration of the Birth Centennial of Former UP President Salvador P. Lopez, the Office of the UP Diliman Chancellor, and the Third World Studies Center.

Please click here to access the conference program, and here for the conference's concept paper.

Please click here for the playlist of the video recordings of the Conference.

Repression and Toleration of Political Dissent in Contemporary Vietnam: A Lecture by Dr. Benedict Kerkvliet

SCHEDULE and VENUE

Thursday, December 1, 2011, 2:00 P.M.

Bulwagang Sala'am, Asian Center, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City

ABOUT THE LECTURER

Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet is Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University. His researches focus on politics in the Philippines and Vietnam. His books include Beyond Hanoi: Local Government in Vietnam (2004), co-edited with David G. Marr; The Power of Everyday Politics: How Vietnamese Peasants Transformed National Policy (2005); Everyday Politics in the Philippines: Class and Status Relations in a Central Luzon Village (2002); and, The Huk Rebellion: A Study of Peasant Revolt in the Philippines (1977). A recent article is “Workers’ Protests in Contemporary Vietnam (with Some Comparisons to Those in the Pre-1975 South),” (2010) Journal of Vietnamese Studies 5:1.

CO-ORGANIZERS


Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA Philippines)
Philippine Political Science Association (PPSA)
UP Asian Center
UP Political Science Department
UP Third World Studies Center

To access a playlist of the video recordings of the lecture, please click here.

Internship Opportunity at TWSC

The Third World Studies Center (TWSC) welcomes applicants to its Volunteer-Internship Program (VIP). The TWSC VIP is designed for undergraduate, graduate, and foreign exchange students of the University of the Philippines with particular interest in critical political economy, democratization and political culture. The program provides an opportunity for volunteers-interns to assist in and learn from the various research, publications, and training projects and activities of the Center. It is a non-salaried program and does not guarantee future employment in the organization.

Eligibility
The TWSC only selects five volunteer-interns. Applicants must at least:

· be 18 years old,
· have junior status and be enrolled in the University of the Philippines at the time of application,
· be in good academic standing,
· have good writing skills (English),
· have a background in technical writing and research methodologies, and
· be able to complete specific assignments on deadlines.

Preference will be given to students who require internship credits, and/or whose academic work (thesis, etc.) relates with any of the TWSC’s research focus. TWSC encourages long-term internship work, and will give preference to applicants who can stay with the Center for a minimum period of three months and can work for at least 50 hours a month.

Application Process
To apply, please send the following:

· application letter,
· comprehensive resumé,and
· true copy of grades for all previous semesters

to:


Dr. Maria Ela L. Atienza
Director
Third World Studies Center
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
Palma Hall Basement
University of the Philippines
Diliman 1101 Quezon City
e-mail: uptwsc@gmail.com

Submit requirements to Emerald O. Flaviano at the Third World Studies Center.

The Right to Self-Determination in ASEAN and the Philippines: A Lecture by Dr. Chandra Muzaffar

Wednesday, November 16 · 1:00pm - 2:30pm

Conference Room, Third World Studies Center, Lower Ground Floor, Palma Hall, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City

PROGRAM

1:00 – 1:05
REGISTRATION

1:05 – 1:10
INTRODUCTION OF THE SPEAKER
Maria Ela L. Atienza, PhD
Director
Third World Studies Center and
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines - Diliman

1:10 – 1:40
LECTURE
Chandra Muzaffar, PhD
Noordin Sopiee Professor of Global Studies
Centre for Policy Research and International Studies
Universiti Sains Malaysia and
President
International Movement for a Just World

1:40 – 2:30
OPEN FORUM

MODERATOR
Maria Anna Rowena G. Layador
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines-Diliman

CO-ORGANIZERS

University of the Philippines Third World Studies Center
University of the Philippines Department of Political Science
Focus on the Global South - Philippines


---
This lecture is part of "The Chandra Muzaffar Speaker Tour: Understanding Right to Self-Determination and the Mindanao Peace Process", conceptualized by the Focus on the Global South-Philippines as part of its bi-annual Deconstructing Discourse and Activist Retooling Program (DDARP). Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, current president of the Malaysia-based International Movement for a JUST World, is a well-known social activist and academic who has written extensively on the topics of civilizational dialogue, international politics, and religion, among others.

Please click here to know more about Focus on the Global South-Philippines' DDARP.

Please click here to access a playlist of the video recordings of Dr. Muzaffar's lecture.

Insurgents, Clans, and States: Political Legitimacy and Resurgent Conflict in Muslim Mindanao (A Round Table Discussion with Francisco "Pancho" J. Lara Jr., PhD)

14 November 2011 (Monday)
10:30 a.m.-12:00 noon

Conference Room
Third World Studies Center
Lower Ground Floor
Palma Hall
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
Roxas Avenue, University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City

Moro separatist insurgents enjoyed widespread legitimacy during decades of conflict with the national government. But after gaining access to sub-national state power through the “autonomous” government in Muslim Mindanao, they failed to maintain legitimacy, could not sustain their political authority and did not deliver on lasting peace and development in their region. The discussion, based on Pancho Lara’s Ph.D. dissertation at LSE, will attempt to explain the above puzzle concerning processes of political and institutional change in Mindanao since the 1996 peace agreement. 

Lara argues that explanations which understand legitimacy purely in terms of democratic institutions are inadequate and ignore the local institutional foundations from which authority evolves. Drawing upon 18 months of fieldwork in Mindanao, he examines the interaction between rival institutions that shaped political legitimacy, revealing how local strongmen harnessed clan institutions to trump other institutional sources of legitimacy. 

Insurgents who surrendered their arms in exchange for formal authority could not compete with powerful clans who delivered basic security; relied on increasing amounts of internal revenue allotments under a regime of devolution; and, enabled the spread of a shadow economy that boosted their incomes and allowed local citizens to secure their livelihoods with little taxation by the state. Political legitimacy was achieved through a process where rulers entered into bargains with other elite groups and embedded these within a larger social contract with citizens that addressed their demand for security and the basic conditions for economic survival. 

***

ABOUT THE LECTURER:

Francisco J. Lara, Jr., is the Philippine Country Director of Alert International, UK and obtained his PhD degree at the Department of International Development / Development Studies Institute (DESTIN) of the London School of Economics and Political Science. 

This round table discussion is organized by the Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA Philippines) and the UP Third World Studies Center.

Please click here for the playlist of the video recordings of the discussion.

In the Philippines, Giving Birth Kills (Maternal Mortality in the Philippines): A Video Documentary

Entitled "In the Philippines, Giving Birth Kills: Maternal Mortality in the Philippines," this video documentary was produced as part of the Students for Development Program of the University of Montreal's Faculty of Education and Department of Political Science, in cooperation with the UP Third World Studies Center.

This documentary gives a general overview of current practices in reproductive health in the Philippines. It gives a special focus on the state of public health services provided for Filipino mothers.

Students Nicolas Descroix and Audrey-Maud Tardif from the University of Montreal and Barbie Jane L. Rosales and Cherry E. Sun from the University of the Philippines-Diliman constituted the production team for this documentary.

Please click here to access the documentary.

Choosing Food Sovereignty in the Philippines: A Video Documentary

This video documentary entitled "Choosing Food Sovereignty in the Philippines" was sponsored by the Third World Studies Center (TWSC), Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE) and Centre d'Études et de Recherches International de l'Université de Montréal (CERIUM).

Based on the workshop "Southeast Asian Perspectives on Food Sovereignty," which was held in October 2010 at the TWSC, this documentary presents the current agricultural situation in the Philippines and the challenges of adopting the food sovereignty framework in the country.

This documentary was produced by Ms. Arca Arguelles Caouette, a TWSC volunteer-intern.

Please click here to access the documentary.

Will Thailand's Luck Change with Yingluck? (A Public Lecture by Somchai Phatharathananunth)

3 October 2011 (Monday)
10:30 a.m.-12:00 noon

Conference Room
Third World Studies Center
Lower Ground Floor

Palma Hall

College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
Roxas Avenue, University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City

Despite winning an absolute majority in the Thai parliament, the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra faces an uncertain future. Why does a government whose political party won 16 million votes, larger than any government in Thailand’s history, worry about its future? Led by the 44-year old businesswoman with no previous political experience, Pheu Thai Party won 265 of 500 parliamentary seats in the 3 July 2011 elections, only the second time a single party had won an absolute majority. Born in Chiang Mai, Yingluck graduated from Chiang Mai University (BA Public Ad) and Kentucky State University (MA Public Ad) and was President of giant property developer, SC Assets, a firm founded by her brother, ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose regime ushered in intense political conflicts before he was toppled in a 2006 military coup. What are the roots of the political conflicts that have rocked the kingdom since the 2006 coup? What is the nature of state power in Thailand? What is the impact of socio-economic and political changes in the last three decades on the dynamics of the current crisis?

***

ABOUT THE LECTURER: 

Dr. Somchai Phatharathananunth is with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Mahasarakham University in Northeast Thailand. He has a PhD in political science, Leeds University, UK. His dissertation, later published by NIAS Press, entitled Civil Society and Democratization: Social Movements in Northeast Thailand examined the struggles of a rural social movement, the Small Scale Farmers’ Assembly of Isan (SSFAI), and the role of civil society in the democratization process. The book’s external reviewer described it as a “sophisticated, well-researched and extremely important contribution to Thai political studies.” He was a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University in 2010. He is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the UP Third World Studies Center and a recipient of an Asian Public Intellectual (API) grant to study Philippine social movements.

Organized by the Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA Philippines) and the UP Third World Studies Center.

Rationalized Inability: The President’s Hand in the Untouched Local Government Code (A Public Forum)

September 29, 2011 (Thursday)
1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.

Pulungang Claro M. Recto (Faculty Center Conference Hall)
Rizal Hall, College of Arts and Letters
University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City

PROGRAM

1:00-1:45
REGISTRATION

1:45-1:50
WELCOME REMARKS
J. PROSPERO E. DE VERA III
Vice President for Public Affairs
University of the Philippines

1:50-1:55
INTRODUCTION OF THE 2011 TWSC PUBLIC FORUM SERIES
MARIA ELA L. ATIENZA
Director
Third World Studies Center
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines-Diliman

1:55-2:00
INTRODUCTION OF THE SPEAKERS

2:00-2:20
ALEX B. BRILLANTES, JR.
Professor and Former Dean
National College of Public Administration and Governance
University of the Philippines-Diliman

2:20-2:40
DANTE B. GATMAYTAN
Associate Professor
College of Law
University of the Philippines-Diliman

2:40-3:50
OPEN FORUM

3:50-4:00
CLOSING REMARKS / SYNTHESIS

MODERATOR:

JORGE V. TIGNO
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines-Diliman

Organized by the Third World Studies Center (TWSC) and co-sponsored by the UP Office of the Vice-President for Public Affairs (OVPPA), the Philippine Political Science Association (PPSA) and the College of Arts and Letters Office of the Dean, this forum is the third installment of the 2011 TWSC Public Forum Series, "The B.S. Aquino Administration: Possible Perversities, Perverted Possibilities."

ABOUT THE FORUM

At the very start of his presidency, President Aquino took the helm of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). But as with his romances, the dalliance lasted a mere nine days. He eventually appointed to the post the current secretary, Jesse M. Robredo. Not to begrudge him his personal happiness, but since then, President Aquino’s romantic escapades have been part of the news cycles more often than his articulations on how his administration would take on the bastion of political patronage and locus of feudal rule, the local government units. The exception to this observation are the instances when the president pines for Puno—Rico Puno—to remain DILG undersecretary in charge of police matters even after Puno confessed to a possible liaison with a jueteng lord. Add to this Puno’s wooden response to the Luneta hostage-taking incident. The president’s enthusiasm as a serial dater may be inversely proportional to his inclination to address broad and complex institutional policy issues like local governance. But this perception seemed not to be true when he was running for the presidency. On October 6, 2009, in front of a hundred local government executives, then presidential aspirant Sen. Benigno Aquino made this statement: “Ang paniwala ko ‘yung local government unit, d’yan ho nababatay kung maayos na gobyerno o hindi.” He went on to commit for a review: “I-review muna natin ‘yung na-devolve. ‘Yung mga nag-succeed, bakit nag-succeed? ‘Yung nag-fail, bakit nag-fail?” Then, he became president and nothing was heard again from him on this matter. Not even in his State of the Nation Addresses. Perhaps the president prefers courting chieftains and wooing warlords, as when Malacañang was accused of playing footsie with the Ampatuans just to be able to nail whatever charge on his despised predecessor. Should this not be true, then October 10, 2011 must have a particular significance to his administration. Said date marks the Local Government Code’s two-decade existence that spans five presidencies. The code started as one of the achievements his mother’s presidency. But in his administration, the code may end up as an object of benign neglect, if not considered first as a tradable political commodity. It will be—if not already—a code of governance unsullied even by the most glancing of critical reviews yet marked by ravages of local politicos’ adeptness in exploiting the limitations of the code to perpetuate themselves in power. And as the administration pursues its peace agenda, most visible in its negotiation with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the limits of the code will be further exposed to the pawing, clawing, biting horde of opportunists and provincial potentates.

Can the Aquino administration offer transformational leadership sans any alteration of the basic code of local governance? What failures and missed opportunities will this adherence to the status quo bring about? Maybe it is a misplaced hope that trifling with the Local Government Code will ever lead to reforms. Maybe nothing’s broken. Maybe there’s nothing to fix. Maybe, just like the president, a perfect date is all there is to it.

KEY QUESTIONS

1. Are there any chances that the Local Government Code of 1991 will be, at the very least, reviewed during Aquino’s government? What developments could possibly pressure the administration to take a stronger and more definite stance regarding local governance issues? 
2. What are the chances that the president will exercise his power of "general supervision" over local government units (sec. 25, par. a, R.A. 7160) to influence the outcome of the upcoming local elections during his administration? 
3. How judiciously will President Aquino exercise his power to direct national agencies to “provide financial, technical, and other forms of assistance” (sec. 25, par. c, R.A. 7160) to local government units? 

Please follow the links below to access Dr. Brillantes' and Prof. Gatmaytan's PowerPoint presentations:

Dr. Alex B. Brillantes, Jr. - Two Decades of Decentralization and Devolution in the Philippines: https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AXIczjzkKCDkZGc3ejl2dmZfNDhjOTNobWRncw&hl=en_US

Prof. Dante B. Gatmaytan - The President's Predilections: 

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AXIczjzkKCDkZGc3ejl2dmZfMTMxZ2pycmo3NmM&hl=en_US 


Here is also a link to the YouTube playlist of the forum's video recordings:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL71115BA1D4DA6F95 

Partnership or Subservience? Reassessing Philippine-U.S. Military Relations

Partnership or Subservience? Reassessing Philippine-U.S. Military Relations
(A Public Forum)

September 12, 2011, 9:00am-12:00nn
Claro M. Recto Hall, Faculty Center, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Quezon City

PROGRAM:

8:30-9:00
REGISTRATION

9:00-9:05
WELCOME REMARKS
Maria Ela L. Atienza
Director
Third World Studies Center
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines-Diliman

9:05-9:10
INTRODUCTION OF THE SPEAKERS

9:10-9:35
Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III
Representative
4th District of Quezon
15th Congress
Republic of the Philippines

9:35-10:00
Atty. Evalyn Ursua
Professorial Lecturer
College of Law
University of the Philippines-Diliman

10:00-10:15
REACTOR 1
Eduardo C. Tadem
Professor
Asian Center
University of the Philippines-Diliman

10:15-10:30
REACTOR 2
Yuen Abana
Campaign Officer
Partido ng Manggagawa

10:30-11:40
OPEN FORUM

11:40-11:50

SYNTHESIS
Virginia Suarez-Pinlac
Spokesperson
Scrap VFA Movement

11:50-12:00
CLOSING REMARKS
Francisco Nemenzo, Jr.
Professor Emeritus
Department of Political Science
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines-Diliman

MODERATOR

Ronald C. Molmisa
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines-Diliman

ABOUT THE FORUM:

The public forum serves as a lead up to a commemorative event on September 16, 2011, the 20th anniversary of the Philippine Senate’s vote to end U.S. military bases presence in our country. The Filipino people’s victory in its struggle to close and dismantle the U.S. bases in 1991 was one shining and glorious moment in our history. It demonstrated how our united will could move the Philippine Senate, which had long been dominated by pro-bases senators, into asserting national sovereignty.

More than ten years of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which supplanted the U.S. Military Bases Agreement in 1998, is sufficient time to review how this later agreement has affected issues of national sovereignty and security, and the life of our people. After a series of public hearings on the VFA, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in the previous Congress came out with its report, and forthwith its chair, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, authored Senate Resolution No. 1356, calling for a review of the VFA, which was approved by the Senate in 2009. Resolutions which demanded the termination of the VFA were also filed in the current Congress by Senator Santiago in the Senate (Sen. Res. No. 3), and by Representative Lorenzo R. Tañada III in the House of Representatives (House Res. No. 17).

The P-Noy Administration’s response in the later part of 2010 was to initiate a review of the VFA to be headed by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, justifying that termination may be too radical. Nothing has been heard of the status or results of the review. High-ranking U.S. political and military officials have come and gone, during which the VFA must have been taken up, yet the P-Noy Administration continues to be mum about the matter.

All are invited to attend this vital public discussion on American interests and Philippine sovereignty.

Co-organized by the UP Third World Studies Center, the UP Diliman Department of Political Science, and the Scrap VFA Movement. 

Here is a link to Rep. Erin Tañada's paper read in the public forum. 

Also, here is a playlist of the video recordings of the public forum:

News about the forum: "Scrap VFA, urges son of 'Magnificent 12' senator"

Public Lecture by Koul Panha, 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee

Thursday, September 1, 2011 · 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon

Pulungang Claro M. Recto (Faculty Center Conference Hall)
Rizal Hall, College of Arts and Letters
University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City

Mr. Koul Panha of Cambodia, one of this year's Ramon Magsaysay Awardees, will deliver a public lecture entitled, "Citizenship Vigilance from the Grassroots: The Movement for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia," at the University of the Philippines-Diliman on September 1, 2011.

The public lecture is organized by the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation and the Third World Studies Center and co-sponsored by the University of the Philippines (UP) Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs, the College of Arts and Letters' Office of the Dean, the UP Department of Political Science and the UP Department of History.

PROGRAM

09:30-10:00  

REGISTRATION

10:00-10:05     

WELCOME REMARKS
Caesar A. Saloma, PhD
Chancellor
University of the Philippines-Diliman
(To be delivered by Ronald S. Banzon, PhD, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of the Philippines-Diliman)

                                    

10:05-10:10     

MESSAGE FROM THE UP PRESIDENT
Alfredo E. Pascual

President
University of the Philippines

10:10-10:15 

INTRODUCTION OF THE SPEAKER

10:15-10:45 

LECTURE
Koul Panha
2011 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee

10:45-11:00

DISCUSSION

Maria Elissa Jayme-Lao, DPA

Assistant Professor

Department of Political Science

School of Social Sciences
Ateneo de Manila University

11:00-11:45 

OPEN FORUM

11:45-12:00 

CLOSING REMARKS

MODERATOR

Jose Wendell P. Capili, PhD
Assistant Vice President for Public Affairs 

University of the Philippines

***

KOUL PANHA
Citation for the 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Award

In many places in the world today, citizens are engaged in a historic struggle to democratize their societies, often under conditions of extreme difficulty and danger. One such place is Cambodia. The country was traumatized by decades of war and the genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge, which left 1.7 million Cambodians dead. The country took its first step to establishing a “multi-party liberal democracy” when it proclaimed a new constitution and embarked on its first democratic elections in 1993. Cambodians have gone through five national and local elections since then. But democracy’s progress has been slow and turbulent, and elections have been undermined by factionalism, fraud, violence, and the threat of a return to authoritarian rule. Many know that the central challenge is for Cambodians to claim the electoral process as their own, by protecting it as an instrument for building a democracy. One of those who have bravely stepped up to this challenge is a Cambodian engineer named Koul Panha.

Koul knows firsthand what brutalities are possible in the absence of a true democracy. He was eight years old when his father and relatives were killed by the Khmer Rouge. The indescribable trauma impelled him to dedicate himself to changing his society. He finished his university degree, taught in Phnom Penh, and was already involved in the human rights movement even in the time of the dictatorship. When Cambodia embarked on its first free elections in 1993, he joined the non-partisan Task Force on Cambodian Elections, and was one of the organizers when this task force became the Committee for Free and Fair Elections (COMFREL) in 1997. Koul assumed the role of COMFREL executive director in 1998; returning home after earning a master’s degree in the Politics of Alternative Development, he threw himself full-time into COMFREL’s mission of assuring that Cambodian elections are free and fair.

Under Koul’s leadership, COMFREL has become the country’s leading independent organization on electoral issues. It aggressively campaigns for responsible voting and electoral reforms, using all available media. In protecting the 2008 electoral process, COMFREL and its partners trained and deployed over ten thousand volunteers, covering 60 percent of the country’s polling stations. For the first time in Cambodia, a citizens’ parallel “quick count,” initiated by COMFREL, helped forestall the manipulation of results by establishing voting trends three days after the elections. They have also proactively campaigned for the wider political participation of women, who constitute half of Cambodia’s population, a campaign that has seen a subsequent increase of women in public office.

Based in Phnom Penh, COMFREL maintains a nationwide network of partners and has mobilized, since its inception, over fifty thousand election volunteers; more than 150,000 Cambodians have participated in COMFREL’s training programs, workshops and other activities. This is an impressive show of civic participation in a democracy still so young. Even more significant is how COMFREL has gone beyond elections—into post-election issues of governance. It actively lobbies for reforms in matters like election campaign finance and the national budget. In 2003 it initiated Parliamentary Watch, which monitors the performance of legislators and officials using benchmarks and concrete indicators in grading government performance at both local and national levels. COMFREL’s monitoring reports are publicly disseminated.

Democracy in Cambodia remains fragile, and the situation complex and dangerous. Koul has experienced harassment, and he knows he has to walk a tightrope for COMFREL to continue doing its work. But despite the legitimate fears of friends and family, he remains committed to using every inch of democratic space to empower his people in building a homeland that is democratic and free. Recalling the tragic experience of millions of Cambodians and his own family, the soft-spoken Koul says: “I think Cambodia has suffered enough. This pushes me to do something as a citizen of Cambodia, to make sure the suffering does not happen again.”

In electing Koul Panha to receive the 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognizes his determined and courageous leadership of the sustained campaign to build an enlightened, organized and vigilant citizenry who will ensure fair and free elections—as well as demand accountable governance by their elected officials—in Cambodia’s nascent democracy.


Click on this link to access the full text of Mr. Koul Panha's lecture:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IGd-nVAijcXd3TYlOj-Nxlcae1KtgWijfxFSbqEZN5g/edit?hl=en_US


Below is a playlist of the video recordings of the public lecture:

Mantra Maintenance: Governance by Slogan, Administration by Spin (A Public Forum)

August 23, 2011 (Tuesday)
9:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m.


Pulungang Claro M. Recto (Faculty Center Conference Hall)
Rizal Hall, College of Arts and Letters
University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City

Organized by the Third World Studies Center (TWSC) and co-sponsored by the UP Office of the Vice-President for Public Affairs (OVPPA), the Philippine Political Science Association (PPSA) and the College of Arts and Letters Office of the Dean, this forum is the third installment of the 2011 TWSC Public Forum Series, "The B.S. Aquino Administration: Possible Perversities, Perverted Possibilities."

PROGRAM:

9:00-9:30

REGISTRATION

9:30-9:35

WELCOME REMARKS

FLORA ELENA R. MIRANO 

Dean

College of Arts and Letters

University of the Philippines-Diliman

9:35-9:40

INTRODUCTION OF THE 2011 TWSC PUBLIC FORUM SERIES

MARIA ELA L. ATIENZA

Director, Third World Studies Center            

College of Social Sciences and Philosophy   

University of the Philippines-Diliman

9:40-9:45 

INTRODUCTION OF THE SPEAKERS

9:45-10:00

CAROL P. ARAULLO

Chairperson

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan

10:00-10:15

GARY B. OLIVAR

Executive Director

Center for Strategy, Enterprise and Intelligence
(Read his remarks here.)

10:15-10:30

ELLEN TORDESILLAS

Columnist

Malaya and Abante

10:30-11:25

OPEN FORUM

11:25-11:30

CLOSING REMARKS / SYNTHESIS

MODERATOR:

Malaya C. Ronas

Professor

Department of Political Science

College of Social Sciences and Philosophy

University of the Philippines-Diliman

ABOUT THE FORUM:

In his recent State of the Nation Address, President Aquino intoned: "Let us end the culture of negativism; let us uplift our fellow Filipinos at every opportunity. Why are there people who enjoy finding fault in our country, who find it so hard—as though it were a sin—to say something nice? Can we even remember the last time we praised a fellow Filipino? Let us stop pulling our fellow man down. Let us put an end to our crab mentality. Let us make the effort to recognize the good that is being done." This from the administration that relied on contrast and unrelenting criticism against the previous dispensation to justify its acceptability to the electorate during the May 2010 national elections—the whiff of hypocrisy in this statement is too strong to ignore. In Aquino’s “A Social Contract with the Filipino People,” for example, he put to good use his association, through his mother, former President Cory Aquino, with the touted 1986 People Power Revolution and all its perceived virtues. It would not be too far-fetched to surmise that parallels are drawn between Cory Aquino’s revolutionary government contra the supposedly evil and oppressive Marcos dictatorship and Noynoy Aquino’s transformational leadership against the supposedly corrupt Arroyo government. As such, good governance has been the guiding principle of the Aquino administration, transparency and accountability its accessory catchwords. After Arroyo’s scandal-rocked government, hardly anyone can object to such a scheme. But blaming his predecessor for his present difficulties might appear, in the long run, to be devious—an exercise in misdirection, an element of cheap tricks that works only on the gullible and the inattentive. Rid this nation of wang-wangs, both real and metaphorical, still people will ask if this is the much-vaunted social transformation that we must aspire for. (But why social in the first place? Because we cannot hack an economic one?) Or is this the usual bread-and-circus populism hyped by the government’s media machine as “social transformation” to exude gravitas? The president’s appeal to end negativism is reminiscent of Imeldific hokum that we only look for the true, the good and the beautiful. Criticize others when in campaign, demand only praise when in office. Will platitude and sycophancy soon be state policies? Is this the president’s message for the next five years? Much room for conjecture remains as to whether his administration will succeed in keeping true to its words—and the ultimate effect on its popularity and legitimacy in the event that it fails to do so.




Below is a playlist of the video recording of the forum:

India: Rising Economic Giant or Bubble in the Making? (A Public Lecture by Lawrence Surendra)

August 15, 2011 (Monday)

10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon

Conference Room
Third World Studies Center 

Lower Ground Floor, Palma Hall

College of Social Sciences and Philosophy

Roxas Avenue, University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City

Departing from previously social-oriented policies, India began in the 1990s to develop an open-market economy centered on economic liberalization, industrial deregulation, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and reduced controls on foreign trade and investment. This has accelerated the country's growth, which has averaged more than 7% per year since 1997 and hit 10% in 2010. Services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for 55% of output as India became a major exporter of information technology services and software workers. Its 2010 GDP of $4 trillion ranks it fifth in the world. India now stands, together with China, as the new economic giants set to challenge the long-running hegemony of the West. Problems remain, however. Growth has been accompanied by increasing joblessness and widespread poverty and gross inequality still persist. Access to basic social services still eludes most Indians. Social tensions and communal conflicts fester even as rural-urban migration continues unabated. Ominously, the 2011 growth figures appear to signal an economic slowdown.

***

Lawrence Surendra is Environmental and Development Economist and Science and Technology Policy Specialist. He is the Planning Commission Chair Visiting Professor at the Department of Economics, University of Mysore. He is a Member of the Karnataka State Environment Appellate Authority. He has worked with UN-ESCAP, the United Nations University and UNESCO, Bangkok; was Adviser to the Stockholm Environment Institute and a scholar-in-residence at the Dag Hammarksjold Foundation, Uppsala. He was the founding Executive Director (1980-1988) of Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA). He is engaged in research and advocacy on public policy issues relating to environment and democratic governance, eco-regeneration, eco-sanitation, renewable energy, plant bio-diversity’ local knowledge systems, and sustainable agriculture. He and his wife, Pushpa, live near Mysore on an organic horticultural farm, incorporating ecological principles and design in the maintenance of the farm and natural resource use.

***

Organized by the Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA Philippines) and the UP Third World Studies Center.

Organizing to Win: Strategic Impact of Violent Rebel Groups in the Southern Philippines (A Roundtable Discussion)

Organizing to Win: Strategic Impact of Violent Rebel Groups in the Southern Philippines

August 5, 2011 (Friday), 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., TWSC Conference Room, Lower Ground Floor, Palma Hall, University of the Philippines-Diliman

Main Discussant:
Dr. Nori Katagiri
Visiting Research Fellow
Third World Studies Center (TWSC)
and
Assistant Professor
Department of International Security Studies
United States Air War College

Abstract
How does the organizational design of insurgent groups affect their military effectiveness? Answering this question is difficult as violent rebel groups are quite diverse across nations in the Third World and it requires us to examine a number of such organizations. However, it also provides a set of important implications for governments contemplating how to fight them effectively and helps them formulate counterinsurgency strategies. Through the survey of the literature of insurgent organizations and military effectiveness, I argue that, while insurgency is a result of a number of internal and external factors, there are several organizational patterns in these groups and that differences in these patterns explain the variation in the level of strategic effectiveness. I seek to illustrate these arguments using a case study of two major active rebel groups in the southern Philippines—the Abu Sayyaf Group and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

We invite all with an interest in insurgent groups in the Philippines - particularly those in Muslim Mindanao - to participate in or observe the discussion.

Organized by the UP Third World Studies Center

TWSC Updates: New Deputy Director of TWSC; Publications Available Online

Dr. Ma. Mercedes G. Planta, an associate professor of the Department of History, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines-Diliman is TWSC's new deputy director. 

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A number of TWSC's out-of-print/nonprofit publications have been uploaded to TWSC's Scribd account. Visit http://www.scribd.com/UPTWSC to view or download these publications.

The Military on the Mend—Or Are the Mistahs Waiting for a Messiah?

The Military on the Mend—Or Are the Mistahs Waiting for a Messiah?

Part Two of the 2011 UP Third World Studies Center Public Forum Series "The B.S. Aquino Administration - Possible Perversities, Perverted Possibilities" 

July 26, 2011, 1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m., Claro M. Recto Hall, Bulwagang Rizal (Faculty Center), University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 

PROGRAM: 

1:00-1:30
REGISTRATION

1:30-1:35
WELCOME REMARKS
TERESA S. ENCARNACION TADEM
President
Philippine Political Science Association

1:35-1:40
INTRODUCTION OF THE 2011 TWSC PUBLIC FORUM SERIES
MARIA ELA L. ATIENZA
DirectorThird World Studies Center            
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy   
University of the Philippines-Diliman

1:40-1:45
INTRODUCTION OF THE SPEAKERS

1:45-2:00
DANILO D. LIM
Brigadier General (Ret.)
Philippine Army
Armed Forces of the Philippines

2:00-2:15
RICARDO TROTA JOSE
Professor
Department of History
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines-Diliman

2:15-2:30
CRISELDA YABES
Freelance Journalist and
Author, The Boys from the Barracks: The Philippine Military after EDSA

2:30-3:25
OPEN FORUM

3:25-3:30
CLOSING REMARKS / SYNTHESIS

MODERATOR:
Herman Joseph Kraft
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines-Diliman

Organized by the Third World Studies Center (TWSC) 

Co-sponsored by the UP Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs, 

The Philippine Political Science Association, and the 

Office of the Dean. College of Arts and Letters 

ABOUT THE FORUM

Speaking, perhaps presumptuously, for the entire military, one senior military officer stated in May 2010 that there will be no coup attempts during the Benigno Aquino III administration. Will this prognosis be fulfilled? Will this Aquino administration be in stark contrast to the first, which was the most embattled regime in the nation's history in terms of coup attempts? A year into his presidency, Aquino has given amnesty to rebel soldiers who were, at best, a thorn in the side of his predecessor; corruption in the military is now under close scrutiny by the country's lawmakers-cum-arbiters, with longstanding secret "pabaon" and “pasalubong” practices now brought to the public eye; moreover, merit appears to be, at long last, the main consideration in appointing officers to the upper echelons of the military hierarchy. Indeed, Aquino may be the commander-in-chief that those clamoring for reform in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have been waiting for, better than any of the chief executives that military men colluded with to bring to power. Yet, Aquino seems to have the same predilection for patronage as his predecessors; retired military officials, some of them former underlings of Aquino’s mother, are still getting choice appointments in government. Aquino may yet prove himself to be a stickler for traditions—the kind that makes the AFP one of the most excessively politicized armed forces in the world.

Below is a playlist of the videos of the forum:

For information on the forum series and the upcoming installments of the series, please see this post.

Of Churlish Churches and a Sanctimonious State: Will There Ever Be a State of Grace? A Public Forum

Of Churlish Churches and a Sanctimonious State: Will There Ever Be a State of Grace? 

Part One of the 2011 UP Third World Studies Center Public Forum Series "The B.S. Aquino Administration - Possible Perversities, Perverted Possibilities" 

June 22, 2011, 9:00 a.m. - 11:30 nn, Claro M. Recto Hall, Bulwagang Rizal (Faculty Center), University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 

PROGRAM: 

9:00-9:30         REGISTRATION

9:30-9:35        WELCOME REMARKS
                       JOSE WENDELL P. CAPILI
                       Assistant Vice President for Public Affairs
                       University of the Philippines

9:35-9:40        INTRODUCTION OF THE 2011 TWSC PUBLIC FORUM SERIES
                       MARIA ELA L. ATIENZA
                       Director
                       Third World Studies Center
                       College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
                       University of the Philippines-Diliman

9:40-9:45        INTRODUCTION OF THE SPEAKERS

9:45-10:05      RAUL C. PANGALANGAN
                       Professor
                       College of Law
                       University of the Philippines-Diliman

10:05-10:25    LYDIA N. YU JOSE
                       Professor
                       Department of Political Science
                       Ateneo de Manila University

10:25-11:25    OPEN FORUM

11:25-11:30    CLOSING REMARKS / SYNTHESIS

Moderator

ROLANDO S. FERNANDO 

Senior Lecturer

Department of Political Science 

University of the Philippines-Diliman

Organized by the UP Third World Studies Center 

Co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice-President for Public Affairs, University of the Philippines and Philippine Political Science Association

ABOUT THE FORUM:

On April 17, 2011, during the commencement exercises at the University of the Philippines Diliman, President Aquino brushed aside threats of excommunication from the Catholic Church. He made the unequivocal announcement that he is “resolved to enact into law the principles of responsible parenthood.” One wonders what the display of determination is for when the principle of the separation of state and church has been safeguarded, at least in writing, by the Philippine Constitutions of 1899, 1935, 1973, and 1987. However, organized religion—most prominently the Catholic Church—has continued, over the years, to exert considerable influence on various policymaking initiatives of the state. The recent fracas over reproductive health care and sexuality education illustrates this point. However, to confine the discussion of the dynamics of state-church relations to another heated pro-anti debate with its attendant bloviations would be to miss the point, and is thus not the aim of this forum. President Aquino’s dismissal of the Catholic Church’s threat should be read with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s inclusion of Psalm 33:12 (“Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,” as translated into Filipino, “Pinagpala ang bayan na ang Diyos ay ang Panginoon”) on the new peso bills. As the Aquino government declares its belief in God, with the clear preference for the Christian one, it is also exhibiting its faith in adroit political maneuvers against self-assured churches and religious entrepreneurs. In attempting to deal with this question, it is necessary to consider the fact that the state itself continues to be guilty of fostering organized religion’s sense of secure stakeholder positions in its customary courting of electoral support.

Below is a playlist of the videos of the forum.

For information on the forum series and the upcoming installments of the series, please see this post.

TWSC Launches Its 2011 Public Forum Series

THE 2011 TWSC PUBLIC FORUM SERIES

The B.S. Aquino Administration: Possible Perversities, Perverted Possibilities

This forum series is not to assess the current Aquino administration. Other fora have done that. This series is for those who are willing to stake their sharp acumen and risk the chance that they could be proven wrong. The proposed series is a four-part forum that offers prognostications on how the Aquino administration will conduct itself in office and how it will impact on social institutions and the lives of Filipinos. There will be one forum for each month of June, July, August, and September 2011. The forum will engage academics and public intellectuals to discuss with the UP community and the broader public the following issues: the realpolitik of state-church relations, the 2011-2016 Medium-term Philippine Development Plan, public perception and governance, and that quagmire of corruption, the military. The forum proceedings will be transcribed, made public, and later be published as an edited volume—a pioneering academic and critical work on the B.S. Aquino administration.

Trust but verify. The greater the trust, the more intense scrutiny must be. The Third World Studies Center believes that the academe as a social institution is best suited for this task. There is no better time to express skepticism on the Aquino administration than at present when the chief executive enjoys respectable popularity with the electorate. What are the conditions for expressing skepticism, for predicting the possible perversities and the perverted possibilities of the present administration? By perversity we do not mean, nor limit it, to the sexual kind. By the possible perversities of the Aquino administration we mean the common notion of being contrary to what is good, of being recalcitrant to guidance, of being the twin of the previous administration that the present dispensation swore to extirpate. This public forum series may seem like jumping the gun. But for the academe to wait for rhetoric to turn rancid and for special concerns metastasize into scandals is to be complacent to the point of being criminal. We can start with the money. The Aquino administration has been accruing debt in selling peso-denominated bonds worth PHP143 billion and counting. With credit ratings upgrade, more debt to die for is in store. Not content with this easy money—said to be for addressing the fiscal deficit—it has also been selling government properties. As of December 2010 it has amassed PHP51 billion through this effort, and more prime government properties are being lined up for sale. How long before the putrid ghosts of the Roponggi Property and PEA-AMARI deals haunt this administration? Come June, the hungry horde of unelected and unelectable partisans of the president will be free from the one-year ban that relegated them at the bottom of the loser’s bin. Once welcomed at the banquet of governance, what ghastly carcasses of government largesse will they be living behind for the poor and starving masses to gawk at? At the end of President Aquino’s term, will his slogans parroted as policies like “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” and “daang matuwid” be quaint bumper stickers in his showroom of luxury cars? The list could, and will, go on. But continuing it is a task best left to the sagacity of prognosticators, critics, and apologists that the forum will assemble. The present administration’s mantra of transparency and accountability will be tested in these discussions of public affairs. This public forum series intends to get it right as it desperately wants to be proven wrong.


Forum 1 - Of Churlish Churches and a Sanctimonious State: Will There Ever Be a State of Grace?
On April 17, 2011, during the commencement exercises at the University of the Philippines Diliman, President Aquino brushed aside threats of excommunication from the Catholic Church. He made the unequivocal announcement that he is “resolved to enact into law the principles of responsible parenthood.” One wonders what the display of determination is for when the principle of the separation of state and church has been safeguarded, at least in writing, by the Philippine Constitutions of 1899, 1935, 1973, and 1987. However, organized religion—most prominently the Catholic Church—has continued, over the years, to exert considerable influence on various policymaking initiatives of the state. The recent fracas over reproductive health care and sexuality education illustrates this point. However, to confine the discussion of the dynamics of state-church relations to another heated pro-anti debate with its attendant bloviations would be to miss the point, and is thus not the aim of this forum. President Aquino’s dismissal of the Catholic Church’s threat should be read with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s inclusion of Psalm 33:12 (“Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,” as translated into Filipino, “Pinagpala ang bayan na ang Diyos ay ang Panginoon”) on the new peso bills. As the Aquino government declares its belief in God, with the clear preference for the Christian one, it is also exhibiting its faith in adroit political maneuvers against self-assured churches and religious entrepreneurs. In attempting to deal with this question, it is necessary to consider the fact that the state itself continues to be guilty of fostering organized religion’s sense of secure stakeholder positions in its customary courting of electoral support.


Forum 2 - The Military on the Mend—Or Are the Mistahs Waiting for a Messiah?
Speaking, perhaps presumptuously, for the entire military, one senior military officer stated in May 2010 that there will be no coup attempts during the Benigno Aquino III administration. Will this prognosis be fulfilled? Will this Aquino administration be in stark contrast to the first, which was the most embattled regime in the nation's history in terms of coup attempts? A year into his presidency, Aquino has given amnesty to rebel soldiers who were, at best, a thorn in the side of his predecessor; corruption in the military is now under close scrutiny by the country's lawmakers-cum-arbiters, with longstanding secret "pabaon" and “pasalubong” practices now brought to the public eye; moreover, merit appears to be, at long last, the main consideration in appointing officers to the upper echelons of the military hierarchy. Indeed, Aquino may be the commander-in-chief that those clamoring for reform in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have been waiting for, better than any of the chief executives that military men colluded with to bring to power. Yet, Aquino seems to have the same predilection for patronage as his predecessors; retired military officials, some of them former underlings of Aquino’s mother, are still getting choice appointments in government. Aquino may yet prove himself to be a stickler for traditions—the kind that makes the AFP one of the most excessively politicized armed forces in the world.


Forum 3 - Mantra Maintenance: Governance by Slogan, Administration by Spin
In his recent State of the Nation Address, President Aquino intoned:

Let us end the culture of negativism; let us uplift our fellow Filipinos at every opportunity. Why are there people who enjoy finding fault in our country, who find it so hard—as though it were a sin—to say something nice? Can we even remember the last time we praised a fellow Filipino?

Let us stop pulling our fellow man down. Let us put an end to our crab mentality. Let us make the effort to recognize the good that is being done.

This from the administration that relied on contrast and unrelenting criticism against the previous dispensation to justify its acceptability to the electorate during the May 2010 national elections—the whiff of hypocrisy in this statement is too strong to ignore. In Aquino’s “A Social Contract with the Filipino People,” for example, he put to good use his association, through his mother, former President Cory Aquino, with the touted 1986 People Power Revolution and all its perceived virtues. It would not be too far-fetched to surmise that parallels are drawn between Cory Aquino’s revolutionary government contra the supposedly evil and oppressive Marcos dictatorship and Noynoy Aquino’s transformational leadership against the supposedly corrupt Arroyo government. As such, good governance has been the guiding principle of the Aquino administration, transparency and accountability its accessory catchwords. After Arroyo’s scandal-rocked government, hardly anyone can object to such a scheme. But blaming his predecessor for his present difficulties might appear, in the long run, to be devious—an exercise in misdirection, an element of cheap tricks that works only on the gullible and the inattentive. Rid this nation of wang-wangs, both real and metaphorical, still people will ask if this is the much-vaunted social transformation that we must aspire for. (But why social in the first place? Because we cannot hack an economic one?) Or is this the usual bread-and-circus populism hyped by the government’s media machine as “social transformation” to exude gravitas? The president’s appeal to end negativism is reminiscent of Imeldific hokum that we only look for the good, the true, and the beautiful. Criticize others when in campaign, demand only praise when in office. Will platitude and sycophancy soon be state policies? Is this the president’s message for the next five years? Much room for conjecture remains as to whether his administration will succeed in keeping true to its words—and the ultimate effect on its popularity and legitimacy in the event that it fails to do so.


Forum 4 - Rationalized Inability: The President’s Hand in the Untouched Local Government Code
At the very start of his presidency, President Aquino took the helm of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). But as with his romances, the dalliance lasted a mere nine days. He eventually appointed to the post the current secretary, Jesse M. Robredo. Not to begrudge him his personal happiness, but since then, President Aquino’s romantic escapades have been part of the news cycles more often than his articulations on how his administration would take on the bastion of political patronage and locus of feudal rule, the local government units. The exception to this observation are the instances when the president pines for Puno—Rico Puno—to remain DILG undersecretary in charge of police matters even after Puno confessed to a possible liaison with a jueteng lord. Add to this Puno’s wooden response to the Luneta hostage-taking incident. The president’s enthusiasm as a serial dater may be inversely proportional to his inclination to address broad and complex institutional policy issues like local governance. But this perception seemed not to be true when he was running for the presidency. On October 6, 2009, in front of a hundred local government executives, then presidential aspirant Sen. Benigno Aquino made this statement: “Ang paniwala ko ‘yung local government unit, d’yan ho nababatay kung maayos na gobyerno o hindi.” He went on to commit for a review: “I-review muna natin ‘yung na-devolve. ‘Yung mga nag-succeed, bakit nag-succeed? ‘Yung nag-fail, bakit nag-fail?” Then, he became president and nothing was heard again from him on this matter. Not even in his State of the Nation Addresses. Perhaps the president prefers courting chieftains and wooing warlords, as when Malacañang was accused of playing footsie with the Ampatuans just to be able to nail whatever charge on his despised predecessor. Should this not be true, then October 10, 2011 must have a particular significance to his administration. Said date marks the Local Government Code’s two-decade existence that spans five presidencies. The code started as one of the achievements his mother’s presidency. But in his administration, the code may end up as an object of benign neglect, if not considered first as a tradable political commodity. It will be—if not already—a code of governance unsullied even by the most glancing of critical reviews yet marked by ravages of local politicos’ adeptness in exploiting the limitations of the code to perpetuate themselves in power. And as the administration pursues its peace agenda, most visible in its negotiation with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the limits of the code will be further exposed to the pawing, clawing, biting horde of opportunists and provincial potentates.

Can the Aquino administration offer transformational leadership sans any alteration of the basic code of local governance? What failures and missed opportunities will this adherence to the status quo bring about? Maybe it is a misplaced hope that trifling with the Local Government Code will ever lead to reforms. Maybe nothing’s broken. Maybe there’s nothing to fix. Maybe, just like the president, a perfect date is all there is to it.