Think Pieces

Election violence is a paradox. Elections are designed to be peaceful means to resolve contestation for power and to uphold the democratic rights of citizens to participate directly in governance. Yet, in the Philippines, elections have increasingly become a reason for the use of violence and have often sowed fear and divisiveness and/or violation of human rights.

'I enjoin others to try to fill-up the blank below and send the letter to good and honest Congresspersons you know too'

The Robredo case underscores one critical point for the Left: the new Left is out there. The current Left can either recognize this and do something about it, or once again be left out in the emerging politics of change.

Ferdinand Marcos and Lean Alejandro were two Martial Law figures who approached writing in markedly different ways

If you think that Marcos was the best president we ever had, think again

Using the ways of the old to fight for the new is like becoming the enemy you want to defeat

Yes, there is something positive too about what we are going through – and how we can harvest these gains and use them to move forward will spell the difference for reforms in the country

'Is there another way to achieve the same result and make drug addicts or users surrender or cooperate with authorities without capitalizing on the threat of death?'

If we are to elect Duterte to the presidency, we must first ask ourselves: how different is present-day Philippines from Davao City of the 1980s?

There are 4 gaps that leave critical questions hanging and issues unresolved on the DAP controversy. This is how the decision could be wanting for non-lawyers

The decision on the PDAF should be appreciated as the start of even bigger fights ahead

His resignation shows how a person can reconcile the tension between his individual political disposition with his responsibility to a cause, a collective or a party

The pork barrel is a scam fueling a patronage-based political culture and perverting the political system

Robredo said he expects bad people to be smart and to fight hard; so to defeat them, good people should not only be smarter, they should also fight harder.

There is still much room for improvement in citizen participation in local education governance

The government's over-emphasis on the right of the person with the gun over the right to life and due process of presumed innocent civilians can easily be abused and misused

This Complaint should be our opportunity to show we can hold power to account. It should also be an opportunity for us to bring the integrity of our political system. This Complaint should strengthen our call to ABOLISH PORK!

G-Watch Localization aims to engage the local level to develop a G-Watch application that is attuned to local context and realities. It takes into account the decentralized policy context, the situation and condition of citizen participation in local governance, the nature and practice of the local government unit and the backdrop of socio-cultural realities prevalent and strong at the local area like primacy of kinship, prevalence of patronage and machismo, to name a few. It situates itself in the areas of monitoring and evaluation which remains weak despite the mandated avenues for citizen participation due to sheer lack of resources for it, the lack of capability and its seeming lack of urgency in comparison to other concerns.

ASoG’s brand of education is the marrying of theory and practice where academic knowledge is used in order to solve practical problems of our time. It tries to achieve that balance between the realm of ideas and the concrete realities that ideas must contend with to make a difference in real time, real space.

Our approach to change and development is what we call a mosaic approach where scattered efforts and actors working towards change and development are facilitated by the School to come together as pieces of the puzzle that if put together would form an alternative picture of the country.

This seminar serves as another classroom of ASoG. It will be a microcosm of what we endeavor to achieve all over the country.

But more than losing, we have gained much through his life and through his death. A loss as big as Jesse Robredo involving a person that has touched so many lives means God is sending messages wholesale. There is a common message for all, for groups, for collectives, but there is also a unique message for every individual who would be blessed to find the message especially for them. This big a loss will be big a gain if we discern in our hearts and soul the meaning of this loss in our individual and collective lives and the message He wants to tell us. That's one way this loss will serve the good for each of us and all. That's the way Sec. Jesse will be with us forever.