In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

Ahead of May 2013 midterm elections in the Philippines, media organizations and political parties signed last week the “Covenant Against Media Corruption 2013,” an agreement that marks a significant step toward curbing rampant corruption in the media.

> More

On October 19, The Asia Foundation held the Manila launch of the book, Dynamics of Gender and Conflict in Mindanao, written by conflict experts Rufa Guiam and Leslie Dwyer.

> More

Francia came to Tala Leprosarium from her hometown of Camarines Sur in Bicol region as a leprosy patient when she was 17 years old. Before she contracted leprosy, she had worked as a domestic helper. When I met Francia at Jose Rodriguez Memorial Hospital, a former leprosarium and grantee of The Asia Foundation’s…

> More

Newsweek/The Daily Beast, in its September 18 issue, ranked the Philippines as the “best place in Asia for women.” The Philippines ranked 17th worldwide, among 165 countries, the only Asian country to make the top 20. Data across five categories – justice, health, education, economics, and politics – were analyzed…

> More

In its Global Gender Gap 2010 Report, released last week, the World Economic Forum ranked the Philippines 9th among nearly 200 countries in gender equity. The Philippines is also Asia’s highest-ranking country (followed by Sri Lanka at 16, and Mongolia at 27). It ranks 1st on both education and health among Asian countries, and boasts [...]

> More

The May 2010 national and local elections will claim many firsts: the first nationwide automated elections in the Philippines and in Asia, and also the most expensive election in the country’s electoral history. Strange bedfellows share the same stage in campaign sorties (Leftist leaders who were detained by former President Marcos share the same Senatorial [...]

> More

It’s SHOWTIME!  In the Philippines, politics is entertainment and elections are fiestas. This proved to be true once again with the start of the official campaign season on February 9. At campaign kick-offs in various parts of the country, presidential candidates were joined with celebrities, singers, and dancers at the campaign sorties. Manny Villar of [...]

> More

On the night of Sept. 1, 2009, Vicente Valera, former governor of Abra – a province in Northern Luzon in the Philippines – was arrested in his posh Rockwell condominium in Makati, Metro Manila. Valera is now the prime suspect in the murder of Congressman Luis Bersamin, Jr. The murder took place Dec.16, 2006, just [...]

> More

On August 17, a front page feature article on trafficking in persons (TIP) was placed in a major national daily, the Philippine Star. The story, “Internet Pornography:  The Untouchable Crime,” written by Carmela Fonbuena of Newsbreak, was written to call on the general public to seriously look into this terrible transnational crime that acutely affects [...]

> More