Philippine Monetary Policy and Aspects of the Financial Market: A Review of the Literature

Starting from early 1960s to late 1970s, this study conducts a survey of the literature dealing with Philippine monetary policy and related aspects of the financial market. In doing so, several important research problems are noted. Hence, this study is able to aid researchers, planners and policymakers in their future endeavor.financial market, money and banking, financial sector, financial system, monetary policy

Making property rights accessible : social movements and legal innovation in the Philippines

Today, many rural poor Filipinos are using state law to try to claim land rights. In spite of the availability of a much heftier set of specialised legal resources than ever before, however, claiming legal land rights remains extremely difficult. Pro-market scholars cite difficult legal problems as a reason to turn away from state-led land reform and toward a market-assisted land reform (MALR) model. Yet, as this paper shows, a closer look at actual dynamics around land reform in the Philippines suggests that political-legal problems associated with implementation of the 1988 agrarian reform law can be overcome under certain conditions. It is argued that rural poor claimants must have access to a support structure for political-legal mobilisation, particularly “rights-advocacy organisation”, and they must adopt an integrated political-legal strategy, in order to effectively push existing constitutional-juridical openings and institutional reforms in favour of land redistribution. An integrated political-legal strategy is one that is capable of activating state agrarian reform law, exploiting independent state actors’ pro-reform initiatives, and resisting the legal and extra-legal manoeuvres of anti-reform elites

How Filipino LBTs Cope with Economic Disadvantage

UK Department for International DevelopmentAfter decades as the so-called ‘sick man of Asia’, the Philippines has adopted the export-driven model of economic development followed by wealthier Asian countries (Makabenta 2014) and has begun to address the pervasive corruption that has perennially deterred investment. With the Aquino administration’s prosecution of high-profile cases of corruption and implementation of various tax reform measures, the country’s credit rating has improved tremendously, attracting the attention of investors. Unfortunately, this economic growth has not trickled down to the millions of Filipinos living in poverty and nor has it resulted in job creation. It is in the slums of Metro Manila, far from the buzzing finance district, where GALANG Philippines’ constituency of lesbians, bisexual women and trans men (LBTs) struggle against oppressive poverty in the face of the additional burdens of social ostracisation and bigotry. ‘Galang’ is the Filipino word for respect. GALANG is also the name of a duly acclaimed feminist human rights organisation that works with economically marginalised LBTs in the Philippines. In this case study, GALANG seeks to identify strategies in which Filipino LBTs cope with workplace discrimination and the severe lack of gainful employment opportunities in the country. GALANG argues that Filipino LBTs are more likely to be tolerated by their respective families when they make a substantial financial contribution. Because SOGIE-based biases make finding gainful employment especially challenging for sexual minorities, many LBTs have turned to creative livelihood sources to empower themselves economically and contribute to family coffers in order to gain acceptance. Additionally, this case study examines the motivations, aspirations and personal lives of LBT Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong. It tackles the links between and among financial independence, economic empowerment, family acceptance, migration and sexuality, specifically in the context of Filipino LBTs. Homosexuality and lesbianism are often described as ‘social costs’ of migration. This research goes against the grain of this argument. It seeks to illustrate how financial independence sets the stage for lesbians to better come to terms with their sexuality

Participation and Protest: Non-Governmental Organisations and Philippine Politics.

Since the late 1980s, a significant number of studies of the work of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the developing world have been published, giving rise to a distinctive literature within the social sciences. This literature however focuses on the socioeconomic aspects of NGO action and is of limited use to political scientists in interpreting the "associational revolution" triggered by the proliferation of NGOs in Asia, Africa and Latin America in recent decades. Michael Bratton has argued that it is in the political sphere rather than the economic that the contributions of NGOs to development should be mainly seen, yet political scientists have failed to contribute proportionately to the evolving NGO literature. Following Bratton, this dissertation examines the role of NGOs in Philippine politics, especially since the collapse of the Marcos dictatorship in February 1986. The dissertation examines the history of Philippine NGO participation in politics, relations between NGOs and the Philippine state since 1986, the institutional forces promoting the proliferation of NGOs, and the main mechanisms through which NGOs engage in politics. Case-studies of two of the Philippines' leading NGOs elaborate on the general arguments from early chapters and reveal that NGO strategy is characterised by a complex blend of participation and protest shaped by the policies of a succession of regimes throughout the late twentieth century. Between 1984 and 1993, the number of NGOs in the Philippines grew by 148%. This growth raises important questions about the nature of NGO action and its impact on Philippine politics, the state, and civil society. Does the NGO community strengthen civil society? Can it transform relations between the state and civil society? Can it help to empower the millions traditionally marginalised from political participation in the Philippines? On the first question, the dissertation argues that NGOs simultaneously weaken and strengthen civil society and that the NGO community is best seen as a new arena within which battles from society at large are internalized. On the second, it argues that collaboration between NGOs and the state has strengthened the state in small yet significant ways, helping it to attack entrenched socio-economic elite interests and helping the state to attract broad-based popular support for far-reaching political and economic reforms. On the third question, the dissertation argues that expanding political participation has been one of the main achievements of the Philippine NGO community and that NGOs, by linking with grass-roots "people's organisations", have filled an important institutional vacuum resulting from the inability of political parties, trade unions and peasant associations to promote sustained popular political participation. The main significance of growth in the Philippine NGO community is political. As the dissertation argues throughout, the proliferation, regional distribution and organisational character of NGOs, as well as the tasks they perform and the posture they adopt vis-a-vis state agencies and the private sector, have all been determined by essentially political factors. Philippine NGOs and the people's organisations with which they work closely are significant mainly for their broad organisational reach and their ability to organise and mobilise around ideologically-coherent interests, hence making them an important actor in Philippine politics

Defence and development: a case study of the Philippines

In the security spectrum, there is a blurring line between defence and development. In both traditional and non-traditional security situations, such as counterinsurgency and natural disasters, the armed forces has been called to respond in ways other than their mandate of physical protection in order to attend to human development needs. How and when this transition of roles happens has been studied and debated. As the main security institution of a country, militaries around the world have performed duties outside of their defence functions. Their tasks have expanded from maintaining peace and order to including nation-building, economic development, the provision of disaster relief, and engaging in efforts to conserve natural resources. Looking at these extra functions, the Philippines armed forces are no different in performing non-traditional roles. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is one of the key institutions, which has been at the forefront of the campaign in tackling these domestic challenges. To a certain extent, the mixture of economic activities with combat operations has characterised the military’s different campaigns such as counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency. Involvement in economic functions has been justified on the grounds that it is critical to ‘winning the hearts and minds’ of those living on the front lines, supporting the military’s role in nation-building. The aim of this study is to employ pre-determined metrics to evaluate the contribution of the Philippine defence sector to national development, and, in turn, comprehensive security. Whilst the conventional view is that defence is a burden on development, the question this study poses is whether, by contrast, in the Philippine context, there is a positive relationship between defence and development; that is, that defence expenditure contributes to development outputs such as employment, skill-generation and even infrastructural investment. The study framework is anchored to the following policies: AFP Modernisation Act of 1995, and its subsequent revision, AFP Modernisation Act of 2010, the Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP), and the National Security Plan 2011-2016. The framework highlights the important security goals of defence industrialisation, internal security, and non-traditional security. These data were further substantiated and consolidated via archival sources, such as government and company reports, as well as secondary data (e.g. books, journals, etc.). The mission thrusts of the AFP demonstrate the organisation’s multiple objectives to carry out a mandate to protect the state and the people. The Philippines has a very modest defence industry with few companies manufacturing small arms and ammunitions. Its goal is to be self-reliant, however, issues within the Procurement Law prevents this. Meanwhile, the conduct of counter-insurgency efforts through the IPSP allows the AFP unified commands and field units to support government units and agencies in their peace and development programmes. Furthermore, the geographic deployment of military personnel and equipment across the archipelago allows the armed forces to respond in times of disasters. Overall, the armed forces has contributes positively to the national development of the Philippines. To this end, and based on the research finding, a number of important policy recommendations are advanced to raise the effectiveness of the Philippines’ security policies

An Evaluation of the Cooperative System in the Philippines

The Philippine cooperative system has been characterized by success and failure. This paper explores the reasons for the circumstances, the problems plaguing the system and its implications on the movement in general. A review of various studies is conducted.cooperative system

Philippine Ethnography: A Critically Annotated and Selected Bibliography

This volume is a comprehensive listing of reference sources for Philippine ethnology, excluding physical anthropology and de-emphasizing folklore and linguistics. It is published as part of the East-West Bibliographic Series. This listing includes books, journal articles, mimeographed papers, and official publications selected on the basis of the ratings of sixty-two Philippine specialists. Several titles were added to fill the need for material in certain areas

Philippine Studies Program Feasibility Report

This report is a program proposal for the establishment of Philippine Studies as a new academic program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in response to the Hawaii State Legislature resolution in 1974 creating such program in the University system. The report favorably recommended that this new program be instituted at UH considering available resources, faculty, students and demand, and in recognition of the "significant contributions made by Filipinos to the history, culture, and economy of Hawaii.