GOVERNANCE: ITS PRESENT & FUTURE
[Talk of Sen. Nene Pimentel before the Philippine
Business Leaders Forum, Manila Polo Club, April 19,
2007]
Before we talk of the future of governance, let us
first discuss its present state.
The state of governance today is, to say the least,
sad.
MANILA — The World Health Organization (WHO) says deaths and disabilities resulting from motorcycle accidents involving young people have become a public health epidemic in Asia, particularly in low and medium-income countries.
Young motorcyclists make up a significant percentage of injuries and fatalities among road users in many Asian countries, including Cambodia and Malaysia (see graph). Factors such as speed, no helmets, risk-taking behaviour and drink-driving contribute to the rising trend.
DAVAO CITY — As many as 444 barangays (villages) in the Southern Mindanao region have been classified as among so-called “areas of immediate concern” this election season.
The police in the region reported 38 percent of the villages in Southern Mindanao, including those in three cities and 44 municipalities, are affected by armed and election-related threats.
MANILA – When President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo attends the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) slated this weekend in China?s southernmost island province of Hainan, she will be in elite company.
More than 200 senior government officials and 600 top businessmen from around the world, including the wealthiest of them all, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, are among those who have confirmed their attendance to the April 20-22 forum which this year will look for new approaches and ideas for sustainable economic development in Asia.
MANILA — Describing the successive attacks this week on provincial media practitioners as “despicable,” President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the local law enforcement agencies to “carry out a swift and thorough investigation.”
In a statement, Press Secretary and concurrent Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio R. Bunye said attacks on journalists have “no place in a democracy that upholds press freedom.”