by Walden Bello
"China is today the ideal capitalist state: freedom for capital, with the state doing the 'dirty job' of controlling the workers,” writes the prominent Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek.  “China as the emerging power of the twenty first century …seems to embody a new kind of capitalism: disregard for ecological consequences, disdain for workers' rights, everything subordinated to the ruthless drive to develop and become the new world force."

Results of an Investigation by Rep. Walden Bello, Chair of the Committee on Overseas Workers’ Affairs (COWA), House of Representatives, Philippines, was released May 25, 2011. After the referral to the Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs (COWA) of a speech by Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada on the plight of 11 OFWs in Los Angeles, California, USA, the Chair of the Committee conducted an investigation of the case while in the United States during the congressional break around two months ago.

As ASEAN nears its 44th year, what social divides continue to haunt the governments and the peoples of the regional association? Similarly, what opportunities exist for other types of regionalism to emerge in the present conjuncture?

Here, Jenina Joy Chavez of Focus on the Global South addresses the questions and more in the Opening Plenary of the 2011 ACSC/APF in Jakarta, Indonesia. "We [Civil Society] must assert ourselves," she contends, pointing to the real prospects of steering ASEAN in alternative, pro-people directions.

By: Mary Ann Manahan*, Focus on the Global South

For the CSO Workshop and Strategy Meeting for the Review of the IFC Sustainability Framework Organized by: Alyansa Tigil Mina, BIC, and PIPLINKS

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is the private sector arm of the World Bank Group and is independent of the World Bank.  Its main mission is “to promote private sector investment in the developing countries, which will reduce poverty and improve people’s lives”. IFC finances investments with its own resources and by mobilizing capital in the international financial markets.  Its charter requires it to be profitable and profits are ensured through the cash flows from the projects it invests on. It also provides technical assistance and advisory services to governments and businesses.

This paper provides a short background on the state of IFC’s involvement and investment in the Philippines, in particular for the last ten years. It offers a narrative- description and facts as well as critical insights on potential flashpoint cases and issues, which can trigger complaints from communities or other parties based on the provisions of the IFC Sustainability Framework. The bigger context upon which this paper was conceptualized and written is the on-going review of IFC’s Performance Standards and Sustainability Framework. The author did desktop research and culled information that IFC website is publicly disclosing. Research assistance was provided by Wanlapa Komkai, Bank Information Center (BIC) Mekong summer intern. This paper, therefore, must be seen as an overview paper rather than an in-depth study. Finally, this was presented at the CSO Workshop and Strategy Meeting organized by Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), BIC, and PIPLINKS, who also commissioned the study, on July 7, 2010. Comments from the participants and some of the latest developments about IFC’s investment in the country have been incorporated in this latest draft.