Editorial
Public empowerment
The sin tax bill, the reproductive health bill, the “enforced disappearances” bill—as far as substantive, high-impact legislation goes, 2012 will go down as a banner year for Congress and the administration of President Aquino. It’s quite an annus mirabilis, too, for a country long starved for laws and regulations that have the potential to truly change the game. Too many Congresses have come and gone with not one meaningful piece of work to remember them by. But now, practically in one blow, the Philippines has been presented with three new laws that advance the cause of progressive politics and, not incidentally, kindle the hope that this time, the country may indeed be on its way to a more modern, enlightened era of governance and civic order.
