Akio Kamiko (Ritsumeikan University)
Recently, Japan is faced with depopulation and, partly due to it, ageing of population. In this situation, Japan saw a large scale amalgamation of municipalities, its lowermost level local governments. These local governments function as the basic units of local democracy, choosing their chief executive officers and local assemblymen through elections. Also they works as units for the purpose of health insurance and long term-care insurance, which means that insurance fee for these schemes are calculated in these units and are different from each other. These years, equalization schemes in the finance of these schemes are expanded but still municipalities perform large roles in those schemes whose importance is definitely increasing in the ageing society. The number of municipalities were reduced from over 3,000 to a little more than 1,700 in just a dozen of years. Naturally, this means that the scale of democracy was pushed up, however, in rural areas where population reduction is especially conspicuous, this reduction in number of municipalities may not have led to the increased size of democracy, especially seen in the longer period. In this paper, I will look into this matter taking account of the statistics of people by age groups.
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Jonald Fontanilla Carrera (Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University)
Violence against women is an obstacle to the achievement of the objectives of equality, development and peace. It both violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. In all societies, to a greater or lesser degree, women and girls are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse that cuts across lines of income, class and culture. The low social and economic status of women can be both a cause and a consequence of this violence. The study aimed to determine the current situation of VAWC cases in the City of San Fernando, La Union using qualitative-quantitative research design. Salient provisions of the said law were the bases in crafting the questionnaire which was the primary data-gathering tool. Findings show that current situation of VAWC in the City of San Fernando includes cases fall both in economic and physical abuse. Anent thereto, the extent of implementation of VAWC Law along the identified areas is moderately implemented. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher concluded that victims were deprived of financial support due to unwarranted circumstances; provisions of VAWC law are given full attention for stricter compliance; and the intervention program gives emphasis on the Commission’s mandate in addressing the needs of the victims. Cynthia Grace Tomas Valdez (Quirino State University)
Loreta Vivian Galima (Nueva Vizcaya State University) The research focuses on farming practices and indigenous knowledge in agriculture, the sustainability of resources through sound farm practices and the politics surrounding the implementation of these practices, as well as the power relationship between and among the key players in the agricultural village. The locale of the study is a Bugkalot Village in Quirino, a province in Northern Luzon, the Philippines. Three popular agricultural practices in the area were studied closely, from the native viewpoint: swidden farming, integrated farming and permanent dry farming. Practices on land preparation, planting, crop management, and harvesting were analyzed according to the existing network of social and political relationships between farmers, leaders and elders. The documentation of events from land preparation to harvesting and post-harvest practices through non-participant and participant observation, focused group discussion and face-to-face interviews was completed before comparisons were made, between the indigenous and time-tested practices, against modernized and mechanized farming. |
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