Month: April 2012

Manufacturing can be a key to Filipinos enjoying a free and healthy life

April 25, 2012September 1, 2014 Ilda 42 Comments

Former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan defined a developed country as: “… one that allows all its citizens to enjoy a free and healthy life in a safe environment”. In theory, his statement is simple enough to understand but quite complicated to put into practice. Annan wasn’t specific about which country or…

Development, Economy, Government, Lifestyle

Ph Supreme Court rules on Hacienda Luisita – values vast plantation at a measly P200 million

April 24, 2012 benign0 31 Comments

It’s final. To the plea of Hacienda Luisita Inc (HLI) that its vast plantation in Tarlac is worth P5 billion, the Philippine Supreme Courte voted 8 to 6 for a final valuation just short of P200 million. This is based on an assessment of P40,000 per hectare made in 1989 when the Department of Agrarian…

Economy, Government, Politics

The 27th Law: Playing on People’s Need to Believe

April 24, 2012April 24, 2012 a 81 Comments

Back in the Dark and Middle Ages, the Church was practically the State. It maintained a firm and oppressive grip on the lives of the people, bending them to its allegedly holy will. People suffered and were persecuted, and all of these were done in the guise of Godâ€™s divine providence. Faith became the sharp…

Government, Politics, Religion, Society

Cyber-skullduggery: adding fuel to the fire

April 24, 2012 FallenAngel 7 Comments

It seems that there are certain groups of people who are looking to increase the tension between China and the Philippines with regards to the standoff at Scarborough Shoal. Theyâ€™re doing it through a ubiquitous medium that we couldnâ€™t think of existing without nowadays: the Internet. And theyâ€™re doing it by perpetrating what I call…

Politics, Society, Tech Talk, Technology

Repatriation of workers should match a repatriation of jobs

April 23, 2012 benign0 3 Comments

The lessons learnt from outsourcing was long in coming. “Cheap” manufacturing meant taking “cost” advantage of foreign exchange and purchasing power disparities between rich nations and poor ones. And the low costs that were outcomes of these arrangements were bandied as “efficiency gains” in the home market despite no real operating efficiencies being actually realised…

Development, Economy, Money Talks

A sense of nationalism: The Philippines has no such thing

April 23, 2012December 30, 2015 benign0 72 Comments

The Philippines is a country by colonial edict — much like the way the old Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were, as well as many African nations. They are meaningless hollow pin-up states cobbled together for the sheer pleasure, vanity, and mercantile ambitions of their former imperial architects. In the case of the Philippines, even the name…

Civics, Culture, Development, Society

What Miss Universe really stands for and why feminine beauty exists

April 22, 2012April 22, 2012 benign0 15 Comments

The recent furor over a ruling issued by no less than Donald Trump himself owner of the Miss Universe Organization (MUO) allowing transgender contestants to vie for the Miss Universe title sparked numerous debates around what it means to be a “woman” and what defines “beauty”. The Miss Universe pageant after all is a beauty…

Culture, Glitz and Glamour, Lifestyle, Media, Science, Society

Exciting times ahead for Philippine Airlines!

April 21, 2012April 21, 2012 benign0 6 Comments

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is up for a long-overdue $500 million to $1 billion fleet modernisation program following full takeover of management control by San Miguel Corporation (SMC). SMC had recently acquired 49 percent of publicly-listed PAL Holdings which gives SMC an indirect 40 percent stake in Philippine Airlines. SMC president Ramon S. Ang…

Economy, Money Talks