We beg to differ.
It doesn’t take much to remind Filipinos of their poverty. The problem, however, is that these reminders almost always have to come from external entities. And within this month alone we enjoyed the privilege of two stark reminders, Typhoon Mario and that Aegis Global viral video that the Philippine government is now desperately trying to…
Read More “Wretched Philippine-style poverty is actually quite normal” »
I watched just now the excellent speech delivered by Emma Watson at the United Nations in New York City last Saturday. This was on the occassion of the launch of the UN HeForShe campaign and she spoke as the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, a role she was appointed to about six months earlier. Watson said…
Read More “Emma Watson’s feminism speech and why men should STILL harden the f–k up” »
Recent events have, yet again, highlighted the embarrassing way with which Filipinos and the government they elected to lead them are desperately scrambling to extricate themselves from systemic poverty after decades of misguided “development” approaches and serial promise breaking. Like many many previous presidents before him, Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III went on…
Read More “The futility of begging for foreign investment when your country sucks” »
It seems the Philippines has been singled out by a company in Malaysia as its single biggest competitor for investment in the region. A promotional video produced by a Aegis Malaysia, a global business process outsourcing (BPO) company makes a pitch to its clients to locate their BPO needs in Malaysia by highlighting that country’s…
Today may as well have been a day in September 2009 when Typhoon Ondoy struck and devastated Manila. Back then I wrote about the Philippine government’s utter failure to step up and provide relief to hundreds of thousands of its victims (a failure to be repeated many more times since), and how Metro Manilans pretty…
The mobbing of Budget Secretary Butch Abad by angry students from the University of the Philippines (UP) is a sign that the system in the Philippines has broken down. The fact that a large group of Filipinos did not hesitate to verbally abuse a public official and were even prepared to physically assault him shows…
Read More “Noynoy Aquino’s arrogance is forcing Filipinos to take matters into their own hands” »
A video has emerged showing Department of Budget Management (DBM) Secretary Florencio ‘Butch’ Abad being mobbed by activists at the University of the Philippines School of Economics building in Diliman, Quezon City last night. In the video, youths loudly chanted, among other phrases, “Noynoy Patalsikin!” and then heckled Abad as he left the building and…
Read More “DBM Secretary Butch Abad faces the wrath of the ‘Iskolars ng Bayan’” »
Well, I guess fashionistas had it coming. My key takeaway after reading Lourd De Veyra’s tirade against the fashion-conscious, Sermon sa Mga Fashyown is the notion of fashion as a form of self-expression to which The Lourd argues using the question: So you mean your self-expression changes with the comings and goings of fads? Well,…
Read More “Knocking fashionistas is really just a fashion statement” »