Year: 2014

Upholding honor: Filipino civilian and military societies need to work hand in hand

March 16, 2014March 17, 2014 FallenAngel 2 Comments

The definition of “honor” that Filipinos are more familiar with – and therefore live out more – is, in the vernacular, dangal. Dignity. They will use whatever means necessary, even illegal, to protect their dignity from hiya (shame, losing face). The other, just as important way to define honor – katapatan, propriety – is hardly…

Civics, Culture, Lifestyle, Society

Is the sex trade all Filipinos have to offer to visiting US troops?

March 16, 2014March 16, 2014 benign0 38 Comments

Apparently certain Filipino activists think so. Spokesperson for Pagkakaisa ng Kababaihan para sa Kalayaan (Kaisa Ka) Proleta Gomez, in a statement implied that the “support” the United States Armed Forces receives from the Philippines as it increases its troop deployment there under new agreements with the Philippine government is likely to be mainly in the…

Culture, Lifestyle, Society

MERALCO: If at First You Don’t Succeed…

March 16, 2014 BenK 5 Comments

One has to wonder exactly what Meralco’s power suppliers are holding over the company’s heads, because the nation’s largest electricity distributor obviously really, really wants to collect that 73% increase in the generation charge that it tried to extract from its customers in December. That rate increase, which added P4.15 to the already uncompetitively high…

Economy, Money Talks

Ban on access to porn over the Net in the Ph to start this month

March 16, 2014 benign0 19 Comments

If things work according to plan, devices and networks accessing the Internet through Philippine Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will supposedly be porn-free this month. Yugatech.com reports this is a move initiated by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to comply with Republic Act 9775 or the “Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009″… With the implementation of the…

Crime, Tech Talk

The Philippines – not just an Ampaw Republic, but a Kaharian ng Araw too

March 15, 2014 FallenAngel 8 Comments

If there’s one good thing I can say about president Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino, it’s that I can count on him to provide entertainment value while he goes through the motions of that role which he “accepted” in 2010, albeit reluctantly. All this started of course, when BS Aquino made news because of a speech…

Civics, Government, Media, Politics

The Philippines: an Ampaw Republic governed by an Ampaw President

March 15, 2014 benign0 7 Comments

It all started with former Congressman Teddy Casiño’s morning greeting on Twitter… Good morning citizens of the Ampaw Republic! That pretty much made our morning. Within minutes, hordes of Pinoy Pridists descended upon the hapless activist, denouncing his likening of the Philippines to the no-substance low-nutrition Filipino dessert ampaw. Ampaw is made of puffed-up grain…

Culture, Development, Government, Politics, Society

Senator Miriam Santiago: ‘social media superstar’ or just another ampaw politician?

March 15, 2014 benign0 14 Comments

Of all people. Senator Miriam Santiago was the last person in the world I would’ve expected to request that Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III be “given leeway in making his decisions.” “I will be very careful in criticizing a president because I have close, first hand observation of how difficult it is to…

Politics, Society

Honor is not a strong part of Filipino tradition

March 14, 2014January 15, 2022 benign0 42 Comments

You don’t need to look far. The current political tele-dramas that have rivetted Filipinos lately point to it. Thievery on such an unprecedented vast scale perpetrated by the elected officials of a society are proof in itself. Many of them were not elected once but twice — and their offspring and kin elected despite all…

Civics, Culture, Development, Government, Society