Year: 2015

Should journalists only tweet ‘news’ and refrain from issuing opinions?

November 3, 2015November 4, 2015 benign0 13 Comments

According to a certain Twitter user who goes by the handle @MGVtrb (formerly using the user ID “@mgviterbo” (now defunct)), journalists should refrain from tweeting their opinions on Twitter and should only tweet “news”. This was in a tweet she issued today… To reporters who use their accounts to tweet news, please be ethical enough…

Civics, Media, Tech Talk

Will President Noynoy Aquino go down in history as a good president?

November 2, 2015 benign0 49 Comments

Probably not. For the essential and even critical problems that have beset the Philippines for decades, there was hardly any change that came out over the last six years under his watch. Why? The answer is quite simple: President BS Aquino did not try hard enough. Consider the manner with which BS Aquino’s fans lauded…

Crime, Government, Politics

Filipinos welcome Australia’s Telstra like Jesus’s second coming!

November 2, 2015November 2, 2015 benign0 29 Comments

I switched my entire household’s telecommunication needs to Telstra back in 2007. Today we enjoy about 300 GB of home internet data piped in by cable (not DSL) that is channeled to all our computing and home entertainment devices using a WiFI router provided as part of the package. We also have several mobile devices…

Culture, Development, Lifestyle, Tech Talk

Noynoy Aquino gov’t helpless and useless at stopping crooks behind bullet planting at NAIA

November 2, 2015January 3, 2023 Ilda 157 Comments

The Philippines’ reputation with the international community has suffered yet another blow. The news that security personnel at the Manila international airport have been putting bullets in the luggage of travellers in order to extort them has made it to international news. The incompetence of the Philippine government under the leadership of President Benigno Simeon…

Crime, Politics, Society

#GodSaveOurDemocracy from a Roxas Regime!

November 1, 2015November 5, 2015 P. Farol 16 Comments

(Note: This is a fictional reconstruction of several conversations with a number of people that I’ve become friends with over the course of about 15 years of being in and around election campaigns. Why? Simply because it’s Sunday and it just feels right to say it this way. As usual, I’m not going to even…

Government, Politics

Travellers wary of rampant bullet-planting scams in the Philippines’ Ninoy Aquino International Airport!

November 1, 2015January 2, 2023 benign0 26 Comments

The Philippines’ latest national embarrassment — the bullet-planting scamming that is gripping the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) — has many people on-edge. The modus operandi of this recently-publicised racket making the rounds in social media involves bullets being inserted in travellers’ luggage and then “discovered” by airport officials who then give the victims the…

Civics, Crime, Culture, Government

3 Reasons Why The Philippines Needs Better Role Models

October 30, 2015 Grimwald 18 Comments

I think I remember mentioning that culture certainly plays a part in one’s morality or in the perception thereof. This idea was espoused by none other than Chinese Philosopher Confucius himself, in case you want to know. But now, I have to ask the question, how can we ever hope to solve our dysfunctions as a nation…

Culture, Development, Education, Government, Media, Politics, Society

The Philippines will never improve while its self-perception is not aligned with REALITY

October 30, 2015 FallenAngel 35 Comments

World class. Tourist haven. Investment darling. Friendly and hospitable people. Heart and a lot of fighting spirit. A positive and happy place. The list goes on and on about how the Philippines sees itself, and consequently, how it would like the rest of the world to see it. To Filipinos and Philippine society, keeping up…

Culture, Media, Society