A recent trend that is closely being watched by governments around the world is the banning of minors’ access to social media sites and apps. Australia had led this initiative being the first to pass and implement legislation to effect this ban. Following behind it are Western European countries including, among others, Germany, France, Denmark, Norway, and Greece taking decisive steps to follow suit. Closer to home, Malaysia’s new Online Safety Act will bar children aged 16 and below from creating social media accounts in 2026.
Perhaps the Philippines should start considering such strong measures to curb the long-evident dumbing down effect social media has had on Filipino minds. A recent “report” published by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) exhibits a litany of the supposedly poisonous input social media activity contributes to Filipino thinking. It cited, for one, how “ChatGPT was used by a Philippine-based marketing company called Comm&Sense Inc. to mass generate pro-Marcos and anti-Duterte comments that were used on Facebook and TikTok.”
Furthermore the report asserts…
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Individuals cited political actors as the primary source of misleading information, with social media platforms, especially Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube, as the dominant vectors through which false narratives spread.
Of course, nothing about how mainstream journalists and media ought to at least reflect on their own accountability for their loss of the public’s confidence in their content is mentioned in the PCIJ “report”. Instead, authors Nikko Balbedina, Regine Cabato, Gian Libot and Cristina Chi would rather pass the buck to the “sinister forces” and “actors” that propagate “misleading” information and the dumb people who consume these.
Perhaps that is a fair appraisal of the situation in the Philippines. If we are then to follow the logic of PCIJ’s “thought leaders” the solutions are therefore the obvious one already being implemented elsewhere — curtailment of access to these tools of “misinformation”. Indeed, perhaps we need to go further and propose that implementation of similar measures in the Philippines be totally next level; that is, restrictions should apply to Filipinos of all ages.
Such a draconian measure can be justified by another set of research findings — that Filipino brains are host to amongst the world’s most stunted intellectual faculties. In an Inquirer op-ed some time back, columnist Randy David observed…
If social media is any indication of the quality of discourse, and therefore the level of intellect prevalent in the population that has access to technology and the internet, then things do not look good.
The tendency to believe in misinformation and disinformation — contributing even to spreading these on social media platforms — has shown how many Filipinos lack critical thinking.
Consider then, under this light, the Philippines’ Congressional Commision on Education (EDCOM) findings in 2025 showing that 18M Filipinos finished high school despite being functionally illiterate.
“In our EDCOM rounds, we have detected kids as old as 15 years old who cannot read a simple story. We have seen that on the ground. And I’m sure most of you teachers, principals, have also seen this on the ground”, [Co-Chair Senator Sherwin] Gatchalian said.
It is quite evident that it is not only Filipino minors who are at risk of being hoodwinked wholesale into acting on disinformation propagated over social media. Indeed, the Filipino public itself is the country’s weakest link and single point of failure in the dysfunctional scheme of things we are seeing today. It is time decisive measure are taken to stem the flow of Internet slop into Filipino minds.
When one considers how relatively recent such scholarly studies have been conducted into the Philippines’ intellectual bankruptcy, it is reasonable to expect that the numbers quoted by this recent research represent only the tip of what is likely a massive iceberg of stunted intellectual faculties that hobble Filipinos’ march to modern governance.
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not to worry, if the message is pro marcos and anti duterte, no one actually believes that shit.
If there is one thing the Philippines shows, it is how not to run a government. Literally every government entity in the country is a shitshow. Here are just a few.
LTO doesn’t know how to issue license plates or licenses or registration.
DPWH doesn’t know how to build roads or flood control projects.
BOC doesn’t know how to let in items that will improve the country, but loves to let in items that will make the country worse.
BIR doesn’t know how to collect taxes from contractors or audit corrupt people.
DA / NFA has no idea how support farmers. Get them to change from growing rice and grow something else with better profit.
DepEd doesn’t know how to build classrooms, hire teachers, reprimand teachers who are terrible at there job, buy reasonably priced computers (overspend for literally no reason except corruption) or feed kids (given they get a budget to feed kids, but alas there is no food….)
DOH / PhilHealth – No idea how to keep people healthy. People pay for PhilHealth and get no discount when they need treatment, same price as paying cash without PhilHealth or a minimal discount so no reason to pay in.
PNP: Fails to investigate crimes – extrajudicial killings – tandem drivebys all over with no one in jail – very good at falling asleep at useless checkpoints – vary good at standing around looking at their phones
BFP – Horrible at issuing permits and inspections, literally their only job as there are rarely fires and they do not stop them.
DOTr / LTFRB – No idea how to finish roads. No idea how to issues busses / vans / multicabs “franchises” in areas where people wait for 2 hours daily to get a ride. Maybe the most incompetent Government unit around.
Office of the Ombudsman : No idea how to jail corrupt individuals. No idea how to investigate.
most heads of office in government is a fucking lawyer, thats why
lawyers are “trained”, if you can call it that, to create problems, not find solutions
Bingo! Just like the degenerate and debased us empire.
Vowing to institute a “coordinated, science-based response” to the landfill tragedy, Environment Secretary Raphael Lotilla on Thursday announced the installation of a new director of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) in Central Visayas, LAWYER John Edward Ang.
yet another lawyer in barong tagalog and pointy shoes and slicked back hair.
why not an environmental engineer, or even an economist?
well, good luck with that , mutherfukkers
and that DENR secretary lotilla guy? you guessed it – lawyer !
lawyers cant run a decent shithouse !
the most effective people would have to be industrial engineers or economists , as they are trained to cut thru the muck and get straight to the best possible option in the least amount of time and resources !
case in point, lawyer crispy jesus “boying” rems.
this guy gets nothing done. hes got the swanky office and security convoys and vip passes, but zero to show for it except several years worth of heavy smelly turds in his office septic tank
PNP & DPWH seem to have the most rampant corruption out of the major government divisions in this country. One is because contracts for construction projects offer juicy money, the other because of the inherent power imbalance and risk of abuse in the existence of the police force as a profession.
BIR can be fixed by having a simplistic straightforward tax scheme once and for all. A single income tax rate + a low sales tax rate. Obviously the rich will still keep most of their wealth but it’s pointless otherwise to try enforcing progressive taxation as they’d just find loopholes anyway. And besides we would have more than enough government funds. Now for that scrap the pork barrel and slash politicians’ salaries.
For the DA & NFA it would require a shift from consuming white rice to another crop as a carbs staple, preferably root crops such as cassava or sweet potato. Besides requiring a lot less water for cultivation the shift of crops will free up many farmers for other occupations. In the age of mechanized agriculture we don’t need that much manpower.
Smuggling and bribery in the BOC happens because the Philippines has extensive tariffs and import restrictions without having the corresponding developed domestic industries.
For DepED I already made a few suggestions on another post in this blog. If the public school system can’t afford a single shift per day for all its students the best they can do is a better distribution of workload, i.e. instead of cramming all 7 subjects in 5 hours per day, have 3 or 4 subjects lasting 90-120 minutes per session. Then have each subject be held 2 or 3 times per week. And also stop issuing homework (at least to the lower grades) and have everything be done within the school. That way the mental burden among younger schoolchildren is reduced.
DOTr + LTFRB + LTO + BFP is the most difficult here imo, even removing corruption and red tape it’ll be an insane logistical problem to have an efficient public transport system covering not only the whole Metro Manila but also Rizal + Bulacan + Cavite, since people from these provinces also have to commute to the NCR daily. Having enough firetrucks and ambulances is useless if they can’t make it on time because of shitty traffic.