We beg to differ.
It’s that time of the year again when we celebrate that supposedly seminal event in Philippine history when, according to the local lore, the forces of evil (porportedly the regime of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos) were vanquished by the forces of good (supposedly the Aquino-Cojuangco feudal clan). Marcos removed. Game over. The 1986 “People…
As it is, discussions on the mechanics of how the pork barrel scam was perpetrated outlines the massive collusion between the executive branch of government, the legislative branch of government, members of the supposedly independent constitutional body that is supposed to keep corruption in check, and pork barrel “operators”. At this point, calling for a shift…
Read More “Pork Barrel Corruption and Calls for a Shift to a Parliamentary System of Government” »
While pseudo experts come up with the equivalent of a Rube Goldberg machine to solve simple problems, real experts often come up with simple yet effective solutions after finding the appropriate process to correctly identify the problem. You can find proof of this in various situations ranging from repairing cars to curbing criminality. One such…
Australia has a new old Prime Minister. Kevin Rudd has been sworn in as PM three years after being ousted as head of the Australian government by his then deputy Julia Gillard in a bitterly-fought jostle for leadership of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in June 2010. At the time Rudd had served for only…
To understand the fundamental flaw in the idea of the Philippines’ relying on a strategy of counting on “foreign investment” to rescue its people from their own self-created wretchedness, it is important to understand the equally fundamental definition of poverty. Quite simply: Poverty is a habitual entering into commitments one is inherently unable to honour….
Read More “Loser mentality: Filipinos’ 500-year dependence on foreign investment” »
There are reform movements and there are people critical of said reform movements. Perhaps it is time that certain “reform” movements learn from their critics. That assumes of course that there is such a culture of learning within said movement. Indeed, the template had long ago been set for “movements” that behaved more like cults…
Read More “It is time to reform the way ‘reform movements’ are run in the Philippines” »
(From The Manila Times, Saturday, June 1. Apparently, the link to this article has been giving some readers a bit of trouble, which is probably attributable to the Times’ website upgrade being only a couple days old. Please bear with us.) While President Aquino and the presumptive new Senate President Franklin Drilon have both expressed…
Read More “Political, economic reform: Best left to the grown-ups” »
This article is substantially based on an article I originally wrote in November, 2010 entitled “Applying the Right Fix: Charter Change and the Philippine Condition.” While the essential points made in the original article are still valid today, the Philippines is not exactly the same country it was two-and-a-half years ago, for better or worse;…
Read More “The Impractical Elitism of an Incorrect Perspective on Reform” »