We beg to differ.
“Here we are again Kate… Ups and Downs.” — Dick Gordon, May 20, 2010 Days after garnering 500,000 votes in the 2010 Presidential Elections I cringe at the thought that after the second automated national and local elections to be held in the Philippines, a sizable portion of the country’s electorate is back to square one. For…
You didn’t like the results of the 2013 Philippine National and Local Elections? Â Well, tough! For those still scratching their heads and wondering why people voted the way they did, it’s probably time to go to the barber shop, ride a cab, or walkover to some random street corner for the latest political analysis. Â Just…
Read More “Democracy Ain’t Easy But You Shouldn’t Buy Political Reform Snake Oil” »
It’s not so much the concept of a parliamentary form of government, but the manner in which one group chooses to push for it that has gotten the larger online Filipino community linking arms against it. Tsk tsk. Weak arguments, kilometric tirades, and focus on personal attacks are signs of a creeping desperation in this…
Read More “Why A Parliamentary Shift Advocacy Has ‘Lost It’” »
Political dilettantes talk about “enabling steps” because that’s all they know. Most people can’t tell how a chess game will go simply just by looking at the opening game. Â I think it’s actually the middle game that determines a great game from a mediocre one and the greatness of the game is not seen in…
The ongoing conflict between the DILG and Governor Gwen Garcia of Cebu has highlighted one of the fundamental problems we have in our system of government: too much centralization. Here you have a sitting governor (who is to end her term in six months) being disciplined for an offense that happened a long time ago….
A fellow member of the Get Real Philippines Facebook page asked an interesting question. “Do you agree that a change in self must happen first before a change in rules? Or do you believe in the reverse?†This, for me, is a thought-provoking question. Some folks, especially proponents of Charter Change (to Parliamentary form of…
Amidst the political turmoil that continually pervades our country, a strong and passionate plea reverberates among the mouths of the marginalized. Amidst the slums of the Philippines echoes the unswerving determination of the less-fortunate to assert what they want from the government, as shown by the series of protests conducted by advocacy groups across the…
It seems I started a bit of a firestorm with a recent article among the advocates of constitutional reform, whom I did not actually identify as the CoRRECT movement — because to be quite honest, I’m not at all certain they are necessarily the only reform advocates in the country — but who were quick…
Read More “Reflecting on the Constitutional Reform Movement” »