We beg to differ.
Back to the beginning. I first got to know about the Philippines as I was travelling in other countries and met a number of Filipino Overseas Foreign Workers (OFWs). Over time I often helped some with English, form filling etc., and heard more about their lives, loves, and hardships, and was never once asked for…
I once blogged about colonial mentality, stating that seeing it as a problem is a myth. After more thought and encountering further opinions on the subject, I still think it is a myth – a dangerous one. A bogeyman, an imaginary monster in the closet. I’ve seen so many discussions where others fiercely blame it…
Nobody who rests comfily within the bed of Establishment thinking seems to want to take a position on the debate around abortion. The highest profile players in this arena include New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights playing forward striker for the Forces of Ethical Thinking and on the other side is the 2,000-year-old bedrock of,…
Read More “Abortion is really a simple issue if you take the ‘soul’ out of the debate” »
Kris Aquino is not just another screeching Filipino showbiz personality. She is the sister of the President of the Philippines. Her marital woes with basketball player James Yap back in 2010 couldn’t have been good for the spin machinery of her brother President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III — a man who owes much of his…
Read More “Time to implement a decent Divorce Law and junk the moronism of ‘annulment’” »
Intelligent people can be the worst teachers. They tend to be impatient with their students. This is because they assume that the students will understand what they are trying to say on their first attempt at explaining something. Because it is easy for them to understand things, it can be hard for intelligent people to…
Read More “Filipinos should learn to question authority intelligently” »
If I lower my guard and take the comfy view that I am fundamentally defined by where I was schooled, I’d call myself an “Atenean”. When you are an Ateneo alumnus (and specially when you remain on as a faculty member), you usually come equipped with a lot of connections and the frame of mind…
Read More “Tulong Dunong, ACIL, ICTUS, and other memories from up the Hill” »
I found something in my mailbox this morning that I thought might help provide a few folks who are in the business of noisily proclaiming what amounts to no more than a hollow pride in “Being Filipino” with a bit of perspective. Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At…
Oftentimes it is the most mundane of things going on around us — things we take for granted as business-as-usual that, when regarded from the point of view from a lateral thinker so effectively highlight some the most disturbing aspects of our society. Picture these scenes, for example: – The ubiquity of heavily armed uniformed…