We beg to differ.
Now it’s getting interesting (as it does for people like me who’ve made it a career to point out why the Philippines persists as such a chronic basketcase). For people seeing it from the outside who are in the best position to filter out the noise surrounding this “issue”, the situation now is quite simple……
This is looking to be another of those astounding gaffes that the government of Philippine President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has become world-renowned for since taking power in July, 2010. In recent months, the lastest “issue” making the rounds of the chattering classes is the travel ban slapped by Malacañang on former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo…
Read More “The Dominican Republic dragged into the latest Aquino Government gaffe” »
I read recently that the city government of Quezon City is set to levy an additional tax on property located within its administrative jurisdiction on top of whatever taxes are already being paid by their owners. So aside from the property taxes being collected from the landed gentry of this fine city, the Quezon City…
Read More “The Quezon City Squatter Tax can be offset by a tax on pagpag” »
The other day, I got pulled over for turning into a U-turn slot on Metro Manila’s Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) at a time when I shouldn’t have. Unlike Chris Lao, however, I was in no position to go around stomping my feet claiming that I was not informed. There were signs leading to…
Read More “Metro Manila’s EDSA: laboratory of Filipino dysfunction” »
A word or a sentence from someone can dramatically change our life; that is, if we are strong enough to take it in stride. Let’s take a slice from history and use Alexander the Great as an example. His tutor was no less than the famous philosopher, Aristotle. Surely what Alexander got from one of…
Any motorist who’s spent enough time negotiating Manila’s potholed streets will attest to how the Philippines’ surreal complex of culturally-ingrained bad manners, ill-thought-out road layouts, inconsistent law enforcement, and the overall unsightliness that blankets the Philippines’ capital cities contributes to an experience like no other. At the root of the banal dysfunction of Philippine-style motoring…
Read More “Road rage and the Filipino ego – like navigating a bubble through a forest of pins” »
Of course the best policy is to shut up when faced with an awkward situation. Thus the term awkward silence. The Wikileaks-facilitated expose on what the United States really thinks of the Philippines is one awkward situation indeed. Of course it does not take a genius to work out how a bumbling basket case such…
It irritates me to a great extent whenever I encounter or hear about other people in the United States stealing resources that should only belong to American Citizens. Take the case of Jose Vargas, a journalist who wrote about the Virginia Tech shooting and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for it. He came to the…
Read More “Jose Vargas: Does ‘coming out clean’ compensate for a life of deception?” »