We beg to differ.
What is the million-dollar question that has been haunting most Filipinos everywhere in the world? No, it’s got nothing to do with the Philippine football team, the Azkals or boxer, Manny Pacquiao. It has a lot to do with the difference in behavior of Filipinos here and abroad. It’s a question that keeps popping up…
Read More “Why is it so hard for Filipinos to just obey the law?” »
Poor Christopher “Chris†Lao. He is not your average guy. He seems like the type of person who would not hesitate to just do things. Whether it is driving through a flooded street or speaking his mind in front of millions of people in front of a TV camera, he apparently would not think twice….
Read More “The Chris Lao flood incident: what the MMDA could have done” »
Quite a number of Filipinos were shocked by the news that Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri had filed his resignation following allegations of electoral fraud during the 2007 senatorial elections. The move was a first in Philippine political history. There has been no Filipino public official on record who resigned out of delicadeza or shame in…
Read More “Senator Zubiri resignation: Is it an admission of guilt?” »
The latest “victim” of the most recent media (both old and new) circus is a guy named Christopher “Cris” Lao. The poor sod apparently drove his car past motorists who had prudently stopped at both ends of a recessed and flooded section of a Manila road and ended up with a car submerged and, perhaps…
Read More “Empathising with flood ‘victim’ Christopher Lao” »
The Philippines is a nation of suckers. Filipinos routinely elevate rabble-rousers to “hero” status, pardon convicted plunderers, allow dictators’ family and offspring to continue living the good life, and tolerate a uniquely-Filipino brand of banal criminality that is embedded deep in the very fibres that weave the social fabric of Philippines society. This quaint aspect…
A statement issued last week by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on the matter of some of its members using taxpayers’ funds to buy luxury sport utility vehicles (SUVs) for use in their “field work,” made it quite categorical: “Our conscience is clear.” But of course it is. This is a statement…
Read More “Mitsubishops: the CBCP conveniently absolves its own and remains above the Law” »
Filipinos do not know what they want. In 1986, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos took to the streets to rally against the late strongman, former President Ferdinand Marcos. The three-day protest eventually led to the ousting of the so-called “dictator” and alleged human rights violator. Twenty five years later, Filipinos from the Mindanao region of…
The longer I write about Philippine society and its politics, the more convinced I get that the country’s state of law and order is a joke. Take Davao City for instance. All this time I thought that the city was a model for what following the “rule of law” could do. It turns out, to…
