Category: Civics

Attacking Mocha Uson only makes her stronger and her influence more powerful

October 25, 2016 benign0 8 Comments

There’s a rare level of dimwittedness involved in coming up with — and actually implementing — the idea of petitioning the shutdown of Mocha Uson’s Facebook page. The backfire and fallout from this quaint project all but proved just how fragmented the Opposition is today. Even die-hard characters in the Yellow Camp refused to sign…

Civics, Culture, Media, Society

Remembering the Heroes of the Martial Law Era

September 23, 2016 Celestino Manrique II 105 Comments

“As of the twenty-third of this month, I signed Proclamation Number 1081 placing the entire Philippines under martial law” said President Ferdinand E. Marcos on that famous television broadcast 44 years ago today, September 23. Before the declaration of martial law, the country was in a state of upheaval. It was the middle of the…

Civics, Government, Society

Manila’s gated communities should be opened to public access to alleviate traffic

August 14, 2016September 16, 2019 benign0 16 Comments

Gated communities, like jeepneys, are stopgap measures that became institutionalised and so ingrained in the national psyche that, as we see in the general tone of the debate surrounding this issue, people simply find it next to impossible to comprehend the cancerous nature of their existence. They are legacies of a succession of weak and…

Civics, Crime, Society

Opposition to Marcos burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani founded on hate rather than reason

August 13, 2016April 10, 2017 benign0 46 Comments

After suffering their biggest defeat in Mar Roxas’s loss in the 2016 elections and the ascent of President Rodrigo Duterte to the presidency comes another blow to anti-Marcos activists. The burial of former President Ferdinand E Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Burial Grounds) looms imminent. Despite this burial of a once-hated historical…

Civics, Society

The REAL reason why killing is easy in the Philippines

August 3, 2016August 3, 2016 benign0 45 Comments

“Human rights” is the current rallying cry of the Philippines’ “civil society” today. This renewed interest is backdropped by the noticeable escalation in the number of homicide cases reported in the media recently which, activists allege, can be traced back to words of encouragement supposedly issued by no less than President Rodrigo Duterte himself. So…

Civics, Crime, Culture, Society

Ferdinand E. Marcos deserves a burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani

July 3, 2016 Celestino Manrique II 129 Comments

In a few months, we will finally see the burial of President Ferdinand E. Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, 27 years after the late president’s death. This is one of the first major national policies of President Rodrigo R. Duterte. And in deciding to allow the Marcos burial in the Heroes’ Cemetery, President…

Civics, Politics, Society

Are The Youth Still The Hope Of The Philippines?

June 22, 2016 Grimwald 31 Comments

I remember that the great Jose Rizal, the Philippines’ greatest hero according to our history books, said something about the youth being the hope of our country. Indeed, we are not the only culture to view the next generation as such. Unfortunately, in this day and age, I can no longer agree with this sentiment…

Civics, Culture, Media, Society

Duterte highlights Philippine media’s own lewd and hypocritical behaviour

June 8, 2016March 1, 2019 Ilda 72 Comments

I read a very disturbing article from one of Rappler’s writers. It’s disturbing because, firstly, it was published by a media outlet read by thousands of impressionable young Filipinos. And, two, it is disturbing because it is proof that a lot of Filipinos do not have the right principles that can steer them in the…

Civics, Culture, Media, Society