We beg to differ.
Indeed, as Commissions on Elections (COMELEC) Chairman Sixto Brillantes reportedly stated, “the entire national police force and the Armed Forces were already exempted” from a nationwide gun ban related to the coming 2013 elections. This is, of course, a no brainer. Police and military forces by the very nature of their jobs bear arms —…
Another plot for a future Filipino action film is unfolding. Thirteen people died in a shootout that occurred in Atimonan, Quezon Province. The thirteen people were allegedly in two vehicles that stopped at a checkpoint manned by a team composed of a mixture of police officers and army personnel led by police Supt. Hansel Marantan….
Read More “Atimonan Quezon checkpoint massacre: police shootout or underworld rubout?” »
The clock is ticking for suspended Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia who is currently besieged in the provincial capitol after she defied a suspension order issued by Malacañang mid-December last year. As police mulled over their options short of physically dragging Garcia out of the public building, Acting Governor Agnes Almendras Magpale is considering cutting off…
Read More “Gwendolyn Garcia could end up living like a cavewoman in the Cebu Capitol building” »
My compliments to Andy Bautista for his honest assessment of the PCGG today, in spite of his efforts to revamp the same and revitalize the hunt for the vast remainder of Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth. Like most government agencies in the Philippines, the PCGG has been corrupted to the core and has indeed become the Marcos’…
On one hand, I’d say the clock is ticking for Malacañang. Presumably with every hour — and day — it dithers in its decision on what to do about rogue Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia who remains ‘holed up for a cause’ at the Cebu Capitol after being slapped with a suspension order on the 19th…
Read More “Take it! Take it! President Noynoy Aquino has a clean shot in Cebu” »
Again we encounter another instance of the violent nature of Filipinos — a people expats have for so long warned one shouldn’t cross as they (1) don’t fight fair and (2) hold deadly unshakable grudges. Last night saw the murder of George Anikow, a former US Marine officer and spouse of a US Embassy staff…
Check out this screen grab from the Inquirer.net website captured at 1000H Australian EDST, 24 Nov 2012: Caption on photo reads as follows: Protesters gather in Mendiola to commemorate the third anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre. Behind them are the 32 coffins representing the journalists who were among the 58 killed in Sharif Aguak on…
As my colleague Ilda pointed out, Filipinos seem to be averse to speaking out. This may seem to be a counterintuitive assertion to make, given how Filipinos pride themselves with a tradition of flamboyant political activism, tacky spectacle in the way they practice freedom of speech in their mass media, and voluminous undifferentiated chatter in…
Read More “Filipino viral videos: mere modern symptoms of a very old cultural dysfunction” »