We beg to differ.
Regard for sport mirrors society. And nowhere is this more evident than in the Philippines. Last night, Gilas Pilipinas was handily beaten by Puerto Rico in the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain after literally dropping the ball — losing an early lead it enjoyed over the first half of the game. The game was…
Been seeing this hashtag (which literally means “famous lying lines”) on Twitter and even on Facebook lately. How timely! These are days marked by much lying. In politics, specially. But we won’t go into that. Lying in politics, after all, is such a banality. It’s a wonder people still go out and vote. Filipino voters…
Keen observers of the Filipino Condition had long ago collectively agreed to put a word to the concept: palamunin. The word encapsulates many aspects of Philippine culture encompassing its renowned mendicancy, lack of foresight, heritage of smallness, victim mentality, false hope, and anti-intellectual values. Indeed, the most disturbing aspect of Philippine society is the way…
Read More “Winning, heroism and the palamunin mentality in Philippine society” »
I find it amusing, and yet not surprising at all, that the cases of the Filipino peacekeepers assigned to the United Nations and of the Gilas Pilipinas Basketball team going to play in the FIBA tournament in Spain are being held up in social media as indicators of Filipino “courage”, and consequently, Filipino pride. The…
(Updated. 091314) A friend supposedly saw an English speaking Filipino cultural activist licking his chops and gloating over his supposed victory over the enemies of the cultural elite which he claims to represent. The so-called social media “thought leader” announced his victory saying that his/her protest against the Torre De Manila has reached the senate where it is…
Read More “Why the Torre De Manila Issue Is For the Bird Brained” »
So is the average Filipino life just worth 10,000 pesos (USD200)? I heard that is the average going rate for a “hit” to be delivered by a pair of assassins riding in tandem on a motorcycle in the Philippines. That’s less than a month’s work for the average Filipino city slicker and about a day’s…
Read More “Filipino motorcycle tandem assassins: a rapidly-growing national cancer” »
What’s in Filipinos’ heads everytime they go to the polling booth on election day? That’s the million dollar question every politician wants the answer to. For that matter, it’s the question that’s flumoxed political analysts for decades. And it is specially relevant now that much of the Executive and Legislative branches have been revealed for…
Coming up with a great product — an innovative one even — is just 20 percent of the job. You also need to develop systems to produce it and market it. That system is also known as the business enterprise. An example of a failure to complete the remaining 80 percent of the job is…
Read More “Jeepneys remain a stark symbol of the Philippines’ utter failure to prosper” »