Category: Culture

Erik Matti whines about K-dramas instead of rallying the local industry to step up

April 17, 2020 rsurtida 17 Comments

Thanks to this pandemic, people have more time in their hands to binge-watch on Netflix and the like without guilt. After all, staying home is considered an act of valor these days, with the national government even threatening to do a Martial Law type of enforcement against people who err on quarantine protocols. So this…

Culture, Glitz and Glamour

Filipinos need to Stop Believing in Famous Names

March 22, 2020April 24, 2021 ChinoF 18 Comments

Many Filipinos are too lazy to think and this is demonstrated in their voting habits and approach towards people. They think of the first name that comes to mind, or that is more familiar. There’s often no bother to dig up the history of the person. They probably assume, ah these guys will automatically do…

Culture, Glitz and Glamour

On Liberation Theology and Ivory Tower Mentality

February 20, 2020February 20, 2020 ChinoF 3 Comments

I went through the liberation theology subject during my last college year at Ateneo (1996-97). We got immersed in an Aeta reservation in Bataan for a few days. It’s an attempt to make us “privileged” students aware of the plight of poorer people in remote areas, with the part-expectation that we would return and try…

Civics, Culture

The problem with De-stigmatizing and Forced Acceptance Efforts

February 16, 2020 ChinoF 2 Comments

The reaction of opponents against the decision then of President Duterte to move tambays (derived from “stand-bys” or loitering freeloaders) off the streets included attempts to de-stigmatize tambays. They say things like “not all tambays are crooks” or “being tambay is not wrong.” But these are not really true because increased number of tambays has…

Civics, Culture, Society

The Fallacy of “Special Problems”

February 1, 2020 ChinoF 6 Comments

The wokes tend to see certain social problems as “special problems.” It’s based on the idea that certain problems deserve more attention than others. For example, poverty in a slum town in a South American country, or hunger in a certain part of Africa. Or, as some woke Filipinos desire, many people in this country…

Civics, Culture

Besmirching “Dictators’ Supporters” has Backfired

January 26, 2020January 26, 2020 ChinoF 9 Comments

This is the very mistake that dragged the “opposition” down. When they see people voicing support for the Marcoses, Duterte, Trump or other perceived “dictator,” they would attack, insult and besmirch such people, accusing them of being “trolls.” They think by insulting or libeling “dictator’s supporters,” they are doing something good. The opposite is true….

Culture, Politics

Yellow-led Philippine Opposition continues to fail to win political ground along ideological lines

December 21, 2019December 21, 2019 benign0 4 Comments

Nowadays you’d be hearing a lot of chi chi Western European and North American concepts being bandied around by “thought leaders” of the Opposition. Granted, 1980s relics like “human rights”, “press freedom”, and “people power” had been worn to tatters by the Yellow mob as a result of their habitual use of low-ball approaches to…

Culture, Politics

Shocking PISA bottom ranking a wake up call for Filipinos to uplift education

December 8, 2019 benign0 19 Comments

What is truly shocking about the bottom ranking of the Philippines in the recently-published Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report is that Filipinos are shocked to begin with. It is hardly surprising that Filipinos scored dismally in key areas of basic education given that Philippine society has long been known as one that does…

Culture, Education