We beg to differ.
Who really wins a game, the star player or the team? Our star players — doctors, IT professionals, artists — are leaving in droves for a better life with the winning teams because they are tired of propping up (being heroes for) what essentially is the losing team. Lea Salonga, for example, is an achiever….
Read More “What it means to be truly proud to be Filipino” »
The Filipino mind is Philippine society’s greatest enemy. If you read Philippine publications, watch local talk shows on TV or even just peruse other popular collective Filipino blogsites, you can pretty much tell what the national preoccupation is about. The national preoccupation is centered on the Filipino ego. To be specific, it’s all about who…
There is a big difference between being a mere cheerleader and being a true leader. Cheerleaders are able to whip up emotional fervor and lure people into spectacular but short bursts of mindless emotionally-fueled stampedes. Real leaders, on the other hand are able to sustain commitment by providing a solid foundation of substance underlying the…
Last weekend Governor Joey Salcedo of the Philippine province of Albay issued what on the surface looks to be a ludicrous proposal — that Filipinos “boycott” Chinese-made products. Salcedo made this call to Filipinos to “hurt [China] where it counts” in light of recent military and diplomatic tension between the Philippines and China over the…
Read More “Philippine-China conflict: How did we come to be so dependent on Chinese imports?” »
A lot of Filipinos want to copy everything about the United States of America. From the form of government down to the style of music, Filipinos look to Uncle Sam for direction. For as long as everyone can remember, Filipinos have always viewed the home of our former colonizers as the land of milk and…
Read More “Philippines: Stuck in reverse since Independence Day” »
Labels are now the “in†thing among so-called “intellectuals†of the Philippine blogosphere. Some Filipinos who are actively participating in debates are suddenly identifying themselves as either libertarian, conservative, progressive, socialist, communist, etcetera, etcetera. Apparently, there are people who think that you need to identify yourself with a particular ideology. Otherwise, they insist on putting…
Read More “Are Filipinos individualist, collectivist, or just a bunch of moochers?” »
Seeing foreign direct investment, cash handouts, and subsidies as the silver bullet that will cure chronic Filipino poverty? Think again. Lots of lessons are to be learned in what former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad said in a speech at the Harvard Club of Malaysia dinner on 29 July 2002 about how the presence of…
Guess what’s coming up: “Independence” Day. More precisely, it is the could-have-been day of independence unilaterally declared by General Emilio Aguinaldo back on the 12th of June 1898 that we are celebrating this coming 12th of June. Many who see that day as a day that defines “Filipino nationalism” are right. We are a nation…
Read More “Philippine ‘Independence’ Day on June 12: a desperate claim to a false achievement” »