Category: Culture

RH Bill debate: PacMAN not KO’d by LagMAN but beaten on points

May 19, 2011May 19, 2011 benign0 11 Comments

Unfortunately, the much-promoted “debate” between boxing champ Manny Pacquiao and House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman — billed “PacMAN vs LagMAN” — aired on ABS-CBN’s Harapan (literally “face-off”) was inaccessible from Australia. But it does not really take a genius to imagine how such a spectacle might have transpired. Blogger Joe America in a recent comment…

Culture, Development, Education, Media, Religion

Philippine-style religion equals Philippine-style poverty

May 18, 2011May 18, 2011 benign0 13 Comments

Over at ProPinoy.net, blogger Doy Santos presents a comprehensive statistical picture of religious fervor in the Philippines. According to Santos’s figures the Philippines counts itself among the Top Ten countries with populations that have the highest rated “confidence in their church”. This Top Ten is predominantly Islamic. Tanzania is reckoned to be 50-50 Christian/Islamic and,…

Culture, Development, Religion, Society

Will Filipino voters reward politicians who support the Reproductive Health Bill?

May 16, 2011 benign0 5 Comments

We are seeing interesting times today as it seems like roles have been reversed for the first time in the last several decades. The Philippine Roman Catholic Church descended into a very public tantrum following hints from President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III that calls for a boycott on paying taxes made by some Church officials…

Culture, Development, Politics, Religion

The Church’s flaccid ‘all-out war’ against Philippine Reproductive Health

May 12, 2011May 12, 2011 benign0 5 Comments

The Church of nowadays is doing what it does best, pointing a finger at the “Infidel” and launching a crusade against it. In this case the Infidel is President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and his MalacaÃ±ang and the “crusade” is a step up of its “all-out war” against the Reproductive Health Bill currently being pushed…

Culture, Development, Religion, Society

Overpopulated Philippines: reduced to panhandling for foreign investment

May 11, 2011May 11, 2011 benign0 33 Comments

Everytime I hear this and that initiative to “attract” foreign investment to the country and then see these touted as “solutions” aimed at uplifting Filipinos from the clutches of poverty and the setting of our economy on a “firm” path to prosperity, I find my eyes rolling up to the high heavens as if to…

Culture, Development, Economy, Education

Do Filipinos suffer from narcissistic personality disorder?

May 3, 2011September 19, 2015 Ilda 151 Comments

It’s official. I finally got confirmation that a lot of Filipino men are so into themselves. I thought it was just me but a recent survey conducted by global market research company, Synovate Inc. revealed that 48 percent of Filipino males felt they were sexually attractive. This revelation made another global media outlet, CNN International…

Culture, Environment, Lifestyle, Society

Why Australia is a great country

May 2, 2011April 4, 2014 benign0 27 Comments

There isn’t much about living in Australia to complain about. This is, I think, the reason why I haven’t written much about Australia. I realise though that my long silence about life in Australia is a bit disturbing. Maybe it is just me getting a bit uncomfortable with being too comfortable. Indeed, when things simply…

Culture, Government, Lifestyle

The funny way Filipinos talk about sex

April 30, 2011October 5, 2015 benign0 5 Comments

Do Filipinos like talking about sex? Answering that question is a journey in itself, and the journey begins with a concept I coined a while back — the Filipino’s tradition-religion complex. The tradition-religion complex represents a narrow framework in which a person finds moral clarity. In the case of the Filipino, it encompasses a small…

Culture, Education, Lifestyle, Religion, Society