We beg to differ.
I’ve always made the assertion that proficiency in the English language is the Filipino’s ticket to success. Being a good English speaker is the key to upward social mobility in Philippine society where a persistent and deeply-ingrained colonial-mentality continues to imprison the Filipino mind. More importantly, the vast majority of information and knowledge critical to…
Read More “Tagalog vs English? Take the 30-word challenge!” »
It baffles me the way the furor over the execution of the three convicted Filipino drug mules in China reached the crescendo that we are seeing today. It’s as if this thing had not been hanging over Filipinos’ heads for the last several months. It first captured the broader public awareness when the Philippine Government…
In Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, Frank Abagnale Jr (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) manages to cash more than $2.5 million in bogus cheques while eluding law enforcement authorities who pursued him all over the world. Abagnale was eventually caught and his expertise as a forger and counterfeiter was put to good…
Read More “The Big Con: The triumphant return of Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson” »
Stare into the eyes of Willie Revillame and you look right into the soul of the Filipino. Willie Revillame is The Filipino — the personification of the dreams and aspirations of the majority of the 100 million Filipinos who inhabit our little planet. In our condemning Revillame for his latest act of infamy, perhaps we…
Read More “Willie Revillame and how we got the reform strategy so wrong since 1986” »
Filipinos are fond of engaging in activities to escape reality such as by watching television. The reason why Filipinos want to “escape” reality is because reality for them is such a harsh thing to face that the only way to help them forget about their problems is to be entertained. For the poor and uneducated,…
Read More “Filipino TV shows like Willing Willie make Filipinos dumber” »
According to Philippine President Noynoy Aquino (PNoy), Filipinos’ resilience will see us through any crisis. Here’s what he had to say as reported in a Philstar.com news item: “Resilient? Yes, I believe so. I always try to look at every problem as an opportunity,” he told Palace reporters. “We have industries that could recover after…
Read More “Dear President Noynoy, being average is NOT being resilient” »
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Fact Sheet for the Philippines published in 2006, 16,000 Filipinos died violently in 2002. This means that in the five hours it took for a Philippine Government delegate to travel from Manila to Beijing to plead for the life of three Filipino drug mules sentenced to death…
Read More “Case studies of irrelevance: Drug mules and Ombudsman Merci Gutierrez” »
There is enough evidence to suggest that Filipinos in general are preoccupied with the desire to be on a permanent state of euphoria or at least with being perceived to be a “happy-go-lucky” society no matter what circumstances they are in. Unfortunately, this national obsession with being “happy” or having a good time instead actually…
Read More “Filipinos and happiness: why we need to be serious about it” »