Category: Development

The Politics of Business: an account of political persecution by Herminio Disini

May 20, 2021May 28, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 3 Comments

If you want to have an idea of how the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) was weaponized against the Marcos “cronies” you should read this book, The Politics of Business: How the Government Tried My Case Without Me, by none other than Herminio T. Disini. Disini begins with his origins in Narvacan, Ilocos Sur…

Business, Development

When did the dispute between the Philippines and China REALLY begin?

May 20, 2021May 20, 2021 Ramon Ortoll No Comments

Here we go again. Retired former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio writes yet again in his latest piece “China does not possess the [West Philippine Sea]” published on the Inquirer. He continues to assert ad nauseum that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is “sending a message to oil and gas companies with Service Contracts from the…

Business, Development

Why is the Philippines always BEGGING for stuff?

April 9, 2021April 9, 2021 benign0 20 Comments

The Philippines begs just like a scorpion stings. That’s just what the Philippines does. It begs. It begs for “foreign investment”. It begs for foreign “aid”. Begs for loans. Begs for military support. Begs for military equipment. Begs for International Criminal Court intervention. Begs for foreign employment. Begs for rice. Begs for tourists. Begs for…

Culture, Development

The Philippines was a crisis waiting to happen even before COVID-19 struck

April 7, 2021April 7, 2021 Ilda 12 Comments

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed humankind’s long-ignored exposure to the risk of virulent diseases running wild and severely impacting the world order. It all but levelled the playing field. People from both rich and poor countries were not spared from the disease’s harmful, and in a lot of cases, deadly effects on the human body….

Development, Society

Philippines, the sick man of Asia “again”? No. It ALWAYS HAS been sick!

March 18, 2021 benign0 26 Comments

Certain “thought leaders” are issuing shrill commentary on the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns aimed to mitigate its effects. The fact is, most if not all countries are suffering from economic crises in varying degrees thanks to the brittle world order of intricately interdependent and interlinked economies created by “globalisation”….

Culture, Development, Economy

German Engineering, Japanese Precision and Filipino Pride

March 14, 2021 zaxx 70 Comments

Some racially-oriented collocations you may have stumbled across would include German engineering and Japanese precision. It gets amusing though when you see those words lined up with our very own Filipino Pride. Are you ready for a deep dive into the cultural DNA behind these either tech-generating or -consuming nations? Let’s go for a quick…

Culture, Development

Vietnam’s VinFast zooms past Philippine home-grown car brands

September 19, 2020 zaxx 9 Comments

Like my recent GRP piece on Charice’s “Self-destruct Mode” which got as far as the Tonight with Boy Abunda show, this article is another lamentation. This time it’s over the Pinoy struggle to get into the automotive industry game, with that sad feeling of being left behind. If you’ve heard of Vin Diesel of the…

Business, Development, Technology

Marcos Day represents the Filipino people’s moving on from a manufactured past

September 6, 2020September 6, 2020 benign0 15 Comments

When a small minority of “activists” continue to encourage Filipinos to latch on to the past and sustain a pathological anxiety about the future, you know there is something wrong. Even more wrong is when these shills conspire with Big Corporate Media to propagate their sick “cause”. Today’s Inquirer editorial, for example, cites, interestingly enough,…

Culture, Development, Politics