We beg to differ.
It’s labour day again in the Philippines. A colleague of mine noted the irony in this celebrated occasion being a “non-working” holiday. But the way that irony and many others simply fly over pointed heads in a society renowned for missing simple points is another topic for another occasion. The more important thing to observe,…
Read More “The empty rhetoric surrounding Labor Day in the Philippines” »
With growth in big developed economies all but flatlining, what do firms — investment banks and securities trading houses — whose entire business models hinge upon “growth” ad infinitum turn to? Where else but to ever more volatile and unreliable “emerging markets”. The Philippines is in one of these arbitrary lists of “emerging” economies —…
Read More “Businessweek’s business of talking up the Philippine economy” »
Philippine President Noynoy Aquino recently criticized the Philippine media because he thinks that the industry as a whole is not painting a nice picture of the country and his government in particular. Well, well, well. What can I say? Considering that a lot of people have been criticizing the Philippine media for so long and…
Read More “PNoy government is also to blame for Philippine media’s gossip mongering style” »
Filipinos are generally good at English. At least that’s the impression foreigners get when they encounter us. It is also one of the primary reasons why foreign employers like hiring Filipinos. It is well-established that English has made its way into the world as a sort of lingua franca, and we wield it as an…
Read More “English proficiency is a continuous improvement process” »
Former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan defined a developed country as: “… one that allows all its citizens to enjoy a free and healthy life in a safe environment”. In theory, his statement is simple enough to understand but quite complicated to put into practice. Annan wasn’t specific about which country or…
Read More “Manufacturing can be a key to Filipinos enjoying a free and healthy life” »
The lessons learnt from outsourcing was long in coming. “Cheap” manufacturing meant taking “cost” advantage of foreign exchange and purchasing power disparities between rich nations and poor ones. And the low costs that were outcomes of these arrangements were bandied as “efficiency gains” in the home market despite no real operating efficiencies being actually realised…
Read More “Repatriation of workers should match a repatriation of jobs” »
The Philippines is a country by colonial edict — much like the way the old Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were, as well as many African nations. They are meaningless hollow pin-up states cobbled together for the sheer pleasure, vanity, and mercantile ambitions of their former imperial architects. In the case of the Philippines, even the name…
Read More “A sense of nationalism: The Philippines has no such thing” »
Does the solution to the multitude of ills that plague the Philippines reside in politics? Is it really the quality of government that is behind the chronic failure that is the Philippine nation? Think again. [Photo courtesy Today in History.] Perhaps there was a time when there were lots of scapegoats that Filipinos can count…