We beg to differ.
A certain Geoffrey James wrote a scathing review of the Philippines or rather, as he quickly pointed out, a scathing review of it’s capital, Manila on Travelblog.org. I’m glad he decided to be specific because the country as a whole is not ugly. Nonetheless, I am pretty sure Manila was once as beautiful as the…
The other day, I got pulled over for turning into a U-turn slot on Metro Manila’s Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) at a time when I shouldn’t have. Unlike Chris Lao, however, I was in no position to go around stomping my feet claiming that I was not informed. There were signs leading to…
Read More “Metro Manila’s EDSA: laboratory of Filipino dysfunction” »
I enjoyed reading a a blog post recently published in ProPinoy.net authored by a certain “bill” (quoted as it appears on the site — not capitalised). In his article, “reThinking Soriano“, “bill” makes an intriguing statement that got me thinking… So the question is not, “English or Filipino?†The question is how to live and…
Read More “Is prosperity with ‘no one left behind’ really possible?” »
William “The Chair Wrecker” Esposo of Philstar.com has joined in the debate about the Philippine national language (or lack of it) in his recent column. This was in response to the controversial and now removed article written by James Soriano from Manila Bulletin. While Esposo rabidly defended our constitutionally mandated national language, Tagalog, he wrote…
Read More “The truth about Tagalog that James Soriano failed to explain” »
Lots of people seem to have, at best, a rather shallow understanding of what I mean when I keep harping about the lack of a concept of “efficiency” in the Tagalog dialect. My simple explanation is that the lack of a concept of efficiency native to (or long embedded in) Tagalog reflects the inherent intellectual…
The death of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr is being commemorated today the 21st of August. The fact that this event, which happened 28 years ago today, is so revered illustrates a fundamental problematic aspect of the Filipino Condition. The issues that the Philippines faces in its journey through time — presumably towards that much aspired-for…
Score so far in this game of clever marketing that Philippine President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is playing on the Filipino people — three. As in three catchy slogans that have so far proven to be effective in its stickiness to the Filipino psyche: – Use of the Yellow pedigree platform and its symbols —…
Read More “The catch-phrase administration of President Noynoy Aquino” »
People in general and Filipinos in particular love hearing the good news, and President Noynoy Aquino (PNoy) loves giving it. On his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered to Congress on the 25th of July this year, he continued the tradition he started since being sworn into office a year ago of assuring…
Read More “The truth about the second SONA of Noynoy Aquino delivered on July 25, 2011” »