Category: Development

Heads-up: The One-China Policy could soon include Palawan and Singapore

June 15, 2019 zaxx 7 Comments

While our senators will soon be out in the public square basking in free-media-mileage limelight debating over whether China is friend or foe after that (in Mar’s terminology) unfortunate “mis-encounter” in the sea that left a hapless Penoy-powered Pinoy boat sinking after getting rammed by a Chinese vessel, right under their noses is Mainland China…

Development, Government, Politics

Independence Day is no longer RELEVANT

June 12, 2019 benign0 11 Comments

When you get to the core of it, the root problem of this whole “debate” over “Independence Day” is that nobody can really point out what it means to be truly independent. For that matter, even if some genius actually did, it would not really matter as the terms that populate conventional definitions of independence…

Development, Environment, Government

Filipinos’ addiction to OFW remittances is incompatible with economic development

June 10, 2019 benign0 5 Comments

Look more closely at the facts surrounding the much-vaunted stellar growth of the Philippine over the last several years and one will find the same old disturbingly-familiar drivers of that growth. Or, rather, it is the absence of the right drivers that is more disturbing. Growth is still chugging along the traditional way — through…

Development, Economy, Money Talks

The Philippines needs to gear up to exploit the US-China “trade war”!

June 7, 2019 benign0 6 Comments

A trade war between the United States and China presents a wealth of opportunity to the Philippines — if, of course, Filipinos are up to the challenge of seizing them. Up for grabs is a bonanza for suppliers of goods and services that the US is set to cut China out of if this “war”…

Development, Economy

Jeepneys remain a constant reminder of how backward and fundamentally WEAK the Philippines is

June 3, 2019 benign0 55 Comments

It is the 21st Century. Yet the most iconic symbol of the Philippines remains the jeepney. Once hailed a triumph of “Filipino ingenuity”, it now persists as a stark reminder of a failure to develop engineering excellence at a time when engineering excellence is an even more important foundation upon which global competitiveness could be…

Culture, Development, Tech Talk

Stuff still needs to be built, crooks still need to be caught, and people still need to get to work

May 28, 2019May 28, 2019 benign0 4 Comments

Back to business as usual after Elections 2019. Like the end of the Christmas season, it is a letdown to realise that all the festivities have come to an end. The question, is are all the “issues” brought to the fore over more than a year of election fever which ended this month relevant when…

Development, Society

The “plight” of Conchita Carpio-Morales illustrates just how LAME the Philippine Opposition is

May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 benign0 6 Comments

Perhaps Filipinos, specially the so-called “influencers” of today’s Opposition camp, need to step back and appreciate the bigger scheme of things surrounding the treatment former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales recently copped in Hong Kong. There are only two foundation principles at work here: (1) Morales acted as a private citizen when she, together with former Foreign…

Development, Government

An Opposition in government STILL exists, but it is no longer Yellow in nature

May 21, 2019May 21, 2019 benign0 7 Comments

Don’t believe any of the traditional “thought leaders” associated with the old (and utterly beaten) Liberal Party-led Opposition when they say that Filipinos are now subject to a rubber-stamp Congress thanks to how they voted in this year’s elections. The idea that there is “no real opposition” in Congress is a big lie that the…

Culture, Development, Society

Tim
on Deterministic Ideas like White Fragility that fuel today’s Instigation movements must be fought
Where is an article about Nanay claiming political dynasties are
PI is a shithole
on Killing “Fascists” will never save the world
Blah blah blah why don’t you focus on cleaning that
Oliver
on Why are Filipinos so irrevocably corrupt?
The source and height of corruption is thinking that the
Freedominmyhead
on Why are Filipinos so irrevocably corrupt?
Why does our leadership attract the corrupt? The structure basically
Tim
on Why make being an oligarchy sound like such a bad thing?
This is a great article. The country seems to want
Gabsboy
on Why are Filipinos so irrevocably corrupt?
Life for the average working-class Filipino in February 1986 was
Blank
on Blocking Grok and other AI chat apps in the Philippines is a good idea
How do they explain paywalls when their businesses run on
benign0
on Blocking Grok and other AI chat apps in the Philippines is a good idea
Agree 100% banning AI is a band aid solution that