Category: Development

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

Porac Quake Raises Concern Over “Substandard” Steel

April 27, 2019April 29, 2019 P. Farol 6 Comments

When the floor of my home/office in Quezon city vibrated and then swirled around a bit early this week, I didn’t panic at all because I trusted the design, engineering, and construction of the building would withstand what i suspected was a pretty strong earthquake. Although I survived the strong quake to make nervous jokes…

Development, Government

Will the Philippines become the next Hong Kong or Taiwan, Province of China?

April 14, 2019July 15, 2023 zaxx 30 Comments

Hundreds of Chinese vessels are swarming Philippine-claimed Pag-asa Island like an army of ants feasting on a helpless slowly dying Maya bird that’s lost hope. It’s just a matter of time till China will have gained de facto control over the entire Philippine-side of their nine-dash line in the South China Sea (SCS). And all…

Development, Politics