We beg to differ.
A typical evaluation, or discussion of the Duterte administration, usually begins with this underlying premise: Rodrigo Duterte was elected because Filipinos wanted change. For sure, Rodrigo Duterte is different in more ways than one. He is the first president who hails from Mindanao; as such, people are expecting a sort of “outsider’s perspective” from him,…
“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.” – Oscar Wilde The government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is set to shift to deficit spending to the tune of hundreds of billions of pesos in investments in infrastructure for this financial year alone. This follows decades of underspending and a steady…
Whether one is rich or poor, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Everyone pays their way. Rich people are rich because they were likely to be exceptionally clever or industrious (or both). Poor people are poor because they likely habitually enter into commitments they are inherently incapable of honouring. The common denominator,…
Read More “KADAMAY squatter mentality at heart of chronic Filipino poverty” »
Of course, the “logically obsessed” would beg to disagree. They will contend that just because one criticizes Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, it doesn’t mean that they are “dilawan”, or siding with the Liberal Party (LP) – arguably the loudest voice in the opposition, or some people would like to say, the anti-Duterte camp. And vice…
Bringing change to the country is a monumental challenge that President Rodrigo Duterte ALONE cannot accomplish. This is the reason why it is vitally important that the people he has appointed to his cabinet be able and willing to help him fulfill his campaign promises. Of course, it need not be said that those he…
There is something to be said about how the Liberal Party (LP), the political force that has remained ubiquitous ever since the 1986 People Power Movement, has handled its role as part of political opposition to the Rodrigo Duterte administration. The volume of statements coming from the LP-led opposition has not died down, despite the…
Read More “The Liberal Party has FAILED in its role as part of ‘the opposition’” »
The seemingly inescapable reality that confronts the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution is that interest in it – and not really surprisingly, attendance in the annual commemorations – have been declining for the past years. This year, the Duterte administration had proposed that the rites be simple and quiet, a statement that was met with…
Read More “The silly semantic debate of whether EDSA I was a ‘success’ or a ‘failure’” »
Continuing to send Filipino workers overseas to seek and sustain employment is a serious misallocation of human capital. Much the same way as wanton mining in the Philippine countryside took a huge toll on the environment and landscape, exporting people leaves deep scars in the Philipines’ social fabric. And so, here is why the OFW…
Read More “Key Duterte initiatives lay foundation for sustained economic growth” »