We beg to differ.
Around the time of its first 50 days, the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino, was beleaguered by the Mendoza hostage situation and its fallout. The incident resulted in the deaths of eight (8) Hong Kong tourists; BS Aquino never apologized for it. The concepts of the “first 100 days”, and more…
Read More “Three fundamental weaknesses of the Duterte administration” »
Ninoy, Salamat sa demokrasya. August 21, 1983. “Handog ng Pilipino sa mundo…”, “Magkaisa at magsama…” Yaaawn… OK, change the channel please! Now that the Filipino people have been awakened to the reality that there are better channels to watch on their TV and that the many years of fairy-land “democracy” that Ninoy’s death at the tarmac…
Read More “Ninoy is NOT a hero: Let’s rename NAIA back to “Manila International Airport”” »
It’s time Filipinos pause, step back, take stock, and ask: What is really going on here? If one would attempt to answer that question using the common frame of mind with which Filipinos have coocooned themselves within, the responses would be unsurprising, quite trite, and peppered with certain key words prevalent in mainstream discourse today:…
Read More “Filipinos should junk the 1986 People Power narrative in order to TRULY progress” »
A discussion on Marcos and the Martial Law years inevitably results in someone making a comparison between Marcos and World War II-era Nazi Germany. Oftentimes, parallels are drawn, such as the use of propaganda, the culpability for hundreds of thousands who lost their lives, etc. Perhaps, most strikingly, the two are often put side by…
Read More “The REAL reason Marcos and Martial Law issues will remain unresolved” »
What amuses many about Einstein’s theory of relativity is the hypothetical Twin Paradox experiment. Imagine identical twin brothers: one stays on earth while the other rides a space ship that travels close to the speed of light. After many years the ship comes back to earth, and to everyone’s surprise, the brother who comes out…
Sad to say, Philippine “activism” hasn’t progressed much over the last several decades. The “movements” may have moved from the streets onto social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, but the quality of the discourse has remained pathetically dismal. The venerable former blogger Dean Jorge Bocobo (DJB, a.k.a. @SagadaSun on Twitter), for example, has taken…
Read More “Social media and the dismal state of Filipino activism and political commentary” »
Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for President of the United States (POTUS), caught the ire of the Filipino community recently, when he mentioned Filipinos in a speech as one among a bunch of “terrorist nations”. The Donald did get something partially right: dealing with Filipinos is like dealing with a bunch of animals. I haven’t…
Read More “Not even the Donald can Trump Filipino hypersensitivity!” »
The year 2015 was both a significant marker in the history of our Southeast Asian neighbor Singapore. It was the year of both the fiftieth anniversary of its founding as a nation (August 9), and the year Lee Kuan Yew (LKY), widely considered its founding father, died (March 23). Therefore, starting this year, 2016, Singapore…
Read More “Filipinos can only keep romanticizing about what Singapore has succeeded at DOING” »