We beg to differ.
Perhaps at the root of all the factors that contribute to the Philippines’ continued and foreseeable failure to prosper is a deeply-entrenched cultural artefact: victimhood. Filipinos like playing the victim card. It is the heart of its politics — a “victimised” people to whom populist appeals to hero rhetoric resonate. As such, Filipino politicians win…
Read More “It is time for Filipinos to start REFUSING to be victims” »
So, yet again, we approach another seminal presidential election and there is much bubbling and foaming on the surface of the political scene. While the attention of the public has been focused on the turbulent surface of Philippine politics, few have appreciated the underlying reason behind that turbulence. For like the way rough rapids only…
So, my former boss and good friend Ferdie were drinking beer last night at Eton Centris when talk eventually came around to the supposed inevitability of a Binay Presidency. One argument that is going around is that all candidates for the presidency are corrupt in one way or the other. That being the case, it…
In my previous post, you’ll see a picture of Darth Vader with the words, “Voting is pointless. It is useless to resist me. I am your leader now.” It’s really a reference to what some have been saying about Vice President Jejomar Binay and that is, mainly, that he will win… …some say “by default”,…
A lot of Filipinos are scared of a Binay Presidency. A Catholic priest even said it is a “scary prospect” after meeting Vice President Jejomar Binay himself. It is quite understandable why. If Vice President Jejomar Binay wins the Presidential Election in 2016, he will simply continue the world-renowned Filipino tradition of patronage politics. This…
Read More “5 things that will happen when Jejomar Binay becomes Philippine President” »
For all the stupid things President BS Aquino v. 3.0 says to provide fodder for online and offline critics, it is actually rare to catch him in a flat lie. Rare, but apparently not impossible: Among his otherwise-forgettable comments made during his appearance in locations that are not the City of Tacloban to mark the…
Read More “BUSTED: JICA Refutes Pnoy’s Claim on Tacloban Airport Move” »
Even way back on the 24th October this year, Ibon Foundation had already highlighted in a report the unimpressive performance of the Philippine government in the rehabilitation of the disaster zones left by Haiyan. The report quotes numbers from the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPARR) which show that the region…
Read More “Rehabilitation of #Haiyan devastation report card: Philippine Gov’t FAIL” »
The marking of the first year’s anniversary of the visit of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) to the Philippines in November 2013 is a bittersweet one. While the disaster devasted millions of Filipino lives, its most appalling legacy is the vast open wound it left in the Filipino’s collective psyche — the realisation that theirs is an…