Category: Development

Study confirms need to establish English as medium of instruction also at elementary school levels

August 20, 2014April 1, 2023 benign0 36 Comments

A study jointly conducted by the University of the Philippines’ Assessment Curriculum Technology Research Center-College of Education (ACTRC) and the University of Melbourne on the effectiveness of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education in (MTB-MLE) in the Philippines has confirmed something many Filipinos have known for some time — that English remains a highly-prized skill that most…

Culture, Development, Education

How can Metro Manila ever improve if Filipino politicians do not take public transport?

August 19, 2014February 1, 2022 benign0 59 Comments

Metro Manila is a dump. And it is getting worse, not better. The city is being crushed under the weight of its own success as a magnet for domestic migrants looking for jobs the Philippines’ barren hinterlands cannot provide. But why is Metro Manila, the Philippines’ premiere economic and cultural centre, not improving? Not only…

Development, Government, Lifestyle, Politics, Society

Traffic has sentenced every Metro Manila resident to prison time befitting murderers

August 18, 2014September 14, 2022 benign0 45 Comments

The mounting desperation of the average Metro Manila commuter is becoming so palpable you can taste it in the air every morning when you come out the door of your home and face the hard slog to work. It is utterly depressing to face a day where the first thing you will be experiencing is…

Crime, Development, Environment, Government, Lifestyle

Noynoy Aquino needs to be reminded: ‘Never again’

August 16, 2014April 12, 2023 benign0 15 Comments

“Never again.” It is a call to remind Filipinos that the “horrors” of the Martial Law years of the 1970s should never happen again; that we should be vigilant and always say “No” to dictators, another Martial Law, and, of course, another Marcos in power. The times, however, have all but made that slogan a…

Charter Change, Crime, Development, Government, Politics

Pork Barrel has evolved from PDAF and DAP into something that is yet-to-be-named

August 14, 2014 benign0 9 Comments

Pork Barrel, the primary feature and, to many Filipino politicians, the whole point of Philippine politics is not dead yet. It remains alive, despite the crushing of its two biggest motherlodes, the so-called Prioritiy Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). The embryo for the new pork is already baked into the…

Crime, Development, Government, Politics

Another Aquino Legacy: The Death of Manila Bay Reclamation By Religion and Pseudo-Environmentalism?

August 12, 2014 P. Farol 14 Comments

A Fitting Testament To Myopic, Parochial, and Political Economy Based National Planning According to the grape vine, all plans to add to or expand the reclaimed area in Manila Bay seems to be ‘dead in the water’ — literally. I didn’t believe the pronouncements of the demise of any and all Manila Bay reclamation projects…

Development, Economy, Environment

PNoy’s supporters are preventing the Philippines from moving forward

August 9, 2014August 10, 2014 Ilda 25 Comments

Sometimes talking to some people is like talking to a brick wall. Wait…I take that statement back. Sometimes talking to a brick wall is better than talking to some people. At least you don’t expect anything from a brick wall. Take the case of some staunch Aquino supporters. They are calling for an extension on…

Development, Government, Politics

Will Pope Francis’s prayers make a difference to Typhoon Haiyan’s victims in the Philippines?

August 8, 2014 benign0 31 Comments

There is a world of difference between (1) making a quick visit to the Philippines, and beholding all the usual stock-standard confronting sights of impoverished Filipinos “bravely” scraping together a living and (2) growing up in the Philippines, and experiencing that poverty (either as a part of it or as an observer) everyday for many…

Civics, Culture, Development, Lifestyle, Media, Religion

Gabsboy
on EDSA 40 years after: Overthrow and “Leftist” Ideals Don’t Work
It would have been absolute cinema had the military coups
Ven
on The Philippines reels from yet another global “crisis”
Who the hell is prepared for a crisis when any
megget
on The Philippines reels from yet another global “crisis”
the filipino way is scraping by on the least amount
Gyn
on The Philippines reels from yet another global “crisis”
This whole thing is not working, and you know it
Redd
on The Philippines reels from yet another global “crisis”
"For now there is little promise seeing that Filipinos’ foremost
megget
on The Philippines reels from yet another global “crisis”
when the entire world turns to dust, who will be
megget
on The Philippines reels from yet another global “crisis”
and you moved here...?
DRSQL
on The Philippines reels from yet another global “crisis”
The call center market will absolutely be dead within the