Category: Development

Answering the threats of natural calamities in the Philippines

January 18, 2022 The Unpopular Opinion 8 Comments

Roughly one month has passed since Typhoon Odette devastated various regions of the Philippines, specifically the Visayas islands. Houses, bridges, and harbors were left in ruins, while trees and electrical posts were uprooted. Lifeline accessibility was greatly hampered, with access to electricity and safe drinking water returning only after two days or more. With this…

Development, Environment, Government

Philippine energy policy: more politics, less economics

December 15, 2021December 16, 2021 The Unpopular Opinion 5 Comments

Human civilizations have witnessed and experienced various ups and downs, which ranged from progress, stagnation, to dissolution. These various epochs have been etched in our world history, but the impact of the industrial revolution undoubtedly shaped how we spend our lives for the past couple of centuries. Industrialization began in Britain, where there was a…

Development, Environment, Politics

Revising the 1987 Constitution could put an end to communist insurgencies in the Philippines

November 16, 2021November 16, 2021 The Unpopular Opinion 9 Comments

Issues regarding communist insurgencies in the Philippines are once again the talk of the town as the country prepares to elect its next chief executive. The current administration has been aggressive in addressing problems associated extreme leftist groups and their armed counterparts. Definitely, the next head of government would inherit these successes as the military…

Business, Charter Change, Development, Economy

An unconventional proposal to save all versions of Filipino democracy

October 31, 2021October 31, 2021 FallenAngel 15 Comments

For anyone who has been observing the Philippine political scene long enough, it is not hard to come to the conclusion that regardless of who wins the presidential election, Filipinos will remain the same mediocre, divided, and self-interested collection of disjoint tribes that they’ve always been. The term of Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino was marked…

Civics, Development, Media, Politics

Duterte achieved a lot during his term which is why CONTINUITY post-2022 is very important

October 21, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 18 Comments

It was then incoming Secretary of Finance Carlos Dominguez who set the administration’s 0-10 point socio-economic agenda which was basically the key performance indicators (KPIs) set by the administration for what it expected to achieve by the time its term ended. I tend to disagree to the scores Inquirer columnist Peter Wallace laid out in…

Development, Economy, Education

Platforms and action plans, NOT mere motherhood statements: Filipinos should expect MORE from their candidates

October 17, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 2 Comments

Mass media was existent even before the rise of President Rodrigo Duterte. But the clowns in public office were the offshoots of the dumbing down of the Filipino by ABS-CBN and the change in demographics brought about by uncontrolled population growth. Professor Randy David in his Inquirer piece “Politics in the age of mass media”…

Development, Media, Politics

The most important election issues for 2022. Take note: being “anti-Marcos” is NOT one of them

October 9, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 4 Comments

With the Presidential candidates cast more or less complete, the time has come for the questions we should ask each of them that will guide us in determining who is in the position to lead the country over the next six years. It shouldn’t be about Aquino versus Marcos again or looming authoritarianism against freedom…

Development, Government

No justification for Pasig River Expressway (PAREX), project driven more by profit than by public good

September 29, 2021 Ramon Ortoll 6 Comments

The Pasig River Expressway has broken ground and the project has begun in earnest even with the growing opposition to it. The initial furor was over the design that the whole river would be covered by the length of the expressway which runs from east to west from Manila Bay to Laguna De Bay. As…

Business, Development, Environment