We beg to differ.
A lot has already been said recently about Filipino food and how the world reacts to it, so I won’t be covering much of that issue here. What matters I suppose is that, in spite of what foreigners think of our local delicacies, we have an opportunity to show the world that our food has…
Read More “Expo 2015 and Filipino Food: An Opportunity Slowly Slipping Away” »
I realised the whole problem with the prevailing discourse within the social media space I inhabit: there is too much discussion about politics and not enough about the underlying issue with Philippine society that I have long highlighted is the real deal here — Filipino culture. Fact is, the Philippines is beset by a really…
Read More “Repeat after me: I am the Philippines and I am home to a dysfunctional society” »
The following is a copy of the Foreword I wrote for my friend Ben Kritz’s new book Same Planet, Different World: An Outsider’s Inside View of the Philippines. You can download the book from Amazon here onto Kindle or any of a variety of apps also supported by Amazon. We in our clique of the…
Read More “The country we’ve made for ourselves: why we need an outsider’s perspective” »
I’ve come to realise that much of Philippine history was really all about a monumental effort to counter centuries of butthurt. The Philippine “revolution” of 1898 was an epic reaction to 400 years of butthurt in the hands of Spain. The arbitrary re-defining of the 4th of July, 1946 from “Philippine Independence Day” to “Philippine-American…
Read More “Much of Philippine history was motivated by Filipinos’ kneejerk butthurt reactions” »
One thing that could go right for Manila Bay Reclamation is that it could pave the way for a new start, without the burden and limitations of a once glorious past that will never be reclaimed. Reclamation is actually a part of a plan for Manila’s growth that was started by the Americans when they…
Read More “What Could Go Right With Manila Bay Reclamation” »
It all started with former Congressman Teddy Casiño’s morning greeting on Twitter… Good morning citizens of the Ampaw Republic! That pretty much made our morning. Within minutes, hordes of Pinoy Pridists descended upon the hapless activist, denouncing his likening of the Philippines to the no-substance low-nutrition Filipino dessert ampaw. Ampaw is made of puffed-up grain…
Read More “The Philippines: an Ampaw Republic governed by an Ampaw President” »
You don’t need to look far. The current political tele-dramas that have rivetted Filipinos lately point to it. Thievery on such an unprecedented vast scale perpetrated by the elected officials of a society are proof in itself. Many of them were not elected once but twice — and their offspring and kin elected despite all…
Read More “Honor is not a strong part of Filipino tradition” »
It seems MRT-3 stations are becoming potential death traps as dangerous crowd control practices are now being used to “manage” the increasing volumes of passengers using the line. As seen in the following photo, passengers are made to queue on stairs leading to the train platforms packed like sardines. The photo was posted by a…
Read More “Manila’s Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) stations: Disasters waiting to happen?” »