We beg to differ.
…But From Whom? My father believed that the education you get in grade school is the most crucial one because it sets up the foundation for all future learning and gives you a set of perspectives that will tend to guide you through most of your life. So despite being just a government employee at…
Don’t look now but Marian Rivera’s come out swinging at her detractors, presumably over the subject of her famous English language skills (or lack of it). I’ve always found Marian fascinating. Her face and physical stature does not match her style of speech. Perhaps this is what endears her to her fans — she physically…
Read More “Is diskarte more important than good English as Marian Rivera says?” »
[The following is an article by Star columnist Don Pedero published in The Philippine Star 29 October 2000 and also featured in Get Real Philippines on the same year.] * * * Last July 23, I wrote about Nasty (short for Anastacio), a balikbayan from Los Angeles, who, while vacationing in Manila, had nothing to…
Read More “The #Philippines is a nation of starstruck ignoramuses” »
(Author’s note: This article is a translation of a previous essay I wrote entitled “Anti-Vaxxers: A Dangerous Trend the Philippines Needs to Avoid.” I found it convenient to write this version so as to have a wider reach, and to have more people be aware of an emerging dangerous trend. As with the vaccines themselves,…
Pope Francis’s visit to the Philippines is shaping out to be the country’s biggest coming event. Already there’s a scramble to fill precious slots that would bring ordinary folk within the pontiff’s breathing space — whether it be seats in the pope’s flight from Rome to Manila, or a place in His Eminence’s dining table,…
A collaborative exercise organised by Silicon Valley technology entrepreneur Lex Bayer and Stanford University humanist chaplain John Figdor, authors of the book Atheist Mind, Humanist Heart has come up with a new set of Ten Commandments for the 21st Century. According to the “Winning Beliefs” page of the authors’ website, 13 judges selected the ten…
Read More “The new Ten Commandments for the 21st Century announced!” »
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” »
I’ve been hearing about this petition to ban the popular game Clash of Clans in the Philippines. The petition seems to have been instigated by a troop of parents long frustrated by how it has hijacked the lives of their kids. The thinking there, as I understand, is that if addictive narcotics are banned, then…
Read More “Should Clash of Clans be banned in the Philippines?” »