Category: Education

Philippine employment dilemma: Dumb down the jobs? Or smarten up the workforce?

July 6, 2014 benign0 11 Comments

The Philippines is imprisoned by a deep systemic inability in its people to extricate themselves from poverty. It is a problem that is an outcome of (1) the sheer number of Filipinos that inhabit the planet, (2) the average productive output of each warm Filipino body earning (or seeking to earn) a living, and (3)…

Development, Economy, Education, Money Talks

Dear Lucy Torres: Why not a COMPREHENSIVE Anti Bad Manners bill instead?

June 23, 2014June 23, 2014 benign0 9 Comments

Seriously? A honk-free day in the Philippines? We need to get to the bottom of the kind of thinking House Representative Lucy Torres-Gomez (wife of movie idol Richard Gomez) was applying when she came up with House Bill 4542 which, according to this Gulf News report, “aims to bring to the people’s attention the importance…

Civics, Culture, Education, Glitz and Glamour, Lifestyle, Religion, Society

HK Filipino maids react to latest ‘racism’ row as impact of Singapore hate blog ripples across region

June 19, 2014June 19, 2014 benign0 36 Comments

Tensions between Filipino expat residents in Singapore and so-called hate bloggers and online trolls seems to be escalating. The Philippine embassy in Singapore has asked the Singapore government to hold accountable for inciting hatred a blogger who published an article on the site “Blood Stained Singapore” in which the Filipino community there was described as…

Civics, Culture, Development, Economy, Education, Government, Lifestyle, Media, Society

Kudos to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for FINALLY junking Tagalog!

June 18, 2014July 31, 2022 benign0 46 Comments

Long overdue! The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) memo directing the removal of Tagalog (a.k.a. “Filipino”) as a mandatory subject in the Philippines’ General Education Curriculum (GEC) effectively frees millions of Filipinos from wasting time on a dead-end field of learning. On implementation of the directive, the subject will be relegated to Grades 11 and…

Culture, Education

Insulted much? Talaga lang huh!

June 13, 2014June 16, 2014 Ms. Mike Portes 33 Comments

The viral issue at www.hongwrong.com smacks of cultural ignorance on the publisher and on the educational system disseminating it. We are at an Age where Diversity is being embraced by the enlightened and I could have easily snapped back with this highly suggested “Widow” edit : “I am Chinese and my government is Asia’s bully,…

Culture, Development, Education, Government, Society

How idiopreneurship can stem the flow of talented people abandoning the Philippines

June 6, 2014June 6, 2014 benign0 24 Comments

Much has been said about how the appalling work conditions, low pay, and stifling congestion in the Philippines is driving away its most talented workers. But what seems to be the biggest put-off for the greatest Filipino minds is the intellectual bankruptcy that prevails in Philippine society. Much has also been said about technology being…

Crime, Development, Education, Government, Media, Politics, Society, Technology

PAGASA mass exodus: Why are workers treated like crap in the Philippines?

June 5, 2014May 1, 2018 benign0 10 Comments

Simple. Because there are so many of them. That’s a lesson in an Economics 101 course — the Law of Supply and Demand. When the enormous supply of a commodity dwarfs demand for it, the value of that commodity is crushed. Employers in the Philippines can treat their workers like crap, because they can. The…

Development, Economy, Education, Government

Is depicting Filipinos as domestic helpers racist?

June 3, 2014June 4, 2014 FallenAngel 49 Comments

Apparently, quite a few Filipinos seem to think so. Given the highly hypersensitive nature of the Filipinos, it was only natural that they would react with rage to the screenshot below found in certain Hong Kong textbooks. The blog site Hongwrong.com couldn’t help but make a parody of such depiction of “racial harmony” as is…

Culture, Development, Education, Lifestyle