We beg to differ.
Now that Department of Budget Management Secretary Butch Abad is in hot water over allegations surrounding (among others) his being lead architect of the gazillion-peso presidential slush fund — the ‘Disbursement Acceleration Program’ (DAP) — purportedly used to fund efforts to motivate Philippine Senators to deliver a favourable verdict in the 2012 impeachment of former…
One thing a military organisation worth its salt is good at is acting swiftly and decisively under duress to resolve a serious crisis. This is exactly what the Thai Army has done to untangle a government paralysed by civilian politics. Following the imposition of martial law by the Army last week, further measures have been…
Read More “Thai Army shows how to decisively cure a country of its cancerous civilian politics” »
Back to the beginning. I first got to know about the Philippines as I was travelling in other countries and met a number of Filipino Overseas Foreign Workers (OFWs). Over time I often helped some with English, form filling etc., and heard more about their lives, loves, and hardships, and was never once asked for…
“In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act” – George Orwell Improving systems and changing cultures invariably starts with looking under the covers, and with brutal honesty sometimes. Self-delusion doesn’t — shouldn’t — feature in corporate life, nor should it in national governance. Would you prefer your taxes be…
Read More “The brutal business of implementing change in the Philippines” »
What’s hot in the public transport innovation scene today? It’s Uber. The top (arguably) “digital transport network” in the world is looking at a possible USD12 billion valuation if efforts to raise a reported USD500 million in its most recent funding round bears fruit. Why is Uber hot? Because it applies well the same simple…
Read More “Digital transport network Uber: Could it cure Manila’s jeepney infestation?” »
It’s been four years into his so-called “Daang Matuwid” (“straight-and-narrow”) administration with just two years to go to make good on his many unfulfilled promises before he bows out of the office he reluctantly took in 2010. Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III is under an even more powerful magnifying glass now. The country…
Read More “Lead-up to SONA 2014: The sorry report card of Philippine President Noynoy Aquino” »
Yeah, so now they start moving their fat asses. The Philippine government is now supposedly “bent on saving the island paradise of Boracay,” saying that “climate change and unchecked development threatens to destroy” it. You don’t say. What do we do next after that major government brainwave? Appoint a ‘Save Boracay Czar’? Thing with troubleshooters,…
Read More “Boracay to suffer ‘engineering intervention’ in order to be ‘saved’” »
Climate change continues to loom as one of the biggest risks to the Philippines’ long-term future. Speaking before the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s ASEAN International Conference on Tourism and Climate Change in Legazpi City yesterday, Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III, asserted that the ‘new normal’ it will bring will compromise the long-aspired-for…