Category: Government

Other Motorcycle Taxi Services to Operate if Angkas Pilot Testing is Extended

December 9, 2019 P. Farol 1 Comment

Perhaps various posts on social media about the rather unfair situation involving Angkas and other motorcycle taxi services had gotten tot the right ears. Today I was told that our dear Usec. Mark Richmund De Leon had been instructed by Transportation Secretary Art Tugade to tell the public that other motorcycle taxi services would be…

Government

SO WHAT if the Philippines is “less democratic” under Duterte?

December 3, 2019 benign0 9 Comments

Leaders of today’s Philippine Opposition will have us believe that democracy is in crisis — even in decline (horrors!) — and, as such, heralding a coming era of doom and gloom for the nation in the coming years. They, of course, attribute this unfortunate prognosis to the government of President Rodrigo Duterte who, since Day…

Government, Politics

Singaporean Angkas Receives Christmas Bonus

November 30, 2019 P. Farol 1 Comment

Seems like Singaporean motorcycle taxi service Angkas is getting a pretty hefty Christmas bonus. Thanks to good old Santa er Undersecretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure-DOTr Mark Richmund M. De Leon. Apparently our good Undersecretary failed to attend the TWG meeting which would conclude the pilot testing program, thus resulting in the DOTR either allowing…

Government

SEA Games Fails, Time To Rise Above Fantardism

November 26, 2019November 26, 2019 P. Farol 3 Comments

The rash of SEA Games fails could have been addressed better. Thing is, I thought the cauldron was the last issue against the SEA Games but I was surprised that more came to light and still more will come. For some reason, I keep hearing Vice Ganda’s voice whenever I re-read Phisgoc chair and House…

Government, Politics

Firing of Leni Robredo as “Drug Czar” is the final nail in the Liberal Party coffin

November 25, 2019November 25, 2019 Ilda 16 Comments

Things have been moving too fast in Philippine politics lately that it’s hard to keep up. I have been promising myself I would write about current Vice President Leonor “Leni” Robredo’s relentless attacks on the government – a government she is a part of, but before I had a chance to do it, President Rodrigo…

Crime, Government, Politics

SEA Games problems prove Filipinos still need a lot of work building an ethic of excellence

November 25, 2019November 25, 2019 benign0 12 Comments

Did we really expect a seamless, swimmingly-hosted Southeast Asian Games (SEAG)? This is, after all, the Philippines where nothing works. Filipinos cannot organise their way out of a paper bag and this is reflected in just about every failed system and ways of working borrowed from former colonial masters and sloppily-applied to their setting. It…

Government, Society

Are 30th SEA Games Preparations Over Priced?

November 18, 2019 P. Farol 8 Comments

My sports geek friends are eagerly awaiting the 30th Sea Games and they are paying no mind at all to the horrendous traffic it’ll create all over Metro Manila as well as in the various venues outside of NCR. Right in the middle of recalling various sports statistics and some esoteric bits of sports lore,…

Government, Politics

Did Angkas ‘ Minions at DOTr’s TWG Connive to Create a Monopoly?

November 11, 2019November 11, 2019 P. Farol 1 Comment

Angkas dupes Tugade Building up the country’s transport infrastructures is a challenge that will test the limits of even a titan technocrat. Transport secretary Art Tugade is taking on this Herculean task at the age of 73 and while I believe stories of his abundance of energy at a late age, it seems that Singaporean…

Government, Politics