We beg to differ.
While I find a bit justified the whole stink being raised around the way the Torre de Manila highrise condominiums being constructed in Manila by developer DMCI Homes is supposedly “ruining” the view of the Rizal Monument, I think we are missing the bigger picture. Metro Manila is an ugly city. And that ugliness did…
A friend and I were recently looking through our Facebook timelines and having a laugh. The flood of ALS ice water bucket videos (which, frankly, I find a bit tiring), merited only a few pained chuckles. But what really got us guffawing was a photo shared by a distant acquaintance of ours. In the photo,…
Read More “Which comes first, the ‘nice’ or the Louis Vuitton?” »
The world was shocked with the news that the much-loved Hollywood actor and comedian Robin Williams took his own life. It was hard for his fans to reconcile his animated persona on screen with the revelation that he was actually an unhappy person off screen. It was discomforting to think that someone who made it…
Read More “Robin Williams’s death and the meaning of life” »
What I am really curious about is what possessed comedian Ramon Bautista to insinuate that Davao women are “hipon”, slang for (I am told) women who have a nice body but a not-so-nice face. “Hipon” is Tagalog for “shrimp”. So, yeah, shrimp is the word because the head of a shrimp is discarded after the…
Read More “Ramon Bautista’s ‘hipon’ joke: Davao women should lighten up” »
Metro Manila is a dump. And it is getting worse, not better. The city is being crushed under the weight of its own success as a magnet for domestic migrants looking for jobs the Philippines’ barren hinterlands cannot provide. But why is Metro Manila, the Philippines’ premiere economic and cultural centre, not improving? Not only…
The mounting desperation of the average Metro Manila commuter is becoming so palpable you can taste it in the air every morning when you come out the door of your home and face the hard slog to work. It is utterly depressing to face a day where the first thing you will be experiencing is…
Read More “Traffic has sentenced every Metro Manila resident to prison time befitting murderers” »
The public puts its trust in government officials to look after the best interests of the public. A very simple tenet. Yet it is one that seems to elude the fundamental sensibilities of Philippine society. When was the last time we rested assured that a Philippine government bureaucracy, bureaucrat, or official is doing its, his…
Read More “Endemic corruption in Philippine society stems from a national Trust Deficit Disorder!” »
There is a world of difference between (1) making a quick visit to the Philippines, and beholding all the usual stock-standard confronting sights of impoverished Filipinos “bravely” scraping together a living and (2) growing up in the Philippines, and experiencing that poverty (either as a part of it or as an observer) everyday for many…