Category: Media

Filipinos need to end their love affair with mediocrity and ‘pwede na yan’ mentality

July 9, 2014August 4, 2014 Ilda 118 Comments

My views are not very popular with Filipinos. I guess it’s partly my fault because I like posting topics that some might consider taboo and boring. But it’s not like I discuss religion or make fun of other people’s religious beliefs. Granted, I like talking about Philippine politics and society in general but I really…

Civics, Culture, Development, Economy, Featured, Government, Lifestyle, Media, Politics, Society

#NeverAgain? Was former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos really that awful a leader?

July 8, 2014September 21, 2014 benign0 67 Comments

The whole brouhaha surrounding the stink raised by Ateneo students and alumni over a photo of their fellows schmoozing with fomer First Lady Imelda Marcos in an Ateneo Scholarship Foundation (ASF) social event brought to light renewed debate over whether or not former President Ferdinand Marcos really was that bad. Was the former strongman a…

Crime, Media, Politics, Society

Are Ateneans making too much of a big deal over the Imelda Marcos photos?

July 7, 2014July 7, 2014 benign0 47 Comments

I do regard with wonder the virulent and militant nature with which Ateneans today raise their fists in quaint anger over photos of Imelda Marcos schmoozing with their fellows in an Ateneo Scholarship Foundation (ASF) social event. Yet hardly an organised peep had been heard from the collective community of alumni and students over the…

Civics, Culture, Lifestyle, Media, Politics, Society

Recall: President BS Aquino was crowned ‘Filipino of the Year’ by the Inquirer in 2010

July 6, 2014 benign0 5 Comments

For old times’ sake, let us revisit how the Inquirer back in 2010 crowned President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III “our Filipino of the Year” after just six months in power. This honour was bestowed on the incumbent Philippine president supposedly for being “the living Filipino who made the most positive impact in 2010”. And,…

Crime, Government, Media, Politics

Change from within: how science and celebrity can effect it

July 4, 2014 benign0 4 Comments

It has often been highlighted that to get on a sustainable course towards prosperity, Filipinos need not a change of men but a change in men. It is a social transformation that needs to come from within. An article in Scientific American provides insight on how lessons learned from the success of some past initiatives…

Culture, Development, Lifestyle, Media, Science, Society

Achieving developmental focus: The Philippines’ Vital Few initiatives

July 4, 2014July 4, 2014 benign0 1 Comment

The Philippines is a most massive outcome of lots of actions underpinned by very little thinking. So many initiatives, advocacies, “movements”, agendas, and vested interests driven by even more characters in a country of 100 million clueless people — it sounds like a chapter out of John Barrow’s book Impossibility. The Philippines is a case…

Charter Change, Development, Economy, Media, Society

Understanding the Media

June 30, 2014 BenK 8 Comments

For about a month now, I have had what I will call “an expanded role” beyond the column I write three times a week at The Manila Times. The specifics of that arrangement are not for public consumption (and would probably be completely boring to anyone who doesn’t happen to be in the newspaper business,…

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Media

Dutch airline KLM in hot water over ‘racist’ tweet vs Mexico World Cup team

June 30, 2014June 30, 2014 benign0 4 Comments

What was supposed to be a witty swipe at the Mexican World Cup team on Twitter by Dutch flag carrier Royal Ducth Airlines (KLM) became the subject of an online indignation campaign that forced the airline to delete the tweet. Mexico had lost to the Dutch earlier and is out of the match. Noted social…

Culture, Glitz and Glamour, Media, Society