We beg to differ.
It is not surprising that Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III wholeheartedly supports criminal libel in the Philippines. Luis Teodoro, BusinessWorld columnist and former dean of the College of Mass Communications of the University of the Philippines, wrote in a 2003 article about how the spectre of harassment-by-libel emerged in the Philippine scene so…
The Philippine Supreme Court reportedly upheld the libel provisions of Republic Act 10175 or the “Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012” which Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III signed into law in 2012. As expected, online hysterics have erupted over Philippine social media space with many online “activists” expressing loud indignation over what they perceive…
So it’s been 100 days since the disaster wrought by super-typhoon Haiyan (a.k.a. Yolanda). A one-hundred day anniversary is an arbitrary point following a seminal event where the average talking head observes the tradition of dipping into that fountain of useless wisdom called hindsight to tell a story. Here we go, then. First, the facts….
Law practice in the Philippines quite simply is not that straightforward. Ask lawyer Raymond Fortun who recently resigned as spookesman for alleged Chinese mafiosi Cedric Lee who, together with starlet Deniece Cornejo, are accused of viciously mauling variety show host Vhong Navarro and framing him for rape. But Fortun has apparently been increasingly frustrated over…
Read More “Raymond Fortun resignation as Cedric Lee mouthpiece highlights Pinoy dysfunction” »
The fact that there are many whistleblowers and that the entire case the Department of Justice is mounting against several Philippine senators accused of plundering their pork barrel funds rests on these whistleblowers highlights the profound dysfunction of the country’s criminal investigation and criminal justice system. How many whistleblowers are needed to support the case?…
Read More “Why pork barrel whistleblowers Benhur Luy and Ruby Tuason should go to jail” »
An uproar erupted amongst the friends of deceased comedian and activist Tado Jimenez after reports came out that star game show host Willie Revillame “took care” of moving his remains from the scene of the accident back to Manila. According to an Interaksyon report singer Dong Abay and radio personality Gang Badoy-Capati took to Facebook…
Read More “Social media uproar over Willie Revillame claim on Tado Jimenez remains!” »
So apparently, three months after Tropical Storm Haiyan (local name Yolanda) hits the Philippines, the Department of Tourism (DOT) comes out with a short video called “The Philippines says Thank You”, with the accompanying hashtag #PHthankyou. Ok. So what then? Frankly, the video just fails to move me. I’m probably only a handful of Filipinos…
Read More “‘The Philippines says Thank You’ video: missing the bigger point #PHthankyou” »
The thing with the precarious position the Philippines finds itself in its dealings with China and the handling of the two big diplomatic crises surrounding it — the dispute over various territories within the West Philippine Sea and the row over the Philippine government’s unsatisfactory resolution of the 2010 hostage crisis in which nine Hong…