We beg to differ.
It’s been 27 years since the Edsa People Power, a time when we all hoped for the best. Where has that spirit gone? Has that “Proud to be a Filipino” tagline, gone beyond lip service? Has that popular mantra translated to a country where the rights of its citizens is upheld and its citizens know the…
Read More “On Edsa People Power and the legacy of the Jabidah massacre” »
At the end of the day, what exactly is ‘the Philippines’ to begin with? The way things are going, it seems it will remain no more than the bunch of tropical islands around which the 16th Century Spanish crown drew a ring and named after their king. To this day, Filipinos suffer from the same…
(As published in The Manila Times, Thursday, February 21) One of the key reasons Southeast Asia is the world’s most economically-promising region is the strength and stability of the regional multilateral partnership, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). With the debatable exception of the European Union, no other multinational cooperative in the world performs…
Read More “Moving Away from the ASEAN is a Costly Mistake” »
Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III is reportedly the subject of a complaint filed by officials of Anakpawis party-list to Commissions on Elections (COMELEC) Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. BS Aquino is being accused of blatantly using bribes to buy votes for his “Team PNoy†for the coming mid-term elections in May 2013. Apparently, the…
Read More “President Noynoy Aquino shows he is at his best when campaigning and not when working” »
In times of election people work up an appetite for “statistics” on how the candidates they support are faring in what is essentially a popularity contest. The two dominant survey firms who meet this demand for numbers are SWS and Pulse Asia. The numbers collected in supposedly “scientifically” conducted “surveys” on which candidate is favoured…
Juan “Johnny†Ponce Enrile Once upon a time, Enrile was just another down and out offspring out of wedlock, growing-up in the boondoks. He had a prominent father, a mother from humble origins, more than his fair share of suffering and humiliation, and all the hang-ups associated with this scenario in that particular era of…
Read More “The Three Kings of the United Nationalist Alliance” »
Many ‘activists’ who are focusing on how much money is spent by election candidates and where and when their colourful messages are being flashed miss the whole point of elections. Elections are a necessarily messy occasion. Messiness is a good symptom of a healthy number of options presented to “the people” — those folk that…
“Even regular soldiers and police are often recruited into private armies through money or political favours. They are paid as little as US$ 58 a month to become enforcers in executions, abductions and drug-related crimes.” Asianews This piece started off in the remnants of my brain around late December. It was going to…
Read More “Life, It’s More Cheap In The Philippines. Who Cares? We Have Jessica Sanchez!” »