We beg to differ.
Despite having been to Mindanao more times than the average Manila resident when I was younger, I can’t really say I know the place as well as some of those who are quick to offer “solutions” to the “situation” over there. To begin with, it was mainly its major cities that I’ve been to —…
Read More “To those calling for war or peace in Mindanao: You’re not asking the right questions” »
History’s worst terrorist act against Americans within and outside of their borders will be remembered on Sunday, the 11th September this year. Exactly ten years ago on that date (now known simply as “9/11â€), more than three thousand people died in separate suicide attacks against high-profile targets within the United States, culminating in the total…
Read More “The 11th September 2001 terrorist attack – ten years hence: What have we learned?” »
It seems I started a bit of a firestorm with a recent article among the advocates of constitutional reform, whom I did not actually identify as the CoRRECT movement — because to be quite honest, I’m not at all certain they are necessarily the only reform advocates in the country — but who were quick…
Read More “Reflecting on the Constitutional Reform Movement” »
Pepsi Paloma was best known as one of the “softdrink” beauties along with starlets Coca Nicolas and Sarsi Emmanuel in Philippine Cinema of the early eighties. Her career and life were tragically cut short after an unfortunate alleged crossing of paths with comedy stars and noontime variety show personalities Joey de Leon, Richie d’Horsey, and…
Read More “Recalling Senator Tito Sotto’s Pepsi Paloma connection” »
Writing in yesterday’s Manila Standard, columnist Rod Kapunan demonstrates exactly the sort of violent, misplaced nationalism that is the best reason for the Philippines to join the International Criminal Court. If I was writing this for my own blog, I’d probably call Kapunan a tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy freak and an uncivilized thug, but since this…
Read More “The Philippines and the ICC: The Right Sort of Foreign Intervention” »
Media spin, political slogans and catch phrases, and “majority rule”. Today, these seem to be the preferred bases for validating what we come to know about our world everyday. At the very top of the hierarchy of this flawed approach with which we validate the “knowledge” we live by is the very concept of democracy…
Read More “Fact by consensus: are we accepting beliefs in lieu of knowledge?” »
Ill-equipped, ill-trained, ill-prepared, and ill-thought-out. These are words that can easily describe anything to do with the Philippines across the board — from its politicians, to its law-enforcement officers, to its Media, and ultimately to the very people they serve (and are consequently reflections of). The propensity to fail consistently is ingrained into the very…
Read More “The Mendoza bus hostage massacre: Remembering the victims of a preventable tragedy” »
Seems to me artist Mideo Cruz succeeded in proving the point he wanted to make in his collage Poleteismo which was exhibited along with other works in the main gallery of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. In Poleteismo, Cruz depicted through a collection of images and artifacts representing celebrities, religious icons, and public personalities…
Read More “Shutdown of the CCP ‘KULÔ’ exhibit proves the point Mideo Cruz makes in ‘Poleteismo’” »