We beg to differ.
The 1986 EDSA “People Power” revolution has been credited with bringing democracy back to the Philippines. However, three decades after the historic event, it seems majority of Filipinos still do not understand what democracy is about. The system of government is there in principle but Filipinos do not know how to use it properly. Worse,…
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Another EDSA “people power” anniversary, another traffic jam. These commemorations of that now-debatable “revolution” have become bigger and bigger national cringes with each passing year. But this year’s “celebration” was particularly noteworthy as it features a government that is now on the run from its own “bosses”. Police in anti-riot armour were out in full…
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“In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.” ~Mark Twain So what is a patriot in this day and age and what does it mean to be one?…
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The following is an article I wrote way back in 2001 following the ouster of former President Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada via a multi-million-strong street revolution that would go on to be known as “EDSA 2” (or EDSA Dos). The ouster of Estrada paved the way for the ascent to power of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who would…
Contrary to popular belief, I don’t believe Marian Rivera fantards are “doing anything wrong”. They’re just being themselves. And we have to respect that. They’re sort of like scorpions. They sting because that is what scorpions do. There’s really nothing wrong with stinging if you have the brain of a scorpion. Fantardism is an interesting…
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She was a small creature, no taller than a grown woman’s waist and with her limbs as thin and frail as bread sticks and her body almost nothing more than skin stretched over bone. Dressed in a grimy and filthy potato sack that’s supposed to pass for clothes, she walked on the hot pavement of the…
There used to be an old 1970s-1980s term often used to describe the “politically passionate”. Cause-oriented groups or COGs as they were once called was the collective term used for activists and rabble-rousers alike. They had real “causes” at the time — many of which were focused on achieving “freedom”, because Filipinos were supposedly not…
Read More “The Philippine ‘Opposition’: A movement in search of a credible cause” »
It suddenly occurred to me why Marian Rivera has so many frothing fans. It’s because she looks sosyal but sounds palengkera. The psychology there being that there is some sort of perverted appeal to seeing a person who looks like she comes from the colonial elite speaking the language of the masa. Yeah, I get…
Read More “What Marian Rivera’s fan base reveals about Philippine society” »