Category: Society

The hypocrisy in Filipinos’ anger towards US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton

October 16, 2014October 16, 2014 benign0 139 Comments

Within the mounting virtually national initiative to demonise not just United States Marine Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton but the entire US military over the murder of Filipino transgender Jeffrey Laude, it is difficult to find any semlance of credibility among the noisiest of Filipino ‘activists’. The Philippines is home to one of the…

Crime, Culture, Government, Society

The transgender life: It’s not just about becoming a girl, it’s about becoming an ATTRACTIVE chick!

October 16, 2014 benign0 21 Comments

One thing that the brouhaha over the murder of Jeffrey Laude (allegedly by Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton of the United States Marine Corps) revealed is that Filipino transgenders live in legal limbo in the Philippines. No less than the Philippine Supreme Court is reportedly “confused” over how to regard them. The publisher of…

Crime, Culture, Lifestyle, Politics, Science, Society

Was Jeffrey Laude a prostitute who concealed his true gender in the practice of his trade?

October 15, 2014October 19, 2022 benign0 140 Comments

As expected, gay activists are now all over the case of the murder of transgender Jeffrey ‘Jennifer’ Laude. According to Benjamin Pimentel who wrote about the incident in the context of Gay Pride in his Inquirer piece Death of a Filipino transgender, “Despite progress and victories on many fronts, violence is still a frightening reality…

Crime, Culture, Lifestyle, Society

Was the murder of Jeffrey Laude in Olongapo a case of the ‘Crying Game’ syndrome?

October 14, 2014 benign0 49 Comments

Whether the victim was gay or straight, looks like a girl and is a girl, or looks like a girl but is really a man is really a non-issue, isn’t it? The case of Jeffrey Laude, a Filipino transgender found murdered in a hotel room in Olongapo city is really just that — a murder…

Crime, Culture, Government, Society

Why Vice President Jejomar Binay remains popular

October 13, 2014October 13, 2014 benign0 14 Comments

There’s been much hype spun around how today’s media technology supposedly greatly improves our ability to suss people out. But, really, all we seem to be getting is a thicker layer of show and an ever-thinning layer of real insiqht into things. Take the whole “debate” around the current crop of politicians and government officials…

Culture, Media, Politics, Society

Pinoy Big Brother housemate Valerie Weigmann is Miss World Philippines 2014!

October 13, 2014 Kate Natividad 2 Comments

Of ‘Filipino, German, and Danish descent’. That’s how newly-crowned Miss World Philippines 2014 contestant Valerie Weigmann of Albay is described by the Philippine media. Well, considering she is an ex-Pinoy Big Brother housemate and a one-time host of the noontime variety show Eat Bulaga, there does not seem to be much of the German and…

Culture, Glitz and Glamour, Lifestyle, Media, Society

Is same-sex marriage a more important issue than divorce??

October 10, 2014June 27, 2015 Kate Natividad 64 Comments

I often wonder about the twisted priorities of Philippine society. I read just now how Quezon City Mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista is reportedly mulling the allowing of same-sex marriage in his city. Ok, so how is it that something like that takes precedence over — and garners a lot more media mileage than — a…

Culture, Lifestyle, Media, Religion, Society

Binay’s estate, Purisima’s mansions, and Aquino’s hacienda – fodder for the same vacuous ‘debate’

October 9, 2014October 9, 2014 benign0 7 Comments

Pots calling kettles black pretty much summarises the all-too-familiar mudslinging that characterises the political “debate” Filipinos keep their small minds occupied with nowadays. Between the Aquino-Cojuangco bloc, the mansions and SUVs of disgraced police chief Alan Purisima, and the overpriced buildings of 2016 “presidentiable” and current Vice President Jejomar ‘Jojo’ Binay there does not seem…

Media, Politics, Society