Category: Society

Question to activists: After resorting to violence against Sec Butch Abad, what next?

September 28, 2014 benign0 22 Comments

I can understand the rage felt by those UP students who mobbed Department of Budget Management (DBM) Secretary Florencio ‘Butch’ Abad in mid-September. The behaviour of these activists represent an explosion of pent-up anger over what many believe to be an astounding case of wholesale national thievery that will likely go unpunished. Abad is widely-regarded…

Civics, Crime, Government, Politics, Society

Climate change activism: mere farts in the wind

September 25, 2014December 16, 2022 benign0 12 Comments

Another United Nations (UN) climate summit, another bunch of promises. Has the UN really been an effective body in efforts to mitigate the worst of humanity’s many scourges that Planet Earth suffers? Considering that China is, today, the single biggest producer of “greenhouse gases”, the role the UN plays in an effort to curb emissions…

Development, Economy, Environment, Government, Lifestyle, Science, Society

“PH Society, be my bitch!” says They!

September 24, 2014September 25, 2014 Ms. Mike Portes 16 Comments

If my eyes can taste, these images leave with me a flavor that’s one for an up chuck! Both bilious are Stylebible.ph‘s photo of the S & M tinged number taken at a sexually amped-up “fashion” show of a leading garment brand and the viral shirt photo posted by a writer as it was being…

Glitz and Glamour, Lifestyle, Society

Kabadingan and kalaswaan in Philippine fashion

September 23, 2014September 24, 2014 Kate Natividad 54 Comments

Bad taste plain and simple. What was Bench thinking? Sure the much-hyped fashion show The Naked Truth is all about underwear. But just because it is does not mean the show needs to be borderline pornographic. I mean, get a load of this one by Jake Cuenca. I heard this drew a healthy round of…

Culture, Glitz and Glamour, Lifestyle, Media, Society

Wretched Philippine-style poverty is actually quite normal

September 23, 2014November 5, 2022 benign0 28 Comments

It doesn’t take much to remind Filipinos of their poverty. The problem, however, is that these reminders almost always have to come from external entities. And within this month alone we enjoyed the privilege of two stark reminders, Typhoon Mario and that Aegis Global viral video that the Philippine government is now desperately trying to…

Civics, Crime, Culture, Development, Government, Lifestyle, Society

Emma Watson’s feminism speech and why men should STILL harden the f–k up

September 22, 2014 Kate Natividad 5 Comments

I watched just now the excellent speech delivered by Emma Watson at the United Nations in New York City last Saturday. This was on the occassion of the launch of the UN HeForShe campaign and she spoke as the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, a role she was appointed to about six months earlier. Watson said…

Culture, Glitz and Glamour, Lifestyle, Religion, Society

The futility of begging for foreign investment when your country sucks

September 22, 2014 benign0 23 Comments

Recent events have, yet again, highlighted the embarrassing way with which Filipinos and the government they elected to lead them are desperately scrambling to extricate themselves from systemic poverty after decades of misguided “development” approaches and serial promise breaking. Like many many previous presidents before him, Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III went on…

Culture, Development, Environment, Government, Politics, Society

Noynoy Aquino’s arrogance is forcing Filipinos to take matters into their own hands

September 19, 2014September 19, 2014 Ilda 25 Comments

The mobbing of Budget Secretary Butch Abad by angry students from the University of the Philippines (UP) is a sign that the system in the Philippines has broken down. The fact that a large group of Filipinos did not hesitate to verbally abuse a public official and were even prepared to physically assault him shows…

Crime, Education, Government, Politics, Society