Category: Society

Are Ateneans making too much of a big deal over the Imelda Marcos photos?

July 7, 2014July 7, 2014 benign0 47 Comments

I do regard with wonder the virulent and militant nature with which Ateneans today raise their fists in quaint anger over photos of Imelda Marcos schmoozing with their fellows in an Ateneo Scholarship Foundation (ASF) social event. Yet hardly an organised peep had been heard from the collective community of alumni and students over the…

Civics, Culture, Lifestyle, Media, Politics, Society

Filipinos desperately need a shared sense of belonging

July 7, 2014 benign0 11 Comments

At the coffee shop where I routinely get my morning fix, customers mill around the counter in a way that often makes it difficult to distinguish those who are (a) in the process of ordering and paying, or (2) waiting for a concluded order to be served. So it is a normal and routine courtesy…

Civics, Culture, Development, Politics, Society

Change from within: how science and celebrity can effect it

July 4, 2014 benign0 4 Comments

It has often been highlighted that to get on a sustainable course towards prosperity, Filipinos need not a change of men but a change in men. It is a social transformation that needs to come from within. An article in Scientific American provides insight on how lessons learned from the success of some past initiatives…

Culture, Development, Lifestyle, Media, Science, Society

Achieving developmental focus: The Philippines’ Vital Few initiatives

July 4, 2014July 4, 2014 benign0 1 Comment

The Philippines is a most massive outcome of lots of actions underpinned by very little thinking. So many initiatives, advocacies, “movements”, agendas, and vested interests driven by even more characters in a country of 100 million clueless people — it sounds like a chapter out of John Barrow’s book Impossibility. The Philippines is a case…

Charter Change, Development, Economy, Media, Society

In these challenging times, it really helps that the Philippines is like a cockroach

July 3, 2014 benign0 4 Comments

How can the Philippines continue to function over the remaining two years until President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III steps down after the completion of his term in 2016? In the last two years, Congress has limped along under the weight of overwhelming public distrust. And now that a presidential slush fund that is the…

Crime, Culture, Government, Politics, Society

Filipinos need new innovative ways to nail #DAP crooks to the wall!

July 2, 2014July 2, 2014 benign0 8 Comments

Following the milestone ruling by the Philippine Supreme Court (SC) yesterday deeming the controversial presidential slush fund known as the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) illegal on most counts, the reckoning has started. Several courses of action are being considered which may be undertaken in any number of combinations. The three standout items include: (1) Impeaching…

Crime, Politics, Society

Is it illegal to exhibit Filipino maids in store display windows in Singapore malls?

June 30, 2014 benign0 25 Comments

By now, the now infamous report “Buy a discount maid at Singapore’s malls” featured by Al Jazeera last week has been shared and re-shared on social media as well as published and re-published by mainstream news organisations, further inflaming outrage among Filipinos whose egos have already taken severe beatings thanks to some media gaffes and…

Government, Lifestyle, Society

Dutch airline KLM in hot water over ‘racist’ tweet vs Mexico World Cup team

June 30, 2014June 30, 2014 benign0 4 Comments

What was supposed to be a witty swipe at the Mexican World Cup team on Twitter by Dutch flag carrier Royal Ducth Airlines (KLM) became the subject of an online indignation campaign that forced the airline to delete the tweet. Mexico had lost to the Dutch earlier and is out of the match. Noted social…

Culture, Glitz and Glamour, Media, Society