We beg to differ.
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…
The breezy morning at the inner gnarled streets of Baclaran yielded not only bags of fresh Caimito and Singkamas but the opportunity to commute with this boy. He is Allen Nuñez, a Grade 5 student of Baclaran Central Elementary School. He was seated on the lap of a teenage-looking boy in civilian clothes, when I…
Seriously? Anne Curtis thinks Sam Concepcion is not “classy” enough to be in Vice Ganda’s party at the Century City Mall? Well, fair enough. Anne was, reportedly, drunk after all. Again. On top of that, bystanders recounted in that same report how Anne proceeded to “bash Sam’s car, saying that his car was no match…
Read More “Sam Concepcion ‘not classy enough’ according to Anne Curtis!” »
Indeed, the Philippines is a wild trail that needs to be negotiated. And as experienced trackers and wilderness negotiators will point out, navigating a wild trail is not for the faint-hearted and dimwitted. You need brains, you need stamina, you need guts. Do Filipinos have any of those virtues? Well now, don’t get us started….
Read More “Indeed, the REAL issue is not the Philippines — it is Filipinos” »
Why would Heart Evangelista be “bad” for possible future Philippine President Chiz Escudero? Personally, I think it’s about time the Philippines had a glamorous First Lady again. So you go girl! Good to read that you don’t care about all this crap talk about you possibly weakening Chiz’s bid for the top job! I mean,…
Read More “Will Heart Evangelista make a good First Lady to Chiz?” »
I realised the whole problem with the prevailing discourse within the social media space I inhabit: there is too much discussion about politics and not enough about the underlying issue with Philippine society that I have long highlighted is the real deal here — Filipino culture. Fact is, the Philippines is beset by a really…
Read More “Repeat after me: I am the Philippines and I am home to a dysfunctional society” »
The following is a copy of the Foreword I wrote for my friend Ben Kritz’s new book Same Planet, Different World: An Outsider’s Inside View of the Philippines. You can download the book from Amazon here onto Kindle or any of a variety of apps also supported by Amazon. We in our clique of the…
Read More “The country we’ve made for ourselves: why we need an outsider’s perspective” »
I’ve come to realise that much of Philippine history was really all about a monumental effort to counter centuries of butthurt. The Philippine “revolution” of 1898 was an epic reaction to 400 years of butthurt in the hands of Spain. The arbitrary re-defining of the 4th of July, 1946 from “Philippine Independence Day” to “Philippine-American…
Read More “Much of Philippine history was motivated by Filipinos’ kneejerk butthurt reactions” »
