We beg to differ.
Back when the Spanish Conquistadors first set foot on Philippine shores and claimed all in the name of God and the Spanish king, it would have looked like this all made sense. Christianity, after all, was the “good” religion and Western civilisation regarded as a necessary “civilising” force. Europeans saw themselves as burdened by a…
The latest brouhaha surrounding the diplomatic row with Kuwait that erupted following the going “viral” of a video of a “rescue operation” instigated by Filipino diplomatic personnel there has attracted much debate. The “discussion” surrounding this circus focuses on the minutiae of the debacle the Philippine government finds itself in in the immediate aftermath. What…
Read More “Do Filipinos want to continue to be known as the world’s servants?” »
“Proud to be Pinoy” is an oft-heard phrase when it comes to world champion boxers and beauty pageant contestants. That’s because it makes perfect sense that the “winner” coming out of a couple of boys pounding one another silly on a ring or an array of girls strutting around in bikinis on a stage could…
There is something disturbingly familiar about the way Maria Ressa, CEO of “social news network” Rappler, blames social media giant Facebook for her troubles and even that of the Philippines’. In a recent tweet, Ressa cites the news report, Mark Zuckerberg makes ‘fixing’ Facebook a personal goal for 2018 (which she republished on Rappler) and…
Read More “Baffling logic: Maria Ressa blames Facebook for the Philippines’ political dysfunction” »
Think about it. The Philippines is named after a Spanish king. Its current sovereign territory was one defined by its Spanish colonial masters. Its current state religion is an imperial legacy of the Spanish Inquisition — an epic geno-“evangelisation” of an entire native culture by colonial forces. Then the “Philippines” became an American colony at…
Read More “Has the Philippines EVER been truly a country FOR Filipinos?” »
The topic of the Filipino “inferiority complex” has been mentioned by many as a core cause of Philippine society’s backwardness. Many writing about it would call it a legacy of the colonizers, who supposedly implanted this belief in us to make sure we don’t advance as a society. I have a different idea. My mom…
Read More “The Real Reason for Pinoy “Inferiority Complex”” »
The Catholic Church in the Philippines has become one of the largest institutions in our country. One can even say that it had a hand in the way our country came to be all those centuries ago when the Spanish first came to our shores. However, what I can’t help but notice is how the…
Read More “Why I Think The Catholic Church In The Philippines Is Doing More Harm Than Good” »
That’s an easy question to answer: because he was elected by an angry people. Filipinos in 2016 — coming out of six years under the rule of former President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III — trooped to the voting booths full of anger over missed opportunities, great crimes that were allowed to slide, and the…
Read More “Why is President Rodrigo Duterte always angry?” »