Tag: democracy

Why the #NeverAgain slogan reflects Filipinos’ total failure of imagination

October 19, 2015October 19, 2015 benign0 60 Comments

The onus on building a clear vision of what lies ahead for the Philippines during the euphoric months following the 1986 “People Power” EDSA “revolution” was on the victors. What did we get instead? Nothing more than a vacuous excuse of a roadmap to prosperity. The Yellow emotionalist rhetoric that dominated the national political “debate”…

Crime, Culture, Government, Politics, Society

Revising the revisionist Philippine history as told by the ‘victors’

October 18, 2015 Add 80 Comments

“History is written by the victors.” ― Walter Benjamin The quote is commonly misattributed to Winston Churchill. Maybe it wasn’t even a quote by Benjamin, but by a loser smoking a Marlboro, who knows? Who cares? In the Philippines, where poverty rules, history has hardly a room. There are victims, rather than victors. There are…

Culture, Politics, Society

Why the Current Philippine Republic Needs to Die

October 17, 2015 MidwayHaven 13 Comments

When President Corazon Aquino established the Fifth Philippine Republic in 1987, she set forth a new constitution that in theory would eliminate the “excesses” of previous administrations. Foremost among these was the “Martial Law” clause that, in the event that a seated President would declare it, would allow it to pass through Congress first; Post-Marcos, this was…

Charter Change, Development, Economy, Environment, Government

A better Philippines under President Miriam Defensor-Santiago

October 13, 2015 benign0 41 Comments

She may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Miriam Defensor-Santiago (MDS) is definitely not like all the rest of them. And, suddenly, just like that, there is a viable standout above the three uninspiring, undifferentiated, pwede-na-yan presidential candidates. With Santiago in the race, there will be a political debate. The sad none-of-the-above choices now…

Politics

Daang Matuwid: A Legacy Of Perversion

October 8, 2015 Grimwald 16 Comments

To be honest, I planned on simply chilling out for this week. After my rampage in the previous few weeks, I considered taking a short break from all the troubles of the country and the rest of the world and just spend some quality time with myself, my family and my friends. Heck, I even…

Culture, Government, Media, Politics, Religion, Society, The South

The growing void in the Filipino psyche where substance could have thrived

October 7, 2015 Add 38 Comments

“The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.” — The History of Freedom in Antiquity, 1877 THE TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY Alexis de Tocqueville coined the term: “tyranny of the majority”, and Lord Acton,…

Civics, Culture, Development, Education, Government, Politics, Society

Calling all Filipinos: Turn off the TV and start doing your homework!

September 29, 2015 benign0 54 Comments

It’s hard to tell if it is the timing of the phenomenal explosion of the AlDub fad or the simple fact that politics has just gone so far down people’s hierarchy of things to give a shit about. But just from looking at the sorts of things Filipino ‘netizens’ are tweeting about nowadays, politics and…

Culture, Lifestyle, Media, Politics

Why appeals for discipline and consideration is an exercise in futility in the Philippines’ current incarnation

September 12, 2015 rsurtida 15 Comments

So there you have it. Just a few days after the HPG’s handover of the traffic control of EDSA from the MMDA, one exasperated trooper blurted out what level-headed Pinoys have been complaining about their co-citizens since Day 1: Maraming pasaway. Granted that the monster EDSA had become has been the result of years of…

Civics, Culture, Development, Government, Politics, Society