We beg to differ.
As expected, US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton was a no-show in yesterday’s preliminary hearing on the death of Filipino transgender Jeffrey Laude in which he stands accused. Pemberton’s legal counsel Rowena Garcia Flores reportedly argued that her client’s presence was “not required” and that he “was still studying the complaint against him.” In response, chief…
It has been becoming increasingly apparent that “natural” disasters are now a routine occurrence all over the Philippines. The idea that Filipinos ought to be more “prepared” for such calamities — whilst something one would think ought to have been an obvious national priority — is only now resonating across the broader public. To the…
Read More “‘Disaster preparedness’ has become an oxymoron in the #Philippines” »
Today may as well have been a day in September 2009 when Typhoon Ondoy struck and devastated Manila. Back then I wrote about the Philippine government’s utter failure to step up and provide relief to hundreds of thousands of its victims (a failure to be repeated many more times since), and how Metro Manilans pretty…
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…
Read More “Noynoy Aquino’s arrogance is forcing Filipinos to take matters into their own hands” »
There is a world of difference between (1) making a quick visit to the Philippines, and beholding all the usual stock-standard confronting sights of impoverished Filipinos “bravely” scraping together a living and (2) growing up in the Philippines, and experiencing that poverty (either as a part of it or as an observer) everyday for many…
Is Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino finally maturing? A lot of people have noted that his tone during his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) was less combative compared to his previous four SONAs. Some people like former Congressman and journalist Teddy Boy Locsin Jr., who is also an occasional critic of the…
Read More “PNoy’s “gentler” 5th SONA fails to appease his critics” »
No official event, no party, and certainly not the very Office of the President itself is exempt from being used as a soapbox for Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III to go on a rampage against his personal enemies. His most recent tirade was chucked during an address to the public on the occasion…
Read More “The Philippine Government may as well collapse. Today.” »
On one hand, Aquino apologists like to distract public opinion away from the “legalese” surrounding the debate around the manner with which the President used the DAP in order to highlight the nebulous notion of ‘good faith’. But then there is another camp (albeit the more intellectually-diligent amongst them) that invoke aspects of the law…