We beg to differ.
The following is a re-post of my article “Day Ten, post Ondoy” originally posted on FilipinoVoices.com on the 7th October 2009. The article has since been included in Elbert Or’s After the Storm: Stories on Ondoy, an excellent collection of pieces “mostly written in the midst of and immediately after the typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng…
That exact moment you feel the change in your heart beat, signal the possibility of an impending doom. There I was on the driver seat of my aging rig, wipers and headlights on, just came from the northern highlands on a stormy day, with my wife and kids. The kids were still young and small…
Back in the old days, being caught in traffic used to be a good excuse to be late for work or, for that matter, any appointment or date. Then heavy traffic became more the rule than the exception. So then it was the government’s turn to make excuses for snail-paced traffic. One of these excuses…
Read More “A new normal: Traffic snarled by floods caused by a bit of rain in Metro Manila” »
When I was 3 years old, a time when I was simply too young to understand a lot of mature concepts, I watched a lot of Care Bears. Not the more recent incarnation, mind you. This was probably the pioneers of the show and it was something I loved as a boy. However, unlike children’s shows…
Literally! No really. As of this writing there are reportedly 50 container vans containing toxic waste imported from Canada sitting on a yard at the Manila International Container Terminal. Somebody in Canada must have finally worked it out in their head. Manila is the place to dump stuff. Metro Manilans have been doing it for…
Read More “The Canadians finally got it right: Manila IS a dump!” »
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” »
It doesn’t take much to remind Filipinos of their poverty. The problem, however, is that these reminders almost always have to come from external entities. And within this month alone we enjoyed the privilege of two stark reminders, Typhoon Mario and that Aegis Global viral video that the Philippine government is now desperately trying to…
Read More “Wretched Philippine-style poverty is actually quite normal” »
Recent events have, yet again, highlighted the embarrassing way with which Filipinos and the government they elected to lead them are desperately scrambling to extricate themselves from systemic poverty after decades of misguided “development” approaches and serial promise breaking. Like many many previous presidents before him, Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III went on…
Read More “The futility of begging for foreign investment when your country sucks” »