Tag: human rights

Is it illegal to exhibit Filipino maids in store display windows in Singapore malls?

June 30, 2014 benign0 25 Comments

By now, the now infamous report “Buy a discount maid at Singapore’s malls” featured by Al Jazeera last week has been shared and re-shared on social media as well as published and re-published by mainstream news organisations, further inflaming outrage among Filipinos whose egos have already taken severe beatings thanks to some media gaffes and…

Government, Lifestyle, Society

The Qatar World Cup Is Already Deadly

June 9, 2014June 9, 2014 Gogs 5 Comments

Games people play, You take it or leave it Things that they say, Just don’t make it right If I’m tellin’ you the truth right now, do you believe it From the album Turn of A Friendly Card by The Alan Parsons Project In my previous contribution to GRP, I wrote about the…

Development, Economy, Glitz and Glamour

Amal Alamuddin: brilliant lawyering and Hollywood star power may help Arroyo’s plight

May 5, 2014 benign0 30 Comments

Self-proclaimed “Oprah Winfrey of the Philippines” and presidential sister Kris Aquino may be given a run for the money if reports that brilliant international human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin will take up the case of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA). Arroyo is currently detained on charges of plunder and has remained under hospital arrest…

Crime, Politics

Philippine Labor Day rhetoric: the same old bullshit

April 26, 2014April 26, 2014 benign0 24 Comments

So it’s “Labor Day” again this 1st of May in the Philippines. What do the usual suspects who champion the workers’ “fight” have to offer this time in terms of rhetoric? Considering that they’ve milked the easy ones dry — anti-Americanism, anti-imperialism, anti-incumbent-government, higher wages, more jobs, etc. — what else is there? There is…

Development, Economy, Politics

The country we’ve made for ourselves: why we need an outsider’s perspective

March 25, 2014November 22, 2017 benign0 2 Comments

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…

Civics, Development, Economy, Government, Money Talks, Politics, Society

Decriminalisation or repeal of libel law: It’s about time the Philippines becomes a modern country

February 21, 2014February 21, 2014 benign0 49 Comments

It is not surprising that Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III wholeheartedly supports criminal libel in the Philippines. Luis Teodoro, BusinessWorld columnist and former dean of the College of Mass Communications of the University of the Philippines, wrote in a 2003 article about how the spectre of harassment-by-libel emerged in the Philippine scene so…

Civics, Crime, Government, Media, Politics

A lot of decent Filipinos are getting fed up with arrogant squatters

July 10, 2013March 29, 2022 Ilda 745 Comments

The squatters in the Philippines have wreaked havoc in the country and they are out of control. The problem is quite obvious and the solution is staring everyone in the face; there are just not enough public servants with enough guts to address the issue. But someone has to put an end to the vicious…

Crime, Development, Lifestyle, Society

Epic fail: Philippine and Malaysian govts continue to botch the handling of the Sabah crisis

March 11, 2013March 11, 2013 benign0 48 Comments

The fighting in Malaysia’s Sabah province could be turning into a massive humanitarian crisis the likes of which the otherwise prosperous region hasn’t seen in decades. As sketchy reports of abuses perpetrated by Malaysian security forces allegedly purging the state of Filipino nationals get traded amongst “concerned” individuals on the Net, the Philippine government has…

Government, Media, Politics, The South