We beg to differ.
Phew! That was one hectic week and I hope I don’t go through another one like that again in the next month or so. Sunday ushered in heavy rain and flooding that sank most of Manila and as usual, for me in Marikina City, I had to implement my household’s “flood disaster plan” — which,…
I think the pork barrel should be abolished. Some people think some people have benefited from pork barrel money and that abolishing it will be like throwing the baby out along with the bath water. Perhaps. But that is really the sort of Robin Hood mentality that has no place in a modern 21st Century…
Read More “PDAF and the jeepney: Why the pork barrel should be abolished” »
The rains that came just this weekend intensified to the extent that come Monday, August 19, the resulting floods brought traffic in the Metro to a standstill. Several parts of Metro Manila had no choice but to call off class for all levels. Government offices were forced to declare “no work” due to the hazards…
I seem to be part of the lucky few in my city where 15 out of 18 barangays are submerged in water after a continuous downpour of ‘Maring’. The great revelation in all of this is that floodwaters always have a way of bringing all things to the surface. It is a trite simile of…
I would have to say that the outrage being shown at the persisting pork barrel anomalies – at least in social media as far as I can see – is both unprecedented, and quite frankly, a bit astonishing. There are calls to assemble at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta on August 26, 2013, to call…
Read More “Questions that must be answered before the rally to abolish pork barrel” »
I am normally ambivalent to calls for street protests organised around objects of “outrage” that could have been mitigated or prevented if Filipinos had simply participated in democratic governance properly and intelligently (such as voting wisely and applying a critical mind to politicians’ trite populist rhetoric). So I have mixed feelings about the latest call…
Philippine society’s dysfunctional culture is evident yet again in the latest scandal involving some members of Philippine Congress and how they channel their Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) or “pork barrel funds” into bogus projects. The fact that a lot of Filipinos have predicted that the main character in this sorry saga, Janet Lim Napoles,…
Read More “Many Philippine politicians are corrupt because Filipinos allow it” »
Janet Lim Napoles is now on the run. That makes her the perfect fall guy for the P10-billion “pork barrel scam” that is rocking the Philippines’ political establishment. A high-profile fugitive attracts all the attention and, not necessarily living up to the principle of scientific criminal investigation, all law enforcement resources. Never mind that the…