Tag: manila

Filipinos have lost the right to be “shocked” about what happened to Boracay

March 22, 2018 benign0 13 Comments

Why all the chatter and private school “outrage” over Boracay all of a sudden? What is happening to the land of the annual chi-chi “#LABoracay” and all other hipster happenings that greet Imperial Manila denizens fleeing their parents’ Holy Week obligations have always been happening in the Philippines. It’s all part of Filipinos’ world-renowned Reverse…

Development, Environment

A New Marawi City that is SQUATTER-FREE is an absolutely worthwhile goal

October 20, 2017 benign0 10 Comments

There’s a lot of talk lately about “re-building” Marawi City. Jose Montelibano in his Inquirer column today offers thoughts on what needs to be considered to not just to do that but to do it right, as in build A New Marawi that, at the same time, puts it on a path towards becoming a…

Culture, Development, Government

Filipinos need to make a choice: Bomb Marawi City to the ground or sustain more military casualties

June 15, 2017June 15, 2017 benign0 16 Comments

The battle for Marawi City is degrading into a protracted stalemate between Philippine government troops and Maute terrorists holed up in buildings in the city centre. Though clearly enjoying superior firepower and logistical support, the Philippine military’s progress in retaking Marawi has tapered off. Despite sustaining heavy aerial bombardment, the enemy has proven difficult to…

Culture, Government, Society, The South

Imperial Manila: Uniting the Nation at a Price

February 7, 2016February 7, 2016 zaxx 12 Comments

It was the dawn of April 27, 1521 when Ferdinand Magellan and his handful of men, confident of their superior European weaponry, got off their ship and waded ashore for a face-off with defiant Lapu Lapu and his 1500-strong army of natives defending Cebu’s Mactan Island. Little did Magellan know that this iron-willed Visayan datu would…

Development, Government, Media, Society, The South

350 kph bullet train to link Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Bandung

January 21, 2016 benign0 7 Comments

Construction of a high-speed train line allowing travel between Jakarta and Bandung at speeds of up to 350 kilometres per hour has started. The USD 5.6 billion project is a key component of a long-overdue programme to upgrade decrepit infrastructure being spurred by Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Indonesia lacks a mass-transport system, forcing its increasingly…

Development, Lifestyle, Tech Talk

Euthanasia for the Sick Man of Asia

December 13, 2015 zaxx 44 Comments

It’s been a slow and agonizing wasting away with the current crop of incompetent and corrupt empathy-devoid bozos that fill the political arena here in the country widely known as the Sick Man of Asia. This decaying remittance-transfusion-sustained corpse of a society/economy, the semblance of life being just the wiggling movement of infesting maggots under…

Charter Change, Crime, Culture, Development, Economy, Government, Politics, Society

How Filipinos objectified Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the #APEC2015 summit

November 20, 2015November 20, 2015 Kate Natividad 21 Comments

Nakakahiya na rin!! First it was the Mexican people’s calling out Filipinos for our baffling beholdenness to the looks of their president Enrique Peña Nieto. Now we get a veiled lecture from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to focus more on what is real rather than on the merely superficial. I can only thank the…

Civics, Culture, Media, Politics, Society

APEC 2015: a time for Filipinos to reflect on their place in the global economy

November 12, 2015November 12, 2015 benign0 14 Comments

What do ordinary Filipinos really want to get out of the imperative to “showcase” the Philippines’ best foot to the delegates of the coming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum that Manila is hosting this year? For many, it will be an opportunity to go on an extended vacation, taking up the “encouragement” coming from…

Development, Media, Society