Tag: nationalism

If Filipinos can’t produce results, the least they can come up with is DIRECTION

February 11, 2014February 11, 2014 benign0 30 Comments

The din of chatter and news releases about this and that crime suspect, presidential candidate, disaster relief effort, international territory dispute, plus the loud non-stop melodramatic rationalisations issued by a who’s-who of crooked politicians and their lackeys is so loud and pervasive that you could be forgiven for thinking that the Philippines is a hive…

Civics, Culture, Development, Government, Society

Is ‘love of country’ a concept that is still relevant in the Philippines?

January 9, 2014January 10, 2014 benign0 53 Comments

It’s a common mistake to liken the way one feels for or regards a country to the way we feel for or regard an actual person. So when we say we “love” our country, poets will wax lyric about how this “love” is like the love we feel, say, for a parent. In reality, that’s…

Civics, Government, Society

P and F defect: Changing the official name from ‘Pilipinas’ to ‘Filipinas’

June 30, 2013 benign0 22 Comments

I’d think twice about changing the “official name” of the Philippines to “Filipinas”. Try doing an image search on the word “Filipinas” in Google and you will find what the term generally connotes. Not very flattering, to say the least. Certainly the results of that Google image search will not be consistent with the goals…

Culture, Education, Lifestyle, Society

Should the Sultanate of Sulu demand full independence from the Philippines and Malaysia?

February 25, 2013 benign0 28 Comments

At the end of the day, what exactly is ‘the Philippines’ to begin with? The way things are going, it seems it will remain no more than the bunch of tropical islands around which the 16th Century Spanish crown drew a ring and named after their king. To this day, Filipinos suffer from the same…

Government, Politics, Religion, The South

Who is the true Filipino ‘nationalist’?

June 13, 2012 benign0 51 Comments

So-called “cause-oriented groups” (COGs) at present seem to have a monopoly over the label “nationalist” or “patriot”. They claim to be the only true nationalists simply by virtue of their willingness to invoke chaos on our streets and to express themselves in a form of Tagalog that makes generous use of six-syllable words that most…

Civics, Development, Society

Filipinos SMS millions into News Corp’s pockets for Jessica Sanchez

May 11, 2012 benign0 10 Comments

Indeed, American Idol Filipino-Mexican-American contestant Jessica Sanchez is a gifted singer. At just sixteen years old, she can belt out soulful with the power of a seasoned vocalist. Of course, she may never know what it is like to earn real stripes as an artist — the old-fashioned way — considering she has the backing…

Glitz and Glamour, Lifestyle, Media

A sense of nationalism: The Philippines has no such thing

April 23, 2012December 30, 2015 benign0 72 Comments

The Philippines is a country by colonial edict — much like the way the old Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were, as well as many African nations. They are meaningless hollow pin-up states cobbled together for the sheer pleasure, vanity, and mercantile ambitions of their former imperial architects. In the case of the Philippines, even the name…

Civics, Culture, Development, Society

The flaccid tantrum of the League of Filipino Students against the US Embassy in Manila

April 17, 2012April 30, 2014 benign0 38 Comments

What did League of Filipino Students (LFS) “activists” hope to accomplish by burning the American flag and defacing the United States embassy facade today (the 16th April)? Did they actually think that they could send whatever noble “message” they imagine their quaint movement to possess to the powers-that-be of what is still the planet’s mightiest…

Culture, Development, Government, Society