We beg to differ.
Haring habagat – this is the name that some people on Facebook are throwing around to call the latest series of torrential rains that has besieged Metro Manila. Habagat refers to the southwest monsoon experienced by the Philippines every year. The total volume of rainfall from this incidence has seemingly exceeded that of Ondoy in…
Perhaps in this instance rather than refer to Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III by his catchy first two initials, he should instead be referred to as the ‘BT’ President — as in bad timing. Just two weeks before The Disaster that Could not be Named struck Manila and turned it into a real-life…
The latest deluge to hit Metro Manila once again demonstrates the sorry state of preparedness of state emergency services in the Philippines and the woefully insufficient flood control infrastructure of the country’s premier metropolis. Flooding brought about by days of southwest monsoon rains pounding the northern Philippine island of Luzon have once again paralysed vast…
The following is a re-post of an article I wrote for the now-defunct FilipinoVoices.com back in 2009 when Typhoon Ondoy wrought destruction across Metro Manila. The original Facebook archive can be found here. * * * In recent days we’ve been hearing and reading the word “Bayanihan” to the point of its being reduced to…
Read More “Stepping up to Manila storm flooding: Shotgun bayanihan!” »
As the date for president Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino’s next State of the Nation Address (SONA) draws near, both critics and supporters are anticipating what he has to say. It’s been two (2) years into his term, and this is the third time that he will be giving this address. The questions on many people’s…
Read More “Forward thinking — a tremendous challenge in Filipino society” »
So Metro Manilans, I hear, are stuck in traffic and floods this weekend. Again. And what’s this I hear? Oh, outrage. But where was that outrage when the problem was not this big yet and all there was were mere signs of problems brewing? I’ll tell you where that outrage was. There was none. In…
Read More “Flooding in Metro Manila: When will Filipinos get angry enough?” »
Most Filipinos are Third Class citizens in their own country. Consider this: Makati City and its prosperous cousins, Ortigas, Alabang, Greenhills, Fort Bonifacio, and Rockwell among others are world-class reality suspensions. If only we could put all of them in an island and make like another Singapore with the rest of the country treated as…
The Philippines has now become renowned for template disasters. These are disasters that are caused by systemic issues that are profoundly inherent to the country. They are templates and therefore, by design, are highly repeatable. They happen again and again. Here’s the template for the sort of tragedy unfolding in northern Mindanao today… Heavy rains…