We beg to differ.
The raging controversy surrounding pork barrel thievery in Congress and Malacañang highlights just how weak a state the Philippines is. It is weak because its people rely on “strong leadership” as a proxy to what should be a grassroots bottom-up approach to applying what, by now, should be a deeply-ingrained sense of civic duty. Instead…
In a study reported in a recent Fortune article the observation was made: “If you’re on Twitter a lot, and the people you know best are on Twitter a lot, it’s easy to delude yourself into thinking that the whole world is there with you.” This piece of insight is quite relevant to people and…
Reading Bobi Tiglao’s column in The Manila Times this morning, wherein he mentions former Cavite 1st District Representative and current Secretary of the Department of Transportation & Communications (DOTC) Joseph Emilio Abaya, I was reminded of something odd I first spotted a few weeks ago. Since no one seems to be asking Secretary Abaya about…
Would you go to a protest rally because someone told you to do so or because you feel passionate enough about an issue that compels you to go? If your answer is the former, then you should just stay home because you will most likely end up complaining about how your efforts were useless if…
Read More “Those who rally against Noynoy Aquino’s government’s abuse of power are heroes” »
I realise now after having read an amusing article recently published by one of the staunch apologists of President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III that there is a fundamental assumption that needs to be questioned — the notion that Filipinos actually want a “better country”. Indeed; Can Filipinos be considered to be a people who…
Read More “Filipinos have to WANT a better Philippines badly enough to abolish the pork barrel” »
If the Philippines were a normal country, its government would be paralysed by now. We have a President who’s ability to govern fairly is complicated by his being part of a feudal clan that owns a vast northern Luzon plantation that is on the brink of insolvency and was found to have likely performed accounting…
Read More “Pork barrel thievery going unpunished as traditional Philippine activism fails” »
Even without external forces exerting much effort to do so, Filipinos can be easily distracted from whatever they are engaged in. When they manage to eke out some sort of civic responsibility or outrage against the ineptitude of their government is certainly no exception. Are they angry at the government? Just give them some feel-good…
For those following events in the United States, their federal government is in the midst of a shutdown. This follows a period of time wherein lawmakers in both the House and the Senate were unable to agree on the national budget. The main point of contention, it seems, is US president Barack Obama’s signature piece…
Read More “US government has no choice but to shut down; Philippine government needs to shut up” »