We beg to differ.
Makulilim noong hapong iyon, araw ng pamilihan sa kabisera kaya’t doble ang bilang ng mga rumorondang gwardia sibil sa kabayanan. Noong araw na iyon ay umalis ang ina ni Pepe upang bumili ng karne kaya’t naisipan niyang mamasyal sa tabi ng ilog. Malayu layo na ang kanyang nalakad nang makita niya ang bangkerong si Lucas…
Back in the heady days leading up to the 1986 EDSA “people power” “revolution”, the top slogan of supporters of then incumbent Philippine president Ferdinand E. Marcos was, what else, “Marcos pa rin!” (roughly translated: “Still Marcos!”). Fast forward to today and, guess what, the incumbent’s slogan that “trended” in recent days (presumably to counter…
Read More “The 1986 EDSA people power ‘revolution’ has irreparably damaged the Philippines” »
A lot of Filipinos have been following closely the massive pro-democracy protests that have rocked Hong Kong in recent days. After Beijing announced that it will be vetting candidates for the coming 2017 election there, Hong Kong residents have taken to the streets by the hundreds of thousands, virtually paralysing the prosperous former British colony…
Read More “What Filipinos need to learn from Hong Kong’s #UmbrellaRevolution” »
I can understand the rage felt by those UP students who mobbed Department of Budget Management (DBM) Secretary Florencio ‘Butch’ Abad in mid-September. The behaviour of these activists represent an explosion of pent-up anger over what many believe to be an astounding case of wholesale national thievery that will likely go unpunished. Abad is widely-regarded…
Read More “Question to activists: After resorting to violence against Sec Butch Abad, what next?” »
Until recently, the core dysfunction in the collective thinking faculties of Philippine society has largely gone unpenalised. Careers have been broken, people unjustly imprisoned, and suicides committed because of this. The current imbroglio that Philippine politics has now found itself neck-deep in following the grossly-misguided release of various lists of alleged pork barrel thieves by…
Read More “Senator JV Ejercito exacts groundbreaking apology from Napoles List mongerers!” »
The more I hear people say that social media is going to be a “game-changer” for social good, or however they want to say it, the more I get convinced that it’s actually not going to happen. Social media is commonly delineated in scope to refer to Facebook, Twitter and in some cases Youtube, no…
Read More “Social media for social change? Think again, Philippines” »
It’s that time of the year again when we celebrate that supposedly seminal event in Philippine history when, according to the local lore, the forces of evil (porportedly the regime of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos) were vanquished by the forces of good (supposedly the Aquino-Cojuangco feudal clan). Marcos removed. Game over. The 1986 “People…
The celebration for the 28th anniversary of EDSA People Power revolution will be low key according to Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma. Instead of holding it at EDSA where it was held traditionally, it will be held in Cebu province. The reason given was “because the province was the bulwark of the opposition to the…