We beg to differ.
You know a country has really sunk to an unprecedented depth of wretchedness when its own citizens would prefer to remain in a war zone over taking their chances on a return to the “safety” of their homeland. Such is what describes the rather embarrassing situation in the Philippine government’s efforts to repatriate up to…
Read More “Filipinos see a better future in foreign war zones than in the Philippines” »
The Philippines is imprisoned by a deep systemic inability in its people to extricate themselves from poverty. It is a problem that is an outcome of (1) the sheer number of Filipinos that inhabit the planet, (2) the average productive output of each warm Filipino body earning (or seeking to earn) a living, and (3)…
Read More “Philippine employment dilemma: Dumb down the jobs? Or smarten up the workforce?” »
Simple. Because there are so many of them. That’s a lesson in an Economics 101 course — the Law of Supply and Demand. When the enormous supply of a commodity dwarfs demand for it, the value of that commodity is crushed. Employers in the Philippines can treat their workers like crap, because they can. The…
Read More “PAGASA mass exodus: Why are workers treated like crap in the Philippines?” »
Back to the beginning. I first got to know about the Philippines as I was travelling in other countries and met a number of Filipino Overseas Foreign Workers (OFWs). Over time I often helped some with English, form filling etc., and heard more about their lives, loves, and hardships, and was never once asked for…
Why is there no inclusive growth in the Philippines? The critical component and measurement which goes a long way in explaining why no progress is being made, and inclusive growth remains only the ‘in’ slogan/mantra of the year is the Poverty Elasticity of Growth or PEG (the multiplier effect of percent growth to percent poverty…
Read More “The myth of ‘inclusive growth’ in the Philippines and why GDP alone does not matter” »
So it’s “Labor Day” again this 1st of May in the Philippines. What do the usual suspects who champion the workers’ “fight” have to offer this time in terms of rhetoric? Considering that they’ve milked the easy ones dry — anti-Americanism, anti-imperialism, anti-incumbent-government, higher wages, more jobs, etc. — what else is there? There is…
Read More “Philippine Labor Day rhetoric: the same old bullshit” »
They don’t like asking them. They sure as hell do not like answering them. If you think about it, this is rather unsurprising for a society that does not encourage its members to question authority even the slightest. While examples of questionable things and issues in Filipino society are endless, the past few weeks have…
Read More “Just grin and bear it – Filipinos don’t like tough questions” »
It is quite revealing that Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III would, one moment, confidently credit himself with the Philippines’ purportedly robust economic numbers then, on another, be left scratching his dome as to the reasons why the “positive” nature of these so-called indicators are not translating to jobs and smiles for the majority…
Read More “Why is President Noynoy Aquino ‘baffled’ by high unemployment in the Philippines?” »