Tag: war

Attention Filipinos: Only a strong military gives SUBSTANCE to REAL national pride

April 9, 2019 benign0 26 Comments

There is a good reason why countries all over the world spend billions developing and maintaining military capability. It is because military force has always been and continues to remain the only real way to defend national interests. Unfortunately for the Philippines, Filipinos beg to differ. It is quite evident that Filipinos have never seen…

Culture, Government

We need to find a peacetime use for social media

November 23, 2018 benign0 4 Comments

Like most technologies that permeate society today, social media, as it turns out, originally came of age as a weapon. Though it was originally pitched as a peachy digital hangout for catching up with friends and as a platform for “activism” aimed at fostering “social good”, what it is really being used for today is…

Lifestyle, Media, Tech Talk

On Remembrance Day, Filipinos are called to be CRYSTAL CLEAR about what they FIGHT for

November 12, 2018 benign0 23 Comments

Lately, we’ve been seeing Filipinos chiming in on the the occassion of Remembrance Day. Remembrance Day (sometimes known informally as Poppy Day) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth of Nations member states since the end of the First World War to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line…

Civics, Society

Filipinos need to get better at killing in order to prosper

October 23, 2018October 23, 2018 benign0 36 Comments

The seeming aversion of Filipinos to large-scale infrastructure projects — the sorts needed to achieve the vast economies of scale needed to compete in the global market likely stems from the Filipinos’ heritage of smallness. This prescient snippet quoted from Nick Joaquin’s seminal piece describes the underlying character of Philippine culture that is at the…

Culture, Development, Economy

China militarisation of South China Sea is not a one-administration issue

February 6, 2018 benign0 9 Comments

Filipinos are currently lamenting China’s progressive annexation of their claimed territories in the South China Sea (SCS). But this lamentation is of a confused sort. One of the more controversial “issues” is around the foreign policy trajectory current Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is taking his country — one that leans closer within the Chinese sphere…

Government, Politics

A meeting of liberal minds: Oprah Winfrey for US President, Jover Laurio for “Filipino of the Year”

January 10, 2018January 10, 2018 benign0 18 Comments

This is not to say US Queen of Talk Oprah Winfrey is anything like “Filipino of the Year” Jover Laurio. Oprah is a pillar of the planet’s mightiest showbiz industry (amongst its most powerful people, by some accounts) who worked her way to the top the hard way. Laurio, on the other hand, is an…

Media, Politics, Society

Filipinos, get 100% behind your Army and prepare to CRUSH the terrorist New People’s Army!

November 24, 2017May 13, 2021 benign0 25 Comments

Now that the Philippine government will be in an “all-out” war against the New People’s Army (NPA), the terrorist arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines, it is worth exploring some lessones learnt from the recent war that liberated Marawi City from similar terrorist elements. To be sure, a war against the NPA will…

Culture, Government, Media

Military strategy should not be based on the assumption that terrorists may consider ‘surrender’?

October 30, 2017 benign0 9 Comments

Trust Rappler to give air time to any content that works towards painting a beaten enemy of the Opposition’s favourite bogeyman — the Philippine military — as victims of yet another “human rights” travesity. In the “report” Overkill? Some locals question Marawi shelling (seemingly re-published from Al Jazeera), the devastation wreaked upon Marawi City is…

Religion, The South