We beg to differ.
A mid-aged Japanese guy told me that when he was young, many products sold in his country back then were “Made in the Philippines.” Well, things have obviously changed. From being on the tipping point of becoming the next rising tiger cub of Asia ready to pounce and join the club of Singapore, Taiwan, and…
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How did the Philippines get to where it is now? It is a wretched society, unable to defend itself from foreign and natural threats, paralysed by its own enormous population, and staring at a future hobbled by a lack of the infrastructure to get it down the right road. Yet the country, over much of…
Read More “Filipinos need to get off the loser path and onto the road to real progress” »
More Filipinos should wholeheartedly embrace the Matapobre Philosophy. Stated in English, being matapobre is an entire way of life of looking down upon the ignoramus lot that infests Philippine society. And why not? There is much to be learned from the rich and very little to learn from the poor. Why elevate poverty to some…
Read More “On being ‘Matapobre’: Why looking down upon the poor is not such a bad thing” »
Okay ladies and gentlemen, it’s Sunday again so time for another sermon! After your misbehavior towards the Chinese after the tragedy that befell them, I thought that it was time again for you to get another values education lesson. Oh and don’t worry, this one is fairly secular so even our non-Catholic readers can probably…
Here’s a certain reaction I heard about English-Speaking Filipinos: “Ha? Bakit tayo nag-i-Ingles? Mayaman ba tayo? (Why should we be speaking English? Are we rich?)” When I also noticed that people always assume I was rich and moneyed, I asked my mom about it and she said, “How could they not? You look white and…
Read More “The Problem with Filipino views about English Speakers” »
The intellectual DNA of Philippine society is flawed at its most fundamental level. The trouble with the approach to thinking in the Philippines is, more often than not, this activity is retrospective rather than prospective in nature. The word BUTTHURT encapsulates that society-wide malaise. And the sixth and last State of the Nation Address (SONA)…
Read More “Filipinos would rather be butthurt about the past than gung-ho about the future” »
Ako Muna (“Me First!”) mentality. It’s one of those renowned Filipino character traits. You see it in the way Filipinos drive — how they find no issue in rudely squeezing into your lane; no thank you wave for inconvenience caused. When queuing for your turn at a McDonald’s you have to be vigilant, lest some…
Read More “The Philippines’ “Me First” attitude results in a backward society” »
You can almost hear Robin Leach snootily addressing his audience in the popular 1980s TV show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous when you read this: See that demoractic government? You can’t afford it. By hook and, literally, by crook a while back, Greece joined the European Union and replaced the drachma with the euro…
Read More “Lessons from Greece: Can Third World nations really afford ‘democratic’ governments?” »