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Terror, Duterte Style Rule of Panglao Mayor Drives Tourists Away During Peak Season

May 20, 2024 P. Farol No Comments

More than three hundred guests and employees of Villa Tomasa Alona Kew Resort in Panglao, Bohol remain in shock more than a week after it was allegedly shutdown by force by Mayor Edgardo “Boy” Arcay. Smartphone video footage taken by someone inside the resort shows dozens of police in battlegear and men armed with shotguns…

Government, Politics

Philippine “nationalism” torn by Filipino partisans’ rabid loyalties to China and America

May 19, 2024 Ramon Ortoll 7 Comments

Is the face of the new nationalism against China also a false one? The question should be asked and answered because as Randy David stated in his Inquirer column “Against China: The face of a new nationalism”, his generation’s nationalist bent was directed against the US and not China. “I never thought there would come…

History

Why is Filipino “patriotism” so CRINGE?

May 18, 2024May 19, 2024 benign0 13 Comments

One is consistently hard-pressed to get an authentic stand-up-and-put-hand-on-heart-with-welling-eyes vibe when called to emit a bit of patriotic signals for the Philippines. The latest such attempt to reel in some “love of country” sentiment comes in the form of an all-too-familiar “people power” stunt pulled by “non-government coalition” Atin Ito (“this is ours”) which set…

Politics, Society

Mayor Alice Guo of Bamban, Tarlac: unlikely to be a Chinese spy

May 18, 2024 Ramon Ortoll No Comments

Is Alice Guo, current mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, a Chinese spy? Not likely. Is she a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operation (POGO) operator? More than likely she is. The Chinese have been coming to the Philippines even before the Spanish arrived on our shores. This is why we have the oldest Chinatown in the world. The…

Business

The Philippines’ hollow no-substance political leaders and alliances hinders its development

May 16, 2024 Ramon Ortoll 5 Comments

In his recent piece “Ideology, anyone?”, Manila Standard columnist Lito Banayo hits upon a key reason why we are not as progressive as our ASEAN neighbors. Banayo gets to the core of why the “Unity” theme of the current administration of President Bongbong Marcos (PBbM) is in a death spiral sharing a conversation he picked…

Politics, Society

An alliance between the Yellowtards and the Marcos dynasty forms the Philippines’ new ruling oligarchy

May 12, 2024 Ramon Ortoll 6 Comments

In his Inquirer piece “Media, politics, and foreign relations”, columnist Randy David illuminates the recent media re-circus surrounding President Bongbong Marcos’s alleged history of drug use… It must have taken no small amount of pressure by the former president to get [Senator Ronald “Bato”] Dela Rosa, his erstwhile police chief, to initiate an investigation into…

Media, Politics

Here’s What’s Going On Up At Boracay’s Mt. Luho and It’s Not What You Were Told

May 9, 2024May 10, 2024 P. Farol 1 Comment

In a smallish Facebook Group called Boracay Island News, a post addressed to the Boracay Community by a certain Victor Jeffery made the rounds asking “What’s going on up at Mt. Luho”. It reads: Angry property disputes have started again at several locations in the Mt Luho area despite many court cases over the past…

Development, Environment

“Poverty” is such a BORING topic!

May 4, 2024 benign0 69 Comments

Considering that the Philippines has been poor for most of its history, it’s quite a wonder that “poverty” gets the inches and air time it does in the Philippines’ mainstream media and the rhetoric of its “activists”. It really isn’t news anymore. The effort to “analyse” Pinoy-style “poverty” is effort wasted as there really is…

Economy, Society