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Other Motorcycle Taxi Services to Operate if Angkas Pilot Testing is Extended

December 9, 2019 P. Farol 1 Comment

Perhaps various posts on social media about the rather unfair situation involving Angkas and other motorcycle taxi services had gotten tot the right ears. Today I was told that our dear Usec. Mark Richmund De Leon had been instructed by Transportation Secretary Art Tugade to tell the public that other motorcycle taxi services would be…

Government

Shocking PISA bottom ranking a wake up call for Filipinos to uplift education

December 8, 2019 benign0 19 Comments

What is truly shocking about the bottom ranking of the Philippines in the recently-published Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report is that Filipinos are shocked to begin with. It is hardly surprising that Filipinos scored dismally in key areas of basic education given that Philippine society has long been known as one that does…

Culture, Education

SO WHAT if the Philippines is “less democratic” under Duterte?

December 3, 2019 benign0 9 Comments

Leaders of today’s Philippine Opposition will have us believe that democracy is in crisis — even in decline (horrors!) — and, as such, heralding a coming era of doom and gloom for the nation in the coming years. They, of course, attribute this unfortunate prognosis to the government of President Rodrigo Duterte who, since Day…

Government, Politics

Manila is the Philippines and the Philippines is Manila

December 2, 2019 benign0 10 Comments

Manila is the capital of the Philippines and, as such, “imperial” by its very nature. Through no fault of its own, it was seen as the seat of “evil” emperors by generations of Filipinos living in its hinterlands. By no means, however did Manila — the city and the country’s melting pot and, therefore, its…

Culture

Why spending big bucks on nice things is a better investment than throwing money at the poor

December 1, 2019December 1, 2019 benign0 9 Comments

The recent success of the opening ceremonies of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games and, for that matter, the overall multi-million dollar investment in hosting the Games proves a point. Filipinos, and people in general — rich or poor — love to see and experience nice things. This is the reason the half-witted argument of choice…

Culture, Development, Society

Singaporean Angkas Receives Christmas Bonus

November 30, 2019 P. Farol 1 Comment

Seems like Singaporean motorcycle taxi service Angkas is getting a pretty hefty Christmas bonus. Thanks to good old Santa er Undersecretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure-DOTr Mark Richmund M. De Leon. Apparently our good Undersecretary failed to attend the TWG meeting which would conclude the pilot testing program, thus resulting in the DOTR either allowing…

Government

Ph media should focus on reporting about the #2019SEAGames and not on making THEMSELVES the news

November 30, 2019December 27, 2019 benign0 5 Comments

After making an ass of themselves slandering the effort to prepare for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, the Philippine media have a lot of work to do to redeem themselves. To do this, they will need to prove that they are worthy of re-earning the public trust that they had lost. This means they need…

Glitz and Glamour, Media

It’s Funny When Propagandists Mistakenly Accuse News Media of Fake News

November 28, 2019November 28, 2019 P. Farol 10 Comments

On Twitter a friend in the public relations circle pointed out an exchange between Trixie Cruz Angeles and Nic Gabunada which he found funny. I looked it over and found it a bit ironic. If you didn’t know these people, you’d think it was just one popular Twitter user talking to another popular Twitter user…

Media