We beg to differ.
The idea of ‘charter change’ is nothing new to outsiders, but being able to observe and discuss the movement as a serious idea rather than cynically dismissing it as the same old limited-focus canard that gets floated every year is a refreshing change of pace. So what’s different about ‘charter change’ now, as opposed to…
Read More “Constitutional Reform: What it Looks Like from the Outside” »
Most of us regular bloggers here attribute the problems of the Philippines to the country’s culture. For us, it’s too obvious. Our culture has customs and practices that make us do things that we better not do. Spend beyond our means, generate huge numbers of children, vote for who is popular despite their being poorly…
Nobody who rests comfily within the bed of Establishment thinking seems to want to take a position on the debate around abortion. The highest profile players in this arena include New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights playing forward striker for the Forces of Ethical Thinking and on the other side is the 2,000-year-old bedrock of,…
Read More “Abortion is really a simple issue if you take the ‘soul’ out of the debate” »
The word escapism, as defined on the Net, refers to a mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an “escape” from the perceived unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life. It can also be used as a term to define the actions people take to help relieve persisting feelings of depression or general…
Kris Aquino is not just another screeching Filipino showbiz personality. She is the sister of the President of the Philippines. Her marital woes with basketball player James Yap back in 2010 couldn’t have been good for the spin machinery of her brother President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III — a man who owes much of his…
Read More “Time to implement a decent Divorce Law and junk the moronism of ‘annulment’” »
Why are Filipinos not even good at sport? It seems like our athletes had been waved a red flag one day and then simply gave up on trying to achieve world-class status on all types of sport — I know, I know, aside from boxing, of course. A sport is commonly defined as an organized,…
Intelligent people can be the worst teachers. They tend to be impatient with their students. This is because they assume that the students will understand what they are trying to say on their first attempt at explaining something. Because it is easy for them to understand things, it can be hard for intelligent people to…
Read More “Filipinos should learn to question authority intelligently” »
I have a friend who disagrees very much with my social and political views about the Philippines. He thinks that my commentaries about the country come across as negative and therefore running counter to his own views. This deeply offends him even when I’ve assured him many times these commentaries are not about him. I…
Read More “The Philippines: Between Poverty and Ignorance” »