We beg to differ.
The film “Metro Manila” by British director Sean Ellis had its media screening last August 13. Starring Jake Macapagal and Althea Vega as Oscar and Mai Ramirez, respectively, the movie tells the story of a family who come to the city from the province in search of work and a better life. However, what they…
Read More “Metro Manila, as seen through Sean Ellis’ lens” »
I seem to be part of the lucky few in my city where 15 out of 18 barangays are submerged in water after a continuous downpour of ‘Maring’. The great revelation in all of this is that floodwaters always have a way of bringing all things to the surface. It is a trite simile of…
I would have to say that the outrage being shown at the persisting pork barrel anomalies – at least in social media as far as I can see – is both unprecedented, and quite frankly, a bit astonishing. There are calls to assemble at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta on August 26, 2013, to call…
Read More “Questions that must be answered before the rally to abolish pork barrel” »
About a year after the Aquino Administration hailed the “Habagat” floods as not being as bad as the Ondoy floods during the Arroyo Administration, the severe flooding that happened all over Metro Manila last night and today shows that the Do Nothing government has done what was expected of it. Nothing. Sure, Habagat was not…
Read More “The Philippines Should Change Its Name to “Bahana Republic”” »
Lest anyone is tempted to buy the desperate attempt of the current occupant of Malacañang (to the extremely limited extent he has had anything at all to say about it) that abuse of the pork barrel is something that only happened when OTHER people were in charge, here’s a reminder from a little more than…
I am normally ambivalent to calls for street protests organised around objects of “outrage” that could have been mitigated or prevented if Filipinos had simply participated in democratic governance properly and intelligently (such as voting wisely and applying a critical mind to politicians’ trite populist rhetoric). So I have mixed feelings about the latest call…
Philippine society’s dysfunctional culture is evident yet again in the latest scandal involving some members of Philippine Congress and how they channel their Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) or “pork barrel funds” into bogus projects. The fact that a lot of Filipinos have predicted that the main character in this sorry saga, Janet Lim Napoles,…
Read More “Many Philippine politicians are corrupt because Filipinos allow it” »
This is what ‘actress-politician’ Lani Mercado, wife of actor-turned-senator Bong Revilla had to say about the idea of scrapping altogether the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel: “Basta huwag lang manghihingi sa amin ang mga tao!” Source of quote: PEP.ph. And we wonder why the Philippines is renowned for its beggar culture. To…
Read More “Lani Mercado, the pork barrel, and Filipinos’ squatter mentality” »