We beg to differ.
Manila residents, reeling from a recent panning of their beloved city by bestselling The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown in his latest book Inferno, have found solace in the words of another bestselling author Paulo Coelho. Coelho came to the defense of Filipinos’ capital city tweeted… Dear filipinos, your souls lead to the gates…
This article is substantially based on an article I originally wrote in November, 2010 entitled “Applying the Right Fix: Charter Change and the Philippine Condition.” While the essential points made in the original article are still valid today, the Philippines is not exactly the same country it was two-and-a-half years ago, for better or worse;…
Read More “The Impractical Elitism of an Incorrect Perspective on Reform” »
Since the conclusion of this year’s Fiesta Election, a palpable void has been left. What now? What is the Next Big Issue to pump our fists in the air for? One realises in hindsight how little substance there was in much of the noise and colour that erupted during the campaign leading up to the…
Read More “Why Dan Brown and his description of Manila in ‘Inferno’ is relevant to Filipinos” »
[The following is a copy of an article written by the late great culture-is-culprit champion Teddy Benigno originally published on the excellent Philippine Broadsheet The Philippine Star on the 9th May 2003.] * * * Parliamentary system not for Philippines: The wherefores by Teodoro C. Benigno Philippine Star 09 May 2003 The raging debate in…
Read More “Parliament and the Philippines: A match made in hell?” »
In a pre-emptive strike on the whole discussion around ‘charter change’ that is likely to come up after the opening of the 16th Congress in July, President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III issued his two cents on the matter of foreign ownership of land in the Philippines. “I don’t think they are necessary detriment to…
Read More “President Noynoy Aquino may have a good reason for giving a no-go to charter change!” »
May 13 2013. I want you all to forever remember that date whenever you get the temptation to beat your chest like King Kong over whatever superficiality captures your nationalistic imagination until the end of time. One reason why 2013 may be an improvement over 2012 is a year ago the nation was “captivated ”…
Read More “Pinoy Pride Is Never There Where It Really Counts Elections 2013” »
Let me start off with a joke taken from the book Bad Medicine: The Prescription Drug Industry in the Third World by Silverman, Lydecker, and Lee. I changed it a little bit to make the political issues more appropriate for this article but nevertheless, the message remains the same as it describes the magnitude of…
Hope springs eternal indeed as that other cliché goes. But then, we might ask: Hope in what exactly? Now that the Philippine Fiesta Elections of 2013 have come and gone, the hard questions must be asked, the vacuous campaign rhetoric ditched, and the motherhood statements junked. Perhaps the usual halfwits will continue to squabble and…