Metro Manila a candidate for urban ‘catastrophic failure’ according to policy expert

Posted on By benign0 39 Comments on Metro Manila a candidate for urban ‘catastrophic failure’ according to policy expert
Metro Manila a candidate for urban ‘catastrophic failure’ according to policy expert

The virtue of ‘resilience’ has become a dirty word now in the Philippines as third-time unlucky Manila is again hit by another one of those “one-in-one-hundred” calamities that were once the key statistical notion underpinning urban planners’ archaic flood “control” master plans. Although response to the disaster has “improved”, the feel-good rhetoric around Filipinos’ cockroach-like…

Read More “Metro Manila a candidate for urban ‘catastrophic failure’ according to policy expert” »

Development, Environment, Government

Rainy season proves Filipinos are stuck in a time loop

Posted on By a 37 Comments on Rainy season proves Filipinos are stuck in a time loop
Rainy season proves Filipinos are stuck in a time loop

“Filipinos are very adaptable.” “Even storms can’t deter their will to survive.” “I’m so proud to be a Filipino.” “Baha ka lang, Pilipino ako.” (You’re only a flood; I’m a Filipino.) The torrent of praises aimed towards Filipinos isn’t likely to end after braving fierce winds of the southwest monsoon that ravaged the Philippines these…

Read More “Rainy season proves Filipinos are stuck in a time loop” »

Featured, Society

Social Media and Big Telco emerge as Filipino heroes

Posted on By benign0 3 Comments on Social Media and Big Telco emerge as Filipino heroes
Social Media and Big Telco emerge as Filipino heroes

In another one of its infomercial articles that it would like to pass off to the average sucker as a news “report”, ABS-CBN trumpeted another one of those dubious “achievements” Filipinos owe mainly to their enormous population — our undisputed place in the global scheme of things as the “social media capital of the world”….

Read More “Social Media and Big Telco emerge as Filipino heroes” »

Development, Environment, Money Talks, Politics

Pinoys give SOS another meaning

Posted on By FallenAngel 87 Comments on Pinoys give SOS another meaning
Pinoys give SOS another meaning

Haring habagat – this is the name that some people on Facebook are throwing around to call the latest series of torrential rains that has besieged Metro Manila. Habagat refers to the southwest monsoon experienced by the Philippines every year. The total volume of rainfall from this incidence has seemingly exceeded that of Ondoy in…

Read More “Pinoys give SOS another meaning” »

Culture, Government, Politics, Society

PNoy should ditch yellow and start wearing neutral colors

Posted on By benign0 32 Comments on PNoy should ditch yellow and start wearing neutral colors
PNoy should ditch yellow and start wearing neutral colors

Seriously, does President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III always have to wear yellow? Even while on relief visits to flood-affected areas in time of disaster? kelangan ba naka yellow talaga pag pupunta sa flood affected areas? kelangan ba may media muna bago umpisahan magbigay ng relief operations? [Photo and preceding caption courtesy Showbiz Government.] tumabi-tabi…

Read More “PNoy should ditch yellow and start wearing neutral colors” »

Glitz and Glamour, Politics

Metro Manila had long ago set itself up for its own destruction by flooding

Posted on By benign0 54 Comments on Metro Manila had long ago set itself up for its own destruction by flooding
Metro Manila had long ago set itself up for its own destruction by flooding

According to Mark McDonald in a New York Times blog post, the recent floods that hit Metro Manila this week “seem to have caused little public anger over further municipal dysfunction in the densely populated capital of more than 10 million” and that, instead, “Filipinos demonstrated a remarkable civic spirit as they shared news of…

Read More “Metro Manila had long ago set itself up for its own destruction by flooding” »

Culture, Development, Government, Society

Metro Manila flood control master planning in chronic catch up mode over the last two decades!

Posted on By benign0 12 Comments on Metro Manila flood control master planning in chronic catch up mode over the last two decades!
Metro Manila flood control master planning in chronic catch up mode over the last two decades!

Perhaps in this instance rather than refer to Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III by his catchy first two initials, he should instead be referred to as the ‘BT’ President — as in bad timing. Just two weeks before The Disaster that Could not be Named struck Manila and turned it into a real-life…

Read More “Metro Manila flood control master planning in chronic catch up mode over the last two decades!” »

Development, Economy, Environment, Government

Could the Php 1.9 bn in flood control projects axed by Noynoy Aquino have saved Metro Manila from destruction?

Posted on By benign0 106 Comments on Could the Php 1.9 bn in flood control projects axed by Noynoy Aquino have saved Metro Manila from destruction?
Could the Php 1.9 bn in flood control projects axed by Noynoy Aquino have saved Metro Manila from destruction?

The latest deluge to hit Metro Manila once again demonstrates the sorry state of preparedness of state emergency services in the Philippines and the woefully insufficient flood control infrastructure of the country’s premier metropolis. Flooding brought about by days of southwest monsoon rains pounding the northern Philippine island of Luzon have once again paralysed vast…

Read More “Could the Php 1.9 bn in flood control projects axed by Noynoy Aquino have saved Metro Manila from destruction?” »

Development, Economy, Government