We beg to differ.
The death of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr is being commemorated today the 21st of August. The fact that this event, which happened 28 years ago today, is so revered illustrates a fundamental problematic aspect of the Filipino Condition. The issues that the Philippines faces in its journey through time — presumably towards that much aspired-for…
What is the million-dollar question that has been haunting most Filipinos everywhere in the world? No, it’s got nothing to do with the Philippine football team, the Azkals or boxer, Manny Pacquiao. It has a lot to do with the difference in behavior of Filipinos here and abroad. It’s a question that keeps popping up…
Read More “Why is it so hard for Filipinos to just obey the law?” »
From a burst of Twitter exchanges Yours Truly (@benign0 on Twitter) had in the last 24 hours with Arnel Endrinal (@LeadPhilippines on Twitter), top political radio jock on his radio show Sentro ng Katotohanan which airs 8.30-9.30pm Tuesdays and Thursdays on DWBL 1242 KHz (AM Band, Philippines), I’ve recently acquired even more insight on the…
Read More “Pornography – the more entertaining alter-ego of religion” »
A few weeks now into my foray into the new-fangled “social networking” facility of Google and I am starting to wonder where the party is. Much has been made of the 25 million-odd signups Google Plus enjoyed over the first couple of weeks as a by-invitation-only Beta site and now the question seems to be…
Apparently the Philippines has a USD3 billion market for liquor which the United States and European Union are salivating over. Now under a ruling by the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation, the Philippines will be forced to lower taxes on imported liquor. Before the ruling, local distillers enjoyed a tax regime favourable to them even as…
Read More “Philippines forced to open market to imported liquor” »
In his recent PhilStar colmumn How Catholic Talibans stormed the CCP, William Esposo lamented “the terrifying emergence of a Catholic Taliban who threatens to destroy the very foundations of our Christian morality.” Indeed, it is happening. On the Visayan Daily Star, Nida Buenafe writes about how parishes in Bacolod are unreservedly demonising artist Mideo Cruz…
Read More “Roman Catholicism’s promise: Nothing in life and everything in death” »
Ill-equipped, ill-trained, ill-prepared, and ill-thought-out. These are words that can easily describe anything to do with the Philippines across the board — from its politicians, to its law-enforcement officers, to its Media, and ultimately to the very people they serve (and are consequently reflections of). The propensity to fail consistently is ingrained into the very…
Read More “The Mendoza bus hostage massacre: Remembering the victims of a preventable tragedy” »
Check out Alejandro Amenábar’s Agora starring Rachel Weisz. It is a film that dramatises how the early Christian movement morphed from a small annoyance in Alexandria in then Roman-ruled Egypt in the 4th century into a massive lynch mob powerful and violent enough to bully the Roman provincial government into tolerating their own intolerance for…
Read More “Rachel Weisz in ‘Agora’ – experience religious zealotry first-hand” »