We beg to differ.
Exit permits for OFWs? You gotta be kidding. That plus anecdotal evidence of all sorts of red tape before one can depart for a job overseas? An outrage! It sounds like something reminiscent of the Cold War when East German citizens would risk life and limb to make a dash across the border for a…
Read More “OFW ‘exit permits’ make sense – because taxpayers’ funds are at stake” »
I’ve seen more than enough. I’m passing my judgment. I don’t like President Aquino. But that is actually secondary to the point I want to make here, so bear with me as I attempt to find a straightforward way to explain it. For an outsider like me, comparisons between the country of my birth and…
The Philippines is a nation of suckers. Filipinos routinely elevate rabble-rousers to “hero” status, pardon convicted plunderers, allow dictators’ family and offspring to continue living the good life, and tolerate a uniquely-Filipino brand of banal criminality that is embedded deep in the very fibres that weave the social fabric of Philippines society. This quaint aspect…
I finally found the time to get off my bum and jump into this new new thing called Google+ (pronounced “Google Plus” presumably). This is the Web behemoth’s new social networking platform that was rolled out on limited testing among a select set of users. I got roped in by a friend who was a…
Read More “Google Plus or ‘Google+’: jumping into the Borg” »
First it was President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and his Porsche, now it is Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos and the other “Mitsubishops,” proud owners of their Pajeros, considered to be luxury sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in a country with a measly 31 motor vehicles per 1000 people (compared to 273 per 1000 for…
Read More “Flashy cars and brand-new SUVs in car-crazy Philippines” »
A statement issued last week by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on the matter of some of its members using taxpayers’ funds to buy luxury sport utility vehicles (SUVs) for use in their “field work,” made it quite categorical: “Our conscience is clear.” But of course it is. This is a statement…
Read More “Mitsubishops: the CBCP conveniently absolves its own and remains above the Law” »
The end of the Harry Potter series of movies with the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 leaves the stars of the wildly successful franchise wondering what they will be doing next. According to its most revered star Emma Watson, her ten-year career playing Hermione Granger in the Potter films…
Read More “What’s next for Emma Watson as Harry Potter ends” »
United States space shuttle Atlantis blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Friday, the 7th of July 2011 at 1129 local time (1529 GMT; 1629 BST) for the final flight of the shuttle program. This ends another chapter in an era that began in 1961 for the US when the first American, Alan Shepard Jr,…