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Facing the Music
is something Filipino leaders don’t do well. Think South Korean murdered (link) – or Mamasapano. In both cases, Filipino Presidents wound their way around their command responsibility. President...
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The Beautiful Philippines
holds the Miss Universe finals tomorrow, and may think it has won back the world’s good graces. Yet one of the suspects in the slaying of a Korean businessman simply slipped away and is at large now...
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Power and Responsibility
usually go together. Push-ups for police suspected of extortion (link) is not enough, neither is reinstating suspected rogue cops after retraining (link). Sufficient evidence is important, but such a...
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The Kinetic Energy
of colonial discovery hit the Philippines in 1521. The billard queue is long gone but the balls keep moving. Just a preview of a new movie about Lumads in Mindanao shows this (link). Loggers come into...
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A comfortable life
is what President Duterte promised in his first SONA (link). I would not want a comfortable life. I like the way my life is now – with its efforts and its rewards, but not comfortable. Someone who is...
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Education and Organization
are the keys to success, their lack causes failure, as Miyako Izabel points out (link): The EDSA Revolution has failed, primarily, because the people who have been pushing for the democratic principles...
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Nasaan ang kaluluwa ng Pilipinas
ang tanong ko sa panahon na ito. Simpleng alitan sa trapik patayan na (link). Ano ba iyan, basta na lang magalit ka sa tao sa trapik dahil sa munting alitan, papatayin mo na? Sa ibang pangyayari,...
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Dust thou art
and to dust thou shalt return. No need for people to hasten death (link). And those who feel like “killing and killing”, judicially or extrajudicially, do not see that it is not a solution to the...
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Them or Us
seems to be the central idea of many pro-Duterte people. Senator De Lima is in jail, Trillanes is “next” and trolls are trying to make Vice-President Robredo’s late husband look corrupt or worse....
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Tratong alipin ba
ang talagang hinahanap ng Pilipino? Galing kay Sandra Cam (link), sa Kongresista (link), sa Senado (link), sa Presidente (link) o kaya kahit sa pampook na opisyal (link)? Sa huling nakalink,...
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Defend What Republic?
one is tempted to ask in the recent discussions on Solicitor-General Calida’s call to “Defend the Republic” and the responses to it (link) – not only because the Republic does not coincide with the...
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Intact Neighborhoods
are the foundation of successful cities, regions, countries. How are barangays in the Philippines doing? The President says that 40% of barangay captains are involved in drugs (link). Wait, weren’t the...
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Raja Matanda II
was crowned this Friday night in Manila. “The ghosts of colonialism have been overcome, we are back to our former glory” said the Raja formerly known as Rodrigo Roa Duterte to a selected crowd gathered...
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Even Housing Projects
in Germany have trees in them. This struck me looking at the projects occupied by Kadamay. They remind me of refugee camps over here in Germany. Except that refugee camps in Germany are usually...
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God is Dead, Let’s Be Bad!
one is tempted to think in these days – especially in the Philippines. Jesus was just a white man, and colonialism is over now! No more lessons from abroad please! And who wants to tempt the joke made...
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Hanggang Pier Lang
ang mararating sa pagbubuhat ng sariling bangko – sabay paninira sa iba. Dahil walang magbabago sa ganyan. Walang tren o riles o elektrisidad ng MRT na maaayos. Walang mahihirap na mabibigyan ng...
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For me, they aren’t human
said the Kosovar: “I shall go home to kill Serbs”. This was in the late 1990s, and the Kosovar was an old friend I ran into then. Did he really go back to Kosovo, after the Serbs he said had burnt the...
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Smugness and Contempt
show in the faces of today’s Filipino leaders (link), in the actions of the police (link) and rich people on the street (link). This is the kind of Philippines I never liked, the one that often showed...
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60 poor families
will be involved in building their own houses in a resettlement site supported by the German government in Dasmariñas, Cavite (link) – and the Gawad Kalinga village will have a kindergarten and a...
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Poke niyo, poke niyo mabaho!
sigaw ng manyakis sa mga babae bago siya umalis – noong bandang 1975 ito sa harap ng UP Swimming Pool. Uso na yata (link) sa iilang babaeng OFW ang panalitang halos ganoon: The west use tissue to wipe...
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