'Trending topics' Zubiri and Cris Lao reflect the character of Pinoy chatter

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Just two unrelated events over the last couple of days have set the Philippines' chattering classes on fire again. The resignation of Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri and the unfortunate mistaking of a car for a submarine by a certain Christopher Lao have become fodder for speculation and low-brow entertainment.

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Day 2: Senate hearing backfires against a rattled Senator Leila de Lima!

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Just watched Day 2 of Senate hearing. Tables were turned once again on De Lima, without any effort it seems from the PNP or Duterte's senate allies. This must really be karma at work, or Duterte's magic is really strong. De Lima opened the session by saying she had asked ABS-CBN, Inquirer, and GMA 7 to submit their "kill list" databases and methodology for compiling the lists. However, only GMA 7 submitted. Strange. If those lists were being prepared properly, shouldn't these media groups have their databases and methodology on hand at any time? Or were those lists haphazardly done? Sandra Cam showed up in the middle of the hearing and sat directly behind De Lima. But Cam disappeared after a while, so viewers were not treated to scratching and hair-pulling. A group of women wearing dark glasses, masks, and headscarfs sat in a row on one area–I don't know why De Lima made them dress like jihadist terrorists, but they were her witnesses. (No offense mean...
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Voting the wrong people deeply-ingrained in the #Philippines' electorate

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The things said about how people vote gets to be confusing because although most of them are correct some are not really exactly what they appear to be. Let me just focus on the other angle of the issue which is seldom talked about nor given more exposure so that we can widen the coverage of the discussion. When talking about electorate we have to differentiate the classification of voters. We have the masa and the middle class and higher class of the voting public. I'm not saying it's just the masa that is guilty for they will not be able to vote for those questionable candidates without the help of those who are more educated and influential than them. The criminals and the crooks get voted not because they are worthy but because they already established and enjoy advantage in terms of influence, bailwicks, followers and of course capital. For example, Erap, ousted as president for graft and corruption; elected as mayor of Manila. The same with Gloria Arroyo, tarnished ...
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Unfollowing @rapplerdotcom: On the growing irrelevance of Maria Ressa

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How the mighty have fallen—Maria Ressa, former CNN bureau chief and former head of the ABS-CBN news department, has been reduced to picking fights with Mocha Uson. Ressa’s website Rappler has been posting a series of articles against pro-Duterte netizens who lambasted the yellow media for their biased reporting. Mocha Uson was singled out by Rappler because she’s one of the most vocal Duterte supporters, and her blog has been overtaking Ressa’s Rappler in Facebook engagements. What a humiliating blow for Maria Ressa’s ego. A mere “sexy star” (as Rappler calls Mocha), with none of Ressa’s credentials, experience, or funding, has beaten her at her own game. How could this happen? As a netizen who used to read Rappler but who now prefers to read Mocha’s blog, let me offer an explanation. I prefer getting my news from Mocha Uson because she provides the updates that none of the yellow media are reporting. For example, it was through Mocha’s site that I found out abo...
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How the 1986 'people power revolution' was engineered by the United States

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The Marcos Administration, during the 1972-81 martial law period tripled the country's road network, doubled the electrification of the country's homes, increased irrigated cropland eight-fold, and achieved rice and corn self-sufficiency. Minimum daily wage rates tripled, although inflation, driven by international oil price hikes and exploding U.S. interest rates, more than wiped out these wage increases. The oil price hike got Marcos thinking about Nuclear power. But the opponents of Marcos were soon being wined and dined in Washington, by both the right wing (Shultz and Wolfowitz) and the left wing (Rep. Stephen Solarz, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and Princeton's Richard Falk) of the "Project Democracy" apparatus, which performed the subversive tasks assigned by the synarchist banking institutions. Salvador Laurel, the son of the quisling President of the Philippines under the Japanese occupation, headed the opposition after Aquino's assassination, and in Februar...
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