GRPundit

Let us get together with beer by the pints To chat 'bout anything even taxes and fines Just do not be numb with needles and pins Don't you know it is more fun in the Philippines Philip is Greek, to tell you honestly It means a lover, also one who's friendly Sweet smelling pines were also of me But you cut the pines and took the beauty from me A puzzle, Pinoy, when will you mature? Was expecting more from you the love of nature This wall for the ocean called Pacific An archipelago, my islands are terrific Unity is what I dreamt a long time My body are islands scattered without rhyme Only to lead you, not about the body Rather the spirit that brings true unity If only you know, there's gold in my land Sadly, ti's only the greedy who had a hand To grab what is supposed to be for all What a wasted investment, it ain't gonna roll Can we tell those souls who are so greedy They divide me with their blindness to the needy Ye...

It is not only that we are nobody in the world stage, in fact, it is a scary proposition to be carrying a Philippine passport these days. If you are observant in airports, you will notice that immigration officers allow other nationalities to go through in less than a minute. With our passport, they take over two minutes, especially when queues are not that long; and if that airport happens to be either Hong Kong, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Rome, Chicago, or New Jersey, which all seem to be the strictest when they encounter our passport, there is a likelihood you will asked into a nice side room for a 15-minute interview before they let you thru.. It wasn't always like this, and my grandpa could attest to that. We just had a big family reunion for his 98th birthday last September, and the topic of the party was similar to what we have here. Grandpa is still quite lucid even if his body has obviously been fast deteriorating lately. Funny that when almost all the family members were seate...

Fear and distrust is rife here. This country was one of the last I visited when backpacking South East Asia, and I noticed the difference immediately with all the armed guards literally everywhere and my guest house being in a weird protected community that had its own guard (I didn't even know about gated villages before, now I see guards every time I step outside). When you stay for longer and hear people's stories you learn that backstabbing and seething jealousy are accepted facts of life in most workplaces and neighbourhoods. I don't think they know that isn't normal. And where other countries have regional stereotypes about their own countryfolk ("anyone who lives outside the dead centre of the metropolis is a slack-jawed yokel"; "anyone who lives in a rural area has intimate knowledge of livestock"), it seems many Filipinos actually believe them, and are regionalist to a laughable extent with their unshakeable beliefs about Manila people...

In terms nominal peso value, the budget for Education has been increasing, but that is only to comply with the law. That is not the complete picture. Depending on the year, the peso value increases have been ranging between 6% to 10% per annum. Considering that inflation has been running between 4 to 5%, the increases really just covers inflation. If we say then that the increases were at 1to 5%, then that may just be covering the increases in student population. I have a suspicion that in terms of peso allocated per student, the amount may even be decreasing. No wonder, they could not increase the salaries of teachers, which we haven't added to the above. What about depreciation, deterioration of facilities, etc (What about the increasing rate of tongpats too? You know that old politicians are appalled at what s been happening. They were happy in their time with 10%, at most 30% but very seldom. Since Gloria's time, weren't we hearing 50, 100, even 200% coming out of B...

[NB: Satire or truth? We invite readers of what follows to be the judges.] President Jojo Binay will be fantastic for PHL. Country has had leaders with myopic vision. He will show the world that what a 4′-9″ can see is better than what anyone else sees, since he is used to seeing the asses of the six-footers. He will have the foresight to know which priorities do matter because foresight sounds like it has something to do with four, and as already said, he had to reckon with this number since his coming of age. As a result, he will have well thought programs to support his vision. Because he will make his vision a part of him, he will be a firm leader, firmer than the permed hair of the asses he always sees. Unlike BS Aquino, he will not tolerate bungling managers who don't know their ass from their elbow; as already said, he knows an ass as he knows a hole. Unlike BS, his organization will not be a jungle of confusion. His will be lean and mean, as lean as the six-foot basketb...

The last leaders of PHL who understood the importance of ideas were Ferdinand Marcos and Ninoy Aquino (father of BS Aquino). After these two, PHL just went to hell in a handbasket. When Ninoy said: "The Filipino is worth dying for", he was not talking about Juan, Pedro, or Maria. It is not about you or me, nor even about a population that now numbers 100m whose home base is an archipelago squeezed between China Sea and Pacific Ocean. He was talking about a person who he dreamt was totally free, able to determine his own future, who just happen to live in that archipelago and who share a unique heritage with others that he/ she should not be ashamed of. This was in opposition to Marcos who was defining "who is a Filipino" through his attempt to revise history via his "Malakas and Maganda" narrative. Both recognized that there was something so fundamental about knowing and about being sure of one's identity. Everything flows from this principle. Wh...

Policies are all well and good but when it comes down to it there have to be people who want to implement the policies or at least make sure that there is rule of law to allow good policies to take shape. Sadly we might never get to a stage where these policies can be implemented since the interests of our ruling class run counter to implementing these policies. Let's start from the basic and fair assumption that the ruling class (including the Aquinos, Roxas, and Binays) want to protect their wealth and their power and let's move down to the problems that have been mentioned. Would our ruling elite really want a strong modern philippine military? No. Why? Imagine there being more than a handful Trillanes-type mutineers running around and wielding high tech weaponry. Not good for keeping your money or power at all. Would the ruling elite want to promote policies that eliminate economic inequality without sacrificing entrepreneurs and businesses? No, as to the poorest ...

I think we PNoys are all experts in people power and know the parameters that trigger one: (1) The presence of an issue that is understandable by society across the board, and the opposing opinions to the issue are practically clear cut; (2) an exasperated feeling among the populace, or an almost palpable environment where you know something is stirring up with each passing day; (3) the elite, though staying in the background, organizes a core group and via the media and other PR means further stokes the public sentiment; (4) a trigger that ignites an already combustible situation, as the coup attempt by Ramos and Enrile in EDSA1 and the boogie dance (hehehe) by Tessie Oreta in EDSA2; (5) the middle class and some of society's elite openly participate in the resulting mass action. I think there were two mass actions in the beginning of Gloria's term; these failed because of the absence of parameter(5). Trillanes' two attempts also failed because parameters(2), (3) and (...

In the current brinkmanship, Binay is winning; the surveys confirm this. Binay does not care about his credibility, he is catering to the economic classes C, D and E, the mass of people that decides who becomes the president. We cannot even attempt how CDE defines credibility for they define anything universal based on particulars they may be individually in. It has nothing to do with what is good for the nation, and that is why they have elected time and time again bungling fools as leaders. Binay still has to be careful, however. He is already insulting the intelligence of A, B and C, who may not have the number to decide elections, but who have the clout to bring down a government. During the two successful "people power", it was ABC that whipped up hysteria and that daily delivered the trucks of food and drinks that made CDE participate in mass actions where not all were even clear as to the whys of the actions. If Binay wins and at the rate he is going, he may find h...

100 million Filipinos and this is all we can come up with for 2016? The question of the VP's corruption, though still needed to be proven in a court of law is very simple to answer, as there is no-way the Binay Family can amass the amount of wealth they currently have with out dipping their dirty hands in the City's coffers. As I have said this still needs to be proven legally, but does not change the fact that VP Binay is corrupt. SO, what now? I would really like to see the NTC-National Transformation Council (whatever that means) or any other group do some real transforming and start a campaign to inform the BOBOtantes that there are other choices out there, Men and Women with real concern for the country. Mainstream Media could also help by limiting coverage for these Senate sponsored MORO-MORO's. It's a scary thought, knowing that my children will have to grow old in this current state of society we are in now. This is a GRP Featured Comment. Join the d...