GRPundit

I was recently reading some essays by a man who lived through the very worst of the violence in Africa after those countries were "released" from colonialism. One day all was orderly and clean, the next there were psychopaths roaming the streets killing, raping and maiming. The people out committing violence were the exact same people who – just a few days before under Colonial rule – were fine upstanding citizens. The author's opinion was that the authorities had never made their subjects THINK. They had simply enforced a rule-driven protocol upon them which didn't actually fit with some deeply-held (and fundamentally flawed) beliefs. They natives had been treated as children – because, no doubt, they were on that mental level – and had never been pressured to grow beyond that. I see this happening right now in the Philippines today. Not only are Filipinos not trained to think, they're deliberately trained not to. The entire school curriculum is based on ...

It's a nightmare. It reads like it was written by Idi Amin when he was 12. If you want to comply with all that when starting a business, you have to be rich to start with; and then you have to get richer, because the taxman will be around within 30 days to demand tax money that you haven't earned yet. Now read the Anti-Dummy Law. If you can even make sense of the wording, you're a better man than I am. Now try interacting with the bureaucracy, which just does its own thing. Laws? They don't need no stinkin' Laws. It's an absolute shambles. You have to run hither and thither to get a license from this guy and a stamp from that guy, and if you don't there'll be some other guy coming to shut you down or demand 'fines'. It's a full-time job. All of this nonsense is what DEFINES a third-world country. It's what MAKES them third-world. If people are wasting all their time chasing bits of paper and official stamps, they're not runnin...

Highlighting the point that Singapore was tiny, only 716 Sq KM. So how did Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) make it into an International Power House, while Philippines got stuck? So, I crunched some numbers; the results are interesting. PH has 18 Regions. Of those 18 Regions, only NCR is smaller in area than Singapore. The average area of the 18 Regions is 16,565 Sq KM. PH population is 100,998,375 (2015 CIA). Divide PH population by 18 Regions, you get an average Regional Population of 5,611,020. So, each PH Region would have a population roughly equivalent to Singapore 5,674,472 (2015 CIA) and an average area 23 times larger than Singapore. Here's the scary part. Singapore's per capita GDP is US$ 82,800 (2014 CIA) and Philippines per capita GDP is US$ 7,000.(") In 1965, LKY began running Singapore like a business (every Sq Meter generated US$ X), and Philippines like a Low Tech Hacienda (Cheap Labor, Low yield). The good news is, Philippines can still develop all 18...

The Philippines' Constitution prevents foreign owners from owning business in the Philippines (with the recent exception of import/export seat trade and any business that exports more than 70%? of its produce). The world bank points out that you have the greatest disincentives to foreign business of any "developed" Asian country. Your public utilities cannot be owned by foreigners - which would not matter if there were not so many blackouts, good water supply and clean sewage. You even prevent joint development of resources in the South China Seas as your Constitution demands you own 60% of the assets. Even on a small scale I as a foreigner cannot buy a house freehold as I can never own the land on which it stands. It is no wonder the Philippines is such a poor nation with undernourished children, worse shanty towns than Mumbai and little people. It is not genetics that make the Filipinos so small in stature but undernourishment and poor diet. -------------- This ...

Our representatives have either failed or never intended to represent their constituents. Our votes only supported their perceived Divine Right to Rule OVER US, not WORK FOR US. HOWEVER, Divine Right has a limited shelf life. Thirty years have passed and the Divine Ones still haven't dealt with Political Dynasty or FOI. Senator Miriam Santiago filed 2 Bills dealing with Dynasties at the National and Local Levels, and both are pending in the Senate committee on electoral reforms and peoples' participation since 2013. As the House and Senate are, by and large members of Political Dynasties, their inaction makes the case of conspiracy to remain in power, consciously depriving citizens of right to Constitutional Protection from Dynasties. By using their office to receive control unconstitutional PDAF Funds, the case morphs into a Criminal Conspiracy, with or without contact with JLN et al. I would suggest 1) Senator Santiago withdraw her bills from Senate Consideration ...

Yes, (polished) rice is poison if you rely on it for a staple: it's one of the reasons the country has a sky-high rate of diabetes. However, the Philippine government is one of the few that still promotes rice as being healthy and good for you, despite mounting scientific evidence to the contrary. Other Asian countries eat rice, of course, but observe a typical Chinese or Japanese meal. You'll have four plates of vegetables, a little meat, and a hand-sized bowl of rice. The bulk of the meal is vegetables. For the Filipino, the bulk of the meal is rice, and there's always a sort of unofficial competition to see who can cram down the most rice (isn't gluttony supposed to be a sin?). Add to that a sugary sauce and a bottle of coke, and you've got a health crisis. What annoys me most is that they even grow rice in locations where there isn't enough water. The government then spends enormous amounts of money on irrigation projects to "help" the "...

To say that there is today a gloomy and depressing atmosphere may be an exaggeration. I think we are not there, but I can't explain what is going on. Haven't you noticed that in canteens, during coffee or lunch breaks, people are not talking of politics, and it is the election period? Maybe, they still watch or read the news, but just to get entertain and then to forget about it. Maybe, there is the feeling that there is nothing to hope for after 2016, I don't know. I think by this same time leading to 2010, there was a livelier political conversation. I will conjecture that it was probably that there was Gordon and Gibo then. Middle class knew these two were going to lose, but ya know, when hope against hope is present, people tend to be talkative, and maybe that is what made 2010 a bit livelier. And, that is where I think the injustice that PNoy has inflicted on the nation could be found, more than his crime related DAP, BBL, etc. That he should aspire for a positio...

There are many company CEOs who bitch, as we do, about the politicians that we have. When they talk among themselves, they compare notes on how this or that politician is such a low life — for indeed a good many of these politicians may look so respectable on the outside, but their brains are really full of garbage. I know of a CEO who carries extra medicine for his high blood pressure whenever he has an appointment with this Congressman or that Mayor. Another CEO always claims that he spends a long time in the shower after any lunch or dinner with any government person — he says it is a good way of feeling after being in touch with filth. I, of course, don't know if he is just being hyperbolic and joking, but it should give you idea that there are CEOs who are sick and tired of the prevailing situation. That many of the CEOs wish they just be left alone by government and if they have to deal with govt, it is just to pay the proper taxes is also a fact. Unfortunately, the Phili...

Poor people are poor because they think like poor people. It's really that simple. If they knew the fundamentals of financial management, or were prepared to educate themselves, they would cease to be poor. As it is, they wallow in their status as "poor people", and use it as an excuse for all sorts of debased behaviour. The Philippines is exceedingly rich, and most so-called poor people are also rich. I've lost count of the number of "poor" people who come up to me offering to sell 3,5,10 hectares of land. Anyone with half a brain could get a very nice living from that amount of property. Predictably, of course, they've either done nothing with it for decades or ruined it with chemicals (I do occasionally go to have a look). As for the government solving poverty: they're not going to do that because, as others already said, poverty is deliberately engineered so that the electoral machine is more easy to manipulate. They might spout the right b...

The last time I checked his name is Benigno Simeon (BS for short). Now, why would you insinuate that [a writer] is using his name initials to mean "bullshit" unless you think that's what the president is. That is your conclusion, not [the writer's]. Plus it's not uncommon to use initials for the sake of brevity. U.S. media. for example, have used JFK for John Fitzgerald Kennedy; FDR for Franklin Delano Roosevelt; in the Philippines, FM for Ferdinand Marcos, etc. Don't be too sensitive…maybe BS Aquino needs a name change. ---------------- This is a GRP Featured Comment. Join the discussion! http://getrealphilippines.com/blog/2015/08/4-reasons-why-mar-roxas-will-not-win-the-2016-philippine-presidential-elections/#comment-1252457

I hope in amending the Constitution, they will insert another option during elections among the presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the ballot - "Find me another candidate." Actually, this is what I felt in 2010. And if the "Find me another candidate" get the most votes, COMELEC will be duty-bound to repeat the process of finding a new set of candidates. Oh those who lost, well, "sorry, the majority have spoken and they don't like you. You had your chance." If only we can divide the Philippines. I mean those who will vote for Binay may have their own Philippines and the same goes for those who will vote for Roxas and the rest. I have always prepared my mind to accept majority rule in the spirit of democracy. However, I don't think I'm ready to do that now, basing it on the generation of voters in the last few decades. So, if any of these candidates wins, I hope they will leave the country and take their voters with them els...