GRPundit

Environmentalism has failed. It's been in existence for 60 or so years now, and yet conditions for humans and other forms of life on this planet are worse off than when the movement was born. What most environmentalists don't understand is that Earth does not need saving. "Saving Mother Earth" is pointless. In fact, Earth has been "destroyed" more than ten times in the past five billion years or so; it has collided with another planet, frozen at least three times, been through at least one gamma ray burst, and has been hit with countless mountain-sized rocks in its existence. Environmentalists need to rethink their philosophies, and part of it is understanding that it is the current ECOLOGY (the one with the humans and other forms of life) that needs to be conserved. Even then, they also need to understand that nature and human innovation must accommodate each other–a concept that many environmentalists in the Philippines still need to understand des

In the early 1960s, the Philippines was, indeed, the 'Pearl of the Orient'. Korea,still, had rampant poverty; Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia looked up to us.. even sending over not just their students, but their middle-line executives as well for training; and, Vietnam was in the throes of the change-over from French domination to American influence and still to have an even worse fate.. the 'Vietnam War'. It was only Japan that was showing signs of becoming an industrialized power.. although 'Made-in-Japan' was a popular pejorative for anything that was poorly made. The 'Pearl of the Orient' was riding high and handsome, but was showing signs of being stuck in 'neutral' even then, whereas, these others were moving forward. We talk today of national leaders; the likes of Lee Kwan Yew, Mahatir Mohamed, Thanom Kittikachorn and others within the region. What is strikingly apparent is the seriousness and and the singularity of purpose of these

The sad reality is that the Philippines today is led by well intended incompetents, by scheming crooks, or by both who understandably,can't seem to get anything done together. This condition has been festering for the last four decades and it has exacted a heavy toll. The only saving grace seems to be the citizens who have had the patience, persistence and the resilience, (there goes those three words again), to absorb the hard times; to work around the road blocks; and, to keep their chins up. For some time now, understandably, these 'three virtues' have been showing signs of wearing thin; and, unless they are given something to hang on to and work with.. a raft or lifesaver.. or something.. the people's downward spiral could only accelerate. Many would say that this is a harsh assessment of the country today, and that I am wrong. Goodness knows that I hope I am. While I am skeptical about a reversal of just about everything that plagues the country now, I am not

Not only is "the Presidency big business in the Philippines", but being able to have the gall to participate in the election PROCESS ITSELF AS A CANDIDATE is already big business. It puzzles many people why individuals who don't seem to have a fighting chance, based on surveys, would still opt to run. The reason is that being a candidate is already good business, win or loss. Once a candidate gets to be among the top 3 or 4 in the running for presidency especially as the election gets closer, you are looking at Billions of Pesos pouring in from political donations. Of course, the leading candidates get more. It is like a horse race; only this time, the bettors are smugglers, gambling lords, regular government vendors, corporations that need to protect something from govt interference, etc. I am very aware, for example, of a presidentiable who had a good chance of winning, but who knew he was going to lose. Well, his net take after expenses amounted to 400 million Pe

That the solutions to the traffic problem, thus far, have never been 'solutions' at all, seems to be the 'real problem'. Neither the 'truck ban', the 'odd-even tags', the 'dedicated lanes', nor the 'HPG-enforcement'.. have been solutions; they were just palliatives applied to assuage the symptoms, and were never serious attempts to cure the problem. What's worse is that the traffic mess, unsolved as it were, just grew into the frustratingly knotty tangle that it is today. The real solution.. the only cure to the long running traffic nightmare.. is 'political will'. It is the 400# gorilla visibly sitting in the room. It will serve no purpose at all to go through a litany of 'what-might-have-beens'. The facts are still the same; ie.. the ribbon of streets are not about to grow; the inflow of squatters, (I forget the euphemism) continue unabated; more buses, cars and trucks are added incrementally; offices, stores a

We will forgive but we will not forget, I hope non-INC (Iglesia Ni Cristo) people unite for the May election, not by going to streets blocking the main roads, but by boycott of candidates that will be endorsed by INC. They were so arrogant though they only held 2% of voting population. And that excuse! Come on! Your ministers are sending you video messages, if I remember it correctly, you followed to end the rally because a video message from your leader said so, then you will blame a text message for you allegedly unintentionally blocking the EDSA. And besides, interviewed members clearly said the minister told them to go there, no one said anything about receiving a text. I pity the followers of INC, it is obvious you will not be saved based on believing in your sect, because they are liars. And remember "kapatid ng sinungaling ang magnanakaw". One INC member that was interviewed said that they don't want the Department of Justice (DOJ) to meddle with them because