GRPundit

A Christmas greeting tweet by "opinion columnist" and essayist Shakira Sison is just so wrong at so many levels. Merry Christmas! May you be a Bimby in a sea of Sandros and Isabelles. May you be a Shibby protecting Kians. If you are lost, may you be sought and found like an Ica. May you succeed like an Aika, and may you never forget it's your privilege in these times that keeps you alive.🎄 It's no wonder that Philippine society suffers from a culture of mediocrity seeing that counted among the characters Sison put up as her prescribed role models for Filipinos are children of politicians that happen to have the right family name (as in family names that appeal to the Yellowtard sensibilities of her lot). But beyond being born with these "right" family names, Bimby Aquino and Aika Robredo cannot really claim to have achieved anything of consequence, or at least something worthy of being given a place in the personal pedestal of a "two-time Pal...

A disturbing statement issued by former Ms Universe Pia Wurtzbach reveals her rather archaic notions of what it means to be gay. "And gusto kong ma-experience iyong mayroon [anak akong] excited na bihisan ako, ayusan ako, alagaan ako — parang magiging best friend ko . . . Nai-imagine ko na iyong anak ko magiging best friend ko beki siya." Translated: "I want to experience having a child who will be excited to dress and glam me up; take care of me -- someone who could be my best friend..." For one thing, not all gay people are fashionistas or "beki" in character. "Beki" is a Filipino colloquial term for homosexual. Interestingly while this definition may hold true one way, it does not necessarily follow the other way; i.e., not all homosexuals are "beki" in manner. There are many gay people who don't see their sexual orientation as a pillar of their character or sense of identity. These people see themselves as a person wh...

As we come to terms with the awful tragedy of the fire in a Davao City mall that killed 36 call centre employees, let us try to make this about the victims and the things and events that led to this accident. Davao City is, of course, the hometown of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his family. It seems that this fact is being used by Opposition "activists" as a point to rally further vilification of the current Duterte government. Nobody wants bad things like this to happen. But there is, of course, a need to investigate whether certain people were in a position or possessed knowledge that would've been useful to prevent this tragedy but did not use that position not acted on that knowledge. This is what the focus should be on: finding out what could be learned to help reduce the risks of accidents like this happening again and holding to account people who could have prevented it but didn't out of neglect or carelessness. There is a time for political...

All of a sudden, Rappler CEO Maria Ressa is highlighting the "horrors" of social media , perhaps because she now perceives herself and the organisation she leads as its "victims". Interesting, considering Ressa and her crew of "online journalists" gushed ad nauseum about the power of social media to further their agenda just a small number of years ago. In the 2012  Rappler "report"  Social media for social change , Rapplerette Carmela Fonbuena built her thesis on what was then the Social Media Gospel According to Ressa that preached how social media is the be-all-end-all new wave tool for "nation-building". Rappler CEO and executive editor Maria Ressa said that with rapidly changing technology, television could be a casualty.  “Why are we all talking about social media? Because of these really, really big numbers,” Rappler CEO and executive director Maria Ressa said.  “We know that traditional media is dying. Tradi...

Everyone would be shrieking even if it were an American, French, or Finnish company bidding for the phone system. What terrifies Filipinos the most is the prospect of other people proving to be less incompetent than they are. Because then they’d have to start asking soul-searching questions like: why do Finns achieve more, with less work, than we ever have in the last 50 years? And they won’t like the answers. As long as the companies ripping them off, spying on them, and feeding them propaganda are all (theoretically) run by Filipinos, they’re good with that. The propaganda makes them feel good (“it’s all the fault of the Chinese!”) so they just lap it up. Of course, there is ONE area where Filipinos are acknowledged world leaders, and if the Chinese Telcos have any sense, they’ll stay away. They might think they have enough experience dealing with corrupt, criminal governments in Africa (or their own government, for that matter), but Filipinos are here to show them how it’s do...

Inquirer columnist Roderick Toledo writes where (he thinks) the problem lies , If our families are dysfunctional, schools, churches and the media should take up the slack and help make sure we are imbued with the right values and the discipline to observe them.  I'm not sure if the true payload of what was said above escapes most people but this small excerpt illustrates what is becoming a big problem in Philippine society. What we are seeing today is a society that has lost the ability to fix its problems at the source. The family is where people spend their most formative years and is where the short window of opportunity to instill the virtues of discipline and respect opens and closes. Like their public transport services, Filipinos have delegated a critical part of the foundation of their society to the private sector and to government agencies that are under-resourced and infested with corrupt officials. Filipinos have lost the ability to take control of their o...

Walden Bello does satire. And Rappler publishes it. In his piece  Sex at ang DDS , Bello suggests in satire that the Die-hard Duterte Supporters (DDS) community are sexually-motivated to support Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and act upon his wishes. In his piece, Bello relates a hypothetical interview with a "ka-DDS" who proceeds to describe the unique rush of the experience of being a Duterte supporter... Tinanong ko siya paano maging isang DDS. Sabi niya, "May magkakatulad kaming karanasan."  Puwede bang mas maging tiyak at malinaw siya tungkol dito?  Tumingin muna siya sa paligid bago sinabi, at parang nahihiya pa, "Nag-o-orgasm kami 'pag nakikita si Presidente sa TV." Translated: "I (Bello) asked her how one becomes a DDS member. She said, "We share a common experience."  Can you be more specific? She looked around her warily before replying bashfully, "We experience an orgasm when we see the Presiden...

Sadly, a MAJORITY of the poor people here are bad people. That is WHY they are poor. They disrespect others, they disrespect themselves, and they disrespect God’s creation. Exactly how do they think they’ll be rewarded for that? If you genuinely had empathy, you would be able to get inside their heads and understand why they do these things, and perhaps know how to fix it. However, you are confusing “empathy” with “sympathy”. I have yet to meet a poor person who actually WANTS to do the things necessary to escape poverty. The funny thing is, everyone can see that I’m more successful than they are. They think this is because I’m “rich”. I’m sure a lot of them are full of jealousy (as benign0 describes) and sit around thinking “ha, it’s not fair, that foreigner is so rich and I’m so poor. I guess it’s OK if I steal his stuff”. Which they do. Regularly. I grew up poor. I know how it feels to be hungry, all the time, every day. I decided I didn’t like feeling like that. I’m successf...

The Facebook page Silent No More PH may have crossed the line and may already be bullying Isabelle Duterte (granddaughter of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte). In a recent post on Facebook , a photo of Isabelle is shown defaced by what appears to be the image of a placard hung around her neck with the words " Adik sa luho huwag tularan ". Facebook defines cyberbullying as... ...abusive or harassing behavior online, which includes sending or posting text or images that are intended to hurt or embarrass another person. A common misperception of cyberbullying is that it only affects teens. In fact, adults adopt cyberbullying behavior just as easily as young people. This is behaviour that should not be tolerated.

Critics of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte who have trained their crosshairs on easy target Isabelle Duterte should check out this photo of early Yellowtards "disrespecting" the seal of the President of the Philippines. Herein is exhibit the inconsistency inherent in a focus not just on people but on partisanism rather than bigger over-arching issues of national consequence. Sooner or later, one factoid or another emerged that easily discredits the superficial position petty "activism" encourages its players to take just to one-up the other. In the case of this incriminating photo, the argument is quite straightforward. Yellowtards disrespected the Philippines' presidential seal first .

The desperation for something about the Duterte administration to pick on is evident in the way "thought leaders" of the Opposition are now descending upon presidential daughter Isabelle Duterte who posed for photos in her debut outfit in Malacanang. Quite predictable too is how they'd zoom in on the use of what to the Yellowtards is the anti-sacred room where former President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law in 1972 as the backdrop for one of the photos ... It's no wonder the administration of former President Benigno Simeon 'BS' Aquino III is regarded as the "showbiz government". Showbiz seems to consistently serve as the epicentre of much of Yellowtard rhetoric. The fact is, these so-called "activists" who follow the cue of mainstream media who deemed this affair "newsworthy" to begin with are victims of their own imagination-deficited social justice warrioring. Media mileage whether good or bad is media mileage ...

Filipino "activists" who are on a rampage over the approved extension of Martial Law in Mindanao like to talk about the "constitutional merits" (or demerits as the case may be from their perspective) of this development. At the end of the day, however, it comes down to whose ululations go the most viral. You can see this prevailing attitude amongst the vacuous key members of the Opposition in this recent one from "investigative journalist" Raissa Robles... Such presumptuous pomposity. It's no wonder Mindanaoans are livid over how citizens of Imperial Manila remain beholden to their self-appointed expertise on what's good for Mindanao... Right now we don’t need history lessons, we need solutions. Martial law is the only solution being presented to us, and instead of giving alternatives those critical of the move are simply indulging in the thrill of being outraged.  We here in Mindanao try our best to understand. It would be best i...

Opposition "thought leader" Inday Espina-Varona in a piece published on ABS-CBN News summarises two key points around which the rhetoric against "Martial Law extension" seems to be converging into a singularity of cliché -hood... The extension of Martial Law follows Duterte’s proclamation for the use of draconian anti-terrorism measures on the 70,000-strong Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (NPA).  Both measures are linked to another important thrust of the regime: overhauling the Constitution to concentrate all powers of governance in the hands of one dictator. First of all, she makes the first point sound like it is a bad thing to go on an all-out military campaign to crush the terrorist New People's Army (NPA). What's wrong with that? Perhaps it could be because Filipinos have long been fooled into thinking having armed bands of killer communists roaming the hinterlands is normal . Well, it isn't. Again, Espina-V...

The reason the Opposition continues to lose ground is because the fail to put forth a new and compelling narrative. Take this ululation , for example... Apart from insisting that Duterte stinks, what exactly is this bozo trying to say that makes a case for an alternative point of view or, more importantly, an alternative pathway? Nada . This sort of moronic thinking is a microcosm of the deeper intellectual bankruptcy that ails the Opposition. Beyond an appeal to emotion, there really is nothing the Opposition offers the Filipino people beyond the sacred status quo  of the Yellowtards who lead them. This, amazingly, is the very status quo that is the root cause behind their loss of an entire an entire nation in 2016. It seems that this obvious insight is lost on the vacuous sensibilities of the Yellowtards. The broader Philippine Opposition community should ditch the Yellowtards and purge their ranks of the obsolete memetic disease they propagate. The only really c...

Before you Yellowtards go on another tililing rampage after not getting your bratty way, get a load of some of this grownup insight first. The results are out! Senate approves martial law extension. Vote results : • Yes - 14 • No - 4 • Abstention - 0 Olats na naman ang mga Yellowtard . Really you guys in the Opposition, you really need to rethink the whole strategy of allowing yourselves to be led by the Yellowtards. You are all fast losing ground and losing time . Don't be too hard on Congress. They represent the Filipino people, after all. They were elected to their seats by popular vote, remember? Last we recall, what is popular wins in a democracy. And, to top that off, sink your teeth into this important fact ... Joint sitting of Congress convened, deliberated and voted as per constitution to extend #MartialLaw in Mindanao for 1 year with no pork barrel offered or intimidation exerted by the administration. Yes this is the end of democracy and rule of law #s...

Last I recall, the last 30 years of Yellowtard domination of Filipino thinking is also part of history. In fact it now encompasses a period longer than the "evil" Martial Law years. But then chalk one up to selective sloganeering as the venerable Ms Gang Badoy demonstrates in a tweet ... Ms Badoy, conveniently missed an important third point. Filipinos also have historical knowledge and experience of Yellowtard rule. Thirty years of it. About the same length of time the dynamic "heroic" Aquino duo's faces have tag-teamed adornment of the 500 peso bill. Historical revisionism? Selective amnesia, perhaps. The mysteries of life, indeed.

This is the whole trouble with basing an argument, an advocacy, or a position on a critical national issue on personal loyalties. Regret is a bitch, but it takes a bit of courage to actually admit one's error in judgment as Mr Leloy Claudio did on Twitter ... To the credit of some high-profile members of the " disente " cliques, some long-overdue soul-searching and reflection may already be underway. Thing is, a lot of what is being reflected upon were, in fact, readily-evident at the time. But they were ignored in favour of the popular sentiment of the time. The trouble is, the wrong arguments tend to win in the midst of the traditional emotionalism that tends to envolop most national issues in the Philippines as they transpire. Just the same, the fact remains. A man unjustly accused and tried by an administrative perversion in 2012 is now dead. The engineers of the criminal funding mechanism used to bribe the "senator-judges" who comprised th...

The point is missed by a mile when Filipinos propose any solution that involves tinkering on the fringes of the Philippines' jeepneys cancer. Unfortunately the sort of thinking being applied to the matter is, quite simply, exceedingly small . Jeepneys are an immense socio-economic problem that has imprisoned Filipinos for decades and continue to thwart the Philippines' march to progress. People who defend, apologise for, and coddle these monsters are part of the problem.

Filipinos need to expect more of their leadership and change the current low ball approach to evaluating them. It seems that rather than rate them on the basis of achievement, Filipinos choose to celebrate leaders on the basis of which one did the least damage ... Classic pwede na yan mentality there. This is symptomatic of a society that has known only frustration for so long that it has lost a collective ability to imagine what great leadership could be. More importantly, Filipinos need to stop pinning their hopes for better lives on their leaders and take personal accountability for their own future prospects.

Filipinos have never seen (in living memory) what law and Order even looks like, so they think it’s the same thing as “ruling with an iron fist”. On the subject of “human rights”, a very basic “right” which most States enforce and guarantee is the right to property. The Philippines does not really recognise this right as important for development, and generally fails to implement strong property rights. This is one of the main reasons for the low level of FDI, and indeed investment in general. --------------------- This is a GRP Featured Comment. Join the discussion !

A photo of a military truck spotted at a University of the Philippines campus was posted by commie "activist" group Anakbayan on their Facebook page along with this quaint caption... EARLIER: Military truck spotted going around UP this afternoon. Military troops inside the University signal an intensifying terror threat, intimidation and surveillance of students fighting against a looming dictatorship. These are the very same people militarizing Lumad communities, killing peasants leaders and national minorities, harassing progressive leaders standing for their democratic rights. There is no space in the University for murderers and human rights violators like them!  The youth shall fight and stand with the people! Fight state fascism! Overthrow the US-Duterte dictatorship!  #OverthrowDuterte #ResistCrackdown Evidently, the response to this post was not something these commies expected. The following comment to this photo provides a sample of the general flavour ...

The caption on the Facebook post on the Interaksyon page that accompanies the photo reads... On the eve of Human Rights Day, a crucifix bears the sign "Stop the killings" in Baclaran Church. This afternoon, rights advocates will cover the INRI sign with a cardboard that reads, "Wag tularan," depicting Jesus Christ as an EJK victim.  Putting aside the bad taste underlying the politicisation of the crucifix, it is also interesting to note that crucifixion was perfectly legal under the Roman Empire and was "an established form of execution in the Roman Empire long before Jesus's birth". "In Republican Rome, 1st Century BC Rome, it is a standard and degrading form of punishment," says Beard, a classical historian at Cambridge University. And, the "Roman emperor Constantine, a Christian, banned crucifixion in the 4th Century AD. More than 1,000 years later...". Filipinos need to be a bit more critical in the way they ev...

You can strip Filipinos of honor & dignity as well as even the basic necessities for survival, just don’t step on their heaven-bestowed “right to create noise” – that’s the last thing they’ll hold on to. These commies are just scared shit of the threat of losing their right to overthrow the government so the true fascists (Joma and Co.) can rule and milk the land. Try to get Duterte to take the “ How fascist are you? ” test, and he’ll probably score less than 30%. The only people afraid of Duterte are criminal- and terrorist-rights activists. CPP-NPA being branded terrorists is indeed such an unprecedented revolutionary idea, one that can only be thought up of by a genuine iron-fisted visionary (IFV). Even PNoy must have had his gaping mouth wide open upon hearing that blitz pronouncement… “Whaaa, you mean – you can do that pala ? Why didn’t I think of that?” ---------------------------- This is a GRP Featured Comment. Join the discussion !

Rather than take a more critical look at the fundamental character of Filipinos as individuals and as a collective, liberals like Rappler CEO Maria Ressa would rather blame her pains on sinister conspiracies and an imagined modern-day social malaise. Once again Ressa and her victim mentally has become fodder for another Western media fluff piece. In  What Happens When the Government Uses Facebook as a Weapon? , Ressa and her cohorts in Bloomberg Businessweek now suggest that social media platforms like Facebook are (though, perhaps, inadvertent) contributors to a vast conspiracy to harrass critics of the government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Lauren Etter, the author of the article writes that the Philippine government "is waging a campaign to destroy a critic—with a little help from Facebook itself." Apparently, Filipinos take pride in their lot being part of the "social media capital" of the Far East and, as such, take issue with suggestions t...

Presumably speaking for his new "movement" , Cruz asserts... Many of us reject the imposition of a Duterte political test on all artists, journalists, bloggers, and other citizens. Yes, this test is used to harass and silence any citizen who questions and depicts events happening in the country. We are instantly accused of being either an addict, a pusher, or terrorist just because we think differently or speak audaciously. In my view, no Filipino should be given any test before being allowed to express ourselves. Cruz seems to imply that there is some kind of restriction on free speech currently in effect in the Philippines. What is interesting is that he cites the use of labels as a form of curtailing of that right and a "political test" to determine the sort of challenge they expect to cop from people who challenge their views. The members of this movement should actually rethink inclusion of a hypocrite like Tonyo Cruz in their ranks. Cruz himself is ...

According to certain "progressive" groups like Computer Professionals' Union, Filipinos are living in times of "repression and tyranny". As such, Filipinos need to take heed of a paranoid delusional set of security tips published on their Facebook page . Of course , this is because, they assert... Since rising to power as President of the Republic, PRRD’s term has been characterized by an escalating kill count in the name of a bloody War on Drugs [1], the decimation of the city of Marawi [2], continuous attacks on the judiciary and system of checks and balances in government [3], and a general flouting of the rule of law in the name of strongman rule. As such, the "security tips" they prescribe are designed to prevent sinister state forces from spying on Filioinos' private digital communications and activities. This is nice if not rather quaint. One wonders whether this is truly a "union" of "computer professionals" ...

Classic "you are either with us or against us" posturing by uber Yellowtard Florin Hilbay in a Facebook post today (and on Twitter )... You can't hate drugs if your drug war is drug smuggler-friendly; be against corruption if Marcos is your hero & are cozy with plunderers; claim to be a patriot but give away the West Philippine Sea; be a populist  but a genocidal maniac against the poor. Hilbay cannot claim to have final authority on who could be an advocate for hating drugs, being against corruption, being a patriot, and being a populist -- specially if your method of defining these are all personality-based .

What makes former president Benigno Simeon 'BS' Aquino III so special that he is widely deemed immune from critical scrutiny. It seems he has legions of apologists who are willing to bend logic and truth to absolve him of astounding lapses in judgement and evasion of accountability. The latest instance of this is the Dengvaxia debacle that has recently erupted. Various apologists seem to have stepped out of the woodwork to ensure Aquino is protected from the Law. Ironic, right? That irony, of course, flies over the pointed heads of his constituents (a.k.a. the Yellowtards). The truth cannot be plainer, however. Those who are defending Noynoy and absolving him from any liability for alleged anomalies involving his dengue vaccine program are not working to protect the Filipino people. Their sole purpose is to protect only Noynoy and his mates. People like Jim Paredes, Randy David, Hilbay and others who try to protect Noynoy from the latest scam involving dengue vaccine r...

Popular Filipino-Aussie actress Anne Curtis-Smith has been copping some flak from Netizens lately following a mistitled Inquirer article  that suggests that she has "no time to have a baby". One allegedly quipped on Facebook ... Curtis-Smith has since issued a response on Twitter ... Wow. These people are so harsh. The headline is misleading too. I never said that. Maybe if they read the article they would see what I said was - WE JUST GOT MARRIED, can’t we enjoy that first before making the next big step of becoming parents. It’s our life anyway! Kalerky Yes Pinoy judgmental attitudes indeed could drive people insane. People shouldn't even be asking couples when they plan to have kids. That's just plain bad manners.

The radical jeepney organisation Pinagkaisang Samahan ng  mga Tsuper Nationwide (PISTON) is endorsed by no less than Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder and chairman Joma Sison. This contradicts the vehement denial of its national president George San Mateo that it is affiliated with the CPP. "I'm not a representative of the NDF (National Democratic Front) here. I'm not a representative of the CPP, nor the KMU (Kilusang Mayo Uno) nor Bayan. Don't say na kami ay nagde-destabilize," San Mateo said. "You are way out of line!"  "Namulitika si Pangulo, namulitika siya, the issue was modernization. Bakit mo hinaluan ng CPP, bakit mo sinasabi na... pagmumumurahin mo 'yung mga driver? That's the plain truth and that's the fact," he said. In 2015, however, Sison  cited PISTON as an affiliate of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) which he also chairs... Naipagmamalaki namin ang PISTON bilang kasap...

According to former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, De Lima accounts for significant "intellectual weight" in the Philippine Senate... The question then is, what contribution to the Senate has De Lima so far delivered. During her stint as head of the Commission on Human Rights, she seems to have not made any significant breakthrough in the "cause". A senator's intellectual added value is measured on legislation crafted. Obviously, De Lima has yet to deliver on that. Perhaps had she not prioritised her grandstanding and Drama Queen act at the start of her stint in the Senate and, instead, focused on implementing her legislative agenda (if she actually had one, that is), then perhaps she would have been able to categorically proven her worth. That's probably not gonna happen now and she will simply need to depend on the graces extended to her by a, so far, sympathetic media. What a waste indeed.

The panic and shrill "debate" around Dengvaxia is just one example of how systemic issues are missed and opportunities to solve them systemically routinely overlooked simply because those involved in said "debate" are too focused on personalities. COMELEC spox and Tweetizen James Jimenez highlighted the the now-prevalent and fallacious debate style called "what aboutism" which ... ...involves charging your accuser with whatever it is you've just been accused of rather than refuting the truth of the accusation made against you. Tu quoque is considered to be a logical fallacy, because whether or not the original accuser is likewise guilty of an offense has no bearing on the truth value of the original accusation. So rather than the discussion moving forward, the participants are stalemated in a cycle of finger-pointing. No ideas or conceptual foundations are laid to build upon progressively. ----------------------- This is a GRP Featured...

“Youth is wasted on the young”, they used to say. If you send your daughter or son, to universities, like the University of the Philippines. You send him or her, to learn about the subjects, of the field, he/she is hoping to finish and graduate. Not waste his/her time on bankrupt political ideologies like communism. Jo Lapira, the NPA casualty is a good example. Her parents, may have been slaving to earn money to send her, to college and give her a good education, so that, after graduation, she could have a good job and a good career, to better her life. However, she wasted this opportunity in her life fighting for an ideology she hardly understood. She wasted her life; and now her life ends tragically, in a clash with the AFP. Those who still believe this communist ideology is the panacea of our country’s problems should realise that this communist ideology is a failed ideology. It has been tested, and the communist theory of workers’ utopia, is a Delusion, and a Mirage. What...