GRPundit

Poor Yellowtards. They are in a conundrum following the victory of boxing champion and Philippine Senator Manny Pacquiao over Argentina's Lucas Matthysse in today's championship bout for the WBA welterweight title. Yellowtards are torn between doing the Filipino thing congratulating Pacquiao and their aversion to his person because of his poltical loyalties and conservative views on human sexuality. The latter is particularly interesting when one considers how many Yellowtards are "prayerful" devout Catholics who, according to the dogma of their chosen religion, are also obliged to toe the Catholic line and refrain from any show of tolerancy for homosexuality. This is a key underlying reason why the Yellowtards are failing in a world made more transparent by social media. Inconsistency is more easily called out and one's hypocrisy more easily made evident.

Once federalism is in place in the Philippines then secession becomes a promising prospect amongst people within each of the autonomous states. That’s where things become even more interesting — and exciting . Minds should be open to the possibility that, perhaps, the Philippines may eventually dissolve and cease to be a "united" island nation over the next 10 to 20 years. The Philippines, after all, is a nation by mere colonial edict -- an artificial country composed of kingdoms, tribes, and communities united by force and not much else. Indeed, the much-vaunted individual "success stories" of Filipinos overseas highlight the fact that Filipinos achieve more apart than together. Perhaps it is time "Filipinos" confront the reality of who they are -- a people who collectively represent nothing of substance. Perhaps this sad reality could still be changed by considering a different trajectory for a people long imprisoned by a quaint legacy of Span...

I'm confused. Seeing that there are so many foreign "journalists", commentators, celebrities, and "rapporteurs" being celebrated for airing their views about the Philippine government under President Rodrigo Duterte, I wonder what it is exactly this bozo is calling for ... Paalala sa isang blogger, kung citizen ka sa isang bansa sa Europa, wala kang karapatang makisali sa politika sa Pilipinas at lalong hindi ka dapat nakikigulo sa Philippine media. Nakikibaka ako dahil Filipino citizen at leche, magbabayad na naman ako ng property at income taxes. Translated to the language of champions: "Reminder to a certain blogger: If you are a citizen of a European country, you don't have the right to comment on Philippine politics and, more importantly, you should not be getting involved with the Philippine media. I am concerned because I am a Filipino citizen who pays taxes." Perhaps we should seek comment about this from those who also cheered wh...

To win an election, you need to get the most number of votes. This means not just mobilising your following, but converting the undecided. The trouble with Leni Robredo being "leader" of the Philippine Opposition is that her followers are beholden to a cult of personality and not any sort of coherent set of ideas or ideology Robredo represents. Personality loyalties are hard to break in the Philippines. This reality is in plain sight in the way even the most criminal of oligarchs continue to win elections term in and term out. As such, while Robredo has endeared herself to a small clique of diehard Yellowtards, she has come across as a joke to the broader swathe of Filipinos looking for real change and real reform. The leader the Opposition needs is someone who could rally Filipinos around a compelling vision and not just rally a small choir around an obsolete ideological relic. Leni Robredo is not that person. No matter how much the Yellowtards try to come across as n...

You can see the sort of President "vice president" Leni Robredo would likely be if ever she found herself warming the seat of the highest office in the Philippine government. Finally speaking out on the matter of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte calling her unfit to be president, this is all Robredo had to say... Ayoko na sana i dignify pero siguro sabihin ko nalang na imbes na insultuhin ako o ang Diyos, asikasuhin nalang muna ang mga problema ng ating ekonomiya Translated to the language of champions:  " I prefer not to dignify this but I guess I will, instead, say that rather than insult me or God, [Duterte should] first focus on the problems of our economy ..." Firstly, being called "incompetent" is not an insult. It is a statement of an assessment of one's ability to fulfill a role. Second, a truly strong leader will not take being called "incompetent" sitting down. Indeed, Filipino macho culture looks up to people who pu...

Imagine for one moment a president like Leni Robredo. Just that simple thought experiment will result in you nodding in agreement with what Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had stated ... I will not resign because it will make her president. My resignation is for the people, para makapili sila ng gusto nila. I don't think she will be ready to govern a country. Reason? Incompetence. She is not capable of running a country like the PH. During the campaign leading to the 2016 elections, Robredo's supporters chanted "Leni is my VP". Evidently they didn't make that vital logical link to the fact that the vice president is just a heartbeat away from the presidency. The VP is not just a VP. He or she is a potential president. Under a Robredo presidency, the halls of Malacanang would echo with the words " Ang sa akin lang naman ". This is a phrase Robredo prefixes just about every statement she makes with. It loosely translates to "in my humb...

Filipinos will never be able to compete globally until they apply a more realistic regard for their "national" dialect. For one thing Tagalog was originally spoken by a certain river-dwelling tribe that happened to be situated where the Philippines' biggest and most important city bubbled up. As a result their dialect became the de facto lingua franca of a nation cobbled together by colonial edict. The trouble with Tagalog, however, is that only Filipinos speak it. And it is mainly out of habit and necessity. Beyond Filipinos, Tagalog finds no place in any transaction or endeavour of global consequence. Certainly the vast store of world-claas knowledge vital for the Philippines to develop an ability to compete on the world stage is articulated in languages native to societies with strong traditions of achievement in science, technology, business, and governance. It is, indeed, high time that Tagalog be junked and English be taken up as the language of choice for t...