Archive for the ‘Civics’ Category

Last Sunday, the 21st of August was the death anniversary of National "Hero" Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. That date is significant to me because I remember back in 1983, how his brother Agapito -- what's-up-with-the-nickname -- Aquino in a stroke of marketing genius began to fly a flag bearing the acronym ATOM (August Twenty One Movement) that was to go on to become indelibly associated ... Full story

Intelligent people can be the worst teachers. They tend to be impatient with their students. This is because they assume that the students will understand what they are trying to say on their first attempt at explaining something. Because it is easy for them to understand things, it can be hard for intelligent people to put themselves in the average person's shoes and to try ... Full story

Even as I've always harped about the culture of crime that pervades our society, a fuller extent of the Filipino's capacity to tolerate criminality and injustice has only recently revealed itself to me. This revelation comes in the wake of Ilda's article Election and everyday fraud which highlights the occurence of cheating in this year's elections, and Morga's Imelda's "jewelries" which brings ... Full story

Filipinos seem tired. For some reason they just want to move on from the election. Maybe the campaign jingles have proven too much to bear and any further exposure to them after the 10th of May just might make them go crazy. Despite reports of massive election fraud from members of the local and international community, majority of Filipinos don't seem inclined to do or ... Full story

It's hard to lead a normal life when you are a Filipino. There are times when you just want to do the right thing but other people prevent you from doing so. Take voting during an election as an example. It should be a pretty straightforward exercise. You wake up, eat your meal, fix yourself up and then go out and vote. Sadly, in the ... Full story

The difference between “Presidential or Parliamentary” systems, which we discussed in Part One of this exploration of ways to improve the way the Philippines is governed, and “Unitary or Federal” systems is that the former are systems of government, while the latter are systems of administration. In other words, both a presidential ... Full story

It’s now the end of what has been in some respects a rather surreal week – the elections have, contrary to most expectations, been concluded more-or-less successfully, at least in form if not in substance, and there is a growing mood that it is time to move on and make the best of it. That ... Full story

if you own a portion of Hades' or Lucifer's version of hell will you give it up for the common good? Full story

Real democracy is dead in the Philippines. Leaders in the country have killed it -- that is, if it ever existed at all. I'm not just referring to the political leaders. I'm referring in particular to religious leaders who endorse presidential candidates and oblige their flock to vote for whoever it is they endorse. Inquirer.net columnist Conrado de Quiros is so wrong in insisting that ... Full story

The Inquirer.net editor really gets into gear in the race to evacuate the minds of a population already reeling from an emptiness-induced headache. Standing on that lofty soapbox today, he (or she -- who the hell cares?) makes the sort of bleeding-heart citation that we have come to expect of minds imprisoned in so-last-Century ... Full story

Stupid and honest. That's what Filipinos want. That's a conclusion one can draw based on the context of where the following over-used quote I found in one of those other blogs is cited: Between a fellow who is stupid and honest and one who is smart and crooked, I will take the first. I won’t get much ... Full story

Recently we the authors and contributors at AntiPinoy.com have turned our guns away from the moronisms of Filipino election politics and pointed them at the moronism of Filipino "ethnic pride" exhibiting itself as a result of the Adam Carolla brouhaha. Some argue that it was an unproductive distraction. Perhaps it was considering that we got into it in the middle of the ramp ... Full story

Newsflash: There is a crisis of authority in the Philippines. Our institutions don't work and we don't trust the people behind those institutions. Oh, wait...that's old news. The word trust means assured resting of the mind on the integrity, veracity, justice, friendship, or other sound principle, of another person. It is a word that means nothing ... Full story

If Jose Rizal were still alive today, I bet he will weep after seeing what has become of the Philippines – a country which has become a colony of its own elite. Indeed, “Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?” Will he tell the Filipinos - if you wish to be saved, you must redeem yourself, you must ... Full story

We often hear the phrase "culture of impunity" attributed to Filipinos. Indeed, nothing could be more true. We so incline ourselves to latching on to improper habits that present no immediately unpleasant outcomes without really understanding long-term ramifications associated with said habits. Impunity fits snugly within a more holistic framework that describes in a coherent structure the disastrous nature of Philippine society's imprisonment in itsdysfunctional culture ... Full story

Impunity. The word is defined as one that describes "a freedom from unpleasant consequences". Hold whatever thoughts the above word induces in your mind while we make a quick digression... I see a monumental struggle all over that part of the Philippine blogosphere I am most familiar with to "understand Chavit Singson". Singson had recently been under fire for alleged domestic violence against his wife Rachel ... Full story