Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category

Since the Quirino Grandstand hostage standoff, most Filipinos have cried out declaring to the international community how one nation can never be punished for the sin of supposedly one man. Rolando Mendoza, according to certain people, acted upon reasons only described to be selfish and nothing more. Names have been called out while fingers have also been pointed in all directions as government officials try ... Full story

A couple of years ago I was in line waiting for my turn to pay my tuition fee. There were no more than four counters open for transactions in my university which was a dumb idea. You see, those counters are supposed to serve the entire university, not just one college, for the remainder of the enrollment period. Imagine the distance of that line. The ... Full story

Filipinos have been mounting a bit of an inward reflection and soul-searching in the face of overwhelming shame brought about by the appallingly incompetent handling of the August 23 Mendoza hostage incident that resulted in the unnecessary deaths of eight foreign tourists. Something interesting was dug up by the mostly half-witted efforts in this exercise taken by some Philippine apologists and triumphalists -- the ... Full story

One of the worst reactions that Filipinos have on the hostage crisis is, “We are still proud to be Filipinos in spite of what happened! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!” It's very wrong. To the world, it looks like we're proud of foreigners being killed in our territory. Full story

Most of us knew it was just a matter of time. As predicted in my previous blog, President Noynoy Aquino's high popularity rating at the beginning of his term only had one way to go and that was down. What I never expected was for P.Noy's fall from grace to be as quick and catastrophic as this one, and to be witnessed by ... Full story

"Going postal" just got upgraded to "Going Pinoy Policeman". Tragedy brings out the best and worst in people. At best - it can be an opportunity for dissecting what went wrong, what can be done to do things better, and to create the necessary policy framework to create the conditions that prevent a repeat of future performance failures - to learn from it and grow. ... Full story

The Whole World just witnessed "World Class" Filipino Policemen and Media Practitioners botch a hostage taking crisis in the Failippines, ending up with 8 innocent hostages dead, as well as a Tourism Industry that will be avoided like the plague for years to come. No tourist in his right mind is going to want to visit the Failippines. ... Full story

Most Filipinos are anti-elitist. A good proportion of the Philippine population would prefer that they be seen as being one with the common tao rather than be seen as one of the elites. Indeed it is a land full of contradictions. This mentality is inconsistent with the behavior exhibited by a people who also routinely act like The Talented Mr Ripley (read: social climbers) ... Full story

Since the people have spoken last May 10, 2010, an Aquino presidency became a reality. Needless to say, despite the glaring incompetence of the current president back in his legislative years as a senator and congressman, people ignored them since they are comfortable with the kind of thinking that P.Noy’s purpose is to unite the Filipinos -- whatever that means.... Full story

ALL OF A SUDDEN, the method of the moronism reveals its purpose. I think that originally, most of us were assuming that Noynoy Aquino was just stupid. Any casual observer could be forgiven for forming that impression from the manifold evidence of his inability to formulate a coherent platform, speak intelligently on any issue during the campaign, and the amateurish and constant gaffes in the ... Full story

In the movie Inception the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio leads a team of dreamweavers on a mission to implant a concept in the inner reaches -- three levels down, to be exact -- of a powerful industrialist's subconcious. The expectation here is that an idea that originates at even the lowest depths of one's subconcious ultimately manifests itself in one's behaviour during the wakeful ... Full story

It's another vow from the AFP and PNP - AFP, PNP vow to strengthen fight vs private armies. How exactly are they going to do this? Are they proposing anything new? Too much attention is being given to end-game activities while focus on information gathering and distribution is lacking. Twentieth century approaches to law enforcement are not enough in the 21st century battleground. Pangako ... Full story

More than twenty years ago, James Fallows wrote an article entitled, "A Damaged Culture: A New Philippines?" It was Fallows who coined the term "damaged culture" to describe our country's polarity and cultural backwardness. Of course, many of our highly sensitive and emotional countrymen were very infuriated and felt insulted by this foreign correspondent from The Atlantic Monthly. Many media practitioners lambasted him and ... Full story

"My Way" is favorite karaoke/videoke classic for Filipinos. But it also illustrates very well the Filipino attitude in life... especially in politics. Full story

Catalonia, a part of Spain, just banned bullfighting, an age-old tradition associated with the country's cultural identity. Just because it’s culture or tradition doesn’t mean it’s untouchable; if it has to go, it has to go. Full story

P-Noy Aquino getting flack for the SONA wasn't a surprise. His getting elected wasn't a surprise. P. Noy's gaffes aren't a surprise. Lacierda's incompetence is not a surprise. The communication group's "Cabinet rank" is not a surprise. The policy pronouncements about "public-private cooperation" is not a suprise. Everything that P'Noy Aquino has done so far is not surprising.... Full story

Filipinos are so addicted to pleasant stuff that they refuse to face the truth. They instead want to drown their sorrows in pleasant things and insist that even if there are gaffes and mistakes, everything is still OK. Full story

I say - More WOTL Less Wowowee. Finally, the Philippines has a TV show that tells it as it is. Initially, I thought it was an indie-film. But obviously, it isn't. The Philippine entertainment industries reason for producing B-movies and re-imagined Mexican/Korean/HK telenovelas is that there is no market for such fare. I find that hard to believe.... Full story

Philippine society is full of contradictions. One of its many contradictions is that the Philippines is populated mostly by religious zealots and yet its people are quite tolerant of sexual and lifestyle deviants. About ninety percent of the population in Philippines are Christians, eighty percent belong to the Roman Catholic Church while ten percent belong to other Christian denominations. Considering the country's population is ... Full story

Earlier this week Get Real Philippines raised the issue of pornography in the Philippines, which despite being illegal generates over a billion dollars (nearly 65 billion pesos at the current exchange rate) in annual income, making the local porn “industry” the eighth-largest in the world. To get some idea of ... Full story

How can you tell if someone is really humble? They say that someone humble is someone who is modest, reverent, and politely submissive. A humble person is someone who is never arrogant, contemptuous, rude or even self-abasing. In my not-so-humble opinion, I don't really believe that President Noynoy Aquino is humble. He is so self-aware about the level ... Full story

One of the myths some have about other countries is that they were able to develop their cultures without outside influence. Not true at all. Every culture today is a “tainted” culture, a melting pot of the entire human race. Same with the Philippines. Full story

What's in a number? A lot actually. If you are starting to lose your religion, try doing the math and you will figure out what life is all about. Truth be told, if President Noynoy Aquino will be honest with himself, he should see his win as no more than a numbers game result, and not the outcome of some imagined divine intervention as his ... Full story

Filipinos are culturally hobbled by a compulsion to assert class dominance over the other. Much of the priority pursuit of the average Filipino involves decking himself in the latest branded t-shirt, sporting the latest mobile device, and uttering the latest hollywood catchphrase. Nothing new nor nothing surprising about this. Much of what contributes to the impoverishment of the Filipino is driven by a neurotic susceptibility ... Full story

(Updated with Part 3 - July 9' 2010 - Charice serenading a country that rejected her talent) Honeymoon periods with new incumbents are understandable. We, Filipinos, though have a way of overdoing things - not necessarily the right ones. In this satire featuring an animated (literally, a cartoon in the tradition of South Park) interview of Sarah Palin by Larry King about her invitation to ... Full story

Once upon a time there were two villagers working the fields in a remote boondock. The fields were well-tilled as they were a hard-working people. Fortunately they had good soil and because of that there was minimal need for water. Still, the village needed more water and a council decided to have a competition on who can best serve the needs of the village. ... Full story

At the time of this writing, millions of people around the world are obsessing about the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the noise of the annoying Vuvuzela horn. From every continent, people speaking almost every language, coming from practically every race, creed, and color are excitedly watching the game called “Association ... Full story

Everyone knows there’s a strong culture of corruption in the country. But has anyone bothered to wonder whether our well-meaning Filipino culture is itself actually helping corruption build up? Full story

Now that President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and his Cabinet have "hit the ground running", it is time to examine the focal point around which spin the complex of platitudes and promises delivered to us over much of Noynoy's presidential campaign -- Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap (translated literally: "If no corruption THEN no poverty"). A few of my colleagues here have already made an ... Full story

The sight of the Yellow Horde during the inauguration of Noynoy Aquino frightened me. I was not there of course. I watched it on TV. As expected, the inauguration turned out to be highly emotional. Too emotional that it cheapened every single thing about it except for the first part of it where out-going President Gloria Arroyo (GMA) bade her farewell to the military people.... Full story

I was wondering how Dr. Stephen Covey would look at Filipino culture and our dominant habits as a society. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, what if Dr Stephen Covey, the author of the best-selling "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" were to be asked about what he thinks whether we, Filipinos are an effective people. :wink: Why choose the good Doctor? Why not? After all ... 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

I gotta hand it to out-going president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Despite the immense amount of energy expended by the Philippine Media over the last ten years to turn her from hero of the Edsa II "revolution" into the reviled cunning "evil" empress out to divest the hapless Filipino of his hard-"fought" freedom, she manages to consistently remain one step ahead of her detractors. ... Full story

Why are Filipinos not even good at sport? It seems like our athletes had been waved a red flag one day and then simply gave up on trying to achieve world-class status on all types of sport -- I know, I know, aside from boxing, of course. A sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive, and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play. It ... Full story

WARNING: PARENTAL GUIDANCE REQUIRED. LOTS OF CUSSIN. THIS IS STREET-TALK. SOME LANGUAGE MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN. Let's lighten up a li'l bit. I didn't mean to light a cigarette. Ooops... I was trying to joke lest I be called a jukesbox. I don't wanna add to the literature on jejemon - that's so last year. I'd rather speak Englitscheze or Mexicanese and throw in ... Full story

The following are the words newly-minted President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III reported to the Media after having received a courtesy telephone call from outgoing President Gloria Arroyo who wished to congratulate him on his appointment to the Presidency: I have to give her the courtesies. She's the current President. She's older than me. She's a woman. I would be doing injustice to my parents if ... Full story

As the world becomes a global village people get to exchange ideas, beliefs, attitudes, practices, food and various facets of culture. The dynamics are interesting and challenging because the way of doing things in one culture may not be the same in a different culture. How we keep time For example, time - people ... Full story

The Prime Minister of Japan, whatever his name is (there's just so many of them that have come and gone), resigned on the 2nd of June after breaking an election promise. Just eight months ago, he won a landslide victory to become the new Prime Minister. Unfortunately, he has been forced to resign because of mounting criticism prior to his resignation for his flip-flopping on ... Full story

Some people will tell me that I’m cruel or even racist to say "Filipinos are stupid." But the thing is, open your eyes… there they are. But I also agree that the Filipino is not necessarily stupid... they just choose not to use their coconut shells. Full story

If I lower my guard and take the comfy view that I am fundamentally defined by where I was schooled, I'd call myself an "Atenean". When you are an Ateneo alumnus (and specially when you remain on as a faculty member), you usually come equipped with a lot of connections and the frame of mind to segue into "socially-oriented" projects if you wanna go down ... Full story

Filipinos seem to love to boast being the best in something. Best workers, best actors, best artists, best singers, best this and that. But it turns out that we are only best in boasting. And the world laughs. Full story

Noted blogger Manuel L Quezon III provides us with a very informative piece on the rich traditions and symbolisms ingrained into the process of a new President assuming his office in Malacanang. In his recent piece Notes for the coming inaugural, Quezon highlights three rather interesting steps inherent to the traditional rites of transition of power in the highest office of the Philippine ... Full story

Way I see it, our family values were really designed to make Filipino families broken and dysfunctional. The Filipino family was sabotaged from within, and thus is a cause of our country's problems. Full story