Why the sudden interest of the foreign media in the Philippines? It is because they found a bogeyman in its current president, Rodrigo Duterte, to feast upon. Indeed, Duterte is living up to the smear that goes way back to the campaign leading up to the 2016 elections that he is the “Donald Trump of the Far East”. Westerners, after all, are utterly convinced of the undisputed ascendancy of their way of life — where the individual and her entitlement to “human rights” trumps all else.
The Philippines is, of course, the United States’ Mini Me. It is a quaint legacy of American aspirations to create a beacon of democracy in the region to assure a world fearful of the communist onslaught that at least one southeast Asian domino will remain standing as the others (as the thinking at the time went) fell. Many Filipinos continue to cling to the old notion that their duty as a people lies in upholding that mission to be instrumental to the containment of any threat to America’s hegemony in the region.
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Times have changed. As we have seen, the ascent to power of Duterte manifests a change in what Filipinos consider to be the good of their society. Duterte replaces that traditional “good” long considered to be embodied by the “victors” in the 1986 “people power revolution” now known simply as “the Yellows”. Duterte won on the back of mass disillusionment over the broken promise of 1986 that was 30 years in the slow making. Under the Yellows, liberalist democracy was perverted beyond all recognition and turned into nothing more than a pillar that propped up an expanded class of oligarchs that consolidated and concentrated power in Imperial Manila.
Duterte is turning the Philippines back into a true southeast Asian country. He is, in effect, attempting to address the root cause of a national identity crisis suffered by Filipinos over the last three decades. Southeast Asia is home to autocratic “democracies” — states that have, one way or another, found a balance between outwardly being what the West think the world’s nations ought to be and, from the inside, being what they really are.
This is the confusion evident in how foreign media is currently “reporting” the situation in the Philippines. Its sources of information for these “reports” are the corporate media minions of the Yellows — self-anointed “heroes” of free speech that have used that lofty status to hypnotise an entire society. Was it Duterte that snapped Filipinos out of that state of hypnosis? More likely it was the failed administration of former President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III that did the job and paved the way for Duterte’s rise to power.
Either way, it does not matter now. What matters is the future under Duterte’s government. De La Salle University professor Antonio Contreras wrote in a Facebook post how Duterte now presents his people with “a breath of empowering uncertainty that creates spaces for us to redefine ourselves, our politics, our international relations.”
Change is, of course, uncomfortable. In the case of what is happening to the Philippines today, it comes across as confronting to what some have called the disente (“decent”) classes who have, hook line and sinker, embraced the American Way of “human rights”. For the first time in a long time, perhaps, we are confronted with the uncomfortable possibility that there are alternatives to this dogma. Contreras writes…
For once, we have a President that forces us to recalibrate, to re-examine our friendships with the US, to deconstruct the alien elements of a very individualistic human rights construct in the face of our cultural nuances as a communalistic society where rights are seen not as individual entitlements but in the context of social relationships.
This, it seems, is the reason that, at the grassroots, Filipinos fundamentally do not have a problem with Duterte. The problem, as is becoming ever more evident, lies with an oligarchic class unwilling to give change a chance.
This change, after all, requires doing things differently. What, after all, has liberal democratic ideals delivered to the average Filipino? It is this lack of results at the levels in Philippine society where voters are most numerous that the oligarchic classes that are in the midst of a shrilly crying Bloody Extrajudicial Killing! seem to be oblivious to. Instead, their Taliban-like adherence to the artefacts of Western imperialism have put them out of sync with the pulse of Philippine society at large. To continue to apply the same methods and expect different results is, quite simply, a sad form of insanity. Change, therefore, should involve a courageous embrace of different approaches.
Unfortunately, this small elite clique of disente change-averse Filipinos control a vast information dissemination industry that they are now desperately using to cobble together a power base to re-launch their bid to re-take the top government posts they regard as theirs by birthright and pedigree. In this context, it is understandable why foreign media are complicit in this undertaking — because the very ideologies upon which their industries have also been founded is being put to the test in the Philippines.
But to be truly southeast Asian is to grow and develop according to one’s sovereign terms. This is how Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia did it. And this is how Vietnam and the other new Indochinese members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are doing it. Duterte is showing Filipinos an option that, in all ironies, never occurred to them — that it can be done the southeast Asian way. The American Way was a fun ride in Disneyland. But to prosper in the manner that only southeast Asia does, the Philippines needs to go back to the basics and start planting rice.
When Filipinos learn to once again keep busy with the business of producing stuff and being independent, the shrill “human rights” slogans of The Huffington Post and The Economist will fade into mere background noise — sources of quaint intellectual amusement for the irrelevant disente crowd as they tap their self-important tweets on their iPads while sipping their Starbucks lattes.
[Photo courtesy Suara.com.]
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
The color yellow is usually a sign of sickness and should be expunged. The body releases yellow snot and phlegm if we have a respiratory illness. Our skin and eyes turn yellowish due to jaundice, which is a symptom of hepatitis. Urine is yellow-colored because it contains waste products that could make us sick if it remained inside us. Abcess (or nana) means an infection. Rotting flesh becomes yellow before turning black.
What does this all mean? In the comparison above, if the Philippines is the human body, then the Liberal Party is the one making our country sick and should be cured.
In addition, yellow is also the color associated with cowardice and deceit. So the LP is just acting according to what is expected of them.
Bananas are nice though.
You mean yellow bananas. But even delicious yellow bananas turn black when overripe.
“Bananas are nice though.”
No, they aren’t. That is if we’re referring to the lame excuse of a government Aquino had — but I doubt it. I don’t think you’re intelligent enough to understand the metaphor.
he was referring to a human body not any other thing..and so ur argument is immaterial
yes, yellow is a dangerous color for the development of our country. Maybe its time to change the colors of the 3 stars & a sun on our national flag w/c is the color yellow. So what will be the best alternative color of yellow especially that we need to change the colors of 3 stars & a sun on our watawat but retains the red, white & blue w/c it’ll be the color symbol of national change & awakening? I do believe the best color for the 3 stars & a sun, imho will be the color green w/c are symbolizes the Muslim faith for our Muslim brothers in Mindanao & also the color of hope & mutual recognition as what the symbol of Esperanto explains: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto_symbols
So what do you think?
Nah, no green. (Honestly, it’d look garish.) Just replace the sun and stars combo with a ring of stars, to symbolize federalism.
It’s also the color of sunlight, of optimism (something people here are wary of), of happiness and wisdom (at least in China), and of caution and ambivalence.
What does this all mean? That building boogeymen out of colors is bullshit? Perhaps.
I’d tell you about how different shades of a certain color can mean many different things, but your reading and comprehension abilities are so poor that you missed the part right at the very beginning where I avoided generalizing the entire color by mentioning “The color yellow is usually a sign of sickness”.
Interesting how much outpour of sympathy & concern are being given to drug criminals—-“human rights” they say, whilst the poor hapless rape, murder, & robbery victims of these criminals are being silenced as they attack the one President who finally has the real balls to speak out, defend, & fight for these victims, past to future.
What show of urgency and manner of sympathy & concern are these so-called “human rights” whiners giving to these victims of heinous drug crimes?—Nothing!—-I don’t hear any effective solution coming out from that camp to rid ourselves of this drug problem.
The former DOJ is herself at the front & center of this profound miscarriage of justice! The Yellow camp has been mainly instrumental in perverting whatever fiber of true decency is left of this country!—The Yellow camp thrives on widely disseminating deceptions or malicious falsehoods! They just have to be stopped!
“Interesting how much outpouring of sympathy & concern are being given to drug criminals—-“human rights” they say, whilst the poor hapless rape, murder, & robbery victims of these criminals are being silenced as they attack the one President who finally has the real balls to speak out, defend, & fight for these victims, past to future.”
As far as I’m concerned, I’m as anxious for the criminal as I am for his victim.
Just as I want the victim treated for his wounds (physical or psychical) and be rehabilitated and be made a responsible law-abiding member of society as compassion dictates, I want the criminal tried according to the law, serve his time according to the law, and be rehabilitated and be made a responsible law-abiding member of the society that you and I belong to according to the law (among other things).
“I don’t hear any effective solution coming out from that camp to rid ourselves of this drug problem.”
I do have something to offer, something that has worked well elsewhere and might work here. Would you like to read it?
It’s disgusting how a majority of Filipinos, including their president/furer, really has a twisted understanding of human rights. It seems their motto was: “if criminals can kill anyone, why can’t I?”
If there is such a thing as rape culture, these people (dutertards and the likes) must have a “murder culture”. Such a sick society you got there!
It is even more sicker in other country just imagine working in a country with so many people with mental problems. Most is related to drugs not even the country can do anything about it. They keep putting the victims to mental facility but they never tried to eliminate or curb their most common root problem Illegal drugs. They are a powerful country but they have the most patients with mental problems. I guess you already know which country it is. Protect the innocent not the criminals incase you are still a human.
What the yellow essentially represents is an abandonment of our national identity. And it’s not just with Filipinos. Look around. On an individual basis, once you lose a sense of self identity, there’s nothing worth fighting for. What one does then would only be for self interest-something the LP epitomizes and their yellow mentality.
Pres. Duterte is changing our country. Foreigners should stay out , in meddling in the internal affairs of the Philippines.
The U.N. should go to Iraq and Syria, where the ISIS caliphate is murdering thousands of people. Subjugating infidel women as sex slaves…
We can solve our own problems, without foreign help. The U.S. should stop in making the Filipinos their Clones…we cannot be “Little Brown Americans”…we are searching our own national identity, lost due to colonization.
The War on Drugs, can be won on our own terms…not from foreign countries terms !
So, stay out from the Philippines !
Hyden,
I really hope you will be consistent when there is another major typhoon hitting your country. I hope you have the gutz to send all foreign aid back home the minute they set foot in your country. And not only physical aid but also financial and medical.
We will do our best to depend on ourselves for the rebuilding don’t worry po 🙂
Apprentice,
baed on what do you make your statement?
Your history doesnt speak in favor of your statement.
Oh, I know, you can only help yourself NOW bec of Duterte. Is that it?
Duterte is still busy killing drug addicts and -pushers. So far, I havent read any good plan(s) about the future for PH.
Robert Haighton:
Those foreign calamity aids were stolen by our thieving politicians, anyway.
The multi million U.S. dollars aid, for the building of houses of the Yolanda typhoon victims was stolen by Aquino and Mar Roxas and their cahoots…
We welcome foreign aid, but no strings attached !
We are grateful for the help, but please give the funds to the right channels, where they will go to the victims; and not to the pockets of the thieves !
Hyden,
there is no such thing as a ‘free lunch’. And besides, you can clean up your own mess, as you stated yourself very clearly.
So pls send ALL aid back to their country. Only then you are consistent.
And, I think Duterte is so busy drafting good plans so a Robert Haighton would have his dose of sanctimony.
sir by trying to re establish our own identity it does not
mean cutting our frienship with uour country, we just need to rewstablish our own identity dor the next generation to stand with their head up high and not subservient to any foreign interferences as far as our internal affairs are concerned, let us be what we want to be.
@Robert Haighton:
If you give aid to us, with “strings attached”…you can keep your aid ! It is not an aid, but a “tool of manipulation”, for your self serving purposes…
Even, if we eat once a day; and live under a tree…we can manage…
As I had said most of the aids and donated funds, were stolen by Aquino, Mar Roxas and their cahoots.
Arrest these thieving people, take them in your country…torture them until they give back to you, what they had stolen !
I hope, I will be crystal clear on this issue !
Hyden,
I understood you immediately.
But it would yield and render far more appreciation and respect, if/when you say:
“we dont need your aid, we dont want your aid. We will manage on our own. Thank you”.
I am very sorry to say but in my country we dont torture people.
Fe,
how much time do you (the Philipppine population) need to (re)establish who you are?
The Spaniards are gone many lunches ago, the Americans are gone many dinners ago.
To establish who you are is that subject to who your president is? So now under Duterte you feel free again, you really feel you again? Pls, come on, give me a break.
In less than 6 years from now, Duterte is gone and who will be next on that seat? Then you have to re-establish yourself again?
As mentioned many times here in GRP, the Philippines has a mediocre mindset and mediocre behavior. I dont see change there in those aspects very quickly. And sure as hell a president cant change that either (certainly not this current president).
Only you yourself can change yourself regardless of who your president is.
The question here is, can you (the Philippine population) change yourself (and find your true identity) in a collectivistic country …?
For typhoon Yolanda aid was given to the Philippines by many nations. Actually the U K gave more than any one else at $150 Mil US dollars, while both Australia AND the USA gave US$ 100 million each but those 3 countries also provided the troops, the machinery the rebuiling of communities, the fresh water, the supply of food, shelter and the other requirements that a disaster response required….The Philippines did not and could not THEN OR NOW do it for themselves and when disaster happens and countries step in to save the people then that country should be perpared to LISTEN , which is what is NOT happening. To make a stupid remark that killing people is right is just that stupid….the Philippines NEEDS to beware because it is a third world country with little capacity to wag a tail, it is poverty stricken, corruption runs rampant..Duterte give his bank account details and shows he has less than a beggar in his account? Get real. And then he swears and calls names international leaders who RIGHTfully say that murder is NOT acceptable..by the way DO YOU thnk T IS??? gosh . reform IS reform..it means getting BETTER..NOT worse..grow a brain cell.
We might just do that too. Why not? We can test how much we can bear by facing odds by ourselves. We might be all surprised how strong and resilient the Filipinos are.
@Robert Haighton:
I do not like people to put words into my mouth…I stand for what I wrote, 101%…
Regarding torture, you can grab Aquino, Mar Roxas and the other Typhoon Yolanda Fund thieves…send them to ISIS Caliphate in Syria. Let the ISIS Jihadists torture them; put them in cages to be paraded like animals in public; cut their hands, because they are thieves; burn them; drown them; and finally cut their heads off !
Giving an aid doesn’t mean controlling the recepient. If you ask to be repaid, then it’s called loan. The point here is for foreign nations not interfere with the internal affairs of the Philippines.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to keep giving you a “handout” if I can’t meddle in your business to find out why you can’t stand on your own two feet.
If all Filipinos feel the same way you do, then I guess it’s time for the Philippines to tell the United Nation to “take a hike” and start going at it alone.
Then let’s wait and see how they will handle the next natural calamity, disaster, and political strife on their own.
I’ll grab the popcorn and you grab the drinks. This should be an interesting movie.
@David.
Suit yourself.
You need to tell that to all Filipinos on what they want to happen.
Not all Filipinos share the idea of the current government, just like the government of yours. Our president has 91% approval rating, so do the math of how many are in favor on how he is running this country. You might be talking to the elite few.
@Nathan, You make as much sense as a drunk trying to walk in a straight line with your last comment. Why are you comparing my government to your government? They don’t even have the same problems. Just because 91% of your population approved what Duterte is doing today, it doesn’t’ mean they completely understand what he is doing; or, will they still continue to agree with him days, weeks, months, even years from now?
I believe the Filipino people are just looking for a change, any change, that will break the status quo of the past 30 years—just like the change they wanted in 1986 that ended 20-plus years of Martial Law. If Mickey Mouse runs for office years from now, he will probably win on the premise that all Filipinos receive free tickets to his theme park.
To allow you SOME scope to understand the truth: Eligible voter turnout was 56 million…Duterete gets 14.7 mil votes..next closet candidate gets 14.3 mil votes….ok that means qute SIMPLY THAT 75% OF VOTERS did not WANT HIM……………………………………….how does any one make a case for a majority of voters votingfor him..simply was NOT true!
@ ROB, This article is funny,yes? ‘Duterte is changing’…..into ‘What it really is’, REALLY? The Philippines is a third world hell-hole and nothing has changed except the deaths of a few thousand druggies. WHAT IS THIS, A FEEL GOOD FUZZY MOMENT? GET REAL? WHAT? WAKE UP, YOUR DREAMING….
OOPS, my bad, Filipino’s are now independent, free thinking, wealthy socialites……my bad,really, my bad…
Everything has a price. You give some, you get some. Nothing’s free in this world
Remember you have a freedom to help. But were not brainless, if we need help and you offer help, we let you in. BUT if were not asking help and you offer??? What you gonna expect???
@888_888. If you’re not brainless, then you should realize that there’s “no such thing as a free lunch.” If someone gives you something, you better believe they’re going to want something back.
If the Filipinos have any sense of dignity and “class,” whatever is offered to them as a handout should be refused with a big “NO!” and say to the giver, “we can handle our own affairs by ourselves.”
That’s not what’s happening to the “patay-gutom” (gluttonous) Philippine society. Filipinos will take everything they can get their hands, without sharing it with each each other, and refuse to reciprocate the givers with a promise that they’ll learn to stand on their own two feet.
“Hands on,” that is.
888,
after PH’s last natural disaster (Typhoon Yolanda) a fundraising was organized on Dutch national TV (No, not local TV but national TV). I cant remember exactly how much money was raised donated by the Dutch public/people but it must have been in the millions of Euros (€).
No one gives money to expect something back in/for causes like these. We hope that it will reach the aeras where it is needed and the money is used wisely and efficiently.
A few weeks after that fundraising it came to light that the Dutch people are getting tired of donating money every time a disaster takes place somewhere on this god’s green earth (Haïti, Philippines and so on). Personally, I do understand that sentiment. Reading between the lines it just means: “Jesus, cant you people just look after yourselves (like we do)?”
BTW: We do get something back in return. Donating money to charitable institutions (like Green Peace, like Amnesty International) are tax deductable.
My soft suggestion from one human being to another human being is this:
Prepare yourself always, fortify/strenghten your house/home, make sure you do know how to swim (it will increase the chances you might survive a flooding/typhoon); dont live near a coastline and finally: make yourself independent (make sure you dont need other people. It will make you stronger bec you know that you will survive).
There is nothing more humiliating and undignifying then asking other people for help or even getting help unrequested.
FYI Sir most of the alledged Foreign Donations whether in Cash or in Kind never reached the victims of Typhoon Haiyan. It was looted by the Corrupt Officials of the previous Administration. No need to send back those Donations anyway coz it did not reached the intended party.
Thanks and no thanks the victims are still languishing in misery until now.
Ikarros,
The moment I donate money, it is out of my hands. Not only literally but also metaphorically.
It is transferred from my bank account to the bank account of the organization/institution.
Then it is used to buy goods (mostly) and those goods are shipped to the aera. And probably handed over to the local authority.
The fact that the (international) organization doesnt know that those local authorities are corrupt, sounds very stupid to me. But I read aout it before.
I think – more or less – happened in Haïti (earthquake).
don’t call other people “sir”. say “robert”.
anyway in every aid that is given to the Philippines there is always a string attached to it so I would say that the new president should be wary with so called aid
if you are one of those kind hearted who helped out the needy without expecting anything in return. Thank you for being an instrument and may God bless you more!
Aizel,
I dont give ‘fish’ (money or goods or both) to the needy. I teach them how to (catch) fish for themselves so that they dont need me anymore to help them out in the future.
Or I will leave them behind altogether.
Sorry, but I am not religious. So your godly words go in vain.
Robert, are you living in the Philippines? If you are, we’ll send you back first. 🙂
Mr Hyden, I beg to disagree with what you think. All aid the US is giving to foreign lands is thru the taxes it’s workers pay, not necessarily all from US citizens, and you are a US citizen I suppose? It is mostly the working class who pay high taxes. I’ve been in the US for 37 yrs and have been heavily taxed by Uncle Sam for being a registered nurse, I am Filipino by birth, long been a naturalized US citizen. I pay mortgage, pay private school for my son, pay medical insurance, I have not enjoyed any grant, any food stamps or anything free from the government. And you are aware there is a huge number of people in the whole US who get almost everything free without working or anything of the like. I firmly believe it is but right for the US to extend help to disadvantaged countries.
I’m hungry.
Philippines is on BBC World News now almost every night …which surprise me.
BBC needs controversy, parody, and comedy in its news program.
BBC is a British Network…maybe De Lima contacted them; and gave disinformation to them…all foreign news networks…please refrain from interfering in the political affairs of the Philippines. We can solve our own problems !
I request all foreign news network, to contact the Office of Public Information, of Pres. Duterte…and not consume the disinformation from Aquino, De Lima, Porky Drilon, Mar Roxas, Hontiveros, Trillanes, Leni Robredo, etc…
These evil people are tools of the Chinese Triad Drug Mafia crime syndicate , operating in the Philippines !
They may have hired PR people to discredit our new President and our country. They cannot win the Filipino people so they want the international community to exert pressure so they could bring down our government. They are that poweful. Let’s not despair, we are Filipinos. We can get back our country and rebuild it again. We can change the mess of previous administrations left unchecked like drugs and corruptions. All we have to do is to be more balder and engaged in facing these problems head on. With prayers and active involvement in our cause for change we can wither the onslaught of these selfish, greedy, abusive, and evil people who don’t have the heart to really empower the most marginalized and poor of our society.
Your president discredits himself every time he opens his big stupid mouth.
And so does his detractors, which is more stupider than his ‘big stupid mouth’ that you claim. So?
News flash: Leni Robredo is much more worse. The more she opens her mouth, the stupider she looks.
I never knew the Philippines was “a REAL southeast Asian country.” I’ve always thought of it as the Mexico of the Far East, complete with hand-me-down religion, government, and way of life from the west—where the people think like Spanish aristocrats and behave like Americans. This means Duterte will have to kill everybody, including himself, to erase everything that has defined the Philippines for centuries and start all over.
We are now almost the same as Mexico…a Narco State. The Mexican Army has taken over the Mexican Police; because the Mexican Police is controlled by the Mexican Drug Cartel. Almost all Mexican Politicians are controlled by the Mexican Drug cartel !
We have almost the same brainwashed mind; done by the Spanish colonizers…the Americans grabbed half of their country, with the American program of “Minifest Destiny”…in truth, the Americans want more lands, to have as many as African slaves, to work on these lands…
Let me play a devil’s advocate a see if we can strike a balance in the conversation.
I don’t think foreign media got a sudden interest in the country because they found a bogeyman in Pres. Duterte. The country attracts attention from foreign media because we have, to say the least, an unconventional and controversial president.
The smoke of the 2016 campaign has been gone after the last tally of the result was announced. Not a whimper of protest came from those who lost the election. But there is an emerging feeling even before he was declared the election winner that controversies will hound Duterte not because of his enemies but because of his character and his fly-off-the-handle kind of temper.
Just look at some of the issues he made since becoming a national figure.
1. Joking about an Australian national who was raped and killed
2. Calling the Pope a “son of a whore”
3. Calling the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines a “gay son of a whore”
4. Cursing US Pres. Obama (“son of a whore” again!)
5. CallingU.N. chief Ban ki-Moon ‘fool’
6. Telling senior Catholic figures: “Don’t f*** with me”
7. Boasting about having two wives and two girlfriends, etc., etc., etc.
The sudden media interest in the country? With those statements from our president, everybody will surely agree that the media will surely be interested. Who wants to refuse a scoop?
I credit the ascension of Duterte to power on the following factors.
a. Pres. Noynoy Aquino is soft and weak not only on criminality but also in projection of manliness. Filipinos like their leader to be a ‘macho man’. Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada embodies the Filipino veneration of machismo culture. Let’s not also forget FPJ who, according to his followers, was cheated by Gloria Arroyo. Had Garcillano (Garci tapes) not intervened, we could have had the premier macho of them all as president: FPJ.
Lining up former Pres. Noynoy Aquino along those men (Fidel, Erap, FPJ, etc.) thumbs up, Noynoy suffers in comparison.
b. Pres. Noynoy’s ‘soft’ image was further supported by his weak and lame approach on the issue of criminality. It’s obvious the campaign against drug problem was not vigorously pursued by the Aquino administration unlike what’s being done at present. And people were thirsty for concrete result which Duterte was able to address (although the means and degree of which I have reservation of).
c. The administration candidate, Mar Roxas, was also seen to be in the same mold of Aquino: lame, soft and weak. Whatever your standard of what lame, soft and weak is, there is no doubt that Roxas, through optics, really project those qualities. Now, he could be the opposite of the impression and had he became president he could have showed us his tough side. But that’s beside the point now. Too late for being too weak.
d. The uncontrollable ambition of Grace Poe made Duterte’s dream possible. Had she agreed on Aquino’s offer to run as vice-president for Roxas, they could have combined their forces to comfortably overcome Duterte’s numbers. That didn’t happen because Grace, in spite of her being green opted to listen to her own ambitious voice. And the rest is history.
I don’t know what “real southeast asian country” really means. Was there a fake one? Those countries cited (Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia) including Vietnam who is now cozying fast with the US did not develop themselves by going anti-US. And I don’t think strong men such as Lee Kwan Yew, Suharto, among others started their leadership mouthing insults and tirades against anyone much less the leader of the United States.
If being the Real Southeast Asian Country means we do it the Duterte-way, then, we’re unique in the sense that no neighbors of ours have done what Duterte did. In a way, we are an original of something even the majority of us have no idea what’s going to end up to.
Possibly, with the way things are going, we could be the Real Southeast Asian Jerk of a Country.
Ha ha ha! How much? if you really are a Filipino you must be one of those that had been benefited for so long by the old patronage and oligarchic driven system. If you really are a Filipino you would not be so blind how bad is our problem that this new President is trying to address. Maybe you are one of those that had been so used to black propaganda and posturing of previous politicians you cannot see real public service. Thank God for socmed! If we were still left with our oligarchic owned and paid media we would not even know the many things that had been accomplished already by our new administration. Stop trying to mislead the Filipinos, we have awakened from slumber again. We will not allow anyone to take away the chance for us to shape our own destiny our own way. If you are Filipino and you don’t want us to change, feel free to go to another country where you would be more happy. If you are not even a Filipino, you may join the discussion but, don’t fool us with misinformation because I’m sure you really don’t know our real situation. Thus, you don’t have the credibility and the authority to talk to us about us.
Points c and d. Please. Just admit to being a yellow apologist. Thank you.
Just how sure are you that grace’s votes would’ve gone straight through Roxas? Now that you said that he’s weak and blablabla.
Its interesting that your tallying of issues for the current dude up at the palace are the ones that the media already carved up and shoved down the public’s current non-believing throats.
Its also interesting that you didn’t leave any hints of noy and mar being in cahoots with drug businessmen when even the Inquirer reported of something noy did that was pretty much unconstitutional (sudden burning of certain papers/documents in Malacanang that the media never bothered to find out the contents. It pissed off a lot of employees there however.) and also more than one rumor of the late Robredo’s condo the day AFTER he died by alleged accident.
Before I get called a tard of anyone. I voted Miriam, however, I really get that nagging feeling that the Philippines won’t be solved in my lifetime (and I’m only turning 26) if this current guy fails.
This.
i think benign0 underestimates how much the development of the countries he mentions was dependent upon co-operation with the international community in general, and the US specifically.
I think what Duterte utterly fails to understand is that (a) the US can and does dispose of presidents it doesn’t like, with complete impunity and (b) the US is not a homogeneous entity. There are powerful subsections of society – the businessmen, the CIA – who lean strongly to the right and have a misguided sense of patriotism. If Duterte does anything to threaten their narrow interests – such as reducing the pool of cheap labor they have access to, or refusing crippling dollar-denominated debt – they’ll have him quietly disposed of. On the other hand, there are plenty of Americans who genuinely want to see the world develop into a better place. If Duterte can win their attention, he has a chance of fending off the jackals. Making infantile comments about Obama is not likely to win him any friends on either side of the aisle.
Your first paragraph is right on target. ASEAN and/or Southeast Asian countries are primarily pro-west groupings. They do not really aspire to get the US’ goat and be seen as an independently ‘real’.
I’m not really sure if Duterte really “fails to understand” the US. All I know is that he knows what he’s doing and he’s determined to pursue it come hell or high water. The only problem on that kind of thinking is every time he creates a controversy or embarrassment he always drag the entire country with him. Which is the last thing we need under his new administration.
I get what you insinuated about the US’ capability to make things difficult to those who makes things difficult for her. Again, reading Duterte, he simply don’t care. He’s done it (rule with an iron fist) in Davao and, by what we are seeing, he’s obviously convinced that there is no difference in the environment. I think he’s very much mistaken. Since his narrow-mindedness has gone national now, I suggest that Filipinos should take a deep breath and prepare for the worse.
Finally, nice to read something that really engage in a mature manner. : )
That was my point. The USA is not Davao. Collectively, they are much smarter, and much more practiced at getting what they want. If Duterte think’s he’s Dirty Harry, he’d better remember that the US invented Dirty Harry. Pretty much every military commander on the planet knows that underestimating your enemy is the worst mistake you can make.
He probably would have done much better for the Philippines and for US relations if he had simply offered the US what they want most: money.
The Philippines is incapable of providing any public services, partly, I’m afraid, because of of country’s average low intelligence. Whenever I have to deal with any member of the bureaucracy, or small businesspeople, 80% of the time I get the awful impression I’m talking to an eight-year-old child.
So why not just open up the market to foreign investment in infrastructure? Let the Americans in to run the phone company, the public roads, the power companies, and suchlike. Maintain oversight to ensure that they’re delivering the goods, but otherwise, let them get on with it and profit from it. Everyone will benefit. When people get all misty-eyed about the Marcos era, that’s what was actually happening. American foreign policy is still very much geared towards providing employment for American companies, and just like the Roman empire, they offer their targets two alteratives: voluntary compliance, or violence. The Philippines is in no position to go nose-to-nose with the US, so negotiated compliance is the only option on the table.
Well, unfortunately, that (comparing US to Davao) was NOT my point. My point was, Davao is not the Philippines, hence, I implied that Duterte has to make adjustments, big adjustments, to be able to wiggle his way around his new office.
I maybe critical of Pres. Duterte at times but I’m not blind to those things that I think he has a point to stand his ground against. He has a point to express his view on his discomfort when other people questions his war against illegal drugs but I disagree on the manner he expresses his over-reaction by calling people names.
I don’t agree with him airing his intent to distance his foreign policy away from the US although I’m willing to listen and learn the whys of the idea he is espousing. And given the braggadocio you’re showing here I’m not going to question if you happen to get hit in the crossfire in the ongoing war against drugs. I’m joking but you know what I mean.
And to be clear about it, I hate it when people speaks in a threatening manner like what you are doing now. The US is a super power. No need to bully a super weak country like ours. Also, the last thing I want to see is for you to validate that Pres. Duterte was right in calling your president, if you’re an American, a son of ‘something’. The way you speak of how you see Filipinos, Duterte should have said those things about you instead of Obama. Again, I’m joking and you know it. I mean it.
With regard to our average low intelligence, well, do you still deal with Filipinos? This blog is dominated by ‘average low intelligence’ Filipinos like me. May I know why you’re here Mr. Intelligent? Another joke. Mean one.
Lastly, why preach foreign investment policy to people who you think are ‘eight-year-old child’?
Very disappointing. And that’s no joke.
No, I don’t know what you mean. It really irritates me when Filipinos say something offensive followed by “joke lang!”. In fact, you just did what Duterte did to Obama. It’s not funny and it’s not clever.
I’m not threatening you, and I’m not American. I’m Asian. I’ve lived most of my life in Asia. I thoroughly dislike the way the Americans behave on the world stage. Their arrogance and greed affects every country I’ve ever lived in. However, it is what it is. Pretending you can make it all go away by calling Obama silly names is delusional. The US is an aggressive country with a mercantilist approach to economics. You either work with it – and some countries have managed to do that successfully – or you go down in flames. That’s the reality.
No, it isn’t. This isn’t YouTube. Most of the commentators here have some brains. Some of your leaders have some brains. However, far too many Filipinos – and by extension, many of your leaders – just aren’t very smart. If they were, the country wouldn’t look like it does, would it? Would smart people generate the reams of pointless paperwork or foolish laws that your your bureaucrats generate? Would smart people spend their lives hanging around the sari-sari store drinking instead of doing all they can to better themselves?
The country is weak because Filipinos (in general terms) just don’t have the mental horsepower to leverage the many resources they have to the best advantage. I meet people all the time in this country who barely have the brains to tie their own shoelaces.
You know, I’m sure, that this is true. There’s no need to get defensive about it or start Flashing Pinoy Pride. Just because someone isn’t very smart doesn’t mean he should be shot and shoveled into a mass grave, but let’s just accept the fact and deal with it: for example, by recruiting more foreign teachers, by handing out free contraceptives, and similar easy solutions.
Because, as I said, most of the people on here have some brains. The Philippines is in the unfortunate position of having only 5-10% of the population who are capable of making a positive contribution to society (compared to, let’s say, 20-30% in Europe or the US). Addressing that problem should be high on the national agenda.
What I meant was not funny because what you said was not funny either. In fact, it’s horrible. You are talking down on people you think are not your kind. That is the message you are imparting on your piece. America is good and bad and you perfectly get and know it, hence, we underlings better understand it.
The ‘joke’ thing was full of sarcasm and it pass over your head. So sorry. At least, unlike our president, I’m apologizing.
I’m not threatening you, and I’m not American. I’m Asian. – marius
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Well, Asian what? I’m sure you can either hyphenate it or name the country you belonged to. I never said you threatened me. You’re threatening Filipinos like me by wagging the US bogeyman in our face and dictating to us what we should do or else the bogeyman will get mad at us.
I’m beginning to admire Duterte and wish he focus his ire instead on those Asians whose proficiency to kiss-ass is without equal.
I’ve lived most of my life in Asia. I thoroughly dislike the way the Americans behave on the world stage. Their arrogance and greed affects every country I’ve ever lived in. However, it is what it is. – marius
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What do you mean it is what it is? If it is what it is why create noise and preach ro us as if you can stop American arrogance and greed? You dislike the way Americans behave? Why not cheer Duterte then for calling Obama names? If she ‘affects every country you lived in’ why dictate to us what to do in order to submit to her?
Unlike your initial post, you’re starting to lose and been losing sense since then.
Nobody is pretending we can make it all the way. America is strong, RP is weak. Isn’t that already a clear reality to you? And why do you always talk in a threatening (US is an aggressive country, you go down in flames, etc.) manner? No offense, am I talking to a 12-year old boy here?
Nope, as much as hard as you try, you can no longer get away from your ‘average low intelligence’ Filipinos comment. By saying that, you are not even suppose to mingle or interact with us. We’re way below your level, why degrade yourself?
Don’t tell me you don’t have bums and do-nothing people in the country you came from? Don’t tell me you are perfect. No offense, do you remember your ward number?
If you met people here who barely have the brains to tie their own shoelaces, why waste time hanging on this blog to interact with people having their shoelaces untie?
Nampucha, kakapikon, sarap sapakin! For clarity, let me translate that to you – I pity you. People here are unfair to you. ????
Pinoy pride? I don’t know what it is and I’m sure I don’t have it. Mass grave? Better ask Pres. Duterte about it. Just be careful how you will do it.
Most people here have brains? How can that be when, according to you, they cannot even tie their own shoelaces?
Anyway, thanks for responding to my post. Serious. I just didn’t know you have an expiration date. ????
It wasn’t supposed to be funny. And yes, the country is horrible. Filipinos deal with that by pretending it isn’t, instead of looking it in the face and dealing with it.
Just Asian. I don’t “belong” to any country. I’m not somebody’s property. I’ve lived in many different places. Home is where friends and family are.
You completely misunderstood what I said, because you’re too busy emoting. Read some history. The US has spent most of the previous century invading other countries, manipulating their economies, or deposing their presidents. The list of targets includes the Philippines.
The point is this: you will not be able to evade interaction with the US. Therefore, Duterte would be well advised to arrange that interaction on terms that benefit the Philippines. It is possible. It has been done: and again, history provides the clues as to how it can be done. However, his current approach is absolutely guaranteed to attract negative attention from all the people who might otherwise wish to help him with his goals.
Because it’s childish and counterproductive. Obama – the person, not the country he represents – is not Duterte’s enemy. If he had played his cards right, Obama could have been a powerful ally and shielded him against those US elements that wish harm to the Philippines. Basically, Duterte shot himself in the foot. In diplomacy, as in most human relationships, you don’t always get a second chance.
Again, you did not understand. The choice is not between submission and defiance. The choice is between Marcos-style submission (ie., accepting crippling dollar-denominated loans and then wasting it), or shrewd co-operation.
I’m not trying to get away from it. I meant what I said. You are unable to refute it with facts, so you’re just Pinoy Priding at me.
That’s just Filipino snobbery. Person X is whiter/richer/smarter than person Y, therefore Person X should not associate with person Y. What nonsense. Look, some humans are smarter than others. Filipinos, on the average, are not as smart as (say) Japanese or Belgian people. That doesn’t mean they’re lesser human beings. It just means they need to pay a lot more attention to personal growth: better education (currently deplorable), better nutrition (even worse), and better family planning.
Another foolish Pinoy argument. Of course we do, but what does that have to do with anything? Any society can support a certain number of dropouts, idiots, moochers, or helpless people. Weak societies can support only a small number. Weak societies in which a large number of people are dropouts, idiots, and moochers are in big trouble.
You mean you’ve run out of pre-prepared arguments? Doesn’t surprise me: you’ve just repeated the standard list of Pinoy justifications for the country’s failed-state status. I assume these are taught to you in school?
If you’re interested (as opposed to just making fun) I’m not wasting my time. You’re actually quite right: I avoid interacting with Filipinos as much as possible. Broadly, there are two types of people who dominate the country: those who act weak, stupid and helpless in the belief that this will make me give them money, and those who cheat and lie to me in the belief that this will make me give them money. Interacting with either of them makes me lose the will to live. I’d rather pretend they don’t exist.
Just to make this clear: I don’t interact with assholes whereever they’re from or whatever their racial background. Assholes are all the same. It’s just that the Philippines has way too many of them.
On the other hand, there are a small minority of Filipinos who genuinely want the best for their country, have eyes to see and the brains to think, and treat me as a fellow human being. They’re successful, clever and decent people. They’re not necessarily all intellectuals, but they’re honest, hardworking, and fun to be with. I like hanging out with them. We have some great projects going on, they don’t beg for money or endlessly phone me with stories about their carabao needing emergency surgery, and they’re making the world a better place. It goes without saying that their fellow Filipinos hate them, accuse them of being un-Filipino, and are insanely jealous.
Incidentally, you still haven’t refuted my suggestion that Filipinos, on the average, aren’t very smart.
I’m not ‘hiding’ behind anything. Although I have a certain nationality on my passport, it’s an accident of birth. I haven’t lived in that country for years. My genetics and cultural background is from two Asian countries (one of which, funnily enough, is a third-world failure for the same reasons the Philippines is a third-world failure). If you’re Proud to be Pinoy, fine. All I’m doing here is challenging your right to be proud of a culture that reveres stupidity and failure.
There is nothing to be misunderstood. Nothing in what you said about the US is news to me. Even your suggestion that we submit to her because she can do anything possible (mostly bad) against us if we don’t. I also get it that you don’t like Pres. Duterte’s approach towards the US but your approach is as despicable, if not more despicable, than him. You don’t treat us as your vassal.
You see cents and dollars, we see respect and cooperation. You see and know more a lot than us about us. You see us as an eight-year-old child who cannot even tie their own shoelaces. You see a country of “average low intelligence” people; of people who spend their lives hanging around the sari-sari store drinking.
Again, my question, why waste your time?
“Just Asian. I don’t “belong” to any country. I’m not somebody’s property. I’ve lived in many different places. Home is where friends and family are.” – marius
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That’s it for me, pal. I’m a Filipino and admit openly to that. You, however, prefer to HIDE behind the “Asian” title. I wonder what ward your “friends and family” are confined to. That’s a joke. ???? A trite one.????
Marius in some other posts claimed he’s European but now claims he’s an Asian. In reality he’s really an Indian national! I wonder why is he ashamed of his identity?!
gnogid: “Again, my question, why waste your time?”
marius: “You’re actually quite right.”
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Need I say more? : )
Ah, here we go with the ad hominems. Nobody has any rebuttal for my comments, so you’ll go off on some pointless tangent and pretend you’ve won. Pinoy Pride wins the day!
OK, fine, Pana. I have a European passport because I was born in a European country. As far as governments are concerned, I’m a European. I am genetically Asian. I don’t have any connection with India. Do you understand now why I said I’m not “from” anywhere?
I assume you’re now going to demand exactly which country my passport was issued by. Why are Filipinos so keen to define a person’s background?
I’m not “ashamed” of my identity. I’m just aware that (a) the security services monitor sites like this and (b) as you have both just proved, Filipinos have incredibly thin skins and don’t want to hear any home truths.
Well, you could, but there are three possible reasons why you don’t:
a) You believe Filipinos should be accorded respect simply for being Filipinos, rather than for being decent people who command respect;
b) You’ve not understood what I said (again)
or (c) you’ve run out of arguments.
Which is it?
Here, let’s play out the Obama scenario at the Barangay level:
You’ve got a neighbor who’s known for doing shady deals. He’s rich. Let’s say he bribes customs officials to bring in luxury goods without tax and then sells them for high prices. In the absence of any functioning police force, he thinks he’s king of the hill.
Your pigs are routinely escaping and digging up the neighbor’s yards. You, being a Filipino, think this is not a problem. Finally your pigs start to dig up HIS yard. He’s not happy with this and invites you for a “discussion”.
What are you going to do?
a) go all around the neighborhood and tell everyone what an asshole he is, then strut up to his house drunk, throw a bottle of red horse through the window and shout ‘putang ina’?
b) Turn up to the meeting with a bottle of Johnny Walker, say sorry about the pigs, and try to get the guy on your side?
Of course, for the Filipino, (a) is the way to go every time.
…a communalistic society where rights are seen not as individual entitlements but in the context of social relationships.
“Under the Yellows, liberalist democracy was perverted beyond all recognition and turned into nothing more than a pillar that propped up an expanded class of oligarchs that consolidated and concentrated power in Imperial Manila.” …..Under the yellows? huh? how long did gma rule? was she a yellow? is she cozying up to abnoy or duterte? how about fvr? who was behind duterte’s run? erap? how long these nincompoops rule altogether? they were all LP puppets? PLLLLEEEEASE? ABnoy and his cohorts have a lot to answer for but if you are going to argue please put at least a semblance of sense.
LOL, ‘A Real S. E. Asian country’, what is that exactly? A THIRD WORLD SHITHOLE? It already was a THIRD WORLD SHITHOLE, give it a little time….
….and it will still be a THIRD WORLD SHITHOLE.
Duterte kills a few thousand drug addicts and makes a few crude remarks and all of a sudden the Phailippines is somehow a changed country? Please, poverty is where 33% of the citizenry reside and nothing else has changed, so what is this nonsense?
A “Third World” is too nice of an addition to describe this country. Just call it what it really is: S_ _ th_ _e. (I don’t want to get deleted)
Patriotism is a thing difficult to put into words. It is neither precisely an emotion nor an opinion, nor a mandate, but a state of mind — a reflection of our own personal sense of worth, and respect for our roots. Love of country plays a part, but it’s not merely love. Neither is it pride, although pride too is one of the ingredients.
Patriotism is a commitment to what is best inside us all. And it’s a recognition of that wondrous common essence in our greater surroundings — our school, team, city, state, our immediate society — often ultimately delineated by our ethnic roots and borders… but not always.
Indeed, these border lines are so fluid… And we do not pay allegiance as much as we resonate with a shared spirit.
We all feel an undeniable bond with the land where we were born. And yet, if we leave it for another, we grow to feel a similar bond, often of a more complex nature. Both are forms of patriotism — the first, involuntary, by birth, the second by choice.
Neither is less worthy than the other.
But one is earned.
awesome article!!!!
Hopefully there can be progress in the Philippines – but not without a systemic change in values from the top down. The Philippines ought to be able to improve – but this is contingent upon good policies, honesty, ending corruption and laws be followed. I am doubtful Duterte can change things; further, what will happen next election? If he can make significant changes( infrastructure, proper funding of departments, end corruption) then the country may move toward a better direction.
Referring to previous comments regarding foreign typhoon aid, other countries will donate and the pera will be stolen as usual. I remember the comments from Roxas to Romualdez in Tacloban, after Yolanda. The politicians have hatred for each other. I remember politicians repackaging aid goods from foreign countries and putting their name and picture on it. Sometimes ‘aid’ comes as a quasi bribe, in my opinion. The U.S. provides military security to Europe and then Europe bows down to the U.S. Gov. Be careful which type of prostitute you wish to be. Europe is a prostitute, along with many others.
Filipinos are their own worst enemy. Politics seems more important than the country. Filipinos cause more damage to their country than the Spaniards, Americans and Japanese combined. Many countries have the same problem – but the Philippines is as bad as I’ve seen.
@ LEG, NO, the HATRED you think you see is a charade. The politicians are all in it together and take turns ‘shaming’ each other in the media and even investigating each other in useless ‘BLUE-RIBBON’ panels that start off with a BANG and fizzle out and amount to ZIPPO. Look at GMA, she was ‘PERSECUTED’ and ,according to GRP here, was thrown in ‘jail’, but that is NOT TRUE,GMA LOST NOTHING, no money was ever returned and GMA even kept her seat in Congress and spent not 10 minutes in that ‘hospital room’. Same with E-CRAP who was supossedly facing charges that could lead to a firing squad…HE IS NOW MAYOR OF MANILA,lost nothing etc etc…. SO as you can see, all the media ‘SHAMING’ is a smokescreen/charade.
The conversation “You are an Aquino,I am a Romaulduez(Marcos)….” was code words for ‘We are in this together and we aren’t spending any of OUR money on the people. It had a side effect to, the money was NEVER spent on the people and the Filipino’s were/are to dumb to dicipher the code and used the quotes to divide themselves and be conquered instead of seeing through the charade and uniting and doing what needs to be done, namely:Getting out the pitchforks and hangin these scumbags robbing the country from lamposts. You MAY be new to the Failippines but Filipino’s have been falling for the same shit for decades, over and over again. Think what was just stated is false?
PROOF: If Marcos and Aquino families HATE each other like everyone in the Failippines thinks they do, why did the Aquino’s NEVER try to have a few of the Marcos family whacked after the Aquino guy got dumped on the Tarmac? The two families knew who did it, and it was not either of them…..and so , Cory Aquino never went after the stolen loot in any meaningful way and now the families are back in the political runnings of the country, happily fleecing the people 24/7 while acting as if….you get the picture?
“…..what will happen next election?”
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That’s a $64 million dollar question. I don’t think Duterte is thinking of stepping down after his term is up. He sees himself as the one who will solve all our problems. And that is the problem.
Wow! Unbelievable! Where did you get that idea that he wants to stay in power forever? President Duterte does not even want to run last election. He many Filipinos begged him to run to change our dire situation. He has done a great service to his city, Davao. People there love him because of everything that he has accomplished there. He never enriched himself out of the public funds. Aside from restoring peace and order, he was able to forge peace in his city with the NPAs, and the Moro rebels. I can enumerate a lot of the things that he did for that city. He is a proponent of the federal parliamentary firm of government which attracted a lot of Filipinos to support him. He is already 71 years old. He wanted to retire already but, his love of country and the pleadings of the Filipinos compelled him to run. At his age, he should have been just resting and playing with his grandchildren. No, you are so wrong thinking he wants to be in power for so long. He is actually asking Congresd to change our system to federal parliamentary so he could turnover the rein of office the moment the system is approved by the Filipino people.
“Wow! Unbelievable! Where did you get that idea that he wants to stay in power forever?” – Elaine
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Where did I get the idea? Pres. Duterte himself. Here’s the source:
Duterte eyes abolition of Congress if elected president in 2016
http://www.philstar.com/nation/2015/01/26/1416721/duterte-eyes-abolition-congress-if-elected-president-2016
Duterte on governance: You have to be ‘like’ a dictator
http://www.rappler.com/nation/politics/elections/2016/125542-duterte-governance-like-dictator
“President Duterte does not even want to run last election.” – Elaine
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You sure? Well, almost all candidates in every elected public position “don’t want to run”. Nobody wants to run until god, the angels their conscience, the people, their destiny, their long deceased love-ones finally for some reason communicated to them to run.
“He has done a great service to his city, Davao. People there love him because of everything that he has accomplished there.” – Elaine
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I don’t take sides but I always see to it to challenge the other side if I see there is room to expand the conversation. His “accomplishments” in Davao. Ever wonder why no city, no mayor have used Davao as an example of an ideal city? As far as I know, no city in the Philippines has worked out to become another Davao City. If Davao City was so successful, so peaceful, so rich and very welcoming, how come no other city wants to become exactly like it?
“He never enriched himself out of the public funds.” – Elaine
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When you become a mayor and you were able to make your children mayor and vice-mayor at some point in time, that’s another personification or form of enriching your self. When you practically exercise monopoly on public office, there is a possibility that it’s not only an enrichment issue.
I have no personal grudge against Pres. Duterte for I don’t know him personally. All I know is he is not perfect. That since becoming a national figure, he demonstrated, though it’s even obvious during the campaign, that he has this temper and manner that we don’t like to see in our leaders. For somebody who have been in public eye for almost all his life, it’s a surprise to see him as onion-skinned, vulgar and arrogant in his public dealings.
As a loyal follower, and I don’t begrudge you on that, you are the last person to see him in a balance and fair view.
It’s funny to call this country a liberal democracy in substance. The president is all powerful chief that control lots of the power. The Congress is suppose to be a co-equal branch, but in reality join the new chief’s rule and are basically lackeys. There isn’t substantive loyal opposition to keep the President in check and this has been this way long before Duterte became president.
Provincial and local government is mostly controlled by the ‘chiefs” and marching off to the ballot exercise is in most cases just like a shadow play, lots of sauce and no substance.
hey guys! is Marcos burial at the LNMB democratic? a one’s defeat in a final battle between democracy vs communism?
de lima might attend the probe against her to block all accusations on her. that’s her delaying tactics still hoping president duterte will be impeach. what she didn’t know impeaching the president is they’re impeaching themselves at the senate all yellows.
they must finished the probe in one day to be able to move on the war on drugs.
they must hear all the witness one by one and no blocking tactics should be allowed.
early in this video she thinks she could ran away on her crimes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nxzjEGXwZs
Since The anti-Duterte group cannot manipulate the people within the country, they are trying to appeal and manipulate the International community. Bravo!!! Lame lame lame… Now that the Abi Sayyaf released their last victim NOBODY CARED TO REPORT THE GOOD NEWS huh? Sad souls…
“Let’s have more respect for other people’s opinion.” Right, benignO? Those were your words.
Look through the threads and you will see that we maintain fair moderation practices here.
Next time you address me or any Admin personnel directly, make sure it is about the topic of the article under which you comment.
Question my moderation decisions again and I will delete your comment and flag it as spam.
I trust I’ve made myself clear enough here.
@benignO. The only thing I question is your bias opinion of how you exercise your “deletion power” when you don’t like the feelings expressed on this site.
If your goal for GRP is to have a balance of opinions between Duterte/Marcos and the Liberal Party, then I strongly suggest you exercise fairness. Otherwise, you’ll look like just another propaganda for Duterte/Marcos, that is no different from the Liberal Party propaganda that you and other writers/readily readily make fun of.
I hope I’ve made myself clear, too, with all due respect to whomever it applies to, and that you don’t delete this comment also.
That’s one “readily” only, not two.
The only thing I hate about what the writer wrote is when he called Duterte as “Donald Trump” of the country.
First, he is way too different from Trump and this Presodent has a heart while the other doesn’t have any!
You say he is a new bogey man – one who has his own brand and what’s the intention to make him a “copy” of Trump?
Let’s be consistent in what we write.
Personally, I suspect Duterte is the “Donald Trump” of the Muslim world. This slowly breaking ties with the United States and cozying up with China is just a front to low-ball the Filipino people–and the international community–to continue to support his agenda of being an “independent Asian country.”
For those Duterte supporters out there, I would like to share this website that I read today & it’s very nice comment coming from an 18 year old college student:
https://www.quora.com/What-do-Filipinos-think-of-Rodrigo-Duterte/answers/25568265
SO, Duterte has killed 2,000 STREET LEVEL DRUG DEALERS, SO WHAT? Duterte still isn’t going after the Front-runners of the stock-market or the energy speculators that are driving up the already highest in the world electricity prices,IS HE? Nor is Duterte alleviating the poverty that envelopes 35% of the Filipino’s,IS HE?
Is Duterte doing anything to bring manufacturing to the Island nation?
ANSWER: NO, HE IS NOT, ON ALL THESE IMPORTANT ISSUES…..NOTHING.
The Aquino’s need ridding of, but the rest of the politico’s protect the oligarchs too. The SY’s and Tan’s of the country.
SOLUTION? PITCHFORKS(Metaphorical! U C,9MM’s M-16’s w/Grenade launchers to start…),Lamposts, tar and feathers…..
BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY,and NEVER ASK FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS ! WHY? FOR IT TOLLS FOR THEE.
Hey Benign0, kano ako at tatlong beses na akong bumisita sa Pinas. Nag-aaral ako ng Tagalog and I have been thinking about moving there and investing a major part of my resources and talents in your country. However, I am having to seriously reconsider my plans in view of this new direction in the Phils leadership. It seems that I am not alone in view of the recent decline in the PHP, which indicates that fewer foreigners are now interested in investing in or visiting the Philippines.
I cannot defend any US actions or policies as I have no influence over the government other than voting every 2 years. However, I have some serious concerns about the new leadership in your country.
Mga tanong para sa ‘yo.
1) Does the Philippines no longer want foreign tourism and investment?
2) Are you at all concerned about the lack of judicial due process for alleged drug dealers that have been killed?
3) If someone didn’t like you for some reason, and they decided to just kill you and hang a sign on your body that said “pusher ako”, would you be fine with that?
4) Do you want to see the Phils adopt Western-style “family planning”, i.e. enter a demographic death spiral, or do you want it to continue to have a lot of energetic young people capable of building things and solving problems?
5) Are vulgar tirades and academic blather about “deconstructing alien elements” acceptable substitutes for facts and reasoned arguments?
Thank you for your consideration,
Noreaster
Realistically, these are very small contributions to the economy anyway. The vast majority of foreign currency comes from OFWs. Real business investment and productivity is halted by foolish laws that halt commerce (all commerce, not just foreign commerce), and the Pinoy tendency to steal anything that isn’t nailed down.
The planet is already way beyond its ecological carrying capacity, and population control is everyone’s responsibility. The Philippines specifically has population growth outstripping its economic growth, and there’s no point having lots of young people if they’re all badly-educated and have a massive sense of entitlement (the average young Pinoy thinks he deserves a job, but doesn’t have much interest in actually working).
Awesome article and i am just appaled by some arrogant comments of foreigners who seems to be experts about the Philippines and give out advice like gold… Wow! I guess all i can say is clean up your backyard first before you clean up ours.
“Cleaning up your backyard”, bullet, is an ongoing task. It never ends. Civilized countries are always looking for things to clean up, even if there’s some section of the populace determined to make a mess.
The Philippines, on the other hand, is like a teenager who shoves all the dirty underwear and pizza boxes under the bed and then goes back to sleep.
These civilized countries need to stop feeding these Filipinos pizza and washing their underwear, and start kicking their dirty asses out of bed.
now if the Filipinos want to cut ties with the west that’s their right to do so and we have no right to tell them how to run their country. I say cut all ties, let them work with Russia and the Chinese. I hope Filipinos look into the aid they’ll receive from these counties tho, it’s loans. The chinos don’t give money out unless they’re taking all of your natural resources. I say let them see how good China is for them, who knows maybe they won’t be the next Venezuela. There’s no going back and fourth between the two, it’s one side unfortunately. I wish my Pinoy friends the best and hopefully things are for the better .
Try explaining the meaning of the word “loan” to your typical Filipino. You’ll just get that “does not compute” blank stare.
The Filipino has problem at all with this. He has no use for natural capital. Let the foreigners haul it away and give him bits of green paper in exchange. Green paper! Yay!
Well it’s time for them to learn the hard way, don’t you agree??? Sometimes falling straight on your face is the best for you..
The tragic part is, they already did learn the hard way. No, sorry, that’s not right. They didn’t learn anything. They experienced the hard way. They finally finished paying back the Marcos loans in, what, 2000-something?
And now they’re going to the Chinese for more loans, while at the same time making snide remarks about the dishonorable, wily, sneaky Chinese in private (do they really imagine the Chinese don’t know what Filipinos think of them, and won’t twist the knife just for the fun of it?).
Now children, here’s a useful English phrase for today: “glutton for punishment”.
Oh yeah. That reminds us- the loans in Marcos era wherein interest rates could not have been manipulated by financial institutions intertwined with the west.
We should be thankful. They’ve also helped us have a more effective government through Aquino and Ramos.
It’s going to be way worse this time around and I.DONT.CARE.. These idiots want to talk trash and point fingers to their personal problems? Fine let them walk.. The Philippines technically isn’t really a military advantage anymore anyway, it’s way more trouble than what it’s worth.. Let’s drinks some beers and watch the fireworks
ITO LANG MASASABI KO SA MGA NAGHATID NG TULONG SA AMING BANSA [LOCAL AT FOREIGN AID (CASH, IN KIND, ETC..)]NG TATLONG DEKADA, MARAMING MARAMING SALAMAT PERO MERON AKONG SUGGESTION SA INYO…PWEDE HUMARAP KAYO SA SALAMIN AT TANUNGIN NINYO ANG INYONG MGA SARILI NG GANITO…NATANGGAP KAYA NG MGA END USER YONG TULONG NA NABIGAY NAMIN???…MERON BANG TRANSPARENCY SA AMING BINIGAY SA PILIPINAS NA TULONG KUNG KANI KANINO AT SAAN SAAN NAPUNTA????…NAG IMPROVE BA ANG BUHAY NG MGA PILIPINO DAHIL SA NAIBIBIGAY NAMING TULONG????ILANG PILIPINO KAYA ANG YUMAMAN DAHIL SA AMING TULONG SA BANSANG PILIPINAS???? KAYA KAYONG LAHAT NA NAGBIGAY NG TULONG SALAMAT DAHIL LALO PA NINYO PINAYAMAN ANG MGA SAKIM NA MGA PILIPINO SA PERA AT KAPANGYARIHAN…NGAYON KUNG GUSTO NYO PA RING TUMULONG OK FINE AT KUNG HINDI NAMAN…PWES DI NAMIN KAYO INO OBLIGA, DAHIL ALAM NAMIN NA GALIT KAYO SA AMING PRESIDENTE, SAPAGKAT NGAYON LANG KAMI NAGKAROON NG PRESIDENTE NA AYAW NYANG MAGING TUTA NG KAHIT SINONG PRESIDENTE NG MGA BANSA NA NANDITO SA MUNDONG ITO AT IISA ANG KANYANG BOSING ANG SAMBAYANANG PILIPINO…KAYA GOOD LUCK SA ATING LAHAT…
The meaning of real Southeast Asian country is this, the author quoting Prof. Antonio Contreras: “…a communalistic society where rights are seen not as individual entitlements but in the context of social relationships.”
All of the butthurt white Americans in the comments are hilarious. The Philippines will do just fine without “help” from the US.
So noisy here with lots of self-important american jerks acting like pseudo-lords of the Philippines. As pres. #DU30 always say, you sons of b!tches :3
I have said for years if the Philippines would quit importing product and make it in Country MHO what a power house it would be
mostly delusional fools on this thread
So does you. Yellowtards, that is.