Philippine government thievery seems to remain alive and kicking, this time stealing victims of super-typhoon Haiyan (a.k.a. Yolanda) blind! Reports are emerging of widespread delivery and building of substandard facilities to house the victims all over the devastated region. Safety and sanitation concerns have reportedly been raised by field officers of the Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) group on site.
Each room measures 8.64 square meters—roughly the size of two Ping-Pong tables—to be occupied by one family, said a DPWH paper, “shelter and reconstruction action plan.” The average size of a Filipino family is five, but in many cases there are as many as 10 individuals in one household.
A report by an international shelter group assisting the government in its relief efforts said the bunkhouses being developed by the DPWH in areas devastated by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) were “noncompliant in many respects with internationally recognized standards and best practices.”
“There appears to be a number of contractors working at different sites. Standards and facilities appear to be somewhat different between different locations. It raises the question of whether contractors have different specifications for different sites, if they are using the same specifications, whether these are fully complied with in every location,” said the report made available to the Inquirer.
President BS Aquino takes time out for a photo-op while inspecting the controversial bunkhouses
The CCCM report detailed how each bunkhouse estimated to be worth close to a million pesos if built to the right specifications are being built by contractors in some areas for less than Php200,000. According to a report sent by government engineers to “Rehab Czar” former Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, this huge “savings” is likely achieved by using low-spec materials and omitting the common kitchen, four toilets and two bathrooms that each bunkhouse is supposed to be equipped with.
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In a Situation Report published on the 13th November 2013 by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs the cost of construction of sufficient emergency housing facilities for the victims was estimated at more than USD45-million (about 1.8 billion pesos). This was at a time when casualty figures and impact estimates of the disaster were still being underestimated by the Philippine Government. In the second of three Strategic Objectives detailed by the report, a one-month timeframe for setting up “transitory shelter solutions” for the victims on site was clearly set.
It’s been two months since Haiyan hit, and these shelters are only now being constructed and, as reports would have it, being constructed to the borderline-criminal standards most Filipinos have come to expect of stuff delivered by their government.
Not surprisingly, foreign aid donors have declined to comment on these reports…
The Manila embassy of the UK, the largest donor by far, did not issue any comment. British aid for typhoon relief in the Philippines has reached P11.1 billion, including contributions from both the UK government and private individuals, the embassy said.
The UK has also vowed to support reconstruction in Eastern Visayas over the long haul.
The Manila delegation of the European Union also withheld comment pending its humanitarian aid department’s aid assessment this month.
The EU has so far pledged $26.8 million or P1.18 billion, according to the Philippine government portal’s Foreign Aid Transparency Hub (FAITH).The US embassy in Manila also did not comment on the issue. A US embassy official privy to American assistance said the embassy “did not contribute any funding for the construction of bunkhouses.”
The prospects for a full rehab of the areas devastated by Haiyan has long been recognised as being dim and much of the relief goods and funds donated all but going to waste. This is in considering the Philippines’ mediocre track record of taking full advantage of otherwise abundant resources at its disposal. Early reports on the snail-paced and disorganised disaster response mounted by the Philippines immediately following early revelations of the full extent of the devastation wrought by Haiyan were quite telling. Even as vast sums of money and resources came pouring in to aid the relief effort, the astounding inefficiency of the Philippine bureaucracy was all but fatal so much so as to bring to serious question the recovery prospects of Tacloban City and other affected areas observes Kevin H.R. Villanueva, a university research scholar in international politics and human rights at the University of Leeds…
The argument to be made here is that there has been no single point person to whom accountability for immediate relief and the eventual task of rebuilding has been bestowed. The Filipino people will survive because it is in their character to counter and rise above adversity. But if we are all to genuinely learn and understand the lessons of this disaster, the question must be given a future perfect thought: Who will be in charge, if Tacloban and its people are to rise from the rubble?
The emergence of these most recent tales of Philippine-style thievery are as disheartening as they are unsurprising. Much of the system on which the majority of Filipinos depend on for essential services are crooked by design — engineered for maximum opaqueness to ensure a maximum “harvest” by the usual suspects: the Philippines’ deeply-entrenched parasitical class of traditional politicians and oligarchs.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Substandard housing + Substandard system + substandard president + substandard voter expectations for candidates + Substandard execution + substandard coverage of media = daang matuwid?? does not compute . I am sensing a theme.
Unless we realize where his straight path leads to.
It leads back to the same old stuff he promised he would eradicate and be different from. If you think about it, it is daang matuwid – matuwid na walang pagbabago.
I agree with both of you. Noynoy did nothing for the first fifty years of his life. Expecting anything different between 2010 to 2016 is lunacy. Well, he is right on schedule based on past “performance”.
Troll butthurt in 3.2.1..
Pinoys specialize in assigning incompetent and unqualified people to key positions. Evident in the 2010 elections, and now the dumb one has appointed similarly inept people to key positions also including rebuilding the areas destroyed by Haiyan.
Pinoys are getting dumber and dumber by the minute.
They all go together, indeed.
Very predictable
I saw the rabbit hutches on tv.
They are a disgrace.
Someone has inflated the ‘paper’ value
Decreased the spec
Pocketed the money
No mention in media of who the contractor is – no doubt relation/ties to some local politician.
To those who wish to keep spreading propaganda about our president, here is a article from Bloomberg a respected media establishment, how the world sees our president and his accomplisments so far.
Read it and weep with rage, I’m sorry but the truth is hard to accept if you are insignificant in society and hate the authority, and the establishment that grew, fed and educated you.
And please, attacking the messenger is expected here, but do have a read of this unbiased article will you? Unless you wish to try discredit bloomberg.com also, hahaha!
A TROLL post courtesy from a Yellow Propagandist.
I’m sorry, but who wants a ‘truth’ that would make oneself feel better?
As Amir said, SUPOT.
Thanks for the LIES. 😀
So you attack bloomberg.com credibility also! Bwahaha!!
Good luck!
And where’s the link? Then you’re the WORST OF THE WORST!! LFMAO!!
Good luck you lying Yellow son of a bitch! 😀
@ the truth
You imbecile, there is no propaganda in GRP. The only propaganda are the things you speak of oh so proudly.
And where the hell is the link, you blithering idiot.
You are the one who cannot accept the truth that Pnoy is just one fumbling idiot. Proven time and again since he took to power in 2010.
It’s obvious you wiish to ignore the article and shoot the messenger, as you don’t dare to call bloomberg.com a propaganda site, and can’t refute the facts there.
People can read this article and realise Noynoy has done much for our country, and the world sees it too.
I hope one day god will show you the right way again.
It’s obvious that you just want to spout YELLOW PROPAGANDA.
Sorry, but you love twisting facts and no link, no chance.
I hope one day GOD will show YOU the right way again. And please, GOD doesn’t meddle with POLITICIANS.
Where’s the link then? or you have no link because you just conjured that up out of thin air like your president’s non existent achievements?
Your trolling has backfired spectacularly again it seems.
Yolanda incident is something you and your president will NEVER live down simply because he has aleady been seen as incompetent by the international community.
Read below and delete it quickly, because it’s from bloomberg.com
You cant have real news from real media establishments on grp, can you? Haha!
I repeat, please give me a link.
And if BIASED media establishments are considered as being ‘real’ then I feel sorry for you, FRAUD.
The Truth (what an oxymoron!):
I know what you’re going to say next: Only the pure in heart can see the link. Right? You’re so predictable!
i gave you the benefit of the doubt… looked for articles under bloomberg.com about how the world sees the current president and his accomplishments. sadly i found none except one that states this:
“None of the above… That’s how many Filipinos responded recently when I asked who they planned to vote for in the May 10 presidential election. Their ambivalence seems equally directed at frontrunner Benigno Aquino III, his closest rival Manuel Villar and Joseph Estrada, who’s third in surveys. …Filipinos need and deserve an able and inspiring leader. Judging from the cast of characters running, it doesn’t seem like they’re about to get one.” = current president isnt indicated here as an able leader
“the economy weathered the global crisis better than feared. To me, the credit for that goes to central bank Governor Amando Tetangco and his team.” = current president wasnt given this credit
“Arroyo’s main achievement — bringing some semblance of sobriety to fiscal policy…” = current presidents name wasnt given credit
this is all i could find in bloomberg.com but besides this…why rely on just one article or media website…if there was one media website that gave praise to the current president yet more than one media company,website..etc.. doesnt give such praise then wouldnt that mean that majority find the current president lacking in leadership?… so please enlighten me…i think its best that you do site what accomplishments he has made. and i will listen or read in this case, whatever you have to say but do expect me to ask more questions.
The truth about your precious president is he is one big blooper reel that in never exhausted.
“You did not die ”
” 2,000 dead”
“bahala na sa buhay mo”
“government is prepared”
“waiting for the coroner’s report” ( The Philippines does not have coroners)
and that is just from one incident.
No wonder you are so desperate.
That is a good idea for an article Gogs, “The top 10+ f**k ups of Noynoy Aquino”
Though the impossible dream would be to limit it to 10.
Errr, where’s the link in Bloomberg about the President progress in Eastern Visayas?
Bloomberg is an asshat. A man who once described NYPD as his own personal army. Thank God, he’s not the Mayor of NYC anymore. Just because the news source is from “merica” does NOT automatically make it credible these days. The U.S. mainstream media is controlled by an elite few, who impose THEIR views on society as whole.
“To those who wish to keep spreading propaganda about our president”
So anything critical of Aquino is propaganda?
“here is a article from Bloomberg a respected media establishment”
Really? Respected in what way? Respected according to who?
“I’m sorry but the truth is hard to accept if you are insignificant in society and hate the authority, and the establishment that grew, fed and educated you.”
So utang na loob then huh?
“And please, attacking the messenger is expected here, but do have a read of this unbiased article will you? Unless you wish to try discredit bloomberg.com also”
I read the message and I found the message wanting. It doesn’t mention high poverty rates, economic inequality, underemployment, the country’s economic growth model and its unsustainability, this administration’s lack of disaster preparedness and troubled reconstruction efforts, Aquino’s selective justice, difficult business environment, Aquino’s poor track record in security, lack of press freedom, lack of infrastructure, high utility rates, his poor handling of criticism, and so on.
There’s so many things the Bloomberg article omits that I find it incredible you would cite this as some kind of ultimate vindication of Noynoy.
I also wonder about the article’s style. “Defying Expectations” Whose expectations? ‘Definitely Surprised’ Says a Fil-Am probably not even living in the Philippines.
It’s emphasis on the Philippines’ growth rate as a “China-challenging growth rate” as if that’s something to brag about. If you take a look at the growth rates here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_real_GDP_growth_rate
You’ll notice lots of countries have higher GDP growth rates than China, including Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan. “China-challenging growth rate” is certainly a loaded phrase and it puts the credibility of the whole article into question.
Stating the income from call centers and remittances from the millions of OFWs and making it appear as if Aquino should be partly credited with that, also puts the article credibility into question. It also credits Aquino for reductions in budget deficit, as if the country hasn’t been experienced reductions in budget deficits before (the country saw lower budget deficits than 2013’s from 2007, 2008, 2009, -1.1%, -0.1%, -09% respectively).
Booming stock market? Credit ratings upgrades? Those benefit Filipinos how exactly? The article even managed to lower the poverty figure, in contrast to the NSCB’s 27.9% figure.
And Rolls-Royce? That’s Aquino’s notable achievement? REALLY?
Here it is
______
Philippines’ Aquino Races the World’s Fastest Economies
By William Mellor and Clarissa Batino Dec 4, 2013 9:01 AM ET 542 Comments Email Print
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Manila is the capital of a country blessed by an economic resurgence — and yet afflicted still by misery. … Read More
The leader of the Philippines, President Benigno S. Aquino III, has a strong economy to build on as he faces a new… Read More
A resident sells fruits and vegetables next to a public market destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan. Photograph: Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images
Bonifacio Global City, a major new building development, rises on the edge of Manila. Photograph: Virgile Simon… Read More
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Philippine Inflation Pressure Not `Acute’
Just after midnight one sultry Friday in August 1987, Manila became a battleground as rebel troops attempted a coup against Philippine President Corazon Aquino. Two blocks from the besieged presidential palace, insurgents opened fire on a car carrying Aquino’s only son, a bespectacled and soft-spoken 27-year-old junior insurance executive nicknamed Noynoy.
By the time soldiers still loyal to the president fought their way to the scene, three of Noynoy’s four bodyguards lay dead. Shot five times, the intended target improbably survived, albeit with a bullet in the neck that he still carries today, Bloomberg Markets magazine will report in its January issue.
More from the January issue of Bloomberg Markets:
EDITORIAL: After Typhoon, Philippines Needs Jobs
“I’m living a second life,” says Noynoy Aquino, now himself the president of this Southeast Asian nation of almost 100 million people. “I was saved for a certain purpose and will not squander that opportunity.”
So far, Benigno S. Aquino III — his full name — has largely proved true to his word and given the Philippines a second life of its own in the process. Since moving into an official residence known as the House of Dreams, following his election victory in June 2010, Aquino, 53, has overseen a national resurgence beyond the reveries of most investors.
Bankrupted in the 1980s by dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the Philippines lagged far behind rival Asian economies, averaging just 3 percent annual growth from 1984 to 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Under Aquino, that figure has more than doubled. And in the first half of 2013, output surged at a 7.65 percent annual pace, surpassing that of China, the world’s fastest-growing major economy, before easing back to 7 percent in the third quarter.
Super Typhoon
In the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan, Aquino must now try to sustain that growth while rebuilding whole swaths of his country and reinforcing its defenses against future, similar disasters. The tropical storm, which struck on Nov. 8, may have caused losses of as much as between $10 and $15 billion, according to early estimates.
Still, reconstruction is within Aquino’s reach, JPMorgan said in a November 22 report. The bank forecast that while the typhoon may cut full-year 2013 GDP growth to 6.9 percent from its earlier estimate of 7.1 percent, the nationwide impact won’t be long-lasting and the 2014 estimates should rise to 6 percent from 5.6 percent due to the boost from rebuilding.
The history of comparable catastrophes shows that reconstruction can be a boost for developing nations.
In 2012, Thailand’s economy rebounded 7.1 percent, following floods that swamped thousands of factories and a vast strip of agricultural land the previous year. In 2005, the Indonesian economy grew to 5.6 percent from 5 percent the year before, when a tsunami claimed about 200,000 lives and devastated Aceh province.
Best Performer
Investors in the Philippines weren’t unduly scared off by Haiyan, with the Philippines Stock Exchange Index falling 2.8 percent since Nov. 8 when Haiyan hit the Philippines.
From the time Aquino took office, the index has soared 86 percent, becoming the world’s best performer out of 45 emerging and developed markets tracked by MSCI indexes. The nation’s debt, meanwhile, has been raised to investment grade by Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s.
Now, investors are awaiting full-year GDP figures to see by how much the typhoon dented the country’s China-challenging growth rate.
Aquino has achieved this transformation by pruning a record $7 billion budget deficit in 2010 to $2.3 billion in the first nine months of 2013, declaring war on rampant corruption, announcing plans to more than double state spending on public works to $19 billion — or about 5 percent of GDP — by 2016, and exploiting Filipinos’ English-language skills to promote industries as diverse as casinos and call centers.
Filipinos Overseas
Foreign income from those call centers, together with remittances from 10.5 million Filipinos who work overseas, even helped Aquino defy the 2013 rout in other emerging markets — especially those such as India with current-account deficits — as investors anticipate an end to U.S. monetary easing.
The Philippines, by contrast, boasts a current-account surplus of more than 4 percent of GDP and should remain well placed to deal with the U.S. Federal Reserve’s eventual tapering, according to the International Monetary Fund.
That surplus has helped prop up the currency, the peso. Its 6.5 percent decline against the dollar in the 12 months ended on Dec. 3 is only a little more than half that of the Indian rupee. And although the stock market has fallen back from its May 15 record high, it was still up 9 percent during the same one-year period compared with less than 1 percent in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
Rolls-Royce
During that time frame, Philippine bonds have returned 8.7 percent, the best performance among 10 local-currency Asian bond markets tracked by HSBC Holdings Plc.
Such is the wealth being generated in at least the upper echelons of Philippine society that Bayerische Motoren Werke AG in September opened its first Rolls-Royce showroom in Manila.
“The Philippines for decades was a lost country,” says Ruchir Sharma, New York–based head of emerging markets at Morgan Stanley Investment Management who oversees $25 billion, including Philippine shares. “Now, it could end up being among the fastest growing in the world in 2013. It comes from having the right leader at the right time.”
Maintaining such investor enthusiasm is more problematic. The stock market surge since Aquino took office now makes the Philippines the world’s second most expensive emerging market after Mexico, with a 12-month forward price-earnings ratio of 16.9 compared with 7.8 for Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
‘Too Expensive’
Investor Mark Mobius says he’s not buying at those prices.
“It’s just too expensive,” says Singapore-based Mobius, who oversees $53 billion at San Mateo, California–based Templeton Emerging Markets Group. “There’s a shortage of good companies. They need more IPOs.”
That isn’t the only challenge facing the Philippines. The nation is locked in a territorial dispute with its giant neighbor, China, over the potentially oil-rich Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, while at home it is struggling to pacify a four-decade-old Muslim insurgency in southern Mindanao.
Even as the economy soars, almost 20 percent of the population continues to live on less than $1.20 a day — the poorest in squalid slums or sometimes in cemeteries, where they squat in the family tombs of the wealthy.
Calamitous Storm
More than 10 million people were affected by November’s typhoon. An unemployment rate of 7.3 percent is Asia’s second highest, after India. Foreign direct investment is the lowest in Southeast Asia — just $2.8 billion in 2012 compared with $8.6 billion for Thailand. The $250 billion economy remains dependent on the $21 billion sent home annually by Filipinos working overseas.
While Haiyan was an exceptionally calamitous storm, natural disasters are far from rare in the Philippines, costing the nation an average of $1.6 billion a year, according to the Asian Development Bank.
Aquino’s battle against graft perhaps best reflects the enormity of his task. During his 2010 election campaign, he argued that it was impossible to beat poverty without first eradicating corruption.
Soon after being elected, he set about doing that by sacking Chief Justice Renato Corona for failing to disclose his assets. Aquino also arrested Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, his immediate predecessor, on corruption charges that have yet to come to court. Both Corona and Macapagal-Arroyo deny wrongdoing.
Crusading Commissioner
Aquino also hired a crusading female tax commissioner, Kim Henares, 53, who has so incensed some of her targets that she has taken to carrying a pistol for self-defense.
Aquino’s efforts appear to have borne some fruit. His country’s ranking in Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index, announced on Dec. 3, improved 11 places to 94th out of 177 countries.
Still, in recent months, these victories have been clouded by the disclosure that pork-barreling politicians have been misusing a $568 million poverty-reduction fund that they have been allowed to access at their own discretion. The scandal has wounded Aquino: His net satisfaction rating fell 15 points to plus-49 in September, according to polling firm Social Weather Stations.
For Aquino himself, time is running short. He is constitutionally barred from running for a second six-year term, and June will mark his fourth anniversary in office.
“You will quickly see him moving toward lame-duck status,” says Frederic Neumann, Hong Kong–based co-head of Asian economics at HSBC. “That means the reforms in which he is taking on vested interests could fall by the wayside.”
Defying Expectations
Looking relaxed in a traditional barong tagalog — a translucent lightweight formal shirt — Aquino said in a May interview in the presidential compound that he can emerge victorious. He has defied expectations before. A bachelor with a weakness for cigarettes and computer games, he spent much of his life in the shadow of his parents, the two most-revered figures in the nation’s struggle for democracy.
His father, Benigno Aquino Jr. — nicknamed Ninoy — was a charismatic opposition leader and senator jailed for eight years by Marcos before being allowed to travel to the U.S. for heart surgery in 1980. On his return to Manila in 1983, Ninoy Aquino was led off the plane by Marcos’s troops and shot dead by soldiers on the tarmac of the airport that now bears his name.
Marcos’s widow, Imelda, said in an interview with Bloomberg Markets in June that neither she nor her husband ordered the assassination.
People Power
However, the killing was the catalyst for a fragmented opposition to unite behind the widowed Corazon, who challenged Marcos and was swept into the presidency in a 1986 People Power uprising. The devoutly Catholic former housewife then withstood at least six coup plots to complete her full term and hand over power to an elected successor, Fidel Ramos.
By contrast, Noynoy had an uninspiring track record in business and politics. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in economics from Ateneo de Manila University in 1981, he worked in various management positions in the family insurance company, Intra-Strata Assurance Corp., and on the Aquinos’ 6,400-hectare (15,800-acre) sugar plantation, Hacienda Luisita.
In 1998, standing for the centrist Liberal Party, he was elected to the House of Representatives and served there for nine years before voters sent him to the Senate in 2007.
Aquino wasn’t even originally supposed to be the Liberal candidate in the last presidential election. The chosen contender was Mar Roxas, a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a former investment banker at New York–based Allen & Co.
‘Definitely Surprised’
Then, in August 2009, nine months before the poll, the revered Corazon Aquino died, sparking a wave of emotion among Filipinos, 300,000 of whom turned out for her funeral. Petitions circulated urging her son to run for president, and a month later Roxas stood down in favor of Aquino, who won the presidency by more than 5 million votes.
Filipinos were lucky that Aquino rose to the challenge, says Edwin Gutierrez, a London-based Filipino-American portfolio manager with Aberdeen Asset Management Plc.
“He’s definitely surprised on the upside,” says Gutierrez, who helps manage $10 billion in emerging-markets debt.
Filipinos may not be so fortunate with their next president, given their preference for personality rather than party-driven politics, Gutierrez says.
The Marcos family, for instance, still wields clout. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., 56, the dictator’s son, won a Senate seat in May and confirmed in an interview that he is considering a bid for the presidency.
Aquino brushes aside fears about who will succeed him.
“I didn’t have any ambition to be president,” he says. “It was fate. The people found me. I am sure they will be able to find another one out of 95 million.”
Leaving the choice to fate sounds risky in a country that has been so let down by leaders in the past. If Aquino is to make the most of his second life, he may have to play an active role in persuading Filipinos to elect someone who can build on his legacy.
To contact the reporters on this story: William Mellor in Sydney at wmellor@bloomberg.net; Clarissa Batino in Manila at cbatino@bloomberg.net
Why do I get the sense that Malacanang is currently doing double-time propaganda work through its handlers (Coloma et al.)? I must give it to these guys — they’re really good at what they do: fooling the people to move their agenda (or for a fat paycheck)….
They’re not that good if their propaganda fails in convincing GRP peeps.
They’re obviously doing damage control over the bunkhouse kickback controversy that their government is pocketing.
I read the message and I found the message wanting. It doesn’t mention high poverty rates, economic inequality, underemployment, the country’s economic growth model and its unsustainability, this administration’s lack of disaster preparedness and troubled reconstruction efforts, Aquino’s selective justice, difficult business environment, Aquino’s poor track record in security, lack of press freedom, lack of infrastructure, high utility rates, his poor handling of criticism, and so on.
There’s so many things the Bloomberg article omits that I find it incredible you would cite this as some kind of ultimate vindication of Noynoy.
I also wonder about the article’s style. “Defying Expectations” Whose expectations? ‘Definitely Surprised’ Says a Fil-Am probably not even living in the Philippines.
It’s emphasis on the Philippines’ growth rate as a “China-challenging growth rate” as if that’s something to brag about. If you take a look at the growth rates here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_real_GDP_growth_rate
You’ll notice lots of countries have higher GDP growth rates than China, including Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan. “China-challenging growth rate” is certainly a loaded phrase and it puts the credibility of the whole article into question.
Stating the income from call centers and remittances from the millions of OFWs and making it appear as if Aquino should be partly credited with that, also puts the article credibility into question. It also credits Aquino for reductions in budget deficit, as if the country hasn’t been experienced reductions in budget deficits before (the country saw lower budget deficits than 2013’s from 2007, 2008, 2009, -1.1%, -0.1%, -09% respectively).
Booming stock market? Credit ratings upgrades? Those benefit Filipinos how exactly? The article even managed to lower the poverty figure, in contrast to the NSCB’s 27.9% figure.
And Rolls-Royce? That’s Aquino’s notable achievement? REALLY?
^^Wala man link. Supot.
Too many inconvenient facts in bloombergs article for you to deal with?
Go ahead and attack bloomberg as a propaganda site, lol
No link, no chance.
Go ahead and TROLL some more until the point that all of your posts will be DELETED lol
Look below chump, and enjoy.
Of course it will be deleted, it’s facts from apone of the biggest media establishments, you can’t deal with that here.
@The Fraud:
Sorry, but BIASED and SENSATIONALIZED news are things that irritate me, chumper.
Fabricated facts are things that I can’t deal with. -_-
Important to note:
“So far, Benigno S. Aquino III — his full name — has largely proved true to his word and given the Philippines a second life of its own in the process. Since moving into an official residence known as the House of Dreams, following his election victory in June 2010, Aquino, 53, has overseen a national resurgence beyond the reveries of most investors.”
“Bankrupted in the 1980s by dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the Philippines lagged far behind rival Asian economies, averaging just 3 percent annual growth from 1984 to 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Under Aquino, that figure has more than doubled. And in the first half of 2013, output surged at a 7.65 percent annual pace, surpassing that of China, the world’s fastest-growing major economy, before easing back to 7 percent in the third quarter.”
“From the time Aquino took office, the index has soared 86 percent, becoming the world’s best performer out of 45 emerging and developed markets tracked by MSCI indexes. The nation’s debt, meanwhile, has been raised to investment grade by Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s.”
“Aquino has achieved this transformation by pruning a record $7 billion budget deficit in 2010 to $2.3 billion in the first nine months of 2013, declaring war on rampant corruption, announcing plans to more than double state spending on public works to $19 billion — or about 5 percent of GDP — by 2016, and exploiting Filipinos’ English-language skills to promote industries as diverse as casinos and call centers.”
““The Philippines for decades was a lost country,” says Ruchir Sharma, New York–based head of emerging markets at Morgan Stanley Investment Management who oversees $25 billion, including Philippine shares. “Now, it could end up being among the fastest growing in the world in 2013. It comes from having the right leader at the right time.””
”
Aquino’s battle against graft perhaps best reflects the enormity of his task. During his 2010 election campaign, he argued that it was impossible to beat poverty without first eradicating corruption.
Soon after being elected, he set about doing that by sacking Chief Justice Renato Corona for failing to disclose his assets. Aquino also arrested Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, his immediate predecessor, on corruption charges that have yet to come to court. Both Corona and Macapagal-Arroyo deny wrongdoing.”
“Aquino also hired a crusading female tax commissioner, Kim Henares, 53, who has so incensed some of her targets that she has taken to carrying a pistol for self-defense.
Aquino’s efforts appear to have borne some fruit. His country’s ranking in Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index, announced on Dec. 3, improved 11 places to 94th out of 177 countries.”
“Filipinos were lucky that Aquino rose to the challenge, says Edwin Gutierrez, a London-based Filipino-American portfolio manager with Aberdeen Asset Management Plc.
“He’s definitely surprised on the upside,” says Gutierrez, who helps manage $10 billion in emerging-markets debt.
Filipinos may not be so fortunate with their next president, given their preference for personality rather than party-driven politics, Gutierrez says.
The Marcos family, for instance, still wields clout. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., 56, the dictator’s son, won a Senate seat in May and confirmed in an interview that he is considering a bid for the presidency.”
That’s how the world and respected peers see our president, contrary to the rubbish posted here.
Remember, the truth is out there, but it’s probably not going to be om this website where they want to brainwash you for their own ends.
Happy reading everyone!
Very opinionated. Fact.
Keep TROLLING, real-life FRAUD. -_-
According to you, all the media establishments are biased! It’s all a conspiracy!!
Poor fellow…you need help.
Ok, ABS-CBN, Rappler, and Inquirer. They are all BIASED. And sensationalized news are considered good, huh? I suggest CNN instead.
Deluded asshole… you need help. Or you’re TROLLING…
The Truth….When is this “economic miracle” going to trickle down to the rest of us? I am sure they are popping champagne corks at the Stock Market; but most can barely afford potable drinking water. Those of us lucky enough to have electrical appliances and gas stoves, cannot afford to turn them on.
Poor delusional troll, still can’t admit defeat because all he ever posts are propaganda from malacañang.
You are clearly stuck in yellow lalaland.
Better get yourself admitted to a mental hospital since you are clearly insane.
@ the truth
Now that article is shouting propaganda all the way from the start to end.
They can tell you to eat shit and you will do it won’t you.
Now tell me again what are the “own ends” of this website?
@the thruth – maybe i can call you Deep throat? — you fooled and blinded by the yellow CULTS keep sleeping and one day you will awaken and realized that how STUPID and IDIOT you are.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-03/philippines-aquino-races-the-world-s-fastest-economies.html
It’s from bloomberg, and they are biased too in your eyes right?
Kinda pathetic how you label everything that isnt anti establishment biased..
Try dealing with the contents of the article instead of attacking the messenger, I know it’s hard, but you might find the truth in doing so.
That Bloomberg link is questionable because it was done by Filipino reporters who have no idea what they are doing. Better to believe on foreign journalists instead (except Fox News).
That Pinoy-written Bloomberg article is not truthful. If in fact is about as biased as average Pinoy fact finding for research can be. Or did college not teach you how to pull academic research out of your butt?
See the bigger picture. I know it’s hard, but you might find the unadulterated truth in doing so.
Nah, you’re the one who’s clearly attacking the messenger you hypocrite from malacañang.
Besides, that article is clearly written by someone who’s biased like YOU.
Poor delusional troll,still using a biased article even if its from bloomberg, it doesn’t matter since its biased as f*ck since it was written by a filipino also living in delusional lalaland
@The Truth Thanks for the interesting posts, but you will learn like we did, there is no helping these poor rebel wannabes, leave them in peace. Normal citizens don’t pay attention to here anyway, it’s like a aquired taste! 😉
-Malalaman mo lamang na MALI ang isang BAGAY kapag ALAM mo na kung ANO ANG TAMA.
Interesting points? At least make them true.
“Normal citizens don’t pay attention to here anyway” – well you are paid to pay attention and respond. What does that make you? The rest of this website knows the answer.
You’re welcome good sir. I agree with your sentiments, it’s amusing to see them write off all the facts in the article snd resort to adhominem instead.
They may never see the light but their behavior and reactions to these articles serve as a cautionary tale to grps true character to any unweary souls that happen upon here.
All the best!
So you fully agree on a fellow TROLL.
All the best on spreading FRAUD. -_-
So you admit that you’re just SPAMMING here. Because the ‘Proud Pinoy’ guy you get commendation on your TROLLING also said this:
“Well I was using old spoof nicks all the time. So old folks like you, benign0, Toro, etc knew all along what was up.
“I am still flabbergasted why so many Pinoys don’t appreciate satire and sarcasm. Sometimes you can make a point more devastatingly effective that way.
Oh well, back to life. Until the next Philippine catastrophe. Have fun guys. The Philippines will remain a shit hole and there is only one solution: GET THE FUCK OUT.
Peace.”
I just noticed that both Proud Pinoy and The Truth have the same IP address.
What you are saying is their back slapping and butt kissing is a lot like the President’s dates? Staged
And he calls himself a patriot. Blithering idiot!
You have conveniently forgotten that it was CNN that saw just how incompetent your president was in handling the yolanda incidental.
You might think that you’re winning with your propaganda but nope, in reality, we’re laughing at how stupid you are since you keep posting pathetic yellow propaganda that comes from malacañang.
There is no win or lose; It is as it is. Just a difference in our perceptions,
And now you’re going hypocritical when someone pronounces CNN.
Right, bitch. -_-
The only thing you precious president ever won in his life was an election after his mom died. He was a complete and utter ZERO before 2010. So don’t tell me there are no losers since you are in the paid service of one.
You can say what you want but it won’t change the fact that your propaganda has lost.
The truth hurts for you moronic malacañang mooks.
Your president doesn’t need you to spread propaganda if he was indeed doing his job.
@the truth You got em good… They keep trying to change the topic and dismiss the article and journalists as biased. There is a reason it is a bloomberg article, these guys talk too much smack no major online media is ever gonna pay them any attention, they screamed so much it has no value no more.
Kudos to bloomberg for telling it as it is. CNN’s article had merit also but I didn’t like how they were capitalising off human misery putt hemselves in the headlines.
Thanks for keepin up the good fight mate, seeya around
Thanks for the kind words JC, appreciated!
@Jess C a.k.a malacañang mook#2
So, you think using another account will fool us into thinking that you’re gaining support?
Sorry to disappoint you, you’re not fooling us.
@Jess C
Can you state who are the writers of that Bloomberg article? Filipinos who only cares for image.
And please, show me the link if CNN had that article.
You’re fighting a LOSING fight, mate. See you around.
The Truth/JC/Proud Pinoy/whatever:
The IP address you have is one and the same, meaning you only have ONE identity. Having such is a bannable offense.
Really pathetic how the troll thinks that using multiple accounts on one ip address would help him make it look like some people are supporting him.
He’s not fooling anyone and now it seems that it has backfired spectacularly for him.
You are right WS. Done by a filipino reporter who I have never even heard of before. It really has come to this for the BS Aquino just to show he can do no wrong.
PH – key performance indicators
Poverty – UP
Unemployment – UP
Underemployment – UP
Foreign direct investment – DOWN
Dirty money outflows – UP
Millenium development goals 2015 – FAIL TO ACHIEVE
the facts speak for themselves.
The pnoy aquino administration haven’t got a clue, had no impact on anything significant, and are resorting more and more to propaganda and outright lies to try and hide their failure. Paid hacks, manipulated surveys, and trolls only confirm the desperation which is now evident. Even a political professor said ” president aquino overpromised and has underachieved. A fatal combination”
And members of the administration are starting to desert. They have seen the writing on the wall, and it days – move on, if you want a job/career post 2016
Investment – corruption = progress ( the pnoy aquino promise)
Corruption – investment = status quo (the pnoy aquino reality)
I’d stick to bloomberg where it’s not just journalists trying to make a name for themselves, and stick to bloomberg where they quote people from the respected positions in our society, rather than the “facts” of some internet rebel propangandist at any time of the day, thanks.
Don’t let me stop you howling though, carry on.
Sorry to disappoint you, you’re not fooling anyone with your propaganda here.
Everyone already knows how incomptent your boss is.
Sarap talaga maging uto uto no?
I have several questions.
1)Jess C and “The Truth”. With all this “see you around” You guys cubicle mates?
2) MCG put you guys on a stricter quota so that explains the outbreak of yellowness here?
3) Given the constant failure of Mar Roxas , I have to ask who did he have to sleep with to get his post. Never mind, I already know.
Continue to ignore all the facts in the bloomberg article and attack the messenger, it projects well! 😀
“Continue to ignore all the facts in the bloomberg article and attack the messenger, it projects well!”
Right, let’s continue to ignore the FABRICATED facts in that Pinoy-written Bloomberg article and discard your TROLLING, it projects VERY VERY WELL!
Truth , Who is ignoring who? Read the basic premise of this thread. That Noynoy’s handpicked men are pocketing the donation money and providing shoddy service which is their SOP. There is brick and mortar proof and donors are not going on record on what they think of value for their donors.
Yet you give us “Bloomberg ” which for a while had no link. Again, it must suck to be a troll for someone who is mentally dysfunctional. So I take that really was Mar’s route to his position by assuming a different position? Is that all your Master thinks about?
“Don’t let me stop you howling though, carry on.”
All bark, no bite. ZERO value as always.
Your TROLLING days will soon be over. Enjoy your ATTENTION WHORING while it lasts.
@ da troot
Why don’t you refute then, Libertas’ points of reference for your underperforming president?
The truth this time.
News articles from real media organisations should be debated, I have no interest to his personal views, and his posts on this forum by no means constitutes a real media article. I wish to debate the news, not people with views that thinks because of a forum post they can compare or discredit major news organisations.
Anyone tried talking about the facts of the bloomberg article yet?
Obviously not.
Poor show folks, my work is done today, seeya tomorrow.
“Anyone tried talking about the facts of the bloomberg article yet?
Obviously not.
Poor show folks, my work is done today, seeya tomorrow.”
I repeat: it’s a PINOY-written Bloomberg article, which is totally opinionated in a sense. If you consider ABS-CBN, Rappler, Inquirer and other BIASED media organizations are real, then you need to seek help.
Nice TROLLING, prick. Hope you enjoy your payday. Don’t expect that you will be back tomorrow because your comments will be automatically on the spam folder.
@ da toot
Libertas’ point of reference is not his point of view. That is reality, staring you right in the face. If you cannot tell me why, in spite of all your harping on how great the bald idiot is, that said points are as it is, then you are nothing but a lying, good for nothing, waste of time and space, blitering idiot.
You keep on dropping that bloomberg article, which is obviously done by a paid propagandist, now I dare you to tell me the real deal about why the country is still in this shit.
And I’ll say it again, facts to refute said points, otherwise STFU.
Yet again, you can’t refute any of what we’re saying here.
You clearly cant handle everything we’re saying here so you instead play the victim card, insisting that we’re attacking the messenger, typical behavior from someone who’s losing.
Really pathetic how a troll like “The Fraud” keeps falling back on an article that is written by someone biased like him.
Sayang lang talaga ang binabayad namin na tax kung napupunta lang sa walang kwentang malacanang troll group na wala naman maibuga
i read the article…don’t you have any other sources? and why just stick to bloomberg? wouldnt it be more credible if there was more than one source? isnt there any other source that directly links any improvement in the Philippine economy to actions made by the current president? any actual research or statistics that proves that the improvement wasnt merely coincidence? that it was an actual direct result of cause and effect?
The Fraud has no other sources since there are no other biased sources for him to use.
He has clearly lost this fight since he has resorted to using multiple accounts just to make it look like there are other people that believe him.
another filipino pr petson.
next you will be quoting her sidekick norman aquino.
these are not bloomberg journalists, simply contributers. a big difference.
and i haven’t seen one fact yet.
and am economist so i think i know more than local journalists.
focus on the facts or are you incapable and incompetent.
q.e.d
U all got smasht hard by da truth dude lol. All da hier upz hav fellas fightin their fights, luky cuntz get a mint for doin it 2. Dis web place iz AWESOME:D ty linzie for showin me
Nah, he is the one that got “smasht” hard by us,and you’re probably another one of his idiotic mooks anyway so it’s pointless to make it look like “the truth” or should I say “the fraud” has supporters here by posting in multiple accounts.
could you provide an english translation
“U all got smasht hard by da truth dude lol. All da hier upz hav fellas fightin their fights, luky cuntz get a mint for doin it 2. Dis web place iz AWESOME:D ty linzie for showin me”
Rarrr Hulk agireez! dey got smasht hard lol!
I’ve never seen someone enunciate themselves so eloquently and lucidly in such perfect English!
Anyway, aside from the very obvious fact that you don’t seem very bright, no they have not been “smasht” hard by the very pretentiously named “Truth”. All he did was provide one Bloomberg article that made dubious claims written by questionable authors. So to you that proves Aquino’s competence as a leader or that the world perceives him as one? Also, what makes Bloomberg a respectable media source? According to who? I never heard anyone, not especially in the United States, claim that Bloomberg is a respectable media outlet.
So how does the “Truth” “smash” anyone here exactly?
The thing is… He doesn’t
He’s nothing but a fraud working for malacanang.
He’s desperate enough to use multiple accounts in one IP address to make it look like some people are supporting him.
Besides, that bloomberg article reeks of obvious bias since it was written by a filipino who’s also biased for Mr. Aquino.
Yeah, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there are people who actually agree with him. You can see some of them if you read the comments section in that Bloomberg article. There are after all the ignorant and the willfully ignorant; the latter being more pernicious. You have a handful of that kind in every subject and denomination, whether it be political, religious or whatever else.
facts are the enemy of trolls
debate a logical impossibility
The thing is, why would bloomberg publish rubbish such as this troll, “da toot” has posted?
If the basis for arguments and debates are sources like this then it would really be a game changer. God knows how many filipinos that article has idiotized again.
Let me just repeat what I said in that other blog, for the trolls to see:
“But of course. When something or someone praises one’s master, it’s absolute and must be taken as gospel. When something or someone else points out a flaw, it’s propaganda. Plus, there is something automatically wrong with that entity pointing out the flaw: it is politically motivated, it is overcompensating for a tragic flaw of its own, it is paid by a political opponent, blah blah blah.
What’s more, popularity is taken as a reliable indicator of validity.
These peculiar mindsets have been present in Filipino since time immemorial. It just happens to be very pronounced in this Aquino administration because the one at the top is very sensitive to criticism, and never admits he is wrong.”
And as benign0 added, BS Aquino is inherently dishonest and has a reputation for suppressing the truth.
Mr. Aquino definitely has a habit of suppressing the truth since he uses malacanang troll mooks to suppress it for him but unfortunately for them, it’s not working.
How can it work? Their president never did.
Exactly, but it seems that there are some filipinos that refuse to escape from the yellow “matrix” although more and more netizens are expressing their disgust on how this aquino government keeps screwing everything up.
This article was written by Filipinos, very obvious just the days before the regime of President Ferdinand E. Marcos, they used the streets, the media, and even connived with some unlawful Filipinos such as NPA and other separatist groups to put into chaos the country and to be able to topple the strong man and impose their ambitions that are full of delusions and deceptions. They are trying to impose in every Filipinos that they are the savior of the Philippines. What a jerk, that is why there are many Filipinos now living in delusion.
I mean the bloomberg.com article about the present administration…
The fact is that the international community now sees your president as an incompetent fool.
We have CNN to thank for that by the way since they have witnessed how incompetent he is in handling a disaster like yolanda.
Your days of trolling are numbered.
Better say your prayers troll.
Of course his days are numbered. May term limit si ‘Noy.
Pretty soon you’ll be derping over Pangulong Jejomar Binay, Johnny.
Well, IMHO, binay could do a better job as president if he weren’t such an aquino asslicker but it remains to be seen if he can indeed be a suitable replacement
What else do we need to know about the Binays? Jejomar Binay has been an Aquino ally (“asslicker” may be an unfair characterisation) since the 1980s. And their deplorable behaviour over the incident with the Dasmariñas vilage security guards is more than ample evidence that the family is concerned only with their own interests, not the country.
I don’t need to be a prophet to know that whoever will likely win the presidency in the next election will probably fuck it up. They can’t help it. The system and the agents of the system go hand in hand. Binay’s signature move has always been handouts. He has also made his name a household name among Pinoys. That’s why he’s so popular among the masses, and Pinoys are if nothing but a sucker for handouts, meaningless platitudes and name familiarity.
Nah, he’s no better than Aquino in terms of corruption. Competent to run the country, maybe but definitely corrupt.
This is in response to Johnny Derp’s post: “Well, IMHO, binay could do a better job as president if he weren’t such an aquino asslicker but it remains to be seen if he can indeed be a suitable replacement”
True, but it’s really a shame that he has corruption coming out of his black butt.
@The Lies este The Truth FYI ABias-CBN, Oinkuirer, Rappler and The Philippine Star are not only Bias Press but Bayad Press as well. They are the Propagandists of this Yellow Admin.
Argumentum ad hominem. Sign of a small mind.
That’s meant for soipekk: “okey lng un at least mer0n bany0 n pampalig0 nila!
mahirap n tlaga pag matagal nang d nkakaligo ang isang ta0!
tignan mo ung auth0r ng blog na 2…. parang hinilamukos s basahan ung pagmumuka.
pag niging kamuka mo n ung author ng bl0g na to yari ka! mgiging miserable ang buhay m0 kagaya nya! wapak!”
If that’s the kind of quality of the trolls that malacanang can hire then they’re better off not posting here since they’ll be slaughtered mercilessly by the GRP peeps.
Expecting a quality Malacanang troll is as futile as expecting quality local noontime programming. The only difference is the noontime program is easily smarter.
I would request that Mr. Mar Roxas would stand infront of a constructed Bunk House; for photo opportunity. Instead of a bag of onion on his shoulder. They can put a title at the bottom of his photo: “One million pesos Bunk House”.
We have a terminal illness of widespread corruption. All they do is steal. The “Daan matuwid” is now going to the “Bulsa”.
Where there is money; opportunists of all kinds will always be there. Politicians included. “Nakakahiya kayo” . Foreign Media is watching your thievery..
Anything over and above a “Habitat for Humanity” housing model would absolutely be ridiculous. I think the bunkhouses is a step up sufficient replacement for those sea side squatter colonies.
These are absolutely better than check vouchers to motels given to the Katrina victims in the US or makeshift tents to disaster victims in Africa.
When people are told that they are this and that over and over again, they end up believing it and remained, perhaps it’s time that good Filipino traits are highlighted. Harping perpetually on the negatives loses it intended positive impact. Endless negativity degenerates to rant that really only serves the ranters. After all, if change is the goal, they why keep stating the same things over and over again then expect a different result?
Typically Filipino….preferring to close one’s eyes to the truth and deceive himself that all’s well rather than face the ugly truth squarely and do all that can be done to root it out. A happy people or a happy-go-lucky people?
There’s enough pain and suffering in the Philippines. Their geographic location already affords them natural catastrophes. Their political culture prescribes them man-made disasters. Adding insults to an already injured nation does nothing but says more about the vile nature of us all as humans.
So, what you are saying is, it is better just to feel warm and fuzzy about the positive things happening, and all those nasty, negative things will just go away overshadowed by the goodness of the humankind?
I do not have anything against being positive, all viewed in the right light and circumstance, but living in the real world, in the Philippines, it wouldn’t do anything. Maybe it would in your world.
@ross
Here’s something for your to read:
Filipino voters should be blamed for the Philippines’ problems
But of course, ross. Filipinos are merely victims of their circumstances. They will never be able to change their destiny and take control of their own fates because they refuse to stop being anything else other than victims.
So it’s vile to rise to the occasion and to prod your fellow Filipinos to do something about their situation, starting with acknowledging that some things have to be changed? Your attitude actually explains why the Philippines has not progressed after all these years.
So you want more positive reinforcements to encourage? Ano sila, batang musmos? For the love of God, open your eyes! You are beeing robbed in broad daylight and you still want people to say, “ok lang yan, next time, huwag mo na gagawin yan yan ha, kasi bad yan. O eto pa taxmoney, tahan na, hayaan mo yang GRP kasi bully sila.”
Dr. Jose Rizal, with all due respect, had eloquently devalued the people of the Philippines on his time: Filipinos are indolent, lack self respect, ignorant and so on. Of course, the masses did not denounce him for he told them that it was not their fault but the Spaniards. In return, the people had credited him for opening their eyes and the rest is history.
Many continue to agree with Rizal and keep on stating what was observed centuries ago: Filipinos are ignorant and indolent. For them, the issue is so logical: being lazy and ignorant is the problem. Stop being lazy and ignorant, the problem is solved.
That Filipino voters do not use their head when they exercise their franchises during elections, leads one to conclude that the Philippine political problem is not of rational origin. Thus, is it extreme to submit that since the problem it is not one of reason, logic alone must not be the solution? Rizal had advocated for a rational approach, Bonifacio was more for emotional solution. The suggestion is not for a bloody revolution to settle scores but merely hinting that there may be more to the problem than a simple logic.
Maybe if the emotion of the public is respected and their ignorance is not ridiculed, may be if the public basic concern is first addressed: education for their young and health care for their elders; then may be the emotion of the masses will be more susceptible to rational change.
Shifting from nit ‘picking personalities to dissecting policies and from discussions over national image to individual necessities, is a step away from self flagellation and self pity, which may pave the way to the true revolution envisioned and started by Rizal and Bonifacio.
You better get your head around on what the article is saying, as it is aimed at the present government leaders.
You could not even have quality education for the masses that you are speaking of since we have incompetents assigned to do that.
Simple logic, idiot voters, get idiot leaders. That is telling it as it is.
Good God, man, you do not want to people here to show the masa the idiocy that they have done or have been doing just so you can make it parallel with Rizal’s belief during his time? Are you leaving inside some kind of time capsule?
Ross, Rizal did not devalue the Filipino people when he said that the Filipinos during his time were ignorant and indolent or lazy. Add to that, he also said that the Filipinos as a people love gambling. He said all these and more about the Filipinos, but that is not to say that he devalued the people. He just loved the Filipinos so much that he did not want to fool them by lying to them just to make them feel good about themselves. He dared being loathed by his fellow Filipinos just so he could help them see the truth about themselves, hoping that this will lead them to make a change for the better. I guess that’s why I admire and revere our national hero. But as for the Filipino people, I suppose nothing has changed. Could it be because we’re too proud and cowardly to face the truth about ourselves and change for the better, and that we’d rather dwell on false Pinoy pride from our champion boxers and beauty queens? Really, I guess nothing has changed after all these years. Rizal must be turning in his grave. His death might have been for naught.
“Tal pueblo, tal gobierno.’ -Jose Rizal
What’s your point?
Surprise, did anyone really expect anything else from a substandard country?
A half assed construction job from a half assed president is expected.
He has less than 2 years remaining in his term but I honestly don’t think that he’ll survive his term till 2016 since a lot of his lies are already unravelling and a lot of people are already dis-illusioned from 4 years of a half assed performance from this president.
Awright YAWN, Well said! It seems that the Filipino somehow imagines that the next time there is an election that there will be a chance that their lives will improve because they have finally found the President that is going to change the country!
Even after the last 25-50 years of election after election of the same bullshit happening time after time after time…the Filipino still clings to that SINGLE INFANTILE HOPE! instead of seeing the obvious and getting the fork out of the country(or getting rid of the vermin that have infected the country with a disease that is eating the citizens/resources alive!) and MAYBE havin a shot at a better life outside of the hell-hole that is the FAIL-IPPINES!
NOPE, they just do not get it, its been time for something drastic for a while now, and the longer nothing, I mean NOTHING, happens? The less likely any meaningful change will occur. This shit will be going on, same as today and the last 30 years,…30 years from now! GUARANTEED!
It’s already been 107 comments and not one of the trolls have answered the question asked in this article.
Why build half-assed houses for the victims of yolanda?
Where did the donations from foreign countries go?
Why are the trolls so desperate to protect their falling president?
Basically, it’s back to business as usual.
Government steals. Citizens react angrily.
Government says “sorry”, then steals again. Citizens react angrily.
Government says “sorry”, then steals again. Citizens react angrily.
Government says “sorry”, then steals again. Citizens react angrily.
Fuck this country.
So someone pretentiously named the “Truth” refers to a Bloomberg article written by questionable authors praising Noynoy and the Aquino apologists and the other deluded hopefuls take it as gospel truth and the ultimate vindication of their president’s merits? Notwithstanding the equally outrageous claim that Bloomberg is a respectable media outlet.
The thing that most troubles and irritates me about this country is the degree to which a large part of its citizenry revel in their willful ignorance and self-delusion, most of whom haven’t lived abroad long enough to observe from a distant sobering vantage point the critical flaws that afflict this country. Before I moved to the US and lived there for almost a decade, I never really seriously questioned the way things are in the Philippines. I also traveled to a few other countries. Having lived abroad for a long while really put things into perspective. It made me see things clearly and let me recognize the important differences between living in the Philippines and the outside world. Not everything in the outside world is great, and not every country is doing better than the Philippines, but of those that are doing better Filipinos could learn a lot from.
Japan in the 19th century used to be a poor backwater before they decided to play catch-up to the West. They sent many of their own to study abroad, learn and bring back what they learned as much as they can to their home country so that they can apply it there. Eventually, they learned how to improve their application in a way that works best for their country. WW2 devastated much of what they built and achieved, but they did it again right after, from learning and copying what others did, to doing it their way in the best quality imaginable. Now they’re reaping the rewards. I always wondered why can’t all Filipinos have that same drive (only a few do), instead of insisting on their delusions (oftentimes delusions of grandeur) and making the same lame excuses for their shortcomings?
The same principle applies to those bunkhouses. Or, sweeping aside any patriotic rationale for their actions, even if for the simple charitable act of generosity and humanity for their fellow human beings who have fallen victim to the typhoon, why can’t they build better bunkhouses? And why insist that everything under this administration so far has been going great?
The problem with this country is there is so much BS to go around.
Pnoy aquino, in his typical ‘ostrich head in the sand’ approach to life, has said that he will ignore his critics in 2014. ( very revealing that this is his main 2014 resolution. Nothing to do with helping others or the country, just about protecting his own low self-esteem/image, and abysmal performance. He is so screwed up – Every utterance gives him away, without him even realising it.
Hello baldy, these ‘critics’ now constitute circa 75% of the population, and growing – i.e those who you used to hypocritically call your bosses, and you say you are going to ignore them. How arrogant and divisive, and the height of stupidity. A sham president of a sham democracy where politicians are simply scam merchants. And pnoy aquino is the enabler. It makes him just as guilty.
So the reality is what we already knew. Pnoy aquino will only serve the cojuangco-aquino self interests, his oligarch paymasters such as the lopez’s etc., and those intellectual pygmies who wear a yellow ribbon ( fewer and fewer as the surveys show). He will not listen to those who know more, and who put progress before patronage, people before politics, and prosperity before persecution.
.”A good statesman/leader, like any other
sensible human being, always learns more from his opponents than from his fervent supporters…. So if he is wise he ought to pray never to be left without opponents, for they keep him on the path of reason and good sense.”
Walter lippman
Pnoy aquino is certainly justifying his position as No. 1 in the global poll of the worlds worst leaders, and also as the philippines best comedian. He could play 2 of the 3 monkeys – hear no evil, see no evil – the other one is beyond him.
Anyone with a modicum of intellect and integrity will only look upon pnoy aquino as a typical 3rd world trapo, devoid of charisma, achievements, leadership skills, passion, endeavour, and empathy.
People are also quite right to express disgust at someone who so blatantly lied to get elected and then reneged on every promise he made. That is not politics. That is simply cheap and tacky marketing – the kris aquino model.
Pnoy aquino’s only hope now is to ditch roxas – easy to do – and support binay in 2016. That will show just how desperate the criminal pnoy aquino is to escape jail, and that everything frim the outset was driven by self interest with no thought about the country. Shades of his traitor grandfather – the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.
2017 – pnoy aquino in jail. Gloria arroyo free. Poverty still 27%. The games trapos play.
It figures. I guess he’s really carrying out his resolution. It seems to me that they’re ignoring all the criticisms of him and are doing double-time propaganda. And you know what? I guess it’s working. It seems to me that many Filipinos are already forgetting the past issues and are settling for the status quo. Too bad. If that’s true, then we deserve Aquino.
NO, NO , NO the Filippines deserves to be up there with Singapore and Japan and if it were not for the scumbags that steal everything that is not nailed down? That is where the country would be! Do not settle for this crap you are being handed, believe that you deserve better from the people who run the country and GOD DAMM IT, DEMAND IT! March on the Senate and the Palais w/400,000 pissed off people and demand resignations and if it they don’t…get to doin what needs to be done!! it is happening right now, 750 miles west of the Philippines…
RIGHT NOW!! DAMM!.
WHAT ARE YOU ALL WAITING FOR?
I wondered what those yellow ribbon/dove stickers on cars meant, few years back, and they have all but disappeared nowadays. Must be less and less people believing in the yellow hype. But then again, during the last christmas holidays during my stay there, a lot of people are wearing the “tabang na” shirts, which really says a lot about the pinoy kind of principles.
Until the next fad, good luck to all of us.
I don’t need to be a prophet to know that whoever will likely win the presidency in the next election will probably fuck it up. They can’t help it. The system and the agents of the system go hand in hand. Binay’s signature move has always been handouts. He has also made his name a household name among Pinoys. That’s why he’s so popular among the masses, and Pinoys are if nothing but a sucker for handouts, meaningless platitudes and name familiarity.
“MANILA, Philippines – Slammed for building cramped bunkhouses, the Department of Public Works and Highways
(DPWH) admitted it was initially clueless about a key international benchmark for sheltering typhoon survivors.
Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said it was his first time on Tuesday, January 7, to read the standards in the
Sphere Handbook, a widely recognized benchmark for humanitarian response.”
Employ idiots and they produce overpriced plywood 1 room hutches the size of 2 ping-pong tables for a family of 6. the guy should be sacked, and would be in any decent society
Looks like a quiet day, no new posts. Good, early day then, hehe.
Ta da!
Making up another ID to emanate from that same IP address of yours? Guess you might have to hit quota somewhere else.
I addressed the message of the article you posted. Isn’t that what you wanted, to have people to focus on the message and not just the messenger?
JMAC,
The Malacanang Online Troll is much like their boss and the rest of their P.R. ilk. You can never, never , never , never take them at face value. Like anyone who lives to deceive they rather you not ask relevant questions or worse distribute information that is damaging to their effort to deceive. So what do they do? They just shotgun claims to discredit anyone they see as a threat.
Unlike the rest of the commenters, they are not looking for a dialogue. They just want status quo from whatever comes out of the Malacanang podium that week. Nothing more, nothing less.
The reason why you said that is because someone have totally exposed your fraudulent acts. Have you ever heard of IP addresses? No? I get it, hehe.
Ta da!
Please lobby the UN to intervene so that monitor the 2016 elections
Contact us
Corruption and Economic Crime Branch
Division for Treaty Affairs
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Wagramer Strasse 5,
A-1400 Vienna
Austria
Phone:+43(1) 26060-4384
Fax: +43(1) 26060-5841
E-mail: uncac.cop@unodc.org
Prisoners of War during World War 2 had better living conditions than the poor victims of Yolanda are being offered.
and they accept it!!! that is the real sad part.
Look at what is happening in Bangkok…RIGHT NOW.
What are these people waiting for? I do not know.
I swear I just do not know!
If Yolanda never killed you your government will.
Reading that there was no comment from any of the embassies when informed about this is disheartening. As a newcomer to this country and ‘way of life,’ I’m still finding things to get offended and shout about every week, but maybe after more months of seeing the country stagnate around me I’ll slide into ennui too.