Rest in peace Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
LKY represents everything latter-day Filipino politicians are not. He had a vision for Singapore and the courage to break ground where lesser folk beholden to the popular sentiment feared to tread. The country LKY built is a stark in-your-face reminder that just about every “contributing factor” Filipinos, their leaders, and their so-called “intellectuals” cite to excuse the chronic failure of their society to achieve and prosper are but sad words coming from a sad people.
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While the Philippines stood out as America’s “democracy” pin-up girl in the 1950s, Singapore was an outcast. Shunned by the Malay Federation, menaced by Indonesia, and abandoned by the British Empire, LKY took leadership of a state that had very reasonable excuses to curl up on the floor and fail. It had none of the essential natural resources needed to industrialise, was wracked by internal ethnic strife, and lacked an identity beyond its former status as a Malay Federation state.
Filipinos like to think that freedom is a pre-requisite for prosperity. LKY’s Singapore disproved that long before it was even turned into a brand by Filipino activists. LKY ran Singapore with an iron fist. There was no “revolution” to break that tight grip. The only revolutionary thing that happened in Singapore was economic. Whereas Filipinos celebrate a political “revolution”, Singapore quietly achieved an economic one.
Indeed, the best revenge is success. Singapore now dominates the region. The economic output of one Singaporean dwarfs that of a Filipino and his family of eight by a factor of ten. To the Philippines’ ability to “secure” an outlying territory by beaching a World War II era ship, Singapore, a country of just several million, can project hundreds of times the firepower many miles beyond its territory. It also keeps a significant chunk of the Philippines’ work force employed.
What can Filipinos learn from LKY and Singapore?
A lot. Trouble is, they refuse to. One thing’s for sure, democracy certainly cannot be counted as one of LKY’s most favourite things. Yet Filipinos regard their hoplessly chaotic brand of demo-crazy as their country’s crowning “achievement”. To this day, the Philippines’ legions of has-been celebrity “activists” and discredited “intellectuals” continue to sing hymns about by-gone “champions” of “freedom” and lead their flock lighting candles before monuments to their world-renowned voodoo politics. In contrast to the stoic way Singaporeans and their leaders faced the challenges ahead of them, Filipinos routinely wail and rant about the imaginary “anti-progress” bogeymen their revered demagogues put up to demonise giving them big English names that, ironically, defy translation into the vernacular: Corruption, Cronyism, Nepotism, Imperialism, blah blah blah.
You’d think the solution to “solving” Philippine poverty is to “elminate” those “evils” of society. Yet the very leaders Filipino voters foolishly entrust to do just that are, themselves, the sources and embodiments of those “evils”. Indeed, for most Filipino politicians, corruption, cronyism, nepotism, and imperialism are entire ways of life!
What exactly has democracy and the much-touted “freedom” its adherents enjoy delivered to Filipinos? Perhaps Filipinos uphold a misguided notion of what it means to be free. If “freedom” to Filipinos has come to mean being free to elect idiots to top leadership positions, being free to flood an entire consumer market with useless trinkets made in China, and free to feed trashy media products to an already ignorant star-struck population, it is likely that a radical re-evaluation of that notion is overdue. LKY did not pretend to be a big fan of that sort of freedom to gain the global respect he now commands and to build a society every Third World government aspires to build. As such, he is often criticised for his “autocratic” ways.
No. LKY’s Singapore offers a readily-evident freedom that is ironically alien to apologists of failed democracies such as that of the Philippines’.
Yes, Lee Kuan Yew was not a paragon of the kind of democracy that throws up populist political leaders. Yes, his acerbic remarks would never have won a TV debate or an election in the U.S. But he was not one of the self-serving, corrupt dictators that developing countries produce so often. It would be folly to deny him his due credit for building a nation regularly listed as the world’s best place to live.
Spoken like a true Singaporean. LKY would’ve been proud.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
And the biggest irony of it all is that the Filipinos are now flocking to Singapore, willing to be subjected and humiliated just for a better tomorrow. Something that the Philippines has failed to become.
It won’t be long before the Philippines falls from the “Mexico” of Asia into the “Africa” of Asia.
it already has.
A weak comparison there, with Mexico being a single country and Africa being a continent with 53 – very diverse – countries. And, in case you hadn’t noticed, parts of Africa are actually doing very well.
Even the better parts of Africa (e.g. South Africa, still astronomically high crime/murder rate), I wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole.
True! Noynoy fans got it all wrong!
better we should get the DNA of LKY and clone him and become our next president so that he could drastically change our country through his iron fist and strong political will.
The clone will just get “People Powered” out by its ignoramus population.
Discipline and accountability are such foreign concepts to Filipinos that once apprehended for committing offenses, they cry out that their “freedom” is being taken away.
Filipinos rally behind the name of democracy as a lame excuse to escape responsibility. They want all that “freedom” but care not about what such freedom entails.
That is assuming that the DNA of LKY will not get rejected by the Filipinos. But it will; count on it.
No need to do that.
We already have Richard Gordon and/or Rodrigo Duterte.
An yet those leaders will never will the presidency. The problem is not the countries leaders. Its the people that elected thats the problem.
n yet those leaders will never win the presidency. The problem is not the country’s leaders. Its the people that elected thats the problem.
Duterte-Gordon tandem will be better for 2016 election but will the Filipino people gonna vote for them? Hopefully…
“the government is only as good as the people who put them there”
monkeys electing monkeys. this will happen in 2016 as it did in the past. can’t expect much. don’t get your hopes to high or don’t even have any hope at all. much of the Filipino population don’t even try hard to think who to vote for. they’re contented by just watching their favorite noon time show or their favorite soap opera. they like to claim other people’s achievement and love to say “Proud to be Pinoy”.
mukhang hindi mangyayari yan adre. baka ang magkalaban next year ay binay at roxas. malamang suportahan ni mayor duterte si roxas. mag-tropa ung dalawa eh. kung ganun, baka go ako kay roxas. Liberal Party ako. pero malayo pa naman. magkakaalaman next year.
Gordon is not a clean politician. He was one of the politicians raking it in during the Subic Bay heydeys. Like Binay recently, he barricaded himself to not be taken out office simply because there was so much money in the tax-free zone back then.
He is corrupt but very intelligent and disciplined hence he was able to fool people into thinking he is clean. He does not flaunt his wealth which could incriminate him. (Imagine how much he needed to run for president 2x.) And he always positions himself smartly – like now as the Red Cross head. (A picture of him out on a rescue expedition surfaced during one of the many typhoons we had when it was reported and subsequently confirmed that he was not in town.)
The gap between truth and impression is a problem in the Philippine political scene. I wish there was an easy way to really point out clean candidates but unfortunately – there is none.
Sadly, nobody is clean.
there might be clean politician that has a potential to be a President but the thing is, even if our president is good enough, the corrupt people is in the lower position. that’s how sad it is.
When it comes to true leadership, marami pang kakaining bigas ang mga pinuno natin. One maybe intelligent(?), one maybe honest or not corrupt(?), one may have loyal following, but if that guy don’t have high ambition for the country and its people that comes with dependable strategies and strict ambitious plans, same shit will happen over and over again.
You hear LKY, Shinzo Abe or Jose Mujica’s name you’ll be filled with pride and sense of security if they were your country’s leader. And their name set you to stick to the rules and work your asses off.
You hear PNoy, Binay, Mar Roxas, [name of your government official sa tabi ng bilog na hugis itlog] and your reaction will no doubt be “What a laugh!” or “Uwian na!”
Don’t give irresponsible people freedom. They have no idea how to handle it, and how valuable this is. Too many people fought and died for a freedom that those idiots will never understand nor value.
Well put Ingo!!!
Truth is, the people in the Philippines don’t have a CLUE what to do with their freedom and independence! Corruption runs rampant, anarchy rules and if it weren’t for a predominantly Christian population conditioned by religion to be peaceful, I would venture a frightful guess as to how the society would likely resemble those in the rogue countries in Africa!
well said!
LKY was a good friend of Ferdinand Marcos. He got the idea of building HDBs in such a small place like sg from him. What did the filipinos do to him? Ousted him, i’m not a pro marcos but am a filipino who was blessed to have lived in sg for 6 years and moved out to down under. Am afraid that philippines has lost its momentum, it would be hard to get back up, it has become a hopeless ‘save yourself’ nation, people looking out only for themselves, those who are pretending to be nationalists are just attention seekers hiding behind their so called ‘heroic act’.. Well, looking from afar, all i can do is pray for u philippines.
“The difference lies in the culture of the Filipino people. It is a soft, forgiving culture. Only in the Philippines could a leader like Ferdinand Marcos, who pillaged his country for over 20 years, still be considered for a national burial. Insignificant amounts of the loot have been recovered, yet his wife and children were allowed to return and engage in politics.” – Lee Kuan Yew
The level of delusion in this comment is too damn high
Which part of my comment is delusional?
Who “got the idea of building HDBs”? FM from LKY? or LKY from FM? When and where did both men met?
Please read the book “From third world to first world” by LKY.
i had my sister order that book for me. nauna pa siyang basahin ngaun kesa sakin. 🙂
not true. that is utter bulshit. though both are dictators. LKY has foresight and vision. Marcos just wanted to loot central bank and live in style.
Singapore already have high-rise HDB flats in Bukit Merah and Queenstown by 1962. Marcos was president by 1966.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_housing_in_Singapore#History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Marcos
now that, we’ve established, that i own your punk ass. Shut up! Tanga! basa-basa pag may time.. hahahaha.
So is cussing really necessary to make your point? When your source is nothing but wikipedia? So do you feel much of a better person now that you have called someone tanga? This is why philippines will never prosper, because of ill-mannered people like you..
Halooo Who’s tanga? you can’t completely trust informations on Wikipedia. Published content/page on Wiki are generally not considered reliable source to cite because anyone can create or edit informations on a particular page.
Ah yes, the mark of someone who was raised from the education institutions of the Philippines. When they cite sources straight up from Wikipedia and don’t do enough digging on their own. And shows off their hubris as well with what little effort it took them to wipe their ass getting second hand information from the internet.
Now granted we call every “dictator” or negative leader in the Philippines whatever. But its also just as worst calling the neutral or squeaky clean but inept leaders of the country “good”. I guess that is what is taught in the esteemed learning institutions of the Philippines after all, with products such as yourself.
Copy pasta.
Wow. Wikipedia.
How can you use Wikipedia as a source? HAHAHAHAH
YES PHILIPPINES BECAME POOR BECAUSE MARCOS STARTED TO PLUNDER IT’S WEALTH. FOLLOWED BY RAMOS AND GLORIAGhttps://www.google.com.ph/search?q=dictionary&oq=dictionary&aqs=chrome..69i57.5239j0j4&sourceid=chrome-mobile&espv=1&ie=UTF-8LORIA WHO DID THE SAME. MARCOS COULD HAVE BEEN GOOD PRESIDENT IF HE WAS NOT CORRUPT. SAYANG WE ARE RICHER THAN OTHER NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES LIKE MALAYSIA VIETNAM SINGAPORE KOREA DURING HIS TIME.
You are damm right Achaea… i still live in the Philippines.. but previledged to travel abroad to visit my daughters in Europe..I drove them out of this country to protect the future of their families.I compare the situation here right now to a Stage 4 Carcinoma ..need a surgical intervention fr a dictator with symblance of Lee Kwan Yu..trash this rabbish politician to Jail and build a new parliamentary Govt. to cut corruption fr the top. I believe thats the only way we can have a better Philippines for you and me..
In Singapore, they did one thing (of many) that the Philippines needs to do: enforce laws. Why? Well, according to the tenets of law, justice is (supposed to be) blind. If you hold accountable those in power as well as the lowly of the low, then you give society a chance at progress because now, you have somewhat leveled the playing field for everyone. Does Singapore allow spitting in public? No. And what happens when that happens? Don’t want to find out. In the Philippines, guaranteed daily there will be tens of dozens of men leaning up against walls, posts, trees, car doors, alleys and everywhere else imaginable to RELIEVE THEMSELVES! PEEING IN PUBLIC IS NO BIG DEAL IN THE PHILIPPINES!!! Now, just start there. If you did that in Singapore then what? So it doesn’t happen there and the society is better for it. Something as simple as that can be corrected if LAWS were enforced. But no such thing. Until that happens, the country will never progress. It will always remain uncivilized and that will be a total hindrance to any kind of progress. Not in 100 years UNLESS real change happens!
Got a point there.thats just gross,BUT people have to be able to pay the fine imposed.Many in Manila live on P150/day.Change that first then MAYBE a change could occur. BUT IDK, its too late…the rats have left the ship and all that’s left to do,really,is watch the ship go down.
Maybe, ‘out of the ashes’?
may solusyon yan. by % base on your salary. like in Finland. so, if you’re a manager, then let’s say nahuli siya for beating the red light, then if 100k ang salary niya, ung imposed na % sa 100k salary, un ang fine niya. so if the fine is set to 10% ng salary, ano ba 10% ng 100k? ewan ko. hahaha basta un.
paano kung walang trabaho at nahuli for spitting, well let me think. maybe 6 months imprisonment with caning or latigo. parang ganyan. ewan ko na lang kung hindi pa titino yan.
There must Laws, Enforcement and Courts. All of a very high standard. As pointed out by LKY. Laws alone will not be enough. Enforcement and Courts must be uncorrupted and incorruptible; get these with superlative pay and stiff penalties.
Let me recall something F. Sionil Jose said in this article called “Culture as Impediment: Why We Were Left Behind.”
“One of the old excuses is corruption.
Let us now look at the Western powers—the United States and Britain. How was America built? The robber barons, the Vanderbilts, the Morgans, Rockefellers and Stanfords were not saints—they raped the land, exploited their workers and were pompous and self-indulgent. But they built railroads, steel mills, industries, universities; after they amassed all that wealth, they went into philanthropy. The richest man in the world today — Bill Gates—poured billions into his crusade to banish the major illnesses and poverty in the world. He has no equal in the Philippines.
The British Empire was envisioned in those smoky London clubs by the captains of industry, the admirals of the navy, the dons of Oxford and Cambridge. Read Charles Dickens — it is all there, how the industrialists exploited their workers. Those navy captains were also pirates, but together, they built an empire.
In our part of the world, the leaders who built Korea, Japan, Taiwan were not saints either. Many of them were also corrupt. Perhaps, the only recent leader in Asia who was upright but stern and purposeful was Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore.
For all their faults, these nation builders had vision and a sense of nation. These qualities, alas, are what our oligarchs never had and never will.”
For that matter, the English parliament evolved from warlords and merchants who grouped together with the aim of keeping the king’s power in check in order to protect their business interests.
There was no noble goal underlying the evolution of the beginnings of representative democracy in England. It was all driven by selfish interests.
Perhaps some “noble goals” were in mind, but there certainly is this notion of keeping someone else in check. Semi-selfish, I’d see it. There’s a bit of selfishness, but there’s a bit of realization that there should be benefit to to others, some caring for others, kindness, etc. Because that will help the self in the end as well.
gates, morgan are still robbing the world today, and avoiding taxation, by donating yo funds, theyre exempted from estate tax and supported by state. their children and family members hold positions in funds, hire managers and the funds go around globe driving up prices creating bubbles then create economic crises, driving down currencies then comes back to buy out institutions and basic industries dirt cheap. much like economic colonies we are to them
Right on target, ChinoF.
One thing we have to remember is how our society was built.
Contrary to the popular belief, we are not America’s trying hard copycats. That’s just the skin. We are a society built on the “Hispanic Model”. Spain has taught us the culture of extremity and grandiosity. Just look on how many fiestas we have, and how most of us are devoted to their religion. This is where the problem lies, we learned to indulge ourselves too much even on trivial things to the point that we don’t even know if it’s still right or logical.
On the contrary, Singapore and the US are built on the “English Model”. They emphasize practicality. Business is business, politics is politics, so on and so forth. They don’t waste their time on trivial things. When they do things, they do it efficiently.
Comparing these “models” we could already know which one is better. Most countries influenced by the British are prosperous. On the contrary, those influenced by the Hispanians are either unstable or suffering economic hardships. Look at Latin America, and even Spain herself.
Now, we look again at Lee Kuan Yew’s lessons. It is true that our politicians did it all wrong, because they took it word for word, instead of getting between and beyond the lines. Do we expect ourselves to learn from him if we can’t even understand the differences of the culture we grew up with?
Lee grew up learning the English way. We grew up on the Hispanic way.
IMO, this is one of the first lessons one must learn to be an effective leader and statesman: he must know his nation like the palm of his hand. It is only then that we could truly start to learn from Lee.
But we have been so americanized already, how come we haven’t gotten that “English” model? I dun think that mattered significantly. It’s just that Filipinos don’t want change.
Even Lee himself has misgivings about the American-style society and governance, and iterated that it doesn’t always work on other nations with different cultures. That might be the case for the Philippines.
I think the Chinese Confucian work ethic has an influence on him and most Singaporeans too.
read this guys, I like this topic from 8list.ph and this will be a moral lesson to us if we want our country to become the next Singapore: http://8list.ph/lee-kuan-yew-philippines/
Lee Kuan Yew was a good leader. His vision for his country was achieved in his lifetime.
Our country is full of political demagogues and political con people. They have visions; not for the country, or for us; but for themselves and their families.
Look at the political family dynasties, we have. Look at the politicians enriching themselves by stealing from the Pork Barrels, DAP, PDAF, etc…
If LKY were to run for president in the Philippines, he never would have won. LKY is just too ugly and his pockmarked face would never appeal to Filipino voters who tend to favor tisoys or showbiz personalities or people with name recall such as Noynoy. LKY is not eloquent, and would have been no match for the oratorical skills of our forever speechifying Ninoy Aquino or Chiz Escudero. LKY is just too straightforward, sometimes too mataray and abrasive, which will rub Filipinos the wrong way. His expressions are just too unvarnished, which will hurt our Filipino pusong mamon. LKY does not fit the Filipino concept of mabait, an attribute which Filipino bobotantes are looking for. If anything, LKY looks like Ponga, the intsik caricature ridiculed and reviled in Pinoy pop-culture (of decades past). Most importantly, LKY also cheated in order to win the national election in 1963. A few months before the election, LKY launched the British-aided “Operation Cold Store” to put all his political opponents away. That’s how LKY won the 1963 election handily. Given that LKY is a big believer in the concept of ‘the end justifies the means’, would that sit well with the judeo-christian morality of the Filipino people? Nah, I didn’t think so.
And if by some off chance LKY were to become the president of the Philippines, the owners of PDI (Marixi Rufino-Prieto and her clan) would be the first to pack up and leave the country for obvious reasons. Given LKY’s incisive understanding of how mestizo hacienderos control the Philippines and impoverish 99.99% of the Filipino people, Noynoy, Mar Roxas and the Lopez clan of ABS-CBN would be the first few families to end up in LKY’s crosshairs.
And because of that to continue with your own “predictions”, your big country is still one big fucking ugly mess. My LKY, whom is well respected by world leaders and a famous one too, wouldn’t want to waste his time nor yours trying to rule the Philippines. Thank God!
Remembering Lee Kuan Yew – Actions Speak Louder Than Words
29 March 2015
As the saying goes, action speaks louder than words. For all the comments made about Mr Lee Kuan Yew, many a time unpleasant, by both locals and non-locals, no one can deny that Mr Lee Kuan Yew left an indelible mark on Singapore’s history and the world’s. At the end of the day, the only real truth is that Mr Lee Kuan Yew was a respected man by Singaporeans and world leaders internationally. This is evident in that international leaders of super powers such as US, China and India attended his funeral today. And even more so, the fact that countries such as India, New Zealand and Russia showed such tremendous respects for him by flowing their flags at half-mast as a mark of respect for his passing. Which country in the world can proudly say that of their leader?
To all the international media who have criticised Mr Lee Kuan Yew: He may have ruled Singapore with an iron-fist, but he ruled it well. And to whether his ends justified his means? Oh, definitely, yes, for if he had been soft in his approach in a time where tough stances needed to be made, then we, Singapore, would not be where we are today, much less to be debating on this very issue now.
In the hearts of every Singaporean, he is an extraordinary man and a legendary leader – one who can never be replaced. His demise marks the end of an era, but it is also the start of a new one. His departure reminded us of his contributions to Singapore and that to we, the future generation, are the ones responsible to uphold his life’s work and that we should be truly grateful for what he has given to make Singapore what it is today – his life. We are reminded once more that Singapore should never be too complacent, for all that we hold dear to now, is ever so vulnerable, no matter how high our GDP has increased or how many international accolades Singapore has received. Because Singapore is a small island city without natural resources, only its people who are and must be willing to sacrifice, at all costs, to guard her interests as no one else will.
In his eulogy this afternoon, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong compared Mr Lee Kuan Yew to the architect, Sir Christopher Wren who built St Paul’s Cathedral in London. But personally, I think that the greatness of Mr Lee Kuan Yew lies not only in his leadership which led Singapore to attain such achievements and recognition on the world stage, but that he has left each unique Singaporean is a personalised gift – the Singapore Passport which bears our individual names. It contains the true reflection of good diplomatic ties between Singapore and some of the world’s greatest and most influential nations. It is the single, most valuable piece of possession a Singaporean will ever own, for it is with this little red book that we are able to experience true freedom – travelling to anywhere we want, being able to grasp hold of international opportunities and being the best we can be. And so, to the Western media and all their criticisms on freedom in Singapore, I say: I’d prefer my little red book – the Singapore Passport – any day. And so, to the Western media and all their criticisms on freedom in Singapore, I say: I’d prefer my own little red book – the Singapore Passport – any day.
LKY is not eloquent? Wow.
hacienderos conniving with intl welath funds
Singapore definitely prospered under this guy.Though the country/city/state/island is not for everyone.(He came to power with lots of BIG help from the British). Taxes on foreigners buying condo’s/residences there are just fuckin outrageous.Cops ticket/fine the shit out of people for almost anything.Totalitarianism???
and he had a lot of help too.Singaporeans did not build the place by themselves.Developments in the West benefitted he and his place dramatically.
RIP.
The same will be said about the Lady in Burma in 25 yrs..Thing is ,why?
You gave the fuckin impression that only foreigners pay stamp duties (not fuckn tax) when buying apartments. Singaporeans and PRs pay the same duties. The Singapore police is not in the biznsss of issuing summons (tickets). Enforcement officers will, if you do shit things like those that are commonly committed in Phil – littering, spitting or relieving in public, parking vehicles illegally, beating red traffic light, smoking in prohibited places, etc. That’s why most pinas cities are filthy and vehicles are parked wherever the damn drivers like.
This ‘guy’, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, devoted his life to turning the country from 3rd World to 1st World. Eradicating major crimes, corruption and widespread poverty – problems that are found practically all over pinas except in places like Davao City. Politics is not an innocent game for ignorant people like you obviously. Even the many dynastic and corrupt politicians in pinas must know how to play their chess, not for the people but for their own pockets. Even Duterte is forced to use his own way to get things done to turn Davao City into what it is today.
Wtf do you mean by: he came to power with lots of BIG help from the British, totalitarianism-he had all the help, Singaporeans did not build the place by themselves, developments in the West benefitted “he” and his place “dramatically”?? If you don’t understand national and international ssues, don’t rant off like you’re knowledgable. Anybody can do that behind the keyboard.
I was born in the USA but I attended high school in the Philippines during the 90’s. One of our outdated Philippine history books had some anti-Singapore propaganda (well, anti-abortion). The book mocked Singapore’s population control policy saying it will be bad for it’s economy. I believe the author was Gregorio F. Zaide.
Can this guy win an election here I really doubt he can win here
This guy was never interested in the hopeless situation in pinas where mostly corrupt politicians rule and criminal cases are seldom solved or take years. (Case of Ampalaya or the mass murder of election candidates and journalists – Maguindanao?). Why would he want to stand for election here? He’s not a celebrity like Erap or some rebellious army/police generals who were convicted and/or jailed but could still return to political life or hold public office.
Singapore, even though is made of many different religions, cultures, is small, so it’s easy to govern the country. It helped that the country’s gov. is parliamentary with 2 branches so laws are passed like a piece of cake. However it lacks a system of checks and balances. A parliamentary gov. has no standard term, so the gov. can announce elections when it has high ratings in surveys. Here, there’s 3 branches making it slow to pass laws (Ave. is 1 year), but it makes up for careful deliberation by all 3 branches and checking for loopholes. Having 3 branches make it harder for 1 branch (particularly the executive where there’s prez) to consolidate power in gov. It also provides one branch to ‘check’ one another in case one is committing corruption, like when SC declared PNOY’s PDAF unconstitutional. Unless, all 3 branches are in it for a criminal conspiracy. Our presidential system of gov’s supposed to minimize corruption but it’s bloated making for slow progress
The entire Philippine Democratic system is screwed and has never favored full unity of islands. Yes its easy to govern a small area logistically but you still have to put in work. Ironic considering the general supposed consensus that there is no money in the Philippines yet the cases of corruption in the country involving huge sums of money says otherwise.
It does take money to effectively oversee an area with the logistics like the Philippines. There is also money in the resources if the logistics were setup properly. Of course with constraints in the constitution like the 60/40 ownership, it really favors the economy to be ran by those who currently control it. The same old people who have their fingers in everything outside of progressive reforms to transform the Philippine economy and way of life radically. And are just going to progress the country their own way while filling up their coffers. So by the time Pinoys can proudly claim they are a tiger economy, everyone else in Southeast Asia have more opportunities.
Philippines is proof that Philippines did it all wrong
Hey, if you LOVE Singapore that much, why don’t you just haul your ass over there!!! STAY AWAY FROM THIS COUNTRY, YOU UNGRATEFUL TRAITOR!!!
No problem. The “pinoy island” is not the only nation on earth, there are many other nations with better standard of living.
Why should we limit ourselves to just one place? We have the right to travel to other regions of the earth and not be bounded forcefully to this draconian notion of national “loyalty”.
Hey, if you love PH that much to feel insulted, why don’t you fix it first? Some food for thought.
fuck off phelm wad. butthurt pinoy in the house.
Just a piece of my mind.
If you think these guys in GRP are traitors, why is the group existing in the first place? They have the option to stay silent, or move to another country if they can. But no, they took the unenviable job of being “hate-magnets” just to expose the ills of our society. It’s because they love this country deep down in their hearts.
I’m of the belief that every person has a role. He’s NOT required to do everything. It’s not their responsibility to fix things as if it’s a mandate for those who talk big. They can vote for the people who’ll do the job for them.
If GRP decided to be our nation’s conscience, so be it.
I’ve already seen many people here say “you rather do it”, or quote one JFK’s famous line. Well, i say they’re giving their own contribution already to this nation. And I’m pretty sure they’ve voted for the people they think are fit to guide this country. It’s just unfortunate that they’re outnumbered by the unwashed masses, the victims of oligarchic tyranny.
FTR, I don’t always agree to their views. But I have a deep respect for them because they have the balls to speak up. Do you have the balls to do the same?
I feel sorry for you. Clearly you didn’t get the point, pretty sure you got “Pinoy Pride” delusion ideology and quickly responds to meaningful criticisms with a lot profanities and stupid unintelligent insults without using your brain first. Yep plenty of those kinds here.
I stayed in sg for 5 years, i already did haul my ass over there because i was forced by circumstances, my family might have died of starvation f i didnt…. I realized sg is indeed so good, and ph is far cry as comparedbto sg…. I was inspired that i came back here and having a passion fir change and speak up… Oh welll maybe your just being uncivilized and narriow eyed… Why dont you try to haul your ass over there so that you might understand what we are talking about… Youve stayed here to long… Your brain needs some fresh air…..
as I hate the government, I also hate those filipinos who talk to much but nonsense. From where do you get your ideas, brain-drain or colonial mentality? yes you blame the government, but do you also blame yourself from what is happening in our country? get real b*tches
Spare the rod, spoil the child, as the cliche saying goes. The Philippines is nothing but a spoiled brat who has no stick-bearing disciplinarian parent to beat him with, so it grew up to be the wretch it is today. Meanwhile, Singapore has risen out of its own scars and became the power we will never become.
After reading most of the comments, now I know what is wrong with my country. First of all, we like looking at our negative side. We dont appreciate our positives. Singapore is a great city nation but dont we have the longest coastline in the world and with that some of the greatest beaches. Second is we like comparing ourselves to our successful neighbors, someone is always better than us. Third is we like talking about problems but we dont stand up and do something about it. Bad leaders? Why dont we participate in the electoral process by campaigning for good candidates. I became an orphan at age 1, thank God for Filipino relatives who took me in and sent me to school. Started out as an ordinary rank and file employee, barely able to make ends meet but through the dint of hard labor and a positive outlook and a lot of self study, became a millionaire at the age of 30. Sure, Another country is better than mine but I love the Philippines, warts and all. When work stress in the city becomes intolerable, I jump into my car with my kids, drive till I find a farm with a large tree, ask the local farmer if I can put my mat in the ground and sleep for a bit of which he always says “Sure, this is a free country”. Now ain’t that great!
Sounds like Filipino style democracy propaganda. Props for embellishing such a cancerous aociety.
Very nicely said,and most likely the type of leadership the Philippines needs today.
we need Duterte to sit on Malacanang and change our country forever just like LKY.
A very wise man many years ago made a statement I remember and have found it to be true .. “Any country in the past governed by Spain and evangelized by the Catholic church tends to be disaster for the masses and is politically corrupt”. So far I have found it to be true..
Because Spain’s main influence to its colonies are negatives like laziness while having lavish life styles, which is why it is corrupt. Catholicism is the religion brought by Spain to the Philippines to colonize it and uses religion to inform its colonies to be forgiving on the evils done on them. In fact, check out any country that is Catholic and tell me if they are progressive or not. Just give me one country if there is any. It is not a problem of FAITH, but a problem of being fanatics.
Chile, Costa Rica, Uruguay.
Mexico & Brazil.
“…In fact, check out any country that is Catholic and tell me if they are progressive or not…”
France and Austria comes to mind. Poland too. Would Bavaria count?
“…It is not a problem of FAITH, but a problem of being fanatics…”
Right in the money.
Philippines is being run by businessmen. Filipinos are puppets of businessmen.
Sigapore is being run by business minded politicians. And the profit they gained, they returned in terms of infrastructures, improvements and more business to earn more profit for the good of every Singaporeans.
Philippines is being run by businessmen. Philippines is the haven for the money worshippers. Filipinos are puppets of businessmen.
Philippines is the haven for the money worshippers.
LKY ruled with an iron fist, but above all, he ruled with practicality. Any well-mannered and considerate person would have no trouble following his rules. To those who have been to Singapore, did you ever feel stifled by their “authoritarianism”? Walk where you should walk, fall in line, take care of your environment. It’s not that hard. Hindi lang talaga uubra ang Pinoy mentality ng palusot at pasaway.
I dunno. Tell it to the choice Filipinos who felt Marcos’ era was “Oppressive”, what with the ability to buy resources like food at a decent cost. But embraced Cory Aquino and her Pipol Power like it was liberating, brown outs and mismanagement of government in all.
LKY was an exceptional human being running a small city-state. The Philippines has had great mayors in the past, running cities as big as Singapore. The problem with authoritarianism in the Philippines is this: name me just one Filipino (and his family) you would trust to have absolute authoritarian power over the rest of us.
In the end, the value of democracy is not just to vote persons into power, but maybe more importantly for us, to also vote them peacefully out … otherwise we would be in a continuous cycle of people power revolutions and coups.
The supposed real value of democracy is that anyone with a real dream and vision can represent the people and set out to do this. The funny part is the Philippines has had those great mayors but guess who always ends up in the ballots in this great democratic setup of the country? Mostly inept leaders who captured the sympathy of the people who aren’t well educated to understand that EXACT value of the democratic system! And the ones who did real practical effort make enough enemies to get themselves exposed and demonized.
The country has never really voted anyone out peacefully nor have they ever given the full blessings to a leader. The 1986 Constitution was simply a peaceful takeover with the proper propaganda to run it. No one will say it that way because the winners can write history the way they want to. And the country has gone through at least two people power coups and numerous attempts. The same people who valued democracy so much that they forget to read the fine lines in the constitution that the leader is to serve six year terms and the lines for impeachment or to oust the leader out aren’t clear cut, unless propagated otherwise. And they go collect themselves out the streets as a mob to complain about the performance of a leader because someone in media or word of mouth is helping perpetuate it.
At the very least, LKY set out the rules for his people and despite how rigid or strict it could be in the beginning, his people grew to understand the practicality of it and realized the big picture of the results to be with it. Meanwhile the Filipino Democracy is about as resolute as a contract written on toilet paper because the people don’t understand how the system works and in the end, its the big names they put into power that laugh their way to the bank.
Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.
On the late Lee Kuan Yew.
Sharing what I wrote at this link:
https://tankoktim.wordpress.com/category/lee-kuan-yews-legacy-his-life-1923-2015/
Due to many reasons or national pride, some countries in Asean have not entered into joint venture projects with Singapore to develop industrial parks or new development in their countries like others do.
[For example, JV project in Tianjin, China between Tianjin and Singapore has land space twice that of Singapore].
Sharing what I wrote at this link:
https://tankoktim.wordpress.com/2015/05/02/governing-singapore-after-lee-kuan-yew/
human nature …the problem
GRP family! finally I get to go to Singapore this month!!! Thanks to budget airlines, Singapore is just like a domestic flight from PH.
I encourage all government officials down to the barangay level to visit Singapore (napakamura lang mga kababayan). There are even very cheap hotels.
Go to Singapore and see first hand just what is it they are doing right. Watch and learn!!!
My image of Singapore is like “UP Diliman, Subic, Camp John Hay, and the Fort” multiplied 100x over an area as big as Metro Manila. Hope I won’t get disappointed. Coz I wasn’t disappointed when I went to K.Lumpur a few years back.
Pwede na ba akong salesman?
They had it easy, its one island of 5 million, they’re the wrong idol. It’s not easy to organize 100 million hungry banana eaters.
This Singapore idolatry is like a “Ganito Kami sa Makati” campaign, its dumb, it cannot work anywhere else other than Makati.
Singapore is like the Kardashians, they had it kinda rough now they’re doing well thanks to Kris Jenner and her rule of no pregnancy until Kanye, and the Sex tape…. and the asses… and the titties.
Now, GRP, what you guys should realize is that we are like an orphanage of 100 not 5 girls with big asses and titties. We are the byproduct of Spanish fucking, Japanese rape and American abandonment.
We had a bad deal in our life as a Nation and the last thing we need is to idolize those who did it easy.
Give me an Island in the tropics, a badass credit line, an Army and 5 million workers and I’ll make you a Singapore with blackjack and hookers.
Dont compare phils. To singapore because it singapore is just a tiny city compared to whole phils. You can relate if you play simcity.. If you only have small zone then its east to get rich coz your on track with everything.. Not like the phils. It has 7,107 islands.. Get it?
So you are saying East Timor will be the next southeast asian country to overtake Philippines?
Excuses excuses abound. Boohooohooo. Trying to justify the idiots you keep electing in office. Suck it,
From what I have seen I think corruption is easily forgiven. We Filipinos have that forgiving nature, it’s not bad but in excess, this is what it caused. What if we have a government that imposes the law strictly with an iron fist.. Especially to corrupt government officials. For example, if a president is proven to be stealing from our country, he gets life imprisonment not in a hospital, rolling in a wheelchair or a heroes burial when he dies but a maximum security prison. He gets treated like all the inmates. All his family’s riches will be taken as payment for everything he stole. That is to set an example to those who are below him, a warning, so that no one will follow in his steps in the future. Because from what I can see, these ….ing politicians don’ respect the law and the people, they think they can do what they want and even if they get caught, the penalty is light as ….! But hey.. that’s never going to happen..
LKY is a doddering old fool, just like Marcos.
What a stupid article. So what is it insulating? Give up democracy to allow those failed shitty politicians become permanent? Idiots.
The problem obviously isn’t with democracy, but with the quality of government they have.
No body is perfect anyway everyone has its own failures and failures are the ones that put all things wrong both must to blame for Filipinos who voted wrong and put leaders to rule Philippines Wrong…
Regret and regrets are always at the end of the storyline……
This is a common misconception. Does anyone know the land area and population of Singapore vs the Philippines? It’s even smaller than most of the cities in Metro Manila.
Yeah, it’s a progressive country but only because it is a bite-sized manageable size and population. Maybe if LKY governed a country the size of the Philippines this would be worth taking seriously.
Singapore rise up to its current status because of LKY’s iron fist style of management. He made tough decisions, sacrificing 1 generation of Sporeans to achieve what it is today.
Phil will be better and can benefit from LKY style of ruling.. only questions is, can Phil afford to sacrifice a generation of people, making most of its states and island Singapore-liked.
Singapore is not corruption free.Our government is not always competent. Our pioneer government build a solid foundation that enables the current government to have better credit, better diplomacy and stands out in S.E asia.Singaporeans still suffers, its just not as visible.
thank you for stating that SG is not corruption free even though you have a very progressive country, because someone here in the Philippines claims he will end corruption, drugs and crime in 3-6 months and a lot of people actually believed him. .
What about Putin to have more discipline than democracy?
Singapore trumps democracy; it’s the cleanest.
Russia trumps democracy, less strict than North Korea.
China trumps democracy, less strict than North Korea.
North Korea trumps democracy, but it’s the most repressive.
Nondemocracy countries have more of the discipline than democracy. However in North Korea, it has harsh punishments to the extreme.
Authoritarianism and totalitarianism for a tyranny?
The problem in totalitarianism? There is only a totalitarian dictatorship in closed, isolated, secretive and reclusive country, N. Korea because it abolishes freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, civil liberties for propaganda and oppression and tyranny.
More importantly , genetic is very important… Chinese tends to achieve well in Math and Science . What pinoy can do? Lazy ?