The only bunch of people who are really confused about where their place is in the Philippines’ political landscape are — you guessed it — the Yellowtards. These people are the country’s political parasites. They deliberately do not commit to a stable ideological framework because they need to maintain a high degree of fluidity in their principles to allow them to easily slither into whatever political bloc of the time offers them the highest ground in the next election.
Consider how these crooks have positioned themselves today. From being rabid Martial Law Crybabies in the campaign leadup to (and even over the decades before) the 2022 national elections that saw the ascent to power of Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., the Yellowtards have suddenly gone silent on their tiresome but nonetheless renowned Marcos-is-Evil rhetoric. Indeed, you’d think this would be a long-overdue sensible posture when one considers that the Yellowtard powers-that-be share a lot more basic values with the garden-variety Filipino oligarchs that hold court in the current Marcos government today than with those surrounding the Duterte clan of Mindanao (led by former President Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, current Vice President Sara Duterte). After all, many Yellowtard oligarchs are related both by blood and by marriage to many Marcos cronies and are members of the same chi chi Manila golf and country clubs. Imperial Manila, in short.
Imperial Manila people, after all, fancy themselves as members of the urbane elite cream of society that are antitheses to the Philippines’ deep south probinsyano sub-culture. To be fair, the Dutertes do conduct themselves in ways consistent to that stereotype looking back at the character of the former president’s administration and as made evident more recently in the shrill behaviour the Vice President exhibited under the spotlight in those congressional “inquiries” into her budget.
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The interesting thing is that when one steps back far enough from all that and regards Philippine society from an outsider’s perspective, all of these characters come across as the same monolithic picture of crassness. Much as the promdi archetype of the Philippine south attracts the derision of Manila’s sosyal set, there is something to be said about the equally tacky way the Marcoses celebrate their birthdays with an astoundingly tone-deaf grandiosity. That’s not to even mentioning the infantile way First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos herself struts around. At the end of the day, they are all the same, whether we are talking about a Marcos, an Aquino, a Robredo, or a Duterte.
The easy way to sum up this general crassness of Philippine society (which characterises even its most chi chi elite subset) is in how the Philippine entertainment industry portrays them. We did write some time ago about the amusing reality that Filipino actors do not know how to portray rich people because “Filipino script writers are incapable of grasping the nuances of what it means to be a true member of the alta ciudad (high society). To top that with another layer of dysfunction, Filipino actors and actresses are woefully ill-equipped to play such characters.”
Shouting matches, loud monologues, and slapstick chatter pepper stories about “love” between characters from opposite sides of the tracks, one-dimensional infidelity, and infantile youth angst. In short, the cinematic devices haven’t evolved much since Lavinia Arguelles played by the late Cherie Gil issued the words “You’re nothing, but a second-rate trying hard copycat!” to Dorina Pineda played by Sharon Cuneta in the 1985 film Bituing Walang Ningning.
Seems we were being too kind at the time. There is no true alta ciudad in the Philippines because all elite Filipinos really have is money and none of what makes one a truly well-bred member of elite society that exhibits grace as a matter of routine habit. This means Philippine entertainment creatives actually had nothing much to work with to begin with. Indeed, if even the most chi chi of Philippine learning institutions, the Ateneo de Manila, which counts amongst its illustrious products no less than the First Lady, fugitive former Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Chairman Andy Bautista, and default Yellowtard leader Leni Robredo fails to instil that breeding and grace, what hope is there for all the sub A-Listers out there? Then again, breeding and grace are supposedly things one would have learnt in kindergarten, right? That leaves much to be desired in that much-vaunted “strict” Filipino parenting style.
Circling back to the original point, one could forgive the Yellowtards’ confused state. The only real way to escape the dysfunction of Philippine society is to remove one’s self from it. Unfortunately for the Yellowtards, like all the rest of them, their top “thought leaders” routinely fail to think outside of the little square that frames Filipino thinking. The worst outcome of this smallness of thinking that afflicts even the “best and brightest” products of the Philippines education system is in how much of what characterises the Philippine Political “Debate” still hasn’t changed.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Dutertards are the new Yellowtards, unfortunatley for them that their allies rather flee than face whatever is thrown at them
Filipinos have no critical thinking abilities so they just support corrupt politicians and political families, they think being governed by political families is good. This is a result of an idiotic society.
The Aquinos are vindictive and the Dutertes are confrontational and shies away from accountabilities. Both political clans tend to harbor fugitives of the law.
Why should the people spend taxpayers’ money on fugitives like Apollo Quiboloy and Harry Roque?
The Marcos brand just carry on with their legacy of nation building and in uniting the country, they face their legal battles quietly in the courts of law. They also don’t engage in political mud-slinging.
They’re not all the same …
The comparison only goes as far as they’re all players in the Philippine Political landscape.
The Marcos politicians aren’t the good guys either because they don’t advocate for anti-political dynasty bill. Bongbong even expressed that he doesn’t like anti-political dynasty bill and blamed the term limits in the constitution for the rise of the political dynasties.
If you don’t want a Marcos and you don’t support or accept particular principles or values that they stand for, then choose another. Is there any law that will prevent you from electing someone else?
Election is a process that gives power to the people to choose who will lead them.
Again, it is power to the people. It is up to you to use it wisely.
The problem is Filipinos are incompetent voters, and instead of helping them vote better by enacting the anti-political dynasty bill, politicians are taking advantage of the voters’ incompetence which is why they keep on stonewalling the anti-political dynasty bill. Another problem is political dynasties limit the choices of candidates because candidates are always either from same families or their affiliates.
Marcos hates anti-political dynasty bill for selfish reasons such as he, his sister and his son want to “serve” the country. If they really want to serve, then why politics? They don’t need to enter politics to serve the country.
BBM, since day 1, spent millions of taxpayers’ money on travels abroad just to show off to other leaders around the world that he is the incumbent president. These travels do not have tangible return of investments to the Philippines, only pledges. BBM and his family spent a lot of taxpayers’ money on grandeur and partying, when they ought to serve the people on simple lifestyle but elite hardwork.
BBM only maintains the status quo. Nothing changes to the Philippines since he was elected in 2022. He had several blunders made during his 1st & 2nd year in office, that includes the blunders of his incompetent department secretaries. His 20-peso rice per kilo is a scam. Far from reality. His defunct uniteam is only for show during elections. In short, the Philippines elected a president for the sake of just having a president for that matter. No sort of quantum leap of concrete improvements and inclusive growth for all Filipinos. BBM also pole vaulted into presidency because he is a product of traditional politician who was elected because of his surname. If his name is Juan de la Cruz, I bet he will not
ever win the presidency because BBM has no good track record and high educational attainment to begin with just to name a few. He is also accused of being a cocaine addict.
Unfortunately for the Yellowtards and the DDS, who morphed into the New Yellowtards – the New Parasytes, it don’t matter anymore whether they approve of PBBM as the current President or not.
What matters more is that the people have spoken, 31 million strong! The reality is, he is the elected President as willed by the people. Even the closest rival doesn’t even have the moral ascendancy to challenge the result of the 2020 elections. It’s over…
The DDS’ and the Yellowtards’ strategy to define and anchor the stronger points of their favored leaders with their imagined accusations against PBBM is actually nothing more than a sign of their true weaknesses and an obvious grand lack of an alternative program or platform they can offer better to the country and people. They already served their terms and are now being judged for what they have done and unable to do. This is the narrative and reason why PBBM is at the helm of power.
Not even halfway through his term yet, PBBM is no magician either. Nation building is a process, it takes time. As with the rest before him, proper judgement of his administration is at the end of his term.
It’s time to move on and support the President because when the leader does well the country does well. The future is ours.
“ It’s time to move on and support the President because when the leader does well the country does well. The future is ours.”
The “leader does well” part made me laugh so hard. There’s an old article in this website which says that Noynoy is the worst Philippine president, but in my opinion, if BBM doesn’t change, he’s might even surpass Noynoy in terms of being the worst president Philippines ever had.
Also, don’t you remember that he blatantly said that he’s against anti-political dynasty? He didn’t even veto the magna carta for seafarers act which turned out to be horrible for seafarers.
Well I guess I’m going to need to tell you a couple of things Jason VOORHEES…
“BBM, since day 1, spent millions of taxpayers’ money on travels abroad just to show off to other leaders around the world that he is the incumbent president. These travels do not have tangible return of investments to the Philippines, only pledges. BBM and his family spent a lot of taxpayers’ money on grandeur and partying, when they ought to serve the people on simple lifestyle but elite hardwork.”
The big issue with investments is the unreasonable equity restrictions. Just ask yourself why would investors choose COMMUNIST Vietnam over DEMOCRATIC Philippines. The Communist Party of Vietnam doesn’t have a very good track record either. To Lam, a man who spent money on an overpriced steak, is now their highest authority. It’s because Vietnam’s economic restrictions aren’t based on ownership and enshrined in their constitution.
If you think about it, who in the world would want to split their HARD-EARNED profits by 60-40 with a local oligarch? Please, companies keep only what’s left after all expenses are paid, including taxes. Let me ask you if you’re willing to rent a space and own only 40% of your business in that area?
However, Bobong Marcos is still too focused on his ego. He should focus on easing economic restrictions away from the constitution, as a step to getting more investments.
“BBM only maintains the status quo. Nothing changes to the Philippines since he was elected in 2022. He had several blunders made during his 1st & 2nd year in office, that includes the blunders of his incompetent department secretaries. His 20-peso rice per kilo is a scam. Far from reality. His defunct uniteam is only for show during elections. In short, the Philippines elected a president for the sake of just having a president for that matter. No sort of quantum leap of concrete iTmprovements and inclusive growth for all Filipinos. BBM also pole vaulted into presidency because he is a product of traditional politician who was elected because of his surname. If his name is Juan de la Cruz, I bet he will not
ever win the presidency because BBM has no good track record and high educational attainment to begin with just to name a few. He is also accused of being a cocaine addict.”
Once again Jason VOORHEES, it’s the result of the presidential system. I thought you were long gone but I’ve got educate that THICK SKULL of yours. You even try to force the narrative that the Empire of Marcos under the 1973 constittution, was a parliamentary form of government. Come on, Ninoy already admitted, “We have a parliamentary form of government WITHOUT a parliament.” I’m here to hammer you before you start spreading the lie that the Empire of Marcos was a parliamentary. Newsflash–it couldn’t be because how can he be a president with powers and Cesar Virata was a first-class administrator but NON-STARTER. Lee Kuan Yew already stated that Virata was a non-starter. Lee Kuan Yew ran a real parliamentary system. The Empire of Marcos’ “parliamentary” was under the Butasang Pambulsa — never even had the SAME arrangement as a legitimate parliamentary.
The presidential system is based on name recall. If Kris Aquino ever ran last 2022 — chances are people will vote for her because of the AQUINO recall. Leni Loud Robredo is simply associated as Jesse Robredo’s widow. Popularity and name recalls is why even an IDIOT like Bobong Marcos can become president.
However, under a parliamentary system, check out Singapore’s requirements. It’s NOT easy to become a prime minister. It’s because they need to study, prove themselves as members of parliament, and Bobong Marcos has NONE OF THAT. Thank your beloved 1987 Constipation for why Bobong Marcos even won!
But as always, I still remember what you said about DNA that determines Filipino politicians from the rest of the world. I dare you to prove that to the National University of Singapore for a start! Come on, I dare you! You’ll just be laughed off! It’s because of the current SYSTEM that’s why Filipinos are “one of a kind”.
Well, I guess you should just get your machete and force people to believe your claims that the Philippines was under a parliamentary — during the Marcos Empire years! Either way, it seems you’re too focused on whining. No amount of machete wielding will ever change the fact that the current constitution needs updating and that the Marcos Empire was NOT. A. PARLIAMENTARY. FORM. OF GOVERNMENT.
It seems the confused overgrown martial law cry-baby believes in LKY but not in a democracy.
The supposed 7-step approach to becoming the prime minister of Singapore is, though commendable, designed ONLY to recruit, train and groom a future leader of choice from among their own party.
State leadership and control of power in Singapore is, as always, controlled by the late Dictator LKY’s People’s Action Party.
Though Singapore showcases a semblance of a real election, it is, in reality and actuality, just a one-party state controlled by the cadres of LKY’s political party.
Do you know of any other Singaporean leader even if qualified but an outsider of LKY’s own party who ever had a chance to make himself nearer to the position of power in a state-controlled Butasang Partido?!
In summary, the cry-baby lectures in hypocrisy …
Can one just be blissfully ignorant. It seems easier that way. We don’t exactly have troves of treasure at our disposal to be able to move mountains.
What is an example of an _alta cuidad_ in neighboring countries?
Is the First Lady really counting down the days of their stay in the halls of power? Is the place really just for prestige? or a blackhole for the power hungry?