Category: Development

Metro Manila a candidate for urban ‘catastrophic failure’ according to policy expert

Posted on By benign0 39 Comments on Metro Manila a candidate for urban ‘catastrophic failure’ according to policy expert

The virtue of ‘resilience’ has become a dirty word now in the Philippines as third-time unlucky Manila is again hit by another one of those “one-in-one-hundred” calamities that were once the key statistical notion underpinning urban planners’ archaic flood “control” master plans. Although response to the disaster has “improved”, the feel-good rhetoric around Filipinos’ cockroach-like…

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Development, Environment, Government

Social Media and Big Telco emerge as Filipino heroes

Posted on By benign0 3 Comments on Social Media and Big Telco emerge as Filipino heroes

In another one of its infomercial articles that it would like to pass off to the average sucker as a news “report”, ABS-CBN trumpeted another one of those dubious “achievements” Filipinos owe mainly to their enormous population — our undisputed place in the global scheme of things as the “social media capital of the world”….

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Development, Environment, Money Talks, Politics

Metro Manila had long ago set itself up for its own destruction by flooding

Posted on By benign0 54 Comments on Metro Manila had long ago set itself up for its own destruction by flooding

According to Mark McDonald in a New York Times blog post, the recent floods that hit Metro Manila this week “seem to have caused little public anger over further municipal dysfunction in the densely populated capital of more than 10 million” and that, instead, “Filipinos demonstrated a remarkable civic spirit as they shared news of…

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Culture, Development, Government, Society

Metro Manila flood control master planning in chronic catch up mode over the last two decades!

Posted on By benign0 12 Comments on Metro Manila flood control master planning in chronic catch up mode over the last two decades!

Perhaps in this instance rather than refer to Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III by his catchy first two initials, he should instead be referred to as the ‘BT’ President — as in bad timing. Just two weeks before The Disaster that Could not be Named struck Manila and turned it into a real-life…

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Development, Economy, Environment, Government

Could the Php 1.9 bn in flood control projects axed by Noynoy Aquino have saved Metro Manila from destruction?

Posted on By benign0 106 Comments on Could the Php 1.9 bn in flood control projects axed by Noynoy Aquino have saved Metro Manila from destruction?

The latest deluge to hit Metro Manila once again demonstrates the sorry state of preparedness of state emergency services in the Philippines and the woefully insufficient flood control infrastructure of the country’s premier metropolis. Flooding brought about by days of southwest monsoon rains pounding the northern Philippine island of Luzon have once again paralysed vast…

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Development, Economy, Government

Access to safe drinking water critical in the coming days to prevent diarrhea outbreak

Posted on By benign0 1 Comment on Access to safe drinking water critical in the coming days to prevent diarrhea outbreak

With word out that “unprecedented” heavy rains may continue well into Thursday the 9th of August, persistent floods are expected to spawn a new risk to health. Diarrhea outbreaks now pose a threat to thousands of Filipinos impacted by flood waters. Health Secretary Enrique Ona has issued warnings about the dangers of contaminated drinking water…

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Development, Environment

Philippine Reproductive Health Bill: politically-corrected beyond recognition

Posted on By benign0 71 Comments on Philippine Reproductive Health Bill: politically-corrected beyond recognition

The Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill) is one hell of a beast. The Philippines’ Roman Catholic Church literally sees it as such — a beast straight out of hell that will undermine everything that it stands for. It has, today, come down to the vote: Will Philippine Congress approve or reject the bill? It is…

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Culture, Development, Religion, Society

Former President Gloria Arroyo released on bail: Philippines plunges back into the Dark Ages!

Posted on By benign0 23 Comments on Former President Gloria Arroyo released on bail: Philippines plunges back into the Dark Ages!

Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III has long maintained that the Philippines is impoverished because of corruption. He also maintains that said corruption was what described the last ten years stretching from 2001 up to 2010 — the period within which ruled former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA). We can then infer on the back…

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Crime, Development, Government, Politics