My Arab News column for this week is Spying on the US Makes Manila Look Bad. Related reads are Jove’s recent reports from the USA, and a curious article in the Manila Times, concerning an American “mystery ship” off Mindanao. Spymania!
The punditocracy offers up the following for our delectation today: the Inquirer editorial tackles what it views as a Palace good cop, bad cop routine, with a twist; Greg Macabenta says “Gloriagate” has fractured the Filipino-American community on a scale reminiscent of martial law; Carmen Guerrero Nakpil comments on another fractured community: that of the descendants of those who fought in the revolution, split since Bonifacio’s execution, and split again because of what she perceives as the President’s trying to use the descendants of heroes for partisan purposes; and Ambeth Ocampo, on a lighter note, has a charming column on pre-war gossip magazines, bordellos, and ham. Jarius Bondoc, on the other hand, accuses the senate of sloth.
The blogosphere has been rather quiet. Uniffors issues a blast against the Anti-Terrorism bill. Big Mango has been continuing his series of responses to the Blueprint for a Viable Philippines. BuzzMachine insists journalism is an act, not a person. Go Figure has an interesting entry on the Nobel Prize for Economics and Game Theory. Sassy devotes her legal skills to the case of a Makati-based alien.
I’ve been meaning to point out Vaes9’s list of Metro Manila Trivia for some time. So there.
Follow-the-links: Global Voices Online points to Yuga’s views as to how many Filipino bloggers there really are. New Economist points to a book titled The Conquest of Nature: A Brief Economic History of the World, 10,000 BC-2000 AD. TPM Cafe has an article pointing to a paper on the new Iraqi Constitution. Kottke.org points to the Kingdom of Bhutan which measures not Gross National Product, but Gross National Happiness.
Manolo, I agree w/ JB about the “poor performance of the Senate is.Altough,Drilon gives the excuse of quality to quantity.How can there be quality from the kind of Senators we have now?
I wounder why there are no surveys on the Senate?
mine today is totally off tangent. i was looking over what i missed the past few days and the debate on who can replace gma seems to have not cooled down. the argument that fpj has long died and no one in the opposition is as good, looks like a tall wall. the king was posthumously hailed by many of his former staunch critics/tormentors as actually the best candidate when his good deeds and corporate achievements were finally brought out in the open during the wake. however, the guy’s really not around anymore. so in all honesty, who will benefit if gma leaves? maybe her removal is not so smart after all. can we not just let her stay and let her benefactors thrive? all they want is to make us anti-terrorism cannon fodder and pimp our national patrimony to foreigners in their planned cha-cha. it is not such a bad idea unless, of course, if you have children who will inherit this land.
Who will benefit if Gloria leaves? Easy, the people will definitely benefit if a liar and a cheat is ousted.
Who wants a leader who cheat and lie to her people, brazenly?
disclaimer: this post has no connection whatsoever to either political ramblings or matters national crisis…sori kuya manolo
astig talaga to…i just wanna share it…this is the answer that made ms lara the runaway winner in the recently concluded Ms International…
“MABUHAY! representing the democratic and freedom loving people of the pearl of the orient, i am Precious Lara Quigaman, from the beautiful country of THE PHILIPPINES”
Grabe nga ang tanong sa kanya.
Q: “what do you say to the people of the world who have typecasted filipinos as nannies?”
A: “i take no offence on being typecasted as a nanny. But i do take offence that the educated people of the world have somehow denegrated the true sense and meaning of what a nanny is. let me tell you what she is. she is someone who gives more than she takes. She is someone you trust to look after the very people most precious to you – your child, the elderly, yourself. she is the one who has made a living out of caring and loving other people. so to those who have typecasted us as nannies, thank you. it is a testament to the loving and caring culture of the Filipino people. and for that, i am forever proud and grateful of my roots and culture.”
super lakas ng palakpakan! grabe!
makes your hairs stand huh!
Jonas,
Saying that it’s the “peopele” will be the ultimate winners or will be the ones to take profit is like saying everybody & nobody will be the winners!
The question is, will it be, the:
Opposition
Military
lefist
Rightist…..?
Maybe there are no simple answers.
Which of this people are we talking about?
do the figure on the salaries and benefits that the sentators. Before you add in any Jaunts, paid hotels and the like and you find out no wonder they suck.. They get paid less than any Manager in the country..
It should be run like a big company, Manage well and you get paid well.
It produces corruption. Pay shitty wages and you get a shitty job, (Sorry for the words but you know..).. I could not find the salaries of the Congress but i would imagine it is not much better if it is.
So here we have 200+ People you are tasked to manage a country worth Billions of Dollars a Year, And they get paid less than some International Telemarketers..
Do we see where the problem lies, Not just in the government departments and paying them badly but all the way to the top..
Now i dont mean they deserve more money, Beacause they have not earnt it yet but. To stop corruption you have to first incentivize the powers that be not to be corrupt. Since morals and other things we all know are not used for the decision process. that both the Congress and Senate actually use..
How many laws are outstanding, how many were passed last week..
We all have to tell them with one voice we want results not TV appearances….
Next week there is at least 40 hours in which if they use wisely and pick all the easy laws first and approve or decline, No Talking no discussions. Approve or Deny..
I am sure they could remove that backlog of old stupid laws, or good laws. And give the comittees 2 Weeks to discuss and come back with their recomendations on all pending there. After 2 Weeks the Comittee will be disolved due to lack of progress.
Just like a business…..
And i have to agree with joselu…
Thanks for your continued other view.
Cutting the head off a roster does stop it from crowing but it no longer lives. Some times you have to take the good with the bad..
But we dont have to put up with incompetent Senators and Congressmen, Who dont put in a full days productive work..
joselu,
The answer is simple, the whole country/people will benefit in removing a lying and cheating leader. Let’s not talk about ‘profits’ or ‘winners’ because it not all about gaining per se. It’s all about aiming for good government.
Again who wants to have a cheating and lying leader? Who wants a bogus resident in Malacanang?
Jonas, w/c lieing, cheating leader will repalce her?
Jonas, I wish I had your crytal ball to see that everything will end happy ever after.
I had the privilege to have Ambeth Ocampo as my history teacher when I was in Ateneo. He always had interesting/unique stories for us related to history. His approach were even different. I’m glad he still continues to contribute interesting stories to Inq7.net. His articles (like the ham info) are sometimes a refreshing reprieve from the seriousness of the topic of history and our current social concerns.