Making It Fun in the Philippines

Jover Laurio apparently has her selectivity in writing her articles in Pinoy Ako Blog . She's always trying to make Vice President Leni Loud Robredo a gallant, ideal leader for the Philippines while she destructively criticizes President Rodrigo R. Duterte. She has also written some articles where she praises Maria Ressa's awards, Antonio Trillanes IV, and Lourdes Sereno - all who appeared on the investigative show BBC HARDtalk . She was just "lucky" that her first interview wasn't with Sackur. Hmmm... why hasn't she even written ANYTHING about BBC HARDtalk on her blog ? I think it's just a case of her being selective since she doesn't want to make anybody she praises look bad, right? The interview with Ressa happened big time and got HIT HARD . The interview happened a few days ago and guess what - Laurio hasn't even congratulated Ressa for what she thinks would be "Ressa owning Sackur". Before that, she had the chance to "congra...

Filipino communists are using the CHINA fearmongering tactic again as an excuse not to open up the economy . I wonder how low is their knowledge is in geography? Are China and the United States of America (USA) the only countries in the world? Then you've got the Rappler [OPINION] piece that had  two writers wanted to junk the Anti-Terror Bill and legalize the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) . I really have to facedesk at the solution to legalize the CPP. This is where I want to laugh. I thought Filipino communists love communism so why do they hate CHINA? China is a COMMUNIST country so why do Filipino communists hate the country? In China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is legal because it's a communist country. Those who want CPP legalized has at least two solutions. The first solution is to  let China take over the Philippines . On second thought,  they could also apply for Chinese citizenship and STAY in China . However, either idea is repulsive to th...

Here's a bit of a meme that describes the current opposition to be ULOL. Okay, not everyone up there is from the Liberal Party since Antonio Trillanes IV is from Nacionalista, Antonio Tinio is from Alliance of Complaining Teachers, Sarah Elgago is from Kayabangan Partylist, and Carlos Zarate is from Bayad Muna. But one thing is certain - opposition in the presidential system is best described as ULOL or CRAZY. Again, the problem of the organization called ULOL is that they want better results but they don't want to try anything new. Not to mention, the problem of CBCP's Socrates Villegas is not that he criticizes President Duterte - it's when he opens his mouth WITHOUT doing research! The real problem of ULOL is that it's a presidential opposition. What's wrong with the presidential opposition? It's all about the SYSTEM again. I really hate to think about what makes these guys ULOL is really obvious. I may be no political scientist myself. However, it do...

Not all Filipino films are bad. In fact, one of them might be a Cinemalaya or independent film eye opener called Pamilya Ordinaryo or called as Ordinary People on Netflix. If you happen to be a Philippine resident who has Netflix then notice it's gotten into the Top Ten picks this week. The film itself might be annoying to watch in many areas but it's an eye-opener. Aries and Jane are both teenagers living in without the benefit of marriage, they have a child together even when they're incapable of raising it. It's a real facedesk but it's not all black and white - stupid people still have some worth like how Jane is trying to be a better mother than her own. I may not like the Inquirer for its tendency to be partisan but it does list about five disturbing realities in the same film . What are these five realities? Massive poverty resulting in illiteracy and homelessness, teenage parents, the poor are easily taken advantage of, the inherent selfishness of societ...

I don't mind people being Duterte critics. In fact, having critics to anyone in politics is needed. However, the problem comes not in offering criticism but the lack of solutions . The late Carlos Celdran was a Duterte critic but he was for constitutional reform. Unfortunately, many Duterte critics like political analyst Richard F. Heydarian (who graduated from difficult-to-enter schools in the Philippines) have been thinking too much about persons change than SYSTEMS CHANGE. Yes, that's where Heydarian is downright wrong. He thinks that making Leni Loud Robredo the executive may change things for the better. However, if the same rotten system rules then what good will Leni Loud as president (and let's just say Antonio F. Trillanes IV) as vice president do? Some the virtue signallers like Pinoy Ako Blog   have been criticizing President Rodrigo R. Duterte. Again, there's NOTHING wrong with criticizing the president. Unfortunately, in all their criticism, they have b...

Who enjoyed the grilling session that Stephen Sackur had with Maria Ressa ? If you've noticed the trend - Sackur had already interviewed TWO Marias. The first Maria he interviewed was Maria Lourdes Sereno . The next Maria was Maria Ressa. Now, there are TWO MORE Marias that Sackur may consider interviewing soon namely Maria Josephine "Jover" Laurio of Pignoy Ako Blog and Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni Loud" Robredo . Why the two of them? Sereno and Ressa are both Maria. Now, why can't we have two more Marias on BBC HARDtalk ? It's a place for people with interesting stories to tell, right? Ressa's interesting story to tell had to do with her GUILTY libel case . Sereno's interesting story had to do with her getting kicked out as Chief Justice. Interesting stories right? Well, the two other Marias do have interesting stories too. One is Laurio herself had a series of events that linked up to the #PaBoostNiKris screenshots. Meanwhile, Rob...

It was last 2018 when I wrote the post where I had my opinion where Stephen Sackur may want to interview Maria Ressa . Now it happened and how did it end? You may want to listen to the whole interview later . However, I'd like to share my thoughts which how Sackur (as predicted) ended up doing the same as Antonio Trillanes IV and Maria Lourdes Sereno . Like Trillanes and Sereno, they were both people with impressive academic records who ended up failing in life. Ressa today could be considered as one of those. The interview had Sackur actually did some HARDtalk on Ressa's face. Early on, he mentions that the Philippines still has freedom of expression being done. Best hard fact? Sackur mentions straight to Ressa's face rather politely that the Rappler website HAS NOT BEEN SHUT DOWN. The issue is not about press freedom! Why is it that until now no arrest warrant has been released for the likes of Tony La Vina and JC Punongbayan who are also staunch critics against the Du...

I'm not saying that the Opposition should just disappear and there shouldn't be one. My problem with the "Opposition" right now is that they don't offer solutions - only complaints ! Risa Hontiveros right now has made her latest prattle which is only half-true. I do agree with her that proper safeguards are indeed necessary but WTF - she wants to give pasaways a free pass ? It's really no surprise she was part of the wedding of Jover Laurio's wedding. After all, Jover of Pignoy Ako Blog is obviously a pasaway herself. Her most recent statement really has me asking me now, "Can Risa Hontiveros survive the weekly question hour?" People who I've put into the test are Leni Loud Robredo  imagined as the Deputy Prime Minister, Sarah Elgago , and Antonio Trillanes IV  who could be the worst opposition leader you can ask for. Now, it's really time to grill Risa with the weekly question hour scenario. Let's have our setup where the Governm...

I don't know how long Rappler should even be considered a trusted source. Granted, some people in Rappler are still doing a better job than the others. Take Pia Ranada for example when she did a rather fair assessment of President Rodrigo R. Duterte in Japan . Then you've got Tony La Vina (hence the title of this post) who has written his [OPINION] piece called " No charter change during pandemic " where a highly educated man fails to see the point. Livin' La Vina Loca? Loca is the Spanish word for crazy. Loca is where Filipinos got the word loko which also means craz. La Vina Loca? Well, consider it a combination of Antonio La Vina and Loca as the title of this post. Just reading his assessment on charter change (or better coined as constitutional reform) makes me wonder if the guy is really aware of the NEED for it to get funds . Trillions of pesos in debt from fighting off the COVID-19 is really why constitutional reform is really needed. He calls economic l...

I was thinking about some ABiaS-CBN apologists who brag about the taxes paid by the celebrities. Coconuts Martin is indeed one of the top taxpapers of the Philippines but that doesn't excuse ABiaS-CBN from not complying with the government franchise code. For those who are defending the taxes of the celebrities then I wonder do they understand the BASIC cycle of taxes and businesses? Do taxes produce job providers or do job providers produce taxes? It would be very important to ask that question. Some people think that taxes produce jobs when it's the other way around. Do you even know the definition of tax? Taxes are money derived from REVENUES from the citizen to fund the government for its operations. So where does the government get its taxes? Where does the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) get its taxes or do tax mapping? Isn't it that they get the taxes paid through job-producing companies? Even if people with income up to PHP 250,000.00 are now tax-exempt - their emp...

I was looking at recent articles in Get Real Philippines written by Benign0 and his wife Ilda. It's amazing how the guy has written articles that probably shows he's vindictive. A CoRRECT movement article about him and his ignorance towards foreign direct investment (FDI)  really showed how stupid he is about economics. I dunno if one can say that maybe he makes Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino look smart in comparison. Consider that Noynoy actually did some inviting of foreign investors even if he didn't totally remove 60-40 or expanded the field. The Asian Correspondent still says that Noynoy was among those who eased the restrictions against FDI . So, that makes Benigno look smarter than Benign0, right? Though, one has to consider that Benigno and Benign0 are both against system change and have the tendency to be vindictive. I'm amazed at how the guy's approach really fails to address the SYSTEM itself. What's his best solution for COVID-19?  It...

While I don't deny that most K-Drama does things a lot better than the sh*tty teleseryes - it's still possible to enjoy a good product for a bad reason. I don't deny I've been guilty of doing too though I've also enjoyed a couple of shows where there's no attractive actress at all. The K-Drama The King: Eternal Monarch did become number one for weeks already. Before that, there was also Itaewon Club (which had too many woke sprinkles and bad plot twists so I DROPPED IT) and Crash Landing on You . Then The King: Eternal Monarch became part of the top ten but what about other K-Drama out there? Why haven't the more complex ones like the crime drama (which has several layers of mystery to it) got into the top ten list? I was totally boggled at how some K-Dramas seem to get ignored or never make it into the top ten. Previously, I remembered the talk about What's Wrong with Secretary Kim? which had Park Seo Jun and Park Min Young. The show did also air on ...

President Rodrigo R. Duterte made the RIGHT DECISION to fire Manuelito Luna from the PACC for harassing Vice President Leni Loud Robredo's Angat Buhay project. Personally, I have nothing against the Angat Buhay project if it serves as a competition against the government because the government alone CANNOT deal with relief. Now, Antonio F. Trillanes IV is really once again showing how he as a member of the Opposition is once again falling really hard . The IATF-EID means Inter-Agency Taskforce on Emerging Infectious Disease. Why tag Leni Loud to even lead it when she's NOT an epidemiologist like Taiwan's Vice President Chen Chien-Jen? Okay, we can understand if #LetLeniLead were tagged and Leni Loud herself was an epidemiologist then go ahead. Just because Angat Buhay has been said to have delivered badly needed relief doesn't mean Leni Loud is qualified to lead the IATF-EID. She doesn't have much of the expertise to handle epidemics. Distributing relief goods t...

I don't have ANYTHING against criticizing President Rodrigo R. Duterte but against  the failure of the opposition to give better alternatives . Then you've got Pinoy anti-reform wokes who are always criticizing and criticizing WITHOUT giving better alternatives. In fact, they are somehow too many to name. I guess they're already accustomed to thinking that change in leadership is better than change in system. It's already observed that they have even cited the success of other countries in fighting COVID-19 like Taiwan or "lower-ranked" Vietnam (as if it's still lower-ranked and it's now surpassing the Philippines) in defeating the virus. It's been a question of both people AND systems  when it comes to winning against COVID-19. The same formula is TRIED and TESTED yet we consider that Cory Aquino didn't do much to heal the damage done by the Marcos Regime. Overthrowing Joseph Estrada soon paved way for the possibility of somebody with NO POL...

The COVID-19 issue is really a huge problem. It's no secret that the government has its struggle and it can't do it alone. Debt accumulated during the COVID-19 crisis is not a joke . Why is there debt accumulated? It doesn't matter how much money was raked in before but a crisis is a crisis. It's a nationwide crisis and spending will be required to keep things in order. The Philippines really NEEDS to pay back the debt accumulated during the crisis. Recent events have proven that the 1987 Constitution is NOT the best in the world . What was also disproven by COVID-19 is the irrational notion that  "Filipinos are the most powerful in the world!" mindset . Proud to be Pinoy this COVID-19? Don't be and take a look at reality. Other countries that Filipino anti-intellectuals have scoffed and hated for stupid reasons are now defeating COVID-19. Consider that Singapore did have a sudden surge but it has a higher recovery rate (in both percentage and numbers) ...

Well, it's official that Maria Ressa is indeed GUILTY of cyber-libel . It was a case that was passed against her by Filipino-Chinese businessman Wilfredo Keng . I don't think it was mere tort as the false accusations were rather heavy. The whole case of Rappler itself is NOT a matter of press freedom but an abuse of it. What Ressa and her fellow reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr. who could be sentenced from six months up to a maximum of six years. However, she is still allowed to post bail which means that the real issue is about her OFFENSE and NOT press freedom. Yes, the case was meant to silence Ressa but... Was the case meant to silence her? Yes, it was a case meant to silence her but NOT a government action. Rather, it was a businessman's attempt to silence her because of what she and Santos did last 2012. Those were very heavy false accusations that were pushed towards. What does President Rodrigo R. Duterte have to do with Ressa's current plight. If anything, the...

GRPsupport had written a review on A Thousand Cuts just recently . Although I'm actually still appalled at its webmaster benign0's lack of economic common sense  - I do read some of their articles to get some inspiration. We could consider a new idea from the "documentary" A Thousand Cuts which should give us a new movie called A Thousand Cuts: The Maria Ressa Story by VIVA Films. I suggested that Coconuts Martin should play as Antonio Trillanes IV . Now, it's time to suggest that Agot Isidro should play Maria Ressa in my imagined film. The review by GRPsupport had revealed the pathetic stupidity of the film. Knowing VIVA Films  then you can expect an exaggeration. Until now, I can't forget the stupidity of The Flor Contemplacion Story where she was painted as a heroine instead of the truth that she was a guilty culprit. The movie Jacqueline Comes Home was already met with flak because of the documentary Giving Up Tomorrow which told the real truth abou...