Making It Fun in the Philippines

While this picture is already ten years old but you can see the stupidity here. I remembered writing about playing "Akoy's Isang Pinoy" on an imported music player  (and smartphones seem to be the most common ones). Now it's time to talk about the incredible irony of this picture. They are promoting economic protectionism with the whole, "Save and create jobs by buying Pinoy and local." But do you know the IRONY of this picture? If you do have some common sense then you will realize that they're promoting economic protectionism with IMPORTED PRODUCTS. You may find an imported watch (worn by the protectionists) and more importantly, they're using IMPORTED EQUIPMENT to make that huge tarpaulin and for the sound system! Buying local does save and create jobs but as said, local businesses are not entirely enough. Foreign investors provide both customers and services for these local businesses . If the local products don't deserve to be bought by ...

I did write about the death penalty issue -- something that I always feel needs to be heavily studied upon before reimplementing it. I think it's a problem when legislators don't know their priorities. The death penalty is useless when there's a lousy system behind it. It won't do good if all issues such as the roots of heinous crimes aren't addressed. One of the biggest roots of why heinous crimes happen is poverty. Big time crooks love poor people because they're too easy to exploit. One of the biggest causes of poverty in the Philippines is not just corrupt politicians but also poor economic policies such as economic protectionism. How does economic protectionism guarantee that poverty will increase? A good question to ask is how many Filipino businessmen are there and how many Filipinos are in need of jobs. If the supply-demand gap is that huge then you know it's not a good sign. The problem with 60/40 ownership of foreign investments is that forei...

Is it me or is ABiaS-CBN really that is biased with why they air the Americanized versions of Japanese shows while ignoring the source material? I remembered watching the now-defunct Hero TV and guess what? They were airing Power Rangers as a JAPANESE SHOW when it isn't. Clarification -- Power Rangers is a localization based on a JAPANESE TV SHOW which doesn't make it   a Japanese TV show. I may acknowledge that Toei Ltd. gave Saban, Disney, or currently Hasbro the legal permission to use the fight footage but that doesn't make it a Japanese show. Note, Toei ultimately OWNS Power Rangers and not just the American side of the fence! If it wasn't for Super Sentai then you wouldn't have Power Rangers, now would you?  I remembered having been in elementary school when ABiaS-CBN itself showed Mighty Morphin'. I have to confess that I was at first, fascinated by the show. However, the more I discovered about Super Sentai -- the more I discovered what have I miss...

This is the real problem -- it's very easy to be "tough" especially when you're just known as Anonymous rather than if you are using an obvious screen name (like mine) or even one's own real name like others do. For one, I'm a person who values privacy and values the privacy of others. My tax papers aren't meant for everyone to see except those who handle it -- so THERE! I AM NOT ACCOUNTABLE to those online trolls at ANY LEVEL because they're not my superiors. I'm accountable to other people but NOT. THOSE. ANONYMOUS. TROLLS. Do they think that they own the Internet or even me?  I've decided to stop entertaining their STUPID comments. I delete stupid comments not because I'm a coward -- it's because the smart thing to do is not to feed the trolls! As Mark Twain would say that arguing with stupid people is equivalent to arguing with a pigeon. You can get all the facts straight but such people will continue to act like they won any...

I remembered learning the song "Ako'y Isang Pinoy" in Filipino or should I say Tagalog classes as an elementary student. It wasn't easy to be unfairly discriminated as "non-Filipino" because I was of Chinese descent (even if I'm born and bred in the Philippines) -- all the while said people enjoyed Jollibee, SM, and other stuff that were born of Filipino-Chinese businessmen. Now, it's time to consider the irony of the song "Ako'y Isang Pinoy" being played especially when it's nearly August which is Buwan Ng Wika or Month of the Language. The song's lyrics go as follows: Ako'y isang Pinoy sa puso't diwa Pinoy na isinilang sa ating bansa Ako'y hindi sanay sa wikang mga banyaga Ako'y Pinoy na mayroong sariling wika Wikang pambansa ang gamit kong salita Bayan kong sinilangan Hangad kong lagi ang kalayaan Si Gat Jose Rizal nuo'y nagwika Siya ay nagpangaral sa ating bansa Ang hindi r...

The death penalty can be an effective deterrent to crime if there's an effective system running it. It should be treated as a missile. It doesn't matter how effective the missile is but the wrong guiding system can cause the missile to hit the unintended targets. Unfortunately, the current Philippine system is riddled in corruption because of the system and not just the people  which makes nearly every objection towards the death penalty right now valid . The classic argument that the death penalty may end up executing innocent people by mistake is a valid argument. That's something that can be common in the Philippines due to easily bribable government functions and incompetence in criminal investigations. Do you remember the time when the late Leo Echegaray who was a POOR CRIMINAL got executed? Sure, poor criminals aren't exempt from justice but what about rich criminals? The execution of Echegaray is nothing compared to if rich criminals or even corrupt politician...

The Dilawans may no have lost their relevance BUT do we even realize that they are just SYMPTOMS of a MUCH BIGGER PROBLEM ? The real problem of the Philippines is that the 1987 Constitution is now OUTDATED and needs to be seriously upgraded. Some people are actually in favor of removing excessive economic restrictions but still, they want to stay in the Unitary-Presidential form of government. Economic policies are just one component of success. The other involves having either the right or wrong kind of government framework in running the country. Let's just say that one day the Dilawans decided to migrate to Spratlys or they all dropped dead simultaneously. The problem is that the same system that allowed them to flourish still exists even without them. There's still the problem of other people such as the Marcos loyalists. Just because I don't like the Aquinos doesn't mean that the Marcoses are already automatically heroes. The plunder of the Marcoses is already k...