A Business Graduate's Reviewing History Blog

Today is indeed the 35th anniversary of the Vizconde Massacre case . I wrote a previous article where grief was weaponized . The late Lauro Vizconde passed away sometime on February 13, 2016. It was already ten years ago when he died. It's a real pity that Hubert Webb got acquitted but the real killers got free. Grief was weaponized along the way. It was as if you believed that the wrong people were caught, the false dilemma was that you actually support criminals, and that you're not grieving with Lauro.  The Vizconde Massacre Trial, which only started in August 1995, sometime after April 28, 1995. That was when the "star witness" Jessica Alfaro , a self-confessed former drug addict, stepped forward. People were probably either too afraid, too excited, or, in the case of the Vizcondes, they were too perplexed not to notice that Jessica's story wasn't making any sense. However, it happened anyway  when Jessica stepped forward, and the crimes happened. We had t...

GMA-7 We have to admit that due process isn't about procrastination but about  avoiding jumping to conclusions, while doing something in the process. There's the principle of due process that says that both sides must be heard, that every suspect has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty . Back in the day, I had this judgmental behavior that says, "If it's a criminal, off the go! Due process is cowardice!" I would always raise the late Lauro Vizconde how he left this world with no justice. However, the reality is that Lauro left the world not knowing who murdered his wife and two daughters  before dying. There was no justice for him and the other extended members of his clan. This is the sad fact. What's even sadder is that Lauro's death on February 16, 2016, has the reality that the murderers were never found. For all we know, the murderers may have discreetly left the country before the 1995 trial.  When does grief become the "perfec...

Bongbong Marcos Some people often blame the Filipino DNA for why the Philippines is the way it is. However, I decided to recall a basic lesson from the Civics and Culture subject. The ancestors of most Filipinos today include Malays   and Indonesians. Unsurprisingly, the Hokkien word huan-a (which actually meant barbarian for some time) wasn't limited to the Philippines. It's also used in Singapore (which used to be part of Malaysia), Malaysia, and Indonesia. The word Indio was used to describe the native inhabitants of the Philippines. Indio sounds like Indonesia .  Analyzing the huan-a heritage of Malaysians and Filipinos Right now, I want to focus on debunking the idea that the Filipino DNA is "inherently flawed" and that Malaysia is doing better because "Malaysians have accountability in their DNAs and Filipinos don't."  The Philippine Genome Center shares this insight on the Filipino DNA: What is ‘Filipino’? We are proud of our heritage at the rim ...

Sim Dapat Jr. It's easy to admire the late great statesman Lee Kuan Yew . However, it's easy to just think about what he said about the Marcoses while ignoring the stuff that he said about the Philippines. As I was reading his book From Third World to First , it was  easy to talk about what he said about the Marcoses while ignoring good economic advice . Years ago, I also remember the Philippine Star article by Alex Magno (way back in 2006 that talked about the parliamentary system . As the 2028 is just around the corner  and it's 2026 , I was thinking about the fallacy of "just vote wisely, it's not the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines that's the problem." However, it made me think of this statement by Magno from the Philippine Star , which should be a reflection of the biggest hurdle why a LKY type of leader would never show up in the Philippines: One keen observer of the sometimes bizarre conduct of our national affairs is former Malaysian prime min...

The Vizconde Massacre is still a Case Unclosed. Sadly, the late Lauro Vizconde had false hope when the suspects were identified and convicted. Later on, Lauro broke into grief when Hubert Webb and his  co-accused were acquitted . Sadly, Lauro died without knowing who really murdered his wife and two daughters . I'm going to do a common-sense analysis of the Vizconde Case. The Vizconde Case was often tagged as the "trial of the century" back in my day. I used to believe the narrative of arrogant rich boys caused the crime. However, an arrogant person  is barely subtle. I decided to read the Supreme Court decision in 2010 . Sadly, the same Supreme Court decision is still sticking to the faulty narrative that Francisco Juan G. Larrañaga was guilty. This was probably done to protect Atty. Hilario G. Davide's reputation, who was Chief Justice   at that time in 2004. Looking back at the narrative vs. common sense Instead, I decided to focus on the narrative by Jessica Alfar...