Skip to main content

The Late Lee Kuan Yew Called the Philippines' Press RAMBUNCTIOUS

The Straits Times

As April Fool's Day draws near, I intend to write on something the late Lee Kuan Yew said in his book From Third World to First. It was once wrongly said that he said the Philippine presses as masters of intrigue. It was made by a certain Jesus Satorre Jr. who wrongly called Lee Kuan Yew, president. That alone deserves to be fact-checked. It was even funny how a certain someone called Mahathir Mohamad a president when he criticized former president Rodrigo R. Duterte. 

However, there was a quote from the book concerning the Philippines about the Philippine press:

Ramos knew well the difficulties of trying to govern with strict American-style separation of powers. The senate had already defeated Mrs. Aquino's proposal to retain the American bases. The Philippines had a rambunctious press but it did not check corruption. Individual press reporters could be bought, as could many judges.

I'm afraid that it's very easy to quote what Lee said about the Marcoses. It's right there in the book. It's the same chapter where he met with the late Maria Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino. It's also in the same chapter where he called Cesar Virata a non-starter and no leader for the Filipino people. That's why I refuse to buy even for a split second that the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. established a parliamentary system.

The idea that the media should do the checks and balances is stupid. How can you have check and balance by media if the Philippine press is well, rambunctious? In short, it's a very boisterous press. I felt that while Lee wrote his book, he probably remembered a 1988 speech where he mentioned how the Philippine press failed the Filipino people.

An interesting event happened in 1987. It was where Mrs. Aquino sued the late Luis Beltran. It was also interesting that Mrs. Aquino ordered radio stations to broadcast anti-government propaganda. It was also mentioned that Beltran, while apparently using a figure of speech during the coup de etat, that Mrs. Aquino was in hiding. I wonder if Mrs. Aquino was right in suing Beltran. In my own opinion, Beltran would partly fit what Lee Kuan Yew said about the Philippine presses. I wonder if somebody paid Beltran to ruin Mrs. Aquino. It seemed that the event showed just what Lee Kuan Yew thought about the Philippine presses.

Later, the Philippine presses became the instrument against constitutional reform 

As I was continuing to read Lee Kuan Yew's book, it would be interesting that he wrote also about Ramos' regime. As I like to mention, Mrs. Aquino should've remained a symbolic head of state as many events during the Beltran incident proved she was fitter as the people's representative. Now, it was Ramos' turn and he was the president. Ramos was bent on charter change and much gossip came in. The idea was that the six-year, no more and no less, single term of a president was to prevent another Marcos-type regime. 

About Ramos, Lee Kuan Yew also said the following:
Mrs. Aquino's succesor, Fidel Ramos, whom she had backed, was more practical and established greater stability. In November 1992, I visited him. In a speech to the 18th Philippine Business Confdence, I said, "I do not believe democracy necessarily leads to development. I believe what a country needs to develop is discipline more than democracy." In private, President Ramos said he agreed with me that British parliamentary-type constitutions worked better bcause the majority party in the legislative was also in the govenrment. Publicly, Ramos had to differ.

Ramos was often criticized for privatization. Is it me or does the Philippines have a very anti-business mindset in the long run? The presses regained their freedom and now were misusing their freedom. Freedom of the press is indeed a good thing. It was a good thing freedom of the press was restored by EDSA 1986. However, without any restraint, press freedom can become a toxic thing to any country.

I remember in the late 1990s when I feared two things. First, it was that Ramos may declare martial law. Second, it was Ramos getting another term. It was often taught that Marcos Sr. ruled for 20 years and he was a dictator. What was never mentioned was that some good rulers ruled beyond 20 years. Think of how long Lee Kuan Yew ruled Singapore to stabilize a country once ridden with crime and corruption. I feared charter change and I was also among those who opposed it.

I think one campaign ad said, "If the Philippines would shift to parliamentary, just think how frightening it would be that the president would sit for more than six years." This was what I feared. I remember panicking in fear from when I was 11 years old to 12 years old. However, the more I thought about parliamentary systems, the more I realized that it was all about having another term than term extension. Term extension means lengthening a term. A prime minister can have many terms if he or she is doing well. If not, a prime minister can expect not to finish his or her term.

If there's anything I'd like to address, the rambunctious press of the Philippines fooled the masses. It's been a failure. I believe it's a result of Article XVII's restriction that only Filipinos can own mass media. It shouldn't be a problem if a mass media entity in the Philippines has foreign funding or ownership. Yet, I think having that provision may explain why we have what Lee Kuan Yew calls, a rambunctious press. 

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Hilario Davide Jr.'s Still Quoted by Anti-Constitutional Reform Fools on Social Media

  People can falsely accuse me of colonial mentality because I've been quoting Kishore Mahbuban over Hilario G. Davide. I'm really sorry to say but I'm seeing various Facebook posts like La Verite (and the Pinocchio really fits it ), the Rule of Law Sentinel, Silent No More PH, and many more anti-reform Facebook pages (and very ironic too) quote Davide Jr. a lot. It's straightforward to say that Davide Jr. has been the favorite source of such people. An old man with a toga (who blocked me) also often quoted Davide Jr. Also, Davide Jr. turned 88 years old last December 20. I wish I had written this earlier but sometimes it's better late than never. In my case, it's better never late.  Davide Jr. also mentioned that the 1987 Constitution is "the best in the world". It's easy to spew out words but can he defend his claims? One of his old statements went like this: It’s not change of structures, [whether] it would be federalism or parliamentary. It is...
Read more

How a Deaf Beethoven, Composed Wonderful Music That Survived Beyond His Grave

  A composer who was deaf? That's really something to think about. Ludwig Van Beethoven gradually lost his hearing. It may have been caused by a lack of knowledge about lead poisoning at that time. The ZME Science gives this interesting detail on how Beethoven coped with his gradual hearing loss: Despite living in pain, Beethoven did not give up. However, he had a helping hand. In order to continue composing and playing music, Beethoven stumbled across a physical phenomenon that is central to hearing: bone conduction . At the time, scientists understood very little about how human hearing works. But despite the fact that his ears left him, he could still hear himself playing music by placing one end of a wooden stick onto his piano and clenching on the other end with his teeth. When notes were struck, the vibrations from the piano were transferred to his jaw, and from there directly to his inner ear. Miraculously, he could hear again! Bone conduction was born. Sound is nothing mor...
Read more

Taiwan Aboriginal Culture Park Indigenous Bamboo Dance

This is another bamboo dance done by what I believe are Atayal dancers. The dance steps are very similar to what one might find in Nueva Ecija or any indigenous region of the Philippines. What makes it more appealing to me is the absence of Taiwanese Mandarin in the lyrics. Instead, it's lyrics that would sound like the chanting of Filipino indigenous dancers. There are similar yet different movements between Taiwanese aborigines and Filipino aborigines. The Malaysians and Indonesians have settled in several places. The dance movements between Taiwanese aborigines and Filipino aborigines are too similar to be ignored. Even the indigenous language might be very similar. 
Read more

The Sad Truth About School History Classes (and Why I Enjoy History as a Hobby Better)

I'm no historian and this blog is just written as a hobby . Yes, you got that right and I don't record or write history for a living. It's a shame that history is an interesting subject but people can lose interest . A person would be excited to learn mathematics but can be momentarily hating mathematics . It's because teachers, regardless of what subject, are made to teach any subject with too much memorization, too little emphasis on understanding, and too much focus on grades over learning. People tend to say that grades matter more because they want monuments of stone over monuments of learning. They value the praises of medals more than a lifetime of learning. That's why some honor students fail in real life.  I saw this meme and I can relate to it. I remember elementary Civics and Culture subjects. From the second year to the third year under K+10--there's Asian History and World History . There was the whole bland textbook. Teachers occasionally do film s...
Read more

What's the Use of Complaining About Celebrities and Political Dynasties Running for Politics While DEFENDING Presidential and Rejecting Parliamentary?

2025 is just around the corner for the midterm elections . People keep emphasizing the need to "defend the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines" for any amendments whatsoever. If that were true then we really need to remove Article XVII entirely if the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines was meant to be set in stone (read here ). Several camps whether it's PDP-Laban supporters, Liberal Party of the Philippines supporters, Uniteam supporters, etc.--I can expect social media mudslinging at its finest . I keep talking about the need to amend or even replace the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. However, they keep acting like it's the best constitution in the world, they cite Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. (and others like the Monsods) to idolatrous levels , and when I talk about the parliamentary system--I can expect the whole, "Boohoo! It will never work because we already tried it under Marcos! The proof was Cesar Virata!" However, I wrote a refute on that ...
Read more