A Business Graduate's Random Blog on History and Gossip

  Today is the second death anniversary of the greatest president the Philippines had, the late Fidel V. Ramos. It's just fortunate that even if I was on one spectrum and some were called Dilawan--some of the Dilawans agreed with me on Ramos as a good leader, and the need to update the constitution. However, that wasn't the case back then. Having been born in 1985--that means that I passed through a Marcos presidency as an infant to one year old, and Ramos' reign lasted from June 30, 1992, up to June 30, 1998. That means I would be six years old by 1992. As a 1990s child, I grew up mostly under Ramos' presidency.  I have memories of studying Civics & Culture for the first three years in Tagalog. We were taught that the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. ruled the Philippines for 20 years and it was the darkest years of the Philippines. If I can recall correctly, Ramos began to call for the need for charter change when I was 9-10 years old. A lot of fearmongering came from

  Some time ago, I wrote about Atty. Hilario Davide is considered a hero by diehard 1987 Constitution apologists . Now, it's time to dig into what I call the Monsodian dialectic. A dialectic is "the art of investigating or discussing the truth of opinions". I'd like to remind people that just because I'm not an economist (which Winnie Monsod is) or I'm no lawyer (like Atty. Christian Monsod), doesn't mean that their mistakes are automatically right, and I can't write where I'm wrong. The stand of the Monsods, maybe even until death do they part, is that there's no need to need to amend the 1987 Constitution. Instead, the usual argument, according to the Monsodian Dialectic, is that we can never blame the charter for the Philippines' ills. If that's the case then how will the Monsodian Dialectic, even answer  Article XVII  which says: Section 1. Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by: (1) The Congress, upo

Rappler I must admit that ignorance of the difference between the parliamentary system vs. the presidential system is there. Some people still insist on the myth that the first Marcos Administration headed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s late father, Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., was really a parliamentary system. In reality. the Marcos "parliamentary" years during the Martial Law era, were still presidential (read why  here ). A simple research would show that Cesar Virata was called by the late Lee Kuan Yew, as a non-starter and no leader. LKY would know how a real parliamentary system works. Sure, it's one thing that those who consider themselves Dilawan, voice their criticisms. However, the big problem of the Dilawans is their focus on political idolatry rather than solutions. I can talk with the Dilawans all they want that we do need to shift to the parliamentary system and some of them still cry foul, say that it'll be a repetition of the first Marcos Admi

Pinoy History Facebook Page I would like to share my opinion that the body found in Carcar, Cebu, was indeed the body of Marijoy Jimenea Chiong. As I watched Give Up Tomorrow , I was infuriated to realize that the late Judge Martin Ocampo didn't even bother to have the body analyzed. Even worse, the Supreme Court of the Philippines under the leadership of Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr., (a relative by affinity of the victims) said no to the request for a DNA test . Even worse, the alleged remains of Marijoy were later cremated, leaving no more room to verify it. Where are the tissue samples? It's no wonder that it's become effortless for rumors to spread that the Chiong sisters are supposedly alive (but the photos found belong to the sisters-in-la and their youngest, Debbie Jane Chiong-Sia) and that there are many people named Jacqueline Chiong. That's why I spell out Jimenea to avoid confusion.  Before people say that the body isn't Marijoy, I'd like to share why

It's Time to Free Paco Now   Comparing one's perspective when one was in high school vs. the present can be a daunting thing. For example, I could get told that, "Maybe the person wants to be friends with you already. Maybe he realized that you were only teenagers and your fight was nothing more than a childish quarrel." As a 13-year-old who got into the case--I once admired what Davidson Rusia did. However, after hearing that Paco Larrañaga was innocent--I was really shocked. Yes, Paco was really in Manila when the crime happened (read here ). Why was David even allowed to testify when he wasn't even qualified? That's what the documentary Give Up Tomorrow highlighted. Atty. Florencio Villarin, who may be retired now due to his advanced age, also stated that in Case Unclosed. A lot of people were interested in what he had to say. At first, I thought Paco was wrongly tagged along with guilty people. However, what Solita Collas-Monsod said in Give Up Tomorrow ,

Photo credited to Michael Collins and Marty Syjuco I remember getting the shock of my life when somebody told me, "You still remember Larrañaga? He was innocent!" in Cebuano. I replied with a "Huh?" It seemed too good to be true. After I heard it, I checked out Give Up Tomorrow (read my review here ) sometime before the badly made movie Jacqueline Comes Home came out in 2018. I decided to check the movie a few years later out of boredom but it was more boring than the rainy evenings (read my review here ). I even had a friend (will not mention his name to protect his privacy) who was with Francisco Juan "Paco" G. Larrañaga on that night. The photo above couldn't be manipulated at all. If one is in doubt, why not have the photos checked for authenticity than just jump into the conclusion?  The Chiong Sisters went missing on July 16, 1997. Paco was later rounded up as one of the suspects in a crime that happened on July 16, 1997. Where was Paco at that t