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Showing posts with the label politics

Vico Sotto Needs to Support Constitutional Reform Now

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Let me be honest that his post isn't to bring down   Mayor Vico Sotto. Instead, this is constructive advice for him and many others. Many of the words he said make sense but they can still be improved. As I was reading through ABS-CBN News.  Analyzing Mayor Sotto's statements and where they make sense Here's an excerpt of Mayor Sotto's words, which we should all take into context with translations in parentheses for non-Tagalog speakers : “You know many times as a government official, who has been trying his best to fight against the old norms, yung mga lumang kalakaran (fighting the old ways),” Sotto said.  “As someone who has been trying to fight for positive reforms and changes in our government, I have to admit to you that many times, I feel frustrated almost every day… I feel a lack of hope. Parang ang hirap namang sabihin hopeless (as if it's difficult to sy that it's hopeless), but standing here… looking at your glowing faces, looking at the Class of 2026...

Malaysia vs. Philippines: The Story of Two Huan-a Countries

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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 ...

The Broken Windows Theory vs. the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines

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I'm certainly glad that Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan is out of the job as the head of the constitutional amendments, if he's too stubborn to see the reality. This blog post doesn't seek to discredit anything good Kiko has done. I don't like the idea of Senator Robin Padilla as the head of the same committee either. Instead, I'm going to try to enlighten every spectrum by discussing the Broken Windows Theory . What is the Broken Windows Theory? We need to look into it first. This Criminal Justice Know How article by Kelly M. Glenn gives this introduction: The Broken Window Theory was coined by James Q. Wilson and George Kelling in 1982 and greatly impacted police work in the decades to follow.  The Broken Windows Theory uses the basic metaphor of a broken window to demonstrate how crime and disorder tend to flourish in environments where small problems go unaddressed.  As the environment falls into neglect and disrepair, people responsible for crime a...

BRUTAL Truth: Stop HOPING for Another "PNoy-Like President" Because the Parliamentary System will Produce MUCH BETTER Leaders

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Let me get this straight, I'm not here to totally dismiss the good that the late Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" C. Aquino III did. I'll try to be least biased  when I'm writing this to "give a shock" to those who tend to treat his term as a "magical time". However, I'm going to have to warn people about the problem of looking for "another Messiah leader". Yesterday was the would've been 66th birthday of Noynoy if he were alive. One can talk good about Noynoy's legacy. However, we need to realize that relying on Noynoy's term is a violation of the Mahathir Mohamad principle of "Never stop learning."  We need to think that there's only one Noynoy and when he died, he died . TV-5 reveals that Rep. Edgar Erice, a long-time friend of the late leader, also said the following: Caloocan City 2nd District Rep. Edgar Erice made the remark in a social media post marking Aquino’s 66th birth anniversary.  In the post, he co...

Is It Just a Coincidence that Most Least Corrupt Countries, are Under the PARLIAMENTARY System?

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It's easy to post an outrage on Facebook, whether it's on the Butthurt Philippines' Facebook page or Gerry Cacanindin's relatively open Facebook profile (except that only his friends can comment). I try to ignore the guy's page. I was wondering if Gerry has learned his lesson (that the Philippines badly needs a system upgrade) or if he still wants to believe that "It's just a matter if Leni Robredo or Vico Sotto." The latest Facebook post gives me something to think about: People often ask why some countries seem almost immune to corruption. As if their leaders are just magically more honest. But that’s not really it. The truth is actually simpler. These countries didn’t wait for good people. They built systems where doing something dirty is hard, risky, and usually not worth it. In the least corrupt countries, corruption isn’t just illegal but inconvenient. Paper trails are everywhere. Payments are digital. Contracts are public. Anyone can look up wh...

What? The Aquinos Aren't Part of a Political Dynasty?!

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  I was looking at the Mahal Ko Ang Pilipinas  (I Love the Philippines)  Facebook page, which made me laugh. This is what they wrote on their post saying that the Aquino Family isn't a political dynasty: THE AQUINO FAMILY IS NOT A POLITICAL DYNASTY 🇵🇭🎗 Pro-Duterte blogger Tio Moreno says that Bam Aquino is part of a political dynasty because the Aquino family is a political dynasty. But to me, this is not true. Why is it not true that the Aquino family is a political dynasty? 🤔 1. When Ninoy Aquino entered politics, none of his children joined him in his endeavors, and even his wife Cory did not join him in politics. 2. When Ninoy was assassinated in 1983, none of his children succeeded him in politics, not even his wife. But when the opposition and his supporters were looking to be the opposition's candidate for the presidency in the snap election called by Ferdie Marcos for 1986, his housewife Cory Cojuangco-Aquino was approached, encouraged or convinced by people t...

Why Philippine Elections Can Be Compared to GAMBLING

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Gemini AI Art Some time ago, I wrote an essay that Filipinos can expect to lose more money betting that people will vote wisely . It's time for the truth,  and the  inconvenient truth hurts now, doesn't it? I had Gemini AI create this new AI art of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. and Atty. Maria Leonor "Leni" S. Gerona-Robredo, at the casino, just to make a point. Sure, Bongbong shook hands with Leni in Sorsogon as a step for political reconcilation . However, such events should be considered more like random variables, such as getting your ball to land on a certain color and a specific number in a game of roulette.  Let's define what a gamble means. The Cambridge Dictionary defines gamble as: to do something that involves risks that might result in loss of money or failure, hoping to get money or achieve success: The gamble of whether your candidate wins or not, because popularity is fickle It's effortless to say, "It's not rea...