The reason why our government is incompetent is because its managers are hired based on how loyal they are to Duterte and not because of qualifications.
As such you have people appointed to positions they either know nothing about or if they do their output is based on what Duterte wants it to be.
Continue reading Corruption is UnsustainableI caught approximately 75% of the debate after searching for the live stream on my phone and getting it to display on the TV (we don’t have cable or free tv). I first happened onto what was a GMA7 screen which turned out to be what they show online during a TV commercial break so I thought there was something wrong, which made me go over and try a few times till I finally saw the debate action.
So anyway here’s what I remember from it.
Randy David wrote the other day about how he noticed newspapers treated PNoy’s speech. In it he said:
President Aquino’s speech at the annual presidential forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap) last Oct. 27 highlighted many aspects of this strained relationship.
In that speech, Mr. Aquino chose to dwell on his observations of media reportage during his presidency. He was candid and critical—a refreshing trait he does not hide regardless of the audience.
Interestingly enough, the media ignored his main speech and focused instead on his answers to questions in the open forum. If I had not gone to the government’s official website to check out the text of the President’s speech, I would not have guessed its topic from the news reports.
I remember that myself because the days after the only stories about him were about his love life, or some such triviality. It also reminded me of a similar situation. Continue reading Trusting The Press
I installed RH Bill banners to run on several of my sites way back Nov. 11, 2011. They’re the yellow ones shown here on MomEx below.
For the most part, a big part of the reason why I think our country’s gone to hell has to do with families. In particular, very rich, very powerful and very old families who typically own enormous tracts of land – land being the currency by which being rich has been measured for many generations, and rightfully so considering how you can never go wrong as long as you own land.
Do you see where I’m going with this?
If not, let me spell it out. If you own land, you have power. If you have power, your clan will flourish. Your children will go to the best schools, your employees will be paid well, people become loyal to you, you and your family’s future is secured for many generations to come. You will achieve the realization of economic success: long term financial security to weather any storm and any crises that comes your way.
Continue reading Yellow Colored Glasses – What I Feel About Cory
But first before I launch into my tirade, imagine how it feels like to be an active Marine in the military these days. First, you’re sent off to Basilan or Jolo to fight equally if not better equipped than you, with hardly the kind of support needed in case you get wounded or shot. Then, you get to watch the news aghast as Congressmen walk out of Malacanang with gift bags filled with P500,000.00 in cash bundles.
How would you feel? After seeing your comrades die in battle because the military lacks the funds to provide for them and after constantly risking your own life fully knowing you may be next, I’d probably riddle the tv with bullets right there.
But let’s not even talk about the Marines. How about the OFWs? The government heralds these as heroes, but let’s face it. They’re victims. Victims of a government that is so corrupt it has forsaken the country it’s supposed to work for, and so therefore these decide look for employment overseas instead. Calling them heroes is assuming that these people prefer to go abroad. That’s bullshit. Why in the world would you wanna leave your family? Why would you want to have your children raised parentless or your relatives never knowing who you are? Given a choice, of course you’d want to stay home.
As of right now these are the names of eleven people whose lives were inexplicably taken from them by some maniac who decided to blow up Glorietta the other day. I read these names and I wonder who they are, what they could have probably done to deserve their fate, and what level of lunacy there is to have influenced the nameless forces that had seen it fit to do such a thing.
And since we have no answer to any of these, the only thing we can do is to pray for them, and hope that one day whoever it is to have caused such grief will be held responsible, so as to bring even a flicker of meaning to all this craziness. It is only right.
To all the governors, congressmen, mayors, and everyone involved. Let there be no mistake about it: The moment you accept cash, you are considered bribed. You have sold out. It’s amazing to me that there’s even debate about it, when it is crystal clear. It really doesn’t matter what you do with that money or whether they ask something from you or not.
Ok let me clarify that last statement down in three phases: First, how you’re gonna spend the money: In a situation like a Malacanang meeting, being given cash with no receipt by a cohort of the President indicates that she wants you to align yourself with her. You can spend it to feed the poor and homeless ala Mother Teresa, or you can go on a month long cruise in the Bahamas – it doesn’t matter.
Second, where it came from: Obviously the large sums of money didn’t come with a receipt. It was put in an envelope and handed out to them like so much hor’s devours at a dinner party. This indicates that efforts were made to detach the money from any sort of accounting and doing so, given the amounts, is already suspect. How could red flags not rise when you’re being given such a large amount? How could it not surprise anyone, or at the very least make it to the news if it weren’t for Among Ed’s almost casual remark about it? I’d suspect that if they received a P1,000.00 peso bill it should already have come to the press’ attention immediate, let alone P500,000.00
