A wry, unscientific, but very meaningful poll
By Joe America
I posted a poll on Twitter and got the results shown below. Let’s talk about it.
The first thing those who don’t like the results will say is that “It is not scientific. It is flawed.”
Haha. Okay, sure. But of course it is not meant to be scientific. It is a rhetorical poll designed to make readers think. It only measures what it measures . . . which I’ll discuss in a moment.
But first, for amusement, consider what a government troll would do upon bumping into the poll. He’d likely recognize the trap and not vote. Even a vote for Singapore would bring mockery. And the other three choices are all negative toward the national government.
What would a rice field worker, most BPO workers, and a whole lot of other people do? They’d say “duh” and not vote. They’ve not been to Singapore, don’t know about the Venezuelan economic melt-down, don’t read British novels like “Harry Potter” or “The Lord of the Flies”, or they are too busy. Or maybe deep thinking is not their thing. Quick and shallow is the way of the day. They would not spend the time to google the choices, nor would they display their lack of knowledge by voting badly.
So the poll is a survey among a small population of wry, well-read, well-traveled people who are up to speed on global events. Among that set of respondents, the poll is meaningful, if not precisely scientific.
So what are the respondents telling us?
If I stretch deductions liberally, it seems to me they are saying:
- The Philippines is nothing like Singapore, economically, politically, or culturally.
- The current economic program of the Philippines is high-debt, high-risk, and . . . given the nation’s endemic poverty . . . hell could be coming if the economy crashes. Like Venezuela. This is a serious concern which is why it is the second most popular choice in the poll.
- The Hogwarts School of Magic and Wizardry is relevant when we consider the tricks used by government: propaganda under the banner of FOI, killing drug users whilst jailing no drug lords, or using sleight of mind to tag critics as criminals. Most respondents probably don’t make this connection, or believe it is not the main description of the nation. I admit the literary relevance is hazy.
- Democracy is on the ropes in the Philippines. As in “The Lord of the Flies”, power and ruthless application of that power is the way of things. Few leaders are . . . by conscience, principle, or oath . . . ethically bound to respect, promote, or defend democracy. The scene is ugly. Dark. Mean. Real.
Of course, I could be wrong. And that is why the discussion section follows the article. You can let us know what you think.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
THE PHILIPPINES IS IN A VERY DELICATE SITUATION. WE NEED ALL THE PATRIOTIC, DECENT AND PEOPLE WITH INTEGRITY TO WORK TOGETHER TO WORK TOGETHER TO BRING SANITY IN A VERY CHAOTIC SITUATION. FILIPINOS NEED TO PRAY FOR DIVINE INTERVENTION TO PREVENT THE COUNTRY FROM FALLING INTO THE ABYSS OF DESTRUCTION. GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES, PLEASE.
There may have been Philippine Independence before; we certainly have no independence now.
No, it’s NOT because we’re in the grip of the U.S. or China or an international cabal of anarchists or oligarchs; it’s because we’re in the grip of a national fecklessness that entrusted responsibility for our republic entirely to a single datu: Rodrigo Duterte.
I’d say the grip is not yet complete. There is institutional pushback. If we set an ‘ideal’ level of contention, I suppose 100% would be rebellion, and 50% would be balanced checks and balances. The US is at 50% and the Philippines is at 15% because the legislature and courts are substantially captured by Duterte. But there are legislators pushing back, and lawsuits, and agencies that are obedient to the Constitution over Duterte. The challenge is to get to 20% then 25% then 50%.
At least 51 percent. 🙂 The thing is to get to the tipping point. Organizers from both the (more) progressive leftist groups of the 1970s and the wave of pro-democracy groups that sprang up after Ninoy Aquino’s assassination in 1983 recall that the day-to-day slog of organizing and mobilizing is vitally important. It’s part of the growing process.
For example, standing in a straggly picket line in the rain, with people in passing cars screaming at one for holding up traffic; this builds character. Acknowledging and dealing with fears for one’s physical safety, For one’s life. One just can’t do without the grind which, in addition to small, incremental victories, strengthens democratic networks, individual personal commitment, and a collective clear-eyed sense of what our democracy has lost–and needs to be regained. In the pre-digital age, it took about 2-3 years to build up that collective will. Will things move more quickly now?
At some point–and honestly, one can never predict exactly how that moment will come–pushback becomes a wave. Not just against the monopoly and abuse of power we are AGAINST, but for the ideals we stand FOR.
And yet, the thoughtful survivors of the 70s and 80s acknowledge that mass demonstrations of people power are not the key to what is happening now; it has to be done through the Constitution and the institutions tasked with implementing it in a responsible manner–the legislature, the judiciary. God is in the details. So is Democracy.
Attention, attention, attention. This is what is required of us.
Amen
That last phrase is often overlooked or not internalized as a personal commitment. PH ideals.
Spot on!!
I may sound cynical but I believe a move towards that ‘tipping point’ will only happen when everyone starts feeling the pinch in their pockets. This is especially true for that section of society who is feeling “safe” in the streets and continue to enjoy their lifestyle bought with blood of the less fortunate.
That sounds accurate to me, not cynical. My wife’s report from her visit to the ‘wet market’ yesterday is that prices are up from 10% to 20% from when Duterte took over. Also, I’m not sure how the common Jose looks at a President who sleeps through Independence Day ceremonies as soldiers die fighting for freedom.
*******
The question of presidential incapacity hovers in the mind. If a President:
o cannot perform his ceremonial duties
o is inconsistent in his official ones
o non-observant of the Constitution
o unwilling and unable to defend the country’s rights against an encroaching foreign power
o known to have a severe medical condition
then… does she fulfill the definition of incapacity?
*****
It’s like Trump, he treads the very edge of incapacity, but democracy is like rubber, flexible nearly to the point of self destruction. So he is given another day of chances to prove he can do something beneficial to most. And in the PH, beneficial seems to be emotional rather than economic or even sensible.
First thing I did was to read the plot of the Lord of the Flies.
There were lots of bullying, it also reminded me of turn coats, gullibility, etc which all reminds me if our current situation.
So I agree with most the results, The result for Hogwarts is a surprised for me, maybe more thought the tricks and sleight of mind is more evident in the House of Flies.
Now for Singapore and, I really wanted us to be like Singapore in terms of economic development and food security,culural diversity, good traffic management, but that is not the case, I also hope that the risky loans won’t turn our economy to be like Venezuela who defaulted on their loans and China can’t do anything.
I agree with your perception. Somehow, PH mirror the Lord of the Flies. Some lost their moral compass and resorted to savagery. Civilized behavior is being put aside and being seen as a price to pay for progress. The biguns are wielding their power to the detriment of the littleuns. As in the story, the BEAST is in all of us. We have to look inward then reach out as the only choice are to do nothing or to do something.
Hopefully, PH will dodge the Venezuela bullet and be more Hogwarts or Singapore. Hogwarts in that it is generally peaceful and its inhabitants are safe and happy, with intermittent malfeasance by the mean and evil but good always win. Singapore because of its well disciplined citizenry, respect for rule of law, economic success and worldwide positive image.
I am still hopeful for PH. It still has an identity crisis and a lot of growing pains but with a lot of self examination and integrity by the citizens, it will be on its way to being a country we all can be proud of.
Thanks Juana.
Yes in hogwarts, good magic always prevailed over dark magic in the end.
I too am very hopeful for our PH.
Pilipinos can be successful in their individual person, but can never be successful as one nation. Whoever is in power is a joke of the world.
So the challenge is to change that. It is interesting that President Aquino was respected around the world and bitterly criticized by those in the PH with axes to wield or gains to be made by self-dealing. So there is both hope and a long way to go.
Perfect nation is a dream…….therefore 60 years Philippines democracy is still a dream…….
Democracy without national wisdom and righteousness results to leadership corruptions, ethnic survival, family and individual survival, power struggle becomes the norms. Today, Filipino overseas worldwide diaspora survival is increasing year by year.
Inspite of its democratic imperfection, the Philippines has survive and has to survive and still going on its evolution and changes……Power struggles of family dynasties, political struggles of different parties and regions, will Duterte administration be able to solve it? Far from it I think because this will take decades and generations… how long? Nobody knows.
My view is a metaphor like planting rice toward a bountiful harvest ………
Four principal elements are needed, able good farmers, fertile soil, good seeds and right time of good weather.
Singapore, China and America became prosperous after a long struggles too and still in the process……….
Will the Philippines be successful in six years? Will the Philippines like Singapore?, like America? Like China? Or like itself?
I still love the Philippines, my birth land, where I came from…………..
*******
1. Today marks the country’s 119th Independence Day.
2. Why 119th? The reckoning is from Aguinaldo’s 1898 declaration of independence from Spain. There was no international recognition of this independence. Freed from Spain, the country fell under the rule of the United States then briefly by Japan. The country was finally granted independence by the US on July 4, 1946. I think this date should mark our true independence as a nation. So we have been independent for 72 years and not 119 years.
3. And on this day, we are asked. “Where are we?” Whether the country is more like two other countries – one economically successful, the other not — or more like two books of fiction – one about magic, the other about man’s inability to self-govern.
3.1. Presided by an ailing president, a feckless Congress and Judiciary, and riven by polarized incivility and terrorism, the outlook of the country – that seemed very promising a year ago – is grim.
3.2. The natural tendency, then, is to liken the country to the worst choices – to the real unsuccessful country and to the fictive book that traces the descent from normality to savagery.
4. If I had my druthers, I would pick another book or a part of a book. I would pick the First Part of “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” Very briefly, the allegorical narrative is that of a Pilgrim journeying from the “City of Destruction” to the “Celestial City.”
4.1. The Pilgrim knows that he has sinned and journeys to seek deliverance.
4.2. In both Christian and Islamic theology, there is the dream of a celestial city. For Christians, it is a New Jerusalem. For Muslims, a Caliphate.
4.3. Perhaps, the separate dreams can be synthesized and merged here in the Philippines to show the world that religious Peace is possible. We have read stories of Muslims protecting Christians. And there is the national effort to afford Muslims their own Bangsamoro land. Let us progress our journey.
*****
Item 4.3 ! ! !
How tremendously refreshing to read a bit of optimism to what is going on here. Meanwhile, one of my goals for the week is to clean and oil my hand-held shooting mechanism. There is a real-time reality within the hazy swirl of history moving optimistically forward. I wish it would hurry up.
Look at the numbers and the names of the ASEAN member countries:
2016: from least corrupt to most corrupt
1 SINGAPORE 7
2 BRUNEI 41
3 MALAYSIA 55
4 INDONESIA 90
5 PHILIPPINES 101
6 THAILAND 101
7 VIETNAM 113
8 LAOS 123
9 MYANMAR 136
10 CAMBODIA 156
2015: from highest to lowest development index (can’t find 2016 survey data)
1 SINGAPORE 5
2 BRUNEI 30
3 MALAYSIA 59
4 THAILAND 87
5 INDONESIA 113
6 VIETNAM 115
7 PHILIPPINES 116
8 LAOS 138
9 CAMBODIA 143
10 MYANMAR 145
I have three (3) units only of Statistics (my limitation and excuse) taken may be 47 years ago indicative therefore I’m not a very good LIAR using STATS; unless I was using stats to lie everyday. As prodigiously surveyed Is there a CORRELATION between CORRUPTION (by Transparency International) and HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (by the UNITED NATIONS) ? Increasing corruption = increasing human development (positive correlation). Increasing corruption = decreasing human development (NEGATIVE CORRELATION. And correlative vice-versa? Increasing corruption = WA EFFECT on human development (No correlation) Eh.
Zeroing only the member-countries of ASEAN, the Philippines in 2016 is number SIXTH as most corrupt; Ph is world ranked 116th of 176 countries from the least to the most corrupt.
In 2015, Among ASEAN members Philippines is ranked 7th (out of 10) in the Human Development Index. Its world ranking from high to LOW human development is 116th out of 188 countries. Go figure for the LIE. In ASEAN Ph is 6TH corrupt. It went down one notch lower as low 7th in human development. NO CORRELATION AT ALL, MAY BE?
When a country is HIGHER than the middle ranked country in corruption and lower than the middle country in human development, in SURVEY reports of ASEAN and the UN, do you have a challenged citizenry? or worst, challenged members of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government?
A masteral degree dissertation or a doctoral monograph should answer that.
hah, hah, hah. Positive correlation definitely, DEFINITELY. As cynics will postulate. Very positive for crooked politicians and political dynasties; ONLY.
Once upon a time, If I remember having read right: JoeAm can’t help but giggle on what I am saying. Anybody is properly RIGHTEOUS , to smile, laugh, dance and sing at the RIGHT time.
Popoy,
Using Microsoft’s Excel, I plotted the Corruption and Development Indices for the countries and calculated the correlation Index. Corruption Index, C, is in blue; and Development Index, D, is in orange.
Note that I re-arranged the numbers in the Development Index to correspond to the countries listed under the Corruption Index.
(I have the same units of Statistics as you, but I have one unit of Microsoft Excel. 🙂 )
*******
Beautiful data!
*****
A LITTLE NOTE ON THE WINNER OF THE FOUR-ITEM POLL
Joe,
I agree that for reasons of their own, some readers of your tweet were not predisposed to answering and that those who answered were not random. But of those predisposed to answer who know the four items in the poll, the question is: does the “Lord of the Flies” get it, over the “Venezuela” item which comes next to LOTF?
The 194 respondents result in an error variation of 7% — if they were selected at random from those predisposed to answer. If this is subtracted from the LOTF item and added to the Venezuela items we get 51% and 34%, respectively. Now since the respondents were not random, let us double 7% to 14% and do the same subtraction/ addition and we get 44% and 41%, respectively.
On the above basis, I am reasonably confident the LOTF item is the winner of the four-item poll from those who know the items and predisposed to answer (unscientifically done though the poll may be).
Almost end of day and I’ve just finished going over the Miller-Orr stochastic model for cash management (I’m trying to write a book on banking operations) and I though my mind is so confused, then I see your stats. Fortunately I’m still able to understand you. It’s good to have you around to scan through figures in TSOH and give us some assurances to make more sense of things.
Statistically you are correct. So I’m amazed Joe’s respondents are widely read. Would I be wrong to presuppose most of them are senior citizens,considering LOTF is such an old novel.
Chemrock,
Two items:
* Having much appreciated your writings and comments here in TSH, I will persist in reading that book when it comes out — I may finally understand “banking operations.” But please hurry up, time is ticking fast on some of us here.
* Perceptive of you — the old novel and the senior citizens hereabouts to appreciate Joe’s Poll.
🙂
Well, it is a classic that young Filipinos for sure ought to read, to better grasp what they are living through.
ps, I was admonished on Facebook that BPO workers definitely read Harry Potter. They are not the lazy illiterate slobs my write-up hinted at. Now if someone would just explain their admiration of Duterte. Do they live within the realm of imagination???
*******
They live in the realm of magic? And magic can be black or white.
*****
Yes, indeed. Magic is emotional, too.
Visceral.
Joe, speaking also of classics in times like this, would Gulliver’s Travels and/or Alice in Wonderland be useful for “late seniors” like me? 🙂
Ha, yes, absolutely. Both are grand explorations and pokes at our human pomposity and tendency to gravitate toward very strange creatures.
Thank you then. Barnes & Noble has them at reduced prices and buy I shall.
Harvard Business School might be interested for a case study on USA’s Wells Fargo.
*******
I would presuppose that JoeAm’s respondents have more than a modicum of intelligence above the average. The novel has been made into movies, one a Filipino adaptation. I read the novel in my early 20’s.
*****
Sal nodded, and winked. That is about as expressive of appreciation as he gets.
I always appreciate a good tap on the shoulder from Sal!
What is needed is the BBL. This will stop terrorism.
Yes, exactly what President Aquino was trying for until Senator Marcos stepped in to nit-pick the proposed law to death.
*******
Therefore, Senator Marcos is a father of the Marawi crisis.
And his sister was a financier of Duterte who has plunged the country into different forms of crises.
Trust the Marcoses to be the loud squeaking and misaligned wheel that makes the shopping trolley gyrate and hard to push straight.
*****
Edgar, I think you are over egging it when you say that Marcos is the father & that Duterte ‘plunged the nation into” the Malawi ‘crisis’.
Give ISIS some credit ! And give the previous Aquino some of the ‘credit’ too.. Id Del Santos’ assessment is correct there was a ignoring of the ISIS threat perhaps in the ‘hope’ that it would fade away
*******
Bill in Oz,
I don’t think so.
*****
I still disagree Edgar. You are making the assumption that the Marawi rebellion was organised only in the past 11 months of Duterte’s rule.
I suggest it took much longer and has it’s roots not just in Duterte’s time but also in decisions made during Aquino’s time as president. Decisions made by ISIS; decisions made by local extremist Muslim Filipinos; and decisions made by government officials in Lanao Del Norte..
So not much room for Marcos in that process.
Bill in Oz,
I came up with a timeline of ISIS in the Philippines.
https://joeam.com/2017/05/22/accepting-nominations-for-the-barons-of-a-mature-democratic-philippines/#comment-217428
The pertinent item is #3:
“3. December 2016 – ISIS contacts Isnilon Hapilon of the Abu Sayyaf Group with instructions to find a suitable area to establish a caliphate in Mindanao.”
Emphasis on Mindanao. ISIS thought that the group’s home islands of Sulu and Basilan were too small.
This is supported by an entry in Hapilon’s Wikipedia entry: “As of January 2017, ISIL acknowledged him as their member. And he is known to be in Butig, Lanao del Sur for rectifying Maute Group and joins Abu Sayyaf to establish the Islamic State in the Philippines. He was later promoted to Emir of the ‘Philippine Province’.” [Bolding mine.]
What I was trying to distinguish was the time ASG and the Maute Group were ISIS wannabes to the time that they were formally affiliated with ISIS. This latter time is not to be confused with these groups’ pledges of loyalty to ISIS.
The ASG was established way back in 1991, and arguably one can say that roots of the Marawi crisis go way back to that year.
My thesis is that the Marawi “rebellion” could only have been organized since December 2016.
Of course, the idea of an Islamic state (or caliphate) in Southern Philippines was born much, much earlier than that.
*****
Bill,
Maute was formed by ex members of the MNLF. They started off as disgruntled bandits. There was nothing ideological. Towns people took them as residents who carried arms. They did pledge allegiance to ISIS who never acknowledged that act, probably they were viewed as bandits, not dedicated soldiers of Islam. It was only in Feb 2016 when the AFP overran their camp at Butig, Lanao del Sur where they found military training manuals that authorities began to raise concerns.
The UN Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the advocator for anti-money laundering /combating of financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) international standards. Countries that do not have adequate frameworks for dealing with this are put on a non-coperating countries list. Philippines was on this list back in 2000. The country was taken off this list in the same years as it made headways in being seriousin the matter. The AML law was passed in 2001. Finally, in Aquino’s time, the CFT law was passed.
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 10168 June 20, 2012
AN ACT DEFINING THE CRIME OF FINANCING OF TERRORISM, PROVIDING PENALTIES THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
In Marawi, I’m inclined to think there was a failure of banks, the first line of defense, to detect financial transactions of Maute-related individuals. Similarly in the case of the lady police superintendent who married the Abu Sayaf guy, who the govt now says, have been the conduit of funds from the middle east. However, the banks’ failures to detect these is the failure of govt intel. Why did’nt anyone simply send a list of names out to banks. Because the govt has too much detractions, too much politiks to play? In any case. the Philippines banking secrecy law kills the CGT legislation. I have said all along, Philippines banking secrecy laws is structured to protect crooks, and in this case, terrorists.
Thanks for your exposition on the financial side of things Chemrock. It had completely slipped my mind. But it is important.
Bill , I think you and edgar, are missing two points, that IS is the ideal , ISIL is the experiment in Iraq/Syria (also Libya and other parts of Africa), don’t conflate the two; IS in Mindanao and Sulu is (as far as my readings on this goes, ie. news, etc.) is in between IS (the idea) and ISIL (practical application, with shura councils actually voting their emir, and enforcing & serving their community, etc.).
edgar, wiki posts aside, there’s a big difference between appointment and acknowledgement as emir, ie. emirs aren’t appointed from afar. As I’ve hinted above this emir stuff, is fairly a democratic process , with a shura and voting, and followers pledging their support to their emir—– ie., this emirship doesn’t come from some magazine article, written or ordered half a world away.
Knuckleheads and groups pledge their support to ISIL everyday, thus
buying into and officializing their participation in the bigger notion of IS (the ideal here, ie. caliphate). But unless there are Muslim Filipinos who have returned from Iraq/Syria (who held important positions in ISIL), or non-Filipinos who have come to Mindanao/Sulu to establish an actual organization, not just this pledging stuff, then you’ll have a solid connection, this pledging stuff and fluff from these magazines are standard.
chemp’s point of banking would be moot IMHO (though still applicable, i suppose, only less as compared to the drug syndicates and politicians and say INC’s flow ) , because these guys have their own money transfer regime. But to chemp’s point, you guys want to establish a hard connection of ISIL (the organization, not the ideal) to IS in Mindanao and Sulu, which means you look beyond.
To Bill’s point , yes all this has been simmering , whether one administration or one family kept it hidden, ie. ala Pakistan and the Taliban/al-Qaeda connection, who knows. But the switch is easy, like Hamas to ISIL , simply take another step forward, from irredentist struggle to worldwide caliphate struggle, that’s the ideal stuff.
the organizational stuff, you gotta find more than just pledges and acknowledgements in jihadi magazines, there has to be transfers of personnel and funds (per chemp’s point), as well as arms. But most importantly, how was Hapilon elected as “emir”, like I said usually there’s a shura (council) and they ‘elect’ him as their emir… emirs aren’t simply elected as emirs because of their military prowess, nor is it a popularity contest, they usually are pious, or can fake piety as to impress their comrades.
At this point, the ISIL connection is still dubious to me, though I don’t doubt that they’ve bought into the IS idea of a world caliphate.
“Emphasis on Mindanao. ISIS thought that the group’s home islands of Sulu and Basilan were too small.”
Not necessarily, edgar. I’m more of the opinion that they were squeezed out of the island chain, thanks in part of American community building, infrastructure, etc. but also local Filipino involvement, so they ventured to the mainland, with their tails tucked. Thus the best argument for a functioning local and state gov’t, it may have slipped since mid-2000s.
Remember, the main terror in Mindanao in the 80s were para-military Christian groups.
“Remember, the main terror in Mindanao in the 80s were para-military Christian groups.”
@ Lance,
The Ilagas operated in the 70s and they tried to relaunch in 2008.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilaga
Thanks Lance, a good note on the separation of the idea and the application. I agree with that.
Regarding the financing, there is no doubt the bad guys have stayed one step ahead of authorities. The way where they leave no paper trails is by couriers or mules coming in with cash and via shady remittance companies. Cross country cash mules is problematic due to increased surveillance at airports (not so sure about seaports) but then again in Philippines, it’s just a matter of greasing some hands. In other places, they resort to locally raised funds. Nevertheless, there will be times when carelessless or over confidence creeps in,or even out of necessicity, and they use normal chanels. At Marawi several checks were found. The lady superintendent seemed to receive funds in her account. So there were paper trails.
Philippines Center for Transnational Crimes is the agency tasked with co-ordinating the country’s anti-terrorism war. We have never heard a single word from Usec. Allan Guisihan the CEO of PCTC, perhaps they work in the shadows. Don’t they have a list of Maute familiy members circulated to banks, at least in Marawi?
karl, if I’m not mistaken they (amongst other paramilitary civilian Christian groups against Moros) were operational even in the time of Cory.
chemp, absolutely agree 100%!!!
From TIME magazine dated April 2016.
More on Hapilon and ISIS inspired groups.
There was mention of amateurs starting from hand guns to hi-powered rifles. (Familiar)
http://time.com/4293395/isis-zamboanga-mindanao-moro-islamist-terrorist-asia-philippines-abu-sayyaf/
*******
Note that I said “a” father and not “the” father.
*****
Yep, that’s them.
“The political language of a dictator is designed to make lies sound truthful, and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind”
George Orwell
Fake philippines – Land of the lies.
What is it about the philippines and plagiarism – laziness, a lack of creativity, or no originality.
What is it about DoT and stupidity – cronyism, incompetence, or insularity. Dysfunction meets dystopia.
What is it about the the philippines and passive aggressive cuckoo syndrome – low self-esteem, envy, a lack of identity.
The land of ‘make believe’.
“What are we? – Humans?, Or animals?, Or savages?”
Lord of the flies.
Nailed it.
Here’s Walden Bello’s latest piece and read how he tears into Duterte, with no hesitation.
http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/172727-politics-towards-the-abyss
But I have to leave you guys for now and come back later, because I can’t stop laughing hysterically at that White House Cabinet meeting, where the Cabinet secretaries all praised Trump for what he has accomplished, and what a blessing it was to work for him. As far as I can remember, they don’t even do it here, a Third World backwater. 🙂
And here’s the parody of it:
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/12/politics/chuck-schumer-parody-video-trump-cabinet/index.html
The guy (Trump) really does seem to have an esteem impairment.
Walang Hiya! No, not the parody, but the original show in that Cabinet Meeting.
Staying with the Philippines, Bello’s short article in Rappler is concise and informed. He says that the rot started with the Mamasapano incident in 2015 and Aquino’s refusal to acknowledge his command responsibility for 44 Filipino police being killed. Then BBL was dead in the water.
Bill
BBL was killed by BBM.
For the record, I agree with BBM on one point — The BBL gave the moros the right to seek a referendum to add new areas into their territory if 10% of the residents there agreed. That’s quite absurb.
That’s a refugee crisis/potential genocide just waiting to happen, chemp! tyranny by way of minority rule.
That is an over-simplification on both Mamasapano and the BBL, and I’d say Bello’s view is more emotional than informed. Aquino did accept responsibility, within the laws and legal counsel that said he had no ‘chain of command’ authority, and the senate hearing on the matter ended as a political dud. Bello’s resignation was a very strange, emotional choice by an angry man. It took his voice out of the dialogue and his blame-casting seems a flailing struggle to reclaim it. Nothing other than political backbiting has been levied against Aquino. You can see that by the lack of blames or calls for accountability on Duterte’s decisions in Mindanao.
The results of Joe’s poll are not at all surprising. Both Duterte supporters and those who find him or his policies reprehensible, very well represented here, believe endemic chaos and corruption characterize the country. Where the two differ is whether Duterte is the powerful leader that can and will lead the Philippines out of the darkness or plunge it deep into a hellish abyss. Hopefully the ending will be favorable as it was in the Lord of the Flies movie.