MAN IN THE TIME OF DUTERTE, TRUMP, MARCOS
God has us in his sights. Zeroed. Marked with an “x.” Us meaning mankind in general, the Philippines and the United States in particular. Why? We’re in a meat grinder. We don’t see millions dying as in a Hollywood war movie, but there is something going on in our souls, a feeling of listlessness, perhaps, despair, perhaps, of chaos closing in on the good and beautiful. Perhaps.
Nothing is ever sure nowadays. The Lord can descend on recalcitrant earthlings before I finish this article or he may leave us to our own devices for the next million years. Putin may be unseated as I write, or he may eventually push the button and be done with it, the world turned to ashes with him. Marcos may go back to partying as a private citizen or he may usher in 300 years of repurposing the Philippines from the land of the morning to a howling wilderness where bad is good and good, bad.
We may still look the same, Neanderthal with handsome looks, but our spirit is being flipped. How do you explain a churchgoing Filipino or American who is basically a Marcos or a Trump supporter down to his socks? A safety-conscious American who would not rebel, yes, rebel against the Second Amendment? An educated Filipino who believes that Sara can rule without honesty?
The good news is Leni Robredo can call on millions to swamp the Commission on Elections headquarters in Intramuros to compel the government body to produce evidence of cheating in the May 9, 2022 elections. The bad news is only Leni can do that.
So, we are in the era of prognostications, people waiting for the clouds of doubt to disperse to bring back 20/20 vision.
In the meantime, while God and man reflect on our ultimate destination, there are several things we can still do:
Pray. Go back to God if you haven’t done so yet. God is the God of surprises. But he wants to be sure that we have the minimal number of fish and loaves as moral capital before he multiplies them before our very eyes.
Do S.T.E.W.A.R.D.* – Sunshine, Tiring Exercise, Water, Air, Rest, Diet. Invest in yourself. What’s going to happen will happen, but we can at least be physically fit to have humor and presence of mind. You are responsible for the people closest to you to grab them to safety.
Keep a hobby, defined as doing the thing you like best. It defines us and keeps us in our center, ourselves whole as the day we were born.
Join a group created in your likeness. There are people who are eerily our doppelganger in values, speech and behavior. Find them, as in the game The Ship is Sinking. As I said you need humor to survive, you need lightness and companionship to survive.
Determine your center and stay there no matter what happens. What is your center? If you want to help people and it completes you, that is your center. There may be darkness and confusion all around. You need people like you around you. Loners are good, but social animals help each other to push on one mile more.
Read articles like this. Stop going to porn or anything that departs from God. There are people who are sending out signals, leading us to light. Find them if you haven’t yet.
Hug each other as in a warm family picture. I won’t explain that. It’s self-evident.
Lastly, whatever happens, stay with God.
By Wilfredo G. Villanueva
May 29, 2023
*From a nursery rhyme. Acrostic mine.
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The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Yehey nagpost na din si Kuya Wil. Thanks!
Yehey!
Thank you, Giancarlo!
I John 5:4-5 ( ESV ) “ For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? TO GOD BE THE GLORY. Amen
you nearly had me there, ramon naguita. I thought you mean the son of god that lives in dabaw and has outstanding court case of human trafficking sa estados unidos, lol!
I’m not losing hope. VP Leni is waiting for the right time. Let them do all kinds of mistakes.
Yes. Hand to my heart.
Kuya Will, maybe a more introspective approach is to ask a people centric question of why they, in the millions, voted for Duterte, Trump, and Marcos in the first place – why were they guiled or rendered vulnerable to the wild promises of these charlatans?
Sa aking palagay, yan ay makabuluhang pagtalakay upang tayo ay makahanap ng epektibong pangontra sa ginagawang panggagantso nina Trump, Duterte, at Marcos.
(In my opinion, that is a meaningful discussion in order for us to find an effective countermeasure against the manipulation being done by Trump, Duterte, and Marcos.)
Without getting into the details of politics but still within the parameters of Wil’s go with God article and flocking birds of a feather,
here’s one podcast
about a UFO incident that occured in Arizona outside Snowflake AZ in the 1970s. basically about the narrators (who is Mormon) and her father (also Mormon) talking about this UFO abduction case when she was growing up, her remembering it,
then her moving to NYC then kinda forgetting being a Mormon because she had no birds of like feathers to flock with, in ruminating her lost of faith she does a story about Snowflake AZ of the dudes who were part of this UFO abduction (who too are Mormons, since Snowflake AZ is a Mormon town)
and how thru out the years spanning on 30 plus years now, with all detractors and doubts, they as a group of friends keep each other going in keeping the faith, their truth and what happened in the mountains of Arizona.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/421/last-man-standing/act-three-2
So I agree with Wil 100%, although I don’t think religion will be the most meaningful organizing factor ala EDSA 1 , but for politics to happen any politics you have to organize accordingly, you have to…
“Join a group created in your likeness. There are people who are eerily our doppelganger in values, speech and behavior. “
its all about shared interests. but any shared interests not galvanized in any hardship is not truly shared. like Couples for Christ just being used for adultery. bewared this which always results in fracture of groups and the echo chamber. cuz thats a cult.
My point like that UFO abduction, seek hardships as the unifying factor. real not pretend. thanks Wil, a great reminder into organizing. be militaristic about it even. share hardships. read the Desert Fathers. hermit culture is very alive in Catholicism. hardships thru abandonment of self.
Will’s group aside from having regular prayer meetings has been regularly going to demonstrate at different occasions, including in front of COMELEC. They also have visited Senator De Lima in jail.
There is a history of their shared struggle that goes back even to before 2019, when Will stopped writing for some years, I guess to focus more on action.
Ah thanks! I didn’t know Wil was directly involved in this De Lima stuff, cuz remember I kept badgering Joe during the election why VP Leni didn’t make De Lima the center piece in her campaign. shoulda coulda woulda. oh well. but VP Leni needs to keep D5 as center piece if she wants to run again.
I gotta feeling though with Napoloes and then soon Teves acquitted, they’ll keep De Lima in prison just out of spite.
Hey, Lance Corporal! You are a sniper with a Barrett covering all points. They have to let Leila go because detention becomes her. She’s like Sts. Peter and Paul. Prison bars and locks melt at her touch.
had leni won the presidency, methink, she would have pardoned de lima. but then, that would imply de lima is guilty; for one has to be guilty to be pardoned.
I think, pbbm knows the technicality that the innocent cannot be pardoned, and did not twitch a muscle. did not want to go into a legal quagmire: pardoning de lima when she is not guilty may cause him to end up with egg on his face, lol!
de lima was/is the whipping boy of the previous admin and carries their sins.
Thanks for posting this article. I do agree with Micha that we have to ask ourselves why certain things recently happened, not that recently but a year ago now.
Because in two years, it could be like 2019 and 2022 again if no real lessons are learned. Unfortunately I don’t have the answers here, I wonder who has them all, probably nobody.
And some answers may indeed come with time and not necessarily by overthinking.
The Trump phenomenon in the US is much easier to discern. He was largely able to channel the white working class resentment and economic alienation coming from de-industrialization of the economy and hyper concentration of wealth for which, instead of turning their ire on the established US plutocratic system, he directed animosity towards illegal immigrants and people of color.
I would surmise that Duterte likewise played, for the most part, on this card of mass alienation that all post EDSA administrations were unable to solve and packaging himself as a radical outsider who’ll fix things up pronto.
Two things I see that may have lead to 2016’s debacle:
1) progress in mass media led to novel forms of mass influence and mobilization:
1a) Ninoy’s death until EDSA: TV and videotape as well as Radios Veritas and Bandido
1b) EDSA Dos: mass mobilization by text messages and TV (impeachment trial)
1c) 2016 ff.: mass resentment spurred by socmed including free FB for the masses
2) populistic tendencies post-EDSA
2a) action movie stars and comedians in politics
2b) Erap as President as a symbol of the masses
2c) Duterte as a further symbol of the masses
Clearly the masses usually did not feel represented by Philippine democracy, but wasn’t that the case in post-WW2 pre-ML democracy too, with the notable exception of Magsaysay?
Though 1 and 2 above may have started earlier: Marcos and his voice had a certain presence on transistor radio, all over the country by his time. Movie studios often belonged to people close to politicians and influenced perceptions for instance of goons positively in the 1960s..
(The alienation you mentioned Post-EDSA might especially have been due to the lack of real job opportunities in the country and the continuation of the export of Filipino labor Marcos Sr. started, ripping apart the fabric of society in so many ways, especially families)
These facts stare back at us like famished kids selling sampaguita, not giving up:
Poverty is a power unto itself, like a misbegotten giant worm living underground, feeding on society’s trash, manifesting itself in inconvenient times, such as elections.
The electorate can be manipulated, but only up to a certain point. That’s why the 2025 elections may be a turning point. I move, I move may be the last straw.
Cheating and lying is ordinary when you’re a Marcos. Repeat 3x.
Prayer is to Filipinos as guns are to Republicans.
In case of fire, God is our extinguisher.
To all the Irineos among us, those who will not give up, honor and gratitude!
I think, we may have to consider that not only the electorate can be manipulated, but maybe the counting machines as well for they can be made to be sick on polling day! taken somewhere to be fed false data when no one is looking, routed by over eager bots?
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1584843/comelec-withholds-p90-m-payment-to-smartmatic-over-data-breach
mayhap it was acts of man that made our country’s election a mess.
election 2019, there was 7hrs computer glitch.
election 2022, again there was 7hrs computer glitch.
mukhang napaka misteryoso, e, each time there was 7hr computer glitch, the opposition lost.
Hard to pin down the cheating angle because, for one, election results pretty much validate most pre-election surveys including those commissioned by the opposition.
Also, it can easily be trivialized with a familiar counter that “walang natatalong kandidato sa Philippine elections, nadaya lang.”
On the money, Micha, your comment. I always play by the rules: trash to the bin, flush after use, lady love gets seated in the car first, babies hugged, duel joined if worthwhile, losers concede. But the trio of Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Eli Rio, Jr., Franklin Ysaac and Gus Lagman cannot be ignored. They speak tech, time and motion studies, distinctly boring stuff, with sense, something that the dark side cannot muster. Power wins, but logic and math decides. We were cheated big time. This coming from someone who is not pikon.
leni is not bitter about her loss, our loss, and because she did not ask for recount of votes, the admin is thus made stable.
except that . . . staunch pbbm supp porter gloria arroyo could well be on her tricks again! and has to be contained, simmering on the inside, all smiles on the outside, demoted. then vp sara, resigned from the party, and then there is robin padilla resigning as well.
cards are shuffling. . .
Firstly, thanks for this TSOH blog on the “interesting times” — probably best phrased as “times of upheaval” — we live in. I believe, though, that our Chief Historian here, Irineo, can likely draw from his database similar past interesting times. Humans have not evolved as fast as one aspect [of humans]: the scientific, technological brain; the psychological brain has been a turtle if that.
On the matter of the general election, touched by kb, Mcha, and yourself, I believe that even without the probable digital magic as some tech experts claim from their analyses, Marcos Jr would have come out as the winner. But the win gap would have been much smaller.
crunch the megadata! out of curiosity, I fed data trying to find out if pbbm really did win election with a wide margin, inputting his previous total tally in 2016, his tally after the recount, the regions that voted for him, etc, etc, etc – vs leni’s total tally similarly charted as pbbm. chatbot came up with very surprising answer I was told never to repeat, lol!
okay, I’ve forgotten already, hic.
Hahaha! If you haven’t forgotten, I would have asked you to whisper, kb.
Huge discussions going on in Twitter around these two tweets:
Around what people saw in Dutz back in 2016:
Around neoliberalism which the below article defends:
I wonder if any of the AIs around can just summarize the pros and cons.
Both matters have a connection to today’s situation but there are NO simple answers.
The PDF link to a Walden Bello paper on neolib is interesting:
(Micha might feel inspired to write an article about neolib in the Philippines for this blog, who knows?)
Would like to, if I can find the time. Still a busy bee.
Austerity combined with neoliberalism will give you fascist autocrats like Duterte, Marcos, Orban, Bolsonaro, and Trump.
pbbm has a new economic weapon, the maharlika sovereign wealth fund just passed hurdle now to be made legal.
If he will have a standing ovation in the SONA for that fund then we are doomed.
it can only be expected, him getting standing ovation for the maharlika nogins, lol!
pulling the wool over our eyes is not easy, but he did it! methink, binawi lang niya ang mga sangkatutak na nagastos ng dating gobyerno sa pandemic, the vaccine procurement and ensuing corruption. plus all those pandemic money given to people, the purchase of anomalous ppes, the isolation expenses, etc. hindi lang yata niya masabi-sabi na halos bankrupt ang gobyernong namana niya at masyadong kukonti ang perang natira.
so he jump-started with maharlika nogins. methink, all those super saver filipinos keeping their moneys in the bank will be severely affected, the banks now compelled by law to monitize maharlika. will there be good return? like any investment, high, medium or low risk, maharlika will probly have a bad turn and lose money before it can have a good turn.
how soon the good turn? we just have to be patient and be more patient if maharlika continuously hit a bad patch.
I think, I’ll start putting what little money I have elsewhere and not in the bank, lol!
Terrific post, Will, poetic and pragmatic in our time of confusion. A moral rot has set in where greed and self interest dominate most conversations and choices. The US and Philippines are prime examples. Trump, of all people, a leader? Woe to America. Givers like Robredo are rare, and are the light in this dismal time for those of us who figure God has left us to look to man for our solutions.
Thanks for the inspirations.
ahem, god may have left us in care of the man who is always grazing!
You’re welcome, JA. Happy that SoH is still heavy traffic. So many articles to write, so much feedback, dipstick shows oil is on level, engine purrs like a big cat, am home in the swirl of ideas like race cars taking risk.
“Grave this on your memory, lad: A world is supported by four things…” she held up four big-knuckled fingers. “…the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave. But all of these things are as nothing…” She closed her fingers into a fist. “…without a ruler who knows the art of ruling. Make that the science of your tradition!”
― Frank Herbert, Dune
that quote misses the whole point of the Dune saga:
here’s the interview:
Views on religion, politics, and societal changes can vary greatly among individuals.
Not quite sure if retreat to an echo chamber is an answer. For solace, sure. For impact and contribution, nah.
To the PH scene, we are one.
To the US scene, I have a contrarian view that had me kicked out. What I brought here once condemned as conspiracy theories, have now proven to be true in many instances. Today I still hold true to what I believed. That is the side that speaks of finding peace (when everyone else are talking war), God, sanctity of marriage, institution of family, protection of the unborn, non partisan justice system, law and order. It is very clear which side of the aisle I am with.
“What I brought here once condemned as conspiracy theories, have now proven to be true in many instances.”
chemp,
can you list the theories which have now been proven to be true. because I think its just one, namely the Hunter Biden stuff which is still under investigation. set to wrap up this summer i think.
but most of Trump appointed judges didn’t even entertain any of the vote stuff. so I’m curious what conspiracy theories have been proven true. I’m interested because am a fan of after action reports and
play by plays a few years after since time allows us some objectivity.
for example, I thought during the campaign VP Leni shoulda been focusing on De Lima and branded herself a true law and order candidate via rule of law. instead the issue of De Lima was side lined.
i admit thats no conspiracy theory more like strategy that wasn’t employed, but for conspiracy theory maybe am not plugged into all the COVID vaccine is mind control theory, but that surely
dissipated, though not as many people are taking vaccines anymore, dunno about Philippines and vaccines, but people have learned to just absorbed the losses, which was what I was harping about a couple of years ago, eg theres 8 billion
of us, surely the Earth will appreciate some quantitative easing in human population.
Oh and the hot button topic nowadays is all the trans stuff, Target stores just cancelled all their trans LGBTQ+ merchandize set for Pride month and all the language games eg, whats a woman? pronouns, etc. is all the rage.
in the end its about the University professors that got fired for not using their students pronouns (preferring instead to call them by their first names), thus booted out of schools, then law suits against said schools, and winning said law suits , pluse reinstatement and punitive fines afforded to them.
I know theres a lot of gays and lesbians and trans in the Philippines, but I wonder if its as crazy as in the West with language games. on one hand they are still the butt of jokes over there, on the other hand entertainment is replete with them giving them power in society (unlike here, Caitlyn Jenner was basically outcast, and I think the Rue Paul special got cancelled quick no viewers, same with the Budlight fiasco).
I guess to connect it to Philippines and Wils blog, and weirdly would run opposite of Wil’s flock cuz Catholicism, but would also be allies cuz liberalism, where does Filipino LGBTQplus movement stand as an organizing force?
Hello Mr. Lance. It seems the collusion were between the FBI, Tweeter and the social media. With regards to Hunter Biden there was a senate report on it https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/hunter-biden-burisma-and-corruption-the-impact-on-us-government-policy-and-related-concerns/
Thanks for the link, Isk. I used to watch committee hearings on CSPAN because they are the real deal, the place where the rubber meets the road. I pulled up the interview with now Sec of State Blinken and spent the past hour reading the whole thing. It is relevant because it cites the partisan political purpose of the hearings, mentions how Russian misinformation was sent through committee hearings to Trump and via Trump, the American public, and leaves one with a clear impression that it is really a malicious witch hunt.
That’s the stench you get when the rubber is burning on the road.
You’re most welcome Sir.
Did you read about how a future Sec of State instigated 51 top spies to release a joint declaration Hunter’s laptop is definitely a Russian disinfo job? A well-timed declaration 1 month before 2020 election. Well now Durham has his report out, the guy who went out to collect those signatures and Brenan have admitted to the farce. Why is it even under discussion now. Should have moved to putting some folks in jail. Should you still be in doubt, I read 10k of nice photos from that laptop is now in circulation. Strange, such leaks often goes to Wapo and NYT but not this one.
My advice is to not start the nonsense here again, or you’ll be gone again. The easiest way to do this is stick with issues that pertain to the Philippines. Isk is a polite soul. Don’t drag him in. Thank you.
I did. I say it was a good engineering job done by both of those with ill intention and by those who believe that US election is being influenced and/or there was interference from Russia.
Click to access durhamreport.pdf
See my note to chemrock. This discussion is not appropriate for this blog.
@ JoeAm, Got it Sir.
A lot of places in the world are politically divided these days – Turkey is one:
https://fb.watch/kRg-KWkCbn/
(As usual DW does an excellent job of showing both sides. Even if one is with a certain side, one has to at least know where the other side is coming from)
A look at Thailand and Brazil is also worth it:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0uGBDmqjxVm7uS41fukvzdXRRiNnjAL74jF4b18grVDJqDUsKa8iGzJDixhzSEwK7l&id=100044321414989
Both managed to turn the authoritarian tide, which is actually a worldwide phenomenon.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0TD37Lm7YVJ8CjgSNpPU9oCfUoWsoJprUKZPeECEp6P2QnNxq7ZctnP9swbcXN9Ail&id=100000724186590&sfnsn=scwspmo
In detail, of course, every country differs – even Orban and Putin in Europe differ.
The example of Chel Diokno (highly respected by most of the Philippine Left from my observation and among liberals as well) losing the Senate race and Robin Padilla winning starkly illustrates that there is more afoot than just “neoliberalism alienating the people”. Otherwise, there might be a Leftist similar to Lula in Brazil able to mobilize a plurality. Also, the desire for certain freedoms seems thin even among the middle class, or else there would be phenomena more like in Thailand, so the question of causes back in 2022 really stumps me.
We have a fractured and fractious left in the country – sila sila nag aaway. Bayan at Akbayan. Llegal and underground left. Stalinist vs. Trotskyite left. PKP vs. CPP.
And then there’s Baduy and the gang ostracizing and red tagging everyone that remotely smells like a Marxist.
philipppines is one of the poorest nation in asia; and naturally, the majority of populace voted those they think reflect their values! they can see themselves in robin, brash, insensitive and maybe a bit dull, can talk his way in and out of trouble and laugh at himself, but chel? can the man ever do wrong!
I did not vote for robin though, too much flour, not enough yeast, lol!
What’s your take on Senator Tulfo, k? Is he presidential material? That is, would he run an honest government? He seems to have the required popularity.
raffy tulfo, methink, his sister wanda is his albatross. is he presidential material? of course! so long as he’s a filipino citizen, of age, and file certificate of candidacy. as for popularity, it never hurt to be popular. can he run an honest govt? of course! he just have to be prepared to stand alone, it can be lonely at the top. he may lose friends, and gain trusted few.
Okay, thanks. He may be the best shot at a conventional president who has the popularity to win.
What is too perfect about Chel, his teeth? Besides, he looks like a man who can laugh about himself, I guess more like a UP professor than a jeepney driver. Tragic that such a person is nowadays seen as an “elitist” by many.
I never think of chel as elitist, same with mar roxas, they’re never elitists to me. just persons out of my league. got this feeling that if I engage chel in a banter, he’ll faint! then, I’ll be in trouble, lol!
Thailand is still a toss-up right now. Same with Brazil.
Turkey, Thailand and Brazil have around half of their people making some sense while in the Philippines most are obviously not making sense.
Unless there is something in the equation that I am missing. 2016 somehow I still understood in the light of the Great Cultural Divide and all that. 2019 was a messed-up opposition campaign and OK 2022 started too late but still..
I even understand Erdogan supporters, even if I don’t agree with them, as their man is a player on the international arena, more sly than competent and probably incompetent economically but they choose not to notice that. Still their motivations as a combination of national pride and conservative values (even as I disagree with that degree of conservatism) are clearly understandable. Like I can even get what Tulfo stands for, but Robin Padilla sorry I kenat..
The problem with global economy means winning right now is just being left to hold the bag. A lot of failures in the next few years may be due to the macro-economic environment and not the policies of any one nation.
I believe my nightmare scenario is something like what happened with the rise of Nazi Germany.
Great Depression -> Fringe party winning.
And what most people (maybe even Heydarian) don’t know anymore is that the Nazis coasted along the economic reforms instituted by their Social Democrat predecessor Friedrich Ebert, who was frequently mocked by them.
That is with the caveat that I am quoting what I remember a Senior High German history teacher telling me, no time to Google right now. But as we know econ reforms take time to work so it makes sense to me.
It might not have been Ebert who did econ reforms, he was President much earlier.. gotta go, but Weimar was an object lesson in democracy failure with a lot of aspects: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Friedrich-Ebert
Yes. Hand to my heart.
Wil, “truly a pause that refreshes”. Am still mining your post & reactions.
Thanks & God bless. AMDG.
Thanks, Sonny. It’s the Holy Spirit…
I was thinking about when religion really affected politics and this example of that buddhist monk in Vietnam in 1963 is the most significant.
by 1963 the US had two DARPA satellite labs, one in Saigon and one in Bangkok. Saigon specialized in material science while , Bangkok specialized in human behavior, that one was headed by Joseph Licklider father of ARPAnet.
Those two DARPA labs actually acted like the 2 Foundations thought of by Asimov, with one doing hard science and the other more secret one doing psychohistory.
Licklider thought that with computers which at that time was largely used only to compute, that computers would be able to predict human behavior at the macro level (which von Neumann wrote about in ‘Theory of Games and Economic Behavior’ game theory).
fast forward to now and you got General Michael Hayden saying, ” We kill people based on metadata. ”
But i digressed.
The point was that the President of Vietnam, his brother who was running Vietnams security aparatus, were preventing Buddhist vietnamese from observing the Buddha’s birthday. because the ruling elites were Catholics.
so that protest happened and self immolation was seen around the world.
Then the two bad mouthed the monk afterwards. So…
What was a promising easy defeat of communism in Vietnam, Laos, etc. with that simple act became impossible. with all of DARPAs smart brains, when they saw that on television they just couldn’t compute.
a couple of months later the US assassinated the Vietnamese president and his brother. And within a month JFK was also assassinated. 5 or so years later his brother. so the 1st lesson here is don’t fuck with DARPA.
the 2nd lesson is, religion can totally upend status quo, Wil.
that was my whole point in all this but history matters here. thus the summary of events which I’m sure everyone here remembers well, but I’m just now reading “the Pentagon’s Brain” by Annie Jacobsen about the history of DARPA. and its damn good reading.
This was all new to me.
I’ve seen that iconic photograph but didn’t know any of the back story.
BREAKTIME
2021 life expectancy at birth:
Japan: 84.8 years
Average of high-income countries: 82.5 years
United States: 77.2 years
Philippines: 71.4 years
Life expectancy difference:
– Average of high-income countries vs US: 5.3 years
– US vs the Philippines: 5.8 years
****
What can we say about these statistics? Consume hamburgers and coke rather than rice-bagoong and tuba, kb? 🙂
in pinas, health care for the poor is nearly non existent! the rich has everything! we poor people only go to hospital on the last minute, when all treatment by albularyo come to naught.
so many fat people in america and philippines is fast catching up. anyhow, I told me aunt, not to worry about her big fat bum, it gives her good balance.
bagoong is not that bad, we got calcium from those small fish frys and sometimes, omega 3 and other good oils.
A bit of knowhow in image editing is useful. Lots of folks go get prescriptions, scan it, and then substitute lola or lolo’s name to get generos senior citizen’s discounts. I know of a case an alert pharmacy staffer pointed out lola is taking an infant’s medicine.
pinaghihigpitan ang pulibi! kakarampot lang yang ke lola, habing yang kay makoy – millions ang nakulimbat!
🙂
“… bagoong is not that bad, we got calcium, etc …”
KB, my mom used to make our own bagoong (1 cup dilis + 6 cups salt) proportions; (dunno how much water).
I got bagoong from the corner store, patigi-tigi. deliciously paired with newly home cooked rice.
kaming mga bagoong eaters rarely have hashimoto disease (goiter), we got our iodine from bagoong.
ang alam ko, no need to add water to the process of making bagoong. salt (natron) draws liquid from fish and the resulting pool of liquid has umami flavor. much like anchovies, salty but delicious.
Super App E governance. Once this starts, it should not be stopped only improved.
https://www.manilatimes.net/2023/06/03/news/super-app-to-boost-govt-people-linkage/1894188
agree, once it started, it should be improved, updated and upgraded. online connections must be made secure by all means, security is very important. we dont want our data hacked and ransomed, our identities stolen, etc.
as for getting rid of fixers, good luck with that!
fixers are dexterous, maybe adapting and becoming online fixers, probly subcontracted by the govt to process, store and handle data in silos. then they can sit and delay the process and may even contact online customers and individuals and ask for fee so they can jump over the process and be given priority service. their kins and relatives will probly get priority service too, unbeknownst to many.
and they can always pretend there is computer glitch! delay due to system update, no service for days, weeks, porbida!
govt’s super app has better be policed, monitored and managed well and there is transparency.
Agree on all points.
So far, it is not clear what actual functionality the super app really has.
We will soon find out. DiCT has started with the info drive
This is the cup of tea of @chemrock, he did an article or two on Build operate and transfer.
@Chemrock why did you stop commenting?
https://www.manilatimes.net/2023/06/03/news/marcos-reorganizes-ppp-board-to-boost-private-sector-participation/1894324
I had blocked him for advocating conspiracy theories and nonsense that I would not allow to exist on my blog. I think he has a different e-mail now, I dunno. I figured he had become an agent for Russia or China, as it made no sense for such a sensible guy.
I see and I understand.
Chiz Escudero and Neri Colmenares are saying that the Marcos Investment Fund is unconstitutional:
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1779144/serious-errors-committed-in-approving-maharlika-bill-escudero
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1778711/unconstitutional-colmenares-questions-swift-approval-of-maharlika-bill
killjoy naman itong dalawa! si neri at chiz, wanting to deprive pbbm of his brand new toy, lol!
kung ako lang po, I cannot fight vs the whole might of the star-struck congress dominated by pbbm’s tauhan. but I can fight my little battle a peso at a time.
there will come maybe a time when taumbayan are not allowed to withdraw their own savings sa banco, bec maharlika badly needs cash and is priority.
dont feed the monster, is I say. not by challenging its legality in the supreme court for that will mean a huge hole in the pocket with no guarantee of winning outcome, but by being creative. I’m lucky though, I’m dirt poor and maharlika does not want to know me.
Reminiscent of how Marcos Senior looted the coco levy fund and set up the sugar cartel in Negros through his crony Roberto Benedicto.
Proponents originally called it a wealth fund but when critics started pointing out that we neither have trade or fiscal surplus to pool monies for it, they skirted the flaw by calling it an investment fund and one troubling aspect of the bill is that it allows the MIC to invest in public infrastructures and it’s not very clear how is that supposed to work.
Are they going to fund construction of national highways too and set up toll booths to recoup their “investments” like what San Miguel Corporation and Manuel Pangilinan are doing?
on the dot! with expected return of 8-10 per cent per anum, the most infras the fund can invest will probly be in toll roads! just when we badly need sustainable energy and renewables.
and from the stellar return, methink his electorate, apologists, cronies will benefits the most, the rest can lump it!
gotta fed his electorate, they’ll be the ones to prop him up and make him relevant through thick and thin. to his own balwarte the spoils! the rest can lump it!
Boondoc wants us to skip paying taxes.
https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2023/06/02/2270792/avoid-paying-taxes-once-maharlika-steals-our-pensions
https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/06/03/23/dont-close-landbank-accounts-amid-maharlika-fund-fears-treasury
people has long memory: makoy had once bankrupted banks, and if people now take their moneys from banks before maharlika kicks in, they can hardly be blame.
From the article:
“And of course, who knows, 20 years from now baka ang investment will not only be 8 or 10 percent if investments will be put in toll road like what we know, Skyway and other types of toll roads, malalaki po ang returns nila”.
Just as I suspected, lulutuin sa sariling mantika ang taumbayan sa Maharlika scam na ito. Public money will be used to build public infrastructures but the motoring public will still be made to pay toll fees for using those infrastructures.
This is your own gov’t engaged in rent seeking in addition to those already being done by San Miguel and Metro Pacific.
It’s neoliberal state and crony capitalism on steroids.
But most probably, the people will still cheer at the roads being built. Hm.
The same stupid people who elected the son of a plundering dictator as well as the clowns in the Senate and Congress who railroaded the Marcos Investment Scam.
OOT, PiE,
Today is the feast of St. Boniface, apostle to & patron saint of the German people. Who & where is this celebrated in Germania? Bavaria, maybe? The saint was born & raised English, btw. 🙂
Taumbayan Ayaw sa Maharlika Network Alliance (TAMA NA)
Ooh..lala It’s about time! I like this. Could this be the beginning?
Abangan ang susunod na kabanata…
legacy ni makoy: people once bitten, twice shy! and not quite supportive of junior’s maharlika investment fund.
and dont bother questioning the constitutionality of the fund in supreme court, coz there are judges there that are makoy supporters and even helped to impeach ex chief justice serreno few years back.
and who will be the fund’s board of directors? most likely marcos cronies junior trusted the most.
He is venerated in Fulda, which is pretty much in the middle of Germany.
Bavaria is more on Corbinian, founder of the archbishopric of Freising, now Munich and Freising where Pope Benedict was once Cardinal.