COMMENTS ON THE LOW COST PHILIPPINE AIR LINE INDUSTRY
by Andrew Lim
Much of the recent uproar concerning flight cancellations, bumping off due to overbooking, aircraft downtime due to maintenance issues etc. is old hat. It erupts periodically, with the riding public sharing their grief publicly and it is expected that all sorts of accusations, founded or not will be made.
This piece aims to minimize the hysterics and focus on the structural economics of the low -cost airline industry and attempts to find a way forward for all stakeholders.
First off, the low-cost airline is the most bullet-proof business model for this particular industry. I dare say it is impervious to poor performance, customer satisfaction surveys, critic reviews. The low- cost airline’s profitability, market share and financial performance is not affected at all with negative public coverage. Why? Just look at their average ticket prices – it is nearly one third of its closest competitor. And we need not even discuss those P1 seat sales. That alone is enough to secure its position and will keep people coming back even with all the negative press. Their owners and managers know that, and all that is needed is a thick skin and patience in dealing with the public.
Many legacy airlines are now opening their own low-cost brands the latest of which is JAL’s ZipAir. It is a concession to the reality that they simply cannot compete with low-cost carriers, so it is better to join it instead.
Several studies have shown that vis a vis so called legacy or regular airlines, low-cost operators have much better financial performance due to its ability to control costs. All the metrics – financial ratios, cash flow and cost control favor the low-cost operator. Surging aviation fuel prices make less impact.
In the course of writing this, I learned that there is even a tier lower than the low-cost business model: ultra-low cost. We don’t have this yet here, but this goes even more spartan and bare in terms of service and amenities. Think Ryan Air in the US. This will do well in an economy like ours.
Now let’s have some levity and fun as we try to make our way forward:
Some insensitive and knee-jerk comments I heard: “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.” “You can’t have champagne taste on a beer budget!” The implication being why are you expecting world class service when you are only paying so much?
This is why that clown comment of shutting down Cebu Pacific for its poor performance drew the opposite reaction from the public- because their alternative options just don’t work- thrice the price, different routes, etc. Besides, in a free market capitalist economy, you let the market decide- some businesses will be run well, some will not. Let the public judge that. You only shut down airlines if it’s a safety issue.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Government agencies should ensure that the re-booking and refunding by airlines is done in an expeditious manner. Maybe something similar to the interest penalties in the Insurance Code for insurers who are so slow in processing claims.
2. Government agencies should make available to the public the performance statistics of all airlines operating here – cancellations to date, late flights, percentage of bumped off (involuntary or not) passengers, cancellations due to maintenance issues, etc. This will enable the public to judge clearly if the low price justifies the high risk of service failure. Let the informed public decide.
3. It is high time for the public to appreciate travel insurance. Savvy travelers have been doing this, and this covers all the contingencies like booked hotels, tickets to events that will be forfeited, etc.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Just for reference the rules valid in the EU (also for Ryanair which is Irish – the accents of the crew make up a bit for the very basic service and the constant promos during the flight itself, though I won’t ever fly that airline again):
https://www.flightright.com/your-rights/eu-regulation
“..Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights..
..is intended for passengers who suffer delayed or cancelled flights, overbooking or denied boarding.
Depending on the circumstances, and subject to certain conditions, it may give rise to a claim for compensation of between €250 and €600 per person.
It provides assistance and access to basic services in the event of flights cancelled or delayed for several hours.
It offers the right to request a seat on another flight or to withdraw from the scheduled flight if it is cancelled or delayed by more than 5 hours.
It obliges airlines to inform their passengers of flight delays and cancellations and their rights..”
I am aware of these rights exactly because there is the information about these rights is pretty clear to everyone who flies here.. I don’t know, but I can imagine there are similar rights in the USA and Canada..
I believe passengers rights are also well delineated here but as always it’s poorly implemented.
Well, that is a chance for the likes of Chel Diokno to shine by pursuing a class action suit or something similar.
Maybe Karl would be able to find out if there is an RA for that matter and what the IRR contains, kung meron man.
Trust that in any configuration the businesses will find the configuration that best makes them money. Capitalism in action. removing the cap on overbooking percentage ensures peaking issues. Making it better to just take the customer satisfaction hit.
Thanks for the insights, Andrew. I made the mistake of booking my wife on Cebu Pacific, and her flight both directions got canceled and kicked back a day, resulting in a scurrying to reschedule her appointments and hotel. Well, for us, cost is not the higher value, service is. I suspect everyone has a threshhold at which they refuse to fly a given airline, as most of us would not take a tin can down 13,000 feet, nor up. Her managers have captured the legislature’s attention. I hope the lawmakers delineate a strict service standard that gives us confidence we can fly any tin can flying in the Philippines and be assured of minimum harassment.
Thanks for this article and your insights, Andrew I guess saying that the root cause is the engine will not wash for the angry customers.
https://business.inquirer.net/406164/biz-buzz-engine-trouble-for-airlines
Knowing the root cause is for the company and some analysts to know but customer relations seldom communicate the root cause to angry customers like would a logistics company say that they could not deliver a king sized bed to a customer because they mostly have a fleet of motor cycles and only a few vans that are under maintainance. The first answer they would get is: Mag sara na kayo or something to that effect.
I wonder why PAL doesn’t catch much flak compared to Cebu Pac considering they’re currently suffering from the same Pratt & Whitney supply chain/maintenance issues. I don’t have the performance stats but my guesses: Cebu Pac has way more passengers and flights, therefore more chances of service failures. Or PAL responds better?
PAL had its share of SNAFUs to be fair they have way more lessons learned from past mistakes. I guess it is a mixture of both. In addition, PAL has Boeing units in its fleet which do not use P and W which is only used by Airbus according to that article.
The thing I mentioned about Boeing was nit on that article and it can be found here.
https://business.inquirer.net/406302/biz-buzz-cebu-pacific-force-majeure
More on Pal’s woes.
https://business.inquirer.net/406780/biz-buzz-philippine-airlines-aircraft-woes
PAL has higher service standards and considers cancelling a flight bad service. Cebu Pacific considers it an acceptable practice if it saves them money (canceling a half-full flight). Cebu Pacific does not provide phone service in the Philippines, a stark indication of an attitude that passengers serve them. They don’t serve passengers.
not having a lot of seat sales probably makes it less overbooked
dont make cebu pacific booking agents cry, gian! kasi, the more they book, the more commission they get. para bang may contest tuloy, see who books the most and be the feted sales agent of the month. they can never be accused of laziness and lacking productivity.
kaya, advice ng kainuman ko na if I find myself lumped in with those that missed their flights because or multiple bookings, to go straight to the booking agent at duon mag-alburuto, lol! clip the wings of these high flyers, ika.
The first is more accurate. The number of flights that CEB gives it more chances to screw up. That plus the bet that they make for their seat sales.
Simply put, PAL does not have as many GTF-powered aircraft as Cebu Pacific (only five). PAL has five, Cebu Pacific has 25.
Thanks for the info Jonathan. Big difference.
PAL has its own set of operational challenges/problems at the moment. COVID affected them badly – they had to sell off four of their newest planes to avoid bankruptcy – and that has left them with a fleet with essentially no slack for any problems. This is especially problematic on their long-haul North American flights.
I hope it goes well for them and they become globally competitive.
They just announced an order for nine more A350s, but those aren’t coming until late 2025. And personally, I wouldn’t fly them either – we know that economy class will be 10 seats a row. I’m unaware of any other “full-service” airlines that will put seating that cramped on their A350s.
That alone will be enough for me to strongly recommend against flying PAL for longhaul. And I already can’t really recommend them for regional flights either for pricing reasons.
no worries, we’ll fit in. most filipinos are stunted, not that tall and not that heavy too, and are used to having lesser personal space. we can handle airline inconveniences for the few hours of regional flights. we’ll even bring our own baon, pandesal with tuyo and maybe a bottle of water too, and hope the airplane has a working toilet! our greatest wish if for the airplane to reach destination in one piece with all passengers accounted for.
though doing with less carry on baggage maybe problematic as we filipinos carry a lot, mga pasalubong that may include the kitchen sink, lol! if airlines can enforce carrying of less baggage in exchange for cheaper flights, I’m for it. but if the kid behind me starts kicking my seat, I’ll chuck the kid out the window!
flying jeepneys coming up! siksikan.
An old lesson. You use all the same planes and you have economy of scale, your operation becomes efficient. But you put all your eggs in ONE basket and you will suffer when there is a common fault. Eventually an economic decision. But when you can let the customer pay for the risks you have taken, you have a foolproof business model. CP makes money on the re-bookings, the British water companies make the customers pay for fleecing the companies, the banks make the government’s pay when they are in risk of falling over.
it is a value question. Who pays for the slack in the system. In the Philippines it seems it is always the end user and the decision is always never about quality, price always wins because rich people can just fly non Philippine airlines.
What is non Philippine Airlines?
I would avoid private planes, I want to avoid what happened to the husband of the previous vice president. I did fly some private planes before and was impressed by the risks the pilots were willing to take to keep the plane in the air. So, apart from the local ferries, I do not see a realistic alternative to the cheap airlines. Is there?
Singapore Airlines, Etihad, JAL.
The market of Flying in the Philippines is probably due to OFWs or work related. I wish there was a place we can find this data.
Price sensitivity is probably very high. State regulatory agencies do not have the expertise and man power to effectively monitor.
travel agencies have current pricings, travel brochures, travel books and current travellers reviews regarding places to go and see. as well passengers give ratings to airlines that give them best service and apparently, singapore airlines got top spot for 2023.
same with hotel accommodations, they are given ratings as well. those that are clean, have no surot in their rooms, as well as having courteous staff often rated well.
In the “grief session” at the Senate, one OFW recounted that all six flights he booked this year with Cebu Pac were either cancelled or he got bumped off. Which proves that there is really no option for consumers to try other airlines.
Businesses in “The Province” now face another hurdle, increasing the gap between the capital and the rest of the country. One company was very clear why they opted for Vietnam: reliable transport systems.
Just thinking out of the box kuno: LUZVIMINDA represent the 3 types of geographic regions our beloved archipelago consists of – the 2 large land masses of Luzon & Mindanao are one profile; the Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas & Western Visayas is another and the unique group of Palawan and the surrounding Sulu & Coron archipelagos are the 3rd group. Even to an untrained eye, these 3 groups beg each for a differentiated type of leverage. The challenge is thrown to all three branches of our leadership to gather & collate information looking to the potential of income & tax generation to finance a fully-functioning country capable of supporting its security, education, infrastructure and law & order potentialities; economies of Hawaii (tourism), California (agriculture & infrastructure), extractive industries & education (Minnesota), for example. (Sigh …)
It’s an insane Catch-22: why bother improving service when it is a cost and your market position is indestructible?
Only the law can enforce matters in such a case, if it exists and is enforced. If the former applies and the latter not => Chel Diokno, class action suit. If the former doesn’t apply => Sen. Risa can push for a law.
A chance for the opposition to prove that rule of law is a) di lang pangmayaman and b) di pandisplay lamang. Which is what a lot of Filipinos believe based on the reality they experience.
This is the low-hanging fruit that opposition should seize. Human rights do not resonate for most Filipinos. Pero yan mga flight delays/cancellations baka sakali. Plus na rin that in the process of going after these airlines, baka sakali mag-improve service.
Indestructible, hmm those to big to fail companies(entities) only means that they have the government or someone to bail them out just because of the perceived they cannot afford to lose this company (entity)or else we lose too.
It’s market position is indestructible yes, but for how long.
Will renaming the derogatory cheap to budget and then to affordable will run out after they run out of synonyms
Speaking of synonyms
Position is another name for perception and even if a sucker is born every minute, time will come when enough is enough.
https://www.philstar.com/business/2023/05/06/2264183/cebu-pacific-flies-back-profitability
cebu pacific has made a big profit, it should be able to better its services to paying customers.
The business of these airlines is pretty much like Filipino farmers. The good times are when you save up for the bad times. The bad times are usually uncontrollable increases in prices of jet fuel, forex risk. Unlike a lot of industrial places you have to fly your route or you lose it. this makes regulations hard for airlines. Short term profits may be distributed but there should always be a war chest. We can contrast that with how other infrastructures generate free cashflow like tollways, water utilities, telecoms, powerplants.
https://www.portcalls.com/lawmaker-seeks-suspension-of-cebu-pacific-franchise/
ay naku, gian, cebu pacific apparently makes a lot of money from rebookings fees, cancellations fees, etc. thus the more people rebook, the more cebu pacific gets rebooking money, hence maybe the proliferation of bad service.
cebu pacific literally cannot lose! maliban lang kung talagang ma-suspend ang frachise niyan and the airline is forced by law to go into remedial good behavior modification.
The reality is we have to pay for service. We have tradeoffs and they can be seen as pick one.
Affordability
Coverage
Safety
Dependability
most of the time safety cannot be compromised.
we are left with
Affordability
Coverage
Dependability
The problem is that the choice that has been made was Coverage and Affordability.
I am looking at this from a businesspersons viewpoint.
A. Thanks to Andrew for providing a comprehensive discussion platform on a topic that is often taken for granted yet must be taken to heart as a need-to-know cluster of information especially if flying is the only practical/necessary means of living, vis-a-vis, a Filipino middle-class that lives in a diaspora both locally and internationally.
B. Thanks to Gian for succinctly breaking down where knowledge & discussions ought to be; thanks to Karl for the boots-on-the-ground case of P & W engines used by Cebu-Pacific & Airbus. This goes to the one factor where generally the passengers have no direct say (only an indirect one) as far as “structural” (pun intended) change is concerned: SAFETY
@sonny, @gian: Thanks for putting the blog and the discussions in two neat nutshells.
I wonder if the profit machine — business model — of Cebu-Pacific can be taken to heart by a new company, but one doing a better service: the concept of competition being advantageous to the customers and ultimately to the companies themselves (?). Not enough customers?
Lots have tried and they all end up losing.
People only remember the bad service but come booking time they go for the budget option.
I remember my dad always opting for the Singapore Airlines, or Cathay Pacific, or the non budget airlines due to infrequent travel thus wanting to make each biyahe memorable and with no hiccups.
A lot of the local airports would not have as many flights without the flexibility that we allow cebu pacific. Just have to remember how it was before there was a cebu pacific, flights used to cost 4-5 times the current price.
Flying to HK was cheaper than flying to Mindanao because of the competition.
The regulators must ensure safety standards are met and to close loopholes like no cap in overbooking percentage, remove the website bug that forces passengers to cancel and thus pay for rebooking fee when they only want to check how much rebooking would cost.
Thanks.
… infrequent travel, so the choice of non-budget airlines — so no hiccups to ruin memorable moments.
— makes a lot of sense overall, gian.
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/06/28/2277080/philippines-rebranded-boost-tourism
new slogan from tourism, love the philippines, pity about the traveling tourists. they’d be lucky to get seats in airplanes, visiting must see sights and places, must experience local culture, having fun and memorable moments.
no fun being stuck at airports, tourists nagmukmok, flights cancelled and have to be rebooked. by the time tourists are assured of seats, their vacation time is nearly over, time to go home bringing with them bad sad memories, maybe vowing never again they’d be duped.
love the philippines, if you love missing flights, love being stuck at airports, love wasting precious time and love being given the merry go round of countless excuses airlines not up to the tasks.
love the philippines!
kb:
Love the Philippines, like a mother can love a child however a child turns out to be — problematic or not.
Unfortunately, tourists are not like that mother with respect to the Philippines. Especially since there are other places the tourists can spend their money on!
love the philippines and love the 50million pesos it cost to advertise the slogan, love pbbm’s grand ambition to make philippines a tourism powerhouse in asia, I seriously thought he means tourism poorhouse!
kaming mga pulubi are going to be in tourism poorhouse with the recently disbarred atty larry gadon, the utterly decibilous abusive loudmouth, appointed by pbbm to be anti-poverty coordinator. gadon showed his abusiveness anew shrugging off his disbarment, supreme court biased and politically motivated towards him kuno.
I wonder what we poor people have done to have gadon foisted on us! aside from taking credit and equating his disbarment with pbbm’s winning the presidency, gadon, methink, is detrimental to the poor. he mostly goes with the wealthy and the powerful and being seen with the likes of gloria arroyo et al. ah, his salary mayhap is to make the poor, the more poorer.
sa bagay, nherrera, you could be right, mothers love their kids though some mothers kill their own kids.
anyhow, if you can spare a few coins, do come and visit the poorhouse and see how the poor gets by. and bring a flashlight in case may power failure na naman! and wear sneakers too in case you have to duck and run, so many scammers in high places, lol!
Quote: “I wonder what we poor people have done to have gadon foisted on us!”
Really?
How about a president was democratically elected who ‘favours the poor’ as in: he needs the poor to remain poor in order for him and his family to safeguard the wealth obtained in very questionable manners and to avoid paying taxes and live the highlife. Huh
jobs for the boys, lol! gadon is owed a lot by you know who. I supposed gadon’s highly priced technical skills is going to be licking food stamps for the poor.
doj chief remulla on his return from wellness leave may have to keep eye on gadon, make sure gadon wont disappear like teves, along with the food stamps!
gadon still has a number of legal hurdles, some more insurmountable than others, and may need funds. pbbm’s war chest for his boys must be bottomless! medyo mapanganib ngayon ang maharlika, its fat will be trimmed.
OT I don’t know if the Mahalima (as the 5 members of SB19 are called by their fans, the A’tin) are taking Cebu Pacific to their concerts in Davao and Bacolod, and for the US/Canada part of their Pagtatag Tour they most certainly won’t.
But in any case this recent LIVE performance on Wish Bus 107.5 shows how solid the talents of this group are. Let us wish them much success.
wanna bet? their homebound concert will be sponsored by – cebu pacific! and dept of tourism, pushing for love the philippines slogan, but only if dot sec frasco is quick on her feet and quicker off the mark, seeing opportunities in all these.
I too wish the band much success. ahem, pbbm has already asked all filipinos to be brand tourism ambassadors.
Well, one observation I have made is that their fandom is quite unlike the typical toxic fandom the Philippines is known for. They usually patiently explain stuff to foreign Youtube reactors for instance. That is unusual because there are indeed the type of Filipino 100percenters who believe their point of view is what the Earth revolves around, especially on the Internet. So their Fans are at least Ambassadors for their stars. And their stars do give a good image to Pinoys. With the following song even promoting for us an international image as sex symbols. 😉
excellent! thank you, Irineo. I do hope the band dont mind and give consent to being de facto tourism ambassadors. I may not like pbbm, but I’ll do good for my country, and hope every filipinos feel the same, i. e, see the goodness in us lesser people.
though, I kinda freak out a bit about all that water in the music vid, me equating it with the ill fated submersible titan! loved the music vid overall, smooth and mellow vocals. and I’m seeing AI generated help there with the visuals, or my eyes are just wonky, lol!
Welcome. Also close to the water but more on the fun side and almost a tourism promo video – and a with a lot of Visayan text – is Day and Night by Alamat. They are truly boys compared to SB19 and a far second to them, but also slowly getting quite popular abroad.
There is for instance this reaction video to Alamat by fans from the Dominican Republic. That video shows most strongly how much Alamat sticks to folklore and culture themes in its songs.
An entire industry could earn money internationally and promote the country as well..
Sure, there are loads of opportunities to promote the country. BUT, you have to start with the basics before you start promoting the country. Make tourists feel welcome instead of them feeling being taken for a ride. Fix the domestic airline issues, fix the international airline issues (make direct flights from Europe and US attractive again), make IATA bookings possible again from domestic destination to international destination, make inland connections transparent (single booking site for boats and busses).
And THEN start promoting the country and use all the incredible attractions. If you do NOT fix the basics first, tourists will come, be disappointed and spread the word of Philippines being a basket case and thereby doing a lot of damage.
On one hand, there are those who come back fascinated by Siargao or Coron, often the young and adventurous crowd. Some even see the Philippines as a possible “next Thailand.”
BUT, there are also those who notice that one can have the same time in Thailand for half the price and less hassle from nearly any country, even from Australia or so.
It is a disjointed picture – WAY better than the reputation it had in the noughties as a VERY dangerous place, the alleged basis for novels like The Beach and Tesseract. My feeling is that a lot of the good substance is thanks to 2010-2016 and that the Philippines is living off it.
Add to that the smugness we (yes, we, I have the same issue at times and must constantly guard against it) have when we are just starting to get successful. We get complacent.
Of course, younger types will take the inconveniences in stride more. Older ones will want more convenience and comfort, and will not like standing around due to glitches in travel as much.
Interesting too that German package tour operators are everywhere but in the Philippines..
You are right in most aspects, but I think you overestimate the willingness of the young crowd to accept inefficiencies. My 4 kids in Europe tell me that the vibes amongst the young crowd are against Philippines. You mentioned the lower costs in Thailand (and Vietnam and Cambodia), but the young crowd considers the latter 3 countries also more adventurous in the sense of discovering nice things as opposed to cancelled flights and wrong ferries. I am afraid that the feedback I am receiving from Europe is quite negative for The Philippines, which is a real pity because with relatively very little effort, we could make it a tourist paradise, especially as the wide use of English makes it easy for tourists and having so many islands creates an “adventurous” environment.
But, well, there is a tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot each and every time some progress is made….. Sad.
you get 1-3 weeks a year of vacation, nobody wants to risk their sanity with all the hassles, inefficiencies, and corruption they will face here.
I remember asking this from someone I encountered in Singapore a decade ago while waiting for a ferry. He said that Philippine authorities were too corrupt and hard to negotiate with reliably that having cruise lines go through the Philippines is a hassle not worth its cost.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1769033/ph-logs-over-2-million-intl-visitors-in-2023-so-far-beating-2022-goal
tourists arrivals in the philippines seems uplifting and going for the better, despite all.
Thanks for the data. Give landlocked people a beach, sun, and good food and they’ll enjoy themselves, even if there are chips in the dinnerware. The Philippines has a lot of luxury resorts and a zillion cheap ones, so there is something for everyone. It is an adventure just getting from island A to island B. Fun times. I am certainly not here expecting or wanting an American suburb. Crocodile farms, zip lines, and snorkelling sites are where you find them.
I’ve always believed that we need to be more strategic in estimating the optimal number of projected visitors we target.
The countries around the mekong delta is a natural destination for 5 country cruises, doing 3 days 2 nights per country you can cover 2-3 countries in one week to 10 days.
Compare Bali to Boracay tourist arrivals by plane.
it’s humbling sometimes, watching foreign tourists stay in line and waiting for service at our less than desirable terminals, crowded airports, resorts, etc. , makes me think they must have death wishes, lol! and yet they come, and come again.
the best we locals can do is make them feel welcome, be respectful and wave at them with all our digits present.
Cebu is a great hub and present volumes may have room for growth. Cebu to Camiguin, Bohol, Palawan, Davao, CDO seems to be more viable right now. We should keep it that way.
These places are gems that can make tourist fall in love. I only stayed 4 days and 3 nights in Camiguin a decade ago and I dream of. returning.
I’ve been to Coron only twice and I think of going there almost weekly.
I hope people from the Visayas region can comment on how viable shifting our advertising to have a Cebu centric approach is.
Remember all these uplifting figures in https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1769033/ph-logs-over-2-million-intl-visitors-in-2023-so-far-beating-2022-goal
Well, I did some research and the local municipal people reporting on the int’l visitors now count OFW’s as international visitors. When I go on a trip to Boracay and have breakfast in one restaurant and lunch in another, they already count me as 2 int’l tourists before I even have reached the ferry and then my holiday still has to start. People on family visits are counted as tourists etc. etc. etc. This tallies with the observation that the occupancy of local hotels actually has not changed in pattern.. Maybe I am completely wrong, but in my area it looks like double counting (and a lot more) is rampant.
Thanks for the heads up, Pablo.
gian,
As much as I talk about Mango Ave.
I’m actually a big fan of Dumaguete and think this city should be your hub. all Cebu has to do is establish a regular ferry route proper RORO roll off roll on ferries akin to BC and Washington ferries and RORO ferries of China. that move cars, trucks and people in great number.
You don’t wanna make Cebu City into another Manila, plus you can only really develop north and south cuz of geography. but with Dumaguete also focus on Bohol. Tagbilaran already has a good airport.
With that triangle (Cebu/Dumaguete/Tagbilarn) you’ll be able to access all of Mindanao as well as easy to and from to Manila. airlines for people moving and RORO ferries for moving materials and vehicles.
Siquijor is a natural tourist attraction with witchcraft and magic. They should promote this like the Pacific Northwest over here promotes Bigfoot.
agree friends have enjoyed their time there
GMA tried to do that but subsequent administrations failed to see that like airlines roros create a sharing of culture and a connectedness that builds culture and eventually the nation. It was supposedly too expensive to maintain, this was one of those unforced errors of subsequent administrations I did not take the time to research but this was probably judged to be too expensive for the government.
Yeah but now with EDCA and US vs. China. you can argue ROROs are great for logistics too.
when I first saw this commercial, i thought she said,
“One day all earthlings will have seats like this.”
and I thought, “that is the most f*cked thing to say… like ever”. and thought of this:
but then i watched it on youtube with the subtitles and am like, “Oh,
I guess I agree…”
more in line with the current blog, thanks for this andrew by the way, but its kinda like the Budlight fiasco over here.
Solution is marketing.
its more a marketing issue really. people know its cheap people know its crap and the service sucks but with enough marketing power you can affect how people feel about said product or service.
this is Bud light’s current course correction. know your audience. don’t diverge too far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg7iiVKJ2CU
(i think this is satire by the way eg. that people who drink Bud Light are MAGA idiots which Joe would certainly appreciate, and we’ve already discussed Filipinos and satire here a bunch so kinda related, all about marketing).
Irineo,
you think P-Pop is finally here to tackle K-Pop? cuz its not just about talent but the back of the house management and bootcamp type schools that just keep producing these talents. that i think is why K-pop is such a success story.
but musically they are as Filipinos say, Export Quality.
Maybe they can use them for ads, so Filipinos don’t mind so much all the optimization issues of cheap airlines. keep ’em dancing and singing. the Marine Corps is largely driven by propaganda more so than other services, but its aspirational and Marines shoot aim towards it.
So maybe if Alamat keeps singing for example about Philippine eagles or other such air centered folk lore ethos then companies will soar. aspirational. but I stand that this is all a marketing issue therein lies the solution, not in travel insurance. thats just added cost.
I don’t really know if #PPopRise is finally happening, though there are two indicators of a possible trend.
1) SB19’s new management, basically the 5 themselves, want to develop and market Filipino talents. Their management used to be Korean. Interesting too the involvement of Fil-Canadian producer Simon Servida reminds me of the Fil-Ams behind Netflix Trese.
2) two American producers reacting to a lot of Filipino content under the Youtube channel GKidDad are forming a Filipino branch of their LA-based production firm and just recently announced they are recruiting trainees who will be in a dorm plus local production staff.
Possibly the success of the WYAT world tour by SB19 in late 2022 (included USA, Singapore, Dubai – some Euro fans went to the latter) and the coming Pagtatag world tour with the hype and trending stuff all around it are showing what is possible. Stuff we don’t know in detail.
Anyway, here you go, the young men are to be seen on Times Square. Six US cities and four Canadian cities in July and August, and after that, it seems Asia and possibly even Europe.
We all don’t know if PPop will rise, fizzle out like Trese, or stay niche like Filipino books/movies.
That commercials with good songs are possible is shown by the Selecta Ice cream commercial based on SB19’s Mapa song, which is about parents (Ma+Pa) and has no official video..
okay lang if ppop fizzles, even the beatles split up and reached a low point. most important is that ppop has memorable songs and they have fun making music. live for today, tomorrow will take care of itself.
The Beatles split up but by the 1980s, British pop had reached new heights with new groups – and the Cool Brittania international branding was working.
The question is what are the secret ingredients for success stories like Cool Brittania or the hallyu wave of Korean cultural influence. This is about marketing the Philippines as an entire package including tourism, sure you can’t plan all that but one can help it succeed.
Well, the leaders of the Top 10 PPop groups are quite confident for its future.
Please, have some respect for Imelda on her 94th birthday and don’t mention the Beatles.
OK.. so I will continue to mention SB19 as I am kind of deep diving into their world for some weeks now trying to get its feel.
They do have young women on their tours comparing who of the five young men they prefer and screaming when they see them, much like with the four young British men who must not be named today. Some stuff from their LA concert last year, outside and inside the venue.
Maybe kasambahay just wants the only Visayan in SB19 (Felip/Ken) to go solo, but they all have solo numbers. Female fans regularly ask each other their “bias.” Some like high-voiced Stell, others long-haired Pablo, tall blonde Justin, swaggering Josh, or deep-voiced Felip/Ken. Musically, such contrasts in character and voice remind me of Earth Wind and Fire, with the high-pitched voice of Philip Bailey contrasting with Barry White, the rest being in the middle. Anyhow for kb, here is a number purely in Visayan by Felip, who is called Ken in the group.
ahem, I’m thinking the group is maybe just outside the reaches of rotc made mandatory, lol!
I am actually a swiftie, a taylor swift fan. sad that taylor swift wont be taking her eras tour to philippines, her pinoy fans may have to fly to singapore or maybe malaysia just to see her concert in early 2024. swift if nearly 6ft tall!
I’ll get over my hurt by listening and singing along to ppop na lang.
as well, I am starting to get irritated by rob the phi-ri-phines mania, a caricature of love the philippines slogan. sound so insulting to our friend and ally, the japanese. it’s derogatory and not good for us to be making fun of the japanese just because they can barely pronounced the letter L. tapos tourists pa naman sila, coming often to visit our country and contributing to our economy.
if our ppop care about their international status, they had better say something about the caricaturing japanese speech, lalo na if they plan to have concert in japan.
Well, the Bruno Mars concert in the Philippine Arena seemed to show typical issues the Philippines has as it took some people 3-4 hours to and from the place and NLEX was totally clogged. True they are now building the Clark to Calamba train line but does it have a stop at the Philippine arena. Does NLEX have its own exit for that place? The Allianz Arena in Munich with 75K pax capacity is at the intersection of two freeways, plus it has a subway stop.
It is almost easier to fly to Singapore and back for a Taylor Swift concert, some said on Twitter, though that is massively exaggerated as they forget the check-in and waiting times at the airport. Still, one can see how impractical the Philippines indeed is for many major events.
I agree let us respect her and not mention the Sandiganbayan or the Supreme Court
🤣😂🤣🏆
Philippine Arena has its own NLEX exit, but the venue is, in many ways, quite substandard as a concert venue. You can compare its seating capacity – by American standards – to a very large baseball venue or a small football one. You can just look at Google Maps and see that the facilities are very different in scale. In the US you will have ample parking for attendees, multiple entrances, etc. Philippine Arena has only one meaningful way in or out (which isn’t even that large), the parking is inadequate and most of it is not even paved.
That’s not even going into the flaws of Philippine Arena itself as a concert venue (small stage and poor sightlines for most people seated. It’s fine for its as-designed goal as a venue for large church services, but for everything else… it’s pretty awful.
” I am starting to get irritated by rob the phi-ri-phines mania, a caricature of love the philippines slogan”
————
That reminds me of the late former Sen. Benigno Aquino’s speech in LA, that …. the Filipinos are very “raki” because they have a president who “rabs” you and a First Lady who “rabs” you more.
ninoy aquino died in 1983 and could not have known tourism slogan 2023. I will let him rest in peace na.
anyhow, taken off the market na ang current tourism video 2023 for having faked its contents. thanks to eagle-eyed netizens who saw the discrepancies that escaped tourism secretary frasco.
Well, the fiasco has even reached the international press.
Even the German press is mentioning how the foreign pictures were used.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid09D1Rk5GjtsyEUSTka3jm8HntYWDJoDvdEq2Euj4PtygtVYss3dKwVbQXsKpZ1oKZl&id=100064567848864
ddp has been in business for more than a decade and has around 200? employees based in taguig. for it to botch up tourism video got me thinking, what else did ddp botch up? website pa naman nila is quite impressive, and just as spectacular as its latest muck. all that glitters is not gold.
the tourism powerhouse pbbm wants the philippines to be is fast turning into a tourism poorhouse, maybe betrayed by its own, I dont know, poor choices? like maybe awarding ddp the tourism contract.
pbbm will probly mention this incident on his 2nd sona on july 24, as well any remedials taken.
I remember commenting on that video that Sunlife/a big insurance company should sponsor the music video for MANA.
sunlife can get maximum exposure in all of dot sites by partnering with dot and offering affordable travel insurance to both local and foreign tourists.
It is more than that I believe. It is building the ecosystem that can support the different contributors/creators of that ecosystem which means going global.
Back to topic.. the US compensation rules for getting bumped off a flight:
https://fb.watch/lyD7zZ5iUY/
https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/bumping-oversales sorry, FB watch acts up with links at times..
top notcher!
Would anyone from the PHLgov or ngo ask for a recount? The distant second is so distant. Is it because many of those with low percentages incinerate or pesist to export their garbage to developing nations?
No need for a recount. With the pattern of flooding with just a few hours of rain, I may be convinced that we are the world’s top notcher.
ahem, only top nocher tayo with throwing plastics into our waterways, magaling tayong magtapon at lip service lamang when comes to recycling plastics.
china, estados unidos, india et all are still the world’s top polluters as regards carbon emission.
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/inside-track/flight-delay-hits-cebu-pacific-chief-executive-officer/
hi hi hi
At least he didnt use a private plane like that United Airline CEO last 4 July.
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/inside-track/flight-delay-hits-cebu-pacific-chief-executive-officer/
hi hi hi at least he didnt use a private plane like the United CEO last 4 July
and he still has a smile on his face, taking the good with the bad. guy knows what to expect, the muscles between his eyebrows did not crease with worry. he is not alarmed.
OT, on the non-pop music side, Philippine choirs have always made the rounds of foreign countries and had their audiences, just like the UST singers now in Germany..
https://m.facebook.com/TFCNewsNow/videos/990203688846278/?extid=CL-UNK-UNK-UNK-AN_GK0T-GK1C&mibextid=2Rb1fB&wtsid=rdr_0N9HOKczMDVQqt1mK&refsrc=deprecated&ref=sharing&_rdr
OT, PPop again. Just leaving this here FWIW.
This is a truly excellent reaction video to SB19’s Gento, analyzing music, dance and lyrics.
OT SB19 again: An excellent interview with Rob Herrera in Los Angeles during their first world tour (interesting that the gamer Josh and the leader Pablo both say LA has a GTA feel to it, that Stell aka Stellvester Ajero named after Sylvester Stallone says it’s like a movie is very Pinoy) – it should be interesting what kind of interviews they get when they start their 2nd world tour in just some weeks. The quality difference to Filipino media interviews is of course huge.
Los Angeles is about as ethnically diverse as it is possible to be. The Filipino community merges with Koreatown at the south of hollywood. Cubans are also in the area, and Central America along Alvarado. Glendale is Armenian, Iranians run the gas stations, Cambodians the donut shops, and the San Gbriel Valley is Asian all the way to San Bernardino County. Chinatown is just north of downtown, but is today Alhambra. Little Tokyo is downtown to the east, and in spots in the San Gabriel Valley. I don’t know where whites congregate these days. 😂🤣😂
“Los Angeles is about as ethnically diverse as it is possible to be. …”
Strongly agree; a sociologist’s candy store – one can surf it, or scuba in it!:-) 🙂 😦
I wonder if that diversity is reflected in Disneyland LA versus Disneyland Florida. [I was at Disneyland LA eons ago.]
Disneyland Florida is for diversity, too. But the looney governor is not. Therein lies the problem between the two.
🙂
As an old school Esther Williams fan the aquatic wonders of the Cypress Gardens was plenty diverse for me – Bambi, The Lady & the Tramp were all real to me, same, same.
Yes, indeed. Sgt York for me, and Zorro, of course.
I wonder which part of LA this Wish Bus performance of SB19 was last year..
In any case, it was full outside the bus, and the performers were inside.
According to some fans, mostly Filipino came all the way from Canada.
Seriously, music is something Filipinos do extremely well. Why not export it?
Just like tourism is normally a no-brainer. Because it is indeed more fun there, still.
pbbm appointed frasco as dot sec in may 2022. tourism slogan then was still its more fun in the philippines, now it’s love the philippines 2023, and duly run into mishap.
so far, methink, sb19 has not yet answered pbbm’s call for all filipinos to be tourism ambassadors as nothing is indicated in their immediate apparels, no tourism logos yet. same with most of their interviews, it’s still mostly about promoting themselves and their songs.
the slack could well be attributed to dot sec frasco and the number of her undersecretaries, they might not have personally reached out to sb19, frasco et al being messed up and ultra slow to recover from tourism’s bad turn of events; still dragging their feet further still! cannot find their grindstone, and hoping for miracle.
sb19 already has strong international presence, dot would be mad not to tap them.
Hard to say. The Filipino community is along Wilshire west of downtown, between Vermont and Western, where the consulate is located.
Just found out where that is with a longer video that shows more surroundings.
It’s in front of Cafe 86, Chino Hills, CA.
https://www.cafe-86.com/ makes ube pastries and more.
Seems Chino Hills is suburban, and it has 3 Filipino restaurants aside from that cafe, 1/3 Asian population based on Wikipedia, possibly a major center of Filipino population like Daly City near San Francisco which I heard of, or Woodside, Queens NYC which I know a bit.
Chino Hills is pretty upscale, from large single family homes to mansions and “horse properties”, I believe. Filipinos living there have made their dreams real and are living them.
if you look closely, you’ll probly see families of cash up pinoy politicians living in richer american suburbs. pinoy politicians usually buy up properties overseas maybe with money intended for their constituents. invest heavily overseas too, far from the prying eyes of our very own tax commissioner.
apparently, if moneys are in the hands of entrepreneurs, our country would not be so hard done by. but money in the hands of politicians?
“…music is something Filipinos do extremely well. Why not export it?”
————–
I think the industry and most of our artists are using social media, specially YouTube . Concert promotions out of the Philippines definitely may help but not that much; concert attendees are mostly young with just enough fund to get by.
nothing compared to seeing music idols in person. sa panahon ng nanay ko, kahit nakikinig sila sa radyo at nanunuod ng t.v. gusto pa rin nilang makita the beatles in person sa live performance.
ngayon, uso na naman ang magtapon ng kahit ano, cell phone man o susi sa music idols while performing on stage. ganon din po, sabi ni inay nuon daw in the 70’s, women or people who menstruate, threw their underpants at tom jones!
I saw a mellowed Tom Jones in Vegas. Nothing thrown onstage from a packed house.
tom jones’ fans must have mellowed too and no longer up to throwing underwears at him.
anyhow, if you happen to see the new barbie movie with margot robbie and ryan gosling take special note of the infamous nine dash line claimed by china! vietnam banned the movie, philippines did not.
sabi ni pbbm the movie is work of fiction but there is nothing fiction about the 9dash line kahit drawn in kid’s hands. pbbm asked the lines be blurred to soften sensitivities, kaso pbbm probly did not foresee that later on, the copy or the movie’s recording can be paused, the blur removed and the nine dash line visible to all and sundry. pati pa naman si barbie – such propaganda only the chinese can think of!
my friends told me barbie is owned by mattel, and mattel group manufacture 74 per cent of its products in in china. no wonder china muscled in on barbie, and ply its 9 dash lines claim, lol!
Yes, I agree , ika nga feel-na-feel ang performance. What I am saying is for these fans to travel to the Philippines to watch their idols, it might be costly to them . But anyway, fans are fans, some are extreme fanatics. 😮
There’s this group of Russian musicians that covers Chicago Band ( late ’60s-early 70’s ). The lead vocalist is from Ukraine but is now serving in the Ukraine Armed Forces. They are quite good, check it out.
agree see the latest article of Irineo
OT
PRESIDEN BIDEN’S LOGIC ON UKRAINE JOINING NATO NOW
According to US President Joe Biden: “I don’t think there is unanimity in Nato about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the Nato family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war.”
He pointed out that Ukraine joining would mean that “if the war is going on, then we’re all in war. We’re at war with Russia, if that were the case.”
This makes great sense to me.
It does make great sense. Also, I’ve been reading about his temper, when he explodes at staff for not having all the answers. Rather confirms that the ” Sleepy Joe” tag is in error. We are fed so much propaganda these days. It’s incredible how many malicious people are out and about. It’s not the “American way” I was taught. Nor what my bible study taught. Nor waht is good for the world community. You can’t build a village on a bed of deceits.
Ofcourse it makes sense. Ukraine joining Nato NOW would mean a declaration of war and set the whole world alight. The way Putin ticks, he would have no option but to use nuclear option. No Nato country will see it a different way. It is surprising that Turkey approved membership of Sweden.. Ukraine would be out of the question NOW.
Right now, Uncle Vladimir is already preparing for the nuclear option by putting Wagner in Belarus and declaring Wagner an outcast, but at the same time putting nuclear arms in Belarus. 1+1=2.
Even the talk of Ukraine joining Nato is stirring the shit, teasing the big black bear unnecessarily.
The Budapest Memorandum of 1994, Ukraine relinquished her nuclear weapons for economic reason and of course for her sovereignty and independence guaranteed by the US, the UK and Russia. In 2014, Crimea was seized by Russia hence the Minsk agreements. Technically, at this time, Ukraine is an unofficial member NATO. I think the European alliance must do it right this time.
———
Ukraine signed the Minsk agreements under pressure from the West, which saw them as a means to end the open military conflict, but did nothing to resolve the overarching disagreement between Russia and Ukraine. – Lidia Powirska
https://epicenter.wcfia.harvard.edu/blog/through-ashes-minsk-agreements
OT
EVOLUTION OF NATO MEMBER COUNTRIES
Sweden will soon be a member with Turkey reversing its previous objection — Hungary will also change its position stating that if Turkey approves, it will not raise an objection.
As a student of current events, I find this map interesting and valuable.
NOT SO FAST
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on Wednesday tempered the expectation that his expression of support this week for Sweden joining NATO meant that he would swiftly push the approval through the Turkish parliament.
In his first public comments on the issue since NATO announced his support for the proposal on Monday, Mr. Erdogan said that the final decision rested with the parliament and that Sweden needed to take more steps to win parliamentary support, without giving specifics. He also said parliament would not take up the matter until October, even though it is in session until July 27.
I am totally out of touch with the day to day of Filipino politics which is both good (avoiding grief) and bad (knowing little) – what’s the latest re SONA?
“Speech Only No Accomplishment” is what Cartoonist Zach says.
https://twitter.com/PengScorpio/status/1679201756054687745?t=xCYGfOLIZsw7kMExHEUS1A&s=19
The example above about the Turkish president’s “it depends on the parliament” is like having a SONA promise speech with many urgent bills promised but certifying as urgent only a few.
I really know zero about the SONA, not even the date, and I might be reaching a point where I no longer care.
Why spend time looking for all that info if nothing changes? The music stuff is at least fun.
I’m interested to see pbbm in talkfest, lol! how long can he talk without swallowing, how many times he blinks coz apparently, he could hardly believe his own lies. whether he looks to his left or to his right searching for the tyke who wrote his speech! with tyke maybe lipsynching with him, word for word and egging him on.
I’m most interested to see his nasal septum, the partition between his nostrils. hopefully he’ll look up and camera zooms in. sabi kasi ni digong cocaine user daw ito, if so, his septum may have been eroded and replaced by prosthetic, hahahaha.
seriously, his sona speech should be worthy of the nerves and stresses of those terno and barong wearing invitees. plenty of goodwill, but maybe simmering inside, clutching sample bags with freebies, some sample bags better than others.
seriously again, our nation has reached another milestone sona, china has not invaded, the loan of agrarian reform farmers been waived, and maharlika given teeth.
pbbm’s sona is on the 24th of july. big preparation with kapolisan in high alert at may gun ban pa sa mga mamamayan. alam nyo naman na bisyo ng pinoy yan na magpaputok kung may celebration at marami tuloy ang natatamaan ng ligaw na bala.
pbbm will report to the nation all his bragging rights orchestrated by his showbiz appointees. hence giving much ammunition for any budding dissidents, as well his speech will be analysed and responded to by the opposition.
OT
Joeam was right in his previous comment about Elon Musk joining the group asking for the suspension of Generative AI development — he wants his company to catch up.
Here’s CNN news: Elon Musk on Wednesday announced the formation of a new company focused on artificial intelligence
OT
GLOBAL WEATHER
Normally extreme, that is, and predictably scary.
That is what NYT’s climate journalist David Wallace-Wells describes the recent weather after saying what climate scientists have concluded after careful studies/ analyses for some time — the scientists contextualized these extreme events, as merely normal and predicted.
From another article, I got this chart:
It speaks a “thousand words” to me.
The chart above:
1. Is the global average from January 1 to December 31.
2. Although the different curves for the years are not identified except for a few, the curves start from the year 1940; the early years are the lower grey-colored curves.
3. The mean curve for the years 1991-2020 (30 years) is shown in dashes.
4. The estimated “thickness” (range) of the curves from January 1 to December 31, and from 1940 to 2023 is about 1.5C — at mid-year, it ranges from ~ 15.5C to 17.0C = 1.5C
I strongly believe the data from which this chart was generated are not made-up.
Pretty scary, actually. I read recently that scientists peg the shift in time between when earth controlled our climate and the time when man controlled it to have occurred between 1950 and 1954. So we are deep into denial and a kind of blind incompetent stewardship that will surely ensure great suffering and death.
Amen.
I may note that your “the time when man controlled it [climate] to have occurred between 1950 and 1954” corresponds neatly to circa 1940 as the start of the set of curves in the chart I posted above.
STILL ON THE SUBJECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
It is very puzzling to me, not being a metrologist, how a 1.5 Celsius rise in global temperature from the mid-1900s has caused extreme heat waves, drought in one area, and extreme cold, and flooding in another area.
The answer seems to be — from the many variables that cause weather that meteorologists use in their analysis and models — that pre-Mid1900, the pattern of evaporation, precipitations, and high and low pressures that existed then have been upset by this global 1.5 C rise in temperatures; and so we have these extreme now considered normal weather events.
Since the 1.5 C temperature rise in absolute terms is really small, it stands to reason arithmetically that extreme pluses from “zero average base” must be balanced by extreme negatives — extreme drought in one area balanced by extreme flood in another area; extreme heat in one area balanced by extreme cold in another area.
Here is such a balancing effect in the US
Nice exhibit. The oceans have the same heating cooling balancing act with the effect of causing a greater hot/cold interaction and stronger storms cropping up out of season and out of position. There is no stability left.
Joe, re cyberlibel in the Philippines and your Tweet right now..
Someone who knows Filipino law once told me the Philippine definition of libel is Spanish, meaning anything insulting EVEN IF TRUE is considered libel.
As LCPL_X once described it, a lot of what goes on in the Philippines is Don Quixote for wimps – well, I guess that statement is libelous too, but as no specific person is mentioned what now?
By contrast, German law is more layered. Lapdog could be an insult, punishable as a mere misdemeanor, though a clever lawyer could argue that dogs are not bad, especially in Germany. Insults usually just get fined over here, and often courts throw them out.
Libel over her is if one accuses someone of something that can’t be proven. Thus, IF I allege that the deceased Bavarian PM Strauss got bribe money from Lockheed, his daughter may go after me in court, and I could get a suspended sentence of a year or so. I can still safely say that there were allegations, fair enough. Calumny is one step higher. If I accuse someone of something he or she was PROVEN never to have done, that can bring me up to two years.
Most European countries don’t follow the American idea of anything goes like in the First Amendment, as little as we like the Second Amendment, except the Swiss who do bear arms and keep their military rifle in their closet at home in case anyone invades the Confederation. These ideas of insult, libel, and calumny are what remains of European honor culture, the kind that made people duel each other back in the days. As the last Filipino to wear a mustache like Rizal and Luna, Sotto is a fitting example of the nearly comedic Spanish honor culture. “You think my bigote is ridiculous? Let is meet tomorrow at dawn, your choice, pistols or swords!”
i’ve always thought that the best antidote to all this libel and slander crap in the Philippines is to grow more comedians. and not just Jerry Lewis slapstick comedy or cross dressing stuff but actual hard hitting stuff satire.
also satire as news and analysis like this below, more importantly lawyers who will fight frivolous lawsuits, for example if these retired Marine generals filed a law suit for libel or slander they’ll be laughed out of the court room.
plus they wouldn’t dare cuz it would open up their coffers for public scrutiny.
Comedy is the antidote IMHO.
here’s the article:
https://www.duffelblog.com/p/general-berger-joins-fellow-retirees-bashing-fd-2030
oh, and here’s some context…
I really wonder if that will work because:
a) Filipinos usually don’t get satire.
b) related to that is that many either are totally subservient if they feel respect and totally disrespectful if they don’t feel respect. Witness the way Pnoy and Mar Roxas were treated by those who had uncovered a few mistakes – basically like white men who arrive on an island in a corny 1950s movie and are treated like Gods first by the natives are treated the moment they are revealed as being just human after all.. actually it is documented that during the 1896 revolution Spanish priests whose hand people had kissed and all just months before were extensively dissed by practically the same people.
In a country where as Joe observed the rules of face and power rule, there is no civic form of respect for most.. not like what we have here in the West..
In the context of Philippine culture, keeping face and power is essential unless one wants to be in the place where PNoy and Mar where in 2016 or the Spanish friars were in 1896.. unless some very basic premises of the culture change which may or may not happen..
I am not so sure about Filipino’s not understanding satire. I love Jo Koy humour. He takes the piss out of Filipinos and the whole theatre is full of Filipinos laughing their heads off. OK, Jo Koy is an American Filipino, his audience are all Fil-Am (“nurses” LOL), but none is insulted by Jo Joy’s humour. The pieces about his mother and Mexicans show you how great Filipinos are at accepting satire, but it needs to be brought in all honesty.
My son has been perfecting imitations. Most of it is hilarious racist schtick, but he looks Mexican so can get away with it. Chinese. Indian. Indonesian. Muslim. He is pretty good at Trump. I’d like to see him do Biden and Bongbong. I do quite a bit of satire. Well traveled Filipinos get it. Many do not.
Newest YouTube Stand up comic
Could be, could be.
Some youngsters are into spoken poetry , witty and with comedic tone.
This scene was just starting when I graduated about 15 years ago. I believe like a lot of things this decade YouTube and social.edia allowed this scene to thrive.
Thanks Gian.
I’m amazed that I’m not in jail. I suppose anonymity helps. That honor system makes us all unequal along the vertical line of impunity, impunity being the Satan who lives amongst us helping the powerful and imposing suffering on so many. The apes at the beginning of 2001 discovered it when they began beating on each other with bones. That’s the visual of impunity that sticks in my brain. Well, Cocoy is a friend of mine from way back, as y’all are. He’s a good guy, so that court ruling is just one more ape with a stick to me.
Well, I guess being apes ourselves we must always remember to respect the silverback. Hey I mean this, I am sure LCPL_X sings “Hey Baby, we ain’t nothing but mammals” when meeting women, we must in the end all respect the laws of nature. 🙃
OT musical intermission with some dark stuff from SB19 – and Josh from SB19.
https://bilyonaryo.com/2023/07/18/cebu-pacific-stands-strong-84-of-respondents-remain-loyal-despite-industry-headwinds-poll-shows/travel/#gsc.tab=0
It’s proven, low prices trump everything else. Service and performance standards dont matter much.
I am all for this. As long as safety is not compromised the market is too small and price sensitive. When there was only PAL they stuck to the profitable major island groups only. The price was probably twice or thrice the price now even after adjusting for inflation. The evidence still points towards 2 things. Most provincial airports are not self sufficient financially to even be in the radars of people who would use their influence in government for a PPP, if the fees are not enough for something as low opex as an airport you can deduce that the opex and capex heavy airlines are probably not making much money at all, and their Financial Statements show this.
Re Cebu Pacific, a tweet
Dropping a link related to the issue at hand.
https://www.insider.com/delayed-flight-night-mistakes-cebu-pacific-airlines-philippines-2023-8
I read that article. My reaction was that the airline played a minor role in her issues. She found the economy seat cramped but my 6′ 4″ manages just fine. So her choices were the problem, and her inflexibility.
Yes it is all on her.
Off topic, Karl, but in your area of expertise. What do you think about the forthcoming military pension bill?
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1207859
I was for it. But upon perming itinging it up in a forum with retired military Generals I can imagine all the eyebrows raised as one former RSBS head who happens to be my editor in chief n the Maitime Review reprimanded me for singling out the Military which was not my intention at all.
Oh well another time when my dad told me to back off.
But something has to give, it can not be as Salceda implied that the bill that would come out won’t affect the Military’s current pension. Pure rhetoric because it is impossible. Unless I misunderstood him.
There must be a pension system and only thing that can be done is to lessen the impact of the changes that will happen. That is if they are willing to make it happen.
Thanks Joe.
Ah, thanks. My reaction in hearing civilians talk it up is that I wasn’t getting the whole story. Sec Diokno says that if it is not revised, the nation’s credit rating could take a hit. I don’t know if he is blowing smoke or what. He blows a lot. But I know it is tricky. Somewhere there has to be a reasonable middle ground.
Former senator Drilon has also been warning us about how dire the pension problem is. The link is 2019 but I read a news report before dated 2010 more or less.
https://www.bworldonline.com/editors-picks/2019/11/12/263918/drilon-proposes-urgent-status-for-military-pension-reform-bill/
Click to access AG%202012-01%20-%20AFP%20Pension%20System.pdf
Pension system at a glance done by Senate Economic planning office circa 2012.
A reasonable middle ground must result or be resolved soon enough.
Sec. Teodoro has released a statement critical of the current bill. He objects to the mandated contributions for all serving troops and thinks the contributions should be phased in. Also, he thinks pension payouts should not be reduced.
Yes I got read it earlier, if was not DND secretary maybe he would be saying something different. To be honest since my dad is a retired flag officer I should not complain but he himself kept on writing about it when he was young it is only recently he stopped discussing the matter when he was too old to discuss this even with contemporaries even in chat groups.
Dropping two links.
https://business.inquirer.net/426776/cebu-pacific-to-buy-100-150-jets-worth-12b-in-biggest-aircraft-deal-in-ph-history
https://business.inquirer.net/426792/gokongwei-airline-prepares-aggressive-hiring-plan
Already in the article.
https://www.philstar.com/business/2023/04/01/2256148/travelers-take-internet-their-complaints-during-cebu-pacific-super-pass-glitches/amp
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/06/15/2274072/senate-probe-set-cebu-pacific-passengers-woes