Filipino Political Literacy, Middle-Class Agency, and Decades of Self-Assessment

Posted by Karl Garcia on December 7, 2025 · 132 Comments 

By Karl Garcia Over the past twenty years, two influential critiques of Philippine society have shaped public conversation:(1) Richard Heydarian’s 2025 observation that the Filipino middle class is “functionally literate but not politically literate,” and(2) the earlier discourse from Get Real Philippines (GRP), which framed national underperformance as rooted in cultural habits and civic attitudes. … Continue reading →

Category Citizenship/Patriotism, Culture and Arts, Education, Family/Parenting/Children, Governance, Philippine Government, Philippine Politics

Oh my, it’s incredible: The senators who betrayed Leila De Lima and enabled Duterte EJKs

Posted by JoeAm on November 10, 2025 · 173 Comments 

Analysis and Opinion By Joe America It’s incredible. The Philippines is stuck in poverty and corruption because patronage, not principle, rules the land. You can’t change by staying the same. You can’t change by letting prominent people escape accountability for their bad decisions and crimes. In September 2016, then Senator Leila de Lima was doing … Continue reading →

Category Citizenship/Patriotism, Crime/Corruption, Governance, Laws and Ethics, Philippine Government, Philippine Politics

Dear President Marcos, kindly don’t kiss America’s patootie

Posted by JoeAm on October 23, 2025 · 68 Comments 

Analysis and Opinion By Joe America I was highly disturbed last week by news videos showing the acting American ambassador to Manila visiting an ICI meeting. The video showed Filipinos treating this acting guy as a movie star, and the movie star enjoying his role. He should not have been there. Philippine justice is a … Continue reading →

Category China, Foreign Affairs and Defense, Governance, Philippine Government, Philippine Politics, USA/Americans

Poor Filipinos should admit they’ve voted badly

Posted by JoeAm on October 13, 2025 · 46 Comments 

Analysis and Opinion By Joe America The Philippines will remain corrupt, incompetent at caring for citizens, and poor as long as poor Filipinos don’t take it upon themselves to elect honest leaders. They should stop blaming others and look at their own track record. Their 2016 choice now sits in an international jail. Are they … Continue reading →

Category Citizenship/Patriotism, Governance, Philippine Politics

A Filipino uprising

Posted by JoeAm on October 9, 2025 · 31 Comments 

Analysis and Opinion By Joe America I have a great weather app, Windy.com. It allows me to see and project storms with very high accuracy. It’s well worth the $20 annual fee for premium that has so many measurements from smog to lightning strikes that I can project the camel population in Egypt based on … Continue reading →

Category Citizenship/Patriotism, Crime/Corruption, Governance, Philippine Government, Philippine Politics