The odds are that Mar Roxas will be the next president

Whenever I do forecasts, I check with my bookie Sal, currently of Manila by way of Las Vegas and Macau. He’s a pro at probabilities. He claims he is Sicilian and chances are he is right. The scars are real. It is not commonly known, but Vegas is the place where more people pray than anywhere on … Continue reading

Mar Roxas and weaknesses in Filipino character

Let’s get ready to RUMBLE! The recent incident of Mar Roxas being captured in a photograph slipping on a motorcycle while not wearing a helmet is to me representative of bad character. Not for Mar Roxas. But for his critics. Ridicule is a common feature of Philippine character. It is an element of “amoral interdependence”, … Continue reading

The continuing occupation of the oligarchs

  by josephivo (1) Wayang kulit and the Philippine political reality A wayang kulit (= Indonesian shadow theater play) is the political reality we are looking at in the Philippines. Wayang kulit is special because of its double abstraction. First you only see shadows not the live actors. Second, the shadows come from leather puppets … Continue reading

The left: why its political parties fail

Thanks to reader Pinoyputi who directed me down this track when he wrote: “I wish that the leftists would grow up, use their brains and start a real Social Democratic Party of importance here.” A LITTLE MATTER OF PRESENTATION The first thing you notice about leftist parties is that they like exclamation points. It is … Continue reading

The Philippines: anger rising

I prowl the articles, commentaries and discussion threads of the Inquirer, Rappler and a host of blogs to keep an ear to the  . . . well, not ground . . . but to the social patter. The dialogue threads. One thing I’ve observed is that one can often learn more from the discussion threads, especially … Continue reading