Wilfredo G. Villanueva
Cha Coronel Datu
Juana Pilipinas
Karl Garcia
giancarloangulo
Irineo B. R. Salazar
JPilipinas
karlgarcia
JoeAmACCOUNTABILITY IN THE PHILIPPINES
By Karl Garcia In the Philippines, accountability often follows two tired scripts. Either authorities hunt for a single “mastermind” to blame, or they cast a wide dragnet to prove action is being taken. Both are politically convenient—and both consistently fail. The mastermind narrative is comforting. It reduces corruption to one villain, one face to condemn. … Continue reading
Shipbuilding Without Shipbuilders — and a Flag Without a Fleet
By Karl Garcia We boast that we are the world’s “fourth-largest shipbuilder,” a line lifted from an OECD report that counted repair yards and workforce size. But UNCTAD’s actual tonnage data tells a harsher truth: we produce barely 1% of global output, far behind China, Korea, and Japan. “Fourth” is not strength; it is statistical … Continue reading
From Limitation to Leverage: A Realistic Philippine Promise in Philippine Manufacturing
By Karl Garcia They say we don’t manufacture with optimal value-added — and for a long time, that was true. We built on what we had, and often that meant improvisation. The repurposed Army jeep became a Filipino icon in the 1950s, but it also became a metaphor: ingenuity locked in a comfort zone, innovation … Continue reading
Two Decades On: Did Get Real Philippines Get It Right About Filipino Dysfunction?
By Karl GarciaOriginally inspired by GetRealPhilippines.com’s essay, first published on August 20, 2002. In the early 2000s, Get Real Philippines (GRP) struck a nerve. At a time when political instability, corruption, and moral fatigue defined the national mood, GRP’s essays offered a bracing diagnosis: the Philippines was not merely suffering from bad leadership—it was crippled … Continue reading
Rising Waters in the Philippines
Literally and figuratively, the Philippines seems to be up to its neck in water nowadays. Somehow things have come to a point where even the most apolitical seem to have noticed that it can no longer continue the same way as before, even the way of many millenia. Some modified form of the old social … Continue reading
The Society of Honor by Joe America 