Category Archives: On Distant Shore

The influx of Chinese workers

O It’s simply incomprehensible why a country that’s exporting workers in the millions would open its doors to foreign workers in jobs that Filipinos could easily fill. It’s like importing mangos when you are one of the world’s biggest producers of that fruit. So we ask: Why is the Philippines opening up its labor market to foreign workers,… Read More »

A culture of hatred

In praying for the dead, the injured and the families of victims in last week’s Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that resulted in the death of eight men and three women and injuries to six other persons, Pope Francis denounced the “inhuman act of violence” and prayed for an end to the “flames of hatred” that fueled it.   The… Read More »

Worst cha-cha attempt yet

Funny how a youthful party-list representative put the recent attempt by former President and now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and 21 of her allies to subvert the charter change proposals of a commission charged by President Duterte to come up with a draft of a proposed new Constitution. “The least trusted official of the country [Gloria Macapagal… Read More »

Red October: Should we worry?

President Duterte and his cabal of mouthpieces must really think so lowly of the Filipinos’ capacity to digest information that they get from their officials. Either that or they are really paranoid and scared. Or they are just reading too many Tom Clancy books. Or they are conditioning the people’s minds for some sinister plot of their own.… Read More »

Another runaway TRAIN coming

With all the economic problems facing the country, President Duterte should now focus on the economy instead of pursuing his “relentless and chilling,” not to mention bloody and brutal, drug war and going after his critics. More than ever, the President will need the support of every Filipino to halt the rapidly rising inflation and the visible deceleration… Read More »

An unlikely visit to the Holy Land

In September 2016, the then newly inaugurated President Rodrigo Duterte boasted that just as Hitler killed Jews in the Holocaust, he was killing drug dealers and users. “Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts (in the Philippines). I’d be happy to slaughter them. At least if Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have…”… Read More »

It’s all about power

Just when the Philippines was beginning to join Asia’s emerging economies and was well on its way to becoming one of the fastest growing economies in the region, the Duterte administration has opted to rock the boat and insist on amending the 1987 Constitution to pave the way for a federal form of government, the path to which… Read More »

Targeting the poor; protecting the elite

President Duterte loves talking tough. Although he has rejected being called a “strongman” by Time Magazine, he talks and acts like a “strongman.” And he most certainly loves being seen as tough and strong. And so when he ordered a crackdown on “tambays” or street loiterers, nobody was surprised when he talked tough again, as he did when… Read More »

Double standard in corruption drive

Listen to what President Duterte had to say when he fired Government Corporate Counsel Rudolph Philip Jurado last week for allegedly granting a gambling franchise to the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport (Apeco): “May I call the government corporate counsel are you in this, andito ka (are you here)? Kasi kung andito ka lumabas ka p********. You… Read More »

Our heroes must be turning in their graves

As the nation marked the 120th anniversary of the declaration of Philippine independence, many Filipinos are beginning to question if the country can really call itself independent 120 years after General Emilio Aguinaldo declared the Philippines free from Spain and almost 72 years since the United States granted us our freedom. For one, Filipino fishermen are realizing that… Read More »