Filipino Voices

Recently Published

Why we don’t need a Fil-Am friendship day but a Republic Day

Written by : blackshama

Ambeth Ocampo writes something of interest in today’s PDI about Gov. Gen. Francis Burton Harrison. Harrison today is known to us through 1) Harrison street in Pasay and 2) Harrison Plaza, the first of a series of mega malls in Manila. However I learned about FB Harrison from required readings in my freshie class in [...]

1 Comment | July 3rd, 2009

Unlikely scenarios…I hope

Written by : Manuel Buencamino

I have a slight problem following scenarios like Gloria will run for Pampanga’s second district so she can become Prime Minister or that she will declare martial law with the help of her PMA “mistahs.”
Too many things have to fall into place, for the premiership scenario…
1. She wins the congressional race
2. She becomes Speaker
3. The [...]

7 Comments | July 3rd, 2009

The Hungry and The Foolish On the Road to 2010

Written by : cocoy

Over a hundred years ago, a Republic was born. It was born amidst a era of nationalism. It wasn’t a unique idea. It was borrowed from Western thought. And a people, like many across the world wanted to self-govern. That Republic was short-lived and it became a Commonwealth of the Americans. But the dream never [...]

6 Comments | July 3rd, 2009

Transparency

Written by : Patricio Mangubat

COMELEC legal head Atty. Ferdinand Rafanan categorically announced the good news—the poll automation is on. Rafanan said he was privy to the 18 hour marathon negotiations between Smartmatic and TIM. And both companies will announce the good news this afternoon. However, Rafanan and officials of both companies are mum on what they actually agreed upon.
Rafanan [...]

46 Comments | July 3rd, 2009

Sports Fan psychology

Written by : benign0

The search for “parallelisms”. It’s almost like a sign of desperation in the face of a consistently flaccid public response to tired and increasingly trite calls for expressions of “indignation” against the Arroyo administration. Sure sure. Gloria is “evil”. She cheated. She is a power Klingon. She is this, she is that. She is planning [...]

13 Comments | July 2nd, 2009

A few billions and the future of Philippine science

Written by : blackshama

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will go down in history as the only Malacanang tenant to seriously consider the importance of investing in big scale science infrastructure. While previous presidents have paid lip service to the importance of science, their words did not match the budget appropriations, until Gloria came around.
Gloria has issued an executive order creating [...]

41 Comments | July 1st, 2009

GIGO and ‘tado

Written by : BongV

GIGO and ‘Tado
Zorro had his Bernardo. The Lone Ranger had his Tonto. And with the much trumped Election Automation comes GIGO and Tado.
I first came across the term GIGO as a probinsyano in the Sampaloc district’s hood in Basilio. I took the jeepney to Recto, got off in Morayta, and sat through the COBOL and [...]

11 Comments | July 1st, 2009

The Law of Conservation of Credibility

Written by : benign0

Allow me to start off with a famous O.B.Q. (Original benign0 Quote):
The trouble with wiping dust off a mirror is that we get a clearer image of ourselves.
- benign0
As such, I cannot agree more with what Norman Sison wrote in a comment on Cocoy’s brilliant piece “Missing the Point on the Road to 2010“:
[...] [...]

8 Comments | July 1st, 2009

Lighter side of things?

Written by : Primer C. Pagunuran

Amidst reports of the fall-out of the TIM-Smartmatic consortium, bomb attacks, coup rumors on the local scene and the celebrity deaths of Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya via a coup in the international scene, there ought to be what escapes many – the lighter side of things.
GMA runs [...]

13 Comments | July 1st, 2009

Pyonyang awaits

Written by : Manuel Buencamino

If North Korea is saber-rattling on the part of their dear leader, here we are titillating. But you can call what is happening in the Philippines as also saber-rattling. Well, on the Korean side they’re also titillating. Pero mas maganda ’yung ating expression.—Fidel V. Ramos
Former President Fidel V. Ramos refuses to go away. Before [...]

15 Comments | July 1st, 2009

What Randy David Must Do To Win

Written by : Nick

Okay, so Randy David is going up against the mighty Arroyo Political Machine, he will also have to go up against The Pinedas and all the local politicos under The Arroyo Umbrella.  I say, good luck to Mr. David, he will need it.  But aside from luck, here’s some solid advice that any campaign manager [...]

44 Comments | June 30th, 2009

Dia de amistad Filipinas y España

Written by : blackshama

June 30 marks Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day. Thanks to a bill filed by Senator Ed Angara, on this day we remember the siege of Baler (now in pop culture courtesy of Anne Curtis and Jericho Rosales), where Spanish soldiers held out in the church for 11 months and El Ejercito Filipino wasn’t able to make them [...]

16 Comments | June 30th, 2009

Hayden Kho and 1992 elections as clean, says Monsod

Written by : Patricio Mangubat

Hayden Kho’s lawyer says the old Hayden is dead. Wow. Talk about a Jeckle and Hyde case. In just a span of a few weeks, Hayden has turned, according to Atty. Lorna Kapunan, from a self-confessed sex maniac to a “reformed one”. Why? To avoid prosecution? Or, maybe, an attempt to placate public anger over [...]

7 Comments | June 30th, 2009

Missing the Point On the Road to 2010: Election Automation and Mobilizing Young People to Vote

Written by : cocoy

I had a timely discussion with Norman Sison on twitter regarding automation. Let me say right now: that I am not against automation, at all. I’m just saying, automation and organizing young people to register and vote for 2010 is missing the point of what’s wrong with our politics.
The problem of Philippine democracy isn’t that [...]

95 Comments | June 30th, 2009

Festive and intriguing on the inside

Written by : benign0

A system that is closed to external input may remain dynamic and even chaotic internally but possess surfaces that are inert and featureless to the outside observer. A cadaver is kind of like that — gray and lifeless on the outside, but teeming with enough decomposition and degradation processes on the inside to keep avid [...]

60 Comments | June 30th, 2009

Current Events

What Is Ailing The President? (UPDATED)

Is Pres. Gloria sick?
I ask this question as prayerful Filipinos are now  ‘storming Heaven’s Gates’ with healing prayers for President Cory Aquino as close relatives and friends continue their healing Novena while she remains at the Makati Medical Center.
Though described as being “in stable condition” the family has stopped all medical interventions for her and [...]

Salamat, Tita Cory, Salamat

Cory Aquino, our former president, is in critical condition at the Makati Medical Center two weeks or so after undergoing surgery for colon cancer.
As news broke of her being brought to hospital, the story also said a 9-day novena for her recovery was being mounted.
It’s difficult to say this, but I know this meant Tita [...]

Testing Public Sanity; Raising Martial Law Fears

What purposes do terror bombings serve?

Of Velvet Moons And Banana Republics

The Chinese August or Velvet Moon Festival ordinarily evokes childhood excitement for me, particularly one of enjoying gastronomic pleasures of the Chinese kind featuring the multiple-filling, tummy-filling Moon Cake, that bready hopia that come in various varieties in special wrappings and air-tight tin cans.
But if we are to believe media reports being attributed to anonymous [...]

Celebrating Michael Jackson’s Legacy, And Cebu’s Gem Of A Jail: CPRDC

You often hear it – the criticism, not unfounded, that quite many things don’t work or are dysfunctional about public institutions in the Philippines.

But bright spots there are, and one of the best examples is the Cebu Provincial Rehabilitation and Detention Center or CPRDC.
The CPRDC is special is an understatement, especially if you’re talking about [...]

Other News

Thoughts And Analysis: Iran Election, The Disturbance, Ayatollah Khamenei Speech (Video)

Garrick Utley, formerly of NBC News and now the president of the Levin Institute of the State University of New York, and Ervand Abharamian, a distinguished professor of history at the City University of New York, join Martin Savidge to discuss the top story of the week: Iran. They discuss Ayatollah Khameneis speech, the massive [...]

The Iranian 2009 Presidential Election: Disputed Results

It was a massive voter turnout in The Iranian Presidential Elections of 2009, in what was hailed as a supposed referendum on the current president’s mismanagement of the economy as well as its handling of international affairs, it seems that Iranian State Television is setting the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner in a surprising [...]

World Health Organization Declares A Global Pandemic

Yesterday, The World Health Organization (WHO) announced to the public that they were raising the current swine flu from the current phase of 5 to their highest level of phase 6.  The WHO sets has declared this phase as being the official indicator that a global pandemic is underway.
It is important to note however that [...]

Man dies during G20 protests in London

A man died Wednesday night during the G20 protests in central London as a day that began peacefully ended with police saying bottles were thrown at police medics trying to help him.

Abu Sayyaf won’t extend pullout deadline

The extension for a pullout deadline will not take place according to Abu Sayyaf and the group will start beheading 1 of 3 hostages by Tuesday morning if the troops do not heed their request.
[Full Story]

Metropolitan Manila Marks Earth Hour 2009

Speaker Nograles Pushing Ahead w/ Cha Cha

“The resolution of Villafuerte is now in my hands, he turned it over to me. So I have decided to file it because it has 175 signatures already,”
[Update: Link to Article]

Recent Video

Thoughts And Analysis: Iran Election, The Disturbance, Ayatollah Khamenei Speech (Video)

Letters To Filipino Voices

Absentee Voting registration in Mid-east.

Walang kwenta people from the embassy(RIYADH BASE). They dont even give their best effort to to reach the thousand of filipino the correct information about the registration for the absentee voting

The Philippine Constitution Must Be Viewed With Sanctimonious Reverence?

Writing at FV is a time-consuming endeavor and I do not have the time. But glancing at FV does not require so much time and looking at it lately, I was shocked to find the collective “Voice” shrilled and frayed over HR 1109, a resolution that some say is a precursor [...]

Government

Senator Kiko Pangilinan Calls For Continued Vigilance Against CON-ASS

Independent senator Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan appeals to the public to stay vigilant and continue voicing their indignation over the current administration’s push for Charter Change even as the Supreme Court junks a petition against HR 1109.
‘I expected as much,’ says Pangilinan of the SC’s ruling on Oliver Lozano and Evangeline Lozano’s petition to nullify HR [...]

House Cha-Cha Move Forbidden, Illegal, Immoral says Senator Escudero

Opposition Sen. Chiz Escudero yesterday said the House of Representatives cannot change the constitution through a constituent assembly without the consent and participation of the Senate.
“This action by the House is forbidden, illegal, and immoral. It violates two key provisions of the Constitution,” said Escudero, who chairs the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision [...]

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