If Marcos Jr. signs Senate Bill No. 2699, the Konektadong Pinoy Act, into law, the Philippines might actually stumble into the modern era of connectivity. Notice I said if. Because this is the Philippines, and we can turn even the most straightforward reform into a circus act. On paper, it looks promising. The bill removes the congressional franchise requirement for
Category: Opinion
I’m sorry, Philippines. I love you. But we need to talk. We are bad at choosing our leaders. Not just bad — catastrophically, world-class bad. Other countries have bad elections. We have recurring nightmares. This Is Not New — It’s a National Pastime We’ve been miscasting our presidents since the Commonwealth. We had Manuel Quezon, brilliant orator, champion of the
The Myth of a Revolution Remember the Pink Revolution? Of course you don’t. Revolutions are remembered because they succeed or fail spectacularly—storming palaces, toppling tyrants, rewriting history in blood or ink. The Pink Revolution did none of that. It didn’t even scratch the paint off Malacañang’s gates. It wasn’t a revolution; it was a campaign. And a campaign is just
Here we go again. The Senate’s Konektadong Pinoy Bill (Senate Bill No. 2699) promises to connect every Filipino. A noble dream, like curing poverty by committee hearing. They called it “digital inclusion.” I call it Broadband Press Release 2.0. We passed the Free Wi-Fi for All Act in 2017. What did we get? Free lag for all. Free buffering. Free
They call it the Konektadong Pinoy Bill, Senate Bill No. 2699. Cute name. As if baptizing it with “Pinoy” makes it patriotic and “Konektado” makes it competent. In truth, it is the legislative equivalent of plugging a broken router back in and praying it works. The Senate promises every Filipino will finally be online. What it really guarantees is that
Short answer: no.Long answer: hell no—but let’s talk about why it feels like we should. Congress in the Philippines isn’t a store where you can return defective products. If it were, customer service would be the busiest branch in the country, right after DFA passport renewal. You voted for them—or didn’t, because you were busy posting #IStandWithWhatever on Facebook instead
Singapore teaches us a lesson most Filipinos can’t hear over the sound of their own excuses: you don’t get spotless trains, clean streets, and a GDP per capita that makes your neighbors jealous by clutching every shred of “personal freedom” like a toddler hoarding candy. Singapore traded some of it in—cheerfully—for progress, order, and a government that doesn’t need to
Let’s have an honest conversation. One that might make your parents squint, your titas raise an eyebrow, and your lolos whisper “baka komunista ‘yan.” Here goes:No, the Marcos era wasn’t heaven.It wasn’t a “golden age.”It wasn’t “the time when everything was cheap and peaceful.”It was a dictatorship, wrapped in propaganda, built on fear, and funded by your future. “But Everything
Welcome to the Philippines, where the karaoke is loud, the food is glorious, and apparently, historical amnesia is a national sport. Let’s talk about the Marcoses. Yes, those Marcoses. The ones who ran the country like it was a family-owned pawnshop, declared Martial Law like it was a weekend promo, and then fled the country with billions in “souvenirs.” And
Once, we believed treaties meant something. That flags flying side by side meant brothers-in-arms. That an attack on one was an attack on all—or at least a joint statement from someone who mattered. We were wrong. The Philippines signed on to SEATO in 1954. The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. A name that sounded like NATO but acted more like a