Category Archive for: pangyayari

komentaryo

Give up that pork!

It was no surprise to me that the Makabayan Bloc in Congress, namely Partylist Representatatives Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers, Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna, Luz Ilagan ang Emmi de Jesus of Gabriela, Fernando Hicap of Anakpawis, and Terry Ridon of Kabataan were the first to give up their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF or Pork Barrel), as they call it. After all, there is much to be said about consistently taking a stand against corrupt practices in government, even and especially when one becomes part of that august hall that has become the seat of pork barrel scams.

I didn’t expect less from the Makabayan Bloc, in fact, even when I trust that they use any access to pork barrel funds on real and actual projects that are all above board. You might say what you like about activism, but show me your version of it, and tell me if your Congress representatives are giving up P70M each in pork barrel funds. (more…)

komentaryo

#SONA2013

the question is quite simple: if Bistek’s government, and in effect PNoy himself, allowed for the SONA rally to take place, as it always has, relative and as counterpoint to the president’s State of the Nationa address, would this have happened at all?  (more…)

komentaryo

on words

We are a nation careless with words.

It is what we are calling out Vice Ganda on, the fact that she even thought to use the rape of a woman as a joke, not a fictional but a real one: Jessica Soho.

Likewise, making fun of her weight is to fall into the concept of beauty according to mainstream capitalist discourse. A woman becomes pretty or ugly as she gains or loses weight.

It is ABS-CBN that put Vice Ganda on that stage and allowed her to get the crowd rolling in laughter at the expense of a woman who is a powerful icon in the rival network. Moreover, she is by all counts intelligent and credible, everything that is not Vice Ganda. That joke was about Jessica’s weight, and the TV network rivalry in this country. Just watch ABS-CBN’s Charo Santos-Concio laughing her head off at Vice Ganda’s jokes, right there on the front row. (more…)

komentaryo

Vice Ganda’s false apology

there is no doubt in my mind that joking about the rape of a woman is a no-no, which is like joking that you will kill a faggot. these are black and white, they are premised on gender discrimination, these are violent thoughts we do not think, and do not think to articulate when we actually do think about them out of anger or spite.

and yet i get it, too, that really fantastic comedy, the kind that’s intelligent enough to be irreverent, can talk about rape without it being an attack on women, as it does become an attack on the men who think it correct. Vice Ganda was far from intelligent about this joke, and as such there is no saying that members of the audience “didn’t understand it.” (more…)

kultura

hell is here

once again social media Pilipinas and government officials are on the defensive, offended by references to Manila in Dan Brown’s novel Inferno. as i sit and read the novel — because there’s no other way to assess it really, but to read it — here’s something i wrote in 2010 for the now defunct metakritiko, about Filipinos and our inability to handle it when we are told some truth or other about us, and how we miss the point entirely half the time.

also this is what Cabinet official and MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino has said in response to Inferno:

More than your portrayal of it, Metro Manila is the central of Filipino spirit, faith and hope. Our faith in God binds us as a nation and we believe that Manila citizens are more than capable of exemplifying good character and compassion towards each other, something that your novel has failed to acknowledge. Truly, our place is an entry to heaven.

HAHAHAHAHA!
*****
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