“The words are not good for the secret meaning, everything always becomes a bit different, as soon as it is put into words, gets distorted a bit, a bit silly—yes, and this is also very good, and I like it a lot, I also very much agree with this, that this what is one man’s treasure and wisdom always sounds like foolishness to another person.” ― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
Finally saw the somewhat controversial film Quezon (2025), the 3rd movie in the Bayani (Hero) series of E.A. Rocha and Fernando Ortigas, Executive Producers and Jerrold Tarog, Director of the films. The controversy arose when one of Quezon's grandsons Ricky Avanceña questioned the director during a Q&A forum on the film. He asked if the… Continue reading The debunking of the Quezon hero image
It's Sept 21 again. Time to remember Sept 21, 1972 when Marcos supposedly signed Proclamation 1081 to start his 14-year Martial Law reign. Technically, Martial Law was lifted in 1980, but only in name. The country was still under a de facto Martial Law. It was a Romualdez-Marcos Conjugal Dictatorship. The Filipinos finally rose against… Continue reading Martial Law Madness
(Or My Life at UP CMC Graduate School during Nemenzo's Presidency) Last night, Khrysta and I went to the wake of Dr. Francisco Nemenzo at the GT-Toyota Asian Center Auditorium, UP Diliman. I first met Dr. Nemenzo in the late 1990s at a get-together at the residence of then Inter-Press Service (IPS) chief Kunda Dixit.… Continue reading Dodong Nemenzo, the Intellectual Activist
FB reminded me of a blogpost I wrote in 2015 about the movie Heneral Luna. At that time, FB had a section for blogposts. I wonder why this blogpost is still in FB memories when the Blog or Notes section on FB had been deleted already. Since the Blog/Notes section of FB had been deleted,… Continue reading Luna, Mabini, the Cojuangcos and the Philippine Revolution
The Mindanao problem is ultimately a POWER problem – the power of one group over another. It is a problem of colonization. The fact that there was a law called the Legislative Act 4197 or Quirino-Recto Colonization of Mindanao Act, which was enacted on 12 February 1935 is very telling. The Commonwealth considered the Act… Continue reading Federalism for All: Chance for lasting Peace
President Benigno S. Aquino 3rd and his former running mate and now Interior and Local Governments Secretary Mar Roxas kept on saying that in their "system", the LGUs (local government units) are the first line of defense (in disaster risk reduction programs). It's a logical strategy. But having a strategy or policy written up doesn't… Continue reading Climate Change and the Aquino Government
Postprandial Musings, 2.0 