PNoy is Naked!

Although I support President Noynoy Aquino especially in his determined drive to hold accountable those who pillaged and caused injury to our country, there are some things which I hope he will take a second look at because they only make him like the emperor who walked around in a supposedly magic new clothes.

First is his campaign slogan "Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap". While this may have struck a chord with the voting public, this is an erroneous thinking that does not do much to solve neither corruption nor poverty.

Corruption may exacerbate the effects of poverty but it is not poverty's main creating mechanism. Poverty is the absence of wealth and there are two reasons how this can be so. One is that the capacity of people, for whatever reason, to generate wealth is low. The other is that the wealth that people generate is unjustly denied or inequitably shared among them. By harping on the notion that corruption causes poverty - and not for other reasons like low productivity, ignorance, contractualization, capital flight etc., the President fails to squarely face the problem of poverty and do something concrete about it.

On the other hand, the President's idea of fighting corruption is limited to procedural tightening and running after those who have committed such a crime. Again, while this effort is laudable, it does not look into the roots of corruption which is the mentality of rent and entitlement. This mentality is so deeply rooted and so widespread that it afflicts almost all Filipinos. Those who are afflicted with the rent and entitlement mentality have no understanding of how wealth is made and have a shaky moral foundation with regards to obtaining money.

Second item that I hope the President reconsiders is his campaign promise of "transformational change". For me this phrase is bull. By itself, change alone, for as long as it is positive is already enough. Why try to sound more profound with a redundancy? I hope the President realizes that those who foisted to him this phrase are merely performing verbal shamanism on him and taking him for a ride. What can these people really achieve that can not simply be called change? But of course they get to hold good jobs and a Rasputinian influence.

Last item that I hope that the President will revisit is the claim he once made that our Department of Science and Technology had virtually conquered dengue with their mosquito ovitrap invention. While he was made to make glowing claims about this in several public occasions, I have talked to some people in places where this device was tried and who said that they could not really tell if they work. Proof that the claim may be hollow is that the use of these contraption have not become widespread. The DOST is one government agency that really needs to be changed ... or transformed.

I do not know if the President will see things my way, but from where I stand, looking at the President's three "robes", I can see that he is naked.

Quezon Food Find

Whenever I get a chance to travel around the country I try to look for something uniquely special in the place I visit. Most of the time however, I go home empty handed and disappointed.

On a trip to Lucban, Quezon however, I bought a pack of uraro cookies that was truly good and which I think can represent the best of Philippine food. It is not just a savory snack item but something we can proudly offer as gift or pasalubong to other people.


At first I just bought a pack of these cookies thinking it was like all the other uraro cookies in the market. But when I tasted it, I was converted. I don't know if my words can give justice to how good it was but let me just say that it was very very good and I was very happy to have encountered it. The brand name of the cookies is JR's and it is made in Catanauan, Quezon.

Another food item that I found interesting in Tayabas, Quezon was this "pilipit" snack supposedly made from squash. It is a good desert but best consumed immediately.

In Tayabas, Quezon is a restaurant where customers can eat on floating huts. Many people rave about this place and this is also our restaurant of choice whenever we happen to be around that area. However, I believe it will not hurt if the owners or management of this restaurant will strive to constantly upgrade their service and offering. The last time we were there, we just felt that we simply had a meal to satisfy our hunger buIt not a treat worth traveling to Quezon for.

Things I am picking up from the Corona Impeachment Trial

(picture taken from internet)



1. Impeached Chief Justice Corona defends himself not by exposing the lies of his accusers but by stifling the truth and trying to prevent it from emerging by all means.

2. It is easier for a rich man to enter the eye of a needle and the gate of heaven than for the poor to get a fair trial and justice in our country.

3. Lawyers place more value in victory by all means than justice above all.

4. Some lawyers deserve to be run out of the country - lawyers who dedicate their supposed brilliance not in the service of country but in defense of their richly paying crooked clients.

5. The judiciary can be a refuge of scoundrels ... for as long as the people allow it.

6. The impartiality of senator judges is fictional and an exercise in make believe.

7. Criminals and plunderers in the country can safely hide their loot through foreign currency deposits.

8. If we have laws favorable to thieves, it may be because we have elected thieves to make our laws.

9. The ouster of Chief Justice Corona should not be equated to reforming the Supreme Court and the Judicial Branch of government. But if charges against him can be revealed and reasonably proven, then it is a good start.