Tag Archives: Politics

Sanae Takaichi breaks the ‘glass ceiling’ in Japanese politics by becoming the nation’s first female Prime Minister. However, don’t expect radical reforms from her government as she is a far-right conservative & ultranationalist: opposes same-sex marriage, allowing female accession to the Chrysanthemum throne, advocates for stricter immigration policies, media regulation and historical negationism that downplays Japanese war crimes in WWII.

On the other hand, Taiwan and the Philippines would find a friend in her as she is a China hawk, although she is of the view that the pacifist provisions of Japan’s constitution should be changed. It remains to be seen how long she would be able to stay in office.

My father told me something when I was very small to instill confidence in me: “Nobody in the world is worth more than you, but nobody’s worth less.” It is an egalitarian view that I’ve carried around in my life. That’s why I am for free schools, free universities, free health care, and free babysitting. Because our society could afford it. In America, people think social democracy is some kind of communism. They think capitalism is freedom. It’s not. It’s only freedom to exploit people.

Stellan Skarsgård, In Coversation – Vulture

Marcos Jr ditches cousin to deflect flood control mess

Opinion, , , ,

Pundits say no one becomes Speaker of the House without the blessing of the President, so when Marcos Jr practically scolded both Houses of Congress in his last SONA with his now infamous “Mahiya naman kayo!“, what he meant was ‘WTF gentlemen, first you fucked up the impeachment, then you didn’t exactly gave me a complete victory despite all of the ayudas even though we all knew the 2025 budget was for the election, now the people are getting wild ideas from the Indonesians because the monsoon has exposed how you all got so greedy with these shitty flood control projects!

So…some would have to be thrown under the bus, it will be somebody, not me. No, definitely not me. But surely it will be some of you.’

A little over a week ago, it was Chiz Escudero who was the first to fall after being ousted as Senate President.

Now, it’s Martin Romualdez as he will be resigning as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The Duterte propaganda machine will spin this as ‘their’ victory, but it was all on Romualdez as he brought this upon himself. He fucked up so bad, being a cousin of the President is not enough to save him. And no, all that meow meow was just a silly distraction.

That Romualdez will be replaced by Faustino Dy III, another trapo from the Dy dynasty that has lorded over the province of Isabela for decades, means the change is just cosmetic.

How this ‘adjustment’ to the current dispensation will affect or factor in the Marcos camp’s design to convert their Restoration into a continuation come 2028 remains to be seen, they have demonstrated to be able players of the long game and there’s still some time before Marcos Jr becomes a complete lame duck and the factions of the political class would have packed up and hitched their wagon to the next possible contender aside from, and if, Daughterte makes it there unscathed.

Coming back to the present, our task has become much more obvious: we must continue to demand accountability from our officials and the bureaucracy. Leadership reshuffles in Congress is not enough. Having a handful of private contractors and expendable bureaucrats facing charges are not enough. They could not have cheated and robbed the public coffers alone. It started with the preparation and deliberation of the national budget, so Congressmen and Senators are definitely involved, it would not even be a surprise if the proper investigations would lead to the President and his cabinet.

Keep following the investigations in the Senate and House of Representatives, even though we know they’re meant to distract, obfuscate, or would not reveal the complete truth, it would keep our politicians honest enough to know we are watching. Demand for the passage of the Freedom of Information bill. Demand that SALNs be made public again.

Support journalists that are really doing their job of asking the hard questions, digging deeper and providing more context beyond mere quote cards, reporting on facts rather than innuendos and gossip.

If you can spare the time, join the protests on September 21 either at Luneta or EDSA Shrine or even both. Everyone who wants a clean, honest and accountable government is welcome.

On the murder of Charlie Kirk

Opinion, , , , ,

It’s basic for any decent human being, Christian or otherwise, to feel some empathy for victims of violent crime like Charlie Kirk. To say that one doesn’t agree with his views while expressing such empathy is also a given.

However, we should not gloss over what Charlie Kirk stood for and did: contempt for immigrants, vilification of LGBTQ+, ridiculing the poor. His campus debates and speaking engagements weren’t a spectacle of enlightenment nor learning, he used it as an opportunity to prey on the vulnerabilities of students, humiliation was his style instead of persuasion. He became a millionaire by profiting off of his politics and ideology of hatred, marginalization, division and fear.

If your measure of what being a ‘Christian’ is aligns or fits with being like Charlie Kirk then you need some serious discernment and deep reflection.

Bam Aquino deserves credit for the Free College Tuition Law

Opinion, , , , , , ,

Bam Aquino hasn’t even been proclaimed as a Senator after garnering the 2nd most number of votes in the recent 2025 elections, the Duterte online propaganda machine has already made him a target.

In a scripted post that quickly spread on Facebook, Duterte partisans argue that credit for the free college tuition law or Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (RA 10931) should go to the incarcerated former President, as he was the one who signed it into law during his term.

While that little piece of history cannot be denied, it’s important to bear in mind the following:

First, if Senators and members of the House of Representatives would stop doing their job, which is to legislate or craft new laws, then the President would have nothing to sign into law. It was Bam Aquino in the Senate and Sarah Elago when she was Kabataan partylist’s representative in the Lower House who led the legislative work that went into RA 10931.

Second, it would be helpful to recall Sec. 27, Art. VI of the 1987 Constitution.

It’s the President’s duty to sign into law bills passed by Congress. If he doesn’t agree with an enrolled bill, he can veto it and return it to the chamber from which it originated, along with his explanation for the veto.

The President can even refuse to actually sign an enrolled bill and just let it sit on his desk, pretending it’s not even there,e and it would automatically lapse into law after thirty days.

The Constitution gives Congress the power and duty to legislate with little participation from the President. This implies that in our democratic setup, collaboration between the Legislature and the Executive is required.

To say that credit should only be given to the incarcerated Duterte for the Free College Tuition law shows that one does not understand our legislative process or if they are deliberately ignoring it, means they have malicious intent in doing so.