A day after Christmas, on 26 December 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte revealed in his weekly briefing that some soldiers have been vaccinated against COVID-19. That revelation, including his mention of Sinopharm, a Chinese state-owned corporation that controls over a thousand subsidiaries and 6 publicly-listed companies (including China Traditional Chinese Medicine and Beijing Tiantan Biological Products), […]
Category: Politics and Government
Politics and Government — rephrases the dominant narratives on politics and government as it applies to contemporary Philippine and global society.
The aim is to clarify muddled issues, mock the naked agenda of partisan interests, and offer alternative worldviews. However, IngmingAberia.com wishes to offer the disclaimer that achieving this purpose is easier said than done.
Politics and Government is a tricky topic. It flirts confrontation with bullies. It encroaches upon turfs that are inhabited by the powerful, the rich, the mighty–all of whom are closely guarded by goons. It is therefore often necessary to use alternative language when poking royalty, such as with satire and metaphor. Any attempt of this kind, however, may not always be successful.
At any rate, IngmingAberia.com will always be committed to avoid the urge of criticizing the status quo just for the sake of exposing gaps. Stakes are higher than being analysts. We take pride in having earned the reputation of the one with the plan.
IngmingAberia.com shall find itself wanting if it fails to offer alternatives, or if it stops at complaining without offering solutions.
The poor to the rescue, again?
(Published by The Manila Times on 6 May 2020) THE presidential adviser on entrepreneurship, Jose Maria “Joey” Concepcion 3rd, whipped up a social media fuss a few days ago. On April 29, 2020, in an online discussion dubbed “We Rise as One,” organized by the Shareholders’ Association of the Philippines, where he was one of […]
The Balik-Probinsya Remix
(Published by The Manila Times on 29 April 2020) THE coronavirus pandemic has exposed the many faces of poverty, especially in urban areas. It also exposes what seems to be the limited knowledge the government has of poverty. Because of this deficiency, the solutions it proposes to address the problem are also suspect. News reports, […]
Duque’s Tenacity
(Published by The Manila Times on 22 April 2020) HEALTH Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd is to gecko as Vulcaseal is to glue. He clings to his post with the tenacity of a skin disease (to borrow the words of Jose Rizal in Noli Me Tangere). That is the impression he projects if one is to […]
The Diamond Princess syndrome
At most 78, and not the actual number of cases of 712 (12 deaths) of the passengers of Diamond Princess could have been infected if the ship was evacuated earlier.
Droplet or airborne?
The message and frame by which COVID 19 communicated is crucial: on it depends how people behave and take precautions to avoid being infected.
As the world bleeds, extra powers threaten to further divide us
(Also published by The Manila Times on 25 March 2020) PEOPLE in many countries, especially in Europe, are sick of and dying from the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global pandemic, the virus has infected at least one individual in 188 countries and territories. A cruise ship […]
Policy Delphi and People’s Congress — the theoretical boxwork
(Also published by The Manila Times on 4 March 2020) DEVELOPED by Project RAND (of Rand Corp.) in the 1950s, the Delphi Method is a management tool originally designed “to forecast the impact of technology on warfare. The method entails a group of experts who anonymously reply to questionnaires and subsequently receive feedback in the […]
Lessons on the Road
As a regular Metro Manila commuter since 1975, I have experienced–then and now–how millions live their lives on the road. The Mandaluyong (where I lived) to Manila (where I attended college) route took an average of forty-five minutes to an hour of travel time by jeep, one way. The Mandaluyong to Quezon City (where I […]
If Rural Philippines Mattered…
In my last column, I discussed the fault lines of the Philippine economy. I feel there is need to elaborate. The essay tried to use imagery to highlight the dangers faced by an economy that is heavily dependent on private consumption and public spending for its continued expansion and growth. Private consumption is of course […]
Fault lines of the Philippine economy
We greet with more than a sigh of relief the news that the Philippine economy, in terms of Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, grew by 6.2 percent in the third quarter of 2019, surprising experts who earlier braced for something less rosy after a relatively anemic 5.5 percent growth rate was recorded for the preceding […]