blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

Hong Kong residents plan to have a huge indignation rally today on the bungled rescue of a tourist bus in Manila's Luneta park which resulted in the deaths of 8 hostages. This according to my good friend and UP Viasyas history professor Bruce Hall, is not really a cry for justice but to express sorrow cum outrage. Staging rallies like these are one of the few real liberties that HK citizens have. The China-UK treaty that ceded the territory back to Beijing in 1997 guaranteed that the capitalist system be maintained for 50 years. Take note of the word CAPITALIST. Capitalism in order to survive does not need DEMOCRACY. However DEMOCRACY in order to flourish requires CAPITALISM. Hong Kong citizens still cannot elect their Chief Executive (CE) directly. An election committee whose members come from HK's functional constituencies elect the CE who in the end is still a Beijing appointee. Limited direct democracy elects legislators but majority have to be vetted by Beijing. Althou...

Dean Jorge Bocobo in his blog says that America has taken on socialism and a planned market. The Federal Reserve's 85 billion dollar or more intervention to save the underwriters is unprecendented in history. Welcome to the USSA or the United Socialist States of America! Remember Croissant Commie and bridge player Deng Xiao Ping? His most famous line is "It doesn't matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice!" With that he launched China's "socialism with Chinese characteristics". And the crowning glory of all that market reform is the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing. Of course the reform has its dark side. Capitalistic greed is the likely reason why there is melamine in Chinese made baby formula! With the Federal Reserve intervention, I would like to restate Deng and I really intend the pun,especially in this US Presidential derby season. My apologies to the Paramount Leader! "It doesn't matter if the candidate is black o...

The Lehman Brother's collapse has been likened in Asia as a tsunami. Like the great wave that washes out seaside villages, this one threatens to wipe out pension funds of people. The blurbs report that the state pension fund organizations, SSS (for private sector employees) and the GSIS (for public servants) have invested in the billions of dollars with these sunk banks. Also the big local banks also have significant exposure too. The politicians are now demanding that the banks and pension fund organizations declare their exposure. I don't think that is a good idea for people may just go on a bank run of nightmare proportions. This is something that our Glorious Queen won't even contemplate about. Commentators have said that the recent Wall Street disaster is the worse since the 1929 stock market crash. The 1987 crash pales in comparison. Since even the ordinary person has some savings exposed in stocks or as mutual funds and other mid term relatively low risk investments,...

Drivers like me have noticed something in the last few weeks. Ever since coming back from a spate of field work in April and May, I have noticed that there are fewer cars on Manila's main streets even on weekdays. It was possible for me to go to Manila Ocean Park in Luneta from Diliman in 30 minutes on a weekday! On weekends even on a Saturday (the worst day according to motorists) when number coding is not in effect, there is less traffic nowadays. The crisis has taken a big bite. The first sign of a recession is less cars on the road. Fewer people will go to the malls, such as the one owned by the Gokongweis. And speaking of the Gokongweis, the Kwentong Peyups of the Philippine Star last Sunday (25 May) had Robina Gokongwei's commencement speech to the centennial graduates of the UP School of Economics. You can download a pdf file of her speech at the UP Econ website . Robina is famous for having been kidnapped in the early 80s when she was an Econ senior. Thus she was sent o...