blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

The Chairwrecker Mac Esposo reflects on the coming Philippine-American Friendship Day on July 4 with this op ed piece in the Philippine Star. Mac writes "At best, Philippine-US relations can be considered a mixed blessing. The US introduced public education here as well as the US brand of democracy which we follow to this day. But if we are to weigh what they gave versus what they took — we will find that they took more than what we could afford to give." Well for our younger readers that's what colonialism is exactly all about whether it was for the Christianization of the islands by Spain, making the islands in their own image by the Americans, the Japanese idea of "Asian for Asiatics" etc. Our colonial history is unfortunately a part of where we came from. It is in our best interest and sanity to remember its legacy, which is at best mixed. That's why I think that it is of childish "nationalistic" spite that the Philippines removed from its cale...

Sassy sashes. Our Glorious Queen and her consort are on a visit to the mother country. In the cover of today's Philippine Daily Inquirer print edition we see Mrs President Arroyo, her husband, the King and Queen of Spain, and the Spanish crown prince and his wife. The royals wear their sashes of office and medal (these represents Orders of the State). The prince is supposed to be grandmaster of a knightly order successor to the Knights Templars but I don't know if the sash he wears is from that order. Mrs Arroyo and the First Gentleman wore yellow sashes and a corresponding medal. Is this a Philippine State Order or one awarded by the Spanish King? President Quezon wore a Presidential sash of office to his inauguration in 1935. President Laurel wore a sash representing a Japanese Imperial Order when his official protrait was made. While to this day the Presidents of Latin American countries are presented with a sash during their inauguration, this has gone out of fashion in the...