To weigh in belatedly on the Chip Tsao brouhaha, the piece was indeed limp satire. Nevertheless, it’s still painful in that it is uncomfortably too close to the truth. That’s why it raised a lot of hackles.

But are we missing the bigger picture ? Carl, commenting on Manolo’s blog post, correctly points out:

Chip Tsao is a nobody. A trying-hard writer who really doesn’t make the grade. Besides, I am not very fond of the caustic Chinese sense of humor. All this outrage about Chip Tsao will soon pass. And Chip Tsao will continue to be a Z-list writer.

The most important question for me is, after this furor dies down, will we become less of a nation of servants? When one sees those Filipino domestics congregating in public in Hong Kong, it does seem to project that image of our country. For many Chinese, who don’t know better, that is the image they have of the Philippines. I have also noticed how it makes many upper-class Filipinos uncomfortable, preferring to turn another way. They would much rather not be lumped along with those domestics.

I would rather focus my indignation on those who were responsible for making our country a nation of servants. Why are our people fleeing in droves, happy to just be domestics in another country?

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Apart from the expected loss of jobs, drop in consumer spending, deflation and usual run-of-the-mill outcomes arising from the worldwide recession, there are other trends which may prove interesting to the idle observer. And their numbers are certainly growing everyday.

The hard times will of course impact fashion. Amando Doronila wrote a recent piece on the rise and fall of women’s hemlines which mirror the bleak global economic outlook. Expect a less flamboyant look for the coming year and for so long as the downturn continues. A more muted and conservative image would be in keeping with the difficulties we all face. Read the rest of this entry »

Another argument against the Right of Reply is that it’s equivalent to “censorship” and “prior restraint” on the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of the press.

Prior restraint is a form of censorship. It is a legal term referring to a government’s actions that prevent materials from being published. Censorship that requires governmental permission in the form of a license or imprimatur before anything is published constitutes prior restraint every time permission is denied. Prior restraint is an official restriction of speech before publication. The U.S. Supreme Court has rightfully found it to be “the most serious and the least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights“. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many arguments against the proposed Right of Reply bill, Senate Bill 2150, all finely articulated, high-minded and most, perfectly valid. Read today’s Inquirer editorial and Amado Doronila’s column for recent and lucid examples.

Opposition against it is snowballing, and senators who previously endorsed the measure, like Chiz Escudero, the Chair of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights and one of the bill’s authors, are flip-flopping. President Arroyo, never one to miss an opportunity to butter up to the media, is saying she is ready to veto the bill.

Everyone seems to be taking the side of traditional media which, predictably, has draped itself in the Constitution. Just to play devil’s advocate, being of a diabolical bent, allow me to argue for the adoption of the a law which allows the Right of Reply. Read the rest of this entry »

“Violence is man re-creating himself.”
- Frantz Fanon

The riot at the U.P. Pre-Valentine’s Day Fair in which 18 were wounded, including a university police force officer who remains in critical condition, has provoked a lot of condemnation of those said to be responsible. A group of youths tried to enter a concert at the UP Sunken Garden during the fair, and became unruly after being refused admission. They literally “crashed” the affair, kicking down the fences surrounding the concert area, which prompted the cancellation of all further activities. Thwarted, they became even more violent and started throwing paving slabs which were then lying along the Academic Oval. Manolo Quezon’s blog pointed me to several interesting posts on the incident, notably that of The Construct and the compelling video in thisiscoy.net.

The perpetrators of the violence, disparagingly denoted as “Jumping Jologs”, apparently resemble what we would have called “punks” during my day. It is a superficial similarity, of course, as true punks are defined by their preference in music rather than their sartorial outlook or social status. Jologs are a different breed altogether. Read the rest of this entry »