MMFF 2015-2016

Every year, the country holds the Metro Manila Film Festival. It's that time of year when the regular Hollywood-made garbage is removed from theaters (except IMAX for some reason) to make room for the locally-made garbage. The problem of Philippine films being unable to compete with foreign ones isn't such a problem when you remove the latter altogether. If you can't beat the competition, just kill them! It is the election season after all, so get into the spirit!

I'll be honest, I don't watch any of it. The last MMFF film I saw was Enteng Kabisote way back in 2004 and I think it bore a hole in my brain because I can't remember any of it. I feel somewhat obligated to watch at least one film so that I can bullshit and say I "support the local artists" whenever one of them "Pinoy pride!" spouting autistics roll around.

What's on offer this..er, last year? You have the usual romcoms: All You Need is Pag-Ibig, My Bebe Love: #KilligPaMore and #WalangForever. What the hell is with the hashtags? Seems gauche. Romcoms aren't my cup of tea anyway. I can't relate at all with the saccharine stories about boy meets girl and if the universe is as unkind as I believe it to be, probably never will. Ironically, romcoms have the opposite effect on me; instead of the warm-and-fuzzies, they only drive me deeper into depression and thoughts of experimenting with cocaine. These types of films are more vehicles for the current popular celebrity power couples. Since I don't read the tabloids, I'll probably miss out on the in material.

#?

Horror! That's a staple. At first, I thought Buy Now, Die Later was a horror flick by the title but apparently, I was mistaken. It's a comedy-psychological-horror-thriller. They couldn't decide? Sounds bad. The audience oscillating between laughter, suspense and shock might kill them. Next, we have the unimaginatively titled, Haunted Mansion. It's not good to judge a book by its cover but come on, that's the best title they could come up with? It's like naming an action movie, "Car Chase". Lastly, we have Nilalang, which is a Philippine-Japanese horror thing. Filipinos love half-breeds things or persons with mixed cultural heritage, so it has the advantage of foreign flavor. There's some kind of controversy regarding Nilalang being pulled out of theaters but whatever.

Seriously?

The last film to mention is the presumed "heavy-hitter" film. Let me tell you of my people. Filipinos are emotional and are addicted to catharsis. Happiness and fear explain a lot of the entries but there will always be some directors who want to be taken seriously. See, majority of the films are frivolous affairs; sweet candies to be quickly consumed. So if you wanna go serious, you wanna go heavy and by heavy, I mean stuff people don't want to deal with. Hate, anger, betrayal, justice, crime, good and evil, that sort of thing.

So here comes the lone drama, Honor thy Father, a film about people who lie to each another. From what I gather, the film is remorselessly pessimistic and offers a bleak view of humanity in general as nothing but a collection of predators who feed off one another and won't hesitate to lie, cheat and steal and damn anyone who gets in their way. Sounds delightful. I guess the choice is clear.

We need to go deeper.

MMFF is almost over so maybe I should step on and in it.

Amiss Universe

So how about that botch?

It was quite a sight to see. It's not everyday you get to see someone's soul crushed on live television. Awkward as hell.

In the end, there were no winners coming out of that, ha!

The Duterte Code

He caused quite a stir but that's to be expected. Duterte is an extreme personality so naturally, he draws extreme reactions. He's no joke. While it's a given that Mindanao is pretty much in his pocket, the fact that he received a sizable chunk of support in Manila upon filing his candidacy, has the traditional Northern elite a little worried. The thinking is that the boost in support is temporary and as the voters know more about him and Duterte overexposes himself, his support will eventually wane. Hey, whatever helps one sleep at night.

This is gonna be a long post so grab a comfy chair.

I have a theory on why Duterte is enjoying a lot more support than people expected. When the human body is under attack by a virus, it will of course, react by sending antibodies. The Philippines has had years of terrible leadership under PNoy. PNoy is a pantywaist to put it simply. All he does is open his mouth and then promptly put his foot in it. He's incompetent, indecisive, and worst of all, indifferent. Couple all that with the general breakdown of law and order and the demoralizing fact that the Maguindanao massacre trial is still going on, you can see how a man like Duterte could enjoy such widespread support. When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, they will naturally favor the strong horse. People look at PNoy and all they see is weakness. People see in Duterte a man who can get things done. His rise is but a natural response to the seeming inability of our government to do any goddamn thing. Must I go over the many times our President fiddled while the country burned? How are the Yolanda victims doing? Why don't we ask them what they think?

The rise of Duterte is born mainly from anger and frustration. Filipinos of course, are an unusually emotional lot. The arguments for Duterte tend to appeal to feelings about how horrible it is to be victimized by crime and so on. Filipinos are gullible too by the way. Why don't we go over this whole thing, shall we?

Death Squad

One of the selling points of Duterte is that he's tough on crime. "Tough" is an understatement. If you believe in his personal mythology, Duterte solves crime by simply killing the criminals without a trial. Trials are slow but bullets are indeed faster.

Summary executions, eh? I thought Filipinos hated killings and forced disappearances? Oh, that's right, it's OK when it's the correct people who are killed. We're such a bunch of hypocrites. It's alright to slaughter people only if they're criminals because fuck them, right? Well this whole thing with the death squads relies on two major premises: firstly, that Duterte will only use his powers for good and secondly, criminals and ONLY criminals will be killed. To believe in these is to be hopelessly and dangerously naive.

It's ironic that people who decry the justice system as irredeemably flawed (it has its many flaws to be fair) believes that a single man can be so flawless; flawless enough to entrust to him the power to play god. To say he's playing god is apt since it would take nothing but blind faith to believe that Duterte, a politician like any other, could do what he does perfectly and with nothing but warm and fuzzy intentions. Bullshit. If a man has that much power over life and death, it would be so tempting to simply take out your critics, rivals or anyone really, even if they haven't done anything. Wait, I forgot. Duterte is a god and can do no wrong, right? Right. I guess this is why arguing with his most hardened supporters is like arguing with a religious zealot. It's pointless since their trust in Duterte is based on faith and not reason. Well, Filipinos would know a lot about blind faith so it figures.

What if Duterte, as he gets even older, starts going senile and orders the wrong hits? Will anyone stop him? Suppose he dies, who'll be left with the finger on the trigger? Such are the perils of putting your faith in one man rather than an institution.

As to the second premise that only criminals will be killed, there's really no way of knowing with the whole lack of a trial thing. If a person was killed by Duterte's boys, how do we really know he was a criminal? Because they said so? I guess we'll just have to believe them. This is all pretty much a faith-based exercise at this point. Hey, remember the last time in Philippine history when the police and military were given broad and far reaching powers? What a great time that was! The authorities exercised their powers responsibly and there were absolutely no abuses whatsoever. There were definitely no innocent people illegally detained, killed or whisked away to God knows where in the dead of night. Nope, no sir! It's gonna be even better this time around now that we allow them to kill but ONLY the baddies! You see how juvenile this all sounds? You have to have a mind of a child to think roving death squads is the best solution to our problem.

False Options

It should come to no surprise that I'd rather there be due process. I'm a fan of it actually. I'm a fan of being presumed innocent, is that so wrong?

Supporters of Duterte will probably cry that I've never experienced the pain of being victimized by criminals. I have to admit that if a person murdered someone I loved, I'd probably go into such rage and grief. Being human, I would probably want the ones responsible to be killed.

But this isn't about how one feels. It's about society as a whole. This whole law thing with the due process, bill of rights, trial and hearing, evidence and all that? It exists for a reason. When we are ruled by raw emotion, we make mistakes. We gave government the responsibility of settling conflicts so that civil society doesn't descend into anarchy with people slaughtering each other for wrongs, real or imagined. We have trials and all that to make sure there's no screw ups leading to innocent people suffering needlessly.

The thing with Duterte is that he presents a false choice. Since our judicial system is so bad, we should therefore do away with it completely and resort to summary executions. I'm sorry but can I have a third option? Is this a joke? Is there a middle ground somewhere? How about we fix our system instead of scrapping it entirely? Do you burn your whole house to rid it of rats? Ah, fixing our judicial system is too much work, right? Better to just kill people and let God do the work for once.

Call me crazy but I think we should seriously explore how we can fix our judicial system. Of course, this administration won't do anything since they hate the judiciary. PNoy has had it in for the third branch ever since they struck down his Truth Commission and dared to actually (GASP!) disagree with him! None of the other candidates are saying anything about the justice system. Hence, Duterte is winning on this issue since nobody else is addressing it. The judiciary may be important to us mortals but for the politicians of the other two branches, it's an afterthought.

Filipinos are fond of shortcuts. There's an undeniable appeal to the thought of summary executions. Too little thought however, is given to justice and the best way to attain it. Fixing whats ailing with our system won't happen because it takes actual leadership.

Life is Feudal

I mentioned before than I'd support Duterte since he's into federalism. Yes, I support decentralization but I'd rather not have to bargain away my fucking rights for it.

I always assumed that Duterte was actually an intelligent person with a macho facade to fool the dumb masses. The extrajudicial killings, I thought, might just be due to extraordinary circumstances existing in Davao and existing only in that geographical area. Perhaps he was a cerebral Machiavellian type who does what's necessary. However, when Duterte opened his mouth and bragged about his sex life and cursed the Pope, I guess he's not so smart. Don't get me wrong, I'm not that devout, but how wise is it to essentially call the Pope a son of a whore in a nation that is predominantly Roman Catholic? His bragging about his girlfriends and extramarital adventures are negligible, however. It's tastless sure, but the people of this allegedly Catholic country already elected Erap so yeah. I'm beginning to think he's just a vulgar thug who got lucky nobody killed him before he got too powerful.

Sometimes I wish Duterte would talk about issues other than killing but law and order is his biggest card. Can't blame him for playing it.

My Stand

You might think that I'm against Duterte at this point. To be honest, I don't mind if he wins. I've already accepted the fact that our democracy is a sham no matter who wins, the people will lose.

You might think I'm against the idea of summary executions and I am. I, however, concede that there are people who support it and there's nothing wrong with that. People are free to have their own stupid opinions. Perhaps Duterte's greatest asset is Davao itself. There's no greater argument than success. People can elect Duterte if they want. Such is the magic of democracy. Just be careful not to slip on the blood.

A Duterte presidency might be good if he could seriously implement a policy of decentralization. If he wins, it would be fun seeing Philippine society unmasked for what it truly is. The most interesting thing for me however, is seeing the clash of narratives.

On the one hand, you have the human rights crowd who go on and on about due process and morals and all that crap. On the other hand, you have people who have given in to their cynicism so much that they don't mind people being killed and would vote for a monster. I've always wondered which of these points of view were correct. Idealism versus cynicism; a classic.

Always remember that your vote does not matter, it has already been decided and everything is beyond your control.

11/30/15 Home

Finally.

The exam last Sunday was the worst ever but I don't care at this point. It's in God's hands now. I'm just happy to be home, to eat home-cooked food and to sleep on my bed.

It's been a learning experience. There were ups and downs but no matter what happens, I'm kinda glad to have done what I did.

I think I'll sleep well tonight.

11/25/15 War

So how about that Russian plane, eh?

Wouldn't it be funny if things suddenly started looking up then World War Three happens?

11/24/15 Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade: The Young Prince and The Young Princess

11/23/15 Live

The third Sunday is down and it's just one more to go. It's pretty much downhill from here. Hmm, maybe "downhill" is the wrong word to use.

I don't like doing this but I'm about to get personal here. If you don't like personal, narcissistic diarrhea that's fine, the close button is usually on the top right of the screen so you can go ahead and click that.

I'll be honest, I think I did OK so far. The problem is, "OK" isn't good enough. The passing rate needs an average of seventy five. 

I try to be optimistic but the thought of failure creeps in often. How many Filipinos are there in the Philippines? Ninety-two million or so. How many people are taking the exam? About seven thousand. On average, what's the passing rate? About twenty percent? The odds are slim. People tell me not to talk about failure or even think it. The talking part, I get. People may not want to hear it, especially if that person is a fellow taker. Thoughts are not so easily suppressed.

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather not have to do this bullshit again or come to this stinking place. Perhaps the best course of action is to find new opportunities next year with the thought that this whole Law thing might not pan out.

A few nights ago, I had a nightmare. I dreamt that I was finally back at home in my room but something was terribly wrong. I was standing there but I wasn't moving. I was completely unable to move my body. Everything seemed frozen. Time itself stood still and the daylight from the windows were blinding but night never came.

I believe dreams have meaning. If you're into surrealism, dreams are a window to our subconscious thoughts. After much thought, I think I deciphered it. Perhaps it is not failing the bar I'm afraid of but the idea that my life will stop if I don't pass it. The whole thought of life as a single linear road that admits no deviation: be born, go to school, get diploma, pass exam, get job, raise family, die. If I fail the exam, will everything just...stop? With the exam over, what will I do? If I fail, will I have to do this again and again? Will everything just stop and stagnate? Is this all there is? Will it be this way forever? Where the hell am I really going?

It's all ridiculous of course. This exam should not the be the be all, end all but this exam has done nothing but narrow my worldview. All this hype and inflated importance all for a stupid state sponsored board exam. It's gotten to the point that I cannot fathom what I'm going to do with myself if I don't make it; if I make a wrong turn in this miserable one way street. I guess the thought of actually living life and making the most of what happens instead of following the script is a lot more terrifying than any board exam.

Maybe I'm just so bored of it all. All my life has been sitting in a classroom listening to old people tell me how life works. Some of my fellow classmates have had jobs in the past. Some have families and children. I've got nothing but this fucking exam. What's left of my misspent youthful energy is driving me into impatience. I want to live goddammit. I need to get out there but I know everything in my body will resist it. Part of me is always afraid. There is comfort in staying coddled by educational institutions and living the life of a student on someone else's dime. There is comfort in staying a student forever and just going along believing in the false markers for success society has laid out. There is comfort in routine and just going through the motions again and again. The nightmare must not become a reality.

 I've spent eight years in college and nothing to show for it but pieces of paper.

11/19/15 Value

I've gone to 7 Eleven almost everyday now. The cashier remembered me and suggested that I get a value card. Gee, I wish I thought of that at the start of this whole thing. I could have made good use of it.

Well, it's too late now Goddammit.

11/18/15 Smile

Have you ever been to a stupid social gathering that you didn't want to go to but had to? You go from a foul murderous expression to an upbeat smile because you have to keep appearances and be sociable. The APEC is pretty much this. Manila went from a shithole to pleasantville in no time. It was actually nice to be out and about today and there wasn't even any traffic for me since people were forced to stay home. No street beggars harassing me either. 

I had a funny thought. As soon as this APEC thing is over, is Manila going to instantly relapse in like, a second? Imagine that as soon as the last delegate steps foot on his plane, everything just collapses like a sudden gust of wind to a house of cards.

It's all a house of cards, I tell you.

11/16/15 Police

You know what, I'm not even going to talk about the exam.

Police lined the streets all day presumably as security for the APEC. A lot of police officers were just loitering about waiting for something interesting to happen.

What a joke APEC is. What significant thing has APEC ever accomplished anyway? It doesn't have any real power. All it does is waste taxpayer money and effectively halts all production and commerce in the capital city for weeks. 

It's a bit tense given what just happened in Paris. I doubt the government can stop a terrorist plot if the bad guys were really determined to strike. Incompetence has infected the government at every level. The last thing we need is for an international incident to put our ineptitude on display. Anybody remember that bus hostage fiasco?

What an annoyance.

11/13/2015 Vanishing Act

Across from where I'm staying, there's a 7-Eleven. This 7-Eleven, and many others like it, had a bunch of mendicants camping outside its doors. They would ask for money and even any food or drink you were carrying with you. Call me heartless but I think it's rude to ask a person enjoying a cold beverage or tasty snack to essentially hand over all of it just like that. 

And why do beggars have to physically touch you anyway? Since when did they decide this was a socially acceptable thing to do? Who enjoys being touched by people who are, let's face it folks, filthy and smelly? If they disrespect a person enough to invade his personal space, why do they think they're entitled to that person's generosity? I give change if they're not pushy, which is rare so it works for me. Invasion of personal space is where I draw the line.

Anyway, I don't have to worry about them anymore. They're gone! No, I didn't kill them. I suspect their vanishing act had something to do with the upcoming APEC nonsense that Manila is hosting. Just like what Marcos did before, we gotta hide the poor people. We can't let those rich foreigners see the horrible, soul-crushing poverty the people live in.

Thankfully, the government assures us that the street people have been taken care of "humanely". Marcos used the crude method of putting up walls to hide the shantytowns. We've taken it a step further. It's more of an art now really. It takes quite a bit of skill to make people disappear. Where have they gone? Who knows where the government shuffles them around. I remember sometime ago in Cebu, I think, where the poor were hidden away in some fancy resort (all on taxpayer dime). 

For the record, the government never says they're hiding them. They simply say that they relocate the homeless as part of a welfare program. The fact that the relocation is happening just in time for the APEC is purely coincidence! We do this kind of stuff for the homeless "all the time", at least, all the time when an international summit is happening.

They called them "relocations" or "resettlements" of "housing projects" or whatever. I wonder what they're calling it now. I prefer the term "mandatory vacations". It has a nice ring to it, no?

I don't blame the government for doing what it does. I can understand the reasoning. We don't want the street folk harassing the foreign guests. But there's something profoundly dehumanizing about it. Were that all our society's problems could be hidden away in the dark; out of sight therefore, out of mind. Hey, nobody cared who the Lumads were until someone exposed them to the light. Society doesn't really care about the less fortunate. You knew that already. Is it the poor that we're hiding or is it our own cruel indifference?

As the song goes, "Too many people suffer in silence".

11/11/15 Nothing

Nothing much to say today.

11/10/15 Restricted

I just realized that there are two McDonalds within the same walking distance from my place. I live in a corner and there's one McDonalds on each side within fifteen seconds of walking distance. Today, I went to the nearby mall to eat. I could have sworn I saw a Jollibee within a Jollibee. Am I going insane?

Getting around Manila is very difficult. I heard stories from my mother about how well organized and efficient mass transit was in Japan. I imagine her vacation there was very enjoyable since getting from one place to another was so easy. You could fit a lot of activities in a day if movement weren't such an issue.

Manila is another story. The trend is that sections of the city and new developments go for some kind of "self-sufficiency". Everything has to be nearby since going far takes up too much time with all the traffic congestion and whatnot. Hence, we get McDonalds to the left and right, Jollibees within Jollibees and huge malls. 

Ah yes, the malls. What could be more contained than a mall? It has everything. Some even have dedicated chapels where you can attend Sunday mass. Personally, I think it's in profane to hold mass in what is essentially a temple to our own golden calves but the priests must go where they must; where the people are.

I guess that's part of the reason why it feels so oppressive here. I feel constrained in movement like I can't go where I want to. It's not just the traffic. Just a few days ago, a taxi driver tried to put one over on my mother. The driver wouldn't turn on his meter and demanded cash upfront to drive her to the airport and that if she didn't like it, she could just find another cab. What an asshole. Some drivers refuse outright to take you to certain places if they think it's too troublesome. A lot won't even give you back your change. Jeepney drivers are exactly as you would expect. The bus drivers are reckless and double park while waiting forever for more passengers before they leave. The rail system is decrepit and could collapse any minute. Have you seen the rail cars? I saw one chug past and it looked pitiful.

I've been wondering what's been eating me about this place and I think I found part of the reason why I feel so off. I feel restricted. I feel like I can't go anywhere without it unnecessarily eating a lot of my time.

Dan Brown was right. This is the gates of hell and what's worse, there's a really long line too.

It's disturbing to think that Cebu City is essentially going the same direction.

11/09/15 One Down

So there we were at UST that Sunday morning. Grim lines of people shuffling in like pigs being herded into an abattoir. Not even the chants of nearby cheer squads or the sounds of friendly chatter could mask the sense of unease and dread in the air.

It went like the way we practiced in the mock bar exams we had in school. You go to your assigned room and wait an eternity with your thumb shoved up your ass. The questions are the things no amount of mock bar exams can truly prepare you for.

Political Law was a kick in the balls. The questions were difficult and there was barely enough time. There were some questions I wasn't sure of the answers to and I had less than thirty minutes. I ended up just putting the first thing that popped into my head and rushed it at the end. I felt my face was melting and there were live snakes squirming in my stomach. My throat felt like a desert and I had no appetite; had to force myself to eat. Not eating at all would be worse later on.

Labor Law seemed like a dream then swiftly turned to a nightmare. At least I learned to manage time better.

I don't know what to make of all this. It wasn't the total disaster that I feared but it wasn't a clear victory. I can't say with confidence if I did well or not. The anxiety still hasn't gone away to this day.

But it's one down and three more Sundays to go. I want this to be over. This is one of the most stressful things I've ever gone through. I feel isolated and alone. The place and people here are awful. Homesickness is getting worse.

This is one long ass month.

11/06/15 Nostalgia

It's been difficult. So far, I've been oscillating wildly between bouts of cold resignation and unwarranted optimism. Tonight however, it's nostalgia mixed with depression. Looking back at the last five years, it's been quite a ride. I remember when I was still a Law school freshman and how much energy I had. I remember the eagerness to read those brick-like books and the genuine desire to learn. Poof! Gone.

What the hell happened?

11/04/15 Bullet

All everyone ever talks about is the bullet-planting scandal in the airport. People can yell all they want but given this administration's record, nothing will happen. Nobody is ever responsible for anything and nobody is ever punished except if you're an enemy of the current ruling class.

Culture of impunity in full effect.

Necropolitik

I can't believe it's October already. As we near the days of remembrance, it is good to pause and remember those who have passed on and reflect on the transience of life. There's no time for somber rumination in the Philippines though but there's always time for petty politics.

You know, I'm not ignorant of the fact that majority of my recent posts were about Philippine politics. It's a tedious subject, I know. To the cynical, Philippine politics holds few surprises. It's become banal as it is corrupt and degrading. Still, like one would do to a mental patient, we must examine the goings-on of this Republic to try to analyze and (hopefully) find a cure for the people's many psychoses. On that note, it appears we have a problem... 

Mar Roxas recently chose Leni Robredo as his running mate which saddened me. He should have chosen Vice Ganda in my opinion. Those two clowns would go well together in pandering to the masses. Who is Leni Robredo? Who she actually is is irrelevant. What matters is that she's the widow of the late Jesse Robredo, the former Secretary of the DILG who died in a plane crash.

"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio." lamented Hamlet. Hamlet indeed knew him well as he painfully recalled happier times with the fool. Alas, poor Jesse! I knew him... not so well, reader. Do you? If Mar hadn't chosen Leni, we wouldn't have remembered that Jesse even existed along with the Chinese tourists, "Mamasapano 44" and the other dead people this government would rather have you forget.

Who Jesse was as a person is irrelevant. You can argue about his accomplishments all you like but it won't matter for two reasons: Firstly, Jesse is fucking dead. Secondly, the idea of who Jesse was is infinitely more important to the media and this administration rather than anything factual. Truth is irrelevant but perception is everything. The powers that be would have you believe that Jesse was the model public servant. He was so good and pure and brave and humble and honest etc. ad infinitum. They would canonize him a saint if they could. The man doesn't matter but a corpse has its uses.

Let me commit some copyright infringement and paint to you the picture the media and yellow acolytes are preparing: Jesse Robredo was a saint and perfect human being. Thank God for people like Jesse and thank God he belonged to our party so we can milk his legacy for what its worth. He's in heaven now, bowling with Jesus Christ himself. It was his time to go but don't be sad! His widow (feel sorry for her now) is here to continue the struggle. Like her husband, she is also good and pure and honest. Don't ask about the logic, or lack thereof, of ascribing one person's traits to another without basis. Just know that a vote for Mar is a vote for Leni and a vote for Jesse and Jesse was so great and wonderful. Have a heart for the widow. Vote Mar!

If all this sounds familiar, it is. If the noontime shows haven't rotted your brain completely yet, you may recall that El Presidente himself got elected for office on a wave of sympathy from his dead mom. The corpse was hardly even cold before they began using it for their ambitions. Again, who Cory was is irrelevant. We are never allowed to question who Jesse, Cory and Ninoy were. All we need to know is that they were completely flawless and good (unlike Marcos who was completely evil am I right?). Their deaths are more important than their lives. The benefit of dead heroes is that they never lived long enough to become the villain. Plus, we can't criticize them since they're fucking dead! Philippine politics is more about storytelling than anything. The power of sympathy is not to be underestimated. Filipinos are a very touchy-feely and overemotional bunch of nutcases. They eat this crap up with smiles on their faces.

Speaking of exploiting the dead, Grace Poe is doing it too! She remarked that she must "finish what her father started", her father being the late action movie star, Fernando Poe Jr. I'm confused. Fernando was never elected to office and died shortly after his loss so what exactly are we going to "finish" here? Maybe she wants to continue his work of making bad movies? Hey, knock yourself out Grace.

Hmm, let's see here.... Morbid fascination with the dead? Check. Using the dead for your own selfish purposes? Check. Idolizing the dead to the point of fetishization? Check. Having your way with the dead? Oh, dear. This is not good, you may want to sit down. It appears that Filipinos have a terrible mental illness, a terrible one indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, I have made my diagnosis: we are suffering from... (drum roll) necrophilia! This is a serious and dreadfully unsanitary mental condition. It's time to get locked up in a padded cell and we'll need a hell of a lot of pills to get better.

It's clear from the patient's history. People power was a flower that rose from a corpse after all. Even our religion makes a big deal about a guy dying on a cross. I worry about Binay. If he wants to win this election cycle, he has to pray that someone he loves dies. That way, he can ride a wave of tears to victory.

The worst thing about having your way with a corpse is the awkward silence.

Death and Taxes

There was a move recently to reduce the income tax rate here in the Philippines. In a stunning display of congressmen actually doing their jobs, they determined that the income tax rate was just too high, the highest in the region in fact, and have not been adjusted for the rates of inflation up to today.

Then, showing to everyone yet again what a useless institution it is, congress backed off. El Presidente was not keen on the idea you see. He invited the proponents of the bill to Malacanang, a tasteless display of executive meddling if there ever was one, and wouldn't you know it, now they say that there simply "isn't enough time" for the measure. Not enough time? This is laughable coming from a government that insisted on passing the abomination that was the Bangsamoro Basic Law as fast as possible. This coming from a government that greased the tracks with pork barrel money to railroad an impeachment against the Chief Justice in less than a year. But no, there just isn't enough time. Give me a break.

If I may digress, just how inept and inutile is congress anyway? The power of the purse? It gave that up a long time ago with the pork barrel scandal. It abused its power of impeachment to please the idiot-in-chief and now it can't even muster up the will to pass tax measures; a basic legislative function. What's next? Should it just turn over its lawmaking power to El Presidente? It's clear they're not using it anyway with all the absentees and empty chairs. How low can they go? How much more can they sell out to this administration? They should all just bend over and be done with it, that's all they're good at. It's not the "august body" in the days of yore. It's a filthy brothel and as it turns out, congress seems to attract a lot of would-be pimps and prostitutes. Just ask the MMDA Chairman and his playgirls. No honor. No honor among thieves in the first place. If they're not busy kowtowing to El Presidente, they're busy jumping ships, changing parties and re-positioning themselves for political gain. No integrity. They're all tools and puppets on strings.

Anyway, this was supposed to be about taxes.

Taxation Law was my least favorite subject. It's a jumbled mess of laws and internal regulations, rates, rules, exceptions and exceptions to exceptions. One thing though will always stick and that's because it's a concept and concepts are easier to understand. The "lifeblood doctrine" posits that the collection of taxes is of the utmost importance to the government as it needs taxes to survive, which is why collection of taxes is usually favored and cannot be enjoined at all. But something about this view always rubbed me wrong. Oftentimes, the government's actions go beyond treating taxes as a necessity but rather as something it's entitled to, like a tribute from the lowly peasants.

Let's get something straight. Government does not produce any wealth. It doesn't. Everything that comes out of government is supposed to be for a public purpose. There's no profit motive and it's not their money. People tend to be reckless with money that's not theirs and the government is no exception. The Philippines has the highest income tax rate among its neighbors. It has the highest corporate income tax rate. It also has the highest power costs too boot. Given how much the citizen pays, what have we got to show for it? Ask yourself. What goddamned thing do we have to show for it? It rains a little and our capital city becomes a Kevin Costner movie.  If the Philippine government were a private company, all its customers would have left a long time ago.

Don't think of taxes as the lifeblood of the government but rather, the lifeblood of its people. The state is a vampire and its always hungry.

Why does government insist on taxing its people so much? The answer is obvious. When you look at this government, you'll see a large collection of career politicians. For them, government is the center of everything. It is the end all, be all. To them, only the government is capable of improving the lives of people. Just look at the self-righteous and imperious attitude of this particular administration. It doesn't care about anything outside of itself and its own interests. All it cares about is the revenues. Oh, the revenues! Revenues! We gotta keep up the revenues! Revenues! What about our revenues!? As if wealth exists only to end up in government coffers.

Less taxes mean the people get to keep more of their money. That means a little more food on the table. That means meeting the rent payments. That means getting the medicines for little Juanito. That means more goods and services on demand. If anything, it can still be taxed with the VAT. But no, all the government cares about is its revenues. It can't even comprehend the idea of giving Filipinos a bit more power with their own money. We all know how competent the government is at spending tax money, right? Our government has become too self-centered, using itself as its own measure of success as if to say that if the government has money, that means the Filipinos themselves are wealthy. To the powers that be, only they can help the Filipinos, not the Filipinos themselves. But such is the nature of power to desire more of itself.

In a sane society, this would be a hot button issue but as I said before, there only seems to be resignation now with a little hint of despair. There is a malaise, I sense it. The government doesn't care. The people don't care. Nobody cares. People would rather watch Aldub or whatever nonsense fad is polluting the airwaves at noontime.

Can an earthquake just kill us all already?

NWO

Something is in the air and it ain't love.

The changing of Europe's demographics are accelerating. China builds islands in the middle of the sea. Russia is now bombing targets in the Middle East. What's next?

Where will we be in twenty years?

Do Me A Flavor

Hearthstone, Blizzard's online card game which receives way too much attention than it deserves, recently released its newest expansion pack, The Grand Tournament. It features all new cards with a jousting theme.

I dabble in Hearthstone a little. It's a distraction. While I can't say much about the cards and the current "meta", I will say I am sorely disappointed with the flavor text of these cards.

Flavor text is usually a bunch of extra lines card games put into their cards to add a little fluff, humor or even backstory to their cards. Magic: The Gathering, for example, frequently added flavor text. It ranged from snappy, one-line zingers to quotes from real or fictional people.

With Hearthstone, it's all garbage. Granted, it was never supposed to be serious stuff. It was all supposed to be tongue-in-cheek humor. Still, are these corny or what? With the new cards, they aren't even trying anymore and this from a company that's known for the Blizzard "polish".

I'm nitpicking, I know. Of all the things to complain about, flavor text is the bottom of the list but for God's sake, at least before they were trying to be funny. Now it's just cringe-inducing.

Yeah, it's a slow day.