What do you hate most about what's happening in the Philippines right now?

There are four things that really frustrate me about the Philippines. I love this country, but sometimes I wonder where we are actually heading.

1. Political Wars — Pink, Green, Red, Yellow

Everything has become about political colors. Instead of discussing policies, solutions, and national development, people are busy defending their political idols and attacking the other side.

It's always Marcos vs. Duterte, Pink vs. Red, and so on.

Why can't we focus on what's actually good for the Philippines instead of treating politics like a basketball rivalry?

1. Corruption and Misuse of the National Budget

We are talking about a proposed ₱7.2 TRILLION national budget for 2027.

Yet I see so much emphasis on local projects that politicians can use for publicity: basketball courts, road beautification, ayuda distribution, and other "epal" projects with politicians' names and faces everywhere.

I'm not saying local projects and social assistance are unnecessary, but why do we keep prioritizing short-term, politically marketable projects instead of long-term national development?

We should be investing more aggressively in railway systems, MRT extensions, the Metro Manila Subway, major infrastructure, and projects that actually improve productivity and economic growth.

Instead, there are reports of budget cuts affecting major infrastructure projects. I doubt the Metro Manila Subway will even be finished next year.

And the reported multibillion-peso increase in DPWH allocations for Sandro Marcos's district? Seriously?

With the 2028 elections approaching, I can't help wondering how many of these projects will become campaign materials.

1. China Taking Our Waters

China continues to challenge our maritime rights in the West Philippine Sea, and it feels like we can do very little about it.

We are economically and militarily weaker, and our options seem limited.

It frustrates me that we cannot adequately defend what rightfully belongs to us.

1. The Economy and the Struggles of Businesses

This one personally frustrates me a lot.

Customers are spending less, businesses are struggling to generate sales, and operating expenses keep increasing.

Labor, electricity, fuel, logistics, rent, and other costs continue putting pressure on businesses.

You need to earn more just to maintain the same level of profitability.

Meanwhile, ordinary Filipinos are also struggling with their daily expenses.

How can businesses expand, create more jobs, and increase salaries if customers are barely spending?

My biggest frustration is that all four problems are connected.

Political division prevents meaningful reforms. Corruption wastes resources. Weak national development limits our competitiveness. And ordinary Filipinos ultimately pay the price through higher living costs and fewer opportunities.

We have so much potential as a country, but sometimes it feels like we are going nowhere.

My question to everyone: Which of these four issues frustrates you the most? Or is there something even worse that I missed?

We all know that the common stereotype of AFAMs/expats when they come to the PH is na usually old white men with young Filipina women, and even me I've seen a lot of those couples, sa malls, sa bars, sa BGC even, etc. I haven't been to a beach in a while, but probably mas marami pa dun, but I'm speaking here from what I personally saw. Has there ever been the opposite case in the PH? As in, have you ever seen white Western women and native Filipino men actually walking down the street or in the mall, as a couple?

No, I don't mean seeing them in online videos by vloggers or social media, that's easy enough to find. I mean actually having seen them in person. Kasi for some reason I've never seen them sa Metro Manila, at least not that I can recall. Curious lang talaga kasi they seem to be very rare, if that has ever happened, even if online may mga examples naman.

As a proud Caviteño, it saddens me that the rich culinary traditions of Cavite is often overlooked and not very much recognized in mainstream Filipino cooking, this is despite the fact that our province is located only around 20 kilometers south of Metro Manila. I am delighted to know that many regional cuisines are well known in the Philippines, such as Bicolano cuisine that is often know for its spicy coconut curry dishes, Cebuano cuisine that is famous for its Crispy Lechon, Ilocano cuisine that are well known for its simple yet delectable vegetable stews, Ilonggo cuisine that is famous for its soups such as Binakol Chicken and La Paz Batchoy, and Kapampangan cuisine that is famous for its meat products and famous for its use of multiple spices and ingredients. But most Filipinos are quite unfamiliar with Caviteño cuisine, that is despite being at the doorstep of the National Capital.

Caviteño cuisine is characterized by the environment of the province, which is straddled between the sea, plains and highlands/mountains. It uses a lot of marine products in its cooking as well as coconut products which are quite abundant in the province, especially in desserts and sauces. Caviteño food also makes heavy use of achuete or annatto oil and peanuts in its stews and dishes, due to heavy Mexican influence during the Galleon Trade, where Cavite was a major participant. These are some of the native dishes of the Province of Cavite that Filipinos would surely enjoy:

•Adobo Seca. Unlike the typical Pinoy Adobo that uses soy sauce as flavouring, Cavite's Adobo Seca don't use soy sauce, at all. The meat is sautéed in loads of garlic and annatto oil or what they call achuete, and it uses peppers, vinegar and salt as flavoring or condiment. This is typically served dry, with a thick, porous sauce.

•Arroz Valenciana. This is the best seller and typical fiesta food of the City of General Trias. Valenciana is rice that is cooked with seafood and meat stock and has lots of ingredients and toppings such as chicken, mussels, sausages, shrimps, raisins and other veggies. Mang Mike's Valenciana is a popular eatery in General Trias serving Arroz Valenciana.

•Bacalao. This is often served during the Lenten Season especially when Catholics avoid eating red meat and they often substitute fish and other seafood to their diet. Bacalao is a dish that was formed through Portuguese influence due to trade during the Spanish colonial era. It consists of salted, sun dried codfish that is locally known as "labahita" and is cooked and sautéed in annatto oil/achuete, garlic, onion, garbanzos beans, potatoes, bell peppers, with a liberal application of black pepper. This is often enjoyed with either rice or bread, as it balances the tanginess and saltiness of the Bacalao. This is often served commonly in eateries and cafeterias across the province.

•Bibingkang Malagkit. Unlike the typical Pinoy Bibingka that uses coconut cream as a base, this dessert is made of glutinous rice that is topped with a liberal application of sweet coconut sauce that is called "latik" in Tagalog. This dessert is cooked in a wooden oven, and the most famous cafeteria that serves Bibingkang Malagkit is Cavite City's Pat & Sam.

•Bibingkoy. This is a favorite dessert or snack of Caviteños and is often sold at the busy marketplaces of Caviteño City and Kawit. Bibingkoy is made of glutinous rice balls that is cooked and baked in wooden ovens called "pugon", and it contains a sweet, savory filling of mung bean paste inside of the pastry. This is often paired with a sweet coconut milk sauce that is sold together with the said dessert.

•Calandracas. This is a soup dish that is often served during funeral wakes across the province, especially during late nights when there are lots of visitors who would stay awake or " magpupuyat" to observe the wake of their loved ones who passed away. Calandracas is a soup that is cooked with beef or chicken stock and is often served with cabbages, chicken liver, potatoes and chorizo sausages. It is a hearty and warm meal that will surely cure a hangover.

•Imus Longganisa. This is the most famous sausage product of Cavite and is commonly sold in the marketplace and thoroughfares of the City of Imus. Unlike the commonly consumed sweet style longganisa that Pinoys often enjoy, this one kicks different. It is salty, savory and tangy, as the main ingredients of this dish are pork and garlic. When I say garlic, its lots of garlic, enough to drive away evil spirits. This is often paired with spicy vinegar or sukang pinakurat, and one bite will make you consume lots of rice because of how savory it is.

•Mutya ng Cavite. This is a creamy, seafood sauce that is often served during parties and formal meet-ups. This consists of a lot of seafood meat like clams, crabs, mussels, shrimps and squids that is slow cooked in a soup base made of condensed milk, ground black pepper and butter. It is said that the best version of the Mutya is served at Josephine's Restaurant in Tagaytay.

•Pancit Chocô en su Tinta. This is a noodle dish that is often served during fiestas but are now enjoyed daily by most Caviteños, and the dish consists of vermicelli glass noodles, cooked in squid ink and vinegar, topped with squid bits. The name means "Squid Pancit in Ink", and the term was derived from Caviteño Chavacano. It is commonly sold in the marketplace of Cavite City, but Bernie's Kitchenette in Silang and Calle Real Restaurant in Tanza also serve this dish.

•Pancit Henoy. The favorite noodle dish of the late Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, it is a noodle dish consisting of miki bihon cooked and sautéed in garlic, onion, bell pepper, chicken liver and chorizo, and is typically garnished with hard boiled egg and chicharon. This dish is typically served in Kawit.

•Pancit Puso. A noodle dish that is popularized in Cavite City which uses " puso ng saging" as the main ingredient of the dish. This is often paired with a spicy vinegar dip, and it is commonly served in the busy thoroughfares of Cavite City.

•Pipyan. This is Cavite's own version of the Kare-kare, but instead of using Oxtail or Beef, Caviteños use Chicken in their dish.

•Tamales. I've heard that there are various versions of the Tamal in the Philippines, but Caviteño Tamales is cooked with glutinous rice flour and peanuts, and is often filled with shredded chicken, chorizo sausage and boiled egg stuffing inside. It is usually enjoyed as a spread that is commonly used in breads and pastries.

•Tinapang Salinas. This one is produced in an industrial scale, as the Municipality of Rosario is known to have exports of the Tinapang Salinas as far as Japan and Taiwan. Well, the cooking method is very simple. The fish is marinated in salt brine and then smoked and sun dried. The Tinapang Salinas is very popular in the province and is enjoyed by all social classes.

I really hope that these dishes will be popularized and will be enjoyed by the vast majority of Filipinos.

The travel tax in my opinion was implemented to discourage us from going outside the country and see how well our neighboring coutries are doing as most if not all of them have surpassed our country in terms of progress and efficiency. Seeing our neighbors success will reflect how bad our government has failed our country(i include all administrations in general including the duterte administration).

Abolishing the bir and replacing it with a system where there is no human to human interaction, or at the very least if human to human interaction is required--all communication must be strictly in a "chat platform" duly preserved by the system where the bir agent is assessed via KPI and QA scores similar to how agents are assessed in the bpo industry. In fact I think it would be beneficial if the government is run like a bpo, implement kpi's and qa's accross the board in all departments that interact with citizens and taxpayers alike. Furthermore, the new system should be designed such that micro and even small taxpayers should not need an accountant to file their taxes-- the system should be that easy and intuitive for human use and when I say easy, it should be so easy to use that a legally mentally disabled human, or a human with an IQ of 70 and below can file their taxes on their own.

As to abolishing congress, the idea sounds quite appealing to be honest but I am still undecided. If I were to entertain it though, my ideal system is a system where we do not vote people or personalities into office. Instead we "vote" policies and platforms into office. We just use ai or appoint some humans under a ministerial positon to execute the policies.

These are my original and sincere thoughts on this. Does anyone have better suggestions to improve our current government system? I am curious to know your thoughts.

We all know na yung grave threats ay pwedeng pasukan ng political and emotional angle ng Defense to “excuse” her state of mind. Yun din naman ang binabanggit ng defense team nila, CONTEXT daw. Di naman nila dinidispute na sinabi ni Sara mga yun. In this sense, gaslighting lang ang mangyayari sa defense nila.

Ang confi funds ang straight up, may 2 tao na magsasabi kung saan nila dinala. Possible na mag paka fall guy sila etc. It still proves, may mali at under sa command pa rin ni Sara ang lahat. Kung magturo man sila, which is possible, matatantsa at pwede pa verify at some point. However they testify, I want these two to show their faces in public. Masyadong shrouded in mystery tong mga to since the start.

What do you guys think?

I recently came across a post highlighting how Davao is actively preparing for the upcoming El Niño phenomenon, while we see BBM lavishly showcasing the water filter as though it were some groundbreaking miracle.

Good for those making genuine efforts to prepare for the challenges ahead. However, what is truly concerning is the number of people who continue to support and proudly defend these politicians, whether they are BBM or Duterte. It is frustrating to witness such unwavering loyalty despite the many legitimate concerns surrounding their leadership. At some point, we need to stop treating political figures as idols and start holding them accountable for their actions. No politician should be above criticism, and blind loyalty will never serve the interests of the Filipino people.

We need to wake up, look beyond political affiliations, and recognize that our future depends on the leaders we choose and the standards we are willing to uphold.

That said, I understand that the prospect of having a truly competent and principled presidential candidate may seem increasingly bleak. If none of the potential candidates fully meets the standards we deserve, and our choices are far from ideal, then the question becomes even more important:

Given the current political landscape and the candidates we may have to choose from, who do you genuinely believe deserves our vote

Here's one of the link: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSgLkPXy6/

Source: https://insider-gaming.com/valorant-champions-tour-2027-locations-revealed/

https://www.strafe.com/news/read/riot-games-confirms-masters-champions-2027-locations/

saang magandang venue kaya nila gaganapin ito? preferred location sana is MOA Arena parang sa Manila Masters lang din ng Dota 2.

Valorant Masters Seoul (February 20-March 3)

VCT CUP 1 2027 Locations (April 29-May 23):

• Americas: Mexico City, Mexico
• EMEA: Warsaw, Poland
• Pacific: Manila, Philippines
• China: Wuhan, China
  

I think the whole impeachment trial against VP Sara Duterte is a waste of taxpayers' money and precious time where the government (executive and legislative branches) could have focused themselves in doing their job like tackling the Iran War-related energy price hikes and the possible negative repercusions of the Super El Niño. Impeaching VP Sara Duterte or even President Bongbong Marcos would have made sense before 2025 midterm elections, but not anymore on the middle of the second half of PBBM administration.

Senator-judges can render a convict verdict against VP Sara Duterte whenever they want, making her perpetually disqualified from taking public office, but I don't think it will benefit the Filipino people in the long-term because the latest Pulse Asia survey shows that voters are going to vote someone who has a Duterte surname or non-Duterte handpicked presidential candidate, regardless whether they know the job description as president or not. Presidential election history shows that voters vote for someone as president based on ethnolinguistic affiliations, not ideologies or competence.

I think the only way for PBBM administration to prevent VP Sara Duterte from being elected as president in 2028 if the latter is acquitted before the Senate impeachment court is to revise the 1987 Constitution (charter change) through Constituent Assembly, cancelling the 2028 presidential election in the process, but I won't ever support and campaign for charter change even if I'm a veteran charter change advocate myself.

I'm for upholding accountability of all impeacheable officials during their tenure, but not to the point where the whole process of impeachment is used to oust an impeacheable official because of political differences with the president of the day, while the president himself commits impeacheable offenses on his own right. Dapat sana sina PBBM at VP Sara ay sabay-sabay na-impeach before 2025 midterm election eh.

Mas mabuti na sa nalalabing 18 na buwan bago ang 2028 presidential election ay magfocus nalang ang ating gobyerno sa pagtugon sa krisis sa ekonomiya dulot ng digmaan sa Iran War, Super El Niño, at Flood Control corruption scandal, imbes na magtatapon ng putik ang mga Marcos at Duterte habang nawawalan ng tubig mula sa irigasyon ang ating mga magsasaka dahil sa Super El Niño. Tiisin nalang muna natin until June 30, 2028 na si Bongbong Marcos at Sara Duterte ang ating presidente at vice presidente, kaysa sa madagdagan ang gulo sa politika ng bansa natin after sa final verdict ng VP Sara impeachment.

It's kind of interesting to see the sharp rise from 2006 to 2016. Props to the Arroyo and Aquino administration. Our growth since then has not been as impressive.

At this rate, Cambodia looks like will pass us very soon.

To say that this is just corruption makes it way too easy of an answer.

There's a mix of lack of confidence from the local and international sector when it comes to investing in the country, lagging FDI, and a manufacturing industry that is not being properly supported by the government, as well as high startup and utilities cost for any business that wants to start in the country.

Let's not even mentioning the amount of red tape there is in the country.

https://sws.org.ph/social-weather-report-net-satisfaction-rating-for-vice-president-duterte-at-21-senate-president-gatchalian-at-4-speaker-dy-at-2-and-chief-justice-gesmundo-at-6/

"The national Social Weather Survey of September 21-27, 2026, found 51% satisfied and 30% dissatisfied with the performance of Vice-President Sara Duterte, 38% satisfied and 34% dissatisfied with Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, 32% satisfied and 35% dissatisfied with Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III, and 36% satisfied and 30% dissatisfied with Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo"

Pulse asia and Sws released their Q3 surveys, waiting for Octa and Momentum

EJERCITO, ROBREDO FEATURE BICOLANO CUISINE

Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito shared a social media video featuring former Vice President and current Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo as they showcased popular Bicolano dishes.

Ejercito visited Naga City Hall to meet with Robredo before leading an activity at Naga City General Hospital.

📹 JV Ejercito/Instagram

No man is free who is not master of himself. Epictetus

Happy Friday!!

CRIMINOLOGY STUDENT PERO DI MARUNONG SUMUNOD SA BATAS? 🤦‍♂️

Nakaka-disappoint lang makita na may mga estudyante ng Criminology na parang nakakalimutan ang batas na pinag-aaralan nila. Imagine, future law enforcer ka pero simpleng pagsusuot ng helmet habang nagmomotor, hindi pa magawa? 😅

Hindi ba dapat kayo ang unang nagpapakita ng disiplina at pagiging responsable? Hindi sapat na may nakasulat na CRIMINOLOGY sa damit nyo para masabing deserving kayo sa profession na yan. Ang pagiging pulis o law enforcer ay hindi lang tungkol sa uniform, ranggo, o authority.
Nagsisimula yan sa simpleng pagsunod sa batas kahit walang nakatingin.

Paano nyo ie-enforce ang law kung kayo mismo hindi sumusunod? Paano kayo magiging role model ng mga tao kung sa simpleng traffic rules palang, sablay na?

Hindi naman porket student palang kayo ay exempted na kayo sa batas. RULES ARE RULES, kahit sino ka pa!

Genuinely curious ako sa post assignment ng mga TUPAD workers. Bakit kailangang magkumpulan sa isang gilid, samantalang ang daming streets at lugar na nangangailangan ng paglilinis? Ang daming kalat at kalsadang puwedeng linisin, pero imbes na ma-distribute nang maayos ang mga workers, magkakasama lang sila sa iisang lugar.

Samantalang may mga street sweeper na mag-isang naglilinis ng isang buong street at nagagawa naman ang trabaho nila. So bakit hindi kayang ayusin ang assignment ng mga TUPAD workers para mas maraming lugar ang malinis? Ang punto rito ay hindi kung kaya ba nilang magtrabaho, kundi kung maayos ba silang naia-assign para maging kapaki-pakinabang ang programang ito sa komunidad. Sayang ang manpower kung hindi naman nagagamit nang maayos.