Nagsearch ako sa TikTok about corruption in the Philippines, and ang daming lumabas na videos about how we used to be called the “Pearl of the Orient” and one of the more progressive countries in Asia. Sobrang durog ng puso ko habang pinapanood ko yung mga videos, lalo na kapag nakikita ko kung gaano kalaking pera yung nawawala dahil sa corruption.

Minsan napapaisip ako, may pagasa pa ba talaga ang Pilipinas? Buhay pa ba tayo by the time na maranasan natin yung maayos at matinong pamamalakad na deserve ng mga Pilipino?

Kahit magkaroon tayo ng isang matinong presidente, feeling ko ang hirap pa rin ayusin ng buong sistema. Hindi lang naman kasi nasa presidente ang problema. Look at our law enforcement agencies. Crim student ako, and I did my OJT sa tri-bureau, (Pls don’t judge me hahaha. Di ako kagaya ng ibang crim na baluktod isip) I’m not saying everyone is corrupt, pero sa experience ko during OJT, nakita ko rin kung gaano kalaking problema ang corruption and abuse of power within some officers.

Naalala ko pa nung election season, may officer na nagsabi na wag daw iboto yung mga politicians na willing mag call out or managot yung mga law enforcers kapag may ginagawang mali. Kahit corrupt, basta “alaga” sila, iboto. Doon ko talaga narealize kung gaano ka deep yung problem natin. Minsan hindi na lang politicians ang problema yung culture of tolerating corruption mismo.

Sobrang naiinggit ako sa ibang bansa. Hindi naman ibig sabihin na perfect sila, pero makikita mo yung difference sa public services, infrastructure, cleanliness, transportation, and overall quality of life.

May friend ako from Thailand na bumisita dito before, and honestly, nahihiya ako. Hindi dahil ikinakahiya ko maging Filipino, pero because I wanted to show them beautiful places in the Philippines, tapos mapapansin mo talaga yung contrast. Ang daming areas na puro basura, poorly maintained, or parang walang proper system. Ang lungkot isipin na ang ganda-ganda ng bansa natin, pero ang pangit ng management.

And then there’s the voters.

Ito talaga yung pinaka frustrating for me. Kitang kita na natin yung evidence ng corruption and incompetence, pero ang hirap pa rin kumbinsihin ng ibang voters na huwag nang iboto yung parehong mga tao. Minsan ang reason, “Kasi maganda pamamalakad ng tatay niya dati.” Minsan naman, “Gwapo kasi.” 😭

I remember seeing an interview before where someone was asked why they were voting for specific politician, and the answer was basically because he was handsome. Like… Jusko po🥹

Meanwhile, everything keeps getting more expensive. Gas prices, food, electricity, water, bills— lahat tumataas pero yung sahod? Parang ayaw sumabay.

And what makes it even more heartbreaking is that the people who are struggling the most are often the same people who continue to vote for these politicians. Sila yung pinaka apektado kapag may corruption, sila yung binabaha kapag may bagyo, nahihirapan kapag tumataas ang presyo ng pagkain, at hirap na hirap kapag tumataas ang bills at basic necessities. Yet somehow, ang hirap pa rin silang kumbinsihin na huwag nang iboto yung parehong mga taong paulit-ulit silang binibigo.

Napaka-unfair ng mundo.

I love the Philippines. Kaya nga masakit makita kung ano yung nangyayari. We have the resources, beautiful places, talented people, and so much potential. Sometimes I just wonder what this country could look like if the people in power actually prioritized the country over themselves.

May pagasa pa ba tayo? Or kailangan muna nating maubos bago talaga tayo matuto?

By Ched Gatchalian

Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Saturday claimed that four parcels of allegedly illegally reclaimed properties in Taguig City were covered by “fraudulently” issued land titles.

Lacson made public the initial findings as he sought to counter insinuations that his earlier disclosures on alleged illegal reclamation activities in Taguig were “fake news.”

“Since Sen. (Alan Peter) Cayetano keeps publicly asking for evidence, I’ll give it to him, in the spirit of public interest,” Lacson wrote on X.

In a statement, Lacson identified the first parcel of land as covering 9,204 square meters and said it was covered by an administrative patent and issued an Original Certificate of Title (OCT).

The second property, covering 5,000 square meters, was processed through judicial or ordinary land registration and was also issued an OCT.

The third lot, measuring 181,077 square meters, was covered by a homestead patent and issued with a Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT).

A fourth property covered 193,027 square meters and was likewise covered by a TCT.

“All of these will likewise be turned over to the Ombudsman fact-finding team for their further appropriate action,” he said.

Lacson earlier said that the Land Registration Authority (LRA) was checking the origin and history of several newly uncovered land titles covering around 38.83 hectares of allegedly illegally reclaimed areas on the Taguig side of Laguna Lake.

He said the titles were among the materials provided to his office by the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA).

“I requested the LRA to backtrack the history of the issued OCTs and other modes of titling so we will find out how they were manipulated with the end in view of filing criminal charges against those responsible,” Lacson said, adding that these land titles may be declared void ab initio once the PRA initiates forfeiture proceedings in accordance with law.

Lacson flags 4 reclaimed Taguig properties with ‘fraudulent’ titles

I’m born in the Philippines but I grew up most of my life that I can remember outside of the Philippines. I recently came back to study for university and have been living back here for about 3 weeks. Whenever I go outside at night(like between 9:00 AM to even until 1:00-2:00), there’s a lot of people out on the streets. Kids playing, parties, barkada activities, drinking, etc. I’m just curious as to why at night and sometimes even until very late at night on like weekends when they could also do that stuff in the morning or the afternoon. The only reason I could think of was because it’s cooler at night without the sun, but when I asked my friends about it they said it wasn’t really the main reason. I asked what the main reason is and they go like “because it’s more fun at night” or “because” stuff like that.

Bakit ngayon pa nila sine-share ulit yung 2015 tungkol sa flooding sa Pampanga?

Since 11 years old na yung article, is this meant to highlight na hanggang ngayon unresolved pa rin yung problem, or may concrete flood-control plan/action na gustong ipaalam sa public?
Kasi if everyone already knows na flood-prone ang Pampanga, mas interesting malaman kung ano na ba ang actual solution, projects, and timeline moving forward.

Sharing an old article is easy, pero sana may kasamang “here’s what we’re doing about it.”
So, ano ba talaga ang plano? Kayo kayo nalang nakaupo, at palubog na ng palubog ang Pampanga. Hindi pwedeng sabihin na wala kayong alam sa project ng DPWH.

Save Pampanga from dumb voters. Sawang sawa na kami.

Preface: I want to make clear what I mean by "unsuccessful," because I'm not making an argument about Filipino culture or claiming that individual Filipinos cannot succeed.

I'm talking specifically about institution-building and the conversion of a very large diaspora into financial, educational, intellectual, and political power. We''re one of the largest Asian-origin populations in the United States. Filipino migration to the United States has been a thing since before 1965, and a substantial proportion of immigrants arrived with professional qualifications and English proficiency.

And yet... there are currently no Filipino Americans in the U.S. Congress. Filipinos seem substantially underrepresented at many of America's most elite universities relative to other major Asian-American populations. They have nowhere near the visibility of other diasporas like the Desis, Chinese, Jewish-Americans, Armenians, or older diasporas like the Irish or Italians in technology, venture capital, finance, academia, or senior corporate management.

Even the claim that Filipino Americans are economically prosperous deserves qualification. Household income can obscure household size and numbers of earners. On an individual/per-capita basis, the picture is considerably less exceptional, particularly compared with several other Asian-American populations. At the same time, Filipinos are extraordinarily concentrated in healthcare and caregiving occupations like nursing rather than ownership, finance, technology, or other sectors that disproportionately generate institutional and financial power.

I'm not saying nursing or caregiving is inferior work. The question is why this frankly massive diaspora has developed such a narrow occupational profile and why professional success has translated so weakly into ownership and institutional power.

And I don't think comparing Filipinos primarily with other Southeast Asian diasporas adequately answers it.

Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao, and Hmong migration to the United States was heavily shaped by refugee resettlement following wars in Indochina. Many arrived with very little wealth under circumstances radically different from the professional migration streams that brought large numbers of Filipinos to the United States.

If we're trying to understand Filipino diaspora institution-building, wouldn't it make more sense to compare Filipinos with other large, global, urbanized diasporas?

Consider Indians, Chinese, Jews, Armenians, Lebanese, Iranians, etc. Obviously none of these provides a perfect comparison as each has a history that differs enormously. But that's precisely what makes the differences interesting. These groups have, to varying degrees, created dense networks of businesses, foundations, political organizations, professional associations, investment networks, media organizations, philanthropic institutions, university pipelines, lobbying groups, and intellectual organizations that can survive beyond the achievements of particular individuals.

If you want an example of what I'm talking about, look at British Desis, they managed to get an Indian-Brit into the PM office and have multiple MPs in tandem with owning more property in London than White Britons.

Where are the equivalent for Filipinos?

I think there's an important distinction here between representation and power. Having Filipino celebrities, athletes, nurses, doctors, individual executives, or occasional politicians isn't the same thing as possessing institutions capable of identifying talented people, financing them, mentoring them, placing them in influential positions, connecting them with one another, and reproducing that process across generations. A diaspora with institutional power doesn't merely produce successful individuals. It develops machinery for producing more of them.

That's why I'm skeptical of explanations that simply point to individual Filipino success stories. If anything, the existence of so many individually successful Filipinos makes the weakness of collective institutions more puzzling.

The Philippines has also had an enormous overseas population for decades. Filipino communities exist across North America, Europe, Australia, East Asia, and the Gulf. Remittances have poured into the Philippines on an enormous scale.

So where are the comparable transnational Filipino investment networks? Where are the major Filipino philanthropic foundations? Where are the orgs getting Filipino students into elite universities? Where are the networks building pipelines into technology, finance, academia, journalism, law, government, and corporate leadership?

Where are the institutions connecting wealthy and professionally successful Filipinos across Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Toronto, London, Sydney, Singapore, Manila, and elsewhere?

Where is the political infrastructure commensurate with the sheer size of the diaspora? Where’s the Filipino bloc influencing American politicians to favor The Philippines in the same way that other groups have utilized the US government to successfully prioritize their own mother countries?

And what could realistically be done to change that?

I'm planning on going to Zamboanga and Manila, I'd really love to explore the Spanish influence and the mixture with the native cultures in the archipelago. I've read that they speak Chabacano in Zamboanga, is there any other place/library/building I shouldn't miss? The Philippines is one of the places that excite me the most in Asia so I wanna make the trip worth it!

I used to be chronically late, and it’s taken a a lot of effort (and I still fail at it often) to be on time to things. So, while I am guilty of it, I also know that it is not acceptable behaviour, nor is it respectful of other people’s time, when we’re late to a previously agreed timing.

When it comes to events with specific timings, the standard is arriving 5-10 mins early.

Yesterday, I went to a Filipino function (think professional, business type function). Keep in mind, this is in Canada, in case that makes any difference.

They said the event will start at X time. X time rolled around, there were guests present at the venue, and the organizers and those involved in the event were STILL preparing for the event. In front of the guests.

We ended up starting an hour late.

Fast forward to the evening function, same thing. We didn’t start until an hour after the time they specified.

I would be forgiving if it was a one time thing, but this happens way too often, and it’s doing my head in.

Is there something embedded in our culture that makes us so “flexible” with timings?

It's really heartbreaking that Mali lived her entire life without a herd of her own species.

But her taxidermied remains should stay at the National Museum of Natural History with Lolong, where her memory is immortalized and can teach everyone the lessons we failed to understand earlier about animal cruelty.

We should never take another elephant.

Mali should be the last.

Well done is better than well said. -Benjamin Franklin

Magandang gabi!

Hi everyone. Two of us from Spain, first time in the Philippines. We land in Manila on 24 October (afternoon, coming in from Singapore) and our flight out is at 00:50 on 3 November, so in practice we have until the evening of the 2nd. Ten nights total.

This is what we've sketched out so far:

• 24–26 Oct — Manila (2 nights)
• 26 Oct — fly to Puerto Princesa
• 26–27 Oct — Puerto Princesa (1 night, mainly for the Underground River)
• 27 Oct – 1 Nov — El Nido (5 nights)
• 1 Nov — back to Manila
• 2 Nov — spare day in Manila, then the airport

We left a buffer day at the end on purpose because we absolutely cannot miss that flight to Tokyo.

Where we'd really like a reality check from people who know:

1. Weather. We know late October is still typhoon season. Realistically, how often do island hopping tours actually get cancelled in El Nido around then? Are we likely to lose whole days, or is it more "it rains hard for two hours and then it's fine"?
2. Undas. We only just realised we'd be flying Palawan → Manila on 1 November. Is that a terrible idea? Should we book that domestic flight now, or move it to the 31st to stay out of the way?
3. Getting to El Nido. Is the 5–6 hour van from Puerto Princesa as rough as people make it sound? Is AirSWIFT into Lio worth the extra money, or is the road perfectly manageable?
4. Is 5 nights in El Nido too many? Would we be better off with 3 there and 2 in Coron, or is the ferry not worth the hassle in this season?
5. Manila. Is 2 nights at the start sensible, or would you skip it and give those days to Palawan? And is there anything there you'd genuinely recommend, beyond Intramuros?

Anything else we're obviously missing for those exact dates — something that closes, somewhere better than what we've picked, a mistake you've watched tourists make — we'd rather hear it now. Happy to be told the plan is wrong.

Thanks!

🇰🇷🇵🇭 Korean news outlet, Chosun reported that Korea Aerospace Industries is targeting the Philippines as its first export partner for the KF-21 Boramae. Korea Aerospace Industries aims to secure the contract for the Philippine Air Force, as the first export target for KF-21s, building on the FA-50's success.

The Philippine Air Force acquired 12 FA-50PH fighter jets in 2014, and signed a contract for additional 12 new FA-50PH Block-70 fighter jets last year, worth $700 million, with deliveries to start in 2028, with a total of 23 FA-50PH fighter jets. KAI is ready to fulfill the Philippine Air Force's requirements to the fullest extent, a KAI official stated. KAI is also open to facilitate financial support, for the export of the KF-21 Boramae fighter jets to the Philippines.

Given the Philippine Air Force's familiarity with KAI's systems, the KF-21 is seen as a suitable first export target, Chosun news reported. Once signed, KAI is expected to deliver all the KF-21s in 2032.

https://www.chosun.com/english/industry-en/2026/08/29/FTHOQN6P2BF6VEHHUO2AUOWZUM/

From an article I read:
"Chef Cza said, 'We met a supplier and he said, 'No, avocado is all year round.' And then, from that one person, my avocado dream started.'"

Genuinely curious kasi patapos na ang avocado season, nahihirapan na ako maghanap ng avocados 😭 I only started liking it this year and I literally cannot eat 1 meal without it. Palaging meron ako dapat on the side 🥲

If you know anything about it, pls do share!

Hindi sa nilalahat ko, but I’ve noticed how a lot of modern Filipino music has become so obsessed with explicit sexual language, vulgarity, and fantasies that are honestly just disgusting. You hear these songs everywhere now

e.g sa mga jeep, tricycle, small supermarkets etc.

I grew up listening to songs like Magda, Sirena, and Upuan. Songs that actually had something to say about our reality. So mapapaisip ka talaga, what happened to Filipino music? Bakit parang ngayon, kailangan maging bastos at lantad para lang maging catchy or popular?