According to Newsweek, American and Philippine economists estimate that [former president Ferdinand] Marcos and pals shipped as much as $20 billion out of the country. We’re not talking about Michele Duvalier’s fur collection. Continue reading
Philippines
There are 39 posts tagged Philippines (this is page 1 of 6).
Robles on skepticism in journalism and the uselessness of the press conference

Cover of The Power and The Glory: The Story of the Manila Chronicle 1945-1998
“I’m skeptical, which I think every journalist should be. If you’re not skeptical, then you’re not going to go anywhere as a journalist. You’re there to contest things. If not, you might as well hire yourself out as a loudspeaker. You might as well join the propaganda arm of the government… Continue reading
Of Charles Bukowski and BMWs

Hank Moody played by David Duchovny with
unidentified female companion on his Porsche.
(ultimate-wallpaper.com)
(Below is a slightly edited piece I’ve written for a blog that has gone offline for more than a year now and was posted in 2012 when I was still working for InterAksyon.com.)
Everyone wants to be Hank Moody.
That is, everyone who’s a straight, red-blooded male who has either beaten deadlines, written books, or at least seen Californication. [See: Californication]
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My top five books for 2013
Two thousand thirteen is my banner year for not reading.
Not only have I failed to finish eight books that I set out to read, I think I also forgot to list down all the books I read on that year, a hangover from 2012 when I was unable to assess my year in reading at all. [See: Unfinished Business]
Bongbong Marcos on the family business

Monocle Magazine April 2013, courtesy of Jing Garcia, that features the article about Imelda and Bongbong Marcos
“When I saw what my father went through in 1986 I didn’t want anything to do with politics,” [Bongbong Marcos] says. “I wanted to make money.” After high marks at the London School of Economics he earned an MBA at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. But, he says, he realised that politics was in his blood. “It’s the family business.”
— From the April 2013 issue of Monocle Magazine in an article written by Mort Rosenblum entitled “It’s All Relative—Philippines.”
Rodrigo on the Manila Chronicle’s coverage of Magsaysay’s plane crash
From The Power and the Glory: The Story of the Manila Chronicle 1945-1998 by Raul Rodrigo:

(Pic: http://lopezseum.blogspot.com)
Raul Gonzales, who was a sud-editor at the desk, recalled: “When the Magsaysay crash happened, they had nobody to turn to. They couldn’t get anybody to cover; it was a slow day and most of the reporters Continue reading
#justasking: does Manila really have one of the world’s worst airports?
EN ROUTE TO MANILA—It’s a question that’s been raised ever since the Philippines got on the global investment map after surviving two crises (the 1997 Asian flu and the 2008 meltdown) and after posting successive stock market rallies since 2010.
Substandard facilities and services at the Philippines’ airport—named after the current president’s father—have been discussed anew, although with significantly less fanfare and intensity, in the March 1-3, 2013 print edition of the Asian Wall Street Journal.
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