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Can Anti-Reform Social Media Gossipers Prove Their Anti-FDI Claims to Singapore?


I remembered seeing this meme on the Facebook page Philippine Anti-Fascist League (PAFL). It's obviously run by some bitter fellow. I heard this bitter fellow is just some student and he allegedly has a teenager administrator helping him. The meme might be an obvious poke at the education system today. Today, I have no intention to get a Ph.D. after I felt that the Philippine education system might be dumbing me down. The meme itself says that constitutional reform proponents' highest form of education is "Tell that to Singapore!" Ironically, these guys haven't really proven to Singapore their claims. The members of PAFL just rant nonsense on the pages. Some of them are members of economically absurd "thought leaders" such as Kabataan Partylist and the League of Filipino Students. Funny enough, none of them have ever bothered to tell that to Singapore. Are they too scared to be proven wrong or what? 
 
I did write about which grandfather would you trust between Hilario Davide Jr. and Kishore Mahbubani. It's very easy to cite Davide Jr. with his words where he said he'd be the first to object if there'd be any amendment. Wait, didn't Article XVII say that the current constitution is open for revision
Section 2. Amendments to this Constitution may likewise be directly proposed by the people through initiative upon a petition of at least twelve per centum of the total number of registered voters, of which every legislative district must be represented by at least three per centum of the registered voters therein. No amendment under this section shall be authorized within five years following the ratification of this Constitution nor oftener than once every five years thereafter.

The first question to ask is if you'd trust Davide Jr. or the late John Gokongwei Jr. It's easy to throw in the answer that it depends on the topic, am I right? That's why I raise Mahbubani of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Mahbubani himself is in the school of public policy making. Like Davide Jr., Mahbubani had experience as a former United Nations (UN) diplomat. I read about Mahbubani and decided that Davide Jr.'s best opponent is someone who is more or less on the same field as he is--a public policymaker.

There's this pathetic excuse like, "But the Philippines isn't Singapore." All the while, some of them directly quote from the late Lee Kuan Yew's book From Third World to First about the Marcoses. Is it me or is reading comprehension that bad in the Philippines? I read a lot of comments on Facebook daily which always talks about how FDI is evil. Once again, the words investors and invaders aren't synonymous. Yet, we can see this kind of meme on the PAFL page...

Even funnier and stupider is how PALF wants to make it look like investors are equal to imperialism in that new meme above. Wait, isn't this Facebook page already contradicting itself by merely being on Facebook? Facebook is an American platform. For all we know, some of the people who manage the page might be using an iPhone. People point out how contradictory they are but they say that they're simply "forced" to participate in it and that the last capitalist they hang is the one who sold them the rope. What excuse can they come up with hating landlords while they go malling to buy their equipment? Aren't these fools empowering the enemy?

Until now, they haven't really done the challenge. They said that Singapore only opened to FDI because the country has no natural resources. Yet, Singapore's model soon influenced countries rich in natural resources as stated in From Third World to First. Vietnam and India are countries rich in natural resources. Both countries opened and became economic powerhouses. If they want to be taken seriousy, they need to tell it to Singapore that FDI equals imperialism. Since the page actually glorifies Communism then why not tell it to Vietnam and China too as well, right?

When it comes to social media gossipers, they really have no source either. If they do have a very reliable source, it might just go with Trust Me Bro as its best source. They may also be citing some sources like IBON Foundation (which I've written that I can't take it seriously). Even worse, the page tends to prefer childish memes rather than actual facts. A lot of people who comment there have really low logic too

If they really want me to take them seriously then go tell their claims to Singapore. If Singapore believes them, I'd probably believe them too! 

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