Business & Economics Perspective Blogger

A few years and some months back, I wrote something about how the Filipino First Policy may have influenced Filipino Time . However, after having a strange dream last night, a part of my high school memory was triggered. I haven't seen either Filipino subject teacher for some time. I was thinking about two books which I wished I still had-- Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo . It reminds me that people tell me that I should follow Jose Rizal's example over Andres Bonifacio, that if Rizal wanted war, he would've made Simoun's deadly plan succeed in El Filibusterismo .  This time, I'm going to talk about the "Filipino Time" double standard. Let me remind you, I believe in Philippine time . I don't want to call tardiness "Filipino Time", call it simply being inconsiderate, rude, dishonest, no word of honor, etc. It's because when you don't show up on time, you're a liar! Calling it Filipino Time may encourage the practice of being...

Mechel T. Santiago Right now, I think about some people who made an impact on my life. Yes, I didn't do well back then. I confess that one teacher who flunked me in high school economics was the same teacher who helped me understand it! Here's a quote from the late Miriam Defensor-Santiago. People may call her disrespectful, unreasonable, etc. However, behind Miriam's feisty demeanor was someone who was still willing to step aside when she was  wrong . Miriam made a tactless comment about China and then apologized.  I thought about my situation between two teachers. One was an unreasonable math teacher who terrorized ignorant students . The other teacher was my MDS-style teacher. The MDS-style teacher helped me through when I failed economics. That's why I end up saying that I'd rather have my MDS-style teacher any day over that unreasonable mathematics teacher.  I still remember how MDS did her tirades during the Corona Impeachment Trial. Impeachment trials are so ...

Inspirational Quotes Back when I was in high school, I often felt I "never lived up" to the "legacy" of my family. It's an often bad habit by boomers to put their children under their shadow, brag about how "great" they are, and even talk and talk about the "good old days". Newsflash! An old man had something that would offend boomers. This old man is former Malaysian Prime Minister  Mahathir Mohamad . To avoid the Duterte vs. Aquino dichotomy--I often put the late Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" C. Aquino III under scrutiny. More likely, put the presidential system under scrutiny! I'll admit Noynoy had his ups, but he too had his downs.  Now, for Mahathir's words that reflect on how surprisingly updated this old man is, compared to stubborn boomers: He said education today was not only about learning history or literature, but more about learning new sciences that are revolutionising the world. “ Even business is now affected by ne...

Here's a quote I found on Facebook. As I look at the Philippine academic calendar plans to resume back to June (but some private schools aren't following it), I think about why I hated school before. A few years ago, I could recall writing about the Boomer Generation's sleep-deprived stressful education  and how the Philippine education system may be automating students . This reminds me that a few years back, my high school classmate who plays the concerned citizen, actually still plays it. Again, to respect his privacy, I'm not going to put out the screenshot. The post talked about the problem of grades over learning education (read my essay  here ). As I look back, I may be wrong to blame the teacher . Instead, teachers may have been required to give homework over the weekends (read here ). Teachers are required to follow rules, putting more of the blame on the education system . It's no wonder that some teachers quit teaching . It's because when students get...

This is a picture I drew out of boredom. Drawing Santa Claus (or Saint Nicholas) on the beach for fun is an obvious mark of boredom. I used several curves to draw everything, and copied/pasted the trees from my previous works. I dropped MS Paint for Adobe Photoshop (and now I dropped the latter, because of the fees). I remember getting fascinated by MS Paint as a child (though the limits are too, well, still limited today). I was looking into MS Paint on my most recent PC . It's almost useless, especially when I can do  better casual drawing on either Affinity Photo (for raster graphics, and it has the basic features of MS Paint) or Affinity Designer. Just reading Affinity's offer of free access to eligible schools , MS Paint may lose its relevance even more. I was looking into Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer, and a child could actually do some exploration, ask an adult for help, do more exploration, and start to do better. Sure, dealing with layers can be frustrating at f...

Tomorrow is Bonifacio Day. It's effortless to say that Filipino First Policy works. I wouldn't be surprised if Andres Bonifacio gets used as a poster boy. However, Bonifacio worked for British and German investors . I'd like to talk about how decades of Filipino First Policy compromised our education system. Some idiot on Facebook said which I'll paraphrase to avoid getting personal. The idiot said, "If you let foreigners invest here, can Filipinos afford it?" The same idiot also scorns the law of supply and demand (read my post discussing why that's plain silly  here ). People who believe in #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba must first prove it works by opening such stores nationwide, to show that the Philippines doesn't need FDI to succeed (read here ). Of course, I can expect them to say "It's the government's responsibility to raise salaries without raising the prices of goods." That's just plain bad accounting and finance too! Andrew Ja...

What happens is that the traditional Philippine education system focuses too much on  monuments of fame rather  than learning milestones . It reminds me of the incident where Rep. Raoul Abellar Manuel stressed out he was a cum laude, and that he's not stupid. I feel this is a microcosm of a much bigger problem that happens with the education system. I'm not going to deny that going to the University of the Philippines and graduating summa cum laude isn't an easy feat. However, I wrote an article on what's the use of being a summa cum laude when one opposes badly needed reforms . It's because whether we want to admit it or not, schools focus too much on the ability to memorize without also focusing on the ability to understand . Memory is also the least reliable tool.  It would be time to continuously attack the problems of the education system. I felt shamed back then because students were often told, "Your grades will determine your future!" In college, I...

It's been some time since Miriam Defensor-Santiago (or MDS for short) died in 2016. It's hard to forget the time she grilled former PNP chief Alan LM Purisima over the demise of SAF-44. While listening to her sermon, I remember the teacher I fondly called "My MDS style teacher!" I still owe a debt of gratitude to her for helping me become better. Yes, she was feisty, and not so many parents liked her temper. However, she was better than that elementary mathematics teacher. I may have not done well in high school but I say she was a good teacher. I failed to think outside the box. She always made us think outside the box. It's easy to say, "Well, we just need good teachers and there's no problem with the system." However, like MDS, I'd react to that and say, "Really?" That was MDS' reaction when Purisima tried to play with words. Purisima was infamous for saying that he didn't give an order and only advice. Even funnier was when ...