Raison D'être

This blog was formed in response to the shutting down of Phillipinefailblog.com.

As far as I can tell PFB shut down three times in it's previous incarnation.

Firstly in November 2014:

http://itsmorefuninthedark.blogspot.com/2014/11/philippine-fail-blog.html

Secondly in February 2016:

This may actually have been the result of a cyber attack and not a deliberate shut down 

http://www.expatexchange.com/expat/index.cfm?frmid=275&tpcid=3408676

And thirdly in November 2016:

http://senseyard.com/what-happened-to-philippine-fail-blog-down-gone/

Writing about the first shut down in 2014 one blogger has this to say:

I am hoping one of it’s active readers will open a new & similar site.  I am hoping that FiloFail can at least open the blog so we can still enjoy the articles (w/c were submitted by the readers as well).  It’s a very sad day today.  I for one was helped a lot since I discovered this blog.  It helped in everyday anger management & road rage (driving around the Philippines).  Sad sad day. 

http://itsmorefuninthedark.blogspot.com/2014/11/philippine-fail-blog.html 


We see in reaction to the most recent shut down a desire that the blog continue even without the Captain at the helm.

I am thinking of opening a Blogspot or WordPress Page! – God knows we need it! 

I hope someone else takes over, preferably somebody who was a very active member of PFB

It was only two months after the last shut down that Philippinefailblog opened back up for business but this time as a social network with all of its previous content "vaporised."

http://www.philippinefailblog.com/blogs/post/1/a-new-start-for-pfb

So two things:

1. People wanted Philippinefailbog to continue even without the Captain at the helm and on a blogspot or wordpress site.

2. All the content of the old site is gone and no one can read it without wading through the internet archive.

I have provided the solutions to both these problems and I did this before the third resurrection of PFB from the dead. To accomplish this I chose the most obvious name for this blog: Philippinefailblog.

This website is not intend as a either a competition or even emulation of PFB but a continuation of an idea which was abandoned. Therefore I see no reason to discontinue this site or to not post archived content from the old site in the name of preserving history and providing a place for others to go if indeed PFB ever shuts down again.

From Get Real Philippines: Why Pinoy Pride will never save the Philippines

This is a well written article that illustrates things people have been saying about Filipinos for a long time but it comes from an insider's perspective rather than an outsider's observation.  Enjoy!

http://www.getrealphilippines.com/blog/2013/07/pinoy-pride-sucks/

I have always been strongly vocal against Pinoy Pride for a good reason: it will never save the Philippines.

Pinoy Pride seems to be the belief that Filipinos are a special people from the rest of the world, and thus deserve special respect. For example, they insist that no one has the right to make Pinoys the butt of jokes. And if Pinoys are not given this special respect, they were “cheated,” “insulted” or “oppressed.” Pinoys love to imagine that they are “oppressed” people in the world. But when they do things like post pictures of themselves wearing their employer’s clothes without permission(the maid in Singapore), slap a helpless Alzheimer’s patient (Jonathan Aquino case), steal from a US children’s cancer fund (Rene Ballenas pleaded guilty to larceny), make a loan in the U.S. then run home to avoid paying it, murder a famous fashion designer (Andrew Cunanan killing Gianni Versace), complain about someone else’s name (the Filipino complaining about someone being named Kiki in Australia) or be on the defensive after the botched Manila Hostage Crisis, you know they are far from “oppressed” or “deserving pride.” It’s more like they need therapy. If only there was a psychiatric treatment called Ego Therapy.

Leni Robredo hates the Philippines

Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.

John F Kennedy was a politician who embodied the spirit of self-sacrifice for the greater good.  He fought bravely in World War II before serving in the Senate and in 1963 he gave his life while serving his country.

Can the same be said of Leni Robredo? Is she a self-sacrificing politician seeking the greater good of the Philippines?

1. Her constant agitating against the current President shows a disdain for her office and its functions.  

MISSION:

As the second highest public office in the land, the Office of the Vice President shall work for the welfare of the Filipino people and contribute to nation-building, economic development and political stability by fostering fidelity to the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines and upholding the highest standard of professionalism in the civil service.

With her constant agitating against Duterte she is subverting the stated mission of the office of Vice President which is to “work for…political stability.”  Filipinos are deeply divided along party lines and her rhetoric does nothing to encourage unity. Her constant haranguing of the President along party lines is neither professional nor conducive to fostering political stability. 

http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2051944/philippine-vice-president-resigns-promises-lead-opposition

2. Her support of disgraced senator Leila De Lima is in direct contradiction to her executive function as Vice President.

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION:The Vice President is mandated to ensure that laws are faithfully executed.

Leila De Lima has been charged with serious crimes related to drug trafficking. These charges were investigated before the Senate and were broadcast on television before the entire nation. To insist that De Lima is a political prisoner rather than a prisoner duly charged with crimes and to not insist her fellow Yellow Party member keep a low profile and focus on beating these charges is nothing more than an attempt to subvert her duty of seeing that the laws are faithfully executed.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/873607/robredo-de-lima-is-being-politically-persecuted

3. Her opposition to the burial of Ferdinand Marcos in the cemetery he is legally entitled to be buried in is also in contradiction to her executive function of seeing that the laws are faithfully executed.  The proper burial of the body of Marcos is also a flashpoint of tension between herself and Duterte.

Robredo, 51, cited the Marcos burial as one issue on which she would be a “stronger voice” now she had quit Duterte’s cabinet. 

http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/29/16/duterte-leni-joining-anti-marcos-burial-protest-was-last-straw

Think about that. Robredo's stubbornness and defiance over the burial of a dead body is allowing former dictator Marcos to literally continue dictating and dividing the Filipino people from beyond the grave.

Dead dictator dictating from beyond the grave

4. Bringing her opposition to Duterte before the United Nations and airing out the dirty political laundry of the Philippines for all the world to smell is in direct violation of her ceremonial function.

CEREMONIAL FUNCTION:

The Vice President performs ceremonial functions through meetings with representatives of foreign governments. He represents the Philippine government in official gatherings and receives foreign dignitaries, ambassadors, foreign investors, and other foreign officials.

I will not attempt to dissect her video taped speech about EJKs and the drug war. I will refer you here: http://www.manilatimes.net/robredo-lies-world-shames-nation-un-message/. 

Needless to say she has disgraced herself and the country before the entire world by stating "facts" that are not true and painting a picture of the Philippines that is so bleak that no foreign investor in his right mind would invest in the Philippines. Her video statement to the UN is an admission that the Philippines is weak and cannot reign in the alleged lawlessness of the President on its own without foreign intervention.

Does the Philippines need foreign intervention to handle internal affairs? What other reason besides foreign intervention can there be for Yellow Party members to repeatedly appeal to international law and the international media in their tirades against Duterte?

 Does the Philippines need UN peacekeeping troops to stop Duterte?

In short Robredo has not been a faithful representative of the Philippines to either foreign governments or foreign investors.

5. Her constant agitation not just against President Duterte's policies but against him personally shows a complete disdain for the Filipino people who elected him to office.

Duterte was blunt and forceful in laying out his vision for the Philippines during the election.  To think the people were stupid or duped is nonsense.  They knew exactly who they were voting for including allegations of death squads. The president has been elected and the job of the Senate, the House, and the Vice President is not to attempt every play in the book to have him impeached or ousted but to work with him for the good of the Philippines.

This does not mean they must be at 100% agreement with all he is doing.  It means at the barest a seeking after unity, something that Leni Robredo has not sought and that the Yellow Party would avoid at all cost except amongst their own ranks.

6. Leni Robredo made many campaign promises to improve the life of the poor. 

a minimum monthly allowance of P2000 for the barangay volunteers who work to maintain the surroundings 

scholarships for the laborers’ children, Philhealth coverage, and access to micro-financing - for those who are willing to start their own business 

monthly pensions to the elderly who have been serving and volunteering in the barangay for a long time 

creating more jobs to give opportunities to poor communities 

address malnutrition and hunger by creating a wider variety of feeding programs for children and providing a sustainable lifestyle for the producers

https://kami.com.ph/13829-four-promises-robredo-made-filipino-people.html

To date she has done nothing to implement these promises. And how could she? Not only has Robredo been too busy fighting Duterte but these are all pie-in-the-sky promises meant only to garner votes!

So is Leni Robredo a self-sacrificing politician seeking the greater good of the Philippines and the Filipino people?  Is she asking what she can do for her country?  The answer is undoubtedly: NO!

Read the functions of the Office of Vice President here: http://ovp.gov.ph/index.php/programs/vice-president-office

Milk is not a powder

I used to enjoy drinking my coffee with a little bit of cream or milk and a dash of raw sugar. Now I drink it black with sprinkling of cinnamon and pepper and a spoonful of honey. It's been so long since I have drunk anything but black coffee that my tastebuds would probably not enjoy the addition of milk anymore.

The lack of milk is not my fault.  Simply put there is no milk in the Philippines.  You can buy milk in a carton and you can find a limited selection in the refrigerated dairy section of the grocery store but it's just not the same.  

Milk in a carton does not keep and you have to drink it within a day or it starts to go sour.  

Warm milk in a carton

And there's something unsettling about the taste of milk from a carton.  Perhaps it absorbs some of the cardboard into its flavour? 

At least milk in a carton is liquid.  

Powdered.....milk......man!

For some reason Filipinos drink mostly powdered milk. All the television commercials for milk have mommy preparing a cup for her little child and then a voiceover touts all the health benefits of drinking powdered milk.

Health benefits? While it may be comparable to liquid milk in terms of nutrients it is not real liquid milk. Real liquid milk is healthy. Real liquid milk does not contain glucose syrup or any sort of vegetable oils. Real milk straight from the cow or goat is loaded with vitamins and minerals and has only one ingredient: milk.  The Bible is full of references to how nourishing milk is. "Land of milk and honey." "Sincere milk of the word."  Haven't these most superstitious and religious people read their Bible?

Real milk has only one ingredient: MILK!

Whatever health benefits powdered milk has brought to Filipino children it sure hasn't helped stem the plague of rotting teeth. Milk is loaded with calcium which is fundamental for bone and teeth health and yet so many children throughout the Philippines have serious dental problems.

The 2006 National Oral Health Survey (NOHS) revealed that 97.1% of six-year-old children suffer from tooth decay. More than four out of every five children of this subgroup manifested symptoms of dentinogenic infection. In addition, 78.4% of twelve-year-old children suffer from dental caries and 49.7% of the same age group manifested symptoms of dentinogenic infections. The severity of dental caries, expressed as the average number of decayed teeth indicated for filling/extraction or filled permanent teeth (DMFT) or temporary teeth (dmft), was 8.4 dmft for the six-year-old age group and 2.9 DMFT for the twelve-year-old age group (NOHS 2006). 

Filipinos bear the burden of gum diseases early in their childhood. According to NOHS, 74% of twelve-year-old children suffer from gingivitis (NOHS 2006). If not treated early, these children become susceptible to irreversible periodontal disease as they enter adolescence and approach adulthood.

http://www.doh.gov.ph/node/1303 

I do not want powdered milk anywhere near my coffee. It's not a real food. Powdered milk is liquid milk dried out and then all kinds of extras are added to preserve it and make it palatable. It's not milk.

Perhaps they would like some powdered toast to eat with their powdered milk?

Telenovelas and Love Teams

Brangelina, Bennifer, Bogie and Bacall, Hollywood has given the world plenty of onscreen and real life love teams.  An open secret of early Hollywood is that many of these love teams were covers for homosexuality.  

Best Love Team of all time 

In Hollywood love teams are fodder for the tabloids and a tool to get people to see movies but in the Philippines love teams are a whole different ball game.

In the Philippines love teams are the foundation stone of all televison and film. These teams start off on television starring in a sappy romantic telenovela. While the show is going on the love team does all kinds of promotion and passes themselves off as a real life couple.  And indeed many of them are.

Eventually they will make it to the big screen and maybe even get married in real life. But sometimes it ends and that spells the end of a career which was built on such a precarious point.

Love teams and telenovelas reflect a stark void of originality on Filipino television which contributes to bringing the Philippines in a downward spiral culturally. There is nothing that uplifts the spirit or provokes curiosity in the viewer. Instead a cultic devotion to each team develops and balkanisation takes place. People get real touchy if you diss their favourite team.

Telenovelas make up basically ALL of original Filipino television programming. Romantic novels, movies, and television are generally escapist trash meant for women. Imagine having that being the cornerstone of all televison. 

There is no X-Files, Sherlock, Seinfeld, Star Trek, The Office, Cheers, Lost, Twilight Zone or anything else that breaks the mold and draws people into a whole new world of possibility or comedy. The only draw of telenovelas is the love team and the viewer rooting for them.  How many people has Star Trek influenced in astounding ways that has affected real life? 

How inspiring!  What a world record! And it's all thanks to love teams.

There is no end in sight to these telenovelas or love teams.  Why should there be?  Love teams are profitable. Why change horses in midstream? 

http://www.lionheartv.net/2017/01/love-teams-of-2017/

A typical Filipino house

This is a typical Filipino house.  No, it's not the house that's typical about this house.  Filipinos live in everything from mansions to shanties constructed out of leftover wood and garbage.

What's typical about this house is the concrete and barbed wire fence.  Every single house in the Philippines is constructed like a mini-pentenitary.  The walls are concrete, the floor is hard concrete or tiles, the window have bars, and the outer wall is a huge concrete fence topped with shards of broken glass and barbed wire is strung along the whole perimeter.  There is also a large gate for vehicles to enter and exit.

No one gets in and you are safe inside your fortress.

Here's another example: 

A little different but still the same idea.  A concrete fenced topped with barbed wire.  The only difference is this one has a metal grate.

But why?  Why do Filipinos feel the need to enclose themselves in a mini-fortress?  What are they sacred of?  

They are scared of each other.  Filipinos don't trust one another.  Everyone is potential thief.

I live in a "gated community" but the gates are open 24/7 and only manned during the day.  There is a river marking the border of the community on the far back side and people have crossed it during the day to case the neighbourhood and return at night to break into people's homes. This "gated community" is wide open.  It is gated in name only.

During the day there are strange delinquent children walking around, vendors hawking fish, a constant flow of traffic, people coming to play basketball at the basketball court. Some of the farmers even have their carabao graze in the areas where the grass is tall. During Christmas carollers come by and even beggars knock on the door with envelopes asking for cash.

Innocent fish vendor or spy sent by a robbery syndicate to case the neighbourhood?

With all this unrestricted activity is it any wonder people turn their homes into prisons?

Plenty of houses here have been broken into. Cell phones, computers, washing machines, and thousands of pesos have all been stolen.  

Why would someone keep thousands of pesos in their home you ask?  Because the Philippines has a a cash economy.  There are banks.  There are credit cards.  But regular folks don't use them.  They literally stuff their cash under their pillow or in a hole in the floor. 

A man's home is his castle but in the Philippines it is also his prison.

Read all about crime in the Philippines here: http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Philippines/sub5_6f/entry-3908.html.

Don't Drink the Tap Water

You don't want to drink water out of the tap when you come to the Philippines. It's not very tasty because it's full of grime and dirt. You could also end up swallowing an amoeba or something worse and then you will be real sick. 

This is what the water looks like after a blackout. During a blackout the well pumps shut off and when they start back up they pump out nothing but oily black goo for a good five minutes, sometimes longer. Occasionally there is also a sulphur smell. Just imagine how disgusting the inside of the pipes must be after carrying all that black gunk. So even when the water is clear it's definitely not clean.

When the well pumps are working regularly the water is so full of chlorine it's disgusting. You can taste it when you brush your teeth and when you take a shower.

       Tap water            vs             filtered water

No one here drinks the tap water.  You can bathe in it, wash the clothes with it, brush your teeth with it, give to the dogs, but don't drink it.

Instead get your water purified

and delivered right to your front door!

 

These guys will come once a week or you can call them when you need a refill. Straight from the filtering station to you.  

So always remember: Don't Drink the Tap Water!