Mong has been a blogger since 2004. He is a youth activist and Member of Philippine Parliament representing Kabataan Partylist.
‘Ugly’ refers to the politics of Risa H. and her media officers who issued a press statement accusing Satur Ocampo, Liza Maza, and the Makabayan political coalition of having ‘sold-out’ their principles by aligning with Manny Villar in the 2010 elections. Risa also described Makabayan leaders and organizations as members of ‘nondemocratic left’ who are [...]
A 20-year old student activist in 1970 is now 60 years old. The First Quarter Stormers are now senior citizens. What makes them special? They belong to a generation that defied a dictator. They were young revolutionaries who wanted to change the world. Many of them went underground after the declaration of martial law. The [...]
There are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ leftists. ‘Good’ leftists must belong to a partylist group. They demand the inclusion of civil society groups in government transactions. They participate in tripartite meetings, they attend UN conferences, they hate Joma Sison, and they endorse the candidacies of Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas. The ‘bad left’ is always wrong. [...]
We live in a micro nation. We are fond of micro objects, micro concepts, micro activities. National Artist Nick Joaquin once criticized our “heritage of smallness.” He was wrong. What we have is a heritage of micro-ness. In the past, the government encouraged the development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Today, the government is [...]
The generous state claims to offer a win-win solution to informal settlers: leave Metro Manila; return to the provinces. The national government will shoulder the transportation cost while local governments will provide a small financial incentive for Balik Probinsiya beneficiaries. Why should the poor return to the provinces? Because they are viewed as eyesores, their [...]
North-South refers to the political-economic division between rich and poor nations. This designation is still relevant when analyzing the worsening economic inequality in the globe. The North-South divide is also a North-South conflict. The North exploits the South; the North accumulates its wealth by dominating the South. In the Philippine context the North-South divide refers [...]
