Going out here allowed me to write a story in 30 mins. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Being cooped up in my small room for days on end really does something to my psyche and productivity. I keep on working there because I’m spoiled by the dual monitors and I find it hard to edit stories without them. But once I got out of my room and transferred here, I was able to write a short article for 30 minutes. Wow!
I should try to write in the grassy field in the campus one of these days—if the weather permits.
Seeing the sky like this while I work is uplifting. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I figured that I need to get out everyday to drive away the cobwebs in my head. This week I produced four stories, which is unusual, given my normal workload. I think the difference now is that I have the ability to be out in nature within minutes compared to when we were still in QC—which helps during productivity slumps.
I just realized that my existence in QC was poor given that I had no choice but to be locked up in that apartment because the environment outside was hostile. Cars, in utile sidewalks—if there are—and the unbearable heat makes one think twice about going out. It’s the perfect stage for one to be clinically depressed when she is dealing with post-breakup trauma while on a lockdown because access to nature was difficult. I tried my best though. I had my bike and my car so I can go to UP Diliman but it’s too much of an effort.
Meanwhile here, I have no excuse not to go out because it’s just right at my doorstep. Literally. And also going out into the wide open spaces only takes me five minutes or less, depending on my stride. Going to church only takes 10 minutes on foot. Same for the mom-and-pop shops. Starbucks is also 10 mins on foot.
Speaking of bikes, I should have our bikes fixed so we can bike for errands instead of bringing that car when parking is a huge problem here. Everyone has huge-ass SUVs but this old town is like Europe, the roads are made for calesas (horse-drawn carriages) and the local government can no longer widen the municipal roads because of the generations of families that have built structures along the roads. Moreover, there are no parking areas near commercial establishments. That’s why in high school, some classmates drove scooters instead of cars when going to school.
As for exercise, I can no longer take up running (I think I have forever busted my left knee, from an old football injury 23-25 years ago). I think that leaves me swimming as good cardio workout. I just learned from my sister that the university pool is open to alumni who want to use it everyday. I can add swimming to my weekly exercise regimen, if I find the time.
I must bring my cats for exercise. Right now they’re like this:
Kimchi looking like a cat with a bad hangover. Photo by Twin A.
I hope to wake up early tomorrow morning and see if I can swim at the university pool.
This is what the CEOs had been warning us about the past few months—2Q23 GDP was the slowest in 12 years due to inflation and rising interest rates that dampened consumer spending. The Philippine economy is 70% dependent on domestic spending and if that is hurting, the whole economy is running into trouble. One company chairman told me any strategic moves would have to be suspended because consumer companies are slapped with lower household spending, even on food. Monde Nissin, which has cornered 98% of the instant noodle market in the Philippines, took a big hit as its net income dipped 18% YoY. And to think Lucky Me is the de facto staple outside of rice in this country. This meant that Filipinos have tightened their belts even on staples. We ate less. Everything else followed.
The coming quarters would be difficult for us if the government would not be able to address the structural reforms needed to bring down the cost of food and other goods. Monetary policy can only do so much. Petroleum products are rising again and diesel has climbed by PHP 4 a liter just this week. Last week was PHP 3.50 per liter. As a net importer of oil, this meant that our transportation—the jeepneys and buses—would have to hike fares again while our electricity costs would again climb.
The economy is taking a lot of beating. I wonder how the rest of the country can hold on.
Forbes revealed earlier this week that the Wall Street giant is suing 30-year-old Charlie Javice, founder of Frank, and Frank’s chief growth officer Oliver Amar over claims that the pair sought to boost the fintech’s user numbers by creating 4.25 million fake accounts. The startup only had 300,000 customers, according to the lawsuit filed late last year in the U.S. District Court in Delaware.
“Javice first pushed back on JPMC’s request, arguing that she could not share her customer list due to privacy concerns,” the complaint continues. “After JPMC insisted, Javice chose to invent several million Frank customer accounts out of whole cloth.”
The suit alleges that Javice and Amar asked Frank’s director of engineering to create fake customer details after JP Morgan requested details on users as part of the takeover talk. After the engineer refused, Javice was then alleged to have paid a data science professor $18,000 to create millions of fake accounts using “synthetic data.” JP Morgan opened an investigation after test marketing campaigns to Frank’s users following the acquisition were “a disaster,” the suit says.
Forbes
According to some reports, an employee from JPM saw that the list contained exactly 1,048,576 rows, the maximum allowed by Microsoft Excel. Then JPM sent emails to all those in the list, many bounced back.
The question now is, why didn’t you do that during due diligence phase? The data room has been open to you for goodness knows how long and a simple test like that could have saved you USD 175m and your face.
The bigger question is, how do you even come up with the valuation of startups that do not have any assets, no tangible evidence that the business does really work? I remember talking to people doing due diligence, talking from a farm or in the middle of a plantation, or who just come out of a factory. Of course I couldn’t quiz them about the details but journos and due diligence workers must ask, how well do you even know the business? Does it even work/generate cash? Why do you base your valuation or important metric on the number of downloads or users? How much loans have you even disbursed and how much is the repayment rate? Have you watched the business cycle for several months? When are the lean months/period? Why?
I just had a conversation with a bunch of investors and one of them said his hobby is to sit in a restaurant, order food, observe the people, the customer turnaround, how the waitstaff operate…the entire day. For several days, months, etc. He does this for every business they are looking at.
We have a sister company that does due diligence/reputational investigation and they hire freelance journalists and other research professionals–to do the job on the ground because we’re good at that. We also have the inside knowledge/dirt–things that are super important but unpublishable–about companies and their owners after years of being on the ground. I was talking with one of the guys there and with their boss about some personalities or issues that are familiar to me as they had a lot of due diligence requests for this particular company from clients. They know their stuff. They know I know my stuff as well.
I had qualms about some business owners that I interviewed. I had talked to a founder of one tech company that on paper looked so good and would really attract a lot of ESG funds. But since this is just a bootstrapping company, I gave it the benefit of the doubt because what if this company becomes big? I quizzed the founder about how his business works. What is the thesis, why the world needs his company? What is it trying to solve? How are things quantifiable? How do you even give values to such intangible commodity? How does it generate revenue? Why should people use your product/system? Who are your competitors and what makes you different? Can others replicate your technology/system? I had the story published but I left the discretion to the reader if they want to check out this technology or not. I had quizzed the person beyond what was pushed in the press release.
Then I met him in Singapore and the PR kept pushing for this meeting. I talked to him and asked for an update since we last talked. He gave me a glowing account of the people he met, the offers he had, the partnerships he had forged, etc. etc. I asked him about the plans after getting the seed funding, which to me sounded so…ambitious. I took everything in stride and I told him I cannot write an update because I need to see for myself what the real progress he has achieved a year from now. I need proof of concept. I need real backers who had done their due diligence. I think that was the most responsible thing for me to do.
What were my red flags? He has a PR firm even before he has a real business, even before having a physical office in Singapore. Ok, granted that he is moving his business out of his home country but still…it left me uneasy.
I don’t know but I have a thing about having PR before a business is really proven.
So the biggest crime committed by media is that we tend to glorify the ubermensch-type of CEOs through listicles peddled by the likes of Forbes. The Forbes Under 30 had Frank CEO Charlie Javice on their list. This publication also had Harsh Dalal on their list and he turned out to be one big scammer. TechInAsia called out his bullshit because he could not substantiate claims and this publication kept doing their own investigation and published it. He has since been removed from the list.
I searched if we had his company in our database. OMG we did! I brought this up to our compliance team and legal department. After deliberations, we removed the story from our database.
It’s not far-fetched that we could be tricked by smooth-talking people, especially in Southeast Asia where you can conjure up crap from air and sell it like gold. I said always maintain that jadedness in you and not fall into that trap and spot bullshit. Know the sectors you’re covering.
I was reminded by this story I was editing about an Indonesian VC that was so inconsistent that I had to check all the websites (which they didn’t have), I had asked my contacts if they heard about this firm and the business that they claim to be operating, etc etc. I had news stories remotely related to his claims translated so I could understand what was that all about. Everything didn’t make sense and their LinkedIn profiles were laughable. I told my bosses I could not have this story published. That reporter who interviewed the company is no longer with us.
Another particular company stands out. It’s Solar Philippines and the local media has been publishing stories about this wunderkind, Leandro Leviste, who was in his early 20s at that time, was already a CEO of this renewable energy company. The reason why anybody was listening to him was because his mom was a senator. But after interviewing him one time, I found him to be a fluke. He had no substance. I did have one story about his company published and that deal did push through but then you know, I don’t want to…I simply didn’t believe him. I had sources telling me stuff about this company. After he had his company listed on the PSE, this story came out. The story was so powerful that the stock exchange made the company explain what the shit was all about.
Meanwhile, this guy, Joseph Calata, was just out of this world that I never interviewed him. Good thing because he was such a character (and he even invented his own cryptocurrency as payout for his minority shareholders when they got delisted 🤦♀️). In the end, the SEC had Calata Corp delisted in 2017 after being found to have violated 29 PSE rules. Calata even threatened to sue my friend for writing facts, things that the PSE already stated were questionable. I put the blame on the investment banks that had been the underwriters of this company’s IPO.
GUYS, DID YOU EVEN DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE???
But again, it all boils down to the banks’ (JPM and those local ibankers underwriting these questionable IPOs) desire to close a deal. Because there’s this intense pressure to chase deals so due diligence takes a back seat.
So now I do think the first line of defense is the media. If you stop glorifying these under 30 wunderkinds, then you’re doing the world a favor. Do your job of asking the right questions!
This article from the Financial Times and the comments section made me think real hard about emigration. I always knew at the back of my head this is one of the the reasons why I haven’t emigrated while the rest of the middle class Filipinos (well about half) have done so. My sister also said the same that’s why she opted to fly back home instead of staying in Australia.
One of the arguments is émigrés do eat up resources of the natives and some are being priced out of their native land. Such thing is happening in Barcelona (a victim of over-tourism as well) and some parts of UK (London in particular, where rich HK and mainland Chinese have been buying flats for Plan B). My sister said that while racism in Australia is not as bad as when my father was there for his graduate studies, there is still some kind of resentment towards émigrés, especially the Chinese (for various reasons) because of the said reason above. She said she can’t blame them because she would feel the same if she were in their shoes.
In this FT article, the columnist said Netherlands is busting at the seams. Productivity is low due to government incentives, with many Dutch opting to work part-time while no one wanted blue-collar work (service staff in HORECA sector, airport, etc) for the price being offered. Why work 40 hrs when you can do 20? Importing more blue-collar workers is not an option given that migration is a touchy issue in the EU. Brexit comes to mind. The Netherlands has a tight housing market since the Dutch do not build up, which is ironic in a country that is continuously battling the North Sea and always under threat of being engulfed especially now with melting glaciers from Greenland. Just like any port city, Amsterdam is getting denser. Some in the comments section have pointed out that Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo are handling the population density by building up, which cities like Amsterdam and London are not willing to do. Aye, there’s the rub.
The FT writer said that there are farmlands that can be claimed for housing elsewhere in Netherlands but people said why would we give up land that has been feeding us and allowing us to export our produce? They have a point. They said that in order for Singapore to grow and accommodate its population, it has foregone the ability to produce its own food and is importing almost everything it consumes. But then, are the Dutch willing to go in that direction? Of course not.
I then remembered my conversation with a Singapore-based friend about the Singaporean affliction of kiasu, the selfishness due to fear of missing out. It’s annoying as hell and this is exacerbated by racism towards Asians they deemed inferior to them. I told my friend that this kiasu was probably borne out of the fact that they had to fight for the very limited resources that they have. And here we are, Filipinos who also want to have a piece of those very limited resources. They would be/are really, really be pissed off with us, who keep on voting for shit government and now we want to escape our hellhole to burden the natives with our demand for the same limited resources. That’s why they are keeping us out by putting a very high price tag for everything that we foreigners would need. A colleague from HK who migrated to Singapore with her husband (who was being transplanted by his company) said the rental apartments for foreigners are ridiculous. She wouldn’t find apartments below SGD 4,500, her realtor said. Public schools are not for foreigners as well so you need to fork out at least SGD 30k a year per child for private/international school tuition. This colleague–who recently left my company for higher pay and work visa issues because our HR is very narrow-minded–couldn’t do anything but bite the bullet.
The AVP of this company I had lunch with last week said that when Marcos won last year, he and his wife immediately thought about leaving the country and weighed their options regarding migration. Their choice was Canada. But then the wife, who has a private driver for her daily commute to her workplace, wouldn’t be able to have her maids and driver when they move to Canada. They would be doing every menial task that she didn’t have to do here. They have a relatively affluent life here in Manila; they can tour Europe on business class (the wife refuses to travel coach) and buy shit out of the luxury stores in Europe (i.e. shopping for many expensive bags), her husband says. So they are staying put here for now.
This brings me now to my talk with my journo friend, M. Like the typical affluent Filipino whose family is financially and politically connected, he didn’t have to work like mad to afford his lifestyle since he can just receive dividends from family business, etc. His mom flies to Switzerland because she just feels like hiking the Alps, that kind of thing. But M does work to prove to the family he is unlike the rest of them. Anyway, he said there is little incentive for him to migrate because he leads a relatively comfortable life. Why would I fight for the resources in other countries that I can have here, he asked. He has a point.
This is a complex conundrum that is forever tugging at the back of my mind. Am I being selfish for not thinking about the future of my children since I am not offering them the world? Just because I don’t want to struggle since I am comfortable where I am now? I know that my degrees from the best university here do not mean anything abroad; in fact they look down on it because my university is still lagging behind everybody else (my Singapore-based friend said). Would I want to subject kids to the same kind of predicament?
But then, despite the academic limitations, I am still competitive abroad, in my field at least. I couldn’t say the same for my kids when it’s their turn. I don’t know what is right or wrong now.
However, if let’s say I move to the US (because I can for my job), would I be able to afford sending them to college without them having to deal with debilitating student loans? Would they be able to cope with the feeling of displacement? Would I be able to closely watch over them as a single parent? Would I be able to afford housing without working two jobs because my work entails that I need to be in financial/business centers where resources are limited? For me to afford a home as a single mom, I have to locate myself in Hicksville (as my cousin calls rural backwater America), which is worse than being stuck here in the Philippines, methinks.
Maybe, just maybe, this is for the best in the meantime. They can emigrate after they graduate from college by applying for scholarships abroad for graduate studies. We have finite resources but here I can have those resources that I am rightfully entitled to. And I have a voice here that I can use to fight for equality and equity among the people to have access to those resources so we don’t have to develop the kiasu attitude.
Merry Christmas!
I celebrated with the cats. Had been video-calling my kids every now and then so they won’t feel abandoned. But I don’t think they have issues spending Christmas away from me since we are stuck together everyday anyway.
They’re trying to talk to Kimchi.
I had wine again to make me fall asleep.
Christmas drink.After. Wohoo!
But nope, I still ended up sewing a curtain panel to make me sleepy. I went to bed at almost 3 am. I realized I must finish more curtains because I only have 5 months before I move out. I want to have curtains up in our tiny house when we move in. They say it makes it feel like home immediately.
My dainty felling stitch. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My kids at least have better food than I do. My sisters ordered lots of dishes for Christmas eve while I am going to have the chicken cordon bleu that my neighbor gave me. The era of slaving away in the kitchen for Christmas dinner and Christmas day festivities is long gone. After my father died, we just celebrated Christmas out of town, the first of which was spent in a beach resort. The pandemic forced my mom and my sisters to spend Christmas at home.
As for me, I had to cook today. I wanted fluffier rice so I cooked it in this claypot.
I must look for a bigger claypot for general cooking because rice is lovelier this way.
It now has four walls. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I left QC at almost 7 am this morning even though I woke up at around 4 am (because I slept before 11 pm last night). The drive was less than 2 hours at rush hour so it was surprisingly quick.
Driving on Skyway 3 North Ave. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I stopped at the flower vendors along the highway in my hometown and bought carnations for my mom and arranged Malaysian mums for my dad’s crypt. I visited his resting place first to bring the flowers before proceeding to my mom’s house. Then I checked the construction progress.
I have a huge front door. Photo by CallMeCreation.comThey’ve removed the old windows in this room that is going to be my room. Photo by CallMeCreation.comThen they patched it up with new concrete wall and new door opening.Photo by CallMeCreation.comFrom below. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
This staircase would be changed and moved so this area below would be my outdoor space, combined patio and further right would be the utility and laundry area. Eventually I can have this area covered once I raise enough money. But you know, one thing at a time…
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
In the future I can have this extended by building a deck. Just because.
I can also have this catio built too.
I built an Ikea wardrobe (Pax system) for myself using Ikea’s online planner. This will be installed just outside my bedroom door because, what the heck, I don’t have space in my room.
Or Brimnes wardrobe.
The Pax system I built using the Ikea online planner costs around PHP 32,000. I asked my contractor if his carpenter/cabinet-maker can build me something like this. He said he can have it made for less than 20k, minus the Ikea wire drawers (can be replaced with real wooden drawers, I guess?)
I worked for a bit, chatted with some sources, then left the construction site and then my mom’s house early to go around the campus. I watched the football players for a while. Oh how I wish I could still play. Nope, I’m too broken for that.
Photo by CallMeCreation.comZooming in. I used to be one of them. Photo by CallMeCreation.comTired, sweaty, and my make up is running down because I installed a towel bar in my sisters’ bathroom.
Then I went to have dinner at a friend’s restaurant while I waited for my sister-in-law (SIL) and my brother.
Photo by CallMeCreation.comBeef shawarma and yoghurt shake. Photo by CallMeCreation.comThen we had coffee and lots of talk. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My brother didn’t join us for dinner/coffee because he went ahead to move in some of their stuff into their new townhouse. I forgot to take a photo of it but I took shots of Kuya P’s future room because it has a loft bed that I wanted to show the girls.
My brother’s house is nice and spacious since it has three floors, a huge garage (two SUVs can fit) but they will use the space further in to make it a game room and some kind of lounge area for the boys and their friends.
Kuya P’s loft bed and “office”. Photo by CallMeCreation.comToo claustrophobic for me. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
But then if you’re playing games, this could be ideal because you can confine the sounds. This can also help you concentrate on studying and eliminate external distraction. When I showed this to the girls, they said they will just have curtains to make their study area isolated from each other.
I left at past 9 pm and it only took me 1.5 hrs to get home in QC. With the moderate to heavy traffic. Not bad.
It’s past 10:30 and it’s still like this along Quezon Ave. 🥴 Photo by CallMeCreation.com
It’s already past my normal bedtime but I’m still wide awake because of the late coffee drinking (because I needed that for my drive). I’ve been up since 4 am. Gee, I’m running on caffeine and adrenalin.
While I was working today, I sold some stocks at a slightly higher price than yesterday. I will have the proceeds deposited in one of my bank accounts and then when I need to issue another check to my contractor next month, I would be ready. I decided to sell this time because it seems like stocks would be falling next week—the US inflation rate was higher than forecast. Despite this (which meant the US Fed will remain aggressive in its rate hikes of at least 75 basis points every FOMC meeting), the local stock market was up today; it defied logic. Good that I was able to sell. But I guess the local market was trying to go for a winning streak for the weekend before they digest the US inflation news—and they knew that stocks would be falling next week. The US Fed’s goal is to bring down inflation from the current 8.2% (the highest in 40 years) down to 2%. Just count how many rate hikes they would have to make—that would spill over to next year. They are really going to cut economic growth in favor of bond prices. That’s a lot of liquidity being mopped up. The housing market will go belly up if they continue with this.
A shopper walks past turkeys for sale in a grocery store on Nov. 11, 2021, in Los Angeles.Mario Tama / Getty Images file
So this will be another contagion. If people cannot pay their mortgages and buy food, then the this will redound to other consumer items. Global trade would…It’s 2008 all over again.
Those VCs and startups will have a lot of trouble raising funds. As they said, “winter is coming!” The abundant dry powder of yore—thanks to the super low interest rates as a result of Fed cuts in 2008 to save the US economy—is gone. Investors have become more tight-fisted quarter on quarter and they now refuse to fund untested startups even if they look brilliant on paper. The tech industry is first to freeze in this funding winter. The rest will follow. VCs and startups are scrambling to get funding before the year ends, before we officially enter global recession next year, before the world burns.
That’s why it’s critical to unload some of my stocks and VUL funds by November (until December, if I believe in Santa Claus rally–and I haven’t decided yet) so I can pay for the remaining balance with my contractor. After finishing my house and the expenses of moving, I will start building up my finances again by buying bargains. Since I cannot buy individual stocks anymore (and I don’t want to be penalized for insider trading even though I will not do that), I will just have to limit myself with funds like ETF, UITFs, and funding this particular VUL I will draw down from again (which I plan to (almost) empty by year-end).
Let me just recover a bit from this house then I will scrimp and save for a new car. I think by 2024 I would be ready, if the world hasn’t completely burnt up by then.
The peso fought back to close higher today but the stock market continued to slide and we are now in bear market territory. The next support level now is at 5,700, which spells disaster for me. I should pray for the market to fight back next week (with some good news that UK economy registered growth in 2Q22) because I need to withdraw some investments in the next two to three weeks. While I have cash so I can issue a check to my contractor by next week, I need to decide soon if I should draw down one fund now (with the outlook that it will not get any better until December) or wait for the corporate Christmas window-dressing. Or before the corporate earnings season around Nov 15.
Meanwhile, the social media universe has exploded when Shopee revealed that its new endorser is Toni Gonzaga, the hypocritical, Bible-quoting actress who blatantly endorsed lies and enabled the Marcoses and Duterte. To make matters worse, the announcement came on the heels of the news that Shopee axed a lot of jobs because it is losing money. People pushing back said, if they’re losing money, why are they even hiring an endorser who is known to charge millions upon millions of pesos at the expense of employees.
So people began uninstalling their Shopee app and deleting their accounts. The noise and the loss of accounts might have been a lot since Shopee started an impromptu survey about endorsers then they started issuing press statements. Then came the dummy accounts that claimed they were former Shopee employees, saying they were well taken care of by Shopee because they got a bonus pay—And we started pushing back against the crisis PR by saying under the law, Shopee is obligated to give retrenched employees separation pay and THOSE ARE NOT BONUSES. Caught their bullshit.
I’ve been calling out the other BS that the crisis PR team had been coming out with. Because I know how PR works and only a few here in the Philippines specialize in that. I’m friends with one crisis PR guy who is on the speed dial of many conglomerates in the Philippines and he has been telling me some tricks of the trade. One of these days I should have drinks with him again.
I should really finish packing now because I would be driving early morning tomorrow—about 5:30-ish???—to go to the beach. I hope it doesn’t rain much this weekend. ❤
We’re just 1 centavo away from PHP 59:USD 1. Before this month ends, the forex will be PHP 60, which beat my brother’s estimate. The cost of powdered milk has jumped PHP 200+ for the pack that I usually buy. We import our milk from New Zealand or Australia because we don’t have enough cattle or rolling lands here for commercial-scale milk and beef production. This is bad for those with infants and toddlers who still need milk.
I was supposed to draw down one of my investments last month but I hesitated because I still didn’t have a full estimate for my house’s construction. Today I lost 50k (paper losses) for that specific investment just because I didn’t have the foresight to withdraw it then. I was being greedy as well, thinking that the markets may bounce back pre-3Q22 corporate financial earnings reports.
HOW F*CKING WRONG I WAS.
Now ECB President Christine Lagarde (*I met her when she was still the IMF Chief and visited the Philippines* 😉) just said that recession is imminent this winter in the eurozone. UK tax cuts would only aggravate the situation and we would be bouncing to a global recession by next year. Actually, we should be in recession now since consumers had been closing their wallets for while now due to the incessant quickening of inflation.
The typhoon also flattened the food basket of Luzon. It’s rice harvesting season now but the typhoon destroyed all rice farms in its path. Prices of local and imported (as declared by the rice cartel of Thailand and Vietnam) will further climb.
AND YET…
Marcos just tweeted and posted on FB how “successful” his NY visit was. Their inept social media machinery showed spliced videos and photos of his speech before the UNGA to show there was an audience. But the truth photos shot by professional photographers showed that delegates walked out on Marcos.
His US trip didn’t gain any investment pledge. But he watched an Eric Clapton concert and went shopping while the rest of the country is being battered by Typhoon Karding. Rescuers in Bulacan died doing their duty.
He made this government trip a family affair because this is the first time his family can step on US soil because they were banned for decades because of their numerous crimes and convictions. But because of US law that states that this ban does not extend to head of states. 😤
Everyone else in the world are asking us why did the Marcoses come back? The Germans said they could not even imagine having Hitler back so how come Filipinos allow it?
BECAUSE WE ARE STUPID, DRUNK THE FACEBOOK KOOL-AID.
Ghad, I could punch every person who voted for this brainless BabyM. He’s as incoherent as Duterte, but in English. If there was an Asian version of a dumb blonde, he could be the perfect representative.
I keep on telling myself not to open my Twitter and yet I couldn’t help it because I needed to check the tweets from the financial markets in the US, UK, and eurozone. Today was no better.
This after scrolling through Twitter this morning.
The Marcos trolls and the Sara Duterte trolls (they’re different breeds) are doubly offensive today, trying to cover the incompetence of both officials in light of this latest calamity.
It’s so tiring. I mean, this is the reason we can’t have nice things here in the Philippines. The great unwashed and the equally morally corrupt upper class keep voting for these monsters because they have no regard for others.
I’m tired.
Ang hirap mo mahalin, Pilipinas! Kelan kaya kita maiiwan para maka-usad na ako sa buhay ko? Sana lumaki na lang ako na walang pakialam para hindi ganito kabigat ang dibdib ko araw-araw na nilulustay ka ng mga kawatan.
