Archives mensuelles : septembre 2018

Different, but same-same

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After I read this article’s conclusion, listing the main problems plaguing Philippines politics right now, I thought of the situation in Switzerland. Radically different for sure (we don’t have extrajudicial killings), yet feeling just as gloomy. The Swiss list could go something like this:

The seething resentment of the poor over the booming price of healthcare, the simmering anger over the administration blind obeisance to the EU, the anguish over the continuous flood of illegal African migrants, the betrayal engendered by the government and the courts refusal to apply democratic decisions, the growing fury created by the totalitarian racket of traffic laws, and the gloom caused by the pension funds coming bankruptcy.

Different continents, same dark clouds.

The Ati-atihan Festival in Port Barton

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The Ati-Atihan Festival, held annually in January in honor of the Santo Niño (Infant Jesus), originated in the island of Panay, Philippines. The name Ati-Atihan means “to be like Atis” or “to make believe Atis”, the local name for the Aeta aborigines who first settled in several parts of the archipelago. It was originally an animist festival, but Spanish missionaries gradually added a Christian meaning. Today, the Ati-Atihan celebrates the religious conversion of the Atis to catholicism.
 
Kapares Restaurant sponsored the “tribu” that won the dancing competition of the last edition.

In the Philippines, Facebook IS internet

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Internet neutrality is slowly disappearing everywhere, but in the Philippines it is already dead and gone, it probably never even existed. There are only two telecom companies, Globe and Smart, resulting in a bad duopoly situation. For no reason, I am with Globe, but I am pretty sure Smart is just as bad. In Port Barton, coverage is so poor it is impossible to go online for most of day time – except, strangely, Facebook. Facebook is nearly always accessible. Basically, Facebook IS internet for Filipinos in rural areas, that is all there is to see online. Why? The only explanation I can come up with: Facebook has secured a priority deal with the telecom duopoly, that enables it to be the only site millions of Filipinos can see on their phones every day. Also, when you buy a “load” (ie, buy data for surfing and/or phone credit – in a place like Port Barton, where there are no landlines, prepayment is universal, I have never met anyone having a phone subscribtion), you are sometimes offered a “freebie” of 1 extra GB – but only with a very limited choice what you can use this data for: it’s either Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, Viber, or some games like Pokemon. Choose one and that’s it. Freedom of choice? No, that one is not available, sorry.

I wrote this about 2 months ago for my blog, but never finished and published it. Today I stumble upon this interesting (though very biased) article, that confirms and explains what I had noted. Wether President Duterte can, or can’t, be considered a “dictator” is another matter entirely, but let’s say that even though I think it excessive to say the least, since I am no longer in Port Barton and therefore have daily access to newspapers and wikipedia, my own views have naturally become more nuanced – which kind of proves the article’s main point.