Category Archives: General

There is a sinking away of national feeling which is very simple in its origin. You cannot keep the idea of a nation alive where there are no national institutions to reverence, no national success to admire, without a model of it in the mind of the people. ~W.B. Yeats, Irish poet and dramatist (1865-1939)

The nationally televised bus hijack and hostage drama in Manila ended on the same day it began on Monday (23rd August) with the death of eight Chinese tourists from Hong Kong and the hostage-taker, a dismissed police officer. What could you expect? Not only is the police force blighted by corruption and ineptitude. In Asia’s [...]

Last week we were in a pool hall in Manila playing 9-ball with our favourite old salt. At a table next to ours were a Korean couple in their 20s. The sight of them suddenly reminded us of how affluent South Korea has become, so affluent that its young citizens can go on pleasure trips [...]

Both the rulers and the ruled lack virtue. ~Barista Uno

For a speech that only lasted for about 36 minutes, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III’s first State of the Nation address (SONA) last week certainly triggered a torrent of comments. Everyone – from voluble columnists and bloggers to sanctimonious leftists and lawmakers – had something to say about what was said. People praised, cajoled, scoffed, [...]

No big headlines on the recent oil spill from Chevron’s fuel terminal in Bacolod City some 300 kms south of Manila. And rightly so. Only about 100 litres of bunker fuel were discharged covering an 80-square metre area. Three days after the pipeline leakage began on 6th July, the company announced that it had plugged [...]

One of our minor pastimes is hunting for quotations from individuals who figure in the maritime news. Generally speaking, politicians are more quotable than maritime personalities as they tend to be outgoing types with the gift of gab. But the maritime world can cough up some verbal gems of its own. The following are samples [...]

We’ve always assumed that there’s a common understanding amongst maritime folks of what the International Maritime Organization (IMO) does. Until yesterday, that is. Michael Cuanzon, a retired Filipino ship captain-turned-lecturer, called our attention to an article in the Kaiji Press Supplement of 7th August 2009 bylined by shipping magnate Doris Magsaysay Ho. At the age [...]

The problem with public relations is that its own image could make use of some burnishing. In the Philippines, for instance,  the practice of PR often involves paying reporters to say something good about a company regardless of its actual reputation. Sometimes, women and booze have to go with the envelope. This is sad as [...]

The latest Commission on Elections (Comelec) unofficial count confirms what we had thought all the while. The two party list seafarers’ organisations that ran in the 10th May Philippine election didn’t have a ghost of a chance of winning. Every 2% of total party list votes cast entitles a party to one House of Representatives [...]

Except for Ferdinand Marcos, no Philippine president has had a real maritime agenda such that great energy and much time are devoted by the State to strengthening the marine industry. We don’t expect Benigno (“Noynoy”) Aquino III, who has clearly won the 10th May election, to have one. Even if he did, bringing back the [...]

Politics has never engaged our imagination. Philippine politics, more so. It is base and blusterous – so much  compensation, it seems, for lost virility. Yet, with the nation electing a new president on Monday, the 10th of May, we find ourselves wondering what’s on the horizon. Will a new government usher in great, wonderful changes? [...]

The question is not likely to be asked in any Social Weather Station or Pulse Asia survey but it’s food for thought. Which candidate in the Philippine general election on 10th May will do the maritime industry the most good? Those who have kept faith in the electoral system and plan to cast their ballot [...]