possibilities & probabilities - perseverance & persistence

Potential does not come to fruition in barren territory - even at the price of blood, sweat and tears. It is what differentiates the quitters from those who eventually succeed.
Every fellow Filipino and freedom fighter accepts this in their core being. All throughout recorded history it has been the rough road our countrymen are tested with every day.
Even the best among us have to cushion ourselves and take succor from the horror and beating meted year in and year out.

multi-generational trauma of the Philippines

A people known for their spirit of warmth and hospitality whose life force slowly leaks away in a country of parasitic politicians of few exceptions.
Much is wasted to expend scarce resources and ill-gotten wealth on keeping the masses fat dumb and happy on short term extravaganzas and fiestas.

on display

Inspired by the resistance storytelling of Arundhati Roy, we cannot help but draw parallels between our countries. 

Prime Minister Modi and India's violently divisive history and politics raise the ghost of Marcos - the father and dictator - who birthed and raised our current baby boy heir and president. 

Roy's rage and frustration is apparent in her passionate love of people and country - vilely manipulated by decades of corruption and greed. 

mantra, prayer, plea - graphics by bhaktiCD.org

In all her heart rending stories her writing includes meditations on language - public as well as private - and the role of fiction and alternative imaginations in current disturbing times. 

The Philippines has always been plagued by leaders obsessed in their divine command. Whether pretended, promoted, or publicized in political, religious or other arenas - these folks prey on our beliefs and biases to gain power and prestige. 

Philippine leadership

One thing our current Philippine administration is sadly lacking in the hands of this Marcos-Duterte tandem is accountability and transparency. 

So much spending and borrowing under their helm - confidential funds, intelligence funds, wealth funds. Bleeding the country and its citizens dry - squeezing blood from stone. 

Leni Robredo & accountable leadership

They jet set around and party all the time - these shameless pretenders. They have never had any standing or heritage to be proud of - until they came to power in dirty politics. 

cries of Cassandra

In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true.

Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow.

weaponizing a population

The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.

~ Hannah Arendt (The Origins of Totalitarianism)

The Origins of Totalitarianism begins with the rise of anti-Semitism in central and western Europe in the 1800s and continues with an examination of European colonial imperialism from 1884 to the outbreak of World War I. 

plastic people

“The deed is everything, the glory is naught.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Take Anna Sorokin for example, the woman who pretended to be a wealthy German heiress, conning members of New York high society out of more than $200,000. 

She was eventually convicted in New York City of multiple counts of attempted larceny, theft, and fraud. Sorokin's story has been the subject of news and fiction - podcasts, TV, stage, and Netflix. 

fiction or fact

It is terrible how many folks like her we have all been exposed too - first hand or vicariously, on any variety of levels. As a Fil-Am my personal pet peeves are Donald Trump in the US and Bongbong Marcos in the Philippines. 

the true catastrophe

Our home island of Negros Occidental declared a state of calamity in the wake of Typhoon Odette - a disaster that wreaked so much havoc in its wake. 

a long standing record of service to the nation & its people

With local national elections in full swing this becomes a double edged sword. Those working on the ground are often hampered by show boating politicians who have until now been largely absent to local citizens and constituents. 

The Philippines' latest failure - President Duterte

god given gifts

The world is full of pageantry - beauty in infinite forms, outrageously generous gifts - pouring out of the Earth. The planet's bounty and harvest are our best gifts - its canopy of trees, the richness of our soils, the wilderness, its oceans - all creatures and elements of nature.

Mary Pelc on Instagram

The human species is a part of all this, connected and never separate - even if we managed to have grown apart. The separateness, however real it feels - in our concrete cities and boxed up domiciles of convenience and comfort - is a manmade delusion.

people power

Did the 1986 EDSA Revolution really happen? Given the state of current affairs in the Philippines, those of us who marched during those historic times, are flabbergasted and disgusted all these years later. 

Conjugal Dictators - Imelda & Ferdinand Marcos

What did we take to the streets for? Risking life and limb? Fighting so hard - for what? To elect another Marcos pawn as our current president? Where is that fabulous people power when we need it? 

An inept government led by a bumbling bully is made even more glaringly wrong in these difficult times that challenge even the best of the best. 

fruits of our labor

Labor Day in the US has shifted its focus toward consumerism and the end of summer rather than celebrating the dignity of work. Maybe because labor has often led to a demand for better work conditions and greater worker benefits. 

Labor Day 2020

Labor Day was originally created to pay tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers. Many of whom were indigent or immigrant working long ours under terrible conditions.

Philippines: politics & pimps

You may have heard the adage, "money talks and bullshit walks".

Moving Forward: The Ati & Tumandok People of Panay Island

In our native home islands money driven bullshit reigns supreme. Economic issues drive folks to extremes. Paradise is being sold to the highest bidders.

Money and power fuel land grabbing. Rich folks buy locals out. Corrupt government officials abuse the law, selling what they have no right to.

Money, power or corruption are ever present in our lives. The local people, environment and way of life are all harshly affected.