By Jose Bayani Baylon
June 14, 2017
SO says the text on an Independence Day special edition mug issued by Bo’s Coffee for June 12. I smiled upon reading the text because I had some friends in mind who have chosen to remain free (and, they claim, happy) all their lives. (These are the ones who divide their friends by saying half are married and half are happy!) And then I started thinking about the country - and whether indeed Filipinos are happy and free.
By Jose Bayani Baylon
June 05, 2017
THE attack of a “lone wolf” at a concert in the British city of Manchester was still fresh in our consciousness when we in Manila were rocked by news of a gunman burning up Resorts World Manila a few midnights ago. And before we could even find
By Jose Bayani Baylon
THE other day I received an email from Makati Dog and Cat hospital. It was an alert actually, reminding me of the scheduled deworming for my nearly 9 year old Shih Tiu, Hayden.
By Jose Bayani Baylon
May 19, 2017
AS mentioned in my previous column, today’s generation of Filipinos who are in their 15s-to early 20s are no longer newspaper readers and instead, almost to a man, users of digital media which has become their main (if not sole) source of information.
A good intentioned President decides to appoint as Heath Secretary a staunch advocate for herbal medicine. Oh.... and the appointee isn't an MD - she just holds a certificate in heath care given by a prestigious academic institution that previously required enrollees to have an undergraduate degree.
Of course the academic institution was funded in part by the family of the appointee.
A PHRASE very often heard from anti-mining advocates is “Common Good”. You need more than your fingers on one hand to count how many times someone like the DENR secretary-designate mentions this term while making a one-hour PowerPoint presentation, and more than your fingers on your two hands if the presentation is even longer.
I DIDN’T want to use the word “foe” anywhere in this piece because the word has a connotation that for me is too antagonistic.
But thinking about the history between the mining industry and the DENR secretary-designate, maybe no word can be more appropriate.
By JB Baylon
I’ve always been fascinated by this tale I’ve long heard about a frog in the pot.
It says that if you drop a frog into a pot of boiling water it will immediately jump out in an attempt to save itself.
I SPENT part of my Sunday afternoon in an off-track betting station, placing bets for horse races being run at Sta. Ana Park in Cavite.
I have to admit I had no idea how to choose the horses. I had no grasp of the terms being bandied about nor of the codes attached to the names of the horses and the jockeys. I was simply making “bakas” - riding on the same bets being placed by Col. Pedro “Pete” Sacro Sr whom I accompanied on his usual Sunday afternoon “excursion”.
January marks the sixth month in office of President Rodrigo Duterte. Six months, which was - at least during the campaign - supposed to be a major milestone in his term. Among others, he had promised (don’t we still remember?) to be done with the drug menace that holds our country in its grip. “Mark my word”, he told us time and time again - all i need is six months and the problem is solved.
