but given the slowness of the justice system, one does have some sympathy for a guy who gets the job done.
And not one word about the real issue: Corruption.
When politicians steal hundreds of thousands of pesos and off their rivals with impunity, as in the Manguindanao massacres or in the mayor behind our nephew's death, maybe a law and order candidate is the lesser of two evils.
and I wonder: Why does the LATimes go to a person with a European name based in Hong Kong to get an opinion on what is going on here in the Philippines? He is probably a good analyst, but why not have a quote or two by some of our local reporters?
well, anyway: The local farmers and poor like Trillianes, who is running with Poe (his photo is all over, hers less so). And the middle class/small shops (who are often the victims of thugs and extortion) tend to have Duterte posters.
No, posters just mean someone has money. But posters and bumper stickers on a private property or tricycle suggest support.
Of course I did see one Roxas banner on a tricycle: But it might have just been recycled to keep the sun and rain off the back window...
most of the cheaper things are about the mayorial race...the mayor's banners are pasted all over the place, meaning she has a lot of money, but the larger ones are about half/half. The going rate is 1000 pesos per vote, says our cook: This is double the going rate for vote buying.
And, of course, as one less popular Presidential runner told a rally: Just take the money but vote for who you want.
our area is one that is a "major concern" for election violence.
the latest kerfuffle is a rape joke by Duterte, but one doubts that it will affect his standing in a country where macho is king, and anyway, the human rights folks already hate him and the hipsters back Mariam, queen of the twitter feed...
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The earthquake in Japan has some folks jittery... it was not in a major fault line.
there are the usual fear mongers being linked to by Drudge about an earthquake storm, where one earthquake sets off another like a zipper, but the recent earthquakes are not near each other...they only have in common they are in the ring of fire, which is a pretty large area.
however, the earthquake in Japan is a major worry, since it is in the south and nearer to Korea, China, and the Philippines. (albeit not very close). It can affect their economy (whereas Fukushima was in the north). The good news is that the nuclear power plant did okay: The earthquake was "only" 7.2, not a 9, which is rare (and hundreds of times more powerful) and occured in Fukushima.
and We are on a major earthquake fault here, and our last one was in 1990...
there have been earthquake drills in Manila recently. A lot of concrete buildings that are supposed to be reinforced, but a lot of shanty towns too. The shantytowns are light weight materials, and the danger in those areas is fire.
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business as usual in China; Investors bilked of 8 million ..
strategyPage has this on China's corruption.
Meanwhile some banking officials continue to exploit this ambiguity to make China the center of global money laundering. This sort of thing is technically legal in China as long as no Chinese laws are broken. Foreign laws don’t count, that’s the communist way.
the background:
and the Inquirer also notices that China's economic lead is being threatened by the ASEAN nations of SE Asia.
well, why not? The Philippines and Malaysia speak English, Singapore is the "third" Chinese country and labor is probably cheaper in Vietnam and Indonesia.
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The Philippines, with its competitive advantages in the services sector and particularly in business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, is standing out as a potential growth market and thereby has a big opportunity now that the Asian narrative has shifted to Asean, Low said. The BPO story, he said, would continue to open doors for the Philippines as AEC progresses. While other companies may set up more manufacturing hubs in the likes of Vietnam or their financial hubs in Singapore, he said the Philippines would remain as the region’s BPO hub.
Read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/135413/asean-may-displace-china-as-economic-hub#ixzz46DhBZbQS Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
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a related item was how AliBaba is changing how rural China shops.
Yes: think Amazon on steroids, with a government subsidy.
here the local site is Lazada, and Tech inAsia has an article on ecommerce in the Philippines.
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