Category Archives: Government

Economy, Government, International, Travel

WHY OBAMA WAS A NO-SHOW AT APEC SUMMIT WELCOME RITES

November 18, 2015 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – There were only twenty world leaders who showed up at the welcome rites for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit Meeting Wednesday afternoon. There should have been twenty one. Missing was U.S. President Barack Obama.

In a statement explaining Obama’s absence, a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Manila said that a schedule conflict prevented the president from attending the opening rites.

The statement said Obama didn’t want to miss seeing the world-famous sunset at Manila Bay, so he stayed in his hotel watching from the balcony (see photo).

”He misses his home state of Hawaii and the Manila Bay sunset reminded him of the equally stunning senset of his native islands,” the statement added.

Well, even presidents are entilted to be homesick.

Economy, Government, International, Travel

(VIDEO) FILIPINOS GREET APEC WORLD LEADERS WITH PEOPLE POWER

November 17, 2015 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles ) – World leaders attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Manila are having a unique historical lesson by experiencing first hand how Filipinos stage a people power revolution, similar to that which ousted dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos. It is a different time, but the same venue: EDSA, Metro Manila’s main, crowded thoroughfare.

The Manila government took over several lanes on EDSA and made it off limits to motorists and pedestrains that are not part of the APEC meeting. The result, as expected, was massive traffic gridlock for Filipino motorists.

Commuters unable to avail of public transportation had to take to the streets and walk for miles on end to and from work. A sea of people can be seen during commute times, mimicking massive street protests which are not uncommon in Metro Manila.

A new people power strategy was born as motorists sounded their horns, shouted and jeered as dignitaries breezed through in their limousines on the opposite side of the barricaded avenues.

Filipinos sure know how to welcome their guests. This time, it wasn’t really a welcome gesture.

Watch video:

Economy, Government, International

PHILIPPINES: NO SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, ONLY BETWEEN FOREIGN VIPs AND FILIPINO MASSES

November 16, 2015 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – If there is one thing that foreign dignitaries and delegates attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Manila this week will learn about the Philippines, it is the fact that in this Catholic nation of 100 Million people, there is no separation of church and state, but there is separation between VIPs and the Filipino masses.

The Catholic Church holds extreme influence over the political, social and personal lives of the Filipinos — enough to oust a dictator, influence who gets voted in elections, and dictate the moral and other values of the population.

But in terms of the rich and the poor, the VIPs and the common people, the haves and the have-nots, there is undeniably a dividing line, and it shows in the streets of Metro Manila, where lanes of major thoroughfares are off limits to non VIPs, and ordinary Filipino citizens have to walk for miles in scorching heat to get to and from work or school while APEC dignitaries breeze through the city streets in their airconditioned BMW and Mercedes Benz limousines.

This truly is an ‘economic’ summit, where world leaders spend days of rhetoric discussing the plight of the haves and the have-nots. Perhaps more of the haves.