Our international embarrassment

“And now I've got to explain the smell that was in there before I went in there. Does that ever happen to you? It's not your fault. You've held your breath, you just wanna get out, and now you open the door and you have to explain, 'Oh! Listen, there's an odor in there and I didn't do it. It's bad.”

—Ellen DeGeneres

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

AREN’T we ashamed?

If graft and corruption have given us international humiliation, garbage problem has given us international embarrassment.

Our dignity as a nation has been compromised and continues to ebb owing to these successive crises.

If our elected officials are not accused of plunder and malversation of public funds, they are derided and mocked for incompetence—especially their failure to repair and maintain our drainage system, or for pocketing billions of funds intended for flood control projects.

Trash piled up and clogged the drainage because some irresponsible residents in the squatter colonies also polluted their surroundings and didn’t observe proper disposal of garbages.  

Although humiliation is worse than embarrassment because it directly attacks our core dignity and leaves a deep, lasting wound, embarrassment makes us objects of derision.

 

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Embarrassment can feel bad because it triggers a painful physical and emotional threat response driven by the fear of social judgment and rejection.

Such is the predicament the Philippines is in today following the spread on the internet of videos and photos recently showing a sea of trash clogged drainage systems in Parañaque City, one of the 16 cities comprising Metro Manila.

Although joint clearing operations have significantly reduced the volume of garbage, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has called the garbage situation critical.

Authorities working in the Baclaran channel reportedly cleared roughly 45 truckloads of waste—totaling 500 tons—over just a few days this month.

Trash continued to pile up overnight due to unpredictable wind currents carrying waste from Manila Bay.

As of this writing, cleanup operations remained continuous as discarded plastics block vital water pumps.

 

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The float heap of garbage, which clogged the Redemptorist Water Channel in Barangay Baclaran, was described by Palace as “truly shocking” even as officials also backed stronger local government penalties for improper disposal by residents and visitors.

Authorities have reported 72 truckloads — about 396.6 metric tons — of waste hauled over three days, with operations continuing using additional equipment including floating backhoes and a trash skimmer, as of August 12, 2026.

Come to think of it: 500 tons of trash is equals 1,000,000 pounds of garbage, which is roughly the weight of 40 to 50 fully loaded municipal garbage trucks.

Exactly 1,000,000 pounds (calculated as 500 tons multiplied by 2,000 pounds per ton). It is about 45 large trucks, if each truck carries an average load of 11 tons.

It is equivalent to one full day of trash generated by a city of about 200,000 people (assuming an average of 5 pounds per person daily).

It actually matches the approximate annual number of debris collected by Baltimore's famous solar-powered trash skimmer, Mr. Trash Wheel, from the harbor each year.

 

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Why must we worry about our garbage problem? To begin with, garbage is dangerous because it spreads severe diseases, pollutes soil and water sources, and releases toxic gases that harm both human health and the environment.

According to studies, piles of trash create breeding grounds for rats, flies, and mosquitoes.

Health experts have warned that these pests carry and spread dangerous diseases like cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and malaria.

Rainwater passing through trash also reportedly creates a polluted liquid called leachate, which carries heavy metals and chemicals into underground water supplies.

Also, plastics and chemicals break down over time, releasing toxins that kill helpful soil microbes and poison plants and crops.

Rotting organic waste inside landfills also reportedly produces methane and carbon dioxide, which drive climate change. Burning garbage in the open releases poisonous chemicals and smoke that cause breathing and lung problems.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

Divert our attention

“I have looked into your eyes with my eyes. I have put my heart near your heart.”

—Pope John XXIII

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

WE need more inspiring and success stories like the Alex Eala phenomenon that recently swept the national imagination to divert our attention from the endless political muckraking and silliness of sycophants who tolerate, protect, abet and endorse bad, terrible and incompetent leaders.

Aside from tennis, there are sports familiar to Filipinos that can produce Alex Ealas and embolden the young athletes to also take the magnificent route traversed by the sensational 21-year-old tennis beauty and brains.

To mention a few: weightlifting, gymnastics, boxing, billiards, pole vaulting, chess where we have produced Olympic if not world champions.

More Alex Ealas and her extraordinary conquests mean less focus on toxic politics and the tedious impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio (of course we must still continue to monitor it from time to time).

 

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Filipinos have been overdosed with politics and divisiveness and there seems to be chaos and tumult each time they scroll down the social and mainstream media items in their gadgets.

As a result, many Filipinos become wound collectors and “victims of life.” We choose not to move on and one of the reasons is that suffering and pain creates sympathy from others.

Alex Eala’s dramatic and sensational performances in the recent Mubadala DC Open in Washington DC and National Bank Open in Toronto gave many mentally and emotionally worn-out Filipinos a chance to heave a sigh of relief and forget politics and economic despair for a while.

Filipino fans are expected to follow the young tennis star’s impressive imperium in the hard, class, grass courts in the succeeding weeks and months to avoid and escape from the sweeping national woundology.

There is no quick fix to all our problems. We have been saddled by natural calamities like storms, floods, tremors, volcanic eruptions these past weeks and we need to draw inspiration from truly heroic Filipinos like Alex Eala who has already brought us enormous pride and international fame aside from uniting us in one fleeting moment.

We need more.

  

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A devastating earthquake that has resulted in the death of at least 130 people and reduced thousands of buildings—old and newly built—to rubble across western Colombia has presented an immediate challenge to Abelardo de la Espriella just as he took office promising drastic spending cuts.

The Bloomberg said the president faces immediate pressure to direct resources to some of the hardest-hit areas, including parts of his own electoral base.

What’s more, according to The Bloomberg, the 7.4 magnitude quake struck Colombia’s coffee region, raising the prospect of wider economic damage.

The disaster could give De la Espriella’s government political cover to retreat from one of his most ambitious campaign pledges: slashing public outlays by 40 percent.

How he funds reconstruction while pursuing those cuts will offer an early indication of how his economic pledges can survive the realities of governing, observed The Bloomberg.

It’s a baptism of fire for the political novice who rode a Trumpist agenda to power. The crisis also complicates De la Espriella’s push to decentralize power.

The first president in recent history to be sworn in outside the capital, he found himself away from the center of government on his first full working day, weighing whether to return to Bogota or travel directly to the affected areas, added The Bloomberg.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

 

US revokes visas of 175,000 foreign nationals, including Pinoy ‘sex fiends’

“There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The boundary between them is not clearly defined.”

―Albert Camus

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

FILIPINO visa holders charged with sexual crimes in the United States were reportedly among the 175,000 foreign nationals whose visas have been revoked by the United States Department of State.

Some of these Filipino visa holders were identified as a male nurse practitioner in Florida, who is facing 47 felony counts including multiple counts of child sexual battery against a victim under age 12 and possession of child sexual abuse material, and a male medical technologist in Maryland.

The Florida nurse was arrested in March 2026 after a month-long investigation, while the medical technologist, who has pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting and conspiring to sex traffic minor children in a Boston federal court, was arrested in May 2025.

The 175,000 foreign nationals who violated the terms of their visas, committed crimes, called for violence against U.S. citizens, defrauded Americans, abused our immigration system, or endangered national security, according to the US Department of State.

The majority of these visas were revoked due to law enforcement encounters for a range of criminal activity, with assault, driving under the influence, theft, and drug crimes being the leading causes.

 

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A significant share of visas was revoked for reckless driving, sexual assault, child abuse, fraud and embezzlement, and other crimes.

The revocations come as a result of the State Department’s continuous vetting operations, which ensure that visa recipients abide by the terms of their visa and do not endanger Americans.

The State Department has revoked visas from criminals who posed a danger to American citizens, endorsed violence against Americans, arranged illegal birth tourism schemes, or engaged in fraud, including:

-A foreign national who was charged with felony rape and sexual battery – including of a victim who was mentally disabled.

-A foreign national charged with felony kidnapping, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation of a minor.

-A foreign national arrested for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest with violence, drunk driving, and domestic violence.

-A U.S. embassy in North Africa revoked over 100 visas for “birth tourist” parents who came to the United States primarily to give birth so their children would get U.S. citizenship.

-A foreign national charged with sodomy of a child and aggravated sexual battery.

-A foreign national charged with over a dozen counts of possessing child sexual abuse material.

-A foreign national was arrested for driving with heroin and a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit.

 

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Multiple foreign nationals who celebrated the assassination of Charlie Kirk, including one who stated, “when fascists die, democrats don’t complain” and another who said he “died too late.”

A foreign national who claimed to operate a legitimate business helping vulnerable patients access healthcare helped orchestrate a massive Medicaid scam – billing for over $5 million of fake services.

A foreign national built a company on lies – faking revenue and fooling investors to swindle millions of dollars from clients. The foreign national used the false claims and forged letters to fraudulently secure a visa.

A foreign national who came to the U.S. to teach young students and was then arrested for sexually assaulting one.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has determined that numerous foreign nationals are deportable on foreign policy grounds, including a Cuban national connected to a Cuban communist regime influence operation, Iranian nationals with connections to the Iranian regime, a Laotian child sex offender pardoned by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and a Kuwaiti national who wished for violence against the President of the United States and called Americans his “enemy.”

Under President Donald Trump and Secretary Rubio’s leadership, the State Department said it will continue to identify, investigate, and revoke the visas of foreign nationals who threaten the safety of the American people.

“A U.S. visa is a privilege, not a right. The Department remains committed to using every tool available to protect our communities from those who abuse it,” the US Department of State declared in a statement.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

 

 

No one is entitled to be ignorant

 “Living is easy with eyes closed.”

―John Lennon

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

WAS it a coincidence?

Shortly after news spread like a prairie fire that the United States government has formally requested the extradition of doomsday soothsayer Apollo Quiboloy, a series of natural calamities unraveled in the Philippines?

Tropical depressions Maymay, Luis, Habagat and magnitude 5.8 struck off western Philippines in Oriental Mindoro and tremor could be felt in Manila, volcanic eruptions. Coincidence, huh?

Of course, only fools will believe Quiboloy’s extradition to the United States will unleash a series of morbid disasters “as a retaliatory punishment from heaven.” It’s like believing hook, line, and sinker every weird idea that comes out of the mouth of Robin Padilla in the impeachment trial.

On the other hand, if we revisit the views of some ancient thinkers such as Plutarch and the Stoics who defended divination and traditional religious practices, we might be misled to believe Quiboloy’s “divine powers.”

Even the famed Seneca the Younger pragmatically argued for using superstitious awe to inspire moral behavior, while most major Western philosophers opposed superstition.

 

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This Greek Platonist philosopher Plutarch (c.46 – c.120 CE) mistrusted pure human reason alone and believed that God gave direct revelations to humans. Like Quiboloy, Plutarch defended popular oracles, prophecy, and traditional religious myths as containers of hidden truth.

Also, the Stoics of Ancient Greece and Rome like Chrysippus argued that divination, omens, and astrology were real. They believed the universe is completely connected, meaning signs of the future can logically exist, a view many critics later dismissed as mere superstition.

Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BCE – 65 CE) knew that ordinary people struggled to follow pure reason to find happiness. To fight human greed and cruelty, he suggested binding people with a "superstitious reverence for virtue" so they would love and protect the good even without deep logical proof.

Seventy-six-year-old Quiboloy once said he stopped the earthquake in Mindanao.

“I said, ‘Earthquake, stop!’ And it did,” the Appointed Son of God boasted. “You have me to thank for because if I didn’t command the earthquake to stop, many of your homes would have been destroyed and you would have died.”

Esquire Magazine reported that stopping earthquakes is not the only miraculous feat Quiboloy claims to have done in the past. He has even defeated Satan.

 

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“Lucifer is your father,” says Quiboloy in a televised segment of his show. “I defeated him here. You couldn’t defeat him because he is your father and he holds you by the neck.”

The Owner of the Universe was answering a comment from a member of a different sect, challenging him to a religious debate.

“Why should I debate with you? I am the Way. You will never go to heaven if you don’t go through me. How could I debate with you when I own your souls?”

“The official coming of the Son of God was on April 13, 2005,” proclaimed Quiboloy to his sea of followers. It was the date when God appointed him “Christ on Earth.”

Being the second coming of Christ on Earth seems to have a lot of perks, too. Quiboloy lives in a holy site he calls Prayer Mountain, a sprawling estate with a five-bedroom mansion, carefully manicured lawns, and super-tight security.

Although people may visit the complex, you have to secure an appointment from Jose Maria College (a school Quiboloy owns) and then pay a maintenance fee of P100.

Martin Luther King Jr once warned: “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

Harlan Ellison added: “You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.”

From Bram Stoker, Dracula: “Oh, my dear, if you only knew how strange is the matter regarding which I am here, it is you who would laugh. I have learned not to think little of any one's belief, no matter how strange it may be. I have tried to keep an open mind, and it is not the ordinary things of life that could close it, but the strange things, the extraordinary things, the things that make one doubt if they be mad or sane.”

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)