80 years of the Republic becoming independent from the United States, which coincides with the 80th Filipino-American Friendship Day and the 250th independence anniversary of the United States.
What followed next was 6 years of madness, humiliation on the domestic and global stage, a botched economy, and a messed-up COVID response.
The wave of populism and far-right nationalism in the Western World and we were in the crossfires of it too. The promise of removing crime and drugs seemed to promising to the masses. Such would ensure the returned of the Marcoses to power.
I was only in my final year of college at this time. No wonder why the following year in 2017, it felt like crap.
The rest day say is history.
The premise is the same: three kids with powers fighting demons and monsters in their respective culture and area.
It's set in 7th Century China, so they would not time the first generation of Korean hunters at the Joseon Dynasty in 1625 (est. since Jinu is mentioned to be 400 years old). Korea at this time was still under the Silla Kingdom.
Nonetheless, I find it interesting about a cartoon set in ancient China that has the premise of three kids fighting demons. Said cartoon predates K-pop Demon Hunters by 20 years!
Note: For those wondering, Shaolin Wuzang is a jointly produced cartoon between a French and Chinese animation studio. It showed in Disney Channel Asia in 2007, while also showing in Jetix, France 3, and CCTV.
The 2000s were full of Asian-themed cartoons or Asian cartoon characters. I think this was because anime is famous and Western cartoon producers wanted Asian characters to shine with their own animation style.
The shows either showed martial arts or traditional Chinese or Japanese culture such as the clothing, the colors, the food, and the family structure.
Let me know if there are other cartoons or characters not listed here.
The most recent thing I can think of is K-pop Demon Hunters bringing more of Korean culture and identity towards Western audience while the upcoming Dreamworks animated films, Forgotten Island, will showcase Filipino culture and identity.
Based on this CRBN demonstration as part of the 129th anniversary of the Philippine Army video.
Reference photos and videos:
USC has been featured in this American content creator's vlog
Naka kita ko ani na Basak Mandaue sa una. At bang ra sa Gaisano. Akong gi taste ilang donuts ug duol ra ang timpla sa Dunkin ug Mister Donut. Although wala nato dido (basin ni balhin) akong gi search sa Facebook, dili ra kaayo ni recent na brand. Mga 2019 pa diay ni.
Originally from Quezon City, but eventually nag expand nation wide. Based on their Happy Haus Donuts Visayas page, naa silays stalls in major transit areas like mga terminals, mga malls or kilid sa Colon-Magallanes area, and even the poblacion area of Moalboal.
Naa silay flavor na wala sa DD ug sa MD: Ube donut and ube dimples (mao tawag sa ilang munchkins).
Mas barato sad ilang donuts kay dili pa sila commercialized kaayo. Ilang franchise fee gani kay 50,000 pesos ra. Feel nako mo increase na if ma sakit na ni samot.
Kinsay naka tilaw ani? Unsay thoights ninyo ani?
I personally like the 2023 version as the best variants because of its unique gas mask piece and an upgraded M81 Woodland printing.
On the other hand, I like how the the 2025 version has different skin tones if you want to diversity your Cold War-era MOCs.
I think I like the 2022 version better. I remember this being my second Brickmania purchase with my very own money earned from my newly-hired job, the first was the Saint Javelin minifigure. I personally like the details of the MultiCam better in the 2022 version than the 2026 version.
What about you guys? What do you think?
I originally posted this on r/NoStupidQuestions but unfortunately, no response was made.
I've been watching a lot of Scammer Payback, Jim Browning, Nano Baiter, and Kitboga videos and I find it hilarious when they troll and expose scammers, even though in the long run, it won't stop the scam. Scammers are like cockroaches. You stop one, multiple more will pop-up elsewhere.
On the other hand, it always got me curious how legal it is to scam the scammers (i.e. fool them to take their money and let them have a taste of their own medicine).
Despite our want for revenge against the scammers, scamming them back or stealing from them is still considered illegal. The law doesn't suddenly give you pass for robbing or stealing from a scammer because "He/she did it first" or "They deserved it" will not pass in court of law.
The most recent Scammer Payback video explains why they can't empty the scammers' wallets and give it back to the victim because it will still count as international theft and money laundering. Sucks, doesn't it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqgcX2SHstQ (Around the 4:07 - 7:27 time stamp)
They have been given blessing by the local authorities and the FBI to conduct their grey-zone operations, but the moment they start moving money around - even if it is to give money back to the victims - they will face legal action.
So that said, that's why scambaiters like those channels I mentioned above use other means including cartoon-style humor to stop scammers.
One video had them hire a local in Pakistan or India to plant rodents in the scam center and it had funny results:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U86Tt3jk00
Another one had them hire a local in Pakistan to throw a large amount of flour that blanketed the scam center office, thus causing the scammers to take up most of the time cleaning their computers and their office:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyA7UE-rCRc
The last funny example is using a classic jump scare video (the iconic German coffee brand K-fee commercial with the zombie jump scare) that terrified scammers as the scam happened. It turns out Indians are superstitious so the scammer really thought a ghost possessed his computer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyA7UE-rCRc
So I it got me thinking, what is the legality of hiring someone to sabotage a scam center? It is not considered as tampering (introduction of rodents), destruction of property (cutting of wires or messing the whole place with flour), or trespassing?
I'm just curious on the legality on disruption tactics used by locals hired by the scambaiter. Though laws in India and Pakistan may be different such as those in the West.
Related to my post on r/CartoonNetwork:
In my place, it's 2009.
That's when most classic Powerhouse and mid-2000s TV shows were taken out in favor of late 2000s shows such as Chowder, Flapjack, and The Secret Saturdays. 2009 was also the year Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends concluded. There was more emphasis on live-action TV shows such as Tricky TV (a British magic trick prank show; apart from CN Philippines, it also showed in CN Taiwan and CN Australia) and Japanese live-action hero series on Toonami such as Kamen Rider and Ryukendo.
The City Era ended on August 31, 2008 in my country, but the network was still airing the classics. I read in some regions like Europe and Latin America, the city era ended around 2010-2011.
Coinciding with how analog TV ended in the U.S. in 2009 with the shift to digital.
Keep in note that this was before 2010s Cartoon Network such as Adventure Time, The Regular Show, and Clarence. Most Zoomers would associated CN with these shows. As such, the same demographic barely have any memory of the Powerhouse and City Era.
I am not sure if you guys agree, but 2009 seems to be the year that Cartoon Network was in limbo. The shift was also so sudden that CN fans in my country immediately became nostalgic for both the Powerhouse and Toon City era. Considering this was in 2009, DVDs for our favorite TV shows were not available (on top of being expensive), YouTube was limited to clips and slideshows, and there was no streaming. It took until 2013-2014 for CN Philippines to at least re-air some classics and again in 2020-2022 during the pandemic era. Sometimes in the regular CN channel, but I mostly watched most in Boomerang.
Video here:
Dumbass tried to scam the NBI Director and failed so badly.
To quote the article:
>According to Matibag, the suspect then told him that he was allegedly working for former Ilocos Sur Gov. Chavit Singson and wanted to provide information about dela Rosa because he supposedly wanted to help, and his child was sick.
Matibag said he sent a certain amount of money to test the suspect, who then requested a bigger amount afterward.
“I said, if your child is sick, we will help, we will send enough money for your expenses… I just tested him, but I was already under suspicion,” he said.
Aside from the incident, the suspect also allegedly used the names of different government officials, such as the members of the House representatives, senators, and even the NBI director, as well as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, to extort money using messaging apps, such as Viber and WhatsApp.
>He added that the NBI was currently looking into how the suspect obtained the government officials’ contact details.
Matibag also said the suspect solicited P10,000 to P500,000 from his victims.
The suspect was arrested by the NBI’s Organized and Transnational Crimes Division in his condo unit in Novaliches, Quezon City, on May 19.
During the arrest, NBI agents retrieved suspected illegal drugs and paraphernalia, which later tested positive for methamphetamine hydrochloride and tetrahydrocannabinol.
The NBI also found that the suspect has an existing warrant for service of sentence for estafa issued by the Municipal Trial Court in Cities in Ilagan, Isabela.
Unlike in Cartoon Network in the U.S., the City Era started in the Philippines on October 1, 2005 and ended on August 31, 2008. We were a year delayed at most due to broadcasting rights or local regulations.
For me, it was the best era of cartoons. I really wished Toon City was real or at least we could have an amusement park replica of this, even if it is just the main street. The bumpers are very memorable.
Even CN Philippines held mall events with Metro Manila during this era.
Toonami was also special here because we had live-action shows such as Power Rangers (Wild Force, Ninja Storm, Dino Thunder, and Space Patrol Delta), the Chouseishin series (Granzazers, Justirisers, and Sazer-X), Kamen Rider, and Ryukendo.
In the summer of 2006, the older seasons of The Simpsons also showed with a PG-15 rating. I read from sources here and on Wikipedia that only CN Philippines is the only Cartoon Network that aired The Simpsons. This was also the time the very first season of Pokemon in English dub aired on Toonami. Before that, Pokemon was only given a Tagalog dub in local channels such as GMA-7 and The Hero Channel.
Around January to April 2008, CN Philippines aired the Jurassic Park trilogy and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial as part of its Friday Premiere Flick that showed on every third Friday of the month. There were other live-action movies and anime movies too. Class of 3000 and Naruto would be one of the last city-era cartoons I would remember.
This is the best era of Cartoon Network in my opinion. Shows were fun, there were unique segments like Miguzi and Halloween specials, and every summer, I would use it catch up with reruns that I failed to watch during class days due to having strict parents who forbade me to watch TV from Monday-Thursday as part of Filipino-style discipline. This was before Netflix streaming, so if you miss a cartoon, you would have to wait for rerun or buy it on DVD.
2008 as a whole seems to be the last good year for cartoon channels in the Philippines. The excitement and hype to it which ended 2007 on a very high note with the TV special of Codename: Kid's Next Door Operation Z.E.R.O. , Operation I.N.T.E.R.V..E.W., and The Grim Adventures of the KND.
This extended to Nickelodeon and Disney Channel. Nickelodeon at this time in 2008 had good TV specials such as Danny Phantom: Phantom Planet and The Fairly Oddbaby. Phineas and Ferb was also a TV phenoma. The summer of 2008 was the time I would constantly change channels because all TV shows were good. I still remember browsing CN's website too with the fun flash games.
The City Era ended here on August 31, 2008. I still remember that day because I was watching TV waking to a change of format for Cartoon Network. I was preparing to attend my classmate's 12th birthday so I didn't pay much attention because even it was no longer the city, the TV shows from the 2000s were still airing.
It was only in 2009 when CN Philippines became crap. They pulled off most of the classic shows that I grew up with during the City Era. The new ones at this time was Flapjack, Chowder, and The Secret Saturdays. Most of it felt stale. The network even aired Tricky TV, a British magic prank show, in the summer of 2009. CN Taiwan and Australia also had this. It was a bit of fever dream seeing it. It's like the British equivalent of Just For Laughs Gags!
Because the network decayed so fast and sudden in 2009, the only thing keeping from watching CN Philippines was Pokemania (two-episode back-to-back reruns of previous Pokemon seasons) and Pokemon itself.
Since Pokemon was super-delayed in the Philippines (as of late 2008-early 2009, we were still in the Hoenn Region while you guys in the States or in Europe was already in the Sinnoh Region), it aired every Mon-Fri starting from Season 1 in 2006 to be able to catch up with the current seasons seen in the U.S. and Canada. It took until 2009 for CN PH to be in sync with the West when it came to airing Pokemon.
2009 seems to be the year CN PH was in limbo. This predated the new CN cartoons such as Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Clarence in which most Zoomers born in the 2000s would usually associate Cartoon Network with.
Even in 2009-2010, those millennials and zillennials wished that the classics and City Era would come back because the change of the shows was felt too sudden.
Thankfully, we now can watch City Era bumpers on YouTube or even our favorite classics on HBO Max. However, there are still couple of lost media out there such as Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi and Class of 3000.
A few months back, I previously posted about the Indoor Jungle/Temple/Cavern aesthetic seen in Legends of the Hidden Temple, Jungle Run, and Crystal Maze.
This resort is Bohol Tropics, located in Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines.
I first stayed in this resort in 2001 as a kid, when Legends of the Hidden Temple and various classic Nick shows were still airing on Nickelodeon.
My family and I go to Bohol quite often and I've stayed in this resort in 2001, 2002, 2008, 2013, 2014, and 2024.
When I visited here in 2008, Nickelodeon had long stopped airing GaS reruns. Seeing this artificial cavern lit up with orange-red flood lights with an artificial waterfall brought memories of the Legends of the Hidden Temple. Even when I came back in 2024 and 2026, it still gives that 90s-early 2000s vibe. It's perfect for night swimming.
Concurrently, the resort utilizes the r/Tropideco aesthetic that is also prevalent during the 1990s and the early 2000s.
Fun-fact: The resort actually only allows this certain pool to be used at night. The main pool at the lower area of the cliff (see pics 6 and 7) can only be used at day.
Notes:
External links:
Speaking as a non-American (Filipino) here.
I still find it hard to believe it has been 6 years since this happened. It doesn't feel all too long, but in reality, it's been past half a decade now.
Because it was smack in the middle of the pandemic and people were locked at home, tired of hearing bad news after bad news, anger exploded so we saw multiple protests in cities across the U.S. in the World. Some of my cousins in the States took part in the social media activism at that time. Filipino-Americans took part in the protests as well.
Here in the Philippines, May 2020 was very bad month. Congress revoked one of the largest media companies franchise license at a time when Filipinos needed it for COVID news. Big-time politicians and officials were caught violating social distancing protocols and never got to face the consequences. By early June, Filipinos were protesting against the Anti-Terror Bill that was passed, wherein one expressing dissent may be arrested and charged for promoting terrorism.
During those protests, some Filipinos took the knee and did the fist sign in support for the protests in the U.S. against what progressives here call as against human rights abuses. These also coincided with the Hong Kong protests regarding China's tightening grip on the former British colony, since Filipinos saw it as similar to the Duterte administration's authoritarianism and disregard of human rights. Here in Cebu, a protest was held in front of the University of the Philippines in which activists chanted or posted #FreeHongKong, #BlackLivesMatter, #JunkTerrorBill. Police arrested 8 protesters and one bystander that just so happened to be there. Thousands of Filipino netizens even put black squares on their Instagram feeds to stand with George Floyd.
This would eventually be one of the early versions of Gen Z protests in Asia which would be widely more known by 2025 such in places like the Philippines, Indonesia, and Nepal that exposed corruption and nepo babies.
At that time, I was just locked at home since the Philippines had one of the strictest lockdowns in Asia, not opening up until July-August 2020. My routine was just doomscrolling on social media, endless hours playing Call of Duty: Warzone, COD Mobile, and PUBG Mobile, Netflix marathons, and watching ghost/horror videos on YouTube from channels like r/NukesTop5 , r/SirSpooks , Slapped Ham, and BizzareBub. During the times of endless gaming, I would chat with some of the random gamers both from the Philippines and abroad of how they see the ongoing protests around the world. One of our discussions even speculated that COVID would not end until 2025. At that time, 2025-2026 felt like light years away. I ironically did not join the Tiktok until 2023, when the pandemic ended. So I never took part in those dance trends.
Of course, these protests and the Trump administration's handling of the COVID crisis and police brutality would be the reasons why he would lose 2020 to Biden. However, even Biden was just a break from Trump before his return to the White House in 2024.
Apart from that, so much has happened between 2020 and 2026. January 6 happened, Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, Russia invaded Ukraine which is still ongoing to this day, the son of Ferdinand Marcos returned the Marcos family to the top leadership of the Philippines, the pandemic ended in 2023, Israel-Gaza War, former President Duterte being arrested and sent to face trial in The Hague in March 2025, the strikes in Iran in June 2025 followed by the actual Iran War in February 2026, the U.S. toppling Maduro in Venezuela when the year just started, and the Artemis II mission.
I'm personally still at a disbelief how 6 years came by so fast. I guess majority of everyone's perception of time has been messed up by COVID as per this study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2023.
I'd like to hear your stories of what you did at those times and how do you feel about it look back now.
Good afternoon r/Cebu, thinking of a business idea. Silogan is a good business if near a school or areas of commute. I don't have good cooking skills so prefer nako mag franchise if mga silogan.
Currently, I am eying for Silogan ni Gian, but if dili na sila mo sugot (kay I read an old istorya post from 2014 na family exclusive business ra na), mangutana ko unsay alternate na silogan pwede ma franchise ug pila sad?
Salamat!
Nag drive around mi with my family and pag abot namo sa Blood Compact monument tapad sa Ocean Suites, nawala na lagi. Gi pulihan ug "I Love Tagbilaran".
Dili ko taga Bohol so I probably missed any news or announcements of its removal.
I still remember na over a decade ago (2015), we almost missed the Blood Compact monument kay gi tuparan atong Ocean Suites. Para lng nako, sayop jud to tuparan ug hotel kay dili na mo stand out ang monument.
Nag field trip mi sa Bohol pag 2008 pag Grade 5 nako and I remember nindot pa kaayo to ang Blood Compact kay hawan ug claro kaayo ang view of the sea.
Unfortunately, cannot post images under certain flairs.
"La la boogie mi galado. Ovah! Smak dat, ol on the plor! Smak dat! Amissmo" Gaslight pa more, #bossbabe or #girlboss
Daghan kaayo to sila ug kwarta na kuha before na expose sila ni mrwn. Possibly naka living the life for a year.
Kamusta na kaha to sila karon?
Edit: BTW ang front business ato kay BMJ Data Processing Services didto sa The Gallery sa Mabolo. Taas sa Envy na bar.
Interesting case from the Dutch TV show Kees van der Spek Ontmaskert, a well-known detective/anti-scam program in the Netherlands.
In the latest episode, they tracked down a Filipina scammer who pretended to be an American film producer named “Andrea Parker”. An 86-year-old Dutch woman reportedly lost around ₱2.8 million after being promised her book would be republished and turned into a movie.
The show claims the woman was living in a newly built house allegedly paid for with scam money. When confronted on camera by Dutch investigator Kees van der Spek, she eventually admitted she was behind the fake account.
The elderly victim reportedly lost more than ₱20 million total through multiple online scams over the years and is now struggling financially.
What makes it even crazier is that she will likely not be arrested, because according to the program there is no official police report/filed case from the elderly victim herself.
YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v9YPsSDF2Y
Link: https://www.rtl.nl/boulevard/artikel/5602789/tante-van-susanne-jarenlang-opgelicht-kees-van-der-spek-ontmaskert