Pastilan! Living the dog-eat-dog world of a Global Pinoy!

Thai food binge

2011-04-29T11:43:00.001-07:00

Just eating with co workers.

Pinay nurse’s death in California jail highlights safety issues - Yahoo! Philippines News

2010-11-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

Pinay nurse’s death in California jail highlights safety issues - Yahoo! Philippines News:

"The recent death of a Filipina nurse detailed to a California jail has raised concerns over the “disturbing trend of violence' faced by medical care professionals in potentially violent workplaces. On Oct. 28, registered nurse Cynthia Palomata, 55, succumbed to the head injuries she sustained after she was attacked by an inmate at the Martinez county jail, where she had been assigned since 2005."

A report by the Asian Journal, a US-based news website for the Filipino community, identified the suspect as Aaron Nygaard, in jail for burglary. According to the report, Nygaard faked a seizure attack to get out of the waiting room, then, without provocation, he hit Palomata on the head with a table lamp. The nurse was brought to John Muir Medical Center, where she underwent surgery for swelling in the brain due to blood clot. On Oct. 28, however, Palomata was taken off life support and declared dead. The suspect will be charged with murder, the report said. Palomata, a native of Nabas town in Aklan, had been working for the Contra Costa Health Services in California for over 20 years. She left behind a husband and a grown son. "The suddenness of the incident left us, her family, in shock. She was unaware that when she left home that day, she would never see her family again. We miss her terribly," Palomata’s brother Cyril Barraca Jr. was quoted as saying in the Asian Journal report. Dr. William Walker, director of Contra Costa Health Services, said in a statement that they will continue to evaluate safety procedures in coordination with the Sheriff’s Office. ‘Disturbing trend of violence’ Following Palomata’s death, the California Nurses’ Association (CNA) raised concerns about the safety of nurses assigned to potentially dangerous facilities. In a statement, the CNA called for policy reforms to curb what it called a “disturbing trend of violence" in facilities where medical care is provided. “Workplace violence is a major public health concern that has grown substantially in the past decade," the CNA said. It cited data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that the healthcare industry registered the highest incidence of workplace violence among all industrial sectors, being responsible for 45 percent of the two million incidents of workplace violence incidents that have occurred annually in the US between 1993 and 1999.

An Emergency Nurses Association survey released in 2009 also showed that more than 50 percent of emergency room nurses had experienced violence from patients and more than one-fourth had experienced 20 or more violent incidents in the past three years. Citing research, the CNA also said that factors such as long wait times, a shortage of nurses, drug and alcohol use by patients, and treatment of psychiatric patients all contributed to violence in the ER. “We can no longer tolerate inadequate security measures which threaten not only RNs and other staff, but also put families and other patients at risk," said CNA president emeritus Kay McVay. “Violence takes a significant toll. Prevention is essential to creating a safe and therapeutic environment for patients and a safer workplace for healthcare workers," she said. She also said that preventive measures were needed to reduce the loss of experienced staff members, who leave because of assaults and threats of violence. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration define workplace violence as any physical assault, threatening behavior, or verbal abuse occurring in the workplace. Part of the job In a separate interview, Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) president Dr. Teresita Barcelo said the violence that nurses face, even in the Philippines, is “real" — and this is why preventive mechanisms need to be instituted even as early as when prospective nurses are still studying for their college degrees. “Violence is one of our job hazards. We know that. That’s why kami na ang nag-iingat, because these people (patients in potentially violent worksites) cannot be relied upon," Barcelo said. Barcelo said the nursing curriculum includes a course on psychiatric nursing, where students are taught how to develop a “therapeutic relationship" with their patients. Barcelo admitted that certain incidents of violence — such as that experienced by Palomata — cannot be expected and are difficult to prevent. Even so, she added, developing this kind of relationship with patients may significantly reduce the occurrence of violent acts. But even outside these facilities, nurses, particularly in the Philippines and in some countries in the Middle East, become the subject of crimes, according to Barcelo. She cited the case of Florence (not her real name), a volunteer nurse in South Upi town in Maguindanao who was reportedly gang-raped on September 27. (See: Report: Maguindanao gang-raped nurse undergoes surgery) “It is important that part of the orientation in the hospitals and other facilities should be to inform medical professionals of the possible dangers of working there. This should be part of the protocol of hospitals," Barcelo explained. Nursing: popular because lucrative? In the last five years, some 82,000 nurses have indicated their desire to work in the US by taking the National Council Licensure Examination, the licensure exam for nurses in the US. The Department of Health said a big surge of nurses working overseas started in 1994, when some 100,000 nurses left the country. From 2000 to 2009, about 120,000 more were deployed abroad. In light of increased opportunities for overseas work, nursing remains a popular course for college students, with over 600,000 students taking it in 400 nursing schools in 2007, according to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines. Records from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration meanwhile show 13,000 newly hired Filipino nurses were deployed overseas in 2009, making it a top occupational category for OFWs, second only to household service work.—DM/JV, GMANews.TV

Don't work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.

2010-11-05T05:48:00.000-07:00

-----
Written by Adrian Tan, author of The Teenage Textbook (1988), was the guest-of-honour at a recent NTU convocation ceremony. This was his speech to the graduating class of 2008.
-----

I must say thank you to the faculty and staff of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information for inviting me to give your convocation address. It’s a wonderful honour and a privilege for me to speak here for ten minutes without fear of contradiction, defamation or retaliation. I say this as a Singaporean and more so as a husband.

My wife is a wonderful person and perfect in every way except one. She is the editor of a magazine. She corrects people for a living. She has honed her expert skills over a quarter of a century, mostly by practising at home during conversations between her and me.

On the other hand, I am a litigator. Essentially, I spend my day telling people how wrong they are. I make my living being disagreeable.

Nevertheless, there is perfect harmony in our matrimonial home. That is because when an editor and a litigator have an argument, the one who triumphs is always the wife.

And so I want to start by giving one piece of advice to the men: when you’ve already won her heart, you don’t need to win every argument.

Marriage is considered one milestone of life. Some of you may already be married. Some of you may never be married. Some of you will be married. Some of you will enjoy the experience so much, you will be married many, many times. Good for you.

The next big milestone in your life is today: your graduation. The end of education. You’re done learning.

You’ve probably been told the big lie that “Learning is a lifelong process” and that therefore you will continue studying and taking masters’ degrees and doctorates and professorships and so on. You know the sort of people who tell you that? Teachers. Don’t you think there is some measure of conflict of interest? They are in the business of learning, after all. Where would they be without you? They need you to be repeat customers.

The good news is that they’re wrong.

The bad news is that you don’t need further education because your entire life is over. It is gone. That may come as a shock to some of you. You’re in your teens or early twenties. People may tell you that you will live to be 70, 80, 90 years old. That is your life expectancy.

I love that term: life expectancy. We all understand the term to mean the average life span of a group of people. But I’m here to talk about a bigger idea, which is what you expect from your life.

You may be very happy to know that Singapore is currently ranked as the country with the third highest life expectancy. We are behind Andorra and Japan, and tied with San Marino. It seems quite clear why people in those countries, and ours, live so long. We share one thing in common: our football teams are all hopeless. There’s very little danger of any of our citizens having their pulses raised by watching us play in the World Cup. Spectators are more likely to be lulled into a gentle and restful nap.

Singaporeans have a life expectancy of 81.8 years. Singapore men live to an average of 79.21 years, while Singapore women live more than five years longer, probably to take into account the additional time they need to spend in the bathroom.

So here you are, in your twenties, thinking that you’ll have another 40 years to go. Four decades in which to live long and prosper.

Bad news. Read the papers. There are people dropping dead when they’re 50, 40, 30 years old. Or quite possibly just after finishing their convocation. They would be very disappointed that they didn’t meet their life expectancy.

I’m here to tell you this. Forget about your life expectancy.

After all, it’s calculated based on an average. And you never, ever want to expect being average.

Revisit those expectations. You might be looking forward to working, falling in love, marrying, raising a family. You are told that, as graduates, you should expect to find a job paying so much, where your hours are so much, where your responsibilities are so much.

That is what is expected of you. And if you live up to it, it will be an awful waste.

If you expect that, you will be limiting yourself. You will be living your life according to boundaries set by average people. I have nothing against average people. But no one should aspire to be them. And you don’t need years of education by the best minds in Singapore to prepare you to be average.

What you should prepare for is mess. Life’s a mess. You are not entitled to expect anything from it. Life is not fair. Everything does not balance out in the end. Life happens, and you have no control over it. Good and bad things happen to you day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Your degree is a poor armour against fate.

Don’t expect anything. Erase all life expectancies. Just live. Your life is over as of today. At this point in time, you have grown as tall as you will ever be, you are physically the fittest you will ever be in your entire life and you are probably looking the best that you will ever look. This is as good as it gets. It is all downhill from here. Or up. No one knows.

What does this mean for you? It is good that your life is over.

Since your life is over, you are free. Let me tell you the many wonderful things that you can do when you are free.

The most important is this: do not work.

Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable.

Work kills. The Japanese have a term “Karoshi”, which means death from overwork. That’s the most dramatic form of how work can kill. But it can also kill you in more subtle ways. If you work, then day by day, bit by bit, your soul is chipped away, disintegrating until there’s nothing left. A rock has been ground into sand and dust.

There’s a common misconception that work is necessary. You will meet people working at miserable jobs. They tell you they are “making a living”. No, they’re not. They’re dying, frittering away their fast-extinguishing lives doing things which are, at best, meaningless and, at worst, harmful.

People will tell you that work ennobles you, that work lends you a certain dignity. Work makes you free. The slogan “Arbeit macht frei” was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps. Utter nonsense.

Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that you can spend the small remainder sliver of your life in modest comfort. You may never reach that end anyway.

Resist the temptation to get a job. Instead, play. Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again. You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often. Soon, that will have value in itself.

I like arguing, and I love language. So, I became a litigator. I enjoy it and I would do it for free. If I didn’t do that, I would’ve been in some other type of work that still involved writing fiction – probably a sports journalist.

So what should you do? You will find your own niche. I don’t imagine you will need to look very hard. By this time in your life, you will have a very good idea of what you will want to do. In fact, I’ll go further and say the ideal situation would be that you will not be able to stop yourself pursuing your passions. By this time you should know what your obsessions are. If you enjoy showing off your knowledge and feeling superior, you might become a teacher.

Find that pursuit that will energise you, consume you, become an obsession. Each day, you must rise with a restless enthusiasm. If you don’t, you are working.

Most of you will end up in activities which involve communication. To those of you I have a second message: be wary of the truth. I’m not asking you to speak it, or write it, for there are times when it is dangerous or impossible to do those things. The truth has a great capacity to offend and injure, and you will find that the closer you are to someone, the more care you must take to disguise or even conceal the truth. Often, there is great virtue in being evasive, or equivocating. There is also great skill. Any child can blurt out the truth, without thought to the consequences. It takes great maturity to appreciate the value of silence.

In order to be wary of the truth, you must first know it. That requires great frankness to yourself. Never fool the person in the mirror.

I have told you that your life is over, that you should not work, and that you should avoid telling the truth. I now say this to you: be hated.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. Do you know anyone who hates you? Yet every great figure who has contributed to the human race has been hated, not just by one person, but often by a great many. That hatred is so strong it has caused those great figures to be shunned, abused, murdered and in one famous instance, nailed to a cross.

One does not have to be evil to be hated. In fact, it’s often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one’s own convictions. It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions. Then one will gravitate towards the centre and settle into the average. That cannot be your role. There are a great many bad people in the world, and if you are not offending them, you must be bad yourself. Popularity is a sure sign that you are doing something wrong.

The other side of the coin is this: fall in love.

I didn’t say “be loved”. That requires too much compromise. If one changes one’s looks, personality and values, one can be loved by anyone.

Rather, I exhort you to love another human being. It may seem odd for me to tell you this. You may expect it to happen naturally, without deliberation. That is false. Modern society is anti-love. We’ve taken a microscope to everyone to bring out their flaws and shortcomings. It far easier to find a reason not to love someone, than otherwise. Rejection requires only one reason. Love requires complete acceptance. It is hard work – the only kind of work that I find palatable.

Loving someone has great benefits. There is admiration, learning, attraction and something which, for the want of a better word, we call happiness. In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way. We learn the truth worthlessness of material things. We celebrate being human. Loving is good for the soul.

Loving someone is therefore very important, and it is also important to choose the right person. Despite popular culture, love doesn’t happen by chance, at first sight, across a crowded dance floor. It grows slowly, sinking roots first before branching and blossoming. It is not a silly weed, but a mighty tree that weathers every storm.
You will find, that when you have someone to love, that the face is less important than the brain, and the body is less important than the heart.

You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated. You are not doing it to be loved back. Its value is to inspire you.

Finally, you will find that there is no half-measure when it comes to loving someone. You either don’t, or you do with every cell in your body, completely and utterly, without reservation or apology. It consumes you, and you are reborn, all the better for it.

Don’t work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.

Japan's young men seek a new path

2010-11-05T03:19:00.000-07:00

Interesting news about the trend of young men in Japan. Hahahahaha, check it out!

Japan's young men seek a new path: "By Chico Harlan

Washington Post Foreign Service

Sunday, October 24, 2010; 10:35 PM

TOKYO - Something is happening to Japan's young men. Compared with the generation that came before, they are less optimistic, less ambitious and less willing to take risks."

They are less likely to own a car, want a car, or drive fast if they get a car. They are less likely to pursue sex on the first date - or the third. They are, in general, less likely to spend money. They are more likely to spend money on cosmetics.

Japan's young men mystify their girlfriends and their bosses. They confound the advertisers who aim products at them. They've been scrutinized and categorized by social commentators, marketing consultants and the government. And they unnerve just about everybody who makes long-term projections about Japan's flagging birthrate and fading economy. Japan will grow or falter, economists and sociologists say, upon the shoulders of these mild, frugal, sweet-mannered men.

To hear the analysts who study them tell it, Japanese men ages 20 to 34 are staging the most curious of rebellions, rejecting the 70-hour workweeks and purchase-for-status ethos that typified the 1980s economic boom. As the latest class of college graduates struggles to find jobs, a growing number of experts are detecting a problem even broader than unemployment: They see a generation of men who don't know what they want.

Japan earned its fortune a generation ago through the power of office warriors, the so-called salarymen who devoted their careers to one company. They wore dark suits; they joined for rowdy after-hours booze fests with co-workers; they often saw little of their families. These are the fathers of Japan's young men.

But among business leaders and officials, there is a growing understanding that the earlier work-for-fulfillment pattern has broken down. The economy's roar turned into a yawn. Concern about Japan's future replaced giddy national pride. As a result, this generation has lost "the willingness to sacrifice for the company," said Jeff Kingston, author of the recently published book "Contemporary Japan."

Kingston added: "And now as Japan begins to unravel in a sense, young people realize that the previous paradigm doesn't work. But they aren't sure what comes next. They've seen what amounts to a betrayal in Japan."

2010 AHA Guidelines: The ABCs of CPR Rearranged to "CAB"

2010-10-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

Emma Hitt, PhD

October 20, 2010 — Chest compressions should be the first step in addressing cardiac arrest. Therefore, the American Heart Association (AHA) now recommends that the A-B-Cs (Airway-Breathing-Compressions) of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) be changed to C-A-B (Compressions-Airway-Breathing)."

The changes were documented in the 2010 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care, published in the November 2 supplemental issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, and represent an update to previous guidelines issued in 2005.

"The 2010 AHA Guidelines for CPR and ECC [Emergency Cardiovascular Care] are based on the most current and comprehensive review of resuscitation literature ever published," note the authors in the executive summary. The new research includes information from "356 resuscitation experts from 29 countries who reviewed, analyzed, evaluated, debated, and discussed research and hypotheses through in-person meetings, teleconferences, and online sessions ('webinars') during the 36-month period before the 2010 Consensus Conference."

According to the AHA, chest compressions should be started immediately on anyone who is unresponsive and is not breathing normally. Oxygen will be present in the lungs and bloodstream within the first few minutes, so initiating chest compressions first will facilitate distribution of that oxygen into the brain and heart sooner. Previously, starting with "A" (airway) rather than "C" (compressions) caused significant delays of approximately 30 seconds.

"For more than 40 years, CPR training has emphasized the ABCs of CPR, which instructed people to open a victim's airway by tilting their head back, pinching the nose and breathing into the victim's mouth, and only then giving chest compressions," noted Michael R. Sayre, MD, coauthor and chairman of the AHA's Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee, in an AHA written release. "This approach was causing significant delays in starting chest compressions, which are essential for keeping oxygen-rich blood circulating through the body," he added.

The new guidelines also recommend that during CPR, rescuers increase the speed of chest compressions to a rate of at least 100 times a minute. In addition, compressions should be made more deeply into the chest, to a depth of at least 2 inches in adults and children and 1.5 inches in infants.

Persons performing CPR should also avoid leaning on the chest so that it can return to its starting position, and compression should be continued as long as possible without the use of excessive ventilation.

9-1-1 centers are now directed to deliver instructions assertively so that chest compressions can be started when cardiac arrest is suspected.

The new guidelines also recommend more strongly that dispatchers instruct untrained lay rescuers to provide Hands-Only CPR (chest compression only) for adults who are unresponsive, with no breathing or no normal breathing.

Other Key Recommendations

Other key recommendations for healthcare professionals performing CPR include the following:
Effective teamwork techniques should be learned and practiced regularly.
Quantitative waveform capnography, used to measure carbon dioxide output, should be used to confirm intubation and monitor CPR quality.
Therapeutic hypothermia should be part of an overall interdisciplinary system of care after resuscitation from cardiac arrest.
Atropine is no longer recommended for routine use in managing and treating pulseless electrical activity or asystole.

Pediatric advanced life support guidelines emphasize organizing care around 2-minute periods of continuous CPR. The new guidelines also discuss resuscitation of infants and children with various congenital heart diseases and pulmonary hypertension.

The authors of the guidelines have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Circulation. 2010;122[suppl 3]:S640-S656.

Pinoy expat bloggers to launch 2 OFW social service groups | ABS-CBN News | Latest Philippine Headlines, Breaking News, Video, Analysis, Features

2010-10-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

Pinoy expat bloggers to launch 2 OFW social service groups | ABS-CBN News | Latest Philippine Headlines, Breaking News, Video, Analysis, Features: "MANILA, Philippines – Two action-oriented groups aimed at delivering social services to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will be launched in December.

Pinoy Expats OFW Blog Awards Inc. (PEBA), an alliance of international Filipino bloggers, announced the launching of its New Media Network Group and OFW Alliance Action Group.

“The PEBA New Media Network Group will post news events and stories through video blogs and articles that are relevant to the lives of Filipino migrant workers,” said Program Director Felix Jigs Segre, PEBA’s head of Public Relations and Media Affairs."

Juana Change - PEBA

2010-10-22T20:39:00.000-07:00

Lawmakers scramble for P21-B dole - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

2010-10-20T03:38:00.000-07:00

Lawmakers scramble for P21-B dole

By Leila B. Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:43:00 10/18/2010

Filed Under: Politics, State Budget & Taxes, Government Aid,Congress

MANILA, Philippines—After failing to block the expansion of the conditional cash-transfer (CCT) program, a number of lawmakers now want its P21-billion budget, described by the House minority leader as a “partisan war chest,” realigned to their favorite projects.

So a small group of members of the House of Representatives tasked with fine-tuning the budget for 2011 before its passage on final reading can expect to be bombarded with proposals to rechannel funding for the cash-transfer program to other projects.

Critics of the CCT budget still plan to submit their suggestions on how the P21 billion (up from P10 billion this year) could be better used, despite the fund remaining intact when the P1.645-trillion budget was passed on second reading in the House early on Saturday.

The small committee of lawmakers is expected to meet during the congressional break, which began over the weekend and would last until early November.

The group would be receiving committee and individual amendments, and would either reject or incorporate these into the final version of the budget that the House would pass.

Gabriela Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan, one of the militant lawmakers who circulated a manifesto opposing the CCT program for being a costly dole, said she and her party-list colleagues would submit their specific proposals to realign the P21 billion.

“Our proposal would be more specific now because we would be putting the actual amounts on the table,” Ilagan said.

She said she wanted to realign part of the CCT funds to boost the budget of state universities and colleges.

Other suggestions that have cropped up include using the funds to restore the budget of the National Food Authority to the 2010 level to allow it to buy more rice from farmers, to build farm-to-market roads and to provide for the electrification of far-flung barangays.

House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman proposed that the CCT budget be reduced to P6 billion, which he said would be enough for the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to service 1.5 million households, which he considered a more reasonable target.

Lagman said the Aquino administration’s plan to provide cash incentives to 2.3 million families next year was “overly ambitious” anyway and beyond what the DSWD could handle.

Under the CCT program, beneficiaries are supposed to ensure their children’s attendance in school and send mothers to health centers for regular checkups.

Lagman also criticized the administration for pushing for the retention of its P21-billion CCT allocation, which he describes as a “partisan war chest.”

He said the President should have left Congress alone to do its job.

“The repeated intransigent demands of President Aquino of having the CCT appropriation approved intact reveal a motive to preserve a partisan war chest even as he derogates the constitutional power of the Congress to independently appropriate public funds,” Lagman said.

The CCT has proved to be the most contentious point in the two-week budget deliberations, with debates and questions on the project taking up three days.

Ex-President and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who started the CCT program, was a vocal critic of the project’s expansion, saying there were not enough classrooms and birthing facilities to accommodate the beneficiaries.

Arroyo said that the expanded CCT program was ambitious and untimely, and that it was irresponsible to allocate such a big amount for a project that was not yet fully prepared.

San Beda reclaims NCAA title, completes 18-game sweep | ABS-CBN News | Latest Philippine Headlines, Breaking News, Video, Analysis, Features

2010-10-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

"San Beda reclaims NCAA title, completes 18-game sweep

abs-cbnNEWS.com
Posted at 10/15/2010 6:04 PM | Updated as of 10/15/2010 7:31 PM

MANILA, Philippines – The San Beda Red Lions have reclaimed the NCAA men’s basketball crown with an 85-70 beating of erstwhile champions San Sebastian Golden Stags in Game 2 of their finals series on Friday."

San Beda’s hard court victory also marked the team’s historic 18-game sweep in the league’s 86th season.
Sudan Daniel, already picked as this year’s NCAA Most Valuable Player, was also named Finals MVP as the team’s main component on their defense.

San Beda mentor, Frankie Lim, was hailed as NCAA Coach of the Year.
The Lions opened the game with a 16-11 exchange before San Sebastian’s scoring assault, capped by Leo Narjorda’s tip in the final minute of the first quarter, allowed the Stags to catch up, 17-16.

The Lions recovered on Rome de la Rosa’s free-throw shooting and Antonio Caram’s surprise basket off a steal to finish the first frame with a 3-point lead, 20-17.

The Lions upped the tempo in the second quarter to pull away from the Stags. They had a scorching 10-0 run to put the scores at 30-17, holding the Stags scoreless for almost 5 minutes.

It was Gilbert Bulawan, who stopped the bleeding for the Stags with a jump hook at 5:14 in the second quarter and bring the scores to 30-19. The Lions continued their scoring rampage and extended their lead to 16 points at the half, 43-27, in the face of the Stags' listless defense.

The next two quarters saw the Stags struggling mightily to cut down the lead but the Lions were just too overpowering on the offensive end.

San Beda’s title win followed that of their junior counterparts as the Red Cubs drubbed the San Sebastian Staglets with a 95-84 win in Game 2 to win the NCAA juniors basketball title.

San Beda's Baser Amer led the Cubs with 25 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists to cap their best-of-3 series with San Sebastian.

Manila Times: The country’s bright young minds come together for the Philippines

2010-10-14T23:54:00.000-07:00

The country’s bright young minds come together for the Philippines
BY KARLA ANGELICA G. PASTORES EDITORIAL CONSULTANT

We call them the hope of our country, the future of our nation. But are the Filipino youth today ready to tackle the diverse and overwhelming issues of our country?That seems to be the case, if one hundred outstanding youth leaders are to be our standard. In a simple ceremony, 48 young Filipino champions gathered together as the World Bank and the Ateneo de Manila University School of Government (ASoG) launched their Youth Leaders for Knowledge and Development (YLKD) program on September 9 at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City as part of their ongoing partnership for Philippine development.

Approximately 100 students and young professionals were chosen to take part in this yearlong program that will see them meeting and interacting with our country’s leaders in different fields, learning from each other, and bridging talents for development.

“We wanted young leaders to develop their skills early on to benefit our country today and in the near future,” Harvey Keh, director of the Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship program of ASoG, says.
“We also realized the value of networking to be able to accomplish more with more assistance.”

“We made sure to get participants from different backgrounds so they can really learn from each other,” Cristyl Senajon, program assistant for ASoG, says.

Queen Caranto, an editor and young professional, was happy to discover that the group was composed of diverse individuals. “We have all sorts of professions and degrees but what is common is that we are all driven to a selfless goal for our country. It’s inspiring to hear their own ideas and know about their busy and dedicated lives.”

Changemakers
The World Bank and ASoG first broached the idea for a youth leaders program after their successful knowledge-sharing event “Panibagong Paraan” was launched late last year. Government officials and civil society leaders shared ideas and areas for application to help make good governance work for the poor.

This year, the two institutions decided to continue their partnership, extending their work to include the youth. Both the World Bank and ASoG realized that there remains a need to mainstream young people in discussions on knowledge on development, the youth being major stakeholders in the country’s future.

“The World Bank recognizes the capacity of young people to become great leaders some day,” Vincent Abrigo of the World Bank says. “This program is envisioned to be one of the many platforms where these future leaders can have a chance to talk with each other on matters of development that also confronts us as a nation. We believe that their opinion matters and what they think can be better solutions to improving the lives of their fellow Filipinos.”

“The youth have the idealism, the energy, and the drive to help create positive change in our country,” Keh further states.

Thus, the YLKD program was born. Students and young professionals answered the call of the World Bank and ASoG for leaders to participate in the program. Applications came in from as far as the University of Cordilleras in the Cordillera Administrative Region to Ateneo de Davao University in Mindanao.

“I applied for the YLKD program because it is a rare opportunity where young people who wish to make a good impact to society get to meet like-minded fellows as well as more established leaders,” Caranto says.
“It is the arena where hopeful changemakers can all pitch in and help one another achieve their aspirations for our country. Being a part of it is very promising.”

Darren Gonzales, a student from Araullo University in Nueva Ecija, believes that there is still hope for the Philippines in the youth. “I want to share what I have to my fellow changemakers.”

“Stephen Covey’s book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People compels us to ‘sharpen the saw’ as a seventh habit,” Aksyon Kabataan National President Leon Flores thinks. “YLKD aids me in living out this habit. Joining [the program] is my way of taking advantage of an opportunity to learn fresh ideas, appreciate diverse perspectives and meet new partners for change.”

These young people will be part of the YLKD program for one year. Each month, they will get exclusive invitations to coffee sessions with Filipino experts on governance, business, environment, civil society and other fields. Provincial participants will also get to interact with the speakers via videoconference.

First event
On September 9, half of the participants, mostly Metro Manila-based students and young professionals, met each other for the first time in an intimate cocktails ceremony to formally open the program.

World Bank Governance Specialist Matthew Stephens gave the opening remarks for the event, presenting some challenges and opportunities that await young leaders. According to him, development remains a big challenge for the country because of corruption and this is where good leadership is crucial. “At the heart of good governance is good leadership. The role that the youth play in society now can be absolutely fundamental to leadership in the future,” Stephens had said.

“It’s like attending Ramon Magsaysay Awardees’ lectures for one year,” Matthew Chua, an architecture graduate, commented.

Former Gov. Grace Padaca of Isabela, a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Government Service, was the guest speaker for the event, encouraging the participants to harness their power for the good of the country.

“[I call] on you to continue your efforts to study and understand what is happening in our country . . . I ask you, therefore, to care more, to get more involved especially in the task of enlightening our fellow Filipinos in your own spheres of influence and even beyond,” Padaca appealed to the youth in her speech. Padaca was the first speaker to address the participants, albeit in a more formal manner.

“We will invite more Filipino leaders to share their expertise and offer advice to our participants,” Senajon says. “Discussions will be more intimate where participants can really interact with the speakers.”
Flores shares his expectations. “[I look forward to] Competent and credible resource speakers, one glorious epiphany after another.”

The dialogues will also be an opportunity for older leaders to learn from the idealism and innovation of the youth. The sessions will be less of a forum or seminar type than a conversation among present and future leaders. Caranto adds, “I expect to meet a lot of wiser, more influential, and inspiring leaders to whom we can share our own ideas of good governance. I hope this will give us youth leaders a chance to convey useful ideas to veteran leaders who can help turn them into reality.”

Excitement and expectations
Elise Veloso, a member of the De La Salle University Student Council applied for the program after learning about it through her school. “I expected it to be very serious and academic in nature, but after the first meeting, my expectations has shifted,” she says. “I now expect that YLKD could be a good venue for exchanging ideas with a very diversified group and opening opportunities for us in a relaxed and conducive environment.”

“I expect realistic and practical approaches on how we can deal with the pressing problems and issues of the Philippines,” Gonzales shares. “I wish the program will teach us to take small steps yet can create significant changes and impact our own respective communities.”

The program aims to build further awareness among the youth about national and local issues. “How can they help share knowledge and ideas on development if they don’t know what the problems are?” Keh says.

Indeed, many of YLKD’s participants believe that the program will teach them the various issues of our country’s society, economy and more, as well as the ways that the youth can take part in the solution.

“I’m looking forward to be inspired more, to be more aware of the different problems of our society, to learn effective ways on how to deal with those problems, and to create a network with my fellow young leaders in order for us to do a project that is much wider in terms of scale and the difference that it can contribute to the society,” Chua says.

Today’s youth
Asked what they thought are the issues that Filipino youth are concerned with the most, the participants gave varied responses, a reflection of their diversity and their personal advocacies.

Flores believes that family still plays a huge role in the lives of Filipino youth. “We have to bridge the understanding or gap that the public sphere within which they evolve in impacts them and their families directly,” he says.

For Veloso, governance is only one among several issues that the youth today care for. “I can see that youth leaders today are learning to become more critical thinkers,” she believes.

Among the top issues given by the participants were education and employment, underscoring the root problem of poverty in the country. Because of the widespread poverty incidence in the country, education and employment remains two of the biggest national issues that the government needs to address. And the Filipino youth are starting to feel the effects, leading to either apathy or a passion to change things.

“Basically the Filipino youth care most about themselves and the achievements [in] education, career and ambition that they can get for themselves,” Chua states. “We cannot blame them for having this kind of mentality because it’s just a product of what they’ve learned from the environment that surrounds them and the traditional mindset being ‘programmed’ in them.”

He thinks that a lack of opportunities contributes to this kind of mindset of many young people. “It’s a sad thing because not all youth are given the chance to be exposed to the deeper kind of awareness for them to be actively involved in nation-building activities.” Given the right exposure and opportunity, the youth can be a force to reckon with when it comes to rebuilding our nation’s foundation.

Flores adds, “They said we are a generation wallowing in apathy and indifference. Through the power of text, we removed a corrupt president in Edsa 2. By being connected online, we connected with our unfortunate brothers and sisters displaced by [typhoons] Ondoy and Pepeng through [volunteer] relief operations. Heck, we came in droves!” he enumerates. “We have it innate in us to make a difference and be heroes in our own little ways and when the circumstance so warrants. We just have to demonstrate EDSA 2 bravery and Ondoy heroism on a day-to-day basis.”

With young leaders like the YLKD’s youth participants, we are sure to have something to look forward to in the near future. They may be young and inexperienced in the ways of the world, but the experience that they do have already allows them the right to engage older and wiser leaders and work with them to build a better nation.

“You can see the passion clearly burning in them,” Abrigo says. “Hearing them talk and speak out their opinion and enthusiasm on things especially on development issues makes me think and realize that there really is hope for our country and that the future is now.”

IIRC blames Ombudsman, hints at extortion attempt � Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

2010-10-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

MENDOZA LAWYER: BRIBE BID WAS P250K

IIRC blames Ombudsman,
hints at extortion attempt

BY ED LINGAO

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13TH, 2010 · SHARE THIS STORY

First of two parts

When the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC) on the August 23 Quirino Grandstand hostage incident finally uses the word “extort,” it almost seems like an afterthought. The word is buried in the second to the last paragraph of the last page of the report it submitted a month ago to President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III.

Part 1: IIRC blames Ombudsman, hints at extortion attempt

Part 2: Broken police, broken legal system broke hostage-taker?

Relevant documents:

Mendoza letter to PAGIBIG, page 1

Mendoza letter to PAGIBIG, page 2

Also see:

From Day 1, P-Noy wanted to save Lim, Puno, Verzosa

“This is our society,” the report concludes. “It drives otherwise ordinary and simple men to turn into murdering monsters at a snap. Because they feel oppressed and need justice but are asked for money. They ask for redemption but are faced with extortion. Officials without shame, policemen without competence, politicians without care, reporters without conscience, a nation without luck. Mendoza was only the instrument in the murder of eight innocent human beings.”

Yet the paragraph, coming at the tailend of a lengthy review of the actions, and inactions, of government officials and private entities, effectively defines the report and redefines hostage-taker Rolando Mendoza in the eyes of the public.

Here is Mendoza, a dismissed policeman who murdered eight foreign tourists and cast the country under a cloud of shame and infamy, painted as a victim of injustice and incompetence. Yet here, too, is a bemedalled policeman who lost his job on charges of extortion, portrayed by the committee as a victim of extortion himself. Clearly, while the committee has no sympathy for Mendoza’s actions, it has much sympathy for his plight.

The five-person committee lays the blame for the bungled hostage rescue on officials of the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP). But the committee squarely lays the blame for Mendoza’s radical actions on yet another institution: the Office of the Ombudsman.

Throughout the report, the committee scores a seemingly endless series of missteps and mistakes that showed “manifest injustice and oppression” by the Office of the Ombudsman against Mendoza. These incidents, the IIRC says, were the trigger for Mendoza’s actions.

“The proximate cause of his (Mendoza’s) actuation being the slow wheels of justice and in this case, at the Office of the Ombudsman,” the IIRC report states.

These failures were further colored by two things: what the committee called the “undue interest” of the Ombudsman in Mendoza’s case, and reports that an official from the Office of the Ombudsman had demanded P150,000 from Mendoza in exchange for the dismissal of the charges against the former policeman.

A P250,000-bid?

Atty. Ernesto Cabrera, Rolando Mendoza's lawyer. Video grab by Ed Lingao.

But the last lawyer to represent Mendoza in his bid to be reinstated has since told PCIJ that the amount was actually P250,000.

“Captain Mendoza disclosed to me that the Ombudsman had asked, not 150, but 250 thousand pesos for the dismissal of the case against him,” says Ernesto Cabrera, who was hired by Mendoza in November 2009 to pursue his reinstatement in the service.

Cabrera also says that Mendoza had already agreed to pay the amount. The problem, he says, was that Mendoza could not raise the entire amount by himself.

“On the third or fourth week (after I took over his case), he went back to me,” recounts Cabrera. “According to him, he has big retirement benefits and wanted to give in to the demand. He was ready to give but they (co-respondents) have to share (in the amount),” But the co-respondents did not want to give their share, so that intention of his bogged down.”

Aside from Mendoza, four other police officers had been dismissed from the service by Gonzalez for the extortion complaint filed by Christian Kalaw in 2008.

PAG-IBIG loan

With more than P5 million in retirement benefits hanging in the balance, Mendoza sought another avenue, Cabrera says. According to the lawyer, Mendoza asked him for help to refund a loan he took out six years before from PAGIBIG, or the Home Development Mutual Fund.

“There was a time he requested for a refund of his PAGIBIG,” says Cabrera. “He had applied for a house and lot and discontinued this.”

Cabrera wrote the PAGIBIG main office in Makati, and was able to facilitate the partial refund of Mendoza’s loan. In return for his help, Cabrera said Mendoza gave him P3,000.

“The money was refunded to him, so he had the money,” Cabrera says. But the lawyer says it was not clear if Mendoza was ever able raise the entire amount to pay off his alleged tormentors, as the money from PAG-IBIG amounted to just “more than a hundred thousand pesos.” It is also not clear to Cabrera if Mendoza made any payment to anyone from the Office of the Ombudsman.

Cabrera adds that while Mendoza gave him the last name of the person who allegedly demanded the amount, Mendoza was never specific. “He told me it was a Mister Gonzalez (who asked for the money),’ he says. “I don’t know if there is a Gonzalez there, who was the one who asked for that money.”

A check with the PAG-IBIG main office in Makati shows that Mendoza had taken out a housing loan in 2004, for two properties at the South Fairway Classic Homes in Block 39, lot 77-79, Barangay Landaya, San Pedro Laguna for the amount of P500,000.

But Mendoza had canceled the loan in May 2009, just months after his dismissal order was handed down by the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman, and on the same month that the dismissal order was affirmed by the acting Ombudsman, Orlando Casimiro. The process is called a “voluntary surrender” of a housing loan, where the surrenderee can reclaim 50 percent of the amount he had already amortized to the PAGIBIG Fund.

The subdivision where Mendoza bought a lot through PAGIBIG. Screenshot via Google Earth.

Check for P196,000

A check with the Cash Department of PAG-IBIG also shows that the Fund had released a check voucher for P196,913.51 to Rolando del Rosario Mendoza on Feb. 15, 2010. PAG-IBIG records show as well that the release of the check was facilitated after a written request was made by Mendoza’s legal counsel, Atty. Ernesto Cabrera.

About six months later, Cabrera would hear a lesser amount supposedly mentioned by Mendoza, while the dismissed policeman was holding tourists hostage, as being demanded from him by an official from the Office of the Ombudsman.

During the IIRC’s two-week marathon hearings, Police Major Romeo Salvador, one of the negotiators, also testified that he overheard Mendoza cursing Deputy Ombudsman for Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices (MOLEO) Emilio Gonzalez III over the telephone for demanding P150,000 before he could rule on Mendoza’s case.

Gonzalez was the official who ordered the dismissal of Mendoza on charges of extortion in February 2009.

In its report, the committee mentions the incident on page 75: “As expected, Mendoza – who previously berated Deputy Gonzalez for allegedly demanding Php 150,000 in exchange for favourably resolving the motion for reconsideration – rejected and branded as trash the Ombudsman letter promising review, triggering the collapse of the negotiations.”

Oblique reference

Yet the next time the committee made reference to the incident was in the last page of the report, where it spoke of people who ask for “redemption” but are instead faced with “extortion.”

It was a rather curiously oblique way of accusing the Office of the Ombudsman of a major offense. But some of those familiar to the discussions within the committee say that the committee was “inclined to give credence” to Salvador’s testimony. An insider adds that the committee members saw “no reason” for Mendoza to lie while he berated Gonzalez on the telephone.

“There is an inclination within the committee to believe the incident,” says the insider who was present at the IIRC discussions. “Salvador’s testimony has weight. The committee also saw no reason for Mendoza to lie at the time he made these statements.”

Non-appearance

The problem was that Gonzalez had refused to appear before the committee to give his side. Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez had declared that her office would not take part in the investigation, since it was an independent and co-equal institution.

As a result, the committee, while inclined to believe that Mendoza spoke what he believed to be the truth, could go no further than make oblique references that Mendoza was a victim of extortion.

“This is the evaluation of the committee, but the committee wants the issue to be subject to further investigation,” says someone privy to the committee goings-on.

In the final report, the IIRC recommended the referral of its findings to the Office of the President “for further determination of possible administrative offenses.” For Gutierrez herself, the IIRC recommended a probe to see if her offenses serve as grounds for impeachment.

The PCIJ tried to get Gonzalez to comment on the allegations of extortion, but he refused to comment and instead referred PCIJ to Assistant Ombudsman Jose de Jesus, the designated spokesman of the Office of the Ombudsman.

“Very vague sa amin ang accusations, but we are not closing the door into the matter,” De Jesus says. “If anyone will come out with accusations, with evidence, naming who was really extorting, (then we may look into it.)”

“We have many Gonzalezes here,” he also says. “Which Gonzalez is he (Cabrera) referring to?”

Internal Affairs

And yet De Jesus says that Ombudsman Gutierrez has already referred the issue of extortion to the Internal Affairs Board of the Office of the Ombudsman. The board will determine if there is basis to file any charge against Emilio Gonzalez III.

The Board’s head is Overall Ombudsman Casimiro, who as acting Ombudsman had affirmed Mendoza’s dismissal from the service.

De Jesus says Cabrera could file a complaint with the Board if he is serious with his allegations. “If there is a lawyer saying that, if he can submit to our internal affairs board any evidence he has (he should do so)” De Jesus says. “Especially if he can identify the person (who made the offer.)”

But he says, “I think Deputy Ombudsman Gonzalez was asked (about the issue), and he explained, ‘How can I do it, I don’t know Mendoza personally, I have not met him personally, and I have not done it.”

“We have no basis except for that accusation, and then there is already a denial (on the part of Gonzalez,)” he says.

Scathing report

The IIRC, however, apparently sees the matter differently. Insists an IIRC insider: “The way the committee sees it, (Mendoza) was serious about what he was saying.”

It may be for this reason thus that the committee issued its most scathing comments against the Office of the Ombudsman. While it could not recommend any charges of extortion against officials at the Ombudsman’s office, the committee charged the office of “inexcusable negligence” in delaying Mendoza’s case, and questioned the “undue interest on the case” of Mendoza.

“Ombudsman Gutierrez and Deputy Ombudsman Gonzalez committed serious and inexcusable negligence and gross violation of their own rules of procedure in failing to promptly resolve without justification, and despite repeated written please, Mendoza’s motion for reconsideration to the judgment of dismissal, which prolonged inaction precipitated the desperate resort to hostage-taking,” the committee report stated.

Anatomy of a charge

The dismissal of Mendoza and four other policemen belonging to the Manila Police Mobile Unit stemmed from a charge of extortion filed by student-chef Christian Kalaw in 2008. Kalaw alleged that he was manhandled and threatened by Mendoza’s men after they accosted him near La Salle University in Manila. Kalaw said that he was brought to Mendoza’s office at the Manila Police Mobile headquarters, where Mendoza allegedly demanded P 200,000 in exchange for Kalaw’s freedom. In his affidavit-complaint, Kalaw said they ended up settling for P20,000.

But the complaint against the policemen failed to prosper before the City Prosecutor’s office, largely because Kalaw never appeared to pursue his complaint. The same case was elevated to the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service, where it was also dismissed for failure of Kalaw to appear.

Then in July 2008, Deputy Ombudsman Gonzalez directed the PNP to turn the case over to his office, an act that drew this observation from the IIRC: “It appears that the Ombudsman exercised jurisdiction over the case based on a letter issued motu propio by Deputy Ombudsman Emilio Gonzalez III, directing the PNP-NCR – without citing any reason – to endorse the case against Mendoza and the arresting policemen to his office for administrative adjudication, thereby showing undue interest on the case.”

Seven months later, Gonzalez ruled for the dismissal of Mendoza and the four other policemen. The ruling was approved by Acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro on May, 2009.

The committee pointed out that the ruling was based “on the sole and uncorroborated complaint-affidavit of Christian Kalaw, which was not previously sustained by the City Prosecutor’s Office and the PNP Internal Affairs Service.” In other words, the one and only piece of evidence considered by Gonzalez’s office was the first affidavit executed by Kalaw when he filed his complaint before the City Prosecutor’s Office.

Five-day period

Still, Mendoza had recourse; under the rules of the Ombudsman, he could file a motion for reconsideration that had to be resolved within five days of filing. Mendoza filed his motion in November 2009. The motion for reconsideration remained unresolved for nine months, until Mendoza finally took his hostages.

“By allowing Mendoza’s motion for reconsideration to languish for nine long months without any justification, Ombudsman Gutierrez and Deputy Ombudsman Gonzalez committed complete and wanton violation of the Ombudsman prescribed rule to resolve motions for reconsideration in administrative disciplinary cases within five days from submission,” the IIRC report notes. “The inaction is gross, there being no opposition to the motion for reconsideration.”

Adding yet another complex layer to the mix, the Ombudsman ordered Mendoza’s dismissal to be enforced immediately. In a 2008 ruling (Samaniego vs Ombudsman), the Supreme Court ruled that judgments of the Ombudsman in disciplinary cases become executory only after denial of an appeal “This implies,” says the IIRC report, “that an Ombudsman judgment of dismissal cannot be executed If subject of a pending appeal.”

“If an Ombudsman judgment of dismissal cannot be executed when subject to a pending appeal before the higher courts, what more for a judgment of dismissal that is still subject of pending reconsideration before the Ombudsman,” the committee says.

Soft heart

For his part, Assistant Ombudsman De Jesus defends the slow resolution of Mendoza’s case by saying the Ombudsman receives thousands of complaints a month. In addition, De Jesus says the five-day period to resolve motions for reconsideration is not mandatory.

“Since the office has a soft heart for dismissed employees, so the practice is to have it studied very well, studiously and laboriously,’ he says. “The length of time in this case occurred because of the laborious and thoughtful study put into the case all over again.”

“There is no violation of the law (with regard to the five-day period to resolve motions for reconsideration,),” asserts De Jesus. “Because we’re talking about livelihood, the life of the respondents, and their families, that’s why this was being studied very carefully. We have to reckon the fact that this is not the only case in our office. We have only a few lawyers.”

Own MR

De Jesus says the Ombudsman is also aware of the Samaniego doctrine, which states that penalties greater than one-month suspension are not executory so long as there is a pending appeal. But he says that the Ombudsman is contesting the Supreme Court ruling with its own motion for reconsideration. Until that motion is resolved, he argues, the Ombudsman believes all its rulings are immediately executory.

The IIRC, however, thinks otherwise.

“Had the Ombudsman officials performed their duty under the law and acted decisively, the entire crisis may have ended differently,” its report says.

This may be partly why, in the last page of its 82-page report, the committee paints Mendoza as a villain, but one who was among many other villains, a criminal who was a victim as well, “a man with a perceived injustice and oppression done against him, so common in Philippine society, cornered and forced to a murderous and insane mission.”

– PCIJ, October 2010

ellen tordesillas: DFA in a mess; two ambassadors refuse to return home

2010-10-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

Update: Yesterday afternoon (Oct. 14) Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo ccalled up Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello and told him that Tiglao will not be retained as ambassador to Greece. Akbayan members in Greece are among those protesting the Romulo’s tolerance of Tiglao in Athens despite lack of legal authority."

While President Aquino expressed concerned over decision of the Supreme Court favoring the midnight appointments of Gloria Arroyo, his secretary of foreign affairs is condoning, even supporting, the illegal stay of Arroyo’s appointees in their foreign posts.

The other day, members of the Filipino community in Greece staged a rally in front of the Philippine Embassy in Athens protesting the continued stay of former ambassador Rigoberto Tiglao in his post.

Francisco Benedicto, also refuses to return to Manila holding on to the appointment signed by Arroyo as basis for his continued stay in Beijing.

It’s a mess out there at the DFA and the foreign secretary either encourages it as in the case of Tiglao or clueless as in the case of Benedicto.

It must be recalled that there was a controversy over the extension of the stay in their posts of 21 political ambassadors appointed by Arroyo after June 30, 2010. Since all political appointees are co-terminus with the appointing power, it goes without saying that when Arroyo’s term ended noon of June 30, 2010, they no longer had any legal authority as of 12:01 of June 30, 2010.

Romulo misled Malacañang into thinking that relations with countries where these political appointees were posted would suffer if they were to return to the Philippines without a replacement. Unfamiliar with foreign affairs matters, Aquino believed Romulo.

That was wrong. In foreign service, in the absence of the ambassador the number two officer takes over as charge d’affaires or officer-in-charge. Under the Vienna Convention on Foreign Relations, the host country recognizes the authority of the charge d’affaires.

Because of that wrong and scheming advice, all the 21 political ambassadors were given extension , “in a holdover capacity for a period of three months effective noon of 30 June 2010.” Three months from June 30 is September 30, 2010.
The extension itself is illegal because the President has no power to extend a non-existent appointment. What he has is the power to appoint. If he wants them to continue serving in their posts, he will have to give them new appointments.

They would have to get confirmation by the Commission on Appointments, get an agrément from the host country. Only after completing this process can the ambassador assume his post.

The Union of Foreign Service Officers decided not to bring the issue of illegal extension to court in deference to the new president. September 30 has passed. Most of the 21 ambassadors have come home. But not all. Tiglao and Benedicto are among those who refuse to give up their posts.

A DFA source said, Tiglao, one of the most trusted advisers of Arroyo, has requested that he be extended up to Dec. 31, 2010. The DFA issued this official statement on Tiglao: “The extension of the tours of duty of political ambassadors, including Ambassador Tiglao, expired Sept. 30. The most senior foreign service officer at post, Career Minister Constancio Vingno, assumed as charge d’affairs at the Philippine Embassy in Athens on 1 Oct.”

Our source said Tiglao does not report to the embassy but he continues to stay in the ambassador’s residence and he has not started to pack. That’s because Romulo has assured him he will get his wish. Romulo’s daughter, Agriculture Undersecretary Berna Romulo-Puyat, is lobbying for him.

News reports from Athens said the protesters the protesters belong to Filipino organization Kasapi Hellas who accused Tiglao of not being helpful to Filipinos in Greece. In their statement, the group said, “In a news release, Athens-based Filipino organization Kasapi Hellas urged President Benigno Aquino III not to re-appoint Tiglao, saying he has not done much to assist Filipinos in Greece.”

GMA News reported that Tiglao, who now writes a column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer (something which some DFA officers are questioning), declined to comment on the allegations of Kasapi Hellas saying he was “on leave and the matter was “sensitive.”

The case of Benedicto is even more anomalous.

He was able to wangle the appointment as ambassador to China December 2009, six months before the end of Arroyo’s appointment.

There’s a rule among career foreign service officers not to be given foreign assignment if he has less than three years before retirement. Because that the length of time one needs to be effective in his post. One needs at least one year to familiarize with issues and establish network in his post.

Anyway, Benedicto assumed his Beijing post before the May 2010 elections but he was only able to present his credentials last Sept. 30. Those papers said he was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Gloria Arroyo.
Benedicto has refused to return to Manila. He has no appointment signed by President Aquino. If he has, he should pass through the CA and get another agrément.

Sources at the DFA said Aquino has asked businessman Alfredo Yao of Zest –O Corporation to be his ambassador to China.

5 Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do

2010-10-14T18:08:00.000-07:00

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST (Emergency)
The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an Emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly, this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND (Locked Keys in Car)
Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone:

If you lock your keys In the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).

Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!'

THIRD (Hidden Battery Power)

Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370#. Your cell phone will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell phone next time.

FOURTH (How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?)
To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following Digits on your phone:
*#06#.

A 15-digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe.

If your phone is stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

And Finally....

FIFTH (Free Directory Service for Cells)
Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial:

(800) FREE411 or (800) 373-341

PEBA's Felix Jigs Segs Interview @ 89.5 Subic Bay FM

2010-10-14T00:51:00.000-07:00

Please support our efforts to give our Filipino migrant workers their voice! Join PEBA's effort to recognize the best blogger for the year 2010!

The strength of the Philippines as a country is not in Malacanang or in military camps

2010-10-14T00:39:00.000-07:00

‎"The strength of the Philippines as a country is not in Malacanang or in military camps, it is in the heart of the Filipino people and the unity of the families in a holy place we call - Home."

Very true!

A Birthday AVP for my dearest wife Jasmin

2010-10-13T18:01:00.000-07:00

Oh her eyes, her eyes
Make the stars look like they're not shining
Her hair, her hair
Falls perfectly without her trying

She's so beautiful
And I tell her every day

Yeah I know, I know
When I compliment her
She wont believe me
And its so, its so
Sad to think she don't see what I see

But every time she asks me do I look okay
I say

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

Her nails, her nails
I could kiss them all day if she'd let me
Her laugh, her laugh
She hates but I think its so sexy

She's so beautiful
And I tell her every day

Oh you know, you know, you know
Id never ask you to change
If perfect is what you're searching for
Then just stay the same

So don't even bother asking
If you look okay
You know I say

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

The way you are
The way you are
Girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

Happy Birthday to you...

So why would simple women become that so hot and in demand in the market?

2010-10-13T17:48:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who was so in love with his girl friend and suddenly lost it all. I think when women meet single guys (including those that are not so single), the first impression drawn would be that the guy is trying to get laid. A big mistake – generally.

I don’t know. But the dictate of the so-called norms is that the guys please the woman. I have known in my short existence as a bachelor that there are different types of women. There are those who are really a princess. She would not do anything until she is pleased and would demand that the world spins around her and she, definitely, in the center.

I like women who are simple but never the simple minded. With the way MTV and urban-pop culture influence our lifestyle, simple chicks may soon become extinct. I have once said to myself that these simple ladies have already been taken by the ravenous male species prowling out there. More women are becoming demanding, wanting more and expecting too much.

So why would simple women become that so hot and in demand in the market of who-you-want-to-be-with? The mainstream guys would find giving up 100% of their time to please a princess a little easier said than done. If the fear of commitment would be an understatement, what else is not?

When you date a simple girl, she will look great even if she is not wearing a Gucci dress or blatantly carrying a Prada bag. Most of the simple girls I knew are devoid of fist clinching attitudes. They know when to smile and are usually predictable.

It’s like you being sweet to her and she is charming with you then the next minute, she suddenly took a twist or wrong turn into the road of unpredictability. Who would want that? I ran from women who can swing their mood faster than they change their shoes.

I don’t know about you but I lack any ability to handle a lady gone nutty or those who are having their days. I usually zap into silence and lurk into what I think to be my comfort zone by being the stupid non-speaking spanked-dog thrown in the alley.

I have some great women friends who until now are not in a decent relationship. They are not ugly neither physically challenged. In fact, some of them look even enthralling and sexy. They just lack what I call women’s skills in keeping a guy. It’s all about being open minded.

I don’t think that there is a legitimate heterosexual guy who is looking forward into a serious relationship that would like a complicated woman. Ok, quit the clichés about love is about acceptance, no matter how complicated she becomes. No. Serious relationship begins when both are comfortable being together and that her companionship makes the guy exultant. Make it vice versa if you want.

A complicated woman will soon find his man even more complicated. It is like a sport of retaliation where the guy escapes from the relationship hastily. Most of the time, the guy ends up single again while the girl sobbing. But in the prying eyes of the woman’s friends, man is the hegemonic adversary in the woman’s short-lived relationship.

For some other guys, it maybe true that getting laid is what matters most initially but in the end, it is all about “Am I going to marry this woman who is good in bed but is a high-maintenance?”

No love can grow without the aid of what they call pleasant companionship. It is all about what is essential in a woman’s beauty is those that you do not see. Looks will fade. Her ability to seduce a man will soon retard. But a woman’s capability to handle his guy by being positive and supportive, her ability to see and understand the roller-coaster-ride kind of life would define the qualities of a woman that I call – perfect!

Crispy Pata (Pork Knuckle) Filipino style

2010-10-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

I wish I could eat this again.

"Ingredients:
1 Pata (front or hind leg of a pig including the knuckles)
1 bottle of soda (7Up or sprite)
1 tbsp of salt
2 tbsp patis (fish sauce)
1/2 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp honey
4 tbsp of flour
Enough oil for deep frying
Enough water for boiling

Cooking Procedure:
1. Clean the pork pata by removing all hairs and by scraping the skin with a knife. Wash thoroughly.
2. Make four to five inch cuts on the sides of the pata.
3. On a deep stock pot, place the pata in water with soda and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Then add the baking soda and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.
4. Remove the pata from the pot and hang and allow to drip dry for 24 hours. An alternative to this is to thoroughly drain the pork pata and refrigerate for a few hours.
5. After the above process, rub patis on the pata and sprinkle flour liberally.
6. In a deep frying pot, heat cooking oil and deep fry the pork pata until golden brown."

HumanDHS News: TAKE A LOOK! October 2010

2010-10-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

HumanDHS News: TAKE A LOOK! October 2010: "HumanDHS is a global transdisciplinary fellowship of concerned academics and practitioners who strive to promote dignity and transcend humiliation. We wish to stimulate systemic change, globally and locally, that allows mutual respect and esteem to take root and grow, thus ending humiliating practices and breaking cycles of humiliation throughout the world!"

Art of Cabinets (Modular Kitchen Cabinets - Interior Cabinetry - Drop Ceiling)

2010-10-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

Art of Cabinets (Modular Kitchen Cabinets - Interior Cabinetry - Drop Ceiling): "Art of Cabinets Enterprise is one of the cost efficient, high quality and creative kitchen cabinet makers and installers today. We accept projects within Metro Manila and nearby provinces (Cavite, Batangas, Antipolo, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Samar). Projects in other parts of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will be accepted upon special negotiation.

Fabrication and installation last for 5-15 working days depending on the project size.

Limited budget? Let us know your budget and we will work on how we can customize your dream kitchen. Does it sound good? contact us now!!!

For estimation or quotation please submit actual photos of the area and floor plan thru email: artofcabinets@yahoo.com.ph

For more inquiries please contact 09219927027 or 09284308205 or Email: artofcabinets@yahoo.com.ph"

Facebook (1) | Videos Posted by Kristofferson Palma: 22nd aliw awards for best stage director ATTY. VINCE TANADA [HQ]

2010-10-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

Facebook (1) | Videos Posted by Kristofferson Palma: 22nd aliw awards for best stage director ATTY. VINCE TANADA [HQ]

Upper McKinley Bldg Operations Manager (Legal Editorial Operations) Job

2010-10-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

Upper McKinley Bldg Operations Manager (Legal Editorial Operations) Job: "* Manage functional area or operation that supports the Content Operations organization.
* Provide functional expertise or product leadership Content-wide including publishing strategy, and general business aspects of products and product lines (financials, schedules, etc.) to ensure alignment and support of department and organization objectives.
* Manage individual and team performance to ensure alignment and support of department and organization strategy and initiatives.
* Manage and lead a Content Operations team, including Team Leads, as well as Editorial and Production staff.
* Full management of team's budget."

KaBlogs - Blogs ng mga Kabayan sa Abroad: Kahit Anong Selpon, Basta NOKIA

2010-10-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

KaBlogs - Blogs ng mga Kabayan sa Abroad: Kahit Anong Selpon, Basta NOKIA: "Did anyone in your family asked you to buy them a mobile phone?

'Daddy, can you buy me a Nokia phone?' Does this words sound familiar? Does your spouse or kids asked you to buy them a Nokia mobile phone abroad?

Even my 'kasambahay' (household help) in Antipolo has asked me if I can buy her a new Nokia phone, as she talked to me over the phone, Inday said :

'Kuya, pakibilhan nyo naman po ako ng bagong selpon, kahit anong selpon� basta Nokia at may MP3' (Brother, please purchase for me a new cellphone, any brand but it must be Nokia and with MP3)"

Trillanes release hits snag

2010-10-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

Trillanes release hits snag: "Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th may have to languish in jail for at least one more month after Congress went on recess Wednesday afternoon without approving a concurrent resolution concurring with a government proclamation granting amnesty to the senator and more than 300 other soldiers.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said that the Senate would adopt the resolution on November 8 when it resumed its session.

Sen. Teofisto Guingona 3rd expressed the hope that Trillanes could be free and attend Senate sessions before the year ends.

Malaca�ang also on Wednesday admitted that Justice Secretary Leila de Lima was not consulted on the final draft of the proclamation that granted amnesty to all the soldiers who rebelled against the past Arroyo administration."

As China prepares for post-Dalai Lama Tibet, what is India to do with the Tibetan Exiles? | Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses

2010-10-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

As China prepares for post-Dalai Lama Tibet, what is India to do with the Tibetan Exiles? | Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses: "The post-Dalai Lama era is likely to be fraught with uncertainty and has profound security implications for both India and China. While China is afflicted with the Tibetan unrest, India has worries about the future of Tibetan refugees spread across the subcontinent. Relations between the two Asian giants are also greatly entwined with the Tibet factor."

"China’s latest move towards incremental preparation for the post-Dalai Lama era came on February 28, 2010, when it nominated its designated Panchen Lama, Gyaincain Norbu, to the Parliamentary advisory body, the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) as one of the 13 new members. Prior to this, on October 18, 2008, the Chinese government formulated plans to set up the first-ever academy of Tibetan Buddhism in southwestern China. Construction for the $11.7 million project began in October 2008. The purpose is to train “patriotic and devotional religious personnel”. In other words, the attempt is to "build an officially approved cadre of monks in order to dilute the influence of defiant monks in Tibet, who have faith in the Dalai Lama".

"Earlier from April 13 to 16, 2006, China organised for the first time a World Buddhist Forum in Hangzhou to espouse its leadership of the Buddhist world. It also provided an international platform to China’s own Panchen Lama to bolster his legitimacy both internally and globally."

"During the 2010 Conference, Chinese President Hu Jintao made a very important statement on the need for lasting stability in Tibet, implying that Deng Xiaoping’s strategy of creating economic prosperity to mitigate separatism alone could not tame the restive Tibetan population. Identifying that “Tibet faces a special contradiction between people of all ethnic group and the separatist forces led by the Dalai clique,” Hu Jintao emphasised on the need for “leap frog development” and “lasting stability” as the major themes of the work of Tibet. The emphasis on “lasting stability” is particularly striking."

Just dousing myself on issues I would face about Tibet.

SM Prestige - How to Become a Prestige Member

2010-10-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

SM Prestige - How to Become a Prestige Member: "To qualify for SM Prestige membership, you must either be an active SMAC member with an average spending of at least Php 15,000 per month in SM, or be nominated by an SM Retail establishment. Other factors may also be considered before an SM Advantage member or nominee is elevated to Prestige status.�"

Just wondering how many Filipinos are SM Prestige Card Holder? Talk about the economics of disparity in Philippine Society.

Pinoy Overseas - Overseas Filipino Worldwide (OFW)

2010-10-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

There are more than 11 million overseas Filipinos worldwide, about 11% of the total population of the Philippines.

Each year, the Philippines sends out more than a million of its nationals to work abroad through its overseas employment program. Others leave to become permanent residents of their country of destination. Overseas Filipinos are typically known to be as doctors, nurses, accountants, IT professionals, engineers & architects, entertainers, technicians, teachers, military servicemen, students, and domestic helpers.

According to estimates by the Central Bank of the Philippines, overseas Filipinos are expected to send back $14.7 billion in remittances to their ancestral homeland in 2007, up from the $13 billion in 2006"

Wanting to buy this…

2010-02-18T04:11:00.001-08:00

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Canon+-+EOS+7D+18.0-Megapixel+Digital+SLR+Camera+-+Black/9491935.p?id=1218115079278&skuId=9491935

Macapagal Arroyo has been cashing in on her position, to add to her growing personal wealth.

2010-02-17T21:13:00.000-08:00

Critics of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Philippine president, have stepped up claims that she has been cashing in on her position, to add to her growing personal wealth.

But Arroyo says she has been falsely accused, and there is no proof she has been plundering state funds.

The accusations come ahead of May's presidential elections, in which a former president - once convicted of plunder himself - is running for office.

The 37 finalists 2009 2nd Annual Pinoy Expats OFW Blog Awards

2009-11-29T18:04:00.000-08:00

Canada Condemns Maguindanao Massacre

2009-11-26T14:04:00.000-08:00

(No. 355 - November 26, 2009 - 11:15 a.m. EST) The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement condemning the November 23 killing of civilians in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao:

“Canada condemns the brutal murders perpetrated in Maguindanao in the lead up to local elections. We extend our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the victims.

“Canada supports calls for the rule of law to prevail and for those responsible for these acts to be brought to justice.”

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada advises against all travel to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Canadians travelling to the Philippines are encouraged to consult Travel Report-Philippines.

- 30 -

For further information, media representatives may contact:

Natalie Sarafian
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
613-995-1851

Foreign Affairs Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
613-995-1874

http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/news-communiques/2009/355.aspx

Al Jazeera English - Asia-Pacific - Witness: 'We just followed orders'

2009-11-26T05:14:00.000-08:00

Al Jazeera English - Asia-Pacific - Witness: 'We just followed orders'

I wonder why I could almost smell white wash right at the doorstep of our justice system.

2009-11-26T00:32:00.000-08:00

The world is in awe. International journalists, state leaders and prominent human rights advocates are eagerly waiting for the reaction of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on the latest macabre in Southern Mindanao.

The question should be “would she sacrifice her long standing political aspiration by keeping the Ampatuans under her wings or finally get to her senses that the lack of action or half-hearted effort to bring the perpetrators to jail would drag her and her illustrious Macapagal name down the history of political catastrophe?”

The recent expulsion of the Ampatuans from Lakas-Kampi-CMD party is an attempt to appease the clamor of the people to provide swift justice - an obvious PR strategy only.

Another thing, please advice Gibo to stop giving statements that is noticeably struggling to be “politically correct” because it is definitely annoying. In this world, you will not thrive if you would continue to remain in grey area. Indecisiveness definitely defines his character.

Andal Ampatuan, Jr. surrendered already and unsurprisingly, denied all the allegations. Ok, fine. The crime was not committed by the Ampatuans, Mayor Andal did not lead the militia or say, he is innocent. Who did it then?

So maybe it was just a random killing of 57 civilians and journalist? Some group of armed men got drunk and decided to have fun by killing people loaded in a convoy on the way to file certificate of candidacy and they decided to bury these civilians using a local government owned back hoe. Yeah right. Make the Filipino people believe that because they think we are moron.

I will not be surprised if one of these days, you will find the Ampatuans in the pedestal again, hailed by his local supporters for being declared innocent of this barbarism. It is an old Philippine scenario, almost a cliché to me already.

The reason for acquittal would be insufficient evidence to put the Ampatuans in the crime beyond reasonable doubt. I wonder why I could almost smell white wash right at the doorstep of our justice system.

Pinoy Expats OFW Blog Awards on ABS CBN News

2009-11-08T15:26:00.000-08:00

Check out the latest news update on Pinoy Expats OFW Blog Awards on ABS CBN News.

Rediscovering Liloan, Southern Leyte

2009-11-07T15:35:00.000-08:00

...fine white sand beaches, nature-sculpted rock formation,blue waters...

...breath taking sceneries, pristine clear waters, lush vegetation and towering coconut trees...

...laid back ship ride to Bato, Southern Leyte, early dawn arrival at the port, welcoming idyllic barrio

Full Text: Climate Change Act of 2009 (Republic Act 9729)

2009-10-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

Here is the full text of Republic Act 9729 or the Climate Change Act of 2009 which became a law last Oct. 23, 2009, courtesy of the Committee on Climate Change:

[REPUBLIC A CT N O . 9729]

AN ACT MAINSTREAMING CLIMATE CHANGE INTO GOVERNMENT POLICY FORMULATIONS, ESTABLISHING THE FRAMEWORK STRATEGY AND PROGRAM ON CLIMATE CHANGE, CREATING FOR THIS PURPOSE THE CLIMATE CHANGE COMMISSION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

http://tonyocruz.com/?p=2536

Ako Si Ninoy (I am Ninoy), A Filipino Musicale Play: A Review

2009-10-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

I don’t know about you, but every time I watch a Filipino play, I am usually expecting the traditional drama, story line that is unique to Filipino culture and the long-established approach to stage design that is unmistakably Pinoy. Which, of course, I like. So is “Ako si Ninoy” another Filipino play filing under those category?

No, not this show.

Ako si Ninoy, a Filipino musicale play about the heroisim of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Martial Law era went a little less traditional. The story did not revolve around the tell-a-biography style of relating what have happened to Ninoy and his family. Director and Librettist Atty. Vincent Tañada made sure the youth today would relate to the sufferings and martyrdom of Ninoy. The action packed scenes (mostly are heartwarming) and the visual impacts that definitely cater the taste of young audience alike while assuring those who have actually witnessed the events during the martial rule could truly appreciate the re-enactment of the scenes the way it happened.

The skillful interplay of modern syllogism and the as-a-matter-of-fact telling of Ninoy’s life is a feat. It created a unique experience where all people from all walks of life, regardless of age and political beliefs would truly understand why Filipinos today should learn the heroism of the couple Ninoy and Cory.

I went to watch the show for the 2nd time with my Filipino-American friends who were born and raised in the states. Since majority of them are not capable of understanding Tagalog, it came as a surprise to me when they were crying, laughing and clapping on many scenes that were outstanding. It made me think if the play has actually transcended the barriers of language to express the emotion of Ninoy and Cory through proficient theater abilities of the actors. We ended up discussing the play and they were thanking me for bringing them to the show, they said it helped them understand the political struggles of the Filipino people during the tyrant era of martial law which led to the advent of modern democracy through Cory Aquino.

What I like best about the play is its call to action. It actually creates a deep impact on every man’s heart that you don’t need to become Ninoy to become a hero. Heroism is not just about the grandest martyrdom or dying for someone or our nation, heroism is an individual ability of each of us to become useful, to help our society through our own capabilities, through simple and small kindness to others and having the desire to become a better person.

I salute the men and women of the show, you have enriched the lives and character of thousands of young people who marched to your venues to witness the valor of our modern day heroes and the birth of modern movement to be a hero, we may not be Ninoy but we know we can do something good for our self, family and our society.

The truest meaning of love becomes so incomprehensible

2009-10-24T08:32:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, loving can be so exasperating. Tailed with this tremendous effort to pour in affection to someone is the inevitable reality that somehow pain will cross the threshold of what may seem fleeting. But along the way, as soon as you are able to walk though this bitter path of desperation and feeling of “I wished I’ve been this or that” would be a realization that loving is actually worth it.

So no wonder I have friends who will approach me and say that they feel their world falls apart and they are walking their way with their life crumbling behind their steps. Looking at it, you might find this a little worrying.

I usually do not know what to say in the beginning; worried that whatever I might say would be a sure recipe for an added insult to the injury. I have always been very careful with the bits and pieces of my not-so wise advices about love.

I retreat to my own reflection and mull over many issues of relationship. I know for a fact that love conquers all and transcend age, culture, geography and let’s say, sex as well. Being in love could be the sweetest thing one could ever experience.

For love is that something that has so many definition and yet, deep inside, the truest meaning of love becomes so incomprehensible and beyond any portrayal that one can understand despite the wonder of verbal communication. How many times people failed to offer reasons why they love someone? That is because love is so intangible that it goes beyond human perception.

So when love carries someone to the seventh Heaven, it can also dig you down under. For it is so powerful that mankind through time immemorial have witnessed the incredible force that love can bestow to the world. Love launched nations to war, changed the face of civilization and saved mankind from the gates of hell.

Although man is very limited to see love according to what may seem superficial to many, for the true understanding of love sometimes come upon us when someone you truly love is already gone. When that someone is no longer there to feel your embrace, you miss the subtle kiss, oblivious to the silence of togetherness.

The emptiness is so agonizing, it hurts so much that missing your someone would pierce a deep scar in your heart, battling the memories of your togetherness to stop haunting your vulnerable spirit. Then tell me, how could someone easily leave behind the reminiscence of the love that once made them invisible and had an almost never-say-die aspiration to conquer the world?

Oh love! Why art thou so strange that thou made man to cringe over the fallen foliage of what was once splendid beating of 2 hearts?

Eating fried fish in O.R., an adventure of my very dull unenvied sterile life

2009-10-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

Where is the best place to eat deep-fried freshly caught fish, marinated and coated with Indian spices? Surely not in the Operating Room (OR). You might find this incredible and may sound silly but that’s true. Strange at it may be, but I just had an awesome fried fish eaten in the OR. I was finishing my lunch of fried tilapia (oh yes, fish), vegetable lumpia (spring roll) and green salad with French dressing in the cafeteria when I jolted from my seat to see one of my doctor friends who invited me the other day to attend the “fish” party he is throwing out for the OR staff.

To save my self from immodest embarrassment for not attending his “fish” party, I decided to show up and assumed that I can politely walk away afterwards. I never actually had taken it seriously that the “fish” party would be in the OR so I was definitely taken aback when it was indeed in the OR. And so I joined the other Surgery doctors and nurses who were still clad in scrub suits, eating fish. I was delighted to see that the party was held at the waiting anteroom although the prep-room and OR theater were just gasped away.

I was so enticed to ask the old doctor friend why he needed to take pride of his recent fishing adventure by throwing out a “fish’ party in, of all places, the OR. But I guess I was so caught up in the moment that I forgot about it. Thinking about the place where you slice and butcher human beings to remove or repair human body parts made eating those fried fish an adventure of my very dull unenvied sterile life. I have to swear though that it was undeniably a splendid fish-eating experience.

Please... Help...

2009-10-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

"Anu mapapala q naman pag sumama ako sa mga medical missions sa nasalanta ng bagyo?"

2009-10-16T01:04:00.000-07:00

Me: "U wanna come along to Pangasinan for Medical Mission?"
Feeling: "Ano mapapala q jan?"
Me: "Kung wala ka mapapala sa pagtulong sa mga mahi2rap, d wag ka sumama."
Feeling: "Kaen tau cake, Red Ribbon." (the nerve)
Me: "Kaya pala wala ka mapapala pa red ribbon red ribbon ka lang."
Feeling: "Uu ah. Nabubusog ako.Hahahahaha"
Me: "Bkt nga pala cnbi mo anu mapapala mo sa medical msion sa pangasinan eh
lam mo naman pagtulog sa mahihirap un. Matapobre kb?"
Feeling: "hahaha. D ako matapobre.. un lang base mo para sabhan aq matapobre?
Hahaha. Nagtanong lang ako. Masama ba? :p
Me: "Masama kc un para skn. Kc parang nakakainsulto ka sa mga
nagpapakahirap ngaun para 2mulong sa kapwa. At isa q dun sa mga
nagtyatyaga 2mulong. So parang ask m anu mapapala q? Nag eenjoy ka ba
pag iniinsulto ka? Ngaun mo ask kung masama ba un? :P
Feeling: Wala ako pake. Geh kaen muna q guava. Hehe

Now tell me, is this one of the reasons why are youth today is so corrupted cuz like that friend of mine, she is just seeded with idiotic mind, totally lacking wit and uncaring... I dunno if I could actually say more.

Global Warming in Asia

2009-10-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

Although climate change is an inherently global issue, the impacts will not be felt equally across our planet. Regional changes are likely to differ from global averages in both magnitude and rates of change. Further, not all ecosystems and human settlements are equally sensitive to changes in climate. Nations (and regions within nations) vary in their relative vulnerability to changes in temperature, precipitation and extreme weather events and their ability to cope with such changes.

Many global issues are climate-related and thus may be affected by climate change. These include water resource availability and food security, especially for areas already afflicted by drought and extreme weather events. Sea-level rise is a particular concern for low-lying coasts and island nations.

Some nations will likely experience more adverse effects than others, while other nations may benefit. Poorer nations are generally more vulnerable to the consequences of global warming. These nations tend to be more dependent on climate-sensitive sectors, such as subsistence agriculture, and may lack the resources to buffer themselves against the changes that global warming may bring.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has examined a range of future climate change scenarios and found that the globally averaged surface air temperature is projected by models to warm 2 to 11.5°F (1.1-6.4°C) by 2100 relative to 1990, and globally averaged sea level is projected by models to rise 7.2 to 23.6 inches (18-59 cm or 0.18- 0.59m) by 2100. The warming would vary by region, and would be accompanied by changes in precipitation, changes in the variability of climate, and changes in the frequency and intensity of some extreme climate phenomena. (IPCC, 2007)

Asia

* Glacier melt in the Himalayas is projected to increase flooding, increase rock avalanches from destabilized slopes, and affect water resources within the next two to three decades.
* Freshwater availability in Central, South, East and Southeast Asia, particularly in large river basins, is projected to decrease due to climate change, which, along with population growth and increasing demand from higher standards of living, could adversely affect more than a billion people by the 2050s.
* Coastal areas, especially heavily populated megadelta regions in South, East and Southeast Asia, will be at greatest risk due to increased flooding from the sea and, in some megadeltas, flooding from rivers.
* Crop yields could increase up to 20 percent in East and Southeast Asia, while they could decrease up to 30 percent in Central and South Asia by the mid-21st century.
* Sickness and death due to diarrheal disease, primarily associated with floods and droughts, are expected to rise in East, South and Southeast Asia due to projected changes in the hydrological cycle associated with global warming.

Source: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/international.html#summary

The last thing we need is another folly and making a big goof out of everyone of us.

2009-10-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

Did you ever wonder why on earth Filipinos are very inclined to appreciate tasteless entertainment and its growing affinity with what I find to be cheap, repugnant and with lame story plots “tele seryes”?

I don’t mean any offense to those who are enjoying soap operas, it just that, I hope they realize that these form of entertainments are counter productive, it shows the malignant case of our amusement outlets and our unrelenting support for the entrepreneurial abilities of these giant TV stations that exploits and distort the values of the Filipino people.

Aside from false hopes that these stations are trying to instill to its viewers, it degenerates the last remaining Filipino value on hard work. Being impoverished, poor and be deficient in the luxuries of life do not justify us to be content with what is being promoted by these broadcasting giants that “luck” and life is actually a form of texting back to win a meager prize.

The stories are utterly detached from realities and its acute alteration of hope and human malevolence in the fantaserye creates a counter-productive psyche among the very young audience. Growing up with super heroes had not become very harmful but watching fantaserye “only in the Philippines” style have obviously created a huge blunder with the idea of Filipino life and its reality.

Aside from the sheer “confusion” I get why we enjoy the horribly dubbed foreign soap operas that usually resulted into extreme admiration of its non-Tagalog neither English speaking actors/actress by the Filipino masses, we become very much engrossed with anticipating the show time of our favorite soap operas.

It’s like the world stop during these showtime, people are glued to their TV sets while, if you will try to analyze, the time being spent watching these programs, which if you’d ask me are not just stupid but “jologs” are detrimental to the pursuit of higher standards in value formation and tasteful form of entertainment.

Then here is the gambling side of it where you have to send your SMS answers for the not just “lame” but also dim-witted questions that only shows how simple minded the Filipino masses are.

We always wonder why we get to be mocked, looked at condescendingly by other nations. Why don’t we look at what we watch, what we patronize. If you will just look closely, you will find that what we enjoy watching are actually trampling the Filipino people as corrupt, unintelligent and obtuse minded race.

It makes us look silly. It harbors the idea that the quickest escape from hardship of life being “squatter” and impoverished masses would be to win the jackpot prize of the TV game show. Do you have an idea how many people are shamefully battling sweat and body odors in order to join or enter the studio of their favorite game show? Some are even staying the night in front of the gates, sleeping like wild dogs and vagrants, devoid of any trace of self-respect.

How much dignity do you still want to remain in us? Not much I guess.

By the look of it, it seems that many Filipinos are more than willing to try their luck - influenced by the fantasy that these teleseryes have cultivated among our minds - instead of breaking the habit of wishful thinking and hauling extra effort to earn cash the hard way.

Filipino people are quick to rush to the street and cry foul for the endless “pahirap” (sufferings) they get from the government while in fact, there is not much being done to strive harder and perform more productive endeavors instead of drooling over fantaserye, lame soap operas and impossible game shows.

I think when Dr. J. Rizal bailed us out for being “indolent”, it was because he thought there would be no suckers that would fool us being duplicitous and even made us think that lying is still a good deed, Rizal would have not thought of the Filipinos worshipping Chinese actors slash singers or that the Filipinos will make themselves fool by dancing stupid and lame “ridiculous” dance that even adults enjoy doing. No, he would never thought of it.

If only Rizal knew how the Filipinos have become idiotic for wasting valuable time watching soap operas that promotes hatred, adultery and mock the remaining intelligent sense of our diminutive brains, he would have conceded that we are indeed an indolent people.

The last thing we need is another folly and making a big goof out of everyone of us.

BusinessWorld Online: Opposition figures preferred as Arroyo successors -- survey

2009-10-13T20:02:00.001-07:00

BusinessWorld Online: Opposition figures preferred as Arroyo successors -- survey

Shared via AddThis

BLOG ACTION DAY 2009: Filipino bloggers take a stand on climate change

2009-10-13T00:31:00.000-07:00

On October 15, bloggers worldwide will speak as one on climate change. We, Filipino bloggers, have much to say and share in this global conversation.

We just survived and continue to grapple with supertyphoons Ondoy (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma) that snatched hundreds of lives, destroyed property and livelihood and took the issue of climate change to the very center of our conversations with family, friends, classmates, colleagues.

That it was caught unprepared to mitigate the effects of the rampaging floods is the government’s lightest offense. The worst is that it apparently ignored serious warnings raised in 2007 when an international study found the Philippines as the No. 1 victim of climate change in the previous year.

We cannot be apathetic or cynical. We as a people have the solemn duty to accept the reality of climate change, to study it, and to take a stand.

Bloggers Kapihan thus calls on Filipino bloggers to take time out on Oct. 15 to post your thoughts and aspirations, frustrations and hopes, photos, videos and stories, on climate change and how it affects our family, community, country and the globe, and how we wish to make things better.

If you wish to join this event, write a post on climate change on Oct. 15 and place a link to this post. You may also spread the word about Blog Action Day by placing this badge on your blog:

I think I have a special talent to tolerate inconsequential situations.

2009-10-12T02:48:00.001-07:00

Some things that seem to be not under the bedspread of my being Mr. Nice Guy

I have a couple of things that really ticks me off - like some things that seem to be not under the bedspread of my being Mr. Nice Guy. One of those would be my utter repulse toward bodily odor. If you would ask me for a list, I would rate them this way: bodily odor and making me explain why I only answered yes or no.

Not much in my list really because other than that, I think I have a special talent to tolerate inconsequential situations, as I always say to myself, “No one can hurt you without your permission.” I try to translate most of my life experiences including those spurs of the moment into reason and being careful to choose my reactions. But it just that stinking so bad make me sneeze, geez and please quit the rants for insignificant issues.

When I do not really have the right to snap on people with disgusting smell, I tend to blame myself for not being able to stood up and say it. Nah, prolly never I can muster the guts to strike at them as my interpersonal skills seemed deprived me of that aspect where you can say it nicely “Hey, you just stink!” No matter how I try to find the words, I still feel a downright guilt to say this to stinking people. That is why I end up suffering. No wonder I hate myself sometimes for being so chicken to tell people to go and have a bath scrub. Please blame it to my allergies. I have this nasty disease where my nose is not just less cooperative but also become inflamed, I swear, I no longer know what causes my allergic rhinitis attacks.

Have you ever experienced people who make a big deal out of simple questions and when you thought they would stop asking when you gave them a categorical “yes or no,” you end up bombarded with follow-up questions. That annoys me big time. I usually do not confront insignificant issues on a head-on basis especially during verbal altercations. They don’t understand, I’d just rather admit it than put up a series of explanation, I don’t think this is right as well but I just feel I am not willing to spend my energy explaining things on trivial matters that do not even deserve further discussion.

DONATE RELIEF GOODS NOW for 20,000 families who badly need help!

2009-10-12T00:49:00.000-07:00

Help Tulong Kabataan reach 20,000 families ASAP. Donate relief goods now.

30 barangays in Metro Manila and nearby provinces badly hit by Ondoy cry for help.

You can help them NOW. Gather and bring relief goods to any Tulong Kabataan donation center:

* Rice
* Potable water
* Canned goods
* Cooking oil
* Cooking utensils
* Medicines
* Blankets, banigs
* School supplies

You can also help by donating money:

* Smart Money: 5299670778290
* GCash: +639266677163
* Bank Deposit
Bank Account: Student Christian Movement of the Philippines
Bank: BPI
Branch: Kamias-Anonas, Quezon City Philippines
US Dollar Account No: 3324-0048-06
Peso Checking Account No: 3321-0176-64
* Paypal: donate or http://3.ly/tulong
* For Western Union: Carl Marc L. Ramota, B12 L27 San Pedro Subd Vill Nova QC

Tulong Kabataan donation drop-off points

TULONG KABATAAN CENTER

* 118-B Scout Rallos, Brgy. Sacred Heart, Quezon City (look for/contact Frances 09072536529, contact hotline number 394-4285 or email tulongkabataan@gmail.com)

QUEZON CITY

* Vinzons Hall Lobby/USC office, UP Diliman Quezon City (look for/contact Brandy 09062778145)

MANILA

* United Methodist Church Headquarters
900 United Nations Avenue, Ermita, Manila (infront of Manila Police District, look for Ate Merly)

OTHER DROP-OFF POINTS
QC Area:

* Trinity University of Asia (Marga 09274313843)
* Southeast Asian College, Welcome Rtda (Val 09158156860)

U-Belt Area:

* College of Holy Spirit (Alpha 091642456955),
* San Beda College (Jacob 09156441311)

Intramuros:

* San Agustin Church

Taft Avenue:

* St. Scholastica’s College-Manila (Chikee 09277855372)
* St. Paul University-Manila (Kaycee 09272845150)
* UP Manila- CAS SC (Ces 09158185686)
* Emilio Aguinaldo College (Kath 09062537432)
* Adamson University (Dora 09069227804)

Sta. Mesa:

* Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Institute for Science and Technology (EARIST) (John Rey 09094389199)
* Polytechnic University of the Philippines

CAMANAVA:

* De La Salle Araneta University (Vincent 09228068473)

Metro South:

* PUP- Taguig (Jov 09107172398)

List of Community Beneficiaries

For more information contact the Tulong Kabataan hotline: (632)394-4285

My inability to adapt or the lack of it.

2009-10-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

Now I can actually throw myself into the oblivion that I still have so much to learn with being adaptable.

I finally conceded that I could not do what I always thought that I could. That is – to be able to blend in to whomever is presented to me in a social situation. I realized that I can not relate myself with less in-depth people or find it extremely hard. What the hell is wrong with me.

When the Eagle has Landed: A speech I delivered during the recognition rites of University Scholars

2009-10-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

Henri Frederic Amiel once said that, “It is not what he has, or even what he does which expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.”

In this world, we are faced with two types of people. One who would have the ability to withstand the trial and the other who would make the best out of the trial. Most often than not, we are usually geared to just withstand the trial. It is just but ordinary, based on our human instinct, to survive. Everyone wants to survive, everyone would want to live another day, almost everyone I know would want to see their selves able to withstand the challenge that were posed before us.

Unfortunately, I do not belong to that type of people. No, not me. I consider myself to be more of that who would make the best out of the trial.

I would do my best to survive the day and use that trial to soar to the highest mountain, to let me see what I could have missed should I have quit, to conquer the sky and see what is waiting for me on the other side of my circumstance. To me, every little trials, challenges and problems are just there to hold me back, to stop me from becoming the person I want to be, to limit my potential -- but that, ladies and gentlemen, is a choice. It is a choice to yield to life’s trials, a choice to just withstand it or a choice to live it and use that trial as a spring board to dive into the bigger ocean.

Ladies & Gentlemen, I have already chosen to fight, to reach for my stars, for I believe, nothing or no one should stop me, to bring me down and let me lose the courage to continue the fight. I have already made a resolve that I will not just live the day but would see my tomorrow with candor, with grace, with self-respect. I would not succumb to the enticing of losing the battle, to the temptation to just let it go, to the mediocrity of “I live another day”. I would see to it that the choice I made to fight would not abandon my free spirited self. No, not until the last breath escapes my gasping mouth and flaring nostrils.

Being a student of the University of Baguio, I am determined to finish my studies. Oh well, that could be very fundamental. I am not unique. I consider myself as an average individual. I have nothing to show off. But what lies beneath this average student is an extraordinary willpower to kick the trials and use it as my stepping boulder so I could reach for what is up there. I never allow myself to sulk to what I know could be left behind.

Sometimes it is the darkest, most violent thunderstorms that bring forth the most beautiful, clear, blue skies. Most of the time, I see myself to be by and large the same with my peers. Only to realize that there are some things I do and believe that made me a little different somehow. I believe my challenges as a student is generally very similar with most of my fellow students. I have to survived the demands of academic pressures, the sleepless nights to beat the deadline of submission of papers, I cannot count how many times I have ran out of money so I could buy school-related projects, these challenges are for sure mundane in comparison with that of the challenges of other people.

What is more challenging to me is what lies beyond. Living a college life is more intricate than what we thought it is. Being a student in the University of Baguio necessitates separation from our comfort zone. It is also living a dangerous life. Let me explain how.

When I talk about trials, it is easy to think about the usual problems that a normal, average student would face in a daily basis. Day in and day out, school has something to do with it. But that is a fact; universities are there to bring out the best in you. To make you understand the intricacies of life that awaits us all after this journey. Only few can understand that all these workings would boil down to the pursuit of excellence. Excellence is the state or quality of excelling. It is considered to be an important value, and a goal to be pursued. For me, achieving a high level of performance or exceeding normal expectations of performance or meeting the highest expectations of what can be achieved through performing well in excess of the norm or simply put, outperforming most – is excellence.

The problem is, being a student; it is very easy to sway with the tide. And so the real problems we all have are not the ones that are obvious, that are basically there to make our life a bit tough, the ones that we should worry more are those that are deceiving. The real trial in our life is how to find ourselves - to find our passion.

Then remember what T. Alan Armstrong thought provoking issues on passion, “If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you.”

It is no secret: Life is tough. But the good news is we don't have to go through it alone. The culture of excellence that our university is putting into action should be seen in a personal context of self-determination and road of finding ourselves. To find out what we really want to achieve in life. We must know how we are really going to be tomorrow.

It seems that somehow we are tricked into thinking that life is about attaining status and wealth. We are conditioned to respond to getting a raise by buying new things that we could not afford before. We have attended to this amazing university with a vocational mindset, hoping to get hired by a big fancy company or start a great new company, all with the goal of gaining great financial success. But is that journey the kind of life we would truly enjoy?

I have found myself struggling to find the balance between the priorities of a couple of different goals. I am still not sure what matters most to me. Take a moment to ponder with me the importance of each of these goals; to be financially wealthy, to travel the world, to create something, to teach something, to help someone, to create opportunity, to seize opportunity, to do something that really matters.

I guess what I am trying to express is that the key to enjoying life is experiencing it all, and then going back and doing it again the way you think is right. Your priorities for each goal in life will be different from mine, which is what makes us unique. But we have to take ourselves out of this “victim” syndrome where when we are faced with the tragedy of life’s challenges, we just fall to our knees, while others would just withstand it all.

There is more we can do, we can stop ourselves from falling victims to self-pity or just living another day, we can trample this trial and use it to reach for our bright future ahead of us.

We can be the very best survivor of the trial because we did not just choose to live but we lived the day to become best! Life is all about flying, we fly then we land. We land to the best spot we could find while soaring up high.

Until we can say, this is it, Ladies & Gentlemen, the eagle has landed.

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

2009-10-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

A quote from Cassius in the great Julius Caesar play of W. Shakespeare reminds me of what I could say to Gloria’s close allies, and I quote, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings." Cassius, a nobleman, spoke to Brutus in that play and persuades him that in the best interests of the public, Julius Caesar must be stopped from becoming monarch of Rome. Brutus is aware of Caesar's intentions. He is torn between his love to his friend Caesar but felt compelled about his duty to the Republic. This has been interpreted to mean that fate is not what drives men to their decisions and actions, but rather the human condition.

I would not disagree when the public that Gloria has done enough damage to the government and its Filipino people. Most importantly, I cannot throw my cards agreeing that she relegate her government through the mob psychology-manipulating ploy of the oppositions and other gang of individuals masquerading as patriots.

Wake up countrymen, the only way to put to stop the vicious cycle of marching toward the street when we become discontent is when we start honoring our law. Our constitution must start getting its respect. We cannot just allow Gloria to ignore the suffering of our poor nation.

Let us be wise. Be a responsible electorate. We should all stop using the starving, already heated masses to represent your vested intentions. And when we are back to our senses, please, just please, stop her from acquiring another legislative immunity. What must drive the Filipino people and legislators must not be anyone’s fate but the human condition of the Filipino people.

I like women who are simple but never the simple minded.

2009-10-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

All the repulsive forces converged and connived to assail me in full vigor.

2009-10-08T04:03:00.000-07:00

I woke up with a runny nose. I was cold and needing to make a salute in the bathroom. My allergic rhinitis assaulted me in great intense this morning. It was 4 am and I am drowsier than ever before, the trace of my swelling muscles is still haunting me due to my last night’s swimming exploit.

My usual disorientation muddled up by my incessant sneezing made my short travel to the bathroom so horrible that I thought I’d end up flying and landing on the bathroom floor.

My morning was so terrible. It’s like all the repulsive forces converged and connived to assail me in full vigor. I can’t piss well because it’s morning and I am sure all guys knows the reason plus my nose is so hideous to me that my sneezing reached an all-time high record since I got this allergy.

Like having a terrible nonstop sneezing seems not sufficient to torment me, my nose bled that I started to spray speckle of blood all over the bathroom sink. It was so disgusting. My stomach started to feel sick. I know I was in the brink of turning my empty stomach up side down. But what could ever be worse than wanting to puke but your abdominal anatomy won’t just give in? I should be glad, however, that I don’t have to vomit while sneezing. Can you imagine food particles that I vomited flitting in all directions? Yikes!

All is swell, never well– I mean my nose is inflamed which I doubt my doctor will deny me another prescription of non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs plus another dose of antihistamine nasal spray - two of my most hated prescriptions next to anti-diarrhea.

Today will be a circus of mood disorder and work-related pressures. I keep my fingers crossed that nothing, or just no one will push me to the edge that will make me strut stupid display of rage.

The Splitting of the Philippine Nation by: F. Jigs Segre

2009-10-07T02:55:00.000-07:00

The Philippines is ailing, almost lifeless to witness hope that soon we will become a great nation. What is deplorable about our nation is we are not even close being a novice with political turmoil. We already endured a long history of political mayhem, we even had more serious disarray than this but never in the history of the Philippines had that political unrest caused unimaginable degree of economic impact to the nation - specifically to the poorest of the poor. The Filipino people turned out to become poorer and much less reasonable. Our country is already a splitting nation and death as a nation is already knocking at our doorstep.

To split a country constitutes a major disagreement between opposing factions. Nevertheless, to distinguish a death or rebirth of a nation requires an even more than understanding of the results and measurable outcome of how these are affecting the majority. Historically, other nations underwent worst political turmoil as well – killing each other before they became an imposing nation. Democratic super powers like USA, France, Great Britain, and etc. during their time were in great mayhem of domestic struggle as well – all tasted the bitterness of civil wars.

A Functional Democracy is an Operative Catalyst in Building a Nation

Although many might disagree, I always see that democracy, democratic governance that is based on a country’s culture and economic modalities, is an operative catalyst in building a nation. Despite the passionate debate on how much credit the democracy can claim for prospering a democratic country, various theories have been put forth, all of them controversial. It has been argued that, “it is not democracy that causes economic prosperity, but rather the other way around: prosperous nations will tend to become democracies.”

One great example is the Philippines, a bastion of democracy in South East Asia. It is saddening to see how the Filipino people suffer excessive misery due to poverty. Forget the GNP and GDP as the economic indicators, forget the inflation rate, forget other socio-economic indicators that determines the ability of the people to buy goods that we always hear during SONA or read in press releases, what is more important to know now is how capable are the Filipino people to live conveniently. How many Filipinos, regardless of the supposedly “class-less society” in the Philippines, are now more capable to bring decent food into their tables and provide the most basic necessities in order to live?

Chaotic Version of Democracy

The problem in the Philippines is that the kind of democracy we practice is at its crudest form, almost dysfunctional. Our democracy becomes the very cause of political chaos not because of the system per se but the very people who promulgate chaotic version of democracy.

When a democratic country, combined with the sense of political valuing of its people is based on greed and selfishness, liberty and freedom are naturally taken out of context. The democracy is then subjected to an open abuse. It becomes ultimately problematic because the distribution and ownership of freedom becomes unilateral, no party would want to have less freedom thereby causing a great imbalance.

The point is the Filipino people are less likely to give, unwilling to concede personal advantages in order to achieve equilibrium in the exercise of roles in a democratic society. The results are an endless protest, sometimes superfluous and mostly devoid of legitimate patriotic intentions. Then the exercise of democracy is no longer positive, it becomes detrimental to the society, affecting the economy of the nation.

The Price to Pay in Democracy

Many political scientists believe that democracy has a high price to pay. Sarah Mitchell in their article entitled “Evolution of Democracy-War Dynamics” have proposed that, “democratization tends to follow war, that democratization decreases the systemic amount of war, and that the substantive and pacific impact of democracy on war increases over time.” All Kantian thinkers on political science declared that democracy lessens the possibility of war between “democratic countries” but there is very scant information whether a nation has to undergo a civil war before they reach a functional democracy.

Splitting a nation is tantamount as engaging in civil war except that maybe, arm conflict at this time, Heaven forbids, is still far fetch considering the current lack of support from other sectors of the Philippine society.

In “The Democratic Peace and a Sequential, Reciprocal, Causal Arrow Hypothesis” article of Karen Rasler and William R. Thompson of Indiana University, they explained that, “One of the democratic peace puzzles is the question of whether and to what extent the democracy peace relationship underestimates the possibility that peace precedes democracy: the reversed causal arrow hypothesis. From a war making–state-making perspective, democratization needs to be viewed as a partial function of external threat and domestic power concentration.” Almost as a predecessor to attaining democracy, it seems that war is in the offing.

Then the question should be, is civil war the answer to end this dilemma? That do we need to kill each other first to achieve the golden age of Philippine democracy? I believe that what must be answered first is “where do we stand in the brink of splitting our nation?” To see the Philippines divided over many issues is not something unsullied.

If you will take a quick historical tour, our nation is one of those countries in the world that have fought each other over many political differences that could have been resolved in a “more mature” democratic settings. Although the Philippines have reaped international admiration for toppling the dictatorship during the mid 80’s peacefully by exercising the power of the people, nothing remarkable enough to call our country prosperous have happened next. Have we become more civil and united and in tackling more vital issues to help build our nation? No. It is because the Filipinos have a very peculiar political attitude each brought by our degraded values with regard to self-interest, lack of discipline and poverty-related mind-set. The Filipino people have become, unfortunately – a malevolent race.

The Death of the Philippine Nation

In every death comes resurrection, at least which is a Christian way of looking at life.

In a political showground however, rebirth is a possibility but only after undergoing sinister human sufferings first. At the rate our political situation is going, it is not very far for the nation to meet death.

What else is good left for the people? The government is already engrossed with defending their seats from the bickering and nasty political warfare of their enemies. The very essence of governance now lies between who is more powerful and who is more “cunning” in evading public prosecution for their respective plunders and heists. The civil society has found a new, more exciting and thrilling hobby – joining the oppositions in rallying the poor masses to the streets, particularly not sure whether it is driven by their libertarian patriotism and love of the county or otherwise.

The poorest of the poor have become more succumbed to the false pretense of the politicians as champions of their cause. The number of street children and vagrants have increased tremendously that even the NGO’s taking care of these kind of people are now incapable to handle such increase, yet the government have done so little to even better the lives of these deprived members of our society. The unemployment rate has continuously walked up high its peak. While the rest of the countryside remains to be poor, under developed and neglected because their “representatives” are much busier lately in pondering whether to vote against or for the impeachment process.

The judicial system is even less helpful to indict the corrupt and the criminals to keep our society from hotshot frauds and hoodlums. Instead of dancing against or with the administration to help protect or undermine important faces, the legislators seems to be less occupied in promulgating laws that will aid in building our nation.

Should there be death waiting at the end of the rainbow for the Filipino people, one thing is for sure. It is brought by the collective contribution of everyone in our country. Death becomes us because of our sheer interest with personal favors even if it becomes utterly unfair to other people, because of our disrespect to constitution and value of fair judgment, because of the commercialism of our mass media that promotes further instability brought by their irresponsible reporting, because of our lack of discipline to obey simple traffic rules and keeping our surrounding free of litters, because of our lack of taste in mode of entertainment.

The Philippines may be one of the countries in the world with a high literacy rate but also has a very poor understanding of what is morally beneficial and wrong. Take for example the basis of the people in supporting candidates during elections. The popular and the bad-boy with mass appeal tend to be the champions, never mind if they are incapable, never mind if they have moral flaws, never mind if they do not know the basic difference of running a government or a Sunday cock derby.

Building a Nation: The Rebirth of the Filipino People

What is required in building a nation? What rebirth then? Rebirth is about changing even the smallest aspect of our lifestyle, sense of valuing and moral judgment. Rebirth means a radical shift of our already corrupted attitude about governance. Rebirth is such a profound word that might be excessively difficult for many of the Filipinos if not impossible to mold out to. Rebirth is about instilling each self with a basic discipline and a more stringent, dedicated will to become more productive citizens of the Philippine nation.

What makes nation? I believe, its citizens. The discipline and their communal interest to better each other’s lives constitute a good nation. Ironically, the Philippines is the stronghold of Christian faith, where we are supposed to be more tolerant, where we are supposed to be less judgmental, where we are supposed to be more helpful and charitable. Look at our nation? A nation full of scum, full of cheaters and liars, what happened to our being religious and prayerful people?

A nation becomes a nation because of its moral strength. A nation becomes one because it upholds the law and sees it in black and white and not because he is an Uncle or a contributor or because I owe him back. No nation has been or will ever be spared from political turmoil. Even the greatest of the greatest, every one will be subjected to open opposition, that is the basic component of a democracy. No nation has become perfect but there are nations that have great determination to rise and become imposing that they are now the countries where every Filipino aspires to work for.

Loyal Opposition in a Democratic Culture

There is an opposition for all reason. Although the concept of a "loyal opposition" is one of the key aspects of democratic culture, this is an especially difficult cultural shift to achieve like the Philippines where transitions of power have historically taken place through a very divisive modality like a people power. This crude exercise of democracy does not necessarily means it is wrong but because the Filipino attitude of being revengeful and self-centered especially when it comes to unseating someone from power made unity even harder than landing on planet Mars, it is even becoming counter productive.

Loyal opposition tells us that all sides in a democracy share a common commitment to uphold the nation’s welfare. Political competitors may disagree, but they must tolerate one another and acknowledge the legitimate and important roles that each play - something that many Filipino politicians would not just relent.

What is very unfortunate in Philippine democracy is our inability to concede to the election winners and the ability of whoever is in the position to rig votes. These are two main recipes for political chaos and blunder in democracy.

Never since the Philippines elected their presidents after the Marcos regime that no electoral protest were ensued after every proclamation. It has never occurred in the political history of our country since the 1986 revolution that the losers conceded defeat.

What Then?

What is more miserable is these losers take their battle to the masses, to the chambers of the judiciary and loudly under their immunity and privilege in the legislative branch. All are in sheer abandon of colluding to promote further chaos and confusion. What do we get? We get nothing but a vicious cycle of political bickering and faultfinding. We get a splitting of a nation.

So as to whether a splitting of a nation means death or rebirth, come on, it is a rudimentary principle that there will never be rebirth without death. Death is already at hand and rebirth may even be unattainable at this time – unless we collectively become radically new Filipinos leaving those spiteful political attitudes and lack of personal discipline, rebirth will never see its chance in our sorry grimy horizons. If this fail to happen, can we all blame it to the elusive miracle?

The human tendency to judge the other person greatly depends on initial impression

2009-10-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

The role of physical look in our interpersonal relationships is often misunderstood. The human tendency to judge the other person greatly depends on initial impression, so our perspective between beauty and traits seems to be confusing at times. I’ve heard it all the time, what matters most is the beauty within. Or is it, really?

In a life of a “single” person, meeting the opposite sex may neither be exhilarating or may not be a very rewarding exploit. It depends on who is talking. But to those who are gifted with good looks, something that may just be elusive from others, they’d pick the former without batting an eyelash.

So you’d say physical looks do not carry that much bearing. I agree but how about the rest of the acquaintances we deal everyday? Would we say the same? I doubt it. Isn’t it true that our treatment to a person would vary and greatly depend on his or her physical look? If you see a punk-looking dirty ragged guy in a bank, do you expect the rest of the staff to see him as a filthy rich customer? The issue at case is the initial impression.

I think to say that what is inside is more important than beauty makes it an inch away from lip service and double speak. This is only applicable to people who would have the chance to get to know the other person well before someone can honestly declare “what is beauty if the mind is empty.”

If good looks were not the measure of getting attention, cosmetics, plastic surgeons and signature clothes and shoes would close shops. Then the showbiz would no longer include “star appeal” as equally valuable criteria in making a star. Then the media through our becoming distasteful ordinary entertainment will no longer spoof and portray persons who look stupid and dork in demeaning situations.

We began our judgment not after but during meeting the person. Judgment and validation occurs, most of the time, at the first encounter - during the crucial first impression. This is the reason why many have mistakenly misconstrued a lot of people.

How many times have we passed judgment on a certain person because of the physical attributes? I’ve heard it a hundred times, she “looks” mean or he just “seem” to be an airhead or a jerk. Constantly, we have heard people say that she looks like an angel only to find out she’s hellish than hell afterwards and vice versa.

If you look into the “Top 10 List of Man’s Stupid Outlook”, this pre-judgmental attitude using the physical look as the basis should be up that list occupying the top 3 position.

I admit that this happens to many, not only to those “nobles” of our society including the wannabes, but this pre-judgmental attitude may be something we are all familiar. I am far from being able to understand why.

For now, I just let my self get contented with the fact that at the end of the day, at least, physical attractiveness is just a component of the whole outlook of our personality.

“O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!”

2009-10-05T01:47:00.000-07:00

I found myself musing again over the works of William Shakespeare. Do you remember the play King Richard III when the evil Richard finally confronts his conscience? He had this terrible dream where the ghosts of those he killed haunted him during his brutal desire to get the kingship. I find it funny imagining those ghosts talking to him led by Prince Edward, son of Henry VI and followed by others in the order in which they were murdered. The ghosts cursed him and wished Richard to die as well. It could be just another scary flick. Instead of feeling remorse, Richard blamed his “coward conscience” after he was startled by asking for his horse only to find out afterwards it was only a dream. What a sinister character moron.

I always sought this thought. I believe that one day, there will be a point in our life when we will be confronted by our offense to our fellow beings like the ghost that haunted King Richard. Unlike him, we might not have murdered anyone.

Little did we know that in our small capacity to hurt other’s feelings, by over-doing things that matters to us most even if we know we are already trampling on others and by being over zealous to guard our own benefits, we become like King Richard. The very ill feelings, wrong doings and unfair treatment to others will be the ghost that will haunt us. That very same selfishness will haunt us and together we cross our fingers that it will not boomerang at our face.

In my young age, I’m no longer foreign to see people hurt each other due to trivial things because of even more petty and trivial reasons. Not to mention because of selfish meanings.

What makes me wonder is how could a person sleep at night when he is completely aware that someone, especially those who are disadvantaged and incapable of defending themselves, are offended, hurt and taken advantage because he is stronger, has more guts and enjoys a great deal of power.

I think all conscience is coward. It is coward in a sense that it won’t push the person bravely to surrender and recompense his dissolute demeanor toward other people. It depends on the person being afflicted whether he would admit his defeat to the prompting of his “coward conscience”.

I was surprised that my patriotism remained unscathed.

2009-09-17T21:22:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since I have not written anything about politics in the Philippines. I do not have an excuse but my absolute distaste with the personalities made my self a bit cold to ventilate or stimulate my reasoning. I am worried that I might just end up discussing bitterness and be tempted to instigate a downright assault to the situation at hand.

But for the sake of those friends who wanted to know my opinion, here is my 10-cent worth of rant.

The other day, while I was cooling down from my gym workout and waiting for my friend finish his, I had the chance to read about Sorley McLean, one of those 70’s writers I got acquainted with from my modern literature class back in school. While reading some of his work, I was stricken with his unreserved love of his country and the Gaelic culture.

I began to contemplate about how much love I still have for my country. I was surprised that my patriotism remained unscathed despite the unending blunders and shameful endeavors of many of our almost “delusional” politicians. But why do I feel this way? I have lost the enthusiasm to even discuss matters involving Gloria and about those people who I swear seem to me an “All-Star Cast” for melodramatic tele-novela about hypocritical and delusional government servants. They remind me of uncanny thugs that are unmindful of the greater good of the people.

Find me an institution in the government that has decency plastered across their foreheads please and quick. The House is just devastated, divided (no pun intended) and full of craps. I told a friend that in the Philippines, there are two major forces in the government. Those who are intelligent and those who are competent, the sad thing about it is that this two distinctiveness can hardly be found in a single person. The supply of “intelligent” personalities actually floods your TV screen sounding so eloquent but disappointingly lack the ability to put the words into action, they don’t even have any substantial “put-into action agenda”.

They were not even mindful to file a respectable legal protest. It happens when the opposition reveals an honest display of impure motive to protect the nation. They were too obsessed with jumping into the hype and to further infuriate the masses to cry their dissent instead. I hope they would just stop playing with the sentiment of our poor Filipino people.

The people in the Congress know very well that when antagonism and impure motives seeps in (which always happens), being rational becomes elusive. The Filipino people have just enough of your stupid display of incompetence and selfish determination to gain your personal agendas.

Or maybe, it is about time now for the Legislators and defunct-like government officials to rethink their strategy to cause further instability to the already sinking Philippine economy. Maybe this is not enough yet, there are still more tricks these dog fools can imagine instead of focusing on what is more important. Never mind the starving millions of Filipino people. I bet you my 10-cent plea, these people we see on TV enjoying the awe of their idiocy will continue with their political bickering and soon enough, the Filipino people will just become another race full of maligned political squabbling and indecent withering aspirations.

It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love.

2009-09-09T23:32:00.000-07:00

How far would man go with his hate? I wonder what would the world be with out hate. Oprah Winfrey once said that, "You cannot hate other people without hating your self.” Let’s see this based on why man hate. Hate is the absence of love and there are hundreds of reasons why a man can’t love. But there are even thousand of reasons why man can avoid hate too.

In a world such as ours, hating is as easy as anything you could imagine of. Rene Descartes, a great philosopher, once thought that, “It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.” Ever wonder why?

I will try my best to separate my view regarding the intrinsic evil in man but rather, endorse seriously that man does evil not necessarily because of his natural tendencies but because of the external concentration of opposing factors - our differences. We were never made alike. Our personalities, add up the culture and personal biases have cultivated a tremendous disparity among each other. The problem is, we are growing less tolerant of our individual differences.

Our humanity shows a constant increase in the rate of murders and homicides. And among these murders, the numbers of hate-motivated killings occupy the top position. To many of us, we thought hate do not get is toll among our normal lives since we do not show even a slightest inclination to commit murder. In our work environment and relationship with our neighbors, colleagues, friends, families or acquaintances, if we let disagreement pile up and fill the gap in our hearts, we might never notice how hate begins to make us shut from the bright side of human bonds. Hate is very counter-productive. It acts as life’s stumbling block to see others as beautiful beings; it makes us more succumb to the very evil of human incapacity to love and compassion.

We can hate easily because being meek is harder. We easily detest somebody because we find agreeing less appealing to our ego. Hate is easier because pride is more valuable than humility. In a confrontational world like ours, we have become wrongly influenced that whoever can subjugate their fellow beings and who can raise from above the rest are more superior, the most viable feeling then after envy becomes hate.

It is absurd to think that we can’t hate but to be full of hate makes a person less appealing to me. I mean, look at our world today. There are millions of things that can infuriate us already, the world can snap us unto the brink of fall and the last thing I need would be someone who eats hate 3 times a day. It’s impossible to thrash out hate out of man’s pile of feelings but the test of human decisiveness lies on his ability to distinguish what is more favorable to our being and what would potentially wreck our judgment.

Hate clouds our judgment. We put a blockade before us making us less trusting, cynical and gloomy about almost everything else. I may sound a bit preachy and my tone is an inch closer to my religious belief but what harm could there be if only man can learn to appreciate life more positively?

My adoration brought me to my senses that what I really want is to be truly happy.

2009-09-02T18:29:00.000-07:00

I’ve realized that I ceased to be a fighter. I have lost my candor to confront life’s challenges and had given up one of my most important battles. I have become less intense in keeping my feet on.

Now that I have finally come to face the ultimate resistance of my very own specter, I know that I ended up a loser. I hate to be one of those who brood over what has become water under the bridge but I know that what is left for me is nothing but a complete surrender of my ignorant passion to keep something that in fact will never be mine.

I know now that it is not for me or will never be. My adoration brought me to my senses that what I really want is to be truly happy. God forbids that someday I will wake up every morning hating myself for giving up because I know, what stayed behind me is the last remaining hope that I can still face the world and step on the ground where I really want myself to be.

They say that water makes its way. For no soul who have truly desired and poured affection will be destitute of what is really meant for him. My thoughts shall then be toward the resolute aspirations of this hope, I rest myself and yield to what awaits me and see that happen.

I wish I could be wiser, I wish I could be older.

2009-08-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

I just celebrated my birthday. I would try to do a quick précis of what have come to light since the day I start knowing the difference between right and wrong. I must say that I am almost half way through achieving my dreams. I honestly do not expect that I can be at this point of my life.

They say that the measure of man’s success is not about money and all that, I could not agree more. Although let’s say I do not lag behind those who would wish to buy stuff they won’t need except that I am still way too far from my dreams to be capable of buying a new Corvette in days when I have the itch to spend and give my son a Lexus or get ourselves a brand new Escalade as our family truck.

Looking at what I have done to myself and others, I can’t be more condescending to look at the things behind. There is no point to itemize the accomplishments I have successfully won over my many life’s battle but thinking about how my life have changed and passed through many frustrating epoch of my uneventful life, I can’t help but smile.

I have many friends who have seen me in different ways. My usual retort is that they keep their feet on the ground and never lose the desire to win. I still have the same sad feeling when I see my friends take the other course that eventually caused their downfall. Although it was never my habit to intrude into their own private lives, not to mention let them pick from my basket of wisdom my own decisions that make them inutile, I make sure that I let them know how I feel about their potentially damaging certitude of their naïve existence.

My constant goal is to be a good example of triumph over many life’s challenges among my siblings, friends and loved ones. It will be arrogant to claim that I’ve always succeeded to keep my goal because I have been through a lot of roller-coaster rides when it comes to making stupid decisions. But that is the essence. When you fall, you always have the unwavering aspiration to be on your feet again - only this time, a lot stronger and wiser.

I can count my achievements but I am always lost in keeping an accounting of my shortcomings, including those obtuse resolutions that have troubled my already confused life. Thinking how I came out from it, my smile brings me to wander in the sea of trials and errors. I wish I could be wiser, I wish I could be older so I can have the wisdom that will not hurt myself including those I loved.

I tried not to regret the things I do but attached to my inadequate experience in life and brought by my young aggressive almost stupid disposition, I usually end up beaten. As another year adds up my age, I pray that I be given the strength to be thankful of everything I have received, including the trials that I have won. I pray that I be able to live longer enough to see my children and return to my Heavenly Father the kind of blessings He had showered me all throughout my short existence on mortal life by serving Him.

The tendency to gossip seems to me a primordial “side dish” of their existence

2009-08-06T03:10:00.000-07:00

To some people, the tendency to gossip seems to me a primordial “side dish” of their existence. It made me stop sometime and try to put the robe on me, reflect on it and really think about it myself, real hard.

I usually ask myself if this has been something I do in retaliation to this hideous habit of those around me. I have seen other lives crumble right before senseless gossiping (is this a complete oxymoron – for I find sensible gossiping ridiculous).

One of my colleagues made me think about her being ticked off about people’s tendency to peek their nose on other people’s business. I had this experience before when I was freshie in our workplace and someone (I don’t even remember who he was or what was question all about) asked me about something I found a bit too personal. All I remembered was his reaction to my response “why is that your business” said in a very cheerful way.

The guy never actually made no further attempt to cross my line; I don’t even remember his name so I guess he got himself so distant that he was just one of those insignificant people I met.

Gossiping is a dark habit with danger written all over it. It weakens any man’s character no matter how entertaining it may appear.

Most of the stories of my life are less momentous but when my heart experienced that thing they called love, everything have changed.

2009-08-05T07:19:00.000-07:00

My parents once told us that life is like a lake on a cloudless moonlit night. The calmness of the lake replicates the images that will come into its spectrum, like having a special power to imitate life above its tranquil water. It becomes a gigantic mirror, allowing you to witness the unfolding of yourself right before your very eyes.

Mother had reminded us that someday, the way we live our life will be the “lake on moonlit night” and when that time comes, we shall see our life unfolds right before our very eyes. Seriously, until now, I am still unable to understand what she meant by that or how I will see my life in the lake. So I would leave it like that.

My memories about growing as a child would always nudge my lips to smile. I can’t help but beam every time these memories unexpectedly descend into my disturbed mind, it usually transport me into a flight of serenity.

Most of the stories of my life are less momentous but when my heart experienced that thing they called love, everything have changed. It brought me here, succumb with hope and desperation. So when Anais Nin commented in her diaries that, “Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.” I can relate to it completely.

I must say that I am left with baffled soul, not knowing what state or if I have elected a state where I wanted to remain. My mind tells me that I want to move on, to see life again and be able to live the life I ever wanted. What I have become seems devoid of meaning, only because of the one I loved.

The Democratization of Cambodia and East Timor: A Comparative Analysis

2009-08-03T04:03:00.000-07:00

In comparing the democratization of East Timor and Cambodia, it is essential to establish their short history of existence as a nation, their past wars and how the self-government of its people has started. Since democracy is not limited to just a set of constitutional rules and procedures, a government should exist but since government is only one element coexisting in a social composition of its people (institutions, political parties, organizations, and associations), it is important to determine the participation of its people in the exercise of their rights to form a nation based on the majority rule and protection of the rights of the minority. Pluralism exists when there is diversity and it assumes that the many organized groups and institutions in a democratic society do not depend upon government for their existence, legitimacy, or authority.

East Timor has a colonial past from Portugal, the Dutch and the Japanese (during the World War II). East Timor declared itself independent from Portugal on 28 November 1975 and was invaded and occupied by Indonesian forces nine days later and became the province of Timor Timur (East Timor). There were two decades of arm struggle against the Indonesian government by which 100,000 to 250,000 East Timorese died. On 30 August 1999, in a UN-supervised popular referendum, an overwhelming majority of the people of Timor-Leste voted for independence from Indonesia. The Government of Timor-Leste held presidential and parliamentary elections from April to June 2007 (Taylor, 1991).

Cambodia has an imperial past (Khmers of the Angkor Empire). The French put Cambodia under its protection in 1863 and it became part of French Indochina in 1887 then the Japanese occupied the country during WWII, and was later declared independent in 1953 from France. In April 1975, Communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh and executed at least 1.5 million Cambodians. Vietnamese invasion followed which drove the Khmer Rouge into the countryside and began a 10-year Vietnamese occupation. Cambodia nursed an almost 13 years of civil war. The 1991 Paris Peace Accords mandated democratic elections and a ceasefire, which was not fully respected by the Khmer Rouge. The UN-sponsored election in 1993 gave birth to a coalition government but was later ended by factional fighting in 1997. The second round of national elections in 1998 led to the formation of another coalition government and renewed political stability, the remaining elements of the Khmer Rouge surrendered in early 1999. The July 2003 election was relatively peaceful, but it took one year of negotiations between contending political parties before a coalition government was formed. In October 2004, King Sihanouk abdicated the throne due to illness and his son, Prince Norodom Sihamoni, was selected to succeed him (Chandler, 2007). Their latest election was last July 2008.

Hence, some elements of democracy should exist in order to determine the democratization of the two countries at case. The first consideration is the sovereignty of the people. Both of the countries gained sovereignty (to a certain degree) in some point of their histories. Their history of independence from their colonizers (East Timor from Portugal in 1975 while Cambodia from France in 1953) is distinct and actually provides a clear statement that both countries have achieve some degrees of sovereignty. Nonetheless, their democracy as to sovereignty of the people exists.

The second aspect of the democracy on this comparison should be the government formed by its people. The government based upon consent of the governed and it should have a free and fair elections. Although both countries held several elections under the United Nations and international peace keeping coalition, they have elected their own leaders. However, it is important to note that internal conflicts from factions undermine the peaceful electoral process of both countries. It is also impossible to ascertain the degree of independence and veracity of the election result (as it is always common in third world countries to those who are in position or the powerful to manipulate the votes of the people). During the last election in Cambodia, the electorate voted through: in the Senate, 57 members are elected by functional constituencies to serve 5-year terms, 2 members are elected by the National Assembly to serve 5-year terms and 2 members are appointed by the monarch to serve 5-year terms. In the National Assembly (Radhsphea Ney Preah Recheanachakr Kampuchea) 123 members are elected by party-list system with proportional distribution of seats to serve 5-year terms (International Foundation for Electoral Systems, 2008). On the other hand, the recent election in East Timor had been a close race. With nearly 47% of the East Timorese people opting for one of the other 12 parties or coalitions. These voters turned to other smaller parties, from Christian-influenced parties, through to parties with traditional-based ties, through to the leftist Socialist Party of Timor (PST). The National Unity Party (PUN), which had not run in previous elections, gained nearly 5%, in part due to tacit approval of its policies from the leadership of the Catholic Church (Lamb, 2007). In other words, both of the countries have exercised their right to vote for their leaders and established a government led by the personalities chosen by the populace. As to the question if it was fair and free election, it should be noted that Cambodia had a more military influence and have greatly affected the free will or the outcome of the election, alleged widespread fraud and irregularities and more than 300 complaints have been lodged against partial returns from individual vote counting stations (Gluck, 1998) although East Timor is far better than Cambodia having noted that “over 500 observers from 15 countries and international organizations, including Australia, were in East Timor for the elections and overwhelmingly characterized the elections as peaceful, fair and democratic” (Downer, 2007).

Since democracy should assure that the majority rule while the rights of the minority right are being protected as well, which form the third basis of a democratized nation. In Cambodia, there is a cloud of doubt in terms of having the majority rule principle. Based on their history, the factions have created an institutionalized affair of closed military governance and speckled with the powerful and mighty usually dominate. In a report by Ronald Bruce St John for the Foreign Policy in Focus regarding the failure of the government of Cambodia’s ability to withstand the demands of democracy, he states that, “Unfortunately, the international community has largely sanctioned Cambodia's failures. It has continued to provide substantial quantities of aid in the face of mounting evidence that even modest democratic reforms are compromised (St John, 2006). In addition, since there is a question of political reforms by which the participation of the majority through pluralism is lacking, St John added that, “Cambodia must curb executive powers as it develops an honest, independent judiciary and a concomitant respect for the rule of law. Active political parties remain important precursors for a sustainable, pluralistic order with a strong educational system a prerequisite for an effective democratic polity. These are only a few of the tough issues the international community must address if it is to succeed in promoting democratization in Cambodia and in other states with little or no democratic tradition, like Afghanistan and Iraq (2006).” This means that equal powers from the judiciary, legislative and executive must maintain the balance but something that does not happen since the Executive is overpowering the balance. On the other hand, East Timor has its own set of problems as regard to democratization. The institutionalization of democracy in East Timor faces major obstacles. Due to a long history of colonization, the East Timorese people have no experience of running a large modern democracy. Consequently, they have a lack of expertise in developing and maintaining democratic institutions. To set up the administrative systems that make a modern democracy possible requires money, time and skilled staff, none of which is plentiful in East Timor.

The guarantee of basic human rights in both countries is problematic. Their infancy in the arena of democracy has resulted to a certain degree of abuse of human rights. For a democracy to be effective, human rights need to be a priority. This means that the government must ensure that basic needs such as food, shelter and health care are met. Education should also be considered a human right and is an essential component of a healthy democracy. It is very difficult for people to participate in the political life of their country if basic needs like these are not met. These two countries are very poor, they lack the resources to provide equal opportunity for its citizens to access the basic services and attend to the basic needs of its people. According to a Joint Statement by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch during the 9th session of the UN Human Rights Council, “Lack of integrity and independence within the court system sits at the centre of Cambodia’s current human rights problems – its most notable impact is an escalating land crisis. Forced evictions further impoverish the marginalized, who are routinely deprived of redress. Violence against women goes unpunished. Freedoms of expression and association are compromised and human rights defenders, opposition journalists, and community activists defending land and natural resources are increasingly imprisoned on baseless charges, physically attacked, or murdered; the perpetrators are rarely brought to justice. The Supreme Council of Magistracy, established to ensure independence and effectiveness of the judiciary remains ineffectual, while the Constitutional Council has continuously failed to demonstrate its role to safeguard the constitutionality of legislation.” (Amnesty International & Human Rights Watch, 2008) While the human rights situation in East Timor is primarily effected by the Indonesian government, a report by Angela Balakrishnan noted that a report found Indonesia was guilty of carrying out human rights abuse on a grand scale during East Timor's 1999 break for independence (Balakrishnan, 2008).

The fourth defining element of democratization is the equality before the law, implementation of due process of law and existence of constitutional limits on government. Earlier it was noted in this paper that the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch delivered a report that Cambodia has continuously failed to safeguard the constitutionality of legislation. There is an overwhelming influence of the Executive power as it tips the balance of power. On the other hand, East Timor has shown its continued effort to provide the nation with a democracy but is constantly under siege by internal conflicts. The conflict in both countries, especially in East Timor has been devastating the peaceful implementation of the government of democracy while the government of Cambodia has continuously failed to curb corruption thereby causing inequality among its people. The corruption in both countries exist but Cambodia has more flaws in terms of its failure to reduce the surging rate of corruption while East Timor finds it hard to control the nation because of internal arm struggle and political conflicts.

The social, economic, and political pluralism in a democratized country must be evident. Active political participation can only emerge in democracies that are able to solve more fundamental problems of major economic inequalities and poverty. The problem with both countries, the predicament of economic inequality and poverty is at its highest point. The values of tolerance, pragmatism, cooperation, and compromise in both countries do exist to some extent. It is essential that a democratic country should have the ability to cooperate and promote tolerance with each other, such as the existence of freedom of speech, assembly, press and other freedoms that inherently promotes tolerance and compromise. Nowadays, it is extremely difficult to completely subdue these basic freedoms though to the advent of modern communication. It is however unfortunate that Cambodia find its too uneasy to grant this rights to its people, the Government, the military forces, and the ruling political party continued to dominate the broadcast media and to influence the content of broadcasts. According to a 2001 report by the UNHCHR, the procedures for licensing and allocation of radio and television frequencies to the media were not impartial. The SRP has consistently been unable to obtain a broadcast license. During 2001, it briefly broadcast radio programs from a site in a neighboring country, but subsequently suspended broadcasts for technical reasons. There were seven television stations, all controlled or strongly influenced by the CPP. Government control severely limited the content of television and radio broadcasting. At the initiative of the President of the National Assembly, the Ministry of Information-controlled national television and radio stations broadcast taped sessions of the National Assembly's debates; however, in several instances, these broadcasts were censored (UNCHR, 2001). In East Timor, the freedom is relatively relaxed compared to that of Cambodia. Given the country's transition to a functional democracy, the government has warned journalists to exercise their freedom with responsibility, and official reactions to overly adverse reporting remain a concern. In June, the Ministry of the Interior expelled Australian freelance journalist Julian King for allegedly subverting the state in his reporting. There is as yet no press council to adjudicate disputes. Therefore, the government uses legal codes adopted from Indonesian and Portuguese laws to address any aberrant, albeit undefined, media-related practices. However, no major incursions on press freedom were noted in 2004, although the government did on several occasions attempt to influence coverage (Freedom House, 2005).

Democratization in Cambodia and East Timor is an effort, an endeavor by which they both has to undergo the process to adopt such a regime. It is extremely difficult to determine how that process occurs, including what criteria to use in determining if democratization has, in fact, taken place. Typically, democracy has truly taken root until at least three national elections have been held. Another criterion could be the peaceful transfer of power from one political party or coalition to the former opposition. Such a transition is critical because it indicates that the major political forces in a country are prepared to settle their disputes without violence and to accept that they will all spend periods of time out of office. Unfortunately, using that as our determinants, it is still immature to predispose or declare that both countries have actually achieved democracy.

References

Balakrishnan, A. (2008, July 15). Indonesia accepts guilt over East Timor human rights abuses.
The Guardian. Retrieved October 7, 2008, from http://www.guardian.co.uk
Chandler, D. (2007). A History of Cambodia. Westview Press, 2007
Downer, A. (2007, July 12). East Timor Parliamentary Elections. Retrieved October 7, 2008,
from http://www.foreignminister.gov.au/releases/2007/fa085_07.html
Freedom House, Freedom of the Press - East Timor 200) (2005, 27 April). Online. UNHCR
Refworld. Retrieved October 7, 2008 from available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4734515c23.html
Gluck C. (1998, August 5). Asia-Pacific Hun Sen wins Cambodia election. The BBC News.
Retrieved October 7, 2008, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/145702.stm
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International (2008, September 15). Joint statement at the
UN Human Rights Council. New York: United Nation
IFES (2008, July 7). Election Profile for Cambodia. Retrieved October 7, 2008, from
http://www.electionguide.org/election.php?ID=1188
Lamb, J. (2007, Jul7 14). East Timor: Uncertainty over future government. Green Left Online.
Retrieve October 7, 2008, from http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/717/37249
St John, B. (2006, January 23). Cambodia’s Failing Democracy. Foreign Policy in Focus.
Retrieved October 7, 2008, from http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3079/
Taylor, J. G. (1991). Indonesia's Forgotten War: The Hidden History of East Timor. Australia:
Pluto Press

Love is so intangible that it goes beyond human perception.

2009-02-16T03:04:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, loving can be so exasperating. Tailed with this tremendous effort to pour in affection to someone is the inevitable reality that somehow pain will cross the threshold of what may seem fleeting. But along the way, as soon as you are able to walk though this bitter path of desperation and feeling of “I wished I’ve been this or that” would be a realization that loving is actually worth it.

Many would sulked into the pitiable self, trying their very best to find the ground they would fit in after the tumultuous relationship. Only to find that it is becoming more and more difficult to erase the image of your love that have been etched though the times. I can only imagine how hard it would be to sleep seeing the face of that someone you have dearly loved, thought of everyday and cared for.

So no wonder I have friends who will approach me and say that they feel their world falls apart and they are walking their way with their life crumbling behind their steps. Looking at it, you might find this a little worrying.

I usually do not know what to say in the beginning; worried that whatever I might say would be a sure recipe for an added insult to the injury. I have always been very careful with the bits and pieces of my not-so wise advices about love.

I retreat to my own reflection and mull over many issues of relationship. I know for a fact that love conquers all and transcends age, culture, geography and let’s say, sex as well. Being in love could be the sweetest thing one could ever experience.

For love is that something that has so many definition and yet, deep inside, the truest meaning of love becomes so incomprehensible and beyond any portrayal that one can understand despite the wonder of verbal communication. How many times people failed to offer reasons why they love someone? That is because love is so intangible that it goes beyond human perception.

So when love carries someone to the seventh Heaven, it can also dig you down under. For it is so powerful that mankind through time immemorial have witnessed the incredible force that love can bestow to the world. Love launched nations to war, changed the face of civilization and saved mankind from the gates of hell.

Although man is very limited to see love according to what may seem superficial to many, for the true understanding of love sometimes come upon us when someone you truly love is already gone. When that someone is no longer there to feel your embrace, the subtle kiss of your lips that long for favorable reception and perfect comfort even when you both are oblivious to the silence of togetherness.

The emptiness is so agonizing, it hurts so much that missing your someone would pierce a deep scar in your heart, battling the memories of your togetherness to stop haunting your vulnerable spirit. Then tell me, how could someone easily leave behind the reminiscence of the love that once made them invisible and had an almost never-say-die aspirations to conquer the world?

Oh love! Why art thou so strange that thou made man to cringe over the fallen foliage of what was once splendid beating of 2 hearts? Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone.

That the truth is not bent, that honesty shall prevail and for fraud to surface

2008-10-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

News always fascinates me. Writing is a challenge and one of those passions included in my very short list of things on my bed spread. The problem with news, it should be straight that I ended up spending so much of my time being vigilant so that the truth is not bent, that honesty shall prevail and for fraud to surface. The good news is, in the College of Nursing, there is not much bad news and it is good to me. But in the long run, it is practically impossible that good news is constant. In the words of Napoleon Bonaparte, he warned that, “Never awake me when you have good news to announce, because with good news nothing presses; but when you have bad news, arouse me immediately, for then there is not an instant to be lost.”

It is the bad news that excites me. I actually loathe at it. But just like Bonaparte, there is not an instant to be lost when presented with it. In my short stay in the University of Baguio, I have met spectacular personalities, worked with different types of people and rubbed elbows with the amazing and the simple. The culture was extremely unfamiliar to me, I learned a thing or two and bruised me big time in the process but at the end of the day, I hit the bed with a smile, that at least, life has never been less interesting. I even pray for it. Hoping that life be a constant opportunity to beat the bad news, that bad news never stays the same. It churns the optimist in me.

Being a chunk in the arena of student leadership, I want to emphasize two things. First, there is a need for all the students of the College of Nursing to sprint and be “bold and daring.” Secondly, everybody must do the same. When it comes to what is considered as bad news, it is when change is introduced. That of course is a sign of lack of understanding that change would improve us all. Another is often the news that would involve participation and time. Time is what we make of it. It is just frustrating to hear complaints about certain issues but only the few would put effort to be a part of the solution. The majority would flee from involvement, so it elates me to see students reading what is on the bulletin board. That is a sign that at least their visual gift is not actually wasted.

I dare everyone to be bold and daring. Be bold to stand for what is right and to uphold the truth. Be bold to accept our roles as student by respecting our Clinical Instructors, administrators and those who are in authority. Be bold to accept that our mentors are not omniscient and only through constructive participation and sharing that true symbiotic relationship shall exist. Be bold to respect individual differences and promote tolerance. Dare to be part of the solution, but if you are oblivious to bother, try not to add to the problem. Be bold to go beyond your potential. Do not be satisfied with what is just being presented within the boundaries of the classrooms, the world is so vast, we can actually drown with its vastness and yet, we are still ignorant of what the world has to offer. Dare to make a difference. Dare to acknowledge that all the persons we meet in this university have its own purpose, be nice to everyone even if others are not. Do not be too traditional. Life changes and together with it is the demand of the time compelling everyone to be more creative, to be assertive of our rights and to be more participative. Be bold to remain a person of character and virtue.

Student life is not without end. This part of our life shall be reduced to memories but what would be left is our ability to withstand the real battle waiting for us after graduating from this university. What lies ahead is the true test of our character, our virtue and our strength to win the real challenges of life. Take advantage of this chance, when we are still allowed to falter because of our naïve disposition, when we can still fail because it is understandable, be wary of this opportunity to be care free for at the end of the day, when we are no longer under the responsibility of our instructors and administrators, we shall be by ourselves. We shall be the person based on the choices we made during the time when we are still being prepared to travel the journey they call life. Let us all be careful of what we pick along this journey, for what may break or help us is what we did or did not choose.

Life will be a constant skirmish of good and bad news. It will not change but it does not matter, what matter most is who was left standing. Who fought the fight, who made the difference, who were the bold and the daring.

My self-pity was devouring my will to keep going.

2008-09-05T22:45:00.000-07:00

I have not written anything for like eternity. If you’d ask me what have came to pass about me and my boring uneventful life, I guess, it wasn’t that less exciting at all. I got mugged. I was hospitalized and became a party MC shortly after my hospital discharge. Actually, I needed to leave the hospital to be able to host that party. Now beat that.

Aside from my gruesome mug experience with 5 brainless brutes, I can relate what have happened to me during my short ER experience. I guess I am still not willing to recollect my hold-up experience just yet. Drop you a hint. It was a near death experience. Now drop it.

As everybody knows, my allergic rhinitis haunted me like hell. I was having nauseating post-nasal drip and my nose is just so spiteful to me. I swear I could take all my antihistamine pills to get my allergy to rest but it was no avail. I was beginning to feel like I got cooked with my nasal spray. I suddenly felt a chest tightening. I mean, I can’t breath well. I ignored it and went on with my life that day. I had it relieved for a while so I thought I could go to do my grocery. I never thought I’ll have asthma attack, but then all of that shortness of breathing was already a symptom that I was actually having exacerbation.

I was able to survive my attack in the supermarket. I went to shower immediately as soon as I got home. Tried to sleep but my chest is getting too tight, I was actually gasping for air. I could hear my lungs wheezing. I walked my way to the hospital, I think it was the longest 50 meters walk I ever did in my entire life. I presented myself at the ER and the doctors immediately went to work. I had my IV, a nebulization, my oxygen saturation was all time low and my blood pressure was shooting up high. My heart rate was like gone mad. I felt like the window of consciousness is closing upon me. I was terribly dizzy.

I wanted to leave ASAP when I got a bit relieved but then I was surprised that the doctor ordered the nurse to admit me for confinement. I was shocked. Scared and a bit pissed off. I wanted to leave and was so frustrated why they can’t understand that. They ordered for an ECG. One of the ER nurses put me on a wheel chair and wheeled me off to the radiology department for my chest X-Ray, I thought I’d pass out. I swear I wanted to puke that time. I was glad that the staff were too patient and caring. I got a couple of shots, blood sample was taken from me and the last thing I can remember, I was shivering not sure because of cold or the IV shot that I was injected.

After that ordeal in the ER, I was transferred to the ward. Gladly, the nurses there are my friends. You know, when you become terribly sick, the first thing that would hit you is how on earth that you are in a hospital and not even one from your loved ones were there beside you. That thought hit me like a total devastation. My self-pity was devouring my will to keep going. My nerves are all wrecked up that moment but the worst thing was about me being alone.

That was the hardest part of it. I learned then that life is too short. I have never appreciated much about the significance of staying healthy. That period of my life, the thought of how much I love to stay with my loved ones preoccupied me. That experience had caused me to appreciate life more fully.

Oh, so I forgot about the party, wait up for it. I’d write more about that shindig in a short while.

2008-08-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

I am not sure if my leaving the Philippines had actually obscured my insight of the real Pinas. It is only lately that I have been inflictedwith self-realization that I am not the same as I was before, with a hope thatI did not get worse, I guess.

Of course, I hate to sound a bit condescending about my past, or my roots or anything that has to do with mylife back in the Philippines. It is just that despite of the drastic change of my lifestyle, the sting brought by my economic inadequacy back then suddenly reminded me of the lucid frustration I mustered, and I can say, it is still haunting me occasionally – just like it does lately.

Those experiences have taught me a thing or two. It bruised me big time but I turned out to be tougher. But that is not the real reason why I am writing about it. I want to let you see the shame and guilt I have been into for what I thought were miserable living in the Philippines.

Back then, I whined so bad that I put the complaining biatches to shame. Only little did I know that there are more people who has no ability to complain at all, not that they could not but they just have nothing at all to feel the need of complaining. What is more devastating is the fact that I am just one of the million Pinoys who do not know other thing more productive than just complain.

My understanding then of beingpoor was my inability to take a vacation in Hong Kong because I do not have the money to pay for the package promo rate. I am so frustrated every time I was unable to pay the tuition fee of my two college siblings in full since my salary can only pay the down payment for each semester. I hate myself because I can only take my then gf to Chowking and not in Via Mare, Chilis, or take a break in Cibo or Red Crabs.

Back then, I have always thought that my life is in constant misery. I would be easily upset by the surge of bodies boarding MRT trampling everyone who would not budge in and the way some passengers smell. I cursed myself for not having my own condo unit near my work place and not being able to afford a chauffeur to drive me to my office.

Most of my miseries that time were very mundane, almost incredibly superficial. But I was not conscious of it, all I knew was I am poor, devoid of any ability to alleviate my state of inconveniences. I was stupid enough that millions of other
Filipinos are deprived of the very basic necessities to survive a day. Children are unable to go to school because they were either abandoned by their parents or have to work instead so they can have something to feed their hungry stomach.

I had the chance to be acquainted with a group of gay teenagers who were giggling while staring at my brother while we, together with my younger sister, were waiting for our computer to be fixed in a computer shop while I was in the Philippines. They throw banters to each other about how awful was the other guy to hit on my brother and tag their pal as “patay gutom” meaning, he doesn’t even have the means to find food lest find a partner. Although they laughed at it, deep inside me is the feeling of sadness that someone has to be told like this just because of his below poverty-line existence.

I went to interview one of the kids (he told me his name is Princess, I did not bother to ask for his real name), his enthusiasm masked the scarcity of resources that made him appear very malnourished. His energy was high and his laughter is typical of a loud gay who is just having fun probably because of the attention they are getting while my sister and brother were embarrassed, because I am entertaining Princess and his friends.

He told me of his dreams, his was simple. The way Princess put it was very quaint, his purpose in life is devoid of complexity, it was rather plain, unadorned and yet the sincerity is perceptible.

He just wants to finish his high school study and be able to dance, then he paused and an unmistakable laughter followed, probably to betray the seriousness of his response and make it appear less melodramatic. Back then, I doubt I knew of someone who would only think about finishing high school as a dream. I always thought that dreams are meant to be high, oblivious to the reality since dream comes free anyway. Then I realized that life is no longer the same as it was before.

Being able to live another day is an everyday feat. Shelters are no longer a choice of concrete and wood, the dichotomy is now between having one and nothing at all. I used to hear that poor people are poor because they sleep on the floor and not on the bed, it has changed dramatically. It is now about what comes between the floor and the naked back. Or even what floor is it, the street or a shanty built under the bridge. Life is harsh. Even worst than I thought.

Living and working abroad has made me realized that looking from a distant point of view, I witnessed images and those conceptions that were never there back then - back in the Philippines where you only see yourself. I was miserable because of my aspiration to feel better and escape from life’s harsh whip. Isn’t that pathetic?

My absence from the Philippines had me. It resulted to an almost transcendent understanding of what really lies beneath and poked the real side of me. The guilt and shame went gushing to my consciousness, embarrassed of my complaints, my pains and personal hassles.

Right now, I am frustrated that there is not much I could do. Unable to do something significant to cause any radical change to the state of my dear nation and its people. I am just another clueless pinoy, not knowing how I can be different and make an impact, even to the least degree of what they may call positive action.

Or probably I know. Just that I do not have the guts to work it out or just being less courageous knowing that whatever effort I do, I will be sucked up by the already corrupt system. Thinking about it, I find myself to have less and less audacity to do whatever is purpose-driven.

Sigh. It just sucks that it is easier to give up and throw your hands to the pblivion of hopelessness.

I got assailed with so many weird things this week.

2008-02-11T21:38:00.000-08:00

I got assailed with so many weird things this week. Here is one for you. There was one of those guys from apartment complex I live who suddenly came up to me, while I was standing beside my supermarket cart, whispering that he thinks I can play tennis well. He nudged himself toward my ear and said things I did not readily understand.

The way he did it reminded me of mobsters trying to lure me to buy drugs. Only because it fell under the category of “weirdness,” I was not exactly very polite and got a bit jumpy, retreated in a flash and gave him a stern look. Only then I realized that he was telling me that he wants to help me with my tennis practice.

I wrote something about “invisible people” sometime ago then found out I am again guilty of keeping other people in transparent mode - harsh. He said he usually see me in the gym when I am not in the tennis court. I kinda felt I was a “little” distant and less affable that time.

Then I become conscious that he was actually trying to make friends or unless he had seen me play tennis and thought I am in a terrible need of some kind of help. This is funny, without me knowing, the poor guy was just intending to help me sort out my tennis game because it makes him sick watching me whack those tennis balls and turning that “noble” game into a spectacle of guffaws.

So trying to recompense my offensive reaction, I told him that I will be glad to see him help me with my tennis strokes and prolly, he can teach me to be the tennis player that I wanna be. I was almost tempted to ask if he would make me the next Federer (who, by the way, I think will win the Cincinnati Open) and would he be kind to bring me Gatorade as well during every game. Oh that sounds condescending. Come on, I am just kidding.

I am beginning to believe that I am a likeable person (geeez, I am flattering myself way to much here but definitely not thrilled with “him” liking me though) and for not having recognized the people who wanted to give their assistance to better my everyday existence is a substantial shame because unlike the rest of you guys, I have nothing to offer except my one big cheesy smile.

2008-01-01T06:51:00.000-08:00

Walking along the Session Road in Baguio City on the first day of the year 2008 became a little bit less smile-triggering, somehow diminished my already high-level enthusiasm brought by the holiday season.

I bet I am just one of the zillions, who-for some reason, are putting up on their minds about things they wished would be improved. Why not? New year brings hope. The problem is, mine is only hope. What I see around me is the inability of the many to really realized that our country is becoming less and less likely to be better. No, I don’t think so. Then you would go, wow, what a great way to start 2008 with cynicism. Sure. Whatever.

Then it zapped me to the fact that no matter how much I wanted to stay positive, my environment, the place, the government and generally, the people around me are already succumbed with hopelessness.

Dang! I earn dollars. What is the value of it? Nah. Isn’t it that by economic dictates (something I learned from my college economics), the appreciation of the peso should alleviate the economic situation and thereby result to increased purchasing power of the people. Then that textbook fact is now officially declared and proven false. In the Philippines, many textbook principles are defied by the reality of “only in the Philippines” circumstances.

I certainly do not wish to start with my own list of complaints, I just find that incredibly surprising. I also think that Filipino, whether they are the business people or those bureaucrats regulating the economic policies of this country, are just simply nasty, greedy and cruel. The day of reckoning shall come too…Now that is my 2008 so called less conventional, non-optimistic way of looking at it. I am not angry, this is not an explosion of angst as well as it usually gets tiring in the long run, it is just a quick observation that in this country, those who are poor are becoming worst while the wealthy are just getting fatter.

I hope she fell, and fell hard, you dull pathetic bitch!

2007-08-23T19:15:00.000-07:00

Then finally – an apology and resignation! Did she actually resign or were asked to? I would have supposed Malu Fernandez learned her lessons – the hard way, I guess. She should have been properly “educated” that technology paved the way for shunning bigotry and maligning any group of individuals. This is the very reason why the term “politically correct” painted our society; I am very surprised that Malu is not aware (since she claims to be bred by the best western school and being well traveled) that all over the world, especially in the US, any slur against any group in the society could cause downfall. And so I hope she fell, and fell hard, you dull pathetic bitch!

How can she (including her so called elite friends) make fun of the already marginalized member of the social echelon when she wrote, “a funny article in my magazine column and my friends thought it was hilarious. It was humorous and quite tongue-in-cheek…” What is so funny by working hard and saving the Philippines from total economic doom so you and your other “so called” elite friends can continue their businesses to thrive in this country.

And since when “highly royalty-like upbringing” you insistently brandish in your writings taught you to make fun of “unfortunate financial deplorable condition” as you imply with being an OFW and make it appear “acerbic wit?” Malu-seriously, are you just being bitchy or oblivious to your elitist trip that you forgot you are being an idiot? Is that something your family of politicians, which you “passionately” brag, have caused you? No wonder, I am not so surprised.

If you, yes you Malu, have actually learned a thing or two about journalism, you would not write anything close to this “I obviously write for a certain target audience and if what I write offends you, just stop reading.” What are you-a moron? Did you seriously think that whatever you write is something that would be read only by your target audience so whoever read it and do no belong to your “intended” readers can go to hell?

What is Malu trying to imply by writing “If any of these people actually read anything thicker than a magazine they would find it very funny.” Dang, those OFWs are ignoramus and incapable of reading books. Malu, I gave up, you are one heck of a pathetic social disgrace.

She should have shown any sign of intelligence by learning that OFWs are either very skilled or considered as the intellectuals in the workplace. If she were just filling something in her oversized head so it would not remain empty aside from so much “air”, she would know that OFWs are very educated and highly respected in so many different parts of the world.

You see, what she writes in her columns are total contradiction of all that she wants to be. She should be a little prudent or wise with her unprecedented bragging so it will turn out convincing.

Well, I guess she was not smart as she thinks she is.

When she said, “Although it may sound elitist to you the fact is this country is built on the foundation of haves, have-nots and wannabes” I agree. Nevertheless, Malu has no right to insult and mock the OFW just because she feels pretty much different only on the basis of haves.

But then again, I do not think she belongs to the haves neither to the have-nots. She is just one obese, inadequate wannabe who drop names so that people can label her as someone she wanted to be – how pathetic is that? If social climbing would be an understatement with her case, damn, I am incapable of describing Ms. Fernandez.

I laughed so hard, I almost farted

2007-08-22T22:51:00.000-07:00

Malu Fernandez who? When People Asia Magazine published an article about her “jet set” rendezvous from Boracay to Greece and lashed brutally on the sad plight of OFW, dang, I was not actually fuming when I read it. I immediately treated her writing, “whatever” if you can call that, something to be trodden with my sand-filled Chuck Taylor Converse worn out shoes. I laughed so hard, I almost farted.

Not because of her pretentious arrogant and superfluous description of her travels, her idea of flamboyance is a perfect picture of how to live a “pitiful” wannabe lifestyle, but her way of exaggerating her ultra luxurious “dull and empty” life really made the whole article weird as if vomit-inducing is not enough to describe it.

Really, is she seriously normal? I mean, how can someone (she claims to rub elbows with legitimate social snobs) like her think of OFW to be 2^nd class people? Damn, the audacity to find a close analogy of sardines to OFWs and the bigotry against the cheap colognes that she falsely thought that OFWs wear.

"I have news for you, I bet you all the bucks I earned, OFWs wear the most expensive sprays, moron, from Versace down to Chanel, Gucci and Vera Wang brands."

Nobody in their sound state of mind would even publish anything so insensitive against a group of individuals who have been battered already with indignity and sufferings. I went to look for her name in the net only to find scant info about her and realized that she is not what she wants to project.

I have realized too that when she looked at OFW condescendingly because of the label whipped to our butts brought by her ignorance, she could be suffering from a mental illness that is adversely affecting her normal way of relating herself to elitist society. Then, again, how can she legitimately be one when her “account” of fabulous lifestyle is an utmost idiocy of contradiction? Seriously, no filthy rich woman would even think to fly economy class.

Manila Standard has officially added insult to the injury by initially disowning her then later admitting she writes on Sundays only. Look at how irresponsible our media had become? People Asia Magazine should be held accountable as well for publishing an article that is blatantly poking the already wounded dignity of the OFW.

Check the article (page 1) —> http://www.tingog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/people-asia-p30.jpg

Check the article (page 2) —> http://www.tingog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/people-asia-p31.jpg

Traumatic Clinical Results

2007-08-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

An American married to a Filipina had a dismal experience with one of the clinics in Manila. His wife and daughter were processing travel documents for Saudi Arabia when the wife was found unfit to travel causing much delay to obtain the visa.

Dr. Jade Israel of Christian E. Cangco Medical Clinic & Laboratory located in Makati City informed that the wife has a terrifying infectious disease that compromised her decency as a woman and declared her unfit to travel. Allegedly, Cangco Clinic conveyed that the disease is incurable and so when the woman inquired about her options, it was mentioned that 1,500 USD would be paid by the clinic as a penalty should they issue a certificate despite the positive result, leaving the woman wondering about the significance of this information to her case.

Allegedly, the clinic was being very careful not to directly imply to pay the fine in exchange of the “fit to travel” certificate. When she finally indicated her intention to seek a second opinion, the said doctor insisted that a second opinion was not allowed and that she was the final authority for declaring if the woman was fit or unfit to travel.

The Filipina was devastated. She immediately informed her husband about the result then went back to Iloilo to consult with her long-time OB/Gyn doctor and related what was told by the said clinic. The OB/Gyn doctor was surprised and immediately doubted the diagnosis based on the history of the patient. The woman’s doctor immediately contacted Dr.Israel and inquired why the patient was denied the opportunity to seek a second opinion, Dr.Israel claimed that there is a doctor in San Lazaro Hospital who provides second opinion for the GAMCO-accredited clinics on certain occasions but it is not applicable to her case. The woman’s doctor performed another independent blood test and it turned out negative but arranged anyway with the doctor in San Lazaro Hospital to see the woman for another testing.

The husband was forced to fly to the Philippines upon learning that his wife had been in a minor car accident while driving back to their home as a result of her severe emotional distress. He then immediately went to San Lazaro Hospital with his wife to take the same test withoutnotifying Cangco Clinic, the lab result turned out negative as well. The doctor in San Lazaro prepared a certification addressed to Cangco Clinic that she is negative and was never exposed to such a disease.

The results from San Lazaro Hospital and Iloilo Specialist Hospital challenged the outcome of the test done in the said clinic but allegedly, Dr. Israel was unrelenting about the mistake. Then they both agreed that his wife would take the same test again only if there would be two blood samples to be sent to two different GAMCO-accredited clinics, the results turned out negative as well. The clinic finally certified her “fit to travel” although the cost to the couple had already been damaging specially the psychological disturbance caused by the mistake. Dr. Christian Cangco, the Medical Director of the said clinic, promised that the examining physician will be dealt strongly and a reprimand will be instigated.

When Dr. Israel was notified about the issue through a phone conversation and was requested to provide her side of the story, she indicated that the matter would be handled by Dr. Cangco and declined to comment further. Dr. Cangco explained, through the phone, that their clinic reversed the result and indicated that the travel of the patient “was not delayed anyway and that she was able to proceed to Saudi Arabia after receiving the certificate.”

Israel also explained their laboratory equipment were just recently purchased and assured that their clinic is certified by ISO 9001 and TUV. When asked if he is aware of any direct or indirect solicitation in return of releasing medical certificates despite the failing laboratory results, he strongly commented that he does not condone any solicitation. He assured that this does not happen in Cangco Clinic.