WANT TO BECOME A DOG?

UNEMPLOYED: "Sir, puwede po ba mag apply na maging boy?" (Sir, may I work as your errand boy?)

MAN: "Sige, ang gagawin mo lang alagaan ang aso, pakainin ito ng masasarap at mamahalin at kung ano pa ang gusto nya." (OK, all you have to do is take care of the dog. Feed it with delicious & expensive foods and give it anything that it wants.)

UNEMPLOYED: Ehhhh... sir, puwede po bang mag apply na lang na maging aso? (Err, sir, may I just apply to become your dog?)

:lol: :))

Such an anecdote came about as more and more people are leaving lots of their wealth to their pets. Just yesterday, the CNN reported that Billionaire Leona Helmsley left millions of dollars to her pet dog. Even in the Philippines, a lot of people passionately spend for the care of their dogs.

It will not surprise me if people in this country are already leaving some inheritance to their pets.

And it wouldn't surprise me either, if some people will come out claiming that portion of money in the will, by claiming that they are the pet being referred to.

GDP INCREASE: IS THE ECONOMY REALLY GETTING BETTER?

The newspapers today report the fastest ever increase in our GDP. A GDP growth is indeed remarkable compared to an increase in GNP figures. It is because the former pertains to the overall output of the economy (including the income of various Philippine companies abroad and OFW remittances) while the latter includes only the money generated within the political boundaries of the country. Therefore, if the GDP increases significantly, a number of people residing inside the country should have benefited.

For the past several few years, we have often heard people complain that all the GNP and GDP increases seemed to have benefited only a handful and were not felt by the citizens of this country. People seem to have become poorer, prices continue to rise and increases in income seem to be insignificant. This is even confirmed by some of the country's economists who reported that the poverty incidence in the countryside have even increased.

Here's what most of us fail to see. Simply put, a GDP increase means that local businesses increased their sales and the people's total income increased . Therefore, it is most probable that more suppliers, production, warehousing, delivery and other personnel were employed. Furthermore, a continuation of such trend over time will result to a spillover effect of benefits until it reaches the farthest points within the country.

If more people are actually getting hungry in the provinces, it means that the production growth has been limited to some localities or wasn't considerable enough to effect a spillover of benefits. The government should therefore invest more in the provinces so that the residents in those areas will be able to ride the prosperity tide. That should mean the building of more farm to market roads, better and more post harvest and port facilities, etc.

At this point, a lot of businesses are being established in the far provinces even without the encouragement of the national government. BPO firms in search of qualified talent have started to locate in areas away from the main cities. An example of which is the establishment of a large call center facility in Tanjay, Negros and the possibility of a big BPO company being started in a municipality in Nueva Ecija. The establishment of such business will give rise to a creation of other industries such as food, clothing, housing, etc.

Taking such a wonderful phenomena as an inspiration, the government should encourgage large investments in the far away provinces. Tax breaks and other incentives should be a good start. It results to a faster growth of the economy and more importantly, a better distribution of wealth.

Thanks, Congressman Padilla!

This one will be short. I hope to be able to post a longer discourse tomorrow.

Instead of wasting precious time and taxpayers money by calling for a congressional investigation in aid of legislation, the gentleman from Nueva Vizcaya, Rep Carlos Padilla filed a court case against some government officials for an alleged multi billion dollars worth of an anomalous deal with a Chinese government owned company.

Thanks, Congressman Padila. May your colleagues emulate you.



Ok, no need to click on the "Read More" link for now. This post ends here. Ciao!

SEPTIC TANK VANDALS: At least they got caught

While my original intention is to talk about macro Philippine issues, I have decided to post the occasional tabloid stories that catch my attention.

Four (4) employees of A&W Excavation, which has an office in San Guillermo Street, Barangay Bayanan, Muntinlupa City were arrested for dumping human (septic tank) waste inside the National (Rizal) Park. I don't know if that act was sanctioned by the company or the @#$%%^ employees are simply trying to shorten their working hours.

At any rate, I suggest that the arresting officers dunk them in drums filled with excrement for 4 days, as a form of punishment.

Even Rizal will approve of that.

PINOY MAID "LISA" ON RAPE VIDEO RESCUED

UPDATE: It turned out that the Pinay maid rescued is "Lisa", not the Melissa that is now a subject of a widespread search. Like Melissa, she was raped by her employer and sons and the act was videotaped, as well.

======

I am yet to watch the TV report but I am rejoicing at the rescue of Lisa, the maid videotaped being raped by three sons of her employer.


We are very happy for you, Lisa. We pray that you will soon be able to recover and move on from this horrible experience.

Now, let's all try to get the rapists' genitals burned.

When we were grade school kids, we had a joke. We used to chant;

DEATH BY BUNDA!
DEATH BY BUNDA!

I am laughing as I remember this. This time though, I am not kidding.

Madrigal Singers win European Grand Prix for the second time

A few minutes after posting the good news article, I went to the Inquirer website and found out that the Madrigal Singers won another international competition. I simply could have added it to the list but this is their 15 minutes of fame.

Mabuhay Kayo, Philippine Madrigal Singers!!!!

Maraming Salamat!

MORE GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES

Despite the flood of negative news, there's been a constant pour of good tidings. Some of us gets to hear about it over the radio, watch it on television and read it on the papers. For those who are not updated, here's a short list in an attempt to make us all feel prouder of our country-- the Philippines.

MATHEMATICS:

• 16 Pinoy (Filipino) kids win individual 3rd place finishes in the China Junior High School Math Olympiad in Shijiezhuang, China (August 5 to 10, 2007).
  
• Pinoy Kids Dominate Math Olympiad.

ARTS:

• Filipino bagged the Over-all Grand Champion of the World (Junior Division) in the recently concluded 11th World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA) in Hollywood, USA. The event is also known as the Hollywood Olympics.

SPORTS:

• Pinoy Kids Won 2nd place in the World. What made this win more memorable is that they lost to a FIL-AM (Filipino-American) led Hawaii baseball team
• Two Filipino Kids Won strong 2nd places in the Callaway Junior World Golf Championships.

Please feel free to add to this list. Send it via email or you may also post through the comments section.

UPDATED: THE MALU FERNANDEZ CONTROVERSY TAKES A NEW TWIST

I was told that there may be a new twist to this story. It seems that the Manila Standard is washing its hands off the controversy with an editor issuing a statement pointing at the PEOPLE ASIA and Philippine Star as being solely responsible and deserving blame for this Brouhaha.

The denial continues by referring to BLOGGERS as HAVING PASSED ON WRONG INFORMATION. Let me see... Isn't the bogus and condescending apology published at the Manila Standard? Wasn't the article entitled, "AM I BEING A DIVA? OR DO YOU LACK COMMON SENSE?"

Let me do some research. Should I find truth in that Pilate act, I shall write about it here. If you, my fellow bloggers and dear bloggers find something, please let me know. Bigots and those who defend them have no place in this country.

UPDATE: (28 August 2007): MALU ACCORDING TO CARLOS CELDRAN

UPDATE: (28 August 2007): Babes Romualdez (People Asia) on Malu

UPDATE (27 August 2007): The denial referred to in the above article was made by a Manila Standard officer in his personal capacity. It was in a statement that he relayed to a few friends and was passed on to me. Well, I already gave my two cents worth of "Enlightenment" to his friends. That guy is entitled to his opinion and may just be misinformed. For the meantime, the Manila Standard is yet to issue its position on the issue in relation to the papers editorial standards-- they allowed the publication of Malu's condescending article, right? Other papers apologize whenever they commit mistakes. Maybe, Manila Standard doesn't. Or maybe, they see nothing wrong with Malu Fernandez' low regard for the Filipino readers and the OFW's.

CONSTRUCTION OF TAAL CRATER RESORT CONTINUES

A few weeks ago, a controversy erupted when it was exposed that a Korean company is building a structure along the mouth of Mt. Taal. How and why it was given an Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) remains foreign to me.

The construction eventually stopped after the government issued a temporary suspension of the ECC but now, the construction is said to be back.

I hope the Korean owners will be at the site every time the volcano erupts. I also hope that his family will be there, as well.

Read the news in this link.

Regarding the performance of the Internet Service Providers

As I write this, I am suffering from the 30kbps bandwidth speed that a WIFI provider is serving. I have already ordered a lot of food and transferring to another place will be much of a hassle. This is not to mention that I will probably get the same speed in another place. I have experienced this problem yesterday and things are probably the same in most places for this firm.

I therefore write a related article next time, as a response to some good comments that this site received in an earlier article that I cannot link due to the slow speed of my provider.

hasta manana!

Regarding Malu Fernandez

This previously unknown writer has become so popular because of two articles that she wrote. Previously unknown because I was told that the Manila Standard even initially denied her existence. It was only after some verification that they acknowledged knowing and having Malu Fernandez as a writer.

On the first article (here & here), she wrote about her spur of the moment vacation to Greece, where she flew Emirates- Economy Class to save on money. Here's what followed:

"However I forgot that the hub was in Dubai and the majority of the OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) were stationed there. The duty-free shop was overrun with Filipino workers selling cell phones and perfume. Meanwhile, I wanted to slash my wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them."

"While I was on the plane (where the seats were so small I had bruises on my legs), my only consolation was the entertainment on the small flat screen in front of me. But it was busted, so I heaved a sigh, popped my sleeping pills and dozed off to the sounds of gum chewing and endless yelling of “HOY! Kumusta ka na? At taga san ka? Domestic helper ka rin ba?” Translation: “Hey there? Where are you from? Are you a domestic helper as well?” I thought I had died and God had sent me to my very own private hell."

"On my way back, I had to bravely take the economy flight once more. This time I had already resigned myself to being trapped like a sardine in a sardine can with all these OFWs smelling of AXE and Charlie cologne while Jo Malone evaporated into thin air."

That articles offended a lot of bloggers and the Philippine side of the Internet was flooded with angry remarks that called her pretentious & a name dropper among other things. Some made cruel references to her weight, compared her to Australia's Pauline Hanson, etc., etc..

In response, Malu wrote an article at the Manila Standard where she said;

Just recently, I wrote a funny article in my magazine column and my friends thought it was hilarious. It was humorous and quite tongue-in-cheek, or at least I thought so, until the magazine got a few e-mails from people who didn’t get the meaning of my acerbic wit. The bottom line was just that I had offended the reader’s socioeconomic background. If any of these people actually read anything thicker then a magazine they would find it very funny. Most people don’t get the fact that they need bitches like me to shake up their world, otherwise their lives would be boring and mediocre. I obviously write for the a certain target audience and if what I write offends you, just stop reading.

Although it may sound elitist to you the fact is this country is built on the foundation of haves, have-nots and wannabes. One group will never get the culture of the other. Although I could mention that it is easier to understand someone who has a lower socioeconomic background that would entail a whole other page and frankly I don’t want to be someone to bridge the gap between socioeconomic classes. I leave that to the politicians in my family who believe they can actually help. Now I seriously ask you, am I being a diva or are people around me just lacking in common sense? Perhaps it’s a little of both!

In regard to this article, this is what I have to say:

Whether or not, she meant to insult the OFW's, a lot of people (the non OFW's) felt offended. By the way, my observation of the blogosphere showed that a lot of Filipino bloggers are well educated if not intelligent. If she has the right to say whatever she felt, the others are also entitled to air their opinions of her. If she has the right to look down on the AXE and CHARLIE colognes of the OFW's, other people probably have the right to have an opinion on her weight. You see, both are personal insults.

The pen is indeed more powerful than the sword and those who wield it posses enormous powers. Therefore, the powerful opinion makers should be very careful in wielding such instrument. It can scathe, skin and even destroy. For those at the receiving end of the tyranny of the press are left with no recourse but to try to use the same medium in airing their sides and/or fighting back.

The blog, at this point, serves as a great equalizer to the mainstream media. It serves as an alternative to the reigning opinion makers. It is another sword that counters the hurtful and oftentimes lethal hacks of the broadsheets.

To occasionally commit slips is, at the very least, understandable. But to fail to realize or acknowledge the mistakes despite the loud cries of the offended parties (readers) is beyond comprehension. This is made worse by the fact that the offending party is supposed to belong to the privileged, highly educated and well travelled few who are exposed to various cultures and have a broader/ better understanding of the different cultural sensitivities.

Funny? Elitist? I don't think so. For the obnoxious, it probably is.

If she is belongs to the "Haves" as she insinuated, may Malu be reminded that the OFW remittance is the single biggest contributor to the country's dollar reserves and not them. All her rich- jet setting friends combined can never match the $10 billion annual remittances of the OFW's. It is because of them that the exchange rate has not skyrocketed as much as it can. They are the main reasons why she can still afford to travel economy. Without their remittances, even her and her well heeled friends (who found nothing wrong with her article) would have found the airfare too expensive even for their class.

Let me offer this unsolicited opinion. If she doesn't want to suffer the indignity of travelling with her loud-homesick compatriots from the lower economic strata, she should save a bit more so she'll be travelling first class, all the time. And next time, she exclusively write for the Tatler. Only the rich and the royal watchers like moi' have access to it. At least, the Indio's will not be able to find out how lowly she thinks of them.

MALU FERNANDEZ

There's so much brouhaha over an article written by Malu Fernandez that I decided to check it out and write about it. Will be posting something about here later. Gotta work, for the meantime.

Go and search for her in Google. You may write me your thoughts through email or the comment section of this post. For the meantime, I will be seeing you guys later.






OK.. No need to click the read more link. For now, this post ends here..

HELMET LAWS?

Just this morning, the radio reported that a lady teacher's thigh got amputated in a bike accident.

Moments after, I was riding along EDSA and I saw a man in a Black Police uniform (SWAT). He was driving a motorcycle SANS a helmet and he was swerving in and out of traffic. To add a little excitement, he had a lady passenger behind him. She was wearing a blue hospital scrub and ALSO without a helmet.

What a nice combination. A cop who's supposed to be enforcing the law together with a hospital worker who has probably handled countless patients of vehicular accidents. If only I have their email addresses, I would have forwarded gory photos of bike accidents to them.

Formaline in Chinese-Made Clothes

It seems that our bout with formaldehyde is yet to end. Tonights breaking news reported the use of formalin in clothes manufacturing. Possible side effects for wearing this clothes include skin rashes and skin cancer. Oh no!

FILIPINO WORKERS DO NOT DO THIS-- NUNCA!

This video reminds me of the thousands of Filipino health care professionals who work mostly in the United States, Canada, England, Ireland, Middle East, Taiwan, Japan and other countries. This was taken by a camera hidden by the daughter of a 90 year old bed ridden man and shows this burly health care worker repeatedly beating the patient.

The FAT (I really hate her) culprit may just be using her hands but can you see how big it is? Her forearms are as big as a branch of a fully grown mango tree and her biceps are probably bigger than my thigh. Oh my God! If my kick can terribly hurt an athlete in his prime, what more can that fat lady do?

Lesson of the story: If you don't like your job, you do not have any business being there.

New Hope For Our Slow Internet Connections

It is generally acknowledged that competition tends to make market players improve on the quality of the products and services that they offer to the public. Take for example the entry of Sun Cellular which has made possible the unlimited texts and unlimited calls promo that until now is in effect.

Furthermore, even those paying low monthly postpaid plans are now being given new phones (not the cheap models, mind you), just to renew their subscriptions.

In the broadband industry, things seem to be growing slowly for reasons that are difficult to unknown to me. Well, that easily change if Meralco (in the NCR) and the different power distribution cooperatives/companies (in the province) will take on this one.

BROADBAND THROUGH POWER LINES.

This simply means that any household that has electrical power is Internet ready. I've heard that demos of this technology has been made in the Philippines and it really works. I've also been told that there are some South East Asian countries that are already using this technology.

It is quite difficult to get Meralco to partner with us on this one. They will probably want to go into this all by themselves. But if we have the money, we can surely get some electric cooperatives in the provinces to get into this business. After all, there will be no need to install consumer lines.

Pardonnez-Moi

Failed to post yesterday, as promised.. I am sorry.

The rains that are hitting Metro Manila are simply terrible. It made a mess out of my schedule.

Anyway, I saw the Champion Philippine Boxing Team. They arrived from their victorious US campaign and the team is now the reigning champion of the Boxing World Cup.

Oh yeah, they were not eating during the airport press conference, in sharp contrast to what I saw during similar events.. Gut!

Bu the way, Pacquiao said in an interview that he is training hard for his upcoming bout and he has learned his lesson. I surely hope so.

Posts later

Good morning, Mga Kabayan!

I will be posting later today or tonight. Gotta attend to some pressing matters.

Makoyskie: Apologies.. Your link is here but it's mistakenly labeled as someone else's. Will correct it later.

Vanidosa: You're linked, Ma'am! :D

Mga Pinoys: Pagbutihan ang mga ginagawa. Paunlarin ang Industria. Palguin ang Ekonomiya!

Hala, Trabaho!!!!

Vamos a trabahar!

Hmmnn..

Not really in the mood to blog today.. There's some stiffness in my neck and I have some back pains. It must have been the changes in the weather.

Anyway, Team Philippines won the Boxing World Cup, 6 -5, against Mexico. The boxers who seem to always be eating during the press conferences (Hahahaha!) convincingly won their bouts.

Those guys should be thought some PR stuff. Paging Senor Aldiguer (their manager). I used to call the team captain as Rey "Boom-Boom/Kain ng kain" Bautista. Because of that presscon that I saw on TV. Anyway, he miserably lost yesterday so I will cease to address him as such, from now on. He's very young and there's a lot in store for him. My advice, do not idolize Manny Pacquiao- who's now turning into a Navarette..

Navaratte used to be the toast of the town. He kept on winning despite the lack of serious trainings and eventually, his reign ended. He's such a poor guy now (dirt poor is probably not an understatement), in sharp contrast to the sports car driving, mansion living and free spending- world champion that he was. Analysts believe that he lost the championship when his beer belly failed him. He lost his US and Philippine Mansions and now lives in a rundown- one bedroom filthy residence.

Pacquiao, if the stories about him is true, is headed for a repeat performanceof his miserable defeats under Marquez and Morales.

Let me elaborate on that in my later posts. For now, let me feel miserable..

FUNNY: READ THIS

We Pinoys (Filipinos) like to spoof ourselves, especially in the way we converse in the English language. Other than grammar, we also make fun of the regional accents of one another whenever we speak. This habit is actually not unique to Pinoys. A Russian friend once narrated to me how they made fun of the speaking tone of Mikhael Gorbachev who speaks with a Ukranian accent and most especially, Boris Yeltsin who sounds like a farmer (dunno what's funny with that) .

Anyway, here's something fresh from my email:

We' ve been friends for a long time ago. We come from the same alma mother. Actually, our paths crossed one time on another. But it's only now that I gave him a second look. I realized that beauty is in the eyes. The pulpbits of my heart went fast, really fast. Cute pala siya. And then, he came over with me. He said, "I hope you don't mine. Can I get your number?" Nag-worry ako. What if he doesn't give it back? He explained naman na it's so we could keep intact daw. Sabi ko, connect me if i'm wrong but are you asking me ouch? Nabigla siya. Sagot niya, The! Aba! Parang siya pa ang galit! Persona ingrata!!! Ang kapal niya! I cried buckles of tears.

Na-guilty yata siya. Sabi niya, isipin mo na lang na this is a blessing in the sky. Irregardless daw of his feelings, we'll go ouch na rin. Now, we're so in love. Mute and epidemic na ang past. Thanks God we swallowed our fried. Kasi, I'm 33 na and I'm running our time. After 2 weeks, he plopped the question. "Will you marriage me?" I'm in a state of shocked. Kasi mantakin mo, when it rains, it's four! This is true good to be true. So siyempre, I said yes. Love is a many splendor.

Pero nung inaayos ko na ang aming kasal, everything swell to pieces. Nag-di-dinner kami noon nang biglang sa harap ng aming table, may babaeng humirit ng, "Well, well, well. Look do we have here." What the fuss! The nerd ng babaeng yon! She said they were still on. So I told her, whatever is that, cut me some slacks! I didn't want this to get our hand kaya I had to sip it in the bud. She accused me of steeling her boyfriend. Ats if! I don't want to portrait the role of the other woman. Gosh, tell me to the marines! I told her, "please, mine you own business!" Who would believe her anyway?

Dahil it's not my problem anymore but her problem anymore, tumigil na rin siya ng panggugulo. Everything is coming up daisies. I'm so happy. Even my boyfriend said liketwice. He's so supportive. Sabi niya, "Look at is this way. She's our of our lives."

Kaya advise ko sa inyo - take the risk. You can never can tell. Just burn the bridge when you get there. Life is shorts. If you make a mistake, we'll just pray for the internal and external repose of your soul. I second emotion.

GOOD NEWS: PINOY COPS ARE NOW GETTING BETTER PAY

Just like most little boys, I played a lot of "Cops and robbers" with my neighbors. From grade school until now, I still watch the occasional detective/crime movies that makes it to the box office. However, most boys eventually decide to pursue something else. The main reasons are normally low salary grade, lack (or absence) of prestige and the real hazards associated with being a cop.

We all know what low salary grade is. Hazards refer to the real prospect of getting killed in the line of duty. As for prestige, the police bureau has an image problem. It seems that everyday, a pinoy would get to listen or read about abusive cops. If you are a dad, you wouldn't want to even think of the prospects of your little boy being teased and bullied because his dad is a cop, a possible dirty cop at that.

However, a lot of things have actually happened in the police force. I have noticed an increasing number of snappy, well groomed and polite cops. And now, I just found out that a cops starting monthly take home pay is already at par with most of the corporate world. Check it out, the take home pay of a Police Officer 1 (PO1) is more than P10,000/month. This is considered to be a good starting salary by Philippine standards. Furthermore, a new cop goes through almost a year's training. making him save a lot on housing and other living expenses. After graduation, he should have saved some money already.

One advice that I can give to all those who wants to become cops, aspire for an officers (inspector or lieutenants) rank, before even applying. . I am sure that there is a shortage of for those positions. Check out the requirements and I am sure that it is not that difficult. If the police academy graduates are commissioned to immediately become officers, there should be a way for the others to become one as well.

THAT INFAMOUS ELECTION OFFICIAL WANTS TO TEACH US HOW TO BEAT ELECTION CHEATS

Hello Folks!

The rains aren't much during the day. I hope it continues that way within Metro Manila. The concrete jungle does not need rain as much as the farm lands and the hydro dams.

I don't really intend to make this a political page but at the moment, it is very much in the headlines of most of the country's dailies. Mr. Lintang Bedol, the infamous official in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) was sentenced to a few months in jail for indirect contempt.

A lot of anti administration politicians are crying foul by claiming that Bedol is getting away very lightly and the real issue is his leading role in the alleged massive cheating in .the Mindanao provinces during the last national elections. The Comelec defended its move by saying that contempt and election fraud are two different cases and the short jail term was only for contempt. The other case is yet to be tried.

Today, the headlines are about Bedol's offer to help the Comelec by exposing the ways by which election cheating is being done in the country.

Vamos a ver!

HOW MUCH RAIN DO WE STILL NEED?

Despite the rains, most of the dams still need a lot of water. Some of the dams are lacking 10 meters of water level just to be able to reach the minimum required. As we all know, our dams continuously release water for irrigation and drinking water purposes.

Metro Manila and some parts of Luzon experienced heavy rains during the past couple of days due to a typhoon. A low pressure area is expected to bring continuous rains until Friday but that will still not be enough. According to Pag Asa's spokesman, we need approximately 20 days of rain (of this magnitude) to be able to attain the ideal minimum levels in our water reservoirs.

Oh no!

THE BLUE RIBBBON COMMITEE HAS GAINED ZERO CONVICTIONS

That's true...

There's so much trouble in the Senate over this much coveted post. However, listening to the radio this morning, I found out that all the public hearings and brouhaha by this committee has not resulted to any conviction by anybody, since the time of Senators Maceda and Saguisag.

susmaryosep..




This post ends here. Pls ignore the "read more" link... only for today.

THE PROPER (and only) WAY OF SINGING THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL ANTHEM

SECTION 50. Any person or juridical entity which violates any of the provisions of this Act shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than Five thousand pesos (P5,000) nor more than Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000), or by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, or both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court: Provided, That for any second and additional offenses, both fine and imprisonment shall always be imposed: Provided, further, That in case the violation is committed by a juridical person, its President or Chief Executive Officer thereof shall be liable.

********

The Philippine Flag and its national anthem are silent witnesses to the sacrifices of the Filipino forefathers for this country's liberty, self determination, etc., etc.
During the American reign, the flag was even prohibited and it took 12 years of bitter struggle before it was allowed again.

"...I wish to be tolerant, and when the army authorities told me that such tolerance would be of evil results in the future, I answered that we should not be very exacting because the Filipino flag symbolized an ideal bathed in blood and tears.".

- Governor General James. F. Smith

THE BOY IN THIS PHOTO IS BEING BEHEADED

It is therefore a big act of sacrilege and criminality to desecrate the flag (and the anthem), the way ignorant people are doing now. I wonder how people who sing on international television (e.g. The Pacquiao fights) were able to blatantly afford prostituting our national anthem and get away with it.

----

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8491
AN ACT PRESCRIBING THE CODE OF THE NATIONAL FLAG, ANTHEM, MOTTO, COAT-OF-ARMS AND OTHER HERALDIC ITEMS AND DEVICES OF THE PHILIPPINES

SECTION 36. The National Anthem shall always be sung in the national language within or without the country. The following shall be the lyrics of the National Anthem:

Bayang magiliw,
Perlas ng Silanganan...

SECTION 37. The rendition of the National Anthem, whether played or sung, shall be in accordance with the musical arrangement and composition of Julian Felipe.

SECTION 38. When the National Anthem is played at a public gathering, whether by a band or by singing or both, or reproduced by any means, the attending public shall sing the anthem. The singing must be done with fervor.

As a sign of respect, all persons shall stand at attention and face the Philippine flag, if there is one displayed, and if there is none, they shall face the band or the conductor. At the first note, all persons shall execute a salute by placing their right palms over their left chests. Those in military, scouting, citizens military training and security guard uniforms shall give the salute prescribed by their regulations. The salute shall be completed upon the last note of the anthem.

The anthem shall not be played and sung for mere recreation, amusement or entertainment purposes except on the following occasions:

SECTION 48. Failure or refusal to observe the provisions of this Act; and any violation of the corresponding rules and regulations issued by the Office of the President, shall after proper notice and hearing, shall be penalized by public censure which shall be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation.

SECTION 50. Any person or juridical entity which violates any of the provisions of this Act shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than Five thousand pesos (P5,000) nor more than Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000), or by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, or both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court: Provided, That for any second and additional offenses, both fine and imprisonment shall always be imposed: Provided, further, That in case the violation is committed by a juridical person, its President or Chief Executive Officer thereof shall be liable.

KILL EVERYONE OVER TEN!

YAHWEH, LET THERE BE RAINS IN OUR FIELDS

Much of the country will be bound to suffer if the rainy season will delay its start.

The hydro power producers are still unable to fully utilize their plants and they are the ones that the country depends on at this time of the year. The way I understand it, hydro power plants produce cheaper electricity and their production activities normally peak during the rainy season.

The coal plants and other facilities that utilize fossil fuel usually do their upgrades and annual maintenance during at around this time. With the prolonged drought, fossil fueled plants were caught unaware and are currently low on fuel. Shipments of coal and related fuels are now being rushed into those facilities.

The bigger problem is in agriculture. The rains are being depended upon to irrigate the fields and the few incoming typhoons will not be sufficient. Sustained rains for irrigation will be needed to continually soak the fields. The agriculture secretary declared (this morning) that 5~7,000 liters of water will be needed to produce one kilogram of rice.

That's a lot.

UPDATE: SWINE FLU and HOG CHOLERA

As of this writing, those Living in the Philippines must have heard about the declaration by government officials that the hog cholera and swine flu problem is under control and a very small percentage of the country's swine population was affected. This was easily remedied by the fast release of medications that were injected to the affected animals.

Arrests of unscrupulous traders and the seizure of affected meat (totaling to a few tons) were also reported in newspapers, radio and television reports. It is also reported that the country has enough production that hod farms in the provinces can easily supply the country's requirement.

At present, the problem lies in farmers who do not report the sickness that hit their farm animals and those who continue to sell affected meat. Radios report that the slaughtering and selling of effected meat continue since there are traders who can make money from the morbid transactions. Affected meat can be purchased at the price ranging from P30~50/Kilogram and may be sold to unsuspecting consumers at more than P100/Kg.

Let the buyer beware, always! Report suspected farmers and dealers to the DTI. This agency is one branch of the government that has a very high trustworthiness rating.

IS YOUR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER JERKING YOU AROUND?

Their days will be numbered if the consumers will act together.

Check this out. Globe Telecoms, through its subsidiary Innove was penalized by the court for giving a slow internet connection, contrary to the plan subscribed by the customer. This case clearly serves as a precedent to all other instances when ISP services are blatantly bad.

Here are excerpts from the report:

• "They guaranteed me 128 kilobytes per second (kbps) but didn't follow through on their commitment."

• "Mr. Darling documented instances within the period of two months in 2005 when his company's GlobleQuest Internet speed ranged only from 55 to 84 kbps. He said he signed up for the service in June that year and had problems with it by August."

• "NTC reiterated that internet services providers at the minimum should maintain 99% network/system availability and 98.5% bandwidth (data capacity). The memorandum on service performance standards also says that reported faults must be fixed or acted upon within 48 hours."

Imagine the impact, if all of the aggrieved parties will band together and file cases against the ISP's for slow service.

Victims? yeah right! Part II

I am a dollar earner.

Therefore, I stand among the ranks of the Overseas Foreign Workers (OFW), the exporters, the outsourcing companies and everybody else who are losing money from the decline in the value of the US dollars. With that disclosure, you, dear readers, are made fully aware how miserable I become, as the dollar depreciates.

The dollar used to be as high as P52 and now it’s down to P44. Therefore, I have lost P8.00 for every dollar that I make. If I make $1,000 every month, that means I am losing P8,000 monthly. Multiplying that by the number of months in a year, my yearly loss should be P96,000.

How bad that may sound, I am not blaming the government for it. I blame the government for a lot of things but my misery is not included in it. The reason is simple. I chose this business/ career because I saw money in it and not because the government forced me. Not to take away any credit from OFW’s and the other people who bring dollars into the country, they chose to work abroad or go into the export business because they thought there is money in it.

Nationalism has very little to do with any of this. The last time I checked there’s hardly an exporter who’s registered as a non-stock, non-profit organization and there’s barely an OFW who donates all his earnings to charity. No Ma’am, No Sir! All of us dollar earners are all here for the money.—Lots of money!

When the peso was going down, most of us quietly rejoiced in the rising value of our money. Now, that it is losing, we are all suffering. Should this continue, we may have to move on to another business or seek employment in other firms. But never should we blame the government for not subsidizing us. We were never forced into this company by anyone. Just a few months ago, we were all enjoying the flow of dollars into our wallets.

VICTIMS? YEAH RIGHT!

Some people make me sick.

They went into the business because they smelled money.

When the dollar was constantly appreciating, they gained a lot of it, without really trying.

To sweeten their tongues, they asked for and got a lot of government incentives.

Now that the dollar is on a decline, this people are crying--nothing's bad about that but what really makes my stomach turn is their claim that they are being victimized by the government. ---> SUSMARYOSEP!!!! (gaddemmit ba sa ingles yun?)

Instead of pleading for some help, they are now demanding compensation for damages brought about by the dollar's decline-- which they blame upon the government. !@#$%^&*

Do they want the government to pay them PhP1, 2, 3 or P5 for every dollar that is remitted to them by their clients? That will surely bankrupt the economy!

These !@$@%&* are not thinking of the ordinary non dollar earning Filipino. The more than 80 million peso Earning Filipinos. Read this...

Philexport president Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr. told BusinessWorld there was consensus that the business sector lost and the government benefited when the peso gained by at least 19% in the past three months.

"This is indirect taxation, where there’s a massive transfer of funds from the people to government ... they are saving [money] at our expense. We talk to them and they are commiserating with us, but they seem to be unable to do anything really sufficient. We don’t really mind if it means the strengthening of the economy, but at this point it’s not, it’s just hot money coming in," Mr. Ortiz-Luis said.

It’s ironic that this "indirect taxation" hurts the very people the government is saying are the country’s heroes, added Roberto C. Amores, president of Philfoodex.

"We the exporters and the OFWs (overseas Filipino workers), they call us that [heroes], but we are beginning to see ourselves victims," he said. - HERE'S THE COMPLETE ARTICLE

PINOY KIDS WIN IN INTERNATIONAL MATH COMPETITION

I saw this flash on the TV screens a few days ago but found the news story just this morning.

Despite the declining ratings that Filipino kids get in aptitude tests, there is still a good number who manage to defy the trend and excel. My friend calls refers to it as pockets of excellence!
In brief, eight students took 20 medals and 15 other awards during the recently concluded 8th Invitational World Youth Mathematics Inter-cities Competition (IWYMIC ) at the Jilin University in Changchun, China. They competed against 66 other teams from 17 other countries.

I wanted to post the list of awards in this article but it is quite lengthy and will almost be tantamount to copying the original article in its entirety. Please check this link for the complete list.