OVERKILL & MEDIA HARASSMENT? I DON'T THINK SO

I hate to sound like a spokesperson of the GMA administration for I do not really like her. However, in analyzing the issues of the land, I have to put things in their proper perspective.

The country’s media is very spoiled. Just a little inconvenience and they make a big fuss out of it. When a number of activists were being killed in front of them, they did nothing but simply wrote about it. When they felt that the news became stale, nothing more was heard about it.

But when it's the media who gets a little roughed up, they raise hell about it for so long.

Overkill, gross violation of human rights, etc, etc..

Hey you, spoiled brats. You were a simple side issue to yesterday’s coup and yet, you blabber about it as if it’s the story of the year. Hey, you! The story was about Trillanes. It was never about you!

Look at yourselves. Do you really believe that you don’t deserve to be cuffed and processed inside the police camp? The way, you push your way into the center of events are hardly ethical and yet, you never talk about it. Remember during the early hours of EDSA 2, when Cardinal Sin was saying mass? You all converged in front and all around him, that those hearing mass couldn’t see or hear him anymore. One of the priests even said, “King hindi ako pari, sisipain ko na ang mga to (If I am not a priest, I’ll kick the hell out of this people)!”

WAS IT OVERKILL?

Going back to yesterday’s coup, the newspapers say that up to 1,500 troops, a few tanks, a chopper and an undetermined number of cops were sent to attack the Trillanes group. Was it overkill? Let us examine the situation:

The Manila Peninsula had 900 guests evacuated and it wasn’t even at full capacity. With that in mind, one can probably imagine how many rooms and windows the entire building have. One should also add that there are offices and boutiques in the building and those also have windows. Knowing that, it will be easy to imagine the number of soldiers that will be needed to cover every window, corner, door, rooftop and other possible sniping areas.

Now let us estimate the number of troops needed to storm the building. Those who have been to Manila Penn will remember how large it is.

HOW MANY MEN AND WHAT WILL YOU USE TO SAFELY STORM A LOBBY THIS HUGE? PLEASE TAKE NOTE THAT IT HAS A HUGE MEZZANINE AND WITH MANY CORNERS THAT CAN HIDE MEN WITH RIFLES

Operating under the assumption that there might be rebel reinforcements on the way, let us compute the number of troops that would have been needed to cover the roads and prevent enemies from reaching the Manila Penn.

THE PENN HAS THREE APPROACHES, AND AT LEAST FOUR CORNERS. HOW DO YOU EFFECTIVELY ATTACK IT AND COVER THE SOLDIERS?

As for the tank, the government's demonstration that it is determined to use it actually saved lives. The assaulting force used it as cover and its scary presence made the rebels realize the futility of firing back. They did not have anti tank weapons.

IN REGARD TO THE PRESS BEING CUFFED AND BROUGHT TO THE POLICE CAMP.

In the heat of the battle, one can never be sure who’s aiding the enemy and who the mere bystanders are. The police needs to investigate and separate who are those who simply reported and who helped the enemy.

The media men claim that they had identification and the rebels didn’t. Are they sure about it? ID’s can be bought very cheaply along Claro M. Recto Street. The reality is, some of the rebels were believed to have escaped by posing as press people.

Today, we were all treated to news that one of the soldiers with Trillanes, even when already under detention, was able to smuggle a pistol and hid it when he urinated. Imagine if he was not cuffed inside the bus. He could have pulled it and shot the unsuspecting guards. Imagine if one of the media men was supporting the rebels and passed a pistol while the bus was moving.

Etc, etc..

The point of this article is that I do not have the monopoly of common sense. The media, being used to military and police situations are aware of the possibilities. However, they think of themselves as sacred cows that they raise hell whenever somebody roughs them up a bit.

Don’t you just hate it when they act like brats?

Stop poisoning the minds of the people. You are all there to make money. Being press people provides the food on your tables in the same manner that I am in my profession to make money. Live with it!

ANTONIO TRILLANES IV: MASTER OF MISCALCULATIONS

A few years ago, a senator blew his top at a commission on appointments hearing, when he found out that a lot of soldiers about to be promoted to the rank of general, have not even heard of Sun Tzu, the most renowned guru of military warfare!- Que barbaridad!

I don't know if Navy Lt SG. Antonio Trillanes landed at the top or tail end of his class. But if it's an indication of how the military academy is developing master tacticians, it doesn't look good. This idol of a number of soldiers is certainly being beaten, over and over again, by civilians.

Yesterday, while I was busy preparing for a meeting, an American businessman texted, “What’s happening?”

“About what?”, I answered.

“Trillanes is marching with armed men in Ayala”

Oh no! Grrr!!!!

The whole thing was surely planned. Sans any radio or TV info, here’s how I think the scenario was going to unfold:

1. Senator Trillanes to march towards Ayala.
2. He’s to be protected by his Magdalo friends.
3. Organized groups to walk initially with him.
4. They are to call for an uprising of the masses.
5. By the time they arrive at the Aquino monument (Ayala). They would have grown to a few hundreds/thousands.
6. Military units loyal to him and his group will follow.
7. Hundreds of thousands of civilians will gather with him and force President Arroyo to resign.
8. They hope to start a repeat of EDSA 1 and what better way than to do it by the monument inspired the events that led to it.
9. If Gloria will not resign, she will be forcibly evicted.

Looking at the events as summarized on TV last night, here’s what actually happened:

1. Senator Trillaness and General Danilo Lim were attending a court trial in Makati.

2. Lawyers for the government realized that something was going to happen. Trillanes, Lim and others were whispering to each other. That was something out of the ordinary because it is prohibited by court rules.

3. A prosecutor narrated that when Gen. Lim was at the stand and being cross examined, one of the accused ( Navy Lt SG layug) stood up went in front, grabbed a surprised Lim,and told everyone, “Walang gagalaw! (nobody moves)”

4. The prosecutors complained and the judge ordered the court sheriff to restrain Layug. The Sheriff ordered the Military Police (MP) inside the court room to restrain the accused officers. The MP’s did not budge.

5. Trillanes and some of the accused walked out of the courtroom and proceeded towards Makati Avenue. Along the way, media men asked Trillanes if this was something planned and he denied it saying, “If this was planned, we would not be walking now".

However, their moves perfectly fitted the scenario that I predicted. It was hardly spontaneous.

6. While marching, he was calling for the people to join him. Statements such as “The time is now” and “Sumama na kayo” were aired over the radios and in one footage, I remember seeing a footage of the Trillanes group walking and somebody with a bullhorn (Megaphone) was asking the people to join them. Other footages also showed military men with M-16 automatic rifles guarding the group’s route. Red arm bands with the rebel group’s insignia also appeared.

Badly planned? Poorly implemented? Yes, it was.
Spontaneous? Hardly!!!

In this photo, Trillanes supporters came prepared. It's just that a lot of the initial group that was supposed to serve as a prime that will draw more people, melted in the rains. Lesson learned: Hold the coup during summer.

7. By the way, a very old former vice president Teofisto Guingona was with the group and he made a TV statement,

“Sinubukan naming gawin and legal means, pero walang nangyayari.. (we tried the legal means to resolve this but nothing happened)”

As a Filipino, I can tell that the tone of the sentence did not end with a period. It was an open ended statement that insinuated something like, “Now, we will try the extra legal means”

Clearly, this was something planned in advance.

8. The group forcibly entered the Manila Peninsula Hotel and had a press conference. Gen Lim read from a prepared statement and copies of the declaration were distributed to the media. Judging from the contents of the letter, they recognize ERAP as the duly recognized president. I think, they intend to make him their titular figurehead should they win.

9. Trillanes was later joined by some civilians that include one or two catholic bishops and a priest. During the day, Trillanes made a number of brave declarations such as,

"The time is ripe for Filipinos to make a decision. The Armed Forces will support the people whichever side they will take"

If you believe you are a man of will and courage with unselfish motives and brave enough to fight against such tyranny, RISE UP AND BE COUNTED!

"I can assure you , we have enough will power and fighting spirit to bring this government down,"

9. When told of the 3PM police deadline to surrender, he said,

"Believe me, nothing will happen after three o'clock,"

10. However, he made sure that they will have some safety nets. He ordered his men not let the hotel guests leave. What a moron.

"Don't let the guests leave. Don't restrain them," Trillanes said in Filipino.


11. When the government forces assaulted, rammed a tank at the hotel’s main door through the lobby, gassed the place and fired shots, he was observed to talk with lips trembling and tears in his eyes. The statement became a cowardly,

"We're going out for the sake of everybody's safety," Trillanes told a throng of journalists holed up inside the hotel with them."We won't live with our conscience if some of you get hurt and killed in the crossfire. We cannot afford that," Trillanes said.

12. Trying to salvage some honor for himself, he said,

"Now, like soldiers, we are going to face this. They will do whatever they do to us."

Spoken like a man. However, with several flip-flops just his conflicting statements in the Oakwood fiasco, this is not to be relied upon. His fellow cowards, escape.

Philippine police are hunting down at least 12 renegade soldiers who escaped after a botched attempt to oust President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo..

In my analysis, what happened was another of Trillanes’ master strokes, err.. master miscalculations.

What he succeeded in doing was simply:

• Send this economy several steps backwards like what he did in Oakwood.

"There is no popular support any more for changing leaders on the streets. We are only two years away from elections. There was no point in this, the whole country loses."

• Prove that he may have been elected overwhelmingly as senator, but he is not seen as a leader of this land.

“Despite Arroyo's unpopularity in Manila, there seems little prospect of her falling before her term expires in 2010. Trillanes, while remaining a focus for opposition, has the most disputatious claims to lead a divided Philippines opposition, which has little unity of purpose, and backing from Washington, London and Tokyo has bolstered Arroyo among the economic class.”

• Overestimate himself for ⁿth time. His messianic complex made him falsely predict that the military will not move against him. Had he not given up and had the media not stayed with him, he would have been killed.

• Prove that again, he was abandoned. The help that he was banking on from his politician friends, huge crowds, military and the massive defections from the civilian government, the police and military did not come.

“But no popular support appeared and as teargas was fired into the building, the final fiasco became inevitable.”

If I was his commanding officer when he was in the military, I would not have promoted this guy to captain. According to his imagined arch rival (Gen Esperon), Trillanes never had a field assignment and I think it’s good. With his lousy way of assessing the environment, friends and enemies, he would have led a number of soldiers to their deaths.

By the way, with his fondness for expensive hotels, I will look for investors who will put up a luxury hotel in an isolated island. Do your "Sarswela" there, next time.

For the meantime, the threat continues.

"There is unfinished business here."

Philippine Updates: Typhoon and our water supply

There’s a heavy storm about to hit Southern Luzon tomorrow and even the hardly hit National Capital Region (Manila) may even get to feel some of its wrath.

The strong rains these past few days agitated water reserves at the Angat Dam and resulted to a massive increase in turbidity. As a result, the water company Maynilad is able to process lesser than its daily quota and some areas in Metro Manila are experiencing water interruption. Despite that, the company spokesman, in an interview at DZMM, this morning, revealed that they now have enough reserves that can adequately supply their franchise area even during the rain scarce summer of 2008.

This is in sharp contrast to Manila’s potable water supply situation only 3 months ago.

God is Great, Allahu Akbar!

Travelogues of Opinion Writers

Hi Everyone!

Cito Beltran wrote in his column that there seems to be some impressions that opinion columnists like him should avoid deviating by writing travelogues. According to him, travelogues are important because it showcases how things are done elsewhere and hopefully, we will learn and improve our own ways. This reminds me how trains arrive and depart exactly according to schedule in some countries, how even buses are on time at every minor stop , how Brazil’s elevated bus stops prevents people from boarding and unloading in unauthorized areas, etc., etc.. Keep it up Cito!

I know that our leaders are smart and well travelled. Despite that, I wonder why things continue to be done using the old and ineffective ways down here.

FACTS AND WAYS OF AVOIDING CORRUPTION IN FOREIGN FUNDED PROJECTS

The media is hot on the issue of corruption these days, especially after the World Bank (WB) canceled a huge Philippine Infrastructure loan. The WB blames corruption in the Philippines while the Philippine government says it's totally out of their hands and it is WB who supposedly runs the projects.

Listening to the radio and reading the papers, I realized that the media and a lot of our politicians are very much in the dark regarding the facts behind government projects that are funded by foreign loans.

In my opinion, the RP government is not entirely being truthful...

Are we to believe that the government is powerless to stop an overpriced project? They are the ones to pay for it and therefore, it is their responsibility to safeguard the entire process. They should have detected overpricing, based on their experiences (in building roads and bridges in the country). Therefore, they should have stepped in and told the WB, "That is an over priced bid. Approve it and we will not pay for it!"

LOAN FUNDED PROJECTS

It is true that a lot of foreign funded projects in this country are played based on the creditors’ rules and the saying, “Beggars can’t be choosers very much apply”. While I don’t think such is necessary, we have grown so accustomed to that kind of set up that it has become a hard habit to break.

At present, our government projects funded by foreign loans are implemented under strict supervision and that is probably the reason why gross overpricing was detected. The way things are done, every supplier’s and contractor’s bid is scrutinized by the lending agency concerned. Bidders prepare 3 ~ 4 copies of their tender proposals (bid forms), a copy of which automatically goes to the representatives of the lending agencies.

Projects funded by the IMF/WB/ADB and those financed by specific countries mainly differ in the following areas:

1. In IMF/WB/ADB Projects, suppliers and contractors that are allowed to participate should come from IMF, WB or ADB member countries.
2. Loans funded by Specific governments usually stipulate that suppliers and contractors should come from the lender’s country.

WHERE DOES CORRUPTION POSSIBLY COME IN?

1. The Philippine government has a Commission On Audit (COA) which analyzes project costs. A grossly overpriced project that passes their scrutiny opens the gateway to a lot of doubts.
2. Under both schemes, contractors can collude and fix the minimum bid prices.
3. All types of foreign loans need to get the approval of the Philippine government. Therefore, the contractor most confident of bagging the contract can try to offer bribes to the approving agencies (remember Sec Neri?).
4. The Philippine government (usually DPWH) will need to inspect and approve the completed infrastructures. Substandard workmanship can be rejected and even properly constructed buildings can be placed on hold for a long time. Such a situation provides the avenue for corruption since contractors pay up in order to get approvals and receive their payments.
5. I believe that contractors find it easier to substantially overprice their bids in projects funded by specific countries s. Under WB/IMF/ADB, there are a number of qualified bidders, making it difficult for anybody to get a consensus to fix prices. Projects funded by specific governments, on the other hand, involve only a few players. The ZTE Broadband deal for instance, involved only the lending agency and the contractor on the Chinese side and the Philippine government on the other. It was easier for ZTE to have manipulated the prices and silenced any opposition from China since it is their side which will benefited, anyway. They will get all the jobs with a handful of Filipinos as subcontractors while the Philippine government will be the ones to pay the bill.

REMEDY:

In order to prevent the occurrence of similar problems, I believe that lending agencies should:

1. Eliminate the provision that narrows down the list of approved bidders.
2. Limit their involvement to finance and quality control, through 3^rd party consultants like SGS, Bureau Veritas (BV), etc.

The SGS knows the price of virtually all commodities in the world and estimating project costs should be easy for them. Their estimates may then be used as the basis for approving the loan amounts. That way, overpricing of bids will effectively be controlled.

Quality standards company BV, on the other hand, can monitor the bidding process and approve the release of final payments. In my opinion, agencies like SGS and BV are more difficult to influence and manipulate (than any government).

Quote of the Day:

"We at the media are guilty of sins committed by lesser people"

- a guest in Che Che Lazaro's TV program.

Are FM jocks journalists?

10:35 PM, Manila

While cautiously driving along Manila's dark and rain soaked streets, I realized that the radio was on FM. Here's my story for today.

---

Referring to Bryan May, a DJ in one of Manila’s FM stations said (over an hour ago), “he must be the smartest rock star in the world.” It may have sounded like a smart remark, except that it was hardly an original. In fact, it was all over the Internet, several hours ago. It was even a yahoo headline.

I didn’t want to think of her as a plagiarist, but prior to that, she enumerated several facts (about Bryan May) in the same order by which I read it in his official website. The girl must have been reading from the same url but never bothered to acknowledge the source.

In search for something else, here’s what I found,

“A simple definition of plagiarism is: Copying some text and using it without indicating that it was copied or where it was copied from.”

Other than her lousy program, I wonder what that girl is.

Geesh, we work our asses really hard to be able to buy nice radios but end up listening to people who get paid copying other people's work. I must be in the wrong profession.

This brings me to ask, are radio jocks part of the journalism profession? I need to ask that question because there was nothing journalistic in the way her news was reported, and there seemed to be no violent reaction from her station managers. In fact, she continued to quack without interruption until I got home.

Again, I’m just asking.

LAMITAN TOWNSFOLK REJOICE AKBAR's DEATH

As posted in my previous articles (1,2), Wahab Akbar has lots of admirers and an equal, if not bigger number of enemies.

People in Lamitan rejoices at his departure.

FILMMAKING: The next money maker for the Philippines

With the country's low budgeted films consistently getting positive feedbacks and winning awards in foreign film festivals. The country is about to absorb an influx of investments in the industry.

I have seen a few shoots and I think, it is a good source of employment. Imagine the number of pre-film, on-site, post production personnel that will be given employment. Investments in this industry will certainly be good for the country.

Let's hope that nobody ever bothers the film makers and the location of the shoots. Otherwise, they will be forced to limit their locations to safe areas and in the long term, that will adversely effect the quality of our films. Imagine seeing the same location in every film. This reminds me of Jackie Chan's, Samu Hung's, Yuen Biao's and other Golden Harvest films that showed the same staircase's again ang again-- through the years! Hahaha!

Here's the source of this article.

Music lessons pay off in higher earnings

Yes, it's true! Music lessons indeed pay off in higher earnings.

Will somebody please refer me to a "good" teacher?



:naughty:

PEOPLE IN BASILAN LOVE WAHAB AKBAR

Despite what people in Manila think about him, Congressman Wahab Akbar is well loved in his province. This is shown by the fact that more 10,000 attended his burial today.

It is a fact that people like him draw a lot of friends and enemies. Search the newspapers and the blogosphere and you will most likely find only his enemies. But in Basilan, he is known for having made the province a better place. There is lesser criminality and they are talking about planting more rubber trees and corn nowadays. Something that is in sharp contrast to what it was before when it was called a No man's land.

Despite my personal objections to the ideas of having dynasties and giving absolute power to a few, history also shows that such also provide good results.

In the area of the convicted rapist and murderer Calauan Mayor Sanchez, there were no thieves during his term. Whenever something was stolen, the mayor only had to spread the word that it should be returned and the thief, out of fear, returned what he stole. Cavite, prior to the time of Governor Juanito Remulla, was filled with thieves, killers, carnappers, etc.. A friend's mom once told me, that in Laguna then, whenever something went missing, one only needed to go to Cavite to be able to find it. It was all there-- nawawalang Kaldero, Kalabaw, kotse, atbp.. Nardong Putik was there. During the time when killing a cop was something unimaginable, Nardong Putik had the gall to abduct, torture and kill an NBI agent. But when Governor Remulla came, Cavite finally became peaceful. As one Caviteno once told me, "lahat nang ito, utang namin ke Gob". Remulla was later pictured as a "Berdugo" for he was also tagged as the one who banned labor unions from holding any strike, during the time when labor unrest plagued the country. But the result was a province that became the favorite destination of all foreign investors.

Like Cavite and Caluan, Basilan also benefited from strong leaders. Whether it is good or bad in the long term is another issue for us to ponder. But one thing is clear. Akbar did something that people in his area, Christians and Muslims alike, found to be worthy of their love.

Assalam Alaikum!

RAW VIDEO OF THE BLAST AT THE CONGRESS AND THE MOST RECENT REPORT

In continuation of my article about life and death of the late Congressman Wahab Akbar, here is a raw video of the explosion at the House of Representatives.

Here's a report about somebody claiming responsibility for the assassination.

And here's a report saying that a cellular phone activated bomb was used in the attack.

More updates to follow.

The explosion at the congress and some details about Congressman Wahab Akbar

The only congressman to die from last night’s explosion at the House of Representatives is the late Wahab Akbar. With all the networks focusing on speculations on what could have been the source and motive of the blast, let us talk a bit about the late congressman.

Who is Wahab Akbar?

This is what I know based on past years’ news reports and this morning’s radio interview with another congressman.

Congressman Wahab Akbar is one of the founders* of the dreaded Abu Sayaff Group (ASG) who became the governor and now, the congressman of Basilan. He is quoted to have claimed that he didn’t like what Abu Sayaff became so he left and joined the rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). Afterwards, Akbar became an Islamic preacher and developed a large following. Eventually, he entered politics.

While he was a governor, the Abu Sayaff went on a kidnapping rampage. Groups of public school teachers, nurses, tourists, catholic priests, Christian missionaries and many others were kidnapped and released after ransom was paid. Of course, there were some who escaped during military operations. In addition to the kidnapping and ransom, reports abound that torture, rape and beheading of the kidnap victims were rampant.

During those events, Wahab Akbar was at always the forefront. He strongly advocated military and unorthodox operations to solve the problem. And when his daughter became a part of one group kidnapped, Akbar used his familiarity of the ASG leaders and had the families of known terrorists kidnapped and threatened with beheading. This proved to be effective since his daughter was released shortly after that.

Other things that Akbar was popular for include his strong criticism of perceived military lapses in his province as well as tough talk against the Abu Sayaff. Despite that, it is believed that he never really distanced himself from his alleged ex comrades. In addition, Inquirer columnist Mon Tulfo wrote several times that Akbar was the perpetrator of the recent ambush that lasted from morning to nightfall and took the life of 18 members of the Philippine Marines, 10 of which were beheaded.

During the last national elections, Akbar ran and won the congressional seat while a wife succeeded him in the governorship. Another wife became a mayor and I have no information whether his other wives also won in their respective areas.

As colorful as the life that he led, his death is becoming a fertile ground for more stories. Was it an assassination implemented by the military, his political opponents, rebels? Was it just a case of him being at the wrong place at the wrong time? Was it a deliberate plan to create a big headline that will send today’s congressional story to the back pages of the newspapers? We don’t know yet, at this point.

But one thing is clear. The Secretary of Agriculture, Arthur Yap, sent this message, “

Whatever they say about Congressman Akbar, we were just planning a program of planting more rubber trees, corn and other crops in order to increase the production of his province and help his people. We send our condolences!”

To you Wahab Akbar, if I may try to speak in the language of your faith,

"Nothing will happen unless it is God’s will (insa'allah)".

I commend your soul to God.

Assalam alaikum, may peace finally be unto you!

* Though this was often written in the news and even mentioned this morning by a congressman in a radio interview, a transcript of one of Akbar's speeches in the congress seems to say otherwise.

Hugo Chavez's Greatest Hits

For some overseas news, Venezuela's President Chavez continuous to hug the limelight because of his spat with the king of Spain. Where King Juan Carlos angrily said to his face, "SHUT UP!"

So who is Hugo Chavez? Here's what Wikipedia has to say about him:

"A career military officer, Chávez founded the left-wing Fifth Republic Movement after orchestrating a failed 1992 coup d'état against former President Carlos Andrés Pérez. Chávez was elected President in 1998 with a campaign centering on promises of aiding Venezuela's poor majority, and was reelected in 2000 and in 2006. Domestically, Chávez has launched Bolivarian Missions, whose goals are to combat disease, illiteracy, malnutrition, poverty, and other social ills. Abroad, Chávez has acted against the Washington Consensus by supporting alternative models of economic development, and has advocated cooperation among the world's poor nations, especially those in Latin America.

Chávez's reforms have evoked controversy in Venezuela and abroad, receiving both vehement criticism and enthusiastic support. Some foreign governments, especially the government of the United States, view Chávez as a threat to democracy in Latin America even though he was elected of the people, by the people and for the people of Venezuela.^[3] Others sympathize with his ideology^[4] or welcome his bilateral trade and reciprocal aid agreements.^[5] In 2005 and 2006 he was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people.^[6][7]"

And here's a video compilation of his moments in the limelight:

GOOD DAY, EVERYONE!

Miscellaneous Ramblings

let's start the week with Fionski’s funny first witness account in 3 parts (1, 2, 3) about something very chic but ironically escapes, and is even mythical to, most women— The Big O! This may seem out of place in this seemingly serious blog but if I may quote what Joma Sison told TIME Magazine, several years ago, when he was accused of partying while his comrades continue to struggle at the food scarce and malaria infested mountains. He said something like,

“Activists should not be mistaken for people who are always very stiff. Dancing is healthy and activists dancing are certainly better than the military killing activists”

– hehe! Loko talaga tong si Joma, the only dancing photo of him that I can recall was in a 2006 Christmas party, where he had a life changing encounter with Ara Mina’s huge racks.

I saw a frontal photo of him really checking her out. I'll look for it and paste it here.
Sorry, Joma. Like you, I am hilarious at times.

Let me come out with a Joma like quote that is a fitting rationale for that photo,

“Activists checking out female mammary glands is better than the military checking out activists - prior to abduction”.

By the way, I am reminded of the Jonas Burgos case where the preponderance of evidence indicates a military responsibility. May I digress once more to say something about preponderance of evidence, which was last used by national Police Chief Avelino Razon who said, that it indicates a gas accident. Please be careful in giving out press statements. You were the first official to declare the Glorietta blast as a bomb explosion and after a few days, you said, the preponderance of evidence… I like you, Gen Razon. Don’t let careless statements lead your career to perdition. If I recall, Gen Razon has been the chief, in waiting for a very long time now. He was bravely nominated many years before by Gen Aglipay to become his successor but his appointment came very much later.

Going back to Jonas Burgos, may I say that I come from a clan where there are lots of military men. I therefore have a high regard for soldiery as a profession but in this case, may I make this reminder --> respect the “Writ of Amparo”, my mistahs!

ACUTE DEPRESSION LEADS TO 11 YEAR OLD GIRL'S SUICIDE

Again, this will be a very busy day and the timing sucks! I have a tons of things to say about this issue but that will have to wait for later or perhaps, the weekend. For the meantime, this story hit the headlines of the TV networks last night and early this morning.

There's this 11 year old girl who, at age 7, started to chronicle her family's life of poverty. Coming from a family of 9, with a jobless father and a mom who earns, less than $1/day, it is not so difficult to imagine the things that she went through. The situation apparently became so hopeless for her, that she decided to escape by hanging herself.

Having been exposed to these type of stories and having worked with the poor for so long, I still can't help but feel so bad.

My discourse, later or over the weekend. Promise!

100 ‘Most Influential Filipinas’

The search for 2007's list of the most influential Filipinas in the US was recently concluded. Please click here for the article. For more details, here's the sponsor's website.

FOREX RESERVES INCREASE: FINALLY, THERE'S A BIT OF GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES IN THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

The other day, a search of the international news feeds resulted in nothing but the beauty pageant of Filipino transvestites. At least today, people in other countries, Filipino OFW's in particular, will not be swearing at the news that our Foreign currency reserves is in its all time high. The current stock is enough to cover 5.8 months worth of importations.

Gut!

TOY WITH DATE RAPE DRUG PULLED: WILL THIS BE THE END?

All these toy recalls within these year..

With Christmas fast approaching, let's all be wary. US based Filipinos suspect that the recalled toys which are deemed unsafe to people, will be dumped in countries with governments that are not very vigilant in these matters.

Take heed!

Source: CNN.com
Related article: Beware of those imported toys

Here's a news clip:

THIS IS WHAT CAME OUT OF THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Quite busy now so this one will be short. I hope to be able to post more, later today.

Searching the media networks for Philippine news feeds , this is what I came out with. Gotta do a bit more to promote other positive new about the Philippines.

This piece of clip is reminiscent of Bangkok in the mid eighties.

THIS MIGHT GIVE THE GOVERNMENT A LOT OF FUNNY IDEAS

I don't know but Pakistan's President may have gotten the idea from us.

Here's what you do when you're the President and the Supreme Court/Congress is set to rule in a case against you:


1. FIRE THE CHIEF JUSTICE/ OVERTHROW THE SPEAKER

2. GAIN SOME POGI POINTS BY KILLING KNOWN PUBLIC ENEMIES AND DISSIDENT LEADERS

3. TO BE CONTINUED

THE HAZARDS OF WORKING IN A BIG PLANTATION

In TV documentaries, we see planes showering thousands of hectares of plantations with pesticides. It is no surpise then, to hear that eventually, some workers get adversely affected from these toxic chemicals that are meant to kill harmful pests.

While not meaning to start a furor, don't we have huge banana plantations in the country?

Dole, Dow liable over banana pesticide infertility claim

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Six workers left infertile after exposure to a pesticide used in Nicaraguan banana plantations were awarded more than three million dollars damages by a Los Angeles jury on Monday.

BAD INTERNET CONNECTION

There are days when ideas pour like rainwater and yesterday was one of those.

However, my internet connection misbehaved, the way it has done for the past 4 days.

We need a few other providers to keep the costs down, to enhance competition, improve the level of service and weed out these lazy dinosaurs that we currently refer to as TELCOS.

Entrepreneurs, this is one good way to go. Utilize new technologies and provide us with better service at lower cost.

Better yet, give me the money, and I'll run it :D

MORE PINOYS ARE RATING THEMSELVES AS POOR

The first time I read this kind of headline, I didn't have the appetite to continue reading for the nature of the headline suggests that the contents were based on quantitative reasoning, which for me, is very subjective.

However, when I finally browsed through the article, I found out that the article is worthy of a serious consideration. All in all, the story is about a survey of Filipinos being made to determine the level of monthly food budget which they deem to be above and below poverty lines. The survey indicated that through the past several years, the budget went down and yet, the incidence of families breaching the floor levels increased.

Conclusion? The people are nowadays poorer.

Here's the complete story.

The SWS said both the self-rated poverty threshold — the monthly budget that poor households need in order not to consider themselves poor in general — and the self-rated food poverty threshold — the monthly food budget that poor households need in order not to consider themselves poor in terms of food — have been sluggish for several years despite considerable inflation.

NEWS FOR TODAY

More articles/commentaries will be posted within the day. Please stay tuned. Thanks!

WHY I WILL NOT JOIN THESE PRESENT CALL FOR GMA'S RESIGNATION

I don’t like GMA.

However, there are several factors that I think will be the source of blame should GMA not be forced out by these ongoing calls to resign. Here are two:

ISSUES & LEADERS' CREDIBILITY: They blame her for the Glorietta blasts, multiple scandals, sham impeachment process and tainted electoral mandate.

Well, the Glorietta blast is now turning out to be an accident but these guys were so quick to and still continue to put the blame on her. Let me see. Isn’t this turning out to be a case of the boy who cried wolf? Isn’t it that nobody believed in the boy afterwards? Dudes, if I were GMA, I'd simply say, blame it all unto me!

Furthermore, isn’t it that one of the big leaders of this group is confirmed to have led the installation of bombs all over Glorietta 3? Antonio Trillanes, remember? As for most of the other cases, there isn’t solid evidence GMA was behind it, except for the Garci Tapes which the opposition was unable to effectively use against her. During the Garci Scandal, they had their chance BUT THEY FAILED. This is so unlike the Jose Velarde accounts that effectively made the people rise. If my recollection serves me properly, there was no real leader during the first few hours of EDSA 2. We were just a group of people lacking a leader at the dark corner of Ortigas avenue, after the Couples for Christ decided to assemble in the area. There were no lights, sound system, program, food, etc. It was only much later when a semblance of an organization took shape.

MOTIVE: Why are they are dragging the Vice President into this mess? This for me, shows the real motive behind the call. Noli de Castro isn’t among them and a GMA resignation will mean that the opposition will still be without real power. By dragging the Vice President into the call for resignation, the real motive is becoming very clear. These opposition members merely want to grab power for themselves. They are not doing this because they think that GMA is a crook and her resignation is good for this country. They claim to include Noli de Castro in the call for resignation because he supposedly benefitted from GMA’s cheating of the 2004 elections and up to now, he continuous to support her.

Well, well, well... Isn’t it that these opposition leaders also benefitted from Erap’s graces during his term and up to now, they continue to support him? If that’s the case, since Erap was not merely accused but in fact, CONVICTED OF PLUNDER, should they also resign their posts and go to exile?

Despite my hatred for GMA, I will not join these present calls for her resignation. I fought and sacrificed hard just to be able to get Erap and his cohorts out of the corridors of power. I am not about to help these people go back. What we want is a move forward and not a return to the vdark ages.

GMA, if indeed guilty will have her day of reckoning. But never will I work to get the Erap’s boys back!

For the meantime, the people want the Jose Velarde money! WHERE IS IT?