PGMA, 41st in Forbes list of Powerful Women

PGMA was listed as the 41st Forbes Magazine Powerful Women for 2008. She gained 10 notches as last year, she was listed 51st. Her higher placement this year was attributed to the fact that she’s firm in her stand with regards to EVAT despite opposition against it. The EVAT implementation was said to have reduced our foreign debt, increased government spending on infrastructure, education and health services and other social services.

I don’t know the criteria for the selection of World’s Powerful Women. Any magazine could make their own list with their own criteria. If the list is published in the local magazine, no one would even mind it.

John McCain announced pick for Veep

John McCain, the GOP presumptive nominee for President, announced his pick for Vice President yesterday. The VP nominee is the little known Alaska first term governor Sarah Palin. Palin, a conservative is the second woman to be chosen by a major political party to be a VP nominee. The first one was Geraldine Ferraro of NY who was nominated by Democrats in 1984.

Palin will appeal to Hillary Clinton supporters who would not vote for Obama. She is a woman and at 44 is younger than Obama. Palin in her acceptance speech acknowledged Hillary Clinton’s 18 Million votes and Clinton’s effort to break the glass ceiling for women in politics.

It would be a surprise if McCain-Palin tandem would not win the November presidential election. Like the rest of Hillary Clinton supporter, I am still bitter of Hillary’s failure to clinch the Democratic Nomination. Hillary was also disrespected by the Democratic Party officers. If I could, like the rest of Hillary’s supporters, I’ll vote for the GOP bets. I’ve already reached the point where I want to enjoy my BITTERNESS.

Hillary Clinton’s showing at the Democratic Nomination process just show how formidable she is as a candidate. She may not have won the nomination but her status in the Democratic Party is cemented.

Iloilo City Redistricting Bill

Iloilo City Lone District Rep. Raul Gonzalez Jr. filed a bill dividing Iloilo City into two congressional districts. As per Rep. Gonzalez proposal, the first district will cover Mandurriao, Jaro, La Paz and Lapuz while the second district will be City Proper, Molo and Villa de Arevalo.

The redistricting bill of Iloilo City however has opposition. A group of lawyers and ex-politicians filed their opposition to Noynoy Aquino’s office. The group said Iloilo City did not meet population criteria. The division would also mean more salaries for the congressman and for his staff.

I see no harm in the redistricting bill. Two Iloilo City congressmen means Ilonggo voices will be heard more in the lower house. If the senate approves the bill and it becomes a law, the city will be electing two representatives in the 2010 general election.

Bomb Joke at the NAIA

An OFW was arrested at the NAIA for the violation of Presidential Decree No. 1727 or the unlawful dissemination of malicious or false information willful making of any threat concerning bombs, explosives or any similar device or means of destruction. The airport officials were checking the OFWs bags when he jokingly said that he had grenade in it. He was then put into custody by the Airport police.

OFWs should be careful in making remarks that could harm them. The OFW did not mean to scare people because he was just joking. However, he has to suffer the consequences of his actions. I just hope that the airport police would be more understanding. If that OFW could not make it to UK days, his UK visa could expire and he could lose his job. His family would suffer for that remark that he made which was only meant as a joke.

President’s Emotional Outburst

Last week, the irresponsible Philippine media exaggeratedly reported PGMAs emotional outburst in Malacañang. It wouldn’t be reported if PGMA is an ordinary individual but she’s the head of 80 Million Filipinos. The cause of PGMAs temper was the result of incompetent people from RTVM. She was supposed to issue a statement but apparently RTVM wasn’t ready. She then moved out from the ceremonial hall where the taping should have happened. The president at that time suffered from an upset stomach caused by stress. Being a president is no easy task that whoever seats in Malacañang, his/her health would surely deteriorate. The press saw her but she refused to be ambushed interviewed and photographed.

The way the Philippine media reported PGMAs emotional outburst was very irresponsible. Depicting PGMA as a brat does not dignify the media and does not improve their journalistic abilities (tabloid reporting). It only shows how lowly our mainstream media are by the derogatory language they use.

People lose it sometimes especially if they are surrounded by incompetent people. The emotional outburst of PGMA only signifies that she’s just a human being like us.

Musharraf Resigns

Nine years after grabbing power from a civilian government through a coup, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf resigned today. Musharraf said that he does not want the country to suffer from the damaging political confrontation by the impeachment move of the ruling coalition that wanted to oust him.

The ruling coalition plans to submit the articles of impeachment of Musharraf to the general assembly for sacking the judges who are oppose to him and for declaring national emergency last November. Musharraf’s trouble started during the assignation of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and his big loss in the February elections.

Musharraf is one of US closest allies on the ‘war on terror’. There is no immediate reaction from overseas especially from the White House about Musharraf’s resignation. Pakistan is a highly politicized country. Politicians risk security over personal and political ambitions. Musharraf’s departure will only strengthen the Taliban who are terrorizing the neighboring Afghanistan.

ICPD tightly monitors Frat recruitments

I promised myself that I will start writing about the happening in Iloilo. I’ve hesitated to write at first since I’ve been gone for almost 8 years and the news that I gather are not first hand.

Anyway, there’s a report that the Iloilo City Police District is monitoring the fraternity recruitment in the city. It’s ICPDs response to frat clashes in the City in the recent weeks. The director also said that they will not hesitate to arrest frat members who are involve in the brawl.

Youngsters join the fraternities for several reasons. The selling points of most of the fraternities would be brotherhood / sisterhood. They usually recruit obedient sons / daughters from the far flung towns who new to the city / university. They are lonely and have hard time adjusting to their new environment. Frat leaders would promise campus recognition or popularity to name the few. After that the prospective frat member will go through initiation process like embarrassing himself in the public (e.g. guys wearing ladies bistida in the campus) and going through physical pains (paddling). If you won’t die in the initiation process, you’ll be their brother/sister. Most of the fraternities have Greek alphabet as their names (e.g. Tau Gama, Delta Rhu, etc.).

It never occurred to me to join fraternity while I was in college. I have low tolerance in going through excruciating pain (very coward). I also don’t need affirmation as my friends in the university are influential and known. I was also too busy in my part time job in the food service industry.

I salute the head of the ICPD for initiating the move to curtail violence in the city and the school campuses. It’s the prime responsibility of the police and the university to restore order. However, the parents should also be involved in protecting their children. More often than not, parents are the last people to know that their children are involved in frat violence.

Ninoy Aquino

This will contradict my early posting that was published by Arab News on 23 August 2003. I have since realized that Ninoy brought nothing to our country but discord and destabilization. His supporters only paint him as a modern hero by dying a dramatic death at the runway of the then Manila International Airport. Since most Filipinos are fond of soap operas ‘teleseryes’, they willingly allow Cory’s supporters to rename Manila International Airport to Ninoy Aquino International Airport. It’s a shame since the country’s premier airport should be named after the capital city. I hope PGMA would endorse the bill renaming NAIA back into MIA again.

Cory, the aging and cancer stricken widow of Ninoy, is still active in the media spotlight by criticizing the present administration. Cory should really be blamed to what is happening to our country right now. The Filipino people are still suffering from the ills of her administration. She’s the mastermind of our flawed 1987 constitution that has so many economic hurdles that stops our country from moving forward. She along with the hypocrite CBCP hindered the progress of our nation by their constant threat of destabilization and rallies at the EDSA.

A letter of Ninoy’s brother in law, Ken Kashiwahara was published in the Philippine Star today. Ken willingly give out that Ninoy was expecting to die at the NAIA. They heard rumors weeks before Ninoy departed from Boston that there’s a plan to kill Ninoy. Ninoy was dying at that time and he knows it. He believed that instead of dying from his heart condition, he might as well die a dramatic death at the MIA runway. There’s even the chance that Ninoy himself contacted those people to kill him.

The PR machine of the Cojuanco and Aquino were successful in painting that freedom was restored when the Marcoses fled the country. What the people didn’t realize at that time is that they were only free from Marcoses but not from the economic woes that they face after the Marcos downfall. Democracy and freedom should not only be restricted to the restoration of the voting rights of the people. It should first and foremost address how an ordinary citizen could feed his family. Freedom should tackle and solve poverty. Six years of Cory’s misadministration and the Filipinos are still suffering until now.

Cha Cha for Federalism

The Arroyo administration announced that all are set for Charter Change through a Constituent Assembly. The reason given by the people in Malacañang is that peace in Mindanao can only be achieved through Charter Change. PGMAs critics believe the opposite. Well, who cares, it’s the votes that counts. PGMA has the numbers in the House of Representatives. Her only headache is the Senate who are full of presidential aspirants.

Here are the reasons why I believe that it’s about time to change our Charter:

1) The present constitution has so many provisions that suppresses our competitiveness to the globalize concept of economy.
2) A shift from Presidential System to Parliamentary system would solve any ouster attempt by few pressure groups in EDSA and rogue soldiers from the AFP. In the present form of our government a proper term limit is observed while in a parliamentary form, the any unpopular prime minister would only undergo a vote of ‘no confidence’ and he could easily be removed.
3) Senators must be elected from the State (Federal) to avoid electing popular but incompetent senators.
4) Qualifications for Prime Ministerial job must be raised to avoid electing uneducated and dumb individual for that office.
5) In a centralized government that we presently have, only Mega Manila benefit from the infrastructure and progress. A Federalized republic would solve the issue.
6) A Bangsangmoro State (in the area of the present ARMM) I hope will bring about peace (Inshallah).
7) The Sabah claim must be pursued by our country.

The proposal according to the Malacañang source is that they will create a State of Western Visayas. Iloilo of course would be the capital of the new state. Ti, hala bira ilonggo eh!

You know you’re a true blue Ilonggo if:

The author of this piece is GLADITA www.promdiliving.com/ilonggo-guid/. I hope you won't mind if I copied your piece. Kanami bal-an sang thought kay every Ilonggo can relate to it. Hope you can make more pieces like this one. Madamo guid nga salamat.


You know if you're a true blue Ilonggo if:

Your one peso is pisos
You take a bath using a tabo which you call Caltex
Your bathroom has at least one lugod (some has one for every family member)
Your nanay used to make you drink Mirinda or Royal Tru Orange when you have a fever, which is supposed to make you feel better
Sinamak is a staple in your dining table (the best Ilonggo invention if you ask, was even banned on airplanes long before 911)
Your toyo is patis and your patis is Rufina
You use atsuete for your adobo and pinamalhan (pinaksiw)
Your daily meal will likely include laswa, kbl (kadyos, baboy, langka), ginat-an nga tambo with tugabang and okra, ginat-an nga munggo, linutik, apan-apan, etc.
November 1 means eating ibus, suman, suman latik, kalamay-hati, bayi-bayi, valenciana or other native delicacies with glutinous rice and coconut milk
You call your special someone palangga, pangga, langga or ga (means love)
You call your siblings or cousins inday, nonoy or toto and the househelp may call you the same
You call those who are older than you manang or manong
You catch the attention of sales attendants by calling them “day” or “to”
Your childhood games include tumba patis, taksi, panagu-ay, balay-balay, ins, tin-tin baka, etc.
You used to be (or still are) scared to go out at night lest you meet the aswang, tik-tik, tayhu, kapre, kama-kama, morto, etc.
You used to listen (or still listens) to Tiyay Evelyn, Sin-o Ang May Sala, Lain Siya Sa Iban, Probinsyal Jil, and Toyang Ermitanya
Your grandparents read Yuhum magazine
You call a person, thing, place and event “kwan” when you forget it (si kwan, ang kwan, sa kwan) You used to sleep in an aboy-aboy made of patadyong when you were a baby (probably applies only to us below the poverty line)
You understand that “Particulars Keep Out” sign means outsiders keep out (believe me, this sign may look and sound English but only us Ilonggos use it)
You use words such as “ahay” (expression of pity, grief, empathy), “yuga” (expression of disbelief, surprise), “ambot ah” (to say you don’t know, expression of impatience)
You often start your sentence with ti
You say goodbye by saying “halong”
Your favorite cuss words are linte (if you’re slightly pissed off)

Ang Pinoy at Utang

I have nothing against my fellow compatriots and I don’t want to be labeled as being too discriminating. I choose my friends well and I don’t easily trust people. If you’re too trusting and naïve, people will take advantage of you. I’ve been advising my friend Nonoy (An Ilonggo from Dumangas) who has the tendency of being overly friendly with the Filipino factory workers. Nonoy would later tell me that some of his ‘kabarkada’ would ask for a loan from him. If he fails to give them a loan, they’d ignore him and would start to bad mouth him to other factory workers. There’s another guy who borrowed SR4K from Nonoy, exited the kingdom without bothering to pay and months later sent an email asking for another loan of SR4K.

This case is not only isolated to factory workers. There are office staffs I know who are earning a decent salary but are trapped by quagmires of ‘utang’. There are those who couldn’t even pay for their apartment and electricity bills. Worst, some of them would sell their flesh just to pay for their electricity bill! There are those na makapal na talaga ang mukha na kailangan mo pang ipahiya para magbayad. Believe it or not, their reasons for initiating the ‘utang’ are the same: ‘Nasalanta ng bagyo ang pamilya ko, May nagkasakit sa Pilipinas, Pang piyansa ng Kuya ko, Pang pa facelift ng kabit ko, Pangpa liposuction ng nanay ko, pang pa pader sa bahay ko’ and the list could go on.

I’m not saying that all ‘utang’ are made for the sake of making ‘utang’. There are people who genuinely needed the money so they make a loan. But there are also people who are greedy and would do anything in order to get a loan. I have a simple belief when it comes to loans. ‘Just spend what you earn and do not overspend. The moment you spend more than you earn, you’ll be in trouble’.

Today, I received a forwarded email regarding the swindling Filipino couple in Riyadh. They swindled their friends with the money totaling to Php. 2M. I pity the victims but this incident should give them a lesson not to be too trusting. People are blinded with money and some would even kill for it. The victims could only cry for frustration since there’s nothing they could do to retrieve the money they lost.

China Olym-Fakes

China is known all throughout for producing less expensive merchandize and quality imitation (fake) items. It wouldn’t be a surprise if you will see fake fireworks display and a fake singer at the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony.

Unbelievable, right? It turned out that some of the fireworks displayed on our TV screens are computer generated images. Most of the shots were pre recorded to avoid accident from the live shots taken by helicopter cameras.

The cute little girl you saw singing at the Olympic opening ceremony was only miming (lip sync) as the real singer was not considered beautiful enough to take the world stage.

I am not at all impressed with the opening ceremony. It’s a so-so performance with hundreds of silly Chinese dancers in elaborate costumes. The director has to use pre recorded shorts and computer generated images to compensate for the poor performance.

Cindy Sheehan qualifies to run against Nancy Pelosi

Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan has garnered enough signatures for her to run against the incumbent US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the 8th Congressional District of California. Last year, Cindy Sheehan announced that she would run as independent against Nancy Pelosi because of Pelosi’s failure to impeach George W. Bush.

Cindy Sheehan ‘Peace Mom’ is an anti war activist whose son, Casey died in the tour of duty in Iraq. She gained international recognition when she demonstrated at George W. Bush’s ranch in Texas. Nancy Pelosi on the other hand is the first female House Speaker of the US House of Representative. She’s also the highest ranking woman in America.

The 8th Congressional District of California is said to be the safest Democratic District in the US. Democrats held this congressional seat since 1949. Pelosi also held her congressional seat since 1987 and won 10 congressional races since then receiving almost 75% of the votes cast.

Cindy Sheehan’s campaign may gain media attention but I doubt that she’d win against Nancy Pelosi. She lacks the political clout and experience that Nancy Pelosi have. It was even reported that Nancy Pelosi has never participated in any candidate’s debate.

KSA Customs Directives

The Saudi Arabian Customs issued a directive that all expensive items such as precious stones or cash with the equivalent to or over USD 16,000 (SAR 60,000) must be declared upon departure or arrival at any entry/exit points in the Kingdom. Those who fail to do so will face confiscation or even imprisonment. The new directive is to control money laundering in the Kingdom.

This directive is somewhat similar to the Philippine BOC. The only difference is the amount of money a visitor can bring to the country. In the Philippines, it’s USD 10,000 worth of cash or equivalent.

I doubt if an ordinary OFW could really bring or raise USD 16,000 (SAR 60,000) except if he’s exiting the kingdom and he’s bringing his ESB (End of Service Benefits) with him. It’s not also wise to bring a big sum of money since an OFW could be robbed at NAIA. Most of the OFWs would send the money through a remittance center because it is the wisest thing to do.

ARMM Poll

Today thousands of ARMM residents will go to the polling stations to cast their votes for new sets of leaders. In a country like the Philippines where nobody really wins in any elections, losers will always cry that they were cheated and winners will forever be accused of cheating. The irresponsible Philippine media will sensationalize all their election reports to paint the perception that cheating indeed happened.

Mindanao Muslims are traditionally ruled by the Datu and Sultan. They are not used to democratic process and more often than not wouldn’t submit themselves to democratically elected officials. In the past, elected Muslim officials are believed to be corrupt individuals that would only champion their personal interest rather than that of their people. Oil is not the primary reason why Arab Muslims are rich. It’s because of how they rule their government. They may not be democratic but look at how they run their countries. Saudi Arabia in particular is very strict in their criminal system. That’s the reason for their progress. Why won’t the Philippine government re-install the powers of the Sultanate of Sulu and Sabah and let the Sultan rule ARMM instead?

The ARMM poll results will once again be questioned by the losers. However, this election can also be a chance to change the lives of the thousands of Filipino Muslims living in the Autonomous Region. This is an opportunity to make a great leader. That is, if the elected leader will truly care for his people.

Let the Games Begin!

Exclusivity!! NBC the official broadcaster of the 2008 Olympic Games in the US (has the exclusive rights to broadcast the events in the States) preferred to air the opening ceremonies at the primetime slot. It angered the fans who were anticipating to be dazzled by the pageantry of the Olympics ceremony.
I’m not in the US so I was able to watch the opening ceremonies through Dubai Sports channel. The performance and the fireworks do not impress me at all. It’s like watching Miss World in China on a larger scale performance with thousands of dancers. It’s sad that the Games was used for public relations purposes. World leaders did not even bother to question China’s human rights violations particularly the Tibetian issue.
It was earlier reported that the Philippines sent 15 contingents for the 2008 Games. I’m sure they will return home ‘LUHAAN’. Sayang lang ang gastos. Our government could have funded those expenses they incur for the athletes on other social projects that would benefit the poor people. We should stop sending sports contingents in the future since wala namang nananalo.

Fleeing Hamas, Fatah men enter Israel

Hundreds of Fatah supporters fled to Israel from the Gaza Strip to escape Hamas crackdown that leave several people dead and wounded. The Israeli soldiers allowed the Gazans to move to Israel after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Egyptian counterpart requested the Israeli government’s permission. Medical teams and ambulance were rushed to the border to welcome the fleeing Fatah supporters.

The crackdown of Fatah supporters particularly the Hilles clan was launched by Hamas in Gaza City. It was said that the raids were meant to catch the suspected Fatah supporter behind the explosion on 25 July that killed 5 Hamas members. The incident is said to be the bloodiest since Hamas took over the Gaza strip more than a year ago.

The Palestinian in fighting has become so bitter that Palestinians themselves fear Israel less than they do each other. Israel on the other hand believes that it’s their responsibility to support Abbas who is negotiating with the Israeli government. They would never tolerate the radical Hamas who they claim is a terror organization.

The Palestinian in fighting will never benefit the Palestinian people. They must unite and support Mahmoud Abbas if they want peace. Deaths would only divide their fragile nation. The Palestinians must throw politics away if they want to see the light at the end of the tunnel.