A Day In The Life Of RJ

Drum roll, please…

SWS 3rd Quarter Survey Results:

De Castro - 29%

Villar - 28%

Legarda - 26%

Malacanang, as early as now, eyes several other people as successors to PGMA – Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Senator Richard Gordon, Chairman Bayani Fernando of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, and Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte. These people are being considered aside from VP Noli de Castro who has been enjoying wide popularity in recent SWS surveys.

And, as early as now, I think it doesn’t take a genius to see that their additional choices don’t have a slight chance in hell at winning the presidency even with Malacanang’s so-called “political machinery”. In a country as disillusioned as ours, popularity is still a major factor for winning. And while popularity isn’t everything (as proven by the many “celebrities” who lost in their quest for electoral positions in the previous elections), it is still undeniably a major consideration or shall I say, a significant determinant of a candidate’s winnability. (more…)

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It was a long wait. Was it two years? And now Joc-Joc Bolante, the alleged “mastermind” of that “fertilizer scam” issue is finally here. And just like our “very optimistic” expectation before that Romulo Neri will spill the beans on the NBN-ZTE broadband scandal, I must say that we are none the wiser to assume that we can ever get something out of Joc-Joc’s mouth or head. If it took him two years to evade questioning, what guarantee do we have that the man came back here after much “reflection” of the grave offense he has done to this country and its people? So the guy did not tell the truth, what were you expecting, really?

Personally, I think we simply gave the man a chance to fabricate and weave a “good” story that would be fool-proof or looking at it from a different angle, we may have just given the guy a chance to “toughen” himself up and train himself to lie straight-faced. Two years is a long time, and mind you, for some people, guilt feelings wear-off over time. And for all we know, that is exactly what happened to Joc-Joc. We should have been more vigilant, more persistent and more “concerned” to not have let two years pass us by without grilling the guy while the guilt feelings might still be there and where “Freudian slips” may have given us the truth we’ve always wanted to know. There’s an adage appropriate for that — ah, yes. “Strike while the iron is hot.” So now, however you strike the guy, there’s no way you can mold him to what you want because he’s now “too tough” for any possible “strike”. Our senators can grill him all they want, stress him out, scrape-off his ulcers, turn him backwards and inside out and hang him by a pole for all he cares, but the guy — to my mind — will never “talk” or “sing” for that matter. (more…)

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Calambeños (that is, people of Calamba, Laguna) take their politics, errr RH stand seriously. Not only are they vocal about it, they are also willing to spend for it and will do what it takes for their thoughts to be known to all, specially to those who need to know. Want proof? Here it is.

I am from Calamba as well. And although I do not share their views regarding the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, I have great respect for people who take a stand for what they believe in. It is no wonder then that I find myself blogging about a poster that opposes my stand on the much-debated RH Bill. This is a tarpaulin hanging on the gate of a residential house along a narrow main road. I have erased the location of the poster (as supposedly evident in the poster) for security purposes.

I’ve no idea whether it is indeed a common opinion shared by the entire community there or the mere house owner’s opinion. But then again, it doesn’t matter. What strikes me however, is the show of concern. Forget that it’s a NO or a YES. The mere fact that they took time to have it printed, posted and well– paid for, meant that they CARE.

I find it interesting..and a bit overwhelming. Some people do CARE. Some people do give a damn about what’s happening in the country, about the issues that affect us all. And knowing that we are affected, they take a stand and they let everyone know, thereby making other people AWARE of it and consequently cause others to THINK and eventually, TAKE A STAND — their own stand. Isn’t that something? I think it is.

Right now, we are in dire need of people who CARE. It is now considered a rare commodity.  And so I take pride in belonging to a community of people who don’t just sit “on the fence”. Indifference is a crime. To take sides on issues of this relevance is everyone’s responsibility. Are you for or against the RH Bill? Let the world know. Let your voice be heard. Now is not the time to be apathetic. Take a stand. And don’t ever think one opinion is not counted. You can never tell how much of a difference it can make.

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* Note: I am cross-posting this “verse” from my “private” blog which most people might find very disturbing, rebellious and explicit. I call it the “blog of and about the darker side of me“. Obviously, as much as I’d like to, I can’t even post the blog’s URL and I’ve blocked it from search engines as well.

This one post is actually the “tamest” article I’ve written there. This is not the original article. This is actually the “watered-down” version of it and I would want to share it here. I wish I could share more. (more…)

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The uber-controversial and much-debated Reproductive Health Bill of 2008 is now being strongly opposed by of course, no less than the entire Catholic church and other “concerned” and self-righteous citizens who will go to great lengths just to make sure the bill is not enacted into a law. And make no mistake about it, the power of the Church to influence should neither be underestimated nor taken lightly. They are a force to be reckoned with. It is highly possible that they (Church and other so-called “pro-life” groups) will win this battle. I hope not.

However, if you expect me to discuss (in this particular post) why I choose to be a proponent of this bill, I am sorry to disappoint you. There is no need for explanation or thorough analysis here. The issue, although not simple, is rather easy to understand and consequently, easy to decide on which side to take. I mean, come on people, when are we ever gonna grow up as a country and accept the fact that we can no longer feed our people, provide jobs that match education and experience, eradicate poverty and zero-out crime rate which is a direct effect of these issues? Wake up people. Face the facts. Do what needs to be done. The proposed Philippine Reproductive Health Bill is not even immoral per se. It does not even violate the Philippine constitution (as compared to the BJE  MOA). (more…)

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“There is nothing easier than lopping off heads and nothing harder than developing ideas.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky

“I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of their way and let them have it.”

“Wars are seldom caused by spontaneous hatreds between people, for peoples in general are too ignorant of one another to have grievances and too indifferent to what goes on beyond their borders to plan conquests. They must be urged to the slaughter by politicians who know how to alarm them.” Henry Mencken

“There is no such thing as a good war and there is no such thing as a bad peace.” Benjamin Franklin

“Short-circuiting the long-established principles of patient negotiation leads to war, not peace.” Jimmy Carter

I miss the good old days — when things weren’t as complicated as they are now. It seemed rather peaceful then (or so I thought). Fact is, the world in general has not been truly peaceful at any time. Wars are as constant as change. And this world has seen one too many wars. There will always be small wars fought in certain parts of the world for all sorts of reason. I think humankind has a penchant for wars — probably part of what makes us human — to be hostile at times when certain boundaries are crossed. (more…)

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This has been a long day. I am tired and sleepy and would love to sleep and call it a night. Only that, this recent development (if you can even call it that) in the much ballyhooed NBN-ZTE Deal has a way of keeping me awake. Apparently, it works far better than coffee in giving me that caffeine boost enough to get me through the wee hours of the morning — though I hope this post doesn’t take that long to write.

First off, aside from the total trashing of the BJE MOA and the dissolution of the GRP Peace Panel (the latter being a good decision, even for a somewhat pro-BJE MOA like me), hearing such dismal news relating to the NBN-ZTE early in the day is like “rubbing salt to a wound” as mentioned previously in FilipinoVoices.com (albeit of a different topic). For a commoner as myself, let me say this: “Wow. what else could go wrong?“. (more…)

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With all that’s been written about the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity MOA on Ancestral Domain (BJE MOA on AD), it is as if the issue gets more and more tiring to discuss and write about everyday. It’s September 2. Two days more and the SC TRO celebrates(?) its one month anniversary. To this day, although the BJE MOA on AD seems to be good as dead — or “comatose” as others have called it — the issue just wouldn’t die a natural death. And why not? Freedom(?) or self-determination and the struggle for it is something far more important than the struggle for survival. If you don’t believe it, ask yourself why we have heroes now. Ask yourself why Jose Rizal, the Ilustrado that he is or Andres Bonifacio, the poor guy that he is — the two of them doing their own style of revolt had no second thoughts about putting their lives at risk for something they believed was above them or of their preoccupations — the vision of a free Philippines. They know first-hand how a lot more difficult it is to survive and yet be enslaved or put more objectively, be under the rule of a colonizer. It is every man’s instinct to fight for freedom — for self-rule. (more…)

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The reality of poverty, for most of our brothers and sisters follow them to their death — as is the case with Mang Pandoy — the man showcased in the SONA (State of the Nation Address) by then President Fidel V. Ramos as a representative of the poor whose lives he aims to improve. Many years after that, the man born poor died poor. If you find it too harsh a word, I’m pretty sure there’s a more politically-correct term for that. Underprivileged? Less fortunate? Economically-challenged? Gah. Does it matter how we call it? Apparently, it does not. For if we examine closely, “terms” don’t change a reality. Is there anything more glaring than the reality of your family’s incapacity to even give you a proper burial? My friends, Mang Pandoy lies “clad in a faded violet shirt, laid in an ordinary wooden coffin“. His death is no poorer than the life he lived. The man clearly died “waiting on the world to change” — waiting on his economic status to at least change from bad to fair. He died waiting for a chance at a better life. (more…)

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