Bombings in Cotabato, Iligan and Jolo

Everybody knows about the bombings that happened in Cotabato, Iligan and Jolo. What affected me most is the Cotabato bombing, the deadly bombing near a cathedral. Almost 10 people died and 100 people were wounded. What disturbed me really was knowing that the people behind the bombing obviously strategically planned to bomb a place of worship where people are gathered to pray. I believe that we should respect the religions of other people and not try to disrupt it's religious practices in any way.

We don't know who the people behind the bombing were but we know the victims. The victims are poor people from the Mindanao region. While bombings continue to happen in the Mindanao area, it's hard to believe that the government is allotting millions or even billions of pesos for national security. What are organizations like AFP and PNP doing about this? They must do everything in their power to stop the bombings because it's their responsibility to protect the Filipino people. PGMA even cancelled her plans of going to Cotabato. If she wants good publicity(Im sure she wants it because of the pictures of her all over MRTs and LRTs), going to Cotabato will surely give her that. The victims of the bombing need rescue and support.

 

The good news of the day - 1.50php cutoff on Shell's gasoline

I read the newspapers everyday and you know what's common among all of them? Most of the articles in the newspapers are about the negative things that happen to our country. There's the bombing in Cotabato city, water crisis, Visayas oil spill and many more. However, when I read the newspapers this morning, there's one heading that made my day. =) It was the one about shell cutting off gasoline prices by 1.50 php.

Food, gas and clothes are the things that I spend my allowance on. The prices of these commodities continue to rise as the years pass by. Gasoline is a big bulk of my expenses. From QC, I have to drive to Taft and go home to QC. It's kind of far because it takes two hours to go back and forth from QC to Taft and from Taft to QC. It requires a lot of gas. When I learned about the cutoff this morning, I told myself, "what a relief!". Finally, there's a good news that will brighten up my day. I got so excited that I drove to the nearest gasoline station and asked the gasoline boy to fill up my car's tank with gasoline.

Please don't file a COC, Mr. Estrada

COMELEC commissioner Rene Sarmiento said recently that former president, Erap Estrada can file a certificate of candidacy. There are allegations that he will be running for president again. What a horror! He's my least favorite president. He's actually our neighbor here in New Manila. We always pass by his "Boracay Mansion". It's a living proof of corruption and his obsession to luxury and yet his slogan is "Erap, para sa mahirap". Oh come on.

He's just the worst president ever! He dropped out of college and became a movie star. I think I might have personal grudges against him. He's slogan is just far out. When he became president, the poor became poorer. I can only recall the bad things that happened to his term. He slowed down economic growth. He was charged with graft and corruption and was house arrested. Why would he want to run for office again? He would need to spend millions or even billions of pesos for campaigning for a low-paying government job. Why would Erap want to spend millions for just a low-paying job? It's obvious that he has plans of corruption again. I wouldn't want that to happen. Let's face it, he has chances of winning in the elections and I don't want him to win.

Stop sweating GMA's breast implants!

It has been reported in the media that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was hospitalized recently because her breast implants leaked. I was shocked when I learned about this. I asked myself, why would the president want to have breast implants? But it's really none of my business. She underwent the surgery a few years back (1980's i think). I am not in the position to make a fuss about it because I believe that women have inherent and sole rights to their bodies. They can do whatever they want with it. PGMA has all the right to do what she wants to her body. 

The media is popularizing and making a big deal out of PGMA's breast implants. I actually think that there's nothing wrong with what PGMA did. It's a private matter. Even if she's a public figure she still has the right to privacy. We don't need to interfere with private matters like this. There are more pressing matters that concern the nation. There are more important issues that the media has to attend to or disseminate information on. The print media looked like tabloid to me when they made a big deal out of PGMA's implants. The TV news looked like The Buzz or Startalk to me when they covered the story. The news media is profit-oriented. They would cover and exaggerate stories even if they don't concern the nation. What will we gain if we dwell on an irrelevant matter like this? Nothing. We're being "chismosos" and "chismosas" which is not good. 

Your heartbeat could have stopped but the beat of your music lives on

Michael Jackson is one popular figure with many contributions in the field of music. One of his His best-selling albums, Thriller is still on top of the charts up to now in terms numbers of copies sold. Over 100 million copies of his album thriller was sold in the market making him and his music popular. Who doesn't know MJ? He's overflowing with talents. He has a nice voice. He has unique dance moves like the moonwalk wich other artists try to replicate. Many artists draw inspiration for him like Gary Valenciano and Justin Timberlake.

You may think that Michael Jackson has everything. You may think that he lived the good life since he has fame, money and the talent. But according to MJ himself, his life is incomplete. He is not satisfied with his life. He wasn't able to enjoy his childhood because his father always pushed him to perform and make no mistakes. His father didn't treat him well. He was beaten up by his father a lot of times. He claimed that his father abused him which made his childhood tragic. This is probably the reason why he created the Neverland ranch. It was named after Peter Pan's, Neverland. MJ;s Neverland ranch has a zoo, amusement park and two railroads. I think MJ spearheaded the construction of all these to make up for his tragic childhood. He probably thought that all these would make things right for him which I think did not really happen. He engaged in drugs and was involved in four cases of molestation.

A lesson that can be learned here is that children should never be beaten up or forced to do things. This will have a psychological effect on them. An example of a psychological effect is repression. Repression in psychoanalytic theory, is removing distressing memories from our conscious mind. In the case of MJ, it's distressing his painful childhood memories through the creation of the Neverland ranch. Repression leads to anxiety. Another lesson that can be learned here is that parents and children must maintain good relationships. You'll never know when you're time is up and you're life is over. If you have problems with your dad or any member of your family, try to patch things up before it's too late. :( Another lesson here is that we should enjoy childhood, adulthood, senior citizenship and teenage life. We should live our lives to the fullest. We can only be children, teenagers, adults and senior citizens once in a lifetime.

Automated elections 2010

We all know about that we might have automated elections here in the Philippines on May 2010. Computers will be used to count votes in precincts. 800 ballots will be scanned in each computer provided by Smartmatic International. If i'm not mistaken, the process that will be done is called optical scanning. It's the same kind of technology used by US and UK for their elections. After ballots are scanned, no more human intervention is needed. The results of the elections will available after three days. The results will be sent by the computers to us through satellites, SMS and calls. According to an article that I read in the Philippine daily inquirer, it's 100 percent accurate. If ever the system crashes, the ballots will still available for manual counting.

I am for this automated elections. Gone are the days where nuns have to protect ballot boxes and people have to wait for months for the election results. We are in the year 2009. Modern times call for modern ways. I can't say for sure that this advancement in technology will help prevent cheating in elections. But given the fact that no human intervention will be needed after all the votes have been scanned in the computer, is promising. Human intervention is just scary when it comes to counting the ballots. We live in a society where money is a god. Money can alter the results of the elections. That's why I'll trust a computer more. I think it's less susceptible to cheating. Unless, computer programmers and technicians are bribed to hack the system or something. I just hope that this automated elections will push through and that it will pave the way for a clean and honest election. If the operations are successful and that no cheating was done, we can set an example to other countries in Asia who are still stuck with manual elections.

My stand on China's Green Dam project

China is currently spending millions of Yuan for the Green Dam internet filtering project. The Chinese government said that their main purpose for implementing this project is filtering pornography. They will filter what Chinese people can access in the internet. They will ban pornography.

I think that this Green Dam internet filtering project's real purpose is to block out negative publicity about the Chinese government and to monitor what the Chinese people are doing while using the computer. It's a ploy for surveillance and for the public opinion not to think negatively of officials like Hujintao. The supposedly anti-pornography purpose of the project is just a mask. Who's to say that pornography is bad? I am an interpretivist and I believe that reality is interpreted through the mind. What is good and bad are socially-constructed. Pornography is bad only if you believe that it's bad. For me it's not bad. It's just that the Catholic church has attached a negative stigma to sex and anything related to sex but in reality, it's just part of human nature. Why filter out things that are part of human nature? Going back to the Chinese government blocking publicity, the Chinese government is accountable to their people. The Chinese people have all the right to know what's going on with their government. On the issue of surveillance, the Chinese people have the right to privacy. It's a universal and inalienable right. Even an insititution like the Chinese government cannot take away that right.

I say no to China's Green Dam Project!