Making It Fun in the Philippines

Bravo to Maria Ressa and more bravo. It's no surprise that the clueless Western media  is showering her with awards right now. She deserves all those awards because they think like her and have her kind of ideals. But there's one award that she deserves right now -- she could get an Oscar's Award for best acting! I tried noticing her speeches right now are really that convincing to mislead people. She gets her acceptance award and I can understand why people can be misled by her. She knows how to make herself look like she's a victim of a dictatorship. She makes many heartfelt speeches and acts like she was bullied. For that, she manages to even get her awards one after the other. She's very convincing one way or another. Right now, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences SHOULD consider giving her an Oscar's for best acting. This would be a big achievement for CRappler should their CEO get that award!

The problem isn't when foreigners express concern for the Philippines but when they do play selective concern. Canada's foreign minister Chrystia Freeland has given that tweet (above) where she gives her latest concern for Maria Ressa. While she is right in saying that harassment and intimidation of journalists is not part of a healthy democracy -- but does she know what Ressa is actually doing? I admit, Ressa's acting skills are indeed excellent that she too should receive an Oscar's for best acting -- she's deceived a foreign minister in her victim playing! Is Freeland herself aware of the Negative List in the Philippines  concerning foreign investments? She better do some research right now because if she should realize this that no foreign equity for mass media (such as television and press) is ever allowed in the Philippines. Now don't tell me that's not a threat to Philippine media democracy? Anyone can argue that the end of the Marcos regime toppl...

This is really comedy gold at it's finest, isn't it? Here's Congressman Gary Alejano's latest jingle. For non-Tagalog speakers -- allow me to give you translation of this Tagalog "cover" of the American World War 1 song called "The Caissons Go Rolling Over": Soldier, soldier of every Filipino Alejano, Aleeejano Has the courage, has the heart Will save us Alejano, Aleeejano When the Motherland is being snatched Alejano will fight When the people of the land are hungry Alejano will fight Soldier, soldier of every Filipino Alejano, Aleeejano Has the courage, has the heart Will save us Alejano, Aleeejano When the land's coffers are being stolen Alejano will fight When the people of the land are being deceived Alejano will fight Alejano will fight Gary Alejano, soldier of the Filipino This campaign jingle made me laugh for several reasons. I don't have to be a Philippine Military Academy graduate ...

One of the biggest fears of the parliamentary system was the whole idea of "Gloria forever" and "Duterte forever" which is not the case of a parliamentary Philippines -- it's more of the fear of the unknown than anything else. Do people really know who's who in a parliamentary? We have a monarchy-parliamentary and a presidential-parliamentary. South Korea may be mainly presidential but it has a prime minister appointed by the president to assist in running the state. The aim of a parliamentary Philippines is to have a duly-elected president and members of the parliament  together with a prime minister elected by the parliament.  I remembered this scene from G.I.Joe cartoon when Serpentor was finally conceived as a replacement for Cobra Commander. Although Cobra Commander like most cartoon Big Bads (though he was demoted in Season Two in favor of a more entertaining stupid villain in Serpentor) -- he did come up with a plan that could have had COBRA...

While I've changed my stance about abolishing the Commission on Human Rights but it doesn't mean I support its incumbent chairman Chito Gascon or his predecessors. So where in the mandate of CHR's existence is it that it should defend criminals? None!  Because if you read Law Phil Project -- you will find that there's NO mandate for CHR to defend criminals from justice. Here are the basic rules of what CHR is supposed to do:  Investigate, on its own or on complaint by any party, all forms of human rights violations involving civil and political rights; Adopt its operational guidelines and rules of procedure, and cite for contempt for violations thereof in accordance with the Rules of Court; Provide appropriate legal measures for the protection of human rights of all persons within the Philippines, as well as Filipinos residing abroad, and provide for preventive measures and legal aid services to the under-privileged whose human rights have been violated or...

While CRappler does tell some degree of truth but it's so muddled in half-truths that you can't tell their fake news from the real one. Said news organization does a very good job that some people are so clueless not to spot the fake news and even believe it to be a "reliable" organization. Maria Ressa getting two awards in a year namely the Golden Pen of Freedom 2018 award and the Gwen Iffill Freedom Award . Congratulations to her because she deserves her award from said organizations who think like her. But the truth is that no amount of awards showered to Ressa -- not even a cabinet full of plaques from the clueless Western media (or the so-called "experts") would be able to build up her already severely broken credibility in the Philippines. Not even her past achievements such as her masteral degree in the University of the Philippines helped her either! Do you remember when  Agnes Callamard together with three "experts of the world" defend...

It's the first day of December and nothing is more exciting than the fact that there's 24 more days before Christmas, right? While one can get excited about the 13th month pay, reunions, parties and the like yet it can also be a source of frustration because there are many common, irritating habits that is prevalent among Filipinos during the Christmas season. One of the many common, irritating habits happens to be the stupidity of asking for people who love to ask for pinaskohan or Christmas package from other people. I don't have anything against people giving pinaskohan to friends, employees and tenants but it should be at the discretion of the person. Banks give them to loyal clients. Some loyal customers get a pinaskohan for their frequent patronage. You can think of how they are given as a reward for a whole year of good work. Yet, you've got parasites who are are actually asking for pinaskohan because it's December. Now that's another issue compared t...