I have often wondered where people like Fidel Castro (a geriatric) get the energy to go on for hours straight perorating on every social injustice under the sky. I once saw a footage of Castro speaking in a crowd, declaiming against injustice while torrential rain was pouring. I read a psycho-babble article that said people like Castro refuse to grow up and enter the world of the adults, that is, the world of compromise between ideals and reality. Reading Eva Peron's grandiloquent La razon de mi vida, I got another explanation. She wrote:
I think now that many people become accustomed to social injustice in the first years of their lives. Even the poor think the misery they endure is natural and logical. They learn to tolerate what they see or suffer, just as it is possible to acquire a tolerance for powerful poison.
I think that, just as some persons have a special tendency to feel beauty differently and more intensely, than do people in general, and therefore become poets or painters or musicians, I have a special inherent tendency to feel injustice with unusual and painful intensity.
Can a painter say why he sees and feels color? Can a poet explain why he is a poet?
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
UP naming mahal
I've been re-reading Yan ba ang natutunan mo sa UP and I cannot help but smile and think a few thoughts on the University of the Philippines:
Marami daw kasing kalokohan sa UP. Andun na ang tumatakbong nakahubad, ang mga nagpapalu-an ng tubo, mga taong hindi naniniwala sa diyos, mga estudyanteng wala nang nakitang maganda sa pamahalaan, mga taong namundok, may mga buntis na ayaw magpakasal, may mga anak-mayaman na tumalikod sa karangyaan, mga nag-aaral ng mga kursong hindi mapagkakitaan, mga taong nagdyu-dyugdyugan sa damuhan, mga taong mukhang di naliligo, etc. Sa UP ba natin natutunan yan?
Whenever some friends ask me which Philippine university is the best I invariably say the University of the Philippines. They, of course, would conspiratorially smile, and say, "Ah, that is, of course, because you went there."
But I always explain why I think UP is the best. It is the best because only in UP will you see the child of a domestic help sitting side by side with the child of his mother's amo and sometimes, just sometimes, performing even better. I knew one such pair before who, by chance, got enrolled in the same elective class , and both, I observed, felt awkward, as if there was something not quite right in the arrangement.
The general public, after a cursory glance and an incidental passing through the campus on the way to Katipunan, sometimes get the impression that UP has degenerated into a university for rich kids. They point at the cars at the parking lot, the well-groomed students at the AS steps, the sorority convoys around the Sunken Garden celebrating an anniversary. Even President Estrada pointed out the traffic congestion at the University Avenue as proof that the taxpayers' money are paying for the education of the elite. Senator John Osmena also made the same observation, thwarting the efforts of UP President Nemenzo to reform the university.
There are many, many well-off kids at UP. Sometimes, I even think, far too many. They pay matriculation fees at UP far lower than what they paid for their high school. But while there are many rich kids in UP, there are also many poor almost destitute ones. How then do we explain the impression that some people get that UP has gone upmarket ? Because it is far easier to notice well-groomed, goodlooking students on the campus than emaciated provinciano jologs-looking students.
My sister told me once the story of a classmate of hers who was not able to take a calculus exam because he fainted on the way to the Math Building. Upon talking with the classmate, my sister learned that he had not had a decent meal in a day because the meagre STFAP food allowance has run out. My sister also learned that to save on precious money, her classmate hitchhikes on garbage trucks on the way to a Laguna landfill to visit his family.
UP is the only genuinely democratic institution in the country where the rich commingle with the poor as equals and get to learn about each other during their four-year sojourn in the campus. (Some will say there is another institution, the ROTC, but its class-mixing mechanism is effectively diluted by the well-known fact that the rich and the inflential buy their ways out of it or feign asthma.) Students in other universities come from more or less the same socioeconomic backgrounds. The Ateneo and La Salle, I know, have some destitute scholars in their schools, but their presence is more to assuage the guilt of the priests. I have also heard that to be on a a scholarship grant in those institutions was to wear a scarlet letter in hell.
It is because of this class mixing, unique among Philippine institutions, that, I think, UP is the best Philippine university hands down.
Marami daw kasing kalokohan sa UP. Andun na ang tumatakbong nakahubad, ang mga nagpapalu-an ng tubo, mga taong hindi naniniwala sa diyos, mga estudyanteng wala nang nakitang maganda sa pamahalaan, mga taong namundok, may mga buntis na ayaw magpakasal, may mga anak-mayaman na tumalikod sa karangyaan, mga nag-aaral ng mga kursong hindi mapagkakitaan, mga taong nagdyu-dyugdyugan sa damuhan, mga taong mukhang di naliligo, etc. Sa UP ba natin natutunan yan?
Whenever some friends ask me which Philippine university is the best I invariably say the University of the Philippines. They, of course, would conspiratorially smile, and say, "Ah, that is, of course, because you went there."
But I always explain why I think UP is the best. It is the best because only in UP will you see the child of a domestic help sitting side by side with the child of his mother's amo and sometimes, just sometimes, performing even better. I knew one such pair before who, by chance, got enrolled in the same elective class , and both, I observed, felt awkward, as if there was something not quite right in the arrangement.
The general public, after a cursory glance and an incidental passing through the campus on the way to Katipunan, sometimes get the impression that UP has degenerated into a university for rich kids. They point at the cars at the parking lot, the well-groomed students at the AS steps, the sorority convoys around the Sunken Garden celebrating an anniversary. Even President Estrada pointed out the traffic congestion at the University Avenue as proof that the taxpayers' money are paying for the education of the elite. Senator John Osmena also made the same observation, thwarting the efforts of UP President Nemenzo to reform the university.
There are many, many well-off kids at UP. Sometimes, I even think, far too many. They pay matriculation fees at UP far lower than what they paid for their high school. But while there are many rich kids in UP, there are also many poor almost destitute ones. How then do we explain the impression that some people get that UP has gone upmarket ? Because it is far easier to notice well-groomed, goodlooking students on the campus than emaciated provinciano jologs-looking students.
My sister told me once the story of a classmate of hers who was not able to take a calculus exam because he fainted on the way to the Math Building. Upon talking with the classmate, my sister learned that he had not had a decent meal in a day because the meagre STFAP food allowance has run out. My sister also learned that to save on precious money, her classmate hitchhikes on garbage trucks on the way to a Laguna landfill to visit his family.
UP is the only genuinely democratic institution in the country where the rich commingle with the poor as equals and get to learn about each other during their four-year sojourn in the campus. (Some will say there is another institution, the ROTC, but its class-mixing mechanism is effectively diluted by the well-known fact that the rich and the inflential buy their ways out of it or feign asthma.) Students in other universities come from more or less the same socioeconomic backgrounds. The Ateneo and La Salle, I know, have some destitute scholars in their schools, but their presence is more to assuage the guilt of the priests. I have also heard that to be on a a scholarship grant in those institutions was to wear a scarlet letter in hell.
It is because of this class mixing, unique among Philippine institutions, that, I think, UP is the best Philippine university hands down.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
The infidel Americains
The Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib, as CBS reports, had a taste of what Lee Kuan Yew and Jiang Ze Min used to call American decadence, or what the more diplomatic sectors of the international community now term as egregious violations of international law.
The Iraqi prisoners are being tortured, raped, beaten, humiliated, degraded and killed in Abu Ghraib (see the pictures here), and, as Seymour Hersh reports for the New Yorker, there is reason to believe that the CIA, the military intelligence officials themselves, sanctioned the depravities in order to break the spirit of the Iraqis and facilitate intel gathering. The socially conservative Arab society in the Middle East is, of course, shocked and disgusted. Critics of the American occupation all over the world cry that the pictures confirm what they suspected all along: the American standard of morality and decency is no higher than Saddam Hussein's. Who knows what is happening in Guantanamo ?
The militant bombers all over Iraq and all those fighting in Fallujah know that their compatriots are being despicably sexually humiliated by the Americans. The pictures no doubt will be used by Al-Qaeda to further foment hatred in a region where the population is inclined to believe the worst of the infidel Americans. One can only expect therefore a further spiralling of violence.
We would do well now to be reminded of some rules of international law regarding torture:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Article 7
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Article 1
1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
Article 10
1. Each State Party shall ensure that education and information regarding the prohibition against torture are fully included in the training of law enforcement personnel, civil or military, medical personnel, public officials and other persons who may be involved in the custody, interrogation or treatment of any individual subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment.
2. Each State Party shall include this prohibition in the rules or instructions issued in regard to the duties and functions of any such person.
Article 16
1. Each State Party shall undertake to prevent in any territory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture as defined in article I, when such acts are committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.
The Ghraib mistreatment clearly violated international proscription against torture. And what is frustratingly galling is that it is the Americans, the self-proclaimed bright shining light of the world, who are doing it this time and, as the pictures reveal, the Americans perversely enjoy the practice. Some critics are claiming racism.
I am not too familiar with the practices of torture in history, but some of the world's brutal regimes never resorted to BDSM. The authorities on Robben Island, for example, under the apartheid regime, humiliated its prisoners by asking them to parade naked, as was done to Nelson Mandela, but I am yet to read of anything remotely close to this American way of doing it. The notorious Insein prison in Burma also has yielded no tales remotely akin to what was shown in the Ghraib pictures. Our own martial law abuses never went this far. As Today sarcastically asks, Has the United States become a global dominatrix ?
The Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib, as CBS reports, had a taste of what Lee Kuan Yew and Jiang Ze Min used to call American decadence, or what the more diplomatic sectors of the international community now term as egregious violations of international law.
The Iraqi prisoners are being tortured, raped, beaten, humiliated, degraded and killed in Abu Ghraib (see the pictures here), and, as Seymour Hersh reports for the New Yorker, there is reason to believe that the CIA, the military intelligence officials themselves, sanctioned the depravities in order to break the spirit of the Iraqis and facilitate intel gathering. The socially conservative Arab society in the Middle East is, of course, shocked and disgusted. Critics of the American occupation all over the world cry that the pictures confirm what they suspected all along: the American standard of morality and decency is no higher than Saddam Hussein's. Who knows what is happening in Guantanamo ?
The militant bombers all over Iraq and all those fighting in Fallujah know that their compatriots are being despicably sexually humiliated by the Americans. The pictures no doubt will be used by Al-Qaeda to further foment hatred in a region where the population is inclined to believe the worst of the infidel Americans. One can only expect therefore a further spiralling of violence.
We would do well now to be reminded of some rules of international law regarding torture:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Article 7
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Article 1
1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.
Article 10
1. Each State Party shall ensure that education and information regarding the prohibition against torture are fully included in the training of law enforcement personnel, civil or military, medical personnel, public officials and other persons who may be involved in the custody, interrogation or treatment of any individual subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment.
2. Each State Party shall include this prohibition in the rules or instructions issued in regard to the duties and functions of any such person.
Article 16
1. Each State Party shall undertake to prevent in any territory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture as defined in article I, when such acts are committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.
The Ghraib mistreatment clearly violated international proscription against torture. And what is frustratingly galling is that it is the Americans, the self-proclaimed bright shining light of the world, who are doing it this time and, as the pictures reveal, the Americans perversely enjoy the practice. Some critics are claiming racism.
I am not too familiar with the practices of torture in history, but some of the world's brutal regimes never resorted to BDSM. The authorities on Robben Island, for example, under the apartheid regime, humiliated its prisoners by asking them to parade naked, as was done to Nelson Mandela, but I am yet to read of anything remotely close to this American way of doing it. The notorious Insein prison in Burma also has yielded no tales remotely akin to what was shown in the Ghraib pictures. Our own martial law abuses never went this far. As Today sarcastically asks, Has the United States become a global dominatrix ?
Monday, May 03, 2004
Peyups ng buhay natin
For some time now, I've been reading with guilty pleasure the many essays at peyups.com posted by anonymous UP students and alumni. The stories are some of the funniest and heartbreaking in all of the world wide web. From fresh grads trying their damn best to eke a living to jologs asking God why were they not born coño, people pining for lost and unreciprocated loves, peyups.com is a secular Catholic confessional where UP students bare their souls, perhaps hoping the internet sun would dry them up and make them clean and innocent again. For a sampling of Peyups, click Yan ba ang natutunan mo sa UP?, Isang mabigat na isyu, and All I really need to know I learned in kakikayan.
For some time now, I've been reading with guilty pleasure the many essays at peyups.com posted by anonymous UP students and alumni. The stories are some of the funniest and heartbreaking in all of the world wide web. From fresh grads trying their damn best to eke a living to jologs asking God why were they not born coño, people pining for lost and unreciprocated loves, peyups.com is a secular Catholic confessional where UP students bare their souls, perhaps hoping the internet sun would dry them up and make them clean and innocent again. For a sampling of Peyups, click Yan ba ang natutunan mo sa UP?, Isang mabigat na isyu, and All I really need to know I learned in kakikayan.
Sunday, May 02, 2004
Quijano de Manila
Manolo Quezon's blog has some links to Nick Joaquin's writings as a political journalist.
Manolo Quezon's blog has some links to Nick Joaquin's writings as a political journalist.
Saturday, May 01, 2004
Web prowl
The search engine Google has announced its IPO later this year; The Economist has two articles (here and here) dousing the expectations and enthusiasm of the IT community, the like of which was last seen in 1995 when Netscape's IPO effectively launched the dotcom bubble. The Institute for International Economics's Michael Mussa shares his own take on Global Economic Prospects in 2004. The Scientific American on the myth of the begining of time. Two former students of Leo Strauss, the great lodestar of the neoconservatives, write on the late professor's opinion on the true meaning of philosophy.
The search engine Google has announced its IPO later this year; The Economist has two articles (here and here) dousing the expectations and enthusiasm of the IT community, the like of which was last seen in 1995 when Netscape's IPO effectively launched the dotcom bubble. The Institute for International Economics's Michael Mussa shares his own take on Global Economic Prospects in 2004. The Scientific American on the myth of the begining of time. Two former students of Leo Strauss, the great lodestar of the neoconservatives, write on the late professor's opinion on the true meaning of philosophy.
Friday, April 30, 2004
Nick Joaquin, 86
Nick Joaquin died yesterday morning--in his sleep, some reports say.
I have never met Nick Joaquin, but one friend, a townmate from Bicol did. She was then rehearsing for a play, whose title I no longer remember, when a drunk old man came and started commenting on the performances. My friend was so vexed and aghast that all the other people do not seem to mind the presence of the rowdy man. She was just about to ask the old man to leave the premises when a friend told her it was the great Nick Joaquin she was about to shoo.
We all had a good laugh when she told the story, almost as good a laugh as that story of a high school student asking to see the playwright for an interview after a viewing of Oedipus Rex.
My literature humanities teacher, who had such an exacting standard in literature she thought the Filipino literary voice in English is serviceable at its best, has the highest praise for Joaquin's The woman who had two navels, which she said eerily reminded her of James Joyce (our class was then discussing Joyce's much-anthologized short story Araby).
Nick Joaquin died yesterday morning--in his sleep, some reports say.
I have never met Nick Joaquin, but one friend, a townmate from Bicol did. She was then rehearsing for a play, whose title I no longer remember, when a drunk old man came and started commenting on the performances. My friend was so vexed and aghast that all the other people do not seem to mind the presence of the rowdy man. She was just about to ask the old man to leave the premises when a friend told her it was the great Nick Joaquin she was about to shoo.
We all had a good laugh when she told the story, almost as good a laugh as that story of a high school student asking to see the playwright for an interview after a viewing of Oedipus Rex.
My literature humanities teacher, who had such an exacting standard in literature she thought the Filipino literary voice in English is serviceable at its best, has the highest praise for Joaquin's The woman who had two navels, which she said eerily reminded her of James Joyce (our class was then discussing Joyce's much-anthologized short story Araby).
Will Raul Roco win through?
The news reports today confirm that Raul Roco's prostate cancer has metastasized, which means that the cancer cells have spread to the bones. The proper medical name is bone metastasis, which most people with cancer develop at some point.
Roco was upbeat when he gave an interview with Mel Tiangco on GMA yesterday. He said that an intelligent medicine has already taken care of his cancer cells and that he can proceed with his normal lifestyle unencumbered. In today's Inquirer report, he is quoted as saying, "I will have no further treatment for now."
Has Roco won his fight against cancer ? I think there is serious reason to believe the contrary. ( One caveat: the following is nothing more but medical speculation by one who once hypochondriacally diagnosed himself with tuberculosis and psoriasis and was proven wrong to the amusement/vexation of the doctors.)
The so-called intelligent medicine that Roco got in Texas, as Dr. Jaime Galvex-Tan said, was zoledronic acid or Zolendronate, a chemotherapy drug that is used to treat solid tumors that have spread to the bones.
How does zoledronic acid work? Zoledronic acid, which was approved for cancer treatment by the American FDA in 2002, stops cancer cells from breaking down bone, thus stopping the calcium in the bone from going into the blood. The main goal of the drug is to stabilize the bone and decrease pain. It is a treatment, NOT a cure.
The condition of Roco is, I think, not as rosy as he paints it on TV. I gather that bone tumors spread quite rapidly and zoledronic acid is not 100% effective ( in fact some 30 % reduction only in one French experiment in 2002 ) in reducing skeletal-related events (SREs). Roco also must be feeling some pain even now because zoledronic acid's effect in reducing pain is not instantaneous. Somne patients even experience heightened pain after the initial dosage.
What worries me though is this transcript of a cancersourceRN interview I found:
SPEAKER_Rebecca_Hawkins: Once patients have developed bone metastasis, a variety of problems may arise. We know that these patients have a shortened survival. Other possible problems may include bone pain, pathological fractures, spinal cord compression, and hypercalcemia. Unfortunately, once patients have developed bone metastasis their survival time is limited. Patients with non-small cell lung cancer have a median survival of 3 to 6 months. A breast cancer patient's median survival is 20 months while a prostate cancer patient's mean survival is 53 months. Thankfully we are seeing some of these statistics change with newer treatments, but it is readily accepted that the patient's life is shortened after the diagnosis of bone metastasis.
Will Raul Roco survive? Only his doctors know the actual prognosis. We can only hope and pray that he does.
The news reports today confirm that Raul Roco's prostate cancer has metastasized, which means that the cancer cells have spread to the bones. The proper medical name is bone metastasis, which most people with cancer develop at some point.
Roco was upbeat when he gave an interview with Mel Tiangco on GMA yesterday. He said that an intelligent medicine has already taken care of his cancer cells and that he can proceed with his normal lifestyle unencumbered. In today's Inquirer report, he is quoted as saying, "I will have no further treatment for now."
Has Roco won his fight against cancer ? I think there is serious reason to believe the contrary. ( One caveat: the following is nothing more but medical speculation by one who once hypochondriacally diagnosed himself with tuberculosis and psoriasis and was proven wrong to the amusement/vexation of the doctors.)
The so-called intelligent medicine that Roco got in Texas, as Dr. Jaime Galvex-Tan said, was zoledronic acid or Zolendronate, a chemotherapy drug that is used to treat solid tumors that have spread to the bones.
How does zoledronic acid work? Zoledronic acid, which was approved for cancer treatment by the American FDA in 2002, stops cancer cells from breaking down bone, thus stopping the calcium in the bone from going into the blood. The main goal of the drug is to stabilize the bone and decrease pain. It is a treatment, NOT a cure.
The condition of Roco is, I think, not as rosy as he paints it on TV. I gather that bone tumors spread quite rapidly and zoledronic acid is not 100% effective ( in fact some 30 % reduction only in one French experiment in 2002 ) in reducing skeletal-related events (SREs). Roco also must be feeling some pain even now because zoledronic acid's effect in reducing pain is not instantaneous. Somne patients even experience heightened pain after the initial dosage.
What worries me though is this transcript of a cancersourceRN interview I found:
SPEAKER_Rebecca_Hawkins: Once patients have developed bone metastasis, a variety of problems may arise. We know that these patients have a shortened survival. Other possible problems may include bone pain, pathological fractures, spinal cord compression, and hypercalcemia. Unfortunately, once patients have developed bone metastasis their survival time is limited. Patients with non-small cell lung cancer have a median survival of 3 to 6 months. A breast cancer patient's median survival is 20 months while a prostate cancer patient's mean survival is 53 months. Thankfully we are seeing some of these statistics change with newer treatments, but it is readily accepted that the patient's life is shortened after the diagnosis of bone metastasis.
Will Raul Roco survive? Only his doctors know the actual prognosis. We can only hope and pray that he does.
Call for volunteers
THE ELECTION CALL CENTER 10-149 WILL BE UP ON MAY 1 and we are still in need of tele-educators who can volunteer for at least 1 day between May 1 to May 10 for just 4 hours/day. Tele-educators will take calls and answer election-related queries from all over the Philippines using a database.
ALL VOLUNTEERS WILL HAVE THEIR BREIFING ON APRIL 30, 2004, Friday, 7:30PM AT THE CALL CENTER VENUE, CLC Center, Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Hts, Q.C. It's a new building near LST (loyola School of Theology).
We need 7-10 people per shift. New shift schedule is: 9am to 1pm, 1pm to 5pm, 5pm to 9pm. You have to be there 30 minutes before your shift.
Please email back or call 0919-6046967 for questions or any concerns. YOU MAY VOLUNTEER AS A BARKADA
From:
Professionals Actively Responding TOday
Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan
THE ELECTION CALL CENTER 10-149 WILL BE UP ON MAY 1 and we are still in need of tele-educators who can volunteer for at least 1 day between May 1 to May 10 for just 4 hours/day. Tele-educators will take calls and answer election-related queries from all over the Philippines using a database.
ALL VOLUNTEERS WILL HAVE THEIR BREIFING ON APRIL 30, 2004, Friday, 7:30PM AT THE CALL CENTER VENUE, CLC Center, Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Hts, Q.C. It's a new building near LST (loyola School of Theology).
We need 7-10 people per shift. New shift schedule is: 9am to 1pm, 1pm to 5pm, 5pm to 9pm. You have to be there 30 minutes before your shift.
Please email back or call 0919-6046967 for questions or any concerns. YOU MAY VOLUNTEER AS A BARKADA
From:
Professionals Actively Responding TOday
Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan
Thursday, April 29, 2004
The remains of the campaign
Raul Roco has returned. The question though is whether Roco has returned just as Gandalf did -- at the turning of the tide, that is.
Most believe that Roco is destined for Loserville come May 10. Why then should we still vote for him? Because Roco is still the most qualified among the candidates, notwithstanding his sickness. (Manuel Quezon III in his Inquirer column today also obliquely argues that life-threatening sicknesses spur men into great action.)
Captious critics say Roco has a pathetic political network as revealed by his patched senatorial slate devoid of established names. Really, you cannot help but feel for Roco. He has occupied many important government positions and yet he has miserably failed to strike political friendships along the way. He remains an outsider to the political Establishment. All the incumbent governors in Bicol, for example, are campaigning against him.
While some voters were disheartened by Roco's lack of popularity among Establishment circles, I instead was spurred by the fact. Roco's lackluster senatorial slate is a proof that he has not invested much in our current political system. He therefore could change it without upsetting too many friends and too much capital.
Detractors also claim that Roco has a bad temper. What they don't know however is that it is often the trait of great men that they have short patience and bad temper. Even the saintly Mother Teresa, few people know and the Catholic Church's canonical committee wished to suppress, was known to burst into impatient tirades against her Sisters of Charity.
For symbolic reasons and more, I also think it is about time that the country should elect a president from Bicol, the country's poorest region.
The presidency should also be the time for Roco to cleanse himself once and for all of the ACCRA sins he committed lawyering for Danding Cojuangco, doing the legal paper for the latter's robbing of coconut farmers, most of whom are in Bicol. This is a political sin that cries for restitution. (Roco at one point offered the PCGG to tell all, but this was preempted by the Supreme Court which ruled that such action would violate the confidence of lawyer-client relationship.)
Roco should take care of his health. We pray that in the event that he lose this election, he would have the heart--- and the health--- to run again in the next elections, six years from now. Because after FPJ, there is no other threatening showbiz presidentiable in the political horizon. Roco supporters, from Batanes to Sulu, should be glad and bring good tidings: Piolo Pascual is still too young to run for president.
Raul Roco has returned. The question though is whether Roco has returned just as Gandalf did -- at the turning of the tide, that is.
Most believe that Roco is destined for Loserville come May 10. Why then should we still vote for him? Because Roco is still the most qualified among the candidates, notwithstanding his sickness. (Manuel Quezon III in his Inquirer column today also obliquely argues that life-threatening sicknesses spur men into great action.)
Captious critics say Roco has a pathetic political network as revealed by his patched senatorial slate devoid of established names. Really, you cannot help but feel for Roco. He has occupied many important government positions and yet he has miserably failed to strike political friendships along the way. He remains an outsider to the political Establishment. All the incumbent governors in Bicol, for example, are campaigning against him.
While some voters were disheartened by Roco's lack of popularity among Establishment circles, I instead was spurred by the fact. Roco's lackluster senatorial slate is a proof that he has not invested much in our current political system. He therefore could change it without upsetting too many friends and too much capital.
Detractors also claim that Roco has a bad temper. What they don't know however is that it is often the trait of great men that they have short patience and bad temper. Even the saintly Mother Teresa, few people know and the Catholic Church's canonical committee wished to suppress, was known to burst into impatient tirades against her Sisters of Charity.
For symbolic reasons and more, I also think it is about time that the country should elect a president from Bicol, the country's poorest region.
The presidency should also be the time for Roco to cleanse himself once and for all of the ACCRA sins he committed lawyering for Danding Cojuangco, doing the legal paper for the latter's robbing of coconut farmers, most of whom are in Bicol. This is a political sin that cries for restitution. (Roco at one point offered the PCGG to tell all, but this was preempted by the Supreme Court which ruled that such action would violate the confidence of lawyer-client relationship.)
Roco should take care of his health. We pray that in the event that he lose this election, he would have the heart--- and the health--- to run again in the next elections, six years from now. Because after FPJ, there is no other threatening showbiz presidentiable in the political horizon. Roco supporters, from Batanes to Sulu, should be glad and bring good tidings: Piolo Pascual is still too young to run for president.
The short but happy political life of Mr. Eddie Gil
The Manila Times reports that the Supreme Court has terminated the presidential aspirations of self-proclaimed billionaire Eddie Gil, the presidential candidate with the concrete platform of paying off the national debt out of his own pocket. The SC cited Gil's incapacity to wage a nationwide campaign.
Informed of the adverse decision of the SC, the irrepressible Eddie Gil, whom I know many people have come to love, promptly called for the justices to be hanged.
We will sorely miss Eddie Gil, whose wry humor was so effortless it would have been a travesty for Malacanang to have him as the resident jester. Now that the presidency has been cruelly denied him by the snooty justices, Eddie Gil should probably scout for vacancies in any of the ABS-CBN's sitcoms. Who knows, time may come when he too would win the favor of the Lopezes, and follow in the path trailblazed by Loren Legarda and Noli de Castro.
The Manila Times reports that the Supreme Court has terminated the presidential aspirations of self-proclaimed billionaire Eddie Gil, the presidential candidate with the concrete platform of paying off the national debt out of his own pocket. The SC cited Gil's incapacity to wage a nationwide campaign.
Informed of the adverse decision of the SC, the irrepressible Eddie Gil, whom I know many people have come to love, promptly called for the justices to be hanged.
We will sorely miss Eddie Gil, whose wry humor was so effortless it would have been a travesty for Malacanang to have him as the resident jester. Now that the presidency has been cruelly denied him by the snooty justices, Eddie Gil should probably scout for vacancies in any of the ABS-CBN's sitcoms. Who knows, time may come when he too would win the favor of the Lopezes, and follow in the path trailblazed by Loren Legarda and Noli de Castro.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Homeless at NYU
Read this intriguing story of Steve Stanzak who spent "eight months as a homeless sophomore at New York University, sleeping six hours a night in the subbasement of the Bobst Library, showering in the gym or at friends' apartments, doing his homework at a nearby McDonald's and subsisting mostly on bagels and orange juice."
The New York Times report says that:
"Unlike the majority of students at N.Y.U," he wrote on hisWeb site, "I don't get an ounce of money from mommy or daddy and can't afford to live the lavish life here. If it sounds like I'm bitter, it's because I am."
Read this intriguing story of Steve Stanzak who spent "eight months as a homeless sophomore at New York University, sleeping six hours a night in the subbasement of the Bobst Library, showering in the gym or at friends' apartments, doing his homework at a nearby McDonald's and subsisting mostly on bagels and orange juice."
The New York Times report says that:
"Unlike the majority of students at N.Y.U," he wrote on his
Love means never having to say you’ve lost an election
GMA’s I-Witness last night reported on the curious trend of politicians marrying wives from showbiz-- Jules Ledesma and Assunta de Rossi, Ralph Recto and Vilma santos, Sharon Cuneta and Francis Panglinan, Dudut Jaworski and Mikee Cojuangco, etc. The increasing practice, in the opinion of some, reeks of political opportunism.
Why does there seem to be a trend toward marrying showbiz celebrities? That they are more pulchritudinous is surely a factor in the attraction, but there is more to the story than pheromones doing their job. Showbiz spouses pluck aspiring politicians from humdrum obscurity and give them instant name recognition. There is no doubt, for example, that Recto could never have won a Senate seat had he not picked Vilma Santos to be his bride.
The scions of traditional political families in the country are feeling the effect of their weakened alliance with the poor based on previous paternalistic relationships. Their political clans' clients can no longer be counted on to deliver the votes to secure a majority come election time. Hence, the resort to showbiz wives to enthrall and catch the attention of the straying poor.
Are these mariagges despicable? Surely no. People fall in love when they fall in love. It is just that for some people marital happiness is best secured by a public office. People have varying definitions of love and for some, public office is a necessary predicate to theirs.
These marriages, while arguably debasing the romantic idea of true love, are, in fact, good for the society. They diversify the moribund gene pool of the country's elite. Without showbiz stars to catch their interest, these politicos would be marrying one of their ilk of the same economic background. Their marrying showbiz stars spread old money more evenly, their marriages having the unintended felicitous effect of what in this benighted country of ours could pass for economic redistribution. Just think of Assunta and Jules and you will understand.
GMA’s I-Witness last night reported on the curious trend of politicians marrying wives from showbiz-- Jules Ledesma and Assunta de Rossi, Ralph Recto and Vilma santos, Sharon Cuneta and Francis Panglinan, Dudut Jaworski and Mikee Cojuangco, etc. The increasing practice, in the opinion of some, reeks of political opportunism.
Why does there seem to be a trend toward marrying showbiz celebrities? That they are more pulchritudinous is surely a factor in the attraction, but there is more to the story than pheromones doing their job. Showbiz spouses pluck aspiring politicians from humdrum obscurity and give them instant name recognition. There is no doubt, for example, that Recto could never have won a Senate seat had he not picked Vilma Santos to be his bride.
The scions of traditional political families in the country are feeling the effect of their weakened alliance with the poor based on previous paternalistic relationships. Their political clans' clients can no longer be counted on to deliver the votes to secure a majority come election time. Hence, the resort to showbiz wives to enthrall and catch the attention of the straying poor.
Are these mariagges despicable? Surely no. People fall in love when they fall in love. It is just that for some people marital happiness is best secured by a public office. People have varying definitions of love and for some, public office is a necessary predicate to theirs.
These marriages, while arguably debasing the romantic idea of true love, are, in fact, good for the society. They diversify the moribund gene pool of the country's elite. Without showbiz stars to catch their interest, these politicos would be marrying one of their ilk of the same economic background. Their marrying showbiz stars spread old money more evenly, their marriages having the unintended felicitous effect of what in this benighted country of ours could pass for economic redistribution. Just think of Assunta and Jules and you will understand.
Cashing in on Iraq
Halliburton already did big time. Isn't it about time our Filipino businessmen and professionals do?
Rebuilding Iraq: Challenges and Opportunities for Business
Iraqi Minister of Public Works to be the speaker at AIM Policy Center Globalization Lecture Policy Center
What is the role of the private sector in rebuilding Iraq? How will the security environment affect the delivery of goods and services? What are the major challenges, pitfalls, and opportunities available for Filipino and international businesses in stepping up efforts to rebuild institutions and modernize infrastructure in this war-torn land?
These are some of the questions to be asked in the 32nd installment of the AIM Policy Center’s Globalization Lecture Series entitled Rebuilding Iraq: Challenges and Opportunities for Business at the Quezon Ballroom of the Makati Shangri-La Hotel on May 3, 2004, Monday, 2:00 to 4:00 pm.
Participants will have the opportunity to gain valuable insights on the likely security and political challenges companies will encounter in doing business in Iraq, as well as valuable information on the commercial developments and potential business and networking opportunities in the country.
Her Excellency Nesreen M. Sideek-Barwari, Minister of Municipalities and Public Works of the Iraqi Governing Council, shall be the distinguished speaker for this timely and vital subject matter.
The event is being sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. It is FREE of charge.
To inquire or confirm attendance, please email mledesma@mail.aim.edu.ph or jqueddeng@mail.aim.edu.ph, or call the AIM Policy Center at (632) 750-1010 ext 2108, 2113 and 2112.
Halliburton already did big time. Isn't it about time our Filipino businessmen and professionals do?
Rebuilding Iraq: Challenges and Opportunities for Business
Iraqi Minister of Public Works to be the speaker at AIM Policy Center Globalization Lecture Policy Center
What is the role of the private sector in rebuilding Iraq? How will the security environment affect the delivery of goods and services? What are the major challenges, pitfalls, and opportunities available for Filipino and international businesses in stepping up efforts to rebuild institutions and modernize infrastructure in this war-torn land?
These are some of the questions to be asked in the 32nd installment of the AIM Policy Center’s Globalization Lecture Series entitled Rebuilding Iraq: Challenges and Opportunities for Business at the Quezon Ballroom of the Makati Shangri-La Hotel on May 3, 2004, Monday, 2:00 to 4:00 pm.
Participants will have the opportunity to gain valuable insights on the likely security and political challenges companies will encounter in doing business in Iraq, as well as valuable information on the commercial developments and potential business and networking opportunities in the country.
Her Excellency Nesreen M. Sideek-Barwari, Minister of Municipalities and Public Works of the Iraqi Governing Council, shall be the distinguished speaker for this timely and vital subject matter.
The event is being sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. It is FREE of charge.
To inquire or confirm attendance, please email mledesma@mail.aim.edu.ph or jqueddeng@mail.aim.edu.ph, or call the AIM Policy Center at (632) 750-1010 ext 2108, 2113 and 2112.
Invitation to a book launching
HOMEBOUND: Women Visual Artists in 19th century Philippines
PROF. ELOISA MAY P. HERNANDEZ
Department of Art Studies
University of the Philippines in Diliman
MAY 6, 2004, Thursday, 5:00 p.m., U.P. Faculty Center Conference Hall.
The book is published by the UP Press and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
HOMEBOUND: Women Visual Artists in 19th century Philippines
PROF. ELOISA MAY P. HERNANDEZ
Department of Art Studies
University of the Philippines in Diliman
MAY 6, 2004, Thursday, 5:00 p.m., U.P. Faculty Center Conference Hall.
The book is published by the UP Press and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
Nerds as a US marginalized sector
Below is the description of "qualifications" for applicants to be interns at March for Women's Lives, the group that organized a large rally for legal abortion in Washington yesterday:
Undergraduate and graduate feminist women and men in all majors are encouraged to apply. Applicants must be passionate about a woman's right to choose and will have some experience in activism. The March for Women's Lives is committed to diversity and encourages applications from people of color, people from the GLBT community, people with disabilities, and math/science majors.
Below is the description of "qualifications" for applicants to be interns at March for Women's Lives, the group that organized a large rally for legal abortion in Washington yesterday:
Undergraduate and graduate feminist women and men in all majors are encouraged to apply. Applicants must be passionate about a woman's right to choose and will have some experience in activism. The March for Women's Lives is committed to diversity and encourages applications from people of color, people from the GLBT community, people with disabilities, and math/science majors.
Monday, April 26, 2004
Good sign
Time Magazine has a travel essay on Burma on its latest issue. The writer Andrew Marshall, author of The Trouser People: A Story of Burma in the Shadow of the Empire , finds a positive sign: Aung San Suu Kyi's home number now rings when dialled. She is still under house arrest though but people believe she would once again be released in another drive by the Burmese military junta to gain international pogi points.
Time Magazine has a travel essay on Burma on its latest issue. The writer Andrew Marshall, author of The Trouser People: A Story of Burma in the Shadow of the Empire , finds a positive sign: Aung San Suu Kyi's home number now rings when dialled. She is still under house arrest though but people believe she would once again be released in another drive by the Burmese military junta to gain international pogi points.
Sunday, April 25, 2004
How to tell kung kayo na
Via Psychicpants, I got the link to Hickypox's funny blog entry on How to tell kung kayo na:
Dalawa kasi yan, either yung a) mag-on by mutual declaration, or b) mag-on by mutual non-declaration (mag-un or MU).
A. Mag-on by mutual declaration. Also has two variants.
1. Spontaneous mutual declaration.
Ex. A and B have knows each other for years. A and B might someday mutually decide to take their friendship a notch higher by entering into a romantic relationship, despite the fact that A and B are, respectively, a Catholic priest and an 11-year old boy.
2. Courtship - involves wooing young, parasol twirling, frilly fan fanning lasses through song and poetry, usually, with the end view of marrying said lass.
Ex. C has been courting D for several years now. One day, C threatens to explode his own head should D continue to act coolly indifferent to his advances. C acquiesces begrudgingly, faints.
B. Spontaneous mutual non-declaration
Consists of vague bilateral signals culminating in ambiguous non-promise of mutual fidelity. Set-up attractive to trendy couples keeping in step with the modern "American" style of dating. Also attractive to people not particularly demonstrative about their feelings, and to limbless mutes.
Via Psychicpants, I got the link to Hickypox's funny blog entry on How to tell kung kayo na:
Dalawa kasi yan, either yung a) mag-on by mutual declaration, or b) mag-on by mutual non-declaration (mag-un or MU).
A. Mag-on by mutual declaration. Also has two variants.
1. Spontaneous mutual declaration.
Ex. A and B have knows each other for years. A and B might someday mutually decide to take their friendship a notch higher by entering into a romantic relationship, despite the fact that A and B are, respectively, a Catholic priest and an 11-year old boy.
2. Courtship - involves wooing young, parasol twirling, frilly fan fanning lasses through song and poetry, usually, with the end view of marrying said lass.
Ex. C has been courting D for several years now. One day, C threatens to explode his own head should D continue to act coolly indifferent to his advances. C acquiesces begrudgingly, faints.
B. Spontaneous mutual non-declaration
Consists of vague bilateral signals culminating in ambiguous non-promise of mutual fidelity. Set-up attractive to trendy couples keeping in step with the modern "American" style of dating. Also attractive to people not particularly demonstrative about their feelings, and to limbless mutes.
Brother Eddie
The Sunday Times has an article on Brother Eddie and his decision to run for president. With Roco sick, Brother Eddie, in the opinion of many people, is the country's best choice for president.
The Sunday Times has an article on Brother Eddie and his decision to run for president. With Roco sick, Brother Eddie, in the opinion of many people, is the country's best choice for president.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
