Earth Day

Source: photobucket.com/images/earth%20day/

i am taking a moment to remember earth day and do my part. let us give back to mother earth the love that she deserves.

The Philippine Elections 2010

what's happening at the Philippine politics is a rich source of case studies and arguably very interesting, if not amusing for political science students. first, a former president who was unsuccessfully impeached but was stripped of power through a "people's revolt", convicted of plunder and given clemency by his former vice president who took over as president. second, the current president, who held the top post in the country is seeking for a congressional seat which was vacated by his own son to seek a partylist representation for security guards. third, some senators are being adopted by at least a couple of political parties, making voters confused which party they are really loyal to and fifth the house speaker( who took over the former who has tried his best to make arroyo's president afloat until his own son and namesake testified about the ZTE scam) expressing his frustrations over the current administration candidate for some reasons, most notable of which for me is "not saying hi" to him prior to going to his davao city sortie, where he still need to win elections as a mayor. after being in the headline news of bolting the party, he did not push through but continued to ramble, at least enough for the media to notice.

some weeks ago, a very amusing incident on noynoy aquino's sortie in bacolod city was the talk of the town. baby james, the adorable two year old son of noynoy's celebrity sister kris upon prodding, said " hello"over the microphone, and when the crowd roared "hello" back and he blurted "veeyar" which made villar's day and took as an endorsement. these two presidentiables, aquino and villar respectively, if the surverys could be believed are occupying the first two spots in the presidential race.

as if surveys translates to votes, made noynoy very confident enough to say that all other presidentiables give up since its a toss between him (a heir of the hacienda luisita in tarlac which made generations of sugar workers landless) and villar(the poor rich guy who already spent billions for his infomercials which accordingly was his own money yet did not provide clear explanation about the C5, a government road project controversy and instead pointed out that his archrival benefited from SLEX, another road project)

what went on later was mudslinging from both camps. this went to the extent of dignifying a supposedly fake psychiatric report and bringing out the bad to worse from both sides, hitting each other "below the belt" and so on and so forth. both pinpoint at each other as arroyo's secret candidate while all this time, gilbert teodoro was staying put and assuring people that he remains the administration candidate.

i was not surprised at all when chavit singson of ilocos sur turned his back from the current administration to support nacionalista's party bearer manny villar. i did not believe nograles leaving lakas would make much impact for as teodoro puts it " he has to win the mayoralty first" . neptali gonzales II's transfer was a huge surprise but the most significant, i reckon was the administration's top economic adviser who called his boss "lucky bitch" joey salceda moving to the liberal party where his ateneo classmate was the standard bearer.

prior to cory aquino's death, i have thought that 2010 presidential elections was between gilbert teodoro and mar roxas, both of privileged upbringing and armed with education obtained from abroad, teodoro from harvard law school and roxas from the wharton school of economics. i am wondering what difference it would have made if the presidential elections was a 'battle of the minds" and not "battle of the mouths." listening to them is quite tiring and frustrating.

if the surverys are to be believed, roxas is the continuous topnotcher in the vice presidential race which is good. teodoro, on the other hand is looked upon for his qualifications and admired for not joining the mudslinging among candidates, yet surveys placed him on the continuous fourth place not necessarily because of his lackluster performance in his previous government jobs but because he is the candidate endorsed by the administration that majority of filipinos have grown to hate if the disapproving ratings are to be believed.

initially, i was rooting for richard gordon due to his achievements as a topman in subic, his lots of ideas for economic advancenet and political will. but the way gilbert teodoro is holding up these seemingly difficult days when some of his own party mates pulls him down invites reconsideration. despite of unreleased party funds if news are to be believed, he continues on his own sorties even the wife of his own kingmaker uncle campained "anybody but gibo". after all, he is the candidate next to gordon who is focused and has solid plans of what to do if elected president while the others have not clearly discussed their platform of government would be. and given the defections that he experienced the past few days, he reinvented himself as the "people's candidate" albeit belatedly, which might give him a chance for the presidency .

and yes, he has a very pretty and intelligent wife with privileged upbringing which would probably make a first lady that the filipinos can be proud of.

Elated Over Ampatuan Transfer

i join the many people all over the world who are happy about the transfer of the Ampatuans. although his lawyers tried a lot of delaying tactics, the patriarch was finally at the Camp Bagong Diwa in Manila. last friday afternoon, my colleagues and me were amused by how the military stood ground in taking him from a private hospital in davao city despite various protestations from the members of his family. i was surprised to find out in the news that those who were at the neighbouring city of General Santos were also flown to Manila using the same military plane.

those who were behind this development, the court, the military authorities and all who have helped such transfer a successful activity deserves commendation whoever they are. and i join the families of those whose lives were violated one november morning, in hoping that justice that they have been seeking, would come swiftly.

Happy Easter

today is a very special day for the entire Christian world being the resurrection sunday. i spent the holy week quietly watching movies that has carefully featured Jesus Christ's life on earth. happily, the ending was indeed happy, for He is risen with the promise to come again.

i am holding on to such promise. meantime, i will live my life abundantly as He has wished for all his childen. let's be happy, its easter!