Why I Love My Government

In some culture in some not-so-far-away civilizations, valuing the life of its people is considered important.:-) This is why I am so happy that I belong to this country. This government collects billions of pesos from sin taxes and then put a label to these “sin products” like the ones below. Woohoo!

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Sa Mata ng mga Bata

There is this show in ABC 5 (Kiddie Kwela) where Bayani Agbayani asks 3- to 5-year-old children innocent questions and children, well, answer them. (This is somewhat similar to the foreign show Kids Say the Darndest Things.) In this week’s episode, Bayani asks Maritoni, a 4-year-old girl, what kind of house she wants for herself. Maritoni said “malaking bahay”(big house). The follow-up question and her answer is what this post would be about: Sinong nakatira sa maliit na bahay, at sinong nakatira sa malaking bahay? (Who lives in a small house and a big house?)

Let me first share my siblings answer to this question. X Sister said those who live in a small house are those who can’t afford a big house; those who live in a big house are the rich ones. X Brother has an almost similar answer. My answer was that those who live in a small house are those who are already contented with having a small house; those who live in a big house are the ones who are insecure in their lives such that they need to show off their worth by having these material stuff. Of course I am not really 100% convinced with my answer. Hehehe.

Do you know how Maritoni answered this question?

Ang nakatira po sa maliit na bahay ay mga Barbie; ang sa malaking bahay, mga tao.

Wow… the answer reminded me of The Little Prince… The little child saw an elephant inside the boa’s stomach; the adults saw a hat…

Cervantes Apologized; I Won't, Unless...

The post below (Gordon, Dick (Part II): The Politics of Dickery) has created so much fiasco (no, not that it needed barricades or crowd control), or so Martin Cervantes said it. Well, Martin's blog was published by so many people, reached the air waves, sent to emails, etc. Yeah, it did create so much fiasco. I received an email from a certain Daphne saying the Senator was actually not at fault, etc. I won't be publishing it here as it was a private email (probably sent to many people, but private nonetheless).

Martin Cervantes also apologized, and here's his post:

I recently wrote a blog that well I kind of regret writing because I was thinking out of frustration at a situation in a RELIEF effort. I realized after all the mudslinging, the original point of the blog was to inform how things are going and not to create negativity and malign individuals [emphasis mine]. The pictures posted were of course done stupidly in Jest.

If you have a copy of my blog that I originally placed, please take it down for EVERYONE'S well being.

I am TRULY SORRY IF there were names dragged to the picture and of course once again I humbly accept any consequences that come out of it.

Typhoon Ondoy has brought out the BEST and worst in the Filipino but I believe the bigger picture was that it UNITED A NATION that has gone through so much. Maybe my blog was a reflection of how things go and how we shouldn't jump the gun either.

At this point....I'd just like to MOVE On...especially since there's another typhoon on its way that I'm praying will spare our country because we don't deserve this. We are a Faithful people and I know God will provide.

Once again, I am sincerely sorry for the whole fiasco, it was not my intention to present it that way [emphasis mine]. Thank you and God bless us all.

I don't know what really happened that made Mr. Cervantes apologize. (Were stanchions and velvet ropes used? I don't know.) But what made me thinking is, he really did not retract his statements -- he apologized for the fiasco. Very safe... and ball-less! (Borrowing Mr. Cervantes's own words: AND I can only PRAY MR. GORDON that you be granted some sort of WISDOM (OR BALLS) to DECIDE WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO DO.) He's just playing it safe, while trying to sound sincere. If he really thinks he is at fault, then, he has to admit he was wrong -- that there was no "protocol" mentioned by Red Cross staff at all, that he's just hallucinating, etc. Because if he is just apologizing for the fiasco created, then, I'd take it that he (still) stands by his original post.

The quoted material in this blog will remain until such time that Mr. Cervantes exhibits some sort of WISDOM (OR BALLS) to DECIDE WHAT [HE] REALLY WANT[S] TO DO. Is he admitting he is wrong with the "protocol thing" (because he narrated a story -- and very clearly at that -- that the public should know)? If so, then my post below will go to trash. But if not, this will stay here.

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Regardless of whatever Mr. Cervantes's intention is, I still don't like Dick Gordon. Amnesty to Abu Sayyaf?! What was he thinking?!

Gordon, Dick (Part II): The Politics of Dickery

I have never done a Part II on any of my posts before. I think. Dick Gordon is just someone so special that I believe a sequel to his dickery is necessary. In Part I of this article, Gordon suggested that the Abu Sayyaf be given amnesty by the government. (Dick!) In case new readers are not aware of what the Sayyafs have done before (and this is me hoping you won't get insulted with my play-safe assumption), this group has been involved in beaheading of soldiers, kidnappings, and other terror attacks.

And now, he did it again! Here's the short story (and below it is the long story):


Apparently, some volunteers was made to postpone distributing the goods to many evacuees because Dick is supposed to give a speech first. They waited for hours and the "good" senator did not arrive. Whether he has a good and valid reason why he was not there, well, I don't care. I just hate the fact that the he has to make a speech (or at least planned to) before the goods are distributed to hungry evacuees! What for? I can usually tolerate politicking -- TV commercials like Anak, itabi mo -- but Dick's action is a lot different than these. Lives are directly involved; people are hungry and/or dying; and yet, he's pulling this politicking?! He's such a Dick!

Below is the complete story from a certain Martin Cervantes, a volunteer.

To think the deluge of volunteerism support and the “Bayanihan” spirit of the Filipino has somewhat made me believe that this country is indeed worth figthing for, someone destroys it for me. Here’s my story.... On September 30, 2009, our company decided to volunteer with various efforts around the Metro as a genuine act of helping out those who have been ravaged by Typhoon Ondoy. I was placed under the group to support the mission of the Philippine Red Cross in Quezon City. Call time was at 8 am sharp and we got to the Evacuation center by Novaliches at around 10 am. As we were briefed what to do, we also initiated a system to keep things in order because of the number of people. At around 10:45 we were ready and so was everyone else because they’ve been there since the early part of the morning but we were informed by one of the PRC staff on site, we couldn’t give out the goods yet because “protocol” dictates that the PRC chair....Mr. Dick Gordon was going to visit and deliver some sort of speech or at least hand out the goods. We were infomed by a certain Ms. Torres that this was how it goes...we reasoned out with her that the people were lined up already and OBVIOUSLY hungry waiting for so many hours as it was. We also asked if the goods were from MR. GORDON and we were told it was donations to the Red Cross. So we kinda hinted ….we can give it then! But wait we did, by around noon, no word from the DICK and people were getting rowdy saying “Ibigay nyo na! (Give it already!) The number of people was increasing and we knew the goods provided to us would be gone in an instant. It was only a small container van of Air 21 that housed the goods and I’d approximate there were at least a 1,000 people on site.

At this point, my fellow colleagues were exasperated at what was going on. WE COULD STAY THERE the whole day to help out and make sure the people there would at least be spared from any further hurt (if losing a house wasn’t hurtful enough) by doing something significant, instead we were made to wait doing nothing just because someone wanted to use the program for his political gain. I mean, the bag only contained rice, canned goods and noodles…would it be so DIFFICULT to give this away already??!!! We were wearing our company shirts…so it looked like WE WERE THE ONES DELAYING the damn operation.

The Barangay Captain got a hold of the mic and told the people “Maswerte tayo na tayo ang pinuntahang Barangay, hinihintay lang natin ang mga panauhin natin, kaya’t wag kayong mag tampo” (We’re lucky to be the Barangay that will be visited, we’re just waiting for our guests, so don’t fret).

At almost 2 pm, I don’t know what happened but the Brgy. Captain suddenly asked all Senior citizens and pregnant women to make a new line (from the original lines) and then he started to instruct us to give out the goods…and that’s when all hell broke loose. Obviously the people in the original line weren’t too happy with the situation…even if…the idea was noble.

In the end, the stubs to claim the relief goods were more than the relief goods themselves…and I could see a lot of upset people at what had just happened….oh and the clincher of it all…..DICK MOTHER(*@#$!%^) GORDON DID NOT SHOW UP. He wanted this obviously to be a POLITICAL event for him and then decided that maybe it wasn’t worth showing up for after all.

I can’t believe that a time like this when ORDINARY people are coming together, POLITICIANS REMAIN THE SAME…AND I can only PRAY MR. GORDON that you be granted some sort of WISDOM (OR BALLS) to DECIDE WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO DO. Don’t go on making PROTOCOLS that are STUPID AND INANE especially in times like this….people have lost their loved ones, their houses, basically everything they have and you still have the GALL to use this to YOUR Advantage.

Believe me, if you ever run for office, I WILL NEVER VOTE FOR YOU and I hope everyone who sees this blog does the same thing. It’s funny a week ago on ANC you told viewers that the reason why we’re in a rut is because our government does not have a CLEAR SYSTEM….so please EXPOUND to me how your PROTOCOL of overseeing the distribution of relief goods was more of SYSTEM rather than a POLITICAL STUNT.

DICK. I honestly believe your name suits you quite well.

Dick Gordon, everyone. If he's running again (for whatever position in the government), please, don't ever vote for him.