A conspiracy among Kapampangans

Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio is having a severe headache right now. Make that severe headaches.

Compared to Isabela Governor Grace Padaca, Governor Panlilio seems to be facing a wall of guns, goons, and gold -- all coming from gambling.

You see, Governors Panlilio and Padaca have similar histories. They were elected on a wave of change, of hope, just like the path US President-elect Barack Obama took to Washington DC.

photo grabbed from pcij.org

Currently, Governor Panlilio faces a stubborn group of truckers. Just yesterday, they backed out of talks with the governor on resolving issues about an anti-overloading ordinance.

I'm not really in a position to explain what that ordinance means, but if it's an anti-overloading ordinance, then it's about preventing overloading, right?

However, these truckers, who previously had stormed the Pampanga governor's office (as provincial policemen huddled in their desks), do not like the idea that they cannot bring as much sand and gravel out of the province's quarries.

Talk about leveling mountains, literally.

photo by dan zen

Perhaps it's a conspiracy. One can never know how fast money can change men's souls. Remember who Among Ed came up against during the elections? The gambling kingpins, the damned idiots, and their patron, the thief-liars. Perhaps these three families have gotten their act together to pull down the second priest to be elected as a public official.

Good thing Governor Padaca has only one family to beat in Isabela. But Among Ed? He faces three families of despots.

Al Jazeera releases Gaza videos

Al Jazeera has released its video repository on a Creative Commons license. In their site, they say

We have made available our exclusive Arabic and English video footage from the Gaza Strip produced by our correspondents and crews. The ongoing war and crisis in Gaza, together with the scarcity of news footage available, make this repository a key resource for anyone producing content on the current situation.

The video below is titled War on Gaza Day 19:



The following are notes on the video, as written in the Al Jazeera website:

Segment I:

• Aftermath of Israeli bombing. Homes in rubbles.
• Residents and children in rubbles.
• More of damage to homes caused by Israeli bombing.
• Residents watching rubbles of their homes.
• Bulldozer clearing debris.
• Damaged houses with broken windows and residents collecting their belongings and leaving
• SOT Abu Antar, one of the resident of the bombed building

Segment II:

• House of Umm Rami, which is damaged by Israeli bombing.
• Small children running around
• CU small girl.
• Interior of house showing damaged caused by Israeli bombing.
• Broken asbestos sheets, which were the roof of the house.
• Small children clearing debris of the house and salvaging their belongings.
• Mother and children inside damaged house.
• CU two babies in their mother's lap.
• Mother (Umm Rami) crying and talking to Jazeera reporter about their plight.

Segment III:

• Ambulance arriving at Shifa Hospital.
• Medics moving injured Palestinians to hospital.
• Private car bringing injured to hospital
• Small baby on hospital bed with burned face and chest caused by white phosphorus.
• Mother and child with burns.
• Severely injured boy on hospital bed, being fed by family.
• Boy with severe facial burns and body injuries.
• Sabah Abu Haleema, another victim on hospital bed crying in pain.
• Family members of the injured in despair.
• Sabah Abu Haleema, who lost her sons in bombing of their house, talking to Al Jazeera reporter.

Segment IV:

• Sheikh Ridwan Graveyard which was bombed by Israelis.
• People in graveyard watching damaged caused to graves by the bombing.
• People in graveyard covering graves with soil.
• View of crater in the graveyard caused by Israeli bomb.
• People repairing graves.
• Various of damaged caused to graves by Israeli bombing.
• Interview with a resident living near the bombed cemetery.

Segment V:

• Warehouse of electricity distribution /transmission company in Gaza.
• Bomblets still burning.
• Various of Electrical transformers inside the warehouse.
• Damaged electrical cables and transformers.
• Engineers of the electrical department explaining the damaged.
• Interview with Engineer Majdi Yagi, Incharge of the Electrical store which was targeted.

The Earth is changing

The weather has been unusually cold, and those of us who have watched Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" are somehow scratching our heads.

For sure, those who are global warming skeptics are smiling to their ears -- there is no global warming, as shown by this unusual weather.

However, glaciers are still melting, and drought still strikes Africa. Desertification is still ongoing, and super storms are being spawned in the Pacific and the Atlantic.
photo by John LeGear

So, the Earth is changing. Our Earth is changing. Our one and only refuge in this system is changing.

At home, we've "rationed" our water. A big drum of water stands in the bathroom, while another full pail of water sits beside the kitchen sink. This is our way to help the environment, and at the same time, lower our monthly water bill.

From 10 in the evening till 4 the next morning, we shut off the water supply. And then, from 1 in the afternoon to 5 in the afternoon, we also shut the supply off. Well, that's the supposed plan... every now and then we fail to follow the sked.

Though this time around, we're making sure everyone knows the sked. There is more than at stake here than paying lower water bills, although it really helps that in the face of skyrocketing utility bills and food prices, we can still save one to three hundred pesos.

Make sure you do your part. We all live in a single planet. Water is not an irreplaceable resource -- it can be consumed to the last drop.

photo by Randy Son of Robert

Israel's Holocaust

There seems to be no end to the violence that the Israeli nation can wreak on its Palestinian neighbors. This picture of an injured Palestinian child comes from the BBC news website.

Is this the way Israel wants us to remember them by? This singular nation, specific victims of the Holocaust, targeting innocent children, creating orphans out of hundreds of Palestinians?

I whole-heartedly agree with the assertion of journalist Len Olea that Israel is clearly a war criminal, together with its ally, the United States, in destroying the lives and property of Palestinians in Gaza City.

The way Israel treats Palestine civilians is no more different from the way the Nazis treated Jews during World War II. However flimsy my argument may be, there is still no reason to justify all this mindless violence against women and children.

the year's almost out

2008 has been a good year, for all its ups and downs, for all its caboodles and oodles. Lemme count what I got this year:

>> a second happy year of marriage to a woman I happily love
>> my own website!
>> getting a job I really like, and all its attendant "motivations:" job security, medical coverage, mandatory benefits
>> use of a Mac (and for a country like us, that would really be something for an entry-level middle class worker like me)
>> a red street bike (a cross-over between a mountain bike and a racing bike)
>> Red Ezra, my noble Yamaha Nouvo SE

Materially, I have been successful. So far, I've been able to sustain a family and give some help to my parents. Spiritually... well, there's the rub.

This ain't about religion, though. There's a deep river between going to church assiduously and being emotionally, intellectually, spiritually enriched.

This is something we argue about, me and wifey: the old life I had. The old, unsustainable lifestyle that I had.

No, I'm no junkie. I'm no alcoholic, either. I WAS a poet, a musician, a writer. It was true that I lived on a meager salary, it was true that I had no cares about the strings (or ropes, actually) that this society, and the world in general, tie us down with.

I find it difficult to juggle the responsibilities I have now and the need of my "old" soul for literature, for poetry, for good food, for good music. A "clean, well-lighted place," as Hemingway wrote.

I complain that I have no time, but in reality, all the time for rest that I get I de-stress myself, which is just a painkiller, a remedy before the real burn-out happens.

How I thank God though to have given me someone that never tires to make me laugh. If she reads this, she'd tell me I'm ranting again, depressing myself again. Hahaha. And then she'll pinch my lovehandles, and kiss my nose. And then I go laugh uncontrollably.

Yep. I don't know what's with the nose, but a kiss on mine tickles me. She discovered it.

Introducing... Red Ezra!

Here he is after sometime. He's almost two weeks old now, and we've gone as far as Baras, Rizal just this morning. Red Ezra is a Yamaha Nouvo Sporty Edition, and I really don't know what year he was produced. Technically Red Ezra is a scooter, and a powerful scooter at that.

MY CELLPHONE HAS BEEN STOLEN

Quietly, silently... the snatcher brought the cellphone from the depths of my pockets. And so the cellphone, which this morning was successfully contacted by my wife, continues to live on the hand of another person, my SIM card apparently still active, being used barefaced by another person.
So watch out, all those who know me personally and my cellphone number. Don't be fooled by their modus operandi, by pretending to be the SIM card owner, by taking the identity of the one they stole from, by contacting the SIM card owner's friends and seeking help. This modus operandi has victimized a friend, and has cost her terribly, financially speaking.

How about lower fares?

And so, tonight, oil prices will again be reduced, and according to reports of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, oil prices have been slashed by as much as PhP 8.50 for gasoline and PhP 6.50 for diesel and kerosene.

Still, fares stand at a minimum of PhP 8.50 -- a very unfair fare considering the lowered oil prices. Added to the commuter's burden is the delay in the Implementing Rules and Regulation of the amended Income Tax Law, which is supposed to "relieve" the common taxpayer.

We have mechanisms for increasing fares... do we have mechanisms, though, for lowering fares?

It is but high time that we be relieved of this tremendous pressure to work more for less income. We are not slaves, we are not carabaos.

I am just dumbfounded by how much b*llshit we can take from this illegal regime. I am really dumbfounded, discombobulated, knowing that the Court of Appeals can be bought, that a government official can easily escape to the United States with millions of pesos tucked away somewhere, knowing that we have a liar as a leader.

How much sh*t are we really willing to take as a people?

The poor die poor.

Mang Pandoy is now dead.

The foremost symbol of poverty remained a symbol of poverty to the very end. He is so poor his family cannot even have him buried.

All those unkept promises. All those short-term support. All those tokens. All for naught.

He had started poor, and he had died poor. Was it his choice -- to die of tuberculosis, to have an indefinite interment?

This is how the government (and in extension, our politicians) treat our poor -- as pawns in their indefinite struggle to be at the top of the heap.

How magnanimous.

Route 28 - The First Long Ride

Just bought a road bike last Monday. The chain unfortunately broke that same night. Anyway, that made an excuse for me to buy a genuine Shimano chain. At least I have a Shimano part lurking in my bike, right?

My route took me from my home in northern Pasig to my parents' home in southern Pasig. The trip totaled almost 12 miles, which roughly translates to 19 kilometers.

View Larger Map

Seem daunting? In the past I was able to ride a mountain bike to Imus, Cavite from Mandaluyong, and back, when the coastal road was still open to all vehicles.

Road biking has been a passion of mine. Maybe it's just my itchy feet, but nothing beats the feeling of air rushing through one's ears as one pedals his/her way.

I also don't want to grow old with aching joints.

Inhumane

Our government's failure to integrate our unique Pinoy psyche in development programs is one reason why our country's progress remains, as a whole, stunted. Trapped in a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society, coupled with a very pervasive system of client-patron relationships, our country will never be an industrialized country.

Just consider our society's food security. We rely on our neighboring countries to supply us with our basic staple, rice. Consider, too, how our government treats sidewalk vendors, jeepney and bus drivers, and the lowly commuters.

I find it inhumane for a government to have its citizens walk almost a kilometer to get a bus ride along Edsa, what with all the pollution, and the weather we're exposed to (the heat of day during summer, or the blazing rains during the monsoons).

This government must adapt its traffic management policies to the Filipino psyche, instead of the doing the other way around. For as long as I can remember, this government has relied on Western methods to educate its citizens, enforce economic policies, and plot development goals.

The only thing that remains Asiatic in our society are the political structures we derived from the archaic and clannish datu system, which exists to this day in Mindanao, and in its highly evolved form, in Congress.

This government has forgotten obviously forgotten for whom it works for.

On a Roll!

Alisa's on a roll!

In a span of a few weeks, she has established two new blogs for her (and for our friends) to enjoy -- Thumbbook and Litrato at Iba Pa, both hosted at Wordpress.com.

Do pay these blogs a click -- you won't regret it. Part of why I fell in love with Alisa in the first place was her quasi-humorous style of writing (quasi since it reads funny, but is actually serious). Gets?

Beware... of Wrong Spellings!

Describe love.

I haven't written about you for such a long time now. By now you should know why, or perhaps you have forgotten why.

I'll reminisce, then. I remember you asking me why I haven't written a poem for so long (except for the one I emailed to myself the other day). I simply answered you, "I have difficulty in describing indescribable happiness."

I have difficulty describing my teary-eyed moments with you, while our laughter fills the whole house.

I have difficulty describing the kisses you plant all over my face, and how I would laugh uncontrollably whenever you plant a kiss on my nose (a ticklish part I never knew until you discovered it).

I have difficulty describing how I feel whenever you look at me, whenever you pout, whenever you gently hit my arm... let's just say whenever I say you're cute at what you're doing, it's exactly that -- I find it cute whenever you look at me, whenever you pout, whenever you gently hit my arm.

And then, every now and then, after all my difficulty in describing my indescribable happiness, you ask me if I'll ever grow tired of you.

Let's just say I prefer to be happy eternally, even if I can't describe it.

Inutile.

This inutile regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have cut off themselves from reality. They have effectively numbed themselves from the real situation happening in the kitchen, in the living rooms, in the bedrooms of all Filipinos.

And now, this regime is offering loans to poor families, the loans coming from the VAT that has been mining billions of pesos from our shallow pockets.

And even then, loans are STILL loans -- they are meant to be paid, meant to be returned to the very regime that offered help.

And she even has the gall to say that these ready billions came from the well to do! Oh my, does she know that VAT covers almost everything? VAT covers a can of sardines. VAT covers a packet of instant noodles. VAT covers a small, plastic tube of cooking oil. VAT covers a teaspoon of salt. And who consumes a can of sardines, a packet of instant noodles, a small tube of cooking oil, a teaspoon of salt? The well to do? Ask any Elizalde, Ayala, Araneta, Tantoco, Prieto, or Arroyo if lately they have eaten a can of sardines.

I have this theory. This regime, elected out of sheer dishonesty, will cling to power just as they did in "endearing" themselves to the military.

Almost all Cabinet members are former members of either the armed forces or of the national police. Our true, bemedalled military officers are languishing in jails, imprisoned for speaking their minds out.

This regime has also "endeared" themselves to local chieftains, err, local government officials by doling out millions of pesos in paper bags and IRA funds.

And now, this regime is taking the opportunity, taking this very golden opportunity, of "endearing" themselves to the "poorest of the poor" by doling out cash, doling out loans, doling out gifts in the midst of a world financial crisis.

Who stands to lose if we were to scrap the VAT on oil and basic goods?

Who else?

Are we really too tired to wage a revolution against these nincompoops calling themselves "our" leaders?

Have we succumbed to apathy, to turn a blind eye to this scandal-wracked government?

Questions and more questions. It is up to us as a nation to answer these questions.

The Electric Bill Paradox

This e-mail came in forwarded through my inbox. This should circulate not only among email addresses, but among Web addresses. The scandal over Juday's endorsement of the ludicrous Meralco bill is just the tip of the iceberg. Please read on to know more. I didn't trace from whom this email came from, but the reasons it gave convinced me to make this a blog entry.

----------------------------

Pakibasa po ng malaman nyo gaano ka-corrupt ang govt. natin sa electric bill natin!

Bilib ako sa commercial ni Juday, biro mo naipaliwanag niya in 30. sec ang masalimuot na system loss na yan..:)

Tama si Juday sa kanyang paliwanag ng system loss, pero kung tayo ang bibili ng yelo at ayaw talaga nating mabawasan ang yelong binili, siempre magdadala tayo ng styrofoam ice box o Coleman..

Ang tawag diyan ay increase the efficiency. Kung baga sa mga distribution utilities ayusin nila nang husto ang electrical network, pati na ang mga substation and step-down transformers para nagooperate sila sa maximum efficiencies. Kung lumang-luma na, palitan o di kaya imaintenance. Tapos, ireduce, at kung maaari ay alisin, ang mga administrative inefficiencies, tulad ng wrong meter readings, pilferage ! at kung ano ano pa...

At alam ba ninyo na hindi lang meralco ang nagpapasa ng system loss? Pati ang TRANSCO na government owned at siyang nag me maintain ng power grid. Balak ipasa or naipasa na ng TRANSCO ang 2.98% ng system loss nya sa meralco.. at shempre kanino pa ba naman iyan sisingilin ng meralco..

Ngayon alam na natin kung bakit natunaw ang yelong binili ni Juday... pero part pa lamang yan ng equation kung bakit mataas ang singil ng ating koryente, kunin ang electric bill.. at heto ang component ng ating electric bill...

Generation charge
Tax on Generation charge
Transmission charge
Tax on Transmission charge
System loss
Tax on System Loss
Distribution, Metering and Supply charges
Lifeline rate subsidies
Tax on distribution, metering and supply charges and lifeline rate subsidies
Local franchise tax
Universal charges

I-add mo lahat yan at yan ang total electric bill mo... pero napansin nyo ba sa isang electric bill 5 tax ang babayaran natin?

Para lalo nating mapansin, ganito ang flow ng kuryente bago dumating sa bahay naten... Ang napocor or IPP ang mag po produce ng koryente...bago pa makaalis ng planta ang koryente, magabayad na tayo ng tax na 51 cents /kwh.

Ang koryenteng iyan ay padadaanin ngayon sa TRANSCO, papunta sa distribution utility natin gaya ng meralco.. Muli tayong bubuwisan ng gobyerno, this time 11 cents/kwh

Pag nakarating sa meralco ang kuryente, muli sisingilin tayo ng buwis ng gobyerno, ng distribution tax at franchise tax...

At dahil magbabayad tayo ng system loss muli na naman tayong bubuwisan ng gobyerno... ng system loss tax..

A eto pa ang kwela sa lahat, after i total ang iyong electric charges.. papatawan kang muli ng tax.. t! his time yung 12% e-vat. Imagine 5 Tax na binayaran mo, yung tax na yun eh bubuwisan pang muli ng isa pang tax...

Ang alam ko po sa batas bawal ang double taxation... pero sa ginagawang ito ng gobyerno.. cguro naaayon na sa batas kase lampas na sa double eh (sarcastic lang po).

At upang madagdagan pa ang sama ng loob nating mga filipino... Ang napocor, ayon sa batas ay kinakailangan mag imbak ng supply ng coal na tatagal ng 5 taon.. pero ano ginagawa ng napocor... sasairin nila yung supply nila ng coal upang tumagal lamang ng isang taon, at dahil paubos na, mapipilitan silang mag conduct ng emergency purchase na di na dadaan sa bidding.. or kung dumaan man, dahil sa ikli ng time table, walang makakapag bid.

SO si napocor bibili ng coal, hindi sa lowest bidder, kundi sa kanilang preferred suplier.. ang masaya pa neto, anlaki na ng patong... higit pa sa doble ng actual price ng coal sa market... idagdag pa jan ang arkila ng mga barko na gagamitin sa pag ta-transport ng coal... na shempre muling pagkakakitaan ng mga napocor executives...

Sobra na nga pinapataw na tax sa atin ninanakawan pa tayo ng gobyerno natin..:( ansaya ng buhay sa pilipinas no?

Kaya bago natin husgahan si Juday, sa kanyang paliwanag ng system loss, at bago natin awayin ang meralco sa taas ng singil ng kuryente.. tignan muna natin ang pinag uugatan ng mahal na singil... si meralco lamang ba ang salarin? or ginagamit rin lang sila ng corrupt na gobyerno para lalo tayong pahirapan?

Kabayan, please dont keep this message!

Pakipasa sa iba...

Ain't Creative

Featured in tonight's TV Patrol (ABS-CBN Broadcasting Network's flagship news program) is Rogue Magazine's latest issue, featuring on its cover model Joey Mead in her birthday suit, albeit painted on with the Philippine flag.

Oh, this is indeed a rant against the magazine's cover. Not only against Joey Mead's beauty itself (and I find her rather fugly, given her insane past), but also for the magazine's defense of what they find creative.

Lemme give you an idea where I come from. I now find myself working for a company that outsources graphic design services to overseas clients. Every day, every night, we're called upon to be creative. Immersed in such an environment, I am confident about what creative means.

I digress. Let us go back to what I'm trying to point out.

Rogue Magazine's cover featuring an old naked model with the Philippine tricolor painted on her is simply fugly. I find their Cherie Gil cover better, placing the audience in the shoes of the soon-to-be-wet Sharon Cuneta.

The cover is not creative. It is not creative at all. Pandering, that's what it is. They just sought to pander to the erotic interest of the male audience. Honestly, when I found their latest issue on the magazine racks at MegaMall, I was surprised to find Joey Mead still at it. Or maybe the editors had "something" to do with ancient Ms. Mead.

And according to the TV news report (so forgive me for basing my logic on the faulty boob tube), the pictorial was part of Lawyer Argee Guevara's take on the mire our society is finding itself boiling in.

Whatever political point the article was trying to say, it had drowned in the depiction of a naked ancient model with the Philippine flag painted on her. How tasteless.

The last thing on anyone's mind who is interested enough to find this society educated and enlightened is the image of a naked woman, the painting only serving as a loophole to label it creative. Oh, let me clarify that last statement: they wanted it labeled "creative." It ain't creative.

At least with the reaction they're getting about their latest cover, they got to live up to their magazine title. Maybe even a boost to their circulation.

Paypal Email Scam

Good thing I have junk mail controls set up in my Thunderbird email client. Just today, I checked out the three (3) mails in my Junk folder. I was curious enough to check the email with the subject "PayPal Email ID PP565." I was thinking, is there something wrong with my PayPal account (besides from the zero balance I have)?

The email was a scam, all right. It was trying to lead me to a website, where I think it will harvest my username and password and other pertinent information. Whether the scammers were just "fishing" or if they really knew I had a PayPal account, I will not know.

Here's the complete email text:

Subject: PayPal Email ID PP565
From: Security Center
Date: 4/29/2008 7:39 AM

Dear valued PayPal member,

Identity protection matters. And PayPal works day and night to help keep your identity safe. That's why it has come to our attention that your PayPal account information needs to be updated as part of our continuing commitment to protect your account and to reduce the instance of fraud on our website. If you could take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update your personal records you will not run into any future problems with the online service.

However, failure to update your records will result in account suspension.


Once you have updated your account records, your PayPal session will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.

To login to your PayPal account and update your records click on the following link:
http://0xca.0x8d7522/icons/online/user/ppsecure/

Thank You for using PayPal!

The PayPal Team


Accounts Management will periodically send you information about site changes and enhancements, as outlined in our User Agreement.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click the Help link located in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PayPal Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United States as an electronic money institution.

PayPal Email ID PP565

NOTE: A search with Google reveals that the Financial Services Authority is indeed a regulatory body IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Critical times

So many scandals have racked this once proud country, so much corruption has maligned even the lowliest of public servants. The cancer is ever-growing, never stopping, as if Jose Rizal the national hero had not written his novels describing the prevailing social malaise.

A decade ago, when I was wailing my head off writing for college papers, I was already writing against the apathy that was engulfing my generation, and the generations after me. It was like finding a needle in a haystack if ever I knew someone who was thinking of the same problems I was thinking, and who shared the same views I held.

Nevertheless, I am not losing hope that we'll get out of this mire alive. It has always been that way. I do believe, though, that as a people, and as a forgetful civilization basking in the tropics, we will never walk outside the shadow of a colonizer, be it the United States of America or the People's Republic of China.

Still here, and existing

Perhaps it is a basic thought, but the past few weeks have not rendered me speechless, or have blocked my hands from writing. I have taken in another new meaning, I have taken in another life, I have taken a job.

The entrepreneurship trip is not over, though. I would rather want to see it from the perspective of a penniless businessman, who has to generate income to steamroll his own road towards progress.

I have aligned myself with the graphic design industry for two years now, and it seems I find more comfort in being creative with shapes and fonts rather than being creative with words and concepts. It is hard to learn, but it is so much better than being dumb and numb.