I Blog, Therefore I Am.

It's October 25 and it's another voting day for the Philippines! I will vote. How about you?



Today is the nationwide Barangay Elections in the Philippines. Yes, it's another election in the country after the life changing National Elections of May 2010. This will be a small one compared to the last plebiscite when President Noy was elected. But this, I believe, has more impact to us and in our everyday lives. Electing the right barangay officials will help solve our daily irritants like un-disposed garbage,  village water shortage, and, yeah, even our annoying neighbors who are always on videoke at the wee hours.

Know your candidates, don't be swayed to vote for someone just because you share great great grandparents (it happens a lot in the provinces), make an informed choice, don't be tricked, be involved in your community. Go out and vote today! Your one vote will truly make a difference.

June 30, 2010 is another historic day for the Philippines as we honor and celebrate the inauguration of the 15th Philippine President, Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III. Noynoy took his oath of office in front of  an audience of 500,000+ before 12:00 nn today. He was swore-in after his Vice President, Jejomar Binay, at Quirino Grandstand in Manila.

Here's a video of the inaugural speech:

Forget the critiques and criticisms, you should admit that this is one of the best Philippine Presidential Inaugural speeches we've heard in ages. Not so much on the promises but more of the action. Here are some of my favorite lines:






The full text of President Aquino's Inaugural Speech can be found here.
The English translation can also downloaded here.

Less than 6 hours from now and the voting precincts will open for the very first National Automated Elections in the Philippines. Are we all ready? Are we all set? I cannot properly organize my thoughts on this election so I made a list instead for easy writing.



1. I want to be a Citizen Journalist or a volunteer for this election, I even filed a leave for May 11. But I was pulled for a special project at work (also related to the national event) which I cannot post here. So volunteering is not going to happen.

2. I'll try to vote early. We are not familiar with these PCOS machines so we better be there as soon as we can.

3. For those who will report tomorrow, one of the most important things you should do is to make sure that your gadgets and tools are all charged up.

4. The hashtags and keywords for election news monitoring for Twitter are #juanvote, #eleksyon, #halalan, #purplethumb. The most popular and often used among them is #halalan, thanks to ABS-CBN.

5. If you don't vote, you don't have the right to complain about the government. Your vote is your voice!

6. There's no such thing as a "wasted vote". Vote for whom you feel is right. Even if he/she is an unpopular choice. Don't be swayed by surveys.

7. There's no such thing as a "family vote" or "girlfriend/boyfriend vote" for us. We will vote as to what we feel and think is right. Fortunately, we will all vote for the same President and Vice President.

8. I am probably the only believer that one can win an election even without paying off people.

9. "Hoping for the best but expecting the worst" - my thoughts on these PCOS machines. I hope I am wrong.

10. My uncle, brother of my mom, is running for Vice Mayor of our town. It's a very competitive race. The driver/bodyguard of my uncle was even shot dead last week. Scary.

11. I will check the voting record of my Congressman after I made this post. Looks like he's a shoo-in for re-election since two of his opponents are unknowns. Nevertheless, I have to check what he did in the last 3 years. I can always pull a blank.

12. I will NOT vote for Estrada, Defensor, Enrile, Lapid, Revilla and Sotto. But looks like these ogres and entertainers will still be back in the Senate. Enough of these traditional politicians. We need new blood. Consider Alex Lacson.

13. I like Gibo. I admit that there were moments in the last few weeks when I want to switch to green. The only thing that is preventing me is the fact that Gibo will never turn his back on GMA. Ever.

14. I am mighty scared of Erap 2.0. Read this post of RJ Marmol and her valid points.

15. Gibo is leading the online surveys and even the online positive mentions since most of his voters are here. Internet penetration in the Philippines is still low even if 13.4 million Filipinos are in Facebook.

16. The only President I will fully accept and support is Gibo or Noynoy. Enough said.

17. I am Pro-Noynoy but I will not be Pro-People Power if he will lose in the elections.

18. I have a lot of reasons why I am going for Yellow & Blue. Here's a simple explanation and analogy:

During yearly evaluations in our company, we have our Key Results Area (KRA) and Behavioral Scores. Though KRA is very important, I always make it a point to give more value to the Behavioral Score of my people. I believe that you can always teach people skills, but you cannot change one's behavior and attitude that easily. As one article says, you cannot delegate sincerity and honesty. People may judge me but I believe that Noynoy and Mar are two of the most genuinely nice leaders that the Filipino people can entrust their future on. I am not voting for the lesser evil, I am voting for THE good one. We need to bring back the moral goodness in our government.

This week's entry for Project 52 Weeks:



The Yellow Army is in town! Along with the personalities are various Noynoy & Mar election paraphernalia, collaterals and other wearable stuff like this Noynoy Baller ID.

Election in the Philippines is less than two months and I'm pretty decided that I am with the Yellow Army! Noynoy & Mar for the win!

This is first part of a series of my annual year-ender post. This was inspired by the Top 10 of Everything list of Time which they also publish yearly. I neglected writing on this blog for quite some time so I will post in length by batch my TOP EVERYTHING for this year.

TOP NEWS EVENTS
I classified this as the Top News Events of the year which affected me most - political, national, current events, scandals, pop culture - whether it's positive or negative.

The Obama Inauguration
I was glued to the TV and the Internet last January 21 (Manila Time) for the oath-taking and inauguration of the first Black US President, Barrack Obama. It's a momentous event for me not because of the politics behind his victory, but because of what he represents. His winning symbolizes that anybody can dream dreams regardless of odds and tradition.



Cory's Passing
Like most Filipinos, I was deeply saddened by the death of Former President Cory Aquino last August 2009. Together with my family and Witt, we lined up in Manila Cathedral in Intramuros to see her remains and to sympathize with her family. Her death paved the way for the younger generations to know more about her conjugal heroism with her husband, Ninoy, and their great contribution to the Philippines.

The Famous Le Cirque Dinner
Guess who spent $20,000 on a Le Cirque dinner while the Philippines is mourning for former President Aquino? There are so many disastrous things that GMA did this year but this one is my favorite. It's so in your face! $%#^*@!#



The Hayden Kho Scandal
Hayden should thank Ondoy, Pepeng, Manny Pacquiao and even Krista. We will still be talking about Hayden (and Maricar, Katrina, Vicky, and the Brazilian Model) until now if not for the typhoons and people I mentioned in the first sentence. Isa kang henyo, Hayden!



Nonoy & Mar's Announcements
Noynoy is the unexpected game changer for the 2010 Philippine election. His mother's death gave him the opportunity to seriously run for the highest position in the land; capitalizing on important values like prudence, humility honesty. A lot has already been said about this so I'll stop now.

Erap's Announcement
Enough already! The scum wants to try again. Anyone who reads this blog knows how much I hate the guy.

Ondoy
Definitely the newsmaker of the year (with Pepeng trailing behind). Typhoon Ketsana came gently into the good night of September 25 without us knowing that it will bring massive rain water for eight straight hours that will result to the great Manila flood in recent memory. Ondoy is heart-breaking because it devastated and affected people whom you actually know. Everyone has an Ondoy story to tell. Whether it's a story of loss, heroism or bayanihan, everyone has a tale to tell. It was a chaotic two weeks for the Philippines but it also showed how Filipinos can rise from tragedy and help those in need.



Other runners-up on my list of Top News Events are the Maguindanao Massacre, the ZTE debacle and Manny Pacquiao (his winnings and the Krista-gate).

Photo Credits: TIME, CNN, New York Post

The whole nation is mourning for the death of our most beloved Philippine President, Cory Aquino. Tita Cory, as she is fondly called, joined her Creator after battling with Colon Cancer for more than a year at 3:18 am, Saturday, August 1, 2009.

The Philippines was very blessed to be gifted with a very amazing and brave woman. She's always been a symbol of hope, bravery and inspiration to all of us. She showed us how to be vigilant and fight for our liberty no matter what it takes. Her heroic gift of democracy is the reason why we are enjoying our freedom today.

Tie a yellow ribbon for our nation's mother. She will be truly missed.

"I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life."
- President Corazon C. Aquino

Photo Credit: PCIJ

It’s a good feeling to be an American today.

I’m a true-blue nationalistic Filipino (who would never dare to be "un-proud" of it) but this is one of those moments when being an American is actually cool. Aside from the pomp and pageantry, today’s inauguration of President Barrack Obama symbolizes a new hope and optimism for all - not only for the people of the land where he will lead but for the whole world as well.

Long live, Barry! Goodluck and God Bless! Knock 'em dead!

Cartoon Credit: Jeff Koterba, Omaha World Herald and Daryl Cagle's Cartoon Index.

It is a once-in-four-years Leap Day and it’s nice to blog because February 29 will only be seen again in 2012 and who knows if I will still be alive by then. It’s also the last day of the month so it’s good to recap and reminisce what happened this February.

If I have to put three words for February 2008 it will definitely be tragic, emotional and friendship. This is of course greatly attributed to the passing away of my dear friend Binchy and the good lessons he left us. I still think of him a lot and I know that this is one of the things that I wouldn’t be able to move on from easily. Death of a loved one is something that we just get used to and not something we get over with.

Since I am low on updates in the last few weeks, here’s a summary of what I’ve been up to.

POLITICS

I will not have a reaction on today’s Interfaith Rally that calls for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at Ayala Ave. (unlike the other rally weeks ago) for the sole reason that I was not in our office in Makati when it happened. Nevertheless, I am not fully SOLVED on the issues YET. I’ve had enough of People Power in the Philippines and its after-maths. If Gloria resigns...then what? BUT the evil biatch is really something, huh? I will not be surprised if we wake up one day to another Martial Law. More on this next time – I am not yet “in the heat” to discuss the government brouhaha that the we are currently facing.

WORK

The reason why I was not in Makati today was because of our department’s first Strategic Planning for the year. We were cooped at The Heritage Hotel for two whole days for the assembly. The activity and sessions were informative and engaging. It was different from the previous we had and it quite rocked us a bit. Nonetheless, the brainstorming were great (lots of terrific ideas), the presentations were instructive, but the food definitely sucks. I am not really a fan of Heritage Hotel when it comes to their dishes. I always end up eating at nearby SM Mall of Asia after a day’s food at Heritage. It's all blah.

We are really busy at work lately. I have to manage daily office grind with preparations for upcoming department events and activities. We even had an AVP shoot the other day for a major event next month. I was so used to being an organizer for such so it was fun being one of the “talents” for a change. Here's a couple of photos:



NO, it's not my regular attire.
I was actually wearing a maroon Muslim outfit and was making a bow.



Team BSD at the AVP shoot

BOOKS

I finally got hold of the book I’ve been obsessing since December. I went to Fully Booked SM Mall of Asia and they finally have a copy of Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris. I first chance upon this book when I was reading a 2007 year-ender feature of TIME Magazine. TIME named the book as one of the best in 2007 and the New York Times gave it glowing reports and reviews.



Then We Came To An End is a critically acclaimed novel that relays the story of a Chicago-based advertising agency as they face downsizing and lay-offs at the end of the 90’s boom. The novel is not for everyone but it can be one of your fast-read-while-waiting books. It’s light, comedic and was written in a third person narrative. It’s too early to give it a review (I am still on page 43) but it looks promising.

The next book on my list is Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella. It’s another fun book from one of my favorite chick-lit authors. I just re-read recently Undomestic Goddess and I cannot wait for more of her works. I also wish to finish reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love In The Time of Cholera. It was such a very heavy and emotion-filled book so I’ve already put it down several times.



TRAVEL

I went to Davao two weeks ago before Valentine’s Day! It was just a quick trip where I presented to our Mindanao leaders our group’s plans and strategies for this quarter and next. I really really really love Davao. It’s so divine yet simple! I often tell friends that Davao is the place to be if you are tired of good ol’ Manila. Too bad my stay was only less than 24 hours. It’s almost five years since the last time I visited Davao and I vow to make another trip to go and visit Pearl Farm and Samal Island.

I forgot to bring my camera so I don’t have photos of the nice sights I saw and the people I spent time with. I also took the opportunity to meet and dine with my friends in Davao like Koleen, Jesselou, Beam and Bianca. We had dinner at Penong’s near Royal Mandaya Hotel (where I stayed) and it was oh-so delicious. I love the BBQs and only-in-Davao restos like Penong’s!

My trip to Davao was so close to Binchy’s death and I was still wary on being alone at that time so it was really nice when Koleen and her cousin Bianca accompanied me at the hotel. They also met with me again (together with the others) after my meeting to kill time before my flight back to Manila. They took me to SM Davao and I bought Durian candies and some el cheapo frozen tunas from General Santos. It was generally a fun trip albeit a short one. The flight home was delayed so I was glad I had my laptop with me to amuse and entertain myself on the long wait. Beam’s two Pomelo fruit gifts were also the best! Thanks, thanks, Beam!

Davao, I’ll be back!

Work was dismissed early today and traffic was re-routed due to the rally and mass protest in Makati that calls for the immediate resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Here we go again.

I am getting tired of the constant civil unrest here in the Philippines. It's like deja vu of 2001. Same old issues, same old people barking, same old protest place, same old problems...but with a different President. When will this ALL end?

I ignored the hooplas and stayed at the office until 8:00 pm to finish some work that piled up due to my business trip in Davao the other day. The street from Rufino/Herrera going to Ayala was closed up to the corner of Rustan's so I decided to walk and took some photos from my camera phone as they were wrapping up.







But for all it's worth, here's a silent prayer of encouragement to Jun Lozada and to the other brave men out there who are fighting this fight. :)

I received a phone call from my boss around lunch telling me to inform my staff that management asked us to go home due to some trouble at The Peninsula Manila which is just a few meters away from our office. I immediately switched on my live streaming feed via 3G and learned that there's an ongoing coup d'etat or mutiny attempt led by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and General Danilo Lim.

Here we go again.

As I write this Senator Trillanes (who's also a former military man) and his cohorts just agreed to surrender and leave the hotel premises after an afternoon filled with drama that includes a press conference, a call to People Power, a three o' clock warrant of arrest, evacuation of hotel guests, a teargas at the hotel and an armored personnel carrier (tank) that broke into the lobby.





The siege and mutiny attempt calls for the immediate resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and a call to the Filipino people of "Gloria o Pagbabago?". This is not entirely new to us because a somewhat similar incident happened in July 2003 at Oakwood Hotel with Trillanes also in the lead (Hmmm, Trillanes love Makati hotels, huh?). That mutiny led him to jail and court martial but it also got him elected as a national senator. Yeah, only in the Philippines.

Read all about the siege here.

The sad part about this is the immediate arrest of the NOT SO involved in the mutiny. Senator Trillanes and General Danilo Lim led the pack and together with them are some Magdalo soldiers, former Vice President Tito Guingona, a bishop, a priest and civil society leaders. It went from bad to worse when several members of the press were also arrested. What?!

I feel so sad for the media press who were arrested. What is happening? That is so LOW! They were merely covering the event but the police still arrested them to verify if they are part of the rebel group or not. They were even asked to surrender the films and footage that they took earlier. This is the first incident in recent memory where members of the media were arrested for questioning not only to serve as witnesses but also as possible suspects.

My parents who are martial law babies and who lived as teens and yuppies during that dark Marcos era fear for the worse. They said that freedom of the press was the first to be violated in those years. It was also announced that 12:00 am to 5:00 am curfews are to be implemented in several areas in the Philippines including Central Luzon, CALABARZON and Metro Manila until things are settled. I refuse to believe that the government can actually do this in the NOW. This is the Internet age where everybody knows everything. This is the vigilant age where everything is just a click away. A curfew? Absolutely no way! What the heck is happening? But in any case, always bring identification cards with you to be on the safe side.

Better safe than sorry.

Photo and news credits: Inquirer.net

Where are you last January 19 and 20 of year 2001? I definitely know where I was!

I was at the EDSA Shrine with thousands of people who chanted "Erap Resign!" repeatedly with raised fist. I did not join the revolt because of "the party that was EDSA" unlike majority of the yuppies and students who were there for the bragging rights of having participated in the biggest street party of the decade. I went to the rally because I actually care for the well-being of the nation (back then, anyway). Before I became an apathetic-to-the-world workaholic slash frivolous blogger, I was actually someone who enjoyed current events and was involved in national issues. Erap was one topic I was truly passionate about.

Erap is probably the worst thing that happened to the Philippines (well, next to Marcoses, I suppose). He's the epitome of a chauvinistic Filipino male. He's lazy, a hard-drinking womanizer, a "bolero" who applied street-smart in legislations and, of course, an ultimate selfish thief who engaged in corruptions. I was appalled the moment he was elected President (Voters, what the heck are you thinking?!). How can someone like him represent the Philippines?

I was still in Honda during the EDSA Dos days. Our office was located at The Salustiana Towers in Paseo de Roxas which is just a stone throw away from Ayala Ave. Unknown to many; I often spend my lunch breaks in those days at the organized rallies by the Civil Society leaders held every Friday at the Ninoy Aquino Shrine that called on Erap’s Resignation. I even bought several black shirts calling for his dismissal in various designs. I was really into the whole hoopla.

The product and result of those rallies leading to the EDSA Dos ouster of Joseph Estrada will have its dramatic conclusion tomorrow as Sandiganbayan, a special Philippine court that has jurisdiction over cases of graft and corruption of public officials, sets its promulgation on the P4.097 billion ($89.06M) plunder case (gambling payoffs, tobacco tax kickbacks, and falsely declaring his assets) and minor charges of perjury on the former Philippine President. The Ombudsman filed the case to the court three months after Erap was overthrown from the Palace.

It took Sandiganbayan more than six years of very long legal battles before reaching tomorrow's historical verdict. I read a summary of timeline of the trial at today's issue of Philippine Daily Inquirer and I must say that the prosecution really did a good job in presenting their case. The defense, though headed by the great Rene Saguisag, had a very laughable defensive strategy by discrediting the witnesses of the prosecution instead of focusing at the issue on hand. They even had once a demonstration conducted at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas stating that P130 million in cash would not fit inside the four boxes that were described by Chavit Singson that Dante Ang gave Erap as payola. They said that that the boxes can only contain P80 million. Duh? P130 million and P80 million is friggin’ the same when we are talking about corruption! What are they thinking?

The verdict must be and should be guilty! Is there any doubt that he did NOT do it? Yeah, lawyers and judges may argue all day with their motions and pleas, but at the end of the day we all know that he did it! That's the friggin' bottom line. They said that a call for acquittal is getting stronger by the day because of Anti-Gloria factions. BUT we must remember to put issues in separate baskets. Gloria will have her day if she is not careful. But tomorrow is all about Erap and the sins he committed to the Filipino people. Gloria is just a collateral damage/benefit (depends on which side you are) to Erap. A lot of politicians are expecting "grey area" verdicts like non-conviction of plunder but convinction due to corrupt practices (which is a lesser offense) or guilty verdict but lesser jail time. Well, in the please-everyone-and-all-you-want culture of the Philippines, any "grey" is possible.

But, as for me, Erap is GUILTY! Think about it. Think about the rotten years we endured under his leadership. Think about the taxes he robbed from us. Think about the high lifestyle that The Ejercitos are continuously living despite the growing number of the marginalized. Think about all the half-meant Erap jokes you have forwarded all these years. Think about Clarissa Ocampo and her bravery.

Think about yourself and the fight and the principle you stood for at EDSA Dos!

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