Activism

Be thankful for the activists. The rights you're enjoying today but unconsciously ignoring and taking for granted, they fought for it. They are not mere nuisance who block up the road come May 1.

Democracy. Education. Suffrage. Minimum wage. Health care. Social welfare. Reproductive health.  Free press. Price hikes. Human rights. Cybercrime. Freedom of information. Women's rights. Corruption. Better distribution of taxpayers' money. Faster internet speed. Accountability of our rotten politicians...

These activists lay their lives on the line so the rest of us can enjoy ours: earning money, surfing the internet, watching TV, driving the roads.

Now think of living your life under dictatorship, where only the richest are sent to schools, you can't vote, your pay is halved. No Philhealth discounts, condoms are illegal, mothers dying one by one due to pregnancy or giving birth, prices skyrocketing, people are killed, women abused and raped unabashedly. What those activists might have achieved in the time they've been on the streets might not be a perfect society, but I'd rather have them screaming in the streets, braving the sun and rain striving for something better.

Now let me ask you a question, what have YOU done that isn't self-serving? One that serves a whole nation? Better to be an activist that be apathetic.

#Activists #Heroes #Apathy

RH Law

I've never felt so passionate over something for so long. The feminist in me is crying and shouting in wild joy. Again, it's not about shoving principles down people's throats. It's always about choice.

Part of my conscious ultimatums prior to child bearing was the RH Law. My faith in humanity is partially restored; the branches of the government despite the plethora of errors in so many facets has done one right. That's still a good thing.

And to commemorate this win, I've decided this afternoon that the #RoadToPixie must go on. They say feminists cut their hair short as a political statement. Then let this be it...

Now, let's fight for more freedom. Let's all choose to be in the correct side of history (specially when left is right).

#SafeSex #RHLaw #NoGloveNoLove #ProChoice #ProGoodLife #ReproductiveHealth #NotReproductiveDeath #SeparationOfChurchAndState #TaxTheChurchIfTheyInterfereWithState

Dear Raul Dancel

A reply to this social climber rant disguised as journalism.

The Philippines -- Metro Manila might be a ruckus; a dangerous, noisy place to live in. But I'd rather be braving this danger and feeling the vibrant culture, the bass-driven beats, the non-1984* way of life in the country I was born. I'd rather be anything THAN be a stuck-up balikbayan who suddenly feels all high and mighty just because he uses 'lift' instead of 'elevator' and 'takeaway' instead of 'take-out' -- as if those words will give him some effed up sense of entitlement. In case you don't know, BPO employees and Harry Potter fans were able to learn all that without having to leave the country.

I have greater respect for people who can speak 4 different languages -- accents included -- fluently. People who goes from country to country, absorbing and learning different cultures and traditions instead of idioms, slang or whatever-isms they picked up in that place. People who travel to feel small, as opposed to those who do to feel big.

Now, a person who cannot comprehend simple 'Filipinisms' and Filipino way of life-- even if he was born, went through preschool, puberty and adulthood in the Philippines just because he was exposed to a few years of 'Singlish' and 'discipline', should not be writing at all.

And yes, this is another ad hominem tirade, but sometimes, some things must be addressed such that the growing ignorance will be kept at the minimum.

*1984 is a novel by George Orwell depicting a dystopian society where people are so disciplined and anal because they are under the watch of 'Big Brother' and behaving otherwise will literally kill them.

News, Math and Science Over Prayers

Please tell me how this prayer thing works. I've been turned off by non-stop prayer requests from the social media like it's gonna make a difference. Prayer doesn't do anything to you or anyone around you; what it does is it makes you believe that you are doing something, for yourself or for others.

And so I have only been sharing news articles, studies, scientific and mathematical facts on social media. Because if you ask me, I'll take news, math and science over prayers any day.

* * *

I hated math, if its expressed in an abstract form that wouldn't benefit me in the practical, real world -- like numbers and letters combined; I can't solve it. Put it in a form of money, of days, of time, then I'll get a better grasp of it. I function better if given a context. This problem must be solved because that's the only way I can determine if the salary I earned will be able to pay for all my expenses, or if the rate I'm doing this thing is enough for me to finish it by Friday morning.

* * *

I tried praying in a especially difficult exam back in college, but it didn't help. Sure I was studying, trying to solve the equations, then by the end of review time, I pray. When I retook the subject, I tried praying again. No luck. By the third time, I lost faith and decided to work my ass off solving the problems -- over and over again. Memorizing the formulas. Understanding mathematical concepts. Then I passed. No prayers involved.

I guess this is one of the reason my faith fell between 2004 and 2008. But the process wasn't easy. Just like finding faith, losing faith doesn't happen overnight. It involves a series of events that would transpire and make you question your values, logic, politics and the people around you.

Like how could this guy be so religious and yet is a retarded cheater who seemed not to uphold any values or moral code in their body? Or why do the archbishops get big-pimpin' cars from politicians? Why do priests and religious leaders endorse a candidate for public office? Why is the Philippine legislature a  helpless victim of the scriptures? Why can't I find REAL separation of church and State? Why are 'celibate' priests meddling with people's sex lives, if they chose to be chaste, why force everyone else to be chaste as well? Fuck, it's not like we're forcing them to fornicate. Why is the Vatican so god-damned wealthy? Why are our holidays all after Catholicism? Isn't it a form of discrimination? If I were in Buddhist/ Jew/ Hindu/ Pagan's shoes, wouldn't I be offended or confused why are we always saying "the Philippines is a Catholic country"? Why are wars fought in the name of religion? Why are religious groups tax-exempt? When I get really broke, should I start a religion to cash in on 'offerings' and tithes? Could it be that Jesus and the disciples are just stoned when they were saying Jesus walked on water, or the Israelites were high as fuck as well when they said manna fell from heaven? If I'm an all-powerful being, would I waste my time taking note of sins committed and listening to people whine about their stupid choices? Why are the LGBTs being discriminated when it clearly said "Love thy neighbor as thou love thyself"? Why is there too much hypocrisy, too much double standards? Why should I run my life based on one book, when there's millions others to be read?

There are even more questions that I asked. Though I don't real wanna bother you with it.

And this led me to some conclusions. 1) Faith does not equate with religion; 2) Having a moral compass is not directly proportional to practicing a religion; 3) Religions divide mankind; and 4) I can't find myself confined by ancient rules when the whole world is moving forward

So I became agnostic. But I realized that's just me being chicken in calling myself an atheist. I guess I'm an atheist. But I'd rather call it humanist. It was a bumpy set of years following 2008 with me out of faith, a little apathetic and stoic, searching -- researching on what I really am.

Until I discovered Buddhism, which is frankly, the only 'religion' which appealed to me. Though I'd rather call it philosophy. There is no immortal, omnipotent higher power in Buddhism, just a bunch of people deciding on their actions, how they live their life and following a path to enlightenment.

* * *

I hated math, but I love how with math, there is always a method to verify if something is correct. I love science and how we can test hypothesis until we come up with a conclusion. Only Buddhism encouraged that, you don't just follow dogma, you are given a deeper understanding, not spoonfeeding; you are taught Newton's law: For every action, there is equal and opposite reaction -- Karma.

I don't apologize if my choice to be logical and rational is not in congruence with anyone else's. I don't pray, I'd rather read the facts.

“Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future:
It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology;
it covers both the natural and spiritual; and it is based on a religious sense
aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity."

“If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism."

- Albert Einstein

On Kristel's death

While I lament and condole with Kristel's family, I must say I agree with this. Kids these days are getting things the easy way, everything is instant, a download away, a click away. They are too sheltered.

While my advocacy for analogue might look like a hopeless hipster cause for some, I am doing this to remind myself that some things are worth the wait (e.g. to have your films processed and developed; to wait for the needle to finish one track; to read an entire book before watching an easy 1 hour and a half movie).

It would be sacrilege to compare what I've gone through in college to what Kristel did.

I had the same problems, maybe; I'm not even aware of all the other problems they had. I had to ask the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for promissory note to extend payment due date for me, I had it hard. I was paying only PhP200 per unit then, roughly 5-8k per semester dependent on the number of units, lab, etc. I am not the eldest, I was the youngest and with it came the pressure of ensuring that my parents, who are both senior citizens that time and living on their pensions, wouldn't need to provide for me anymore, and in turn, I will provide for them. My mom had to pawn the priciest set of jewelry she owned; my dad had to go to loan sharks and use his pension as collateral to come up with tuition money for me; my brother had to get bank loans to support us, as he is already married then, supporting his growing family and me, my dad and my mom on the side.

Instead of thinking of the shame I'll probably go through if I stopped studying due to lack of finances, I capitalized on wits and worked harder. I worked as a student assistant to earn extra money; a registration assistant to be able to organize my load so I can fit Student Assistant hours into my class schedule; I blogged and looked for paid ads/sponsored posts that would pay for me to write (which paid for most of my thesis expenses); I always had packed lunch and merienda so I don't spend money at the school canteen or the mall for lunch; I worked for the editorial board of the college yearbook so I get to get a graduation photo and yearbook package for free (it costs around 7k) and for the yearbook and studio packages to treat us for free dinners; I walked about a kilometer going home just so I can save 7 pesos on my fare; and I don't go out with my friends on weekends because I don't have money to buy fastfood or go shopping.

I was raised by parents who instilled that hardwork, is just as important as education. I wasn't raised a spoiled brat who'd go asking my dad to give me money and buy me clothes, bags, shoes or whatnot. I know that their obligation to me is to feed me, provide a roof above my head and send me to school, it ends there. All the rest are just wants that can be set aside for now, things that I can all acquire and enjoy once I am employed.

I could've committed suicide, if I was the instant-solution type of kid, I would've. But instead, I thought, if I die, who'd pay for the coffin, the cemetery lot and all the costs of decently burying someone? If I die, who would take care of my parents and provide for them when they get really old? I can solve my petty problems of having a hard life, but it would cause a greater problem of an even harder life for my family, specifically my parents who'd already worked so hard only to find all their investments on me turn into smoke if I committed suicide.

To Parents: I know you'd want to give everything and anything to your children, especially if you've already had it hard. Don't love your kids so much that they become too soft, but don't leave them without support and ignore them that they become too hard. Stress to them the importance of patience, perseverance, self-worth and of life. Teach them that it's better to start from the bottom and work your way to the top.

[edit] I wrote this without the intent of comparing what I've gone through with what she did. I am simply writing down how things happened to me and how they turned out. I have had a 'suicide phase' as well. Between highschool and college, my reason if ever was life is unfair, because our family was really having a hard time then, I won't even wanna start with how our family ended up like that.

Suicide rates are increasing, coming from a supposed 'optimistic' and 'happy' country, this is really a big deal. I am not blaming her, nor her parents. It is still UP that I find most accountable for the tragedy, as education is a basic right, and there seems to be a massive bourgeoisie takeover in the UP admin and UP system. But, parents can do something to avoid something like this from happening again; that there are values that parents can train their kids with to make them stronger, more resilient. What I'm trying to say is that the family, the school and the society should all work together so things like this don't happen again. Pete knows the lengths that her parents went through to ensure she still makes it to this sem, or the amount of stress and pressure she's getting from whatever family problems they have. But that doesn't mean we have to accept it. Yes, we ask UP for reforms, for a TOFI rollback, for STFAP rebracketing; but we should also teach the kids the value of hardwork, and remind the parents of this. [/edit]

PS. On a lighter note, it is also the reason why I can color my own hair, cut my own hair, curl my own hair, do my own nails and do my own make up; because I don't have money to go to the parlor to avail all of these. Plus I stayed skinny, since I was on a perpetual diet.

"Bah! Humbug!"

The end of the year hasn't been very good, and I'm not in the festive mood.

I've started nurturing a philosophy in 2012. Basically it is summarized as Eliminate Materialism; Counterculture. But since I'm incrementally embracing the philosophy and lifestyle, my former paradigm is being shaken, got me torn on which path to take - which seemed to be transpiring one after another. I'm in the process of taking risks; in the many facets of my life. All the limbo feeling has got me edgy. I don't know what will happen next. The philosophy is the only reason the waves haven't had me going ballistic yet.

All this apathy... and getting pissed off. You know how they say never underestimate someone's feelings? I could use some of that right now. No one knows how's anyone has suffered really. Some people hide it better than others. When that happen to other people, I just leave them alone and don't bombard them with accusations. I don't tell them they're fucked up and that they're overreacting. I just let them be and sort their shit out (though sorting your shit out publicly - eherm... in facebook, all details included - is a different thing; by doing so you are making your shit available for public consumption; thus undersolicited advice and ridicule).

I have something to say. Though I chose not to tell anyone of you. I'd rather shut up and be stoic about it. I don't need anyone to listen and empathize either, I know I alone can figure it out, resolve it. I won't give you details or hints. I don't need to apologize if I don't feel like celebrating like the rest of you. So yeah! Bah! Humbug to you.

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Grow Up (that's a command)

You know how in school there were bullies, the ones who get your lunchbox or steal your lunch money?

I was on the balancing beam. I had friends from the popular clique and had friends who are not the "IT" people. Highschool was that. I survived on wits and finding equilibrium.

I was able to get into a prestigious university for college. I thought all the cliques and bullying was finally over. In the university I went to, people only cared for themselves. It is survival of the fittest minus the backstabbing. It was a university that regarded intellectual honesty as one of its core values. People (mostly) were honestly fighting their way through undergrad (though some may have used tears, connections, etc. to get their way). There were rich kids, poor kids, frat boys, sorority girls; there were parking lot fights, misunderstandings and debates on ideology, principles, and sometimes, their favorite actors. But during the course of my stay in that university. I don't think I've witnessed the classic bullying we all know of.

And so, I faced the real world and stepped into the corporate scene brave to know that all those "Highschool never ends" and bullying shit happen only in the movies, or books; and that people in the real world of adults are mature enough, if not professional enough, to act in accordance to decorum.

But it's not. With the dawn of the social-network-TMI-lifestyle, this became worse. Covert bullying and explicit alienation.

Often I witness this and take the moral high ground by ignoring them. If it's too rampant and is affecting my mood on a day-to-day basis, I unsubscribe/unfollow/unfriend. Sometimes, if it irritates me too much already, or I felt provoked, I tend to play fire with fire.

But to the people who does this on a daily basis. What do you get out of it? A false sense of superiority? Delusion of grandeurs and megalomania, does it make you feel better?

But really, when you think about it, when you dissect the core. Why would you care so much about other people? Much so, the people are not celebrities who have decided to put their lives on the open and public scrutiny to be talked about? What will you get out of it? If it causes you pain, ignore it, otherwise, you're just making the flame so much stronger; and extinguishing the hate in your gut will be so much more difficult.

For me, it illustrates an underlying insecurity. People who are never happy with themselves and their lives – they have nothing better to talk about and nothing better to do. No tales nor anecdotes to share with friends and other people in general; and in effect, you talk about other people. Idle hands are the devil's playground -- a phrase I learned early in grade school after watching that Devon Sawa film. If people are busy and living lives interesting enough, they'd share about their experiences; and not dwell on envy and hate for others.

Grow up. Stop thinking that the world spins around you. If you do that, you'll start minding your own business and just let other people be, too.

Right on, Brangelina-style

I am Pro-RH because I am Pro-Life.

Maybe me and my husband will pull-off another Brangelina, they said they won't get married until Gay Marriage is legalized. Maybe we won't have babies until the RH bill is in place. Maybe.

We Practice Natural Family Planning. We're Married. We're Young Urban Professionals. We're Pro-RH.

I love the fact that it is women who have children who support RH. Something that anti-RH people will never understand is the risk mothers go through giving birth. I, who had a miscarriage, and did not have the child, experienced the verge of flat-lining while the doctors performed D&C.

Ask women who sacrificed their lives for the lives of their yet-to-be-born child. Ask husbands and fathers who were left by wives giving birth. Ask children who grew up without a mother, because she died giving birth to them or their siblings.

I hope people will choose the educated choice, not the merely self-righteous one.

For one, me and my husband are using the natural family planning method because we know how it works and it works for us. But there are women who have irregular cycles, making the natural method an unfit choice. I'm not gonna shove down their throats the method that we're using. It's about choice. About people being able to choose what is most convenient and what will work best for them. Forcing them to practice one method alone, when there are options defeats the purpose of DEMOCRACY.

People who use condoms or any artificial contraceptives ARE NOT PROMISCUOUS. They are SMART. They are the ones who are responsible enough to have foresight of what having a brood of children requires. Money to feed them, to clothe them, to put a roof above their heads and to send them to school.

Tell me that money isn't all that and I'll tell you to ask the Vatican to sell all their properties and use all that money to support all the families who cannot feed, clothe and educate their children because the natural methods failed, and they don't even earn enough have access to cheap artificial contraception, or aren't learned enough to know about artificial contraception because they weren't educated as well.

I don't even get this demonizing tactic and all the scapegoating. Sorry for the long-ass post, but I really have had enough of this debate. It shouldn't even be a debate after all. I hope people will start thinking and stop being a bunch of rigid, prude, virginal and self-righteous blind followers.

Overdue on RH*

I said I don’t want to blog politics anymore. But I feel like this one is inevitable. I am merely speaking as a woman, an educated woman who cares for her body and the future of her soon-to-be-family, who is aware of the dangers of giving birth and how mothers die giving birth when it could’ve been avoided to start with, the peril of sexually transmitted diseases spreading, the degrading economic conditions and how poverty is at all time high. Yes you might judge me for my agnosticism, or my past and current political affiliations for my biases, and that I am a rebel without a cause bratting my way into this debate

I am not as articulate as I used to, I realized; I have not read 60-page readings on the subject at hand to back me up. However, I cannot quite create a coherent wordplay to express my disdain on the Catholic Church for spoon-feeding, if not brainwashing their followers into a state of sublime naïveté on the matter. Again, I am not an expert; I will not debate and challenge friars, fanatics and pompous asses. This is just my two cents, free-flowing.

The Bible did not fall from the heaven, inscribed by lightning, landed on earth to be our sole guide in everything. If anything, it is a history book, a literary piece, a constitution of sorts if you will; and just like any constitution, it may be subject to amendments once it’s proven to be untimely. Jesus, is anything, is an icon, a revolutionary. I am not an atheist, though. I do believe in some form of Higher Power or Supreme Being. But the dogma of Catholicism is too much. Believe me, I studied in a “Catholic School” and was even dubbed Best in Christian Living. But if there’s one thing that I understood well in the Old Book, it is that human beings have freewill and I am merely practicing it. That has been my principle. Freedom. Tolerance. Freewill. I am free to to know, to understand, to analyze, to challenge theories and create my own ones if I found those existing to be insufficient and incapable of satisfying all my questions. The world, the society we live in, the technology we posses exists because of people who ask, who challenge and are not satisfied with what is just being handed to them. I feel the deepest of contempt to the blind followers.

Sure, the natural family planning method worked back circa 15 AD to 1940s, when the earth still needed inhabitants. But now, people are fighting for the most basic resources to survive. I think earth doesn’t need more inhabitants, I’m definite we’re nearing the threshold of earth’s capacity population-wise. The people are suffering because of this: low quality education, high poverty rate, rotten health care and social welfare programs, mass hunger. Awareness is the key to responsibility. If the Church continues to instill the idea of ‘sex is taboo’, people will never learn.

Sex is good, it is primal. The result of which is an infant (Juno, 2007). But if the parents cannot provide a good life to the kid, if the parents cannot even provide nourishment to the baby because they have seven more that they also need to feed, if the children resort to begging in the streets, if the mother will have to die giving birth because of lack of options, leaving the father raising a kid by himself, if the children will have to literally fight for a chance to quality education and health care. Wouldn’t it be nicer if the couple had an option firsthand on how they’ll go about with their sexual affairs and were clear with the size of the family that they want? As such all the needs will be provided to these children. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about family, and that it should provide the children the proper building blocks of life, values and principles for the next generation who will inherit our country and our world.

The RH Bill is not about legalizing abortion. It must be seen and understood in it’s complexity, how it has the capacity to solve the grassroots problem that escalates into the economic crisis we’re experiencing. It is about giving better options, to provide better life that will produce better people that will create a better country and a better world.

I’ve heard this on the news, unsure of the verbatim, but in essence: Catholics are not to be bound by the RH Bill.

My reply: Filipinos are not bound by Catholicism neither. We are all only bound by our own decisions based on freewill.

But then again, that’s just me. An opinion, not an absolute truth. After all, no one controls the monopoly of truth… or wisdom. Unless you're a tyrannical fascist with the worst case of Megalomania.


* I wrote this last October 4, 2010.

PS*xo

Today is HUG A POLITICAL SCIENTIST DAY. So hug me!!! PolSciLove!

Whatever Happened to SERVE THE PEOPLE?!

I was late because I had to walk the length of Gen. Luna in Tuktukan yesterday night on my way to work. Now I am posting this not because I am a Tinga loyalist, nor that voted for Lani Cayetano with her promise of change towards a better Taguig. I am posting this because I am a TAXPAYER and I don't want any Lani Cayetano or Dante Tinga waste the Two-Grand I INVOLUNTARILY surrender monthly to the BIR for government consumption (if I had a choice, I won't pay for taxes, I can think of better ways to spend Two-Thousand-Pesos - which is on food, clothes and shoes). The people, especially those of us who are EMPLOYED are paying taxes so we can have more convenient transportation, better roads, social services and healthcare, and this is what you DOUCHEBAG politicians give us? STRESS?! On top of the financial stress blatantly imposed to us by the uncannily high taxes despite the poor government services on health, education, infrastructures; the skyrocketing prices and the EHERM - long overdue ACROSS THE BOARD WAGE HIKE. This is so fuckin' lame. LANI CAYETANO, DANTE TINGA, ALLAN CAYETANO, FREDDIE TINGA, PIA CAYETANO, ET AL. Hello?! I don't fuckin' care if this is about vote-buying, vote-tampering or what have you (which of course started from you as well). I don't care about your political agenda and ulterior motives for personal (financial, prestige, political) gains. All I want is that you dimwits SERVE THE PEOPLE like you should, as you have said so yourselves that you are a bunch of PUBLIC SERVANTS. I don't think adding inconvenience to the already horrendous traffic scheme in Tuktukan, and disturbing the peace is not for common good, right? I find it VERY, VERY SELFISH! You are not serving us, instead you are giving all of us a hard time walking round the streets, looking for alternate (but much longer way away) routes and finding public transport! Plus, you're polluting EARTH! After Ondoy, we should've learned our lessons and put sustainable development at the top of our lists! All I'm asking is TRANSPARENCY, CHECKS & BALANCES and ACCOUNTABILITY. Stop playing the blame game. The TAONGBAYAN thinks it's not helping them at all. If there;s one thing that I learned from Prof. Bobby Tuazon's PolSci classes, those are necessary in any government. TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY and CHECKS & BALANCES from BOTH DISPUTING POLITICAL PARTIES in gratitude to the people who ever-so-lovingly voted for them in precincts despite the really sucky election process. This better end soon. Don't stress me. I get really bitchy when I am pissed off. PS: Lani Cayetano, you did not accept my friend request, and your profile is set to private. Why?Are you avoding to be tagged on photos such as these? Photos that depict that reality that you are not really the champion of the masses and the anti-dote to Trapo that you claim to be? PPS: There are days when I wish that I didn't study Political Science so I won't be so god-damned affected. But heck, I am really glad I did, at least I am ranting and rambling on much better causes on Facebook rather than all the other TRIVIAL stuff people these days seemed to be pre-occupied with. January 29, 2011. I was late because I had to walk the length of Gen. Luna in Tuktukan yesterday night on my way to work. Now I am posting this not because I am a Tinga loyalist, nor that voted for Lani Cayetano with her promise of change towards a better Taguig. I am posting this because I am a TAXPAYER and I don't want any Lani Cayetano or Dante Tinga waste the Two-Grand I INVOLUNTARILY surrender monthly to the BIR for government consumption (if I had a choice, I won't pay for taxes, I can think of better ways to spend Two-Thousand-Pesos - which is on food, clothes and shoes). The people, especially those of us who are EMPLOYED are paying taxes so we can have more convenient transportation, better roads, social services and healthcare, and this is what you DOUCHEBAG politicians give us? STRESS?! On top of the financial stress blatantly imposed to us by the uncannily high taxes despite the poor government services on health, education, infrastructures; the skyrocketing prices and the EHERM - long overdue ACROSS THE BOARD WAGE HIKE. This is so fuckin' lame. LANI CAYETANO, DANTE TINGA, ALLAN CAYETANO, FREDDIE TINGA, PIA CAYETANO, ET AL. Hello?! I don't fuckin' care if this is about vote-buying, vote-tampering or what have you (which of course started from you as well). I don't care about your political agenda and ulterior motives for personal (financial, prestige, political) gains. All I want is that you dimwits SERVE THE PEOPLE like you should, as you have said so yourselves that you are a bunch of PUBLIC SERVANTS. I don't think adding inconvenience to the already horrendous traffic scheme in Tuktukan, and disturbing the peace is not for common good, right? I find it VERY, VERY SELFISH! You are not serving us, instead you are giving all of us a hard time walking round the streets, looking for alternate (but much longer way away) routes and finding public transport! Plus, you're polluting EARTH! After Ondoy, we should've learned our lessons and put sustainable development at the top of our lists! This better end soon. Don't stress me. I get really bitchy when I am pissed off. PS: Lani Cayetano, you did not accept my friend request, and your profile is set to private. Why?Are you avoding to be tagged on photos such as these? Photos that depict that reality that you are not really the champion of the masses and the anti-dote to Trapo that you claim to be? PPS: There are days when I wish that I didn't study Political Science so I won't be so god-damned affected. But heck, I am really glad I did, at least I am ranting and rambling on much better causes on Facebook rather than all the other TRIVIAL stuff people these days seemed to be pre-occupied with.

A Manifesto in Support of Choice | Filipino Freethinkers

A Manifesto in Support of Choice | Filipino Freethinkers

Because we SHOULD HAVE A CHOICE.

Supporting the Lola's

I am posting this to push for an advocacy, the victims of the violent Japanese Regime in the Philippines - the Filipino Comfort Women. It's literally been years since the injustice ensued but the culprits remain at large. It's about time, we stand up for the Filipino Women. Noynoy, be a vanguard of justice - the way you package your self to be - and stand up for the Filipino Women.

Sign the Petition Here and See the Lola's (c/o Ms. Gang Badoy so we may see who we are fighting for.

To: President Benigno Aquino III and the Philippine Congress

The Philippine Supreme Court has recently denied again the Filipino comfort women's petition to compel the Executive Branch to take up the cudgels against the Japanese government. 

We, the undersigned, petition to compel the Philippine President and the Philippine Legislature to demand the Japanese government to make amends by providing a just compensation for these women who were victims of Japanese military sexual slavery during World War II. 

We, the undersigned, petition our President Noynoy Aquino to be true to his "daang matuwid" slogan by taking up the cause of the Filipino comfort women with or without the decision of the Supreme Court. We urge Pangulong Noynoy to discuss the Filipino comfort women's demands with Japanese officials during his scheduled visit to Japan on 14 November 2010. We also petition the Members of the Philippine Congress to take this cause on behalf of the Filipino comfort women. 

We, the undersigned, challenge the Philippine Congress to pass a resolution demanding the Japanese government to formally acknowledge, sincerely apologize and accept historical responsibility by providing just compensation to the Filipino comfort women. This was done by the U.S. Congress, Canadian Lower House and the Dutch Parliament. Why can't the Philippine Congress do the same? 

As of December 2005, 45 of the 173 Filipino comfort women already died. Should we wait for them to all die before they get the justice they are longing for? Justice for the Lolas Now! I Support the Lolas' Quest for Justice

 Sincerely, 

The Undersigned

Open Letter

Newly-Elected Barangay Officials:

Good morning! For your first day of work, your duty is clean up your mess. Make sure that all campaign paraphernalia - posters, flyers, tarps, etc - will be properly disposed, AND RECYCLED if possible.

Welcome to the team! We're looking forward for a great service. And always remember, we ARE paying you (even though we don't really want to).

Signed,

Your Boss (The People)

***

I woke up early to be at the polling precinct as early as 7 AM to cast my vote. I hope that did not just go to waste.

An Opinion (because there is NO Absolute Truth)

I said I don't want to blog politics anymore. But I feel like this one is inevitable. I am merely speaking as a woman, an educated woman who cares for her body and the future of her soon-to-be-family, who is aware of the dangers of giving birth and how mothers die giving birth when it could've been avoided to start with, the peril of sexually transmitted diseases spreading, the degrading economic conditions and how poverty is at all time high. Yes you might judge me for my agnosticism, or my past and current political affiliations for my biases, and that I am a rebel without a cause bratting my way into this debate.

I am not as articulate as I used to, I realized; I have not read 60-page readings on the subject at hand to back me up. However, I cannot quite create a coherent wordplay to express my disdain on the Catholic Church for spoon-feeding, if not brainwashing their followers into a state of sublime naïveté on the matter. Again, I am not an expert; I will not debate and challenge friars, fanatics and pompous asses. This is just my two cents, free-flowing.

The Bible did not fall from the heaven, inscribed by lightning, landed on earth to be our sole guide in everything. If anything, it is a history book, a literary piece, a constitution of sorts if you will; and just like any constitution, it may be subject to amendments once it's proven to be untimely. Jesus, is anything, is an icon, a revolutionary. I am not an atheist, though. I do believe in some form of Higher Power or Supreme Being. But the dogma of Catholicism is too much. Believe me, I studied in a "Catholic School" and was even dubbed Best in Christian Living. But if there's one thing that I understood well in the Old Book, it is that human beings have freewill and I am merely practicing it. That has been my principle. Freedom. Tolerance. Freewill. I am free to to know, to understand, to analyze, to challenge theories and create my own ones if I found those existing to be insufficient and incapable of satisfying all my questions. The world, the society we live in, the technology we posses exists because of people who ask, who challenge and are not satisfied with what is just being handed to them. I feel the deepest of contempt to the blind followers.

Sure, the natural family planning method worked back circa 15 AD to 1940s, when the earth still needed inhabitants. But now, people are fighting for the most basic resources to survive. I think earth doesn't need more inhabitants, I'm definite we're nearing the threshold of earth's capacity population-wise. The people are suffering because of this: low quality education, high poverty rate, rotten health care and social welfare programs, mass hunger. Awareness is the key to responsibility. If the Church continues to instill the idea of 'sex is taboo', people will never learn.

Sex is good, it is primal. The result of which is an infant (Juno, 2007). But if the parents cannot provide a good life to the kid, if the parents cannot even provide nourishment to the baby because they have seven more that they also need to feed, if the children resort to begging in the streets, if the mother will have to die giving birth because of lack of options, leaving the father raising a kid by himself, if the children will have to literally fight for a chance to quality education and health care. Wouldn't it be nicer if the couple had an option firsthand on how they'll go about with their sexual affairs and were clear with the size of the family that they want? As such all the needs will be provided to these children. I am all about family, it should provide the children the proper building blocks of life, values and principles for the next generation who will inherit our country and our world.

The RH Bill is not about legalizing abortion. It must be seen and understood in it's complexity, how it has the capacity to solve the grassroots problem that escalates into the economic crisis we're experiencing. It is about giving better options, to provide better life that will produce better people that will create a better country and a better world.

I've heard this on the news, unsure of the verbatim, but in essence: Catholics are not to be bound by the RH Bill. My reply: Filipinos are not bound by Catholicism neither. We are all only bound by our own decisions based on freewill.