Tito Sotto is not a woman
[Photo credit: politics.com]
by Cha Coronel Datu
Tito Sotto is not a woman.
Going by certain types of definition, he is what would probably pass for a man.
And so this one man has taken it upon himself to decide on the options that could be made available to a certain kind of woman in his country. No, not the kind of woman that his former beauty queen and actress wife Helen Gamboa would belong with. No, not Helen who has had 4 children and who-knows how many number of maids and yayas to help her with their upbringing. Not Helen who at 70 can still easily pass off for someone at least a decade younger. And no, not even the likes of his youngest daughter Ciara, who after having one child with her husband of 5 years, has just recently left him to go back to the loving arms and comfortable life of her parents. Helen and Ciara are the kind of women that have been born and raised knowing that they have options. Plenty of them.
Tito Sotto has instead decided on the options that can be made available to women like Elvie Ubod. Yes, Elvie Ubod, who at 40 years old is pregnant with her 10th child. Elvie does not want any more children. Her husband is a fisherman who makes about US$3 a day(1). Elvie and her husband simply cannot afford to feed and send their children off to school on this income and thus would have to rely on free contraceptives to ward off any more unwanted pregnancies. Between a packet of contraceptives and a bag of rice, guess what they would use their precious few pesos on instead. Talk about having options.
But Tito Sotto does not want women like Elvie Ubod to get free contraceptives from the Philippine government.
And then there is 26 year old Analesa Palanga, who just recently got a free birth control implant, a small plastic rod the size of a matchstick that releases the hormone progestin which in turn suppresses ovulation and can help prevent pregnancies for up to 3 years. Analesa got the implant because she wants her kids to be able to study and graduate, “so that the family they have isn’t like the one I grew up in.”(2) She wants them to have options.
But Tito Sotto does not want women like Analesa Palanga to get any more free birth control implants from the Philippine government.
[Photo credit: GMA News]
But she has turned her back on women like Elvie Ubod and Analesa Palanga. Back in 2012 she declared, in explaining her pro-RH Bill vote, “My vote is for the Filipino woman, I am in favour of the RH Bill”. 3 years later she joined hands with the man called Tito and together they cut a knife through what would have been a billion pesos worth of birth control options for many a Filipino woman in the Philippine government’s 2016 budget. No wonder her colleague Pia Cayetano finds it hard to trust her anymore.
Tito Sotto is a man. Loren Legarda is a woman. Some kind of man and woman they both are. In the words of former health secretary Dr. Esperanza Cabral, the two are “no better than treacherous snakes , with forked tongues. They lie in wait for every opportunity to thwart what is now a law of the land.” Dr. Cabral is a woman.
Dr. Junice Melgar is also a woman. During the Marcos years, she joined the national liberation struggle and became a health activist providing free medical services to women and their families in poor rural communities. She started out treating women with tuberculosis, malnutrition and other diseases but then realized these women needed more. She co-founded a non-government organization (NGO), Likhaan, that provides direct health care services to women in marginalized communities. Likhaan is an acronym for Linangan ng Kababaihan (translates to: a place for the honing or development of women). Likhaan runs 6 clinics in urban poor communities in Metro Manila. They provide comprehensive and quality primary health care services with emphasis on reproductive health such as pre- and post- obstetric care as well as the provision of information and access to contraception for women in the communities they serve. The local women who have benefitted from their services value the clinics’ work and believe it has completely changed their lives . “They felt more knowledgeable, more empowered and more in charge of their own lives.”(3) Dr. Melgar and Likhaan’s work have allowed them to have more options.
Lina Bacalando is a woman. She came from a low-income family. Her mother was one of 18 siblings, none of which finished high school. She wanted her own kids to do better so she decided on two children for herself when she got married. Likhaan helped her with this decision and she is now a health worker and community organizer for the NGO. She runs family planning workshops for men and women in the Likhaan clinics, helping dispel commonly held myths about birth control among those poorly informed and poorly educated. She was among those who fought for and was elated when the RH Law came into being. It gave her hope “that poor women would have the same access to contraceptives as rich women”(4). At last, they now have an option. Or so she thought.
[Photo credit: Inquirer]
Elvie and Analesa; both women just want to catch a break. One wants some sort of respite from the already difficult life she lives with ten children in tow. The other dreams of better things to come for her much smaller brood. Tito Sotto and Loren Legarda won’t give them that.
Junice, Lina, Susan and Amina; all these women just want to be able to help more women and give them better access to quality reproductive health care and services. Tito Sotto and Loren Legarda would rather hang them out to dry.
In a press conference last January 13, Edcel Lagman, the principal author of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law, along with former senator Leticia Ramos-Shahani, and Dr. Esperanza Cabral called “for the implementation of the RPRH Law to be an electoral issue, saying that “the solution is in the election.”
Here is Dr. Cabral’s message to all women across the country :
“It is time to stand up for your rights. It is time to stop being victims. Your most important weapon is your vote.”
“Vote for those who support your aspirations for a good family life and who act accordingly. At the end of the day, it is true that we get the government we deserve. If we keep voting for jerks and bigots, then we have nobody to blame but ourselves.”(6)
Isn’t Tito Sotto running for senator again this year? Well, it’s high time Filipino women (and men) let him know what they really think of him.
I myself think he’s a jerk. And no, he’s not even half a woman.
_______________
References:
- Outcry over budget cuts for contraceptives in the Philippines
- How this clinic has changed a nation’s view of family planning
- #EYD2015: Likhaan Center for Women in Manila’s Slums
- Philippines contraception funding cut will fuel HIV and maternal deaths: Activists
- How do Palawan Teenagers Prevent Pregnancy? By Jumping Up and Down of Course
- Ex-Rep. Lagman: Budget cut for contraceptives ‘tragic’, P157M inadequate
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The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Well-wrttten and argued, Cha. I anticipated a de-funding attempt, but thought it would happen in a future administration not favorable to RH. These two – Sotto and Legarda, did it like “thieves in the night” immediately in this dispensation.
Wonderful photo, of a tearful Sotto (after recounting a child who died during childbirth which he blamed on a contraceptive which was non-existent at the time). Wondering if their tears have integrity, considering the imbroglio those two consoling Sotto have found themselves afterwards. Pro-life but pro-plunder?
I often wonder, till now, why the most vocal anti-RH personalities never had much in terms of integrity?
I have read some rumors from Parekoy in CPM that Sotto is connected to some drug lords.
Sotto looks and acts like a Mexican… so it would fit: Catholicism, Mafia and popularity.
I’ve read about this before. Some friend or associate turned out to be a high profile drug lord. Maybe the friend made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Wink wink.
Gosh! We Filipinos are so gullible putting in office this “man” ape? In office after being exposed in skol bukol and eat bulaga, fortunately they are not part of my young adulthood memories as I loathe them even then. God bless the Philippines!
Sotto is probably trying to earn points with the bishops to get their endorsement for his senatorial run. I’m not sure what Legarda is up to but I have a feeling Pia Cayetano will one day find out, that is if she hasn’t already. I’m just glad She (Legarda) has once again been exposed as the conniving political butterfly that she actually is.
That’s an interesting observation. My only substantive observation of Senator Legarda was during the Mamasapano hearings when she wanted all the State’s secrets placed on the table, but it got remanded to private session. I thought she was not very “nuanced”, or very diplomatic, or very bright. But she was loud and (to me) overbearingly confident. I was stunned to find out later she has a military officer’s commission, and chairs the defense committee. She seems to be the right boot to Marcos’s left.
The cameras always seem to catch her cosying up to and whispering something into a colleague’s ears at critical points in those congressional hearings that I have watched. I find that very suspicious.
very well said. (y)
was it written somewhere in the rappler articles posted here the mentioning of legarda and SUCs and LCUs? has these got to do with where the cut could possibly go? just wondering
…
Contraceptive pills are already available during his younger days and this is why, according to my uncle, some women who used the pills too much, like Susan Roces failed to conceive afterwards when she was ready for a child…hence Grace Poe.
Cool story, but, no. Tell your uncle that anecdotes are not data, and that he should take time to attend one of the reproductive health seminars from the women’s organizations mentioned above.
Tito is not human…Drillon told yesterday in Karen Davila Headstart that Tito had a perfect attendance score in the senate..
Huh?
Are there 2 of them?
How come i see one of them always with jajadub?
I must be seeing ”double”?
🙂
I think the sessions are in the afternoon
mabilis pa sa alas kwatro from gma to batasan
Maybe he uses Skype or something.
Pabebe wave to the Senate.
Ay Mali! senado pala,ang layo nun from GMA.
Being a wealthy private citizen, no surprises if he uses a helicopter to get there.
Maybe there is a secret tunnel from GMA to Senate? Like the Guzman in Mexico
What is a supposedly honorable senator and sometime majority leader of the house even doing hosting a mostly idiotic show in the first place.
Eat Bulaga might be a much smarter show than most of what the Senate has to offer.
Ahaha. I must agree.
No other show can beat it down, so in a sense it’s always Gozon’s most profitable show.
It is the most effective daily TV commercial for free to get bobotantes votes…hands down….:-(
He will never overspend TV adds….
Why are you all indulging in rumors and character assassination instead of sticking to the facts and why the RH bill was not approved? In the first place, I believe there is a conspiracy between drug manufacturers and proponents of RH Bill. But of course we don’t have evidence of that. Secondly, family planning is important in a marriage, not just sex without responsible parenthood. What kind of parents are those who indulge in sex and complain later on that they have a lot of kids to feed. I remember the saying in an ad: Ang wais na misis, di laging buntis. So many of these anti-contraception methods are wildely available and they are not that expensive as I know some poor women who had undergone ligation after their 3rd or 4th child.
What we should focus on is educating the people. The government should invest more on human resources, a sector that helps the country survive in the toughest financial crisis.
We should not focus on RH Bill. We should focus more on how we can improve the country economically. I don’t believe that if we reduce our population, we will become rich. While they say that we have little resources to share, unfortunately, that is not true. The Philippines is so rich in resources, natural and human resources. Our wealth is our people, same weight with our natural resources that are given to foreign companies to exploit.
Education is the key, not RH Bill.
RH law already.We are talking about the defunding.
In case you haven’t noticed, its now called the RH Law. Get a clue.
Why did it only take a second for you to play the conspiracy card? Try harder next time to make a case against the RH Law. You said it yourself, you do not have evidence of that. Secondly, the RH Law provides for more than just contraceptives. It does provide for sex education, which, contrary to what other people believe, does not mean you will be taught how to have sex. It means being taught about how your body functions, how to take care of yourself, children being made aware what their rights are over their bodies and how to blow the whistle on inappropriate touching, and yes, even responsible parenthood, which, incidentally, includes knowing what methods are available for preventing pregnancy.
Thank you for the input on Sex Ed. Far too many people are objecting to something they actually know nothing about.
If sex ed were teaching people how to have sex, it could simply be taken care of by Erap, Binay, Chiz plus maybe even Duterte and Coco Martin for both straight and gay parts…
In pre-Hispanic Philippines, there were allegedly male priests who had the role of introducing young females into being women. Could be that Vic Sotto, Joey and D’Horsey mistook themselves for that when they allegedly raped Pepsi Paloma – that is NOT sex education.
Cha, Joe I think it curious that someone with the username “#shill” should make a comment here and do so in such a sarcastic way..Shill has an interesting meaning:
“A shill, also called a plant or a stooge, is a person who publicly helps or gives credibility to a person or organization without disclosing that they have a close relationship with the person or organization.”
Perhaps a modern day troll ?
I didn’t get a sense of trolling. #shill was responding to a view he/she didn’t like and was only mildly personal in his/her reaction. New visitors sometimes do that here, as it is common chat-room dialogue. If they stick around, they learn to cut the personal aspersions from their remarks.
senate office ay nasa ROxas Blvd. at ang Eat Bulaga ay nasa Broadway Centrum… about 10-15KM lang ang layo nun. kung mag average speed sya 30km/h, 20-30min travel time lang yun.. malamang totoo yung sinasabi ni Drilon.
Broadway Centrum and Sotto the Philippines 70s icon… and Joe the former hippie…
remind me of the Bee Gees “Nights on Broadway” – time for a musical intermission.
I learned more from the Bee Gees than from UP Elementary and Pisay. So much for the Filipino education system. This song is dedicated to the Philippine Senate…
BGs were after my time but how I “dig” their music. NIGHTS ON BROADWAY was and still perfect!
Wala lang mapag usapan,nagkakatuwaan lang. Ewan ko sa kanila pero ako naniniwala na perfect attendance si Drilon at Sotto.
Meron nang Senator Tanda atbp.
Silang dalawa naman Bachoy at Balbas.
Evil shall not prevail:
http://www.rappler.com/nation/119154-dbm-enough-funds-2016-budget-rh-law
“There is enough funding to satisfy the 2016 budgetary requirements of the Reproductive Health Law. At the very least, the Department of Health can draw P900 million from a number of fund sources to procure Family Planning Commodities in 2016,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said in a statement on Friday, January 15.
The sources of the fund include:
P337.5 million ($7.05 million) – from the 2015 budget of the Department of Health’s (DOH) Family Health and Responsible Parenting (FHRP) program
P300 million ($6.27 million) – from the P2.28-billion ($47.66 million) appropriation of FHRP in the 2016 budget
P300 million ($6.27 million) – savings from the 2015 budget
Abad explained that the DOH can supplement funding for family planning commodities from within the line item of the FHRP in the 2016 budget. This explains the first P300 million.
I want to look into this some more, but Garin seems to have a different position.
http://www.popcom.gov.ph/about-us/popcom-logo/25-latest-news/410-garin-insists-no-funds-for-contraceptives-in-2016-budget
Wil share if I find out more on this. Thanks.
try to watch the youtube video I posted.
Legarda had visual aids,there is a presentation there,is it purely palusot?
ok Garin said Legarda lied. But what about Abad?
Abad is a pragmatist, a dapper kind of guy who gets the money to go where it does good works. I think before the term or this Admin is up, I’m going to write a blog thanking Abad and Abaya.
*******
IMO Abad was offering a solution to the problem… as created by Sotto and Legarda and as outed by Garin.
*****
Thanks for the link, Karl. The interview was conducted Jan 18 right? If Legarda’s explanations were satisfactory, then that would have been the end of it in so far as her colleagues in the senate are concerned. But Rappler still published a report 3 days after where at least 3 senators were still quoted as either being caught by surprise at finding out about the cut, or finding the cut unnecessary, and of being wary of the whole process employed in reviewing the budget. This story is far from over from the looks of it.
http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/119493-reproductive-health-budget-cut-lawmaking
While listening to Legarda’s explanation, I was intrigued as to why they had to channel the rh funds to other items like medical assistance to indigents, state universities’ funding etc. Were the budgets for these items insufficient or non-existent? What was the basis for deciding to fund these items and not any other? Who lobbied to get them funded?
Back to my assertion that Bi-cameral conferences should not be closed door.
ps There are nonsurprises among them.Only us ordinary mortals get the short end of the stick.
Pia,MDs,Guingona-All surprised???? Tell that to the Marines!
it was really a one on one after all.
this young man is correct.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/207641/news/nation/solon-budget-deliberations-should-be-open-to-the-public
This may help.
Due to line item budgeting.Garin says,she can not use,what’s intended for other items.
“DAVAO CITY – Malacañang said the Department of Health has funds for its family planning program despite the removal of P1 billion from its budget for the purchase of contraceptives.
Communication Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr cited an explanation from Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and said the proposed amount for the family planning program under the 2016 National Expenditure Program was P3,137,872,000.
This amount, he said, is under the women’s and men’s health development component of the department’s Family Health and Responsible Parenting.
“In the 2016 General Appropriations Act (GAA), the amount was reduced to P2,275,078,000. The decrease, amounting to P862,794,000, pertains to the procurement of the Implanon implant, which is a contraceptive. Senator (Vicente) Sotto had intimated during the Senate deliberations that he would move to delete the budget for the Implan on implant in view of the Supreme Court TRO to temporarily stop the distribution and selling of the said contraceptive,” Coloma said.
He said instead of the P3.137-billion budget for women’s and men’s health development component of the Family Health and Responsible Parenting, the Congress’ final version of the 2016 GAA allocated P2.275 billion for the program.
However, Health Secretary Janette Garin in news reports was quoted as saying that the budget for family planning which is intended to buy condoms, pills, and IUDs was removed.
Garin said they cannot use the budget intended for other items. (davaotoday.com)”
The perfect person for the song Banal na Aso.
The side of Legarda.
http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/v1/01/18/16/legarda-budget-for-contraceptives-available-despite-doh-cut
And the side of Sen. Sotto, who has threatened to sue Rappler and columnist Dr Sylvia Estrada Claudio for libel.
Rappler suggested the Senator write a rebuttal and they will publish it.
http://www.rappler.com/nation/121257-sotto-libel-threat-rappler-sylvia-claudio?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=referral&utm_medium=share_bar
As far as Cha’s article is concerned.I think it is fair enough not to earn his ire.
I hope our use of sotto copy wont push his buttons.
Has the Society ever been threatened with libel?
No, we have not, and my response would be pretty much what Rappler said. Before rushing off to court and pushing the legal advantage of the entitled like a legalistic bully, why not simply correct any incorrect facts, and offer an opinion to balance out any offending commentary. In the day of trolls and easy insults, it is weird for a senator to play the role of victim, when he has all the powers others do not.
Ok,thanks.
I am not a lawyer but I would think that Rappler and Dr. Claudio are easily defended using a book of writing styles. The use of the word “magnanakaw” was obviously not meant in a literal sense (there is that explanation again) . It’s like saying someone stole your heart away. No one can possibly do that, unless you have become an unwilling heart transplant donor. Anyway, remind me to never steal the senator’s thunder. He might have me arrested for robbery.
🙂 Yes. See my note to cocoholic.
The senator is obviously not familiar with the use of figures of speech in writing. Let’s not forget he doesn’t write his own speeches. He just “copies” from others.
You are right again Cha!
http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/121440-dear-senator-sotto-rh-law
Thanks for sharing, Karl. I’m glad that Tito Sotto finally metaphor in Dr. Claudio. Hehe.
*******
1. I smiled at the first sentence and guffawed at the second.
2. But this is a serious matter with a host of sub-issues – reproductive health, sex education, contraception, abortion and over-birthing.
3. And I am sorry to say it, but the Roman Catholic Church is at the root of this problem. The religious faith that 80 – 86% of Filipinos belong to is antediluvian in her attitudes towards human reproduction.
3.1. Sotto and Legarda are just minions of the Church.
3.2. And this is a bit strange considering how positive and strong the patriarchal Church is in supporting the feminine aspects of the human psyche.
4. That many of the faithful have not adhered to the teachings of the Church in this matter is cause for hope. The passage of the RH Bill was a significant milestone – the first milestone, I would say — in lessening the grip of the Church on Filipino culture. But much remains to be done.
5. There is a huge disconnect between the teachings of the Church as a moral authority as against the behavior of her flock. This split-level Christianity was outlined by Fr. Bulatao half a century ago. The split runs across the clergy itself.
5.1. Is it any wonder that, as a result, the electorate is blind to the moral failings of politicians such as Binay and Sotto, both of whom lead their respective categories?
*****
I was just thinking about that “Catholic” part. I wonder what the reaction would be if we had two Muslim senators who took it upon themselves to strip funding from laws they found troublesome to their religion. Is that a fair and reasonable bias, as some come to the senate favoring businessmen or leftists? Or does the RH law have “secular” written all over it, and they should get outside themselves and realize that the Nation has spoken, and they ought to respect that?
*******
1. Fairness: that’s a very profound question. Together with freedom and justice, fairness is the third element of Rawlsian concern.
2. The dictionary meaning is “free from favoritism, self-interest, bias, deception or injustice.”
3. From that definition, laws that favor businessmen or leftists would not be fair. This would leave society in a quandary, at an impasse… because almost any law would be in favor of a subgroup.
4. The utilitarian yardstick is most often applied to overcome the impasse: “the greatest good for the greatest number.” But this is unfair because it is unjust for the lesser number. This is a win-lose scenario.
5. The Pareto efficiency might be fairer: “a state of allocation of resources in which it is impossible to make any one individual better off without making at least one individual worse off.” But this win-win or win-no lose scenario is hard to achieve. Nevertheless, a law that favors businessmen or leftists may be Pareto efficient.
6. Note that the Church position does not at all consider the foundational issue of fairness. The Church’s position is deontological: reproductive health, sex education, artificial contraception, and abortion are sinful. That the sin of abortion might follow from the absence of sex education and artificial contraception does not enter into their equation. And over-birthing and the consequent lack of equality in opportunity is not seen in terms of fairness. According to her strict interpretation, the Church is merely practicing received wisdom.
7. The Church will never change its position, for that would be to admit fallacy and invite its own destruction.
8. Therefore, it is up to followers to mediate the path of faith with the path of humaneness that considers the whole of society rather than just one part of it. Politicians, like Sotto and Legarda, should see and act from the wider lens of what is the “common good” — after all they were voted to serve the country — rather than from the narrow lens of religious belief.
8.1. They must, if they can, act according to the better angels of their nature.
8.2. But, as it has been suggested here, Sotto does not have an angelic aspect. He is neither man nor woman. What he is, I leave to the reader.
*****
I shall undertake a Karlistic role here… I have just googled Rawls…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rawls#Philosophical_thought
I thought you knew everything.😉
Edgar is wise like the Buddha. I look almost like one.
But do not make the mistake of idolizing any of us.
I wasn’t idolizing you that time,I was just surprised that it was the first time you used google.🙄
First time I admitted it.
🙂
I think I’m going to write a play starring the Philippine senate. The people there are caricatures, all, even the good guys, over-stuffed with dynastic entitlement, popular accolades and their own egos. They enjoy listening to themselves more than anyone else.
Bam Aquino looks like a geek lost among bozos.
Drilon has a bit of a sad look in his eyes at times. Who knows, he might retire to take care of some wild animals in Manila zoo as a tamer – in order to have a quiet life.
Bravo Edgar, profound erudition..
In all fields of live the church preaches “the lesser evil”, only when it comes to their obsession, sex, this “lesser evil” principle is thrown overboard. This results in the Philippines one of the countries with the highest abortion rates (except for East-Europe where for generations abortion was seen as a family planning tool, also with a belief that the “soul” does not unite with a clump of cells but only later in the pregnancy when all human organs/treats are recognizable human)
Soto should talk more with women who have had an abortion (and not only in his own circle where women do have all medical and psychological support.) While he is in the slumps he might also talk with women having an unwanted pregnancy, not about the economic consequences but about the guild, the feeling of failure to be a caring mother. Abstention? Even when (most?) priests with a Devine call can’t? Luckily masturbation or pedophilia doesn’t make them pregnant.
Christainity is dominated by a morass of contradictions on this area..Eg Sex is evil ( !! ) Contraception is evil; babies are all cursed by ‘original sin’; priests who have sex with children ( pedaphiles ) are not sinners.
It’s all utter ignorant bull dating from the celebate orders of monks of medieval Europe.
I read somewhere that celibacy in Christianity started with Greek influence. Now we know how the Greeks can be sometimes since Socrates and all those Greek vases with copulating men.
Bill & Irineo, in the interest of a brief clarification on your observations on celibacy, allow me to point you to this link. I use this for my own serious reflection on the subject in addition to other materials. I hope you find it useful.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03481a.htm
I scrutinize Catholicism regarding the other subjects: “sex is evil … contraception is evil … babies and original sin … priests and pedophilia” as part of being a Catholic who is as well-informed as possible. I will share sources within the protocols of Joe’s blog
Thank you sonny… that source is truly profound. Interesting also in that it mentions the Old Catholics – the traditionalist movement that split from Catholicism here in Germany.
Protestants of course see it differently – a priest is expected to be a father of a family, in order to be able to know what he is talking about. Catholics see the sacrifice of worldliness as a requirement to be able to tend to their flock as a family. Is Noynoy’s family the Philippines?
If the Constitution of Christianity is the Bible, its theologists are like Supreme Court Justices.
Hah, I wonder what the reaction would be if we actually had two Muslim senators in the Philippines. 🙂
I believe we’ve seen some before… Rasul, I think. But then anyone from the south running for Senate is assumed to have a very large war chest full of tribute and booty.
Adel Tamano tried,but failed,he thought he was popular being the spokesman of the opposition.?His father was senator of the Nationalista Party so later he joined Villar.
In the LP senatorial slate,there is one their I have never heard of,she might be Muslim.
We know the Tamanos quite well. My brother and Adel were classmates at JASMS. Their father was Senator Mamintal Tamano, his late son Datu Macapanton and kuya of Adel was my batchmate at Pisay. Some of them studied in Saudi. University of Petroleum and Minerals.
As for Senator Santanina Rasul, she once held a famous speech at UP. My father was Dean of CSSP then. She said “binabati ko ang Dekano, binabati ko ang mga estudyante”. Except she said it with the typical Moro accent on the last syllable – she wears a headscarf mostly…
For those who are not flowent in Tagalog, bati means greet when accented on the first syllable. When accented on the last syllable it means wank. My brother told me about how all my father’s students laughed when back at our old home at 65 Gomburza Street, Area I, UP – including the corresponding gestures of wanking. I wonder how they all managed to keep straight faces at the ceremony. Well, this article is about Sotto, so I can’t stay serious.
Adel went to La Salle GreenHills for high school.He is my batch mate.(1988)
The coffee just went out of my nose! Snort! At first,I thought,it was just an ordinary salutation and greetings,not knowing it was a hand job speech.
Another way to put it is she is putting them inside an egg beater.
*******
From Wikipedia:
1. The antediluvian (alternatively pre-diluvian or pre-Flood or even tertiary) period—meaning “before the deluge”—is the period referred to in the Bible between the Fall of man and the Deluge (flood) in the biblical cosmology.
2. The adjective antediluvian is sometimes used figuratively to refer to anything that is of great age or outmoded. H. P. Lovecraft was particularly fond of the term, using it frequently in his horror stories.” [Bolding mine.]
*****
panahon pa ni Mahoma, kopong kopong
alam ko si Mahoma si Mohhamed sino naman si kopong kopong?
Kuya kim answered me on my google search.
1900 is 19 kopong kopong
This is link says that the great flood is at around 2304 BC
http://creation.com/the-date-of-noahs-flood
to make that in kopong kopong terms,you simply round it off to the nearest thousand.In kopong kopong terms the great deluge was in 2300 BC.
It is Muhhamad not Mohhamed.
For sure there were more senator ”wife’s” as by Sharia allowed……..need even more kickback for maintenance… 🙂
I am a catholic. I am for RH. And I agree with your observation.
Many thanks for the essay, Cha.
I am glad you approve.
antediluvian… there are some Filipino terms for that…
“Before the prewar” means from the time of Quezon and the Americans…
“Panahon ni Mahoma” means LONG ago… Muslim times in Manila, Mahoma = Mohammed.
“Antediluvian” is actually a poor term here…The bible talks of a flood a millennium or so BCE..The Catholic churches attitudes on sex, contraception, reproductive health etc all date from the time of the dark ages 500 CE..So they are a recent invention..I susepct the peoples around the Middle East 3 millenniums ago had far more enlightened ideas.
Many of those burnt as witches by the church in the Germanic regions allegedly had knowledge of herbal and folk medicine related to contraception and abortion.
Witch and wisdom have the same root word as wit… therefore Karl is wise as well.
Who are you calling witch?
Which is witch? You have wit.
Which craft do I practice?
I have a http://filipinogerman.blogsport.eu/revolution-in-mind/… but somewhat different.
Forty-three percent of our population belong to the 23-year-old or so age bracket. We have a GDP that’s the envy of the rest of Asia except for China. Our economic engine runs on the fuel of millenials, some are endo to be sure, but some are well-employed, well-educated, funded by parents who scratched to as near the portals of hell to get their children to as near heaven as possible. There you have it. Children. If we ran out of children, guess where our economy will go. But no matter. Law is law. The condoms should have been funded. We will reap the whirlwind if we are wrong in controlling population growth. And please don’t blame the church. The church can only suggest. If government caves, it’s because it lacks conviction.
There should be more conviction – for example of Senators in jail. Faster conviction.
Wil — sorry to deflate a bit. Philippines GDP is not great. What you are referring to is only the growth rate.
It’s ok, chempo. I’m teachable. Thanks.
3. Antedeluvian, yes. And just clueless on the intricacies and dynamics of a relationship between a man and a woman.
5.1. The bishops have themselves turned a blind eye on the moral failings of those two. And so many many more. Just so long as they stand against contraception and divorce. Like Andrew Lim would say, di bale ng kurap basta sunod-sunuran sa bishop – or something to that effect.
What pisses me off most is that everytime he runs for public office he keeps winning.
He already lost once. (After the Estrada imbroglio aka jueteng-gate). He can lose again, If we can make his core voters realise how he is working against them. I believe most of those voting for him are actually among the beneficiaries of the RH budget.
Again like the Villar insertions in the C5 ecxtension anomaly,the budget cuts happened during the Bicam conference.
I don’t care if I sound like a broken record.
The bicam must not be a secret club meeting.
We only read about what happens there if there is a supreme court suit.
Judges wear robes over their suits in the Supreme Court…
As for broken record – ituloy natin ang DAANG MAKULIT!
http://filipinogerman.blogsport.eu/papel-ng-taongbayan/
Hear! hear!
His Eat Bulaga colleague Wally Bayola is not a woman either…
But sometimes pretends to be one:
Now the Spanish already mentioned that the priesthood in the Philippines was usually held by women, the so-called babaylanes – the root of that word is of course babae or woman. But they also noted that it was also held by “men who dressed and acted like women” – like Lola Nidora.
Bayola knows his limits – he is like Sotto a great comedian, I like Eat Bulaga and I like both as funny men. I like Pacquiao as a boxer and as a philanthrophist. More serious stuff later on…
Impunity-As early as the 80s
Tito Sotto -Pepsi Paloma.
Somebody here mentioned the “crimino-showbiz” elite…
http://www.metrolyrics.com/spolarium-lyrics-eraserheads.html
The song “Spolarium” by the Eraserheads is allegedly about Pepsi…
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/99861/the-rape-of-pepsi-paloma
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/100369/was-pepsi-paloma-murdered
In exchange for the dismissal of the rape charges, Joey De Leon, Vic Sotto and Richie D’Horsie issued a public apology to Pepsi Paloma which was published in the People’s Journal on October13. 1982:
“We hope that you will not allow the error we have committed against you to stand as a stumbling block to that future which we all look forward to. We therefore ask you to find it in your heart to pardon us for the wrong which we have done against you.”
In the Philippines, people do not commit crimes, they only commit “errors”. It was simply an “error” for Joey, Vic and Richie to drug a 14-year old minor and then gang rape her.
If this “error” had occurred in the US, the perpetrators would have been charged and sentenced to the maximum allowed by law and that wouldn’t even be their worst fate. While in prison, they would likely be “gang raped” or even killed by convicts who rate child molesters and child rapists the lowest of the low, the most depraved of the depraved. If they somehow managed to survive their incarceration, they would be required to register as “sex offenders” in every place they move to for the rest of their sorry lives.
Would Tito Sotto have enjoyed his political success and Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon their commercial success if Pepsi Paloma had still been alive to serve as a constant reminder to the public about her gang rape when she was just 14? Who knows?
One fan of Tito, Vic and Joey even used the name “Jim Paredes” to defend his idols. The real Jim Paredes immediately posted on his Facebook page that an impostor had maliciously used his name to express a sentiment he did not share. The real Jim Paredes wrote: “I also wish to say that like many people, I believe Pepsi Paloma did not get justice.”
There was no social media and no free press in the Philippines in 1982 when a 14 year old minor was gang raped nor in 1985 when a 17 year old girl with a 4 month old adopted son committed “suicide”. There is no excuse for silence now, for perpetuating the culture of impunity.
Justice for Pepsi Paloma.
Read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/100369/was-pepsi-paloma-murdered#ixzz3zSAgnNS3
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Knowing this now, I close my “amusement” of Tito, Vic & Joey. Thank you, Mary Grace.
You’re welcome, sonny.
We have a choice not to watch them on Eat Bulaga. But the tragedy of it is that one of the 3 emcees, who was already in the Senate that time, allegedly helped in denying justice to the hapless 14-year old. He is now leading in the surveys again, and together with his brother and the other emcee, are raking in millions in TV and personal ads right now.
Things could have been different if justice had its way.
Up to my emigration, Dolphy & Panchito was THE Filipino comedy. Dolphy was popular long after I left to the point that he could be elected president of the country. When asked about this, Dolphy answered: “pwede ngang totoo ‘yan. E, kung mangyari man, anong susunod?” Closing my eyes to his private life, Dolphy’s answer is what I remember him by.
Another version I heard was ang tanong ni Dolphy,paano kung manalo ako?
Nephew, your version is way way better. 🙂
Not surprised that Atty Sison would be up in his daily pulpit as usual, pontificating as to why yet again contraceptives are a form of heresy, and I’m sure he approves of Sotto curb-stomping down the RH Bill.
Never liked Sotto. He should’ve stayed in showbiz, his brains and skills are better there so that he could make more money for Siete, but chose to extend the Siete drama out into politics, mocking the law-making process, thus an insult to injury and intelligence. Too easy to mock the people who voted him into power, too… Because he is a star (bling-bling-bling).
I don’t read Atty. Sison. Well, I did once or twice before and all I can remember is that I found his ideas and pontification repulsive. I feel the same way about Sotto.
Sometimes I watch “Ipag laban mo”
Sisons change.
Weder-weder lang iyan.
Me either. Because of his single-minded Inquisitional obsession about life in the womb, I tear off that section of the Star and burn it.
Used to be that populous nations had an advantage… but that was the olden days.
The Jews who invented monogamy were able to survive as refugees (Babylon) and slaves (Egypt) by virtue of their high fertility. Monogamy is so that fathers take care of their families to make them successful – but this is not the reality in Philippine slums. Men make women babies and then leave for a younger woman so very often, so the children grow up without the important guidance and support – also economic – of a father. Catholic Will having four daughters is another thing, because he made sure that they all become successful and has worked a lot for his family.
Now if the Church wants people to make children to increase the flock, it should also condemn irresponsible fathers who leave their families in the slums or elsewhere. It is inhuman otherwise.
OR the laws should force fathers to pay child support for the kids they make – not really practicable in the slums though, because you can’t squeeze water out of a stone – German saying.
RH law and 4Ps are two sides of the same coin – trying to get the poverty issue under control.
Cha, thanks for the article. Susan BTW is an old friend of my mother’s in the Philippines.
Her husband Prof. Evangelista – UP history – was ABCed together with my father – ABC means Aguinaldo, Bonifacio, Crame – ABC also meant Marcos’ detention of academics.
My mother and Susan both taught at Ateneo. Both families went swimming at Ateneo pool every Sunday. Amy was born quite late, I know the other two kids Sara and Alex better.
i think they (Susan and Amina) are both extraordinary women. I have been keeping tabs of their NGO’s (Roots of Health) undertakings in Palawan. There are many more like them, men and women, who work and contribute, often silently and without fanfare, towards helping improve the lives of the underprivileged. I wanted to highlight their efforts in this piece and will do more in future writings. They are the good Filipinos that not only deserve our support, they should also be emulated and their efforts replicated across the country. The whingers have got absolutely nothing on women like Susan and Amina.
> OR the laws should force fathers to pay child support
I added Honasan to the list of politicians who, in addition to being homophobic, are standing by an outdated set of morals, especially as far as dealing with erratic abusive spouses who are impossible to rehabilitate (by dint of psychological incapability) and ties should be cut out with divorce.
Men making women babies and then taking up with another one happens among the poor as well as the rich. Except perhaps the rich just stay and carry on, often with tacit approval from the wife. Think Erap Estrada and his merry band of fellow philanderers in showbusiness, politics and business circles. I don’t understand this about Filipino culture and even more so about the Catholic church. They are all worked up about what husbands and wives do or don’t do in the privacy of their bedrooms but are happy to party on, even officiate at masses for various queridas and sugar daddies that practically flaunt their immorality before the knowing eyes of the public and the priests and bishops. Que horror!
During the time the Church formulated its rules on having to have kids, many children died before reaching the age of majority. Even in well to do families, epidemics wiped away so many of the children – even in 18th and 19th century Europe they were still very common.
So things balanced out then, nowadays their ideas are totally outdated and out of context – they have been superseded by science and rationality inspite of the Jesuit “think tank”.
It is unfortunate, the persistent remnant of this country’s colonial past, when it was typical of a wealthy man to keep a wife, but also have a mistress somewhere across the province. In his circle he would be seen as a sure cocksman, and since it was common for children to die young because of disease and life expectancy was then short, not surprisingly Filipino families in the 19th and early 20th centuries were very large.
The old local action movies also perpetuate this further, with heroes who would go home after beating up the bad guys, find himself in argument with the worn-out housewife, then leaves with only a few words, drives across town to meet up with the sultry mistress who is the behavioral opposite of the wife.
And this “crimino-showbiz” elite perpetuate this dumbing-down of society, while furthering the wealth gap, promoting corruption and political dynasties, and accepting bribes on the side. It is of no surprise that some voters are hungry and desperate to choose an unpredictable demagogue of a devil supposedly to strike terror upon this elite and their clerical supporters and wipe them off, even if it means the loss of civil liberties.
This acceptance of marital infidelity in our culture is probably but an indication of an immature view and attitude towards relationships (among other things). Our culture and traditions tend to pamper and over-indulge the child and so many actually age in years but never or at least ever so slowly it seems in terms of outlook.
you may accept what happened,but what happens next is also up to you if you forgive and forget,cut off communications,demand child support.
There are many broken families,because they accepted what happened,but not necessarily forgiven and forgotten.
annulment takes around 300 k so others who can’t afford that just go separate ways.
Spoiling the child also depends on the segment ot social strata.My dad was not that rich,he had to be a houseboy to rich uncles,work his way to college and to the PMA.
Me I am spolied.
What do you expect from Sottocopy?
Pepsi Paloma was a woman, and she was raped, and maybe worse. Initially the underage actress filed rape charges against Sotto’s younger brother Vic Sotto and Joey and Richie D’Horsey of East Bulaga, after she asked help from Juan Ponce Enrile (yes, the same Senator Enrile patting Sotto in the photo) and was referred by him to Atty. Rene Cayetano, father of two other current senators, Alan Cayetano and Pia Cayetano. Rape charges were filed, then suddenly dropped by Paloma. Reportedly after Senator Sotto and she spoke. The three accused supposedly apologized to her on live TV. Three years later, she was found dead. Read about it in the PDI article posted by Karl.
Among all the possible causes and issues in the world to take up, why would anyone fixate on suppressing the rights of women to their bodies and to reproductive health? What type of person would that be? I’d say, someone working out of some very dark, primitive urge to control not just women, but life and death.
Worse was… she was around 14-15 at the time, a time when sleazy filmmakers were cashing in on the local soft porn business, Marcos was looking the other way around, and never bothered to check ages, questionable talent managers passing them off as 18 as long as they look porcelain-skin tisay.
I don’t think Sotto even has any deep-seated convictions on the matter actually. He was supposedly crying (in the photo above) over the death of a son that he didn’t want to have in the first place. So why were they ueing contraception???
I think the motivation is mostly political. The bishops still have some sort of influence on the Catholic flock and could throw a couple of votes his way come election time. The budget cut may have also been out of spite.
We can’t even call him a bigot as that would somehow suggest he has opinions of his own. What he has is an agenda.
“We can’t even call him a bigot”.
He is bigoted. Meron siyang bigote.
Yes we have to stop him.
But first let me say amen to everything you said. 🙂
Cha.. a well written and great post !!
I was indoctrinated by Catholics as a child & teenager.I spat it all out finally when when Paul VI published his encyclical ” Humanae Vitae ” in 1968 announcing that contraception is a sin.Utter bloody bulldust. That man did not deserve to be called ” a man of God”. Hundreds of millions of RC’s gave cathoiicism the flick after that encyclical. But it seems not in the Philippines.And it is the poor of the Phillipines who have suffered as a result..
I wonder how this would translate in Tagalog in the election ” Don’t vote for Fuckwits. You will only get fucked”
I am still a Catholic. I find the Catholic church in Australia so much kess vocal against contraception. At the moment it seems mostly preoccupied with the anti same-sex martiage lobby. it’s interestng how the Catholic churches in the Philippines, Australia and the U.S. Are all mobilizing against matters involving sexual relations and that they in turn are being investigated for some supposed sexual indiscretions. When do we all get to just pray I wonder.
Cha, thanks for walking us through this particular issue. But I have to react to “when do we all get to just pray.” We can pray anywhere, any time. Issues of life and death have to take a back seat when our spirit is all worn out and we need to push the refresh button. Prayer is an infinite resource open to all who needs strength.
The statement wasn’t meant to be taken literally. But I appreciate your pointing out that prayer is an infinite resource open to all. I agree.
I read it to say, when are we going to stop obsessing over social and political issues and work on the spiritual well being and guidance of the flock? I think it is an important point. The flock is misbehaving in very gross ways and the shepherds are worried about what the heathens are doing to try to make life a little more kind.
I know, Cha and Joe, that it was a rhetorical question, on the side of hyperbole. But I just had to put that in. Prayer is the final refuge which is available to all, regardless of religion or issues at hand. Let no one think that it is subject to ambient sound, dictation, leadership, politics or anything consequential to intelligence.
Ah yes. Thanks for the paraphrase, Joe. That’s much clearer now.
Will, I hear you.
Filipino pasosyal unbelivers do not pray ,when you hear them shouting, Diyos Ko Lord! They would deny it, and they will spell out, Juice Colored!
Do they become Orange Jews?
Cha there are reasons why the Catholic Church here is much less vocal. This was explained to me some years ago by still practising catholic woman.
Up until the late 1960’s virtually all catholics here went to mass every Sunday and feast day…For fear of mortal sin. They also ate fish on Fridays not meat ( again a mortal sin !) And a high percentage went to confession every week…The churches were full with 4-5 masses every Sunday and Saturday evening.The priests had real standing and often suggested how the flock should vote in elections
Then in the late 1960’s this changed completely.Within a decade mass attendance collapsed. Confession attendance dropped to just a few old women. The big churches were empty all the time…
What changed ? Well by the late 1960’s & 1970’s there was a large educated middle class catholic population in Australia ( Ie laymen & lay women ) These folk knew from personal experience how damned hard it is to to have large families and to also educate children well and provide for them well..How hard it is to buy your own home when there are 6, 7, 8 kids in the family.. Contraception became standard, the norm in all Australian families and Catholic ones were no exceptions.
‘Humanae Vitae’ was crucial. It showed that the pope himself with no real experience of raising a family (or sex come to that ) was still attempting to tell people how to live their lives in the bedroom…The local priests & bishops also followed the party line…And they were simply ignored, ignored, ignored and ignored..And people left; did not go to mass; did not go to confession. Young people stopped wanting to be priests or nuns. The seminaries were empty. Church attendance dropped to 15% of the nominal Catholic population as measured by the national census.
The message of these ex practising Catholics was simple : get out of our bed rooms. or get out of our lives.
And since then the catholic hierarchy has been very quiet on sex, sex education contraception even abortion…They want to preserve the small flock that still remains .So the big issue is never discussed.. And there are few large Catholic families.
The issue of sexual predation by celibate Catholic clergy has now become a public issue being examined by a national commission. Priests, bishops,archbishops and even George Pell the former Cardinal of Sydney, are all being required to attend and answer questions about why they concealed this criminal activity by the clergy. They are being forced to recognize the secular legal power of the state over them.And being forced to apologise.
*******
It seems Cardinal Pell has adopted the Filipino tactic of claiming to be sick to avoid legal proceedings.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/royal-commission-george-pells-health-at-risk-if-he-travels-to-give-evidence-inquiry-hears-20160205-gmmhg2.html
*****
At CPM I keep reading, not only about oral and anal arguments, but about interpellation. Must have something to do with Pell. Letting out someone before Christmas is giving him a parol.
Is interpellation another form of intercourse?
Beware of all who wear robes.
Many perverts are among them.
He has offered to give evidence by Skype ! I was listening on the radio today his reported list of ill health complaints..As someone commented they are no more than what any normal man of his age and life style has..But then I imagine he has a letter from an approved Vatican doctor …We will see what eventuates. Even on skype he will be cross examined by the commission’s legal experts and by the lawyers for all the other parties represented at the hearings..Including lawyers representing sexually abused victims.
Bill, I remember Humanae Vitae and Pope Paul VI and the ’60s you speak of (1968+), very well. I was one of those waiting his approval to use ‘the pill’. I didn’t read Humanae Vitae when it came out and only found out it did not approve artificial contraception. As a Chemistry student I was hoping the technology would come out with a real-time “fertility detector.” The technology failed to do this. The “real-time” portion is still underdeveloped. It is under the form of NFP (Natural Family Planning). This is the only contraception the Cathlolic Church approves as morally defensible. Of course, there is always abstention.
I read Humanae Vitae recently. Finally. It is very short. It is prophetic and puts the Catholic Church squarely where it is now. Suffice to say I understand the situation of Cardinal Law and Cardinal Pell.
Humanae Vitae by Paul 6th marked the end of the change in the church unleashed by John 22nd and the Vatican II..The old fuddy duddy conservatives were back in charge…Or attempting to be…
But most of the flock decided to follow other shepherds to a prosperous life in the here & now instead of the promise of heaven after death….
That process happened in the USA, Swirzerland, Canada, Australia the UK, France Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and many other countries around the world. Most recently it finally happened in Ireland inn the 1990’s. But it has not happened in Central & most South American countries.It has not happened in PNG or Kenya, Tanzania or Nigeria.
The difference between the 2 groups is mass poverty in the latter..Which has been largely self perpetuating given their high birth rates.
It has not happened yet in the Philippines…But courtesy of increased international travel & trade, the OFW’s and the onshore data & telephony workers industry I think it is starting to happen. A broad based ‘aspiring’ group pf Philippinos wanting to be part of a prosperous informed class is emerging.
The influence & power of the church in the Philippines will I think start to contract in the coming 10-20 years…
The numbers:
http://americamagazine.org/issue/church-enjoys-fastest-growth-asia-africa
“But courtesy of increased international travel & trade, the OFW’s and the onshore data & telephony workers industry I think it is starting to happen. A broad based ‘aspiring’ group pf Philippinos wanting to be part of a prosperous informed class is emerging.”
https://joeam.com/2015/02/26/when-will-the-philippines-reach-a-tipping-point/ – this was my first article here… inspired by the discussion I saw on FB pages because I know a lot of people who have been abroad or are abroad, as migrants or as OFWs… Mamasapano was a catalyst…
many of the discussions, also triggered by the elections, are as yet partly informed and very emotional… but I have seen the same process happen among Romanians some years ago and the present results give confidence, they have picked up on their drive against corruption… much emotion there as well but they have caught up quickly on being informed… the drivers are the workers abroad (not overseas but mostly in Western Europe) and the BPO workers as well as those who travel to families abroad… and there is a certain pride that drives it also… A Romanian I know said before going back after years in Germany “we are tired of being seen as garbage everywhere else, time to do something about it, we have a new leader wait and see”. Forces like that need to be channeled correctly to keep them from becoming destructive…
PS.
In 1970, There was the failed attempt to kill Pope Paul VI in his Manila visit.
Pope Paul VI was declared Blessed (step before being declared Saint) in Oct, 2014 by Pope Francis. The blood-stained vestment from the 1970 assasination attempt was the first-class relic used in the beatification rites at the Vatican. Pope Paul VI is expected to be canonized.
Both comments are interesting Sonny..I did not know ( or have completely forgotten ) the assassination attempt in Manila in 1970…Probably more involved in falling in love with my gf to notice it..
The figures for the catholic population should always be taken with a grain of salt.. In Oz the church itself relies on national census figures..( every 5 years ) But the census does not distinguish between church going Catholics and non church going and those that the church calls lapsed Catholics.
I suspect that lapsed catholics get included in other countries. I a Swiss woman now living here in Oz. She was registered at birth as Catholic by her parents..Twenty five years later she had to go to a priest and get him to sign a paper saying she was not a Catholic..Switzerland has a church tax which is deducted from your salary..She wanted out and did not want to pay the tax. But had to get a priest to sign the paperwork. He was quite annoyed with her…..I think something similar happens in Austria & Germany
Not to worry, Bill. I keep as sharp an eye on statistics as best as my science background can. I would also caution regarding the stats that secular sources provide. Living here in the US, Catholics get it from all sides. The American main stream media has ‘removed’ Catholic numbers from its radar. In my opinion, Catholic culture is the proverbial baby in the bathwater.
Sonny, Pope Francis is the one responding to the challenge modern times pose.
But no matter what the moral rulings of the Church are, its guidelines for the faithful, it should not interfere in political processes like in the Philippines – render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.
by the way the catholic church population is increasing rapidly in the USA courtesy of all the millions of people from Latin America..Some legal migrants but mostly illegal without papers claiming to be refugees or more simply economic refugees escaping from poverty In Cuba, Mexico, Guatamala, El Salvador Venezuela etc. etc
Irineo, among other things Catholics are encouraged to think ‘both … and’ rather than the political ‘ either … or’ Pope Francis is the “Pontifex Maximus,” and we are the “pontifices” – bridge builders all.
Off Topic
TRIVIA: FORM OVER SUBSTANCE
Tonight before dinner, I did my one-hour walk in the village — not having done so in the daylight where I normally walk outside the village with no fixed route.
By the dim light, I noticed the stark contrast of the usual international standard of vehicle License Plates of black letters-numbers over white — in terms of legibility — compared to the immediate period where the letters-numbers were green over white with shades of green on the top and bottom edges and very light green in the middle portion, further decorated in the space between the letter and number portions with the silhouette of the Rizal Monument.
Now these green shades and the Rizal Monument on License Plates is a creativity of the Filipino in display. But when crime is committed and one has to quickly check the License Plate number, this creative touch defeats the purpose. To exaggerate, it seems like the plate number is an afterthought; the greenish shades and Rizal Monument creative touch is the substance.
I will stop here. Also, how this trivia is connected or associated, if any, with the Sotto blog or the Church — the latter, always a delicate or sensitive subject — which some Commenters touched, I leave our dear readers to consider or not.
(If you criticize me for this, I will say I am used to it. Some such observation irritates my wife too.)
This is something I have criticized as well in this article of mine: http://filipinogerman.blogsport.eu/about-philippine-priorities/ and this one: http://filipinogerman.blogsport.eu/der-sache-wegen/
Now my assessment of Daang Matuwid is that it is more on substance than Marcos’ Gagong Lipunan ever was… remember Lee Kuan Yew’s critique of Marcos that the communique was the main thing for him, the implementation secondary…
BUT in the spirit of Daang Makulit or constant improvement or the Kaizen approach to making the Philippines a better place the entire nation must concentrate more on substance… eat more Malunggay Pandesal for the mind and act even more decisively.
This is what I liked about Duterte, his decisiveness, until I found out that he puts too much emphasis on “porma” as well. Roxas is further than Duterte in being a true Japanese, his approach is very kaizen, Oplan Listo a direct consequence of the Yolanda mistakes…
As for Sotto, we may criticize Sharia in BBL which I do… but Sotto is Catholic Sharia… those who “know” me by my postings know I am Catholic, but highly skeptical about much. Sotto in Arab costume somehow fits, he is a Wahabite when it comes to reproductive health.
Thanks for bringing up your two blog-topic links, I missed reading them before. They do relate to the form versus substance concept.
Welcome… kinakailangan ng konting epal paminsan-minsan… para sa Daang Makulit.
Re license plates: I read that the new license plates have European 0s and 4s… good. They are optimized for recognizability. Speeding cameras as well as eyewitnesses should be able to get a good picture to catch both criminals and traffic offenders. License plates in Europe are normed best practice – the Turks also use similar license plates. Now one may criticize Erdogan – I will not I have ongoing business there – but their technocrats and their civil service both know what they are doing. And for all the sometimes obnoxious nature of Turkish nationalism, it has its healthy aspects. Like I mentioned even the allmighty McDonalds bows to it, and makes a wholesome Turkish McDonalds breakfast.
On how your anecdote connects with this piece – i see the stylized License plates as another demonstration of how money gives those who have them more options to choose from. Have money, buy the best looking license plate you can afford. Have none, get the biggest family you can’t afford.
😊
This dyad of form and substance is so bountiful in human thought. This pair is one of those inescapable logical constructs especially its centrality in Catholic philosophy and theology, viz matter and form in the sacramental life. I hope I don’t irritate anybody for bringing this up and relating it to minimum value in plate number design. 🙂 (My wife rolls up her eyes when I talk this way, NH)
Must read…
Thanks for a good read Cha. Unique approach to writing about RH.
As to who is woman or man I’m afraid I can’t contribute much. I’m puzzled as to why there are so many Filipinos whose gender is confusing. My brain tells me it’s got something to do with the high chlorine contents in the water.
Maybe the anti-RH lawmakers are trying not to waste funds having learnt from the African experience. When condoms were first introduced there, the village folks played with it as they would balloons.
On a serious note, I’m watching with great interest how Philippines, as a catholic country, will resolve RH issues. Will economics and pragmatism triumph eventually? Is the here and now more important than the afterlife.
“I’m puzzled as to why there are so many Filipinos whose gender is confusing.”
Sara Duterte is NOT a man… BTW Filipino is gender-neutral in its grammar.
Ultra perceptive, chempo! More so coming from a non-Catholic. I’m trying to get my frames of reference right so that I can map the Catholicism I know to that being discussed here. All I see for now are point-intersections. I suspect I have the problem.
For now, I have to keep track of the meaning of “Reproductive Health.”
off-topic: after Stihl in Batangas, Continental in Laguna:
http://philippinen.ahk.de/single-news/artikel/continental-starts-production-of-advanced-driver-assistance-systems-in-ph/?cHash=1b9de1a870e072c9b5c3d35c8b5f2892
didn’t know STEAG (power generation) was in the Philippines already: http://www.steagstatepower.com/index.php/about-us/company-profile
We have the STEAG in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental. But of course, there were a lot of those against it, out of environmental issues from the informed or non-informed, alike.
I am sure Legarda is among those informed or uninformed alike.
STEAG has pretty good filtering technology.
In Germany STEAG also burns a lot of garbage.
existing coal plants here do give residents nearby, upper respiratory ailments,sote eyes,etc
What does Legarda plan to all those existing dumps and landfills.Zero waste is good only if there is zero waste to begin with.
Now there is this peace of legislation promoting green jobs,like encouraging those who work in agriculture and renewable energy.another nice to have.
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“Zero waste is good only if there is zero waste to begin with.
There is something zen about this statement. It could have come from Yogi.
*****
links for coal plants
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/697333/legarda-slams-coal-plant-projects
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/02/04/1549528/greenpeace-coal-plant-emissions-may-kill-2400-pinoys
As to the jobs for the green minded.
http://www.philstar.com/business/2016/02/05/1549682/green-jobs-act-awaits-p-noy-signature
“Zero Waste is a philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. No trash is sent to landfills and incinerators. The process recommended is one similar to the way that resources are reused in nature.”
@Edgar, it is a philosophy that I turned into pilosopy.
I think it is gargantuan and herculean.But if everyone repurposes and reuse,sooner or later they have to throw them.
I hope they test it on the dogs. I’ve run over and killed two, and one ran into my car. I don’t know his condition. My wife crashed her motorcycle after hitting one. There are more motorcycle-rider deaths in the Philippines, caused by dogs, than SAF deaths, I assure you.
That could be the reason why “Conti” is setting up shop in the Philippines.
They might want to test their stray dog detectors. Romania doesn’t have that many strays left.
Here, Conti’s is a restaurant.
http://www.continental-automotive.com/www/automotive_de_en/themes/agriculture/
http://www.continental-automotive.com/www/automotive_de_en/themes/marine_solutions/
Agriculture and marine stuff that they offer might be interesting areas for the Philippines.
But then again, experience always shows that the Philippines is not that easy to work with.
Hard enough for Filipinos to find ways to work together, how much more with outside partners?
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/761711/vp-binay-taps-puno-as-campaign-adviser
This is a Beware the Binay Beast break intelude from your Catholiccs in crisis convention. Is anyone noticing how Binay is not coasting on his lead and has been making huge changes in his campaign strategy. With Poe virtually out of the running, he recruits a seasoned and winning campaign advisor to his camp. It’s not a coincidence that his strategy has been keeping his anti-Poe attack dogs on a very tight leash and letting Roxas’ party and their supporters take the blame for knocking out his most serious adversary in the presidential race.
Meanhile, the hapless Mar seems paralyzed and inspite of his flailing campaign prospects has made no dramatic changes in his organization and strategy except to fixate on Duterte and perhaps, behind the scenes, Poe. First rule of war, know your friends…and even more importantly, know your enemies. Cha, I love the Sotto piece which is also about Catholicism gone crazy. Bt where oh where are the anti- Binay blog articles??
There’s a upcoming piece titled “Eight Reasons to Vote for Binay” from Edgar. I’m guessing this would not actually be favorable to the subject. May I suggest you also write an anti-Binay piece? I think you’ll be able to offer up some pretty strong and convincing arguments for not electing the man president.
Cha, I wish I had the time but my inbox stack is brushing against the ceiling right now. I am hoping to return to a better Philippines someday but perhaps not to a Binay presidential dynasty. Maybe all that effort and energy channeled against Poe can be redirected in Binay’s direction as only a near miracle can save her candidacy.
Through my vast network of contacts, covering the Philippines like a spider web, each node a listening post, I was given some insight into the backroom work of the Roxas camp. It is very plugged in and scientific. If Poe looks left, they know about it. If Duterte blinks, they are aware. I think what you have trouble with . . . as do many Roxas supporters . . . are his values. He believes in hard work and speaking forthrightly and not playing political games. He would rather lose than compromise his principles. If the electorate is too emotionalized and politicized to grasp that, then they should consider themselves as falling short. Not Roxas.
Joe, the surveys are good indicators of how the candidates and their campaigns are faring. Whatever resources, capabilties or intel info Roxas’ campaign has deployed, those indicators signal it hasnt, currently isnt,,and unfortunately wont be successful unless a dramatic revamp takes place. Or Binay self destructs. Wait and see cannot be a viable strategy.
He’s gone from 4% to 20%. Robredo from 0% to near lead. The campaign season has not started.
Mar,s biggest boost propelling him from single digits came mainly from his anointment as Pinoy’s and his party’s pick. Since then he been bouncing from the teens and low twenties inspite of being the leading ad spender and rebranding his image to the masa. The campaign has had no traction with the massive masa vote and unless he can start taking huge chunks of that vote from Binay, Poe, and the flailing popularity of Duterte, there is not much hope. To say that the official campaign is just ignoring the fact that unofficially billions of pesos in ads promoting the presidetial candidates have lready been aired and at the local level the party troops have been given marching orders. All I am saying is for Roxas to be a contender, it cannot be more of the same strategy or it will be same second or third place result.
And if an honorable, dignified campaign does not resonate with Philippine voters, and they elect Binay, it’s a choice. No need to beat up on Roxas for doing it some way other than how you or I might do it. He is a respectable person and I personally see no need to contribute a negative view to a candid, earnest candidate. I’m looking forward to the debates, as they will display the candidates in natural form. Presuming they show up. Roxas will be there, I’m quite confident.
If that does not resonate with Philippine voters, it’s a choice.
By the way Joe, Roxas, Poe, Duterte and Binay are slated for a debate on February 21, 2016, right here in Cagayan de Oro City. The academe where I belong are abuzz on it.
I hope you can attend and give us a “man on the street” review.
Barring any any life-threatening circumstances, I will be there and feedback to the society.
Joe, Its not a choice between sacrificing integrity or trying to win the election, its about running a smart campaign. That means being aware of problems and making course corrections if necessary to achieve good if not winning results. In 2010, Binay won not by a sudden surge but by gradually and steadily gaining on Roxas’ lead which he should have noticed and responded to, but he did not. His campaign advisers would be derelict in their duties if they failed to advise him of bad news or the need to change strategy and 2016 is no different. Roxas needs yesmen less and clearsighted advisors more who can steer him in the right direction.
I have long concluded that national politics in the Philippines is ruled a by a great mass of unsophisticated voters who care less about character,competence and qualifications but other traits and attributes which those who claim to be more enlightened dismiss as shallow and sefish. Not that the masa do not end up electing presidents who are honest and competent, Magsaysay and Benigno Aquino readily come to mind. This is just the reality of Philippine elections and its not going to change significantly any time soon. If this reality does not resonate with Roxas or his campaign managers, its really his choice. Unfortunately, its not his him losing but Binay winning which is catastrophic for the country.
Sorry you are so pessimistic about the Philippines. I don’t share the pessimism.
You can put labels such as pessimist or optimist on either of us but what matters is if my are descriptive of what is going on whether we like it or not. Things are as they are, it is what its…etc, so I would prefer being described as a realist unless you can give more convincing alternative viewpoint that is based on reality and not just widhful thinking.
My reality has a projected timeline in it, yours a historical timeline. I don’t seek to convince you of anything, just to express my own views. The electorate decides the winners and losers, the final reality as it were.
This last we are both agreed on! Salut
Salut, and a tip o’ the bowl of popcorn.
I would love to see Joe debate with Roxas,Poe,Duterte and Binay in CdO. Just kidding.
I pointed the same data to my acquaintances/friends…that they could no longer use the rating as a card. Duterte dived from 33% to 20% and consistent based on the recent surveys at 4th place. Of course they don’t buy it. The kick-off in Feb. 9, 2016 should be doing the hammering…whether for or against a particular candidate. And I think Duterte is really trying hard to become relevant.
Duterte’s fall was more his own doing than due to what rivals did or said.
Yes. I go for the same wisdom. Hopefully, he’ll continue to apply the same strategy down to his fall.
if you guys don’t mind id like to share something I heard from an aide of a politician who was against the rh bill. i hate being anecdotal and to most of you this may even be just hearsay or gossip at best, but please indulge me.
– the reverse in population growth will affect the overall economy of the country
– this position on the issue was conveyed to me during Gloria’s term.
now my opinion of the foregoing may just be conjecture but I hope someone from around here who has extensive background in economics may enlighten me. and i would like for us to look deeper into what INCENTIVES these politicians may have in limiting or opposing RH.
from what i understand there are three types of incentives that motivates people to decide or act one way or the other. these are Social, Moral, and Financial.
1) I don’t think Tito or most politicians are moved by moral incentives. most of the politicians i’ve met have askewed moral compasses calibrated by their belief that going to church and reading biblical verses- while debating rh on the floor, gives them moral superiority. and judging by their actions (gambling, mistresses, vote buying, rape [pepsi paloma], pdaf kick backs, etc… ) moral incentives can’t possibly be their motivation.
2) Social Incentives? if the politician is dumb as a door knob and can’t really think of the pros that RH brings to his/her constituents and instead will only follow what the religious leaders and his social circle dictates, then just going with the flow may very well be a social incentive. but i dont believe most of them are that stupid. a lot of our politicians are second or third generation politicos. most of them were afforded better than average education. these legislators are not poor and malnourished growing up. i believe their mental capacities can handle the simple logic of more kids and more mouths to feed = resources spread too thinly or worse not enough.
3) that leaves me to Financial (and here is where my conspiracy theory comes in) politicians are most likely protecting “Big Business”‘ interests. businesses grow and thrive when the consumer base keeps growing. it’s like an endless pyramind scheme like that of st.peter memorial plans (the number of people dying just grows everytime a baby is born) pharma companies and the medicines they sell, demand for utilities like water and electricity, and hell yeah even san miguel beer, etc… the pyramind will only fail if the growth rate is reversed. i believe people like Tito are being sposored by big businesses so their interests are protected. of course politicos are being paid in return in one way or another.
i may be absolutely wrong. so let me hide behind joe’s “promotion of healthy discussion”.
p.s. escudero and poe are backed by ongpin and sqn miguel.
It is a good place to hide, and you have promoted well. I would add number 4), their reasoning skills are woeful. Their ignorance awesome.
hmmm… never thought of that before. snakes will be snakes even if you care for them as loved pets. idiots will be idiots even if they have the title of honorable before their name. my premise was they are capable of reason, you made me realise some are just not capable specially the bigotted. thanks for the added insight.
My pleasure. 🙂
Most Pro-RH compared us to Thailand,with the just about same population in the 70s, they maintained and control pulation growth,we did not.
Singapore with its size only bigger than Metro Manila now wants to increase their growth rate.I don’t know why,maybe Chempo can tell us.
I am thinking are they that good in space management,will going vertical do it?What about their water?
Apples and oranges,I know because our problem is not just urban congestion,but poor families having more than six kids.
Balik probinsya won’t solve that.Kaya nga nagsimula dumami dahil gusto magulang sila ang mag saka ng lupain, pero karamihan ay ayaw mag farming, so makikipagbsapalaran na lang sa Maynila o kung saan man.
Now in manila or other urban areas…still the same,having sex even packed in sardine cans,with only a blanket shielding them from the rest.
even if we go more vertical in Manila, that wont solve urban congestion.
But our topic is not urban congestion.
We are a consumer economy,with out savings and full of debt.
So where is the economic advantage of high population?
people consume by having too much debt?
Some one said deficit spending is a good thing.
I was surprised to hear demographic winter from Paquiao when he was debating with Lagman during the RH Bill debates.
he is reading a script. obviously lagman is in on it with pacman. i hope he gets the same treatment in the senate as lapid did on his first priviledge speech. enrile shuffled the questios lapid gave out to his colegues for the interpolation. he ended up giving the wrong answers to every question as he just followed the script while the other actors were not.
oh my, pac man in the senate. these are the times im glad we have a sense of humour to temper the travesty.
Lapid admitted not knowing too much English,I don’t know with Paquiao. You know?
Karl, regarding population growth in Singapore:
The 1980’s ‘stop at two’ campaign aimed at curtailing population growth back-fired because it was too effective. As we moved into first world thinking and standard of living, less became more beautiful. So average family size shrank dramatically. Soon the govt knew they got the mathematics wrong and recalibrated an optimum pop number with zero-population growth relevant to the economy the physical size of Singapore can support. We are not producing enough to reach that level, hence we relaxed on immigration policy.
Another reason the govt does not talk about at all, and naive Singaporeans do not know, but I’ll be frank here. The ethnic demography was changing. The Malay Muslim segment growth rate was not keeping tandem with the Chinese. As you know, Muslims have a silent agenda of taking over the world by reproduction. While Chinese families mostly have 2 children, the Malays have 5 or 6. Within 2 generations, the face of Singapore would have changed. The govt immigration policy is biased in favour of Chinese and other races from Asean and elsewhere.
Many thanks Chempo!
chempo, maybe someday I will behold the Strait of Malacca. I just saw the confines of Spore’s international airport (twice, en route to/from Manila).
Beauty is in the eye of the observer.Lo and Behold!Stop,look at the airplane window.
Nephew, it’s just my historic sense – to feel and see what the Malay & Iberian mariners of old during the age of discovery when they took passage through the Strait. Like the feeling and sight of sailing from Manila Bay to Sn Bernardino Strait thru Guam, Wake Is., Honolulu to final port of Sn Francisco Bay. Those images of 1969 are still vividly with me, nephew. The stars, the nights the dolphins, the underside of Golden Gate Bridge, the blue black hue of the Philippine Deep. (we traversed the Challenger Deep of the Marianas at night but the myriad of stars were on display. 🙂 awesome, talaga!
If Superman was real,he would have fond memories too. 😃
Tito Sotto and co,were often imitating the Bee Gees.
I love your article! I read every single word. Hope it can be translates so that the poor can understand what a clown this guy is!
Thank you Jamie. It did cross my mind after I wrote the piece, actually, that I should probably have written in Tagalog. But there are some phrases I used that would have a diferent effect in tagalog. I’ll probably have to modify a bit if I do this in tagalog. I’ll see if I can find the time. I was hoping to work on another piece next. We’ll see, maybe I’ll also wait for new developments on the issue so I can incorporate in the tagalog version.
Irineo, do the honors of translating.
ps Pelang Messaged me to have the MRT article transtaled into tagalog as well.
she messaged me,but I can only spread the word,I can’t translate it, with out murdering the article.
Both the MRT and this article are very hard work to translate into Tagalog, even for me.
This time I would go by the following proposal:
1) cha has mentioned she might do another article in Tagalog/Filipino. I give her precedence on that, unless she and Joe are OK with my translating it into Filipino outright. However for the very hard work I would want to have the translation in my blog, cross-linked from here: win-win.
2) same with the MRT article of chempo. If it is OK with chempo and Joe, I might translate it into Filipino, but same win-win proposal meaning in my blog and crosslinked.
3) I might make an article summarizing the three most significant recent articles here in Filipino for shortness as an article in my blog and linking to the original for those who want more detail. The article that frames the three might be about informed citizen participation in politics.
Probably I will give precedence to 3) because the complexity of the three topics is such that especially MRT and SSS will be in their Tagalog translations too long for the majority of those who do not use English. A reader’s digest to help people comprehend the outline of the main arguments, then drill down by going to the original article if interested, may be more useful. Instead of wasting time on a difficult translation, I could bridge the middle between the conceptually strong crowd that uses English and the frogmatic crowd that uses Filipino. Possibly by the time I do that article there will be more “people power journalism” articles over here to link. And making a digest is actually a more significant and useful piece of work, because in the sense of my “revolution of mind” it would help more simple people gain political understanding.
If you translate an article, I have absolutely no problem with it running at your blog, cross-referenced here. I also encourage readers of this blog to engage on your growing blog as actively as they wish, as there are no territorial walls hereabouts, only support for the idea that the more vibrant discussions we can generate, anywhere, the better off the Philippines is.
@Irineo,Whatever is most convenient.
I like option 3. That’s how I would have approached a tagalog version of this Sotto article, shorter and concluding with a call to action.
Joe repeated his comment to stress his point !!
Take it whichever way you want Irineo. The forces for goodness for the country shall not be denied its expression. Let a thousand flowers bloom.
If Poe gets disqualified ,Trillanes will not shift support to Binay and Duterte.No chance in Hell!
Good to know.
Sorry for you, Mr. Datu, for you are a sour puss. Senator Tito Sotto is leading in all recent surveys. Even if you are his detractor, which I personally think is a poor one, the best you can manage is pull him down 3 notches.
Btw, don’t look down on poor families as if they don’t have other options to educate their children. BECAUSE THERE ARE…!!!
That’s alright Non. I suppose we’re looking at the elephant from different sides. I saw a glimpse of the brain myself. I think you saw the other end of it, right where the air comes out when the senator has had a bad meal. Enjoy the view.
Cha I’ll copy this and keep in some stock quotes file.. Hope you don’t mind I’ll sottocopy it now and then, if need be.
Oh, that retort is gold. Excellent piece, by the way. I still could not figure out why a confirmed plagiarist is no. 1 in the polls…another case of uninformed or less informed? Or simply don’t care?
The people think they are voting for a priest, for that is the role he plays in the Senate. As a senator, Sotto is a skilled actor.
Off-topic
Cha, it’s been a while. I am still a follower of the Bellwood “out-of-Taiwan” theory regarding the Malay race and cultures. I’m occasionally keeping an eye & ear on Irineo’s findings. I’m somewhere near the elephant’s ears divining its memory, they keep flapping though.
Peace & cheers.
😄
So good someone needs to call the burn center! Very good read by the way Cha.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/02/01/1548489/drilon-sotto-score-perfect-attendance
Great performance for both Drilon and Sotto
Excellent article, Cha! My mother was a public health nurse. I used to accompany her on seminars(as taga-dala ng kanyang visual-aids) where she trained barangay health workers re: family planning. Same observations, it’s always the poorest of the poor, uneducated, and jobless mothers. Maawa ka talaga pagnakita mo situation nila. These people are misinformed, narinig ko na lahat ng myths na alam nila regarding family planning, ang isang hindi ko makakalimutan ay ang IUD “daw” ay “aakyat sa utak papasok sa ugat at magiging cause ng blood clotting!” and I can’t believe that after 34 years may mga ganyan parin paniniwala.
I always share joeam.com on my FB, this piece will be on my mom’s “joeam fave” list.
Thank you PML. And please thank your mom for me for her service to the country.. I can only imagine how she must feel about people like this senator who are not only able to help her do her job but would even stand in her way. I wish her and your self well. The God I know will reward her kind heart.
That’s unable not able, sorry.
I was clearly explained that the DOH cut would not even affect budget for contraceptives, anyone who wants to avail it is ready however why do filipinos always have to be spoonfeed, they cannot even fend for themselves.
http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/v1/01/18/16/legarda-budget-for-contraceptives-available-despite-doh-cut
It depends on who one wants to believe I suppose.
I don’t know about Filipinos always needing to be spoonfed though. Lots of us actually just eat with our hands. Some for show like Sotto’s friend Binay. Some because it’s quite trendy at the moment. And many more because they can’t afford spoons and forks, just like they cannot afford condoms.
Exactly! They can’t afford to buy condoms yet they still continue having kids.
And they blame these people for Budget Cut considering they should be in charge of their own lives. If we would fend them for something the more they would depend for
everything.
Has anyone sat you down and told you about the birds and the bees?
Jewel Akens — the birds and the bees
Frank Sinatra and Shirley Mac Lane
I’m afraid I’m having a hard time following you, Spike. You seem to have hard and fast views. May I ask about your background? Do you work in Manila or where? It is rare in the Philippines to see someone with such hostility toward people who have little in their lives.
Never mind, Spike. I see that you and France Go and Gary Singh are the same person, trolling the blog. Nice try. You are out of here.
I had the feeling I was dealing with trolls. Troll lang pala. 😊
Thanks for the heads up.
The latest flurry of comments from this troll (sent to spam) is in defense of Senator Legarda. It appears to be one troll adopting multiple screen names.
If I may ask, were these good for nothing senators present during the deliberation?
And now they are claiming these are unauthorized budget cut when in fact during the deliberation
they were either not present or not part of the entire process.
Yes you may ask, of course. The answer is that the slashing of the budget didn’t happen during the deliberations where the senators were present but in a bicameral session where they were not.
Now if I may ask, were you present in either the deliberations or the bicam session yourself?
I AGREE, MOST OF THE SENATORS WERE NOWHERE DURING THE DELIBERATION SO HOW CAN THEY SAY THAT THERE WAS UNAUTHORIZED BUDGET CUT, IF THEY WERE SO CONCERN ABOUT THE ISSUE THEY SHOULD BE THERE DURING THE DELIBERATION.
ASKED AND ANSWERED.
Cha,you are a literary genius even in your replies in the comments,come back more often.Especially now Joe is on neutral mode.
😊
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Ahaha!
*****
We are not pretending to be good writers. We just are.
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Karl,
Where’s Mary?
******
I expected to see her here in Cha’s article.
I will try to get in touch with her in fb
it indicated that she was active 3 hours ago,so no worries.
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Karl, Muchas gracias.
*****
De Nada.
Thank you too, nephew. I am praying she is doing her Catherine-of-Siena activities. 🙂
She has not replied to my message yet,but I hope nothing is wrong.
now she has replied.BIR stuff in office.
Ang BIR, talagang hindi BIRo.
Maghapong nakayuko sa mga iba’t-ibang papeles.
Missing her, too.
I do hope she’s alright.
And where is the good doctor Bauwow too? He, Mary, Joe and Edgar are the ones who got me writing again. 😊
Yes I have noticed Mary Grace’s absence too..I hope her bp is OK.
cha, I could not comment before, the office right now is unbelievably in a hectic, scrambling mode, arrggh…Just when your article has been published, and after waiting for if for quite a while. The last article I commented on was the MRT article of chempo’s. Am in a “work from home” mode on nights and weekends, too for my part time jobs (sister companies of the company I work for). This is my busiest time of the year so I’m missing a lot! Just been glancing lately at my FB account for messages during traffic, when in the car… could not comment at my phone, vertigo precludes my doing that.
I speed read your article and the ones before that, but could not comment, for that I need to focus, my attention is on FS and BIR reconciliation matters. haha!
Congrats for this wonderful article. A timely one, as to my dismay, Sotto is topping every survey for senatoriables. I do not know what their (Binay, Enrile. Poe, Sotto) magic is in the star struck masa voters.
And wonder of wonders, Bong Bong Marcos is also way up there in the surveys for the VP slot. We need to step up or he will be just a step away from the palace.
You’re back, Mary Grace. And feel our collective sigh of relief! 🙂
am touched by your and the others’ concern, sonny. Am ok, just super busy. Am adjusting so far with this erratic bp. Thanks, everyone, for the kind concern.
Okay, we have a tech situation here. I get comments from Mary Grace P. gonzales (lower case g) and from Mary Grace P. Gonzales. The e-mail address attached to both is the same. However, the IP addresses are different. AAAAND the first three blocks of the IP address for Mary Grace P. gonzales are the same as for the flight of trolls who visited the Sotto blog recently, advocating for Sotto and Legarda. The last block of the four blocks rotates through several two-digit numbers, from troll to troll and to MGPg. Are they different nodes of the same network, or what?
Mary is one who tells what machine she uses.From her comments,I gathered that,
Mary sometimes uses her ipad,sometimes her iphone and sometimes her office pc.
Ok, now am using my home desktop PC which I use for my home based sidelines…so this might register a different IP.
When I comment with my surname in small letters, am using my iPad. Sometimes I use the mini iPad, and my surname there is the spelled Gonzales, (which is the same in my office desk top, my Samsung Galaxy S5 phone, and my home desk top PC which I use when all the other gadgets ran out of juice). In all these, I experience a half hour delay in seeing my posts published. This tech situation (on my part) I posted around four articles ago.
This PC has the same root IP address as that used by the trolls, so your comments go first to moderation and then are released when I can tend to them.
The trolls and Mary’s smartphone or Ipad might be using the same provider. Usually you get a dynamic IP address if you have a provider. I also get different IP addresses from Telefonica/O2, it is even worse if people use Deutsche Telekom, they just get any old address.
This is really and truly getting strange. I have posted around 3 comments today, right after my comment above. Before, it usually takes just a few seconds for me to see it here after I hit the Post Comment button. That was before. Now, It’s been a half day already and can’t see my latest comments.
I posted once that I thought I lost one of my posts so I reconstructed it from memory, then the post I thought I lost appeared together with the reconstructed one, about half an hour after.
What’s happening? Is my using different gadgets confusing the system from my end?
All comments have been approved and should be there.
I’ve changed the filter settings, so you should be okay now.
Thanks, Joe.
Kinagat ka na siguro ng mga troll sa dami ng kinakalaban mo.
Baka nagiging troll ka na rin. Kaya ka namin nilagay sa quarantine.
Ahaha…you funny guy you..
Just glad to know you’re alright. Do take care of yourself now, Mary. We need you to be healthy so you can keep pushing us to do more and better “for the cause”. No one can do that better than you.
You are able to respond better to trolls, cha. The supporters of Deuterte and Marcos are the worst, followed by those for Poe. They seem to take delight in attacking supporters not the issues thrown against their candidates.
They are very many and seem to reproduce quickly.
Seems their parents did not use Reproductive Health.
Hi Cha, congrats for the almost 40k readership in 24 hours! My apologies for almost missing your blog, the week was like hell for me.
You have a knack for writing and I hope you continue sharing it.
Regarding Senator Sotto, my view is that people should just ignore him. He believes that he is God’s gift to the country and he seems to be basking in the popularity of his TV persona. That is all there is to him an empty can, void of meaning and substance.
I agree that we should put more into the education of our less fortunate countrymen. Then someday, they will know and understand that Senator Sotto is an empty jar with nothing to offer.
Thank you Doc Bau. I’m just glad you got to read it because you are 1/4 responsible in getting this written. 🙂
Her reply to me.
“Just got back from zumba work out…been busy at the office, was overwhelmed with 43 x 10 worksheets, and BIR forms submitted during the whole year of 2015, trial balances and FS.. For the April 15 deadline. I thought I have plenty of time yet, but the signatories will be out of the country sooner than wxpected, so we have to scramble to finish everything…”
“yep, I will just hanged up wet outfit.,….hypotension as usual, my pulse monitor is only up to 120 bpm…after that had to add 100,,I rested for five minutes when I reached 156…I sure missed commenting and the learning and ribbing at Joe’s site…been lurking, speed reading only, but my focus was at work right now”
Offtopic: the Brown Knight plans to revive the joint exploration scheme (that earlier went kaput under the GloMA admin, which instead gave the Mainlanders a bigger advantage):
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/02/05/1550028/duterte-open-joint-exploration-china-spratlys
My veins went cold as I read it.
A few hours have passed. No Disqus bots seen so far…
All sent to spam.I noticed some hardliners making heavy accusations.
For now, they didn’t show up because it seems the article is most disadvantageous to their client. But even then, starting next week we’ll be seeing a lot of astroturfing.
Joe,
Re your editorial note,
Cha’s article “Tito Sotto is not a woman” has garnered 33,000 reads in 24 hours, and is still hummin’ at around 1,000 reads per hour. Congratulations, Cha, and thanks for making this a “go to” blog for insights and enrichment.
assuming that Cha’s article will garner 100,000 (or 0.1 million) reads without repeats, and each read in turn shares with 5 other (different) persons who in turn shares with 5 (again different persons), we have using only these two cycles,
0.1 + 0.5 + 2.5 = 3.1 million reads
or with 3 cycles,
0.1 + 0.5 + 2.5 + 12.5 = 15.6 million reads
This is not to say we will achieve these reads but it shows the power of the multiplier or viral effect of items shared.
*******
NHerrera,
Will this be enough to dislodge Sotto from the leader board and plunge him into 15th place?
Cha,
Fantastic.
*****
My crystal ball is somewhat blurred at the moment, but a good dent perhaps? Bringing him down from number 1 to number 5 will be achievement enough.
I have mentioned this article as an example of the “Revolution in Mind” or of the mind in a comment to my article… it handles stuff “on the ground” in a very analytical, rigorous way.
Edgar I do hope for your comments on my article… it is actually a bit of a follow-up on josephivos “New Thinkers Wanted” article from almost a year ago so I would be very happy to see you both over there at my blog… I think the revolution is happening before our very eyes.
*******
I posted the following reply:
1. I haven’t forgotten about this. Fact is I have two answers and no answer.
2. A “revolution in mind” sounds, well, revolutionary.
2.1. The first thing that comes to mind is, “What does it consist of?”
2.2. The second thing is, “Should it not be a revolution of the heart and mind? And not just of the mind?”
2.3. And, lastly, assuming the revolution would take place, “Will the gains of the revolution, like and unlike all revolutions, be crystallized and concretized?”
3. Of the two answers I have, the first is from my Buddhist leanings.
3.1. My interpretation of the stance of Buddhism is like this. The problems of the world are endemic. If we have no clarity in thinking, we add to these problems. Conversely, if we have clarity, we do not add to these problems. In fact, hopefully, we subtract from these problems by a quantum of one.
3.2. Therefore, a “Buddhist” revolution in heart and mind is like a single drop of water in the pond. It generates ripples.
3.3. Many drops of water create a river.
4. The second of the two answers is from Khrisnamurti, “Truth has no path.” I take this to mean, Truth has many paths.
4.1. I believe it is a disease of the mind to think that there is just one solution, and that one solution fits all. There is at best a “better” solution.
4.2. There are many paths:
o Path of meditation
o Path of cooperation
o Path of rationality
o Path of love
o Path of creating things
o Path of using things
o Path of revolution
o Path of evolution
o Path of faith
o Path of skepticism
o Path of non-violence
o Path of violence
o Etc.
4.3. This would indicate that the path of pluralism should be a meta-path, and should be at the center of a revolution of heart and mind. And a path that does not recognize pluralism is invalid from the very start.
4.4. The path I follow is very individualistic, an amalgam of Buddha and Krishnamurti. In general, I accept no authority. What I accept is the judgment of my own mind and heart. But this is an exhausting path because it requires an awareness of pre-conditioning, an open-mindedness, intuition, logic, and a faith in one’s capacity and rationality. And make no mistake, there are many unconscious assumptions in our perceptions, and intuition and logic can lead one astray.
4.4.1. This is not a path that I would recommend because not all have the inclination, the capacity, and the strength.
5. And the “no answer” is a recognition that the universe is too enormous and diverse that there can be any one answer.
5.1. There is only one certitude: that there is no certitude… of even taxes or death.
*****
NHerrera I don’t want to put a spoke in your optimistic news..I have probably logged on to read this blog & comments about 12 times..And there is only one other person I have pointed it out to..My lady in the Philippines…There may be others like me..
Stil I am glad that this post is being read by so many people..
It’s probably 12×2 for me and more. 😊
I have (Piwik) stats in my blog as well which is also WordPress-based – there are unique reads and overall reads based on IP address Joe could mean the former.
I am quite content to have reached a modest average of 100 reads per day.
Bill of Oz, Cha:
You are of course correct. The note is a PROJECTION based on ASSUMPTIONS — no repeat reads; starting at a 0.1 million total unique reads; 5 shares per read with different persons in the first cycle; and again 5 shares per read with different persons in the next cycle.
What is the phrase? Stacking the deck?
The qualitative is — with a good headstart and a lucky viral effect, it can come to something. It is a simple arithmetical exercise, in any case.
And —
Hope springs eternal.
Yesterday, the article had 33,039 reads from 30,015 unique readers. I report total reads, not unique reads, because that is what is aggregated. I doubt that the reach you calculate is correct because sharing done by links brings people to the blog, where they are counted. It would have to be re-produced on a separate blog or hard-copy printed out to do more. There is some reblogging being done. We also have “character of readership” to consider. If we reach opinion’makers, the ideas might get transcribed into new words and eventually hit the reach you calculate.
With your comment, I thought the numerics may go the way of a decreased multiplier in each cycle instead, something like 0.5 ( effectively ) instead of the now admittedly overblown 5 in 2 cycles. That is (again starting with overall readership of 0.1 million), in millions:
0.1 + 0.05 + 0.025 = 0.175 in millions (= 175,000)
or if the multiplier is 1.5
0.1 + 0.15 + 0.225 = 0.475 in millions (=475,000)
or qualitatively and more conservatively phrased in a few hundred thousands rather than in millions. Which is still a sizeable readership of Cha’s article.
Joe, Cha, Bill of Oz — I have come down to earth from the clouds.
🙂
Malcolm Gladwell wrote in one of his books about how Paul Revere succeeded in his famous ride… he had a large number of people who trusted him in the towns and was able to mobilize them by his high credibility… in PR which is my brother’s profession they call people like that multipliers… there will be multipliers like that in every Filipino barangay… I don’t literally mean barangay I mean every small group that has its own internal bonds of trust and solidarity.
The Spaniards already said something like that… that Filipinos had in the villages certain people they believe in instead of the parish priests… and that they called them “maroronong”. Convince the marurunong or those believed to be knowledgeable, they convince their own.
There will likely be a supply deficit in the demand-supply situation on the maroronongs with credibility and skills — from the foot lieutenants to ideas men like yourself Irineo — as we approach the greatly contested May 2016 elections. (Not to mention the maroronongs whose specialty are “dirty tricks” — already being employed, but may only be a tip of the iceberg at the moment. There will be a great incentive for at least one candidate to use those, especially if a rival he fears gains traction. It will be a matter of life and death for him and his family.)
The corruption of the maroronong is a major issue… but also their intimidation into silence. Some of the brightest minds of the Philippines are way too silent – where is Sionil Jose now? Gen-Xer Xiao Chua or Prof. Michael Charleston Briones Chua of La Salle is very vocal on his FB timeline, his anti-Duterte posts are seminal to stay on topic hehe, his documentation of Tortyur during the Marcos years brave, but I guess his being born later makes him less hurt…
There are also the nagmamarunong. Chiz Escudero is one. The people from GRP except Grimwald are also nagmamarunong. The latest anti-Aquino article by Ilda is truly despicable in its denial of reality and its bias towards perceived wrongs of the administration. Well, some of my old Igorot friends might say, knowing she is from Abra (alisin ang a, bra lang, alisin ang bra, susong hubad) – Itneg kasi siguro, but I do not with to reopen old tribal prejudices. Some traditional Tagalogs might say no surprise with Arroyo, dugong aso kasi, but we have a very upright and forthright Kapampangan here, Katniss aka Juana…
Yes, the multiplier effect. Today hubby has 4k share of this article in his FB account.
Wow! That’s a lot.
I take it as an indication of just how much people are so incensed with Sotto. I’ve gotten private msgs from people saying their sentiments about Sotto and his dastardly act are exactly what has been expressed in the article. I don’t know if this will have any bearing at all on his numbers. The people who have been reading are most likely those who already aren’t voting for him in the first place. We can only hope that they will be encouraged to reach out to others, at least those they know who are most likely voting for the man and convince them to do otherwise. If what we’ve done here can convince even just a few, then it’s been well worth it. Like Kennedy said in the speech the senator plagiarised, it can all start with a mere ripple – or something to that effect. 😊
Sotto supports Enrile in his stupidity.
Legislative interference at it’s most absurb.
One single senator can object to Commisionn of Appointments appointee. Enrile objected to 5 appointees and hold the CA to ransom. Such senate objection stands without any need for justification. A senator can just object for no apparent reason.
Drilon says I’ll change the damn rules.
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/drilon-vows-amend-ca-rules-000000187.html?nhp=1
I remember the all-important Commission on Appointments from my Embassy days.
Some higher DFA people went to Manila not only to deal with stuff at headquarters, but to “follow-up” their promotions with the CA… I wonder what deals were cut I never dared to ask.
Enrile reacting like this shows he is up against the wall. He has always done things in his usual quiet, menacing way – like Marcos did. This shows his grasp on power crumbling by the minute.
> This shows his grasp on power crumbling by the minute.
He’s grasping by the straws, even futilely attempting to disparage People Power as a failure. Which only proves that he’s clearly an opportunist.
I strongly urge Sotto and his unti-RH lawmakers to visit Fabella Hospital even just once.
Follow through reporting from Rappler:
http://www.rappler.com/nation/121306-reproductive-health-budget-cut-questions
Excerpts:
For Cayetano, it was “absolutely unnecessary” to realign a portion of the RH budget to health facilities and medical assistance since part of sin tax revenues “can cover that sufficiently.”
“The sin tax law provides funding precisely for health enhancement facilities and medical assistance throughout the country, so why will you take it out of the [General Appropriations Act]? It does not make sense. The only logical conclusion is they really want to remove the RH budget, and they will place it somewhere else just to say other areas need it,” the senator said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“I don’t have a problem if those in the Lower House say they need more medical assistance for their people, I understand that, let’s fund that, but I’ll say get it from sin tax. We need more hospitals? Renovations? A new hospital wing? No problem! But get it from sin tax.”
The realignment comes at a crucial time, with the 2016 presidential elections just around the corner.
—–
Comment:
Reading between the lines, part of the funding originally allocated for RH related expenses were realigned to health facilities and medical assistance expenditures. The realignments would have been possibly negotiated and decided on between Legarda and Davao Rep Isidro Ungab who heads the House Appropriations committee. The money that is now under the health enhancement facilities and medical assistance budget will likely go to projects requested by Congressmen who have sought Ungab’s assistance to get their projects funded or even Ungab himself?
Who is Isidro Ungab though? He is from Davao City and is a long-time friend of Duterte. He just recently left the Liberal Party to support Duterte’s bid for the presidency. The plot thickens..
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/746029/what-exodus-davao-solon-says-hes-dutertes-ally-since-day-one
Cha, Thank you for this as well..Throwing a light in a dark corner. Can the executive delay such spending requests by congressmen such as Ungab ?
All the working girls over there, always had more than enough condoms, and they got them in gov’t clinics. Pretty respectable brands too, so someone’s footing the bill.
My question, what’s the difference between the free condom give-away program (what’s the budget for this over there?) and legislation in question?
Is there already a Planned Parenthood agency over there, because over here Planned Parenthood is constantly under attack from Evangelical Jesus-nuts,
re AIDS, watch video above.
On January 29, 2016, HBO Real Time host Bill Maher featured Samir Chachoua, a man who claims to have discovered a cure for HIV/AIDS, cancer, and a host of other illnesses. http://drsamchachoua.com/
Its probably a non-profits or NGO’s foot. The RH bill gives the government authority to foot the bill…but thats useless if the budget hardly allocates funds for it. One question I have is would the Church allow a Cathoiic charity be allowed to fund the condoms seeing that it is intended to prevent not only STD but also prostitutes from becoming pregnant. I can just see the priest sermonizing the prostitutes just find another means of livelihood, the servicemen abstain from sex, and leaving the fate and future unwanted babies to God. Unreal!
I ‘ve seen working girls over there, drop 1,000 peso bills, in these magical candle thingies,
http://il5.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/6144602/thumb/1.jpg?i10c=img.resize(height:160)
The first to introduce Family Planning in the Philippines was Marcos… in fact I believe that the Catholic Church never forgot that and it was one reason they supported the 1986 revolution.
We had some attempts at sex education in elementary school, but only one school year, many Marcos projects were of the fizzle out type, the rural service program which was a good idea as well was bullshit in practice – my father just went to UP Balara 🙂 – and only lasted two years.
There was also widely advertised condom distribution in slums, and a man smilingly saying he had let himself be sterilized after 10 children – with the Philippine Constabulary just beside him. So one wonders how much of that was voluntary or forced. GRP brought out an article which proposed forced sterilization of slum dwellers, since they are pro-Marcos and that stuff is sort of fascist it fits. Population statistics show that Marcos got population growth A BIT under control but then it zinged up with Cory – could be she junked family planning for her Church sponsors.
It did amaze my that Noynoy with RH went against the Church his mother restored to influence.
The old conservative Philippines indeed started to break down in Marcos times… sex ed and soft porn within censorship limits (MTCRB was still called Board of Censors for Motion Pictures) including underage women like Pepsi Paloma, Sarsi Emmanuele and more – the softdrink girls. The “bomba” (Spanish for “pumpin”) movies of that time were a way of diverting people’s attention from reality, just like the first malls and a hedonistic lifestyle – everything the Philippines is now started then, the momentum was something post-Marcos could not stop.
“Elvie Ubod, who at 40 years old is pregnant with her 10th child. Elvie does not want any more children. Her husband is a fisherman who makes about US$3 a day(1). Elvie and her husband simply cannot afford to feed and send their children off to school on this income and thus would have to rely on free contraceptives to ward off any more unwanted pregnancies. Between a packet of contraceptives and a bag of rice, guess what they would use their precious few pesos on instead. Talk about having options.”
Though, I’m all for contraceptives and family planning.
In the short term, someone has to pull that fisherman aside and tell him about the pull out method— it’s free, no options to worry about, he can still buy rice and have his cake and eat it too.
It just takes a bit of self-discipline.
Hell, I’m a firm believer of convincing women of the health benefits of seminal fluids, ie. protein, lots of amino acids, good for the immune system, a shot of testosterone’s like a strong espresso— doesn’t have to go in one place, is what I’m saying 😉 .
Where’s the support for the pull-out method— the other method I mentioned, requires panache and/or love 😉 , works best with lots of pineapple or green mango before hand (that bit of wisdom, I got in Mindanao).
“Someone has to pull that fisherman aside and tell him about the pull-out method.”
Exactly. No one probably has ever had. For varying reasons. I see education and culture here coming into play. Elvie’s husband must also be in his 40s,born in the 70s therefore twhen Marcos’ administration started actively promoting family planning in the country but then he would have grown up in the 80s when the Catholic church’s influence in the Cory Aquino administration led to a waning of efforts towards educating the general public about the advantages of and different methods fior family planning. On the cultural front, birth control is mostly seen as a responsbility of the wife and not the husband. And then of course there’s the church’s teachings against most forms of birth control. Evie’s husband probably never benefitted from a proper sex education program if he even went to school at all and his knowledge and attitudes towards birth control would have come from common myths and beliefs about sexuality and gender roles. Ubud, like many poor women in the country and her husband may never have known any better. This is what the RH law is trying to address with the Sex Education component.
cha,
I also think Cynthia below has a point. I remember when I was in high school, the sexually active girls in school, made a habit of going to Planned Parenthood, for their free condoms and other contraptions, and they viewed this public facility as 1) a way to by-pass their parents and 2) free stuff, and free abortions to boot.
Thus creating a lax atmosphere, since most of the stuff was free and anonymous. The counseling and relationship advice I’m all for, but the free give-aways (especially on my dime now as a tax-payer, nope), I remember those hot girls from my high school and the idea of giving them money to go out with the college guys in
Mustangs, just irks me— if they can afford nice make-up, nice sexy clothes, black-lacy panties for special occasions, etc. they should be able to foot their own contraceptives.
The guys who can have Mustangs can also afford to have Durex-brand condoms. Amazingly, it is a British brand and I thought it was “No sex please, we’re British”…
@sonny “Pope Francis is the “Pontifex Maximus,” This title predates Christianity..It was originally the title of a pagan Roman priest..Julius Ceasar was one of them…
So it was pinched from the pagan roman cult by the church when Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the empire around 430 CE. Mind you he only got baptised on his death bed…
Thanks, Bill. I am aware of the provenance of pontifex maximus and Constantine’s connection (hoc signo vinces) to Christianity and the chronic persecutions of Christians by the Romans. Constantine stopped these persecutions in favor of his edict of tolerance which led to the many definitions of doctrinal orthodoxy among Christians. I presume his bedside baptism was but the final effect of grace in his life.
“Certain titles and distinctive marks of honour are assigned to the pope alone; these constitute what is termed his primacy of honour. These prerogatives are not, as are his jurisdictional rights, attached jure divino to his office. They have grown up in the course of history, and are consecrated by the usage of centuries; yet they are not incapable of modification.”
— from Part V, New Advent entry
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12260a.htm
“the final effect of grace in his life.”
pati sa Rome may epekto na pala si Poe?
Pulse Asia released its survey results of January 24-28. I compared it with PA results of December 4-11. (See tables below).
http://www.rappler.com/nation/politics/elections/2016/121512-grace-poe-front-runner-poll-january-2016
I have just one note to make: the tandems of Poe-Escudero, Binay-Honasan, Roxas-Robredo, and Duterto-Cayetano move in the same direction. (Santiago-Marcos are steady in their numbers with Binay and Marcos are of the same level percentage-wise in the January survey.)
…………… Dec…….. Jan…….. Change
Poe…….. 21………. 30………. 9
Binay…… 33………. 23………. -10
Roxas….. 17………. 20………. 3
Duterte… 23………. 20………. -3
Santiago..4……….. 4……….. 0
(Diff)…… 2……….. 3……….. 1
Total……. 100…….. 100…….. 0
…………… Dec…….. Jan…….. Change
Escudero.29………. 33………. 4
Marcos…. 23………. 23………. 0
Robredo.. 14………. 18………. 4
Cayetano.18………. 14………. -4
Honasan..9……….. 5……….. -4
Trillanes.. 4……….. 4……….. 0
(Diff)…… 3……….. 3……….. 0
Total……. 100…….. 100…….. 0
My point of focus is who picked up those lost segment D support. Note that nationwide results very closely track percent of D numbers. Poe picked up Binays 10 percentage loss in D’s so did Mar pick up Dutertes 3 point loss?
The RP and D Class numbers are indeed almost congruent (considering voter percentages,, among others: ABC — 10%, D — 60%, E — 30%).
I was trying to check a Pulse Asia table similar to the table of Rappler’s link above for the Dec 4-11 survey to reply to your question, but couldn’t get it even from Pulse Asia’s official website. Strange. SWS does a better job of managing its website.
Is this what you were looking for? I received it from my vast network of resources spread across the nation like a spider web, each node a listening post.
Awesome, Joe.. and thanks! Mar’s campaign seems to be gaining some traction against Duterte, not so much in Mindanao but in the Visayas as might be expected. Now if the VP chart was also available, it would be interesting to see how Robredo was doing against those two super villians Escudero and Marcos. Did Poe’s surge boost Escudero, did Roxas’s holding ground show up in Robredo’s numbers? Party machinery strength should be a factor favoring the latter two as the official season goes into full swing but is it enough?
Bongbong + 8% among the ABCs. Might be good I wrote my pre-election article in Filipino.
“The Machine”….http://filipinogerman.blogsport.eu/desisyon-ng-sambayanan/
I noticed something of interest in Rappler’s Report today under table 2, class ABC voter’s preference for president where Poe got +6% increase from Dec. to Jan. 2016, Binay got +1 increase, Duterte got 0%, while Roxas slides down to the negative…- 2% of the class ABC preference.
It’s interesting to me because I was thinking the ABC class, the thinking class, would go for Roxas, the cleaner and better among the four leading candidates. Hmmn, something is amiss here.
Sorry, Joe, I was typing that, unaware you’re thinking the same thing, and then after i posted…voila…you beat me to it. Sorry, :(.
Like minds . . . it is odd, what the thinking class is thinking. We might have to call them something else if they keep that up.
Off topic. The latest on Pulse Asia has Poe regaining lead. Escuderoo is still there lording it over at the top for VP. I learned this after I posted in an FB group the comment below (before I fell asleep in sheer exhaustion and hypotension, I woke up upon hearing the news on TV)
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/762080/poe-regains-lead-binay-roxas-duterte-in-statistical-tie-pulse-asia
Johnny Lin says: Posted at raissarobles.com inside Philippine politics and beyond)
February 6, 2016 at 12:58 am
Another Rat is out of the Hole:
Chiz Escudero on ABS CBN interview yesterday admitted that his Balesin wedding was paid for by Bobby Ongpin. Not so long ago, About a few Raissa threads back, I posted that Escudero was as CORRUPT as his father. It ran in the family. Evidence given was that his wedding expenses to Heart in Balesin Island was provided by the owner of the resort who is none other than Ongpin.
Weddings become expensive due to venues of events. The more extravagant the place the more ludicrous is the expense. Escudero denies that his position as senator and acceptance of the generous gift of Ongpin was conflict of interest. Escudero claims that it becomes a “Conflict of Interest” only when he does a favor to Ongpin using his position. NO ONE from the interviewers of ABS CBN which included Karen Davila and Tony Taberna disputed the definition of “Conflict of Interest” by Escudero. Also, a few threads back, I posted that Tabernacle and co had nutshell brains due to failure to dispute the fallacies of Escudero again. I now believe these ABSCBN guys are the first victims of Zika in the Philippines. They evidently developed the side effect of Zika, Microcephaly. the question is if they got it from mosquito bites or sexual encounter! I’m not saying they got it from Escudero. Anyway,
Accepting the CASH expenses of Ongpin by Escudero as a sitting Senator is ALREADY “Conflict of Interest”. If Escudero performs a favor for Ongpin as an individual with many charges leveled against him by government or to favor to Ongpin’s corporations, then Escudero becomes an ENABLER contrary to his contention that is only “Conflict of Interest” when he performs the favor to Ongpin.
The right thing to do is refused to accept FUNDS of any kind from anyone with controversial government transactions since it is suspect of “Conflict of Interest”
Father of Escudero was the ENABLER of Marcos during martial law. It’s no longer “IF” that Escudero becomes ENABLER of Ongpn. It’s WHEN!
Corruption runs in Escudero family. Why should anyone vote for him as Vice President?
Binay and Escudero are molded from the same blob, CORRUPTION!
……..Escudero claims that it becomes a “Conflict of Interest” only when he does a favor to Ongpin using his position………
Mary, there is a simple word for this, and being a lawyer, Escudero should know. It is called BEHOLDEN. Having unashamedly taken the gift from Ongpin of footing the bill for the ostentatious wedding, Escudero is beholden to Ongpin. Just like a dog knows it is beholden to the master that feeds it, when the master throws a whatever and says fetch, the dog snaps into action.
Maybe he and Lauren Legarda has personal reasons why they do not want to pass the bill. People should take their own responsibilities for their own actions. There are so many ways you can prevent it, as studied by trained nurses or in medical professions, natural family planning method should be encouraged as part of health promotions and lifestyle too, but people just love blaming others especially government. People are lazy and hates change, people likes quick solutions and angry of outcomes especially when it is going downhill. Public health may or may not advocate family planning, but health education is far most important from the government. It is sad to see any family struggling due to poverty, but if you know yourself (the person getting pregnant) the consequences of what you are doing such as having sex outside marriage can result to pregnancy, then it is wrong in the eyes of God to advocate family planning. And if, a married person knows that they will fall into poverty because of having children, so why in the first instance not seek help for ligation or sterilisation and vasectomy instead? They should save even a tiny bit of money for the said procedures before they produce so many children to feed. Neglect and ignorance as well as “without thinking decisions” often times lead to poverty. As a woman myself, I know how many children me and my husband wants before we got married. People likes to blame somebody, but no one wants responsibility. Your own family and children IS your responsibility, and not somebody else’s especially government. So it is wrong to criticise the government because of their own personal failures leading to poverty.
“it is wrong to criticise the government because of their own personal failures leading to poverty.” partly right. But partly wrong. Many poor are poor because of bad habits they learned from their parents. Chicken and egg. The bad habits became ingrained because of an oppressive history. I have seen that in another country which has a similar history of colonialism and feudalism as well. In Romania.
Both Reproductive Health and Pantawid Pamilya are a form of affirmative action to correct the effects of historical wrongs – just like US affirmative action was to right wrongs against blacks. And right the wrongs in the right way – by teaching the poor better habits through incentives. Every nation is what an Austrian thinker called a Schicksalsgemeinschaft – a community that came together by fate – this article: http://filipinogerman.blogsport.eu/what-is-filipino/. Karl’s comment was that it sounds like bahala na gangs. Well, it isn’t quite that way. Remember the Catholic hymn – I remember it from my youth: “tayong lahat ay may pananagutan sa isa’t-isa”. We all have responsibility for one another. The Jews say that responsibility – not fault – for the sins of ones forefathers goes forward four generations. This is why I think it is a great thing that both Roxas and Aquino are strong in SMEs and giving opportunities to the poor. They are aware of their Talmudic responsibility. But I think Manong sonny can explain all of that better.
I especially mean Bam Aquino when I write Aquino. He is even more forward-thinking than both Mar Roxas and Noynoy Aquino. His stuff on Negosyo Centers, his Internet initiatives (important for opportunities) and his Philippine Competition Act all lionize this geeky-looking fatso. 🙂
And is seen as a esteemed patron for e-sports. Also, tried to get the long-standing problem of poor internet connectivity corrected.
Irineo, orthodox rabbi is best bet to ask.regarding Talmudic responsibility. I don’t know any.
“As a woman myself, I know how many children me and my husband wants before we got married.”
I think all that’s needed is to promote ejaculate as highly nutritious.
From an over-population, economic-welfare perspective, male ejaculate is a negative. So, like turning a frown, up-side down, why not turn this fluid (a teaspoon at most) into a positive, by promoting ingestion rather than copulation?
This way it’s treated as something of value, like liquid gold. Promote it as a healthy supplement. I’ve read also that it’s good for the skin, so maybe promote it as skin whitener, along with moisturizer.
Over here, the semen craze is strong within the Crossfit community, ie. women who work-out a lot and into fitness, since they value testosterone shots taken by their male counterpart. But too much is detrimental for females, so they favor their boyfriend’s or husband’s teaspoon dosage.
http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/sexinfo/article/swallowing-your-partners-ejaculate
So it’s just a matter of selling this method to the public over there. With the right PR campaign, it might just well turn the tides, with or w/out this bill.
It is superior to the regular pull-out method, because now the target isn’t just anywhere outside the vagina, but specifically inside the oral cavity, which means a conscious effort (treating ejaculate as something valuable and good for the woman) in delivering said payload properly and effectively—-
by so doing, rendering the possibility of pregnancy even less.
So, like turning a frown, up-side down, why not turn this fluid (a teaspoon at most) into a positive, by promoting ingestion rather than copulation? – LCpl
Turning it upside down, ok, let’s reverse it… Catherine Zeta Jones’ husband claimed that he got his throat cancer from this upside down technique. …so if they apply this upside down technique…. what if the womenfolk get this throat cancer instead of the other way around? Specially in this day and age of permissiveness and liberated way of thinking.
I get the point, Mary, but I don’t really want to carry the discussion further. It encourages a response in kind, and I think readers understand LCX’s proposal.
Hey, Mary!
Out of respect to Joe’s stance, I won’t plod any further,
but to answer the STD concern… possibility of STDs still apply, in all sex acts. But specifically the HPV virus you’ve posed here, I’m pretty sure it only goes one way— maybe bauwow can chime in here.
With the above, I’m just targeting unwanted pregnancies, that’s what I’m posing the solution to, ie. I’m convinced abstinence is the safest, condoms are safer— but we’re assuming the least cost here, ie. cha’s rice vs. condom dilemma, and I’m offering the upside-down or reverse scenario as another way.
It also addresses this passage from Genesis 38:9, re waste:
“But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother.” http://biblehub.com/genesis/38-9.htm
You madam are a part of the problem..Your logic is spurious…The poor are poorly educated and least able to know when they are being fed nonsence by religious authorities who don’t care about the poor and their fate in life..
Reproductive Health information and assistance to practice birth control, give the poor choices that otherwise they do not have in this life. You do not want the poor to helped to make informed choices. Such an attitude is not worthy of respect.
If her views are wrong, but earnestly spoken, they deserve respect, I think. ‘Tis better to explain the problem and the solution and not question motivations or character of those who, for now, have a different idea.
Joe, that IS the Aussie way of speaking respectfully.
And LCPL_X is right about Aussie women… they are cool.
Yes, but this is a Philippine blog, and I think we outsiders ought to tread lightly.
“Maybe he and Lauren Legarda has personal reasons why they do not want to pass the bill. ”
There is already a Reproductive Health law.The issue is on the defunding.
Tito Sotto has been anti RH from the start.He is part of the so called “team buhay”.Loren is part of “team patay”.
Sotto did not know what he was talking about,when he declared that it is true the budget for contraceptives were deleted.
Loren is supposedly Pro RH,as the head of Finance Committee, according to her,she was adviced by the technical working group that some funds were not used for 2015,so better do some adjustments,which she did on the reconciliation of the senate and house bill for the GAA,during the bicameral conference.
If it was a TWG decision(how authoritative are twgs anyways?),all those involved in the deliberation of the budget in the senate must have been privy to the cut,prior to the bicam.But stranger things have happened before.
Three different versions.
Sotto- SC TRO
Legarda -only 29% has been,obligated,we still have 71% from the previous year.
Garin We can bot touch that,because it is a line item budget
So the palace agrees with Sotto that it is the SC TRO about implants,etc
I take back what I said about Sotto.
Based on the response of the respondent to his threat of libel,Tito Sotto really did not know what he was talking about.Case closed.
He should fire his lawyers.
Yes,he should.
While I agree with you on the point of personal responsibility, I think that the problem is a little more complicated and not instantly solved simply by telling people off for expecting some form of help from the government. Yes, some people may just be asking for too much (which by the way is an attitude found not only among the poor but all across the different social classes) and that is a problem in itself. But there are also the problems associated with inability to access the proper and correct information that could help one make better choices in life. How did you learn to count, didn’t someone teach you to? How did you learn about sterilisation, vasectomy and ligation, I suppose someone taught you about it or you read about it somewhere. They didn’t just miraculously pop in your head. This is where the government can come in and provide that access to information to those that can benefit from it. But if the government is unwilling or unable to (like maybe because of luck of funding), what then?
You’ve also mentioned some problems related to people’s attitudes and that’s also valid. But again you can’t expect someone to suddenly turn to hard work just because you called him lazy. Have you ever had teenagers in your house?
I think there’s far more many reasons why people remain poor. Laziness may be one reason but it’s not the only reason. Part of it is also the mental laziness of those who are better off in thinking through the problems of their community and the greater society they are a part of.
I think Cybthia’s problem is that she’s a stickler for the Catholic Church teaching…that only natural methods of contraception is allowed, such as, withdrawal, rhythm (oral or other physical act I’m not sure), etc., acts that does not necessary require any legislation like the RH Bill.
I am in favor of the RH Bill and and abhor Sotto’s and Legarda’s move of defunding it, but Cynthia has her own personal view of the matter as a strict follower of her church however misplaced it seems to me and that I respect her right to express her views.
She has a comment below, di daw sya katoliko pero sa tingin ko kristyano pa din.Lumaki daw sya sa hirap,madami silang mag kakapatid pero napag tapos daw sila at…basahin mo na lang sa baba. sorry
Thanks, karl. I read it and replied to her already.
Welcome,Bert.
I wholeheartedly agree with Cha.
I don’t think it is asking too much from the government to provide people with basic reproductive health services.
I worked in public health, specifically among women who need these services. And trust me when I say that most of them are very responsible. If course there are some lazy ingrates who are just like Juan Tamad, but as Cha says, the inability to access proper education/information is what is hindering these women from taking full responsibility for their bodies. Sometimes, I think, learned helplessness make them seem lazy … but truly a lot of them are just like us middle class who want a good life for themselves and their children.
An example: I saw a gravida 6 para 5 (in medical parlance that means someone who had 5 pregnancies that were all delivered, and is now currently pregnant with her 6th) once in the clinic. I asked her why she let her family balloon like that when she and her husband don’t have steady jobs. Their average income is less than 300 pesos a day. What she told me is that she wanted to have a reliable form of contraception. Unfortunately, oral contraceptive pills are sometimes not available in the public health clinics. She had tried using OCPs and she likes them. BUT THEY ARE NOT AVAILABLE. And she can’t spare the money for OCP when she can use it to feed her family. She does not want tubal ligation because of fears of surgery.
So how do we assess this woman? Is it her problem that she is unwilling to undergo BTL, matigas lang ba ang ulo nya? Why does she want the contraception that is not available in the first place?
I made a joke to her: I said, “Misis huwag muna kayo mag sex ng asawa mo habang walang available na pills sa center.” And she laughed, we both did. I then proceeded to tell her about calendar method and other natural family planning methods. But we both know, this woman and me, that it is disservice on my part, not providing the type of contraception that works for her.
The thing is, we need sex with our partners/husbands/significant others. And I just can’t accept that just because a person is poor, she should be deprived of a healthy sex life. Ano yun luxury? So hwag na mag sex pag mahirap?
“The thing is, we need sex with our partners/husbands/significant others. And I just can’t accept that just because a person is poor, she should be deprived of a healthy sex life. Ano yun luxury? So hwag na mag sex pag mahirap?”
Hah, thank you for finally putting into words what I have wanted to say a while back but wasn’t sure how to without leading the discussion to a different direction. Your message is not only so well put but also perfectly timed.
And thanks for helping spread this message through your own blog. Hurrah for the sisterhood!
I am not a sister,but I shout Hurrah to you!
It is true that there are a lot of uneducated people.It is also true that many are mendicants,abusing government programs like cct.It is truethat there ate lazy people just spending money for alcohol,then when drunk impregnate the wife,and the same goes for the drug addicts.Sometimes there are hard working people who want their rest and relaxation to be with their wife.These all result to many children.
Do we blame government for their sorry state? Should government subsidize Population control and reproductive health?Since there is the RH Law,they should,and they should fund it.
But like any other law,funding has always been an issue.
karl,
My plan is really simple, by flipping the problem up-side down, or from bottom to up (bottoms up),
all that’s really needed is funding to push this method to the public, educate and inform and stress the nutritional advantage.
Hit two birds with one stone – the overpopulation and the food problem. But don’t hit men’s birds that is not good, Karl will know what I mean, LCPL_X might have learned it in Mindanao. But kicking Sotto’s eggs might be something he deserves.
My favourite drinking song,
But this was my favourite hands down while there,
So have an oral sex feeding campaign.There goes padre feeding the young.
Or pack them like jello,with different flavors., but that does not solve the inter-active relationships.
Agree with relationships, though this solution is more as stop-gap than social, stops the over-population on its tracks.
Flavier was the DOH secretary who endorsed,Trust condoms.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/283465_244706682220944_3566293_n.jpg?oh=eb50f46732ce550ed22056a0662cde03&oe=5728B748&__gda__=1466936943_0dcca25a2743571c52a3d1b28e34bfad
Well, then the priests could teach the people something useful, since they are already familar with oral sex. The Supreme Court as well, since they are very good at oral arguments.
Uncle Rafael could also play a role.
Tiyo Paeng could make himself useful.
I’m afraid I find the solution rather mocks people who get no guidance whatsoever regarding sex, and you want them to consider it as if there were a Cosmopolitan magazine on every living room table when there is no table and generally no living room, just space between four walls. I think it is a difficult issue and ought not be approached in a way that some would consider offensive or condescending.
I agree, Joe. We do not know if there is an equivalent of a modern-day Kinsey Report in the Philippines. And some readers here — what proportion I do not want to guess, having lately been burned at a wild guess on numbers — may find it unpleasant. Of course, we can’t please everybody. And another thing — Filipinos take to things or adapt rather well. Who knows, before the decade is over we may be as cool as the Aussies.
Meantime, when one looks at the context and relative expenditures on other government program versus Reproductive Health — EMPHASIS on HEALTH of the mother and the chidren — I say the RH program should be funded as it should. Sotto and Legarda should really visit the shanties where the very poor live; if they even have shanties. Again — my emphasis is on HEALTH.
And perhaps when they go and visit these shanties, rather than Sotto weeping in the Senate, a put-on, I believe, both he and Legarda will honestly and truly weep.
Yes, it is so easy to judge if we have not walked in a poor man’s shoes. And if we got there, we’d find that we did not think the same thoughts anymore because our education was so rudimentary, or lacking altogether, that we would not conceptualize and moralize as we in front of our computers have the luxury of doing. We’d just be figuring out the next meal. Senators Sotto and Legarda made a mistake to put their own ideas onto people who don’t have any choices whatsoever. None.
Joe, Irineo, Cha I am going to speak from my personal catholic family history. My family was poor. My father a skilled working man who worked 50-60 hours a week to support is family. My mother was from an even poorer catholic Liverpool Irish background. She left Catholic school at 12. All her married life she refused contraception. I am the oldest of 6 living children.Three other pregnancies did not go the distance. Collectively we are the result of that refusal.
Also I speak not as an Australian. I’m speaking as a very pissed off ex-Catholic. And I want to speak very directly to Catholics wherever they are, who are still in 2016 defending the church on this matter.
My life experience is that the Catholic church’s teachings on sex and contraception created yet another cycle of poverty and family disfunctionality. A family where alcohol was the drug of choice and never crioticised by the Church. A family here domestic violence was normal. And hidden.
The circumstances whereby I escaped all that I will not go into here. But I still carry a bright flame in my heart & mind to oppose and where possible undermine the grip of the Catholic church on people in this matter. It’s teachings on this are wrong and lead to evil. And that is intolerable.
Bill of Oz,
If I may: I appreciate the note from your personal experience. It gives the nuance to your previous post. (I too was and still is a catholic and come from a catholic family of six children with the lucky situation of having a medical doctor for a father and a pharmacist for a mother — not the rich professionals in the cities, though. My father and mother got paid for their services in the province, mostly in vegetables, eggs or occasional live chicken.)
You spoke of course frankly or bluntly, whichever is the more appropriate word. I just hope that my note, and that of Joe above, is taken as a cautionary note. (I am a catholic of the non-traditional kind. I am part of those who like some priests — and I am not here talking of the perverts — take to our faith more along Pope Francis’ way of thinking with context in mind.) There is clinical pragmatism in your suggestion and if taken to heart will indeed help solve the problem. It is just that, as Joe pointed out, not all of the readers have even occasionally thumbed through The Cosmpolitan.
It is even worse, lack of the right food during the first 1000 days after conception influences brain development, especially the frontal cortex, needed to hold back on impulses.
josephivo,
I think your basic pull-out method, without knowledge of human reproduction (ie. sperm makes contact with egg, egg becomes baby), will only fall flat, because instinct–developed frontal cortex or not– compels you to deliver your payload inside.
With a slight tweak, in which that payload becomes as valuable as powered milk or shabu, ideally the push to properly deliver that payload orally will be stronger, ie. the women can re-enact Lysistrata until the men learn to hold and deliver with discipline.
But this value has to be generated not by science, but by a savvy PR campaign, again Stratagem 30 comes to play, use respectable shows, personalities like AlDub, etc. to promote this value.
I deleted your remark to Bert. It is too graphic for my liking. It is fine for a barroom, but not here, in my house of respect and education and gracious bearing. Well, that’s the goal at least. I explained the rationale in response to another of your comments. Essentially, I don’t want you at the mike, in my house, being inconsiderate to the sensitivities of my other guests.
It’s one of the things I like in this site…the moderation when talk of lurid sex, etc goes beyond what is ideal. Parekoy calls me manang and prude because I reacted that it makes me uncomfortable, others are prodding him on. Johnny Lin and Parekoy are trying to outdo each other in that department, Since others seem to like it, I try to join in sometimes in this site (I dislike being called a prude prig, killjoy, moralist, pietist; goody-goody) but truly, it’s not in my nature, so I had eventually backed out.
Thanks for the strict moderation here.
Thank you, Mary. It is a great challenge, the idea of being welcoming and inclusive as opposed to divided and always fighting. Even the brightest of the bright have trouble getting there, for vested interest or ego. To get there requires some sacrifice of individuality in favor of group harmony. The existentialists amongst us say we should be able to speak frankly about any topic at any time, and I agree that is one approach. But it is an ideal, rather like leftist sloganeering, that only works if everyone has the same values and ideas. Otherwise, it generates endless clashes and frictions and the Parekoy kind of chest thumping one often sees in the zoo as male gorillas stake out their territory, even throwing feces to intentionally offend.
Ach, we can be better than that. But we have to give, to get. We have to give others the room to be different, and work to understand where they are coming from. Not just express where we want them to go.
It’s not during, it’s before that you need your frontal cortex and think of the consequences, compare the cost of a condom now and raising a kid later.
Yeah, but the logical end to that type of reverse deconstruction is that you end up blaming your parents for having given birth to you, and so on down the rabbit hole, etc. That’s too abstract. Sure you can educate, train everyone over there in cost/benefit analysis, but we both know that’s light years away.
So focus on the during, is what I’m saying. Ireneo’s right the frontal cortex isn’t at play, it’s instinctive, so focus on how you can tweak this instinctive response.
“I think it is a difficult issue and ought not be approached in a way that some would consider offensive or condescending.”
Joe, et al.
I totally I agree that it is a difficult issue, and as such requires all sorts of solutions. Remember I was there, I saw the conditions first hand.
To sit and pontificate on this matter (on all of us), ie. re legislation, sexual liberation, women as victims, etc. is as condescending. ex., who gets to talk about that horny fisherman, doesn’t he get to rationalize and defend his decision to have 10 kids?
There was an SSS article written a couple days back, isn’t having a lot of kids another insurance policy? Before we stood up social systems and institutions wasn’t that our first form of insurance to ensure we survive into old age, while also getting a shot at genetic legacy?
If that fisherman has 10 kids, and 5 grow-up to marry Europeans or Americans (Australian and Canadians too, East Asians), wouldn’t his reproductive strategy been successful then? Who gets to legitimize his choices vis-a-vis this coming onslaught of liberalization?
I tend to lean conservative, almost siding with Cynthia, on this. But I am progressive when it comes to solutions (so also agree with cha, though how much the taxpayers need to foot the bill, I’m very wary of)— knowing how Planned Parenthood actually operates, which is basically this bill, I have reservations.
Unlike Cynthia and cha, I offer solutions based on experience (ie. that pineapple and green mango pro-tip came from Mindanao), 1) a good education effort does work, 2) the benefits are real. I also understand it’s a “conservative” society, yet bill board ads using Mama Mary as advisor, with quotes I’m sure aren’t from the New Testament, means people are PR savvy over there.
Joe, I think our optics differ only slightly, but we both know this “conservative” act among Filipinos is 99% bs, for show only ie. how was that pineapple/green mango tip general knowledge in Mindanao, yet that was the first I was expose to it? Trust me, Joe, they are ready for this idea… maybe the best place is to start in Mindanao then work up north, but the point is they are ready.
All approach on this can be viewed as offensive or condescending.
p.s.— I’m not saying “Let them eat cake” ala Marie Antoinette (flippant), I’m saying “Let them eat cake” like a French pastry master chef (with gusto and passion). Don’t mistake my passion here on this matter for condescension.
we both know this “conservative” act among Filipinos is 99% bs, for show only
No, that may be your view, but it is not mine. I believe 99% of the Philippine population is genuine about their faith and values, and a small percentage plays it for games. I think it would be a mistake to view contradictions or dysfunctionalities as reason to declare earnest people to be bull shit artists.
My difficulty is not the solutions you propose, but the way they are presented. Every day, I host a meeting of several thousand Filipinos from here and abroad, as well as a few foreigners. The goal is education, knowledge given and received, and to offer what guidance we can to promote the well-being of the Philippines. The audience is predominantly Catholic, a good many atheists, and a smattering of Muslims and some unknown share of other faiths.
Some of the attendees are given the privilege of speaking at the microphone to the others. My challenge is how to encourage them to speak in a way that does not promote division, and that is meaningful so that people come back again tomorrow. If they don’t come back, I fail at my goal, as operator of the blog.
Well, your goal seems not to be my goal. Your goal, and that of Bill, seems to be to be heard. You want to step to the microphone and tell my thousands of guests that they should promote oral sex, and you do this in very graphic terms. Bill steps up to the mike and rails on about how the Catholic faith is a bad scene. Soon, Micha will come drifting in to call people in the audience names.
What I am asking that, when you step to the microphone, you think about promoting the blog’s goals. I ask that all visitors learn . . . and practice . . . how to speak graciously to people who have a life’s story very different than their own. There are quite enough priests and preachers and aggrieved atheists in the world. We need teachers, and students, and people who welcome differences with understanding and courtesy rather than hard or impolite judgment.
If people can’t do that, I’d rather they not seek to speak at the microphone. Because enough of that and there will be no audience soon, and no way to do good work.
” You want to step to the microphone and tell my thousands of guests that they should promote oral sex, and you do this in very graphic terms. “
It’s a solution not yet explored in the comments, though I am passionate about it, like all ideas presented here I’m open to other suggestions also, hence my agreement with Cynthia and cha’s proposals. I have my own bias.
As for graphic, it’s sex forchrissakes, I don’t know how else to present it and it is on topic, just as IUDs and condoms are, you cannot talk effectively about it w/out being descriptive (to cha’s point, too many people are in the dark).
But I am being earnest here, Joe. If high school students over there are reading what I’m suggesting and implementing it, then our goal of teaching something will not have been in vain— traditional values be damned (teenage pregnancy averted, win for all of us).
It’s a challenge, I agree, how to speak frankly yet consider that there are conservatives about who are not bull shit artists. My advice would be to think of this gathering as more of a school room than a barroom.
Most of the readership is establishment type, adults, not young people. We do have a few, whom I appreciate. I doubt that many high school students read here.
Well, I’m done pontificating on this matter for now.
Wished you’d had left my comment to Bert though, since that one more than my other posts on this topic attempted to argue the efficacy via psychology, ie. ensuring it doesn’t go where more problems can only arise… over-population, unwanted pregnancy, etc. etc.
Plus, I have to jump on the microphone because this is my field, Joe, it’s like an article about banking & MRT and chempo doesn’t chime in… it would’ve been a sin against nature or the natural order of things 😉
And as a bonus, along with my proposal, we are also promoting Philippine pineapples and green mangoes (with it, shrimp paste). It’s a win-win.
Well, you guys have given me ideas. I will at some point make an article on Filipino/a sexuality.
Finally I will get LCPL_X to comment in my blog, and who knows millenials and stuff… hehe.
Including that Romania makes a HUGE business out of cybersex dens, catering to Americans, while Filipinos always raid them instead of making them a legit source of tax revenue.
I think the raids in the PH are of those who refuse to pay the bribes requested by the police. Extortion is one of the major industries of the Philippines, right up there with agribusiness and ahead of prostitution. NPA are technocrats.
I also think there is an earnest effort going on here to stop trafficking of young women. You might want to include that in your article as well.
So long as German police won’t feel the need to solicit my IP address, Ireneo, sex I’m sure they are more than liberal about… that’s the reason I don’t visit your blog, you’ve convinced me that the Stasi-mindset it still very much alive over there, even in the virtual realm. Pineapples and green mangoes, I can talk about at length. 😉
Joe, there is a place for reasoned discussion and becoming informed.And that place is important. I am glad that this blog site exists and fulfills that role for thousands of people in the Philippines and elsewhere.
But the ‘powerful’ of this world dominate not just by controlling information.They dominate in a psychological way. And this psychological dominance is not resolved by reasoned discussion or putting out new information. This form of dominance is broken by helping people to directly break free. Among the best ways of doing this is publicly mocking the powerful; showing them up as fools or hypocrites. And sometimes more bluntly abusing them.
This is part of a normal political process here in Australia. It undermines that psychological dominance and serves to make the powerful accountable to the great mass of ordinary people. It serves as a way of helping to change things.
It may be that you as moderator do not want this second process to happen here. That is your right as moderator of the blog. But I think that Philippinos can benefit from it… I suggest it is also up to Philippinos to see what they think.
That’s good and I understand the dynamic. Americans can be direct as well. My concern is the tenor of the blog and whether it represents a good place for Filipinos who live within the Philippines to visit to read and contribute. People gather where they are comfortable and feel welcomed. A gathering of outspoken Americans and Aussies stomping across the blog dialogue, I believe, does not create the kind of forum that will be welcoming. Throw in a bunch of overseas Filipinos piling on as GRP’s Aussies pile on, and we have a very unpalatable, arrogant blog. I suppose I reserve certain rights to be provocative to myself, and sometimes that is too much for a lot of Filipinos. But I’ve learned to do some tempering of the directness, and people seem to appreciate the emotive style of writing when I am praising. Not when piling on.
I have the responsibility for the tenor of the blog, and whether or not it is open to as many voices as we can get. I’ll continue to pursue that objective, as I think it works, and as long as it works, people will be open to a certain amount of direct-speak within that format.
Bill,
Direct speak is important too,as I have said,we have our ways of putting things mildly.
In our halls of congress we do it with words,while the parliaments all over the world sometimes do it with their fists.We had a documented fist fight once during the Erap impeachment.
I think this place is respectable without having to look too much sophisticated.
The disqus comment threads have people cuss the government and politicians.Out in the streets,you hear street talk.
I respect the position of our host,to maintain proper decorum,which I myself fail to observe more often than not.
We don’t have to over do it too.
About the OZ experience.
one Filipino blogger named Benign0,came to Australia at around 1999,
He took the internet world by storm in forums like PEX , where he flaunted his brand new Aussie bluntness just moths after landing in Australia, his new then months after the ERAP ouster, he set up a website called Get Real Philippines,again to show case his Aussie bluntness
he lectured us to have a parafigm shift in just about anything.
He didit in a condescending manner,and now,he is still doing it.
It may work for some,it maybe frowned upon by some.
I better stop now,before my microphone gets switched off.
Just one more on the immediate topic then I will stop, like you karl. I believe sincerely that Joe doesn’t want the Blogsite — that he has shepherded all these years to the successful go-to-site that it is now — to degenerate to even a tenth of the Get-Real-Philippines type of Blog.
There is also something called efficiency. What are your goals? Convincing others or just parading yourself? In both cases it is not you but the audience that matter. I learned that shouting, exaggerating for a Filipino audience is always contra-productive.
As the value the group more than the individual, a little empathy is highly recommended.
My recent discovery is looking for the “gestalt” of a thingy.
GESTALT: a structure, configuration, or pattern of physical, biological, or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit with properties not derivable by summation of its parts.
I have come across Joe’s blog accidentally and I have stayed since then, so far for my better and hopefully not for anybody’s worse. My dearly held thresholds have been crossed many times but the net gestalt for me has been to stay because of the moderator and the dynamic tension he has so far allowed within this blog. I sincerely hope it stays this way.
Happy Chinese New Year, sonny. I think it is the year of the gestalt. 🙂 May your mental gyrations always come up happy.
Happy Chinese New Year!
Same to you, Joe, nephew and everybody for a prosperous New Year! And the good prevail. 🙂
I find it ironic that rich people who can afford to raise healthy children, educate them in the best schools are the ones limiting the number of their children while those in the squatters area, in the kariton dwellings or their poor counterparts in the far flung barrios in the provinces are having more children than they should.
I posted a long time ago also about some parents who were poor but were able to provide education to all of them. These are anecdotal examples that I will not repeat here. They brought to this world a dozen children, and they made sure that each one of them are raised properly, educated and law abiding and these parents have no stable jobs, both the mother and the father just small time farming. I know of another couple who had just 3 children who grew up to be the scourge of society, addicts and trouble makers. My point is that it depends in each couples to practice responsible parenthood.
These days, I hear of girls who are barely in their teens who have children out of wedlock. The parents, the community and the church have somehow failed them.
The other extreme option – look at Japan and China or even Singapore, who are now facing more aged citizens and less young ones. The Philippines do have younger generation than these countries, more productive members of society who will be
One makes decisions based on opportunities, and when the opportunities are limited or can’t be seen because one’s head is filled with nonsense and superstition, one can’t make the choices we’d like to see people make. The parents have to have a framework from which to make good decisions, like “don’t get pregnant or you won’t be able to go to college”. What’s college? It’s outside the span of opportunity.
When driving a more animalistic part of my brain takes over and accidents happen only to others so I can take the risk. But through a previous job I saw too many test of crashes with and without seatbelt, the differences are spectacular, so my seatbelt I will always wear. Rationality comes after the near-miss and often it is “the others are stupid, but you see, I’m a good driver, nothing happened.”
Also sex is more animalistic than rational. Accidents happen to others, this time I will be lucky just as the last time, procreation less on my mind than pleasure, let’s enjoy to the max. More than 30% of the children in the Philippines are unwanted and even more unplanned. We should see many more statistics on pregnancies and abortions, many more interviews with mothers of unwanted children, success rates of abstinence or the lack of it, the power of hormones… (For the better off contraception and safe abortions are much more accessible, more affordable and other pleasurable things are available than easy free, that is unprotected sex.)
Totally agree. It’s like saying, “When it’s time to withdraw withdrawing is all in my mind but the one under me won’t let me go”, :).
If you don’t want another kid, always keep your legs crossed, instead of keeping your fingers crossed after the act.
Will that work? Keeping your legs crossed after the act?
I rather you ask the lady to jump, gravity is on her side.
👍🏻
“One makes decisions based on opportunities, and when the opportunities are limited or can’t be seen because one’s head is filled with nonsense and superstition, one can’t make the choices we’d like to see people make.”
True, so true. But on the flip side of the coin, one may be able to create their own opportunities. I for one failed to get the scholarship that a relative is trying to arrange with a local politico who died in a plane crash, I lost an academic scholarship due to a mean dean of the commerce department, a scholarship that is sorely needed as we are that dirt poor, but my parents struggled on, farmed our tiny lot, raised a mother pig so they can raise a loan with the piglets as a means to payback those loans until I can regain that academic scholarship, my elder sister who’s working in a T-shirt factory stepped in the gap, and the rest is history.
The government is trying to give opportunities for the poor sector. It’s up to them to grab those and make a better life for themselves. I remember Pnoy saying that a Tesda graduate having a salary way better than him sans all the stress he is undergoing. And the case of someone I know who is able to get in the Tesda school in our place after we have coordinated the school requirements, the uniforms, shoes, etc, etc. later, a very minor problem of one school day fare made him quit school. Geeeeeez!
> a very minor problem of one school day fare made him quit school.
25 years ago, I used to go to high school on a bicycle. Saved me a bundle on jeepney fares. Youths these days… *smh*
or my sister and I having to walk miles and miles from our house located in a mountainous region to the school in the lowland (Laguna) – everyday. later, I remember my parents waking up at 3:00 am to cook our breakfast, prepare me for school so my father can accompany me to the nearest house of a classmate so I can have company on the long walk to the lowland school, that was, after my elder sister had transferred to a school in Batangas.
That is how we valued education.
Mary Grace, I spent and enjoyed my pre-teen summers in Tanauan, Sto Tomas, Lipa, Canlubang, Calamba, Los Banos and as far as Lucban. Those were wonderful times to be so young. That is why I hold the Tagalog region dear to my heart. My dad, an Ilocano soldier in the II Military Area and his friend Batangueno farmer mutually adopted each other for life. Recently, on tour with my classmates I got to enjoy, for the first time, the friendliness and religiosity of the townsfolk of San Juan. Quite memorable, got my first whiff of lambanog. Almost reagent grade ethyl alcohol. 🙂
sonny, Yep…Canlubang – we stayed in the upper barrio, which is almost at level with Tagaytay City. brrrrrr! it’s cold out there, I tell you. But people are so warmhearted.
We migrated to Batangas when I was about 8 years old, but my memories of fragrant, newly milled rice and the freshest veggies and home grown fruits (mandarin) in Laguna are still with me to this date. The bayanihan spirit was first demonstrated to my consciousness at a tender age.
Batangas is really awesome. You just have to be there to witness the friendliness and religiosity. I was sorry to leave it when we settled here in Metro Manila right after I got my first job, later, when I was able to buy a lot and build a house of my own in the city, a few years after college graduation.
I intend to go back and live there when I retire. For keeps, this time, with only a few visits in the city to check on my investments. I intend to go back to basics…farming, raising our own food and commune with nature.
Truly I know the feeling, Mary. My dad brought me down once from Tagaytay to the lower heights overlooking what I think was the Yulo sugar estate. Tall talahib swaying to the breeze that you speak of. are what I remember.of that lonely trip. Liblib na liblib ang lugar na ‘yon.
I pray you those retirement days come about as you planned them, Mary.
God willing, it will come about, sonny. I bow to His will and wisdom. A long and satisfied life is my wish for all of us here in the Society.
I pray too that the masa voters will realize in time that continuation of Daang Matuwid will benefit them in the long run and that the likes of Sotto and other movie stars (as ably discussed here by cha) have no place in the government that has important laws to be enacted or reviewed so foundlings can have a better chance to improve their lot in this country. These can be done even before amendments to the constitution can be proposed and discussed.
Just came back from Batangas to visit my grandma and auntie. Brrrr, what a cold, cold day it was over there!
too many bike accidents,because of many undisciplined drivers.ok it takes two to tango.
I was thinking just a few days ago… what if I were a BPO worker and had to pass EDSA… I thought I might just by a small motorbike, wear good jeans they are accepted anyway in offices nowadays and to hell with the Filipino thinking that only messengers use motorbikes…
But an additional reason for using cars all the time (it is also class thinking, I see that in Istanbul, I know people there who could use the excellent public transport it is even safe there, but they don’t want to be with the great unwashed I guess) is maybe simply life and limb.
many use motorbikes and bikes,but there was a cctv report(including phione video shots) a few days ago,about bicycle and motorcycle accidents.And the day before bus accidents,and jeepney king of the roads zig zagging like crazy.
Thanks for phone cams,arrogant people including taxi drivers,get their few minutes of fame on a daily basis.
I have seen a few of those videos… two about arrogant taxi drivers, and a recent one about bus drivers simply mowing over the bus lane barriers on EDSA which is some places is really too tight with hardly any allowance for anything… there is not even an emergency lane.
German roads have a certain allowance left and right because those who drive faster tend to wobble a bit more… EDSA lanes at some points are only as wide as typical construction site provisional lanes in Germany where the speed limit is 60 kph sometimes. Now as for over tired bus drivers, truck drivers in Germany have an electronic card where they are required to register driving hours and stick to legally mandated break times… no more cheating like on the old paper-based systems, they also often have the same issue of being driven to drive always.
Just a follow up from my comment… — I came from a very large family – my mother was a highschool graduate and my father was a vocational graduate. So I know how it feels to be in a poor big family wherein sometimes there’s no food at home.. But, despite of lack of education from my parents side, they did worked hard for us to finish our education based on what we like. Our parents disciplined themselves in order for us to graduate. I’m the 8th of the 10 siblings. I know how it feels like to see your family struggling when my mother and brother were selling ihaw ihaw pusit at Baclaran and how they cope with the toughness and cruelty in poor living. BUT, because we all have disciplines to get our educations, my parents were able to see the other side of the world including me, without asking help from government. It is not by luck, but determination to be out of poverty! So, basically, people and I’m reiterating this, people make their own fate. They choose to stay in their living conditions, being poor, yes you are right it can be inherited, but you have a choice whether you stay what you have inherited. Rich people can also pass on their wealth to their children, but it doesn’t mean that they will stay wealthy. And I am not a Catholic, but I believe that Jesus provides for all of us, it’s just a matter whether you access it or not.
In short and overall comment for the blog above, do not blame others for your own mistakes especially government but discipline ownselves. Thanks.
Not everybody is so disciplined. The government and the country has the problem that the number of people is always overtaking economic growth and therefore the national budget.
So it is better to do what can be done about the issue of too much offspring by helping people.
Just like the poor are being given an incentive to educate their children by Pantawid Pamilya. Just like K-12 is the way of improving education which you mentioned as a top priority above. The more people you educate in good habits and get out of poverty the less issues long-term.
We could all agree that we all need self discipline.
You do have good points,Cynthia.
Thanks for clarifying the issue by sharing your back ground.
We are still far from being a disciplined,responsible and accountable nation,but hope springs eternal.
Ah, Cynthia, so you are not Catholic. I was wrong about you in my post above.
You are one of ten siblings. Ten siblings. Hmmn, Discipline must be be on a case to case basis and your father sure knows where to apply it.
Two questions for you, Cynthia.
1.. Would you agree that the RH Bill can be the right vehicle to contain over population in the Philippines?
2. Is it alright to over populate as long as the parents are responsible and discipline in rearing up their numerous children?
Please indulge me, Cynthia, please.
Bert, I think the best person to answer your questions would be the godfather of the revilla’s, or is it too late ? Maybe not, he probably has undergone stem cell therapy like the bugok from cagayan , , ,
*******
Cynthia,
I admire and applaud your spirit of self-reliance and discipline.
If the majority of people had your attitude, the country would be great.
As you may know, in the socioeconomic hierarchy, the E class, the poor, comprise 30% of the population. Some of the people in this class would have your spirit; some would not.
What to do?
A basic objective of government is to provide social justice, which may be defined as “the equal distribution of wealth, opportunities and privileges within a society.”
Because the distribution is unequal, it becomes the duty of government to uplift the people who, for some reason, are unable to lift themselves without help.
The reasons for poverty may be laziness, ignorance, disability (mental or physical) or misfortune. The government can hardly do anything about laziness, but it can do something about ignorance, disability and misfortune.
Not to do anything is NOT an option.
If there is a smoldering fire that threatens to spread, the fire must be extinguished. If it cannot be totally extinguished, it must be put under control.
The problem of poverty, which is the fire, can be seen at the societal and individual level. At the societal level, the government has a certain responsibility.
At the individual level, you are absolutely right: each is responsible for his destiny.
*****
This issue faces the Philippines now.But it is an old problem.
Marx said that ” religion is the opium of the masses” It is sometimes true. Especially when used by the famous, rich & powerful to maintain their fame, wealth & power.
The less famous English poet William Blake wrote a searing short poem called “London” in 1794..It deal directly with this matter of poverty, lack of education, lack of opportunity, lack of real work, sex, prostitution, too many children and lack of choices..
I wander thro’ each charter’d street
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe
In every cry of every man
In every infants cry of fear
in every voice, in every ban
The Mind forged manacles I hear
How the chimney sweepers cry
Every blackening church appals
And the hapless soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down palace walls
But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new born infants tear
And blights with plagues the marriage hearse
“The reasons for poverty may be laziness, ignorance, disability (mental or physical) or misfortune.” Of whom? The boss or the helper? For the boss having the means to pay a proper salary but just having a slave is easier, lack of empathy, just copying his parents behavior?
Is poverty a problem of the poor, the have-nots or those who have the means to do something about it? Societal is anonymous, too easy. Your answer is typical for the to 10%.
…and yes, there are always exceptions. Nature with its normal variations, here from very disciplined to no discipline at all.
********
The poor in spirit may encompass the poor… and the rich.
*****
This is occasionally true Edgar…But some body also said ” it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than a rich man”
You mentioned “discipline” several times. I can’t agree with you more. “Discipline” is the panacea for a major part of Philippines’ ills. Discipline usually comes with ability to make sacrifices, and a mentality of delayed gratification. Those are the 3 strong pillars that your family built on. I applaud your parents’ sense of responsibilities to you and your suiblings.
In most countries, education is a leveller. This is where the govt plays its crucial role — implement a good educational system (with all attendant infrastructure) and creating a level playing field of opportunities for all school leavers. The govt that recognises this pays great attention to this area. Pnoy govt allocates DepEd the biggest chunk of the budget, built thousands of additional classrooms, implements K12.
I’m beginning to believe that Duterte maybe PNoy and Mar’s Trojan Horse. How would you explain this color me confused. This may just end up helping Roxas.
BTW Roxas Campaign team you are not updating your youtube page. cant find the walang hugot ad from your youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsWbe-9JEVN9y3p-tN7Dx8g
“Digong,Di kita Type!”
So anyway, going back to the budget cuts. As mentioned in some earlier comments above, Legarda has explained that a portion of the budget which has been slashed from the RH budget is going to health facilities enhancements and medical assistance. Pia Cayetano has countered by saying this doesn’t make sense since the revenue from sin tax is already being allotted for such expenditures.
Here’s the specific provision on the Sin Tax Law that supports Cayetano’s assertion:
“After deducting the allocations under Republic Act Nos. 7171 and 8240, eighty percent (80%) of the remaining balance of the incremental revenue derived from this Act shall be allocated for the universal health care under the National Health Insurance Program, the attainment of the millennium development goals and health awareness programs; and twenty percent (20%) shall be allocated nationwide, based on political and district subdivisions, for medical assistance and health enhancement facilities program, the annual requirements of which shall be determined by the Department of Health (DOH).”
http://www.gov.ph/2012/12/19/republic-act-no-10351/
We can deduce from this that whatever additional health facilities enhancement projects and medical assistance beneficiaries that received the additional funding couldn’t have been identified by the Dept of Health itself and may have been raised in the supposed negotiations that occurred between Senator Legarda and the House Appropriations Committee chairman,
It was Lagman who “called attention to the fact there are no available transcripts of the proceedings or the meeting with the Bicameral Conference Committee, which he said means deliberations were not held. Lagman quipped, “What happened was a one-on-one meeting between Chair of the Committee on Appropriations and Committee on Finance.”
– http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/551046/news/nation/ex-rep-lagman-budget-cut-for-contraceptives-tragic-p157m-inadequate#sthash.Wg47Oq2q.dpuf
The question now is, what are the projects that have gotten the reallocation , who are the beneficiaries and which congressional bailiwicks are they going to?
Why do I smell pork when I am having chicken for lunch today?
Exactly Cha !
it went to defense,
I am for defense spending,but not at the expense of the intended recepient.
was it really the SC TRO?
if someone brings this to the SC,The bicam conference will be fully transcribed.
So make Bi cam open,not open to all,but open to the necessary sectors,like watch dogs.
It went to:
1. Defense
2. State colleges and universities
3. Health facilities enhancement and medical assistance
It’s in the video you shared and Rappler, GMA etc. reports
yes,sorry about that,I,got caught up with defense because,it is sort of an interest of mine.then I forgot about the rest.
Thanks for the save.
Pork chop was served.
Cha is correct.
Dang,I hate budget. I remember the days,when Jun Abaya was still the Chair of Appropriations and my dad took home a telephone directory thick,book.
I asked him,if he is going to read all of it.he just gave me the dagger looks.
No Excel sheets? They would be more flexible.
If the book is too heavy just put it on the Chair.
My dad picked his poison,and he chose the hard copy of the budget,he was not worried,because I will be the one to drop it,I mean carry it.And yeah,I left in the chair.I should have left it with the Chairman.
I see that there are almost 400 comments on this post by Cha…It started out as a blog about reproductive health funding for the poor. From that the discussion has broadened and deepened to cover a lot of related subjects. And maybe even skilled over into areas that some of us, including me, regard as too delicate to take up here.In this I would include the oral sex comments. Some would include a couple of my own comments in this category. Such is the nature of a conversation among a very diverse group of people.
With so many diverse comments we may lose track of some very good things that have emerged in this blog by Cha..It can become a bit like a herd of cattle at a watering hole with lot’s of mud stirred up !
I think there are good things worth remembering : Among those good things is that two people in the senate with biased minds about Reproductive Health funding managed with the help of a mate of Duterte’s to have the planned funding reallocated to other purposes. And we learned that there is maybe some leftover RH funding leftover from the past Congress allocation which can be used still….
There are I am sure others.
At Raissa’s, @parengtony noted that she has not changed her blog topic for quite a time because she was busy on a book about Marcos and associated chilling accounts to be launched February 25.
http://www.manilatimes.net/remembering-the-past-that-we-may-not-repeat-it/243167/
http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/121440-dear-senator-sotto-rh-law – Rappler, 5 Feb 2016.
Thanks.
oops. it is still me sonny.
It needs to be said.
Below are excerpts from another blog, Manang Bok’s House which takes the conversation further and towards a more honest and realistic view of human sexuality and the RH debate. Hats off to this wonderfully frank and intelligent fellow woman:
from https://manangbok.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/sex-and-the-rh-law/
“It can be very hard to empathize with women who want reproductive health services because hey, it wouldn’t kill them not to have sex, right? They would just have to abstain or use natural family planning methods or the withdrawal method. Yes I am being sarcastic. And by the way, the withdrawal method is not a reliable form of contraception, having a failure rate of more than 20%.
Seriously! Has Tito Sotto tried withdrawal before? Has Loren? Have they tried calendar, Billing’s, BBT; and do they know how much commitment and effort is required of a couple who wants to to use these methods?
I mean … is sex such a luxury in this country? If you are poor, better forego sex and be celibate if you don’t want to get pregnant?
I find it ironic: in a world where sex is so common (in television, in movies — commodities that we sell to poor women, and which they buy, because hey it is entertainment and some of us really need to be entertained to forget the drudgery of our lives), it is also a world that deprives women of opportunities to have freedom over their bodies.
If I am a girl ( oh fuck! I am one) I would like my government to help me achieve the maximum amount of freedom I can have with my body. A lot of people (mostly men) would not agree. They would say, reproductive health and all things related to sex are private that should not be meddled with by the government. But …. love and marriage are also private things, a compact between two people, but we all know the government has a lot to say about them.”
*******
Loved it!
*****
“in a world where sex is so common (in television, in movies”…
Let me add other sources:
– those little Tagalog pocket books that are being sold, resold. rented to our young teens have explicit sex contents. I know because I happened to glance at the marked page on one such thin pocketbook my office former office alalay left on the table while doing errands for me. Whew!!! such lurid reading materials for a 15-year old! I asked where she got it, she says her Mama (our kasambahay) rented a lot of them from our neighbor. They were so into them when they are already resting in their bedroom. She also has in her possession a cheap tablet her mama bought in our public market. WiFi is available at home so they downloaded a lot of porno movies and had a lot of fun in the privacy of their room.
This teen promptly got pregnant out of wedlock in the first month of her vacation in Davao. She says it’s an improvement on her Mama who got pregnant when she was just 12 years old.
“And by the way, the withdrawal method is not a reliable form of contraception, having a failure rate of more than 20%.”
Not so, cha, read above (as already explained), that 20% can be lessen exponentially 😉
In case RH was not used, the guy leaves and is not completely without money… http://www.efrennolasco.com/how-to-file-for-child-support-in-the-philippines/
@Karl I appreciate your comment here..I briefly looked at the Get Real blog..I do not like it…It goes to far being nasty & abusive. It does not look or celebrate the good that can easily be found……And another thought comes to mind..I do not speak Tagalog..It may well be that Philippinos are speaking their minds more freely, bluntly in Tagalog.. even here on this blog..If so that would be great…
Even before I came here, GRP is more repelling than helpful, an insult to my intelligence and constructive thinking; asides from blindly hoping this country would embrace Japanese and Korean ideals of self-discipline in a very short time (a dog’s chance in hell, honestly), its creator seems as if he was hoping for a fusion of Pol Pot and Marcos be sworn into office and run a massive purge in the first 100 days so that only “smart and disciplined” Filipinos could exist.
We limit our tagalog here,to respect the host. In other comment threads like that of the dailies,words like the tagalog of sanamabeach is still avoided as much as possible.
I was curious Karl about the meaning of the tagalog “sanamabeach”…… And then I realised what it is..Funny thing is..For Aussies, it’s an American phrase ( cuss word ? )..We don’t use SOB all all.
Migrants ( even Yanks ) need lessons when they come here about swearing Aussie style…It can be confusing if you are called a ‘bastard’.. It can be an insult.But it can mean you’re a mate…
🙂
You lucky bast….I must be careful now,I have never been suspended by Joe.Lance Corporal X,and Irineo already got a taste of it. 😃
Tone of voice is important here and probably everywhere…So if we keep it easy and friendly he might let it all go through to the keeper ..( as in catcher ) Not sure about Irineo..Does he play sports ?
I remember an anecdote of his about playing basketball when he was younger.Maybe football,but I am not sure.Is keeper a cricket term,or like a goal keeper in Foot ball (soccer in the US)
Yes, Bill, Irineo’s sports is kind of unique, but German girls like his kind of sports. It’s basketball in reverse. You see, Bill, Irineo is kind of weird, he shoot first and then dribble the balls, hehehehe.
In cricket the bowler bowls the ball to try and hit the wicket and get the batsman out.The batsman tries to block the ball and if possible hit the ball as far as possible..If he does this the batsman can ‘run’ to the other end ( the bowlers end ) and score runs..Also if a ball is bowled off line the batsman might let the ball simply go through to the wicket keeper who stands behind the wicket to catch any loose balls…
Letting something go through to the keeper has become a metaphor here meaning not responding to a challenge or in politics, a question..
Even more off topic : The above is the simple explanation..There are 3 major different forms of cricket played world wide in 16 countries : Test cricket played between countries played over 3 or 5 days ( !! ) Day night matches that start at 10.00 am & finish after each team has faced 50 overs (=300 bowls of the ball ); And finally 20/20 developed in India where each team faces only 20 overs ( = 120 bowls of the ball ) Usually all done in about 3-4 hours.
Cricket developed mostly in England in the 1810- 40’s after the USA became independent..So cricket was viewed there as quintessentially English & not American ..It never caught on there…The Yanks instead went on to develop baseball, basketball and Grid Iron football.. as national team sports.
I will try to watch a cricket game from start to finish,let me see I like it.
Sorry if I never let the Aussie idioms not go through the keeper.
try a 20/20 game..They are more exciting, big hitting games for spectators and shorter..The 3-5 day test matches call for a certain kind of ‘stamina’ which is obtained by drinking a lot of beer..Not clever !
Cricket players stand funny, like they have a bad case of hemorrhoids and are swatting at flies. Baseball players stand like lumberjacks, swinging an axe. Paul Bunyan played baseball, and so did Yogi Berra. No one ever brags that he played cricket as a kid because people might think he is a girl.
Gulp! 3-5 days Televized?
Yes Karl..National test matches are televised.. on one of the major commercial channels ( free to air ) from 10.00 am till 6.00 pm each day…And if it’s an Australia versus England that is for 5 days..And on radio and on Cable TV…At times it drives me nuts as I want to escape it all and can’t
I changed my mind. Maybe an hour is enough to familiarize me with the game.
Hahahaha. That dizzying pace too exhausting? Grown adults dressing funny and slapping at balls, then running between sticks.
Give it a go Karl..Look for a 20/20 match via Google…You might find after an hour that you want to watch the rest of the game…The 20/20 season is about to start in India with teams made up of local & international players. Players are paid amounts like $600,000 US for a 4-5 games…
Or for something soothing..just google for a test match on radio somewhere..I’m sure you will be asleep in minutes..I am !
22 men chasing after a leather ball between two goals… that is the satirical definition of soccer, called football in Continental Europe. Well I have watched men play street football in Lisbon, in the old Alfama port area, which has bred many a Portuguese football star.
Basketball I never was good enough – or maybe just too lazy – for tournaments. Just the street variant at the sports center near the Bonn defense ministry, on Sundays when I still hung out with Pinoys – it often was our way of overcoming the hangover from Saturday summer nights.
Famous comment by George Mikes (Hungarian immigrant to the UK) in his book “How to be an Alien” – “Europeans (Continentals) think love is a game. The English think cricket is a game”. 🙂
My hindsight is not even 20/20.If it can make sleep that fast,then its a go.
I love it Irineo.. He He he !!! But obviously said by an alien….Cricket for the English is too serious to be a game….Now religion ( as in Anglicanism ) that’s a game..A lovely opportunity for men to get all dressed up & do pomp & ceremonies…
“Famous comment by George Mikes (Hungarian immigrant to the UK) in his book “How to be an Alien” – “Europeans (Continentals) think love is a game. The English think cricket is a game”. :-)”—Irineo
Reply: In our place in Bicol, we think cricket is an insect, a grasshopper. No kidding.
kuliglig in tagalog.
Bert I will let that go ‘through to the keeper’..Where are you Joe ? 🙂
🙂