Manny, sex, orange socks and parades
Manny
I love Manny Pacquiao, as a boxer. I root for him even when he fights American boxers. He is always the good guy, skipping smiling and confident down the aisle and into the ring, the adoring crowd of Filipino fans raising the roof off the arena with cheers. His opponents are always serious, worried, nervous. They know they are about to get hit, and hit hard. Manny prays in the corner before being introduced. His mother is in the audience. His wife. He doesn’t taunt opponents. He doesn’t have to. They are already afraid.
Oh, Manny has lost some speed, punch and style since he was a young boxer and flew into opponents without restraint, a human weed whacker, and they all fell down. But he is a better boxer, careful, nifty, crafty, doing a fancy 90 degree side step that causes opponents to drop their defense for just an instant to discover where he went. Pow!
Manny changed his style after getting clocked by Marquez, or Diego, or one of those other Mexican boxers he uses as raw material in his business, the lucrative business of pounding people into a brain concussion.
But as a congressman, or basketball player, or moralist . . . Manny is not such a good guy. He is an egotist who leverages fame for more of it. He gives hints that those blows from Marquez or Diego or someone may have rattled his own cage and knocked loose a few transistors. He has few skills, either at law-writing or shooting the ball or preaching about sexual preferences.
But the people still adore him. It is the Filipino way, once love is granted. It comes with forgiveness attached, and people, who are also voters from time to time, forgive Manny for his incompetence, self-worship and bigotry.
Sex
Sex has three main meanings. One, it is our gender. I’m male. Two, it is our way of procreating. I’ve procreated four times and worked on it a lot more. Three. Doing two with no intention of procreating. That is, when two men or two women – or some other combination of genders – engage in activities that are meant for procreation, but they lack the intent and maybe even the equipment for achievement of same.
The Bible and other moral statutes find definition Three to be wrong. Or even abhorrent. They even find birth control measures to be abhorrent, and require only natural joining, for the purpose of procreation. They would rather that people breed like locusts and devour the planet rather than put up an artificial wall that allows pleasure but not babies.
Manny finds Three abhorrent, too, and cites the Bible as his authority to condemn those who engage in Three. Nevermind that he is a confessed adulterer and runs around with a political party founded on plunder. Adultery and stealing may be sins, but he grants himself forgiveness . . . and he forgives his party mates . . . but he grants it not to lesbians, gays, transgenders or bisexuals (LGTB).
Manny used the term “worse than animals” to describe his lack of appreciation for people who find enjoyment . . . or even love . . . in mixing and matching.
Orange Socks
The confusion arises because there is a part of the act of procreation that is . . . well . . . fun. Exciting. Fulfilling. Satisfying. Able to erase the problems we face in life for a brief interlude in pleasure.
Manny thinks we should have sex only for procreation. Well, the functional exercise of that goal would mean we would behave much as roosters do. Pile on. Shoot. Flap off.
But we are advanced animals. We can read and do rocket science and make electricity and computers. Roosters can’t do that. One cow purportedly jumped over the moon, but that was not verified as the dish ran away with the spoon, and the little dog laughed.
So people fall into a class of animal that can actually appreciate things like fun under the sun . . . or in the bedroom. And they appreciate it so much and so often that there is a rule . . . the Bedroom Rule . . . that says:
What goes on in the bedroom is nobody’s business as long as everyone is there of their own free will.
So in different bedrooms around the planet, we have boy girl, boy boy, girl girl, boy girl boy, girl girl boy, mirrors, toys, chains, odd clothing, and unmentionable goings on that best stay that way. You get the point.
Many Filipinos can’t afford bedrooms, but there is a rule here that says:
What goes on under the blanket is nobody’s business as long as everyone is there of their own free will.
There are a lot of blankets in the Philippines, and I personally see no reason to look under any of them to see what’s going on there.
Myself, I get high if I wear an orange sock on my left foot. I discovered this one winter day in a cabin in the Snowy Range of Wyoming when my partner’s attack was so sudden that I never got that ski sock off. Let me tell you, that is some kinky stuff. I’ve tried it on the right foot, and I’ve tried blue and green, but it is not quite the same.
You see, that’s the thing about sex. We each like it our own way.
And that’s cool.
Parades
Well, we’ve had a battle going on for some time now as the prudent Bible thumpers (some call them “prudes”) argue for straight sex, and the millions of people who are having fun argue “stay out of our bedroom”. And furthermore STOP DISCRIMINATING AGAINST US when we look for a job.
It has taken some time to wear away our natural prudish resistance to change in moral values, but huge progress has been made during recent years driven mainly by new laws in the United States that permit same sex marriage and allow self-professed gays and lesbians to serve in the US military.
The Philippines has not had to write those laws because much of the population has babies outside of wedlock . . . so who cares about marriage anyway. In the Philippines, it is a (legally) strange contract that has no reasonable termination provision (divorce), so some don’t want to get locked into a lifetime of pain if it doesn’t work out right. Furthermore, top entertainers are flamboyantly busy appealing to the same sex or any sex, what do they care. Filipinos just laugh about it all, demonstrating that happy overrules prudish any time.
But it is that flamboyance that is a bit of a problem because it is like saying:
We want to make what we do in our bedroom YOUR business.
Blow the referee’s whistle. FOUL!
Flaunting or holding flaming gay rights parades is pushing for unequal treatment, for favored treatment, it seems to me. It says we ought to give preference to those who are kinky (to most) and let them display their bedroom activities on a float cruising down Broadway.
So there is a rumple in the stiltskin and . . . in the spirit of accountability . . . the LGTB crowd ought not be as hypocritical as Manny about things. If what people do in the bedroom is private, maybe it is best to keep it that way.
But . . . in fact . . . we are free not to attend the parade.
That, too.
So to me, I just shrug and walk away. I have no interest whatsoever in what other people do in their bedrooms. Under their blankets. Or in parades. Or TV shows, with an on/off switch.
Conclusions
- Manny should get out of peoples’ bedrooms.
- Sex, definition Three, is here to stay.
- Definition Three with an orange sock on your left foot is fantastic.
- It’s best for LGTB advocates to be respectful of those who think differently than they do; they ought not break the Bedroom Rule as it encourages others to do the same.
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The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Clap clap clap! My Favorite line here ” Flaunting or holding flaming gay rights parades is pushing for unequal treatment, for favored treatment, it seems to me” I’ve felt/thought about this often too. Just like Gabriella, LGBT on its mission for equality, seems to try to get more out of the deal.
I have never seen this subject matter presented in this format. It’s hilarious and hard punching at the same time, and yet certainly not offensive no matter what’s your view.
Manny is a great guy, not just in his achievements, but more so in some great things he has done for his advocacy. Just look at the recent completion of the hundreds of homes he built for the poor in his district, all funded from his personal bank a/c. He walked the talk on that one. He likes to say God lives in his heart, but unfortunately he is not being told that he is alas just a mortal and that Congress and Senate is not the place him.
It is best that he serve as a private citizen and philanthropist than Congress and Senate, but he could’ve done that years ago. That’s why I’m following other boxers who are less dependent on ego.
I think a significant portion of Manny’s ego can be attributed to us, I believe. We raised him upon a pedestal and cheered him on for so long and so loudly. He is only human thus it got to him.
Ever since he started becoming a parvenu and his mother becoming involved in personal eccentric stunts on TV I stopped following him… It strongly too reminiscent of a reality-TV show about some egotistical rapper and his derriere-rich prize wife.
exactly!
Incredible !!! Only in the Phips can there be a version of Yeezey an Kimmie; better change those shoes you use Paksiw or momma dionneKris is going to shun you on the network ☺ Golly this makes me feel upchucking !!!!
“when my partner’s attack was so sudden that I never got that ski sock off. Let me tell you, that is some kinky stuff. I’ve tried it on the right foot, and I’ve tried blue and green, but it is not quite the same.”
I’m into morbidly obese women, and acts specifically involving lots of Twinkies, Joe.
I keep this stuff on the down low because I’m too self-conscious and actually weigh what others think of this “preference”.
My dream though is to move to a town with like minded guys, where they’ll be lots of obese women and Twinkies— maybe come up with a flag and vie for political power to get people to start accepting really obese women and Twinkies (in that order).
But, seriously though Joe (not that the above lament wasn’t serious) the only logical counter to Manny’s new found brand of Christianity is to question where exactly Jesus says he’s against gays.
Argue the ancient text.
The flipside is to re-define what being gay is, if it’s sexual only then keep that stuff private— just like obese women & Twinkies can’t be seen together in public, neither should homosexual activities;
if it’s more than sexual, ie. community or identity politics (which is what they are pushing), then they have to represent themselves well to other communities, ie. an MLK Jr. parade, or Chinese New Year parade, other “community” get-togethers around town, I and others, especially with family, can attend with no reservations,
but these Pride parades have guys in thongs swinging around dildos, WTF over? I’m Atheist/Agnostic, so I have no ancient sacred text to hide behind, but this stuff is not fucking cool…
Yep, keep it in the bedroom.
Thanks for the photo exclamation points. I think they make Pacquiao look wise.
Hmmmmm . . . twinkies, eh?
That pic? You hit the nail on its head. This country is still not ready and mature for displays like that one because conservatism still remains strong and widespread, I’m afraid.
Madlanglupa,
My point is that NO country should ever be (made) ready for that. There should be resistance to such non-sense, but not from Bible thumpers, decency arguments can be made easily w/out having to hide behind the Old Testament or Paul’s letters (nor the Qur’an).
Interestingly, the best way to counter these Pride parades are with scantily dressed women, it’s like Kryptonite to their gayness. You don’t stop Pride parades with verses from the Bible and quotes from God— that just serves to encourage them,
Not that, but this…
As far as benevolent treatment regarding the third sex, Thailand wins in the entire region, but their free speech is controlled now by the junta.
If my memory serves me right, in most cases, fiesta events involving homosexuals are often made out more like circus events, and of late gay santacruzans made the Catholic Church angry that they prohibited such events, seeing them as perversions of the original ritual. Perhaps such events can only be held in regions and city districts where liberalism and gender tolerance is commonplace and practiced.
There are regions in which indeed they could not run parades of that kind, especially down south in Mindanao where homosexuality is regarded as haram; I recall an urban tale about a gay pageant that was accursed by a rampaging tornado, which was also seen as a form of divine punishment.
Which is why I say this country is still not ready for full-time liberalism of sexuality, gender preferences, freedom of choice and expression — true education is much needed first for children — and parents — to understand how and why they do it, and what they do that for.
About 40% (or was it 60%?) of us Filipinos are still living in a convent.
There seems to be a very high birth rate in the Filipino convent….The nuns are failing to patrol the rooms at night Must be watching Manny on TV : -)
“Go forth and multiply,” as sayeth.
But surely not in the celebate convents Madlanglupa !!..Or are you speaking from experience here ?
🙂
How the Church are running things, they protect the sanctity of life. /s
The “living in the convent” phrase came from a quote attributed to the late writer Nick Joaquin, who said it that we lived “300 years in the convent, 50 years in Hollywood” to describe our half-damaged culture.
Given that many Catholics are still seen inverting their umbrellas to juke the heavens for blessings in Brother Mike’s Sunday assemblies, venerating richly garbed Sto. Ninos (what’s with the fondness for a baby Jesus among grown-ass believers anyway?), lionizing the Black Nazarene in the Traslacion which is an obviously folk ritual (but which priests gladly offer as indisputable evidence of renewal), and the predisposition to mount Last Supper rugs in dining rooms, should we now argue that Filipinos are not even ready for public displays of Catholicism yet? So that, you know, heretics like me could be better educated about the strange lifestyle of majority believers…
Fifty shades of Grey.Ach😡😱 Falling in love with a sadist. Modern day Maquis de Saad.So you wont tell anyone,you have to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
When the time comes that sadists fight for Their rights of freedom to be sadistic,To hell with them!😡😡😡😡😡
Joe, do not be hard on Manny Paquiao. Since he got a sleeper from Marquez he was never the same. Some screws were loosened and never was tightened. I do not mean he was intelligent. He never was. But it got loosened some more. I blame Marquez.
As we all know, boxing is education-optional skills honed in prison rumbles and street fights. Hunger, employment-challenged, no work-skills made them resort to boxing. Boxing is sports-as-employment of last resort just to put food on the table. It is sports of aminals and criminals with long rap sheets.
Voila! Manny Pacquiao got lucky ! With the help of his God he became a champion. In return, Manny Pacquiao supported God who supported him. He uttered the word of God. That LGBT are animals!
Manny is not on the hot seat, It is his God on the hot seat. It is not about Manny … IT IS ABOUT GOD !!! If they hate what Manny said, therefore, they hate God. God has no mercy. Hell is God’s punishment. There is no reprieve. No early release for good behavior. It is everlasting torment and agony. Hell is designed not to reform souls but to inflict devilish pain.
HELL IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT !
In my country, America, Priests never ever had utter the word “HELL” in their sermon because it is CRUEL and UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT! My government has a law against it. My government find HELL abhorrent. It is a violation of HUMAN RIGHTS !!! INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS !!!
HELL and ANIMALS are only mentioned in sermons in the Philippines because majority of the people there still cannot comprehend that it is violation of inherent human rights.
Manny, I forgive you. You are only the messenger of your cruel God. Satan is good. Satan is ugly. Satan is caricatured not like Piolo. He never had parents. Satan never made Hell, God did. Satan never fights back, God does. Satan is not jealous, God is. Satan is meek and the meek shall inherit the earth.
Check out your insurance policy wordings, ACTS OF GOD is not covered. What is ACTS OF GOD? According to Lloyds of London, the insurer of all insurance companies in the world it is calamities like Earthquake, Yolanda, Pinatubo, Krakatoa East of Java, etcetera …
Today with the pleadings from the Vatican ACTS OF GOD is now rephrased as “UNFORSEEN EVENTS” “NATURAL DISASTERS” but it is still Acts of God however they call it.
God is angry at Manny. Manny said “he is just quoting Leviticus”. Meaning, Manny is blaming God !!! I thought Manny got not brain, he got brain after all. He not only knows how to throw jabs but also knows how to throw blame !!!
I forgive you Manny. It is time to switch religion. Come to Papa.
Middle-Eastern created religions is a violent religion. East Asia Religions are peaceful religion. East Asia Religions never force anyone to believe in their God. I suggest Manny join their religion or mine.
“Manny is not on the hot seat, It is his God on the hot seat. It is not about Manny … IT IS ABOUT GOD !!! “
Preach on, brother MRP, Preach on!!! 😉 Praise be to God (but which version, Jesus’, Paul’s or the Old Testament?).
Lookit God’s eyes! Noticed that? What about his fingers when he pointed to the sky? Jesus loves gay! It is the author of Leviticus that made people hate Gays.
Never heard of Leviticus until Manny quoted it. I thought there were 5 authors of the Bible and now we have Leviticus?
If people are judged what they do behind closed doors in the dark, NOBODY CAN GO TO HEAVEN !!! HONEST! CROSS MY HEART !!! Because what they do in the bedroom is clinically dirty, psychologically abhorrent, more gross than gays doing it and it is not sanctioned by God.
So, people, SEE YOU ALL IN HELL !!!!
“(but which version, Jesus’, Paul’s or the Old Testament?).”
Which Constitution shall apply: 1935, 1973 or 1987?
My bedroom has no crucifixes, buddha or any form that represents God. What I do in my bedroom is my business and no one’s business.
God may be powerful but GOD IS OFF LIMITS in my bedroom, in my house, in my life. I am free. I am liberated. Regardless, I am still the nicest guy around. The life of party. What I do is because of me 100%. I answer my own prayers because I pray to myself. I am God. God to myself. I adore myself.
Love yourselves people!
Love your country second!
your family!
your iPhone!
.
.
.
God last.
Love your flat noses first. If your nose is not flat love your height. I am short. The Cubans say the best thing that the Spanish brought to their country is the mulata, the Spanish-black mixture. Now the Spanish tourists are coming and can take the mulatas back with them, they say.
https://archive.org/stream/philippinescentu00riza/philippinescentu00riza_djvu.txt- Rizal said:
It is useless to answer certain objections of some fine writers regarding the rather brown skins and faces with somewhat wide nostrils. Questions of taste are peculiar to each race. China, for example, which has four hundred million inhabitants and a very ancient civilization, considers all Europeans ugly and calls them “fan-kwai,” or red devils. Its taste has a
hundred million more adherents than the European. Moreover, if this is the question, we would have to admit the inferiority of the Latins, especially the Spaniards, to the Saxons, who are much whiter.
I have a friend who is Saxon, East German, who told me once that I am still a headhunter deep inside of me. All Filipinos have in fact, a headhunter deep inside of them. I was angry when I was told that, but we must love the headhunter inside us too. That headhunter who has in varying degrees only partly understood the lessons the Aztecs (Mexicans), Latins (Spanish) and Saxons (Americans) gave us – Christianity, justice and democracy. There is a satire about Pacquiao that says, I paraphrase it:
In the Bible, it says thou shalt not covet they neighbor’s wife. Did I ever have anything with the wives of my neighbors? No, and most of my affairs were with women that have no husbands so I am even more without sin.
In the Bible, it says thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s property? Does Binay live beside the Makati City Hall? Did he steal from his neighbors? No, he has even given them cake to eat!
In the FCLC Facebook group, I posted the article of Ellen Tordesillas about how Manny said: I am building the houses for people in Sarangani with my own money, that is why I need the salary from Congress or else I will have no more money left or similar. She condemns that.
A woman from Mindanao shared it with this comment: “this posting says Manny is getting money from Congress, but that is OK, he is doing is job by helping his us, his own people.”
Caliphman has understood what I am telling everybody – the common people have a different way of thinking. They have assimilated the values of conquerors the least and still have tribal values. Some really have conquerors values like I wrote in my article about The Accidental nature. Some use the partially understood values of conquerors – Christianity (Pacquiao), justice (many anti-Poe posters on CPM) or democracy (many Senate politicians) as weapons to knock off the heads of members of other tribes in order to win. Igorots are at least more honest.
What is funny about Manny’s Mispoke was when Manny said LGBTs are ANIMALS there was a LULL. Irresponsibly Religious Filipinos clappity-clap-clap. When Americans were OUTRAGED ! Filipinos attacked Manny Pacquiao for being insensitive …
Here is another example … CHARICE PEMPENCO … Charice was botoxed by her handlers at the age of 15-years-old for Glee, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen deGeneres appearances. INQUIRER bannered her botox as cool and classy. When Americans wind out about her botox at a very early age, WE WENT UP IN ARMS …. I mean we Americans … Instantly the Filipinos burn the internet chatter criticiizing Pemepenco.
Filipinos need guidance. If it were not for Americans, Filipinos would still be clappity-clap-clap on Manny’s Gay slur and Charice Pempenco’s botox. Surreally, Filipinos can only know if Americans speaks and they listen.
During the Sottocopy scandal,did we react only when the Americans reacted?
Yes, Filipinos did. Filipinos thought it was a genius speech. Filipinos cannot know because they use internet to Facebook, Twitter and Selfies until Americans questioned Sotto.
It is like the Vizconde Massacre http://opinion.inquirer.net/93064/filipino-tragedy . Vizconde Massacre has all the thumbprint of Binay and PDAF investigation gone wrong.
Two decades ago fastforward to this day Filipinos still have not learned have to preserve evidences. One sad thing is they ASKED Hubert Webb where he was during the commission of the crime, they never asked U.S. Immigration if he was in the U.S. – A CLASSIC CASE OF FILIPINOSITIS.
… and do not forget Grace Poe. By virtue of her pronouncing she renounced her U.S. citizenship without them knocking on U.S. embassy door if she really renounced her citienship instead of ASKING her.
There is something wrong … really really really wrong. It is learning disability.
Filipinositis-you had a Filipinochtomy?
> Vizconde Massacre
Lauro was gone a week ago.
Where were you while this case was still being heard? Or you only learned about this after the fact?
I learned some of them after the fact. I did not really follow Vizconde massacre because I know the Filipinos would screw it up and it was screwed.
This was a case between brown-skin-punk’d nose Filipino commoner VERSUS the tisoys-tisays-mestizo-moneyed-colonist class.
And who won? Of course, the MESTIZO CLASS AS USUAL? The loser? You guessed it right the Filipinos.
In Miss Universe, who actually won? THE MESTIZO HALF-BRED HALF-WHITE ENGLISH-SNOBS or THE BROWN-SKIN PUNK’D NOSE ENGLSIH-CHALLENGED FILIPINOS?
MRP, you are talking complete crap this time. Most of the Filipinas who married Germans in the late 1980s were Visayans, looked down upon by the Luzonian first batch of mostly nurse migrants and their mostly jack-of-all-trades husbands. I know from personal experience – I was the one processing the applications of most Filipinas and their often South German husbands at the Embassy in the late 1980s, I wrote the programs to speed up processing and also did many of the interviews and accepted papers. I myself was sometimes the English and Tagalog snob who was irritated by them at first, while the attaches and consuls inside were the typical government elitists who usually thought the applicants were “tanga” = stupid, and I sometimes was even impatient with the South Germans whose dialect I did not yet understand at that time. Mr. Wurtzbach and his future wife may have been among the applicants I was nasty to then, me, the former senorito whose fride chicken was slowly eaten away by more understanding.
One reason why Filipinos in Germany stay more Filipino than Filipinos in English-speaking countries is that their English, if they have it, is not much of an advantage. And Germany has only recently become more inclusive, and is backtracking again nowadays – an African migrant once said a stick can never become a snake even if it lies in the water for a long time. AND the Filipino elite often looks down upon migrants in Europe as “atsay” = maids and bride which is often the majority while the more educated usually go to USA or English-speaking countries. Take this from someone who has seen both sides of discrimination – and also discriminating, stop playing the hero of the “kayumanggi” Filipinos and at the same time discriminating against Filipino attitudes. I know how bitterness can feel, and that bitterness can lead to hatred, and Edgar has correctly called you a hater. Only overcoming one’s own victimhood through confidence can vanquish hatred, and Pia is confidently beautiful, inclusive and never was a victim nor was she a hater, even if her life wasn’t easy, she never fell into the Maui Taylor trap.
Pia’s mother was a simple person from Cagayan de Oro, the Visayans see her as one of their own and NOT as a snobbish mestiza. Just like Marian Rivera is seen by Filipinos as one of their own – her mother was a simple worker in Spain. So cut that old school bullshit, MRP.
Katipuneros often cut off the noses of Spanish saints in Churches. Those days are over.
The entitled attitude can also be shown by totally dark people like the Binays. So things are not as simple anymore as in the 1960s where there were still many Spanish mestizos who ruled. Guess what: hordes of them left in the 1970s if they could get Spanish citizenship by virtue of being able to prove Spanish descent because the reverse racism of the Marcos era sucked. Those who stayed were either very patriotic like Ortigas – why would he fund Heneral Luna if he were not – and Ayala who has developed a lot of things in the country AND earned money. Sorianos you don’t here about much anymore, they had their family branches in Spain where they also have the other San Miguel if I am not mistaken, they were never that patriotic but that was their choice good they made it. The majority of moneyed families are now Chinoys, in the 1960s I think Henry Sy was still shining shoes, most probably in a sando like the poor Chinese before. He started selling shoes beside his shoeshining bench. At some point he opened ShoeMart which evolved into SM. Not just talk and talk. And with modesty, STEP BY STEP.
“I did not really follow Vizconde massacre” did you follow the Paco Llaranaga case?
Witnesses said he was in Manila but he was convicted of murder/rape in Cebu without any real evidence, and not even the flight records were checked.
Oh no, I guess you did not follow that case. Paco is a mestizo Spaniard, a normal one not one of the rich contrabida mestizos. But by definition he was bad and had to be convicted I guess.
What is appalling in the Philippines is indeed how badly stuff is investigated and how unpredictable the justice system is. Still much like the Spanish inquisition Spain no longer has.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiong_murder_case
It is even worse than I thought: Airline and airport personnel also came to court with their flight records, indicating that Larrañaga did not take any flight on July 16, 1997, nor was he on board any chartered aircraft that landed in or departed from Cebu during the relevant dates, except the 5 p.m. PAL flight on July 17, 1997 from Manila to Cebu.
No forensic evidence I imagine… just one witness account by a certain Rusla who proved to have a criminal record. There was not even a formal identification of the body found it was just assumed that it was one of the sisters killed. But the family is looking for a culprit and there has to be a human sacrifice I guess whether guilty or not – that is the reputation of the Philippine justice system in many quarters, and there are more cases than just Vizconde around. Sorry.
Re Vizconde massacre — I can’t write comedy, but there was something very humourous in a court decision so I’ll just write in plain English.
Webb said he was in US and he had passport to prove it. The court rejected the passport as evidence — and the reason? The defence could not bring the authority of the US visa signatory as witness. The defence could not bring then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to give evidence !!!
Sometimes Philippines’ courts make me laugh. By extension of that decision, all Philippines pesos are invalid — if we cannot produce those signatories to the witness stand.
I am not surprise about Manny’s view on LGBT, This guy is an idiot, he became very greedy for attention too, he wanted to be everything big from singers, basketball coach, Baby Jesus messenger, politician, everything everything….. I never see such greed.
We have the mentality of “seeking attention” & normally the people from nothing when they see an opportunity they will never stop for such crave for power. Imelda is a perfect example.
This kind of greed in the Philippine society is what makes the country so poor, feeding the greed is what makes people steal or destroying philosophy rather than promoting better ideas. Or protecting your buddies to stay in control.
I start to dislike the guy very much, I don’t base my “Proud to Be Pinoy” philosophy by adoring Manny, there are so much thing we can be proud to be Filipino.
Ah, very good, James. I had not noticed the similarity in paths to that of the famous singer and beauty queen who rose to rule a nation behind her husband. Unrestrained, untempered, uneducated, pretend-humble ambition. They are a lot alike, now that you mention it.
Let us go to the inventors, of civilization, the Greeks and what the police detectives of Baltimore (The Wire) have to say about them:
What he did was stupid.I still do not see him as an egotist.He still has good qualities.His association with Binay,I do not like.I hate his attendance record or should I call it absence record.I won’t ridicule his beliefs,just as long as he stops his tendencies of hatred and bigotry.
And please do not aspire to be president,one day. That would be a worse nightmare than Binay.
What is it when a man is a champion in one sport, he inserts himself as player and coach in a basketball league and aspires for the Senate after having largely failed as a representative? What is the quality of character that pushes for more and more? It seems self involved to me, or hallucinations of grandeur.
I am reminded about CNP’s description of Imelda as a “star” wanting to be more than just a first lady, but to be a center of attention, a plenipotentiary who could do more.
http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/4/14/8416511/manny-pacquiao-run-for-president-philippines
Bob Arum says he wants to be president.
concussion trauma.
Manny Pacquiao tried to emulate shock-and-awe Donald Trump and he failed miserably. This goes to show what is written in the Bible is not what it is because Americans only pick the good ones from the bible and bad ones into the trash.
That is why we do not pray in school or promote religion.
LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender) has been the catchall phrase replacing the outdated “third sex” term. However, even “LGBT” is, I found out, sorely limited in scope. Not too long ago a troubled teener referred to her gender identity as “non-binary”. I hadn’t heard of it so I googled it. The variety boggles the mind. Facebook lists 51 different shades of gay ..http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/15/the-complete-glossary-of-facebook-s-51-gender-options.html
Another link … http://genderqueerid.com/gq-terms
Interesting. My point of view on it is that I know what I enjoy and don’t, and others are different. I can’t imagine why I should impose my way on them, or why they think I should do it their way. Some are explorers, others are not. There is plenty of room for everybody.
Good that the Internet can transmit words, pictures and sounds but not smell.
I don’t want to know how that orange sock of yours smells OK at least it is clean.
I terribly feel that Manny is a big lost for Philippines, He is so powerful that he can make huge impact for change, a peaceful revolution we need through education, we don’t need to worry about the likes of Enrile, Binay, Singson & all the Crooks ( we all knew who they are) they will all die anyway but we need the new generation a different approached of educating them, the mentality that is not just learning how to be a skilled worker but it has to do with the inside, minds & souls.
If I could only imagine Manny not being to extreme about religion advocating about responsible parenthood, on his own not associated with crooks, serving the Philippines even without a politician. The Philippines need a very powerful revolutionary leader, a leader that could move mountains, it’s very easy to get rid of the bad culture that slow down our progress like the “Pakikisama, Pasikat, Utang Na lob, Ningas Cogon, etc., if our leaders set an example.
Retain the good aspects of the culture and slowly get rid of the bad aspects and habits by acquiring new habits one at a time starting with oneself is the recipe. Teach others by words but most especially by example. Good examples can be contagious like viruses as well.
> The Philippines need a very powerful revolutionary leader
There is one claiming to become what you describe, yet in reality he is, sad to say, very erratic, shoots his mouth off, speaks of promises by the bushel, criminals and undesirables are insects to him that must be killed immediately, and that makes him a very frightening personage, along with a seemingly devoted following.
I see Singson in the ring in with Pacman all the time. Wonder if Manny learns stuff from Singson?
It is not as if gays are not accepted in our society. They are. Immensely so. Vice Ganda and Boy Abunda would not be big celebrities, raking in moolah and counting twitter followers in the millions if Filipinos were as close-minded as the Christian backlash in support of Manny suggests. But while they enjoy the wit and creativity of gays, they do place no-go areas.
In my younger days, Holy Week was always beach time at a particular place. This place is famous or notorious, depending on your viewpoint, for its summer gay crowd. With the local parish, it was a live-and-let-live situation. No calling of animals on both sides here. In one of those many years, the gay community decided to have its “Miss Gay Puerto Galera” on Good Friday. Shit exploded. Most of the gays were not locals and failed to perceive the underlying community values. The event was cancelled. Things eventually settled down, and gay or any other beauty contests have never been proposed on those holy days ever since, as far as I know.
From my limited perspective, I’ve always wondered about the gay and women’s rights movements in the Philippines. They are noisy, yes, but have never really captured the numbers and the passion exhibited in other countries, say the US. A large part of this disinterest springs from the fact that these groups do not really face large scale and official oppression/repression in this country. Yes, incidents of bullying, taunting and outright oppression occurs but not in the magnitude of an Afghanistan, a Pakistan or a Bangladesh.
Poe’s candidacy has received much criticism for her being being an American, not for being a woman. Cory, too, was not disrespected by some for her gender but for her inexperience. Vice and Boy, as well as many entertainers and professionals of their genre, while being called out by a similarly small but boisterous movement of fundamentalists, enjoy wide popularity and acceptance.
Our Filipino society is respectful towards women and tolerant towards gays. Many foreigners I have worked with in the NGO community have told me this, and applaud us for it.
But this attitude has balances, and once in a while the scale gets tilted. For the most part, the celebrity gays know where those tipping points are and know when not to push their luck too far. I’ve never heard of a strong, credible push for same-sex marriage here. Even gays acknowledge that such an idea is not currently feasible.
But as gays have limits, the other side should know that they too have limits which our society will not let them cross. That is why gays and non-gays alike have put up large numbers to condemn Pacquiao’s statements of hate and intolerance. Just as the Catholic church will expectedly raise a protest against Good Friday gay pageants, gays, too, will not meekly say amen when they are called worse than animals.
Big YES, typhoon. I observe the same differences in PH & USA. Must be the difference between having an extended-family culture vs individualistic culture. These reflected in the group and community dynamics.
I just happened to read an article on German Huffington Post today… that coming-out for LGBTs is still very hard in German rural areas but no problem at all in the cities.
Reminds me of what a deceased Lower Bavarian friend (Lower Bavaria is the epitome of village culture combined with Catholicism) told me: “what do you mean the Philippines is tribal? Everywhere is tribal if you look at the roots of mankind.” Americans are simply those who left their original (mostly European, Joe is Saxon) tribes for a completely new country. In most of Eastern Europe, where there was hardly any of the migration Western Europe experienced, expect more tribal dynamics – just look at ex-Yugoslavia. And nearly no tolerance for LGBT.
Exceptionally well said. I definitely agree that Philippine norms are, in the main, more sensible than the prudery that rules elsewhere. There is no hiding and very little flaunting of one’s sexual proclivities. Straight males and females actually do more flaunting, when you consider the various advertisements on television featuring handsome or even violent men, along with women who for sure are highly decorative.
There are anthropological/historical accounts that testify to how Spanish priests had to tolerate native (Pacific island aka Captain Cook) sexuality to not completely lose their target audience.
The old ways never truly went under, they just survived under another paint coating. Don’t so many young Filipinos get married when the girlfriend gets pregnant? Among Igorots pregnancy was a requirement to get married, my father once said in the fake Catholic Philippines, parents pretend to be shocked because that is what they have to do, but actually they are happy. And there are some comments, more concerned than hostile that I have seen about a posting on Mar and his dog – bakit, hindi ba makabuo si Korina? Why, can’t Korina have children? Korina getting pregnant and joining campaigns would for sure win so many Filipinos at emotional level. Filipino culture has been described as Malay but that is not fully accurate – it is highly unique, a mixture of Malay and Pacific culture with touches of Mexico plus some Spanish+American paint.
There will come a time bot so far from now that having sex with animals will become just a normal sex and all other fetishes or pervertion not to mention adult incest. Just like the Constitutional Right to Sodomy that was signed in Texas.
I understand the fear of the traditional moralists – where do you draw the line of the old lines set by the Bible are crossed? I know an old-fashioned German (the Penal Code prohibition in German law against homosexual relations was only abolished late 1960s or early 1970s) who says that all gays are also paedophiles, same perversion. Joe provides the rational resolution – as long as there is FULL CONSENT in the bedroom everything is OK. Children/minors are not mature enough to give consent to anything, neither are animals able to give their consent.
The Church also had its reasons for not accepting sex just for fun – maybe they wanted people, in the age of no available contraception, to always bear the possible consequences of sex in mind. Being against gays? Israel needed children to have many people and defend itself against the other groups in the Middle East even then, it was one group killing the other over there. And many children died even in the 19th century due to the many diseases so it was the strategy to have many so at least a few survived – also as a form of social security before. The discussions about abortion and prostitution are still very tough topics. Who needs to abort nowadays with reproductive health available? But Mother Theresa who demanded that rape victims don’t abort unwanted embryos? That is lack of compassion, and way too rigid morality.
By way of anecdote and example which I have been encouraged to use for clarity, I am reminded that sailors on the old wooden ships out at sea had sex with sheep as an accepted norm, so sexual mores are indeed situational or cultural. I would also note that we eat animals, which is considerably more hostile to the poor beasts. We ordinarily don’t eat children, although such may be in the genes of certain headhunters hearabouts, and my idol Jonathan Swift once proposed that Ireland eat her babies to reduce poverty, thus incenting leaders there to mighty fine quick pass new laws taking better care of the poor. All of this confirms your point that where the lines are drawn is a matter of some delicacy, and none of us is God, that I am aware of, so we ought not be too high and mighty about the drawing of them if no one is harmed.
Which reminds me, they eat dogs hereabouts, a fact sure to jolt those with a filial fondness toward their dear pets.
Roxas supporters have their dogs in the house – only rich people did that over 30 years ago.
Poe supporters keep them in the garage – the traditional way I am quite familiar with.
Duterte supporters kill dogs they don’t like, and are nice to those that they like.
Santiago supporter throw stones at dogs – something I am also familiar with.
Binay supporters most probably eat dogs… enough of stereotypes for now.
Haha, you are hot today, and Marcos supporters orate to their dogs.
Reminds me of the howling dog choirs on some hot nights in UP Diliman Area I. One of the dogs, the “alpha” I guess started howling, and all dogs in garages started howling with him. The alpha was not my dog Pogi, nor was it my brother’s dog Tom Jones, so it probably was the dog of the barangay captain. I liked the contented croaking of the frogs in the garden after heavy rains much more, one frog with the biggest bass starting and the rest following his lead.
Because of this experience, I prefer frogmatism to dogmatism any day.
My dog was also named Pogi.Half German Sheperd,Half native.
American Bulldog Named Tupac 🙂
My brother’s dog was Sputnick. Thoroughly mongrel with trace of pit bull. My son’s and DIL’s is Zoe, Lhasa Apso.
The frog with the biggest bass that started the croaking was the bull that had put on his orange stocking calling the lasses to come one come all.
There are many pet dog owners in our condominium bldg., seems all breeds. Also cats no more than two. A marina nearby has a reserved area for pet wading. Sometimes there are so many of them. I wondered if they could speak and while socializing, say: “I’m extra obedient so I won’t be eaten. My owner is Filipino.” 🙂
🙂
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-3156.2012.00750.x/abstract
It all starts with a PHD dissertation.
A rights approach to sexual fetishes for those with learning disabilities.
Yes, nephew. Civilization can come to mean ‘vale todo’?
vale tudo was the precursor to mma. Then came the Gracie challenge.What am I talking about? Well,all’s fair in love and war.
Ummmmmmm ! Oh Karl! In a world where all the world’s reseach is online, there is some which I think is so bizarre that it is better ignored and forgotten about. I wonder of public education fund were spent in the thesing of this thesis…What a pity if it was ..I hope no Filipinos need to read such research..
It is really vale tudo in the internet,the aflfuent can afford cyber nanny apps.Those in computer rentals must have self discipline.
So on the nose, Joe. Reminds me of Freud’s triad of ID-EGO-SUPEREGO. 🙂 Obviously I see this piece as an observation on the workings of the ID as the predominant gestalt of Manny and us. (Pardon the mixed metaphor) Maybe the national ID should listen more to the other two during this election.
Sex has three main meanings. One, it is our gender. I’m male. Two, it is our way of procreating. I’ve procreated four times and worked on it a lot more. Three. Doing two with no intention of procreating.
Three people in line have to fill up a form, and enter their sex: M(ale) or F(emale)
1. A woman enters F of course.
2. A man enters M very clearly.
3. Erap enters M-W-F (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)
Snort, chuckle
POSSIBLE IMPACT OF LGBT VOTES ON PACQUIAO
Other than think only of sex — somehow age takes its toll — I play with arithmetic or numbers. Joe, arithmetic can be fun too.
As an example of lack of civility and inclusion is Pacquiao’s crude statement using the phrase “worse than animals” (“masahol pa sa mga hayop”); and causing some backlash to the Pambansang Kamao. It may cause a possible loss of the desired Senate Seat and future hoped-for Presidency.
Here is my numbers-mind working:
In its Feb 5-7 survey, SWS placed Pacquiao at 8th place with a number of 35. The 12th place is occupied by both Guingona and Gordon with a tied-number of 26. At 13th place is Gatchalian with 23.
Now please note that a respondent or actual voter can list from 1 to a maximum names of 12 in his preferred list of Senators. SWS’ February survey statistics, however, shows an average number of senators listed as 7.1 (comparable to September, December, January averages of 7.4, 7.8, 7.9, respectively). Instead of 7.1. Let me use the rounded 7 in what follows.
Thus, the numbers attached to the Senators in the SWS survey are essentially numbers corresponding to “virtual” voters of 7 times the actual number of potential voters — such virtual voters voting in a one vote-one Senator way. This means that if the number of voters is, say, 100, the virtual number of voters is 700 in a one vote-one Senator way.
Now for the assumptions and arithmetic. What is the percentage of LGBT in the population? In the US, it is suppose to range from 5% to 10%. In one link, a survey showed 11% of Filipinos in the age range 15-24 reported having non-heterosexual sex. Let us take the conservative 5% as LGBTs in the Philippines and assume that the registered voters reflect the same proportion.
Let us assume further that 20% of the LGBT will vote for Pacquiao before the fiasco. 20% of 5 is 1%. But the virtual LGBT voters voting for him (before the fiasco) is 1 times 7 or 7. Subtract 7 from the number 35 Pacman got in the February survey and we get 28 — near the 12th placer of 26. With the additional loss of potential voters not going to him from the heterosexual relatives-friends of these LGBT voters, his number can become below the 12th placer threshold; and he is out of the Senate.
If instead of 20% we take 30% of potential LGBT voters lost to him, his 35 number becomes
35 – (30% x 5% x virtual multiplier of 7 = 11 rounded) and this number 35 becomes 24. With the loss from the relatives-friends of these voters the number can go much lower, say 20 — and this is much lower than the 12th placer threshold of 26.
Q.E.D.
Caveat — I am not holding my breathe though. In this land of fun which is the Philippines, one never knows what fun we will have in the journey to May 2016. (I had fun doing the numbers.)
Ahaha, yes, numbers CAN be fun. Manny’s stand is just so hard. Even the Pope has compassion in his, but Pacquiao, none. I suspect he will get hammered next poll. But I think most of the critics would not have voted for him anyway, so I’m guessing he’ll still be a senator.
Pity.
By the time we get to May, all would have been forgotten and forgiven.
Im sorry my comment did not go through. Next time.
I sincerely hope that at some point before the elections, we will all come to the conclusion that we’ve got to do what is best for the country, not merely for ourselves. And the latest Pulse Asia Survey is very encouraging in that regard: When asked what was the most important consideration in choosing a presidential candidate, the runaway choice was “untarnished character/reputation, not corrupt.” Ethical. Marangal.
Solita Monsod
Of late, seems that Batista is short of grabbing him by the lapels and throw him around.
http://www.tmz.com/2016/02/20/dave-bautista-manny-pacquiao-idiot-gay/
There is nothing wrong with having religious beliefs, the problem is if Pacquio wins, he’s gonna be making legislation based on his RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, which violates the separation of church and state (Philippines is a secular country).
Imagine if Jacel Kiram (Pacquio’s senatorial running mate, a Muslim) wins as a senator, how would you feel if she passes a law that would ban pork and all pork products in the country because IT IS AGAINST HER RELIGIOUS BELIEF. Or what if what if a Jehovah’s Witness happens to win a legislative position, and passes a law that would ban blood transfusion because IT IS AGAINST THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEF.
It is ok for the church to refuse any marriage rites to a couple not meeting their category. It is ok for a Halal restaurant to refuse service of a pork dish. Although having taken an oath and mandated by law to do any means necessary to save a life, a medical worker can stop blood transfusion on a Jehovah’s Witness (medical bracelet or living will, etc) . It is not discrimination.
It is discrimination, however, to force everybody to conform based on a belief that they don’t share. Divorce is illegal in the Philippines by virtue of it being not allowed in the Catholic church. But not everybody in the Philippines is Catholic.
Philippines is a multicultural, multi-religious country. Separation of church and state exist to protect people from being forced to conform to a law that was made based on a religious belief that they do not share.
Right, with Sotto and Legarda they will represent a core of fundamentalism that will do things like strip RH of funding,and what do they care about the poor who are worried about the Zika virus anyway. They’ve had their kids.
Right, with Sotto and Legarda they will represent a core of fundamentalism that will do things like strip RH of funding,and what do they care about the poor who are worried about the Zika virus anyway. They’ve had their kids.
Could all those who want divorce establish & join a new “Secular Muslim” church ? The they could divorce at will in the Philippines..As Muslims are covered by special sharia law which allows divorce…An interesting proposition or an enormous joke ! Whichever it could make the catholic clergy think again…
An actor named Robin Padilla converted to Islam.
Karl I hope he converted for the ‘right’ reasons…:-)
Voila! He left his wife and married another.
Actually Catholics and Muslims are so divergent as regards divorce. For Catholics it’s NO NO NO. For Muslims, the husband can divorce the wife by simply saying to her “I divorce thee” 3 times. Some Muslims are challenging this liberty by communicating the 3 little words via text.
Debate 01 Sub Thread!!! Anybody else watching?
Binay: Didnt answer the first question
Miriam: Sorry but a President’s responsibility is far from that of a Senator
Duterte: Didnt understand
Grace: Sorry but same as Miriam.
Mar: People dont care about a 100 Billion contract. They care that they are tired going to work everyday.
The “strong leadership” vocal candidates are cheered most loudly.
Personal assessment. There were two big winners, two little winners, and one loser. 🙂 I thought the commercials were terrible in a public service program, and the game show style of hosting made it seem like it wasn’t a serious matter. It would have been nice to have more face to face interaction.
A man who wants not to underspend,but wants to eliminate income tax for those earning 30,000 and below.A man who claims to be decisive and was proud to say that Makati was drug free during his watch.What a liar! 😡 Anti dynasty might be in the constitution,but no enabling law so what is wrong?WTF no to Binay!What a Clown! 😡😡😡😡😡😡
http://www.ellentordesillas.com/2016/02/12/candidates-define-campaign-in-kick-off-rallies/
Tordesillas does not only surprise Caliphman, she also irritates me with stuff like this:
If only the evidence of corruption against Vice President Jojo Binay were not overwhelming, I would consider voting for him in the May election simply because of his promise that those earning P30,000 a month (annual income of P360,000) and below will be exempted from paying income tax…
Binay is wise for targeting these group of indignant voters. To those who doubt if that could be done without sacrificing public services, he said at his campaign kick-off rally at Welfareville in Mandaluyong City Tuesday, that the government is losing billions of pesos due to unabated smuggling, inefficient tax collection, and improper use of public funds. He said that his government would prioritize reversing that situation so as not to add to the burden of the Filipino workers.
I smell a variant on the Erap strategy of getting gambling earnings for himself and giving the people a bit of the loot… but this time towards smuggling lords and some Customs friends. “Regularize” some systems with himself at the top maybe… now what would the Greeks say?
No one could beat the inventors of democracy and all the ocracies.
He might turn out to be a genius or a buffoon.I am sure he will raise Vat,if not he is a proven charlatan.
What MDS said about the Estate tax may be true,me nagbabayad ba non? Might as well scrap it.
Ellen is a good person,when my dad introduced me to her,she interrupted and said we are friends on facebook,to me that is cool.mababaw lang naman ako eh.
I think she is a good person, too, but her hostility toward President Aquino is irrational. Or it reflects agenda. I tend to think the former, a bitterness somewhere in history that is very deep.
Hi Karl! “… me nagbabayad ba non?” Meron. Being in a position to provide funds for estate-tax payment, I know that Filipinos are aware of such a tax and are compliant. I would even venture to say that, yes, income tax should be scrapped for those earning a certain level of income, but go after estate tax payments. For one, reviewing one’s estate, or survivors reviewing a decedent’s estate tax liability forces the estate managers or inheritors to square off the properties left behind. For instance, colonies of uhm the underprivileged who dot urban areas could be a direct result of unpaid estate taxes, the title being unclean or its ownership subject to inheritance issues, hence the piece of property has no definite owner. Estate taxation is a good way to clean up one’s estate, like debugging a computer of viruses to make it more responsive.
Juniors 15 years below me are too easily swayed to go for strongmen, what with the frustrations about pay cuts, high taxes, and the daily commute.
I am worried about one candidate that a young doctor in my friend-list roots for, whose health may be aggravated if sworn to office, and if incapacitated has a VP who isn’t exactly known for honesty. Already someone said that candidate had a hard time breathing.
I understand Senator Santiago was so weak at the debate that at one time Mayor Duterte had to help her walk forward. I don’t think Senator Santiago is serious about the presidency, but she is serious at getting one last run in the spotlight, and willing to make trouble just for the joke of it all. I mean, why else would she tie up with Marcos? It is a little mean-spirited on her part, I think, and she may take votes from someone more deserving, but there is no denying she has character. I’d like to see her and Senator Enrile in one last knock-down-drag-out brawl.
Hehehe, I just have to blurt it out, Amen!
This is an embarassing international incident. Manny Pacquiao cannot travel to my country. Roach is nowhere to be found. Stallone who went to the Gym is silent. Obama has no comment, like, he did not give reward to Marwan death despite Fiipinos belief Marwan is dead. This is bad. Really bad. Hollywood celebrities scurry along with their heads bowed when TMZ journalists come to question them about Manny Pacquiao gay slurs.
There was also muted international incident about boxing because Filipinos accused Nevada Sports Commission to sanction Mayweather for dancing and prancing around Many Pacquiao that is why Manny Lost. “Muted” because all Filipinos were up in arms against Manny lost to “coward” Mayweather. We are talking about the whole race from the Philippines. Not good.
Another international INcident was Charice Pemepngco. Their trying hard to look beautiful and non-Filipino looking.
I suggest and recommend that Philippine Government should consult, hire, foreign PR Consultant for every Filipino INternational personality to protect the Filipinos and to Protect the Philippines from international embarassment.
I am just hoping there is no dirt in Wurtzbach. That would be too much one on top of another.
> Hollywood celebrities scurry along with their heads bowed when TMZ journalists come to question them about Manny Pacquiao gay slurs.
Well. Wrestler and now action star Batista was asked, and he was furious.
At the moment Pia is different, a closet geek, but the flip side of Manny’s mentality in that she seems to read world events in a realistic fashion.
I once had a Ninong (godfather). He was a generous person, from a buena familia and was a doctor by profession.
Then there was this beautiful person, from a wealthy family in our town and who went to the same high school as I did.
They were both gays. Past tense. Not because they decided to go straight, but because there lives ended tragically. They committed suicide. In their time there was only black or white, boy or girl and nothing in between. Shades of gray never existed before. And so they led a life pretending to be someone that they were not. They were unhappy, confused and unaccepted. Death was the only way out for them to free themselves of the prison that the society had unknowingly built for them. They never had a chance.
And this tall, handsome, highly intelligent guy of an office mate. He was a great person and a dutiful son. The kind that you would take home to your mother. Except that he was gay. But that fact did not made him a lesser person in my eyes. One time he told me that if a woman would accept him for what he is, someday he would love to have a family. That humility touched me. I could feel his angst and his loneliness. But I was proud of him for discovering who he really was, for accepting who he really was. And for knowing what is it he wanted in his life. I loved him like a brother and he loved me like a sister. Or maybe like sisters. But in his time he had a chance because his community never defined him for what he was not.
The walls of Intramuros survived even WW2. The Spanish built them to last. These walls are not the problem anymore. The problem are the walls in our minds. They need to be torn down.
Build bridges instead of walls. And the walls of Intramuros including Fort Santiago, the site of many a lovers tryst!
But then who would have thought that the Berlin Wall could be torn down?
Irineo, we ran out of REPLY button so to continue, yes I know the Chong sisters but they do not know me. They may because I hang-out close to their Apartment. They were hotties. They were Theresians (St. Theresas School). They live in an apartment in Mango Avenue in Cebu City next to a dive bar owned by the Chiongbians. They are also a neighbor, in the same apartment complex, of my childhood friend who is now in Texas. What I know was Paco was “freed” thru weird “exchange prisoner program”. Paco is now in Spain sipping tempranillo by the beach.
It pays to by a mestizo. The mestizo the Filipinos fought against and now adore and surrender to.
Regarding Wurtzbach, I have nothing against her. I have a beef on Filipinos ultra-preference for half-bred half-white and pure white folks. I am just lucky I am half-breed. I am not racist. I do not want to endear themselves that mestizo is handsome and brilliant that white-is-right.
You are lucky, too, Ireneo for getting a Germany foreign post. Your parents must be very influential in the government to get that coveted post moreso passing the Foreign Affair examination. Those arrogant people in Philippine Embassies are that, arrogant because they wouldn’t have been there if their parents were not powerful. Those embassy staff look down on Filipinos as if they were not Filipinos. They do not know I understand Tagalog. They thought I was an American.
I used to have an officemate who married a German. She is nice. Her husband sailed to Philippines to marry her and both sailed back to Germany. They are now divorced. Her child studied in Cebu International School, a school of the filthy rich, supported by her German ex-husband.
Well, till then.
Those embassy staff look down on Filipinos as if they were not Filipinos.
I know… I had an exceptional situation. I was only a casual later a contractual but that was because I happened to live in Bonn and study there no FSO exam but I had the advantage of speaking German… it was a part-time job interviewing applicants, sometimes tending to new computer programs. Lots of Filipinas marrying Germans late 1980s just around the time when Wurtzbach was born. There is an academy now, they have highly professionalized the DFA.
Some of the FSOs were nice, some were arrogant but they usually did look down on fellow Filipinos – except for one ex-journalist Tony Modena who became famous for helping OFWs. They were nice to me because I spoke German, at that time very few Germans spoke English, and most of the foreign service people had hardly any knowledge of the host country, many preferred to hang out with the American Embassy crowd to feel they are better, instead of concentrating on their job of dealing with the Germans. That has changed a lot in 25+ years.
I have a beef on Filipinos ultra-preference for half-bred half-white and pure white folks
It is silly, but go to Latin America you will find the same attitude – “whiter is better”. Even in Cuba which was Communist for so long they have not COMPLETELY abolished that mentality. My sister – our mother is German, father Filipino – was totally annoyed by how everybody paid way too much attention to her every time she visited the Philippines. The last time not that extreme anymore but I guess Filipinos are getting used to seeing more whites and mestizos in general. Maybe more exposure to the world and tourism will in the long run normalize Filipino views.
Meanwhile Manny has lost his major sponsor Nike. Nike have announced that they are cutting all ties to him..They refuse to be identified with sportsmen who are gay or lesbian bashers…So he will have less in his pockets in future. I suspect that other potential sponsors will decline any relationship with him in future..
Manny may be Filipino and have the right to parade his extremist Christian opinions of gay & lesbian people but his occupation is funded by a global audience..And maybe such extremist views are not wanted or needed by that global audience.
There have been a number of developments on this incident. Pacquiao’s political party (UNA) under VP Binay has come out in support of him, the Catholic Church of the Philippines has come out in support of him, and his reputation in the US is likely severely tarnished. It goes beyond Nike, but how he is viewed as an individual by a society that is working hard to be accepting of the individual choices made by those within the LGTB community.
> Pacquiao’s political party (UNA) under VP Binay has come out in support of him, the Catholic Church of the Philippines has come out in support of him,
And, yeah, GMA and Gozon stood by their man, vindicated and hailed as “truthful” because the rest of the complete text of the interview was revealed, then all the while social media had a field day with ABS.
As far as the tabloid media is concerned, pot calls kettle black.
Orange socks. What a coincidence. After the first year high school I could shop my own cloths without parents for the first time, with only the assistance of my older sister. My first blue jeans, velour fabric to make a seaman’s jumper and…. orange socks. Blue jeans were still rare and rebellious. We bought too little fabric to make the jumper, so my mom had to knit the shoulder part to leave enough fabric for a wide collar, very exclusive. And nobody had orange socks those days.
With my unique new clothes I left to a sailing summer class. For the first time in mixed classes, could have been the best summer camp ever where it not for a mysterious phenomenon. In the evening (after sailing on rough wet water the whole day) my briefs were blue. What disease could make me sweat blue? Or was it God’s punishment for the newly discover but forbidden solo-pleasures? I couldn’t tell anybody, my prestigious outfit, far ahead of time thanks to my fashionista college sister, had given me such a boost. It had put me high in the picking order to a level where one can nor share weaknesses or uncertainties. But that camp every night I had blue underwear… Worrisome, until later at home when my mom washed my blue jeans the whole laundry turned blue! Mystery solved, the quality of blue jean dyes was poor those days. Later I learned that for good fit, when new you had to put on your jeans and sit in a warm bath, this also bleached them a little to make them real cool.
Your orange socks reminded me on these exhilarating days of discovery. And years later, when in college, everyone was wearing orange socks and discoveries became rare, we knew the world and would change it.
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Thank you for the belly laughs!
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Hmmm, blue briefs, eh? That’s some very kinky
shstuff.Manny was asked for his opinion on same sex marriage, he has one, and he expressed it. It’s not popular, but sometimes, it takes a man with strong convictions to express his belief even knowing it is unpopular. Personally, I believe he was right, but the way he said it was wrong and cruel. He sure is one blunt and honest interviewee. Let’s keep in mind that he did not volunteer to be interviewed, and he was not evasive or coy, he answered it in a manner that is not tactful, he said what he sincerely believed and was spontaneous, He may be wrong in believing that animals do not practice same gender sex and that was pointed out by a number of knowledgeable celebrities, and in that “animal comparison”, he was sincerely wrong.
The other option was to say NO COMMENT and that could have saved his juicy NIKE contract.
I admire his strength of conviction and his readiness to accept the consequence of expressing such conviction.
I have many friends in the LGBT community. We respect each other’s opinions and convictions. They know mine and respect me for them. We let other LGBT members in the church who gave up their nature to talk to them regarding such delicate subject (if they want to), we on the other hand try not to be judgmental, confrontation will lead to nowhere, emotions are involved in most cases, and hurt feelings are so hard to mend.
If orange socks reminds Joseph of his youth,me too.I remember United colors of Benetton and Giordano.When my friends see wearing them,they say”Touch the Color…”
Such idiotic nonsense !! I refuse to waste my time, energy and brain discussing a bigot..It only encourages him. No orange sock for him either.
The issues are actually bigger than Manny and they feed back into the matter of civility and inclusion mentioned in the prior blog, offering a gentle push toward more modern values in the Philippines, such as divorce law, which is starting to crop up as an issue here. The more it is mentioned, the more noise there is, the easier it is for advocates to row their boat. It also touches on the responsibility of LGTB groups to argue the merits of anti-discrimination without flaunting their own bedroom behavior. The issue of fame driving greed is a new aspect of the matter raised by James de Valera. So Manny’s remark may be nonsense, but there are a lot of interesting issues circulating around it.
Every issue that the elections engender can be a catalyst for discussion.
The many strands of the nation still have to harmonize their values, their sense of right and wrong, the abstract stuff did not really take root but concrete examples are more real to us.
Geepers !! So precise and concise ☀
I consider Manny Pacquiao a hero. Today Filipinos now realize Leviticus is not acceptable to humanity. Religion is chipped away little by little. Filipinos still have to learn prayers are not answered by God but the believers themselves. Another Filipinos that cannot understand is immigrating and surrendering to former colonist secular America for giving them the life that they prayed for. It is secular nations that put heaven on earth not religious Philippines for blessing them with quality of life.
Again, Amen!