It is now dawning on me and many others that those who wish to keep PNoy while not doing anything to hold him accountable are mainly those who think the unresolved problems will benefit them and their chosen candidates for 2016. These people, who seem to be as self-absorbed as PNoy, view the chances of their manok in 2016 as more important than anything else. Malacanang spokesmen are very happy for their help in protecting PNoy from all accountability.
Full credit goes to President BS Aquino for uniting the nation twice this week, but for the wrong reasons: First, in grief over the loss of 44 members of the elite Special Action Force (SAF) in a bloody operation he approved; and second, in fury, over the chief executive’s snubbing of the arrival honors at Villamor Air Base for the fallen elite cops.
CEBU – Global Voices is now holding its Citizen Media Summit 2015 here at the Cebu Provincial Capitol, with 300 delegates from 70 countries.
At a plenary panel this morning, I joined friends Fleire Castro and Ruben Licera, together with moderator Tina Pamintuan, to share views about the topic “What’s happening in Philippine citizen media?”
Pope Francis’ recent visit to the Philippines, long considered the world’s social media capital, “set several Twitter records”, despite orders of the government to take down cellular and mobile data signals everywhere he went.
By the time he arrives in the Vatican, the Pope will see that Filipinos not only gave him the biggest Papal event in history – but also made him the most popular ever on the Philippine side of Twitter as well as making his tweets coinciding with his visit to the country his most popular ever.
In his Jan. 15-19 state and pastoral visit to the Philippines. Pope Francis spoke to Filipinos on his thoughts about issues and concerns that confront the country and the world. He called for an end to corruption and for fair treatment for the poor, and personally consoled with the survivors of supertyphoon Haiyan.
This post gathers the full transcripts, highlights and videos of the Papal remarks in the Philippines.
At a glance, here are the links to full texts of the pope’s speeches:
The pope also led the people gathered at the Tacloban Airport mass in an impromptu thanksgiving prayer after Communion.
If you’re abroad or cannot go personally to any of the Papal events where Pope Francis is set to go as part of his state and pastoral visit, one option is to catch the “Pope of the Poor” via livestream.
The pope will be in the Philippines on January 15-19, in a visit that carries the theme “Mercy and Compassion”
Bookmark this page to know where to catch the free livestreams direct from the Philippines, as Pope Francis goes around Manila and in Tacloban.
9News/CNN Philippines (direct)
The BS Aquino administration is in many ways botching the single-biggest chance to tell the world that “its more fun in the Philippines.
The last time a pope visited the Philippines was exactly 20 years ago. It didn’t matter that the President was a Protestant. It didn’t matter that we still didn’t have much to show, except for the vibrant and zealous faith of the Filipino. What mattered most was that that the Leader of the Catholic Church and Head of State of Vatican City was coming, and that he was holding the World Youth Day here in the country.
Before 1964, young Filipinos were told and taught that there were no other choices except to study, graduate, get a job, work hard and hope for success. The young workers were told to be happy with the pittance they receive. The young farmers were told to feel lucky the landlords allowed them to till the land and to get loans at usurious rates. Young Filipinas were told they were “pambahay” and “pangkama” only. Before 1964, young Filipinos were told and taught they have no role in society and made to forget the young heroes who helped forge a new nation a century before.
Conventional wisdom today would say that an assembly of bloggers is like cats and dogs put together in one tiny space. We are said to be too feisty and too self-centered to cooperate among ourselves. We value our personal freedoms so much that we cannot be trusted to work together in a common cause.
Such conventional wisdom has been disproven each day and week for the past 5 years and the living reminder of fruitful and important collaboration among bloggers is the continuing project called BlogWatch, which officially turns five today, Nov. 24.
As international NGOs and funding agencies rush to provide more and more temporary and “transitional” shelters across Samar, Leyte and the regional hub Tacloban City, the people are living a life that could be considered as “the new normal”.
Only about a week prior to the first anniversary of Yolanda’s epic devastation, President Aquino approved the rehabilitation plan for typhoon-stricken areas. That’s the first thing about everything in “the new normal” — the people have to patiently wait for the terribly slow pace of official rehabilitation efforts and would have to live longer in tents and in “transitional” shelters of various types.
Day One of the Plan International Philippines (Plan) media tour brought us to Barangays 62 and 62-A in Tacloban City.
By a stroke of luck, both barangays did not sustain casualties even if a storm surge of several meters high submerged the two villages, forcing residents to cling to dear life on rooftops and go to higher ground. A number of residents whose houses were damaged either totally or partially received aid from Plan and its partner institutions.
Thanks to newfound friends, I was able to visit Tacloban and parts of Samar and Leyte in time for the first anniversary of epic supertyphoon Yolanda (Haiyan).
By newfound friends, I refer to folks at Plan International Philippines, who organized a media tour mostly for journalists and for this blogger. It gave me a chance to see the pace of recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts a year after the world’s strongest storm devastated our country. By design, the media tour sought to showcase Plan’s work among the good people of Eastern Visayas: The schedules and itineraries were tight, but we all took as much as we could to get a pulse of our kababayans, especially the kids and young people.
So what did I see?
In his fifth state of the nation address, President BS Aquino made many claims to prove that he deserves the public’s continued “trust” and to bolster his record as Chief Executive.
Let’s take a close look at some of those claims.
Dear PNoy,
Nakakagulat naman na ang sikat at pinagkakatiwalaang presidente namin – ayon sa mga survey – ay magsasalita ngayong gabi. At sa sobrang napakaimportante pa yata, mukhang ipe-preempt ninyo ang mga paborito naming telenovela at iba pang palabas sa TV.
Sana ay worth it itong gagawin niyo. Pakisugurado pong kapani-paniwala yung mga sasabihin niyo. Sana ay di mala-telepantasya yung script na babasahin ninyo para sulit naman yung pag-preempt niyo sa mga telenovela. (Sana maging Honesto kayo at ‘wag kontrabida, ok?)
Di po namin alam kung ganoon na kayo kakabado kaya gusto niyong maging Primetime King. Anyway, buhay po ninyo yan. Sana ay basahin niyo ito para magkalinawan.
The title of this piece is one of the ultimate conversation spoilers when we talk politics, especially these times when we wish to hold the President, senators, congressmen and their fake NGOs accountable for the outrageous amount of pork barrel funds they abused or plundered.
The mostly educated fall prey for this rather simplistic and erroneous phrase and in the process let the crooks and plunderers get away with murder. It is a not-so-smart smartass retort that we should pin down and take out from our political vocabulary.
The Senate public information and mass media committee, chaired by Senator Grace Poe, today held a public hearing on the Freedom of Information bills.
The Senate FOI bills are authored by: Senators Angara, A. Cayetano, Ejercito, Escudero, Guingona, Honasan, Legarda, Osmena, and Trillanes.
I made and delivered the following remarks:
Honorable Senator Grace Poe, other honorable Members of the Senate, and fellow citizens, good morning.
Thank you very much, Madame Senator Poe, for the invitation and for the opportunity to share views on the Freedom of Information bills now pending before the Senate.
Long overdue, but now’s the next perfect time
If we could only put CCTVs in every nook and cranny of each government office and assign a Reality TV camera on each public official, maybe we could lessen corruption and make government literally transparent. But that is not possible, impractical and may be legally questionable. The FOI is the next best thing. It gives citizens the flashlight to focus light and the camera to take snapshots on how government operates, spends public funds, and makes transactions, among others.
Here is the official transcript or full text of President Benigno S. Aquino III’s state of the nation address delivered before a joint session of Congress on July 22, 2013 at the Batasang Pambansa:
Marami pong salamat. Maupo ho tayong lahat.
Bise Presidente Jejomar Binay; Senate President Franklin M. Drilon; Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.; Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno at ang ating mga kagalang-galang na mahistrado ng Korte Suprema; mga dating Pangulong Fidel Valdez Ramos at Joseph Ejercito Estrada; mga kagalang-galang na kagawad ng kalipunang diplomatiko; mga miyembro ng Senado at Kamara de Representante; mga opisyal ng lokal na pamahalaan; mga miyembro ng Gabinete; mga unipormadong kasapi ng militar at kapulisan; mga kapwa ko nagseserbisyo sa taumbayan; at sa aking mga Boss, ang mga minamahal kong kababayan:
Few days ago, as debates raged on the question of the urban poor and how we should solve the issue, I wrote a Note on Facebook. Here it is, improved and extended a little bit.
When I was growing up, my family moved from one apartment to another because the parents could only earn so much. There was even one time when they moved to a new rented apartment while I was away and I was the last one to find out about our new address! Anyway, my point is that it is not easy to rent an apartment or a house. One has to have more than enough money to pay “advance and deposits” and, of course, the monthly rent. The frequent transfers only ended when Dad decided to bring us all back to Bulacan where he has his own small share of land from his own parents.
Which brings me to the problem of hundreds of thousands or even millions who don’t share the same opportunities many of us have. They are people too, many of them from far-flung areas who went to the city because of the utter lack of opportunities where they came from. They opted not to plant palay or kamote because, rightly or wrongly, they thought there would be better opportunities in the city. Many went on to become minimum-wage earners (check Google for the daily minimum wage). Some are seasonal workers.
Even as the Comelec embarks on a slow canvassing of results of the senatorial and partylist contests and winning local candidates are being proclaimed one after another, many are trying to make sense of the outcome of the May 13, 2013 midterm elections.
Here are my initial post-mortem notes on the polls, 13 in all
May 13 is Election Day. Whether you’re voting or not, you have many ways to participate in the process and make it move towards democracy that’s real and substantive.
As netizens, we could use our social media capital to do great things and to be good citizens.
Today, as we tackle social media for social good, I wish to share and call out the elephant in the room…
Thanks to Filipino netizens, the Philippines has become, since late 2010, the world’s social media capital.
Social media, digital, the web, new media – whatever we call what we do online (and which we do so with such sophistication befitting the title “social media capital”) has become important to a growing number of Filipinos across classes, sectors, regions, causes and industries.
Referring to extrajudicial killings and the killing of journalists in the Philippines in his July, 2010 State of the Nation Address, President Benigno Aquino III declared that his administration would “hold murderers accountable.”
Despite that pledge, six journalists have been killed since then, or a total of ten since the Ampatuan Massacre of November 23, 2009 claimed the lives of 58 men and women, of whom 32 were journalists and media workers.
In addition to the killings that have continued in the Aquino administration, a number of community journalists have also been threatened, sued for libel on the flimsiest grounds, barred from attending interviews and press conferences, and physically assaulted. In a recent incident, unidentified persons also burned a Catholic Church-owned radio station in Occidental Mindoro. All are indicative of a state of mind among those who want to silence the press that could, in the present circumstances, lead to murder.