His Holiness Pope Francis arrives at the 250th PAW of the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City for the State Visit and Apostolic Journey to the Republic of the Philippines on Thursday afternoon (January 15, 2015). (Photo by Robert Viñas/ Malacañang Photo Bureau)
Pope Francis looks from inside his plane upon touchdown at Manila’s Villamor Airbase last January 15, 2015. (Photo by Robert Viñas/ Malacañang Photo Bureau)

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.

Consumers, rejoice! The Department of Justice (DOJ) released on Dec. 12, 2014 an Advisory Opinion clearly siding with Filipino internet users against the telco practice of imposing data caps and speed throttling through so-called “fair usage” policies (FUP).

The DOJ’s Advisory Opinion practically laid out the legal basis for suing the telcos over the arbitrary “limits” they impose on subscribers who subscribe to their “unlimited” internet offers, and called on the public to file complaints with the telcos themselves and with agencies such as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

In other words, there is no legal basis for data caps and throttling, and there is a legal basis to complain and demand the delivery of promised internet speeds. 

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Citizens raise clenched fists at the Sept. 21 Never Porkget rally at the Luneta spearheaded by #AbolishPork Movement. Photo by Arkibong Bayan.

More and more people want to unite and act against the plunder, misuse and abuse of public funds through the controversial pork barrel. Citizens are outraged by the PDAF scandal involving lawmakers, Janet Napoles and fake NGOs. President BS Aquino himself has been put on the defensive for his own pork barrel, its misuse for bribery, and his refusal to abolish the pork barrel system. Here is a [developing] list of reference materials and links on the issue.

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.

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Carmen Deunida leads a protest rally by urban poor group Kadamay. More popularly known as Nanay Mameng, she is the face of the militant urban poor. Her fiery speeches captivated crowds in the anti-Estrada, anti-Arroyo protest actions. (Pinoy Weekly)

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.

Calling 1 million new voters, take the pledge!
Calling 1 million new voters, take the pledge!

The deadline for new voter registration is fast approaching. But many have yet to get listed to ensure that they can vote in next year’s elections.

Enter Kabataan Partylist and the National Union of Students of the Philippines with their “Isang milyong kabataan, isang milyong panatanew voter registration drive to be launched on August 20. The target is obvious: 1 million new registered voters, mostly young people, on top of the measly 800,000 or so that have listed themselves up so far.

Bloggers read other blogs to be updated and just like ordinary blog readers, also to engage in discussions and to be entertained or enlightened.

We have grown to love some of the new blogs and I really wish they are recognized.  Good thing we have the writing project Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs for 2009 which makes giving credit to these noteworthy blogs a community effort.

Here are my top 10 picks for 2009:

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is said to be preparing to use her state of the nation address tomorrow to raise anew the call for charter change.

It is thus a good thing that bloggers and Facebook users took on this issue with Cyberprotests and a Blog Action Day.

If Arroyo would indeed announce a renewed effort to ram down our throats this idea of a Constituent Assembly (ConAss) to keep her illegal hold on the presidency and to enshrine the failed policies of neoliberal globalization in the charter, then we have a great battle ahead of us and let’s not surrender an inch of our places in cyberspace to the regime’s lies.

I’ve joined more than a hundred journalists in signing a “unified statement” against bills seeking to impose a “right to reply” to the detriment of our press freedom and our free expression.

The proponents are hiding behind notions of “balance” and “fairness” to bamboozle the press into accepting a legislated form of terrorism. What is so detestable in the proposals is that Congress is imposing on publishers and journalists, and this would have a immediate and long-term impact to journalism practice, the media business and the politicians’ ceaseless drive for publicity. This would also have terrible effects on investigative reports and exposes, as journalists and the media might find a “right of reply” law a clear disincentive.

Bloggers, who arguably lead new media publishers, must also read House Bill 3306 and Senate Bill 2150. We must be able to examine all the possible repercussions of the law and whether we must agree with legislated codes of behavior that will government old, traditional media. As publishers, we ourselves cannot allow ourselves to be dictated by Congress on what to publish in our blogs and websites. 

The two statements below would show anyone the many terrible effects of the right to reply bills, once they are enacted into law.  It is the first statement, initiated by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and is being circulated as a petition, which I signed both as a journalist and blogger:

While various state governments, led by the ones that championed and proselytized about laissez faire capitalism just before the terrible economic events last year, are so busy crafting stimulus packages and bailouts, many people in their respective countries worry that their leaders are salvaging only the big businesses and doing nothing about poor and the middle class.

Painting by Antipas Delotavo