Our Lumad kababayans need help — and understanding. Here is a Lumad 2015 Reader, which aims to gather […]
Category: Roundups
No, the MRT is not owned by the government. It is owned by MRT Corp. in a Public-Private Partnership project […]
(UPDATED AUG. 2, 2015) Defying the challenges of income inequality and awful quality of internet and mobile services, […]
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:
- Message at Malacanang (Jan. 16)
- Homily at Manila Cathedral (Jan. 16)
- Allocutio at MOA Arena (Jan. 16)
- Prepared remarks and actual Homily at Tacloban Airport (Jan. 17)
- Prepared remarks for Palo Cathedral (Jan. 17)
- Prepared remarks and actual Allocutio at UST (Jan. 18)
- Homily at Luneta (Jan. 18)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Together with colleague Delwin Keasberry, a.k.a. @BruneiTweet and the man behind Projek Brunei, we led a master class with the same title at the ASEAN100 Leadership Forum on Sept. 29, 2011 at the Shangrila Hotel in Makati City, Philippines.
Here is the presentation I shared at the master class:
To mark the inaugural of President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Cojuangco Aquino and Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Cabauatan Binay, here are complete links on the ceremonies, the personalities, the citizen journalism and mainstream media coverage and other pertinent you may need:
More and more Filipinos are going online and forming their social networks and here are the numbers that show this reality.
Today’s newspapers appear to have one thing on common: They are all happy for newly-wed couple Liberal Party vice presidential candidate Sen. Mar Roxas II and ABS-CBN chief correspondent Korina Sanchez.
Photos from yesterday’s wedding rites dominate most today’s frontpages:
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 panata” new 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.
Filipino bloggers quickly took on the task of honoring former President Corazon Aquino, the country’s first female leader, who died today from cardiorespiratory arrest. She was 76.
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.
Today is World Press Freedom Day.
It should be a happy day for the Philippines, considering that we always boast of having the freest press in Asia, but
Internet use in the Philippines is growing with more and more Filipino using the internet for various purposes.
This post, which I would update regularly, seeks to make available reference materials, studies, researches on the Philippine use of the internet.
Links by Francis Magalona
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.