Migrants, including our OFWs, won’t be joining state governments and big business in their second Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD). They will usher in their own conference, the International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees (IAMR) and they cite good reasons in choosing to do so.
Category: Musings
Today is the 35th day since hoodlums abducted James Balao in broad daylight in Baguio City. He has not been found and nobody knows whether he is dead or still alive.
The Government Service Insurance System‘s earlier assurances that its investments are not endangered in the midst of the global financial crisis have come under a dark cloud of doubt.
Inquirer.net reports today that the GSIS
may have incurred more losses due to the sharp decline in stock prices around the world in recent weeks, an examination of its portfolio of stock holdings revealed.
The “global property securities” held by the GSIS also showed marked drops in their values in the weeks following the GSIS declared profits from its overseas investments.
On Blog Action Day regarding poverty, forbes.com released its list of the top 40 richest Filipinos, headed by mall mogul Henry Sy with a net worth of $3.1 billion.
Lucio Tan is second in the list with $1.5 billion. Jaime Zobel de Ayala, last year’s richest, dropped to third place with $1.2 billion.
The total net worth of the Philippines 20 richest people is $12.670 billion or a whooping P594 billion!
The sobering news is a new United Nations report also came out the next day, pointing to a very problematic occurrence — income inequality is worsening worldwide, including the Philippines.
Its Blog Action Day 2008 today in the Philippines and elsewhere in the world. Imperialism, or the monopoly […]
We can already imagine the headlines of tomorrow’s papers by this time.
This is a coup for Ubuntu Linux, and proof of its rising success as a workable alternative OS.
No one disputes the President’s power to give pardon to offenders of the law. But we can all criticize and question the wisdom of each pardon and what better example could there be than the one given to Claudio Teehankee Jr., the convicted murderer of Maureen Hultman.
Dr. Corazon Lamug was perhaps the sociology professor we were most proud of when I took up the BA Sociology program at the College of Arts and Sciences of University of the Philippines at Los Banos.
Ma’am Lamug wasn’t a “terror”. But nobody doubted her competence and expertise. We were never surprised that a sociology professor, no less than Dr. Lamug, was later appointed associate dean and eventually dean of CAS. She never demanded respect; she commanded it and the people gave it to her unquestioningly for she earned it every single day.
As a sociology student, I was so happy that Ma’am Lamug became Dean Lamug and went on to oversee a college predominated by natural, biological, chemical, physical and mathematical sciences. It was a testament her prestige and standing in the university and this reflected well on the the BA Sociology program of which she was part of. With her stint as college dean, Dr. Lamug put a period on insinuations that sociology students were second-class members of the CAS studentry.
A reporter of ABS-CBN show The Correspondents is being shown tonight not just reporting on ‘pagpag’, the leftover food gathered by scavengers and re-cooked for consumption by some of our poor kababayans.
I apologize for not posting today. I’ve been quite busy because of personal and work-related matters. Expect a flurry of posts in the next few weeks, thanks to a gadget that I have finally been able to get: a spanking new notebook computer.
US President George W. Bush spoke to Americans today and announced he has invited fellow Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama to an urgent meeting on the US economic crisis.
Bush said that the bailout of failing Wall Street companies may cost taxpayers about US$700 billion (estimated P31.8 trillion).
UPDATE: Correction! Correction! Ms. Jessica Zafra sent an email to clarify that she did not write this letter. Kevin Allman is the real author.
My apologies to Ms. Zafra, Mr. Allman and everyone.
To Madame Jessica Zafra: Bravo (for this good find)!
Allman‘s Zafra’s reaction to the US economic meltdown will put to shame each and every spammer from Nigeria, they who send us endless pleas for assistance in exchange for gazillions of dollars.
Thanks to Ms. Zafra for the heads up.
A few hours ago, this blog you are reading — tonyocruz.com — received the trophy for Best News and Media Blog in the 2nd Philippine Blog Awards held at the 1Espalanade near SM Mall of Asia.
Perla Asis, city veterinarian of Cagayan de Oro, should face charges over violations of the Animal Welfare Act after she admitted that her department used drowning and an “improvised gas chamber” to put down stray animals.
Over the last few days, I reformatted my EEE PC and refitted it with two cool operating systems.
No, they’re not Windows XP and the pre-installed Xandros.
Dr. Carol P. Araullo, chair of the progressive multisectoral alliance Bayan, has this to say about the issue of renewed US military presence in the country, an issue which rightly comes out as the world marks the 7th anniversary of 9/11:
It all sounds clean and aboveboard: the US oozes with altruism for a long-time ally and the Philippines is the lucky beneficiary of this no-strings-attached, we’re-just-doing-our-bit-for-world-peace mission of the lone Superpower and Global Policeman. However, in the light of historical and current world events such as the US-instigated wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is much too good to be true.
The League of Filipino Students (LFS), arguably the country’s most well-known activist student organization, marks its 31st year today.
On its anniversary, the LFS’ clarion call to its members can also apply to all Filipino youth. The call may be deemed subversive by some, but perhaps mainly because it disrupts and challenges the passivity, cynicism and apathy that pervade society today. For this and its long history of making the young people realize their progressive roles in and out of campus, we say thank you to the LFS.
When I checked my Google Reader this afternoon, I wondered why I got no updates from ABS-CBNNews.com. Not even one. Then I remembered the announcement yesterday about the news site’s “migration” to a new format and look.
Take a look at the new ABS-CBNNews.com site here.
This afternoon, the DSL connection at our house just went kaput. I performed some “tricks” — known to all PLDT myDSL subscribers who have experienced problems and sought technical assistance. You know the drill: ipconfig /release and /renew. Resetting the modem. In my case, also resetting the router. I did all those plenty of times, knowing fully well that my computer and house connections may be the culprit.
But after several frustrating tries, I called up PLDT’s so-called customer service.
Senator Loren Legarda is angry over the fate of internet domain name lorenlegarda.com, which unfortunately for her has been bought by some other person who now wishes to cash in on it.
Today is the start of a new month which, arguably, could also be considered the beginning of the world’s Christmas season.