After that horrendous hostage situation, the bus has turned into a tourist attraction. This photo highlights some of the things that are wrong about us Filipinos: an inability to take critical issues seriously, a tendency to enthusiastically engage in kodakan, and a habit of making a big joke out of everything.
And by circus, I mean the campaign period for local officials. Parts of the metropolis were overrun by traffic jams today, thanks to campaign sorties, convoys, and elaborate stage setups where candidates will hold court and convince people, with the help of lights, bright music, a celebrity or two or three, laughs, and likely a song or dance number, why they should be elected. Such events are always amusing displays of how full candidates are of themselves, saying, “You can see we’ve got lots of supporters given our event’s turnout,” conveniently forgetting the fact that people will always come out of the woodwork to catch a glimpse of celebrities or well-known personalities, not necessarily because they support whoever’s running.
There’s no higher calling for a woman than being a person who nurtures you, respects you, and looks after you. At least that’s according to the latest ad from Team Manny Villar, featuring Loren Legarda, who’s clawing her way to the vice presidency a second time, and the women in their senatorial line-up. After the women earnestly declare that they will, well, be our mothers (at least how commercials typically portray mothers), Villar swoops in, boasting that he has nobody but the best, most accomplished women on his team.
Yeah, sure, whatever, but your ad certainly didn’t make that clear. All your ad did was to make them look like gentle, soft-spoken people who will love us no matter what we did and patch up our bruises, not fierce crusaders who are fully capable of grabbing the reins and guiding this country out of the muck. You claim you’ve got the best women on your slate? Tell us why and how they excel, don’t parade them around in soft lighting and have them speak slowly and soothingly.
Yesterday, Manny Pacquiao did the country proud yet again when he triumphed over Joshua Clottey. Cue endless cheering and congratulatory tweets and Facebook status updates from Filipinos all over the world. Personally, at the risk of being criticized as “anti-Filipino,” I don’t give a rat’s ass. It’s the same thing every single time Pacquiao will go up against another boxer: Everybody gets pumped up and couldn’t wait for the match to take place. The match happens. When Pacquiao wins, much celebration ensues, and he’s welcomed home like a hero.
An acquaintance of mine put it succinctly: “Pacquiao won again, now what?” Amusingly enough, people responded with comments like, “Now he’s richer than ever,” which is exactly what happens. Soon, all of Philippine media will be bombarded yet again with news of his latest house, more endorsements pour in, and you start seeing him strutting around some more, with his wife and his mother sparkling, glittering away in front of the cameras. I suppose after training hard to pummel and get pummeled, he does deserve ample compensation.
Some people tend to see Pacquiao as the savior of the Philippines, as if in one swoop, he inspires the country, delivers it from its tribulations, and saves us from global anonymity. And inspire he does. The country creaks to a halt every time he’s in a fight, everybody is in awe of him, his every move is discussed to death. Speaking of death, people have also been known to keel over from excitement while watching his fights. Yes, it’s that extreme, and will continue to be so until he retires from boxing. When that day comes, I wonder who Filipinos will turn to next to stay inspired?
Lately, the Catholic Church here in the Philippines has been raising a stink over condom distribution efforts yet again. They seem to have a bee in their bonnet when it comes to sex and condoms, but then again, they have always taken the same position regarding the issue, which is one of extreme disgust and outrage. The Catholic Church has always been known to predict nothing but doom for people who engage in premarital sex or use condoms, trotting out the argument that premarital sex is wrong and that condoms are the work of the devil. There has even been known to be instances wherein the myth that condoms actually spread sexually transmitted diseases is being perpetuated.
That doesn’t happen here in the Philippines, thank gods, but what the Church typically says about condoms is that they promote promiscuity and immorality, and that making them widely available would only encourage young people to start experimenting with sex. Recent findings have uncovered the spike in HIV-AIDS cases here in the Philippines, which prompted Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral to launch a campaign that makes condoms more widely available to everyone. Predictably, the Church recoiled in horror at this, highly displeased that these tools of sin and depravity will be accessible to everyone.
I’ve never taken a kind view towards the Church, because I’ve always thought that they’re hopelessly out of touch with reality and that, if they had their way, they would have us all stoning homosexuals and adulteresses (but not the adulterers). But their stance on divorce and condoms particularly get my goat. Their vehemence when it comes to condoms make me wonder if they actually spend their days wringing their hands and worrying about people’s sexual preferences and activities. “Oh dear, people are having sex. We must put a stop to this. It’s immoral and an abomination unto the Lord.” And so they do everything they can to block any efforts to improve reproductive health and encourage safe, responsible sex.
Sex has truly become a filthy word and concept to the Church, and I can only assume that this is because they’re not permitted to experience it (although there are many notable examples of men of the cloth exercising their, er, rites with men, women, and even children). Not just to the Church, really, but society itself, which is pretty surprising given the number of people who enjoy it (many) and do everything they can to avail themselves of it–but that’s a discussion for another day. The Church is something special, however, in the way that they denounce the act as if simply engaging in it automatically puts you on hell’s guest list. It would be understandable if they were just reminding people not to engage in extramarital sex because they vowed to be faithful to their spouses. But the way they instruct people sounds as though they want people to stop having sex altogether and just do it every time they feel the need to have a baby.
It might be news to the Church to hear that nobody is really paying attention to them when it comes to sex. People have always done it, will always do it, and will keep on doing it even in the face of robed priests threatening to rain heavenly retribution upon us all. Of course, Catholics will always have the vague feeling of dread that God is looking down and watching you immersing yourself in sin of the highest degree, but the prospect of pleasure and enjoyment tends to dull its effects. For the most part, however, people have sex without worrying what the Church is saying about it, worrying only about a surprise pregnancy, possible diseases, pain, discomfort, and whether or not they’re performing admirably.
So instead of worrying about condoms and the supposed grime they slather all over people’s souls, the Church really needs to stop looking at condoms as the instrument of the devil. Condoms don’t encourage people to have mad, crazy sex all over the place; they do it anyway even without condoms. These just make it a lot safer for them to do whatever they want in bed. And as for young people being “impressionable” and getting swayed into sex by the availability of condoms, the Church might find it interesting that young people who have babies out of wedlock–surprise surprise!–evidently didn’t use any form of birth control.
The New York Magazine has a pretty interesting article on intelligence tests for very young children and the pressure that is being piled on them at their age. Basically: Pass the tests and get into the best schools or fail and be doomed to live a life of mediocrity or failure, you have no choice in the matter, you fail and you have no chance of ever making it in life, so study hard, child, study hard!
I was actually quite surprised a few years ago when I saw banners around the city promoting review classes for college entrance exams–and pre-school entrance exams. Which is pretty odd. Your child’s a child. He or she is supposed to be going to school to learn and acquire knowledge, and at a young age, he or she isn’t equipped with a whole lot of it yet. If the child doesn’t do well in the entrance exams, then schools are basically blocking him or her from exploring his or her full potential.
I think everything that can be said about cheaters has already been said, and that enough people have already vilified Tiger Woods from head to toe, so I’m not going to join that mob anymore. Instead, let me say that–speaking as someone who has punched a cheating ex and caused a scar to form in his eyebrow, which subsequently bled–I fully applaud Elin’s decision to take a golf club to his vehicle. It is, however, disgusting how all Tiger’s mistresses are popping up, no doubt to claim their share of the limelight, each of them elbowing one another in the face to grab the spot of The Mistress Tiger Woods Was REALLY Into.
I got to watch Isang Tanong just now, thanks to this YouTube channel, and ye gods, it did not help me make a decision at all as to who I’ll be voting for president. On second thought, no, it actually helped me. It made me realize that I don’t want any of those buggers ruling my country, and that I’ll just most likely end up scratching a long line on the ballot like I did last elections, assuming that the automated ballot counting won’t push through and we’re going with the usual ballot we’ve used for the past several decades.
Everyone was incensed when Gloria came out with a statement telling everyone that donations sent in from abroad will not be taxed so long as they’re addressed to DSWD. Everyone saw through this charade and suspected that the government will just squirrel away any donations addressed to DSWD anyway, and opted to send relief goods and other forms of aid to private groups. Still, there were others who complied and today, thanks to Ella’s report, which she was able to put together properly having worked as a volunteer, we all got to see where the donations really went. Hint: Not to the typhoons’ victims, but rather, stored away in DSWD’s warehouse.
Here is Ella Ganda’s blog post, reposted here in full along with the pictures as a back-up just in case her site crashes again from the swarm of her outraged fellowmen. Great job, Ella, and we’re all grateful to you for exposing this!
I’m asking your help to spread the word. Tulungan po ninyo akong ikalat ito. Beyond this, we should also demand action. I disabled a plugin so you can copy the photos of relief goods rotting in DSWD warehouses. You can link this post to your blogs, facebook, websites etc. You can also email the photos.
Philippine News (US based Philippine newspaper) will use this as its front page story this week. Every Filipino has the right to know where the tons of donations from the UN and other counties go. Kahit po nakakahiya sa mga nag-donate. Kung sa ganitong paraan, matutulungan natin ang mga nasalanta, then by all means, let’s do it.
For those who have the time, please try to volunteer sa DSWD warehouses. Getting in was not easy. A friend had to put in a word for us. Let’s see kung madali nang makapasok sa DSWD warehouse ang mga volunteers.
Please read on and good luck to us.
Ella
(This post was last edited Oct 22, 12:30 pm)
Kahapon, tinanong ng Philippine News si DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral:
Editor of Philippine News: Why are the relief goods in DSWD warehouses not moving?
DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral: Wala kasing volunteers.
This short interview was done over the phone. Philippine News wanted to hear her side pero ayaw niyang makipag-usap sa press. After four tries, pinasabi na lang niya ang maikling sagot na ito sa secretary niya – “Walang volunteers”.
I don’t want to accuse her of corruption but at the very least she is showing signs of being totally incompetent. We are in a state of calamity where every second counts. May namamatay araw-araw dahil sa sakit.
In my opinion, these deaths could have been prevented if Secretary Cabral had tried a little harder to do her job.
Deaths from Philippine storms nears 1,000
“Tropical Storm Ketsana left 420 dead and 37 missing when it flooded 80 percent of Manila on September 26, a disaster the government said affected 4.35 million people.
Some areas are still flooded three weeks later and 189,000 people remain in evacuation centres,
Typhoon Parma hit the northern Philippines on October 3 and lingered as a tropical storm for a week, triggering landslides that killed 438 people and leaving 51 missing mostly in mountain communities.
The government agency said Parma affected 4.16 million people, including more than 32,000 who remain at evacuation centres.”
During the first week after the storm, lumabas ang “bayanihan spirit” ng mga Pinoy. “Makatulong lang kahi’t konti,” katwiran nila.
kung walang volunteers, ano ‘to, komiks?
From Stella Arnaldo’s blog:
“At the offices of many civic groups and private organizations, hundreds of people showed up to volunteer in packing relief goods.
At the Tulong Bayan center at the Expo Centro in Cubao, Most of the volunteers were adolescents as young as 10 years old, along with their kuya or ate in high school and college.
They came in huge numbers, many of them barkadas, classmates or siblings, dressed just in their tees and shorts, wearing their Havaianas. All were just enthusiastic to do their share!
Photos by Leah Navarro
Even grade school kids pitched in to help!
Youth volunteers repack detergents for distribution
Making beds from carton boxes
GMA asked world for donations
Our government begged the world for more donations. Sumagot ang buong mundo sa ating panawagan. In less than three weeks, dumaong ang mga barko, ibinaba mula sa mga cargo planes, i-diniliver ng mga trak at container vans ang sandamakmak na relief goods. Cash donations were in the millions of dollars.
But these donations must be coursed through DSWD
Nagpalabas ng directive ang pangulo. Individuals, private companies and other nations were ENCOURAGED to send their donations to DSWD. I blogged about it here and the video of her announcement here.
This PGMA directive sounded suspicious to me then. Now I know why. Here’s the story.
A group of eight people, your ate Ella included, went to one of DSWD warehouses to help in repacking relief goods. We know they need volunteers pero hindi namin akalaing WALANG TAO TALAGA SA LOOB NG WAREHOUSE!
As in sa isang humongous warehouse (1000++ sq.m) NA PUNONG-PUNO NG RELIEF GOODS HANGGANG BUBONG, ISANG DSWD employee lang at ISANG SECURITY GUARD ang tao!!
Kailangang magpa-register at i-schedule ang volunteering
1) UNICEF Registration (as a volunteer)
The warehouse can only take as much as 50 volunteers at a time or per shift. Here you will find that there is a 4-hour shift, and an option for a 6-hour shift for the volunteers to indicate their availability.
What “volunteers”? Nasaan?
Aside from the 8 of us? Nope, there was nobody there. Bakit kailangan ang scheduling? Feeling hindi ba magkamayaw at nagu-unahan ang mga volunteers?
I know somebody who wanted to volunteer many times. She was always bumped off, laging nirere-schedule kasi “there were too many volunteers” daw. At tuwing Sunday lang daw puwede. What the hell is going on here?
Nakatambak ang donations ng UNICEF sa warehouse, local and international
Mga banig na dapat ay nahihigaan ng mga nasalanta. Mga imported camp beds na hindi na yata masisilayan ng mga biktima. Mga kumot na hindi naman nakabalot sa katawan nila. At mga pagkaing hindi sumasayad sa sikmura nila.
The relief goods are not going anywhere
We arrived at about 8 am and left by midafternoon and yes, you guessed it right. Kami pa rin ang tao bukod sa isang DSWD employee sa loob ng warehouse maghapon. Walang ibang dumating.
The relief goods are not moving. By the way things look, they are not going anywhere. Hindi maglalakad mag-isa ang mga donations na ito papunta sa mga evacuation centers.
LET THE PICTURES DO THE TALKING
Note: Pinagbawalan kaming kumuha ng pictures sa loob ng warehouse. I wonder why.
“Not a creature was moving, not even a mouse.”
Parang haunted warehouse ang dating. May multo na yata.
Kahit na daig pa ang tindahan sa Divisoria sa dami ng naka-stack na kaldero
At walang katapusang kaldero pa ulit
Kahit halos natakpan na ang mga bintana sa dami ng mga kahon
Kahit umabot na hanggang kisame ang stack ng mga kahon
(Close up ng Coleman camp beds sa previous photo) Hindi ito kasama sa ni-repack naming goods. Para sa mga “special victims” kaya ito? Ire-repack kaya ang mga “imported” camp pads na ito ever?
Sabagay, may BANIG naman para sa “ordinary victims”. Ito ang kasama sa inimpake namin. Sayang ‘yung imported.
Ano kaya ang laman nito? Hindi rin pinabuksan. Pang-special victim din kaya ito? (teka, dito nga pala galing ‘yung mga kumot)
Mahiwagang mga kahon from Japan Aid.
(close up ng mahiwagang kahon) Hindi rin ito kasali, of course. Hindi namin alam kung ano ang laman nito. “Imported” are not included, we have concluded.
Marami ito, mga laruang kasinlaki ng tao. Hindi nakunan ng pic kasi nasa tabi ng sikyo.
PORK AND BEANS? Yup, you’d think kasama ito sa relief bag. Pork and beans lang ‘to, puwede na sigurong ipamigay,
Naaah! “Imported” pork and beans from Spain po ito. Sorry, hindi pa rin included
Now let’s take a look at what a victim will get from DSWD
Look Ma, sampung lata ng sardinas! How generous! Kaldero ang unang ilalagay sa sako. Sabong panglaba (bar soap) at sampung sardinas sa ilalim. Siyam na sabon sa gilid ng kaldero. Local goods lahat syempre.
Tapos papatungan ng isang tuwalya at isang pack ng sanitary napkin.
Sisiksikan ng tatlong rolyo ng kumot(?) ang blue water jug tapos ipapatong sa kaldero sa loob ng sako.
Last but not the least, lalagyan ng dalawang banig.
Sabay tatahiin na ang sako. O di ba, parang asong tinapunan ng buto ang mga nasalanta? Eniwey, busog naman sila sa SAMPUNG lata ng Mega sardinas
Do not delay
YOU THINK?? WTF is the matter with these people? Mag-iisang buwan na mula nang masalanta ang mga kababayan natin. ISANG BUWAN!! Do you mean “do not delay ang dati nang delayed”?? Shet.
Anong ginagawa ng mga donations na ito sa warehouse?? APAT na warehouse ang nasa loob ng compound na ‘yon! APAT na warehouse na punong-puno ng inaalikabok na relief goods! Relief goods na ayaw yata ibigay sa mga nasalanta. Halatang-halata.
Marami pang pabubulukin
Wow! May bagong shipment na naman! At the rate DSWD is moving, next year na madi-discover kung ano ang laman ng mga kahong ito.
“The first of two of the largest high-energy food shipments from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) arrived in the country two days ago for victims of storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng.”
The biscuits were fortified with essential vitamins and minerals for supplementary feeding to children, pregnant women and the elderly in evacuation camps. Another 100 tons of biscuits will arrive on Oct. 24, in a continuing effort to provide food assistance to flood victims.
Sige, ideretso ‘nyo ulit ‘yan sa DSWD warehouse. Para AMAG naman ang abutin ng biskwit… at sapot ng gagamba.
Conclusion
Sa maghapon namin sa warehouse,nakagawa kami ng 150 sacks of relief goods. 150 bags of relief goods lang ang lumabas sa warehouse na ‘yon that day. At nandoon pa rin sa loob ang mga imported relief goods, safe, sound and packed as the day they arrived.
Nakisakay kami palabas sa isang DSWD delivery van. Gusto sana kaming ihatid ng driver hanggang Makati pero wala raw siyang sobrang gasolina. Ibinaba na lang niya kami sa gitna ng EDSA. Millions of dollars in donations, walang extrang pang-gasolina.
Susulpot din siguro ang laman ng mga mahiwagang kahon at mapapasakamay din ng mga tao…sa ARAW NG ELEKSYON. O mabibili na nila ang mga imported goods na ‘yon sa mga puwesto sa Quiapo at Divisoria.
Suggestions lang po sa DSWD:
Kung talagang gugustuhin ninyong makarating agad sa mga kawawang biktima ang mga donasyong ‘yon, nagawa ‘nyo na ‘yan. Maraming paraan…kung talagang gusto ‘nyo lang.
You are the government. You have the power, the resources and the money. You just have to really care.
Aiming to cure the Filipino’s culture of tardiness – or “Filipino time” as it is commonly known – a senator has filed a bill that seeks to synchronize all time devices in the country to set a standard Philippine time.
Sen. Edgardo Angara said Senate Bill 3479 aims to “breed a new culture of promptness” among Filipinos. Read more.
Wouldn’t it be nice if those time devices were capable of delivering a short, sharp shock to everyone within its vicinity to remind people that they have appointments to go to? Come on. You can synchronize clocks all you want, but that’s not going to get people to stop being tardy. Besides, if you want to make sure people are always on time, you have to do a bunch of other things as well. Get the MMDA or DPWH to stop repairing roads in the middle of rush hour and causing traffic jams, for one, or at least get them to use signs warning people of construction work up ahead, for starters.