Condolences to the families of those who perished in the airplane crash in western Russia.
The Tu-154 carrying them apparently clipped some trees during its landing, crashed and burned.
97 people died including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, members of the upper echelon of Poland's political and military establishments and relatives of those slain in the Katyn massacre.
They were on their way to participate in events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre in Katyn forest of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police.
I join the world in mourning.
The Supreme Court of the Philippines finally made a right decision. They gave "Ang Ladlad," the party-list group for Filipino lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual group the accreditation that the Comelec denied them.
The Comelec had barred "Ang Ladlad" from taking part in the May 10 elections on the grounds that it tolerated immorality and offended Christians and Muslims.
According to the Comelec :"we cannot ignore our strict religious upbringing, whether Christian or Muslim, since the ‘moral precepts espoused by [these] religions have slipped into society and are now publicly accepted moral norms."
That may be true but isn't it in the constitution an article espousing the separation of church and state?
That being the case, the Comelec, being a government entity and thus a representation of the state should not use religion as a grounds for disqualifying a party-list group.
While the high court said the Comelec’s refusal to accredit the group “on purely moral grounds amounts more to a statement of dislike and disapproval of homosexuals rather than a tool to further any substantial public interest," it limited its decision to the accreditation question.
Well this was a big decision for them. And it's not surprising that they focused on the merits of the case and did not expand it from there.
The dissent has argued that the LGBT group are not part of what is defined as marginalized because it was not stated in the list enumerated by the 1987 Constitution and Republic Act No. 7941 (the party-list law).
The list includes: the poor, peasants, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, veterans, fisher folk, elderly, handicapped, overseas workers and professionals.
But now that you look at it, technically they are marginalized because aren't the LGBT sector also include the poor, peasants, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, veterans, fisher folk, elderly, handicapped, overseas workers and professionals?
If you think about it all of those marginalized list can be included under the LGBT sector. Don't tell me there's no LGBT in any of those marginalized sectors. Of course there are and so they should be represented.
And it cannot be denied that the LGBT sector is unrepresented and if "Ang Ladlad's" claims are true, that's 10% of the country's population.
That's a lot of people that are not represented.
I doubt if it was the intention of the framers of the 1987 Constitution for the document to not reflect changes in societal trends and actions.
Yes, LGBT is not considered an interest that is traditionally and historically considered vital to national interest but how the hell old is that so called tradition and history?
If our constitution was over 200 years old then I would say yes, we do have a tradition and history but for crying out loud our constitution is only 23 years old...where's the tradition and historical record?
And from what I understand "Ang Ladlad" is not there to promote homosexuality or gayness, they are only there to promote the rights of the the people they represent which just happens to be part of the LGBT sector.
Bravo to Chief Justice Reynato Puno for saying that, "it would not be difficult to conclude that gay persons are entitled to heightened constitutional protection despite some recent political progress. The discrimination they have suffered has been so pervasive and so severe … that it is unlikely that legislative enactments alone will suffice to eliminate that discrimination...In so far as the [gay] community plays a role in the political process, it is apparent that their numbers reflect their status as small and insular minority and are, therefore, marginalized."
Yes they are and it's about time someone points that out.
Congratulations to "Ang Ladlad" and good luck on the elections.
It's hot!
I don't think I need to say the obvious. Right now it's 10:40 in the evening and the temperature is a balmy 31.9-degrees Celcius. I don't know about you but that's hot.
The saving grace for many is we have either electric fans or air conditioning. Now if only we have the electricity to run them.
Right now in Metro Manila it seems rolling 3 hour brown outs are back. Of course it's better than the 12 hour ones we used to have back in the 90's but 3 hours is still a long time.
And since it's rolling you can have it either in the morning, afternoon, evening, or at night.
I'm sort of unsure which time would be the best time to have no power. On the one hand if you have it in the morning then you lose productivity for 3 hours for those with no generators.
For those with generators you have limited productivity along with the added cost of the generators and fuel.
If it's in the early evening when everyone is on their way home then it's a little better. Of course without power then the traffic lights won't work so a 1 hour commute becomes 3.
But then again since there's no electricity you're good to be stuck in traffic anyway - and I can just feel those evil stares from people who hate the traffic.
I understand - I hate them too.
Nigh brownouts I don't like either. Personally I can't sleep if I don't have a fan at least blowing some clammy hot air towards me. Even if it's hot it's better than stagnant humid air.
So if there's a brownout I can't sleep. So that means I won't get enough sleep and will be sleepy the next day potentially resulting in lowered productivity.
Ok I know, I know I did not offer any solution but frankly I don't have one. I would suggest the 5-9 time frame would be the best time to have a brownout.
By then work for the day is done and people don't sleep until around 10 anyway.
So they don't get to watch their tele-novellas or the PBA but that's life. And the PBA hasn't been as great since the 80's anyway.
And now Meralco will up their generation charge by P0.93 per kilowatt hour (kWh).
Now that's painful because you're basically paying for electricity you don't have.
And it's not like you'll be cooling off by taking a bath anytime soon because with the low water supply you may find yourself in the business end of rationed water.
Think it won't happen? Just wait until it get's hotter still and no rain in sight.
And when that happens expect more brownouts.
Oh and did I mention that fuel prices also went up.
And with fuel prices up, so too will the fuel used to run the power plants which will then result in another price increase to make up for it.
Ah the vicious cycle never ends.
And I'm sick of wondering why the government didn't have any long term plans for all this.
I mean you would think with their experience of what happened almost 20 years ago they would know better.
Oh wait this is our government we're talking about.
I should have known better.
Ay . . . brownout!!!
So Baby James Yap, son of celebrity TV host Kris Aquino and basketball star James Yap apparently made a ringing endorsement of one presidential candidate.
His uncle Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III right?
Wrong. Apparently in one of the campaign sorties that was held for Senator Aquino in Bacolod City, Baby James Yap endorsed his uncle's closest rival Senator Manny Villar.
Of course Manny Villar was happy. Who wouldn't be. In a press conference later Villar was quoted as saying "I am happy, and it’s a huge honor for me to be liked by children because it’s the children who are the most honest [persons]."
Yes indeed they are honest. But at the same time they are children and at 3-years of age they are also innocent.
Politics are one thing but anything that can affect a child is another. Let's not put too much emphasis on this event.
Yes Baby James said Villar but I doubt if it had to do with her mom's question of who to support but rather a regurgitation of Villar's advertisements.
It just goes to show you just how effective, and scary mass media can be. Villar's jingles have become hugely popular among children, and you can hear them sing it and because of LSS you start singing it too.
And the fact that they see children in those advertisements doesn't help either.
Let's put this to rest. Yes it was amusing and somewhat funny and I will admit I laughed when I heard and saw the news the first time.
But let's put it to rest and leave children out of politics. It's hard enough that politics screws up our adult world - don't let it screw up children's innocence as well.
At least it says so in our constitution.
The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines declares: The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable. (Article II, Section 6), and, No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights. (Article III, Section 5).
That's what I got from Wikipedia (I so love that site).
So there is a separation of church and state. At least in theory. But in our case it seems that religion has more to say on our country than you might think.
The Catholic Bishops Conference is one of those influential religious groups that can turn the tide against any politician. Woe be to any politician that goes against the DON'Ts of the Catholic Church.
That's like political suicide right there.
Why? Because even if it's a policy that is beneficial to the people, if it's covered by one of the don'ts of the Catholic Church it's a big NO. And let me emphasize: EVEN IF IT'S FOR THE GOOD OF THE PEOPLE.
Which makes me wonder: how come the church only has don'ts. Don't they have any do's? Are they so wrapped up against not doing anything that they forgot to do anything?
What is there solution? Do they even have one? I bet if you ask them what you should do to feed your family because you have 12 kids and the reason you have 12 kids is because your weren't allowed to do family planning by using contraceptives they won't have a clue.
I suppose it's because they are celibate - that explains all those sex cases against the church - ooops that's a topic for another day.
But back to the point - religion, in this case the church, is not really separate from the the state.
And we only delude ourselves if we believe that bullshit.
So come this election the church will be out in full force to destroy those politicians who are honestly trying to do what's good for the people even if it means going against the church's don'ts.
I say good luck to them and I hope they win despite that.
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