WATWATWORLD

2010-09-06T18:15:00.001-07:00

A SIMPLE GUIDE TO ONLINE SUCCESS REAL EXPERIENCE EXPOSED! How to earn money online by blogging, selling, writing etc. made fast and easy!

humarri.sulit.com.ph - Tuesday, September 7, 2010

2010 © Sulit.com.ph

KHUTZPA by a Phil. Embassy Official... ( Share if you care )

2010-04-21T16:13:00.000-07:00

I received this e-mail from a college friend who is working in the middle east. It is one of those stories where you would like to tear the public official into pieces. Indeed, Filipino migrant workers sometimes suffer not because of their employers or job descriptions but because of the in-excusable actions of public officials sworn to protect their liberties. Government officials, especially those in the embassies abroad who cannot even share a free smile should be "backhoed" Maguindanao style.

Read on...

Saturday, April 17, 2010 at 4:28pm

After a 3-hour continuos Pesach cleaning, I was happy when my employer asked me if we could go out for a while. Was happy in a way that am having a break from scrubbing those kitchen cupboards in time for Pesach/Passover. Glad to at least step out and breathe some air and not just those cleaning materials' scent that causes me headaches and wanna throw up.

The old man wanted to buy some flowers for her wife. It was her birthday that day. But actually, the flowers are some sort of a peace offering. They've been arguing for days about my Pesach cleaning. The oldman insisted that it's not part of my job (thanks to my agent-Eleyna for stressing my work and limitations in my work place and Pesach cleaning is one of them). He's right, but i can't stomach the fact that the oldlady's moving around, cleaning and fixing things in time for Passover while am there sitting or reading. That's not me. So I offered help and in return, they paid me extra that month. That's the best part of it.

On our way to the flower shop, I noticed a shiny, black car on the street (Agron to be exact). It seems familiar and I noticed a small flag sticked on it's window. Since I wasn't wearing my glasses that day, I have to squint for a better look. The small flag bears three colors, blue, red, white.

Yeah, indeed familiar. Have seen that car before. It is used by some high officials from the Philippine Embassy. It was red light so I thought, I have the opportunity to at least exchange some pleasantries with the passenger. With a ready smile, I stoop a little and try to see whoever is in the backseat. The passenger have seen me, am 100% of it. What she did? She turned her head the other way around even before I set my eyes on her. Like she pretend that she haven't seen me, yet her action was late. I have seen her, her action and all.

I was stunned by what she did. I just stand there for seconds, speechless. What a KUTZPA done by an embassy official, not just by any embassy official, but MY EMBASSY. I feel I was slapped in the face by her action. At that moment, I know I turned beet red. Not because I got embarassed or what. I feel my pulse sky-rocketed, my blood boiling, and my heart pump so fast. I was MAD, more of FURIOUS actually. I held my temper and counted 1-10 to calm down. But 10 is not enough, damn.

WTF does her act means?

A very embarassing act done by a person whom I should be looking up to. Unacceptable action done by a person a lot of Filipino Migrant Workers give due respect. A very UNETHICAL move. Due to that first hand experience, the respect I have towards her evaporated right at that very moment. I may be just a migrant worker but I will not stoop down to her level. whatever level she have. I don't care even if she's a Presidential appointee. UTTOT ketdi. Good thing, my parents taught me not to lash-out to "uneducated" people. They're not worth it.

To tell you MADAM, if not because of us, who are working odd jobs, you're not in your position right now. Guess, you forgot that SIMPLE FACT regarding youe existence here in Israel. Do you think you're in a pedestal, and expect us to praise you? If we could just vote who to be in your position, do you think you're still there? NO to both questions. I'd rather want to see Sir Hamoy or ma'am Cuasay or Ma'am Zoe in your position.

We, the migrant workers, who are known to be the modern day heroes are doing a lot of help to our country. We'd rather stay here, away from home than to endure the hardship. We work whatever job there is at hand, however odd it is. Due to the fact that life back home is so hard. How so? Due to some corrupt officials we have in the government. I don't mean just those officials stealing our money but by others LIKE YOU.

What if we reverse the situation. You on our shoes and we on yours. We'll seat in your spacious, state-of-the art office. We'll stay in your expensive and luxurious apartment. We have our own car and own driver. We could travel wherever we wanted to. And receive a salary which is amounting to maybe 10 or 15 migranrant workers' salary. You? You do odd jobs that we do.

What do you think of it MADAM? You change soiled diapers, catheters, or whatever tubes attached to our employers. Clean the house with those chemicals that most of us are allergic to, that cause sickness to most of us. Wake up during the wee hours. Hold your temper to the limit with employers who have Alzheimer's. You got to experience being treated as the most STUPID or DUMB by your employer and their family. You go to the shuk in the middle of the day, may it be summer or winter, with the agala on one hand and your employer on the other. You be blamed of stealing things around the house. Or let's just say, plain and simple, YOU GOT TO FEEL BEING DISCRIMINATED.

What do you think? Like I said, UTTOT ketdi.

Am not writing/publishing this note just to attract attention. Am just writing down my thoughts. There's nothing wrong with it. Some of you might be asking who is she. well, isn't obvious? The first person that comes to your mind, she's the one. If you still don't get, ask me personally and I'll tell you-her full name. I know lots of you wouls raise your pencil-lined eyebrows especially those who have ties up there, but I don't care. Am just voicing my thoughts. You could do the same. we're in a free world anyway.

Tell you what, we're all the same. We eat the same food. Drink the same water. Breathe the same air. That person was just lucky enough that she is there-in the office.

But hey, 80% of us here are degree holders, maybe 30-40% finished graduate studies. So don't give me that bullshit educational rank as an excuse. Hmmmm, or is that person close to the president? Nepotism as usual. It just show that abuse of office is rampant. And don't say i was mistaken because I wasn't wearing my glasses. Am not blind. You might be blurry 30 meters apart(w/o my glasses), but when you're just 2 meters away from me----I CAN SEE YOU CLEARLY. UTTOT nga talaga.

Was just thinking, how about publishing this note to one of our Filipino magazine. I think it's a good idea. Hmm, might as well submit it. The question is, would the editor publish it????????
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www.watwatworld.net just did...
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SEE ME IN ACTION

2010-04-08T02:05:00.000-07:00

I thought you would drop by and check this video "see me in action". Well congratulations! Because it is tradition even in the online world we would like to greet you a HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!

Watch and enjoy...

oh well....

Binalsig

2010-04-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

Feast your eyes... always remember to go back to your roots...

Over Population in Baguio City

2010-03-16T05:04:00.000-07:00

Baguio City is indeed over populated. I have been going around for the past few weeks trying to see how over populated Baguio City really is. I took some photos and when edited for a video clip... this is the result. Fell free to share your thoughts!

Global Warming and the Philippines

2010-03-16T04:59:00.000-07:00

This simple video shares the causes, effect and possible personal contributions to lessen the effect of climate change.

PANAGBENGA SHAWARMA Road IN BLOOM

2010-03-08T04:02:00.001-08:00

PANAGBENGA SHAWARMA Road IN BLOOM

Don’t get me wrong, I like shawarma. In fact I love shawarma. The sweet taste of pita bread combined with the mouth watering griiled beef and spicy hot garlic sauce simply makes me a shawarma fanatic. In a previous blog post I did last January, one item in my wish list includes the improvement of shawarma sauces not to be cheap and watery. So far, those that I tasted were saucy goodilicious! I There were about 20 or more shawarma machines all over the Panagbenga Flower Festival event and people are just lining up to buy. Believe it or not, some visitors go to Session rd., just for the fun of eating shawarma.

The Langgonisa of Enriquez and Alabanza are a crowd favorite too! People wait for their turn to sit down in these booths just to savor the taste of there specialized langonisas.

Next year I’m already thinking of having my own shawarma machine too! Watch out for it!
ENJOY THE PICS!

mmm... nakakagutom!

VILLAR MAY LOSE BECAUSE OF OVER SPENDING

2010-03-08T03:50:00.000-08:00

VILLAR MAY LOSE BECAUSE OF OVER SPENDING
Political survey is a powerful tool especially when the results are overwhelming and almost the same. Villar’s camp may call this article baseless or bias, I don’t care. This simply serves as a wake up call to political candidates. I remember last year when Gilbert Remulla was interviewed regarding the TV ad campaigns of Villar, he said that it is the fastest way to bring the message to the people and they have to do it frequently because they do not have brothers or sisters who are actors or actresses. As far as three years ago, Senator Villar started the OFW strategy followed by a series of TRI-MEDIA ads. His latest commercial “nakaligo ka na ba sa bundok ng basura” is a major hit among children.
Issues on how Senator Villar will recoup his campaign spending are pilling up. People say no person in his right mind would spend billions of pesos for a monthly salary of P100k/month. This question is legitimate. However, it is not the issue at hand. The real question is this: Is his spending billions of pesos worth of political commercials effective or detrimental?

I believe Villars’ campaign was good at the start ( the OFW commercials). Even if he was allegedly spending more on showing his OFW campaigns on TV than the actual help given, the fact is, he helped some OFWs personally. This good deed however backfired when the TV and Radio aired. There was too much “commercialization” of helping OFWs and sooner than expected, the people noticed the silent political agenda behind.

His latest commercial “nakaligo ka na ba” is an instant hit among children but to thinking adults, it is just too good and too promising to be true. To me, this particular Villar ads is overstatement and overkill. At first, it was entertaining, lately it became annoying and backfired again. I don’t know if Villar or the people around him notices this, but his too much spending on TV and Radio commercials are backfiring. Because of too much ads spending, his image of being portrayed as coming from the ranks of the poor is changing to an image of “elitist”. History will educate us that Filipinos will go for the underdog, Villar came out of the list.
On a personal note, I believe Senator Villar is a good person and has achieved so much to deserve the right to become the Philippine president. His chances though is becoming slimmer because of his too much political advertisements. People are going for the “winnable underdogs” – Gibo Teodoro, Erap Estrada, Dick Gordon and surprisingly, Noynoy Aquino who managed to create an atmosphere of being the underdog of Villar.
Political survey results “supposedly” conducted “nationwide” by survey firms such as Pulse Asia, SWS and others serve merely as guidelines. However, if the survey results are almost identical to the local and online survey results, then it now serves as a genuine guideline. As a political analyst, I can say this… looking at the survey results, people are going for the underdogs and Senator Villar is not on the list. His supposedly intelligent think tanks should learn to go down from their level and begin talking to real people and learning from them.

In people oriented surveys ( those that are not commissioned or paid ) conducted in Colleges and Universities, organizations and associations as well as in online blogs, forums and groups, Aquino tops the list followed by Teodoro then Villar and Estrada. In this results, Gibo Teodoro is the fastest gainer.
Today is March 05, 2010. I will say this, if Villar will not change his advertisement campaign style, he will end up like former congressman De Venecia. By April 05, 2010, the fight will be among Aquino, Teodoro, and Gordon. Among the presidentiables, Senator Villar will slide down as a preferred candidate. From Quezon city, to Divisoria in Manila, to Dagupan, to Baguio and La Trinidad, the word on the street is one and the same “nakakatakot magpresidente si Villar”. Indeed, his too much spending on commercials backfired. If only Villar could disguise and mingle with regular people in the streets up to the corporate offices, he will see that he has a big problem caused by his too much spending. And remember, it was word on the street that made Trillanes an underdog and later on a Philippine Senator.

And so I say…
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Disabling a Disabled Mind

2010-02-19T04:31:00.000-08:00

Disabling a Disabled Mind
by: humarri @ www.watwatworld.com
CATEGORY: WATWATWORLD BLOG

I was fortunate to attend a lecture seminar conducted by Mr. Naas Demyttenaere last February 16, 2010 at the Ayuyang Restaurant. The seminar was about understanding dissability. I have to admit that the lecture conducted by Mr. Naas was new to me and unheard of.

To summarize the lecture-seminar, I quote his article below:

"The Saint Louis University-Institute for Inclusive Education is sometimes understood as a kind of charitable institution catering to persons with disabilities. The Institute however is NOT a "charitable institution". Its mission is to effectively create a better society for all by increasing the capacity of schools and teachers to deal with differences. Since children with disabilities are often the first victims of the school's or teacher's failure to deal with differences, the disability issue is a prime focus of the Institute.

Why has our society grown "incompetent" to deal with persons with disabilities and helpless to respond adequately to the real demands differences make upon society?
The basic difficulty is the understanding of disability. The real problem of disability is not the physical difference, but rather the disabling way society thinks of and interacts with persons with impairments.
Many programs define people with disabilities as "special" "abnormal", as individuals who need to be "fixed" and implying: "you are inferior", "you are not OK." The damage this does to the hearts and minds of persons with disabilities and their parents is what makes our society a disabling society.
One thing that we all have in common is that we are all different. Our different physical characteristics shape us into the unique human beings we are. A physical "impairment" is nothing more than a normal, human characteristic, a difference that creates limitations like all physical characteristics do (when you are a male you cannot bear children etc...). But this impairment, although it might be a physical inconvenience or nuisance, does not create disability by itself.
"Persons with disabilities" are simply normal, ordinary people. But physical differences seem to give society a license to discriminate. Denying or limiting the opportunities of persons to take part in the life of the community because of a physical difference generates disability and disables.

Why does society discriminate?
From a very young age all of us (including the person with disabilities) were taught the mistaken concept that disability means inferiority. This is why the average person believes that persons with disabilities are incompetent, helpless, unable to care for themselves, let alone be an asset to society. This common perception has been the negative force keeping "persons with disabilities" down, denying them their rightful place in society.

Decisions about education, employment, benefits, and other opportunities in society are made on basis of this kind of negative views, shattering their dream for independence, freedom and self-reliance and preventing them to lead meaningful lives.

If we want our children with disabilities to be included in our communities and lead ordinary and fulfilling lives: it's not the persons with disabilities who need to be changed but the attitudes and perspectives of society that need to change. The society has to be inclusive. Inclusion has to happen at home, in the school, in the community!

We cannot change the characteristics of people but we can work, however, to create a society where people can live together with their differences. It is, therefore, our urgent task to direct and focus people's thinking towards understanding disability; and to do so with enough intensity and passion to realize inclusion in our homes, schools and communities."

Simply put, the society gives a "branded look" to those who are called persons with disabilities (PWDs). Directly or indirectly, we tend to discriminate PWDs because we were educated to do so. We grew up with the thinking that PWDs should be considered as "special" and so our treatment to them at the very first instance is not normal, bias and with pity which is not supposed to be there.

PWDs are not "special". They are areour equal in every right only in a different way. We often treat them as lower class citizens because of their disabilities and by doing this we, people with no disabilities, are in fact the lowest.

This is evident everywhere specially during Christmas season and Holy week where "normal people" attend or organize charitable gatherings to feed the PWDs with a lunch pack of pancit, loafbread and tetrapack juice and having pictures with them while they are eating. The pictures will then be published or posted in thier offices or social networking accounts like Facebook as a sign of thier being "charitable". This common practice by some "normal people" is plain and simple stupid.

Did you ever consider what persons with disabilities think if you offer them pansit, two slices of loafbread and tetra pack juice once a year as a sign of being "charitable"

I did'nt...
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The Pinetrees of the World Experience

2010-02-19T04:00:00.000-08:00

The Pinetrees of the World Experience
by: humarri @ www.watwatworld.com
CATEGORY: WATWATTRAVEL BLOG

Last February 14, 2010, I heart (love) Baguio was formally launched at the Pinetrees of the World Park, formerly known as Lions Park. The event was coordinated by Media practitioner Pigeon Lobien and Baguio watchdog advocate Gideon Omero. Together with the save the Burnham park group members and supporters, the day of the hearts was celebrated with mother natures love.

The day started early by setting up the Photo exhibits. Lunch was pot luck and by 3:00pm pinikpikan started to boil coupled with the aroma of etag. By 6pm, Daluyon band provided the park good Baguio music. Everybody had fun, the MOA against the Athletic Bowl issue was signed and by 1:00am, it was time to go.

What I personally experienced during the pack-up time is common to me since I grew up camping in the mountains of Baguio City but to those who do not have any idea on how these kinds of nights end, allow me to share.

It was a cold night. Even with the campfire, you can still feel the cold breeze and see droplets of water forming on the leaves of the trees. By 12:00am, most of the participants went home and only six persons were left to fix the camp. Every person has his assigned thing to do. It was really a sacrifice fixing the area at 12:30am with only one flashlight. I saw that everyone was tired, sleepy but one thing caught my eye, everyone was happy and sporting a big smile.

As I always say, at the end of the day, the cause is what matters most.
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Below are some of the memorable moments caught on camera.

It was a happy valentines day!

PROTECTED ECOLOGY UNDER SEIGE

2010-02-19T03:02:00.000-08:00

PROTECTED ECOLOGY UNDER SEIGE
By: Glo Abaeo Tuazon
Email: twilight_glo@yahoo.com
CATEGORY: WATWATTRAVEL

The Forests of Bayyo, Mt. Province. Even the beautiful afternoon panorama may someday be clouded by the threats of forest denudation caused by logging and burning. The proud forest covers of the Mt. province may someday flop too without prevention.

       It is said that in the Mountain Province 80 percent of the land area is still forested. Though some parts have become central habitations for people, four fifths have managed to stay the way they were. The little portions that were made towns are almost always centralized, a few households straying further away to tend to their conquered lands.

       The people of the Mountain Province have for decades stuck to the idea that one should only take what he is apportioned to use, this includes the use of trees as well. The mountain dwellers believe that throughout time, the forests have served as protection and shelter, foraging areas for the livestocks, source of food, water retainers and a place to get lost in. Like the old American Indians who first have to ask permission from the trees they fell and the animals they butcher for food, the people of the northern tribes somehow does the same. A little prayer, a little offering of liquid spirit, a smidge of tobacco or a chicken sacrifice and they fell the trees they needed. That was how it used to be. These days are different though. With the dynamics of the modern world and the need to shelter more people, trees or the forests in general are under threat.

       The siege has begun, and the forests are receding without much fight. Maybe in their silent states they are protesting and shrieking in vain. The creatures that live within their enclaves echoing the screams of the aching habitat, to do just that but are helpless against the onslaught caused by man.

       The forests of the Mountain Province is a lot better in comparison to other provinces, but should the people let that issue conquer the pride and start denudation for the sake of agriculture expansion, business logging and development by infrastructures? Such are the dilemnas of the modern people. The need maybe understandable but more and more these days, the “want” aggravates the situation. With all the logging and tree burning happening in the area, comes a time when the statistics of 80 percent may turn and deplete. For what are we protecting the trees for? This generation may not be feeling the worse effects, yet the children of tomorrow may not even know the meaning of forests or trees. The extinction the threats of climate change may bring may in time even forget all the discoveries and developments man made in the thousands of years of existence.

       The relationship of protecting ecology and climate change is a very crucial subject. Some scientists even refute the idea that global warming is happening all because around the world a lot of places are buried under snow. The US for one have a record that of the 50 states, it snowed in 49. But that should not stop people nor make people stray from the idea that climate change or global warming for one is not happening or would happen in the near future.

       In a smaller scale, everybody has to have the “preventive state of mind”. Not to wait for it to happen but prevent it from happening. As such a PAENRO board was organized in the Mt. Province by Gov. Maximo B. Dalog. Dalog for one encourages everybody to do a bit of his share. A large number of people in the province still consider agriculture their main livelihood source, that for a fact requires areas to garden and farm. Understandably also are facts that clearings had to be made for the purpose. But the extensive burning of trees to clear more agri space is something uncalled for. The reasoning that people have to clear areas to farm, to farm for food, food to live is almost always at the tip of the sword being shoved into most pro active ecological advocate. Can any advocate feed these people or send their children to school if they stop their activities and they starve? The frustrating dilemma is an overwhelming point to ponder by everybody, something the government should seriously look into and do something about in a more massive drive, a continuing surge that has to go on until something good comes out of it and if possible eradicate the problem altogether. Alternative farming and other livelihood programs are indeed good but are useless without a market. Then again everyone should start with the basics.

        Mt. Province is now under alert to do just this and with a very good purpose. To stop the burnings the Governor has a plea. “Let our children experience the nature we once enjoyed.” Simple but to the core. Interested people with brains and hearts for the cause of ecological protection can be part of the “One Million Trees” program. This ambitious program to plant around a million trees a year in the areas around MP seem like a distant dream but is attainable. For a single person to be able to plant 10 seedlings multiplied by the number of willing population is a start. And for purposes of livelihood, fruitbearing trees are a good fare to that. Let the movement start and the people can say they made a difference.

       In the ways of the forefathers, let us protect the forests that protected us.

With the construction of roads that makes transportation of farm good, the nearby forests are finding more bald patches these days.

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KAMOTE CAN SAVE THE PHILIPPINE ECONOMY.

2010-02-11T20:41:00.000-08:00

CATEGORY: WATWATFOOD BLOG

by: humarri @ www.watwatworld.com

For centuries, our Filipino ancestors survived eating "kamote" or sweet potato. Life back then was simple and so is the staple food. Today, we grew up eating rice, junkfood, fastfood, instant food and so many kinds of food. The good old "kamote" is now branded as "poor man's food" but this is about to change soon...

Our very own kamote is an excellent source of starch and contains huge amounts of carotenoids. Kamote’s deep orange-yellow color proclaims to everyone that they’re high in the antioxidant beta carotene. Sweet potatoes are superb sources of fiber, vitamins B6, C and E, folate, and potassium. It is these and other phytochemicals that make sweet potatoes a potent anti-cancer food.

And like all vegetables, they’re fat-free and low in calories — one small sweet potato has just 54 calories. And hear this: Sweet potatoes may reduce your risk for lung cancer, especially good news to the millions of Filipino smokers and ex-smokers out there. Cooking-wise, it’s best to eat them boiled, mashed or baked.(Philstar.com)

Below is a very good article and it is worth reading and sharing.
Title: "The underrated kamote can save our country"
Column: AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
Author: William M. Esposo
Publisher: Philippine Star
Date Published: Thursday, April 17, 2008

Too many wrong instructions have been programmed into the Filipino psyche. If we want to move forward, we must unlearn those things that bring us down. Our counterproductive mindsets prevent us from sustaining whatever beachheads we have accomplished. We are among the hardest to convince when it comes to retooling ourselves and adopting scientifically- validated new methods. We're afraid to venture beyond our comfort zone. We are a nation blessed with tremendous natural resources and yet many Filipinos suffer from hunger and malnutrition. While it's true that the nation's wealth is cornered by only a few Filipinos, we must not lose sight of the fact that a good part of our malnutrition problem is also self- inflicted. Rampant malnutrition could have been significantly
checked had the government taken time to promote food alternatives that could even provide better nutrition than the usually consumed staples such as rice. Ignorance, not just lack of money, causes malnutrition. Captive to our comfort zone, our people either do not know their food options or simply refuse to consider the other foods that are available to them. The underrated kamote illustrates my point. Do you know that kamote far exceeds the nutrition and health values of rice? Here are the benefits of substituting rice with kamote:

1. Kamote is more filling and suppresses hunger pangs longer. It is also cheaper than rice.

2. Unlike rice, kamote is so easy to grow. It grows in backyards with or without fertilizers.
Local government executives can provide their poor communities with idle government land for planting kamote which the entire community
can share.

3. Unlike rice which needs to be eaten with a dish, kamote tastes good and can be eaten by itself. Thus, substituting rice with kamote saves money for other needs.

4. Rice cannot match the nutritional values of kamote. Because rice converts to sugar in the body, the Philippines registers as a top producer of diabetics in the world. The poor tends to load up on rice and less on the dish which are more expensive. That makes them vulnerable to diabetes, an ailment known in developed countries as a rich man's disease.

5. The nutritional values of a 3 oz baked kamote are:
calories 90, fat 0g, saturated fat 0 g, cholesterol 0 mg,carbohydrate 21 g, protein 2g, dietary fiber 3 g, sodium 36 mg, vitamin A 19,218 IU, folic acid 6 micrograms, pantothenic acid 1 mg,vitamin B6 <1 mg,vitamin C 20 mg, vitamin E 1 mg,calcium 38 mg, manganese 1 mg, carotenoids 11,552mcg, potassium 475 mg andmagnesium 45 mg. Compare that to a 100 g serving of white rice with:calories 361 kcal, water 10.2 g, total fat 0.8 g,dietary fiber 0.6 g,calcium 8 mg,phosphorous 87 mg, potassium 111 mg, sodium 31 mg, vitamin B1 0.07 mg, vitamin B2 0.02 mg, niacin 1.8 g, protein 6 g and carbohydrates 82 g.

6. Too much rice consumption can make you sick but kamote can bring you to
health and keep away some health problems. These have been proved medically.

In a medical documentary I watched recently on KBS World (the South Korean TV Network), I was awed by the results of the research the Koreans conducted on the nutritional and medicinal benefits of kamote (which they refer to as sweet potato). Few Filipinos realize that South Korean doctors are among the finest in the world. The Korean doctors have accomplished many key breakthroughs in the field of medicine. It was a Korean doctor working in Germany who was able to develop the successful liver transplantation protocol (and the Germans almost placed him in jail for having experimented at home with live animals). The Korean doctors enjoy the benefit of knowing both the Eastern and the Western methods to tackling diseases. They may be low key but their level of medical technology is world class. In that Korean medical documentary I watched (which I followed through the English subtitles), they presented the research findings on people with established health problems who were placed on a kamote/sweet potato diet. Believe it or not ? Kamote lowers hypertension, bad cholesterol and even blood sugar when eaten as SUBSTITUTE TO RICE! The purple sweet potato (kamote) is particularly effective for lowering hypertension. Not only that, the Korean medical documentary credits the sweet potato (kamote) as high fiber and is one of the best foods that one can eat to prevent cancer! For those who are only impressed by US doctors, listen to this: the North Carolina Stroke Association, American Cancer Society, and the American Heart Association have all endorsed the sweet potato for its disease prevention and healing qualities.The Americans, the South Koreans ? both progressive nations ? have raised the kamote to a high pedestal. Many of them even call the kamote a "super food that heals." And just how do we Filipinos regard the kamote? Remember how we like to call a loser as one who is nangangamote (Filipino term for lagging behind)?Truly, unless we unlearn many things, we will, as a nation, always be nangangamote.

KAMOTE Health Benefits in scientific form:

How sweet it is for your health to eat sweet potatoes! Not only do they taste like dessert, here's the latest research on sweet potatoes surprising benefits.

Unique Proteins with Potent Antioxidant Effects

Sweet potato contain unique root storage proteins that have been observed to have significant antioxidant capacities. In one study, these proteins had about one-third the antioxidant activity of glutathione-one of the body's most impressive internally produced antioxidants. Although future studies are needed in this area, count on these root proteins to help explain sweet potatoes' healing properties.

A Sweet Source of Good Nutrition

Our food ranking system also showed sweet potato to be a strong performer in terms of traditional nutrients. This root vegetable qualified as an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), a very good source of vitamin C and manganese, and a good source of copper, dietary fiber, vitamin B6, potassium and iron. How do these sweet potato nutrients support our health?

An Antioxidant-Rich, Anti-Inflammatory Food

As an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene) and a very good source of vitamin C, sweet potatoes have healing properties as an antioxidant food. Both beta-carotene and vitamin C are very powerful antioxidants that work in the body to eliminate free radicals. Free radicals are chemicals that damage cells and cell membranes and are associated with the development of conditions like atherosclerosis, diabetic heart disease, and colon cancer. This may explain why beta-carotene and vitamin C have both been shown to be helpful for preventing these conditions.

Since these nutrients are also anti-inflammatory, they can be helpful in reducing the severity of conditions where inflammation plays a role, such as asthma, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
In addition, sweet potatoes are a good source of vitamin B6, which is needed to convert homocysteine, an interim product created during an important chemical process in cells called methylation, into other benign molecules. Since high homocysteine levels are associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, having a little extra vitamin B6 on hand is a good idea.

If you or someone you love is a smoker, or if you are frequently exposed to secondhand smoke, then making vitamin A-rich foods, such as sweet potatoes, part of your healthy way of eating, may save your life, suggests research conducted at Kansas State University.

Since the Philippines is an agricultural country, promoting the planting of kamote will help this country cope up with scarcity of basic food.

Rice maybe our staple food but not for long... in the coming decades rootcrops will dominate as the most basic need.

I am not Nostradamus or Madame Auring but I can see the future... KAMOTE will prevail!
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.proooottt.... pprooooot..... ppproooooot....
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WHY DO BROWN FILIPINOS WANT TO BECOME WHITE? FILIPINOS, BE PROUD OF YOUR BROWN SKIN!

2010-02-11T20:03:00.000-08:00

Brown skin is diverse, it is unique and it is beautiful. The beauty of our warm, glowing skin is a gift of nature and comes without having to visit the beach or a tanning salon. Few people will dispute that women with brown skin generally look 10 years younger than many women with white skin. This is, of course, because of brown skin’s greater melanin content. Melanin has many significant beauty benefits. The greatest advantage to having large amounts of melanin in the skin is that it protects skin from long-term damage associated with aging—the development of deep wrinkles, rough surface texture and age spots (sometimes called liver spots). This is especially true for women of African descent. However, to maintain our beauty, we must know how to care for our skin properly; which conditions we are more susceptible to developing; and what products, medications, cosmetics and procedures are appropriate for our brown skin care. (Brownskin.net)
Have you seen a Filipina with make-up suited for a horror movie? The face so white with whatever whitening cream, powder or agent but when you look at the lower part of the head you see a different color?

Have you seen Filipinos trying their best to "slang" their english just to be "in"? The drunken master in you starting to feel all intelligent and taking the conversation to a "higher" level by using "engrish"?

Today, with too much western influence, more nad more Filipinos consider having a whiter skin to look beautiful and classy. The brown skin by birth is being forced to become "lighter" by using inducers such as glutathione, papaya extracts and licorice. In fact, the fastest selling product in the direct selling market is not herbal coffee or food supplements but beauty and whitening soaps followed by whitening capsules, slimming products then vitamin c.

Ironically, I have friends from other countries particularly those from Europe dislike Filipinas who are trying their best to become white because to them the original Filipina brown beauty has the most beautiful skin on earth..."simply exotic".

Funny because some western people spend lots of money to achieve a darker skin while some Filipinos spend theirs on skin-whitening products.

To me, there is nothing more beautiful than a Filipina brown skin. I wish the same goes to all Filipinos.
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AMERICA'S SECRET WEAPON REVEALED!!! OMG!

2010-02-11T19:29:00.000-08:00

CATEGORY: POLITICAL ADOBO BLOG

by: humarri @ www.watwatworld.com

I have been wondering what makes the United States of America the most powerful nation on earth? After a decade, I finally know the answer and it is not their military force. America is the most powerful nation because of HOLLYWOOD.

United States Hollywood movies control the world because of the mind set and influence it brings to the viewers. We are used to see Americans as heroes and saviors of the world. Also, most war movies and action films depict a "heroic" American saving the day. With this continuous psychological mind setting, people all over the world see the USof A as the land of promise, the greener pasture, the savior of the wold (although in reality, USA has one of the biggest debts in the world). With this in mind comes another question... what happens to the mighty United States of America if Hollywood will shutdown entirely? Will the western "heroic" influence still prevail? I guess not.

Entertainment is a powerful tool to control people. Just like in the Philippines where so many Filipinos wanted to become Koreans because of the Korean tele-novelas shown in TV.

Hollywood entertainment is the best that America has to offer. In times of economic crisis, making a very entertaining movie will cover the obvious and common thinking will be diverted to "heroism".

During the cold war between USA and USSR, Hollywood played a big role in creating a worldwide mindset that the USSR is the cold blooded enemy. They made this worldwide influence in the movie series "Rambo" and "Rocky Balboa". Such movies uplifted the spirits of every American and its allies throughout the world.

The music industry is also controlled if not influenced by Hollywood. Just look around, you can see Asian rappers and hiphops wearing over sized pajamas which was originally common only to western youths. Boy bands, County song, Rap music, Rock bands etc... name it, it all came from Hollywood.

To become powerful, you must have two major things, the mind and the body. The United States Army is the body... strong and powerful... but the body is useless without the mind which is no other than Hollywood.

And so I say this... the most powerful weapon is not arms but influence. I learn that from Jose Rizal!
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THE FRUITS THAT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE

2010-02-11T03:49:00.000-08:00

CATEGORY: WATWATFOOD: GEN. INFO

posted by: humarri @ www.watwatworld.com

It's long but very informative

We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. It's not as easy as you think. It's important to know how and when to eat.

What is the correct way of eating fruits?

IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS! * FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.

If you eat fruit like that, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.

FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD. Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit.. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so.

In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil....

So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! You have heard people complaining - every time I eat watermelon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats up, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet etc - actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!

Graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyes all these will NOT happen if you take fruits on an empty stomach.
There is no such thing as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruits become alkaline in our body, according to Dr Herbert Shelton who did research on this matter. If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the Secret of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.

When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT from the cans. Don't even drink juice that has been heated up. Don't eat cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all. You only get to taste. Cooking destroys all the vitamins.

But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it. You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!

KIWI: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E & fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.

APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoids which enhances the activity of vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.

STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.

ORANGE : Sweetest medicine. Taking 2-4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessens the risk of colon cancer.

WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher.. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene - the cancer fighting oxidant Other nutrients found in watermelon are vitamin C & Potassium.

GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for your eyes.

Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer! Can u believe this?? For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

A serious note about heart attacks HEART ATTACK PROCEDURE': (THIS IS NOT A JOKE!) Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.. You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack . Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms.. Sixty percent of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive...

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life.

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Philippine Political Theories, linkage, politics and Facebook

2010-02-11T03:34:00.000-08:00

CATEGORY: POLITICAL ADOBO BLOG

by: humarri @ www.watwatworld.com

Political ideologies in the Philippines are dominated by two words, leftist or rightist. Depending on how a person was educated, trained and by personal experience, his ideology on how society, community and government differs from one another although at some issues a common ground is established.

In the Philippines, we classify leftists and rightists according to how they will react on a certain issue. Let me give an example, I have been posting articles online for a couple of years now and the reactions I get depend on how the person is affected. If I write something against the construction of a Mall in a province, some will say “keep it up! We do not need too much commercialization” or “construction of a big mall is against the rights of the small businessmen” etc. But some will also say “we welcome development in the province” or “let us not be left behind, having a mall will encourage business growth” etc. Simply put, ideas and opinions of every person vary and there could be an unending debate on who has the better thought.

Opinions are everybody’s right whether it is pro or anti-government. Taking away the right of one person to express his opinion is tantamount to over all chaos. If a person expresses his opinion on a certain issue, reactions should be based on the issue presented and NOT on the person who presented his opinion. However, in the Philippines, this is not the case. If you present your opinion in an issue, you will receive comments that are personal in nature such as “grow up” , “immature”, or “poor you”. Worst cases would be threats to you and your family.

Rightists control business, economy and government. People in the right wing will do everything to remain in power and control and that means even using the military and police to achieve his interests. On the other hand, Leftists provide alternative suggestions against the control of the Rightists and addresses the issues and concerns involved in the control and implementation of rightist programs. Leftists are considered as pressure groups, branded as anti-government but seriously speaking, without them, there will be no balance at all.

Leftists are oftentimes associated with the communist party of the Philippines and its branches. People see them rallying in the streets shouting their issues and concerns. They may look like the “contrabidas” in a an action movie but their sentiments and voices provide the much needed balance against a totalitarian rule. They have the balls to speak out when others prefer to keep quiet.

But there is another form of ideology, much bigger and wider than what was presented above, and that is “CENTRIST”. This is the common people’s rational thinking. An independent analysis different from left or right thinking.
As defined:
“CENTRISTS espouse a "middle ground" regarding government control of the economy and personal behavior. Depending on the issue, they sometimes favor government intervention and sometimes support individual freedom of choice. Centrists pride themselves on keeping an open mind, tend to oppose "political extremes," and emphasize what they describe as "practical" solutions to problems.”
– an example would be: A centrist may say something such as the following: Abortion should be legal, but only in certain situations such as the woman having conceived during rape or not having the financial ability to pay for the baby, as well as others.

In certain aspects, many individuals are considered a centrist. Open minded to all issues and concerns but do not judge according to a political theory. They try to resolve issues and concerns according to what they believe is right and practical and if needed participate in government control or attend/organize street protests and rallies. It is an action involving the individuals free will and not dictated upon. This evolving theory is fast rising in the Philippines and it is considered as a threat in the bi-theory control in this country.

Again, I consider the “Baguio City case” as a landmark case of “centrists” thinking. The strong opposition for the construction of a Korean project at the Athletic Bowl was started and supported by common people. With the help of technology, open information, participation and awareness, the common people of Baguio city showed support against the City Government’s MOA by participating in an online protest. A group was created at Facebook denouncing the said MOA and in a few weeks the number of members rose to more than 9,000. These supporters – oppositionists are the “silent voters”. They supported this opposition by free will, expressing their thoughts without fear and looking at no leaders but themselves so that their concerted efforts will bring forward a righteous concern to those who are in control.

As I have been expressing years ago, technology will change the control of information and with such technology comes the fear of losing control especially on the part of politicians and their organizations because today their slightest moves are now in the publics’ scrutiny. Traditional politics is changing and the new battle ground is done online. Most of the voters in this generation are internet savvy. Information about a politician is traveling faster than the speed of light and even if politicians will use their money to buy votes, I believe the new generation of intelligent voters will decide according to what they think and how they feel and not because of any affiliation or influence.

TRI Media is a thing of the past. Today, the fourth medium is bigger, faster and more people oriented because the internet provides a venue for people participation from all ages around the world. This new medium provides a free for all discussion. Recently, I came across a video clip in Facebook, it was discussing the CPP-NPA-NDF entering into the mainstream of Philippine politics by legal means. I knew at the first instance that it was a bad publicity campaign against those who are running in the party list system. I wanted to see how people will react on the video so I used the “share” button, after which I copied in toto the message of the original poster also emphasizing that it is a re-post. I was amazed when a good friend who is a lawyer instantly belittled me for posting the “anti-leftist” video telling me to grow up and calling me as immature. His reaction didn’t surprise me at all. However, a new comment was added praising the video as informative and should be shared. There was a clear difference in opinion but I decided to click on the “remove” post button to avoid an unending debate just like what happened months ago when I posted a Youtube video with the title “muslim demographics”. At first, there was a good discussion of opinions but later on turned into a bad personal debate between two persons. I had to delete the post.

Clash of ideologies is now in the internet and unlike before, you can now say whatever you like online without the fear of being punched in the face or lambasted in a proceeding. This new found freedom is somewhat absolute since there is no government agency that can control the internet and the rich exchange of information found within. This freedom is now available to the employees working 8hours inside the office, students, laborers, teachers, ofws, etc who can now participate anytime in issues and concerns. This was the clear case in the “protect the Burnham park movement”.

Today, I remain to be a centrist. I react against the lapses of government and its leaders if needed and I will not hesitate to voice out concerns against those who are claiming to be progressive. At the end of the day, my opinion remains to be my opinion and I am entitled to it without fear or favor.

With the upcoming elections, social networking sites like Facebook will be flooded with political groups and organizations. Instead of shrugging them off, why not participate, learn and comment? You are free to say anything you want as long as you maintain a certain level of “professionalism”. You have no right to go personal only because the issue presented is against your thinking. Just avoid the “fan pages” since you cannot interact directly. Better join the “groups”, it is interactive.

Pahabol: I read a very long article about the new and unfamiliar trend of Facebook. It is now the largest social organization around the world and it is changing technology faster than we can cope up. According to the article, Google is leading in the world of online advertisements but this will soon be a thing of the past since more and more advertisers prefer Facebook advertising because of their direct target approach. This is why you keep seeing those unending political ads of candidates in your Facebook account and I’m sure those ads will double or triple in the coming months nearing the election date. Facebook will become a venue for Philippine political circus.
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Participate! INDIVIDUAL ONLINE POLL SURVEY FOR BAGUIO CITY, BENGUET, MT. PROVINCE, IFUGAO, KALINGA, ABRA and ILOCOS.

2010-02-06T03:12:00.000-08:00

Online Poll survey for Baguio City, Benguet, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Kalinga, Abra and Ilocos Provinces from Congressman, Governor, Mayor down to the Councilors is now open. Show your support by voting at www.watwatworld.com.

The recently concluded poll survey for Baguio candidates showed a participation of more than 6000 online votes. However, some sectors wanted a Baguio alone poll survey where a particular niche for onliners from baguio can be established thus the result will be more accurate for a political "preference". This goes the same with the provinces enumerated above.

This poll survey is open fron February 05 - March 25, 2010 only and this time the calendar will be followed strictly since it is already a niche poll survey.

The poll survey for online voters for Benguet, Ifugao, Mt.Province, Kalinga, Abra, Ilocos etc are already running with the same period of coverage as shown above.

And as always, let me reiterate that the result of this online poll survey will only show "preference" and is not accurate as to the final result of the 2010 elections.

Show your participation, go to www.watwatworld.com and click on the links to vote.
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BAGUIO ONLINE POLL SURVEY RESULT: Farinas, Molintas, Yangot leads.

2010-02-03T06:15:00.001-08:00

CATEGORY: BAGUIO POLITICS BLOG

The recently concluded survey polls conducted by watwatworld. com shows that the citizens of Baguio City are silently participating. The online votes from November 2009 to January 30, 2010 counts to almost 6400 making it a highly participated survey.

As I have been saying since the very start of the survey, the result is not conclusive so as to say that it is already the election outcome. However, this result will show the possible preference of the “silent” voters especially those whom I call as new generation of intelligent and online voters.

I have been making posts and articles about online participation of the “new generation of intelligent voters” since 2007. Three years ago, I participated in online forums and posts supporting the candidacy of Senator Trillanes who as we all know lacks campaign funds. Bloggers were posting stories silently supporting him. At the end of the day, the “pushing” of ideas to vote for Trillanes was carried over by the readers to their homes, shared it to their family members and unexpectedly, to the loud cries of the rich and powerful candidates, Senator Trillanes was born. It seems that the voting public supports the underdog and not necessarily the opposition.

Today, majority of the voters are most likely to be influenced not by popularity of the candidate but by common thought which was influenced but what they believe, see and hear. Regardless of the billions spent on commercial, print and TV ads by politicians, the voters will still vote according to their conscience.

The new battleground of political candidates is not on the streets or in TV or Radio stations because in this generation, majority of the voters prefer to use their time surfing the internet than listening to the commercial ads of the politicians. One example would be the newly registered voters counting to millions. This generation of voters spend their time researching, chatting, watching, reading, playing or watching porn online rather than watching TV. Facebook alone can confirm this trend.

Some readers of my posts argue that political influence online is only a small portion of the voting public. They say that not all areas have internet access and many provinces and cultures still practice the traditional money making politics. I have to disagree. Even if the internet access is not available in some areas, still the voters nowadays are more involved and thinking independently from the usual practice. This came about because most of the “elders” whose words are laws are now slowly fading away. Simply put, everybody wants change.

Going back to the online poll survey result for Baguio City, again I emphasize that the result is NOT conclusive for a win but a mere preference of those who voted. The May 2010 election will still determine the winners.

The result are as follows: Online Poll Survey from November 2009 to January 30, 2010

FOR MAYOR
Total votes: 2290

1. Barcelo, Ruben Liwanag – (55 votes) 2%
2. Busacay-Lazo, Erlinda Adan – (64 votes) 2%
3. Domogan, Mauricio Gambao – (922 votes) 40%
4. Go, Marquez Ocampo – “Mark” – (238 votes) 10%
5. Hernandez, Guillermo – (77 votes) 3%
6. Labo, Ramon Lozano – (98 votes) 4%
7. Mandapat, Julius Javier –92 votes) 4%
8. Molintas, Jose Mencio – (1526 votes) 66%
9. Puzon, Peter Dulay – (62 votes) 2%
10. Sembrano, Elaine Dominguez – (109 votes) 4%

FOR VICE MAYOR
Total votes: 1213

1. Domalsin, Carol Rosado – (105 votes) 8%
2. Farinas, Danilo Tesaluna – (613 votes) 50%
3. Olowan, Faustino Atiwag – (514 votes) 42%

FOR CONGRESSMAN
Total votes: 6377

1. Avila, Edgar Mendoza – (31 votes) 0%
2. Balisong, Rocky Thomas Aseilan – (706 votes) 11%
3. Bautista, Reinaldo Jr. Asperin – (200 votes) 3%
4. Bello III, Dwight Nicolas Advincula – (17 votes) 0%
5. Quilala, Rabindranath Pablo – (16 votes) 0%
6. Ramos, Felipe Tribonaldo – (75 votes) 1%
7. Vergara, Bernardo Mangacang – (2148 votes) 33%
8. Yangot, Leandro Jr. Bagto – (3761 votes) 58%
9. Yaranon, Baraulio Dacanay- (39 votes) 0%

Please visit the website www.cordillerapolitics.blogspot.com until February 14, 2010 to see actual results. A new poll survey for Baguio City will start on February 05, 2010 – March 25, 2010 from the congressional candidates down to the city councilors. To participate on the Baguio City poll survey please check www.baguiopolitics.blogspot.com .

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THE IRONY OF PHILIPPINE POLITICS

2010-01-25T23:42:00.000-08:00

CATEGORY: BLOG: POLITICAL ADOBO

by: humarri, www.watwatworld.com

Philippine political elections is one of the most festive and expensive political events in the world. According to one politician, you need at least 3 billion pesos to run as the next Philippine president. Simply put, invest so much in the elections for a chance to earn a monthly salary of P100K. Do whatever mathematical calculations you can, it’s just impossible to earn 3 Billion pesos in six years with a monthly salary of 100K/month. So armed with a criminal mind, I can safely say the next president of the Philippines will have to do some magic tricks to earn more than the 3 Billion pesos he invested. There is no such thing as spending 3Billion for the sake of “public service” . It is plain and simple hypocrisy.

This is the happy days for ABS CBN, GMA, TV5, radio stations, print media and PR companies. They earn billions of pesos from the politicians. At the end of the political festival, the lowly Juan Dela Cruz was entertained but earned nothing and will suffer more.A question arises. How do politicians earn in the Philippines? My answer is simple, CONTRACTS, FAVORS and FRIENDS.

1. Contracts – every Filipino knows that politicians automatically earn 10-50% of every contract they facilitate or sign. This is a fact that is happening but nobody wants to talk about it. Even the most religious politician is not exempted. Ask any of the public or private contractors during coffee or drinking sessions and they will blatantly accept that fact. There is no clean contract. Every contract has some form of corruption in it either in the amount, form, materials, implementation and automatic deduction. As they say, everybody earns in a contract except the lowly Filipinos. Now, imagine this, the Philippine 2010 national budget is Trillions of pesos, that would mean so many thousands of billions at the mercy of the politicians. With contracts alone, any president can recover his election investment in less than a year.

2. Favors – every politician owes someone something, either monetary or in kind. Campaign funds does not come cheap or free, it always has a price and it is called political favors. One example of political favor is the right of a person or entity to solely operate the jueteng operation in the entire country.

3. Friends – the power to appoint people in administrative positions. I need not expand. You can see this even at the smallest political unit (barangay) in the country.

Having said this, I am disgusted with the political system we have. No amount of election promises can change the current system… BUT it can be ALTERED to benefit more Filipino people. This is happening now. Filipinos are becoming active and participative in political issues thanks to technology. One example of alteration is the active pressure of the common people who are not linked to any leftist, rightist or militant organization. My favorite example is the rescinded MOA to give Athletic bowl park in Baguio city to the Koreans. The deal between the Korean investors and the city government went on smoothly and silently until it was exposed. The people of Baguio got angry voicing out their sentiments in online forums. This pressured the politicians and now they are cleaning their hands from the dirt. Thing is, no amount of water can clean their hands. The people are watching you closely. Times has changed. They will listen to your political grandstanding, they will listen to your explanations but will not allow themselves to be influenced by your words. This is altering the traditional political system.

Filipinos today are more vigilant and active. They know that corruption is instituted in every politician that is why they will see to it that more Filipinos will earn and benefit from every political move. Those who say that
they can stop corruption and initiate change are hypocrites to the highest level UNLESS they themselves accept that they will benefit from the position they are running and this includes those who are claiming to be progressive or militant in nature. Nobody is exempted.

The people of the Philippines are watching your every move and no amount of media publicity can save you from the watchful eyes of the public.
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SMILE! THE GREATEST BENGUET POLITICAL TRILOGY BATTLE IS NEAR!

2010-01-25T23:32:00.000-08:00

CATEGORY: BLOG: BENGUET POLITICS

by: humarri, www.watwatworld.com

With the upcoming 2010 elections, the supporters of the three candidates for governor in Benguet are already making noises as to who is the better choice. The trilogy battle is between incumbent Governor Nestor Fongwan, Congressman Samuel Dangwa and former Governor Raul Molintas. Benguet politics is known as traditional and elderly based because the Kankanaeys and the Ibalois choose their leaders according to their ethnic affiliation. However, this practice is slowly changing because first, the elders are also slowly fading away and second, the freedom of expression and technology among the younger voters is affecting the ethnic affiliation of voting for a candidate.

Today, the fate of a Benguet politician is not entirely in the hands of the elders although the respect for their
choices remains. I am excited to see how these three “heavygats” battle each other out since each one of them is already considered by their supporters as governor. Among the three, it seems incumbent Gov. Nestor Fongwan leads the pack because of his recent media exposure during typhoon pepeng and ondoy where he was branded again as the action man of Benguet.

As for Congressman Samuel Dangwa, unless he exposes himself and his achievements to the public as a legislator, he will be known as Halsema developer. Former Gov. Raul Molintas has yet to be beaten when running as a governor.Sad thing though is that many of the voters are not aware of their achievements, projects, programs, policies and plans. All we know is that they are “heavygats” and we have to choose one of them. As the world of technology advances just like their age, they should also fit in and use their millions to float whatever their plans are for the Province of Benguet especially for the new generation of voters who are tech savvy and information hungry.

Before, politicians butcher pigs and chickens to please the vote of the elders and their children. Today, politicians will still have to butcher pigs and chicken for the elders and the crowd and they will also have to
please the new generation of voters who are educated, thinking, and politically aware with the information they need to hear. Simply said, it is not the elders or ethnic affiliation who will determine the winning vote in today’s generation.

In my opinion, if there is a someone who is younger, outspoken and youthful, he or she will win as Governor by the new generation of voters following the Trillanes and Escudero style.
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WATWATWORLD.COM 2010 PANAGBENGA FLOWER FESTIVAL WISH LIST

2010-01-25T23:14:00.000-08:00

CATEGORY: BLOG, BAGUIO CITY ISSUES AND POLITICS

by: humarri, www.watwatworld.com

I wish that there will be more flowers than tarpaulins, leaflets and flyers of political candidates.

I wish that the festival will not be polluted by senseless violence .

I wish that the contestants and participants who lovingly prepared for the parade will be appreciated more than the showbiz personalities and politicians accompanying them.

I wish that the garbage problem will be controlled.

I wish that the parks will maintain their cleanliness.

I wish that children will not be exploited in the programs to facilitate a hidden agenda.

I wish that flowers will really bloom around the city.

I wish that traffic will be controlled all over the city.

I wish that thieves, robbers and criminals will be caught.

I wish that the Session Road in bloom will not turn into a free for all products for sale.

I wish that Burnham park, Athletic Bowl and Rose garden will not be filled with tents and campers.

I wish that selling of liquor to minors will be stopped.

I wish that sex, pot, and rock and rolling in Session road will not happen.

I wish that the so called religious people unite instead of throwing biblical punches against each other.

I wish that candies will be given for free to the kids.

I wish that the entire city will become a wifi zone.

I wish that all concerned citizens of Baguio city will wear a Red shirt on the day of the street festival parade to
show that they are aware of what is happening in Baguio city and to show that the Panagbenga festival is for the people and not the politicians.

I wish that there will be a free hugs clinic.

I wish that the so called gangs be controlled by the Police if they can… if they can.

I wish that the shawarma sauce will be delicious suited for a shawarma and not just water and garlic powder.

I wish that there will be a free brewed coffee station provided by the city government since they claim that Baguio city provides the best coffee in the world.

I wish that there will be no express MOA and midnight deals on the part of the city officials while the people are enjoying the festival.

I wish that the cemented tree in Session road be replaced with a true pine tree seedling that everyone would like to see as it grows through the years.

I wish that it will not rain and if it will, only the politicians with hidden agenda will get wet.

I wish to see Manny Villar, Gibo Teodoro, Noynoy Aquino, Dick Gordon, Erap Estrada and Eddie Villanueva wearing ONLY a BAHAG and nothing more on the street parade and whoever has the balls to do it will get a great future in Baguio and Cordillera .

I wish that no child below three feet regardless of age be a part of the street parade.

I wish that the budget for the fireworks display be divided into three and 1/3 of it be used as subsidiary fund for the indigenous who need immediate hospital care.

I wish to see no drunk policeman.

I wish to see more women police officers.

I wish that you join our Facebook group watwatworld forum.

I wish that the kubrador of jueteng will not be hard to find to ask for the result.

I wish that Globe, Smart and Suncell will provide a one day free load stations all over the city.

I wish that firetrucks will be deployed near the market and around the parks.

I wish that Burnham park will be properly lighted and guarded at night.

I wish that this 2010 Panagbenga festival will be the best festival ever.

I wish that visitors will go home with a big smile on their faces.

I wish that Bombo Radio will share this wish on air.

I wish that Facebookers will share this wish together with their wishes to all their friends who are lovers of

Baguio city and the Panagbenga Flower Festival.

I wish you will add your wish below….
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PASSIVE INCOME WITH BLOGGING

2010-01-25T23:03:00.000-08:00

CATEGORY: LEARN TO BLOG TO EARN
by: humarri, www.watwatworld.com

Since I went up to Baguio last December 2009, I didn’t have time to check on my “earnings” as a “publisher” for Adsense, an online advertising program of Google. To my surprise, even with the absence of new posts in my blog, I still managed to earn a few dollars out of the previous posts I had. This is encouraging especially for a problogger to continue his craft providing articles to his readers.

Income from blogging is not as easy as it seems. I was one of those who started blogging way back 2001 but got discouraged because of the “technicalities”. Furthermore, the articles I wrote those days were about my personal experiences, love, family which no one really reads.

I decided to go back to blogging in 2007 upon reading some success stories about earning passive income with the use of blogs. I really do not expect to earn much from blogging since the primary purpose of my blogs is to share information and opinion according to how I see an issue or use the blog to push for a particular product or marketing company. I included Goolge adsense just to fill in the empty spaces. In 2008, I was amazed to see that the blog earned a few dollars. In September of 2009, I decided to go full time as a problogger but this time discussing relevant issues and providing interesting articles. I have learned from the past… no one really cares about your love life or your personal sentiments or drama.

To earn in blogging, you should have the passion and skill for it. You should also have an increasing base of
followers and you can achieve this if you have interesting articles, issues, posts that will make a reader come back for more. It is a big mistake to say that all you have to do in blogging is post an article and wait for your earnings to come. That is simply stupid. There are no shortcuts in blogging. In fact, serious bloggers research,
analyze and study their articles before posting it online and some even spend as much as 18 hours a day making posts and promoting their blog.

With so many college graduates and a few jobs offered, blogging is an alternative opportunity to earn. It is a
“new” profession that encompasses the traditional educational system that teaches graduates to become employees. With blogging, you are your own boss. However, you should be responsible enough for the consequences of your posts and articles. That is why there is a need to learn the ethics of blogging as well as the basics of journalism and most especially the limits of expression so as not to be charged with libel hehehe.
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The WATWATWORLD PROJECT

2010-01-25T22:55:00.000-08:00

Watwatworld project is a cause that aims to help elementary pupils by providing them with the most basic things touse in class such as notebooks, pad papers, pencils and other things that we can share. The collected items will bedistributed to some of the remote elementary schools in the Cordillera region. Whatever item you can share is welcome.

This is a call to those who would like to share with this cause and help elementary pupils with the smallest gifts.

Watwatworld is also looking for interested business establishments who are willing to put a “watwatworld project box” in their establishments which will act as a ‘drop box” of items to share. In return, their establishments willbe advertised for free in the watwatworld website. Establishment owners who are kind hearted enough to join this cause may contact us at watwatworld@gmail.com

"MANDU IN BAGUIO - The Rise Of Crimes"

2010-01-20T23:45:00.000-08:00

CATEGORY: BLOG, BAGUIO

As an employee, every cent of our salary is important and every "investment" coming from that salary gives us a feeling of achievement no matter how small that investment is. In my case, I bought a digital camera early last year which I used almost everyday. We used it during the Christmas season, New year, reunions, gatherings, meetings etc. It contained almost a thousand pictures and videos. A collection that can never be replaced because my hard earned digital camera got lost inside an SLU bound Aurora Hill jeepney, last Friday.

On that day, I cannot believe how stupid I am not to notice that my digicam is being stolen. I partly blame the 5 boxes of yema I was delivering to my brother since both my hands were holding the boxes in front of my lap. For what I can remember, the person sitting beside me is thin and tall wearing a jacket with red color and has a big backpack bag in his lap. He is my primary suspect because he kept moving near me every time a passenger enters. My gulay! If you see me in person I am a big, fat man with long beard... a typical kontrabida in a movie but this did not scare the criminal.. alas!

My frustration reached my family and friends and they all have their own story to tell about the rising events of theft and robbery. I became aware that the Aurorahill, Trancoville and La Trinidad jeepneys are the favorite hang-outs of these criminals. They prey on unsuspecting students, elders and those with too much to carry. Accordingly, the criminals are already well known in the market area so they switched to running jeepneys. At a sari-sari store, my friend jokingly said "aga, anusam ta ubla da iman di" but I was quick to counter and said it is hard to point fingers because Baguio city, as I see it now, is populated more by lowlanders.

With the upcoming Baguio City Flower Festival, all residents, students, tourists etc should be warned and be on alert. This is a bountiful event for criminals.

Hint: ALLEGEDLY there is a mall located near the public market where stolen cellphones and tech gadgets are being sold directly by the criminals to passersby.

January 15 Poll Survey: Yangot, Molintas, Olowan leading

2010-01-15T17:13:00.000-08:00

After almost a month of vacation, watwatworld is back! Let me start my blog with the latest result of the online poll survey we are conducting. I have spoken to some politicians, lawyers, followers and supporters about the poll survey of watwatworld.com and just like in most cases, their opinions vary depending on how they are affected by the survey. Let me put it this way... if you gather 100 bright and intelligent lawyers in one room and ask their opinion on a certain legal issue, you will get 100 different opinions unless it is favorable to some. It is simply hard to please everybody.

Some traditional politicians and supporters dismiss online surveys as irrelevant and useless but they are dead wrong. There is a NEW sector of voters clustered on the freedom of technology. They are not as loudmouth as politicians or their supporters but they actively participate in the end results. One good example is the issue against the alleged MOA selling the Baguio Athletic Bowl to the Koreans. When journalist Pigeon Lobien made a post (article online) discussing the Athletic Bowl issue in Facebook, in less than a week, thousands of Baguio "onliners" commented and actively participated in forwarding the information to the Filipino people all over the world. And so with too much "online" pressure, the Baguio politicians who had something to do with the issue are now washing their hands. This "silent" online sector even helped in making a Senator in the last 2007 elections by the person of Sen. Trillanes.

However, relevant as it may be, this poll survey does not determine the end results. It will surely vary and differ on the day of the election. To give chance to the other candidates who are running behind the survey, watwatworld will end this current survey at by January 30 and a new poll survey will be created for February until March.

Watwatworld will also entertain political candidates who would like to be featured in the blog. Here, you can present your programs, ideas, and achievements. This will create your online presence faster and wider. Watwatworld has established its niche particularly Baguio City and the Cordillera Region with almost a thousand blog visitors per day. You can present yourself to a targeted audience. First come, first serve.

Below is the latest poll survey result as of January 15, 2010.

FOR MAYOR

1. Barcelo, Ruben Liwanag – “Ben” – INDEPENDENT
2. Busacay-Lazo, Erlinda Adan – “Erlinda Weir” – INDEPENDENT
3. Domogan, Mauricio Gambao – “Morris” – LAKAS-KAMPI CMD - 38%
4. Go, Marquez Ocampo – “Mark” – PWERSA NG MASANG PILIPINO (PMP) - 3%
5. Hernandez, Guillermo – “Willie” – INDEPENDENT
6. Labo, Ramon Lozano – “Jun” – INDEPENDENT - 1%
7. Mandapat, Julius Javier – “Butch” – INDEPENDENT
8. Molintas, Jose Mencio – “Joe” – LIBERAL PARTY (LP) - 56%
9. Puzon, Peter Dulay – “Terminator” – INDEPENDENT
10. Sembrano, Elaine Dominguez – “Kabsat” = INDEPENDENT - 1%

FOR VICE MAYOR

1. Domalsin, Carol Rosado – ” ” – LABAN NG DEMOKRATIKONG PILIPINO (LDP) - 16%
2. Farinas, Danilo Tesaluna – “Danny” – NACIONALISTA PARTY (NP) - 36%
3. Olowan, Faustino Atiwag – “Ulo” – LP & PHILIPPINE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST PARTY (PDSP) - 50%

FOR CONGRESSMAN

   1. Avila, Edgar Mendoza – “Ed” – PMP - 1%
   2. Balisong, Rocky Thomas Aseilan = “Rocky” – NP - 28%
   3. Bautista, Reinaldo Jr. Asperin – “Peter Rey” – INDEPENDENT - 3%
   4. Bello III, Dwight Nicolas Advincula – “Ike-Kimat” – INDEPENDENT
   5. Quilala, Rabindranath Pablo – “Kabagis Abet” – PDP-LABAN
   6. Ramos, Felipe Tribonaldo – “Felipe” – INDEPENDENT
   7. Vergara, Bernardo Mangacang – “Bernie” – LAKAS-KAMPI - 9%
   8. Yangot, Leandro Jr. Bagto – ” ” – LP - 57%
   9. Yaranon, Baraulio Dacanay – “Raul” – LDP - 2%

NEWS: HUNDREDS OF FILIPINOS ARE SELLING THEIR KIDNEYS ONLINE

2009-12-21T18:02:00.000-08:00

" I am selling my kidney " is the key search word if you are looking for people selling their kidneys using the internet. I have heard news of organ selling in prisons and in the underground market but today the organ trade has hit the internet market. The transactions are faster and more personal in nature where the donor talks directly with the client. It seems Filipinos top the seller list. A sad fact in the online trade.

In a separate news by AFP, Indonesians selling their kidneys and body organs online because of debts is not far from what is happening in the Philippines. Poverty and debt pushes a person to do extreme measures just to feed his family. Here are some of the "kidney for sale" advertisements made by Filipinos online.

"I am selling my kidney urgently.I am in a very much healthy condition in fact I undergone some laboratory test weeks ago.I want to sell it on or before Christmas,I hope!Im having a blood O.Please contact me ahead at my mobile number (provided) .If you want to show me please visit www.(provided)@multiply.com"

"age:26, blood type O, non-smoker, non-alcohol drinker, have never used drugs, Location:Manila Philippines Contact: (provided) "

"i am 23 y/o male never had any health problem and i am healthy and i want to sell my kidney i am from philippines this is my e-mail address (provided)@gmail.com"

"im a 29 yr old female willing to exchange my kidney / liver for a reasonable amt."

"I am from the Philippines. i don't smoke or drink and never used drugs. if interested please send me an email at (provided)@live.com . i will reply with further contact details and probable conditions"

"hi i am 25 year old male here in the philippines and i want to donate my kidney in exchange for a generous donation. please email @ (provided)@yahoo.com"

Kidney selling is a lucrative underground business in the Philippines and it is tolerated by the government simply because they cannot do anything tangible aside from press releases. In a news article written by Carlos H. Conde and published by NYTimes, he said that "kidney transplants have become a lucrative underground business, with hospitals classifying the kidneys as donations to evade the law, according to Amihan Abueva, the regional director in Manila of Asia Acts Against Child Trafficking, a nongovernment group that lobbied for the ban." He also added that kidney brokers scout for possible "donors" in the poorest slums in Manila and in the provinces. These brokers often are paid from $1,000 to $1,500 per transplant.

Below is an article written by Girlie Linao with the title "The poor sell kidneys for quick buck in Filipino organ trade" written on June 22nd, 2008 - 9:52 am ICT by IANS, and sourced from thaindian.com. Read on.

"The poor sell kidneys for quick buck in Filipino organ trade"
By Girlie Linao

Manila, June 22 (DPA) Nilda Reyes winced as she lifted a chair to give to a customer in her small neighbourhood store that is also her home in Manila’s slum district of Tondo. The widowed 36-year-old mother of two admitted that she still feels pain from her side, almost five months since she donated one of her kidneys to an unknown recipient. But for Reyes, it was all worth it.

“I don’t feel pain all the time,” she said as she showed her scar that stretches from her navel to her back. “And when I do, it’s very tolerable anyway. The inconvenience is a small thing compared to what I got in return for donating my kidney.”

For her donation, Reyes received a “package of gratuity” that included 100,000 pesos ($2,270) in cash, livelihood assistance of up to 75,000 pesos, a life insurance worth 100,000 pesos and a 10-year health care plan that also covers her family.

Using the money she received, Reyes put up her neighbourhood store and was preparing to open an eatery at another location.
“Of course, I also wanted to help those who are sick,” she said. “But money was the biggest factor in my donation.”

With millions of Filipinos living on less than $1 a day, the Philippines has become one of the world’s “hotspots” for organ harvesting with foreign recipients paying as much as $30,000 for new kidneys.

Due to high demand, illegal brokers prey on poor Filipinos who are forced to sell their kidneys and other organs for fast cash.
In Tondo’s Baseco area, where hundreds of male residents have already sold their kidneys in the black market, many more are willing to make the risky deal for the cash.

“My wife and I decided it’s our only option now,” said a 28-year-old house painter, who was waiting for word from a broker about the sale of one of his kidneys. “We really need the money, I don’t have a stable job and my wife earns very little doing laundry.”
The father of three admitted he feared the consequences to his health, adding, “We haven’t told our children because they might object. But I will be assuring their future with this deal. I can give them a better future.”

But not all donors get a happy ending like Reyes, who gave up her kidney under a government organ donation programme that aims to ensure that donors also get proper health care before and after the operation.

In a study by the Philippine Society of Nephrology (PSN) of a cluster of donors in a province southeast of Manila, many of those who sold their kidneys were found to be suffering from various medical problems, such as hypertension and above-normal creatinine levels.

In one case, a 50-year-old man died from heart attack just a few months after he sold his kidney for 110,000 pesos.
The PSN noted that while foreign recipients pay a huge amount for new kidneys, most of the money is pocketed by brokers, including doctors, who find the donors and convince them to donate. Donors only receive about 3,000 dollars for a kidney.

In 2007, a total of 1,046 kidney transplants were conducted in the Philippines, up from 690 in 2006, according to the Philippine Renal Registry.

More than 50 percent of the recipients were foreigners in 2007, violating a 10-percent cap on the number of transplants to foreign recipients that was imposed in 2003. More than 80 percent of the donors were not related to the recipients.

In March, the department of health issued new guidelines banning all organ transplants to foreigners in a bid to curb the thriving black market in the trade of organs in the country.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque acknowledged that the ban could lead to more illegal organ sales, but expressed confidence that the move was a necessary step towards curbing the illicit trade.
“This should not be the only step we take,” he said. “We need strict enforcement of law and I’m sure that will lessen if not stop the illegal peddling of human organs.”

But just two months after the ban was imposed, the department of health came under fire when its National Transplant and Ethics Committee issued exemptions for nine Israeli patients to undergo kidneytransplants in the Philippines.

Duque said the exemption was given for “humanitarian reasons.”
The PSN warned the exemption was setting a bad precedent, while Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral chided health officials for allowing the foreigners to again prey on poor Filipinos.
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THE PHILIPPINES' FUTURE WILL BE DECIDED BY THE "NEW GENERATION OF ONLINE AND INTELLIGENT VOTERS"

2009-12-19T22:18:00.001-08:00

Since 2007, I have been very vocal about a new trend when it comes to political issues. A trend that changes political situations in this country. I am talking about the new generation of intelligent onliners. Thanks to the fast advancement of technology, information nowadays is easy to gather and disseminate.

Gone are the days when information is controlled by a few minds and entities. The traditional practice of controlled information is the cause why there is imbalance of power. Those who control the government and media oftentimes get what they want at the end of the day. But such practice is now limited because of the online generation. A recent example is the Ampatuan massacre. Normally, the government will release items for the media to feast or media companies will publish the story they wish. But that is not the case. The massacre was made known faster worldwide and the government and media cannot control the release of information to the worldwide audience. Simply put, hundreds of thousands if not millions of Filipinos are involved online and information is passed on faster than a blink of an eye.

Today, politicians try their best to gather as much supporters by creating their own websites that showcase their achievements, awards, projects etc etc etc. But the funny thing is that most of the online generation do not spend precious time visiting the politician's website. Why? Because its just a website full of texts, pictures and words. It's like an existing website with no contents at all. Onliners would rather watch videos at Youtube, search Google or do Facebook. The reason behind the online snub is the lack of interaction on the part of the politician. Setting up a website is not enough. Example, I have yet to see a politicians' website where the politician is featured in a video explaining and showing to his constituents the projects and the budget for it for transparency. The first Filipino politician who will do this will be rewarded the utmost respect from the online community. He or She might even become the President of the Philippines.

Politicians running for the 2010 elections should consider "the new generation of online voters" because thoughts, encouragements, ideas and issues are being discussed freely in the internet unlike five years ago. Today, everybody can express his opinion and influence others in a larger scale. Traditional tactics and even traditional politicians will not survive the race for the chair they are after if they will not act quickly to introduce themselves and what they stand for to the new generation of online voters. The mere formation of a group, associations, fans clubs, and volunteers in social networking sites like Friendster, Facebook and Twitter is not enough. Actual online interaction is needed.

I remember last 2007 wherein some forums I am active with were talking about Chiz Escudero and Senator Trillanes. There were so many ads, paid persons and groups posting articles about their candidates, etc but at the end of the day, the discussion about the two individuals mentioned above spilled over to the homes of the readers then later on to the community. They were voted by the people. Especially Trillanes. This will also show the political thinking of the Filipino people, they go for the underdog and despises the blatant use of money to campaign.

The rally for the expulsion of President Estrada grew to a very large crowd not because of the paid protesters or the "hakot" system but because people were talking through text and online. There was a free discussion of political sentiments. Those sentiments were brought home, shared to the community and spilled all over, thus the large rally against former president Estrada came through. It was not entirely the fault of Angelo Reyes turning against Estrada or the powerful Makati businessmen. The people's emotions, sentiments, feelings about dirty politics had something to do with the ouster and the meeting of the minds and free discussion online sparked a debate that was later on carried to the streets. Estrada, being a traditional politician did not see the relevance of "the new generation of online voters".

This is a new generation, a new time, a new league of intelligent voters. The smallest contribution we could give to change the Philippine political system is one giant step towards fixing our future.

This is www.WatWatWorld.com...

And So I say
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Copyright DMC, Quezon City
Political Scientist
www.watwatworld.com

Is Gibo Teodoro leading the "silent voters" and why politicians should look into the "new battle field"

2009-12-19T20:42:00.000-08:00

There's a lot of fuzz running around the online world. To start with, the largest chunk of voters are what I call "the new generation of online voters". As a problogger who practically spends 12-18 hours a day online, I see the presidentiables running their campaigns using different methods from social networks to advertisements. From the different online forums I visited, it seems that Gibo Teodoro has the lead when it comes to responses on posts about the presidential candidates followed by Noynoy Aquino and Manny Villar.

In summary, this is what I gathered from the different responses in online forums.

Gibo - is relatively unknown and was oftentimes regarded as President Gloria Arroyo's pet. However, in the past weeks, he is ranking up as one of the favorites especially by the younger generation because of his wits and the intelligence he showed in answering questions during presidential debates and forums. He presented the better answers and in a straight forward delivery. If he keeps this up, he will win easily. I saw this happen in the 2007 elections where Senator Chiz Escudero was the talk of the youth and eventually spread to the family and then to the community. Gibo is now seen separately from President Arroyo. He no longer lurks behind the shadows of the present administration.

Aquino - is already popular by birth and has served as a legislator for almost a decade. He is also a good talker and his answers in forums and debates hit a point. However, his popularity among the younger generation is slowly diminishing because he is too much associated with showbizness thus belittling his capacity to run a country. In a presidential "cooking" show hosted by Jessica Soho, all of the presidentiables personally cooked their favorite dish except Noynoy who needed the help of someone. The popularity of the celebrity in the presidential candidates cooking show didn't help, it was a disaster. Reading closely at different discussions in online forums, there are comments that Noynoy cannot move by himself and must need pushing or advices. Again, this is not my personal opinion. If Noynoy does not change his strategy, his cousin Gibo will overrun him by a mile.

Villar - is the presidential favorite years ago since he started the "OFW ads". However, due to his numerous ads and campaigns, it is but obvious that the new generation of online voters is having an overkill thought. For example, this week (December 15-20), Villar's political ads in ABS CBN, TV5 and GMA are so overwhelming that one would think the hundreds of millions spent. This is so noticeable because there were no other political ads played 24 hours aside from some Eddie Villanueva ads. Villar's commercials are now becoming annoying and questionable at the tune of hundreds of millions. Mr. Remulla is wrong in saying that the commercials are the fastest way to deliver the message to the people. What is being delivered is a negative impression especially to the largest portion of voters. The thing is, the so called advisers and analysts of Villar are looking to spend more millions to get the sympathy of the voters. This is wrong. Villar should instead show more guts and intelligence by joining presidential forums, discussions and debates. Remember, the voters today are watching every move and every word. Commercials alone is a big joke.

As for the other presidentiables, I still have to review and digest the online forums to give readers a good impression on the thoughts of the online voters. But I will say this again and again and again... the politicians running for the 2010 elections should consider "the new generation of online voters" because thoughts, encouragements, ideas and issues are being discussed freely in the internet unlike five years ago. Today, everybody can express his opinion and influence others in a larger scale. Traditional tactics and even traditional politicians will not survive the race for the chair they are after if they will not act quickly to introduce themselves and what they stand for to the new generation of online voters. The mere formation of a group, associations, fans clubs, and volunteers in social networking sites like Friendster, Facebook and Twitter is not enough. Actual online interaction is needed.

I remember last 2007 wherein some forums I am active with were talking about Chiz Escudero and Senator Trillanes. There were so many ads, paid persons and groups posting articles about their candidates, etc but at the end of the day, the discussion about the two individuals mentioned above spilled over to the homes of the readers then later on to the community. They were voted by the people. Especially Trillanes. This will also show the political thinking of the Filipino people, they go for the underdog and despises the blatant use of money to campaign.

The rally for the expulsion of President Estrada grew to a very large crowd not because of the paid protesters or the "hakot" system but because people were talking through text and online. There was a free discussion of political sentiments. Those sentiments were brought home, shared to the community and spilled all over, thus the large rally against former president Estrada came through. It was not entirely the fault of Angelo Reyes turning against Estrada or the powerful Makati businessmen. The people's emotions, sentiments, feelings about dirty politics had something to do with the ouster and the meeting of the minds and free discussion online sparked a debate that was later on carried to the streets. Estrada, being a traditional politician did not see the relevance of "the new generation of online voters".

This is a new generation, a new time, a new league of intelligent voters. The smallest contribution we could give to change the Philippine political system is one giant step towards fixing our future.

This is www.WatWatWorld.com...

And So I say
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Copyright DMC, Quezon City

www.watwatworld.com

POLL SURVEY UPDATES: NATIONAL= AQUINO, GIBO Leading. LOCAL=Yangot, Molintas, Olowan Leading...

2009-12-19T16:38:00.000-08:00

With more than a hundred respondents from the online generation and after 10 days of having this online poll survey. Here are the initial results as of December 20, 2009.

For President:

Noynoy Aquino: 42%

JC Delos Reyes: 1%

Erap Estrada: 10%

Nicanor Perlas: 1%

Gibo Teodoro: 39%

Eddie Villanueva: 4%

Manny Villar: 6%

Jamby Madrigal: 0%

Richard Gordon: 5%

In Baguio City, the election fever is felt as much as the Christmas season. Having hundreds of online readers and followers, WatWatWorld came with this initial poll survey result for Baguio City:

Next and final poll survey result will be on December 31, 2009.
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Reaction: AMPATUANS KILLED HUNDREDS EVEN BEFORE THE MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE

2009-12-19T04:20:00.000-08:00

I can't help but react on this news report provided by ABS CBN where a supposed child assassin trained by the Ampatungans confessed and told his story to be known by the public. According to "Abdul" he was recruited and trained at the early age of 10 and had his first kill at the age of 12. After reading all the reports, I just can't believe this is happening in this country. The confession is like a war story fit to be released in cinema screens. It is so alarming to know that political dynasties actually employ children to do their dirty work. And all the while I was thinking that child soldiers are only used in Burma or Africa.

The "ex-child assassin" also said that they were trained. "They" means 32 children and he alone killed almost 100 people at the orders or the Ampatungans. Just imagine how many people could have died or continue to die at the hands of the 31 other child assassins. Hundreds more or even thousands could have died. All in the name of power, money and control over the province of Maguindanao.

There were also reports of chainsaw massacre wherein those who oppose any of the Ampatuans are allegedly cut into pieces using a chainsaw. This story has yet to be proven but it is already a word of mouth story in the province. Since fear is instilled in every person in Maguindanao, the Ampatuans are the gods of that area. If their convoy passes in the highway, you should step aside and bow down while the luxury cars are passing, otherwise, you will be considered as disrespectful and it may cause your life. This is also the same in Davao where it is allegedly a mortal sin to look any Ampatuans direct in the eye.

Maguindanao is the third (3rd) poorest province in the Philippines where 7 out of 10 are poor. But amidst the obviously poor surrounding, mansions belonging to the Ampatuans rise over the hills. The sight of it is so annoying considering that outside of the beautiful mansions are very poor families who eat only "kankong" (leaves) to survive in a day. There was even a documentary made by GMA news and public affairs showing a family eating corn from breakfast to dinner. Just imagine your 5 year old child eating only corn from sunrise to sunset. These people are human beings not chickens who feast on corn. For decades, what did the provincial government do? Where did the money go? The obvious is to real to belittle.

Going back to the news report, too much power is uncontrollable and more often than not ends violently. Whatever they did will be done to them or to their bloodline according to the law on "karma". In the case of the arrested suspects, even if at the back of our minds they are guilty as hell, our legal process should still be carried out to preserve due process of law. At the end of the day, those who are guilty will serve the punishment they deserve.

I feel for the entire nation. The hatred against the accused Ampatuans is increasing. However, this alone is not enough to legally judge them as guilty.

Provided below is the ABS CBN report. Read on...

Ex-child assassin: 'I killed hundreds for the Ampatuans' From a TV Patrol report by Anthony Taberna, ABS-CBN News

MANILA, Philippines - A man who admits to have worked as a child assassin for the powerful Ampatuan clan based in Maguindanao province came forward with "shocking" testimony of mass murders carried out by young boys in the service of the Ampatuan family.
"Abdul" (not his real name) told ABS-CBN News that he was 12 when Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan allegedly sent him on a mission to kill one of the family's political rivals—a councilor for Sultan Kudarat. Abdul said he had been in the family's service since he was 10. The Ampatuans funded his education from 4th grade to 3rd year high school.
When the Ampatuans allegedly ordered him to kill the councilor, then 12-year-old Abdul did not disappoint.
"Pinapasok ako sa bahay niya. Inabangan ko lang pag-uwi. Pagdating na niya sa bahay niya, doon ko na siya babanatan," Abdul told ABS-CBN News in an interview 2 weeks ago.
(I was allowed to enter the councilor's house. I waited for him to come home. When he came home, that's when I would kill him)
"Pero meron akong mga kasama. Ako lang pumapasok. Naka-uniform ako ng estudyante. Kahit saan ako papasok-pasok, wala namang sumisita," he said.
(But I had companions. I was the only one who entered the house. I was in my school uniform. I would go in and out of places, no one would stop me.)
As a child assassin for the Ampatuans, Abdul said he killed no less than 100 people.
Training camps
Abdul said he and 30 other young boys had been brought to a training camp in the mountains of South Upi municipality in Maguindanao, around 32 miles southeast of Sultan Kudarat.
He claimed they were trained by Palestinians and Indonesians in combat tactics.
"Para ring sundalo 'yong training kasi iba 'yong pagturo sa amin. Lahat nandoon na, parang paghawak ng baril, pagputok at pagtutok ng baril sa tao. (We were trained like soldiers. Everything was there, like how to hold a gun, how to aim a gun and how to shoot a person)," Abdul said.
From then on, Abdul said, murder became a normal routine. He alleged that he carried out kill orders without question and without knowing whether the victims had done anything wrong.
"Hindi naman ako nagtatanong kasi nakikita [namin] harap-harapan. Hanggang sa kuwan na kami, hinaharap—kinakausap kaming lahat. [Kapag] may magtanong, patay agad. (I never asked questions because we knew up front. They would face us all and talk to us. Anyone who would question would be killed)," he said.
Abdul, now in his late 20s, is currently in the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Jail on charges of murder. He has been incarcerated for 10 years. He is serving a 15-year sentence.
He said he decided to come forward with his story after he "could not sleep since his conscience was bothering him." He was also said to have harbored ill feelings for the Ampatuan family for not helping him resolve the murder charges against him.
Direct orders from governor?
Asked who among the Ampatuans gave him orders, Abdul claimed it was ARMM Gov. Ampatuan who was then a mayor of Shariff Aguak town.
"Hindi po direct sa akin. 'Yon pong katiwala niya. (He didn't order me directly. Zaldy's aide would)," he said.
The last time he had spoken to the Ampatuans, Abdul told ABS-CBN News, was in 2003. Before that, he claimed the Ampatuans would sometimes break him out of jail to carry out murders.
In one instance, Abdul said he was sneaked out of jail to ambush another group of Ampatuan's political enemies.
Abdul said he shot and killed 3 victims right at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) headquarters in Intramuros, Manila on November 2, 2002. This time, it was Atty. Felix Lidasan and his cousin Armando Macapeges, along with the latter's brother Jamal Macapeges.
"Tatlo 'yon. Hinabol ko nga, hinabol ko pa. 'Yong dalawa, on the spot, patay. 'Yong isa, nasa ospital nang mamatay. (There were 3 of them. I even had to chase them. The two were dead on the spot. The other one died at the hospital)," he said.
Lidasan and Macapages were at the Comelec to follow-up an electoral protest against Matanog mayor Nasser Imam, an in-law of current Shariff Aguak Mayor Anwar Ampatuan.
Ampatuans hands-on in killings too?
Abdul claimed Zaldy was present at the time of the murders.
Zaldy, Anwar, family patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his son Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. were recently arrested over the murder of 57 civilians and journalists in Ampatuan town.
Among his numerous exploits as a hired gun, Abdul said he could not forget the massacre of his town mates who refused to give up their land to the Ampatuans. The powerful clan controlled the political and economic powers in Maguindanao and its adjacent areas.
"Sinusunog 'yong bahay. Nasasagasaan pati ang bata, matanda. Inuubos namin 'yon. Walang makababa eh. Pero gabi, gabi namin ginagawa. (We would burn their houses. Children and the elderly were not spared. No one could escape. We would do it at night)," Abdul said.
In many of the murders, Abdul claimed he was accompanied by a certain "Major Mukamad," who is allegedly Chief Inspector Saudi Mukamad, leader of the 1057th Police Provincial Mobile Group, a police combat group.
Mukamad was implicated by witnesses as one of the perpetrators of the Ampatuan town massacre, according to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG). He has been relieved from his post. .
'Like a movie'
There have been many reports of insurgents or terrorist groups using child soldiers in combat.
However, the alleged use child assassins by Philippine warlords came as a surprise to Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
AFP spokesperson Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. said they could not find alleged training camps in South Upi, as described by Abdul in his interview.
"Maaaring ang nangyari was that they went into this area, nag-training sila and then umalis din sila. (What could have happened was they went to this area and trained there. Then they left)," Brawner said, suggesting that there may not be permanent training facilities for child assassins in the area.
CHR Chair Leila de Lima, meanwhile, wants a full investigation into the matter.
"If this is true, if it is a reality in that part of the country, then this surely warrants further investigation," she said.
"This is shocking. This is really unbelivable. I mean, the Ampatuan town massacre is already unbelievable. What [Abdul] is revealing is like a movie," de Lima added.
Despite numerous attempts by ABS-CBN News to get the Ampatuan family's side on the matter through texts, calls and visits to the family's offices, the Ampatuans had not given comment when this story was aired on TV Patrol on Wednesday and when this report was published on abs-cbnNEWS.com. — Report by Anthony Taberna, ABS-CBN News.

Christmas in Baguio City...under the cool pine tree

2009-12-18T21:29:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Baguio City is always an occasion I look forward to every year. Aside from celebrating the birth of Jesus, I can see the children caroling, the rosy cheeks of ladies, the leather jackets, the pointed boots, the mufflers, the bonnets, the early morning fog, the cold mist in the afternoon, the smell of wet pine trees and most especially the feeling of being home. As a solid Baguio boy, memories of Christmas celebration in this city is incomparable.

I remember as kids we used to collect fallen pine cones to build a Christmas tree, at times even climbing pine trees just to collect cones. Then we use the pine tree sap as sticky paste for the pine needles and if it is not enough, we look for anything inside the house that would act as adhesive. The preparation of Christmas tree alone is memorable. Today, everything is instant and cheap. You could just buy a ready made plastic Christmas tree in the streets. I pity the children of today for not being able to experience creating their very own pine cone Christmas tree.

Another unique memory that Baguio city offers is the early morning jogging in December. Waking up at 4am, I put on my jogging pants, shoes, sweatshirt, muffler and bonnet then speed up towards Burnham park where I can see the colorful lake and the thin cloud-like mist on top of the lake. The park being surrounded by aged old trees and flowers, I can see the droplets coming from the flower petals. You This is a sight you will never see in any city in the Philippines. And after jogging around the lake, a cup of coffee worth P10 will provide warmth in my throat. This was five years ago. I hope it is still the same today.

As a teenager, I cannot understand the meaning of "going back to where you came from" but being away for only 4 years seemed to long and the feeling to come back is just there. Maybe I just want to go back to and experience the youth in me or maybe not. But the thing is, whatever happens, wherever I go, Baguio city is still the home I will go back to anytime.

Sa mga ka-watwatworld ko, kitakits sa Baguio.

And so I say...
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Pacquiao Wins Over Mayweather, Pacquiao Rules Mayweather, Pacquiao knoks out Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao beats Floyd Mayweather Jr

2009-12-18T16:29:00.000-08:00

Pacquiao Wins Over Mayweather, Pacquiao Rules Mayweather, Pacquiao knoks out Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao beats Floyd Mayweather Jr... and so on. These are the slogans every Filipino are wishing for come March 13 or at any date set for the two boxing icons to battle. In western countries, Mayweather Jr is expected to win over our Manny Pacquiao but it remains to be seen. Our Manny Pacquiao fights better as the underdog. Besides, Mayweather Jr is a dancer not a real boxer.

Also, below is an article that is worth reading. Note however that aside from the countless trash talks and garbage shit coming from the mouth of this Mayweather Sr., our Manny has remained calm and down to earth. He even praised Mayweather Jr's boxing skills!

MANILA, Philippines – Floyd Mayweather, Sr. has always chosen Manny Pacquiao’s opponents to prevail over the pound-for-pound king, but the Filipino boxing icon always proved him wrong. Not this time, though. Floyd Sr. predicted that his son, the undefeated Floyd Jr., will outpunch Pacquiao. “Pacquiao could never beat something that came out of me,” Floyd Sr. told FightHype.com.

The outspoken trainer said Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto would get the better of Pacquiao, but the seven-division world champion conquered them instead.

Floyd Sr. was the trainer of Hatton for his fight against Pacquiao.
“With Pacquiao, it’s not even going to be a figuring out process. Pacquiao is terrible, man. The man don’t move his damn head, he jumps straight in,” commented the elder Mayweather.

“Lil Floyd hasn’t taken any damage in the fight game and Pacquiao knows he is fighting a different animal; ain’t going to take no damage,” he added.

Mayweather (40-0, 25 knockouts) and Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs) are slated to clash on March 13 in the battle between the world’s top ranked pound-for-pound fighters. It was reported that a press conference on January 11 will officially announce the fight and its details.

Pacquiao’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title will reportedly be at stake. It was also reported that both fighters agreed to a 50-50 purse split.

( excerpts from www.abs-cbnnews.com/sports = With reports from Percy Crawford of FightHype.com, David Anderson of The Daily Mirror (Mirror.co.uk) and Dyan Castillejo of ABS-CBN News )
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How will you spend P1.5 Trillion in 2010 ( now I know why everybody wants to become the President )

2009-12-18T15:59:00.000-08:00

Congress has already ratified the national budget for 2010 at the tune of P1.5 Trillion. To those who do not know how big that is, it's one thousand five hundred billion! Just imagine that amount of money circulating in the Philippines and in the disposable control of politicians and department executives. Whew! Now I want to become President!

Kidding aside, the approved national budget has its appropriations and the biggest one goes to the Department of Education which I certainly agree. In this modern time, there are still some areas in the Philippines were literacy is a privilege not a right because of the insufficiency of funds to reach these areas. When it comes to education in the Philippines, I believe the system should also be modernized or technicalized and not mere reading and writing. Back in our province, elementary education is a must but the system is boring and very traditional. Why? because the teachers are also traditional, un-updated and technologically illiterate. This is something the Education Department should look at. Simply put, train the trainers... and train them well!

As they say, aside from women, money is the root of all evil. With this huge budget, you could cover the entire Philippines with money. With this amount used properly, poverty could be eradicated and our basic agricultural sector could be revived. But evil has its way to slice a portion of the budget big enough to sustain his family up to his 8th generation. Sad thing is that evil is everywhere from the lowly Barangay tanod up to the President.

Maguindanao Massacre Update: Mayor Andal Ampatuans Preliminary Investigation Gone Wild

2009-12-18T15:34:00.000-08:00

26 days after that horrific massacre, the much awaited preliminary investigation by the Department Of Justice (DOJ) kicked of and it was done without contest on the part of the Ampatuans. Atty.Fortun, a known lawyer for the highest bidder and Ampatuan's legal counsel, said that there is no need to admit or deny something because it seemed that the DOJ already sentenced his client.

From the NBI office where Mayor Ampatuan was detained, he was transported to the DOJ hearing in handcuffs and bullet proff vest. Also, the NBI showcased their high powered long arms while escorting the accused mayor. Many media practitioners, with fresh wounds from the killing of their fellow journalists, slammed pictures of the massacre victims in front of Mayor Ampatuan's face.

And after the DOJ hearing, while Mayor Ampatuan was being escorted back to the bullet proof van, his head was struck with the edge of a camera hitting him on his upper eyelid. Back at the NBI detention quarters, he was complaining to the media that he was hit but the funny thing is that he was accusing someone supposedly to have perpetrated the attack on him saying "sinaktan ako ng mga mangudadatu". It was for me a baseless accusation. As I see it, he was hit on the head accidentally because of the commotion and uncontrolled media presence. There were more media personnel than the escorts.

Lastly, the Filipino people have already decided the guilty verdict. The DOJ has already issued hundreds of media interviews implicating the Ampatuans as the murderers and the courts are hesitant to handle the case. Although, there is one Judge who has the balls to hear and decide the fate of the case and she is a Lady Judge.

A Korean Student's View about the Philippines, its people, church, patriotism and government.

2009-12-14T17:56:00.000-08:00

Note: The content of this article came from an email that is continuing to circulate. The email allegedly came from a student who studied English in the Philippines. I posted the email here as is so please don't mind the grammar. The message of his letter is something we should consider as Filipinos. Read on...

SHORT ESSAY ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES
Jaeyoun Kim

Filipinos always complain about the corruption in the
Philippines. Do you really think the corruption
is the problem of the Philippines ? I do not think so.

I strongly believe that the problem is the lack of love
For the Philippines.
Let me first talk about my country, Korea. It might
Help you understand my point.
After the Korean War, South Korea was one of the
Poorest countries in the world. Koreans
had to start from scratch because entire country was
destroyed after the Korean War, and we had no
natural resources.
Koreans used to talk about the Philippines , for
Filipinos
were very rich in Asia . We envy Filipinos.
Koreans really wanted to be well off like Filipinos.
Many Koreans died of famine.
My father & brother also died because of famine. Korean
government was very corrupt and is still very
corrupt beyond your imagination, but Korea was able to
develop dramatically because Koreans really
did their best for the common good with their heart
burning with patriotism.
Koreans did not work just for themselves but also for their
neighborhood and country. Education inspired young men with
the spirit of patriotism.
40 years ago, President Park took over the government to
reform Korea . He tried to borrow money
from other countries, but it was not possible to get a loan
and attract a foreign investment because the
economic situation of South Korea was so bad. Korea had
only three factories. So, President Park sent many mine
workers and nurses to Germany so that they could send money
to Korea to build a factory.
They had to go through horrible experience.
In 1964, President Park visited Germany to borrow money.
Hundred of Koreans in Germany came to the airport to
welcome him and cried there as they saw the President
Park
. They asked to him, "President, when can we be well off?"
That was the only question everyone asked to him.
President
Park cried with them and promised them that Korea would be
well off if everyone works hard for Korea , and the
President of Germany got the strong impression on them and
lent money to Korea . So, President Park was able to build
many factories in Korea . He always asked Koreans to love
their country from their heart.
Many Korean scientists and engineers in the USA came back
to Korea to help developing country
because they wanted their country to be well off.
Though they received very small salary, they did their
best for Korea . They always hoped that their children
would live in well off country.
My parents always brought me to the places where poor and
physically handicapped people live. They
wanted me to understand their life and help them.
I also worked for Catholic Church when I was in the army. The only
thing I learned from Catholic Church was that we have to
love our neighborhood. And, I have loved my neighborhood.
Have you cried for the Philippines ? I have cried for my
country several times. I also cried for the Philippines because of so
many poor people. I have been to the New Bilibid prison. What made me sad in the prison were the prisoners who do not have any love for their country. They go to mass and work for Church. They pray everyday.
However, they do not love the Philippines . I talked to
Two prisoners at the maximum-security compound, and both of
them said that they would leave the Philippines right
after they are released from the prison. They said that they
would start a new life in other countries and never
come back to the Philippines .
Many Koreans have a great love for Korea so that we
Were able to share our wealth with our neighborhood. The
Owners of factory and company were distributed their profit to
their employees fairly so that employees could buy what
they needed and saved money for the future and their children.
When I was in Korea , I had a very strong faith and wanted
to be a priest. However, when I came to the Philippines
, I completely lost my faith. I was very confused when I
saw many unbelievable situations in the Philippines . Street kids always make me sad, and I see them everyday. The Philippines is the
only Catholic country in Asia , but there are too many poor people here.
People go to church every Sunday to pray, but nothing
Has been changed.
My parents came to the Philippines last week and saw this
situation. They told me that Korea was much poorer than
the present Philippines when they were young. They are so sorry
that there are so many beggars and street kids. When we went to
Pasangjan, I forced my parents to take a boat because
it would fun. However, they were not happy after taking a
boat. They said that they would not take the boat again
because they were sympathized the boatmen, for the boatmen
were very poor and had a small frame. Most of people just took a boat and
enjoyed it. But, my parents did not enjoy it because of love
for them.
My mother who has been working for Catholic Church since I
was very young told me that if we just go to mass
without changing ourselves, we are not Catholic indeed. Faith
should come with action.
She added that I have to love Filipinos and do good things
for them because all of us are same and have received a
great love from God. I want Filipinos to love their
neighborhood and country as much as they love God so that
the Philippines will be well off.
I am sure that love is the keyword, which Filipinos should
remember. We cannot change the sinful structure at once. It
should start from person. Love must start in everybody,
in a s mall scale and have to grow. A lot of things happen
if we open up to love.
Let's put away
our prejudices and look at our worries with our new eyes.
I discover that every person is worthy to be loved.
Trust in love, because it makes changes possible.

Love changes you and me. It changes people, contexts
And relationships. It changes the world. Please love your
neighborhood and country.
Jesus Christ said that whatever we do to others we do to
Him. In the Philippines , there is God for people who are
abused and abandoned.
There is God who is crying for
love. If you have a child, teach them how to love the
Philippines
.
Teach them why they have to love their neighborhood
and country. You already know that God also will be very happy if you love others.
That's all I really want to ask you Filipinos.
.
.

Result of our Survey - Polls: Gibo, Noynoy are leading the Presidentialbles

2009-12-13T17:46:00.000-08:00

Watwatworld decided to come up with its own survey on the Presidentiables as seen on the main blogpage. Since this blog niches on worldwide audience coming from Northern Luzon, the "say" of the voters in this simple survey will show the preference or popularity of the candidate, although the certainty will of course vary depending per region and province. This survey will also show that the other Presidentiables should look in the areas where their popularity is not well known. After 5 days of initial watwatworld voting, the results are follows:

Noynoy Aquino - 39%

JC Delos Reyes - 1%

Erap Estrada - 12%

Nicanor Perlas III - 3%

Gibo Teodoro - 38%

Eddie Villanueva - 6%

Manny Villar - 4%

Jamby Madrigal - 0%

Richard Gordon - 7%

Although this poll survey is premature, as I have said blogs ago, the result will show some proof of preference coming from a certain sector of online generation of voters.

And so I say...

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Women Are Inferior, Second Class Citizen, Servant of Men... No More

2009-12-12T20:11:00.000-08:00

Women are changing history.

This is how I see this generation. From powerful scientists to businesswomen to world leaders, women are indeed changing this old male dominated world. This is my opening statement so as not to brand me as a woman hater. In fact, I appreciate the sacrifices made by women. I particularly find the burden of pregnancy a blessing to an upcoming family but seeing the pain of giving birth is something I will cherish. I really respect the sacrifices of a woman bearing a child, it is not as easy as it seems.

Centuries ago, women are considered as treasures because they bare "child gifts" to men. Women were fed with delicious meals and were pampered with protection. Although women in this era are protected, respect will have to be earned since this was clearly a male dominated era in history.

Decades ago, the right for equality of men and women started to flourish. Women became more active in the field of education and arts. Women started to enter politics and women activists all over the world made their stand. I personally think the "hipie" days contributed a lot to the democracy of women.

Today, women are equal if not more powerful than men. I can still remember a decade ago where there were only two women who enrolled in an Engineering course, today women equal the men. Also, at the end of each year more women graduate high school and college than men. This is because allegedly women have more patience to study longer and harder as compared to the egoistic men. As a result, women get more of the executive jobs in the corporate world. It is now becoming a fact that women will soon dominate every job available and men will soon serve women. A fact, I'm afraid to come soon.

However, the modern, professional and liberated women are seen only in places where such practice is accepted. There are still areas in this world where women are being abused, raped, threatened and considered as properties of men. Ironic to say, but we live in two different worlds when it comes to the acceptance of women as equal to men. We have seen so many documentaries where women are considered as gifts or one of the wives. Some rich and powerful men can have as much wives as he wants and the community he lives in tolerates it. I have seen a documentary where unacceptable physical abuses were made to women in traditional India just because the woman was caught talking to another man. Her face was sliced with a kitchen knife and splashed with boiling oil. The stories of abuses continues until today.

The modern woman deserves all what a man can do. This I definitely agree. But the equality is a question of practice, culture, acceptance, religion and pride. In our culture, women equals the men in whatever aspect. I hope this acceptance will soon follow all over the world.

I have written this article right after a round of sharing stories with some friends who worked as OFWs, had traveled some parts of the world and had seen how women were treated. At the end of the session, one thing is sure, the Filipina still enjoys better understanding in the Philippines.

And so I say...
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Note: Help stop the abuse of women, share your stories here or contact us.
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Martial law over!

2009-12-12T02:35:00.000-08:00

Philippines lifting martial law in south - AP

MANILA, Philippines – A senior Cabinet official says President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has approved the lifting of martial law in a southern province where 57 people were massacred last month in the country's worst political violence.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told a news conference that the martial law edict will be lifted at 9 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Saturday.
He said the Cabinet's security group made the recommendation during a meeting of the National Security Council.
The weeklong martial law in Maguindanao province led to a massive military and police operation against the ruling Ampatuan clan blamed for the mass killings of members of a rival family and 30 journalists.
Large amounts of weapons were seized, and at least 24 people charged with rebellion.

Funny Igorot Movie - witty and one of a kind

2009-12-11T22:36:00.000-08:00

I found this clips in YouTube while I was searching for the most recent Igorot videos posted. It made laugh and cry. This movie was made possible due to the efforts made by the following:
Video - Mr. Marcons Dayaoen
Video Editor - Judez Eng-enga
Supervising Editor - George Eng-enga
Edited By: WAY Studio
Produced by: Marcons Dayaoen
Distributed by: Abatan Records : No. 18, Hangar Market, Baguio City.

Grab your favorite snack, watch and laugh!

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

PART 6

PART 8

LAST PART 9

Baguio Poll Survey Update. Yangot, Domogan and Olowan leading...

2009-12-10T22:48:00.000-08:00

Since the poll survey started four days ago, the survey is picking up and the votes are coming. Again, let me emphasize that this poll survey conducted by watwatworld is not conclusive to say that it is the end result of the Baguio 2010 local elections. The main idea is to see the preference of the "new generation of online voters" by simply clicking on their desired politician. This will also show that there are a lot of politically active and aware internet users.

Suffice to say that online activity is part of today's political area of battle. As you have seen, organizations, political groups, associations and volunteers groups are sprouting like beans in social networking sites such as Facebook, Friendster and Twitter. With this simple poll survey, we will see how many users are active in online voting.

The results below came from www.cordillerapolitics.blogspot.com - a secondary blog of www.watwatworld.com, it maybe early to release this initial result but we have to start somewhere. So here it goes:

For Baguio City Congressman:

Edgar Avila -18%

Rocky Balisong - 25%

Reinaldo Bautista - 14%

Bernardo Vergara - 7%

Leandro Yangot - 33%

For Baguio City Mayor:

Mauricio Domogan - 52%

Ramon Labo - 5%

Jose Molintas - 47%

For Baguio City Vice Mayor
Carol Domalsin - 1%

Danilo Farinas - 41%

Faustino Olowan - 58%

One thing that politicians should always remember, the old days of campaign strategies are slowly fading and sad to say only one practice will always remain and that is vote buying in any manner.

From the very first day I started blogging, I always addressed the voters as "the new generation of active and intelligent voters" and "the new generation of online voters". We can see this happening and we can give thanks to the advancement of technology where information, ideas, news etc is shared faster and wider than the regular newspaper.

There are two major events where I could equate the my quotes above. First is the unexpected winning of Senator Trillanes. He had no money to campaign, no machinery to use, he was in a detention cell but the people voted or him. The are thinking intelligently for him and and acted on it and so he won. In fact, in the present Senate, I can say that Senator Trillanes is the only candidate who really won because of the people. Second is the ouster of former President Erap Estrada. It is admitted that the online generation made an impact by texting, blogging, posting in social networks etc. There was "meeting of the minds" online and soon it was spilled over to the streets. This is reality ladies and gentlemen. The old days and old ways are changing.

And so I say... watwatworld! watwatworld! watwatworld!
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VISIT THE POLL SURVEY DIRECTLY HERE.

Friendster! Going... going... gone... Now part of internet history

2009-12-10T19:50:00.000-08:00

FRIENDSTER SOLD TO MALAYSIAN TYCOON

Friendster, a social networking site like myspace and facebook has lost its game in the world of popularity among the online users. This is sad because back in 2004, Friendster was the hottest of early-mover social networks. It was bigger — both in size and in cultural impact — than its contemporary LinkedIn. Wired magazine asked at the time if Friendster was changing our friendships.

Malaysian tycoon Vincent Tan, is the man responsible for the purchase of Friendster and announced the deal to buy Friendster, the social networking site that still retains a strong following in Southeast Asia after losing in global popularity to Facebook and MySpace. Facebook is the world's second most popular Web site, attracting almost 29 percent of Internet users, according to Web traffic monitor Alexa.com. In contrast, only 0.4 percent of Internet users are visiting Friendster, ranking it the 164th most popular site globally. Despite its demise in the U.S., Friendster has managed to build a strong following in Asia, particularly in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. The three countries account for almost 60 percent Friendster users.

I personally grew up in the online world using Friendster. But the owners did not update Friendster to be more friendly when it comes to usage so when other social networking sites came, the jump was inevitable. I remember some days where loading a page of Friendster would take an eternity and until now, in some areas of the Philippines, the problem still remains.

Now that Friendster is owned by a Malaysian Tycoon with online capabilities, there are two things that I'm waiting for. First is the update of Friendster to be a more user friendly and dynamic website. Second will be tons of advertisements from the Malaysian company.

I'm sad for Friendster to end up this way. On the other hand, this sale will remind everyone of us that change in technology is so very fast. If you think you are on top and the best in your time, you are wrong. In the world of technology, there is someone out there always better than you. This happened to Friendster.

And so I say...
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Agusan Hostage Crisis: 75 people hostaged in Agusan del Sur

2009-12-10T01:23:00.000-08:00

After the Maguindanao massacre, here comes another criminal activity, this time involving a criminal group named as Ondo Perez Group. They allegedly took at least 100 people as hostages at 8:00 this morning, Thursday, 2009. Full details on this event will soon follow.

Armed with a twisted mind, I just hope this hostage taking is not a cover-up to suppress the issue and media attention on martial law and Maguindanao massacre. I'm sure if this news will hit the media and internet, attention will be diverted in catching the criminal group. Some may say I'm jumping into conclusions at a very early stage but as I said, it's only a product of a twisted mind. Besides, I believe covering up a big story with another story has been done before.

Below is the flash report:

MANILA, Philippines - An armed criminal group on Thursday morning took hostage at least 100 people, including pupils and teachers, in Prosperidad town in Agusan del Sur, police said.
The Agusan del Sur Police Provincial Office said 25 armed men, believed to be members of a criminal group called Ondo Perez Group, took the victims hostage in Sitio Maitum, Barangay San Martin around 8 a.m..
It said majority of the victims were schoolchildren and teachers.
Police said teams from the police provincial office and Special Action Force have been dispatched to pursue the gunmen and rescue the hostages. -- Report from Noel Alamar, radio dzMM / ABS-CBN

Equal Protection of the Law in the Philippines is a big BULL....

2009-12-09T18:11:00.000-08:00

The constitution provides a phrase " nor shall any person be denied equal protection of the laws ". It is such an encompassing phrase that it is commonly uttered in times of trouble with the authorities. I personally like it. However, I despise how it is being used and practiced in the Philippines. In the first place, I believe that the Filipinos who actually belong to the working class down to the "masa" are the ones being protected by this phrase based on the old political theory " those who have less in life should have more in law ". The application, however, is segmented and depends on the Philippine geography.

There is unequal protection of law in this country because if you are walking around Manila or in a small town like La Trinidad in Benguet with a small hand gun like Cal.38 or a locally made "paltik", you will be arrested, prosecuted and jailed for a number of years. On the other side of the country, even if you are walking around some provinces in Mindanao with long powerful firearms, the police and military will look the other way. Indeed, we have seen so many footage showing civilians with guns walking in the streets like its normal to carry firearms. When it comes to guns and deadly weapons, the right to arrest is only applicable in Luzon, Visayas and some parts of Mindanao. It is even said that there are more guns in Basilan than its actual population.

Another unequal protection of the law is the obvious treatment of prisoners or persons under custody of the law. More often than not, wealthy and powerful politicians charged or judged as guilty will not experience the usual prison treatment. Instead they will end up in expensive hospitals with the press statement "hospital arrest" The Philipines is rich in these kinds of treatment and it will continue to happen because there were so many precedents courtesy of the Philippine courts.

One obvious unequal protection of laws is non payment of the right taxes. One example is the filing of a tax case against actress Regine Tolentino because she forgot to pay P4,000. BIR was very keen and fast in filing a case against her. However, there is a family down south with billions in possession and the BIR cannot even say a word.

Having said above, we, the common people rely on equal protection and applicability of the laws. It is the only protection we have against injustice. The obvious bias and favors given to some individuals is seen by the people thus giving a wrong signal that justice is only for the rich.

The law provides a principle "dura lex sed lex" or the law is harsh but it is the law. I hope this will be applied to all Filipinos regardless of race, religion, status or connections.

Ayokong mawalan ng pag-asa sa systema ng pagpapatupad ng batas dahil sa pagtatapos ng bawat araw, ang batas lang ang aking kakampi sa pang-aabuso ng mga tao mayaman man o mahirap.

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Estimate Worth Of Ampatuans is P3Billion. Now who wants to be a politician?

2009-12-09T16:40:00.000-08:00

How politicians earn in the Philippines and elsewhere in the world is almost the same. But there are politicians who earn more than the rest, and it comes in billions.

The famous Maguindanao massacre opened a big can of worms. Now, it is seen that the Ampatungans are not only warlords but billionaires as well. In a news reports, they said that the Ampatungans have almost 30 mansions located nationwide and more than a billion pesos in cold cash. It is alleged that the Ampatungans do not deposit their money on the bank to avoid raising alarms when they submit their statement of assets and liabilities.

The sad truth is despite the luxurious living of the Ampatungans, their province, Maguindanao, is the 3rd poorest province in the Philippines with 7 in 10 people living below the poverty line. The irony of having a billionaire political clan in such a poor province will definitely raise eyebrows. How can this be?

The Ampatungans controlled Maguindanao province for almost a decade and accordingly, before that time, they were not that wealthy. It seemed that most of their power and wealth came after they became politicians of Maguindanao.

In a news report, many families in Maguindanao do not enjoy a good meal. A dish called "nilupak" or vegetables simply boiled is a common meal breakfast to dinner. Some eat corn from sunrise to sunset. These being the fact, how come some families enjoy so much luxury in life living in the same area.

Now I understand why so many people would like to run as governor of their province. The billions are waiting hahaha!

Baguio City Election Candidates 2010, with Active Poll Survey.

2009-12-07T21:21:00.000-08:00

In this article is the list of Baguio City candidates for the 2010 local elections. Also, we would like to see how active and aware are the Baguio people are when it comes to politicians. There is a Poll Survey on the Cordillera Politics page. It will be a great help if you will actively participate and vote for your candidate.

Also, please visit our new forum www.watwatworld.com/forum , register for free and join the discussion.

Below is the complete list of candidates:

Para Mayor ti Baguio:

1. Barcelo, Ruben Liwanag – “Ben” – INDEPENDENT
2. Busacay-Lazo, Erlinda Adan – “Erlinda Weir” – INDEPENDENT
3. Domogan, Mauricio Gambao – “Morris” – LAKAS-KAMPI CMD
4. Go, Marquez Ocampo – “Mark” – PWERSA NG MASANG PILIPINO (PMP)
5. Hernandez, Guillermo – “Willie” – INDEPENDENT
6. Labo, Ramon Lozano – “Jun” – INDEPENDENT
7. Mandapat, Julius Javier – “Butch” – INDEPENDENT
8. Molintas, Jose Mencio – “Joe” – LIBERAL PARTY (LP)
9. Puzon, Peter Dulay – “Terminator” – INDEPENDENT
10. Sembrano, Elaine Dominguez – “Kabsat” = INDEPENDENT

Para Bise-Mayor ti Baguio:

1. Domalsin, Carol Rosado – ” ” – LABAN NG DEMOKRATIKONG PILIPINO (LDP)
2. Farinas, Danilo Tesaluna – “Danny” – NACIONALISTA PARTY (NP)
3. Olowan, Faustino Atiwag – “Ulo” – LP & PHILIPPINE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST PARTY (PDSP)

Para Congressman ti Baguio:

   1. Avila, Edgar Mendoza – “Ed” – PMP
   2. Balisong, Rocky Thomas Aseilan = “Rocky” – NP
   3. Bautista, Reinaldo Jr. Asperin – “Peter Rey” – INDEPENDENT
   4. Bello III, Dwight Nicolas Advincula – “Ike-Kimat” – INDEPENDENT
   5. Quilala, Rabindranath Pablo – “Kabagis Abet” – PDP-LABAN
   6. Ramos, Felipe Tribonaldo – “Felipe” – INDEPENDENT
   7. Vergara, Bernardo Mangacang – “Bernie” – LAKAS-KAMPI
   8. Yangot, Leandro Jr. Bagto – ” ” – LP
   9. Yaranon, Baraulio Dacanay – “Raul” – LDP

Majority of the above named individuals are old faces in Baguio Politics. Only a few are first time candidates. Lets see how they will do when the time comes.

Vote for your Mayor, Vice-Mayor and Congressman. Click Here.

Per Pulse Reading By Seconds, Now Calling In The Philippines Is Cheaper

2009-12-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

Six (6) seconds per pulse reading is already being implemented by the National Telecommunications Commission. This means that under the new rates, telecom firms will be allowed to charge a “flag down” rate of P3 for the first two pulses, or a total of 12 seconds. Every succeeding pulse will then be billed. Each minute has 10 six-second pulses. Simply put, your call will be charged by the second.

Globe, Smart and Sun Cellular, the three biggest TeleCom companies charge a flat rate of P7.50/minute regardless if the call was only 30 seconds. With this new regulation, you will only pay for the 30 second call which is something like P4.69, thus much more beneficial to the public.

The new billing scheme took effect last Sunday for calls made within a network.
Calls made from one network to another would be covered by per-pulse billing starting on December16, 2009.

Below is the administrative guidelines for the six second per pulse rate, read on:

SUBJECT: GUIDELINES ON UNIT OF BILLING OF MOBILE VOICE SERVICE

WHEREAS, the 1987 Constitution fully recognizes the vital role of communications in nation building and provides for the emergence of communications structures suitable to the needs and aspirations of the nation;

WHEREAS, the promotion of competition in the telecommunications market is a key objective of Republic Act No. 7925 (R.A. No. 7925), otherwise known as The Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines, which mandates that “a healthy competitive environment shall be fostered, one in which telecommunications carriers are free to make business decisions and interact with one another in providing telecommunications services, with the end in view of encouraging their financial viability while maintaining affordable rates”;

WHEREAS, Sec. 4(d) of R.A. No. 7925 provides that rates and tariff charges shall be fair, just and reasonable;

WHEREAS, existing unit of billing for mobile voice service is based on a one (1) minute or sixty (60) seconds per pulse;

NOW, THEREFORE, pursuant to R.A. No. 7925, Executive Order (EO) No. 546 series of 1979, and in order to protect and promote the interest of subscribers/end-users, the National Telecommunications Commission (Commission) hereby promulgates the following guidelines:

1. The maximum unit of billing for the cellular mobile telephone service (CMTS) whether postpaid or prepaid shall be six (6) seconds per pulse.

2. The authorized rates shall be adjusted correspondingly. The rate for the first two (2) pulses, or equivalent if lower period per pulse is used, may be higher than the succeeding pulses to recover the cost of the call set-up. The CMTS providers shall submit to the Commission their respective proposed rates based on the herein prescribed unit of billing within thirty (30) days from the effectivity of this Circular.

3. Subscribers may opt to be billed on a one (1) minute per pulse basis or to subscribe to unlimited service offerings or any service offerings if they actively and knowingly enroll in the scheme.

4. International call service shall not be covered.

5. Interconnection agreements between cellular mobile telecommunications service (CMTS) providers and between CMTS providers and other interconnecting network and service providers shall be amended to incorporate the herein prescribed unit of billing within thirty (30) days from the effectivity of this Circular.

6. The CMTS providers and their interconnected network and service providers shall perform the necessary adjustments in their respective networks and systems to comply with herein prescribed unit of billing not later than one hundred twenty (120) days from the effectivity of this Circular.

7. Violation of any of the provisions of this Circular shall be a ground for the imposition of penalties in accordance with law.

8. Any circular, order, memoranda or parts thereof inconsistent herewith are deemed repealed or amended accordingly.

9. This Circular shall take effect fifteen (15) days after publication in a newspaper of general circulation and three (3) certified true copies are furnished the UP Law Center.
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Sex Scandals in the Philippines ( Sex scandal = Filipina ), Sad but True

2009-12-07T18:14:00.000-08:00

Philippine Sex Scandals 2010, Sad But True.

I'm sure you have heard or seen the different sex scandals circulating worldwide. It is a disgrace to know for a fact that the Philippines is the number one sex scandal video source of the world. If you talk about sex scandals you are talking about the Philippines and the Filipina women. This is really a sad image for this country.

To prove my point, go to Google or Yahoo and type "SEX SCANDAL", you will be surprised to see that the first results will contain mostly links or videos coming from the Philippines with the emphasis on "Filipina". Indeed this country is full of sex scandal videos. If you go to Quiapo, you will literally see tens of thousands of vcd and dvd copies with a sex scandal picture on top of the disk.

It is so sad to think that the Philippines, despite being the most religious Christian nation in this part of the world, is the number one source of sex scandal videos. It seems that being liberated and exposed, the youth of today is more adventurous and stupid because they allow themselves to be documented while in the act of having sex. And when something goes wrong or the relationship sours, the video ends up in the internet and the lady would cry out foul! This is the common story. However, Philippine sex scandal does not come from broken relationships alone. It also comes from secret videos installed in sex hotels, gang and fraternity initiations, office and school and actual rape videos.

Most people involved in sex scandal videos are the ones society consider as "liberated". Those who enjoy nightlife, partying and drinking. They are the common subjects in scandal videos although the non-liberated ones are not off the hook. In the streets of Manila, I can see how liberated the youths are. They just kiss and hug and cuddle in public, something you cannot see a decade ago happening publicly.

It is hard to imagine how Filipinas working abroad will stand out proud of their conservative Filipino culture when the men they work with have seen one or more of the sex scandal videos. It is highly degrading. Having so many sex scandal videos is one reason why other nationalities do not respect us and looks at Filipinas are mere objects of sex.

To temporarily solve this problem means to stop the sales of the bold videos and imposition of harsh penalties to those who are caught selling. Why temporary? Because as I have pointed out earlier in my previous articles, once a video is uploaded online, it becomes part of the history of the world and even if you delete the uploaded video, the file is actually never deleted but remains in someone's database or the video has already been copied a thousand times. This is the actual problem. In the online world there is no such thing as privacy

To solve this problem for a longer term will mean starting from the source and that is "massive information drive" about the ill effects of taking videos while doing the "act" and this goes true even for those who are legally married or love each other. At least in this way, we can lessen the making of sex scandal videos.

Mirriam Defensor Santiago Could Have Been A Good President!

2009-12-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

Mirriam Defensor Santiago could have been a fiery president with a strong political will. The good senator does not stop to please me and those waiting for political laughs. Yesterday in relation to the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao she said "that person should be taken off and shot and should be buried with a backhoe" referring to the person who advised president Arroyo about implementing martial law.

Because of her intelligence, some people who cannot understand her level of thinking call her a mentally derailed or "Brenda"according to former president Ramos. But this is not an issue, it's more of a joke and character assassination.

Back in my college days, I was really not a fan of Mirriam, but now I'm beginning to like her. She exposes issues and problems without fear and even bragged that if those politicians involved will try to contradict her, she will expose all their girlfriends in front of Philippine media. All the senators shut up. This made me laugh out really hard..

She could have been the president this country never had. Her intelligence and speech delivery is enough to make a man piss in his pants. Her political will is seen nowadays and I hope she continues to do so until her last breath. As they say, people with aged wisdom have nothing to lose and all the respect to gain.

I just wish I can work for this senator and document her antique quotes.

Ang Panday 2009 Metro Manila Film Festival

2009-12-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

Ang Panday movie 2009 Metro Manila Film Festival.
I have to say this...
I was a bit impressed with the special effects shown in the trailer - teaser. It was like watching a trailer of the Lord of the Rings. I just can't believe that Filipinos are already doing those kinds of animations. However, I still have to see the whole film in the big screen to truly appreciate the P70 million film. As they say, to see is to believe.
Ang Panday ("The Blacksmith") is an upcoming 2009 Philippine fantasy film that adapts Carlo J. Caparas' Panday comics. Directed by Rico Gutierrez and Mac Alejandre, the film adaptation stars Ramon "Bong" Revilla, Jr. as the title character. It is set for a December 25 release date.

Watch the teasers below:

I'm sure this movie will satisfy my need for a good film!

Paquiao Vs Mayweather March 13 Battle Final, Baguio City Considered As Training Ground

2009-12-07T00:33:00.000-08:00

Manny Paquiao Vs Floyd Mayweather March 13 Battle Final
As of this afternoon, news is out that the much awaited boxing match between Pacquiao and Mayweather will push through at the said date. Pacman is said to earn more than Mayweather in the "contract" but it is yet to be signed by the parties involved. The only problem right now according to the news is the venue for the greatest boxing event of this century. It will be either MGM at Las Vegas or in under the Dallas Cowboys owner Gerry Jones in the newly built state-of-the-art $1.2 billion Cowboys stadium in Dallas, Texas.

Top Rank promoter Arum noted that “the best weekend that they (Las Vegas) have had in months was the weekend of November 14 when Manny fought (Miguel) Cotto. The town was packed. There was a great buzz and when its around a boxing match the people come in. There is something subliminal about the fact that they spend a lot of money, not as much on the gambling but in the best restaurants, the nightclubs and they buy clothing so they had a phenomenal weekend and they know this fight will be even bigger.”

Accordingly, Team Pacquiao is considering Baguio city as the initial training ground since his Baguio training against Cotto proved to be effective and cheaper than training in Wild Card Gym, USA.

This is the fight we have all been waiting for and come that date, there will be no martial law, there will be no massacre, there will be no elections and there will be no politicians left in the country because they are all attending the biggest boxing event in history!

An so I say...
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Martial Law In Maguindanao In Effect: 62 Arrested

2009-12-06T02:15:00.000-08:00

Philippines arrests 62 after imposing martial law

by Cecil Morella

AFP

SHARIFF AGUAK, Philippines (AFP) – The Philippines said Sunday it had detained more than 60 people and seized a stunning array of weapons after imposing martial law in a southern province in the wake of a massacre.
A total of 62 people were swept up in raids over the weekend, including 15 taken from a ranch owned by clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Snr where the military found a cache of powerful rifles buried in a grassy area, police said.
Authorities said the decision to impose martial law in Maguindanao province from Friday night was needed to quell a rebellion by the clan, whose leaders were accused of being behind last month's massacre that left 57 people dead.
"Martial law (allowed) the security forces to really go after these suspects who are part of the rebellion, maybe some of whom are possible suspects in the recent massacre," said Andres Caro, the national police chief of operations.
The mass murders occurred on November 23, when 100 Ampatuan gunmen allegedly abducted and shot dead female relatives of a rival politician, plus a group of journalists and civilians, in a remote farming area of Maguindanao. Related article: Philippine massacre suspects rule over squalor
Ampatuan Snr, the governor of Maguindanao, as well as four other family members were detained Saturday in the initial raids following the imposition of martial law.
Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said Sunday that leaders of the clan now in detention would be charged with rebellion.
The rebellion charges are separate from murder cases being prepared against them over the massacre, she said.
"We did not see them plotting against the government, we saw the deed done. They have usurped power from the government there," Devanadera told DZBB radio.
"This is not ordinary chaos taking place in one area, this has an armed component. And there is removal of allegiance from the republic of the Philippines by the leaders of this group."
The Ampatuan family is a Muslim clan that had ruled the province for most of the decade with the backing of private armies and the suppport of President Gloria Arroyo's ruling coalition.
Justifiying the controversial move to impose martial law, the government said large numbers of heavily armed gunmen loyal to the Ampatuans had threatened to attack if the clan chiefs were taken into custody.
The government alleged the Ampatuans had illegally amassed a stunning array of military hardware that it was prepared to use in the rebellion.

Thousands of soldiers and police poured into the provincial capital, Shariff Aguak, and other Maguindanao towns after martial law was imposed to detain the Ampatuans and their militiamen, as well as find the weapons. Related article: Farmers flee over fears of violence
On Saturday, security forces retrieved 340,000 rounds of ammunition, several assault rifles and a home-made armoured car at a warehouse owned by the Ampatuans.
On Sunday, about more 40 firearms, including M16 assault rifles, and dozens of boxes of ammunition were found on a property believed to be owned by Ampatuan Snr, the military said.
"Our suspicions are proving right, we believe there are more weapons hidden," regional army commander Colonel Leo Ferrer said. "Our operations are continuing so we can limit the military capability of those concerned."
Ferrer said the army has not encountered any armed resistance so far.
"But we are prepared to face these threats," he said.
The biggest reported discovery came on Thursday when the military found what it said were enough weapons and ammunitions to arm two battalions, or 1,000 soldiers, buried in a vacant lot near the Ampatuans' compound of homes.
The military said this finding was one of the triggers for it recommending to Arroyo that martial law be imposed.
One of Ampatuan Snr's sons, Andal Ampatuan Jnr, has already been charged with 25 counts of murder over the massacre. Police last week filed indictments recommending the clan chief and other relatives also be charged.
Police allege Ampatuan Jnr and his gunmen shot dead the occupants of a convoy that included female relatives of his rival for the post of governor in next year's elections, as well as about 30 journalists.
Before the massacre, Arroyo's government had supported the Ampatuans as part of its campaign to use powerful local clans to contain Muslim rebels whose bloody insurgency since the 1970s has left over 150,000 dead.

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091206/ts_afp/philippinesmassacrepolitics
Copyright belongs to the author Cecil Morella and AFP (Agence France Presse)

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Rumors are circulating around coffee shops and even in social networks and forums. The rumor is that the President Arroyo had to shut down the Ampatungans especially the two governors because they were allegedly threatening the current president to expose the alleged anomalies committed in the Certificate of Canvass last 2007 elections wherein the vote was 12-0 in favor of the administration candidates.

Accordingly, if the president will not support the Ampatungans, the latter will spill the beans about the election fraud that happened in Maguindanao. Maybe this was the initial reason why the government was relaxed in hunting down the murderers and when the suspected Mayor Andal Ampatungan Jr. "surrendered", we all saw the laxity as compared to those who committed petty crimes like simple theft. This was probably the initial gesture of political friendship that Malacanang had to offer.

However, there is a big clamor for justice since 28 media practitioners were also killed in the massacre. The noise is too much for the Ampatungans so allegedly they again asked the President for support in exchange of keeping quiet on the past election issue. This time the president cannot give in to the favor since the whole world is looking at her and such actions may be detrimental to her career extension in congress. So allegedly, the plan was to shut down the voice of the Ampatungans and it can be done completely only if martial law was to be implemented and all the evidence sequestered.

This rumor maybe true or maybe not and there are so many questions yet to be answered. Clarity to this rumor will soon be available thanks to the wonderful world of social networking where you can find interesting answers to issues nowadays.

And so I say...

Think Positive Philipines

2009-12-06T01:15:00.000-08:00

Think positive or power of law of attraction in the philippines.

Below is a video captioned

"Para sa mga kababayang pinoy na malapit nang sumuko, huwag! maghulusdili ka! may pag-asa pa! huwag kang mawawalan ng pag-asa sa buhay, Tink Pasitib!"

This video was posted in Youtube and hope it can deliver the message of positive thinking to all Filipinos out there.

Contact WatWatWorld Admin

2009-12-05T15:20:00.000-08:00

We are proud to say that out website and blog is now one of the top blogs (TOP 3 as of 12-06-09) under the politics and government category by Philippine Top Blogs.

We started with numerous blogs covering different niches and topics but found it to favorable to incorporate all of the blogs in one poweful blog, thus www.watwatworld.com was born in October 2009. And this month (Started December 1, 2009) I decided to put a counter so you can see the number of pageviews this blog is getting in a day and the worldwide audience it attracts.

If you want to submit articles or advertise with us, just simply drop an email at watwatworld@gmail.com.

Thanks,

WatWatWorld.

If you know you are right, fight for it! A Baguio City Market Example.

2009-12-04T20:54:00.000-08:00

I recently came across a friend who had a story to tell. It was a long story and the details she shared are full of twists and turns. After learning of what happened and the steps they did, they got what they deserve. This story will remind us that if you stand for what is right, you will never lose.

Below is the story:
   The Baguio sari-sari section market was struck by fire on April 11, 2008 at dawn time. Only half portion of the sari-sari burned and that was the area facing the Magsaysay road.
The leaseholders then had to go on with their business thus they had to make temporary restorations after a week. They had to make use of the small area using sako (Rice bag ) that was given to them to make a living. After months of waiting, the city government expressed their side that they will restore the market together with the vegetable section that was also burned down last summer of 2009.
    Everybody was happy because finally, after 13 months (April 11,2008 to July 27,2009)of waiting for the sari-sari section, they will now start to restore it.
   The first clamor that time was for the old/original leaseholders to go back to their original places prior to fire.   Mr. G , the sari sari section leader appointed Ms. G (daughter of a leaseholder) to represent the leaseholders without even informing the group but then everybody was silent about it.
   When the city government , through the citizens forum held during the city council session on Oct. 26, 2009, gave an approval, everybody was happy. When the Vice mayor asked if they have stall assignments, Ms. G brought out a piece of bond paper from her bag and presented it to the council. The group were asking each other if they had knowledge of that paper presented and they said none.
   One City Councilor even mentioned that "actually, this is the first time I was handed a copy of this stall assignments, that they have stalls already" as we read it in the minutes of the meeting. so when the presiding officer – Vice Mayor said, “okey let them sign already if walang conflict” and he assigned the market superintendent Mr. Tamayo to finalize the stall assignments.
   After the session, A leaseholder named Ms. J was able to read a copy of the said stall assignments and was shocked because it was not the original places prior to fire which was just been approved by the council. SWITCHING of stalls was done and she was affected. Having a question regarding that paper, . she went to Mr. Tamayo and told him about it and so with the others who had questions with that proposal He instructed them to go to his office first thing in the morning. Ms. J and those who were affected by the switching explained their sides and he too knows that upon reading it, switching was done. What they did was to make new stall assignments basing it on the original places prior to the fire. In effect, “kung sino and katabi mo noon, siya din katabi mo ngayon sa new building.” That was the majority agreement.

Everybody was listening and cooperating and Ms. G even helped when Mr. Tamayo was positioning the names in a cartolina with numbers on it basing it in the new structure.
   However, when Mrs. G, mother of Ms. G arrived, she wanted to be transferred to the stall across(stall #13) from the stall that was previously favored to her (stall #14). Mr. Tamayo didn't agree since in the first place, they should be in stall #17 and not #14. Mr. Tamayo said, BINIGAY KO NA NGA ITO (POINTING TO HIS WRIST) AT GUSTO MO NAMAN EH HANGANG DITO (POINTING TO HIS WHOLE ARM). Ms. G cried and said, sorry. After everything was done , Mr. Tamayo instructed his secretary to type the names and have them sign beside it in front of him to assure that they agree with what was given to them. Everybody who was present lined up to sign and majority already signed when Councilor S and Mrs. M, the city treasurer arrived. They were questioning Mr. Tamayo why he allowed to make a new proposal since the proposal of the “G’s”was already approved by the honorable in the city council. Mr. Tamayo defended his side but he can't compete with the 2 city officials so he kept quite. Councilor S then instructed him to follow the “G’s” proposal. Everybody was murmuring and asking each other if they could appeal and explain their side why they had to make a new proposal but councilor S did not give any of them a chance to explain.
   They then went back to Their temporary stalls and were asking each other if they can do something so that councilor S. will be able to listen their side. Some of them formed a group and decided to seek the advice of a media man Mr. P.L. He assisted them in making the letter addressed to councilor S and had the same received at the offices of the councilors, vice mayor, mayor and sangguniang panglungsod on October 28,2009. Time was so important so they went back again the next day to follow up the letter and luck was with them that day because there is a special session for garbage problem on Oct .30 and councilor C, R and A told them to attend so that they will have Vice mayor listen to their plight. they waited until it was their time to speak and so councilor C presented the problem to the council. The Vice Mayor was angry there was a misrepresentation of data and said “have this be investigated, baka akala nila may favoritism dito.” The group of 5 women were very happy because the city council approved the proposal that Mr. Tamayo
   We told the others and they were happy with the result but the next working day, Ms G appealed to city hall insisting that her proposal be followed since it was the first one that was approved. Councilor S and City Treasurer Mrs. M said they will follow Ms. G’s proposal since it is still under the Market Authority headed by councilor S. The resolution #450 and #450b is yet to be signed by the mayor who is always out of the country. When the group found out what Ms. G did, They asked the advice of the councilors and they were given another chance to be heard in a council session scheduled on NOv. 16,2009. They specifically approved the proposal that was done by Mr. Tamayo with the group and councilor R said that she wants the names of the stall owners be embodied in the resolution and not just an attachment. The Vice Mayor said, "motion as clarified is considered approved as presented".

Watch the session that was posted in you tube "sari-sari proper baguio city council nov 16"

When Mr G, the section chief, visited the market in the afternoon of oct 24, he said that it is Ms G’s proposal that will be followed then councilor S came to new market building at around 6:oopm telling those who were constructing their stores if they are sure of that stall since it is proposal A (Ms. G’s) that will be followed.
   The next day, they were told that they will follow the proposal of Ms. G because all the resolutions passéd by the city council were vetoed by the Honorable Mayor and a memorandum was made addressed to the city treasurer. Ms J , told herself to fight for the last time so Ms J and her sister went to city hall seeking for answer and thanks to councilor R, they were able to talk to Atty P, the city secretary, after all the political squabbles, they were granted their original places.

The story above shows that if you are right and you fight for it, at the end of the day, victory will be yours.

Photo By: Carl Carino Taawan
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March 13 Fight of the Millennium Between Manny Paquiao Vs Floyd Mayweather

2009-12-04T18:52:00.000-08:00

March 13 Fight of the Millennium Between Manny Paquiao Vs Floyd Mayweather
This was all over the news last night. Manny accepted the fight tentatively scheduled on said date. When Manny was asked why he accepted the fight too soon, he said it has some "personal" matter in him because the Mayweathers are always trash talking about Manny and it's not a good example for the young athletes.
Indeed, if you have heard Floyd Mayweather Sr. talk about Manny during interviews all you can hear is badmouthing and trash talking. The senior Mayweather is suffering from bad language diarrhea and the younger Mayweather is so very proud and very boastful you will not see a grain of humility and humbleness. As they say, an apple does not fall far from the tree.
This is a fight we are all looking forward to happen. A bad ass trashtalker and a down to earth peoples champ. If this battle will push through, the entire Philippines and the world will be free from any crime for a few hours.

However, right after Manny said yes to Bob Arum, his trainer Freddie Roach said it is not possible for Manny to fight this March 13 because of his condition and he has to have a complete recovery from the injuries he sustained from Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico. In short, Roach will not allow the fight. He suggested the fight be scheduled after the elections in May. I want the fight to happen as soon as possible but maybe Roach has a point and there is no better person who can determine the capacity of Manny to fight than Roach.
By the way, if this battle will push though, The Philippine Senate, The Philippine Congress, The Executive Department will be shutting office for a day or two because most of them, if not all, will be going to Las Vegas using the tax payers money, and so I allege.

Sigh..
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Martial Law Declared In The Philippines, Province of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat

2009-12-04T17:39:00.000-08:00

Martial Law Declared In The Philippines

Just this morning, martial law was declared by the president to be effective at once covering the provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and the City of Cotabato. This declaration was a result of the seizure of high powered automatic firearms in the said province.
The words "martial law" is somewhat scary because of the atrocities that were committed by the military and police during the latter part of the Marcos Era. But today, the declaration is generally accepted. Of course those who are allegedly involved in the massacre will cry out foul!
Taking into consideration that Maguindanao province is under control for at lest 60 days will give way to the arrest and prosecution of those who participated in the mass murder. I just hope that the declaration will be under control and closely monitored by the media so that no abuses will take place even for the Ampatungans who also deserve equal protection of the law.

Also, Secretary Dureza released his 'diary' of the 'Four Critical days in a document to try give his side of what government did in the hours after the crisis broke out. Read on.

MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE: THE FOUR CRITICAL DAYS (A recollection of those four critical days ) by Secretary Jesus G. Dureza

DAY ONE ‐‐Nov 23 (Monday) – I was monitoring closely reports about a missing convoy in Maguindanao with media friends. Later in the day, reports of mass murder of the Mangudadatus were confirmed. Allegedly by Datu Unsay Ampatuan Jr. et al. My instincts told me this could very well be a very explosive situation. . When media called, I said I would recommend proclaiming a state of emergency. At 8 p.m. SND Bert Gonzales and I met. He told me the President had directed that I act as “crisis manager”.

DAY TWO – Nov 24 (Tuesday) Bert and I took the earliest flight to Gen Santos City. At the 601st brigade in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat, briefings were held. Initial photos of the carnage were flashed on the screen. Gruesome! Next we met with the Mangudadatus, many of them my personal friends.

They were tense and angry. They wanted to retrieve the bodies immediately. They demanded justice, immediately.

The Ampatuans did it, they said. After Bert and I expressed government’s resolve to do everything possible, Toto Mangudadatu said they will cooperate. No retaliatory action but government must give justice.

12 NOON – A teleconferencing call connected Bert and me to the Palace where the President was presiding over a hastily called security meeting. We were getting specific instructions from her.

So did Bert, PNP Chief Jess Versoza and AFP Vice CS Maclang who arrived with us. Her voice had that sense of urgency.

Inputs from the other cabinet members were also relayed. 1:00 PM – The crisis management committee was activated.

Assisting me were Eastmincom Gen Ferrer and PNP 12 Director Serapio. 2:00 PM – Bert left to fly back to Manila. Col Geslani, brigade commander assisted in setting up the command center. It was at this time that I operationalized an action plan I quietly formulated in my mind. It was a simple plan drawing lessons from past experiences.

3:00PM – Having talked with the Mangudadatus, I decided to go see the Ampatuans in Shariff Aguak. I felt confident. Both families were my friends. And I had direct access to them. With my staff and without military escorts, except for one military officer, Col Macario as guide, I motored to the Ampatuan residence.

3:45PM ‐‐I entered the Ampatuan fenced premises and the patriarch Gov. Andal Ampatuan, Sr was there waiting for me. With him seated in a “ bahay kubo” on the sprawling grounds were several ARMM and Maguindanao officials and relatives. Armed followers were everywhere. After informing Gov. Andal that my purpose in coming was because of the incident and that his son, Mayor Datu Unsay Ampatuan, Jr. was implicated , I told “Bapa” Andal that it would be best that the Ampatuans also “cooperate”.

I said that Datu Unsay should submit to an investigation. He immediately said: “ OK. Kausapin mo sya. Ipatawag ko si Datu Unsay. Basta kayo secretary walang problema”. I told him I wanted to see Datu Unsay as I got reports that he was missing or had escaped. Bapa said: “Hindi yan totoo. Darating si Datu Unsay. Magpakita sya sayo secretary”.

Bapa Andal as usual, was a man of few words. We then went inside the house to wait for the son’s arrival. In the meantime, ARMM Gov Zaldy Ampatuan and Cong. Digs Dilangalen arrived from the airport. Usec Zam Ampatuan, Atty Cynthia Guiani Sayadi, among others were there too.

I felt a bit tense and uncomfortable. I did not want to start talking about the incident until Unsay would arrive. We were chatting for about an hour trying to divert the issue and loosen up.

A lively conversation centered on how many children some of their relatives had. One relative had 70 children. Of course from several mothers. Etc.

4:30PM – We waited. I noticed that Atty. Cynthia was using her cellphone and taking pictures while we were chatting. Unsay arrived and got seated on my left. We continued a bit about our light banter until Unsay settled down. (GMA7 later that same evening showed some pictures on TV. My wife Beth texted me and called my attention immediately when she saw it: “Bakit ka smile kasama mga Ampatuan. Not proper.” I agreed. But I was puzzled where the pictures came from and who sent them.

There were no media people around. I surmised Cynthia did it.)

5:00PM. – I was becoming worried that darkness would overtake my return trip to Sultan Kudarat. Many armed and uniformed men on the highway. One could not tell what group or unit. So when Unsay got seated, I immediately told him that I came because of the serious incident and that initial reports mentioned his name as involved. I told him my purpose in coming was only to be assured that he would cooperate and submit himself to any investigation.

He looked at the direction of Gov Andal who spoke first: “ Gaya ng sinabi ko sayo kanina, magcooperate kami, secretary”. Then Unsay himself echoed saying: “Mag cooperate po kami secretary”. I then stood up and said I would contact them again soon. We arrived in Marbel already dark and stayed there for the night.

DAY THREE , Nov 25, (‐ Wednesday) – 830AM, I visited a funeral parlor in Marbel. Some bodies not identified yet.

I then directed DSWD 12 to attend to the immediate needs of the families, and that DOH 12 and OCD 12 were to assist. I motored to Tacurong at 601st brigade and met the NBI team that just arrived from Manila. I reconvened the crisis committee and mapped up moves on how to fast track work .

A team of PNP investigators were sent to the residence of Buluan Vice Mayor Toto Mangudadatu to get statements but they were told that affidavits of their witnesses would be submitted instead perhaps the following day.

I was already aware that the outrage over the killings mounted. And government was being criticized for slow action.

12 NOON –Over lunch at the brigade, I consulted with the crisis committee on my plan: it was time to contact the Ampatuans and call in Datu Unsay to voluntarily surrender.

As they committed to me yesterday. I was also quietly informed that an operational plan was underway to forcibly take custody of him.

2:00PM – On my way to Marbel to dialogue with all the families of the victims, I made several calls. First with ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan. I told him it was time to bring in Datu Unsay. He told me he would consult the father, Gov. Andal. I said I had only until 5 pm that day to work on this plan. After 5pm, the scenario would no longer be the same, I told him.

4:00PM – While meeting the families of victims in downtown Marbel, I got a call from the father, Gov Andal telling me that he would turnover to me Datu Unsay but requested that the deadline be moved from 5pm today to 10 AM, the following day.

I immediately told him I could not guarantee things if the deadline was moved. He said the Ampatuan clan would meet that evening and discuss things and bid goodbye to Datu Unsay.

I told him I would get back to him by phone. I made calls and informed some of my colleagues (with whom I had been consulting from the beginning) of the request. There were objections.

Understandable reservations: what if the extension was a ruse to escape that evening? What were the guarantees that he would voluntarily surrender during the new deadline? People were becoming outraged not only on the crime but on the perceived slowness of government, so why waste more time? The forces were ready to strike, so why delay?

But I also reasoned back: How sure are we that we would get Datu Unsay in the operations? (From yesterday’s visit to the Ampatuans, I was certain that he was not there in the immediate vicinity but came from somewhere far.)

An assault would surely cost lives knowing the armaments, the culture and the situation.

People were crying for swift action but I would not agree to precipitate action. I also said I believed Gov Andal was sincere when he told me he would bring out his son when needed.

To wrap up my point, I said: I would take full responsibility for whatever outcome. My new timeline was adopted. I moved the deadline to 10:OO AM the following day.

That night, we reviewed the “pickup” scenario several times and mapped out contingencies just in case things would not go as planned. In the meantime, government troops moved according to operational plans. That evening,

I got a call from Atty. Cynthia getting an assurance from me that nothing would be launched that evening until the 10 AM pickup time the following day. I told her if there were troop movements, these were in support of the 10 AM “pickup”. Later in the night, another complication suddenly arose. Gen Serapio and Col Geslani informed me that they got information that Toto Mangudadatu would motor with his followers to file his certificate of candidacy the following morning in Shariff Aguak. I immediately called Gov. Teng Mangudadatu.

I told him that there was something afoot the following morning and that without disclosing what it was all about, I requested if he could convince Toto to move his filing to another day. A few minutes later, Gov Teng called and said the clan agreed.

D‐DAY, Nov.26 (Thursday) 6:00AM–Early morning, government forces took over and occupied the ARMM facilities and other buildings and premises in Maguindanao province.

Armed elements loyal to the Ampatuans were taken by surprise and gave up their firearms without resistance. I was nervous a bit but confident. The “what if” scenarios kept popping up in my mind. I motored to the 601st brigade for the final briefings. The choppers would pick me up from there. Gen Ferrer and I watched as more newly arrived troops were jumping off towards designated areas.

9:00AM – I was informed that something went wrong with the Huey helicopters coming from Cotabato. The Davao choppers were instead dispatched but would not be able to arrive by 10AM. 9:55AM – I got a call from Col Geslani whom we tasked to liaison with the Ampatuans that they were requesting for a little time as they were waiting for their lawyer who was still on the road to arrive.

That was a break I needed. The 2 choppers arrived. We discussed with the pilot and crew contingencies and procedures.

10:45AM, we were ready to jump off upon cue from Col Geslani. It would be a short 35 minute hop from the brigade to Shariff Aguak.

My staff Cecil said she’s getting nervous but insisted on joining. My assistant, Yo was busy texting. But wait, another problem suddenly cropped up. As we were boarding, one the 2 PNP officers tasked to escort the suspect said they could not use the handcuff on Ampatuan as the KEY WAS MISSING! What about the other handcuff with your buddy, I asked. “Ganon din po sir”, he replied. “Sh_t!” I almost fell from my seat!.(”Sarap sapakin!”) But there was no more time. We then agreed that he would be strapped with the seat belt and the policemen would firmly clasp the buckles to prevent any unexpected situation while airborne. (When I was asked later by reporters why Ampatuan was not handcuffed, I had a ready curt answer with a straight face: “He is adequately restrained!”. Sec Agnes promptly responded with the same line when she was asked upon landing in Manila. )

11:20AM Two Hueys landed on the Maguindanao province capitol grounds. The Huey engines were not shut off as agreed in case a sudden exit maneuver was necessary. I waited for 20 minutes on the ground. I was getting worried. Finally, I saw my staff Ollie with his thumbs up sign. Col Geslani signalled, they were on their way. My “what if” scare disappeared. The capitol gates opened.

The Ampatuan family arrived on board vehicles from another location nearby. Gov Zaldy clasping my hand said: “Ipaubaya ni amah si Datu Unsay sayo” and turned over Datu Unsay to me. We boarded the aircraft with Atty. Cynthia , insisting she had to ride with him.

11:40AM, Helis took off enroute Gen Santos City where Sec. Agnes and her crew were waiting for an inquest proceeding. But again something happened. About a few minutes airborne and while still climbing and gaining altitude, I first noticed some flapping sound outside. I thought, maybe some loose parts of the chopper.

The noise kept coming, intermittent. I looked down and maybe I saw flashes but I was not sure. Suddenly the Huey banked sharply to the right and simultaneously, several short bursts from our two Huey gunners at the back. The bursts startled all of us.

The evasive maneuver by the pilot also jarred us. All of us kept our heads low as the Huey steeply climbed. My staff Jerry and Col Mac who were seated beside the open Huey doors ducked.

The soldier at the back shouted, “ground fire, sir”. We still climbed. The flapping sound from outside could not be heard anymore. The gunners later told me ground fire sounded like flapping from the air. The evasive action and the machinegun bursts were SOP. At 2,000 feet altitude, we cruised. That’s when I saw on the Huey floor an empty shell from the bursts of the M‐60 machinegun on board.

I picked up the empty shell, then pocketed it for good luck. At the Gensan airport, I called the Boss: “Mission accomplished, Mrs. President.” * * *

(Note: Dureza had successfully handled past crises situations notably the “detention” by MNLF Saber Malik of Marine Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino and OPAPP Usec Ramon Santos in Sulu in 2007; the handover of Misuari from Malaysian authorities to face rebellion charges in 2002; the surrender of convicted priestkiller escapee Manero in 2001; the release of Gen. Obillo and Capt. Montealto by NPA Commander Parago with the Capalla humanitarian team in 1999; the Cebu Pacific plane crash in Misamis Oriental in 1998; the Mindanao El Nino crisis in 1998; the Davao Penal Colony hostage situation in 1998.)

Philippine Government, AFP and DND are Accessories to the Crime of Maguindanao - Ampatuan Murder/Massacre . Some Highpowered Machine Guns Used in the Massacre are DND-Military issued.

2009-12-04T08:51:00.000-08:00

Today, hundreds of high powered and sophisticated guns, some made by Armscore - a major arms supplier to the AFP, that can arm 500 soldiers or militia men were recovered in a shallow hole near the residence of the Ampatuans in Maguindanao. The said weapons were said to be the same guns that was used to kill the 57 Ampatuan massacre victims. The source said that the weapons were buried one day after the mass killing.

The question we have now is this: why are the high powered guns in the possession of private individuals? I remember some issues a few months back that was well covered by the media. It involved a junior navy officer and some members of the military. They broke the chain of command and expressed their loss of faith in their superior officers and one issue brought to the media's attention is the sale of high powered guns to the highest bidders who happen to be influential politicians. I shrugged it off as a mere accusation. But after the Maguindanao massacre, it seems that the accusations were real and backed by convincing proof ( physical evidence recovered ).

I'm pretty sure the issue on the Department Of Defense issued high powered sophisticated automatic guns will just fade away. In the first place who in the Philippines has the balls to investigate or prosecute the high ranking officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Department of Defense? NOBODY! The best thing that the so called "investigators" can do is to play around with the media through "paid" press releases.

This being said, it is better to concentrate on prosecuting the Ampatuan massacre killers today rather than diverting attention to the private arms confiscated. It's a hard decision and arguably debatable depending on your political linkage, but it is better to bring justice to the families of the victims by actively participating in the judicial proceedings. To follow the weapons used is useless.

WatWatWorld: Philippine Political Organization Mushroom (Lilitaw - Lulubog)

2009-12-03T20:41:00.000-08:00

As early as two years ago, I already noticed the formation of different organizations and associations geared towards the 2010 elections. Recently, Facebook, MySpace, Friendster and Twitter are commonly used to boost up their membership. Creating a political organization prior to an election is a common practice and just like mushrooms, many of this organizations disappear after the elections. Politicians commonly use the youth sector in mobilizing membership by promising a good platform and objectives. Fact is, every politician has his/her own platform to show during the campaign period but more often than not, the realization of the platforms presented remains to be seen. If you follow the history of Philippine elections, it maybe safe to say that after elections, the platforms earlier presented remains in the piece of paper where it was written. Only a few really practice what they are introducing during a campaign.

Promises are also common in political organizations even if the members join as "volunteers", in many cases, these volunteers end up as cash cows or foot soldiers with a promise that if the candidate they are fighting for will win, they will receive some incentives either in form of grants, scholarships, positions, jobs or contracts. Allegedly, the political organizers also "earn" because they handle the channeled finances for the organization. However, we will not deny that there are also organizers and volunteers who really believes in what they are campaigning for thus doing it in their own free will and sacrifices. I have seen this before in our province wherein volunteers really used their own money, time and effort to campaign for a senatorial candidate. After the election was over, the volunteers where not even recognized. The organizers got all the thank you's and wishes. Soon after, the organization faded away.

The most common victims of political organization mushrooms are "promdi's" like me. All of a sudden organizations are mushrooming all over the provinces. Fact is, those people organizing are more often than not the same faces you saw organizing for another party or politician during previous elections. I call them "political dance instructors", and I will allege that they are earning a living or even more from what they are doing.

Political organization mushrooms maybe temporary in nature but they serve their purpose very well. I may not agree on how the organizers manipulate volunteers but at the end of the day, something is achieved and that is the spreading of political awareness from the national capital region to the far flung areas in the provinces. This is the only time where politics and politicians reach the ends of the provinces and the only time where "promdi's" like me can see our favorite actors and actresses in person.
To illustrate, if there are 100 politicians running for President, there will be 100 or more political organizations that will mushroom up and each of these newly born mushroom will have their own programs, policies and platforms to show. Each mushroom will try to gather as mush volunteers and as history dictates, the volunteers will stand their ground for the candidate they are endorsing even if it means physically fighting with the other political mushrooms. Again, at the end of the day, whatever the result is, the political candidate may not even know what is happening in the field.

All having said, even if these organizations are actually historical mushrooms, I believe they still serve the purpose even for a limited time. These purposes are:
1. To spread political awareness up to the ends of each province and islands in the Philippines;
2. To gather the sentiments and needs of the people;
3. To bring medical missions and a plastic of goods containing 1 kilo of rice, two noodles and 2 cans of sardines to the poor communities;
4. To give a sense of power or control to the ordinary people; and
5. To bring actors, actresses, comedians, dancers and singers to entertain the people in the province for free!
What can you say?

Sex in the Phillipines, Almost Free? (be exposed, share this article)

2009-12-03T01:57:00.000-08:00

SEX IN THE PHILIPPINES: THE TRUTH BEHIND.

Sex in the Philippines is a catchy title rather than using the word prostitution which has worsened to the highest level. I have been staying in Manila for almost five years now and I had my share of ups and downs. Living in this part of the country made me realize the difference on cost of living, it is indeed expensive to live here in the National Capital Region. Without a stable source of income is suicide. Better go home to the province. This is my introduction because I have seen bad consequences in trying to live it out in the Metro especially on the subject sex and prostitution.

For two years I had worked in the Cubao, Quezon City area and every night when I go home I had to pass by the intersection overpass at Aurora Boulevard. I can't believe it but there are young ladies I think as young as 14 years old standing at the side while a pimp, either an old lady or a gay transacts business with passersby. Accordingly, the rate is P500 but it can go down to P300. Half goes to the pimp, half goes to the young girl. This sight is familiar along the main road and the dark alleys of Aurora Blvd.

You can also see the same sight along Quezon Ave, Quiapo a night, Malate and Taft Ave. So sad that you can see in the faces of the girls that they do it so that they could eat. I have also seen a couple having sex in a street sidewalk at the back of Malate church. All they had to cover their lower part of the body where the action is going is a big refrigirator box.

It is said that sex is the oldest profession and as long as there are men, it will never die. This maybe a fact and not even the most religious can stop the proliferation of this trade. However, seeing young children, kids getting into this sex trade is something I strongly reject. Some tricycle drivers even joke that they can have sex for a kilo of rice! Imagine that!

Then I saw the episode of Imbestigador hosted by Mike Enriquez. There was a feature were old men can have sex with children and teenagers in a scale of "three girls for P100". I was shocked. The modus was to pay the owner of the house so that the customers ( mostly tricycle drivers and bystanders ) can use it as a drinking space. Then the young girls will be lured to join them in the drinking spree and after a few drinks, sex begins. It's a god thing that Imbestigador was able to catch the perpetrators of that sex house.

Yet there is another story. I'm sure by now you are aware of the sudden growth of teenage gangs all around the country. Ganghood is only one of the negative influences adopted by Filipinos from the Americans. Many teenagers are now active on this and they employ the harshest bullying using guns and weapons to scare other kids. So many stories have been told but I will use a particular example in Baguio City where two highschool girls from prominent families were given to a gang leader as a gift in exchange for their membership. The two highschool girls got pregnant. This created an outrage in Baguio City but still it ganghood remains. In Metro Manila, you can see teenage gangs in every corner of this metropolitan city and the word sex comes out of their mouth just as fast as they sing their rap songs. It seems sex trade amongst gang members is a free trade under what they call "hirap o sarap".

Sex in the Philippines is not limited to the girls or gangs in the streets. In fact, it is only a small portion of the industry. Most of the sex trade comes with a price and the people involved are the persons you would not want to mess with. How many stories have you heard about politicians, policemen etc having more than one wife and more than two homes? Funny thing is, they are the people who ought to implement the law.

We will have a hard time admitting this, but despite the Philippines being known as the only christian majority based country in South East Asia, many foreigners, especially the males, come to the Philippines because sex is cheap. In an article written by ilovephilippinestoo.blogspot.com he said that "Philippine tourism, has proven to be helpful to sex workers in the country. There are at least 100, 000 women in the country, both young and a bit older trying their luck to have a fair share of income in the tourism industry of the Philippines. In the country (Philippines) sex is priced more or less at Php 2,500 an hour. Not really bad considering the minimum wage is too less! Who does not want to earn this amount in an hour anyway? It is more wage than the salary of some CEO's!"

Then he follows it up with hard truth. He said "there are laws against this, against that but these laws are never working nor implemented! Although illegal in the Philippines, prostitution is still a very good industry. It is being boosted by dollars brought in by foreign tourists, who are most likely to be male, aged 38 years or older and in the country for pleasure. The government actually has enough laws against prostitution, I have to mention again."

He quoted some laws. "Among these Anti-prostituion laws is Republic Act 9208, otherwise known as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, which seeks to save women and children from falling into prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, involuntary servitude or debt bondage. Unfortunately, the law does not save them from poverty and lack of livelihood opportunities, which force thousands of women to prostitution. The fact that some Filipinos are very rich and others are very poor breeds the exploitation and abuse of poor women. As I may tell you, there can be no other law more beautifully phrased than Philippine laws... really! But all these, are all drops of ink and nothing more. I don't even think most law-makes are aware that they have passed these laws! In 2005, some 2.6 million foreign tourists infused about $2.4 billion into the country, the highest in history. This year, the Department of Tourism (DoT) expects between $2.8 and $2.9 billion from the influx of about three million visitors. Another 3.4 million visitors are expected in 2007, 3.88 million by 2008, 4.42 million by 2009 and five million by 2010. And of course, the tourism industry has computed it in the premise that there are always be prostitutions to help foreigners to come by."

Indeed, many male tourists come to the Philippines because of the cheap sex it offers. It is hard to accept especially to those who are un-exposed but it is true.

Lastly, sex in the Philippines is almost tantamount to scandal. In Fact, if you say Philippine sex you are actually saying sex scandal. If you do not believe me than just type the word sex scandal in Yahoo or Google and you will see almost all articles provided are Filipinos. Maybe this is one reason why our country is one of the targets of foreigners looking for sex. Why don't you try it yourself, just type "sex scandal" in Google and you will see thousands of websites all over the world featuring sex scandals in the Philippines. Sad to say, it's a reality we have to live with. REMEMBER: whatever you post (pictures or videos), upload or write online becomes part of the history because it can never be erased even if you deleted it from your account! Always remember that when putting something online.

END OF PART I
Series of III

How to cook isang lingo na ulam in one preparation! A budget dish good for a week or more!

2009-12-02T10:03:00.000-08:00

EXPERIENCE THE DELICIOUS TASTE OF A CHEAP FILIPINO - ASIAN FOOD THAT IS HEALTHY AND GOOD FOR THE BUDGET! FOR STUDENTS, HOUSEWIVES, OFWS, LABORERS, MANAGERS ETC! VERY EASY TO PREPARE AND COOK! This video will show you how to prepare a very delicious, healthy and affordable dish-viand-food ( ulam ) that is good for one week or more in a single preparation! This will definitely help in your budget! Very easy to do, very small amount to use and it can go as long as one week!

For more than two decades we have been eating a dish created by my grandmother. It has a good history since it is somewhat considered as a lifesaver during times of hunger. There were times when having a good meal is a luxury so my grandmother had to prepare this cheap dish ( ulam ). But contrary to what she thinks, we are actually waiting for it. It is delicious and it will complete a meal. In fact, you will eat more rice than you are supposed to. It has a unique taste. For Asians, it is very good with rice and coffee. For Westerners, it good with tomatoes and tacos. The taste I can say is universal. The best thing of course is that you can store it up to a month or less depending on how you prepared it.

Remember to store WATWATWEEK in a cool place, better if you place it inside your refrigerator. If you do not have a cooler, then prepare watwatday instead of a watwatweek.

The ingredients could be found in your local market. Just choose the fresh ones and when it comes to the meat, it does not matter what kind of meat as long as its not human and its minced (grounded).

How much you will cook will depend on how many people will eat. If you are alone or a family of three, the video presented above could last a week, if you are alone, it will last a month. The taste will differ depending on every persons taste buds so you better do a taste test when cooking. If you think it is too salty, adding a little amount of water will do.

WATWATWEEK

Ingredients:
Ginger – 1/8 kilo or 2 big pcs. ( look at the video )
Grounded pork or beef or chicken – ¼ kilo
Dried Salted fish ( tuyo ) – 15-20pcs.
Garlic – 30 cloves
Salt – 2 table spoons
Pepper – ½ table spoon
Chili ( sili ) – 2-5 pcs fresh or dried ( optional )
Vegetable oil – 1 cup

Materials:
Boiling pan, frying pan
3 cups water
Chopping board
Knife
Spoon
Bowl

Procedure:
1.   Put the salted dried fish in the pan, add the water and let boil for five minutes. Let the fish smoothen a bit. Get it out of the pan, put in a bowl and set aside for the moment to cool down.
2.   Clean the ginger and chop it into very small cubes like the size of the minced meat. The volume(look) of the ginger when chopped should at least equal the (look) of the meat.
3.   Clean the garlic cloves and chop it also into very small pieces.
4.   Get the boiled fish and using your hands, carefully remove the fish bones and separate the flesh in another bowl. You can cut the flesh into little pieces if you want
5.   When the ingredients are prepared, heat the frying pan and put the vegetable oil.
6.   When the oil is hot, put the chopped garlic cloves, mix well and let stand for 3-5minutes.
7.   Add the minced meat in the pan and mix well with the garlic. Depending on the fire, cook your meat very well.
8.   When the meat is cooked, add the pepper and the salt and mix again. Let stand for 3 minutes.
9.   Add the ginger then mix well. Put the salted dried fish flesh on top of the frying pan and cover the pan. Let it stand for 5 minutes.
10.   Open and mix very well, taste if it suites your tongue.
11.   Let it cool down.
12.   Prepare a clean container. And I mean clean.
13.   Put the cooled watwatweek in the container and store.

You could add watwatweek every time you eat as a dish/viand or a stand alone dish ( ulam ). It is also good to add with tomatoes and use it as a bread filler. In any way, you could experiment.
I love to cook and I have a big arsenal of unique, delicious and cheap food preparations. Depending on how this post will do, I may add some more ingredients.

LATEST AND MOST GRUESOME MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE PICS RELEASED. (www.watwatworld.com last and final video on this issue)

2009-11-30T19:06:00.000-08:00

This Final Video released by watwatworld.com contains the most gruesome, barbaric and violent pictures related to the Maguindanao Massacre. This video will remind us all on the evil effect of Warlordism and lack of political will on the part of the government. Nobody is above the law. No person can take away a man's life as he pleases.

This video will remind the government that having too much power in the hands of a few is dangerous.
This will remind the lawmakers - legislators - congressmen - that laws are more important than pork barrels..
This will remind the judiciary that justice is applicable to both rich and poor.

This will remind the world that tolerating the existence of warlords, political dynasties, and private armies are not in any way helping the common people and that they have their own personal laws over and above the constitution.

In sad times like this, the people rely on the equal protection and application of the laws. I just hope that the privileges like hospital arrests cannot be extended in gruesome cases like this.

Please be advised when watching. Do not let your children watch this video.

Latest news on the witnesses:

At least three witnesses in the mass killing of 57 people in Maguindanao have pointed to Datu Unsay town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. as one of the armed men that intercepted the convoy of the Mangudadatus last November 23. They claimed that they were on board the cars that had been trailing the convoy led by the Mangudadatu women on that fateful day.But when they entered Ampatuan town, the convoy was flagged down by gunmen in what seemed to be a checkpoint. The witnesses saw “many police cars.".

Philippines: The Maguindanao Massacre
Monday, 30 November 2009, 1:02 pm
Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission

Philippines: How Could The 'Maguindanao Massacre' Been Allowed To Happen?

("We don’t care about it, we don’t know about it" – the Acting Head of the Provincial Police)

As it has been widely reported, 57 people-including two human rights lawyers and 30 journalists - were slaughtered on November 23 in Maguindanao, a province in central Mindanao. While much of the stories and worldwide condemnation focused on the number of, and manner of the deaths - describing them as gruesome, barbaric and animalistic amongst others things, the Filipino people, even in this country's war-torn southern part, still grapple in disbelief as to how it could have happened.

It is incomprehensible, not only to the Filipino people, but the international community as to how, in an area with a modicum of governance and law enforcement and the right to the protection of life could have been so easily dismissed in a democratic state. How is it possible that a group of over 100 armed men, reportedly led by a scion of a powerful political clan, the Ampatuans, blocked a convoy of vehicles of over 50 people in broad daylight, took them to a remote hilly area, executed them and then buried them in shallow graves?

There were indications that the massacre was premeditated and thoroughly planned; for example, the graves where the 57 dead bodies had been buried had already been excavated using a government-owned backhoe. Its engine was still running when the soldiers arrived at the scene of the massacre after they had received reports of the incident. When the soldiers arrived, dead bodies littered the scene, vehicles used in the convoy were riddled with bullets and three of the vehicles had been flattened and buried together with the dead bodies. (Photo: Concepcion “Connie” Brizuela, lawyer, victim; source: Inqiurer.net)

Before the massacre happened, some journalists had already received information that should they persist in covering the filing of Certificates of Candidacy of (CoC) of Esmael Mangudadatu, they would be killed and buried. However, because they were given assurance by Alfredo Cayton, commanding general of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, that they could push through telling them that area is safe, the group decided to proceed. The group also had seriously discussed matters on security arrangements for two hours before leaving. It was unfortunate though that organisers and the group of journalists may have underestimated the situation. Threats of this nature are common in this part of the country.

Mangudadatu is a bitter political rival of one of Ampatuan's scions, Andal Ampatuan Jr, incumbent town mayor of Datu Unsay, a town named after him by his father, Andal Ampatuan Sr., who is also the incumbent provincial governor of Maguindanao. The younger Ampatuan is now considered the prime suspect in the slaughter, according to witnesses. After his arrest on Thursday, November 26, he is being held in detention at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Manila.

The carnage left Esmael's wife, Genalyn; his two sisters, Eden and Farida Sabdula; several of his political supporters; two human rights lawyers, Concepcion Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo; and 30 journalists dead. Brizuela and Oquendo were assisting Mangudadatus' wife, Genalyn, to file the CoC on behalf of her husband at the provincial election office in Maguindanao while the journalists were covering the would-be filing. The event, in the local context, would have been a big story for local journalists as the filing was an act upon which the Mangudadatus, also a powerful political clan in the adjacent province, Sultan Kudarat, would be challenging the Ampatuans for a gubernatorial post.

The younger Ampatuan is reported to have been groomed by his father to run as governor for the May 2010 general elections. The elder Ampatuan is the close ally of the Philippine President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her party; and had served as the governor of Maguindanao, a province under the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), for three consecutive terms as governor. Three of Ampatuans’ political leaders were expelled from the President's political party because of the massacre.

The Ampatuans and the Mangudadatus are bitter rivals and powerful political clans in the local politics. In this southern part of the country, the notion of governing for the 'common good of constituents, good governance, rule of law and human rights and democracy' has hardly ever existed. The politicians' motivation in running for public office is for protecting their territory, expanding their influence and cementing their de facto absolute control into the affairs of the local government--from the civilian administration, to the security forces. The security forces were there to serve the local political elite, rather than enforcing law and order.

In Shariff Aguak, the capital of Maguindanao, the display of wealth and power can be illustrated by the huge palaces that these political leaders of the province have built, dwarfing the town and shanties of their constituents. The province is one of the poorest in Mindanao, and is a long term recipient of foreign development aid. The constituents in remote municipalities have been for decades victims of massive protracted displacements, killings and abductions and summary executions either by the government or military forces in the decades-old conflict in Mindanao. Thus, the people's threshold to violence is higher than other place, but the extent of this massacre is, even for them difficult to comprehend.

That the alleged mastermind, the younger Ampatuan, was reported to have been able to command and have given the order to kill the victims is well established and illustrates the local government's policy in funding, training and recruiting militia forces. The Civilian Volunteer Organisation (CVO) is one of the government's militia forces and is also accused of having been involved in the Maguindanao massacre. The functioning of the CVO should have been under the control and oversight of the Philippine National Police (PNP); however, the existing system is so heavily politicized, effectively making the police authorities underdogs of the politicians.

The top local executive has the authority to expel, appoint and recommend, for example, who should be the head of the provincial police and the head of the town police. The local executives also decide whether or not the local police and its security unit should be given budget allocations from the local government's coffer for their operation. This deliberately brings the policemen and security units under the politician's control and influence. The extent of the policemen's control by the politicians has been affirmed and shown when Esmael, upon learning of the massacre, was told by the acting head of the Maguindanao provincial police when he sought his assistance that: "Wala kaming paki-alam d'yan, hindi namin alam 'yan (“We don’t care about it, we don’t know it”).

After the massacre, the PNP had to relieve six of its top officials in Maguindanao for their alleged complicity--the chief of police of Shariff Aguak and Ampatuan towns and three other police inspectors from their position. According to the PNP though, they are not yet considered as suspects, but reports indicate that one of them, was seen by the witnesses to be present at the scene when the victims were executed. Also, it would be difficult to accept that these top policemen would not know of the presence of heavily armed men in their area of jurisdiction. The national highways of these towns where the convoy passed also had check points of only few hundred meter distance from one place to the other - either set up by soldiers, policemen or militia forces - thus, it is hard to believe that they would not know of the movement of armed men, unless they were complicit or had been co-opted.

When the convoy was blocked and the victims subsequently executed, reason dictates that the victims may have thought the perpetrators would not do such horrendous acts. They unfortunately walked to the grave virtually blindfolded for reasons that their numbers and composition - there were over 50 of them mostly women – that the town mayor who was the prime suspect, the government's militia forces and armed civilians; and the policemen, who were seen by witnesses at the crime scene were all present.

The killing of 30 journalists, mostly local journalists, is the largest number of deaths in a single incident in the Philippines' recent history. It has virtually crippled the press freedom in this part of the country. The fight for press freedom and right to information itself is a notion that local journalists had struggled to fight for. Before the massacre, some of the journalists who were reporting on the corrupt practices of the government officials in these provinces were themselves subjected to threats. At least two journalists had already been killed in the past, one of whom was Marlene Esperat in October 2006 in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. (Photo: journalist victims, from left to right: Marites Cablitas, Gina Dela Cruz and Marife Montaño; source MindaNews)

As one of the eyewitnesses to the massacre said, they were just following orders when the alleged mastermind ordered them to shoot and kill not only the relatives of the Mangudadatus but also the human rights lawyers, the journalist; and all of those who had joined the convoy. This eyewitness had come out in an exclusive television interview but is said to have gone into hiding. There are also several other persons who had witnessed and survived the massacre but are too frightened to come forward.

The plight of the witnesses and the survivors also exposed the realities of the absence of any protection mechanism within the country. At least three of the journalists who survived the massacre sent feelers out to the Department of Justice (DoJ) informing them of what information they had to help the investigation and prosecution of the case, but they (the DoJ) paid no attention, according to the survivor's family. Like the eyewitness, these survivors too had to take their own security measures to protect themselves. It is also not practical to seek for a police escort since one of the policemen relieved from his post was once assigned in the survivors' hometown; and given the small community of journalists there--who often covers the police and military beats--even without exposing their names, those who want them dead know where they can be located.

Also, how could the survivors consider asking for police protection when, in fact, prior to covering the filing of CoCs the Mangudadatus, had already sought police and military protection. Such request was rejected. The military had to excuse themselves saying they were unable to provide escorts because their troops were deployed somewhere and that providing escorts is primarily a police duty; while the policemen to whom the group had sought security escort for the convoy turned out to have reportedly were complicit or had taken part to the massacre.

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOUR PRESIDENT-CANDIDATE WILL WIN?

2009-11-29T21:07:00.000-08:00

2010 Philippine elections presidential candidatesWhat will happen if a particular candidate will become the next President of the Philippines? If this is YOUR president, then you are responsible for whatever actions and decisions that he makes.

This is an article from a critique point of view.

To start with, there is this question: why will a candidate spend millions and even billions for an elective position that has a standard salary and will not recover the spent amount during election campaigns? In short, will you spend for example 1billion pesos for a salary of P50K a month? No politician is that stupid. Religious or not, there's always a catch no matter who that politician is. Sorry.

President JC Delos Reyes, the youngest presidential candidate under the Kapatiran party. Principled and has a platform to follow. However, sticking too much to the Catholic religion during forums is a minus factor. So called Christians, Muslims and other religious sects will find it hard to vote for JC. Of all the presidential wannabees, JC Delos Reyes has the cleanest background. But, if he wins as the president, at least I can see a new reform from a principled of politician.

President Eddie Villanueva, a political professor turned religious leader. Has a solid background on Philippine political studies and a huge religious following under the Jesus Is Lord movement. Just like JC Delos Reyes, Villanueva is associated closely to a religious movement, so no matter how good his platform is, his chances of winning is slim. The Philippines is a country somewhat controlled by religious leaders and by such having a dominance over a certain sector of the society is a must. Therefore, no religious denomination will let itself be under the control of another. It a matter of pride and numbers. In Villanueva's case, he may have a good program, but he must first please other religious communities. But if he will win as the president, I don't know... maybe this country will turn into a God fearing nation.

President Bayani Fernando, has always used the words "political will" as a campaign slogan. He has done some changes in Metropolitan Manila as the former MMDA chairman. Often times, misunderstandings with the city mayors come up because his decisions are unpopular. However, he implemented his projects regardless of its unpopularity. Unless he gets help from the "new generation", his chances of winning is slim. Having a following in Metro Manila alone will not ensure him of a presidential seat. But if he wins as the president, there will be control and chaos at the same time. Practicing the power of political will has its own downsides.

President Noynoy Aquino, is considered the big name to beat in the race for that presidential seat. Regardless of how he or his sister defends his rise to popularity, the fact remains that he became a presidential candidate out of the popular shadows of his parents. He can win any seat aside from presidency using his family name alone. He has a large arsenal of yellow followers and a party with numerous political turncoats. He may stand a chance in the race. However, a question remains on his capacity to run a country. But if he will win as the president, I see no major change. Same old politicians with new party alliance is not a solution and oftentimes party objectives become a mere piece of paper. Also, there is a big possibility that showbiz personalities end up in key government positions instead of those who are learned and qualified. But then again, maybe Noynoy can deliver a change outside of the box that we see, Obama style.

President Erap Estrada, is old news with new partners. He has the biggest legal battle to face if he wins as president. Relying too much on the "masa power" today may not deliver the desired number of votes. But if he wins as the president, his time will be divided in taking care of the country and attending to the legal cases filed against him. Also, he has to guard his vice president 25hours /day.

President Manny Villar, is the big spender. Allegedly, he already spent close to a billion pesos on TV, radio and print ads. More often than not, during interview, all you can hear from him is his story from being poor in the market and streets of Tondo to becoming rich due to Real Estate and Development Contracts. He has a strong following and party affiliates. Considering his money and machinery, he maybe able to pull this off. However, the question on "ROI" is running along his side. Some say that since he is a contractor and developer, all contracts will run a tele novela bidding and contracts will be awarded to his favor. His intentions maybe good, but it remains to be seen. But if he wins as the president, there maybe some advantages because for one, development will surely be on the upswing. Roads and bridges will be concreted, big buildings, real estate developments. The downside is that he is not seen as pro agriculture, in fact he does not discuss pro-agriculture issues. Between a pro developer and a pro-agriculture, which will you choose?

President Gilbert Teodoro, called as "mr. dapat" because of his political commercials. He has the backing of the present government and the powerful machinery of the largest Philippine political party. His intentions to become the president maybe good but it seems he is having a hard time shaking off his closeness with the current and unpopular president. It's like new cover for an old news. In the election field, it is a minus minus. However, of all the presidential candidates, I believe that his wits and intelligence is useful in running a country. He answers questions intelligently and has ready answers even for the difficult ones. It's just so sad he is running under the unpopular party. But if he will become the next president, he may do fine so long as he does not have to pay so much political debts just like the present one.

AT THE END OF THE DAY, if your president will win and he acts not according to your expectations... you will be the one to be blamed. If the country falls apart, you blame yourself. Remember, in this election period, NOTHING SEEMS TO BE TRUE and EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE RIGHT. In tagalog: Lahat ng kadidato mabait kasi may kailangan sila sa iyo, pero pagkatapos ng election, hinde ka nila kilala.

Young guns, young terror, ( PCIJ investigation in Maguindanao )

2009-11-29T15:55:00.000-08:00

Sidebar

Young guns, young terror

by Jaileen F. Jimeno

Thursday, September 4th, 2008
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

ALL OVER the world, the practice of engaging children and teenagers in criminal gangs and private armies continues unabated. The Philippines is no exception.
A little-known academic study documents how minors are being recruited down south in private armies better known as civilian volunteers organizations or CVOs. These groups help keep village adults in a perpetual state of fear and obeisance, even if some of the “volunteers” have not moved past puberty.
The 80-page study was conducted across a five-month period in 2003 by researchers led by Agnes Zenaida Camacho of the University Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UCIDS) at the University of the Philippines.
It focused on three towns of Maguindanao and the use of minors by the pagali or clan to keep itself in power. The researchers interviewed 10 young CVO members, who had to be assigned pseudonyms in the report, for their own protection.
Most of the young CVO members were recruited into the armed group as replacement for their fathers who had been killed in action, the researchers learned. Of the 10 interviewees, only two were 18 years old at the time they started working for a pagali. One interviewee was drafted into CVO service when he was only 10 years old, and the seven others, in their early teens.
UCIDS noted that while the CVOs were organized to assist in defending towns against insurgents, “in certain parts of the Philippines, local politicians are reportedly heavily arming and using members of CVOs in their respective localities as private armies.”
An unpaid family loan to the pagali compelled one child to join the CVO. Yet when he was ready to pay, the pagali head, a mayor, gave the child a gun and ordered him to kill someone before his payment would be accepted. Left with no choice, the child said he did as he was told.
Disobedience entails serious punishment. “Failing to follow orders to murder a pagali enemy is punishable by death,” the researchers said.
For most of the interviewees, however, conscription into the CVO unfolds as a slow process. The new entrants are given small jobs at first, like escorting members of the clan when they venture outside their homes. The recruits do this with issued firearms in tow. Once their loyalty and adherence to the code of silence is proven, they are inducted into “malalaking lakad (big jobs),” mainly involving crime, the researchers said.
“From the interviews with the children, these range from kidnapping, extortion, instigating displacement, murder, torture, and drug trafficking,” the report said.
Among the most benign activities that the CVO members said they did was to collect P20 from vehicles passing the highway. There are other tasks. An interviewee said he was assigned to a pagali’s marijuana plantation near the province’s marshlands.
Others said they served in the pagali’s “business” ventures, including dealing in shabu or metamphetamine hydrochloride, and doubled as dealers. The report said the illegal trade reached as far as General Santos City, Davao City, and Manila, the report revealed.
To one interviewee, these transactions explain how a pagali could afford to live it up. “How do you think they are able to afford a mansion or luxury cars?” the interviewee asked.
The report unravelled more details. “Another child interviewee said that the pagali in his area, a mayor, conducted ‘operations’ or raids against selected areas particularly after the rice harvesting season — to steal the crops after the residents of the target areas had evacuated their homes and farms.”
“I guess that’s why some CVOs have gotten used to stealing,” the researchers said, quoting one of the interviewees as saying. “When you think about it, the mayor is really behind everything.”
The UCIDS study abound with even more gruesome stories, notably one told by “Rudy,” who was recruited into a CVO unit when he was 17.
A scion of the pagali had been killed in a bomb blast, and soon after, three teenagers suspected of involvement were brought to the compound of another son of the clan’s chief.
The three suspects met tragic deaths. “One was killed using machetes, while another was peppered with bullets,” the UCIDS report said Rudy had recounted. “The eldest of the youths suffered the worst: his limbs were cut off using a chain saw.”
The CVO members were directed to put salt in the suspect’s wounds and then “(they) cut parts of his body with a chain saw while he was still alive,” Rudy had narrated. The CVO members present were later instructed to dump the suspects’ bodies in a nearby river.
What might well pass for a culture of keeping armed men could be likened to “pagali dictatorship,” according to the researchers. Apart from ensuring the clan’s dominance, it accords a pagali an aura of machismo.
By their reckoning, the researchers said that the higher the position of an official, the more armed men he commands, but most especially if he is the leader of the clan or occupies an important position in the pagali.
Yet for all the unwholesome duties they perform for the pagali, CVO members collect paltry pay. Their salaries vary, with some receiving P1,000 a month, and others, P3,000.
On occasion, when the pagali boss is feeling generous, they get a bonus of rice and clothes.
Rudy, however, has not been as blessed with such windfall. In fact, he said that for a long time, he did not get whatever benefits he was supposed to. And months after he was interviewed by the UCIDS researchers, Rudy was killed in a encounter between soldiers and separatist rebels. He was 25.
Still and all, the “chainsaw story” he told the researchers has somehow outlived Rudy. By all indications, he had evolved into a legend of sort in Maguindanao.
When the PCIJ visited recently, some village folk said they know who were behind the gruesome murders and where these happened. Advisedly, they said that they are too scared to go on record on this story or they might be the next ones to hear the buzz of a chain saw.

Why Andal Ampatuan Jr. Thought He Could Get Away With It

2009-11-29T15:52:00.001-08:00

The Maguindanao Massacre

Why Andal Ampatuan Jr. Thought
He Could Get Away With It

by Alex Tizon, Knight International Journalism Fellow

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

THE BODY count of the Maguindanao Massacre has gone up each of the past five days. The count is now at 57, with authorities continuing to sift through the blood-soaked dirt just outside the town of Shariff Aguak. Thirty of the victims were journalists and at least twenty-two were women. The women were raped and their genitals shot at close range.

Expect the numbers to change in the coming days. What will likely not change is the identity of the accused mastermind of the killings: a smug, round-faced blip of a man named Andal Ampatuan Jr., a local mayor and the son of a powerful political patriarch who is allied with no less than the president of the Philippines.
The suspect reportedly ordered the massacre to prevent a rival politician from challenging him in the upcoming gubernatorial election. According to at least twenty eyewitnesses who have testified to the Department of Justice, it was Ampatuan’s plan to ambush the caravan of six cars, kill all the occupants and then bury the victims and their vehicles in large pre-dug pits. Burying the victims, he thought, would erase the evidence.
Ampatuan actually believed he could get away with it. But the plan went awry when word spread that army soldiers were in the area and the attackers panicked, leaving a half-buried massacre scene. So frenzied were those last moments that even the operator of the government backhoe used to dig the pits was reportedly killed to minimize witnesses.
Word trickled out and by Tuesday the whole world knew about the Nov. 23 massacre. For the rest of the week officials have filled the airwaves and front pages with their horrified reactions but it doesn’t take a telepath to know that some of the “horror” was for the benefit of the international audience.
For those not familiar with contemporary life in the Philippines, it must be pointed out that political violence here is a norm, and that people like Andal Ampatuan Jr. are no aberration. There are many more like him scattered like vermin droppings throughout the country. The system creates Ampatuans.
The reason Monday’s incident became international news is because of the high number of victims killed all at once and because so many were journalists and women. Had the killings been spread out over weeks and months, very few outside of the province would have heard of it.
“The massacre in Maguindanao may stand out for a long time for its brazenness, but the forces that shaped it are by no means isolated or peculiar to Muslim Mindanao,” writes Randy David in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. David is a sociology professor at the University of the Philippines. “These forces lurk in many regions of our country….”
I’m in the Philippines to work on a poverty-related media project called Suriin Ang Kahirapan or Audit of Poverty. One of the aims is to create a network of citizen journalists in the country’s five poorest provinces. Maguindanao is one of the Suriin provinces.
In all five of the Suriin provinces, there is a dynastic political family like the Ampatuans and a hatchet man – or two or three – like Andal Ampatuan Jr. Until Monday, none have been foolhardy enough to slay all their enemies in one fell swoop. The usual modus operandi is to knock them off one at a time and as quietly as possible.
For instance, in the Suriin province of Masbate, an island north of Mindanao, there have reportedly been as many as 30 politically related murders over the past year, and many of the killings can be tied to one family that has been in power for years. All know the name but no one will say it out loud. Who would dare? Like in Maguindanao, most of the local police and military take their orders from the ruling family. Those who have dared cross family members end up shot on some lonely stretch of gravel, their corpses no more than road kill. Hardly anyone on the outside knows – or cares – about the killings in Masbate.
In Maguindanao, the Ampatuans have controlled local politics for most of the decade, and the current governor, Andal Ampatuan Sr., had been grooming his son to take over his post. The Ampatuans had grown accustomed to running unopposed in local elections, so terrified were potential opponents.
So when one rival announced he would oppose Ampatuan for the governorship, the clan was incensed. The heretic, a local vice mayor named Esmael Mangudadatu, sent his wife and two sisters – accompanied by a retinue of lawyers and journalists – to the county seat to file his certificate of candidacy, apparently believing that not even the Ampatuans would murder women in cold blood. It was this caravan that was intercepted and massacred. Some of the victims reportedly were forced to eat filing documents before they were shot.
Ampatuan family members “act like gods” in Maguindanao, Leila de Lima told the Armed Forces of the Philippines. De Lima, chairwoman of the Philippines Commission on Human Rights, said there have been similar, but smaller-scale killings, linked to the Ampatuan family, but up until now witnesses have been afraid to come forward.
Today, Ampatuan sits in a Manila jail awaiting further proceedings. He was persuaded to turn himself in on Thursday by an emissary sent by President Gloria Arroyo herself. Many believe the administration was forced to act because of overwhelming international pressure. The emissary, special advisor Jesus Dureza, accompanied Ampatuan on government aircraft all the way to Manila where, upon parting, Dureza and Ampatuan shook hands and hugged.
Can you imagine the president of the United States sending an ambassador to negotiate with a man suspected of wiping out 64 people, and then having that ambassador accompany the suspect on private aircraft to the nation’s Capitol where they say good-bye with a hug? A hug!? Can you imagine President Clinton providing red-carpet treatment to Branch Davidian leader David Koresh or Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh?
The Ampatuans have long been coddled by officials high in government. The Ampatuans were well-known allies of Arroyo, and have been photographed together with the president in various locations including Malacanang (the equivalent of the White House). The Ampatuans “delivered” Maguindanao province to Arroyo in the last election, and did so with frightening efficacy, signing up entire towns and villages – often with not a single dissenting vote.
The administration, in return, has taken a hands-off approach to Maguindanao. Provincial officials, for example, can choose their own police chiefs and officers, many of whom end up as bodyguards or hitmen. These officials also end up using taxpayer money, intended for anti-terrorist programs, to deputize and arm groups of mercenaries officially known as Civilian Volunteer Officers, or CVOs. The end result is that people like Ampatuan have created their own private armies and rule their territories like warlords.
It came as a surprise to no one that among those implicated in Monday’s massacre are all of Ampatuan’s CVOs, and nearly all of the highest ranking police and military officers in the province. Already their courtroom defenses have become apparent in the few interview snippets that have gone public: They were only following orders. Of course.
Ampatuan and his family hobnobbed with the president. His father was a three-term governor and his brother a governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, of which Maguindanao is a part; his relatives were mayors of half the towns; he was insulated and protected by local police, and he had his own mercenary army to do his bidding in a far-flung region populated by poor and illiterate farmers. Ampatuan believed he could get away with it because he’d been groomed all his life to think so.
There are many others like him in the country’s 83 provinces, rogues with government titles who believe they’ll never be caught. And most of them will be right. – PCIJ, November 2009
Alex Tizon is working with the PCIJ on a crowd-sourcing project that will help media track government efforts to alleviate poverty in the country’s five poorest provinces, including Maguindanao. As national correspondent of The Los Angeles Times, he has reported on the war in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina, and as staff writer for The Seattle Times from 1986 to 2003, received the 1997 Pulitzer Prize in investigative journalism for a series on corruption in the federal Indian Housing Program.
- Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

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