Filipinos had a three-day break because of the national hero Andres Bonifacio, the Father of the Katipunan. His special day should be today (Tuesday), November 30, 2010; but the National Government declared yesterday (Monday) as a non-working holiday to give Filipinos an uninterrupted three-day vacation.

National heroes are best remembered in the statues and monuments erected in schools and other public landmarks. However, the younger generation generally do not appreciate or has little appreciation for what the heroes have done and what values they had that are worthy of emulation.

The country attained freedom and have shown bravery and courage to the world, despite the lack of the necessary ammunition and resources to fight back the former great rulers of the land.

But because Filipino heroes are intelligent and brave, they have outsmarted countries that have dominated the Philippines for several centuries.

There are some Bacolod City officials who shared their thoughts about the great Filipino hero Andres Bonifacio.

Councilor Caesar Distrito said that Filipinos should be forever grateful to Gat Andres Bonifacio for he was the father of the Philippine revolution, having founded the Katipunan.

He led the revolution despite the lack of education. He rose from a poor family. He was also the exact epitome of an ordinary person, doing extraordinary things for his beloved country and the Filipino people. He is worth emulating by our younger generation, as he never wavered in his principles until the last moment of his breath, Distrito said.

Councilor Archie Baribar said Bonifacio was a very much abused hero. Even in death, Bacolod City has violated his memory by naming the street after the man who ordered his murder. "Aguinaldo Street in front of Bonifacio monument in a school? How ironic!" according to Baribar.

The City and Provincial Governments in Negros Occidental honor this special day for national hero Andres Bonifacio.

A lone lottery ticket sold in the country’s main island of Luzon hit the elusive P741 million Grand Lotto 6/55 jackpot – the biggest ever in the history of the state-sanctioned lottery.

The winning combination in Monday night’s Grand Lotto draw was 11-16-42-47-31-37. It carried a prize of P741,176,323.20, according to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

The said amount is the biggest won in the state-run lotto history. It has surpassed the P347,836,903.20 prize of 6/49 Super Lotto that was won last February 22, 2009 by two lucky bettors.

The PCSO said there are 28.9 million possible combinations in the 6/55 game, and only about 25 percent of those combinations have bets on them before Monday’s draw.

The Grand Lotto draws are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Out of 5,625 total HIV/AIDS recorded incidence in the country, the Department of Health (DoH) HIV/AIDS Registry shows that there were about 1,201 new HIV/AIDS cases for this year alone. This gives an average of 133 cases per month or five new cases everyday thus increasing the incidence to 173 percent as compared to last year’s 1,186 cases. However, the 1,201 could still rise since the record is until the month of September only. Once the data for October to December comes in, the Philippines might be facing the highest record of 1,600 for 2010.

With this staggering figure, DoH, local government units (LGUs), partner agencies and non-government organizations (NGOs) are intensifying their information campaign as well as its program on voluntary confidential counseling and testing (VCCT). According to Celestino Ramirez, founding member of Positive Action Foundation Philippines Inc. (PAFPI) and counselor for 20 years, the increasing numbers could be the result of the VCCTs. “If people have access to information, people would be enticed to visit the social hygiene clinics in their respective LGUs.”


Ramirez, who first joined an HIV volunteer group in 1989 under Reach Out Asia Foundation, cites that any person in doubt if he is infected or not may avail of the free VCCT and visit the social hygiene clinics. Also, he stresses on the importance of a proper pre-test counseling before any testing could be done and once the result was positive, the patient will then need a confirmatory testing and then a post-counseling.

More so, Ramirez stresses that counseling, pre- and post-, prepares a person emotionally, psychologically and mentally to process and accept the result of his test. Counseling will be crucial on how a person living with HIV (PLHIV) will manage the course of his life despite being positive, just like how 35-year-old Humphrey Gorriceta manages his life.


He was set to work in the Middle East and part of his requirement was to take an HIV test. When the doctor finally broke the news that he was infected, he did not receive any post counseling but was rather told to report to his agency.

"I was confused and was even in denial. So after receiving the confirmatory letter, I went to China the next month hoping to get away from the situation. “I had this illusion that if I am in a place where people don’t know me, I can start over again. But I realized that I need to start medication soon and that I have to go back to the Philippines. I cannot deny that to myself," he relates.

Now, Gorriceta is actively involved in volunteer work and as a national spokesperson for the National Association of Filipinos Living with HIV and AIDS (NAFWA). He, together with other volunteers coming from eight member organizations of NAFWA that include PAFPI, Pinoy Plus Association (PPA), Empowered of Iloilo, Mindanao Advocates, Crossbreeds of Bacolod, Cebu Plus and Babae Plus, are conducting regular trainings and conferences on HIV and VCCTs around the country.

In Ces Drilon’s interview with Campaign’s and Grey’s big boss Yolly Ong, the latter marginalized the influence of cyberspace saying that it has very little reach. If it had not been for traditional media’s “pick-up” of the “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” brouhaha, the populace would never really have noticed, according to the AD Agency head… Even our ally blogger Brian Gorrell will be aghast by Yolly’s declaration. Writing for a paper that produced the likes of Delfin “DJ”Montano, Celine Lopez, Tim Yap, Zeng Zulueta and the infamous Gucci Gang, Yolly Ong types her way adding insult to injury!


Columnist Alvin Capino opines that: “Romano is undeserving of the praises he has been getting because he is unrepentant about ordering the ad agency that helped in doing the creative for the re-branding campaign to get inspiration from Poland’s own campaign. He has said that this is allowed in advertising and promotions. Apparently Romano has not heard of intellectual property rights which bans the stealing of creative ideas of other people.”

Yolly Ong declares "war" on bloggers..?

Re-Posted from Pinoy-Buzz II

Here I am, tapping away at my keyboard after reading Yolly Ong's column in the Philippine Star (known for its Gucci Gang influencers and plagiarism -- how many times has a blogger's freework been copy pasted by writers of this broadsheet?).

And I am wondering just how mind numbing the pro bono mind numbing pitch must have been.

I can imagine whoever it was that was pitching for Campaigns and Grey together with former Undersecretary Vicente Romano III showing the slides to Tourism Secretary Bertie Lim and President Noynoy Aquino.

Did that Campaigns and Grey employee shout, "It's PILIPINAS KAY GANDA Mr. President. It's PILIPINAS! KAY! GAN! DAAAAAHHH! "

Did President Aquino say, "Wow! Light me up maaaan! And, while you're at it, lagyan mo ng tarsier at coconut tree iyong slogan."

In any case, let us go through Yolly Ong's column bit by bit:

First and sentence, third paragraph:

Never has such coordinated online outrage been more violently expressed, eclipsing the anger over the Maguindanao massacre, Morong 43 or the unresolved murders of journalists combined! One friend accurately described it as mass hysteria over a test logo!

This is a bit overstated. No one held candle light vigils, there weren't people massing in the streets, there were no gory photographs all over the net or on TV, no one shaved their heads or burned effigies. People weren't running around the middle of Ayala screaming.

So really, how could Ms. Ong's "friend" say it was "mass hysteria"? Maybe there is or was hysteria, but, perhaps, not at all massive. Just plain old hysteria.

Here is an interesting and commonly known definition of hysteria from the Wikipedia:
In the Western world, until the seventeenth century, hysteria referred to a medical condition thought to be particular to women and caused by disturbances of the uterus (from the Greek ὑστέρα "hystera" = uterus).

Third, fourth, and fifth sentence, third paragraph:

People screamed, why was it in Pilipino when we’re talking to tourists? Actually, the logo included an English translation and pronunciation guide. Blinded by rage or possibly other motives, they didn’t see it. Or didn’t want to.

Perhaps, Ms. Ong should probably remember that when the executions of concepts are unveiled for testing, ALL REACTIONS ARE VALID. (Unless of course, the reactions are directed at the pretty girls or pretty boys doing the presentation.)

So, in the test or preview of Pilipinas kay ganda, the REACTIONS to it make it clear that NOT A HECK OF A LOT OF PEOPLE SAW THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION. Heck! The DoT shouldn't have spent P4.7 Million for a preview when the logo could have been tested before a smaller group not really for ATTRACTIVENESS BUT FOR READABILITY.
I’m no expert in analyzing ads or logos, but perhaps I can guess rightly that an ad or logo must be recognized or understood in two or three seconds if it is to do anything more than look like some colorful blotch….

First sentence, fourth paragraph:

In a democracy everyone is free to express his opinion. But not all opinions carry equal weight, not all reactions are intended to help.

Of course this is true and there are so many ways of reading this sentence.

Taken in a bad way, it could be Ms. Ong betraying her hubris.

I just hope that Ms. Ong remembers that while she and her agency was instrumental in helping President Aquino win his victory in 2010, it is still US the people who are just FREE to express their opinion that carry the BURDEN of paying for GOVERNMENT.

It could lead to people thinking that while others are just FREE to express their opinions, her opinion carries WEIGHT. And perhaps, that could be true.

Perhaps not solely because her agency's "Pilipinas kay ganda" slogan and logo carried any merit of its own. If it did have merit and it everybody lapped it up, no one would have to defend it, certainly not the owner of the agency herself.

By saying that "not all reactions are intended to help" really depends on how one takes those reactions and what she means becomes clearer in the succeeding paragraphs.

Third sentence, fourth paragraph and fifth paragraph:

Not all objectives were about national branding, but aimed to achieve more sinister results.

Right after the DOT event, a dyed-in-the-wool ex-cabinet member of the past regime called to “console” and probe me about the controversy. I immediately knew that the Gruesome Malicious Army will seize this golden opportunity to wreak havoc on the new, popular government. I was needled: Do I still support this “incompetent, weak and indecisive leader”? You mean will I always be on the side of an honest and incorruptible President? Absolutely YES! But my antenna was up. I knew a tidal wave of malevolence was about to hit.

This is where Ms. Ong gets into a frenzy with a bout of Gloria-phobia, probably a reflex trained during the pre-campaign and campaign-proper days when all that was evil in the Philippines was because of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Just as when everything that was Marcos was vilified during the early days of the first Aquino Administration -- those were the days when Campaigns and Grey was still new and still much talked about.

Perhaps the gaffe could have given the perceived enemies of the Second Aquino Administration an opportunity to attack and perhaps they did use this opportunity to attack.

But, certainly, that opportunity would not have been made available to them had the Tourism Department and Campaigns and Grey done their job right.

After essentially saying that the negative criticism lobbed at Pilipinas Kay Ganda was the work of Gloria the Evil, in the succeeding paragraphs of her column, Ms. Ong now then points her fingers at competitors in the industry, people in government, and even an air transport operator.

Really, if we are believe Ms. Ong, it seems the entire world is against her.

Paragraphs 7, 8, 9, :

In the advertising business, rejection is par for the course. Recommendations get turned down everyday. It’s a client’s prerogative to follow the execution he deems best suited for a product that he knows best. It’s also a cutthroat industry. A thick hide and Pacman resilience are necessary survival tools.

But the bile that gorged out of faded advertising luminaries was too toxic even by industry standards. One accused us of being irresponsible for allowing the client to make us party to supposed plagiarism. That could have passed as a high-minded comment if his own brother wasn’t sued by a leading ad agency and ordered by the Adboard to cease and desist from airing a TV ad that was judged copied from Coke!

Then there was a former Creative Director for an airline account who mocked my Harvard degree as ironic under the circumstances. How quickly he forgot that he was fired by his Agency for allegedly receiving kickbacks from production suppliers!

Much of the indignation was spurred by lack of consultation with stakeholders. In May 2009 now Cong. Gloria Arroyo signed the Tourism Act that replaced PCVC with the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB). After three attempts, Cynthia Carrion, GMA’s aerobics buddy, was voted COO in March 2010. But Secretary Lim wanted a fresh start and terminated her, creating enmity between DOT and TPB. As one senator confided, the fight is not about who should lead the marketing effort, but who will disburse the marketing monies.

Then there are the opponents of the Open-Skies policy that Secretary Lim has been advocating since he was with the Civil Aeronautics Board. Even then, those with threatened business interests immediately mounted a well-funded vilification campaign complete with trumped-up charges of corruption that didn’t stick.

It’s easier to detach and be amused at the degree of passionate global engagement that ensued. Imagine, a leading publication violated its own masthead just to thrash a logo study! Bad news must really sell more newspapers! But what finally made me decide to write is this last item of iniquity.

It was a flop launched in a grand way, what did Ms. Ong expect in what she describes as a "cutthroat industry"?

Well, moving on... Ms. Ong then goes to briefly canonize Mr. Vicente Romano III who recently admitted himself that he had hired his own daughter for the launch of the Pilipinas Kay Ganda.

When Undersecretary Vicente “Enteng” Romano exited with grace, he demonstrated a miracle of public office never witnessed in this country: a government official taking full ownership of a tempest-in-a-teacup-blown-up-into-a-Category-5-hurricane. Although his heroic gesture was praised by many, a malicious text immediately circulated: “Enteng Romano commissioned a company for P5M for the grand launch of the new DOT slogan. The company has reported ties to Enteng’s son. This is accdg to some sources in media.” I got this SMS three times.

What makes this so nauseating? First, the information is fundamentally wrong. Enteng has no son. Second, all the Media who attended the event said it was too lavish to be considered a “preview”. Therefore if P4.7M was really spent, every centavo must have gone to food, drinks, fireworks, talents, staging, etc. It didn’t line anyone’s pockets, much less an imagined son’s. Would a thinking man risk criminal jail-time to steal a paltry $105K? Were these braying critics just as indignant when “BurjerBen”, FG and cohorts were allegedly skimming $130M from NBN-ZTE?

Oh well…

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Melo has officially tendered his resignation to President Benigno Aquino 3rd. He had made history by making the first automated elections in the Philippines happen.

The Manila Times last week broke the story on the resignation of Melo after an unimpeachable source said that the Comelec chairman will resign effective January 31, 2011.

Now it is official, with Melo submitting his resignation letter addressed to President Aquino and dated November 22, 2010, where Melo said that he will step down as chief of the poll body effective at the close of office hours of January 31, 2011.

In a copy of the resignation letter obtained by The Times, Melo stated that it was time for him to leave the Comelec despite his unfinished term of seven years with the commission.

He is supposed to retire on February 15, 2015 if he completes his seven-year term but decided to cut it short after serving the poll body for only three years.

“I have the honor to tender my resignation effective at the close of office hours on January 31, 2011,” the letter stated.

Melo pointed out that he was able to fulfill his duty by being able to hold credible elections—the May 10, 2010 polls—that eventually saw then Senator Aquino being proclaimed the winner.

“I still have four years to go in my term, but I believe it is time to move on. Indeed, I signed up for this job, as I had previously intimated to Your Excellency, with the sole intention of giving our people credible [elections] and an unchallenged President. I believe we accomplished both,” the letter said.

Melo said that it has been his honor to serve the government for 48 years, three years of which were with the Comelec.

The Times had learned from a reliable source that Melo met with Mr. Aquino during the birthday party of former Supreme Court Justice Fidel Purisima where Melo assured the President that he will step down early next year.

The source said that Melo even told President Aquino that his resignation will give the President a free hand in naming three new appointees to the Comelec next year.

Besides the position Melo would be vacating, there will be two more positions that would be available in view of the retirement of Comelec Commissioners Nicodemo Ferrer and Gregorio Larrazabal on February 15, 2011.

The Times source said that Melo was originally planning to enter his candidacy as a Constitutional Commission delegate once Charter change, “or Cha-cha,” pushed through.

The source added that the Comelec chief was also considering going for an ambassadorial post or the Executive Secretary job now held by Paquito Ochoa Jr.

A recent survey conducted by Pulse Asia showed that 83 percent of Filipinos believe that the trial of the Maguindanao massacre case is moving slowly.

“Fifty-one percent of Filipinos consider the pace of the trial to be slow while 32 percent think it is [moving] very slow,” the report on the survey stated.

“Less than one in 10 Filipinos says the trial is moving fast/very fast [7 percent]. Indecision on the matter is expressed by 9 percent of Filipinos,” it added.

Despite disappointment on the pace of the trial, the survey showed that 80 percent of Filipinos believe that in the end, justice will be served and those who are found guilty for the mass murder will be punished.

The survey also showed that nine in 10 Filipinos, or 94 percent, were aware about the Maguindanao massacre, where 57 people, including 32 journalists, were brutally killed.

The survey further showed that at least 48 percent of those aware of the massacre are closely monitoring the trial—50 percent in Metro Manila, and 51 percent to 53 percent in Classes A, B, C and D. Meanwhile 52 percent said that they are not monitoring the trial—51 percent in the rest of Luzon (areas outside of Metro Manila), 52 percent in Mindanao, 53 percent in Visayas and 61 percent in Class E.

The Pulse Asia survey, which was conducted on October 20 to 29, 2010, used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 representative adults in Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The survey has a plus or minus 3-percent margin of error at a 95-percent confidence level.

Catholic reformers and groups working to combat HIV have welcomed remarks by Pope Benedict that the use of condoms might not always be wrong. The Pope said their use might be justified on a case by case basis to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids.

The remarks, due to be published in a book next week, mark a softening of his previously hard line against condoms in the battle against HIV, analysts say.

But the Vatican spokesman said this was no "revolution" in Church teaching.

"The pope maintains that condom use to lessen the danger of infection is a 'first assumption of responsibility,'" said Fr Federico Lombardi, quoting from the book.

"The reasoning of the pope cannot certainly be defined as a revolutionary turn."

The Vatican has long opposed condoms as an artificial form of contraception.

This has drawn heavy criticism, particularly from Aids campaigners, who say condoms are one of the few methods proven to stop the spread of HIV.

'Significant shift'

Pope Benedict said during a visit to Cameroon last year that handing out condoms might actually make HIV infection worse, drawing criticism from several EU states.

In his latest comments, however, he said the use of condoms might be justified in exceptional circumstances.

He gave the example of male prostitutes where, he said, using condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS could be seen as an act of moral responsibility, even though condoms were "not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection".

This marks a significant shift in his previously implacable opposition to the use of condoms, says the BBC's religious affairs correspondent, Robert Pigott.

UNAIDS, the United Nations programme on HIV/Aids, welcomed the comments as a "significant and positive step forward".

"This move recognises that responsible sexual behaviour and the use of condoms have important roles in HIV prevention," said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe.

The Kenya Treatment Access Movement (KETAM), which works to combat the spread of HIV, welcomed what it said was the Pope's acceptance of reality that abstinence did not always work.

"It's accepting the reality on the ground," said David Kamau, head of the KETAM. "If the Church has failed to get people to follow its moral values and practice abstinence, they should take the next best step and encourage condom use."

The Catholic reform group We Are Church said the comments showed the Pope was able to learn from experience.

The British gay rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, told the BBC the Pope's comments were significant but needed "clarification".

'Not a moral solution'

The new book - Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times - is based on a series of interview the Pope gave the German Catholic journalist, Peter Seewald, earlier this year.

When asked whether the Catholic Church was not opposed in principle to the use of condoms, the Pope replied: "She of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality."

Pope Benedict said the "sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalisation of sexuality" where sexuality was no longer an expression of love, "but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves".

Although Pope Benedict reiterated the Church's fundamental opposition to contraception, and repeated his view that condoms were not the answer to curbing HIV, he added that there was much in the area of sexual ethics that needed to be pondered and expressed in new ways.

Austen Ivereigh, coordinator of the Catholic Voices group, said that while this was the first time the Pope had voiced such an opinion on condoms, it was in line with what Catholic moral theologians have been saying for many years.

"The Church's teaching on contraception predates the discovery of Aids," Mr Ivereigh told the BBC news website.

"The prevalence of HIV raised the question of whether condoms could be used to prevent the transmission of the virus.

"If the intention is to prevent transmission of the virus, rather than prevent contraception, moral theologians would say that was of a different moral order."

'Lack of understanding'

But Clifford Longley, who writes for The Tablet, a British Catholic newspaper, said the development was far more significant than a nuanced change in attitude.

He said the "small concession... could easily become a collapse in the whole edifice of Catholic teaching on contraception".

"The implication seems to me to be much vaster than even the Pope anticipates," said Mr Longley.

The UK's Family Planning Association criticised the Pope's wider opposition to condom use, despite his recent comments.

Chief Executive Julie Bentley said: "The Pope's previously stated view that condoms do not protect against HIV is wholly wrong and irresponsible.

"Whilst we welcome the Pope's suggestion that he would support some use of condoms, we remain very disappointed that he implies this should only be in limited circumstances. This view demonstrates his lack of understanding that HIV can affect all people who have sex, regardless of who they are and who they have sex with.

"Thousands of people across the world trust his word, and he therefore has a responsibility to give correct information on how people can protect themselves when having sex. That means he should be encouraging and supporting condom use at all times".

The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, published excerpts of the interview in its Saturday edition.

Dona Victorina earlier came up with a story blaming celebrities for the mess Twitter is in (Celebrities are killing Twitter). She reported that while your not-so-friendly Twitter has become a source of titillating showbiz intrigues in the Philippines, another bit of newly published research, this time from the Harvard Business School, reckons the 18-24 year olds themselves, want something with more substance. And unlike Twitter, the social networking site Facebook can provide you just that!

Mayweather always for the money...

Hip-hop artist 50 Cent of the hit songs “In Da Club” and “Candy Shop” has taken to Twitter to gain for himself some attention, latching his name unto the much-discussed non-battle between pugilists, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

In a tweet dated November 9th, 50 Cent declared, “floyd gonna beat the shitt out of pacman.”

Making obvious of his bias against the Filipino boxer, 50 Cent also published photos of himself with Mayweather.

The ploy is apparently working. 50 Cent’s tweet gained wild reaction from Twitter users from around the world.

Twitteruser “allpoloevrythng” didn’t agree with 50 Cent, tweeting, “ur homie Money Mayweather needs to beat himself up NOT worry bout Pacman. PBF has major issues. Not hating. Real talk.”

Another user, GENESUPREME said, “if your boy Mayweather wants real money he should fight Pacman and dead Vegas!”

SenseiBrooklyn concurred with the rapper saying, “<---- YES FIFTY! I can't wait!!” Another user even hinted on 50 Cent’s past as a convicted drug dealer saying, “you must be on drugs 50 ! Floyd won't even fight Pacman!” User nalsop21 is adamant, “no way is pacman gonna lose, homies fighting for his country, an the dudes a congressman he'll have floyd killed if he loses.” User KLUTCHWEAR was more realistic, sharing that he, “Would love to see that fight but lost hope that it will ever happen.” 50 Cent didn’t add on that tweet as of press time. Pacquiao, who is fighting Mexican boxer Antonio Margarito Saturday, didn’t issue a statement concerning the matter.

Teenagers who send over 100 text messages a day are more likely to have had sex and have tried drugs and alcohol, new research has revealed.

Excessive texting among teens, dubbed "hyper-texting" by researchers and defined as texting more than 120 messages per school day, is linked to a higher occurrence of behaviours such as smoking, drinking, fighting and sexual relationships, according to a study published by the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio.

Researchers surveyed more than 4,200 students at 20 high schools in the Cleveland area last year and found that hyper-texting was reported by 19.8% of teens, many of whom were female, from lower socio-economic status, a minority background, and a single-mother home.

Compared to non-heavy texters, hyper-texting teens were 40% more likely to have tried cigarettes, twice as likely to have tried alcohol, 43% more likely to be binge drinkers and 41% more likely to have used illicit drugs than their counterparts who did not text as much.

More than half were more likely to have been in a physical fight, nearly three-and-a-half times more likely to have had sex and 90% more likely to report four or more sexual partners, the research showed.

Dr Scott Frank, lead researcher on the study, said parents should be aware of the dangerous health effects unchecked texting can have.

"The startling results of this study suggest that when left unchecked texting and other widely popular methods of staying connected can have dangerous health effects on teenagers," he said.

"This should be a wake-up call for parents to not only help their children stay safe by not texting and driving, but by discouraging excessive use of the cell phone or social websites in general."

The research also looked at hyper-networking - spending more than three hours per school day on social networking websites - which was reported by 11.5% of students.

The research found this group was more likely to suffer from stress, depression, suicide, substance use, fighting, and poor sleep.

By using her tears as counter-PR for her proposed P21 billion dole-out spree, Soliman has started to cast as villains any and all who oppose her scheme.

But we won’t be affected.

Nor deterred.

No matter how many buckets of tears flow from her eyes, Soliman cannot make us forget that it is our money she wants to give away …

Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, said that the probes should include Dinky Soliman and the President should observe the rule of law and set aside relatives and friends in order to put country and justice first before kin and buddies. Bagaforo pointed to the Social Welfare chief’s involvement in the Code-NGO bond scandal...

Alvin Capino made an excellent commentary on the crying cabinet lady!
____________________

STOP CRYING DINKY DOG!

There was this report we heard over the radio about a supposed tearful Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman being interviewed from out of the country (Singapore?) and reportedly lamenting the brickbats that her proposed P21-billion conditional cash transfer fund has been getting.

Sorry, but we are constrained to say that Soliman’s lachrymose efforts are not working. She apparently wants to portray herself as crying for the “poor” who would not have their fill from the P21 billion she wants to dole out. That tear-jerker of an interview could only be interpreted as a Soliman-ic tantrum of one who was used to getting what she wants from the sitting President.

Soliman apparently wants to portray the critics of her P21-billion dole-out fund as anti-poor. That’s trash. Soliman’s crying bouts should not distract us. It is clear to everyone that she wants to spend P21 billion of our hard-earned money for a dole-out binge that does not have any clear benefit either to the poor or to us who will be made to spend for the money Soliman wants to give away.

Is Soliman crying because her P21 billion give-away fund is being scrutinized and questioned? This is childish. She should realize that what she wants to give away to her “poor” is our money. As such, we have the right to ask how spending our money would benefit the country. How that money is to be given away. By whom, through whom.

Soliman should heed the wisdom of Senate President Enrile who told media that the P21 billion “is the money of the people; none of it belongs to us in government”. Soliman should not portray herself as the only Filipino whose heart bleeds for the poor in this country. We cry for them too and we want to help alleviate their plight.

We are also willing to have our money spent for them. But it must be done right. And maybe, not by Soliman.

We hope our good senators do not succumb to the apparent emotional manipulation strategy of Soliman. Her crying bouts should not serve as a smokescreen to the many defects apparent in this P21-billion scheme. She has to stand up and face scrutiny. Tears cannot take the place of direct and transparent answers that satisfy all of us who are funding her itch to play Santa Claus to the poor.

Some people have raised concerns that the P21 billion Soliman give-away fund looks like one big pork barrel that shames the pork barrels of any senator or a member of the House of Representatives.

This is an unfair comparison. Yes, unfair to pork barrel.

Despite its many negative connotations, a congressman’s pork barrel actually creates some good. Pork barrel-funded projects create jobs. They improve education facilities. They help deserving students. They actually improve and expand many infrastructure, never mind that the contractors are usually a favored bunch.
Not the same with the P21 billion Soliman tearfully wants from us.

Her fund will not create jobs. It will not add nor improve vital infrastructure. In fact, her dole-out scheme could encourage people not to look for jobs since they know that Santa Dinky is there to fill their begging bowls.

But there are genuine similarities between Dinky’s give-away fund and the pork barrel. Both guarantee to produce massive political goodwill. Both give the “owner” of the fund much leeway as to where the funds would go.

We have always been wary of the pork barrel. This is because we feel that politicians are using our money to promote themselves.

Sorry, Dinky. But that is also the way we are starting to feel about the P21 billion kitty you want to give away.

By using her tears as counter-PR for her proposed P21 billion dole-out spree, Soliman has started to cast as villains any and all who oppose her scheme.
But we won’t be affected. Nor deterred. No matter how many buckets of tears flow from her eyes, Soliman cannot make us forget that it is our money she wants to give away a la pork barrel with no clear benefit to the country.

If that money were to create even just a thousand jobs, then we would have no objection. But all that spending promises to produce is billions of pesos worth of political goodwill for Soliman and whoever else she wants to promote.

Soliman comes from the Code-NGO group which has a track record of profiting at the people’s expense. Her group raised P10 billion and collected P1.4 billion in commissions. We are now going to pay P35 billion for the money Soliman’s friends raised and raked in commissions from.

We cannot and we should not forget that Code-NGO used the “poor” as the reason and justification for burying us under a P35 billion debt and for collecting P1.4 billion in commissions.

Soliman should understand that right now, we feel the “poor” is being used as an excuse again for her to land a P21 billion virtual pork barrel.
At some point, people should stop using the “poor” as a convenient excuse to spend money.

Our money.

Cry as much as you want, Dinky. But Dinky must not always get what Dinky wants. No. Not at our expense again.

We can expect Dinky to do some crying again when the Senate deliberates on the P21 billion she’s asking. This early some senators are talking of big cuts on the amount the secretary is asking for.

One senator was even quoted as saying that he believes that P6 billion is the right amount for the cash transfer program at this point.

If this happens, then Dinky’s tears would probably be real this time.

The Department of Tourism (DoT) has unveiled the Philippines’ new slogan that depicts the country’s warmth and hospitality.

The new slogan called “Pilipinas Kay Ganda,’’ which replaced “WOW! Philippines,’’ was launched before members of the tourism industry and honorary guest, Vice President Jejomar Binay.

The new brand carries both visual and verbal idioms of the beauty of the Philippines through the tagline “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” and a colorful logo that incorporates a coconut tree, sun, and tarsier to depict the country’s unique tropical beauty and sunny dispositions.

Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim cited “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” as reflective of the optimism being represented by the new administration.

“The new Philippine brand will be the centerpiece of our tourism promotional programs and advertising campaigns in the years to come. It is in keeping up with the President’s philosophy of public-private partnership,” Lim said.

Lim also revealed that although the brand had elicited mixed reactions because of its radical departure from what is currently done by neighboring countries; it is relevant, distinctive, and believable.

“The real challenge is how to make the Philippines attain a competitive identity that differentiates it from what our neighbors are claiming to be. We need to be more daring in expressing our brand, if we are to rise above the clutter,” Lim said.

Lim is hopeful that by using the vernacular language for the tagline, every domestic and foreign tourist will tend to mouth the phrase in same way Hawaii has successfully popularized the expression “Aloha” in a global scale.

But before unveiling the brand concept and logo, the Tourism chief said the marketing campaign is still a work in progress.

“Before we commit to the production and placement of commercials, we would like to share the emerging new brand to everyone first. The Filipinos inputs in supporting and promoting the brand will help strengthen the brand even more,” Lim Said.

The brand, according to Undersecretary for Planning and Promotions Vicente Romano III, may still go through some refinements based on the feedbacks from market testing and Focus Group Discussions that will follow.

Brand activation programs and advertising campaigns will be developed and will be rolled out.