people power?

19 years ago, one man held all the power in the Philippines.
The regime of Ferdinand Marcos had lasted over 20 years.
It was a regime characterized by the declaration of martial law, the prevalence of human rights violations, and massive corruption.
One man held all the power.
Thousands were killed.
Millions were silenced.
Billions were stolen.

19 years ago the rule of the dictator was broken, and the Filipino people regained their freedom.
Not a shot was fired in what came to be known as the "People Power" Revolution.
Millions of people went to the streets to defend the soldiers who had had enough of the dictatorship.
Millions of people stood in front of the tanks deployed to crush the rebellion.
Millions of people cheered when Marcos fled the country in the face of mounting international criticism and the withdrawal of American support.

19 years ago a new government was formed, with the first ever woman president in the world as its leader.
The country rejoiced, the world watched in awe, as this new government took steps to ensure a better future for the Filipino people.
However, it was all too good to be true.

19 years, 4 presidents, and several coups d' etat later, it would seem that we are now in a far worse situation than we were before the People Power revolution.
The government of Corazon Aquino tried to undo the damage wrought by the dictatorship, but the continued presence of Marcos' cronies in the government ensured that not much was accomplished.
Aquino's government also had little political will to do anything; they could have refused to pay the debts incurred during Marcos' time, due to the criminal nature of those debts, and the still applauding world would have agreed with us.
But no, now we still have to pay a 6 trillion peso debt.
They could have enacted real land reforms then, but the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program did nothing for our farmers, since the influence of landowners, most especially the family of President Aquino, ensured that it would benefit the landowners more.
They could have mended conflicts with the Moros in Mindanao, but the rebellion in the south still continues today.

19 years later, the Republic of the Philippines still suffers.
Those wasted opportunities still haunt us today, as illustrated by the events at Hacienda Luisita, the Valentine's Day bombings, the impending fiscal crisis, the huge foreign debt, and the division of the Filipino people.
The People Power Revolution showed us what could happen if we all believed in ourselves, and if we all came together to fight for a common goal.
The people in EDSA on February 25, 1986 all believed that Marcos lost all legitimacy, that his rule had ended, and that it was time for change.
They were united in their common interest; to restore freedom in the Philippines.

The lessons of People Power should never be forgotten.
The Filipino people of today should regain the unity we once had.
We should be united in our common interest, and once again fight for our freedom.
Not from tyranny, but from poverty.
Not from oppression, but from corruption.
Not from persecution, but from division.
Our country today is bound by the many evils born out of our society.
It is time to rise up again, not against a dictator, but against ourselves.
We should change ourselves; our way of thinking, our values, and our goals.
We should plan for long term solutions, instead of for short term profits.
We should prioritize the good of all, instead of only ourselves.
But most of all, we should remember that we are all Filipinos, regardless of ethnicity, religion, ideology, affiliation, educational attainment, or economic status.
Let us all now, when it is most needed, unite as one people, as one nation, and once again fight for our freedom!

high hopes

I couldn't help but notice that on the way home I saw long lines all over the place.
Turns out that a lot of people are buying Lotto tickets.
I found out yesterday that the jackpot was up to over 111 million pesos, an amount guaranteed to fulfill anyone's dreams.
People would wait in long, winding lines just join in a lottery where they would probably have a 1 in a billion chance of winning the jackpot.
1 person going up against probably another 60 million people; what are the odds of winning the jackpot prize?
But people still cling to the hope that somehow fortune would smile on them.
And so they spend 20 pesos or more on lottery tickets, hoping that they would win, hoping that fate would make the balls in the lottery machine show the combination they have on their tickets.

Filipinos have a long tradition of hoping that some higher power would help them in their lives.
Chance, fate, destiny, religious figures, etc.
We all at some point in our lives find ourselves hoping that some, if not all of them, would relieve us of our problems.
We find ourselves praying in churches, consulting fortune tellers, believing in superstitions, checking our horoscopes, analyzing feng-shui...
However, we rarely do anything else to solve our problems.
We run to religion, to superstition, to chance, to astrology.
Our favorite saying is "bahala na": leave it to fate.
Yet we can never accomplish anything if we leave our lives to fate!
We are human beings.
We make our own destiny.
As the saying goes, "Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa."
We can never raise our country out of poverty if we keep on trusting to fate.
We have to work for change.
We have to do something, instead of offering sacrifices or wasting money on impossible dreams.

We may win the lottery if we trust to chance.
We can change a nation if we trust in ourselves.

finally... a breather... NOT!

Finally, it's friday...
time to rest,
time to play,
time to relax.
After a very hectic week I think I deserve 2 full days of pure rest and relaxation.
But no, fate just couldn't resist throwing a few problems my way.
We thought that classes would be suspended on Tuesday, as there would be some extra-curricular activities in the afternoon, so we planned our project on the assumption that we would be presenting it not on the 22nd but 2 weeks from now.
Imagine my shock when I read our professor's email just a few minutes ago, which stated that we would be meeting on Tuesday even if the university suspends all classes.
Now we have to finish filming and editing our project in one day.
Now I have to be in UP at 8 IN THE MORNING ON A SUNDAY.
haaay... life...

state of emergency

Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit the same planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And, we are all mortal. --John F. Kennedy

The attacks on Makati, General Santos, and Davao last February 14 should serve as an eye opener to our people.
Terrorists are among us, and they don't care if they kill people on Valentine's Day.
Valentine's Day, the day when people share their love with the people around them, turned into a bloodbath when bombs exploded in three different cities within the space of an hour.
Now you only need to mention the word "bomb" and people would start running for cover.
It only takes a strange phone call to send a Super Ferry heading to Manila back to port and discover that no bomb was aboard.
It only takes a "bayong" left on a storefront to get a bomb squad to find out that it was only full of clothes.
Such is the power of terror; its effects reverberate long after the explosions die down.
How could people who call themselves "warriors of god" kill the innocent?
The long years of injustice and intolerance in the south, and the atrocities committed by both sides in the Mindanao conflict are now being felt at our doorsteps.
We will never be safe for as long as we remain prejudiced towards each other.
We can never be safe unless we address the failings and the weaknesses of our society.
Bombs will fall from the sky, buses will blow up in the streets, and plastic bags will send people running for cover until we find it in our hearts to accept each other as brothers and sisters, as equals, as Filipinos who share one nation regardless of religious faith or ideological belief.
Terrorists feed on our prejudices.
They use our hatred towards each other as an excuse for their actions.
I'm not only talking about the Abu Sayyaf or the MILF or the MNLF, I'm also talking about the military.
Yes, their job is to protect the state against external and internal threats.
You can't deny that the extremist groups mentioned above are threats to national security, and that it's the military's job to see to it that these groups are wiped out.
But military action against terrorists is not the same as military action against civilians.
The media rarely reports about it, but our soldiers can also be terrorists.
The celebrations following the capture of the rebel camp in Mindanao included one event not reported: the jubilant soldiers released a pig inside a mosque.
And there are stories of them stuffing pork in dead Muslim's mouths.
And there are stories of maltreatment of Muslim civilians in the south.
How can we justify a "war on terror" if we use terror ourselves?
How can this madness end if both sides keep reprising and attacking and retaliating?
How can there be peace if we don't respect each other's beliefs?

An eye for an eye makes a man blind.
We are all Filipinos regardless of ethnicity, religion, or beliefs.
It's time to act as such, and end this senseless conflict.

ignorance is bliss...

i'm only a student.
sure, i'm a UP student, the best of the best.
as our college slogan goes, "UP na, ECON pa!"
i'm only a student.
i don't work, i study.
i get to learn political science, economics, algebra, etc.
i'm only a student.
but i'm paying for my country's debt.
thanks to one hell of a government.
now i have to contend with an impending UP budget cut
and a possible increase in the value added tax
and a possible transportation fare hike...
all because the government allows itself to be dictated to by tne world bank and imf

how weak can you get?
allowing yourself to be controlled by supranational bodies
who would sooner trample on a nation's sovereignty just to earn more money
and foregoing the welfare of your own people just to earn points with uncle sam

and you think our country is free?
free from colonialism? from foreign interference?
dream on
globalization is just a fancy term for neo-colonialism
free trade means lower prices for them, and more suffering for us

we were never free
july 4, 1946 was only a mere formality
america was already assured of a new colony
the "republic of the philippines"
free and independent to the casual eye
but with people conditioned by american education in the ways of the west
conditioned to think that western goods are better than the local
the so-called colonial mentality kept our markets open to the americans
and our government open to interference
add to that the more than 300 years of Spanish domination
that taught us that we were inferior to the west
and gave us a religion that taught us not to fight back, but to accept our suffering,
and not to question, but just to "have faith"
and here we are today

haaay...
i'm a student in the best university in the country
which is both a blessing and a curse
i know a lot of things
my professors know a lot of things
i learn more each and every day
from my friends and the people around me

and now i know why someone once said that
"ignorance is bliss"

so tired....

had a pretty hectic day today...
got up at the crack of dawn, ended up sleeping on the couch...
got up again, with only an hour to shower, get dressed, and get to school...
got to school 30 minutes late, but hey, at least i didn't have to commute...
got some research done, hope i get to digest the tons of information we found...
got to econ on time, 1 o'clock, on the dot, only to find that only 4 of us were on time...
got to read some machiavelli, damn, that guy is good...
got to pcmc an hour late, haaay....
got to spend some time with the children, naughty and nice...
got to meet new friends, even though some wanted to kill me...
got to meet old friends, haaay, i miss spending time with them...
got home in one piece, but i won't be complacent again...
got into a fight once again...
and that's my day...

haaay... life...

smile :D

funny truths!!! tke tym 2 read this...:>

? If you yelled for 8 years,7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. (Hardly seems worth it)
? If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb. (Now that's more like it)
? The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet. (Oh my God...!)
? A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes. (In my next life I want to be a pig)
? A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death. (Creepy.) (I'm still not over the pig)
? Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour. (Do not try this at home .. maybe at work)
? The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off. ("Honey, I'm home. What the....")
? The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping the length of a football field. (30 minutes...can you imagine??)
? The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds. (What can be so tasty on the bottom of the pond?)
? Some lions mate over 50 times a day. (I still want to be a pig in my next life ... quality over quantity.)
? Butterflies taste with their feet. (Something I always wanted to know)
? The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. (Hmmmmmm........)
? Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do. (If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?)
? Elephants are the only animal that cannot jump. (OK, so that would be a good thing....)
? A cat's urine glows under a blacklight. (I wonder who was paid to figure that out.)
? An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that.)
? Starfish have no brains. (I know some people like that too.)
? Polar bears are left-handed. (Who knew...? Who cares! )
? Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure. (What about the pig?)

isn't it funny but true? ha ha ha amazed?!?

--->found this somewhere on the internet... hehehehe... :D

why me?

it finally happened.
i was robbed by two armed men while commuting to school in an FX yesterday.
having a gun pointed at your head, with a 9mm bullet inches away, being restrained only by the lingering sanity and confidence of a criminal bent on liberating you of your hard-earned money and belongings is an experience that you can never forget.
so now i've lost my cellphone and 400 pesos...
haaay...

i obviously have nothing better to do :D

Congratulations! You are the most evil man of all time! Not only did you exterminate millions of Jews and involve the world in the biggest war that it has ever seen, you also convinced the Germans that the perfect human is a tall blue eyed blond when you're a short, dark Austrian yourself! Well done you spiteful little shit! What tin-pot dictator are you? Take the "What Dictator am I?" test at http://www.poisonedminds.com/tests/dic/">

that's life...

life is full of ups and downs
life is not like a straight and level road
it is not always happiness and enjoyment
it is not always victory and jubilee

i started this week literally with a smile on my face
i felt like i was on top of the world; everything was falling into place...
now i know that i would end it with a frown
that's life, my mother said, as i cried at the foot of the bed...

i hope my grandfather is in a happy place
resting after a good 72 years with us on this earth...

haaay... life...