December 10: Human Rights Day

This International Human Rights Day ought to be different from all the other human rights days in the past 10 years, after all, a new President has been installed, one whose family has also been a victim of human rights violations. But, sadly, I can smell nothing new in the air.

Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno, both I knew from college, are still missing. Jonas Burgos is still missing. The Morong 43 is still incarcerated and the Ampatuans of the Maguindanao Massacre infamy still has to be made accountable for their crimes. These are high-profile cases that have hogged the headlines at some point in time. Still, the wheels of justice seemed to have had a flat tire, moving forward at an ever slow rate. If these high-profile cases have not been given due attention and justice, I can only imagine the smaller cases' fate, the ones that only few people know about, the ones that don't land the headlines and generate as much attention.

I have written an article in OFFCAM magazine about human rights in the country. Please do get a copy.

Meanwhile, listen to this haunting song written in homage to all those who have disappeared because of their political views.


Desap by Karl Ramirez

Para sa desaparecido. Para kay Karen Empeño, Sherlyn Cadapan, Leopoldo Ancheta, Rogelio at Gabriel Calubad, Gloria Soco, Jonas Joseph Burgos, Prudencio Calubid, Abner Hizarsa, Alex Beloy, Celina Palma, Cesar Batralo, Danilo Macapagal, Domingo Delas Alas, Esteban Pastor, Federico Intise, Felicidad Katalbas, Honorio Ayroso, Johnny Orcino, Jr., Joseph Gonzales, Jovito Velasco, Mario Detroz, Narciso Parani, Nelly Intise, Nilo Arado, Patricio Abalos, Philip Limjoco, Richard Collado, Roger Viray, Roland Porter, Romulos Robiños, Ronaldo Comiso, Ryan Supan, Sergio Viray, Virgilio Tranquilino at sa lahat ng dinukot ng estado dahil sa kanilang makabayang paninindigan. Para sa kanilang pamilya, kaibigan, at kasama na patuloy na naghahanap ng katarungan, patuloy na naninindigan.


Desap
Music and lyrics: Karl Ramirez

C
Lumilipas ang gabi
Am
Abang ang pagdampi ng 'yong labi
F
Kahit sandali
C
Kahit sandali

C
Nangungulila man
Am
ang pusong naiwan
F C
alam naming wala kayong kasalanan

Am F
At hindi kami susuko
C G
Hindi kami susuko
F C
sa paghahanap
F C
sa mahal naming anak
F C
Magulang, kaibigan, asawa, kasama
Am G
Hanap namin sila

C
At nangungulila man
Am
kaming naiwan
F C
hangad ng damdamin ay katarungan

Am F
At hindi kami susuko
C G
Hindi kami susuko
Am F
Hindi kami susuko
C G
Hindi kami susuko
F C
sa paghahanap
F C
sa mahal naming anak
F C
Magulang, kaibigan, asawa, kasama
F G
Hanap namin sila

Am F
At hindi kami susuko
C G
Hindi kami susuko
Am F
Hindi kami susuko
C G
Hindi kami susuko
F C
sa paghahanap
F C
sa mahal naming anak
F C
Magulang, kaibigan, asawa, kasama
F G
Hanap namin sila

Am G
Hanap namin
C D F
Hangad ng damdamin
C
Ay hustisya

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My Flower Collection: Part 2 (Can't stop Window Shopping Online!)

Christmas is the season of eternal hope and joy. This year I’ve got a lot on my wishlist for Santa, mainly for the little boy coming into our lives when the new year opens.

For myself, I’ve only got my wishful thinking. The other day I browsed The Flower Collection’s site and saw a lot of clothes that I would love to have and wear this Christmas. In fact I have written about the preggy outfit that I would want to wear to Christmas dinners.

I’ll share with you another outfit from The Flower Collection that I would love to wear IF I am not pregnant.

Presenting the 2 Kailyn.

I love how it falls and drapes the body. I’m not sure though if the fabric can accomodate my preggy belly, but the overlapping neckline design is perfect for breasfeeding.

Or this Olina dress. It comes in other colors, but I love this one in acqua.

Another thing that I love about this is its versatility. It can be worn as a simple day dress or as a more formal one. One only needs to change accessories and shoes to change it from a daytime to a night-out outfit.

I also love this Kevin shorts. Buit maybe it's inapproriate for a Christmas dinner. So I'll go for this Hance pants, instead, for modesty's sake. :)

paired with this wonderful top, Dax, in a very sexy red!

If I am not pregnant, I would definitely wear this dress. But because I am, I’ll be sticking to the other collection that you can read here.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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ZEST AIR Nightmare: My ticket to Php10,000!!!!

I have never flown Zest Air. In fact, I’ve never flown anything at all. I’m a flying virgin. All my travelling have been monotonously confined to city and provincial buses. It is a joy to be able to go to new places and experience new sounds but travelling , by air, sea or land, has its ups and downs.

And I can just imagine what hell it must be for someone to be hassled and then made to pay for it! Batang Yagit shared a horrible customer experience as a patron of Zest Air. And it elicited a number of reactions from his readers who can empathize with him one way or another.

In a hypothetical situation that Zest Air would reschedule my flight, which turn out to be non-existent when I availed it, and then had the guts to penalize me for not showing up for it, how would I react to it?

I am not normally a violent and confrontational person, but all this pregnancy hormones get the better of me at this point in time. When I get angry, I shake all over. My voice breaks in high-pitched tone. My hand shakes. Blood rushes to my ears and my face is red all over. I simply cannot hide being angry. And this kind of situation would undeniably fall into that category when I turn into a monster.

Firstly, being the customer whose rescheduled flight was non-existent, I would immediately file a complaint by calling the office up, or better yet, emailing them about it so that I’ll have a record of it. There’s nothing like a complaint in black and white.

If I get a call that is not addressing my grievance like they should be and instead is asking me to pay the penalty for not showing up to my non-existent flight, I would ask for the supervisor or manager in charge of rescheduling the flight. If the business is done online, with email exchanges, I will print out copies of it and slap it to their faces!

It wasn’t my fault in the first place that my flight was resheduled. It was they who resheduled it. In fact, they should be held accountable for that alone. What if I had something important already scheduled for that day, following my original flight schedule. And secondly, if there were no Zest Air schedules on the date tof my rescheduled flight, that’s not my fault either. I SHOULD be the one penalizing them for inconveniencing me!

If however they continue to press the matter of penalty, I would not press charges against them, but I will file a complaint in a DTI or any agency that covers their business. I don’t have the time nor the resources to battle them in court, but I will launch my fight in a whole new arena – the cyberspace.

Any self-respecting business knows the power of the word-of-mouth. I will tell all my friends about this horrible experience and will ask them to help spread the word to their friends and their friends’ friends and so on. Nothing will be more damaging to their business than a dent in reputation. So hypothetically speaking I will bring Zest Air to its knees without resorting to a lengthy and expensive court battle! Bwahahaha!

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Why we need to restore 1M of our forests

As I am writing this blog, I have already banished any hope of receiving any 'Like' for it. There just isn't time. But I still want to join this blog contest on the 11th hour because I believe in its relevance.

Why do we need to restore 1Million Hectares of Our Forest?

I can cite a million reasons for it but let me focus on just one that I think tops everything else. We need to restore one million hectares of forest land so that we can sleep soundly at night and never have to worry that one great flashflood or mudslide might sweep us off our feet literally.

More trees would mean less flooding. They could soak up all the excess rainwater and therefore floods would be at a minimum and not as devastating as the great floods that have inundated cities and towns in the Philippines these last few years.




More trees would also mean that landslides can be avoided. The roots will be a natural barrier against landslides because the soil would be not be as loose as hell.




Recovering a million hectares could very well mean our survival. This means a gigantic effort is expected from you, me and everyone else if we all want to live for another 10 to 50 years in relative peace of mind. This also means that we have to pressure the government to do more and support the effort of private individuals who rage against the environmental aggression and push for more environmentally-sound policies, which would include reviewing the mining code, which wrecks havoc to our environment, among others.

To restore a million hectares of forest cover is one great task. And it all starts in a radical change of heart and an relenting spirit to keep to forge on. By being unselfish and going out of our comfort zone to fight of our lives, we are actually being selfish because we are ultimately thinking of the survival of our race, species. Now that's a funny thought. Who ever thought that being selfish wouldn't be bad at all?! :D

Let's all be selfish and restore 1M of our forests!

For more pro-environment advocacies, visit Pinoy Holistic Healthcare, Haribon Foundation and ClubTravelNOW!

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Anak ng Kumander (The Commander’s Son)

Last Sunday, the Kapuso Channel, channel 7 celebrated “Manny Pacquiao Day”. The almost the entire day was dedicated to Hon. Manny Pacquiao, starting from the pre-Party Pilipinas film, until late in the afternoon in the entertainment talkshows.

I am not Pacman’s biggest fan outside the ring, he has way too much negative publicity about his womanizing and gambling ways. I also didn’t appreciate his running for public office, especially under Arroyo’s wings the election before the most recent one.

Eniweis, I patiently watched Anak ng Kumander, the film shown last Sunday, starring Hon. Manny Pacquiao, Ara Mina, and Valerie Concepcion. I saw it out of curiousity, first and foremost. It was a movie about the son of an NPA (New People’s Army) commander, played by Dante Rivero, who also joined the underground movement after his father died.

It was a painful movie to watch. For one, the acting of most actors appear stilted. Imagine the Pambansang Kamao emoting to tears because his father just died. “Paano na tayo, ‘nay?(What are we doing to do now, mother?)” he was saying while shaking his mother’s shoulders when they received the bad news. For another, the story is stereotypical too, from the plot to the characterization. But it did have its redeeming factor that for me provided the unforeseen twist.

The angle about comrades turning against comrades is so in-your-face in this movie. It started when an NPA commander (Rivero) dies in the hands of his fellow comrades who decided to kill him in exchange for the 5 Million peso reward for his head, and continued until Ka Idel’s (Pacman) time, when he is reminded by love interest Ara Mina who plays the reporter rescued by Pacman, that he might also suffer the same fate as his father’s. Ka Idel is so notorious, the reward for his capture is 10 Million pesos!

There were also scenes where the NPAs are shown executing carabao hustlers as punishment for their crime. They were executed publicly, the NPAs showcasing the carabao hustlers to the barrio folk. Although it had the best of intentions at heart, saying that the NPAs are actually friends of the people by virtue of punishing those elements who torment their lives, it reinforces on the otherhand the prevalent notion that NPA justice is swift and may be arbitrary, not going through the rigors of due process.

On the lighter side of things, Valerie Concepcion plays one beautiful Amasona, unlike the Ana Capri version in Dekada ’70 who makes me wrinkle my nose at disgust.

In the end, the son of the commander died a violent death, riddled with bullets from enemy fire. He was encircled by the enemies, both from the government and from the ex-NPA-turned-gangsters who betrayed Ka Idel’s father, and were also the subjects of punitive actions of the NPA. The reporter cum love interest (Ara Mina) started shouting at Ka Idel, trying to convince him to lay down his arms and just surrender.

I waited with bated breath for the conclusion. Ara Mina was shouting at Ka Idel, the government troops surrounding him were poised to take their shots at him. Cut to Ka Idel, looking towards Ara Mina in slo-mo, then a flashback to his father’s memory (actually, just a voice over, if I remember it right). He then hoists and holds the M-60 firmer and fired at his enemies without saying a word. Did he die? Of course! There were around thirty troops who were shooting it out with him!

So, the movie ended on an unfamiliar note. An unconventional hero dies and was praised for it, with an epilogue noting that the legacy of Ka Idel, one that is not popular nor widely accepted, will live on.

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Pasko na!!!

I'm supporting blankPixels' entry to Sulit's Christmas card-making contest. Click here for more details.

(Preview only. Click here for the full animated Christmas card.)

More posts, mean more entries for being a viral poster. I would love to have that Blackberry Curve!!! But is it a dual-sim phone though? I've been dying to have a dual sim phone so I can cut-down the hassle of having different phones. Anyhoo, even if its not, I can always use it. Come on! It's a Balckberry Curve! Who am I not to get excited? :) Cheers!

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Thirty on 30 Blog Anniversary Givaway!

I'll be turning 30 myself next year *GASP*, and I thought that to make things bearable I'll join a fellow blogger's giveaway for her 30th birthday.

I just came across her blog from . (Sign-up now for more blog exposure. More blog exposure = More income!)

Her requirements are very easy to do. She actually scrapped the blog-writing part which made joining in 50% easier than she originally planned to do. And here's my part, spreadin' the love.




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