iBOONDOCK

It’s not often that Cordi legislators land in the news for their legislative initiatives so this news report is interesting. Not sure what to say about it yet but we hope to get a copy of the bill to understand it more clearly hehe.

Based on the report below however, it seems like the bill is out to do a lot of things: sanction impersonators (does this include anti-Gloria impersonators?); prohibit religious or racial discrimination; prevent unnecessary, unjustified, illegal and degrading search because of his or her clothing, religion, color, creed and ethnic identity; discrimination of job applicants because of his or her name, religion or ethnic background; etc.

Quite a tall order. By the way, I heard some stories about our Muslim brothers and sisters having to change their names to non-Muslim sounding ones just so they can have a chance to get employed. Apparently, some employers/recruiters will reject a candidate’s resume simply because of his/her Muslim name.

How bad is that? Very bad. And we have the gall to call ourselves “the only Christian nation in Asia”. What a shame, no?

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So Gloria is spending time in the Cordilleras again. Today she will be visiting the strawberry farms of La-Trinidad to look into “plight of upland farmers whose produce have been affected by blight due to temperature fluctuations”.

Hah. Truth be told, the weather can be blamed only to a limited extent when it comes to the plight of upland farmers. The greater disaster would be Gloria’s policy of uncritically embracing and advocating for globalization. She opened up the local vegetable market without putting in place any sufficient safety nets that could help our farmers compete against imported vegetables.

In addition, aside from the legal importation going on, there’s a much bigger volume of illegally imported vegetables that is making it impossible for farmers to earn a decent living. Cabbages being sold at P3/kilo? Or carrots at P3.50? This is a scandal. At the center of this scandal would be Gloria’s husband profiting from the illegal importation going on.

Cordillera leaders should be asking Gloria about these things.
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We keep “stealing” from the Inquirer but we can’t help it, it’s in our naycha. Or that seems to be the nature of blogging. Anyways, here’s a report from Vincent Cabreza about a study which found out that OFWs are a new power bloc in their communities. I’m sure you kinda know that already but it’s good to have your anecdotal evidence established by members of the academe. From the Inquirer:

Ngoddo’s study looked at how indigenous communities in Sadanga, Mt. Province, coped with modern life and a cash economy that “eroded” traditional community partnerships.

Villagers often cooperated in the annual cleaning of communal irrigation canals, but have been hiring contractors to do the task because money, some traced back to OFWs, was available, she said.

Ngoddo said OFWs were being counted among the villages’ more influential people to whom residents turn to solve community problems.

So is it a sad development when people no longer work together as a community because there’s money to pay contractors who’ll do the work anyway? We think it is. Maybe Marcos, for all his faults, had a good idea when he organized those Sanggunian this, Sanggunian that, community patrols, barangay brigades, etc. etc. ano?

Like, uh, Metro Manila has tourists? Or just passers by? Seriously, I haven’t met anyone who goes to Manila to do touristy stuff. Practically all of them, whether foreigner friends/colleagues or Filipinos, pass by Manila because they have to and would like to get out as soon as possible.

This should be a challenge to Metro authorities because, as things stand, Manila really has a bad reputation as a tourist destination. Anyways, related story from which the above image was captured is here.

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, a man named Marcos, who fancied himself as the legendary Malakas built this monument for himself in the mountains of Tuba, Benguet.

He wanted a grand monument. It would be much much grander than Mt. Rushmore because he will have the mountain all to himself unlike Lincoln, and Washington, and that other President who had to share the limelight with the others. Co-starring lang sila habang si Marcos ay main and only feature.

But Marcos wasn’t contented to be the only dweller of the mountain, so he kicked out the Ibaloys who lived there since time immemorial.

And so the days passed. And the days turned to years. Then the century turned. Then this is what became of Marcos.

PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Zapata/Baguiocity.com

Senator Loren Legarda tries to do an Igorot dance during a visit to a conference organized by Cordillera women leaders last year. Inviting Loren is a good move by said women leaders because the Senator may well become the next President of the country. She continues to perform well in presidential polls conducted by survey outfits. However, a lot of things can happen between now and 2010 so she should not count the eggs before they’re laid.

Will she make a good President? Who knows? She doesn’t strike me as someone who could change this country. Her presidency might feature people different from the current ones but it will be the politics of “same old, same old”. This is true for other politicians who have presidential ambitions, i.e., Senator Manuel Roxas II, Senate President Manny Villar, and Vice President Noli de Castro.

By the way, the group which invited Senator Legarda reportedly adopted her and named her “Tokwifi” which means “bright star” in Finontok. What do you think of that? Personally, I hope we stop using our native names/culture/etc as currency to pander to politicians. But that’s just me :-)

INFO/PHOTO SOURCE: senate.gov.ph

Thank God the Bishop is not a boot licker like the Guv. From GMANews.tv:

A retired Roman Catholic bishop has backed out of leading the Mass to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the first people power revolution at the Our Lady of Peace Shrine on EDSA apparently after learning that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo might attend the event.

A church insider who requested anonymity said retired Bishop Francisco Claver of Bontoc-Lagawe has dropped the invitation for him to lead the noon Mass at the EDSA Shrine Monday when told that Mrs Arroyo would be coming.

“The bishop was scheduled to say Mass but backed out when told Mrs Arroyo might come,” the source said in a telephone interview.

Asked to comment, Claver, reached by telephone, refused to say why he dropped the invitation.

I hope the other bishops will follow our kailiyan’s example and likewise shun Gloria. For too long the bishops have hemmed and hawed while the nation burned.

The country would have moved forward if the CBCP supported the calls for Gloria’s impeachment the first time allegations of her cheating surfaced in 2005. Back then, the bishops turned out to be a bunch of fence sitters. It’s not surprising that Gloria got bolder and more corrupt. As the cliche goes, “All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men/women to do nothing.”

That’s exactly what the CBCP has been doing. It sat idly by while Gloria and her cronies mocked us with their corrupt ways. There were, of course, some bishops who were vocal about their criticisms of the current regime. Thank God for that.

Anyways, let’s hope that more bishops will follow Bishop Claver and finally say no to Gloria. They should stop being her tools.

By the way, if you are in Manila and would like to participate in some People Power events, visit Ellen’s blog for the schedule of activities. Also click here to see some Gloria dolls.