We are reprinting this article,first published last year,as we prepare to have the most fun this summer.
By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files
Video by Mario Ignacio IV
The heat tells us summer is almost here. Time to prepare our bodies for the summer exposure.
Three physical fitness personal trainers – Angie M. Miranda and Jensen G. Centeno of Fitness First, Mall of Asia, and Christian S. Cerezo, formerly of Fitness First Southmall and now a freelance PT, share tips, that coupled with proper diet, will help you achieve the body worth a second glance when on the beach. In the video, they show several variations to the basic exercises like lunge or squat in order to give options, depending on one’s capability to perform the activity.
I did this article for Rogue Magazine (June 2013 issue). I’m re-printing it here as additional material in the discussion of the recently Supreme Court upheld provision on online libel in the 2012 Cybercrime Prevention Act and President Aquino’s defense of it.
Aquino in Davao Oriental, Feb. 24.President Aquino thinks media owe him.
In all his speaking engagements before media organizations, he has consistently grumbled about what he insists is the Philippine press’ penchant for negative stories, especially those about his government.
“It seems they have become accustomed to criticizing. It seems some are allergic to good news. When they can’t avoid such news, they look for the bad angle,” he told the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas, an association of radio and TV networks, point blank in November 2012.
A few months earlier, at the national conference of the Philippine Press Institute made up of newspaper publishers, Aquino was even harsher: He likened journalists to “crabs” who,he said, would pull down those going up.
The President’s main beef was what he deemed as media’s failure to highlight the accomplishments of his then almost two-year administration. Foreign media cared more about Philippine national interest, he took pains to stress, offering as proof a Newsweek report of the Philippines standing up to China on the conflicting territorial claims and a Time Magazine article that praised “the laggard of Asia (as) recovering the dynamism it had in the 1960s.”
Geography doesn’t matter to Aquino when he feels like bashing media.
AFP Chiel Emmanuel BautistaWhy did it take Armed Forces Chief of Staff Emmanuel Bautista almost a month to tell the President and the Department of Foreign Affairs about the Chinese Coast Guards using water cannons against Filipino fishermen in Bajo de Masinloc?
The incident was reported when Bautista told Monday the foreign correspondents in the Philippines about the incident: “Chinese Coast Guard tried to drive away Filipino fishing vessels to the extent of using water cannon.
Asked if the Philippines would lodge a protest over the incident, Bautista said they would first have to investigate.
What? Twenty-eight days have passed and the government is still investigating?
Now we know there is a problem with Malacanang’s communication system. Whether Malacanang knows that is a completely different matter.
Two letters that later on became of national, even international, importance did not reach President Aquino. The first one was a letter from the late Jamalul Kiram III sent in 2010 in the first few months of the Aquino presidency and the other one was just last year from Maria Teresa Martinez, mother of Michael Christian Martinez, the 17-year old who, for the first time, enabled the Philippine flag to fly proudly in the Winter Olympics by making it to the finals of the 2014 Winter Olympics figure skating competition in Sochi, Russia. This, despite lack of financial support from the government.
SC justices prepare to hear arguments on 2012 Cybercrime Prevention Law . Photo by Yahoo.ph
We did not fully get what we asked Supreme Court regarding the Republic Act 10175 otherwise known as the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 which was to declare the whole of it as unconstitutional primarily because of its libel provisions. But we can live with the Supreme Court decision released yesterday.
We still have to fully analyze the SC decision which upheld the constitutionality of the controversial law but struck down the most odious “take down”provision which empowered the Department of Justice) to restrict or block access to any online post which it deemed violating the law without any court order.
The court also said only original authors of libelous material are covered by the cybercrime law, and not those who merely received or reacted to it. So those who “liked” and shared a libelous online item won’t be punished. Good luck to whoever is tasked to trace the original author after a post is shared and reposted thousands of times.
Yolanda survivors Lito G. Abucejo, 47, a carpenter and his wife, Rebecca, 44, marked the 100th day after the super typhoon slammed into Manicani Island in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, in a newly-built house.
The Abucejos have folded their United Nations-donated tent, which was their shelter the past three months, and are now living in a new structure built where their old house once stood.
The Abucejo’s new house is one of the more than 400 being built by Nickel Asia Corporation (NAC), which owns a non-operating nickel mine in Manicani.
Coco lumber felled by Yolanda are being used for the 30-square meter houses, being built on the property of the survivors. They are expected to last four to five years.
TV shows should interview Vicky Belo how she plans to transform those who are currently under WPP. Benhur Luy of the PDAF/Janet Napoles scam, for example. Who does he want to look like? It would not be advisable to look like a celebrity in the local scene. It would create complications which they should avoid. The less controversial they would be under their new persona, the better. He can choose to look like Tom Cruise or Channing Tatum.
How would Belo transform Norie Unas, former chief of staff of former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr, who is a state witness in the electoral sabotage case against Gloria Arroyo?
Ruby Tuason in Senate hearing.Sorry, but I don’t share the euphoria of Sen. TG Guingona, chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee, over the testimony of Ruby Tuason in the Senate yesterday.
After the hearing Guingona enthused: “A three-point shot na buzzer beater na, winning shot pa.”
Haaaah?
Sure, Tuason detailed her role as “commissioner” in the anomalous operation of Janet Napoles with Senators Juan Ponce-Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada using the Priority Development Assistant Fund allotted for small-scale projects in poor communities. But except for some details, all that she said were already revealed by whistleblowers Ben Hur Luy, Merlina Suñas, Arthur Luy, Gertrudes K. Luy, Annabelle Luy, and Nova Batal Macalintal.
Does Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario have a problem with the case filed with the United Nations Arbitral Court against China’s nine-dash line map that prompted him to commission Social Weather Stations to do a survey which focused on the case and the problem with China in the West Philippine Sea?
SWS conducted a nationwide survey among 1,550 respondents on Dec. 11 through 16.
Foreign Affairs Spokesman Raul Hernandez said they wanted to know the sentiments of the public on specific issues and the results showed that the Filipino people “overwhelmingly” support the case filed by the Philippines at the UN Arbitral Tribunal January last year.
The results could not be less than “overwhelming” what with questions like “Dahil ang Tsina ay malakas sa aspetong military at ekonomiya, sinampahan natin ng kaso ang Tsina sa United nation sa paniniwalang pantay-pantay ang labanan sa ilalim ng batas internasyunal. Sang-ayon ba kayo o hindi?” (Opinion on whether the international law is a great equalizer against countries that are stronger militarily and economically.) Answer: 77% Yes; 15 % No; 8% Don’t know. Overwhelming approval
