Category: Malaya

Survey questions the DFA did not ask

Published by Ellen on February 11, 2014

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.

Mesmerizing performance by violinist Chino Gutierrez

Published by Ellen on February 9, 2014

Chino Gutierrez from Adoborice terraces Youtube

Violinist Joaquin Maria “Chino” Gutierrez’s performance Saturday night at the Insular Theatre at the Filinvest Corporate City in Alabang was mesmerizing; we forgot, just for the night, all the toxic reports that we have to deal with about our officials and other public personalities.

Gutierrez “Revelry” concert was a repeat of the successful concert he had last year at the Francisco Santiago Auditorium in Makati. With collaborating artist Corazon Pineda Kabayao in the piano, Gutierrez treated music lovers to Ysaye’s Sonata No. 2, Cesar Franck Sonata in A major, Suite Italienne by Stravinsky, Wieniawski’s Polonaise Brilliante in A major, La Deportacion by Dr. Jose Rizal-Kabayao and Tzigane by Ravel.

His rendition of “Bayan Ko” (one of the several encores) was nakakatindig balahibo.

Last Saturday’s concert is probably the last that Gutierrez will be giving before he leaves for Munich on March 3 to finish his Bachelor’s degree program in Violin Performance at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Munchen.

Fight child abuse, boycott Woody Allen’s films

Published by Ellen on February 4, 2014

I have scratched out “Blue Jasmine”, a movie directed by Woody Allen starring Cate Blanchett, from the list of not-to-be-missed movies this year.

From now on, I will not watch any Woody Allen movie in sympathy with the cause of Dylan Farrow, daughter of American actress Mia Farrow, who came out last week with an open letter re-opening the painful childhood episode with her adoptive father.

Last week Allen was honored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association with the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award, given to those who have made “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.”
A few days after the award ceremonies, which Allen did not attend (the award was accepted for him by actress Diane Keaton), New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof carried the heart-wrenching letter of 28- year-old Dylan.

Pride fuels standoff with Hongkong

Published by Ellen on February 2, 2014

The current standoff with Hongkong is an example of the danger of ignorance, power, and pride combined. As American minister Robert Fulghum said in his book,All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, “Ignorance and power and pride are a deadly mixture, you know.”

Hongkong Chief Executive CY Leung announces the lifting of no-visa privilege for Philippine government officials including diplomats.

Last week, the Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced that the current 14-day visa-free arrangement for visiting Philippine diplomats and officials would be suspended starting Wednesday, February 5.

The sanction, which does not cover Filipinos who are going to Hongkong as tourists, is still over the Aug. 23, 2010 hostage- taking where eight Hongkong residents were killed after a disgruntled and desperate Filipino policeman hostaged a bus-load of Hongkong tourists at the Rizal Park in Manila.

In response, Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Secretary Raul Hernandez issued the government position of no apology, just regret.

How not to get stressed out by Vhong-Deniece-Cedric overdose

Published by Ellen on January 30, 2014

The main characters in a blockbuster telenovela

A lot of “educated” people are grumbling as they enumerate what is happening in the country:

• More than 30 people are reported to have been killed in Maguindanao in clashes that erupted immediately after the government signed the last of the annexes in the peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

• Hongkong cancelled visa-free entry to the territory for Philippine official and diplomatic passport holders starting February 5 as part of its sanctions against the Philippine government in connection with the 2010 Manila hostage crisis.

Wanted: Tagalog word for “human trafficking”

Published by Ellen on January 23, 2014

From the MTV Enslaved — From the MTV “Enslaved”

In an informal survey conducted by a civil society group working to stop human trafficking, they asked people in the streets what comes to their mind when they hear the phrase “human trafficking.”

Everybody answered:“Traffic.” As in vehicular traffic.

Such is the level of public awareness about human trafficking- the trade in human beings for several purposes, most commonly sexual slavery, pornography, forced labor , extraction of organs or tissues, surrogacy.

Liars all

Published by Ellen on January 22, 2014

He is not the epitome of intelligence and good public service but his story about the breakfast meeting is revealing of Malacañang's methods under Aquino. — He is not the epitome of intelligence and good public service but his story about the breakfast meeting is revealing of Malacañang’s methods under Aquino.

Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr., one of the three senators charged with plunder before the Ombudsman in connection with alleged anomalous use of Priority Development Assistance Fund, related Monday an incident that took place in December 2012, a few days before the conclusion of the impeachment of ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Revilla said Roxas, who was then secretary of Transportation and Communication, invited him to a morning meeting at his residence in Cubao. From there, they went to Malacañang’s Bahay Pangarap, Aquino’s residence, with Roxas driving the SUV and he was seated at the back seat.

Revilla said Roxas had the license plate of the SUV removed.

Save the children from perverts

Published by Ellen on January 19, 2014

One of the memorable movies shown last year was “Alagwa: starting Jericho Rosales as the widower Robert Lim and Bugoy Cariño as the boy Brian.

Directed by Ian Loreños, it’s a heartbreaking story of the young father’s search for his son who was kidnapped in a mall.. Lim (Rosales) left the son in the Men’s Room to attend to something. When he returned for the boy, he was gone. Later, in the CCTV which the police officers obtained, they saw a man approach his son as the boy stepped out of the Men’s Room. The man must have said something to convince the boy to go with him. (Warning to parents: never leave your children, even for a moment, in public places.)

In Lim’s search for his son, he stepped into the harrowing world of child trafficking. Years later, he found his son a beggar in Hongkong.

A celibate Kris Aquino as president will eradicate poverty in PH

Published by Ellen on January 16, 2014

Kris shares with Boy Abunda her theory about her success.

I cannot imagine the Philippines without Kris Aquino. It would be boring.

I want Kris Aquino for President.

Everybody talks about the need for out-of-the box solutions to the problem of poverty that is the lot of almost a third of the country’s 99 million population. Kris Aquino has found the solution: don’t have sex and you will be blessed with money beyond your dreams.

In an interview last Tuesday with best friend Boy Abunda in her classy all-white house, Aquino couldn’t contain her joy for all the blessings coming her way: the box-office success of the movie of her son, Bimby, even if critics said it was inane (one critic said it was “contempt for the audience”); a hefty new contract with ABS-CBN after she floated the rumor that she was considering the job offer of businessman Manny V. Pangilinan to head TV5; plus many more.

China’s smallest province plays big role in South China Sea claim

Published by Ellen on January 15, 2014

Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier, back from a test mission in Hainan. — Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier, back from a test mission in Hainan.

Alarm bells rang again with the announcement last week by China that Hainan, its southernmost province, was implementing a Fishery Law that requires foreign fishing boats to get its approval when venturing into the South China Sea starting Jan. 1, 2014.

Hainan, with an area of 32,900 square kilometers, is China’s smallest province. Yet the Fishery Law, which China claims to have been adopted in 1993 and amended in 2008, puts under Hainan’s authority two million square kilometers of the vast South China Sea (estimate size is 3.5 million square kilometers), parts of it are also being claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.