City of London Is Falling Down

The past several days we've heard and seen how the heart of England has been smashed, burned and looted. And the world asks why? We have been given several reasons, but none so equivocally. The Atlantic Wire summarized it down to six:

1. Opportunistic Criminality
2. Ruling Conservative Party's austerity measures--a mixture of spending cuts and tax hikes
3. Simmering Problems Among Black Youth
4. Simmering Problems Among All Youth
5. Hard Economic Times
6. Wealth Disparities

Granted that all of the above are true, are they enough to burn down a city and lose humanity? To be devoid of reason like irrational animals? With apologies to these animals.

Grudgingly, I want to embrace Gabriela, Anak Bayan, Bayan Muna, Partido ng Manggagawa and other leftist groups for their tamer approach to going on strike. To bring up EDSA 1 will be a stretch.

Some blame multi-culturism in Europe, leaving racist remarks like leave Europe to the whites; the colored ones go back to their third-world origin. Well, why not? But who's gonna clean the oven, who's gonna clean the toilet? Still, if the Western World is so bad, why does half the world long for it and be in it? Why can't the world just sit still where they are and be happy while at it?

Because the grass is always greener in Europe and there's a-plenty at the land of milk and honey and the great dream always comes true in the land of the free. Never mind if Malaysia is truly Asia or the Philippines has more than the usual.

Thus, we have these:






(Above pictures aren't mine, of course. Thank you to the various sources on the Net.)

Bound to Brokenheart

Someone asked me where I was going. I said I'm...

I was warned not to reach for the sky, just watch the beauty and enjoy. But like a moth to a lamp, I allowed myself to be burned.

Yes, I have asked the Universe for the sky, not the world. In asking for the sky I also asked to be allowed to fly, to have wings for a dream.

Today, I still see my feet firmly rooted to the ground as gravity pulls me down each time I try to lift me up.

Gravity and the universe put things in order by limiting one to a box, to a world made for stereotypes and destinies drawn since birth.

Seriously, can one fly and not ask for too much?

Migz, Merci, Angie

I was in a cab from Eastwood going to Megamall when this man on the radio, a politician by the sound of him, started rattling off his achievements and how much they cost and who benefitted. After a minute or so, I recognized him as Migz Zubiri. That he helped build this school, those classrooms, that hospital, those roads; sent hundreds of college students to school, helped countless of sick people get well, and that no one who came to his office left unaided. Wow! Why hadn't I come to his office? He was never absent in congress. He authored hundreds of bills which quite a number were passed into laws.

I started looking for earplugs. What a privilege "I'm the greatest" speech! Then...

He was sincere. He was dedicated. But he was husband first before he was a senator; a father first before a legislator. And because people, majority of them Filipinos, are so fond of "romanticizing the past," he could not do his job as wholeheartedly as before. Anymore.

The past few weeks, people have come out one by one, group by group, giving their own confessions about the fraud in the 2007 elections; revelations that point to him as one of the beneficiaries of the wholesale electoral cheating in Mindanao when the incumbent registered 12 against the opposition's 0, reminiscent of the 2004 scandal when Gloria helloed Garci.

His family: his wife and children suffer every day the news drags his name each time they talk about cheating in the 2007 elections. They have them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So he resigns. He simply cannot go on with the indignity of it all and pretend it is not happening, half hoping GMA would come to the rescue and release a gag memo. The only problem is we now have a new president and his name isn't Gloria.

So he resigns.

Before him, Merceditas Gutierrez resigned. Before her, a former general put a bullet through his heart.

And CHED would still not budge and sign up for that glorious Twitter account.

I dropped by the mega mall to check if National Bookstore's 70% cut price was real. Bogus. I went home with a book cut down by measly 20%.

I Still Don't Get RH

Before I type my opinions away again, I've read Senate Bill 2865 or AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A NATIONAL POLICY ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT.

After reading, I'm exasperated by the fact that a lot of the sections in this bill are redundant with existing laws. May I speak only about those I sincerely and categorically know about.

SEC. 15. Employers' Responsibilities. - The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) shall ensure that employers respect the reproductive rights of workers and their right to gender equality.

Employers shall also uphold the right of all workers to know work conditions which may affect their health, particularly those related to their reproductive health. Employers shall furnish in writing the following information to all employees and applicants:

(a) The medical and health benefits which workers are entitled to, including maternity and paternity leave benefits; and

(b) The reproductive health hazards associated with work, including hazards that may affect their reproductive functions especially for pregnant women.

If Section 15 does not exist yet, I will sue my company for an amount equivalent to my salary times the number of months I have been with them. But I can't because these things are already in effect. Mama Mia!

SEC. 17. Duties and Responsibilities…

(e) Corporate citizens shall exercise prudence in advertising its products or services through all forms of media, especially on matters relating to sexuality, further taking into consideration its influence on children and the youth.

Do we need a new law for this? Seriously? Well, if we're dealing with Mr. Willie Revillame, maybe. But heck, do we need the RH Law to finally put Revillame out of business?

SEC. 21. Appropriations. - The amounts appropriated in the current annual General Appropriations Act (GAA) for reproductive health and natural and artificial family planning under the DOH and POPCOM and other concerned agencies shall be allocated and utilized for the implementation of this Act. Such additional sums necessary to provide for the upgrading of facilities necessary to meet BEMONC and CEMONC standards; the training and deployment of skilled health providers; natural and artificial family planning commodity requirements as outlined in Sec. 10, and for other 20 reproductive health services, shall be included in the subsequent years' general appropriations. The Gender and Development (GAD) funds of LGUs and national agencies shall be a source of funding for the implementation of this Act.

Bingo! So there is an existing "annual General Appropriations Act (GAA) for reproductive health and natural and artificial family planning under the DOH and POPCOM." Then what are we still debating on here?

GAD fund is mandated to be 5% of LGU's total appropriation. And GAD budget supports "personal services, for example, the salaries of workers directly engaged in GAD programs, project and activities; maintenance and other Operating Expenses for the cost of managing a women’s shelter, a women’s health project, training of women in non-traditional occupations, and training of field workers in GAD, among others; and capital outlay such as building of and providing equipment for women’s shelters and training centers for women."

This is all under Executive Order 273, which approved and adopted the Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive Development (PPGD) – 1995-2025.

Can we not just make do with an existing law, we need to create new ones? Can't we simply add flesh to it? Or give more meaning to it? Do we have too much time in our hands to debate? Too much budget surplus for coffee and bottled water and pancit canton and empanada in the Senate during sponsorship speeches?

And if pro-RH Bill folks are so hell-bent in protecting women and children, then instead of RH, let's focus on the Divorce Bill which makes more, so much more sense. But of course, that's going to be another war waged against the Catholic Church.

Movies: HP7PII and Facebook

I watched Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 2 last Tuesday afternoon when the office sent employees home due to Juaning. Come on.

There were no long lines, no whiny fans, no all-knowing fanatics, no running children, no mess, no hazards. Just a theater and a ticket seller and a ticket checker.

And the movie. Was it within my expectations of the HP final installment? Some short points.

1. Harry is better looking in this movie than in the previous ones, after Azkaban. What can I say, I'm still a girl. But an older Harry, 19 years later, could have been better looking. Come on, better men age better, look better.

2. I disagree with some reviews that this installment had too many fight scenes. What do you expect, a stream of consciousness technique?

3. A kissing scene in the midst of war? What is this? The Vancouver riot after the Canucks lost to Boston in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals?

4. Alan Rickman's Severus Snape was good but didn't give me goosebumps, just "Hmmm."

5. Harry's heir apparent was too timid. He was supposed to be a Weasley, too, wasn't he? And was supposed to have been raised without fear and violence by loving parents. So why? A changeling?

The winner of the 83rd Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, The Social Network, does have some witty lines. I particularly like the scene between the Harvard president Larry Summers and the Winklevoss twins.

SUMMERS: That’s just their own stupidity, I should have been there. Darkness is the absence of light and stupidity in that instance was the absence of me.

SUMMERS: Everyone at Harvard is inventing something. Harvard undergraduates believe that inventing a job is better than finding a job so I’ll suggest again that the two of you come up with a new "new project."

And more outstanding exchanges, between and among characters. Why did I not watch this in the theater? Was this movie even premiered here? Oh well.

Despite all good points, I wouldn't be surprised if traditional feminists raise hell what with the way women are depicted in this movie. I wouldn't even go there.