Who is responsible?

During the time of Marcos, countless persons disappeared without trace. Only God and the abductors know what happened to them and where they are now.

The Marcos era ended long time ago but the anguish and anger that was etched in the hearts of countless mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, relatives and friends who were left behind, will stay forever.

Twenty years after Marcos rule and numerous EDSA’s we are again hounded by fears that the evil ways of the past or the evil himself are back in our midst.

Look at these pictures. These are our young and intelligent children, the hope of our nation. They are missing because the attack dogs of some evil people (who loves harming innocent and helpless civilians) abducted them.

Dahil habang ang karamihan sa akademya ay pinipili para sa kanilang thesis ang mga mas “safe” na paksa tulad ng identiy, sexuality, citizenship at kung anu-ano pang chorva, mas pinili niyang mag-engage sa usaping mas mahalaga at napapanahon — ang usapin ng mga magsasaka.

Pumunta siya sa Bulacan upang manaliksik ukol sa kalagayan ng mga magsasaka roon. Dahil sa mga panahong tulad nito, ang mga intelektwal, lalo na tayong mga iskolar ng bayan, ay dapat pumusisyon. Dahil sa totoong mundo, ang mga tunay na nakagagagap sa reyalidad ay ang mga taong gingipit ng pamahalaan. — Ms. Jonnabelle Asis, Instructor, UP Dept. of Sociology

When Marcos was alive and until today, we held him responsible for the many involuntary disappearances and political killings that happened during his despotic rule.

I am asking you now. Who do you think is responsible for the disappearances of these two young ladies and (the countless) unknown people, and those who are killed and who will be killed for political reasons?

I am worried. I have a lot of reason to worry about. My only daughter is starting to come out from her protected shell. Her mind is being awakened by the harsh realities of Philippine life.

Sooner or later, she will have her baptism. Not through a priest inside the church but from the police outside the open street.

Today is a Red shirt day in her school. Today is the SONA of Gloria. Today, July 24, 2006 might be my daughter’s baptism day.

Oh God, please keep her and thousands of them safe.

Related Articles:
LFS calls for release of Karen and Sher
RELEASE THE ABDUCTED UP STUDENTS, CITIZENS
Where are our students? – Inside PCIJ
Philippines – Amnesty International
The Human Rights Record of the Arroyo Administration:
Impeachment Move vs Arroyo to Include Killings

Tags: pinoy, Pilipinas, Philippines, Philippines Human Rights, Philippines politics, Gloria Arroyo, University of the Philippines Students, missing persons, myepinoy,

Protected: No more tears..

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Who knows?

Ever since I started to love our country, I have a nagging question inside my small brain – why is our country moving backward? Without any clear answer, my logical mind tend to believe: that lust for power has something to do with it – Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely., that most of if not all our leaders and citizens are already corrupted by the rotten system.

Last week Archbishop Ramon Arguelles made a disturbing statement to justify the decision of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) not to back the impeachment bid against Gloria Arroyo. My logical mind somehow got a good piece of an answer.

“Talaga naman nandaya, e. Pero kahit nandaya, maliwanag naman na si Presidente ang nanalo. Hindi siguro one million (votes) pero siguro mga ilang hundred thousand.”

“Lahat naman nandaya, e. Natalo lang ‘yung iba sa dayaan.“

As I understood what the good archbishop meant (doing bad or immoral thing is okay if everyone is doing it to everybody), without doubt, is one of the reasons why our country is going down.

Having a small brain in my head, half of which are filled with blog things, I now presume that perhaps, the same kind of people like the archbishop with twisted mind were the people who taught our parents and our politicians about the concept of right and wrong. It is somewhat ironic that most if not all of our parents, politicians, and us graduated from the schools run by the archbishop’s kind (priests, nuns, or a religious order).

Who knows that during our early years in their churches, one of them taught us, in subtle way, the twisted reasoning that cheating is not cheating when everybody is cheating everyone. Who knows, one of our early teachers (hired and educated by them) and the so-called moralist of our society think the way the archbishop thinks?

Maybe my assumption and my thoughts here reflect how twisted my mind is. Maybe the archbishop shaped and twisted it.

Who knows?

I am worried.

A lot of questions now linger in my mind. Would the good archbishop agree and say the same thing if all Filipinas do abortions? Would the good archbishop officiate marriage if groups of Filipino gays and lesbians ask him?

Is Archbishop Ramon Arguelles’ twisted concept the general stand of the archbishops in the Philippines?

“Lahat naman nandaya, e. Natalo lang ‘yung iba sa dayaan.“

Then you worry!

My simple prayer: Father forgive me for I have blogged so much. Forgive me for I have ranted a lot. In return, I offer this rant for free to Archbishop Ramon Arguelles.

Related post: here

Technorati tags: Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, CBCP, Philippine politics, Philippines, pinoy, myepinoy

Meet The G4

This is the first photo that I uploaded to my newly opened account in picasaweb.google.com.

The G4 with Jolo, my godson at Hard Rock Cafe, Manila.
(Parang kailan lang. Ang Biiiliiiis ng panahon..)

Flickr.com, where I maintained my photos is no longer accessible in this part of the world. They (the good guys) again BANNED (ISU Blocked URL) flickr together with photobucket.com, youtube.com and other similar sites. It is funny though because I can still see my favorite flickr photos by kieron and mxr through my flock browser’s photos and feed reader. I guess their software has some bugs.

Whatever reasons these good guys have, I do not care and I do not want to know either.

How long will this picasaweb.google.com be accessible to me?

I do not know also.

Technorati tags: flock, images, photo, photo gallery, picasa, banned, myepinoy

We are who we are

Everyday as I come home from work, I have (it has become) a habit to open my pc and connect to the net immediately. It is as if I have not opened anything in the office. The urge is so great. I cannot let each day pass without doing this, not only for minutes but also for long hours.

The symptoms are clear but somehow, I do not want to admit to myself that I am becoming or have become a full-blown Internet or blog addict. For reason that I cannot explain, I still do not consider myself as one. Probably this is my kind of self-shame avoidance or simply, I do not want to face it.

Like most, if not all our government officials and politicians, they too are obviously addicts — addicts for power, addicts for money, addicts for fame and addicts for using and abusing people. They too know what it is like to be one. They too know the symptoms, and yet, they too, do not want to admit or consider themselves as one.

How can they ignore the fact that people are suffering because of their crazy acts? How can they do them repeatedly and every time finds ways to justify them as acts done for the common good? Is it not obvious that they too have that illusions or hallucinations that most addicts have?

For all we know, you or me, all of us ordinary citizens, are the ones they call as addicts. Addicts to their rule, addicts to their extravagance, addicts to their abuses, addicts to their stupidity and to all the bad things they do. (Contrary to what we are saying and shouting in the streets, still, many of us do not consider them as one.)

How can we ignore the facts that scandalous acts by these people sell newspapers and at the same time, television and radio stations get the ratings they want, columnists and writers make money writing about their stupidity and lapse in judgments, and many still cry when they die? Is it not very obvious that many of us have illusions too? Perhaps, we have delusions that someday we will become them. (No wonder, many of us happily send them to heaven rather than mercilessly kicking them straight to hell. Or this is the right way, we just let them enjoy for a while.)

Perhaps, many of us are far above the ground. Probably many of us have some kind of self-shame-avoidance as well or many of us are addicts beyond rehabilitation.

Are we or are we not? I wish we were not!

Related to this post: Shame on you F.., User number 69

Technorati tags : politician, politics, Filipino, Philippines, Pinoy, News and politics, myepinoy, Sundot Lang

Odds Wanted!

In my many years working with the equities market, I have observed that there are specific characteristics or behavior common to most people who trade in equities market regardless of culture, background, orientation, and nationality.

I call these people as Odd lots because of their obvious odd behavior.  Here is my list.

The Denial King: “O I’ve been losing a hell of money.” This is the most frequent dialogue that you will hear from this person but on scrutiny, he is saying the opposite. He is actually making money.

The Bragging King: This is the complete opposite of the Denial King. His frequent line “I made money on this and on that.” He loves to brag as if he is good at what he is doing, but looking closer, yes he made some but the bottom line is he is losing money.

The Greedy Gook: This type of people is never satisfied. He does not have any specific target on how much he would like to earn from his investment. He is overly positive or optimistic. The typical line, “It is still not time to sell yet. This company still has lots of power to kick in higher. You’ll see it will still go up.” This person normally ends up just sitting on his money and burning it in the process without putting them in his pocket.

The Ambitious Gullible: This one typically belongs to the Aunt Millie group. He does not know what he is going into except that he heard the Bragging King talking. This one always believed what he hears even from an unknown person who does not even know what a stock market is.

The Inquisitive Guy: This guy normally asked too many questions about the market including almost everything from economic outlook to economic data and down to the number of shares traded and even the market holidays. The worst thing is that this person is not doing any trades at all.

The One Way Bitch: This person is a perennial pain in the neck (..s). He always complains about almost everything including trivial matters like slow postal service (that delivers his statements which the company has no control of), and even blames you for his losses due to his bad decision. He is quiet though when things are in his favor.

The most common and frequent question these people ask you (almost) every time you talk to them is “What company (stocks) can you recommend to me that I can make sure profit?” My God, if I can exactly identify them, I must be very rich now and will not work to serve them. Moreover, I will NEVER tell them either!

Haven’t these people noticed that analysts and experts frequently change their forecasts?

Do you also have Odd lots in your workplace?

Techorati tags: Stock Trading, Investing, Customer, People, Odd Lot, myepinoy

Superman Returns

During the past few days, especially before the end of June, almost all the blogs that I have visited wrote something about the movie of the Man of Steel, Superman Returns. Many of them said that they would watch it, they have watched it, and some and if not all said the movie was good.

Heck if this movie is good or not. Are you teasing me? There are no movie houses in this part of the world. It is haram (bad). So, how do I know? I do not or will not have any idea until: the pirates got hold of a copy and reach this place, watch it on my next vacation or if this country allows the entry of the DVD in the coming months or years.

You know what, the Superman movie is very memorable to me most especially the theme song Can You Read My Mind? This song was the favorite of my ex-girlfriend. She was in love with this song and with me for twelve months. Unfortunately, our wonderful romance ended barely a day after twelve months.

I feel that this music had something to do with our parting ways. I guess that she internalized the lyrics so much; the meaning entered her body and soul like a computer virus that she started asking me these questions.

Can you read my mind?
Do you know what it is you do to me?
Don’t know who you are.
Just a friend from another star.

I did not have any answers to all these. I am no Superman and can never be one! I am just a man with chinky eyes, no more and no less. Therefore, she said, “See you around Mr. myepinoy, hope we can still be friends”. I said, “It is okay”, but inside my mind — good riddance, ha ha (Just kidding). “Hope you find your Superman” (Is there really a Superman in real life?)

Days passed and the chinky-eyed people from Korea invaded the prime time spots in most of the TV stations in my country. Somehow, I become famous too. “O Sir you looked like Wu Tsen Sen”, whatever. As this is the case, I supposed, she must have fallen in love again with one of the romantic theme songs from the Korea Novelas. I guess, one way or the other, she remembers me.

Now, that Superman Returns, I believe she will remember me even more. Again, she will be singing lines from her favorite song.

Here I am, like a kid at the school
Holding hands with a god or a fool
Will you look at me, quivering,
Like a little girl, shivering,

After long years, Superman Returns as Superman . Me, still the same chinky-eyed man, no longer young and no possibility of being a Superman, ever.

You, has Superman Return to you or not yet?

Note: This is the English translation of my post with the same title from my Tagalog Blog myepinoy’s BLAG in response to Lorelle’s Blog Challenge.

technorati tags:Superman+Returns, Movies, Music, Blog, Personal+Blogging, Blogging+Challenge, Story, myepinoy

Talking about linking and networking

This one caught my attention while reading my favorite feeds.

No Alps, just 200 brides in RP’s ‘Swiss village’

Published on page A1 of the July 9, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

BOLINAO, PANGASINAN—Somewhere in this western Pangasinan town a Swiss village rises. But don’t look for Swiss watches, Swiss chocolates or even snow-capped Alpine peaks. For 20 years now, the women from the sub-village of Lipong, Barangay Luciente 2 (population: 2,922) have been marrying men from Switzerland.

According to the article, this started in the ’90s when A Swiss gentleman who was looking for a bride, fell in love and got married to a Filipina, a rice vendor, who started pairing off two Swiss men to two of her sisters. Later, she started a sort of mail-order bride service in Switzerland to help her village mate.

The series of marriages began.

technorati tags:News, Filipina, Philippines, Switzerland, Boilnao+Pangasinan, myepinoy, networking

Blogs as medium to protect people

I would like to ask you a very IMPORTANT QUESTION.

Can blog be used to protect someone? Would this medium help deter any threats from happening to someone?

What do you think are needed (photos, text messages, etc.) to make this as an effective deterrent?

Please let me know what you think. Just write/leave me a comment at the box below.

Thank you so much.

Notice: This post will run simultaneously in these blogs: myepinoy’s BLAG and Ekspat Fil Blog

Technorati Tags: blog, internet, web log, call, save, people, myepinoy, Nafisa

Never heard about them

During my vacation last April 06, I was having my early barako coffee while waiting for my friend to pick me up for a tennis game. One of my sons (BS-Music student) was reading a newspaper. I heard him say, “What the heck are these Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, over-the-counter, etc.” He was at the business section of that newspaper.

I noticed that he went through it several times probably trying to see if there was something that would let him understand what those “heck words” were. After few minutes, he gave up. He approached me and asked. “Dad what are these words?” while pointing to them.

I told him, “Anak, I never heard about them either, in my entire banking career, never.” My son gave me a different look and said, “Okay, I know what you mean.” He went to his room, opened the computer. After few minutes, I heard him, “Aha, there you are!” He came back to me and said, “You made my day! How on earth you told me you did not now these terms.” Again, I told him “I told you, I never heard about them, right?“

Didn’t I?

Side Note Rant:

I was reminded of one incident that caused my failure to attend my son’s graduation few years’ back. The culprit was the one true-blooded IT person who thought he had a very good idea about what was needed for the new system we were asking. He had this kind of arrogance that pisses me off every time we met in meetings. As always, he talked like “Ernie Baron” who has the answer for everything at any given time.

As such, he did not bother to consult us on the business side of it because in his mind, he knew the ins and the outs of it. He talked good. Yes, the management was impressed.

When the project started, he found out that things were not as simple as it seemed while he was talking his way in. He learned that Corporate Actions alone have many types; cash dividend, stock dividend, splits (reverse/forward), merger, spin-off, etc. He was amazed that any of these could happen in a particular company at one particular record date. Days passed by. He got lost with other terms like puts, calls, assignment/exercise, the short, the long and many others (in combination with other terms).

What happened after and the lessons learned? I bet you know exactly what they are.

Don’t you?

Related post: Black Monday Today, Stock trading terms and your Doctor .

technorati tags:Investment Terms, Stocks Trading, Over-the-counter, Words, News, Ernie Baron, Corporate Actions, myepinoy, expat_fil, Philippines