Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Why is the Filipino SPECIAL?
Filipinos are Brown
Their color is in the center of human racial strains.
This point is not an attempt at racism, but just for many Filipinos to realize that our color should not be a source of or reason for inferiority complex. While we pine for a fair complexion, the white people are religiously tanning themselves, whenever they could, under the sun or some artificial light, just to approximate the Filipino complexion.
Filipinos are a touching people
We have lots of love and are not afraid to show it. We almost inevitably create human chains with our perennial akbay (putting an arm around another shoulder), hawak (hold), yakap (embrace), himas (caressing stroke), (touch with the tip of the finger), kalong (sitting on someone else's lap), etc.
We are always reaching out, always seeking interconnection.
Filipinos are linguists
Put a Filipino in any city, any town around the world.
Give him a few months or even weeks and he will speak the local language there. Filipinos are adept at learning and speaking languages. In fact, it is not uncommon for Filipinos to speak at least three: his dialect, Filipino, and English. Of course, a lot speak an added language, be it Chinese, Spanish or, if he works abroad, the language of his host country.
In addition, Tagalog is not 'sexist.' While many "conscious" and "enlightened" people of today are just by now striving to be "politically correct" with their language and, in the process, bend to absurd depths in coining "gender sensitive" words, Tagalog has, since time immemorial, evolved gender-neutral words like asawa (husband or wife), anak (son or daughter), magulang (father or mother), kapatid (brother or sister), biyenan (father-in-law or mother-in-law) , manugang (son or daughter-in- law), bayani (hero or heroine), etc. Our languages and dialects are advanced and, indeed, sophisticated! It is no small wonder that Jose Rizal, the quintessential Filipino, spoke some twenty-two languages!
Filipinos are groupists
We love human interaction and company. We always surround ourselves with people and we hover over them, too. According to Dr. Patricia Licuanan, a psychologist from Ateneo, and Miriam College an average Filipino would have and know at least 300 relatives.
At work, we keep bayanihan (mutual help) alive; at play, we want a kalaro (playmate) more than laruan (toy). At socials, our invitations are open and it is more common even for guests to invite and bring in other guests. In transit, we do not want to be separated from our group. So what do we do when there is no more space in a vehicle? Kalung-kalong! (Sit on one another). No one would ever suggest splitting a group and waiting for another vehicle with more space!
Filipinos are weavers
One look at our baskets, mats, clothes and other crafts will reveal the skill of the Filipino weaver and his inclination to weaving. This art is a metaphor of the Filipino trait. We are social weavers. We weave theirs into ours that we all become parts of one another. We place a lot of premium on pakikisama (getting along) and pakikipagkapwa (relating). Two of the worst labels, walang pakikipagkapwa (inability to relate), will be avoided by the Filipino at almost any cost.
We love to blend and harmonize with people, we like to include them in our "tribe," in our "family" - and we like to be included in other people's families, too.
Therefore we call our friend's mother nanay or mommy; we call a friend's sister ate (eldest sister), and so on. We even call strangers tia (aunt) or tio (uncle), tatang (grandfather), etc.
So extensive is our social openness and interrelations that we have specific title for extended relations like hipag (sister-in-law’s spouse),balae (child-in-law' s parents), inaanak (godchild), ninong/ninang (godparents) kinakapatid (godparent's child), etc.
In addition, we have the profound 'ka' institution, loosely translated as "equal to the same kind" as in kasama (of the same company), kaisa (of the same cause), kapanalig (of the same belief), etc. In our social fiber, we treat other people as co-equals.
Filipinos, because of their social "weaving" traditions, make for excellent team workers.
Filipinos are adventurists
We have a tradition of separation. Our myths and legends speak of heroes and heroines who almost always get separated from their families and loved ones and are taken by circumstances to far-away lands where they find wealth or power.
Our Spanish colonial history is filled with separations caused by the reduccion (hamleting), and the forced migration to build towns, churches, fortresses or galleons. American occupation enlarged the space of Filipino wandering, including America, and there are documented evidences of Filipino presence in America as far back as 1587.
Now, Filipinos compose the world's largest population of overseas workers, populating and sometimes "threshing" major capitals, minor towns and even remote villages around the world. Filipino adventurism has made us today's citizens of the world, bringing the bagoong alamang (salty shrimp paste). Pansit (sauteed noodles), siopao (meat-filled dough), kare-kare (peanut-flavored dish), dinuguan (innards cooked in pork blood), balut (unhatched duck egg), and adobo (meat vinaigrette), including the tabo (dipper) and tsinelas (slippers) all over the world.
Filipinos are excellent at adjustments and improvisation, managing to recreate their home, or to feel at home anywhere.
Filipinos have Pakiramdam (deep feeling/discernment).
We know how to feel what others feel; sometimes even anticipate what they will feel. Being manhid (dense) is one of the worst labels anyone could get and will therefore, avoid at all cost. We know when a guest is hungry though the insistence on being full is assured.
We can tell if people are lovers even if they are miles apart. We know if a person is offended though he may purposely smile. We know because we feel.
In our pakikipagkapwa (relating/rapport), we get not only to wear another man's shoe but also his heart.
We have a superbly developed and honored gift of discernment, making us excellent leaders, counselors and go-betweens.
Filipinos are very spiritual
We are transcendent. We transcend the physical world, see the unseen and hear the unheard. We have a deep sense of kaba (premonition) and kutob (hunch). A Filipino wife will instinctively feel when her husband or child is going astray, whether or not telltale signs present themselves.
Filipino spirituality makes him invoke divine presence or intervention at nearly every bend of his journey. Rightly or wrongly, Filipinos are almost always acknowledging, invoking or driving away spirits into and from their lives. Seemingly trivial or even incoherent events can take on spiritual significance and will be given such space or consideration.
The Filipino has a sophisticated, developed pakiramdam. The Filipino, though becoming more and more modern (hence, materialistic) is still very spiritual in essence. This inherent and deep spirituality makes the Filipino, once correctly Christianized, a major exponent of the faith.
Filipinos are timeless
Despite the nearly half-a-millennium encroachment of the western clock into our lives, Filipinos - unless on very formal or official functions - still measure time not with hours and minutes but with feeling. This style is ingrained deep in our psyche. Our time is diffused, not framed. Our appointments are defined by umaga (morning), tanghali (noon), hapon (afternoon) or gabi (evening). Our most exact time reference is probably tanghaliang- tapat (high noon), which still allows many minutes of leeway.
That is how Filipino trysts and occasions are timed: there is really no definite time.
A Filipino event has neither clear-cut beginning nor ending. We have a fiesta, but there is bisperas (eve), A day after the fiesta is still considered a good time to visit. The Filipino Christmas is not confined to December 25th; it somehow begins months before December and extends up to the first days of January.
Filipino say good-bye to guests first at the head of the stairs, then down to the descamo (landing), to the entresuelo (mezzanine), to the pintuan (doorway), to the tarangkahan (gate), and if the departing persons are to take public transportation, up to the bus stop or bus station.
In a way, other people's tardiness and extended stays can really be annoying, but this peculiarity is the same charm of Filipinos who, being governed by timelessness, can show how to find more time to be nice, kind, and accommodating than his prompt and exact brothers elsewhere.
Filipinos are Spaceless
As in the concept of time, the Filipino concept of space is not numerical. We will not usually express expanse of space with miles or kilometers but with feelings in how we say malayo (far) or malapit (near).
Alongside with numberlessness, Filipino space is also boundless. Indigenous culture did not divide land into private lots but kept it open for all to partake of its abundance.
The Filipino has avidly remained "spaceless" in many ways. The interior of the bahay-kubo (hut) can easily become receiving room, sleeping room, kitchen, dining room, chapel, wake parlor, etc., depending on the time of the day or the needs of the moment. The same is true with the bahay na bato (stone house). Space just flows in to the next space that the divisions between the sala, caida, comedor or vilada may only be faintly suggested by overhead arches of filigree.
In much the same way, Filipino concept of space can be so diffused that ones party may creep into and actually expropriate the street! A family business, like a sari-sari store or talyer, may extend to the sidewalk and street. Provincial folks dry palay (rice grain) on the highways!
Religious groups of various persuasions habitually and matter-of-factly commandeer the streets for processions and parades. It is not uncommon to close a street to accommodate private functions; Filipinos eat, sleep, chat, socialize, quarrel, and even urinate, nearly everywhere or just anywhere!
"Spacelessness,” in the face of contemporary living, especially urban life, can be unlawful and may really be counter-productive. On the other hand, Filipino spacelessness, when viewed from his context, is just another manifestation of his spiritually and communal values. Adapted well to today's context, which may mean unstoppable urbanization, Filipino spacelessness may even be the answer and counter balance to humanity's greed, selfishness and isolation.
So, what makes the Filipino special?
We are brown, spiritual, timeless, spaceless, linguists, groupists, weavers, adventurists. Seldom do all these profound qualities find personification in a people. Filipinos should allow - and should be allowed to contribute their special traits to the world-wide community of men - but first, we should know and like ourselves.
Their color is in the center of human racial strains.
This point is not an attempt at racism, but just for many Filipinos to realize that our color should not be a source of or reason for inferiority complex. While we pine for a fair complexion, the white people are religiously tanning themselves, whenever they could, under the sun or some artificial light, just to approximate the Filipino complexion.
Filipinos are a touching people
We have lots of love and are not afraid to show it. We almost inevitably create human chains with our perennial akbay (putting an arm around another shoulder), hawak (hold), yakap (embrace), himas (caressing stroke), (touch with the tip of the finger), kalong (sitting on someone else's lap), etc.
We are always reaching out, always seeking interconnection.
Filipinos are linguists
Put a Filipino in any city, any town around the world.
Give him a few months or even weeks and he will speak the local language there. Filipinos are adept at learning and speaking languages. In fact, it is not uncommon for Filipinos to speak at least three: his dialect, Filipino, and English. Of course, a lot speak an added language, be it Chinese, Spanish or, if he works abroad, the language of his host country.
In addition, Tagalog is not 'sexist.' While many "conscious" and "enlightened" people of today are just by now striving to be "politically correct" with their language and, in the process, bend to absurd depths in coining "gender sensitive" words, Tagalog has, since time immemorial, evolved gender-neutral words like asawa (husband or wife), anak (son or daughter), magulang (father or mother), kapatid (brother or sister), biyenan (father-in-law or mother-in-law) , manugang (son or daughter-in- law), bayani (hero or heroine), etc. Our languages and dialects are advanced and, indeed, sophisticated! It is no small wonder that Jose Rizal, the quintessential Filipino, spoke some twenty-two languages!
Filipinos are groupists
We love human interaction and company. We always surround ourselves with people and we hover over them, too. According to Dr. Patricia Licuanan, a psychologist from Ateneo, and Miriam College an average Filipino would have and know at least 300 relatives.
At work, we keep bayanihan (mutual help) alive; at play, we want a kalaro (playmate) more than laruan (toy). At socials, our invitations are open and it is more common even for guests to invite and bring in other guests. In transit, we do not want to be separated from our group. So what do we do when there is no more space in a vehicle? Kalung-kalong! (Sit on one another). No one would ever suggest splitting a group and waiting for another vehicle with more space!
Filipinos are weavers
One look at our baskets, mats, clothes and other crafts will reveal the skill of the Filipino weaver and his inclination to weaving. This art is a metaphor of the Filipino trait. We are social weavers. We weave theirs into ours that we all become parts of one another. We place a lot of premium on pakikisama (getting along) and pakikipagkapwa (relating). Two of the worst labels, walang pakikipagkapwa (inability to relate), will be avoided by the Filipino at almost any cost.
We love to blend and harmonize with people, we like to include them in our "tribe," in our "family" - and we like to be included in other people's families, too.
Therefore we call our friend's mother nanay or mommy; we call a friend's sister ate (eldest sister), and so on. We even call strangers tia (aunt) or tio (uncle), tatang (grandfather), etc.
So extensive is our social openness and interrelations that we have specific title for extended relations like hipag (sister-in-law’s spouse),balae (child-in-law' s parents), inaanak (godchild), ninong/ninang (godparents) kinakapatid (godparent's child), etc.
In addition, we have the profound 'ka' institution, loosely translated as "equal to the same kind" as in kasama (of the same company), kaisa (of the same cause), kapanalig (of the same belief), etc. In our social fiber, we treat other people as co-equals.
Filipinos, because of their social "weaving" traditions, make for excellent team workers.
Filipinos are adventurists
We have a tradition of separation. Our myths and legends speak of heroes and heroines who almost always get separated from their families and loved ones and are taken by circumstances to far-away lands where they find wealth or power.
Our Spanish colonial history is filled with separations caused by the reduccion (hamleting), and the forced migration to build towns, churches, fortresses or galleons. American occupation enlarged the space of Filipino wandering, including America, and there are documented evidences of Filipino presence in America as far back as 1587.
Now, Filipinos compose the world's largest population of overseas workers, populating and sometimes "threshing" major capitals, minor towns and even remote villages around the world. Filipino adventurism has made us today's citizens of the world, bringing the bagoong alamang (salty shrimp paste). Pansit (sauteed noodles), siopao (meat-filled dough), kare-kare (peanut-flavored dish), dinuguan (innards cooked in pork blood), balut (unhatched duck egg), and adobo (meat vinaigrette), including the tabo (dipper) and tsinelas (slippers) all over the world.
Filipinos are excellent at adjustments and improvisation, managing to recreate their home, or to feel at home anywhere.
Filipinos have Pakiramdam (deep feeling/discernment).
We know how to feel what others feel; sometimes even anticipate what they will feel. Being manhid (dense) is one of the worst labels anyone could get and will therefore, avoid at all cost. We know when a guest is hungry though the insistence on being full is assured.
We can tell if people are lovers even if they are miles apart. We know if a person is offended though he may purposely smile. We know because we feel.
In our pakikipagkapwa (relating/rapport), we get not only to wear another man's shoe but also his heart.
We have a superbly developed and honored gift of discernment, making us excellent leaders, counselors and go-betweens.
Filipinos are very spiritual
We are transcendent. We transcend the physical world, see the unseen and hear the unheard. We have a deep sense of kaba (premonition) and kutob (hunch). A Filipino wife will instinctively feel when her husband or child is going astray, whether or not telltale signs present themselves.
Filipino spirituality makes him invoke divine presence or intervention at nearly every bend of his journey. Rightly or wrongly, Filipinos are almost always acknowledging, invoking or driving away spirits into and from their lives. Seemingly trivial or even incoherent events can take on spiritual significance and will be given such space or consideration.
The Filipino has a sophisticated, developed pakiramdam. The Filipino, though becoming more and more modern (hence, materialistic) is still very spiritual in essence. This inherent and deep spirituality makes the Filipino, once correctly Christianized, a major exponent of the faith.
Filipinos are timeless
Despite the nearly half-a-millennium encroachment of the western clock into our lives, Filipinos - unless on very formal or official functions - still measure time not with hours and minutes but with feeling. This style is ingrained deep in our psyche. Our time is diffused, not framed. Our appointments are defined by umaga (morning), tanghali (noon), hapon (afternoon) or gabi (evening). Our most exact time reference is probably tanghaliang- tapat (high noon), which still allows many minutes of leeway.
That is how Filipino trysts and occasions are timed: there is really no definite time.
A Filipino event has neither clear-cut beginning nor ending. We have a fiesta, but there is bisperas (eve), A day after the fiesta is still considered a good time to visit. The Filipino Christmas is not confined to December 25th; it somehow begins months before December and extends up to the first days of January.
Filipino say good-bye to guests first at the head of the stairs, then down to the descamo (landing), to the entresuelo (mezzanine), to the pintuan (doorway), to the tarangkahan (gate), and if the departing persons are to take public transportation, up to the bus stop or bus station.
In a way, other people's tardiness and extended stays can really be annoying, but this peculiarity is the same charm of Filipinos who, being governed by timelessness, can show how to find more time to be nice, kind, and accommodating than his prompt and exact brothers elsewhere.
Filipinos are Spaceless
As in the concept of time, the Filipino concept of space is not numerical. We will not usually express expanse of space with miles or kilometers but with feelings in how we say malayo (far) or malapit (near).
Alongside with numberlessness, Filipino space is also boundless. Indigenous culture did not divide land into private lots but kept it open for all to partake of its abundance.
The Filipino has avidly remained "spaceless" in many ways. The interior of the bahay-kubo (hut) can easily become receiving room, sleeping room, kitchen, dining room, chapel, wake parlor, etc., depending on the time of the day or the needs of the moment. The same is true with the bahay na bato (stone house). Space just flows in to the next space that the divisions between the sala, caida, comedor or vilada may only be faintly suggested by overhead arches of filigree.
In much the same way, Filipino concept of space can be so diffused that ones party may creep into and actually expropriate the street! A family business, like a sari-sari store or talyer, may extend to the sidewalk and street. Provincial folks dry palay (rice grain) on the highways!
Religious groups of various persuasions habitually and matter-of-factly commandeer the streets for processions and parades. It is not uncommon to close a street to accommodate private functions; Filipinos eat, sleep, chat, socialize, quarrel, and even urinate, nearly everywhere or just anywhere!
"Spacelessness,” in the face of contemporary living, especially urban life, can be unlawful and may really be counter-productive. On the other hand, Filipino spacelessness, when viewed from his context, is just another manifestation of his spiritually and communal values. Adapted well to today's context, which may mean unstoppable urbanization, Filipino spacelessness may even be the answer and counter balance to humanity's greed, selfishness and isolation.
So, what makes the Filipino special?
We are brown, spiritual, timeless, spaceless, linguists, groupists, weavers, adventurists. Seldom do all these profound qualities find personification in a people. Filipinos should allow - and should be allowed to contribute their special traits to the world-wide community of men - but first, we should know and like ourselves.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
One-on-one debate between Aquino, Villar in the works
A one-on-one debate between the two frontrunners in presidential preference surveys is now in the works, with both standard-bearers of the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Liberal Party (LP) issuing statements that they are ready for a duel of ideas.
In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, LP's Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III called for a meeting between his camp and that of NP's Senator Manuel Villar Jr. after the latter accepted Aquino's challenge for the two to engage in a one-on-one debate.
"I think it's time to end the proxy war. This would give Sen. Villar a chance to do what he wasn't able to do on the Senate floor: take direct questions regarding the Senate’s findings on the C-5 deal and other issues that have remained unanswered by him," Aquino said, adding that he would also take the opportunity to shed light on allegations thrown by some Villar supporters regarding the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita.
Aquino said the meeting between his camp and Villar's will discuss the venue, date, format, and other details of their impending debate.
The LP standard bearer said he wants the debate to revolve around their positions on issues such as education, taxes, electoral campaign finance reform, foreign policy issues, food security, and constitutional amendments.
Aquino earlier challenged Villar to a one-on-one debate after the NP standard bearer failed to show up at Monday's forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap).
Villar then accepted Aquino’s challenge Tuesday morning in a press statement, saying he is ready to debate since he sees this as “an opportunity to present plans and programs of government to the general public."
He added that each candidate has the responsibility to communicate one's vision for the nation even as one's capability, competence, and record of accomplishment are tested through reason and inquiry.
"If such were the purpose of the challenge, I will gladly accede. Name the place, name the time, I will be there" he said.
However, Villar said, if the intention is to find a platform for senseless argumentation and mudslinging with the hope of calling attention unto oneself "then I will have to decline."
In his follow-up statement Tuesday, Aquino said he is not ruling out the possibility of also including his cousin, administration bet Gilberto Teodoro Jr., and former President Joseph Estrada, in the debate.
Aquino consistently topped surveys since he announced his presidential bid in September. (See: Noynoy Aquino announces bid for presidency in 2010)
Villar however gradually narrowed the gap with the help of aggressive political advertising. (See: Noynoy, Villar neck and neck in latest Pulse Asia survey)
Estrada consistently ranked third in the surveys, while Teodoro usually ranks a distant fourth. (See: Aquino, Villar neck and neck in latest Pulse Asia survey)
In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, LP's Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III called for a meeting between his camp and that of NP's Senator Manuel Villar Jr. after the latter accepted Aquino's challenge for the two to engage in a one-on-one debate.
"I think it's time to end the proxy war. This would give Sen. Villar a chance to do what he wasn't able to do on the Senate floor: take direct questions regarding the Senate’s findings on the C-5 deal and other issues that have remained unanswered by him," Aquino said, adding that he would also take the opportunity to shed light on allegations thrown by some Villar supporters regarding the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita.
Aquino said the meeting between his camp and Villar's will discuss the venue, date, format, and other details of their impending debate.
The LP standard bearer said he wants the debate to revolve around their positions on issues such as education, taxes, electoral campaign finance reform, foreign policy issues, food security, and constitutional amendments.
Aquino earlier challenged Villar to a one-on-one debate after the NP standard bearer failed to show up at Monday's forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap).
Villar then accepted Aquino’s challenge Tuesday morning in a press statement, saying he is ready to debate since he sees this as “an opportunity to present plans and programs of government to the general public."
He added that each candidate has the responsibility to communicate one's vision for the nation even as one's capability, competence, and record of accomplishment are tested through reason and inquiry.
"If such were the purpose of the challenge, I will gladly accede. Name the place, name the time, I will be there" he said.
However, Villar said, if the intention is to find a platform for senseless argumentation and mudslinging with the hope of calling attention unto oneself "then I will have to decline."
In his follow-up statement Tuesday, Aquino said he is not ruling out the possibility of also including his cousin, administration bet Gilberto Teodoro Jr., and former President Joseph Estrada, in the debate.
Aquino consistently topped surveys since he announced his presidential bid in September. (See: Noynoy Aquino announces bid for presidency in 2010)
Villar however gradually narrowed the gap with the help of aggressive political advertising. (See: Noynoy, Villar neck and neck in latest Pulse Asia survey)
Estrada consistently ranked third in the surveys, while Teodoro usually ranks a distant fourth. (See: Aquino, Villar neck and neck in latest Pulse Asia survey)
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Hey, LOOK AT THIS! See how this dispensation treat oldies!
Finance asks Arroyo not to sign bill exempting elderly from VAT
MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Finance has appealed to President Gloria Arroyo not to sign into law a measure exempting the country's estimated 4.6 million senior citizens from paying the 12% value-added tax (VAT).
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 02/11/2010 8:35 PM
Finance asks Arroyo not to sign bill exempting elderly from VAT
MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Finance has appealed to President Gloria Arroyo not to sign into law a measure exempting the country's estimated 4.6 million senior citizens from paying the 12% value-added tax (VAT).
MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Finance has appealed to President Gloria Arroyo not to sign into law a measure exempting the country's estimated 4.6 million senior citizens from paying the 12% value-added tax (VAT).
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 02/11/2010 8:35 PM
Finance asks Arroyo not to sign bill exempting elderly from VAT
MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Finance has appealed to President Gloria Arroyo not to sign into law a measure exempting the country's estimated 4.6 million senior citizens from paying the 12% value-added tax (VAT).
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Integrity of PCOS Machines
I attended a lecture on the automated election system, held on January 26, 2010 at the Abelardo Hall of the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, initiated by the Aquino-Roxas Bantay Balota (ARBB).
Among the battery of issues that i raised in that forum is, first, about the integrity of the software that was programmed in the counting of votes. I couldn't help but compare the principle to a taxi meter where there is an automatic flag-down rate, the moment it is switched on and continue to accumulate every few meters of the road. In comparison, the PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan)machine might also have a "flag-down rate", but which might only be activated at the end of the process, or during the counting, or storing of data or transmission for canvassing. There is a widespread speculation or fear that the PCOS machine could be factory pre-programmed, such that for every 100 votes or ballots cast, 20 goes automatically counted to a favored candidate, then stored into a small memory card, which data is highly vulnerable to corruption once it gets into dangerous human hands.
Second,it was explained, that when a particular PCOS machine bogs down, it's memory card shall be ejected and transported and fed to another PCOS machine in any precinct and location, where the interrupted process of counting and transmission to the Board of Canvassers is to be continued.
Thus, it can be construed that a memory card from Maguindanao is readable and could be processed by another machine in Manila, and vice-versa! While in transit, can a memory card be switched with another one that might have been loaded with data that are more pleasant and favorable to the perpetrators; and, perhaps, even re-feed the same loaded memory card to other machines for as many times as they want?
Third, transmitted data from a PCOS machine is received by a gadget as simple as a laptop. Only the BOC could view whatever is received and displayed in the small monitor of the laptop. Not the watchers; not the public! Why not attach a projector to the laptop, so the public may know what's going on during the canvassing in the first level!What they see in the first level will be their basis for comparison in the next canvassing level and up to the last, which is either the COMELEC or the House of Representatives
Fourth, why thermal paper in the printing returns? Data in thermal papers, as in lotto tickets, cash register receipts, and facsimile (fax) machines fade after awhile, even if hermetically sealed from natural elements. Once it fades, there is no more basis for audit. Moreover, once the function of one machine has been accomplished, all data are eternally erased. Hard copies from ordinary printers and ordinary papers last for even 99 years!
If that's the case, the "dagdag-bawas" phenomenon is still alive and kicking!
Don't get mad, please! Don't insult! Just respond! It's a speculation that's as good as real!
Among the battery of issues that i raised in that forum is, first, about the integrity of the software that was programmed in the counting of votes. I couldn't help but compare the principle to a taxi meter where there is an automatic flag-down rate, the moment it is switched on and continue to accumulate every few meters of the road. In comparison, the PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan)machine might also have a "flag-down rate", but which might only be activated at the end of the process, or during the counting, or storing of data or transmission for canvassing. There is a widespread speculation or fear that the PCOS machine could be factory pre-programmed, such that for every 100 votes or ballots cast, 20 goes automatically counted to a favored candidate, then stored into a small memory card, which data is highly vulnerable to corruption once it gets into dangerous human hands.
Second,it was explained, that when a particular PCOS machine bogs down, it's memory card shall be ejected and transported and fed to another PCOS machine in any precinct and location, where the interrupted process of counting and transmission to the Board of Canvassers is to be continued.
Thus, it can be construed that a memory card from Maguindanao is readable and could be processed by another machine in Manila, and vice-versa! While in transit, can a memory card be switched with another one that might have been loaded with data that are more pleasant and favorable to the perpetrators; and, perhaps, even re-feed the same loaded memory card to other machines for as many times as they want?
Third, transmitted data from a PCOS machine is received by a gadget as simple as a laptop. Only the BOC could view whatever is received and displayed in the small monitor of the laptop. Not the watchers; not the public! Why not attach a projector to the laptop, so the public may know what's going on during the canvassing in the first level!What they see in the first level will be their basis for comparison in the next canvassing level and up to the last, which is either the COMELEC or the House of Representatives
Fourth, why thermal paper in the printing returns? Data in thermal papers, as in lotto tickets, cash register receipts, and facsimile (fax) machines fade after awhile, even if hermetically sealed from natural elements. Once it fades, there is no more basis for audit. Moreover, once the function of one machine has been accomplished, all data are eternally erased. Hard copies from ordinary printers and ordinary papers last for even 99 years!
If that's the case, the "dagdag-bawas" phenomenon is still alive and kicking!
Don't get mad, please! Don't insult! Just respond! It's a speculation that's as good as real!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Questionable Claims!
1. The Philippines is the world's second largest English-speaking nation. In reality, most Filipinos do not speak English on the street while the Department of Education is bothered by Filipino students' low English proficiency level. In comparison, English is the main language in the streets of United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and other British territories.
2. The Philippines has the largest Christian population in Asia. China actually has over 80 million Christians and is therefore the country with largest Christian population in Asia.
3. The Philippines was second to Japan in economic prosperity in Asia in the 1950s. Coming out of World War II, most East Asian countries, including the Philippines, were in still in recovery in the 1950s. Some of them had just won their freedom while economic prosperity was a strange phrase during that period. Even our parents would agree that life was harder in the 1950s. The Philippines never became rich and its golden age has yet to set in. Economic situation, however, was less burdening in 1996 and 1997 under the Ramos administration.
4. The Philippines is an agricultural economy. The Philippines is no longer an agricultural country. It cannot even produce enough rice, sugar or wheat to feed its entire population and has to import food from Thailand, Vietnam and the United States. The country's agricultural exports comprised less than 5 percent of its total outbound shipments in 2001. While the agriculture sector employed 37 percent of the workforce in 2001, it contributed only 21 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP). The industrial and services sectors contributed the remaining 79 percent to the domestic economy.
5. Filipinos are the happiest people in the world. The World Values Survey conducted by University of Michigan in 1998 ranked Iceland 1st and the Philippines 12th among 54 countries in happiness index. The Philippines was ranked first among Asian countries though. The truth is happiness cannot be measured.
6. Early Filipinos had a perfect socio-economic and justice system before the Spaniards came. There was never a perfect society in the world and tales about gold abounding in the Philippines five centuries ago remain to be proven. The fact is slavery, war, witchcraft, beheading and human sacrifice were already present in the country before the Spaniards came.
7. The Philippines is a favorite destination of foreign tourists. It could have the finest beach resorts in the world, but the Philippines gets only about 2 million foreign tourists annually. In comparison, smaller Asian countries like Singapore and Hong Kong receive over 8 million foreign guests every year.
8. The Philippines is one of the safest and most peaceful places on earth. That is what the Department of Tourism claims but according to the International Red Cross, the Philippines registered the world's fourth highest number of casualties and injuries as a result of natural disasters and man-made calamities from 1992 to 2001 - 5.8 million cases in all. It was behind China, India and Iran. China and India were expected in the accident list because they have the largest populations in the world.
9. Equitable distribution of wealth would resolve the poverty problem in the country. In reality, the country's per capita income or the imaginary figure referring to every Filipino's equal share in the country's total wealth, is below US$1,000. In comparison, countries like the United States, Germany, Japan and even Singapore have a per capita income of over US$25,000. This means that an ordinary American is 25 times richer than an ordinary Filipino. What would be needed to relieve poverty is to enlarge the economic pie by drawing more capital and resources into the country, so every Filipino would get a larger share.
10. Basketball is the dominant sports in the Philippines. Not any more. Because of the growing youth population and the lack of basketball courts, most Filipino children are now trooping to computer game shops and billiard halls.
11. Filipinos invented the fluorescent lamp that illuminated the world and the Lunar Rover used by American astronauts on the moon. The National Academy of Science and Technology disagrees.
2. The Philippines has the largest Christian population in Asia. China actually has over 80 million Christians and is therefore the country with largest Christian population in Asia.
3. The Philippines was second to Japan in economic prosperity in Asia in the 1950s. Coming out of World War II, most East Asian countries, including the Philippines, were in still in recovery in the 1950s. Some of them had just won their freedom while economic prosperity was a strange phrase during that period. Even our parents would agree that life was harder in the 1950s. The Philippines never became rich and its golden age has yet to set in. Economic situation, however, was less burdening in 1996 and 1997 under the Ramos administration.
4. The Philippines is an agricultural economy. The Philippines is no longer an agricultural country. It cannot even produce enough rice, sugar or wheat to feed its entire population and has to import food from Thailand, Vietnam and the United States. The country's agricultural exports comprised less than 5 percent of its total outbound shipments in 2001. While the agriculture sector employed 37 percent of the workforce in 2001, it contributed only 21 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP). The industrial and services sectors contributed the remaining 79 percent to the domestic economy.
5. Filipinos are the happiest people in the world. The World Values Survey conducted by University of Michigan in 1998 ranked Iceland 1st and the Philippines 12th among 54 countries in happiness index. The Philippines was ranked first among Asian countries though. The truth is happiness cannot be measured.
6. Early Filipinos had a perfect socio-economic and justice system before the Spaniards came. There was never a perfect society in the world and tales about gold abounding in the Philippines five centuries ago remain to be proven. The fact is slavery, war, witchcraft, beheading and human sacrifice were already present in the country before the Spaniards came.
7. The Philippines is a favorite destination of foreign tourists. It could have the finest beach resorts in the world, but the Philippines gets only about 2 million foreign tourists annually. In comparison, smaller Asian countries like Singapore and Hong Kong receive over 8 million foreign guests every year.
8. The Philippines is one of the safest and most peaceful places on earth. That is what the Department of Tourism claims but according to the International Red Cross, the Philippines registered the world's fourth highest number of casualties and injuries as a result of natural disasters and man-made calamities from 1992 to 2001 - 5.8 million cases in all. It was behind China, India and Iran. China and India were expected in the accident list because they have the largest populations in the world.
9. Equitable distribution of wealth would resolve the poverty problem in the country. In reality, the country's per capita income or the imaginary figure referring to every Filipino's equal share in the country's total wealth, is below US$1,000. In comparison, countries like the United States, Germany, Japan and even Singapore have a per capita income of over US$25,000. This means that an ordinary American is 25 times richer than an ordinary Filipino. What would be needed to relieve poverty is to enlarge the economic pie by drawing more capital and resources into the country, so every Filipino would get a larger share.
10. Basketball is the dominant sports in the Philippines. Not any more. Because of the growing youth population and the lack of basketball courts, most Filipino children are now trooping to computer game shops and billiard halls.
11. Filipinos invented the fluorescent lamp that illuminated the world and the Lunar Rover used by American astronauts on the moon. The National Academy of Science and Technology disagrees.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Most Profitable Businesses Today:
1. Gambling in the form of online lottery or text games;
2. Power generation and distribution, (thanks to purchased power cost adjustment);
3. Mobile phone networks, as long as the country is hooked to "texting";
4. Beer and wine production, as always;
5. Drug manufacturing and retail, because medicines here are twice as expensive;
6. Computer training centers which promise instant jobs after graduation;
7. Kindergarten schools with exorbitant tuition fees;
8. Caregiver training centers for people wanting to go to Canada and US;
9. Immigration consultancy which offers expensive seminars;
10. Job placement agencies;
11. Pyramid selling;
12. Laundry services for American troops;
13. Importing ukay-ukay;
14. Selling pirated VCDs and softwares;
15. Kidney buy and sell;
16. Smut publishing, as in yellow journalism;
17. Billiard tables for rent;
18. Computer game shops;
19. Money exchange in Basilan; and
20. Bikini car wash as the one in Iloilo City.
21. Usurious lending in government and private offices (commonly called 5-6).
22. Gift checks trading.
1. Gambling in the form of online lottery or text games;
2. Power generation and distribution, (thanks to purchased power cost adjustment);
3. Mobile phone networks, as long as the country is hooked to "texting";
4. Beer and wine production, as always;
5. Drug manufacturing and retail, because medicines here are twice as expensive;
6. Computer training centers which promise instant jobs after graduation;
7. Kindergarten schools with exorbitant tuition fees;
8. Caregiver training centers for people wanting to go to Canada and US;
9. Immigration consultancy which offers expensive seminars;
10. Job placement agencies;
11. Pyramid selling;
12. Laundry services for American troops;
13. Importing ukay-ukay;
14. Selling pirated VCDs and softwares;
15. Kidney buy and sell;
16. Smut publishing, as in yellow journalism;
17. Billiard tables for rent;
18. Computer game shops;
19. Money exchange in Basilan; and
20. Bikini car wash as the one in Iloilo City.
21. Usurious lending in government and private offices (commonly called 5-6).
22. Gift checks trading.
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