MTRCB suspends cable channel

It is no longer a surprise when I read this news article about MTRCB suspending cable channels.

It also was no surprise that MTRCB still exists when they should have been dissolved a long time ago.

Anyway, this issue stems from the airing of Sky Cable and Destiny Cable of the TVE Channel and some "objectionable trailers." In the same report, MTRCB has also suspended the airing of the Wowow channel earlier this year.

I agree that what needs to be shown on TV has to be at least classified as Parental Guidance since children may be watching television anytime of the day (or night). However, I do not agree that a government body should dictate what needs to be shown or not shown on TV. It is the job of parents and/or legal guardian of minors to supervise what children can watch or not watch.

In short, I do not at all agree to the existence of MTRCB or any sensors body. The Philippine Constitution specifically protects anyone's right to press freedom and of expression.

While it is far fetched to think that sooner or later, any government body can dictate what is to be shown only on TV, it is also possible if we can't even protect our rights from abuses right now. Come to think about it, the government can later on create a scenario which it could require all media entities to air. Something like a self serving situation. The government may not do this at all, but it is possible that they can. The MTRCB is already practicing what can not be shown.

On the other hand, let us also realize that any cable company can not monitor all the channels they air 24/7. Most of these channels are produced by other entities and are fed via satellite so it is generally impossible to pre-screen what the viewing public may see.

Further, I believe that any businessman who operates a cable company is careful of what they air considering that any backlash from their viewers may prove to be fatal to them if by any chance their advertisers would disapprove of their business practices.

In the end, this is all about our rights. The right to press freedom and of expression.

MTRCB has to go!

Today is World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day

Million Dollar Baby DVD

C Interactive did it again. Their logo appears once more on the Oscar Award Winning movie, "Million Dollar Baby" DVD.

The only thing is, I am not going to buy this DVD for the reason that C Interactive has used media which is crap.

Imagine, my "The Family Man" DVD, a title that has been reproduced and distributed by C Interactive is already undergoing disc rot, a deterioration of media which, after a while will prove the disc unusable.

Now, my question is, why do C Interactive get all the good titles?

In the end, it was the 3 disc set of "Titanic" that I got instead of "Million Dollar Baby."

No way C Interactive.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Every Harry Potter fan would love to see this latest Harry Potter movie.

The World Cup was superb. Even the Tri Wizard Tournament was a sight to behold. And Hermione was just beautiful.

The two and a half hour run of the movie wasn't enough to actually paint what happened to Harry in his fourth year at Hogwarts. I guess there was just too many things happening and fitting them in such a short time may leave the viewers wanting for more.

One of my problems with this movie is its inability to, either, introduce a character or plot properly. Perhaps, it was expected that the movie going public has prior knowledge about Harry and his background. Perhaps, it was also expected that those who may want to watch the movie have read a book or two of the series.

But either which way, I suggest you don't read the book within a month or two before watching the movie or you end up comparing scenes and sequences from the movie and the book. May I even suggest that you read it six or more months earlier.

However, this movie has quite a few funny scenes. It sure was great to have a good laugh. And quite frankly, I admired Mike Newell for this. It somehow makes you forget that you are watching a dark movie.

Generally, this movie is worth watching especially if you are a Harry Potter fan. I will be waiting when Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will be on DVD.

The coming of First Page 2006

After years of waiting, and using 1st Page 2000, Evroft has announced that the beta for First Page 2006 is already available.

All the pages on my main site under the domain dennislazo.com is made using 1st Page 2000.

The catch is, the beta is going to expire on the 1st of December 2005.

Anyways, this is still beta, which means that a better product is eventually coming.

Further, here is to hoping that First Page 2006 will also be free for everyone to use, same as 1st Page 2000.

You may visit Evrsoft at their website at evrsoft.com. You may also download 1st Page 2000 and First Page 2006 at their download page.

Phantom of the Opera and other DVDs

A week ago, I was at the video store for the Star Wars episode three DVD only to find out that the said DVD will be released here in the Philippines on the 9th.

Anyways, since I was already there, I decided to look around. What caught my eye was the Phantom of the Opera.

I might have already bought it until I found out that it was released locally by C Interactive. It was a great disappointment.

I already have The Family Man starring Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni and the C Interactive DVD was crap! There are no special features, no subtitles, and the media itself is crap as well.

I have also seen another C Interactive DVD -- A Walk to Remember -- and it was crap, too.

After those two, I swore never to buy a C Interactive DVD anymore! C Interactive DVDs are almost at the same level as the PhP299.00 DVDs! These are crap and should not even be bought!

I can't believe these cheap DVDs are proliferating the market. And if I were to compare the contents of these cheap ones, the pirated copies have better content except for the video quality, the reason why I still opt for the original ones.

Good thing that Region 1 DVDs were available for the second and third Lord of the Rings installments. I got those. My first episode (extended version) was Region 1 as well. And I am waiting for my second and third extended versions to arrive.

Maybe in a few months, when I have saved some money again, I'll get my Phantom of the Opera from Amazon. Thank God for Amazon!

Internet Censorship in the Philippines

Recently, a news item has been released saying that Netopia, an Internet cafe chain in the Philippines, has proposed for the creation of a censorship body which will operate similarly to the Movies Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).

According also to the same news item, Netopia has presented several recommendations to Senators Ramon Revilla Jr. and Manuel Villar for the creation of regulations against online pornography.

Perhaps, Netopia and Senators Revilla and Villar should remember that the Philippine Constitution of 1987, Section 3(1) of the Bill of Rights, states that "The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be inviolable except upon lawful order of the court, or when public safety or order requires otherwise as prescribed by law."

Further, Section 4 states that "No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the Government for redress of grievances."

While it is understood that the objective of Netopia (or the proposed censorship body) is to protect minors from materials intended for adults, such censorship would, in my opinion be unconstitutional. It is virtually impossible to do so because Internet servers are scattered all over the world. Further, should there be a law to censor the Internet, the Philippines will then become another China that censors the Internet.

Furthermore, it is the responsibility of parents to watch over the Internet access of their children, and as such, creating a body to censor the Internet for the interest of minors would violate the right of adults to access adult-related materials.

However, it is possible to restrict the access of minors to materials which may be harmful to them in the Internet. NetNanny and CyberPatrol are two of the many applications for this purpose. Microsoft also has published an article in order to protect children.

The same may also be used by Netopia to protect minors who access their computers.

On the other hand, the United States Supreme Court has already ruled that the Communications Decency Act, which prohibits communication "by computer in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, to any person the communicator believes has not attained the age of 18 years, any material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs," violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

While the Constitutions of both countries are independent of each other, both, the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, however, specifically states that "no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech," and that "congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech," respectively.

WPA2 on Win XP SP2, WAP54G and WUSB54G

I've been tweaking and playing with my access point (Linksys WAP54G v2) and wifi adapor (Linksys WUSB54G v4) for the past couple of days.

These are for the laptop that I should be getting if things go well, but for now, my desktop is going wireless!

Anyways, what interested me the most was security, and how to protect the data that runs to and fro between the two devices.

Enter WEP, WPA, and WPA2. These three are encryption methods used for data protection. WEP was the first generation encryption method. WPA was the second. However, these two were deemed to be insecure. Finally, on June 24, 2004, WPA2 was ratified.

I was curious as to how these two products would work with WPA2.

Out of the box, the access point and the wifi adaptor worked fine with WPA, but not WPA2.

The installation of the wifi adaptor was easy. After opening the box, I was surprised to see a small device wrapped in plastic. I was expecting it to be as big as the access point. On the plastic wrapper comes an instruction that I must install the software first before plugging in the device.

I did just that and everything was all okay and working fine but the software that comes along the wifi adaptor adds one more icon to the system tray. I was interested to get rid of that extra icon.

Eventually, I ended up uninstalling the application that goes with the wifi adaptor.

After plugging in the wifi adaptor, and as most USB devices, my Win XP SP2, asked for the driver. I just insterted the CD that came with the adaptor and Windows was able to look for the correct device driver.

Everything worked well again and without any problem.

However, I was really interested in WPA2 so my research on the net was endless.

The access point that I got was version two, with firmware 2.07. However, the official latest Linksys firmware is already 3.03. Eventually, I ended up upgrading the firmware using a wired connection. The upgrade was seamless and for the past three days, I didn't notice any problem.

After the upgrade, I noticed that the access point now supports WPA2. Good!

After setting the access point to use WPA2, I found out that the wifi adaptor won't connect.

Going back to research, I found out that Microsoft has supported WPA2 for Windows XP SP2 through KB893357.

After downloading and installing the hotfix, detection of WPA2 became possible, and starting from then, I have been on WPA2, and so far, I haven't noticed any problem and I hope it would continue this way.

The only thing I needed to wait for is that laptop! LOL!

How fast are you?

Having had a DSL connection (256kbps) has been great as compared to my former dialup connection.

Maybe I am lucky enough because I was told that my DSL connection would be made after two weeks. But guess what? Three days after I made the phone call that I wanted a DSL connection with my phone company, here comes the phone guy who installed everything within less than 30 minutes. Good work, I must say.

Seems like the prices have started to go down in spite of the rising prices on other goods.

It has always been fun for me to check and find out about my download speed and I have been here and there on net checking out those Internet speed test sites.

Eventually I found one that has one of the best layouts, good presentation, and I must say, a real impressive speed test.

I am talking about Speakeasy's speed test. You may check how fast you are by clicking on the logo below. Good luck!

Run Spybot Search & Destroy Automatically

In this age where spyware, adware, and malware are quite common and identity theft is a common threat, everyone connected to the Internet must take necessary precautions.

Enter Spybot Search & Destroy, a free application that can detect and remove a multitude of adware files and modules from your computer. Spybot Search & Destroy has been rated by Tucows with five cows and CNet with five stars. I’d rate it with five stars, too, overall, for security protection.

It is easy to run Spybot Search & Destroy manually at least once every week. But it is always better to run it automatically. This way, you are sure that you won’t miss it working for you. This application can be run with parameters and then made as a scheduled task or a shortcut that would complete the whole process of checking for updates, checking for problems, fixing those problems found, and even closing it after everything.

I’d recommend anyone to create a shortcut and a Scheduled Task entry with the following entry (assuming that you installed Spybot Search & Destroy at its default folders):

"C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SpybotSD.exe" /autoupdate /autocheck /autofix /autoclose

This requires, though, that you are connected to the Internet so the updates can be downloaded.

So there! And good luck!

CSI: Philippines

It is a welcome development that we see our own version of CSI learning something from the TV shows, CSI. Or so I believe

For one, our crime investigators are now using gloves. Even the investigator taking the pictures has gloves on her hand.

Evidence found are properly marked.

Investigators are now wearing gloves and a police line has been set to keep those who may have nothing to do with the investigation away. But does the guy wearing the orange jacket a member of the investigation team? Hopefully he is. And he should better wear his gloves if he intends to touch anything inside the police line. However, if he is a journalist, he should know better than that.

However, no one, and not even an investigator can or should move an evidence, especially when it is a body if and when there is no medical examiner present. A human body can be tampered with easily and can affect the outcome of the case. The two who are turning the body should be wearing gloves at this time.

Perhaps it would be too harsh to expect too much from our public servants. But common sense is always expected as the basis for them to be in public service and that crime investigator should know that a crime scene should be considered a "holy ground."

Maybe a few more CSI episodes can help teach our crime investigators the basics necessary so they can perform a better job.

The Peso dives down

As was expected, the peso today plunged from PhP55.69 to PhP56.05 to a US dollar. That's 36 centavos in a single day!

I always wanted avoid politics here. It's the dirtiest game there is. But then, I can't help it. Whatever our politicians and would be politicians have in mind or would do, it affects us all.

As noted, the opposition has started to drum up their calls for the president to step down. On the other hand, those in the administration are imploring that the president be forgiven for her "lapse in judgement."

My countrymen, please remember that we are a third world country and that, everything we do would eventually affect our very volatile economy. For every centavo that the peso slides down, another family becomes hungry because of rising prices.

I once remember a grandfather telling me that if you have too many gripes over something, you might as well do it yourself. This is so true.

So is this the reason why the opposition wants the president to step down? Or does it have to do with the need to be in power?

Why can't the opposition support, inform, and help the president do her job in order for this country to improve instead of throwing mud at her and calling her names? Maybe they can do this now while there is someone sitting up there?

Perhaps, it is true that humans are easily corrupted by power, such that no one wants the opposing camp to sit down and work with them.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The people have the power to change a leader every time there is an election. But does it give them the power to change a leader at a whim? If so, then there is no use for the elections anymore. Maybe, the people who actually have the power have become corrupted themselves.

Hopefully, one day, all these turmoil will fade away. However, I don't see it in the near future. All I can hope now is for everything to get better for all of us, a little at a time, if possible.

For the meantime, whatever this country is facing now reminds me of a phrase in a song: "Politics: the art of the possible."

She spoke!

Eventually, the president has decided to speak about the tape early Monday evening.

She eventually admitted on national TV and radio that she was the one on tape but did not categorically admit that it was Mr Garcillano she was talking with.

After the telecast, some may have started to assume that she indeed cheated during the last elections. But then, the president said in the same telecast that she merely was trying to protect her votes.

On the other hand, some said that the impeachment proceedings are immenent for it is not legal for a candidate to talk to any election officer during the time of the voting and even during the time of the counting. CNN, however reports that there is no law to stop candidates from talking to election officials. (CNN report)

While the president has already admitted that she was the person on tape, no evidence still has been presented as to substantiate the accusation that she cheated during the last elections. The tape still, to my belief, cannot be used in order to force the president to leave her office.

My only concern now is the possibility that the prices of basic goods will start to climb up when those who oppose the president will start to take the streets.

Many of the president's opposers claim to be working for the good of the people, yet, I still cannot connect that to ousting her. One major question: who is the best bet to take over her office?

Political instability is a major factor in order to lose investors' confidence. And when that happens, the peso would again slide down leading to higher prices of commodities. That is something very scary because, as I have mentioned on the previous post, it would mean that we would again tighten an already tightened belt.

Some also have argued that the president should have just denied that she was the one on tape because in a few month's time, everything would have been forgotten.

But then I believe that honesty made the president accept her faults. There are still people out there who would rather take the longer route for truth, rather than take the shorter route for a lie.

My hope for now, is that there will be no street protests as to this matter. Let the rule of law and justice take its course. If the president is found guilty of any crime, then by any means, let her pay the consequences. But if the reason for removing the president would be based on pure hearsay, then this country is already damned!

To speak or not to speak, and more

It has been a while since the Gloriagate scandal has started.

Most, if not all, have already made up their minds as to who really was on the tape. Was it really the president, or was she not?

Now, many a lawmaker are asking the president to speak up. The president on the other hand has indicated that she would make a comment as regards the tape in due time.

But guess what? I don't think that it matters if the president should comment or not. After all, it's a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation for her.

Now that she is not saying anything, many are speculating that the reason why she is doing so is because she is guilty of the accusation that she was indeed the person on the tape. But on the other hand, some are also saying that there is no need to say anything because it wasn't her in the first place.

Now, let's say that she did comment on the tape, and she denies that she is the person on the tape. One side would say, that it was expected of her because she needs to deny it even if it was really her. The other side would also say, that it is was just obvious for her to deny because she is stating a fact.

It was just this friday when I mentioned on my radio show, Radio Talk with Corene, (Fridays starting at 4:30pm UTC+0800 on Radyo Natin) that oil prices have now surpassed the US$60 level. Its effect is global. All countries are going to be affected. The increase in local oil prices will be inevitable.

However, the Peso-Dollar rate is something we can control, even if just a bit.

With the latest scandal that the president is facing, it is expected that more street protests will be at hand. These protests, however, give the nation a negative image with many foreign investors. And as such, it is also going to be expected that the peso once more will become lower as compared to the US dollar.

We can always change a president every time that there is an election. However, once one has been named, we are needed to support whoever is sitting there. We don't need to love the president. We just need to accept whoever is there. Support the person there, if we must. But please, let's not wage any form of war against him or her.

Every time the US dollar value increases, the opposite happens to the Philippine peso and the common Filipino man becomes the victim of this. Prices of basic commodities go up, and we all once more have to tighten an already tightened belt.

There is no point to use the streets anymore. I totally disagree with this. If there is enough evidence, then let the impeachment proceedings begin. This is the proper forum. By attacking the president, we in the end are just digging holes for our own graves.

"The truth will always set you free." Let the truth come out. Let the evidence speak for itself.

Did it appear on the tape that the president, assuming it was her, ordered someone to cheat for her during the last elections? Assuming that there was fraud, how far was the extent of the cheating?

I know of a company who was betting for the other candidate. However, during and after the elections, information came about (from their own people) that it was the president who was leading and who eventually won.

This is not to defend the president, but to rather present a more intelligent approach into the situation. After all, whatever happens to this country, we all get affected by its trials and tribulations.

The streets are still scary

I have been in staying in Manila, because of work, since the last quarter of 1998. But up to now, crossing the streets of Mega Manila is still scary.

Either, because I am a true blue promdi (promdi: colloquial for "from the province") (where crossing the streets are as easy as the ABCs because of the lack of traffic) or because the streets of Mega Manila are not really pedestrian-friendly.

Let's see. Here and there we see a pedestrian lane across a street. Has anyone noticed a car stopping before the lane when a person is trying to cross the street? In many places, especially the first world countries, motorists are required to stop before pedestrian lanes when a person is about to cross the street or even when that same person is still standing at the side walk and about to cross.

Pedestrian lanes take precedence over any traffic sign. This means that once a person is ready to cross the street using a pedestrian lane, all motorists are required to stop.

It is a big possibility that there are no laws in the Philippines that require motorists to stop.

There are also no laws also as to how accountants are supposed to account. There is, however, the generally accepted accounting principles.

Same goes for the use of pedestrian lanes. There has to be a generally accepted use of pedestrian lanes principle.

But let us not stop here. Pedestrian lanes are not supposed to be placed when a traffic light is available simply because the pedestrian lane takes precedence over all traffic signs. By placing a pedestrian in conjunction with a traffic light, the pedestrian lane, then, loses its purpose. What needs to be placed in places where traffic lights are available are solid lines, left and right, to where the pedestrians are supposed to cross. However, it is still common, even when there is a pedestrian lane, though wrongly placed, that motorists occupy this area as waiting points. Come to think of it, even the MMDA and traffic enforcers would ask motorists to occupy the said areas! Government vehicles, police cars, and even MMDA cars cross pedestrian lanes as if they own the whole highway.

While as mentioned that pedestrian lanes take precedence over all traffic signs, there are areas where pedestrian lanes are not to be placed. They are not to be placed in national roads. Precisely because national roads are so busy and traffic should be moving fast. In Mega Manila, the doon-po-ang-tawiran (the-crossing-area-is-over-there) sign is also common. However, when one goes to the crossing area, one would see a dangerous situation for one to cross the street: there are no traffic officers to control the traffic flow which would accomodate pedestrians to cross the street or there is a pedestrian lane but no motorist realizes its purpose.

The implementation of the pedestrian lane is actually simple. Apprehending motorists could be difficult. Most motorists, if not all, are ignorant of the use of the pedestrian lane. Traffic enforcers and the MMDA are ignorant of its use, too. Most probably, the Land Transportation Office is ignorant of this as well.

But come to think of it, those who are at the higher chain of command have at least been to a first world country once. They should have noticed the use of the pedestrian lanes there. But, with how things are in this country, I don't think they have noticed that either. Or are they ignorant too?

This country is beset by a lot of traffic problems. There are big problems and small problems. Why not start with the small ones? It has always been said that big things start small.

Education still holds our weakest link. And by proper and quality education only can we start to improve. Education that is worth our blood and sweat. Education that has a high value.

Thank you, Hotmail

Finally, Microsoft has implemented what it announced last November, that free Hotmail accounts will no longer be supporting Outlook and Outlook Express.

And much to my dismay, I have decided to say "thank you, Hotmail."

Hotmail has always been good with me except for very rare instances when I am not able to access it. But other than that I was happy with Hotmail even when I only had 2 megs of storage.

Two megs was just enough for me. I actually used Outlook Express to access my Hotmail then.

But then Microsoft finally decided on the relationship between Hotmail and Outlook and Outlook Express.

So I had to say goodbye, and thank you. Inasmuch as I don't agree with Microsoft's decision, I guess I can't do anything about it. The Microsoft Philippines guys can only defend Microsoft when I had to discuss with them in their forums that there are alternative ways in order to curb spam and do away with the "divorce." But that was expected of them.

So again, thank you, Hotmail. You've been good with me then. I wish you well.

Angels in America

It's already 3.16am and I've just finished watching Angels in America.

In this connection, and just a short note, I'd like to thank Tony Kushner for the wonderful play.

Thanks too, to HBO for coming up with the movie on DVD!

Thanks also to the stars, and the rest of the cast and crew, and to Mike Nichols.

Tourism and Monopoly

On Tuesday, the Probe Team aired stories about tourism packages of different Asian nations and raised the problem of tourism in the Philippines.

The show presented what Singapore, Malaysia, Sabah, among others in Asia, offered to attract visitors and how these countries benefited from tourism.

The question now is, can the Philippines benefit also from tourism? And if so, how do we?

This is a long shot question, but why not? Tourism is an industry that earns millions, if not billions, and it could help this country recover from many of its problems.

However, so many things need to be addressed. We need education, discipline, and the desire to succeed. And by saying “we,” I do not mean “us,” the people. That includes the government, the very people who should be serving us.

Come to think of it, (and I know some of you would raise your eyebrows again) but we need a government who has the desire to actually help us.

Most of us have been to school. But what have learned? If we have learned anything, why not apply what we have learned. But one only needs to open his eyes and we see office people, and in their office uniforms, throwing candy wrappers away like the whole street is their own private trash can.

We see policemen allowing their neighbors to kill dogs so they could be eaten (and I thought it is now illegal for dogs to be made as pulutan).

We see government owned vehicles crossing red lines as if the world is going to end tomorrow, lawmakers’ cars sounding off that noisy sirens as if those who are inside are the most important people on earth who needs to be taken from Paris to Davao in two minutes flat, and licensed drivers crossing pedestrian lanes as if they don’t exist.

When these three, education, discipline, and desire, are addressed then I believe, we won’t have too much of a problem to attract visitors from around the world, and most important of all, attract our own countrymen to visit the next tourist destination at the next town.

But then perhaps, in spite of good education from well known universities and colleges in the country, not too many could survive the game of Monopoly from a first time AI buyer of the said game. And I'm talking about education, discipline, and desire.

Unnecessary Protest

Each time that there is an oil price increase, the Filipino people are the ones who get affected the most and belts need to be tightened a little more.

Jeepney drivers get angry. And most likely than not, they blame the government for allowing the oil firms to increase the prices of oil.

The April 18, 2004, jeepney strike in the Philippines was understandable. It is always the case that once oil prices increase, the prices of basic commodities increase, too.

However, I will always oppose any form of protest once the leftists start to join any protest. These people have nothing to do other than fuel the anger of the people instead of finding a solution to the problem. Puro sila angal. Wala namang ginagawa. (They are all complains. They don’t offer any solution.)

If I am not mistaken, once there was the Oil Price Stabilization Fund or OPSF. Oil prices then were a little higher so the government could save for an oil price buffer. These protesters demanded that the OPSF be scrapped. Now, they are demanding that the oil price deregulation law be scrapped. Don’t they have anything better to do?

Surely, asking the government to stop any oil price increase is like asking for the sun not to set. The oil prices at the world market are increasing. Then, there is the devaluation of the peso against the US dollar. What do these protesters expect? Street protests and jeepney strikes always eventually hurt businesses. Who businessman in his right mind would want to invest in the Philippines, then, if this is a usual occurrence? And then the next thing they would protest about would be the failure of the government to create jobs. This is a vicious circle. You always could expect the leftists to protest and blame someone else for the problems of this country. However, they fail to realize that they are the once who add insult to an already injured economy.

In the end, the whole protest was unnecessary. The drivers lost a day’s wage. Businesses lost a day’s work. The common office worker lost a day’s leave if he was forced to stay at home. The children lost one day of learning in school.

The protest was understandable but unnecessary.

And by the way, do these leftists ever work? I seem to find them in almost every street protest. If so, how do they earn what they eat? How do they support their families? Where do they get the money they spend everyday?

IPU delegate in knife attack

The Philippine Star reports that the secretary-general of Belgium's parliament, Georges Brion, was injured and robbed in a knife attack on Tuesday on the sidelines of the annual Inter-Parliamentary Union in the Philippines. (Read the story »)

Deputy Director General Reynaldo Velasco, head of a task force securing the event, believes that this is only an isolated incident.

Further, Manila police chief Avelino Razon says that Mr Brion should have told security where he was going. Razon further questions Mr Brion's reason that he was going to church.

The point is, whether Mr Brion was going to church or anywhere else, it is the PNP's responsibility to maintain peace and order. Does Mr Razon realize that it is their job to maintain peace and order? If he does, why did this "isolated case" happen? If not, why is Mr Razon still with the PNP?

Maybe this is another case of when-the-cat-is-away-the-rats-will-play syndrome within the PNP. But I don't wonder anyway. Mr Razon's statement as regards this case simply justifies my need and want to leave this country and live in a safe place where police officers are respectful of the hands that feed them.

The lights or the cops?

The Inter-Parliamentary Union has started Monday but ever since Sunday, cops have been around the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex for the re-routing of traffic flow as well as making sure of the delegates' safety.

Since my office is within the CCP Complex, I need to cross Roxas Boulevard in order to travel from my house going to work and vice versa. Crossing Roxas Boulevard has never been difficult except when the traffic lights at the intersection of Roxas Boulevard and Vito Cruz are not functioning properly.

I was expecting the same ease when crossing Roxas Boulevard until the Metro Manila Development Authority and the Philippine National Police took over the streets in order to direct the traffic flow.

You see, they all have forgotten that there are still pedestrians who need to cross the streets. They seemed to be so concerned too much with the dignitaries that they don't even bother to let the pedestrians cross the streets first before letting the flow of the traffic to continue (even as against what the traffic lights would indicate). What I mean is, if the MMDA and the PNP opt to use their officers to direct the traffic, then they should turn off the traffic lights and save some electricity; and if they would rather use the traffic lights, then make these officers respect the lights at the very least.

It is good that the delegates of the IPU be given high regard as they represent the leadership of other nations. However, it is not acceptable that the regard given them compromises the safety of any human being.

The MMDA and PNP should know this. But then again, I never expected them to know anything either. They wouldn't be doing what they are doing if they were intelligent anyway.

Airport Utility Worker returns money

I once more take my hats off to these guys. They are those whom we need to be in the government!

According to news reports, Nita Ramos found a jewelry box with about PhP200 thousand worth of jewelry inside the lady's washroom at the Manila Domestic Airport terminal.

Without hesitation, Ms Ramos returned the jewelry box with all of its contents to the airport management with the hope that it will be returned to its rightful owner.

In another note, Romeo Pelaez, a utility from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport found and returned a wallet with three million Yen in it to the owner.

New Site

After a few hours of thought, here I am.

My original site now includes this blog. If you have been to my original site, you may have found out that I do comment on everything and anything. However, comments were not available then.

But, this is Blogger and comments are welcome.

Thanks for dropping by!