Kuliglig at Anay - Bow!

Short of sounding discriminatory, I will never probably understand what rights these "kuliglig" drivers are screaming justice for.

"Kuligligs" are makeshift pedicabs that are the new King of the Roads in the Philippines. Some smart-ass idiot had this bright idea that putting a tiny motor into the pedicab would convert this three-wheel tricycle into a "motorized" version of the pedicab. They are found in ALL areas of Metro Manila (and in the provinces as well) and seriously, have no respect for the rule of law when it comes to traffic. They counterflow, they load and unload in areas where they are not allowed to, they ply even major thoroughfares contributing to the already massive traffic jams, they are rowdy and have no vehicular insurance whatsoever, they have no license to operate and HENCE ARE ILLEGAL - in short, except for the fact that their drivers claim to owning and driving a "kuliglig" is their source of livelihood, they have no reason for existence as a public utility vehicle.

I was silent about this topic until another idiotic senator suddenly raised his concern and cause-oriented, pathetic fried brain cells (I guess it's like father like son), politically motivated plan to LEGALIZE the "kuligligs". It's barriotic, idiotic and infuriating that people even continue to vote for feeble minded persons like him into public office, just because his roots are well entrenched in the movies and media! Sanamagan this country! His father, who once ruled this country (before being deposed because of plunder), once thought of legalizing "jueteng" (an illegal numbers game) as well. You can tell how idiotic minds think alike!

So here's my take.

1. Poverty can never be used as an excuse for doing something wrong. "Kuligligs" are like termites. Once you start giving them a franchise or legalizing them, they just spread like wildfire. And like termites, it's hard to exterminate them. Even if you burn your house to the ground, they will just proliferate when you rebuild. This is what this government is like. Our bleeding hearts go out to the poor and the needy. And the majority of them take advantage of this. And when you try to fix the problem, like termites, they fight back with a vengeance, no matter how wrong the logic is. The Akbayan, Hukbalahap, Anakbayan, Commission of Human Rights and other cause-oriented groups now band together to make it seem that the termites have the right to existence, even if they don't. We cannot keep justifying a wrong by another wrong. It is not only moronic but immoral! It is the thought process of a Marxist or Communist that thrives on the empty bellies and empty heads of the poor and uneducated to feed on the convoluted idealism of equality.

2. Majority of the poor in urbanized areas are actually immigrants from the rural area. Armed with just their underwear and deodorants, they come to the city in search for greener pastures. Unlike the OFWs who dream to dream big, the "probinsiyanos" will live with relatives from the squatters area. They inculcate and imbibe the culture there. Armed with the artillery of survival, they learn the ropes and trades to exist in the urban jungle. Name me one city in Metro Manila that has no squatters area! Come on, I dare you!!! The politicians use these poor people to propagate their existence in the political arena and to create a political dynasty. Why do you think the Binays, the Ejercitos, the Marcoses, the Arroyos and so and and so forth stay in power for so many years? They hand down their local government position from father to son to grandson and they have no plans of leaving! They owe their position in power to the poor. And come next election, they will remind the poor of this. Ironically, those of us who have a better standard of living in the urban areas seem to need to adjust to the mindset of the people from the "boondocks". Why is that?

3. It seems that the sense of logic of our politicians has deteriorated if not left in the shit-house. While we are talking about rights here, what about our rights? Tax payers like us who contribute more to the government's coffers than the ordinary politician who makes a pittance out of their position in office and hide their true assets and liabilities from the peering eye of the public need someone to espouse our rights as well. After all, it is a fact that it is our money that is keeping these dumb politicians in office and it is our money that is keeping these poor people alive. As to how our taxes are spent (and whether they are spent well or not by the corrupt public official) is not our fault.

Each day, I traverse the harried streets of Metro Manila wondering how many tunnels, how many fly-overs, how many skyways, how many more roads we need to build to ease traffic in the metropolis. I know the answer. I've blogged about it time and again. No rocket science here. Simple discipline and logic - two things even government officials cannot simply carry out - are sorely lacking.

Enough of the bleeding hearts. For too long a time, is it too much to ask these government officials to consider legislating for us tax payers who put food on their tables?

As for the partylist government officials and the pathetic youth groups who seem to not find meaning in life, here's my message - GET A LIFE!

[For more blogs on kuligligs, you can go to
http://rah888.blogspot.com/2010/03/kuliglig.html
where the author rights an interesting article about this as well]

Mislang is not the face of the Filipino people

Mai Mislang was a nobody before her infamous Tweet on the state visit of PNoy in Hanoi recently.

Her sins? Her Tweets - "the wine served during dinner sucked, there are no good looking men in Vietnam, and the motorcycle laden streets of Vietnam being hazardous to life".

Of course, they were her personal opinions. But she is the Assistant Secretary for Communications, working for erstwhile ABS-CBN anchor Ricky Carandang who now heads this new office c/o PNoy. In short, during her official travel to Vietnam, Mislang was tweeting as a government official since she was there as part of the president's entourage. After her tweets, Mislang suddenly shot up to stardom.

And the rest is history.

People from all walks of life (including journalists) began their assault on the misdeeds of Mislang. Whether Malacanan touted her being a cum laude graduate of Mass Communications from UP, nobody cared. That part of the resume should just be burned. If I were her professors in UP, I probably would just cringe and roll over and die from embarrassment. So everyone began to ask for her head on a silver platter. Her demeanor was uncalled for. It was like PNoy had an amateur tag-along in his foreign trip that they needed to spank the baby upon their return to the Philippines.

But this blog is not going to repeat what the other columnists and bloggers have commented on Mislang's tweeting behaviour in Vietnam.

Let's just put some things in perspective.

For one, Mislang is like Kris A, the sister of PNoy. They open their mouths only to recant what they say or say sorry that they were misunderstood and needed to explain what they actually meant when what they said was supposed to mean another thing from what they were going to say. (Did you follow that?) And of course, being more controversial meant being more noticed (which explains why Kris A became so popular even if she had no talent).

Then of course came the various reasons from Malacanan about the tweets of Mislang. That the latter was sorry. That the latter had been reprimanded. That PNoy had full trust and confidence in her and was not going to fire her and that she was keeping her job. I am saddened by the fact that PNoy seems to have no balls in making a simple decision like this. If I were PNoy, I would talk to Carandang and quietly tell him to ask the girl to resign or just get rid of her in the most diplomatic way. And while I campaigned for PNoy for the upcoming elections, I was skeptical because he was practically a newbie and I was afraid that he wouldn't be able to make firmer decisions even on small matter like these. Getting rid of his shooting partner Puno of course is a different story because of Puno's own claim that they are BFF. But Mislang - who in the world is she? She's just one of his many speech writers and some obscure nobody in his back office. He doesn't have to save her hide for the Twitter-ing misdeeds in Hanoi.

Which goes to the final part of this short blog. If Mislang was truly apologetic, she should just resign. An irrevocable resignation. She should not have to bear the torture of having her whole person maligned and denigrated in print media or over the internet. She is not the face of the FIlipino people and I am ashamed at her deeds and actions.

And not all government officials in this country as childish as Mislang and my president. And PNoy should not feel bad about him being criticized as well because he had set expectations at the beginning of his term as president. If he is letting the people down by his incredulous decision-making which is making eyebrows raised all the way to heaven, it is because he had set the tone for this in his inaugural speech shout-out --- KAYO ANG BOSS KO!

Eh ganun naman pala eh. Eh tingnan niyo nga naman, parang asal katulong ko itong si PNoy. Sabi ni boss ganito, tigas ng ulo ni katulong. Ayaw talaga gawin. Akala niya, siya ang amo! Ang kapal talaga ng apog.

Bitching 101 - Of idiots and morons

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) junked disqualification cases against Sen. Manuel "Lito" Lapid and world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, whose candidacies in the May elections were questions for lack of academic credentials.


This was the front page of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The disqualification case was filed by erstwhile disqualified presidential aspirant and lawyer, Ely Pamatong. In his arguments, Pamatong claimed that reelectionist Lapid was "hardly educated" and knew little about lawmaking, while congressional aspirant Pacquiao was "mentally very poor and not prepared to step into the ring of legislation".

While some may lament that Pamatong himself may be a nuisance candidate, he actually has lucid intervals such as these. For these points made, I agree with him. And while the Comelec insists that there is actually no justifiably solid case to prove that Lapid and Pacquiao are not "qualified" candidates, they further rebut by saying that "a high IQ is never a gauge of good public service." The Comelec added that "a candidate's high educational attainment has never been held as qualification for public office. To be sure, the quality of public service which an elected official can render is not measured by the level of his intelligence."

So much for the Galing at Talino campaign of Gibo.

While I have no interest with Ely Pamatong and his bewildered quest to become a presidential aspirant, I have to agree with him on this matter.

And disagree with the Comelec.

Lapid has served as a nuisance senator over the past 6 years. He sits there in the senate, with an iota of contribution to whatsoever transpired in the senate halls. It is a waste of resources of the public, particularly hard earned money by taxpayers like me. While he may have been elected by the jologs of Philippine society, I am willing to bet that majority of his votes come from the freebie groupies. They are the ones who do not even pay taxes - the jobless, the mendicants, the flying voters - the one's who I have time and again said, have no right to vote.

And I am solid on this take. People who do not pay taxes should not be allowed to vote. It is shameful that the politicians use our hard earned taxes to pay for idiots and morons who do nothing but sleep on the job.

Which goes to the point of improving and setting a minimum level of academic achievement for those running for specific public offices. While it is true that you do not need to have a high IQ to be a good public servant, the thin line for discriminating who is qualified to run for public office should be at least one that is respectable. If we were to follow the argument of the Comelec, does that mean that I can include a Down's Syndrome and Autism party list, with candidates who have both Down's and Autism as their party representatives?

Even entry into pre-school, grade school, high school and colleges have a minimum criteria. Qualifications matter. Even when one works, one must have minimum entry criteria otherwise we'd be getting call center agents with terrible accents, front desk officers that finished grade school, chefs that can only cook fried rice and fried eggs...What more those that enter the political arena?

Pamatong was actually disqualified and declared a nuisance because of scant financial support. He may have the greatest wish to annex the Philippines as the 52nd state of the United States, but what is so wrong in giving up the sovereignty of a country on the verge of extinction because of massive graft and corruption?

Which means that the Comelec is actually accepting candidates not on the background of who is qualified but who has the means. #!?! sanamagan country!

And we blame our public officials for all the problems that our governmental system is laden with. Like our children that grow, we need to be nurtured by right parenting and the models must be good ones. If the Comelec has such an idiotic and moronic line of thinking, where do you think we will be 10 years from today? I have never, ever, ever, in my lifetime been so critical against public people in office as this line of thinking as our local Comelec.

The Comelec is right. You do not need people with high IQ to be in government. Look at the people in Comelec alone!