Cong Manhik-Manaog and Bayaw, Tips sa politika 🙄🙄🤔

Funny Signage

If you are a grammar police who usually gets irritated and cannot stand your penchant for the use of the fractured King's language ... incoherent sentence structure and semantics ... mind-boggling syntax and word coordination ... this nook is not for you. 

But traveling from Aparri to Jolo ... we encountered signage in the streets that managed to put a smile on our faces ... even though Robin Padilla's grandiose display of bad opinions ... or China's flexing his superpower muscle ... has riled up and angered our tender sensibilities.

We are here to celebrate (not mock) the little cracks and flaws in the manner we communicate ourselves. All of us make mistakes ... and at a time when a kilo of rice at 20 pesos is next to impossibility ... we need a little outlet to have a hearty laugh.

And no matter how over-use the cliche goes ... Laughter is indeed ... the best medicine.

 What a sale pitch ... and what a graphic invitation to convince someone to buy their goods.

The goal of a sales pitch is to catch a potential customer's attention and convince them to learn more.  But this one takes the cake of being sleazy and unsavory. Pitches can happen anywhere — via email, social media, or in person. 

A great sales pitch should pique the buyer's curiosity and convey clear value.

Pinoy Humor in Photos

 

Commentaries: Filipinos Need Voter Education?

Being an outsider looking in, I am perplexed on what we can do so when election day or judgment day comes 

we are choosing the right people to lead and govern us.  I read sentiments about how we sold our vote to the

highest bidder and it seemed like we care less about our future, and we don't give a damn what will happen in the next 4 or six years.

Does the Filipino need voter education? Or voters should give these politicians a lesson?

Cielito F. Habito of No Free Lunch fame of The Inquirer has this to say.  I am going to quote him in toto about his stand in voter education. 

"I always feel discomfort when I hear talk about the need for “voter education,” usually in the context of lamenting the nature of the candidates who tend to get the strongest support from the Filipino voting public. We hear terms like “bobotante” and “tangang masa” in such conversations, especially now as we again prepare to choose new leaders in 2022.

There’s no denying that we’ve seen elected into the office too many people with reputations for vote-buying, thievery, plunder, immorality, and even murder; show business or sports personalities and other public celebrities with no known qualifications for governance; and even returning officials with past records of incompetence and nonperformance. A quote attributed to former Singapore leader Lee Kuan Yew made the rounds in social media years ago, where he supposedly called Filipinos “stupid” for perennially voting bad leaders into office.

Calls for “voter education” strike me as presumptuous, even bordering on arrogance. To me, the Filipinos’ supposed lack of political maturity reflects a failure in the system that ultimately points the finger back at society’s economic and/or intellectual elite. I’m not the first to point out that those who want voters to be “educated” could well be the ones needing to be educated by those they want “educated.” What has been missing perhaps is for the country’s elite and even the middle class to listen more and engage more with the so-called “bobotante,” whom we have collectively failed and neglected. After all, how they cast their votes would have a legitimate motivation behind it.

For some, it is persistent poverty that leads them to keep looking for leaders who can promise immediate relief—including wads of cash and promises of more to come. That is one of the strong attractions of the candidate with whom many seem to have fallen for the yarn that once elected, he will give away the immense riches their family amassed while in power. It is said that many in our elite actually prefer to perpetuate widespread poverty in our midst, appalling as that may sound because it is through the patronage relationships it fosters by which they maintain their grip on power.

For thinking voters with a longer perspective, the motivation could be a long-simmering dissatisfaction with the existing order, and anyone who sounds like he/she can deliver drastic change would attract their support. Seeing little improvement in their lives across various presidencies, it’s natural for common people to embrace leaders who break out of the familiar mold. But this one is not just about poor and less educated voters wanting to change the power balance in our society, in the hope of better lives for themselves. Let’s not forget that the current leader many of us love to hate found his strongest support base from the ABC classes of voters and not the bottom ones, seduced by the promise of change, not knowing that it was going to happen in the wrong direction.

“What we see during elections,” a writer once put it, “is an accumulation of the collective resentment, frustration, and even anger of many Filipinos from past years or even decades.” It stems from the failure of society’s political and economic elite to sufficiently uplift the lives of the wide majority left farther behind as they uplifted their own. 

And as has now emerged, our greatest failure could have well been in education in general, and with all the cross-country evidence at hand, there is no denying this. The fact that our country has found itself at the bottom of the list of countries ranked in the Programme for International Student Assessment—worst in reading and second to worst (to the Dominican Republic) in math and science—speaks for itself. Our education failure has been a huge impediment to achieving a progressive and inclusive economy and building a strong nation. Unless we change this fast, we are condemned to more of the same for the time to come.

All told, the persistent call to “educate” voters is probably misplaced. Maybe we need to be “educated” by them first, to move us all to take a direct role in shaping a better future for the nation, and not count on one leader to do it.

Political Memes: Latest False Asia Survey

 

at 'wag maniniwala sa mga pangakong GINTO..Huwag magpapabudol -Robi Domingo

Sound Bites and Blurbs

Escalating Support of Leni's Friends Part 1 - Rep. Edcel Lagman

 

AN Armenian adage says, "Show me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are." This ancient aphorism finds truism in politics, like in the committed sectors and outstanding personalities who earnestly urged Vice President Leni Robredo to run for president, and countless more, predominantly volunteers, who are now tirelessly supporting her presidential bid. The enduring support of Leni's kindred allies reaffirms her virtues, character and capacity.

The escalating popular campaign for Leni is a people's movement with few parallels in history. The spirit of volunteerism has spurred a nationwide campaign which no money can thwart nor surveys derail.

The heartwarming support has mushroomed everywhere: from hovels to mansions; markets to boardrooms; workers and farmers to businessmen and capitalists; the youth to the elderly; students to teachers and professionals; foundries to academes; Christians to Muslims; lay organizations to clerics; human rights defenders to uniformed personnel; retired government employees to former cabinet members; statisticians to economists; and from all genders, among so many others.

The next president faces the arduous task of presiding over our economic recovery in the wake of the ongoing pandemic and must be equipped with a sound economic background and enabling vision to redeem the economy even as the people's health is protected and restored.

Leni's endorsement by 267 Filipino economists, five of whom were former heads of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), as well as by former personnel of NEDA and its attached agencies, is a manifest and decisive recognition of her capacity to rebuild the economy. The following unequivocal declaration from them does not need any elaboration:

  

360p geselecteerd als afspeelkwaliteit

"[W]e believe that VP Leni Robredo is our best hope to turn the tide and bring back people's trust in government and in order to restore and sustain vigor in people's lives and livelihoods.

"First, Robredo brings to the table a solid economics and legal background which will be necessary for crafting policies to accelerate economic recovery.

"Second, Robredo has shown a genuine concern for the plight of the poor and marginalized through her decades of work as a human rights lawyer for grassroots organizations even before entering politics. This will be crucial not just in bringing back people's trust in government, but also in making sure that economic recovery improves the lives of Filipinos from all walks of life.

"Third and most important, Robredo has a proven track record of hands-on leadership and good governance, as evidenced by the efficient and responsive programs of the Office of the Vice President throughout the pandemic. Her Covid recovery plan...provides a coherent and comprehensive strategy to address the lack of jobs, record hunger particularly in urban areas, and the need to beef up provision of economic aid and education assistance, especially among the poor.

"Bad governance is a poison that kills both lives and livelihoods. The pandemic made that clear. Robredo's brand of good governance is the antidote this country needs... Her leadership will also lend our country much-needed credibility on the world stage."

Economic recovery succeeds and flourishes under the protective mantle of the rule of law. This premise anchors the support of 17 former presidents of the more than century-old Philippine Bar Association (PBA), former members of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, and 150 deans and law professors from various colleges of law nationwide.

The PBA proclaims that "VP Leni has built a life serving the poorest of the poor. She has walked through rice paddies, climbed mountains and journeyed to remote islands in a quest to reach those who have been left behind. For decades, she has been the kind and noble face of the legal profession in the most neglected areas. She is the best reminder to our countrymen that the rule of law serves the people, and not the other way around."

The framers of the Constitution declare: "VP Leni's lifelong advocacies as a lawyer serving the poor and as an economist focusing on inclusive efforts to uplift the lives of those on 'the fringes' of society provide a testament to her singular dedication to address the main challenges our country now confronts: poverty and inequality. And she embodies the constitutional vision of leaders who live modest lives and are transparent in the use of powers of office."

Leni's upholding the rule of law is also the essence of the law deans' support.

Economic recovery and the rule of law are greatly enhanced by leadership of moral fortitude and allegiance to the truth. For this reason, the Catholic hierarchy, various religious orders and priests, lay organizations, and Catholic schools fully support Leni's presidential bid.

The Council of the Laity of the Philippines underscores: "With our current political-economic turmoil and the pandemic situation in the Philippines, we firmly believe that Vice President Leni Robredo, a God-fearing person, is the most capable candidate for the presidency."

Don Bosco National Federation manifests: "We firmly believe she has the utmost integrity, unblemished track record, strongest political will, well-documented accomplishments and capability to do whatever it takes so that our people will regain their trust in government and have a much better tomorrow."

Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines and head of the Diocese of Kalookan, gave his blessing to the Kalookan Laity for Principled Politics (KLAPP) for supporting Leni: "You have my blessing and I thank the Lord that you have taken this initiative because in the realm of politics, you are the frontliners... It is not right to shun politics and only associate politics with bad politics. Our issue now is morality and truth. It would be a great sin against God that in matters of good and evil, truth and falsehood, you are neutral. To be neutral means that you support evil. It is not right to be neutral when truth and the country's future are at stake."

These declarations echo the message of Pope Francis who urged Catholics not to watch from the balcony but be active in politics for the common good.

Photo News

Third Russian Ka-52 "Alligator" brought down in Ukraine. The helicopter looks relatively intact, although it appears to have been a rough landing with either the landing gear collapsing under its weight or not deployed due to hydraulic loss.