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PHILIPPINE LANDS ARE BEING GIVEN AWAY, WITHOUT A FIGHT!

2009-06-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

Is the Arroyo government suffering from extreme case of insanity? Seemingly it is!

What on earth are the Arroyo government people thinking? Why would they give-away FOR FREE with full rights the use of hectares of Philippine soil the size of a full province for 50 years to a Japanese company in the guise of investment without concrete and solid mantle of protection on the part of the Philippines?

Oh sure, a few hundreds of Pinoys would benefit from it thru low-paying jobs. Sure, the country will gain some millions of taxes from it, but is this how a country makes money out of foreign investments? What is wrong with those idiots in the government? Free use of hectares of lands for 50 years? How insane can a government be? How would the country benefit from this kind of a monster deal?

Is it only me who saw a parallelism when the US government built military bases in hundreds of hectares in Philippine soil for 50 years FOR FREE? At least the US provided military aids in millions of dollalrs to the regime of Marcos, though those millions went straight to the secret Swiss accounts of the Marcoses. Now in this new "free use of Philippine lands Agreement", the only difference is that the Japanese will not be building military bases, but will plant coconut trees. Just the same, Japan will benefit from the agreement virtually FOR FREE! Whadafak is wrong with the Philippine government? I wonder whose secret accounts abroad will be fattened by this new shady transaction.

I can't imagine the Asian neighbors of Pinas much more Japan to provide such dubious agreement to any foreign investors, particularly in Japan where lands are so insanely freakin' expensive. Isn't it the job of any government to secure the interests of its own country and people before it provides unlimited access and rights to foreign interests?

Whatever sugar-coating and lies that the officers of the Pacific Bio-Fields Holdings Plc. are saying regarding the "free use" in 50 years of hectares of Philippine lands for their company's bio-fuel business, the government needs to review such one-sided agreement which may put the country in another scandal in the future.

Those morons and masters of grandstanding in the legislative houses must take a serious look into this issue instead of wasting their time and government money on irrelevant issues like the Hayden sex scandal.

God forbids, but if the Mayan calendar would be true as well as the lost quatrains of Nostradamus regarding their prophecy in 2012, I'd be thrilled to see all the corrupt Philippine government officials as well as the morons in the legislative houses to leave this planet ahead of everyone.

THE PHILIPPINE POLITICS AT ITS WORST...AGAIN!

2009-05-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

As the first nation in Asia-Pacific that was hailed as an emerging tiger country after WWII, the Philippines was being looked up to by its Asian neighbors including Japan. The country had seen some of the "firsts" in Asia-Pacific. Among all colonized countries in Asia, the Philippines was the first country to obtain independence from its colonial masters, the first in Asia to have a flag carrier flying commercially and the first Asian country where an entire female airline flight crew flew a commercial domestic plane. The first (and only in Asia until now) to produce rice scientists and researchers who introduced miracle rice through its International Rice Research Institute where most of the rice experts in neighboring Asian nations trained. The first to introduce "bloodless people power revolution", a popular uprising of the mass which was usually known only among nations of monarchs and autocrats that would usually result to bloody end. This political event also resulted to another first when the country produced two women presidents in two different eras backed by bloodless people power revolutions after overthrowing two powerful corrupt presidents both known for their greed for money and women. And a lot more other firsts which at hindsight would have made the country a true tiger economy and a leader in its region. But decades after WWII, the emerging tiger instead remained a toothless cob.

Though not as rich as China and not as industrialized as Japan, the Philippines has seen so much improvement in the last decade until now though much of it could be attributed to its continuous supply of highly skilled and well-educated manpower to different nations which helped the country attained its economic stability through their steady remittances. As most Filipinos are resilient and they value education highly which they also regard as their means to a better future, the people who leave the country are some of the best and finest which caused some sectors to express concern of massive brain drain particularly in the health care and engineering areas. But whether the jobs the people get outside the country meet their educational attainment or not doesn't matter to them as long as they get paid better than if they would stay in the country. The country's natural resources and remarkable beauty along with its friendly and highly-skilled English speaking people also serve as magnet to foreign investors who have come in throngs.

While the country's economy has experienced some growth, its domestic politics has remained the same old rotten way that it has always been since the former dictator Marcos was still in power. The country's politicians have remained self-absorbed, insensitive, masters of grandstanding and corrupt that they have been consistently true to their selfish agenda, disregarding the welfare of the country and of the people. The Filipinos are perhaps the only people on earth who have opted to elect notorious characters with checkered backgrounds and questionable characters such as Ping Lacson, Joseph Estrada and others. Ping Lacson was known as the Fabian Ver of the Estrada government. Ver, the loyal cousin of Marcos was so notorious he would sow terror and unprecedented fear among the enemies of the Marcos dictatorship. Massive political killings and "disappearances" became prominent during that era and were believed to have been masterminded by Ver. Unlike Ver, despite Ping Lacson's notoriety he was able to "delete" his questionable past and was able to persuade the people to believe whatever hypocritical and pretentious image he presented that he even won a senate seat; but then massive vote buying has been known to be a common practice among the poor voters which is the biggest chunk of the voting populace.

The rise of Estrada to power was also an anomaly worthy of puking but it could be attributed to his mass appeal due to his former career in showbiz. Interestingly, Estrada was able to attract some of the country's respected journalists, academicians and intellectuals despite his obvious "ala-George Bush" mental capacity and "unpresidential" character. Expectedly, Estrada proved his critics correctly, he was the only president of the country who never finished his term and was indicted after he was found guilty from scandals directly linking him to massive grafts and corruptions. Like all criminals and corrupt politicians, Estrada strongly denied all charges and just like most Philippine politicians with gargantuan egos Estrada also suffers from "messiah complex". Rising from his not so quiet "retirement" after being granted presidential pardon shortly after being indicted, the ever flimsy Estrada has explicitly declared that he will run "again" for presidency in 2010 because he is the only person who could unify the oppositions and the ONLY PERSON who could "save" the country and the people. Obviously, magnanimity is lacking in Estrada's character and no one in his normal state of mind could really comprehend the kind of braincells Estrada has, except Estrada himself and his minions. He has probably never known the true meaning of honesty and integrity. In his very brief presidency he never served a single day of honesty and hard work and only heaven knows what makes him believe he is deserving to lead "again" his country even after his indictment.

Estrada, Ping and their likes have been used to believing all their lies and who wouldn't if those bastards have been used to lying their entire adult lives. Remarkably, there are people who also believe their lies and who still support them. Precisely the reason why the country's major problems have not been addressed because of this vicious political cycle. For five decades the country has been governed by the same kind of politicians and government leaders with selfish agenda and tainted characters and the people would continuously tolerate them, then when things would go downhill they would go to the street and would resort to demonstrations, leaving the country and its economy in constant fragile state.

The Arroyo administration is also never free from similar scandals and controversies no thanks to the first gentleman and his cronies, but President Gloria Arroyo being an economist and a known workaholic has done some positive steps to propel the country's economy but not enough to totally wipe out the vast poverty in the country's impoverished areas. It is perhaps too ideal and unrealistic for any small, developing country to attain complete success in wiping out poverty particularly in this time when even the rich powerful nations are experiencing economic hardship, but it is never impossible to select leaders and politicians whose agenda are solely intended and focused to achieve progress for their country.

Come 2010 the Filipinos will again be choosing their leaders, hopefully their choices will not be based again on popularity and money but rather on integrity and sincerity. They need to put a stop electing the breed of Estrada and Lacson, it's about time the country gets a truly patriotic, unselfish leader who will put first the best interests of the nation ahead of his own selfish agenda. Perhaps another Rizal. . Enough of the moronic bastards who have lorded it over the nation for decades.

THE INSECURITIES OF CLAY AIKEN

2009-05-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

American Idol has become America's prime source of best new talents. Since its launch in June 2002, it has produced some of the most talented and best song artists in America. Not surprisingly, all top ten of each season since its inception have done from good to great that even the non-winners have seen huge career successes that some of them became bigger celebrities than the Idol winners.

Season two in 2003 would be the starting point of the phenomenal rise to stardom of the non-Idol winners, and Clay Aiken would be their leader. Ruben Studdard's glory that season would not prove to be a sting in Clay Aiken's bid to stardom, as fate would have it, Aiken would eventually thread the road to Hollywood without the usual hardship that non-American Idol wannabes could not even attain in their regular dreams during their lifetime. The runner up Aiken would inevitably undergo his own dramatic metamorphosis, from the super geeky and boring shy 24-year old North Carolina native to the hip Aiken plastered on the cover of Rolling Stone.

The new Clay Aiken not only gave a physical transformation but also a different character. His coming out of the closet has probably liberated his bitchy side that he now finds it easy to throw venomous pronouncements against another non Idol winner - Adam Lambert. Interestingly, both Lambert and Aiken share the same Idol Fate. Adam Lambert has been seen from day one as the strongest contender not just by the judges but also by the voting public. Lambert shows immense talent and tremendous strength as a music artist. His voice quality and range is so versatile that he could land a plum role in a musical if not a rock icon which if he does anytime soon would easily spell monumental success. Curiously too, Adam Lambert just like Aiken has been placed in the same situation that has been surrounded with rumors of being in the closet. The difference is that Lambert has not shown any dismissive comments nor has he emphatically denied such insidious talks. It seems like Lambert is taunting the public and giving a smart and calculated "are you people crazy? Can't you even notice?" aura, which is actually a more acceptable form of admission and such a clever way.

The arrival of Adam Lambert in Hollywood must have started to give some pains of insecurities to Clay Aiken that he has opted to be tactlessly toxic by dissing Lambert out. Aiken would have gained respect from all corners of the planet and won the hearts of many particularly those who never saw him as deserving of his success had he not shown any form of insecurities.

But Aiken actually has all the rights and reasons to be insecure with Lambert. The latter not only has such enormous talent but his artistic image is not only good in America but also the rest of the world. Rock artists and rock icons are gods anywhere else and Lambert has hit the right target. Unlike Aiken, Lambert doesn't need to undergo image transformations and re-package himself because he has already made clear to everyone what and who he wants to be since he auditioned for the Idol.

The dice has been cast. The ultra talented Adam Lambert is the new American Idol icon, though just like Clay Aiken, Adam never took home the crown.