Social Media's susceptibility to rumor mongers

The problem with social media is no wait I take that back.......... The problem with liars is that they have "better opportunities" to spread their story telling a lie worldwide as fast as they can pound on their keyboards. 

Really now!? How much more drama do people need amidst a major catastrophe where tragedy struck thousands of people losing their love ones in a horrific destruction coming from super typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan?

There are quite a number of people in despair finding themselves in a miserable plight they had never imagine will happen to them in an instant losing everything they had materially and some even their love ones. One has to be the lowest of the low and really a lazy bum to take the short cut instead of going to the ground to find human interest story. It must have been difficult for them to find it but way convenient to just snag an AP photo and concoct their not so accurate story. 

If this is the same outfit or if they are connected with ABS CBN, the people or maybe just a person responsible for this really need to get some serious professional help or this is really the game people play in a nation where lying is considered an art form as espoused by the Trapos? Unfortunately even if this was the handiwork of an unscrupulous employee or some nut job not connected and not sanctioned by the corporation it still reflects poorly on the company philosophy. Just the same ABS-CBN Corporation ought to be ashamed of themselves for allowing the plagiarization and the blatant story telling a lie!

How dare them manipulate and exploit people's emotion by lying and misrepresenting the picture of 2 boys they claim was shot in Tacloban. NO! they were nowhere near Tacloban but the pictures were taken in a stadium in Zamboanga during the MNLF siege. Contrary to the soap opera like tele-novela that they produce for the gullible public the boys are actually related, they are brothers.

If this image is being used to solicit donations, they should be held accountable for misrepresentation and fraud. What a shame and shame on them for turning social media into a worldwide cyberspace corner sari sari store gossip and rumor monger congregation!
 
The problem with emotional people and those of the highly partisan kind whether of the personality based patronage politics in the Philippines or any religious or even social stand is they can easily get exploited and manipulated. A little lie here and there and they get excited like little brats willing to defend it with their life, even if it was wrong but due to their highly partisan behavior, tend to be on self denial refusing to see reality. Another one circulating on the social media is the picture of VP Jojo Binay allegedly being stopped by US soldiers to get near the UN relief goods.

I was never a fan of Binay or any trapo even Noynoy Aquino but the people behind this irresponsible black propaganda truly redefines the Media PR practitioner in a different way as suggested by Hector Miñoza at Facebook:

MEDIA PR (political rumor) - The art of creating catastrophe in relief convergence operation at the ground. Instead of building bridges, they confuse and encourage people to build more walls to impede the process. (^_^)

The  image above circulating social media did not only lie about Binay being stopped by a soldier to go near the UN relief goods, but in the process demoted a rear admiral to a foot soldier. It was a visit to the Operation Damayan a joint military rescue mission and  the man they demoted down to foot soldier was Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, commander, Battle Force 7th Fleet, have they no shame? If that was a Philippine military official I am sure there will be a lot of howl and protest coming from the "nationalist" and pretend nationalist politicians creating a scene over the demotion, LOL. What comes to mind is Senate President Frank Drillon having a tantrum when he was asked by a Filipino American TSA agent after 911 to go through security check and have his shoes removed arrogantly protesting telling the guy he was a big honcho (big fat guy alright, hehehe) back home as if it matters to the TSA guy.

Now how exactly does that help anyone or people to work hard for a common cause which is the rescue and relief operations for the victims of super typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan and of course not to be forgotten the Bohol earthquake and those displaced people of Zamboanga? What is the point of concocting lies? Are they are banking on the gullibility of the people that they shamelessly concoct lies when all they need to do is watch and listen with their hearts? But then again one with evil intentions can't see or hear realities before them.

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Super Typhoon Yolanda's Wrath

Calamities are not exactly a pretty picture to see and it gets uglier when we see mass looting going on.

Barely a few weeks past after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the southern part of the Philippines another natural calamity strikes again from a 195 to 200+ MPH super typhoon Yolanda known as Haiyan internationally hitting the south once again causing unfathomable destruction and loss of lives.

Families were separated by the powerful gust of winds and sea water going inland like a tsunami swept people away from each other while holding on to each other or others even tied together. Those not strong enough like small children, the sick and weak old people drowned and swept away lifeless together with the debris. Some happened to be at the wrong place and time got hit fatally by flying debris while others are trapped in the crumbling structures of their homes. The damage and destruction is beyond description and even hardened workers of aid and relief agencies used to seeing disasters that went rushing to the area was shocked at the sight of massive horrific damage and destruction.

Who knows but maybe had they listened to the tearful plea to diplomats assembled in Doha by the Philippines’ lead climate negotiator, Nadarev Saño, things might have been different.




Then we see videos of the looting and we were shocked. I myself was shocked not because I have never seen people looting before. I have seen and saw first hand on the ground actual looting taking place during the Los Angeles riot after the Rodney King verdict. But this widespread looting taking place in Tacloban is indeed shocking. Perhaps it was quite unusual considering the submissive nature of the Filipinos that we are used to seeing but faced with hunger and dehydration what is it that we really expect of them?

Department of Agriculture Secretary Alcala was on the air explaining the rice supply situation and when he was unable to satisfy the querry of the radio announcers tried to deflect the issue as if castigating Tacloban for the looters on why can't they be disciplined and patient enough like the Japanese during the Fukushima disaster. Of course we have seen and read about the little boy who returned his share of the food back to the table for others who are more hungrier than he is. A small yet giant gesture considering the situation he is in that truly melts the heart. So young and yet his kind unselfishness and humanity shines in the midst of disaster that makes a grown man turned worse than animals resorting to uncivilized behavior in order to survive. 

Indeed why can't some of out fellow Filipinos exhibit the same humanity and virtue that the Japanese people show the world? Well, in the first place wishing is not exactly realistic and it is nothing but idle wishful thinking without considering why we have these "kind" of people. Have they not noticed that we have a very unequal economic development and sharing of wealth that 20 to 30 percent of any city population are living in squatters area? The problem with mimicking or aping other nations is that they seem to not notice that there is a huge difference between a 3rd world country and that of a developed country. When politicians or Trapo leaders reduced the people into a serf like subject squandering government funds in patronage type politics thus encouraging mendicancy instead of spending for infrastructure that encourages setting up of job generating industries, can we expect our people to act like the nobility class?

You have a big chunk of population that are reduced to squalid living conditions and their dignity taken away from them with no decent stable jobs to survive, how exactly do we expect them to behave? No one wants to see rampant criminality but in the same manner we must ensure that we must also keep criminals out of the government, but then again how can we when our electoral system is the exclusive domain of the criminal posing as leaders of the people? If there are so-called honorable ladies and gentlemen and women that are really nothing but lowly thieves or worse even plunderers, is it a surprise that we have lawlessness during calamities? Perhaps, we need to ask ourselves if that was us facing with the same desolate uncertainty for days feeling trapped in an apocalyptic scenario desperately foraging for food and water where there is none to be found with our immediate love ones, what will we do?

How about the small restaurant owner who lost his house and almost everything except his restaurant started cooking and feeding fellow survivors and victim for free, now why can't our richest of the rich like Henry Sy, Gokongwei, and other big capitalist do the same? Perhaps they should help the less fortunate instead of the trapos, but then again the poor even if they look the other way unlike the trapos and the government agencies like the BIR are not capable of giving them sizable "savings" in the hundreds of millions.

Of course we can't expect all of them to step up even Imelda Marcos the wife of the frozen stiff former dictator that used to be their representative in congress. I really would love to be wrong here but you know what, we are the only one's that can help ourselves and do something to make things right. Then we have some quarters wanting Noynoy Aquino to declare martial law in Tacloban, ayayay. The looting brings me back to that unnamed Philippine lawmaker quoted in a report that is getting too close for comfort and I quote:

You have just one flash flood of money, you keep your people poor. It's like a time bomb and it's scary"

Anyway, here are the list of charitable organizations compiled by Huffington Post for people in the US wanting to help the survivors of the natural calamity unleashed by the most powerful typhoon ever recorded:

World Food Programme
WFP has allocated an immediate $2 million for Haiyan relief, with a greater appeal pending as needs become apparent. The UN organization is sending 40 metric tons of fortified biscuits in the immediate aftermath, as well as working with the government to restore emergency telecommunications in the area. Americans can text the word AID to 27722 to donate $10 or give online. Learn more here.

Red Cross
Emergency responders and volunteers throughout the Philippines are providing meals and relief items. Already, thousands of hot meals have been provided to survivors. Red Cross volunteers and staff also helped deliver preliminary emergency warnings and safety tips. Give by donating online or mailing a check to your local American Red Cross chapter. Learn more here.

The Philippine Red Cross has mobilized its 100 local outposts to help with relief efforts. Learn more here.

AmeriCares
The relief organization is sending medical aid for 20,000 survivors, including antibiotics, wound care supplies and pain relievers. AmeriCares is also giving funds to local organizations to purchase supplies. Learn more here.

World Vision
The organization is providing food, water and hygiene kits at the evacuation centers. World Vision was also still actively responding to last month's earthquake in Bohol, which luckily was not struck by the eye of the storm. Learn more here.

ShelterBox
ShelterBox provides families with a survival kit that includes a tent and other essential items while they are displaced or homeless. Learn more here.

UNICEF
Anticipating that children will likely be among the worst affected by the typhoon, UNICEF is working on getting essential medicines, nutrition supplies, safe water and hygiene supplies to children and families in the area. Learn more here.

Salvation Army
100 percent of all disaster donations will be used for relief efforts and "to immediately meet the specific needs of disaster survivors." Text TYPHOON to 80888 to Donate $10 or give online. Learn more here.

Save The Children
The organization has sent relief kits for children and families, including household cleaning items, temporary school tents and learning materials. Learn more here.

Doctors Without Borders
The organization is sending 200 tons of medical and relief items, including vaccines, tents and hygiene kits. Learn more here.

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Manny Villar, Mr. Sipag at Tyaga or C-5 & Taga?

There is no denying that Manny Villar was able to help quite a few distressed overseas Filipino workers and rightly so he deserves the credit. He has projected himself as an OFW savior and he has some tract record to prove it but there is one thing that caught my attention and hopefully this is not sanctioned by Mr. Villar or an SOP among his staff.

Dondon Lanuza an OFW has been languishing in Saudi prisons and condemned to death by beheading posted a very disturbing response he received from the staff of Manny Villar which I quote:

From: Manny Villar
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:14:46 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: OFW on Deathrow's Appeal for help
To: OFW on KSA's Deathrow

We already received your e-mail, you may call OWWA for the benefits you need the contact no. is (02) 833 6992 or 551 6641. We cannot help you.

Thank you,
SAGIP-OFW HELPLINE STAFF

This kind response is truly insensitive bordering on cruelty and tactless to say the least so I tried to get an explanation from Mr. Villar but did not get any. I asked Dondon Lanuza what he did to get this ridiculous response and below was his side of the incident:

Nag-email lang po ako sa kanya na paki follow-up po ang Case ko sa DFA at sa Embassy dito dahil 9 years and 2 months na po ako dito at medyo malapit na ipataw ang sintensyang Pugot Ulo. O kung may magagawa siya bilang Senador na bill para sa mga OFW na Deathrow. At the same time ay inilapit ko po ang sitwasyon ng 2 anak ko na nagugutom. At eto po ang sagot niya (I just emailed him to please follow-up on my case at the DFA and the embassy here because it has been 9 years and 2 months and they are about to carry the sentence of beheading. Or if he can introduce a bill as a senator for the sake of OFWs on death row. At the same time I appealed for the situation of my 2 kids suffering from hunger and this is how he responded.)

Of course Mr. OFW Savior can always weasel himself out of responsibility and point the blame as usual to his underlings, I just don’t know if he still has some credibility especially when he is not willing to clear the controversy surrounding the C-5 budget double insertion. Then we hear of Villar’s overcharging residents of subdivisions he owns that Manuel Buencamino calls Villar’s Waterworld citing Schumey at Philippine Experience post titled Villar's Golden Water, to quote:

Subdivisions in Las Piñas not owned by the Villars are celebrating. The reason, they are now freed from Villar's water company with the entry of Maynilad. Unfortunately for the people who live in Camella, they will have to continue paying for high water rates. Villar refused to allow Maynilad to service his subdivisions. Maynilad's rates are way below what Villar's water company charges its subscribers. He clearly does know how to put his interests above that of the public.

Let me show you how expensive water coming from Villar's company can be. Maynilad's basic charge is P106.77 while Manuela 4A-4H charges P 190.00. The difference doesn't end there. Maynilad's rates gradually increases and plateaus at P45.28 at 200/cum and over. Villar's is P47.50 for 51 cum and over. Spot the difference? The poor residents have no other alternative. If they want cheaper water, they should live elsewhere. "Iiyak talaga ang lahat kay Manny!"

Schumey further reports that it appears that one of the residential developments in Las Piñas of Manny Villar the Camella Homes are built without their own drainage system and it was the government that spent and built the sewers. This presidential wannabe wants us to believe that the nation needs a leader with a business sense he being a successful one, but it seems that the lines are too blurred when it comes to his business interest and public interest. Why did the government spend and built the sewers for a private development escapes me, have they not heard of conflict of interest or worse exerting influence so the government can finish the job for him gratis et amore?

At the height of Typhoon Ondoys fury Schumey shared the sad experience of the Elizabeth Seton School's PTA actively distributing relief goods to the flood victims of Las Piñas was told by the Barangay captain to leave the relief goods with them since they still have to repack the goodies in Villar’s bags. Brazen I should say and this probably explain why Dondon Lanuza was given such arrogant cruel response.

Shameless I should say but then again do they really have shame to begin with and this really shows how rotten to the core people in the government are all the way to the lowest barangay level. Schumey believes that the incident is not an isolated case and yes sadly he is right, validated by this dismaying experience of a caterer shared by Rosana Robles at Facebook, to quote:

While the private sector is so busy helping out, I heard a horror story of a caterer who repacked her food and gave it away for the people around her area who needed it, unfortunately this is what she said,

"nagkamali ako nung unang araw na namigay ako ng pagkain ,nadala ko sa municipio, hindi nakaabot sa mga taong nasalanta, sila-sila sa municipio ang kumain, kaya nung sumunod na araw dinerecho ko na sa tao " (I made a mistake on my first day when I donated food, I brought it to the municipal office, it did not reach the flood victims, the municipal workers ate it all, so the next day I brought it directly to the people.)

Can we please stop the corruption! It's everywhere iba-iba nga lang ang degree!

Mahiya naman sila!

Now that is really sad, if it’s not some brazen shameless running dogs of high officials blatantly and openly telling people they will repack goodies donated by others as if it was their master’s donation we have gluttons ravaging food intended for the hungry flood victims. But then again what do we expect when their role model proudly comes up with a slogan of “Sipag at Tyaga” that is sounding more like C-5 & Taga………

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Politics corruption scandals Filipinos Filipino-Americans Philippine Politics

Prospero Pichay of LWUA a Le Cirque Copy Cat

Never mind that the people of Metro Manila are literally drowning unleashed by nature’s wrath of typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana). A natural disaster exacerbated by decades of ignoring the consequence of rapid urbanization without considering the impact on the environment risking the safety and well being of its people. Philippine politics and politicians are indeed worthless freak side show aping their showbiz counterpart of the show must go on because nothing will stop Prospero Pichay in celebrating the 38th anniversary of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) a government owned corporation.
While ordinary individuals and Overseas Filipinos are doing extra ordinary things having no connection whatsoever with the government turn their celebration into a fund raising event to help the victims of Ondoy, Pichay in his ignorance and callous disregard for the plight of Ondoy victims goes on an extravagant party binge to please his master La Gloria de Napoleona y Le Cirque Arroyo. Shameless indeed, while thousands of people are cramped in evacuation centers scrounging for whatever relief is available and those stranded on top of their roofs starving, the thick skinned government officials feasted on a 7 course buffet and wine courtesy of Henry’s Catering Services on September 30, 2009 from 9 to 11PM.

Where oh where is their decency? Wrong question I supposed since it is unrealistic to expect politicians whose mandate came from backdoor cheating operations in the first place so it should follow that what is abnormal in an abnormal situation is normal. How abnormal are these people? It is safe to say that they are similar in most respect to a Mafiosi family in mindset. Criminal syndicate operates and thrives on the code of silence; unless one has a death wish no one dares rats out anyone in the family. The problem with government officials that are unwilling to take responsibility for their misdeeds and people not holding them accountable only emboldens corrupt government officials for more shenanigans as seen in this report by JP Lopez of Malaya:

HEADS rolled at the Local Water Utilities Administration after its 36th founding anniversary celebration, which critics described as "extravagant," was leaked to media last week.

A source said Teodoro Reynoso and Victor Alerta of the Public Affairs Department were sacked and remanded to their former lower positions.

Reynoso is the acting department manager. He was with the institutional and media relations division.

Alerta is the acting manager of the media production division. He was with media relations.

Another source said the two may have earned the ire of LWUA chief Prospero Pichay.

"Yun na nga ang tingin ng mga tao dito. Napag-initan talaga sila ni Pichay," the source said. (That is how it was perceived by people here. They really earned the ire of Pichay).

Instead of rectifying their misdeeds and poor judgment Pichay would rather sack those who rats them out. The problem is why in the name of Garcified presidency did Gloria Arroyo once again went along on a Le Cirque like extravagance when she knew all along that the people are starving? It’s bad enough she squandered her calamity fund to the tune of P800 million thus all she can offer the poor people when she “opened” Malacañang gates was just some lousy pandesal (bread) and soda. And yet she sees no problem and even feasted with Pichay is truly the height of callous insensitivity. She should have realized the stupidity of her skewed sense of priorities leaving her flat broke unable to handle emergencies and as if to stress her folly which she has no clue, mother nature unleashed more calamities in other parts of the country. They truly belong to each other and Pichay for his part even has the nerve to lash out at the critics below:

Pichay has lashed at critics for saying that holding the celebration during a time of calamity was the "height of insensitivity."

"Insensitivity belongs to those who give out critical words instead of helping out the victims of the calamity," he said.

Now what is wrong with Pichay or what kind of numb nut responds in this manner? What, does he think he is Mikey Arroyo, or having a contest on who is the biggest brat? Did his extravagance help the victims if I may ask? Well, no matter how you look at the extravagant celebration it is wrong on all levels, except perhaps from a half full glass or was it half fool perspective which hopefully will ultimately awaken the people to actively organize and remove these misfits out of office.

Of course my favorite Senadora Miriam Santiago as usual will go on her usual spiel below:

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has urged private individuals and organizations to file a petition for damages against Pichay and other LWUA officials as the celebration "should be considered an extravagance during a time of calamity."

If I would have been like the Senadora who when angry as hell froths in the mouth hudas errrr who does she think she is fooling? Why zero in on Prospero Pichay alone? Her ally Gloria Arroyo was there too who as the president of the cheating republic should have known better not to indulge in another extravagant food and wine binging fresh from the Le Cirque scandal and yet Lady Miriam conveniently leaves her out of it.

If there is any lesson we can all learn from this, it is not a good idea to appoint politicians and a trapo at that to government owned corporations who actually treat the corporation like their fiefdom affecting the viability of the agency. But then again, what are the chances that whoever Gloria Arroyo appoints will do a good job when she sets a bad example..........

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Politics corruption scandals Filipinos Filipino-Americans Philippine Politics Philippine Poverty Social Issues Overseas Filipinos

Advisory on In-Kind Donations for Typhoon Ondoy Victims

Washington, D.C.
Oct. 5, 2009

In response to the continuing relief, rehabilitation and retrieval operations for victims of Typhoon Ondoy, the Embassy of the Philippines in Washington, D.C. advises members of the Filipino community in the United States who wish to send their in-kind donations such as food, clothing, medicine and other equipment, to address their donated goods to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to facilitate in the swift release of relief goods from customs custody, promote seamless coordination between government agencies and ensure that goods are properly disbursed to its intended recipients.

The priority relief needs issued by the DSWD include the following: food and non-food items such as mats, blankets, clothes, flashlights, emergency lamps, tents, generators, water containers, hygiene kits (bath soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, laundry bars, feminine napkins), baby diapers and slippers. The Department of Health has likewise released its own priority list containing all the medical supplies and equipments that are urgently needed with regards to their ongoing operations. Interested parties may wish to access it on the Philippine Embassy website at www.philippineembassy-usa.org.

For further information, contact DSWD at 632-931-8101 to 07 or visit www.dswd.gov.ph.

Reference:
Consul Gines Gallaga
Press and Information Officer

*********************************************************************************

Dionesio C. Grava - Part-time community journalist based in Los Angeles and editorial writer at Forum Asia.

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Filipinos Filipino-Americans

Ondoy is Government's Inevitable Reckoning

Government officials cannot afford to be negligent and overlook some of the functions or responsibilities of their offices--because the time of inevitable reckoning will come. Thus, the President, cabinet secretaries, governors, mayors, etc. should cause the preparation of detailed and comprehensive lists of their mandated functions and to do things, as well as natural and man-made disasters that can occur in their respective areas of responsibilities.

For example, the President has to ask the DILG Secretary to require governors, mayors, and barangay officials to conduct a detailed survey of areas vulnerable to disasters in each of our 42,000 barangays. The possible disasters include floods in low lying areas, landslides in areas subjected to severe logging, fire, sabotage of oil refineries and terminals like Pandacan depot, sinking of overloaded ships during bad weather, oil spill from oil tankers, epidemic, disruption in oil supply from foreign sources due to wars or international political upheavals, etc. The detailed list of functions and potential disasters are needed for planning purposes, for forced ranking and prioritization in budget allocation, for setting of physical targets and timelines, for checking of preparedness against calamities, and for monitoring government performance vs. goals.

In the preparation, review, and legislation of the annual national budget, both executive and legislative government officials must follow a proper hierarchy of needs in the budgeting and spending of scarce government funds. Utmost priority must be given to provision for the protection of human lives against natural and man-made calamities, then to those designed for the protection of public and private property, thereafter to those for rendering of vital public services for medical and health, education, poverty alleviation, irrigation, roads and bridges, etc., and lastly for expenditures that are not absolutely necessary in the lives of the people, like ornamental rather than functional projects.

The highly wasteful allocation of public funds stemming from failure to follow a hierarchy of needs is dramatically exemplified by the ZTE-NBN deal, which would have pushed through had it not been for whistle blowers. The government had already contracted to spend a whopping $329 million in the ZTE contract, which, even without the alleged gross overprice, was very expensive primarily because the intention was to communicate up to 42,000 barangays nationwide. However, we already have good-enough alternative means of communication--cell phones and municipal mayors in some 1,500 municipalities.

In stark contrast, the government has not bothered to plan and spend for the most basic need—protection of human lives against recurring natural calamities nationwide.

Thus, when the inevitable reckoning from Ondoy came, the government could not hide its negligence and helplessness. The same government which committed earlier to spend on the ZTE contract the staggering sum of $329 million, or P15.5 billion--which was not even about a matter of life and death for Filipinos—is now exposed as having failed to spend even a measly P1.0 million for motor boats or safety equipment in potential life-and-death hazards, such as killer floods from recurring typhoons of varying intensity like Ondoy.

MARCELO L. TECSON
San Miguel, Bulacan

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Consul General Aragon: No one to blame for Manila misery, but global warming

Regarding Yuko Takei's quote of the Malaya editorial touching on La Gloria's extravagance in New York and her excessive junkets with planeloads of entourage in tow as a result of which the government's calamity and contingency funds are emptied just to sustain her indecent vanity, Pedestrian Observer is accurate in characterizing Mikey Arroyo's heroics in defense of mommy dearest as sanctimonious and making too much ado about his pakitang tao – supposedly feeding the desperately hungry flood victims with soda each.

'Yan ang mga napapala natin sa mga hudas ng bayan, ninakaw lahat ang laman ng kaban-publiko dahil sa sariling kasibaan. I suggest that we include in the blame our other bloated and shameless elected officials who kowtow to the dictates and wishes of GMA as well as those who participate in raiding public coffers through secret disbursements, pork barrel allocations, needless travels overseas, etc., etc.

While this should not have been the time to be assigning blames, still the grossness of the sins committed against the people they've sworn to serve and protect simply beg to be addressed. Because of their collective abuses and wanton disregard especially to the less fortunate, we are now in an unimaginable situation wherein the government is unable to launch immediate and systematic rescue efforts. Thus we are confronted with people shivering in rooftops; men and women wading neck-deep in dirty flood water and even doing acrobatics on electric cables just to stay dry; hungry mobs fighting for meager food distributed, if any; and such other heart-rending scenes. And all this supposed leader of our banana republic did is come up with a publicity stunt -- opening the gates of Malacanang. And, yes, there's that instant, shameless calling for international assistance.

Such unprincipled actuation's may have been telegraphed to the country's official representatives abroad. For example, I attended a fund-raising event Wednesday evening held by various community organizations at the consulate general in Los Angeles. After Pete Cruz and other community personalities called attention to the fact that government agencies concerned are obviously derelict in their responses -- even the various arms of the armed forces, Cruz said, have not provided their six-by-sixes, water vehicles, helicopters, etc. to assist the flood victims immediately -- Gloria's alter-ego in this part, Consul General Mary Jo A. Bernardo-Aragon, cautioned against finger-pointing stating instead that the calamity is a wake-up call for all of us, that there's already some kind of disaster preparedness bill in congress, that we all are to blame for causing global warming. Following Aragon's line of justification, the robber barons who by their profligacy and unscrupulous ways steal clean the people's treasury including even the money reserved for this kind of calamities are not to blame because, in the first place, this kind of calamities is caused by our own carbon emissions that cause global warming. Neat alibi, huh?

*********************************************************************************

Dionesio C. Grava - Part-time community journalist based in Los Angeles and editorial writer at Forum Asia.

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Mikey Arroyo, a picture is worth a thousand Booze or pandesal & soda

What’s up with Mikey Arroyo the McDo snob who is also “clueless” on SALN disclosure? Nothing much except wanting to regulate Facebook, hudas ooops who does he think he is? A member of politburo of the Chinese Communist Party or does he confuse the Philippines for China where internet access is regulated?
Apparently he was not pleased when he gained notoriety once more over a picture that was posted on Facebook that subsequently ended up getting posted on the blogs of Ellen Tordesillas’ Where’s Mikey in Ondoy’s aftermath, Uniffors’ Mikey’s flood assistance program, Delfin Montano's The Boozer During the Crisis and even a FaceBook Group called Mikey Arroyo is an Idiot. He says that he was in Malacañang (daw) doling out or rather handing out relief goods to the Ondoy flood victims. Hmmmmn, I wonder what kind of relief good he was talking about, because what I saw on TV tells of a different story which is the pathetic distribution of Pandesal (bread at least it was not Marie Antoinette’s cake) and soda.

Just to be fair and not being a barber the pandesal distribution was after the Saturday he claimed he was handing out relief goods so I will take his word for it. Seriously and curiously where and how did they get the funds for the relief good, oh well I guess they must have funded it with the consigliere or rather the cabinet’s 2 month salary on orders of La Napoleona de la Cirque. Poor jet setter Gloria Arroyo and her Tongress free loaders who seem to bungle things and getting caught up with her extravagant food and alcoholic binging sprees exposing her pathetic wrong priorities.

Manuel Buencamino states the obvious in his “Oops!” post wherein flat broke Gloria Arroyo is reduced to gesturing opening Malacañang to the poor hungry soul victims of Ondoy. She does not realize or should we say was in denial or delusional to say the least that there are throngs or multitude of people going hungry even before Ondoy’s wrath trooping to the palace overwhelming them and a visibly irked Gloria Arroyo has nothing to offer but pandesal and soda. Yuko Takei called my attention on the Malaya editorial that is so succinctly written, which I quote:

Gloria’s chickens come home to roost

REMEMBER the flap over that $20,000 dinner in New York and the P2.499 billion that taxpayers’ paid for Gloria Arroyo’s foreign trips? The cost of that Le Cirque outing was an obscenity, considering the hand-to-mouth existence of most Filipinos. So was the actual travel expenses incurred from 2001 to the present, considering that the original total allocation for her travels was only P1.439 billion.

The image polishers at the Palace, however, played down Gloria’s free-spending ways. They said there were essential foreign trips that could not have been foreseen during the budget process. The unforeseen expenses, Palace propagandists said, were the reason there was "budget flexibility."

The Palace’s justification was disingenuous. On August 20 we said: "In the case of foreign trips, the additional funding comes from the President’s Contingency Fund. Fine. But our understanding is the Contingency Fund is the source of quick-disbursement money for victims of earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions and other calamities, both natural and man-made. Every dollar spent on foreign travel sourced from the Contingency Fund must then necessarily be P50 less for hungry and homeless calamity victims.

"This is equivalent to snatching a ball of rice from a starving kid’s mouth."

After the onslaught of typhoon "Ondoy," Gloria’s chickens are coming home to roost. Today marks the end of September. There are three more months to go in 2010, but the President’s Contingency Fund apparently has already been bled dry. This is the reason we have not heard Gloria firing off directives to send flood victims more food and other relief goods bought with her contingency fund.

She is reduced to making symbolic gestures such as donating two months of her salary for relief work. She gets P63,525 a month, for a total donation of P127,050. That sum comes to about 8 percent of what she spent in that night’s outing in New York. Put another way, she can afford to donate only two months of her salary to flood victims while she could burn 16 months of her salary for a dinner at Le Cirque.

The difference, of course, is that that P127,050 is her own money. The P1 million she spent for dinner is for the account of poor Juan dela Cruz, who at this very moment lacks a roof over his head, clothes to ward off the cold and food to fill his grumbling stomach.

Now how pathetic is that and Mikey Arroyo has the gall to be so sanctimonious (like he is up on cloud nine riding his white carabao in his shining armor) chiding bloggers for not helping out when if he and her momma dearest did not help themselves first those poor hungry souls would not have endured the long lines just to eat pandesal and drink soda. Heck, giving soda to those hungry people may just cause more harm on an empty stomach is literally giving them stomach ulcer or having their tooth falling off caused by the sugar content of the soda. Looks like Mikey Arroyo can't do the math, now with that kind of help do we really need it, when we end up losing more? In case you are thinking of donating, you are better off sending it to legitimate charities or volunteers away from the government entities.

There are rumors going the rounds that a crocodile was seen floating in Pasig River near Malacañang, well we know how rumor flies confusing the place with Cainta or perhaps confusing the occupants as the predatory crocodiles. Take your pick which one is which, but really who can blame people for getting confused, what with how they are perceived.

In the meantime while Mikey Arroyo lashes out at bloggers and FaceBook members there are half a million victims crammed in evacuation centers. Here is an excellent site of List of places to donate and volunteer (Ondoy Manila) complete with map and Dr. Philip Chua’s Filipino United Network raising funds to provide assistance in the funeral expense of the victims.

At Facebook Manny SD Lopez suggested that we launch a dollar campaign for Muelmar Magallanes the hero who rescued and saved more than 30 people who unfortunately drowned and succumbed to the strong flood water current due to severe exhaustion. In an email to Dr. Philip Chua who happens to be one of our contributors here at Pedestrian Observer GB he stated his intention to make Muelmars Magallanes as one of the their beneficiary for his heroic selfless deed.. The number of people who perished in Ondoy's wrath so far is 280 and counting, contributions are badly needed and will surely be appreciated.

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