To help or not to

It is just unfortunate that some politicians made use of a national tragedy in order to pursue their respective political agendas.

I was browsing my facebook account when I suddenly saw a link posted by one of my friends regarding Manny Villar and his relief operations. The picture showed a packed food which was labeled as "tulong galing kay Manny Villar." Below the sign was a V symbol, which obviously represents Villar. I still can't confirm the veracity of the picture. But, given Manny's penchant for publicity stunts, I will not be surprised if this is indeed true.

Time and again, the former Senate president has proven to all of us how dedicated he is in promoting and advertising himself. His numerous appearances in Willie Revillame's noontime show, "Wowowee," is a clear proof of his lust for media attention. This incident is no exception to that. Not even a crisis of this magnitude will stop this man from campaigning prematurely.

Many of our kababayans are in dire need of help. Any kind of donation (money or in kind) is welcome as long as it well help alleviate their sufferings. However, if helping our calamity stricken countrymen is made because of a vested interest, then it's much better if they just withheld their donation.

Malacañang serves as relief operations and evacuation center

Typhoon Ondoy has devastated many cities and surrounding provinces in the NCR and Region IV-A. Relief operation centers have been set up by government authorities and private organizations to assist the victims of the typhoon.

News has it that Malacañang Palace has been converted into a relief operations center. Volunteers can send their donations at the Kalayaan Hall. Malacañang is also being used right now as temporary evacuation center.

We can disseminate this information to all our kababayans who need assistance, especially those near the area. Goods that will be received will also be distributed to the cities and provinces affected.

News links:
http://www.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2001751&Itemid=1

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=509599&publicationSubCategoryId=63

OFWs Home Sweet Home

Not only Manny Villar can bring home OFWs. President Gloria Arroyo brought along with her 121 Overseas Filipino Workers yesterday, all from Saudi Arabia. The President came back from her latest trip abroad with the 119 OFWs who have escaped abusive employers, some are undocumented workers.

This would not be possible were it not for the hard work of the officers and staff of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in the said Arab country as well as the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) who expedited the documents necessary for the repatriation of the workers.

Kudos to Gloria and the rest of the government officials to assist these distressed workers. I wonder what Manny Villar will do to equal these efforts of the administration.

GIBO for PRESIDENT TAYO!

Whoever said Gilberto "Gibo" Teodoro will not make it in the 2010 polls must pray hard that the elections do not favor him.

Just today, I happened to see Smartmatic conducting an educational-demonstration at the Shangrila with KBP members, PPCRV, and Comelec officials as members. Smartmatic informed the participants in the demonstration how the automated system would work in the 2010 polls. Afterwhich, a mock election was conducted to test it.

The boxes containing age demographics was used as reference for Chiz Escudero, Loren Legarda, Noynoy Aquino, Gilberto Teodoro, Manny Villar, and Erap Estrada. After the mock elections the results were revealed by PPCRV Chair Henrietta De Villa as follows, Teodoro got 8, Villar, Erap, Noynoy and Chiz got 3 votes each, and Loren got zero.

What is the implication of this? Although Gibo Teodoro is allied with Gloria, he is not as bad as she is projected in the sense that he is a possible savior of this country. With the KBP members as the mock voters, it means that sensible people will know that Gibo is a good candidate and will possibly deliver once elected as president.

We need change, but we do not need drastic changes which might just imperil our progress. GMA may be unpopular, she may be hated, but she has started out projects to cover every minute aspect of every single problem in this country. From education to agriculture to corruption even to climate change. If we hate Gloria's policies that should not mean we should hate the fact that she is working. Even if we think her policies are ineffective at least she initiated the reforms. All that Gibo has to do is to start moving from that foundation put up by GMA.

Gibo para sa pagbabago tayo!

Abnoy for President?

Noynoy Aquino has declared his decision to run for president in the 2010 elections. This was after the prodding that he got from various interest groups and personalities who pushed him to try his luck for the highest position in the national government.

But like what others have already asked, I say this. Is he ready? Is he capable?

Aside from bearing the surname Aquino, aside from being the only son of Ninoy and Cory, what else does Ninoy have to make it to the presidency and to serve the people that his parents both served and loved?

Rumors from the moles in the Senate say that Noynoy does nothing in his Senate office other than play the PLAYSTATION. Yes the Playstation! I do not even know how to use one. But Noynoy, who is around his late 40's is very active in this generation's fad.

Oh well, might be the reason why some look at him to be like an older version of Kris Aquino's eldest child Josh. Don't they look alike and act alike?

Anyways, there's this group supporting Noynoy called ABNOY or Alyansa ng mga Boboto para kay Noynoy. I don't know if they intended some sort of ridicule or if it's just plain coincidence.