PNoy eats a NY dog

Didn't your mother tell you not to talk when your mouth is full? hehe. But this is nice, if only to show how down to earth President Aquino really is. (His yaya has been quoted as saying that PNoy is not a fussy eater at all.) And yes, there's nothing like a New York dog, especially the ones at Gray's Papaya. Yum.

Who really rocks though is Chief of Protocol Miguel Perez Rubio, who at 84, can still keep up w/ all this presidential business.

Btw, in case you guys are interested, on Sept. 22 (NY time), PNoy had lunch at Serafina restaurant and then a steak dinner at the moderately-priced Keens restaurant. Malacañang is apparently making sure the public knows exactly where and how we, the taxpayers, are feeding the President. Check out the President's Day at the Official Gazette.

I'm sorry, I have no sympathy for you (Updated)

I JUST got off the phone w/ a Cabinet official who called me about my concern regarding donations by foreign groups of used clothing. Apparently, there is a law preventing such imports because of the growing ukay-ukay business in the country.

To go around this law, Malacañang has instructed that donations of used clothing be consigned to DSWD instead. (Upate 11:34: If the DSWD receives the donations, the payment of import taxes are deferred.) I told this Cabinet official that DSWD is overburdened already feeding people in the evacuation centers that's why it's the private sector which is taking up the slack. Why can't Customs or the Dept of Finance just accredit a few charitable foundations of relief organizations to receive these donations from abroad?

"There is a law," he stressed over and over, and they couldn't just violate it. With all the bright legal minds in Malacañang, consigning the goods to the DSWD was the only solution they could think of? This is an effing emergency situation! But when it comes to flouting the laws, our officials are number one! Especially you know who!

The Cabinet official said there were already concerns that some importers are taking advantage of the situation and "nagpupuslit ng contraband". So prosecute them for heaven's sake! Why penalize the rest who have only a sincere desire to help Ondoy's victims?

Then the Cabinet official sighed that he has not been sleeping for six days since Typhoon Ondoy. I don't know what he expected me to say. Should I have said, "kawawa ka naman" and sympathized w/ his lack of sleep? I was stumped. People have lost their homes, family members, friends, lack food and water, and are getting sick in the evac centers...and I was supposed to pity one Cabinet official who was suffering from sleep deprivation? I felt a lump in my throat. I wanted to scream at him and cry at the same time. How dare he!

In the first place, we wouldn't have this many flood victims if only you, the gov't, did your job! I have tried to contain myself from blowing up since Saturday, seeing how NDCC and its head, Defense Sec. Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro blundered their way through the rescue efforts of the flood victims. But privately, I have been fuming on Facebook about how many lives the government could have saved, if only they were prepared for disasters.


(Gibo talks about disaster preparedness. Ptooey!)

Like FEMA director Michael Brown during the Hurricane Katrina disaster in Sept. 2005, Gibo sent out rescue teams only when Ondoy was on its way out of the country. As early as 1 pm on Sat. Sept 26, residents of Marikina were already hunched on their roofs, waiting to be rescued! Gibo eventually sent in the much-ridiculed 13 rubber boats (mostly from the Phil. Navy) to the flooded areas at 10 pm!

By midnight, Marikina residents were texting DZMM that President Arroyo had arrived "para magpapakitang tao." The victims who were cold, hungry, and missing their families were not fooled by her fake concern. What makes our blood boil is knowing that the presidentita used up P800 million of the contingency/disaster fund for her foreign travels! How many rescue boats could have been bought w/ that money?

Now we realize even more how stupid this government really is! They can't even get their acts together to decide whether or not Malacañang should be an evacuation/relief center. They can't even come up w/ a simple plan or legal document to temporarily lift relief the ban on donated used clothing? Right now, I've received reports of Customs agents seizing ALL shipments of donations at our ports! People abroad are willing to help our flood victims here. And yet all the govt can come up w/ is even more red tape! Anoba?!

Now, in preparation for Typhoon Parma (local codename Pepeng), disaster czar Teodoro wants to forcibly evacuate minors only from low-lying areas. Why minors only? If the situation is that dangerous, then evacuate everyone! Use your powers as NDCC chief and Defense Sec. to order a systematic evacuation of these areas by using your armed forces. Call in the reserved forces as well to help conduct an orderly evacuation, and don't take crap from stubborn residents. Man up Gibo! This is what you should have done last Saturday at the height of Ondoy.

Isn't anyone thinking straight anymore in Malacañang?!?! Oh right, they haven't slept for six days. erg

One last time

One of the last interviews of former President Corazon C. Aquino, from GMA News TV's Newsmakers Archives, Sept. 2008.


For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

Whatta joke!

RECEIVED this email from a friend who got it from actor/comedian Leo Martinez, director-general of the Film Academy of the Philippines, who wants to know how Carlo J. Caparas, king of local massacre films, made it to the National Artists Awards list.

But hey, Malacañang says Lani Mercado is super qualified to become San Miguel board director. So should we even wonder why Carlo Caparas became a National Artist?

From: Leo Martinez [mailto:******@yahoo.com]

Where did he come from?

Some weeks back, news was rife about the National Artist Awardees awaiting confirmation by Malacañang. Cited as National Artist for Film, albeit posthumously, was Manuel Conde. We at the Film Academy of the Philippines had nominated Director Celso Ad. Castillo, but really, nobody can dispute Mr. Conde’s place in Philippine cinema’s history. We believe that even Director Castillo who is similarly deserving of the award will graciously acknowledge the greatness of the man.

Two days ago, the confirmation was finally announced and to our surprise and to the surprise of many in the film industry, the National Artist Award for Film was also conferred on Carlo Caparas. Not only that, he was bestowed the National Artist Award for Film AND Visual Arts.

So, where did he come from? Throughout the long and exacting selection process, Carlo Caparas was never ever mentioned as nominee, not for film and surely not for visual arts. All of a sudden, he is a National Artist and seemingly the most gifted of all for straddling two major art fields.

There only seems to be one answer to this mystery. Between the Awards selection panels and us, the people, the list of awardees made a stop-over in Malacañang. Someone waved the magic wand and a name appeared, a person who never went through the incisive and deliberate scrutiny that the rest of the awardees were subjected to by the Awards organizers. I believe that this is an act of blatant accommodation.

Conferring the highest award on someone who was never in the running makes a travesty of the National Artists Awards, an institution that has been looked up to, venerated even for the recognition it gives to Filipinos whose body of works or whose contribution to the Filipino people is of the highest order. We have as this year’s awardees Manuel Conde for Film and Federico Alcuaz for Visual Arts. Both are commendable, both beyond question. It has never been done before but had the Organizers wanted to give the same award to more than one person, why not consider the other most deserving nominees. Instead, and to our utter disgust, a new category was coined and the two most prestigious awards for Film and Visual Arts were conferred on Carlo Caparas.

It is a pity that the National Artist Award has been reduced to a joke.

LEO G. MARTINEZ
Director General
Film Academy of the Philippines

(Photo credits: Carlo J. Caparas from PEP, Leo Martinez from FAP)

GMA gets boob job, says Bulletin

Omigawd! This is precious! (Actual screen capture from MB's site.)

GMA medical checkup OK

By JONATHAN M. HICAP, CHARISSA M. LUCI
Manila Bulletin, July 2, 2009, 6:03pm

President Arroyo underwent removal and replacement of breast silicone implants at a hospital in Muntinlupa City, a source told the Manila Bulletin.

Meanwhile, a Palace official announced that President Arroyo has ended her two-day self imposed quarantine “with a clean bill of health,” and is expected to resume public engagements “in a few days.”

The informant, who requested anonymity since the source was not authorized to speak about the matter, said the President was scheduled to undergo augmentation mammoplasty at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Alabang, Muntinlupa. (Click here for the rest.)

OK, this is so uncharacteristic of MB to publish something unflattering of the presidentita. So this could be a hoax, someone may have hacked into the paper's news site, or the online editor is just fooling around. The paper doesn't usually upload its news 'til after midnight.

Go save the page on PDF or go buy the paper right now, in case it's for real. Takot ako ke Lolo Emilio!

(UPDATE 12:10 pm) Yes folks, apparently the story is for real. According to Phil. Star columnist Jarius Bondoc, the boob job was done in the 80s but the twins have been leaking lately, thus the need for the replacements. Click Gotcha for the full account.

Meantime, kudos to the new leadership at Bulletin for their courage (and humor!) in publishing the story. Although apparently, someone from the Palace must've blasted them already. Accdg. to Georgia whose friend manages/hosts the web site of the paper, a call from the Bulletin was received with instructions to replace the original story w/ the new lede. The page now looks like this: