In the News: Anti-Planking Act of 2011

Credits of the image goes to the link that appears herein

Planking is considered only a game and a fun activity in different countries around the world - except in the Philippines. A couple of days ago, planking has become a big news in local news programs and newspapers as student activists used this supposed to be fun activity into an act of protest; doing planking in the streets that causes heavy traffic and eventually made lots of passengers late from their respective appointments. It happened during the Nationwide Transport Strike happened last September 19, 2011.

In response to this "creative" act of protest against the rapid increase in oil prices, an overacting congressman named Rep. Winston "Winnie" Castelo of the 2nd district of Quezon City filed a bill in the House of Representatives known as the Anti-Planking Act of 2011.

Here's the details of the bill filed by Congressman Castelo.

AN ACT PRESCRIBING A UNIVERSAL CODE OF STUDENT CONDUCT WHEREBY PLANKING BY A STUDENT OR GROUP OF STUDENTS DURING STREET RALLIES OR SIMILAR PROTEST ACTIONS AS A FORM OF REDRESS OF GRIEVANCE BE STRICTLY PROHIBITED AND APPLYING APPROPRIATE SANCTIONS THEREOF

September 20th, 2011

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the “Anti-Planking Act of 2011”.

SEC. 2. A universal Code of Student Conduct is hereby prescribed where planking as a form of redress of grievance be strictly prohibited and appropriate sanctions be applied for violations thereof.

SEC. 3. Under this Act, planking is when a student or group of students lies face down in unusual locations especially in streets or other public places, keeping the hands along the body and the feet outstretched and especially where such act is meant as a form of redress of grievance against government.

SEC. 4 Every bonafide student from any school, college or university shall conduct himself with high degree of discipline and propriety.

SEC. 5. The Department of Education in the case of elementary and high school students and the Commission on Higher Education in the case of college students shall draft a universal Code of Student Conduct to carry out the provisions of this Act.

Further, DepEd and CHED, respectively shall issue appropriate rules and regulations to effectively carry out intent and purpose of this Act.

SEC. 6. This Act shall take effect ninety (90) days after its publication in the Official Gazette and in at least three (3) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,

The bill have received lots of criticisms (both positive and negative) hours after the bill was announced in a press conference. In fact, it became a trending topic and the cause of debate in different social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. 

Rep. Castelo in a press conference said that this bill was created and filed to protect the students from possible injuries caused by planking in dangerous areas such as in streets, top of a building, etc. Student activists on the other hand remarked that Anti-Planking Act of 2011 was just nonsense and Castelo's way to get the attention of the public and the news. Student activists also promised that more street planking will be performed if no solutions will be made to their grievances such as rapid oil price increase, budget cut on State Universities and Colleges, etc.

Author's Remark:

A completely nonsense bill. I don't understand the reason why this fun activity has caused a ruckus in this country? There are more urgent bill and laws that should be made and discussed, more corrupt officials and anomalies should be investigated, more age-old problems should be solved such as poverty, overpopulation, unemployment. It is a total waste of time, money and resources.

Labor Day Job's Fair in all SM Malls Nationwide

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) together with SM Malls will conduct a nationwide jobs fair this coming May 1, in celebration for Labor Day. The jobs fair will be participated by major corporations around the country, with thousands of jobs to be offered. Perfect for those who are fresh graduates and unemployed.

Several Commercial Sites Blocked Temporarily By U.S Military for Japanese Recovery Efforts

News from cnn.com

U.S. Military temporarily blocked access to several popular commercial websites to free up significant amount of bandwidth for use in recovery efforts in Japan, according to the e-mail send to CNN which was confirmed by the U.S Strategic Command Spokesperson. 

The sites are not chosen because of their content and their popularity over the Internet, they are chosen because of their popularity and use of bandwidth over the U.S Military , in a statement from U.S Military Strategic Command Spokesperson Rodney Ellison.

The reason U.S Military made such move is to allocate necessary bandwidth and to make it available for use in military operation in Japan. 

Overall, there are 13 commercial websites temporarily blocked by the U.S Military:

• Amazon.com
• Doubleclick.com
• eBay.com
• ESPN.go.com
• Eyewonder.com
• Googlevideo.com
• Ifilm.com
• Metacafe.com
• Mtv.com
• Myspace.com
• Pandora.com
• streamtheworld.com
• Youtube.com

Disclaimer: The author does not hold copyrights of the image used in this post. Credits goes to this link with which the image appeared.

Find and Report Filipinos In Japan with GMA New's People Finder

Editor's Note:I wished to write this post in Filipino so that it'll be easy for my kababayans to understand for this is an important matter regarding the recent calamity that hit Japan.

Sa lahat ng Pilipino na nasa Japan, o yung mga Pilipinong may mga kamag-anak o kilala sa Japan na wlang balita sa kanila, Maari po nating gamitin ang People Finder hatid po sa atin ng GMA News para makakuha tayo ng impormasyon hinggil sa mga kababayan natin na biktima ng kalamidad sa Japan.

Bisitahin lang po natin ang website na ito. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/215060/pinoy-abroad/people-finder-for-filipinos-in-japan.

Philippine Embassy in Tokyo Japan releases names of Filipinos urged to contact the embassy ASAP

Philippine Embassy in Tokyo Japan released names of Filipinos required to contact Philippine Embassy in Tokyo Japan  as soon as possible for the Embassy to know the current situation of these Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Japan. Also to those who knew or have contact to these individuals, please contact Philippine Embassy in Tokyo Japan urgently.

Visit http://tokyo.philembassy.net/  for the list of Filipinos and contact numbers of Philippine Embassy in Japan.

Text Messages about Nuclear Reactor Radiation Leakage, just a Text Hoax - PNRI

Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) and Department of Health (DOH) in an interview by a local media confirmed that a circulating text message in the Philippines saying to stay inside their homes tomorrow to avoid exposure of nuclear radiation, is definitely not true and just a text hoax. Department of Science and Technology (DOST) also said that it is impossible for the Philippines to get infected with such radiation coming from a nuclear meltdown because the country is in the south of Japan, whereas winds carrying radioactive elements should travel east of Japan. The circulating text message caused panic to those who received the said hoax text message. 

The text message goes like this (In Filipino):

"PAALALA:

4:30 in the afternoon sumabog ung isang nuclear power plant sa Fukushima!!! kapag Umulan dw mamya at bukas, wala dw lalabas.. kung nasa labas naman kayo, siguraduhin niong naka KAPOTE o nakaPAYONG kayo, dahil kapag naulanan kayo, delikado daw.may tendency masunog balat nio, makalbo o magka CANCER"

Kung may nataggap po kayong text na ganito ang sinasabi, wag po tayong maniwala ang mag panic sapagkat ito po ay walang katotohanan!.

Sec.Angelo Reyes's Final Words Before his Death

Yesterday when I was browsing tweets from my Twitter homepage, I encountered an interesting tweet coming from Mark Zambrano, a known journalist in the Philippines. His tweet says "shivers. that's what I got after reading Angie Reyes's final words. Speechless as well". A link was also mentioned in the tweet, so with no hesitation I clicked the link and got redirected to another website where Sec. Angelo Reyes's final words were written. 

The article's kinda long so I would not mention it's entirety in my blog post. The article was written by Malou Mangahas last February 12, 2011, few day after former AFP Chief-of -Staff and Sec. Angelo "Angie" Reyes committed suicide. Before his death, Sec. Reyes was accused of corruption after receiving millions of pesos from  AFP fund.

Two days before he shot himself death last Feb. 06, 2011, here's what Sec. Angelo Reyes's thought regarding all the controversies thrown to him and his family.

Living life without honor is a tragedy bigger than death itself – Angie Reyes

“Honor, truth, justice. Honor above all else. Pride goes with it, self-respect, sense of legacy. This is very, very important to me. Sometimes, I am accused of being arrogant. I like to have plenty – a healthy sense – of self-esteem. I react to affronts on this.

There are two options available: to stonewall/fight the legal battle, or to come clean and make my own contribution to cleanse the system.

Stonewalling, I am told, would result in a long, protracted legal battle. However, past cases are not being resolved either way, kept in state of limbo. People’s memories are short and all this will eventually fade into public disinterest, and eventually oblivion. So, not to worry.

Coming clean, on the other hand, cannot be done without giving up something. I have decided to come clean, bare my heart and speak the truth. The truth can cut two ways: 1. If you are guiltless, you can embrace the truth and hope that it will protect you; 2. If you are not guiltless, speak the truth and it shall set you free.

I speak the truth not to whistle-blow or to seek neither immunity nor protection nor to escape from any form of liability. As a matter of fact, I speak the truth to accept responsibility for whatever liability I may have.

Honor is above all else. More valuable than freedom or even life itself. Therefore, honor must be guarded/defended with your life.

Living life without honor is a tragedy bigger than death itself.

Stonewalling would mean I would have to go on every day of my life or at least a large part of it under a cloud of public suspicion, at least until the case is resolved. Every day as you continue to live with the lie, you lose a little of your self-respect. And every day, as people look at you, you can read from their minds that they find you dishonorable, and you die a little. So if you stonewall – and you have the connections, resources and power to sustain it, and perhaps the thick face to endure it – that would be the preferred option. I have none of these, and so I choose the path of honor.

My honor has been attacked and damaged. I still have a lot of pride and self-respect, and I’d like to come clean to preserve whatever honor is left.

We see plenty of people walking around who have been clearly disgraced in the eyes of the people, and I do not want to join their ranks.

I think if you want to cleanse the system and for there to be justice, it should be applied equally and well. Our experience has shown that those with position and power, support and connection invariably go scot-free. I don’t have any of these.

It is unfortunate that we have a huge canvass here of which, I admit, I have been a part; unfortunately, people are now inclined to make me the face of that problem for their own various reasons. 

When I participated in EDSA II, even then I anticipated that something like this would happen when I made enemies both on a personal and official level. In my long years of service, I knew that I would have to come to terms with this enmity some day.

I might not be guiltless/faultless, but I am not as evil as some would like to portray.

To my friends and those who have known me and believed in me, I honestly believe I did not let you down.

I want to assure the (PMA) cadet corps, current and future, that there are plenty of military professionals who have served and will continue to serve the country well. Do not be disheartened by this turn of events. Yours is a noble profession (of arms), and you should feel no shame. I have tried to live with integrity, loyalty, and courage.

In my 48 years of public service, I have tried to live up to the highest levels of professionalism and integrity. Whether it’s my assignment with the AFP-RSBS or with the Anti-Smuggling Task Force, I never received any offers of bribes; in fact, I returned them. In all my assignments, 39 years in the military and 9 years in four different Cabinet positions, I have never had any favorite supplier. Neither have I ever extorted money nor set any financial precondition for the approval of any contract. I can honestly say that I served honestly and well.

We are now in the situation where my honor and the family name are at stake. My family, my children, my grandchildren could say with a lot of truthfulness and pride that in the family, we value honor and integrity. Strength to live it and the courage to face up to the truth. This is the legacy I would like to leave with them. 

Honor, truth, but there must be justice. And justice can be served if laws are applied evenly and well – not favoring the rich and powerful. I hope my case/situation will not be used as something that would bring closure to the issue of military corruption. The fight to reform the system and the entire country must continue; the sad part is that they are selectively targeting individuals and institutions.

I did not invent corruption. I walked into it. Perhaps my first fault was in having accepted aspects of it as a fact of life.

While I am familiar with finance, I must admit I had scant knowledge of military comptrollership. Personally, zero experience. Never been assigned as disbursement officer, etc., no stint. It’s a military field of specialization that I do not have.

No system is perfect. The AFP system needs a lot of systemic solutions…And the same might be true of some other institutions.

Tinyente pa ako, ganyan na ang sistema (i.e., “conversion" system, etc.)… I can perhaps be faulted for presuming regularity in a grossly imperfect system. As CS (chief of staff), a big landscape, presume regularity, convenient to ignore it, accept it as part of the system. It’s easy to say, institute reforms after the problems have erupted.

I joined EDSA II at great risk. Jumped into a void. Coming from a place that was high and comfortable. Without any regard for compensation or recognition or reward. I thought what I did – being loyal to the Flag and putting the national interest above all else – a right, but I was faulted for not being loyal to the commander-in-chief, that I should have stuck with him to the end, however that end might be. I stuck it out with the GMA administration for 9 years, not under the banner of loyalty; I could have deserted GMA, but I did not want to be branded as someone who abandoned his superiors…"

When we participated in many military campaigns, I would like to think that I showed courage…"

– PCIJ, February 2011

For the complete article written by Malou Mangahas, you may visit this following links:

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/212879/the-final-words-of-angelo-t-reyes

http://pcij.org/stories/a-warrior-comes-clean-in-last-battle-for-honor/

Article Source: http://www.gmanews.tv