“When I saw corruption, I was forced to find truth on my own. I couldn't swallow the hypocrisy.”
--Barry White
By Alex P. Vidal
NOW it can be told: “Juan Dela Cruz” isn’t just a suspected merchant of chaos and intrigues.
He is both a sniper and one who operates a remote-controlled land mine in the Iloilo City Hall.
“Juan Dela Cruz” is a city hall insider with a Google-like information about just any transaction the city government had undertaken, and about just any personality involved in the transaction.
And he still apparently holds a lot of keys that can help unlock more Pandora boxes.
As long as he remains anonymous and has unlimited access to the mainstream media, he can detonate a land mine that will make life miserable for many corrupt characters, including those who may be--and may have been--falsely accused of committing a wrongdoing.
But because “Juan Dela Cruz” is a fictitious name, many scoundrels zapped by his sniper won’t be formally charged in court, but will just merely be exposed to shame and embarrassment.
-o0o-
But, look, he isn’t a pushover.
Many of the names and designations (including their mode of shenanigans) “Juan Dela Cruz” mentioned in the second wave of his terror attack really exist (we aren’t saying though the allegations against them were true).
His motive in sowing a massive bedlam is still unclear.
In his opening salvo, “Juan Dela Cruz” wobbled (but failed to bundle out) the Manikan couple-- Local Civil Registrar’s Office (LCRO) chief Romeo Caesar “Juncae” Manikan and wife, City tourism assistant chief Eireen Rita.
In his latest blitzkrieg, “Juan Dela Cruz” ripped through the territorial waters of mostly Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas’ own acolytes, accusing them of conflict of interest and other monkey business.
He showed to all and sundry he isn’t Treñas’ bogeyman, after all!
One thing we can be certain of is “Juan Dela Cruz”, being familiar with the terrain, must’ve hobnobbed with some of the characters he had mentioned in some other time and clime or even regularly.
He is apparently familiar with the extent of their participation in the crime, including the murder weapons.
“Juan Dela Cruz” knows where the bodies are buried.
-o0o-
A recent video that circulated in the social media showed several armed young men and women walking in an identified place believed to be a mountainous area somewhere in the Visayas or Mindanao.
Most of them looked healthy and strong and were only in their 20s and 30s.
They were like ROTC cadets and appeared to be new recruits of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-New People’s Army (NPA).
In the 70’s and 80’s some of the NPA cadres who participated in gun battles versus the government forces looked skinny and malnourished.
Now they look like Olympic athletes and are brimming with pride and confidence as they march wearing Nike baseball caps and large backpacks.
So the CPP-NPA is still very much active and continues to attract young warriors?
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)
Showing posts with label #. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #. Show all posts
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Ignorance is the only evil
“Vaccines don't cause autism. Vaccines, instead, prevent disease. Vaccines have wiped out a score of formerly deadly childhood diseases. Vaccine skepticism has helped to bring some of those diseases back from near extinction.”
--Alex Pareene
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Ignorance will kill more children than the measles outbreak.
If Hippocrates were alive today, he would have spanked idiotic parents whose skepticism has caused them to falsify the true essence of the modern medicine’s immunization program.
Filipino children denied of immunization only because their parents are ignorant or misinformed are still protected by law, thus they can still be saved from parental stupidity.
The Philippines has the Republic Act 10152 or the Mandatory Infants and Children Health Immunization Act of 2011.
Under this law, government hospitals and health centers are mandated to provide immunization for free to infants and children up to five years old.
Some Filipino parents refuse to immunize their kids for fear that the vaccine might harm the tots, a jittery caused by the Dengvaxia imbroglio.
Other parents are still influenced by a debunked study that claims certain vaccines could lead to autism and a theory that claims vaccines were linked to brain damage.
Because of these fears, thousands of Filipino kids who have not been immunized were in danger of being seriously infected with diseases like the measles, rubella, mumps and hepatitis.
In fact, the Department of Health (DOH) has already declared a measles outbreak over the week.
No less than the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) along with Filipino pediatricians as well as experts on infectious diseases have expressed alarm over the measles outbreak in the Philippines that has affected some 20,000 children since December 2018.
Children’s disease is evil, but the biggest evil is that which has created a monster in the minds of some nervous parents.
In fact, there is no evil in this world, according to Socrates, but ignorance.
-o0o-
If “mama” or “papa” are adamant, do it yourself--if you can.
Take the case of a brave 18-year-old teen from Norfolk, Ohio who recently made the decision to receive his first-ever vaccines for a number of diseases despite his parents’ beliefs.
The Hill reported that Ethan Lindenberger admitted he had gone without vaccines for diseases like the measles, rubella, mumps and hepatitis for his entire life due to his mother’s anti-vaccine beliefs.
He told the publication that his mother, Jill Wheeler, was influenced by online misinformation, including a debunked study that claims certain vaccines could lead to autism and a theory that claims vaccines were linked to brain damage.
Throughout his childhood, Lindenberger said his mother would tell him about the negative side effects of vaccines and how they were bad. He also said he thought it was normal for children not to receive vaccines. But after he realized his other friends and classmates had all been vaccinated, Lindenberger said that’s when he began to do his own research into the matter, reported The Hill.
-o0o-
“When I started looking into it myself, it became very apparent that there was a lot more evidence in defense of vaccinations, in their favor,” Lindenberger said.
Lindenberger said he later approached his mother with research that debunked some of her claims, including a report from the CDC that explained how vaccines did not cause autism.
"Her response was simply 'that's what they want you to think,'" Lindenberger said. "I was just blown away that you know, the largest health organization in the entire world would be written off with a kind of conspiracy theory-like statement like that."
After failing to change his mother’s thinking on the matter, Lindenberger decided to get vaccinated on his own after turning 18 years old.
As the publication also notes, the story comes at a time when more measles outbreaks have been reported in the Pacific Northwest, prompting more concern among minors about whether they are able to use their own consent to obtain vaccines.
In the month of January alone, measles were confirmed in ten states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, according to the CDC.
Washington officials also declared a public health emergency as an outbreak of measles spread across an anti-vaccination "hot spot" near Portland, Oregon, late last month.
--Alex Pareene
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- Ignorance will kill more children than the measles outbreak.
If Hippocrates were alive today, he would have spanked idiotic parents whose skepticism has caused them to falsify the true essence of the modern medicine’s immunization program.
Filipino children denied of immunization only because their parents are ignorant or misinformed are still protected by law, thus they can still be saved from parental stupidity.
The Philippines has the Republic Act 10152 or the Mandatory Infants and Children Health Immunization Act of 2011.
Under this law, government hospitals and health centers are mandated to provide immunization for free to infants and children up to five years old.
Some Filipino parents refuse to immunize their kids for fear that the vaccine might harm the tots, a jittery caused by the Dengvaxia imbroglio.
Other parents are still influenced by a debunked study that claims certain vaccines could lead to autism and a theory that claims vaccines were linked to brain damage.
Because of these fears, thousands of Filipino kids who have not been immunized were in danger of being seriously infected with diseases like the measles, rubella, mumps and hepatitis.
In fact, the Department of Health (DOH) has already declared a measles outbreak over the week.
No less than the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) along with Filipino pediatricians as well as experts on infectious diseases have expressed alarm over the measles outbreak in the Philippines that has affected some 20,000 children since December 2018.
Children’s disease is evil, but the biggest evil is that which has created a monster in the minds of some nervous parents.
In fact, there is no evil in this world, according to Socrates, but ignorance.
-o0o-
If “mama” or “papa” are adamant, do it yourself--if you can.
Take the case of a brave 18-year-old teen from Norfolk, Ohio who recently made the decision to receive his first-ever vaccines for a number of diseases despite his parents’ beliefs.
The Hill reported that Ethan Lindenberger admitted he had gone without vaccines for diseases like the measles, rubella, mumps and hepatitis for his entire life due to his mother’s anti-vaccine beliefs.
He told the publication that his mother, Jill Wheeler, was influenced by online misinformation, including a debunked study that claims certain vaccines could lead to autism and a theory that claims vaccines were linked to brain damage.
Throughout his childhood, Lindenberger said his mother would tell him about the negative side effects of vaccines and how they were bad. He also said he thought it was normal for children not to receive vaccines. But after he realized his other friends and classmates had all been vaccinated, Lindenberger said that’s when he began to do his own research into the matter, reported The Hill.
-o0o-
“When I started looking into it myself, it became very apparent that there was a lot more evidence in defense of vaccinations, in their favor,” Lindenberger said.
Lindenberger said he later approached his mother with research that debunked some of her claims, including a report from the CDC that explained how vaccines did not cause autism.
"Her response was simply 'that's what they want you to think,'" Lindenberger said. "I was just blown away that you know, the largest health organization in the entire world would be written off with a kind of conspiracy theory-like statement like that."
After failing to change his mother’s thinking on the matter, Lindenberger decided to get vaccinated on his own after turning 18 years old.
As the publication also notes, the story comes at a time when more measles outbreaks have been reported in the Pacific Northwest, prompting more concern among minors about whether they are able to use their own consent to obtain vaccines.
In the month of January alone, measles were confirmed in ten states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, according to the CDC.
Washington officials also declared a public health emergency as an outbreak of measles spread across an anti-vaccination "hot spot" near Portland, Oregon, late last month.
Monday, January 28, 2019
Debate of election candidates
"A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don't have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed."
--Nelson Mandela
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- The upcoming debates among the candidates in the May 2019 Philippine elections will finally give the voters the opportunity to carefully choose their next leaders based on the following: 1. competence and qualification; 2. sincerity; 3. mental and emotional toughness; 4. character; 5. spirituality.
There are those who are competent and qualified like Eleanor Roosevelt, Einstein and JFK, but are half-hearted, confused, and downright insincere.
There are candidates who are sincere like Mother Theresa, Thatcher, Gandhi and Marcus Aurelius, but are afflicted with poverty of reason and common sense.
There are those who have been gifted with the qualities of all the aforementioned great men and women in history, but possess bad manners and are impaired by a dysfunctional character.
In a debate, the chaffs will be separated from the grains; the deranged, the anarchists, the ruffians, the mongerers, the jokers, the magicians, and the circus players will be unmasked.
-o0o-
We are saddened to hear that Iloilo City's Hope Hervilla is no longer with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the Philippines.
With her background as educator and mass organizer, Hervilla, a mainstay of the Central Philippine University (CPU), would've been the Duterte administration's big asset in the continuing promotion of social issues and advancement of the rights and welfare of the marginalized especially in the countryside.
Hervilla and fellow undersecretaries Mae Ancheta-Templa and Maria Lourdes Turalde-Jarabe, a former Gabriel secretary general, left the DSWD in November 2018 or two months ago.
So many other Ilonggo appointees have been actively but coyly working with President Rodrigo Duterte since 2016.
Their appointments vary and the scope of their job is either "confidential" or liaison in nature.
By Alex P. Vidal
NEW YORK CITY -- The upcoming debates among the candidates in the May 2019 Philippine elections will finally give the voters the opportunity to carefully choose their next leaders based on the following: 1. competence and qualification; 2. sincerity; 3. mental and emotional toughness; 4. character; 5. spirituality.
There are those who are competent and qualified like Eleanor Roosevelt, Einstein and JFK, but are half-hearted, confused, and downright insincere.
There are candidates who are sincere like Mother Theresa, Thatcher, Gandhi and Marcus Aurelius, but are afflicted with poverty of reason and common sense.
There are those who have been gifted with the qualities of all the aforementioned great men and women in history, but possess bad manners and are impaired by a dysfunctional character.
In a debate, the chaffs will be separated from the grains; the deranged, the anarchists, the ruffians, the mongerers, the jokers, the magicians, and the circus players will be unmasked.
-o0o-
We are saddened to hear that Iloilo City's Hope Hervilla is no longer with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the Philippines.
With her background as educator and mass organizer, Hervilla, a mainstay of the Central Philippine University (CPU), would've been the Duterte administration's big asset in the continuing promotion of social issues and advancement of the rights and welfare of the marginalized especially in the countryside.
Hervilla and fellow undersecretaries Mae Ancheta-Templa and Maria Lourdes Turalde-Jarabe, a former Gabriel secretary general, left the DSWD in November 2018 or two months ago.
So many other Ilonggo appointees have been actively but coyly working with President Rodrigo Duterte since 2016.
Their appointments vary and the scope of their job is either "confidential" or liaison in nature.
-o0o-
Some of them work "silently" (or nobody knows they are the "eyes and ears" or "moles" of the president) and have eschewed public attention, but they know a lot of things about certain individuals who are directly and indirectly involved in politics and public service.
Compared to his predecessors, Mr. Duterte is patently unique when it comes to hiring subalterns or co-terminus minions who don't need to report physically in Malacanang.
While his predecessors like FVR, Erap, GMA, and P-noy tapped characters who have been enormously exposed to glamor of politics, Mr. Duterte chose the lesser-known henchmen and women.
These nameless factotums, so far, haven't disappointed their big boss; they have proven themselves to be worth of the president's trust and confidence.
Unlike the VIPS and the politically inclined provincial subordinates in the past administrations, most of the Ilonggo presidential appointees, because they don't have political ambitions, don't cultivate bloated egos.
Even if Mr. Duterte wasn't around during the recent Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City, some of these Iloilo underlings made sure that the president's most favorite senatorial candidate, Bong Go, was with the right local public officials, the right crowd, and given the right or proper media exposure.
-o0o-
The bombing of a Catholic Church in Jolo in Mindanao that killed 27 churchgoers was an insult to all faithful regardless of religious denomination.
Pope Francis had all the reason to get angry even as he exhorted Catholics and all over the world to pray for the victims--the dead and the survivors, their families, as well as the cuplrits.
Since Mindanao is still under martial law, we expect the government to at least identify the group responsible for the carnage and bring them behind bars without ifs and buts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)