MLQ3 on Tumblr!

“Siya na nga!” Official theme song of Noynoy...

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:43:00 +0800

“Siya na nga!” Official theme song of Noynoy Aquino!

SIYA NA NGA!

Aaaaaahaahhaah….

Solo:

Hanap ko ay tunay na kalayaan

Hatid sa’ting lahat, disenteng kabuhayan

Hanap ko ang isang tunay na pinuno

Sa kahirapan, lahat tayo’y ihahango

Chorus:

Siya na ba? Siya na nga! Siya nawa.

Tapos na sana ang matinding pighati

Siya na ba? Siya na nga! Harinawa.

Tanggalin ang tiwali. itatama ang mali!

Aaaaaahaahhaah….

Solo:

Babalik ang aming paniniwala

Ibibigay muli aming pagtitiwala

Hindi ka na namin pababayaan

Hinding-hindi ka namin iiwanan

Chorus

Siya na nga! Walang bahid, walang duda!

Buhay muli ang pag-asang minimithi

Siya na nga! Walang bahid, walang duda

Tanggalin ang tiwali, itatama ang mali!

REFRAIN:

Gising na mahal kong bayan

Siya na nga, maari kang tumaya

Sa pagtanggol ng kalayaan, kasama ka sa

Laban na tapat, laban ng lahat.

Chorus:

Siya na nga! Walang bahid, walang duda

Buhay muli ang pag-asang minimithi

Siya na nga (Siya na nga!) Walang bahid, walang duda

Tanggalin ang tiwali, itatama ang mali

Siya na nga (Siya na nga!) Walang bahid, walang duda

Buhayin muli ang pag-asang minimithi

Siya na nga (Siya na nga!) Walang bahid, walang duda

Tanggalin ang tiwali, itatama ang mali

Siya na nga! Siya na nga….(REPEAT)

……SIYA NA NGA

Ricky Carandang examines the PCGG-SMC shareswap the public barely noticed: http://ping.fm/1L4F2

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:37:15 +0800

Ricky Carandang examines the PCGG-SMC shareswap the public barely noticed: http://ping.fm/1L4F2

Manuel Villar’s entrepreneurship as a model for running the country: http://ping.fm/QO3BM

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:39:27 +0800

Manuel Villar’s entrepreneurship as a model for running the country: http://ping.fm/QO3BM

Americans playing footsie with MILF? http://ping.fm/T8bVW

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:33:21 +0800

Americans playing footsie with MILF? http://ping.fm/T8bVW

RockMed! Pass the Word! http://ping.fm/MW4Zh

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:25:24 +0800

RockMed! Pass the Word! http://ping.fm/MW4Zh

Pass the word!

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:24:00 +0800

Pass the word!

PDI editorial points out investigators perceived as suspects in GB5 robbery: http://ping.fm/OTFqa

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:45:55 +0800

PDI editorial points out investigators perceived as suspects in GB5 robbery: http://ping.fm/OTFqa

Every time you make inspirational tweet, use #bangonpinoy hashtag Globe and PBA will donate P1 to...

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:54:17 +0800

Every time you make inspirational tweet, use #bangonpinoy hashtag Globe and PBA will donate P1 to Pepeng/Ondoy victims.

From Bagong Botante how to contact/locate your nearest Comelec...

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:24:39 +0800

From Bagong Botante how to contact/locate your nearest Comelec office.

“Resurgent hope,” beautiful piece by Cebuano columnist Juan Mercado:...

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:02:11 +0800

“Resurgent hope,” beautiful piece by Cebuano columnist Juan Mercado: http://ping.fm/BJ2mf

As of October 7, 2009 GMA became 2nd-longest President in office. http://ping.fm/Cd4Bp

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:18:49 +0800

As of October 7, 2009 GMA became 2nd-longest President in office. http://ping.fm/Cd4Bp

Does anyone have figures on carabao mortality during Ondoy and Pepeng.

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:23:03 +0800

Does anyone have figures on carabao mortality during Ondoy and Pepeng.

I’m not in the industry, but let me register my protest over decision of Ad Congress to ditch...

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:57:08 +0800

I’m not in the industry, but let me register my protest over decision of Ad Congress to ditch Baguio and move to Subic.

The real frontrunners

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:38:25 +0800

The Social Weather Station released its latest survey, and here’s an extract from their press release:

Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III took the top spot in the people’s three best successors to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2010, according to the Third Quarter 2009 Social Weather Survey, fielded over September 18-21, 2009. Sixty percent gave Sen. Aquino’s name in response to the question, “Sa ilalim ng kasalukuyang Konstitusyon, ang termino ni Pang. Arroyo ay hanggang sa taong 2010 lamang at magkakaroon ng halalan para sa pagka-pangulo sa Mayo 2010. Sinu-sino sa palagay ninyo ang mga magagaling na lider na dapat pumalit kay Pang. Arroyo bilang Presidente? Maaari po kayong magbanggit ng hanggang tatlong sagot.” [Under the present Constitution, the term of Pres. Arroyo is up to 2010 only, and there will be an election for a new President in May 2010. Who do you think are good leaders who should succeed Pres. Arroyo as President? You may give up to three names]. The next most popular successor was Sen. Manny Villar, who was mentioned by 37%. Aquino and Villar were followed by former Pres. Joseph Estrada at 18%, Sen. Francis Escudero at 15%, and Sen. Mar Roxas at 12%. The survey found Vice-Pres. Noli De Castro mentioned by 8%, Sen. Loren Legarda by 5%, Defense Sec. Gilberto Teodoro by 4%, Sen. Panfilo Lacson by 2%, and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay by 2%. At 1 percent each were MMDA Chairperson Bayani Fernando and Brother Eddie Villanueva. Six percent could not give an answer, and 4% had no one to recommend.

The accompanying illustration, however, is more illuminating:

The question of the public’s own shortlist of successors for presidency has been tracked for two years now. Over that time frame, some names have remained in the running, and new ones have been added by the respondents. An interesting take on the results reported over the past two years can be found in Atheista.net’s It’s Time To Coin A New Term: Getting Roco’d, particularly in relation to two potential candidates, Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero. Regarding Legarda, Atheista has this to say:

The sidelight perhaps is Loren Legarda. She probably won’t run for president; nor has she any chance of winning the top office for the rest of her life, but for a stretch of time from September 2007 to February 2009, Legarda was actually within striking distance of the top spot. This is reminiscent of the late Raul Roco’s performance in surveys prior to 2001 wherein he was constantly topping polls. While it was clear that Roco did himself in with the exposure of his lackluster political machinery, dodgy choice of senatoriables and *ugh* running mate; it is unclear what Legarda did to sabotage her own chances. A lot of people hated Legarda for flip-flopping on Gloria – and ironically, this is despite the already growing hatred for the GMA Administration back in 2004 — but she still managed to bag 44% of the respondents’ votes of confidence back in 2007. I guess that only means that the 2004 incident was not the reason why she was dropped. The only hypothesis I could offer is that her supporters identified with Noynoy Aquino and Manny Villar – the two candidates whose popularity rose as hers was plummeting.

And here’s Atheista on Francis Escudero:

One interesting sidelight is how surprisingly bad Chiz Escudero’s showing has been. Despite topping the recent senatorial polls and taking every opportunity to spew out empty words on television, Escudero’s preference ratings have stayed pretty much the same over the last 2 years. There is no momentum at all. I won’t even be surprised if he finishes a distant third (or even fourth) when all is said and done. Joseph Estrada might even erode his chances of a third spot finish (not that it matters!) since Escudero’s base of support is supposedly the youth – a demographic that is also captured by the Aquino juggernaut.

Personally, I think the survey results are useful not in terms of presenting a snapshot of how voters might vote, were elections held today, but rather, who, in the public mind, are the real contenders at this point in time. I’ve suggested in the past that we’re seeing a return, in voter attitudes and orientation, towards seeing the presidential contest as a two party fight, which is a more natural order of things as far as a presidential system with no runoff elections is concerned. From this perspective, the fight for the presidency is between Benigno Aquino III and Manuel Villar Jr. The other candidates will determine who gets to shave off votes from the leading contenders and who ends up losing more votes to the minor candidates more than the other. Philippine Commentary in Why SWS Presidential Survey Does Not Add Up To 100% But 300% looks at the survey methodology, and proposes,

My take is that when the respondents get to that third possible choice, they end up naming their father, mother, wife, uncle, mayor, themselves! or some other unknown that together with everybody else’s third choices usually make up to half of the SWS data! But as it should, the data does add up to 300% in all columns. I have a theory I cannot prove, that it is actually the second placer in these SWS polls that represents a kind of plurality choice. Noynoy has come out of nowhere (less than 0.14 percent!) to take a whopping —but sympathy confounded—60%.

Now there’s a graphic in the entry that’s quite interesting. Philippine Commentary for some time has been pointing out that what gets lost in all the reporting and commentary on the SWS surveys is the percentage of undecided voters or those who decide on no choices whatsoever:

The Chart above does not include the present survey, the first one which has Aquino manifesting himself as a top-of-mind choice among respondents as a potential president. If you remember the surveys, prior to the Aquino phenomenon, had Villar as the front-runner; in fact it seemed entirely possible he’d reached the critical 25% threshhold political pros considered the make-or-break level for a presidential candidate: it’s what would mark a candidate as the man to beat in a presidential election in a multi-candidate race. There were questions raised about whether or not Villar’s reaching the crucial 25% level in the surveys represented his peaking too early or not; this question was complicated by the entry of Aquino, and initial survey findings of his obtaining startlingly high figures not only in Luzon, but the Visayas (Lito Osmena’s privately-commissioned Cebu survey) and Mindanao (Rodrigo Duterte’s privately commissioned Davao congressional districts survey). Whether one doubts the usefulness or even methodology of the question SWS has been tracking for two years now, the question of whether or not Villar had peaked too soon, for example, or the percentage of support Aquino actually enjoys, can only be answered by surveys that ask potential voters to make specific choices based on who they’d vote for, were elections held that day. There was a rider -a privately-commissioned set of questions- attached to the SWS September 18-21 Survey, which addresses the questions of who, specifically, voters would vote for, for the presidency, vice-presidency, and in terms of tandems. Here are the results of that privately-commissioned rider set of questions:

Based on the above, Villar seems to have peaked; or at the very least, the entry of Aquino, whose national results are in harmony with previous location-specific surveys, and make him the front-runner, means the Villar campaign has to work doube-time; what I don’t know, because these were the only results provided me, is if there were other candidates reflected in the results or whether the rider limited the choices to the figures above.

Photo courtesy of Jim Paredes.

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:22:11 +0800

Photo courtesy of Jim Paredes.

"Two Sundays ago Cecile Alvarez and I had a riotous chat over dzRH radio with Press Secretary Cerge..."

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:21:34 +0800

“

Two Sundays ago Cecile Alvarez and I had a riotous chat over dzRH radio with Press Secretary Cerge Remonde on his reminiscences about the deluge. He noted that the President’s party had no time for rest after arriving from Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The day before the flood, Arroyo had flown to Iloilo to inaugurate the 15,000th branch of the Botika ng Barangay. That Saturday, she went out of the Palace at mid-morning aboard a six-by-six truck bound for Camp Aguinaldo but couldn’t get beyond Legarda Street. Remonde recalled that Arroyo checked on his location (he had reached Aguinaldo by then). As she later related, she tried to help direct traffic but the water quickly swelled up to her chest and she had to be plucked out on a rubber boat. Her security escorts tried to dissuade her from proceeding, but she argued that if Remonde got to Aguinaldo, there was no reason she couldn’t. Arroyo and a handful of security men were taken to the nearest LRT station and upon reaching Cubao she was fetched by an army truck.

Remonde recalled that while presiding at the NDCC conference, Arroyo began calling Metro Manila mayors to locate evacuation sites, and the decision was made to put up advance command posts in badly hit areas. He said that when the presidential party was in Marikina around 11 p.m., no one had eaten. Being a diabetic, he felt faint but a doctor told him not to fall on her as her medicine bag was incomplete. He was finally able to call Rep. Nikki Teodoro, the defense secretary’s wife, and tell her of their hunger. She managed to send some food over to NDCC at 2 p.m.

”

- Belinda Olivares Cuanan, October 8, 2009

Northern Luzon Needs Your Help!

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:11:00 +0800

Please read this appeal in the Marocharim Experiment: Northern Luzon needs your help

Typhoon Pepeng is wreaking havoc in Northern Luzon. There are reports of landslides, floods, and devastation in the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, and my homeland of the Cordilleras. The worst part for me, personally, is that many of my friends still live in the area, and are suffering the brunt of this storm. Messages from friends are describing a waterworld in Baguio that I never got to experience in 22 years of living there, and it saddens me to realize that the geography of Northern Luzon makes it a challenge to help people. Let us rise up to that challenge; not only as Filipinos, but as human beings who help out in times of calamity, disaster, and devastation. For us here in Metro Manila, the Internet has been a powerful tool for rescue and recovery in the wake and wrath of Typhoon Ondoy. We can harness that same power for the victims of Typhoon Pepeng up north, and perhaps translate that to a relief effort that will alleviate their suffering.

The scale of the calamity -following at the hells of the calamitous past days in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces- means all those involved in Typhoon Ondoy relief are already exhausted and resources are stretched. The ongoing power failures in Metro Manila are also surely hampering the coordination of relief and rescue efforts, as well as the receiving, collation, and transmittal of information. An overview of the situation as its developing can be gleaned from this map: View GMANews.TV Storm Watch: Pepeng in a larger map. For the database version of this map, see Typhoon Pepeng Disaster Response Database. To add a report to the database, Use this Online Form. Other media organizations establishing their own maps (see ABS-CBN’s Northern Luzon Floods October 2009) but I think it’s necessary at this point to appeal to the media organizations, considering the scope of the disaster and the manner in which the public is turning to media as an adjunct to official channels, to consolidate their efforts. All media outfits can rely on the same map and form a pool of volunteers to maintain it. A common reference is a wiser use of resources than simply insisting on duplicating work or information on the shallow basis of not using information branded by one media entity. Once again, online volunteers are passing along updates and appeals for rescue/relief. Volunteers are also preparing themselves for a fresh round of relief efforts.The ad hoc tools that emerged from the Ondoy Calamity have been brought out once more and are being used for consolidating and collating rescue efforts, situation updates, and aid efforts. Please make sure that all appeals for help or situation reports you encounter online are reported here: RescueHub North Luzon: SOS Calls. Encourage people to send SMS (Text) updates if no Internet Connection to For any concerns or to report additional cases, please contact us at 09159885674 (Edgar), 09233151120 (@kay_bu) or 09299509173 (@bicolanodevil). See Ralph Guzman: Holtine Numbers for Northern Luzon Typhoon Victims for national and regional numbers to call. I suggest we all use this directory as the Master Directory, and perhaps find a way to maintain a Consolidated Directory for all bloggers to refer to, again to minimize unecessary duplication of effort. Zambales is operating on this principle. For organizations and volunteers, concerned family members and friends, please refer to Bayanihan Online, which is consolidating Twitter/FaceBook updates, appeals, and information. Donations to the Philippine National Red Cross, to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, various Catholic and religious charities, will be required.

To the book lovers whose books were damaged by Typhoon Ondoy, here's how to restore them.

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:27:07 +0800

To the book lovers whose books were damaged by Typhoon Ondoy, here's how to restore them.:

ondoy:

7107:

…using only a table fan, baby diapers, paper towels, a wooden board, and bricks/heavy soup cans

1. Determine the type of book you’re dealing with. Books that have glossy pages or specialty coatings can only be restored by a professional. The best odds of successful restoration lie with hard cover books and standard paper. Also, if the book is easily replaceable, it may not be worth your time and effort to attempt restoration.

2. Determine the extent of the water damage. If the book has been floating in water for days, it is likely that that glue in the binding has loosened and this reduces the chances for successful restoration. If the book has already started to grow mold, it should not be restored at home. If it is irreplaceable, a professional may attempt the restoration. On the other hand, if the book has been recently soaked and you have recovered it from the water quickly, you have an excellent chance at drying the book out successfully.

3. Insert paper towels into the book about every ten or so pages. Do not place paper towels more frequently than every ten pages as it puts stress on the spine. Lay a single layer of paper towel to cover the entire page. Use a premium brand of paper towel known for its absorption. Be very gentle when opening the wet book and turning soaked pages as they will easily tear. Close the book on the paper towels carefully.

4. Pull open a baby diaper and wrap around the outside of the book. Baby diapers are incredibly absorbent and will wick out moisture in the cover of the book better than a paper towel. The inside of the diaper should touch the book’s cover.

5. Lay board over top of book and weigh it down with bricks or cans. To help absorption of the water, the book needs pressure applied to it. Center the board over the front face of the diaper-wrapped book and place bricks or cans on the board to weigh it down. Remove the board and change the paper towels for fresh ones every two hours, replacing the board when you’re done.

6. Stand the book upright in front of the fan to finish drying. When the book’s pages are only slightly damp to the touch, remove the paper towels and diaper. Stand the book up on its end with the pages fanned open in front of a fan. Check book every two hours to test dryness. When pages feel dry to the touch, turn off the fan but leave the book upright for a few days to ensure that the spine is dry.

via ilove2readqc

ang mahirap kasi, hindi lang kasi nabasa ang mga libro dito sa amin, may putik pang kasama. yum.

ondoy: inothernews: TO REST Mourners carried a relative’s body...

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:25:51 +0800

ondoy:

inothernews:

TO REST Mourners carried a relative’s body on an improvised raft during a funeral procession on a Rizal, Philippines, street Wednesday. Typhoon Ketsana has left more than 300 dead across southeastern Asia. (Photo: Romeo Ranoco / Reuters via the Wall St. Journal)

ondoy: who-killed-esau: “Most of the relief operations are...

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:25:22 +0800

ondoy:

who-killed-esau:

“Most of the relief operations are currently in Manila but one overlooked but badly damaged town is that of Bay. It is one of the hardest hit in Laguna with over 25,000 people affected. Since it is near Laguna Lake, most of it is submerged in water.”

SOURCE: http://www.facebook.com/plato.rodizia