Ukol Sa Mga Panawagan ng Pagtiwalag o Di Na Pag-ambag

HINDI lahat ng ordinaryong Katoliko sa ating bansa ay naging anti-RH Law, o kasalukuyang anti-divorce or even 100% anti-abortion, to mention a few contentious positions sa Simbahang Katolika sa Pilipinas. I may even dare say that, bagamat lahat sila ay patuloy na nagsisimba at nag-aambag sa Iglesia Katolika, lahat ng Catholics are actually cafeteria ones. Naniniwala akong ganun din ang mga miyembro ng Iglesia ni Cristo at Jesus Is Lord Church, hindi ko nga lang alam kung ilang porsyento sa kanilang populasyon ang hindi nagpapadala sa anumang groupthink na mayroon na isinusulong ng isa o ilan sa kanilang mga lider. In my case, totally na titiwalag lang ako sa Roman Catholic Church, temporarily man o permanently, o ihihinto ang aking pa-₱20-₱20 na inilalagay sa collection bag tuwing nagsisimba (na, I admit, ay ilang beses lang naman sa isang taon), kung akin nang makikita na ang LAHAT ng lider, o ang MGA NASA TUKTOK, ng aking Simbahan . . . ay kampi sa mga tao o kaugalian na di ko kailanman maaaring kampihan.

The eternal urge to control the uncontrollable

BA'T di nabantayan nang maigi ng mainstream media ang mga proyekto ng DPWH? Hindi kaya dahil . . . sa word-phrase na "street gutter" pa lang, iba na ang pagkaintindi ng Philippine news journalism sa pagkaintindi ng civil engineering?
    At itong mga project engineers naman, nag-ocular inspection naman daw. Pero an "ocular inspection" is an inspection utilizing optical devices (lenses, microscopes, &c). Kaya ba di nila nakita ang kitang-kita na ng naked eye?

MGA kababayan, narito na rin lang tayo sa usapang pag-intindi at pagtingin, . . . sana'y tingnan na rin nating maigi ang concept behind dike (levee) projects itself. Tanong: bakit levee lang ang parating tinitingnan na solusyon o ang tinuturing na pangunahing solusyon sa pagsalba sa ating binabahang mga kababayan? After all, ang mga environmentalists o ecologists, halimbawa, hindi totally supportive sa konsepto ng levees.
    At para sa mga climate change-aware, ang kahit pa up-to-standard na levees na itatayo sa mga "sinking" areas ng bansa ay maaaring mawalan na ng saysay 25 years from now. In short, kung ang perang tinapon sa levees na iyan ay ginasta na lamang sa relocation, mas forward-looking pa sana. Bakit hindi ang mga nakatira sa bahaing lugar ang tanungin natin, in a participatory-budgeting manner? Dahil ang levees sa panahon ng rising seas, walang pinagkaiba sa Dolomite Beach.

Paniniwala at kasinungalingan

I ONCE asked myself, posible ba'ng i-imagine si Jesus at ang kanyang disciples as a platoon of Christofascists? Yes, it is instantaneously possible now. Mai-imagine nga kita as one of his disciples' disciples. But wait, I'm confused. Shouldn't you be thankful and proud instead of angry at me every time I quote your hero-evangelist's words? O sige na nga, he was a good man. Bahala ka sa buhay mo.
    Dahil wala akong kilalang bilib sa kanya ang matutulungan kong mabago ang pagtingin sa taong yon. So, sabi nga ni Vi sa Arcane, "let things play out."

    Kaya, heto na nga. Sigaw mo, giyera na sa Amerika! Hmm. So, oh my God, civil war's a-brewing, between those who believe in a liberal Christ and those who worship a conservative one, and in between are people buying NRA stocks. Now, in the June shootings of Minnesota legislators and their spouses, nobody posted a "THIS IS WAR!" exhortation. Bakit di dapat nagsimula ang giyera noon, noong June? Ang tanging exhortation na masasabi ko, at diretso sa kanya, ay ito lang: "Rest in peace now, in peace perhaps with all the victims of automatic rifle mass shootings you didn't care about."
    War, eh? You know, people who campaign for violence, aggression and war always have this strong faith that they'd come out the winner. Faith, yes. Dahil ganito: anumang kasamaan ang plinano niya sa mundo, dahil ginamit niya ang pangalan ni Hesus, sumusunod ka sa kanyang "kabanalan" at makikipagpatayan sa ngalan niya. Marami nga naman sa ating planeta ang kakain ng balat ng durian, kasama ka na, sa ngalan ng faith na pinagsisigawan ng mga gumagamit lamang nito para maging makapangyarihan.

MORAL of the story, huwag sanang gamitin ang pangalan ni Hesus sa maling posisyon at baka ito ay bumalik sa iyo. Again, "Be careful what kind of America you wish for, you just might get it in your neck of the woods" is the blunt moral here. So, right-wing Anerica and right-wing America sympathizers in the Philippines, sure about the new American civil war you're craving for?
    Sabagay nga naman, sinasabi mong Kristiyano ka, ngunit lahat pala ng Bible quotes mo . . . galing Old Testament. Teka. Kung lahat ng Bible quotes mo ay galing Old Testament, hindi ka Kristiyano, malamang ika'y isang Caiaphasiyano. Yes! After all, "Christian" conservatives believe Christ was a conservative, confusing Him with Caiaphas.

    Kaya pala. Bilang isang Caiaphasiyano, kailangan mo muna ng 'sang-milyong pruweba bago mo matanggap iyang katotohanan. Kahit madali ka lang mapaniwala ng kasinungalingan.

Abolish Congress?

REFERENCING a supposed Congressional tradition of according the Office of the Vice President absolute courtesy in relation to questions regarding the "confidential funds controversy" involving the said Office, Congressman Rodante Marcoleta invoked the supremacy of that tradition over congressmen's queries, which latter by the way is in itself a part of the tradition or anatomy of Congressional hearings. Congressman Marcoleta forgets that while it's true that Congress operates with certain of those traditions installed through the decades, it exists solely on the promise that, as a legislative and enquiry body, it might also be able to create little or otherwise major revolutions for the people. In the absence of this promise, the necessity of a Congress or the rationale behind having a Congress at all disappears, and Marcoleta as a congressman would as a consequence of that disappearance cease to have a reason to exist as well.

To be or not to be . . .

NAKAKAINIS na 'tong ginagawa ng China ha. Kaya tinawagan ko na ang International Maritime Organization gamit ang Oppo cellphone ko, tapos mamaya pupuntahan ko mga kasama ko sakay ng Geely ko, o ng Chery ko, para mag-organisa ng protest sa harap ng Chinese Embassy. Kaya lang tumaas daw ang heart rate ko, sabi ng aking Huawei smart watch, kaya baka magpalamig muna ako sa harap ng aking Midea air cooler. Baka mamaya puwede na. Subukan ko muna mag-jogging nang konti suot ang Anta Sports shoes ko. Fakyu, China!

Salamat, Ma'am VP Leni Robredo, for your pioneering effort

 

Photo from The Straits Times

Ma'am VP Leni Robredo, thank you for introducing three concepts new to Philippine politics when you brought them out as the leading items in your political platform during your presidential candidacy campaign: open government, participatory democracy, and a job guarantee policy.

It may not yet be the time for the Filipino people to have them, but you will be remembered as the only presidential candidate in Philippine history (perhaps in contemporary world history) to have had the will to advocate them and become so popular with the people with your introduction of them.

May the next presidential candidate to advocate for them finally succeed after your pioneering effort. [S / -I]

Diagram by Roberto Triviño uploaded to ResearchGate

Anti-Semiotic, Ang Putik

(borrowed from httpbellyngot1.wordpress.com)

LAHAT ng bagay sa mundo ay may meaning. Kahit nga ang pambansang almusal nating pan de sal na imported mula China at Turkey ang ginagamit na arina ay isang maliit na bagay lang na may malaking meaning. Ang EdloSA pa kaya, na may kilokilometrong trapik na ngayon ay may problemang ayaw solusyunan (dahil malaki ang kinikita ng oil companies sa trapik na ito) . . . kahit pa nag-rebolusyon na sa abenidang ito ang maraming ordinaryong tao noong 1986! Diyan pa lang, may malaking meaning ka nang makikita! Kaya kung sasabihin mo sa akin na wala nang meaning ang EdloSA 1, isa kang nagbubulagbulagan sa katotohanan ng mga bagay-bagay tulad ng pan de sal. O baka naman iniiwasan mo lang ang totoo: na hinayjak ng elite, tulad ng idolo mong elite o royalty, ang naibalik na “demokrasya”. Hinayjak nila ito para hindi na ito maging mas demokratiko pa, maging sa participatory man o semi-direct na democratic direction. Di ba? Aminin. Pati ba naman ang mga meaning ay hahayjakin mo rin, tarantadong hayjaker ka. [S / -I]

The anatomy of the far right's fake news program

image from alexsarchives.org

SENATOR, the far right doesn’t mind that its communications people engaged in the peddling of fake news find themselves, along with the far-right parties hosting them, placed in a bad light. After all, the far right’s fake-news programming is not interested in hijacking the image of virtuous truthfulness traditionally claimed by journalism, the reason why it often resorts to “kidding”/“joking” (its darling technique for confusing the issues) or otherwise violent anger. The mission of the far right’s post-truth politics is to render all information suspect or personal, especially information coming from the institution of journalism that it habitually counter-accuses, naturally, of being the fake one every time the latter shouts “fake” toward an item coming from the populist right. In the final attainment of a culture of cynicism in society, where all claims at having reached the truth would have naturally been weakened (almost as if to parody left-leaning post-structuralism), it is true that the far right’s own truth-peddling would suffer, too. . . . But so will journalism’s ability to convince! That journalistic impotence is the sole or final target of the far right’s program of popularizing the political virtue of the sneering and laughing lie. For when that culture is reached, where information from all quarters (including its own) becomes trash, all the far right’s secrets become freed from the impact of any kind of journalistic scrutiny, all journalism in its old sense having now been rendered feeble, and all rightist propaganda that have replaced journalism made newly sacrosanct. [S / -I]

Ano ka?

Siyempre wala

photo from http://globalnation.inquirer.net/137508/137508

ANG problemang trapik sa Metro Manila ay problema ng tao, hindi kotse. Mantakin mong napakaraming meyor ang nag-dedecide tungkol sa traffic flow at traffic harbingers sa metropolis na ito at kailangan silang konsultahin lahat ng MMDA at sumang-ayon sa bawat panukala ng nasabing ahensiya.
    Iisa lang ang meyor ng New York City at mas malaki ang land area ng New York City (hindi pa kasama ang water area) kaysa sa total area ng buong Metro Manila! Matrapik din sa New York City, ngunit walang napakaraming meyor na kailangan konsultahin at kumbinsihin.
    May gagawin ba si Presidente Duterte o ang Konggreso sa problemang ito? Siyempre wala! [S / -I]