Dear Folks,
This is Gloria’s first Glo-joke since he Sona-ta last July 28, 2008. She declared that “she would deliver the country into a First World status in the next generation.” What is amazingly strange is that she can’t even deliver the country into a Third World status in her seven years of misguided leadership.
The Philippines has now double-digit inflation, weakening peso, rising unemployment, skyrocketing prices of food and gas, businesses going out …

Artificial Methods of Debate
By Antonio C. Abaya
July 30, 2008
The debate on population and artificial methods of birth control, sparked by bills on reproductive health being pushed in the Lower House of the Philippine Congress, can only be resolved with finality by the intervention of theologians at the highest level of the Roman Catholic Church, whether or not there will remain a significant constituency for the conservative point of view.
This is so because the conservative position – which rejects all forms of artificial methods of birth control – is firmly anchored …

Put A Condom On Greed
GLIMPSES
Jose Ma. Montelibano
I cannot believe how former partners in the exploitation of land and people can suddenly turn on each other over reproductive and population control issues but deftly avoid their common guilt. I cannot believe how bishops and politicians can touch on how the poor should behave in their reproductive practices but veer away on the undisputed cause of poverty.
In previous articles, I have twitted the protagonists on the pro-life versus pro-choice controversy that they skirmish on the less essentials in order to distract …

Is a varsity basketball game worth dying for?
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo
Thursday, July 31, 2008
In the days of my youth, college basketball was played with the idealism associated with amateur sports. Varsity players gave their 110% for the alma mater. A scholarship plus allowance were the simple rewards then for those who were invited to join a college team.
The amateur playing days of our great Olympians Caloy Loyzaga and Ed Ocampo marked the finest years of the NCAA. In the 1950s, college basketball was more …

PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLING: THE HIDDEN DISEASE
Dear Perry,
I read with great interest the article of Among Ed Panlilio on “The Evil Called Jueteng”. I agree with his comments on the list of negative consequences of uncontrolled problem gambling
and I am glad that he is calling attention to this major public health problem. Pathological (or compulsive) Gambling (including Jueteng) is beyond immoral or evil. It is a disease. It is a “behavioral addiction” rather than a chemical addiction and …

The ’seven curses’ of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Source: www.pcij.org
Posted by Isa Lorenzo
EVEN before she could deliver her eighth state of the nation address (SONA) this coming Monday, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has already been weighed and found wanting by over 80 former senior government officials.
In their own take on the state of the nation after seven years of the Arroyo administration, the former officials, who served in the four post-Marcos governments and collectively called FSGO, castigated the President for being “the worst threat to the state of our nation.”
“The person pretending …

A Continuing Journey
GLIMPSES
Jose Ma. Montelibano
My frustration is the lack of concern of those who can help for those who
need help. But since I cannot go around like an insensitive
religious person or an insincere politician, giving sermons and speeches
about what is wrong but a most guilty party himself, I went to work as a
political advocate and then as a Gawad Kalinga volunteer. Political advocacy
made me realize the extent and depth of exploitation, its long history and
its lingering dominance in the Philippines. Volunteering in Gawad Kalinga
allows me to shed off that hypocritical …

The national problem: We only see the trees
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo
Thursday, July 24, 2008
When the lost person in the middle of a very dangerous jungle can only see the trees in front of him — then the odds are against that person from ever getting to find the way home.
Having a sense of where one is located and what route will bring him to his objective is what strategic thinking is all about. Strategic thinking does not necessarily equate to the fastest and cheapest …

Be afraid
by Ellen Tordesillas
July 23, 2008
Last Sunday, a friend texted me to read the column of former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban in the Inquirer, and “be afraid.”
Panganiban’s column is titled “Can Arroyo reign beyond 2010?”
His answer is “yes” and he thinks she will opt for constituent assembly aptly called Con-Ass. Under Con-Ass, the two branches of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives will convene jointly to amend the Constitution including a shift to a parliamentary system.
The Constitution says the proposed amendments need a vote by three-fourths of all …

PerryScope
Perry Diaz
All in the Family
In an age where just about everything is powered by electrical energy, it is no wonder that the stage has been set for total — or perhaps absolute — control of the Philippines’ energy industry. The ongoing battle for control of Meralco — the country’s largest distributor of electric power — is just the tip of the iceberg. So far the Lopez clan has managed to maintain control of Meralco. The question is: how long can they remain in …