By Marjorie Gorospe

“UNHAPPY the land that is in need of heroes.”

This is a notable quotation from German playwright Bertolt Brecht. It is now the core message of Mae Paner’s (a.k.a. Juana Change) latest video posted on YouTube.

Taking the role of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW), Paner portrays a domestic helper who talks about how OFWs are often considered as “bagong bayani” or new heroes of the country due to sacrifices they make.

These new heroes work abroad, leaving their families behind to find jobs elsewhere.

“We do not need praises, we need money,” Juana Change says, as she tells a stranger on a plane about her feelings working abroad.

While more and more Filipinos work abroad as professionals, some end up doing jobs that are menial.

In the video, her character mocks government officials who go abroad to hide their ill-gotten wealth.

The video eventually ends with a familiar face: national hero Dr. Jose Rizal.

It was as if Paner was showing the two faces of heroes. Rizal sacrificed his life for the country; while OFWs continue to sacrifice comfort and dignity to support their family and eventually our economy.

But as Bretch’s saying goes, this country still needs more heroes who have the genuine interest to serve the country minus personal interest, desire for power and corruption.

Watch her video:

JUST a day after a golf club mauling incident was reported, dozens of blogs are denouncing alleged perpetrators who happen to be high-ranking government officials.

Masui, Lanao del Sur Mayor Nasser Pangandaman, Jr. and several of his golf companions and bodyguards figured in an altercation last December 26 with Delfin de la Paz and his 14-year old son Bino at the Valley Golf and Country Club in Antipolo City.

It was later found out that Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman Sr. was also present at the golf club but was said to have not been part of the alleged mauling.

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By Associated Press

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam has approved new regulations banning bloggers from discussing subjects the government deems sensitive or inappropriate and requiring them to limit their writings to personal issues.

The rules ban any posts that undermine national security, incite violence or crime, disclose state secrets, or include inaccurate information that could damage the reputation of individuals and organizations, according to a copy of the regulations obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

The rules, which were approved Dec. 18, attempt to rein in Vietnam’s booming blogosphere. It has become an alternative source of news for many in the communist country, where the media is state-controlled.

The new rules require Internet companies that provide blogging platforms to report to the government every six months and provide information about bloggers on request.

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AT least two bloggers, a journalist, and one opposition politician were arrested under Malaysia’s Internal Security Act (ISA) on September 12 in what media and activists are afraid may be the start of a wider crackdown ahead of an anticipated opposition push to gain control of parliament next week, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) said.

SEAPA said in a statement that Malaysia’s leading blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who is also a staunch government critic on his website “Malaysia Today,” was the first to be arrested in this week’s arrests.

Journalist Tan Hoon Cheng who works Sin Chew Daily, a Chinese-language newspaper that had recently covered a controversial outburst from a ruling party member who called the ethnic Chinese community “squatters,” was also reportedly arrested, SEAPA said quoting reports from. Malaysiakini.com.

Lawmaker Teresa Kok of the Chinese-based DAP and Deputy Chief Minister in Selangor was also arrested under the ISA, SEAPA said.

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By Agence France-Presse

SINGAPORE - A US national said Tuesday he will be tried in Singapore next month for allegedly insulting two judges who had presided over cases involving an opposition leader.

Gopalan Nair, a former Singaporean lawyer who is now a US citizen, told Agence France-Presse he has not yet hired a lawyer to represent him in the trial from September 8 to 19.

“At this moment, I am representing myself,” he said.

Nair faces two charges of insulting judges on his blog. Each charge carries a jail term of up to one year, S$5,000 fine (US$3,676) or both.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

MAKATI City, Philippines — Senator Manuel Roxas III is taking his online presence further.

Aside from his official website, an e-forum and accounts in social networking sites, Roxas has finally opened his own blog and is setting up his own virtual rally to further promote his advocacies.

Roxas’ other websites include one that is about his official function as senator. He also has entries in Facebook.com, Friendster.com and MySpace.com.

Roxas who uses the handle “misterpalengke” launched his official blog last August 1, after meeting up with bloggers in Quezon City. It appears, however, that he made his first posting on July 27.

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MAKATI CITY, Philippines – Filipino bloggers and students visited the Commission on Elections (Comelec) last week to try their hands on the automated systems that will be used in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections in August.

Led by the Bloggers’ Kapihan, 20 students and bloggers participated in mock elections, where actor Pierce Brosnan won as regional governor for ARMM over mock candidates Kevin Costner, Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Al Pacino and Sharon Stone, according to Comelec’s blog.

Vanessa Redgrave won as regional vice governor, beating Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Tom Jones, Jennifer Lopez, Brian McKnight and David Pomeranz, Comelec added.

You can read the rest of the story here.

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

A FORMER and a current Filipino journalist have created a blog countdown that aims to gather the sentiments of Filipinos who are impatiently waiting for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to step down in 2010.

“It’s certainly not inspired by (Antonio) Trillanes IV. I’m not a fan. But yes, the Manila Peninsula incident did just happen to bring up the point again. Whether you believe in coups or not, everybody agrees that 2010 is a long way away,” said Bangkok-based journalist Roby Alampay in an interview, as he introduced the Ang Tagal Naman blog.

“Ang Tagal Naman” is a Filipino phrase that roughly translates to “This is taking too long.”

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BOY, everybody is blogging — even the Kremlin.

Check out this article from The Washington Post.

Excerpt:

Pavel Danilin, a 30-year-old Putin supporter and blogger whose online icon is the fearsome robot of the “Terminator” movie, works for a political consulting company loyal to the Kremlin. He said he and his team, which included people from a youth movement called the Young Guard, quickly started blogging that day about a smaller, pro-Kremlin march held at the same time.

They linked to one another repeatedly and soon, Danilin said, posts about the pro-Kremlin march had crowded out all the items about the opposition march on the Yandex Web portal’s coveted ranking of the top five Russian blog posts.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has started blogging.

In its first post, the Canadian official writes:

With this tool, we hope to make the activities of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner more accessible to Canadians and to increase contact between the Office and Canadians interested about privacy issues and legislation.

As an Officer of Parliament, the Privacy Commissioner has a mandate to protect the privacy rights of individuals and promote the privacy protections available to Canadians.