THE PHILIPPINES is the only country I know that signs up controversial actors to be their product endorsers like Kris Aquino, Ruffa Gutierrez, Gretchen Barretto and Annabelle Rama.

When you are getting celebrities as endorsers, credibility should be taken into consideration. They should be scandal-free at least to entice their consumers to buy their products.

Just like what happened to Kate Moss — her products were pulled out after she was involved with drugs. I think the country should do the same.

– Moli, Washington DC (via e-mail)

SIR A. De Viana, I totally agree with your views on changing street names.

I believe street names are part of heritage and history and should be protected from the stupid politicians who are only great at wreaking havoc on Manila’s heritage,such as changing street names and destroying heritage structures (the Jai-alai Building, Avenue Theater, etc.).

Why don’t these bloody politicians concentrate on fixing the economic life and basic needs of Manilenyos instead of changing things that don’t need changing? Exasperation is the word to describe what I personally feel about this.

– Alex Etcuban, Essex, UK (via e-mail)

I READ your article about this Filipino worker whose remains can’t be sent back to his family after a beheading in the Middle East after a crime not fully investigated.

This is just another blow to the morale of all Filipino migrant workers, and another disheartening fact that it is easier for our government to send a person to earn dollars somewhere, but difficult when the “going gets rough.”

As a common fact, these workers are the same people saving our economy from hitting rock bottom. If our government cannot/would not provide proper protection for these workers, then who would? It is about time we get assistance from international human rights group to avoid further human violation incidents like these. Easier said than done, but involvement from international agencies and the media always helps and makes a difference.

– Caroline Batingana, Bridge Lane (via e-mail)

OH, please… cops as bodyguards… wow… i hope Ruffa is paying the cops’ salaries and not using the taxpayer’s money… oh my Philippines!

– Bitoy, Tacloban, Leyte (via e-mail)

THOUGHT that was already disposed of by Bolante and company. Well, it’s good if it’s still there for the taking.

Just wondering why the agrarian office has not used it yet. I read about so many regular loans from the Asian Development Bank for the agrarian projects. Why not use the confiscated Marcos wealth instead of paying interests for the loans? Or is it being reserved for the victims?

If these victims were the heroes that gave us back our democracy, why would they voucher their sacrifices and receive renumeration? If they are entitled to that, let’s expect Rizal and other national heroes to get their pay also. I have no quarrel with them, just that they should not get my money from the Department of Agrarian Reform.

The law says whatever is taken from the Marcos wealth goes to DAR. They can get it from the EVAT.

– Valdemar B Tamayo, Kamuning, Quezon City (via e-mail)

DURING the last couple of weeks, we have witnessed the strengthening of the peso against the dollar. Whether this strengthening is real or artificial does not matter. The fact is that the peso’s strengthening has adversely affected overseas Filipinos and their families.

In school we were taught that a strong peso means higher purchasing power. In layman’s terms it simply means that with a strong peso we should be able to buy more goods and services. If that statement is true, the decrease in the dollar’s exchange rate should therefore not worry the families of overseas Filipinos in the Philippines since the decrease will be cancelled out by an equivalent decrease in the prices of goods and services.

However the laws of economics do not seem to apply in the Philippines. While the government has continuously announced that the economy is improving, this is not being felt at all by the consumer sector. In fact, instead of prices going down, prices of prime commodities continue to rise. The failure of the “strong peso” to provide better purchasing power has caused a double-edged problem for overseas Filipinos and their families.

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IT’S Ruffa Gutierrez!

The controversial former beauty queen/TV host/actress is the new replacement for Kris Aquino on the country’s top rating showbiz-oriented talk show “The Buzz.”

I just can’t fathom the fact that Ruffa will be Ms Aquino’s replacement! What is Ruffa’s credibility to co-host that show? Was she honest enough to tell the Filipino people the very reason for her split-up with estranged hubby Yilmaz Bektas? Does she deserve to be called a credible host when in fact she cannot even confirm or deny the alleged marriage to a certain Richard Diaola somewhere in Nevada in 1999. If Kris Aquino’s life was an open book, at least, she tells the truth! Ruffa should be honest and courgeous enough to do the same.

ABS-CBN management should think twice in hiring Ruffa as a replacement for Kris. Ruffa didn’t even know how to host “The Buzz” during her tenure as temporary co-host. Gretchen Barreto or perhaps Dawn Zulueta or even Ai-Ai delas Alas will be a good choice. Boy Abunda and Cristy Fermin, pumili nga kayo ng karapat-dapat!

If Ruffa will co-host “The Buzz,” then I’ll never watch it anymore. It would be a very boring show for sure. Duhhh…

UPDATE: Added a Dolly Anne/Ruffa/Annabelle poll at the Vox Populi homepage.

THE WAY Annabelle and Ruffa parade the marital woes [of Ruffa and Yilmaz Bektas] on national TV is appalling!

Just this Sunday afternoon on both GMA and ABS-CBN Ruffa’s marriage was again the issue with a rejoinder from estranged husband Yilmaz while mother Annabelle was spewing invectives on GMA.

I hope the mother and daughter are happy with the media attention they got but for the life of me, can’t they settle the issues quietly and move on?

– Alona Briones, Fairview, Quezon City (via e-mail)

ROBIN PADILLA is like the former Cat Stevens, now Yusuf Islam.

He is doing something good not only for the Muslim community but for the country. He is a hero for the Bangsa Muslim.

– Arata Wata, Silicon Valley, California (via e-mail)

THE PHRASE “…to stop foreign aid to her regime” caught my attention when I read the article.

Even if it is PGMA’s regime, why would anyone especially Filipino wish that aid be stopped? You may say that it’s her “regime” but if you stop aid, you stop aid not to her but to the Filipinos.

The reasons mentioned are purely lame. The Philippine economy is now on the rise. Many investors are coming in, structural developments are evident, the peso is at a high, and the stock market is on the bull run. The least that we want now is a halt that can be caused by political unrest caused by illogical people who do not really know what is happening in the country.

– Ron Acoba, Marikina City (via e-mail)