THE ACT of Congressman Benny Abante is more or less the same as the act of the Pampanga governor.

Is it that hard to clarify to the president or whoever distributed the money what it was for? It is pathetic for this lawmaker to suddenly come out of the closet after the scandal broke out. Transparency is the keyword here. Why is it that these mushrooms suddenly sprout only after one individual decides to stand for the right of the people to information? They are all like Pontius Pilate who washed his hands before Christ was crucified. They are only admitting that they received cash because there was a whistleblower and now claim to be innocent when in fact they could have actually done something in the first place.

Please, you politicians know that you are public servants and not servants to your personal interests. This should be a lesson for those who keep silent because they benefited out of such anomalous transactions and suddenly wash their hands and try to appear innocent when it is disclosed.

Sorry, but you are all guilty in the eyes and voice of the people.

Vox populi, vox dei.

RINA JIMENEZ-DAVID has written an exhaustive article detailing how Teri Hatcher’s life will “be hell from now on” considering her character’s comment on the show. I wonder, has the latest season of “Desperate Housewives” even reached the Philippines? But again, that shouldn’t matter. Or should it? Should it really matter to look at the context of the joke before passing judgment? After all, it’s the context that determines whether something is funny or insulting. Take for example the movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” which can be seen as insulting, incredibly anti-Semitic, and sexist. But as Sacha Baron Cohen (who happens to be a devout Jew) pointed out, if you look at the context of the jokes and the movie itself, you will soon realize that the jokes are there to poke fun at American society and their prejudices and not against women or Jews.

A lot of comments have been already said about this controversy, but here is what I think the context is about and why I think ABC really didn’t meant to offend anyone. First of all, my mom, just like a lot of Filipinos here in Canada or in the US, is a nurse who was educated in the Philippines. Despite this, I honestly think the comment was taken out of context.

If you actually look at the context of the joke, the comment was supposed to poke fun at the image of the American (not Filipino) medical student who got rejected by all American medical schools — due to low grades or horrible MCAT results for example — so they end up studying overseas. The writers could have chosen any country but decided with the Philippines as an afterthought. I’m sure if they chose any other country, say India or Mexico, not only will this not be a big deal, but I bet most will find it funny. In the US, it is usually thought of that if someone cannot get into an American medical school and they really want to be a doctor, they usually end up studying overseas where admission regulations tend to be not as competitive. It wasn’t about Filipinos (the doctor in the scene was white) but American med students who could not get into a US medical school.

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I WAS at Fully Booked Rockwell this weekend and treated my niece and grand-daughter to one illustrated book each on Philippine folklore which they chose themselves from the shelves.  I was very sorry that I wasn’t able to preview what they chose because I found out that one of them — “Ang Alamat ng Ampalaya” published by GMA 7 — had such an unoriginal and superficial plot full of stereotyped images of women. but worse, it ended with the main character, because of her supposed vanity, being turned into an ugly ampalaya by a fairy.

GMA 7 should be ashamed to have published such material, specially now that: 1) media all over the world have been exhorted to upgrade their depiction of women, 2) the ampalaya is listed as among the top 10 medicinal plants from the philippines, and 3) parents, teachers and the media industry are doing their part to promote the consumption of vegetables among children.

If the comic book is based on a TV story, that, too, should be pulled out — or better yet GMA 7 should produce another episode and publish another version correcting this degradation of the ampalaya, and of women. Just because most young kids are not yet very articulate doesn’t mean media should assume they are dumb. Also, some of the stories being promoted as “folk tales” may have been based on the prejudices that may best be left to oblivion.

Fully Booked might want to be more careful in its selection of local children’s books. They’re the only ones most people can afford to buy in their shop.

– Anna Leah Sarabia

IT hasn’t been a week since the “Desperate Housewives” hoopla over a joke that was taken out of context. And yet, here we are again with the Cory Aquino reference in “The Daily Show.” Before some journalist write an editorial about pitying Jon Stewart or the producers of The Daily Show, I feel compelled to once again shed some light on the CONTEXT of the satire.

Before I start, please view the entire satirical skit if you haven’t done so already. It’s quite too common for people to get so riled up without even seeing the “offending” video.

Now that you have seen it, let me shed some light to the context of this segment. The main character on the segment, “Samantha Bee,” embodies the typical ignorant American who, at this point in time, still thinks America is not ready for a woman president. It is actually her character and what she represents that the piece is actually poking fun of, not Corazon Aquino. Now, let’s see the supporting arguments for this.

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WHILE by culture it is shocking to see on national television lawmakers and supposedly highly respected professionals shouting and/or physically hitting each other in the middle of a heated debate, it has somewhat become acceptable to the general populace considering that it happened several times in other countries.

But what becomes shameful is to realize that lawmakers are the ones breaking their own laws, with what happened in that so-called executive session in the Senate regarding Neri in connection with the NBN/ZTE scandal.

Whoever is telling the truth, it is unfathomable to even think that some senators went down from their level by becoming so unethical and breaking a simple rule. Whatever the reason is, Sen. [Joker] Arroyo was right to discipline those who broke the rule and whether he is just being defensive or being upright, [the Senate] really has to find out who allowed these people to further break the rule.

How can an ordinary civilian be expected to follow the law when those people [who are] highly regarded are the ones breaking it for whatever reason? Likewise, how can ordinary Juan feel secure with his privacy and to some extent his security when even in the Senate chamber, there is no security?

What a shame further to note that these senators are now fighting literally instead of being one in knowing the truth regarding the scandal. They are professionals, highly educated, voted by most because of their credibility which includes their moral and ethical backgrounds, but what are they now and what will they be tomorrow? Anything new or any more surprises?

“WOW! Again?”

The only thing I could muster to say after reading about the NBN fiasco. Seems like anything that Malacañang offers on the table, the opposition would grab it and throw it back together with a bomb attached to it… Don’t get me wrong, I am not pro-administration nor am I pro-opposition. I am just amused at reading about these things.

“I prefer a country run like hell by Filipinos to a country run like heaven by Americans. Because, however bad a Filipino government might be, we can always change it.” — Manuel L. Quezon

A famous quote by MLQ… and we took it literally. It had been more than 100 years and the direction we’re going is backwards. “Amusing,” I said? Well, I just got used to it. It was very annoying at first, then you get frustrated, then you just get used to seeing these things.

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AFTER our experience with the Marcoses, I thought we (Filipinos) should’ve grown up, a lot.

But here we are once more. We just had an ex-president convicted of plunder in a court of law and talks of pardon are quickly laid out and most embarassing of all, a good number of us think that it is the right thing to do.

Stupid. The only thing that comes to mind for lack of a stronger word to put sense in this.

Why are we like that? Is it because we have been raised like that? To have the right amount of stupidity to put compassion above justice and to be less caring about that person’s self-serving actions in the past? Simply because he was perceived as helper of a handful of poor folks who simply don’t understand that the reason they are in that situation is because of people like him.

So are we really a forgiving nation? No. We are in fact the opposite because we continue to do it over and over again.

THE TRIAL of President Estrada is the first case of a former Philippine president being accused, arrested and tried for alleged crimes committed during his regime. Our society has become polarized on this issue, and the impending verdict seems like a brewing storm looming over the horizon.

As it was, the ball fell into the hands of the Sandiganbayan, where a special division was created, to conduct a speedy and impartial trial. And rightfully so, due to the uniqueness and precedence of this case.

The aftermath of EDSA II, the force which catapulted Mrs. Arroyo to power, saw a third force which aimed at reinstating Mr. Estrada. Certain politicians rode the crest of this third force but abandoned it later on. A string of events occurred culminating in the violent dispersal at the gates of Malacañang.

This was the first feather on the political survivor cap of Ms. Arroyo.

The trial of Mr. Estrada on the charges leveled against him is already a part of history. The impending verdict, in my view, is a necessary evil to put a closure to this. It is therefore the duty of both opposition and administration elements in government not to inflame the passions of supporters but to let reason prevail. On this, let history be our judge.

SENATOR Juan Ponce Enrile called his Sigma Rho brods “trainers of thugs and killers.” Former UP prexy Nemenzo, a Sigma Rhoan, condemned the culture of violence cultivated by fraternities. Former Senate president Jovito Salonga threatened to break his ties with Sigma Rho if the latter is proven to be responsible for the death of Cris Mendez.

Yet [Iloilo] Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico, in deadpan fashion, dismissively opined that “there is no concrete evidence that the death of the UP student (Cris Mendez) was caused by the fraternity’s initiation rites.” Such a cold, cold heart.

The vice governor just put his foot where his mouth is.

I AGREE with [Cagayan de Oro] Cong. [Rufus] Rodriguez but there are three points I would like to suggest further:

(1) As pointed out that DA [Department of Agriculture] should not only focus on rice production but also on other high-value crops particularly in Mindanao. Thus DA through BFAR [Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources] should also develop other high-value aquatic crops like abalone and sea cucumber which can be cultured already since the hatchery protocol has been already established

(2) If ever GMA [President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo] would be true to her promise, the budget increase in Mindanao, the absorptive capacity in Mindanao should also be improved. There’s supposedly a lot of money for Mindanao projects from other sources particularly from NGOs but to avail of this is another level of concern, another level of expertise

(3) Regardless [of whether] the Mindanao people can absorb more fundings effectively or not what is more important is the credibility of President GMA’s promise to Mindanao.