The Church of the Philippines: Removal of "Offensive" Ads Ordered

Rappler has reported that the MMDA ordered the removal of sexually suggestive advertisements along EDSA after several Catholic bishops expressed their disapproval.

How did these bishops know what "come and play" meant?

(photo from Bench Facebook page)

The bishops found the billboards to be "offensive to the morals" of the country.  Thank goodness we have these unelected representatives to speak on all our behalves.  I do wonder how they know what my morals are?

Once again, the church has exerted its authority over the country.  We are all free people, and we are free to express our opinions and practice our religion; but the Catholic church has the pleasure and privilege of seeing its opinions virtually enacted into law and implemented hastily by the government. Congress is flush with envy.

The Republic is the country's upper management, but nothing happens without the approval of its Board of Directors--the Catholic church. We might as well rename to the CP: Church of the Philippines.

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Filipinos Don't Deserve Democracy

That's exactly what the Anti-Political Dynasty Bill is telling you.

YOU can't be expected to apply some critical thinking when voting.

YOU don't deserve to choose between political aspirants.

YOU are too stupid to be left alone to vote.

This bill isn't so much about the families in power as it is about you, the individual Filipino.

photo credit: Olivander via photopin cc

The Anti-Political Dynasty Bill was borne out of Article II, Section 26 of our 1987 Constitution. It declares, "The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law." The Bill would become the enabling law for this provision by prohibiting relatives from holding or running for office in successive or overlapping terms.

Of course, this was all done in the spirit of democracy, in order to avoid the potential oligarchy of having a few elite families in high political positions. Only, it actually makes a mockery of our democracy by allowing a small group of people (lawmakers) to judge whether family relationships are a basis in voting--and to what extent. In a way, we already concede some of our freedom to vote--our freedom to choose--by letting the lawmakers mandate that okay, relatives within the second degree of consanguinity are not fit to be in public service together. When was that theirs to decide? Isn't that already oligarchy?

We place judgment on our fellow countrymen who repeatedly use family relationships as a basis for voting. How many times have we heard that Noynoy only won because he was the son of Ninoy and Cory Aquino? Well, let's assume that it is, in fact, true. Let's say we could read the minds of the Filipino people, and we found that, indeed, they (notice how we conveniently use the third person pronoun) voted for Aquino because he was an Aquino.

Now, we want to prohibit people from voting based on family relationships? This is like a recruiter saying, "Let's not be racist against dark-skinned people. In fact, let's prioritize them over the fair-skinned applicants!" It's not about the dark-skinned people--or about the family relationships. It's about the criteria for choosing. It should be fair, not apologetic. Replacing a bias with another bias does not create justice.

May we instead focus on educating our countrymen--and ourselves--on who our leaders and candidates are, what traits to look for, and what their particular government roles are or will be. Then, we will become an empowered democracy.  The responsibility for electing officials resides with the electing public. Let us keep it that way.

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Keep Intersection Open...For Me

"KEEP INTERSECTION AND PEDESTRIAN LANE OPEN" says the white street sign below the stoplight. The left green light hasn't come on yet and this Innova driver, the ethical and disciplined Filipino citizen that he is, decides to cut in front of those who patiently wait in line on the leftmost lane. Either we have an illiterate driver here or just another douchebag on Philippine streets. 

The fact that this is typical and barely newsworthy is sad. We ask our lawmakers to play by the rules and yet we can't. Napoles, if the allegations are true, took advantage of weak law enforcement regarding the monitoring of discretionary funds disbursement. It wasn't a legal loophole; it's just that no one was really watching. That's the same thing this driver took advantage--and that many others do as well.

Don't be a hypocrite. Follow the law, or shush about Janet Lim Napoles and the lawmakers.

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Bongbong Marcos Knows What's Best for Your Business

Bless this particular type of food in particular.

Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., better known as Bongbong, has just filed Senate Bill 1863, or the "Anti-Rice Wastage Act of 2013." Marcos' bill will fine your restaurant business P20,000-P100,000 for refusing to serve half-cup rice orders.

Of course, our fine and honorable Senator knows what's up. People all over are demanding for a half-cup rice with their meals. And stubborn for-profit businesses aren't budging. If only there were a mechanism that matched what businesses supply with what consumers demand. Wait, supply...and demand? Like in a market? That sounds familiar.

Well, you say. Sen. Marcos just wants to cut down on food waste. He said total wastage is roughly 308,000 tons of rice, citing the Food and Nutrition Research Institute to let you know he really knows what's up.  Given that data, it now completely make sense to force private companies to add half-cup servings to their portfolio of rice offerings. Of course, everyone eats in half-cup denominations, so it wouldn't make sense to offer one-fourth cups of rice, would it? Everyone will always finish that half-cup and each additional half-cup if needed. At least every restaurant uses standard measurements for cups and half-cups.

Your New CEO

Really, if only restaurants had some incentive for minimizing waste, right? Like, if they were charged for wasting rice. Like, if they were costs. If only wasted rice--or wasted anything--were considered a cost to the business, then we wouldn't need such breakthrough legislation.

I can't wait for the surge of the restaurant industry as we further penalize businesses for making business decisions. Makes you just want to donate more to Sen. Marcos' pork barrel fund.

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