Pardon Me, I’m Just Corrupt

            RANT MODE: Hello contacts! I am a Political Science student and I’ve been planning to become a Foreign Service Officer. It has been the career aspiration I’ve been having for the longest time. But with recent happenings in our government I think I just want to become president, be corrupt to the nth degree and get pardoned after a month or two of being proven guilty. Besides, could there be an easier way of becoming a billionaire than this! Like one poster at Peyups said, our government is one big circus. I can’t begin to disagree.

            REPORT MODE: Former president Estrada, who has been proven guilty for Plunder (or BLUNDER as some pro-Erap KSP people in the streets have been saying, which by the way for them means Pambababae in Filipino) by the Sandiganbayan after a very looooooong trial, has been granted clemency (In short, pardon) by President Gloria Macapagal - Arroyo.

            A lot of people are pissed off and they have the right to be since the money involved is tax-payers’ money, the eternally Political Science 150-ish concept of public funds. If Erap plundered Gloria, which is impossible since Plunder has a unique definition, it would have been okay. Ano bang pakialam natin kung mag Plunder-an silang dalawa? Kung dun sila maligaya e di suportahan. But of course that is not the case. What happens now to the billions (or is it just millions? Whatever, still a very big amount to pocket!) that Erap took home?

            Of course we could link this again to the various scandals plaguing Malacañang. Maybe by giving Erap pardon it could somehow divert the attention of the people? Oh crap so it is politics again, just like Glorietta! The Glorietta bombing was a government destabilization plot! The Glorietta Bombing turns out to be not a bombing incident in the first place. Even if the Glorietta incident was a bombing or not and it was just made political in nature I think this issue is different. There is no question here, there’s obviously politicking involved since unlike the Glorietta “accident” where methane is being blamed as the cause, there simply can’t be any methane or accident involved in this Pardon-Erap decision. It’s not as if PGMA was walking in the Malacañang gardens one night and accidentally pardoned Erap while emitting methane from her ass. Tipong Oh My God I pardoned Erap! It was an accident! Hindi ko sinasadya. Shet!

            It’s simply unjust, this decision. Just when you thought corruption has finally been dealt with in this country you’re forced to think otherwise. I remember Winnie Monsod’s enthusiasm while lecturing on corruption in our Econ class. She said that at last a big fish was caught! There finally was hope for the betterment of our country! Erap has been proven guilty! The justice system still works! Other corrupt officials would soon be caught! And then this.

Now Erap recognizes Gloria as the legitimate president. Now Erap would be coming home to San Juan, may motorcade pa nga ata. I bet the Bilibid inmates are disappointed. Magiging kakosa na sana nila si Erap, napurnada pa. With figures based on recent surveys our country actually has two political leaders as official entries on the top ten most corrupt in the world list. Ferdinand Marcos is second to Suharto while Erap is somewhere between eight and ten. We are also among the most corrupt countries in the world. Do you hate that? You better deal with it because we’re definitely going to stay on that list.

To Those Responsible for the Glorietta Bombing

          RANT MODE: Putang ina ninyong lahat. Alam niyo bang maraming tao ang naggagala sa Glorietta ha? E ako madalas ako maggala dun ng ganyang oras e tapos magpapasabog kayo ng C4 mga hinayupak kayo. Kung mga terorista man ang may pakana nito, leche kayong lahat. Kainin sana kayo ng lupa. Kung Malacañang man may pakana nito leche rin kayo. Kung gusto niyo magbombahan ng mga taga Senado at Kongreso kayo kayo na lang wag niyo na kami idamay mga pakshet kayo. Mga inggitero talaga kayo. Ano nainggit naman kayo sa Benazir Bhutto incident sa South Asia ha? Mga kumag kayo.

            REPORT MODE: As of press time it has been reported that 86 people have been injured and 8 are dead in a blast that happened in Glorietta 2, a mall in Makati City. Red Alert has been raised all over Metro Manila and people have already been advised not to visit the site of the explosion so proper investigation could take place (In short ang dami na namang UZI.) The people responsible for the investigation including AFP chief I-Forgot-What-His-Name-Is have already ruled out gas leak as the cause of the explosion. It has been reported on the other hand on some news programs that a C4 bomb was the cause of the explosion.

            Various speculations are now arising from the issue. Detractors of the Arroyo government are linking the blast to Malacañang as a diversionary tactic, a drastic attempt by the palace to create something to talk about which the president could “turn her attention to” as to divert public attention from the various scandals plaguing the Arroyo administration. The said scandals include bribery involving local officials with some even saying that the president herself hands out the bribes personally at times.

            The possibility of a terrorist attack on the contrary has not been overlooked. Investigation is still ongoing. Knowing how KSP our local terrorists are we are almost sure that most of them will raise their hands to confirm being behind this attack. People are advised to stay away from malls for the mean time. While the main purpose of terrorism is to scare people and disrupt regular daily activities and staying away from malls is like letting terrorism win we cannot discount the fact that if it happens to you or someone you know you’ll actually find this argument as bullshit. So let’s not be theoretical about this okay. Just forego your mall lurking habit for a day or two. You can watch TV for the mean time or reflect on how your life has been a pain in the ass lately. It’s your choice.

            Anyway MAKATI MED (which has a very special place in my heart, ahem, ahem) is quite full with patients lately given that patients from Ospital ng Makati have been transferred there (So I’ve heard) so be careful, you don’t want to add to the volume of patients there. Traffic will also be massive more or less because of this. If you work in the Makati Business District the best you can do is to avoid the Glorietta malls block. I think it has not been cleared yet so avoid it if you can so proper investigation could go on and to lessen the volume of people there (Kung marami pa ring UZI.) For those callboys and callgirls (Call Center peeps) contact you bosses. As for our case we would all be working from home today so as not to go to Makati anymore, battle traffic or risk another bomb incident (Who knows...) Your company might have the same rationale, won’t hurt to check.

Summarizing College Chapter 1: Transfer Galore

On the month of April 2002 my world crashed. High School graduation was near and I’ve just received a rejection letter. Well it wasn’t really a rejection letter to begin with. It was a letter in a green envelope from a university in Taft Avenue, Manila saying that my scholarship application had been disapproved. I qualified for their financial assistance program but it turned out that there were other freshmen that needed the financial help more than I did. The UPD rejection letter already arrived two months before. Now that was the real rejection letter to the tune of “We are sorry that your UPG didn’t make it to the cutoff of the Diliman campus, blablabla.”

I had no other choice. Just a month to go and the next school year would begin. I only did apply for admission in two universities. I was and maybe to some extent still am a frustrated Green Archer. I wasn’t really a Fighting Maroon wannabe; just happened that the tuition fee was affordable and so I applied. Never did I aspire to be a Blue Eagle. Not only is their tuition fee obscenely high but there campus is also far from home. It was “Go Green Archers! Animo La Salle!” from the very beginning. That didn’t happen and I’m just glad it didn’t.

It turned out fate had a different plan for me but I would not realize it until a year after. And so you might ask, “Where did I spend my first year of college?” The answer is simple, in the building across my high school building. At first it seemed like déjà vu but when I finally realized that I wasn’t dreaming I found myself in that building wearing a St. Benedict College – CAS uniform. Hello San Beda Alabang. Welcome one of your most loyal students ever!

Of the eleven cousins in the family including myself, 8 of us spent our elementary and high school days in a school in Alabang Hills called St. Benedict College which was formerly known as the Benedictine Abbey School but now known as San Beda College Alabang. If there ever is a school whose hobby is changing names then this would be it. That’s why when you ask the older cousins in the family where they studied they would tell you Benedictine Abbey School (BAS). When you ask our generation we would tell you St. Benedict College (SBC). And when you ask the last cousin to graduate in that school he will tell you San Beda College Alabang (Tama ba, Gino?)

Why did I not like to spend college at SBC – CAS? I could give you a couple of reasons that you would easily understand. In 2003 I have already spent a total of 11 years in Alabang Hills. When I was in PREP it was called the Benedictine Abbey School. My uncle would drive me and another cousin to school using that red pick-up (Yihee reminiscing...). I would cling tight on the iron railings surrounding the gates of the BAS preschool just so my uncle would not leave me. The teachers, with the help of the ever reliable guard, would have to use pliers to get my hands off the railing so I could finally attend class (Okay, the pliers part was a joke) after which I would cry like there is no tomorrow. Surprise, surprise! I hated school. I bet you never thought I did. Well, surprise. And so that is reason number one. Hello, 11 years and 4 more? Ano ito loyalty award? In that one year in SBC-CAS I did not take the school bus because it was so “high school” but it would have been more convenient for me if I did. The “college” feel wasn’t there.  I felt that it was high school all over again, just in another building.

Reason number two is also simple. I did not like the way some of the courses were handled. I specifically have one IT instructor in mind who just did not have the authority figure. Once the students asked him, “Sir i-dismiss niyo na kami, McDonald’s na lang tayo!” and he did. Of course I was happy too, McDonalds e, ALABANG TOWN CENTER na ito! Later I just realized that I didn’t like that. Of course I am not making a generalization about the whole SBC-CAS faculty. A couple of years have already passed and things could be different now. Besides, I only spent a year there so I have no right whatsoever to generalize on the competence of the faculty. Also there were subjects that I took which were handled very well and to some extent even better than the way some UPD subjects are handled. I think it just depends on the professor. It might sound ambitious of me but I wanted to transfer to Diliman, and I did.

I think I would just have to mention though that the one year I’ve spent in SBC-CAS was the best year of my life in terms of SOCIALIZING with the student population. I became part of a large group of friends in the Information Technology block. Yes, my course was IT. We went to Alabang Town Center and Festival Mall on Fridays (Friday is the SBC-CAS equivalent of a UPD Wednesday). We made fun of instructors and professors with me almost always on the lead. My social life that is in a coma right now was very much alive and kicking until I transferred to UPD. So what does this mean? Does your social life die when you enter UPD? Well not necessarily but mine did and it was my choice so no one really is to blame but myself.

When I was in my third year in high school I chose the Medical Science career track. We skeletonized cats and dissected chickens. During those times the smell of Alcogel at lunch time became a scent that eventually saved you your lunch money considering the fact that MED SCI classes were almost always near lunch time. When I ran into one of my MedSci teachers during a school procession in that one year I’ve spent at SBC-CAS she asked me, “O ano na ang course mo ngayon?” I answered Information Technology. She replied, “Di bale SCIENCE pa rin naman yun, Computer SCIENCE” and then we laughed.

I loved writing when I transferred to UPD. I erroneously associated this hobby to Journalism which finally became my course when I entered UPD. I have decided to finally transfer to Diliman. I had an unconscious feeling of rebellion against my parents deep inside me back then. Unconsciously I blamed them for what happened to my college life. Daydreaming of what could have and should have been became a past time. There was that sense of revulsion. Why can’t they enroll me at DLSU? Why should I be stuck at SBC-CAS? I was ambitious and I knew it. I had to prove a point. If they won’t find a way to get me out of SBC-CAS then I will. It was as if I was challenging my parents without them even knowing it. DLSU is no longer a possibility that time. It was UPD, then or never.

I passed all the necessary documents. My GWA at SBC-CAS was around 1.49, just enough to guarantee a passport to UPD. Of the courses open to transferees European Languages was the easiest target just to get in. One only needed a 1.5 GWA and an interview. For Journalism one needed a 1.5 and a written exam. Between an interview and a written exam I think the former is a better shot. I placed EL as my primary choice, a safe choice. Journalism was second. I took the exam. I passed. I forgot all about EL until a year after...

UPD was not the place I expected it to be. UPD had some sort of a geeky reputation. People said that students there resembled calculators. Of course that is not true unless you are in the Math building. I thought all the professors would be oldies who hated the world. I’ve encountered some of them but believe me, they are not the only members of the very large and diverse UPD faculty. The university is so... different. People don’t walk around the oval reading books or doing geeky stuff like I thought. That’s when I realized finally that UPD is UPD, the right mix of the geeky and the social. UPD is a liberated world far from SBC-CAS where students were not allowed to wear white socks, apply hair gel nor have their heads shaved. UPD was a different world of which I became part.

UPD also has its fair share of bitches who hate transferees. Before the feminists react violently let me clear it out why I singled out the female gender. In my almost four years of stay at UPD I have never encountered a male student who maligned transferees but females slandering transferees, yes. Fortunately for us we don’t get branded on the forehead with the word TRANSFEREE, giving us the luxury to blend in with the crowd and freely observe the conceited UPCAT PASSERS (as they proudly call themselves) without them noticing.

There was one of them who rabidly hated transferees. Maybe a transferee bit her or something; hence she became a rabid transferee hater. She was very vocal and even name dropped schools ranging from Assumption to San Beda. “E paano naman kasi ang tataas magbigay ng grades sa Assumption tiyaka sa ibang schools, e di siyempre tatanggapin sila rito paglipat nila.” I don’t even want to recall the litany of bull crap that she mentioned. I am just thankful that my face just had and still has a uniformly catatonic expression that hides the real emotions I feel inside. She never asked me if I was a transferee, maybe she never thought I was because if she knew I bet she wouldn’t be so vocal.

What lesson did I learn from this experience? Some UPD students see the UPCAT as a one-time examination that determines their over-all performance in their 4 or 5 years of stay in the university. They almost forget that it is just a one-time qualifying exam to get them in and that it does not automatically make them oh so supercalifragilisticexpialidociously better than the “Others” that they could just sit their asses down, badmouth transferees, and expect 1.0’s to fall down from heaven. In short these people are so conceited they think they have the license to judge the intellect of other people in relation to their passing of the UPCAT. This is the part where you smile after the slander is committed and slap the bitch with your transcript by virtue of your imagination.

Does anybody ever FAIL the UPCAT? If you fail the UPCAT then you should go back to your high school and hand out leaflets with a picture of your science teacher and a caption maligning his or her intellect. What’s my point? I think nobody ever fails the UPCAT. It is just that not everybody makes the cut to enter the UP campus of their choice. If my figures are correct 70,000+ students take the UPCAT every year and only 4,000+ are accepted. If the 66,000+ actually failed the UPCAT (as in their grades for the exam didn’t even reach 60%) then God help our high school educational system. This is what they call FAILING the UPCAT, which in my opinion is demeaning because it is not true. To cut the long story short YES I am a transferee and my 2.5 UPG didn’t make the cut but here I am doing English class with you and in the end I even got a better grade. Bitch.

Journalism was fun for the first year. The Journalism professors are brilliant specially Prof. Luis Teodoro (Yihee favorite...) I did have one problem though: I did not fare well writing straight news. The type of writing that I loved when I decided to transfer to UPD is the kind of writing that you would see in this blog. It was blog writing all along, opinion writing. In writing straight news you would do better not editorializing unless you want a file of libel cases on your desk first thing in the morning. And because in the first two years of the Journalism curriculum one can only take three Journalism courses (each one is a prerequisite of the next) then it also took me almost two years to finally decide I wanted out. What made me decide to shift out? Well, a lot of things.

On my second semester at UPD I had this classmate who was and I think still is a European Languages major. He was studying German as his major and Portuguese as his minor. When he talked about his course I listened, which is very weird considering that I don’t usually interact with anyone in the classroom unless the conversation is of real interest to me. I asked him about his plans. Back then the EL program seemed more like a joke to me. Okay, you study German and then what? When you graduate you become fluent in German, you go to Germany maybe and then what? Talk to the people there? Is that a job? It seemed like a pretty unstable career path for me. It was more like a leisure course for rich kids rather than a “real” career. For me EL was flawed as a career track but I could never deny that the idea of learning a foreign language and using it as a form of livelihood was and still is very appealing.

Halfway through my second year in UPD the family had to abruptly migrate to Malaysia. I was already thinking of transferring to EL before it happened. In fact I already made a FAILED ATTEMPT to transfer to EL. Journalism suddenly became boring and as I said I already wanted out. EL was the only other logical course. Now I’m the kind of person who depends greatly on snap decisions. One morning in April 2004, after a full year in UPD I woke up and told myself: “I will transfer to the Department of European Languages!” It was too late. The period for shifting already elapsed. I was stuck for one more year in the College of Mass Communications.

I gave it a chance. Maybe I would learn to love Journalism once more. The desire to transfer however could not be denied and like a drug addict hungry for pot I started smuggling European Languages courses in the highly anti-foreign language Journalism curriculum. The Broadcast Communication majors have at least 3 units of foreign language elective. Why don’t we Journalism majors have one? We write articles for heaven’s sake! They just read from Teleprompters. What do they need a foreign language for?

I successfully pre-enlisted French 10, 11, German 10, and 11 thanks to CRS but since the advisers felt “obliged” to be concerned about the interest of the department they did not allow me to take the classes. “You can take courses outside the curriculum on summer term,” the college secretary said. Yeah right, bite me. I smuggled Spanish 10 for the first semester of the second year, slowly but surely, one subject now, two subjects next semester. I was able to smuggle Spanish 12 and 13 when second semester came (I actually skipped Spanish 11, taray!) And then the Malaysia Migration chapter came into being. Everything was on a standstill. Academics, which was the only life I had, went on a coma.

TO BE CONTINUED...

JIU JITSU JOURNAL 1: Kimono! Memoirs of a Geisha?

            “Wala kayong kimono?” the instructor asked.

            “Kimono? Ano ‘to Memoirs of a Geisha?” I answered. Of course I did not. Would I risk losing a limb after being mauled by our instructor on the first day for being sarcastic? Of course not! My brother and I attended the first day wearing jogging pants because we do not have the kimono yet which is also called a Gi (pronounced “gee”). It is different from a Tae Kwon Do uniform in that it is thicker because you actually use it to grab your opponent.

            Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a modification of the original Japanese martial art. It developed in Brazil, which is why it’s called Brazilian, the logic of which is similar to why Makati Med is called as such. In this type of martial art your main purpose is to mount your opponent, which means you have to immobilize him or her until submission is reached. The mount is kind of weird and funny because at first glance it looks like a scene from a porno movie.

            We started with warm ups and since we are new to this sport we just tagged along and imitated the rest. There were around 11 of us, two of which I assume were the instructors since they were the ones who taught us the basics. They started jogging around the room and so we started jogging too. They started galloping and so we started galloping as well. I was giggling because I thought the situation was funny. Here I am almost done with all the “work and no play” life I’ve been in and now I am galloping with people I barely know.

When they started rolling on the floor head first I stopped giggling. Okay? Now that’s fun! After a few cartwheels and semi back flips the warm up was done. It was still funny because my brother was looking at me as if trying to ask me “Do we really have to do that?!” He did it anyway.

            Some floor exercises were next in line where we did the usual stretching stuff. We were divided into partners and of course my brother was my partner. Your partner pushes you until you reach your stretching limit. He kept on asking me, “Kaya mo pa ba?” to which I responded, “Kaya ko yan no, ako pa! Contortionist ‘to no.” After the stretching the others started tackling each other.

            Since we are new we were taught how to mount each other at first and how to prevent getting overthrown by the opponent. If you are the one being mounted your ultimate goal is to escape. If you are the one mounting your ultimate goal is to immobilize the other one. It was kind of boring. Since we don’t have our uniform yet we can’t really grab and try to strangle one another. What’s fun is that it seems very normal to say, “Sakalin mo nga ako dali,” and “Sige nga try mo baliin yung braso ko.” Fun! I think the best lesson of the day was on how to try and dislocate the arm of the person you are mounting. Did I say fun? Fun!

            If you are into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for self defense I suggest you do Muay Thai instead. I think the chance of getting shot by an armed holdaper is actually higher than your chance of getting him to the ground to dislocate his shoulder. On the contrary I recommend this sport to all rapists out there. Since most of the action is done on the ground I think the techniques will be very effective. I’m not encouraging rape. I just can’t find any practical application for this sport. But it’s fun anyway. You don’t actually harm your opponent; just get him or her to surrender. Passive in a way. Pictures next week. =p

Desperate Housewives Controversy -- Desperately OA

REFRESHER: In the pilot episode of the latest season of Desperate Housewives Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) visits her gynecologist (Nathan Filion, think Buffy the Vampire Slayer) who says that Susan might already be approaching menopause. Susan retorts with this line:

Can I just check those diplomas because I just want to make sure that they are not from some med school in the Philippines

First of all let me clarify that I have stopped watching Desperate Housewives when season 1 ended because their idea of a storyline started to revolve more on the "Oh-the-neighbor-is-hiding-some-dirty-little-secret-in-her-backyard" storyline which was fun at first but became redundantly abused in the following seasons. While some people argue that that's the premise of living in suburbia anyway, well sorry but I find it boring. On the contrary after this controversy I suddenly missed Edie and Bree and now I want to watch again, hehehe!

Let us clarify first the object of the joke. While most people imply that Filipino doctors were the ones maligned they are actually mistaken. Susan wanted to check the doctor's diploma because she wanted to make sure they did not come from some med school in the Philippines. In short yes, she was implying that the doctor is inferior in a sense but we should not forget that the doctor is American. The object of the joke here is not Filipino doctors per se but MEDICAL SCHOOLS in the Philippines. I think many people got confused with this one because in many online forums I noticed that they are actually defending Filipino doctors.

In a way they are correct to do so but the direct assault was towards the system of education here in the Philippines. While it could be argued that Filipino doctors are mostly the ones who graduate from Filipino med schools, it does not discount the fact that there are foreigners (a handful perhaps) who also graduate from our med schools. In short defending Filipino doctors in this issue is a little bit unjust because the issue is not them but the QUALITY of education offered in our med schools, which caters mostly for Filipinos but not mainly to them. Gets? In short quality of education is the issue. Filipinos should be defending our med schools, not our doctors because in the first place there was no Filipino doctor present in that particular episode.

Why are Filipinos reacting? Of course we will react although a lot are blowing the issue out of proportion already. It is NORMAL for us to react. If my figures are correct Filipinos are only second to Mexicans when it comes to immigration figures in the US both legal and illegal. Of course they will react, and of course we back here in the Philippines are mostly KSP so we react with them as well (hahaha!) Let's play another scenario where instead of Philippines Susan mentions Malaysia. Considering that only a handful Malaysians are in the US compared to the number of Filipinos there I don't think this will even be an issue. How the Malaysians in Malaysia will react I don't know. Do they even watch Desperate Housewives there to give a damn?

So am I justifying this act as long as the Philippines is not the object of the joke? No, I am not. I am just stating a fact. Filipinos in the US are reacting because there's a significant number of them there and to them the joke sounds "racist." We are reacting here because they are insinuating that our medical schools suck, which makes them a nation of dumbasses because if our medical schools here suck then why is their healthcare system comprised mostly of Filipinos? But of course we should not generalize, Susan is really dumb enough to begin with and it's unfair to generalize that every single American mom is dumb just because Susan is, which leads us to one of the defense arguments.

If you have watched the show religiously (I have not) a lot of people are actually in a consensus that the Susan character is stupid. In the one season that I have seen Desperate Housewives I think I actually agree. And so these people actually see the joke differently. They see it as a joke on Susan herself. Come to think of it, she is almost always clueless. That's why I adore Edie because she always succeeds in making Susan look dumb. In short if you are one of these people you actually see it as a joke on Susan herself, another product of her stupidity and being clueless all the time.

If you have been watching the news lately you will see that this issue has been blown out of proportion. It's all over the news and even in the country's leading broadsheets. I understand this reaction because more than anything else we are just trying to protect the integrity of our educational system. Desperate Housewives is seen all over the world through cable television. If you are a teenager in Estonia and you don't even know that the Philippines exist and then you hear this comment more or less you will automatically assume that the statement is true. That's where the sad part comes in. And this is what some people should understand.

Some people who are not actually defending the show but are not criticizing it either are now crying hypocrisy. Why this sudden uproar just because a "racist" remark has been made in American television? Don't we Filipinos make fun of people from the provinces in our own entertainment industry? When a person from the Visayas or from Mindanao is portrayed on TV, don't we also have a lot of stereotypes for them, which we turn into offensive jokes? Then why all of a sudden are we reacting this way? Hypocrisy? I guess not.

I have already explained in the paragraph above the last one that Desperate Housewives is seen all over the world because of America's cultural hegemony. Go to China and you'll see pirated dubbed versions of Friends there. As for our local shows, where we make fun and stereotype our very own countrymen, they are only seen here in the Philippines. Yes there's TFC but mostly Filipinos watch that channel. Yes there are foreigners watching but I don't think there are many of them and I don't think they understand Filipino anyway. Point? Yes we make fun of our own people but we DO KNOW that it is a joke.

Like I said, if you are a person in some far flung country who have no idea that the Philippines even exist then more likely you are to take the joke as truth. In our local showbiz industry this practice is noticeable. I am not endorsing it but I think you would agree with me when I say that although we laugh at those jokes we know that they are not true. If you laugh at those jokes on local TV and think that they are true then I think you are mentally challenged. Point again? I don't think this reaction is hypocrisy but yes, I think it is overreaction.

When politicians start making sawsaw in an issue such as this automatically it becomes complicated. You then sit in one corner to regret having voted for them. When a senator suggests that you refrain from watching this show so that its ratings will go down and no one will watch it anymore you should think twice before following her advice. First of all the TV network that airs this show does not even get at least 5% of the total nationwide ratings. Go to your local palengke and ask the galunggong vendor what her opinion is about this issue. Let's see if your chance of getting an answer would be higher than that of bringing home a plastic bag of fish for dinner.

Even if you ban this show or refrain from watching it I don't think the producers would even say "Ouch." But you would definitely help the pirates at EDSA and Shaw Boulevard earn more profit. If you ban this show from Philippine TV then those counterfeiters will have a monopoly on everything Desperate Housewives. Be considerate. Chairman Edu has a lot of shows already. How do you expect him to go after all those pirates!

But surely it will be a strong statement that we take these things seriously. I just hope the Americans would see it that way because they might see us instead as balat-sibuyas or pikon. In fact one Internet post says that the joke was directed to us because the producers of the show know that we are peace and fun loving people. The author of the post even added that if they insulted a country in the Middle East instead Teri Hatcher (who some politicians actually call Teri Thatcher... Margaret? Hahaha!) would be dead in a month. Funny.

Another funny thing is how we make opportunities out of a controversy like this. The person who started the online petition for an apology even suggested that the producers of the show give out scholarships to Filipinos aspiring to enter the healthcare profession. I just find it funny. Ang oportunista ng dating, honestly. Malay niyo nga naman totohanin, lol.

Okay this article has been long enough. Final words... Politicians please do your f*cking jobs. Don't make sawsaw in this issue because it has been blown way out of proportion already. Lahat na lang kayo gusto makisawsaw. I suggest you hold a special senate session about this, about a week or a month if you must. Legislate a law about it if you want while other issues that really need to get tackled continue to go unnoticed just because you actually find a stupid TV joke as higher priority. Ang eepal ninyong lahat.

Yes we have the right to react but do not overreact. Move on already. If you want to teach those inconsiderate Americans a lesson then convince all Filipinos in the US healthcare system to all be absent just for one day. Let's see how that would wreak havoc in their healthcare system even just for a day. And then after that, move on na. It's just TV. And I think anyone on Earth who has ever encountered a skilled and amiable Filipino healthcare worker would actually see it as just that, a tasteless unnecessary joke from the mind of a mental-blocked screenwriter trying to make a once interesting show appealing once again. Did he or she succeed? Apparently. I even made a 1,750+ word essay about it.

Negative publicity is still publicity.

=p