PJB

I was watching a rerun of Star Trek the other night when I came across the uber-famous Borg catchphrase:

“You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.”

Futility, now that’s a word that’s quite apt for today’s events. An “exercise in futility” is what some people say about the Comelec’s ongoing voter’s registration process.

If the government spent billions of Pesos to computerize the elections, then how much of it was allocated for improving the voter’s registration process? Isn’t this process supposed to be the foundation of a good electoral system?

The Comelec stated that they won’t extend the registration deadline, because they need time to sort out the registration database and come up with the final voter’s list for their regional offices – time, in the above context, is unfortunately measured in months.

It’s quite ironic that they heavily tout the new computerized election system as being capable of tallying all votes and declaring a winner in a span of just a few hours, yet they need a span of several months before the elections so that they can prepare the final voter’s list.

In hindsight, had a ‘proper’ voter’s registration system been in place, then people wouldn’t have procrastinated or put off registering for a later date – most of whom were either turned off by the extremely long queues or slow process, or turned down Comelec staff because they didn’t meet the voter’s cut-off criteria (a combination of cut-off period or number of registrants/application forms per day). Had a ‘proper’ voter’s registration system been in place, then there wouldn’t be a need for such a long preparation “lead time” between the voter’s registration deadline and the actual election date – ensuring a higher voter-to-population percentage turnout.

At any rate, late is late – no excuses and “pasensya na lang po, ‘no?” Let’s just hope that those who were able to register on time will vote wisely come election time.

Two words: Chip Tsao (or To Kit).

Writing a satire is one thing, but adding racism, bigotry and dumb wit into the mix is another matter.

Oh how the Filipino and Chinese blood in me churns.

One of the biggest news that has recently caught our nation’s and the pinoy blogosphere’s attention is about the mauling of a 56-year-old father and his 14-year-old son, over a golfing spat, by a family of what should have been our nation’s “civil servants.”

Bambee Dela Paz tells us her personal account of how her father and brother, Delfin and Bino Dela Paz, respectively, were mauled by the mayor of Masiu, Lanao del Sur, Nasser Pangandaman Jr., his brother, and their bodyguards at the Valley Golf and Country Club golf course in Antipolo. What’s even more disheartening is the fact that the brothers did it in the presence of their father, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) secretary, and government peace negotiator, Nasser Pangandaman Sr, who failed to stop the incident from escalating into a bloody mauling.

Regardless of who’s at fault, they should have exercised maximum tolerance and restraint befitting their positions as public service officials. True gentlemen never beat up children, let alone gang up on one.

So now, how can the secretary convince us that he can effectively manage our nation’s agrarian reform situation, as the DAR chief, if, as a father, he can’t show us that he can “reform” his own sons? And how can he effectively represent the government as a representative peace negotiator if he can’t even broker peace for a simple golf etiquette misunderstanding? He should have done a “Mayor Alfredo Lim” and come out a bigger man.

It appears that the meaning of the terms PEACE and REFORM might have been misunderstood by some parties.

Golf is supposed to be a gentleman’s game. True to what Bambee has stated, the world has indeed gone crazy.

What do you think?

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Note: For those who would wish to comment, it would be greatly appreciated it if you refrain from using other people’s identities, like mine perhaps. Thanks!

Do you know what products sold in the Philippines have been tested for the presence of melamine?

Last October 3, the Philippine Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) posted an advisory on their website on what products have been found positive or negative for melamine.

In the first batch of adisories to be released by the BFAD, two (2) products have so far been found POSITIVE for melamine, which means they are UNSAFE for consumption and should be AVOIDED. These are:

1. Greenfood Yili Fresh Milk (in Chinese character)
2. Mengniu Drink (in Chinese caharacter)

On the other hand, twenty-eight (28) products have been found NEGATIVE for melamine, which means they are SAFE for consumption. These are:

1. Anchor Lite Milk
2. Anlene High Calcium Low Fat Milk U.H.T. (recombined)
3. Bear Brand Instant
4. Chichok Milk Chocolate
5. Farmland Skim Milk
6. Jinwei Drink
7. Jolly Cow Pure Fresh Milk
8. Kiddie Soya Milk Egg Delight
9. Lactogen 1 DHA Infant Formula
10. M&M’s Milk Chocolate Candies
11. M&M’s Peanut Chocolate Candies
12. Milk Boy
13. Nestogen 2 DHA Follow-up Formula
14. Nestogen 3 DHA Follow-up Formula
15. Nido 3+ Prebio with DHA
16. Nido Full Cream Milk Powder
17. Nido Junior
18. No-Sugar Chocolate of Isomaltooligosaccharide (Cocoa Butter Substitute)
19. Nutri-Express Milk Drink
20. PURA UHT Fresh Milk
21. Snickers Fresh Roasted in Caramel & Soft Nougat in Thick Milk Chocolate
22. Vitasoy Soya Bean Milk
23. Wahaha Orange
24. Wahaha Yellow
25. Want-Want Milk Drink (Red Can)
26. Windmill Skim Milk Powder
27. Yinlu Milk Peanut
28. Yogee Yoghurt Flavor Milk Drink