Politics can wait — PNoy

In my few decades of existence, I only met in person three Philippine Presidents – Fidel Ramos, Noynoy Aquino, and Rodrigo Duterte. I gained a lot of management-related insights from Ramos while from Noynoy, I was taught to look more into different perspectives and appreciate better the simplicity of life. 

Noynoy debunked all my notions and stereotype of an elitist and high ranking Noynoy debunked all my notions and stereotype of an elitist and high ranking politician. His tiffs with Jesse Robredo and Butch Abad in the management and the scheduling of activities during the 2010 electoral campaign, and how he makes moves to reach out to them despite some disagreements simply showed that people like Noynoy are ordinary human beings, too, and not some cold-blooded and ruthless creatures portrayed in propaganda machines. He laughs at jokes, smiles at simple things, and even blushes when special persons close to his heart are mentioned or visit him unannounced.

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When  the viber group is missing

More than a year after the declaration of one of the world’s longest lockdown, the Philippine government has yet to decide whether or not faceshields are necessary to control the spread of COVID-19. This is still the case in the Philippines while some parts of the world are already enjoying concerts and football matches.

The debate on faceshields simply indicates the poor internal communication system under the Duterte Government. As netizens have been saying, the national government officials lack at least a group chat or a viber group.

The issue on face shields also came after the realization of President Rodrigo Duterte the importance of face masks.

The Trillanes’s Gambit

In chess, there are situations when some pieces have to be sacrificed just to protect the king. The same is true in the game called politics and for that reason, some high ranking officials in the Philippines sold their integrity just to protect their boss. So they twisted facts and became peddlers of misinformation and even made this practice an official policy of the government.

But if protecting the king is a practice , a different move surprised everyone in the Philippine political chess game — protecting the Queen. And many fell for it. Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV announced Wednesday, May 12, that if Vice President Leni Robredo will not run for President in 2022, he had decided to convey to the 1Sambayan Coalition to change his status from being an alternate candidate to a principal candidate for President.

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How PRRD is making it difficult to teach the children

As part of his training, we make sure that our son also take some responsibilities that are age-appropriate. So we ask him from time to time what can he commit. One of his commitments is to feed and replace the water for the cats.

Yesterday, he forgot to replace the water of the cats so we asked what happened. After his explanation to which we are convinced, he asked:

Son: Is it really important to do what you committed no matter what happens?

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For incompetents — harakiri not hariruki

If the Duterte Government is serious in ending COVID-19, all it takes is going beyond the stupidity and personal interests of those holding the reins of power. If the leaders lead by example, if they are accountable for their actions and shun away rationalization, we don’t need those gradations and levels of quarantine. Ang problema, maraming incompetent na nga kapit-tuko pa sa puwesto. In Japan, those who are incompetent do harakiri. They have no room for hariruki.

When the Philippine Department of Health reported Saturday, March 20, the 7,999 new COVID-19 infections, some parts of the Twitterverse and FB world went abuzz. Many were and are asking: Ano yan, promo? Nahiya pang gawing 8,000?

Even former Senator JV Ejercito joined the fray saying “Parang presyo sa SM, di pa pinaabot ng 8k, 7999 only!”

With the new record-breaking numbers that started Thursday, the Duterte Government, through the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases, issued again a new resolution regulating travels and placing the National Capital Region (NCR) and at least four provinces around Metro Manila in General Community Quarantine (GCQ). And then, there was a proposal to issue new community quarantine gradations — “Hard GCQ” or “Soft MECQ”.

But, will names and new gradations of community quarantines make sense? Will the new names and gradations decrease the number of COVID-19 cases? The answer is a resounding “No!”

If the Duterte Government is serious in ending COVID-19, all it takes is going beyond the stupidity and personal interests of those holding the reins of power. If the leaders lead by example, if they are accountable for their actions and shun away rationalization, we don’t need those gradations and levels of quarantine. Ang problema, maraming incompetent na nga kapit-tuko pa sa puwesto. In Japan, those who are incompetent do harakiri. They have no room for hariruki.