I can still vividly remember Professor Roland Simbulan’s lesson about the nature of political parties in the Philippines. Actually, he discussed it every meeting for one whole semester. I can also still remember how he quoted Senator Juan Ponce Enrile regarding the matter. According to Enrile, the only genuine political party in the Philippines is the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The CPP is a political party based on ideology which recruits members and formulates and carries out programs based on their core political philosophy. I can also remember how my professor described political parties abroad. He told us about a legitimate and productive communist party in Japan and the ideology-driven Conservative and Labour Parties in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, these things are not true in Philippine politics.
Tag Archive for politics
The problem with political parties
100 Araw
I’ll be a commentary writer for 100Araw.com–a collaborative project to enlighten the Filipino voting population about everything they should know about the upcoming elections. The articles that would be written here are beyond the superficial level but still strive to be understood by all Filipino people across classes and political benches. Here’s the welcome entry by Tonyo Cruz for more information about 100Araw.com. Congratulations, Kuya Tonyo!
Politicians as Brands
Mr. Paolo Pangan, Digital Strategy Manager of Yehey! Corporation, talked about Online and Viral Marketing in our class. I was thinking of nice way to share what I learned from Mr. Pao until I remembered the things he told us in the end. Before he concluded his talk, he mentioned some politicians that have websites and how effective are those in engaging visitors. Well, it’s not exactly what he said but it is almost tangential to my rephrased version. With all the things I learned from OrCom 152, I am curious to analyze the social media initiative of our presidentiables and their running mates for the upcoming elections. For this entry, I will be having an objective description of their websites and a subjective analysis of their effectiveness as social media tools.
I’m On An Intersection
This picture was taken during a cycling event in Taguig City, near Market! Market!, when Jorron, Noemi and I served as support staff for the said event. I told Jorron to take a picture of me while I am sitting on the point where these yellow lines meet. There was no sensible rationale for such act but I asked for a picture anyway. I was on an intersection, I am on an intersection.
The semester that was
The second semester of our junior year is the hardest semester to date. More than that, I did not expect that the recent semester was that hard. College life would be a hard life, that’s the thing I have whole-heartedly accepted since second year. Pero tang-ina, literal na hindi na ako natutulog at literal na mamamatay ako sa mga pinapagawa ng mga professors.
*breathes in, breathes out*
I am at least happy that I survived the semester with flying colors. My sanity threshold met the concept of adjustment.
Politika
Politicking is a necessary vice, a necessary evil. The only way to defeat politics is to use politics itself. I can almost equate socializing to politicking, but I felt a greater human value that could draw the demarcation–friendship. The past few months were full of politics, politicians, politicking and politicization. Some were stupid enough that I just catch the pitched ball, squeeze it and put it in my pocket. I am glad it is over; I am returning you the ball. Friendship and politics may part ways, but they shall meet again.
Internship
Theory meets practice. The things I do in my internship career includes…
*Non-disclosure agreement signed*
Haha, seriously, I will be having a series of blog posts that would highlight my internship career. Watch out for it!
Weight gain (But where’s height gain?)
I am 66 kilograms heavy as of my last dinner. Nah, okay, I’m getting fat. In a euphemistic statement, I’m getting hot. LOL. I am happy with my current weight since I want to gain one. The next step, is to turn my man flesh into toned muscles. LOL. This part is so gay. Anyway, I also want to be a little taller. I am doing all the things that could make me tall–from the facts to the urban myths that dominated the egoistic men’s crowd. Ladies and gentlemen, This is Operation 180 Centimeters.
ALPSaguado.com
The last time I had my last post was during the night of March 9th. After that day, I rode a space shuttle bound to Milky Way’s blackhole. Anyway, I just changed my theme to Commune, a child theme of Thematic. It’s simple and easy on the eyes. And it’s green! Yuh, yellow green. New look, same great taste. I have a lot of stories to tell. Come here, listen. :)
Where to go
When you are in an intersection, life would give you several options. You may go back, you may go forward. You may turn right, you may turn left. I still stand here, on this little space of intersection that crammed a lot of moments. A marked stone will be buried here, buried under the humble earth that witnessed everything. Now, I shall move forward. When I am lost, I will look for that marked stone to remind me where I am, and at the same time, to remind me where I came from.
New Dream Job!
Duties of a Foreign Service Officer
The duties of a Foreign Service Officer include: gathering information, analyzing and reporting political, economic, technological, cultural and other events and developments; drafting diplomatic notes and other forms of diplomatic correspondence; preparing briefing papers and other foreign policy papers for the Department and other offices of government as may be required; assisting in the preparation and conduct of international conferences; managing and supervising staff; disseminating information; working with other government agencies and private groups and individuals in promoting Philippine interests abroad; undertaking negotiations; assisting Filipinos abroad and protecting their rights; promoting Philippine culture and trade and bringing in foreign investments and tourism to the Philippines; performing consular functions; and representing the Philippines in various international fora.
An Ideal
A Man’s Ideal Edward A. Guest
To live as gently as I can; To be, no matter where, a man, To take what comes of good or ill And cling to faith and honor still; To do my best and let that stand, The record of my brain and hand, And then should failure come to me, Still work and hope for victory. To have no secret place wherein I stoop unseen to shame and sin; To be the same when I’m alone, As when every deed is known, To live undaunted, unafraid Of any step that I have made; To be without pretense or sham, Exactly what men think I am. To leave some simple mark behindTo keep my having lived in mind;
If enmity to aught I show,
To be an honest, generous foe,
To play my little part, nor whine
That greater honors are not mine.
This, I believe, is all I need
For my philosophy and creed.
I have seen this poem in my Journal (A written one), January 13, 2007 entry. As far as I can remember, I have read this somewhere in a broadsheet wherein the author of a specific entry said that this SHOULD be the poem of politicians. But of course, this is for everyone. Yeah right, for the woman too. If only politicians would have this ideal. LOL.
Freakin’ Law
A law degree can be a passport to becoming a public defender, an opinion writer, a politician or a judge. But whatever kind of work one decides to pursue, the challenge is in keeping one’s ideals, integrity, honor and reputation intact.
WHAT IS THE LAW?
Laws are generally passed by the legislature. However, proclamations and executive orders issued by the President; rules and regulations implementing certain laws promulgated by the government agencies concerned, and Jurisprudence, otherwise known as decisions of the Philippine Supreme Court, are likewise considered as part of the laws of the land. Sometimes, we also have to look at the Supreme Court decisions of the United States of America to address certain issues which may arise before the Courts, when no law or Philippine jurisprudence is squarely in point, and these U.S. decisions may then be quoted as part of our jurisprudence. Notably, in libel cases. Of course the basic law of all is the Constitution.
Boring
SocSci 2 Paper. Super weird.
Almost There
The talk that we attended last Wednesday was made possible by the Department of Social Sciences (DSS) and by The Political Science Society (POLIS). After hearing this information, I already told myself that this would be somehow interesting for me since I like politics. And at the same time, this would be boring too due to the inevitable invisible sleepy cloud that surrounds the audience for any kind of talk—not to mention, this would be about politics. The program started with an excerpt of a movie. I wasn’t able to get its title or get the theme or the story itself. Actually, there wasn’t any cue that the program is already starting. Anyway, I said to myself that the talk/open-forum would be the more important thing and, in one way or another, would be independent of the short clip presented.
Political Celebs
This is one of my papers in Comm2. We were asked to write a paper about our greatest belief in life. The geek me, happened to wtite a political belief while some of my blockmates wrote about love, freedom and etc.
The Philippine Political Stardom
In the Philippine Politics, turncoatism seems to be a hobby and a play-time activity of most politicians. Many political scientists agree that turncoatism is a strong blood in the veins of Philippine electoral politics. Throughout the decades, it is quite impossible that there is no shifting of parties within the national electorates and even in the localities. It seems to be natural, as one voter may say. What are the candidates’ motives for changing political parties? According to Annie Ruth C. Sabangan, Senior Reporter of The Manila Times, other than for winning the election, there appears to be none. The angelic and even heavenly peace offerings of these turncoats to someone of another political party tend to be so much amusing for the Filipino audience. The citizens may agree so because they would think it is about time to “reunite” and to “have a peaceful politics”. Their motherhood statements feigning sincerity that they switched parties for “unity” and/or to “bring back the people’s trust in government”—are the common things they do and say to cloak their particularistic motives (Sabangan).
Homosexual Marriage
This is our first Comm2 class activity- a debate about homosexual marriage. This paper is rushed!
Homosexual Marriage: A Position Paper
We oppose to the motion that homosexual marriages should be allowed in the Philippines. In this position paper, we will be presenting arguments that will prove that homosexual marriage in the country is both immoral and illegal. We will begin by examining the motion. In the motion, two critical group of words can be found—homosexual marriages and the country Philippines. In other words, the affirmative side wanted to install such policy in our country. What we will be doing is to associate both parts in the arguments so that it would perfectly fit what we are fighting for.
