Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s 8th State of the Nation Address (SONA) was delivered to the Filipino people today. PGMA’s 1-hour speech talked about the consumer rights, the increase of housing loans, peace in Mindanao and agrarian reforms. According to surveys, PGMA’s popularity rate dropped! She has the same standing with US President George Bush who also has a low popularity rate. Pres Arroyo was recorded to have the lowest rate among all the Philippine leaders since 1986. Below was the percentage of the survey:

• 20%-satisfied
• 60%- not satisfied
• 18%- so so performance

One-third of the members of the senate or 7 senators didn’t come to PGMA’s 2008 SONA. To name some, we have Sen Miriam Defensor-Santiago was absent while Sen Trillanes’ petition to hear the SONA was not approved.

According to the statement of our president, Value Added Tax or VAT is the solution for the Phil debt to World bank, infrastructure needs and other problems in the country. She reported the helped done by her admin to NFA stores nationwide to solve the insufficient supply of rice. In addition, she stated the farmer’s name who are the beneficiaries of land distribution program. Talking about the population growth, PGMA is fine with pro life policy but the use/application of natural family planning. Going south, she emphasized the endless Mindanao conflicts making it ironic as the Food Basket in the country because of the high percentage of hunger. Furthermore, she thinks that the anti-graft act fund should not be in the least.

Filipinos who don’t agree with PGMA’s admin did rallies and demonstrations on the day of her SONA. Like for instance the AKBAYAN and group pf laborers. They did it to show the current crisis of the country which are not yet solve like extra judicial killings, high rate of fare, rice and oil crisis and high unemployment rate!

According to ex president FVR, Philippines is having below standards of living. He added that the life expectancy and quality of life of the Filipinos are not good. There’s a high number of Filipinos who have insufficient income to support to their needs!Former Phil. president Erap didn’t listen to PGMA’s SONA because he doesn’t want to listen to all of her lies and promises again.

Members of the opposition said that VAT is a wrong choice of colution/strategy in solving the country’s economic problems. They wanted to penalize it just like what the people in Thailand did. On the contrary, admin members said that VAT is like a bitter medicine that needs to be taken by Filipino people for the betterment of the current situation of the Philippines.

Well, personally speaking I’m pretty sure that there will be again political debate that will happen in the congress. We all know that the house is already divided! I waited for this moment to listen to PGMA’s statement/report. I remember during my high school days we stayed only for half day in school for us to catch up the President’s SONA. Then our Araling Panlipunan ( Social Studies) teacher will ask about it on the following day. Our mentor will ask for our opinions and reactions to it. ” The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance”- Thomas Jefferson.

It was noticed that the mayor of Quirino who is Mayor Rosario Camma of Nagtipunan wore the native dress “bahag” for men Filipinos. Perhaps he’s conveying something. It caught media’s attention. So with mine while other wore extravagant and expensive national costumes which costs Php 30,000-100,000! They’re like walking on the red carpet of Hollywood’s Awards Night!!!

Find out the difference of PGMA’s 2007 SONA and this year’s SONA.

This coming July 26, the pride of Philippines AJ “Bazooka” Banal will have a fight against WBA Superflyweight belt Rafael Concepcion of Panama. Rafael has a record of 10 wins, 6 knock outs and 2 lose. On the other hand, AJ has 17 wins with 14 knock outs, no lose and 1 drawn fight.The said boxing event will happen in Cebu Coliseum, Philippines.

Boxing analysts predicts”Bazooka” to be the next “Pacman” in the country. They can see his moves and they believe with his strong punches and ability inside the boxing ring!According to people’s champ Manny Pacquiao, AJ is a talented fighter. Manny thinks that AJ can go further in the field of boxing. He also gave some tips/ advices to his fellow boxer. He announced that AJ needs to be more aggressive and should add combinations with his punches.

This coming Sunday, we’ll be witnessing the Banal-Conception Fight.

After a month of leaving his office in the city council, Davao City Mayor, Rodrigo Duterte is finally back in the service! In his first appearance in his Sunday program ” Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa”, he declared that there were 14 stones taken our from his gall bladder. His operation was succesfully sone. However, he was asking for an extension for his follow-up check ups in Manila. This coming 21st of July will be his official date to get back to his work.

The city Mayor added that when he had his operation, he underwent complete or general anesthesia. I laughed aloud when he said that it’s too unlucky for his enemies because he was able to to wake up and face them again. During his first 2 weeks, he just ate “lugaw”, “tinola” and fish. People noticed that his weight dropped. He admitted that he lost pounds because he can now wear his old tees.

Unlike before, he can no longer eat the same food that he used to eat. There are certain restrictions when it comes to food intake.With his condition, Mayor Duterte was told to avoid fatty and oily food.

His leave of absence leads to many speculations. Some people said that he was dying. Others said that the city’s leader is having a cancer.I myself I wondered about his reasons. When Vice Mayor “Inday” Sarah started to act as the OIC, I was thinking that there could be a valid reason of his absence. We were only informed when City Councilor Avisado revealed that our Mayor is having his operation.

In the Sunday program, Mayor Rody commented on the current issues with regards to the Reclamation Project in Queensland, a government-owned foreshore area in Matina Aplaya. According to him, he’s not backing up Queensland owner Teodorico Adarna. The Davao city mayor said that he allowed such activity because it provides jobs for the people of Davao. He has no objections on that as long as it’s for the development of the city. On the contrary, he won’t allow Teodorico Adarna to be safe if he had done violations. Lately it was aired in the local news that the local government found out that Adarna didn’t follow the ceased operation order. In the event, the construction that was happening in Queensland is illegal ans should be stopped. Since Adarna didn’t follow what he is supposed to do before allowing people to get started working with the reclamation, he need to answer the questions of the investigation team. According to our mayor if there’s a need to Adarna to get arrested because of disobeying the law then he’s sorry.If Adarna failed in the investigation process, then the authority has the right to do the right thing about his case.

Traveling with the family is such a wonderful family event. For travelers and movie lovers as well, Car DVD Players are part of their great adventure. Even if they’re away home and they have to kill the time, they won’t surely have boring hours through watching their favorite movie shows. My niece told me 2 years ago when she got back in the country that her tita Joy owns a car in which she can see a movie while they were on the road. She was really amazed!She said you know what tita, they’re rich because they have that in their car and we don’t have in ours.jajajaja She was funny and cute!

Car headphones are really essential when you have kids. You can listen to your music while they’re watching a cartoon inside the car during a long travel.So the good thing is, you do what you want and your kids will enjoy the long journey without bothering you. Good choice of speakers also will make the experience more enjoyable for giving best and quality sound projections.

The Del Monte Philippines who owns the cargo with endosulfan pesticides declared that they’ll gonna file too a case vs. Sulpicio Shipping Lines. According to them, the Sulpicio is not telling the thruth. A statement from Del Monte Philippines Representatives said that from the beginning of the shipment, Sulpicio already knew that the cargo was toxic and a marine pollutant. They can prove it because they forwarded the bill of lading to the office of Sulpicio stating the definition of the product, its proper handling and storage plus the ways/steps to do in case of accident. The said cargo wasn’t touch by them since it came from Israel.It’s completely sealed. They have enough documents sent to Sulpicio.Furthermore, they’re not after of the cheaper freight that they’ll not declare it as dangerous chemical. In fact, Del Monte Philippines was shocked when they knew that the cargo was shipped to MV Princess of the Stars, a passenger water vessel.

For additional infos, it was found out that there were only 3 people who checked the ship. Among the three there was only one who conducted the verification and inspection because the two were also inspecting other water vessels on the same day! The officer said that there was no irregularities found with MV Princess of the Stars. and it was not overloaded. In addition, he was able to check the cargo deck and he knew the voyage plan of the captain.He reminded the captain to be careful because signal #1 is already declared where the ship will pass. He added that the captain should take shelter if it has to. However, 2 statements did not match. It was said that a 15-min inspection was done before Princess of the Stars left the port. This is opposite to the 3-min inspection admitted by the officer of the day!

We’ll soon know who’s telling the truth after the investigation and hearing process.

In my family we only have a brother, the youngest one. My older sister used to watch after him if mom’s out. When ate Jackie got work he bought anything that she surely know that my brother will definitely love. She was able to buy him roller blades, skateboard,and lots of toys.The first video game that he owned was a Nintendo gameboy.Although its not that innovative as Nintendo Wii he had fun playing with it. He’s got enough tapes for it.

When my brother got older, ate Jackie decided to give away his gameboy and bought him a PS2. Sometimes when its raining and we’re not watching movies we’ll play together with him.It’s fun and cool!jajajajaja. After his PS2 was given to our close guy pal he was given xbox 360. Two years ago it was sent here in the month of December  and now my niece and him are sometimes fighting on which ones to play. Together with the gift was a set of DVD’s (12 pcs) for him to have lots of choices. My sister once said to me that he saw a pink wireless controller owned by their friend. It’s lovely to see it unlike the classic controller that we knew. I can imagine how cute and inviting it is!

The people living around Sibuyan Islands are 800- meter radius away from the sunken ship. The result of endosulfan contamination in seawater was found negative. However, the people are still not allowed to catch fish nor swim.Thus, killing the fishing industry in their province! The water samples will be sent to foreign countries to conduct further tests.Inspection was made where the container van is located.

Sulpicio Shipping Lines is now filing a case againts PAGASA because they were unable to inform on the right intervals of the weather directions. The movement of the typhoon wasn’t delivered to the captain before hand. For Sulpicio its negligence in the part of PAGASA. They are asking PAGASA to pay them 3Million pesos and do public apology.

Now, Sulpicio is hitting back the Del Monte Philippines because they informed Sulpicio that their cargo was toxic 5 days after the accident happened. If Sulpicio only knows about it, they could have paid a larger amount in freight, separated it and of course they wont put it in a passenger vessel like the MV Princess of the Stars. Most of the people are now blaming Sulpicio but the fact is they’re not just the one who’s the sole responsible of the current problems in the country brought by the shipwreck of MV Princess of the Stars in Romblon.

The options suggested to get that ship out of the waters of Romblon needs 5-6 months and would cost 3Million pesos. The process is cutting or chopping some parts of the ship for easy pulling. The ship will be pulled to the shallow part but of course, coral reefs will be destroyed. The government is willing to help during the operation as well as the Del Monte Philippines.

In the hearing of Marine Inquiry, it was reported that Rear Admiral Mata and Commodore Romillo resigned as the Chairmen of Board of Marine Inquiry due to the accusation that the hearing was biased. Their purpose of doing it is to preserve the integrity of the board. That’s what they believe in. To replace them, we have maritime lawyer Atty. Banay and master mariner Capt. Ferrer. They’ll be the ones to continue the job.

Gift-wrapping is one of things that I love to do. Besides from reading, writing and blogging I am enjoying the times when I’m packing something for my love ones. Gift-giving is Seasonal2 of course. Holidays become extra special with the presence of gifts or presents.I got pretty excited when yuletide season is in the air and everybody’s thinking on what stuffs to give to those people we care about. Christmas gifts complete the Christmas celebration.I wanna do the wrapping because it makes me feel good and fulfilled that I am able to give something to other people. I’m not expecting in return though. If I see them smiling and thanking me, those gifts that I give to them are already paid.

For people who love to explore and travel the world like me, I’ll probably give them gifts for travel enthusiast! Hmmm they’ll surely love it! I’d like them to have amazing and wonderful adventures with the help of the travel gadgets that I’ll give to them.

Every week we experience an increase with the diesel. The monthly wage of the people is still insufficient to supply the needs of most Filipino families. The prices of basic commodities are rapidly increasing too. In these phenomena, the quality of peso continues to depreciate. We are all affected with these unwanted changes that we can’t escape. I guess even if there will be transport strikes or street demonstrations, it can’t help solve the crisis.

Since these things are inevitable all that we can do is careful management of our money, supplies and expenses. In other words, wise spending. We need to budget our money. We should know our limitations. We shouldn’t spend much that’s over with the amount of monthly salaries we are receiving to prevent shortage!

In wet market and supermarkets, it’s observable that the people are really budgeting. Instead of buying branded products many are switching to cheaper yet quality ones. In buying, its a matter of choice. It’s up to you if you wanna fool yourself that you can still afford to buy the expensive ones just to keep you in line with the rich people. What I’m saying is being practical. Enjoying products or services with lesser amount being paid to it.The bottom line is knowing your real priorities and not being brand conscious.

In Manila, they notice lately that there was no heavy traffic in Edsa-one of the busiest highway in the capital. Last May, 5% less running vehicles was recorded and in June there was a total of 10% .For them, its an indication that some people are no longer allowing their motor vehicles to run and the commuters preferred to ride in trains . Instead of riding PUJs and buses , they just use the MRT as a form of transportation to get rid of the non-stop oil price hike.

In Davao City, the taxi drivers are heavily saving. Instead of using diesel they use LPG powered vehicle as an alternative. If it’s not peak hours they prefer to line up in shopping malls or in the airport to get passengers. They don’t want to roam around the city to get passengers because its a waste of gasoline to be running in streets with no commuters.

The PUP victim of gang rape is now undergoing tests. She was found negative with prohibited drugs. The victim stated that she was forced to take drugs while she was raped. The chemist explained that they’ll definitely find no chemicals of those drugs because it only stays in human body for 3 days. The crime happened last June 25-27 and she was checked up and had a drug test on July 2! It’s more than 5 days after the series of test was made. However the doctors revealed that the victim might be affected with Sexual Transmitted Disease or (STD) since she was raped by 20 people for 3 consecutive days.

The doctors are afraid that the victim got surgical wounds infections. The victim pointed the suspects as youth leaders in their school organization.As of now, family backgrounds of the suspected students are being studied by authorities.

The victim is still traumatized with what happened to her in her young age. However, she can slowly speak now when asked. She’s still confined in PGH for another significant and needed tests for her recovery and for the development of her filed case as well.

The Red Cross Team is assisting their family by helping them in providing the medicines and counseling support for each member.