Sooner or later, you realize that you’re defending a lost case, a lost argument, bordering illogical and pretentious claims. It’s too late to go back now, it’s too late.

Walking without principle, into shallow grounds with a blindfold in your eyes and without any chance from escaping the so-called mass mind rape that the great Zack dela Rocha talked about.

It’s quite a sad case isn’t it?

This is the problem with the society and the educational system of the Philippines right now. You’re being trained to a certain ideological system, a certain belief which is not bad at all to be honest, given that it is of course the institution’s right to instill their system to their students, but the sad thing is, they’re almost expecting you to follow and believe everything what they’ll be saying or giving out to you.

It must not go that way and it should not go that way.

For example, some teachers in various catholic institutions are actually giving out “free grades” for an exchange of liking a certain fan page in the social networking site Facebook. Of course, the naive student who wouldn’t want to work for that extra grade would conform and believe necessarily what the teacher or the institution wants him to believe.

With that being said, the mind of the student is already conditioned to two things:

A) He can actually get a better grade or a better upbringing in classes because of  that fact that he decided to go along with what his superiors wants him to believe. This instills the mentality of conformity, a social cancer that has been eating up this society alive ever since day one.

B) It closes his mind to explore on new things. It closes his mind in deciding for himself, which could eventually lead to apatheism or the “We-just-don’t-care-about-what-happens” attitude.

The fact of the matter is that one should never force a student to like a certain ideology in exchange for a “better” grade. On the offset, a principled student SHOULD and WOULD never do anything that will be contradictory to his or her beliefs for one stupid point or so.

You want to know why our society is such on a downward spiral? This type of student-professor relationship. This type of mentality from institutions, especially from the educational ones that these students, who are looking for GUIDANCE, I repeat GUIDANCE and GUIDANCE only, are necessarily obliged to follow through what the institution believes as the objective truth, except the only problem is, it’s not actually “that objective” and there are other options that a student can choose from, that is the option that most institutions are trying to eliminate because if they can’t, what they believe to be the “objective truth” won’t really be that objective it, will it?

While yes we should understand that it is the job of a certain institution, especially the schools,to instill their certain beliefs and values in a student, they should never forget that they are called as an academic institution. An academic institution which should allow the minds of its students to grow, decide independently without the influence of outside forces, they must let the students decide if the suggested norms and mores is acceptable independently, without being forced, without being threatened and without being prejudged.

However, what’s happening is that in most cases, this idea is already being curbed by the forces of the institution itself to preserve and to protect the blanket consciousness, the umbrella belief of the said institution.

It is sad. It is sad that these so called academic institutions which are designed to bring forth consciousness among its stakeholders are the ones curbing the idea of open minded consciousness.  But at the end of the day, a principled student should and would never give in to the pressure that is being presented by the institution.

At the end of the day, it’s you who get to decide. Will you go against the currents and allow your mind to think for yourself regardless of the pressure being put to you? Or are you just going to march to the drumbeats of conformity? You decide.

If we’re going to look at it, the proper question should be, will this bill really destroy morality?

If you say yes, the follow up question would be, have you checked your logic notes lately?

Because by saying that immorality will ensue once this bill would be enacted, it would result to a fallacy called slippery slope. The slippery slope fallacy happens when a person (Or a group in this case) asserts that a major event will INEVITABLY follow a certain event, and unless one finds the middle ground of the said issue, then the argument will be deemed as a fallacy.

Now let’s look at the middle ground.

Now philosophically speaking, the middle ground is usually the connector or the line between point A and point C, in this case RH Bill and Immorality. Now the question here is, does point A really lead to point C? And where can we find point B?

Enter point B, condoms are instruments of immorality.

Now that we have the connecting point from A (RH Bill) to C (Immorality) which is point b (Condoms are instruments of immorality) can we truly say that the point B is absolutely the reason why point C will happen? Or are they only CORRELATED and that point C can ALWAYS be there without point A and point B? Unfortunately, if you would observe the things that are happening right now, the massive growth of pre-marital pregnancies and the number of unwanted pregnancies, you will see that POINT C has always been there, even without the first 2 points. And that’s something that they aren’t getting. It has always been there.

Alright fine,  let’s give it to them. Condoms could really push one to commit pre-marital sex because, yeah, it really takes away the pressure of getting a lady impregnated. I mean, if I have a plastic on my penis and it can almost assure me of getting away with the deed, then why the hell won’t I do it?

But let’s not sway away at the topic, let’s go back to the point, will it only be the cause of immorality? How about, fuck no?

If they really want to stop immorality then they’ve got to take away other factors that is pushing thoughts of immorality to young children.

Let’s start in Local Television. Eat Bulaga and Willie Revillame’s shows must not include women dancing with their skimpy shorts, because it will stimulate the mind of the young kids sexually. Second, ladies in primetime shows must wear long skirts, atleast knee high, and must not show any skin up top. A jacket will do.  Sexy commercials should be banned, and we should have an hourly PSA from the CBCP, the best freaking source of morality on the planet.  And oh, the Angelus, the 3 oclock prayer shows should be given a one hour special daily.

In news shows, pretty newscasters shouldn’t be allowed on screen, the only anchor that should be allowed to broadcast news to the people is Susan Enriquez! Kay Susan Tayo!!

In print, radio and advertising, they should take away Angel Locsin’s gigantic boob-tastic billboards and change it to Santino, sporting a swimsuit two piece, something the priests would surely love.  No thought provoking ads should be allowed, only Jesus Saves and Have You Talked to God Lately messages. They should lock down all newspaper publishing houses and monitor it 24/7 to make sure that no thought provoking article or ads would show, all the articles must be checked 24/7, who the fuck cares about freedom to inform and freedom of speech? It’s God’s will!

In films, it should be mandatory for Cable TV film channels to show atleast one of these films per day, the Passion of the Christ, Jesus Christ Superstar (The musical ultimate encore) The Gospel According to St. Matthew and for Cinema One, Matt Ranilo’s Cristo.

In the new media, they should lockdown the internet. Facebook should never be allowed for the only book that must be read is the bible. Everyone should change their homepages to vatican.va to check if the holy fuhrer Pope Benedict XVI has something to say.

There. There’s a moral world for you. And oh, welcome back to 1521 everyone, put a shotgun to my mouth while you’re at it.

All I’m saying is, if they want their argument to be truly correct and they’re really for a moral world then they should do all the little things that I’ve said above. After all, morality really is a big issue to them isn’t it?  But until then, maybe they should look for other arguments that would make me atleast uhm, think when I’m coming up with a rebuttal.

Well here’s good news people, I’m back.

Issues have passed and I regret missing writing something about it. Lacson went into exile then came back, Japan almost got erased,  Hubert Webb got released after 15 years, Libya and Bahrain are self-destructing, Ligot and his wife are invoking their rights against self-incrimination, Willie Revillame’s growing douchebaggery and so on. It would’ve been fun writing about those issues and believe me when I say I’m not gonna run out of words and ideas when I write about them.  But yeah, I’ve let them pass.

Rest assured, excpect FTI to be very active again. So let’s get the ball rolling, shall we?

WILLIE REVILLAME, YOU SHOULD GO GET FUCKED BY A DONKEY.

It’s been a hot issue, especially on the internets, on how Willie treated a 6 year old kid named Janjan on his show Willing Willie. Granted, they needed money and the aunt who was there gave her consent to TV5 to air his nephew dancing in a very malicious manner, that is not in question. But the thing is, Willie Revillame’s comment right after were downright tasteless and unprofessional, but then again, what can you expect from a guy with his character and brains?

His comments “Ganyan na ho kahirap ang buhay ngayon, kahit umiiyak nagsasayaw, parang sa Burlesk Queen” were much like Willie’s attitude, it’s downright shitty. And to let the poor kid dance, on live TV in a stage alone with the spotlight on him? It’s down right disgusting.

Granted, it was for the money, 10k is pretty hard to find. But this is where the term exploitation comes in.

Willie EXPLOITED the child. Willie and his crew exploited the fact that the family of the poor child needed the money and what can the child do? Disobey his irresponsible parents who actually didn’t care on the welfare of their children? Then what will happen to him when he goes home? It’s an issue of exploitation and borderline abuse and no kid deserves to look that way in front of thousands of people.

It’s pretty much like prostitution, minus the insertion. Willie has the resources, his show needs entertainment. The kid needs money, he can entertain. Such a perfect situation for child exploitation, and Willie and his crew jumped on it.

We learned two things from what happened in Willing Willy, the first one?Money talks. No matter how bad the kid looks in that screen, for as long as they need money and Willie and the crew has it, they will never complain. Second, that Willie Revillame is a classless, tasteless, dirty little stain in mankind’s underpants. But hey, we already knew that right?

Now here I am, writing something personal where I promised not to. Savor it people, the next time I’ll write something personal here is during my next birthday or my last hours here in on earth, and I do hope you’re all there to witness it. Heh.

Anyway, let’s cut the dramatic bullshit and let’s get straight to the point.

Two years ago, I was lying in a hospital bed, with IVs and stuff, alone. My friends are gone, my parents had work and I was left there thinking why on earth do I have to spend my 18th birthday on a hospital bed. But then I realized, what’s up with birthdays anyway? To quote the words of my Titas when we’re joking around lilipas din yan. Granted, it is only a date, but your birthday only happens to be one of the two dates wherein people in the world would care about you. The other would be your death anniversary. Haha.

Anyway, two years later, here I am celebrating what could be one of the most fulfilling birthdays I’ve ever had.. ever (Exaggerating here).

I was really overwhelmed with all the greetings that I received. Despite being cut short financially (Yeah I know, dami kong utang na alak sa inyong lahat hehe) I was contented. I even posted earlier that the total amount of money in my wallet is ten pesos. Yes, ten fucking pesos. Talking about being broke eh? But when you have about 140+ wall posts in Facebook  from your friends, relatives, professors and even past loves (Haha) and you received about 10 calls, and 100 text messages from people all over the world, you have to be contented, because after all, that’s all that matters.

Here, it was fun, just being around your family and your closest friends the whole day. Each of them chipping in just to make a little celebration possible, it was very very very heart warming.  Right now I just came home from my cousin’s house and yeah, I’m a little bit drunk (just enough consciousness to write) and what do you know, he sponsored the drinks that we chugged. Regardless of how few and what drinks we had (A bottle of gin and vodka.. Local!) it was the people that I’m drinking with that matters. You have two of your closest cousins, three of your closest friends, just drinking the night away despite all of us having school/work in a couple of hours. That was my kind of celebration and for that I’m really really happy.

Now, I’m venturing into the second decade of my life. I have lots of plans ahead. So Lord, if kasama na ko sa plans mo (You guys know what I mean) wag muna please. Hehe.

I have a documentary coming up, target release date would be the first week of October. Of course, I still have to finish the Lukas Baldomir project, and I promise to come up with my third entry soon. After the docu, who knows? Maybe an independent film would be coming up? It all depends on how my documentary looks, let’s see.

Anyway, you guys are the reason why I’m still here and all the things that I’m really good at, if there’s any, I owe it to you guys. In the lowest point of my life you were the ones who picked me up and shoved me back into the right track. Rest assured, you’re all part of all the things that I will be doing in the next decade or so.

Thank you for ushering me into my twentieth year of my existence, hoping to see you guys next year, and the next and the next one of the next one til the last one before the last. Have a good day everyone!

- Chris

As he was reading the contents of the letter, while talking to an unknown individual on the phone, he became increasingly agitated.

The presence of his brother also added to the tension…

The thing is, while I’ve isolated my fair share of criticism towards our National Police last night, I think it would just be fair to share some of those to the media too.

As a guy in the field of communications, I understand that it’s the job of the media to deliver to the Filipino people what is happening as it is. They have their freedom and it is their rights  to put whatever they want to put in the television, especially if the news is as big as it is. However, when we’re talking about life and death and you have a desperate man with a loaded gun, you have to put things into consideration.

Take this for example, the 1980 Iranian Embassy Crisis in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has one of the most liberated press in the whole world. But, during that time where in lives were at stake, they managed to control and limit the access of the media, they even managed to convince the news stations to put a taped news on air, not the live ones.

Now, you’re not going to show to a hostage-taker what’s happening outside, let alone show him the arrest that you’re doing to his brother. While it’s the media’s rights and duty to show everything to their viewers, they have to think whether showing this to a guy who could basically watch you through the screen of the bus would help the negotiations or not. Yesterday it didn’t. And it could very well be one of the major reasons why 8 innocent people are dead right now.

Everyone knows that I’m against censorship and regulation when it comes to the media. But as I’ve said, when there’s a real thin line separating life and death, you have to change stances.

Media, during times like that, should be regulated. But don’t expect them to censor themselves out. Where’s the interference of the government when you need it? Where are the people which are supposed to draw the line between informing the people and helping the actual hostage-taker? That’s a line that needs to be distinguished. That’s where the government comes in. And they failed in doing that.

I don’t know what to say about our government. Really. I think they’ve failed as much as the police and the media. Where’s the DILG secretary Jesse Robredo when you need him? He didn’t even release a single word last night. How about Mr.Noy? Who instead of focusing on how to revamp the incompetent organization called the Philippine National Police decided to blame the hostage taker’s brother. It’s frustrating and disgusting at the same fucking time.

Someone needs to be sacked. I mean, if they could sack Prisco Nilo for failing to predict a typhoon coming, why can’t they fire the incompetent policemen for allowing 8 innocent Chinese people to die? Heck, fire PNP Chief Jesus Versoza at the same time too.

This is the cycle of mediocrity that I’ve been talking about for many months now. Now you know the result, and how bad it can be.  Now you know the effects of having sub-par people on sub-par organizations with sub-par system. And until someone takes a stand on this issue, something that our President isn’t doing right now, things won’t change.

My heart goes out to the families of the people which got killed last night because of our incompetent system. I hope the government will make everyone involved in the mishandling of the drama accountable for the fuck up that they did, the sadness that they brought to the Chinese people and the shame that they brought to this country.

Ang pulis natin, parang kalaban na detergent ng Tide. Ang lalaki, pero puro chalk ang laman.

Ang pulis natin, parang mickey mouse money nung panahon ng hapon, nandyan nga sila, pero walang value.

Eto ang pulis natin. Manila’s finest mga kaibigan, magpalakpakan po tayo.

Hindi naman po natin kailangan maging experto sa mga ganitong klaseng bagay upang makita na hindi talaga preparado ang mga tao na dapat nangangalaga sa kaligtasan at kapakanan ng mga sibilyan. Kung titignan natin, si Michael V nalang ang kulang kanina sa mga balita, Bitoy’s funniest video na ang palabas dahil sa kagaguhan at mga katangahan ng ating pulisya sa paghahandle ng hostage crisis kanina.

Nang dahil sa kahusayan ng ating mga pulisya, sikat na sikat na naman ang ating bansa. Kung championship belt ang sukatan sa tuwing lalabas ang bansang Pilipinas sa internasyonal media, ay malamang undisputed world champion tayo pag dating sa kakulangan ng seguridad para sa mga sibilyan at pagkabulok at pagkainutil ng sistema na dapat ay pumprotekta sa bawat mamayan dito sa bansa, pilipino man o hindi.

Kitang kita na hindi tayo handa, kitang kita na hindi nila alam ang gagawin nila kanina. Kitang kita na pag sinugod tayo ng mga masasamang elemento bukas, ay bubuhos ang dugo ng mga sibilyan dahil sa kakulangan ng kaalaman at kahandaan ng organisasyon na dapat pumprotekta satin.

Siguro kung tortyur ang labanan, malamang panalong panalo ang pulisya natin, pero hindi. Sorry. Labanan ng may mga utak to e.

Kung ano ang sinasabi sa iyo ng iyong pari, ng iyong pastor, o kung sino man ang sinasamba mo, hindi ka maaring humindi, hindi ka maaring umayaw. Sapagkat sila ang representasyon ng iyong diyos dito sa lupa at hindi sila maaring magkamali. HINDI SILA MAARING MAGKAMALI. Dahil sa oras na sila ay magkamali sila parin ang tama, at kung ikaw naman ang tama ay ikaw parin ang mali. Dahil sila ang may hawak ng MORALIDAD, sila lamang ang nakakaalam kung ano’t TAMA at ano’t MALI . Kaya hindi ka maaring magtanong, at hindi ka maaring humindi.

Kung ano ang isunusubo sa iyo ng propesor mo, ng titser mo, ng decano mo at ng paaralan mo, wala ka nang ibang magagawa kung hindi sumunod, makinig at sumangayon na parang isang robot. Isang robot na de susi na tatakbo pag sinabing tumakbo at titigil pag sinabing tumigil. Dahil sila ang may hawak ng iyong EDUKASYON, at wala kang KARAPATAN KWESTYUNIN ang mga desisyon ng nakakataas sa iyo, dahil sa kanila, WALA KANG ALAM.

Kung sinasabi ng iyong pamahalaan na tutuloy tayo patungo sa DAANG MATUWID, maglalakad tayo sa daang matuwid kahit sa katunayan ay bako-bako naman ang iyong aapakan. Wala kang ibang magagawa kung hindi SUMANGAYON dahil wala kang KARAPATAN  MAGSALITA. Dahil nasa kanila ang KAPANGYARIHAN at ikaw ay isa lamang mumunting mamayan na kinakailangan sumunod sa mga alituntunin tungo sa BAKU-BAKONG TUWID NA DAAN.

Wala kang karapatan, hindi ka pwedeng sumangayon. Wala kang karapatan, hindi ka pwedeng magsalita..

Dahil ang nakakabuti sayo ay nakakasama sa kanila, ANG TAMA MO AY KABAWASAN SA KREDIBILIDAD NILA. Hindi ka maaring magsalita dahil wala kang pera, wala kang pangalan, wala kang posisyon, wala kang simbahan, walang mga uto-utong taong sumusunod sayo.

Wala kang boses,

WALA KANG KWENTA,

wala kang kwenta.

Dahil sa panahon ngayon,

Bawal na magisip

DAHIL SA PANAHON NGAYON

Mali ka kung hindi ka naayon sa kanila

DAHIL SA PANAHON NGAYON

Wala nang kwenta ang katotohanan.

Now let’s see how they did

Take the test here

We try to hide it, we try to masquerade it and tell the people that it’s piracy. Piracy piracy piracy. The film makers’ number one enemy. And yes, to an extent it’s correct, piracy is a major factor on why our film industry isn’t really generating lots of revenues. But it’s only one factor. How about..

.. Incompetence. What the hell are we doing? Don’t give me the budget excuse because I’ve seen foreign films without special effects which made waves in the international film industry. We keep on trying to imitate those Hollywood films.. super hero this, super hero that. Can’t we do something original anymore? Are we always dependent to those things that we see in Hollywood?

And our screenwriters, what the fuck are you guys thinking? If you’re not copying something out of those Hollywood films, you’re writing a film which revolves around the word cliche. I don’t even remember the last time I watched a film with a good script.

Another thing, fuck the fucking MTRCB and fuck censorship. I am sick and tired of watered down scripts and films. I am sick and tired of watching films full of cuts and sorts because it takes away the essence of the film itself. The only way we can appreciate something beautiful is by showing the negative side of the spectrum.  The only way we can truly appreciate a work of art is by looking through the flaws of society and by exposing the very nature of the norm that we follow everyday.  And like a bullet it will go through the empty skulls of the zombie viewers and hopefully it will inject some sense it. That’s the way it has always been and that’s the way it should be right now.

To quote the greatest Filipino director which ever lived..

To the best of our abilities, and even if we often times fail, we must produce films that will hurt, films that will disturb, films that will not let you rest. For the times are bad and, given times like these, it is a crime to rest.

And that’s the crime that the Film Industry have been committing for many years now. And that’s the crime that I hope would not continue on to the next few years. We need a change in the system, for if we continue on with this cycle of mediocrity, the film industry here in the Philippines  will soon be forgotten.

Here’s a film called Orapronobis, one of Lino Brocka’s best works and definitely my favorite Filipino film of all time. Film makers today, eat your hearts out.

Credits to kindhearted189 for the video.

In the red corner, the Department of Health and several members of the incoming 15th congress.

In the blue corner, The Holy Catholic Church, with all of it’s branches and organizations and about millions of Catholics all over the Philippines.

Two years ago, Congressman Edcel Lagman of the 1st district of Albay authored the proposal of House Bill no 17.  It is commonly known as the Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008 or RH bill for people who doesn’t like typing. The proposed bill will most likely cover all of these aspects

• information and access to natural and modern family planning;
• maternal, infant and child health and nutrition;
• promotion of breast feeding;
• prevention of abortion and management of post-abortion complications;
• adolescent and youth health; prevention and management of reproductive tract infections, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases;
• elimination of violence against women; counseling on sexuality and sexual and reproductive health;
• treatment of breast and reproductive tract cancers;
• male involvement and participation in reproductive health;
• prevention and treatment of infertility; and
• reproductive health education for the youth.

The Holy Catholic Church, in on their own right, fought the RH Bill with everything they’ve got. Their reasons are quite simple,  it is anti-life and it promotes promiscuity among teenagers.

So after months and months of jockeying and pushing for position, after all the punches have been thrown, the Holy Catholic Church managed to “abort” (pardon the pun) the proposal of Rep.Edcel Lagman in the 14th congress.

Now, with the opening of the 15th congress nearing, the RH Bill advocates and the Department of Health are eager for a rematch.

“I call for the acceleration of efforts that shall champion reproductive health,” DOH Secretary Enrique Ona said.

So who’ll take the rematch? Let’s see

The RH bill advocates are pretty confident about winning this time around. With the said backing of P-Noy (Which sounds pretty close to P-Nis.. just a thought) they are looking to push for a better fight this time. In the 14th congress, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was lukewarm on the said issue which became one of the few reasons why it never really had a chance to be passed. Well we all know if Tita Glow wants something to be passed, it will  be passed *ehem* con-ass *ehem

Anyway, the advocates of the bill are looking forward to see Noynoy put up a much better stance on it, hoping that it will give them a fighting chance in the 15th congress.

The Catholic Church on the other hand, well, let’s say they have the manpower and the influence advantage.

The main thing that they have over the advocates of the said bill is that most of our congressmen are catholics. Some are devoted to their faith which I respect but the sad thing about it is that, some of the representatives are not even thinking of passing it because of their virtues and beliefs but instead, they’re afraid that they’ll be losing the support of the millions of Catholics all over the Philippines. Add to it the pressure that the church that has been putting on all of lawmakers and there you go, an easy win.

The most crucial thing about this one will be President Aquino’s stand on the issue. If you would see back then, he was a supporter of the RH Bill, he then shied away from the issue because of a year old circus tour called the elections.

Now this decision will both make and break Mr Aquino to the masses, it depends on how you’ll look at it. If he supports the RH Bill, he’ll be the man with the balls of steel to some and a guy who turned away from his faith to others. If he doesn’t,  he’ll be known as a guy who championed life and the beliefs of the church to some and the guy who succumbed to the pressure of the church to others. It’s a tough predicament for P-Noy, considering his mother, the late president Cory Aquino was a devout catholic.

At the end of the day, let’s just hope that our president, the lawmakers and all the people involved here would be making the right decision. A right decision where in the common good shall be promoted, and will be of use to the Filipino people in the near future.

So let the battle begin, again.