Sex Scandals & Philippine Politics : The Dirty Nasty Truth

In the Philippines, we used to have that old idiom  don't wash your dirty laundry in public, but social media is now changing all of that. Now with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, everyone else is playing with dirty laundry, and somehow I think its a good thing.

I'm a big fan of the series Gossip Girl, where one insider gets access to the lives and scandals of the upper elites and exposes them to unsuspecting masses. I think its a great idea, and it seems to be happening now in the Philippines.  I really don't care much about the recent Sex scandal of rockstar Chito Miranda and girlfriend Neri, or the boring family feuds like the Barretos, but there's a big bomb exploding daily on a small blog about a certain Napoles family, and its turning out to be the biggest scam so far that has been uncovered by investigative reporters – that of the P10 B scam that involved the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), better known as the pork barrel. 

Napoles and her Government offical friends spreading their Evil (i'm stealing from you all) grin. 

Comments by Anonymous on this blog post has revealed detailed information on how this super Elites and organized Crime lords, many of them holding government offices are stealing BILLIONS every year from our hardearned taxpayers money, while 70% of our country remain below poverty.

People are now talking about the sex tape of famous rockstar Chito Miranda, but the truth is this 10B peso Pork Barrel Scam, this obscene weath that this filthy opportunists have amassed through the years since the time of Diosdado Macapagal, to Marcos to the present, has put us all in the same hopeless boat, has put our kababayans in squalor while the tacky noveau riche like the Napoles gets to party in NYC and drown in champagne wearing Loubotins - THIS, This to me is the real OBSCENITY.  This is the real Dirty, Nasty Shit. This is what we should be talking about. Not some homemade video sex tape.

Actually this particular news is not new to me or to all of us Pinoys. We all know this. We each have our own "anak ni mayor", "kaibigan ni governor" stories enough to justify this. The culture of corruption in our country has come to point where people, all of us regular pinoys, have just come to accept that it is part of our daily lives. Thinking it is hopeless to fight, we became  helpless and lazy, that we have come to accept that our government officials are free to get away with it. Sometimes we even try to benefit from it, because come to think of it we like the idea of VVIP.

But this has to stop. Right now we have rays of hope. We are on the verge of change.  We are getting positive credit ratings world wide, our tourism sector is growing, our Filipino expats (OFWs) are making way for stronger middle class but yet this chain of corruption keeps dragging us down. THIS HAS TO STOP.

I urged you to sign the petition and take a stand against this widespread corruption. We need to pressure Broadcast media like the evil empire of ABS CBN (who has been mum about this issue) to support  this, we need to this by ourselves.

A group of concerned citizens and former government officials have filed a petition on Change.Org for the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate the misuse of the Pork Barrel Fund. There are a few good men. Let's support them. 


Mahal ko ang Pilipinas at nahihirapan ang mga tao taon taon, habang ang mga mismong government officials ang nagnanakaw sa kaban na dapat ay gamitin para umunlad ang bansa. Madami ang sangkot at talamak ang corruption sa Pilipinas pero naniniwala ako na hindi ako nagiisa, madami ang sawang-sawa na sa magsasamantala ng mga corrupt sa gobyerno. Nagpapakahirap kami dito sa ibang bansa for our families back home, to give them a better life and in turn improve our situation in the country, lahat ng mangagawa sa Pinas ay sapilitang nagbabayad ng buwis. 

That is HARD-EARNED taxpayers money that they are stealing from us and using to service their lavish lifestyles, and obscene wealth. I am just one person, but I still believe there are good people in government and in private institutions like our broadcast media who can turn this thing around. Let's do this together. This time around wag tayong maging bulag. Let's bring this system of corruption down and call for change!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Sincerely, 
Kristine Abante 
Dubai, UAE 

What is Freedom?

Sometimes you wouldn't know what Freedom means until you come into a place where it is scarce.

Here in Dubai, I believe it has been bought and traded for the comforts of luxury by locals and expats alike, all of us, including me. In other places in the Middle East,  take Saudi, Syria, the Gaza strip, for those places, Freedom remains nothing but a vague figment of a dream, or a downright irrelevant illusion.  Places where citizens might rather wish to trade their nationality for a shiny new visa that would strip them of their roots and ultimately protect them from persecution. 

Meanwhile in the Philippines, everyone has a say, everyone gets to have a go at it. One little faux pas, and everyone is entitled to his or her own piece. In the past few months, we have observed how Social media has been exploited relentlessly by our kababayans, sharing and liking, commenting expertly, fiercely, sometimes unwittingly. 

We exercised our rights and fought for our opinions out on the streets, on facebook walls, on tweeter feeds, at the airport, at home, in our offices, and even in the Senate halls, criticizing and impeaching the highest counsel.  In the heat of discussions on whether  - Jessica Sanchez should've won American Idol, or if Manny Pacquiao was stupid to disagree with Gay Marriage, whether Lady Gaga and her antics should be allowed to corrupt our morals, and if Bayo was racist in their 50percent campaign,  many times  we heard the phrase ''It is a free country'' used as mighty defense. 

Perhaps it would be naive to think that our little voices mean anything, but having the right to say what you want to say when you want to say it, and being allowed to be where you want to be, those seemingly trivial things, those two, i've come to realize, are the very basics of Freedom. 

In the wake of our 114th independence day, I still count myself among the lucky ones, we do truly have every reason to celebrate. Love, value and protect our Freedom. It is something no amount of money or First-world comforts can buy, it is a gift that many of our valiant men had died for, and rightly so.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!