Piercing Pens

Makati Congressman Butz Aquino was recently quoted by INQ7 as saying, “Erap is some kind of a moral or a spiritual leader to us. I just hope that he would succeed in uniting the opposition.”

An ousted President who is being tried in court for corruption charges as a moral / spiritual leader? Nice choice! Hehe.

I’ve been telling my colleagues at the office that we should stop using the phrase “ang mga kapatid nating Muslim” (our Muslim brothers) to refer to the Moros (Filipino Muslims) because this sounds patronizing. It’s like we treat them differently from the Christian majority. The use of “ang mga kapatid nating Muslim” has become an ostentatious cliche. It ironically highlights the wall between Filipino Christians and Moros. When we refer to the Christians–Catholic, Protestants, Born Again–we never say “ang mga kapatid nating Katoliko.”

In this season of assaults against the Moros, below is an unedited letter to the editor–a justified reaction to injustice that the Filipino Muslims are getting these days. It was written and posted by a Friendster friend:

The PDI has gained its credibility for being the most preferred newspaper. Our class in Media Studies conducted a survey inside MSU (just this 2nd semester) and the findings say that 82% of the students prefer PDI. I myself favor the PDI over the other variety of national newspapers.

But today- January 10, I got really offended by a chosen adjective in the headline story written by Tarra Quismundo and Christian Esguerra.

(more…)

After FPJ’s death, the opposition is in seach of a leader who could unite its fragmented membership. Susan Roces is reportedly the one being eyed to perform such a mission. Pundits describe Da King’s widow as an honest and elegant lady–but advises her to stay away from politics. Susan herself said she doesn’t want to thread the path that her husband went through. It could be recalled, however, that even FPJ was reluctant to enter politics at first. It remains to be seen if Susan will yield to the request of her husband’s followers.

Meanwhile, Loren Legarda, FPJ’s running mate in last year’s elections, seems interested to take the post should Susan continue to refuse. Like FPJ, Loren also lost but filed an election complaint against Vice President Noli de Castro. Widely perceived as an ambitious woman, Loren was a People Power 2 icon who later became acceptable to the Estrada-FPJ camp. Let’s see if she’ll make it. (more…)

(Note: This offer has already expired. Please check out Google-Powered Piercing Pens Webmail For You.)

First five persons to post a comment will get one Gmail invitation each.

Lately, there have been persistent talks of destabilization and coup d’etat or another EDSA-type People Power revolt. The anticipation of the latter was heightened during the wake of Fernando Poe Jr. Luckily for President Arroyo, no such uprising happened. But with the President’s unpopularity and the reports that the opposition is convincing Susan Roces to lead them, as well as the constant threat of Revolution being waged by communists guerillas, the new year also brought with it the air of political uncertainty. I’m sure many of us are bothered by the question “Will Mrs. Arroyo finish her second term?”

“Arroyo may not last through 2005,” says a recent report by Alexander Martin Remollino of Bulatlat.com. (more…)