Ms. Fernandez on blogging

A few months back, Manila Standard - Today columnist Malu Fernandez elicited a firestorm when she wrote condescendingly about Pinoy overseas foreign workers. The loudest howls of protest made themselves manifest through blogs and email groups, calling for her sacking by publications she worked for. If memory serves the magazine she worked for, People Asia, did sack her but the MST chose to stick by her. At the time I did criticize her but was against calling for her ouster on the principle of free speech. When MST announced that she would remain on board, I applauded the move as courageous. Needless to say, I was in the minority. Although I agreed that the vitriol she spewed deserved an equally vitriolic response from those she maligned, this blog was openly against her sacking, and I also voiced that opinion on other blogs more popular than this one. (This blog really is primarily a medium in which my pals and I keep in touch. The stuff here is what we'd be talking about if we were all in the same country. But I appreciate and welcome the people who weigh in and comment. This is after all a public blog.)

Anyway, back to Ms. Fernandez. Her new column in MST is about blogging, and understandably she is bitter. She writes:

Before I go any further I must stress the point that this is not about my previous issue, but simply the point of view of someone who has been a victim of vicious blogging and blogging as a new communication medium.

After assuring her readers that this is not about her, for which I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, she continues, after thumbing her nose at bloggers as slackers or lonely:

The difference between a journalist and a blogger is that journalists have to adhere to certain guidelines that govern the freedom of speech. And whatever a journalist chooses to write about—be it popular or unpopular—we do not hide behind an anonymous name and are resigned to the fact that we have to take as much as we dish out. However, I simply detest people who place vicious comments and slanderous statements in blogs yet sign their messages as ‘anonymous.’ If you have something to say, don’t hide behind a false name. It’s just plain cowardice of you to do so. I have more of a deep sense of respect for those—however unpopular or vicious their statements are—who post their views with their real names and make no bones about it. At least they stand for something; I would rather take it from them than the cowards that hide behind false names.

Let us ignore the fact that she calls herself a journalist. I prefer to call her a columnist, but that is neither here nor there. The difference between a journalist and a blogger is that journalists have to adhere to certain guidelines that govern the freedom of speech. Last I checked, freedom of speech and the "guidelines" thereof cover both journalists and bloggers, and in fact cover all citizens. The principle of freedom of speech does not discriminate between journalists, bloggers, butcher, baker, and candlestick-maker. Perhaps what she means is journalists are covered by the standards of the publication said journalist happens to work for. Bloggers, not working for anybody for the most part, do not have to adhere to standards other than their own. A blog is the blogger's own private space where the blogger can do whatever he or she wants, say anything he or she wants, insult or edify whoever he or she wants. The only courtesy a blogger affords to his or her readers or to his or her targets is to open the blog up for comments, an open invitation to his or her readers to agree or disagree with whatever was written. A blog is just like any other conversation, or at least it should be. The only standards bloggers adhere to are the standards of the host and society at large.

Ms. Fernandez doesnt like the anonymity of the blogging community. She calls it cowardice. But such is the appeal of the medium. In the comments section I visit, I like the fact that I, an ordinary schmoe, could exchange opinions with other people on an equal basis, whether they be doctors, lawyers, rocket scientists, or movers and shakers of the business world. I never ask for credentials; the opinion itself is what's important, although some would insist on giving you their resumé every chance they get, as if that mattered. It doesnt. What I care about (or not care about) is what you say. Truth be told, I dont like anonymouses either, simply because it's so easy to pick a handle. Call yourself something and stick with it, for the love of God. That is your cyber-identity, and your opinions are you. You are nothing else in the blog community other than what you write.

Ms. Fernandez then purports to diagnose Pinoy culture:

Perhaps it is the Filipino culture to foster backstabbing because they never mean what they say face to face. Just how many times have you dealt with co-workers who will smile in your face when you ask them to perform a task or engage in just plain conversation, when in fact they are quite uncomfortable with the situation and are forced to do what they absolutely detest with a smiling face. I guess it’s the kind of culture brought about by 300 years of Spanish colonization.

Perhaps that's true. Although I myself have had no problem with the 'wily Filipino' for the most part, having met but a very few of them, and those that Ive met are easy to spot. I think that's called empathy; when other people know they can be comfortable around you and can say what's on their mind around you. If Pinoys can't do that around you, then I think it's safe to say that the problem is not entirely with the other person. Notice that she wrote "when you ask them to perform a task". Sa Tagalog, kapag may iniuutos ka sa kanila. That ought to give you a clue where she is coming from -- from the position of 'order giver'. As we have seen from her OFW articles, she's not exactly respectful of people whom she perceives as not belonging to her station in life. I repeat, her problem might not entirely be with the other person. Perhaps the other person sees something in us that is not worthy of full trust. But this has nothing to do with blogging, so let's move on.

It is true that some people hide behind anonymity, and these people usually have the nastiest comments. In blogs I have visited, and I dont visit many, anonymous comments are indeed cowardly. But Ms. Fernandez doesnt single out only anonymous comments, but generalizes about the blogging community as a whole. No doubt her past experience has left a few scars, especially since most bloggers dont belong to the alta-sociedad she aspires to. I mean, how dare they?

She ends with:

Maybe I should start an anonymous blog and really let go... but then again I don’t want to be responsible for World War Three and I would sleep much better being brutally honest in your face than hide behind an anonymous name. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if I started a blog just to shake things up and got a ton of money in advertising?

That, I believe, is what she calls her acerbic wit. It would be perfectly all right if indeed she starts an anonymous blog. She can do anything she wants in it, subject of course to the rules and regulations of her host -- Blogger.com is as lenient as they get. I am willing to bet that she would enjoy the anonymity. She can rant and rail about overseas foreign workers or her househelp, or bloggers, or Spanish mestizos, or whoever else is fortunate enough to merit her attention. I hope she goes for it.

Speak the truth

As the only vertically-challenged member of my family, I resent this statement

After the February 29 rally, at the corner of Paseo de Roxas and De La Rosa streets there sat on the curb a group of young men sporting red luminous horns. A friend of mine greeted them with a traditional greeting, "Rakenroll!!" They acknowledged him by yelling out a more contemporary greeting, "Speak the truth!"

The truth, that's what everybody claims to want.

More impressions: Erap came on the stage for less than a minute and there was a cheer from the crowd. Leah Navarro of Black & White said that they booed him from the side of the stage. If they did, I didnt hear it. The group of people I was with were thrilled at seeing him. And I think booing is rude, man. Especially since this rally was supposed to show our unity. Let's take care of Erap later. Staying away from the streets just because Erap is there means youre giving the streets to Erap. The best way to dilute his influence is to show up.

The crowd was at its peak during the interfaith part of the rally which ended before 6 pm. After the communal prayer, the emcee turned over the stage to the next emcees. According to my officemates, they started to leave at this point. Most of the crowd who stayed for the prayers decided to stick around for Jun Lozada, who was supposed to speak at 6:00, but the organizers decided to have him speak at 6:30 to coincide with the live newscast of the major networks. He was welcomed like a rock star, and I hope his message hit home. He cautioned against doing this out of anger and emotion. "Kasi," he said, "kung mapaalis nyo na yung kinagagalitan n'yo, titigil na naman kayo." He called for a principles-based mass action. Whatever happened to him during his time at La Salle Greenhills seems profound indeed. It's nothing short of a spiritual awakening, which is probably why he's so convincing. A lot of the crowd left after Jun spoke. Most of those who remained were the 'Bayan-Gabriella' crowd.

If Jun Lozada was greeted like a rock star, Joey De Venecia looked like one. I overheard a girl who was part of the ABC 5 crew say that he looked like Elvis. And he did. Put your collar up, Joey. Rakenroll!

I wonder why the Wuds and the Jerks arent making videos. Their songs rock and they could show the younger bands a thing or two. Even their old songs still sound fresh today. Making videos would make them more accessible to the MTV crowd. Speaking of old songs, when Noel Cabangon sang 'Tatsulok', a teenaged kid near me was thrilled that Cabangon decided to cover a hit by Bamboo. I chuckled but I held myself from correcting him. He'll find out soon enough.

I was tempted to take a picture of Cheri Mercado's toes.

Rakenroll. And speak the truth.


No, Ate Koring wasnt marching with them. She was covering the event.
Also in the pic is one-time neighbor Enteng Romano (I sold him beef once)
and Butch Abad.


Boy, mga sulyap mo'y malambing,
Little boy, ngiti mo'y type ko rin
Datapawa't walang mangyayari sa ligaw-tingin
(That was one of Leah Navarro's hits.)


A friend and I had a huge crush on Risa Hontiveros (now Baraquel)
once upon a time. With Randy David.


Manolo Quezon is the white of the Black & White group


Nun power


Youth power


Lawyer power


Ummm.. bohemian punk power?


The nation's prayers borne by 99 luftballons


Pray not that God is on our side, but that we're on his


Hands to heaven


Cheri Mercado covers for ABC 5


Rakenrol!

The mysterious Salenga of the positive electron

Years ago, one could find plastered on walls, on pedestrian overpasses, on electric posts, from Caloocan to Quezon City, and perhaps parts beyond, these words, crudely painted:

Salen-ga, a Filipino, discovered the electron is positive.

The mysterious Salen-ga has been the object of discussion between my classmates and I. Who is this man? And has he in fact discovered that the electron is indeed positive? And if so, what is the significance of this discovery? Does that mean science has gotten it wrong? Whoever he is, the media seems to have ignored this discovery completely. We started to doubt that he even existed. He was soon forgotten. Even his graffiti started disappearing as hordes of Metro Aides whitewashed his words from public property. He comes up every now and then, but my friends and I have concluded that he was nothing more than an urban myth.

Then came the February 29 interfaith rally. A smallish man with glasses was holding up a two-sided sign made of yellow cartolina protected with plastic wrapping, saying something I couldnt quite comprehend. Then I caught fragments of what he was saying. He said something about 'positive electron' and I did a double take and looked at his sign more carefully. The bold black letters said, in all-caps:

MEDIA CENSORED NEWS. D STREETS OF D GLOBALLY ROUND EARTH IS LOCALLY FLAT!!!

And in the sign, I caught a name: Salen-ga! It was him! In the flesh! He was saying, "Pagmalaki n'yo ang Pilipino. Natuklasan ko flat ang mundo! Ayaw ilagay sa dyaryo!"


Salen-ga, proud Pinoy

Amid the chants of GMA's ouster, and the presentations onstage, he was yelling pride in the Filipino, and his scientific discoveries that are way ahead of his time or being suppressed by the media. According to him, that is. I thought of approaching him and chatting with him about his discoveries but thought the better of it. My experience with his type of genius is that once you open the floodgates of his knowledge, you can't shut him up. I just didnt have the time. Besides, Zorro showed up and stole the show.


Zorro, ready to do battle with corruption

Important Issues on Philippines 2010 Election

Ive been tagged by Reflective Thinking's Janette Toral in a project of hers that seeks to collate bloggers' opinions on important issues on the next Philippine elections in 2010. There are lots of issues that the next presidential candidate needs to address, and perhaps Ms. Toral, after completing her project can get the candidates to present their answers in their own blogs. Off the top of my head, there's the problem of reducing our dependence on foreign oil, the effects of free trade on our farmers (cheap imports of vegetables from China has had a detrimental effect on them for instance), the issue of the Philippine military being deployed against Philippine citizens, the pegging of our economy to the dollar, and the list goes on. But the one issue I would like the candidates to tackle and give a clear, comprehensive, and detailed response is the issue of electoral reform.

Elections are at the heart of our representative democracy and yet we can't seem to get it right. We seem to always be electing representatives who don't represent. The problem it seems to me is that the playing field is not level. The law does not discriminate against who may run as long as they fulfill certain criteria, and it is a very permissive criteria. To run for president for instance you do not need a college degree. You just have to be a natural born citizen of a certain age with no criminal convictions. It doesnt care if youre rich or poor, man or woman, a mechanic or a PhD in physics, and that's fine. However in practice, this is not the case. The Comelec for instance could determine your fitness to run, and again that's fine, assuming a fair Comelec. But the most important criteria is financial resources. You may be the most brilliant person in the country but if you dont have the financial resources to mount a campaign, Comelec could disqualify you. This is grossly unfair. Some candidates even make pacts with unsavory characters who are willing to finance their campaign knowing that these same characters will collect on the favor in the future when they get elected. (During the 1992 presidential campaign that FVR won, a former cabinet assistant secretary working in the campaign of the late speaker Ramon Mitra told this story to me of a jueteng lord who wanted an appointment with the speaker and he told him about it. The speaker refused to speak to the man. The undersecretary said Mitra told him that he didnt want the man collecting on the favor later. Im sure other candidates took the man on his offer.)

The reforms I'd like to see is the elimination of money as a criteria. I have ideas on how this could be done and still allow the candidates to wage a nationwide campaign, but I'd rather hear the candidates' views on how they would implement electoral reform.

That's on the candidates' side. On the voters' side, I once blogged about a thought experiment I had on the right to suffrage, but that would be too radical. Sacrilegious even. It's here. Be sure to check the comments section since cvj of Placeholder had some valid objections to the thought experiment.

Regaining a soul

I couldve sworn I had the digicam in my bag. I get to the office and looked in the bag to check if the battery needed charging and all that, and what do you know, I left it in another bag. Luckily I had the XA2 film camera in the office and it had film in it, so I went and brought that. Four o' clock came and I made my way to Ayala. It was a cloudy afternoon and I was a bit apprehensive that I won't have enough light since the camera was loaded with slower film (ASA 100), and it didnt have a flash, but what are you going to do? I had at most an hour and a half til light fades and my camera becomes useless.

I was able to make my way through the crowds and ended up right at the stage amidst the news reporters and photographers. I was right beside Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes who was coordinating things from the ground as well as giving interviews. I saw Bibeth Orteza, Ricky Recto, Satur Ocampo, and I realized, holy crap, this was the front-row, VIP seat. I looked around and seated behind me was a veritable who's who: Former VP Teofisto Guingona, Ernesto Maceda, Josie Lichauco, and various Makati mestizo types from the business elite.


Bibeth Orteza emceed the second segment of the program


The feisty former DOTC secretary Josie Lichauco


Satur Ocampo


Former VP Tito Guingona with former senator Ernie Maceda


Mayor Jojo Binay

Every sector was represented: the religious, the EDSA 2 people, the EDSA 3 people, the left, the soldiers, students. It was a coming together. The closest thing to a politician who took the stage was UNO's spokesman Adel Tamano, who greeted the crowd in a traditional Muslim greeting. His message was one of unity in the face of the administration's efforts to divide us. Indeed, differences were forgotten that day as all came together to call for Mrs. Arroyo's resignation.


Hello, Garci? Wrong number, pare.


Speaker from the United Church of Christ of the Philippines,
victims of extra-judicial killings


'Running priest' Robert Reyes, who's not about to run from anybody it seems


National artist Prof. Bienvenido Lumbrera gives the Arroyo administration
a failing grade


Jessica Zafra's pals. They thought some of the crowd was hakot and proceeded
to retire to a nearby Starbucks.

When the Wuds took the stage and rocked the joint, even Satur Ocampo got up to dance, together with the other leaders. It had that EDSA I feel to it; a protest rally with the air of a fiesta. I was beside some old ladies when Brownman Revival took the stage and one little old lady was sufficiently impressed and asked me who they were. When The Jerks took the stage, it was all the crowd could do to contain themselves.


The Wuds prepare to rock the house


And Ricky Recto gets jiggy with it.

By the time Joey De Venecia took the stage, it was dark, and Ive run out of film. You could tell he wasnt used to speaking in front of a crowd, but he had them and they were cheering their support. Chants of "Joey, Joey". One can't help thinking that this man, a former substance abuser who loved to party (an aunt of mine remembered him smoking a joint in one of the parties she attended, and he was just 17 at the time), has finally come of age. He's no saint, sure. Neither is Lozada. But like Lozada, he probably took stock of the state of his soul, his self-respect, and decided to save what's left of it, defying his father's wish that he just shut up. I looked out at the crowd, the urban poor were there cheering beside the Makati elite, and knew we could win. I felt a vibe, an energy there that was missing in rallies before. This one had a moral force. The middle class was well represented, and it does seem that they found their soul again. The students found their compass. The masa who once felt betrayed by the middle class, joined them for this fight. Jun Lozada has given them an example and theyre inspired. It also had a triumphant air about it.

I couldnt help thinking that we could win this 'war' but winning the peace would be harder.


Sobra na, tama na, kumilos na, 'tang %$#!!

Addendum 18 Feb 08 11:44. Mea culpa, I forgot this bit, which was quite moving really. (No excuses, I suck.) A man came to the foot of the stage beside me and handed emcee Bibeth Orteza a plastic bottle full of coins. Bibeth said the man was a jeepney driver and he took up a collection for Jun Lozada. It was his bit to help Jun.

It's time

Photo from the Presidential Close-In Photographer's Office
www.pcpo.ph

In smoke, I wrote this comment:

I am still holding out hope that there is still a semblance of a soul within Gloria Arroyo, and that she still believes in a higher power to whom she will one day give account, and so I still have hope that she will do the right thing and resign.

I truly believe that.

It's time, Mrs. Arroyo. You still have this out. Resign.

(Rom's blog Smoke has been added to the links section on the right.)

Washington SyCip Park IR test (continued)

More pictures of the Washington SyCip Park. I must say, the experiment with infrared has yielded satisfactory results. The prototype model of the IR filter can now be safely consigned to the trash bin and manufacturing of a more durable (and sexy) production model can commence.


This one's colored; white balance to tungsten and tweaked.


This one's colored as well, custom white balance, but it turned out like b&w.
Way better than the previous one, though. I'll need to do some more experimenting
so I could get more color in the shots.


This is what the park looks like in my dreams.



Plastic butterflies.



Arboreal bliss


The arch of doom.



One more of the gazebo.