Tag Archives: Philippines

Business, Human Interest, Politics, Science and Environment

PHILIPPINE SENATOR WANTS TO CHANGE NATIONAL SYMBOL FROM EAGLE TO TIGER

February 28, 2014 Pol Pinoy 3 Comments

The Philippine Eagle, left, and the tiger

Manila, Philippines – Vicente “Tito” Sotto III is a Philippine actor, singer, television host, journalist and politician. He is an incumbent senator.

Like most politicians, Sotto is embroiled in controversies, not the least of which was the accusation that he plagiarized several passages in a speech opposing the Reproductive Health Bill. The news and social media reported that Sotto had taken passages from a 2011 blog by American home economist blogger Sarah Pope. The bill, which ultimately passed, calls for government-funded contraception and sex education classes in the Philippines, a first in the heavily Catholic nation.

In 2013, Sotto filed a bill that would mandate all government and non-government employees to receive a “14^th month” pay as part of their annual salaries. Most employers already provide a “13^thmonth” bonus to their employees. However, Sotto pointed out that the existing 13^th month pay is not truly a bonus because there are 13 months in a year. “There are 52 weeks in a year and if you divide that by four weeks a month, that’s 13 months,” he insisted.

Now the oft-criticized Sotto has put forward another controversial proposal.

International financial experts and analysts have labeled the Philippines as the “New Asian Tiger,” referring to the country’s fast-rising economy and stellar investment climate compared to most other countries in the Asian region.

Capitalizing on this emerging image of the Philippines, Sotto is proposing that the country replace the Philippine Eagle with the Tiger as its official symbol. Once called the “monkey-eating eagle,” the Philippine Eagle – an endangered species – became the country’s national bird and symbol in 1995.

Political opponents of Sotto labeled the proposal “ridiculous” and “too literal.” “We don’t even have tigers in the Philippines, except in the zoo,” they said.

Prior to Sotto’s proposal, there were rumors that other politicians were scheming to change the Philippine national symbol from the eagle to the pig, in view of the 10 Billion-peso pork barrel scam that has implicated members of the Philippine Senate.

Sotto, defending his proposal, told reporters, “I’d rather call our country the Asian Tiger than the Pork Barrel Republic.”

International, Law Enforcement, Politics

TERRITORIAL DISPUTE: CHINA FIRES WATER CANNONS AT PHILIPPINE FISHERMEN; THE FILIPINOS FIRE BACK

February 25, 2014 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

Manila, Philippines – The Chief of Staff of the Philippines’ Armed Forces has accused the Chinese Coast Guard of firing water cannons at Filipino fishermen to drive them away from the disputed Scarborough Shoal. General Emmanuel Bautista told reporters that the incident happened last January 27.

The Philippines and China both claim sovereignty over the territory located in the South China Sea, believed to be oil-rich.

The United States, a long-time ally of the Philippines, has declared that it will not get involved in the territorial dispute. However, the Philippines and the U.S. have an existing treaty under which the U.S. is obliged to help its ally if it is attacked. The U.S. State Department is still assessing whether the firing of water cannons would be considered an “attack.”

Asked by The Adobo Chronicles how the Filipino fishermen responded to the water cannon firing, Gen. Bautista said: “Of course, an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth! The fishermen fired back with their water pistols.”

International, Politics, Religion

CORY AQUINO IS FIRST SAINT CANONIZED OUTSIDE OF ROME

February 24, 2014 Pol Pinoy 2 Comments

Tarlac, Philippines – It usually takes decades and proven miracles for anyone to be canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church. But for the late Cory Aquino, former Philippine president, wife of murdered opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr., and mother of incumbent president NoyNoy Aquino, all it took was sainthood “by acclamation.”

Cory supporters and fanatics in her native Tarlac province, north of Manila, took it upon themselves to proclaim their idol as “Saint Cory of Hacienda Luisita.” Hacienda Luisita is an expansive piece of land owned by the Cojuanco and Aquino families which has been a sore thumb in the Philippines’ decades-old Agrarian Reform Program. To this day, many farmers who once tilled the soil at Hacienda Luisita have not gained ownership of their piece of land. Scores of others have actually been displaced and forced out of the land they once called home.

The powerful Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has been all but silent on Cory’s “sainthood.” Top bishops in the CBCP are known to have always aligned themselves with the Aquino family back since the regime of Ferdinand Marcos.

The Philippines has two saints canonized in Rome: Lorenzo Ruiz and Pedro Calungsod. Aquino is the first known saint to be canonized outside The Vatican.

In a related development, the Congress of the Philippines has passed a bill to rename the International Airport in the former U.S. airbase in Clark, province of Pampanga, as “Cory Aquino International Airport.

Opponents of the bill objected, saying that the government cannot name an airport after a saint because the Philippine Constitution provides for the separation of church and state.