An e-mail from Viet Nam.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

I got this e-mail last night: 

My name is Tho. I am from Viet Nam. I agree with your article in The
Korea Times that issue in April.
I would like to share your your opinion about that. Could you please
tell me how Viet Nam should solve the problem?
I look forward replying from you.
This is my Email.
Yours Sincerely,
Tho

The guy was referring to my piece that appeared on The Korea Times. The said article focuses on the two recent Chinese maneuvers in the Spratlys, how it affects the security of both the ASEAN and North East Asia, and what I think is the best way to counter the Chinese.

Honestly, I didn’t really know how to answer him the moment I read his message. I mean, I have a clue on the dynamics of politics and foreign policies of Japan and the Philippines, but not Viet Nam. I don’t even know who their head of state is.

(more…)

Posted by thenutbox at 6:39 PM | permalink | comments[10]

Pilgrimage to Manaoag.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

My grandmom is an avid devotee of the Virgin Mary. The thing with that is, she would always go to a Marian shrine whenever she feels like going. She doesn’t plan about it, she’d just wake up one day having the idea of visiting the Lady.

That would be okay, of course, if the shrine is just next door. But yesterday, she felt like going to Manaoag Church, which is located five hours away by bus from Manila. And she asked me to accompany her.

Not that I have problems with it though. I love seeing churches. I admire their precious art collections. And I love their solemn atmosphere. It makes you want to pray intently. Which is what I did.

(more…)

Posted by thenutbox at 6:55 PM | permalink | comments[18]

What moral values?

Monday, April 28, 2008

My uncle and grandmom were aghastly discussing the MTRCB’s directive to cut a scene in the local TV series Maligno over dinner the other day. They called it an overkill.

The scene in question was where a bloody and naked demon was raping a woman. This scene is vital to the series’ plot, which revolves on the struggles of the anti-Christ’s mother. But MTRCB sees a problem with the hard pumping and the butt exposures involved.  These, the censors essentially say, should not be shown on prime time TV because they affront Philippine moral values.

(more…)

Posted by thenutbox at 3:53 AM | permalink | comments[8]

Lie and steal, but stay straight.

Friday, April 25, 2008

 

One thing I didn’t know about until now on the horrible Vicento Sotto Medical Center scandal is the equally horrible comment made by the spokesman of Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.

Speaking on the Church-run Radio Veritas, Monsignor Achilles Dakay said that the patient, not the doctors, should be blamed for the incident.

"They seem to forget the whole thing. They are blaming the doctors for what they (did) but I think they should blame the guy for what they did."

The priest was referring to the homosexuality of the patient, who admitted he picked up a male prostitute who then stuck a perfume canister up his rectum when they were having sex.

(more…)

Posted by thenutbox at 4:23 PM | permalink | comments[16]

Want greater role? Apologize!

Monday, April 21, 2008

Last March 11, the Lower House Committee on Foreign Relations unanimously passed a resolution condemning World War II sexual slavery in the Far East and urging Japan to unambiguously apologize and to compensate the victims. Instead of being submitted to the plenary of the House of Representatives for final approval, however, the said resolution would be returned to the committee for a revote.

The Japan Times reported yesterday that the decision to make a revote on the resolution was done after intense lobbying from the Japanese Embassy in Manila. The Embassy, foreign relations committee chair Rep. Antonio Cuenco said, pointed out that only three congressmen of the 55-member committee voted on the resolution when in fact at least 12 members are required to make a quorum.

Tokyo employed similar lobbying actions to prevent similar resolutions from being passed in the legislative bodies of Canada, the Netherlands, the European Union and the United States. This was the first time, however, that the Japanese successfully scored a feat in delaying a resolution’s passage.

(more…)

Posted by thenutbox at 8:18 PM | permalink | comments[4]

Unofficial Philippine Debate Rankings for 2007-2008

Monday, April 14, 2008

RANK

INSTITUTION

NDC

PIDC

TOTAL

1

UP Diliman

156

87

233

2

Ateneo de Manila

134

81

215

3

De La Salle University

85

63

148

4

UP Manila

86

42

128

5

Uni versity of Santo Tomas

68

54

122

6

Siliman University

70

24

94

7

Philippine Military Academy

87

-

87

8

Lyceum of the Philippines

55

24

79

9

St. Louis University

60

18

78

10

UP Baguio

47

21

68

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

How was this ranking calculated? (more…)

Posted by thenutbox at 9:47 PM | permalink | comments[31]

Philippine pundits unite on collaborative blog; New site up for Philippine debate community.

Filipino Voices, officialy launched today, gathers many of the blogosphere’s most prominent socio-political pundits to provide "a multitude of voices, on multitude of issues facing our nation today." Initiated by Nick of Tingog.com (yeah, that blog which was at the forefront of online protests against the anti-OFW bigotry of Malol Fernandez), the collaborative blog focuses on Philippine political and social commentary.

Aside from Nick, the Filipino Voices Team is currently composed of Schumey of The Philippine Experience, Dean Jorge Bocobo of Philippine Commentary, Manuel Buencamino of Uniffors, Lester Cavestany, Cocoy of the Big Mango Rom,  Patricio Mangubat of The New Philippine Revolution, Arbet of AWB Holdings, Butch of The Warrior Lawyer, Rom S of Smoketalk, The Jester and Exile and myself. I would be contributing articles on Philippine foreign policy issues.

Filipino Voices is also holding The Philippine Issues Writing Project, which encourages all bloggers to write commentaries on Philippine socio-political issues for a chance to win PhP10,000 worth of  books, cash prizes and other items. 

Meanwhile, UP Manila’s Benjamin Espina yesterday launched PhilDebate.com, a domain commited to the proliferation of debating in the Philippines. The site "will serve as a repository of tournament results, delegation updates, speaker tabs and other debate-related contents."

Okay kids, time to update your blogrolls. Cheers. 

Posted by thenutbox at 4:36 AM | permalink | comments[9]

A second look at Japan’s human rights record.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Last week, Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama gave his nod to the execution of four death row inmates in the Tokyo Detention Center. So far, ten inmates have been executed in Japan since Minister Hatoyama took his post last year.

Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Council are among the most vocal critics of death penalty in Japan. These two organizations believe that capital punishment should have no place in the industrial world.

I for one am against capital punishment. It has been my firm belief that the goal of prisons in a democratic society should be rehabilitation over mere punishment of erring citizens. This view, of course, is Utopian in nature and has never been practical. And imposing this view on a country, First World or not, is beyond any organization’s right. It must be noted that inside Japan, there isn’t any significant opposition to capital punishment. So Japan pursuing capital punishment is definitely okay.

What’s not okay, however, is the primitive criminal justice system in Japan and the gargantuan power bestowed on the Japanese police. These two things make one ask whether those ten people executed are really guilty of their crimes.

(more…)

Posted by thenutbox at 3:18 PM | permalink | comments[5]

The PIDC Post.

Friday, April 11, 2008

That’s our team above during the break night party at The Fort’s Prince of Jaipur. 

One reader asked me to do a post on the recently-concluded Philippine Inter-Collegiate Debate Championship. Well, I’ve nothing much to say about it really, but I’ve got bunch of pictures to show. Enjoy.

(more…)

Posted by thenutbox at 12:43 PM | permalink | comments[16]

Anti-China protests in the London torch relay.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Live feeds from CNN just now show violent protests by pro-Tibetan groups in London almost disrupting the ceremonial relay of the Olympic torch. It was similar to- well worse than, actually- the earlier relay in Greece.

It was expected that protesters would greet the torch relay in London, of course.

But curiously, the route of the torch relay was liberally opened to the protesters. And the number of security officers and men who manned the route was significanlty small that the angry demonstrators were able to get dangerously close to the torch bearer. Close enough that one man was even able to try to snatch the torch from the bearer while another was able to try to douse the torch through a fire extinguisher.

If the torch relay was in Manila, Malacanang would have deployed at least 50,000 troops and a gathering of five anti-China protesters would have been dispersed even before it could grow into a huge crowd. Doing that would be a no-no for the British to do, of course. They value the rights of  protesters there.

But they could have been more tight with the security at least. Heck, I saw only around twenty to thirty men escorting the torch bearer. They could have prevented the protesters from getting close enough to disrupt the relay. But they didn’t.

Which leads me now to ask: Did the British deliberately allow the protesters to almost disrupt the relay in an apparent unofficial support for the Tibetan human rights movement and the Dalai Lama clique? Worth pondering.

Posted by thenutbox at 9:49 PM | permalink | comments[9]

ABOUT THE BLOGGER

J is a 20-year-old student of International Relations. This blog is about his thoughts on several issues and on his everyday life.

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Nightdreamer:

Hey J, it’s been a while. How are things holding up on your end?

Fam:

Hey! Your blog’s brilliant. Super. :)

billy:

nice blog, continue entertaining us with stories about how world is chaotic

J:

Richard, sorry I don’t have pictures of japanese occupation. Wasn’t around yet when that happened. But you may try Wikipidia. Sorry can’t help you. Regards to FEU people.

richard:

JJ, dis is richard. we met na before sa ndc. i am from feu. favor naman, it seems na may archives ka ng mga pics ng mga historical events ng philippines. meron ka ba during the american and the japanese occupation? pwedeng, send mo sakin. hehehe. badly need those pics para sa project ko sa school. lotsa thanks!

Marlon:

As always, amazing blog! Musta LDS? i can see you’re all doing great. If it’s not much trouble baka naman pwede pa-add iyong blog ko sa blogroll mo…hehehe thanks! Happy holidays…htt://perspektib.blogspot.com

TonGuE-tWisTeD:

just driving by. Merry Christmas, J

isang:

saw you in frankahan last thursday at the office. wtg lds! ^_^

J:

ay oo nga pala. i forgot. stressed eh. sigue ill hide it muna.

barny:

you posted my article on the POI blog na. i thought you’re launching it together with all the other articles?

Blogger:

Hi! We are currently doing a study on blogging and would like to invite you to fill out a survey that we have prepared regarding this topic. This will only take 5-10 minutes of your time. 

katikat:

hi! just noticed your Pages here in your blog. How did you do that because I couldn’t see an option to do that. Thanks =D

ark:

Just dropping by bro. ;-)

thenutbox:

Hi Kris. been busy these past few days. Securing papers for my small store. And mom and siblings came from Tokyo last Monday.

Nightdreamer:

Whereforth art thou?

Carlo:

yeah, sure jj. My sister is in the hospital right now, she got dengue. See you tuesday. text you and ryan about it.

J:

carlo: see me at school. lets talk about it.

carlo:

J, I kinda need help in introducing debate in my alumni high school. could the LDS help in the form of an outreach. thanks man.

carlo:

J, I kinda need help introducing debate in our high school. I was wondering if the LDS could help in ‘outreach’ form. thanks man.

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