Join the 1st Intramuros IVs!

Here’s the perfect pre-NDC debate tourney for Manila debaters. 

The newly-established Intramuros Debate Union (IDU), with which this blogger is proud to be connected, will be holding the first ever Intramuros Inter-Varsity Debate Tournament on September 27 to 29. The tournament will follow the British Parliamentary format. There would be six preliminary rounds and four break rounds.

The interesting thing about this tourney is that four schools will be hosting it. The first three rounds will be held at the Mapua Institute of Technology, the last three preliminary rounds at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila while the octofinals and the quarter-finals will be held at the Collegio de San Juan de Letran. The semi-finals and the grand finals, on the other hand, will be held at my school, the Lyceum.

Ateneo de Manila’s Sharmila Parmanand wil be the Chief Adjudicator. Joining her in the Adjudication Core are Deputy Chief Adjudicators Ana Arcellana (UP Diliman), Victor Baguilat (De La Salle), Cyris Ng (UST) and my super partner Fatima Macanan (Lyceum).

For more information, please contact Ryan Joseph Castaneda through these numbers: 09228800365/ 09067140913. You may also e-mail him at darklord_ryan16yahoo.com.

UPDATE: See comment thread for the Adj Core’s credentials and the list of the pre-registered institutions (63 teams from 16 colleges and universities as of Sept. 15). Cheers!

Nominee no more.

I have to apologize to the guy who nominated me for Best Blog for Commentary Category in the 2008 Philippine Blog Awards, as well as to those who cheered for me when I announced my nomination last week.

As many of you know, I have to go to school every day and to work every night. Which means I’m very busy. And this week is Midterms week. And watching CNN, ANC and NHK has been very exciting these past few days, thanks to the DNC convention, Putin’s adventure in the Caucasus, and the merry go-round in Minshuto, as well as the rumors of Abe fighting his way back into mainstream politics. Not to mention the BJE brouhaha.

Which is why, to my deep regret, I failed to remind myself that I needed to accept my nomination by posting five of my best blog posts on the Philippine Blog Awards website. Actually, I thought the deadline is today. But after re-checking on the e-mail I got from the Awards Committee, it turned out that the deadline was actually yesterday. Well, Tuesday and Thursday kind of look similar for people who don’t enjoy 20-20 vision, you know.

I’m afraid this means I’ve been effectively removed from the list of nominees for the award. So sad. But thanks anyway, folks. Cheers. 

A freakin’ virgin?

Here’s a rather funny IM conversation I just had with Lv:
J: btw
J: did u know
J: nice used to mean stupid in english?
lv: what do you mean? like, as a euphimism or something? excuse my spelling, i’m a bee bimbo
J: its the literal meaning
J: nice was stupid
J: but it evolved and became, well, nice
lv: another one of your boring trivia
J: nyahahah read that from a newspaper
J: theres a column in japan times called word detective
J: where readers ask the guy about a words etymology
J: hehehe intresting
lv: it’s so hard to feign interest right now
J: why?
lv: cause the topic is just too lame!!!!!
J: LOL
lv: word etymology???? come on????
J: its not
J: i find it cool
lv: jeez, no wonder you’re like a freakin virgin

I’m like what?! 

LOL If she only knew.  

GMA merely catching up with the AFP?

This video has been circulating in the Philippine political blogosphere for a couple of days now:

It’s a raw footage of Mrs. Arroyo’s tantrums during the taping of her address to the nation Monday where she ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP)”to defend every inch” of Philippine territory– the very same territory that she wanted to give away, by the way– from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The root of the tantrums was the ineptitude of Mrs. Arroyo’s staff to get all things- more specifically the teleprompter- ready before she entered the Malacanang press briefing room. A more detailed account of what happened can be found here.

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Which are my best posts?

I got this e-mail earlier today:

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On Gloria’s war.

Here’s the bitch addressing the nation live on TV earlier today, right after news of the resumption of hostilities in Lanao del Norte broke out:

“Because of these sneaky and treacherous attacks, as your Commander in-Chief, I have ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to defend every inch of Philippine territory against MILF forces, and immediately restore peace in the affected areas in Lanao del Norte.”

My initial reaction to this was like, “Commander-in-Chief my ass.” 

But after a while I felt glad. Extremely glad. For after years of appeasing those bandits at the expense of the Philippines’ sovereignty and territorial intergrity just so she can pursue her own evil designs, Mrs. Arroyo is finally doing what many a Filipino wants her to do: bring the MILF to jutice.

But still after that I felt a strong sense of suspicion.

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KILL THEM ALL!

You’ve probably heard of this news already. Just hours ago, a band of around 100 MILF thugs ambushed soldiers from the Philippine Army’s 103rd brigade of the 5th Infantry Battalion, who were on their way to deliver salaries and allowances of militiamen in Lumbayaneg and Lumbatan towns in Lanao del Sur. Seven soldiers were killed and at least twelve were wounded.

There exists a ceasefire agreement between the GRP and the MILF. The “peace process”, amidst the public outrage over the treasonous memorandum of agreement (MOA) on ancestral domain, is still underway. The innocent soldiers of the 103rd brigade could not have provoked those MILF bandits. There is no reason, therefore, for the MILF to do this treacherous act.

Yesterday’s ambush only shows that it is stupid, really stupid, for the government to even talk with this rebel group. This only proves that the MILF, who doesn’t even represent the Filipino Muslims in Mindanao, is devoid of any dedication for peace. That those rebels are mere terrorists who live and die by their guns. 

Enough is enough. The full might of the Armed Forces of the Philippines must now be mobilized to disarm those bandits and to bring them to justice. 

Annihilate the MILF once and for all. That’s the best way to achieve lasting peace. 

Overlapping interests.

Even when I was still a freshman, my professors were already questioning Malaysia’s involvement as a mediator in the “peace process” between the government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Obviously, Kuala Lumpur is not neutral in this conflict. The Malaysians are, and have always been, siding with the secessionists. Proof of this is the fact that their given reason for their threat earlier this year to withdraw from the International Monitoring Team (IMT) echoes MILF’s line back then: that the government was stalling peace by stubbornly insisting on grounding any agreement on the frameworks of the Philippine Constitution. 

Indeed, the hostilities in Mindanao and Sulu have made the Philippines unable to vigorously pursue its claim in Sabah and has enabled Malaysia to strengthen its hold on the said territory. This, along with the fact that it was Kuala Lumpur who had actually helped spark the Moro rebellion as a retaliation to Marcos’ Operation Merdeka, tells us why asking the Malaysians to mediate in the so-called Mindanao “peace process” was a very stupid thing for Manila to do.

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US involvement in the Bangsamoro issue deeper than we thought.

I had the privilege of being invited, along with Ambassador Apolinario Lozada, as guest in last night’s episode of Think Global, Act Local, Mr. Gil Santos’ talk show on Destiny Cable’s Global News Network (GNN). The topic was the geopolitical implications of the controlversial move to create a Bangsamoro juridical entity (BJE). 

For the most part, the discussion focused on the stake and the perceived designs of the United States, which, incidentally, was also the topic of the spirited discussion I had earlier that day with Mr. Santos and our school’s dean, Ambassador Rey O. Arcilla.

What many don’t know is that no less than US Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte discreetly came to Manila right after the Supreme Court temporarily halted the signing of the controversial GRP-MILF agreement last week. Prior to that, rumor has it (I can’t really confirm this though) that US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney went to Bangkok to meet with President George W. Bush, who was then en route to China for the opening of the Olympics, to brief him on the Bangsamoro issue. Ambassador Kenney, by the way, had been meeting with MILF leaders before this whole imbroglio broke out.

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Manila launches airstrike against MILF.

As I write this, TV newscasts show Philippine Air Force planes attacking Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels who have refused to heed Manila’s demand for them to pull out of several villages in the province of North Cotabato, which borders Maguindanao, a province in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The military leadership, however, clarified that the attack was aimed not at the entire MILF organization but only at those elements who have deliberately ignored the MILF leadership’s order for them to pull out of those predominantly Christian villages. Those elements are called “lost commands.”

But the MILF condemned the attack as a violation of the ceasefire agreement and even said that those rebels under attack have the right to defend themselves. The group said that those rebels couldn’t pull-out of those villages because they fear they might be fired at while withdrawing.

They will be fired at if they pull out? Where did the MILF get this bullshit?

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