Finally, a Charter. But…

A couple of days ago, foreign ministers of the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gave birth to the ASEAN Charter in Jakarta, Indonesia. First proposed by the Philippines in 1989, the Charter conveys upon the Association juridical status.

Among others, this juridical status would enable the ASEAN to accede to protocols and conventions as well as to gain observer status in multi-lateral organizations like the United Nations. It gives us a new holiday: August 8 would now be observed as ASEAN Day. It also gives our president another chance to pay political debts, because from now on the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta will accredit permanent representatives- or ambassador- from members and other countries that wish to be accredited to the bloc.

Praise releases from the ASEAN and its members’ foreign ministries says that the birth of this Charter means that the ASEAN is no longer a mere talking shop. Really?

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Why was there no Mike in Manny’s fight?

First Gentleman Mike Arroyo had never missed Manny Pacquiao’s fights before. In fact, his attendance in those fights had been a source of criticism for its extravagance. But in the epic De La Hoya-Pacquiao “dream match” earlier this week, the President’s husband was conspicously absent. What could be the reason?

You see, when Mrs. Arroyo was on the way to Peru through Los Angeles for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Mike suddenly decided to come back to the Philippines through Osaka. The official reason for this is because the President’s husband suffered from diarrhea.

I don’t know about the presidential plane, but all planes I’ve been on had toilets. So it is hard for me to understand why the First Gentleman had to be rushed to an Osaka hospital and from there be fetched by a private jet back to Manila simply because he had loose bowel movements.

A while ago, my professor shared to our class a rumor that’s been spreading in the media and in the blogosphere lately. It explains why Mike cancelled his trip to Peru and didn’t show up in Las Vegas for Manny’s fight.

The word is that in the middle of the 12-hour flight from Manila to Los Angeles, the presidential delegation was informed that someone among them would be picked up by US authorities upon landing in LA for money-laundering activities. Evidence were supposedly unearthed by federal authorities “in the wake of Lehmann Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG and so many other Wall Street corpses.” Allegedly, this freaked the First Couple out and so it was decided that Mike should come back to Manila.

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I want to pee. Badly.

I don’t know why, but this picture was one of the first images that came out when I googled “Philippine Star”

You see, I like the Philippine Star. It has a great lay-out, which the Inquirer shamelessly tries to imitate. And the calibre of its writers? Superb, dude. I mean, the paper has Tim Yap, Julliana Palermo and Joey de Leon, for crying out loud.

That’s why I was surprised that, along with many of our debater-friends, Barny was bothered by an article that appeared yesterday on that paper. He said: “I am insulted by this article not because he makes fun of debaters but because he’s not funny enough. And now debaters have to suffer the distinction of being parodied in an article that looked like it was written by some high school gay kid who got his first copy of Twisted 1 by Jessica Zafra.” 

But after reading the piece on line, I realized that Barny and others were wrong. It was far from being a bad article. I actually liked it. 

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Let’s hope for more surprises.

I’m not a fan of the Daily Tribune and its kind of journalism, but the report of its editor Ninez Cacho-Olivarez on Gloria and Mike having a meeting with their congressional lapdogs at the Forbes Park residence of Rep. Martin Romualdez caught my attention last week. The agenda, according to the report, was Charter change.

A day after that, major newspapers reported that the head of Kampi, Rep. Luis Villafuerte of Bicol, authored a resolution calling for the convening of Congress as a constituent assembly that would make changes to the constitution. Presidential son Mikey Arroyo was able to garner 150 votes already as of press time.

There are two modes of changing the Constitution: through an elected constitutional convention (ConCon) or through Congress convening as a constituent assembly (ConAss). For the Arroyo regime, the latter is the better mode. That’s because it would be less costly to pull the strings attached to the congressmen than to cheat in an election for ConCon.

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House junks bloggers’ intervention.

Fellow Quezon City residents: Junk Matias Defensor, Jr. in 2010! 

The first-ever affirmative action by Filipino bloggers has been killed by their so-called representatives.

Voting 35-4, the House Committee on Justice junked the motion filed by Manuel L. Quezon III, fellow FilipinoVoices bloggers Mark Ronald Rimorin, Patricio Mangubat and Arbet Bernardo et al that aims to include in the impeachment complaint filed by a group led by Joey de Venecia the aborted attempt by the Administration to balkanize the Philippines through its Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Everybody knows that the Supreme Court has since ruled that the foiled agreement was unconstitutional. Everyone and his girlfriend know that Gloria pushed for the scheme so she could maneuver for Charter change and rule beyond 2010. Even idiots know that it was an impeachable offense.

So, if Joey de Venecia et al were stupid enough not to have included this unthinkable act- which for me is the gravest thing a president, even one who’s bogus, could ever do- in their impeachment complaint; don’t you think every citizen has the right and the obligation to intervene include that act in that complaint?

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Guess who?

This is me, according to a fellow debater who is also a frustrated cartoonist.

OBAMA WINS!

Barny is right, Deep Impact is more realistic now that America is to have its first black president. I wonder if they’ll call that mansion along Pensylvania Avenue Black House now.

So there were neither Bradley nor Dewey effect afterall. Obama won by a landside. And the Democrats got a better Congressional majority. Not really surprising for this isn’t a very good year to be a Republican.

Congratulations, America. Glad to know people there are still thinking.

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An unsolicited advice from the Dean.

Dean Reynaldo Arcilla saw me this morning. And he had this to say:

“I know you’re barely out of teens, but you should make yourself neat and presentable. You should look like a young diplomat.”

And the good ambassador continued: “I don’t like your hairstyle. Change it.”

Oh dear. What’s wrong with my hairstyle?

I’m such a dork.

This photo of me and my fellow Lyceum debaters in Davao is now the most commented picture in my Facebook album:

The first to post a comment was Ryan, who said Ira looks like Tyra Banks in this picture. Barny disagreed, saying he’s like Angelina Jolie. And a string of comments followed mentioning people like Wilma Doesn’t, Miss Jay Alexander and Janice Dickinson.

And I was like, who the heck are those people?!

Second sem sched.

My classes would be in the afternoon and at night this semester. And again, there are no breaks. Which sucks.

But my subjects are interesting. Here’s my schedule:

MONDAYS AND THURSDAYS:

• 1:00- 2:30 International Organizations 1
• 2:30- 4:00 Diplomatic Practices and Procedures
• 4:00- 5:30 Internatinal Trade Practices and Trends and the World Trade Organization

TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS:

• 1:00- 2:30 Philippine Economic and Socio-Cultural Conditions
• 2:30- 4:00 International Law
• 4:00- 5:30 Cross-Cultural Communication
• 5:30- 7:00 International Relations: Problems and Issues
• 7:00- 8:30 History of Political Thought

WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS:

• Debate, Debate, DEBATE!!!