Divorce Bill- In or Out?

The Philippines, is the only country in the world that bans divorce. There is an existing law that really do not provide for absolute divorce, but it was available in certain periods in Philippine history.

According to my research, from AttyAtWork.com, Divorce was allowed under the Divorce Law of 1917 (Act No. 2710) and during the Japanese occupation, pursuant to Executive Order No. 141 (1943). As the law stands today, a marriage between two Filipinos cannot be dissolved even by a divorce obtained abroad. In mixed marriages involving a Filipino and a foreigner (or former Filipinos), Article 26 of the Family Code allows the former to contract a subsequent marriage in case the divorce is validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse qualifying him or her to remarry.

It is not really accurate to say that there is absolutely no divorce in the Philippines. Under Presidential Decree No. 1083, also known as the “Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines,” divorce is allowed in certain instances, but this law applies only when both parties are Muslims, or wherein only the male party is a Muslim and the marriage is solemnized in accordance with Muslim law in any part of the Philippines. For the rest of Filipinos, therefore, divorce is not available.

Nowadays, we will notice that there are lots of family conflicts which are not curable and mostly couples and filing annulment wherein it is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place.

Since these cases are in today, there was a proposed law which is the Divorce Bill, which was authored by Gabriela Party List Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan, this legalizes divorce as a course for individuals who wants to be out of their marriages.

Tomorrow we’ll be celebrating the Independence Day, June 12, and ABS-CBN will set the stage for a divorce bill.

This will be facilitated by Korina Sanchez, one of the best anchors of ABS-CBN. This will be called “the Harapan: Divorce Bill, Ipasa o Ibasura”. This aims to educate and inform the public on yet another issue that has significance and relevance to every Filipino.
Now since this law is being proposed, is it really appropriate for us to pass this bill or we should stick to what is already implemented.
We should have an intelligent thinking and be open minded for us to decide whether we need to pass this bill or not.

Some grieving Mothers have Reborn Babies

When I was a child I love playing baby dolls, it’s one of my favorite toy. When we go to the mall I always asked my mom to buy me one. Now I’m turning 26 but I still have dolls in my room not just one but there are many, I have different kinds of dolls, it’s my collections. Its good to see they have different styles, and fashion.
Being fun of collecting dolls, I have known that there are already available life-like dolls, it was called “reborn dolls”. They look like real babies which are made to look just like real babies, they have perfectly combed hair and eyes closed in sleep. You can dress them up; they have nails and have silicon skin. And that’s cool!

Eve Hasty, a 57-year-old American bought a reborn doll named Abby from a British company for 300 dollars (210 euros). She lives in Oklahoma and lost her daughter due to leukemia when she’s only seven.

She treats her as her real baby. “She reminds me of my daughter as an infant”, Hasty said. “I just get a type of serenity about me when I hold her, I change her clothes," she added.

This doll made her happy and she even stressed “To me she is not a doll, she is so much more. I don't have to worry about her dying. I know she is not going to get sick and die. It takes such a pressure off."

This line surprises me. I don’t know what she’s thinking. She may be would like to cope up with her loneliness and treating this doll as a real child and thinks that this would satisfy her needs.

Ingrid Collins, a consultant psychologist at the London Medical Centre, says a fake baby "could create more problems than it solves".
However Sandra Wheatley, a psychologist specialising in family issues, says a "reborn baby" could be helpful as a "physical tool to help them mourn the one that they have lost".

We have individual differences and different ways how to deal with the situations we are currently facing, but we should know what the things that can help us more rather than doing things that could make things more complicated.

Just like Morato, I don’t understand why he’s making things complicated and why he’s trying to come up with different issues and allegations. Maybe this man is also longing for something and this is how he knows how to cope up with his problem and satisfy his needs… Or this is the only thing that he knew how to reach his dreams... Am I right Manoling?

Facebook Plunder? Or User’s Accountability?

Facebook is a social network wherein millions of people are so fund of using this site. This is because they can freely express their ideas, share experience, post photos chat with their friends, play games and you can also invite friends on any events and celebrations. I’m also a user of this social network. In fact I’m one of the addict users of this site.

Earlier today, I was trying to check my mail, and I saw headline news in yahoo regarding a German teenager who unintentionally invited the public to attend to her birthday party on facebook and 15,000 facebook users accepted her invitation. (Wow! Is this for real? )

The teenager named Thessa, who did the invitation, left their house when she got to know that thousands and thousands of facebook users accepted her invitation then alerted the police regarding this matter ahead of the Friday evening birthday party.

There were about 100 police who went to the celebrant’s place at Hamburg Germany around 7pm to 2am to keep the order. Good thing, among 15,000 accepted the invitation, only 1,600 people showed up on her party (but this is still too much!).

Most of them jammed into the street in front of the celebrant’s house while they were uncontrollable celebrating the party.

Police spokesman Mirko Streiber said there were 11 people were taken into custody for violations ranging from bodily harm and resisting arrest to property damage and violating explosives laws.

Streiber also added, "It was by and large a peaceful party. There were some fires set alight, some acts of violence and with considerable alcohol consumption there was some property damage. There have been larger organized birthday parties in Hamburg but this may be the largest unorganized birthday party ever."

After reading this news I am thinking what did the teenager felt about what happened. She may be new to facebook or she’s just too excited… I’m also thinking about the people who went to the party. Why is it that they still went to the party even if they don’t personally know the celebrant? Anyway, we can’t blame those people, most of them really likes to party.

Well, I am expecting that who ever reads this, may laugh, surprised or may not believe but it really happened. These are also my reaction after reading this article. I am not blaming the social network. It is the user who should be responsible for the usage.

It was so funny and irritating but in reality, a small mistake can lead you to a huge mistake.

PCSO made a Wise Decision on Budget

Nowadays, most of us are interested in instant things; instant noodles, instant coffee, instant messages and instant money!

Lotto is one example where you can get instant money that’s why if you notice, even before, a lot of Filipino people are involved with this game. They listen to the radio, read magazine and watch TV for them to know the latest about sweepstakes and of course they wanted to know if they won. They are waiting for the results through media. I myself am also interested in knowing the latest about it. And I never failed to get information; if I read the magazine, listen to the radio and watch TV, I can get information. I was then thinking how much budget there is for these advertisements.

According to Manuel C. Garcia, manager of Publicity and Public Relations Department of PCSO, last year (2010) their budget for advertising and promotions was 928.3 million pesos. This year, they have come up with the total budget of P550 million. This was supported by the Aquino administration’s programs and advocacies and it was initiated by PCSO Chairperson Margarita Juice, General Manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II and members of the PCSO Board of Directors, Publicity and Republic Relations Department Manager Manuel Garcia.

Garcia said that the P550 million budget is expected to cover not only the tri-media advertisements of the agency but also includes anticipated advertising production expenses to be continued by the present administration while still reinforcing that PCSO is the premier charitable institution providing charity and medical assistances to the poor and indigent Filipinos.

This budget for 2011 consist of print media advertisement in the amount of P77million, radio advertisements for P198million and television advertisements in the amount of P275million. This budget inexpensive than last year’s allocation; their budget for print was P118, 272.000, for radio it was P304, 128.000 and P422, 200,000 for TV ads.

If you compare last year and this year’s budget, PCSO is now being wise and not spending too much. A lot of Filipino people need help; we need to focus to those people who are really in need. Instead of spending too much for advertising and promotion, PCSO did a great decision on lowering it down. This is one way of showing that for this year’s PCSO officials; they are very responsible and thinking not only for themselves…
Now see the difference…

Who is Manoling Morato???

As I was checking my blogs earlier, I saw one comment asking who Manoling is.
That made me laugh in a bit and I felt corrected because I thought everyone already knows Manuel “Manoling” Morato. But I was wrong.

For the benefit of other people who don’t know Manoling Morato yet, I would like to give you some information. I am not his fan (no way!) I was just interested knowing him because he loves to question and accused the present chairperson of PCSO Margie Juico. Is he that perfect and excellent one? I don’t think so.

Manoling Morato is not totally old but he’s turning 78 this year. He is well-known public figure in the country. He is known for his tendency to issue controversial views and statements.

He is the son of Caluag, Quezon Mayor, and Quezon City’s first appointed mayor, Tomas Morato. He became a chairman of the Philippines' censorship agency (Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, MTRCB) from 1986 to 1992. Many movie producers, actors and directors held protests in front of his office due to his strict application of censorship, some of which were considered overboard.

He ran for the position of Philippine Senator in the 1992 elections but did not get a seat. Then he was appointed as chairman of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) by President Fidel V. Ramos in 1995. During his incumbency, the PCSO launched the very first “On-line lottery” in the Philippines. It is very well known as “lotto” and this became very popular in the country. In the 1998 elections, he decided to run again but this time he ran in the position of President with his running mate Camilo Sabio but he lost. Come 2001 elections, He didn’t give up, again he ran for the position of senator but unfortunately, again and again, he failed. Then in 2004, Morato was appointed by President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo as director/ member of its board of trustees.

He was also a TV personality and hosted a weekly talk show Dial-M with the former actress Maggie de la Riva on state owned National Broadcasting Network. The show was initially for lotto draw results but he decided to add his commentaries and viewer phone calls. One of its episodes featured a security camera video showing Joseph Estrada gambling in a casino. The show stopped in 1998 when Estrada became a president and it was just returned in 2004 when Arroyo appointed him as board of director of the PCSO.

His life was filmed in 1998 before the Philippine centennial celebrations which were portrayed by actor Joel Torre. He is a bachelor up to now that’s why most of the people think that he is a gay. He commented on this issue and said that he has his own personal convictions and despite not being a gay. He said he has taken a vow of celibacy. Well I don’t think so. I can even prove that Manoling Morato is very gay... I even know who are those person linked to him.

Inspite of all of these experiences, Morato in his age still don’t get any contentment. In fact he became worst and worst. Well that’s also signs of aging... he’s out of his mind. Somebody must take care of him now.

If you just go back to his experiences, we can say that he has lots of achievements but he also didn’t get everything that he wants; especially with it comes to politics. He tried three times running in different position but at the end, he was not successful. Maybe this is one thing why he keeps on pulling other people. He might want to go back to his position or he might don’t want to be alone being in the losers row.

That is Manoling Morato. He love’s criticizing and looking for someone’s mistake (sometimes no proof at all). He does this because he said he’s concern but is it mainly the real thing Manoling?

Tropical Storm Chedeng

As of yesterday, I was already waiting for the update of the PHILIPPINE ATMOSPHERIC, GEOPHYSICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION or PAGASA. Now I am worried because I saw in the satellite map that my hometown will be very much affected by the typhoon “Chedeng”.

I know from Severe Weather Bulletin Number Twelve Tropical Cyclone Warning: Typhoon “Chedeng” (International Name: SONGDA) issued at around 5:00 AM, Thursday, May 26, 2011, that at exactly 4:00 a.m. today, the eye of Typhoon “Chedeng” was (estimated based on radar, satellite and surface data) at 270 km East Northeast of Virac, Catanduanes (14.0°N, 127.0°E) with maximum sustained winds of 160 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 195 kph. It is forecasted to move around 205 km North of Virac, Catanduanes tomorrow (Friday, May 27, 2011).

Areas under Public Storm Signal 1 are:

1.       Cagayan

2.       Isabela

3.       Quirino

4.       Aurora

5.       Quezon, including Polillo Island

6.       Marinduque including Burias Island and Ticao Island

7.       Masbate

Areas under Public Storm Signal 2 are:

1.       Catanduanes

2.       Sorsogon

3.       Albay

4.       Camarines Sur

5.       Camarines Norte

Residents who are living in those areas, especially those who are in low-lying and mountainous areas, are alerted against possible flashfloods and landslides. Likewise, those living in coastal areas are alerted against big waves.

I was raised in Catanduanes, a province well-known for being a typhoon spot in this country.

My family lives there and our house is near the sea. If the storm enters our province, almost all will be affected. Although Catandunganons (as people from Catanduanes are called) are brave and strong, the thought of devastation and loss of livelihood still manages to instill fear!

I hope and pray that God will not allow “Chedeng”. to pass over our province.

There is the saying that goes: “For every hurricane, there is a rainbow.“ Many things are wrought by prayers.

Please help me pray.

The Famous Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao

I so love talking about Manny.. Why? he is my idol with it comes to sports. Ikaw ba naman maging OPBF flyweight champion, WBC international super bantamweight  champion, WBC international super featherweight champion, IBO world light welterweight champion with the Ring Magazines titles; World featherweight champion, World super featherweight champion, World light welterweight champion, World flyweight champion, World junior lightweight champion, World junior welterweight champion.. at kung anu-anu pang achievements.

Dahil dito naging kilala sya sa buong mundo. Di lang fame ang nakuha nya pati yaman meron sya.. Magaling na Manny, ikaw na nga!

Di man sya kagalingan sa ingles pero talagang may masasabi at may maipagmamalaki din talaga. Kita naman natin ang mga naabot nya..

Di lang sports ang hilig ni Manny pati sa pagkanta eh talagang kinacareer nya.. Sa sobrang kasikatan eh pati ba naman ang “Glee” iniimbitahan na sya.

Napanood ko sa TV Patrol kahapon na mismong ang Fil-Am cast member ng US TV series na “Glee” na si Darren Criss ay gustong mag-guest star si Pacman.. lalo na’t pag magka-boxing episode and show.. Wow diba?

Di na nga mapigilan ang pagsikat ni Manny, bukod sa boxing, singing, acting, politics, business, ano pa kaya papasukin mo? Yan ang talagang aabangan ko..