VIRTUAL VISITA IGLESIA

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Visit InterAksyon.com for the virtual visita iglesia when you can’t go out and do your real pilgrimage.

InterAksyon celebrates with the whole Christian world the Holy Week

InterAksyon celebrates with the whole Christian world the Holy Week with a virtual visita iglesia, videos of the pasyon and article on the senakulong bayan.

Thanks to: Carmelite Order for the reflections on the Stations of the Cross.

Produced by: Chuchay Fernandez, Veronica Uy, Francince Marquez, Lira-Dalangin Fernandez, Bernanrd Testa, Edvilan Falcon, MJ Maramba, Alex Artillero, Jino Nicolas, InterAksyon.com

There is a video of the Pabasa and Lira writes, “Pabasa combines Filipinos’ musicality, religiosity, patriotism.”

“Da man” Bernard Testa has a photo gallery of the Senakulong Bayan. He writes, “As part of the Lenten Season, the senakulo is among the most awaited part of the celebration, with people vying for the coveted parts in the stage play on the life and suffering of Christ. Who will be Jesus? Pontius Pilate? Mary? Magdalene? Judas? Simon of Cyrene? The crowd who will choose to condemn him?”

So proud of these guys for producing this.

I think this will be our front page until Easter Sunday.

The dangers of being exposed

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It took me 8 years before I had the guts to emerge from my pseudonym. It’s quite ironic since I’ve been writing for half of my life and I have my name in black and white for many years.

And yet I’m scared of blogging under my real name. What gives?

Is it because in blogging I become the message since I am the messenger and the gatekeeper rolled into one? I guess it’s because I don’t have anything that I could transform into some kind of barrier or screen between me and my readers, critics, detractors, what-have-you. Maybe because the accountability rests on my shoulders alone and no one else’s—no editors, no producer, no president or chief executive.

The trouble also with having my name bandied on a blog is that it automatically makes me censor myself. Last night my sister, who just recently arrived in Australia, told me over Yahoo Messenger to delete some comment I made on Facebook about the nuclear missile testing by North Korea. She said, “you cannot post those kinds of comments because you’re a journalist. You may compromise your credibility.”

At first my initial reaction was “screw you! screw them! This is my private Facebook account!”

But then nothing is really private in Facebook, isn’t it? Look at the “bikini photo” incident with a Catholic school in Cebu and two students.

Are journalists really banned to take sides, to express opinions? Even on Facebook? Can we not say, “stupid North Koreans for making radioactive sushis of us all?” Even in half-jest?

Where do I draw the line? Or am I forever limited to the confines of my paper-and-pen journal at home? Yes, I know, there are numerous journalists out there who have blogs and still manage to go out in the field unscathed. I just wonder how much self-censorship they do? How can they rein in their opinions? How do they deal with accusations of bias and yadda, yadda yadda?

The pseudonym I have allowed me to criticize systems, criticize the government, make fun of personalities, review gadgets, review restaurants, endorse products and food. Can’t I do that using my real name?

If I can’t do that then I guess this blog will only have 10 entries for all eternity.

DOGS’ WORST ENEMY IS HIS BE(A)ST FRIEND

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I really didn’t have the heart to look at the pictures that our photographer par excellence, Bernard Testa, had been sharing with the Interaksyon.com team through Blackberry Messenger. I don’t want to see abused dogs, animals at the brink of death, suffering animals that had done nothing wrong to deserve such cruel treatment from humans.

I told Abigail Kwok, my fellow reporter who wrote about the rescued pitbulls that I am interested to adopt one dog. If I were rich, I want to adopt as many as I could. But I am just a reporter on a journalist’s salary.

Pitbull fighting for its life. Photo by Bernard Testa, Interaksyon.com

70 dogs rescued from Laguna pit bull ring to be put down

03-Apr-12, 12:28 AM | Abigail Kwok, InterAksyon.com

MANILA, Philippines—At least 70 pit bulls subjected to inhumane treatment in a dogfighting arena will be put down Tuesday, as animal welfare groups struggled to find appropriate housing and shelter for the abused dogs.

The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) disclosed that out of the 246 rescued pit bulls and pit bull mixes from a South Korean syndicate, only a maximum of 50 will be adopted by a private citizen.
The rest will be put down in batches and the first batch, about 70 of them, will be put down Tuesday.

PAWS program director Anna Cabrera said in a phone interview that there is no available shelter big enough to handle these dogs and provide them with food, water and therapy.

She added that subjecting these dogs to euthanasia will be humane and will save the dogs from the risk of being “recycled” into the arena again…

Continue reading here.

Yes, we have laws on animal cruelty and such but these do not have teeth and—as usual—enforcement of these laws are the main problems. My colleague Lira Dalangin-Fernandez tackled this issue, which may have been the main cause as to why these  dog fighting rings continue to operate in this country.

Photo by Bernard Testa, Interaksyon.com

Happy ending in ‘101 Dalmatians’ not a reality in the Philippines due to largely unenforced law

03-Apr-12, 7:30 AM | Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, InterAksyon.com

“MANILA, Philippines – In 101 Dalmatians, police rescued the dogs and had villainess Cruella de Vil pay for her evil deeds. The movie’s happy ending for the canines, however, doesn’t mirror the reality in the country. It’s because like other Philippine laws that are only good on paper, the 14-year-old Republic Act 9842 or the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) lacks enforcement, according to animal rights advocates.

Anna Cabrera, executive director of the the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), says that despite AWA, the care and rescue of animals are not among the government’s priority. 

Cabrera observes that many cities in the country do not have veterinarians or personnel in charge of animal welfare. And while there maybe growing concern on animal cruelty, people have very little awareness on programs and procedures that promote pet care, according to the PAWS chief…”
Read more here.

And on and on and on…

It really breaks my heart.

Twelve years ago…

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…I spent my Holy Friday climbing Mt. Maculot in my parents’ hometown of Cuenca, Batangas. By 3 pm I though I had already died. Exhaustion can play mean tricks on you.

And I wrote about it for the Philippine Daily Inquirer when I was still a their lifestyle correspondent.

Yeah, I was a lifestyle writer. Parang anlayu sa business.

Luis Manzano for public office? What the—

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Why would Luis Manzano run for office? Did his Dad, Edu Manzano, pour all his political frustrations onto his eldest son and told him that he has to be the flag-bearer of the family? Oh, I almost forgot—our governor in Batangas is his mom!

Luis denies running for public office–for now

By Walden Martinez Belen | Yahoo! Southeast Asia Newsroom – 22 hours ago

Is Luis Manzano throwing his hat in the political ring the way his parents, Batangas governor Vilma Santos and former Makati vice-mayor Edu Manzano have?

“Hindi pa ngayon, hindi pa napapanahon. Kailangan paghandaan ko ito ng mabuti. Besides, ang dami ko pa trabaho at projects na dapat asikasuhin,” Luis said at the press conference for his latest movie, “Moron 5 and the Crying Lady.”

Luis added that he will be well-prepared, if he finally decides to run for public office.

“Talagang handang-handa na ako,” he said referring to what he will do first before heeding the clamor of public service.

Luis recalled what his mother did before she became chief executive of Lipa City.

“She studied Public Administration at the University of the Philippines and that prepared her for the job she was about to do,” Luis says.

Luis leads five dim-witted male lead characters composed of Marvin Agustin, Billy Crawford, DJ Durano, and Martin Escudero in the film “Moron 5 and the Crying Lady.” The “Crying Lady” is portrayed by comedian-TV host John “Sweet” Lapus.

“Lima kami na magkakaibigan na hindi matalino, at si John Lapus (bilang Becky) ang matalino kaya kami napakulong niya. We want to clear our name. Magdi-disguise kami para mainfiltrate ang mansion niya so we can so our own investigation.” They want to find out why Becky has accused them of killing her father.

Luis said he will disguise himself as an elderly driver. “Magaaply ako na driver, si Billy naman ay magkukunwang manghuhula, si Marvin ay isang Bombay, na nagpa-five/six, at si DJ naman ay isang magtataho.”

Luis has done comedy in the past so doing “Moron 5 and the Crying Lady” was a breeze. “This movie may belong to the comedy genre but there are also family aspects in it plus drama, kaya maganda and worth watching,” Luis concluded.

“Moron 5 and the Crying Lady,” a collaboration between Viva Films and MVP Productions, is helmed by box-office director Wenn V. Deramas. It is written by  Meldel Rosario in collaboration with Deramas and opens on Black Saturday (April 7) in theaters nationwide.

What we should have done last week

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According to Random Walker a.k.a Noel Reyes, Interaksyon.com‘s stock market columnist, we should have bought stocks last week and sell this week. The Holy Week Effect.

RANDOM WALKER: The Holy Week effect?

Holy Week comes but once a year, marking a major religious festival in this predominantly Roman Catholic country. It also marks one of the longest religious holiday weekends in the country’s calendar, with the non-working holiday kicking off on Maundy Thursday and ending on Black Saturday in which most retail businesses cut their working hours and with a large proportion of the urban population going to the beach and mountain resorts. It is a dead period for the stock market, in other words.

The trading lull actually starts on Monday, as stock traders anticipate the long holiday weekend ahead and, for the most part, stay clear of the market. Amid this slow, lethargic market trading turnout, the overriding thought that goes through the minds of traders can be easily read: “This market isn’t going anywhere; I’ll just come back after the Holy Week.”

That only seems logical, for sure, as far as the individual trader is concerned. For the market as a whole, however, this general way of thinking would be illogical. It would be illogical since the long Holy Week holidays come once a year and, if the market were truly efficient, there would be no such Holy Week effect.

Read more here.