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We Want Peace, Too.

By: Franklin Harry Maletsky

We are the concerned citizens of the Philippines. We see the good things happening around us but we also see the agents of destruction around us. The Filipinos are a proud group of people with diverse heritage and blood line and diverse religions and ideologies.

In 1987 we created a new constitution with a great preamble:

"We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society, and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity, the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution."

We want to point out the aspects of “TRUTH” and “EQUALITY”.

The 1987 constitution sneaked in two points of concern that many seem to have overlooked and continue to overlook. Section 1 of Article X: the words “autonomous regions” and “Muslim Mindanao” were inserted. It looked harmless but those two insertions are the major causes of the havoc, discrimination, bias, corruption and instability in the Philippines.

We are bringing this to your attention because we are feeling the gradual decay of the values that we hold dear to our hearts. The Filipinos are a peaceful and hospitable people by nature. This is who we are. But when confronted with prejudice, bias and lies we fight back.

Let us discuss “MUSLIM MINDANAO”. How did the word Muslim sneak into the 1987 constitution? The Muslims are the followers of the religion of Islam. The constitution does not mention any other followers of any religion whatsoever. Just the followers of Islam, the Muslims. This is bias, discrimination and prejudice and does not conform to the preamble's call to “EQUALITY”.

Anybody can be a Muslim. There are Muslims all over the world. In the Philippines Muslims are called Moros. Moros are Muslims. Moros are not indigenous people. Anybody can be a Moro but not anybody can be an indigenous person. The Tausug people from Sulu are indigenous people. There are Christian Tausugs, Jewish Tausugs, Catholic Tausugs, Muslim Tausugs and others. Tausugs are not exclusively Muslims or Moros.

Why insert “Autonomous Regions”? Why give autonomy to the indigenous peoples of the Philippines? Before the coming of the three Colonizers of the Philippines: 1. The Muslims in 1380, 2. The Spaniards in 1521, and 3. The Americans in 1898; The Philippine archipelago was occupied by nearly a 100% indigenous people.  Even today the indigenous blood run in over 80% of the Filipino veins. So why segregate? Why separate? Doesn't this create bias? We are one people. We are Filipinos with diverse ethnicities and diverse dialects or languages. We are in fact very unique and we all should be proud of this as a people.

There are 3 existing laws in the Philippines that are biased and are using “PUBLIC FUNDS” to finance a select private group of people only. Public funds as specified in PD1445 must be used for the PUBLIC and not a private group of people. These 3 laws are as follows:

1. The NCMF (National Commission on Muslim Filipinos)

2. Presidential decree 1083 (Sharia Family law)

3. The ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao)

1. The NCMF is specifically only for Muslims. As stated before, Muslims are not indigenous people. Some of them may be but not all. Muslims are the followers of the religion of Islam.
2. The presidential decree 1083 is only for Muslims. Again we are all Filipinos and we all must abide by the Philippine laws and "No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion" (ARTICLE III BILL OF RIGHTS, Section 4). To reiterate Muslims are not indigenous people, they are the followers of the religion of Islam.
3. The ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao): This shouts out discrimination and bias. The constitution called Mindanao, Muslim Mindanao. In other words a territory that belongs to the Muslims.

Every year public funds are budgeted for the benefit of a private group of people, the Muslims. They may be Filipinos, that is not the argument here. There is no funding for any other followers of any religions in the Philippines. Only the followers of Islam get a yearly budget from the government of the Philippines.

We implore that you look into this matter of discrimination. This is the source of unrest in Mindanao. The Philippine government have been negotiating with the Moros since we became sovereign in 1946. Every time we negotiate the Moros get more.

• In 1965 Diosdado Macapagal gave 5.7 hectares exclusively to the Muslims in Rio Hondo, Zamboanga City to appease them. This only made them ask for more.
• In 1975 the SPDA was created. This spawned OMA. Then they wanted more.
• In 1976 Marcos broke down and signed the Tripoli agreement. This did not bring peace. This paved the way for the ARMM
• In 1977 the PD1083 (Sharia family) was signed.
• In 1985 OMA was officially created.
• 1987 the word “Muslim” was inserted in the new constitution.
• 1989 the ARMM was created with 4 provinces hoping for peace
• 2001 another province was given to the ARMM making it 5 provinces. They still want more.
• In 2007 the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (later the BBL) was introduced. Allowing the Bangsamoro to spread out as needed. Turned down by the SC as unconstitutional. But it just keeps coming back.
• 2010 the NCMF was created to Nationally support all the Muslims in the Philippines. Only the Muslims under government public funding.

The negotiations kept on coming with the promise of peace. There has never been true peace in Mindanao. Now they want more and the BBL is being pushed again.
What is Bangsamoro? It means Muslim Nation. Bangsa = Nation. Moro = Muslim.

The TRUTH demands to be told. The Moros claim:

• Article II section 1 of the BBL defines the bangsamoro people as:"Those who at the time of conquest and colonization were considered natives or original inhabitants of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago and its adjacent islands including Palawan, and their descendants, whether of mixed or of full blood, shall have the right to identify themselves as Bangsamoro by ascription or self-ascription. Spouses and their descendants are classified as Bangsamoro."

How can the bangsamoro people be the original inhabitants when the moros(muslims) arrived in the archipelago only in the 14th century? The "natives or original inhabitants" at the time of conquest and colonization were not the bangsamoro people. The original inhabitants were the indigenous people who practiced several forms of worship and one of them just happened to be Islam. Muslims (Bangsamoro) are not indigenous people. They are the followers of the religion of Islam.

Please consider our plea. Do not pass the BBL and Repeal the NCMF, PD1083, and the ARMM.

Care, Openness, Respect, and Understanding

by:

Franklin Harry Maletsky

The greatest advise came from Jesus Christ: "Love one another as I have loved you." This is easier said than done. Most people do not even understand what the "love" is, that Christ was talking about.

These four words can help simplify Christ's advise and guide the individual towards loving someone and be one of the stewards of the universe.
✅ Care: If you care for something, someone, an idea or anything, you pay serious attention or consideration to doing, working or relating with it correctly to avoid hurting the individual, damaging the object, or putting it at risk.
✅ Openness: You avoid cheating or lying, you avoid secrecy or concealment. Your are being straight forward or frank.
✅ Respect: GIVE RESPECT. DO NOT EXPECT RESPECT. "Respect is to be earned, only if lost once given." If everybody is expecting respect, how can there be respect for one another? On the other hand, if everybody gives respect, there will be no need to expect it. The only time that respect needs to be earned is when the respect that was kindly given was disrespectfully lost. Anything done without respect is done either for the money, for a reward, as an obligation, out of tolerance, was told to, was forced to, was coerced to, or for vanity.
✅ Understanding: To have compassion, patience, and sensitivity, for the action or words of the other person. To listen and comprehend. To be prudent before reacting.

reprinted from zamboanga.com

Maynilad, MWSS, at Pagtaas ng Presyo ng Tubig

by RJ Javellana

Para masabing mayroong public consultation ngunit walang dokumentong ipinakita sa publiko. Nais ng Maynilad na sumingil ng dagdag na P11per cubic meter sa MWSS L rate rebassing process 2018-2022. Kasama sa kahilingan ng Maynilad na muling kunin sa publiko ang CORPORATE INCOME TAX. Dapat natin itong tutulan at maharang! Tama na! SOBRA NA ang LUTONG TUBIG.

Water for All Refund Movement (WARM) president and spokesman Rodolfo Javellana Jr., reported that  the Supreme Court (SC) has allowed the Office of the Ombudsman to have access to various documents of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and its executives in connection with plunder raps filed against its officials and those of Maynilad and Manila Water, MWSS concessionaires for the East Zone and the West Zone, respectively,
Last year, WARM petitioned the SC to order a complete refund and accounting of all mothballed projects, including the controversial pass-on of corporate income taxes to water consumers in the East and West zones.

On March 6 this year, the movement and Gloria Dalida filed plunder charges against the officials of MWSS, Maynilad and Manila Water.
Edsel Tupaz, lawyer for WaterWatch Coalition, also a petitioner in the cases against MWSS and its two concessionaires at the High Court, said the documents will show “excessive entanglement and executive bonuses and perks at abominable amounts, including a ‘rate rebasing bonus’ given to MWSS employees for having approved previous water rate hikes sought by the two concessionaires.”

The Ombudsman, he said, can use these documents “to show that over P43 billion have been plundered to date.”
According to Andre de Jesus, lawyer for WARM’s case at the High Court, “the concessionaires’ passing-on of taxes to the consuming public, tax holiday or not, cannot be properly characterized as an ‘expenditure’ that may be passed on by a water company such as Maynilad and Manila Water, companies no doubt impressed with public interest.”
WARM is seeking oral arguments at the SC to properly ventilate the issues.
Maynilad and Manila Water, however, have maintained that they are not “public utilities” regulated by public service laws and by the 12-percent profit cap but are “mere agents” of MWSS.
Recently, lawyer Emmanuel Caparas, MWSS chief regulator, resigned after the Commission on Audit ruled that he was holding conflicting positions, serving as both chief regulator and member of the board of trustees of MWSS.(Manila Times)

Priest Rapist? Or the Church Liked Being Used

by Sherry Zimmer

OPEN LETTER TO CARDINAL TAGLE

Exactly four years ago today, July 3rd 2014, one of your priests. Fr. Shay Cullen of Preda Foundation in Olongapo, had me hauled from my farm in Bgy. Aningway-Sacatihan, Subic, Zambales.
I have written to you, the Superior General of the Columban Order, Fr. Kevin O’Neill, none of you have answered my, or my friends’ emails for help. Pope Francis was contacted within days of my ‘arrest’, he has not responded either.
One of my early visitors, when I was in detention, was Edward Robinson III who introduced himself to me as being from the U.S. Embassy in Manila. I sat and told him my side of the story. I remember telling him of my work with sick, particularly the Aeta. I told him how I had supplied Cullen’s construction workers with free drinking water for three years and taken care of some of the men who had been hurt on Cullen’s construction site.
He took a picture of me and I really thought he would help me. He did not and it was only after I obtained a copy of Cullen’s badly written book, ‘Passion and Power’ that I read, he was a personal friend of Cullen’s. He was a retired, Naval Commander who Culllen had stayed with in Hawaii in 1988.
Cardinal Tagle, I have watched a video of you with Stephen Sackur of BBC, you nodded your head when Cullen’s name was mentioned. You know who he is and how your predecessor, Cardinal Sin, protected him from the rape charges of a 7-year old girl.
Cardinal Tagle, this is the letter I wrote, two years ago, to your friend, the Head of the Columbans.
Dear Fr. O'Neill,
I am Lilian 'Sherry' Zimmer nee Thomson, my name has been vilified over the internet, newspapers and television by one of your priests, Shay Cullen. I was incarcerated in the Olongapo jail for 126 days, the only Causcasian woman in conditions that I would not give to an animal.
Your priest thought that if he could get charges filed against me that I would remain in the Detention Center for years, the key thrown away. I would die there. Cullen expected that I would have no way to get out of that situation. He had me charged with 5 counts of kidnap/illegal detention, one charge of child abuse and with threatened cases of more abuse.
I am a Catholic, Scotswoman who is now 67 years old, my life in the Philippines was dedicated to quietly taking care of people who were unable to take care of themselves. I wanted no awards, raised no money except from friends and family. From me there was no criticism of the system as it pertains to the Philippines. I never expected to be arrested, incarcerated, my five children taken away as trophies, me to be dragged out of my little farm in handcuffs. Everything I owned, my reputation to be destroyed by Cullen.
All the proof that I need to exonerate me, I have. My years in the jungle of taking care of people, taking in babies that were not convenient, were sick or unwanted, were all of the mission that I was known for until Cullen decided that he would move within 100 meters of my home.
I am sure, I was an embarrassment to Cullen, I did what we, as Christians, are supposed to do. I gave up my large home in America and sold nearly everything I owned. I followed what I thought, and the Bible taught me, was the way to go. I had Faith that what I was doing was what was required to get through the Gates of Heaven. I have Faith that you will listen to me and read my evidence, see my photographs and videos of what I was doing in my small mission.
My website was launched last night, lilianmaythomsonzimmer.com and is already going around the world. Please take the time to look at it. It includes the Rape of A Child by Shay Cullen, The Victor Fitzgerald Case, The Von Ballmoos Case, Patients, Medical Missions and Christenings. etc. It is easier to see on a computer as there are lots of legal documents and statements written by people long before I came into contact with Cullen.
Father, there is also an investigation going on in the Philippines and I write to you so you will not be blindsided by the interest that is being taken in the behavior of Shay Cullen.
I have written to you before I contact His Holiness Pope Francis.
Pray for me because this is a harder mission than what I did in the Philippines but I, and others, must have justice.

Respectfully,

Sherry Zimmer

PLDT, Customers, & The NO Endo

byPaulino Jose Misa

PLDT- World Class Stupidity: ISO-fail
What is the matter with the management of PLDT? My internet has been down for over a week with the prospect of extending yet another week.

I tried calling 171 but after waiting in line for over 30 minutes at a time and being told by the agent that the matter had been "passed on to technical for line checking" several times, the robot refused to pass me on anymore and simply repeats the same thing itself. What was promised to be 24 to 72 hours is now over 172 hours and counting!
ANy tech-literate person would know that checking a single line and troubleshooting it would not take more than an hour or two. How could they still be doing it after over a week!
Upon going to the PLDT office, I was then told that the reason for the delay is that in an effort to comply with the no-ENDO policy, they terminated all their contractors and are now still in the process of hiring new ones!
WHAT? This is the kind of management in one of the biggest companies in the PH? What kind of moron is running the company?
Any management idiot would know the expected number of service requests for a given period of time. Would it really be such a difficult thing to gradually replace the contractors AFTER they have already hired and trained new ones?
If it is the expense of effectively paying the contractor while they are also paying the new trainee, did they not consider that days without service would properly have to be deducted from the customer's bill anyway?
And what about "SERVICE"? What about the incalculable losses, more than just the sheer inconvenience suffered by the customer? That does not count a whit?
So they don't care anyway we are already a "captive" market, especially those who are still locked in?
Saying sorry when you deliberately caused the avoidable mess simply does not cut it.
PUTANGINA NYO, PLDT MANAGEMENT!
There should be some government agency that people can run to to make you pay for your mindless greed.
---
From another PLDT Subscriber:
In addition to this, one of our volunteers had her router worn due to use (tear & wear). She called the PLDT hotline Monday, the CSR said the replacement service will be expected in 72 hours.
There was no service. She called again Thursday night as the 72-hr has lapsed.
PLDT CSR: We already emailed the field contractors for the job.
Volunteer: Please call them instead of just an email.
PLDT CSR: Ma'am hindi pwede kasi until 5 pm lang ang office nila. Tawag na lang po kayo ulit bukas, office hours.
Volunteer: Di pwede miss, kasi, nasa work ako. I can only call after office hours. Saka di naman kaagad sinasagot ang calls diyan sa office niyo.
PLDT CSR: E 8-5 lang po kasi sila. Kaya email lang ang pwede kong i-send ngayon.
Volunteer: Di ba pwedeng i-take note mo at ipasa sa susunod sayo para sila na ang tumawag during office hours?
PLDT CSR: Hindi pwede ma'am. Tawag na lang ulit kayo.
Sa totoo lang, para tayong mga biktima ng hijack. Wala tayong choice kundi magbayad sa mga serbisyosong kulang-kulang, mag-tax araw-araw para may manakaw ang mga ganid, at managot sa mga ka-estupiduhan ng mga reject sa pamahalaan natin at sa mga utility oligopolies sa ating bansa.

2 Brothers

There are a lot of customers that can attest 2Brothers is the best grocery stores in Ilocos Sur. They have the second lowest price for their consumer goods, but they are definitely cleaner than the lowest priced grocery store, so, more people prefer shopping at 2Brothers.

However, when it comes to their loyalty card, it is one of the most problematic: in Novo, the counter lady will only take note of your card, you sign, and there's your discount. Same in Holiday. I have not availed yet at PureGold nor JTC (too many cards!).

At 2Brothers, their system is always broken down especially when you claim or want to use your points. And the supervisors are so helpless about it.

I overheard one loyal customer who wants to use her card one afternoon in their main (Vigan) branch along Quezon Avenue.

"Ma'am sorry but you cannot use your points now because our system is broken," the supervisor said.

"So, when will your system run?" the customer asked.

"I don't know," the supervisor replied.

"Is it not possible to use my card points now and I will just surrender to you my card?"

"It cannot be, you have to be here when we swipe it."

"It's OK that I am not here when you swipe it. I cannot guess when will you be able to swipe it, so,I might as well leave it to you."

"No can be...."

(The supervisor cannot understand).

"I have been trying several times to use my points, but you are always offline," the customer said.

The supervisor just kept repeating it cannot be done when it's offline, but he can neither give a date when will it be repaired.

Attn: Liquete Sisters!

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DTI's Free Negosyo Seminar Batch 3 & How Government Agencies Can Help Local Industries

The third batch of the Department of Trade's Free Negosyo Seminar is launched March 26 2018 at the Vittoria 1 in Bantay, Ilocos Sur. Some innovative products are featured among the chosen mentees from small entrepreneurs and groups in Ilocos Sur.

Most notable has been the "abel" espadrilles and custom-shaped dress and top. Staple food products are the rice cakes (bibingka, leche flan, puto), processed meat bagnet, coffee, sugarcane products - muscovado and balicucha sugars (now, these sweets are worth checking out and supporting because they are organically processed), vinegar, and Ilocos wine basi, and woven bags/baskets from a palm variety.

Suggestions on how local government units and the provincial government offices can help these local producers/manufacturers:
1. Mandate local government offices to support abel products as part of their uniforms. Cost may be a little bit higher but that is to compensate for the actual cotton fabrics used as opposed to the plastic fabrics often preferred by government offices. One example is this comfortable cotton abel top from one of the mentees, probably from Caoayan:

2. Use local food products in their catering needs in meetings, seminars, forums, workshops, and other events such as the Palarong Pambansa for their meals and merienda.
3. Use local and eco-friendly products for their event announcements or invitations such as this from Bantay, Ilocos Sur's ToyKalapawMi made of old book pages:

4. Add more exposure to local industries not only in trade fairs but also target global markets through strategic online marketing and promotion. For a while, even the Department of Science and Technology attempted to help local industries by featuring Philippine-made products in their sponsored website, but it lacked direct and smooth purchasing as well as impossible user-interface. The DOST also refuse affordable workshops to transfer technologies to their local industry clients.

Sustaining local industries remain a challenge not only for policy and government but more so for the entrepreneurs. Rents are very high and the retail industry is currently dominated by foreign but Philippine-based real estate giants like SM, Robinson's, and Ayala. If the national and local governments will avoid intervention,  these MNCs will continue eating up local industries and flood the local market with disposable plastics made from China and processed foods from dubious raw materials while allowing only a marginal return of investment for locals.