It has been a while since I last posted an entry on Where Now Is The Citizen On Mars? and being such a inexhaustible blogger that I have been in the past months, I wasn’t used to these kind of laidback situation. But I have to get used to these infrequencies at least for now and hope that I can get everything ironed out in the coming days and my normal blogging days may soon be back. And so then, don’t get me wrong. I ain’t quitting finally. I am just slowing down due to some busy schedules with my other life’s concerns.
And so what had happened in the past two weeks…Maybe a lot, maybe not as much. Yesterday, the momentous First Blogging Summit was all over the TV and I had goosebumps thinking that my fellow bloggers are actually taking one giant step forward with this event and as I saw it on a number of TV footages, the event was undeniably a grand success. Way too go then and kudos to those who have organized it; the way it was presented, you could feel that seasoned individuals were behind it. I saw JJ Disini and Yugatech speaking in front of TV camera and they were as eloquent as they were in their blog spaces.
Mother’s Day came yesterday and so I had to greet all the mothers in the world including my mother, Darwisa Masdal, one who has been as nurturing as any mother on earth could be and I couldn’t ask for more. Someday, my daughter Evette Darwisa may be a mother herself, and my only daughter among a brood of four, would surely be as nurturing as her grandma, or as her mom, Evelyn who aside from being the best mother for my kids, has also been such a great wall for me as a wife. I would like also to greet Teacher Sol for this occasion and I know, how lovely a mother she is and how her kids deserved her like the world. And then Bambit, Sam’s other half—I greet her also. Shalimar, the Filipina blogger from Europe may not still be a mother herself but I know she’ll be a fine one day.
In the political front, there were a lot of noises about jueteng, that numbers game that Filipinos seem to have a long and ardous love affair with. Like Romeo and Juliet, jueteng is one thing that says, “..till death”. Shall we legalize it? Many have been asking this question now that we are embroiled again in this debate that had already brought down one administration. Will it bring down GMA also? It remains to be seen.
If it were up to me, jueteng should be legalized in order that money that has been going to gambling lords, which run in the billions, would be partaken instead by the government. Imagine if these billions of pesos would be added to our treasuries, our fiscal deficit problems would be a thing of the past. Well, I know gambling is never such a virtuous deed and I do not encourage it and I do not practice it also. But jueteng poses a queer problem where in order to lick it we have to ride on with it first. There is just no way for us now to eradicate this menace and all we could do is to regulate it first. In that manner, regulation can tone down the abuses and excessiveness of this old town habit and at the same time, like hitting two birds with a stone, our treasury will get a little fatter. This numbers game is such a legend that many things have emanated from it. I believe that no President has been immune from it. I mean, every President may benefit from it whether they like it or not. It is not only Erap that fell into this trap. The money is there for the taking and it’s hard to turn down, a kind of a Godfather proposition, “It is an offer you could not refuse”. I bet presidential candidates have been spending such huge amount of money in past elections thinking that jueteng will be there to save their day when finally they take their seat. For this reason alone, jueteng should be in the hands of the government in order that only individuals without grand monetary schemes would run for the highest position.
And so what had happened in the past two weeks…Maybe a lot, maybe not as much. Yesterday, the momentous First Blogging Summit was all over the TV and I had goosebumps thinking that my fellow bloggers are actually taking one giant step forward with this event and as I saw it on a number of TV footages, the event was undeniably a grand success. Way too go then and kudos to those who have organized it; the way it was presented, you could feel that seasoned individuals were behind it. I saw JJ Disini and Yugatech speaking in front of TV camera and they were as eloquent as they were in their blog spaces.
Mother’s Day came yesterday and so I had to greet all the mothers in the world including my mother, Darwisa Masdal, one who has been as nurturing as any mother on earth could be and I couldn’t ask for more. Someday, my daughter Evette Darwisa may be a mother herself, and my only daughter among a brood of four, would surely be as nurturing as her grandma, or as her mom, Evelyn who aside from being the best mother for my kids, has also been such a great wall for me as a wife. I would like also to greet Teacher Sol for this occasion and I know, how lovely a mother she is and how her kids deserved her like the world. And then Bambit, Sam’s other half—I greet her also. Shalimar, the Filipina blogger from Europe may not still be a mother herself but I know she’ll be a fine one day.
In the political front, there were a lot of noises about jueteng, that numbers game that Filipinos seem to have a long and ardous love affair with. Like Romeo and Juliet, jueteng is one thing that says, “..till death”. Shall we legalize it? Many have been asking this question now that we are embroiled again in this debate that had already brought down one administration. Will it bring down GMA also? It remains to be seen.
If it were up to me, jueteng should be legalized in order that money that has been going to gambling lords, which run in the billions, would be partaken instead by the government. Imagine if these billions of pesos would be added to our treasuries, our fiscal deficit problems would be a thing of the past. Well, I know gambling is never such a virtuous deed and I do not encourage it and I do not practice it also. But jueteng poses a queer problem where in order to lick it we have to ride on with it first. There is just no way for us now to eradicate this menace and all we could do is to regulate it first. In that manner, regulation can tone down the abuses and excessiveness of this old town habit and at the same time, like hitting two birds with a stone, our treasury will get a little fatter. This numbers game is such a legend that many things have emanated from it. I believe that no President has been immune from it. I mean, every President may benefit from it whether they like it or not. It is not only Erap that fell into this trap. The money is there for the taking and it’s hard to turn down, a kind of a Godfather proposition, “It is an offer you could not refuse”. I bet presidential candidates have been spending such huge amount of money in past elections thinking that jueteng will be there to save their day when finally they take their seat. For this reason alone, jueteng should be in the hands of the government in order that only individuals without grand monetary schemes would run for the highest position.
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