Why I'm never buying Del Monte Pineapples Ever again.

This is a head shot of the ill - fated MV Princess of Stars. Sulpicio Lines sunken ship proved to be more of a bad luck than ever. Just today, the news of a deadly pesticide named "Endosulfan" was reported to have been carried by this ship and is now in peril of breaking out into the sea. About 10 tons or 10, 000 kg is located in the cargo area and is only held together by a "normal" metal shipping cargo. Scientists report that even 10 mg or roughly about the size of a capsule could instantly kill an adult in just a few minutes. To that effect, the Department of Health issued a warning not to eat sea food products that were taken out of the region for precautionary measures. That is how deadly this substance is and to think that this is being used by DEL MONTE CORPORATION, Cagayan de Oro City.

Del Monte Corp. responded that they did in fact appointed this shipment to another ship and did not know that it was transferred to the capsized Princess of Stars therefore they shouldn't be blamed for such leakage.

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Putang Ina! That doesn't make a whole lot difference! Even if they used freight cargo's or submarines it doesn't change the fact that they are using this stuff as pesticides for their pineapples! What's worse and to be expected in this red tape of Phil. administration is that they probably won't be able to sue a lot against a Multinational Corporation like Del Monte. They'd probably just poke them a little here and there then leave them alone because our conscience and morality can just be bought.

A domino effect has been tinkered with because of the DOH's warning. The fisherfolks and market vendors are also suffering because they suddenly don't have anything to sell now that the people are also scared of buying seafood.

I could only hope we could all learn something from this tragedy. Sulpicio Lines, take responsibility.. and Del Monte, you suck! Big time. I'm switching to DOLE.

YOU SHOULD TOO!

My School is Cheating on Me

Ah yes.. June. The unholiest month of the year. The month where mothers clench tightly on their purses. The month where freshmeats..err.. freshmen students show off their new "cooler" status in life. The month where I shall start to be in my senior year.

Even if I still enjoy bumming around the house I am actually very excited for classes to start. Especially that this year, is a special one.. I'm graduating!!!!!!! *cartwheel* and I was pretty excited to get myself enrolled until I saw a new entry to the tuition assessment form..

Internet Fee...................................... P100

me: oh, that's new. I wonder why they didn't inform us much earlier of that. We must have new computers *smiling with glee*

me, after a few hours: Wait.. That's not right.. Where are the new computers? The gizmoos? The "world - class vision thingy?"

me, after a little more thinking: Huh?? So this fee is for the Wi - fi connections installed in SOME parts of the school?

me, now: WHAT THE....... Wi - fi Internet Fee?!?! But the student's don't even have laptops for crying out loud!!!


I do understand that P100 is a small fee nowadays for such a service, but if you think about it we're paying for something that we do not even have access to. It's just unfair and just another shot at making our mothers cringe for their purse. Moreover, if you multiply 200 bucks (for the whole schoolyear) and the number of students in the school that would be equal to 600k! To think that I haven't even enjoyed my varsity status yet because of the red tape! Arrgh.. This makes me want to rethink about my being senior. I know we'll be in deep sh*t when graduation time comes. I could only imagine what they could think of next *cringes*

Frustated. I'd give anything just for people to care!

I've graduated on doing
community involvement work and all that

Words coming out from a friend when I asked him to join Amnesty International. It never fails to amaze me how easy it is for people to brush off something that could have given a big effect on both their lives and others. On how easy it is to say yes to have a one night stand or whatever compared to giving just 5 minutes of your time per week. Yes, you can do things in AI with just 5 minutes of your time. You can boast to other people that you gave your freakin precious 5 minutes of your time for the rest of the suffering people in Iraq or Zimbabwe.


But nooooo.. Rarely do people want to help. It's a dog eats dog world out there. Sheesh. No wonder suicide rates are so high now..

Which reminds me of what Aneil, the AI London Director for membership and mobilization said last Annual General Assembly of AI in Manila:

Why do we brush our teeth? We don't ask ourselves that. We just do it. It's something that is inherent to people. They want to look good, to feel good, to be presentable to the rest of the human race. The average person brushes his/her teeth for about three minutes.. So in a month that's about 1 hour you spend brushing your teeth. And in a year, combine all the minutes and the hours, that's probably a day. Imagine for one year, you spent an entire day just brushing your teeth...

Now, imagine the last time you saved a life. Or you cared for someone in your community. Or was concerned for someone whose rights were stepped upon in China or Zimbabwe or anywhere in the world. When was the last time? In AI, you can spend 5 minutes of your time sending a formatted message to certain public officials whose attention should be grabbed. Saying that somebody is watching at them. That they won't easily get away with the violations they've made.


Aneil really touched me with his message and despite the pessimism this world has to offer, I'll still continue this! I just hope people would rather spend 5 minutes of their time saving a life than brushing their teeth.

Vagina Monologues 2008

It was held last May 2, 2008 (i know, this post is uber late) and marks the second run in Iligan City in celebration of Women's Month. The Vagina Monologues is a play by feminist Eve Ensler. It talks about different monologues collected all over the world from interviews by Ensler. The pieces can be dead hilarious (like mine) to really moving stories (comfort women).

My piece is entitled "The Vagina Workshop". It talks about a woman coming from a high class in Britain who did not even know that she had a clitoris, much less know where it actually was. It meant to show that women's issues and society's marginalization of them was all encompassing. That even the high and mighty rich people were affected by these issues.

It was really a great experience to be part of a diverse cast and great play. I hope more people would come to see it and realize that it's really not a porn - play (HELL NO!!!!!!! ignorants!). The money raised was donated to the Women's Crisis Center in Iligan City. So the more people who came to watch, the more money we could give and help the center.

People should realize that even if we are in the 21st century there are still crimes predominantly commited to women. We need more action. Each one should help.

Have the balls to act now.

Why we need Amnesty International at home

Amnesty International is a worldwide organization with human rights protection and monitoring as its core purpose. We the members are saddened, angered, and moved to act upon such violations. Whether you have a gay friend who was killed because of his sexual orientation, a brother in Iraq who was tortured, an aunt who got barred in the airport just because she's a muslim, or a classmate who got imprisoned because he believed that government should not have abolished his house without compensation. All of these things are happening now and we need each one of you to act, educate, and be aware of these issues.

AI has a lot of campaigns and activities depending on which local group or country you belong to. Unfortunately, there are not enough groups and members here in the Philippines. I have thought of opening AI Iligan. Just a small group of people doing trainings, kite flying events, concerts, and such to start with. I really hope that people would come and join this cause that concerns everyone of us.

The problem really here in the Philippines (but not exclusively) is that the youth has become apathetic with such causes and would rather indulge in hedonistic activites 100% of their time. Which just makes me cry a bucket per hour.

On an optimisitic note however, this won't stop me from starting this group. I'm willing to shell out my own allowance for the group activities and to get it started (donations are very welcome!!! please!!!!!). I hope to see more people getting involved and therefore getting empowered especially the youth.

To the human cause!

It seems like the society I live in today is quite apathetic about human rights violations, poverty, soaring gas prices, violence on women and so many more. Some just simply live on. Living for themselves and not giving a damn thing about the world..

Which is ironic really, because we all live in the same planet, breathe the same air, eat almost the same kinds of food.. Each of us has a 99.9% similarity with each other!! And yet, the question still remains unanswered like a one big piece of feces that people avoid stepping into:

WHY DON'T WE CARE FOR EACH OTHER?eren't born to r mass executions. But just because you don't see it happening right in front ofe-up and crap like there's no tomorrow. -_-