And You Call Yourself An SC Judge?

This made me barf. Well, almost.

In an article by Jay Ruiz, the journalist wrote the next chapter of the drama surrounding the SC Justice, Mariano del Castillo, or better known as "The Plagiarizing Judge". He mentioned Atty. Louie Oximer, lawyer of del Castillo, as saying that "plagiarism is not a high crime, is not bribery or treason and is not culpable violation of the Constitution. Therefore, it cannot be an impeachable offense."

Just to put this in context, del Castillo is involved in an impeachment complaint which alleges that he, in his capacity as the ponente, had plagiarized parts of the decision in the Vinuya case (For more details, visit this link).

As for my humble opinion, I don't care if plagiarizing is impeachable or not. It's simply wrong. And I believe, if you are a Supreme Court Justice, then you are supposed to uphold the highest standard of ethical judgment and moral character. The moment you fail to meet this standard, you are no longer fit to be part of the court. Enough said.

Contrast this to a similar case of plagiarism several years back. Manuel V. Pangilinan, after having been accused of plagiarism, immediately offered his resignation as chairman of the Board of Trustees of ADMU. It didn't matter that his staff were the ones who plagiarized the content of his speeches; he took everything as his own mistake. He took full responsibility for the debacle and pretty much showed the world what he was really made of.

For del Castillo, he has also shown the world who he really is and it is not pretty. Even after countless evidence of him copying verbatim from numerous sources without citing their authors, Del Castillo has refused to step down and resign as an SC justice.

To Atty. Oximer: The question never was if plagiarism is impeachable or not. The question was always if Del Castillo had failed and betrayed us, the Filipino people, through his repeated acts of wanton plagiarism. He has. He has to step down.

Pero baga siya ug nahung kay naa pa gyapun siya sa iyang trono.

SALEM

SALEM.

Society of Ateneo Literature and English Majors.

The first time I heard this, it came from Pam, my classmate in college. It was a club specifically for English and Literature majors in the Humanities Division. However, it was disbanded way before we came in the ADDU as college newbies. She was interested in opening up a club for us English majors (since the Masscomm pipz had one already) and we were to be the resurrected version of the club sans the Literature part (since Ateneo wasn't offering the course anymore).

The idea, however, never caught on with us. Looking back, I guess it was because no one had a good vision of what the club should be. Pam had floated the idea that we will be the ones responsible for "The Human Voice" from now on, the newsletter of the Humanities Division, but we all knew that was the Masscomm people's territory and responsibility. I had thought of the club as a starting point to galvanize and gather the English majors around, especially the younger ones, but, upon closer examination, I again thought that forming a club for that sole purpose is simply overkill.

 But the idea did live on, this time, with another set of protagonists. Sir Dom, another classmate of mine, the formerly genius interloper turned genius teacher, had set up the club all by himself. Soon, other students caught on and joined and SALEM was officially back in business. 

I have to give credit to Sir Dom. He had the tenacity to make it happen but, above all else, he knew what the club should be. He thought of the club as a nurturing ground for potential writers and built from there. Then, the camaraderie and friendship followed naturally. Looking back, I didn't think of it that way. That was how limited my vision was for the idea.

Right now, I'm part of SALEM's list in Facebook. Every now and then, I receive a notification from the group, as if I had any part of the club. Most of the time, I treat these notifications as a nuisance but, then again, I check the links out and admire the kids who made SALEM possible once more. 

All kudos to you. You guys are great.

Green Cement

 As you know, cement production is easily one of the most polluting industries known to man. The process itself releases huge amounts of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, both in the heating of the raw materials and in the actual energy used to generate that heat.

In Popsci, there is a way to resolve this problem. In an article by Benjamin Phelan, Brent Constantz talks about how his company, Calera, is producing cement by capturing carbon in the exhaust fumes spewing out of a typical power plant and bonding this with the calcium present in seawater. In doing so, the process manages to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and returning it back to Earth in the form of usable concrete.

You can read another article about the same story here.

A Restaurant Idea

Perhaps, it has never caught on with the general public because it's alien or inherently un-Filipino.

The first time I had a course meal was during the SAP Summit of 2008 held in Edsa Shangri-La. I remember being impressed by the clockwork precision of the waiters who served us. Guests were sitting down to eat while some had already finished their dinner yet all the while the waiters were there, knowing who had finished eating this or that, serving varying plates depending on where a certain guest was on his or her personal culinary journey. It was fast food efficiently disguised as a five-star meal.

Oddly, you only see the course meal or dinner in hotels. You don't see restaurants in the Philippines serving this to the masses. For restaurants, it has always been about boasting your menu and giving the patrons the liberty to choose whichever they like. This, in itself, is not necessarily bad but what if the patron lazily acknowledges that he has no time nor the inclination to choose and he prefer that the chef surprise him? What then?

The one thing that the course meal has going for it is the image that it is complete, featuring the special dishes in the house. It's not meant to be bombastic but rather fills you up gradually through a regimen that best exposes you to different tastes, thereby lavishing you with a more enriching experience of soul and food. Other than that is the fact that the course meal is intended to tease you, to keep pace with your progress, and ultimately to make you eat like the French, who are never in a hurry to enjoy the gustatory delights of money well spent.

My hope is that, maybe someday, restaurants in the local scene will start featuring course meals for a change. It's something I'm going to look forward to.

Valentine's

Give flowers to each and every woman in the business center? Check.

Finally, I did it. With a bit of help from the other boys in the business center, obviously. 

What started it all was Aissa's accidental remark that she won't be getting anything on Valentine's (which turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy as I narrate later). This got me thinking if the other ladies in the business center also harbored the same sobering thoughts. So I resolved that this year, on Valentine's, everyone will be celebrating the day of love. The proposal? Give each lady (fifty four in all) a rose.

The ball started rolling when Henry mentioned about Ma'am Che's new business: flower arrangements. I got hold of her text message and was genuinely shocked at the price: Php 400.00 per rose. There was the issue of supply after all and roses definitely don't come cheap during Valentine's.

So I sought out to get a supplier who would offer me a better price. After trips to Victoria, I ended up talking to Nang Nene, a stall owner in Bankerohan (who, coincidentally, turned out to be Ma'am Che's supplier in the end). Her offer: Php 300.00 per dozen. I had my price and ordered five dozen.

Next, I sought out Ma'am Che's services again for the arrangement and she (probably because she's a former officer of the business center) settled for Php 25.00 per rose. 

I was set and ready to go. But I needed assurance that I would get financing for the proposal (Php 3,000.00 isn't a piece of cake) so I tried to win all the boys' approval for the initiative. It's a good thing they were willing to make the necessary amut and, after which, all I needed from them was their participation in the actual rose giving "ritual". 

I bought the flowers, designed and printed the Valentine's greeting cards, and paid Ma'am Che. The rest was history. Each boy gave a flower to each lady and, for a day, the business center smelled of flowers and smiles.

As for Aissa, she didn't receive a rose from us. She was on leave that day.

Another Rainy Night

Just walked barefoot in downtown Davao. Torrential rain made the streets appear like raging rivers. Was trying to hail a taxi to no avail. Finally packed my shoes and waded into ankle-deep waters.

There's always a first time for everything.

Acceptance

Praying for acceptance is probably the hardest thing to do. 

That's because it is inherent in human nature to resist. Life gives an obstacle and one resists by fighting back or evading or obliterating whatever is in front.

In a way, this is good because it makes us better persons. Resisting makes us stronger, more resilient. When we dream of a better life for ourselves and our families and we strive our best to get that dream, we are resisting. When we persevere despite the many adverse conditions thrown at us, we are resisting. When we love the unlovable and care for those who don't care us back, we also resist.

But resisting is only good to a certain point. Unfortunately, there are many instances in life which simply blow us away, renders us weak and struggling for some sense of cosmic understanding. A loved one is diagnosed with cancer or suffers a stroke and is debilitated for life. A tragedy occurs and takes away the house, the dog, your wife and kids. A baby is diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. And that baby dies after just over three months. 

In all these scenarios, death, or loss, plays his part, ever mysterious and foreboding.  And the more we resist, the more we choose not to accept him, to welcome him like an old friend, the more we hurt ourselves in the process. 

The cancer will go away, it must go away. He'll be fully recovered by then, you wait and see. They're missing; they're not dead. They'll come back. Why did you have to take her away?

It is at this time that we need to pray for acceptance and strength. But it's oh-so hard to kneel down and say, "Lord, please grant me the grace to accept this."

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. - The Serenity Prayer

How Corona Differs From Those Japanese Prime Ministers

In 2007, Shinzo Abe, the 90th prime minister of Japan, resigned from his office. His decision came about after a series of scandals involving his subordinates nearly wrecked his political party and downgraded his popularity. It was as swift as it was expected. He resigned almost a month after he tried reshuffling his cabinet, a last-minute effort to win the public.

At first glance, you would think that his decision was quite rash and unfair. In the first place, his cabinet members were the ones messing around, not him. But a closer look at how politics work in Japan would yield a picture of individuals with uncompromising views of what honor is and what it should be. Current affairs would tell you that most Japanese prime ministers have held the office for only a few months, eventually ending their terms by resigning due to unpopularity. In Shinzo Abe's case, he believed in the concept of command responsibility, claiming as his own the shortcomings of the people he led.  It was all about respect, respect for the office that he held, an office that should be held only by those whose reputation and personality are above board.

Sadly, such an unflinching view of the public office is missing in our government officials. The latest in this string of people would be Corona, the man now being impeached. True, the prosecution has made an excellent job bungling their own case and the defense has been quite brilliant protecting their client. But, if one were to step back and look at the whole charade, one would be disappointed. Perhaps, we had higher expectations of what the Chief Justice should be but I don't see that in Corona right now. And as his trial drags on and a less exalted view of him is finally coming into view, I find myself asking, "How can this man sit through this entire episode and still believe that he can be the face of this country's justice system?"

In the next couple of days, the issues that will be tackled in court will get more serious. Even if Corona will survive this trial, his image will be so tarnished by doubt and apprehensions over his character that he will no longer be fit to be in the Supreme Court. However, if he's like one of our politicians, he'll be the last person on earth to know this fact.

There was a time when our government officials were like Japanese prime ministers, when they valued their names as much as their Japanese counterparts. I remember Raul Roco. He resigned from his post as the DepEd Secretary after rumors circulated that he will be investigated for graft. 

Many sides would later on pinpoint the "true" reasons behind his sudden resignation, citing this move as one of Roco's many political maneuvers in his bid for the presidency. But the fact remains that he resigned after someone merely questioned his integrity. For him, it was a matter of that subtle, often misunderstood, Filipino value called "delikadeza" which made him, at that moment of resignation, similar to those Japanese prime ministers.

Nowadays, you cannot say the same to our government officials who will always cling to their positions, despite scandals and bad public perception, at whatever the cost. Sad to say, Corona is becoming one of these men.

9GAG

Oh no. This can't be good. I'm addicted to 9gag and I cannot stop.