Philippine Judiciary: A whole lot of grease-money

With all the hoopla around Corona's impeachment and the 'stop work' or 'sit-down' strike of its supporters, no wonder the Philippine Judiciary system is in shambles. Corona is known as a 'midnight appointee', quickly put or placed by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as Chief Justice.

Now, this in itself is questionable. GMA has appointed someone there in a public office -  an office that must be unbiased, impartial, and fair for all citizens. Even though he is a qualified person, with this position as high almost the same as 'God', even more powerful than the President, is being appointed immediately. Without any scrutiny from fellow law bar members, or consensus from any third party organization. Why?

Actually there are lots of answers, I do not want to be involved neither. We all knew the answers in our minds and hearts. What am I after is how can we solve this mess that the Judiciary is facing. Let us study what the Philippine Judiciary is about, IN AN ORDINARY FILIPINO'S PERSPECTIVE :

Supreme Court - if you keep losing on all your cases, your final bet is the supreme court. I am surprised that even small cases right now like compensation for employees against their employer reach to the supreme court! (check out the case of NIÑA JEWELRY MANUFACTURING OF METAL ARTS, INC. (otherwise known as NIÑA MANUFACTURINGAND METAL ARTS, INC.) and ELISEA B. ABELLA, G.R. No. 188169 on SC's website http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2011/november2011/188169.htm)

I am not a lawyer or a judge here, but as a common person. This shows how long the justice system in the Philippines is taking. The case dragged from 2005 with the final decision posted on their website recently (promulgation was on 28 Nov. 2011).

Such a long process, what will the employees do for the rest of those 6 years? How can they eat and pay the bills? if they(employees) are guilty of theft, why they are not charged?

The SC must tackle big court cases only, not a simple employer/employee case which can be handled by the DOLE (another pathetic Phil. government organization).

So if you could just imagine a murder case like Nida Blanca, even the Vizconde Massacre, we don't know yet who is the killer? Where is he/she now? And how could our SC solve these cases? It would take many years for sure.

And if you want to fast track the decision - better have some grease-money to turn the gears of justice. The more the money, the better the chances the results will be in your favor.

(to be continued)

Top 5 Philippine TV shows that you must not watch

We all know that our Philippine TV episodes are a lot of junk these days. I got fed up and made this list. All the reasons why we must not watch these are stated here and I will also give alternatives. If you have any comments, suggestions, or violent reactions, let me know:

1). TV Patrol, 24 oras, or any 6:00 news - I know everyone will hate me for this, but please hear me out. All of the news presented there are tabloid style, poor delivery, and redundant. These are just compiled news from the early morning or left overs from yesterday.  Some of which are based on opinions only, and we Filipinos love that. Mike Enriquez is entertaining at first, but somehow other people can't understand him as he is over acting. And we doubt the credibility of Noli De Castro now because he became VP and now back to being broadcaster. Watching these is just sort of a guilty pleasure to some of the viewers. But if you watch with an open mind, it is not worth your time.

Alternative: Watch the evening news or listen to the morning news on the radio. That is much better and the news is more fresh/updated.

2). Eat Bulaga, Showtime, Will Time Big Time and other game shows that make you stupid - The game show culture has been a boom in the early days of television up to today, and the Philippines is suffering from it. Its citizens are queuing from these different broadcasting companies hoping to win some money and losing their dignity in the process (remember 'Jan-jan' where he danced like a male stripper? He is just a small boy!).
I remember during those school days that I always watch Eat Bulaga and after that they have this small telenovela called 'Agila' or 'Heredero'. As a child, it is such good entertainment on those early days. But there was no choice. If there were good learning episodes back then, maybe we should have watched that and improved our grades in school. If I remember, there was this 30 minute episode of Channel 4 where they feature Chemistry and Physics. But that is presented by a woman from DOST, which is so boring. Another thing, it was aired on mid afternoon where a lot of children are having their siesta.

Alternative: You can still watch game shows, but go for those that where you can learn new things. Like 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' or 'Jeopardy'. If you have cable, of course watch Natgeo or Discovery.

3). Telenovelas - Now this is what I do not like bar-none. Waste of time and electricity, but Filipinos love it! I don't know why. We are already a country that's so melodramatic. That is why we cannot prosper. All those crying, womanizing, being a traitor, pa-cute 'kilig' scenes will haunt you and drain your sense of logic.

Alternative: There lots of episodes where you will learn something, like travel shows, trivia, even cooking. at least you have learned something rather than thinking 'where is the diary of Mara?'.... maybe it's in her ass.

4). Showbiz talk shows like 'The Buzz', 'Startalk' and other celebrity shows - Don't you get it? These shows are manipulating your thoughts and feelings? Well so what if KC knows that Piolo has someone (if he wants a banana or a flower I don't give a sh*t). Why are we wasting our time with them anyway? If they give some money probably that's okay. Even so, they are just fooling us to make us watch more.

Alternative: None. Let us focus on major stars who have contributed greatly to the film industry. Oscars or Golden Globes is much better. Gawad-Urian awards is nice.

5). PBB, Survivor, and all those reality shows - I watched some of the reality shows of the US and Europe. Some are good, but not always. I used to watch 'The Real World' from MTV, but the episodes became more, i don't know, ugly. And making it into Philippine version is much more uglier. This brings us to the conclusion that watching ourselves, especially our own race makes us look like animals being observed. Gone are the days where some game shows show your team strengths and your wit to battle against the other teams. Here, it's just plain stupid where you compete as a team but a lone winner will win the prize. Why can't someone had an idea of killing all the cast aways and take the money by himself/herself? That's much faster. Hey, its 'survival' anyway.

Alternative: there are game shows that promote team building. By being a good team where everyone support each other to battle against the other team, that is much better, and a valuable lesson is learned that being a good team can overcome any obstacle. If they want to check the individual's survival instincts, Takeshi's Castle is more entertaining than these 'team to traitor' reality shows.

The bottom line here is, let us watch television shows where we can learn something, that contribute to nation building. Let us be thankful that we have cable, satellite tv. Youtube is now there as another option for us. We can now choose what to watch and when.

I think the only show that live up to its name which helped us through the years is "Ating Alamin" on channel 4.
This show has helped our farmers, businessmen, entrepreneurs, and ordinary citizens to learn and make money in the process.