Straight From Pastor Ey

It probably makes sense to us now why our lawmakers could not and would not pass the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. COA Chair Grace Pulido-Tan. Image source: Philippine Daily Inquirer At this very moment, like combing through hair with a fine-toothed comb in search for blood-sucking lice, the online and offline media have examined and reexamined the recently released Special Audits Office Report Number 2012-03 or the Government-wide Performance Audit of the Commission on Audit (COA). (You can download the exhaustive 462-page report here .)  [The] special audit of the Commission on Audit (COA) has revealed that at least 74 legislators exceeded their annual allocations of P70 million for representatives and P200 million for senators and showed a glaring failure to protect the people’s money as legislators wantonly allocated funds to dubious nongovernment organizations (NGOs) implementing ghost livelihood projects under the watch of agencies ill-equipped to monitor them. (...

“Maipagtatanggol ba natin ito sa Plaza Miranda?”  Plaza Miranda. Image source: Wikipedia It is said that that question—“Can we defend it at Plaza Miranda?”—was the litmus test of the late President Ramon Magsaysay regarding everything and anything that his government said or did. (Plaza Miranda is the historic freedom park located in the heart of Manila.) That’s the same test that Senator Teofisto “TG” Guingona III sought to submit every law crafted in the halls of the Senate and Congress through SBN 73 or the Philippine Crowdsourcing Bill of 2013. According to Section 1 of the said bill, “This Act seeks to allow the people to participate in the legislative process, online and/or with the use of information and communications technology, providing effective and responsive mechanisms therefor.” (To read the full text of SBN 73, click here )  Senator TG explained in his privilege speech that it is “a ‘virtual’ Plaza Miranda. …asking large groups of people to cont...

We are to copy heroes, not just crown them. Image source: Student's Digest That’s what I believe the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) conveyed during the recent private screening of the “Ripples of Change: Democracy and Governance” documentary for young journalists, online influencers such as bloggers and other advocates whom RMAF called “Greatness of Spirit ambassadors.” (from the press kit of the GOS Ambassadors’ Kapihan Session) The documentary highlighted “the transformative solutions that the Ramon Magsaysay awardees effectively employed to change their communities for the better.” (Ibid)  The film screening laid the foundation for the upcoming, yearlong 55th anniversary celebration for the Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia’s Nobel Peace Prize. The late Secretary Jesse Robredo of the Department of Interior and Local Government was among those featured in the documentary. He received the 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service when he was mayor of...

“A hatred of women.” That’s how Merriam-Webster defined this nosebleed term. Screenshot: Merriam-Webster And that’s one of the labels I got when I engaged lately with skeptics on Twitter regarding the issue of submission and leadership in marriage. Screenshot of a portion of our Twitter exchanges. With all the tweets flying in rapid-fire succession from all directions, I knew that 140 characters would not be enough to explain what I think the Bible really taught on the issue. But, I did try. One even tried to lure me to talk about other hot button topics. But I refused to be drawn to it because the discussion—heated as it was already—would go off tangent. For that I got more flak. Well, no offense taken because I knew the so-called kitchen would be hot. And, I could stand the heat anyway. I assume my skeptical friends are well meaning. I assured them that I condemn violence against women, too.  Screenshot of one of the Twitter exchanges. I ...