Farmer faces 12 years jail for shooting, eating Philippine eagle

Not to mention there is a fine of P1 Million pesos for doing so. I wouldn’t even call him a farmer since he poached on an endangered animal.

Stupid as well. He didn’t know what it looked like and he’s 22 years old!?!?! Living on a farm nonetheless. He buried the transmitter affixed to the eagle on his property. Did he think he could get away with murder?!? He and his friends should be charged of the same crime as well.

I doubt that he pay the million peso fine for the crime he committed. He then should be kept behind bars for life. It would interesting in jail like the conversation would go, “I killed five people and robbed a bank. What are you in here for?” He would reply, “I killed a bird.”

Pathetic.

A abs-cbnNEWS.com photographer questioned by Ombudsman security

In other related news other than oil prices and the President’s State of the Nation address on Monday, a photographer for a magazine and news website was harassed by security at the Office of the Ombudsman for taking pictures of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez at a flag raising ceremony of the office which is held every Monday.

Editor in Chief Maritess Vitug is right in calling the attention of the Ombudsman security in harassing a photographer and worse yet in a public place where a public event is being held.

Why is this wrong? Do they have something to hide there? Click on the link which leads to the abs-cbnnews.com website above to see the picture. She should’ve put on some make up before stepping into public looking like that.

Had this been a TV crew would they have acted differently? It was clear that the photographer had clearly identified himself as a photojournalist. If they have a problem on how the photographer conducted himself, the complainant should have just sent a letter to his employers about it.

Interesting to see government offices acting like they were in the mob. Someone’s been watching too many organized crime movies.

Diesel pump prices to go up 3 pesos per liter

Apparently the oil companies have caught on. Since oil prices have been rising every week, Filipinos have turned to diesel engines since they have always been cheaper at the pump. But starting this weekend, the prices will rise up by 3 pesos which brings it closer to regular unleaded gasoline.

Unleaded will go up by P1.00 to once again break the P60 mark to P60.57. This brings the price of Manila gasoline beyond the $5.00 mark once again.

Antique residents fear toxic leak from another sunken ship

If the tons of endosulfan on the MV Princess of the Stars wasn’t bad enough. It turns out that the media barely noticed another sunken ship off the Island of Panay.

Probably because this is a cargo ship. Containers have already washed ashore but the contents of the ship is still somewhere under the sea. And this time it’s dangerous cargo.

It took almost 3 weeks after the typhoon for media outlets to report on this. Probably because of the lower death toll compared to the other ship. But still, the long term effects of the marine pollutants that these ships were carrying is something to be concerned of.

Farmer arrested for killing, eating rare Philippines eagle: officials

This just infuriates me. The question is what is going to happen to the poacher? I wouldn’t even want to call him a farmer since he’s supposed to be farming things and not poaching and hunting things for food?!?!

Punishment should be harsh. They just deprived the future another Philippine eagle.

MRT-3 ridership reaches half a million daily

While I was away, the price of unleaded gasoline did finally breach P60.57. Which brought the prices of gas to $5.19 a gallon in the Philippines. Oil companies reduced the price of gas yesterday by 1 peso or by almost 4 cents. But expect it to rise by next week.

People are turning to the trains as an alternative to using the car but is it enough? It doesn’t seem that traffic is getting any easier. Because what we need is a real mass transportation system. Our country has spent that past 20 years, while our neighbors dug more tunnels and expanded their railways in the city, we removed ours. Now when we finally need it, we have to wait at least five years before it gets here. The MRT was already ridden with anomalies and corruption. I know this for a fact first hand. Now is not the time. But of course, one can never be too greedy in this country.

We are feeling brunt of all the politics and greed that runs this nation. The sins of our past are now here to haunt us. Inept leaders of government and all the bureaucracy that has tied projects like this down in the past has come to make us suffer for it today. It is unfair to blame it to the current administration since they too are powerless to events that are happening globally. Face it peeps, you’re not the only one suffering in the world.

The one thing that people don’t seem to realize that you must make drastic lifestyle choices to see this global economic crunch through. There are a lot of things that I used to buy and used to do, I don’t anymore since I’m trying to save up some cash. I would love to take public transportation. I usually take the trains in almost every city I go to. Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Vienna, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, it’s everywhere but here?! These cities have long expansive rails that take their citizens practically everywhere they need to go. Here, I have to take my car.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my car. But driving is a total pain. What makes driving around in Manila expensive is all the gas you waste while you’re in traffic. I have to pay separately from train to bus to jeep to tricycles. Tricycles are such an eye sore. It’s a sign on how far your country is sinking. It’s not a solution to transportation if these public vehicle licenses are being issued just as much as a driver’s license. It just adds more congestion to the already congested streets and it doesn’t make it any easier to the regular car driver that these moving chicanes have to stop at every corner.

I want someone who can clean up the streets. Literally. I want to see only buses, taxis and private cars on the street and everyone else taking the train. No tricycles. You have feet! Start walking. It’s healthier. Jeeps?!? Probably as shuttles but not from one end of the city to the other.

The hard part about all of this is that I want to live long enough to see all these changes happen. Yeah, I can dream on. But it shouldn’t be just a dream it should be our goal.

2.6M more Metro folk by 2020 — ADB

According to the Asian Development Bank, Metro Manila will add 2.6 million more to it’s population by the year 2020. The cities part of Metro Manila are not even ready for the 10 million already living here. What more by 2020?

I would like to think that some cities are in fact trying to cope with this. But at the current rate, it’s still not enough. There’s no real mass transportation. I’m sorry but adding more jeeps, tricycles and buses isn’t the solution. Increasing these moving chicanes further increase congestion and pollution. Water supply is only being tolerable now. Where are we going to get that much water for 2 million more? Electricity is another problem. Isn’t anyone going green anytime soon? And of course there’s a lot of garbage to handle. The cities already don’t know where to put it and the surrounding provinces don’t want it. Very few households are segregating garbage and our entire sewage system is untreated.

Unless the people and government take care of this soon, I don’t think that Metro Manila would even be a livable place in 2020.

These are the days I like to see happen everyday. Not much to rant about the Philippines until tomorrow or Friday when gas prices are going up again. If this country was actually working I wouldn’t have this blog at all.

Sigh. Let’s just hope this lasts for a while.

Sulpicio Lines files case vs PAGASA for ‘faulty forecasting’

Seriously?!?! Blame the weather? Is that the best they can do? How can they explain that they were the only vessel who left port that day? Other who left earlier took refuge in nearby Batangas ports until the storm had passed.

Nearly half of LTO enforcers suspended, grounded

How do you expect people to follow road rules when traffic enforcers aren’t enforcing the laws? Everyday, traffic officials are involved in some form or corruption or another. This has led to many unlicensed public vehicles roaming the streets of Manila leading to further congestion of the streets. Stealing away passengers from duly licensed ones.

More vehicles on the street means more traffic and pollution. Not to mention increasing the number of people who don’t know how to drive on the streets. It’s already bad enough that you can get a driver’s license without ever taking the test. What’s worse is that they’re on the roads endangering the lives of many.

These officials fail to realize that when you give someone incompetent a driver’s license and put them behind the wheel of a truck, bus or any other public vehicle, they are putting lives in danger. It’s not enough that they’re just trying to make a living or earning a buck. That won’t be enough to pay for any damages they inflict while working.

I cheer LTO Chief Alberto Suansing. Keep it up. Rid our streets of incompetent drivers and traffic enforcers. Impose order on our streets and we will all save time and energy in the long run.