"Ruskin and Priscilla" Desecrate the Libingan ng mga Bayani

“We’re saddened by this kind of disrespect by some people, and we appeal to the public to refrain from doing such things over the graves of our heroes,” military spokesman Commodore Miguel Jose Rodriguez said.

by Florante S. Solmerin

The Armed Forces on Thursday said the photos published on the Internet showing a pre-nuptial gathering of friends at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, a military cemetery in Fort Bonifacio, were offensive and disrespectful.

“We’re saddened by this kind of disrespect by some people, and we appeal to the public to refrain from doing such things over the graves of our heroes,” military spokesman Commodore Miguel Jose Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez referred to a series of outre prenuptial photos for “Ruskin and Priscilla” taken by East Digital Studio. One photo showed a man laughing while wrapping his arms and legs around a grave marker, while another showed his fiancee sitting on a cross and raising a wine glass in a toast, with bottles of liquor beside her.

In another shot, the couple, cross-dressed, pose beside a grave marker—with the man in drag puffing on a cigarette.

The photos were taken down from the studio’s Web site, but not before they were roundly criticized and re-posted on other sites.

A spokesman for the studio, head photographer Anthony Magana, apologized to the families of Filipino soldiers for “overlooking the sanctity” of the cemetery.

“We also want to apologize to our fellow photographers for crossing the line in doing our jobs,” he said.

Magana told the Manila Standard the concept for the shoot, built around the theme “Till Death Do Us Part,” came from the couple, whom he identified as Ruskin and Priscilla Magat, who were married March 19.

Both the couple and the studio came under heavy criticism online.

One page created on Facebook, called “100,000 like to condemn the desecration of graves of Filipino soldiers,” drew hundreds of comments, most of them critical.

“I have been to Libingan ng mga Bayani and the soldiers who are managing the place have the highest regard for it,” said Shirley Lim.

“This photo shoot is very, very disrespectful. To be creative is good but to desecrate the burial site of our soldiers is highly unacceptable.”

“May the couple rest in peace,” Edwin Cordoba added.

“I’ve carried so many caskets of my hero-friends [who] were buried in this hallowed ground. Our comrades and their families don’t deserve this selfish act of insensitivity and irresponsibility.”

“Our heroes gave their lives for the likes of such losers?” Bobby Bernal Navarro said.
Rodriguez said Army Chief Lt. Gen. Arturo Ortiz was ordered to investigate the incident.
“The Libingan is a public place and open for everybody to visit,” Rodriguez said.

“It is a very sacred place for our heroes who died in the line of duty and statesmen who served our country faithfully. It’s imperative for us to show our full respect to them.”

Rodriguez said, however, that no charges would be filed against the couple or the photo studio.
“What we are looking at is the management of the Libingan ng mga Bayani and how this happened,’’ he said.

“We definitely don’t want this kind of thing repeated. We probably should revisit our regulations.”

Pre-nuptial pictorials and videos started to become popular among couples about to be married aroundseven or eight years ago. Couples would hire a photographer and sometimes even a stylist to generate striking photographs or unusual videos that would be shown during the wedding.

Late last year, businessman Victor Consunji and beauty queen and actress Maggie Wilson created a stir when they posted their pre-nuptial video on the Web. Some people described it as “racy” and some called it soft porn, featuring Consunji, a real estate scion, making out with a leggy Wilson inside a car.

Pinoys among the world's most health, nutrition, and diet conscious

Good nutrition is easily achieved by eating the right kinds of food and eating them in the right proportions. It requires implementing a well-balanced diet and avoiding the tendencies of overeating.

If one wants to have a healthy body, one must know the right nutrients that the body needs. Healthful diets help children grow, develop, and do well in school. They enable people of all ages to work productively and feel their best.

Nutrition has a direct effect on overall health. A bad diet will provide too few calories, not enough vitamins and minerals. What people eat can also help reduce the risk of diseases such as heart ailments, certain cancers, diabetes, stroke, and osteoporosis.

Overeating and malnutrition are two things which can both lead to poor health. Eating right can reduce the risk of obesity, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and diabetes.

A healthy diet will give your body the right amount of energy, enough raw materials and all the little helpers you need to stay healthy.

In a 17-country research done by a British organization, Oxfam International, the Philippines was found to be one of two countries, the other being India, which were most concerned about nutrition.

The survey said nutrition was among the top consideration of 63 percent of Filipino respondents in choosing the food they eat.

Healthy eating habits are beneficial to the nation’s well-being and now that Filipinos have a better idea of how nutrition is beneficial to their health, the next steps will allow the population to better their lives.

Pacquiao's next fight guaranteed $20M

World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Sarangani Rep. Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao is guaranteed $20 million (P860 million) in the much-awaited rubber match with Mexican nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez on Nov. 12 in Las Vegas, reports from the US reveal.

The purse is exactly what Pacquiao got as a guarantee when he took the sting out of Shane Mosley last May, but the Filipino pound-for-pound king should make a killing in the extra income that will be generated by an expected larger pay-per-view audience.

If the Pacquiao-Mosley fight drew more than 1.3 million buys, ringsiders are more than optimistic that the Pacquiao-Marquez showdown will do even greater what with the bad blood that exists between the two fighters.

Marquez is getting a guaranteed $5 million, the same amount Mosley was paid by Top Rank. Of course, the Mexican counter-puncher is also entitled to a share in the pay-per-view.

Top Rank chief Bob Arum believes the November encounter will go down as the biggest Pacquiao fight ever in terms of global impact and financial gain.

Arum is kicking off the promotional hype with a press conference at the Luneta on Sept. 3 with Marquez in attendance. From Manila, the tour will go to New York, Los Angeles and then onwards to Marquez’s lair in Mexico City.

Meanwhile, the long line of aspirants to Pacquiao’s throne has grown longer with the announcement made by world lightweight kingpin Brandon Rios that he wants a piece of the pound-for-pound king.

Speaking to the Orange County Register newspaper, Rios said: “I don’t know if I’ll ever get to fight him, but if I do, I’m going to make him fight.”

Rios, who is meeting many-time Pacquiao sparring partner Urbano Antillon this Saturday night in Carson, California, has already a gameplan for the Pacquiao fight.

“I am going to attack him, because that’s what I believe in,” said Rios, stressing that he is even willing to face Pacquiao for free.

Rios is the stablemate of Antonio Margarito, the Mexican giant Pacquiao mauled so badly that Margarito had to undergo an orbital bone operation so he can resume his boxing career.

Others drooling over the prospects of meeting Pacquiao include Floyd Mayweather, Andre Berto, Timothy Bradley, Kermit Cintron and Sergio Martinez.

By Nick Giongco

DUTERTE’S: Criminal promoters of impunity

“But Vice Mayor now Acting Mayor Rodrigo Duterte made it worse. For he has spoken out to the world, on the ABS CBN News Channel or ANC, about how proud he was of what his daughter had done and how, if were in his daughter’s place, he would not only have punched the sheriff but also kicked him. Like dog?”

DUTERTE’S: Criminal promoters of impunity

from: The Manila Times

Mayor Sara Duterte of Davao City and her father have just openly become criminal promoters of impunity.

Our leaders and officials must have the obliteration of the culture of impunity among their 10 most important goals. That culture tenaciously prevails in our society as tenaciously as the culture of corruption. In fact long-term corruption, perpetrated by lifetime holders of public office and power, is possible only because corrupt officials, who often also are criminal, can do their evil deeds with impunity. Which means these officials go on doing their bad deeds without fear of being prosecuted and punished.

The female mayor of Davao City was seen on nationwide TV newscasts punching a sheriff on the eye and on the face. Sheriffs do not fall under the jurisdiction of mayors. They are personnel of the judiciary. Mayors belong to the executive branch of our three-branched governmental system. The other two branches are the legislative and the judicial.

The principle of separation of powers governs the relationship between these three branches. The separation is important. Without it there would be no possibility of checks and balances among and between the three branches. The absence of a system of checks and balances will allow authoritarianism if not outright dictatorship to reign.

Not that authoritarian rule is totally absent in our country today. Twenty-six years have have passed after the ouster of the late Ferdinand Marcoss who had imposed a Martial Law regime and after that a legalistically cloaked dictatorship. But there are many pockets of dictatorial rule in the Philippines.

Pockets of dictatorial rule


Davao City, which has been the turf of the Duterte family for years and years, is said by many—locals as well as observers from outside Davao, including those from other countries—to be an example of a Philippine political subdivision that is run dictatorially in the name of maintaining peace and day-to-day orderliness. Davao is said to have “death squads.” Amnesty International and other human rights monitors are unceasingly working to have Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte (now acting mayor while his daughter Mayor Sara Duterte is on leave of absence) pinned down for his alleged culpability for extrajudicial killings and disappearances of “undesirables” and “criminal elements.”

It was bad enough that Ms. Duterte, like a hoodlum, attacked the sheriff, who meekly allowed himself to be beaten though he could not have down anything to fend off the blows because his arms were being held by the mayor’s men.

But Vice Mayor now Acting Mayor Rodrigo Duterte made it worse. For he has spoken out to the world, on the ABS CBN News Channel or ANC, about how proud he was of what his daughter had done and how, if were in his daughter’s place, he would not only have punched the sheriff but also kicked him. Like dog?

When asked for his reaction to the scandal his daughter’s action was causing, he put out the dirty finger sign (in Tagalog that gesture is called “pasulot” which is the nonverbal way of saying “F—ck you!” or in Tagalog “H——t mo!”) addressing, he himself said, columnists and other critics.

Speaking at ANC’s The Rundown, Mr. Duterte attempted to justify his daughter’s behavior. In any case, even if it were true that what made Ms. Duterte blow her fuse was Court Sheriff Abe Andres’ failure to accede to her request to delay the demolition by only two hours, she should have not forgotten that as an official her job is to uphold the rule of law and not use violence against a law enforcement officer.
What makes it even worse for her as a scofflaw is that she is also a lawyer. Lawyers are officers of the Judiciary. She could be disbarred.

Vice-Mayor now Acting Mayor Duterte also told the ANC audiences that his daughter would be willing “to accept the consequences of her actions including possible disbarment as a lawyer and even dismissal as a local official.” But that “She is not ready to apologize. She offers no excuses. No apologies, no nothing. So be it. All the yakkings of the mouth, millions of them…You want blood? We will give it to you. My daughter says she can live without the title of being a lawyer. She can win the elections next time around. So go ahead, they can do the worst. She is willing to receive the orders tomorrow,” he said.

Asked if the situation were reversed and he the Vice Mayor got punched during the demolition, how would he react. In tortured Tagalog, he said: “Barilin kita. Bakit mo ako suntukin? Ako nga ang peacemaker para walang gulo e to prevent bloodshed tapos suntukin ako. I’ll shoot you. (I’ll shoot you. Why do you box me. I am the peacemaker and stopping the disorder and preventing bloodshed and now you punch me.).”

Local Governments Secretary Jesus Robredo must put Mr. Duterte and Ms. Duterte in their proper places—and remind them that violence and taking the law into one’s hands are forbidden in our trying-to-be democratic and lawful Republic.

25 of every 100 policemen lack firearms to fight crimes

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, on Tuesday said that the department is doing everything it could to address the firearms supply shortage in the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Dunning for higher budget and gun donors, DILG is also looking at the reissue of confiscated firearms including those seized from the Ampatuan political clan to beef up police firepower.

Robredo noted that only 75 percent of the 40,000-strong PNP have been issued firearms.

To address the shortage, DILG is looking for ways and means to increase the budget for the PNP, as well as in seeking the support of other agencies and donations from the private sector.

Just recently, Robredo said, the PNP received at least 71 units of assorted firearms from the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC). They are also looking for other possible donors.

“The PNCC donation shows that people in government are working together to find solutions to common problems such as the lack of mobility and firearms of policemen,” he added.

Apart from firearms the PNCC also donated ten units of motorcycles and 18 units of patrol vehicles.

Robredo is also considering the possible reissue of firearms seized by authorities from the Ampatuan political clan in Maguindao province.

He however noted that 1,500 assorted firearms confiscated by police and military personnel in Maguindanao could only be issued to police personnel upon completion of the Maguindanao Massacre case.

Robredo earlier directed PNP chief Raul Bacalzo and PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief, Chief Supt. Samuel Pagdilao to submit updated reports on the whereabouts and status of the seized Ampatuan war materiel.

The DILG Secretary said that it is important for them to know how the firearms ended up in the hands of the Ampatuans, and who are responsible for it in order to prevent similar incidents from happening.

Robredo is also working on the re-issue of some 2,000 firearms which were confiscated by police is various operations nationwide.

If there are no claimants and any legal impediments, we can issue these firearms to our police,” he added.

He also ordered the PNP leadership to look into reports regarding the practice of some police officers selling their service firearms to individuals and groups.

BY JEFFERSON ANTIPORDA

Overweight men have poorer sperm count

Overweight or obese men, like their female counterparts, have a lower chance of becoming a parent, according to a comparison of sperm quality presented at a European fertility meeting Monday.

In what they described as the largest study of its kind, doctors looked at sperm samples from 1,940 men and matched them to the donor's weight.

The benchmark was the body mass index (BMI), a measure of body fat among adults. Under this, normal weight is defined as a BMI of 18.5-25; overweight as 25-30 and obesity as 30 or more.

The higher the count in excess weight, the more the sperm quality suffered, especially among those in the obese category, according to the findings, presented at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in Stockholm.

"Excess weight causes a modification in sperm characteristics, probably as a result of hormonal disturbance, which results in lower sperm numbers, motility and vitality," said Paul Cohen-Bacrie, scientific director at Eylau-Unilabs in Paris, part of a Swiss-based network of labs in 12 European countries.

"This leads to losses in conception potential," he said by phone.

The research found that the sperm count was lower by 10 percent among overweight men, and by 20 percent among obese men, compared with counterparts of normal weight.

The percentage of men who had a zero sperm count rose almost fourfold, from one percent in the normal weight category, to 3.8 percent, in the obese category.

By Paul Ellis

Dutertes flash their "Dirty Fingers" to the Media

Like father, like son... like daughter?



A son of Davao City Vice-Mayor Rodrigo Duterte defied criticisms aimed at his sister, Mayor Sara Duterte, for punching a court sheriff last Friday.



Councilor Paul Duterte, president of the city's league of barangays, also flashed a dirty finger in front of journalists when asked about his reactions to his father's stand on the issue.

"Nia pa oh (Here's more)," he said.

He immediately walked away after flashing the dirty finger.

His father on Monday flashed the dirty finger and cussed at critics of his daughter Sara.

"Ano? Mga columnist? Oh! (shows dirty finger) ta#@n*a (expletive), hindi lang sampal ang inabot noon. (Expletive), you wage a battle against your own people using policemen?" he said.

HERE'S THE NEWS FOOTAGE THAT CAUGHT THE DUTERTE DIRTY FINGERS

The city's 30 barangay captains went to Councilor Duterte's office to express support for the mayor.

"We take the side of the poor and oppressed. We are always at her side. Expect the worst," said Barangay 28-C chief Sheena Duazo.

Meanwhile, the Davao chapter of the Sheriffs Confederation of the Philippines expressed dismay at the decision of court sheriff Abe Andres on not filing a case against Mayor Duterte.

"Hurt kami sa nangyari kay Andres, pero nirerespeto namin disisyon ni Andres. Hihintayin nalang namin ang hakbang ng national," said chapter president Sergio Tupaz.

By Francis Magbanua