Sharing from the Post of Caloy Bueno  26 April 2023 We, most of us, are among the faceless majority of humanity in this cruel world. In the ages long past, life was already brutal enough ~ human life simply floated in the wind like just another fallen leaf, subject to luck or fate ~ it either found a good spot to land on the ground, to return its nutrients back into the soil to help nurture the young leaves (i.e., family and community) still needing sustenance in the tree of life; or it got blown off to who-knows-what hell awaited it . . . there to rot into oblivion uselessly or without any meaning at all to its existence (just another insignificant leaf) . . .   In the present, the world at large has gotten more complicated ~ euphemistically called "modern" and more cosmopolitan or sophisticated. But still, fate or luck has not been kind at all to the ordinary human lives of this day and age ~ if anything, modern life has become even crueler to the weak and helpless. And in ...

By Jack Aquino Lifted from Pinoy Entrepreneur  Kundol Candy  I spotted several kundols (white gourd, winter melon or petha) in my gate, fences and grills. Hmmm... I will cook them like upo (with ground pork or shrimp) but will let one grow and mature to make kundol candies. Last year, I cooked some preserved sweets in bottles or jars.  Did you know that hopiang baboy is actually made of kundol candies not diced pork?  Ingredients • 2 kg kundol, cut sized-batton fries • 2 kg sugar • 2 teaspoons tawas (alum powder) • 2 tablespoons lemon juice or calamansi juice  Procedure • Cut ash kundol into half, remove skin and seeds. • Cut into pieces of desired size  like small potato fries. • Prick them with a fork or any other pointed thing. • Place kundol pieces in a large pan • Pour sufficient water so as to just cover the pieces. • Add tawas (alum powder) and boil for about 15 to 20 minutes. • Remove from heat, drain and wash thoroughly under running water. • Combi...

Philippines is a country rich in both natural resources and many rare natures' beauty. Kate has one vivid recollections of the waterfalls in their locality unknown to many travellers yet. Read on... CAN-UMANTAD FALLS By Kathleen Valleser My inspirations 💚 My sister's family.  This is Can-umantad Falls in Candijay, Bohol. Can-umantad derived from old Bisayan word "Kan- uman" which means "Sixty" and "Tad"- means fathom. The height of the falls is said to be 60ft. making it the tallest waterfall in Bohol. I remember when me, my sister and her then boyfriend and some other friends came to visit the falls for the first time, it wasn't developed yet. From the top we came down to explore the area by navigating with the huge vines (bagon) as what we call it. We literally were like Tarzans by that time way back 21 years ago if I'm not mistaken Tracy Sage were you there? It was a pure joy to me we did river tricking and none of us has an idea of wha...

Lifted from Kate Valleser 22 April 2023 Who started bullying? Ed Alunan Noynoy clearly did when during the 2010 Luneta hostage crisis, he refused to answer the calls of HK Chief Executive Donald Tsang for the stupid reason that the latter's public position was lesser than his, therefore not worthy of speaking to. Several lapses denied the lives of 8 HK tourists by the hostage taker who was a police officer, and the ill-equipped and clumsy rescue operation. The entire episode was observed and directed by Noynoy together with Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim from a nearby Chinese restaurant. The Chinese were infuriated by Noy's refuel to take their frantic telephone calls, his unsympathetic demeanor during his site visit smiling like a tourist and seen by the Chinese people over live television, and to top it all, his haughty refusal to apologize at all to the People's Republic of China. Despite all these, Aquino's failure was approved by Filipinos as reflected on approval survey...

5 April 2023 Rejoinder to Sec. Diokno on Military Retirement Pay: 05 April 2023 Subject: Military Pension To: Dr. Benjamin E. Diokno Secretary, Department of Finance DOF Building, BSP Complex Roxas Boulevard Manila Dear Secretary Diokno,  Please allow me to respond to your assertions on the MUP pension system. 1. You said the pension scheme is ridiculous because personnel in the active service can optionally retire after completing 20 years of service and receive pension for 50 years because they live up to 90.  The pension scheme is not ridiculous but your assertion is. That pension benefit you refer to was vested by law. Pension after 20 years of service, once approved by the competent authority, is the norm even in most foreign militaries. Also, living up to 90 is a blessing and pensioners must not be faulted for it. Discipline explains it. 2. You compared military pensions with those of civilians, where military men do not contribute to it while civilians do.  Your co...

10 April 2023 BONGBONG, THINK BEFORE YOU JUMP By Jose Alejandrino  A president who places his country and people in harm’s way forfeits his right to govern the nation because he becomes a threat to his own people. There is nothing wrong with a PH-US Mutual Defense Treaty that becomes operative in the event our country is invaded by a foreign power. Such a treaty is intended as a means of self-defense. But when the use of our military bases is to supply US arms and war materiel to Taiwan which we recognized as part of China, then that no longer falls within the ambit of the PH-US MDT for it constitutes an interference in the internal affairs of China and Uncle Sam is using the Philippines as a proxy like it did in Ukraine. It could spark a war between two nuclear powers and in retaliation China would have no option but to strike at our military bases in the Philippines. The PH-US MDT does not call for an automatic response like NATO’s Article 5 in the event we are dragged into a war...

7 April 2023 DON’T TOUCH PENSIONS OF AFP RETIREES  By Jose Alejandrino DoF Sec. Ben Diokno must not touch the pensions of armed forces and police retirees, or for that matter, any pensions. What was given to them by law must be given as an acquired right. The amounts of their pensions are small compared to the pensions of other countries. To reduce them further is unjust compared to what top officials in government receive, senators and congressmen. If someone has to make a sacrifice, it is the salaries  of government officials like Ben Diokno who was the highest paid official in the Philippine government when he was governor of the Central Bank. If the secretary of finance is low on cash, I suggest he goes through the budget appropriations and remove non-priority items, like, for example, that allocated to build a multi-billion luxurious building in BGC to house 24 senators. I am sure there are many “pork barrel” projects that can be eliminated. And tell BBM to stop his lavis...