Decent sex education in Philippine public schools. Long overdue. But then how can this become a reality with the Philippine Taliban making sure that “offensive” material is being kept off public school textbooks…
Education officials insist that the bishops [of the Philippine Roman Catholic Church] have nothing to worry about because the [Department of Education] is open to deleting portions of the teaching modules that the Church finds offensive.
Excuse me, but since when does a state institution such as the Department of Education answer to the Roman Catholic Church? This almost seems to me to be an issue of sovereignity, considering that these “Catholic Bishops” are modern-day vassals of Rome.
Perhaps we should now start considering the Pope and his Cardinals as the new overlords of the Filipino people.
Stepping back a bit and thinking about it in broader terms, it seems to me that we Filipinos do indeed have a fundamental flaw in the intellectual underpinnings of our regard for sovereignity. For one thing, sovereignity in the modern sense can only be a reality in the context of the current world order that recognises such a state. The alternative would be the older, rawer, more primitive world order where the sovereignity of any state is sustained by the sword. In such a world, there is no concept of, say, a “United Nations” in whose premises a sovereign state’s flag flies alongside those of other similarly recognised states to endorse its “official” existence.
Indeed, the Philippines’ sovereignity owes its endurance to the more recent world order. Seen against the bigger scheme of the history of human civilisation, it is a world order in which even states with no real means to defend their claim to the territory their people occupy are allowed to exist by those who have the means to overrun them in bloody battle. The irony here is that the “Independence” Day we celebrate on the 12th of June marks a day in 1898 in which we fancied ourselves as having “won” something by the sword — a win not recognised by the powerful keepers of the prevailing world order of the time and most likely recognised with calm bemusement by those of today.
The underlying logic that is at best dysfunctionally inconsistent and at worst downright flawed in our claim to being a legitimate nation, accounts for much of the moronic way we Filipinos have been known to respond to the question of our sovereign nature. Perhaps it is this fundamental glitch that was at work underneath the DepEd’s Freudian slip when confronted with the issue of the content of our textbooks — an incident where a state agency deferred to dogma that originates from a foreign state rather than to the secular government it is supposed to be answerable to.
The fact of the rickety house of cards that is Philippine “sovereignity” is what also keeps things like this year’s “Independence” Day commemorative rights from being immune to politicisation. In the same way that the Aquinos engaged in an emo feud on top of the tradition of the State Funeral back in mid-2009 when former President Cory Aquino died, today the Aquinoists and their leader take an emo response to “Independence” Day rites which out-going President Gloria Arroyo presides over…
Was Noynoy Aquino wrong to snub the Independence Day celebrations last Saturday?
Not at all.
At the very least, why attend a celebration whose purpose is not to celebrate the country’s freedom (or spirit thereof) for the last 112 years but its enslavement over the last nine?
Arroyo’s officials had been announcing it beforehand last week—the Independence Day celebrations would be a testament to her rule, a showcase of her accomplishments during her interminable term. It was obviously going to be a culmination of her (expensive) “legacy campaign,” a campaign dedicated to showing how much this country owes her. Ferdinand Marcos of course had beaten her to quite literally building a monument to himself with a bust in Agoo; she would settle for the next best thing, which was mount an extravaganza for herself.
Again (at the risk of wasting effort puting forth ideas that might simply sail over the heads of the average Inquirer.net reader), I offer an alternative perspective that serves as a reality check on the shallow emotions ellicited by moronisms like the one above, so here is what is real:
All this simply highlights the weakness of character of in-coming President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and his Yellow Mob. It seems to me that Noynoy would be so small as to opt out of attending an event presided over by outgoing President Gloria Arroyo lest the Yellow Mob see their leader in a position of awkward subordination to the out-going President. It takes a lot of effort for a man of small stature to look stately in the company of a nine-year presidential veteran, you see. So avoiding every opportunity to look awkward is always a prudent course to take.
Indeed:
If Noynoy were truly a man of naturally impressive stature and statesmanship, this is something he would not have needed to worry about.
What I would worry about as Presdient of our excellent Republic is where the producers of our kids’ schoolbooks are deriving editorial license from. Apparently a deep-seated personal insecurity trumps matters of public interest anytime. The trend remains frighteningly consistent.
Somebody needs to be taught
to sit still through a state function…
Get Real Philippines 
“What I would worry about as Presdient of our excellent Republic is where the producers of our kids’ schoolbooks are deriving editorial license from. ”
who said he’s not worried about that? can’t u handle multiple concerns in your own life (i’m assuming u can — sorry if i’m wrong)? aquino can as well.
But Aquino isn’t focusing on it. He keeps on saying he will eradicate corruption and put Gloria into jail. Why doesn’t he promise to fix the educational system? Why doesn’t he challenge church interference in education?
Oh I forgot… the church supported him, so utang ng loob. 😉
Well surely, he has yet shown interest regarding this GabbyD. So in his position, its easy to say he has no interest in changing it whatsoever, especially with certain laws in the old constitution.
Noynoy should review his Psychology in Uni.
There he’ll find why Priest and Bishops don’t want offensive material in textbooks.
These people are celibate.
Says Jung, “human beings are too prone to share with other human beings the injustice and violence they inflict upon themselves.”
The celibates will do at all cost to share with other fellow human beings the “virtue” of purification.
That’s what you call “naghahanap ng karamay.” Forcing other people to be the same as them. Which is basically dictatorship.
ChinoF,
Ang lakas-lakas talaga nila nidadamay yong mga tao by stifling reproductive health through their welds of power.
Kahit na yong sinosuportahan nilang candidates priority yong stand sa reproductive health. Nakakainis.
these pretentious celibates are against DOH because DOH also promotes artificial family planning programs, aside from natural family planning, which they are for. they see DOH as the devil for also promoting the condoms lol. i wonder what agency in the government they really support. seems like anything government-related is wrong. but they keep asking for donations (funds & volunteers) from them sheesh…
btw, working for many of them, i find these men the most corrupt in our society. they never have check & balance in their fiscal system. in most cases, they do not want to have a system (and reporting) because then they can’t keep the extra donations for themselves. s**t!!!
The best reason to attend the Independence Day events is for a “meet and greet” with those few remaining WW2 Veterans. Those guys fought the the Imperial Japanese Army bravely, and went through hell.
Damn, he couldn’t even do that?
Well, his grandpa collaborated with the Japanese… the vets might stone him. 😛
If that’s the legacy of his family, the same family I see get whored out so often, then he should face it.
I agree with that! 😆
You may check the veterans stand pre-2010 election. They might had supported another candidate.
It seems the Philippines did not catch the time machine from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century!
The Catholic Church is only powerful when you let it to be. In Europe, people abandon the church when the Catholic Church mingles with the politics. The latest scandals on child abuse in some Catholic Schools caused another wave of people leaving the religion.
With the Catholic Bishops dictating from behind, President Noynoy, like Arroyo, will be having a hard time pushing the “World Order” Millenium Agenda to reduce the population and corruption by 2015!
Kasalanan lahat ito ni Cardinal Sin. (May he rest in peace)
[quote]Perhaps we should now start considering the Pope and his Cardinals as the new overlords of the Filipino people.[/quote]
Dude, the Pope and his cardinals have been our overlords since over 300 years ago. Ain’t that a bitch? 😀
They’ve been overlords of everyone’s supposed pre-destined afterlife. Making the people care more about what will happen to them AFTER their existence as opposed to what they do IN THEIR EXISTENCE.
Exactly my thoughts Josh. It’s all up to the people how they should filter out nonsense from the church. And DepEd should be more assertive on what they teach kids. Church be damned even if they tell me my soul will burn in hell, I will still do what is right.
And besides, a lot of priests have a lot of kids with women in their parish. They could always use sex education, maybe they will know how to use a condom.
The link”offensive material is being kept off public school textbooks…”
points to or links to this url:
http://getrealphilippines.blogspot.com/2010/06/conrado-de-quiros-justifying.html
instead of:
http://getrealphilippines.blogspot.com/2010/06/offensive-material-kept-off-textbooks.html
Oops, sorry ’bout that. Correction implemented. 🙂
that was fast (the correction)
Apparently Filipinos have a really serious “God gene” either in our physical DNA or in our cultural DNA. One can argue ignorance as an explanation for this, yet at literacy supposedly at 90+ percent, one can hardly consider Pinoys to be impressionable illiterates (unless the literary input into their minds makes this a garbage-in-garbage-out issue).
But the need to blindly latch on to one form of of god or idol or another is strong in our culture. There is the conventional case evident in the powerful mind-imprisoning effect of the Catholic Church, there is de Quiros’s worshipping his Edsa “Revolution” god, and there is Noynoy himself who is the incarnate of Pinoys’ obssession with drama kings and queens.
The missing piece of the puzzle of Pinoys’ chronic inability to prosper is quite glaring: THINKING. Thinking is an activity that seems to be consistently ABSENT in the national “debate”.
Lots of gods, zero thinking. That’s Pinoy society. 😀
Benigno, I think its the fact they iconize these people whom they see as above them and commit themselves to them. It seems that much like the bible, they only want to believe in absolute truths when our world is made of an abstract of truths which is up to us to put a value on those truths. Though the only thing absolute would be things that have been fully proven.
That’s right, Jay. What they do is turn these people into symbols of an abstract ideal that, when pressed, they cannot even explain in precise terms beyond mere platitudes.
The Catholic Church must solve its own problems: Priests molesting children, priests having mistresses, etc…It cannot solve oiur problems. If it cannot even solveits own problems. Leave the governing to the elected people. Leave the incantations and prayers to the Church.
I am no fan of the Aquinos. Noynoy Aquino was a “tamad” legislator. To put too much hope on the man is just out of reality. We just watch what he will do; including his relatives.
Observation is an interesting thing really. Some claim you can’t get much out of it but from my experience, watching people teaches you MANY things. Teaches you what to emulate and what to avoid. Gives you a glimpse of the obvious for those who don’t take much notice but as you keep watching, you see a behavioral trend when people are faced with certain situations.
In terms of your first comment, the Catholic’s answer is simple; Our sex lives are their business, their sex lives however are not ours. As of Noynoy, I do hope everyone is prepared to observe, and OBSERVE vigilantly for the next 6 years.
I dare the Filipinos to leave the Catholic Church in the Philippines!
When the Churches are empty, these Philippine Bishops may think and will stop meddling in politics!
mel, I would have to kill myself before doing that! But that does not mean that I am blind to the Iscariots that populate the legion of shepherds. If anything, I think Papa Ben should purge the filth from his forces a la Stalin if he had to.
OK, considering the article, I find it well worded and fitting. It gets me thinking “What are we, Iran that our rulers are led ultimately by clerics?” Such a thing (clerics being virtual theocrats) makes me thankful for the likes of my archbishop Cardinal Vidal (non-partisan, not entirely willing to get his fingers muddied with political slime) and wish for more of his ilk.
have you ever thought that maybe the population is not problem, but the mismanagement of the country resources..
Population wouldn’t be a problem if each new Pinoy born can be expected to generate economic output to sustain him/herself to the standards (i.e. First World) our society aspire to.
But see, the thing with Pinoy society is that the tiny minority most productive people subsidise the majority unproductive. The story of the typical Pinoy family where a single OFW income sustains a brood of panhandler bums has become all-too-familiar.
So in the case of Da Pinas, bigger population simply means less resources to go around. Japan despite having an enormous population is hardly ever called “overpopulated”. That’s because one Japanese individual is worth a hundred Pinoys in terms of economic output.
like what i said, its all about a mismanagement.. human capital was and will never be a source of liability or burden if properly manage.. the majority become unproductive because the govt’t, society even their own family, allowed them to be. is just a matter of proper management…
Japan is already experiencing “demographic winter”. A culture once pride themselves as pure race, now accepting migration from other races because of their aging population and a very minimal population growth…maybe after 30yrs there will be no longer a pure Japanese…
China has 1b population, yet their growth both economic, political and military is exceptional…even the UN is afraid of china…
@killem
Do you know the reasons why Japan is experiencing a “demographic winter”? It is not only Japan but many countries in Europe and even USA. After the World War II, they had to control their population because there was financial collapse. Most of the countries involved in the war lost their men (nobody sent women to the front, and women alone cannot reproduce children!!!). The men who fought during the war were as young as 17! years old.
I think you have to read about World History first before you come in here and tell stories
Aren’t you afraid of communism?
There we go, world politics!
Population is a rather important factor really. Of course if you can actually get away to taxing the working population of at least 90 or so million citizens, you certainly can work with something there. Then you would have to crack down on tax evasion and fix the taxing on those affluent and groups who claim to be NGO but aren’t really. Then you have to figure out what beneficial things to do with the money made from taxing of course. And you can’t properly manage your way out of a bad reforms, policies and laws.
Admit it Killem, there are many factors that can determine or help create a better situation for the country. At least the big factors are controlled by those who sit on the big seat in the country.
@killem
China is controlling their population, too. Two (2) child per family or else you will not get a job or help from the government. Some Chinese families hide their children in their cellars or attics.
If you still believe that we do not have to control the Philippine population – go the slum areas and to the poorest Barangays of our country, there you will find children, barefooted, naked, malnourished, out of school, and eating only one meal a day (plain rice and patis!). 😦
@killem
Population and mismanagement of the country’s resources are only two of the factors affecting our economic growth. There are plenty of factors you can add in your list. Please think twice.
Population is a problem when you look at each family. You don’t need to look at it on the macro scale; overpopulation is more apparent at the micro scale. Look at each family with numbers of five or more children. Or even those who have children, but no job. Compare to the average salary and the cost of maintaining the family. Now try to find out how many families are like this. I’m hearing cases every time I speak to someone from the squatters or lower class sector. I think it’s safe to say that a lot of poor families are overpopulating themselves. That for me is already overpopulation.
Do you know the reasons why Japan is experiencing a “demographic winter”? It is not only Japan but many countries in Europe and even USA. After the World War II, they had to control their population because there was financial collapse. Most of the countries involved in the war lost their men (nobody sent women to the front, and women alone cannot reproduce children!!!). The men who fought during the war were as young as 17! years old.—– huh? if they lost their man there is no reason to control their population for a simple reason, that women cannot reproduce alone….so there is no controlling to speak of..
They try to fast track their recovery by limiting their population growth, which the they are suffering now… are you telling me that we should commit the same mistakes???
The US was never in financial crisis after WW II., in fact WW II ended their economic depression(by selling arms to europe, asia and africa)..
I know my world history, less the b**lsh*t inserted therein by the major powers..
So there is prevailing wisdom not to believe everything you read on the internet. Apparently its pretty useful for analyzing such common answers like the how you stated that America ended their depression by being part of WW2. In fact, some analysis were made to prove that Truman’s policies actually lengthened the depression. But to help your claim, WW2 did get rid of high unemployment.
some more links to chew on, but its under the google search how did the great depression end. And certainly the prevailing conclusions don’t point to the United States participating in WW2. Otherwise you’d figure any country can get out of their economic slump by purchasing weapons with shady means and declaring war.
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/11/what-ended-the.html
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/what-ended-the-great-depression/
Greetz!
@killem
The USA, after the WWII, (though they increased employment and production during the war) suffered tremendous loss in budget because Germany, War loser, could not pay the damages alone. The Allied Forces helped Germany to reconstruct their economy after the war and in return, Germany, remains one of the biggest contributors of the United Nations. Huge amount of the US, British, Russia and France budgets were used to fix the economic problems of the devastated countries. To help these nation rebuild and maintain peace in the world, other countries offered their assistance, so the birth of the United Nations.
The price for democracy is high. Imagine the world under Adolf Hitler? Or under Osama Bin Laden?
Also wanted to add the depression affected every country on a global scale. Though it hit the United States the hardest.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonged-Depression-5409.aspx
The link didn’t work above. But yeah this showed that FDR actually prolonged the depression for the U.S.A.
What about the Marshall Plan?
The Marshall plan lead to the integration Western Europe which eventually led to the integration of most of the European countries.
That also lead to the Euro currency and its wows. The fall of Euro was used as a campaign weapon by the UK PM candidates and maybe it worked for the winner.
Now Greece is being bailed out, Germany , Spain, Portugal are having problems.Before that let’s not forget Iceland.
So those who do not learn from history will just bailout struggling economies. in case of the US it is bailing out those so called “Too big to fail ” Companies. Sooner or later we will see the consequence of such a move.
BTW Russia was mentioned ;well it annexed or made a satellite of most of eastern Europe and then had a cold war with the US.
Mel, communist Russia participated in the reconstruction efforts of the international community to help poor countries develop?
@Miriam:
Communist Russia helped indirectly, having no money. They took almost all the “useful things” from Germany (Russian Zone East Berlin and from former East Germany) – factories, radios, automobiles, etc. – almost everything – so that USA came with the Marshall Plan. 😀 (Russians are wise
)
its just proper for that they should pay the reconstruction, they are the one who cause it anyway….
With regard to phil, it pays more price than the money allotted to them.. (remember bell trade act)…and manila was almost level to the grounds by the indiscriminate bombing done by are so called “liberators”…
There goes the law of secularism and the hope that Noynoy may not be such a bad leader.Down the drain and into the sewer.
And to think that one of the creators of the 1987 constitution being a bishop was bad enough,every single politician follows the Catholic Church all thanks to the Filipino’s fear of hell making this country a slave to a institution that hides the crimes of its priests.Unfortunately,even our “Dear leader” Noynoy is one of those politicians who would probably run this country into the brink of chaos.
I don’t see why people voted for this person.Oh yeah I remember,it’s because of the IGNORAMUS MEDIA and his PARENTS.If those are the qualifications for the presidency then I guess even Ramon Magsaysay’s descendants can become a president to even though that certain descendant doesn’t have the skills to run our country.
… daaang
… flipland’s sexy gurlz rule!!! whiteys get uncontrollable hard-ons when it comes to flip sexy gurlz…
… in flipland, the more kabits/sexy gurlz the trapos have, the better…
***********************************
Scottish solon resigns over Filipino comments
June 17, 2010, 5:13pm
LONDON (AFP) – A Scottish lawmaker was forced to quit his role on a parliamentary committee after being caught on microphone saying a woman in the audience was “very attractive” with “that Filipino look.”
Frank McAveety, a Labor politician, stepped down as chairman of the public petitions committee Wednesday after his inappropriate comments were picked up as he convened a meeting of the body.
The former Scottish government minister also quit as sport spokesman for the Labor party in Scotland.
The 47-year-old member of the Scottish parliament’s remarks were caught on microphone as witnesses changed places at the committee meeting Tuesday.
He was heard saying to a committee clerk: “There’s a very attractive girl in the second row. Dark and dusky. I’ll maybe have to put a wee word out for her.
“She’s very attractive-looking. Nice, very nice.
“The heat’s getting to me. True, true, true.
“She’s got that Filipino look, you know the kind you would see in a Gauguin painting. There’s a wee bit of culture.”
He decided to resign after his comments appeared in media reports.
The Scottish parliament was set up in the late 1990s after Scots backed the idea of devolving powers from London in a referendum.
The pro-independence Scottish National Party, led by First Minister Alex Salmond, holds power in Scotland.
What can you do (realistically speaking) against the Catholic Church aside from ridiculous rants in forums such as these? Even well-entrenched trapos are afraid of negative comments from the church. We pay lip service to the idea of a secular state but in reality we are the exact opposite.
… daaang
… pala naman namannn namannn
… my tribe do not believe in dios ko po santamariasantaateglosantaatecorysantonino prayer breakfast de gung gongs…
… we do not give abuloy to kaksucker padre damaso or use kaksucker padredamaso’s services for anything…
… katolickdicks/archibesupsops do not make money from me… i know that it’s a small portion…
… but hey, i do not contribute to katolickdick/kaksucker padre damaso’s occult which is dumbing da flips and keeping them in the stone age era…
… more gung gongs, more weaklings, more pulubis >> fodder for charitable alms from rich countries…
… ay sus ginoo… WALA NA KAYONG MALAMON, PURO PA KAYO RELIHIYON…
I wish the Church would take responsibility with the explosion of overpopulation of the depressed areas in the Philippines. When I mean take responsibility, I mean feed them, educate them and give them jobs and do it not just during Christmas or special occasions when they feel like it.