The new name of the common restroom.

Even restrooms provide equal opportunities nowadays.  Move over, equal opportunity employers and the like.

Short and sweet.

This butcher doesn’t deserve to be in the hallowed halls of Congress.  With his presence — also including that of the Arrovo sister whose motives already insults the magbabalut — mabababoy na tiyak ang Kongreso.

If you’re on Facebook, join the crusade against this butcher and make him feel that he shouldn’t be welcomed in Congress!

Gen. Palparan should be in jail, not in Congress nor any government office

Please spread the word para umabot sa 1500.

In closing, I’d wish someone plants a bullet in the head of this butcher.  He should pay for the many crimes he committed against society, including extra-judicial killings.  Once that happens, I’m gonna piss on his grave.

Just when everyone was abuzz on the first few hours following the death of the wife of broadcaster Ted Failon (which I maintain is suicide and not anything else) on April 16, the Philippine blogosphere was busy tending to something else.  It was when news broke out regarding a blog post chronicling the escapade of Joseph Carlo Candare aka JC, an Applied Physics major from the University of the Philippines Diliman-National Institute of Physics , and it was in what he termed as his “fourth epic failure” that he had the gall to tell the whole world that he managed to stomp over and kill a young cat out of his inexplicable hatred to the feline species and found the satisfaction to release it by doing it (note that he said it wasn’t his first time to do it).  (Us people in the blogosphere already know what he initially said narrating that act)

Reactions to this act spread like wildfire, from condemnation of the act to virtual crucifixion of the person who commtied this (it was so much for the “hate the act, not the person” thingy) — and some of the comments have actually gone overboard, despite himissuing a public apology on his Multiply blog (taken down as well by the offender due to humiliation and possible depression after so much have reacted against what he did):

Humihingi po talaga ako ng tawad sa mga ginawa ko. Wala akong maidadahilan sa ginawa ko. Hindi po ako nagpakita online dahil hindi ko na alam kung ano ang aking gagawin…Ito na ang huling pagkakataong gagawa ako ng blog...Hindi na po ako muling mananakit ng mga pusa.. Magkaroon man po akong muli ng pagnanais, gagawin ko po ang lahat para ito’y pigilan… Hindi ko na po alam kung ano ang dapat kong sabihin sa inyo ngunit sana’y dumating ang panahon na makita nyo na pong sinsero po ako sa mga mensaheng ito… patawad po..

A page in the Yoopee (UP) Multiply site (which has been taken down as of this writing, but was still active yesterday when I last checked the Net) was solely dedicated to him; I am now posting its cached version (final cache as of yesterday, with 600+ comments including the ensuing flame wars).

Within 48 hours from the time it first broke out through someone’s Plurk it was really talked-about in the blogosphere especially with the overoard comments and even comments from suspected fake or strawman Multiply accounts (they were even suspected that they’re one and the same with the offender) defending the action, surpassing the supposed rage of the people over the overboard handling by the pulis patolas on the Ted Failon wife suicide case and her subsequent death.  Those replies resulted into more rage against JC instead of helping him in this matter.  I must admit even back then that the purpose why that was posted was to make everyone aware of that dastardly act to an animal which made this qualified as a violation of Republic Act 8485 which could merit JC jail time or at worst expulsion from the NIP.

This issue also graced Pinoy blogs, some of which:

http://www.davidvgonzales.com/2009/04/17/john-conrad-%E2%80%9Cjc%E2%80%9D-candare-must-die-get-ass-raped-in-prison-or-both/

http://www.davidvgonzales.com/2009/04/17/philippine-animal-welfare-society-paws-takes-action-towards-ensuring-joseph-candares-ass-raping-in-prison/  (his follow-up of above post)

http://technogra.ph/20090417/sections/tips-and-tricks/john-conrad-candare-self-proclaimed-cat-serial-killer-online/

http://masterbetong.net/a-serial-killer-in-the-making/

http://babytumz.blogspot.com/2009/04/little-kitty-killed-by-stupid-demented.html

http://aboutmyrecovery.com/2009/04/17/joseph-carlo-candare-awareness-of-philippine-animal-welfare-act/  (blog post asking for everyone’s sobriety in the light of this issue, as written by bloger extraordinaire Noemi Dado — after all she has a point here)

http://www.newmedia.com.ph/serial-up-cat-killer-enraging-filipino-online-community/  (blog chronicling how this incident spread like wildfire in the online Pinoy communities from a marketng perspective)

But inspite of the issue dying down a bit days ater it first appeared (the original Yoopee post has been removed and the offender’s apologes removed as well due to those flame war), the final postscript is indeed far from over.  The University has launched an investigation over the incident and would also determine what sanction will they mete out on JC Candare, as well as animal rights activist spearheaded by the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (Paws) going all-out to prosecute this guy and raise the public’s level of awareness on the Animal Welfare Act.  This said, we shall be waiting for the next chapter of this telenovela that would’ve been titled “I killed a Schrodinger’s cat” (in JC Candare’s words).

Abangan!

First up, lemme express my condolences to the Etong family — especially to Ted Failon — for the loss of his wife Trina.

But in the midst of the all-of-a-sudden media circus surrounding this suicide incident which has started since yesterday (I was in Dagupan City following the kick-off of the Dagupan Bangus Fiesta 2009 when news broke out), it should be noted that what stood out up to now is how the national police — specifically the Quezon City Police District — has been handling the case from the first instance.

And they’re handling it poorly, just like how they handled high-profiles cases with the result of an epic failure.  What else can we expect from what should’ve been considered as the protector of the common tao?

A replay of the scenes that led to the arrest of Ted Failon’s kin clearly shows that t here has been overkill by the police.  I would even singlehandedly think that what happened to them effectively turned the tide in this situation, leading to Trina’s death (look at the minute differential between the arrests and her death; it’s not even an hour).  Para bang ano bang gustong ipalabas ng pulis dito — nagsalita na ang pamilya ni TF lalo na ang anak nito na si Kaye — na suicide attempt ito, and yet these policemen are doing their very best to show that the broadcaster is the prime suspect behind all this and are furthering the “foul play” theory as if gusto nilang ipilit iyon sa taumbayan.

To make the already-bad matter worse, etong si Injustice Secretary Raul “Siraulo” Gonzales sumasakay pa.  Especially when he strongly echoed the police theory that the entire Etong household are suspects in the matter (epekto siguro ito ng gamot sa dialysis?  Why of all people he would dare conclude that when the police are still investigating the matter?  And who is he to judge — anyway he judges those who oppose his master as “enemies of the State”).  Can’t he just shut up, quit concluding and just let his underlings do their jobs?

Isama na dyan ang mga le*heng network war fanatics na sumasawsaw sa isyu sa Pinoyexchange.com … wala na nga kayong amor mga pakyu kayo!

Kung pwede ba, sana ay bigyan natin ng konting katahimikan ang pamilya Etong — let us leave them for a while so they grieve for this loss…then we all can talk sh*t and all these conspiracy theories after they bury Trina, but let’s still continue nitpicking though on the epic fail of the QCPD in handling the case…they just slapped their faces once again in front of the public, and us watching this mess go out of hand.

Since the update erupted last night, there have been varied reactions in the blogosphere.  Blogger Tonyo Cruz hit the nail right on its head with his blog:

“…This is only the latest in a long string of acts of police brutality, cruelty and abuse that are embedded in our minds. (This is perhaps one of the reasons why many Filipinos love the CSI programs on free TV and cable. We pine for a competent, thinking police force capable of solving crime. We are sick and tired of the bumbling cops faithfully portrayed in the movies — corrupt, pot-bellied or arrives at the crime scene only after the assailants have fled. We can only dream now as we watch those CSI programs and crime and suspense channels on cable.)”

After a two-day Holy Week lull, businesses sprung to life yesterday. By tomorrow it’s gonna be business as usual now for the rest.

And with this post, lemme send my Easter greetings to you, who’s reading this.

MALIGAYANG PASKO NG PAGKABUHAY!!!

That’s what you get when everyone’s on vacay observing the holiest of the Christian holidays…and what would’ve been a good time but having roads free of the usual road rage.

Pasong Tamo and Gil Puyat at 9 am.  Notice nil road rages.

Notice the oh-so-empty intersection of Gil Puyat and Pasong Tamo…

…and the jeep with no passengers.

Driving along Ayala Avenue’s a breeze…

…and Makati Avenue too.

One can even run a 120 at Edsa.

A “deserted” SM Megamall — not the usual sight indeed.

While doing Part 1 of the Visitia Iglesia ritual (above photo taken at Rosario Church), I decided to put into test some basic photography skills especially since I’m having a hard time getting good photos during that time of the day.  Here are some of the shots of Holy Thursday, especially the youths doing Alay-Lakad as part of their Holy Week sacrifice:

After looking at the photos, I thought I still sucked at night photography.  The first four were taken with a lower ISO setting while the rest were automatically set to Night Portrait mode (I can’t seem to perfect Night Landscape until I prolly deleted some pics in my digicam), but as they say there’d still be room for improvement.  Or better yet I should start lusting for an SLR cam, of which it’s definitely included in my personal wishlist (on top of an iPhone 16 or 32 GB).

I was at the mall earlier, doing some last-minute shopping before businesses closes for the long weekend (though they’ll be back on Black Saturday) and upon chancing the cash machine, this was the sight — since everyone would need cash to last them for the next four days for anything esp. emergencies…

Don’t forget the lotto fanatics in search of the elusive millions — even the draws will be observing the break too, so today was the last chance (at least for now) to strike a fortune.

*******************************

BTW no rants for the next three days, but since I have net access at home, I would still be posting during the break.

This pic was taken the last time I was in Baguio City (around mid-March).  Too bad I wasn’t able to catch the events which led to the capture of this petty thief (except that I was still inside the jeep when he started running towards People’s Park, but luckily he was apprehended by the police a few feet from where I was then, stuck in traffic in front of the market, so I took the opportunity to capture this) but it could be seen from the man’s expression that he apparently had no remorse for what he did — ahh, the ill effects of urbanization…pati ang mga kawatan sa baba eh nagsipag-akyat na rin sa itaas.

In the midst of the start of Holy Week yesterday (Palm Sunday), and in the middle of those selling palaspas, this vendor stood out with her merchandise that was sure to attract kids of all ages.  Taken outside St. Joseph Cathedral in Balanga City.