Jay M. Pascual

Satur C. Ocampo was born on April 7, 1939 in Sta. Rita, Pampanga to a family of landless tenant farmers. He is married to Carolina “Bobbie” Malay, a writer and professor of journalism. He has four children and three grandchildren. Ocampo has been Pesident of Bayan Muna since 1999, and led the party in the elections for party-list in 2001, 2004, and 2007. Bayan Muna consistently topped the party-list race. Three Bayan Muna-sponsored bills, the Overseas Voting Act, Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, and Strengthening the Public Attorney’s Office Act have been enacted into law. In 2005, the progressive bloc of Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela Women’s Party broke away from the House majority. Ocapo has since been elected as a Deputy Minority Leader, and remains the acknowledged leader of the progressive bloc. He is a principal author of the law abolishing the death penalty. He has authored bills penalizing torture and enforced disappearances, the Marcos human rights victims compensati...

A Challenge of Conscience - Yahoo! Philippines News A CHALLENGE OF CONSCIENCE The brutal, indiscriminate mass murder on Monday in Ampatuan town, in Maguindanao province, raises the ultimate challenge of conscience. It carries the culture of impunity at work in this country to such levels of horror that, if it remains unpunished for long, can send the nation into an inexorable descent into absolute dehumanization. The crime thus calls for swift justice, which can only be achieved through a credible and independent process, which in turn can only be achieved without the hand of this government – a government justly mistrusted generally and openly friendly precisely to the very members of the clan accused in the massacre. We, ourselves colleagues of the more than a score journalists who were killed, demand the following: One, the creation of a commission outside the government to investigate the crime; Two, the arrest and prosecution of all the people involved in it in any way, as murdere...

The decision of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to run for the 2nd Congressional District of Pampanga drew fiery criticisms from several sectors.  I'm amused by the decision of the president, but well, The Madame from Malacañang has always been amusing, or I should say - annoying. I compiled several flowery criticisms that were hurled against her. Here they are: Roman Catholic Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz : “addiction to power.” Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo : "I wholeheartedly suggest she give others a chance to serve and not give in to the temptation of power.” Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II : "Her ultimate goal is to become House Speaker and ram through her burning desire to change the Constitution." Sen. Francis Escudero: “it surely leaves a bad taste in the mouth.” Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr : “sets a horrible example for politicians to follow,” Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo : “The main burden there would be on the voters.” Bayan Mu...

I dumped post2blog and I'll try ScribeFire. It's a browser based blogging tool. Will see how it performs. Getting Started With ScribeFire - Scribefire: Fire up your blogging

This just come in: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will formally seek a congressional seat for Pampanga’s 2nd District. Such greed for power has been displayed once again by Madame Gloria.

Writer’s Block – this is probably the biggest enemy of all the writers in the world. Writer’s block is simply a condition wherein you can’t put any of your thoughts into words. It’s a horrible condition. It comes at the worst possible times like when you have to submit before the due date. They can happen any time. They can happen before you even start, or smack in the middle of your work, or worse, in the ending. Also, it’s so hard to get over a writer’s block. Some writer’s blocks last for only a few minutes but the worst ones last for days, even months. There have even been cases of writer’s blocks lasting for decades. Causes of Writer’s Block Writer’s block is primarily caused by lack of inspiration. Of course, if you’re not inspired, it’s so hard to write anything. For example, you’re supposed to write about how ‘good’ the government is. But you know quite well that the government isn...

Im trying Post2Blog as my new desktop blog client. Im still not familiar with its interface but I pretty interested with its nifty features. Hope I can update this blog more often. This is a test post, I hope this software works better than Windows Live Writer.

Here's a blogpost about Congressman Teddy Casiño. Together with Rep. Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna and Rep. Liza Maza of Gabriela Party, Teddy will run for Senator in 2010 Philippine national elections. Follow this link to know more about Teddy Casiño and why he is more than qualified to become a Philippine senator. Teddy Casiño for Senator Movement: About Teddy Casiño

Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casino is going to run for a Senate seat.  It is a good thing and it's about time. Watch a cool video here:

Conrado De Quiros, the ever brilliant and prolific writer-journalist, captures, in very simple words, the anguish and hatred felt by the Filipino masses against the insensitivity of the government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Read his full op-ed piece at Inquirer.net or follow the link below. May Araw Din Kayo or I would say "papatapos na ang araw ninyo, humanda kayo!" May araw din kayo - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos Shared via AddThis

Critic After Dark: Carlos J. Caparas, National Artist.

Today is the interment of former President Corazon C. Aquino.  Here is a fitting article that analyzed her legacy as a president and as a symbol of protest among Filipinos. You can read the full article HERE. According to Kenneth Roland A. Guda of Pinoy Weekly Online : Sa kabila ng malinaw na mga limitasyon ng kanyang panunungkulan, kinatawan ni Aquino ang ideya ng demokrasya na ito ( sic ) . Sa pagsuporta niya sa sinupil na asawang si Ninoy Aquino noong Batas Militar, nahasa ang katapangan ni Aquino na humarap sa tiraniya. Sabi sa mga kuwento, sinabi ni Aquino sa bangkay ng kanyang pinaslang na asawa: “Ipagpapatuloy ko ang laban mo.” Ipinagpatuloy nga niya, at napagwagian. Magmula noon, naging simbolo na siya ng katapangan ( sic ) ito. Higit sa lahat, pinakamaningning na ambag ni Aquino sa kasaysayan ng sambayanang Pilipino ang pagkatawan sa paglabang ito. Higit sa pamumuno sa gobyerno ng bansa, naging simbolo siya ng lumalabang sambayanan. Naging mukha...

Professor Roland Simbulan of the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) has provided an overview of the 9-year Arroyo presidency. Professor Simbulan compared Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo with the LOTR character Gollum, who will do everything just to keep the Ring of Power. Prof. Simbulan's article, " GOLLUM IS HERE! Keeping Power at the Expense of the People and our Institutions " , outlined the 5 major points that characterize the regime of Pres. Arroyo. 1. The military which is supposed to be an institution for the defense of the nation and the Filipino people, has become an institution for the preservation of personal power by the president. There is no distinction made between national security and personal security of the president. 2. Corruption at the highest levels of power has even become more entrenched, with the head of state and political allies leading/governing by negative example. 3. Manipulation and undermining of Philippine polit...

jimelyflores: Life of a soapmaker dedicated to green principles

Slideshow: A Deepening Humanitarian Crisis in Maguindanao Posted using ShareThis

Al Jazeera English - Focus - The 'save-us-or-else' banks Shared via AddThis

I recently scraped some photos of Valencia City and other places in Bukidnon at WikiMedia Commons.  Thanks to KleoMarlo who took these pictures. Anyway, my story is this.  The photos of KleoMarlo are the same places I frequent.  Because I'm too preoccupied thinking about my (monkey) businesses, I seldom pay attention to these sites. When I saw these pictures, I told myself I'll always bring my cam from now on so I can also capture the beauty of this province.  Well, here are the photos, I hope you'll like them: This is the Alalum Falls in Sumilao, Bukidnon.  When you travel to Cagayan de Oro from Bukidnon, this falls can be seen as you traverse the national highway.   This is Musuan Peak in Maramag, Bukidnon. This mountain is very near our place, about a few kilometers away.  We can clearly see it from our house.  This is also an active volcano so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  My son once asked if we can go hiking to Musuan....

I was browsing the web looking for materials for my articles when I stumbled upon an old blog of mine.  I created it sometime in 2007 and it only has 3 posts.  It is one of my blogs that I neglected and it is just there sitting helpless in the blogosphere.  Well, to make a long story short, I found one of my short stories there.  That was my action packed 'ala' Robin Padilla narrative. I copied it (because I lost my hard copy and electronic file) and I will paste it here (I hope the Google Gods will not penalize me for duplicate content; hey, guys, that story was mine too.) So here it is, my Robin Padilla story. Take note that this story is just a figment of my imagination.  Any similarities to actual events, names, etc, are unintended. (Sounds like a movie disclaimer, haha).  I hope you will like this: __________________ I LOOKED AT THE MORNING AND SAW DEATH It was a dawn to remember. That fateful day started just another ordinary early morni...