It’s official: around noontime today, Filipino pugilist Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao secured a split decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez. The judges scored it 115-112 and 114-113 for Pacquiao, and 115-112 for Marquez. Pacquiao is now the WBC super featherweight champion!
No doubt, some questions remain about who really won the bout. Both fought really hard, but I really feel that Pacquiao kept up the pressure and shrugged off any retaliation Marquez was able to muster. The really really bad cut above Marquez’s left eye was a clear indicator for me, though you could chalk up my opinion to patriotic bias.
In any case, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a rematch between the two diminutive but deadly fighters. Many great boxing rivalries become trilogies, and you can be sure that Pacquiao’s handlers and boxing promoters will want to take advantage of the rubber match’s potential for profit.
But that’s probably a few months away, at the very least. For now, let us congratulate Manny Pacquiao. Mabuhay Manny! May more Filipinos learn from your perseverance and never-say-die attitude!
Whether or not you believe in Global Warming (since when did science become a matter of faith?), you’ll probably be interested in the upcoming Earth Hour, a 23-city event that aims to make a statement about the need for climate change. Manila will be a participant in this international affair, as PinoyCentric reports:
Climate change has never been a more pressing concern than today, and this year, Manila, led by the World Wildlife Fund, joins 23 other cities across the globe in supporting Earth Hour’s statement on global warming by turning off the lights for one hour on March 29, 2008, at 8 p.m.
While I have some reservations about turning the lights off at night (why not do it in the morning, when it will be less of a impracticality?), it good that our capital city will be participating in an ecologically-aware event. Mark your calendars folks!
If you think about it, her answer made sense! It is better to be naturally beautiful, because smarts can be learned.
Let’s say that she was able to make it into the final round of a world competition. Conceivably, she would do a better job of expressing herself in her natural langauge, while her translator would take care of packaging the answer for the judges.
I previously promised never to ever mention the Malu Fernandez controversy on this blog, given how she generated mostly negative comments. Now however I’m blogging about the woman herself. Here’s what she recently wrote:
But blogging, aside from Perez Hilton and the other big time bloggers (you know who you are) is for me a slacker job or a medium and pastime for lonely people to connect. Unless you’re in bloody Siberia or in a Gulag prison, try stepping outside your comfort zone and turn off the laptop or pc, you just might find some real live people to talk to instead of typing away in cyber space.
Now now, before you react, take the time to read her article on The Manila Standard Website. She’s obviously gotten some things wrong. Not all bloggers are solitary souls in desperate need of genuine interaction. And I do think she needs to visit websites like the BBN blogs and Copyblogger.
But I do agree with her on two points. Blogging is “a good source of information and a great way to exchange ideas”. And it does takes balls to write an opinion and have your name tied to it, ready (or not) for any consequences of your statements. Is it any wonder that our bloggers have no problems being open about who they are?
With all due respect to political bloggers, I try to avoid writing about politics. In fact, I’ll be the first to admit that I only write about things that affect me directly. And there’s no doubt that the ZTE-NBN scandal affects me directly, because it’s yet another political controversy that’s keeping the Philippines from building any genuine stability.
With that in mind, the most balanced and objective interpretation of the whole scandal can be found at Philstar.com. A Brief Timeline of the ZTE-NBN Scandal lists down the events and responses from the various parties involved. From way back to 2006 up to way before Lozada even testified, the rundown proves that it’s amazing what contradictions become clear when the long-view is taken.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is gazillions. At least, di siya nagpapatalo!
Have you ever noticed that, thanks to our infatuation with English, we insist on answering western beauty pageant questions without the help of translator? Even if we are fluent, wouldn’t our beautiful women gain a huge advantage if they had the time to think of the answer while the question is translated into Filipino? (or Bicolano, Cebuano, etc.)
Yahoo! Answers, the Philippine edition, has been out for more than a week now. Thanks to the popularity of Yahoo’s answering service, one of the rare victories it has over Google, there’s already a lot of content on the local version.
But once again, the weakness of Yahoo! Answers—lack of quality—rears its ugly head. I mean, would you answer a totally silly question like: “Why phillipines is known as sex nation of asia?????” (a thread deleted a few days ago).
The foreigner even shouted, “You Filipinos are (expletive) lazy. That is why you are poor!” according to the immigration officers.
Such activity caused Dutch national Jenifer Sharmila Kalka to be booked to the first available flight out of the country. Immigration chief Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said it real well: “A foreign tourist who exhibits arrogance and rude behavior upon his arrival in the Philippines should be turned back right away for he does not deserve the hospitality of our country and people.”
With Yahoo! Answers, the Philippine edition, being launched last week, I decided to look at some of the answers helpfully compiled here:
Be careful also about the streetchildren. I had seen 3 incidences of these children [sic] climbing tall fences here in our vicinity really fast. However, when you report this to the barangay, they seem so unaffected by this. There are children who sniffs rugby seen by the barangay, traffic aids & patrol man. However, they knew it buy [sic] they dont [sic] care about this. Children are robbing even guarded subdivisions. Be careful!
What?!
Be careful about people who make hasty generalizations! Especially when they don’t take the time to spell properly and use proper punctuation.
