Pinoy Blog Machine (Beta)

There's a lot of stuff on the internet. You can find articles, pictures, videos, etc. But if you try scouring for new stuff, you can find some of the most unbelievably hilarious gadgets out there that may (or may probably not) come out of the market. I gotta hand it to the people who think of this stuff though. Oh yeah just a warning for viewers. Not everything in this particular post is

I was just checking the people who found and visited my blog after searching items in search engines like Google. One came to my blog after typing the keyword items "Philippines the most dangerous place for journalists next to Iraq." Press attacks in the country that once boasted as having the freest media in Asia continue -- and seem to worsen -- this year, when we are holding national elections. I think the press covering this year's elections should also ask the candidates questions like: Who should be held responsible for the unabated extrajudicial killings and media attacks? How do you plan to solve the killings and other press freedom violations?

For more news about journalist killings and other attacks against and threats to press freedom in the Philippines, check out Freedom Watch, the institutional blog of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR). Soon, CMFR will put all its reports on these threats and attacks under one "Alerts" section in the CMFR website.

Among the recent posts in Freedom Watch

Solon prevented from speaking to the media

Members of the press were prevented from interviewing detained Bayan Muna (Nation First) Representative Satur Ocampo by his police custodians, who claimed that media interviews would be risky for Ocampo, Inquirer.net reported on 21 March 2007. Ocampo and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) have protested the ban.

The 67-year old solon was arrested on 16 March 2007 and is presently detained at the Manila Police District (MPD) Headquarters. Ocampo, who was a business reporter for seven years in the 1960s for a national daily, was ordered arrested by a court in Hilongos, Leyte for his alleged involvement in the purge of communist rebels in 1984-85 in that province. Leyte is in the Eastern Visayas group of islands south of Manila.

Ocampo has steadfastly declared his innocence and accused the Arroyo government of concocting the charges to prevent him from campaigning for the May 10 mid-term elections.

“I am protesting this ban by my custodians against media interviews. I should not be prevented from speaking,” Ocampo was quoted in the Inquirer report.

The NUJP described the ban as “high-handed and arbitrary.”

NUJP said “reporters do not pose any security threat for Ocampo and there is no link between the lawmaker's exercise to free speech with dangers to his person.”

Read here for more.

Newspaper editors and publisher post bail for libel

The publisher, along with seven editors of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, one of the Philippines’ major dailies, was detained for an hour at a Manila Police Station on 20 March 2007 after posting a libel bond of P50,000 (approx. $1,000). A Manila court issued had issued warrants for their arrest over a P22 million ($440,000) libel charge by Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, husband of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Libel is a criminal offense in the Philippines.

Publisher Isagani Yambot, editor-in-chief Letty Jimenez Magsanoc, managing editor Jose Ma. Nolasco, associate editor Abelardo Ulanday, associate editor for readership Rosario Garcellano, news editor Artemio Engracia Jr., opinion editor Jorge Aruta, national editor Pergentino Bandayrel Jr., senior desk editor Juan Sarmiento Jr., and columnist Ramon Tulfo were ordered arrested by Judge Virgilio Alameda of Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 10 after he found “probable cause” in the libel complaint of Arroyo.

The Inquirer reported that Magsanoc was not able to post bail because she was sick. Tulfo, meanwhile told the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) that he will post bail for the Inquirer case along with the staff of Bandera, a tabloid in Filipino where Tulfo’s column appears in translation. Arroyo has also sued the publisher, editor-in-chief, associate editor, and circulation manager of Bandera along with Tulfo.

Read here for more.

From Prof. Danilo Arao of the UP College of Mass Communication:

This press statement released on March 20 (Tuesday) was signed by 18 faculty members of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP CMC) led by Dean
Elena Pernia. For verification, please call the UP CMC Department of Journalism at 920-6852.

The undersigned faculty members of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP CMC) condemn in the strongest possible terms the filing of multiple murder charges against Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo which resulted in his arrest anddetention last March 16.

That the charges were filed during the election season is already questionable, especially since
Ocampo’s Bayan Muna Partylist group is running for representation in the House of Representatives and has been repeatedly accused by the powers-that- be as a communist front. The situation is preposterous as the crimes he allegedly committed happened more than
two decades ago while he was in detention.

The authorities even had the audacity to push for his transfer to Hilongos, Leyte – where the case against him was filed – despite the scheduled oral arguments before the Supreme Court on
March 23. If Rep. Ocampo can be denied due process, what kind of treatment can others similarly accused expect from this government?

Rep. Ocampo’s wife, Prof. Carolina Malay, was a faculty member of the UP CMC Department of Journalism from 1992 to 2000, during the last five years of which she was department chair. We
admired Prof. Malay then for her dedication to the teaching and journalism profession, and we commend her at this point for her strength and unwavering resolve to fight for truth
and justice. We join her in her struggle to uphold and protect our basic freedom.

We call on the authorities to stop harassing Ocampo and his co-accused and to respect their basic rights. An administration that claims to be both legitimate and serving the interest of
the people is expected to do no less.

Dr. Elena E. Pernia, dean
Dr. Lourdes Portus, college secretary
Dr. Arminda Santiago, chair, graduate studies
Prof. Fernando Austria, chair, broadcast communication department
Dr. Nicanor Tiongson, professor, Film Institute
Dr. Georgina R. Encanto, professor, journalism department
Prof. Luis V. Teodoro, professor, journalism department
Dr. Jose R. Lacson, professor, communication research department
Dr. Roland Tolentino, professor, Film Institute
Dr. Perlita Manalili, associate professor, broadcast communication department
Prof. Danilo A. Arao, assistant professor, journalism department
Prof. Marichu C. Lambino, assistant professor, journalism department
Prof. Yvonne T. Chua, assistant professor, journalism department
Prof. Ma. Cristina I. Rara, assistant professor, journalism department
Prof. Violeda A. Umali, assistant professor, communication research department
Prof. Jane Vinculado, assistant professor, broadcast communication department
Prof. Shirley P. Evidente, assistant professor, broadcast communication department
Prof. Andres Sevilla, lecturer, communication research department

I should have posted about this a month ago, but I never got to because there were still a lot to do and there were so many pictures to see from Wonder Festival 2007 Winter gallery of dannychoo.com. I had to see them first before making a post. XD There were a lot of mecha figures, but none of which I could identify. Ah! Only the NGE figure I know of.

These are the figures that got me drooling.

(Read more…)