A6 OPINION PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY December 16 - 31 , 2016
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By Mon Datol
Breaking Point
By Rosette Correa
December makes you feel nostalgic . You ’ re surrounded by friends and loved ones , stuffing your face with food every day from the first day of the month until the last , with Christmas parties left and right . You give and receive gifts , and you feel appreciated . You reminisce about the past twelve months with joy , sadness , regret and a renewed spirit to make the next year a better one . Then , you face the reality that things happened and that you ’ ll have to live with it , one way or another , either temporarily or permanently .
Take for example the world of politics . Politics has always been a world of hits and misses , and this year was a year of many misses . Two men were elected as Presidents of their countries , and not a lot of people are happy about it . Pundits have said that the greatest factor in today ’ s electoral processes are the quality of voters , since generally , they all rely on social media to tell them who to vote for . This generation of voters turn to the internet , regardless of whether there
THE TALL ORDER
The 8.4 hectares Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Ermita , Manila is reportedly being eyed by the businessman Enrique Razon group after the sports complex was allegedly put on the bidding block by sports officials . It ’ s the Philippine Olympic Committee newlyelected president Peping Cojuangco ’ s dream to transfer the national athletes training center from the old RMSC to somewhere in Tarlac or Pampanga ever since the former politician from Tarlac was first elected chief of the POC 16 years ago . There ’ s the ownership issue , however , that Razon or any bidder would have to resolve before
is verity to what they read or not . Wikipedia seems credible anyway , and the news on The Onion is very accurate , after all . Plus , you get two men who are angry about something , make the voters feel that they are angry about it , too , and use this rage to their advantage to get votes . That ’ s what happens in the movies to get even and to get things done , right ? Silence all opposition , kill the infidels , build a wall , proclaim absolute tyranny as if it were a democratic and judicial process , and then pretend nothing happened . Unfortunately , this is the reality that today ’ s voters feel give some form of verisimilitude , when life imitates art . After all , if the idiot box in their hands cannot explain things , nothing , not even law or logic , ever will .
On the other hand , there were two women presidents who were impeached by their parliaments , both on accusations of corruption . Dilma Rousseff of Brazil and Park Geun-Hye of South Korea were removed from office after impeachment
even putting their firms in the bidding block as of this date , no one is legally given ownership of the vast sports complex . And with the reported Phl50-80K per- square-meter-price of the land , RMSC property is easily worth Phl67.20Billion . Kaya naman ‘ magpapatayan ’ mga sports officials and City of Manila for the legal ownership of the RMSC .
Matira matibay , err , malakas maglagay nga pala ! *****
I ’ ve been a sportswriter in the Philippines since 1986 and covered almost all sporting events at the RMSC and saw the rise of many unknown athletes then , the likes of the Velasco brothers ( Roel and Onyok ), super boxers Gerry Penalosa , Elias
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Inside and Out of 2016
proceedings led by each of their law-making bodies . Both were impeached by their houses with a majority of male lawmakers . Both were women , the first of the female gender to take the top office in two countries known to have a culture of machismo . Even in the 21st century , some things never change .
While people fought for their lives , such as a young boy with a rare blood disease , or refugees coming from war-torn Aleppo , laws on physician-assisted suicide , legalization of pot and same-sex marriage , as well as overdoses from opioids - all contributing to the culture of death - took the spotlight and dimmed the lights on those issues that truly matter . On the other hand , communities came together and welcomed refugees in their towns and cities , offered them hospitality , and gave them hope . In Ohio , lawmakers passed a bill called the foetal heartbeat bill , that would consider abortion once a heartbeat is detected , about six weeks into pregnancy , as a felony . There is hope for humanity yet .
In BC , homes were flipped , and real estate prices soared to ridiculous heights as bid wars took homeownership from Canadian citizens and served on a silver platter to foreign buyers . The result was a penalty on unscrupulous real estate agents , a 15 % tax on foreign buyers , and a BC government initiative offering financial assistance to first time homebuyers , to soften the blow on an otherwise overlooked autonomous and unmonitored real estate circle . PM Trudeau faced a number of hits , including a scuffle in parliament , and an unpopular move approving a controversial pipeline . Fort McMurray experienced enormous forest fires in the summer , with thousands of residents , including Filipino temporary workers picking up the pieces and trying to recover from their losses .
Just like in the animated movie Inside Out , there is a time to Panic and get Angry when all seems to be hopeless , and then feel Disgust over all the darkness that appears to rule over our lives . Sadness and Joy , however , show us that there is an upside to a downside , and we need to realize that we will get out of each situation unscathed somehow , despite what other people , and circumstances , bring into our lives . This is because we have Hope - the only real thing that December and the Christmas season brings .
Na-batong Bonuses ng PNP Generals
Recaido , Jr ., archers Joan Tabaniag , SEAG sprint queen Lydia de Vega-Mercado , Elma Muros , Isidro del Prado , multi-titled swimmer Eric Buhain , Akiko Thomson , Dyan Castillejo , among other national athletes most of them who came from the provinces trained , competed and lived in their 2nd home , the RMSC , for a long , long time . Kaya nga I liked and supported Cong Peping ’ s dream of having a modern sports training center for the national athletes in the province para mabago na ang training center , housing and training facilities of our national athletes who stayed in the old RMSC for more than 15 years . Sige na , ibenta na ang RMSC and have the modern sports training center in Mabalacat , Pampanga rise
soonest .
Teka , sino ba me ari talaga ng RMSC ?, ‘ Yon lang ! *****
The new American Ambassador to the Philippines , Sung Kim , a Korean-born American career diplomat , was invited to the 2016 Presidential Awards for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas at Malacañang last week only to hear President Duterte cursing the Americans , calling them hypocrites for the deferment of the second grant of the Millennium Challenge Corporation , which was supposedly because of Duterte ’ s raging war on illegal drugs . It was seen on TV the ambassador could just smile awkwardly . Not mincing any comment on PDU30 rants . You can ’ t invite somebody in your house and make him the subject of your tirades !
‘ Nakngdragon ! PDU30 has done it again ! *****
That poll survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations saying that eight of 10 Filipinos live in fear of the President ’ s war on drugs is a wake-up call not only to the President but to the entire populace .
More than 6,000 have been killed in this campaign since President Duterte took office six months ago . The number is growing so fast and the list could surpass 7,000 before the 2016 ends . Ganuon kabilis magwalis ang PDU30 ’ s men in uniforms and ,,
Hooded hoodlums in camouflaged jacks and
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