GMA's State Visit to the United States in the Midst of a Tragedy

With the recent visit of the President to the US, there are some opposition from her critics. The most vocal critics of the President said that she should have cancelled her state visit to the US because of the problems that she left in the country. the devastion of typhoon Frank is so vast that hundreds of people died and thousands of families left with no shelter. The estimated damages to infrastructure and agriculture already reach 4.5 billion pesos.

Another issue that the president should handled personally was the tragedy met by MV Princess of the Stars, the biggest ship by the Sulpicio Lines. The total passenger of the ship was 800 plus including the crews. As of this moment, there are only 50 plus who were able to survive from the tragedy. Although rescuers from the PCG and Navy still continue to search for possible survivors but according to them the possibility is very nill. The US already sent their help by sending 2 ships to help in the rescue operations. One of the ship is the US Ronald Reagan, a nuclear powered ship which was criticized by some senators especially Senator Biazon. He questioned the presence of the ship since according to him it violates some of the provisions in the constitution.

The number of fatalities is still increasing as more bodies are recovered from the ship. Some were recovered from nearby islands and some from other provinces including Masbate and Quezon Province. The bodies recovered were now moree than 100.

The main issue is why should the President still continue her state visit to the United States when she is badly needed by her people? Although some people may have the point in bringing up this issue. However, state visits are not that easy to cancel. The use of information technology also helped the President to do her obligations even outside of the country. She conducted several video conferencing with her cabinet secretaries to update her of the situation especially the MV Princess of the Stars tragedy. We can say that all of her cabinets and responsible government agencies are working to solve the problem and issues. At least we know that these government officials are working.


WE just hope that President GMA will bring back home more aid from the US to at least help those provinces hit by the typhoon and the families of the victims of the tragedy.

Typhoon Frank Updates and Destructions

The country was again put into another disaster when Typhoon Frank hit the country leaving so many casualties and destruction to infrastructure and the agriculture sector. Although the typhoon was not the strongest that hit the country but it caused a lot of damages including properties and lives of Filipinos.

The following are some of the facts and statisitics on Typhoon Frank:

Estimated affected individuals and families - 504,711
Total estimated destruction - 4.3 billion pesos
Total Deaths - 300+ and still increasing

Iloilo
Displaced people - 350,000 people
135 of 180 brangays were flooded
Damage to infrastructure - 500 million pesos
163 deaths 128 missing 16 injured

Antique
31 deaths

Eastern Visayas
33 thousands Families displaced

Central MIndanao
20 dead
many villages were flooded

Quezon
2 deaths
320 houses destroyed by a tsunami

Marinduque
3 deaths
500 houses were damage

Cavite
3 coastal towns were flooded

Zambales
2 mountaineers died 1 missing

Pangasinan
179 families were affected

Bulacan
4830 people were evacuated
10 towns, 71 villages were under a 4 ft floodwater

Metro Manila
suspension of all classes
many low lying barangays were submerged to floods

Sinking of MV Princess of the Orient: A ship of Sulpicio Lines
total people onboard the ship - 849
751 passengers
111 crew
20 deaths and still counting as more bodies were found trapped inside the ship
57 survivors... still hoping for more survivors

With these destruction brought by Typhoon Frank... filipinos were again put into another difficult situation. Some analyst said that it may again drive the prices of the basic commodities up including the price of rice.

Abduction of ABS-CBN Crew and Ces Drilon

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US Politics an example for Philippine Politics

With months of debates and exhausting primaries, nominees for the next presidential elections in the U.S. are now trimmed down to just two contenders. John McCain and Barack Obama stands to be the most strong candidate for the next election for each party, the democrats and republicans.

Here's the latest update of electoral votes for the two presidential nominees. This is quoted from http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/

* Barack Obama - 282
* John McCain - 256

This is a very tight battle for the Presidency comes November. But what is good in U.S. Presidential elections? They only have 2 candidates for Presidency. The voters are guided on who will they choose since this candidates were chosen as the best from a handful of nominees.

Loosing nominees in the U.S. primaries concedes when they are defeated but not in the Philippines. Loosing candidates will always continue to file protests and claims of being cheated is a normal situation.

In the Philippines, anybody could run for President. Even a farmer can file his candidacy. In the Philippines, presidential election is always with nuisance candidates.

When can the Philippines adopt a similar method of choosing candidates for Presidential Elections? The government can save money and resources. Elections will be more organized and hopefully peaceful as what is happening in the U.S. It is a battle of intelligence, capability, and the power to lead.

In the Philippines, it is a battle of money and power.

Philippine Ports: Transhipment of Drugs in Asia?

With the latest apprehension of PASG of a large shipment of first grade shabu in Subic port, it is now alarming that the Philippines may be the transhipment point of syndicates for the trade of illegal drugs. It is also noted by the authorities that the shipments are of first grade shabu that can still be processed to make more of the said drug. The shipments of illegal drugs is also intended for the demand in the Philippines.

The PDEA or Philippine Drug enforcement Agency also appealed on a morning TV program that other government agencies should also police their own ranks because of the possible involvement of their personnel in the shipments of this illegal drugs to the philippines. Since money is involved in this illegal trade, there are people who are tempted to be part of big syndicate which includes foreign nationals mostly Chinese.

Allowing this illegal drugs penetrate the local market is a big problem of the government and of the society. Since it is now the start of the school year, the demand for this drug will increase. It will ruin the life of many youths who are the common victims of this illegal drugs.

Every filipino should be vigilant in helping our government stop this illegal trade. Let us not be complacent on this issue. With so many problems haunting our government and the problem of poverty in the Philippines, illegal use of drugs will make us suffer more.