Support the Sumilao lumad-farmers' March for Land, Dignity and Justice

The children of the Sumilao farmers. They are now continuing the struggle of their parents. Some of them will be joining the March on October 10.

The original hunger strikers back in 1997.

Ka Peter Tuminhay with Erap Estrada and Etta Rosales.

Ten years ago this month, 17 lumad-farmers from Sumilao, Bukidon staged a hunger strike in front of the office of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Quezon City. Their call then was and still is the redistribution of the 144 hectares of their ancestral land. Many things have happened since their 28-day hunger strike in 1997. Former President Ramos’ much vaunted Win-Win formula came to naught when the Supreme Court decided to uphold the conversion order of then Executive Secretary Ruben Torres. Meanwhile, the Norberto Quisumbing Sr Management and Development Corporation sold the land to the San Miguel Food which is now putting up a piggery farm. In spite of these setbacks, the Sumilao farmers remain steadfast and still believe that one day they will be able to reclaim their ancestral land. They have now filed a petition for the cancellation of the conversion order before the Office of the DAR Secretary.They are also asking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to use her powers to give them back their ancestral land.

On October 10, 2007, fifty of the more than 150 claimant farmers will walk on foot from Bukidnon to Manila. They are expected to arrive in Manila on December 10 to press the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Office of the President to act on their case. This walk is their non-violent way of protesting the more than ten years of injustice they have gone through in trying to reclaim their ancestral land. Their story is a sad reflection of the state of agrarian reform in our country. It demonstrates how little our commitment is to agrarian reform justice. It is the lumad-farmers' hope that through this walk they will be able to re-ignite our awareness on the situation of agrarian reform in the country and create a groundswell of support for the acceleration of distribution of lands under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

The lumad-farmers of Sumilao need your help. The students of the AB Development Studies of the Ateneo de Manila University (Kristine Basa, Aya Mamaril, Ivygail Ong, Audris Umel, and Kristine Wee) have started a fund-raising drive to help the Sumilao farmers. As of October 6, 2007 they have raised P2027. However, the Sumilao farmers need more. All throughout the 60-day walk they need food, water, raincoats, slippers, tent, medicines and first aid kits. You may send your donations to PAKISAMA’s bank account:

Bank Account Name: Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA)

SavingsAccount Number: 0280-14200-0Equitable PCI Bank, Katipunan Branch
Please e-mail the details of your donation (amount, time and date of deposit, etc.) at Sumilao march email or to PAKISAMA to check if your donation has been received and to receive updates on the march.

PAKISAMA is a national confederation of farmers association in the Philippines. Its National Coordinator is Raul Socrates Banzuela. Its office is located at Rm 207 Partnership Center , 59 Salavador St. Loyola Heights, Quezon City.

Revoke the Conversion Order! Redistribute the Land under CARP!
Reform and Extend the Agrarian Reform Program! Rationalize Land Use!

For updates please visit this site. Please download the flyer and distribute to your friends, organizations and networks.

All photos by JMOD.

Red shirt day for Burma

FREE BURMA

Photos from Freedom for Burma. Stand up with the people of Burma, sign the petition.

ang pagbabalik ng show na may tama

strangebrew: ang show na may tama...remember that kids?

Launched in 2001 on UNTV, strangebrew became a cult favorite. It's like a pinoy Beavis and Butthead. The show introduced us to Tado and Erning. After a brief stint on UNTV 37 it went on to Studio 23 but was eventually axed as well. Tado became a household name and Erning or Angel had done hosting job for Breakfast.

DokAris, a cousin of mine who played with Tado in a band called Live Tilapia, emailed me this gif file on the return of strangebrew. Joining Tado and Erning is Direk Ramon Bautista who played oddball characters in the original run of the show. strangebrew airs on 99.5 RT. Tama? Tama!

huh?

This was posted outside the clinic of a large business organization. It's absolutely daft, isn't it? The bulletin board was posted with reminders on how to live a healthy lifestyle. The number ten was so hilariously stupid that I could not help but to take a picture of it. I was always laughing my head off everytime I passed by that moronic sign. They took it off after a week.

are you ready for the future?

We were discussing the fantastic TV series Heroes at the HQ when Sheila mentioned that she is going to lend me her copy of this sci-fi thriller called The 4400. I’ve been bugging her for some time now to let me borrow some titles from her enormous collection of Quiapo finds and I thanked her for this.

The 4400 is an excellent mix of fantasy and science fiction! It is a cross between X-files and Heroes. If X-files had Dana Scully and Fox Mulder, 4400 has Tom Baldwin and Diana Scouris. Set in Seattle, the series focuses on a group of people who mysteriously vanished at different times in a span of 60 years. Then one day these people suddenly reappeared unharmed, not a day older and most of all gifted with paranormal abilities.

We have heard several theories about abduction but this show reveals that the 4400 were abducted not by little green men but by humans, albeit from the future. They were sent back and given powers to avert a major catastrophe that will destroy the human race. Would they use their newfound powers to heal the world or would they use it for themselves? If you have a supernatural ability would you use it to enrich yourself or would you rather use it on the Marcoses and have them imprisoned till they rot? If Imelda had the power of Isabelle, let’s say materialization, would she summon for the body of Macoy and bring him to life and sing Dahil sa Iyo? If Ate Glo had the power of precognition, would she still call Garci? Well, if I have the power of telepathic suggestion, I would use it on Cueshe and make them jump off a cliff so that we will not hear their shrieking voices again.

The series opened in July of 2004 on USA network and is now on its 4th season. Ian said that it is being shown on AXN. If you don’t have AXN on your cable network (Damn you Global Destiny!) then ask your suking DVD pirate.

the lost boys...and girls pala

twisted slammer

i'm a news junkie. being an advance man for several organizations in the past it is my job to be updated on the latest stories here in rp and around the globe. i was googling for any news on rp when i chanced upon this story on the bbc website. it reported on how "an unusual physical fitness regime at a jail in the Philippines has attracted worldwide attention on the video sharing website, YouTube." last time i checked the clip that features pinoy inmates dancing to wacko jacko's thriller was watched 2 and half million times! it was also featured in al-jazeera tv and countless other news websites.

and what did people say about the video, you might ask? well, here are some of their comments i gathered from one news article:

"Does it seem fair that these prisoners in the Phillipines are having a
much better time than most American office workers? "- Mo Rocca , a famous blogger who has appeared on 'The Daily Show', 'I Love the 80s,' 'Larry King Live,' 'Iron Chef America,' 'Amor Descarado' (Telemundo), 'Video Babes: Secrets Revealed
(CMT),' and 'The Today Show.'

"Most inmates spend their days churning out license plates, but not the lucky prisoners at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines. They’re far too busy perfecting elaborate dance routines." -says Lauren Katulka for WebTVHUb

"Attention, Bureau of Prisons. Some folks over in the Philippines have a new prisoner exercise routine you might want to check out." - says Tom Shoop of Fedblog.

isn't it neat? here is a story that shows pinoy on a positive light. i mean, yes it is about crooks doing those stupid steps but it is way better than the story of one loony who took dozens of kids as hostages, right? guess, i am so starved of good news on our country that even this piece of crap makes my day. anyways, it is one hell of a funny crap! check this out.

tools for online warriors!

i would like to share with you this amazing handbook from Reporters without Borders. if you want to share your opinions on what is happening in your communities and remain anonymous then this handbook is for you. here is the review of rebecca mckinnon on global voices. click here to download the handbook.

rain

When I woke up at around 6pm I noticed that it was drizzling outside. I found myself singing Garbage's "I'm only happy when it rains." I know that it is quite a dreadful image. Me, an overweight slob suddenly bursting into a song releasing my lethal stale breath into the atmosphere. Man, that is way deadlier than the non-existent WMD of Saddam. I don't know why but hearing the sound of rain in our alulod makes me chirpy. It always brings back happy memories. Anyway, acording to PAG-ASA we should expect increased rainfall in the next few months because of La Niña.

What's your favorite "rain" song?

sing in the shower, save the environment

For the past several years now environmental groups and concerned scientists have been warning us about the impending environmental destruction through global warming. However, most of us dismissed this as ramblings by hard-line greenies who have nothing else to do. Thanks to Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" and the various freak storms and weather disturbances we are now finally sitting up and taking a hard look at the issue of global warming.

Here is your chance to take part and help save the planet. Join Greenpeace's campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% worldwide by 2050. Be an 'Energy Revolutionary'. To start, download Greenpeace's 'How to Save the Climate'.

According to the booklet, one tip in reducing our energy consumption is by singing or whistling in the shower! That I can definitely do! The Greenpeace handbook instructs us to 'take a shower instead of a bath, turn the water off when soaping, and to sing or whistle a short song to remind yourself to end your shower quickly.' Now, just don't choose stairway to heaven because if you do you will surely end up with hypothermia. I think the best shower song is 5 years by Sugar Hiccup. It is short, has no cheesy lyrics and reminds me of the movie Psycho. That will make me end my shower really fast. Cold Water by Damien Rice is okay too, I guess.

my big fat geek belly

it's official. i am now a member of the fat ass club. i am 25-pounds overweight!

well, the news did not come as a surprise. i have been eating my way to oblivion since october 2006 when i decided to go on a self exile. again. for the nth time.

my membership card to blubber world was handed to me when i joined SHREK on his visit to the doc. he has hypertension and is diagnosed as class II obese. he is 190 pounds of rolling and bumbling fat! poor kid. he is not only fat, he is class II obese! i didn't even know that there is a difference between overweight, obesity and obesity II until then.

anyways, after SHREK's turn in the fat register machine i asked the nurse on duty if she could assist me as well in measuring my weight. she then hurled me to the weighing scale like a big slab of pork chop, asked me to strip down and proceeded to tinker with the damned scale. after a few seconds she looked at me with a devilish grin and uttered: you are 25-pounds overweight. she obviously relished delivering the bad news. i was shocked at first but i came to realize that it is the truth. i felt like someone had just shove a whole quarter pounder to my mouth. i could not breathe. i guess i did not like hearing what was obvious to a lot of people. i am old and fat. no, i am just an old fart. darn it. it is time to hit the fat farm.

welcome to the plus size world, baby!

para sa MAYO 2007