I am incensed over billboard ads showing Filipinas promoting whitening creams and saying that a whiter skin makes one desirable, alluding that with a whiter skin, one would have a better career.
What happened to our love for our own kayumanggi skin color? So now Pinays are made to believe in such a huge marketing lie. These whitening skin companies send a very wrong and disturbing message to the public. They are the corporate world’s racist bigots and would worm their way into a rich culture such as ours.
I even once saw a billboard along EDSA (thank God its no longer there!) equating dark skin with poverty. “Kutis-Mayaman” was the message. Shame on this company and to that endorser.
And then there are clothing stores which promote their products with Korean models. So what’s wrong with our models? The Filipino mentality toward other races is bothersome enough, because why wouldn’t we be proud of our own? We are crabs with a Filipino mentality.
Isn’t there like an ad council that should be monitoring these public advertisements and commercials in all media?
Suits you well
When the late Communist leader Jose Maria “Joma” Sison exiled himself to the Netherlands and started wearing suits, he made himself irrelevant to the leftists here in the Philippines.
Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) to his dying day never gave up on his collarless Mao jacket in favor of a western suit. The late Kim Jong-il of North Korea always wore an olive green colored military outfit. Even Cuba’s Fidel Castro wore a similar outfit for the longest time, and only later in life was he seen occasionally in public wearing an athletic terno.
Even his tocayo and cigar-chomping former President Fidel Valdez Ramos did not quite recognize Joma as the leader of the Philippine Communist movement – or so it appeared then from FVR’s announcements that the government recognize instead Luis Jalandoni as the leftist’s representative in peace talks.
Thank God we have men like Commodore Joel Abutal in our maritime industry who is currently the Superintendent of the Philippine Merchant Marine academy in San, Narciso, Zambales.
But let’s look back. Practically every ship owner is guilty of greed for overloading their vessels and making more profit while totally disregarding the safety and comfort of their paying passengers.
The government shares equal blame. This is one area in its operations where proper discharge of duties to protect the public is practically nil.
But as I’ve said, Commodore Abutal has some serious training for his men at the PMMA, and the maritime industry is off for smooth sailing.
Liberating from the Liberal Party
The Liberal Party once held a shindig to honor outstanding past LP leaders as part of a national effort to revitalize the party in preparation for coming polls.
In listing the LP greats to be honored, the organizers should have included the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. who was president of the Liberal Party (LP) for many years until he bolted to the Nacionalista Party (NP) to become their presidential bet.
He probably flashed the “L” before flashing the “V.” Well, I suppose even the late Marcos was bitten by the balimbing bug at some point in his political career. Twice, I believe.
But even after he joined the NP and then rose to become president of the country, FM maintained a good relationship with the LP. He helped many liberals during his presidency even to the consternation of the Nacionalistas.
A few Ilocano politicians then, like the late former President Fidel Ramos and the late Senator Ernesto Maceda have failed to get the Marcos mantle in the north.
Even the late Senator Aquilino ‘Nene’ Pimentel who hails from Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao, claims to be an Ilocano since his mother Petra Quilingquing comes from Marcos’ hometown of Batac, Ilocos Norte. Pimentel is a cousin of General Fabian Ver.
In fact, Pimentel had a local bill passed changing the name of a Batac barangay to Quilingquing.
Congressmen with green cards
The Comelec should not accept the candidacies of candidates who are US Green card holders, aka Resident aliens. There are many of them.
I will be furnished with a list of these individuals soon.
The list should also include candidates with US citizenships and those who have acquired Canadian immigrant status or citizenship – and other countries for that matter. Check who among them will be gunning for future public office.
Take the classic case of former Sorsogon Juan Frivaldo and Baguio City Mayor Jun Labo who were both disqualified from public office even after they had been elected.
Frivaldo fought the citizenship issue for years when he was accused of being a US citizen, while Labo was accused of being an Australian citizen.
There were at least three other provincial and municipal executives who were charged with non-eligibility to possess Philippine elective positions due to their holding of foreign passports.
One problem here is that some other countries like Spain, Australia, the UK and of course the US allow dual citizenships, a fact which several Filipinos, notably those in the upper echelons of society, have taken advantage of for prestige and convenience. And one of the reasons why many of our prominent state officials and business leaders go regularly to the US is to renew their Green Cards while visiting family members there.
Methinks even most appointive officials including the cabinet, the judiciary, and the executive department are all US Green Card holders while some are dual citizens.
We should determine which of these officials have family members, notably spouses and children, who are Green Card holders and who have latched on to their foreign papers as some sort of “insurance” in case of trouble in the Philippines.
This way, these family members could easily fly to the US and to other countries in case civil strife here or even economic crises such as a financial crunch or meltdown occurs.
As one Cabinet member said some years ago when asked what he would do in case trouble erupts here, “No sweat, my family can easily fly to the US,” and that he would eventually follow if things grow worse here.
The time is ripe for these people to be exposed for who they really are, and their much-proclaimed patriotism and so-called love for country be put to the test.
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