In the renewed debate on the proposal to allow divorce in the Philippines, it is almost certain that the fact that outside of the Vatican, the Philippines remains, along with tiny island-nation Malta, the only country in the world with no divorce law.
Why is this? The primary reason, of course, is the stubborn stand of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines against it. The church has remained blind to the realities of modern Philippine society, just as it has remained incognizant of the adverse effects of uncontrolled population growth to the Philippines and its people.
Extreme poverty, lack of education, financial problems, prolonged separation (in the case of couples where one or both are working abroad) and other social ills that were not prevalent until about a few decades ago are putting many marriages in the Philippines under tremendous pressure.
The phenomenon of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos departing for work abroad annually, leaving behind their spouses and children has resulted in broken families and wayward children. It is not uncommon for the spouse left behind to commit adultery, and their children to grow amidst this immoral environment and without the guidance of both parents. The same goes for the spouse abroad, who meets another man or woman, married or unmarried, who shares his or her loneliness and cohabitate, sometimes bearing illegitimate children.
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| Another temporary victory for inequality and bigotry |
Last Monday, August 16, a federal appeals court extended a stay on same-sex marriages until it has ruled on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, which sought to ban such unions.
The ruling of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit was just the latest turn of events of the tw0-year legal battle over California’s Proposition 8. On August 4, federal court Judge Vaughn R. Walker had lifted a stay he had imposed on same-sex unions and ruled that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional.
Walker’s ruling would have allowed the resumption of same-sex marriage in California, last Wednesday, August 18, but with the appellate court’s ruling, no such weddings can be performed until perhaps the Supreme Court decides with finality on the proposition’s constitutionality.
In November 2008, while America was upholding the result of decades of battle for civil rights by electing an African American to the presidency, tens of thousands of Californians were institutionalizing inequality, injustice and bigotry by passing Proposition 8, which sought to ban gay marriages in California. They wanted to include in the state constitution a provision that would deprive a group of people of their right to happiness and equal protection, and on the same breath would rather protect the rights of chickens, pigs and cows than those of their fellow human beings.
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| Americans were scandalized when two enterprising reporters of the Los Angeles Times exposed the anomalously high salaries of officials of the tiny city of Bell in Southern California. One of the poorest cities in California, the city of Bell nonetheless is paying its officials – and employees – salaries that not even its much bigger and wealthier neighbor, Los Angeles, could afford. The city manager, for example, was paid $787,637 a year, the police chief was paid $457,000, and the assistant city manager was paid $376,288. The three have since resigned. Four of five Bell city council members, who only work part-time, received nearly $100,000 a year each, but they reduced it to just $8,000 a year after the city residents’ vocal protests. And no wonder not a single city employee was complaining. They were also being paid disproportionately high salaries. A police captain, for example, gets about $250,000 and a typist gets $42,000 a year. In contrast, Los Angeles City Mayor Antonio Villaraigoza is being paid only about $275,000 a year, just slightly higher than a police captain in Bell gets. Imagine if Americans would learn that scores of officials of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) of the poverty-stricken Philippines were getting even more scandalously excessive salaries and perks in the millions of pesos. They would puke! The residents of Bell are up in arms against the City Council and their officials and are holding nearly daily protests at City Hall to demand the resignation of all elected and appointive officials receiving those anomalous compensations. |
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| Eyeing the gold in London |
If there’s anything that stood out in Rep. Manny Pacquiao’s first privilege speech, it was his humility and his sincerity to serve the best way he can. The ever-humble Pacquiao immediately earned the respect of his colleagues in the House of Representatives when he admitted at the outset that he was awed by the fact that he is in the midst of this group of brilliant minds, of these “Honorable Sirs and M’ams,” as he put it.
Instead, the members of the House were awed by this neophyte gentleman from Saranggani, certainly one of the greatest boxers of all time and one of the wealthiest athletes in the world who humbly bowed before them, and politely but firmly declared that he hoped to learn from them and that he was there to serve not only his constituents in Saranggani, but the entire Filipino people as well.
And yet, Pacquiao failed to realize that he was probably one of the very few in that disreputable chamber who had the sincerity and mindset to serve the people. Many of those honorable sirs and madams can learn a thing or two from him in terms of sincerity, dedication and determination to succeed in his goals.
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| P10.5 billion gone like magic |
And we thought we’ve had enough of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Just when we thought she was ready to fade away and that we’ve heard the last of her administration’s shenanigans, another questionable disbursement that would dwarf the P728-million fertilizer fund scam was revealed last week.
On July 14, just a day before Arroyo, her husband Mike and son Dato were photographed lining up for immigration check on their way to Hongkong, Dominique Lebastard, economic counselor of the French Embassy, revealed in a press briefing that only three months after the signing of a P10.5-billion loan agreement with the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), the entire loan amount had been fully disbursed.
Just like magic, P10.5 billion was gone in three months!
Although Lebastard did not directly question the unusual speed with which the amount was spent, it was obvious that the French government was concerned that the loan was not used for the specific purpose that it was granted. Lebastard made it very clear that the loan was in support of the Philippines’ effort to protect the environment and mitigate effects of climate change.
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