Beauty and Brains

Filipinas are not strangers to beauty contests, whether local or international. Several Filipinas have made their country proud by winning titles in these events. We have Gloria Diaz who was the first Filipina to bring home the Miss Universe title in 1968. We also have Ruffa Gutierrez who was the second princess in the Miss World 1993 pageant. Among the other Filipinas who brought home titles are Lara Quigaman and Melanie Marquez. They proved that Filipinas can, too, be competitive in a contest of beauty…and brains?

The recent Miss Philippines-World 2008 chose the country’s entry to the Miss World pageant. Janina San Miguel, one of the aspirants, came up…ah..how do I put this… short during the Q&A portion. Not only did she make grammatical errors, but she was giggling while doing it as if she meant to do it. As if she didn’t give a damn about the Q&A portion. The error did not only give humiliation to herself, but to her country as well as her “moment” went on to youtube and has over 2,000,000 hits. International comedy stints are also mocking the vid, such as the tv show, “Attack of the Show”. She now follows the path of Caitlin Upton, South Carolina’s entry into the 2007 Miss Teen USA pageant, who gave a “far out” answer during the Q&A portion. She also went on to YouTube, now a hit video, garnering millions of views. Both of the actual event itself and parody videos, which depicts her as a dumb ass. Or as how American men would call it, “million dollar body ten cent brain”.

As if the grammar error was enough, get a load of this Janina won! She is now the official Philippine entry into the Miss World pageant. This means she would in a worldwide event, where the language used would be English.

With Janina as the winner, we wonder what really is the deal with beauty contests. Is it really just about beauty?

A Fight That Unites

A country divided by so many scandals and religions was united…but only for a short while, as the nation’s boxing superstar Manny Pacquaio picks up a win over Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez.

It was a time wherein Pacquaio’s win was crucial, the country was already divided by the ZTE-NBN Broadband Overpricing and the risk of losing oil-rich Kalayaan Islands, a loss would plunge the country deeper into depression. The first few rounds showed Marquez’s dedication to put out the guy they call in his country, “Numero Enemigo Uno de la Republika” (Enemy Number One of the Republic), the person who has defeated eight other Mexican boxers, connecting punches that sent Manny reeling. But the third round was different, Manny retaliated and managed to knock out Marquez, and his countrymen were on their feet applauding for their hero.

The match turned out in favor of Pacquaio, despite protests and allegations of errors in the scorecards. Once again, the Philippines was united. The military declared a temporary cease-fire with the insurgents, the political squabbles stopped, criminality was at its lowest. But Pacquaio’s boxing matches only comes twice or thrice in a year, we shouldn’t always depend on these for national reconciliation. Peace should start within ourselves, the people, that we should all reconcile, link together and move on forward.

Another Pain in the Neck

From corruption scandals to the risk of losing a resources-rich group of islands the country faces a new kind of problem — shortage of rice.

Although we are not yet in the state of a crisis, we are nearing it. And the ironic part is that we once used to be the world’s leading rice producer, and the fact that the Agriculture sector receives the fourth largest percentage of the total budget. The Government has no one to blame but themselves, they also cannot blame harsh weather conditions because it only affects some parts of the archipelago. Misuse of funds and lack of technology for rice farms are the reasons why there has been a shortage of rice. In 2005, a scandal erupted which was about the use of an P 800 M fertilizer budget to fund Mrs. Arroyo’s election campaign. One of the many misuses of Agricultural funds. Rice farmers also can’t afford basic technologies like irrigation which should be where the Government steps in. The Government should maintain their lease-hold system to provide more land to more farmers. In addition, the Government should keep an eye on the amount of rice being exported, what we keep for our own consumption should be more than what we export to other countries. By doing this, we are able to save more in rice importation.

The Philippines still remains today as one of the world’s top rice paddy producers, hanging onto the 9th spot just before Brazil and Japan, but if necessary measure would still be neglected we would move further away from being, once again, an economic tiger. Another pain in the neck for the Arroyo Administration.

The Lozada Factor

A former Philippine Forest Corporation President, and a key witness to the NBN Project scandal, is now the center of attention of the political world, where ever he goes he is treated like a rock star by the people, all applauding and cheering his name. This popularity took something in exchange though, he now lives in a safehouse instead of his own luxurious house and eats tikoy (Chinese rice cake). But Lozada is now considered the icon for the new People Power, reviving old Martial Law era slogans such as, “You are not alone” and “Moderate their Greed”. He also revived the singing of the Revolutionary national anthem of the Philippines, “Bayan Ko”.

The guy first came into the scene when he was identified as the first key witness of the NBN controversy. He flew to Hong Kong after his identity was revealed and came back home a few days later and was nowhere to be found. He appeared again a few days after and claimed that he was abducted by Police and Military personnel. Finally he attended the Senate hearing on the case and revealed blockbuster news. He said that Commision on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos wanted to protect his US$130M kickback from the project. He also testified that there were several people whom bribed him not to return to the Philippines to testify. He identified several officials of the Government and Cabinet as co-conspirators of the crime. Including the First Gentleman, Mike Arroyo. His testimony won both popularity and sympathy from the people.

Whether hes speaking the truth or not, Lozada’s testimony seemedto have placed the loyalists in doubt, the neutral in anger and the opposition in the sense of People Power.

Abused Power

On February 25, 1986 , the Philippines impressed the world when the people united and stood strong to restore democracy. Going against tanks and soldiers, armed only with rosaries. On the ninth of January 2001, they impressed the world again by uniting to oust a dictator who at that time was taking public funds for his own use. Living a life of gambling, corruption and prostitution. That revolution seated a person who is now on the risk of being overthrown by another revolution. The Arroyo Government faces another big problem today, the NBN Project Overpricing. But just like the mutinies, ‘Hello Garci Scandal’ and impeachment trials the Government faces, President Arroyo doesnt seem to get distracted by on strengthening the economy. The job of the President is to strengthen the economy and not focus on political bickerings. The people should be contended with a government that focuses like a laser beam on the economy. It is very clear that the aim of the opposition is to grab power and not for “the welfare of the people”. I, myself, think that the government is doing a good job. It was able to produce the highest economic growth rate in 31 years and put us back on track on the ASEAN race which about 20-30 years ago the Philippines was dominating.

Despite the conditions now, I still think we should not resort to People Power. And that the politicians should help, and not put down, the government. If we help each other, we would soar together to growth.

It is said that great power comes great responsibility. The great power in people’s revolution is being abused. The power of the people is indeed true, it is even said that the welfare of the people is the ultimate constitution. But the people must follow proper process of elections and presidential tenure. Meaning, the decision of the elections is final and it is the fault of the people if they voted for the wrong person. And that the change we should achieve is not change in government but change in the way we react to things.