THE VALID POLICE DISPERSAL OF THE VIOLENT RALLY AT THE U.S. EMBASSY

Rally organizers knew that a peaceful program or rally will have no media impact so they’d probably planned the vandalism and deliberate agitations even before the protest action started. What they didn’t planned on was that their errant agitations would cause a hothead to run over their ranks with a police van.

If they were peaceful as they claimed, we would have seen a rally just like the one held by Marcos loyalists at the Supreme Court just a few days prior. But instead we saw agitated protesters charging the police line, we saw vandals spray-painting and

A POLITICIZED INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC): THE PHILIPPINES SHOULD PULL OUT

Did you know that the Philippines can pull out of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at any time? The Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, allows for states to withdraw from the ICC. In fact, some world powers (countries) refuse membership in the ICC or do not recognized its authority or jurisdiction. Believe it or not, the United States (U.S.) is one of them.

Israel had refused to be a party to the ICC because it has concerns that political pressure on the Court would lead it to reinterpret international law or to "invent new crimes".

METRO MANILA 4-DAY SCHOOL WEEK WILL ALSO HELP PARENTS AND STUDENTS

There’s a proposal going around about the 4-day work week in order to ease traffic congestion in Metro Manila, this is good as long as the business sector doesn’t mind. Although eventually they may not have a choice anyhow but why don’t we try the 4-day school week first?

Every daily commuter knows that during summer vacation the usual long queues at LRT and MRT stations are drastically shorter and the usual choke points on major roads that happen on school zones are gone. That’s because a huge number of students (commuters or with vehicles) aren’t using the PUVs or roads. That’s what we’re aiming to re-enact one day every

HURRAY! ROAD SPACE-SAVING DOUBLE-DECKER BUSES ARE NOW HERE FOR DOTR’S P2P TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Filipinos need not go to Hong Kong or Singapore or London to experience the double-decker bus, just ride the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) Point-to-Point (P2P) mass transport system (http://cnnphilippines.com/life/videos/2016/10/12/Government-launches-14-new-double-decker-P2P-buses.html). This space-saving vehicle can ferry almost as many passengers that two regular buses can. Besides cash, commuters can also use their BEEP cards for their fare, too. WOW!

The double-decker concept is “MOVING MORE PEOPLE IN LESS VEHICLES (on the road)” – we need to focus on similar

THE BALANGIGA BELLS: U.S. TROPHY FOR THE MASSACRE OF INNOCENT FILIPINO CIVILIANS?

The Balangiga Massacre DOES NOT refer to the legitimate ambush made by Filipino freedom fighters against the surprised U.S. Army company at Balangiga, Samar in Sept. 28, 1901. This raid resulted in the deaths of 48 and wounding of 22 American soldiers. The Balangiga Massacre is the ruthless butchering of unspecified number of innocent Filipino civilians as revenge killing for that valid ambush (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balangiga_massacre, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balangiga_bells).

The U.S. Army took the Balangiga Bells as war trophies after their men, on orders of Gen. Jacob H. Smith, massacred innocent Filipino civilian males aged 10 and older. Shame on Americans or anyone who may think that such an INGLORIOUS

THE ANATOMY OF U.S.-SPONSORED FAILED STATES: THE U.S. IS AT IT AGAIN IN THE CASE OF SYRIA

Iraq, Libya and now Syria – the U.S. brand of “democracy” obviously isn’t working for certain cultures and peoples so that is why these countries are now failed states or on their way to becoming one. Warlordism has become of Iraq and Libya but thanks to Russia, most of Syria hasn’t gone to that yet.

For a long time, Col. Muammar Khadafy ruled with an iron fist in Libya and so did Pres. Saddam Hussein over Iraq. There may have been ruthlessness and abuses committed, but each dictator held together their people as a nation. But as the world knows now, U.S.-style “democracy” may not be suitable for some cultures. In fact, in some cultures, benevolent dictatorships

MMDA’S NO-CONTACT TRAFFIC APPREHENSIONS: EFFECTIVE ROAD DISCIPLINARIAN

When Metro Manila Dev’t Authority (MMDA) announced the start of the No-Contact Traffic Apprehensions System (http://www.mmda.gov.ph/index.php/20-faq/2040-no-contact-traffic-apprehension-policy-11-things-you-need-to-know), I knew that a sustained and strict implementation of the system is good for motorists’ road discipline and for add’l gov’t revenue for our traffic system’s overdue upgrades. Now that Pres. Duterte aims to cut income and other taxes, the penalties collected from erring motorists is a timely and good source of funding to augment the “savings” that the previous administration left.

Expect this source of funding to be significant because of the countless violations that we see on the road, private and public vehicles alike. Of course, the no-contact apprehension may take some time because of the due process of sending notices,

PROTECTION FOR PHILIPPINE LAW ENFORCERS (AND THEIR FAMILIES) IS A MUST

Protective gear for our “in-the-line-of-fire” Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel should be given priority. Currently, only special units like the SWAT, NBI, PDEA, etc. don bulletproof vests, Kevlar helmets, advanced communications gear and other life-saving paraphernalia. My heart goes to heroes like PO1 Romeo Mandapat who paid the ultimate price in the line of duty. PO1 Mandapat may have had a chance against his drug-pusher killer if he had the proper gear. (http://balita.definitelyfilipino.com/tags/po1-romeo-mandapat/)

Our policemen and law enforcement agents who go out in the field to conduct raids, arrests, searches and other operations

P18.9 BILLION FOR FA-50 FIGHTER JETS FOR PAF: A WASTE OF MONEY

Pres. Duterte scored a bulls-eye in saying that the money spent for the 12 FA-50 jets purchased by the last administration could have been used to buy helicopters or boats that we can use for our internal security problems. For the amount, our Air Force could have gained more choppers and/or small, fast boats for our Coast Guard so that they can pursue terrorists and bandits over land or over sea.

In his speech before local mayors, he divulged that now the U.S. won’t even sell us ammunition for these fighters. What? Why did ex-Pres. Aquino get these very expensive but useless military hardware anyway if the U.S. can “yank our chain” and not

HPG DID A GREAT JOB TO END THE BALINTAWAK MARKET TRAFFIC CHAOS (BUT WHY HAVEN’T I SEEN THEM LATELY)?

Prior to ex-Pres. Aquino’s order for the PNP-Highway Patrol Group’s (HPG) to “fix” EDSA, Balintawak Market always caused a traffic buildup. Vendors occupy 1-lane, 1-lane is filled with patrons’ and suppliers’ vehicles, 1-lane has become the “terminal” of unfilled PUJs and yet another lane served as the “unloading/loading” area for other PUVs. This means that out of 5-lanes in that portion of EDSA, passing vehicles are left with only 1-lane to use.

And what’s exacerbating is that all of these are usually happening under the watchful eyes of MMDA Traffic Enforcers posted at the area. Makes anyone who emerges from the bottleneck and sees them to think that either these MMDA personnel are

HPG CLOSES U-TURN SLOT AT SM NORTH EDSA: THERE’S A BETTER SOLUTION THAN CLOSING IT

The U-Turn slot after West Ave. that previously served all vehicles going to SM North EDSA was closed in an effort by the HPG to help make traffic flow along EDSA smoother by diverting traffic to the much farther Quezon Ave. I think that motorists can bear the expense of the added distance if only to avoid a traffic buildup at the old U-Turn slot, but now the bottleneck is at Quezon Ave. and unless it affects the EDSA flow (their current mission) I fear that HPG doesn’t care.

As a motorist (and commuter) who frequents SM North EDSA coming from Monumento, I think that there’s a better solution to mitigate EDSA traffic buildup in the area and at the same time decongest the Quezon Ave. U-Turn slot:

Let private vehicles use the old U-Turn slot and let PUVs use the Quezon Ave. slot.

But it CAN’T be the other way around. Why? PUVs are the primary cause of the blockage - PUVs unloading at the outermost(rightmost) lane and PUVs emerging from West Ave. that “cross” EDSA in order to get to the old U-Turn slot. These practice by PUVs results to 4-5 out of the 6 lanes of EDSA getting blocked by PUVs trying to get to the old U-Turn slot.

THE NEW KFC SUNDAE: A PRODUCT OF FALSE ADVERTISING

The new KFC Sundae posters at KFC SM Annex North EDSA was so tempting that I tried it and I was shocked with the almost halved serving size. The crew, a Ms. Mocha, even reiterated that it was the correct serving size when I called her attention to it. Frustrated, I dutifully started filming and taking photos of the sundae and the KFC posters for Consumerword.

Only after noticing my actions did the branch officer approached me to apologize and offer to replace the item. She said that Ms. Mocha was new and didn’t realize that her serving was incorrect. Although she brought me a better serving, and I thanked