Wednesday, July 18, 2018

7-11 Donuts Are Infested With Ants

Oh thank Heaven for 7 Eleven. 


Thank heaven I didn't want any donuts! I only walked over to take a look because the donut display is right next to the sandwiches which I was really interested in. 



Looks sweet and delicious right? Look closer!


The donuts were covered in ants. Little black ants were scurrying all over the place. 



Kind of gross. And this is inside what should be a rather clean convince store. Just imagine what's crawling around all the makeshift sidewalk sari-sari stores and restaurants.

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

New Youtube Channel

The old Philippinefails Youtube channel has been terminated. Erased from existence. 



Three strikes and now I am out. Oddly enough the last strike was over a video that I posted a while ago and that I had censored after receiving a warning about it. Even odder still is that Facebook has allowed the whole video uncensored to remain posted!
https://www.facebook.com/philippinefails/videos/1490893824361620/
This second video I had received a strike over and then censored it but received another strike! Facebook apparently has no problems with it.
https://www.facebook.com/philippinefails/videos/1712773282173672/
Although I field a request to reinstate the account i is doubtful this will happen so I created another channel. The new channel is here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv4a3Y49oGTwTkCjevx6Eog
I will not be allowed to have a custom name until I have so many subscribers and views and after a few months. I will have to fix some of the now dead links in this blog and I don't have all the videos I posted saved which will make it difficult. If you come across a dead video link please let me know in the comments. Be sure to subscribe and share.

Martial Law: Dark Clouds

While Senator Manny Pacqiuao has absconded from his governmental duties in order to train to beat up a man on television the Senate and House have been hard at work crafting a Basic Bangsomoro Law on which they can both agree. Now the fruits of their labor have matured.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/07/14/1833400/bicam-approves-final-bangsamoro-basic-law-version
The Senate and the House of Representatives agreed yesterday on the final version of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL). 
The bicameral conference committee worked overtime on Thursday night to resolve the few remaining contentious issues in the law that would create a new Bangsamoro territory to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). 
“We finished everything in principle at 12:15 a.m.,” Majority Leader Rodolfo FariƱas said.
Just like Dr. Frankenstein, the Congress worked late into the night cutting and slicing and adding pieces here and there and finally they have crafted a law that will give the Muslims of Mindanao their very own Islamic State. The BBL will replace the failed ARMM but this time it will succeed. In fact it will be an ARMM plus!

http://www.mindanews.com/peace-process/2018/07/the-bangsamoro-law-not-fully-cab-compliant-but-its-armm-plus-definitely/
“I tried to stay true to the CAB in terms of the provisions of this BBL kaya marami minsan naiinis sa akin dahil I am not flexible daw, I am pro-MILF, but its’ not that,” Zubiri said, adding he was just doing his job. “At the end of the day, we senators have to look at the bigger picture … and the bigger picture is the peace process. Ayaw natin ng gulo” (We don’t want trouble),” he said, referring to the ARMM provinces, the core territory of the future Bangsamoro in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), and neighboring provinces like Lanao del Norte.
Very telling that the Senator who seems to be working hardest on the BBL is pro-terrorist (MILF is a terrorist group never forget that) and he doesn't want trouble! What trouble could he possibly be taking about? "Give 'em what they want!" Right? So they finally lay down their weapons and give peace a chance. All that's left is to vote on it so that Duterte can append his signature on the date of the SONA. What an accomplishment!

After Duterte's signature the next step will be a plebiscite in the ARMM and other regions. If the BBL is approved by the people then war will end and peace will reign forever with the MILF and MNLF terrorist groups at the head of the BBL's governing body. 

https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/07/12/afp-chief-reaffirms-commitment-to-peace-in-bangsamoro-region/
Efforts are currently focused on ensuring the successful implementation of the various peace mechanisms. Particularly, the AFP is jointly planning and organizing the Joint Peace and Security Teams (JPST) with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). 
Each JPST is composed of seven AFP, eight PNP and 15 MILF members. Initially, the AFP was able to train 14 teams which were deployed in Central and Western Mindanao in June 2018. This number will continue to increase as the normalization process continues.
Wow! Even the AFP is for peace. There is hope after all for the future of Mindanao once the Islamic State is established and MILF and MNLF are entrenched as the rulers of the region. All the other Islamic terrorist groups will be obsolete.

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1752445/Manila/Local-News/3-Abu-Sayyaf-members-killed-in-Sulu-clash
Whoa! That doesn't look like peace to me. But you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette (three to be exact).  Unlike the MILF and MNLF, Abu Sayyaf did not get to the negotiating table in time and therefore will have no place in the new BBL. You also have to weather a few storms before the sun comes out.

https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/07/11/duterte-on-fight-vs-terror-i-see-dark-clouds-ahead/
“Just be put on notice that we are not yet over the hump in our troubles with the law and order particularly in some parts of the Philippines. Mindanao is one area which you have to look with guarded eyes,” he said, adding that ISIS remains to be a wildcard in Mindanao.
If you didn't know the troubles in Mindanao are 500 years old. The hump is nowhere near over! I predict martial law will be extended again into 2019. I am calling it now. Don't forget it. Mark it on your calendar.

And I don't think the BBL will solve anything. It will propel the MILF and MNFL into power.  The BBL will literally empower terrorists! Is the Philippines going to have terrorists in parliament if they change the constitution? Are they so crazy for peace that they will give away a portion of the country to be run by terrorists in the name of a fictive peace that surely will not come until the region is fully seceded from the Philippines?

Don't forget the Muslims DO NOT want to be a part of the Philippines. They objected to a provision that called them citizens of the Republic of the Philippines.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/996061/house-oks-bbl-bill-but-senate-introduces-contentious-changes
 “Most [of the original BBL provisions] were contentious,” said Sen. Ralph Recto who, along with Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, introduced most of the amendments. 
“[Its] framework to begin with is forming a state, which is unconstitutional, until we adopt a federal form of government,” Recto said. 
Drilon successfully moved for the inclusion of a provision reiterating “that the Bangsamoro people are citizens of the Republic of the Philippines.” Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, the bill sponsor, said this was opposed by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission.
Do you understand now? All those Muslims and traitors pushing hard for the BBL are pushing for a sovereign Islamic state. Anything less is unacceptable. They do not want to be citizens of the Philippines. That means these solons in the House from Mindanao are either lying or are misinformed about the intent of the BTC which crafted the original BBL bill.

Well you know if the BBL does not work out, and even if it does, the AFP will be there to quell all the violence. Now that they have been injected with pride and inspiration from Manny Pacquiao's win I think it will turn out all right.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1010400/afp-pacquiaos-victory-inspiration-to-soldiers
“In his latest triumph of winning the WBA Welterweight World Title, Manny Pacquiao did not only demonstrate the Filipino’s natural trait of strength and courage, he also showed the world, how determined, disciplined and hardworking the Filipinos are; just like his comrades in the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” the AFP said. 
“The whole Armed Forces is all out in its support to our boxing champion. His discipline, dedication, and hard-work continue to inspire our soldiers to do the same in the exercise of their duties and the fulfillment of their mandates to our country,” the statement added.
Oh really?
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/regions/660523/afp-gets-into-2-firefights-with-npa-in-cordillera-region/story/
Go AFP! Go!

Monday, July 16, 2018

Delicious Product of the Philippines

It's one kilo of chocolate.


Made in Bulacan. Get it if you find it. Very sweet.  Crumbly. The chocolate is soft and very sweet. Better than a Hershey or Goya bar.

Jeepney Art 14: You're a Jeepney, Harry

"Ah, go boil yet heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry -- yer a jeepney." 
There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard. 
"-- a what?" gasped Harry. 
"A jeepney, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been tuned up a bit. With a body an' engine like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh picked up some passengers."











Sunday, July 15, 2018

Reformed Churches in the Philippines

What makes a church a Reformed Church? I'd say confessing the Three Forms of Unity (the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, and the Canons of Dort) and holding to a reformed church polity. That would be the two most basic foundations if a church was going to call itself Reformed.

But in the Philippines that seems to not be the case. It seems as if to be Reformed one need only confess TULIP (Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints). That is also a problem with the neo-Calvinist movement in the West. A profession of faith in TULIP without regard to the myriad of other points that make one Reformed such as the doctrines of baptism and the covenant.

There are quite a few churches in the Philippines which call themselves Reformed but anyone from the West who joined the worship service would not recognise them as being such.  

For starters the music. 

The Reformed Churches sing from the Psalter. There are a few versions of the psalter used by various Reformed denominations but the music is still the psalms in verse form sung either a cappella or with a piano or organ accompaniment. Not so in the Philippines. In the Philippines the worship service is rooted in Pentecostalism with guitars and keyboards and even a drum box. The songs are typical modern worship fare: love songs to Jesus with much repetition. Sometimes there are also hymns. Rock of Ages and all the other popular hymns.

The reason for this, as I have been told, is to attract the youth. Young people get bored with the stuffy old Psalter. But singing from the Psalter is a distinctive of Reformed worship. If you are not singing from the psalter then your worship is not Reformed. 

Another Reformed distinctive not held to in the Philippines is that there is one man who is the pastor and only he can speak from the Pulpit.  In the Philippines churches will have each elder speak on a rotating basis. Throughout the service several people will speak from the pulpit. One person will do the beginning prayer, one person will lead the music, one person will pray again, the appointed elder will speak, someone else will give the benediction over the offering, and lastly someone will give the announcements.

Yes announcements come at the end of the service and not at the beginning nor are they spelled out on the bulletin which most churches give you as you enter the service. Many of these speakers might also be women. A woman might pray over the offering or give the announcements or even lead the music. This would never happen in a Reformed Church in the West. Ok maybe in the more liberal denominations like the CRC. But then again is the CRC really Reformed?

Of all the churches I have ever attended not one Reformed Church uses a projector with power point. I did attend Mark Driscoll's church in Seattle once but that doesn't count because he is not Reformed. He is only tiptoeing through the TULIPs. At the end of the service I attended he announced that anyone wanting to get baptised could do so as Mars Hill would provide the clothes and a towel. Anyone getting baptised would also receive a free "I got dunked at Mars Hill" t-shirt. That is clearly not Reformed and damn near blasphemous.

In the Philippines the Reformed Churches use projectors with powerpoint. They project the lyrics to the songs (sometimes with bad typos like "Let angels prostate fall" instead of "prostrate"), the announcements, and the outline of the sermon as the pastor speaks.  It strikes me as almost infantile that the congregation cannot follow along without a projection to look at. Reformed Churches tend to be intellectual and academic with multipoint sermons an hour long and the people following along attentively with no images upon which to gaze.

This morning the most amazing image was projected as the ten commandments were read.





That is Charlton Heston as Moses! The whole church was reading along with Charlton Heston holding the two tables of the law!!

As I mentioned at the beginning, confessing the Three Forms of Unity is crucial to being a Reformed Church. But in the Philippines these confessions are not exactly confessed. The Heidelberg Catechism is broken up into 52 Lord's Days which means there is one part of the catechism to be preached each Sunday. I have yet to see this happen in the Philippines. What generally happens is that  during the pre-service Catechism Class, which only a few people attend, a section of one of the Three Forms is discussed and the sermon, when the whole congregation is present, is on a random topic. That is not Reformed preaching at all.

Perhaps one of the most un-Reformed parts of the Reformed Church service in the Philippines is the after-service snack.


I have never been to any Church that had an after-service snack. I did attend a Russian Orthodox service once where bread was offered afterwards and there was a lunch but I don't recall any Protestant church I have attended where a snack was given afterwards unless it was a very special occasion and then there was a huge lunch in the gym. 

Perhaps this is apostolic? Perhaps this is reminiscent of the agape meal?

The church I attended today had a dog roaming about. He is owned by the caretaker and he is well behaved. No barking or dirt during the service.  But just look at the creature.


He knows all too well about the after-service snack. He probably looks forward to Sunday as much any of the most devout.

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Retards in the Government Special Edition: COA Annual Report

The Commission on Audit has released its annual report and guess what? Practically every bureaucracy and agency of the government is racked with financial losses and/or anomalies. Where did all the money go? How did this happen with Duterte at the helm? He ran on the platform of ending corruption and cutting red tape. So why do corruption and red tape continue to exist?

Because this is the Philippines!

Mabuhay!
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/07/08/1831586/only-34-dpwh-2017-budget-utilized
Bureaucratic bottlenecks have stalled the administration’s flagship “Build, build, build” infrastructure program. 
As a result, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) failed to utilize 66.4 percent or P440 billion of its P662.69-billion allocated budget for 2017, a report by the Commission on Audit (COA) showed.
Red tape is the cause that all this money has not been used and the Build 3x programs started? But Build 3x is the Duterte flagship program and the public is being told that this is what will make the economy and the country great! This report bares the lies of the economic managers of the Philippines.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/206786-coa-dilg-anti-criminality-projects-badac
COA, however, noted that the P90.58-million budget for BADAC regional orientations and trainings across the Philippines resulted in zero accomplishments.  
The commission also questioned the zero performance output seen in the Masa Masid feedback mechanism which was intended to streamline the handling of anonymous reports, despite a budget of P16.942 million in 2017. 
According to the COA report, the DILG failed to give information on how many of the target 1,634 local government units were actually trained.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1008279/coa-flags-p1-b-unliquidated-funding-for-asean-summit
The agency was tasked to oversee security preparations and emergency response for all Asean meetings last year. It transferred funds to 20 implementing agencies, including the Office of the President. (OP) 
Notably, the OP failed to liquidate a single peso of the P112.27 million it received. 
Other agencies whose fund transfers from the DILG were fully unliquidated were the Bureau of Immigration (P25 million), the Department of Foreign Affairs (P5.06 million), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (P3 million), and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (P1.5 million). 
Only 13 other agencies were able to partially liquidate the DILG’s fund transfers.
https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/07/09/dilg-slammed-on-transfer-of-funds-to-other-agencies/
The Commission on Audit has flagged the Department of Interior and Local Government anti-drug campaign when it transferred some P99.19 million in funds to other agencies a few days before the mandatory reversion to the government treasury. 
Since the budget transfer occurred at the end of the year, state auditors believe that there was little chance the three agencies were able to implement the anti-drug campaign programs that were required in exchange of the money. 
Apparently, COA was aware that the transfer of the DILG surplus funds was meant merely to avoid mandatory reversion to the national treasury. 
Auditors said it was “unrealistic” for the DILG to expect the three agencies to execute their respective tasks and use the funds before the end of 2017.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/659450/coa-flags-op-s-failure-to-record-unused-chopper-parts-as-inventory-item/story/
"We conducted inspection at the PAW (Presidential Airlift Wing) warehouse and found that there were uninstalled/unused aircraft spare parts and materials with a total cost of P51,525,833.54," COA said in its 2017 audit report. 
The COA said the OP chief accountant failed to include these spare parts in the Report on the Physical Count of Inventories (RPCI) required under the Government Accounting Manual. This is considering the office already spent P177 million for the maintenance of the fleet.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/206841-commission-human-rights-seminars-trainings-audit-report-2017
The Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for P3.6 million worth of cash advances which are still unliquidated, and for spending P5.4 million on trainings and seminars at hotels inside and outside Metro Manila. 
Officers and employees have P1.066 million worth of unliquidated cash advances, while special disbursing officers have P2.565 million worth of unliquidated cash advances. 
The cash advances were used for either local and foreign travels, or special projects.
Not even the high and mighty CHR, the agency which is supposed to protect the people from government abuses, is free from financial anomalies.

http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/07/09/coa-audit-report-bureau-immigration-errs-duterte-order-loses-869-million.html
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) lost ₱869 million in express lane fees after erring in the implementation of an order from President Rodrigo Duterte, the Commission on Audit (COA) revealed. 
The exact amount lost totaled to ₱869,235,102.71, starting from when the BI stopped collecting fees in June until the audit ends in December 2017. This was a 60.5 percent decrease from over ₱1 billion in fees collected in 2016.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/659853/coa-reports-office-of-the-president-spent-p14-9b-in-2017-up-534-from-2016/story/

https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/07/11/coa-chides-lrta-for-deficiencies-in-p397-88-m-contract/
The Commission on Audit has called the attention of the Light Rail Train Authority (LRTA) after finding violations of the government procurement law in its implementation of the P397.88-million contract for the relocation of informal settlers affected by the LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension Project.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/659643/coa-gov-rsquo-t-lost-p460m-in-revenue-due-to-lsquo-disadvantageous-rsquo-bucor-tadeco-deal/story/
"The annual guaranteed income, including the profit share as consideration for the use of the reserved land of the BuCor, is grossly disadvantageous to the government considering the prevailing rental rate of P50,000 per hectare in the locality, or a revenue loss for the government of P460,181,652," the COA said. 
It was on May 21, 2003 when BuCor and TADECO, owned by Davao Del Norte Representative Antonio Floirendo Jr., entered into the 25-year JVA.
For 15 years this deal has been in effect.  WHY?? 

https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/07/10/significant-losses-bared-by-coa-at-iwahig-colony/
In the 2017 annual audit report for the Bureau of Corrections, the COA revealed that an ecotourism venture and quarrying operations in the vast Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm have earned huge profits but not for the government. 
State auditors said that for ten years now, the Iwahig Eco-tourism Multipurpose Cooperative has been pocketing huge profits from the widely popular firefly watching display in Iwahig river and other tourism activities “without a contract or memorandum of agreement between the IPPF and the operator.”
TEN! YEARS!
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/207119-ben-tulfo-bitag-media-ptv-dot-deal-audit-report-2017

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/660374/coa-finds-irregularities-in-p10-17b-worth-of-pcso-funds/story/
The above stories are just the tip of the iceberg. Over the past month the COA has released reports about anomalies in the AFP, PNP, DOT, and OVP among others. The difference this week is that all these reports spilled out at once like a great tidal wave of corruption.

Not a single bureaucracy in the Philippine government is free from financial corruption. Who is running the show? It's not the Yellows. It's Duterte and his pals. But it's not Duterte and his pals who are the problem. It's the fact that they are steeped and brewed in a corrupt political culture. No matter who runs the show these problems will persist as long as the culture remains the same.

Until elected officials see their position as a means to serve the people and the country and not as a means to fatten their pockets these financial shenanigans will continue. But don't count on it happening anytime soon. The Philippines gained independence in 1946, the first anti-corruption laws were passed in the 50's, and by the 60's corruption was endemic.

Here are two sections of President Diosdado Macapagal's second SONA delivered in 1963:
The past year has been a crucial one. We began our labor for the people under extremely adverse conditions. The gov­ernment was bankrupt; it was operating on a deficit of P250 million. The international reserves were in extremis, with the dollar reserves at $103 million and the Central Bank obligated in the sum of $341 million at preferred rates ranging from P2.00 to P3.20 per $1.00. Graft and corruption had seeped into every nook and crevice of the government, both national and local. The people had assumed an attitude of cynicism, an attitude that made them shrug off corruption as inevitable.

The results of our moral drive have been gratifying. The “tong” system in which businessmen made regular pay­ments to government officials has ended. The practices of pay­ing commission, percentage, overprice or kick-back in consideration of contracts and public service has been curbed. The webs of corruption which unscrupulous individuals had woven in our society through many years of unrestrained activity have been destroyed. The commission of graft at the higher echelons has been virtually terminated; at the lowest levels of government, it has been substantially minimized. We will relentlessly go after venalities at all levels of the public service.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Diosdado_Macapagal%27s_Second_State_of_the_Nation_Address
A bankrupt government full of corruption. Does that not sound like the current situation in the Philippines? Despite the results of Macapagal's drive against corruption, corruption remains. It is here to stay and the COA Annual Report is proof.