13th ASEAN Summit – Do Filipinos know what ASEAN is?
The 13th ASEAN Summit will be held in Singapore from 18-22 November 2007. The Singapore-based broadsheet The Straits Times conducted a poll among ASEAN member nations’ students on their knowledge on the 40-year old regional organization. A total of 521 responses were obtained to the eight-point questionnaire by local schools in five main ASEAN capitals Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Singapore. This is only the second The Strait Times AsiaPoll survey related to ASEAN. Victorino Mapa High School in Manila is one of the participant institutions. Some of the institutions which took part requested anonymity.
- Have you heard about ASEAN?
- What does ASEAN stand for?
- How many members does ASEAN have?
- Does ASEAN have a president?
- Which year was ASEAN born?
- Have you ever visited another ASEAN country?
- Do you know other students from an ASEAN country?
- Is the time the same in all ASEAN countries?
Do you know the answers to these questions?
The Secret History of The Grand Order of FAIL
I would rather fail spectacularly than succeed minimally. – Alexander Luthor
Ten lost souls wandered aimlessly across the desolate soil of the blue and green ball floating in space called Earth. Each searching for the most awesome of life’s goals: EPIC WIN. They want to win in life. They want to conquer it. They want to rule their own lives with iron hands and golden dicks. But alas, these poor fellows only ended up with EPIC FAIL:
Accomplished Perfect Pedophile – He wanted to own all the young boys in his village to be his playmates, but all he got were the girls. He didn’t really have a problem with girls, but still. FAIL.
August General in Walrus Hide – He wanted to save the souls of those around him, deliver them from evil and shit, but he corrupted them instead. FAIL.
Celestial Wanker – He wanted to invent a machine that can solve all the problems inflicting his native land, but he just ended up inventing a square wheel. FAIL.
A Closer Look at Mariannet Amper’s Sad Fate
Mariannet Amper could have been famous by being on GMA 7’s Wish Ko Lang rather than her death. Everyone thought poverty claimed her life and that the government was to be blamed for it directly. Soon, protests were taken to the streets to shame public officials who mishandle taxes and corrupt their way into more riches. The whole nation mourned as everyone reexamined the circumstances that surrounded the 12 year old’s suicide: both her parents were unemployed, she couldn’t go to school and her family could barely make ends meet. Although these reasons could be possible causes for her early death, some weren’t convinced:
“It is unfair to simply look at suicide in that angle (poverty). After all, many poor Filipinos do not resort to killing themselves despite their hopeless condition. And there have been cases of children born to well-to-do families who have committed or attempted suicide.
Suicide is not an instant decision, she said. It is borne out of a suicidal tendency that the child develops within himself.
Suicidal tendency, in turn, is a psychosocial and multi-factorial behavior that is developed through time when the child faces long-standing problems within himself and in his immediate environment.”
- Dr. Ma. Luz Casimiro-Querubin (psychiatrist)
True. Someone as young as her couldn’t just decide to end her life because of poverty; it’s not something kids would think about. So to give everyone peace of mind, her body was exhumed and reexamined only to reveal that she had been raped. Although the lacerations found in her gentalia were old wounds, the fact that she bore those scars were enough proof to consider foul play or worse, a traumatic experience that could have pushed her to commit suicide.
A Closer Look at Mariannet Amper’s Sad Fate
“It is unfair to simply look at suicide in that angle (poverty). After all, many poor Filipinos do not resort to killing themselves despite their hopeless condition. And there have been cases of children born to well-to-do families who have committed or attempted suicide.
Suicide is not an instant decision, she said. It is borne out of a suicidal tendency that the child develops within himself.
Suicidal tendency, in turn, is a psychosocial and multi-factorial behavior that is developed through time when the child faces long-standing problems within himself and in his immediate environment.”
- Dr. Ma. Luz Casimiro-Querubin (psychiatrist)
True. Someone as young as her couldn’t just decide to end her life because of poverty; it’s not something kids would think about. So to give everyone peace of mind, her body was exhumed and reexamined only to reveal that she had been raped. Although the lacerations found in her gentalia were old wounds, the fact that she bore those scars were enough proof to consider foul play or worse, a traumatic experience that could have pushed her to commit suicide.
Quote of the Day (2)
A quote just fit for the interesting times we’re all in these days:
