oversight violation of the flag

I was able to take a photo of a beggar sleeping in the street using the Philippine flag as his blanket. This is a clear violation of the law- Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines, Chapter 1 I, article 34 which states, “it shall be prohibited (a) to mutilate, deface, defile, trample on, or cast contempt or commit any act or omission casting dishonor or ridicule upon the flag or over its surface; (e) to wear the flag in whole or in part as a costume or uniform; (f) to add any word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawings, advertisement, or imprint of any nature on the flag; (g) to print, paint or attach representation of the flag on handkerchiefs, napkins, cushions, and other articles of merchandise.” I have just learned that violation of this act, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not less than Five Thousand Pesos (P5,000.00) nor more than Twenty Thousand Pesos (P20,000.00), or by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, or both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court.

The question is, are we going to punish this beggar who is so innocent sleeping at the side of the street? I learned from my law school under a Scholarship (which I quit in a few week’s time, haha) that ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance therewith. But it would be a waste of time, effort and money to go after this pauper, who has no malice and ill-will. His only concern is how to cover himself to keep him warm due to heavy rains. What could be in his mind when he found the flag may just be a piece of cloth without thinking that it is a sacred Philippine Flag. The owner of the flag has to assume responsibility. But no one would own the flag except the beggar. If you own a flag, you have the responsibility to check its condition – whether it is already worn out through wear and tear. If it is already worn-out, the flag should not be thrown away. It shall be solemnly burned to avoid misuse or desecration. The flag shall be replaced immediately when it begins to show signs of wear and tear which is described under RA 8491 section 14.

I remember one time when my friend shared to me how his customers immediately approached him to discuss their concern about the flag. One of his customers told him to check the flag because its color had been accidentally reversed. The red color of the flag was on top. It was also untimely because news about Magdalo cropped up. It was such an unforgettable incident.

In blogosphere, there is a need to be extra careful when placing a logo in our website specifically when a logo involves continue here>>

The True Miracle

Have you observed people, mostly Catholics, would visit to a miraculous place? There are thousands of reasons on why they decide to visit a place which is known for miracles. Let me define first the word miracle. According to Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, a miracle is a supernaturally (divinely) caused event which is different from what would have occurred in the normal (“natural”) course of events. Philosophically, miracle is never a mere coincidence no matter how extraordinary or significant unless the ‘coincidence’ itself is caused by divine intervention. An example is if you miss a plane and the plane crashes, that is not a miracle unless….continue>>

That’s My Story

I would like to share with you an informative and insightful article which I received from my email titled, “That’s My Story” which was written by Byron Pulsifer.

“Who doesn’t have a personal story? No one. No matter where you live, what your background, who you talk to, his or her education, gender, or age, everyone one of us has a story to tell. Some of these stories seem to have no end; some seem to be the same day after day, while other’s stories leap from good to better. Is there a common thread, a common theme in all of these stories? Yes there is. You may not believe it at first, but it is a fact. The common theme in each of these stories cause some of us to despair, some of us to want to shun that person, some of us to want to leap to their rescue, and some of us to count our blessings.

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Blessed are the poor

There are many definitions of the word “poverty”. According to wikipedia, poverty is a description of material need, typically including the necessities of daily living (food, clothing, shelter, and health care). Poverty in this sense may be understood as a condition in which a person or community is deprived of, and or lacks the essentials for a minimum standard of well-being and life. Others defined poverty not by poor people themselves but by the most powerful global leaders who have the so called “influence” – the G8, financial institutions, the corporate world and others. It means the physical abundance which can be expressed in monetary terms.

The World Bank initiated a project called, “Voices of the Poor” where voices of more than 60,000 poor women and men from 60 countries have been collected through feedback. The poor themselves have given the opportunity to define poverty in their own experience. It is interesting to know that they may have experienced the bitterness of poverty but money for a poor older woman in Ethiopia does not have value without love. In her own words, “A better life for me is to be healthy, peaceful and live in love without hunger. Love is more than anything. Money has no value in the absence of love.” This is no longer about income but on good life and wellbeing. It’s about peace of mind, good health and sense of belongingness. Poverty correlates illbeing which does not only mean lack of money but it also means lack of work, living and working in a unhealthy, polluted and risky environments.

In Global Issues, the world’s poverty is nearly three billion people who live on less than 2 dollars a day (less than P100.00 a day). The wealth of three richest people combined can be more than the gross domestic product of the 48 poorest nations. We are fortunate that we are given the opportunity to read and write blogs while nearly a billion people entered the 21st century do not know how to read a book or even sign their names.

World leaders gathered to discuss and come up with comprehensive plan to fight against poverty. In 2002, there was a World Summit for Sustainable Development where public sector, civil society, businesses, and other key actors have united in the global fight against poverty. In Europe, the European Union’s objectives and growth include the program on how to fight against poverty. Middle East and North America (MENA) countries agree that rapid economic expansion remains the most powerful instrument to reduce poverty while effective social safety nets, flexible employment policies, and investments in education and health are secondary to rapid growth. ASEAN has strategic plans to reduce poverty within member countries. In the Philippines, A Philippine Microfinance Project was cited as one of the programs of the Philippine government which is an effective weapon against poverty. Poverty alleviation has been a major goal of the Philippine government. President Arroyo in her part said, “the country’s declining foreign debt is part of her administration’s efforts of “clearing up the mess of the past” to ensure a stronger fight against poverty.” The country’s outstanding external debt dropped by 1.5% to $53.4 billion in 2006 from $819 billion in 2005 as a result of the strengthening of the peso against the US dollar which led to net principal repayments. In President’s speech on declining foreign debt, she said, “although we cannot blame the past but we can surely help the poor by helping the government – by keeping politics in the sidelines, fix up the fiscal house, shore up investment and growth and bring the productivity and excellence of the Filipino to the forefront.”

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it’s good to know

Bananas can be a hepa B vaccine

As I was reading good materials and magazines from various sources, I’ve found interesting facts. Here they are:

It was featured in the Scientific American dated July 2007 that Bananas are the most promising edible vaccine against hepatitis B virus, which lives in about 5% of the world’s population. Potatoes have been mentioned in the extensive study that these are also beneficial as vaccines but researchers argue that bananas are the better choice because these can be eaten raw and taste good to most children. It was recently discovered that bananas boost immune-triggering hepatitis protein in the fruit.

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A challenge to sharpen one’s mind

One of the quotes that interest me comes from a novelist and poet, Josiah Gilbert Holland.  He said, “The mind grows by what it feeds on.”  Our minds our always hungry for quality food but we sometimes feed them with “garbage”. Just like the human body, we feel energetic by the food we take such as foods rich in protein, carbohydrates, minerals, etc. This may indirectly affect our mind with the quality of food we take.

However, the influence in our surrounding greatly affects the way we think and the way we perceive things.  This influence in the surrounding may be the “food” we feed to our mind. According to Catherine Pulsifer, a life coach, “One of my major concerns today is that a lot of people feed their mind with television. Television is like the fast food industry. I am not saying we can’t learn from television, but the majority of what is on television is not of educational value or will not positively influence our thoughts. We increasingly judge our success and personal worth by television stories – stories of the rich and famous, those who have beauty and the perfect body, those who do little work and still succeed. Yet, this is not reality.  You can lose your job, you can lose material items, but you can never lose your knowledge. The money and time we invest in ourselves to further increase our knowledge is truly an investment in our future….”

I agree with her that those things will not positively influence our thoughts.  This can be a reason why we have a lot of negative feelings, bitterness, complaints, dissatisfactions, and feeling of unfairness to others to the extent that we fail to recognize small things, which may have great value to others. This could be one reason why it is difficult to feel the inner peace within us.

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against the principles of ‘go and multiply’

“Fifty-two percent (52%) of married Filipino women do not practice any form of family planning whether artificial or natural family planning method.”

good citizen of blogosphere!

I have been blogging for less than one month now which I find this new hobby satisfying. This is indeed a “depository” of thoughts and may be a source of vast general knowledge to a reader. I’ve noticed blog sites with different purpose. Blog sites that can attract readers because of their unique learning tools being offered. Some blog sites encourage interaction to the “same feathers.” Bloggers’ attitude may be observed on the way they give comments to blogs or articles. Some pretend to have knowledge while others really have the knowledge and expertise on the topics, others are very humble, few picks are arrogant and conceited. With my few days of blogging, good insights on why do we blog and how to be a good blogger teaches me the ABC’s of blogging. 

I have almost forgotten the most important aspect of blogging – its ethics. This is supposed to be part of my elementary rule of learning every time I share blogs. In the blog, Ethical Blogging: Not Good for Blogs posted by Eliott Back, he mentioned 13 rules as part of Blogger’s Code of Ethics. Please allow me to summarize:  

 

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