Carla Abellana - The Pinay Rosalinda

I stumbled upon this news saying that Rosalinda, the famous Mexican Telenovela, is to have it's local version here topbilled by the beautiful newcomer Carla Abellana.

There were a lot of contenders for the said show and one of the rumored contender for the coveted role was Marian Rivera who has been successful with her previous shows, namely "Marimar" and "Dyesebel".

So far, only Marian is dominating the primetime for the Kapuso Network GMA-7. Marian is everywhere. She's in the news, in a lot of commercials and in GMA-7's primetime shows for a long time.

But many observe the drop of viewers in Marian's latest telenovela "Ang Babaeng Hinugot Sa Aking Tadyang". Although there's a lot of factors they are looking as to what is the cause of the drop in the show's ratings, it cannot be denied that people will someday lose interest to Marian Rivera and look for someone new.

People needs a new face. The Filipino audience can't afford to see only one face every time they open their televisions.

GMA-7 bigwigs also noticed this and made the wise move. They dropped Marian Rivera and selected a new talent in the person of Carla Abellana. She's a commercial model and has the lineage of artists in her family. Her father, Rey "PJ" Abellana, was a matinee idol in the 80's and her grandmother, Delia Razon, was a famous actress in the 50's.

She's got the "mestiza" beauty and the face of an angel. She also got the brains, as she graduated Cum Laude in De La Salle University, one, if not the most prestigious university in the Philippines. She has already done some TV commercials, most noticeable were the shampoo and the Jolibee commercials.

With a lot of commercials, GMA-7 put their money to a newcomer and hopes to make big in the show business. As some say, for GMA-7, "After Marian Rivera, the next big thing is Carla Abellana".

Motorcycle Menace

Motorcycles nowadays are everywhere in the roads of Cagayan de Oro City. With the advent of high fuel prices, Filipinos find their way to fuel-efficient vehicles and the no.1 hit are the motorcycles, be it branded or the China brands.

Anybody can have one, if you have the bills. Anybody can drive a motorcycle and you can see just anybody driving one in our roads, some even have no driver's license.

But what I have observed is the requirement what most riders don't follow - the wearing of helmets. Most riders think that wearing of helmets is just a policy. They use helmet just to avoid being apprehended by the law enforcers.

With this on mind, they wear just anything. Have you seen someone driving a motorcycle wearing a helmet for bicycles? Many are doing that. Some are also wearing helmets that are not DOT certified. But those wrongdoings are just tolerated by the law enforcers maybe because they themselves doesn't know the rule. They think any helmet will do.

The real purpose of wearing helmets is safety, not just to avoid being apprehended by the law enforcers. It protects our head, which is susceptible to fatal injuries, in case of an accident. Many deaths have been recorded, not just in CDO but worldwide, in motorcycle accidents due to the use of substandard or non-wearing of helmet at all. This menace continues to claim its victims due to some ignorant or hard headed riders.

Many are aware of this but just find ways to deviate. Some says they're ashamed because their friends call them "X-Men". Some says helmets can 'deform' their hairdo an some even believe the myth that wearing of helmets can cause baldness. Some have their own reasons and some are just funny and dumb.

What's funnier is the way some riders are doing. They have their helmets but they don't wear them. Many put their helmets in their elbow which make some wonder if their brain, which is supposed to be protected by the helmet, is in their elbow. It's maybe a joke but it could be a serious call for the ignorant riders to heed before it's too late.

Julie's Bakeshop Around Cagayan de Oro City

Almost every 3 o'clock PM I hear this sound, this new hit sound in the road. And every time I hear this song, my stomach seems to crave for something to digest.

Oh, it's the Julies Bakeshop on wheels! Since I'm "tambay" doing some home-based jobs (lampaso, panglaba, panilhig, ug uban pa), I always hear that song and immediately buy those delicious breads and other delicacies of Julie's Bakeshop.

It's good they got this idea and its really a hit. Delivering their goods to your house is somewhat bringing convenience to your customers. Just wait for their jingle to ring in your ears then there you go, Julie's delicacies.

I'm not not advertising Julie's here, they won't pay me and they won't care anyway. I'm thinking of those small-time panaderias here in Cagayan de Oro who originally have this system. You could hear children shouting (instead of a jingle) "PAN INIIITTT!!" during my 3 o'clock habit (snack time).

Those panaderias are really small compared to Julie's. Small, yet they can directly help children earn some money for their everyday living. Some sell bread in the afternoon/pandesal in the morning just to have something to spend at school, just like my "suki" here.

But with the advent of Julie's on Wheels, who are directly competing against small time bakeshops, what will happen to these kids? Sooner or later, there's no pandesal nor pan -init to sell anymore since their panaderia has closed due to stiff competition with Julies.

I remember Jerry's Shopper's World in Valencia, Bukidnon. They were the largest store in Valencia in their time. but when Gaisano entered the scene, Jerry's and other small groceries didn't withstand the competition and they closed shops.

I am seeing the same scenario here. Soon, I won't be hearing the "PAN INIT" anymore and it will be all the Julie's jingle. I hope not.

Just Another Camera Angle Commentary

Ok, same topic here with my previous post (Reporter's Notebook)but in different situation. This time, in TV news program in all TV stations.

This usually happens when a reporter "scoops" an incident where someone is dead and family members are around and crying. The more during burial where almost all relatives are present.

It really disgusts me when a family member is crying, the cameraman takes a focus on the person's face. All of the fluids flowing to the person's face is so clear that, again, makes my viewing experience UGLY.

The more it becomes disgusting when the camera is focused on the person's face and the reporter stops talking and all you can hear are the screams of the crying person.

I usually transfer the channel every time there's a news especially burials.

Reporter's Notebook of GMA-7

I salute the people behind this TV program. They talk things of great importance to our society. They also have an equally qualified personnel that brings credibility to the show.

In fact, they receive citations and awards not only int he Philippines but also from international award-giving bodies as well.

I watched last night and again I witnessed another interesting story. It's about the nationwide random drug testing for high school students and the implementation of sanitary landfills in the country.

But anyway, I'm not going to talk on those topics. They're really competent in detailing those issues.

What I have observed are the angles of their camera as they interview their resource persons. They're focusing too much on the faces of every resource person they interview. The face is so close that the face alone fills the whole TV screen. Every granule of the face is so clear and you can see everything, the pimples, the laughlines, and everything.

To make the story short, it's not good to view their faces in the full screen of the TV. It's ugly. It's so disgusting that the director is trying to put some artistry into his shoot, but instead makes a mockery of the person being interviewed. They don't even put make-up; to make it realistic? Oh I hate to see it.

If it's Marian Rivera, Roxanne Guinoo, Angel Locsin, Luningning Ara Mina or KC Concepcion , then it would be fine to put those faces in our TV's full screen.

I hope they will try another angle when they interview resource persons. Not the entire face on the full screen, its UGLY.

Election Fraud: Pre-Election Maneuvers

Election fraud is nothing new to the Philippine elections. No matter it is for the national, local or even barangay elections, fraud is always there.

I want to share one kind of fraud done during elections. I am aware of this since I was a part of it, when i was still a 19 year old Computer Programming student and was contracted to do a computer program for a certain politician here in our place, Cagayan de Oro City. I am not going to state what election it was so any parties can be protected, especially myself. Here is how it goes:

My boss (the one who contacted me) called it "PRE-ELECTION MANEUVER". Their aim: to get a specific number of votes before election day comes, so they could be assured of victory - as simple as that (as it seems).

How do they do it?

Data Collection and Entry.

First, through their contacts in the COMELEC, they are going to get the complete list of voters in their area. These are then encoded into the system (my program) complete with their personal data, up to what precinct do they belong. Additional information is to tag voters if they are illiterate, professional or just "ordinary". They are also tagged as "symphatizers" or not. In this phase alone, they can at least identify as to how many votes they can get. Those tagged as symphatizers most likely are going to vote for them, at least 70 to 80 percent of those symphatizers are going to vote for them anyway. Most symphatizers are their family members, relatives and close friends. They are then going to compare the percentage of these symphatizers and those who are not.

Identify Weak Points.

Next, they are going to identify their weak points - the areas where they are surely going to lose. For example, if they think they are going to lose in Area1, they are going to identify all voters of Area1 through the system. All voters then are listed along with their tags. Those tagged as "Professionals" are ignored. They give more importance to the "ordinary" and much more importance to the ones tagged as "illiterate". The reason? they are going to bribe the ordinaries and the illiterates. For them, its difficult to bribe the professionals (anyway some can be bribed also).

Conversion To Symphatizers.

Those targetted "ordinaries' and "illiterates" are then converted as their "symphatizers". I said targetted since there are some that are "solidly" identified in the other camp, so they could not bribe them. They are going to do this to all areas until they can reach their targetted number of votes/symphatizers.

Action Begins.

Once those above are completely done, its time to do the leg works. They are going to appoint "Leaders" in each area identified. The leader is the one who is going to gather the voters identified as symphatizers in their area. Inform them of the bribe and what would be the consequences if they are going to deviate.

Money Rains.

Then the money comes. I was there when the money were distributed to the leaders. I was amazed as to the volume of 50, 100 and 500 peso bills placed inside the bags. Yes bags, ordinary travelling bags. It seemed money was of no velue to them during distribution. One will ask, "How much do you need in your area?" then he will give whatever the leader says after giving the list of symphatizers. When a bag is emptied he will just shout "Give me another bag!" and another bag full of various peso bills will be brought to him.

Verification.

When the leader have distributed the money to his constituents, he will come back with the list and encoded in the system to confirm that those given money are already "Full symphatizers" and most probably turn into a real "vote". The system then can give the final statistics for the symphatizers.

Guns and Goons.

Everything was done in a very smooth manner. Millions of money on the table but you can see people to be behaved and just wait for their turns. All of these are because of the goons that surrounds us with their high caliber guns. They have M-16 rifles and hand guns stucked in their waists during the said event.

It was a very unforgettable experience for me to be in that camp. That was my first commercial program and was very excited over it. It was a big help for me as a student financially for the money, and academically since I put what I learned from school into the real world.

But I promised myself not to be engaged in any politicians anymore. Just imagine yourself surrounded with goons and their guns. What if the other side will go there and have an armed comfrontation? Or one guard won't like the way you smile and poke his gun to you? Furthermore, I don't want myself and my knowledge to be used anymore for any fraud, may it be election or on any event.

I write this article with the advent of the computerization of the 2010 elections. It may give remedies for election and post-elections frauds, but undoubtedly can't handle those pre-election maeuvers.

By the way, I was promised P20,000.00 for the program but my "Boss" gave me only P9,000.00. I didn't complained anymore, I was only a student then and they're politicians, and I understand then that I was just another victim of our rotten Philippine politics :)

Finally, it seemed the system worked well. Our candidate won.

Election - The Filipino Way

The Philippine national election on 2010 is just around the corner. Even at this early, you can hear the buzz of election issues hovering over the news daily. At this early, various election frauds have been the complaints of some politicians, thinking they are outsmarted by their political foes. You can hear politicians in the TV doing some commercials and some even have their faces painted on large billboard. But still they claim its all business, for charity, etc., and nothing is related for the 2010 polls.

Black propaganda against each other has already started. Scams are uncovered, even those that are nth years ago they are just unearthed recently, legal issues are raised, and even some personal attacks are now heard all over the news. You can see some politicians jumping from one party to another, coalitions being formed, some kiss-and-make, and some just started their word wars.

These issues however, are just part of the "history repeating itself". Everytime election comes you will be bombarded with such noise that many ordinary citizens didn't even bother to listen anymore. Its an ordinary thing that happens just like the fantaseryes/telenovelas they watch in their TV sets everyday. Same faces, same issues, nothing new.

What is maybe new however, is the computerization of the elections (I hope it will be implemented in the 2010 national elections). At least, post-election maneuvers of the so called Garci boys will be minimized (it won't be eliminated anyway). This will be a big development for the elections if ever the computerization will be implemented. We saw the ARMM elections with the machines and proved to be effective. Anyway some glitches were encountered but with those experiences, remedies can be provided then by 2010.

Uncooperative machines (some were reportedly over-heated, some didn't worked at all), flying voters, harrassments and the like are just few of the incidents that marred the ARMM elections. The counting however, took only a day or two which previously took months to finish. Over-all, the elections in ARMM was successful with the aid of the machines.

If these machines are used on the 2010 elections, it would be far better than the past elections. But expect the inevitable, our politician crooks are now on the round table doing some brain storming, or even already found some holes, on how to get into the system and again manipulate the election results. And if the Garci boys will find their way again, then just shrug your shoulder and say

"It's just the way it used to be... Election - the Filipino way...".