Balita Sa Pinas » Hot Issues

Sex Education War

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 06:18:59 +0000

The war between the Catholic church and the Department of Education started due to the latter’s plan to implement sex education into the elementary and high school curriculum this coming school year.

The Department of Education (DepEd) defended their stand on the sex education issue despite the Catholic church and some parent’s strong will against it.

Education Sec. Mona Valisno explained that the implementation this coming school year will be a trial basis and will not cover all schools nationwide. There will only be 79 out of 6000 schools will be part of the pilot run, around .1% of the schools nationwide.

On the other hand, Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, Media Office Director of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said that teaching students with sex education is a suicide in the society’s morality.

An Introspection of the Current for the Philipppine May 2010 Election

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 03:57:33 +0000

The Philippines particularly the Filipino people is once again in their limelight. This is so as such country particularly its people are once again to exercise their rights to choose their leaders from the top-most layer which is the president up to the lowest which is comprised of municipal councilors. And as it is customary in Philippine politics, voters are once again lined up with so many options which are seen on the number of candidates vying for a certain public position. For some, this is good as the democratic exercise of the right to suffrage is at its best. But for some, it is a manifestation of how greedy some of our leaders are for power, for money and for influence. Well, no matter what one says, the presence of many candidates vying for different position is good as the electorate is given the chance to choose the best to be their leaders.

One of the notable traditions in every political exercise is the survey and it is practice in almost all parts of the world. But the same as other things, political surveys are also said to have two sides. One is the good and the other is bad. One good thing in the presence of political surveys is that it allows candidates to know their standing in an election thereby allowing them to decide whether to pursue their candidacy or not. On the other side, political survey is argued not to reflect the real sentiment of the electorate. Famous survey companies such as Pulse Asia and SWS (Social Weather Stations) are the front-runners in terms of research studies and professional polling.

For me, this is true as whenever a political survey is conducted only a thousand or tens of thousands are asked to participate in such undertaking. For this, it can be said that political surveys do not represent the real sentiments of the general electorate. This may seem to have no effect on us – the general electorate but looking critically at it, it affects us. This is so as the result of the surveys can condition our minds as to which among the candidates we are to elect and that is called trending.

Trending as a result of the political surveys is bad. This is so as most Filipinos do not have the will to vote for what they believe will run the government efficiently and free from the rumors of corruption. This is evidenced in vote-buying which is still rampant in our country though some say that Filipinos are matured electorates.

Debate over US Troops in Mindanao Continues

pinay — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:41:11 +0000

Malacañang has maintained its support for the presence of the US Special Forces in Mindanao, which is said to be vital in containing terrorism in the area. Gary Olivar, presidential economic spokesman, said that the threat brought by the Islamic extremism is not just confined in the Philippines but is also a big threat in the global security problem.

“If before, the situation in Mindanao was a local problem, now it is part of the fundamentalist movement in the Middle East. There is now the al-Qaeda and it has already established links with our local Muslim rebels so it cannot be avoided that we are now part of the global war against this kind of fundamentalist terrorism,” Olivar said.

“We now have a role to play as a member of the global war (against terror),” he added.

Meanwhile, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita welcomed the move made by Washington to retain the American troops in Mindanao. He even said that it would help sustain the success of the government in annihilating terrorism. Ermita is the chairman of the Anti-Terrorism Council and said that the move would “enhance our security in the area and help pave the way for development.”

Though Malacañang is happy with the presence of the US troops in the country, there are also those who are opposed to it. Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. acknowledged the contribution of the troops in the government’s campaign against terrorism but he demands an explanation on why the JSOTF are in Mindanao.

The senator wants to know if the joint operations task force in Mindanao is by virtue of the Mutual Defense Treaty, the Visiting Forces Agreement or any other security agreement between the US and the Philippines.

“The US is our ally. But if they have troops who are deployed in the country, they should not take part in combat operations against insurgents and other criminal elements here,” he said.

Senator Loren Legarda also supported Pimentel’s call. She expressed her concern over the news reports quoting US military and defense officials that tend to show that the American “elite forces” in the country have been actually engaged in the operations against Abu Sayyaf.