Stolen from Troy

If you read this journal, even if I don't speak to you often, post a memory of me.

It can be anything you want. It can be good or bad, just so long as it happened. Then post this on your journal.

Be surprised and see what people remember about you.

Calling cards!!! Yipee!!!

Okay, call it juvenile and stupid, but I've always wanted my own calling cards. I used to scratch my dad's name off his (well, I blacked his name out...) and pretend they were mine. I was five. And the only people I gave them out to were my kiddie friends. It was so hilarious my dad didn't even get mad when he found out why he suddenly found why a quarter of his new box of calling cards was missing. And now I have my own. Sigh... My only beef with our calling cards is that they don't state what we are exactly. Maybe I'll give them out and scribble "Janitress" or "Security guard" or "Waste of office space" under my name. Hehe! Oh, ORRRRR I'll write..."GODDESS". Wahahaha! Well, for whatever it's worth, yipee!

Help!!!

Hey boys and girls. Here's a dilemma for you. Find (or suggest where I can or should buy) a laptop (not a Mac though... office network crap...) following the following basic specs:

Php60,000.00 max (or maybe Php65,000.00)

14-15" matte display

Intel Core 2 Duo processor

2.0Gb DDR-II 667 MHz

120+ Gb hard drive

built-in webcam

fingerprint reader

2 fans (for Toshiba laptops)

bluetooth and infrared enabled

LAN/Wifi ready

Windows XP (office network crap)

Upgradeable

Preferably with freebies

Good speakers

At least 2 USB ports

Anything over and above these specs would be awesome. Oh, and I'd prefer a pretty purrty laptop. Please note that the Acer Ferrari laptop classifies as pretty purrty by my standards. Basta it shouldn't look like crap.

Ohmigod. The nerve!

Grabe, this guy just doesn't know when to stop. This is preposterous.

http://thepunziblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-little-research-can-do.html#comments

Thank God for honest people.

Last Sunday (April 6, 2008), at about 4:45pm, I used the atm machine outside the BDO SM City Baguio Branch. However, I was not able to withdraw. The screen read “Transaction Cancelled”. I waited for the machine to eject my atm card then walked away with my aunt and uncle. We were no more than a few meters away from the atm machine when a man in a white shirt and jeans ran up to us and asked me whether I was the last person to use the atm. I said yes. He asked me how much I was trying to withdraw, I said three thousand pesos. He told me that after I had left, the machine coughed up the money I was trying to withdraw. He showed us his ID, hidden under his shirt, and told us that he was a spotter. After a moment of shock, I thanked him profusely, and so did my aunt and uncle. I checked my bank balance right after the incident just to make sure the money was indeed mine. It was.

I cannot remember his face nor his name. I cannot even remember whether he was an SM employee or a BDO employee. I was so taken aback by what had just happened. I thought to myself, if this had happened in Manila, I would have lost the money. I am not a rich person by any standard, so three thousand pesos means something, though not everything to me. I would not have wept, but I would have been very annoyed by the thought that I could have spent the money on something worthwhile.

The man was probably just doing his job, but I would like to commend him and to thank him just the same. I also would like to laud the efforts of the BDO SM City Baguio Branch for a job well done.

Sir Te's response to the Punzi person

Chronology of events:

(1) Punzi person posts:

http://209.85.175.104/search?q=cache:J-0J6QJVW04J:thepunziblog.blogspot.com/+http://thepunziblog.blogspot.com/&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ph

(2) Punzi person, because of what I can only imagine to be something close to a severe beating, takes down the post and says:

http://thepunziblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/precautionary-measures-part-deux.html

(3) Reactions from people: see Jam's, Malou's and Emman's blogs among others

(4) Affirmation.

http://tedte.blogspot.com/2008/04/intergenerational-courtesy-and-hubris.html

Siyempre na-teary eyed naman ako. Hehe! Di nga, natouch naman ako dito. Basta we passed na, wala nang bawian, whatever anybody says.

Goodbye ACP. Hello CPG. Well, almost.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/87414/Family-Code-amendment-passed-in-silence-may-disadvantage-women/_/1/

Family Code amendment passed in silence, may disadvantage women

AR SABANGAN, GMANews.TV

04/02/2008 | 10:31 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Lovers are supposed to share "one body, one heart, one soul" — and whatever wealth they acquire before getting married. Some lawmakers, however, seem to believe in sharing only the body, the heart and the soul — not the wealth.

At the House of Representatives, lawmakers are preparing a measure that would dissolve a law that mandates a husband or a wife to share his or her wealth to his or her partner. The proposed measure would allow a spouse to keep what he or she reaped before saying "I do."

House Bill 2420 or the Act Amending Article 75 of the Family Code of the Philippines was passed unnoticed, like most measures changing the names of streets and schools.

On February 5, 2008, the day before the ouster of Jose de Venecia Jr as Speaker, lawmakers passed the measure. "We had two to three committee hearings before it was approved, and nobody opposed its passage," said Cebu Representative Pablo Garcia, the bill's author.

HB 2420 was a two-page, seemingly harmless, proposal. "We're just going back to our tradition on property relations in marriage," Garcia said.

The lawmaker proposed to revert to the "conjugal partnership of gains" system that ruled the lives of married couples before 1988. Under the set-up, a spouse has no right over the property that his or her partner obtained prior to the wedding. He or she is only entitled to the assets that his or her partner acquired since the start of the marriage.

For example, if Juan inherited a 100-hectare land from his parents before getting married to Maria, Maria would have no right over Juan's landholding. If Maria bought a car or a house before getting married to Juan, Juan would have no right over these, too.

The set-up was changed to the "system of absolute community of property relations in marriage" when the Family Code took effect on August 3, 1988. The "rule on absolute community" entitles the spouse to equal rights over the property acquired by the husband or the wife before and during the marriage.

Former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban described the "absolute community regime" as the "marital ring" of legal sharing.

Panganiban, in a newspaper article, said: "Unless – prior to the wedding – the parties enter into a written marriage settlement, the absolute community regime takes effect immediately, even if the titles to the assets are registered in the name of one spouse only."

"Accordingly, land, condominiums, cars, computers, and jewelry of each of the spouses automatically become communal...Neither spouse may sell, mortgage, or give away any communal asset without the consent of the other," he added.

Garcia, however, said the absolute community regime defies "the long accepted system of conjugal partnership of gains."

Prior to the Family Code, a spouse had no right over the property that his or her partner acquired before marriage. The Spanish Civil Code, which was enforced from 1889 to 1950, and the new Civil Code, which was in effect from 1950 to 1986, both mandated the conjugal partnership of gains.

Garcia also said he favors the retention of a spouse's exclusive rights because it is consistent with the law of succession.

"When property is inherited from a descendant, that asset is reserved for the family of the propertied spouse," the lawmaker said. "Under the absolute community rule, the property line between a child and his or her parents is cut once that child marries," he added.

Removing the spouse's right over the property that his or her partner acquired before marriage is allowed through a prenuptial agreement. But Garcia said it is still "not acceptable" for most Filipinos.

Garcia filed the bill on September 4. It was referred to the House Committee on Revision of Laws on September 17. Garcia heads the committee. On December 18, HB 2420 was approved on second reading. On February 5, the House passed the bill on third and final reading. On February 11, the proposed legislation was transmitted to the Senate.

HB 2420, a measure that could affect the lives of 26.1 million married Filipinos, was passed and approved without a noise, except that which came from a retired judge.

Divorce Magazine.com listed countries where percentage of divorce is high.

Sweden	54.9%
Belarus	52.9%
Finland -	51.2%
Luxembourg	47.4%
Estonia	46.7%
Australia	46%
United States	45.8%
Denmark	44.5%
Belgium	44%
Austria	43.4%
Czech Republic	43.3%
Russia	43.3%
United Kingdom	42.6%
Norway	40.4%
Ukraine	40%

Jesus Quitain, former judge of the Regional Trial Court in Davao City, warned that the measure would be against the interest of women. He posits that in a situation that a wife is less propertied compared to a wealthy, womanizing, wife-beating, drunkard husband, the woman would be at the losing end in case the marriage is annulled or the couple separate.

The former judge said Article 75 of the Family Code is a triumph for wives, because the law had somehow discouraged husbands to fool around.

"With this law, the wealthy spouse, usually a spoiled husband, might be stopped from having mistresses, gambling, drugs, and the like, although he can afford it. This is because when the wife files a case and there is a division of assets, the wealthy spoiled spouse responsible for the breakup will lose part of the property he owned before marriage," he said.

Too simplistic

A professor of Family Laws at the Manuel L. Quezon University said tradition cannot be used as basis for legislation, especially if it no longer mirrors the present makeup and needs of society.

Lawyer Florisa Almodiel said using tradition as basis for crafting HB 2420 "is too simplistic."

She said: "We can't use the argument that we should go back to conjugal partnership of gains just because this was the practice since the Spanish time."

"Power relations between couples have already evolved. Yesterday's groom and bride are no longer today's husband and wife," said Almodiel.

She said questions like "What is the present makeup of families? Who is the more economically-empowered or the more-disadvantaged spouse? What is the economic impact of marriage dissolution on the wife, on the husband, and on their children? Who will gain and who will lose if property relation reverts back to conjugal partnership of gains?" must be considered.

Almodiel said that while Quitain's stereotyping of wives and husbands could explain inequity, it is inadequate to gauge the likely impact of changes in property relations of couples who do not fall under the rich husband-poor wife partnership.

"It only applies to one kind of situation. There are many other scenarios," she said. She cited cases when a wife is the hardworking and propertied spouse, and the husband is the bum or philanderer or both. "Would it be fair if the erring husband gets an equal share of the properties that were single-handedly raised by the wife?"

There are also cases when a wife's contribution to the family's resources is undervalued, if not deemed unimportant because its constitutes unpaid labor.

"She does not earn and may not have her own property. But childbearing and homemaking – cooking, washing clothes and dishes, cleaning the house, raising children – are part of her chores. The economic value of the wife's multiple roles in the household must be recognized and included in the equation on proposed changes in marital property relations," said Almodiel.

While there might be a need to amend the Family Code, lawmakers must first get into the heart of the problem on marital power relations, according to Almodiel.

"Issues on property relations in marriage shouldn't just be limited to a debate on whether we should retain absolute community or go back to conjugal partnership of gains," she said, adding that it may not even be the real issue that must be addressed.

"Laws solve conflicts. But we should know first what are the conflicts before we address them through laws," she said.

Economic impact

Even in advanced economies, power relations are heavily tilted toward men. Major studies show that in these countries, dissolution of marriage often results in the economic deprivation of wives, and the improved economic status of husbands.

Sociologists Saul Hoffman and Greg Duncan concluded in their 1988 study that in the US, the standard of living of the custodial mother and her children were reduced by 30 percent on the average, while that of the noncustodial father increased to about 15 percent.

In another study in 1994, American scholars Jay Teachman and Kathleen Paasch pointed out that even when employment rates among custodial mothers increased after divorce - from 58 to more than 70 percent - this did not necessarily improve their economic status.

The study shows that while the divorced wife's "first response to economic stress" was to enter into the labor force, the average amount she earns, which comprises 60 percent of the single-parent family income, "declined from immediately before to immediately after (marriage) disruption."

Teachman and Paasch attributed the decline to either low-paying or "less than full-time" jobs available to divorced wives.

In 2005, sociologists Dorien Manting and Anne Marthe Bouman of The Netherlands said the result of their study on the economic impact of marriage dissolution on Dutch women was "consistent" with the findings in other countries such as the US, Great Britain, Germany and Canada.

They said "women experience a large financial setback, whereas men even seem to gain financially from divorce."

Manting and Bouman said that while more Dutch women joined the labor force after marriage dissolution, "this does not really mean that (they) gain enough to become economically independent of their spouses."

Why not? Because according to the study, most of these women, who are responsible for taking care of children, could only work part-time. And even when they work full time, they get paid less than men.

Economic subordination

In the Philippines, no comprehensive study has yet been done on the economic impact of marriage dissolution on wives, particularly on those who also act as custodial parents.

Most studies and surveys on women deal on their participation in the labor force, while a few, and still germinal studies focus on their increasing role as heads of households in urban areas, and the prevalence of female unpaid family workers in rural areas.

Nevertheless, it could be inferred from these studies and surveys that while some female professionals in urban areas are now more economically competitive than their male counterparts, majority of women remain in economically subordinate positions, whether in the house where they render unpaid labor, or at the workplace where most of them are low-paid wage earners.

For instance, a report presented by the NSCB during the December 2007 Global Forum in Gender Statistics in Rome, showed that economic power remained in the hands of men.

The NSCB report said that in 2005, employment rate for men was at 74 percent, while that of women only stood at 46 percent.

A separate survey by the National Statistics Office in 2004 showed that for 10 years, since 1995, labor force participation by females (50 percent) consistently lagged behind that of males (over 80 percent).

Even in the government's supposed equitable distribution of economic resources under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), peasant women still suffer from inequality.

Data culled by GMANews.TV from the Department of Agrarian Reform showed that the government failed to equitably distribute farmlands to male and female CARP beneficiaries.

From 2002 to 2004, only 506,571 female CARP beneficiaries, representing 27 percent of the total beneficiaries, were awarded their emancipation patents and certificates of landownership award. The bulk of the EP and CLOA was awarded to 1,338,701 male tillers or 73 percent of the beneficiaries.

In terms of percentage, gender inequality in the CARP's EP and CLOA distribution was most pronounced in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Of the 9,542 beneficiaries, only 15.5 percent were women, the rest, 84.5 percent, were men.

Second to ARMM was Region 2 in Cagayan Valley. Of the 159,118 beneficiaries, only 17.2 percent were women, while 82.8 were men. Third was Region 3 or in Central Luzon, where only 21 percent of the 227,648 beneficiaries were women, and the rest, 79 percent, were men.

Economic undercount

Just how poor and disadvantaged are women in the Philippines? How much is their real contribution to the economy when they work in and outside of the household, whether paid, underpaid or unpaid? What is the economic status of female and male-headed households (single, widowed, separated or annulled) in urban, rural, and regional areas?

These could be some of the vital questions that need answers before deciding on the fate of HB 2420. However, lack of comprehensive gender, sex-disaggregated, sector-specific, and socioeconomic class-based statistics has failed to define women's problems.

This, according to many cause-oriented organizations has led the government to sidestep issues on women in many of its reform policies, and thus fail to address the interest of the sector. Similar to this concern is the issue earlier raised by Almodiel on HB 2420 that was apparently approved without being backed by an impact assessment based on sound socio-economic and legal research.

In its 2007 report presented in a global forum in Rome, NSCB recognized the need to improve generation and analysis of gender statistics. It said the "economic undercount of women puts them in a situation that can perpetuate, if not outright worsen the inequity between men and women."

The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women also saw the need for accurate gender statistics essential in the implementation of government policies on women, and in meeting the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Goal 3 of the MDG is on promoting gender equality and empowering women.

NCRFW chairperson Myrna T. Yao said the consciousness of data producers and users of gender statistics must be raised, while decision-makers must be influenced "to think and act for women."

Also, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization emphasized the need for policy-makers and planners in the Philippines to address the plight of women by mainstreaming gender concerns. The FAO said policy makers could start by collecting sex-disaggregated local data, particularly on agriculture, environment, and rural production.

With this backdrop on women's issues and lopsided power relations between men and women, passing HB 2420 into law might be a classic case of putting the cart before the horse. - GMANews.TV

Sidebar articles:

MORE FILIPINOS WANT TO END MARRIAGE

Filipinos, most, if not all of them Catholics who are supposed to be monogamous and loyal to their partners, are trooping to the courts to file cases of annulment or legal separation.

In 2007, there were 7,753 cases of annulment and legal separation filed at the Office of the Solicitor General, a 71.5 percent jump from the 4,520 cases filed in 2001.

From 2001 to 2007, the OSG received 43,617 cases of annulment and separation. The figure could have been higher if more married people have the means to break their ties legally.

Based on the 2000 Census of Population and Housing, of the 57.1 million Filipinos aged ten years and over, one percent or 558,023 were either divorced or separated; 2.4 million or 4.3 percent were in live-in arrangements; 4.1 percent or 2.4 million were widowed; 45.7 percent or 26.1 million were married; and 44 percent were single.

According to the 2002 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study, 40 percent of the youth would support a bill to legalize divorce in the country.

The Philippines and Malta are the only remaining countries in the world where divorce is banned. - ARCS, GMANews.TV

THE INVISIBLE WOMEN

You see them work hard, but you don't know the real worth of their labor. Feminist theorists call them invisible women — those whose fruits of labor are unpaid and excluded from the computation of a country's gross domestic product and gross national product.

Feminist economist Marilyn Waring of New Zealand criticized the use of GNP and GDP as economic indicators, which were institutionalized through the UN System of National Accounts.

She said the GNP and the GDP excluded women's work (other unpaid work and things that have only use-value and not exchange value) in measures of economic progress.

The UN Platform for Action Committee Monitoba gives examples on how the UNSNA unfairly values work, activities, and resources:

Things of economic value: Women's bodies when used in media advertising; trees that are cut down; the tobacco industry; arms and missile production; the weight loss industry; crime, the court system, and imprisonment; prostitution; illness, clinics, and hospitals; death and the funeral business; rebuilding countries after natural disasters or terrorist attacks; war; and oil spills.

Things without economic value: A mother's contribution to the birthing process; caring for own children; doing own dishes and laundry; hunting, vegetables grown in own garden and eaten by family; hunting, fishing, and trapping own food; beauty (except if it's for sale in an art piece); health; rivers and forests (when they're not being harnessed for economic gain).

In a study presented in the December 2007 Global Forum on Gender Statistics in Italy, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said unpaid work adds 66.2 percent in the Philippines' GDP. It also said that 59.6 percent of the total hours of unpaid work are done by women.

In another study, NSCB secretary general Romulo A. Virola cited results of time-use surveys from 1979 to 2000 showing that "women's unpaid housework is greater than men."

In the 1979 time-use survey, it was found out that single women performed unpaid work of 3.04 hours per day or almost twice as long as the unpaid 1.71 hours done by their male counterparts.

The 1979 survey said married women were in a "more disparate" situation. Their daily unpaid work of 7.93 hours was thrice as much as the 2.63 hours of unpaid work by their male counterparts.

The gap in unpaid work between women and men became wider in the 1985 to 1990 survey. Women's unpaid work of 6.57 hours per day was almost four times longer than men's 1.87 hours.

Virola said there was an "observed improvement" in the 2000 survey "when the ratio of unpaid work of women to men went below two hours." - ARCS, GMANews.TV

Belated bar thank you list

It's been five days since the results were released. Oath taking is set on the 29th, signing of the roll of attorneys on the 30th. We've secured our clearances from the Supreme Court, signed our Lawyer Registration Cards, paid our IBP dues, attended the testimonial dinner at Malcolm Hall, shaken hands with Sir Te, Dean Carlota, incoming Dean Leonen, former Dean Pangalangan (also our Poli Law examiner), Ma'am Beth, Sir Lumba, et.al. BUT it still feels so surreal. It hasn't REALLY registered that this is it. We're done. With this chapter, at least. I feel like I'm in some sort of a trance or a dream that I don't want to wake up from. Wow. I can't describe precisely how it feels. It's like a great big sigh of relief after holding my breath for a year, like staring at a diamond necklace through a glass window and then finally being able to wear it. Something like that. My sanity has been tried and tested so many times the past year. It hasn't been easy. I was so sure I was going to take it again, although so many people told me I was just stressing myself out unnecessarily.

In any case, since people are making thank you lists, I thought I'd make one of my own too. This feels pretty much like winning the lottery or winning an Oscar, I think. So... I would like to thank, in no particular order, save for the first and the last:

(1) GOD. - Thank you so much for keeping me sane and getting me through law school and bar review, the bar exams, and waiting for the results. We always said that if ever we passed, it would be all of God's doing.

(2) MY FAMILY - Thank you for taking my mind off the bar and the results when I most needed it, for always believing I'd make it (and for telling me so), and for just being the quirky bunch that you are.

(3) MY BARKADA - Chi, Lianne, Mia, Jen, Daisy, Nico and Oggs. Thank you for being insane, for being the best laiteros and laiteras in town, for inevitably veering the conversation towards jebs, and for not being the people we don't like. Hehe!

(4) MY PRE-WEEK STUDY BUDDIES - Mitch and Jappy. Mitch and I now know more about Jappy than we would have wanted to know. Hehe! Mitch, aymeeshoo! Jappy, buhay ka pa ba?

(5) MY BLOCKMATES - UP LAW A2007 - You guys are the best! I really miss our chismis sessions in between classes and my yosi break buddies: Mitch, Jappy, Chi, Nestor. See you guys at A2007 BarOps.

(6) STARBUCKS KATIPUNAN - For not kicking us out during bar review. Although, come to think of it, the thousands we spent for coffee there SHOULD merit NOT getting kicked out.

(7) THE PRINCE DAVID GUARDS - For praying for us. And for making sure nobody stole my bar review materials. Hehe! Honest, they're so nice.

(8) MY AIRCON - For not breaking down during bar review. (It was scorching hot outside! =o)

(9) UP BAROPS 2007 - P.Y.!!! Thank you super super super much!!! Ang galing galing ng BarOps!!!

(10) UP WINLAW BAROPS 2007 - Angel, Karra, Hardy, Beth, Izzy and everyone else who helped out, thanks for the goody bags, tips, food, and for my weekly Starbucks grande americano in a tall cup, black.

(11) MY PILGRIMAGE/ROADTRIP BUDDIES - I had such a great time touring with you guys. Next time ulit ha. Breakfast tayo sa Bon Giorno tapos balikan natin lahat ng simbahan na dinasalan natin.

(12) THE VARIOUS MAMA MARY'S, SAINTS AND DEITIES I PRAYED TO - Thank you thank you thank you thank you. I really can't thank you enough.

(13) CASTILLO LAMAN TAN PANTALEON & SAN JOSE - Basically, for feeding my shopping frenzy. Hehe! I love my job. I love the 9th floor.

(14) SANDRA LUNA - My bar angel, a.k.a. the first person who told me I passed.

(15) SIR TE - For the pre-bar, weekly pre- and post- bar texts, weekly pre-bar masses, for your presence every bar weekend, and at Salubong and BeerOps (Sir Te stayed longer than most of us did.) bar updates, and messages of encouragement. Your support really meant, and still means, a lot to us.

(16) TITA SUSAN - For letting me stay over the entire month of August to review, for understanding my schedule, and for making my life there super comfortable and conducive to studying.

(17) BAGUIO CITY - For being so cozy cold during the entire month I was there for review. I love the pine-scented air and the view from my tita's 2nd floor library. I swear, it helped.

(17) MAMA - For bugging me to return to Manila for pre-week already. Otherwise, I never would have finished Merc and Poli pre-week.

(18) CHI & PUNCH - For being so bossy with my bar review schedule. Well, it was more Punch than Chi. Talk about bar review police. Hehe! Thanks for the weekly ride to and from Sheraton and for the yosi breaks when I was going insane the nights before the bar Sundays, and for the matching food. And for waiting for the results with me. Oh, and the beer right after we both found out we passed.

(19) NGANGI - Ngangsters, weemeeshu!!! Thank you for bearing with two grumpy insane barristers and not blowing your cover. Thank you for laughing at us when we were being silly, and for making us laugh when we were crying or on the verge of.

(20) TITA MELISSA (CHI'S MOM) - Tita, thank you for your support, for the Saturday lunch pochero and for our baon sandwiches.

(21) TITO IGGY & TITA NINI - Thank you for sending me to law school and for supporting me all the way to after the bar.

(22) TITO RONNIE - Thank you for your encouragement from abroad, and for paying for my hotel accommodations +++ for the bar.

(23) UP COLLEGE OF LAW, esp. Ma'am Beth, Prof. Balane, Ma'am Herbosa, Danny Con (yes, I actually liked his classes), Prof. Morales, Dean Pangalangan - Thank you for admittine me into the College of Law and for the training.

(24) ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY - Thank you for the happy memories which I would eventually need to cushion the blow that was law school. Hehe!

(25) MY MOM - I can't find the words to thank you enough. I just know that wherever you are, you're happy with what I've done with my life so far, and for who I've become. Thank you for giving me enough of you in the less than ten years you were here, to last me a lifetime.