interfaithless

yesterday was supposed to be the BIG day. Here's the turnout:

Makati - organizers claimed 80,000 showed up. The police estimated 15,000 whereas independent observers from mars guessed 25,000. for a rally that's supposed to be a demand for the truth, organizers are sure lying through their asses. my wild guess? part of the crowd are thousands of commuters in ayala stuck in the massive traffic jam. to make it really simple, let's use the totally unscientific methods of Pulse Asia in computing and just average the score to 40,000. that's a pretty decent count.

Pampanga - about 500 students turned up led by Gov. Panlilio and Bishop Roberto Mallari and a curious group of penguins tagging along. wait, this news report just came in, the satellite mistakenly identified nuns as penguins. students confirmed that they were misled by organizers led by the penguins claiming a field trip. priests and nuns don't pay taxes so they don't count. ergo, total count for pampanga - 0 protesters.

Dagupan, Pangasinan - 5,000 students, church leaders, and residents turned out. all paid for by joe de venecia. again, students don't count so rough estimate 4,000

Subic, Zambales - 1,000 people showed up to protest the pull out of the american bases causing loss in business, leisure and pleasure for local residents and foreign investors. turn out is 0.

San Pablo, Laguna - 1,000 students (again), seminarian and members of parishes showed up. some schools sent delegates (ano to? ms world?). people complained when some members of the church passed around love offering boxes to support the food, lodging, entertainment and airplane fare of San Pablo Bishop Leo M. Drona who sent the letter from Rome "encouraging" the people to join the call for PGMA to resign. seminarians and students don't count. turn out is 500.

Iloilo City - "Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, joined around 1,000 protesters, mostly from religious and militant groups and professionals, in a one-kilometer [quote]Walk for Truth and Justice.[unquote]" - www.inquirer.net. since most militants don't believe in a God, bordering on atheism this should not be called an inter-faith rally. Again, take out some of the priests / nuns and you probably have about 800 tops.

Bacolod City - [quote] Pastor Emilio Henares of the River of Life Church called on God to cast out the purported evil in Malacañang (...) About 3,000 persons, mostly students, were present[unquote] since they're on a name calling spree they should have added pandak, lucky bitch, mother of satan etc etc. then again, those are the same words i'd like to use in describing some members of senate, congress, and that poor (figuratively speaking), arrogant, telenobela actor wannabee, new zealand sheep lover, moderately greedy, corrupt, planning to run for a political post in bicol, asshole, star for all season err witness. Again, notice the clever use of students. The quote showed majority are minors out on school-sponsored field trip, the turn out is 500.

Tacloban City - [quote]Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo expressed elation over the students' participation in the call for Ms Arroyo's resignation. (...) Along with students and the urban poor, Ocampo attended a forum on the political situation[unquote] People wake up, the NPA movement has not moved a single inch in making this country a better place, Ocampo enjoy the benefits of being part of congress with the FAT pork barrel that he uses for his travels outside the country. he has not done a single legislation, pushed any agenda or attempted to WORK with the system at all. Ocampo claim to represent the poorest of poor sector of our society. the same people they want to call on for support in telling PGMA to resign. it is the same sector that voted the same trapo in power for a mere Php 50 pesos. our country keeps majority of our people in poverty and ignorance because they are easily manipulated that way.

[quote]Cotabato, Davao, Iligan, GenSan- In Cotabato City, about 200 persons representing various groups held a "candle-lighting for truth and justice program" at the city plaza.[unquote]. this is an ingenious way to say most of mindanao is still stuck in poverty and vast areas without electricity. in short brownout. if you really want to have some change, start with the congressmen. majority of the senators haven't even set foot in any part of mindanao, the REAL mindanao.

Saving the best for last, here's an actual report for the turnout in Cebu:

Cebu - [quote]... about 500 students and activists held a rally at the Fuente Osmeña Circle.[unquote] i drove through the venue, less than 300 people were there around 4:30 pm, by 8pm no one is even around except for the dirt and garbage that needs to be cleaned up. mayor tomas osmeña did a good job of sending some citom and police personnel to direct traffic and do some crowd control - which turned out to be a waste, there was no crowd.

i can not lay claim to Pinoys (as most reporters loooove to emphasize that Pinoys overwhelmingly support the resignation of PGMA), but as someone who has adopted Cebu as my province i can say that we display more sense by inhibiting ourselves from this utterly senseless activity.

ang "nuno sa punso" dyan sa malacañang (to quote Novaliches Bishop, Teodoro Bacani) will never resign unless a massive coup happens.

i'd like to call on all vertically challenged citizens of various faiths for an inter-faith rally to call on the resignation of Bacani for his utterly insensitive, prejudicial and discriminatory use of the term "midget".

for all it's worth, the intelligent sentient cebuanos that i talked to share an interesting view: almost everybody's bloody corrupt and hypocrites. Unless anyone can come up with a REAL alternative to Arroyo there is no sense in asking her to step down. She has done lots of work but we don't discount the massive anomalies in her government. we just don't want a repeat of the utterly failed EDSA revolution that succeeded in substituting a dynastic administration with the same old shit.

and lozada is not an option, i don't want more imported overpriced sheep from new zealand type of deal if he becomes president. here's something to think about, he is a telecommunications "consultant" who happened to accept the government post as president of the Philippine Forest Corporation. a post that he used to award millions worth of contracts to his siblings and his own corporation. a post that he used to approve anomalous transactions to buy 750,000 pesos worth of new zealand sheep to eat grass as part of some project (what's wrong with pinoy goat?). the post he used to buy shares and memberships in Wack Wack (i hear membership and shares cost a lot) and has signing credits worth Php 400,000 monthly. A post he used to send off his kids to La Salle Greenhills. and you hear him on TV crying that he took his credit card and shopped to death (i wish that was not figuratively speaking) in hong kong to feel how it is to feel like a rich man but couldn't do it because he doesn't want to use money that's not his.

read that again and puke at the sheer absurdity of that statement. i am not making this up, for a time i was glued to the senate hearing telenovela conveniently subtitled in korean (to account for our big korean population).

i wish he'd stop hiding behind the penguins, err nuns and be a man. Jun, you are not and will never be, another cory quirino, este aquino.

i am not presumptuous to lay claim that pinoys share the same sentiment, this is mine and am guessing that you're nodding your head just about now...

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here's the link to the inquirer news on the national walk for truth rally. by the way, if you're inclined there's a call for an INTERGALACTIC rally sponsored by Zaida, Pulis Pangkalokokan. Attendance is not encouraged.