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If you're bored with the pic in my phlog, then you might want to check out these more interesting photo-logs:

My cousin Carla in New York.

Sonny Orange in sunny Dubai.

Rogue's Gallery in Ortigas (and sometimes she's in Makati).

Jason D is blogging and phlogging again.

Mark's photo-log can actually be viewed on the left side of his blog. (Should really learn this HTML blah.)

Comic book writer Warren Ellis phlogs with his Nokia 3650. (Still can't believe this phone became a best-seller in Manila, despite it's wacko "rotary" keypad. Goes to show that Pinoys really love to do Kodakan.)

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Congratulations to Filipino comic book artist LAN MEDINA!

2003 EISNER AWARDS

Best Serialized Story: Fables #1-5: "Legends in Exile," by Bill Willingham, Lan Medina, and Steve Leialoha (Vertigo/DC)

Best New Series: Fables, by Bill Willingham, Lan Medina, Mark Buckingham, and Steve Leialoha (Vertigo/DC)

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The Trouble with Dying

This was one of Joey's bedtime prayers when he was four years old.

JOEY: Lord, I'm wondering why we have to die to go to heaven because I don't want to die but I want to go to heaven. I want to see Jesus but I don't want to die forever.

More of his musings at: The World According to Joey.

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I DIVORC U! I DIVORC U! I DIVORC U!

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysian (Reuters) -- Malaysian Muslim men can divorce their wives through text messages on mobile telephones, the New Straits Times daily reported on Saturday, quoting a religious adviser to the government.

Hamid Othman, adviser to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, said divorce via SMS or short messaging service was in accordance with sharia law if it was clear and unambiguous.

"SMS is just another form of writing," the daily quoted Hamid as saying, following an Islamic court decision on Thursday that ruled in favor of a man who served divorce on his wife using SMS. Islamic law permits a man to divorce his wife by declaring "I divorce you" three times.


I wonder if this is a service that the local cellphone companies would like to promote.

Text DIVORCE and send to 2333 and get a divorce now!

I'm sure this will be a big hit consider the level of promiscuity in this country.

(Thanks to Rachel for forwarding that news item.)

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Good morning

Or should say good afternoon.

It’s already 1:16pm according to the clock on my computer.

Was not feeling well this morning but I managed to drag myself out of bed, into the car, and to work. Not a great experience all together. At least there was not much traffic. Maybe people are still avoiding Makati. But when I passed by Rustans, there were already several cars parked in the lot that was cordoned off by bombs just the other night. The malls are back in business. Makati is back in business. And I guess the Philippine military is back in business.

I do hope that something gets done. The so-called Magdalo Group made some heavy accusations that cannot be dismissed just because they’ve been send back to the barracks. I do not have a whole lot of hope and trust in another Senate Committee investigating another anomaly in the government system. At least the military and these personalities will be put in the limelight and will hopefully shed some real light on how things are run.

Graft and corruption seems to be built in every office system in the country. We can only do our best to prevent it and reduce it. Someone, somewhere will find that loophole, make that offer to make your papers get processed faster, and someone, somewhere will give in, realize it’s not worth the aggravation, and give the money to make things go faster.

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While playing WARCRAFT last night, got a call from my mom to come home quick. News broke out about 20 soliders / officers who left their posts due to grievances about the government. It's funny that as you wage war against orcs and elves, there was a bigger war happening down the street.

Couple of hours later, around 2am, I got a text from a friend who was trying to get a cab in front of Rustans department store in Makati. He texted that there are soldiers there and that there was talk of bombs being planted around the area.

I quickly switched on the TV and saw the coverage of military men with red armbands planting bombs around the parking area that's in front of Rustans and the Intercon Hotel.

Later on, the TV station started to air the video message of the so-called MAGDALO GROUP. According to the news anchor, they got the video in the form of a VCD, which made me wonder... is the pirated copy already available along Ayala Avenue?

The Magdalo Group's claims of graft and corruption in the Philippine military sounds all too logical. Unfortunately, like most cases of graft and corruption, they have no solid evidence. It's a lot of your word against mine.

Today's scenario reminds me of Tommy Lee Jones old movie THIS PARK IS MINE, where he played a Vietnam vet who held Central Park hostage and started to broadcast to New York the problems of the US military. I forget how that movie ended.

We can only pray that this story have a happy ending. But that might be too much to hope for. Then again, it might end in the usual strange Pinoy way of a musical number and the president just asking the rebels to do one hundred push-ups.

Pray for peace in our country.

Pray that the truth will prevail.