Philippines now the most dangerous place for journalists, according to Inquirer

In just two days after the grim massacre in Maguindanao allegedly due to political rivalry, the Philippines has now overtaken Iraq as the most dangerous place for journalists, said the International Federation of Journalists. You can read about the article here.

All in one day, at least 12 media persons from local TV, print, and radio were killed, some were even buried in a shallow grave.

My heart bleeds for these people, who lost their loves just because they were doing their job. Until now, it's hard to stomach that this "for the movies" scenario does happen in real life.

There is also one account from one of the reporters spared from this grisly attack on human rights. He and other reporters detoured to a hotel to get some things and eventually was not included in the convoy that was attacked.

At his article, which you can read in this Inquirer website, you will learn that:

1. Esmael Mangadadatu requested for escorts from the police and military, but was turned down;

2. Mangadadatu allowed the women, including his wife, to file his certificate of candidacy because in their tradition, Muslim women were respected; and,

3. When his request was denied by the military and police, Mangadadatu asked for some journalists to accompany his wife and supporters thinking that no harm would come over them while the media is watching.

But no, no human life was respected during the mass killing in Maguindanao. Men, women, politicians, lawyers, journalists, supporters, innocent people -- these lives were taken away in one swift blow.

Now our nation is under the tight watch. I would want to see this issue have a closure.

Too bad the trend here is that controversies get overshadowed by other controversies until they are forgotten.

But this one, I hope not.

The Maguindanao massacre

I was riding a bus home when this news caught my attention.

A convoy of a politician from Maguindanao, some supporters, and journalists were kidnapped and killed en route to their filing of certification of candicacies.

The fatalities were the wife, sister, relatives, and lawyers of Esmael Mangudadatu, who is going to run for governor of the province, and mediamen including reporters from DZRH, Manila Bulletin, and others.

Reports from newscasts, broadsheets, and the Internet said that the killings were connected to their family's rivalry with the Ampatuans. The elder Ampatuan is currently the governor while the son, the present mayor, is running for the same position as Mangudadatu.

It saddens me that people would kill over power. No, for more power. It has been in the history of the Philippines that during elections, you'll hear potential candidates getting ambushed or killed in cold blood -- and fingers would point to their rivals as perpetrators. In the city I live in, a mayoral candidate who questioned the results of the elections (where the incumbent won by a landslide) was gunned down by unidentified men years ago.

Politics in the Philippines is getting scarier. What's worse is that it's becoming a trend, a culture. And no one can do anything about it, even the police.

This dark episode in Philippine politics seems to have no ending in sight.

World Pyro Olympics 2009 at The Fort

Time to witness a grand spectacle of lights once again -- this time in another venue.

The World Pyro Olympics 2009 is happening tomorrow at The Fort. Germany and China starts the show at 7PM and 8PM, respectively.  Other participating countries are Canada, Australia, Japan, Italy, South Korea, USA, and Philippines (are we competing as well?).

Hmm, I wonder why they changed the venue? The fireworks look great when reflected in the waters of Manila Bay -- you won't notice how murky it is in the evening, so that's fine. Hope I could go to this year's Pyro Olympics.

For the schedule of pyrotechnic shows, go to their official website.

Pride and Glory: Amanda of Survivor Philippines: Palau and the Pacquiao-Cotto Fight

I watch Survivor Philippines: Palau only if I can catch it or if not busy taking care of my baby. More or less, I have an idea who's outplayed, outwitted, and outlasted each other. So Amanda Colley van Cooll winning the title of Sole Survivor wasn't much of a surprise for me. She had a great strategy, lying low in the first challenges, making solid alliances (especially with another strong contender, Mika), and showcasing her strength in winning the individual immunities and reward challenges on the latter part of the game.

Justine Ferrer and Jef Gaitan are also deserving of their spots in the top three. Justine, the first to be voted off in this season, proved that she has the physical strength by outlasting all other castoffs and getting back in the merge. Jef, while being the weakest physically, used her weakness to her advantage and stuck with the stronger castaways. That's one way of using her smarts.

It's unfortunate I didn't catch the Reunion special last Sunday. Just had my fill of the recaps on the Survivor blog and another Survivor Philippines site, which gave me a good view on who voted for who and why.

Amanda deserves this. Hope to see more of her on TV. She'd make a great addition to Unang Hirit, in my opinion...

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Last Sunday, my first thought was that Manny Pacquiao should win this fight because he's already landed on the cover of TIME Magazine. Filipino pride, dude, don't let me down.

And he didn't let me down. Pacquiao won via TKO against the reigning WBO welterweight champ, Miguel Cotto. At first, I thought the Pacman was going to have a hard time fighting Cotto, at some point he was just taking punches from him. But after seeing Cotto go down twice, our hopes went up.

It took 12 rounds before referee Bayless stopped the fight. Three cheers for the Filipino champ! Once again, he has proven that he is the pound for pound king in this generation.

Will Floyd Mayweather Jr fight him? I guess if his dad says so, hehe. And if that happens, it's going to be one heck of a fight.

But for now, I'll just wish to see Manny Pacquiao in person to have our copy of TIME Magazine signed.

My hangover on (500) Days of Summer

I must admit, weeks after I've watched (500) Days of Summer, I can still feel the rollercoaster of emotions the movie has brought me.

It's not the usual story of boy meets girl, because it's only the boy that falls in love and the girl doesn't. Tom, a writer for a greeting card company, meets Summer, the new assistant, and is instantly infatuated with her when he learned that she also likes The Smiths. Tom wants her to be his girlfriend, but Summer doesn't believe in romantic relationships. She explores the world of romance, though, with Tom, but tells him that she can't promise him anything. In short, she wants no strings attached -- something that Tom misunderstood, or refused to understand, while they were together, similar to his misunderstanding of the movie he watched as a kid, The Graduate. And that is why we see him in the first few minutes of the movie as a very broken and hurt man.

What I liked about this movie is how the story was presented. Despite the story not having a chronological order of events, I think it helped in giving the film more depth. I also liked the film's wit, especially from the character of Rachel, Tom's younger sister, who seemed to have a more mature outlook in life than her brother. The soundtrack is nice, too, and supports each scene perfectly.

(500) Days of Summer is a very honest take on love and relationships without being mushy or corny. It's very realistic, it's not hard to relate to either Tom or Summer. It could be a bit depressing to watch if you just came from a bad breakup, but just like Tom, you'll learn that there's life after Summer.

My online money-making experiences

Being a new mom and experiencing the repercussions of the economic crisis, I have since looked for ways to earn some extra bucks.Because I have some access to the Internet during my idle time at work, I chose to do some posting and reviewing online.

One of my first efforts was MyLot.com. I remember signing up for it on 2007, but then didn't really get to be an active member. It was only late last year that I rediscovered it and tried posting topics and comments to it.

MyLot is like a forum but not in a forum-type format. Basically there are topics which you can respond to and topics you yourself could start. You earn by posting and commenting. I'm just not sure of how the earning scheme works, but for like 10 posts a day, I make about $0.15. So if you have more posts, the more you earn. You can get your payment through Paypal when you reach the minimum $10 payout. I've only earned less than $5 so I'm trying to post and comment during my spare time.

Another site I have gone to was Ciao.com. It's more of a review site where you can read and post opinions of different products, from movies to cosmetics. I've earned around $30 with Ciao.com for writing there for a few months, but just last April they banned many users from Asia because of myriad instances of plagiarism. Even honest writers (like me and many other Filipinos) were affected. Last I know, Ciao.com was bought by Bing.com.

One of the sites I went to but stopped was DestroyDebt.com. It's a forum site where you can share tips on budgeting and how not to incur debt. They suspended the earnings program there as well.

I've also discovered Bukisa.com, another posting site where you can post videos, presentations, and written reviews. I've only written eight articles, and the viewership is pretty few, unlike in Ciao.com. So far, I only have $0.20 in my account.

Another paying program I've joined is Paid-to-Promote.net. You just have to paste the codes in the HTML of your site so that when someone goes to your site, you earn money. The only problem I have is actually pasting the codes on the HTML because there's always an error when I do. I think it has something to do with the incomplete command for the iframe. So for now, until I find a solution to it, I hope to earn from Paid-to-Promote's referral program.

I've also put Google Adsense in my blog for months now. Earnings in Google Adsense is crawling up for now. I just have to post more so that my blog gets indexed and people get to read it.

I'm also trying out Bidvertiser.com, which also helps you earn when users click a Bidvertiser ad on your site.

Lastly, I recently discovered Linkbucks.com, where you can earn when someone clicks on the links you have on your site. It's pretty simple, you just generate a Linkbucks code using the original URL you want to point at. Instead of using the original URL for the text link, you use the Linkbucks-generated URL. When a reader clicks on that link, you earn some bucks.

Earning at Linkbucks is kinda slow, though, because it depends on the ad you use, the traffic your site generates and the location of those clicking the link. You earn more when you use the Intermission-type ad and if the clicker is from US, UK, Canada, and the like.

I'm sharing this to you so you can also have ideas where you can earn some bucks online. Though I must say that I'm still earning a few dollars, I know that when I put all my efforts in earning online, I'll have some extra moolah in my pocket, just enough to support my additional needs.

If you want to be my downline and earn online as well, you can click the following referral links:

MyLot.com
Paid-to-Promote.net
Linkbucks.com
Monetize your Website or Blog with BidVertiser

Welcome to my point of view

It's not my first time to blog, but my other blogs are either a hodge-podge of personal stuff or too concentrated on just one topic. I wanted a blog which shares my interests, from music to movies to showbiz to politics to online earning. So I decided to put up this one, which is more of my opinions on the aforementioned topics.

Readers of this blog may or may not agree with my views, but that's okay. You're reading from my point of view, but I also welcome comments to my commentaries. Just leave a message, but no flaming, please. :D

To you, dear reader, welcome to my point of view.