Firestarter...

It is quite mysterious as to what could have caused the fire that razed in the Department of Budget and Management building just this morning. Firefighter figured that the conflagration started in the building's Server Office. For one, the Server office of the DBM is where all the electronic files are centralized. As far as I know, this serves as the central hard disk drive of all employees of DBM. In short, all electronic files stored in this server are gone. Lost... Could no longer be retrieved. hmmmm... I just smelled something fishier than my breakfast tuyo.

I am not judging this early as to what might have been the cause of the fire. It was reported though that Server office was empty when the fire broke out. What could have transpired in that room? Was it just a mere case of overheat or electrical failure? In my former office, I remember that we also store the main server in a certain floor of our building. In this floor, it is never empty because the servers require high maintenance and security. I just wonder what happened to the people on duty to guard or maintain the servers. Or is it really not a practice for the DBM to designate a person to at least guard the premises considering the servers require high maintenance? I would just give it a big sigh...

What's quite disturbing is that the fire broke out only several days after the "Fertilizer Scam" drew the media's attention. And only a few days after Former DBM Secretary Emilia Boncodin released her testimony regarding the fund transfers/ conversions of the administration to allegedly finance the highly scandalous 2004 elections. It just makes people think... Well, at least that is what the "thinking public" thinks. Remember that I speak of this objectively and on the basis of mere facts and opinion of other people.

I also remember that several years ago, a fire also broke out in the Bureau of Internal Revenue building, during the time of BIR Commissioner Liwayway Vinzons-Chato. At that time, the fire occurred in the records office of the BIR, destroying all valuable tax records of big-time tax evaders. It was also coincidental that this time was also the height of the tax evasion case against the tobacco magnate Lucio Tan. The fire destroyed evidences that Tan was evading billions of pesos of taxes. People said the unpaid taxes were so big, that if only Tan paid them, we could be out of the debt problem. Thanks to the fire, evidences that would pin him down turned to dust. Luckily, Chato kept some of the files, thus the case is stille being heard at a Marikina City Trial Court.

No one really knows if the fire was intentional or a mere accident. For now, we can only wait and see what comes up in the investigation. I only hope that I and some people I know are wrong in our gut feelings about this fire... hay... Bad news again and again... Kawawa naman si Juan de la Cruz.

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As I am writing this, I have read from Inq7.net that the fire cause only minor damage to the system. DBM officials also said that not all data were lost since there were back-up files. Are there also back-up files for the files that SEc. Boncodin mentioned? I still smell the fish... Must be my breath due to the Tuyo breakfast... Tsk tsk tsk...

Diplomacy 101

May I acknowledge the latest contributor to the Presidency's rising unpopularity... Special thanks to the President's loyal (but improper) aide, Mr. Magdangal, who showed us the example of how it is to be undiplomatic. It is an irony for a person such as MR. Magdangal to be working in an office (the Office ofthe Press Secretary) that requires qualities such as ample amount of patience, and knows his diplomacy 101 subject well. If the Palace wants another people power to flourish, they just continue the things they have been doing. They are in the perfect trajectory to failure.

I strongly believe the Ramosian (FVR, that is) theory on protests and rallies. Just let them be. The more you pounce on them, the more they become violent. Personally, I am neither a supporter, nor a protester of the President. I am one of those people who believe that we are in a political stalemate and the only way out is to wait for all of the sitting trapos, bobos, and "insinceros" to die of natural death. Thus, I speak objectively. The current actions of the administration just makes them look more like they are guilty of something. But are they? If they think they are not, as what they have been repeatedly telling the public, they should act that way. Let these protesters be. After all, no matter what happens, protesters will always be protesters so we shouldn't meet them head on.

I really do not know what is wrong with the President's allies and "henchmen." They are one of the primary causes for the President's declining popularity. Before these men face the media, they should first review their people skills. What Mr. Magdangal could have done yesterday was to simply accept the letter with all respect to the sender, then bring it to the office of whoever Senior Deputy Executive Secretary. After all, important papers sometimes get "lost" in those offices. What more the less important ones?

Well, I think Magdangal just wanted to reenact Bonifacio's "Cedula tearing" scenario to signify his defiance to the "bondage" of opposition's People's Court.

To sum up Mr. Magdangal's action yesterday with one word, I'd say PALPAK... Enough said...

Biggest Blunder of the Decade...

It is sad to hear the news that the De La Salle University decided to return its championship and runner-up trophies for the past three years for having been fielded and "ineligible" player during those times. This was following the school's spot monitoring of the players' scholastic records. Too bad.

This highlighted two main points in the current UAAP system. First, it is rather startling and disturbing to know that a league so professional and so famous has been infiltrated with players not eligible to play. If La Salle was able to field in at least two ineligible players in their roster, other teams might probably have one or two as well. I remember just before the start of the UAAP season 68, some members of the UAAP complained about the eligibility of Bonbon Custodio, University of the East's rookie superstar. It was complained that Custodio was not a real student of UE, and was enrolled in another college. He was eventually cleared of the charges. Anyone else?

Second, what separates college ball from the professional league is the honor to bring glory and victory to the school. How can this glory and honor be brought to the school if we are fielding in players not even eligible to be college students?!

I remember back in my childhood (as if it was a long time ago), we falsified some documents to field in ineligible players in our inter-village basketball tournament. Our friend Jay has a bestfriend who, at 13, is an excellent shooter and dribbler. Varsity material. However, he does not live in our village, thus, he is not eligible to play in our team. What we did was we faked his address, giving the inter-village tournament committee an address where he did not live in. And successfully, he didn't just play in our team, he dominated the league. However, in the end, we didn't turn out to be happy because we just played HIS game, not ours. And we couldn't even celebrate for the win because deep in our hearts, we knew we won through the help of a non-Kimco village resident. Too bad.

This issue should be resolved soon. If possible, the UAAP board should monitor each and every player of respective teams so as to clean the tainted image of UAAP brought about by this incident. Controversies are not necessary in college basketball, especially in a league supported by the top schools of the land. Before we shout either Animo, Halikinu, or Fight, we should first see if the players we cheer for are worth cheering at...