Santa Rosa Integrated Terminal Dry Run, Me Reading between the Lines

From autocar.com

The quoted passage below is from Laguna Transport Hub still Empty, a news article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and published on the 30^th of April, 2019, Tuesday.

Ayaw Tumabi ng Poste

There's a joke about a drunk who hit an electric post. As expected the drunk never admitted to anything wrong. He didn't fall short of honking and honking, the post just didn't step aside (Ayaw tumabi ng poste).

Can the Avengers survive?

Can all the ego; all the differences in personalities and skills, inherent in a large group of people, a team, be properly addressed in a forced ranking system such as the Performance Based Incentive System?

Be Sad, Be Angry

“Sa bawat estudyanteng mulat sa mga napapanahong isyu sa lipunan, at sa halip na magreklamo lang sa Facebook ay nagmumungkahi ng solusyon: SONA mo ito.” – President Benigno S. Aquino III, SONA 2013

Be sad to see that a President of a country is so bothered by students that he recited a small paragraph in the 2013 State of the Nation Address just for them.  

Inspire, Motivate, what?

Money can motivate.  Exemplary employees will stand out and get rewarded for the fruits of their hard labor, sure that’s possible. Nurture team spirit?  Sure, everything is always possible.

However it is wishful thinking or maybe delusional is the word to think that money alone especially money with extra added baggage an inverted pyramid would be the magic bullet in solving employee motivation. 

After 7 Months...

217 days or 31 weeks or 7 months and 5 days since Deputy Presidential Spokesman Abegaile Valte announced a story about 3 bonuses for government employees coming December 2012: the 13th month pay, the Productivity Enhancement Incentive, and the Performance Based Bonus.

How much can Employees see?

Employees can always see each other and judge the Performance Based Incentive System from there.  Are their co-employees as productive as the money and rating implies or are they just better at kissing ass?

It still begs the question how much of the other bureau’s performance can they see and accept.

Statistically the Slogan is false

Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.

The line puts in simplistic terms the state of the nation.  Gloria was evil.  There was poverty all around.  If she via her anointed will lose control of the Presidency in that 2010 election then candidate Aquino will clean up government.  Once the government is clean and is following the straight path (daang matuwid) prosperity should follow.

It's a Calling

76 percent say it’s a Calling.

The outlook on work serves no purpose especially if lumped together.  How we see work is a personal choice; to each his own as they say.

The trend shows the young are not buying and the old in this Department if that is their honest feeling are figuratively dying out anyway.

The statement serves no purpose, except to convince the people to shut up.   Who dares go against the 76 percent of co-employees they do not see. 

Do you see the 76 percent anywhere around you?  Look to your left, right, in front; how many do you see?

Floods and Traffic Lights

There are colors in the news bulletins today that I only heard of now so I had to look it up just so I don't mistake Code Red for Signal No. 3.  

One of the sources I came upon was a Twitter post by the Official Gazette of the Philippines.  The color codes refer to floods not storms, and the used colors are the same as that of a traffic light: red, yellow, and green. Red means Evacuate.

Constitution and By-Laws of the Budget Union for the Declaration of Genuine Employees' Thrusts (B.U.D.G.E.T.)

PREAMBLE

            We, the employees of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Procurement Service (PS), in order to promote our moral, social and economic well-being, protect and uphold our individual and collective rights, promote our common welfare and interests, foster morale, efficiency, integrity and above all, honesty in public service, as well as foster relationship among ourselves, do hereby ordain and promulgate this Constitution and By-Laws.

Freudian slip or honest mistake?

Is there anything more hurtful than this caption to a sitting president?

Not Innocent

Legally they may be qualified for parole. It is even never in doubt that they are not the mastermind.

Lack of Probable Cause

What sufficient belief can you derive to determine a crime has been committed or will be committed with three persons riding an SUV? What is the probable cause?

Erap for 2010?

Erap’s logic escapes me in his recent statement implying a run for the presidency, again, this time in 2010. The candidacy, the former president said, hinges on the ability or inability of the opposition candidates to unite. He will declare in late 2009 if the opposition remains disunited and go forth with his magic solution of having his name again in the ballot for presidency.

It is entirely possible that the former president and actor did not do well in math during his school days. In fractions, the larger the denominator does not mean a larger piece, so how can his running be a solution when all other presidential hopefuls remain on the table.

Children's Choice

Holy Mother Church: that’s how Catholics call the organization sometimes, never minding the fact that females are never allowed to rule it.

The Priests are referred to as father but I wonder why because they are neither a parent nor gods to deserve the title.

So it’s not surprising that the Church invoked the analogy of a parent giving advice to a child; rather, a parent choosing for a child regarding matters like this controversy over the Reproductive Health Bill. In their minds it’s enough to trample on the principle of separation of church and state (a principle their European counterparts seem to abide by) when the child, in this case the Philippines, needs to be straightened out. Never mind if the surveys say a growing number want the bill to be passed, a parent should correct a child.

Do tools make a good man?

Of all the areas that the issue of reproductive health has touched I have always considered that population should be removed from the table by virtue of agreement.   There is nothing more painful to my ears than to hear the issue resurface and discussed over and over again.

Now how could I consider both parties agreeing when in the media they seem hell bent on tearing each other’s heads, hopefully not lierally. The reason is family planning.  Yes, each side favors its own method: natural in the anti-reproductive health side and artificial for those in favor; but whatever the method, if people calmly think about it, the intent is the same: control.

Whatever happened to the little picture?

Whatever happened to the little picture?

It’s always about the big picture.

Replays (Coup Holdiays Redux)

(I wanted to edit Coup Holidays because it sounded bad to me, and this is what I came up with. For, thinking such writing would never see the light of day in a government newsletter, I gave it to my boss because I was facing deadlines. It did (or will) see the light of day, minus a few names and harsh words. Well here are the words in entirety. Here's to living somewhat dangerously in dangerous times.)

One cold December night I was watching the Return of the King on DVD when in the scene where Aragorn was meeting an army of the dead, I got a crazy idea.

Maybe this was what the Manila Pen Siege was all about; Sen. Trillanes, ala-Aragorn, beseeching the ghost of Andres Bonifacio to lead an army of dead Philippine revolutionaries to help him capture the leadership of this country.

Coup Holidays

The government’s security agencies, for the umpteenth time, uncovered plot to destabilize the government. This time, they say, the plotters plan to use the Anniversary of Edsa II (Jan 20) and the Mendiola Massacre (Jan 22).


This recent news is just one in a long line of attempts and alleged attempts against President Arroyo since she took power in 2001. Many of these tidings of doom have come on or before special days like Labor Day, Edsa Anniversaries; and most recently Bonifacio Day.