#SingingForThePresident trending because of government's atrocities

Wazzup Pilipinas!

"The President who stood for the people now needs 'us' (the people) to also stand for him during uncertain times. Let us show him our love, the love of the majority of the Filipinos who sing his praises for the good he has done for our country."

A group of DDS holds a virtual concert titled #SingingForThePresident as its tribute to what they call President Rodrigo Duterte’s "tireless effort" amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

#SingingForThePresident is trending but not because artists like Freddie Aguilar will be singing for Duterte as a tribute to his "tireless efforts" in fighting COVID19.

BIGGEST. EYEROLL. EVER.

They misquoted.... He’s “tired and effortless!!!”

#SingingForThePresident is trending because of images of and links to all this government's atrocities most especially about the victims of Duterte’s extrajudicial killings disguised as a drug war.

Kian, Raymart & Carl were not the only minors killed in the 1st yr of his war on drugs, at least 54 others died.

Althea Barbon. Her dream was to become a cop. When the police bullets hit her delicate body and killed her and her father, she was only four years old.

Kian delos Santos. He was a high school student. Duterte’s police said they shot him in self-defense. But video shows they dragged him into a dark alley and executed him. He died in fear kneeling and covering his head.

Aldrin Castillo. He was killed despite stopping his drug use years before, according to his mother, Nanette Castillo. Aling Nanette has been actively speaking up on extrajudicial killings until now. She lamented how the poor is easily killed.

Erica Fernandez. Her friends called her Angel. She was a school student who was shot to death by Duterte thugs. She was wearing a Hello Kitty watch and held a Barbie doll at the time of her murder.

Zara Alvarez. She was a teacher who loved seafood and worked tirelessly to help the poor. Duterte’s thugs shot her to death on the street for her Human Rights advocacy.

Randy Echanis. He was tortured and killed inside his rented house along with a still unidentified neighbor, in Novaliches.

“In Davao, I used to do it personally...” - Duterte

Don’t forget about the Gemver fishermen left for dead by the Chinese. The jobless jeepney drivers. The exhausted healthworkers. And a lot more.....plus the blatant misogynistic words and women objectification coming out from the mouth of the highest ranking Philippine official.

Remember it's West Philippines Sea not South China Sea. Then all of a sudden Manila is a province of China. Duterte respects China but disrespects the Philippines and the Filipino people.

The President looks so tired. So tired that he can do these to his own countrymen.

When I first saw the hashtag I thought Pres. Duterte is dead, at may pa-tribute ang mga DDS. Kaso, wala man lang bang pa, kape at biscuits?

Are they planning to be comedians? Pina-trending lang ng trolls yan.

Seriously, are Freddie and those DDS living on the same planet and talking about the same Duterte?

Well, it's true that Duterte has shown "tireless" efforts, as in walang gulong. Kaya hindi na tayo umusad sa fight against Covid-19.

Duterte had done nothing except ask for more budget, more loans and sign for them without even laying grounds for a good outbreak management plan.

So whats the point of this #SingingForThePresident?? Desperate last minute efforts to rebuild the image of the inutile president?

Don't ever forget about the many "collateral damage" who died because of "nanlaban" or just plain trigger happy policemen.

Not only were those who were suspected into drug trade and use who died in the war on drugs of Duterte and who were deprived of the due process of law, the equal protection before the law and the chance for redemption, it also did not spare children.

One must be held accountable for the death of the innocent children during this fake drug war, and that is none other than the president himself!

#SingingForThePresident is filled with cult members who chose to kiss the ass of the most incompetent “leader” who is “working” from home instead of raising funds to aid the debts of the country or to help those who are suffering because they got hit hard by this crisis.

Karamihan diyan mga nakikinabang ngayon, napasweldo dahil sa appointed position or nabigyan ng business deals.

There is no more dangerous threat to civilization than a government of incompetent, vile and corrupt men.

Tonight pro-authoritarian DDS are #SingingForPresidentDuterte. But I wonder #Duterte, ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’ Because they’re the ones you should be listening to.

"If [drug suspects] pull out a gun, kill them. If they don't, kill them still, son of a whore, so it's over, lest you lose the gun. I'll take care of you." - Duterte


#StopTheKillings
#JusticeForZaraAlvarez
#SingingForThePresident
#SingingForPresidentDuterte

Jeff Bezos is now worth $200 billion

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Jeff Bezos is now worth $200 billion while millions of Americans can’t afford to put food on the table or pay their rent.

No single person should hold this amount of wealth during a time of widespread suffering.

We must tax the rich and #MakeBillionairesPay.

How is being a billionaire morally wrong? The most important innovations wouldn't be possible if not for the huge accumulations of wealth. We're literally using a platform that's created by a billionaire. Should there be a standard limit on "hoarding" wealth? How does that affect someone on the lower end of society? Is that a limiting factor in one's earning ability?

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been the richest person on Earth for a while, but his fortunes recently rose to new heights, at worth $200,000,000,000.

But let's stop glorifying billionaires and millionaires. Having this kind of wealth is morally wrong. Ilan ang namatay at namamatay para "makarating" sila dyan. One individual should not have this much money.

LMAO, that's capitalism. Should consider other types of government systems that spread the wealth more equally such as socialism, communism, etc.

US capitalism now: many millions unemployed; vast small, medium firms bankrupt; debt-ridden workers, students.

But Jeff Bezos grabs, keeps $200 billion for himself. An obscenely immoral system.

It’s not only morally wrong but it halts economies. Our current economic systems are based on spending money or allocation of resources. If all wealth in the world are only concentrated to a few, economies will come to a stop because people don’t have enough money to spend. It should be illegal for any one person or family accumulating and HOARDING extreme amounts of wealth.

Bezos exploits his workers and underpays them. He takes the value of their labor while leaving the workers starving. Nagprotesta uli mga manggagawa sa US laban sa kanya. Imagine underpaid sila $15/hr wage, pero lalo pa mga workers ng Amazon sa ibang bansa tulad dito satin at sa mga provincial sites, roughly $2/hr lang ang sweldo.

https://www.businessinsider.com/bezos-mansion-protesters-set-up-guillotine-demand-higher-wages-2020-8

According to pretty much every publisher I know Jeff Bezos is personally responsible for the destruction of the book industry. They can no longer pay most authors anything as it all gets squeezed by Amazon.

And the amazing thing is that almost all the money that would be going to authors, who mostly could actually use it, just goes to Bezos personally, so he can say "look! I have another 10 billion! Oh! And another 10 billion!" He doesn't even use it.

It's like stealing candy from babies and not even eating it. In practice, we seem to have created a world so perverse that denying creative people any benefit from their creation is an end in itself. You do it so as to revel in your very power to do so.

Capitalism has brought art to a crisis point.  Cinema has it worse because it is so young that it was literally born into this economic system.  The dollar is choking to death true artistic expression.

My faith in the enduring tenacity of the creative spirit to push through adversity, no matter what, allows me to view so-called 'crises' as 'opportunities' (I know that sounds motivational speaker!). But cheap kit & open source etc means we can all make films in our bedrooms now.

Crowd-funding & Kickstarter etc, far more accessible & less demeaning than kissing producers' backsides & whoring for product placement just to cover 10 mins analog colour stock & processing.
Worldwide distribution on WWW is crazy easy to achieve, even if rewards for most small.

The internet overall has been more of a force for good in this area, though even there we can see the system constantly trying to turn it against us (censorship, zealous IP enforcement, etc.). The battle right now is intense.

It will get more indie & liberated as a reaction, espesh now big video projectors are getting so affordable.

While digi-cams cheapish since 1990s, & editing setups for last 20 years, projectors for room showing stayed out of reach.
A new era of film clubs & indie cinemas beckons!

This is a picture of Jeff Bezos when started Amazon.

He just became the first person with a net worth of $200 billion.

It doesn’t matter where you start.

You can accomplish anything.

Endangered Tamaraw Killed in Mindoro:, Poachers Escape

  

Wazzup Pilipinas?!

Three poachers who shot and butchered a critically-endangered tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis) escaped apprehending authorities the other day. Alert rangers spotted the poachers drying meat near the base of Mt. McGowen inside the Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park before lunch on 28 August.

Two poachers were quickly surrounded and caught by park rangers and wardens while a third escaped. Two pugakang or homemade shotguns were confiscated, as well as a sack of tamaraw meat, to be dried and illegally sold as tapa or buffalo bush jerky. “Pang kain lang po ito, tapos yung iba pang benta (We’ll eat some of the meat and sell the rest on the market),” remarked one of the poachers.

After three hours in custody, the two apprehended poachers ran off and escaped into the jungle.

Tamaraw are the world’s most endangered buffalo species and are considered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as critically-endangered, the highest risk-rating for any species. Only around 600 are left worldwide, most found in four isolated areas in Mindoro. They are legally protected under the Wildlife Act or RA-9147. Killing endangered wildlife entails up to 12 years of jail time plus a fine of up to PHP1 million.

“Poachers might be using the COVID-19 lockdown as an opportunity to illegally enter our country’s protected areas and hunt animals. Rest assured that our rangers won’t stand for this. We’ll see to it that these poachers are prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” vows TCP head Neil Anthony del Mundo.

Dedicated rangers and wardens of the Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park (MIBNP) and Tamaraw Conservation Programme (TCP) have been conserving the tamaraw for decades. From less than 100 animals in 1969, numbers have recovered to about 600.

Despite being underequipped and underfunded, TCP’s rangers and wardens continue patrolling forestland to protect tamaraw – facing armed poachers, snakes, leeches, flash floods and hidden animal traps on a daily basis.

Just one of TCP’s 24 rangers is a regular employee with benefits. One ranger plus 32 of the 35 park wardens recently lost their jobs when the park closed due to the pandemic.

“DENR strongly condemns this act of slaughtering endangered wildlife,” says DENR Asec. Ricardo Calderon. “Nothing, not even the pandemic, is an excuse to kill legally-protected wildlife, for no one is above the law. We will work with both DENR MIMAROPA and the TCP to ensure that poachers get the punishment they deserve. Let this serve as a lesson for would-be poachers.”

The United Nations Development Program’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative (UNDP-BIOFIN) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), plus allies like PH Parks & Biodiversity have launched #TogetherforTamaraws and the Tamaraw Society to raise cash gifts for the rangers, particularly those most affected by the pandemic.

“Our tamaraw frontliners who in spite of losing incomes due to the pandemic, continue their daily patrols without expectation of compensation just to ensure the safety of our tamaraw. It is high time and urgent that budgetary resources for environmental protection and enforcement be given utmost priority for protected areas, which are home to critically-endangered and threatened species like the tamaraw,” says BIOFIN Philippines project manager Anabelle Plantilla.

BIOFIN hopes to raise approximately PHP1.149M by October 2020 to help secure sorely-needed allowances and provisions for the tamaraw frontliners until January 2021. Plantilla enjoins everyone “to help the tamaraw frontliners by supporting #TogetherforTamaraws.”

“UNDP Philippines continues to support the rangers and wardens through the #TogetherforTamaraws campaign. Now more than ever, we need to join efforts to protect the tamaraw – a species in danger of extinction. We must protect what is left of our collective respect for life on Earth," concludes UNDP Philippines resident representative Enrico Gaveglia.

Cover photo: 

TCP ranger shows off captured pugakang or homemade shotguns. The crude contraptions are used for hunting game and fire 12-gauge or 20-gauge shells at an effective range of 50 feet. The COVID-19 pandemic has left few rangers and wardens to patrol the Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park, the last stronghold of the critically-endangered tamaraw. (Gregg Yan)

Tamaraw Conservation Programme (TCP) and park rangers recover fresh strips of tamaraw meat being dried as beef jerky or tapa. The meat came from a tamaraw bull which was approximately six years old. Legally-protected animals like the tamaraw are targeted for the illegal bushmeat trade in many parts of the world.  (Tamaraw Conservation Programme)

 

Cover photo: Tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis) are endemic forest buffalo found only on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines. Numbering only about 600, they are considered critically-endangered by the IUCN, the highest rating for any species. At least 480 live inside the forests and grasslands of the Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park, with an additional 100 or so holding out in scattered pockets around Mindoro. (Gregg Yan)