PBA Hall of Fame

I just read that several players from the PBA that I used to watch in the 80's are going to be inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame on Sept. 19, 2009 at the Sofitel Hotel.

Just reading that article brings back memories. I remember being so addicted to basketball at that time that I watched every game even if I have an exam the next day.

My fondest memory of the PBA games in the 80's was when San Miguel won the grand slam championship iin 1989. From the first to the third conference, they were the dominant team. The best thing about it was I got to see some players who were at their prime or who came back for that season alone.

An example would be Ricardo Brown (who is going to be inducted), when he came back during the championship game against Anejo. That was the first time I saw Ricardo Brown play and I was shocked at how good he was. I don't remember the exact details, but I seem to recall he was either on the injured list or retired because of a heart condition. But San Miguel brought him back and he played against Anejo. At one point in the fourth quarter. I believe the Beermen was down and Ricardo Brown came into the game and dominated the whole quarter. He pretty much got Anejo's import Carlos Briggs fouled out because he kept fishing for fouls and got them.

The funny thing about it was, Carlos Briggs was a completely dominant import while San Miguel's import Ennis Whatley was a calm player. Carlos Briggs can dunk and hit 3 point shots and nobody can stop him. Until Ricardo Brown came in and fouled him out.

The San Miguel team was unbeatable that year.

Of course, who can forget The Skywalker Samboy Lim, I think that was the only year where he was healthy. Most of the time he is on the sidelines due to an injury. He was great, but he was just injured a lot. It was a dirty game back then especially when you're playing against Anejo and Jaworski.

If you were watching the PBA in those times, you have to remember The Triggerman Allan Caidic's achievement in November 21, 1991 when he "set the PBA all-time records of the most points in a single game by a Filipino (79 points), the most points in a single half (53 points), the most points in a single quarter (37 points), the most three-point field goals made and attempts in a game (17/27 triples), the most three-point field goals made in a quarter (8 triples) and the most consecutive three-point field goals made in a single game (8 triples), to lead Presto Tivoli against Ginerbra San Miguel." -- from Wikipedia. Sorry, I had to copy and paste it since it was too much to type.

Hector "The Director" Calma is also going to be inducted as well as seven time Best Import winner Bobby Parks.

Those were good times to watch basketball and play basketball. I don't watch that much basketball anymore. When the Fil-Ams started coming in, it started to look like an NBA wannabe. Nothing wrong with that, but it seems like everyone now is an import. But without the explosiveness of true NBA players.

I don't even watch that much NBA now. I hardly watched the finals with Lakers against the Magic. I usually just watch from the half time onward. Either I have grown tired of basketball or the game isn't the same anymore.

Dancing inmates tribute to Michael Jackson

I saw this video of the Dancing Inmates from the Philippines doing a special tribute to Michael Jackson.

GMA to run for congress in 2010

There! I called it!

I'm positive that GMA will be running as representative for the second district of Pampanga in 2010. How can I be so sure? Her cabinet secretary Silvestre Bello already said so. Well, he didn't really say yes. But he said, "if the electoral fight materializes, it would indeed be between David and Goliath, but with Ms Arroyo clobbering her opponent. But it does not mean we are admitting that it will be David winning over Goliath this time." This is in reference to the news that UP Professor and PDI columnist Randy David is planning to run for congress if GMA decides to run.

First of all, you don't make a comment like that if you don't have any plans to run. Second, why do we not have any laws against Presidents running for lower office? Isn't that a conflict of interest? In this world, aren't you supposed to move up in your career and not down?

But what am I saying? Of course it's a move up. Once she's in congress, she's going to be the Prime Minister for life! That would be the ultimate promotion.

When Prof. Randy David announced his intention to run for congress against GMA if she decides to run, there has been an outpouring of support from his friends. But Randy David is in for the fight of his life. He had better be prepared to bear his soul to the public as every dirty laundry whether true or not will be dugged up and thrown against him.

Even after he wins, if he wins, he will still have these problems come up as is happening to Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio.

The second reason I am sure GMA will run for congress is her son Juan Miguel Arroyo dared Prof. Randy David to make good his plan to run for his congressional seat in Pampanga to foil GMA's plan to run for congress so she can shield herself from lawsuits.

"Walang problema yan [That’s not a problem]. He can go ahead and run. This is a good opportunity for a reality check for Professor Randy David" said Juan Miguel Arroyo.

Them's fighting words from people close to GMA for someone who may or may not run for congress in 2010.

Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest

CNN is reporting today that Michael Jackson, the king of pop died today after suffering from cardiac arrest.

He was brought to the hospital after collapsing in his L.A. home. Michael Jackson was 50.

This is on top of another news of another icon Farrah Fawcett who died today as well after losing the battle to cancer. Farrah Fawcett, an 80's sex icon was best known for her role in Charlie's Angels. She was 62.

Read the CNN report on Michael Jackson here and Farrah Fawcett here.

Manila Traffic

Can someone please explain to me why the traffic in Manila can't be solve? Yes, driver's don't follow rules. Yes, there's too many cars. Yes, the PUVs don't have discipline.

For all the things that the MMDA has done, traffic still sucks. I don't even know why they put color coding in place. It just doubled the number of cars since most people who can afford a car bought another one to get away from color coding.

But it seems to me, it's quite easy to solve the traffic problem if they would only use some common sense.

Check out this photo.

Why is the tricycle in the left-most lane? It's not only that, the bikes, calesas and pedicabs use this lane. Isn't the left lane supposed to be for turning and for fast vehicles? Seems to me if they put a lane on the right for slow vehicles and PUVs to stop. So the other vehicles on the middle and the left lane can keep going at the

What about this?

Why do these people keep going when it's already stop? Not only that, the other lane was full before the light turned red. Why do they go and block the crossing traffic if they can't cross the road anyway? Once they block the crossing traffic (the truck), it creates traffic on the other side and it just snowballs and affects everyone. Don't they know they're the ones who created their own traffic jam?

If you travel along Abad Santos from Recto to Rizal Avenue, you can see a lot of park cars on the sidewalk. Because the sidewalks are blocked by the park cars, pedestrians have to use the road and they create traffic. Not only that, close to Bambang St., to the train tracks, you can see a lot of car repair shops. They take away a the sidewalk and a lane for their car repairs. That makes the street smaller and creates traffic. Do they pay for that street? Seems to me like they should be doing their repairs inside their shop or they should have a garage so they don't use the public road for their private business.

Just see how many of these kinds of problems you see and you multiply that across Metro Manila. No wonder traffic is terrible.

Manny Pacquiao and Politics

Can someone answer me this? Why is it that whenever someone in the Philippines gets famous and say they want to serve the people, the first thing they think about is politics? Anyone? No? Me neither.

Is politics the only way to "serve" the people? It seems to me that it's an ironic way of helping people from how Philippine politics have been going on in the last 40 years. Has anyone actually seen any politician "serve" the people? It seems like it's mostly people who are serving the politicians.

First of all, they all treat them like kings and queens that they're lucky just to be in the presence of these politicians. Why? Because they give them money? Aren't those money just stolen from the people anyway and then a few Pesos given to the people to appease them?

I'm sorry if I sound cynical here, but I have never seen a politician in my life that actually served the people. Most of them are self serving. The reason they wanted to be in politics is either to make money or to have a problem go away by having the power to stop their critics or detractors. Why do you think being in politics is called "being in power"?

The funny thing is, in third world countries, politicians are very powerful. They have bodyguards, servants, armies, etc. When they drive around, they have a convoy of cars following them or have police escorts. These are just mayors, senators or congressmen mind you. These are not even Presidents or Vice Presidents.

Compare that to the US or UK, the mayors or ministers of parliaments don't even have escorts. They drive their own cars or do their own campaigning themselves on the street with nobody around them to help.

The problem is, the Filipino people gave these politicians too much power. By power I mean, they elect them based on their false promises or by being popular, then expect these politicians to be their saviors. You can see it all the time, whenever a politician is in their midst, these people start welcoming them to the point of almost bowing to them when greeting them. You may not notice it, but you can definitely perceive it. The politicians in turn think they're so great and untouchable that people will do everything they say. This of course snowballs and now you have a big headed politician who thinks the position is rightfully theirs and their heirs. Just like a king and queen.

So how is this related to Manny Pacquiao? I'm afraid that Manny will fall into the same cycle as with any politician. He may have honest intentions, but eventually, he will fall into a big head politician if he wins since everyone is already worshipping him and a lot of politicians are already circling him like Chavit Singson and Lito Atienza.

I don't have anything against Manny, in fact, I admire him for his talent and discipline. But politics is just not the way to go. If he really wants to help his countrymen, the best way to do it is the way that Tony Meloto did it with his Gawad Kalinga Foundation. Go directly to the people without the need for recognition.

If you do good, people will recognize you without the need to tell people about it.

I feel sorry for the Filipino

All I can say is, I feel sorry for the Filipino people. They've never really tasted freedom since the time of the Spaniards and I think they will forever be second class citizens or slaves of another country or class of people.

Think about it, 400 years of Spanish rule? 40 years of American rule, a couple of years under Japanese rule, 20 years of Marcos rule and 10 years of Arroyo's rule. It's practically built into the psyche of the Filipinos to be ruled by someone and never to be treated as an equal in his own country.

I hope that one day, they will wake up and not allow this to happen again. They did once, during Cory Aquino's time, but they let down their guard and allowed the same old traditional politics to creep back in. Now, it's so entrenched that basically from the top down is mired in corruption
As they say, the leader should set an example. But the leader in this case is setting a bad example for everyone.

Tragic really.

Arroyo should keep silent

The people of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo defended her from Fidel Ramos' demand that she come clean and declare her intention for 2010 saying that as much as "Fidel Ramos has the right to give his opinion, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has the right to keep her plans private".

Now, I know most people will say this is hogwash, that because Arroyo is the "President" and she is in public office that she has to declare her intentions publicly.

I say let her keep silent. Why? What difference would it make if she says anything? We all know she can lie through her teeth anyway. She may declare she's not running next year, but decide to run anyway. Would her declaring anything make any difference?

If history was any indication, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will definitely do anything to cling to power. Be it by Con-Ass, Cha-cha, martial law or being the prime minister. She will do any and all things she can legally and illegally to stay in power.

There's no surprise there.

Katrina Halilli vs Vicki Belo

Have you read this article? Seems like Katrina Halili wants the Belo clinic to be shut down because Hayden Kho was allowed to do liposuction on her without being properly trained.

Hayden Kho passed the medical board exam on Feb 2007 and he performed the liposuction procedure on Katrina Halili on August 2007. The Department of Health's Rules and Regulations states that surgeons should at least have a four-year medical residency before practice. So Katrina Halili asking the Department of Health to shut down the clinic for recklessly allowing Hayen Kho to practice.

While the law is clear about when one can practice surgery. Anybody thinking this is just payback?

You know what's funny? My first thought when I read the headline about Katrina Halili wanting the Belo Clinic to be shut down was because of the sex tape and not malpractice.

The Belo clinic doesn't really have a good reputation in terms of what's going on behind the curtains. Wasn't it that James Yap was involved in a sex scandal at the Belo Clinic a couple of years ago?

There seems to be a lot of sex scandals at the Belo Clinic, maybe it should be renamed as The Belo Escort Services instead.

Fantasyland Philippines

A new theme park opened on June 9, 2009 in Dapitan City, Philippines. The theme park is called of all things, Gloria's Fantasyland. This is what it says on its website.

"Gloria’s FantasyLand is composed of 35 rides comparable to the Disneyland theme parks."

Get this, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Fantasyland was inaugurated by Gloria Arroyo. Also, Fantasyland is owned by Romeo Jalosjos, a convicted child molester who was sentenced for two life sentences but commuted by GMA. He was at GMA's side when the theme park was inaugurated.

Talk about bad form. But then again, who are we talking about here?

Too bad that the Filipino people have lost all their moral values which they use to be so proud of that they even put it in a beer commercial. Values such as "delicadeza" (sensitivity to other people's feelings) and "palabra de honor" (word of honor). Seems to me like all the Filipinos know now are "Sin verguenza" (Shameless).

If there are any delicadeza in the Philippines, it's only spoken of, not practiced. It's a shame that for the largest Christian country in Asia, none of the proper Christian values are ever practiced in real life. What a bunch of hypocrites.

Of Hayden Kho and the Philippine Elections

Oh my, here we go again. It's always the same thing in the Philippines. Scandal here, politics there and the elections.

As they say, the Filipinos love to talk about PBA, Politics, Basketball at Artista.

The elections is coming up in 2010. You're not supposed to be campainging yet, so what do the presidential aspirants do? They set up TV commercial saying how they want to Philippines to be. No, they're not campainging, they're "informing" the public. They haven't official said they're running yet.

How else can they get their names in print and in the media? Well, thank God for Hayden Kho and Katrina Halili and their sex video!

Can you imagine? The Philippine senate actually investigated their sex video scandal? If I were Hayden, I would be honored to be treated to be that important! Who is Hayden Kho anyway? Some boyfriend of Dr. Vicki Belo, famous for doing plastic surgery for a lot of Filipino artist.

Who's Katrina Halili? A sexy actress. That's it. Does that warrant a investigation from the senate? Even Paris Hilton who was more famous than these people didn't even get investigated by the police in the US! It's hardly worth the waste of taxpayers money. But no, they had to investigate "in aid of legislation". My oh my...

Pilipinas, kailan ka titino?