Appointment System at the Aussie Embassy

For those who are planning to visit Australia, please be reminded that the Australian Embassy in Manila has already adopted an appointment system starting last year (1 July 2011) for passport and consular services.

The announcement was posted for several months now on their website, but it appears that there are still many who got confused about the new system. The Australian Embassy said the system will cover notarial acts and lodgement of passport applications.

Juvenile Killers Not Worth the Protection of the Law

"All little boys are nice until they get older." - Robert Thompson

Two boys admitted to raping and sodomizing 7-year old Clarissa Pizzara at an open field in Barangay San Dionisio on 20 February 2012, then drowning her in a creek when she kept crying.

Court Rallies vs Public Service

With the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona reaching the one month period, many rallies were conducted by court employees to support the embattled Justice. Many of the Supreme Court employees choose to attend the rallies in lieu of reporting to work. The public is open left wondering whether they are getting what they paid for in terms of taxes.

The issue gets particularly sensitive if the purpose of the rally is to influence the decision of the impeachment court and condition the mind of the public. This is because absences to attend a political rally may tarnish the view that the judiciary is an independent force tasked to deal with cases regardless of whether they involved one of their own.

No Respect for Child Rights

Lawlessness and cowardice reared its ugly head this week in two provinces in the country when children were senselessly included among the victims of two separate incident of massacre. Murderers of helpless children know that these innocents have no way of fighting back against brute force, hence, they decided to show their lack of conscience by killing them.

The first of these murders happened in Barangay Tininghalang, Lapuyan, Zamboanga del Sur on 23 February 2012. Ten gunmen gunmen led by a certain Amie Andi arrived at Sitio Bihing around 5:00 P.M. and without any warning started shooting and lobbing explosives before fleeing the area.

Justice For Ma'am Loida, Justice for Teachers

It is not fun in the Philippines when grade school students see their teacher gunned down in front of them inside the classroom. This is what actually happened when 59-year old public school teacher Loida Pagatpat was brutally shot in front of her grade school class in Palanas, Masbate last 3 February 2012.

Worse, investigators still does not have any lead on the identification of the killer despite the PhP 100,000.00 reward offered by the victim's family. According to Pagatpat's relatives and friends, there is lack of progress in the investigation of the case.