The Guardian
Iloilo City

OFTENTIMES DISTURBING
Write-ups from the column of Reymundo Salao
APRIL 2003

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MANKIND
April 3, 2003

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PARANOID MOMENTS
April 4, 2003

            With the war in Iraq heating up, there is a global paranoia haunting us all. Letting analysis and imagination run deep, we focus on assuming what retaliatory acts of terror Saddam might inflict upon the US and Europe, including their allies. A battalion of fully-armed Iraqi soldiers may less be dangerous than a determined suicide bomber in a football stadium filled with civilians. Who knows what kind of madness these terrorists could come up with? 
            In North Korea, the air is silent, but their leaders are keeping an eye upon the war that Bush has waged against Iraq, anticipating that they may be the next target. North Korea may have been silent lately, but factual reports prove that their possession of weapons of mass destruction. China, on the other hand, may have different interests than that of North Korea, but does that mean that it does not pose a threat? 
            That leads me to a conspiracy theory, theorizing a bizarre and far-fetched imagination of asking "what if the SARS was a form of Biological Weapon spread throughout the Asian region?" Surely, an outbreak would slow down China, giving them a crisis that'd keep their hands full for quite a time. 
            But that theory would be unacceptable as it is imaginative. SARS could be more likely another case to teach the biological world a lesson in balancing nature and industrialization. It may be a biological product brought about by the alterations of the global habitat. AIDS, Ebola, Cancer, and SARS. In biblical times, it was normal to live quite as long as a hundred years. Rarely does one die in ways that does not involve the deterioration of health and age. Maybe through war, through partying at Sodom and Gomorrah, challenging a boy with a sling and a pebble to a duel, and by calling Moses a "weirdo" and denying his offer with a hard arrogant laugh. You never hear people like Jacob or Abraham complain about a bad back pain and a phlegm-flooded cough. Why? Because there were no smoke belchers and monosodium glutamate in their times. What disturbs me more is the origin of AIDS, according to one famous speculation. A pathetic dude "does" an ape. Sheeesh! It sounds like the ultimate blind-date-gone-wrong. 
            Getting back to the topic of war, many people in the US and Europe has indeed gone paranoid over possible scud storms and suicide bombers. So much so, that three decommissioned nuclear bunkers went on sale in the English midlands. One of the bedroom-sized bunkers was advertised on Internet auction Web Site eBay and has already attracted 1,500 hits, according to chartered surveyor Rob Ward of JH Walter, the selling agency. "I haven't spoken to anyone yet who's said they are buying it to put their family in if things kick off -- but I think it has certainly focused the minds of some people. Each bunker -- now effectively little more than a damp cellar with a chemical toilet -- comes with a small patch of land, attracting some buyers looking for an allotment to grow flowers and vegetables. It's a unique opportunity to acquire a piece of cold war history, enjoying elevated views over the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire countryside in an unspoiled rural location. On a nice sunny day you could sit out there on your deckchair" he told Reuters News Agency (source: Reuters). Now I know what to buy if ever I get to win the lotto. 

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RO, RO, RO 
your boat...
April 5-6, 2003

            "I wanna go to da Amerika! I wanna go to Hongkong! I wanna go to Singapore! I wanna go to Brunei!" that's what many of us whine about. We want to live a life like former President Ramos---lagaw-lagaw round the world bla! It is natural to think this way, after all, there is always the Magellan inside each and every one of us, yearning to satisfy the curiosity of seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Statue of Liberty with our own eyes. I myself would want to go to the geek-sci-fi-conventions that are regularly held in the U.S. 
There is, though, that saying that the tourism department has spread "Huwag maging banyaga sa sariling bayan" I'm not very fluent in Tagalog, but that means that one should also opt for visiting the other spots of our own country, before we go gallivanting in some other nation with our cameras and sunblock. That is true indeed. Many of us, especially the ones plagued with a staunch sense of colonial mentality, underestimate our own country too much. When actually, we lose count the tourists that line up to go to our beautiful tropical archipelago. Any Sibika textbook and travel brochure can enumerate the numerous spots to go to. Having our pleasure-adventure in our own country is more affordable to the pockets, and you don't have to prepare some papers for the trip. 
            The launching of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway is one good news to those who intend on crossing from island to another. The use of these Ro-Ro (Roll On-Roll Off) Ferries would benefit, not only tourists, but most of all traders, farmers, and businessmen, thereby establishing a faster and more economical means of travel and access. Since the Philippines is an archipelago, we've long considered the division by sea to be such a disadvantage to our republic. Now, we have finally found one solution that bridges our islands, making the Philippines a country more unified than ever. 
x-x-x-x-x-x
            I am quite proud of Iloilo's many colorful festivals, one of which, is the Paraw Regatta. It is a timely event that harmoniously coincides with the summer season. A season when the heat drives us to head for the beaches, to sit back and breathe the winds of the sea, and probably see some titillating beauties clad in skimpy swimsuits. Some halo-halo would surely make you grin in excitement in seeing the thrill and the beauty of the Regatta. 
            It is another plus for the city's tourism. I hope that even visitors who intend to go to Boracay or the Guimaras Resorts would stop by to watch our festival. It is sad to say, though, that the beaches of Villa and Calaparan have long become so polluted that it diminishes the value of the occasion. I wonder if it would be wise for future Paraw Regatta celebrations to have its main venue held in some other location where beaches are cleaner and more presentable. Some people should have been keen and more sensitive to what may affect our waters. The beaches of Villa and Calaparan serve as a warning, reminding us that if we treat our beaches like shit, we will soon regret it in the end. And probably end up swimming along with yellow submarines armed with chemical weapons (if you know what I mean). Take Boracay, for example, a couple of decades ago, it was an island paradise, so clean, so pure, so very natural. Now, because of carelessness, it is haunted by findings that there are harmful pollutants that have adulterated its waters. 


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BOMBCHECK
April 12, 2003

            Security measures in anti-bombing vigilance never stops with security checks at the entrance of establishments. Numerous are the ways by which a determined bomber can slip a bomb through any establishment. With modern advances considered, terrorists may be able to disguise their bombs. Any size, any weight, all various in relation to the many kinds of terrorist tools. Modes of carrying may vary, from wrapped-up gifts, to handbags, to even plastic cups of softdrinks. Although it does indeed matter to check bags and pockets at entrances, security should also extend upon surveillance. There must be guards, uniformed or disguised in civilian, who are watchful to detect any suspicious actions inside a public establishment such as the mall. Given priority most of all, must be areas where bombers usually assemble their tools, such as comfort rooms and theaters. Guards should practice an analytical discretion upon seeing if, for example, a man with a large bag who enters the toilet merely intends to change clothes, or actually is setting up a bomb. 
            As a personal precaution, it would be wise to avoid crowded places. The terroristic act of bombing is one mad act that intends to victimize a crowd of people. Like the madness we experience when we spill a cup of boiled water over a crowding army of ants, in the sick mind of a bomber, a flocking crowd of people is a lovely sight to target. Terrorist bombing is considered by radicals as their twisted gesture of transmitting a message. And to these madmen, the message is clear and highlighted if and when many will suffer. 
            Civilians must take on their right to be vigilant and cooperative with the many precautions taken on for the sake of security. One of the big questions, though, that come to my mind whenever I go through a routine check on entrances is whether these security personnel know what they are looking for. Do they know how to recognize a bomb, or any tool and material which may considered be suspiciously related to bombs and weapons? Or are they looking for red dynamites like the ones Bugs Bunny hands over to Yosemite Sam? Are they just poking their sticks "pretending", so that their supervisors would feel content? If they do know what they're looking for, and they do know what the many types of bombs look like, then fine. End of question. But if not, then what the heck are these guards looking for? 
            Do the police and their bomb disposal team provide lectures and additional education on these security personnel, so that they too would have the knowledge to perform their job more efficiently? Does it cost too much for them to hold lectures, which in the long run, would surely benefit us all? Well, duh…
            Just the other day, the city government has honestly expressed that it cannot afford anti-bomb gears and state-of-the-art tools needed by the city's Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit and the SWAT team. Certainly, the other alternative to this, I believe, is establishing a very efficient intelligence network, capable of hunting down would-be bombers, and unscrupulous fanatic groups, which have the determination to commit terrorist activities. Any high-tech device is useless anyway, if our law-enforcers fail to detect the presence of any diabolical threat to society. 
Another thing to be kept in mind is that the (notorious) art of bomb-making has become a craft that any madman can learn. It doesn't need one to have training in Afghanistan to learn this. With the advances of the Internet, also come these sick whackos who provide information manuals on how to create explosives. Heck, with the information in mind, a trip to the grocery may provide one with the raw materials to create a home-made bomb. 
            Terrorism may strike anywhere. Sometimes, these evil men target establishments where civilians are "caught off-guard", places where we may not expect to be targeted by a bomb. Just because we are in a more "peaceful" city as compared to Davao or Metro Manila, doesn't mean that we should be lax in our vigilance. This may give reason as to why intelligence and deduction may be a far better tool than the expensive, high tech tools that can detect bombs. 


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LISTENING TO THE SOUNDTRACK OF "TEN COMMANDMENTS"
April 13, 2003

            It's Palm Sunday. Correct me if I'm catechistically wrong, but I guess this day marks the start of the Holy Week (while the Lenten Season starts at Ash Wednesday). That means that from now until next Sunday, we should observe Holy Week properly. Mamalandung man ta. That means that one should, in my own way of putting it, be extra-Christian-like. Observe the solemnity of the week. No big loud parties, no disco, no rave, no Vega, no Bwana, and no Cesar's. Hey! No masturbation, please. Well, from a scientific standpoint, at least try to control your loins, man! No listening of Marilyn Manson or Nine Inch Nails for now. Maybe Alice in Chains or Nirvana unplugged could fill up the soundtracks. No 69 and doggie-style, please. No Moses jokes and no Noah jokes. Cardinal Sin, on the other hand (on my opinion), deserves a joke anytime, maybe even below the belt. But never attempt to make jokes during the mass. 
            Gad, man! Let's try to be a "good" religious community for a change. Look at the Muslims. When they worship Allah, they're pretty serious and obedient with it. Good for them, not like some of us Christians who make laughing stocks out of people who make the sign of the cross before meals. The Catholic Church isn't very strict when it comes to practices, yet we tend to intentionally ignore the simplest of religious obligations. One hour in one Sunday of one week. Is that too much your God asks of you? Even with that little amount of time, many of us fail to take time with God. If you can do your best not missing your favorite telenovela, if you can do your best not missing the big basketball, boxing, and football games, if you can do your best not missing the Sex Bomb concert, why can you not do your best in setting aside one hour in a week for your God? But when your wallet's empty, when the ATM is offline, when your fever feels like death, it's the only time you whisper in desperation "Oh God, Oh GOD!"
             It is kind of stupid too, that many people, opt to go to Boracay every Holy Week. Have a tropical vacation, go to Bazura, chill out watching butt-cracks of forty-year-old Europeans. Shit, man! Aren't you supposed to do the opposite?! Instead of observing the solemnity of the week, some Christians go basking in the sun with the tune of Shaggy songs in their head. It's funny and stupid that many Christians specifically set aside Holy Week for vacation, they don't wait for Labor Day, they don't celebrate on their Araw ng Kagitingan holiday, no, they had to make Holy Week "Party Week". 
            Yes, yes, I know that I'm beginning to sound like one of those angry TV evangelists, but hey, am I not right? I'm not hypocritical to say that I'm the moral one, I'm a jerk too. God knows I am no better than ten Nazi jerks combined. But heck, at least, I'm not the jerk who's dancing "Horny" in some resort, while the Siete Palabras is airing in AM radio stations. 
            Other people even go through the penitensya, wherein they inflict pain upon themselves as an act of penance. Some people give themselves whiplashes, carry crosses over hills and rocky terrain, wear crowns of thorns, and go through an actual crucifixion. The practice of experiencing the pains that Christ has gone through. Although the Catholic Church doesn't really sanction these kinds of practices, many people believe that this is some way of making up for the many sins that they have committed. Don't you feel that you too should go through such act of making up with the sins that you've done? If you wont do it to impress God, do it for yourself. Do it so that you can feel the pain which is equal to the sins that you have done. The errs that has caused a damage to others. I don't expect you to literally hang yourself up a cross and lat some dude in a roman costume give you lashes, but at least try to go to Church and find time with your God, man!
What? You don't believe in God? You think that you can rationalize his non-existence. If science hasn't prove His existence, does it prove that there is no God? And you claim the superiority of man, taking up lines like "The Triumph of the Human Spirit", and crap like that? Wow, that is indeed friggin PRIDE, man! Who are you to claim there is no God? You are just a man. Are you sure that the mind of man is so sophisticated as to comprehend all that is in the universe. We are just humans. We die, we suffer, and although we have the right to think freely, there are just thinks that we are not meant to understand. God may not be explained by science. But God is above science. I'm not saying that you should live life the way ardent charismatics do, but at least give time, to have faith in something, rather than the pride of believing that you can handle your life and your fate yourself.

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ROLLING EGGS
(April 21, 2003)

            Curious to find the link and/or the relationship between the resurrected Jesus Christ and a large commercially-decorated Easter bunny and his eggs, I turn upon my trusty old Encyclopedia of Ideas (copyright 1983) for, more or less, an answer. 
            "Christianity can look towards a legend (not recorded in the Bible) to explain the tradition of brightly painting Easter eggs. There is a legend which suggests that egg merchant, Simon of Cyrene, carried Christ's cross on the road to Calvary. The legend claims that after the crucifixion Simon returned and found all his eggs brightly coloured. 
            Another clearly Christian aspect of the Easter egg is that it was frequently used as the first meal to break the long Lenten fast. 
            On an altogether more exotic level, and hinting strongly at a clear pagan origin for the Easter egg custom, are such traditions as begging for eggs, which occurs in Lancashire. The eggs are seen as payment for the performance of a Passion Play. In northern England it is common to roll coloured eggs down local hills on Easter Monday, while at Chester Cathedral the choirboys used to engage in an egg-throwing competition. Egg rolling on the White House lawn has become a traditional U.S. Presidential activity (so George W. Bush must be rolling his eggs now?) while in Greece and other Orthodox countries eggs are elaborately and beautifully decorated. Perhaps the more exotic of all the customs was that enacted at the court in Imperial Russia where egg-shaped objects studded with gold and precious jewels were exchanged by members of the Royal family."
            I was surprised, because I thought that the celebration of Easter Eggs and Easter Bunnies was another one of those clownish old American practices. Here in the Philippines, our viewpoint of the Easter celebration was originally a solemn one. As it is originally begins with an evening mass on Black Saturday. Me and my brothers would usually celebrate Easter on Guimbal, where we would attend the evening Easter Mass. Before the mass begins, there is a procession of the statues that portray Mary mourning Jesus' death, and then the mass begins. It is so much like the Simbang Gabi in December, but this mass celebrates the moment when Christ comes back to life. Early morning at Easter Sunday, there is another procession, which is more colorful, because this one commemorates the time when Christ began to walk around his neighborhood, after he came back from death. And his loved ones and his apostles greet him. This morning ceremony has a more joyful tone, with all the choir-singing and the bright colors, which kinda breaks all the brooding mood of the past three days.
            So how about the Easter bunny? Where in Bug's name does this animal fit in? Well, the rabbit is actually a fertility symbol, the rabbit being the most fecund (reproductive, horny) of all creatures. Hmmm. I have two questions. Can a balut qualify for Easter Egg? And; If you shower a rabbit with vinegar, durian juice and vomit juice, and let this animal stink like it was the smelliest thing on the face of Mother Earth, would it still be as fecund?

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THIS DAY IN THE FOREST
(April 22, 2003)

                        I am a Tarsier. Fat Tarsier chilling out, forest life is cool. A trip to the mango tree is enough to make humans envy of how I can kill myself with eating. And they must be more envious with the amount of ganja I chew while I hang around the bamboo, stoned, and watching the moon whirl like a slow top, a resemblance of a bizarre hypnotic screensaver. It is on moments like this when I find myself grinning, seeing the earth like a massive work of art from the renaissance period. It's like I transform myself into a human humanities professor pulling out the many synonyms just to evoke one thought: beauty. 
            The tree roaches and the grasshoppers told me about the same news today. The human, whose backyard is where they hang out after dinners and mating seasons, is celebrating what they call "Earth Day". Funny thing, though, not many humans know of this. I told them that it was better news than the update of the war. So, I decided to go with them on an evening chill-out party at the Narra, where the hippie crickets will be humming their usual acoustic grooves. Arnie Schwarzenegger (no relation to the famous actor), who was an albino beetle told us he set a side a vast amount of peanuts, berries, and ganja up there for the big party. 
            From this forest, no synthetic light bothers our view of the illuminating wonder of the stars. Like the poetry hideouts of human hippies, the evening was a sublime party, as grasshoppers, roaches, and centipedes, praised the glory of this earth. The kind of praises to the natural wonders that man sometimes forget to do. Like the rivers and brooks, which run like tapestries of transparent radiance. Like clear cool flowing colors, fresh, and pleasant. And its sound is that of a sonic piece which brings forth the emotion of peace and tranquility upon each and every ear. The trees, our homes, so tall, so small, the firm gigantic mass of brown pillars of nature. Like totems that mark the pride and strength of the Earth. It must be a million times more magnificent to see the many forest trees from the sight of a high-flying maya. Mental note to self: find means to ride some big bird one day. 
            If the forest would be grand to see, it must be fare more wondrous to see the ocean from afar. The vast ocean, so blue and green, like a canvass of shimmering motion. Like the magnificence of hills and mountains, like giant rocks and corals that embrace the clouds. I was told that one could have a conversation with God when you sit at the top. If so, I would ask Him to put His giant finger atop one of those chimneys on the human factory covering it from farting smoke to the heavens. 
            For now, I am covered with a smile of content to live in a forest, which is not yet so much adulterated by human shit. The grasses here are still green, the flowers still weird. Although I hate flowers, it is a better sight than large metal glow-trees they call "traffic lights". I'm happy that I can hangout with my friends, that their families are not yet forced to migrate to another forest. Because this earth is ours too, not just for humans. Not just for subdivisions, villages, and malls, but for us the so-called "creatures" too. 
            No need to get all protest-angry though. Just laying back, breathing the fresh air, and thinking how nice this planet is, is enough to celebrate Earth day. 

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A SILENT COLONIZATION
(April 27, 2003)

"People aren't going to like the point of what you want me to write about, bord" I was frowning one afternoon while having a discussion with my close friend Raymund. 

"You always do write about depressing stuff, so why bother to stop?" he coldly replied with a grin to make it sound comical. Although his views may be on the edge, I cannot deny the truth behind his opinion. His paranoid foresight is well attuned with what might happen to our society, say, ten years from now. Ten years from now, if the country is still plagued by the monotony of being in a continuous stagnant state that sees progress as a distant unachieved dream. A state wherein poverty is like a common Filipino trait. 
            Raymund was talking about a silent invasion. He's talking about how our society is paving the way for a capitalist colonization. "We already have the whites and the maos to worry about, now we have THEM to add up on the list of visitors, who, one of these days becomes our bosses, and later on, may become our slave-drivers, treating us Indios like dirt-cheap labor force to do their bidding." His words put an ugly grin on my coffee-stained teeth but it sure scared the heck out of me too. His views may make him sound like a Junior Hitler, but it was thought provoking. 
            It kind of reminded me of how, in my youthful days, I would go to this magazine shop somewhere in front of SM Delgado, and as I would browse at the American magazines and the comicbooks lined up on the shelves, this Chinese-looking woman would approach me and with an ugly discriminating tone, she would intimidate me with questions and words that made me feel extremely uncomfortable and made my self-esteem shrink to microscopic size. Her tone was utterly discriminating me just because I did not appear to be as fancy and extravagant as she is, and just because I looked like a typical Indio, who did not look like I cannot afford the precious magazines that she sells. The discrimination that just because I'm not rich enough, I'm already am not worthy of scanning or browsing the merchandise. The last time I checked, this was a democratic country, but the way she acted was as if she was living in an imaginary world where her kind are masters and us Filipinos are a slave-breed. It was one of the earliest events that made me have a very ugly impression of the Filipino-Chinese community. I was in high school when that happened, I'm not even sure if that lady was still working on that shop. But if my memory serves me right, that shop was Ibam. 
            But don't get me wrong though. I have many Chinese friends that have proven otherwise, many of them have proven to be most trusted and most loved friends. I just hope that the younger generation wouldn't go through the same experiences of prejudice and discrimination that I've gone through. But we're straying from the topic. My friend Raymund was talking about some other thing. THEY are a different case. 

"But don't they just come here to learn English from us? Didn't they just come here for good education? We Filipinos are excellent at English, we should be flattered that our neighbors acknowledge this skill and give us the credit we need, that they seek out our skills." I said. He replied "Yes, sure it's good. Sure we should be flattered. Sure we should know how much we should acknowledge that we are being given that respect of being good at English. But look around you; have you seen business establishments lately that are owned by them? Don't you see how many of them DO learn from us, and manage to start their little empires here?"

"What's so wrong with that? Maybe they love it here and they want to live in this nice country we call home, and in order to survive, they indeed need to set up their businesses"

"Sure, you may be right. But what if they really came here in order to intentionally set up a business, set up an empire that will undermine us the Indios? They do, my friend, they know that they could easily enslave us with their money, my friend. To many Filipino teachers and tutors, they may be friends, but how long will that friendship last? Till the end of the contract? After all, a teacher or a tutor is an employee of the student who hired him/her." 

"That's pretty cold, my friend."

"So shall they be, when their little businesses shall thrive into giant corporate empires. Just look at how they behave around us. Go to the malls, anywhere, how grossly loud they are, not caring for their surroundings; how annoying they can get, disregarding the presence of the Pinoys who are supposed to be their 'neighbors'. Look at how they behave in restaurants, cafes, bars, how insensitive, how inconsiderate, how disrespectful. My tito is a professor in of the universities in this city. He asked his student who was one of THEM, has she stayed here in Iloilo. She answered five years. Then he asked her, why she doesn't understand Hiligaynon yet, after all that time. She couldn't answer. My tito then tells her, 'because you just came here to establish some business, right?' She then just smiled in guilt. "

            After then was a brief pause before I could continue. A moment of thought. Many assumptions may sound harshly unpleasant, nevertheless, quite true. 

"So what are you suggesting that we should do? Are you suggesting that we drive them off like how Hitler drove the Jews off Germany?"

"No, dude. I, too, don't know what to do. But at least, people should know. At least it gives them some more reason to work hard for themselves, and prevent that one day, they would just become mere slaves of another foreign power. "

            We ended the afternoon with additional rounds of coffee, and began pondering upon how Korean food tastes like.  


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ONE KILLED IN AN ANTI-PIRACY RAID
(April 30, 2003)

            In a DZRH interview two weeks ago, Videogram Regualatory Board chairman Ramon "Bong" Revilla insisted that his men should indeed be in full battle gear during its raid of pirated vcds and dvds operations so as to efficiently enforce the law. Regardless of the fact that most of the vendors are harmless and are not as prone to violent resistance, he said that having his men in full battle gear will "intimidate" the vendors, so as to really end video piracy. The result? One young vendor was killed, while two others were seriously wounded. All the result of insistently enforcing a law that serves the pigs of corporate greed. Enforcing a law that ensures the wealth of film producers such as Bong Revilla himself. In my opinion, Bong Revilla's duty as VRB chairman seems not to enforce the law, but he is just insuring that he gets more richer with video piracy out of his way. And let's take a look at the films Bong Revilla produces; they are nothing more than typical tagalog movies, cheap in quality, and clearly the ones that give Filipino cinema a bad name. 
            Twenty-one year old Mubarak Khail of Taguig, Metro Manila, died with a gunshot wound. While 29-year old Amrodin Tajer was stabbed in the back by an unknown assilant during the raid. And Abu Gampong received severe wounds as he was being battered during the raid. These people are merely vendors, not gangsters, not drug-pushers, they just merely indulge in a business, which although prohibited by law, is embraced by the Filipino masses. Yes, we cannot deny that each and every one of us who belongs to the masses are happy with the existence of piracy, because we can damn afford it. Because it gives us access. For years have I been searching for copies of hard-to-find films like "Se7en", "Reservoir Dogs" and Bjork's "Dancer In the Dark", now it is in the solace of piracy vendors wherein I can be able to find copies of these movies. In the long run of seeing the ends and effects of piracy, I have concluded that the anti-piracy law is one that protects the corporations, the producers, the big men, who give their thumbs-up seal. In a country like ours, there are numerous problems to solve, numerous evils to destroy, we have poverty, corruption, drugs, prostitution, insurgency, epidemics, political and administrative instability, deforestation and pollution, but no, Mr. Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. has to "serve his country" by declaring war on something that will probably give reason to a hundred more people to hate the law. He had to enforce the law against this country's poor. He had to enforce this law, because if he doesn't, it's bad for his business. It's bad for his "racket". 
            They all claim that Piracy is destroying the movie business. But does it? Maybe that's true. Or is it maybe that Mr. Revilla's movies are so awful indeed, that with or without piracy, they still leave the tagalog movie industry at ill. After all, The industry of movies should be all about art, and profit comes only second. You see all these art films, they don't even get healthy financial aides from the rich producers, yet, they are made. This is because of the love towards the art of film. Maybe what Piracy has done is indeed good. It destroys the rotten profit-minded tagalog movie business, and have it replaced by producers and filmmakers who are indeed striving in the art because they understand the love of film. After all, film is art, art is passion. 
            I should also point out that if not for Piracy, film producers abroad wouldn't have forced themselves to release movies in the Philippines in simultaneous release dates as to the film releases in the U.S. and Europe. Likely, if not for Piracy, Film corporations wouldn't have lowered their prices to 150 pesos so that they could compete with the pirate market. We would've still have been buying VCDs for 200 plus or 300 pesos. Come to think of it, the people who say they're against Pirated products are the only ones who can afford to buy 300 pesos per CD. 

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