Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from March, 2026

The Three Drug Mules Executed in China Last March 30, 2011

Al Jazeera Today is March 30, 2026. It has been 15 years since the execution of the three drug mules. Their names are Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, Ramon Credo (who was cremated in China shortly after his execution), and Elizabeth Batain (whose face was never revealed, perhaps due to the loved ones requesting more privacy). Contrary to what one might think, the three drug mules weren't a trio. Instead, they were three separate cases that just happened to be scheduled to die on the same day.  They weren't a trio. They had a temporary reprieve when  former vice president Jejomar Binay tried to save them . Villanueva, together with Ramon Credo and Elizabeth Batain, was scheduled to be executed last month but got a reprieve after Vice President Jejomar Binay traveled to China and personally appealed to Chinese authorities. BBC   News even gave such a short news report, that I felt compelled to copy/paste the whole time as a reference here: Philippine Vice-President Jejomar Bin...

Mahatma Gandhi's Use of Tax Evasion, as a Form of Protest?

The 40th anniversary of the 1986 EDSA Revolution came last month. Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" A. Aquino Jr. said these words: "According to Gandhi, the willing sacrifice of the innocent is the most powerful answer to insolent tyranny that has yet been conceived by God and man." Basically, EDSA 1986 can't claim to be all too unique. Ninoy had made Gandhi an inspiration. The dictatorship of the First Marcos Administration may be over . However, the Philippines is still stuck in another dictatorship called the dictatorship of the Filipino First Policy . It does sound stupid, but even without Marcos or foreign colonization (please stop mistaking foreign investment with foreign invasion ), there's still some oppression to fight. You can think about decades of overly high taxes and restrictions on foreign investments.  Now, we need to look at the historical context in which Gandhi's "tax evasion" occurred. According to a Jagran Josh   article written by ...

Revisiting the "Iconic" Torture Scene in "The Flor Contemplacion Story"

Flor Contemplacion has been dead for more than a decade. However, we still have had 30 years of Flor Contemplacion Crybabies spreading fake news about her "innocence" . The sentiment was pretty much that Flor was innocent, there was some hatred for Singapore going on, and the narrative was that Flor was a saint. I thought about this torture scene (not available in the free edition  on VIVA Films' YouTube channel), but it's available if you either rent or buy the film on YouTube Movies. It's probably because of the Terms and Conditions that YouTube allows for free-for-all movies. You can rent the movie for PHP 180.00 (SD) if you don't want to own the film, but want to see the uncut experience. It's still that clear despite being SD.  For some indicators, if you want to see the paid  movie vs. the free movie, here are some differences between the free movie from VIVA Films vs. the paid version: 1:27:01 timemark (free movie) is also found in 1:27:01--1:27:02 ...