A Business Graduate's Random Blog on History and Gossip

Cebu Daily News Updated: July 17, 2023 The rainy nights can get scary. I was reminded of a case that happened in 1997 (now it's 2022 going to 2023) on July 16 of that day. Back then, it was the low-tech 1990s era when people used easily fragile diskettes, typewriters were still used, and the Internet was still dial-up and compromised with the landline, you can name it. Anybody who was born in the 1980s or the 1990s can testify to that. This is the Chiong Sisters Case. Two sisters namely Jacqueline Jimenea Chiong and Marijoy Jimenea Chiong disappeared. That happened while waiting for their father, the late Dionisio Chiong (who died during the pandemic), in Ayala Center-Cebu. It was a rainy evening when the two disappeared. Back then, there was a very limited spread of knowledge since the Internet was just a luxury.  A diagram found on Facebook, apparently owned by the late Miguel "Juan" Del Gallego y Ripoll The arrest of the suspects on September 15, 1997 Back then, there ...

There are stupid people on Facebook who always say, "Defund the police!" Think about defunding the police? Well, this video from San Francisco shows just how "wonderful" society can get when you defund the police. The call to defund the police has been called because of abusive cops . I'm not going to deny that there are abusive cops. However, the profession of a policeman as well as the government having the function of police is another. Are we going to abolish the government entirely because of some corrupt politicians?  We need to get the facts straight about what happens when the police is defunded . Those who are calling to abolish the police have no idea what they're getting themselves into. Yet, we've got fools such as the gossiping Facebook page, the Philippine Anti-Fascist League (which I heard is spearheaded by a bitter youth and some rebellious youths) even made this very stupid diagram... The police are needed to protect all the cups. Don...

Give Up Tomorrow has been an interesting documentary. Why I was fascinated by it because of how it shook my mind. It turned out that it was a trial by publicity . It was also at that time when The Calvento Files aired a dramatization of Davidson Rusia's testimony. As Cebu City Vice Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia said, it was a very unpopular move. People already thought Juan Francisco G. Larrañaga aka Paco (and the seven others) were guilty. People thought Davidson's story was worth believing. Some deleted scenes never made it into the final cut  This deleted scene talks about the owner of the place where the crime allegedly happened. David Gurkan now recalls his experience. According to Davidson, this was the story as recorded by the Supreme Court of the Philippines:  From the evidence of the prosecution, there is no doubt that all the appellants conspired in the commission of the crimes charged. Their concerted actions point to their joint purpose and community of intent. Well s...

This deleted scene involves a woman with lower learning as the woman called herself. Fortunately, there are English subtitles for those who can't understand the Cebuano dialect. For some reason, this scene never made it into the final cut. Yet, this scene provided valid evidence that something was very fishy about Davidson Rusia's story.  Back then, I remembered the Chiong Sisters' case was dramatized on national television. Yes, it was done during the trial . That's why it shocked me when I learned that Juan Francisco G. Larrañaga aka Paco was innocent of the crime. I was shocked when I learned that a friend of mine was also with Paco in Manila on July 16, 1997. It was the night when the crime happened. His brother-in-law, Miguel Syjuco, was pretty confident because Paco was in school . A woman was made to sign an affidavit by the police? Okay, I still believe that the body was really that of Marijoy Jimenea Chiong. Even if it were Marijoy, the fact that this woman has...

Just hearing Juan Francisco "Paco" Larrañaga was actually innocent is something. It made me think that more than 20 years ago--a crime happened and he was wrongfully linked to it . I dismiss gossip of the Chiong sisters, Jacqueline Jimenea Chiong and Marijoy Jimenea Chiong, being alive. However, that doesn't change the fact that Paco was indeed in Manila on July 16, 1997. There were school records, photographs, and every piece of evidence that the stupid late Judge Martin Ocampo dismissed saying, "It must've been tampered with." It was a trial by publicity no doubt.  I wrote a really lengthy review of Give Up Tomorrow . I couldn't help but watch the fascinating documentary more than once. Every step of the way, I didn't need to be a lawyer to understand that a judge who doesn't follow the fair rules of the trial is a bad judge. Footage of Ocampo sleeping in court was present. The whole trial was nothing more than a spectacle. Because of a stupid ...

  I guess that foolish old man did the right thing to block me on social media. The old man remained incorrigible while having his toga display, apparently getting a doctorate.  An earlier post I wrote was about the misuse and abuse of CTTO . I even wonder who in the world is Merkado CTTO? It's very easy to use CTTO to look smart. However, real studies need more than CTTO but several sources. It should be several valid sources and not just sources you agree with. I was laughing at this old man in a toga (who has thankfully blocked me after I tried to refute his errors as a  nobody ) who tends to use CTTO. I think he was also fond of saying, "I'm sure!" and then it ends up with several stupid claims. Such people would be in what might be best called the MARITES Pyramid of Learning (read here ). These people's best sources can be summarized as "Trust me bro" or "Just trust me". In the case of the meme I made, the peak of the pyramid is, "Jus...

Sheila Singson was still mentioned in Give Up Tomorrow but not this whole part. This deleted scene features Atty. Florencio O. Villarin and his interview with Sheila. We do have more unheard-of clips of the interview with Pros. Teresita Gallanida. What I want to focus on is the interview with Villarin, the very person whom the Chiong parents went to ask for help. Ironically, the late Dionisio Chiong ended up calling Villarin a liar . Was it because the Chiong parents wanted instant justice or felt that the "testimony" of Davidson V. Rusia was "more than enough"? Starting at 2:21, I decided to pay attention to what Villarin said. At that time, Villarin was still at the NBI. The following day, Villarin went to the workplace of the late Jacqueline Jimenea Chiong. Jacqueline was noted to have worked at the Global Village which used to be at Ayala Center, Cebu. This person was named Sheila Singson. Villarin mentions that Sheila couldn't identify and neither gave a re...

This is another bamboo dance done by what I believe are Atayal dancers. The dance steps are very similar to what one might find in Nueva Ecija or any indigenous region of the Philippines. What makes it more appealing to me is the absence of Taiwanese Mandarin in the lyrics. Instead, it's lyrics that would sound like the chanting of Filipino indigenous dancers. There are similar yet different movements between Taiwanese aborigines and Filipino aborigines. The Malaysians and Indonesians have settled in several places. The dance movements between Taiwanese aborigines and Filipino aborigines are too similar to be ignored. Even the indigenous language might be very similar. 

The Daily World Above is an art by The Daily World. As an advocate of constitutional reform, I'm afraid the word democracy is often misused. It's very easy to say that we're a democracy so it's the rule of majority shaming the minority, it's a place where you can have a dysfunctional sense of freedom, or I can't even remember all the stupid definitions one can have about democracy. It's very easy to say that the Philippines is a democracy. However, what if democracy can be just an illusion because from one constitution after the other--winning an election is based on popularity over credibility. The founding fathers of America did fear demagogues . One of the meanings of the word demagogue is "a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power". In another definition, it's also "a leader championing the cause of the common people in ancient times". So, has the Philipines really been quali...

I remembered back in Civics and Culture class when it was taught that July 4 was originally a holiday. Instead, it was moved to June 12. July 4, 1946, became the end of the Commonwealth Government of America. Think about it like it was the handover of the British of Hong Kong back to the Chinese government. I remembered there was a one-time holiday when July 4 had no classes because it was Philippine-American friendship day. The Americans freely gave the Philippines its independence from the Commonwealth. However, the Philippines did become a republic on June 12, 1998. I did remember celebrating the centennial celebration of the founding of the Philippines. It was in 1962 when the late Diosdado Macapagal, the father of Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, issued Proclamation No. 28 . It's because it was in 1898 when the Philippines managed to gain independence from Spain and declare a republic . For a time, the Philippines fell under American control but not without having decla...