Does Raymund actually believe that Philip Morris was not in it for the promotion of its product? You know what is worse than being sanctimonious? Being stupid. Or being deceitful and then passing it off as…. cluelessness?

With the delay in the release of the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 9504 (which amends the income tax law), this government is obviously not sincere in providing relief to minimum wage earners. What else can grass do for a dead horse, other than to cover its carcass?

Under normal circumstances, a mother’s death would make a person drop everything. But not Ely. For some reason, he managed to find the strength and the will power to go on with the concert. Even though that proved short-lived because he had to be rushed to the hospital after the first set, it was a testament to his professionalism and love for his craft. Which was probably why most fans didn’t complain that the concert had to be cut short — they saw that Ely and the others gave their all.

“In honoring the plunderers of this nation and letting them off easy without any punishment (like Erap) we not only condone their infamy; other rapists of this nation will also feel redeemed, convinced that they did no wrong. Then, they pave the way for future criminals to do the same, sure that, like Imelda and her gang, they will not be punished and that after their foul deeds, they can even preen in the limelight before a people without memory.”

The umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan joined labor and transport groups today in demanding a substantial rollback in oil prices after world crude prices significantly went down over the past few weeks.
Various groups staged simultaneous noise barrage actions in different protest centers to air their call for a rollback and for the removal of [...]

Although I have not seen any official announcement from Philip Morris, the buzz on the Internet these days is that the tobacco company is no longer part of the Eraserheads reunion concert. (Because I don’t know exactly what happened, I don’t want to use the words withdraw, backed out, etc.) Philmusic.com, the popular Filipino music [...]

By Pete Lacaba
Both Manila Ordinance 7780 and House Bill 3305 purport to be anti-obscenity and anti-pornography measures. I’m no legal expert, but it seems to me that both of these measures are really censorship laws and clearly go against Constitution.

To those who still entertain the idea that tobacco companies like Philip Morris are benevolent do-gooders (Heck, they’re bringing the Eraserheads back to life, even for just one night! How bad can these companies be?), check out this story. In it, lawmakers are basically going bonkers over how to deal with the tobacco company’s strong [...]

For some reason, because of my rather strong position against Philip Morris for organizing the Eraserheads reunion concert, I’ve been accused of being politically correct. Party pooper probably, but PC? Hah!
Apparently, some people equate railing against a company that peddles a toxic product that, in turn kills, thousands of Filipinos a year — that’s Philip [...]

A few weeks ago, we had lunch at the McDonald’s branch along Matalino Street in Diliman. Fried chicken. Yum! Only to discover that the plastic tray that McDonald’s used for the fried chicken was unclean. As in, nanglilimahid sa dumi.
The photo below is not very clear but you can see the black dirt trapped [...]

In a letter to the Department of Trade and Industry and some lawmakers, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP), an anti-tobacco group, urges an “immediate investigation” and for the Inter-Agency Committee-Tobacco to “take the necessary action to ensure faithful observance and implementation of the provisions of RA 9211 on tobacco sponsorship and advertising.”

August 7, 2008

Undersecretary Zenaida Cuison Maglaya
Department of Trade and Industry
Inter-Agency Committee-Tobacco
Makati City
Dear Madame,
Re: An Urgent Call for the IAC-T to Take Appropriate Legal and Enforcement Action regarding Philip Morris’ Sponsorship of the Eraserheads Reunion Concert Set on August 30, 2008, in violation of Sec. 26, RA [...]

“Once again, Philip Morris International has been caught engaging in cigarette marketing that appeals to children in a developing country and that would not be tolerated in the United States and other wealthier nations,” says Matthew L. Myers, president of the US-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The question to the band: Is this really all for the music? I, and I’m sure the many sensible Eheads fans out there as well, would really like to know. Because if this is all about money — and the Eraserheads are not giving any sign so far that it ain’t the case — they might as well drop all the pretense and just say outright that “Philip Morris paid us really, really good money, we will see you all there, and we will have fun! Rakenrol!”

“Ambulancia,” a short film written, directed, and produced by Richard Legaspi, will compete and have its German premiere at the 32nd Open-Air Film Festival Weiterstadt, which will take place from August 14 to 18 on the arcadian site of the Braunshardter Taennchen.

Isn’t the profit of Philip Morris from existing smokers not enough, so that they had to lure more smokers, younger smokers? Is their any hope that a company like Philip Morris would be decent enough to exercise some amount of responsibility?

I admit that the tone of my post was judgmental on the Eraserheads. Although I have nothing but admiration for the band and, in fact, made clear in my original post that they deserve whatever money they can get from their sponsors, I judged them rather swiftly. For this, I apologize to the members of the Eraserheads.

“Today’s teenager is tomorrow’s potential regular customer, and the overwhelming majority of smokers first begin to smoke while in their teens…. It is during the teenage years that the initial brand choice is made.” — Philip Morris internal document, March 1981