Earth Hour 2011 in advance? :)

There's a big promo ongoing for tonight's commemoration of Earth Hour in the Philippines. Lights out from 8.30PM to 9.30PM, for Planet Earth's sake. But it seems Metro Manila's electric company MERALCO is super-eager to get it going. There was a power outage for a little over an hour this afternoon in our neighborhood. We at home were joking that maybe MERALCO thought it's an Eight Hour not Earth Hour thing. Well, anyway, power is now back, hence I'm blogging. Thank goodness because it's sooo summer-hot this day, and without our electric fans going, we were all ready to melt! :)

Happy Earth Hour tonight!

Impeaching an Ombudsman!

The seemingly impossible has happened in the Philippines. Last night, or very early Tuesday morning, after months of preliminary hearings and long debates that lasted up to yesterday's proceedings, the Philippines's House of Representatives approved the articles of impeachment that will enable a trial at the Philippine Senate for current Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. The Ombudsman, who is supposed to see to it that erring Filipino government officials will have to answer to the law, is herself accused of betraying the public trust.

The Congress Representatives voted in this manner: 212 said Yes to the impeachment, 46 said No, and 4 abstained. There were at least two Congress Representatives absent. The number of Yes votes was surprising but welcomed. The Congress Representatives (particulary members of the House Committee on Justice) who sought Gutierrez's impeachment thought they could get only the minimum of 92 or 95 votes up to about 140 to 150 votes for Yes. But it seems that together with having a new Philippine President who assumed office May last year and vowed to cleanse the Philippines of corruption, the Philippine Congress is now also populated with more officials who care more for their country than their own selves.

In the past years, Filipinos have had low regard for their lawmakers, seeing them as a bunch of goons or even as crocodiles ready to pounce on any and every income-earning opportunity for themselves. It didn't help that recent past presidents of the Philippines, especially the immediate past President, have had their own big share of accusations of graft and corruption. Which is, in fact, the very reason why Ombudsman Gutierrez is now feeling the heat.

With the overwhelming Yes vote this Tuesday morning to House Justice Committee Report No. 778 as contained in House Resolution 1089 stating the articles of impeachment against the Ombudsman, the Congress Representatives affirmed that she could be liable for the very low conviction rate during her term and that she slept on several high-profile investigations or cases, which because of the involvement of high-ranking government officials , including the alleged involvement of a former Philippine President, raises suspicions against her that she deliberately acted slowly or acted wrongly on these cases in order to save the asses of these officials.

Now that the House of Representatives has affirmed the impeachment of Ombudsman Gutierrez, they will turn over the reins to the Philippine Senate that will conduct her trial, together with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Filipino people very much await the trial that will unfold. Everyone is saying that her trial will open the long-shut can containing the worms, err, the names that she has been protecting, even after they have alleged to have pocketed for themselves billions of the Filipinos' hard-earned money.

May the Lord bless the Senators who will sit as judges. Like the Congress Representatives who have crossed party lines in overwhelmingly voting Yes to Gutierrez's impeachment, may these Senators also put country first before their own political parties and selves.

Photo of Gutierrez below from inquirer.net

Lord, please heal Japan...

I offer the song "Lord, Heal Our Land" to our sisters and brothers in Japan, whose lives were devastated by the recent earthquake and tsunami. I don't know exactly the composer of this song, but the version I'm posting here from YouTube is by singer Jamie Rivera.

Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/j/jamie_rivera/heal_our_land.html

If my people will humble themselves

Humble themselves and pray

If they seek my face and humble themselves

And turn from their wicked ways

[REFRAIN 1]

I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins

I will hear from heaven and heal their land

[CHORUS]

Lord, heal our land

Father, heal our land

Hear our cry and turn our nation back to You

Lord, heal our land

Hear us oh, Lord, and heal our land

Forgive our sin and heal our broken land

Lord, we vow our knee, we humble ourselves

Humble ourselves and pray

Lord, we seek your face and humble ourselves

And turn from my wicked ways

[REFRAIN 2]

Father in Your mercy, forgive our sins

Father in Your mercy, come heal our land

[Repeat CHORUS twice]

[CODA]

(Lord, heal our land

Father, heal our land)

Hear our cry and heal our broken land

From YouTube account of "pasawaybabe"