Reposting this for Christmas. Originally published on Dec. 12, 2010
The silent halls and dimly-lit wall sconces at the orphanage serve as bare witness to the loneliness of kids at night.
These kids used to live at the orphanage for a few years when their parents abandoned them. Now they are living with their father and step mom.
But we can open our house to them by serving as foster parents for a while. We don’t need to be rich to let an orphan enter our homes and spend Christmas with us.
You can inquire at the institution of your choice to find out how to be a foster parent. I’m sure orphanages will be glad to grant wishes of deserving families.
A full story about the kids in photo was published by People’s Tonight.
I had a little chat with the members of the Rainmakers sometime in March 2001 for an election-related assignment. The group, who popularized the ballad “Binibini†in the 70’s, was active in doing (writing and performing) political campaign jingles then.
“While the time is not right for making a comeback, there should be something to keep busy at,†Luke said in an interview.
“Were more open to jingle making because there are more demand to this, mas madalas kasi ang kinukuha ngayon to do shows are the new ones.â€
The Rainmakers. From left, Joel Macanaya, Luke Gaston, *Courier reporter, Joseph Lansang. Mon Villanueva was not present during the interview. Picture taken at their studio.
The Rainmakers is the voice and brains behind the campaign jingles of several known politicians including that of showbiz couple (former Senator) Bong Revilla and (Mayor) Lani Mercado.
Here’s the excerpts of our chat:
Courier: Does it always follow that jingles should suit the personality of candidate?
Luke Gaston: Sa lyrics, andoon na dapat ang power points.
For example, iniisip ko gawan ng jingle si Senator Juan
Flavier (former DOH Secretary). It would a comedy approach, the tune would be
something funny and witty, like the ditty “Pop Goes the Weasel.†It’s funny but
it does not necessarily mean that there is no power point. Ang maganda ay ‘yung
dumidikit sa mind ng masa.
One example is Loren’s (Senator Legarda) campaign jingle,
which goes “Loren, Loren, sinta, instead of “leron, leron, sinta.†Very simple,
very elementary.
If if would be for (Senator) Enrile, dapat medyo dignified.
Courier: How important are jingles to candidates?
Joel Macanaya: You have to capture everything in 30 seconds, you have to convey a message in 30 seconds.
In political jingle, we do one adaptation and one original
song for the client. The original song or jingle should stick and identify with
the candidate.
You have the power point, you have the good lyrics, you have
the good things to say, but would it stick to the mind of the listener.
I think we are successful in terms of conveying what our
clients want to express through our songs.
Many of our clients have won the election. The secret,
maybe, is effectiveness.
The jingles, we suggest should be fast or with a little
marching tune. People should be able to know the lyrics of the song and easy to
memorize.
A simple campaign jingle in the early 2000 costs P75,000 for
30 seconds. If it is adaptation P45,000. For a full-length song, P100,000 to
P150,000.
*I have worked with Courier, the Philippine Journalists Incorporated flagship newspaper in 2000. This article was published in March 3, 2001.
IN a country where texting, browsing the web and engaging in online chats are common day-to-day activities, here are more Philippine National Police tips on how to detect scams and what an individual should do in case he or she encounters one this summer time.
Illustration by NVT for People’s Tonight, People’s Journal
According to the PNP leadership headed by Director General Ronald M. dela Rosa, the safety tips were designed to prepare and equip the public with the necessary information needed to counter the ever-growing threats posed by scammers including those involved in cyber-terrorism and other online frauds.
PNP spokesman, Chief Superintendent Dionardo B. Carlos encouraged the citizenry to thoroughly consider the following safety tips since everybody needs to develop his or her own safety core competency needed to help save precious lives and properties.
The Nigerian inheritance/legacy scam — The consumer is contacted, usually by email by an individual claiming to be either a representative of the Nigerian government, a wealthy business person or the widow of a deposed African leader. The trickster may claim that they have discovered a bank account belonging to a deceased citizen or has come into possession of a large sum of money. The trickster offers to share the proceeds if the consumer allows him/her to deposit the money into their bank account. The consumer is asked to provide their account details and other sensitive information. However, before the transaction takes place, an “unforeseen difficulty” occurs and additional fees from the victim are necessary to overcome the problem.
What to do:
1. Do not overreact.
2. Always find a way to verify or validate the call or messages.
3. Do not give any information.
4. On unscrupulous text messages, do not waste your load. Let them run out of load. Do not text back. Ignore their messages.
5. Do not give out personal information that can be exploited like your full name, email address, mobile number, place and date of birth most especially your SSS number, credit card number, bank account details, etc. They are fishing for you to tell them of your financial information.
6. If you have given up your formation already, contact your financial institution/bank at once. You likely will have to close your account immediately.
7. Report it to any or all of the following: Anti-Money Laundering Council Secretariat, 5/F EDPC Building, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Complex, Manila, Tel. 302-3982 and 524-7011 local 2372 and; Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division, National Bureau of Investigation, Taft Avenue, Manila, Tel. 532-8231 local 3455/3456 or emai l at http://www.nbi.gov.ph/.
Foreign exchange scam — The group/individual approaches and convinces their would-be victim into exchanging their foreign currencies into pesos at a rate higher than the prevailing exchange rates.
During the transaction which actually takes place outside or right in front of a foreign exchange shop, the equivalent pesos are counted before the victim three times.
Initially, the victim is allowed to count the money he will receive to make him feel confident that he will get the exact amount for his foreign currency. After that, a recount is done by one of the perpetrators who spread the pesos in his palm to cover his fingers that are folding a portion of the bunch. At the same time, the suspect distracts the attention of the victim, often by telling him to be extra careful of robbers while wrapping the bundle of money in a newspaper or placing it inside a paper bag.
The victim eventually discovers that he was short-changed when he counts the money while inside a car or upon arrival at his house or hotel.
What to do: Avoid foreign exchange trades outside legitimate establishments. Stay away from people transacting or following you that offer tempting deals and report to the nearest authority or police station.
The PNP also warned against the presence of local and international syndicates engaged in cyber extortion or more commonly known as “sextortion”. The Interpol recently lauded the PNP for its series of accomplishments against local and international syndicates engaged in all forms of cybercrimes specifically cyber-terrorism.
Dozens of suspected “sextortionists” have been arrested by agents of the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group, three of them accused three years ago of victimizing a teenager from UK who later killed himself after he was threatened by the syndicate they will upload his recorded cybersex act if he will fail to deposit money to their given account.
“Be cautious about people you meet online. Revealing personal details online is extremely risky and may not be who they seem to be, because there are lots of fake accounts online,” he said in warning the public in the wake of the series of police anti-sextortion raids.
According to Carlos, “scammers often seek soft targets so they move on if you do not respond”. “Just block their e-mails and their accounts and cease all contacts with the scammer. If ever you encounter this kind of scam, save the scammer’s details, e-mails, comment threads, or any other evidence you have of them and the extortion attempt,” he added.
The PNP has a strict policy against paying scammers and extortionist. He said that persons being victimized by scammers can contact the PNP-ACG hotline 414-1560 or e-mail complaints at acg.pnp.gov.ph for immediate assistance 24/7. Persons victimized by these con artists may call or go to the nearest police station to file their complaint or dial DILG Patrol 117 or Text PNP 2920.
