Philippine Universities Drop Ranks; UP Now 398th

Last year, University of the Philippines barely managed to grab a spot in the Top 300 universities in the world according to a study conducted by Times Higher Education Supplement and QS Top Universities.

• 299 - University of the Philippines
• 392 - De La Salle University
• 484 - Ateneo de Manila University
• 500 - University of Santo Tomas

Although I’m not exactly very fond of ranking anything, I’m still disappointed in this year’s world ranking result, released early this month.

University of the Philippines drops from 299 to 398 (scroll down to the bottom). Ateneo now outranks La Salle as it moves 33 steps forward, taking the 451st spot and pushing the latter to 519th. UST gets the 535th slot in the ranking.

Ahhh, bullshit! There are so many far more important things that need to be done than worry about numbers and rankings. Yes?

They say 666 is a lucky number...

Let's just hope they're right.

LTO website hacked

Oh great. Now who's concerned about the country's national security? ^_^

The Diva that is Charice Pempengco

If "jologs" is appreciating real talent, then I'm really jologs. So Neil, I'm backing you up.

Charice Pempengco really is an outstanding singer. She more than wow'ed me with this performance, albeit I already know how awesome she is!

I was VERY disappointed when what's-his-name won over her in one of the "singing contests" in ABS-CBN a few years ago. I was rooting for Charice because IMO, singing competitions should be concentrating more on talent, not looks (or, in what's-his-name's case, pa-cute magnetism). Hey, sure, what's-his-name was cute and all that, but dang, he wasn't that good a singer. A decent performer, yes, but definitely not the one who should've won. Problem with these so-called talent search shows is that they rarely ever choose the real talents. And the problem with most Filipinos is that they rarely ever appreciate those people lacking in looks but with real talent. (Jasmine Trias and Sarah Geronimo come into mind. Sorry, but I was rooting for LaToya London and Mau Marcelo. Not that LaToya wasn't pretty; she just wasn't...Pinoy. And you know how Filipinos can be TOO proud with this "Pinoy pride" thingie. As for the case of Sarah Geronimo, yeah, she's great, but you should've heard Mau sing --- greater.)

Whatever Charice is lacking (for those saying that whoever is prettier than her), she makes up for her talent and soul.

So EAT THIS, you "Sam's better than Charice because he's sooooo cute" people! Kailan ba naman kasi tumingin sa tunay na talent ang Dos (at Syete)? Pfft!

Recruitment Strategy? Beware and Be Aware!

A few days ago, a call from some guy with a no-nonsense businesslike voice woke me up. With my just-woke-up bedroom voice, I answered his questions with uh-huhs and hmmms because I wasn’t feeling quite human that time. I was still somewhere between homo erectus and homo neanderthalensis, but I was human enough to actually understand English! Anyway, I knew that

• he spoke in a hurry because he’s supposed to have meeting in a couple of minutes and he couldn’t “stay long”
• he’s from some US-based multinational company (well, that’s how I remember him put it)
• he seemed to be recruiting me for some job [training] that I’d be “perfect for” in their expansion program
• his long speech was injected with words such as “outsourcing,” “marketing,” “business,” “leadership” and other blahs I couldn’t quite catch
• he knew I had just woken up (because I said it) but still went on as if I was a full-pledged human (although he did sound quite awkward after hearing that)

Since he didn’t offer any more details than his hurriedly-said name and some bullshit, and I wasn’t really interested despite the “financial compensation” (I have such an expressive voice, you know), I promptly forgot almost everything he told me after we said our goodbyes. Besides, I was a bit suspicious on how he came across my number (should have asked, I know, I know)…my Sun Cellular number, which is, like, so 10 years ago and super obsolete already because no one ever texts me there (actually, no one texts me in my Globe number too, poor me).

Turns out I’m not the only one who has been lured into this. Apparently, a bunch of other bloggers have also been tapped and received a similar call.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying that this is a scam. I tend to agree with the term Tita Dine used: misrepresentation in jobs. But this type of recruitment is downright misleading. And in my books, legit or not, it’s very annoying and full of shit.

And how the hell did they come up with the bloggers’ numbers? Is a blogger giving them out, or worse, selling them?

Similar experiences of bloggers have been linked in my blog.

Sincere and Heartfelt Condolences to the Saguisag Family

Nalungkot talaga ako nung nabalitaan ko ang tungkol sa aksidenteng kinasangkutan ng mag-asawang Rene at Dulce Saguisag pati na yung mga kasama nila.

Atty. Rene Saguisag is one of those people I look up to. Shempre, disappointed ako when he became Erap's lawyer sa kaso nito dahil ayoko talaga akay Erap, pero di naman maitatangging magaling siyang abogado. Human rights lawyer siya nung panahon ni Marcos. Naging senador din siya nung panahon ni Cory. Gwapo pa siya hanggang ngayon (lame attempt at humor).

Si Mrs. Dulce Saguisag naman ay prominent figure din sa gobyerno nung nagsilbi siyang DSWD secretary sa panahon ni Erap. Graduate siya ng Social Work sa ngayo'y tinatawag na CSWCD sa UP Diliman.

Stable yet critical daw ang condition ngayon ni Atty. Rene, pero hindi pa ata niya alam na wala na ang asawa niya. Halos maiyak ako nung nalaman ko ito. Para bang nag-play sa utak ko ang possible scenarios kung saan sasabihin kay Atty. Rene na DOA ang asawa niya. Ano kaya magiging reaksyon niya? Shock? Iiyak ba agad siya? Magwawala? Maghihimatay? Ewan ko. Just thinking about it gives me a heavy feeling.

Buti na lamang at ligtas yung dalawa nilang kasama.

Sa kabilang banda, alangan namang matuwa si Arroyo sa nangyari sa mag-asawa.

I Got Banged, and Oh-So-GOOD!

Not that, you perv!

Let me present to you…Prinsesa ng mga Bangs!

But wait! There’s more!

This is what the FireEyedBoy says is my “schoolteacher look,” with the glasses and all. Even Gibbs wasn’t able to recognize me at first, haha. Naku, ang taray ko huh, may grado yan! And that’s not like the 20-peso props I used to wear; that’s the real thing…libo yan, ‘day!

So, am I prettyful or am I uglyful? I know I said I’d shave my head, but that’s gonna have to wait till summer! In any case, you can still cast your votes.

And Kevin, yes, I know, I’m photogenic. I look only about 5% as “good” as my pictures. But it isn’t my fault the camera loves me, right?

PS: Some personal issues have been bugging the hell out of me these past few days, and they prevent me from being online most of the time. Goodbye, I’m-gonna-blog-more-frequently plan! I sure as hell won’t miss you!