Washing machine is a major source of marine environment pollution

You may be wondering how a simple household washing machine can be a major environment pollutant? What form of pollution is it contributing and what makes it a major one?

A study published in the American Chemical Society journal’s, Environmental Science & Technology, says that microscopic plastics or ‘microplastics’ debris from washing clothes are contaminating the oceans.

While more is known about the Great Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean, where a Texas-size swill of plastic bags, bottles, fishing nets and other debris floats and consequently break down due to mechanical forces, like, waves, and photochemical process triggered by sunlight, the widespread ‘microplastic’ observed accumulating in the marine environment is fibrous.

Part of the Great Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean

To confirm if the ‘microplastics’ found came from synthetic clothes, the researchers looked for similar contamination along 18 coasts worldwide, including the UK, India and Singapore, and found that it was more common in densely populated areas.

Upon examination, the ‘microplastics’ revealed a composition of polyester, acrylic and polyamides (nylon), which lead them to conclude that wastewater from home washing machines was the probable source, noting that more than 1,900 fibers can rinse off a single garment.

“It may not sound like an awful lot, but if that is from a single item from a single wash, it shows how things can build up,” explained Dr. Mark Browne, an ecologist now based at the University of California, Santa Barbara and co-author of the study.

If the tiny fibers contaminating the oceans are not bad enough, what is making it dreadful is that this type of pollutant could be endangering the lives of people.

Earlier research showed that these microscopic plastics contain potentially harmful ingredients that fish and other sea creatures end up eating these fibers and passing them on to humans through the food chain.

The problem, according to researchers, is likely to get worst in the future, and the study recommended that: “Designers of clothing and washing machines should consider the need to reduce the release of fibers into wastewater and research is needed to develop methods for removing ‘microplastic’ from sewage.”

Archbishop (Ret.) Oscar Cruz

It is about time that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) should start restraining retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz from making unnecessary or unwarranted statements against President Benigno Aquino (PNoy) as leader and as a private person.

It is a known fact that Cruz, who is a devotee of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is a staunch critic of  PNoy, especially that the latter is strongly advocating the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill or the Responsible Parenthood (RP) act.

Cruz, even, stupidly and naughtily touched on the personal life of PNoy, saying that at 50, the president should be better off remaining a bachelor because the possibility of having an unstable marriage is greater. “But 40 above, marriage is blending. Two in one. Somebody who’s 40, 50, 60 cannot blend anymore,” he advised.

What a jerk! He may have wanted to be funny, but in so doing he just showed his self-serving attitude, his utter buffoonery and utmost impertinence. Who is he, anyway, to be giving such advice?

And now comes Cruz’s latest tirade on PNoy, suggesting that the latter should also explain the sudden increase of his wealth, from P15 million in 2009 to nearly P55 million in 2012.

Just because CJ Renato Corona is brought to trial by the Aquino’s administration for, among others, allegedly amassing illegally acquired wealth, Cruz now wants that PNoy explains his growth in wealth.

There is really nothing wrong with Cruz’s suggestion if only it is not tainted with malicious undertones.

For one, Cruz should understand that, other than the alleged illegal wealth, congress has also found a number of other impeachable offenses that Corona committed and they have evidences which the prosecutors are trying to prove now.

What does Cruz have, if I may ask? Nothing, but his big, foul mouth!

For another, Cruz’s suggestion may be alright, if only the Catholic Church is free of scandals.

And not only that.

Perhaps, Cruz should also explain why the Catholic Church is so filthy rich and what is being done with its wealth?

Otherwise, Cruz should just stay retired and stop meddling in the affairs of the state, so there will be peace and harmony and not unnecessary divisiveness in our society.

Senator-Judge Miriam Defensor Santiago

In my recent blogs about the CJ Renato Corona impeachment trial, with the senate acting as an impeachment court, I had been very ‘liberal’ about my praises for Senator-Judge Miriam Defensor Santiago.

I described her first attendance as ‘fiery’ and with a ‘bang’ and I did welcome her presence because she immediately made it known to all and sundry what the senate impeachment court is all about and how it should proceed.

She came in very strong, but while she breathed fire on everybody, everybody was elucidated, too, by her knowledge of the law, her experience, and her intelligence, in general.

Describing the trial as ‘boring’ before she reported as senator-judge, her first salvo sent a strong message to the participants of this historic proceeding that they will be in for more action which will make the days to follow as exciting as one would like to see.

It looks like now that what is exciting to Miriam, is upsetting to many, including myself.

Instead of being an inspiration, a role model for calmness and sobriety as a lawyer, and as a senator- judge in the impeachment court, she has been showing cantankerous attitude, especially towards the members of the prosecution panel, for one reason or another.

Her constant scolding and censuring of those who do not come even close to her expectations is simply disturbing, if not annoying.

The prosecutors may not have the legal savvy that ex-justice Serafin Cuevas of the defense panel possess, but that does not mean that for any inadequacy or failing on their part, that they be the receiving end of an immediate rebuke, which in most cases reflects their lack of intelligence or knowledge of the law, as always implied by the feisty Miriam.

There are many ways of showing your disapproval of things done or said and correcting it in a manner that is helpful or constructive.

But, when one starts dressing down parties involved in a legal action, who are lawmakers and professionals in their own right, that deliberately shame and humiliate their persona in front of observers and TV-viewers, like Miriam has done to some members of the prosecution panel, then it could only be interpreted as arrogantly flaunting that her intelligence is much, much more superior than the rest.

Does one have to be coarse and choleric all the time to prove that one is more learned in matters of law, when what is important is to use your expertise in the court room by being pleasant, rational, and to a certain extent, considerate, if the intention is to ferret out the truth?

Does one have to be obnoxious to drive home a point just so you can prove your mastery of court procedures?

I thought Miriam was going to be a big help in facilitating the early ending of the impeachment trial with a resolution that is credible, acceptable and beneficial in strengthening our democracy, in general, and the judicial system, in particular, but, on the contrary, she is causing tension and apprehension with her outbursts or ‘tantrums’, if you may, that does not augur well with the people’s expectations of the case being decided on the basis of an unassailable existence of damning evidences.

Now, you ask me if Miriam is doing this nation a favor? Hell, no! She is a complete disappointment!

The International Criminal Court in the Hague can take all of her and good riddance!

Senate impeachment court

If there is one thing that the Filipino people should learn from the Corona impeachment trial conducted in the senate, thus, making it a senate impeachment court with the senators sitting as judges at the same time, it is that we cannot just put any Juan, Pedro and Pablo on the senate floor to legislate laws for the people.

The job of a senator is so important, so demanding and so intricate that one has to be educated in law to be able to fully comply with the requirements and responsibilities needed in crafting and enforcing principles and regulations applicable to man and be able to define the conditions of the existence of a state or other organized community.

Suffice to say that one has to have the knowledge and command of the English language, both oral and written, to be effective in your work as senator.

Am I saying that non-lawyers should not aspire to become senators? Of course, not! But, what I am also saying is that non-lawyers should try their darn best to immerse themselves in law books and journals for self-taught lessons. Relying too much on your lawyer-staffs to help you write and/or interpret the law is nothing compared to knowing it yourself by heart.

Senator Lito Lapid

And to people like Lito Lapid, senator of the realm, who has a hard time speaking English, much less understanding it, he should double his effort in learning the language to make him a better senator.

Now, am I blaming Lapid for being where he should not be? Of course not! But, I am blaming the million of Filipinos who voted for him for senator simply on the basis of his popularity as an action movie actor.

I am not trying to belittle Lapid, but all can see now that he is in the wrong place and in the wrong time of history. Because of his inadequacy of the English language, he wants the impeachment trial to be in Pilipino.

Why fault the system? Why not blame the electorate? What if the Bisayans say that there are Tagalog words that they don’t understand? What then?

But, we should not even stop with Senator Lapid.

Could one imagine if Jinggoy Estrada, another actor turned senator, presently the Senate President Pro Tempore, was in the position of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile? Or Senate Majority Floor Leader Tito Sotto, one more actor turned senator, for that matter? What I am saying is that if these actors-senators were chosen for these positions, they could also become the senate president, the way politics is played in this country.

How would have the impeachment trial proceeded?  Because the truth is, it is only the likes of Enrile, or of Miriam Santiago, or even of Franklin Drilon, that could make it an orderly and credible senate impeachment court.

It is along this line of reasoning and surprises, like making the senate floor an impeachment court, that the need for lawyers or members of the senate well versed in the law comes to fore as an important qualification, if not consideration, for being a senator of the realm.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago

The feisty senator from Iloilo, Miriam Defensor Santiago, reported for her first attendance as senator-judge in the Corona impeachment trial with a bang! It was a wake-up call, if you ask me, and it seemed to have set a tone on how the succeeding proceedings will go.

I just hope that her brashness and her ‘all-too-knowing’ attitude will not be an irritant to the presiding Senator-Judge Juan Ponce Enrile and to the litigants and even to her colleagues acting as senator-judges.

While every one is aware of her being a constitutional law expert and former RTC judge, I believe it would be good for the proceedings if she will use her expertise in helping the senate impeachment court attain its objective of determining whether or not the accused, Chief Justice Renato Corona, is indeed guilty of the charges as listed in the articles of impeachment.

Santiago herself admitted that she got bored watching the proceedings, saying, “It has been a display of legal ignorance that’s why the trial has been taking so long. It was unstructured.”

What I am simply saying is that instead of ‘terrorizing’ and castigating the prosecution and defense panels for their inadequacies, that she should exercise patience, prudence and wisdom in a way that her guidance will help the trial move forward resulting to a more speedy resolution of the case.

“It is our right to ask questions if the prosecution has not done well and has not satisfied the judges. But the judge cannot take over the counsel and act as if he is already the counsel,” Santiago said.

Indeed, this is a very good and timely reminder for the senator-judges who are not lawyers, and more so for lawyer members of the court, who wants to impress the public and their non-lawyer colleagues of their own knowledge of the law.

I think Santiago was wrong in her perception that the public is not as interested because the electorate has not been involved in making Corona the chief justice.

On the contrary, the public is very much interested of the judicial process going on in the senate because they can’t simply believe that graft and corruption could reach and be allowed to violate the dignity of the members of the highest court of the land to the extent that it could also affect their decisions.

At the end of the day, it is not about how good the prosecutors presented their case against Corona or how articulate the defense was in protecting Corona.

Bottom line is: shall we continue our corrupt practices in government or shall we start reforming for the sake of our country and its people?

The Marcoses (Bongbong, Imelda and Imee) back in the political scene

It is bad enough that some members of the Marcos family have come back politically strong and influential and, seemingly, guilt-free.

It is even worst that the Sandiganbayan, in a ruling penned by Associate Justice Samuel Martires, has junked a P51-billion damage suit filed 25 years ago against the despot, Ferdinand Marcos, his widow Imelda, and some cohorts accused of dollar salting.

The Sandiganbayan (roughly the Tagalog translation for “People’s Advocate”) is a special court in the country which was established under Presidential Decree No. 1606. Its rank is equivalent to the Court of Appeals. The court consists of 14 Associate Justices and 1 Presiding Justice.

While the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) and the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), acting as complainants, accused Marcos, et al, of “misappropriation and theft of public funds, plunder of the nation’s wealth, extortion, blackmail, bribery, embezzlement and other acts of corruption, betrayal of public trust, and brazen abuse of power, at the expense and to the grave and irreparable damage of plaintiff and the Filipino people”, the ruling, however, cited the “absence of evidence” to prove the respondent’s guilt and culpability.

“A mere allegation is not enough. It must be supported by proof, otherwise it will just remain a story,” the Sandiganbayan magistrates said, referring to OSG’s and PCGG’s allegations.

Now, it has been reported that the government, through Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz, will be filing an appeal about the dismissal claiming that the Sandiganbayan seemed to have forgotten the realities of martial law and the impunities committed by Marcos and company by which the country got robbed of its resources.

Furthermore, Cadiz said the Sandiganbayan decision seemed to have exonerated the Marcoses crime, saying, “It’s like Holocaust did not happen,” referring to the Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jews during World War II.

But, Cadiz seems to be missing the point. The point is that no matter how much you compare Marcos and his disgraceful and disastrous past with other deplorable crimes, the fact remains that if you want conviction against some people, make sure that you have all the solid goods against the subjects to nail them well with.

The money is too large and the culprits too notorious to go half-cocked in pursuing justice.

Unless full proof evidences are unearthed further to pin Marcos and cohorts for the crime allegedly committed, Cadiz and the government might as well kiss the P51-B lawsuit goodbye. I could not see any favorable progress in a case that happened 25 years ago and the Marcoses back in power.

But, let this be a lesson learned by PNoy and his Justice department, if they want success in running after corrupt officials in government, as they are doing now.

What is mostly needed is a ‘smoking gun.’

Dante Autullo after surgery

This is another of those weird accidents that very well may land in Ripley’s Believe it or Not!

A 32-year-old man from Chicago named, Dante Autullo, was doing handiwork around his home using a nail gun to fasten things.

The following day, after waking up from a nap in the afternoon, Autullo was feeling ill and was brought to the hospital.

An X-ray revealed that a three-inch nail was embedded in his brain!

X-ray of 3-inch nail in Autullo's brain

What could have happened, according to Autullo, is that while working the previous day, he must have brushed his power tool against his head and unknowingly put pressure on the sensitive tool’s trigger to accidentally fire the nail into his head.

The man was oblivious of what has happened because he continued with his work and had conversations with his family throughout the day.

According to doctors, the nail had barely missed the portion of the brain that controls motor function, meaning he was able to carry on with his day. Although there are pain-sensitive nerves on a person’s skull, there are none in the brain itself.

“He feels good. He moved all his limbs, he’s talking normal, he remembers everything. It’s amazing, a miracle,” Autullo’s wife, Gail, said following the surgery.

Autullo is, indeed, one lucky dude who lived to tell the tale of a scary experience.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile presiding over the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona

When Senator Juan Ponce Enrile (Manong Johnny) run in the last senatorial elections under the strength of his slogan, “Gusto ko happy ka”, a  young, neophyte candidate from an opposing party derided him for running, instead of calling it quits from the political race and scene. (Please see April 7, 2010 Quierosaber blog: Enrile’s mind still works far better than most senators).

The candidate, who, by the way, lost badly in the May 2010 election, made an issue of Manong Johnny’s age, which at the time was 86, and for being a traditional politician.

Looking back now, I think I did right writing in defense of Enrile from a gratuitous tirade.

His presence in the upper chamber of congress and the timeliness of his being the incumbent Senate President during this time of the Corona impeachment furor is what is giving this august body the credence that it so much deserve.

We should be thankful that the Senate, as an impeachment court, has Enrile at the helm in this historic event of presiding over a body that would determine whether or not the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court deserves to be booted out of office.

It takes one to be a brilliant lawyer, a respected legislator, a fearless leader, a shrewd politician, and yes, an elderly, to bring order, sanity and decorum in a court of laws handling a very high profile case where lawyer litigators pit each other’s prowess with their bloated egos at stake. There is just nobody from the prosecution and defense panels that could intimidate him nor gain his favor in such an important case that will determine the co-equality and independence of the three branches of government.

If there is any one that could put any body’s swagger under wraps, it is Enrile. One couldn’t help but wonder if a lesser light could do a laudable job that Enrile is doing, given the same prodigious circumstances.

Enrile knows very well that presiding over the impeachment trial of no less than the leader of the judiciary, the third co-equal branch of government (the other two being the executive and legislative), is his crowning glory, if not his last hurrah.

It is for this reason that he wants success to happen as he winds up his political career.

Enrile wants his fellow senator-jurors to be part of his success and his historical legacy, for a job well done.

Success is when nothing more is left to be desired – that a decision has been reached objectively, thus without favor and prejudice.

Success is when an impartial decision has been reached punishing a person because he is guilty beyond reasonable doubt from all evidences presented.

This is the essence by which Enrile will be remembered by history as he makes his final bow from the political stage.

It has been reported that the World Bank (WB) in the Philippines has uncovered a scam relative to questionable procurements and disbursements in the judiciary branch of government in connection with the Judicial Reform Support Project (JRSP).

The JRSP is the WB’s term for its financial support for the Supreme Court’s Action Program for Judicial Reform (SC-APJR), the brainchild of then Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., who envisioned the much-needed judicial reforms to be bankrolled by combined resources from the national budget and the judiciary ‘s own funds.

With the WB’s implicit faith in the noble intentions of Davide in restoring efficiency in the dispensation of justice in the country, it helped fund the project with a loan of US$21.9 million that was approved in 2003 (Loan No. 7191-PH).

Sad to say, however, that the WB, with reference to the memorandum of agreement on the project, has now said that since Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona assumed his post in mid-2010, progress in reforming the judiciary “has been rated unsatisfactory”, with “implementation delays and additional work required for smooth project closing”.

Apparently, a review on the project conducted by a WB task team with justices of the high court and field visits to courts all over the country resulted to this observation and remark: “The review discloses that the fiduciary environment pertaining to JRSP implementation has so deteriorated that the task team now rates the JRSP as a ‘high risk ‘ and ‘unsatisfactory ‘ on project management, project procurement and financial management dimensions, and observes that project financial statements can no longer be relied upon.”

According to the World Bank, the diminished internal auditing mechanism in the high court was exemplified by Corona’s appointment of one man as court administrator, head of the Public Information Office, and chair of the Bids and Awards Committee.

The court administrator was authorised to approve, on Corona’s behalf, payments of up to 200,000 pesos ($4,500) which was later increased to 500,000 pesos ($11,400), the World Bank said.

Without naming Jose Midas Marquez, SC spokesman and self-proclaimed drum-beater of Corona, the World Bank said “this senior official, due to the combination of his appointments and functions, was the requestor of the services, the approver of the terms of reference, the end-user of the services provided by the firm, the authorizer of contract extensions, and the authorizer of payments to the firm”.

P……. ina, naman, o!

No wonder we are in deep shit because those whom we should trust more in government to defend our rights can’t be trusted anymore!

And yet, these are the same people that have been flaunting lately about check and balances in government.

Hayop!

So, could you blame PNoy if he is passionate about his “Tuwid na Daan” advocacy and is running after corrupt public officials?

You tell me!

New studies have shown that stress can actually shrink your brain.

Holy smoke! Scary isn’t it?

You would probably thank the heavens that you are not in Renato Corona’s shoes, suffering very stressful moments as the subject of an impeachment trial – the first ever for a Supreme Court Chief Justice in the country.

And so you might wonder if Corona’s brain is starting to shrink now? Well, who knows?

According to Yale neurobiologist Rajita Sinha, research leader, simply feeling stressed-out was not linked to gray matter shrinkage. This has to be linked with other stresses you had had in the past, to include health matters, which may lead to greater risks of chronic diseases as well as psychiatric disorders. These diseases and disorders have been found to have caused a decrease volume in the frontal lobe, considered the center of emotion control and personality.

The study were participated by 103 volunteers ages 18 to 48. Researchers conducted structured interviews with the volunteers to collect information about stressful life events and subjective feelings of chronic stress.

The scientists then used MRI to scan the volunteers’ brains.

A trivia on stress, and which perhaps is a precursor to the study mentioned above, is the fact that the term “stress”, as used today, was coined by Hans Selye in 1936, who defined it as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change”.

Selye had noted in numerous experiments that laboratory animals subjected to acute but different noxious physical and emotional stimuli (blaring light, deafening noise, extremes of heat or cold, perpetual frustration) all exhibited the same pathologic changes of stomach ulcerations, shrinkage of lymphoid tissue and enlargement of the adrenals.

He later demonstrated that persistent stress could cause these animals to develop various diseases similar to those seen in humans, such as heart attacks, stroke, kidney disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

Now, it has been confirmed by Sinha’s study that a series of stressful events could also lead to brain shrinkage.

So, with this scenario going on in CJ Corona’s life, would it be possible that his brain will get smaller? I wouldn’t doubt it. How would you feel, emotionally, if you are impeached and branded as corrupt, inept, a political stooge of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA), and on top of that you lose all the allegedly 45 condo units and real estate that you illegally acquired, as charged? Your brain may not only get smaller, but you might even lose it!

Now, are you asking me about GMA? Her case is worst. So, I would presume that her gray matter had started to shrunk a long time ago.

This blog is very timely, then, for politicians and government officials working in the guise of public servants. Read this and be guided accordingly.