Does Pond's have cocaine in it?

I found this rather funny blogpost on Utak Pugita today.

The title of the post is "Pond's Reinvents Celine Lopez" and if you don't know who she is, then you probably weren't around when the Brian Gorrel bomb exploded on the Philippine blogosphere.

Luckily, there's a snippet about it on the post:

"CELINE LOPEZ, daughter of former Iloilo Rep. Albertito Lopez and Guimaras Rep. Emily Relucio, is now caught in a crossfire in the quarrel of two gay men, Australian landscape designer Brian Gorrell and Filipino lifestyle columnist DJ Montano.

Gorrell, who had since fled to Sydney, accused Montano of swindling him of money totaling US$70,000. From where he is, he opened a blog on 4 March 4 2008 where he maligns Montano and accuses his well-to-do friends, whom he identified as the Gucci Gang, of attempting to cover up the deed and striking back at him.

The controversy is now featured in Wikipedia, which noted that Gorrell’s blog ”has since become a major gossip topic in Philippines’ capital city Manila, exposing its high-society youths’ alleged freeloading lifestyle and addiction to COCAINE... "

Pond's institute has taken the initiative to revive the 90's lifestyle!

-- Source: Utak Pugita

Now, what does Celine Lopez have to do with Pond's?

Well, apparently, Pond's has taken on Celine Lopez as an image model of sorts:

Local fashion’s known druggies come together to represent the limited edition Pond’s Plains & Prints collection... Model-columnists and best friend of the notorious DJ Montano, Celine Lopez leads tha pact as well as "self proclaimed" real estate goddess and "party animal" Divine Lee. Others include has been model Apples Aberin, lifestyle writer "kuno" Patty Betita,  interior designer (not certified) Mai Kaufmann, and "makeup artist" Bianca Valerio.

-- Source  Utak Pugita

Pond's is a brand of Unilever, the foreign multinational colossus that spends billions of pesos in advertising in the Philippines.

To me, that's enough money to make any company and any product the apple of everybody's eye.  At least in a PR sense, no news program or current affairs show will talk about what the company is doing wrong lest Unilever pulls out its ads from the TV station or Newspaper.

I mean, never mind that it's latest commercial showing an apple turning brown is absolutely misleading.

As any kid from a good private school will tell you, halved APPLES will TURN BROWN if you leave the flesh exposed in the air -- whether or not you put anything the exposed flesh.

As if we don't have enough problems as it is with our public education system, Unilever has by itself wrecked the chemistry education of millions of public school children.

Stinky river Pasig

I was rather glad that my former boss Sen. Richard Gordon finally got to open the Maestranza Wall in Intramuros. 

It should be yet another addition to Manila's tourist attractions, however, one thing that will definitely go against it is the stink that comes from the Pasig River.

Despite the almost European feel of the place, I can't imagine eating Al Fresco or EATING AT ALL in that area.  The place stinks like shit, especially after it rains -- because that is when the esteros or tributaries dump hundreds of thousands of liters of rank sewerage and trash.

Can you imagine going out on a date near the Maestranza wall?

The reason why I am glad about the Maestranza wall's opening is because it will focus attention on just what is being done to revive the river.

Despite the glossy and noisy 'Save the Pasig River' movements... Despite the billions of corporate money thrown into it, why is the river is still dirty?

Where did all the money from Piso para sa Pasig go?

Also, where did all the river clean up money from big corporations like Unilever go? I'd hate to think that all that it really amounted to was PR, when in fact, nothing is really being done to revive the river.

One sign that President Noynoy Aquino's drive against corruption is actually taking effect would be if the Pasig River finally begins to get cleaner.

If the Pasig River starts getting really cleaner, then perhaps it would mean that environmental laws  and anti-dumping laws are finally being enforced -- wala nang nakakapaglagay sa DENR and LGUs.

Perhaps, cleaning up the Pasig River would be a great showcase for the Aquino Administration.

A cleaner Pasig River would be a better symbol than the BANGKANG PAPEL of the three squatter kids.

 

Noynoy: Roxas is my alter ego

Seeing these words on Inquirer dot net got me thinking:

• Are you sure Mr. President?  I was thinking Spongebob was your alter ego, but apparently, I'm wrong.
• Can Korina tell the difference?
• Shouldn't Ochoa be leading the transition team?

Is there anything barring Mr. President Aquino from taking the lead in the transition process?  Shouldn't he be directly leading his team in navigating through this rather tricky period?

Will leadership by delegation and proxy be the hallmark of his administration?

If you're wondering what I am talking about, here's an excerpt from the Inquirer story:

“We have the same mind-set, the same vision. In effect, he is representing me in a lot of aspects to be able to get the necessary data,” Aquino said in a press conference at his house in Quezon City. “We are getting ready to govern, so why would I not utilize the talents of Senator Roxas?”

Aquino has tapped Roxas to take the lead in his five-member presidential transition coordination team because of the latter’s expertise in fiscal data, having served as trade secretary in the Estrada and Arroyo administrations.

“We promise to have a handle on every single problem of the country as soon we take over,” Aquino said.

He said he also named former Trade Secretary Cesar Purisima to the team because of the latter’s inside knowledge of the government’s financial picture. (The other members of the team are Executive Secretary-designate Paquito Ochoa Jr., Liberal Party campaign manager Florencio Abad, and his daughter Julia Abad.)