When Mang Donald put up a restaurant and named it “Mang Donald’s”, he got sued by Mac Donald’s for trademark violation.
When a coffee company uses the name of our towns and provinces for its coffee products, shouldn’t we also be suing it for taking advantage of our place names? Surely it is not an accident that they are using our place names isn’t it? They are doing it because the names of our towns and provinces (in the pictures above from left: Ifugao Brew, Kalinga Brew, Sagada Brew, Benguet Brew) sound exotic and, in the coffee business, exotic sells. There is also some goodwill attached to our place names (in the same manner that there is some goodwill attached to the MacDonald’s brand) that the company wants to take advantage of.
Of course we all know that some people want to become Congressman/Congresswoman because they want to serve their constituents. And, of course, we also know that public service is not its own reward because congressional representatives have this thing called pork barrel (or Priority Development Assistance Fund) which they are allowed to disburse according to their heart’s content.
In Tagalog, bahala sila kung ano ang kanilang gagawin sa pera. We should bear in mind though that a Congressman’s or Congresswoman’s pork barrel is not really his/her own money but our money. So there should be no reason for us to be indebted to our congressional representatives mainly because they brought a project to our area. It’s not as if they used their own personal funds. Right?
Ha! And you thought we will no longer bore you with more election coverage. Well this one is too good to not blog about. It’s kind of like the case filed by Joe Molintas vs. Morris Domogan.
PPCRV denounces vote-buying in Mt. Province From the PIA
Here’s Part 2 of Gerard Finin’s article on the Igorot rally against then Baguio City Mayor Jun Labo because of his anti-Igorot remarks. You can read Part 1 of this article here.
The 1988 Igorot Demonstration by Gerard A. Finin Among the many protesters marching in groups were highlander commissioners and staff of the Cordillera Regional Consultative Commission, a body that had recently been appointed by Pres. Corazon Aquino to draft provisions under the newly ratified Philippine Constitution for granting the Cordillera a special status (along with parts of Mindanao in the southern Philippines) as an autonomous region—contingent upon approval by Cordillera voters in a plebiscite.
