I would never pick a job over my morals.Tomas Lopez, the lifeguard fired after saving a drowning man outside his patrolled area (People)

The wealth of the top 1 percent has increased very fast in the past 20, 30 years. ‘Occupy Wall Street’ is a reaction to that. We have to take the issue seriously…Morris Chang, Chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (MSNBC)

The Friday of 2011 before National Heroes’ Day, I had a chance to witness Yahoo! Pitong Pinoy awards, an event that once again showed we don’t literally need another Cry of Pugad Lawin, death of Jose Rizal, or death of Ninoy Aquino to produce heroes.

More photos on my Flickr gallery.

The Philippines declared its first independence on this day 113 years ago. Here are some good reads:

• Freedom and honor
• Unfulfilled dream

It was always kisses in the playground, and kisses in the gym. With girls it was always perfect. It was always nice. It wasn’t something I was ashamed of. It was beautiful.‘Reviva’, a 20-year old lesbian saved from forced marriage in spite of her sexual orientation (BBC News)

Answers to all these questions should be given not only for the purpose of appeasing the Hong Kong public, but for the integrity of the new Philippine government and for its own people. After all, it is the people of the Philippines who must rely on its government and police for effective law enforcement on a daily basis. Tourism figures, diplomatic relations and stock market fluctuations pale in significance compared to the most basic responsibility of any government: protecting its citizens and its guests.

The opinion came out 2 days after a tragic ending to the hostage crisis in Manila. Discharged police officer Rolando Mendoza, 55, seized a bus carrying mostly tourists from Hong Kong. At least 8 people were killed after the 12-hour drama.

You have too many people that are old, or my age, that are moaning … and they are really missing the tidal wave. My students are riding the crest of that tidal wave. As a matter of fact, they don’t even know it’s a tidal wave … that they are in a digital tsunami. They are just having fun in the water, and guys my age are on the beach and seeing this tsunami and running like hell.Benjamin A. Davis, former producer at MSNBC.com and NPR, in the article “What Skills Will Future Journalists Need?”

A manual tally sheet of the 2004 Philippine general election. (This is from my old Flickr account.)

The election that I joined on May 10, 2004 as an election inspector was ancient. I remember posting one big manila paper on my assigned precinct’s front board to prepare for counting immediately after the voting period. Ballot per ballot, a public school teacher would announce the names of each candidate written by the voter for various positions. Everything was manual. The election tally sheets (returns) and the manila paper were to be filled-up with someone’s penmanship. On the candidate’s particular row, each vote would correspond one vertical manual stroke then a diagonal stroke would mark each fifth vote. Our precinct finished counting past 3am, 9 hours after polls closed. We personally delivered our tallies to municipal canvassers. Police as our escorts, we were transported to the municipal government grounds a few kilometres away from our precinct. With us were election materials contained in a padlocked yellow box.

Another body also received our election returns. Perceived to be independent of any of the political parties and the government, they would total votes besides the Commission on Elections (Comelec). It was dubbed a “fast count” but their counting would take a week or so before anyone can figure who were likely to win the national election. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, an incumbent, won that presidency but it was not clear as her win was marred by massive cheating allegations.

Fast forward to the first computerised election in the Philippines, May 10, 2010. I was a plain voter. I went to my designated room. I went inside, presented identification, received and shaded the ballot and fed it to the tray of Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine. I spent twenty minutes to vote, ten of them was my walk from and back to home.

My experience was contrast to what’s reported on TV though. Long lines in polling centres hogged the news coverage, which was primarily blamed on the clustering of several precincts to just one room. Add the unfamiliarity to the new voting process. The Comelec was prompted to extend voting period by 1 hour. Add the hot May weather. Add the humid May weather. The public was unprepared.

What’s history came past 7pm. Data started to trickle to Comelec servers followed by surprising increments of precinct counts. By 10pm, they already unofficially tallied 25% of precincts nationwide. Past midnight, before the Comelec called its last press conference that day, tally report accounted 50% of the precincts. Liberal Party’s candidate Noynoy Aquino was leading. Morning after the election day, we all knew Aquino will be the country’s next president.

The quality of the politicians elected on various positions is another story but if success is measured against the perceived integrity of the counting that preceded this election, the best election in the Philippines had just been told.

I never knew words would taste so good. I’m eating them now.Conrado de Quiros, columnist to the Philippine Daily Inquirer after a successful shift to an ‘automated’ election in the country.

It was faster than you can say ‘Garci’.Jose Melo, chairman of Philippine Commission on Elections (Comelec) on fast results of the first automated polls in the country. Garci refers to former commissioner Virgilio Garcillano accused of rigging the previous presidential election