TAXES AGAIN!

I have nothing against the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) filling tax evasion charges against known personalities.

If Richard Gomez did not file any Income Tax Return for the past years, the he should be prosecuted. His lousy excuse that he was earning for those years is nothing but a stupid excuse. If Regine Velasquez failed to declare her additional Three Million Pesos as a product endorser, then by all means, let her pay the appropriate tax. And if fraud was used to conceal their true income, then they should be criminally prosecuted.

It is an abomination for actors and actresses not to pay their income tax properly. Abomination - - because for an ordinary working class like me, every inch of what I earned is already withheld for tax purposes. For the record, I paid P23,000.00 plus for my income tax last year. It might be small compared to others, but for a working student like me, that amount would mean a lot.

Actors and Actresses are different, however, they could claim numerous tax deductions. Tax deductions are those expenses you made relative to the practice of your profession which you could deduct from your gross income, thereby decreasing your taxable income. For example, my aunt who is a professor in Chemistry may not claim tax deductions from her school supplies. However, she could claim tax deductions for her school supplies by her being a researcher/scientist. Actors and actresses are the privilege few, they could claim tax deductions from almost anything!

If an actress will go to a salon to have her hair done and for make-up, she could claim that as tax deduction because looking good is part of her profession. If she visits Drs. Calayan and Belo, she could also claim tax deductions. She could even claim tax deductions from the expenses she incurred when she paid the salaries of her make-up artist, bogy guard and even her alalay.

Thus, by all means, if these personalities are guilty of tax evasion, then the iron fist of the law should be laid against them.

I see a problem, however, with all these attacks made by the BIR against personalities. If it is their intention to run after those who evade the payment of their taxes, then they should not be selective. They should not only run after these showbiz personalities, who are most likely will settle their accounts because they are most likely afraid of the effect of bad publicity against them. They should also pursue those companies who maintained two books, one for the company purposes the other for BIR purposes. The second book, of course, would reflect a lesser income, and in case of those thick-faced capitalist, no income at all.

The BIR should also go against those Senators, Congressmen, Cabinet Members and other government officials who did not declare their true income. In the press conference yesterday, Sec. Purisima of the Department of Finance was caught by surprise when asked by a member of the press if the BIR will also investigate Negros Occidental Representative Iggy Arroyo, brother of the First Gentlemen, for possible tax evasion for not declaring his income under the “Jose Pidal” account. Remember Rep. Arroyo claimed in a hearing before that he is Jose Pidal. Poor Sec. Purisima, he wasn’t able to give any right answer!

So you see, I really have no objections with BIR pursuing Goma and Regine. But if they are really true to their mission, they should also go after those who are more powerful and influential tax evaders. Otherwise, this campaign that they have now will be nothing but a cheap publicity gimmick of a government agency - - an agency deemed to be one of the most corrupt agencies in the country.

COÑO DAW O!

Seated in front of me in the bus last night where three girls. The girl seated beside the window caught my attention, not because of her looks, but because of her coño talk. Coño talk is the dialect with mixed Tagalog and English spoken with a particular accent and spoken by a young upperclass urbanite (and of course the wannabees).

I listened to what that girl was talking about (this is me, thinking:

coño wannabee girl: There was actually this guy who auditioned. That was Piolo. Kailangan niyang mapa “I Love You” si Bea to pass the audition. (Can you believe that this coño-talking girl watched “Dreamboy”?) It’s a nice movie talaga (WHAAAAT?!) as in kilig talaga! (OHMIGAD! What happened to this world!)

coño wannabee’s friend: By the way, napanood mo na ba ang “Darna”?

coño wannabee girl: Ay! Oo, napaka jologs naman ng special effects. Mas mabuti pa ang “Krystala” and “Spirits”. Ayaw ko talaga ng mga soaps sa siyete, ang jologs (and you think di ka jologs?!). Pero grabe talaga ang “Save The Last Dance”, napanood mo ba ang ending? Naiyak ako, di ba it’s so sweet? (Bus Driver pakibilisbilisan nga ang pagpapatakbo at ng makababa na ako or else masapak ko pa tong babae nato!)

One time I was at the back seat of an FX on my way home and there was this chubby woman seated in front of me. Ang gaga probably she noticed me and started to make pa-cute and did a coño talk. With her knees stuck together, a pouting lips and running her right middle and index finger on her hair right on top of her right ear (in otherwords, nagpapacute!), she started talking to her companion:

nagpapacute na chubbing coño: Kasi naman, di naman talaga ako ganun, di ba? I mean sa relatioship kailangan naman kayong dalawa di ba ang mag work? Eh yung sa ex ko (aba! At nagkaboyfirned ka pa pala!), lagi na lang ako ang naghahabol (aba naman iha! Umasa ka pa! At please lang no, di bagay sayo magpacute-cute ng boses kasi ang laki-laki mo!)

What happened to this world na ba talaga? I mean why are people like that? They think na if they talk mixed Tagalog and English, people will think they are sosyal na! I mean, da buh? It matters naman kung bagay sayo ang mag pa coño da buh? And of course, nagcoño talk ka nga, eh ang jologs naman ng topic mo. I mean, Gad! Piolo Pascual and Bea in “Dreamboy”?!!!! It really affects my sensibilities, da buh?

THE PRINCE AND HIS LOVE

I pity Prince Charles and Camilla.


Theirs is a story of “love conquers all”, “first love never dies” - - the right ingredient for a mushy love story that the masses would surely love. The problem, not everyone adore them, worst they received probably the worst and meanest ridicule ever.

I read in one of the articles over the newspaper saying Prince Charles attended two funerals – that of the Pope and his own. The former happened last Friday, the latter happened a day after.

But why is it that their love story is not a hit among the masses? Because between them is a beautiful Princess, Lady Diana, a compassionate loving Princess that exudes class and elegance. The Princess who comes straight out of your romance and fairy tales books. The Princess who was broken hearted because his not-so-physically-blessed-Prince had an affair with an equally-not-so-physically-blessed-lover (I am just trying to be politically correct, but the right word should be ugly). And so you hate that woman whom some people love to call as “horse”.

That “horse”, unfortunately, is the first love of the Prince who is known to be a horse lover (no pun intended, hehehehehe) and the beautiful princess is just a product of an arranged marriage, she was the one who broke Camilla’s heart first (after that the beautiful Princess would call her “the other woman” and people would call her “home-wrecker”). So you see, its love conquers all. That no matter how a Prince would fall for an arrange marriage to save his throne (or for whatever reason), he will always goes back to his First love.

A typical love story right? But not a hit among the Prince’s subject. It is because this is not a story between the Handsome Prince and his beautiful lady. This is love story of a physically-challenged-Prince and his equally-physically-challenged-lady (I am trying to be politically correct again!). But love conquers all and I know people would learn to accept the story of their Prince and his Lady.

If Disney would do a “Shrek 3”, I suggest they would base it on the love story of Prince Charles and Her Royal Highness Duchess of Cornwall. That would be nice, isn’t it?

NEWS FROM THIS SIDE OF THE WORLD

This is one of those days that I just feel so lazy when it comes to writing. There are too many things that I want to tell, too many stories that I want to share, too many ideas that I want to discuss, but every time I sit in front of the computer, I ended surfing the net and chatting. I kept on postponing on updating my blog till the next day, until the next day came and I am still not writing.

Blame it on the heat! Summertime is already here and Metro Manila has never been this warm (no warm is not the word, it should be HOT!). A 39 degrees Celsius is something that my cold-mountain-grown-body could not take. So I easily get tired. Blame it perhaps on my two-week rigorous final examination for the College of Law, I feel I am already drained.

But here I am now, face in front of the computer with no better things to do than to write. So here I am - - writing. (It what I will write does not make sense to you . . . well . . . the hell I care! At least I am writing!)

* * *

After many postponements (mostly my fault), I finally completed my first year of law school. It was really long ago when I decided to enter law school - - long ago because my batchmates are lawyers now. Imagine! They are lawyers now and I just finished my freshman year. Yes, I enrolled for two semesters back in Silliman, but those were two first semesters. So you see, I never completed my first year in Law School there.

I no longer have any intention of further postponing my law studies. Unless, of course, if my Professors do not want me to continue by giving me an “F” rating. But I believe my professors would be generous enough to make me pass.

Yes, the word is generous. My law study here has been a different experience for me. For once, I was already outside of my comfort zone - - Silliman (and Dumaguete perhaps!). At Silliman most of my professors knew me and I could easily pass a recitation and if I made some mistakes, they would be a little bit kind to me. Here, I am most uncomfortable when matters that are being discussed in the classrooms are things that were not in my readings or when I haven’t read my text book at all. Most of the time in class were spent in recitations and two of my professors show no mercy when you falter. They may be kinder in giving you a mark, but the words they uttered against you were harsh.

One day, I went into my Obligations and Contracts without reading my book. Unfortunately, I was called for recitation. My professor already had high expectations on me judging from my previous recitations, but that day I was at a lost on what to answer, I blabbered some words, but it doesn’t make any sense. My professor then asked “Mr. Joven, what is the difference between a sira ulo and a genius?” That, I wasn’t able to answer also.

I used to hate these teachers, but later on I realized that they mean well. You need to read your books and understand the text of the law. For example, my Obli-Con Professors hates it when you give complex examples, what he needs is a simple one just to make sure that you were able to understand the law and applied it in a practical sense. They just want you to think and not to rely only on what was written in the textbooks. That should be learning right? To be able to think by yourself, the books are just there to guide you.

But I have good teachers! My criminal law professors is the chief inquest prosecutor of the City of Manila, My obli-con teachers is a bar topnotcher and my Constitutional law professor is the former dean of the UP College of Law, lawyer of the deposed President and has been invited several times by the Supreme Court as Amicus Curiae.

* * *

Spending two weeks to study for my final exams means that I have to suspend my regular gym class. Of course, I can’t study without eating. So what is the effect? I gained weight! Now, I am doing double time in my diet and my gym class. I have the third week of April as my deadline. I need to look good by that time when we hit the beach at Puerto Galera, James and I are going there!

* * *

I have been reading about the details of the funeral of the Pope and the way a new pope will be elected. I am not a fan of the Pope, what I am interested is the protocol attached to it and the politicking involved. Electing a Pope involves a different king of politics, no wonder, the proceedings are kept secret to the world.

But I would love to watch the ceremony. I am the person who loves the pageantry of a royal funeral, royal marriage, crowning of the new king, inauguration of a new President. If there is one job that I would love to have, that would be to become a protocol officer.

I think I should apply for foreign service!