Ang Evangelio Ni Paolo

Sick Leave

2012-01-26T11:06:00.000-08:00

I'm sick. I'm at home, writing this post, ever vigilant of any grumblings coming from my belly.

If this goes on, my favorite sickness will be stomach ache.

It's annoying, really. It pounces on you in the morning, waking you up earlier than usual. So you go the bathroom and do your deed. Then, when you're all dressed for work and dismissing what happened as a rare case of lactose intolerance, your insides curl up and wring your gut out. Then, it's back to the bathroom for another episode.

You call the morning off and inform your boss that you're taking it slow. You take your meds and hope for the best. Then, right before noon, another episode comes along and you call off the afternoon too. You're stuck at home for the rest of the day because going out might become an inconvenience, all the while trying to remember what you ate yesterday that made your stomach so upset.

Boo-hoo me, I say.

A Heartwarming Ad

2011-12-02T19:20:00.001-08:00

Just when you thought commercials have gone stale, Coca Cola pulls out something like this. It's an ad campaign, featuring the company bringing home a select group of OFWs in time for Christmas. It really tugs at the heart, making the commercial even more notable. Made my eyes water for a second. Here it is:

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But let's not lose sight of the larger picture. The OFW phenomenon is a recent one, borne out of a stagnating domestic job market. An entire nation of Filipinos working abroad need not suffer loneliness and separation from their families if the country can figure out how to generate high-income jobs here. I hope I can live long enough to see this come true.

For the meantime, enjoy the video.

Kada galaw, buwis

2011-12-01T20:48:00.000-08:00

The Bureau of Internal Revenue had issued Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) 53-2011 which "states that voluntary contributions to the SSS, GSIS, Pag-IBIG and PhilHealth are subject to tax".

BIR Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares would later say, explaining the move, that, “It has been observed that the grant of income tax exemption to SSS, GSIS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG contributions in excess of the mandatory contributions is being abused." Hence, any contribution beyond the mandatory premium dictated by the government shall now be considered as an investment and will be treated as a tax-deductible item.

The affected government institutions were quick to respond to this. Their contention was simply that it will affect them in the form of reduced savings, since pretty much everyone treats voluntary contributions to SSS, GSIS, Philhealth, or GSIS as a way of saving for a rainy day. Taxing these will be a great disincentive.

But Kim Henares' opinion is not unfounded, however. That's because there are shrewd businessmen who know how to work the system by placing their profits in tax-exempt vehicles such as premiums to SSS or Philhealth (Tax Avoidance 101). But I believe they are greatly outnumbered by the many who contribute to these corporations solely because they want to save more and avail of the bigger benefits for those who contribute more.

What is my opinion? Well, I'm against government measures which unavoidably rein in savings (as opposed to those which curb expenses but that's another post). We Filipinos are not saving enough and if we are saving, we are doing it the wrong way (by placing it in a piggy bank, of all places, or the bank, two surefire ways of getting trampled upon by inflation). This new memorandum is simply not good in the long run.

What I do worry about is a case of the slippery slope. If the BIR can tax voluntary contributions to these institutions, what will prevent them from, say, taxing us on other areas? I shudder at the thought but a case of triple or even over-taxation may be closer to reality than we think.

As a side note, I'm being taxed every time I receive my salary (income tax), I'm taxed every time I buy goods (VAT), and now I'll be taxed every time I save more than necessary (RMC 52-2011). I'm definitely overtaxed no matter how I see it.

Strength And Character

2011-12-01T04:49:00.001-08:00

Every day, I mention in my prayer that God please help me be a better Christian and, of course, a better person. But I know better.

I ask in my petition that I be stronger, that I be braver. But it's a weak petition, at the most. That's because I know what it takes for someone to possess that kind of indomitable will and character that, in turn, becomes the envy of all men.

A scene in Evan Almighty resonates to what I will try to say. Mrs. Baxter is in a diner with God, masquerading as a fellow customer. God says, "Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other? "

That's what I dread the most. Because for everything that you want to have, God gives you an opportunity to have it, which is definitely not the easy way around. To every person, every inch of personal growth gained comes with its inevitable sidekick: pain. Strength and character are qualities which are not given; they are forged, embedded into a person's identity by sheer fire and adversity. They are forged in the countless encounters in a person's life, particularly those encounters which are inconvenient (euphemistically speaking). Oftentimes, such encounters take various forms: the death of a beloved friend or a family member, financial difficulty, conflicts, or bad luck, none of which are remotely nice.

So that's my dilemma. I pray for strength; I pray for character. But at the same I am afraid of the crucible I have to endure to get what I asked and prayed for.

Belfry

2011-11-28T05:33:00.001-08:00

This is a hubris project, I tell you.

My parish is witnessing the construction of a bell tower which will be finished most probably by early next year.

As to why it needs a bell tower, I don't know. Perhaps, what they will set up in that tower is not a bell after all but a loud boom box, similar to those mosques, where they have speakers attached to towers to transmit their daily prayers.

But my opinion hasn't changed. This belfry project is a hubris project, just as my parish didn't need 10-foot walls when all it needed were tighter locks on its water faucets against squatters who enjoyed free water from its taps.

Piolo

2011-11-28T05:26:00.001-08:00

Piolo and KC broke up.

What do I have to say to my namesake (because Paolo and Piolo are quite near actually)?

Well...here goes:

You let KC CONCEPCION go?

What kind of jerk are you? What kind of idiot would break KC Concepcion's heart?

Are you freakin' gay (Sorry, rhetorical question. Just can't resist.)?

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

Then, he would probably answer back: "Who do I think I am? I'm PIOLO PASCUAL. Duh."

Shooting Range

2011-11-01T07:31:00.003-07:00

There's a first time for everything.

We were at a shooting range in the PNP's headquarters in Nabunturan. Papa had brought us there to experience firing a live gun. He himself had some practice awhile back when he was in college. They had actual army personnel standing in as their ROTC trainers and, every once in a while, he and his fellow cadet officers would handle some serious ammunition (he mentioned firing from .50 caliber machine guns, among other things) as part of their training.

As for me, I never held nor fired a gun. Back in my PMT days, our officers had mentioned sending us to a shooting range, a promise that never materialized. The closest thing I got to the real thing was holding my Tito Alex's gun during Tita Prining's wake and that gun was even empty (presumably, it was for display only).

I'm not fascinated with guns. But I remember I was quite attentive during the entire lecture given by the resident policeman, who was also our instructor that day. For one, I work in a bank and if, God forbid, anyone might think of pulling a heist in our branch, at least there will be one employee, apart from the security guards, who could fire a gun as well. That, and the fact that all this was quite novel to me, made me riveted to the instructor's every word.

After the customary lecture, we each took the chance to do some shooting ( I was with Papa, Ate Bating, Rayray, Bulec, and my two cousins, Susno and Awi). My instructor had commended that I had a good stance, as if I was a veteran shooter myself, but the rounds didn't exactly hit the bull's eye. My excuse was that I was near-sighted but the truth is that my hands were pasmado; they kept shaking on their own. It was probably out of excitement because I was pumped up with adrenaline even before I felt the trigger.

I fared better in the second round. And I somehow understood why other people felt such an urge to hold and fire a gun. There's this immense sense of power in that fleeting moment, when your palms cradle the handle and the gun's sights align with your eyes. It's simply addictive.

I'm figuratively replacing the gun back on the table.

Taxes And Citizenship

2011-10-20T15:49:00.001-07:00

I have a story.

Ma'am Nora, an activist, approached a lawyer for some advice. Her organization was working on a deal, trying to negotiate the purchase of a property. Some associates had advised her earlier that she should execute two sets of the Deed of Absolute Sale, one for BIR purposes and one for the actual transaction. This was to minimize the tax payments since the Deed of Absolute Sale for the BIR would show a lower selling price than the actual, thus leading to a lower computation of the taxes involved. This was a common practice, they said.

However, the lawyer Ma'am Norma approached would have none of it. They shouldn't be cheating, he asserted. Embarrassed and impressed at the same time, Ma'am Norma marveled at the lawyer's integrity.

I cannot remember the name of that lawyer but Atty. Alex Lacson, the author of the yellow little book "12 little things you can do for your country" is espousing the same ideal: Pay your taxes. It's a very Filipino thing to do.

Never mind the corruption or the fact that the government misuses its funds most of the time. What matters is that you're doing your civic duty. You're doing the right thing and that alone gives you all the moral ascendancy to demand the same from your government.

For me, if you're screwing the government by cheating on your taxes, then you don't have any right to complain when your government screws you back.

Dark Night Of The Soul

2011-10-12T19:23:00.000-07:00

In a TIME article by David Biema, he wrote about Mother Teresa and the inner spiritual life of the saint as written in the book, Come Be My Light. Contrary to the public image that Mother Teresa and her community had cultivated over the years, the woman herself had persevered through an emotionally depressing period, punctuated by extended bouts of spiritual 'dryness'.

The book discusses the saint's struggle with a God who seemingly had left her for good, a God who, at the start of her ministry, was omnipresent but was now absent even as she lived through the pinnacle of her ministry's success.

David Biema, in due course, discusses how certain groups, from the atheists, to the psychologists, then to the religious scholars, have explained this paradox. He also mentions St. John of the Cross, the influential Carmelite who wrote in great detail about the stages that one had to go through towards a spiritual union with God.

St. John was the first to coin the phrase, "the Dark Night of the Soul", an intense period where, as per Wikipedia (because it defines it better), "spiritual disciplines (such as prayer and consistent devotion to God) suddenly seem to lose all their experiential value; traditional prayer is extremely difficult and unrewarding for an extended period of time during this "dark night." The individual may feel as though God has suddenly abandoned them or that his or her prayer life has collapsed. It is important to note however that the presence of doubt is not tantamount to abandonment—as there is a strong Biblical tradition of authentic confusion before God. Psalms 13, 22, and 44 display King David, the 'man after God's own heart' undergoing serious confusion before and anguish with God, yet this is not condemned or mentioned as being unfaithful, but rather as the only measure of faith that David could have in the face of such withering apparent abandonment."

Such was, according to some leading theologians, the case with Mother Teresa (although hers was a rarer variety since it went beyond several years).

In Conti's Holistic Christianity, he discusses the stages leading to and from The Dark Night of the Soul:

Active Night of the Senses: God reveals to us Himself through our senses, a period characterized by euphoria and spiritual ecstasy.

Passive Night of the Senses: God withdraws the sensible spiritual delights He had lavished on us during our earliest days of growth, to test our mettle, to attune us to subtler perception of His presence.

Illuminative Way: The ego is now well-oriented to God's will and has constructed a kind of self-made union with God - a good union, but not as deep or abiding a union as God would have us finally know.

Dark Night of the Soul: God dissolves the ego, undoing our self-constructed union with Him to make way for a perfect union.

Unitive Revelation: Peace at last, union with God, as God draws together the elements of our being around Himself who is our new non-egoic center.

Going back, Mother Teresa persevered in her works despite the all-encompassing feeling of abandonment, a fact that, among anything else, highlights her as a true saint. As Kolodiejchuk, a priest and the editor of Come Be My Light, would say, "The tendency in our spiritual life but also in our more general attitude toward love is that our feelings are all that is going on," he says. "And so to us the totality of love is what we feel. But to really love someone requires commitment, fidelity and vulnerability. Mother Teresa wasn't 'feeling' Christ's love, and she could have shut down. But she was up at 4:30 every morning for Jesus, and still writing to him, 'Your happiness is all I want.' That's a powerful example even if you are not talking in exclusively religious terms."

Why am I writing this post anyway? That's probably because I'm one of the many who are left in the dark, looking for a God who is nowhere to be found.

Another Encounter To Talk About

2011-10-12T06:28:00.001-07:00

Mama calls it self-imposed equality. I call it self-imposed inequality.

I happened to drop by a Minute Burger stall on a Tuesday night. I figured out I should munch some dinner before going home. So I ordered two double burgers with coleslaw and eggs.

When the burgers were halfway done, the attendant checked her freezer to get some eggs. There were none. She could have checked beforehand but she opted to check it when the burgers were almost ready. I thought, 'No problem'. There was a convenience store nearby and I could buy some eggs there. So I told her I'll be back for the burgers.

When I came back with eggs, she told me she couldn't cook them. Her employer was nearby and it was bawal. I would have loved to check her rulebook for that rule but I didn't take my burgers when she asked if I was still buying them.

What's my point? Well, the employee could have seen this encounter as a sales opportunity. Here she had a customer willing to go the extra mile by buying his own eggs (that sounded funny). She could have accepted my offer to have the eggs cooked, charged me P5.00 for the 'use' of the grill, and I would have just shrugged my shoulders. At least, I had my burgers with coleslaw and eggs. Instead, she lost a sale because she couldn't, wouldn't accommodate my request.

She could also have provided me with advance notice that eggs were out. She was in charge of inventory after all and it was so easy to check her freezer before cooking those burgers.

Mama and I discussed about this the following morning and she concluded that, perhaps, what accounts for the great divide between the rich and the poor is purely a difference in mindsets. It boils down to a person's mentality. The opportunities are every present; it's simply a matter of recognizing these and utilizing these opportunities.

In the case above, the employee never had a chance. She wasn't thinking like her amo would, who would probably be happy if she converted one cooking effort into a sale despite missing some eggs. It also probably explains why some employees do remain employees and some persons go out to becoming successful businesspeople.

Something About Aging And Man's Propensity For Good

2011-10-07T16:52:00.000-07:00

Just want to share something from what I read.

In an essay by Gay Luce, she mentioned an inevitable transformation among people as lifespans become longer and longer thanks to medical advances:

We will be too long on Earth to embrace our old character deficiencies, like characters in a sitcom, pretending to be what we are not or grasping and competing for material accumulations. We will outlive the naivete that allowed us to believe cultural promises about the way life should be. Upon reaching age 120, the strident clamor of passionate selfishness simply may not be worth the effort...

Eventually, the sheer accumulation of experience will begin to wear out our demands. The nature of the prize will change. The inevitable next step, I believe, will be a default process of spiritual realization. Rogues and wastrels, over time, can become saints. We may not set out to embody goodness, but with the years, goodness becomes of us.

If only this were true, right? You're probably recalling all those grumpy elderly people in your childhood years.

But I do believe in what Gay Luce has said and, harking back to this post's title, this excerpt definitely points back to our basic nature; that we are essentially good and predisposed to doing good. As we age, all the corruption, the bad habits, the wrong assumptions, the self-defeating exercises of the mind, will simply be swept away as the years provide us with enlightenment and ultimately self-awareness and self-mastery.

Even then, the prospect of death will provide us focus on what is essential to our life's meaning and purpose. From striving for success, we now strive for significance as what Lloyd Reebe would say.

Friday Night

2011-10-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

This has happened to me twice already.

Downtown is always a bad place to be when you want to go home on a rainy Friday night. Earlier this year, I was waiting for a jeep along Quimpo Boulevard. After several minutes trying to hail a jeep, I figured that I'd just ride a taxi. So off I walked to Bolton, amidst the pouring rain, mind you, since there are probably taxis waiting outside Jollibee Bolton. To my dismay, no taxis were in sight. So I walked the length of Rizal Street to stop at Quirino fronting Davao Doctors Hospital. I presumed again that there may be taxis in the vicinity of Gaisano South Mall or along Quirino. Fortunately, there was a taxi, perhaps fresh from unloading a passenger, and I went home after one and a half hour of trying in vain.

Yesterday, the same thing happened. I got dropped off at Quirino by a colleague and the same dilemma surfaced. Just like before, hundreds of people thronged the sidewalks of Davao City, waiting for that elusive jeep or taxi to emerge from the downpour. But the jeeps were packed and taxis were rare. As for me, I've learned my lesson. If I wanted to have a chance at getting home before 10 PM, I had to go back to where the jeeps were about to turn around and resume their routes after dropping off most of their passengers along the way. I had to go back to the source, so to speak. So off I went to Roxas Boulevard. But jeeps were still rare even there that I had to walk almost the entire length before a jeep mercifully unloaded a passenger to accommodate me.

Someday, I'm going to own a car.

Slightly Depressed

2011-10-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

It's unfair.

An account turns sour and the client complains and the boss hears of it. An account goes well and the client earnestly begins to thank and praise you in private. Truly, a case of a single bad apple making the entire fruit basket suspect.

It's unfair. But then, so is life.

My Sister Is Engaged

2011-09-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

...to a stranger.

To someone I barely know. I mean, the guy never did reveal himself to us.He was simply the 'wallflower': the inanimate object sitting at our sala set with a downloaded movie stored in his flash disk or the guy sitting beside my sister during the mass. Looking back, he never did make us feel comfortable with his presence and, even today, I could not recall any meaningful conversation with the guy I'll later call my brother-in-law.

But then again, I love my sister. And I guess part of loving is trusting that your loved one has a good sense of judgment when it comes to finding a husband.

Jeepney Fare

2011-09-25T16:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know why the LTO is obssessed with centavos.

In their fare matrix, they've deliberately placed centavos in their computation knowing full well that the passengers and the jeepney drivers can't comply with this. For one thing, virtually nobody carries around twenty cents or a denomination smaller than one peso when they travel around.

I think the jeep drivers are privately happy about this, though. For instance, the minimum fare for students is P6.40 (I think). So the drivers conveniently take P7.00 from the passenger instead simply because, as mentioned, nobody carries centavos anymore. If we Dabawenyos were less tolerant to perceived injustices like this, the LTO would have been deluged a long time ago by numerous complaints about drivers not following the LTO's matrix.

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

It's A Girl

2011-09-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

This was so easy. It's my first time to embed a video in a blog post so forgive me for my ignorance.

Self-congratulatory pat-backs aside, I came across this video of an all-too-real reality in some parts of the world. It's a teaser about a documentary film reporting on 'gendercide' or the mass killing of female babies, most especially in China and India.

This is plain wrong. But what's even disturbing is that almost entire societies, save for some stalwart human rights advocates, approve of these silent murders. I'm angry right now. I just can't fathom the depravity inside the persons responsible for the killing of these innocents.

Motherhood

2011-09-16T06:35:00.001-07:00

I wish I was a woman.

That was a point of realization. It happened when I was with my colleagues at work in a private maternity room. We were all gazing at the small bundle of innocence and bliss lying on the bed as Alex, the newly-anointed mother, narrated to us the excruciating experience of her childbirth.

She was talking to us how painful everything was. Hers was supposed to be a normal delivery, which turned out to be not so normal after all. First, she lost almost all her water and went into dry labor. Contractions then were like arrows from hell. Second, the baby got 'stressed', went into fetal distress, and she had to do a Caesarean delivery.But through it all, when she heard and saw her baby, everything was simply swept away.

Through it all, I simply wondered: what was it like? Although I could approximate, albeit barely, the entire experience, my sex limits me from living through one of life's most paradoxical, most joyous moments. Sadly, you only get to live once and delivering a baby will never be crossed out of my bucket list.

Kudos to you mothers.

Praying The Rosary

2011-09-13T00:27:00.000-07:00

I've been praying the rosary ever since I was young. The rosary was a staple of my family's spiritual life, especially during the month of October when the devotion was set anew.

Mama had a story about the rosary, one that involved her father, my late Lolo Lino. She was complaining about praying the rosary, claiming that it was boring and repetitive. My lolo simply pointed out an analogy of the bus' wheels. The bus is on a journey and, like any other journey, the bus has to reach a destination. In order to reach a destination, the bus' wheels had to do their thing, which is to keep turning round and round until the bus gets to the place. This is the same thing that happens with the rosary. We pray the same prayers over and over again so we can reach that special destination.

I also came to a point where I questioned the whole thing. Praying the rosary was hard work; it was a chore. What made it look uglier was that praying it was coerced. I had no choice because, as mentioned, it was the staple prayer of the family. I also did not find any meaning in praying a very "unnatural" prayer, silently citing Matthew 6:7 as proof that I was right.

But my attitude changed. All it took was a little education, of course. The rosary was, for all intents and purposes, a guide to meditation. It wasn't a prayer per se but a tool to meditate on the Mystery found in each decade. Technically, the rosary was a litany of prayers, whispered repeatedly, as one's mind transcended its verbal utterances and delved into the depths of the Mysteries of Christ's life and God's love.

However, despite this, I cannot say I'm a fan of praying the rosary. Perhaps, I prefer a different kind of prayer, one that would suit me more. Still, one cannot discount the immense power it holds on many of the faithful and how it has nourished generations of Catholics over the years.

Airports

2011-09-11T23:08:00.000-07:00

Ahhh. The airport. The second home for most businessmen, right next to hotels. Just some observations I want to put out in the open:

Why can't one bring an umbrella, especially a telescopic one, inside one's carry-on luggage? This one boggles me. Some would point out that umbrellas pose a security risk since they can be used as improvised weapons, as if only selected objects can be used as killing devices by the most determined murderer. In our trip to Iloilo, Grace requested that I keep her umbrella in my baggage since it's not allowed by airport personnel. In our return trip to Davao, I was advised by the security staff to deposit my umbrella in the baggage counter (which I promptly ignored) when they saw I was carrying it in my carry-on bag.

My take is that maybe the airport staff are either just a bit paranoid or they don't really understand the logic behind the prohibition. The TSA or the Transport Security Administration of the United States actually allow umbrellas as carry-on baggage once they have been inspected to ensure that prohibited items are not concealed. So, if the TSA, the department tasked with overseeing post-9/11 security measures across all airports in America, can allow umbrellas as carry-on baggage provided they don't harbor any illegal or dangerous stuff, I see no reason why their Philippine counterparts have to be so rigid with regards to umbrellas.

Second, I have finally seen another airport (Iloilo's) apart from NAIA and Davao City's Bangoy and one word summarizes what I have seen: Boring. The architecture, though sleek and reminiscent of the airplanes the building services, is quite monotonous. It's as if there was only architect commissioned to design each and every one of the country's airports. From the roofing structure down to the flooring, everything is roughly the same. I don't know if there are a set of rules governing airport design and thus dictating that they all come from the same cookie cutter. But our airports can really benefit from a dose of creativity and color should renovation be waiting around the corner.

Finally, Kit shared his story a long time ago about one of his flights back to Manila. He was sitting beside a gay man and he was clearly troubled that this man just kept using his cellphone right before take-off. Alarmed, he told the man to shut the thing off to which the man promptly retorted that his cellphone was on flight mode. Flight mode? Apparently, Kit did the right thing by giving the man the benefit of the doubt. Flight mode is actually a setting in most advanced cellphones which disables the device's ability to place or receive calls or send or receive text messages. That was the first time I heard of such a setting. Unfortunately, my cellphone doesn't have one.

Days In Bora

2011-09-11T23:03:00.001-07:00

Day 1

On the way to the airport after just an hour of sleep. Grace and Henry are probably silently cursing at me. I assume both are paranoid that we won't make the flight (Flight's at 7:30 AM. It's still 5:15AM). As if I haven't been there before. Okay, we're now in the airport. Saw Ma'am Anne who is also on vacation. First time I've been back in the airport since 2009. Nothing's changed, though. Liftoff. Tried a variety of things to pass time. Read a book (but stopped because I was too sleepy. Read the inflight magazine (same thing). Settled for taking a nap. Touchdown. Iloilo. Went to the dormitory to freshen up. Deposited our luggage. Rested for awhile. Time to stroll. Breakfast at Andok's (Just like Manila eh?). Picture taking at the nearby plaza and church. Went back to the dorm to catch some more sleep. On the way to SM Iloilo. Brought with us our pasalubong for Ma'am Miren. Lunch at Punsyon based in Plazuela. First oyster (talaba) experience. Off to the Business Center. Nice office. Better than Davao's, I believe. Greeted Ma'am Miren. Had a chitchat with Sarah, their marketing assistant for Housing, over a possible collaboration on a TQ project I had in mind. Whiled away the time. Being introduced to the Operations Team. Having coffee at Coffeebreak, waiting for Ma'am Miren after office hours. Dinner with the rest of the BC team at Y2K. More oysters. Then drinking session at Lanai in Smallville. with the BC team. Then off to Aura for some music. At near dawn, we're busy sipping batchoy at Ted's. Off to the dorm once again for some shuteye.

Day 2

Couldn't sleep still. Woke up a shade before 3 AM. Tried waking up everyone. At 5 AM, in a van on the way to Kalibo. Almost slept through the whole trip. Breakfast at Jollibee's then it's off to Caticlan. On a boat bound for Boracay. This is it. Upon reaching the island, we went straight to B & B. Tried to recover lost sleep but had to wake up for lunch. Strolled down White Beach, gawking at the many shops and restaurants lined across the shoreline. Lunch at Mang Inasal (Grrgghh. We're here to sample food! Not visit the same restaurants you can see in Davao!). Observing Sir Ramy negotiate our rides. Off to the other side of the town. Now the sky is weeping. Great, sunburn won't be a problem. First speedboat experience. First helmet diving/reef walking experience. Nice. Couldn't wipe off my smile for the whole duration of the dive. Back to the island. A brief swim, sampling Bora's beach. Many people, despite this being the off-peak season. On to B& B for a shower. Dinner at Andok's (Aarrghghgh!). A night spent watching MYX, Bubble Gang, etc. Zzzz...

Day 3

Woke up early again, this time for our island hopping trip. Boatman gave us a roundabout of the nearby island before settling in on a dive spot. Then, we're off to Boca Beach, which is more pristine by the way compared to White Beach. Early lunch at a nearby restaurant. Back to civilization, after a morning of island/s touring. Onwards to riding the ATVs. Fun ride, although the guide could have given us a bit of leeway (like allowing us to overtake and do other things with the ATVs). Then another swim, this time our last. Off to shower. Took awhile since there were now seven of us for the only bathroom in our room, having checked out of our first room early that morning. Last stroll along White Beach. Had a henna tattoo, which spelled "Life" in Kanji (or so they tell me). Buffet dinner at a nearby hotel.

Day 4

Early again for our boat ride back to Caticlan. Breakfast at a karinderya near the wharf (nice food). Then, the long trip to Iloilo. Had to stop somewhere because Sir Ramy had an emergency. Back to dorm. Slept again. Then off to church for my first Ilonggo mass. Proceeded to SM to meet up with the rest of the gang. Really late lunch/Dinner at Ocean City. Last stroll at Smallville. Listening to live music at Pirates. Back to dorm.

Day 5

Early at the airport. Breakfast at the airport lounge. Boarding for Davao City. Met clients Sir Rommel and Ma'am Cindy, now a freshly minted couple. Visited Davao BC to drop off our pasalubong. On a trip back home with Henry and Anton. Bora trip officially over.

An Ilonggo Mass And A Flat Screen TV

2011-09-11T23:00:00.001-07:00

There's a first time for everything.

I finally attended an Ilonggo mass. Although I could follow the proceedings, there were still some parts when I was left hanging trying to figure out what the priest was trying to say. Still, I have to say Ilonggo is a fascinating language to learn if I only had the patience and the time.

In addition, check this out:

The patrons of this church in Iloilo must really be wealthy. That's a flat screen TV on a pillar to guide the churchgoers on what to recite or sing during the mass. And there are at least eight of these in the entire church. Amazing, huh? My first time as well.

Photography

2011-09-11T01:56:00.000-07:00

By the way, I'm not the model. That's Rodel. This was taken during my trip to Boracay with my office mates.

Anyway, this picture really got me to think of seriously pursuing photography as a hobby. I wasn't a cam-whore by any charge (that's Clinton's term for those who want to be in every picture every time. In Tagalog, mga garapal sa kamera). So I might well be a photographer, someone who is content with looking at things from the other side of the lens.

I was lucky that the sea was (and is always) a good backdrop for any photo. I remember trying to find a focal point across the entire horizon when I chanced upon Rodel looking at a boat being hauled to shore. I immediately knelt and, since the camera was a point-and-shoot type (no more tinkering), I shot this. Lighting left much to be desired (it was drizzling with clouds shrouding the sun) but I was nevertheless happy with the photo.

Now, I understood the visceral joy of being a photographer, of perfectly capturing a moment that's soon to flee.

Pinoy Horror Movies

2011-09-10T02:07:00.000-07:00

I don't get Pinoy horror movies.

Why do they show their monsters, their aswangs, in the teaser itself?

You can liken that to someone who blurts out a secret before anyone even bothers to ask. The tactic doesn't build anticipation and doesn't create suspense.

Definitely, it won't be luring me to a cinema anytime soon.

Comedy Bar

2011-09-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

I didn't know there were comedy bars in Davao. I thought previously that the only comedians we had where the ones who came from Manila to hold their tours here. Hence, I was a little surprised when, after Rommel's farewell party in the office, we headed out to Zigudo Resto Bar to watch a comedy gig.

Well, what do you know? We waited for over an hour amidst the blaring disco music for the show to begin. Then, five drag queens came on stage to launch their opening salvos. After that, the jokes came out non-stop as the five actors (or actresses) battled it out on stage for the best lines.

One observation I had about the spectacle was that gay comedians were definitely better at dishing out comedy (although I bet Ellen Degeneres would have something to say about this). Most often, the jokes they talked about were green in nature, something which will obviously not work out if the comedians were, say, straight or lesbian. I'm probably giving a speculative judgment on something which I don't have any authority to speak (given my experience, or non-experience, about live comedy shows) but there you go.

Still, I had a good time (and a good laugh. My ribs were aching after). Till the next comedy show, I think.

Paolo The Baggage Counter

2011-08-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

Just experienced being a baggage counter attendant in the recently concluded Hour Run. Pretty much manual work but it was a new experience just the same.

You know what I want to do? I want to do what Mike Rowe does for a living. In his show, he tries out other people's jobs for a day or two. Then he moves on to the next job.

Now that would be a luxury I will really enjoy. Why a luxury? That's because if I get to do this (job-hopping would be a more appropriate term), that would mean one thing: I'm well off enough to even think about leaving a job, then another job, then another one...

Cool, isn't it?

Family Run

2011-08-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

Taken from this site

This was my first ever family run. That's because almost all of us joined in the event: Mama, Papa, Ate Bating, and Rayray (Not present were my three other siblings who were sucked in by the gravitational pull of their respective beds). The secret was utterly simple: Mama had paid all our registration fees so we only had to run for free. Immediately, all of us were up to the challenge.

Afterwards, we had breakfast at Lisa's in Times Beach and enjoyed a succulent date with their tasty fried catfish dishes. Not a bad morning.

Setting The Bar Higher

2011-08-28T01:12:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting link from one of the blogs I follow. Below is an excerpt from the linked post:

Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration issued a mandate requiring so-called “comprehensive” sex education for all middle and high school students in NYC public schools.

In response, Dr. Anne Nolte, a family practice physician in Manhattan, wrote last week that the city’s new requirement reminded her of the saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.”

She then goes on to make some bold observations:

"If we had the courage to look honestly at teen pregnancy, we wouldn’t be satisfied with a mandate that does the equivalent of placing a tiny band-aid on a gushing artery. If we had the courage to admit that we don’t have a solution, we’d be unwilling to spend more money on an old model that has pretty much failed.

If we had the courage, we’d challenge our preconceived ideas about teenage behavior and sexuality and would go back to the drawing board.

Could it be that teens really are capable of self-control, moral decision-making and goal-directed behavior? That teens would adopt healthier behaviors if they got a consistent message from parents, teachers, doctors and the media that risk-avoidance, rather than simply risk-reduction, is possible and would maximize their happiness? Could it be that we — the adults who discount their potential for acting with integrity and maturity — are part of the problem?

In every other public-health intervention, an ideal is promoted: no-smoking campaigns, no-soda-drinking campaigns. Why not in the area of teen sexuality?

This reminded me of a certain episode in Y Speak where, if I remember right, the guest speakers were debating whether it was right for teens to be allowed to buy and bring contraceptives.

Alarmingly, such a debate is becoming commonplace here in the Philippines.Unwanted pregnancies, particularly teen pregnancies, are becoming an issue, not only in the US, but also in the Philippine society. I should know because I lived through college watching my female classmates get pregnant one at a time, always out of wedlock.

So there is an issue and it has been acknowledged. What matters now is how we respond and the quality of that response. And at this juncture, I go back to what Dr. Nolte had to say about Bloomberg's plan for 'comprehensive' sex education. Whereas, the plan by Bloomberg involved mitigating the risk of rampant premarital sex among teens by promoting rigorous instruction in contraceptive methods, Dr. Nolte calls for a more realistic solution, grounded on the philosophy that teens are more than capable of sound judgment and abstinence if given a consistent message by all of society's sectors.

I side with Dr. Nolte on this one. Yes, teens are capable of saying no to premarital sex, just as most of them are capable of saying no to drugs, to alcohol, to peer pressure, to smoking. And it would be tantamount to belittling the youth if adults are content with simply providing them easier access to condoms and abortion clinics.

Scrapbook

2011-08-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

By the way, I forgot to thank Aissa for bringing out the artist in me. I thought it had died inside me over the years. It was her birthday and, being her (sparring) partner in Housing, I felt an obligation to give her something special on that day.

So I opted to give her a scrapbook instead and I ended up living through a long (three-day) weekend trying to piece together something which resembled a work of art. It was all worth it though. I learned all over again how to use Photoshop, how to use the glue gun and buy stationery, how to scroll through Facebook and look for the better-looking low-res pix. Plus, she gave me her sweetest smile yet on the day itself.

Again, thanks Aiss and happy birthday.

Guilty

2011-08-21T05:06:00.000-07:00

Oh well, I admit it. I found a link in Cracked listing down the eight worst types of blogs in the internet.

I'm guilty of being a Parrot Blog at times. I post something, attach a link to it, and that's it. Those times occur when I'm in no shape to pursue a lengthy discussion about the topic. Or maybe I was just plain lazy during the time I decided to blog.

I promise to try to refrain from resorting to this kind of haberdashery, now that I'm aware.

But, still, the temptation will always be there to just get a post out of a way with a link and a few rushed words...

Text Messages 32

2011-08-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

In life, you will realize that the people you meet have a purpose. Some were put there to test you; some would use you; some would teach you; and some would bring out the better, if not, the best in you. Some may even cause you pain and heartache, but one must learn to move on. So let go of the people who cannot treat you right and hold on to those who love you back and see your worth. After all, it's touching people's lives.
Mary Ann Andicoy, May 22, 2011

Genie: Panga'u ug usa ka wish.
Dionisia: Sure? Gusto nako mu-gwapa ko!
Genie: Ablihi ang botilya.
Dionisa: Unya? Mu-gwapa nako?
Genie: Dili. Mobalik na lang ko sa botilya.
Edwin Gutierrez, May 21, 2011

TRIVIA:
You cannot say "Mmmmm" while holding your nose.

Hahahaha. Buhaton na niya ron.
Lisod noh?
Edwin Gutierrez, May 16, 2011

Stapler ka ba?
Kasi papel ako. Handang masaktan, madikit lang sa iyo.
Edwin Gutierrez, May 15, 2011

Juan: Pedro, bagsak na daw ka sa English?
Pedro: Who telled you?
Edwin Gutierrez, May 15, 2011

Mosley ug Pacquiao
Mosley: Wala man jud ko nimo taga-i ug chance oi. Imo mang gi-Pacquiao tanan.
Pacquiao: Kadaghan baya ko nihatag nimu'g chance. Wala jud nimo pahi-Mosley.

Mama: Juan, palit ug asin.
Juan: Dili ko, ngitngit na. Hadlok ko.
Mama: 'Yaw kabalaka. Kauban nimo imo angel.
Juan: Siya na lang sugua! Kami pa jud duha, para asin rah!
Edwin Gutierrez, May 12, 2011

Life is like riding a bicycle. You have to balance everything. And in order to maintain balance, you have to keep moving forward.
Mary Ann Andicoy, April 16, 2011

Cooking

2011-08-20T06:27:00.000-07:00

One of my fantasies in life is to learn how to cook. By cooking, I mean baking, broiling, grilling, and all those other esoteric cooking methods. Right now, my repertoire of cooking skills involve frying anything on a pan or boiling water.

This fantasy was borne out of necessity. There was this one time, after I got home from Manila, when I was left alone at home. I already spent several days eating lunch by myself and my viand always consisted of a newly opened can of Century tuna. In short, I was fed up with my routine (and my diet) and wished I knew how to cook.

I greatly admire those people who have special recipes up their sleeves, recipes which might as well have been attached to their names because those recipes were the first thing that pop up in my mind whenever I hear their names. For instance, JV Colina was known for her Pepper Steak recipe which was really delicious. And there was my former colleagues in BayanTrade who, for every party in the Casibang compound, always complemented the celebration with grilled pork and sinuglaw.

I wish I could one day ascend to that semi-mythical status. And guess what? I have one recipe to start off my journey. In the documentary, Hamburger America, they featured Ted's Restaurant, a burger joint known for their steam cheeseburgers. I wish I could create one of those burgers: a steamed cheeseburger dish complete with buttered vegetables and mashed potatoes on the side.

Then, I can proceed to other dishes as well. I mean, anyone can dream right?

Acne

2011-08-18T06:44:00.001-07:00

My younger sister has acne. She's in first year high school and she has to contend with this issue. I'm not sure if her episodes are starting to have an effect on her self-esteem. But, every time I see her massaging a pimple, hoping to make it go away, I resist the urge to just hug her right there and then. I understand her predicament. I really do.

I started having pimples way back in high school. But my bout with my face worsened in college. In high school, I only had to settle with a pimple a month. In college, I had to deal with breakouts every week. They would always crop up, like a never-ending array of pustules all bent on tormenting me.

I experimented with a lot of skin products back then, which made my face extremely dry or oily. Still, my acne wouldn't go away.

My respite came after I had chicken pox. I was literally acne-free for months. However, they came back during my final year in college and things have remained that way since. I remember hoping then that by the time I reach age 21, my debut, acne won't bother me anymore but I still have a pimple every week

Looking back, I can confidently say that acne didn't take away anything from me. But it did make me uncomfortable at times, especially when I had to speak in public while living through a period of dark blemishes and numerous emerging pimples.

It is frustrating. Acne definitely is. It is one of those things in life which one doesn't have any control over and it is with this quite unforgivable quality that acne taught me something of value. It is that, inasmuch as I would like to believe that I control my destiny, there will always be things that are beyond me. Things ranging from the quite mundane, such as acne, to the more heavier stuff, such as fate and death, all lay before us, tantalizingly near but always beyond our grasp.

With this, what matters simply is one's attitude towards what cannot be directed or dictated upon. And with this realization comes the need for a more stoic acceptance of life's surprises and a healthier appreciation of its certainties.

Champions...Again

2011-08-17T06:20:00.002-07:00

The 2011 DCBA Street Dance Challenge Champions.

Photo is courtesy of Ma'am Sohnea (of Sterling Bank? Not really sure).

Songs And About A Thought To Ponder

2011-08-17T06:20:00.001-07:00

Just sharing a nice anecdote I got while reading a book. This is a segment from an essay by Peter Coyote, an author and a writer, on how he imagines the arts will be in the near future:

Popular music might begin to express affection for things other than sexual objects, might expand its scope to include love of place, parents, friends, other species, and water. (I once had the good fortune to live for several weeks with the Hopi snake priest David Monogye. Well into his nineties when I knew him, he was a wry and sophisticated observer of mainstream culture. He used to tease me by observing, "We Hopis have lots of songs about water because it's so rare and precious in the desert. I notice that your people sing about love all the time. Is that because it's so rare for your people?")

The Hopis, if you're asking the same question, are a tribe of indigenous Native Americans living in Northeastern Arizona. And, yes, I was struck by this brilliant observation from an otherwise impartial outsider.

That's because it rings true to what we see today. Love has become scarce and this isn't strictly an American phenomenon. In a world increasingly plagued by broken families and utilitarian relationships, it is so easy to see why love has fallen on the wayside and why many of our songs speak about what we have lost.

Ariel And Maverick

2011-08-07T23:23:00.000-07:00

Ariel and Maverick. The comedy duo. I first got to watch this pair during an episode in their show, The Misadventures of Ariel and Maverick. It was pretty late-night so I watched them infrequently. But the memories that did remain with me about these episodes never fail to put a smile in my face.

Remember the time they wore animal suits, went to kindergarten school to amuse the kids, and ended up with a class full of crying kids, scared to death?

Or the time that they and the entire crew had to sleep in a small room so they ended up sleeping against the wall, instead?

Or the many instances when Mommy Elvie, Ariel's lovable mother, would shoot sarcastic quips about her son's numerous antics and shots at fame?

The duo was (and still is) amazing. And to think that they did all of there shows without a fixed script (talk about "Improv") only proved that they had talent and unmistakable wit.

Now, I've got something in my bucket list. I wish I could have all of their episodes of all of their shows with me so I can begin watching them again right from the start.

That would be wickedly fun.

Ned Kahn and Theo Jansen

2011-08-06T18:36:00.000-07:00

Ned Kahn is an artist whose masterpieces center around working with the elements in a given environment to produce highly dramatic effects. His works always feature a wonderful symbiosis between his sculptures (if you can call it that) and the settings these sculptures are situated in.

If you have time, do visit his website you'll have a clearer picture of what I'm talking about.

Theo Jansen is another artist who is notable for his "wind walkers", gargantuan contraptions of wood which walk with the wind. His works also feature the same quality as Ned Kahn's, that is of man-made elements specifically designed to work in harmony with the environment.

Below is a BMW commercial, featuring the artist (As a side note, I have to commend the ad agency for this quite subtle, and effective, commercial. Just try looking for a BMW car):

Both artists are geniuses in their own right and their works provide a formula for sustainable design. Architects and engineers have a lot they can learn from these two pioneers.

Job Hazards

2011-08-06T01:05:00.001-07:00

Haay. Job hazards. They can be such a drag.

Thankfully, us bank employees rarely, if ever, are exposed to life-threatening conditions (unless you count bank robberies in which case you can still be thankful you're not the security guard). But we are, unfortunately, exposed to a different set of hazards, hazards which can potentially ruin our lives just the same.

For those working in the branches, there's the risk of losing money which isn't even yours. Say, you're a teller and a client unexpectedly withdraws a greater deal of money than he's supposed to carry home and he just won't return it despite your insistent claims that it was simply a mistake. You are then forced to pony up for what's lost (Curse you, liar! Your soul will burn in hell!).

In my case, I don't have to worry about this scenario because I never handle money (being in loans). But I do handle collateral, titles to be exact , and it's also stressful nonetheless. I remember asking a colleague how much I am expected to pay if ever I lost one and he quoted me a figure that was probably a year's worth of wages. And as for my job after? Well, kiss your job goodbye after that.

I love my job. In a weird, masochistic kind of way, that is (I'm joking. Or maybe I'm not?).

Text Messages 31

2011-07-23T18:21:00.001-07:00

It's tongue twister time! Read it fast:
BOUQUET
BUFFET
BALLET
WALLET

Walley?
Pag-sure oi!
Usabon na niya ron.
Edwin Gutierrez, August 1, 2011

Kung kinabuhi nako ang bayad para sa imong kalipay...
padayon na lang sa imong kaguol.
Jericho Bolo, July 27, 2011

Reasons why senior citizens are given discounts:
Food- daghan na bawal
Transpo- maglisod nag sakay
Grocerieis- di na makaalsa'g bag
Sine- hanap-hanap na ang mata
Medicine- di na magdugay
Concerts- maglisod na'g dungog
Motels- mag-unsa man pud uroy sa sulod?
Enjoy life while young. Don't wait for discounts.
Edwin Gutierrez, July 9, 2011

Girl: Hawa dira bi! Ako man naglingkod dira!
Boy: Hambuga jud nimo oi. Basi gusto ka imudmod ko nang simud nimo sa simud nako?!
Edwin Gutierrez, July 7, 2011

Ulan ka ba?
Eh bakit paulit-ulit kang nahuhulog sa'kin?
Edwin Gutierrez, July 5, 2011

Holdaper: Holdap to!
Girl: And so? Walang nagtatanong.
Holdaper: Holdap nga to!
Girl: Kelangan ipagsigawan? Proud ka? Proud?
Holdaper: Holdap sabi eh! Holdap nga! Holdap!
Girl: Paulit-ulet? Unli tayo teh?
Holdaper: Pag di ka tumigil, papatayin kita!
Girl: Weeh? Holdap naging patayan? Ano to? 2 in 1?
Holdaper: Leche! Maka-alis na nga!
Girl: Ayyy? Walk-out? Best actor?
Edwin Gutierrez, June 21, 2011

Time and things don't really last. What matters are the people we care about and the values we dare to live and share. Let life be as beautiful as your heart.
Mary Ann Andicoy, June 19, 2011

Muslim and priest at a party:
Priest: Pork really tastes good. Tell me, when are you going to break the rules and have some?
Muslim: On your wedding.
Edwin Gutierrez, June 16, 2011

"Hindi lang naman karma ang kinatatakutan ng mga two-timers eh... kundi pati ang wrong send."
Jericho Bolo, June 1, 2011

A loveless life is like a fruitless tree. But a friendless life is like a rootless tree. A tree can survive without a fruit, but it cannot survive without roots.
Mary Ann Andicoy, May 23, 2011

Vertical Farming

2011-07-23T18:17:00.001-07:00

This is an interesting article from Spiegel, the German news site. As an excerpt:

Vertical farming is an old idea. Indigenous people in South America have long used vertically layered growing techniques, and the rice terraces of East Asia follow a similar principle. But, now, a rapidly growing global population and increasingly limited resources are making the technique more attractive than ever...

Vertical farming has the potential to solve this problem. The term "vertical farming" was coined in 1915 by American geologist Gilbert Ellis Bailey. Architects and scientists have repeatedly looked into the idea since then, especially toward the end of the 20th century. In 1999, Dickson Despommier, a professor emeritus of environmental health sciences and microbiology at New York's Columbia University seized upon the idea together with his students. After having grown tired of his depressing lectures on the state of the world, his students finally protested and asked Despommier to work with them on a more positive project.

From the initial idea of "rooftop farming," the cultivation of plants on flat roofs, the class developed a high-rise concept. The students calculated that rooftop-based rice growing would be able to feed, at most, 2 percent of Manhattan's population. "If it can't be done using rooftops, why don't we just grow the crops inside the buildings?" Despommier asked himself. "We already know how to cultivate and water plants indoors."

With its many empty high-rise buildings, Manhattan was the perfect location to develop the idea. Despommier's students calculated that a single 30-story vertical farm could feed some 50,000 people. And, theoretically, 160 of these structures could provide all of New York with food year-round, without being at the mercy of cold snaps and dry spells.

Apart from being a relatively new technology, vertical farming has several barriers it must hurdle before it becomes market-ready. The article mentions the most important one: where can one find the power to provide light for all those indoor crops? Since sunlight is to be replaced by artificial light most of the time, the questions now are: 1) what are the best, most efficient methods of gathering as much natural sunlight as possible and 2) how can a building converted to vertical farming be able to generate the much needed electricity to power all its light-emitting diodes?

Still, the perceived technical difficulties fail to dampen the exciting possibilities that vertical farming has to offer. Given more research, vertical farming has the potential to greatly reduce world hunger, especially today where the world has less arable land than ever before, where water is becoming scarcer, where the weather is transforming previously robust farm land into either deserts or floodplains, and where the human population is putting a strain on our planet's resources.

To close, do I see vertical farming being practiced in the Philippines anytime soon? Ayoko magsalita ng patapos but I doubt it. Vertical farming implicitly thrives on the idea of several high-rise, abandoned buildings in the city, just waiting to be converted to agricultural purposes. As we stand now, with the exception of Makati and Taguig, there aren't that many cities in the Philippines which do feature skyscrapers. What I can see though is the rise of home-grown food products, organically cultivated atop residential and commercial buildings, grown and harvested in line with the principles of vertical farming. Now, that would be lovely to look at.

Working Out The Labels

2011-07-23T18:15:00.002-07:00

Okay. In an earlier post, I explained the labels in this blog and what they meant. Back then, I was hesitant with creating labels, favoring a small list with which I could work with. However, this arrangement soon became cumbersome, as I delved into topics which were difficult to classify with the limited labels I had before.

I also thought belatedly that some people might not understand my labels at all, having chosen to write these in interrogative form and in Cebuano. I would probably do the passersby a better service by pursuing the more conventional form of labeling; that of using keywords in English.

So here I am, after having edited these labels. All in all, I'm happy with the results and I hope you are as well.

The Routine

2011-07-23T18:15:00.001-07:00

Turn on laptop.

Check FB, then HomeDesignFind, then a host of other websites I've bookmarked in Firefox.

Log into Google Accounts. Go to Blogger. Again, read any new blog posts from my reading list.

After the warm-up, go to the list of my posts. As expected, what greets me are drafts, dozens of them, posts half-finished then left to be published for another day.

After much procrastination, I start writing. Target: five posts in one sitting, although most often, I settle with less.

After three hours, I'm off. Come next weekend, I start again. Such is my life as a blogger.

NSTP

2011-07-23T18:13:00.000-07:00

It's a bit late. Look at me. I'm a college graduate already. But one of the things I think about whenever I think of college is NSTP.

NSTP: National Service Training Program

NSTP was well and nice. The program forced Ateneo kids to remove their blinders, get out of their comfort zone, and assist the community in a way they saw fit.

But it could be improved because, to tell you honestly, the process sucked. You have a bunch of kids every semester. They do a project, implement it, and move on. Then another batch comes along and does the same thing.

The problem about this approach is that, first, there's no sense of continuity. The community knows its needs and, most often, these needs cannot be addressed in a single semester. Most needs are complex, requiring special intervention for months or even years.

However, since kids are only in the area for one semester only, the solutions they propose is equally piece-meal in proportion to the community's needs. And since a given class is not entirely sure whether their project will still be implemented even after they're gone, the timelines for these projects are limited to that single semester alone.

This situation is a recipe, not for community building, but for pent-up frustration and waste over time. It also doesn't benefit the students as well as it should. By focusing on short-term solutions, students miss out on the discipline of planning and implementing multi-year community work, work which is best done in stages and which will involve hundreds of actors, including the other batches who will be working in the area in the next few years.

If I had my way, facilitators of this program would have done the community a greater deal of service by mapping out what exactly the school, as an institution, should do. There must be a 'road map' about what kind of service the community needs and how the different classes can meet these needs in the future.

By establishing where to start, there's a lot of waste that is eliminated. Currently, every semester begins with a class brainstorming about what to do with the community and they do it. Then, the next semester begins and the cycle starts anew. The community members tell the class what they need, the class figures out if they can do it, and they start a project. Over and over again. On the other hand, by agreeing on a set condition of what must be achieved through the school's NST Program, both the facilitators and the community are saved of this redundant fact-finding stage.

Through a road map comes a more unified vision of what the school intends to accomplish over the years. And with a vision comes a more comprehensive plan of what to do, a plan that will transcend the limitations of what a 'one-semester' timeline can impose.

Anahaw

2011-07-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, I drew an island. I just finished reading Things People Do then. It was a book detailing the work of the people living in Banilla Island. It was an interesting book but what interested me the most was the page featuring a panoramic view of the island. There on that page were the numerous buildings which provided the backbone of the island's economy, from the hotel to the movie studio to the airport. I resolved to do the same and I did.

I drew Avanilla, a small island city in itself. It had all the buildings it needed to resemble a civilized society. Looking back, I think I made a monopoly out of every business. There was only one marketplace, one wharf, one bakery, one everything. It also sported buildings which I, as a kid, wanted in my city. There was the circus, the carnival (because circus and carnival were two different things or so I remember), the local mall, and the arcade.

Unfortunately, I lost that drawing. I don't know where it went. So I resolved to make another one and name it Anahaw to make it more Filipino. But I lost interest. The closest thing I got was a street map of Anahaw, detailing where I should place the church, the government buildings etc.

Now, I'm resurrecting the idea again, this time, not because of some misplaced sense of childhood nostalgia but because I need Anahaw to portray something for me. I need Anahaw to depict what urban planning should be in the near future, where sustainability and community is the name of the game.

If I'm finished, I might just create a website out of Anahaw.

Parlor Games

2011-07-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

I knew I could have done something, knew I could have stood up for what I believed was right. But I merely sulked at a corner, hesitant, afraid of being regarded a kill joy by the audience.

In our recently concluded company summer outing, the parlor games featured food and animals as part of the entertainment. The food part featured an egg yolk to be broken. I went along with that, all the while remembering my NSTP class, where we were admonished by our moderator for wasting food (We were also playing with egg yolks, I think. What the hell is with egg yolks anyway?) while many in the world were going hungry.

The second part of the contest featured several mice, to be lifted from one box to another. It was supposed to be harmless for the creatures but several of us were icky when it came to handling animals and proceeded to unceremoniously and forcefully dump the mice to the second box. Some were holding them too tight; some were just hurling them into the box. In sum, we were being cruel to these mice. We were inflicting pain.

I was a witness but I was simply a spectator that day.

Guilt trip na naman. Bwisit.

A New Look At Activism

2011-07-09T17:52:00.001-07:00

Perhaps, I was too harsh before. Then, I was exposed to a single brand of activism: the confrontational, angry kind you see marching down the streets. Now, I see another kind, a more sustainable brand aimed at forging bonds across factions instead of burning bridges down.

Sam Daley-Harris, founder of RESULTS, a US nonpartisan citizens' lobbying group, provides a step-by-step approach to a new type of activism that focuses on cooperation among multi-sectoral groups:

So you've 1) gotten in touch with your commitment to serve, 2) faced a problem that concerns you, 3) faced the hopelessness you feel about the problem, 4) looked for solutions, and 5) connected with your courage. That logically leads you to step 6: find others to work with, both locally and, if it's a national or international problem, with an institution and people that are working at that level. In other words, don't do it alone. If you try to do it alone, you'll never make it.

One interesting observation with this approach is the lack of villains in the scene. The government is not a villain. Instead, it is seen as an ally, a partner in resolving the issue. There are no scapegoats as well for everyone is a participant to promoting the needed change.

This is the kind of activism that we need, although not something that we would want for ourselves.

Bringing In The Green Roofs

2011-07-09T17:51:00.001-07:00

In college, I came across this project: Green Roofs for Buenos Aires.

Below is a project brief from the Holcim Awards 2005 website:

Type of project: Urban intervention
Start of construction: not foreseen
Principal authors:

Hugo E Gilardi, architect, Gilardi y Asociados Arquitectos, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Juan Cristobal Rautenstrauch, industrial engineer, Sociedad Bracht SA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Raul Halac, architect, Instituto del Ambiente, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Argentina

Project Summary: A conceptual project for a public policy to promote roof gardens (green roofs) on existing buildings in the city of Buenos Aires on a large scale.

Comment of the Holcim Awards 2005 Jury for Latin America:

The conceptual project aimed at improving urban policy is refreshingly innovative in proposing roof gardens throughout the city. Highly commended is the ambition to improve the conditions of individual buildings as well as more extensive environmental problems at a metropolitan scale.

Benefits for the buildings include a substantial improvement of the energy efficiency of housing, as well as increased comfort due to optimized thermal insulation. Benefits for the city include mitigation of urban flooding as a result of water retention as well as the reduction of heat islands due to vegetal transpiration.

At a world scale, such measures have a positive influence in that they help to reduce global warming both by minimizing the consumption of fossil energy for heating and by controlling CO2 during plant growth.

Important is that the proposal can be applied equally to existing and new buildings. A beneficial social component of the work is that is promises the potential of creating new jobs in the region for construction and maintenance, but is not necessarily limited to this context.

Not only demonstrating how the overall material quality of the city can be ameliorated, the project presents an ecologically responsible vision for large urban conglomerations.

I'm contemplating over how to bring the concept to Davao City. However, as of today, I do not have the time nor the resources and connections to do this just yet. Plus, it's going to take more research to ensure the project's success, from studying what endemic plants can be used for the rooftops to figuring out the necessary building requirements for such an endeavor. On top of this is the nagging question of how to win over property owners and building tenants to the idea.

If I can pull this off, it's going to be my legacy.

Save Davao Shrine Hills

2011-07-09T17:49:00.000-07:00

Save Davao Shrine Hills.

I credit Mel for introducing me to this group. Actually, it's an NGO whose advocacy is focused on halting any further development in Shrine Hills. The group has issued a statement inviting the government to pursue a rigorous study assessing the quality of the soil in the area in order to ascertain once and for all if Shrine Hills is fit for further residential/commercial zoning.

The stand of the group is that Shrine Hills is increasingly becoming unstable and landslides (similar to the Cherry Hills tragedy of 1999) can become a reality if developers are allowed free reign in the area. Right now, DMCI UPDI, Filinvest, Alsons, and Camella hold sizable properties across the face of Shrine Hills.

I wrote in a post before at my distress at seeing hectares of trees being cut off to pave way for a new subdivision project (of what will become Royal Pines). Now, the same thing can happen again, this time, at other spots in Shrine Hills if ever the city government grants these developers the license to continue improving their purchased lots.

The group has, time and again, lobbied against such a motion with varying degrees of success. But limited resources and political will can only do so much against determined and well-endowed corporate entities.

What can you do?

MISSION

2011-07-08T18:08:00.000-07:00

MISSION

Movement of Imaginals for a Sustainable Society through Initiatives, Organization, and Networking.

Recently, I was invited by Mel Penaflor to attend a workshop to be conducted by Nicanor Perlas, peace advocate and former presidential candidate. What transpired in the next two days was an orientation to the MISSION organization and its proposal on how to effect social transformation.

I guess I won't be as good at explaining the organization's underlying principles as the members of the group itself. But I can point out some interesting points which make MISSION special and which, I believe, puts it in a unique position to actually apply concrete changes in today's society.

First, the organization's holistic approach to the nation's issues sets it apart from the other activist movements. For MISSION, the government (and the constant whine to change it) is simply one factor, the political. One has to consider as well the ecosociocultural (what a word) dimension of the problem for one to arrive at a resolution tailor-fitted to it. There are no 'simple' solutions to complex problems and MISSION acknowledges this.

Second, the organization's focus on cultivating small networks of passionate individuals is an acknowledgement of a rapidly growing trend. Whereas, before, people affiliated themselves into groups with a common goal, with MISSION, the individual is encouraged to pursue his or her own advocacy in the context of a support group composed of individuals who are also pursuing their respective vocations. Such an arrangement brings about a greater degree of collaboration and resilience as people from different backgrounds and different fields of expertise enrich and embolden each other.

Finally, the organization's emphasis on personal self-mastery underlines the need to put the development of leaders ahead of developing the nation. For to transform society, one must rely on individuals with excellent leadership acumen to spearhead the process.

Will I join? I don't know. I'm tantalized but at the same time hesitant. Nevertheless, I'm happy that MISSION exists and I'm hopeful that it will achieve its purpose of building a sustainable society in the next few years.

Banning OFWs

2011-07-03T05:30:00.000-07:00

Something I picked up from the blog of maverick journalist Raissa Robles:

"Saudis consider maids as part of their furniture", a labor official once told me.

This was what Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Jose Brillantes told me when he was still a Department of Labor and Employment undersecretary.

He said this to explain why many Saudi employers treat Filipino domestic workers inhumanely and abusively, such as kicking, punching or branding them with a hot iron if they make mistakes or take daily baths; or working them half to death with little rest and food; or sexually abusing them.

I was shocked by his explanation. I could not use it of course because I was then writing for Saudi newspaper Riyadh Daily.

In recent days, amid an announced ban on recruitment of Filipino and Indonesian domestics imposed by the Saudi government starting yesterday July 2, I confirmed from two separate sources that what Brillantes told me years ago was true.

A Muslim ambassador recently shared this startling bit of info: Unknown to us Filipinos, the Saudi government used to stamp on passports of Filipino domestics being deployed to the Kingdom words in Arabic that stated what Brillantes had told me. That the bearer of the passport was a household worker whom the employer could treat in a sub-human manner. Like slaves.

The other instance of confirmation came from news reports following the Saudi government’s beheading of a female Indonesian domestic worker who repeatedly stabbed her Saudi employer to death in January last year after being berated constantly.

Saudi authorities had refused to give Indonesian diplomats access to Ruyati Binti Sapubi because they said she had already confessed to the crime. Indonesia tried to ask for clemency and a chance to defend her in court. But over a week ago, it learned from news reports her head had been chopped off with a sword.

The beheading prompted Salim Said, a former Indonesian diplomat-turned-political analyst, to state bluntly to Joe Cochraine, my fellow correspondent covering Jakarta for South China Morning Post:

In Saudi Arabia, they do not have a tradition of having maids or helpers – their ancient tradition is having slaves. So the mental attitude of their culture is treating their helpers and maids as if they are slaves.

Said even shared the information that when he was Indonesia’s ambassador to Prague, his embassy became a de facto shelter for runaway domestics whose Saudi employers were vacationing in the Czech Republic.

Let's put this in context.

As gleaned above, this blog post came out after Saudi Arabia banned work visas for Filipino domestic workers. As if on cue, various factions in the private sector expressed apprehension over this state of affairs, citing, understandably, concerns over the welfare of the thousands of would-be OFWs who have been suddenly cut off from another chance to work abroad.

However, this turn of events can be looked upon as an opportunity in disguise. What I hope would happen is that the government will see this as it is.

For years, Saudi Arabia has gotten away with many human rights abuses against domestic helpers and this chronic issue of abuse has not been limited to Filipinos. The article linked above also mentions Indonesia prohibiting its citizens from working as domestic servants in Saudi Arabia after the beheading of a maid.

With this, I believe it is wise for the government to review its policies of exporting low-skill labor to countries with questionable human rights records. In effect, the government should emulate what Indonesia had done and impose prohibitions on the movement of OFWs to countries which put them at risk of violence and abuse.

It will not be easy and it will take a person with tremendous political stamina to stick with this direction despite the initial backlash. But, in the end, it will still be for the benefit of our OFWs and their continued success (and survival) abroad.

Something About Uniforms

2011-06-30T16:30:00.003-07:00

School uniforms ought to become more practical.

Every morning, when I go off for work, I pass by SMILE (Saint Mary's Initial Learning Experience), a thriving kindergarten school in our neighborhood. The boys' outfits are fine but the girls' skirts definitely need to change. The skirts are candy yellow, not a good color choice, considering these are kids who play outside. I can imagine laundrywomen, trying their best to wash of the mud stains from these skirts, and little girl's ears being pinched by their parents or their yayas for sullying their uniforms.

I'm also a product of ADDU and the uniforms of the ladies also need to change. For one thing, white skirts don't hide blood or dirt stains very well. In hindsight, I would have done better myself had I opted for slacks instead of the more popular khaki pants. If I had done this, I would have saved myself countless hours spent ironing and starching my pants to near perfection.

Come to think of it, school uniforms ought to be simple and comfortable as well as classy. A good school uniform should also be a symbol of understated elegance. Hence, I don't like SPC tolerating boys who wear school polos with their maong pants. I also don't like neck ties, scarfs, and pins. Not only are these completely unnecessary, students actually waste time putting these on. On the extreme side, I also don't like skirts at all, preferring that girls wear slacks instead. Not only do these skirts limit girls' movements, they also offer limitless opportunities for thriving Peeping Toms to practice their craft.

I maybe just ranting (actually, I am) but everyone has got to make this world better. Why not start with the small stuff?

A Love Scene

2011-06-30T16:30:00.001-07:00

Wife: Hon, if you could choose, who would you want to die first? Me or you?
Husband: Of course, you.
Wife: What? Why?
Husband: So you won't have to go through the pain of losing a spouse.

I've been meaning to insert this dialogue piece in a future short story. A friend of mine commented that the husband simply got away with the witty retort. My sister thinks it's just plain morbid.

Going Paperless

2011-06-25T06:57:00.001-07:00

Everyone dreams of a paperless mortgage loan process.

In a SunStar article last 2010, Margaret Chan, manager of Global 360, a solutions provider, urged companies to phase out paper-based transactions in favor of online automation of their business processes. The article goes on to mention AUB's (Asia United Bank) initiative to automate their loan processes as well.

Although the article hints of some biases in the part of the writer, it does point out an inevitable trend in the banking industry, one that will continue in the coming years.

In a related article from Stewart, a company, eOriginal, had begun pioneering the advent of paperless transactions in mortgage loans. Even the local government had stepped in, initiating and passing special legislation to make paperless transactions possible.

Why am I talking about this? That's because I intend to do the same thing here in the Philippines. Let's just say I'm frustrated with the current loan process that we have now, not only in my company but also with the rest of the banks that comprise the Philippine banking industry.

To start, I've decided to make paperless loan transactions my personal pet project. However, I guess there are a lot of factors working against me. I don't have any programming knowledge, so to speak. I don't have much in the way of resources, particularly time and money. I don't have special access to my company's databases for beta testing purposes.

But I do have knowledge of the loan process (I've been a marketing assistant for almost two years now, for crying out loud). I can name collaborators and programmers who can assist me. I have bosses who can support me if they knew how big an impact this is going to be.

So how do I begin? Well, I'm keeping it small for the meantime. I'm thinking of starting with the development of an application which will integrate once and for all the company's loan management system with its loan documentation process. It's not that complicated, mind you. All I need is a team of dedicated individuals to jump start the whole shebang.

Then afterwards, we proceed to making the entire transaction paperless, including the actual loan mortgage agreement that the government gets. But that's for later.

I'm excited at the prospect, at the challenge. I'm going to make this work.

Praying For Someone

2011-06-25T06:51:00.001-07:00

Warning: This isn't a coherent post.

Caroline Myss, a former journalist, wrote in one of her essays, The Collective Soul, the following eye-opening incident. She was having a conversation with two friends, a political chitchat about the controversies surrounding Bill Clinton. Things had began to heat up when Caroline noticed one man, who remained silent, by the side. She asked him for her opinion about the issue, to which the man replied, "I have no right to an opinion because I did not pray for him. Therefore, I owe him an apology. He doesn't owe me one."

Ms. Myss eventually interweaves this story to her most profound insight, that the private negativities of each individual or citizen can determine the quality of the nation's spiritual energy and its leaders' decisions.

Obviously, the man's words bear a kernel of wisdom which rarely manifests itself among us Filipinos. Leaders need our sincere prayers and, when prayers aren't enough, that's the right time we use constructive criticism and decisive action.

In extension, it's not only leaders which need our prayers. I, on the other hand, can take something slightly different from this story.

One of the most subtle changes I've experienced within myself started when I began including other people in my morning prayer. At the start, the usual suspects would come to mind. Mama. Papa. My siblings. I prayed for my family, that we remain whole and well. Then, I included my friends. Then, later on, I included people I just happened to meet. The jeep driver, the passersby, and so on. At the beginning, the inclusion of other people in my prayers was a deliberate interruption to my self-centered petitions. As time went by, the habit began to take shape and it has made me feel less critical about my condition and has granted me a softer heart.

Right now, I'm praying for someone. I'm praying that God will give her a miracle this October. I pray that her estranged father can come home at last.

Conceding

2011-06-19T22:59:00.001-07:00

Okay, Nathan, you win.

Remember that contest we started two years ago? You're probably earning a lot more these days as a consultant (which is good actually, because you've got a family to take care of).

But, it's not yet over. I'm going to surpass you later. The one thing I learned about this experiment is that I have to be realistic with my timeline. Clearly, succeeding as an entrepreneur would require more than two years.

And maybe then, when that moment arrives, I'll be teasing you to buy some of my company's stock. Hehe.

Something's Wrong

2011-06-19T01:53:00.000-07:00

Something's up with the laptop. I'm not a techie but if the CPU is a 100% utilized for the entire duration of my session, clearly, there's something wrong. Another thing is that I can't play music and surf the internet at the same time (the music suffers).

And what's this svchost? Hmmm...

Falling Out Of Love

2011-06-19T01:49:00.000-07:00

Mandarin Tea Garden has fallen out of favor with me. The commercialization is now too much. Whereas, before, you could expect a decent meal by eating at one of their restaurants, now, you're already fortunate if the servings could placate your hunger for the next five minutes.

The problem is that their prices have jacketed up but their portions have shrinked. It is completely understandable if, say, the ingredients they put in their meals have become more costly (hence, a reduction in serving amount is justifiable) but a quick comparison with the competition (*ahem, Dimsum Diner*) claims that this isn't so. Definitely, Mandarin Tea Garden is not giving their clients their money's due, which is sad because that was, I believe, their formula for success then: giving the customer good Chinese food at reasonable prices.

I also am not a fan of Babista's anymore. The prices they tag on their viands are ridiculous. For instance, a regular-sized hotdog, something you can buy in the malls for P12, is being sold at P20. A piece of fried chicken, which can be sold elsewhere at P26 (with rice), is being sold at P30 (with no rice).

Jeesh.

A Basketball Anime

2011-06-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

You remember Slamdunk? Or Sakugari? Slamdunk was a TV anime series about a basketball varsity and Sakuragi was its main character. The animation was crude but it was still entertaining to watch Sakuragi, the funny talented wannabe who dreamed of being the best basketball player ever.

I also have a basketball anime series in mind, titled Fastbreak. It centers on a bunch of neighborhood kids who get to participate in a local summer league. There, they get to meet different sorts of teams, ranging from backyard ballers to elite varsity members, yet they ultimately prevail and emerge as champions in the end.

The difference between Slamdunk and Fastbreak will be the level of technical stuff. Whereas, Slamdunk was content in simply portraying rivalries played out in the hardcourt, Fastbreak will feature a dizzying array of basketball knowledge, from well-known plays to conditioning exercises, to coaching styles and philosophies and player profiles, all injected into episodes full of human drama and emotion.

If I get around to actually writing this stuff, then it's going to be wicked.

Just Saying

2011-06-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

Be fair.

Understand that bankers are businesspeople just like you. They have to make a profit too. Their job is to get the best return for their bank, while yours is to get the best deal for you. While you may be able to shave an extra quarter of a point off the interest rate occasionally, deals that benefit only one party don't build good relationships. Whatever you do, don't ask banks to bid against each other for the business. If you are going to shop more than one bank, negotiate your best deal on its own merit with each bank and don't make your banker feel like price is the only thing important to you. It's far more important that you focus on structuring loans to fit the cash flow of the properties than to simply focus on getting the best rate. Remember, in real estate, terms are just as important, if not more important, than price.

-Mike Summey and Roger Dawson

The Weekend Millionaire's Secrets to Investing in Real Estate

Just saying (italics mine).

Pili Tree

2011-06-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

In her TV show, "Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho", there was this segment entitled "Biyaya Ng Dagta" which featured how several provinces in the Philippines have harnessed the saps of its various endemic trees to create economies and jobs for its populace.

One such tree that was mentioned is the Pili tree. In Sorsogon, several farmers have been harvesting the sap of these trees as an export material to be used for facial cream products.

I found this interesting because the segment mentioned that the Philippines virtually has a monopoly for this commodity and to think that, to date, only Sorsogon has an existing economy built around this product only speaks of the potential growth this industry is capable if it were further developed.

Prety neat, huh?

Dowry

2011-06-11T17:56:00.000-07:00

Nestor P. Burgos, Jr. got it wrong as well.

In an Inquirer article, he reported about a tribal chanter who expressed concerns over the misrepresentation of his people's culture in the TV show, Amaya.

He also reported near the end the following: 'The binukot are trained to be adept epic-chanters and dancers, and to play native musical instruments, he said, adding that they command a much higher dowry than most maidens because of these physical attributes and skills'.

It's really a small matter but he confused the word 'dowry' in the paragraph above with 'bride price'. As per Wikipedia, "a dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents".

It's a popular misconception but the fact is this: In the Philippines, there's no such thing as a dowry (That's reserved for other cultures who still treat their women as second-class citizens).

What we do have instead is the bride price, in which the guy's family gives food and presents to the bride's family as an act of goodwill before the wedding. As for the reason behind this practice, one website articulates it best:

This is because we give high value to the women in our society and giving them away is not easy. When the two families have come to an agreement as to the dowry (or bride price, I hasten to correct), the wedding date is set, a ring is presented to the girl and the couple is said to be betrothed. A small feast is then held with the food brought by the boy's family.

Pinoy Superheroes

2011-06-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

Superheroes have gone through a makeover these past few years. In the past, fans wanted to see their superheroes as demigods. Hence, stories about superheroes centered on their extraordinary feats: defeating powerful villains and rescuing countless lives. Now, superheroes are still superheroes but fans have clamored for a 'humanization' of the legends-that-be: a hero who is both possessed with human characteristics and superhuman capabilities.

Writers have taken heed of this trend by portraying superheroes with more psychological depth. Now, you have superheroes who have more complex personalities and are wrestling with all-too-human dilemmas.

I believe Pinoy superheroes shouldn't be exempt from this trend. I watch as the TV networks produce shows featuring these heroes and what they merely succeed in doing is rehashing the stories found in the comics series of long ago, albeit with new characters and new story twists. Still, there's nothing new, nothing which can excite the mind.

If one is to do a TV show featuring a prominent Pinoy superhero, one must be prepared to flesh out that hero in a way that character has not been portrayed before. One can add strengths and weaknesses to his or her overall personality or perhaps inject some internal issues that create tension as the series progresses. I state that, far from alienating the masses who watch these shows, such a shift in programming can lead to more Filipino viewers because by then, the story itself would have grown more intelligent and more compelling that even the higher echelons of society can appreciate the distinction.

Carbon Credits

2011-06-04T17:03:00.000-07:00

An interesting topic came up in the show, The Bottomline with Boy Abunda.

Boy Abunda was interviewing L-Ray Villafuerte, Camsur's maverick governor. Both were discussing the province's ongoing project, a plan to plant 12 million trees by 2012. Asked about the motive behind this, Villafuerte mentions carbon credits and how it can provide the necessary economic impetus for green projects, such as his province's tree planting movement.

Simply put, carbon credit refer to (as per Wikipedia) "any tradeable certificate or permit representing the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide or the mass of another greenhouse gas with a carbon dioxide equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide".

In step with the Kyoto protocol, nations have pledged to lower their overall greenhouse gas emissions after a given time period. In other words, countries have set themselves their own limits as to how much pollution they can spew out without severely compromising their economic development. However, industrialized nations who cannot or will not do so can opt to purchase "carbon credits" from nations who have lowered theirs. This way, they can technically stick to their limits by owning another country's right to foul the air.

That's where Villafuerte steps in. By planting a dozen million trees, he hopes to sell industrialized nations carbon credits, an ingenious way of preserving both the local environment and making preservation efforts sustainable.

I don't know how he will make such a project feasible though (as far as I know, measuring how much carbon dioxide a hectare planted with several certain tree species can absorb isn't an exact science yet). But he has definitely paved the way for how other green initiatives can prosper.

Going Mecha

2011-06-04T16:57:00.000-07:00

When I was young, I was a Gundam fan, like any other boy my age. My first taste of mecha anime was with the Gundam Wing series, which, despite its dark themes, was still pretty cool to watch.

Like the rest, I also tried to draw and copy these robots, which I did quite well. I remember having several trading Gundam cards, cards which were usually sold outside school, and spending hours sketching figures, trying to make the legs and faces of my Gundams look right.

Early on, I already imagined myself creating a comics series of my own, centered on mecha. I was in college then and I wanted to emulate what the Gundam series did: portray mature themes in a medium that was accessible and entertaining to people of my age group. One particular idea I had was weaving a story based on an alternate reality reflecting the more popular political trends of the period. What came out, after weeks of daydreaming, was a rough synopsis for a mecha graphic novel, titled 'The Adarna Chronicles'.

Looking back, the story I concocted then was pretty naive (What do I expect from a first year college student?).

It centers on the intertwined lives of five elite pilots of the MAIAS (Mechanized and Armed Infantry Assault Suits. Wow. I can even remember my coined acronyms until now), over-sized robots which have garnered legendary reputations in a Philippines now torn apart by civil war. Various factions, each represented by a MAIA pilot, have conspired to break the country into several states. My main character is a rebel representing the Muslim secessionist movement. Another character, and his love interest, is a UN peacekeeper whose allegiance to peace is tested by her Lumad community's desire for autonomy and her own struggle for identity. The next character is a hotshot lieutenant from the Visayas, who is an icon for the separatist coalition (because of his numerous military exploits) but is secretly harboring doubts about his purpose and mission. The fourth character is the lieutenant's second-in-command, an aspiring soldier from the Cordilleras who grapples with the loss of her innocence as she faces the horrors of the war. Finally, the fifth character is a brilliant ex-general, with a tragic past, who is called upon by Imperial Manila to counter the insurgency threat.

As to whether I'll pursue this idea at all and bring it to reality by making an actual graphic novel, I honestly don't know. Maybe, I'm just too old to meddle with this stuff. Or maybe I'm simply too busy with more pressing matters.

Stereogram

2011-05-19T06:41:00.001-07:00

Do you know what a stereogram is?

How about an anagram?

An ambigram perhaps?

Let me tell you what they are: they are loads of fun.

I miss my childhood (nostalgic mood once again).

Text Messages 31

2011-05-15T05:23:00.001-07:00

GF: Luv, nagkaon kog calamay karon tas nakadom-dom dayun ko nimo.
BF: (kilig) Why man? Tungod kay sweet ko?
GF: Di oi! Mura man gud kag nawong ug bagol.
Edwin Gutierrez, March 21, 2011

Always stretch your heart and expand your love. So that it touches not only those whom you give it to, but also those who need it so much.
Mary Ann Andicoy, March 27, 2011

A nun rides a taxi.
Taxi Driver: Sister, it's always my dream to kiss a nun. Can you grant my wish?
Nun: Okay. But, first, you should be Catholic and, second, you have to be single.
Taxi Driver: I'm Catholic and I'm single.
So the nun fulfills the driver's wish and kisses him.
Taxi Driver: Thank you sister but I must confess. I lied to you. I'm married and I'm a Muslim.
Nun: That's okay. I'm on my way to a costume party and my real name is Dodong. Good kisser ka ha!
Edwin Gutierrez, March 30, 2011

Here's a fact: Did you konw taht hmuan brian can raed wrods wtih lteters rmubeld? As lnog as teh frist & lsat lteters of teh wrods aer at tehir porepr palecs...bceuase teh barin olny itnreperts teh wrdos and not teh seplilng of a ceratin wrod. fnatsatic ins't it?
Mary Ann Andicoy, April 5, 2011

Every king was once a crying baby and every great building was once a drawing. It's not about where you are today but it's where you will be tomorrow. Be inspired!
Ate Cathy, April 7, 2011

Sa Match class
Teacher: Kung naa koy usa ka piraso nga karne ug tungaon nako, pila na ka piraso?
Buknoy: Duwa Ma'am!
Teacher: Ug tungaon pa nako pareho?
Buknoy: Upat na Ma'am!
Teacher: Tungaon pa jud nako?
Buknoy: Walo na Ma'am!
Teacher: Tungaon pa jud nako?
Buknoy: Sixteen na Ma'am!
Teacher: Tungaon pa jud nako!
Buknoy: Thirty two na Ma'am!
Teacher: Kung tungaon pa jud?
Buknoy: Sixty four! (suko na)
Teacher: Ug tungaon pa jud nako ug kaduha?
Buknoy: Ipagaling na lang na Ma'am ke malangan nata!
Edwin Gutierrez, April 17, 2011

Boy: Miss, pwede mag-ask? Unsa nay time?
Girl: Mag-ask ka unsa nay time? Tas mag-ask dayun ka sa akong name? Tas mangayo dayun kag number? Tas manguyab dayun ka? Tas pakipot sugton ra dayun taka? Tas manghagad kag date? Tas dad-on dayun ko nimo sa bisan asa? Tas naay mahitabo nato? Tas mabuntis dayun ko? Tas biyaan ra ko nimo? Di ko mo-ingon ui!
Boy: Whoooaahh! Grabe ka-advance ba anang reloha...
Edwin Gutierrez, May 1, 2011

Graduation Speech:
A fleasance evening to all, to me, to you, they and everyone. Tonight, I am graduation, and I'm froud of me. I invitation you all to eat our house because I know, someday, I will eat your house too. I will die ten chickens, 7 girls, and 3 boys, to eat you all and I will ask my father to cook my mother. I'm suring you will come because I'm graduation. Thanks you.
Edwin Gutierrez, May 5, 2011

True happiness is not about a big laugh or tears of joy. It's about a simple smile whenever you remember people who made your life simple but completely happy.
Ate Cathy, May 5, 2011

What if love is for sale? Can we afford to buy it? How much do you think is the price of love? How about those who cannot afford it? Maybe, that's why God made it for free so everybody can spend or give it freely.
Mary Ann Andicoy, May 10, 2011

Metrosexuality

2011-05-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

Metrosexual: A straight man who embraces the homosexual lifestyle, i.e. refined tastes in clothing, excessive use of designer hygiene products, etc.

-Urban Dictionary

Okay. I get pedicures because my toenails are ugly. I get manicures because my job requires me to involuntarily expose my fingernails to other people. I sometimes shave my legs when I go out in shorts because hairy legs are unsightly. I shave my underarms when I go to the beach. I use an array of skin and facial products. I wash my hands after going to the comfort room. I maybe fastidiously hygienic but being clean never hurt anyone.

For some people, this behavior would brand me as a homosexual and a narcissist. But I beg to differ. I'm not attracted to guys so that makes me straight. Plus, the last time I checked, taking care of my appearance isn't a mark of an egotistic mind.

I insist that I am instead a metrosexual but I don't fit the term just yet. If I were to base my criteria on the definition above, I'm only a 'semi-metrosexual': I don't have any fashion sense and I can vaguely understand gay lingo.

So why am I saying this? Well, this is just my feeble attempt at clarifying my behavior to other people, who would insinuate that these characteristics have something to do with my sexuality or lack thereof.

Half Rice

2011-05-12T06:50:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought that Jollibee was selling half rice? I mean, who would have thought?

Thanks to Sam for the wonderful insight. We were having dinner in Jollibee Agdao and he simply walked to the counter and ordered a half rice. Just like that. And the crew readily accepted the order.

Again, who would have thought?

The Need To Be Filthy Rich

2011-05-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

If you want to help a person, you must first have a big heart. If you want to help a lot of people, you must have a big wallet.

It's sad but the fact is philanthropy is not exempt from economics. An act of charity might be costless but instituting an entire system to eradicate or, at the very least, minimize poverty requires funds, lots of it.

In the past months, I've written several posts about ideas on philanthropy. These ideas have a common denominator: they require massive amounts of resources for them to jump to reality, resources which currently I don't have.

Which is a bummer. And which is why, if the world sees it fit, I should be a billionaire by virtue of my need to have some dough so I can make society better.

If only things were that simple (long sigh).

Text Messages 30

2011-05-07T21:01:00.001-07:00

Juan: Unsay tawag sa mag-uyab nga gwapo ug gwapa?
Pedro: Tadhana!
Juan: Kung gwapo ang lalake ug pangit ang babae?
Pedro: True Love!
Juan: Kung pangit ang lalake ug gwapa ang babae?
Pedro: Diskarte!
Juan: Unya, kung pangit ang duwa?
Pedro: Mao nay gitawag ug, "Kapwa ko, mahal ko."
Edwin Gutierrez, March 7, 2011

Mama: Juan, palit ug asin.
Juan: Dili ko. Ngitngit na. Hadlok ko.
Mama: Yaw kabalaka. Kauban nimo imong anghel.
Juan: Siya na lang sugua! Kami pa jud duha, para asin ra!
Edwin Gutierrez, March 7, 2011

The Four blessed looks:
Look back and thank God.
Look forward and trust God.
Look around and serve God.
Look from within and find God.
Ate Cathy, March 11, 2011

Boy: Sana problema na lang ako para lagi mo akong iniisip.
Girl: Oo nga eh. Para lahat gagawin ko, mawala ka lang.
Edwin Gutierrez, March 11, 2011

Lolo: Apo, tago kay naa imong mga teacher paingon sa balay. Nag-absent raba ka!
Apo: Tago pud, Lo, kay makit-an ka nila. Ako ra bang pananghid kay namatay na ka.
Edwin Gutierrez, March 12, 2011

Panatang Kaibigan
Iniibig ko ang aking kaibigan,
ang tumanggap sa aking kalokohan,
taga-punas ng aking luha.
Ako'y kanilang tinutulungan, na maging malakas, masaya,
at mas maligaya kahit wala akong pakinabang.
Bilang ganti ay ibibigay ko ang aking tiwala, ililibre ko sila kapag
ako'y mayaman na. Susunduin ko sila pag ako'y may kotse na.
Tutuparin ko ang mga pangako ko, huwag lang ang pagbabayad ng utang nila.
Sisipain ko ang sino mang umaway sa kanila: sa pisngi, sa hita, at sa mukha.
Edwin Gutierrez, March 12, 2011

Sa akong mga paghinulsol:
Sa tanan nga nag-care nako: salamat
Sa mga nailad nako: Sorry, di na mausab
Sa mga nagpakilig sa ako: Hit me baby one more time
Sa mga ga-isyu sa ako: Sige lang para sikat
Sa mga nagpahilak nako: You owe me a talent fee
Sa mga tao nga nag-share ug experience sa life ug nagpautang: Unta mao lang japon ha
Sa mga nasuya sa ako: Tse! Mo-pink na lang inyo mata, you can never be me
Ug sa gabasa ani: Amping kanunay
Edwin Gutierrez, March 16, 2011

Guy: Ano ginagawa mo rito sa tulay?
Chick: I'm going to kill myself.
Guy: Ganon? Pwede pa-kiss bago ka mamatay?
(deep, torrid kiss)
Guy: Wow! Sarap nun ah. Bakit ka ba magpapakamatay?
Chick: Kasi ayaw ng parents ko na nagdadamit-babae ako...
Edwin Gutierrez, March 16, 2011

There are two people who can tell the truth about you: a friend who has lost his temper and an enemy who has started liking you.
Mary Ann Andicoy, March 20, 2011

Tatay: Kung dili gani ka kapasar sa exam, ayaw nako tawagi ug tatay!
Anak: Oo, tay.
(human sa exam)
Tatay: Anak, kamusta ang exam?
Anak: Ok ra bay!
Edwin Gutierrez, March 20, 2011

Pacquiao

2011-05-07T21:00:00.001-07:00

I'm not a fan of Pacquiao. I don't really know what is wrong with me. But every time he fights, I root for the other boxer. Maybe, I just like siding with the underdog, whoever that person is. Or maybe, I simply find it difficult to respect, let alone support, someone who cheats on his wife.

Perhaps, one might regard my aversion to the 'Pacquiao-mania' as an anti-patriotic sentiment. For most people, Pacquiao is the closest thing we have to a hero these days, especially with a lot of political figures acting like villains in the national stage. However, I'm not one prone to hero worship especially when the hero in question is simply a world-class boxer who struck it big.

'Let's be real people', I imagine myself saying, at the horde of supporters who cling to Pacquiao's glory after another win in the boxing ring. Still, I have to be considerate though. Some people yearn for light in the midst of darkness, for a glimmer of hope in a country full of despair. And guess what? Pacquiao fills that need perfectly.

Picking Up The Prostitutes

2011-05-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

In Davao City, the Central Bank building is notorious. At night, under the shadows of the huge trees lining its perimeter sit prostitutes ages fourteen years old and above. They wait for their customers to arrive. If a car stops, a woman stands up, fixes her skirt, walks to the driver, and sells herself.

Obviously, it isn't an ideal way to earn a living. But these girls have families to feed at home and their socio-economic backgrounds limit their options for employment. What they do have though are young bodies and acne-free faces and prostitution becomes a reality to be embraced.

Among male bankers, it's a running joke that when someone mentions dropping by Central Bank, he obviously means picking up a girl. The question is: what can be done?

In countless studies, prostitution is almost always a result of poverty. Rarely do girls resort to prostitution because they are nymphomaniacs deep inside. Since poverty is the root cause, then it's poverty that we must eliminate (which is 'easier said than done', you might have thought out loud).

For me, I will always abide by the logic that if there should be an effective tool in eradicating poverty, then education should be that magic bullet. What if these girls had access to education, will they continue with this lifestyle of self-exploitation? Perhaps, one mode of action to eliminate prostitution is the granting of easier access for at-risk girls to become scholars or at least to provide them with the necessary livelihood skills to help them wean away from this source of income.

Granted, there are some issues to be confronted with this kind of intervention. Foremost is the given fact that helping prostitutes is not exactly PR stuff. Reaching out to donors and sponsors is easier when the beneficiaries are, say, kids (like what UNICEF is doing), war-torn communities, calamity victims, or poor families. Simply put, these beneficiaries tug at the hearts and minds of people. Prostitutes obviously do not.

There is also the cultural taboo relating to prostitutes in general. Virtually no one wants to have anything to do with these women (or men). In addition, prostitutes are not seen as victims of the system but rather are enterprising individuals (excuse me for the euphemism) by many.

Nevertheless, they need help. And if we are to make this society better, one step would be to eliminate prostitution, one girl at a time. The question now is: how?

Osama Bin Laden

2011-05-06T06:55:00.000-07:00

Sharing some stuff from the book Zingers, Quips, and One-liners edited by Geoff Tiballs:

What we know about Osama Bin Laden is this: he's worth $300 million, he has five wives, and twenty six kids - and he hates Americans for their 'excessive' lifestyle.

David Letterman

It was reported today that Osama Bin Laden has fifty brothers and sisters, which absolutely shocked me because I had no idea he was Catholic.

Conan O'Brien

With Osama dead, is the world a safer place? Probably not. But at least the rest of the world can move on, finally. Osama Bin Laden is now part of history.

Hayop Ka, Mikey Bustos!

2011-05-04T07:16:00.000-07:00

I'm really a fan of this man's work. That's why it's probably a good idea not to say anything and just let this guy make you laugh out loud. Enough said.

Check out Mikey Bustos' videos in Youtube and don't forget to subscribe to his channel.

Trust me, you won't regret it.

Clearing Period

2011-04-30T23:58:00.000-07:00

A client showed me the other side of the 3-day clearing period and why this can be treated as a benefit rather than as an inconvenience to some.

For those not really familiar with the whole process, a deposited check is "cleared" only after 3 banking days, usually. If you were the supplier and a client gave you a check and you deposited it today, you'll expect the proceeds of that check to be credited to your account only after 3 banking days. For you, it's a nuisance since you'd have to wait to be paid.

And that's exactly what you want, if you were the client of the supplier. First, you get a 3-day window to make sure you've funded that check. Another, and this is the more crucial part, you can still get back at the supplier if ever he comes up short. That's because you haven't actually paid him yet although he's deposited your check.

Say, for instance, the materials you ordered were substandard or not at par with what you expect. You can still complain about this and can allow the check to bounce if you're not happy (and if you're willing to shoulder the penalties associated with this). That's a pretty powerful benefit.

A Pinoy "Improv Everywhere"?

2011-04-24T20:11:00.003-07:00

Lately, I've been thinking about copying the Improv Everywhere concept to the Filipino setting.

Wikipedia defines Improv Everywhere as a New York-based performance art group, which carries out "pranks" a la "Wow Mali" style (minus the overkill). A couple of ideas I have in mind:

Idea 1: A video featuring a street gang intent in wreaking havoc. Their mission? To teach some citizens a lesson. Their victims? Everyone who pees in public. Their modus operandi? Hit and run. While riding a motorbike, gang members throw ice water at men peeing in public.

Idea 2: A spoof on the Axe ad machine. A poster featuring an Axe product that is too effective. The poster features a tricycle driver (the Axe user) who had too much of a good thing. He is looking blankly forward as he is being harassed and groped by his male passengers, burly biker men who unfortunately go gaga after a whiff of the driver's cologne.

Idea 3: A documentary of the country's first-ever Mano Po lane. It features the opening of Davao City's "Respect for the Elders" lane, a specially marked sidewalk in C.M. Recto, where volunteers have lined up and are putting strangers' hands against their foreheads in a show of respect. The lane, as the script would go, is aimed at revitalizing the Dabawenyo's respect for elders.

Idea 4: A video featuring a haunted jeep. An unwary passenger is forced to ride a jeep chock-full of other passengers wearing aswang costumes (and other Halloween paraphernalia). It's going to be a riot as the "victim" begins to realize he is all alone during the long, long trip to Calinan.

Salamat Sa Modess

2011-04-24T20:11:00.001-07:00

I'm not ashamed of what I'm going to share. Looking back, I can almost believe that it was Divine Providence that made me stuff a pack of Modess napkins in my backpack that fateful Wednesday night.

If you've read my past post about my Apo climb, I mentioned that I suffered from chaffed skin during our ascent. My inner thighs were becoming sore because of constant friction with my groin. I could make some conjectures regarding my condition then: I wore the wrong kind of underwear; my cycling shorts trapped a lot of moisture down there; or it was simply a case of bad luck.

The bottom line was that I was in agony during our climb. My inner thighs were protesting with every stride, with every step. At one moment, I thought I might be walking home with blood dripping between my legs.

I tried self-medication. I plastered band-aids during the morning of Day 2 and again during our brief stay in Campsite 2. These didn't work. The band-aids weren't adhesive enough and simply fell off.

Then, the eureka moment. We were now at the peak and I was busy inside our tent, rummaging through the items in my bag, hoping for a remedy. I did pack a Modess pack, didn't I? I remember thinking of packing one just for the sake of it. Perhaps, a lady we might come across might be suffering from the monthly malady and would appreciate receiving something from us (On hindsight, I don't think any sane woman would climb Apo knowing her period is around the corner).

So I got one pad and was instantly fascinated at it. So this is what it looked like. The pad boasted a neat feature: adhesive strips on its sides, which was probably intended to make the pad stick to the panties. I began placing the pads inside out, one for each thigh, with the absorbent portion exposed to grab any moisture from my wet pants.

The next morning, I knew I did the right thing. Walking was a breeze and I remember climbing down to Lake Venado, leaping across the grass.

Salamat sa Modess, ika nga.

Apo Video

2011-04-24T20:05:00.003-07:00

Just something my brother came up with. The backstory behind this was that our camera wasn't working properly. During the first day of the climb, I noticed that the pictures were too bright. I tinkered with the settings throughout our trek to no avail (My theory was that the graphics card was saturated with moisture). So I opted to record on video our visit to the top. My brother, a former Masscomm student, did the second part by editing a video out of the footage.

For later climbs, I'm thinking of doing a spoof horror-comedy film teaser using Apo as the backdrop. But that's for later. Right now, enjoy the clip. That's my proof I actually climbed Apo for good.

Here's the link to the video on Facebook (Be sure to log into Facebook first prior to clicking on the link).

Tips For The First Time Apo Climber

2011-04-24T20:05:00.001-07:00

First up, a disclaimer: I've climbed Apo only once so far. That doesn't, in any way, make me an expert in the subject of climbing it. However, because I'm helpful and because I don't want those who follow me to have such a hard time, I'm offering some tips or advice for the newbie Apo climber.

In his song, Sunscreen, Baz Luhrmann comments that Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth. And it's true. The tips I'm going to give you are essentially an elaborate rehash of whatever it is that most have learned over the years. But here I go anyway:

Make sure your footwear is up to it. I had the misfortune of using my old running shoes for the climb. They were comfortable, yes, but halfway to our ascent, the soles had begun to give up, gaping like starved dogs in the mud. Fortunately though, my shoes survived the whole trek and eventually fell apart when I reached home. However, this didn't save me the countless hours spent in anxiety, wondering if I'd be walking home barefoot.

Stuff everything you have in just one bag. I borrowed a backpack from my cousin, which was too small for my sleeping bag to fit into. So I strapped my sleeping bag and other paraphernalia outside my backpack. I thought I was clever but the constant shift in weight and the fact that my sleeping bag just won't stay on top of my backpack became a serious nuisance in the end. If you can afford it, do buy a backpack that can accommodate all your things.

Bring Modess. I'm going to expound on this in a later post.

Bring a tent with a fly. Although we managed to sleep comfortably at the peak in our fly-less tent, things weren't the same when we arrived in Lake Venado. The rain exposed the inadequacy of our fly-less tent. Water seeped into the paper-thin fabric and into our sleeping bags, bringing us to near hypothermia. Nasty experience, if I care to relive it.

Don't try to cram six souls into one small tent. I'm telling you. It just doesn't work. And it makes every one's night miserable as well. Go buy another tent if you want to get some decent sleep.

Bring money. Need I say anything else?

Days In Apo

2011-04-24T20:04:00.002-07:00

Day 1

Slept for only three hours. Slept at 12 midnight after packing my bag. Woke up at 3 AM. Hugs from Mama and Papa as they see us off in ADDU. Bulec forgot his ID and registration form. Fortunately, I had mine not yet filled up so we had a copy scanned and printed in an Internet shop (which was still open thanks to the junkies still fixed on their respective computer screens). On a jeep to Toril, then to Santa Cruz. Picked up Rommel along the way. First challenge was climbing a steep slope in Santa Cruz. On another ride to the rural countryside, on a multicab. Stopped on top of a hill, surrounded by nipa huts, for lunch. Then came the downpour. Rested for awhile until the rain weakened down to a drizzle. On we walked and finally set up camp after the rain returned with a vengeance. Shivering underneath my supposedly waterproof jacket. Aim was to make it to Camp 1 but that's not possible anymore. Couldn't set up the tent because our guides advised against it; our tent didn't have a fly. Tried to sleep instead in a small tent shared by five other souls: Bulec, Rayray, Sir Ramy, Anton, and Rommel.

Day 2

Sunny morning. Had breakfast and, from then on, it was up, up, and up. Thighs hurt because of chaffed skin. Finally reached Camp 1. Refilled water bottle, had lunch, and it was off to Camp 2. Tried to self-medicate my chaffed skin. Reached the boulders. Otherworldly. Nothing but rock but that was the first time I appreciated our efforts because I could finally see Davao Gulf. Reached Apo's crater. Really cold. Wind is unforgiving. Climbed up short of the peak then went down to the campsite. Lots of climbers. Lots of shit everywhere. Against expert advice, we set up our tent. Had dinner and a satisfying sleep, all snug in my sleeping bag.

Day 3

Woke up early to watch the sunrise but the clouds spoiled the fun. Spent several minutes in the peak before climbing down to fetch some water. Then the descent began. Several slips as we walk down the now very muddy trail (thanks to the hundreds of climbers who have preceded us). Reached Lake Venado. Set up tent and rain again came pouring down. Sleeping bag got wet and the tent was leaking. Uncomfortable sleep. Very cold. Watched a trail of lights across Apo's face, emanating from the headlights of climbers still descending from the peak at night.

Day 4

Rather uneventful day. Continued our descent. Stopped at a campsite for lunch then stopped again for balut and softdrinks. Trekked a river then finally made it to the end of the trail where officials were trying to collect money (exit fees) from climbers. Went away scot-free thanks to Rhab and relaxed at Lake Agco for awhile. On a van bound for Davao City. Really tired. Nice experience.

Apo

2011-04-24T19:47:00.001-07:00

Just climbed Mount Apo.

And I'm guessing most of my posts from hereon will be about this experience.

The Lady In Front

2011-04-24T01:12:00.000-07:00

Let's take a closer look at one peculiar Filipino tradition.

When I was a fan of Jewel In The Palace, I remember watching the closing scene featuring the main protagonist, Jang-geum, walking along the beach with her lover, Min Jung-ho. The man is in front closely followed by the woman.

Now take this. In the Philippines, that's unheard of (if you exclude the Chinese community). Either both man and woman walk together (in the cliche "Holding Hands While Walking" or HHWW scene) or the woman is ahead of the man. It might not mean much but it does show a fairly accurate portrayal of how Filipinos treat Filipinas or women in general.

There's a joke surrounding the practice of women walking behind their man, though. In a thread from the website, TurntoIslam, Barbara Walters, a journalist, was visiting Afghanistan again after a previous stint in the country:

She noted (then) that women customarily walked five paces behind their husbands. Now, she observed that women still walked behind their husbands. Despite the overthrow of the oppressive Taliban regime, the women now seem to, and are happy to, maintain the old custom.

Ms. Walters approached one of the Afghan women and asked, "Why do you now seem happy with an old custom that you once tried so desperately to change?"

The woman looked Ms. Walters straight in the eyes, and without hesitation said, "Land Mines."

The thread would go on to some discussions about the necessity of putting a man in front of a woman, namely, to "shield" the woman from "tsansing" or the inevitable, albeit accidental, brushing of a woman's body against any incoming person. But that's not something I would like to expound on here (since the joke was about an Arabic custom, I prefer that Arabs do the explaining, not me).

For me, having a woman walk in front instead of behind a man reflects our egalitarian structure when it comes to gender. Specifically, there are three points to be mentioned here, all stemming from this practice:

First: the woman sets the pace. Since she's in front, she dictates how fast or how slow the whole party goes. Though this does not spell relief for the bedraggled husband carrying his wife's shopping bags across the mall, it does show how considerate we are to the needs of the opposite sex.

Second: the woman sets the direction of the travel. She dictates where to go because she's in front and she's the boss.

Third: the woman is shown, not hidden. Unlike our Arabic counterparts, we prefer that our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, or our wives/girlfriends walk in front of us and greet everyone else with their beauty and grace.

Basically, this custom, our custom, boils down to respect. We respect our women enough that we allow them to set the pace, dictate directions, and be whoever they want to be. And that's neat, if you ask me.

Text Messages 29

2011-04-20T06:05:00.001-07:00

Mga bagay na ikaiinis mo...
Minor subject na feeling major.
Ipis na ayaw mamatay-matay.
Battery low.
Magsyotang naglalandian sa harap mo.
Tagged photos na wala ka namang pakialam.
Refrigerator na tubig lang ang laman.
Pinsan na sumbungero.
Load na mahirap i-unli.
Classmate mong sipsip.
Pasahero na ayaw i-abot ang bayad mo.
at Chain message na wapakels kung mamatay ka pag di mo na-send sa 25 na tao.
Edwin Gutierrez, January 6, 2011

We don't have everything to enjoy life.
But we have life to enjoy everything.
Always choose to see the nice things.
Life is happier that way.
Mary Ann Andicoy, January 8, 2011

If Cinderella's glass slippers fit perfectly, then why did it fall off along the way?
Maybe it speaks about one important thing:
Igat jud siya! Bilin-bilin aron gukoron!
Si little mermaid, gusto magka-legs aron makabilangkad!
Si sleeping beauty pa, tulog-tulog aron lamutakon!
Si snow white pa, patay-patay aron kamangon!
Kabantay mo? Puro inigat ang gitudlo sa fairy tales!
Edwin Gutierrez, January 9, 2011

GF: When man ta magpakasal?
BF: Asa man nimo gusto magpakasal? Sa pari o sa huwes?
GF: Natural, sa imo! Ihatag man nuon ko sa lain!
Edwin Gutierrez, January 9, 2011

Dili tanan party, malipayon - 3rd party (Ngeek)
Dili tanan 13, dimalas - 13th Month Pay (Yehey)
Dili tanan negative, makapaguol - Pregnancy Test (Whew)
Dili tanan positive, ikalipay - HIV positive (Araay)
Dili tanan hinog, masustansiya - Mata'g Tiki (Eowww)
Mary Ann Andicoy, January 10, 2011

Girlfriend texted Boyfriend.
GF: Han, I cheated. Sorry!
BF: Wow. Really? Me, too. With your best friend so patas na tayo.
GF: Huh?! Sa akong exam uy. Peste ka! Bulag nata!
Mary Ann Andicoy, January 15, 2011

Kinder boy: Can I kiss your hand?
Kinder girl: Why? Is there anything wrong with my lips?
Meet the new generation.
Edwin Gutierrez, January 23, 2011

Na miss taka...

is the common words used if naay maka-kita nimo nga gikan ka sa lugar nga nag-pista.
Na miss taka?
Mary Ann Andicoy, February 5, 2011

Happiness is not something you have in your hands. It's something you carry in your heart. Give it away generously and it will return to you a trillion fold.
Ate Cathy, March 1, 2011

Women always worry about the things Men forget.
Men always worry about the things Women remember.
Reggie Torino, March 1, 2011

Holy Week

2011-04-19T06:31:00.000-07:00

The priest probably knew what we all had in mind. A budding curmudgeon, he went about reprimanding everyone in his homily for choosing to go on vacation during the holy week instead of observing the Lenten traditions of the church.

As for me, I was breezing along, muttering to myself, "Maski unsa pa ingon nimo Father, mukatkat gyapun kog Apo!"

Indeed, I will. This coming Thursday, I'll be joining my brothers and office mates in my first trek. Perhaps, I should feel more guilty about my decision but I was a devout Catholic since I was born and this was the first time (or was this the second?) I'd be spending time away from the church on the Holy Week.

Still, to keep the spirit of the season, I've resolved to remind myself throughout our ascent of this momentous occasion in our salvation history:

"Dear Bro,

I'm climbing Mount Apo this weekend.

Please keep us safe though. And as I climb, remind me of your sacrifice.

As I make my steps, remind me of the steps you took to Calvary.

As I endure the pain in my muscles, remind me of the pain you had to bear.

As I feel the weight of my backpack, remind me of the weight of your cross.

And as I look at the view from above, remind me of how much you've lost to gain all that I know see.

Amen."

Don't Pass The Baton

2011-04-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

Resent not evil.

That's a principle of life I think everyone should encounter. In his book, Holistic Christianity, Joseph Conti talks about this idea which was always meant to change how we deal with everyone. The principle comes from many a typical experience when emotional states, mostly negative, are passed on through us. Someone barks at you, you bark back or worse, you transfer the negative energy to other people through hostile language. Rather than acknowledging these daily usurpations for what they are, we instead go about our motions, mechanically reacting to and internalizing what we have received.

Conti draws up an interesting analogy for this. He invites us to think about life as a relay race. "A baton is handed off from runner to runner and travels far. In much the same way, resentment snakes it way in daily life from person to person as a bewitching baton, causing hurt, confusion, anxiety, bitterness, and emptiness-as one person passes it on to the next, hardly aware of what its passing is costing him, or costing the one who receives this hideous baton."

The solution then? Resent not evil. Accept that all of us are in pain and resolve to not add further to that pain. Conti says it better, "We must try to see things from the other's position, aware of his or her difficulties. He passed on the bewitching baton because he did not know better; now that we are beginning to know better, we must neither internalize it nor pass it back, but dissolve it through the magic of Resent not evil."

"Be kind, for everyone is fighting a great battle (Plato)."

Another analogy comes into mind. This principle invites us to be like human sponges. Although not quite as elegant as the baton, this analogy pretty much stresses the importance of this principle in society. A sponge absorbs dirt, oil, and grime and spews out soap and water, effectively cleansing whatever disgusting dishware you have in your hands. Just like a sponge, we should endeavor to answer every bit of rudeness and anger with good will and kindness. In this way, we help out each other by minimizing the emotions which impede our relations.

I guess such a principle runs contrary to what we are being taught. We've been taught to never bottle up our emotions but instead, let it all out lest these infect our emotional equilibrium. But the principle advises another way; let go of the moment, turn the other cheek, be like JC. In the end, that's a better way to live a life.

Going Acoustic

2011-04-15T08:13:00.001-07:00

Acoustic music: comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. The retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the advent of electric instruments, such as the electric guitar, electric violin, electric organ and synthesizer.

-Wikipedia

I love acoustic. Maybe, that's because I'm a frustrated guitarist or maybe, it simply has to do with the music itself. It's soothing and it never fails to stir something in me.

Pissed

2011-04-15T08:11:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I was tapping away at the keyboard, enjoying a rare, lazy Saturday morning when I encountered this on Facebook:

As for the comments to the photo:
Rg Gumanao: hahahahahaha...buang jud ka karlos!
Rafael Mandala: hahaha bagay
Karlos Manlupig: ‎Rg Gumanao - haha. ikr. Rafael Mandala - thanks. sobrang namotivate ako na maging part ng GPH peacepanel.lol
Rafael Mandala: hahahahahhahahaha
Karlos Manlupig: ‎Rafael Mandala - kapag ako nag-ala Mike Defensor, kasalanan mo talaga ito
Rafael Mandala: hahahhaa bakit ako? haha
Karlos Manlupig: dahil sa pagcomment mo ng "bagay" namotivate ako
Rafael Mandala: bagay na bagay :D
Karlos Manlupig: teka...bagay? saan na party? GPH o NDF? lol
Rafael Mandala: GPH
Karlos Manlupig: scary. pero pwede rin. walang pera sa NDF. mga pulubi. samantalang sa GPH, show me the money.lol
Rafael Mandala: Hahaha. Karlos Manlupig, GPH Chief Peace Consultant, bagay na bagay.
Karlos Manlupig: lul! kinikilabutan ako.
Karlos Manlupig: scary.hahaha
Rafael Mandala: Hahahha. Ka Karlos Manlupig, pwede rin
Ed Xing: lol. ayos ah. :))
Kyle Paolo Tumbiga: Pwede pwede. Haha.

Somehow, the photo and the commentary that followed just rubbed me the wrong way. At first glance, the photo was not offensive actually. It was just Karlos doing a stupid impersonation of Sir Ednar.

But the context was a different story. The picture was presumably taken during a panel discussion between the NDF and the government, one of a series of events underlining the peace talks to end the country's long-standing communist insurgency. In the light of such serious stuff, one is bound to ethically observe a certain sense of propriety and delikadeza, something which Karlos Manlupig isn't exactly known for (and which perfectly explains the circumstance of this photo).

What did me in was this exchange above:

Karlos Manlupig: teka...bagay? saan na party? GPH o NDF? lol
Rafael Mandala: GPH
Karlos Manlupig: scary. pero pwede rin. walang pera sa NDF. mga pulubi. samantalang sa GPH, show me the money.lol

My eye twitched. Now, I understood the photo for what it was. It was a taunt, an accidental (or is it deliberate?) undermining of the efforts and motives of one of the government's more competent panel members to date. What are the reasons that would compel a young NDF member to pose for such a picture? You can imagine these reasons yourselves and none would be because he simply admires Sir Ed.

So, as the avid interloper, I commented:

"I know Sir Ednar Dayanghirang personally and he's genuinely, passionately concerned about bringing an end to this conflict. And this is what he gets for his troubles? An activist doing a mocking impression behind a nametag bearing his name? I can't believe you guys. Hindi ito cool dude."

In truth, maybe I was stretching the word "personally" quite a bit. But I can say I know Sir Ednar better than Karlos does. I remember that weekday morning when I was a guest in his house, sipping coffee, while listening to him talk about his recent appointment by the President as a peace panel member.

Surprisingly, when he was young, he was also an activist and that spirit of civic involvement that made him one, he carried on until today. He communed with farmers, the masses, knew their needs, understood the other side of the fence, so to speak. He was aware that he was making history, a history that should end with the cessation of all hostilities. For years, he admitted, past administrations had been coasting through the peace talks, hoping time will erode the insurgency. But that tactic no longer worked and it was his job to address the issues squarely in the face, the issues which have kept the insurgency burning till now, and bring about the long-awaited peace.

Did I interpret the photo too seriously? I don't think so. If the tables were reversed and it was, say, Norberto Gonzales, Jr. doing an impression of Fidel Agcaoili, I'm sure the NDF will find offense and will surely smell blood.

So I said what I said. Because Sir Ednar doesn't deserve this. Because we, the nation, do not deserve this as well.

Text Messages 28

2011-03-16T06:18:00.000-07:00

Wondering why falling stars don't make your wishes come true?
It's because the person whom you wished for was also wishing for another one.
Obviously, not you. Ouch.
Mary Anne Andicoy, December 12, 2010

Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us lost and confused.-Paulo Coelho, The Zahir.
Mary Anne Andicoy, December 5, 2010

Ilang araw na lang, Pasko na. Have you said sorry sa mga taong nasaktan mo?
Have you said thank you sa mga taong nag-aalaga at nagmamahal sa iyo?
I'll start with you. Sorry kung may nagawa man akong mali o nasabi na nakasakit sa kalooban mo. Thank you sa mga nagawa mong mabuti at sa mga nasabi mong nakapagbibigay ligaya sa akin. Now, hope na maramdaman mo yung pagmamahal ko para sa iyo. Advance Merry Christmas:)
Unknown number, December 6, 2010

Pedro in war with MILF:
Pedro: Surrender na mo!
MILF: Mu-surrender lang mi kung ma-spell nimo ang ceasefire!
Pedro: Padayun ang giyera! Dugmokon sila! Padalhan mo nakog chrysanthemum sa inyong lubong!
MILF: Spell chrysanthemum?!
Pedro: Ingon ko rose! Patay kung patay! Wala lay spellingay!
Edwin Gutierrez, December 12, 2010

Masarap magmahal ng dalawa. Isa, mahalaga. Isa, pinapaasa. Pag wala ang isa, pwede sa isa. Pero what if mawala sila pareho? Hahanap ka pa ba? O haharapin mo na lang ang salitang, "Dapat pala tatlo sila." LOL.
Edwin Gutierrez, December 13, 2010

Prayer sa bata: Lord, Lord, unta si Jose Rizal na lang ang nagpatay ke Magellan. Unta lang jud Lord. Amen.
(Nadunggan siya sa iyang tatay)
Tatay: Ngano diay to nak?
Bata: Mao man gud ako answer sa exam, tay!
Mary Anne Andicoy, December 19, 2010

Today, I realized that in the absence of presents and packages, the best Christmas gift you can give someone is still your yourself. So if you didn't get anything from me, don't worry because you're in for something better. Hope you had a meaningful Christmas day. Thank you for being a gift to me, and let's all continue being a gift to others.
Melissa Penaflor, December 26, 2010

Lady went into a car store and saw the most beautiful car and bent over to touch the upholstery when unexpectedly, nakautot siya. Trying to cover up, she asked:
Dong, pilay presyo ani?
Salesman: I'm sorry to say, kung nakautot ka paghikap pa lang gani, makaigit jud ka kung makadungog ka sa presyo.
Mary Anne Andicoy, December 31, 2010

I am what I am today because of the things that God has allowed me to experience and the people that He has blessed me with. Thank you for being an instrument of God's love and faithfulness in my life. Praying for you a blessed and fruitful 2011! God bless you always.
Leo Gimeno, January 1, 2011

Sabi ng baboy sa lechonero:
Just gonna stand there and watch me burn but that's all right because I love the way it hurts.
Mary Anne Andicoy, January 2, 2011

Wala ug Tu-o

2011-03-11T15:02:00.000-08:00

Just a gentle reminder for me:

Wala is Bisaya for left because it has an "L" in it.

Tu-o is Bisaya for right because it has a "T" in it.

Check.

I love writing short posts.

Palm Reading

2011-03-11T15:01:00.000-08:00

And there was Ma'am Lilia. I didn't know she was a palm reader until she proceeded to read mine. Setting aside the callouses in my right hand, her findings were the following:

1.) Mudato ko basta magpursige lang.
2.) Mu-asawa kog duwa ka beses.
3.) Dali lang mawala ang kwarta sa akong kamut. Dapat, kung manghatag man ug kwarta, ang wala ang gamitun.

Very surprising actually. But, deep inside, I can't help admitting there's a grain of truth in what she just said.

Gym

2011-02-28T14:34:00.001-08:00

I'm going to a gym now.

Actually, this is the first time I'm doing so. Still fresh from the hospital after my bout with dengue (it's been over a week now), I think I need this to gain back any loss in body mass. Muscles feel like they've shrunk a bit after endless hours in bed so I guess this is a good thing.

Looking back, I've actually been interested before in going to a gym. That was courtesy of Kit, who was an avid Fitness First "gymmer" (his self-coined word). He was trying to lose some unwanted baby fat and to attract possible boyfriends in the process (Fitness First, after all, is quite a popular place for gays. If you were straight, you would prefer going to Gold's Gym or somewhere else instead so as not to be "mislabeled"). I was intrigued by his newly found routine especially since he would ask me every now and then if his waist had gotten slimmer. It even came to a point when he invited everyone of us in the Casibang Compound to try the gym's facilities (where we were promptly greeted by a saleslady who asked us point blank when we were planning to enroll and pay).

But the interest sort of faded. It was a combination of factors, I presume. First, the cost was prohibitive and even Kit would lament at how much of his salary goes to paying Fitness First. Second, I saw no need for it. I wasn't eating any breakfast in Manila and my portions were small. I was in no way getting obese with my anorexic diet.

Then, this year, Sir Ramy, Tonton, and Rhab came along and I began saying, "Why not?" They've been working out in Dover Fitness Center, a no-frills gym in downtown Davao for over a month already. The fee was minimal and I had the benefit of going out with office mates instead of working out alone. Plus, the dengue episode really did make me insecure about my body image.

So off I went. If you were to ask me if I'll be sticking it out, then I would tell you , "I honestly don't know". But who even knows, right?

Now, how do I get those washboard abs? Hmmm...

Celtics Trade

2011-02-25T04:53:00.000-08:00

The Celtics just traded away Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson.

Shame on you, Danny Ainge. Yeah, you would have probably lost Kendrick Perkins anyway to free agency later. But, even just for this season, you could have given the Big Three their best chance at winning no. 18 by sticking with what you had. Now, I dread to say that, perhaps, with this decision, you've single-handedly closed the window.

Go Oklahoma Thunder.

Missing A Family Tradition

2011-02-20T14:17:00.013-08:00

There was a time when every week night, at approximately eight o'clock, my family would gather around the living room and pray.

Watching Basketball

2011-02-20T14:17:00.009-08:00

I rarely watch basketball nowadays. But there was a time when I was a fan of a basketball team.

I was a fourth year college student back then in 2007. During that special second semester, I got lucky with my class schedule, which allowed me a lot of free time in the morning and in the afternoon. Since we had no helper then, I used the free time to do some household chores, chief of which was the almost-daily task of folding clothes.

My only consolation during this boring routine was that I got to watch television and my viewing habit coincided with ABC's live telecast of PBA games. It was the first (and probably the last) time I would get to watch almost every game of a PBA All-Filipino Cup, from the opening ceremony right down to the Finals night.

At the start, I was a bit naive about the teams in the PBA so I began by rooting for the underdogs: Air21 and Sta. Lucia. However, Air21 really stunk (I mean, really stunk) on their first game during opening night so I shifted my loyalty to Sta. Lucia.

I didn't expect much from the team, though. I was rooting for an underdog, after all. But, after a couple of early losses, the team finally got wins. And win they did. Again and again, the team pounded the other teams to submission with their relentless, blue-collar defense. Their offense, primarily delivered by Kelly Williams and Ryan Reyes, often disappeared at times but the team prevailed through sheer grit and hustle.

The Realtors were fascinating to behold, a world apart from the sheen and glamour of the Magnolia, Alaska, and Purefoods squads, and as their winning streak continued, so did my excitement escalate: I could be watching the next championship squad blossoming before my very eyes.

History would prove my hunch right and the Sta. Lucia Realtors won its second championship in 2008 (Green would be the color of that year in basketball. Later, the Boston Celtics, another team I rooted for, won the NBA championship).

And that's how my life as a basketball fan started and ended. By the next season, I didn't watch PBA anymore (Excuse: work) nor did I want to watch. The Sta. Lucia team divested themselves of some key players and the "aura" just wasn't there anymore.

Still, it was fun while it lasted.

Taboan 2011

2011-02-20T14:17:00.007-08:00

For me, I'll continue to deny that Taboan 2011 happened. I wasn't there so it never did exist.

Curse you, mosquito. I'll squish you like you were a..uhrmm...mosquito.

Don't let me catch you flying around me. Ever.

Whale Warriors

2011-02-20T14:17:00.005-08:00

The Whale Warriors.

Just finished a book by Peter Heller about his journey aboard the Farley Mowat, a hardy ship operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The book chronicles the ship's expedition to the Antarctic as it chases the elusive Nisshin Maru, a Japanese whaling ship.

Although determinedly biased, the book nevertheless depicts a picture of intense drama, painting a world of foolhardy activists pitted against professionally-trained crews pursuing the last of the great Antarctic whale herds.

It's a riveting book which casts an unforgiving eye on both the international community's lax enforcement of conservation policies and the activists' own virtues and deficiencies.

For those familiar with the Whale Wars, this book is a welcome resource to Captain Watson's advocacy to stop whaling.

Note: Yeah, I suck at book reviews but I wasn't making one. I simply wrote this post in the slight hope that you'll click on the links and support this advocacy too.

Tito Eddie's Claim To Fame

2011-02-20T14:17:00.003-08:00

What will follow is my Tito Eddie's first online article. The back story goes like this. I was fresh from my first hospitalization after 22 years. Tito Eddie had dropped by the house to check up on us. It came about that I was surfing the net when he arrived and, out of our chitchat, I got to know that he actually wrote something for Durian Post.

I read the article and excitedly told my uncle to write some more. The question is: what if more of us were writers? Just imagine the possibilities...

MY HIC STORY
A TESTIMONY
By EDDIE T. EVANGELIO

My first encounter with the Holy Infant Community (HIC), officially registered as Communitas Sancti Infantis with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), goes back to the time when I came back to Nabunturan in 1991 from my almost four (4) years of stay in Metro Manila where I assisted the couple Mr. and Mrs. Alexander L. Bon in their banana and hog marketing business. I came back home to Nabunturan because my family doesn’t want to come with me to Metro Manila to set up our own business there of whatever.

Here in Nabunturan with my modest savings of a little more than Twenty Thousand Pesos (PhP20,000.00), I was lured into venturing in small scale gold mining at Sitio Nuknukan in Bukal, Nabunturan, Davao del Norte (now Compostela Valley). My savings went down the drain with not even a milligram of gold to show. My farm at P-2 Pangutusan then was not yet productive and I was out of work.

My wife Fely mentioned of a Spiritual Instrument Myra _________ (now at Buringot) who happened to visit her at NNCHS (Nabunturan National Comprehensive High School) where my wife worked as Values and Guidance Coordinator. This Myra, then only fourteen (14) years of age, has gone into a long fasting of two hundred (200) days and she was then at NNCHS to invite Mrs. Teresita Juson to attend her graduation, the culmination of her 200 days of fasting. She mentioned that if you attend the weekly prayer meetings of the Holy Infant Community (HIC) at Mawab, Davao del Norte (now Compostela Valley) and you request the group to help you pray for your intentions, your intentions will be granted. So I asked my wife Fely to do so and pray that I’ll soon find a job. That’s how I landed being a General Manager of the Davao Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives (DAFEDACO). It was while holding that job that I finally became a regular auxiliary member of the Holy Infant Community (HIC) here in Nabunturan.

The first time I attended a HIC activity was when the HIC group of Nabunturan went to have a picnic at Omandac Beach Resort at Mabini, Davao del Norte (now Compostela Valley). My wife asked me to join in so I took a day off from my office and went with the group. I maintained a comfortable distance from the prayer meeting held there with Spiritual Instrument Temia Libuit then in a trance as the Holy Infant. That evening back at Nabunturan, I attended for the first time a prayer meeting scheduled at Ms. Norma Descallar’s residence. Feeling very awkward and in order to avoid getting any attention since I was already late and the prayer meeting had already began, I entered through the kitchen door and joined the prayer meeting at the farthest end at the back so I don’t appear very visible. Much to my discomfort then when the Spiritual Instrument Temia Libuit in a trance said to Norma Descallar,”Why did you allow my enemy to enter?” I felt very small upon hearing this because I just came in and I felt alluded to. When Norma asked, “Who did I let in, Lord?” I tried to hide the more so I will not be seen. If only I could escape unnoticed, I have already done so. When the Lord said, “Ang kahigwaos, ang kasuya, ug ang kalagot sa nangulo ning HIC nga wala magpakita ug pagpakabana sa grupo samtang nangadto mo sa pagpangaligo ug pagsalusalo didto sa beach karong adlawa, nganong gitugutan mo man kini dinha kanimo? Tungod niini, pagasilotan ko ikaw.” I felt a rush of relief within me upon hearing this. But because of this, Norma will be punished. It was here that Mrs. Teresita “Terry” Juson intervened, “Instead of punishing Norma, Lord, let me be the one punished.” So the Lord faced her and she suddenly fell to the floor and rolled over. Terry let out a piercing scream of pain while rolling over and her face became so red. We were all terrified and prayed loudly to the Lord to have mercy and to stop the punishment. The Lord heeded our cry for mercy and immediately stopped the punishment. I was very shaken by what I have just witnessed. What have I gotten myself into?

The next night my wife prodded me to again attend a prayer meeting, so I accompanied her to said prayer meeting. This time Fr. Reynaldo Moso was there and he justified and related this HIC movement as one of the answers in coping with the church’s growth. I heaved a sigh of relief that at least HIC is not a cult and here is a Catholic priest, well versed in Canon Law, who is at hand guiding us the faithful in this kind of apostolate. I was fortunate that the next time around that I attended a prayer meeting, Fr. Jose “Jong” Sison also attended and further enlightened us in the HIC apostolate. I was greatly reassured. I needed to be reassured then because HIC was and until now is not yet recognized by the Bishop of the Diocese of Tagum as an apostolate of the Catholic Church. At that time also I really felt ashamed of being known that I, supposedly enlightened and educated, would cater to this weird kind of apostolate still unrecognized by the Catholic Church.

Let us go back to my work at DAFEDACO. My job as DAFEDACO General Manager did not last long. After a year, I quitted the job because of a collection problem created by my staffs who without my knowledge were trying to make a sideline and earn extra income. I was again jobless, but not for long. My wife attended the house-to-house prayer meeting of the HIC here in Nabunturan and expressed her intention that I find a job once again. Soon enough I met the General Manager of MASS-SPECC Mr. Guillermo Cua and he asked me to head the branch office of the Mindanao Alliance of Self-Help Societies – Southern Philippines Educational Cooperative Center (MASS-SPECC) at Davao City. Once again I have a job: as a Branch Manager of MASS-SPECC, Davao City. It was also during my stint at MASS-SPECC that I got appointed as Board Member of DANECO (Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative) to serve the unexpired term of Dr. Luisito Mojica who opted to run again for Mayor of Nabunturan. I was doing well at MASS-SPECC while simultaneously serving as Board Member of DANECO until the term of Dr. Mojica expired. It was as Board Member of DANECO that I met a lot of hassle and a lot of problems thrown my way. The DANECO General Manager, Atty. Jose Amacio, has been mandated to retire and he has recommended Engr. Vicente Tiu to replace him while positioning himself as DANECO Consultant with a far bigger salary. I opted for Mr. Edgar Savellano to replace him as General Manager and also chose not to have any Consultant in order to save extra cost. Because of my stand, I got the ire of Atty. Jose Amacio, the General Manager, and considered me as a persona non grata. He rallied the rest of the members of the Board and I lost very badly on my stand. Engr. Vicente Tiu got the position of General Manager on the strength of eight (8) votes against three (3) by the members of the Board of Directors while Atty. Jose Amacio got the position of Consultant on the strength of ten (10) votes against my lone dissent. Fortunately after that, former Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez retired/resigned as Chairman of the National Electric Commission and Fr. ______ Silva, then a member of said Commission, was recommended to take over his place creating a vacancy in the membership of said Commission. Because of that and because Atty. Jose Amacio also expressed his interest, the Board, on the strength of my motion duly seconded and unanimously carried, highly recommended him to take the place of Fr. Silva as member of the Commission. But this motion did not prosper because Fr. Silva opted to stay as just a member of the Commission while the chairmanship of the Commission went to the Secretary of the Department of Energy. All these while and because of all these problems that I encountered as Board Member of DANECO, I involved myself more and more with the Holy Infant Community where I poured out all these problems. The Holy Infant Community became my solace and my sanctuary.

Other problems of DANECO came one after the other fast. We had DANECO registered with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) as a stock cooperative. Until now this has not been fully resolved. The whole Board of DANECO then except Mr. Gilbert Rosit was charged in court by Atty. Jose Amacio for syndicated estafa. At that time the whole Board of Directors stood for DANECO as a stock cooperative duly registered with the Cooperative Development Authority. Atty. Jose Amacio also became the Consultant of the Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) owned by Aboitiz who manifested very strongly of taking over the management of DANECO. Fortunately the syndicated estafa case did not prosper and soon after that Atty. Jose Amacio died thus closing the book to Aboitiz’s bid to take over DANECO’s management. Engr. Vicente Tiu also got into management trouble and not long after also died a broken man. Mr. Edgar Savellano, Nabunturan HIC President, took over as the General Manager of DANECO. His troubles with DANECO have just begun.

But before all of the above took place, however, I was no longer a Board Member of DANECO. My term has already expired and when I ran for election as DANECO Board Member, I lost by a mile. Then also while I was holding office at MASS-SPECC Davao City Branch, this American woman Lois Kitch came over for orientation re cooperative situation in Region XI. Ms. Lois Kitch happens to be the newly designated Director of the USAID-funded Credit Union Empowerment and Strengthening Program (CUES-Philippines), a new cooperative program for implementation in the whole of Region XI. I gave her not only a thorough briefing of the cooperative situation in Region XI but also insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the cooperatives within this part of the country. I must have impressed her because not long after that, she wanted me to apply as a Credit Management Analyst at CUES-Philippines. The salary and fringe benefits were very attractive so I sought counsel and permission from MASS-SPECC management who were just too happy to give their support to my moves. I was already employed at CUES-Philippines when the move to set up the Holy Infant Community in Davao City began. Because of the message of our Lord using Spiritual Instrument Mr. Rogelio Digamon telling me to relate and coordinate with Mrs. Jennifer “Bea” Lim for the setting up of HIC Davao City, I got involved. In spite of the hassles and problems besetting me at CUES-Philippines, I managed to attend the weekly prayer meetings conducted in different residences within Davao City. It came to a point where we were able to finally set up our HIC Prayer House at IWHA and I was elected as the first President of the Holy Infant Community at Davao City. On the other hand, the conditions of my work at CUES-Philippines took turn for the worse. It was not my work per se but the relationship among personnel of CUES-Philippines that had gotten worse. It was neither the physical type nor the verbal abuse, but rather the subtle competition and professional jealousy that had gotten off-hand. To the point that I could not take it anymore and I opted to resign from a high paying job on the pretext that I go into setting up my own business. I did really go into business after I resigned but they all went pfttt. My capital went down the drain, I was out of work, and I have to close my losing business. I resigned from my position as President of HIC Davao City and went back home to Nabunturan to seek for greener pasture and hope that things will turn out for the better. Presidency of HIC Davao City went to Mr. Boy Gentalian, Sales Manager of Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company based in Davao City.

Back here in Nabunturan, I applied for work as Community Affairs Officer (CAO) at the Provincial Government of Compostela Valley headed by Gov. Jose R. Caballero. On the strength of the recommendations of both Mr. Mesael Caballero and Mr. Harry Ebba, I was immediately taken in as Community Affairs Officer in the Community Affairs Development Section (CADS) headed by Fr. Fernando Juab who just took over the position vacated by Atty. Mario Sapilan. Atty. Sapilan, by the way, became the Prison Warden immediately after passing the BAR Examination.

I was like a turtle thrown into a river when I became a Community Affairs Officer. I was at home with my work and I was assigned in my own hometown of Nabunturan. While serving as Community Affairs Officer of the Provincial Government of Compostela Valley, I continued attending to the affairs of the HIC and supporting its activities. Even the controversial setting up of the Home for the Sick here at Nabunturan, I fully supported it to the point of being shunned by the other members of the Community.

During the election of 2001, I resigned as CAO and ran for Municipal Councilor of Nabunturan at the urging of Mr. Mesael Caballero who also ran for Mayor. Both of us lost very badly at said election. But I managed to have my son Kim be employed at the Provincial Government through Gov. Jose R. Caballero who got reelected. For one year after that I didn’t have a steady job so I spent my time tending to my farm at Pangutusan and also made known my occupation of our long abandoned timberland area at Upper Cabidianan, Nabunturan, Compostela Valley Province. There I have the timberland (already cogonal) area cleared and planted it with five hundred (500) coconuts. I also constructed a hut there for shelter. All these to no avail, however, because all the coconuts that I’ve planted were eaten away by rats and whatever remained were all burnt out by a big brushfire. Fortunately, the hut was spared from the brushfire through a quick response from our nearest neighbor Mr. Leonardo Emia and his wife.

After a year of being a farm boy, my brother Loyloy told me the Assumption College of Nabunturan (ACN) is eyeing me to be one of the College faculty members and that if interested, would I please see Sr. Clarita Villaflor, the ACN President? I did and for the next two years I served as ACN College faculty member. I still desired to continue with my teaching at the ACN after that but my new employment as Personnel Officer at Shinsung Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd., a Korean company, made it impossible for me to balance the two (2) jobs. So I have to resign from ACN and concentrate on my new job at Shinsung E & C Co., Ltd. Up to this time I’m still here with this company at its project site at Km. 92 Magsaysay, Nabunturan, Compostela Valley Province supposedly up to the end of this particular Shinsung project.

All these while, I just placed my fate in the hands of the Lord and actively involved myself in the HIC activities. From the time I lost in the 2001 election to my sorties in developing my two (2) farms, to my being a College instructor, and to my being a Personnel Officer at Shinsung E &C Co., Ltd., I consider these as the workings of God in me. Because of my involvement with the HIC which I consider my apostolate as a Roman Catholic faithful, I have developed a new outlook in life and a more vigorous attitude towards my faith. The HIC deepened my spirituality and strengthened further my relationship with God.

THIS IS MY TESTIMONY.

First Day Low

2011-02-20T14:17:00.001-08:00

So this is what it feels like.

Reporting for work after my dengue episode, I was pretty much in high spirits as I entered the office. I remember smiling then, simply happy that I was back to regular programming and also reassuring everyone that all was well.

However, all was not really well. Let's just say my body wasn't up for it as I thought it would be. Folders were strewn across my desk, begging for my attention. The phone kept ringing. And the clients kept visiting. I barely had time to catch up on the pending transactions for the past two weeks when other tasks came up. Again and again.

By mid-morning, fatigue had already set in. I was tired and stressed.

So I did what any normal employee would do. I tuned out and began coasting all throughout the day. Clearly, in my condition, I couldn't do any productive work yet so I treated myself to simply making sense of everything before me. I studied the files, organized my working documents for the next day, and talked to everyone just to catch up on lost time. I also went home early.

That was my first day, post-dengue.

Dengue

2011-02-20T14:15:00.001-08:00

Dengue finally got me.

I should have seen it coming, though. My little sister succumbed to it a few days earlier. And Mama had suspected that was the case for my brother as well (who weathered the entire episode by simply staying in his room).

Before I was confined to the hospital, my other brother had initially paved the way for me. He went home from school with a fever and, although our first presumption was he got the flu, he had his blood tested the following day. Things went fast after that. Test confirmed it was dengue and he was shipped off to Brokenshire for observation.

I managed to work for two days before finally giving up. On Monday night, I was feeling sluggish already. Tuesday morning, I had a fever coming to town. That night, I couldn't sleep well, alternating between bouts of sweat and fever. Wednesday morning, I had myself tested and later that morning, it was off to the hospital to be observed.

My other sister followed suit several days after and we were pretty much a pathetic sight in the hospital: a private room with three beds, all occupied by three patients struck down by the same mosquito(s).

It's funny how one puny insect can wreak havoc into our lives. I missed close to two weeks of work, not to mention the many hours spent staring at the ceiling, wondering if it's my fate that I bleed to death.

My brother couldn't afford to be so placid. His condition was complicated by a ruptured spleen (I think) and my parents were worried sick trying to make his platelet count go up, even to the point of defying the nurse's orders at some point.

All in all, the experience really impressed on me the value of my health. This was my first prolonged confinement in the hospital and it wasn't a comfortable experience. However, I was one of the privileged ones, a fact that I had to remind myself over and over again during my stay and whenever I felt cross and frustrated: I was in a hospital; I had a doctor; and apart from this nuisance of a disease, I was going to be fine.

Indeed, God has a funny way of reminding us of our blessings.

I Believe In The Historical Jesus

2011-02-20T14:14:00.002-08:00

When I was in college, Dan Brown introduced his controversial book, The Da Vinci Code. What made the book especially notorious was the introduction of an alternative history about Jesus Christ radically different from what the Catholic Church has maintained.

In the book, it is "revealed" that Jesus Christ fathered a child, through Mary Magdalene, and thus a lineage had formed, out of which, a descendant shall rise and rule the world.

To this theory, I. Howard Marshall, a well-known theologian, had this to say in his book, I Believe In The Historical Jesus:

On Saturday, 16th November, 1996, the Daily Mail began a serialized article based on a book called The Holy Grail by Laurence Gardner, which was introduced as follows:

A new book claims that Jesus, far from being a meek religious martyr, was a revolutionary politician who faked his own death, married Mary Magdalene and fathered three children by her, starting a bloodline which carries down to the present day...

The introduction surprisingly went on to say 'Committed Christians will justifiably reject its conclusions'! However, you do not need to be a Christian, but simply a historical scholar committed to the impartial weighing of evidence, to see that much of what is said here about Jesus is a tissue of unsubstantiated conjecture.

Indeed, as Mr. Marshall had argued in his book, much of the emergent portraits of Jesus which have somehow found itself into mainstream culture are purely sensational at best. Although he is quick to admit that, yes, historians can reliably work on only a small, meager set of historical evidence detailing Jesus' life and ministry, we do "have good grounds for affirming the possibility of researching the Jesus-tradition and establishing many historical facts about his life and teaching."

Thus, any alternative interpretation of Jesus' life must be weighed against premises clearly grounded on historical fact for it to be judged as plausible.

Vegetarian Me

2011-02-20T14:14:00.001-08:00

Chop suey taught me how to eat veggies. It was one of those lunches in my lola's place where I had my first encounter with this dish. At first, I simply learned to love eating (or slurping) the "sauce", the thick liquid lying at the bottom of the bowl sporting the combined punch of all the ingredients in the dish. Then, I graduated eating the "subak", the small cuts of meat, deliberately mixed into the fray to provide some added flavor and protein.

Afterwards came the hardest part of my training: eating the actual vegetables themselves. And, like any child would tell you, this is the part we dread the most. I gagged, vomited, choked my way into forcing my body to accept munching on these foreign objects until the time came when eating vegetables became second nature.

Still, I did not crave vegetables. Yes, I've learned to eat it but I wasn't necessarily looking for it. Oftentimes, I would find myself nitpicking pansit, making sure no vegetable got its way into my extended fork.

Finally, vegetables became a part of my diet but it was a product of circumstance. I was in Manila then and, being the occasional miser, I chose the cheapest dish I could get whenever I fancied saving more money. Obviously, that dish would be pure, unadulterated vegetables and there I found my motivation.

It's amazing what people will do for money. In my case, I forced myself to like eating vegetables because I paid for it. Leaving anything on my plate un-eaten felt like a terrible waste of money.

From then on, I graduated to eating more veggies. Still, my mother would frown at us not eating enough but, then again, she doesn't see what I eat outside the house. If karma is indeed real, I could even be a goat in my next life, considering the amount of leaves I chew on.

Anybody a fan of the show, Veggie Tales?