City lights

This morning, THE Carlos Celdran posted a badass shout out on Facebook.

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH HIM. I don't want to generalize Makati residents but we all know which type of Makati people he's talking about. If Greenbelt is your thing, fine. No problem. But don't ever judge something you've never seen or experienced.

Regardless where you live, before you whine about the stench of Manila Bay, or the squatters on the streets, try, for once to look at the amazing sunset at the bay, the majestic CCP, immerse yourself in some real culture at the National Museum and walk the walls of Intramuros (Visit Casa Manila ok?). If not satisfied, go ahead and whine. BUT IF YOU HAVEN'T TRIED AT ALL, SHUT THE EFFF UP AND DO YOUR PART.

I've never lived in Manila but I frequent the place. My brother lived in Taft for college, I've been to Intramuros a lot of times, went to Divisoria a couple of times, walked along Escolta and Binondo, eat at Ma Mon Luk, hear mass at Quiapo whenever I get the chance to. I pretty much experienced some of Manila. I've yet to experience Hobbit House, Cafe Adriatico, La Scala, and the 'old school' activities but I'm raring to do it! I just need a buddy. :)

In hindsight, I just realized that every time I get home from a day in Manila, I am always filled with satisfaction even if I'm tired. With Makati, more often than not it's stressful. I dunno why.

I guess what I'm saying is, at the end of the day Makati is just a city where people go to work and earn and Manila is a home. The cradle of heritage and culture that Makati malls (and even the M museum) just can't beat.

Of course Quezon City is my home but I'd pick Manila heart over Makati hype anytime.

What's brewing? plus my social experiment

Haven't posted lately because I've been busy with a lot of things like sleeping. hahaha Kidding aside, I really am busy. It's Dad's 50th birthday this Sunday, I'm leaving in 4 days (gotta pack!), it's my brother's prom (apparently it is my task to pick a suit for him), and I'm working on a new idea. It's been making my late night internet hours productive, and it's been putting my skills to a test. Will reveal more when I'm less busy.

Another reason which occupied my week was, ever since last weekend, my brother has been experiencing on-and-off fever. Last night we were having Japanese dinner at RaiRaiKen at the mall, when I noticed rashes on my brother's arms. He wasn't feeling weak or anything. But his temperature was pretty hot. Shempre, Mom and Dad got nervous coz it might be dengue so after dinner we decided to go to the emergency room of St.Paul's Hospital just to be sure.

A junior med intern interviewed him if he had allergies, asthma, whatever illness history, and then at the end of the many questions, she asked (in dialect) "So ano ba talaga yung reason bat ka nagpadoctor ngayon?" MYGOSH I flipped talaga! ATEH ANUBEEEH?! Good thing I was there when she asked. Ako na yung sumagot (in Tagalog/Filipino) "Kasi tatlong araw na siyang nilalagnat" in a very factual bordering 'are you stupid' tone. I couldn't help but do a little glare. MYGOSH SA DAMI NG TINANONG MO, AKO PA TALAGA MAGDA-DIAGNOSE SA SAKIT NG KAPATID KO? Super major kaloka talaga yung tanong niya. I whispered to mom to talk to her in Tagalog.

Side story about speaking in Tagalog. In the first few weeks of my stay here in Iloilo, I did a social experiment. Basically all I have to do is talk to people in Tagalog- when ordering food, when inquiring about a service or product, when shopping. The result? Apparently, they get taranta when you speak to them in Tagalog. Consequently, they pay a closer attention to you with the aim to impress you with their hospitality. Yung tipong 'ayaw mapahiya' kasi taga ibang lugar ka. It is both good and bad for me. Good because I get good customer service. Bad because it seems like they don't treat fellow Ilonggos (by that I mean those who speak to them in our dialect) the same way they treat Tagalog-speaking customers.

It's a very typical Pinoy character to put our best foot forward in front of foreigners. Palagi tayo nagpapa-impress sa mga dayuhan. Bakit sa kanila lang? Don't we deserve the same hospitality that these foreigners receive? Tayo na nga ang magkaka lahi, tayo pa ang nagmamaramot. What's a genuine smile or a little more attention to Filipino customers? We're paying the same price! we want the same service.

Of course living in Manila did raise my standards. In Manila, attendants are really nice (in general) and well, attentive. haha You raise your hand for your bill and in a seconds (okay, maybe a minute) , your bill is on your table. Here in the province, you raise your hand and they only notice you after a few waves to call their attention. While Manila waiters are busy making sure your orders are complete and your glass is filled with water or bottomless iced tea, waiters here in the province are busy looking at the foreigner's table, or making usyoso at the table of the pretty lady or the gays' table, or talking to each other until you do drastic hand waves and finger flicks, and they FAHAAAYNALLEHH take notice. Manila waiters are trained to spot a raised hand in their peripheral vision. But of course, this is not to say all restaurants in Iloilo are like that. There also a lot which have good service.

I guess my point is, we have to be Filipinos not just by blood, or in language, but at heart. We are never truly Filipino when we do not treat our fellow Filipinos the way we treat foreigners. We will never be Filipinos when we keep seeing ourselves as second class citizens. We are treated as second class citizens in other countries, we can't afford to still be second class in our own country. We are first class here in the Philippines. We all deserve first class service, first class smiles and first class attention.

Oh, and that junior intern? Mom said "kung ako instructor nun, hindi ko yun ipapasa!" hahaha You can say we had a good laugh. But that's after the incident na. Joop's tourniquet test was positive but the blood tests were negative. It's just trangkaso.

Been thinking a lot lately :)

Ohmygosh looong and rainy afternoon today. I tried to wake up at 9 am but I was sooo sleepy and it was a cold morning so who could resist a few more minutes of sleep right? At 10:30 I finally forced myself to get out of the bed. I was still sooo sleepy my eyes were still shut while preparing hot water for my coffee. I know you know the feeling because I'm pretty sure you've been through this. :))

It started raining while I was preparing to go to Comelec. I really really wanna go and register because my conscience will haunt me in the next 6 years if I don't do my responsibility as a citizen. OMG, I had to ride a jeep from our village to get to Quezon City Hall because there are no buses or fx that cover that route. (I've mentioned a few times on this blog that I don't ride jeeps except when I'm in the UP campus because it's sooo hard to breathe in jeepneys.) In fairness to the rain, it lessened the amount of dust particles I inhaled during the ride. haha

Meters away from the Comelec building, I can already see the line! OMG I wanted to faint. hahaha Because last week when I went there (the day we were sent home haha), there was barely any line. I was even able to sit on their bench. So there I was, getting wet because of the rain and sweat, asking random people what each line was for. I was able to submit my forms pretty fast but I had to wait along with so many people to be called back for our assigned schedules. It began to rain again so some of us had to seek shelter under the narrow part of the building which had a roof. Beside me was a mother and her 3 month old baby. There were old people, students, regular employees who probably took the day off to register. 

Those minutes of waiting really made me see how much the Filipinos want change. People stand there in looong lines just so they can make sure they do their part in changing the country. But I believe there's more than enduring long lines now and placing our thumb marks on the 10th of May. We have to help ourselves too. Like the trash that clog the water system of NCR. We can't just expect garbage contractors, the local government and the environmental advocates to clean that up. We need to stop littering in the first place. I hope people who live near the esteros realize how much they can do to change even just the trash problem here in Manila. Or the people who don't pay proper taxes. They can't just use up and earn from our resources and not give back to this country. 

Sometimes I think that those people who don't genuinely care for our country should just leave. I know it's a harsh comment but why should our country take care of someone who doesn't care for her?

And this population dilemma? IT HAS TO STOP. I thought there are only 88 million Filipinos. But no. We've reached the line of 9. Read this article. Stop making babies if you can't feed and send them to school! One class in UP (I think it's Econ) explains overpopulation this way. It seems like poorer families have more children compared to those who live a comfortable life. And why is this? Because they think of their children as assets who will make lives better for them in the future. So more children=more assets=more improvement in their lives. NOT! Because before their children become assets, they start as liabilities that parents need to spend on and take care of until they are ready to make money and improve their family's life. But that's sooo not gonna happen because if they can't eat three times a day, how can they possibly send their children to school, how will the children learn and will they ever gonna get a decent job to improve their standards of living? Only outliers can contradict this trend.

Also, according to the documentaries I've seen, families in far flung areas or provinces have many children because they have no other past time. They don't have televisions, no books to read, no internet, no radio and some don't even have electricity. Nothing really keeps them preoccupied. So when nighttime comes, all they do is some cuddling and you-know-what's-next. Then, surprise! A baby bump! 

These little problems we have, when combined, create a huuuuge problem. If each person throws a candy wrapper, then 92 million wrappers can accumulate and kill fish, or clog our rivers. If we control the population, if we pay our taxes right, if we don't cut trees, if we follow traffic rules, if we care a little more, and if we do things right, I'm pretty sure we'll be in a better place in no time.

Only For Tita Cory

I am temporarily breaking my blog hiatus to give way for my entry about my encounter with Tita Cory.

Manila Cathedral (Where my parents got married btw. hehe)

My normal day would usually be in this order:

Wake up at 11 or 12 noon

Turn on the tv

Prepare lunch while hearing Willie sing Giling-giling on Wowowee

Watch the rest of Wowowee or switch to Cinema One, Star Movies or HBO

Do stuff on things-to-do list

Check emails 

Prepare dinner

Watch teleserye

And finally, while watching tv, go online to catch up with friends and check Facebook

Last Saturday however, it wasn't Giling-giling that Willie was singing. It was a mellow song, the audience weren't grinding to the floor to be picked for BigaTen. Candles filled the studio, the Willie and the ASF dancers were all clad in yellow. I was confused. I switched the channel to ANC and there I saw the news- Tita Cory already left us.

I texted my mom saying "Wala na pala si Cory." because I was wondering why she didn't leave me a message about it on my phone. (She usually leaves me messages on important stuff so that I can read it when I take a peek at my phone before I get out of bed.) She said "Yes, kinuha na ni Ninoy." We exchanged texts until she finally said "Punta ka kay Cory." "Balak ko naman talaga pero paano naman ako pupunta dun, wala ako kasama", I replied. Mom messaged me again: "Sige lang, pag may chance ka lang. Baka ilipat naman siya." 

Visiting Tita Cory's wake crossed my mind even before mom told me. "I visited Francis M.'s wake. Why not the former president's wake right?" I told myself. To make this possible, I made arrangements with my ABAM friends RC and Issa to join me to Manila Cathedral to pay our last respect. They agreed to come however, it was raining badly that Monday morning and I cannot imagine lining up under such weather conditions. We unanimously decided to cancel the visit. Later that day my Auntie Fely arrived and said to me "Sayang, andun na kami kanina sa Quiapo. Nalimutan ko lang, dapat bumisita na kami kay Cory." I told her what happened to my schedule and decided to ask my Auntie to accompany me to the Cathedral instead. She was happy with the idea. When I relayed to her the schedule of public viewing, she decided we go early in the morning, in time for the viewing to start.

We left the house at 6 AM of Tuesday- quite a sacrifice for me coz I just had 4 hours of sleep. I kept praying for strength to stay awake and to be able to endure the loooong line (according to the news, the public had to wait around 4 hours before they could enter the Cathedral). 

Assembly outside the door

It was raining super hard while we were in the bus to Intramuros. But when we got to Plaza Roma (aka Plaza Mayor), the rain stopped and to our surprise, there was no line! We walked alongside other early birds, received free Absolute distilled water and finally we organized ourselves outside the side door of the Manila Cathedral. The bouncers were really genuinely polite. Upon the entrance they smile and say "good morning po". They didn't scold some of us who had SLR cameras with us. They said "Paalala lang po, bawal po mag picture ha?" That reminder didn't make me feel threatened or 'pahiya'. (besides, I'd never want to take photos of dead people. Hindi ko kaya.) And then on our way out they'd send us off with "ingat po, umuulan na ho eh." I felt it was their pure desire to be of service that they were so nice and respectful to everyone. 

It was a quick encounter- probably less than 10 seconds. You aren't allowed to stop by the coffin. Probably 2 seconds max. You have to (slowly) walk beside it, take a peek and store it in your photographic memory and make your way to the exit. She looked so different- I cannot explain in what way. But it felt good to see her. It felt as if I did something right just by visiting her for the last time. 

Outpour of love

It was very rewarding, touching, and fulfilling. It was one of those times that you'd really feel that you are one with the people. Seeing THE Icon of Democracy re-awakened something in me- the pride of being a Filipino.

Sa pagiging Ina ng bawat isang Pilipino, maraming salamat, Tita Cory. 

On the Martin Nievera issue...

I'm sure almost everyone heard about the upheaval of a lot of Filipinos regarding Martin Nievera's own version of Lupang Hinirang during the Pacquiao-Hatton fight in Vegas. Here's my two cents on the issue.

I believe that Martin did violate the Republic Act No. 8491 or the Flag Law. Section 37 of the law states: "The rendition of the National Anthem, whether played or sung, shall be in accordance with the musical arrangement and composition of Julian Felipe."* I know we all have our own versions of different songs but hello, this is THE National Anthem.

I remember Martin's interview saying '...people have been saying... I've violated a law that no one's even ever heard of' or something to that effect. To echo a proverb, Ignorance of law is no excuse for breaking it. I think he should have AT THE VERY LEAST apologized for 'overlooking' that detail. The fact that Maestro Ryan Cayabyab actually warned him not to rearrange the National Anthem also adds to my disgust. ALAM MO NA, ITUTULOY MO PA. You don't have to be intelligent to realize your mistake.

He also said in the same interview (paraphrased version) 'I don't have to apologize for anything... Enough people loved it (the singing)..." These people probably loved it because they didn't know the law as well. In other words, may pagkukulang rin sila. Sila pa ba yung paniniwalaan mo? The people who criticized Martin's rendition are those who are in the proper position to do so. And yet he settles by saying that enough people loved it? I can't believe this guy.

Isang kabastusan ang ginawa ni Martin. His 'popularity' in the music industry is not an excuse to overrule any law in the land. His arrogance is so irritating and insulting. I hope he realizes this mistake and apologize not simply to appease the people but for the sincere regret of his actions.

* RA 8491 description lifted from ivanhenares.com

p.s. I have nothing personal against Martin Nievera. He is a good singer and I respect that. I actually like a lot of his songs. This is more of what he did rather than who he is.

Filipino and Proud!

This post is about all things Filipino. I've always believed we are an amazing race and we are super blessed with an equally amazing country. Here are some stuff we can be proud of.

1. Mabuhay guides. I learned about them from Carlos Celdran's blog. They're a bunch of young Filipinos who underwent intensive training under the Department of Tourism. They are well versed about the Philippines- history, arts, culture, cuisine- basically anything Filipino. And their job? To be the official guides of prime ministers, diplomats and even celebrities who will visit the country. They will be earning P4,000 a day and P5,000 for those who know a foreign language other than English. Plus travel ang photo op- not bad. haha

2. Camiguin. They have their version of Boracay Island- only much peaceful and smaller. The White Island of Camiguin is known for its white (duh) sand. What's amazing is that this island only appears on a low tide. I've been here maybe 10 years ago and I can't wait to come back. That time, the manongs told us a story where a couple got stranded on the island so they had to stay overnight because the next banca will arrive in the morning. Shempre nag high tide, ayun naka tip-toe sila all night. hahaha benta talaga yung kwento.

3. Our  very own...KEBERLOO! hahaha Inspired by the hit tv series Gossip Girl, Emm Enriquez launched his own version. Keberloo stays in touch with the Pinoy culture as the non-incognito Keberloo talks about his (and his friends) adventures, random thoughts, kilig moments and whatnots. Sneak into Keberloo's crazy world here.