Working Title

I Had No Idea Rush Hour Commuting Is This Bad Nowadays [Traffic]

2014-10-07T08:23:00.002-07:00


Not from today, but I needed something to go along with the article.
This is actually preferable to this evening's traffic.

The last time I commuted on EDSA on a regular working day and during rush hour was probably 3 or so years ago. I was working over at Buendia that time, so I'm familiar with the route I took today, which also saw me commuting along Buendia. Below is a rough timeline of my commute, along with commentary.

6:00 PM - Out the office.

6:05 PM - Because there seemingly was a dearth of jeeps going to EDSA (looks like they're all stuck in traffic in the other direction, towards Taft Avenue), I opted to walk from Malugay to EDSA. No big, I did the same earlier this morning - lots of people taking the EDSA-Buendia to Washington jeep.

6:19 PM - Reached EDSA. Yes, I walk slower than you, so sue me. Already people were spilling out on the side of EDSA, around a hundred stretched out from the intersection to the other end of the Shell station there. MRT lines were even longer. Traffic was, obviously, pretty bad. I opted to walk along EDSA towards Estrella (i.e. north-bound) for a couple of reasons:

1.) The only way I could ride the bus is if I sardine'd myself on it. Buses were already full (as in, standing room-only, box office megablockbuster hit) and most of them weren't even opening their doors at all at this point, so you know they're super full, 99% chance over listed capacity. Buses here won't close their doors unless they're super over capacity.

2.) I have this habit of opting to walk to another spot further down the road, hoping to catch less-full buses before they load up with other commuters in stops before mine. In the hundred or so estimate I gave earlier, this doesn't include the dozens more people who were also doing the same thing I chose to do.

3.) I need to satisfy my morbid curiosity on how deep this rabbit hole goes, so to speak. My baseline standard for this experiment is to determine where I could catch an Alabang-bound bus where there's one seat available.

So off I walked.

6:30-ish PM - EDSA absolutely hates pedestrians. The sidewalks went from two-people wide, to single-person wide. Yup, one lane that people going in either direction should share with people going in the opposite direction to theirs (this entails some light contortions in turning to the side to pass, or simply going on the road itself). One of my personal seemingly-minor, but important, determining factors on how progressive a city is is how walkable that city is. Metro Manila fails in this regard. No surprise really, because this is a city that pretty much encourages private car usage instead fixing mass transport. Everyone who has a say in running the metropolis all use private vehicles for day-to-day commute, so they look after their own. Main thoroughfares like EDSA are dominated by private cars (taxis also fall into this category when it comes to usage) during rush hour and the push by some to even further diminish bus presence on main thoroughfares is very puzzling (not that the gonzo other extreme of having only buses on EDSA during rush hour period is ideal - it's not). Complain about buses all you want, but they're hauling 70+ passengers per during rush hour, on a space of road that's about equivalent to two of those private cars (total actual passengers on average - 5 thereabouts). Why no sweeping changes are being pushed for improving/reorganizing bus routes here is curious. There are plenty of roads in the metro, but only a small percentage of them are actually used by buses. This has to change.

My personal suggestion: classify roads into three major groups. Subdivision roads, secondary roads, main roads. Trikes should only service subdivisions, jeeps for secondary roads, then only buses should be the sole PUVs on main roads. Better yet, retire the jeepney (save for tourist-y purposes), reorganize bus routes to better use the metro's roads, both main and secondary roads. Then do away with the "boundary" system and mandate PUV owners to pay regular salaries to drivers.

Of course, actually penalizing errant drivers (this goes for both private and PUV drivers) should already be automatic wherever fixing Metro Manila's roads are concerned.

6-something PM - I didn't check the time, but I can tell you that when I reached Estrella, buses were still full.

6-something PM - Reached Guadalupe. Any luck? Nope.

6-something PM - Crossed the Pasig River and now at Boni. At this point, there were a few buses which had relatively decent (and I'm very generous with this description) standing room, so if that's your thing, congrats! As for me, I've already come this far from Buendia, might as well see it to the end.

The route via Google Maps. Added just to break the wall of text. You're welcome. :)

7:00 PM - I'm now at Shaw. And I found a non-aircon bus which had four seats available. Success! I'm not one to complain about non-aircon buses. I'm used to them, but of course, YMMV (your mileage may vary). As an addendum, I actually rode another non-aircon bus going to Makati this morning, because commuting in the morning from Alabang is apparently also hell nowadays. Scarcity of buses + huge volume of people makes for long queues, which, sometimes, aren't even followed. Huzzah.

Because traffic was bad, I figured I'd doze off and hopefully wake up when the bus was already on SLEX.

8:00 PM - Woke up to happily find that the bus was still at Estrella. Woohoo!

8:10 PM - So the traffic picked up a bit, and now I'm at Buendia. If you're keeping score at home, my walk from Buendia to Shaw was 30 minutes shorter than the bus ride going the other way for the same distance. Yeah, traffic was that bad.

8:17 PM - Thankfully, the bus opted to use the underpass on EDSA-Ayala, and picked up speed. Apparently, the traffic was along Ayala Avenue, because I noticed there's a long queue for cars going right from EDSA. Again, most of the volume was private cars, but just nod and agree when they tell you the buses are to blame for that traffic as well. They won't listen otherwise. Exacerbating traffic issues are bad road habits and sheer selfishness on the road, and blame goes both ways, on public and private drivers alike. This is worsened by the MMDA's mostly lax enforcement of traffic rules. You can actually be a d-bag on the road here and get away with it. Just look at motorcycle drivers - they're above the law.

8:30 PM - Reached Alabang market. Thankfully, no traffic on SLEX.

So that's my hell commute today. It wasn't this bad 3 years ago. A 2-and-a-half hour commute used to happen only on Fridays preceding a payday weekend. Why it happened on a Tuesday evening, I have no idea, but it could be one of those weird traffic situations that tend to pop up every so often in a woefully mismanaged Metro Manila. I need a bigger sample size to definitively determine if this is becoming a trend, but shit if it is. Spending 2.5 hours on what is effectively a 19-km route is a huge waste of time that can be used to rest up or do something to have a better work-life balance.

It's the sort of thing that pushes people to just drive their own cars and motorcycles, too. And worsen the traffic situation. The white elephant in the room when discussing things like minimizing buses on the road and clearing up more road space for the 20% private car 'commuters' is that if we're already having problems with traffic now, imagine if half of the 80% that commutes decided to just drive their own cars, too.

It will be a clusterfuck of epic proportions.

The Missing Take on a Particular Traffic Accident Report [Horrible Drivers]

2014-06-12T00:11:00.000-07:00

I saw this news bit as I was riding the bus home last night and found something amiss.

It looks like the only one doing any reckless driving here is the motorcycle driver, using the usual undisciplined tactic of trying to overtake in-between lanes. The traffic cam footage cuts from when the motorcycle fell, so I'm left to assume that the motorcycle drifted close towards the truck's flatbed and lost control and fell, sliding under the truck, then the rear set of tires ran over the victim's head.

Assuming that's the case, the truck driver most likely wouldn't have had enough time to react, being hit from the side and already towards the truck's rear.

While I agree that officials were remiss in not getting the truck's plate number immediately upon flagging it down, I find it disappointing that the motorcycle driver's role in this tragedy goes under-reported. Reckless driving by motorcycle drivers is a serious issue in Philippine roads, and just about every motorcycle driver I see out and about does it, and no, I'm not exaggerating.

And of course, since this segment is filed under "Hulicam", there's an unintentional (I hope) assignment of guilt to the truck driver from the get-go of the news report.

Feel free to chime in if there's something I missed, but just given this video, that's what I can discern of what happened.

As an aside, it's a legitimately scary thought that more and more motorcycles enter PH roads every year, while driver discipline (or the lack thereof) remains unchecked. Of course, reckless driving permeates all throughout the driving public regardless of vehicle driven, but motorcycle drivers break rules more often than motorists of any other vehicle type, from my own experience.

79% of traffic fatalities are supposedly caused by driver error. I wonder how many of those are actually from just being a douche on the road?

Lines [Pet Peeves]

2014-02-13T06:37:00.004-08:00

Credit: Nothing To Do With Arbroath

With exceptions for the elderly, pregnant, and the disabled, I get annoyed by people cutting in line. Earlier today, I fell in line to buy lottery tickets (don't ask me for lucky numbers - the most I got correct was 3). I actually took a bit of time to fix the line somewhat because it wasn't immediately clear where the end was, but everyone in front of me were pleasant, and we even made small banter about hoping some luck fall our way.

So far, so good. As soon as the guy in front of me finished buying his ticket, some jerk of a lady suddenly slid her lottery picks in front of me, and the sales clerk, who just turned around after putting the previous guy's money in the cash drawer, mistakenly took the jerk's ticket, thinking it was mine and started to process it.

"Ate, sana unahin niyo po itong sa akin kasi hindi nakapila yang bastos sa tabi ko." ("Ma'am, I hope you process my tickets first because those tickets are of the rude lady beside me.")

Jerk shot back, indignantly I might add: "E mag-do-draw na e!" ("But it's nearing draw time!")

Side Note: The Philippines has a fatalistic society and the government, armed with that knowledge, made it so that there's at least one main lottery everyday, and smaller lotteries every 15 minutes or so. The jerk in question is trying to beat the clock for the next draw.

I replied, "Wala akong paki, bastos ka." ("I don't give a damn, you're rude.")

The jerk then tried to slip a twenty-peso note while the sales clerk was processing my tickets. I took the bill and slid it back towards her.

"Bastos ka talaga ate." ("You're really rude.")

The sales clerk gave me my tickets and change, then I told her that the four people behind me should be served first because they're the ones in line and not asshole over to my side. And I left, but not before noticing that everyone behind me were looking at me, as if I'm the one who's crazy.

It's actually not the rude lady that prompted me to write this. Selfish jerks are a dime a dozen here (hello mean streets of Manila!). It's that everyone else behind me who were also being disadvantaged by that jerk thought it best to keep quiet and just accept the douchebaggery that's being done to them.

You could say that, yes, it's just some damn lottery ticket line. For me, it's the principle of having discipline. And to be honest, if we really want to make progress, we absolutely need to have general discipline and respect for others.

This reminds me of an even worse situation that I had to handle a few years ago.

In 2010 (details might be hazy because OLD), a non-profit group who built an authentic galleon were touring their kick-ass ship around the region, and one of the stops in their itinerary was the Philippines. They worked with the National Historical Institute (NHI) to have a two-day event in Manila (and I think a couple more days in the Visayas region) where people could see and visit the ship for free. Good gesture, and a big deal for a country who has had a long history with galleons a few centuries ago.

Supposedly our mangoes came from the galleon trade. Not sure if that's true, though. (Credit: Panlasang Pinoy)

Because I was a photography nut back then, I figured that that would be an awesome opportunity to take pictures of something different. So I played hooky from work to go to the seaport early in the morning (I was there about 7 AM - 6:30 AM actually, but was only let in at 7 because I didn't ride a taxi or a private vehicle going in, WOO EQUALITY!). There's a temporary holding area, essentially a converted gymnasium, where the NHI people could put people in groups before dispatching them to where the ship was. Fair enough, since no matter how big the ship was, it certainly won't be able to hold every person who wanted to see it all at once. The line snaked towards that holding area.

Around 9 AM, there was already a long queue of walk-ins wanting to see the ship, but so far, so good. I even made friends with the nice family in front of me, whose kids were so eager to see the ship, one of them even dressed as a pirate. Cute.


These aren't my kids, and this is a ranty post, so I thought it best to obscure their faces.

Around 10 AM, only a scant few of the walk-ins were able to go in. There were some of us already in the holding area, but it can't hold us all, so most were still lined up outside. I wasn't early enough to be part of the initial number of walk-ins already chilling inside the holding area. To be fair, the NHI did say in their ads that there would be school groups with reserved slots the first day.

The line was moving, but painfully slow. It's fine. It's the price we walk-ins pay for taking our chances today (the next day would be the free-for-all for everyone, no reservations, but it's also a Saturday). All this time, I, the fierce auntie of the adorable eager kids, and one architect guy (if I recall correctly) were staving off a number of groups trying to cut in our area - two separate groups of student sailors, a family who made their housemaid fall in line at 6:30 AM while they arrived at 10, a couple of random groups of friends, and a number of individuals who used the a favorite tactic amongst Filipinos of feigning to just be curious as to what the fuss is about and then inserting themselves in the line.

Our line stopped moving around 10:30. There were groups with reservations coming in, sure, but not so many that there wouldn't be time for walk-ins then (and the NHI also did advertise that walk-ins would also be entertained that day). The adorable kids were already tired, so the auntie decided to just take her niece and nephew to Star City. Around 10:45, I decided to check and see what the hold-up is. I requested my new-found acquaintance to hold my spot while I go check.

The line behind me.

Heading towards the front, it's chaos. The line opened up three-wide, then four, then a simply unorganized mass in front, with even more of the "curious cutters" pushing themselves in. The doors to the holding area were locked, with many in this mass of humanity already ranting about wanting to be let in, and some pushing already happening. I politely asked my way to the front, having to assure groups of people that no, I'm not cutting in their line, and yes, I'm working for all of us. Surprisingly, I was able to work my way towards the front without having to push.

I sought an audience with one NHI member inside, but I had to convince the guard at the other side of the locked doors that I just wanted to talk to someone in charge to see what the hold-up was, since you could see through the glass doors that there were available seats inside the holding area (i.e. they can accommodate people). She told me that they're not letting any walk-ins inside unless we all start becoming disciplined. I can understand her trepidation, and if I had to guess, probably some undisciplined louts tried to push their way through the doors earlier.

Here's where the NHI stumbled. They had guards inside and on the path leading to the ship itself, but they had no one policing the lines outside, and a number of the guards in the port area were hands-off on the event. There were two guards just near the holding area where the massed people are who seemed to take amusement from the chaos happening in front of them. I can't blame these guards, since they're the seaport's private guards, and if their orders are to guard such-and-such door, that's what they should do. The NHI, on the other hand, could've enlisted the help of the PNP/some other security agency/volunteers to keep things orderly in the line outside.

Anyway, I expressed to the NHI lady that okay, I understand her and can work with that.

So that's the sort-of ultimatum. The problem is that the mass of people just outside the doors were a complete mess, and I have no idea which people are legitimately in line, and which aren't. And there's the problem of no enforcers to set the line straight.

Around this point, I was so frustrated, and I wanted to see the ship so bad. With a sense of determination ("Fuck it, I played hooky at work to see this shit!"), anger energizing me (see previous quote in parenthesis), and restraining myself enough to market myself as a "I'm-just-like-you-but-you-really-need-to-listen-to-me" guy to the masses, I started bellowing and calling for everyone's attention, at least to all 80 or so at the front. I must've modulated my voice well enough that they started to listen, and explained to them the situation. Using the carrot ("We get to see the ship if we're good boys and girls!") and stick ("We won't if we're chaotic!") approach, I surprisingly was able to get to them, and so I started asking them to create one line.

The people started to merge themselves into one line, but that wasn't good enough. I went around and encouraged them to recall who the people in front of them were earlier, and in doing so, we were able to sniff out cutters and guilt-tripped/intimidated them into going away. As I moved towards the back, we were able to get back to that visible line again, and the NHI lady, pleased with how things are then, started to let walk-ins back in.

I was able to get in the holding area before lunch, so that was good. Pleased with being assured of getting a chance to board the ship, I enjoyed the small history talk from the NHI that each group was given.

SANCTUARY! SANCTUARY!

No, I'm not expecting you to hail me at this point. Anyone with pent-up frustration, anger, and serious determination to reach a goal can do what I did. I'm not special. And there's a little bit more to the story.

Here's the kicker. The NHI temporarily shut down the area for lunch break. Each visitor was given a colored band corresponding to their group, so we're free to head out for lunch and come back to our spots inside afterwards (we're also free to stay put and just relax). As I headed towards the door to go outside and get lunch, the nice, organized line I worked so hard to fix has once again devolved into a chaotic mess.

I forgot to take a photo of the earlier crowd, but if you need a visual, it looks like this, minus the gap on the right for people leaving to get lunch.

Fuck that shit.

Two of my friends went the next day, and though the crowds were bigger (as to be expected for a free galleon viewing on a Saturday), they supposedly had better organization that day

For reference, this is day 2, and the line going in already snakes outside the seaport's gates (seen in the distance).

And then there was this one time when I was in line for immigration in Bangkok back in 2008. The lines were long, and there was this Arabic(?) guy who tried to cut in front of me (which is weird because he was just behind me, if I recall correctly). I engaged him and told him to go behind me. Being the asshole that he is, he claims that he's really in front of me. We went back and forth up until the big African-American in front of both of us turned and told the asshole to go back in a very intimidating voice.

That worked extremely well, since the douchebag was scared shitless enough to not just go back to his original spot, but towards the actual end of our line. That American dude was awesome, and I thanked him to which he nodded his head, smiled, and told me "No problem.". He went out of his way to help me even when he isn't really affected by the d-bag's shenanigans. Compare and contrast Mr. Awesome to the people behind me in the lottery ticket line who stayed silent and the hundreds of people at the front of the galleon line who let cutters in and had to be encouraged to weed them out.

Sometimes I just think we're too forgiving with a lot of things, so much so that a number of "enterprising" people will try and push the envelope on how much more shit we can take, complete with smiles on our faces. I get that there are times when you should just turn the other cheek, but letting people cut in lines for no valid reason aren't such times.

The Ele-VAT in the Room

2013-12-17T11:52:00.000-08:00

Credit: UNTV

Philippine politicians are a weird bunch. Take for example Sen. Ralph Recto, who seems to be trying to garner cheap goodwill by authoring a law that raises the tax exemption levied on 13th month paychecks. At face value, the 36.1% of the working force that comprise the non-underemployed segment of that group (presumably those that are guaranteed a 13th-month pay) would be absolutely ecstatic upon hearing the legislative move to take less from their Christmas bonuses.

Notice how I snuck in the adjective "cheap" there? That's because Recto himself authored the very same bill that actually put a huge burden on EVERYONE (even the under- and non-employed) that even the token action of lessening the tax on the Christmas bonus can't compensate for: the E-VAT law.

That's a tax on previously VAT-exempt goods and services (hello gas) that companies are happy to pass on down to consumers in the form of increased prices, which the law as written leaves it up to companies to shoulder the cost themselves or pass it on to consumers ("The value-added tax is an indirect tax and the amount of tax may be shifted or passed on to the buyer, transferee or lessee of the goods, properties or services."). I have never heard of any company that willingly shouldered the extra cost themselves, have you?

So aside from inflation, people have to deal with the repercussions of the VAT levied on oil products, which is basically higher cost of goods since retailers have to factor in transport costs in their selling prices.

Sen. Ed Angara chimes in:

"Ang bigat na ng pasan ng mamamayang Pilipino. Sabay-sabay ang pagtaas ng presyo. Hinahanap natin kung ano ang maibabalik ng lipunan sa kanila, whether in the form of better services o mas babaan ang kanilang buwis na hindi naman mapeperwisyo ang ating ekonomiya." (Filipinos are already heavily-burdened. The increase in prices have all come simultaneously [fuel, water, and electricity prices will all go up this month]. We're trying to find some way for the government to be able to give back to them, whether in the form of better services or lowering taxes that won't harm our economy.)

The operative clause there is "that won't harm our economy". Of course.

So they're essentially wanting to make it seem like they care but not by doing concrete actions that would have better, far-reaching benefits (i.e. scrapping the E-VAT law altogether, but at a considerable hit on tax collections). I'm not even sure that the underemployed (i.e. works less than 40 hours, ergo non-regular employees) which comprise 62.4% (!) of the working force would even benefit from the proposed law, as their employees aren't legally mandated to give them 13th month pay.

Politicians, raising exemptions on Christmas bonuses (it's not even a full exemption, geez) is child's play. Want to really make a difference? Remove the E-VAT altogether. And try to nationalize some utilities while you're at it - utility oligopolies are severely bleeding Filipinos dry. Show us you really care, and not just every 3 years when you need our votes.

P.S. BIR Commissioner Kim Henares crying foul because she won't be able to meet tax collection targets is off-putting, to say the least. I understand that it's her job to meet collection targets, but it sounds crass to rant and moan about not meeting targets when the government can't track down/don't even have much to show for all the billions of tax dollars it has been pissing away for years already nor has it ever amounted to improved lives for all of us.

Seen On Taft Avenue [PSA-cum-Anecdote]

2013-12-06T08:12:00.003-08:00

Some random Taft Avenue photo. Credit on image itself.

I finally saw one of those you-bumped-me-now-pay-me scammers in action. I absolutely would've wanted to take some visual evidence of some sort, but alas, I was kinda slow to take my iPod out and the bus kept moving.

And no, I didn't really want to alight because I had an absolutely good seat, which I won't be able to get if I got on the bus from that area.

So I'll just try my best to put the scenario in words.

The incident occurred along Taft Avenue, near the T.M. Kalaw intersection. The time, around 8 P.M. The traffic was somewhat slow, but moving steadily. A man with long, unkempt hair wearing a ubiquitous barangay basketball league jersey and shorts walked from the sidewalk towards the center island holding some plastic bag. I don't really want to deal in stereotypes, but if it helps the narrative, the guy looked like a drifter who hadn't washed in days.

The particular section of Taft where the drifter crossed wasn't at all an intersection, so I had figured that he'd probably make camp on the center island, which is a usual occurrence along Taft Avenue. Normal evening thus far. The drifter then stopped crossing the road one lane before he reached the center island. He waited until a sedan crossed in front of him and then he bumped himself into the car.

Well, not a direct bump. He took one of the worst dives this side of Fernando Torres. Essentially he tapped the car with his hand and exaggerated a fall.

Kinda like this. (Credit: The Chive)

And get this - he "hit" the rear end. With the car moving forward.

The car naturally stopped because its driver seemed to be a decent fellow, even though he can't ever be at fault in the whole scenario even if the bump was legit.

As for the drifter, he stood up and picked up his plastic bag. He took a look at his plastic bag, and noticing that it pretty much remained intact, he ripped the plastic bag open and dumped its contents (which curiously looked like sand) on the road, probably his guise to get the driver to pay up.

But seriously, the contents looked like sand.

"Bayaran mo yung brown sugar na natapon!" Sosyal si kuya. (Credit: Mott Community College)

The drifter then moved over to the driver's window and that's the last image I saw as the bus kept moving forward.

If not for the scam, the whole scenario looked like some genius slapstick comedy routine. The scammer is probably new to the trade, which is why his whole routine is a mess.

That said, it's still important to know that there are a myriad of scammers up and about the metro, and it looks like "Manila's Finest" are over-matched by sheer numbers and lack of equipment and personnel. So yeah, take care. If someone bumps your car and you know you're in the clear, just go.

I can't tell you how infuriating it is that about all anyone can tell you is to "take care". I mean, yes, it's always important to take care, but some real arrests and punitive measures, as well as actually improving the police force, are very much welcome in keeping crime down and generally making the metropolis safer.

And from another perspective, it's saddening to note that because of these scammers, we're being forced away from good moral behavior (stopping to check on bumped pedestrians) into more inhumane actions (essentially hit-and-run) just so we can ensure our own safety.

I really do wish there were more Dutertes to go around.

Country =/= Corporation (Among Other Things)

2013-12-03T10:56:00.000-08:00


I actually have no idea what photo to put here, so I settled for something related to comments. (Credit: AttorneyMarketingProfits.com)

I promised a friend that I'd expound on a general thought I commented on a Facebook post of hers. She originally shared a post from some other guy (see here) where the latter was pretty fed up about how Filipinos were becoming belligerent and disrespectful with their complaints and suggestions, not to mention how they seemed to know better than the president (more on this later). He offered up an analogy in doing so, painting a picture of a company wherein the hypothetical president said the same Aquino catchphrase "kayo ang boss ko" and was now subject to suggestions from every worker under him.

The analogy falls flat for me. In trying to make the scenario more accessible to the poster's audience (I think), he oversimplifies, if not misses, the relationship between a democratic country's government and its citizens.

In a company, the biggest decisions are done by the company bigwigs. A rank-and-file employee knows that any suggestion he/she makes is merely that, a suggestion, and no one is beholden to heed it, especially not the bigwigs who actually get paid huge sums to steer a company to profitability. As long as the rank-and-filer does what his job contract asks him to do, the company is happy, the bigwigs are happy, and the employee gets paid. As a bonus, if the employee is miffed that his/her suggestions aren't heeded, then he/she is free to leave the company any time he/she so chooses and work elsewhere.

On the other hand, generally, a citizen who isn't happy with the direction his/her country is headed cannot simply up and move elsewhere. Well, perhaps it's not so difficult if you're a first-worlder, but law-abiding Filipinos in general can't easily change passports (even getting a foreigner spouse has its share of legal processes to go through, which doesn't always end up successful).

The gravity of a CEO's erroneous decision pales in comparison to the wide-ranging effects of a government official's erroneous move. For example, if a CEO embezzles money, worst case is that the company folds, but employees can find work elsewhere. Pilfering billions out of the country's coffers, though, leads to lower budgets for education, public works, and healthcare, which results in poorly-educated masses (if at all), non-existent infrastructure, and possibly avoidable deaths because public hospitals are poorly-equipped. A single misdeed can have hundreds of thousands of lives riding on it, and we're not talking about mere unemployment here. We're talking about lost potential, lost dreams, and lost lives here.

The dynamic between state and citizen also isn't as cut-and-dried as a company's work-for-us-get-paid system. Citizens are mandated to pay taxes (even when they're not working - VAT, sales tax, realty tax, road tax, etc), and the idea is that by giving the government a constant stream of money, the latter will assure them that they won't ever have to do without basic needs such as education, security, and healthcare, to name a few. And that government officials will always do the best thing with the citizens well-being in mind.

That is the ideal, of course. But the reality is so different than the ideal that frustrated citizens have no other recourse than to voice out their concerns, because the alternative is accepting mediocrity and retaining the status quo in this country (which, if we're being honest, is crappy). Why the tone of some is seemingly becoming more belligerent and disrespectful (not that I condone rudeness, mind) is because the government itself is being somewhat disrespectful in not acknowledging the mistakes they make (in the current administration, it's almost always someone else's fault, usually Arroyo's) and the many ages-old problems the country faces that they do nothing about (the public transport system is forever a mess, for one).

The poster goes on to remark: "Grabe, what we have become. Everyone thinks he can do a better job than the President. After all… Im the Boss!" [sic] By saying as much, he makes the inherent, and flawed, assumption that we always vote the best people into power. A democracy is only as effective as its worst elected officials (there are plenty of them, otherwise we'd be numero uno in the Southeast Asian region at least, with all the resources available to us). In a country where celebrity status and name politics are king come election time instead of actual, proven competence, we will definitely have our share of clunkers. Heck, the mere fact that we have the term trapo says a lot about our own shortcomings as voters, that our traditional politicians (i.e. people who get voted often) are implied to be no better than dirty dish rags. Also, just because someone's an elected official doesn't mean he/she is immune to making questionable decisions (nor should the Yolanda tragedy and ongoing relief effort spare government from legitimate criticisms).

And yes, there are times when the general populace can do a better job than government officials. You sometimes only need common sense and a sincere desire to improve this country instead of lining your pockets and/or perpetuating your own political machinery to propose better solutions.

Unfortunately, Occam's Razor doesn't do the trick in explaining the supposed "belligerence" here. Focusing on the catchphrase and assuming that it alone caused an avalanche of smugness and "know-it-alls" doesn't even scratch the surface of the real reason why people are more vocal nowadays - the increasing penetration of the internet (easier, cheaper, and faster access to more news content) and social media (i.e. cheap soapbox/platform for everyone), coupled with general government inaction and/or apathy (to be fair, something that existed even before this administration). Even without the made-for-tremendous-approval-ratings catchphrase, the elements are already in place for this sort of thing to occur.

Granted, there really are bad suggestions thrown around. In no way am I saying that all suggestions thrown out there are good. Regardless, people are and should be free to speak their mind on how things should be done. That's something guaranteed by this thing called "freedom" that our forefathers fought for and not because some cheesy catchphrase suddenly gave them powers of commentary they never had before (which they totally did). Please, we're giving that catchphrase too much credit.

Oh, and we really are the bosses. Democracy, as beautifully described by the esteemed Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago, is a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Implying that the president is the real boss assumes a form of government known as a monarchy - ironically, something we fought against 117 years ago.

P.S.: Food for thought - the president must be doing a horrible job if *everyone* thinks he/she can do better (the everyone part is hyperbole, though, as there are will always be stalwart Aquino defenders on everything he does).

Filipino Truthers

2013-09-13T05:07:00.002-07:00

Credit: Crisostomo Ibarra Facebook page

So I saw this image shared by a friend wherein some lady named Hazel Calandria took a screenshot of a local news program and added text insinuating that the media is lying, complete with jeering remarks about how the body armor and helmet of the reporter are extra props to sensationalize the report.

Honestly, I don't get it. Is she expecting reporters to venture to within a yard of where the rebels are and deliver a whole news segment and risk one, getting in the line of fire, two, obstructing military operations, and three, put himself within distance of being abducted and added to the hostage list?

Surely there aren't any lies being foisted on the viewers because if one had bothered to view the full news segment (I did), one would've seen video footage taken during the day of the reporter and cameraman moving along with some army men while shots are being fired during the day.

I understand that people love to cherry-pick stuff to suit their worldviews, but protip: if you're cherry-picking stuff, make sure that your argument and evidence isn't easily riddled with holes by cursory common sense and simple reason.

So what is the point of sharing such a flawed, albeit sensational post? An acknowledgement by everyone that she has found out a great big lie (not really) being perpetrated by the media? A chance to brag that she knows the area and that she has a store there?

Please, madame, if you're so adamant about your belief of a "GREAT BIG LIE" being told to us, do us one better. March straight into the rebel hideout, sans body armor, of course, because those are just pithy little props, and give us a hard-hitting news piece that really gets into the action.

This isn't an absolution of media in general. Everyone can agree that there are times when they did pass off half-truths or even outright lies are the pure and plain truth.

This is not one of them.

P.S. Her Camins airport road is only about 2 kilometers from Sta. Barbara, so it's not exactly a full 10 towns away as her post might lead you to believe.

P.P.S. It's darkly humorous that a Facebook account named "Crisostomo Ibarra" shared this photo, along with a caption that also accuses GMA News of outright lying and that lying is the one thing they're good at. What a shameful misappropriation of his name and persona.

Looking Beyond the Pork

2013-08-19T04:33:00.001-07:00

Credit: mwebantu

To be honest, I was drawing blanks when I started thinking of a lead-in to this post, so I figured I'd just blurt out what's on my mind:

It's not just the pork barrel.

Most people are simply happy to crucify Napoles, her daughter, and the whole cursed pork barrel provision in the national budget. These are all well and good. Frankly, just the fact that people are talking about it is a big win already for a society that would rather let media personalities handle the discussion of issues while they watch on the sidelines.

Here's the thing. If Napoles gets imprisoned (with her wealth, she can probably just do an Erap and bargain for house arrest, though, so for schadenfreude enthusiasts there, tough luck), her daughter gets shunned in social circles (highly unlikely - the rich will always find lots of people to fawn over them), and the pork barrel gets abolished (unlikely, as even the executive branch wants it in place; note that the presidential office also has its own discretionary funds), what do those actions really accomplish? I would have to say, not much.

Why? Because even if the pork barrel money is channeled elsewhere, we're still in the dark on how that money will be spent by the new set of people controlling it. It's a grave mistake to assume that removing the PDAF will suddenly result in new schools, better roads, and such, because we're still not privy to how any government letter agency (DOTC, DPWH, what have you) are using their own funds. Regardless of where that money is re-routed, without basic transparency on the use of tax funds, what removing the pork barrel will accomplish is simply taking money away from the legislators (and their Napoles-type cohorts) and into the hands of others, whose budget disbursements are as opaque.

We are a rich country pretending to be poor. Even with all the tax cheats (like how some white-collar workers paid less taxes than public school teachers), the BIR was able to collect US$ 24.2 billion in taxes last year. That's a lot of money, and none of us know how that money was fully spent, and how many more Napoleses are hiding in the shadows, colluding with department heads, in addition to congressmen and senators.

More so, what's depressing is that had there not been any whistle-blower to begin with, the scamming would've continued unabated. With no real power available to the people to use in looking into government spending, we can only sit and wait for someone to develop a conscience to point out errant politicians. And to be honest, those are few and far in between.

When you clamor for the removal of the pork barrel, go deeper. Push for the Freedom of Information Act and clamor for transparency in government spending. Just having those would go a long way in keeping politicians on the straight and narrow, even if the pork barrel provision remains in place. With the FOI, government is forced to tell the people what they spend on, and how much went into those. It would allow media to follow through in reporting issues better, instead of making do with whatever government talking heads gives them. It creates transparency, something that we sorely need from government.

Removing the pork barrel would only change the individuals stealing that money. Putting the FOI in place would let anyone verify where that money goes.

P.S. That house of representatives, whose members saw it fit to let the FOI bill languish in previous years? Mostly intact, because we voted a similar set of representatives (extended to include relatives and such) last elections.

Because Sometimes, Nice Things are Found Randomly [The Manila Collectible Co.]

2013-08-07T09:29:00.003-07:00

The Manila Collectible Co. building (Credit: TMCC Facebook page)

I love randomly walking in Manila. It's the off-chance of finding some interesting shop or building that keeps me coming back there. It's always-changing (not always for the better, but that's a post for another day), if slowly, and that dynamic nature of it keeps Manila interesting.

Three weeks ago, I was on my usual once-a-week routine. My routine goes something like this: I go to Manila, visit one of the churches there (stay with me here, I don't intend to preach), check out wares in Divisoria, then merrily make my way back home. Sometimes I pass by the ever-reliable Eng Bee Tin store (my preference is the one on Ongpin street).

On this certain day, I deviated from my routine a bit, though. I went to Divisoria first, having come from Cubao earlier in the day, and planned to do the church visit afterwards. And because I was also eager to check out bulk shirt prices and do some canvassing (something I don't usually do - when I check out wares in Divisoria, it's usually just gawking without even going so far as to ask for prices), that threw me out of my regular routine more, so after Divisoria and getting a couple of hangers for my grandma while I was there, I boarded a jeep to Lawton and forgot to pass by Binondo Church.

Oops. (Credit: Our Awesome Planet)

Truth be told, I can still alight and walk the short distance to the church by the time I realized I hadn't visited the church yet. But having paid the fare already, and being the cheapskate that I am (there's a reason why my other blog is called "The Low-end Geek", and it doesn't help that I'm trying to stretch out my money to act I'm all indie and stuff :D ), I figured I can just visit Manila Cathedral instead, since I'm alighting at Lawton anyway. Also, I haven't been to Intramuros in a couple of months, even though my route routinely skirts the outskirts (heh) of that walled city.

So I did just that, only to find that the church was closed for repairs. Great.

Well, there's always San Agustin church. I started going that way when I noticed a couple of vertical banner ads hanging from the lamp posts.

It read, "The Manila Collectible Co." and it's supposed to be just behind the cathedral (I didn't take a photo of one of those ads, so sue me haha). Convenient! Because I'm an easily-excitable man for souvenir shops in Intramuros, I figured to head there first.

Side note: souvenir shops in Intramuros are the shiz. There's a high level of salesmanship that's evident in the store displays, probably owing to the fact that Intramuros is one of the key tourist destinations in Manila. Have you been to the Silahis store? You should. They have a massive amount of Filipiniana inventory there, in a duplex floor layout - yeah, they have that many items. Other souvenir stores in the area have charms of their own, enhanced by being housed in either centuries-old buildings or buildings built to resemble the original structures that once stood there, since World War 2 did level a number of buildings in the area. SM's Kultura concept stores can't hold a candle to any of them, in my opinion (apologies to fans of that store chain).

They weren't kidding when they said the store was behind the church. Only a small street separates the church and the building where the store was located. The store itself is on the third floor of that building (photo shown at the beginning of this entry).

Walking into the store, I saw that they had a pretty big space rented out. There were also shelves and shelves of foodstuffs and crafts, as well as a small gallery at the far end from where I was standing at. I spied a group of visitors near the gallery area and it looks like they were on a tour of sorts of the store, with a lady showing them around.

A small section of their store space.

I proceeded to start looking at the wares when a lady came up to me and welcomed me to the store. She also asked if I wanted to take a tour of the store. I figured, sure, it's not like I'm in a rush, anyway.

So off she went, taking me around the store, and explaining pretty much most items in the store except for obvious ones like books and hand puppets, what each is of for, where it came from, the works. She knows her stuff very well. What did I tell you? High level of salesmanship.

A good number of the items, if not most, are handmade. Many are sourced directly from their locations of origin, and there were a couple of reproduction items for items that aren't exactly easily-obtainable like centuries-old baybayin-inscribed copper tablets. To be sure, I found pieces there that I probably would have been hard-pressed to find in the metro, if at all.

That copper plate reproduction I mentioned

Somewhere in the middle of the tour, one of the store people popped up beside me and gave me wine to drink. I'm not really much of a wine guy, but hey, free is free. Again, what did I tell you? High level of salesmanship. Even if I never buy wine from them for personal consumption (it's more of a personal preference for other liquor rather than the quality of the wine), they still made an impression of me that when I do plan to buy wine to gift to others, they have a selection to choose from. (to be fair, the wine I had was sweeter than usual, so I could find myself liking that more down the line)

This might be a good time to mention that there are quite a number of free taste tests you can avail of there. But please, don't abuse the offer. :)

They have drinking water handy for when you want to try this.

My shop guide, Anna, actually turned out to be an associate of Charisse, the one who initially conceptualized the shop (who turned out to be the one giving the shop tour to the group I mentioned earlier), and both of them went around the country on an exposure trip of sorts to bring together the inventory they amassed in this store. Along with the items on display were pictures they took of the indigenous people where they got the items from.

One cool-looking grandma.

Charisse later joined me and Anna after the group left. Apparently those in the group were also bloggers, though they're most likely higher up on the professional blog chain than a decidedly rank amateur like me. Anyway, I found out from Charisse and Anna that the vision for this store was to be able to showcase native products from all over the country to people who, for various reasons, may not be able to travel there themselves, and to also show a microcosm of the richness that is Filipino culture, beyond the usual tropes most Metro Manila denizens know of (like jeepneys and balut).

That's her hand right there as she was showing me the intricacies of T'nalak weaving.

Not only that, they also aim to highlight some overlooked (or perhaps even unknown to many) aspects of our history, such as some of our ancestors' ties to Buddhism. And all of these while being able to give back to those small communities directly by giving them a venue to sell their items to the Metro Manila crowd and tourists, but also indirectly by raising awareness for these people through these shop tours as well as informational displays shown alongside the items.

Reproduction figure of the ancient original found some time ago.

Personally, I feel the shop is on the right track in achieving their goals. It doesn't have the breadth of offerings bigger shops have, but you can be assured that all items there have been carefully curated and they showcase some of the best the country has to offer, from centuries-old traditions like woven textiles and music, to relatively new and innovative foodstuffs.

That one on the right are candied flower buds in a pack. I'll let you know how it tastes sometime.

I asked about the gallery. When I was there, they featured paintings from students who could benefit from some exposure they may or may not be able to garner on their own, having come from a smaller college. From what I recall, proceeds from paintings sold there will go to the original artists directly. I thought it was nice of them to do that. I further asked if the gallery can be availed by request. The answer is yes, arrangements can be made for that.

The gallery space.

Interestingly enough, the shop also has a space allocated for a kids' activity center, for when a visitor may want to browse around and have his/her kid do something instead of being dragged around and feeling bored. It's a nice and thoughtful touch. There are books, playthings, and art materials available for kids to use.

Activity space for kids.

The shop, while already good, is still in the nascent stages, and there is definitely room for growth - figuratively and literally. There's a whole penthouse area above the store and visitors are free to go up and hang out there. From what Charisse tells me, another entrepreneur plans to rent that space to use as a coffee shop.

View from the penthouse. Yes, this is the back of Manila Cathedral. They're literally behind it.

Also, aside from the gallery space, the store will also hold various seminars (the first of which will be on Saturday and will feature local tourism industry personalities such as Carlos Celdran) intended to further help local appreciation of our history and culture. Again, a nice touch, and it ties-in nicely to what Charisse envisions for the store and what she aims for.

More than the store itself, though, it was very nice to have talked to both Charisse and Anna, since I learned quite a bit from even just going through the store with them, and I got the impression that they really are sincere with their vision, not to mention that they're impressive with their knowledge of local cultures beyond Metro Manila. Again, these two have actually gone around the country to source their items and have spent considerable time with indigenous folks to understand the traditions and culture associated with the items they sell.

Anna (on the left) and Charisse, my two gracious hosts that afternoon wearing malongs.

All in all, a fun shop for me, personally. I did mention to Charisse that they could try talking to veteran photographers who have photos of Manila from the 50's and such. It would be nice to showcase old Manila then, not just for nostalgic purposes, but also as a gentle reminder to Filipinos visiting how beautiful Manila was back then and could still be if we all started caring. I know I'd be all over those prints if ever they start selling those.

And then there's one more thing. While chatting with Charisse, I found out that we live in the same village, and as I was about to leave, she offered a ride home since she was also about to leave herself. Seeing a magnificent freebie opportunity materialize in front of me, I took her up on her offer. Along the way home, she pointed out to me a fantastic barbecue place that I fully intend to visit soon.

Hint: It's somewhere here. I'll reveal the location some other time. :D

So to recap, I get to see a great store, learn new things, make new friends, get a free ride home (from the shop owner herself), AND discover a good place to eat. How cool is that? Man, I'll keep walking in random directions until my legs fall off.

The Manila Collectible Co. is located at the third floor of Villa Blanca building, Cabildo corner Beaterio streets in Intramuros. They are open Tuesdays to Sundays.

TMCC online presences: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

More photos below:

Pretty unique backscratchers. The foot end works better for me, though.

Some textiles.

Very comfortable banigs (mats).

Spreads and preserves! This makes me happy.

Necklaces.

Wood carving depicting an indigenous man playing a flute.

Coffee and chocolate.

Soft dolls.

Malongs.

Some of the liquor offered.

Hand puppets.

Headwear.

Traditional clothing.

Musical instruments.

Reproduction lingling-os, ancient symbols from prehistory.

Top of manunggul jar.

Drawers with more malong varieties.

A selection of traditional wear.

Woven shoulder bag.

Stoneware from the north.

Slingshots, tops, and flutes.

Woven rattan backpack.

T'nalak detail.

A collage of images of native T'bolis.

The other side of the view from the penthouse.

My Sole Bit About The Elections

2013-05-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

There is no salvation in these elections. For sure, there are good candidates, but no salvation. I say this because for all the talk (or the lack thereof, looking at some candidate's track record with debates) about which candidate will bring the country true change, the elephant in the room (a mammoth, even) is that Filipinos themselves do not want to change.

We can have candidates composed of a selection of cloned Mahatma Ghandis, Winston Churchills, Abe Lincolns, Lee Kuan Yews, or whoever passes as a great leader, and we'd still have the same third world country we have now. Why? Because none of those names have surname cachet to Filipinos. We'd rather have tired old familiar names littering our government offices than people with real vision, a proven past performance record, and actually engages people in discussion over issues instead of song and dance.

Hence the surveys showing candidates who hardly have any platform to show for being firmly ensconced in the magic 12.

We blame the government for doing nothing, but we're the ones who wanted that government in the first place. We voted for those people. We fill up the rank-and-file positions in government. We only have ourselves to blame as even with ever-increasing PSE indices and investment-grade ratings, only a small percent of society (and they're already rich to begin with) will ever feel an uptick in their quality of living.

It seems as if we're stuck in a perpetual Homer Simpson-esque train of thought, which goes something like this:

Is it an educational deficiency which leads Filipinos to resort to the same pattern over and over again, ad infinitum? I hope so, if only so that there's still a chance to amend things by improving the educational system. But seriously. If I touch an open flame, I get burnt. Will I do it again? Er, no. It's not rocket science, it's plain common sense. I don't think I'll ever understand why it is so hard for Filipinos to translate the same basic common sense with their voting patterns.

When you go out to vote, vote on issues, vote on platforms, vote on previous track records and performances. Government positions should never be a birthright and should be earned, not granted.

We can't have change if we ourselves can't change. If we can't understand that basic principle, we'll forever be stuck in third-world lethargy, no matter how many millions we get in investment monies and remittances.

The Cake That Wasn't

2013-02-15T08:15:00.002-08:00

I had my blog post planned out on the commute home. In keeping with the permeating theme that is Valentine's Day, I was supposed to pose questions about what keeps ladies of today from giving guys like me a fighting chance and all that. I figured my evening to go like this: swing by the local cake shop, get a nice Valentine's cake for the family, then go home to write.

Yeah, I obviously am on my continuing streak of Valentine's solitude. 29 years and counting, yo! :D

No, not really, but what the hell. Credit: DeviantArt

So there I was, thinking of how the post should go (and eventually going another avenue altogether as I ramble on while actually typing) while enjoying a quick snack of street food (tonight's selection was toknene, essentially boiled egg covered in some colored flour batter and fried - I like mine with onions and vinegar) at our local wet market when I saw an old lady of about 75 years of age going around and begging for change from the many people in the busy market.

Now, beggars aren't really anything out of the ordinary in wet markets in Metro Manila. With poverty remaining more or less steady (with slight increases or decreases in the number of poor, depending on who you ask), it's a common sight to see beggars going around public places here.

But, here's the thing. I have a really soft spot for old people.

See? Grandmas are awesome. (Credit: Some Japanese guy's site)

For one, the young and the middle-aged can still find gainful employment, if not now, at some point in the future, granted they apply themselves and opportunities open up. The old people, on the other hand, unless they were able to work long enough and in decent employment to be covered by the pension system or they have family and relatives to lean on, they have little else to turn to in the twilight years of their lives. And, unlike, say, Singapore where local companies are willing to hire geriatrics (you see quite a number of them working as service crews), Philippine companies, no matter how much they say they're for equal treatment of applicants, they're highly discriminatory in hiring service crew members, which is basically the sort of employment that old people can still excel in, barring special talents (i.e. Hawking and the like).

Seriously, I don't even know why it's so important for a service crew member to be single in addition to the age restriction. Is this secretly a personals ad? (Source: Jobstreet)

And on a more personal note, my thing for old people also stem from having wonderful grandparents, one who still lives with us here at home. So I see a bit of them in kindly geriatrics I encounter in my day-to-day commutes.

So, yeah, going back to the old lady at the market, she was gingerly walking to people, lightly tapping them on the shoulder, slowly extending her frail hand palm up, and mustering a weak smile as she makes her plea for change. Tonight, it doesn't seem like she's doing well. Her pleas were met with one or a combination of the following: a withering stare (as if she wronged the people), flat out ignorance (as if she wasn't there at all), and/or moving away from her (as if she had leprosy). I can understand not wanting to give money, but can you at least be polite in saying no to someone who is actually pretty polite herself, even pleasant, in begging?

My heart was breaking at this point.

I don't always give alms to the poor - this is mostly because many beggars here are handled by callous syndicates, so only a small percent of a syndicate-controlled beggar's collection is given to them. This old lady didn't feel like one of those beggars, though - the attempts to be pleasant speaks of a decent person who simply fell down on her luck in life and possibly have no more relatives left to help her.

I dug into my bag to fish for money to give her and found a couple of loose change. The only money I had left were that, a small bill (this is essentially my commute money home), and the money I plan to buy a cake with. I scooped up the loose change, then paused to think.

You know what, it's fucking Valentine's, this old lady has been shuffling around for quite some time begging as people treat her like some diseased soul, and in spite of all that, she still manages to put on a weak, if increasingly pained, smile as she asks for money from the next person she approaches. If no one can spare even politeness and money for her, then I will. She deserves something for keeping dignified and civil in spite of all her troubles.

I muttered to myself, "Sorry family, I love you guys, but your cake will have to wait," then fished out a hundred pesos from my bag. Yes, that is a small pittance (roughly about US$2.50) to people living in first-world countries, but for someone like me who will be jobless in a month's time without any leads on where to next latch on to and in the Philippines in general, it's a fairly substantial amount. And it's even more substantial for the old lady, as that would allow her to at least eat well on a Friday evening, treat herself to something nice this one time and not worry about tonight.

[Related viewing]

I approached her and noticed bandage wrapping at her ankles. No wonder she's walking gingerly. It's not just the ravages of time that slowed her, but an ailing injury as well. I tapped her on the shoulder and said "Nanay, ito po." ("Auntie, here" - nanay actually directly translates to mother, but the better translation would be auntie in this case, in the Philippines it's more reverential to the elderly women to call them nanay rather than the local term for auntie, which is tita) as I placed the bill into her hand.

She looked at the bill in her hand and then her face turned to me with a look that's partly relieved, thankful, happy, and, here's what really gets to me, almost into tears. She was smiling that weak smile, only slightly wider this time, and her eyes got misty. I don't know if it's simply because she's overjoyed, or perhaps she's also moved by the thought that someone finally took notice of her, that someone cared for her when she had no one to do so this close to Valentine's.

She kept repeating "Maraming salamat, iho" ("Thank you child") to me and at this point, my heart was swelling with joy, that even with a small token of gesture, I was able to give happiness to an old lady who has close to nothing. I was also getting carried away by her misty eyes, though, as my eyes were starting to wet, too, so I had to get with my commute home. As I said my goodbye to the lady, I smiled back and waved at her. As I flagged down a jeepney, I looked back at her and she was still standing there, looking at me with as big a smile as she could muster and waved as vigorously as her frail arms could muster. I waved back, boarded the jeepney, and felt like a million dollars.

I may be loveless still, but I can definitely say that my experience today can hold its own against others' experiences with their special someone this season of hearts. No ~~box of JCO donuts~~ Conti's cake (I don't see the allure with JCO donuts), beach trip, or even hot steamy passionate action can replace my memory of today.

I write this not to make myself into some sort of hero. I'm not. I'm a terrible human being at times, which is probably why no one wants to go out with me. I write this more as an anecdote to share with you, so that we could all try to be pleasant towards one another, and to see that even doing small things for others could mean the world to them.

Happy Valentine's Day, guys.

And to my family, don't worry. The cake is still forthcoming. :)

Bill Passage [LOL Governance]

2012-11-20T17:57:00.003-08:00

Credit: PSSST!

After much deliberation and forceful coercing of the administration on its congressional allies, the K to 12 educational program has been given the green light in the House of Representatives. I'm not really in the best position to make a final determination on the effectiveness of the program in the long-run, so I'll leave that to the experts.

What I'm more interested in is the way in which the bill was finally pushed through (and other little tidbits). It provides an excellent insight on how the Philippine government operates. As follows:

1. The program was already put into place and implemented even without the enabling bill in place.

2. There were no trials, no tests on feasibility. They went ahead and put it in place and hope that it turns out for the best, because, hey, other countries are doing it, so it must be good. If this turns out to be a dud, they essentially risked a whole generation of kids unnecessarily. Addendum: Filipinos who actually do finish college in competent universities (not those diploma mills out for quick cash) are as competent as those with extra two-year educations elsewhere.

3. The congressmen questioned the Department of Education's (DepEd) capability and resources, when the same congressmen are the reason why the budget for the DepEd is startlingly low. Hmm.

4. And here's the real kicker: "The House, mustering a quorum after a week plagued with absenteeism, voted 198-8 to approve the measure on Monday night." Yup, decidedly third-world. Emphasis on week since the lower house saw successive working days without a quorum. Astounding.

As an aside, why aren't there measures to penalize congressmen who have poor attendance (my personal choice would be to sack them and give the seat to the runner-up in their district/next party-list winner)? In the professional world, frequent absentees get reprimanded and then sacked eventually Why aren't we holding these lawmakers to the same standard, when they even insist on sticking the adjective "honorable" to their titles?

Advance Apologies

2012-09-29T08:05:00.003-07:00

Credit: The New York Independent

In light of the new law that will be in effect soon (I think it's on October 3), I apologize in advance if the content of my blog moves towards more inane things like sports, games, and the like. As much as I would like to write about things that matter to society in a hard-hitting manner, I fear that I might run afoul of the new law, so I'll just keep my mouth shut up on such matters until I'm able to move to another country. I really don't like jail time, so there.

Thanks for your understanding.

This Used To Be Elsewhere + Rants

2012-09-27T21:48:00.003-07:00

No reason for Pip-boy being here, really. He just looks cool.

So yeah, for that one person who follows my blog religiously (that's me being optimistic), I'm sorry to have pulled the plug on Pinoy Everyman. The reality is that Everyman costs money to maintain, so I just let it go, especially since I hadn't written for quite some time, so I wasn't making good use of that expense.

Luckily for said person, I'm back! Well, to the detriment of the rest of my friends' Facebook walls, because now they have to see my crap again. Huzzah!
Anyway, not really here to just make a bland announcement. As is the norm for the old blog, it's RANTING TIME! As an aside, I had wanted to get the subdomain "alwaysangry.blogspot.com", but someone beat me to it. Gah.

Because there's a plethora of good stuff to rant about in the news today, I'm going for the quick-fire rant mode, wherein I try to keep it short. Good luck with that, I've never been one for brevity when I blog, but I'll try.

Party-List System A Joke - Well, duh. That was plain obvious in the 2010 elections, where almost every group attempted to rename their dubious organizations so that their acronyms begin with A or a number just so they can get their names on top of the list instead of doing some real legwork to get voters engaged on the cause they're fighting for - if ever they did have a cause to begin with. I seriously hope Brillantes and company cleans the list up - 2010's was a cruel joke. Perhaps they can add a requirement that the potential congressman from the group should be a part of those marginalized groups for a minimum of three years. So, for example, Mikey Arroyo would be ineligible because he never was a security guard to begin with.

If I were desperate enough to win a seat in congress without deserving it, though, I'd submit a party-list name of "01011001 - Ang Galing-galing ng Facebook". It works on a number of levels. For one, it will definitely show up first on the list (take that, 1-UTAK!). Two, it leverages a buzzword that's increasingly popular amongst the masses (the gossips and bragging I hear on jeepneys now involves Facebook mentions), so like how celebs ride their popularity into politics, I will do the same, albeit with Facebook. Name and face politics is strong here, regardless of actual achievements. Three, I can pass it off that Facebook users need representation in congress, that no one is looking out for their well-being (or some similar crap). Heck, if security guards need representation that bad, why not Facebook users?

Some Bishops See Pro-RH Foes Behind Cebu Priest's Case - If you want to see the depths of stupidity some prelates go to turn the tables around on the morality of the RH Bill, this is it. Totally unrelated issue, and they still link it back to the RH Bill. Because they're unable to debate properly or to handle issues separately, they just put it in a lump sum that there is this sinister group that's out to get them. There is no smear campaign, just douchebags trying in vain to paint a picture of fake persecution that is ludicrous at best, and devious at worst. Bishops, do you really think yourselves martyrs? Because you're too dense to even understand, let me get that for you. NO.

As an aside, aren't they liable for libel if they're making tenuous assertions that the government is running a smear campaign on them without presenting incontrovertible proof?

Clark Too Far For International Airport - Listen to the man. The DOTC is deluding itself in thinking Clark is the answer, especially that the country is keen on getting foreign investors here. If you're a foreign investor, would you really subject yourself to shuttling yourself back and forth from Manila to Clark?

Of course, no Inquirer article is complete without the requisite spate of inane comments. Some dolts there see themselves as more of an expert than IATA's CEO just by being tourists. As if their visit once in a blue moon credentials are enough to unseat someone who has been to more airports than they can name and is his business to know airports intimately. Sheer arrrogance. They're dumb enough to state that Changi, KLIA, Incheon, and HKIA (to name a few) are as far from city hubs as Clark is to Manila without actually substantiating their facts. Because I'm nice enough to check with Google Maps for that lazy lot, some distances:

Changi to Marina Bay (assumed city center) - 28.8 km
Incheon to Seoul - ~28 km (no directions for car travel, so going by the old ruler method)
KLIA to Kuala Lumpur - 73.3 km
HKIA to Tsim Tsa Tsui (assumed center) - 23.2 km
Suvarnabhumi to Bangkok - 35.6 km
Soekarno-Hatta to Jakarta - 32.4 km

Clark to Manila - 96.2 km
Clark to Makati (where I suspect most foreigners will do business in) - 106 km

Dumb plan, unless we want to set some regional record for the wrong reason. Wait, did you say RECORD? We're suckers for those things, so yeah, let's throw all rational reason and move everything to Clark!

DOH Is Better-Prepared For Infectious Diseases - This is a good thing, but the bigger problem lies in the gross ways of Filipinos. If you're deluded enough to think that Filipinos are a clean society in that we wash daily and all that, well, you're conveniently overlooking all the spitting and littering that goes around (not to mention utter refusal to cover one's mouth when coughing). The DOH may be prepared to deal with someone with SARS, but not before said person risked complete strangers with his/her lack of etiquette and decency.