Fine Looking Island People

Patty Cake

2012-12-21T01:58:00.000-05:00

One Sunday in Prison

2012-09-20T08:38:00.002-04:00

Nothing was more exhilarating for us than a weekend with our father. You see he was the chief of police. Everywhere he went, he made news.

It was during the days when we drove our mother crazy. She demanded a spic-and-span household. Her only problem was our three teenage sisters who just found out about bell bottom blues among other things, plus us - four kids whose favorite game was proving to ourselves that cats had nine lives. One time, our mother spent a fortune landscaping our lawn, on which we dug up a big hole trying to unearth a cave where we could perform such experiments. However, before we could turn the whole backyard into a laboratory, my father stepped in. He came up with this ingenious idea to take us to Mass inside the city jail every Sunday.

Along the corridor that became the makeshift chapel between prison cells, the chaplain would bless us with a sign of the cross, signaling to us the start of our day. The sound of scurrying feet would be a familiar sound to all the guards and most especially to our friends behind bars. They would take turns gifting us with handicrafts that they worked on during the week and best of all, telling us stories that entertained us to no end.

"See that red door? Don't go there," said one of the prisoners one Sunday. So we did.

"Urgh!" Something behind the door groaned so loud it sent us running back to our friend.

He was about to tell his story when our father, together with a few prison guards, came marching towards the red steel door.

"Curiosity kills the cat, but we're not cats." My sister said as she ran behind my father. We had no choice but to follow her.

"Open that door!" My father said with a firm voice that sent the guards frantically searching for the right key. Our hands covered our eyes as we stood in anticipation. Then there it was - a dark, narrow room with unpainted concrete walls and unfinished floor. We all covered our faces as the foul smelling evil spirits escaped from it.

Then in an instant we watched the prison guards scrub the floor and paint the walls. Soon after that we saw a cot being carried into the room. We whispered among ourselves in agreement with our father that if they were to make somebody sleep inside this room, it better be with a bed.

That would be our last visit. Not long after, we found ourselves in front of the television watching President Marcos declare Martial Law. Our father was detained briefly for having been associated with Sergio Osmena, Jr., a staunch opponent of Marcos. That night, I lay in bed with a rosary in my hand, praying hard for him to come home safely, as I had done every night he was out on a mission.

Looking back, while our story of the isolation room ushered in one of the darkest moments in our country's history, it opened to us one comforting truth - our father had the heart to care.

Life's Quotes

2012-08-11T13:38:00.000-04:00

Facebook has become some sort of a morning ritual to me. It has served as my daily newspaper, my letters and greeting cards from loved ones to open, a photo album to gawk over, an old or latest music video to find, and my journal. More recently, it has even become my prophet in the guise of "life's quotes" in the morning before I go to work. (Yes, I have the discipline to log off.)

You see, if you were me, an immigrant who has lived in several towns and cities, not to mention countries, you would consider Facebook like a staple food. Imagine yourself alone and away from home, missing places and friends, learning about different cultures and values, meeting and choosing new friends, learning a new trade, acquiring a new taste for food or a person to fall in love with. ("Funny enough, society's standards of beauty is always changing as if it were the newest season's fashion collection." - Huffington Post ) In other words, if you were me, you would have been struggling to make sense of why you left the comforts of home in the first place and where you are in the journey called life.

While I still take time to read long feature articles and novels, I must admit that I get a kick out of those spurts of wise words by men of yore while I scroll down the page. There are times when I would contemplate on the daily grind of life as a review, before I go to bed, and find answers or encouragements the next morning on a friend's wall.

A word of caution though - while I move freely in the world of social media, I am well aware of the existence of mind altering science. In the same way that I choose my friends, I discern what I need to believe in to shape my mind in relation to my goals.

So now, I have friends who make my list of favorites because of their choices of posters on their walls. I even go searching for them. Believe them or not, they serve as reminders to me about very important lessons learned. Come to think of it, these wise men we quote all struggled like us, before they found themselves living their dreams, be it in heaven or earth.

Here are a few examples:

When I went through some serious moments of doubt about my worth (c'mon we all do):

One time, I struggled through some comments about my blog that were negative, I wanted to eff them back:

During those times when I almost gave up on my dream, I would think of packing up to go back home:

Last, but not the least, and may I add it is not the end of it, I struggled to make sense of my failed relationships and somehow had accepted being alone for the meantime:

Always on My Father's Mind

2012-07-19T08:48:00.000-04:00

"He handed me a greeting card soiled with grease," my mother told me when I asked her how she met my father. They were blind dates in a bowling alley during the glory days of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and hair pomade. How they fell in love. She was charmed by his natural ways, my father smitten by her strong yet graceful gait. They became "Paquito and Lil" to their family and friends.

"He played basketball with his study notes in his back pocket when he was in law school," she said. "I was surprised when he passed the bar exams."

She never imagined the tough kind of life that came along with a husband who thought he was James Bond. Well maybe that was part of his charm that made my mother stay in love with him until the end.

By the time he retired in 1999, he was already in his seventies. The long and arduous battle he fought against corruption in our government had already taken its toll.

They would have been married for 50 years had my mother waited a few more months before she died. He was never the same again. All the memories of his once brave and active life had been erased by Alzheimer's disease, except for one.

"Who are you thinking of?" Ann Gabrielle asked her grandfather one day.

"Lil," he answered with a smile.

Children

2012-03-03T15:29:00.002-05:00

"Every single decision I make about what material I do, what I'm putting out in the world, is because of my children," Meryl Streep once said. She recently won her third Oscar and has been nominated seventeen times. Would it not be apropos to say that her formula for such a sustainable excellence should be our example?

Philippines After 26 Years: Still Camping in the Desert

2012-02-25T16:43:00.000-05:00

It was not too long ago when I contributed an article - Standard & Poor's Downgrade: U.S. Going the Wrong Way - to Blogcritics, a seemingly American Conservative group. It solicited a response from one American who turned out to have ties to the Philippines, by way of his Filipino wife. I decided to share it now after reading a few articles that tackled several issues that continue to frustrate Filipinos, 26 years after a peaceful revolution that earned us our freedom. Here is what he wrote:

Hello, Cordi -

Great article, and sure to be panned by the BC conservatives since you lay the blame where it belongs.

But I wanted to mention an observation - I'll be moving to Quezon City in a few months (my oldest son is teaching college and my youngest son is in fourth-year high school, both in Q.C.) for the reasons I listed in this article. It is as I've heard a few Pinoy say, America's a great place to make money, but it's better to grow old in the Philippines.

But back to the observation - when I visited my wife's family there while we were in the middle of the Great Recession here stateside, I traveled from Taguig (which is a modern and beautiful place even by western standards - Google "Serendra") to Baguio to La Union and back to Q.C., and I saw nary a sign of the Great Recession that the U.S. and Europe were going through. I figured this was because of the Pinoy attitude: if you don't have a job, don't sit around waiting for one but go out and make one - start a business, even if it's selling taho in the iskinita. I think that's why most Pinoy stateside are either professionals or businesspeople, or are trying to start businesses of their own.

But that's the difference between America and the Philippines - America has a reliable way to collect taxes, whereas the Philippines doesn't, and so they have to rely greatly on import duties and fees to help finance their government (which is why electronics is so much more expensive there). America, OTOH, reliably and automatically collects taxes, and so can afford the wealth of social programs we have here (not to mention our hideously-expensive military (I'm retired Navy)). If the Philippines had a better system of collecting income and business taxes, they'd be able to afford so much more and provide an actual social safety net.

But I suspect that will not happen in my lifetime...and even though I'm a dyed-in-the-wool bleeding-heart liberal, I sometimes wonder if it's better that it doesn't. Why? Because without the social safety net, the Pinoys are forced to strive harder - witness the bookstores where the fiction books take up less than a quarter of the space, but nearly half consists of professional certification and qualification manuals!

And because they've had to strive harder, they've excelled in much of the world, as is evinced by the fact that one-third of ALL crewmembers on the world's merchant marine ships are Pinoy. It helps that most Pinoy are intelligent - indeed, can America produce an example of a polymath like Jose Rizal who, by the age of 32 when he was martyred, had become a practicing eye surgeon, had published two books of national importance, had traveled the world, and knew twenty-two languages? Perhaps Benjamin Franklin comes close, but that's about it.

Don't get me wrong - I'm no Filipinophile, for there's many problems there that we would not abide here stateside (again, see the article I referenced above). But there's a lot of lessons we could learn from the Philippines. Problem is, America's got this attitude that if the idea didn't come from America, then it must not be a good idea. That attitude is IMO America's greatest shortcoming - the unwillingness of Americans to learn from other nations or cultures...which is probably the same obstacle faced by every nation in history that has stood unchallenged.

Sorry for the rambling comment - it's just that I'm glad to see someone lay the blame where it belongs, and that the same someone can understand and appreciate the observations I've made over the years.

My reply:

Hi Glenn,

I agree with you on your observations about the Philippines. We lost our way a long time ago and have been so far out that we decided to camp. Haha!

Enrile: Road to Redemption or Perdition

2012-02-21T22:45:00.001-05:00

The impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona remains as enigmatic as the man tasked to lead the panel of its judges, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.

Recently, Esquire Magazine banked on the trend and published an interesting article, What I've Learned: Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. Although he spoke with the wisdom of a man who was "not fortunate enough to be born in a soft bed," one cannot tell at his age of 92 years if he is on the road to redemption or perdition.

On one hand, he professes to believe in a Supreme Being. On the other, he says, "How does one get anything done in Congress? You have to have friends. You have to maintain connections with people who have the cloud." By all indications, he is still a politician who can go either way. There is just no way of getting a sense from him as to who this impeachment trial will end up serving-Filipinos or Corona.

After all, Enrile, who once had to learn from the "art of war" in order to survive in the "jungle" as he referred to life, might just be reserving the right to change his mind in case the fight ends up being a matter of his own survival. Besides, history often repeats itself.

EPAL: Most Helpful in Public Toilets

2012-02-19T10:48:00.003-05:00

Mang Juan worked in the farm owned by the governor of their town. He smuggled some rice from work to bring home to feed his family. He got caught and lost his job. A few days ago, he went to the town's faith healer around the corner for a tumor he had in his back. Of course, he had no health insurance. Now, he is dead.

The governor hears the news. It is a year before election. He orders his men to bring some refreshments to the wake of Mang Juan. Without further ado, they drive their black SUV to the depot where they keep all kinds of campaign materials, all printed down to the sugar sachets with the governor's name. They say to the issuing clerk, "para sa patay." She hands them a couple of bags and off they go to Mang Juan's wake.

Prrrt! Stop. Hold your horses. I must admit that I have just written a likely scene for a soap opera. However, would you not agree that art often imitates life?

A politician giving alms to poor people and using it as a way to advertise himself is not only tasteless but moronic. They think they are so smart to play with emotions of those who are in their most vulnerable to remember their names. I say to them, for heaven's sake, does wisdom count in your brains? Would you go as far as advertising your failures in coffee cups for the dead?

And by the way, I have a better idea for you guys. EPAL will be most helpful in public toilets to help people do their business with ease. Oh yes, on toilet paper too at all SM bathrooms.

Toilet with face photo from mummybrain.com

Mom Extraordinaire

2012-01-21T14:42:00.006-05:00

She was born on the day Brother Moon joined Sister Sun and Mother Earth in welcoming another daughter to the Universe. Yes, a solar eclipse was recorded to have occurred on January 24, 1925, the day Mom was born. Like how the Star of David marked Christmas, that solar eclipse signaled the beginning of an extraordinary life.

She and her family lived during the turbulent days of the Japanese Occupation. At an age when most of us were still acting goofy, Mom was sent away from their home in Manila to be on her own with her younger brothers and sisters. Lolo Roman was a school superintendent employed by the Americans. He saw the need for his children to hide away in Nueva Ecija, far north of Manila.

"How she worked hard to take care of us," Aunt Ligaya said. "The only time she rested was when she would sit to mend clothes while we did our homework."

After the war, she met Dad in a blind date on a bowling alley, a short story of which I wrote in my earlier blog Always On My Father's Mind. They married and had seven high-spirited children.

How she juggled being a wife to Dad aka James Bond of the Philippines, a mother to seven children, a university professor, and most of all, a prolific social worker is beyond me.

The last time I saw Mom alive was at the foot of the escalator at the airport when I left for the United States. I never got the chance to hug her as I yearned to during my self exile of twelve years. I cannot help but recall her life again and again, only to find out something new every time I do. For instance, that moon never meant to hide the light of the sun the day she was born. As human as she was as I pictured her in my recent blog, Mom Was from Mars and Dad Didn't Mind At All, she managed to find her way to heaven, along the path brightened by her work marked by sacrifices for other people.

More about Mom

Mom being sworn in by President Ramos as a member of the MTRCB

Lilia Santos-Villa Memorial Endowment
Her Green Card To Heaven
Round Goes the Lazy Susan
Roundtrip

Winning! Agriculture=20% Tourism=5.8%

2012-01-11T14:46:00.006-05:00

"The bus station in New York City offers a more comfortable waiting area than this," I told my sister, Charie, as we sat in the airport in Manila minutes before boarding the plane to Singapore to visit my niece. She has become my best buddy in my efforts as a pundit, for lack of a better term, in matters about the Philippines.

We were all cramped in what looked like a 10' x 5' area facing the hallway to the boarding gate, on chairs made more for outdoors and not ergonomic enough for waiting rooms. I was practically breathing down on someone's neck who was seating in front of me. Forget about taking your book out because the lighting did not allow it. It made me think about my old lamp beside my bed at home.

"I know, and how well we welcome those tourists we've been trying to attract," she replied. I was thinking more about our OFW's who contribute 12% to the country's GDP.

"Remember the stink we all made about the traffic once?" I asked. "It remains a motley crew of jeepneys and buses in wacky races but at least authorities have been experimenting on solutions." I was suggesting the power of yacking to get them to do something about the airport.

Well, that trip to Singapore happened during my summer vacation last year. As we all know, Ninoy Aquino International Airport is scheduled to have that much needed renovation. Extreme, if you were to ask me. Landing on the list of the world's worst airports rang loud enough.

Now, allow me to get to the point of this blog. After seeing Pinoys in their creative pursuits busy churning out their own versions of It's more fun in the Philippines ads (that cost the government five million pesos to think of when all they did was to change the last word of an old slogan from Switzerland to Philippines), another thought came to my mind. You see, it has been on my wish list for a couple of years now to see our country really work on Agriculture. Take note of the capital "A".

It all started when I met a lady who worked as a nanny to my sister's children during one of my visits. She looked very old and frail. "Di po niyo ako kailangan i-po," she said. "Bata pa po ako."

How right she was. Not yet thirty years old, she looked like she was seventy! Of course I did not say that.

Being nosy, I soon found out why. She had been working in a rice field with her family in Ilocos all her life. Most of them had to stop working after getting sick. Running out of money, she had to venture out into the capital, as most of them do, looking for work to feed her family. It made me curious then to find out about what kind of help we give our farmers who actually work with their hands, on their knees, all day, in mud and crap, to produce food for all of us. I found out, NOTHING!

Before I turn dramatic like I always do, allow me to continue in the context of national interest. According to an article in the Encyclopedia of Nations, the country's agricultural sector is made up of 4 sub-sectors: farming, fisheries, livestock, and forestry, which together employ 39.8 percent of the labor force and contribute 20 percent of GDP. Tourism accounts only for 5.8% recently according to the National Statistical Coordination Board.

There are several underlying problems that affect Agriculture but the most immediate is what I noticed without even being there. Seeing the aggressive campaign for tourism that our government has recently come up with worried me more. That same article above articulates it well for me.

One of the most pressing concerns of the agricultural sector is the rampant conversion of agricultural land into golf courses, residential subdivisions, and industrial parks or resorts. In 1993 the nation was losing irrigated rice lands at a rate of 2,300 hectares per year. Small land-holders find it more profitable to sell their land to developers in exchange for cash, especially since they lack capital for seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and wages for hiring workers to plant and harvest the crops.

You probably do not notice the long drawn effect of this on our people as a whole. My cousin, Gao Pronove, who like me, has vowed to point out things that need pointing out in our country, posted on facebook some very good observations.

SORRY HA! What's wrong with our food? They aren't healthy! Is this why Pinoys are generally fat, under medication, and lethargic? Where is the healthy stuff? Think about it or just look at EDSA ads - corned beef, hotdogs, Spam, meat everywhere (drugged chickens, industrial pigs, and only tilapia in a country with a coast longer than the North American continent?). Sorry ha but we don't have healthy food.

So there. Agriculture = 20% of GDP. Tourism = 5.8%. I hope it would be enough to get the noise going for our farmers, fishermen, and those who really do the work to put food on our tables.

By the way, sorry to rain on your parade.

It's More Funk in the Philippines

2012-01-07T13:14:00.002-05:00

Photo lifted from Boyet Ignacio's Yetbu Photostream on flickr

It's More Fun in the Philippines. Yes, it's a simple slogan that tells the truth about Pinoys. There is no doubt that we really are a bunch of exuberant and bubbly people, even in the face of poverty and blatant corruption.

Me, myself, and I get the expectation of fun as soon as I land in the worst airport in the world. However, having lived in a land of plenty for so long, I can't help but feel uncomfortable when I have fun around poor, yet ebullient kids. One of the conclusions I have drawn is that Filipinos are so desensitized to their environment that they can just walk past a little boy, not yet in the age of reason, selling cigarettes out in the streets at night.

UNLESS PINOYS START CARING FOR THEM, or at least show that there are things being done to help them, tourists might just find more reasons to say, "it's more funk in the Philippines."

Mom Was from Mars and Dad Didn't Mind at All

2011-12-28T17:39:00.010-05:00

I'm about to doze off when this lady who has the window seat next to mine decides that it is time for her to go to the bathroom. Great! I am never getting my sleep. I stand to give way to her. I checked my watch. We've been flying for about ten hours already. All the while, I have been tossing and turning in my seat.

I am running a temperature, so that does not help. As the soon as she gets back, I flop on my seat, push it back to recline, and close my weary eyes. I'm about to finally get some sleep when the sun hits my face. When I turned to look, it is her again. She turns her lights on to read when everybody else on the plane is asleep.

If only she knew what I am going through. I'm about to growl at her when I notice the book that she has in her hands, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. It is the same book that Mom added to our library at home.

I never gave it much thought then until now. Maybe Mom read that book to cope with Dad. After all, our parents were not spared from the "he said, she said" moments that couples go through. Mom must have complained to Aunt Ligaya dozens of times.

I remember Charie and I being chased by Mom back to our closets to change to our Sunday clothes. When she handed us what she had picked out for us that day, I yelled, "Oh no, I am never wearing that!"

Knowing that Dad often overruled Mom, I made sure that he heard it. True enough, he soon stepped out of the car and came to our rescue. "Dear, let them be."

Before Mom could get us, we had already taken our seats safely inside the car. All she could muster was a big, "HMPH!"

Then, there was Dad's nonchalant ways at home. Once, Mom found us heading out the door without tidying up our rooms. Being an obsessive housekeeper, she was soon yelling all over the place for not getting any help around the house. Then, we heard Dad snoring from the upstairs bedroom, overpowering Mom once again. We were about to break out into fits of laughter when we noticed Mom's face turning redder than it already was. Up to this day, I wonder how he managed to lay there like a bear in hibernation.

Another thing, Dad must have found Mom too outspoken for his taste. I saw her in action one day when I rode a cab with her. She asked the driver, "What do you think of Imelda?" Of all the topics to talk about, why Imelda Marcos? It was considered a crime punishable by death to speak against the dictator, and much more, against the original Diva that was his wife!

In contrast, Dad was the epitome of self-control. Towards the end of Marcos's rule, he was the legal counsel to the Agrava Fact Finding Board, which was formed to investigate the assassination of Ninoy Aquino. All the while, he kept mum about the whole proceedings. Nothing from Mom's bag of tricks could make him give up his vow of silence while working on the case. He was nothing like Adam with Eve, hahaha!

So what kept their hands together like young couples in love until the end? I guess it was what they did outside our home. Mom was a volunteer social worker who immersed herself in community projects that uplifted the lives of the poor. Dad, the straight guy who never bent for anyone in the government, fought for justice until it hurt him in the end. I am sure they both found comfort in each others arms at night after work, like two kindred spirits in an imperfect world.

Mom wrote in one of her final letters to us before she passed away, "I would like to infuse the values of love, charity, justice, and hope that each of you will never stop loving and caring for one another, know each others shortcomings, accept them and deal with them, being sure that each maintains his/her individuality. An ounce of respect for such shortcomings would help prevent havoc."

Meanwhile, I am interrupted by the announcement from the captain. "It is a sweltering 40 degrees celsius in Manila," signaling the start of our descent. In a few minutes, I will walk the along the corridors of the worst airport in the world, sit in traffic all day long, and read newspapers that only make me feel hopeless for all the poor people around me. Just the same, I know that I will never feel at home anywhere else. Just like Mom and Dad with each other.

His Mighty Wings

2011-12-26T16:05:00.008-05:00

It was unusually bright on a late December day after Christmas. I decided to go for a walk along the shores of Lake Ontario. After about an hour, I found myself on a mound of grass overlooking the cold, blue water. The rays of the sun felt like warm, gentle shower on my face.

After the tail of the last duck disappeared around the bend, I realized that I managed to lose the rest of the world, just for a little while. The stillness moved me to get down on my knees to pray.

As soon as I asked to hear His voice, I heard a loud flapping sound above me. I looked up and saw a big white bird with some mighty wings burst into the sky.

Doors

2011-12-18T12:59:00.006-05:00

You find yourself standing in front of these two doors. You are given a key that is sure to open the door on the left. You are told that going through that door would lead to a task with financial rewards.

However, you are drawn to the light coming out of the other door. You peep through the holes. Behind that door are stuff that you have been wishing for.

"If you want to check out the other door, you may use the same key to give it a try."

"But if you do, that key will no longer work for the left door and vice versa."

Would you go for that door on the right to follow your dreams, or would you go for a sure thing?

You Are Breaking the Law

2011-12-10T20:21:00.000-05:00

A funny lesson happened to me one morning on my way to work. Before I left home, I read an article titled If US Officials Can Go to Jail Why Can't Corrupt Filipino Politicians. It made a good point of how a balanced scale of justice equates with a civilized and progressive society.

I was getting riled up thinking of how our country ended up so stupid, pardon my language. I had just posted the article on facebook accompanied by a note that said, "Sorry for this sweeping statement but honestly, the Philippines is the Land of the Inarticulate."

What if former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is now under scrutiny for various graft and corruption charges, had my father in her case right now? After all, he put together a successful one in record breaking time of six months against Congressman Nicanor de Guzman for gun smuggling in Pasay City, where, coincidentally, Macapagal's case has been filed.

You see, my father's career in the government was all about upholding the law, from his days training at the FBI in Quantico, Virginia, not to mention Scotland Yard, to his last days in the government fighting no less than former Ombudsman Aniano Disierto who hurt my father in the end. What frustrated me most was that nobody stood up to help him. Need you wonder why the Ombudsman never nailed anyone? Yet, our government is up there in terms of corruption in the world.

In one of his last interviews before he retired, a newspaper reporter asked him what he thought about the rising statistics in criminal activities in the country then. He said, "The problem is not in the making of our laws but in executing them." Sadly for our country, my father was the last of the mohicans.

Then, while crossing the pedestrian lane to the subway station, I heard a voice say, "You are breaking the law."

I turned my back to look. There he was, an old man in his plaid coat and a brown cane on the sidewalk that I just passed, waiting for the light to turn green. He said, "Joke."

I laughed so hard. That's it! We need to speak out against those who break the law, like what that old man did to me.

More importantly, like what my own father, Retired Overall Deputy Ombudsman Francisco Agrava Villa, did throughout his life.

Happy birthday, Dad!

After LIfe

2011-10-29T22:40:00.004-04:00

I wake up on a loft,
On cuddly soft,
lavender fragrant sheets
I get up with ease
On my steadiest knees
And what do you know, no sneeze.

There's no need to pray
For a good hair day
For who else will brother moon give way?
But a kinder sister sun,
Who knows how to have fun.

Then, as soon as I feel it,
Before I can think it
Belgian waffles I see
Golden, gleaming in syrup
Even birds go chirrup,

And what do you know
Not a minute in yearning,
My loved ones appearing
A chorus of awakenings
To their own favourite things.

Now, would you rather count fully
On a good probability,
Twenty four seven
After life, in heaven?

Or you might as well be seeing
Taxidermists making a killing
Stuffing, while whistling,
Our dearly departed,
All hollow,
With nary a soul.

Visit An Occupier

2011-10-22T14:48:00.008-04:00

I met Toby randomly among the hundreds of customers we had at work one day. I was trying to convince one of our staff to recycle those industrial bubble wraps that came in one of the packages we receive everyday. She is in charge of keeping our place neat and tidy and she knows me well enough, after seven years, not to agree with me. Otherwise, I would be freaking out if I see too many "recyclables" lying around.

"Wow, those will make a loud pop," he said. He was pertaining to the bubble wraps that some people end up playing with.

"Yeah, feel free to take it with you to St. James Park," I replied. I was referring to the place a couple of blocks away where Occupy Toronto has set up a few tents.

It was by coincidence that he was there to print a few copies of this article he wrote about Occupy Toronto. I told him that I have been following the movement and was in fact at St. James Park over the weekend.

It brought out memories of my own experiences back in my home country. I used to drive many miles after work to Ayala Avenue, coincidentally the Philippines' financial district, to join the protest against Ferdinand Marcos, the overstaying president of our country then.

We never thought that it would amount to that historic People Power that toppled a dictator with people holding onto nothing but their holy rosaries against U.S. supplied military tanks.

Indeed this world of ours is shared by both good and evil. The danger is when we stop caring enough to fight the latter, at least for more space. So Occupy & earn more space for the good of all!

"I go there during my spare time," Toby said. "I believe it is our duty to get involved."

Here is what he wrote:

Occupy Toronto

By Toby Lake

Occupy Toronto grew out of a recognition around the world that there is something wrong in our society. No single person can identify a specific problem without missing the main issue. As we listen to each person, or group of people, we see a common underlying issue. People do not feel they are being heard.

As we bring all our ideas together concerning why we are here, for what we believe caused systemic problems, we work towards solving the problem of not being heard. We must continue to create a process to follow for ideas, concerns, interests, and narcissistic demands, to give each person the same opportunity to contribute. Each person must take responsibility for their contribution, not only to voice it, we must be advocates for our opinions. We need to explain more than why our opinion is relevant, important, and the impact it has on our society.

The process of creating a system is extremely important. As many of us differ as to what brings us here there we also have our own ideas about what we do, how we must act, if we should use disruptive tactics or not. If we imitate the problem we are trying to solve, we will not solve it. The process we create is what we really can focus on to show there is a beginning for new participants to engage, that there is a process for submitting their concerns and ideas, that there is a result we can achieve and a goal to accomplish, in this we facilitate properly people who want to be heard.

There is criticism concerning the purpose of Occupy Toronto and the effect we wish to have. In my personal opinion, it would be successful if it follows these three goals. It allows people to be involved, it facilitates discussion, and it makes a person feel like a part of society, and not simply as someone who occupies space. In the grand scheme of things, we are developing democracy by creating and demonstrating how it works. It takes time. No one person can decide for everyone else how soon it shows results, or what the process will be. We decide together.

Please take some time, when you have time, to visit each pavilion. We have info centres to get informed, we have a media centre, logistics, food, and medical with speakers corner soon to come. These are where our volunteers help facilitate the needs of our community. We also have a sign post, a place where signs are made and available. There is more I have not listed here, and you can find someone at the info centres to answer questions you may have.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/occupy.toronto/

Zero In

2011-10-09T18:42:00.007-04:00

I call it my ground zero when reality exploded under my feet a couple of years after 9/11. You see, I had been away from home in New York when I got a call from my sister. My mother, whom I had not seen for over ten years, died. Soon, like dominoes, my life came tumbling after.

I left home again and moved to Canada a month after her funeral. Luckily, I had no problem landing a job. However, I considered it only to be a stepping stone then, so I resumed my quest for more. I must have written over a hundred resumes, and even paid a professional career counselor to polish one, in search of that dream job. Not only that, I took several courses to upgrade my credentials, went through endless job interviews, and even explored joining the lucrative business of health care. I tell you, I tried everything. Each time, a door slammed shut.

Summing it all up, it came to that proverbial falling-on-my-knees-to-pray. Much to my chagrin, it was not a story of answered prayers and this-is-how-I-ended-up-rich like those best selling books we see around. Instead things only got tougher.

I became angry. The question was how to tell someone I feared that I was mad at him. Then, I had an idea. I recalled how I would write letters when I wanted to tell someone things that I could not say in person. So I began writing letters to God whom I perceived to be a great spirit lurking behind the clouds, ready to pounce on me as soon as I sinned.

It turned out to be a no holds barred account of each day of the year-how I felt and what I thought of him. I was like that errant student who was made to write the same sentence over and over again on the blackboard after class until I got it. I ended up with a luggage full of letters.

Finally, I began to see God up close and personal. He, ever powerful, mighty, loving, and devoted Teacher, has a good sense of humor after all. He finally replied, "you never asked me what I wanted you to do in your life."

Indeed, it was his unique, creative solutions that made me zero in on an empty page. I decided to go to school to learn about expressive and creative writing. It was a year ago in October when Fine Looking Island People was born out of my need to express myself to my God.

Only after doing away with a lot of negatives, zeroing in on the more important things in life, that I was able to appreciate what it means to die in oneself to begin anew. Even Steve Jobs knew that. He said, "death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new."

From PX Goods to RH Bill

2011-09-10T13:04:00.004-04:00

Are Filipinos really so gullible that foreign groups are influencing the way we make our laws? They call it "lobbying." Philippine laws require that lobbyists identify themselves and be licensed before they can do so.

Wikileaks reveal some documents proving that population control has been funded with billions of dollars by the U.S. government for 40 years now. Senator Sotto says they do it through foreign organizations who are hiding behind the cloak of NGO's.

For all we know, this may be one of the major reasons why our government is so corrupt beyond our control. Maybe some people really want us to remain poor. Take note of the following:

Wikileaks: U.S. gov't behind population control in PH for 40 years

Henry Kissinger, who served as Secretary of State, had warned that population growth in less-developed countries could hamper US access to natural resources.

NSSM 200 or the so-called “Kissinger Report” – the declassified document that uncovered Washington’s coercive population control policies – identified the Philippines among several high-population-growth countries that should be subjected to depopulation to protect US commercial interests. (CBCP For Life, September 6, 2011)

Sotto reveals P26-M lobby funds for RH bill

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III revealed Monday that $617,000 (about P26 million) in lobby funds were being used by foreign organizations to fund local organizations campaigning for the enactment of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill now pending before Congress. (InterAksyon, September 6, 2011)

I say from PX goods to RH Bill, we just can't get over our love affair with materialism and anything American.

Raise Hell: Demand to Be Treated Like Customers!

2011-08-01T14:08:00.017-04:00

First published by Tao Po

I remember applying for a driver's license after landing as an immigrant in Canada. I walked in, was led to a window like a VIP, and handed my documents to the person behind the counter. She immediately tapped on her keyboard to enter my information, asked me to step back and stare at the webcam, and voila! After a few days I got my license in the mail. Of course it helped that I exchanged my New York driver's license for it.

The best part is that it gave me more than enough time that same morning to get my social security and health insurance done, and to enjoy the rest of the day. I knew immediately that I made the right decision in moving to Canada whose government takes care of its people, obsessively enough to create a special body to ensure that it does.

Service Canada: Make Life Easy

Created in 2005 to improve the delivery of government programs and services to Canadians, Service Canada is a federal office that is tasked to engineer, and continuously improve, the different processes in each government office that ultimately provides services to people.

What makes it effective is their understanding and appreciation of what people go through in their lives. The work that they do centers on a list of "Life Events" which is actually what a person would go through in life like going to school, finding a job, getting married, having a baby, buying a house, retirement, etc. They even listed "being a caregiver" and "losing a wallet" as part of their list. After all, what makes a country aside from its land and natural resources? Is it not the people?

Of course, nothing in this world is perfect. You might hear of stories from people about problems that they encounter with some offices. Well, they thought about that too. Huffington Post reported recently that Service Canada introduced their version of a "mystery shopper" program that top retail stores employ to ensure excellent customer service. Ang galing, noh!

Raise Hell: Demand to Be Treated Like Customers!

Now, some of us have asked why ordinary Filipinos excel and become law abiding citizens in other countries like the U.S. and Canada. I believe the answer lies in a common denominator-both countries take government service seriously. They expect that the environment in which they live provides them the things they need in order to be productive people.

How? They raise hell when they experience anything that is below standards in any government office. You will see them blogging, going to the media, even suing them for the simplest infraction. They will go to the ends of the earth to scream "foul!" The official held accountable will have to say goodbye to his career. I say rightly so because after all they've worked hard for those pay checks that their government has a direct access to-TAXES.

Which brings me to my next question-why can't our people smarten up and think the same way? Act like customers. RAISE HELL. Make sure that those pay checks do not go to their pockets for nothing. After all, you pay taxes in order to be served.

P.S. to the rich few. Make sure that the taxes you pay buys you a more pleasant view from the windows of your mansions. Your world is getting smaller. Haha.

Change: Government or People?

2011-07-24T19:14:00.012-04:00

First published by Tao Po at http://beta.taopo.org/

If change is the only constant in this world, then why do we go round and round in circles with one bad leadership after another? Always the victim, always on the losing end, we never seem to get a hold of our destiny as a country. Are we all off the hook just because we always have someone to blame-The President of the Philippines?

Let us take a moment to think about this. While it is true that there were a number of them who did a number on us, there must be something fundamentally wrong with us for this to happen over and over again. What is it then?

How about if we start with what we have been dealing with? Patterned after the United States, our country has been under a presidential system of government since our independence from the Americans in 1946. Of course, we are not counting those years under our deposed and dearly departed President Ferdinand E. Marcos who took over all three branches of the government that were meant to be separate and independent from each other.

Which brings me to the heart of my topic. Did we not learn in school that there are three branches in our government-Executive, Legislative, and Judicial? I think we all need to go back to basics, like how is this important?

First we need to understand that to preserve the individual liberty that we all enjoy now, the three branches of government were designed with what they call the separation of powers. The main purpose of this is to distribute authority away from the executive branch which the president falls under.

In other words, to prevent another Marcos, the executive officer is not supposed to make laws (role of legislature or House of Representatives), or interpret the laws (the role of the judiciary or the Supreme Court). To put it simply, Noynoy's job is to enforce the law as written by Speaker Feliciano R. Belmonte, Jr. and his crew of congressmen (including those before them), and interpreted by Chief Justice Renato Corona and his justices of the Supreme Court.

Need you wonder why our country is in such dire straits? Need I talk about the performance of our House of Representatives in formulating resolutions to our country's problems? How about our Supreme Court who has degenerated into one of the worst courts of justice in the world?

I say that while we keep looking the other way to focus on our own survival, the three branches of our government have been enjoying free reign to wheel and deal among themselves with the supposedly separated and independent powers given to them by the Constitution of the Philippines, to their own selfish advantage.

I think we should think of it like driving a car on auto cruise. We still need to have our hands on the wheel. We cannot rest on our laurels that we elected a president who does not seem to be dipping his hands in the other branches of our government, like what the lady who preceded him did.

With that said, if today our president fails us, we should never give up. Let us all do something to help him push the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and all the government offices under them to do their jobs as well.

As Mahatma Gandi once said, "We must be the change we wish to see."

The Process of Becoming Different

2011-07-16T10:18:00.008-04:00

"The only constant is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be." (Isaac Asimov)

With that said, did Google know that they were about to change how we think? A recent study dubbed "The Google Effect," by a team at Columbia University, concluded that we are less likely to remember information, when we know where to find it instead. (International Business Times, July 2011)

Isn't it amazing? The internet seems to be causing a revolution in the same proportion as Jesus Christ did for humanity over 2,000 years ago. Should we be concerned with the power of quiet persuasion falling into the wrong hands?

Knowing this, it would be wise to be more discerning in not only what we expose ourselves and our children to but how as well, especially when we go through information after information on the web. We would not want to find ourselves someday behaving less like the human beings that we are.

On the other hand, it might as well be that the web offers equal chances to the good kind of change. Should I say unlike the real world?

History of the Inarticulate

2011-07-02T12:31:00.013-04:00

The problem is self identity.

With a colorful history painted by people who colonized our country, we remain as fragmented as the seven thousand islands scattered all over the Philippine seas. Look at what our fellow Filipinos in the government are doing to us and always getting away with. Ask around and they will tell you, "that's the way it is," as if we deserve less than the rest of the world.

Where do I begin? How about going back to Yoyoy Villame's account of our history in a song that goes, "In March 16, 1521, when the Philippines was discovered by Magellan." This version that we acquired from history books implied that the Spaniards brought civilization to the islands. For your information, recent discoveries say otherwise. (While the Spanish Catholic missionaries piggybacked their way to our neck of the woods on some ruthless colonizers, still I am thankful.)

Picture Tondo with some Arabian-looking knights in shining bling-blings. These "Rajahs," as they were called, ruled other kingdoms as far away as Borneo thousands of ages ago. Docked in a nearby sea port were ships that could carry 300 men. They would sail back and forth bringing goods from trade partners like China, India, and Thailand.

An artifact called Laguna Copperplate Inscription backs up this part of our history. Discovered by Alfredo E. Evangelista in Laguna de Bay in 1989, this was a document chiseled on a plate in Kawi Script, dated in an era estimated to be 822 A.D., and even mentioned Tondo as well as other towns. It releases the bearer from his debt in gold, revealing that a civilized state already existed in our islands long before Magellan.

Now, how about our love affair with Jose Rizal? No doubt, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo were the fire that lit the spirit of nationalism across the scattered islands. Finally after 300 years, the little "Indios" found the guts to unite and stand up against their foreign rulers. However, not all of our ancestors before Rizal cowered at the sound of condescending Spanish voices.

For instance, there is an interesting story of bravery and betrayal in Pangasinan. A rebel leader known as Don Andres Malong led a revolt against the Spaniards as early as 1660. His troops were gaining grounds against the Spaniards when a fellow from Pampanga named Don Juan Macapagal and his troops sided with the enemies to defeat the revolt, killing Don Malong.

Interestingly, Don Juan Macapagal was the great grandson of Lakan Dula, who was credited for the Spanish conquest of the kingdoms of the Pasig River delta in the early 1570s. Like father, like son. Would you be surprised if I told you that President Diosdado Macapagal, no need to mention Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, descended from them?

I came to know all these facts as well as myths (for example, it was not the Americans who brought prostitution to Manila but the Europeans) from a book I found in the Filipiniana section of a bookstore in Manila. Although hard to read for ordinary people like myself because of its references to hundreds of names and Spanish quotes, History of the Inarticulate was written with a mission.

The author, Luis Camara Dery with all his wisdom, mapped out new routes for our history in his book. He hopes that it would guide other historians in their search for truth about ourselves. To quote him-"Isang-dugo and sama-sama are indigenous terms that describe the ties that bind the Philippine inhabitants before the establishment of colonial rules fragmented them into groups hostile to each other. Highlighting such native traits-and those that survive the colonial onslaughts-are valuable as they can help the Filipino people today to rediscover their precolonial common roots, thus helping efforts fostering national unity."

With enlightened Filipinos like Luis Camara Dery, it is only a matter of time before we finally unearth our God given traits, innate as the color of our skin, like that golden statuette found in an archeological dig in Esperanza, Agusan del Sur. (photo above)

Spratly Lately

2011-06-24T21:15:00.005-04:00

I heard about the islands when I was little, wishing then that our country would claim it, and now that I've grown up, I changed my mind. Now I hope nobody wins.

I have three good reasons - its 600 coral reefs where, to put it lightly, the likes of Nemo and Ariel go for bed and breakfast; its natural gas and oil deposits, estimated at 17.7 billion tons (Kuwait's reserves amount to 13 billion tons), that would surely launch a thousand ships from the East and West; its strategic location near major shipping lanes that would give the owner vast power over trade and commerce. (ICE Case Studies)

To give you an idea where the problem lies, Spratly Islands is located off the coasts of the Philippines and Malaysia and one third of the way from there to Vietnam in the South China Sea, pretty much explaining the roots of this dispute that has been going on before our time. (Wikipedia)

While it makes more sense than anything else that the Philippines and Malaysia would claim part of the islands because of proximity, China, Taiwan, and Vietnam are claiming it in its entirety because of historical records that allegedly prove land ownership. (TED)

To give you an analogy, look at Alaska. It is attached by land to Canada and far away from, but owned nevertheless by the U.S. The Americans bought it from the Russians on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million. (Wikipedia)

However, I do not care much for who should own it. Like I said, I hope nobody ever does. Instead the people of this world should be concerned about the ecological implications of large scale oil drilling and commercial fishing that would happen if it should belong to anyone for that matter. (Encyclopedia of Earth)

For your information, most of its land is not arable. It may be because Mother Nature never intended it to be inhabited by human beings but by the sea turtles, the seabirds, and the fishes that use it as a resting and feeding place. (CIA World FactBook)

Surely, these God given gifts of Spratly Islands would help no one better than my own country, the Philippines. However, with the way global economy works nowadays, only a few major players of this world will end up benefiting from this untapped wealth of Mother Nature, no matter whose flag ends up flying over Spratly Islands.

BYOTP: Bring Your Own Toilet Paper

2011-06-10T05:17:00.004-04:00

"The supermarket opens at 10 am," the uniformed guard said. He was going through bags of every employee who lined up at the entrance of the mall at Market Market with a wooden stick, as if it was a metal detector.

I just got out of a cycling workout class in a nearby gym at the Fort. I was still sweating profusely, even after showering. It was like having a steam bath, for free. The only draw back was the dangerous level of fumes that those colorful jeepneys produce aside from traffic jams.

A military camp back in the days, the Fort is now developing fast into a city that blends commerce, retail, and condominium living into one big space. Tall construction cranes like dinosaurs stand beside unfinished buildings that clutter the place.

"Shoemart Bicutan will open at 10 am by the time we get there," Egay said. "At least on the way home. Stay here while I get the car." Thank God for that option.

I stood waiting in front of these rows of condominiums dressed in canary yellow and lined with palm trees. They swayed as chauffeur driven cars swooped by to pick up their precious passengers.

One good thing about Ayala Land is its policy of leaving out a big percentage of their properties for green parks to serve as "breathing spaces." Of course, that is with a corresponding premium per square foot on their real estate market value.

It did not take long before we were on our way to Bicutan. The minute I saw an empty passenger jeepney stop in front of us beside a sign that said "No Waiting" I knew I was in SM land. Egay honked the car to no avail. Good thing he knew the place inside and out so we went through a side street that got me to where I was supposed to go. It is very much like navigating your way to most government services.

"Go up the escalator to the next level and turn right," the guard told me after using the standard wooden stick to check me out.

I finally found myself inside SM Hypermart, the epitome of Philippine capitalism. In contrast to the environmentally sound Global City, this part of town has its mathematics of profit per square foot in mind and only that. Period. I guess they figure that their patrons from the lower level of society do not deserve the comfort of free flowing traffic and breathing spaces.

Before heading out, I decided to pay a visit to the restroom. As soon as I did what I was supposed to do, I found out that toilet paper was not part of the deal. After profiting from me, SM could not even spare me one basic necessity in a "comfort room."

I don't know about you, but I noticed that every SM that I have been to, be it their mall or real estate development, gave me a feeling of claustrophobia. Aside from the dark and crowded hallways are numerous stalls blasting out ear splitting music. My Chinese friend told me that it is good omen to have all the racket and noise. It scares out evil spirits. There must be plenty of them.

Please do not get me wrong. I must admit that SM is the only place where you can find whatever it is you are looking for. Its impressive foot traffic draws all kinds of merchandisers who are willing to pay 20% of gross sales for a space. It just seems to me that the only people they need to please are their investors alone.

Fortunately for them, they seem to flourish no matter what they do in a land of the inarticulate. I apologize for this sweeping statement but it is the truth. Anybody with money and power can get away with crap. Ask around and they will tell you with resignation, "that's just the way things really work."

Just keep in mind that next time you visit the Philippines, BYOTP. Bring your own toilet paper.