The man who can't be moved

Photo captured using my iPhone

I am intrigued by this young man. Every morning and every night, as I go in and out of Opon, he keeps his post in this corner of the Birhen sa Regla Church in Opon, Lapu-lapu City. He has stood rains and sunshine and looks like he is not bothered by what is going on around him. I never heard him say a word. I have seen him giving me a fleeting glance once. I tried to smile and wave my hand but his eyes remained empty. He has mental problems, obviously, by judging from his looks. His empty grey eyes staring into a world he only knows.

Why does his family abandon him I would like to know. We Filipinos never abandon our own kind. Unless his family too has mental problems.

A real snacks deserve a big burp!

This is what I call THE real snacks. A not so ripe banana (saba) fried in any way you want- as a bananacue with melting sugar caramel, pinaypay (breaded fan-shaped banana), or turon (banana wrapped in lumpia wrapper) with caramelized sugar. AND eaten on the street just like a real downtown boy.

A day at the cockpit arena

They spit. They curse. They spit and shout. Everything they do is through shouting. O diyes! O sais! Sa biya! Sa inilog! They stepped on my feet. They spit. They throw their garbage anywhere. They spit. They puffed their smoke on my face. They showered me with spit. Once I was pushed with excitement.

I was in the middle of a cockpit arena. Ashamed. Confused.

I shuddered every time a prized cock was assaulted, disemboweled to be exact. They howled in excitement. I cowered.

In the end, we consumed so many beers more than getting more winnings. I was given a 500 pesos balato for just being there.

Seeing a cockfight is an excruciatingly thrilling experience not worth trying again.

Insensitive Facebook user named Jacque Bermejo on the plight of Filipinos during the onslaught of Ondoy

"buti n lng am hir in dubai! maybe so many sinners bak der! so yeah deserving wat hapnd!"

"ppl hu r left behind r left behind.luckier us we got better countrys now.dubai better dan pinas so many ways!dats wat i meaning"

This obviously Filipino domestic helper may have hit it big in Dubai by eating lots of Arabian shit!

Other domestic helpers out there may blame me for bringing them down with this Bermejo asshole. I know you are not like her. And I know that unlike this Jacque Bermejo, you know how you love your own country despite the seemingly pompous life in other nations. Now it is your time to prove otherwise. Donate to the Philippine National Red Cross. See what you can do below:

1.  CASH or CHECK 
Please send cash or check donations to the PNRC National Headquarters in Manila. Checks should be made payable to The Philippine National Red Cross.  We can also arrange for donation pick-up.

2.  BANK DEPOSIT 
Account Name:  The Phil. Nat’l. Red Cross 

    METROBANK
    Port Area Branch
    Peso Acct.: 151-3-041-63122-8
    Dollar Acct.: 151-2-151-00218-2
    Type of Acct. : SAVINGS
    Swift Code: MBTC PH MM 

    BANK OF THE PHIL. ISLANDS 
    Port Area Branch
    Peso Acct.:  4991-0010-99
    Type of Account: CURRENT

    BANK OF THE PHIL. ISLANDS
    UN Branch
    Dollar Acct.: 8114-0030-94
    Type of Account: SAVINGS
    Swift Code:  BOPI PH MM
    
For your donations to be properly acknowledged, please fax the bank transaction slip at nos. +63.2.527.0575 or +63.2.404.0979 with your name, address and contact number.

Credit Card                

Please fax the following info to +632.404.09.79 and +632.527.0575: 

Name of card member, billing address, contact nos. (phone & mobile), credit card no., expiration date, CCV2/ CVC2 (last three digits at the back of the credit card), billing address, amount to be donated. 

For online donations you may also visit our website at www.redcross.org.ph  . 

In-Kind Donations            

LOCAL 
Please send in-kind local donations to The Philippine National Red Cross – National Headquarters in Manila.  We could also arrange for donation pick-up.

INTERNATIONAL 

1. Send a letter of intent to donate to the PNRC
2. A letter of acceptance from PNRC shall be sent back to the donor
3. Immediately after shipping the goods, please send the (a) original Deed of Donation, (b) copy of packing list and (c) original Airway Bill for air shipments or Bill of Lading for sea shipments to The Philippine National Red Cross–National Headquarters c/o Secretary General Gwendolyn Pang, Bonifacio Drive, Port Area, Manila 2803, Philippines.
   

The PNRC does not accept rotten, damaged, expired or decayed goods.  Though we appreciate your generosity, the PNRC also discourages donations of old clothes as we have more than enough to go around.

SMS and G-CASH (Globe)        

SMS 
text REDAMOUNT  to 2899 (Globe) or 4483 (Smart)

G-CASH 
text DONATEAMOUNT4-digit M-PINREDCROSS to 2882

Most urgent needs 

Food items: Rice, noodles, canned goods, sugar, iodized salt, cooking oil, monggo beans and potable water

Medicines: Paracetamol, antibiotics, analgesic, oral rehydration salts, multivitamins and medications to treat diarrheal diseases

Non-food items: Bath soaps, face towels, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, plastic mats, blankets, mosquito nets, jerry cans, water containers, water purification tablets, plastic sheetings, and Laundry soap

Rehabilitation Programs: Shelter materials for house repair

Call Hotline 143 or 527.0000

THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL RED CROSS
NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS        
Bonifacio Drive, Port Area,            
Manila 2803, Philippines 

My crab mentality will help bring you down Jacque Bermejo. LOL...

Speaking of dinner, I mean lunch-

I suddenly decided to eat food at home. Hmmm, nothing unusual really. Not unlike Arroyo's expensive dinners in Washington and New York. 

Result? I made a paksiw na isda I mixed with some adobo ingredients (vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, onions, garlic, calamansi juice, bay leaves, paprika) and bits of pineapple. 

I also prepared fried rice with a hint of curry to make it different.

Voila! Mangaon na ta!

Lost and Found

I received a long call from an old friend. For five years I never heard anything from him. No mails. No updates. Suddenly he called up checking if I am still using my number.

Times and attitudes have changed. He has become more of a braggart. I mean he bragged a lot when he was here in the Philippines. And has become worst. He told me he didn't like it here in the Philippines because this country is just like what it is called- a third world country. He nags about undisciplined people and the poor people populating everyday. He said he would only visit here because his parents are still here.

He told me of things of grandeur of which the ordinary Pinoy could not have. I told him I have no work. What the fuck! You are an old bum? Go to hell and be dead! But I was not hurt. We were laughing so hard I could no longer hear him on the other line.

You know what? There's a burger joint down there and the line is almost three blocks long. He told me of an American associate telling him a weird incident. What burger joint? he asked. In the middle of deep winter, lots of Filipinos with kids lined up and it's called Jollibee. Do you have Jollibee in Singapore? Why no we don't allow that crap in Singapore, he replied. The American was dumbfounded.

My friend never told anyone else that he is (or was?) a Filipino. What Filipino? Fuck! I am Singaporean.

That's my friend. He could be mean to the highest level. He is the worst person you can ever imagine. BUT I have learned to love him worst and all.

I had fun talking to him, once again.

Live streaming: Pacquiao-Hatton fight overshadowed by rude Filipinos

I don't know why when Filipinos could no longer reason out, they resort to name-calling and other racists tags.

Is this a cultural thing among us Pinoys?

Instead of watching the Pacquiao-Hatton fight in the internet, I was "bewitched" to the right side of the channel to see the chatroom full of rubbish comment from Filipinos and later by some Hatton fans. Not even a sociologist nor a psychologist, I can see how we fare with other people's reactions. By other people I mean those people other than Filipinos in the chatroom. And by saying how we fare I mean we are the worst kind.

I remember well when we were playing games in my younger days, the losers usually would call us names when defeat was inevitable. Sometimes even involving a crying game and some threats of telling mothers and fathers. Worst, a brawl would usually follow.

From these chatroom I can only conclude one thing: Filipinos are racists!

I am glad the connection dropped.

AND MANNY PACQUIAO WON IN THE SECOND ROUND. HATTON DROPPED TWICE IN THE FIRST AND TKO'D ON THE SECOND.

So very Filipino

We were craving for beer and wanting to check on the new tambayan here in Cebu called The Strip. The former Food Street now renovated and spanky clean has a 24-hour store and crowds of young professionals and students frequent the area. It used to be a smelly place near the Capitol building but we heard it was foreclosed and now the bank is managing the area. 

Well- when we arrived there, some moneyed patrons, judging from the cars that parked there, have already convereged on the area. We barely have a table and seats available.

We have consumed about ten bottles of the newly introduced San Miguel Premium All Malt beer when the sudden urge of the call of nature, also known as peeing, a result from the beers that bloated us, was inevitable. I asked the counter girl where can I go. She told me to ask the guard.

The guard was nowhere to be found so I sat still. When he appeared I was more than happy. Smiling, I asked him the directions to the comfort rooms. He told me plainly, Wala man mi CR diri sir [We have no CRs here sir]. Sa kilid-kild lang sir. [Just pee on the sides].

Well- 

SM City's misguided values

Brouhaha over ‘bahag’ in giant mall 

By Tonette Orejas, Vincent Cabreza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:30:00 11/18/2008

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Department of Tourism officials and leaders of tourism councils in four regions have scrapped the SM City Clark as future venue of the North Philippines Exposition to protest attempts by mall officials to stop dancers wearing a g-string from performing there.

Reached in China through text messages, DOT Central Luzon director, Ronaldo Tiotuico, confirmed the boycott led by the DOT and tourism councils in the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Cordillera and Central Luzon.

SM City Clark apologized for the incident. “We are sorry that there has been some misunderstanding regarding the event,” SM City Clark said in a statement sent to the Inquirer.

Apology

“It was not our intention to prevent the group from performing in their costume as we are aware that this is a cultural show.”

The statement said the SM City Clark management was setting an appointment with DOT Central Luzon Director Ronaldo Tiotuico “to apologize to and clarify the matter with him. We have and will always be supportive of DOT activities.”

In the statement, Tiotuico said SM City Clark’s executives tried to stop the performance of the Pines City National High School’s Teatro Pino on Friday because the performers wore “skimpy attire and therefore are bound to scandalize the children watching the show.”

He attributed that statement to Lana Erroba, SM City Clark assistant mall manager. Erroba, he added, said that to Edith Collado, vice president of the Philippine Exhibits and Parks Corp., the DOT’s partner in the event.

Tiotuico said DOT Cordillera Director Purificacion Molintas condemned the incident and demanded for an apology.

Photo from koolbirks.com

The Americanization of All Souls Day

We never had Halloween but All Souls/Saints Day. We never do the "trick or treat" thing. And we always do the trick part. It is not Filipino custom to give treats to children who do more pranks than ask anyone "treat or treat".

Ours are souls coming back on November 1 and 2, not ghouls and witches on Hallows evening, which is October 31 for the rest of the world. Our ghouls and witches are everyday occurrence. The white lady in some mansion or in a remote road somewhere. The agta (kapre for the Tagalogs) on the balete. The headless priest. The dwende. They are seen everyday.

But suddenly, when American influence invaded the country, a horde of plastic jack-o-lanterns or carved pumpkins are being sold in the malls. Filipinos have never really seen pumpkins but we love buying them plastic made in China. Our ghouls and witches are gone and being replaced with plastic swords, plastic reaper blades, plastic ghoul masks, plastic witch hats and brooms, plastic glowing horns. All made in China.

But still we don't give out candies and treats to children on Halloween.

It is not just our custom.


Pumpkin pic from prairiemod.com

Insulting the Filipino

Like what happened during that US show (old age hinder me to name the show) furor over some skit about Filipino doctors, another one this time is shown at BBC portraying the Filipino as a whore.

I haven't seen both shows.

But reading through articles and blogs about them, I could only say, MIRISI! Loosely translated as GOOD FOR US!

I don't have to enumerate the things we do to deserve these bad interpretations of Filipinos and maybe Philippine culture. We "join arms" when people joke about us. We rally because our pride is "touched." But we do "love" to do questionable acts again.

As Mon Tulfo pointed out: Most Pinoys are very sensitive to insults from foreigners.

The government took offense at a comedy skit on BBC television in London portraying a Filipino domestic in a British home as sex-starved.

But can you blame the producers of that show? That’s the perception of most foreigners of Pinays.

The country exports prostitutes to Japan in the guise of singing talents.

Filipino prostitutes in Malaysia are a dime a dozen.

What a shame, indeed.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Photo from whatsdabuzz.com

Filipino Ingenuity

No amount of rain can...

To show how hospitable we are.

See how creative Filipinos are?

Have a meaningful National Heroes Day, Philippines!

I am a Hero.

I do what I believe is Right.

I do what I believe is Good.

I fight for Justice.

I fight for Freedom.

iamninoy