Garbage Problem

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYyME8yAFcR-a-fglOzQray9ZdhsIqeNK_ooma4qe-SZhFLmAxqrJ-n8XU1nOm-v1-YFH-NmeUc-vkUXBnMAZvyh2kjWcXNJHXJGvMz47JDM6ZNHwETDSF3X0uprnBpJboPWka2WOPydLv/s144/Trash.jpg

I saw Cheche Lazaro’s documentary film, “Plastic Ka!”, in one of the big TV stations here in the Philippines last night and as always I ended up getting disappointed. I really do not understand why documentaries pose more questions than solutions, more interviews about opinions than on educating viewers about alternatives, and more video documentation of the problem than focusing on strategic approaches. Sometimes I feel that Ted Failon’s “Failon Ngayon” is the only real documentary that really pushes people to act rather than just parading the problem for 30 minutes to an hour just for the heck of making a show.

Enough of my rant, the documentary may have been triggered by the recent floods in Manila, plastics seem to be all over the place – 60% of all the garbage collected along Roxas Boulevard (all 48 truckloads ~ 200 tons of garbage) was made of plastic materials and 80% of which are plastic bags. Fact: plastic bags are cheaper and more environmentally friendly to make as it leaves very little ecological footprint compared to making paper bags. Now, we cannot argue with that fact, to make something artificial, we would need artificial materials. Whereas, if we are to make more paper bags as an alternative to plastic bags, then we will be cutting 17 trees to make 1 ton of paper so that is just a no brainer, we cannot substitute plastic with paper – period.

The use of plastic bags are banned in some cities in Luzon and they claim it has helped lower down their flood levels, while some cities only try to limit its use because “a degree of compliance at a time” is their approach and was even suggesting the use of a thinner plastic bag as this will have the same utility but with lesser negative natural impact. Also, some people are suggesting that we should use a “bio” plastic bag which will degrade in 24 months, but even that has a downside; experts say that even if it will break down into smaller fragments in 24 months, it still has plastic components. Ergo, biodegradable plastic bags – no such thing.

Plastic ban is out of the argument for the simple reason that this is not something we can implement here and now and there is already an existing bill about to be passed to the Philippine Senate in its plans to ban plastic in 5 years.

So, what are my take aways? When shopping, use biodegradable bags made of cloth and/or a wicker basket. Malls should use old newspapers when wrapping items up before handing them over to their customers. Food chains should not use plastic cups/Styrofoam and the likes.

But a couple of problems still left unanswered here:

1.            What will the food chains use? Wouldn’t washing plates, cups and utensils be harmful to our health due to the nature of “fast” food? Wouldn’t we waste more water cost-per-cost against recycling plastics?

2.            How will our garbage bags look like? Composting your own biodegradable items and separating plastics for collections seems to be the most ideal, but is it the most practical? What about those people who live in condominiums, renting a place, and living in a very tiny home – can they afford to have their own composting methods? And what will they do with the composted materials?

3.            Where is the government? What can they do with the HERE and NOW? Garbage collection schedules aren’t even done consistently every week and yet we keep on saying that the government is doing their share?

Our mayors and Barangay Captains should be at the helm for all the flood and garbage problems. Solutions should be multi-pronged or else the problem will just spill over to the next one. Look at it as trying to catch a single rabbit that has access to multiple burrows, you will find yourself confused where to start if all you do is focus on one burrow at a time.

Hence, what happened in Roxas Boulevard? How come the blame was not on the shoulders of Mayor Alfredo Lim? He knows the flood and garbage problems of Metro Manila, he damn well knows about the garbage problem in Manila Bay, where is he in all of this? He is another classic example of how inefficient Mayors are in this country. They are Mayors only for the power and not because of performance. So where is the garbage problem now? In the streets? Or inside our local government offices?

Education: For the masses? Or for higher standards?

From What the eyes cannot see

It has been said that we were all born naked, both in terms of intellect and also in the physical sense. We know nothing of this world and we virtually survived the first six years of our lives relying on our pure instinctive nature. From then onwards we are enslaved into going to school to learn and forced to listen to teachers who keep yapping about science, english, math and etc without us truly grasping its purpose.

However, the fact remains that the people who belong to the upper class are the people that are well educated. Hence, we can’t really blame our parents when they forced us to go to school everyday; chances are, we will commit the same acts to our children. So why do we strive to pay a high price for a good education? When our kiddos grow up, we want them to be socially competent, able to fend for themselves and education can provide that.

As what the former senator and late gentleman Raul Roco said, poverty’s long term solution has been and always will be education. The main paradox is this - do we try to increase our literacy rate or do we need to focus on improving quality in our education system instead?

Literacy rate – the Human Development Index gives a really good emphasis to this. How many people can read and write? How many can understand the basics of addition and subtraction? How many among the population has an average IQ? All these questions start with “how many” and thus is based on volume alone.

Quality in the education system – on the other hand speaks more about “where” both nationally and internationally. Don’t get me wrong, the number of graduates would still be important when we talk about quality, but the aptitude level would be a precedent to volume.

So why did the Philippine government add another school year with DepEd’s approval? The argument states that our high school graduates are not equipped enough with the right knowledge, skills and abilities to land them a job. With this new system, this will create a holistic approach to secondary education whose aim is to meet the international standards wherein a high school graduate can already qualify for a white collar job. In the US, almost 70% of their population are just high school graduates yet majority of which are working in the corporate world. This is the goal in which our government aims to accomplish.

But is this the solution? I hardly think so. As they say, “If your trash bin is full, it might be a good time to take out the trash.” If we find something that is not working for our country, why do we always resort to making a bigger trash bin? Why can’t we just take out the trash first to make more space?

I went to one of the best schools in Cebu and I have to say, looking back, it was not really one of “the best” if you ask me. Yes we were winning the city quiz bowls on science and math; took trophies during oral declamation contests and got high NEAT and NSAT scores – but to me, there was so much more we could have done within the education system back then. And the education index also proves my opinions to be correct! The schools in the Philippines have dropped behind its neighbouring countries when it comes to international standards of education.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is being derived based on four elements: education, literacy, life expectancy and standards of living. Yes, literacy and education are two different components, hence, when we talk about education we need to start talking about quality and not just quantity because quite frankly, literacy can be taught at home anyway! We cannot think like little children like when we are faced with a problem, we tend to do more to get the desired result. Yes you may pass a difficult exam by studying for 20 hours a day! But wouldn’t you envy if another person passed the same difficult exam but only studied for 10 hours a day? We should start working smart by keeping the same input but getting better results.

Saint Illian’s Inn in Makati City, Philippines

From What the eyes cannot see

I have been to various hotels, pension houses and inns that offer roughly the same level of ineptitude in my 28 years of existence. But just like a stash of your old wardrobe, there’s always that one piece of clothing that makes you go, “What was I thinking!” A fortnight’s worth of stay for the two different times that I have been to Saint Illian’s I think is enough number of days for me to put up a fair assessment of my experiences; or to put it more accurately, my misadventures of that place.

Every traveller seeks a place to stay mainly to get some rest, wash up and go about his business, hence the location of the chosen bread and breakfast is at the top of every person’s list. This inn did not disappoint, it is located near a mall, Waltermart in Pasong Tamo, and you can literally walk for just 20 minutes to the heart of the financial center in Makati, the Ayala Triangle. This has 4 stars out of 5 for its location.

Appearance and architecture was also okay, it has this old Spanish, brick-laden, almost “Hansel and Gretel” – like feel to its walls and designs. Upon entering the place you are received by mood busting, ear tingling sputtering sound of the air conditioning located opposite to the front desk. The whole building is not really spick and span as you might expect the usual hotels to be, it has low lying ceilings and can get claustrophobic when roaming around its narrow nave. The rooms go anywhere from the first floor the fifth but guess what? They have no elevators! I had to drag my travel bag up to the highest floor, walk up and around their helix/circular steel stairs and it just felt wrong. What happened to the Building Code of the Philippines? 1 out of 5 stars.

The receptionists are professionally trained. They never fail to shoot a greeting to any visitor on sight! Sometimes it messes with your head as if the font desk people are saying, “I see you!” And oh by the way, I noticed after almost a total of 6 days of staying in this inn, that they actually do that because they want to make sure you did not slip the key outside the premises. A big kudos to them for masking the fake smile and a, “Good morning sir!” as really a “Sir, lalabas po ba kayo? Paki bigay po sa amin yung room key kasi bawal po yang ilabas.” For that they deserve 2 out of 5 stars.

Now to the most important part of every hotel review, the room. I have been with around three different rooms in this place and there is one common theme, there are no windows except for the ones beside the door, which by the way gives you a really relaxing sight of the hallway. The 3m x 2m room looked pretty standard with a cable tv, small fridge, a small table and two chairs, a cabinet for your clothes, some bath and toiletries stuff. One of the beds were bad though, it had this hollow depression on one side that tells me it’s an old, over-used bed that the St Illian’s staff did not even notice! And by the way, on all three rooms, the air conditioning sucks. It was at 17 the whole night and the temperature felt like a 30 ⁰C – ahhh.. nice and cozy, just like sleeping under the sun on a summer afternoon! And for all those folks out there that is 5’8 or taller, this place is not for you because you will find yourself very uncomfortable while taking a shower. They have a 2ft x 3ft shower room – try visualizing that! And be careful with your toes too, their faucet cover falls off without warning… I am not kidding ladies and gentlemen, my toe got smacked! 0 out of 5 stars for the bad sleeping quality, poor washroom space and the place is a health hazard.

Now on to the “face behind the name” – housekeeping, they make all our lives easy or a living hell. The people working there are honest and helpful as once I left my pants in the room and they were kind enough to return it to me. I also asked for a flat iron and they kindly brought one to my room without hesitation. However, when we had some fast food delivered to the place, we were shocked that the St Illian’s staff was so quick to bring the food to my room instead of first calling me over the intercom. Well, a second after she knocked at my door I realized it’s because they charge a 50php fee for the “delivery” from the front desk to the third floor where I was staying. So much for extortion! Be careful of your things too, because once you leave the room, their housekeeping would go inside to “check”. And guess what they did to my room? They unplugged my phone while it was charging, they also turned off the A/C (remember the 30 ⁰C???) and who knows what else they were doing inside there! Privacy is very critical in any type of accommodations and apparently not only did this inn fail in that category, but their housekeeping unplugs everything for them to save some money at your expense! Didn’t we all pay for our stay? Doesn’t that include 24 hours of air conditioning? Epic fail on this one, 0 out of 5 stars.

For a price of 1,790php a night, this is not so bad, isn’t it? Well, for Saint Illian’s, it is! In this place, they are the ones that got the bang for your buck, not you! You got bang’ed!

We chose this place because of a recommendation from a friend who had a relatively good experience with them but for me, it was just horrible. I strongly suggest that you walk the next block from Saint Illian’s and spend that extra 400 bucks a night on a more decent place as there are three or four hotels and inns around the vicinity. But if you want to prove me wrong, please feel free to check the place out.

3 AM

From What the eyes cannot see

Here I am again, it is 3 in the morning and I can’t get any of the forty winks. What’s new, right? My eyes kept staring at my laptop waiting for some idea to pop in and write about. To my bedside, a red lampshade on top of a white table, shooting the right amount of photons to keep my eyes a 20/20, being as reliable as ever. The box is on basketball TV, waiting for the latest player movements as the NBA nears the trade deadline. The sound of my A/C persists all throughout the night. It will assure me of the most ideal temperature to doze off to should I be blessed with one in the next hour or two. It continues to hum right beside these insanely thick accounting books sitting comfortably on top of a pink Jansport backpack reminding me of my college days.

Bored, I walked around the garden outside to get the purest o2’s into my respiratory system – always feels like a refreshing drink when I do this at dawn. I think of it as like feeding Mario and Luigi some shrooms. Remember those days? Mario would feel like he’s got an additional life, like he would not feel any pain as he breaks those bricks out of the way! I then saw Twixie, our pretty daschund, trotting gracefully as we slowly make our way around the house trying to stare through the shadows of the night and absorbing everything in.

Now I am back to my laptop inside my room wishing I had more time. The more we age, the lesser control we have in terms of owning our own time and deciding what to do with each hour of the day. Burdened by stress, lately I have been finding myself just peacefully staring at the telly or just not wanting to do anything at all. There are so many things that I want to do – to jog, play basketball again, read kindle books and write the stuff in my head on this blog – but sapped out of energy, I end up doing nothing.

But there is reason to take out the chinaware; I am going on leave for a week which means I would have time off work and a whole lot of time for myself. My sore body is ready to get immersed back into a different world again, a world I just got acquainted with - in less than a year ago but is slowly taking a place in my heart.

Diplomacy – getting what you want while others think they did too

From What the eyes cannot see

Diplomacy has long been a weapon of peace and of war. Ancient civilizations have sent diplomats far and wide to either beg or bully all in the name of sovereign might. Of course back then being a super power meant having vast amounts of cacao tree farms, enormous acres of sugar plantations, unlimited number of slaves from poor nations, or having bullions of gold deposits.

The queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, has always been thought as a master of this craft on diplomacy; through her intellect and her sensual ways, she had captivated not just the Roman generals Julius Ceasar and Mark Anthony to whom she loved, but she also captivated the hearts of everyone in the world. Shrewd and cunning, she slithered her way passed the pitfalls of her dynasty when she took control of Egypt and almost succeeded in keeping her country as an independent nation against the invading Romans. Her story has a lot to do with the various fields of influencing including the art of persuasion, seduction and diplomatic power.

To lessen your worries, extend your influence over them.

I always had great reverence to those people who can not only create this wide circle of influence around them, but being able to sustain such for an extended period of time. It is very rare these days that we would come across someone so exceptional that their area of concern seems to be the same or continues to shrink down to an even tinier amount.

Diplomatic leverage is like a Holy Grail for me too, how can I continue to work towards getting more control over my life while shaking some gremlins off my back at the same time? Build your network – this has always been the single most important message that our previous Client Manager has taught me. So far things are progressing really well at this stage I am slowly realizing that it is not how much you know anymore, it is about who you know. In this society, diplomatic relations is the name of the game. If you do not know anybody, then you are a nobody. Hell, the Philippines have the USA behind our backs when China starts to push us around on the topic of the Spratley’s, I guess this is the simplest form of Diplomacy at work and it surely did work in our favor.

Oh wait! Just when I was about to post this blog I saw this video showing one of Noynoy’s appointed ambassadors to China! This is very disappointing!




God save us!

Political Dynasties and Corruption of Power

From What the eyes cannot see

There is this show called Investigative Documentaries by Malou Mangahas on GMA News TV about the political dynasties and corruption of power in the Philippines. I honestly did not get the chance to watch the whole set as I only saw the last 20 minutes of it but I can say, I saw what I needed to see. Malou Mangahas and the political analysts that she interviewed easily worded my thoughts about politics and corruption in the Philippines to a T. There were two points that have really come across, that to me is really the root cause of the relentless problems we are facing right now both in our economic competitiveness and our national security.

The root causes of our problems are two-pronged of the same shit – POLITICAL DYNASTIES and LACK OF EDUCATION. Amidst the entire conundrum, it is in these two where poverty, terrorism, criminality, larger gaps between the rich and the poor, lack of national patriotism and pride, hopelessness and the absence of economic attractiveness stems from.

In the documentary, it said that there are 150+ political classes all throughout the 12 regions of the Philippines, this leaves us with more than 10 political clans per region. With a country that has barely 130 cities, this is a big problem. The concept of competitiveness requires a myriad of options to choose from – if A does not work, maybe B will or C or D and so on. It is in the competitive nature of both our local and national politicians that we should be basing our electoral votes from. But how come we still continue to vote for the same people who stole our tax money over and over again? The Amaptuan’s still won (if I am not mistaken) 19 local government positions in Maguindanao during the recent elections even after they have massacred 58 people – two years ago to this month. How can the people of Maguindanao still have this patronage over this clan when they even created 15 additional municipalities in their locality just so they can request for more money through the IRA? Yet when the GMA News team went to these municipalities, they all looked like ghost towns? Isn’t corruption very apparent to these people?

One political analyst said that unless we EDUCATE these people in letting them understand that the Ampatuans did not spend for the education, public infrastructure/services, security and etc for the people in Maguindanao, but rather, these were government monetary allocations for the people of Maguindanao in the first place – only then will they realize that they have been fooled again and again.

In addition to the lack of education in this country, the corrupt political leaders also kept the Philippines’ population for the self-confessed-poor-and-hungry to 30%. Because as part of these corrupt leader’s formula to stay in power is to psychologically have the poor depend on them for their most basic needs. “Unless we address poverty, educating the masses on choosing the correct political leaders will never materialize.” said one political analyst, “Because it is hard to preach to an empty stomach.”

This explains why we still chose political leaders that have the same last names – look at the house of senate and count the dynasties you see in there. How about the house of Congress? Your mayoralty candidates who are these names that are butting heads? Don’t they belong to very well know political dynasties? Now that we have seen what these political dynasties can do to us, why not choose for another candidate to run our government with fresh eyes?

But personally, I think there is still hope for things to change for the better even with the current “stalemate”. It is our job and responsibility as citizens who have a better understanding about these issues to spread the word. We should not grow tired of watching the news and take part in the change that we want to see. We should throw away our concept of “Sa balita, puro pulitika na naman, laging nag aaway, wala na talagang pag-asa ang Pilipinas.” This mindset will only aggravate our situation, we need to start acting as intellectuals and take part in the changes that we can help influence.

The Two Pillow Hypothesis

From What the eyes cannot see

Around two or three nights in month I would get this nasty problem of dozing off into dreamland. Some days are so-so and there are some days that I absolutely cannot afford to be staring at the ceiling the entire night. The tendency of night crawlers like me is that we really have to keep counting the number of hours slept for every 24.

Compulsively, we have this habit of always looking at the clock right before we sleep, and again on the minute that we wake up. This works fine until you realize that those nights where your eyes will stay as wide as an owl’s, not that I am denying that my eyes are already as big since the day I was born, you would find yourself staring at the time and literally see it moving minute by minute, hour after hour! And trust me, this looks all nice in the movies where you see that old grandfather clock move its minute and hour hands really fast but in real life it’s this paaiiiiiinfully slow, mind-joggling, sanity-breaking tortuous experience!

My second sleeping problem has always been that my creative mind is most active when I am in that limbo/slumber state. I can think of the most profound of things, open a can of memories and watch it like a movie, get brilliant ideas out of thin air – all absolutely at the wrong freaking time!

The next logical thing to do to get back the control of my sleeping patterns was to try various techniques that I heard from my friends, read in magazines/newspapers, saw on tv/internet and some classic home remedies. I’ve tried slapping myself, drinking bottles of hot milk, ate to the brim, did some yoga postures and even tried counting sheep but none seemed to work. (Oh, except for drinking myself to sleep of course).

Until came the Two-Pillow hypothesis, the Eureka moment was to trick my own body by not telling it to go to sleep! Hell, that didn’t work for years why not try it in reverse, right? Instead of drinking hot milk, I drank a glass of cold water. Instead of having one pillow for sleeping, I had two to recline by back by 30°! And it worked wonders for me! In a span of around 10 minutes or so, I am able to slowly get some z’s into my system. The part where my head gets all hyperactive? Well, I kept it that way too, since mandatorily shutting down my brain cells won’t make things any better. But to my surprise, this truly worked for me even until today.

The Karnaval

From What the eyes cannot see

One August evening on the night of the mid-year party in the Sarrosa Hotel Grand Ballroom, the Wiproites were treated to a phantasmagorical event that had raised the standards for all party goers. It is no longer just about food, music and fun; but it is also about carnival-like revelry. And that is what our Wipro engagement team The Krewe, gave us, the theme for this year was THE KARNAVAL. Proving that company parties are more than just getting entertained, it is about being part of the occasion. This could not have been more apparent than the princesses that embraced the theme of the festivities as they flaunted their costumes on the red carpet with their tsunami walk.

The huge crowd that night was amazing. The Wiproites came with their best outfits that some people almost could no longer recognize each other; they had to do a second glimpse as everyone was dressed to kill – a 360 turnaround from the daily “look” they got used to seeing in the office.

No one could pump up the crowd better than the dance group, BeaT All-Starz, as they shook up the stage like huge church bells instantaneously gathering up the swarm of people as they kick started the party! BeaT All-Starz, teach me how to dougie!

And all throughout the evening we were serenaded and awed by the performers for the “We’ve Got Talent” competition. All the surviving contestants were vying for the top prize that night so every groove, pitch and melody had that extra dose of attitude that electrified the audiences. Everyone had been brought to laughter, poignancy and all the wavelengths in between by the myriad of performances showcased that night. Truly, everyone was a winner. And kudos to Thony Carl Castro for bagging the biggest prize with his rendition of the F.U. song by Cee Lo Green.

The mid year party is also a night of giving back credit where credit is due because Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM) after all. So the certificates of recognition with a couple of gift checks were handed out to those people who deserved them. They did not only work hard for the first two quarters of the year, but they also were top notch in their field. The names were called, the cameras were flashing and every top performer had their glorious moment on stage.

Walking With Mortals

From What the eyes cannot see

The world stands still, yellow lights hit the pavement, cool air around and the moon hangs above. The car engine roars at three in the morning as I whisk through the road leaving clouds of smoke behind. An open black sky serves as the window of heaven where the gods watch me as I squander away my time; baffled as I raise my hand up as if feeling the water from the gust of wind at my palm. I have driven by vehicles and vehicles have driven me by, some seem to be in a hurry and some take their time.

This is a true allegory of life in the fast lane, a life where everything just runs you by whether you are in for the ride or not. No matter how hard you keep up, some will still outrun you and you will outrun some.

By the town’s corner, people are still up working in fast food chains, the crew didn’t look tired at all wearing their smiles well. Who can blame industry when deep inside it is all in a day’s work? Like the newspaper boy lining up his merchandise all geared up for the next six hours, I bet he won’t be smiling though. They all have to make a buck just as I do.

I guess simple dreams are harder to reach these days – they are just too costly. What work requires of us is not essential to our being, but is essential to our existence.

As I move along, I was hypnotized by these big buses whose headlights cut blindingly through the windshield. As if they are Katanas inviting a hara-kiri. Whoever accepts will be enticed to do so, as the whole scene can be masked as a genuine road accident. I opted to swerve away – challenges aren’t supposed to be faced head on; sometimes I have to learn to pick my battles. Like the people walking on the side of the road bringing their net bags as they make their way to the wet markets or the people cooking at four in the morning to fill their eateries with freshly cooked food.

We can never slay a leprechaun, ride a dragon, capture a Sasquatch… these are but dreams. A dosage of unique insights from time to time will help me put things in perspective and sooner or later, put me in a situation of acceptance.

The Born Identity

From What the eyes cannot see

A lot of Filipinos are desperate for identify, a mark or a set of markings that will truly differentiate us from other nations in the world. We try to say that culturally we are very hospitable, warm, prayerful, hard working, family oriented and so on. This need of distinctiveness may have stemmed from the fact that we do not belong to any specific race, we are not pure in blood; we are mixtures of human breeds. The fact is, there are only three major races in the world, these are the Caucasoid “White”, Mongoloid “Yellow” and Negroid “Black” – and the Philippines (previously known as Filipinas) have been a melting pot for these races for thousands of years. And to make matters worse, we never had a chance to have our very own government, we were like little infants when we were conquered by the Spaniards. We didn’t know of any integrated culture before they came, we did not even have inter-island communication then. And so, for almost 400 years we were born, bred and branded by our conquerors. And today we are barely turning on our 66th year of true independence since the Americans – compare that to Egypt’s 5,000 years of independent civilization!

This is why that majority of Filipinos never had that sense of patriotism towards its own flag because we never had any unifying event in the history of our country. We did not forge our government thru the furnace of blood and sweat like the Americans did. We have not instituted our own kingdom dynasties like the Chinese. We do not know of ancient ancestors from which we came from like how people in Africa do. So where do we position ourselves and our true culture and identity (if we have one)? We are just a nation who happens to be living in the shadows of what is being dictated to us by the Spaniards, Japanese and the Americans during their colonial years. We never really worked for the sake of our country and fellowmen; we just did not think of it that way, we were subjugated to be ignorant, we were born and bred just to obey… we just moved our asses because these colonizers might kick our butt if we do not do what they ask of us.

When the day came that we were finally a free country, people were like little children clawing their way to the very top positions of government. Not truly understanding what its essence is - to unite the Filipinos and to serve its people. The sovereignty and its inherent powers seem to attract politicians after politicians whose gargantuan desire for power and corruption just continues, like a bad addiction triggered by years of oppression and colonial rule. Until now, the second generation still have that same mindset of always looking for immediate selfish unwarranted gratification. And sadly, even if it means backstabbing, mud slinging, outright lying or just pure hypocrisy, we seem to still think that we have these positive traits in us – that we are hospitable, warm, prayerful, hard working, family oriented. But seriously, do we truly reckon that these traits are characteristic of a Filipino? Or are we just fooling ourselves?

F and E

From What the eyes cannot see

When you wake up at the break of dawn
Head’s racing, telling you something’s wrong
Negativity flows thru your veins
Like newly found springs of endless pain

Do not give in to your heart’s worries
It will suck your spirit like leeches
Force them all out and be in control
Right before it gobbles you up whole

The true might of our search for resolve
Intrinsic, tucked in a secret cove
Take time to go thru a self voyage
For it’s key to nurturing courage

Remember what fear’s enemy is
It’s neither aplomb nor assurance
Valued even at its thinnest slice
Is the LOVE that has no matching price

When the sky trembles and stars fall
Reach for your phone and give me a call
I’ll pick up at the first waking tone
Never ever fret or be forlorn

I will sprint to you with a surprise
And we’ll just stare at each other’s eyes
Give you your favorite warm brownie cup
To guarantee you’ll have your chin up

No treasure in all present day worlds
Could ever match heartfelt spoken words
When you tell me that you are happy
Coz I too am bursting with gaiety

All I want is to keep you smiling
Know that you’re truly mesmerizing
We hold hands and hug each other tight
Dance thru this life till the morning light

Divorce

From What the eyes cannot see

Last year the Reproductive Health Bill or the RH Bill was the main subject of debates and disagreements amongst the Filipinos. It was all over the place – in schools, newspapers and even the blokes on the streets were talking about it! People kept on sharing and sometimes imposing their stand towards this plan for the government to have adequate reproductive education and modern means of family planning for the Filipino. And I can still remember how politicians would cringe whenever they are asked about it – it was the most dreaded question of each presidential candidate at that time too. They knew that whatever their personal stand was, it will have to step back and also consider how many votes it will generate for them.

Now, divorce has been one of the hotly contested topics in the most recent months especially within the confines of the House of Representatives. Apparently, we are the only country in the world – yes the only country in the whole world that does not have a law for this, unless you count the Vatican. Currently, marriage in the Philippines can only be voided thru annulment and this requires a very long winded process. Not to mention there has to be either a proven physical, mental or moral incapacity before this can even be considered as an option for broken families. From what I heard, this would cost around $ 7,000 US dollars, definitely something that most of us cannot afford; you can already buy a good brand new car at this amount!

A statistic just came out last year showing that in this country, 2 out of 10 Filipinas no longer live with their husbands because they just could no longer bear doing so. Where does the teaching of the Bible come into play here when it said, “What God has joined, no man should divide.”? And yet we are proud to say that we are a Roman Catholic nation? Do we keep this pride thru its distinction alone? And remember, this does not even account for all the single mothers out there that never got married in the first place. And let us not even get into the talk about domestic violence! It is starting to be evident that religion alone has not really made its mark when it comes to the adherence to its teachings.

I would rather have 100 families legally broken up and living their new happy lives with their new partners. Than have 100 families still remain officially married, stick together but keep a family that does not know of love. I’ve seen for myself how step-sons and step-daughters have grown to love their new step-dads and step-moms. This shows that it is possible for not just for the separated spouses to be happy again, but for their kids too! The essence of marriage should always be at the crux of this argument, it is not just a religious vow, but it is a vow of love – for your partner and for the entire family. What good is a family that lives for the conformity of marriage? It’s like having a heart that does not feel, a brain that does not think, senses that cannot experience the world – an empty shell, just stone-cold. Beautiful and shiny, but stone-cold.

Ang Tiguwang

From What the eyes cannot see

Ang tiguwang ulipon sa mga bag-ong alamag
Gahi kung pasabton sa mga butang nga wala nadak-an
Pero kung pasultihon kay suhito pagka dasmag
Ang unod kay wala diay padulnganan

Hala sigeg padayon ug pamulong
Sa mga estorya sa iyang kapahunan
Nga murag ang karon pirmi ayuhonon nalang
Tanan tao samot na ang mga kabatan-unan

Di ba sila sauna ni agi man pud ni ini?
Sa mga gore nga ga sigeg sul-ob ug gurang
Pero karon na usab na ug pirti na ka lahi
Kay ang Facebook naman ang gina atubang

Kung kabantay mo sa batasan ani sa kadaghanan
Kuwang nalang mag sige silag luwa ug ughad
Sa ka bulanos kung maka pag sangyaw sa mga tinudluan
Mag tuo ka nga santos kay maka istorya murag wa ga tugkad

Susihon nimo ang kada adlaw nga wali sa katong bata paka
Nagkat-on ug nagdako nga hinay hinay naka amgo ka
Kasagaran aning istoryaha kay halos murag kumedya
Ang mga tiguwang mismo musupak sa tinudluan nga wala sunda

Sinners and Saints

From What the eyes cannot see

The names Osama and Obama do sound alike, yet there are stark differences how we see these famous personalities. One may be a messenger of freedom and the other is a messenger of the new renaissance – but to who is who for you? It is almost a bolt from the blue that an unsolicited partiality lingers at the back of our heads as we assess what had happened a few days back. The battle between Osama and Obama, and Obama won. The spectators felt that the world will be a better place after the incident; the Americans think that justice was served after a long and arduous journey; some feared the worst of terrorism is yet to come. Difficult it is to say that Osama was the living devil, as the school of thought dictates, as he might have argumentatively pointed a finger at every living American as the true Lucifer.

This variation of how we see Osama Bin Laden created a whirlwind controversy as to how true justice should have went down on him. General ethics have told us that every human being deserves a certain level of respect and holds a degree of intrinsic value that no man should ever take away from. Dignity, honour and life are some examples to name a few. That these core tenets should always be upheld even at the midst of war, death and sheer chaos. Rules of engagement have been ever evolving throughout the millennia but its fundamentals serve as what delineates justice from retribution. With this, is it safe to say that justice was never served to Osama Bin Laden since he was killed in the fire fight? Or was the verdict closed the moment he exclaimed to the world that he was the mastermind on most terrorist killings that had influenced the death of five thousand innocent lives or more?

The date of Osama Bin Laden’s death almost aligned itself with Pope John Paul II’s beatification for sainthood. It is as if Father Time was sending us a message that there is parity between sinners and saints. That sinners are saints, and saints are sinners – an allegory that succumbs to the realities of today as we continue to press on thinking we are pure in spirit, living with the false sense of hope that we built a society that prides itself with morality, justice and liberties. In order for us to determine who is the sheep and who is the wolf in sheep’s clothing, we might have to assume that both are wolves until the dust has settled. But by far, it seems that the USA was the sheep in this story that cranked it up and after 10 years, finally outran the wolf.

Pay It Forward

From What the eyes cannot see

Pay it forward is a very simple concept about how small good deeds when passed forward can exponentially circumnavigate the globe. Once it does, it will be like nuclear fission – it will continuously multiply on its own. This school of thought has always been found in the heart of every major religion in the world because being selfish is such an easy thing to do. Being selfless on the other hand is something that is being taught to us, something we had to learn as it does not come naturally to a child.

And selflessness is associated with an act of self sacrifice for someone else’s benefit. This premise therefore poses a threat to how we perceive ourselves as being selfless.

Let us first remember that selflessness is different from being helpful, cooperative or generous. Selflessness should be defined as true altruism, the most genuine definition of sacrifice, and sacrifice being the ultimate manifestation of love for others.

When I first pondered on the line, “You are being helpful because you would feel good inside, and that in itself is a selfish act.” It really struck down on me like an axe cutting through a block of wood. How can something that fuels our motivation to help others can be so selfish at the same time? Yes I am guilty of this, you can call me selfish but never call me a fibber! I am helping others because it makes me happy when other people are happy. When smiles are so wide it almost engulfs their faces, when eyes gleam and glitter so full of hope, when sincere words of thank you is uttered so many times… these are just some of the things that make the extra work you rendered all worthwhile.

Have I done good deeds that made me feel good inside? Definitely! Was I selfish in a way because I felt warm and fuzzy afterwards – well, if you put it in that context, yes.

How about good deeds that I have done that were purely altruistic in nature? I think I have a few.

But to me, no matter what feelings you would posses after extending a helping hand would give you, for as long as the intention is purely to help, it would already count as a good deed. Sometimes it’s no longer about the why, it’s more on the what – what did we do when we see someone in need? Did we turn a blind eye, a deaf ear or a cold shoulder? My advocacy for the past years has always been to do a good deed to a complete stranger at least every 3 months. It can be as little as offering to bring the groceries of a cripple, helping the elderly find her way inside a mall, to offering a blood donation to a stranger who has myoma.

With this, I encourage you my fellow blogger/reader, to go out and purposely do a good deed from time to time. No matter how miniscule and unfulfilling it may be, it still touched someone else’s heart, because to that recipient of your good deed, the world would have been different without your intervention. You do not have to go out of your way to find it, it is everywhere around you and all you need to do is to be on the look out and keep an open heart. And if you find yourself at the receiving end of this gesture, you should be morally bound to pay it forward.

Social to Sosyal

From What the eyes cannot see

I have come across this question for quite some time now, “The various avenues in technological advances of today like the availability of SMS, social networking, chat, e-mail and video calling are getting us more and more connected with each other – almost real time. But does this truly bring us closer as a family, as a community and as a nation?”

When I was younger, socializing meant you would have to take that bold step in talking to a complete stranger, mostly are my neighbours anyway. The people I played with and grew up with were our neighbours to whom either by choice or by chance we got to know and got comfortable with. Biking, flying the kite, playing Filipino games, even the not so Filipino games like chinese garter, basketball, baseball to name a few were the most sought after means of past time as it accommodates large crowds. We used to be 14 strong in my neighbourhood.

However today’s kids, just like the ad for The Yellow Pages seem to let their “fingers do the walking”. Instead of going out and really experiencing the world, they get stifled by the magic of technology that they no longer get to explore and take risks. Risks like the many times I got chased by dogs just because we were trying to get to our friends house for a game of basketball. It’s this type of social interaction and exploration that is lacking today; this superposes the 4 corners of your laptop screen! So it truly is Blackberry’s and Apple’s and Microsoft’s and all the parents in the world who buy these for their kids - fault why the children of generation Y seem to be less altruistic and more self-centred. Less of EQ and more of IQ. Maybe that is just my opinion.

So, with lesser emotional intelligence, does this information age bring us closer? I highly doubt that. We don’t even bother to talk to our immediate environs as we are too busy fiddling with that Ipad or checking for wi-fi connections on our phones. It’s like we are living in our own internet-connected bubble, our “Hi’s” and “Hello’s” are no longer spoken words, and our smiles are no longer physical signs of warmth but emoticons that we put in our chat screens. The word “close” (a word used to define level of affiliation) was meant to encompass the emotional, physical and social relationship – not the technological closeness between FB posts!

Bringing this closer to you, my dear reader, when was the last time you offered help to a stranger? Or said “Hi” to a stranger in the elevator? Or did you even see these around you? Or maybe you were to busy playing with your phone?

In the words of Albert Einstein (c/o Google), “It is appallingly obvious our technology has exceeded our humanity.”

Disconcert

From What the eyes cannot see

The ground trembles at an angry pace
Every bit of courage above it breaks
Fiery red cuts across the blue calm sky
People look up and wonder why

We see nothing but lightning bolts
More questions and unanswered thoughts
Confusion with the pouring acid rain
Piercing our skins scraping it with pain

Burning lava hugs the new landscape
As we jostle for our escape
What is this imminent suffering?
What more could it be taking?

Riddling clowns circle teasingly
Ticks shy on the tipping point of insanity
Surviving for mere existence
One starts to feel a nonsensical peace

Jumping off the ledge to end it all
Seems to be a solution bloated with gall
No way out but with a big bullet hole
Up from your gaping mouth to your skull

Emotions surge to unearthly degrees
Consideration of moral teachings of priests
Is all too late and inadequate
To stop all the agony and self hate

Things I hate about people!

From What the eyes cannot see

There are certain character traits that make a certain composition to the extent that, like music, one can tell how its melody is going to turn out. Whether its grunge, rock, rap, classic, metal, pop or etc – you can almost always tell which is which after the first eight to ten seconds into the song. On the same line, we are able to fit into stereotypes the myriad of personalities we encounter in our life.

The experiences I’ve had then made me smarter, more mature and quite honestly, a bit more judgmental. And mind you, I don’t see being good at judging character a bad thing at all. I am able to better understand, relate and communicate with these personalities better. But it doesn’t diminish the fact that I still hate their stinking gut! Here are some of them:

1. People that say “YOU DIDN’T” at every start of their sentence.

I never really understood which part of YOU and DID NOT gave these people the idea that it’s okay to use them in one sentence! This type of self-affirmation gives them that domineering mindset that they know better and would like to show off a bit – it’s the classic nagger/cynic attitude.

2. The dreaded accusatory statement of “YOU DID IT, DID YOU…”

What’s equally worse than someone saying you didn’t do something? It’s when someone blames you for doing so! “You forgot to lock the door, did you?” – Just gets me all fuming inside!

3. I want to hear what I want to hear!

I call these people airheaded assholes! When someone talks, their puny underpowered, rusty, good-for-nothing brain just is not capable of listening attentively! I really don’t like getting close to these people, they only do most of the talking and has most likely very low social skills.

4. Insecurity!

Some people ask me, how can you tell if the person is insecure from afar? And I tell them, look at their weight! Most insecure people find security in material things, 51% of them find it in food! I challenge my co workers to test this theory and they always come back to me saying I’m right!

5. Self-righteous!

Generally people would strive to be socially and morally upright as we are brought up by our respective families with strong values. But some seems to live in this tiny bubble and never make it outside the box; they seem to only see the wrong in others and never in themselves. I’ve always believed that the person that has an AVERAGE emotional intelligence can easily overcome this loophole.

Orange Lampshade

From What the eyes cannot see

Surviving the daily grind of life
Is a skirmish each one faces day by day
Fighters of the corporate rat race
Oblivious to the physical derelicts

But we really have to play this game
This is but as normal as the olden days
Tribes in groups out to forage and hunt
They all struggled to become warriors and sons

We throw punches like pro-boxers do
And spit on each others faces like statesmen
Get enraged by the nemesis’ advances
Continuously trying to stay ahead

When the time for getting off arrives
I happily jump and sit comfortably
Savouring every peace and quiet
For meditation and self recollection

I drive slowly to a wonted place
To see the orange lampshade by the window
As it sheds its calm light to a room
Where Beauty rejuvenates in every night

Gazed at the bright pane so eagerly
Feeling recharged with every passing moment
Coz of the connection, the distance
True divine intervention doing its part

So I make my way back to my home
With nothing but content and full energy
To face another war with the world
And the violent cycle goes on and on

HEY YOU!

From What the eyes cannot see

Hey you, walk right up to the plate
Let this whole nation coagulate
Get it right while we can still fight
Coz this battle just doesn’t seem right

The rich people only gets fatter like a leech
Don’t care about the government or the kids in the streets
Where guns are drawn and fear is spawned
To get more drugs everything they have, they pawned

Let not all this be brought to hate
We are here to help you stop the spate
Start uniting people who want this change
Choose not to continue getting deranged

Hey you, get up with that cane
Hey you, start doing the same
Hey you, join hands and be a factor
Hey you, stop dreaming and let’s start doing it together

Aren’t we all tired of all the sooth-sayers
And everyone just drops on their knees and say prayers
We all darn well know what we need to succeed
But what we are full in the mind, we lack in deed

We all been shoved, kicked, slapped and torn down
Right to the very core by the very people we wrote down
In the ballots, the vote’s based on what we see on TV
We see no significance of this suffrage activity

How long can we continue to define
The missing things that can make our country fine
To me, all you are doing is whine
I don’t care what you say – continue to live in your sublime

Hey you, shut up I have enough of you
Hey you, let’s start moving and stop this pain
Hey you, end this effin’ politicking
Hey you, let’s live the good life again