OH, THE INSANITY!

I am writing this as a reflection on my visit to Divisioria yesterday afternoon. We all know what that place means for many people: über affordable shopping paradise (I heard that 168 Mall has already earned the ire of the SM Group), where everything - and as in EVRYTHING - can be found, home to overstaying Chinese traders and all things legal and illegal. All this while PNP personnel keep watch over the pandemonium and mayhem of Manila's "new" shopping district: Divisoria.

My visit yesterday was brought upon by my wanting to surprise my Mom by getting her fresh peaches - the big, pink, crispy ones that she liked during her visit to Xian. She actually brought one home for me to taste but I told her that anything that you find in China, you can also find in Manila. Well, almost everything and I did recall seeing the same kind of peaches during my last visit to buy rice lights for the farm.

At any rate, JGC wished me luck and advised that I might get luckier in Binondo. Knowing how overpriced fruits in Binondo are, I insisted on going to DV because I do know the exact place to find them. Needless to say (but I'm still saying it), I did't find any this time. Must be the season or something, rain and all, but what were there were the usual ponkans (yawn..) , grapes and anything round to cater to Filipinos' new-found penchant for obtaining "luck" in whatever form. Streets are awashed with fruits of all sorts, lucky charms (Chinese characters embossed in faux gold with long red tassels) , clothing and new-generation firecrackers including those which I know are illegal. As I said, this is DV.

The area around Divisoria Mall was, to say the least, terribly cramped with stalls taking over what little street space there is left, squeezing people into several lines. Then there are the cargadors with their huge boxes of deliveries further pushing people out of the way. I can't say this is all fun. Any first timer would have fainted on the spot. But back to the fruits.

There are pears of all kinds, really huge ones to the point of being grotesque, from Japan, Down Under, and the common ones from China (yellow and green, though I prefer the latter for its juiciness and that it doesn't easily ripens). Kiwis sell for Ps 20 per piece, and dragon fruits from Vietnam go for Ps 120 per kilo (2 pieces by the looks of it). The huge, ugly pears sell for Ps 25 each. It was obvious that due to the mad rush for anything round, the sweet melons and pineapples (not round but it holds a special place in the list of lucky things) were harvested way too early. Tiny pineapples like those I buy in Dangwa for flower decoration purposes sell for Ps 10 each, while the melons were just about the same. They look terribly unripe and I seriously doubt if they can be eaten at all. Oh, well. Basta kumpleto ang 12 fruits, who cares?

What did I end up buying? A trusty, old-style marble mortar and pestle from Romblon at Ps 100, longgans (ps 100 per bunch), and atiezas (acheza?) which was one of the fruits of my Pampanga childhood. I saw them in this lonely stall where green señorita bananas, nice suha, and solo papayas were also displayed but largely ignored by everyone. At Ps 30 per kilo, they are sure to be a hit at home since we rarely see these Pinoy fruits anymore. I miss the mabolo a lot. I only know of one tree exisiting in Mexico, Pampanga because I used to pass by that garden in my elementary school days.

I decided to escape from all the madness by walking all the way to Tabora and catching a jeep to Avenida, from where I'd be taking a bus home via Sta. Cruz. What a day indeed. And I will surely be back.

By the way, 2006 is said to be the year of Red Fire Dog (Year 4703) to celebrate on the 29th of January. I wonder what it has in store for Rabbits like me.

I will edit this article on my next visit. I didn't get to write down what I really want to say.

A WALK FOR BREAST CANCER

This was sent by my Mom through e-mail. It's supposed to be a walking woman, and was created as an email drive to bring attention to the plight of breast cancer victims around the world.

This one goes out to my beloved Mother, to my very good friend Grace, and to JGC's sister.

FROM THE SARIMANOK DREAMS (c.2005)

I grieve because you misunderstand
Or you choose to not understand
Not to listen
Or if you do listen, you are deaf.

I seek solace in this ethereal space
Stare blankly at this screen
Of endless possibilities
Wishing that
Google will give me the
Answer to life’s questions

I can hear voices
See lives
The past
The future
The changes
And the things that never will be

Because minds are closed to
Creating
Photos
Songs
Poetry
Music
but
Stories, stories, stories
Exist
forcing themselves on to me

I am inundated by
interminable stories

stories, stories, stories, stories, stories and more stories
of every color and hue

coming from the sarimanok dreams.


_______________________________________________
Source: FROM THE SARIMANOK DREAMS by Dylan Yap Gozum, 2005

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Recent photos I took of myself, the common desk at the mango farm, and an artsy-fartsy take on aluminum chairs against the red floor. I hope everyone is having a great time during the Holidays! A Happy Christmas and a Hopeful New Year to all!

THINGS I MISS MOST (PART 2)

1.) Haw flakes


2.) ‘Tintin and Friends’ comic books


3.) Tom Yam


4.) Fried chicken from Serenity
5.) Early morning flights
6.) Baguio City market


7.) Lolita Rodriguez in Chito Roño’s 'LUCIA'
8.) Spanish classes at the Instituto Cervantes
9.) Saturday movie specials at the Salon de Actos


10.) Hanging out in friends’ houses

BLAST FROM THE PAST

I recall reading Ayn Rand's defining work ATLAS SHRUGGED in college and how I got hooked on the idea of objectivism. However, my mother chanced upon the book lying on the couch in our house in Pampanga and after a cursory check, asked me to stop reading it. Yes, she may be the in-house MTRCB of sorts (she has rejected several films from my collection from being shown in her presence) but she does have her reasons. Needless to say, I ended up reading THE FOUNTAINHEAD as well, and bought two more books by Rand - both collections of essays. I wouldn't mention their titles here as they are too high-brow and I honestly haven't had the chance to actually finish reading them. Suffice to say that I was on an Ayn Rand mode for a year or two, even used RAND as a chat username (how cheap!) and managed to get the kind of attention I wasn't actually asking for but a welcome one nonetheless. Came across a photo of this nice, nice sweater the other day and bham!, it was Rand-landia all over again. So much for reminiscing.

2015: KEEPING THE PROMISE

Working towards the UN Millenium Development Goal's 201 target is driving everyone in a frenzy these days, especially NGOs and social development agencies of governments around the world.

Since my Mom is working in the education sector, her NGO has used the CHILD FRIENDLY SCHOOL (CFS) as the central theme in achieving the goals set in education. She has travelled from Pangasinan in the north to Camotes in the south to lecture on this topic. Hopefully, everyone concerned should be able to come up with doable action plans in order to uplift the situation in their areas.

In some of my trips to these areas, I have heard people say that NGOs have become their direct source of support when it comes to funding their programs. In fact, local DepEd offices have become so dependent on NGOs for funding: from trainings to "exposure" trips. I've read somewhere that almost US$40 billion have been poured by several NGOs into Philippine development since the 70s. What happened?

"SIR, KIDNEYS?"

It appears that the market for kidneys is still alive and well. A new report by PDI's Christine Esguerra here proves that what used to be a matter left between two families has become a black market enterprise.

I know this is not new to the Philippine setting. Many years back when I started watching social-related shows on TV, this has already been a major source of income for many people, mostly from those living near the sea wall of Manila Bay.

If i am not mistaken, the story was done by Cheche Lazaro herself in her multi-awarded show Probe Team, then running on GMA7. Just imagine how Ps 150,000 can go a long way in changing people's lives. But is it worth it? We may have to wait a few more years to actually find out. Soon, another dilemma will loom in the horizon: health costs for those who have one kidney remaining. By then, it would be too late to even think of regret.

MISCHIEF COMES IN A NEW PACKAGE

And I thought mischief ended after the 2004 elections, but wait! Here come 4 boys based in Sacramento, CA who have upped the ante a little bit further by making music videos AND lypsynching to songs by original artists!

Called The Mischievious Boys ("mischievious" here is pronounced as "mis-chee-vee-uhs"), they have released several videos of themselves using original songs by Will Young, Madonna's (Hung Up), 98 Degress, Global Deejays, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, Whitney Houston and Kenny Clarkson.

It's totally funny to see 2 Filipinos (Edward and Joseph), 1 Thai (David), and 1 Vietnamese (Tommy) full-grown boys in muscle shirts cavort, dance, and lip synch to Houston's TRY IT ON MY OWN. I really do not know what to make of these people, but the videos are fun and amusing!

Check them out here!

MAXI BLOGS!

Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros has been making waves since it opened to commercial viewing last November 30. I saw it during its debut at the 1st Cinemalaya and I wrote the review that same day. The article was published in Yehey! Movies.

To add fuel to the fire, the makers of the film have also opened a blog supposedly written by Maximo himself. Hmmm...

Going through it, it appears that the boy actually is into, well, boys, flowers, cooking, Sandara and Claudine movies, “magsulsi ng damit, mag-shopping at mamalengke [darning clothes, shopping and going to the wet market]” though not necessarily in that order. Amusing.

See the blog here and the official site here.

IN HONOR OF HARD WORK

I never fail to make an entry on December 1. It's been a habit since my college days to always remember this day. In the university, there always would be a special exhibit in the Science Center lobby courtesy of the Biophilic Society which we headed.

Today, more than ever, the need for education and information sharing remains as crucial and important.

December 1, 2005. World AIDS Day. In honor of those who work so hard to give hope to those who are still living.

...AND WORLD PEACE!

Came across this wonderful game from the Nobel Prize website. It consists of sending peace doves to disarm nuclear arsenals across the globe - from India to the US. You can launch the doves using a destination box on the screen.

The catch here is, you're supposed to be well-read on the topic in order to send the dove to the right country on the first try! I was able to disarm 5 out of 6 countries. Not bad for a start. Start playing it here.

CINEMA AS REFLECTION OF OUR TRUE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS

HIMALA (Source: UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies )

This entry is based on an article by well-respected medical anthropologist Michael Tan in his January 29, 2004 article entitled “Movies as social capital,” published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Read it here.

In 108 years of cinema in the Philippines, there is nothing that can take away from our film makers the urge to portray our current state of affairs as they are - be it about our continued abject poverty, or even the simplest nuances and changes in the Pinoy character.

Looking back 30 to 40 years ago, we've had a wealth of of films that were made during very difficult times and we are glad to still have them today, thanks to the hard work of our archivists (despite the lack of a proper archive) and film enthusiasts. I had the chance of seeing some of them a few years back - thanks to ABS-CBN - and they pretty much convey the same message to us today. Which is weird because this says a lot about how much we've changed as a society.

With my apologies to the film makers, writers and producers, I wish to reflect on some of them here today. Lino Brocka's “Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang” can be remade into “Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Mabigat Ka Talaga”, perhaps pertaining to the growing width of Filipinos secondary to our present lifestyle and habits. One can say that the Pinoys were born and will probably die in – if not of – these fastfood chains, what with our TV sets bombarded daily by their calls to get hold of the latest crispy chicken inventions.

Writer Ricky Lee's “Himala” can be remade into “Himala…Pa Rin” to reflect how much – or how little – we’ve progressed since Nora Aunor portrayed the sad character of Elsa in the 1982 award-winning social commentary by National Artist for Film, Ishmael Bernal. Perhaps it's time to stop waiting for miracles to happen, stop depending on the government for many things, and strive on our own to achieve what we want for ourselves and our family? Toying with a famous saying, if we want to learn how to fish, we must learn how to make use of a net.

“Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon” is just as perfect and relevant if re-titled as “Ganito Kami Noon, Ganito Pa Rin Kayo Ngayon” because the Pinoy life is a cycle of the same good and bad times. Like we always say, “things never seem to change around here.” This is best exemplified by some photos I’ve seen lately (probably taken around the early 1900s) of Manila underwater after a monsoon rain.

It did not escape my attention that “Minsa’y Isang Gamo-Gamo” can have a proper sequel if the recent Subic rape case involving 6 US Marines, (5, depending on whose report is it that you’re reading) is of any indication. Eyewitnesses say that the poor girl was left half-naked by the Marines on a parking lot. If Nora Aunor’s famous one-liner wouldn’t be just as applicable in this case, I don’t know what else will.

Sir Tan finished his article as thus: “More than a matter of aesthetics, appreciating our films is recognizing how they chronicle, even if sometimes in a glamorized or sensationalized way, a nation's trials and tribulations, aspirations and triumph. Films are an integral part of our social capital that need to be preserved with care and transmitted, with pride, across generations.”

Indeed.

___________
And for you, dear reader, an old song from Gine Tan (Grand Prize, 1st ASEAN Songfest of 1981):

Magsimula ka,
batiin ang kay gandang umaga
Nang may ngiti sa iyong mga mata
Sa pagkakaidlip,gumising na!
Ang buhay ay masaya,
palalampasin mo ba?
Iisa lang ang buhay mo,
kumilos ka, gamitin mo
Kung may nais ang puso mo,
mangarap ka, abutin mo
Upang ito'y makamit mo,
magsikap ka, simulan mo!

WELCOME ABOARD LAVAZZA AIRLINES!

What better way to spend your upcoming travel plans than by having a nice, no-bumps flight and a cup of Lavazza, undeniably the best italian espresso brand in the world?

For starters, take a look at the much-anticipated Lavazza calendar for 2006. Ah, flying and Lavazza! This is the life! (Click on photos to enlarge)

CROSSING MY FINGERS...AGAIN

I almost cancelled an anonymous phone call yesterday afternoon thinking that Fitness First was pestering me again to sign up for a demo workout (just wait, okay?!). Anyway, I went against my own personal rules and picked it up. Turned out that it was Greenpeace Manila, congratulating me for making it to a shorlist from which a winner will be chosen next week to appear on MTV Pilipinas and join the crew of the Rainbow Warrior II on its next trip to Iloilo City. Yikes! And they leave at midnight midweek next!

I only have my very, very brief essay to thank for this. The topic was on why we need clean energy now. What luck, I thought, when I am about to take up my Public Health masters early next year because my specialty would be environmental health. The timing couldn't be any better. If I am not mistaken, the target sites in Iloilo would be coal-fueled power plants like that in Masinloc (see entry below). I am not sure if Mirant, DM Consunji, or Korea's KEPCO have actually pushed through with their plans down south because if they have, the Iloilo trip will be a memorable one (please don't let there be violence again!).



Anyway, if I don't make it to the top, there's always the option of having dinner with Amanda Griffin (Thanks, Grace!), MTV's face for the Greenpeace campaign, onboard the Rainbow Warrior II or win a nice Greenpeace tee shirt. If it were the latter, please make sure I don't get a pink one like Amanda's. It doesn't match my skin color.

DEPLORABLE

Zambales, PHILIPPINES — A German Greenpeace activist participating in a peaceful protest against the Masinloc coal power plant outside Manila was horrendously beaten by local plant personnel.

Three other Greenpeace activists from New Zealand and the Philippines had stones thrown at them. German Jens Loewe, 36, has been taken to a hospital emergency room. Filipinos Janine Mercado, Pam Palma and New Zealander Debra Gay Pristor have also been taken to hospital with less serious injuries.

Read the rest of the story here on Greenpeace Southeast Asia's website.

INSULTING

If the pink community is smarting over the recent Pugad Baboy strips syndicated by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, it is not showing it. For a group that has been the force behind most of the country's creative output (which by the way provides employment to thousands of people), surely a little show of respect is in order.

THEY'RE ARE AT IT AGAIN

(Photo by www.redemptorists.ie)

Mom just arrived from an educators' congress yesterday. During the course of our conversation, she mentioned that while a delegate from Samar was speaking, Tagalog-speaking delegates were guffawing over the way she/he said certain English words.

You know, like "poet" can sound rather, uhm, unusual when a Visayan-speaker says it. Ditto for "oil" as "owel". As a Visayan speaker myself, I really do not find fault when fellow Visayan speakers replace "i" with "e". Blame the Visayan alphabet for that or something. A significant part of my life was spent in Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Cebu and I have gotten used to hearing English spoken in the Visayan manner.

Not to start a fight here but it was in bad taste for Tagalog speaking delegates to laugh loudly while the speaker was on the podium. They perhaps need to be reminded that across all subjects but more so in English, Science, and Math, that Samar is currently the No. 1 province in the entire country in terms of profiency?

And poverty has nothing to do with it. Just pure, plain hard work and the occassional tongue twister.

REDEFINING DOCTORS' ROLES

Doctors and would-be physicians in the Philippines would do themselves a major favor by getting a copy of the recent Time Asia magazine. It has a special feature on at least ten (10) doctors from around Asia (the Philippines EXcluded) who have redefined their roles in their own communities.

Perhaps the answer is not leaving the country. It's simply a matter of finding better things to do.

LEA AT THE CARNEGIE

Photo by www.inq7.net