transposable element

so i’ve finally done what i set out to do last week. and for the first time since i arrived in singapore, i stepped onto philippine grounds here in singapore. i’ve always known the embassy was on a posh road off orchard, heard it being mentioned by tour bus guides with a vague gesture pointing to its direction, but i never actually saw the place. i imagined it would be a cluster of those big colonial black and white bungalows that dot the area, transformed into an office compound.

how miserably wrong i was. colonial? yeah, the way an outhouse has colonial roots, maybe. our municipal hall back home would look grand compared to this! it was a bungalow alright, a mid-sized bunker of a bungalow, with rows of windows on one side opening to a porch. the roof was extended to cover the porch, where rows of plastic chairs make up the waiting area. you’d think it being an embassy, there’d be tight security, eh? forget it. anybody can waltz in there, though i can’t imagine why anyone would if they can help it.

considering the thousands of filipinos the embassy is serving here in singapore (think of the consular service fees they collect annually), one would think they could afford a better property, or at least to make the place look a bit more… dignified, i think is the right word. but then, maybe its barriotic feel suits just as well. a more realistic representation of a country down in the dumps.

i had been planning to go to the embassy tomorrow, so i checked their office hours on their website only to find out that they are closed on fridays. arrgh.

aside from the opening hours, i also found this note to visitors:

Visitors are requested to come appropriately attired. The Embassy will not allow entry to skimpily attired and barefoot people or those wearing the following who are deemed to be inappropriately attired:

1. Shorts with cuts of more than three (3) inches above the knee;
2. Slippers;
3. Mini-skirts with cut of more than three (3) inches above the knee;
4. Exposed underwears (briefs, panties, bras, boxer shorts, kamiseta)
5. Shirts/blouses with plunging necklines;
6. Shirts/blouses that intentionally show the belly button/navel;
7. Pants/shorts with very low waistlines that reveal portions of private parts such as the buttocks;
8. Transparent shirts and pants that show undergarments.

hello? it’s an embassy, not a church. and is there a need to reiterate pa talaga in detail what ‘inappropriate attire’ means?

if, one day, i should ever need to flee and seek refuge at the embassy, i hope i’ll remember to ditch the flip flops and don proper shoes.

so she’s refused treatment. and there’s fluid build-up in her stomach area.

pessimistic and callous as it may sound, i can’t bring myself to believe she still has a chance. i’m too pragmatic, and my own father’s last days are still too vivid. i know what ascites mean. and what will happen next. let’s not fool ourselves.

rather than recovery, i’m praying for a pain-free, swift and dignified transit. she deserves it.

while many developed countries are struggling to boost their population, the philippines remain in a quagmire because its population hike has gotten completely out of control. no thanks to poverty, increasing illiteracy, religion and the majority of politicians who don’t dare promote more effective birth control strategies for fear of stoking the church’s ire and thus losing voters. i therefore highly applaud the authors of the reproductive health bill. has it moved forward, though?

maybe they should run campaigns showing local versions of these ads on television:

should be effective, eh?

i’ve been following the euphoria over manny pacquiao’s win against de la hoya on tfc. un-effing-believable. i can’t remember the nation celebrating over other pinoy athlete’s triumphs this way before.

is it because boxing is one of the few “pang-masa” sport (another being billiards)? a sport that even the poor (or should that be especially the poor?) have a chance to excel in? isn’t that also why people say football is so popular in south america and africa — because you don’t need much equipment for training, no expensive gears and tools required to start?

if that’s the case, it’s no wonder not many appreciate bowler paeng nepomuceno, even though he holds 3 guinness world records. or those mountaineers who conquered mt everest– how many people remember their names now? will the philippines ever have Titleist golfers? will theirs be household names like pacquiao’s? will they also bring home 11 million dollars plus some 5 million dollars more in pay per view revenues?

i’m blogging this from pinas. all’s been swell since we arrived. mia took a couple of days to get used to the new places and faces, but s back to heer jolly self now. i’ve visited my dad’s new place in a memorial park in los banos where his ashes now lay. i’ve accomplished what i’ve come home to do, and from now on, we’ll just be taking it easy, spending time with the family as much as we can.

i’m glad to see my folks, minus one. the older one gets, the more important family ties become, i guess. my siblings and i have never been close when we were younger, but now, it feels soooo good to see them. even when we do nothing special, really. just being together, reassuring each other that we’re still there. that we’re still our same old carino brutal ways. evn when they all greet me, “nyaah, ang taba mo!” and suggest that i take ephedra diet pills, i just come back with “what happened to your hair?!? part of your halloween costume?” and then we’re back to our merry ways and dig into the fiesta meal laid before us. tact? nah, that’s reserved for people who will cease loving you if you don’t practice tact on them. amongst me and my kin, tact is corny.

this year’s was my first time to witness trick or treating here in pinas. in the laguna barrio where i grew up (yes, proudly promdi), this wasn’t practiced. at least not during my childhood years. i did hear of tales of pangangaluluwa from my parents, but we never participated in one. so i never liked this holiday in particular, as it never held any meaning for me. it was fun when we were in giessen, though, and were able to “gatecrash” (uy, we were invited naman) the halloween celebrations at the barracks, but the fun part in that was mainly being with friends and celebrating something with friends, rather than the holiday itself. labo ba?

anyways… it was raining here in manila last hallow’s eve. but because the houses are already festooned in ghoulish decos and kids already had their costumes on, halloween pushed through. an interesting version, though.

kids were ferried throughout the village by their parents. their cars would stop at houses that were giving out sweets, toys and mini-gift baskets. yaya goes out, parent rolls down the window so that the kid could be seen, yaya collects the treats while kid stays in the dry comfort of the car. and on to the next house.

wow. i have no idea how halloween is celebrated in the states when it rains, but i remember during our giessen halloweens, our kids, then 2-4 years old, walked. and they would have walked (with parents trailing them) even if it was cold, and there was snowfall. isn’t that part of the idea?

ahh, october, finally. just a couple more weeks and i’ll be flying to manila with mia. although i’ve flown cebu pacific on its domestic routes, this is the first time i’m flying their international route. if they are using the same planes or bigger, maybe there’s even more legroom and more comfortable seats than in jetstar or tiger. i’m used to no-frill flying now, so i’m not expecting to be impressed. but, let’s see.

actually, i’m more worried about the airport than the airline now. cebu pacific is now operating on the new terminal 3. this is the new 640 million-dollar terminal built by fraport and due to open some six years ago, but did not due to legal issues. finally, in june this year, it was formally opened, not without mishaps and chaos. and just last month, a portion of its ceiling allegedly collapsed, for the nth time.

fortunately, both mia and i have a comprehensive travel insurance. y’know, just in case something falls on my head or some such. or should i rather be thinking of getting life insurance quotes?! shucks, i’ve flown so many times in the last 10 years or so, and while i always, ALWAYS, get nervous during take-off and landing, i think this is the first time i’m concerned at being at the airport!

can’t say i’m a fan of her –i actually think she’s so-so when i see her alongside sarah geronimo and rachel ann go on ASAP– but charice has come a looong way. debuted on american tv at the ellen degeneres show, landed on oprah, sang a duet with andrea bocelli and other gigs at las vegas, and now… duet with celine dion at the madison square garden, no less:

according to ny times:

Earlier, she brought Charice Pempengco, a young singer from the Philippines with an impressive voice, onstage. (Ms. Pempengco came to her attention through an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”)

They performed “Because You Loved Me,” though Ms. Dion mostly stayed out of the way as Ms. Pempengco explored the song’s heretofore unheard rougher edges, with ample gesticulations and melisma. As Ms. Pempengco brought the crowd to its feet, Ms. Dion struck poses behind her: awestruck wonder, heartfelt empathy, ambient triumph.

according to ny post (which lambasted celine):

One of the most interesting turns in this show was the MSG debut of 16-year-old vocal prodigy Charice Pempengco, whose manager, Oprah Winfrey - that’s right - secured the Philippine singer a duet with Celine for the song “Because You Loved Me.” The Charice segment was the night’s brightest moment. The teen was able to blast notes with Celine-like power, but she was also able to get in touch with the song’s emotions.

so oprah is her manager now, huh?