transposable element

so today marks the first day of a new era in philippine governance. i watched p-noy’s inauguration yesterday, and like millions of filipinos, i was awed, inspired, broke into goosebumps and became even more hopeful than i’ve been during the campaign and elections. like many skeptics, i know he’s not going to deliver all of his promises. i know he’s going to disappoint many, perhaps even himself. afterall, elected by the people or not, he’s not a superhero, and it will take heroic efforts, and then some, to banish the countries woes. and it will definitely take more than six years to fix decades of wrongs.

but, hope, that’s what noy-noy has given us. and for a country already in the dumps and have lost trust in the government, hope is not insignificant. hope is a spark, an ember. whether that flares to roaring flames, that doesn’t depend wholly on noynoy. for what is one man, to the nearly a hundred million (current estimate) filipinos that make up a country?

the leader is committed to implementing change in governance. pero ikaw, as bmpm asks, ano ang sisimulan mo para sa pagbabago?

it reminds me of my dad when he was in hospital receiving treatment for lung cancer. the nurse was interviewing him and asked whether he smokes. he said, “ah, hindi na. matagal na akong tumigil.”

“kelan po?”
“nung mabaril ni ninoy.”

at the time, i found it strange how that one event had provided my father the impetus to make such a personal change. but now, i’m just starting to understand. this is the change that noynoy is now summoning us all for.

ikaw, ano ang sisimulan mo para sa pagbabago?

ako: bumoto ka na ba?
siya: hinde, ayoko.
ako: nagparehistro ka ba?
siya: hinde.

ngek. it kinda reminds of that girl who told me that a few weeks before classes were due to start, she decided not to enrol in uplb for college because she didn’t like the feel of the place. when i asked which campus she indicated in the upcat, she said, “uh, upcat? what”s that?”

oh wait. now i remember. they’re one and the same person. isn’t it scary that this person has the right to vote simply by virtue of citizenship?

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it’s election day in the philippines today. like millions of others, i am not fully convinced that this process will be a clean, honest and fair one. but i’ve done my part. i’ve done my duty as a philippine citizen. have you?

if you haven’t gone to the precincts to cast your votes, you become one of the many reasons why philippine elections fail to be truly democratic. so rather than criticize the system, i suggest that you save your breath and hold your trap regarding this elections. yapping about how this election will not bring about change, when you yourself couldn’t be bothered to go out and vote makes you no different to the very ‘trapos’ you accuse of being all talk and no action. change, you say? you want change? what are YOU doing to bring about that change?

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?