Pinoy Tales

Homo Sapiens? or Did Something Else Fire the Guns in Maguindanao?

2009-12-06T03:00:00.003+08:00

More than 50 dead in Maguindanao on November 23, 2009. Was it a human encounter? or an encounter with the undead? Worse, was it an encounter with Satan himself?

As bodies from the worst political massacre in the nation’s history were being uncovered from freshly dug mass graves, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Tuesday declared a state of emergency in the provinces of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat and in Cotabato City. (Source: Inquirer.net)

I have the feeling the President should have called Sector 7 instead. Too bad that Sector in the US government was disbanded in Transformer 2.

I think our Catholic President should perhaps ask the assistance of the Vatican in exorcising Maguindanao and cast Satan himself out of those lands.
There was evil that roamed in that part of the country in the form of 100 armed undead men that abducted women and media people, then massacred them in cold blood in broad day light! All that happened in a seemingly pre-meditated fashion, because the mass graves were ready!

Abduction at 10am, mass graves by 4pm. That was absolutely quick! I could only believe that those mass graves were there much earlier than the abduction.

Moreover, if investigations would confirm it, some of these undead still had the leisurely time of raping some women, again in broad day light!

All that were pure evil. Only Satan himself could have done it.

After Ondoy, Peping and Santi, here came the massacre of unarmed women and media people. What more could Filipinos ask? The movie 2012 sounded much more acceptable to me.

Indignation. Wounded sensibilities. That was what filled the country. And the World.

How could I put into words the shock that I felt? that everyone felt? What could drive anyone to even think of doing what was done in broad daylight, probably knowing fully that the country and the whole world would take notice?

Intimidation by political warlords is still a reality in some parts of the Philippines. That's the naked truth. And apparently, some still believe that they can get away with murder---this time, mass murder---just like that.

Maguindanao massacre happened. There was no genius. There was no honor. There was no sanity. There was no humanity. There was just pure, brazen, evil. Satan himself was there. It was no act of a human being.

But I also see another naked truth. The forces of light is also working in this country. Warlordism and brazen intimidation are now being cast in the light, and the real colors of powerful people that roam this land comes out are laid bare.

As a Filipino who believes in God, I believe that this light will continue. We won't like everything we'll see as things are cast in the light. But the forces of the dark won't have much space to hide as we march through time.

I pray for the lives wasted that day. May their deaths serve as a reminder across generations how power corrupts human souls. May their deaths be a demonstration of how far avarice can go when left unchecked or worse, cuddled.

Lack of Volunteeers in DSWD Warehouses? Let's revisit the NSTP

2009-11-29T03:00:00.235+08:00

Relief goods in the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) allegedly gathered dust in four warehouses, one month after typhoon Ondoy. There was indignation about this in blogosphere lately.

The October 29, 2009 post entitled "Aanhin pa ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo" at ellaganda.com lambasted DSWD for alleged hoarding of relief goods in DSWD warehouses. Overzealous people in Facebook and eGroups circulated the link to this post.

But earlier, on October 26, 2009, DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral has already made a statement on these relief goods, admitting that the DSWD "warehouses are indeed full" but that this was . . .

"inspite of the fact that we have distributed 500,000 food packs and 200,000 clothing packs as well as thousands of sacks of rice, blankets, beddings, and items of personal hygiene in the past almost 4 weeks."

Let me say my piece.

Typhoons of severe intensities caused depressing kinds of tales in affected areas. On the positive side, these typhoons drew out heroism, time and again, from a society known for its high levels of volunteerism and people power.

To be a caretaker in the movement of goods that flow from the goodness of one's heart to the home of a distressed family is therefore a sacred duty worthy of all dedication and highest levels of expediency. One has to have love in his or her heart as well in order to be a caretaker worthy of everyone's trust.

Thus, when someone---the government's social welfare department in this case---appeared or was made to appear to fall short of the expectations on someone entrusted with huge amounts of relief goods, what result do you get?

You guessed it right. Indignation.

How sweet it was to be part of the accusing party, and how difficult it was to be the defendant. After all, the government---rather, the group of politicians that run it---had a tainted reputation, justifiably or not, when it came to handling relief goods, especially that election was forthcoming in less than a year.

Besides, Ella had pictures and a personal testimony to back up her point. It was a lethal post.

In Facebook, I read commentaries questioning the intentions of the government in dealing with typhoon victims, almost to the point of accusing the government of treason, of betraying its people for the personal gain of its officials.

But the statement of the DSWD Secretary sounded valid too. Nobody refuted the figures that despite the release of huge amounts of relief goods, the warehouses were still full. Should we lambast that department for not having enough manpower to move the goods from A to B?

That was the whole point of Ella's post.

What I felt compelled to recognize was the fact that DSWD was the steward of relief goods. It could not afford to let any Tom, Dick and Harry to get into the warehouses without proper clearances, for a clear reason --- security of the relief goods entrusted to them.

Another aspect of DSWD operations that I felt compelled to recognize was that it must dispatch the relief goods with prudence. Yes, prudence could indeed slow things down, especially when implemented in a bureaucracy. But was the risks of the alternative acceptable?

The third aspect of DSWD operations that I felt compelled to recognize was the fact that it was ran by human beings that were subject to fatigue, not robots. Human beings could be in a 24-hour watch for only so long. A month after, you would expect burn outs.

The government admitted that it was ill-prepared to handle disasters with the magnitude of Ondoy. Part of that can be accounted to lack of equipment. The other part could be accounted to lack of organic manpower. The third part was lack of public preparation.

I was most concerned with the third part, because this was where volunteers came into play.

There was a time when high school and college students were required to undergo military training. The Citizens Army Training was required for both sexes in high school. The Citizens Military Training was required only for males in college.

These military-oriented trainings were later "demilitarized" and simply referred to as the National Service Training Program with three components:

Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC)
Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS)
Literacy Training Service (LTS)

Starting 2002, the NSTP was required for both male and female students. These students were required to take two NSTP courses under the component of his/her choice.

I have a radical idea, something that can earn for me the ire of many students; but this is something our country desperately needs. This is the idea: make the NSTP a one year requirement to be undertaken full time before everyone is given his/her diploma.

Two countries that I know require their students to serve full time are Israel and Korea. Every citizen is required to serve the military for a year or two. France also requires their students to go through this too, but with an option to its top students to serve in a non-military way.

Why not require all citizens in the Philippines serve the country full time for a year or two? This way we get the manpower we need in times of calamities. We would also teach our students to love the country by actually sweating it out to help it.

We say, kawawa naman mga students natin! Well, we say that because we ourselves did not undergo full-time service the way I just suggested.

But looking beyond, if we implement this suggestion well, we would see a new generation of Filipinos who would debate on matters that they themselves experienced on the ground.

Mayors Who Damned San Roque Dam Were Joking, Right?

2009-11-22T03:00:00.000+08:00

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—Angry mayors Monday called for the decommissioning of the San Roque Dam, fearing its location near a fault line raised the possibility that it could collapse during an earthquake and wipe out Pangasinan province. (Source: Inquirer.Net)

Mayors of Pangasinan actually thought it was cool to damn the San Roque dam. As an ordinary citizen who studied land and water resources engineering in college, I could not help but wonder how the San Roque dam was built in the first place . . . if the mayors' claim was correct: that the dam was built on a fault line!

That wonderment led me to think that either the dam designers and reviewers eight years ago were joking, or the Pangasinan mayors just wanted to humor themselves and everyone else a few days ago.

Unless these mayors were engineers trained on how to design and build dams---and whose collective wisdom was largely ignored eight years ago---I could not see any reason why they would suddenly express opinions about matters outside of their technical expertise, and actually mean it.

That, to my knowledge, was simply not the nature of mayors in the Philippines, wasn't it?

To me the whole crackalacking controversy stemmed from the fact that the dam managers released water at the height of typhoon Peping, clearly to save the dam and the people downstream. But as it was, flood waters drowned people, houses and livelihoods.

Whether those flood waters all came from the dam or from other channels was, at best, debatable. Nonetheless, the resulting devastation was not acceptable, and I wouldn't dare to downplay that.

But what we should not also downplay was that the San Roque dam went through the approval processes of the national government agencies, the local governments, as well as the regional development councils. The damned multi-million dollar dam did not just suddenly appear out of nowhere. It went through the scrutiny of everyone that mattered in Pangasinan, the mayors included.

But then a few days ago the mayors seemed to claim that the San Roque dam went through despite the fault line?

Regardless of where you would look at it, you'd be greatly amazed by our society's sense of humor, wouldn't you?

Morning Prayer of a Metrorail Transit Rider from Cubao, Quezon City

2009-11-15T03:00:00.059+08:00

I have much more respect now for Metrorail Transit riders from Quezon City to Makati City. After several rides myself at 8 or 9 in the morning, I have experienced for myself the ordeal each one goes through. Take this trip that I made for example . . .

7:30am - left home to Cubao station on a jeepney
7:50am - arrived at the Cubao Metrorail Transit station, saw that the south-bound platform was jampacked, saw that after two or three trains there was no obvious dent on the number of people on the platform
8:00am - decided to come down the platform and run to the other side to take the train going to the opposite direction; that is, to North EDSA Metrorail Transit station

8:25am - back at Cubao station on board a south-bound train from the North EDSA station (it took 25 minutes to take a train to North EDSA, alight, run to the other side, flow with the crowd inching towards the platform, and, hop in and get a ride to the south up to Cubao station). This is 35 minutes after I arrived in Cubao station earlier. I have experienced waiting in line for 40 minutes. So I saved 5 minutes.
8:45am - arrived at Buendia Metrorail Transit station, standing all the way and almost not needing to hold on to the rails because the crowd that pressed on me supported my balance already
8:47am - arrived at jeepney station after a 2-minute walk form the Buendia Metrorail Transit station (that was fast, eh?)
8:53am - finally got on board a jeepney after lining up for six minutes
9:07am - alighted from the jeepney and went in the building
9:11am - arrived at the office after an elevator ride

So, how much time did it take to get to the office? A cool 101 minutes, inclusive of detours and long waits. I think it still would have taken longer by car.

That is why I believe this is the prayer in the heart of each Metrorail Transit rider every morning:

strength of mind and body, lots and lots of it
patience, lots of patience now, now, now!
thrice as many trains in the morning, at 5-min interval
air-conditioned platform
an empty arriving train
a full train that doesn't mind stopping at this station
express trains that stop only at Cubao, Shaw, Buendia & Ayala
passengers who give way to alighting passengers
passengers who care for the life and limb of others in the platform
most importantly, the will to be at the station half an hour earlier each day

Still there are lots of things to be thankful about:

passengers who line up properly at the ticket counter and gates
smooth ride, far in contrast with stop and go anytime buses and jeepneys
swift ride past the procession of buses and cars below
cool ride inside air-conditioned couches
courteous train operators
ladies and elderly who use the coach reserved for them

Hmmm, overall, there is still much to be thankful about Metrorail Transit around us.

Metro Manila City Train Blues

2009-11-08T03:00:00.002+08:00

Getting a south-bound Metrorail Transit (MRT) ride at 8am in the morning in Cubao seems to require both brains and brawns, doesn't it?

The crows of humanity at the MRT platform in Cubao. I risked my life to take this photo.

I reminisce the time when the MRT was so new. At that time almost everyone resisted it one way or the other. Riding the MRT then was as easy as drinking a cup of coffee. All you had to do was walk (and climb, which was the only hard part) to the station, buy a ticket, wait for the train and walk in!

In fact my wife and I were there the first day they opened the MRT to the public. The rides were FREE for a few days. After two years of suffering on the ground (traffic was horrible as they constructed the train), finally the entire two-hour harrowing procession of buses and cars on the ground below was reduced to a 24 minute sweet ride on the MRT Track from end-to-end, inclusive of stops!

It was experiencing the swift ride for the first time in years that was the source of great ecstacy, and that ecstacy lasted for months! Hallelujah!

That was then.

The pushing and the shoving at the MRT station is now part of the Metro Manila lifestyle.

Now, the swift ride is still there, but it's the waiting time at the platform, the pushing and shoving once the train arrives and the crowd inside that really test your wits. Now I have greater respect for tuna fish in sardine cans. But then all that in fact are just the easy parts!

The toughest parts of the experience are the excitement of seeing a new train arrive, and then the depression the next second of seeing the train full to the brim, and the loneliness as you see the train leave without you. Repeat that ten times in a row and then you get the idea of what the words "emotional roller coaster" mean.

By the time you get to Makati, a half day's energy is gone and you spend the rest of the day with what's left :) Some can tell you be grateful you still have some left!

Well, it doesn't have to be that way.

Thanks to all the self-mastery seminars and workshops I went to. I'm responsible for what I feel, not the train and the pushing and shoving. I take control of that by managing my thoughts.

This is not Jedi stuff. This is real everyday thing.

I think of funny and exciting things. Like, these guys are here because they don't want to be late for work in the companies that I own. Oh, that's exciting. That makes the pushing and the shoving more bearable.

Or, I tell myself to fully experience the blues so that I can effectively relate with a hundred thousand people who pay a fortune to hear me speak about how warm and loving Filipinos are, and how everyone will benefit by contributing a peso a day to buy more trains.

This is not escapism. This is about fully experiencing the moment, deciding which things you cannot control, deciding which ones you can and then deciding that all these won't matter in five years if you choose to.

A Tale of Heroism During Typhoon Ondoy

2009-11-01T22:00:00.005+08:00

Heroism thrives in the country. That's what Typhoon Ondoy taught me. Yes they say that in the newspapers, TV and Facebook.

But I also heard it from first hand stories of people whom I know personally.   One of them is from an lady army sergeant, a member of the Women's Auxiliary Corps of the Philippine Army, who wishes that I don't mention her name.

Let's call her Wilma, the woman in the army. She's single and the only daughter of a widow. In short, she only has her mother for her family.
After the Saturday formation on September 26, 2009, rain was unceasing and floods were everywhere. Wilma called her cousin who was living with them. The cousin told her that she went out to buy a phone load but couldn't get back to the house because of the rising floods.

The cousin also saw that the floods reached the roof of houses already. Then the phone signal went out and Wilma couldn't reach her cousin anymore.

That alarmed Wilma. She knew her old mother very well. It was unlikely for her to leave the house even with the intensity of the flood.

Wilma immediately changed clothes and headed out of the camp. At this time, flood at portion near the was waist level already. Incidentally, her commander saw her and asked, "where are you going?"   She explained to her commander the situation at home.

But the commander said, "You can't go home. We have a job to do." Her unit was tasked to help in coordinating rescue efforts in flooded areas.

Being a military personnel Wilma was trained to obey orders and to put service to country above her own family . . . even if the only family she has may already be drowning back home.   Her heart was bleeding. But, with military discipline and dedication, she focused on her job as she would in a war.

Flood water also started to enter Wilma's office in the camp. Upon instruction of her commander, she moved the communication center to higher ground and called up other offices to inform them of the move.   She then began receiving desperate calls requesting rescuers to proceed to Cainta.

It was not an easy task. At that the rescuers were concentrated in Marikina. To start moving some of them to Cainta meant greater burden to the already overwhelmed rescue operation in Marikina. Secondly, it was risky for rescuers themselves to start moving to Cainta.

An officer in the office of a House Representative called Wilma seven times in a row to pressure her into contacting teams to Cainta, but there really was none to spare. Government resources were overwhelmed at this time. This officer even resorted to threatening remarks.

Wilma just had to bite the bullet and endure the verbal abuses on the phone, especially from that officer from a Congressman's office, even as she herself had to endure at the thought of her own mother.

The question actually crossed Wilma's mind, why was she helping other people save their lives while she couldn't save her own mother. There was no word from her mother and that created currents of fear running down her spine. She was in tears the whole time.

As the phones continued to ring, Wilma stood up and, under the suprised look of her commander and colleagues, she went to the comfort room, closed her eyes and told herself repeatedly, "As I serve other families so shall others help my mother. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this."

She felt a surge of courage and peace and managed to smile as she quickly went back to work.   I think moments like that make heroes out of anyone. Some choose to just crumble. Some choose to rise up and face the challenge squarely.

As Wilma struggled to perform her duties in the camp, mud-filled water was rushing inside her home in San Mateo, Rizal. As Wilma already knew, her mother refused to leave their home. Wilma's cousin was not there. Her mother was all alone at home to deal with the floods.

Water was already touching her mother's nose when neighbors came to check out on her. She had to jump to get some air, while holding in her hands Babe's firearm.   The neighbors pulled her mother out of the house and brought her to the safety of a two-storey house nearby.

Wilma prayed for someone to rescue her own mother. But she had no idea what actually happened to her mother.

Wilma's commander allowed her to leave the camp at 5am the next day, Sunday. It was an agonizing trip along traffic-jammed streets on the way back to San Mateo, Rizal. Agonizing, not because of the traffic, but because of not knowing what's waiting for her back home.

The joy of seeing her mother safe and secure was boundless. Meantime, their house was a complete mud-filled mess. Outside of four sacks of muddy clothes there wasn't anything else to gather and reuse.

The moment Wilma saw her devastated house, she had no tears to shed. Her mother survived the flood. That was the most important thing that mattered to her. She realized very clearly that material things could disappear in minutes. Her mother was much more important. She could only be grateful.

They decided right there to abandon the house. Wilma brought her mother to the WAC barracks, back in the camp. She was safe there, but the trauma didn't leave her. When there is rain, she would hide under the bed, trembling.

Why was Wilma a hero?
It was because of her allegiance to her sworn duties even at great personal cost. It was because of her will to rise beyond her own bleeding heart to help other people deal with their adversity.

We say, cool! But weren't soldiers expected to do that?

Yes they were expected to.   But in times of adversity affecting the whole country, weren't we all expected to? Who among us rose to make a difference?

Heroes rise to make a difference, that others may emulate them.

- - -

P.S. As of this writing Wilma's mother is still staying in the WAC Barracks. A group of friends is now organizing a debriefing for Babe's mother to help her overcome her trauma. Furthermore, Wilma is in the process of acquiring a new house far away from flood prone areas.

P.S. There were other heroes during typhoon Ondoy. Among them were the rescuers themselves, many of whom didn't eat anything for 24 hours straight, according to Wilma. You would wonder who they did it. Yeah, they were trained for eventualities like that. But didn't they deserve public praise? The country owed them a debt of gratitude. Our hands should be clapping.

Buses and Tricycles Don't Make A Good Mix in Metro Manila Traffic

2009-10-25T22:00:00.033+08:00

Traffic jam in Metro Manila on a Sunday? This happened around 11am on October 18, 2009 at E. Rodriguez Avenue, approximate in front of Saint Joseph.

It turned out that a provincial bus was stuck with a tricycle that hit its rear.

Whew! Was it fair for a bus full of passengers to stop in the middle of E. Rodriguez Ave., a major highway in Metro Manila, because the bus driver had to deal with a tricycle driver which hit the rear of his bus?

I have difficulty looking at this situation as reasonable. In fact I found it absurd! Forgive the word.   
Why? 

I didn't find the presence of tricycles in E. Rodriguez as reasonable. Were they allowed to ply that route in the first place? Buses and tricycles don't make a safe mix, for the passengers's sake.

So, this was a question of traffic policy.

It was Sunday. I didn't find it reasonable for the tricycle to tailgate the bus. Or why did he hit the rear of the bus in the first place? How difficult was it to halt a tricycle?

So, this was a question of road discipline.

I didn't know if issues like this will continue to persist by the time my six-year old son becomes a father himself. Gosh, can it really take that long for this country to learn anything?

Sorry for my display of pessimism. It's not worth emulating. I stand corrected.

Alright, I pray some policy maker gets to read this blog and do something productive about it.

Rantings of a Desperate Taxi Rider in Makati

2009-10-18T21:49:00.002+08:00

Flagging a taxi in Makati on a rainy night is a nightmare. I think it is every taxi rider's nightmare. Be forewarned.

On the evening of Sept 28, 2009 (the one before Ondoy struck the country), we flagged six or seven taxis in a row. It was a rainy night then. They all refused to let us in. One said he was "on his way to Cavite." Another said he was "on his way to Pasay." Still another was "on his way to Parañaque," etc.

Taxis were public utility vehicles without fixed routes, but they sounded like they had routes that night. And Quezon City, to them, was like a place on the far side of the moon, way out of their routes. Gosh, I thought and felt that was absurd.

I decided to have some fun with them after being refused a number of times. When I flagged the next taxi, my question was, "Saan po ang rota nyo?" ("What's your route sir?") One actually had the nerve to say, "Parañaque po!"

It felt good to be the one to refuse the taxi rather than him refusing me. I told him, "Ah sige, iba po pupuntahan ko. Umalis na po kayo" then turned my back. It really felt good!

I got this feeling that taxi drivers felt elated every time they refused a passenger a ride during times when passengers desperately needed a ride. After all, passengers refused to ride with them when the sun was up and the weather was fine. When it rained, it was the time for taxi drivers to get back.

They felt they could choose which destination they wanted to go, and the passengers couldn't do anything about it.

What I finally did was find my way to a bus. Because of traffic along EDSA, I felt taking a taxi won't make much difference. Besides, taxi drivers would tend to blame you for the traffic anyway. They would make you feel like that traffic jam was your fault. Worse, they would make you feel like you were indebted to them for giving you a ride.

My advice to everyone is, on a rainy evening, decide outright to take a bus. Don't even think of flagging a taxi at least once. Don't give them that pleasure of refusing you a ride to where you want to go.

You work hard all day, you deserve some courtesy. I still have to see a taxi driver who would let you ride with a smile without questions on a rainy night in Makati.

Was the Impact of Typhoon Ondoy an "Act of God" too?

2009-10-03T03:00:00.060+08:00

Ondoy came and went, with catastrophy in its wake. Clearly the typhoon itself was an "act of God." But were the damages unpreventable? Not so, says Urban planner and architect Felino Palafox Jr.

Palafox said a 1977 World Bank-funded study identified Marikina Valley, the western shores of Laguna de Bay, and the Manila Bay coastal area as among development areas that should prepare for flooding, earthquakes and possible changes in topography. (Source: Yahoo! News Philippines)

Such remark was hard to swallow, given the magnitude of heroism displayed by people to save lives of loved ones and to deliver relief goods to those whose lives were ravaged by the flood. In the light of what could have been done in the last 50 years, were those damages, sufferings, and heroisms totally unnecessary then?

Palafox said further ...

"We are always reacting to crisis. It bothered me when I saw these reports and pictures and people are saying it's an act of God. It's not. It's us not following the plans and proposals. If you are an urban planner, an environmental planner, these have been planned as early as 1905," he said. (Source: Yahoo! News Philippines)

Such remark gives you the impression of an incompetent bureaucracy, totally lacking in foresight and leaving peoples lives to the "mercy of God."

I do not see God as lacking in mercy. I only see planners who, in the last 25 to 50 years, had other things filling up their minds. What could have filled up their minds during all those times?

If indeed areas have already been identified as flood and earthquake prone, then such information should be made openly public, not just in the archives of an office in the hands of tired, underpaid and grouchy custodians.

Putting that in public, say in the internet, may create immediate panic in the real estate business, yes. But is exposing the lives of a million people to risk a better alternative to our decision makers?

Typhoon Ondoy: A "Thief in the Night" in Broad Daylight

2009-09-30T17:14:00.005+08:00

The fury of typhoon Ondoy came like a "thief in the night" in broad daylight. How else can I describe the emotion that goes with what "Ondoy" means to Filipinos these days?

The video above was taken at the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay (UERM) Medical Center during typhoon Ondoy. This is the first time in my life to see such number of cars floating on the water, swept from where they were parked.

The video above was taken by a lady apparently from the second floor of their residence in Marikina during typhoon Ondoy last Saturday. You can sense the fear in the lady's voice. There were hundreds of thousands of them who said the same prayer that this lady said that afternoon.

Other houses in Marikina came under 15 feet of water. Except for the structure of their homes, many lost the rest to the typhoon Ondoy's waters.

The video above was my own contribution to the YouTube videos about typhoon Ondoy. I recorded it from a spot not far from where I live. The street right in front of our home was fine, but it's the portion of that same road intersecting with Kalantiaw that had a different story.

We had a friend along Kalantiaw Street whose home went under waist deep of water during typhoon Ondoy. We accommodated his whole family in our own home. The whole family came to us, dripping wet, with a single plastic bag of dry clothes. It was heart-breaking. Hosting them in our home was our little contribution to the relief efforts.

I salute the people who are contributing to a much large relief operation, in terms of time, energy and resources. Some of them are having a few hours of sleep these past few days. I am humbled by their dedication. I salute them.

There were also friends who used the internet to generate donations for the typhoon Ondoy victims. Just this morning, my Facebook feeds and emails were almost about generating support for the typhoon Ondoy victims.

The strength of the Filipinos' resolve to help the victims of typhoon is matching the rage of typhoon Ondoy itself. It is heart-warming. It is also humbling.

I extracted the picture above from Philstar.com about the aftermath of typhoon Ondoy. From where I stay in Quezon City, I can see and hear the military choppers going to and from Marikina and Rizal. Camp Aguinaldo is a short walk from here. The picture above shows what happens everytime they land.

It is sad enough to see people being soaked by neck-deep waters, roof tops seemingly in the middle of a wide river of water and cars being swept away like toys from the videos of typhoon Ondoy.

It is sadder still to hear the names of friends who are in the middle of such waters, who lost everything in their homes except the structure and whose vehicles were either swept or destroyed by typhoon Ondoy. We're able to help one. But there were more of them out there.

All we could do during typhoon Ondoy was to be thankful that my home and family were fine. I was thankful not just for myself but for my mother and siblings out there who called me up to find out how I'm doing. It felt like a privilege to tell them that everything was fine with their baby brother and they had nothing to worry about.

Indeed life is a privilege from above, and all we can really do as mortals---even as we struggle to live a great life according to our own definitions---is to be grateful.

Homily of Father Arevalo at the Requiem Mass for Cory Aquino

2009-08-11T21:14:00.003+08:00

I remember watching Father Catalino Arevalo that morning in August 5, 2009 on TV as he delivered the homily for the Requiem Mass of the late President Corazon Aquino. Fortunately for all of us, we can revisit the video of Father Arevalo's homily again, thanks to GMA7.

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I am fortunate to have received a copy of the full text of Father Arevalo's homily. The full text came from the Jesuits themselves, through the daily mails I receive as an alumni of Xavier University High School (formerly Ateneo de Cagayan).

Some may prefer to read the text instead. Let me share the text with you as follows (all emphases mine):

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If I may first ask pardon for what might be an unseemly introduction. In the last days of President Cory’s illness, when it seemed inevitable that the end would come, the assignment to give this homily was given to me by Ms Kris Aquino, in fact, she reminded me that many times and publicly, her mother had said she was asking me to preach at her funeral Mass. Always I told her I was years older, and would go ahead of her, but she would just smile at this. Those who knew Tita Cory knew that when she had made up her mind, she had made up her mind.

What then is my task this morning? I know for certain that if liturgical rules were not what they are, she would have asked Congressman Ted Locsin to be here in my place. No one has it in him to speak as fittingly of Cory Aquino in the manner and measure of tribute she uniquely deserves, no one else as he. Asked in an interview she said that the address before the two Houses of Congress at Washington she considered perhaps the supreme shining moment of her life. We know who helped her with those words with which she conquered America. These last few days, too, every gifted writer in the press and other media has written on her person and political history, analyzed almost every side of her life and achievement as our own icon of democracy. More powerfully even, images of her and of EDSA UNO have filled hour after hour of TV time. Really, what else is left to be said?

So, Tita Cory, you’ll forgive me if I don’t even try to give a shadow of the great oration that should be given here this morning. Let me instead try to say some things the people who persevered for hours on end in the serried lines at Ortigas or here in Intramuros can (I hope) more easily follow. This is a lowly tribute at one with the old sneakers and clothes made tighter by age, soaked by water and much worse for wear of the men, women and children who braved the rain and the sun because they wanted to tell you, even for a brief and hurried moment, how much they love you. You truly now belong among the immortals. But these words are for those mortals who with bruised hearts have lost the mother of a people. Maybe less elegantly than the seminarian said to me Monday, they would like to say also: She was the only true queen our people have ever had, and she was queen because we knew she truly held our hearts in the greatness and the gentleness of her own.

One of my teachers used to tell us that if we really wanted to know and understand a position held, we would have to learn it from someone fully committed to it. Just as only one who genuinely loves a person, really knows him or her also. So to begin with, I turned to three real experts on Cory; to ask them where for them the true greatness of Cory Aquino lay. My first source thought it was in her selflessness, seen above all in her love of country - surely above self; yes, even above family. Her self-giving, then, for us; what she had received, all became gift for us. The second, thought it was in her faith her greatness lay, in her total trust in God which was also her greatest strength. And the third said it was in her courage and the unshakable loyalty that went with it. It was a strength others could lean on; it never wavered; it never broke. . . . . . Cory’s selflessness and self-giving; her faith (the Holy Father just called it unwavering; her courage, her strength. -- May I use this short list to frame what I will say? O, let me name my experts now, if I may. They were three, all of them women close to her: Maria Elena Aquino Cruz, whom we know as Ballsy, Maria Aurora Aquino Abellada, Pinky to her friends; and Victoria Elisa Aquino Dee, Viel to the family. Kris and Noynoy are the public figures; they can speak for themselves. I hope they will forgive me that I did not ask.

First, then, her generous selflessness. For us this morning what is surely most to the point is her love of country. When her final illness was upon her already, she said, -- most recently at the Greenmeadows chapel (her last public words, I think) --that she was offering her suffering, first to God, then for our people. I heard that grandson Jiggy asked her why first for country and people, and she said that always the priority line-up was God, our country and our people, and then family. On radio, the other night, the commentator asked an old woman in line why she stood hours in the rain to get into La Salle. Ito lang ang maibibigay ko po sa kanya, bilang pasasalamat. Bakit, ano ba ang ibinigay ni Cory sa inyo? Di po ba ang buhay nya? Ang buong sarila nya? At di po ba ang pagasa? Kaya mahal na mahal po namin siya. Early on, on TV, they ran many times the clip from a last interview. She says, I thank God, and then all of you, for making me a Filipino, for making me one of you. I cherish this as one of the truly great gifts I have received. A few weeks from her death, she could say that; without put-on or the least insincerity. I thank you, for making me one of you…

Her selflessness, her self-gift. Pope Benedict likes to say that the God whom Jesus Christ revealed to us, is Father. A Father who is wholly self-gift; the God whose nature is to give Himself “to give Himself to us, in His Son”. And, the Pope says, that is what is the meaning of Jesus and the life of Jesus, and, by discipleship, what the Christian’s life is meant to be. We Christians too, we must give ourselves away in the self-giving of love. Ang buhay po nya at sarili. Kaya po mahal na mahal namin sya. In the last days, when finally and reluctantly still she admitted she had much pain, I kept thinking that only a couple of weeks before, for the first time publicly, she said that she was offering it up first of all for us.

Secondly, her faith. Pinky says, it was her mother’s greatest strength; it was what was deepest in her. Her faith was her bedrock, and it was, bedrock . Frederick Buechner the ordained minister and novelist likes to say that through his lifetime, he’s had many doubts, even deep doubt, daily doubts. But I have never really looked down into the deep abyss and seen only nothing. Somehow I have known, that underneath all the shadows and the darkness, there are the everlasting arms. I think Cory’s faith was like that, not in the multiplicity of doubts (even if. in a life so filled with trial, there surely were doubts too), but in the certainty of the everlasting arms. More than once she told me, “Every time life painted me into a corner, with seemingly no escape, I always turned to Him in trust. I knew He would never abandon us if we trusted in Him. And you know, somehow, He found a way out for us.” And so Pinky says, “Mom was always calm even in the most trying times. She trusted God would always be there for us, She was our source of strength. She made this world seem so much safer and less cruel for us. And now that our source of strength is gone, we have to make our faith something more like hers. But we know in our hearts that in every storm she will watch over us from heaven.”

Within this faith was her devotion to Mary, the place Our Lady of Fatima and the rosary held in her life. All we can say on this, this morning is that Our Lady truly had a special, living presence in her life: Mary was, for Cory, true mother and incomparable friend; as we say in the hymn, - vita, dulcedo et spes, - life, sweetness and hope. No, Mary was not the center of her faith, but its air, its atmosphere; and the rosary, her lifeline through every trial and crisis. In the long harsh months of her illness, Sister Lucia’s beads almost never left her hands. She was holding them, as last Saturday was dawning and her years of exile were at last done, when we know her Lady showed unto her, the blessed fruit of her womb.”

Lastly. Her courage, her strength. Her children tell us that their father was only able to do what he wanted to do, because her loyalty and her support for his purposes was total, so she practically raised them up as a single parent. Ninoy himself wrote, again and again, that he endured imprisonment and persecution, leaning so much on her courage and love. And after his death, when she could have withdrawn in a way safely, to her own life with her children at last, she stayed on her feet and fought on in the years that followed, through the snap elections and what went before and after them, through her presidency and the seven coup attempts which tried to bring her down. Even after she had given up her rule, could she not have said enough, and we would all have understood? But with not the least desire for position or power again, whenever she thought the spaces of freedom and the true good of our land were threatened, she went back to the streets of struggle again. Once again she led us out of the apathy we so readily fall into; once again she called us out of our comfort zones to the roads of sacrifice.

Here, even hesitantly, may I add one trait, one virtue, -- to those her daughters have named? One day Cardinal Stephen Kim of South Korea asked if he might visit her. Through Ballsy, she said Yes. It was a day Malacanang was closed; they were making up the roster of members of the forthcoming Constitutional Convention. Someone from the palace staff ordered us turned away when we came; it was Ballsy who rescued us. Stephen Kim, hero and saint to his own people,--perhaps, along with Cardinal Sin, one the two greatest Asian Catholic prelates of our time,-- spent some 45 minutes talking with her. When we were on our way back, he said, I know why the Lord has entrusted her with power, at this most difficult time. It is because she is pure of heart. She has no desire for power; even now it is with reluctance she takes it on. And she has done this only because she wants to do whatever she can for your people. He said, she truly moves me by the purity of her spirit. God has given a great gift to your people.

With this purity of heart, in the scheme of the Christian Gospel, there is joined another reality which really, only the saints understand. It is suffering. How often (it is really often; over and over through the years) she spoke of suffering as part of her life. Much contemporary spirituality speaks of suffering almost as the epitome of all evil. But in fact for all the saints, it is a mystery they themselves do not really understand nor really explain, Yet they accept it quietly, simply as part of their lives in Christ. There is only one painting she ever gave me. Kris said then, when her mom gave it to me, that it was her mom’s favorite. The painting carries 1998 as its date; Cory named it “Crosses and roses”. There are seven crosses for the seven months and seven weeks of her beloved Ninoy’s imprisonment, and for the seven attempted coups during her presidency, and many roses, multi-colored roses all around them. At the back of the painting, in her own hand, she wrote a haiku of her own: “Crosses and roses/ make my life more meaningful. I cannot complain.” Often she spoke of her quota of suffering. When she spoke of her last illness, she said: I thought I had filled up my quota of suffering, but it seems there is no quota. I look at Jesus, who was wholly sinless: how much suffering he had to bear for our sakes. And in her last public talk (it was at Greenmeadows chapel), the first time she spoke of her own pain: I have not asked for it, but if it is meant to be part of my life still, so be it. I will not complain. I try to join it with Jesus’ pain and offering. For what it’s worth, I am offering it up for our people. Friends here present, I tell you honestly I hesitated before going into this, this morning. But without it, part of the real Cory Aquino would be kept from view. Quite simply, this was integral to the love she bore for her people.

At this point, may I, following the lead Mr Rapa Lopa has given, just speak a word of thanks to President Cory’s children, who shared so much of her service and her sacrifice. They have almost never had their father and mother for themselves. For so many years, they have been asked to share Ninoy and Cory with all of us. And because of the blood and the spirit their parents have passed on to them, they too gave with generosity and grace the sacrifices we demanded of them. “Ballsy and Pinky, Viel and Kris, your husbands and your children, and Senator Noynoy, may we thank you this morning from all our hearts, and may we offer also the gratitude of the hearts of a people now forever in your debt.

In have used up all my time, some of you will say, and I have not even approached the essential: her political life, that she was our nation’s unique icon of democracy, that Cory Aquino who, throughout the world. was TIME magazine’s 1986’s woman of the year, she who led the ending of the dictatorship that had ruined our nation, the bearer of liberation, of freedom, and of hope for a prostrate people. So, by your leave, may I add one item, along this line at last. In October 1995, Milano’s Catholic University, conferred on her the doctorate honoris causa in the political sciences (incidentally, only her twenty-third honorary degree). This was only the fifth time this particular one had been given since the university’s inception: the first time to an Asian, the first ever to a woman. She wanted, at the end of her lectio magistralis, to spell out, perhaps for the first time with some explicitness and completeness, her personal political creed. She listed seven basic beliefs which, regarding political life, she said she tried to live by. Then she spoke of one more, one more I may not omit. Perhaps the paragraph which followed is worth citing here, even without comment, because it has something to say to our present hour.

(We cite her words now.) I believe that the vocation of politics must be accepted by those who take up the service of leadership as a vocation in its noblest meaning: it demands all of life. For the life of one who would lead his or her people, -- in our time as never before, -- such a life must strive for coherence with the vision aspired to, or else that vision itself and its realization are already betrayed. That vision must itself be present, in some authentic way, in those who seek to realize it: present, in the witness of their example; present, in a purity of heart vis-à-vis the exercise and usages of power; present, in an ultimate fidelity to principle, in a dedication that is ready to count the cost in terms of nothing less than everything. It is Cardinal Newman, I believe, who said that in this world, we do good only in the measure that we pay for it in the currency of our own lives. For us Christians, there is always the image of Jesus, and the price his service demanded of him. And for me there has been, as a constant reminder, the sacrifice my husband offered, and the word that it has spoken, to me and my people. (Cory Aquino, end of citation)

Conclusion

With all this said, I am done. Ma’am, tapos na po ang assignment ko. It has been so hard to do what you asked. But I comfort myself that these so many words really do not matter. What counts in the end is really “what all this week has been; these past few days’ outpouring of our people’s gratitude and love; what will come after all this today; what we will do, in the times ahead, in fidelity to your gift. I received a text last night from a man of some age and with some history behind him. She made me proud again, to be Filipino. Maybe that says it all., Cardinal Sin used to put it somewhat differently. What a gift God has given our people, in giving Cory Aquino to us. The nobility and courage of your spirit, the generosity of your heart, the grace and graciousness that accompanied you always. They called it Cory magic “but it was the truth, and the purity and beauty, clear and radiant within you, that we saw. And the hope that arose from that. And when the crosses came to you and you did not refuse to bear them, more to be one with your Christ and one with your people and their pain. Blessed are the pure of heart; for they shall see God.

Thank you Father in heaven, for your gift to us of Cory Aquino. Thank you that she passed once this way through our lives with the grace you gave her to share with us. If we give her back to you, we do it with hearts of thanksgiving, but now, oh, with breaking hearts also, because of the greatness and beauty of the gift which she was for us, the likes of which, perhaps, we shall not know again. Salamat po, Tita Cory, mahal na mahal po namin kayo.

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I was close to tears as I listened to Father Arevalo. May this homily be an inspiration for us all.

Let's Honor Madam President Cory Aquino through the 500 Peso Bill

2009-08-09T21:14:00.002+08:00

It was a pleasant surprise to see from an artist's website a proposed P500 Bill featuring the face of Cory Aquino side by side with Ninoy Aquino. I thought, TERRIFIC IDEA!

Proposed P500 Bill, from www.peaceloveandrevolution.com

I am excited all the more because the authorities are now taking a serious look at this idea. Check out www.peaceloveandrevolution.com for the collection of news items regarding this.

My only take on this matter is that I would wish Ninoy's face to be smiling this time. While I am completely gung-ho about Cory being there, using the same face of Ninoy as the old one does not make a good mix.

Take another look at the image above. Would it be right for Ninoy to still look furlorn, now that Cory is at her side, together forever? No, it doesn't look right.

A blogger pointed this out as early as 2007.

The smiling Ninoy, courtesy of philmoney.blogspot.com

It's time to give this concern some serious consideration. Filipinos are a very smiling people. Today, there's no reason why Ninoy shouldn't be smiling.

Let's have a happy Ninoy in the bill. I searched the net, and we DO have images of a smiling Ninoy...

A smiling Ninoy Aquino, courtesy of ninoyaquino.50webs.com

Bust of smiling Ninoy Aquino at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife in Quezon City, photo by lakwatseraako.blogspot.com

Ninoy and Cory Aquino in the Envisioned 500-Peso Bill. Don't they look good together? Won't you want such bill in your wallet?

Ninoy and Cory Aquino are examples of heroic citizens. The sacrifices they made are something I wouldn't wish on my friends and enemies alike.

I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to be denied union with wife and kids at the time of his incarceration, all that for an ideal called democracy?

But what we now have is a democracy, thanks in great part to Ninoy. We're still poor you may say, but shall we really trade democracy with immediate prosperity? No, I think we want democracy more than immediate gratification. Soon we'll have money.

But we are already rich.

Farewell Madam President Corazon "Cory" Aquino

2009-08-05T21:14:00.001+08:00

Today I say Farewell to President Corazon "Cory" Aquino.

I remember Cory Aquino well in the struggle to oust former President Ferdinand Marcos and restore democracy in the Philippines. I was a freshman in U.P. Diliman when an important page in the history of the Philippines unfolded.

As a 17-year old that time, I went to join the millions of people in EDSA and join the "unarmed forces" loyal to Cory Aquino without the knowledge of my parents who were in Mindanao. I thought nothing of the risk. There was a voice inside me that said we were in good hands.

I saw Madam President Corazon Aquino as the leader of the country that time. I saw Madam "Cory" Aquino as the leader of the "unarmed forces" at the forefront of the battle. The least I could do was follow her closely in the battle field, locking arms with the rest of my compatriots.

Around my third year in college, Cory Aquino was perhaps the only President in the Philippines with the most number of attempted coup d'etat. Yet she held her ground. (A popular media personality was charged with libel for saying Cory hid under the bed.)

Years after her term was over, Cory Aquino continued to be a source of inspiration and enlightenment for the country. Her influence never wavered.

Cory Aquino still IS a leader of the country. To be a leader is within the person, not on the title nor authority. To be a leader is even beyond life itself.

How do I honor you, Madam President? How do I tell your story to my son and daughter?

I remember you most for being there when the country was about to be torn badly apart in the year 1986. You were the glue that held the country together. For that I honor you.

I remember you for being the strong woman behind the man, Benigno Aquino, the country's foremost statesman in recent history, and the "President who never was" as one placard stated. For that I honor you.

I remember you for your faith in God. For that I honor you.

I remember you for being the mother of the country's democracy in its most critical moment of infancy. For that I honor you.

May you rest in peace, Madam President.

P.S. #1 Today, I'm watching on TV the funeral mass of the Madam President Cory Aquino. I don't usually watch TV. But this is the least I can do to share with the rest of my compatriots our collective sadness for the loss of a precious heroine.
P.S. #2. I am absolutely certain that Benigno Aquino is proudly meeting Cory Aquino at the gates of heaven at this very moment.

P.S. #3. It must have been tough being children of Benigno and Cory Aquino. For that I honor their children as well, for sharing their parents with us.

Let's Build Peace We Can All Own

2008-09-03T18:49:00.003+08:00

I salute GMA's recent directive to have "thorough review" of all peace initiatives.

Indeed, I subscribe to the directive that a thorough review of all peace initiatives are in order. We have had peace panels for so long now, but what have we really gained so far?

This is not to say the peace panels are not doing their jobs. Far from it. In fact, the Social Reform Agenda launched by former President Fidel V. Ramos during his term from 1992 to 1998 was the result of the peace process.

But that was then. It's 2008 and at the rate things go at present, we can end up dismembering the country. Giving in too much to MILF for instance will infuriate the Lumads, who may end up carving their own territory in Mindanao. Why indeed were they not part of the negotiating table to craft the MOA AD?

Then what about the Christians in the eastern side who vouch for an independent Federal Republic of Mindanao? Do we think they would just sit down and watch?

It's time to do a reality check and retreat a little bit. These are shaky times. A lot of people do not want to make a choice outside of Peace, me included.

But let it be a Peace we all can own.

We're so, so, so young!

2008-09-02T18:55:00.003+08:00

I cannot help but realize that we're a very young independent nation, this Philippines that we claim our own.

June 12, 1898. Was this really the day we became a nation? All you have to do is go to the Ayala Museum (see my earlier post) and see the beautiful dioramas there, and somehow you just get the feel of the continuous stream of events that transpired since 1898. You will realize that we have never really been an independent nation then.

No, we have not been. Even Emilio Aguinaldo has admitted that it was "snatched" from us. The year 1898 was a terrible year for us. It was the year we declared Independence from Spain, it was the year Spain sold us to the Americans, and it was the year the Americans took over us as colonizers. The independence movement was practically nipped in the bud.

No, I don't think we were an independent nation by then, much less a nation. The dream of nationhood was there, but were we a nation indeed? We did not have a common language outside of Spanish, which were taught only to the elite. We did not have our own government. We did not have our own centralized army that controlled the archipelago. We were not even Filipinos then. We were Indios.

July 4, 1946. This has been the day when we really began self-rule, and even that is debatable. But granted, how old are we as an independent nation? Right, 62 years old! That may be "old" for a man, but for a nation?

Take out 20 years out of the 62 years, the time when one man ruled our country as dictator, and during which time many national leaders, young or old, were either subdued or killed. So that leaves us with how many years? Yes, 42 years to build a nation.

If we forfeit the years prior to the one-man rule, because 20 years has been a very very long time! No old guards have survived and the young and idealistic ones have been suppressed. That leaves us with how many years to build a nation? You must be a genius, yes, we've got 22 years.

Some would want take out ten years more to account for the years GMA has reigned, but I won't go there. I'm sticking to 22 years. She's the President we've got and let's learn the art of accepting the outcome of our collective will. Yes, we elected here there. Didn't you know? Oh! now you know. Congratulations.

I'm 39 years old. How about you? Gosh, our country at 22 years is so, so, so young!

Think about it.

Sometimes we have too much expectations of ourselves and if we don't tame our expectations a bit, our resentments can do us more harm than good, during the delicate period of our country's "birth" in the world.

"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." Someone said that a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away. That guy actually sounds like my friend Bong Montessa these days. It is hard to swallow at first, but that indeed is a question to ask. We're not babies anymore, asking for milk. It's time to ask, what can I do for my mother?

I cannot answer for you. You have to answer the question for yourself.

Three Things To Do to Be a Better Filipino

2008-08-27T17:18:00.001+08:00

There are at least three things one can do to be a better Filipino. Certainly, there are more. But these are my contributions to the table.

1. BE A FILIPINO BY CHOICE
There are two kinds of Filipinos. Filipinos by default, and Filipinos by choice. There's a world of difference between the two.

Filipinos by default. When you were born, you became a Filipino by default. You did not choose what would appear on your birth certificate, nor did you choose the nationality of your parents, much less the place you were born in. Then, as you grew up, you had all these impressions--good or bad--about the Philippines, but were largely uninvolved because of your very young age.
Some Filipinos have chosen to remain uninvolved even after 18 years of age. When these Filipinos get their day in court for the crime of being a Filipino, these are the ones who will tell the court, "Your honor, I did not choose to be born a Filipino."

Filipinos by choice. Clearly, when Filipinos by choice get their day in court for the crime of being a Filipino, these will say, "I am guilty, your honor. Hang me if you will. I am a Filipino." After having seen everything that the Philippines stands for, they say, all these don't matter at the end of the day. I love my country. In my own little ways, I'm going to help out.

A great present-day example of this kind of Filipino is Alexander Lacson who wrote the book, "12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do To Help Our Country." In sum, the 12 things are:

1. Follow traffic rules. Follow the law.
2. Whenever you buy or pay for anything, always ask for an official receipt.
3. Don’t buy smuggled goods. Buy Local. Buy Filipino.
4. When you talk to others, especially foreigners, speak positively about us and our country.
5. Respect your traffic officer, policeman and soldier.
6. Do not litter. Dispose your garbage properly. Segregate. Recycle. Conserve.
7. Support your church.
8. During elections, do your solemn duty.
9. Pay your employees well.
10. Pay your taxes.
11. Adopt a scholar or a poor child.
12. Be a good parent. Teach your kids to follow the law and love our country.

The book is a best-seller and the ONE THING you can do today to be a Filipino by choice is to go out and buy that book, and most importantly, READ that book. You will see that the 12 things are not all that hard to do. They only need to be done by a critical mass of Filipinos, starting with YOU.

2. KNOW A BIT MORE ABOUT YOUR COUNTRY

(a) Find a world map and locate the Philippines in that map. Someone somewhere may ask your help, and it will be a shame if you will not be able to point in the map where the Philippines is. Know how far it is from the equator. Know its neighboring countries. Know what oceans surround it. Know what climate we have. Know how long our day or night is. Even without a map, be prepared to describe where it is. Lastly, know what the number 7,107 means.

(b) Find a Philippine map and locate the main islands. Know where Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao are, and where their artificial boundaries are. Know where the key provinces and cities are. Know how many places are called "Cagayan" and where they are: Cagayan Province, Cagayan de Oro, and Cagayan Islands. Know where Mt. Apo, the country's highest peak, is. Know where the Philippine Eagle thrives. Know where the Chocolate Hills are, where the Banaue Rice Terraces are, and where many other great sits of the Philippines are.

(c) Know the languages spoken in your country. Do you know that the linguists count between 130 to 170 languages or dialects in the country? Do you know the main ones? Do you know where the Ilocos region is? Know where the Tagalogs are, the Bicolanos, the Hiligaynon, the Cebuanos, Moros, Waray, etc.

(d) Know the major events in our history. Be ready to tell your friends and children how the name "Philippines" came about. Do you know there was once a move to change it to "Maharlika"? Read a bit more about Jose Rizal, Emilio Aguinaldo, Andres Bonifacio, Gregorio del Pilar, Antonio Luna, Juan Luna, Apolinario Mabini, Lapu-Lapu, Sultan Kudarat and many more. Find out a bit more how each one lived, and how each one died. Find out who killed some of them and why; and reflect how we can do better in this generation, or the next.

(d) Know the religions and customs of every part of the country. What religions influence the thinking of Filipinos? Are we properly living out the values taught to us by the Church? What are our core values? Which values are helping us? Which ones do not? How can we do better? What are our festivals? Why do we love festivals?

3. LOVE YOUR COUNTRYMEN

(a) Appreciate the different sub-cultures of our country. Filipinos come from different linguistic backgrounds and cultures attached to them. Know a bit more about the diversity of our people. Know how each one is being stere-typed by the others, and the reasons behind it. Know the sensibilities of each sub-culture and respect them. Understand why Filipinos speak English even to each other. Understand why Moros want greater autonomy.

(b) Serve. From praying to blogging to actual work in an office or community, one can be of great service to the country. Oftentimes, being a good civilized citizen is good enough. But it is virtue to participate in anything that will make our immediate surrounding even more civilized. So start serving right within your family, work or business, church or neighborhood. Be a man of integrity and don't be lazy.

(c) Say "No" to corruption. Corruption is there because people patronize it. It's an "easy" way out for some of us. But for this country to function properly, let us pay our dues properly. We want smooth traffic and disciplined drivers. Corruption hinders it. We want good roads. Corruption short-changes us. The list is long and painful. Let's stop the list from getting even longer. To love our countrymen is to say, "No" to them at some point.

(d) Pray for our leaders. When you're a Filipino, regardless of your religion, you know how to pray. Pray for our leaders. Tremendous responsibilities are on their shoulder. We want them to be super-human; but fact is, they're just human after all, prone to temptation, prone to anger and frustration, prone to discouragement, prone to disillusionment---just like the rest of us.

(e) Pray for our government. This is the only government we have. This is the only government we ought to have. We have embraced democracy as a nation. We cannot learn to handle its reigns overnight. We started to run our own government only on July 4, 1946; barely a few decades ago, and one-man rule--whom some of us call a "dictatorship"--tainted 20 years of the time in between now and then. We have a lot to learn as a country and as a people, but let us treasure democracy, which we have fought hard to earn.

These are all for now. When I think of more, I'll write more...

When will this war end?

2008-08-21T18:28:00.001+08:00

Being someone from Mindanao, I cannot help but get concerned about the news of renewed hostilities between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The question, "when will this end?" echoes through history in the Christian-Muslim confrontation in the South. I too ask that, when will this end? Honestly, I do not see an end to it. But I admit my vision is limited on this matter. There are seemingly irreconcilable forces at work here.

The history of Christian-Muslim relationship that dates back to the middle ages in Europe has somehow translated itself into the southern part of the homeland. We honor Lapu-Lapu, who was Muslim, for slaying Magellan, who, incidentally, brought with him priests who introduced Christianity into the islands. We honor Sultan Kudarat for his sense of nationhood and his defiance against Spain, which ruled us for 400 years and brought the influence of the Catholic Church into our lands. See the conflict that is raging inside me. I am a Catholic. I also am a Filipino patriot.
The history of Muslims in the south is one that we cannot ignore. History tells us that once upon a time there have been three sultanates that dominated Celebes Sea: the Sultanate of Brunei, now a nation of its own and a rich nation at that; the Sultanate of Sulu, which has claims over Sabah that strains the relationship between the Philippines and Malaysia; and the Sultanate of Maguindanao, the home of the MILF.

They claim they are a nation prior to the Philippines. That's not a nonsense claim, and my friend Bong Montesa, who's with the negotiating panel, pushes that we respect it, even if we have to amend the Constitution. See the conflict in my heart. I have a heart for these Muslims whom I consider my brothers in Mindanao; but I don't want to see this country torn apart.

Under a tree inside the UP Los Banos campus around 17 years ago, I sat down to reflect what I wanted to do with my life. I already finished all my course work in college, and I was already accepted into the Philippine Air Force Flying School. They were waiting for me to report for training. In two years, if I survived, they would have commissioned me as Second Lieutenant in the Air Force, and, chances were, that I would have been part of the contingent that dropped bombs in the MILF lairs in Mindanao years later.

At that moment under that tree, I saw a future that was bleak. I saw a future that was full of pain. At that moment, I made a decision never to hold a gun. I could not see myself up in the air, piloting a war machine and killing brother Filipinos on the ground; whether they're Christians, or Muslims, or communist rebels. Yes, I wanted to be a soldier, a noble soldier, a protector; but not someone who shoots my own people. I decided not show up at Fernando Air Base and join Class 1993.

How I wish I could finish this post with an answer. I could only finish this with the same question I started this post with.

When will the war end?

A humbling realization

2008-08-26T18:38:00.001+08:00

Emails about the relative size of the earth with respect to the giant creations in the cosmos abound. But it took Louie Giglio to startle me with the implications of these pieces of knowledge. Before, to me, such stuff were just science. But Louie Giglio gave it a spiritual dimension. Yes, I do believe God is the Creator of all things, but I didn't immediately realize how that really feels...once we look out into the cosmos.

The images below are from rense.com although this site does not claim ownership of these images. I received these images myself through email, but I cannot locate them now. Perhaps the email browser already deleted them.
The first image is striking because you can see the Philippine islands very clearly, right there.

See how large the Philippines is compared to other islands. We know it's our country because we are familiar with its shape. Everything that we see in the news occur right there, in different locations of those set of islands. That alone is already amazing. Around us are oceans, deep oceans. We are alone in the middle of those blue zones there.

Mag-aaway pa rin ba tayo? Tayo-tayo lang nandyan, o! Walang iba. Tayo lang. Then look how large the globe is, compared to the lands we occupy. No one in the whole world will give a damn about us if we can't get our acts together. We can sink for all they care. After all, their shores are way out there from ours. There are only...us, Filipinos.

The next image is even more humbling.

How large is the solar system compared to the earth? If the size of the earth does not amaze us, how about the size of Jupiter compared to ours? We think we're the greatest? the mightiest race? the most unique race? Jupiter couldn't care less. The whole earth, which we consider huge, can plunge into its surface and form a small mountain, and Jupiter won't even notice.

How big are our problems? Is it bigger than Jupiter? If that does not impress you, then it may help to know that the gargantuan Jupiter is to the Sun, as earth is to Jupiter. Jupiter can plunge into the Sun and the Sun won't even notice.

Do you see how big the earth is compared to the sun? Whoever made this graphic had to draw an arrow for us to see earth.

How big are our country's problems?

The story continues, but I would like to let this video do the talking:

The globe is just a microscopic speck of dust in the cosmos. There are bigger, much bigger, things happening beyond our skies. We say we couldn't care less. The cosmos couldn't care less either. It has more important things to do.

In the face of these realizations, why would God, who created this cosmos mind us?

Fact is, he does.

I believe God cares about this country, and some of us are His instruments. We are on holy ground--the Philippine Islands, the earth itself, the cosmos--and blessed are those who see it.

I do not believe there is no solution to our country's problems. Our problems are peanuts compared to what God has to deal with to hold those large planets and stars in their proper places. I insist on believing. War is not an option.

Peace is the only one, and even if its evasive, let us continue to pursue it.

Filipino by Choice, Oh Yeah?

2008-08-30T13:26:00.001+08:00

It's easy to say be a Filipino by choice, but what's the price to pay?

To me, being a Filipino by choice does not have to mean staying here in the Philippines and remain a Filipino citizen til you rot. The reality for a lot of Filipinos is, some of us just have to leave either to maintain their existence, or at least their sanity. You work your brains out here and what do you get in return for the 20-32% the government takes away from your salary?

Indeed, what do we get in return for what gets deducted from our profits, dividends or take home pay? How I wish I see statesmanship, unity in purpose, strong and principled leadership worthy of respect and admiration in the annals of our country's history.
Instead of statesmanship, I see warlordism still looming way into the 3rd Millenium in this part of the globe. Instead of unity in purpose, I see factionalism and personality-oriented political alignments in the government. Instead of strong and principled leadership, I see compromise as the rule. This is a sin we are collectively guilty of.

We can do better than these!

Talk about Pope Benedict XIV's cry against the dictatorship of relativism, which the Catholic Church is waging a campaign against. It's happening right here in the Philippines right now, the country with the largest "Catholic" population in Asia. The quotes are deliberate. In the Church, as in a nation, there are absolutes. Once we let go of these absolutes in favor of relativism, we lose our soul.

I once worked as a contractual worker in the government (contractuals are not covered by GSIS, that's why I've never been a client of GSIS) and I saw a lot of dedicated people working for the country. But where the buck ends, the key result areas are different. No need to elaborate on that, but we can certainly do better than politics of patronage. The "weather-weather-lang-yan" attitude will never get us anywhere as a nation, much less as a "Catholic" nation. Shame on you politicians. But shame on us too for putting you there.

(In fairness I have high respects for the Social Security System, the PAG-IBIG Fund and PhilHealth. I think they're delivering the expectations. My salutes to them!)

So what's the price of being a Filipino by choice? The price is the cross. We have a cross to carry: our government, our people, and the ills of our culture.

Our government. WE ELECTED OUR LEADERS! Let's make our right of suffrage work for us, and not against us. We do not have direct control, as common citizens, over the actuations of our leaders, but we have the power to choose who sits there. Let's use that power wisely. Go beyond personalities. Let us use our brains, not our stomachs. A politician who gets votes by exploiting the squatters in the city corners will not think kindly of my statement.

If you're an immigrant Filipino, use the same principle in the country you have chosen to reside. Be an asset there and not a liability. Then, by your shining example, the people in the homeland will have someone to look up to as a hero and inspiration. Our heroes here are either dead or dying. Some are presently being tied up to be shot. It will be this way until we all learn our lessons on how to run a government of our own.

Our people. We are a diverse people, a very diverse people. Moros do not have the monopoly of the complaint that they're different. Cebuanos can claim such from the Tagalogs had they chosen to. People in Batanes can say as much. Cordillerans say so, but they have chosen, as a people, to stick it out. We do not detest our diversity, we appreciate them. The harmony is there, we just need to support the harmony, even in pain.

The rich and poor can work together well in this country. I used to lambast the poor and the lazy, as well as the rich and greedy, til the day someone asked me what I was doing about it. That's when I realized that the poor are not lazy and the rich are generous. You see it happening in Gawad Kalinga. I am a GK volunteer, are you? Be one of us. If not in GK, then get involved in something else. Together we can move mountains to improve the lot of our people.

Our Culture. We have a great culture, only we abuse it. First were the Spaniards, then came the Americans. We are a very hospitable country, even to the extent of inconveniencing ourselves. Then came the present crop of politicians, and, like their Spanish and American predecessors before them, abused the people with their "Sultan" attitudes and behaviors.

How do we put a check on the excesses and abuses attributed to our culture? I know at least one way: blogging! This is the present day expression of people's sentiments. No need to wait for your day in front of an audience. The news are not enough. Even journalists are being accused of working for their own interests--justifiably or not--but the voices of the people in blogs like this is a great venue. The blogs I see around are beautiful, like flowers in the field, beautiful in their diversity, full of expression.

At the end of the day, I always see a beautiful Filipino rising from the ashes of its history, a Filipino that is a gift to the world, a Filipino whose values are rooted deeply into the human essence of love: spirituality, family and camaraderie among all, regardless of color and race. Through our diversity and mutual respect for each other, we can become shining examples of being citizens of the world.

We can claim that.

Let us claim that.

A Little Known Way to Appreciate Philippine History

2008-08-31T22:25:00.002+08:00

Philippine history from 750,000 BC until 1946 in 60 beautiful dioramas, what a bargain! Anyone who goes to Makati has no excuse for not visiting the Ayala Museum.

(Take note of my earlier post on how to be a better Filipino!)

Philippine history is interesting. It tells us who we are and who we are not. It tells us of our struggles and explains to us that all that we see around us now did not come from the clouds, but from the blood, sweat and tears of our ancestors. Anyone who asks, "Who am I?" should go see the Ayala Museum. It won't cost you much to go there and it's absolutely easy to go there. It's between Greenbelt 4 and Greenbelt 5. You wouldn't miss it.
There's a certain spirit in that Museum that makes you feel absolutely at home. I have gone to the Ayala Museum twice, and will be coming back again soon. The first visit was when my son was about three. The second visit was two years later, early this afternoon to be specific. I came out of both visits having learned something new and interesting about our country. For instance, today, I learned that San Juan de Dios Hospital in Pasay City has its roots in the makeshift hospital established by Franciscan Fray Juan Clemente in 1578 and its present name dates back to 1656.

The dioramas cast a spell on you. The figurines, the backdrops and the props were done very very professionally. The scene depicted in the diorama looked so real and captured the mood and spirit of those times. You actually get sucked into a time warp such that it wasn't difficult to imagine that you were actually there. One diorama that struck me the most was Diorama #2 that depicted the Tabon Caves, circa 50,000 to 6,000 BC. The people, the cave, the cliff, the plants wove together perfectly that you would actually feel in your skin how life was for people way back then. Fast forward to succeeding dioramas, your skin would feel the pain in Antonio Luna's face when he was assassinated by fellow Katipuneros, thus aggravating the demoralization that was already plaguing the revolutionary movement against Spain and the United States at that time.

The historical snapshots were cleverly selected. The continuity was there. You would see gaps, enough to invoke questions into your mind and awaken your curiosity; enough to lead you into a quest of your own as to what transpired in the corridors of time in our country. The diorama illustrated scenes from pre-colonial times, the Spanish occupation, the revolts that occured during the occupation, the brief occupation of Intramuros by the British, the end of Spanish rule, the entry of Americans, the birth and death of the republic established by Aguinaldo, the wars during the American occupation, the Japanese occupation, the liberation of the Philippines from Japanese rule and the eventual recognition of Philippine Independence.

"Over a million museum visitors" since 1974. I bought the Diorama guide sold at the counter and in its Foreword, I learned how the Diorama was conceptualized in 1967 (I wasn't born then) and how it was meticulously studied and executed. It was inaugurated in 1974 by Imelda Marcos and since then, "the dioramas have been seen by over a million museum visitors, including thousands from other countries."

What are we thinking about the Ayala Museum? Honestly I find the figure "over a million" a bit sad. The Ayala Museum is underrated. What in the world do over 14 million people of Metro Manila think of this Museum? A haven of the elite? Let's just think then of the millions of Filipinos flocking to Makati and the figure "over a million" since 1974 is still pathetic.

Someday I'll understand why so few people go to Ayala Museum. But I don't think the reason would interest me. Anyone who goes to Makati has no excuse for not going to the Ayala Museum.

In the meantime, to you who happen to be reading this blog, I urge you to go there and revisit our country's past, beautifully depicted in dioramas that make you feel like you were actually there. As Rizal says, ang hindi lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay di makararating sa paroroonan.

Why is RP Poor? Catholicism is the Reason?

2008-08-18T06:46:00.000+08:00

You want to be "IN"? Blame Catholicism for our country's woes.

This post is a response to the post of (almost) the same title at PinoyBlog.com. In that post, Jerome Nadal makes five arguments as to why the Philippines is poor, and somehow attributes those arguments to Catholicism.

This post isn't going to be long (hopefully), but let me summarize Jerome's arguments as follows:

1. Filipinos are taught (by the Church) to "hate himself and the world."

I cannot relate with this statement. A Catholic, and every so-called Christian for this matter, is taught about Faith and Repentance. Faith in God, first, then repentance. The purpose of repentance is to reconcile one's self with God, whom one has faith in. So, faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin. It's about union with God who creates man and the world. One can't reconcile one's self with himself and the world if he is taught to "hate himself and the world."

Is it because Jerome got his information wrong? Or, is it because Jerome has gotten it wrong in his mind?

2. A Filipino seeks to "save himself" from the world by "escaping from it" with a "sense of powerlessness."

How can one "escape" from the world that God created? Why would one want to escape from it? How can one feel powerless when Catholicism teaches union with God? I cannot relate with the argument. I am lost as to where the thinking comes from. Filipinos are known to travel to the ends of the earth to shape a new reality for his family. Is that escapism? Is that having a sense of powerlessness?

3. A Filipino holds a concept of salvation "that seeks to transform this present, real world so that there can be justice, freedom and abundance."

Very true. What's wrong with that?

4. The Filipino "sees life as something that happens to him (not something that he can make happen).

This can be true to most Filipinos, having been suppressed for hundreds of years by foreign colonizers. This is a process we have to go through. We have to start reclaiming our stake in the Universe our God created.

Catholicism may have been here for 400+ years, but is it correct to say that being fatalistic is the teaching of the Catholic Church? I grew up under Jesuit education, and what they taught me was farthest from what Jerome is claiming the Church is teach. To believe in God is to believe in an all-powerful God, who created us in His image and likeness. Filipinos have to claim that. That's the real teaching of the Catholic Church.

5. The so-called "preferential option for the poor," says Jerome, "condemns the rich as 'sinners.' Thus, no development happens."

The Catholic Church does not condemn the rich. It reminds the rich to share their riches with the poor. Now, for the poor to just lie down and wait for the graces to knock his door is farthest from Church teachings. Look at the parable of the talents, the ten lepers of whom only one thanked the Lord. So, even as the Church reminds the rich to share their riches, it teaches the poor to be grateful and not demanding. When the rich share and the poor are grateful, that's the kind of development the Church envisions.

Catholicism is a very liberating religion. It's the wrong understanding of Filipinos about Catholicism, and Christianity in general, that's the problem. The solution lies in educating one's self, by drawing out what one understands, and checking out with the Church if that indeed is the teaching.

Blaming per se does not get us anywhere, whether one is blaming the Church, the government, the ancestors, one's color, one's neighborhood, etc. The Church is there to show the way, but one has to do the walking.

Five Reasons Why Filipinos speak English, rather than Tagalog

2008-08-16T14:37:00.000+08:00

Filipinos speak English, even to each other. I went about browsing different Filipino-oriented blogs and forums yesterday to get a more thorough insight into how overseas Filipinos think and feel. I felt uneasy when I gathered that some overseas Filipinos took issue of the fact that some Filipinos do not speak the native tongue even among each other. The native "tongue" was specifically referred to in one entry as "Filipino," which in fact is Tagalog.

Hey, I'm Cebuano-speaking (a.k.a. "bisdak" or "bisayang dako"), so that already gives you an idea why I cannot relate with the sentiments. Cebuano and Tagalog may have common words, but hey, they're different. An untrained Cebuano will not understand, much less speak, Tagalog and vice-versa.

My wife is Tagalog and my children will grow up speaking Tagalog and English because we live in Metro Manila. I don't mind that at all. I'll be teaching them Cebuano in due time. This post is not about people speaking the languages, but about how people from different parts of the Philippines perceive the languages .

The non-speaking of the "native tongue" in the foreign land was misconstrued as something akin to lack of identity, inferiority complex, or worse, embracing a foreign culture. In short, those who did not speak the "native tongue" was perceived as "plastic" or hypocrite. That at least was my impression of what the blogs were saying. Clearly, that was not my thinking and belief.

It may hurt to say that such impression is born out of lack of understanding, a.k.a. ignorance, of the diversity among Filipinos but sorry I must say so. Being "plastic" is a guilt we can accuse Filipinos of (and the rest of humanity to put this into proper perspective), but I do not see it among the primary reasons why "Filipinos speak English."

In fairness though, Filipinos from all over the country have learned to adapt to each other and appreciate the differences as well as commonalities. Out of the many, many, many blogs I browsed yesterday and early today, I saw this issue in only around two or three. So, this is not a major issue, really. But it's worth getting into if only to dispel once and for all this "myth" that Filipinos are somehow ashamed of their "native tongue."

The issue touched on something beautiful about Filipinos, only misunderstood. There is more to the question than meets the eye, and proper understanding of the reasons I am about to cite deepens our understanding of the diversity among Filipinos, wrapped in a common culture and spirit. That, I say, is what's beautiful, almost in a romantic sense, about our country.

Reason #1. The USA established our educational system in 1901 and English became the medium of instruction. It's 2008 and this has not changed. I believe it never will.

That's right. A little of history here. We have been a colony of the United States of America for almost half a century, from 1898, the year they conned Aguinaldo, until 1946 the year the USA granted independence to the Philippines. (Of course there was a 5-year Japanese occupation from 1941-1945 during World War II, during which Filipinos fought valiantly as guerillas.) During the US occupation, they sent to the Philippines what we refer to now as the Thomasites (after the transport vessel USS Thomas), who "expanded and improved the public school system, and switched to English as the medium of instruction."

So, what that meant was, our grandfathers and great-grandfathers were educated by the American system, and they were very good English speakers, which most of us inherit if not consciously, then subconsciously. My mother (now 81 years old) used to tell me that at Grade VI, she was already so good in English that she taught younger grades the language. That's unimaginable these days, I know. But the use of English as medium of instruction, to me, is there to stay, regardless of what our nationalist friends say.

Why is that? You'll find out in Reason #5, but please don't skip. Reasons #2 to #4 are even more important in the present day context.

Reason #2. English is the language of governance. It has not changed too since 1901.

That's right. Go to Malacanang, the Senate, Congress, any government department or bureau, even the police and the military. Everybody there uses English as medium of communication. Look at the letter heads of their communications and you will see "Office of the President of the Philippines," "Senate of the Republic of the Philippines," "House of Representatives," etc. etc. Look at your SSS card or Driver's License and what's on top? Does it say "Republika ng Pilipinas"? No, sir. It says, "Republic of the Philippines."

Look at our constitution and laws. They're in English for goodness sake. You can look for the Tagalog versions, if you want. I wish you luck.

Look at our streets, street signs, public notices. They're all in English! The major streets are called Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, Roxas Boulevard, South Expressway, North Luzon Expressway, etc.

What this means is, anyone who deals with the government --- and that's everybody --- must somehow learn to at least read in English! Thanks to our educational system, that's possible.

Reason #3. English is the language of business. This is the ONE THING that I don't think will ever change.

Business in the Philippines is English. No English? No business. All you have to do is go around the streets and you'll see that even the smallest store has some English in it: "Marvin's Store," "Eloy's Barber Shop," etc. I didn't make up these names. These are stores in my neighborhood and "Marvin's Store" isn't my store, it a namesake's store.

Go to any bank and you see English splashed all over. The largest banks here are called "Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company," "Bank of the Philippine Islands," "Equitable-PCI Bank," and so on.

All communications in business are in, guess what? English! I still have to see a business letter between two companies written in Tagalog. I'm 39 years old. Maybe I haven't looked very meticulously the past 19 years I've been working.

What that means is each Filipino must learn English not just to move around but to also to eat three times a day!

Reason #4. English is the language of mass media.

The major broadsheets are in English. There are three major broadsheets in the Philippines that I can think of and they're Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Bulletin and Philippine Star (not necessarily in that order). Of course there are Tagalog tabloids, but none that I know that is of national circulation as big as any of these three.

Most of the magazines are in English. Just go to any magazine stand and do a count. How many are in English? How many are in Tagalog? It will be fun. Chances are, if you close your eyes and pick up any magazine, chances are it's in English.

Radio stations are bilingual. Well, you'll hear English in almost all FM stations that broadcast music. You'll hear Tagalog and other local dialects usually in AM stations. You don't want English, stick to AM stations, which many Filipinos do, by the way.

TV stations are bilingual. TV stations now broadcast news in Tagalog, I concede to that. We are a bilingual country, that's why. Thanks to mass media, non-Tagalogs now have a greater exposure to the "Filipino" language, which is in fact Tagalog. But English is not completely out. The newscaster may be speaking in Tagalog, but the one in the news can be speaking in English, especially if it's a government official or corporate executive; and you don't get any Tagalog translation for the English you get.

What this means is, one must learn English to better understand what's going on in the country!

Reason #5. English is the Great Unifier among Filipinos. Without it, I could not see how Filipinos would understand each other when Spain left.

Be ready for this: English is the second language of most non-Tagalog Filipinos. Would you believe that? They count a total of 172 "native languages and dialects spoken" in the Philippines, "all belonging to the Austronesian linguistic family. " The major branches are Cebuano, Tagalog, Ilocano and Hiligaynon. Cebuano is the largest homogenous group, which includes not just Cebu but also most of Central Visayas (Negros Occidental, Cebu, Siquijor, Bohol, Leyte provinces, parts of Masbate); as well as practically most of Mindanao with the exception of provinces with Muslim majority.

I was handed a set of data in November 2007 (the month the Excel file was created). While the population figures may no longer be valid, I do not see why the percentages would significantly change.

Here it is:

Group	Population	%
Cebuano	20,160,000	27.4%
Tagalog	13,928,000	19.0%
Ilocano	9,527,000	13.0%
Hiligaynon	8,068,000	11.0%
Bicolano	5,659,000	7.7%
Moro	4,475,000	6.1%
Waray	3,426,000	4.7%
Kapampangan	2,667,000	3.6%
Other Visayan	2,289,000	3.1%
Pangasinan	1,637,000	2.2%
Chinese	922,000	1.3%
Ibanag	703,000	1.0%
TOTAL	73,461,000	100.0%

Do we now see why the USA imposed English in 1901? Clearly, there was no alternative. Had Spain taught us Spanish, then that would have been an alternative. Tagalog may be spoken in Manila in 1901, but 81% of Filipinos did not share that language. Only 19% of Filipinos speak Tagalog (or "Filipino") as the "native tongue." It was only much later when Manuel Quezon moved for the adoption of "Tagalog" as the national language, which proud Cebuanos resisted, even to the point of telling "imperial Manila" that they would reword Lupang Hinirang into Cebuano and sing the Cebuano version instead of the official version (I just heard this over the radio).

Now, do we still accuse Filipinos of not speaking the "native tongue"? In the light of the Reasons #1 to #5, clearly that's not fair.

Reasons why Cebuanos prefer English over Tagalog

There are only three vowels in Cebuano, and Tagalogs think that's very funny. It is a typical experience for a Cebuano to be an object of amusement by Tagalogs the moment they open their mouths and speak Tagalog. But the moment they speak English, which is the second language, they are able to express themselves better. For some Cebuanos, every experience like that is just a day in a life. Unfortunately for some Cebuanos, it drives some pain in their hearts such that they resist Tagalog all the more.I believe other linguistic groups in the Philippines can relate with this, or at least have their own versions of this.

English is an option for Cebuanos to express themselves. While I felt that Tagalogs were not comfortable with my Tagalog, I found that they were able to relate with me better when I spoke English. They would speak back to me in English or at least Taglish. Things went very well that way with me.

But when I decided to shift course and transfer campus from UP Diliman to UP Los Banos, things were different. The second campus was (and is) in the heart of "Southern Tagalog" where the die hard Tagalogs were (and are). When I spoke to them in English, they would talk back to me in Tagalog just the same. That really put a lot of pressure on me to speak Tagalog.

I had to practice Tagalog's two extra vowels. For instance, I had to practice pronouncing the word "bola" differently. Tagalog's pronounce it as "ball-a" while Cebuanos pronounce it as "bull-a." For Cebuanos, "e" and "i" are the same, while "o" and "u" are the same as well. Tagalogs say, "ba-be-bi-bo-bu" and Cebuanos would tend to pronounce it as "ba-bi-bi-bu-bu." No kidding there. It's just the way it is.

Here's more: there are similar words in Tagalog and Cebuano, but the meanings are completely, and even outrageously, different. The Tagalog word for cotton is "bulak," which is the Cebuano word for "flower." So Cebuanos must never buy "bulak" in the flower shop in Cubao. The Tagalog word for ants is "langgam," which is the Cebuano word for bird. When someone yells "langgam" in a crowd, you'd know who the Tagalogs and Cebuanos are. Those who look at the ground are Tagalogs. Those who look up are Cebuanos.

On weekends, the "probinsyanos" (from the province) were usually the ones left in the dormitory. Tagalogs were in their respective homes. But on one Sunday morning, a Tagalog was around. As me and my Cebuano friends were rushing to go to mass, one impatient guy yelled from the lobby, "agpas mo diha bay!" (Hurry up, friend!). Then almost in unison, one replied, "Kadyot na lang bay! Kadyot na lang!" (Just a few more moments, friend! Just a few more moments).

But the word "kadyot" did not go in well to that unfortunate Tagalog around; so he yelled at all of us, "magsisimba na lang kayo, ang babastos nyo pa rin!" (see you're about to go to Mass and you still have the gall for foul language!).

So, don't ever wonder again why Cebuanos would rather speak in English, rather than Tagalog. Trust me, they mean well.

What about Cebuanos to a Cebuano in a foreign land? Do they speak Cebuano to each other?

In my experience, it depends. If they just met each other, they would tend to be cordial and speak the language by which they started the conversation with. But as the conversation progresses, they would end up switching to Cebuano. That can happen very fast, or gradually. That's my experience here in Manila. It happened to me in Hong Kong. My wife befriended a Filipina with an Australian husband during a tour, and the Filipina happened to be Cebuano-speaking. So when it was my turn to speak to this Filipina, we spoke in Cebuano immediately.

My brother has a prank of speaking Cebuano wherever he goes, just for fun, whether in Manila, Vietnam or Australia. In Melbourne, he bought something from an Asian-looking guy and spoke to him in Cebuano. The guy looked intently at him for about a few moments, then replied, "taga dis-a man diay mo?" (oh, where are you from?) My brother said, "butangi!" (no English translation for that, but, "what the heck!" would be close.)

In fact, Cebuanos, in my experience, have the collective guilt of speaking Cebuano even in a crowd to the exclusion of others. Then we tend to giggle about the others who wonder what we're laughing about. That can be fun. Cebuanos refer to anyone who understand a bit of Cebuano as someone "dili mabaligya" (cannot be sold). That can be fun indeed, but that can also be rude. So, when a non-Cebuano is in a group, Cebuanos MUST speak the language of the land, as a matter of courtesy.

In closing...

Outside of linguistic differences, Filipinos share a whole lot of warmth, hospitality, sense of humor, sense of adventure, adaptability, and many other good things about our culture that clearly defines us distinctly as a people. Language has never been a barrier among us, and language has never been a barrier in our relationships with other nationalities. That's the way we are.

Fortunately for the world, that's the way we are.

Marvin

Thriller Dance by Inmates

2008-08-14T20:13:00.001+08:00

Matagal nang pinag-uusapan ito and, admittedly, ngayon ko lang nakita.

I'm amazed. Paano kaya nila inorganize ito?

#

Filipino Dream vs American Dream

2008-08-14T17:20:00.000+08:00

I'm researching the internet about the Filipino psyche: how a Filipino thinks, what his aspirations are, and things of that sort. This research is related to a project I'm engaged in right now. In the process, I came across a lot of blogs that either talks about or makes references to the Filipino psyche.

Among the many entries I found, I find this post very interesting:
http://blog.totalphilippines.com/filipino_dream/20080813-18050-The-Filipino-Dream

It opens and ends with these paragraphs:

The once famous American Dream have already been absorbed by many cultures around the world. The American Dream is not exclusive for the Americans alone, but for the global citizen.

. . .

To achieve their goal is the most important thing for a Filipino. To give their family a better life, to help others, share their knowledge to their fellows, and bring smile to everyone, even in times of problem. This is what the true Filipino dream is.

I like the way she puts it. The American Dream, to Filipinos, is a tool to achieve the ultimate Filipino Dream: "to give their family a better life, to help others..."

My applause.

Marvin

Cool "Proudly Pinoy" Logo

2008-08-13T17:36:00.001+08:00

When a friend referred me to the Proudly Pinoy site, I didn't know what was waiting for me there would captivate me. I saw there a the coolest logo I ever found that captured the Filipino spirit, as well as the Filipino pride. I couldn't explain it yet.

Two friends saw the logo too, and they too were captivated, and I meant, totally captivated. They had all praises for the logo. Again, they couldn't explain it.

Reading about the logo further, you will see that it is the one voted best among 297 entries. Amazing process they had there. Perhaps it's why we can't explain it. We can only appreciate it, with our hearts.

All I can say at this point is I like its simplicity, round shape and the red and yellow colors shaped like two hands carrying the round thing, which to me looks like the globe. The star smack in the middle of the globe is powerful. It's like, hey, Filipinos, we're making our own mark on the globe!

Go, look at the logo yourself and tell us what you think.

Marvin