On getting old

Getting old never dawned on me until about a year ago. I thought I was still a teenager even if I already have four teen-agers of my own. My body just refuse to believe that the pain on my waist at night, the number of pills I have to take for diabetes, white hair on my balding head, or even the lines on my forehead tell me that I am old. Why should I? I still have friends much younger than I am and I can still do what they can do. I can still relate to their stories and they can with mine. I can still stay with them until the wee hours of the morning, exchanging useless banter over beer or any other beverage there was. Yes, they don't call me by my first name like they do with their peers but that was okay. They call me tito and I didn't mind. I liked the monicker anyway having nieces and nephews who are fond of me anyway. Besides, a lot of people call me that way when I started this blog. Never did it dawn on me that I was old.

But time does not stop for anyone. No matter how slow the hour hand crawls on the clock, it reaches the time for us to go home from work. This is just like our lives but on a grander scale. I realized I do not live in a warp zone where I can stop aging while everybody continue to do so and play catch up. I cannot be happy man without having a true friend. There has to be someone I can talk to without any qualms, share my thoughts, tell naughty stories to and basically, hang out with. In my line of work, especially with the economy on the downtrend, teachers, like nurses, are lured by green bucks. The turn over of workers have been steadily getting higher and higher. As it did with my friends. Some of them have migrated abroad, some had married and resigned. Eventually, all my friends have moved on and I was left behind.

My co-workers keep on getting younger and younger. The gap has never been this far apart. I could not believe that some of them were just born when I started working. To make matters worse, I was again asked to handle an administrative position. That was the icing on the cake. Now, everybody calls me Sir. Friends are hard to come by when there is this huge gap between you and the next person. While the difference in age is already a huge boulder to climb, the position added a wall. Suddenly, the songs I use to sing are ancient. The jokes I used to tell no longer get the same response. Well, there are times when I couldn't get their humor either. The invitations to a lunch out, or hang out at the mall has been practically nil. I am now at the threshold of calling it quits with the institution that nurtured me, simply because I have to accept the fact that I will soon become irrelevant. The tell tale signs are there.

But then, why should I feel this way? I feel this is a very defeatist attitude on my part. MAybe it is because I had been resisting the movement of my clock. Why don't I just let it move and go with its flow and see where it takes me? Maybe if I did that, I would learn to accept that things have changed and I have to adjust just one more time. Maybe, just maybe, I will learn to age with grace. If I learn to do that, then maybe retirement will not be the end but the start of a new era in my life. When that happens, let's see who has gone old!

An unfathomable conundrum

Once again, death stares me at the face. I just visited my old boss who retired about ten years ago. He is 76 gone to 90. His dignity lost, he is reduced to a decrepit,sickly man suffering the pains of a failing liver. We had such happy days together. We would go for a drink or two after office hours together with friends. There was even a time when he sparingly wrote a note to my wife saying I was with him until the wee hours of the morning. My brother-in-law had a good laugh over that "parental" letter one usually submits to a teacher lest the student gets into trouble.

The house that saw big parties, flowing with alcohol and food enjoyed by guests coming from all over is just as old. I have spent many happy moments there. My eldest daughter's baptismal party was celebrated there. The house was a very happy one. He was on top of the world and that was his kingdom. His royal subjects knelt before him, shivered even at his most benign commands. The house is almost dilapidated now and so is its king. Anywhere you look, the house where little boys used to run and roam, where you heard roosters were kept in a coop crowed, with the garage where we played mah jongg or whatever game it was we could play is just as lonely, needing more care from its owners. He couldn't even utter an understandable voice to say what he wanted.

Such is the way of the world. We reach the top of the world and plummet back to earth in the end. I just hope I never get to experience the pain of having to suffer a decline that would rob me of my dignity where someone else has to wash my behind or feed me in a tube.

If only to console me and my boss' family and friends, he has lived a full life and I don't think he is sorry for what he has become. It is my fervent prayer that with his memory almost gone, he is just as oblivious to the pain.

God's Trick

God tricked me.
He gave me time
that does not stop
for anything. Just like
a snail that crawls
ever so slowly
from one point to another,
it reaches its destination
no matter how far
or what obstacles hurled
along its way.

God tricked me.
He gave me youth
to squander and abuse
so that I
can lay in my death bed,
inutile, suffering the pain
of an ignominius state,
devoid of all the dignity
I used to possess.

God tricked me.
He gave me strength
so that I can waste it away
and harm myself.
Reduced to decadence,
I am decaying even before
I am dead.

God tricked me.
He gave me friends
I cannot keep.
They will be there
for a while
only to return
living their own lives.

God tricked me.
He gave me the gift of life
only to take it anytime
He pleases. Gifts should
be for keeps
and so it is with God’s
little trick.

rolly


PS.
My boss passed away this afternoon, February 16. Please join me in praying for the eternal repose of his soul.

Chameleon Angels

Sickening platitudes
cacophony of campaign jingles
float the air again
in a jungle
covered with huge pictures
of yellow, red, orange, green.

Promises of paradise
a litany of more jobs

lower taxes

medical assistance

food

shelter

thank you heaven
for these angels!

"Don't forget my name,"
the saintly statesman shouted.

Chameleons are better.
They only kill what they eat.

Politicians are parasites
feeding on our sweat
until we have no more to shed
but blood.

I wonder where
they got their butterfly wings
and halo. How do they hide
their horns and tail?

It's a game we play
with angels
from hell.

rolly

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Think outside of the box

The school is undergoing its third PAASCU accreditation and the whole place is once again busier than a beehive with everyone abuzz with a flurry of activities as superiors breathe on everybody’s back. It is certainly not a walk in the park. It is quite ironic that to prove you had the best of times, you have to suffer the worst first. Not a single soul wants to be left behind hence you see everyone brushing up on their wares to shiny perfection, honing his/her skills and keeping up with the latest trends in education lest he/she be the weak link in a chain of master educators.

Lately, one of the buzz words in education is critical thinking. Many educators unabashedly mention critical thinking as the main component in their lessons if only to give relevance and credence to what they offer to their students. A lot of seminars have been conducted about this topic as its importance is unparalleled. However, if we review the learning plans, (a nomenclature that has been invented to show that traditional education is progressing with the times) of teachers, how many do you think would yield that the lessons attached therein manifest critical thinking?

What is critical thinking in the first place? Given a piece of information in the form of observation, experience, reflection, reasoning or communication that needs a response or a course of action as a stimulus, what is the best way to deal with it? Educational pundits say we should teach children how to use critical thinking. Michael Scriven and Richard Paul made a working definition of critical thinking as the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from or generated by observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. Now, that is quite a mouthful, isn't it? To better understand, let us break the definition in segments. Critical thinking involves intellectual capacity. As such, relying simply on our instincts is not critical thinking as we have to use our brain to process information for it to be so. This we are able to do because it is a discipline resulting from constant practice and continued use. As such, the intellectual capacity should have been trained to act accordingly to a set of rules or undergo a certain process composed of steps to be undertaken in order to be whole. These steps are:
1. conceptualize – forming a certain idea about what a piece of information is all about;
2. apply – knowing that a piece of information or stimulus has a purpose and knowing what its purpose is, then apply to life;
3. analyze - dividing information up into categories and subcategories (and) selecting things that are the more important aspects, and solving them first
4. synthesize – organizing, constructing, composing, and creating your finished result; and lastly,
5. evaluate –looking back and assessing how a course of action regarding a certain stimulus has been dealt with.

With this process, one might think it has to be a long arduous task. There’s the rub. While we have to put our thinking caps on, we have to do the process involved in a jiffy making it look like as if we were reacting instinctively or by simple reflex. That is critical thinking in its highest form.

Now comes the question of what is the best way to teach children to think critically? There is no sure answer as each individual is different as it is different for all the disciplines taught in school. However, one thing is certain. Teaching critical thinking has to be done with a lot of creativity - another buzz word going around the academe for the longest time as it is still very vital in the teaching profession.

I had been trying to catch up with my reading in education when I chanced upon an article in the Educational Leadership entitled Why Creativity Now? A Conversation with Sir Ken Robinson with Amy M. Azzan (September 2009. Vol. 67. No. 1 pp. 22 -26) lying on my table waiting to be read. Amy Azzam wrote:

Creativity: It’s been maligned, neglected, and misunderstood. But it’s finally coming into its own. .. Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for creativity as the crucial 21st century skill we’ll need to solve today’s pressing problems.

Sir Ken who led the British government’s 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements observed that people see creativity and critical thinking as being opposed partly because people associate creativity with being totally free and unstructured. The reason for this misconception is due to the notion that creativity only applies to the arts, i.e. painting, literature, music, etc. which are disciplines open to spontaneity and freedom of expression. However, creativity is defined as doing things differently using original ideas that have value. The operant words here are different, original and of value. As such, teaching can be as creative and very productive when used with creativity.

Why do we need to be creative?

Alvin Toffler, an American futurologist who wrote Future Shock and The Third Wave in the 70’s predicted that a super-industrial society shall emerge out of the industrial age bringing out a complete structure change which will overwhelm society. Toffler is neither a prophet nor an average fortune teller who bases his predictions on the movement of the stars or the clouds inside a crystal ball but someone whose predictions rely on trends as he observes them. That era of structure change is now. We are at a threshold of a new world order where our lives shall be governed by recent developments in technology which has changed drastically and at a very fast rate. He coined the term information overload which refers to an excess amount of information being provided, making processing and absorbing tasks very difficult for the individual because sometimes we cannot see the validity behind the information. This is what we do not want our children to experience. We might be overloading them with information that they begin to get bored as they don’t find these data relevant and of consequence.


Sir Ken said, ...we were told that if you worked hard, went to college, and got a regular academic degree, you’d be set for life. Well, nobody thinks that’s true anymore, and yet we keep running our school systems as though it were. How many graduates who landed in a job totally different from what they have studied are there? We have placed too much emphasis on education that parents would skip meals, work doubly hard and make sacrifices just to be able to send their children to school. We graduate students by the thousands every year only to be misplaced due to a mismatch of the market and what they have learned in school. Because we have an overabundance of graduates, corporations now have the luxury of hiring people with at least a college education even for menial jobs. There will come a time when they will require for a complete college diploma for cleaning the toilet.

With the advent of an age where information can be had at the click of a button, there will come a time when a school as we know it will be different. Students shall no longer be confined in a four-walled space together with several others but shall be alone in a virtual classroom located inside their house where they learn at their own pace, taught by probably a virtual teacher and a module designed to teach a specific lesson. This phenomenon has started. There are parents who opt for homeschooling than the traditional education we got before. There are interactive lessons one can use to learn about something. As a matter of fact, some teachers I know use these sites as a take off for their lesson. Considering that the concept is relatively new, there will come a time when interactive sites like these can and will replace the teacher. These sites were made to be very interesting that one gets hooked from the very start. They are replete with wonderful, attractive colors, beautiful presentations, clearly thought out messages, etc. that will make one bite hook, line and sinker - all the more reason for us in the academe to be creative with our lessons and make learning a truly worthwhile experience. Follow these simple rules next time you make your learning plans:

Dare to be different- a teacher who has been teaching a subject in the same way he/she has been taught or in the same manner as others have taught it for so many years is not being creative. Such a teaching style is as predictable as the rising of the sun at the east in the morning. At least, with regard to the weather, the sun may not show in case of rain. But a teaching style that is predictable would lose its essence and children will anticipate the lesson, be contented with “tips” given by an older brother/sister or friend, and are more likely to abandon critical thinking. Worse is if the style being used has been rendered obsolete and one didn’t know about it. Teaching involves continued learning. This can be done not only by enrolling in a graduate school but also through education of one’s self through research and reading.

Come up with original ideas - teaching styles that have been copied elsewhere is not only unoriginal, but such a style may not be within the milieu or experience of the learner. Often, we read books designed to cater to western thought, viz., American, with its cultural slant/biases, nuances in language and moral fabrications. The learner will have a hard time learning something that is far from his/her own experiences.

Find valuable lessons - who would care whether what you’ve done is unique or not if it does not hold any merit at all? So, you’ve invented a hundred ways to strike a match. So what? Students will never see the relevance of the topic at hand if they cannot see the practical use of why such a lesson should be learned.
Sir Ken added, (M)ost original thinking comes through collaboration and through the stimulation of other people’s ideas. Nobody lives in a vacuum. Sometimes, ideas come unexpectedly. It is sparked by something while you eat, talk to strangers, interact with students and co-teachers. Keep your eyes open to new ideas gathered from listening to others while they narrate their experiences, their dreams and aspirations.

Eureka! is a term said to have been shouted by Archimedes upon discovery of something significant. Who knows, in our pursuit of well-written, well-thought-out learning plans, there will come a day when we will be shouting eureka!

References:
Why Creativity Now? A Conversation with Sir Ken Robinson with Amy M. Azzan (September 2009. Vol. 67. No. 1 pp. 22 -26)
http://lonestar.texas.net/~mseifert/crit2.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Toffler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_overload

note: this article appeared in Sinag-Berde (The institutional newsletter of our school) p.11 - 13, vol.12, issue no. 2, SY2009 -2010)

Goodbye 2009

Once again, another year shall have passed and my words still have to "fork lightning" so I guess I will have to "rage, rage against the dying of the light!" Time is of the essence now as I am nearing the fourth quarter of my life. It is the end game and it is time to bet all my marbles.

My problem is I have too many interests! From where I stand now, it looks like one interest stands in the way of making the other stand out and make me really good at it. So, based on that, while practically all of my interests had made men famous, none of these will make me one. Sure, I thought of being rich or famous one day but I shall play the cards I have been dealt with. There is nothing wrong with a life that is simple and uncomplicated when the return is happiness.

Happy New Year to all.

paintings for canada

My watercolors ---



These paintings are bound for Toronto


Property of Mr. and Mrs. Espiritu

Wala lang magawa

Pasyong Mahal Ni San Jose

Pait, katam at martilyo,
ibubulong ko sa inyo
ang masaklap kong sikreto:
hindi ko pa inaano
ay buntis na ang nobya ko.

Ang sabi ng anghel, wala
akong dapat ikahiya,
walang dahilang lumuha;
dapat pa nga raw matuwa
pagkat Diyos ang gumahasa.

Martilyo, katam at pait,
makukuha bang magalit
ng karpintero? Magtiis.
Ang mahina at maliit,
wala raw laban sa langit.

--Jose F. Lacaba

The poem starts as an address poem as it murmurs to the pait, katam at martilyo which represent an artist’s tools used to mould life into his works. Works that had been continuously been misused, dictated upon and bereft of their true value as they have been serving the pleasures of a despot.

The poem is obviously a protest against the dictatorship of the Marcos tandem, the gods in Philippine soil during the 70’s. Using St. Joseph and his ordeal upon hearing the news that his fiancée was pregnant albeit the absence of carnal knowledge as a metaphor, the poet illustrates the carnage wrought by the Marcos government of the country’s economy and most of all, the pillage of Philippine culture as has been managed and manipulated by the self-professed patroness of the Arts, Imelda.

The third stanza talks about the crony or puppet, who, with his gift of gab, appeases the artist and not complain and on the contrary, be thankful because the gods has bestowed their blessings to his art.

The fourth stanza is inevitable. The lowly artist cannot do anything but to suffer for after all, beggars cannot choose but succumb to the will of the mighty.
While the poem was directed towards the seventies, it is interesting to note that this can still happen in a country where people who has arrogated to themselves the power of the gods, rule the affairs of government. A few years back, the National Press Club received flak for its censorship of a painting they themselves commissioned to celebrate press freedom in the country. They commissioned neo-Angono artists to make a mural but later on asked someone else to make alterations on the mural prior to its inauguration as they found several objectionable details which they thought were critical of PGMA and her policies in government.

Unfortunately, Lacaba’s poem will always be relevant as long as we have people whose myopic views only allow pictures that will not leave a sour taste in their sour-infested mouths. The poem will always be relevant in a land governed by people who govern by might and not by mind for always, the arts will be there to question, open the eyes of those who remain sleeping in the dark.

If man's justice fails, God will surely take over.

I condemn to the highest degree the massacre that happened in Maguindanao yesterday. It is an act of barbarism and utter cowardice that armed men, reportedly numbering to a hundred, would viciously attack unarmed people, rape the women and behead their helpless victims. These people are a disgrace to the Filipino, who albeit living in dire straits, has, since time immemorial, proved his tenacity to uphold his dignity through honest perseverance and hard work. Too bad, that living with him are goons of politicians who seem to live during the stone age when a woman can be had by pounding her head with a staff. There is no honor in getting what you want through sheer force. On the contrary, there is too much honor in even a lost battle but fought hard through intelligence, patience and perseverance.

What these barbarians did was an act of treachery to the Filipino and to the entire nation. They do not deserve to live in a civilized world where open minds and liberal ideas should prosper. May the wrath of the Lord bestow upon them and their tribes.

Erap(tion)

I will never understand how a lawyer works. It seems like no matter what the law says, lawyers will always find a way to get around it. This boils down to the best lawyer being the one to find the solution to the hardest problem at hand. The one who could be sleazy enough to take you out of the tightest situation. And we're only talking about fair being fair. No bribes or relatives or fraternity brothers working on the sides.

This thought has been sparked by the insistence of Erap to run for the highest position in the land once more. If an ordinary man was to read the law, it is plain and simple. He cannot run again for that office. However, his lawyers argue that the provision in the constitution does not apply to him as he was not able to finish his term, blah blah blah. Ironically, I believe that is the ultimate reason why he can't. If I remember my history correctly, the provision was made to prevent a bad president from staying in office and do more damage. This was done to prevent another Marcos from re-assuming office and using the powers of the same to remain for a very long time, which Marcos actually did using his constitutional mumbo jumbo.

I know as much that when the law is ambiguous and there is uncertainty as to its interpretation, we look back at the framers of said constitution and try to find the spirit behind the law. To me, the spirit behind the prohibition is for elected presidents not to run for office again, whether they did well or not, lest we are stuck with a very bad president. It never said anything about whether or not such term was completed. It says "elected". We only have to remember that the present constitution was made right after the ouster of strongman Marcos and that it was done in fear of history repeating itself. How could that be hard to understand?

Was Erap a bad president? Erap was ousted from office because the people believed he was not a good one. As a matter of fact, the court has decided, with finality, that he used public funds to enrich himself. He was incarcerated for plunder and was only given, for whatever reason it serves the present President, pardon. How can he run for office and aspire to be re-elected? He said to let the public be the judge thinking that the masa that supported him before will do so again. He must have a short memory but I remember it was the public who went out of the streets to oust him.

Strange huh?

coming home soon!

The good news is that we are all finally coming home this weekend. My wife reported to me that the water have subsided in our area and is now passable. I can bring my car to and from school, yey!!!

As I am wont to do, I do not complain but try to find something good in everything that happens to me. What is it that I can find good in having to stay in another place for weekdays and get to see my family only during weekends?

How about staying in a mansion by your lonesome? I have a room which is almost as big as the entire second floor of my house. And since my school is just walking distance away, I do not have to contend with the terrible raffic at SLEX, plus the savings on gasoline and toll fees which when added up could be about almost three thousand a week. That's huge savings, isn't it?

With regard to my children, we have never bonded as much as the weekends we stayed in Antipolo. Why? Simple. There is no internet connection available. While we can use a wireless connection, we still have to go to the office and do computer work (play, in the case of my kids) which is kind of a trouble as we will have to ask the master of the house to open the offices and turn on the wireless network. While we can ask to work there during office hours, we don't as we will only get in the way, of course. There is no cable tv available in the area as well. While we do have dvd's, for some reason or another, we didn't watch anything at all. So with that set up, what else is there to do but play with the children. I play texas hold'em poker with my boys, my brother-in-law who is our host and his two boys. The girls are doing something else with their mom or their tita, but they are just nearby. Surprisingly, we end up at the wee hours of the morning just playing poker! Lately, my brother-in-law, as generous a host as he can be, had his darts, which he had for a long time but never set it up, put up on the patio and there, we play darts even with the girls. What fun was there to be had.

Lastly, I have learned that I have a lot of friends who are all willing to help me when I need it. What joy is there to know that there are people who are willing to sacrifice just so you do not suffer. While we were really not what we can consider as hapless victims considering the plight of others who really lost a lot, help came pouring in just the same even as far as Canada. Trudy, daughter of my good friend, Arlene who passed away on December 22, 2006 was frantic when she learned from the news about what was happening in Manila. Without hesitation, she wired money to us knowing that we were going to have to do some repairs to the house and whatever we would need to surpass this recent tragedy that befell the country. Consider it as a gift from mom, she said. That brought tears to our eyes as Arlene was a very generous friend and for her daughter to continue such act of kindness is overwhelming. Her brother, Stephe, too, asked what kind of assistance we would need. I assured him that we are okay.

Of course, the Brother President of my school has offered cash incentives to those who were affected by Ondoy. Allowing me access to the house of the Brothers is more than enough help I can get.

There are also those who would sacrifice some discomfort just to make my life easier. There is this teacher who volunteered to have her maid do my laundry. She adamantly asked for my clothes and so I ended up giving her my uniform. This is a lot of help as I will have to carry a lot of things in my bag to join my family on weekends. There's another teacher with whom I ride till Ugong where I can get a cab on my way to Antipolo. Big things and little things mean a lot when you are in distress. And these I got from this experience. We are truly blessed!

Updates

If you have been following the news, you would know that Pasig is still with water up to now. This does not come as a surprise as I have known that serious flooding like this happens to our place every 8 or 9 years as claimed by those who are native to the place. Well, I recall having gone home on a banca one late night in 1988. We were living in the place for just a couple of months and I had to stay late in what was once Rizal Theater as we were staging South Pacific at the time. I came home drenched from the rain and to my surprise could not find the usual tricycles plying the streets. Then I was told that the water level at the municipal hall where I should pass through going home was waist high. I did not know what to do as I was tired and all I had in mind was go home. I walked several blocks and found a banca with a load of about six or seven people in it. I asked the boatman if he can deliver me to my place and he said, yes.

The flooding happened again after several years. I failed to count how many as one does not record these experiences in full detail. Suffice to say that we managed to block the experience hoping we have seen the last of it. Anyway, during the second time, all my children were of school age and ride with me to and from school. As it would be very hard for us to ride the "boat" everyday, my wife and I decided to find a place where the children can go in the meantime. My eldest was forced to live in her best friend's house, my two boys in another nearby subdivision while I and my third child had to live with a family friend. This lasted for about a month, as usual.

So, on that Saturday while Ondoy was giving a lashing out its fury of torrential rain and my maid who had to buy something at the store reported that the water was already knee high just a few blocks away, I knew it would be flooding season again. What I was not expecting was for the water to reach the house. When I saw that the relentless rain won't be stopping anytime soon, I already had the good sense to move the car to higher grounds. When the water was about three inches at the gate, I decided it was time to move the furniture to a higher level. My efforts had not been in vain for the water did come to my house. The house was soaked to about eight inches of water. Any higher and it would have ruined our sofa. My siblings who are now occupying the house my parents built in Marikina did not fair as well. The water inside the house was about two feet deep and a lot higher at the road.

On Wednesday, after cooking food while our feet were soaked in murky water and delivering the food upstairs, we decided to move out. The water was beginning to smell and I had occasion to see a dead rat, bloated and floating on the water. We moved to a shoe factory in Antipolo owned by my sister in law's husband. The water level there was much higher but at least we are at the fourth floor where the house is. We stayed there until Sunday while thinking of where to stay in the next weeks while classes shall have been opened.

My daughters now live with a family friend's daughter's condo unit in Makati, the youngest lives in his friend's house while Mickey stays with another family friend. I had been given permission to live in a house recently acquired by the school. I live here by my lonesome. We reunited last weekend in Antipolo and returned to our temporary stations. This will have to be our arrangement until the water in our place have subsided.

Don’t tell me we’re doomed!

It's a little late but I have to do a follow-up of my last post. My wife and two boys arrived in batches the following day, Sunday. They braved the waist high flood to reach the house. Mickey, who was supposed to go to Bulacan Saturday was stranded at Osmeña Blvd., Nitz stayed at the University, and Coby stayed with a friend's friend's condo unit.

Since then, love has been coming our way. While I believe we do not really need relief at this time, friends have been coming and offering help. Mickey's friends at the orchestra came and gave us a gas tank, a sack of rice and other goodies Monday brought to us by his friend, Bob Brillante and his friend. This morning, my eldest's company, represented by their HR gave out several donations, too. I also received a message from Trudy and Stephe, Arlene's children, offering help. We all had a tear in our eyes when Trudy said "consider it as a gift from mom!" Arlene is by far the most generous person I have ever known and now, even her children are showering us with so much. I don't know if I can even reciprocate such friendship. While we do need some supplies are these were about to be depleted soon, we plan to share our blessings to relatives who have been victims of the calamity. My siblings in Marikina, for one, needs help I'm sure, although they have not asked for anything at all. My wife's brother's house was also heavily inundated.

It’s been days since typhoon Ondoy struck Luzon and still the country is barely able to address the pressing demands for relief for the victims. And to think typhoon Ondoy did not hit Manila in its full intensity. It was just a signal number two alert. As a matter of fact, CHED never called off classes relying on PAGASA (which also means hope in tagalog or the lack thereof) saying that it wasn't a full blown typhoon yet. The downpour was very heavy though that the clogged flooding system in the city just cannot contain the onslaught of water. We have known this to be a fact since the seventies and still we have not done anything. Squatters still live miserably along river banks, the river is still plagued with the city’s debris of chemicals and toxic wastes. However, we cannot blame this malady to just the squatters alone but the whole Filipino populace as well. We have been complacent and passive. To say the least, we had it coming. We have known the benefit of proper garbage disposal, segregation of waste, the ill effects of using styrofoam and plastic but we do not heed. No matter what we say, people are still wantonly throwing their wastes irresponsibly. We still think that laws are made for others while we are exempt from it.

Let’s face it. Manila is not ready to face a calamity. We rely heavily on the private sector to aid us in the most trying of times. Government do not have the capability to address a major catastrophe. Too bad for we are situated in a land where calamities are wont to strike anytime. We lie in a very unsteady earthquake belt and typhoon infested zone and yet we do not do anything about it. It would interest you to see what I discovered in facebook.

I saw a video clip of a committee hearing the impeachment complaint being railroaded by the majority members.

A home without the comforts of a house: Typhoon Ondoy

(I wrote this on my laptop while Typhoon Ondoy was still pouring in more rain)

When we moved to this house in 1988, there was a big flood. It stayed for a month and we had to ride a banca to and from the house. It was too late for us to back out as we have already started paying the mortgage and there’s nowhere else to go.

They told us flooding happens in this part of the city every 8 years or so. I would not be surprised for after all, the river’s delta is just a stone’s throw away although one cannot realize this to be so for the river’s view is blocked by houses and other commercial edifices. But that was okay. Our house is spared from inundation. In my years of experience living here, our place was like a tiny island surrounded by brown, murky, filthy water that was knee-high. The municipal hall which was about two hundred meters away would have floods that reached the neckline. We have had this flood two more times ever since. We had to ask friends from the south to take the kids in for just a while until the flooded streets subsided. Kraiganne who was then in sophomore high, had to stay with her best friend in Ayala Alabang. The boys had to stay with Mickey’s best friend while Kim and I slept with our family friend’s family. Nitz had to stay behind to take care of the house and her aging mother. It was a lot of hassle to us and to the families we had to disturb.

But the hassles then were nothing compared to what we are experiencing now. The flood has reached our premises and beyond. I had to transfer the car to what I thought would have been safer grounds. This is the first time that we had to raise up the furniture, disconnect the electronics and put them to a safer place at the second floor lest they get soaked in water and break. The toughest was the refrigerator.

What’s worse is that Nitz and the two boys decided to go to school. “Classes are not suspended,” they argued. So, they’re now stuck in Taft while we had to find ways to raise everything, cook food and bring it up so that we can eat. But we always have to think positive and look at the brighter side. The good thing is that we now have a toilet and bath upstairs. I can just imagine the horrors if we still had the old house where we only had one bathroom downstairs. Taking a bath would have been very uncomfortable. Using the toilet would have been horrendous.

It's Sunday. The rains have stopped and I was hoping the water level would have gone down but to no avail. For some reason or another, it has not abated an inch. Hopefully, this is not that kind of flood that stays for months! The phone is now busted and I have no idea exactly where Nitz and the boys are. Not really. Coby decided to take his chances going home and got stuck inside his friend’s car. The last time I heard from him is that he is in a condo unit of a friend. Mickey, likewise, is stuck in traffic I don’t have a freakin’ idea where. Nitz is still somewhere in school. Her office got inundated too and had to transfer. I don’t think they are coming home anytime soon. The water level outside the subdivision is still waist high. (note: They manage to come home around noon)

Before my laptop’s batteries go dead on me, let me blurt out my sentiments on someone out there who will not even get a glimpse of what I have written. Nonetheless, my ramblings might give me some relief. I have no one to blame but the incompetence of education officials to at least have a modicum of intelligence not to trust the weather bureau and its outdated machines and announce a no class day based on what they are seeing outside the comforts of their homes. I blame the city engineers for not having an iota of an idea how to prevent flooding or at least make it go away as soon as possible. Most importantly, I blame the government officials for their greed plaguing this forsaken land with corruption so that they can live in luxury and wanton pleasure regardless of the plight of the citizens who they pledged to serve who are living in misery.

Noynoy for president?

Since the time Noynoy expressed his intention to join the presidential race, allegedly after a deep soul-searching retreat in a religious institution his mother sought before she ran for office, the senator is now on cloud nine. Why not? His candidacy looks even brighter today after a contested survey named him as the person to beat in the 2010 elections. Actually, landing in the top spot does not come to me as a surprise considering the outcome of Cory’s funeral parade which was attended by millions of Filipinos. If we eradicate cheating, which is bound to happen in whatever form during the polls, from among the variables and granting that we are about to have the cleanest elections with the introduction of automated machines, the question to ask is will Noynoy be able to sustain the people’s interest in him considering that 2010 is still a long way and that Filipinos sometimes have a very short memory.

I believe Noynoy does not share the charisma his parents have. Neither does he have the flare of his father’s tongue and quick wit nor his mother’s halo. At least not the Noynoy I have known so far. While he does not come as someone who is bobo, he is short of being a complete nondescript to date. With his lisp and a good surname, he is continuously overshadowed by a sister whose flare is au naturel who insists in giving him a make-over like as if she was Carson Kressley of the Queer eye for the straight guy show. What he actually needs is Kris’ handlers and acting tutors. In all fairness, in both instances I saw her on the boobtube, (one during her expose of being a battered woman and her eulogy for Cory), her timing is impeccable, her stance and gestures on camera, superb.

Noynoy will need a lot of things to work on. Especially now that Archbishop Vidal, whose organization helped a lot with Cory's candidacy and will prove to be a very strong ally, is threatening to disown him after learning about his stand on childbirth control. I am not a political analyst. Of course, I can be way off. But that's not important. I have not made my choice yet as to who to vote for in 2010. I will have to wait until all the hats are thrown into the ring. If Noynoy's credentials are as good as they want to make me believe, then I shall be voting for him. I do not agree with the Administration's pronouncements that the coming elections will not be about good vs. evil. Of course, the administration players will not join a game where they are sure to lose. On the contrary, I believe it is about good against evil this time. Let's see which one shall prevail.

Ample

This is my latest creation which is to be owned by a friend of some twenty eight years or so. He will be celebrating his birthday tomorrow. He is also about to bless his own four-storey building which shall be his new home and printing press combined. He has gone a long way out of honest, hard work and perseverance. I join him and his family in celebrating a life of more abundance, good health and peace.

Linggo ng Wika

I had been asked by the Filipino coordinator to join his little poetry contest in celebration of the Linggo ng Wika and I obliged. Here's the original poem I wrote in Tagalog and my english version. Hope you like them.

Pano bang mamuhay ng malaya?

Tunay ka bang malaya
pagkat ika’y wala sa hawla?
Hindi naninilbihan sa hindi kadugong
iba ang kulay ng balat at anyo?
Malaya ka ba dahil nasisilayan mo ang araw,
napagmamasdan ang buwan
at nararamdaman ang init ng haplos
ng hanging amihan sa gitna ng kadiliman?

Baka naman ika’y parang sampung daliri
na oo nga’t malayang kumilos nang walang paglilimi
pagmasdan mo’t ang kilos naman nito’y
kumporme pa rin sa natural na daloy
pagkat ito’y nakadikit sa iyong palad
kahit gaano pa man ito kalapad.
Oo nga’t maaari kang pumunta kahit saan
ngunit paano itong gagawin kung bulsa mo’y
butas hanggang sa kailailaliman?

Maituturing bang malaya ang isang kaluluwang
ipinapanganak pa lamang ay baon na sa utang?
Utang na ginastos ng walang kapararakan
ng hindi naman dayuhan bagkus ay isang kalahi
na buong hayok na niyurakan yaring kalooban.
Siya na halos isuka ang pagkasarap-sarap na pagkaing
nakahain sa mamahaling pinggan
sapagkat siya’y bundat na sa kabusugan
habang ikaw nama’y kumukulo
ang maasim na sikmurang
parating walang laman.

Ilang beses na bang pinakawalan
itong ibong pipit mula sa kanyang piitan?
Di ba nga’t tuwing may pagtitipong ganyak
Itong mga tibak na hamak
mikoropono’t gitara ‘y pihadong tangan
paliliparin ito at pagbuka ng pakpak ay hahayaan
Subalit , kaibigan, ito’y sa awit lamang
kaya’t kawawang ibo’y umiiyak pa rin sa parang.

Ano ang ganda ng bulaklak na busilak
kung ang pang-amoy mo nama’y manhid
pagkat binara ang ilong mong makitid
ng sangsang ng amoy na basurang hatid?
Aanhin mo ang ganda ng sikat ng umaga
kung bulag ka naman sa sinapit ng inang bayan?
Ano ang silbi ng tamis ng tunog na dulot ng lira
kung bingi ka naman sa panaghoy ng batang ulila?

Malaya ka nga ba kaibigan
pagkat sa hawla ika’y hindi naninirahan?
Pakaisipin mong mabuti
ang ibong pipit na nakapiit ay pihadong kakain
anumang sandali, minsan nga’y pinipilit
samantalang ika’y wala man lang kahit ano
umaasa lamang kung anong sasapit
na tila baga isang aso
nakatali at nag aalumpihit.


What Does It Mean to Live a Free Man?

Can you consider yourself free
because you do not live in a cage;
do not serve foreign masters
who look different than you?

Can you say you’re truly free
just because you can see the sun,
gaze at the moon and feel the gentle breeze
touch your face in the dead of night?

Maybe you are just like your ten fingers
that can move at will
but whose movements are dictated
by the confines of your hand.
Yes, you can go anywhere you please
but cannot do so with barely a dime.

Can one consider free a soul
born heir to debt amounting to trillions?
A debt ill-spent not by a foreign
conqueror but someone of the same race,
who with voracious greed ravaged your being.
He who almost puked the delicious delicacies
served on ornate platters with silver spoons
because he is fully satiated and cannot have more
while your empty stomach grinds
and growls from hunger.

How often have we set the sparrow free?
We have sung in the streets many times
“put a bird inside a cage and it will cry endlessly”
and so we let it go and set it to flight
but that was only in a song
and the poor bird still cries.

Can you claim freedom when all you feel
is the filth of moral degradation?
What is the beauty of a rose
if your sense of smell has been numbed
by the stench of trash all around?
What sweetness do you hear from the sound of a lyre
if you’ve gone deaf to the pleas of the orphaned child?
What will you do with the morning sun
if you’re blind to what has come to this land?

Are you truly free,
because you do not live in a cage?
The caged bird
is sure to eat for he’ll be fed morning till night
while you who have nothing
just like a fettered lapdog waits,
depending on what the day shall bring
if it will ever come.

One dinner that costs too much?

The now popular dinner that cost PGMA's entourage $21,000 got the people even madder than they already are. "It's just a simple dinner," as Remonde puts it. "Not a single centavo of taxpayers' money was spent for that dinner," he added saying that the famous repast was hosted and paid for by Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez. Furthermore, "A Php1 million dinner tab in Manila can be too much but not in New York," says QC Rep. Danilo Suarez, adding that he could have foot the bill..."

Several things come to mind. First, the simplicity angle. A dinner of soup, salad, a main course, drinks and coffee or tea may have been considered simple for their tastes but with that kind of bill, I cannot consider it simple. If we go by Rep. Suarez' argument, why then did the New York Post publish the cost of the dinner? If that was not news for it was indeed ordinary, NY Post would have just ignored it. Dog bites man is not news as opposed to a man biting the dog.

Remonde is quick in saying that he would ask the deputy executive secretary to release this week a financial statement on all expenses incurred during the visit. I do not have any doubt that it will yield nothing with regard to the dinner for it has been paid for by someone else, another government official. Hmmm, could he also look into the pork barrel of the said representative? Or yeah, maybe he is extremely wealthy like Mr. Suarez who is willing to foot the bill for he has lots of cash to spare. But then, the money could have been spent elsewhere, like education where hundreds of children could have benefited like, uhm, the place which he represents.

But of course, I can never understand their ways. Maybe what they have done is justified considering the fortunes of their circumstances and based on what they have. I remember a scene in Jesus Christ Superstar when Judas confronts Christ why He allows Mary Magdalene to use brand new, expensive fine ointment on Him, Jesus answers, "There will be poor always, pathetically struggling, look at the good things you've got." meaning He cannot save the poor by not using expensive things. But then, that's Tim Rice and the play is kind of blasphemous anyway. But maybe, just maybe, there is some truth in that. I will never understand what it is to be rich. I am merely an ordinary man trying to earn a living doing honest hard work. Working hard and staying poor, that is.

A lesson learned

As we mourn Cory's death, let us reflect and seriously think about what it means to us. If there's a lesson we all should learn about Cory Aquino's passing, it will be that a true leader is someone who has the people's blessing. Sure, one can use all the tricks in the book to be the top honcho but it does not necessarily mean success. And that is true even for someone with the noblest of intentions.

A true leader is made more by outside forces, circumstances that surround him/her. Cory is such. She never meant to be president. She never meant to be "the one" to oppose and stop the Marcos regime. She never meant to be the people's hero. And yet, all these happened. She was such by circumstance. Only a select few are chosen to lead like this. Cory was and she accepted it and did well.

We have seen political leaders who forced their way to office and how much the people hated them. More often than not, these self-anointed ones cling to power like their lives depended on it. And rightfully so. Their lives do depend on the powers they have arrogated to themselves. As Lord Acton said, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. As their powers grow, they tend to be dictators who have almost godly powers who can not be touched by mere mortals. Eventually, they begin to rule using fear and intimidation. How many lives were lost so that they can remain in power? You can just imagine how they would be once these powers are taken from them. Dictators fall and when they do, they fall really hard. We saw how Nicolae Ceaucescu of Romania was shot after a two-hour session with a kangaroo court, we saw how Idi Amin fall to nowhere, or Haiti's Francois Duvalier, dying a well hated man. We need not go far. Our very own Ferdinand Marcos, bright as he was, is now regarded as one of the greatest thief in history.

Cory Aquino is a hero by circumstance. She happened to be in the right place at the right time. Who would have thought that Marcos would be forced to call for a snap election while being interviewed by Ted Koppel? She became president simply because of her marriage to Ninoy Aquino, who was felled by a lone bullet of an unknown assailant. As a widow, she had the people's sympathy. As a leader, she had the charisma to lead a nation against a strongman who has ruled for twenty years. She never had any experience to run a country. As a matter of fact, the common joke when she was in power was saying her name with gestures like "Corazon (spanish for heart) and pointing at the heart, then saying C (si, yes) Aqui (here) then pointing to one's brain, and completing it with no!" She was definitely not as bright a politician as Marcos was but she had the determination to continue her husband's fight. She did not even seek vengeance and merely allowed the wheels of justice take its turn. She had the will to govern the people towards peace and contentment. She survived three coup attempts and even emerged as victor.

I recall the time when she had to address the US congress. I could never have been as prouder seeing my president being hailed and given a standing ovation by the leaders of a powerful nation. A nation, who for almost fifty years, would rule us making them our superiors for a very long time. Her speech was interrupted several times by a deafening applause that lasted for several minutes, probably one of the longest this august men and women gave to anyone. Then US House Speaker Ted O'neil regarded the speech "as the finest speech he's heard in his thirty four years in Congress." I believe it simply because this was one speech delivered with sincerity and with a lot of heart. Just as wonderful was her last address to the nation when she bid everyone goodbye. She was even being told that the constitution's prohibition for re election did not apply to her since she did not come into power under the present one. However, she refused saying, "I had not been inaugurated under the present Constitution and it did not bind me in strict terms, but I had campaigned for it and therefore took upon myself the moral obligation to follow, if not its letter then its spirit, that a presidency must accomplish its goal within six years.” Such an inspiring anecdote in the life of a real hero.

To all political leaders and would-be president, heed the lesson history has taught us. If you want to be great, do what great men and women do - selfless devotion to the country and its people.

Computers counting the ballots?

So much has been said about the computerization of the coming elections in 2010, if there is going to be one, of course. Honesty does not seem to be one of our president's virtues. She has lied to us many times before.

Granting that there shall be one, so much has happened, most of which were speculations, since we began thinking about computerizing this very controversial democratic exercise.

Perhaps the main reason why we are adamant in adopting this kind of technology, in spite of its tremendous cost to the taxpayer, into our system is, we are running out of ideas on how to conduct an honest and fair election. From the time Marcos got re-elected sometime in the 1960’s, at least to my mind as that was my first election related experience (I was in grade school at the time), the phrase “whoever has the guns, goons and gold" (not necessarily in that order) wins the election. Since then, losers have cried "foul" and "rampant cheating" like an "amen" to close a prayer. Sadly, we have learned to accept this as part of the elections.

Is computerization the answer to our woes come election time? While I hate to be a doomsayer, I doubt it for the following reasons:

1. The players have not changed! We will have to travel a long, arduous road to change these politicians ways. Losers will still cry they have been cheated. Never mind the evidences. They will do so just the same. They will find enough reasons just to justify having lost in their bid to power and fame. And maybe rightfully so. What with all the money they have spent on their campaign. There should be at least an ROI, if not in office, at least a justification for losing face. So, the journey is until kingdom come.

2. Corollary to number 1, we are only minimizing cheating in the counting, not the entire elections per se. Remember that this activity starts with the campaign period until a candidate has been declared a winner. Just right now, while the campaign period has not even started, we see the moneyed politicians unabashedly using the media to glorify themselves. We see the names of government officials glaring in our face with projects they have undertaken. Never mind that they were obligated to serve. Never mind that it was our money that was used for the same.

3. Vote buying can still happen. In a country where there is hunger and despair, where there are people who are living in dire straits, selling their votes is easy money and will solve their problem at least for the day.

4. How will the system correct flying voters, or fictitious voters whose names were taken from tombstones? We have seen it before. People long dead voting. Have we shouted hallellujah, it's a miracle? Never. We simply shrugged our shoulders and maybe winced in pain.

5. How certain are we that these machines cannot be manipulated? These are man-made and even the highest type of program can be hacked. I remember the snap elections when the computer operators marched out of the PICC because they were being forced to cheat. If that happened before, it can happen again. At any rate, it just proves that computerization is no guarantee that it will eradicate cheating.

A democracy like ours is based on the freedom of its citizenry to choose its leaders. It is unfortunate that this exercise has been abused much to the detriment of the people. But still, let us keep our fingers crossed that our money is being spent on something that is useful for us. After all, we have already suffered for too long. Surely, there is no other direction left but forward. But how long can we wait? We deserve a break!