Banking on good memories

Yes, I know it has been a very long time since my last post. Funny how you would want to document the 'memories' whenever you had a great one, hoping that you can come back to it when you grow old. This is exactly how I felt last Christmas day and on the 1st day of 2008. So here I am...trying to revive this blog...a little something to keep for my old days...

This pic is one of those rare shots where my whole family is in it. Usually, one of the older ones will be missing because he is taking the picture. This time my sister-in-law ('my eldest and only daughter') have taken the shot. She decided to spend her Christmas vacation with us at Los Banos...a blessing for the whole family every year. My two elder sons have really grown. They are bigger and stronger than I am now. My youngest son is now 3.5 years old and is starting to be as assertive as his father. Ramil and I are growing older...feeling the joint pains here and there...but we're definitely getting stronger. This was taken at the National Arts Center viewdeck where we decided to spend half of Christmas Day and half of the New Year's Day on a picnic with the "night before's" leftovers.

PALAWAN Encounter: DAY2

By the way, let me put a short definition of terms here. Palawan is a small island (area 14,896.3 km²) located southwest of the Philippines. It is my country’s cleanest and greenest province which is known for its diverse flora and fauna. The other term that I would like to define is the acronym IRRI, which stands for the International Rice Research Institute. The best rice research institute in the world. That’s my workplace and am proud being part of it.

Cinderellas at large: Step aside Prince

To continue…Getting up the next morning was a drag. I woke up at 5 am as usual (it’s a hard habit to break when you cook breakfast for your kids everyday who needed to be at school at 7 am!) I couldn’t go back to sleep but I don’t really want to lose this chance of getting up a bit late. I have no breakfast to cook or kids to bring to school today! Just for a change, I stayed under the sheets until it’s around 6:30am. Turned on the TV and switched between channels. It wasn’t a good sleep though. I missed snuggling with Ethan (my 1.8 years old son who occupies ¾ of our bed at home). But that’s something I should not think about at that moment. The plan was for me to take a break and for the people at home to be more independent of me. Today will be a great day. I will go to the Palawan Underground River. There are only 7 underground rivers in the whole world and one is right here! I wouldn’t miss that, not a chance. So I got up, took a bath, took time to dry my hair (with a hair dryer which I got over a ruthless fight with the front desk officer) and leisurely talk just about anything with my great roommate while dressing up. Why great? She’s the “whole house in a small bag”…food&coffee, meds, thread&needles…name it, she has it. No pressures on us now…just enjoying our time. Everyone is almost done with breakfast when we reached the buffet. Ask why were so late? Well, we’re both Cinderellas now and it’s way before midnight!!!

Heard of quadricycles?

Not like my great roommate who wore a classy blouse and slacks, I am in my denim jeans and cotton shirt. She’s going to the conference (which was our official business here) and I was heading to the underground river (UR). Three of us, me, my eldest colleague (male), and my youngest colleague (female) missed the package tour to the UR which left that 7am. This is the only day when we do not have much business with the conference. It’s today or never. So we head forth…we will commute…by OURSELVES. We went outside the hotel and rode a tricycle (a motorbike with a sidecar on its right side, usually having 3 tires – 2 for the bike and 1 for the sidecar. This time it has 4 tires, another 2 for the rather big sidecar – shouldn’t we call it some sort of quadricycle?)

The terminal adventure

The terminal to Sabang was 15 mins away. We arrived just in time to catch the last bus for the day. They only have 7am and 9am trips. The bus left 15 mins after 9 am and all 3 of us got excited…here we go! After running 50 meters from the terminal, it stopped at a grocery store, 10 meters more -- another store, 10 meters more -- another, 50 meters more –a meat shop and petroleum gas store, then a liquor store, then…waah! When will all these end? Assuming that we spent something like 10-15 mins at each store, it must have been 15 minutes past 10 am when we finally got out of the terminal area. The bus went for another 2 kms and we parked inside a big ice plant. Everything was re-arranged for the blocks of ice to be loaded. Then, the people in the ice plant slowly started to cut blocks of ice in half, wrapping them in jute sacks before placing them on top of the already overloaded minibus. One block after another, after another, after another until we had around 40 pieces of them on top of our heads. Talk about transport efficiency! When my oldest colleague started to ask questions about weight capacity of the bus…here’s what he got, “well, it’s the way it is…all the time!” After 30 mins in the ice plant, everybody’s sticky inside the bus. Our face, hands, and skin were all saturated with sweat and dust. I didn’t even dare to touch my own face. Gives me creeps! Finally, we were Sabang bound. The ice is always the last stop, right?

The journey: against all odds

The first ½ of the road was alternating asphalt and cement which meant that it wasn’t too shaky to travel. You can enjoy the ever green countryside with occasional bonus sites as enormous rock formations, well formed soil profiles, lion caves, plantation, and odd-looking roads traversing the whole cross-sectional stretch of Palawan. Then came the bloody half. It was a not so dusty but ever rocky road. We had bumps and shakes of an octopus ride through the deeps and mounds scattered all over the whole road. But these are the natural part of the trip, so we held on tight to keep ourselves in place. It was in the last ¾ part of the trip when the tires hit a big hole and started to hisss continuously. The bus stopped and olaH! – a flat tire! It was one of the 2 rear tires on the left side of the bus. Both my young and old colleague were seated right on top of that spot and we started kidding about whose jinx it was. It only took 15 mins to change the tire and not another transpo passed by. So we got back to our seats and continued the roller coaster ride. We were on the last 1/8 of the trip when we heard a loud ‘puff’ and a continuous ‘hiss’ coming out of the rear left again. Almost automatically, the people got off, talked a bit, got on again, and looked forward to reaching our destination. Jinx or not, it was getting bloodier and bloodier. During the last 1/16 of our trip…guess what? Right, another flat tire…same spot. Everyone knows it’s flat…nobody cared to stop and change tires. They said, “we’re almost there anyway.” It seemed like an everyday thing to these people, nobody worries about it…why should we?

The thunderstorm: the final challenge

As we approach the waterfront (where we will board a motorized boat going to the underground river dock), a thunderstorm passed by. Big drops (not droplets!) of rain started pounding on the metal roof. Everything turned gray and it was like 5% road visibility. The plastic fiber boards which were supposed to close our windows were falling apart that it needed a wooden slab support to keep it functioning. It’s not misty inside the bus anymore; everyone’s soaked with sweat and rain…the wind shields are foggy…it felt like we were breathing in what all the other passengers have been breathing out (let me out!)...a tire was flat…everyone’s cramped and exhausted…what else will follow? Fortunately, nothing else did. We reached the waterfront while the winds and rains peaked. As soon as the bus stopped, we stepped out immediately into the salty air of the South China Sea where a small booming town is emerging. It was still raining hard and we all raced toward the already crowded waiting shed. The rain was then falling at 45 degrees due to the strong wind with it. Everybody’s on their toes to fit into the very corner of the shed. At that point, my eldest colleague seriously asked me, “All the signs are here…are you sure that you still want to go?” I said, “I did not go through our plight just to back out at the gates! Of course, I do.” So the 3 of us didn’t waste more time, when we heard that our bus was the last and only bus going back that day, we asked the driver to wait for us. Surprisingly, that’s the only way that they saw it coming and they were very happy to wait for us. Did anyone else mind? NO. Such friendly no-time-pressure people!

The last leg

Assured that we will have a bus to ride back, we hurriedly got our permits (P150 each) to explore the underground river. We all then grabbed something to nibble on the way -- a bottle of water, a banana, and a soda cracker. It didn’t take much time to board the motorized boat since there are only 3 of us to fill in the relatively big boat. The rain and winds were suddenly gone and the water was calm now. Cruising along the western shoreline of Palawan makes me feel like a moving character on a post card. Deep, clear waters reflecting the artistically carved rock formations at the island edges. One would even feel guilty for disturbing the tranquility of the place…for breaking the silence and somehow endangering the waters with the motor boat fuel. When we reached the final turn at the most awaited cove, we went crazy taking pictures to capture the moment. But pics are pics…no amount of pixels would be enough to capture how the 3 of us felt that moment.

Dream breaker

The ‘relatively big boat’ docked around 2 meters away from the dry seashore sand. Here’s my problem -- I am in my rubber shoes and I don’t want them or my pants or my feet to get wet! Thanks to my already ‘certified-arthritic’ eldest colleague. Trying to be a gentleman, he volunteered to carry me on his back from the boat to the dry land. Yipee! While I am comfortably hanging on his back, I could see his face turning purple with all the neck muscles bulging out and body shaking. I started to giggle but did not show him to prevent him from falling off. Talk about excess baggage going to the underground river! Tatang, thank you!

The reap

Before you get to the riverbank, you have to go through a 15-min trek. Actually, it’s not an authentic trek; it was a walk in a forest park on a creaky wooden road. At the end, you will find an oddly constructed tent where they house the life guard vests and hard hats that tourists should wear inside the underground river. Along the bank is a bamboo barge for picture taking poses in front of the UR and several canoes with bamboo balances securely fastened on each side as additional floats. You won’t be satisfied by just looking at the underground river ‘door’. Staring at the solid rock façade, which was almost concealed by the surrounding moss, bushes, and trees, melts away your reality side. One will not expect that the undisputed longest navigable underground river (8.2 km) in the whole world is just underneath the mass of rock in front of us. The ‘door’ which is actually the entrance cave to the river is a not-so-wide stretch of stalactites hardly hanging above the water. After gearing up and boarding a canoe, the guide immediately paddled us toward the mouth of the cave which literally engulfed us in. The height of the opening is just enough to let us in on a sitting position without bumping our heads with the stalactite tips. Little did we know that after the narrow door comes an amphitheater which showcased all sort of enormous rock formation, statues, and dome cathedral. The canoe ride took 45 mins, back and forth gliding through roughly 1.3 km stretch. It was dark and pungent inside. We were finally inside the solid rock that I was staring at a min ago. Different breeds of bat had colonized and lined the high, dark ceilings of the cave. All you could hear are the occasional bat eeks, wings flapping, our bamboo pole splashing, and the continuous water droplets falling from the stalactite tips above. The only source of light that we had was an emergency light powered by a car battery. I was having goose bumps at first which made my mind wander over the sheer possibilities of not being able to get out again (I was a bit claustrophobic there) …of the chances that the walls of that overwhelming cave could start crumbling over us…of the depth of the still waters underneath…of the living creatures (aliens?) thriving in that brackish stream…uppss…I realized that I am ruining the ‘exploration of my life’ so I immediately dismissed the thoughts and enjoyed the overflowing funny ‘underground river’ stories coming out of our professional guide. Here’s one: What do you call the Philippine freshwater crocodile? Answer: Crocodylus mindorensis. What do you call the Philippine saltwater crocodile? Answer: Crocodylus porosus. So what do you call the Philippine dry land crocodile? Answer: Crocodylus senadores. Get it? Senadores…senators. After feasting our eyes with a Nature’s masterpiece for 45 mins, we headed back until we reach the blinding daylight outside. Reality set in…we made it. Mission accomplished. Now, we can proudly say that we’ve been to Palawan. It was almost 3:30pm and we hastily board our motorized boat to meet our patiently waiting bus. Overwhelmed and exhausted, we went up the bus as soon as we reached it. Since we know that it will still take a while before leaving, I went down the bus again to get some corn chips and soda before finally resting on our bus seats. Ready to travel 2.5 hrs back to the city. We will be late for the big banquet arranged by the city mayor for the conference delegates but…it’s all worth it…yes…including the 3 flat tires that we had and the thunderstorm.

PALAWAN Encounter: DAY1

I wasn’t able to sleep before the flight. So many things to do before leaving the KIDS alone for the whole week! The IRRI bus taking us to the airport leaves at exactly 4:00 am from Harrar Hall. As expected, I wasn’t able to catch up at the first stop but was able to catch up on the second. Thanks to my husband’s driving! It was a boring trip from LB to NAIA terminal where PAL passengers board. After the initial his and hellos with my colleagues, it was just sleep…sleep….sleep.

Stepping out of the bus and checking in for the boarding pass triggered a whole new string of excitement for us. It looks like an IRRI-filled airbus is leaving today. Traveling with my officemates made the whole experience quite ‘new’ and exhilarating. I soon realized that our youngest colleague is an added bonus to the trip. It was her first time to board a plane and undergo the airport encounter so everything was ‘doing what the Romans do’ experience for her. As candid as she is, she raised questions that you will normally want to know but will be afraid to ask…and that spelled FUN to the rest us.

Except for the occasional giggles and sighs coming from our youngest colleague, who had been taking photos of the ‘ants’ below, the plane travel was boring. They don’t have games in PAL flights. They served a slice of banana cake (Goldilocks) with water/juice/coffee. For those of us who’s not in the mood to eat, we just stuff them in our bags to serve as a free meal later.

The Palawan airport was hot and crowded with long queues for checked-in baggage. The conference, which I forgot to mention upfront, was well organized with shuttle service taking us to the Legend Hotel where we will be staying for the next 4 nights/days. Once in the hotel, we checked in, registered to the Crop Science Society of the Philippines (CSSP) Conference, and head out for a good lunch.

1st stop: Haim’s Chicken InatÔ

It was a ‘hut-type’ restaurant with 1 big hut and several (maybe 8-12) smaller huts. It was a busy place but guarantees superb, reasonably cheap grilled chicken meals. Clean food with the luxury of rural air. Everyone was hungry, we didn’t take much time to order. Just go for the specialty of the house. One for each of us. Then silence, everybody was quiet after the food was served. Good eat, low cost.

Hurriedly, we left the chicken resto to join the complementary ‘CITY TOUR’ offered by the hotel. We don’t wanna miss that…especially when it’s complementary.

2nd stop: IWAHIG (The prison without bars – a penal colony)
The first striking thing that you will notice when you reach this place is how neatly everything was laid out. You can practically feel the invisible presence of the local authorities over the ‘inmates’. True, it is their choice to remain within the confines of the ‘enemy line’ but to abide by the rules to the dot is another thing. You would want to talk or blab a joke with them (the ‘guys in brown and blue’) but you still feel the need to keep it to yourself so as not to stir their ‘dark side’. Makes you wonder how these peaceful faces could do crimes equivalent to spending their whole lifetime in ‘jail’. Who knows what I can do with my dark side unleashed?! Anyway, it looked like the guys in brown and blue shirts spend most of their time making handicrafts. They have lots of woodcrafts sizing from big sculptures to small key chains. Of course, they still have the sailing ships inside whiskey bottles as we see in old movies. Could you imagine how much time it takes to make these things? No, you can’t. Otherwise, you won’t buy them as souvenirs.

3rd stop: Crocodile Farm (In fairness, it’s not like everything’s crocodile here!)

Despite the air conditioning, it was kinda misty and humid inside the bus. Stepping out into the open air of the wide green frontage of the crocodile farm was a big break for my already screaming lungs. Upfront is a souvenir shop where you can buy all sorts of handicrafts made out of a fallen crocodile teeth to wooden/stone artwork and accessories. They are reasonably priced but not too unique from those found in IWAHIG. So, if you missed shopping for souvenirs in iwahig, you can catch up at the croc farm. The tour started with a mini-museum showcasing the different croc remains that the farm had collected to date. Next, we were brought to the croc egg hatchery and growing pens. Surprisingly, it’s not as foul smelling as I expected. It was obviously well maintained. We then proceeded to their own wildlife collection which ranged from rare birds to the nearly extinct bearcats! Anyway, if you’re so fascinated with crocs, this is the place to be. Croc eggs, baby crocs, young and wild crocs, aging croc…croc bones, croc skins…name it, they have it here.

4th stop: The Baker’s Hill

Funny how that sounds like? You could immediately imagine a hill crowded with bakeries, each offering all sorts of bread and pastries. Well, wipe off that grin on your face because that’s exactly what it is. Whoever came up with that concept is full-blooded entrepreneur. The place was packaged as a park where one could easily buy a bread and a drink while leisurely talking to a friend or simply taking a walk along the windy hill. If you ever had a chance to visit this hill, don’t leave without taking a bite of Palawan-famous hopia monggo (moon cake). It just melts in your mouth…found nowhere else.

5th stop: Congressman Mitra’s Residence: A log-rich vacation house

It was one of those seldomly used vacation houses of the rich. It was close as usual. People are allowed to come but are not allowed to enter. Almost everything is brown simply because almost all of it is made of wood. A sprawling type as it is, the central support post located at the midsection of the house is the most interesting part of the house. I is a log-post with approximately 1 meter diameter. You would almost want to count the concentric annual rings in it if possible. The wine bar, the dinning, the living, the veranda…almost everything is made out of good wood…I even had to control myself from estimating how many trees were used in coming up with such beautifully crafted house overlooking the lower plains of Palawan down to the shoreline. It’s peaceful, quiet, and so so romantic! So, why doesn’t anyone live there? If he’d ask me…hmmm..wait…maybe, it’s hunted.

After that, we head back to our hotel. It was almost dinner anyway and we had to plan out a good dinner that night. We heard a good resto just around the corner, so we went up to our rooms, wash up, and head out again.

6th stop: Dinner at BALINSASAYAW

Balinsasayaw? It’s a particular breed of a local bird which makes the edible nests found on the walls of the El Nido cave located north of Palawan. It was again a hut type resto where clients are designated with their own hut to occupy. The food was great and reasonably priced. Several packaged meal choices were designed and offered for customers coming in as groups. These make it even more affordable. There are other more expensive restos around like KALUI and others but I doubt if the food will taste anywhere different than the affordable Balinsasayaw banquet.


Dinner was sumptuous. It’s still my first day in Palawan but I felt like I’m 2 pounds heavier than I was this morning when I left our house. Now, we all felt tired and sleepy. As sleepy as Garfield and as pampered as a Thanksgiving Day turkey. Slowly…slowly…we all got short of words. Nothing in mind but the cozy bed waiting for us at the hotel. We were on the road since 3 o’clock am. As we approach our rooms…everything turned heavy...heavy eyelids, heavy feet, heavy head…an air conditioned room, quiet and peaceful space, warm bed sheets…z z z z z z.

Programming for Non-programmers?

After creating this blog last March, I immediately felt the need to study the programming language that created it. I went through an HTML tutorial and find it quite interesting. It’s not as complicated as one may think. There’s just a basic structure that you need to follow and you “format” the appearance of the site in a styling portion located within the body of the program. ‘Tags’ define the structure of the web page while the ‘attributes’ and their corresponding ‘values’ describe how it will look like. You don’t have to memorize them all. A list is always available online or on print. So, for people like me, whose education and training are mainly on science, don’t get intimidated with programming. It’s not just an incoherent set of numbers and letters, it’s a very systematic way of naming things which is surprisingly very easy to follow. If you have time and you’re interested, you can check out this site: http://www.goer.org/HTML.

A quick update

Whew! I know you’ve noticed that I haven’t been posting for a while. Well, I got a bit busy in the lab, doing revisions on several graphs, running stats on some data, and ….editing my links! Check out my links! You can forget the rest of the things that I did but don’t forget to check my links. You see, I have listed down the sites I found most useful to me as a growing person, housewife, mom, researcher, and as a blogger. I hope you’ll find them useful too. Until next!

HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY!

To all the women of the world. HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY! Yes, today is the official women’s day set by the UN.

What will happen to the world without women? A ‘quieter’ and peaceful world? WRONG! Call me a feminist but I’m sticking out with this stand. Who will bear and nurture the next generation? Who will raise them as a feeling individuals? Who will discipline them according the emotions and values of the society? Who will give them the sense of concern for the welfare of the people around them? True, some men will be able to do these things but the funny thing is…when men are of this type, they must be complemented with women who are more or less not this type to make the family work. Get it? Women are flexible and adjust to what situations call for. Men are a bit stiff with this. Because of the precious masculine image? I don’t know. All I know is that men need women as much as women need them. It’s a complementary thing. One is never better or more important than the other. You see, too much pride is a sin. Anyway, here’s a story which will surely touch your heart. Clearly demonstrates how a mother and a teacher can shape up what type of person you ought to be when you grow up. Anyway, just read on and enjoy your day!

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.
Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers. At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise. Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... he is a joy to be around.." His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle." His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest, and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken." Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class." By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to." After the children left, she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her "teacher's pets.." A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life. Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life. Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer.... The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD. The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom . Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference." Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you." (For you that don't know, Teddy Stoddard is the Dr. at Iowa Methodist in Des Moines that has the Stoddard Cancer Wing.)

My country politics

Here's an interesting email that i got from a friend. You see, my country is in a difficult situation right now and everybody is worried whether our country will be able to survive all the pestering politicians governing her. I think it all boils down to the chronic misconception of the word 'democracy'. Although democracy also provides that the people of the country should have the right for expression and assemby, one should always remember that --- whatever right it provides, it should live with the condition that the action taken will not create any harm or put anyone or your country to any danger. By that alone, one can see that these pestering politicians are not supporters of democracy but are, in simple terms, the 'pests' of the country. They may believe otherwise and feel famous and heroic most of the time but they are just 'pests' to me. I just hope that they be eradicated soon. Not literally, that is.

Please read on. The author did not uncover his/her identity but his/her point of view picks up most of the thoughts that may be common for most of the thinking Filipinos of today. Well, at least, I can relate to what he/she is saying.

To El Barako, Cheers!

The email:


“SO THIS MIGHT REACH THEIR PERSONAL EMAILS!”

El Barako

From a reader, who refuses to be identified, comes this compelling e-mail. It presents a fresh viewpoint on the current situation and deserves to see print:


Dear Tita Cory, senators, congressmen, businessmen, media people, leftists, and all bleeding hearts out there,

I am angry. And I know that there are many out there who are angrier than I am for the same reason. And that reason is simple. I am sick and tired of all you guys claiming to speak for me and many Filipinos.

I feel like screaming every time you mouth words about fighting for my freedom and my rights, when you obviously are just thinking about yours. You tell me that the essence of democracy is providing every citizen the right to speak his or her mind and make his or her own informed judgments, but you yourselves do not respect my silence and the choices I and many others have made. In other words, your concept of democracy is limited to having your rights and your freedoms respected, at the expense of ours.

I am utterly flabbergasted that you still do not get it: we already responded to your calls, and our response has been very clear —we chose not to heed your calls to go to Edsa or to Fort Bonifacio not because we do not love our country or our freedoms or our rights, but precisely because we love our country even more. Because quite frankly, we are prepared to lose our freedoms and our rights just to move this country forward. You may think that is not correct, you can tell me all the dire warnings about the evils of authoritarian rule, but quite frankly all we see is your pathetic efforts to prop up your cause. You tell me that you are simply protecting my freedo ms and my rights, but who told you to do that? I assure you that when I feel that my rights and my freedoms are at a peril, I will stand up and fight for them myself.

You tell us that GMA is not the right person to lead this country because she has done immoral acts. As someone who sees immorality being committed wantonly in many ways every day and by everyone (yes, including you), I may have become jaded. But you have not been able to offer me any viable alternative, while GMA has bent over backwards many times to accommodate you while continuing to work hard despite all the obstacles and the brickbats you have thrown her way. From where I sit, she is the one who has been working really hard to move this country forward while all of you have been so busy with one and only one thing: to make sure she does not succeed. So forgive me if I do not want to join you in your moral pissing contest. Forgive me if I have chosen to see things from another perspective.

You say she is the problem. I say, we are the problem; more to the point, I think you are a bigger problem than she is. Taking her out may solve part of the problem, but that leaves us with a bigger problem: you. That is right,
you!

While I felt outraged that she called a Comelec official during the elections and that she may have rigged the elections, I have since then taken the higher moral ground and forgiven her. Yes, my dear bishops, I have done what you have told me to do since I was a child, which you say is the Christian and moral thing to do: forgive. Especially since she has asked for forgiveness and has tried to make amends for it. Erap certainly has not apologized and continues to be defiant, continuing to insult us every day with his protestations. Cory has not apologized for her incompetence but we have forgiven her just the same because like GMA, she has worked hard, after all.

I know you think that GMA’s apology was not enough, or that she was insincere, or that that apology should not be the end of it, but please spare me the hypocrisy of telling me that you do so for the sake of protecting the moral fiber of society. The real reason is because you smell blood and want to go for the kill.

Well, I have news for you. I do not like her, too. I did not even vote for her. I voted for Raul Roco. But as much as I do not like her, I do not like you even more. I may not trust her, but guess what: I do not trust you even more.

You know why? Because all you do is whine and sabotage this country. You belittle every little progress we make; conveniently forgetting that it is not just GMA who has been working so hard to achieve them.

Every single day, we keep the faith burning in our hearts that this country will finally pull itself o ut of the mess and we work so hard to do that. Every little progress is the result of our collective effort, we who toil hard every day in our jobs. Yet, you persist in one and only thing: making GMA look bad in the eyes of the world and making sure that this country continues to suffer to prove your sorry point. In the process, you continue to destroy what we painstakingly try to build. So please do not be surprised that I do not share your cause. Do not be surprised that we have become contemptuous of your antics. You have moved heaven and earth to destroy her credibility, you have convened all kinds of fora and hearings and all you have done is test our patience to the core. For all your effort, you have only succeeded in dragging us further down. I say enough.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not asking that we take immorality lying down, or that we let the President get away with anything illegal. But you have tried to prove your accusations all this time and you have not succeeded, so it is time to let things be. Besides, you are doing something immoral as well if not utterly unforgivable. The Magdalo soldiers are consorting with the communists—the same people who have been trying to kill democracy for years. Cory has been consorting with Erap and the Marcoses.

So please wake up and take a reality check. In the absence of true and genuine moral leadership, many of us have decided to cast our lot with the President, even if we do not like her. A flawed leader is better than scheming power-hungry fools who cannot even stand up for their convictions in the face of an impending arrest.

Your coup attempts and the denials that you have consequently made only underscored what we think is true: you are spineless and unreliable people whose only defense is to cry suppression when your ruse does not work. You are like bullies who taunt and provoke, but cry oppression when taken to task for your cruelty.

I would have respected you if you took the consequences of your actions like real heroes: calmly and responsibly instead of kicking and screaming and making lame excuses. You say you are willing to die for us, that you do all these things for the country and the Filipino, but you are not even willing to go to jail for us.

Come on, you really think we believe that you did not want to bring down the government when that is the one and only thing you have been trying to do in the last many months?

We love this country and we want peace and progress. Many among us do not give a f—k who sits at Malacañang b ecause we will work hard and do our share to make things work. If you only do your jobs, the ones that we elected you to do, things would be a lot simpler and easier for every one.

The events during the weekend only proved one thing. You are more dangerous and a serious threat to this country than GMA is. We have seen what you are capable of doing—you are ready to burn this country and reduce everything to ashes j ust to prove your point. If there is something that we need protection from, it is protection from you.

My world

Tadadah! Meet my world. That’s me in blue, holding our third son (who is very focused in this photo), age 1.5 but was around about 8 months in this pic. The good looking older guy at the back is my loving husband. The one in yellow is our second son, the whiz of the family, age 11. And the one in gray is our eldest, the musician of the family (don’t worry son, I’ll also mention that you are bright but you are the most musically inclined among us), age 15. Well, now that the faces are there, maybe I could start relating family stories which you may find useful and life lesson generating. Really simple things like everyday situation with which you can relate to.

Ok, that’s it for now. Need to do something else. I’ll see you in my next posting!