Thursday, November 1, 2018

SPOOKY NIGHT: Heritage Memorial Park



Before dash-cam became fad, there was reverse sensors. I have both in my car. I came to the Heritage Park to pick up my wife who visited her sister’s grave. It was past midnight. If the traffic is light, it is 10-15 minutes drive from Maharlika Village. 

My reverse sensor went haywire as I shifted the gear to reverse as in really “rapid warning” as if I am about to hit someone. I didn’t see anyone on my side-mirrors and on my back dash-cam view. After the third time, I stepped out of my car and walked around the back expecting to find a cat, a dog, a rabbit or a hamster pet that someone may have taken to the cemetery…a favorite pet of someone departed but there was nothing.

I returned to the driver’s seat then Nishreen who sat right behind me in the back seat retorted; “mga spirit lang iyan dad” (they are just spirits dad), she laughed, “…patay na sila.” (they are already dead meaning they cannot die again even if I run them over).

The spirits of the dead didn’t cross mind. I laughed!

“Makikiraan lang po,” (just passing through) I said loudly and ignored the sensor’s warning.

Monday, September 24, 2018

8 TRILLION PESOS: don’t let them take the loot and run



BE VIGILANT

DON’T LET THEM TAKE THE LOOT AND RUN

We accepted “Train Law” (New Taxes) because they promised us the moon and the stars (Build3) but almost half way and we haven’t seen any of it take off the ground in a significant manner.

We are fuming mad from the previous administration’s corruption but hey – they didn’t add taxes to your daily bread and your gasoline to 6 pesos/liter.

8s ok, DU30 has the political will to do crazy things and the crazy Filipinos to cheer him on but we want to see it b4 he leaves office and b4 his minions can run away with the loot – OMG 8 Trillion pesos can reach the moon and back if 1-peso bills are strung together.

We should be vigilant that whoever wins in the next election that will replace DU30 will not scrap these mega projects. We have all invested so much in it and 8 trillion pesos is 8 trillion. We should not rule out the possibility that DU30 can drop dead for whatever reason at any moment and according to law, VP Robredo will take his place. We should be vigilant that she and P-Noy’s minions will not scrap these mega projects and runaway with the 8 trillion pesos loot. We have seen what they did and we shouldn’t let them do it again but there is also a catch: DON'T ALLOW DU30'S MINIONS TO BE LIKE IF NOT WORSE THAN P-NOY'S OR GMA'S MINIONS OF SUCKERS.





Thursday, September 6, 2018

NORAYDA AT 3: A Page from an Old Diary


 I came upon an old diary while I was putting clutter in a storage box. This is the entry 37 years ago and because of the date…I thought I will put it in my blog.

SEPTEMBER 10, 1982

She is the apple of my eyes…my first born, my pride and like every other stubborn child – a cause of momentary stress.

She and my wife came to follow me in Saudi Arabia after her second birthday the third of which was celebrated with an international guest of children – Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis, Egyptians and Palestinians.

Despite her small frame, she is unquestionably cute, outgoing and unafraid – a display of adventurism at an earlier age.

She learned household chores at an earlier age being without a playmate but her mom. My wife assigned her the work of turning off the range when the rice had boiled.

“Anak, huwag ka muna magulo at kumokulo ang tiyan ko.” (Child, please stop bothering me for a while. My abdomen is bubbling.”

“Patayin mo na mommy.” (turn it off mommy) she replied innocently.

She could read all the letters of the alphabet but writing was at first difficult because of a not yet fully developed motor coordination but she would scribble unintelligible lines on a piece of paper.

“Daddy, daddy,” she would excitedly yelp, “O” or “Daddy! “N” and she would rock excitedly.

Learning to write such letters as O, F and T is nothing surprising but learning to write “H”
while finding it hard to write “N” and learning to write “R” while unable to write “P” is puzzling.

She memorized all the alphabet so perfectly that she can recognize a letter at whatever position except for one setback – I said it is double U (W) and she insisted, it’s an inverted “M.” It led the two of us arguing until I had to postpone the session or we will end up quarreling and she crying which is very discomforting.

This is “S,” I was holding her hand scribbling the letter “S” and it is easy to remember because it looks like a snake. It’s like a worm, I said.

“Daddy, lagyan mo ng tubig,” (Daddy, put a water as in beneath it) so I scribbled lines beneath the letter “S” without understanding what she was trying to say.

“Tingnan mo daddy, bebe – hindi ahas at hindi bulate.” (Look daddy; it’s a duck neither a snake nor a worm). Her sense of association is stunningly intelligent.

“Aray, ang sakit, nakakita ako ng stars” her mom moaned as she was accidentally hit by her with her toy. (Arg! That was hard…I saw stars from the impact)

“E moon mommy, wala?” (How about the moon mommy…there is none?)

She could be emotionally sentimental sometimes, she could cry at will and when she heard sad songs, she would fall suddenly silent either at home or inside our car.

One time, I was about to leave for work when she insisted to come with me. She cried and she will only stop if I give her money but she will accept only coins. My wife made signs for me to go into the other room where she keps her treasure box full of coins so I did.

As soon as I left the room, she stopped crying and turned to her mom – “Talagang tanga ang daddy, ano?” (Daddy is easily fooled, isn’t it?) and giggled only to resume crying as soon as I reentered the room.

She had a quarrel with her mom one night. She cried and nothing could pacify her. The generator was switched off so we were virtually in the dark with the kerosene lamp and candlelight.  I threatened to lock her in the dark if she wouldn’t stop. At 4:00 am, I woke up from her sobbing. I was getting worried why she cried that long.

“Norayda, please, I couldn’t sleep,” I said and I got the flashlight. She was climbing down from the bed when I flashed light on.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Sa kabilang kuwarto ako tutulog para hindi ko kayo gugulo.” (I will sleep in the other room so I won’t disturb you).

She broke my heart into pieces with those remarks upon which I walked around the bed, and reached out to her. She put her arms around my neck afraid that I will slap her.

“Bakit anak, umaga na umiiyak ka pa?” (Child, why are you still crying? It’s almost morning.)

“Kaseh daddy, sumasakit nanaman ang ipin ko.” (Because dad, it’s my toothache again.)

Bakit hindi mo sinabi? (Why didn’t you tell me?)

Kaseh…tutulog ka na e! (Because you are already asleep)

I opened the drawer where I kept meds for her toothache.

Two months ago, while we were on vacation leave, she and I were sitting at the terrace of our house.

“Daddy, bakit ang tagal tagal ko lalaki? Iinip na ako. Gusto ko ng aral.” (Daddy, why is it taking too long for me to grow up. I am feeling impatient. I want to go to school)

And when I left for Saudi Arabia alone so she and her mom can spend their 6 months visa at home, my younger brother came for a visit.

“Bakit ka umiiyak?” (Why are you crying?) my wife asked while she was sitting in the corner sobbing.

“Kaseh dumating pala daddy ko, hindi man lang ako halik.” (Because my dad came home and he didn’t even kiss me.)

She mistook my brother for me.’

I made her a small cabinet where she can keep her toys but the top looks like a table. While I was in the hospital, she said to her mom; “Ang daddy talaga walang utak. Gumawa ng mesa wala naman upuan. Paano ko gagamitin?” (Daddy really has no brain. She made for me a table but without a chair. How can I use it?) I had to buy her a small table with a small chair.

When she and her mom spent the night at the Nurse’s hostel; they would join the bingo games with the nurses. They would let Norayda draw and read the numbers…and sometimes, she would read the numbers from right to left. It would send the nurses’ laughter to the roof specially when someone is waiting to Bingo with such number like she would read “64” as “46.”

She usually sleeps late and wake up late just in time for her mom to take a nap.

“Norayda, please be quiet while you play. I need to take a nap.”

“Bakit mommy, hindi na nga kita gugulo kahit na gutom na gutom ako.” (Why mommy, I am not bothering you even if feel very hungry.)

My wife suddenly feeling guilty for forgetting her breakfast got out of bed and prepare her breakfast.

She developed special liking for the ABBA song “Chiquitita.” She wants it played every night to make her sleep meaning I have to get up and rewind the cassette every time until she sleeps. It was tiring for me until I thought of…yea, record the same song in the whole 60 minutes cassette so we can both journey to dreamland  at the sound of…ABBA.









Monday, June 25, 2018

DUTERTE: "My God is Perfect"


You need not be a rocket scientist to see what is in the heart of the president when it comes to his belief. Early in his presidency, he declared that his ascension to Malacanang is a miracle from God. The church assumed that he was referring to the Christian God but did they ask him? I too believe that it is his destiny to be where he is right now but I find it a bit scary that he is so confrontational at this stage in his presidency. It gives me goosebumps to imagine that he is embarking on another mission, a belief that God put him in Malacanang for a different reason.










Saturday, May 12, 2018

…and my country also rises





If cursing can kill, many would drop dead. We curse to give vent to our frustrations in the street. People notices the traffic but hardly what causes it. Yea; they see the works but hardly the bigger picture. For the daily commuters; annoying digs, gigantic trucks ferrying construction materials and huge cement mixers are a daily piss-off of their lives. They’ve got no choice but to embrace the pain with determined resolve. Hardly do they notice structures inching to the clouds and roads leveling up 2nd, 3rd and 4th in a mesh-work
 of urban sky-ways. Looking upward to these sky-high buildings gives you neck pain so why bother when you have a train to catch or hurdle for a jeepney ride.

If you are an OFW or an occasional visitor to Metro Manila; you are overwhelmed by the transformation. The traffic is nothing new. It is everywhere else in the world although traffic is not created equal…it is traffic jam just the same. I am ever so fascinated by the cropping of marvelous structures everywhere I turned. When I saw the video of ASEANA City on you tube; I thought of it as someone’s figment of imagination. 


ASEANA CITY


Amazingly, buildings are engineered not one building at a time but simultaneously. Money seems to be so abundant these days that colossal structures mushrooms at the same time as if they are playing to the same tune. One moment, I walk through or drive by an empty lot and a year or two later; an imposing mega structure tower over it. It boggles the mind how buildings are constructed so fast, it is like…the rise of my country happened overnight.

Bonefacio Global City









ROCKWELL








MAKATI CITY













ORTIGAS CENTER



McKinley Hill







ALABANG



MANILA




NAIA 3 / RESORT WORLD





MOA

OKADA


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