Does it Matter

Our pope's statement supporting the use of condoms as a deterrent of the world's swelling population and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases drew varied comments from the public. He was specifically pointing out to those engaged in the flesh trade. The so called lucrative business which goes alongside with development.

Local news report says that incidents of those affected with the disease is rising for the past years. The trend is alarming. Would this mean that the present generation is more liberated than those behind them? Curiosity perhaps. Lack of education. Moral degradation. I must say it boils down to family values.

Our eyes constantly sees this predicament even in our own backyards. We interact with these people everyday unconsciously. We are not horses having bridles . We are our own masters. Are we just enjoying our deep slumber, afraid to wake up and face the music.

It not your neighbors concern nor your co-workers concern. It is your concern.
When we begin face the music, in the long run, we'll learn to dance the beat.

The Un/Lucky Day

I was comfortably sitting in a couch at the GSIS Dumaguete branch, I noticed it was undergoing a major face lift. The freshly painted walls and ceilings of the building lingers on my nose. We dropped for a few minutes there, to inquire my mother's UMID card which she hasn't received up to now, four months after filing the application for the new identification system.

The lady teller gladly explained to her that they haven't received new id's for pensioners. Well and good, at least she is very polite to us and the rest of the members.

From a corner, several people queued on the kiosks to check on something. Others have their cards activated. In another end, I see people patiently waiting for their turn to the capturing machine for their new id's.

A sixty something lady approached me and asked to assist in filing up her application for the new id system. She hardly can't read. She said she left her eyeglasses in the house. I willingly helped Ms. Gloria to lessened the boredom of my poor vision. I was strucked with sore eyes for two days now. She thanked me. I smiled back at her and said, "It's ok".

We left the premises and rode back to my uncle's house for our lunch.

The unmanageable afternoon heat was lessened by the morning drizzle. I send-off my parents to the wharf to catch the 2:00 pm schedule back to our province. I boarded a tricycle to the market to take my ride for the ferry terminal to Cebu.

Oops! As we're making a left turn at an intersection, the tricycle side swept an old man crossing the street. A traffic enforcer immediately surfaced and checked the old man. He asked the driver, " Asa man ka nagtan-aw dong?" 

The teenage driver couldn't say a single word. He was deeply thinking the unexpected turn of events. I was thankful the old man hasn't suffered any damage or injury.

He managed to walk again and has the guts to shake hands with the driver, at that time still losing his spirits

I handed my fare to him and walked few meters to the market.

The experience rushed back to my head last night with full of what if's.

When death knocks your door

We know, we are all going there.But we don't know the exact time . It is an inevitable hour. We cannot hide, we cannot escape and we cannot say no.Death. It is always untimely for most people, but is there such thing as timely death?
 
At one instance, our professor asked the class what age we want to die. The question tickles my mind for some time. One classmate answered at age hundred years. Others sixty, others seventy and many more, unbridled on any standard. I answered, a time of my option which is a very remote thing to happen.
 
Of course, nobody wants to live a deserted life. A hundred years or so, is a bonus to life. It is seldom reached for a typical individual. Living such age, knowing all your peers are all gone would be lonely. Walking to your own grave might be a happy decision.At young age, you will be preoccupied with so many things. You want to see your children and grandchildren grow and watch over them.
 
Untimely demise. Accidents. Diseases.Natural and man-made disasters.All unprepared.Should we prepare for it?
 
I remembered a story about three people battling for life in the middle of an ocean. A man, his wife and his mother.There were only two life jackets left.The man could save both his wife and his mother and let himself be drowned later on. Another, is to save his own life and either one of his two companions.He could give the two life jackets to his mother and drown himself together with his wife, since they are no longer two individuals but one, in marriage.
 
What do you think would you do?

Welcome aboard

I've seen jeepneys with weird paintings on its body. People's faces . Abstract colors and figures. Some adorned with silver horses in front, racing with the vehicle itself. Television sets in front to entertain the passengers. The eardrum breaking music coming from stereos of several others, brought inconvenience to the riding public especially those people looking for a comfortable ride.

Today, I discovered another innovation of passenger jeepneys. I haven't seen this gimmick before. As I step inside a jeepney this afternoon, somebody greets me, Welcome Aboard! ,then utters the message for the day. The message perhaps was repeated a hundred times the entire day. It is neither the conductor nor the driver who does it. It's the flat screen hanged behind the driver's seat. The vehicle I rode embraced the technology nowadays. I usually see flat screens in booking offices and in malls. No one ever imagined screens on jeepneys. How's that!

I should have rode the jeepney a little longer to satisfy my curiosity about the new gimmick. If I did, I should know at this time whether a dozen more thoughts will be flashed on screen and not just one message. I will have the privilege to ask the driver or the conductor who initiated the interesting idea. If names of companies or persons tailed the message, consequently it was a less expensive promotional campaign.

I'm more than willing to see these gimmicks on the road. It would be glad to start a day with a bible verse or a quotable quote from our jeepneys.

June rituals

June has always been an exciting and a farewell month for children. They get excited to get new bags, notebooks, pencils, crayons and the typical baon for snacks and lunch. They jump for joy to meet the teachers and classmates unseen for two months.

Farewell. The playmates you see everyday will be left behind. They will soon be part of vacation memories. Hours of play will vanish into thin air,replaced by long hours of diligent study. How time flies. Classes start to roll again. Burning of midnight oils will flourish for the next nine months.

If my memory will not fail me, June spells some rituals for us. I don't see how it is related to doing good or flunk in school. My mother, when classes start, have me and my brothers eat nilugaw using a pencil as spoon, with boiled egg. Our agony prolonged doing it sitting on a book. The ritual was really weird.

Probably, my mother inherited such ritual from our ancestors and for any reason be handed down to her grandchildren. Yes, we didn't flunk in school,got good grades and several awards.Was it because of the ritual?

Rambutan?

Rambutan. I never thought this word has a different meaning contrary to what we mostly know. You would agree it is a red hairy fruit about a size of a coin, much bigger than the strawberries. We see them hanged in our fruit stands. Indeed, it tastes really sweet.
 
While enjoying ourselves roaming on the streets of Davao, in a prominent shopping mecca, we were met by Badjao vendors, children and adults alike. They looked like walking stores.Belts and sunglasses hanged on their bodies. Pearl necklaces and earnings grasped in one hand, and several other accessories on the other. They tried to convince people around to buy their goods.
 
A guard in a nearby store drove them away.Pointing the pavement, he advised them not to go beyond the mark he invisibly imagined. Instantly, I thought how the guard survived, driving these souls everyday from the shoppers like us.
 
I, myself was caught like a fish in a net. An adolescent approached me and offered a belt which, he says ,made of snake's skin. I told him, I have a new belt. Besides, I would not be wearing two belts at a time. Not contented with my answer, he lowered the price. He later pulled out a sunglasses, I bargained. I decided to buy a pair of it, prompting the hassle stops by the time he would sell one. My guess did worked, he left me smiling after I paid the amount.
 
Minutes later, another teenager approached me an offered a rambutan. I didn't see a single fruit on his hand so I tried to roll my eyes around to check if he has a companion, probably carrying the fruit. None. The other Badjao's were also busy courting the people around to buy their stuffs.
 
The teenager, whom I failed to asked his name, secretly drew out a small pack from his grocery bag, without hesitation handed to me the rambutan. I was flat-footed when I saw a goat's eye inside the plastic pack. The rambutan he was selling was not a fruit ,but a sexual paraphernalia made out of rubber which really looks like an eye. I guess it sounds fascinating and exciting for couples and lovers. The goods came from Malaysia. I even joked him if he had tried it. He just smiled back at me.
 
While sitting comfortably on the coaster, I pondered many times the things that I dealt and witnessed with the Badjao vendor, at such an early age, exposed to the world of adulthood.
 
Probably, including sexual education in our educational curriculum is a welcome development.
 
And mind you, a vendor might land to your house and sell rambutan. Not the fruit but otherwise.

Can we spell change now?

Judgement day has come. It is another milestone for us to get to a higher level of existence for the next six years. It either will make or break our nation.We have proven to the world that a bloodless revolution is achievable. The 1986 EDSA. Lucky those people who took part on the memorable chapter of our nation, wherein crucifix and rosaries flooded the streets of yellow, the prevalent color of the decade.

Election time. Tarpaulins hanging everywhere. Stickers posted on electric posts, trees, vehicles and walls. Campaign jingles aired both on print and television prime times. That's a lot of money. Politicians butterflying from one party to the other. Even throwing trash and tons of mud on each other's face has became ordinary. It stinks like long-dead rats in our backyard. No wonder you are in the Philippines.

Aren't you tired? My heart bleeds every time I see these things happening. We don't expect garbage I suppose. We deserve more than simple entertainment and campaign jingles. We need competent and credible leaders. Leaders who can nurse our ailing country. Bring it back to the lane of development and prosperity.

He not need to be genius like Einstein. A living saint like Mother Teresa. Neither as popular as Tiger Woods or LeBron James. Nor as wealthy as Bill Gates.

Our country needs an overhaul. It could be the first step to such eternal dream. Voting the right people. I call it a bloodless revolution, this time through our votes. Can we spell change now? I hope so.

Chasing Light

Imagine yourself inside an unlighted room in isolation. The surroundings appear dim and dark. You hear nothing but a deafening silence. Silence comparable to none other. Your heart beats faster. Gets magnified like a lightning roar. How you wish a light would be visible somewhere, that will lead you out.
 
This I felt and probably was also the predicament of the group. We explored one of the interesting caves in our province, the Cantabon cave. It measures eight hundred meters. According to our guides, it would take three hours to get inside and go out of the cave.

I heard several stories about the enchanting place long ago. I haven't been there. I am a stranger and "tourist" to the place where I was born and raised.

The cave's mouth was difficult for everyone to enter. I'm thankful I am lean. A little bend and step sidewards was enough for my body to squeeze in the little passage. It was dark and slippery. The first two or three hundred meters from the cave door, we had an uphill and downhill climb off the rocks. The stalactites and stalagmites was stunning, perfectly hanged like ice cream cones on the ceiling and protruding on the cave floor. We hear the dripping water from the rocks. We wade on waist high waters. Bend to the left as well as to the right. Crawling like turtles, getting wary of being hurt on the sharp rocks, covering the cave environment.

I was greatly reminded of the cloud-like and bath tub rock formations inside. The lonely bat clinging on the ceiling. I wondered where are the others?

We chased the light coming from the lamps of our guides. They were the head and tail of the group. It was them that lead us through the exciting and heart pounding journey down under.

A Welcome Suprise

I just came back from a short holiday in our province for the Lenten season. I turned darker this time. My nerves couldn't resist the tempting waters of the sea a few meters from our house. The mangroves thriving at the seafront for several years still grow abundantly.The drought brought by the El Niño never affected them. When summer turns all the greens into browns, this side of the island remains green.
 
New lamp posts. I sighted them lined on the streets of our town. Is it an indication that the hands of development have reached our rustic haven? The lamps are comparable to those we see in the cities. This would surely make the night buddies stay longer at night time, especially the children. Does the local government managed the town's coffers properly? I think so. With such projects at hand, they have spelled a difference in governance.
 
Snake for sale! I saw this man sporting a snake clinging on his arm like twigs. It measures around four to five meters long and three to four inches in diameter. He boarded the jeepney where I rode to the next town. He intends to sell the snake to a local beach owner for a good price. The driver getting wary of any untoward incident, prompted the middle-aged man to stay at roof of the jeepney. Thus, encouraging more bystanders noticing him and his friend.
 
Water, where are you? The well in our backyard has been a good source of water for years. It hasn't dried up especially on summer. But not this time. The water level shrinks on low tides and rises on high tides. Such phenomenon happens every year . It gets worse every year too. The water is not salty and tastes like our tap water. This puzzle remains a puzzle up to these days.
 
Where did this source of life go? Have it find its way to join the mother sea?

Let's March

The third month of the year spells excitement and merriment to most of us. We have lots of reasons to say so, but we have also a bunch of worries when March comes.

March starts officially or unofficially the summer. Sea, sun and sand co-exits this month compared to any other time of the year. The temperature gets hotter. Everyone wants to go to the beach to evade the rising heat. Family picnics here and there. Mountain climbing for nature lovers.

It is also the time for graduation. To the gradeschoolers, it would be exciting to play all day without getting worried of not getting good grades. To the teenagers, they would surely miss the most memorable part of a student's life. To the college graduates, it would be another challenge for them to face the real world. Bottomline, something has to end to start a new beginning.

This month is also the fire prevention month. Haven't you noticed when we have this celebration, more conflagrations occur in our communities. Brought about by the heat which is unmanageable compared to the other months. To some extent, people not getting cautious of precautionary measures to prevent it.

It is also the time for summer ailments. Sore eyes, sun burns , itchiness etc. But with proper hygiene there is not much to be scared of.

Who would like to be left behind? Let's march to the beach, to the aisle of the auditorium to get the diplomas, to a fire-free community and to summer disease free populace.

The Cowrie Experience

I accompanied my close relative to a restaurant at Asiatown recently. She was with her fiance John from England. John wanted to dine where bands perform.But with time constraints, we heeded to Golden Cowrie. It's an upscale and elegant place. It has an open-air and enclosed dining areas where one can choose from. The ambiance was perfect as their menus. One's attention would be caught by the large clam-shell like light cover hanged over the ceiling. The grilled pork ribs were tender enough. We loved the tinolang tangigue, especially the soup. The lapu-lapu fried like onion rings was superb.I liked the crispy pata. The unlimited rice made the evening more spectacular.

John was amazed with the rectangular plates used, topped with banana leaves. It was his first time experience to have such. I honestly thought he hadn't experienced the same in his homeland. Although, we had a little bit of communication barrier, the dinner was great to the five of us.

John's craving for music was filled after our dinner. We brought him to Sunflower City,just adjacent from the Cowrie. It's a hang-out place for yuppies. Live bands perform. The dance floor was not really spacious but was enough to move bodies around. An hour stay listening to upbeat music was relieving our spirits.

Who is who?

Watching the presidential forum last night, with four presidential candidates took turns selling themselves to the public through their most convincing replies to win the hearts of the populace this coming election. The audience were very excited as I do. The forum lasted for two hours but I was satisfied with the results. A veteran anchor roasted the presidentiables like peanuts in a frying fan with his hot and tricky questions leaving each of them somehow pondering.
 
Issues like insurgency and rebellion, survey results, tremendous accumulation of wealth after term of office, poverty to name a few were tackled. Basically , a voter glued on the show could weigh who stood out among them. Who has the political will. Who has a big chance of making it through not based on surveys and popularity.Who has the proven track record of accomplishment and not just lip-service. Who is able to tap the best out of limited resources. Who is who?
 
My forecast will be different from yours and vice-versa. You like someone who's very articulate. Probably,some would like candidates who are entertaining. In fact, politicians nowadays became instant actors and actresses. They became dancers and singers. Others might choose someone who are greenhorns. Some are for veterans.
 
But the bottomline, was it an informed choice? My hats off to one of the presidentiables who proposed that instead of campaigning with large tarpaulins and placards, meeting de avance ,etc might as well conduct forum to every schools in the country. In such a way, the people can interact with them freely. It costs less. Consequently , it levels the playing field.

The Red Moon

I'll be a year older this month.I woke up the morning with a birthday greeting text message from my parents.Good wishes came after the other from my colleagues. I received them annually. My high school friends never missed to greet me before. But from the time I changed my contact details and I wasn't able to inform them. I lose contact with most of them recently.
 
A close colleague of mine and has been the mother for us offered to shoulder our lunch, which she previously ordered a week ago for another affair and was postponed.It was only for a few heads. I decided to have additional food enough for the entire office.
 
The Red Moon dishes were sumptuous and saliva-dripping. The crispy chicken was perfectly soft that pampered our taste buds. The shrimp tempura and rings, deliciously soaked on the sauce craves nothing left on the plates. The pancit canton specials soothes everybody's contentment. The lumpiang shanghai was absolutely delicious with the fillings. The caldera, goat's head cooked with spices and thin sauce was loved by all, especially Adan's followers.
 
How wonderful the meal was! I'm greatly thankful to the one who's the giver of everything. He who's will brought me to where I am right now.

Be Prepared

I guess everyone is familiar with the motto "Be prepared". This short but concise statement always comes to mind when we execute the salute few years back. Proudly wearing the uniform with the other teens. Learning to do the simple household chores like cooking simple dishes.Camping.The bonfire at night. Every boy or girl had enjoyed the scouting years.I thought the story ends when the snappy uniforms were kept in the cabinets. My perception proved to be wrong.
 
Early this year,my uncle who now lives in Negros unexpectedly came to our house exactly at noon. He personally delivered the invitations to my other aunts and uncles for the upcoming wedding of his eldest son that Saturday.I drove him to each of them. He haven't spent valuable time with each other . He has to catch the last boat trip back that afternoon. I was tasked to convey the invitations to the rest of the family members living outside our hometown. Thanks to the new technologies, I had no problem communicating to them the event. Everything came smoothly although unprepared.
 
We are the groom's relatives. His father is a younger brother of my mother. The whole clan stayed in pension house for a night.One aunt reminded me her gift for the Christmas. I haven't seen her for years. She now stays in Iligan. She goes to Davao every now and then to visit her children who settled there. I promised her and the rest of the family to treat them in a food chain the next morning. They did enjoy it. I wasn't prepared. I was fortunate. I found an ATM near the area.
 
Originally, I planned to get back to Cebu after the wedding.I had only my clothes on and a jacket. I don't have personal necessities with me. I wondered if I smelled bad. I was forced to stay for a night with my relatives. The younger sister of the newly-weds made an eleventh hour decision to make me a "Ninong" of her second child. The family flew in from Arizona to attend the nuptials.I wasn't prepared.
 
Days ago, I was also an eleventh hour replacement to attend the year-end assessment at the Central Office in Manila. My co-employee was having an emergency to attend to. I was fortunate to book a round-trip flight a day before the meeting. It is very seldom that schedules were available that week especially the Sinulog festivity was on upswing. I barely had less than a day to pack my things for three days consumption.And, I wasn't prepared.
 
With such things happening unexpectedly, I'm glad I was able to compensate my unpreparedness. Should I, from now on remember what I always kept in mind during my boy scouts years? Be prepared.

The "Habal-Habal"

The cool December gentle breeze soothed our skin. We docked past ten in the evening. The waves pounding the seawall sounds astonishing. Everyone likes to jump immediately to bed after five hours journey on a fast ferry. My eyes tired and almost closed.

Aside from the tricycles and motorcycles parked at the waiting area, none other stayed that late, particularly the jeepneys. I was compelled to take the prevalently known "habal-habal". Basically, it's a single motorcycle added with accessories to cater more passengers. I don't subscribe on how it was called by the locals. Habal term is a street word for making love. It is usually used when one wants to have a sow cohabit with a boar. That goes beyond what our local mode of transportation implies.

My two boxes of gifts to my relatives and neighbors had nothing left to turn down what the driver asked for my fare. It costs three times more than the usual amount on daytime. I understood his plight. The peril he faces, transporting me safely with minimal light to guide us in the dark night costs even more. No price can pay for it.

We took the shorter distance from the wharf to our town. The route everybody wouldn't want to try. Passing mountain slopes and ravines. I could see the moon smiling from above with the stars. The light kept our path clear and distinct. The twinkling lights from downhill reminds me of the bright decorations hanged on the Christmas trees. The freezing coldness became more intense every time we're covered with towering canopies.

We talked whatever comes to mind. The brutal Maguindanao massacre. The political clan in our province dishing out money to the barangays for their parties. It sounds traditional politics. The duel in the political arena next year. Everybody is interested. A prominent showbiz figure threw his hat on the ring joining the race. They claimed their roots came from our province. The pomp and pageantry of our town he said is a must-see display. Decorations wrapped the century-old acacia trees at the heart of the town. I have to see it myself.

I disembarked safely. Gave the driver what is due and an extra amount for the holiday.