Balance

In one of my YahooGroups, a recent email / post message was:

hi all,
i found six young kittens by the road the other day, and their eyes and ears are still closed so i couldn't just leave them out near the garbage.
i've kittens of my own, and could not take them in anymore. if someone could please adopt them until they start eating solids.
most shelters like PAWS would take them in as long as they can eat solids already.
please help. they're really cute and seem healthy enough (they got really powerful lungs on them). there are
home-made kitten formulas from the net, so no need to buy the expensive ones. they just need to be fed as often as possible, and be tidied up if they do their business.
if someone could adopt them in 2s or 3s, it would be much appreciated.
best if pick-up is done in san juan because i can't bring them to the office for meet-ups.
for interested parties, please reply to my personal mail so we could coordinate.
thanks much!

One (or the only) reply went:

If there are no takers you might consider taking them to Luneta Park in Manila. The homeless there consume cat meat for food.

Then, chaos followed, many of which protested the reply was uncalled for. Old that I was, I remained a distant spectator, waiting for sense and sensibility (AW! )

Then, the underdog retorted:

We are into recycling garbage, right? Let us be clear about our goals and priorities here. By Ms. ___'s own account, the circumstances behind the misfortune of the six unwanted animals point to one single fact - they were garbage. As such, we recycle them. Sorry but I could not think of a better way to do it other than to use them to feed people who are in dire need of protein-rich sustenance. It's like hitting two birds with one stone - recycling and feeding the hungry.

And to the genius who called me an idiot, I'm sure you share Ms. ___ "garbage" mentality, treating unwashed and unwanted living things "by the roadside" as trash.

The "basureros" (garbage collectors) and the "patay-gutoms" (now, this is challenge--- dying of hunger? lol) should avoid crossing your path lest you might think of "recycling" them, robbing them the modicum of dignity to live and die like the rest of us.

It was some kind of an amusement for a nasty elder like me...

But if I were to rant and side anybody, I prefer the latter, making use of kittens to pacify some grumbling stomachs. What's the difference between a kitten and chicks (one day old, anyone?) anyway? There were arguments like "making this world a better place for "living and the non-living" and all that.

But I guess, civil society has gone so far as misplaced its priorities. Balance is side swept with "niceties" that just don't make sense.

How about "...if someone could please shoulder this child's education until such time he can can compete living in this civil world?"

How about "...it's only about $7 a month to make this vagabond kid stay at school and away from trouble... and you don't need an internet to help..."

We have a lot choices, that is probably the problem... but we all should pause sometimes, and care a little. It won't cost us much and you won't even notice...

Against indifference, I quote Dante:

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality. - ~ Dante Alighieri

F Sionil Jose Walked Out of L Kasilag's Necro

I got this forwarded from Elmer Gatchalian, a Palance awardee:

Why Sionil Jose walked out of the CCP during King's necrology.

Why would National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose walk out of the CCP during its tribute to the late National Artist for Music Lucrecia Kasilag whom he dearly loved and respected?

This letter written by Jose last Aug. 22 and send to Emely Abrera,
chairperson of the CCP (cc: Nestor Jardin, President and Chris Millado, Performing Arts Department Head)

Permit me to tell you my regret and anger the day when I was at the CCP for King Kasilag's necrology. Before the start of the service, I was ushered to the backstage- a departure from the usual manner by which we honored our departed National Artist. After I offered my bouquet to King, I walked to my assigned seat and was surprised to see Imelda Marcos before me. Had I known that she would be there, I would not have attended the necrology anymore. But in deference to King, who I loved dearly, I decided to suffer my presence. Then she mounted the podium and started bragging about herself, how Chairman Mao welcomed her in China. That was too much, so I decided to leave.

I have known King since 1948, when she was the piano teacher of the girl I married. I regret that I had to leave her last presence with us.

Enclosed is the article I wrote years ago on Imelda (for Philippine Star). I hope that you will remember. May I beg of you this one I favor. In the future, please do not honor Imelda in any of the CCP activities. In ostracizing her and denying her honor, you honor the memory of Ninoy Aquino and the thousands upon thousands who were unjustly jailed, tortured, killed or salvaged by the Marcos dictatorship.

In honoring the plunderers of this nation and letting them easy without any punishment (like Erap) we not only condone their infamy; other rapist of this nation will also feel redeemed, convinced, that they did no wrong. Then, they pave the way for future criminals to do the same, sure that, like Imelda and her gang, they will no be punished and that after their foul deeds, they can even preen in the limelight before a people without memory.

The Marcoses were in power for more than 20 years... they gave patronage with the people's money to many. There recipients, of their patronage are grateful. I can very well understand that, but keep in mind that the evil that they did far outweighs the miniscule good that they achieved, the CCP is one and the appointment of King is another.

The CCP and King helped deodorize a little a murderous dictatorship. And don't you ever forget, it was your money, my money, OUR money that built the CCP - not Imelda's.

Sincerely yours,
F. Sionil Jose


The Philippine Star
August 31, 2008 edition
Sunday Lifestyle, Page H-1

Banco de Oro

In December 2007, Banco de Oro had a hostile takeover on Equitable-PCI Bank. Previously, the bank was just that - PCI Bank, one of the better and more reliable commercial banks in the Philippines at par with BPI and Metrobank. It was still reeling from the Equitable merger at that time, but PCI was as graceful as the lady who defied a president in the only big fish corruption case ever resolved in this country.

There are a lot of lapses in the service of BDO since then. Among them are the following:
- ATM branches are always offline from morning 'til the next banking day
- One cannot withdraw over-the-counter inter-branch. One BDO manager at Urdaneta City Manolito Novida tried in vain to fool me it was not true by calling his counterpart in Del Monte-West Avenue and discuss that such was such.
- Some of their ATM features such as "money transfer" was a joke, a posse, a fraud, as one of the West Ave-Del Monte branch clerk confirmed with me when I inquired some couple of months ago. I was transferring my account from Carmen to that branch and inquired about its money transfer feature as it would do me no good if I made a little mistake considering my almost idiotic disability with numbers...but the clerk said it was only placed there without really any function.
I told the clerk it was quite strange as BPI's money transfer has been working more than a decade back.
- And now, the most recent discovery I found is their online blah. Just yesterday, I had a credit card approved with them, but in order to use it online, I need to register online. The site is problematic. So, as much as I never want to talk to a customer service representative over the phone again as long as I live, I was left without a choice, as I told Angel the CSR I talked with at 631-8000. She told me to apply with the nearest branch. There, I found out one could apply for Internet Banking, Phonebanking, etc. But it seems it will end only with the form. The teller / clerk / staff at BDO West Ave-Del Monte branch told me their site is working. She even had the nerve to ask me where I access the net (at home or in the office?). I was tempted to say via internet cafe. But then again, sarcasm does not apply with ignorance. I told the truth that even my mobile phone won't left me alone offline with the features of yahoo chat. Poor me. Because even dial-up connection today is far more efficient than a million-dollar deal with ZTE. As long as it's not peak season, else, one is reminded of the old EDSA traffic prior to its massive rape and deconstruction.
In short, BDO people in case you'd ever come upon this blog, I hope I don't need to spell it out that your services suck. But I already did, so, thank me.