Fiesta Islands

Fiesta coronation nights for popularity contents in the Philippines are becoming like a sidelight for fireworks. Not that your average Pinoy has lost interest in the regalia of royal parade of the Queen and her Court or that the almost magical change of an ordinary look into something comparable to --- uh --- now, this is what I call a blogger's bloc --- teedeeheehehehe... Kate Moss... I like her when she transforms from a bland bag of pale bones into a rainbow-colored magazine cover... there... nah, your average Pinoy will always be fascinated about anything he cannot touch, nor understand. Including the regalia of coronation nights.

It is just that the fireworks have taken over as the crowd-drawer during the royal parade... and coronation of her majesty queen and her princesses. And after the fiesta, every locality is back to its previous state: boring, lacks social or cultural activities except of course for street corner gambling or betting, or street corner basketball...

We have here a culture of tricycle drivers waiting for remittances crowding in many town side-walks... mahjong and tong-it or pusoy-dos tables in neighborhoods, children in front of Korean telenovelas and Japanese animation...

Before and after the once-a-year fiesta, we basically have these scenes all-year round...

Also, I have noticed how every project in LGUs (local government unit/s folks) need to be something constructed. As I blogged earlier, built environment in the Philippines is chaotic and insane (I'd prefer my level of sanity any time), if not cryptic. Or a creep that crawls. Construction of all kinds invade all forms of government projects in the Philippines only contractors and government officers can actually survive.

OK, so, the masses have survived these creeps.

I wonder if I would. Makes me wonder if I could...never ever have to knock on wood... haha... Mighty Mighty Bosstones here. sorry for the intermission...

'Cause it has become creepy nowadays to think about my children's future, in the Fiesta Islands. I can survive the creeps. But my husband thinks otherwise. Will I make it in another country? I mean, be me? Nasty and all that?

I'd keep my blog posted. Hah.

Ethnocentric

Been chatting with a friend working as designer in the US... and since I've done some researh on "orientalism" east-west divide, global and glocal policies... our chat strayed on race. Here it is:

Marge: me intriga jan a
Kaibigan: di ko alam
Marge: mas less ethnic daw yon 1/4 pinay
Marge: kesa yong south american
Marge: unang na declare yong south american
Marge: then, biglang binawi
Marge: kaya pinili yong 1/4 pinay
Kaibigan: binabasa ko ngayon
Marge: hehe
Kaibigan: half pinay eto
Kaibigan: tiga barstow
Marge: pag sinabi mong tiga tondo, naintindihan ko pa
Kaibigan: haha
Marge: hehe
Kaibigan: panu mo nalamn pinay
Marge: nabasa ko sa yahoo, pero nakalagay 1/4 pinay
Kaibigan: ah
Marge: simula na yan
Kaibigan: ng anu
Marge: ay, male
Marge: sa Hawaii pala,
Marge: kung i-study kc ng mga puti
Marge: diminishing race na sila
Marge: yon dapat ng pag ukulan nila ng pansin
Marge: sooner or later, asians will dominate their population
Marge: ei, hehe, anlayo sa chikahan natin
Kaibigan: haha
Kaibigan: oo nga
Kaibigan: di mabuti para tumalino sila and sumipag
Marge: panay kasi mga policies nagagawa ko lately e
Kaibigan: bobo naman kasi sila
Kaibigan: at mareklamo
Marge: racist!!
Kaibigan: hhaha
Kaibigan: oo
Marge: napansin mo 'yon?
Kaibigan: na?
Kaibigan: plastic sila
Marge: bobo sila saka tamad?
Kaibigan: oo
Marge: isa pa yon, masyado silang "feeling"
Kaibigan: sa mga shops
Kaibigan: then sa kuwento ng mga kaibigan ko
Kaibigan: mga coworkers nila
Kaibigan: typical puti
Marge: o? as in?
Kaibigan: di mo mauutusan \
Kaibigan: oo
Kaibigan: sa office namin
Marge: pano pag superior yong Asian sa work?
Kaibigan: wala kaming puti
Kaibigan: sa baba namin
Kaibigan: meron
Kaibigan: plastic
Kaibigan: feeling sila
Kaibigan: asar
Kaibigan: isasabotahe ka
Marge: racist din pala boss mo!
Kaibigan: di naman siguro la lang oks yung personality
Marge: pano sabotahe?
Kaibigan: then naalala ko
Kaibigan: kasi diba may design review dito sa
Kaibigan: glendale
Kaibigan: pag ibang race yung nagpapagawa ng bahay
Kaibigan: lahat ng neighbors na magrereklamo puti
Marge: ows?
Kaibigan: isang beses may pinapanuod kami
Kaibigan: oks naman project
Kaibigan: sinunod lahat ng requirements
Kaibigan: thenyung isang neighbor
Kaibigan: kunyari mabait na kumokontra
Kaibigan: kesyo di daw bagay sa street
Kaibigan: blah balh
Kaibigan: then sabi ng mga board members
Kaibigan: di nila pwed ireject yung project
Kaibigan: kasi sumunod lahat sa zoning
Kaibigan: code
Kaibigan: and maganda design
Marge: hehe, bayad na
Kaibigan: sabi ba naman
Kaibigan: this will be another rat's nestMarge: ows?
Kaibigan: naging racist
Kaibigan: haha
Kaibigan: daming ganun dito
Kaibigan: inggit kasi sila
Kaibigan: kasi etong glendale
Kaibigan: mas yumayaman na yung mga armenians and filipinos
Kaibigan: and iabng asian
Kaibigan: nauubos na puti dito
Marge: oo nga
Kaibigan: tapos tipong nagiisip sila ng reasons para mareject yung projects ng ibang lahi
Kaibigan: mapapansin mo
Kaibigan: pag nanunuod ka sa tv ng review
Kaibigan: oo nga
Marge: asa pa sila
Kaibigan: tapos sila daw yung mabilang sa sweldo
Kaibigan: na ayaw naman gumalaw
Marge: dami ko kc task now, panay mga issues ng east & west e
Kaibigan: kila kiko puti secretary nila
Kaibigan: tamad daw
Kaibigan: as in pag ayaw niya pumasok di siya papasok
Marge: hehe, malas nila
Kaibigan: di naman yata matanggal
Kaibigan: kasi baka magreklamo
Kaibigan: demanda
Kaibigan: yung isang project namn ng tatay ni antonio
Kaibigan: yung kapitbahay nagreklamo
Kaibigan: kesyo nagkasakit daw siya
Kaibigan: kasi sa construction
Kaibigan: maiingay daw yung mga workers
Kaibigan: nanalo pa

Big Brother quote

Incidentally, it's not about a dance number of young talents over at ABS-CBN... Broaden your vocabulary...

"In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.…Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification. Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers. People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck … this is called elimination of unreliable elements. Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them."


-George Orwell, "Politics and the
English Language" (1946)

Disierto

Guess where in the world is this?

Philippine Quality of Life & Health Issues

I was quite shocked when I read in the Novermber 2007 issue of Reader's Digest (Asia ed., p. 39) that the Philippines is way behind Pakistan when it comes to Environmental Health based on childhood mortality and disease as well as deaths from intestinal infections. So, okay, I am a racist, but in consideration of the Economic Intelligence Unit's (2005) quality of life index where Philipines is on rank 44 while Pakistan is on rank 93, this is quite incredible!

Not that I am putting down Pakistan and all the other countries that beat the Philippines on environmental health such as Sri Lanka (36), China (45), Indonesia (61), Bangladesh (76... right, hello Senators and Congresmen? Do your porks spell hypertension even among kids? Or are pigs' sty causing those infant deaths?), India (77), Mongolia (99), Pakistan (106) and Philippines (115).

Yikes!

Okay, let me tell you guys something.

When it comes to the rural areas and health services delivery, based on my experience in Santo Domingo, the municipality is divided into catchment areas --- these are chosen "center" barangays where rural health workers basically midwives, conduct vaccination. There are about 4-7 depending on the number of health workers and probably, size of the municipality.

In our catchment area of Lussoc, there are Borobor, Santo Tomas, sitio Quillayan and Callautit, and Nagtupacan are serviced, where vaccination occurs or vitamin supplemnts were given once a week. Sometimes, the health worker re-schedules on another day (equivalent to next week).

In their reports to the CEO (your mayor, Darling), the health worker visits the barangays four days a week, and charge from the taxes we pay "pamasahe" to and from the barangay.

Honestly, these health workers RARELY visit the barangays assigned to them, so much like your elected konsehal ng bayan, or any other regular tax beneficiaries who BS us tax collectors... We conducted random checking on the municipal health workers sometime ago, and you may try to do the same to find out...

During those "lucky" catchment days, before an infant is given a vaccine or whatever, every mother GIVES a "donation" which simply is baffling. Donations are for Faith healers, y'know. These donations are NEVER REFLECTED in the municipality "income", no receipt, acknowedgement, whatsoever. A clumsy smile was all I got when I "obliged" to donate to the health worker assigned in that catchment area when I had my baby injected with vaccine.

However, in our "model" barangay Santo Tomas, this of course never happened as the Kapitan Erning Tadeja is the ABC president, and it so happened he knew quite a few about government and finance, uh, including jueteng, my dear.

In other words, it is not just your District Representatives milking flashy "villa" houses and latest 4X4s from us Payless and Lucky Me taxpayers... it's all the way up and down to eternity. Or is it down to hell?

Below is the EIU index:

Our Taxes Enjoyed

While only contractors and voucher signatories know the reality behind our paid taxes, at least our children enjoy these at public parks, where our taxes become really visible. Well, of course, the excess will remain abstracted on roads and built environments.

Let's just hope they maintain safety. This one at Villasis, Pangasinan already has damaged slides and could fracture or wound children if they are not extra careful...



BTW, the Philippine peso was headlined as "Asia's Best Performer" a few days back. It's the remittance season... And the US dollar dived in deeper... a little bad news for US$ earners...

And let me share that Philippines is fourth to China, Mexico and India in highest overseas workers. But Philippines has the highest average for remittances among the four.

Against the World

In my other blog, I have written about suicide, about asking non-suicidals to help prevent it. And just today, a friend now based in the US and I had been chatting about suicide of Filipino teens who were uprooted from here and live in the US. About being bullied and being the "other" person elsewhere.

Then, I am confronted about my niece who went to live with her mom and stepdad whom she had grown to hate. Genee had been complaining and telling us stories. Then, here comes her stepdad using her own Yahoo Messenger. It's creepy, like stalking and invading privacy. And white americans were supposed to be the champions and paranoid about privacy. And he had been lecturing me about family and morality! And this is what I told him:

...we do not have a very good relationship with our dad, but it does not mean we destroy ourselves, right? So, I think it's an american thing about blaming others for stupid things that happen to themselves, so why you need shrinks and Iraq, or Afghanistan, but we don't.

I've always avoided being discriminatory, but when it comes to US-related stuffs, I simply can't. But to anybody out there who meets Genee Tano, she's in Pittsburg right now, previously in Virgin Islands: please tell her to go back HOME, the Philippines. I am using the internet because there's no way we can contact her now.