To all Filipinos..

Let’s spread the word..This was email to me yesterday. It really caught my attention maybe because this is how I also feels. As much as I want to stay in my own country, as much as I want to grow old here, as much as I want my children to live with Filipino culture and values, I can’t and it hurts. Filipino values and morale are tampered with power-hungered leaders.

From a very brave Filipina. She stated her name and contact info, but I ommitted it.

There should be more…

To all Filipinos Everywhere: 

I used to think that corruption and criminality in the Philippines were caused by poverty. But recent events tell me this isn’t true. It is one thing to see people turn into drug addicts, prostitutes, thieves and murderers because of hunger and poverty, but what excuse do these rich, educated people have that could possibly explain their bizarre behavior? And to think I was always so relieved when petty snatchers got caught and locked away in jail because I never fully realized that the big time thieves were out there, making the laws and running our country. Can it get any worse than this?

Every night, I come home and am compelled to turn on my tv to watch the latest turn of events. I am mesmerized by these characters. They are not men. They are caricatures of men - too unreal to be believable and too bad to be real. To see these “honorable” crooks lambast each other, call each one names, look each other in the eye and accuse the other of committing the very same crimes that they themselves are guilty of, is so comical and apalling that I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. It is entertainment at its worst! 

I have never seen so many criminals roaming around unfettered and looking smug until now. These criminals wear suits and barongs, strut around with the confidence of the rich and famous, inspire fear and awe from the very citizens who voted them to power, bear titles like “Honorable”, “Senator”, “Justice”, “General” and worse, “President”. Ironically, these lawless individuals practice law, make our laws, enforce the law. And we wonder why our policemen act the way they do! These are their leaders, and the leaders of this nation – Robin Hoodlum and his band of moneymen. Their motto? “Rob the poor, moderate the greed of the rich.” 

It makes me wonder where on earth these people came from, and what kind of upbringing they had to make them act the way they do for all the world to see. It makes me wonder what kind of schools they went to, what kind of teachers they had, what kind of environment would produce such creatures who can lie, cheat and steal from an already indebted country and from the impoverished people they had vowed to serve. It makes me wonder what their children and grandchildren think of them, and if they are breeding a whole new generation of improved Filipino crooks and liars with maybe a tad more style but equally negligible conscience. Heaven forbid! 

I am an ordinary citizen and taxpayer. I am blessed to have a job that pays for my needs and those of my family’s, even though 30% of my earnings go to the nation’s coffers. Just like others in my lot, I have complained time and again because our government could not provide enough of the basic services that I expect and deserve. Rutty roads, poor educational system, poor social services, poor health services, poor everything. But I have always thought that was what all third world countries were all about, and my complaints never amounted to anything more. 

And then this. Scandalous government deals. Plundering presidents pointing fingers. Senators associated with crooks. Congressmen who accept bribes. Big time lawyers on the side of injustice. De Venecia ratting on his boss only after his interminable term has ended, Enrile inquiring about someone’s morality! The already filthy rich Abalos and Arroyo wanting more money than they or their great grandchildren could ever spend in a lifetime. Joker making a joke of his own “pag bad ka, lagot ka!” slogan.. Defensor rendered defenseless. Gen. Razon involved in kidnapping. Security men providing anything but a sense of security. And it’s all about money, money, money that the average Juan de la Cruz could not even imagine in his dreams. Is it any wonder why our few remaining decent and hardworking citizens are leaving to go work in other countries? 

And worst of all, we are once again saddled with a power-hungry president whose addiction has her clinging on to it like barnacle on a rusty ship. “Love (of power) is blind” takes a whole new meaning when PGMA time and again turns a blind eye on her husband’s financial deals. And still blinded with all that is happening, she opts to traipse around the world with her cohorts in tow while her country is in shambles. 

They say the few stupid ones like me who remain in the Philippines are no longer capable of showing disgust. I don’t agree. Many like me feel anger at the brazenness of men we call our leaders, embarrassment to share the same nationality with them, frustration for our nation and helplessness at my own ineffectuality. It is not that I won’t make a stand. It is just that I am afraid my actions would only be futile. After all, these monsters are capable of anything. They can hurt me and my family. They already have, though I may not yet feel it.. 

But I am writing this because I need to do something concrete. I need to let others know that ordinary citizens like me do not remain lukewarm to issues that would later affect me and my children. I want to make it known that there are also Filipinos who dream of something better for the Philippines. I want them to know that my country is not filled with scalawags and crooks in every corner, and that there are citizens left who believe in decency, fairness, a right to speak, a right to voice out ideas, a right to tell the people we have trusted to lead us that they have abused their power and that it is time for them to step down. I refuse to let this country go to hell because it is the only country I call mine and it is my responsibility to make sure I have done what I could for it. 

Those of us who do not have the wealth, power or position it needs to battle the evil crime lords in the government can summon the power of good. We can pray. We can do this with our families every night. We can offer petitions every time we celebrate mass. We can ask others to pray, too, including relatives and friends here and overseas. And we can offer sacrifices along with our petitions, just so we get the message to Him of our desperation in ridding our nation of these vermin. After all, they cannot be more powerful than God! 

I implore mothers out there to raise your children the best way you can. Do not smother, pamper, or lavish them with too much of the material comforts of life even if you can well afford them. Teach them that there are more important things in this world. I beg all fathers to spend time with their children, to teach them the virtues of hard work, honesty, fair play, sharing, dignity and compassion – right from the sandbox till they are old enough to go on their own. Not just in your homes, but at work, in school, everywhere you go. Be good role models. Be shining examples for your children so they will learn to be responsible adults who will carry and pass on your family name with pride and honor. 

I call on educators and teachers – we always underestimate the power of your influence on the minds of our youth. Encourage them to be aware of what is happening in their surroundings. Instill in them a love of their country, inculcate in them the value of perseverance in order to gain real, worthwhile knowledge, help us mold our children into honorable men and women. Encourage our graduates, our best and brightest, to do what they can to lift this country from the mire our traditional politicians have sunk us into. The youth is our future – and it would be largely because of you, our educators, that we will be able to repopulate the seats of power with good leaders, presidents, senators, congressmen, justices, lawmakers, law enforcers and lawful citizens. 

I ask all students, young people and young professionals everywhere to look around and get involved in what is happening. Do not let your youth be an excuse for failure to concern yourselves with the harsh realities you see. But neither let this make you cynical, because we need your idealism and fresh perspective just as you need the wisdom of your elders. YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU! Let your voices be heard. Do what you can for this land that gave you your ancestors and your heritage. Use technology and all available resources at hand to spread good. Text meaningful messages to awaken social conscience. Try your best to fight moral decay because I promise you will not regret it when you become parents yourselves. You will look back at your past misdeeds and pray that your children will do better than you did. 

Remember that there are a few handful who are capable of running this country.. You can join their ranks and make their numbers greater. We are tired of the old trapos. We need brave idealistic leaders who will think of the greater good before anything else. Do your utmost to excel in your chosen field.. Be good lawyers, civil servants, accountants, computer techs, engineers, doctors, military men so that when you are called to serve in government, you will have credibility and a record that can speak for itself. 

For love of this country, for the future of our children, for the many who have sacrificed and died to uphold our rights and ideals, I urge you to do what you can. As ordinary citizens, we can do much more for the Philippines than sit around and let crooks lead us to perdition. We owe ourselves this. And we owe our country even more.

Certified "cheap-way" BoyZone Fanatic

I am a huge fan of Boyzone. My highschool classmates know that. Stephen Gately is D-e-a-d!! Guys, I’m mourning now. ( tissue please… *sniff*

I spent half of my allowance in buying a song book (we call it Song Hits, the name of a popular song book) with a picture of them (specially Ronan Keating) no matter how simple or how small the picture is. My mother doesn’t know that I bought at least one (sometimes two). She knew how much I love singing. So I guess that’s the reason why she never scolded me for having too many Song Hits

Did i mention that we have two television at home and Mommy always said that we have only two channels, MTV and others. The others are only viewed, IF I’m not around. This one mostly happened when I was in junior and senior high, when both my elder siblings are studying in Manila. I would spent whole day with the VCR on and the T.V. tuned in in MTV just to be able to get a record of their music video. (mommy would always complain about our electric bill)

Luckily, Papa loves buying cassette tapes (it’s a box type 2 by 3 inches with two whole for those who are wondering) because I caneasily buy whatever album I wanted. (hahaha! the fortunate life of a youngest child (dati yun!)). I actually did have all of their albums from the first up to the last! Sadly, I can’t find them aymore. At least I know when and to whom I lost their first album. (You know who you are! Cueto!!) I’d play their album nonstop and even sing them to lull my little sister.

HUgest Crush!! Revelation to all who didn’t know me way back in highschool. I have thi HUGEST Crush on Ronan Keating. It broke my heart when I learned he was married! But I get over it soon, at least at night I dreamt about him, where he is still single. hahaha! When he shifted to a solo career, that was the time BoyZone once again broke my heart. That was the last straw and the buying of song hits every week stopped. (Ionly bought once a month na lang :D)

Whenever I see those song hits at home, (my mom is an expert in keeping things!) I remember those ga-ga days! I still browse through them and sing their song once in a while. I still listen to Ronan Keating’s songs. I still get excited hearing something new about them. I guess a fan will always be a fan and today, my heart broke for the third time for BoyZone’s loss.

Politics and Entertainment

Politics in the Philippines are predictable. It’s like a popularity contest. The nearer the big day of election comes, the more entertaining the Philippine politicians become. How to boost your popularity? 

BIG EVENTS!

Politician A: I have nothing against this one. I’m being biase here. He’s my bet anyway. He has the capacity to make Filipinos be proud again. He ’s a candidate made out of a big event. People realizes suddenly that there’s more than just popularity and political background that should be considered to be a leader. This one got them all!

The Sacrificial Lamb

Politician T: Who is he anyway? Hmmm., I have no idea who he is until he was chosen as the running President of some party. Why not the other politician who is more popular? I guess it’s because, he is a relative of Politician A. Or maybe because they’re sure it will be a landslide win for Politician A that they just need a sacrificial lamb. How he’s doing with popularity contest? He can be seen on TV now a days. The frontier, the speaker, the team leader.  Give thanks to Ondoy, his popularity boost well.

The ONE to blame

Politician B: Wow! His speech really is a good one! He’s the one to blame for the flood that Ondoy caused. Thanks to Ondoy once again. This morning one Ondoy victim says whoever is to be blamed should pay for his life. I suddenly pity his. He’s heroic act could tarnish him. Well, you know what they say, good or bad it’s still publicity!

The Informercial Models

Politician O: Nice tactic! It’s lame and boring. Old style and Filipinos always want something new and entertaning.

The Humanitarian

Politician L: I salute  her! She realized that instead of spending millions for election candidacy, why not spend it on humanitarian works. Anyway, it’s as good as winning, not in the presidencial election but winning the Filipinos’ heart. (It’s an almost sure landslide anyway to the other party.  For now.)

Nature’s Call

Saturday seems like another ordinary rainy day to me. I woke up 10 o’ clock in the morning and worrying how the kittens in the street are doing. Last Friday night, I saw them under a broken umbrella. Tired from a weeks load of work. We’re disappointed for not having cable reception. We have nothing to do but sleep, eat and play games in my laptop. In the aternoon, we decided to get some groceries. The food container was running out of it’s supplies (siguro sa sobrang katakawan namin ).

It was still raining outside. I can feel the cold wind and rain against my skin. As soon as I step outside, there I saw what fortune the rain has bestowned to the kittens. I saw one of them lying lifeless on the street, washed out by the flowing water. Although I didn’t see the other one, I assume it ended up the same fate. We got the groceries we needed and we headed back home. It was already 9 o’clock in the evening and we still have no cable reception. We usually sleep late, but that night we doozed off early.

Sunday, sun rays woke me. I heard the news coming from the television. The cable reception is back and what shocked me was the tragedy the rain has brought to other places. Kilometers away from our home, while I sleep peacefully with warm bed beneath me, people slept in their rooftops. Subdivisions where flood usually never reaches are now in deep water levels. Many incidents really caught my attention. People can be seen balancing along electric cables just to cross the flood. One video coverage showed a group of people as if surfing on a pile of tree braches, garbage and water lilies in a raging rive. They tried to save them but sadly their float crashed beneath the bridge pillar. Two of them who were trapped under the bridge were found dead. The others, I still have no update about them. It’s a terrible loss. 

Nature does not know how to desctruct. It has no control of what it can do. We are the one who has control. It’s what We do that desctructs the nature. The effect of our negligence and selfishness cause these calamities to happen. 

Shades of Green

Green is mostly linked with negativity., Green means envy..greed..malicious thinking.. At times,  I would regret choosing green as my favorite color., I even used to hate looking at things colored apple green.. I never even liked wearing green colors… Deep inside, I cant help myself from getting thrilled at the thought of owning a car in shade of green, or a house or other personal things… But I always end up owning personal things in different colors.. A little weird and ironic, loving green but rarely prefering green things.. And as i was struggling to choose if i would write green as my favourite or not, i realized something.. I myself is like the color of green, in different shades I have different personalities, I have dreams I like to achieve but end up taking an entirely different path of life..