Getting dizzy with Mara Clara, etc.

I am getting dizzy with Mara Clara. Though I am not an avid follower, I cannot help but watch the soap opera because it is my wife’s favorite show. We have one TV, so, even passive watching, or just hearing, I somehow follow the story …err…or the story zigzag line.

The story revolves around two families. The story can be summarized this way: The antagonist swaps family members with the protagonists (or the other way). Then following week, there is another swap of family member, then another week, another member of the family is swapped, then another week, the family member returns, then another week another family member returns, then another week, the same family member leaves…so when I missed on episode, I get confused. “What is she doing with that family?” I asked my wife “isn’t she the enemy?” And the explanation begins.

Watching Mara Clara is like watching table tennis. Ping, pong, ping, pong…Pinoy soap opera is amazing for its inanity. One reason why the country is still poor--the soaps sedate the Filipinos...

There is an ad on the showing a Muslim man sitting on a motorcycle texting while passersby look at him suspiciously suspecting him of being a terrorist. While this is happening, a little girl runs towards the man happily showing her report card. The man smiled and hugs his daughter.

The ad is very timely and it hits the viewers where it should, in the heart. 

There was an incident that I witnessed one afternoon that showed the ignorance and lack of sensitivity of some of Filipinos on religious matters. (I am guilty of this because I like bashing religions too in this blog). There was a knife wielding butcher challenging the Muslim DVD vendor to a duel. I overheard that the butcher was angry because his daughter’s feet was caught by a drainage cover in front of the Muslim man’s stall. Everybody was whispering that the Muslim had nothing to do with the accident but the butcher was fuming with anger shouting that he was not afraid of any Muslim. 

I was shaking my head while hoping that all the Muslim in the area would pounce upon the man and beat him till the guy lost his consciousness so that he would get what he was looking for. But the Muslims were apologetic. They spoke softly and treated the guy with respect. I didn’t know what the butcher was thinking, but if he was thinking that if the Muslims took his challenge his Christian brothers would aid him, he was wrong. Given the chance, I would be the first one to kick and crush his reproductive organs.

TVs should not only be bombarded with consumer goods, it could also be used to make people aware of social issues like intolerance and bigotry.

 Really Mommy D is so funny. I see her face on TV again and I can’t help but admire her for her defense of Manny. Go, go Mommy D. I admire Senator Miriam too because she did not lash back  at Mommy D. with her trademark insults.  Wag gagalitin ang inahing manok!

The news is filled with footages of schools getting ready for the opening of the classes. Though excited about the opening of the school year, but I am more excited about my daughter who is now in high school. My wife and I are discussing the adjustments that our daughter would have to make. 

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Come to think of it…it is us who needs to adjust because our daughter is not a little girl anymore.

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Hmmmmmm……..I need to fetch my daughter from Baguio this week.

Seminar, Pnoy, Mommy D

I had a lot of fun with the teacher’s summer enhancement seminar where I was part of the MSEP team. I was one of the discussant in Music. This was an honor considering that I am new in the service. The seminar was fun because of the singing and the dancing. Before each session we sang children song that sometimes became so hilarious that we burst out laughing while singing. We had the most fun singing round songs.

Yesterday we discussed music. Though some of the parts were boring especially the theories, but the seminar went well. The teachers learned the basic symbols and theories in music. We had exercises on note reading and melody. I got tired playing the bass guitar, but I had fun accompanying the teachers with their presentations.

This day we discussed basic folk dance patterns. But instead of CD players, the practice sessions were done with the live accompaniment of guitar and bass music. There were a lot of stepping and hopping that the old wooden floor of the school building was shaking. We were afraid that floor would collapse, but the floor held. Although I tried to learn the steps too, unfortunately I did not have the coordination and the grace to learn the skill.

What made the seminar fun was the sight of hmmm... mature teachers dancing and singing. There were a lot of heckling and name callings from the younger teachers. There were few who could not relate with the discussions but in general, the spirit was high except in the afternoons because the teachers energy has ebbed.

Other teachers and principals commented that our class was the most enthusiastic. What did they expect from English, Filipino and TBR sessions…booorrriiinnnggg.

Tomorrow we will be discussing Physical Education. I expect lots of laughter becuase the older teachers would be made fun of.

Hmmmm…I don’t want to be accused of being a gossip, but I can’t help myself from thinking of unthinkable things. 

I was watching the news when I saw a picture of President Noynoy Aquino with a new date watching a reunion concert of the Hotdog Band. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with our president dating because he is single and very much available. But here’s my theory: I think this dating thing is a media campaign to promote the president’s macho…err…I think the term macho is already an anachronism…It’s a campaign to promote the president’s masculinity…err…I am not implying that he is effeminate or feminine, but the president has been criticized as having no ….what do you call the round things that children play… because of his wavering and indecisive stand about the RH Bill. 

It was reported that the Hotdog date was the president’s fourth date (or attempt at a relationship). 

The RH debate getting more and more weirder by the day. Sen. Miriam challenged Pacquaio to a match. Of course, the senator is just being herself when she challenged the boxing champ, but she has a point. Boxing is a different thing from being lawmaking. Anyway, what is crazy is that mommy Dionisia has joined the circus. Mommy was so mad that she lost her composure in front of the camera.

I gotta hand it to the senator. Miriam showed the better side of herself by not telling Mommy Dionisia that she was a fungus faced microbe with the intellect of a mold and that she should stuff her Hermes bag down her…

Manny was happy because her mother defended her. What could I say but…that’s what moms are for.

RH Manny

The RH bill debate is getting hmmm…more exciting and bizarre as the days pass by. What made the debate more interesting is that Manny Pacquiao joined the fray by openly giving his support to the anti-RH bill. I admire Manny for his boxing skills, no doubt about it. I even respect his business acumen and political savvy, but there are two things that Manny should not dive into for the obvious reasons: singing and the debate on the RH bill.
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I will not discuss Manny’s singing because anyone who has that kind of money can sing any song he likes as badly as may be, record any albums he wants and buy them all to show they sell, I mean he has the money. His singing cannot hurt anyone.
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But the RH bill…I agree with many Filipinos when they say that Manny is being hypocritical because his own wife openly admitted that she used contraceptives to limit her pregnancies. 

Watching Manny conduct debate at congress…I mean he is making a fool of himself. I am not saying that Manny does not have the intellectual prowess to process the issues, what I am getting at is that Manny should treat politics as seriously as he treat his boxing. He should enter the hall intellectually and mentally prepared. He should not go to the congress with a poorly written script and inaccurate data because he will be minced on the floor. 

Enough of Manny…

Parades...some logical suggestions

On my way to my morning walk, I noticed a traffic jam near the public market. Curious, I took a look. The reason for the jam was a group of basketball players having a parade.

I have nothing against parades. Parades are fun especially during town anniversaries and fiestas where there are floats with movie stars waving and smiling (each wave and each smile costing the local taxpayers thousands of pesos) marching bands showing  off their  skills, motorcycle clubs doing stunts and exhibitions with their bikes, cycling clubs promoting healthy transportation, gays with their comical  constumes and gyrating dance, and other local organizations joining in to make the event festive. Parades are fun.

But parades should be regulated by the authorities. Maybe there are already ordinances enacted to do this, but from this morning experience, I am assuming there are none.

Here are my suggestions:

• Parades shall not be done on (or is it in) national highways except for national security reasons like the parade of the Marine Corp, Philippine Army, PNP etc. in response to an alien invasion...

• Parades shall have proper and defined area of concern or limits. For example, if the local barangay officials want to do a parade to promote their inter-purok basketball league, the parade shall be done in the puroks and not on major thorough fares. The barangay officials with the marching bands, the players and the muses and the whole entourage shall enter the narrow, dog-poop filled, and stinking narrow streets of their puroks. This is only logical because these people in the purok are the one who will watch the basketball league and not the motorists and the commuters. 

• Parades shall have prescribed speed. Since most parades not only hamper the flow of traffic but they also hamper the movement of the pedestrians, I propose that parades shall have a prescribed parading speed of thirty kilometers per hour. By doing this, the convenience of the ordinary pedestrians is not compromised. Also, the amount of time to finish the parade route is greatly lessened. 

• Lastly, major, festive, large parades shall be done between twelve midnight to two in the morning. The logic behind this proposal is obvious.

One, it will not hamper the normal flow of traffic. 

Two, the glutathione and the astringent treated skins of the actors, the government officials, and the ordinary folks would not be damaged by the ultra violet rays of the sun. 

Third, great amount of energy is saved. If one would study and calculate the amount of fuel uselessly wasted by idling engines of vehicles stuck in traffic, the amount would be staggering—enough to pay our foreign debts. Also, the amount of air pollution would be greatly diminished because there are no idling engines that belch out poisonous gasses.
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Fourth, heat stroke would not be a problem.

Fifth, it would promote the goto, pancitan, and other small businesses .Small time lugawan, balutan and pacitan would experience an overnight boom in sales.

Sixth, it would not inconvenience ordinary Filipinos like me.

I am thinking of applying these suggestions to processions and funerals,,but,then,I don't want to be insensitive.

Nahhhh...I'm just having fun venting out my hmmm...what do you call this...irritation  on this blog:-)

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RH Bill, Plea Bargaining, Pacquiao...

The Reproductive Health Bill being pushed by some congressmen are being met with stiff opposition from the pro life movement led by the Roman Catholic Church. Though many (if not most) ordinary Filipinos do not care about the bill because they’d rather watch Eat Bulaga, the debate among its proponent and opponent are so intense that that the dialog sometimes degenerate into name callings and hecklings. This is both sad and entertaining.

I was watching a live TV debate about the bill, and I couldt help laughing at the way congressmen, doctors, bioethics professors, atheists, theologians and common folks engage the discussion. There was more personal issues discussed than an objective discussion of the issues. Also, the audience were unruly. How could there a proper debate when you have audiences acting as cheerleaders and hecklers for opposing sides. Not only did they cheer, but they were also carrying banners, placards, cue cards etc. with unflattering messages. 

The merit and the flaw of the bill was not explored and discussed by the panelists. What happened was that the panelist started attacking each others' institutions and persons. It was like watching a derby in a cock fighting arena.

Although the sexuality education part of the bill was opposed by many conservatives, actually human reproduction is regularly discussed in science classes as part of human anatomy lessons. Most science teachers (if not all), I being one of them, discuss the process of getting pregnant, and, I, for one, cannot help injecting a discussion/sermon on the dangers of early pregnancy, the effect of early pregnancy on a child nad on the teenage moms, how it could jeoperdize their future, how they would be creating a miserable life for their accidental baby, how they would be adding another mouth to feed to their parents…Etc...

I explain the relationship between the size of the family and the parents’ capacity to provide with the quality of of their lives. They are aware that a family with two to three children are better off. 

Every Filipinos know that it is important to control the size of the family. The poor, especially, are the most affected by uncontrolled birth. The more educated a couple is, the better they plan the size of their family.

The issues involved in the Bill are so complicated because of the ignorance about the bill, the Catholic Church’s archaic dogmatism and the politicians lack of political will that I don’t see the bill being passed in the near future.

I would just like to ask a question to the opponent of the RH Bill in congress: Congressmen (not all of course), how are you able to control the size of your family and your second family and your third family etc. How do you prevent the pregnancies of your mistresse/s? Ouuucchhh.

I think the Catholic priests living a bachelor’s life is the proponent of the RH Bill for they practice the best birth control method, celibacy.

Protestant ministers could be both pro and anti RH Bill and have no qualms about the theology and the ethics.

Politicians are hypocritical about the issue.

The common folks' reaction? Who cares for even the Care Bears don’t care!

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The Sandigan Bayan upheld the plea bargaining agreement of General Carlos Garcia. Of course it is fact that once an accused enters a plea bargaining agreement, guilt is already admitted.

The court seemed to be more interested in getting back the money, or at least part of the money plundered, than meting out justice. Many are in agreement that the money is not that important, although it is, what are more important are the prosecution and the punishment of the general. This will send signal to the generals that they would not get away with corruption by sharing the loot with the government.

The areglo system in the Philippines is usually done by the tulay/padrino system, and it is usually done outside the court. Why is it being done in the country’s judiciary…not a law expert.

Of course I do not pretend to know the facts, the ombudsman and the court may be justified in saying that government may have a very weak case versus the general. It’s up to the experts to determine that, but I, personally, would like to see the general in jail with the common criminal rather than see him a couple of million pesos poorer but still rich enough to enjoy a comfortable life at the cost of our poor soldiers.

I sometimes wonder why these generals have not been assassinated, beheaded, salvaged and bombed into oblivion by the AFP’s commandos. Maybe they want to these nefarious generals in jails too for death may be an escape too good for them like what General Angelo Reyes did.

Hey, what is happening to general Ligot!

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Manny Pacquaio should not be fighting lesser boxers. One reason is that his fighting ability is being compromised. It was observed in his fight with Mosley he did not perform as expected of him. He was slow (he had leg cramps according to Manny). His combinations are not that fast.  The truth is that he is fighting a fighter whose objective is to survive the fight without being knocked down. Manny is not used to chasing, he is used to fighting it off blow by blow, fist for fist and face to face. Unfortunately with Mosley and his later opponents, he has to change strategy from head on boxing to chasing the butterfly. These fights may have negative effects on his confidence. He was training hard, sparring, getting fit only to end up fighting a sissy Mosley.

Many Filipinos are suggesting that Manny retired from boxing while still on top. I agree because if he waited too long and he lost to lesser fighters, the mystique surrounding his boxing prowess may wane. He has nothing to prove anymore. He is the best. He does not need the money. 

Also, the danger of brain damage is real. He may end up like Muhamad Ali. Retired, rich, famous but suffering from Parkinson’s Syndrome due to heavy blows on the head. Sad.