Making It Fun in the Philippines

Today is the month of May and somehow it's not just the summer month in the Philippines -- it's also fiesta month. Now, I'm just reminded of the movie Heneral Luna where one of the biggest, most stupid characters named Tomas Mascardo left his post to attend a fiesta. Although it's somewhat debated while historians seem not to deny that Mascardo left his post to do something not related to the war. Imagine a general who abandons his post in the middle of a war to attend a town celebration. What happened in Heneral Luna is but a microcosm of the prevalent bad habit among Filipinos to leave their posts to attend a celebration. Worse, they even say that these celebrations such as family gatherings and town feasts are more important than their work. This reminded me of an argument I had with several people. I remembered how I had irritations like somebody placed more priority on her friend's beach wedding in Boracay than to attend an important rehearsal, how somebody...

While it's true that there's some lessons or a lot of valuable lessons that youngsters can learn from our elders due to the amount of experience they've had but can it be said of all old people? Such is the case of a foolish 4Ps obsessed old man who seems to think that his getting older automatically means that he's getting smarter . Old age tends to bring wisdom but do we forget that sometimes that growing old means one's in the risk of becoming a senile old fool at the same time? An old person could start resisting all forms of changes because one has either Parkinson's or Alzheimer's to deal with. It's like the situation of my late paternal grandmother who doesn't understand world economics. She was upset that no president could lower the prices of gasoline. I had to explain to her why it's so. Fortunately, she was able to at least understand something all the while I learned a lot about life from her. Grandparents can be right when they...

I remembered how I read a few days ago or so that some Filipinos are angry over the sugar tax law . There was even a comparison of the prices of soft drinks from Noynoy's time to President Duterte's time. I really am happy that the prices of soft drinks and other sugar-rich products are increased with additional tax for this reason - the Philippines is really a diabetes hot spot. It's not just genetic factors but also what further the risk behind the genetic factors that will lead to severe diabetes. What I can observe more often than not is how it's almost a norm in the Philippines for people to have more sugar than usual in their diet. Children don't drink milk? Add some sugar to it. Spaghetti Filipino style? Add some sugar to the tomato sauce. While sugar in moderate quantities gives you energy, your body needs sugar but the problem is having too much sugar in your body. The pancreas gets overworked to the point that soon can't produce enough islets of...

The corruption and the rampant stupidity of the Bureau of Customs  (BOC) has all been about being unreasonable on normal citizens. You have them making people pay unjust fees while dangerous stuff like imported garbage, fake food products and narcotics making it in. As long as there's a lot of corrupt people at the BOC then expect all those dangerous stuff that I mentioned earlier and many more to enter the Philippines. The simple keywords are "bribery" and "corruption". The bigger problem is not bribery but people who accept the bribes. All the BOC may be caring about is their money than public interest.

I'm so amazed no thanks to the incompetence of the President Nobita Administration  - the Ninoy Aquino International Airport or NAIA for short has further fallen apart no thanks to the Pwede Na Yan mentality . Just after the incidents involving taxi scammers, the laglag bala scam  and now you have reports of the ceilings falling apart. From stray bullet scams to collapsing ceilings to falling floors - these are not to be taken lightly because they kill one of the Philippines' most important industries namely tourism. The Philippines has the potential to be a real tourist dream but it can also die no thanks to the NAIA.

Is it really more fun in the Philippines? Unfortunately, one guy Luis Simeos had learned it the hard way with what happened. At your right is a picture of a selfie he took with that gang before he got robbed of his possessions. The picture and story were taken from Inquirer . I still couldn't forget the stupid comment of what somebody said to a certain Mr. Banh saying this trash and until now the statement continues to piss me off like there's no tomorrow, "It's pure harassment, swindling, robbery, holdup, to a foreign tourist who came from a 3rd world country. Do you think they will do that to a foreigner who came from a developed country. Is this a normal practice in Singapore that they don't explain 1st to the customer the way the warranty should be charged. I said harassment because they threatened the customer that they will not give $600 refund if he call the police. In UNITED KINGDOM, warranty is optional but they charged it 10% of the selling price go...

Do you remember the story of Juan Tamad? Although I've only read the story where he gets away from his laziness and becomes a diligent man, most of the stories he's been known for are his being lazy like when he told the crabs to go to his house rather than bring them home. The same goes for President Benigno Simeon "Nobita" Cojuangco Aquino III who might be best described as "Noy Tamad" if we have Juan Tamad. The funny Photoshop above may show what kind of people are common among many Filipinos. I still remembered the old campaign garbage that said, "Kung walang korupt ay walang mahirap." or "If there are no corrupt people, there will be no poor people." Isn't getting out of poverty your OWN responsibility? If you look at developed countries that are still in power, they do not get the poor out of their poverty and the poor must get out of their poverty. If certain poor people in developed countries were corruption index is so...

Even after Mr. Banh the Vietnamese had returned home safe thanks to Singaporeans who helped him out of his predicament from a tourist trap store, this comment came to my mind because of the Tanim Bala incident, now for that same stupid comment that I shared in a very old post I wrote last year (which included Mr. Banh): It's pure harassment, swindling, robbery, holdup, to a foreign tourist who came from a 3rd world country. Do you think they will do that to a foreigner who came from a developed country. Is this a normal practice in Singapore that they don't explain 1st to the customer the way the warranty should be charged. I said harassment because they threatened the customer that they will not give $600 refund if he call the police. In UNITED KINGDOM, warranty is optional but they charged it 10% of the selling price good for 1 year.  I thought Singapore POLICE is very tough when it comes to customer complain much more Mr Banh is a foreign tourist? Mr Banh the nex...

Until now, I can't still forget what some person really said like, "You'll never be cheated in the Philippines." to some Vietnamese who got conned in Singapore (but the situation is now solved). Now it's time to talk about one very hot issue called the "tanim bala scheme" going on. If this goes on, Philippine tourism can die down which in turn will also hurt the economy. Looking at the "tanim bala scheme", here's how it works according to ABS-CBN News  which I don't really trust and I take their news with a grain of salt...   This has to be an inside job due to how effective and efficient it's been going on. What happens is that they look at the potential victim perhaps those who they deem has a lot of money. 

I have previously written about the Mamasapano Incident and crab mentality  I guess I'll be writing about that sign on successful and unsuccessful people and how it can affect the Philippines. Singapore's emergence from poverty is not an overnight story to how it changed from a sick man of Asia to becoming an emergent nation. Aside from Lee Kuan Yew's positive thinking and reforms, it would not be enough if the people didn't get united. I can't really talk about how disorganized and disunited people were in Singapore back then but certainly, when Singaporeans decided to help each other succeed, the nation went from a poor third world country to an emergent nation. For the Philippines, now only if more Filipinos will stop in their habits of crab mentality. I hate to admit it but many times, many Filipinos tend to have the habit of, "I can't have it, neither can you." which does not lead to progress. Worse, when a certain Filipino succeeds in s...

In progressive nations, they have the RIGHT idea of sharing... Don't get me wrong, I am not against a culture of sharing but against the wrong idea of it. You can see a culture of sharing in some of the most progressive countries in the world because people learn how to share their resources. Remember that Singapore and Japan have a culture of the right idea of sharing. It just reminded me of how decent Singaporeans went against that Stinkaporean cell shop that cheated Mr. Banh and made him beg for mercy... FACEDESK AND FACEWALL to that. When the Singaporeans helped him out of the predicament of being cheated by a Stinkaporean businessman and he was able to go home safe and sound, that's the right idea of sharing. People shared their resources to help a person who was truly in need and they return the favor. In Japan, work production value is so properly done because people share their resources with each other. That's the kind of sharing that many Filipinos need to lear...

The padrino system is best defined as where one gain's favor because of one's relations or friendship rather than opposed to merit. While I still want to investigate all of Ninoy's alleged charges but I simply want to bring him up because of the issue of how his family and relatives end up getting votes no thanks to that stupid system. I would really still bring Ninoy up even if Ninoy Aquino Day is over because this came into my head. As said, this is all part of necropolitics but again, even if the person is still alive, it will exist. The whole President Nobita administration might as well be best described as a result of the padrino system which prevailed even before he became president. If you recall, his late mother Cory was only voted as president because Ninoy was shot at the Manila airport. I really wonder if President Nobita himself would have won if Cory didn't die. Maybe he would, after all he still has the name Benigno on him and perhaps the same reason...

I have noticed how the satire of the Chinese government vowing to donate 3 ships or 60 escalators has met reactions.  Even if the article was tagged as "HUMOR", then again it's a sad fact that a lot of Filipinos tend not to read the post before they even comment .  So if they don't bother to read, just think of what they will comment when they don't read the posts all because they don't read posts. If you want to know why I'm using an obviously FAKE picture of President Nobita Aquino performing the penitensya is because what if I wrote my satire without the caption, "SATIRICAL NEWS", I wonder how many people will buy the obviously fake news?!  When you think about it satirical news websites like the Adobo Chronicles, Hassle Free News or So What's News tend to indirectly mislead people EVEN IF on top of the website, a disclaimer is written that everything in there is PURELY FICTIONAL.  That is, the website already reveals its intentions t...

When I heard of the news a few days ago about the deworming process gone wrong and man I am so amazed at the stupidity of the Department of Health which I might call as the Department of No Health because of what happened. Really Secretary Janette Garin? Those were "normal effects"? Wow, I can't help but scream foul although there are other possibilities why the medicine caused headache. However an angry parent may have shown what could be credible evidence that the Benzol medicine given to them was EXPIRED. While I am reading all the call to boycott everything Made in China because of the supposed quality of all products, so what's next? Blame it on China ? What? Will they say that the medication was Made in China? Now I am aware of the fake medicine industry in China but remember, that incident can happen anywhere. China might be a Communist government but it's been serious in axing people and promoting quality control these days. If you read the recent...

Do you remember the story of the Ant and the Grasshoppher?  In Tagalog, it was called, "Ang Langgam At Ang Tipaklong".  Depending on which country you are in - it was either a rainy season (since there is no winter in the Philippines or any tropical country) or the winter in non-tropical areas.  The story has the grasshopper who makes fun of the ants for working from spring to fall - gathering food while all he did was just enjoy himself.  Finally when winter came, the grasshopper had no food to eat.  If you remember the Disney version, the Silly Symphony had included the statement that the grasshopper said, "Nature owes us a labor." but in the end he says, "We awe nature a labor." The Philippines is a very culturally divided country.  Filipino culture might be very hard to define considering that some areas of the Philippines are filled with lazy people while other areas are filled with hardworking people.  Remembering my Filipino history classes, ...

Do you know political dynasties are happening that is instead of one per family, one member jumps in then the rest follows?  Aside from the lack of strict implementation of the Anti-Political Dynasty law, you may also consider that people actually vote for people based on their family background and not based on personal achievement.  I always thought why the Aquinos have messed up the country is not entirely their fault - people vote for one Aquino after the other because of the late Ninoy Aquino. Likewise, there are a good amount of Marcos loyalists to explain why there's more than one Marcos involved in politics.  It's really an Aliens vs. Predator war . What I have noticed is that Bongbong Marcos as much as I don't think he would be a good president should be judged according to what he does, not according to his father's actions .  Yes, the Marcos years were foundations of national decay for the Philippines but again, accountability is individual.  Some ...

When I think about Tiffany Grace Uy's 1.01 grade in B.S. Biology... that is something worth getting jealous about than the fickle popularity of show business. When I think she wants to become a doctor, it made me think that her hard work has made me think I was lazy when I was in high school. I feel like I want to use her to inspire a new generation of kids to follow her path instead.  I doubt it she is after popularity.  I guess her decision to become a doctor is in order to help others.   What kids must also learn is that becoming a celebrity is no walk in the park . I remembered the time I wanted to enter show business so I'll have an easier time running into politics. After becoming part of a school play, I realized memorizing all those lines were never easy. I had to stay awake, find time to study and then memorize my lines. Think of the number of times that you will be very busy and be unable to move around because of fans. At the same time - popularity is a ...

The stupid campaign poster of David Guerrero has no doubt really created a culture of dysfunction and impunity .  The problem of having a culture of a misguided notion of happiness  is prevailing in Filipino society. Being ethnically Pinoy is not a choice, becoming a Failipino is a choice  - remember that. I might consider the slogan to be an opium of the Filipino society.  Like it or not, ignoring a current problem will not make it go away . Looking at this picture it shows why becoming a Failipino is very unbecoming of any Filipino. Nothing can be further than the truth of the picture above of the Pinoy who chose to become a Failipino instead of a decent Pinoy. He has his Pinoy Pride (Failipino Pride) on his head with rotten nationalism, poverty, corruption stuck on his bare chest, he is only wearing the bahag of incompetence (the fact he's not fully clothed suggests that incompetence wasn't able to get rid of poverty and corruption), wields his persona non-...

It's a hard thing to watch in a culture that rewards the lazy Failipino and punishes the diligent Filipino  and I guess this Jay Bee guy might be the greatest beneficiary.  Looking at that censored picture of "Jay Bee" (I think he uses this name because he conned a Jollibee delivery man) whose real identity is yet to be uncovered, he was the same person who claimed to be an "Atenean doctor" but looking at the picture above, he might be pretty poor himself.  The deception went on when he purposely tricked a delivery man from Jollibee just to get free food.  It made me think what is this guy's lifestyle anyway to why he did all that he did?  I am happy thought that there are decent Pinoys who are actually attacking Jay Bee instead of condoning what he did.  However I am afraid that sooner or later, that stupid organization known as the  Commission on Human Rights  may defend his rights instead of the delivery man who was conned. When I look at...

Have you ever heard of the excuse that, "Well it's Filipino time." However, being late is not Filipino time and should never be called as such, it's just plain tardiness . If you want to talk about Filipino time, we follow the time in the Philippines. If we meet at 3:00 P.M. in Filipino time, it's 3:00 P.M. in Filipino time. People should divorce the term "Filipino time" from tardiness. Tardiness is just tardiness no matter how much you invert it. Race is not the issue, it's all about timeliness. Besides, some Pinoy bosses won't hesitate to fire anyone who is habitually late. Do you know why there is such a thing as a time table? Time tables were created by companies, sometimes it even undergoes the examination of experts such as industrial engineers to make sure that the time table (which might also be used in an assembly line) is efficient and effective. There are bottlenecks or constraints that need to be solved. Every last detail is being...