December 2006

Monthly Archive

A War on Christmas?

Filed Under Personal

In search for politically correct term for Christmas, a lot of tradition is starting to fade away. The Christmas season as we all know is called Holiday Season in the United States to appease non-Christians or should I say Non-Catholics.

I’m glad that I’m here in the Philippines where the Christmas spirit is still very much alive. Even Non-Catholics (I know some Muslims) joins the festivity here. If you set aside the technicalities, everybody will be happy. It’s a season of joy and merry making, anyways. But some people just have nothing to do with their lives and always try to spoil other lives. I consider them self-righteous losers that always want to have the attention of the world.

Here’s one of the news stories that came out to tackle the annual debate on the issue.

One school has banned Christmas cards in class, a court has restricted the number of lights one homeowner can have on his property and a school is offering halal turkey and chicken for its Christmas meal following pressure from many Muslim parents.

One involved the removal of 14 plastic Christmas trees at Seattle-Tacoma airport, in the western state of Washington, following a complaint from a local rabbi who said the decorations should include a menorah to mark Hanukkah.

EndChristmas.com if offering free copies of the documentary film “The God Who Wasn’t There”, which questions Christian doctrine, and said its aim this year is to save children affected by the myths surrounding Christmas.

Satellite radio owners for their part can tune in to a special Christmas Channel that unabashedly delivers unsentimental holiday songs.

Their pickings include “Santa Is a Psycho”, “Santa’s in a Wheelchair,” and “Elvis Won’t Be Here for Christmas.”


Read the whole story by Agence France-Presse in Inq7.net

If they don’t want to celebrate Christmas, then fine! It’s just the same when we let our Muslims brothers to observe Ramadhan. Just leave the people who love the season alone! People don’t need to make an alliance to end Christmas!

A Robbery at Tutuban Parking

Filed Under General Nonsense

It’s Christmas time and as expected, prices of some goods and services are higher than usual. That’s a given fact but when Tutuban Center raise it’s parking rates, I can’t help but feel being robbed. Just imagine, from the flat rate of P40.00 per entry, they raised it to P50.00 on the first three hours and then additional P20.00 per hour or part hereof. For regular patrons like me, you’ll be surprised when the attendant hands your bill.

That did not stopped there, the flat rate at sidewalk parking is raised from P50.00 to P150.00. That’s a 300% raise! I’m not even sure if that’s legal but they already implemented it. The parking is now, IMHO, is their biggest CASHCOW. The Tutuban management surely looked like a big fat and hungry crocodile just like the potilicians they despised.

Despite the price, the parking tower is jampacked and the number of vehicles parked is definitely well beyond it’s capacity. Every possible space is used for parking including the two ramps on every level. The ramps had vehicles parked on both sides and the space left is barely enough for your car to pass. I was pointed by the guard to one of the free spaces in the ramp(we arrived at 11:00am and they are just filling the ramps then) and didn’t have the choice but follow because the regular parking slots are all taken up to the rooftop level.

We left by 5:20pm so that cost us P130 pesos (P50 for the first 3 hrs and 80 for the addtl 3.3 hours). Whew! That’s more than thrice the usual P40.00 flat rate. But considering that we spent almost 8T on that 6 hours, I think it is still worth it. However, if you only plan to buy a couple of stuffs there, it’s better if you don’t go there at all and just buy whatever stuff that is in the malls. Hopefully SM won’t raise their parking rates this season.

Boholandia: The Exciting Province of Bohol

Filed Under Travel

As I already stated earlier in this post, we’ve been to Bohol last Dec 1-3. It was our second honeymoon as well as a rather short vacation. Short as it is but we definitely took advantage of all the time we had there.

Bohol is a prime tourist destination in the Visayas. An island endowed with natural bounties and rich in cultural heritage. It boasts beaches that rivals that of Boracay’s and is very popular for diving enthusiasts. Bohol has a lot of places that would surely delight your senses.

So how did we get there?

Air Travel

Coming from Manila, we need to get there by plane. So sometime in September, I booked a flight in Cebu Pacific via their online gateway, cebupacificair.com. I got to book one Go(P99+charges) seat and a regular seat which cost me less than P7,000.00 back-and-forth. It could have been lower if I had both seats as promo (Go) but unfortunately, only one seat was available. Apparently, the published Go Rates of Cebu Pacific is limited to a number of seats per flight. But compared to Philippines Airlines price, it still is a steal. Besides, CEB is using their brand new A319 for the Manila-Tagbilaran-Manila route.

Accomodation

We stayed at Dumaluan Beach Resort which we booked months ago. Villa and room prices at this resort are very affordable. Aside from that, Dumaluan is far away from Allona beach area where most of all other popular resorts are in. To top it of, the resort is just right beside the Bohol Beach Club, a high-end, highly-popular and exclusive beach resort in Panglao Island. And you are free to roam their beaches. We booked on a P1650 per night (with breakfast for two) airconditioned villa with no TV but with a bathtub. You won’t need that there, anyway.

You can contact Dumaluan at +6385029081 or you can go their website.

Transportation : Bohol

It is a must that you rent a car(with chauffeur) to get you around Bohol. It is highly recommended that you contact a rent-a-car before you go there so you can negotiate the price. But if you don’t have time for this, transpo is readily available outside the airport. Airport to resort trip usually costs around P500 while a seven-stop trip around Bohol will cost you around P2,000.00. The driver may ask for additional fee for every additional tourist spot you’ll visit. As far as I know, Hinagdanan cave is out of the way so that will incur additional charge.

For the transpo, we hired Tatay Domeng and his KIA Sportage. He’s very good and accomodating and if not with the broken aircon of his service car, he’s very much recommended. When travelling in groups(3 or more), renting a van is much better. You can contact him at +639195226610. Don’t forget to include the driver in you lunch and snacks. :)

Food

Dinner in Dumaluan is a little bit pricey and since the area is not commercialized, you don’t really have a choice but buy their food. Actually, the price is still affordable and normal for a resort. To have a taste of the city, ask your chauffeur to drive you to Island City Mall (their own version of SM Malls) where you can find the usual fastfood.

I’ll be creating separate posts for each place that we visited in Bohol so stay tuned.

Fare Rollback in Jeepneys!!!

Filed Under Uncategorized

In my more than 12 years here in Manila, it was the first time I heard and seen implemented a price rollback on jeepney fares. And to top it all, I didn’t know about it until the driver gave me back the extra 50 centavos I gave him. I was surprised because I did not expect that and then I remembered that a there was a proposal a couple of months back on rollback. I also realized by then that I hadn’t read the papers for several days already and it has been quite sometime since I last checked inq7.net and abs-cbnnews.com. In short, I didn’t know what was happening around me (except for that pesky charter change of JdV and Asian Games).

I actually have mixed reaction on the price adjustment. Yes, the people are generally happy with it but it also mean less revenue for the drivers and operators. I’m sure some operators will refuse to adjust the boundary. The sad thing here is that it’s Christmas time and the drivers and their families will be expecting less income during holidays season. On the other hand, the general riding public would surely be glad with it. It may not be much (P0.50 for 6 rides from home to office and back is only P3.00 daily), it will still help. That P3.00 daily for 12 days, if saved, will be able to buy a nice present for the kids on Christmas. For the part of the driver, this means at least P10 per trip(it can go as high as P30 per trip) loss and in a six-trip day, would be very significant already.

But that’s part of life. Actually, the P1.00 increase earlier this year was too much and I think this price adjustment only corrects that error. Although belated, it still is a welcome change.

Pinoy Dream Academy: Rosita is out Finally!!!!

Filed Under General Nonsense

Yesterday, the final six was announced while two were expelled. Congratulations to Jay-Ar, Chad, Panky, Irish, Ronnie and the would be eventual winner(IMHO), Yeng. They all deserve to be there and sadly, Yvan wasn’t included. I think Yvan deserves to be there more than Ronnie but the latter has the looks and still single so he got a lot more votes. Yvan made a one hell of a farewell performance last Saturday night. He was just amazing.

However, this post is not about them or their performance but rather about Rosita. I’d like to thank my fellow viewers in finally ejecting Rosita frp, the academy. She must have been expelled earlier on but being connected with the ‘masa’, she managed to stay longer in the race. Of course, there were times where she was saved by the teachers that kept her afloat. (just thinking aloud, aren’t the teachers influenced to save Rosita because of the supposed popularity with the masa? For TV ratings, of course!). At any rate, Rosita must be thankful that she reached the last expulsion night and stayed longer than Eman and RJ (both are terrific performers and songwriters).

But what exactly happened is the opposite. Rosita, in national television, cried hestirically at the concert hall. Apparently, she can’t accept the fact that she was expelled from the academy. My gulay!!!! What does she think about herself? Does she think she deserves to be there? Call me what you want but I think she is a misfit in that academy along with other contestants that thankfully were ejected early in the contest.

Her self-pity is just too annoying already I want to turn-off the TV whenever I see her. She made big issues out of small things that affected her relationship with other scholars. But I think being able to stay in the academy longer than expected made her think that she really deserved it and that she has the voice and talent to be there. Though it is undeniable that she can sometimes sing, it is not her talent that made her stay there. Or maybe she knows that she doesn’t have the talent and she feels that there’s no future for her outside the academy. Well, she may be correct in that sense but knowing ABS-CBN, her ‘connection’ with the masa will be definitely used. I would say that it is not appropriate for her to dream of staying long in the music business as of yet but I think she’ll have her time in the entertainment business. I’ll bet she’ll do some guestings in ASAP and other ABS shows as well as PDA Mall tours that will run for some time. And with that, she must be thankful with all the people who helped her. She must be grateful with all the viewers who voted her. More importantly, she must accept that she’s already expelled and that she simply doesn’t have the right to be included in the Final Six.

And one more thing, she must be thankful of having that Brit to be his boyfriend. Though it doesn’t surprise me to see that tall caucasian to be in-loved with a tsimay looking Filipina, it still surprised me to see Rosita snatching that man. Ei, Rosita’s bf reminds me of Spike from the movie Notting Hill. Very funny!

Blood for a Little Angel

Filed Under Personal

My 6-year old niece is due for operation this coming Tuesday at the UST Hospital. For this, she needs blood for the operation so I was asked to donate. But for the third time in three tries, I wasn’t able to donate blood due to some reasons. I was told that my blood pressure is too low they can’t allow me to donate.

That’s when I realized that I’m not that really fit last night. I slept very late last Saturday night and got up late Sunday morning. As a result, I wasn’t able to have breakfast. And then I was too lazy that afternoon, I hadn’t had another meal after lunch. As a result, a very low blood pressure. The medical technologists then advised me to take a rest first and eat dinner before they test me again. I didn’t come back because I felt that my blood pressure will not go up that quick. Also, I still had to drive my mother home so I can’t stay longer in the hospital. It would have been my first time to donate blood but I think it has to wait yet again for some other time.

It’s a lost opportunity for me to help my niece in her operation. Hopefully, my sister would be able to find a donor tomorrow(they’ll try my brothers and two more friends). And with that, it is the prayer that I can offer. So please join me in praying for Fia. She’s such beautiful little angel she deserves to be healthy. She’s been in and out of the hospital(she had her tonsil removed earlier this year) since she was born and we are hoping that this would finally be her last major operation. Let’s pray that this operation be successful and for her speedy recovery.

What if Noah is a Filipino?

Filed Under General Nonsense

I got this from a forwarded email. Funny
———————————————-
Ganito ang mangyayari sa barko. Read along … …… … … … … … ..

Taong 2005 at isang ordinaryong middle class pinoy si Noah. Nagpakita
sa kanya ang Diyos at sinabing “Pagkataposng isang taon ay bubuhos ang
ulan Thunder at babahain ang buong kapuluan ng Pilipinas. Gusto kong
gumawa ka ng isang malaking arko Cruisingat isakay mo rito ang pares-pares
na mga Dog 3 Cat 4 Elephant Bunny hayop at mga mag-asawang pilipino sa iba’t ibang
kapuluan.”

Ibinigay kay Noah ang specs ng Arko at taos puso nitong tinanggap ang responsibilidad na sagipin ang sambayanang Pilipino sa napipintong pagbaha.

Lumipas ang 1 taon, muling nagpakita ang Diyos kay Noah. Walang arkong
nagawa si Noah at galit na galit siyang tinanong ng Diyos,

“Nasaan ang arko na ipinagawa ko sa iyo?” Tumugon si Noah, “Patawarin po ninyo ako kung di po natupad ang utos ninyo! Nagkaroon po ng malaking problema sa plano po ninyo.”

At inilahad ni Noah ang mga sagabal na nakaharap niya sa pag-gawa ng arko.

Humingi siya ng Mayor’s permit Paper Work pero papayag lang daw si Mayor kung ang gagawa ng arko ay ang construction firm ng kanyang pamangkin. Tumungo siya sa Congressman pero papayag lang daw si Congressman kung may matatanggap siyang 30% commission. Nagtayo ng unyon ang mga kinuha niyang manggagawa at nag-strike.

Natunugan ng mga left-leaning groups ang kanyang balak at ang mga ito ay nag-rally dahil daw sa hindi Crazymakatarungang pagpili ng mga taong sasakay sa arko (mga taong naniniwala lang sa Diyos ang pwedeng sumakay). Nakisali sa rally ang mga bakla at tomboy dahil bias daw na normal na mag-asawa lang ang pwedeng sumakay.

Ang civil society group ay nakisali na rin sa gulo dahil napag-alaman daw nila na ang pondong gagamitin sa paggawa ng arko ay galing sa donasyon ng mga gambling lords at katas ng weteng.

Sa kaguluhang ito ay napilitang magpatawag ng hearing ang senado “in aid of legislation”. Sinubukan ni Noah na gamitin ang EO 464 para makaiwas sa hearing pero dahil hindi sya executive official, napilitan siyang tumestigo.

Nang malaman ng senado na utos ng Diyos ang pagpapagawa ng arko, dineklara nila itong unconstitutional dahil hindi raw nito iginalang ang separation ng church at state Nakialam na rin ang NBI at PNP at sinabi nilang meron silang impormasyon na ang barko raw na ito ay gagamitin ni Erap sa kanyang pagtakas. Sinabi naman ng ISAFP at DOJ na ito raw ay gagamitin ng grupong Magdalo sa binabalak nilang coup laban kay Arroyo. Nilapitan ni Noah si Mike Defensor para makipag-usap kay GMA. Payag daw si GMA na ituloy ang arko kung ipapaskil daw sa arko ang malaking mukha ni Arroyo na may slogan “Towards a Strong Republic”.

“Hindi po ako pumayag kaya hanggang ngayon po ay may TRO ang pag-gawa ng arko.

Sa palagay ko po kailangan ko pa ng 10 taon para matapos ang inyong proyekto.” Ang huling wika ni Noah. Napa-iling ang Diyos at sinabing, “Di ko na kailangang wasakin pa ang bansang ito. Hayaan ko na lang kayong sumira nito.”

—————————————-
This spam actually circulated years ago and was modified several times to fit the situation of the country (i.e, EO 464, GMA, Erap, etc). And with the current move for Constitutional Assembly for Charter Change, the small economical success achieved by the Arroyo administration is about to go the drain and pull the country into much harder life.

One Year and Going Stronger

Filed Under Personal

It’s our first wedding anniversary today. Its surprising how time passed so fast. It has been a very good year for me and my lovely wife.

As a treat to ourselves, we went to Bohol for a much needed rest and recreation. It was a blast as expected and you may expect several posts that will tackle our adventures in that lovely and historical province of Bohol. The trip was much needed since for the past year, it has been work, work and work that we

Oh no, we don’t have a baby yet but we are working on it. Yeah, we always get teased about it but we’re not pressuring ourselves. For one, it was really our plan not to have a baby immediately after the wedding. We simply want to enjoy each other and completely adjust with our new status. And of course, we wanted to prepare for it. So sit back and enjoy and before you know it, we’ll be sending out news about that little angel coming