Philippine Election 2019

May 13, 2019. Nathan and I accompanied Lola to the nearby elementary school to vote. Ako lang sana ang sasama pero nagising ng maaga ang bagets kaya nagdrama na ayaw daw niyang maiwan sa bahay.

We started walking (toward school) past 7am. Ang init na grabe. Mamoosh said na kung medyo tinanghali pa akong nakaligo eh hindi na siya boboto kasi sobrang init na nga. Pero syempre kahit na hindi ko talaga forte ang gumising ng maaga eh nag-insist ako na samahan siya, para nga maengganyo siya lalong bumoto at makapag-observe observe na rin ako. Matagal-tagal na rin kasi akong hindi nakakaboto. Last year nagkaroon ng barangay election (I was also here in Pinas) at pwedeng-pwede pa sana akong bumoto kaso hindi na lang. Wala rin naman kasi akong/kaming kilala ni isa sa mga kandidato so useless lang kasi talagang manghuhula lang ako/kami.

Hindi pa gaanong maraming tao nang dumating kami at around 7:30am. Kaso hindi pa ready yung table kung saan mo puwedeng itanong kung saan ang presinto mo so I did a room-to-room check. May mga nakapost naman na list sa may pinto ng classrooms.

And as expected, nasa listahan pa ako. Gosh, I was so tempted to vote! I felt that my country needs my vote now more than ever. Pero siyempre hindi ko ginawa kasi nga Canadian citizen na ako. I just hoped na wala sanang ibang gumamit ng balotang para sa akin.

Walang masyadong tao sa labas, yun pala nasa loob na ng classrooms at naga-antay na makaboto. As in punung-puno na ang mga presinto. I felt bad for those people kasi nga sobrang init na at siguradong tatanghaliin na sila doon. We were lucky because Mamoosh is a senior citizen. May priority line for the oldies kaya medyo napabilis. Medyo nag-antay pa rin siya ng 25 minutes bago nakaboto.

It was Nathan's first time to step in a Philippine school, aliw na aliw siya. Ibang-iba nga kasi ang schools dito kumpara sa Canada.

Mamoosh was done voting at around 8:10am. I was happy na nandito kami ngayon sa Pinas kasi nga nasamahan namin siya. I will feel bad kung mag-isa lang siyang boboto o hindi siya boboto.

Post-Election Thoughts

Three hours pa lang after matapos ang botohan eh alam ko na na wala sa mga binoto ni Mamoosh ang papasok sa Magic 12. I actually gave her a list of who to vote kasi hiningan niya ako. I was so disheartened. Middle-class sentiment, I know. I felt bad for our country, feared for the future of our younger generations. I've never been this so disappointed in politics sa totoo lang.

Admittedly, ang unang pumasok sa utak ko nang una kong makita ang partial result for senators ay: "Syet, buti na lang Canadian na kami!" There was a part of me na relieved kasi kung tutuusin, hindi na kami makakasama sa sinking ship that is the Philippines. Pero syempre hindi naman ako talaga selfish. Kung maayos man ang kinalalagyan ko ngayong bansa, gusto ko rin na maayos ang bansang pinagmulan ko at kinalalagyan ng pamilya at mga kaibigan ko. Kaya nga sobra-sobrang ang pagkadismaya ko sa resulta ng eleksyong ito eh.

Eighty percent of Filipinos belong to the lower class. Nakakalungkot kasi hanggang may mga Pilipinong kapos sa pinag-aralan, may boboto at boboto sa kandidatong gwapo lang (kahit na magnanakaw). Hanggang may Pilipinong kumakalam ang sikmura, may boboto sa kandidatong namimili ng boto sa halagang limang daan. Iyan nga siguro ang "resbak" ng mahihirap sa minorya ng Pilipinong medyo nakaangat sa buhay at antas ng edukasyon.

Sa totoo lang, hindi ko na alam ang gagawin sa Pinas. Nawawalan na ako ng pag-asa. SINKING SHIP -- yan na talaga ang tingin ko. Sana lang talaga mali ako.

Baha sa Pinas

Grabe ang naging baha sa Pinas the past days. I had a brief video call with my niece last Sunday (August 11) there and this is what she showed me.

Yan yung ancestral house namin (mother side) in Lolomboy, Bocaue, Bulacan. Lubog talaga. Lahat ng kamag-anak namin doon talagang apektado.

Puro baha ang nakita ko sa FB newsfeed ko. Nakakaaliw lang tingnan na parang nakakainggit din. Sa totoo lang, ang saya-saya kasi ng pakiramdam kapag baha. Naalala ko ang kabataan ko, walang pasok at feeling holiday talaga.

Pero syempre I truly feel bad for the people there. Nakakaawa na talaga ang mga Pinoy na bugbog na bugbog na sa dami ng kalamidad na dumarating sa bansa every year. Kahit na sabihing sanay na sila sa baha, haler ang hirap-hirap pa ring maglinis pagkatapos. Sana nga kung once a year lang, pero hindi eh. Several times in a year. Lalo na sa Lolomboy (where I grew up) na maghigh tide lang eh nagkakatubig all around.

I am thankful though kasi mataas at hindi binabaha ang bahay namin sa Marilao. At least hindi ko na iniisip ang kalagayan ng nanay ko. Once lang namin na-experience ang bahain talaga, noong Ondoy in September 2009.

Hay, it is during times like these na naiisip ko na sana makuha ko lahat ng kamag-anak ko sa Pinas at madala ko dito sa Canada. Actually hindi nga lang kamag-anak eh, pati mga kaibigan at kakilala, at buong sambayanan Pilipino na nga kung maaari. Ang laki-laki ng Canada, kasyang-kasya pa ang 100 milyung Pinoy.

Last night, my husband informed me that there will be a water service interruption here in our apartment today (from 10am to 5pm daw) kasi may gagawin. Grabe ang shock ko, instant panic agad! Then later on I realized na ang OA ko. Ang mga kababaryo ko nga sa Lolomboy ilang araw (o buwan o taon?) nang namomroblema sa kawalan ng tubig tapos ako eto nagi-inarte sa sandaling oras na mawawalan kami (na with notice pa kaya pwedeng paghandaan). Tsk, first world problems talaga noh?

Accidents happen

We are deeply saddened by the recent tragic accident last week (February 21, 2017) in Tanay Rizal. A Panda Coach tourist bus carrying students from Bestlink College Novaliches lost control and hit an electric post, leaving 15 people (including the driver) dead.

Picture taken from the net (credits to the owner)

My family owns a small tourist bus company and we've been operating since 2005 (or probably earlier than that because we also operated commuter buses prior to tourist buses). I would like to reiterate that we are "small", because majority of the tourist bus companies in the Philippines are just as small as we are.

Up to this time, we are lucky because in the many years of our operation, we have not encountered any major (i.e. death-causing) accident yet. We are continuously praying that we don't experience what the owners of Panda Coach are going through right now.

Because of this accident, The Department of Education and The Commission on Higher Education have issued a moratorium on educational field trips. This, of course, will affect the whole tourism industry, including us. Ganyan naman palagi kapag may naaaksidenteng tourist bus / students sa field trips, damay-damay lahat.

We've been updating ourselves with the news on this accident and sadly, most people are blaming the school and/or Panda Coach for this tragedy. We cannot blame them. When something bad happens, it has to be somebody's fault. But as a bus operator myself (albeit inactive as of this moment), I just wish to give a bit of my perspective on this matter.

Accidents happen. That's a fact. People would argue that the company should be properly maintaining their fleet to avoid road mishaps and I agree. No bus operator would want to receive a call in the middle of the day (or night) learning that their unit got involved in an accident. We are fervently hoping for a smooth trip every time a bus leaves our garage. But experience tells us that it is nearly impossible to guarantee a 100% hassle-free trip to our customers. Again, a lot of things can happen on the road. And no mechanic, now matter how experienced he is, could assure us that no mechanical problem would arise during the trip. Especially since the buses are not really "brand new" to start with.

And this leads to another argument against the bus company -- why are your buses not brand new?

A brand new tourist bus would cost at least six million pesos. There is no way that we could ever recover that amount with the rate that we are being paid with for our services. For a field trip within Metro Manila, we only get paid around Php9,000 to Php10,000 gross. Try to do the Math, factor in the trip expenses - fuel, driver's salary and food allowance, toll fees (since we are from Bulacan), washing. We are lucky if we are left with Php3,000. Oops, that is not net income yet. What about the wear and tear of the vehicle, salary/benefits of employees, spare parts, business taxes, franchise fees, and other operations costs? Tapos mga lagay pa sa LTO, LTFRB, DOT, MMDA, pulis, etc.

Contrary to what many thinks, the bulk of the field trip fees that the schools collected from their students go to the "middle men" -- yung laway lang ang puhunan. Many schools get charterers (i.e. tour operators) to organize their trip. It is them who earn a lot from from the trips. Saka pala yung mga school officials na may commission per pax. We are at the bottom of every transaction. Whatever that's left from the sharing, yun na lang ang binabayad sa amin.

Why can't we charge higher rates? Competition. Colorum buses killed us. They lowered their rates, too low that we who operate legally are having a hard time to keep up. Kaya nga madalas wala kaming biyahe, nasusulot kasi may mas mura raw. Unlike commuter buses, our buses don't run every day. We have to rely on charterers to survive (majority of our trips come from them). Hence, sila ang nagtatakda ng presyo. This is the reason why small tourist bus companies remain small.

Tourist bus companies also get blamed for getting "inefficient" drivers. Yes, the Management is certainly responsible for its employees. But like any business owners or HR practitioners would know, many employees will surprise you later on. You hired them because you've had the impression that they were ok, pero hindi pala sa kalaunan. Or in some cases, your employees are generally good pero nagkakaproblema din syempre paminsan-minsan which affects their performance.

No bus operator would intentionally hire a "bad" (kaskasero, barumbado, adik) driver. That will be business suicide. But because the drivers work "on their own," we cannot observe them all the time. And we can't just fire an erring driver, mind you. There's DOLE that we have to answer to.

I have to be clear, I am not saying that the bus operators are faultless. The school,  the tour operator, the bus owner, and the driver involved have their share of responsibility (and liability) to that accident in Tanay. Even several government agencies can take some blame. To condemn just one party is certainly not fair.

Thousands of field trips are being conducted every year and a single accident does not represent the whole. Accidents happen, whether we like it or not.

#Fallen44

Another sad news from the Philippines.

Picture taken from the internet (credits to the owner)

The whole Filipino nation is mourning right now for the 44 SAF police commandos who were killed in a clash with Moro rebels in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last January 25, 2015.

I couldn't imagine the pain that the families of these fallen heroes are going through. I used to work for the Armed Forces of the Philippines Educational Benefit System Office (AFP EBSO), an office that gives scholarships to children of soldiers who died in action, hence I've met a lot of widows and children who were struggling just to make ends meet because their breadwinners were taken away from them. Their stories were heart breaking. I hope The government gives to the families of these deceased policemen all the benefits that are due them.

Justice for Fallen 44.

Pope Francis in Pinas

Pope Francis is now in the Philippines for his 5-day visit. I am happy for my fellowmen, they are having this rare opportunity of seeing him.

I am not a 'devout' Catholic. I studied in a Catholic school from kinder to high school but that school failed to make me to at least attend a mass every Sunday now that I am an adult. I've seen so many practices among our nuns that made me question the Roman Catholic religion. My first course in UP Diliman was Philosophy (then I shifted to Sociology) so imagine how hard I fought the temptation of questioning the existence of God.

Anyway, I may not be the Catholic who attends mass on Sundays but I still am a believer. That is why I am envious now of people who were able to catch a glimpse of the Pope. I like Pope Francis (who doesn't?). I like his aura, so kind and holy. I was in only in Grade 5 when Pope John Paul came to Manila for the World Youth Day. Only a few students (the coniotic ones haha) from our school was chosen to attend the event and I was so bitter. I wanted to see the Pope too, I told myself. But what can I do, I was only an 11-year-old poor girl who wasn't 'special' enough to be chosen.

I am now 35 and had I been in the Philippines, no one could stop me in seeing the Pope. But I am not there.

Oh well, if there's any consolation, I guess we can just go to Rome someday and attend his mass. A long life for Pope Francis is what I'll be wishing so we can still have the chance to see him.

H&M in Pinas

Another reason why I "regret" (not in a deep sense ha lol!) leaving the Philippines -- may H&M na rin doon!

Photo taken from the internet (credits to the owner)

I love H&M. Ang tagal kong pinangarap na sana magkaroon na nito sa Pinas. I was happy when Forever 21 opened, but I would have been happier kung naabutan ko ang H&M. Mas type ko kasi ang mga damit dito. Mas bagay sa edad at style ko.

Before I immigrated here in Edmonton, I already knew for a fact na hindi masyadong maraming "brands" ang nandito. Nagbakasyon na kasi ako dito noong 2012 for six weeks kaya na-scout ko na lahat ng malls and outlet stores. But I was happy kasi nga may H&M.

When I left Manila last year, I felt sad leaving some of my favorite stores behind -- Uniqlo, Mango, Muji, etc. I consoled myself though, convincing na at least meron ngang H&M sa Edmonton. Pero hala, ngayon na meron na rin sila, ano pa ang "advantage" ng current city ko? Kahit nga Old Navy meron na rin sa Pinas eh! For sure next na ang IKEA? Ano pa bang meron dito na wala sila? Dollars lang siguro haha.

There are more shops and restaurants in Pinas than Edmonton. It's really more fun in the Philippines, OBJECTIVELY speaking.

I am so excited to go "home" (Philippines will always be my home). Feeling ko mas makakapag-shopping pa ako doon kesa dito kaloka!

A bit of birthday in Pinas

It was my first time to celebrate my birthday outside the Philippines and I am glad that though I am not there physically, my family still celebrated it for me.

My Tita Oya offered mass for me in the morning (she does this every year) with special prayers for my safe delivery this November. She and Mamoosh attended the mass and I am thankful.

Then in the afternoon, Mamoosh and her angels (Dyrin and Joanne) munched over this pancit for 'my long life.'

Oh, how I miss this pancit from Tapsi!

My cousins SanDoc/Mylyn and Cricket/Jim also bought Starbucks mocha frappucino for me (my favorite!).

Thank you, guys! You made my birthday extra special! I miss you and I can't wait to see you all again! :)

Marlone Miguel's First Month Birthday

My new nephew Marlone Miguel just turned one month!



This is such a day for celebration because Baby Miggy has just proven himself a fighter. He was born prematurely at 33 weeks and stayed at the ICU for three weeks. Somehow, we were afraid that he wouldn't make it. But here he is now!

Too bad his parents weren't there on his 'first birthday.' His mom went home to the province to attend her mother's burial (talk about timing huh) while his dad (my brother) was on a 'business trip.'

I felt bad for Baby Miggy so I asked Mamoosh to buy some handa for him. My mother was a bit surprised because she isn't aware na pinaghahanda na pala ngayon ang monthly birthday ng babies haha!

I specifically requested for a cake and a candle. Every celebration ought to have a cake, right? And Baby Miggy deserves one after all. Sa dami ba naman ng pinaghirapan ng bata sa ICU.

Grrrr! It should be MARLONE!

Tita Oya (my mother's sister) came to celebrate, too! Too bad there weren't much characters in Pinas anymore. Apat lang silang nag-celebrate, together with Dyrin (our house help) and Joanne (our secretary).

Happy first month birthday, Baby Miggy! Though I am not exactly happy on the 'circumstances' of your birth, you are my nephew and I love you! We can't wait to see you. You and Chicklet will be like brothers, I know.

Stay strong and get bigger and bigger pa ha!

Bye, Old SPCB!

It's just sad seeing those old structures go.

Picture taken from a classmate's FB account. Credits to her.

Especially if you've spent so much of your childhood there.

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I am thankful though that I had a last glimpse of it last November 1, 2013 (before I left for Canada). Salamat din at napicturan ko.

Old elementary building of St. Paul College of  Bocaue

The next time I go back there, parking lot na lang ito ng simbahan.

I guess there are things that we have to let go. After all, the only constant thing in this world is change.

My Girls and Abram

I was so happy to see my three remaining best girl friends in the Philippines together again. Medyo nainggit nga lang ako kasi ako ang palaging present dati sa mga get-together namin hehe.

December 30, 2013 @ Kowloon House West Avenue -- Picture courtesy of Laling

Abram's Aqiqah is just one of the many occasions in our barkada life that I will not be able to take part with physically. Our friend Raxie has been 'away' since 2007, tapos ako naman ang sumunod. Hay, senti na naman ako!

Picture courtesy of Mels

Anyway, I am glad that Atty. Mels has given birth to a healthy and cutie boy -- ABRAM! Sayang nga lang at di ko na naabutan. But Abram (aka Bam Bam) is such a good boy, pinilit niya talagang lumabas ng November 30 so that he will be a living reminder kung kailan ako nag-migrate dito sa Canada hehe. Pang-reckoning talaga!

Picture courtesy of Laling

Congratulations, Pareng Mels, Wadz, and Kuya Amir! Your family is happier now that Bam Bam is here!

And Bam Bam, I promise to bring you a nice gift when I go back to Pinas. I can't wait to see you!

I miss you, girls! Medyo dalasan ang pagkikita ha! And I am designating Laling to be my substitute photographer! I love you all! Mwah!