122nd Year Of Independence

Happy 122nd Independence Day Philippines!

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Hundred Islands

Sharing with you some photos of our famous Hundred Islands.  The place is located in Alaminos City, Pangasinan, a mere 20 minutes ride from our town and about 30 minutes boat rides to the islands.

Sometimes there are actually more than a hundred but at high tide, the small islands can’t be seen. We’ve been to the port to have lunch at Maxine By The Bay, a treat by my younger brother when we went home last week of February. Next time around, we will try to visit the various islands which could be reached by a boat ride. Not all of them are habitable, some are just too small.

These photos were shared by my cousin who went there yesterday with a group of friends. I could no longer identify which island is which, it’s been years since I visited it.

There are several amenities there now according to my cousin and the place is always full of tourists and locals alike. The best time to go of course would still be during summer.

 

 

 

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Tomorrow Is Our 121st Independence Day

I used to look forward to the celebration of our  independence every  12th of June but then the picture has deemed since someone in Malacanang occupied it.

I read in one of our national newspapers that it would be VP Leni Robredo and Mayor Joseph Estrada of Manila who will do the wreath-laying and the flag-raising rites in Luneta tomorrow. So where is the president?  He does not participate in such an important event like this….haha! Better sleep in Davao???

One hundred and twenty one years  from the time General Emilio Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence from more than 300 years of Spanish rule on January 12, 1898 in Kawit, Cavite and most of us Filipinos are still struggling to remember it. Some people are just happy it is an official holiday. I guess, with all the things happening now in our country, some of us don’t really care. Some would rather follow their “tatay” blindly than show a little nationalism to celebrate it. It’s really sad that after all the sacrifices our forebears did to attain our independence, it seems like they’d rather be under another country’s rule. china is getting closer and closer. There are now so many illegal mainland chinese who are working here depriving some of our local workers of the jobs that are supposed to be theirs. They have put up businesses in some areas of the archipelago. They have caused rents in apartments and condominium units to escalate. Some even set up their own fast food chain and this government is allowing it.

Where are we going?

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Here We Go Again (More Of My Two Cents)

Would you believe, we are now at the end  of November. It seems like it was just yesterday that 2018 has come to our doorstep and yet, there is one more month to go before 2018 leaves us  and  we have to welcome another year. I wonder what 2019 would bring us. Not really looking forward to it. The political climate here in our country is not doing quite well and 2019 would be another election year for half of the senators, our congressmen and  our local officials. This early, politicking and early campaigning is what we see every day in social media.

I have no more faith in the political system here. Unless most voters wake up to reality and vote for those with integrity and genuine love for the people and the country, nothing changes. The president has just appointed another lackey in the Supreme Court. When he appointed the retired SC justice who served for just more than forty days a few months ago, he said it is based on seniority but that is only applied to his obsequious followers or what we locally know as his “alipores”. The president is consistent on being inconsistent. What a sad world we live in.

Here comes the next appointment  and I was rallying for Justice Carpio who is the most senior, the most qualified and  was one of the negotiators in the  Hague ruling on the West Philippine Sea  and we won. An honest, dedicated, honorable justice of the land. But he chose to appoint  someone who had made those unpalatable decisions in the past.  The guy is responsible for the declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao and its extension, he allowed Marcos to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani despite public protests that he was not a hero, he was responsible for the arrest order of Sen. Leila de Lima who is now languishing in jail even if she is innocent of the accusations on her, he allowed Sen. Enrile to be out on bail supposedly for health reasons but look at  Enrile now, he would run again for senator at the age of 94.  He was also responsible of Chief Justice Sereno’s ouster just because like Sen. de Lima, she is not lined up with the present administration.

Clearly, the president has the judiciary, executive and legislative branches of the land in his hands.  He creates diversionary tactics  so  people would not talk about the true issue which is his connivance with China. Would it be right to say that he sold us to China?  He keeps on maligning the Catholic Church even to the point of blaspheming God and accusing one of our bishops that he is into drugs.  He is clearly not concerned about those tons of drugs from China that enters the country. Maybe it is true, this is just a fake war on drugs. All those big time drug lords are scot-free and some are even his friends.  He deported a nun  back to Australia who had been staying here serving the poor for so many years but is so defensive about the Chinese illegal immigrants who are working here illegally too. Suffice to say, he loves China but not the Filipino people he promised to served. A subservient to the Chinese president.

I am wondering, is this the norm now in Philippine politics? Such a crazy world and yes, some die-hard believers of the president like this brand of leadership. I don’t.

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I’m Counting, Are You?

Santa says:

Right now, there are 
27 days
until Christmas 2018!

Really, how time flies and before we know it  Christmas is here. There is one thing that I’ve noticed though, Around this time in the years past, our subdivision and its environs were full of  Christmas decor and the houses  were brightly lit at night. This time around, most of the Christmas decorations that you see can be found inside large malls and those traditional places that they choose to erect huge Christmas trees  and those ostentatious decorations in their  areas.  Although our street has Christmas lights and lanterns lit at night, gone are those parols and decor that I see in each house that I pass. Signs of the times? Or is it too early yet  to put up those decor?

If you are an ordinary working employee earning just much nowadays, you’ll probably set aside buying decoration and spend your money on more needed grocery items and food. Gosh, everything has gone up from the lowly Christmas balls on the sidewalks to the more expensive trimmings in the malls. Groceries have gone up by as much as 20% and I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next twenty or so days, they would jack up the prices more. Such is the reality we have now.

Oh, they still have those weekend sales but then some unscrupulous and well-known department stores change  their price tags to higher ones then  put a 10% or 20% off on the item. If you are not clever enough to see it, you’ll be doped into buying higher than the original tagged price. They do it all the time and the unsuspecting buyer thinks he or she has gotten a bargain in the process. Sad, isn’t it?

I need to wrap a few more gifts that I bought earlier. I bought an additional one for mom. I bet she’ll be spending not just Christmas with us  but for a long time yet.

I’m counting, are you?

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MAR ROXAS For The Win

I can’t help but react when I watched his video on Facebook. Yes, I cried (they are tears of joy of course).

For several months now, people are urging him to run again for a Senate seat. He lost  to Duterte during the 2016 presidential election. You can’t win, those bots and trolls who were kept busy destroying the man, making FAKE news  about him. His  political enemies were at their best propagating those lies.

After months of discernment, he said it was really hard to decide. He is now enjoying being a private citizen, bonding with his family, visiting several provinces here in the Philippines, mountain climbing with his wife.

He knows about the problems the country and its people are facing now.  He said he has given his all during the past government posts  but he cannot just turn his back on us and the problems our economy faces right now. Is he willing? YES!  He is asking for our help because he could  not do it alone.  He needs us to be there behind him.

I just remembered, I  still have the baller bracelet  of Mar which Nissa gave me during the 2016 presidential election.

Thanks Sen. Mar. You gave us hope.

MAR ROXAS for the win.

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The Sad Truth

Yesterday, amidst all those news about Sen. Trillanes, this came up on my news feed. We Filipinos know that inflation is rising since Duterte took office more than two years ago but this is an overwhelming and sad scenario. Why we have come to this, your guess is as good as mine. The ordinary Filipino is finding it hard to make both ends meet.

Imagine, we are the highest in the region. And that lowly poor’s man’s meal galunggong is now being imported. To think we are surrounded by hundreds of islands yet we import fish that came from our own shores. We are an agricultural country and we are importing rice too.  Back in the sixties and seventies, we were even teaching how rice should be successfully grown via the International Rice Research Institute.   Other Southeast Asian regions have benefited from research and technology but where are we now? Our poor farmers are still struggling.

Going back to this inflation rate, some people think  that the higher the percentage is, the more robust is our economy. I say, they don’t even read  and understand the news.

Sad Philippines.

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It’s Our 120th Philippine Independence Day

Today is our 120th Philippine Independence Day. I used to blog about celebrating it too by watching programs on television and listening to news on how Independence Day was celebrated outside Metro Manila.  Today though, I am not inspired to write about it.

Short of ranting again, for the last six months three Catholic priests were slain  and I am sad that this is happening. Why  are they targeting our priests? These are excerpts of a message from the clergy of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan in our province in Pangasinan.

They are killing our flock. They are killing us the shepherds. They are killing our faith. They are cursing our Church. They are killing God again as they did in Calvary.

Killing is the solution. Killing is the language. Killing is the way. Killing is the answer. Killing is encouraged. Killing is their job. Killers are rewarded. Killers boast of their murders.

They kill in the streets. They kill inside homes. They kill in tricycles and jeeps. They kill in plazas. They kill in the malls. They kill in the chapels. The nation is a killing field. They kill everywhere. They are happy to kill. But we are not a nation of killers.

Are you still clapping? Are you still laughing? You still find it funny? You still think “Dapat lang”? Are you still saying “Pagbigyan natin”? Are you still saying our people feel safer now? Are you still saying this is the best government we ever had? Is this the change you want? Are these the changes you dream of? Are you still saying “There are some good things happening! Focus on the good”? If they curse us again for speaking up, we will not be surprised.

Are you afraid to talk? You think silence is a virtue? You think we your shepherds should sow unity by being like the monkeys who see and speak and hear no evil? You think we can be the next target if we speak? Do you still care? Where is your faith? You talk in whispers. You are afraid to be heard? Have we become numb and dumb?

And then we hear DND Secretary Lorenzana blaming the past administration about China.The Dept. of National Defense  is supposed to be non-political but he just divided the nation with his  words. This administration is the one kowtowing to China  giving  up our islands in West Philippine Sea and  even our poor fishermen are being harassed by the Chinese in our Philippine waters.  Malacanang says they don’t want war. Who says we do? We don’t but we can file diplomatic protests like  what Ex-Pres. Aquino did before and we won but it is being ignored  by the present administration.

What is there to celebrate? Our forebears risked their lives  for  our independence  more than a hundred years ago.  Should we not be proud of what they did?  But it seems some of us tend to forget the sacrifice, standing up to foreign powers to gain our independence.

 

And here’s VP Leni Robredo looking more presidential while she leads the flag raising ceremony at the Jose Rizal shrine in Luneta. Standing still despite the rains. Kahit mabasa sa ulan.

(Photo by Philippine Star)

 

 

 

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Where Are We Going?

I just can’t help but remember those days when every day Mom and I would sit in front of the television and watch the impeachment proceedings  of Chief Justice Renato Corona back in the first quarter of 2012. Notebook in hand, I would take notes and blog about it later. I even encountered a student  who commented that she was looking  for some analysis on  the hearings and found my blog. They probably studied them in school too and maybe copying and pasting was the easiest way.

They keep comparing the removal of chief Justice Sereno via a Quo Warranto which was deemed unconstitutional. Corona was given his day in court while CJ Sereno did not even have the chance to defend herself. Those justices who voted her out are all tentacles of the present administration.

Perhaps the whole world knows about the president’s penchant for cursing and demeaning women, not respecting other people having different opinions from him. He called them his enemies and of course those who he appointed in office some of whom have been lately discovered dealing in anomalous transactions. A foreign secretary who is “bulag, pipi at bingi“. A biased ear won’t listen and he would keep silent on things that need his decisions.

It is so frustrating when every day  you would read something unpalatable, add that to the fact that the president is kowtowing to China  preferring the exorbitant interests on the country’s loans from the latter.  The Philippine peso exchange rate  is at its lowest in 12 years.  That TRAIN   (Republic Act RA 10963 or Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion) law which according to a senator didn’t even read before signing is  a heavy burden to us all ordinary citizens. Just imagine the price of gasoline and basic commodities  jacking up beyond the reach of the poor and ordinary citizens.

I wish I could just concentrate on my gardening and reading but one can’t help but be affected in one way or another. I hate to do political blog but as they say in Tagalog, “sukdulan na”. It is nearing the end of the rope.

Where are we going Philippines???

 

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Two Cents

Just my simple observations.

We are observing and commemorating our 119th Independence Day today where we are supposed to be united once again as a nation.  I salute our heroes who sacrificed their lives to gain our independence. In the past, we have seen our former presidents present at the symbolic flag raising ceremonies in Luneta  but this morning,  Duterte was not there as planned, no reason given.  It was Vice-Pres. Robredo and foreign Affairs Secretary Cayetano who graced the occasion. Some were clearly disappointed, like he was trying to avoid his presence there but most people rejoiced in not seeing him there. The division among the people is blatantly obvious. Malacanang is mum about it 😦 .

There were these reports that he grudgingly thanked the US in helping  our AFP  and PNP  in  the Marawi siege.  He said he was not aware of it. Goodness gracious, he is the commander-in-chief who is supposed to be on top of the game.  You mean, “tutulog tulog lang”? (sleeping on the job). The AFP and PNP know that he wants the  NPA (the communists party of the Philippines) and the two Moro groups MILF and MNLF to help them in their fight. How could he even think of having those three enemy groups to be in the camp as our brave soldiers up front? The nerve. Sure the drug menace needs to be stopped but I am alarmed at the extra judicial killings  happening almost every day.  Is it a case of protecting the drug lords but disposing the lowly users and pushers? If the government is serious about it, why is it that until now, no drug lord has been arrested. I think they are freely  roaming around.  By the way, martial law is not lifted yet in Mindanao.

What’s happening to us?  Are we really free in the true sense of the word?

 

 

 

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