The Black and White Movement, that had been identified with the civil society elitist group, went masa yesterday. With it’s urban sector taking the lead, they held a “Itigil ang Chacha. Impeach si Gloria!Padasal at Pasayaw” rally at the Plaza Miranda in Quiapo.
I came late. I arrived when they were winding up their program. I was told Leah Navarro sang, Karen Tañada spoke, and there was some cha-cha dancing. They lighted some candles and prayed for an end to the Arroyo cheating regime.
It has been sometime that I had been to Quiapo and it was a chance for me to savor, even if briefly,the color and air that is only Quiapo. Mayor Lito Atienza has put some order around the Quiapo church area. The interesting characters are still there:
the “praying ladies”;
the vendors of all kinds of herbs that promise to make the impotent, virile, and the barren, fertile;
the vendors of religious items,
the flower vendors.
I also took a trip to the other side – Hidalgo, Echague and Elizondo streets. I won’t mention my “buys”. Edu Manzano won’t like it.
Ellen:
It looks different from the Quiapo I knew. During short visits to the Philippines since my family and I left in the 60’s, I really have not had a chance to see Manila except from the window of my hotel room in between conferences.
Nevertheless, I can’t help feeling nostalgic. Gotta do a trip there with a family member to really feel it, and reminisce those days when Filipinos were happier and they could go to their priests and nuns for spiritual guidance when they were forlorn, no politics, unlike today when they have the criminally inclined taking running the government like hell!
Thanks for the pictures. I have saved them in my file.
I think mayor Atienza should be credited for rehabilitating that part of Quiapo including the Lacson underpass.
A nostalgia trip would be good. Just make sure your wallet and cellphone are well- secured.
E-mail from Emilio Pablo:
Greetings All,
It’s only this morning that I was able to read your mail, as you may want to know – Thursday and Friday – being the week-end in this part of the world. When most of the people are up and about doing their daily grinds, we are at home to rejuvenate and be ready for Saturday, the first day of work.
There is a big possibility that these people in the US embassy are getting current events and information critical to present dispensation from blog sites. Just this morning, the US Ambassador Kristie Kenny reacted to the news about the Blackwater recruitment of Filipinos.
It’s just unfortunate that for one week now, I am not able to access the link of Ms. Ellen both from my DSL line and the dial-up link at my home. I am getting an internal server error message. I am really missing the “fireworks” and the discussions – especially from the Nano/Luli Internet Brigade.
Though I don’t miss reading Ms. Ellen’s articles in Malaya and Abante. Please continue your investigative reporting about the mercenary recruitment in Subic. Nagkakabulul-bulol na sa pagsasalita sina Bunye at Bingot Defensor tungkol sa bagay na ito.
Please keep up the good work, Ms. Ellen. We need also people like you, Yuko and Anna – as resource persons for various topics and discussions.
SA INYO – MARAMING SALAMAT SA KAALAMAN!
Regards,
Emilio
Ellen:
Excuse me but I just cannot understand why Filipinos love to steal cellphones. Over here, you can even get a free phone if you need one. You just have to pay the bill. And when you lose one, you report it immediately to your phone company, and the service is stopped for a machine that is lost.
I really cannot understand why telephone companies there would not even make such precaution to protect their customers’ welfare and interest. It’s really unbelievable. I can’t understand this phenomenon.
But you were right. My cousin cautioned me about my backpack when I was there. Sabi niya doon ko isabit sa harap na parang baby cuddler! Unbelievable! Ano na ang nangyari sa good manners and right conduct ng mga pilipino?
Lalo pa ngayon siguro dahil iyong mismo pangulong hilaw ay sinungaling at magnanakaw! Kawawang bansa!
BTW, over here, wala na akong nakikitang masyadong nagbabasa sa tren. Halos lahat nag-te-text! Wonder what’s the newest phones will be. I know they are now including TV’s, etc. in the phone plus those MP3 things.
In my case, I bring my laptop that is less than a kilo in weight and can stay battered for 9 hours. With my wireless I can stay hooked up to my computer on the train. No worry about thieves on the train though because they are in fact exceptions to the rule. Majority are foreigners who travel to Japan to do just that especially members of Korean and Chinese crime gangs. I have interpreted for two or three Filipino thieves in the past though. Mga pulis pa nga ang mga tinamaan ng lintik! Kakahiya when you think of these policemen belonging to some crime syndicates over there.
When it comes to texting, nothing beats Filipinos.Manila has been described as the texting capital of the world. Filipinos got hooked into texting long before others did.
It had something to do with economy. Calls are expensive so Pinoys have to resort to texting. Of course, there are other advantages of texting.
It’s no mystery why cellphones attract thieves here. It’s easy to cell. Everybody wants a cellphone.
The cheaper cellphones cost something like P3,000 to P4,000. That’s big money for thieves. Instead of wasting time snatching wallets na walang laman or fake wristwatches, cellphones are sure business.
marami na ang namamatay dahil sa cellphone.
Ugh, ganoon katindi ang problema, ha? Still, I cannot understand why the police has not stopped this crime. Hindi kaya kasangkot sila?! 😛
Yuko,
The in thing now is 3G. You can download your favorite programs and watch them on your phone. Some phones double as MP3 players, video conferencing is also possible.
Ellen,
My mom saw your post, she said that you should have dropped by her office. She helps the Quiapo church. Next time you’re there, daan ka naman daw. She’s there everyday except Saturdays when we have our weekly reunion and I bring my kids over to see her.
I thought of your Mom when I was there Schumey but I had to rush to PGH to accompany a friend who was going to donate some medicines and a “walker” to the PGH Cancer Institute.
Please tell your Mom, next time.
Yuko, kapag mamahalin ang cellphone mo, lalong delikado. If its the kind that costs P20,000 plus, magpakamatay ang snatcher to get that. Kahit tanghaling tapat sa gitna ng maraming tao, tututukan ka.
Ah, I just remember, the other day I was approached by a someone at the train station near my office to subscribe to their phone service that makes the telephone now work like a train pass, and I can make my train ticket purchase direct with my cellphone. Unfortunately, I would not like to subscribe to another credit union for a new credit card. I already have two Visas and 1 Master card.
Still, stealing cellphones here is not common especially when the telephone companies make sure to make the lost telephone inserviceable when reported, and replaced with a new phone even if the number is the same. Over here they are more concerned about the services provided to customers than to the criminals, who would attempt to sell the stolen cellphones to the telephone companies that nobody in fact tolerates, and those who would be so bold as to do so are dutifully turned over to the police and be duly penalized for any misdeed done.
I wonder if telephone companies there are not privy to those robberies of cellphones that stealing them has become incontrollable.
I don’t think the telephone companies are in cahoots with thieves. Police siguro, pwede pa.
The reason why cell phones are atractive to thieves is it unidentifiable and can be easily changed from one sim card to another. And anyone can just buy a sim card without any record of the number matching the purchaser’s name. Whereas in most other countries, most service providers do away with sim card and having cell phone is like having a house phone with all data of the owner’s usage are recorded by the provider. So if stolen the provider can disable the phone and thereby renders it useless. And even with sim card the number is still registered to the purchaser’s name and if its a monthly plan all data still recorded. And why steal a phone when all you have to do is sign a plan and the phone comes free and the savy one, sign a longer, and a little expensive plan and it is still free. And talk as much as you can-usually unlimited evenings and weekends.
Like those policemen who would come to Japan to do pickpocketing at stations and going home with their loots that I had the opportunity to interpret for during the investigation of their cases after being caught on the act!!!
Dito naman, exception to the rule ang mga corrupt na policemen. Most have high regards and respect for themselves to be lured to do things that would lead to their termination in disgrace.
Just a week ago, a police inspector was terminated when he failed to pay for an old book he picked up at some bookstore that was less than a 1,000 yen (less than 10 dollars). Now, he is facing an indictment and court trial that will finalize his fall into disgrace. Nasayang ang 20 years or more of his service to the police for something that is not considered a mere misdemeanor in Japan unlike in the Philippines, where the policemen are mostly ill-disciplined lalo na ngayon!
Vic:
Never heard of sim cards for the cellphones in Japan. But stealing has become I guess a bad habit of Filipinos despite the fact that it is strictly prohibited by their religion! That is if they still believe in the Ten Commandments!
Over in China, marami ring magnanakaw and no displaying of these robbers and thieves annually has stopped this malady.
I think it is more like a mental illness. The medical term is kleptomania that is more often than not difficult to cure!
ystakei:
A sim card is like a little memory card in the digicam, but this one gives you your phone number and activate the cell phone. It only cost l50 pesos for one. That all the thief needs to use a 20 thou phone stolen to make it his/her own.
So what we have here is a mindset and a mentality of thieves, all the way from the Top leader to the ordinary one in the street to have things and wealth the easy way.
And they keep doing and doing it, cuz the chances of getting caught is almost nil and if caught, well “lets talk it out”.
Vic:
It’s one reason why I love Japan, and do my best to keep the status quo—less robbers and thieves by cooperating to the best of my ability with the authorities, especially the police in keeping my community as peaceful and orderly as it is!
Over at my place, which is in Uptown Tokyo, our police station is considered one of the less busy ones because of less crime. More often than not, the cases of theft and robbery I hear about are committed by foreigners who come shopping at the famous shopping arcade nearby.
People here have more sense to not jeopardize their position in the society they are part of especially when to be one makes you conspicuous and easy to be spotted.
What amazes me in fact is that I don’t see so many people around me being as pious and religious as I can be especially on Sundays when they all tend to sleep late and savor the day in preparation for another week of hard work and no play.
In the Philippines, we even hear the criminals and criminally inclined boasting of playing gods to remove a duly elected president out of office, and committing some act of sedition that they now turn the table to the ex-president and his supporters!
Frankly, I learned real honest to goodness honesty from my husband whose honesty can make one born in the Philippines and professing to be a pious Christian like me really feel ashamed and guilty. After almost 40 years living in this country, I doubt if I can be corrupted still.
I thank my lucky star in fact that I have been married to a man like my husband, who belongs to an honorable family of Samurai, no corruption, no extramarital affair and all!!!
The word my Mother uses is decent to mean honorable, honest and refine, virtues Filipinos are apt to discard now for the love of money!!! And to hell with poverty as a reason for the loss of these virtues!
Frankly, I came to Japan before Japan became a world economic power, and robbery when committed would scare all like some epidemic of a rare virus like SARS.
Houses did not have locks, just some hook to keep the door shut when nobody is in the house. Stores in the country did not even have shopkeepers, only some box where one places the amount of money due for his purchase, and people were wiser to live according to their means.
Suicides were common and committed by those who were too ashamed to be at the mercy or charity of other people.
Now, we have more Filipinos here than the handful I had to seek when I felt like speaking Tagalog or Ilocano, my mother’s native tongue, then, and more thefts and robberies committed by non-Japanese who come here more to menace the people here. Still, compared to the Philippines, theft and robbery here are still not common.
I can leave the things I bought for instance on my bike with nobody attempting to get them except perhaps when there are more foreigners there than Japanese. Otherwise, they are safe. In the Philippines or even in the USA, you always have to be on the look out.
Now, with a sinungaling and magnanakaw leading the nation, ano na ang pag-asa ng mga pilipinong tumino?
sana nakapunta ako doon. i didn’t see any announcement sa black and white movement blog nila eh.
Re: “Now, with a sinungaling and magnanakaw leading the nation, ano na ang pag-asa ng mga pilipinong tumino? ”
Siguro kailngan lunurin iyang si Gloria like what they do in the US when there’s one kitten too many in the liter! Oh nooooo, I like kittens!
Here’s an appeal for sanity from a reader of Daily Tribune:
06/18/2006
Dear Editor:
I always believe money is not everything but it can buy the most important things. I never thought it can buy the entire country whose citizens consist mostly of literate Filipinos. When Marcos did it, we said Filipinos will always be a servant to the powerful because of our 300 years under Spain. Edsa changed this fate at least temporarily.
Then we got a weakling president such as Cory, prompting the vultures to take over in the person of FVR. He was not satisfied for six years of corruption with those power plant build-operate-transfer projects laden with overpricing at the expense of the public. He co-engineered Edsa II in the hope that he can gain some of his power back. Unfortunately, he underestimated the greed in Fatso and Shorty.
They became a master of skimming public funds and bought every congressman, some senators, the military, the police, the justices, the bishops and everyone else who dare to oppose them. The most profitable job — opposing the Malacañang tenants, and it is a sure winner for one’s pocket. I will not be surprised if activist leaders are also in her payroll. How many demonstrations, opposing moves, failed coups, killed journalists will happen for nothing? Everyone has a price! That is her law!
Hello! Philippines!!! When will you do something to put an end to these thieves? They want to prolong your agony without honor by way of Charter change. Would you allow it?
My dear countrymen, our freedom and dignity are priceless. We have to put a stop and we cannot afford to wait any longer. The time is now. If we all work in unity nothing is impossible. It is better to have broken legs than a broken heart. Long live the Filipinos!! Are we still worth fighting for as Ninoy Aquino once said? Prove it by removing the bondage of oppression and poverty.
Jun Kabigting
jun.kabigting@hotmail.com
USA
Ellen:
May dishonoring na naman ginawa si Pandak. She is not signing the law abolishing capital punishment until the feast of St. John the Baptist on the 24th of June (daw) as she likens those in the death row with John the Baptist, who was decapitated on the wiles and whims of an evil woman even when he was innocent.
Ano ito? Siraulo o talagang walang modo na ipinapares ang isang banal na tao sa mga kriminal na walang takot na lumabag sa batas at pumatay ng kapwa nila, etc.? ‘Kakahiya!
Ellen,
Thanks for visiting my site. I will relay your messege to my mom.
Yuko,
You should visit the Philippines again. Marami pa din namang mabubuting tao dito. Sta. Cruz is not like what it used to be and I think its worse now even with Atienza’s beautification program. I also miss travelling to Tokyo. Medyo mahal na kasi unlike before when business was good. Back in the early ’90s, I use to take my kid there thrice a year. She loves Disneyland and the Ueno Zoo. And her fave is Hakuhinkan and the Tokyo Tower. Ako siyempre Akihabara and Harajuku. I also shop for rare books and journals at Jena. Of course my trip wouldn’t be complete without a sidetrip to Okachimachi where bargain-hunting is good. If a trip here for you is nostalgic, mine would be Tokyo.
“I came late. I arrived when they were winding up their program. I was told Leah Navarro sang, Karen Tañada spoke, and there was some cha-cha dancing.”
Ellen,
“Leah Navarro” — Siya ba ang Leah Navarro na entertainer?
Just want to be enlightened.
Thank you.
You’ll be surprised that things are cheaper now over here except for the airfare that has become expensive really because of the added fees for security, etc. that would not have been there if the Mad Man at the White House did not make up a Bin Laden to blame for his own terrorism activities!!!
:-p
Marunong kasing magpasalamat ang gobyerno ng Japan sa mga mamamayang matiyagang magbayad ng buwis nila kasi naman hindi naman kinukurakoy ni Koizumi ang pera namin. Ipinamimigay nga lang sa mga walanghiyang katulad ng ipinangako niyang abuloy kay De Venecia para sa pork barrels nila! This in fact is what we are now trying to stop!!! 80M dollars and ibibigay sa worthless government ni Pandak kasunod ang pangako ni Dubya ng some 24 grand something dollars para daw sa pakikibaka ng graft and corruption.
Ang ironic sa sinasabi ng mga Amerikano ay bakit bibigyan ng pera para sa pakikibaka ng graft and corruption iyong mismong pedestal ng graft and corruption. Iyan ang talagang plastik na sira pa!
If you get the chance to come to Japan, give me a call and I’ll treat you to a nice restaurant. Siguro hindi ka pa nakatikim ng tofu ice cream?
The invitation is open to all good Filipinos, iyong hindi pa sira ang mga ulo na gustong magpakamatay para yumaman!!! :-p
I just talked to a member of our church who works at the US embassy in Japan. I told her about the contribution from America supposed for addressing the problem in the Philippines of graft and corruption. Sabi niya bakit daw bibigyan ng pera ng Amerika si Gloria na siyang puno’t dulo ng graft and corruption ngayon. I told her to check on this. Gusto niyang ipadala ko ang news articles tungkol dito. Ironic daw na yong perpertrator ang bibigyan ng tulong para sa pagsupil ng graft and corruption. Ironic nga naman, di ba?
Dirk Pitt, okay ang login name mo, ah. Combination ni Dirk Nowitzki at ni Brad Pitt.
Yes, it’s Leah Navarro, the singer. She is active in the Black and White Movement, working for the ouster of Gloria Arroyo.
Salamat, Ellen.
Kailangan natin ng mas maraming kagaya pa niya, just like Freddie Aguilar at Apo Hiking Society ( Nasaan sila? )noong EDSA I.
I’m an OFW engr here in Papua New Guinea. I’ll just share this experience:
These past two days, I was on some sort of training in connection with the operation of a power plant newly installed/contructed here by Hyundai Heavy Industries(HHI). These plant was constructed by an all Filipino skilled workers (welders, pipe fitters, etc.) Their supervisors are all Koreans. My trainors are also all Koreans. The odd thing I would like to point out is this: these Koreans can barely speak English. Even a single word like “bad” for example, will take some time for us to understand each other. All the Filipinos down to the last worker can speak English far better than all the Koreans.
The training is completed and there’s nothing I learned from the whole exercise. But one thought keeps on bothering me all this time: THESE KOREANS CAN BARELY SPEAK ENGLISH, BUT WHY IS IT THAT THEY ARE THE SUPERVISORS? WHY IS IT THAT THEY CAN COMPETE WITH THE OTHER INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD STAGE?
Your experience prove that English is not the only qualification for excellence. It helps, of course. The more languages you know, the better. It’s a skill that can be used.
But We have to have more than knowledge of English to develop and compete. Superior skills in math, science, etc.
Our government has to develop opportunities here in the country. Filipinos should go out to advise, just like those Koreans did. Filipinos should travel as tourists, to enjoy the sights and culture of other people and not as slave workers.
I’m at my office now, but can’t help peeping into your Blog, Ellen.
Thanks for the message of Dirk. I have been actually fighting for Filipinos to try to love and appreciate what God has blessed them with—language, etc. and all.
I speak five languages: English (I prefer the Queen’s English), Japanese, Spanish, French and two Filipino languages (Tagalog and Ilocano). I used to speak Taglish because I was born and grew up in Manila, but learned to speak a much purer Tagalog since I started teaching it at a Japanese national university in Tokyo, kind of learn to appreciate it more, and reason why I could not help going ballistic when the Bansot, whose bad English is nothing I would recommend Filipinos to immitate, insisted on making English as the accepted national language of the Philippines “to enable me to get hired overseas faster!”
Yuck, ang pangit ng English ni Bansot! Maganda pa nga ang diction ni Marcos who did not go to any American school!
Tama ka Ellen, it is not English that is the problem why the Philippines is lagging behind its neighbors. You bet,”Filipinos should travel as tourists, to enjoy the sights and culture of other people and not as slave workers,” and apply what they have learned to make their situation better just like what the Koreans did learning from the Japanese example despite the efforts of those who do not want the Koreans and Japanese to form a great alliance that can be a threat to China or the USA!
Ang tindi ng pagkaplastic ni Bansot talaga! I wish I could say, “Time to recall the cremes of the crop back to their country, and help rebuild it!” But with the destroyer still there, maybe, I should not say it at all!
Sorry, but this should read as: “…insisted on making English as the accepted national language of the Philippines “to enable FILIPINOS to get hired overseas faster!”
Over in Japan, the “caregivers” the Bansot is insisting that Japan should hire are not even required to speak English. They are being required to learn how to read, write and speak fluent Japanese to enable them to take national board exams in order to qualify for the jobs they are applying for here. Problem is they need to be taught likewise of the Japanese concept of seniority, loyalty, piety, and keiretsu!
Dirk,
Simple: their level of engineering education is higher than in the Philippines. That’s why they are supervisors, etc.
Our technical education is still lagging behind that of the more industrialized nations.
This is in no way meant to downgrade or scoff at the technical aptitude of Pinoys in engineering but we do have to raise our educational standards in order to compete on an even keel with the engineers of the industrialized nations.
True, language has nothing to do with skills because MATHEMATICS which is required in the engineering studies is a universal language. If you are good in MATHS, then you can use that language to communicate with other engineers and technicians the world over.
Dirk,
Simple: their level of engineering education is higher than in the Philippines. That’s why they are supervisors, etc.
Our technical education is seriously lagging behind that of the more industrialized nations.
This is in no way meant to downgrade or scoff at the technical aptitude of Pinoys in engineering but we do have to raise our educational standards in order to compete on an even keel with the engineers of the industrialized nations.
True, language has nothing to do with skills because MATHEMATICS which is required in the engineering studies is a universal language. If you are good in MATHS, then you can use that language to communicate with other engineers and technicians the world over.