At par with Estrada, et. al.

With GMA's pardoning of Erap, here is a list of new things could officially get away with (courtesy of Jim Paredes, of the acclaimed APO Hiking Society and his awesome blog):

But to be fair, let's allow the same right given to Erap to every Filipino. That's right. Let the Republic of the Philippines allow all Filipino citizens to enjoy the right to unlawfullness equally. If we can't be equal in the eyes of the law, let's bend the rules. Plainly, we should all be allowed at least one crime and a guaranteed pardon that we can 'legally' commit. Let's make this official. Calling Mar Roxas, Villar, the Catholic Bishops and all who supported the pardon and are 'happy for Erap", give a litsen. This new idea could be your legislative coup d' grace. It is the only way to save the joke we call 'democracy' and 'rule of law' since we refuse to do the right thing.

Here's a list of crimes all Filipinos should be allowed to do even just once.

a) steal billions from the government (like the Marcoses, Erap Estrada and many others)

b) do not pay taxes and behest loans (like so many we know, JDV, et al)

c) subvert the government through coups, armed rebellion, etc. (like Honasan, Enrile, CPP-NPA, MILF, Trillanes and all who have done so and are still scott free)

d) murder (like what some congressmen and senators, and other public officials have done). But to be fair, government officials should not be exempt targets by regular citizens, since they do same to each other anyway.

Please excuse the mess

Yeah, I know that the blog looks messed up right now. I'm looking into it. It's probably a problem with the template I'm using.


Hope you're all having a great summer!

Some results

It's been about a week and a half since the Philippine midterm elections. They're still tabulating the votes for the national races and some of the local ones. In Philippine elections, most if not all of the votes (save internet voting in Singapore) are done manually, and most national races aren't officially decided until about a month afterwards. This unfortunately increases the prospect of cheating and corruption, especially in the provincial elections.

Here's some interesting results, though:

• A Roman Catholic priest, Fr. Eddie Panlilio, has been elected governor of Pampanga, From this Inquirer article on 5/18, he will become "the 26th governor of Pampanga since 1901. His followers said they would call him Among Governor. Among is a term of endearment for priest. His parishioners in Betis, Guagua called Panlilio "Among Ed."
• According to the latest NAMFREL (National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections - a electoral watchdog group) tally, senatorial candidates from the Genuine Opposition (GO) are currently dominating the elections, with 8 of its 12 candidates in the "Magic 12". Two candidates in the "Magic 12" are from Team UNITY (the administration group), while the last 2 are independent candidates.
• South Cotabato congressional candidate Manny Pacquiao was defeated by a large margin (139,061 to 75,908) by the incumbent, Darlene Antonino-Custodio. According to this article, Pacquiao said, “I have accepted the results. I just hope that she will fulfill her promises to help the poor. If that happens, I will be happy, it would be like I won too.”

It's election time again

Go to this site for the latest updates on the Philippine midterm elections. Looks like the cheating has already begun:

From the site:
---

Foreign observers claim to have witnessed blatant cheating in Lanao del Sur and disenfranchisement in Nueva Ecija, according to the report of delegates of the People's International Observers' Mission (IOM).

Vote-buying and coaching of voters inside election precincts were rampant in Marawi City, said Jessica Tulloch, IOM spokesperson for the Lanao del Sur team. Tulloch said they saw poll watchers sit beside voters and dictate candidates' names to be written on the ballots.

Members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) were also seen powerless, as they “practically gave up policing the precincts with just anybody entering and interacting with voters,” Tulloch added.

The IOM also witnessed the following:

1)Voters had more than one finger that had been marked with indelible ink that was easily washed with soap and water.

2) Voters freely admitted to having voted several times. Voters were seen being paid a minimum of P50 for every vote for municipal and city councilors, and P2, 000 per vote for mayoralty candidates.

3) Minors as young as 15 years old were allowed to vote.

4) Peso bills were seen stapled on sample ballots and campaign leaflets being passed on to the voters through window grills.

5) Ball pens were seen in voting booths with stickers with candidates' names written on them.

6) Voters’ lists were missing outside the precincts, and no Secrecy Folders and list of candidates for national and local positions were reported.
Posted by : Erwin Oliva at Comelec in Manila

TFP VI: Sandbowl Clip Series 2

second (4/18 edit: and last - just put the last one up) in a series.

"Verse About Tony"



"The Race"



(updated 4/18) "Carlos and Percy Attack"

TFP V: Sandbowl Clip Series 1

first in a series. (my last PACN clip will go up by the end of this week)

"Ian and the Hole 1"



"Ian and the Hole 2"



"The Screen Name Song"

VOTE OR DIE, 2007

TFP IV: PACN Clip Series - "The Apartyment (DPS)"

third in a series.

TP YOUTUBE TRIVIA

Trivia

First Meeting Skit

- Ian had a bad sunburn from E-board games the weekend before filming, so he was shirtless and shiny at the beginning of the video because of the aloe vera on his back.

- It took more than 10 takes to get Ian to say “Balita” incorrectly.


- Ian wasn’t really giggling about meeting Camille, he was laughing at himself. The clip of him giggling wasn’t actually supposed to be in the video- the editor accidentally put the wrong video down, but thought that the effect was cute... so she kept it.


- TP Member Kathrina Sarmiento’s family had a cameo in the video, before she actually joined Troy Phi.

- Ian’s myspace is real. He typed “Finding Nemo, b*tch!!!1!” twice before he thought it looked right.


- Ian didn’t know that the camera was recording him while he was dancing shirtless.

- The vending machine that Ian meets Cristina at was broken into two days after filming.

- Ian is actually really good at “The Nasty.”

- Ian’s tears were authentic. It took him 5 minutes to produce the real tears.

- Nim made his debut as “the bakla” in the first skit/video. He had to address rumors after the skit/video was shown.


ARAY KO, Episode 1

- Albert and Chris weren’t supposed to be in the episode. They were having lunch at Carl’s Jr when Carlos and the camera crew came to film.
- In another clip, Albert asks an innocent bystander how to get to Jollibee… to which he answers, in an Australian accent, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, man.”

- The beggar at McDonald’s was completely not scripted. Like, really not scripted at all.
- The woman in the box at Wendy’s listed everything chicken on the menu after Carlos asked for a “chickenjoy.”
- The police were actually really curious about what Jollibee was.

Aray Ko! “Cribs”

- There was actually another “Cribs” segment planned from the Greenhouse (Zeta Phi Rho House), but when the video was played back, all that was visible was a shadowed figure, Zeta Phi Rho’s letters, and an open door. Upon later investigation, apparently there’s a “Greenhouse ghost.”

TFP III: PACN Clip Series - "Binaylan"

second in a series.

TFP II: PACN Clip Series -"Mantoñes de Seda"

first in a series.

TFP I: The My Sassy Girl Wikispace page

Perhaps this will ease PACN withdrawals just a bit...

Please help me edit the My Sassy Girl page on our Wikispace...while everything's still fresh in your mind!

Email me if you want to gain editing rights to the Wiki if you don't have it already...thanks!

Erika & Celeste @ Kababayan LA 3/12

Watch as Erika & Celeste are interviewed by Jannelle So in the March 12 episode of Kababayan LA!

You can watch Kababayan LA weekdays on channel 18 KSCI @ 4:30pm.

Valentine's Day (and the lack of divorce law) in the Philippines

...Just wanted to share with you all a Reuters article that I found today. Happy Valentine's Day!

---

Filipinos celebrate Valentine's Day discreetly

By Karen Lema Mon Feb 12, 10:17 PM ET

The days before and after February 14 are red-hot for the Philippines' motel industry.

In this largely Roman Catholic country, Valentine's Day is spent with wives and husbands. But its eve and aftermath are reserved for lovers.

"The busiest days for us are February 13 and 15," said Steve Perez, assistant business manager of Manila's Victoria Court..."



(go see for yourself here)

"...a drive-in hotel that specializes in discreet reservations.

The budget hotel, which has a lady with a finger over her lips as its logo, has 106 rooms and they are all occupied during what Filipinos jokingly refer to as days for "No.2 or No.3" Love, marriage and children are heavily emphasized in this Southeast Asian country, where syrupy ballads top the charts and Valentine's Day is celebrated in a red and pink riot of roses, hearts and cupids.

But despite widespread devotion to the Catholic faith, extramarital affairs are often accepted in the Philippines, where divorce is illegal and a macho culture encourages men to father several families.

Sociologists say hundreds of thousands of people remain locked in loveless unions and seek relationships elsewhere.

"If I had an option I would leave my wife," said a 29-year-old man, who asked not to be named. He said he had been having an affair for seven months.

The Philippines and Malta are the only countries in the world without a divorce law. Many Filipinos are opposed to such legislation, fearing it could disrupt family life and their religious beliefs.

Couples can file for annulments but they must convince the courts that their marriage was void to begin with. They can also aim for a legal separation but that would prevent them from re-marrying.

Faced with such hurdles, most unhappy married couples stick it out. Some look for love elsewhere.

MISTRESS ETIQUETTE

While men have been the traditional protagonists of affairs, Filipino women, particularly in the more permissive urban milieux, are increasingly taking the lead.

"Before, women coming in to our hotel would hide their faces but now they have become more open," Perez said. "Sometimes the women are even the one on the driver's seat."

An etiquette book for mistresses, written by Julie Yap Daza (she wrote it in 1994; she also wrote Manners for Moving Up, a "Filipino guide to the art of social climbing"), a television talk-show host and columnist, is a bestseller at local bookstores.

Daza tells mistresses they are "holiday orphans," who must be "ready to give up Valentine's Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Holy Week and even her man's birthday." For as Rule No.1 in her book says, "Mistress is not Mrs. Know your place."

Celebrities or politicians changing partners with the regularity of square dancers have been a staple of Philippine gossip columns and a wandering eye is not a liability on the election stump.

Deposed president Joseph Estrada was swept to power in 1998 despite fathering children with several women.

A number of divorce bills have been filed in Congress but none have succeeded due to opposition from priests and Christian groups.

"Reality tells us that there are many failed, unhappy marriages across all Filipino classes," said Lisa Maza (of the Gabriela Women's Party), author of a divorce bill.

"Many couples especially from the marginalized sectors, who have no access to courts, simply end up separating without the benefit of legal processes."

Maza's bill proposes to allow, among others, the much-abused excuse - "irreconcilable differences" - as grounds to end a marriage.

The 5,000 plus annulment cases pending in courts show that there are many couples who are desperate to get out of failed unions, Maza said.

But sociology Professor Josephine Aguilar said divorce was not the solution.

"Everything could be resolved through proper communication," said Aguilar, who got married last year.

"Couples should not just accept the pluses of their partners but also their minuses because when you accept that, you will understand the idea of a perfect marriage."

A 46-year-old father of two, interviewed by Reuters, agreed. The man, who asked not to be identified, said he will not miss the subterfuge around Valentine's Day so he can slip off for an assignation with his mistress.

His affairs devastated his family and eventually "guilt" seeped in.

"I chose to stay with my family because it was the right thing to do, not just morally, but for everyone to be happy," he said. "I have learned not to expect anything from my wife and just accept her as a gift from God."

Going Home

by Isabelle H. Lacson

I often refer to a normal summer vacation as “going home.” As if my life were backwards, like going to college is a vacation and flying across the Pacific Ocean to a tropical country is returning to what I perceive as “normal.” But it is. Although I do have a physical house in Los Angeles County, “home” to me will always be this little condominium in Makati, the Downtown LA of Manila. What is it like for a native Manilan to return "home" after months of American exposure?

Albeit what I like to call the “LAX Struggle” that involves a long line of confused Filipinos, numerous boxes with addresses in bold letters (BARANGAY MAYTUNAS, LOT 7, BLOCK 3) and that completely violating security procedure that involves not only taking off your shoes and socks, but taking your laptop out of your overpacked bag and putting it back in; going home is always (and I did pull out a dictionary to find the perfect word) nice.

Besides the initial comments of “you’re so fat” (thanks Dad) or “marunong ka pa mag-Tagalog?” (thanks Tito), going home makes me realize how different I’ve become. The last time I left for LA from Manila, one of my best friends texted me minutes before I boarded the plane and said, “I can’t believe how much you’ve grown.” And I only pray that he was talking about vertical growth, not horizontal growth. Oh, you know what I mean. But for thirteen hours on the plane to LA, I contemplated on his little statement and rested in the fact that change is inevitable and my life’s locale contributed to my maturity.

Going home almost begs for endless comparison. One thing I never fail to compare is the American and Philippine legal system. Is there a legal drinking age in the Philippines? Can you buy cigarettes if you’re 15 years old? Are there road rules? Are all these things implicit? Well if there are binding laws for these things, then I, personally, would be doing time in jail. One of my favorite stories that involves the Philippines and its justice system is the case of one of my friends from high school, who was 13, crazy, and thirsty. She went to the neighborhood 7-11 and asked to purchase an entire case of beer, and the store owner did not think twice and sold the little girl in front of him in braces, glasses, and unbrushed hair the beer. Talk about trying to make a buck. Or peso.

Going home is almost like stepping into an unending party. There is no concept of time in Manila (perhaps this is why we’re always late?), it could be 10 at night and I’d be racing to Quezon City for a second dinner with my friends. Some malls will still be open, and we could stand in front of the movie theater line and pick which past-10 o’clock showing we would catch. I could drag myself to Greenbelt at 11 and pay PhP 99 to sing all night long in the Karaoke bars, and grab some Starbucks on the way out in the wee hours of the morning. Everything is open later, leaving much more room to just go out and have fun. My theory is: BECAUSE we are always late, establishments are forced to stay open late to accommodate and make some sort of profit.

But why do I go home? And why do I consider the Philippines my home? Is there something seductive about returning to traffic, poverty, retarded pop songs (see: Boom Tarat Tarat, Otso-Otso, and all their cousins), and unbelievable inefficiency?

Well, I think a home is defined by who lives in it. I set foot in NAIA Terminal 2 and I see my dad waving at me from the airport window. I drive to San Juan to see my lolo and lola, and the familiar baby photos of me and my cousins are perched on the piano, as if none of us ever left home. I go to the same silly children’s birthday parties that serve the customary (I swear, it is written in the Children’s Party Bible somewhere) spaghetti with hotdogs and barbecue to be with the cousins I see only once in a blue moon. I go out every night to the same restaurants to be with the friends who have known me since I had braces and poor taste in music. I go to the universities that I could have attended to see what my friends’ lives are like. I make it a point to visit my friends’ parents not only because food always happens to taste better outside your own home, but because in Manila (and I'm not just saying this), there are no boundaries as to who is your family.

The cliché answer to the question: “what do you love most about your home?” could easily be found in magazines and movies. I noticed that a popular answer is that at home, you could wear the ugliest clothes and watch TV, and no one will say anything (a lot of celebrities say this for some reason). But for me, going home to Manila is like stepping into another, more comfortable version of the world. Cars are slower, people aren’t rushing, there’s more freedom and the only thing you worry about is who you haven’t seen yet and how much more time you have before you have to go back to the U.S. Everything in that world is close to perfect because the ones who are dearest to me exist in it, and for a brief period -- maybe weeks or months -- I feel like I'm home.

Regarding the Manila Film Center

(from GMA TV journalist Howie Severino's blog)

While recently reading the Jessica Hagedorn novel/play Dogeaters (TP is watching the play on Feb. 7 BTW), I noticed that there were several mentions of the infamous building in Manila called the Manila Film Center.

During the second half of the martial law imposed by the Marcos regime, both Marcos and his wife Imelda wanted to build the Manila Film Center in order to enhance the Philippines' reputation in the world. The inagural Manila International Film Festival was to be held in the year 1982, and this Center would host that festival. However, delays hampered its completion, and Imelda wanted this Center done before the festival, so as the deadline loomed, the construction workers were working as quickly as they could to complete the building.

On November 17, 1981, the upper scaffold collapsed and sent workers falling into wet cement. A witness said that some of the workers were impaled on upright steel bars.

Now here is where it gets creepy and ambiguous.

It's been said that since the film festival was about to happen and that the recovery of all the bodies would take too long, Imelda ordered that the construction work continue despite the accident and that the bodies be covered by cement. The number of dead differs depending on who you talk to differs, but it has reached as high as 169 people.

The Film Center was eventually completed, and the festival was held. During opening night, Imelda "strode on stage in a Joe Salazar black and emerald green terno with a hemline thick with layer upon layer of peacock feathers" (http://manalang.com/philippines/manila/manila_film_center.html).

So is there any proof that this actually happened? Or is this just an urban myth?

No news agencies covered the accident when it happened. Perhaps the Marcos regime purposely had the media not report it. This was during martial law, after all. Perhaps the number of dead has been exaggerated as the story spread throughout the Philippines during Marcos's regime and after he was ousted.

In his blog, GMA TV journalist Howie Severino writes the following:

...After numerous return trips to the film center's dark and eery catacombs, futile efforts to find a paper trail, and interviews with survivors and loved ones of dead construction workers, my half-baked conclusion: Not more than a dozen died (we heard figures as high as 169, which was based on an Inquirer account of a spirit questor expedition years ago), and NONE of them left behind in the Manila Film Center. Why are you surprised?

First of all, we couldn't find anyone who knew anyone in there, including relatives. If there really were dozens of skeletons still encased in cement in the film palace, we are almost sure we would have been able to trace loved ones, or they would have found us. The construction workers who survived the incident did not know anyone, nor did they know anyone who knew anyone missing in the building.

We know from years of working in media that the relatives of missing people are extremely persistent and vocal, driven as they are by a human desire for closure on their grief. I think this would have been the case even if they were bribed by Imelda, which is one theory for why they have been so quiet through all these years. I have my own theory: the missing don't exist.

One witness told us that workers cleared the bodies and the debris from the theater floor before resuming the construction, which was finished the same day that international stars like Jeremy Irons and George Hamilton waltzed in...

I guess that the only way to find out what really happened is to excavate the foundations of the Manila Film Center to find the bodies of any missing workers. That's probably not going to happen any time soon, however. The building is still being used, despite the fact that a lot of Filipinos stay away from that building because they think the building is haunted by the ghosts of the dead workers.

After the Marcos regime, the Manila Film Center became the government's official passport office during the Aquino administration. Then, an earthquake struck in 1990, cracking the stairs and the road outside. The building was then pretty much abandoned until 2001...


(again, from Severino's blog)

...when the Center became home to the "Amazing Philippine Theatre", a theatrical show featuring LGBT actors. A Youtube clip can be seen below:



Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_Film_Center_scaffolding_collapse
http://www.gmapinoytv.com/sidetrip/blog/index.php?/archives/42-The-Manila-Film-Center-mystery-A-ghostly-place-or-an-urban-legend.html
http://manalang.com/philippines/manila/manila_film_center.html

This and VAT

The following post about Philippines' VAT (Value-Added Tax) was written by Isabelle Lacson:




I made a purchase at Commons the other day with fellow TP-er, Jeff Okita. As I juggled my chicken pesto, napkins, and wallet, I managed to whip out my USC ID to avoid the big bad sales tax implemented on all Californians (and those who go to Commons hungry and ID-less). The lady who beamed at my black Styrofoam box asked me to pay up my $6.25, and I did so with a smile because I saved an estimated 50 cents. If one day I am interviewed on how I made my first million, I will attribute it to my being practical like this (“I brought my student ID with me everyday to school and look at me now!”).

By virtue of the CIA World Factbook, the 2005 estimate of Philippine GDP growth has been proclaimed 4.8%, well above the rest of the pack of the international community. Upon my most recent return to the homeland over Christmas break, I found that hard to believe. Until I encountered the VAT (value-added tax). The Philippine Department of Finance (DoF) implemented the VAT last November, and its effects have been quite mixed. Usually, economic growth alludes to bigger and better things for a country, but in this case, the DoF has single-handedly raised the GDP growth of the entire nation without changing the development of the economy as a whole.

I had my first taste of the VAT when I made a trip to Powerplant Mall in the upscale area of Rockwell in Makati. I thumbed through the clothes in one of my favorite apparel stores, and began purchasing things on impulse (my excuse to my dad later on: I just wanted to make sure my international credit card worked). I noticed a whopping 12% tax on the bottom of my receipt. I asked the saleslady what the hell it was and why it was on my receipt. She explained that the reasonable(?) PhP 2,450 for one of my items qualified for PhP 300 worth of VAT.

I was surprised, mostly because in all my years of living in the Philippines, I had never paid tax for things that I had purchased. I remembered the positive report on the GDP growth later on, and almost smiled at myself for contributing to my country’s economic growth. However, taking the estimated minimum wage into consideration, PhP 275 per day, there are probably a considerable number of people in the Philippines feeling the negative effects of the new VAT regime. Although the VAT has been solely responsible for pushing the peso down to about PhP 48 to the dollar (the lowest in six years), I couldn’t help but notice that nothing in the country has changed outside the low exchange rate…

I was not expecting a significant change upon my arrival. The inherently Pinoy attitude of “bahala na” (a longer way of saying “whatever”) will not make its exit soon. But, I was expecting some sort of change to manifest itself in the economy, what with the rosy depictions of growth that several government officials profess. In recent years, several people close to me have made their way into public office, and as I watch their lives improve (how they do this, I do not even want to know) I cannot help but think about those whose lives are getting worse.

So for those of you traveling to the Philippines over the summer, consider this a travel advisory. Pack on the extra peso to offset the raised prices on… well, almost everything. Although, yes, some items are cheaper in the Philippines compared to U.S. prices, you will find that your vacation money cannot hold as much as it used to. The VAT policy is likely to stay until a) the budget deficit is cured or b) people get so poor that violent unrest starts plaguing the nation, whichever comes first. Until then, I’m going to contemplate on innovative ways to budget my precious peso.



edit by celeste-
----

More information on the VAT:

• It was implemented in 1988
• The rate was raised from 10% to 12% in February 2006

To put this into perspective:

• CA's tax rate is between 7.25% to 8.75% (the highest in the USA)
• NJ's tax rate is 3.5% to 7%
• Hawaii has no sales tax, but excise taxes of up to 4%

Thanks Isabelle!

sources: (http://www.usig.org/countryinfo/phillipines.asp)

What's in a name?

Did you ever think that just because you had a Hispanic surname, one of your ancestors must have been from Spain? But you look around, and there's nothing mestizo about your relatives.

I'm a Hernandez. Since "Hernandez" means son of Hernando, and I always thought there was a guy named Hernando that linked all the Hernandez's in Mexico, Spain, and Philippines together. In actuality, my last name most likely was arbitrarily assigned from a torn off page of a book.

The Spanish were having hard time with taxation as many of the newly-Catholicized Filipinos took Catholic symbols as surnames creating an abundance of Santos' and de la Cruz's with no appropriate relation. Filipinos also went P.Diddy with the names as a means of tax evasion. In 1849, the Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos was produced to help the Spaniards with their bookkeeping.

From the book, each Filipino family was assigned a surname, in an apparently systematic process. There's debate if each province actually received the whole book if not sections. Some towns have historic last names all beginning with the same letter. It appeared all the northern provinces like in Ilocos and Cagayan got surnames from A to C while surnames from W to Z went to Southern Mindanao.

Now these surnames like Gregorio, Fernandez, Perez, etc. indicate these families come from Spanish conquered lands. There are remote areas where indigenous names like Macapagal, Pacquiao, & Samiley, Ople have survived the westernization. Apparently as well, some indigenous names were are part of the catalog of names. It's also here to note that the Muslim influence has brought in some religious last names of Islam similarly to when Spain brought Christianity.

Chinese Filipinos

Nowadays, one syllable last names like Lim, Tan, & Sy aren't so bad for business. Early merchants / future Chinese Filipinos fit in with their multiple syllabic counterparts by taking on names of a respectful elder or ancestor and adding the suffix -co or -son. -Co was a respectful title; I would compare it to the use of "Kuya". (I don't know if I'm correct.) But the triple-syllable last name like in Yujico & Cotangco is something distinctly Chinese Filipino. Also Chinese-derived, Dizon, Lacson, Ayson are examples of the two syllable surnames ending in -son or -zon which have strong prevalence in Pampanga.

Now indigenously, second names used to be taken from children. Here is Berto father of Pito, and such and such. The traditional naming standard currently is for the children to take on the mother's surname as the middle name.

Sources

• Catalog of Filipino Names - bibingka.com
• Philippines Surnmaes FAQ - WorldGenWeb Project
• surname: The Philippines - Answers.com