GBUMMLU

Today, I had the funniest epiphany when I read a text message from a friend who always had the habit if putting “GBU! MMLU!” at the end of each of his messages. I never bothered to ask what those letters meant, but just amused myself by guessing what they could have meant: goodbye? Nah. Gandang gabi? Nah. Mumumwah? Ech. Besides, I was embarrassed to ask about what seemed like a normal texting gesture. Nevertheless. This morning came another text message:

“  Good Morning!

Behind every circumstance is GOD’S PURPOSE.

At times, what we consider TRIALS

are simply the HAND of GOD

rearranging our lives to be more FUITFUL!

 

GBU! (“,) MMLU!  “

More than the message, what roused my curiosity was that “signature” at the end of the message (I always  receive these godly messages from the guy, I don’t know why they do that). Funnily enough, a certain girl popped into my head: the daughter of Eddie Gil! Eddie Wig Gil, who was the ex-presidential candidate deemed incapable of running the campaign by COMELEC back in 2004!

 This daughter had a “novelty song” which contained the lyrics, “I love you mama, I love you papa, God Bless you, Mama Mary loves you!” Hence the signature GBU!MMLU! The song had a comical tune with it, to match the simple lyrics. I burst out laughing, because the Gil family actually sang it together on national TV (unaware that they were being used as clowns; they were so proud). Anyway, I almost fell over, holding my phone and laughing silently as I woke up today. Sometimes, God has a funny way of giving you a shot of realization.

Good day everyone. GBU!MMLU! (HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!)

Sasakay ka ba?

May good news ako sayo!

Bibigyan kita ng roundtrip ticket papuntang Europe! All expense paid for. Libre lahat — day tour, transfers, hotel accommodations. Ah, tapos pwede ka magsama ng isang tao, girlfriend mo. Ayos, masarap di ba?

Kaso eh, sa sampung eroplanong maaari mong masakyan, isa dun, magka-crash landing sa dagat. Isa lang naman eh.  Kung di mo naman masakyan yung eroplanong yun, eh di okey buhay ka. Ano, risk mo ba?

Kung ako, di na’ko sasakay.

Ganyan ang condom — 90% effective lang. Kung matsambahan mo yung isang 10%, buhay kang bata ka!

Nanunood kasi ako ng MTV ngayon, yung 2008 Music Summit, at ang theme nila eh AIDS Awareness and condom usage (sponsored kasi ng Frenzy condoms). Isang malaking kahibangang at kalokohan.

Una sa lahat, ang paggamit ng condom ay hindi AIDS awareness! Lalong lalo na ang pag promote ng sex sa kabataan! Marami-rami rin sigurong kaluluwa ang pananagutan ni Mark Abaya nung sinagaw niya:

“Do you love having sex? I love having sex! But use condoms! Yeah it sucks using one, but it helps prevent AIDS!”

Kung maaari kang makabuntins gamit ang condom, lalong mas posibleng magkaron o mag transfer ng HIV! Kung nakakalusot ang sperm cell sa condom, lalong mas nakakalusot ang HIV, isang virus na higit namas maliit pa sa sperm cell. Itanong mo sa mga totoong experto.

Pangalawa, obvious naman na ang AIDS ay nakukuha sa sex. So bakit ka kukuha ng condom para makipag sex? Ang pinaka mabisang solution — wag ka makipag sex! Same goes for pregnancy. Masyado parin mabigat ang risk. Sasakay ka pa ba?

So, sa madaling salita, condoms promote sex and therefore promote AIDS! Condoms corrupt and pollute the minds of the youth, conditioning their minds that premarital sex is absolutely normal. Hubaran ang BUTAS na katotohanan ng condom, at ipagbunyi ang totoong pagmamahalan: naghihintay. Kung di ka pa kasal pero di ka na rin virgin, di pa naman huli ang lahat eh, ititigil mo lang naman eh.

So kids, keep love real. True love waits.

 

 

 

 

 

Kahit may condom ka pa.

In Memoriam, Señor Obusan

Last Thursday, my Spanish professor died.

Merry-Realist-Christmas Wishes

Enough of those cliche “beauty pageant wishes” this Christmas season: “World Peace!”. We all know that’s impossible. Heck, the End of the World will be heralded by a ethno-politico-religous war! Today, however, when I ask kids what they want for Christmas, I get answers like “love in the family”, or “Totoong diwa ng Pasko”, or “Peace in Mindanao”! Hang on — backtrack —Peace in Mindanao?! Since when have children been losing their sincerity at such a young age? Mind you these are seven, eight, nine year old kids! At that age, I was wishing for remote control cars, a piano, and a giant crocodile toy for Christmas – and never have I thought of things as noble as peace in Mindanao =.= (Children, this isn’t recitation so you may give not-so-ideal answers, ok?). 

So this time around, for the first time, let’s go realist. My wish list, is thus:

#10. Charter Change. Revise the Philippine Constitution! Particularly that provision providing for the qualification of Philippine president (improve the standard!); also add a parliamentary form of government, and another provision further institutionalizing political parties, oh and make that political parties in a biparty system. Hah.

#9. Clean Water. Pockets of Paranaque have been waterless for decades now (water truck deliveries have become the norm therein), and hopes of being connected to Maynilad pipes have been bleak, until recently when the roads have seen side excavations, hopefully to place water pipes there. 

#8. Cheaper Public Transport Fare. The jeepneys have already reduced their fares, and the student fare now costs P6.00 minimum. That is why FX’s should also bring their minimum down to P10 from P15, and ideally my trip from BF to Manila should cost P30 maybe even P25, not P35. Gasoline and diesel have dropped P22 since the oil crisis of 2008, but FX drivers and operators have refused to come down since. Start ringing the LTFRB.

#7. Paved Roads. With Asphalt. Come on, that shouldn’t be very hard to make, is it, congressman? With sixty million pesos in your Pork Barell, one kilometer of smooth, black road is just like your Ford Expedition, or your Chrysler, or your house bright with Christmas lights on every inch. Oh, there’s a spot you missed… ay, pundi lang pala. I am just tired of running over those road bumps and holes in it, one would think we are really a poor country in the level of Somalia. Somalia! (We do have funds for those roads!). One kilometer lang!

#6. Lollipop Lights. Mayor Lim, please fix those lollipop lights by former Mayor Atienza along Roxas Blvd! I know how hard you are trying to imitate your predecessor in city beautification, but trust me, repair those lollipops and you will revamp your image as a killjoy old man. You overdid yourself in Nagtahan bridge and Baywalk, by the way (ask Mayor Atienza for tips; he is an architect after all).

#5. Refurbish the City Hall. City Hall with a captial “C” and a captial “H”. It is supposed to be the epitome of the Philippines’ local governance, and somehow, it still looks dilapidated in its 73 years of existence. With a few new paint jobs, new tiles, new bathrooms (and probably a new mayor), City Hall will be a beauty once again, a building that would not only resemble a casket (it does from above), but would also symbolize good governance.

#4. Fewer Jeepneys on the Road. Let’s face it: there is a surplus of jeepneys in Metro Manila, and 90% of the time, if not 95% of the time, they are the cause of heavy traffic. If there weren’t a surplus, jeeps wouldn’t be queueing in the middle of the road looking for passengers every hour of the day. It may sound elitist, but I am just being a realist. Jeepneys are the most sluggish man-made machines out there: they are big, long, and slow, and use junk for spare parts. And we are overrun! The Land Transportaion Franchising and Regulatory Board should reduce the number of jeepneys allowed to operate in a week. (Don’t get me wrong, I ride jeeps everyday going to school too).

#3. Higher Tax on Smokes. 40% of smokers live in Asia, much of whom are in China and India. But this should not take away the spotlight on the Filipino addiction: most of Filipino smokers are youth (I am one myself, hehe). What I am saying is that the only way I, or many of my peers (who don’t earn money anyway) will stop smoking is when prices of smokes become extorbitantly high that our allowances would not allow us to buy them. Make smoking a luxury (we can’t afford), that way, buying it would really make people guilty because it would entail spending so much money, and government earns revenues while people live a more healthy life.

#2. More Criminals Put to Jail. And kept there. Seriously. Foreign confidence in the Philippines will never improve if small fries are the ones only ever chucked in prison. Although I acknowledge that Estrada’s granting of pardon did help unify the nation somehow (it erased the EDSA 2 and  ”EDSA 3″ rift), criminals like him should be kept in jail regardless of age, political importance, or political clout. Put ex-COMELEC chair Benjamin Abalos in jail, for example, and watch investor confidence sky rocket in the Philippines.

#1. Cheaper Texting! Who wouldn’t be agreeable to that? (The service providers, I suppose). 70 centavos per text would be nice; I would also like the service providers to eliminate network bias (more expensive text / calls to other networks). I do appreciate however their promos of unlimited texts for 24 hours or whichever denomination/day available, and the lmited unlimited calls at night.

That makes my round of Christmas wishes. They are not idealist because they are attainable. No mushy wishes of world peace or more love or peace in Mindanao! (Not that the latter is impossible, no). It’s just that these are virtually attainable and can be made at an arms reach, in the decision of a few or more of a couple of individuals (Except for number 10).

SO everybody, I hope your wishes come true, I hope mine does in a couple of years, but I’m sure peace in Mindanao will not come in less than 10 years (or more). Merry Christmas!

Violated

5:00 PM. It was one of those precious thirty-minute break periods in a twelve-hour stay in school, and, being sleepless, friends and I decided to grab some siomai at Asturias Street just outside the university. Three pieces for tweleve pesos. I gave a twenty peso bill, and received coins for change. “Perfect,” I thought, “yosi and candy for these.” I rushed to buy a menthol candy to extinguish my tongue which was burning from the chilli sauce of the siomai, and then bought menthol smokes, lighting it as we walked out of the place we were eating in.

5:10 PM. “Teka pare gusto ko mag isaw,” Downybearded said, and we walked back to the isaw corner of the street. I didn’t care; I was still enjoying my menthol stick. I watched as Downybearded took one isaw on kebab, while two girl classmates walked past and we exchanged cheeky greetings.

“Yuck, isaw,” said Veronica in a sarcastic tone, parroted by Lourdes who said the same. “Mukhang isaw ilong mo,” I told Lourdes, who replied with “mukhang isaw bibig mo.” Eventually, the two girls bought something quite as disgusting — isaw.

5:15 PM. The guys were all chewing isaw while I enjoyed my stick of menthol, puffing white smoke up into the air. It was almost burned out. Then, a little boy of nine or ten years of age approached us, asking for money. We all refused to give, what with our tight budget spent regularly on photocopies of photocopies of photocopies of study materials. The little boy, with that permanent grin on his face, slightly pestered the girls for money. I quickly turned away to face a different side before he approached me, knowing him as more than just a “little boy of nine or ten years of age”.

The boy turned to me. “Kuya,” he said grinning while gesturing his right hand for alms. “Wala,” I said, because I really had nothing to give. And then, his right hand traveled to where it should never have found itself — down there. Several things happened at once: my brain went into autopilot, my eyes locked its bloodshot glare to a targetted head, as my left hand twitched and my right suddenly found itself colliding with the boy’s grinning face. WHAM! it went.

My menthol stick flew away, missing the boy’s face. “T*ng i*a, wag kang manghihipo, p*ta!” my mouth ejaculated. The grin was gone on the boy’s face, replaced by shock and some humiliation, as he looked at my friends and Downybearded, and quickly walked away. People were staring, and a vendor was heard in apparent approval saying “Hayan kasi!” To let the commotion die down, I walked to the stall beside the isaw one and bought peanuts which I started to chew.

Lourdes was too surprised I could do such a thing, and kept taunting “Mario! Ang puso mo!” Actually, that was just my reflex, and unfortunately, my hands are not the softest, most affectionate hands there are (sometimes I think they are made of hardwood). It was also unfortunate that the same force was exerted whenever I punch my pals in playful fights which is painful according to Downybearded and Flox. And another fact is that the boy has been doing such acts for quite some time now and is being tolerated, until tonight.

Anyway, Lawrence, the brain’s cerebral cortex or frontal lobe did not cave-in, and Teddy, no blood was spilt. Serial toucher yun, maniwala kayo. Err, let’s just hope that he does realize a lot of things from this experience.

THE DEATH OF THAI DEMOCRACY

THAILAND HAS JUST DISSOVLED its top three political parties through its Constitutional Court, amidst months of anti-government protests that killed dozens.

Thailand has often been compared to the Philippines, by virtue of the two countries’ political dynamics and culture. For one thing, both countries can be noted for their popular uprisings in attempts to oust their leaders, for another thing, the traffic is pretty much the same. Both are Southeast Asian nations, both have democracy as their type of government, both are witnesses to several or more successful and unsuccessful coup attempts (Thailand has more), and both have ousted more than one president or prime minister.

However, there is a crucial difference between Thais and Filipinos: the latter is more democratic.

Another Word for Stress

I have been SCRAed (Supreme Court Reports Annotated) to sickness by no less than sixteen cases which I had to digest, thanks to my favorite subject, Local Government and Development. This semester has been very tedious, with 33 units and a six-day working schedule sitting on top of me. So, I’ve burned out. Immune System decided to take a holiday last Thursday, (it only gets a break once a year, so it decided to have an early Christmas vacation), and I have to entice it to come back with paracetamol, lots of water, and Milo chocolate drink. The hammer fell on Friday –recitation day– when I had to spend half a day in the library with friends (Humanities section, one of the AB territories) to study for LGD. I was prevented doing so by my fever and runny nose, so I slept there. I had read only three cases.

6:00 PM. Class. My card was drawn first among the pile. “Fabie,” the professor said. “Right… Fabie versus the City of Manila,” I affirmed. I stared at the professor, he stared back. Nothing happened. “Uhm, what is your question, sir?”  “To be, or not to be, that is the question!” he replied with such elocution as the theatre guild. The class laughed, I grinned back. Behind me, a helping voice: “facts, gago!” Upon hearing it, clunk went the engine of my brain and started running… I stated facts, and then the issue. “Fabie was asking permission from the City of Manila to erect a structure in the hacienda, but was barred from doing so…” I hit the correct answer, despite having not studied everything, thanks to grace, and a little helping hand from my seatmate.

Everyday is a 12-hour working day, and though my Tuesdays and Thursdays are quite free with only one subject each, we use the hours for study and rest because we always come home late. Non Tuesday-Thursday classes start at 7 or 9 am, so southern guys in class have to wake up 2 or 3 hours before class starts, or risk rush hour – when there will be no public transports available, literally. Class ends at 9 pm, so if we were in a hurry going home, we would reach our beds by 11 pm. This time around, 4POL class just can’t have enough rest! Sigh.

So now, I do cherrish long weekend holidays. This weekend is one, so thanks, President Gloria.

Lyrics

Just playing around with lyrics. harhar. =)

 

Inspirado

I. Sa labi mo nakahimlay ang langit,

Sa ngiti mo nagbabago ang kaba,

Sa mata mo nakadungaw mga anghel

At nasa palad mo ang aking puso.

 

II. Sa bawat oras na lumipas,

Ikaw ang nakaukit sa isip ko

Parang nasa langit lang ang pakiramdam

Tuwing kasama ka sa buhay ko

 

Bridge: kaya wag ka sanang aalis,

ayaw kitang mawala sa’kin dahil

 

Chorus: Inspirado ako sa’yo

kahit ako’y may pagka gago

Tinamaan mo ako, oh

At inspirado ako sa’yo

 

III. Sa bingit ng katamaran

Bigla akong tatamaan ng kasipagan

Tuwing naaalala lang kita

Ba’t ba bumubulusok ang tuwa

 

IV. Sa tuwing hawak mo ang kamay ko, oh

Lumiliwanag ang buong mundo

At pag nagkabit ang ating labi

Damdamin ko’y higit sampung pasko, oh

 

Bridge, Chorus, Chorus, End.

City Sweepers

I woke up this afternoon and went to the US Embassy here in Manila. There was a book shelf right outside its gates, so I started browsing through the books. Unfortunately, a librarian appeared, and she turned out to be the lady janitor who cleans our building in the university. She came up front and asked me if I was a student of the university, I answered yes. She asked if I was a registered student, currently enrolled, I said yes. I was afraid she’d ask for my ID next, because I lost my ID. I was afraid I would not be allowed to browse anymore. Sure enough, she asked for my ID. Since my ID is lost, I showed her my registration form, it’s a receipt to prove you are enrolled.
 She rolled her eyes and said, “you should have told me sooner that your ID was lost!” I thought I would not be permitted to browse the books anymore. But then she continued, “I could have had the whole of Manila swept by janitors to find your ID!” she said. “Really, is that possible?” I asked, surprised. “Of course! One student lost his SIM card and I had janitors sweeping the whole city after which they deliver their trash here for inspection,” the librarian-janitor said with an air of confidence. “How long did it take them to find it?” I asked, still surprised. “Three days,” she said.

And then I really woke up. It was 2:30AM and my electric fan was making a racket of a sound.

a sad happiness

ONE of the greatest regrets I have in college is paradoxical in nature, because it is also one of the best things I have had in college, perhaps even better than my experience in highschool. I barely have four months to spend with people –friends– whom I only got to seriously hang out with only in this later part of my 4th year.

I say I regret my decision to spend more time with friends who happen to be the best because of the lateness of the time I had decided to do so (another one of my flawed decisions). More than anything, it makes me happy to know I’ve got them, and more than anything, it makes me sad to know we’re leaving very soon. So, I’m making up for all the lost opportunities I’ve had.

Thinking back, I realize this runs back in highschool where I never really had a seriously tight knit group of friends, probably because I was weird (laugh out loud), something which my English teacher made profoundly more highlighted by her choice of words to describe me: special, unique, and oh — artiste. Artiste. I almost forgot quixotic. I guess I never really blended in. For one thing, I never played sports which involved balls bigger than a fist (I only played baseball, badminton, and jolen). However, I was delighted to be included in the most elite group of students the school could have — the ACP (CAT for you) officers, albeit I held a quite negligble position which was guidon bearer. Anyway, like most weird people, I’ve developed a certain liking for writing. In another post, I would establish the connection between weirdness and writing (all writers are weird).

Okay, back to present. I realize that the most I could do is to spend more time with people who have always been there, but I am still groping for an answer to why I never came along with them from the beginning. Damn. Well, I would just have to thank Downybearded for that fateful day when I got wasted for the first time at Tapsi, where it all started. Tenks!