Maguindanao Massacre

Kaisa ako sa mga nagluluksa para sa mga mamamahayag at iba pang biktima na walang awang pinaslang sa Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

Nawa'y makamtan natin ang hustisya, Maparusahan ang mga taong gumawa nito sa mga walang kamuwang muwang na mamamayan na nais lang ay ang magandang pagbabago para sa nakakarami.

Ito ay hindi lamang laban ng mga kaanak ng mga biktima, laban nating lahat ito.

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cheers

Former President Corazon Aquino

The President that has the most purest intentions for the Filipinos.

Your legacy will live forever. Thank you President Cory Aquino.

Embittered

Your face still lingers in my mind, your scent, your touch, your voice, your lips are still stuck somewhere in my brain. I still long for those. There are times that I subconsciously imagine those nights that we were together, full of passion, emotion, caress, hopes and promises; but as my mind shifts to reality, those things turn into thorns that slowly deepening in my heart. Those nights were over, and the saddest part is, I can’t get over you. I wanted to hate you but I can’t. I wanted to smile whenever I think of you but instead, I weep.

Fate has a bizarrely sadistic sense of humor. Our paths crossed once more. When I saw you I felt a sudden pain in my soul, as if I died that moment. I wanted to walk away but my legs are numb, then you saw me and walked towards me, smiling and waving. You are fu*king okay, and your aura projected strongly happy energy. You talked to me as if we were long time friends who met again after a decade, but for me, I can’t hide my emotions. As I talked, my voice trembled and my heart beats harder and faster than usual, as if it would burst out of my chest. A rueful experience that I wish I didn’t have.

I wanted to smile but tears flowed from my eyes. I wanted to show you that I’m okay but I can’t. I wanted to hug you but I’m badly hurt. I missed you but I wish I didn’t see you. I hate you but I love you more.

For the past months I was hoaxing with myself. Trying to act like I’m okay, that I enjoy the freedom that you granted me. I’m happy because I’m free but deep inside, my heart is bleeding, because the truth is when you set me free I refused to let go, I’m still embracing the chain that was once locked in my legs. I don’t want to let go even if it’s starting to kill me emotionally.

I don’t know, I think I’m starting to like being hurt by your memories, enjoying the feeling of fusion of hate and love. A masochist, I’m starting to be and it’s because of your broken promises, promises that I know I shouldn’t believe on, but you were so damn good at it. I was like a kid who believed in the surreal world that you created for me. A world full of lies but I chose to stay.

Thank you for giving me a chance to experience the bitter-sweet feeling of love and for teaching me to embrace pain, but you forgot one important thing…

…teaching me how to escape from this melancholy.

Pssssst! Choice to venture to the unknown..

We are all afraid of losing something that we already have. Mainly, because we don’t want to venture on the path that we are unfamiliar with; afraid of going outside our boxes and our safe zones. Who wants to go back from zero, surrender all the things that they have and do what they really want? Well most of us is contented in what we have, holding firmly and doesn’t want to let go, mediocracy. We are surrounded and governed by mediocre people and since childhood we are brainwashed to firmly embrace the things that we have, this is the world that we are living in, where change is absurdity, a social suicide.

The things that we are afraid to lose will definitely anchor us from moving forward. Little do we know that losing it will make us do the things that we thought that we can’t do even in our dreams and it will make us stronger than before and this will be the key to our own success and for our well-being, a start in living our life successfully.

Many people are not ready to take this path, and along the way whether we are ready or not, we will meet people and circumstances that will help us or force us to venture to unfamiliar places. These could bring us pain, failure and the most rueful experience; it’ll squeeze even the last drop of our patience and sanity, and from there you are on your own either chooses to move forward or to stop and accept that your fate is to be a failure. You have to choose your path carefully because the moment you have your first step there is no turning back.

Our future depends on what we do now. Every decision that we make will shape it. Do not be afraid to venture to the unknown because you’ll never know what you are capable to do unless you have enough courage to take the risk and be radical.
This will make us realize that we have the power to shape our destiny, and success is a choice and not a chance.

See yah.

Good thing I'm not the President.

This is the first time that I will be writing an article outside my interest. (well as you can see, my interest are movies, my pathetic love life and my favorite of all, myself). The global financial crisis; which of course affects all of us, not to mention that before this crisis we’ve been suffering from local financial crisis which the main origin is graft and corruption, is one of this example.

Yesterday, I was, as always, day dreaming when I thought of this question. How does Global Financial Crisis occur? Well based on my observations and what I’ve heard on the local news. It all began in the United States; one of the most powerful countries, then it seems like it affects the rest of the world, most specially the third world countries like the Philippines. Our economy was almost dependent on foreign investors like the United States, so do the logic. We are suffering from this crisis. We can feel it, before it’s hard to look for a job, now it’s even harder; before there are thousands of jobless Filipinos, now there are millions.

According to Google, the US is now suffering from this crisis because of dramatic increase of delinquent mortgage; People already spent their future income(credit) and they cannot pay their credits. Resulting to instability of mortgage and banking industries. (well this was my understanding of what’s happening, forgive my limited vocabulary about the subject, because my pathetic brain is not functioning well when it comes to economics –nose bleed)

So what will our government do? I heard from the news that to counter this crisis is we have to spend. Yes spend… Poor demand means lower the price. Lower the price means cost cutting (on the side of manufacturers), and it will result to mass lay-off or worst recession, we have to turn everything around. So we have to spend (this is what I’ve been doing since I had a job, but it seems like it doesn’t help the economy at all nor myself). How about the Filipinos that don’t have money at all? Here comes the government’s cash subsidy program for the so called “poor”. The big question is, cash subsidy for the financially poor people or for the poor-conscienced politicians? Either which, it will not help. We have to look for long term solutions.

So I listed down some helpful tactics to counter this crisis.

1. Add domestic helping elective in high school curriculum. We have to strengthen our major export around the world which is domestic helpers and factory workers. In this way the Philippines will have more dollar generating people, and the government officials will just sit, relax and let these poor people stress their ass working, after all a little commendations like “ikaw ang bagong bayani” will ease their pain and emotional stress.

2. Forced ligation/vasectomy of below minimum earners who have more than 2 kids. This is just one of our major problems. The poorer you are, the more kids you will have.

3. Execution of religious hypocrites. They are the reason why poor people have more kids. Children are god’s gift. Yeah a gift for you, your kids and for the whole nation to suffer. They also force us to believe that we have social responsibilities to non-productive people.

4. Summary execution of corrupt government officials. Due process will take a life time, means they will have more time to suck all the money of hard working Filipinos. Burn all of them and don’t leave even an ember of their bones.

5. Legalize prostitution; since it’s legal, prostitutes are obliged to apply for business and medical permits. Meaning more jobs, additional tax, and prevention of STD and HIV outbreaks. Because of this we will attract more tourists and again more dollars.

Good thing I don’t have the power to execute these tactics, these are just suggestions after all none of our beloved government’s tactics work. So desperate times call for desperate measures.

You can add your own tactics to help make the Philippines a better nation.

See yah.

Are you ready for this? (why emos are emos)

Love moves in mysterious ways. Well for me love hasn’t moved in anyways. I am very unsure if I had fall in love, unsure of the feeling of love.

Other said that love should be patience, understanding, complete trust, sacrifice and giving. (never thought that love is this demanding) Well my interpretation of love, based on what I had experienced in my past relationships is; demands attention and time, jealousy and paranoia, sleeping late at night, cell phone load-wasting, depression, cheesy, always in a rut and completely unproductive. Is this something that you want to deal with?

Yes, at first, you are in complete ecstasy whenever you’re with him, staring at his angelic face and shiny smile (like those in the movies). Butterflies are all over the place, roses bloom in your path ways, sky is always blue and the moon is always romantic. “The song Close to you” (…”Why do birds suddenly appear every time when you are near? Just like me, they long to be close to you…nah…nah… nah…nah…la…la…lalalala…”) seems to be the perfect song to describe how you feel.

After all of these stupid ecstatic feeling, the rain comes. It reminds you of excruciating pain that your relationship brought you. Each drop of rain on your rooftop creates a repeated sound that makes you feel like it stabs you right in your heart. Then you’ll feel numb like a frozen meat in a freezer, and you’ll curse him because he is the reason why you are in this cheesy melancholy.

Now you’ll make a pact with yourself that you’ll never fall in love again and this shall never be broken.

This whole thing will give you a short post-traumatic-depression that will make you lonesome and will leave a mark forever. Is this something that you wanted? Again ask yourself this question. “ Are you ready for this?

See yah.

Are you feeling pressured right now?

It's February, the Junior-Senior prom and Valentines season. Twenty four years of dateless nights during this rut. Everybody is busy looking for prom dates and thinking what would they wear for the night. Well it should be special and stunningly elegant. Just to show to their colleagues how superior they are, in terms of their physiques and pretty faces. Ironically these people are zombies. If a mad scientist would open their skulls to assess their brains the findings would be slightly used, and if you sell it to ukay-ukay bargains, it will worth a fortune.

Some people say that high school is fun and memorable because of this much awaited event in your junior and senior years. Yeah right, it's memorable but definitely not fun, at least for a loner, bully-magnet, geek (okay not so geek) mongoloid kid like I were in high school, no dates in prom nights. In fact I never had a girl friend nor kiss anyone in high school. I even thought before that someone mistakenly place a superior soul in an ugly duckling, pathetic and geeky-structured body.

Everyone is hooked with this Valentines fever, seems that having a date during these times is compulsory. Everybody dreads to be alone, I cant see the logic why. Then there is the Lovapalooza where participating couples kiss simultaneously for few minutes to beat its own record and a cliche of course, express their love to their partners. To join in this event you and your partner will be given two forms, one clearly states for "female" and another one is for "male". It obviously states that this event is not for same sex relationships. Well the essence of love is understanding and accepting the person regardless of his religion, status, gender or wahatsoever. So it was never successful ever since it started. It didn't achieve its true objective.

Then there's one big question for singles like me.Valentines Day is coming...Are you feeling pressured right now? My answer is, "the hell I care!"

How about you? Are you feeling pressured right now?

See yah!

I love my childhood best friend.

I was searching for an indie film entitled "Serbis" by Brilliante Mendoza when i tumbled on "Sikil" so I watched it instead. The film is all about childhood best friends, Enzo and Adong. Some will mistakenly thought that this was a bizarre love triangle because of Melay. Andong seems to have a crush on her since they were young, and eloped when they're teenagers. However, for me Melay is just a spice on their relationship, I think Adong doesn't really love Melay. His feelings for her was just imperative since they live in barrio. He doesn't have any idea on same sex relationships and on the latter part it was purely obligatory.

The screen play and director's interpretation of the story was good. He introduced the characters in flash backs so you would know who's who. Though it was a primeval style for movies; he gave justice to it, unlike for other movies who used the same style which looks ordinary.

When Ken Escudero (Enzo) decided to live apart from his family, he found out that his dad, Dido dela Paz know that he has feelings for his best friend and he wanted to go to Manila because of him. His mom Sylvia Sanchez was one of the best supporting actress in this movie. The confrontation was very realistic because of her, it was full of emotions but when I was about to get carried away and forget that I was just watching a movie, Ken Escudero suddenly reminds me that it was just a scene because of his awkward delivery of the script. It was like he's doing a monologue in an amateur Mr. Pogi contest.

Adong, portrayed by Will Sandejas, on the other hand, acts fairly. He looks like Sanjo Marudo but a better actor. Adong the naive with an extra L endowment, used his gift to survive and provide meds for his sick daughter. His path came across with Gerry (Ethan Javier) his first customer, who introduced him the bath house world.

Enzo and Adong meet again in the bath house where they both work as a performer and a male escort. Enzo took his chance and invited Adong with his daughter to live with him in his apartment. They look like a happy family, it seems like everyday is happy Sunday morning, wherein Enzo cooks breakfast for his partner and their daughter (Atleast in Enzo's thoughts). I wasn't sure if Adong feels the same way or he just treats Enzo as his best bud, though he often acts as a partner for Enzo.

Finally, Enzo had gathered enough guts, after Melay came in the picture and asked Adong to live with her in the US together with their daughter, to reveal the obvious to his one and only love, Adong. Adong's reaction was of course as expected, was in denial. Though you can say that he feels the same way for his best bud. After the revelation, Adong came back to Enzo to affirm his feelings for him, not by words but by unspoken passion. The love scene was bursting with love, passion, care, longing and emotion. It was aesthetically choreographed and I can say Ken Escudero is a good actor after all, just don't give him a dialog. Every not-so-man will surely relate to the love scene, and their imagination will be triggered. (if not, at least on my part)

At the end, they apart ways. Enzo went back to his family and Adong accepted Melay's offer to start their life in the US. It's not a happy ending for a love story but the director used a different approach, and he made it a feel-good movie.

Over all I love this movie very much, this was one of the best Indie Film I've ever seen (well at least in my indie film-review-writing-career), full of love, passion and hatred, the love scenes were well executed . Ken's acting can be improved and with Adong, a little practice will do, and he'll be the next Coco Martin. I must give credit to its Director, Roni Bertubin and the writing credits to Romualdo Aveldanosa. Apir!

See yah.

40 Tips for a Better Life - 2009

I was busy these past few days, ooops, honestly laziness is sucking all my energy out. Luckily my friend sent me an e-mail with a subject 40 Tips for a Better Life - 2009, So I took some time to absorb its contents, and I'm re-posting it for you guys, this will help. I think it is a compilation of famous words of wisdom from Chinese philosophers like Confucius, Tao, Tzu (who is he?)and you know who they are... I so love the no. 27, I'm not one of those gossip peeps but I've been applying it in my life for you should live and let live. Take a time to meditate on these and you'll live a healthy and happy life. Life is to short to be wasted. Enjoy it.


1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

3. Buy a DVR and tape your late night shows and get more sleep.

4. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to __________ today.'

5. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.

6. Play more games and read more books than you did in 2008.

7. Make time to practice meditation and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.

8. Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of six.

9. Dream more while you are awake.

10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants. Eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

11. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.

12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

13. Clear clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing energy into your life.

14. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, or issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that
appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

17. Smile and laugh more. It will keep the NEGATIVE BLUES away.

18. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

20. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

21. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

22. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

23. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

24. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, wills this matter?'

26. Forgive everyone for everything.

27. What other people think of you is none of your business.

28. REMEMBER GOD heals everything.

29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change

30. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

31. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

32. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

33. The best is yet to come.

34. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

35. Do the right thing!

36. Call your family often. (Or email them to death!!!)

37. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________.Today I accomplished _________.

38. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

39. Enjoy the ride. Remember this is not Disney World and you certainly don't want a fast pass. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.

40. Please Forward this to everyone you care about.

see yah.