The Wonder Dog

Sept. 09, 2006

George joined our household when he was 4 months old. He was still a puppy at that time but his size was comparable to an adult mongrel. George is a pedigree golden retriever.

George grew up and became attached to his master. He was also very sensitive. He knows his master’s mood. When his master gets angry at things not related to him, he would also sulk as if he apologizes for it. He always anticipates his master’s mood.

He receives the newspaper delivered by the newspaper guy every early morning. George would take it from the gate and bring it to his master’s location wherever it is in the house. If anyone would attempt to intercept the paper, he would not be successful even until the paper would be ripped into tiny pieces.

His latest trick learned was the “butterfly wink”. This trick is similar to where you would tell a toddler to show his/her “beautiful eyes”. The toddler would then rapidly blink the eyes and show a cute face. George can do that too! I had no access to any sort of video gadget that time otherwise I would have shown it here.

George was my constant companion everyday. I was self employed during those times so I had the freedom to bring George with me wherever I go. I would just load him in the rear of the pick-up truck and off we go.

George’s “nanny” left us and it was also the time when I was starting my employment with a company that requires me to work at least eight hours, I sort of neglected George. He became ill. He acquired lice and mites and lost his appetite. His weight dropped rapidly and I knew he was sick. I took the signs for granted and thought he was just lonely and needed my usual attention. One night I cried when he did not respond to my call, he was down but he was still breathing. I knew George was suffering. I went to sleep broken-hearted and hoping a miracle would cure him. I woke up at 3:00 A.M. to check on George. He was dead. I could not put my grief into words as George was really one of a kind.

What's In A Word

As a seaman in the past, I travelled to several seaports in South American countries for a couple of years. I even travelled to Spain as well. I  mingled with stevedores, longshoremen and cab drivers and learned some local slangs and phrases. I became more interested in learning new words and its etymology. This gave me the opportunity to enrich my Spanish slang vocabulary.

I jumped off my seat weeks ago the first time I heard an advertisement being played on the TV. The ad was paid by a senator aspiring to be president. The rapper in the commercial rapped the word "conyo" in his lines. Does he know what he's rapping about? I was really surprised.

Our country being a Spanish colony for 300 years, still has descendants of Spanish speaking families who preserved the language in their clan through generations. These people would surely understand what "conyo" means. (It is written coño in Spanish).

Coño is synonymous with concha, chucha in Spanish. For those who really wants to know, do some research. Start with yahoo's English-Spanish/Spanish English translator or dictionary. You'll be surprised.

Some Things Are Never Right I

Sept. 04, 2009

My sister instructed me to deposit the money I owe her thru a CASH CARD which is definitely not familiar to me. I asked for instruction thru text messaging because I complained of having a hard time filling out the form with the information she supplied me. I was already inside the bank struggling with the form when she called me for instruction. While I was talking to her, I felt a light pat on my shoulder. I turned and saw the security guard gesturing something about my phone. I ignored him but I realized he wanted me to step out of the bank while I was using my cellullar phone. I finished the call and asked him why did he call my attention. I was right, he wanted me to step out while using my cellular phone.

What? I think this is a stupid thing. How could I fill out the form if I step out of the bank? At first I thought the bank should have reviewed this ridiculous policy before imposing it, but then as I saw the sign posted near the counter, I realized it isn't the banks fault. It's the guards stupidiy at work.

I think they lack training and briefing regarding rules on this particular issue to bank clients or customers. They should be made aware of the purpose of the restriction. They should base this policy case to case. They should understand what "Thank You for not using your cellular phones and other electronic gadgets inside the bank premises" means.

Some Things Are Never Right II

Sept. 04, 2009

A few minutes later (In the same bank mentioned in Part I), I was already done filling out my form and was lining-up for a teller. I thought I heard an argument behind me but I did not mind it, there was a loud voice. Later on, I heard the same loud voice demanding to see the bank manager. Now I can see him. He was so irate because he was told by the security guards to fall in line for him to change his foreign currency. He complained why does he have to fall in line for a currency change. I can tell that he is an American, definitely, but he is not the type of American I see everyday in our office. He is an impolite and condescending American. He literally threw his weight around the bank demanding to see the manager. His loud voice drew the attention of everybody in the bank. (don't ask me why can I tell he's an American)

By the way, in America do people fall in line for a bank transaction or not?  I think they do.

My EDSA Experience

At first when the announcement of former President Cory Aquino’s death came thru text message, I was expressionless, as if it were just a routine spam message received. A few minutes later, it sunk to my senses that we just lost the Philippine icon of democracy. Cory Aquino’s death is a great loss to our nation. It was the success of 1986 EDSA bloodless revolution that placed Cory Aquino in the seat of presidency. After Ninoy’s death, she ran against Marcos in the SNAP election and was allegedly cheated. The people became uncontrollably outraged.

I can still remember in February 1986 when my board mate woke me up early in the morning telling me that Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and Constabulary chief General Fidel Ramos were inside a military camp in EDSA (Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue), rebelling against President Ferdinand Marcos. In short, they took over the camp and gained the sympathy of all the dwellers there. It wasn’t so easy but this was the beginning of the fall of the Marcos regime. I, and some other guys in the boarding house in Leon Guinto St. (Malate) decided to head up to EDSA to find out the real situation. We heard on the radio that public transport along the entire EDSA was not available because it was full of people. We walked from our place, making a short cut along Buendia and Ayala avenue then EDSA. I was struck with awe when I saw the number of people in EDSA. I was hoping that negotiation will occur and this will probably be over by tomorrow. It did not happen.

Although Enrile, Ramos and the “rebels” took over the camp, their numbers are no match to the Armed Forces of Marcos positioning themselves outside the camp waiting for orders to attack and arrest them. All the gates in the camp were locked down by the people to prevent the Armed Forces from doing so. An ultimatum was given to Enrile and Ramos to surrender otherwise, the Armed Forces will breach the gates, attack them that might result in killing them. At that point the gates were cordoned more heavily by people sacrificing themselves as human shields to prevent it from happening. I experienced a stand-off between the people and the military. We were standing with the cordon of priests, nuns, businessmen, movie personalities, the media and people from all walks of life. Opposite us, a few feet away were the battery of heavily armed, full battle geared Armed Forces of Marcos.

There were some twist of events, at one time we had to facilitate a passage for a platoon of heavily armed Marines who changed sides. At first we mistook them as intruders, but they pleaded to give them a safe passage to the camp in which we did. Several other breakaway groups at different entry points followed the procedure until the camp gained more military support. They grew in numbers by the end of day There were numerous attempts to breach the cordon at different entry points but they were unsuccessful. At one point the military fired several canisters of tear gas at the crowd and started advancing to disperse the cordon. But the direction of the wind shifted to the military’s direction, without gas masks themselves, the soldiers fell back and gasped for air. The nuns who were praying at that time stated that it was a divine intervention.

This is only a chip of the experience I am relating in my EDSA experience. I am proud to be a part of the EDSA Revolution, I am proud of Corazon Aquino who led the people with pureness of heart and love.

Malling

I usually try to figure out how to spend my day off with less spending. You need to have 500 pesos if you plan to go to a mall and pass the time there. If you intend to have your lunch there and let the time pass until late afternoon, you will be spending more.

I tried to beat the expense by eating lunch at home before heading to the mall. Even though I just had lunch, once I got there, I am really tempted to enter my favorite food joint.

The crispy chicken, the bubbly pepsi, the mouth-watering pizza or the roasted chicken, the hot rice with "dinuguan" (blood soup) are just few of the enticing dishes. The temptation is irresistible. Even if it's your bottom money, you would surely shed it.

I sometimes tried to economize by buying just two slices of take out pizza and devour it with coffee in my favorite coffee shop. After the "feast", I usually dwell longer there and literally pass the time away. Sometimes I fall asleep for an hour. The baristas don't mind you dozing off in the chair. What I'm concerned about are the thieves, they might take the chance and strip me off my valuables which actually I don't have.

That particular coffee shop used to be my regular hang-out, but when they had this placed renovated, the ambiance changed. Refills for half the amount is not so popular in this coffee shop, I guess. Once I tried to have a refill, they were caught by surprise for a moment and did not know how to charge me.

After I leave coffee shop I usually move around to window-shop. The best thing about window shopping is, you can shop as much as you want but you don't have to pay anything.

I also get excited when I see that a good film is being shown in one of the theatres inside the mall. I would not have second thoughts in viewing it and bringing a burger and soda for refreshments is a consequence, but recently I find myself falling asleep during the showing, one movie I can recall was when I watched "Da Vinci Code".  At the end of the day, I head back home feeling tired but felt that my "malling" experience for the day was worth it's toll.

Pedestrian Lane

These are the white stripes painted in the road where people can cross the street without being bumped or run-over by moving vehicles.

Most drivers and motorists still are not aware of this purpose. Drivers who see pedestrians trying to cross the lane would accelerate to beat the guy who is trying to cross the lane, this would create confusion and accident.

Sometimes vehicle catches up on you in the middle of the lane while crossing slowly, the disrespectful driver would honk frantically sending you a message that you are delaying his passage.

This issue is not directed only to public utility vehicles such as taxi or PUJ but also to private vehicles who are driven by traffic-law-ignorant drivers, may it be the chauffeur or the owner himself.

We should be sensitive to slow-moving senior citizens who are visually impaired, people who are constricted because of excessive loads in both hands. At times these folks are mocked, "they should stay at home to prevent themselves from getting hurt, staying on the streets would be risky".

Drivers who have not attended the driving seminar, or who just paid for their licenses should understand that they should give priority to those people using the pedestrian lane. The should observe courtesy and respect to pedestrians using the PEDESTRIAN LANES.

A Boa

July 2009

There was a commotion outside and across where I live. When I stepped outside, I noticed some men were in pursuit of something. I did not hesitate to ask and I was informed that they are looking for a snake that was spotted earlier in the area. Based on their description, it seems that what they’re looking for is a (sawa) boa constrictor. According to two witnesses, the circumference of the reptile can be compared to the size of a bamboo cannon (the kind they used during Christmas). The length is about two to three arms length. The other witness said it can be compared to the size of a grown man’s thigh.

The information caught me by surprise because the vicinity in which they saw the boa is the usual place I tread everyday at 3 o’clock in the morning when I go to work. The thing could have been lurking in the weeds each time I pass, or perhaps I am plain lucky our paths haven’t crossed yet. Shivers run down my spine when I realized that I am just 2 inches away from the weeds the whole time I traverse the entire path. Scary.

It has been a month now since the sighting incident and thank God I haven’t encountered it yet and pray that I will never meet it anyway.

Flashback: The Ecuadorian Coast Experience

It was nearly 20 years ago when I was still working on a merchant marine vessel when I had this unforgettable experience.

Our ship was sailing from Galveston, Texas to Guayaquil, Ecuador via Panama Canal. It was supposed to be a smooth sailing after leaving the canal down to our destination port. It wa already dusk when we saw a burning ship. We reckoned our position to be in the Ecuardorian coastal area. We tried to communicate with the burning ship via VHF channel 16 but ther was no response. We checked our radar and figured out that it was a medium-sized vessel towing two very large barges. We also noticed that the two barges being towed were quite far from the boat, somewhat odd to us.

It was already dark when the Captain gave the order to lower the lifeboat. He ordered me to man the lifeboat the and approach the burning ship as close as i can and communicate with the men on board the ship if there were anyone still on board.

My adrenalin rose. I was excited and the same time scared. It was very dark, we were in the middle of an open sea, the sky was moonless, our ship and the burning ship was about a quarter of a mile apart, the sea was not calm at that time and our ship's search light could not reach the distressed ship.

I was thrilled as I was on the lifeboat being lowered. we immediately disengaged the hooks once we touched the water and headed towards the burning ship. It took me an incredible amount of courage to let go from our vessel. As I approached the side of the burning ship I could hear voices calling out in Spanish. I shouted to the men in my broken Spanish and asked them if they would abandon their ship. They refused to abandon ship. I was told that there were 44 of them on board the burning vessel. The fire broke out in the engine room and they were trying to extinguish it themselves using all means. They said their ship is a naval ship but did not specify which country and told me that the two very large barges they were towing were carrying ammunition and ordnances. They are expecting that their navy colleagues will rescue them within the next hours.

I reported to the matter to the Captain and he told me to return to our ship. The Captain entered the activity in the log book. I had a hard time falling asleep that night. The thoughts of the nights adventure still lingered in my mind but my weariness outweighed the excitement and I slowly drifted to sleep.

Arrogance

May 30, 2009

We were meeting somebody in SM last night. We choosed a place we can talk and eat and at the same time introduce a new product to her that we are currently marketing. The place would have been perfect except that I noticed a sign posted in the wall that somehow says, "meeting and conference is not allowed in this place...". Although I paraphrased it but it means that you are not allowed to do business in there, like you're not allowed to open your laptop to show your power point presentation to your prospects.

There are lots of arguing points in this aspect but let's just say the management does not want their customers to occupy their dining area longer than the usual duration of a normal meal; probably to be able to accomodate the surge of customers. But If other places can tolerate it, whay can't they? There are even more popular diners, coffee shops, snack shops who allow informal business meetings in their places. This place I am citing isn't even popular anymore.

Actually that is not my point in writing this. It is only secondary. what strikes me most is the attitude of one the service crew of that particular eatery. As as I was heading for the comfort room, I entered a narrow hallway. I met a crew who was in the opposite direction. slanted my body a bit to allow ourselves to fit in the narrow hallway. The guy did not even budge or slanted his upper body to reciporocate my intention. Our shoulders collided and he did not even apologize. Is it the management's arrogance handed down to their employees? I did not want to ruin my delightful day by allowing myself to be a victim of this arrogant employee. This guy must be having fits of discontentment. I could have smacked him in his face right there and then for hitting my shoulder.

Haunted?

General Aviation Road. I always pass this area every 3:00 A.M. on my way to work for nearly four years now. One of my favorite area is the curve, (it's the only area where the road forms an awkward "S" curve). I usually don't follow the road's curve especially at this hour when you're the only road user. I just head straight and that's where the excitement is. It's a sort of a blind curve an poses danger to both vehicles coming from opposite directions. The road is so dark that when you turn off all your car's lights, you are in total darkness. The whole general aviation road area used to be unlit until recently when its airport was rated as one of the most dangerous airport in the world, that's where they started improving their perimeter fence and made sure all the lamp post along the road outside the perimeter fence was lit.

Some say the area is haunted. My friend told me once that he came from Cebu City on board a taxi. He was seated beside the driver. Upon passing the area he thought he saw a silhouette in the back seat. He wanted to dismiss the thought but when his eyes and the cab driver's eyes met, the driver had a terrified look and said "have you seen what i saw?". My friend replied "yes!". The driver abruptly stopped the cab and screamed, they both left the cab in a hurry and ran towards any available lit area.

I find this story foolish. This is a stereotype scenario of a funny-horror story in most films. I asked my friend "why did you stop the cab and ran?" He replied " we would surely panic and overturn the car if we had proceeded" sounds logical but hard to believe. Although once I've seen SUV lying in the side in the area, only, but I'm sure it is not related to this issue. I was also told that a phantom would usually cross the street causing the driver to panic and swerve the wheel abruptly. If my friend and his friends who heard the same story are reading this, well, the story will not sell dude!

On Public Utility Jeepneys

It has been quite a while now that I have not commuted from my place going to Cebu via PUJ (public utility vehicle).

Yesterday, being Ayala Center as my destination, I took a PUJ from Basak, LapuLapu to Mandaue City highway. I disembarked before the overpass and took another PUJ for Ayala. The jeepney dropped me off at the Ayala terminal. I was amazed. That was a quick trip, feeling more convenient than traveling with my personal means of transportation.

On my trip, I enjoyed watching my co passengers embarking and disembarking in haste. I admired the skill of the driver changing lanes abruptly to pick up passengers standing in the “no stopping” area. I could see the fury of other drivers watching helplessly as our driver “stole” their supposed to be passengers. I would have blown my top too if I were driving my own vehicle and was following this “reckless” jeepney. But NO! I enjoyed it completely.

I missed opening my palm as if meagerly counting coins for my fare, as I was used to flip a hundred for a taxi fare without getting back the change.

I experienced simplicity. I felt unwound. I had the feeling of respect and compassion towards these drivers and their conductors. There should be a contest on the most skillful traffic-sign-violating drivers. I have a feeling I know the reason why they’re doing it. They’re racing against time. They need to pick up more passengers whatever it takes or else their family would starve.

On V-Hire Transport

When my personal transportation breaks down, or when I feel like conserving gas, my regular means of transportation from LapuLapu to Cebu City is by v-hire. It is a collective fully air-conditioned passenger van, carrying 19 passengers including the driver. Most of them have really good air-conditioning units but through the years, entered into a state of decline. Lack of maintenance and negligence of operator is the main reason. If you are unlucky to be on board one of this kind, on a hot day, you’d be like in a sauna, sweating your armpits off.
 

Considering that they force four people to a seating capacity of three is a form of torment. Imagine yourself rubbing bodies with people you don’t know. Some fall asleep on your shoulder with their saliva drooling down your shirt. In some case, your ribs get elbowed by your stranger seat mate.

The most annoying part is when one of those young passengers turns on his cellular phone music without connecting it to their headsets and let their lousy, out of this world music fill the limited air while the vehicle is in motion. Are they serious? Aren’t they aware that what they are doing is noise pollution?

 

Far worse are those morons talking to their phones in an extra modulated LOUD voice. No matter how hard you try to close your senses, you can still hear that person talking gossip and nonsense. I’m sure they knew that you can just talk normally on the phone and the person at the other end of the line can hear you clearly. They can also cover the mouthpiece with their hand and speak normally. That’s a radio telephony rule-of-the-thumb. Perhaps phone companies could add that information to their list of phone ethics.

On Cellular Phones

“Silpon, Silpon, hand-held telephone” is the chorus line for the song. “Silpon” a cebuano spelling for cell phone, is a popular means of communication at present. I was even worried because the song says "do not be complacent in displaying you cell phone in Colon Street (Cebu City’s oldest street), as thieves might snatch it from you". Bad publicity for Colon Street, I thought. Ironic, isn’t it? We’re supposed to promote tourism project a good image of our place even through songs right? Probably it is the reason why the song did not win the competition in the final nights. But hey! Just to be in the 12 finalist among nearly 200 entries is not bad for a song. I wrote the song few years ago not knowing that cell phone usage among us will increase and become very popular.

In those days, a few limited classes can afford this gadget but now, even the lowest income-earner possesses it. I myself could not afford a cell phone when it first started, but now our domestic helpers has it and they are also smart to avail of a good network deal where they can call non-stop 24 hours for a minimal fee. I remembered when my dish became so salty. I found out that our household cook uses the left hand to hold the ladle while cooking and the right hand holds her cell phone to the ear while talking non-stop with matching animated expression thus forgetting that she already had placed a pinch of salt in the pan. When she returns to the pan after moving several steps away she places another pinch thinking she hasn’t done yet. It is causing my blood pressure to rise not because of getting annoyed of what she had done but because of the salty dish I just ate.

 

Today our country is the "cell phone capital of the world".

On Call Center Agents

I just finished writing a Cebuano song for my entry to the 30th Cebu Popular Music Festival. I started writing this particular song two years ago but I came to a dead end. I was looking for more credible, first hand, crazy idea of what an inbound call center is all about because I had an outbound call center experience. I need to know how those inbound guys are doing. I’ve been reading a lot of jokes about the nature of their job description but it did not satisfy my requirements to complete the song.

 

I was going over a copy of BITE magazine which I got from our lobby front desk, and read a few facts about call center agents…hmmm, a bit of help. A few weeks later somebody forwarded me an email featuring an article from Philippine Inquirer written by a certain “Pamela”. Pamela described in her article the reality of a call center agents' life. This article gave me more jigsaw puzzle parts to fit in to for the song . The result would give the listeners a chance to take a glimpse in their imagination how call center agents are. I am just trying to portray a call center agent’s social relevance to the society. Songwriting-wise, the subject is not a strong winning piece (for a Cebu Pop songwriting) as this can be categorized as a novelty song. I would like to reiterate that the lyrics are in the Cebuano dialect.

On Overseas Employment

Starting out to work on a ship as a seaman is quite tedious. I can relate to you some of my experience when I started out to work on ships. Some people think that this kind of job is glamorous, fun, adventurous and a money-maker. You've got to know the other side of it.

After graduating from nautical school, the next task is to be employed on board a ship which requires enormous patience. Some end up in the coastwise (inter-island) vessels while some luckily gets on board foreign going vessels (overseas). For foreign vessels, you need to apply in a manning and crewing agency, unlike the domestic vessels, you just have to apply with the local office. The hardest part is the apprenticeship, the forging stage for the greenhorns. It’s the part where some decide to quit, and some decide to pursue their careers as officers

After serving apprenticeship, you are qualified to take merchant marine officer’s board exam for deck or engine officers. Passing the board exam is not even a guarantee of instant employment unless you sign up for whatever job is avilable on board.

A colleague of mine an I applied in a crewing and manning agency and were lined-up for a crew boat in Singapore. The crew boat ferries personnel from shore to the oil platform 24 hours a day. In spite of our licenses as deck officers (I had second mate he had third mate), we were signedon as Able-bodied seaman. I was lucky I was re-lined up as a second mate.

The next part is to wait for the principal to inform the agency to send the crew to its joining port. In most cases we are flying to the port where the ship calls. The wait time would depend upon the vessel's route. In case the vessel docks in a country where visa is needed. We are advised ahead of time to secure that visa.

Everything prospered since then. I have been to many port all over the world. I have set my foot upon places not even others have set their eyes on but looking back all the years, I can never forget how it all started.