Countdown to Christmas

WE WERE A BIT LATE in sprucing the house with Christmas decors. We were all too busy doing our work after the Halloween break. It is already a tradition that a day after the Halloween, I would gather my family as I bring out the tree from its box and let the kids adorn it with balls and stars.

Gio, during his prep and grade school years, always looked forward to seeing the tree spruced up. I would see him in such awe and being so delighted with the dancing lights. When it is almost November, he would always look at the calendar and remind me that we should put up the tree and put on the lights already. Matter of factly, I just told him "after the Halloween."

When his little brother, Gelo, came into this world, he showed him how to hang the balls and stars. Gelo is perhaps even more fascinated with the tree to the extent of even pinching the tiny bulbs that scared all of us for he might actually break the bulb and get electrocuted. Hence, Gio would always remind his toddler brother not to touch the lights or remove and play with the balls. Gelo gladly obeyed. Gelo seems more afraid of his kuya than us, his parents.

Putting up the tree today is a little different because their mom is on travel. The fact that kuya is now on his teens, he seems to have lost the zest and excitement of decorating the tree. They were more busy with playing their PC game so I had to threaten them that I will uninstall it if they will not heed my commands. I did not win. I just shrugged it off, but did not decorate the tree for them. I wanted them to supposedly enjoy this moment.

Instead of getting more mad at their disobedience, I went to the mall to look for a replacement of the busted bulbs of our capiz lantern. Unfortunately, I could not find the right size. So I went home frustrated and tired only to find out that the tree still stood up without any decor at all. I realized they were busy watching Saving Private Ryan on DVD. (They have a different taste for movies at their young age.).

Finally, after watching the movie, and me reminding them, they willingly obliged. I occasionally watched them while I was checking my blog and email. As in the past, I saw them having fun and having great time together. They were even outsmarting and racing against each other on who's getting the bigger balls (because they are fewer and easier to hang) or who gets to hang more stars. In less than 30 minutes, they have done their task. They did a good job!

While working on it, Gelo realized he has grown up. He could already reach the top of the tree, and kuya is now even taller than the tree. Indeed they grow up so fast! The next thing we know, they are already getting mad at their kids just like how I was mad at them for not decorating their tree.

But wait a second! Not fast-forward yet! It is not yet done! The next thing is them asking me:

"Where are the gifts under the tree?"


Cross-posted at: Psyche

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A poor kid nation

Isolated case?

Telling the whole world that the case of Mariannet is an isolated case is clearly irresponsible a statement and an oversight of the glaring truths that the government itself has known. In fact, the government is merely talking about one side of the coin. Are people in Malacañang not even aware of the real stories behind death because of poverty—especially among children? Definitely, they are not aware of how it means to be poor and hungry!

The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) has issued a press release in its website, openly admitting and declaring that children account for the largest poor population in 2003. The press release said that 14.1 million children are poor in 2000, and 13.5 million in 2003. The sector is also the third poorest sector with a poverty incidence of 42.5% in 2000, and 38.8% in 2003.

In real numbers, we are talking about 13,469,849 poor children. In Region XI alone, where Marianett lives, there are 737,496 poor children, which have increased by 78,421 from CY2000 to 2003. Who says the case of Mariannet is just an isolated case?


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My blog is featured at Mindanao Bloggers!

I just submitted my blog, answered a few questions, and not long enough, my blog was featured. I just thought it was cool!

Thank you, Blogie and the rest of the Mindanao Bloggers!

Click this link to read the feature and why I am part of Mindanao Bloggers:

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Marianette: without seeing the dawn

"Gusto ko na makatapos ako sa pag-aaral at gustong-gusto ko na makabili ng bagong bike."
(I wish to finish my studies, and I really like to buy a bike)
- Marianette, in her tala-arawan (diary) entry dated October 14.

I HAVE ALWAYS been reading Inquirer.Net. I browsed through the news but never really paid attention to this article because I was rushing a project proposal on a project related to poverty alleviation. It is a shame on my part to have missed this! I am a psychology graduate and could have been interested in depression and suicide! Shame on me for being self-declared anti-poverty worker for not paying attention on this news!

Now I have come to terms after watching the news in ABS-CBN and GMA 7. I feel better now. As a social development worker, I learned the hard way not to be overly romantic about my work so that I can be objective and more effective in my work. In this case, I could not do anything but, again, feel for their loss.

No, I am not going to campaign for flowers this time. Neither will I ask you to post a photo of a bike for Manette, nor blog anything on poverty alleviation, nor against the government.

Let us walk in the pair of shoes of Manette (if ever she had one).

Feel what it means to be poor--where you are not counting paper bills but some loose change--or even beg for them,

when you feel resigned to the fact that three meals a day would be a luxury,

that you wear the same clothes day after day,

that you are rejected just because you are poor,

that you are dirty just because you have no water,

and the list would go on and on....

What have you learned from Manette, and all other Manettes who have died because of poverty?

How many Manettes more of Mindanao, and the entire Philippines will suffer the consequences of poverty? How many children and their dreams only remain to be distant and dead stars?

How many times should the government, react and not act on poverty?

How many of us have actually shared our lives--in our own little ways--to end poverty?

Manette is not just a news item. She is not just a girl. She is a symbol! She is one of the many faces of poverty who have lived, who have gone, and who have became dust--without seeing their dreams come true.

May her soul peacefully rest in God's Kingdom, where she will inherit abundance and eternal life!

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Arroyo, Estrada and the zarzuela in Malacañang

Finally, I am breaking my silence regarding the plunder case of Joseph Estrada, which I followed for the past months. I opted not to write about this in deference for the blog action I initiated for the Glorietta victims, then the Halloween break.

It was also necessary for me not to react immediately, as this article has to be well-thought and carefully written. So here I am, still writing on this issue. Read on....

Politicized justice

"Pardon one offense, and you encourage the commission of many." - Publilius Syrus, ~100BC

Pardoning former president Joseph Estrada has created not only quite a stir in the Philippine political arena. More than ever, it has created havoc in the Philippine justice system.

Needless to say, there was undue haste in pardoning the biggest and the most controversial crime ever recorded in the Philippine history—that is plunder by no less than the President of the Republic of the Philippines. Be that as it may, had Estrada admitted his guilt, it would have been a different story. Watching and listening to him on national television, telling the whole world that corruption was a crime he never committed, was more than an insult to the entire nation. Again, his kind of rudeness has attacked the dignity and the very heart of the justice system only a few hours after the People of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers of the President of the Republic, has freed him.

Is this the kind of payback we expect from a person who has received a guilty verdict and who has been given freedom by the very institution of Filipinos?

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The tale of two spinsters

WHEN WE WERE YOUNG, my late father would always warn us not to get inside the big compound owned by two spinsters, which occupies at least one-thirds of the entire block. Since the owner of the compound is a distant relative, and being young and innocent, we did not see anything wrong wandering and playing hide and seek inside. He would irrationally scold us whenever he saw me playing with my cousins and my nephews and nieces my age inside the compound. The compound was like a mini forest, planted with bamboo groves, fruit trees, bananas, bushes and tall grass. It was enough reason for a scolding because there might be snakes especially near the bamboo groves.

However, I could vividly recall that I could only freely roam if my father were with us during some gatherings and every time he would be asked to butcher pigs and other livestock. Aside from extracting tooth, he had the talent of hitting the jugular vein that allows faster and seemingly painless death of animals--without the long shrieking and crying sound. He also had the sharpest bolos and knives, thus the invitations for him to help relatives during birthdays, weddings, fiestas, and in every handaan.

One of our neighbors abhorred the two spinsters. She had a psychotic son and daughter. However, she was in denial that she attributed the mental illness to the spinsters, spreading gossips and openly uttering invectives redounding to the conclusion that they are evil and that they are witches playing with their lives. Hence, she always had herbolarios (quack doctors) in their house, sometimes living with them for months supposedly to cast the spell out from the bodies and minds of the psychotic children—only to find out that they could not. In the end, nobody was able to treat her son and daughter, until they got old. One of them, a lady, died due to infection after she was soaked in floodwater while being chained to her waist. She was the violent type. The other patient is under the care of his son and continues to have medication. Eventually, the old woman got old and weak, got bedridden, and succumbed to death.

The story about the two spinsters eventually mellowed down when the mother of the psychotic patients stopped accusing the spinsters. The spinsters also have grown old.

Although our house was re-built on a property line, we still had some windows on their side because no house was built in the adjacent lot anyway. From the windows, we could see macopa and guava trees teeming with fruit, which only fall on the ground. When the younger spinster was still stronger, she would habitually leave some guavas on our windowpane. They were big, yellow, and seemingly sweet. However, they only rot until my mother would throw them away. One day, my father and the younger spinster had the opportunity to chat by the window; she offered my father some guavas, which he ate after she left. A few minutes after he had them, he had severe stomach pains, nausea, and vomiting that caused him to be bedridden for a day.

He never expected they would do “it” to him since he is a relative. He was mad as hell and hurled invectives, too. Then, he realized they had a spat some years back when our house was reconstructed. The property line had to be redefined and reclaimed on our favor.

Only then did he tell me about their witchcraft. It was like a piece of a puzzle. This could be the reason why he was always scolding us during our childhood when it comes to playing inside the compound. I did not believe what he said, thinking it could be medical in nature because he had a history of stomach ulcer.

Recently, when I had the chance to go home, I would still see some guavas on the windowpane. It would not hurt if we would follow my father’s order not to eat any fruit left on the windowpane. Therefore, I took the liberty to throw them away—even if they were delicious, and even if my wife would have wanted and almost ate them (as in biting the guava). Lately, however, I noticed that no one was giving us guavas anymore. I wondered where have the two spinsters gone?

The two old spinsters are already old and bedridden.

My first reaction was, “You mean they are still alive?” They are even much, much older than my father, and we never heard any news that they ever got sick!

Legend has it that witches cannot die until they pass on their power to one of their kins. Could it be that they are real witches and that they are waiting for their power to be inherited by one of their nieces or grandchildren?

Their middle-aged niece, who is the only one left to take care of them, sees through their needs. She told her cousin-in-law that she is only doing it out of respect and pity for the old women and not for any inheritance. It was even a butt of joke between her and her cousin-in-law, if she was promised a hefty inheritance.

“What inheritance? Their evil powers? No way!” she vehemently said.

Unbelievable?

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