The Cake That Wasn't

I had my blog post planned out on the commute home. In keeping with the permeating theme that is Valentine's Day, I was supposed to pose questions about what keeps ladies of today from giving guys like me a fighting chance and all that. I figured my evening to go like this: swing by the local cake shop, get a nice Valentine's cake for the family, then go home to write.

Yeah, I obviously am on my continuing streak of Valentine's solitude. 29 years and counting, yo! :D

No, not really, but what the hell. Credit: DeviantArt

So there I was, thinking of how the post should go (and eventually going another avenue altogether as I ramble on while actually typing) while enjoying a quick snack of street food (tonight's selection was toknene, essentially boiled egg covered in some colored flour batter and fried - I like mine with onions and vinegar) at our local wet market when I saw an old lady of about 75 years of age going around and begging for change from the many people in the busy market.

Now, beggars aren't really anything out of the ordinary in wet markets in Metro Manila. With poverty remaining more or less steady (with slight increases or decreases in the number of poor, depending on who you ask), it's a common sight to see beggars going around public places here.

But, here's the thing. I have a really soft spot for old people.

See? Grandmas are awesome. (Credit: Some Japanese guy's site)

For one, the young and the middle-aged can still find gainful employment, if not now, at some point in the future, granted they apply themselves and opportunities open up. The old people, on the other hand, unless they were able to work long enough and in decent employment to be covered by the pension system or they have family and relatives to lean on, they have little else to turn to in the twilight years of their lives. And, unlike, say, Singapore where local companies are willing to hire geriatrics (you see quite a number of them working as service crews), Philippine companies, no matter how much they say they're for equal treatment of applicants, they're highly discriminatory in hiring service crew members, which is basically the sort of employment that old people can still excel in, barring special talents (i.e. Hawking and the like).

Seriously, I don't even know why it's so important for a service crew member to be single in addition to the age restriction. Is this secretly a personals ad? (Source: Jobstreet)

And on a more personal note, my thing for old people also stem from having wonderful grandparents, one who still lives with us here at home. So I see a bit of them in kindly geriatrics I encounter in my day-to-day commutes.

So, yeah, going back to the old lady at the market, she was gingerly walking to people, lightly tapping them on the shoulder, slowly extending her frail hand palm up, and mustering a weak smile as she makes her plea for change. Tonight, it doesn't seem like she's doing well. Her pleas were met with one or a combination of the following: a withering stare (as if she wronged the people), flat out ignorance (as if she wasn't there at all), and/or moving away from her (as if she had leprosy). I can understand not wanting to give money, but can you at least be polite in saying no to someone who is actually pretty polite herself, even pleasant, in begging?

My heart was breaking at this point.

I don't always give alms to the poor - this is mostly because many beggars here are handled by callous syndicates, so only a small percent of a syndicate-controlled beggar's collection is given to them. This old lady didn't feel like one of those beggars, though - the attempts to be pleasant speaks of a decent person who simply fell down on her luck in life and possibly have no more relatives left to help her.

I dug into my bag to fish for money to give her and found a couple of loose change. The only money I had left were that, a small bill (this is essentially my commute money home), and the money I plan to buy a cake with. I scooped up the loose change, then paused to think.

You know what, it's fucking Valentine's, this old lady has been shuffling around for quite some time begging as people treat her like some diseased soul, and in spite of all that, she still manages to put on a weak, if increasingly pained, smile as she asks for money from the next person she approaches. If no one can spare even politeness and money for her, then I will. She deserves something for keeping dignified and civil in spite of all her troubles.

I muttered to myself, "Sorry family, I love you guys, but your cake will have to wait," then fished out a hundred pesos from my bag. Yes, that is a small pittance (roughly about US$2.50) to people living in first-world countries, but for someone like me who will be jobless in a month's time without any leads on where to next latch on to and in the Philippines in general, it's a fairly substantial amount. And it's even more substantial for the old lady, as that would allow her to at least eat well on a Friday evening, treat herself to something nice this one time and not worry about tonight.

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I approached her and noticed bandage wrapping at her ankles. No wonder she's walking gingerly. It's not just the ravages of time that slowed her, but an ailing injury as well. I tapped her on the shoulder and said "Nanay, ito po." ("Auntie, here" - nanay actually directly translates to mother, but the better translation would be auntie in this case, in the Philippines it's more reverential to the elderly women to call them nanay rather than the local term for auntie, which is tita) as I placed the bill into her hand.

She looked at the bill in her hand and then her face turned to me with a look that's partly relieved, thankful, happy, and, here's what really gets to me, almost into tears. She was smiling that weak smile, only slightly wider this time, and her eyes got misty. I don't know if it's simply because she's overjoyed, or perhaps she's also moved by the thought that someone finally took notice of her, that someone cared for her when she had no one to do so this close to Valentine's.

She kept repeating "Maraming salamat, iho" ("Thank you child") to me and at this point, my heart was swelling with joy, that even with a small token of gesture, I was able to give happiness to an old lady who has close to nothing. I was also getting carried away by her misty eyes, though, as my eyes were starting to wet, too, so I had to get with my commute home. As I said my goodbye to the lady, I smiled back and waved at her. As I flagged down a jeepney, I looked back at her and she was still standing there, looking at me with as big a smile as she could muster and waved as vigorously as her frail arms could muster. I waved back, boarded the jeepney, and felt like a million dollars.

I may be loveless still, but I can definitely say that my experience today can hold its own against others' experiences with their special someone this season of hearts. No box of JCO donuts Conti's cake (I don't see the allure with JCO donuts), beach trip, or even hot steamy passionate action can replace my memory of today.

I write this not to make myself into some sort of hero. I'm not. I'm a terrible human being at times, which is probably why no one wants to go out with me. I write this more as an anecdote to share with you, so that we could all try to be pleasant towards one another, and to see that even doing small things for others could mean the world to them.

Happy Valentine's Day, guys.

And to my family, don't worry. The cake is still forthcoming. :)

Bill Passage [LOL Governance]

Credit: PSSST!

After much deliberation and forceful coercing of the administration on its congressional allies, the K to 12 educational program has been given the green light in the House of Representatives. I'm not really in the best position to make a final determination on the effectiveness of the program in the long-run, so I'll leave that to the experts. 

What I'm more interested in is the way in which the bill was finally pushed through (and other little tidbits). It provides an excellent insight on how the Philippine government operates. As follows:

1. The program was already put into place and implemented even without the enabling bill in place.


2. There were no trials, no tests on feasibility. They went ahead and put it in place and hope that it turns out for the best, because, hey, other countries are doing it, so it must be good. If this turns out to be a dud, they essentially risked a whole generation of kids unnecessarily. Addendum: Filipinos who actually do finish college in competent universities (not those diploma mills out for quick cash) are as competent as those with extra two-year educations elsewhere.

3. The congressmen questioned the Department of Education's (DepEd) capability and resources, when the same congressmen are the reason why the budget for the DepEd is startlingly low. Hmm.

4. And here's the real kicker: "The House, mustering a quorum after a week plagued with absenteeism, voted 198-8 to approve the measure on Monday night." Yup, decidedly third-world. Emphasis on week since the lower house saw successive working days without a quorum. Astounding.

As an aside, why aren't there measures to penalize congressmen who have poor attendance (my personal choice would be to sack them and give the seat to the runner-up in their district/next party-list winner)? In the professional world, frequent absentees get reprimanded and then sacked eventually Why aren't we holding these lawmakers to the same standard, when they even insist on sticking the adjective "honorable" to their titles?

Advance Apologies

Credit: The New York Independent

In light of the new law that will be in effect soon (I think it's on October 3), I apologize in advance if the content of my blog moves towards more inane things like sports, games, and the like. As much as I would like to write about things that matter to society in a hard-hitting manner, I fear that I might run afoul of the new law, so I'll just keep my mouth shut up on such matters until I'm able to move to another country. I really don't like jail time, so there.

Thanks for your understanding.

This Used To Be Elsewhere + Rants

No reason for Pip-boy being here, really. He just looks cool.

So yeah, for that one person who follows my blog religiously (that's me being optimistic), I'm sorry to have pulled the plug on Pinoy Everyman. The reality is that Everyman costs money to maintain, so I just let it go, especially since I hadn't written for quite some time, so I wasn't making good use of that expense.

Luckily for said person, I'm back! Well, to the detriment of the rest of my friends' Facebook walls, because now they have to see my crap again. Huzzah!
Anyway, not really here to just make a bland announcement. As is the norm for the old blog, it's RANTING TIME! As an aside, I had wanted to get the subdomain "alwaysangry.blogspot.com", but someone beat me to it. Gah.

Because there's a plethora of good stuff to rant about in the news today, I'm going for the quick-fire rant mode, wherein I try to keep it short. Good luck with that, I've never been one for brevity when I blog, but I'll try.

Party-List System A Joke - Well, duh. That was plain obvious in the 2010 elections, where almost every group attempted to rename their dubious organizations so that their acronyms begin with A or a number just so they can get their names on top of the list instead of doing some real legwork to get voters engaged on the cause they're fighting for - if ever they did have a cause to begin with. I seriously hope Brillantes and company cleans the list up - 2010's was a cruel joke. Perhaps they can add a requirement that the potential congressman from the group should be a part of those marginalized groups for a minimum of three years. So, for example, Mikey Arroyo would be ineligible because he never was a security guard to begin with.

If I were desperate enough to win a seat in congress without deserving it, though, I'd submit a party-list name of "01011001 - Ang Galing-galing ng Facebook". It works on a number of levels. For one, it will definitely show up first on the list (take that, 1-UTAK!). Two, it leverages a buzzword that's increasingly popular amongst the masses (the gossips and bragging I hear on jeepneys now involves Facebook mentions), so like how celebs ride their popularity into politics, I will do the same, albeit with Facebook. Name and face politics is strong here, regardless of actual achievements. Three, I can pass it off that Facebook users need representation in congress, that no one is looking out for their well-being (or some similar crap). Heck, if security guards need representation that bad, why not Facebook users?

Some Bishops See Pro-RH Foes Behind Cebu Priest's Case - If you want to see the depths of stupidity some prelates go to turn the tables around on the morality of the RH Bill, this is it. Totally unrelated issue, and they still link it back to the RH Bill. Because they're unable to debate properly or to handle issues separately, they just put it in a lump sum that there is this sinister group that's out to get them. There is no smear campaign, just douchebags trying in vain to paint a picture of fake persecution that is ludicrous at best, and devious at worst. Bishops, do you really think yourselves martyrs? Because you're too dense to even understand, let me get that for you. NO.

As an aside, aren't they liable for libel if they're making tenuous assertions that the government is running a smear campaign on them without presenting incontrovertible proof?

Clark Too Far For International Airport - Listen to the man. The DOTC is deluding itself in thinking Clark is the answer, especially that the country is keen on getting foreign investors here. If you're a foreign investor, would you really subject yourself to shuttling yourself back and forth from Manila to Clark?

Of course, no Inquirer article is complete without the requisite spate of inane comments. Some dolts there see themselves as more of an expert than IATA's CEO just by being tourists. As if their visit once in a blue moon credentials are enough to unseat someone who has been to more airports than they can name and is his business to know airports intimately. Sheer arrrogance. They're dumb enough to state that Changi, KLIA, Incheon, and HKIA (to name a few) are as far from city hubs as Clark is to Manila without actually substantiating their facts. Because I'm nice enough to check with Google Maps for that lazy lot, some distances:

Changi to Marina Bay (assumed city center) - 28.8 km
Incheon to Seoul - ~28 km (no directions for car travel, so going by the old ruler method)
KLIA to Kuala Lumpur - 73.3 km
HKIA to Tsim Tsa Tsui (assumed center) - 23.2 km
Suvarnabhumi to Bangkok - 35.6 km
Soekarno-Hatta to Jakarta - 32.4 km

Clark to Manila - 96.2 km
Clark to Makati (where I suspect most foreigners will do business in) - 106 km

Dumb plan, unless we want to set some regional record for the wrong reason. Wait, did you say RECORD? We're suckers for those things, so yeah, let's throw all rational reason and move everything to Clark!

DOH Is Better-Prepared For Infectious Diseases - This is a good thing, but the bigger problem lies in the gross ways of Filipinos. If you're deluded enough to think that Filipinos are a clean society in that we wash daily and all that, well, you're conveniently overlooking all the spitting and littering that goes around (not to mention utter refusal to cover one's mouth when coughing). The DOH may be prepared to deal with someone with SARS, but not before said person risked complete strangers with his/her lack of etiquette and decency.