Most compelling typhoon Ondoy video

It is the most compelling, the most copied and probably the most viewed typhoon Ondoy video in the net. It had spawned copious versions some carrying prayers and surreal music background. It was played a number of times in local TV and was picked up by foreign networks.

The video is a testament to man's nothingness in the face of nature's might and fury. It showed a group of what could be kids swept by the swift and angry currents of the river towards the underside of a bridge at the height of typhoon Ondoy. When the video panned downriver, only a single person made it to the other side of the bridge. The river was so swollen that the bridge became so low for people and debris to pass under it.



Initially, I was unperturbed by the Ondoy floods. It was not the first time that Metro Manila was flooded, right? Saturday evening, the TV news showed houses submerged up to the roofs, cars hoisted by the water atop trees, families huddled on rooftops, and government agencies tallying the affected and the dead. Having experienced the flood brought by typhoon Frank in Iloilo last July 2008, I thought that the scenes were just a rehash. ‘Been there. Done that.’, I shrugged.

However, the following morning, the TV stations kept on airing the devastation brought by Ondoy and the cries for help of the victims. Being a father myself, I especially commiserated with a father, an executive type, who was in tears and choking, asking those who have seen or known the whereabouts of his daughter to please call the evacuation centers. The father could be a growling tiger in the boardroom, but the thought of his daughter possibly suffering somewhere away from his consoling presence, ang tigre ay naging basang sisiw. Para sa akin na isang tatay, matinding parusa sa isang ama ang isiping ang kanyang anak ay nagdudusa at nangangailangan ng kanyang tulong, pero wala siyang magagawa.

Then I saw that Ondoy video. And I thought, ‘Tama na. Sobra na. The people had suffered so much already.’

I remembered the Saturday night of typhoon Frank in Iloilo. I kept vigil until midnight to watch if the water would reach the second floor of our house. Sensing that the water was receding, I went to bed tired, hungry, and disbelieving of all the helplessness I saw in our never-before-flooded neighborhood. I opened my battery-operated pocket transistor (there was no electricity) for updates. As I drifted in and out of sleep, I heard the news that a passenger ferry had sank when it got caught in the eye of typhoon Frank. The radio announcer sounded tired and he lulled me to sleep with the names of the survivors. I was too sleepy to react. But before I was drowned in deep slumber I uttered, ‘Tama na. Sobra na. The people had suffered so much already.’

The Ondoy video could have touched the hearts and minds of so many that a TV network made a follow-up story. It showed two dead bodies fished out along with some debris from under the bridge.



But where were the other victims? Who were they? How about the person who survived?

The following Tuesday, I saw again the video on TV followed by an interview of the single survivor. His name was Erik. He was a young man, still visibly stunned by the experience he went through. He said he was with some people, and his wife and his two daughters. They were swept by the current from a sitio in Quezon City, kilometers away from the bridge. With blood-shot eyes and a straight face, he said he was still looking for his wife and kids. ‘Huwag mong sisihin ang sarili mo,’ people consoled him.



Many said that the Ondoy onslaught was an act of God. Many also countered, that the devastation was an act of man. As early as the 70’s urban planners had already warned that the eastern part of Manila was prone to high floods and they forwarded solutions. Unabated clearing operations of the upland areas also contributed to the floods.

Unlike the people who consoled Erik, dapat ba natin sisihin ang sarili natin? With another typhoon scheduled this week, and more to come this year, are we in for another compelling video?


@

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Donations for typhoon Ondoy victims flood in

International and local donations poured in as tropical storm Ondoy (with international code name Ketsana) left the Philippines leaving behind at least 140 people dead, scores missing, hundreds of thousands of families affected, an estimated half a billion pesos worth of crops destroyed, hundreds of millions of pesos worth of properties damaged, and thousands of video and text postings in cyberspace.

US Ambassador Kristie Kenney authorized an additional $50,000 in immediate disaster relief assistance through the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), bringing the total in immediate relief donation assistance of the US to $100,000, said Rebecca Thompson of the public affairs office of the US embassy in Manila.

China, through Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao, also donated $10,000 (about half a million pesos) for the victims of typhoon Ondoy. The donation is coursed through the Philippine National Red Cross.

Hollywood celebrities also got involved to raise funds for the victims of typhoon Ondoy.

Meanwhile in the Philippines, millions of pesos in cash and in kind were given or pledged by good Samaritans through the fund drives of TV networks ABS-CBN and GMA, and through government and NGO drop-off points.

However, the nation is waiting with bated breaths how much money Congressmen Danilo Suarez of Quezon 3rd District and Martin Romualdez of Leyte province will unload to alleviate the sufferings of their fellow Filipinos.

It must be recalled that Romualdez reportedly paid the $20,000 bill for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's dinner in the upscale Le Cirque restaurant in New York. Ms. Arroyo was accompanied by 40 other people, mostly Congressmen. On the other hand, Suarez was said to foot the $15,000 bill of Ms Arroyo's meal in Bobby Van's Steakhouse in Washington. She was accompanied by the same entourage in New York. Ms Arroyo and party were in the US on a working visit upon the invitation of US President Barack Obama.

People keep wondering that China, a would-be superpower country, can give only $10,000, while a Philippine congressman can splurge double the amount in a single dinner. Therefore, people hope that Romualdez, Suarez, et.al., would be as generous to those who really need their mullah.

BTW, with all the braggings of Gloria Arroyo especially in her July 2009 SONA (which many thought was the bitchest SONA ever), many are wondering why imperial Metro Manila was not prepared during the Ondoy onslaught. More than a year ago in July 2008, Panay island was devastated by typhoon Frank and its subsequent flood never before seen in the island's history. Didn't the Arroyo administration think that the same situation would happen in Metro Manila, or in any other place in the Philippines for that matter? Last weekend, people just realized that rubber boats and rescue helicopters were direly needed. And didn't Gloria Arroyo think she needed a presidential jet sometime ago?@

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FLOOD!

No. There is no flood in Iloilo. Though it rains intermittently and the sky remains dark. Tigum River in Cabatuan is rampaging but the water level is not alarming. But flood-prone residents of Jaro are in panic mode as they await for warning calls.

But typhoon Ondoy has flooded Metro Manila and most of Luzon, the gravity of which is higher than the floods brought to Iloilo and Panay by typhoon Frank last year.



Of course Manila is flood-prone. But the floods today are cataclysmic. The basement area of Megamall in Ortigas is flooded and houses along the university belt are submerged up to their second floors if not their roofs. Parts of EDSA and Buendia are neck-deep.100% of Cainta is underwater as their mayor aired for help as late as 10:38pm as residents in many subdivisions are spending the night atop their rooftops.

Even with so many people affected and crying for help over the radio and TV (as I write this entry, 9 are already confirmed dead), many are thankful that this  incident occurs on a weekend when schools and most offices are closed. And the floods started early in the morning when residents are still in their homes and therefore are not stranded somewhere away from their families.

It was also the same situation in Iloilo when typhoon Frank flooded most of Panay on a Saturday when schools were closed and during daytime when people could easily see and think of what to do.

But many are asking: Why these floods? Panay was flooded as we know. A few months back, portions of Mindanao were flooded for weeks. And now, the floods are in Luzon.@

Provinces Under State of Calamity: Marinduque, Camarines Norte , Bataan and Metro Manila were already placed on state of calamity. Aurora, Quirino, Nueva Viscaya, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales, Pampanga, Bulacan, Rizal, Quezon, Isabela, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Benguet, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Cavite, Batangas, Mindoro Occidental, Mindoro Oriental, Marinduque, Camarines Norte, Bataan and Metro Manila.

Disaster Emergency Hotlines: 911-1873, 912-5296, 912-2665 Quezon City Rescue: 161 Meralco: 09175592824, 09209292824 Philippine National Red Cross: 09209527268, 5270000 National Disaster Coordinating Council: 912-5668. 9111406, 9122665, 9115061 ABS-CBN: 4163641

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The mouth-watering taste of lansones

Last Monday was a holiday. I asked my daughters why they had no classes. They immediately replied it was Eid Al Fitr, the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan. They added that Eid al Fitr was like the New Year for the Muslims. So I told them we were going to celebrate the New Year by going around the city. Together with my brother’s grandchildren, we hopped into the car and drove away.

As we passed by Jaro Plaza, the children’s attention was focused on the fruit stalls beside the plaza.

‘Daddy, ano po yon?’. They pointed to the fruits.

‘Mga prutas - apples, oranges, grapes,’ I answered, without looking at the stalls.

‘Hindi. Yon pong bilog na brown.’, they countered.

My eyes were on the road. I was about to answer ‘Chico’ but when I glanced at the fruit stalls I saw mounds of lansones. Pieces of cardboard with words ‘Cagayan de Oro’ were stuck unto the lansones mounds. ‘Cagayan de Oro’ referred to the place of origin of the fruits. And to many, Cagayan de Oro was supposed to produce the sweetest lansones in the Philippines.

‘Ah, lansones,’ I told the kids. I asked them if they had already eaten lansones.

‘Wala pa po,’ the younger kids answered back.

So I parked the car near the stalls so we can buy some lansones.

The fruit vendors ran to my open window. ‘Lansones, Sir.’ Each one shoved a lansones to me. ‘Tam-is ni, Sir.’ All broke open a lansones in font of me. My mouth watered.

We decided to go to the stall with the most number of customers, a guarantee that its fruits were of good quality. It so happened that the stall’s lansones was more expensive. The vendor said it came from Camiguin, an island off Northern Mindanao, near Cagayan de Oro. 'Bag-o lang abot Sir,' the vendor enthused. As proof, she pointed to a few black ants crawling over the fruits. She said, Camiguin grows the sweetest lansones and that if we liked cheaper ones, she pointed to another mound which according to her came from Davao.

We settled with the ones from Camiguin. Ok lang kung expensive. Anyway, as the vendor weighed our purchase, the children had already eaten about a quarter of a kilo as patikim and paaman. They liked lansones.

We were eating lansones as we drove. ‘Be careful with the latex from the skin. It will stain your clothes and the seat cover,’ I reminded the kids.

‘Daddy, what’s the English word for lansones? How do you spell lansones?’. The children were now bombarding me with questions about the fruit, many I could not answer. So, I told them I would answer when we arrive in our place.

The first time I saw a lansones tree bearing fruits was when I attended a fiesta in Paete, Laguna. At that time the lansones trees were heavy with fruits. Bunches of fruits were sprouting straight from the main branches, and from the trunks near the roots. That is why I always associate lansones with the town of Paete, a picturesque wooded town with narrow streets nestled in the foot of the Sierra Madre Mountains.

Well, from the internet, the scientific name for lansones is Lansium domesticum Correa. It is spelled lansones or lanzones. There is no accepted English term for lansones yet. Its English nomenclature is just a phonetic derivation of whatever is its name in the place of its origin. So foreigners will just call it lansones because that is how it is called in the Philippines where it came from. The plant is found in tropical climates in Southeast Asia, South America and India. In the Philippines, it is grown in Laguna, Bukidnon, Albay, Quezon, Samar, Oriental Mindoro, and in some provinces in Mindanao and the Visayas. Lansones fruits are sold in fruit stalls starting August to October.

After awhile I called the kids to inform them about my new-found  knowledge about lansones. The kids seemed not interested as they were watching a kiddy movie over cable TV. I just shrugged.

So I went to where the kids placed the plastic bag of lansones. I reckoned, I can enjoy lansones even if I didn’t know its scientific name. I opened one and gobbled it. The sweet translucent pulp seemed to melt in my mouth. Some partitions have no seeds and I just crushed them inside my mouth and let the pulpy syrup ooze on my tongue. I lapped up all the tastes. The slight sourness  made me quiver. I opened another one and popped it in like a pill. And again let the tangy sweetness percolate in my mouth.

Then my daughter approached me. 'Dad, what is the spelling of lansones?', she asked.

Wiping my mouth, I answered her with hints of Shakespeare, 'Ahh... lansones, by whatever spelling, still tastes as mouth-watering.' And I opened another lansones to take pleasure in that mouth-watering taste.

Ti may lansones man sa abroad?@

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Traffic jam and news blackout

Today, late in the afternoon, there was a heavy traffic jam in Bgy. Tiring, Cabatuan, Iloilo. Vehicles and throngs of people lined the sides and the middle of the road. No, there was no fiesta. There was no road accident. There were no road repairs. No, none of the roadside tarpaulins of Gloria Arroyo were toppled by the wind and the rains, and created a disaster on the highway. No, no airplane overshot the Iloilo Airport runway and nosedived near Tiring Elementary School.

None of the passengers of the passing vehicles knew what happened or was happening. Iloilo City-bound vehicles were virtually stopped and they lined askance all the way to the adjoining barangay of Tabucan. Cabatuan-bound vehicles were slightly lucky even if they moved a bit faster than a snail. At least, Cabatuan-bound passengers were assured they will be home by dinner.

So, why this traffic jam? What happened? Why were there so many cars with red plates near the school? And why so many usyuseros and usyuseras around, as if may shooting ka pelikula in this remote brownout ridden barangay?

At about 6:00 pm, everybody got the answer. First, they saw a hand waving like a beauty queen gone ugly. Then, they saw the mole. Then, that toothy rabbity smile... or smirk. Yes, Marilene. At around 6:00 pm Gloria Macapagal Arroyo made a dramatic entrance in Bgy Tiring.

So, why was she there? What was she doing? Nobody knew for sure. Some said she was there to inaugurate a Botica sa Barangay. But they were not sure. Others said she might be running for Congresswoman in the Third District of Iloilo. Wasn’t she there also last month? And the other month? Frequent? As frequent as her visits in Pampanga? Ah, chismis.

But why was the visit not known?

In the evening news, there was no mention nor footage of the Arroyo visit, unlike her other visits. But there was a mention about the news blackout. Yes, news reporters snubbed Arroyo’s visit allegedly because of a Malacanang factotum decree that only one handpicked reporter will ask Arroyo a question. The others will just listen like tape recorders. The factotum’s decree raised more questions. Ano bala ang ginatago ni Arroyo? Ano ang ginakahadlukan ni Arroyo? Indi bala siya gusto pamangkuton parte kay Gibo Teodoro? And rather than be fed with the lies and the calibrated responses, the media mounted a news blackout.

And just as the media were peeved by Arroyo’s sudden media-shyness, the commuters too were cursing because they were delayed by another shooting ka pelikula ni Gloria. Pila na naman ka boto ang nadula.

So, there. Now, you know. It’s no longer a news blackout.@

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Remembering 'Hello Garci'

September 21 is known in the Philippines as the anniversary of the imposition of martial law. Many have been written about the evils of martial law. I don't have to delve on this here.

But today I would like viewers to revisit 'Hello Garci' and ponder on its repercussions if ever it happens again.

Please watch.

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Sundae special

Hometowns can be blasé to many, especially if they just live a few minutes drive away. But my hometown has always greeted me with interesting candour. I am always awed by the many new things that I discover each time I come for a visit. The residents, the goings-on, the seasons - all have given me new insights about the town I call my home and the home of my forebears.

Last Sunday I was home again to visit my mother. I was with my wife and kids. We arrived at around 10:30am, late for the market (Sunday is market day in my hometown) when we could buy fresh farm produce for lunch. But I texted my sister that I was bringing some fish - bangos, sapsap, matangbaka - and she could ask my nieces to buy kadyos for the bangos. The other vegetables I could pick from my farm nearby. The sapsap we can make into pinamarhan and the matangbaka we can broil together with pork. I was getting hungry by just thinking about our lunch.

After we arrived in our house and while everyone was busy preparing lunch, I went to the market to see what else to buy. The market was nearly deserted as it was nearly lunchtime. But the vendors were still on their toes, hoping that they could still make another sale, or another suki would just drop by for a forgotten ingredient.

The vendors were courteous - some knew me as this is a small town, while others, I thought, pretended they knew me to tempt me to buy their stuff. I too pretended I was interested to buy their stuff to inveigle a conversation with them.

Here are some photos of my Sunday adventure.

1. After the customers left, this family gathered in their fruit stall to celebrate a profitable day. 'Life is hard but we all help each other to survive,' says matriarch Nenita B. The happy faces told me it was a real good day.

2. Sinugba nga mais was tempting. I didn't like to buy because it was nearly lunchtime. But the vendor insisted. She said it was pilit nga mais and just right for broiling and that if I won't buy, she would just give me some because I was her relative. I tried to recall where I met her. She told me about her family. She then introduced me to her elder folks standing nearby. Everybody shook my hand. Daw politiko ako. I ended up buying all the mais which were already cooked! On my way home, I was thinking that the mais episode was the best marketing ploy.

3. There was a barbershop inside the market. This was a new discovery. The stall was also selling halo-halo. You can have a haircut while lapping up a bowl of halo-halo. Great combination! Who needs an airconditioned barbershop?

4. I am not fond of eating lamayo nga bangros. Maybe once a month is enough. But when this Lola, who sits at the entrance of the town market, calls my name I just could not resist buying a tompok. One tompok of lamayo consisting of 3 pieces of binulad is about Php 120.00. Lola will not accept my No as an answer. As soon as she sees me approaching, she readies a page of newspaper to wrap the lamayo with. If I alibied that I have no money, she will just shove the wrapped lamayo unto my hand and tells me to enjoy the viand, and that I can pay later when I come back even after a month. With vendors like this, how can I go hungry?

5. My kids wanted to eat ginat-an - ground pilit nga bugas nga gin-lugaw with gata, bananas, and camote. So we looked for the ingredients. We bought coconut na panggata. The coconut was halved and grated in front of us. But only after the vendor asked for my kids, their names and their ages, and the other kids who accompanied me. She asked about my job, my mother, my sisters, and my brothers. It was only after I convincingly answered all her questions that she started preparing for what I liked to buy. Ahhh.. in a small town like this, everybody is supposed to know everybody.

6. Each time there is an affair in our household, I always order puto and ibos from this lady. She makes the best puto and ibos in my hometown. In the photo, she was preparing ground rice for puto. When I saw her, I immediately asked her if I still have unpaid utang. I was glad when she informed me that there was none. My practice, kasi, was to ask a friend to inform the lady to deliver puto or ibos to my mother's house whenever somebody asked me to order. Sometimes I forgot to pay because the order was not mine. But the lady never complained.

7. The vendors seemed sleepy because they could have been in the market since dawn. But when they saw a probable customer in me, they brightened up. I bought huwad-huwad and puto lanson. I always buy the native delicacies not just because my kids loved them, but also because I like to keep this home industry alive.

8. It has been years now since I've eaten dried fish. Not because I don't like it. It's more on doctor's advice. When I saw this mound of baringon, I remembered the years when I was living abroad. My sisters used to send me dried fish from the Philippines and my wife kept them at the bottom of our ref to hide from some too-comfortable visitors. Dried fish from Iloilo was heaven-sent to Filipinos living abroad. So, whenever she cooked the baringon, pinakas and daghanan/tabagak she would call our friends to drop by and have dinner with us. And everybody came in a rush as if we prepared a grand party, and dug unto the baringon, etc. as if these were the foods of the gods. As a bonus, we also had sinamak brought in from the Philippines.

9. The most nostalgic find I had in the market were buyo leaves sold beside dried tobacco leaves. As I recalled, buyo was one sangkap used when you make mama (accent in last 'ma') - the practice of chewing beetle nut by old folks. My owaw used to ask me to buy buyo when I was still a kid. The last time I saw buyo was when my paternal owaw was still alive. All my owaws were already dead for decades now. And I am now an owaw myself, courtesy of my four nieces. As an owaw, do I have to chew buyo also?

10. I saw these items in one stall - small portions of cooking oil, vinegar, and soy sauce in plastic containers. Onli in da Philippines. People in rural areas are fond of buying in tingi-tingi or small portions. They only wanted a small something, good for a day's use. This is one marketing strategy popular in the Philippines. Shampoos, toothpastes, etc. are sold in sachets to maximize sales. And vendors prepare their own small portions, like those in the picture, to entice more buyers.

11. On the way to the farm, I chanced upon this bridal entourage without the bride in front of the church. The groom appeared like looking for his lost bride while the guests who were obviously the principal sponsors were also looking for somebody. And as I looked at them in just my sando, I couldn't imagine their discomfort and uneasiness in their gowns and fine regalia while being baked under the heat of the noonday sun. But I also understood that when you wear your formal attire which had been kept inside a baul for so long and may still be smelling like napthalene, you feel so gwapo or gwapa that you can withstand whatever punishment such a feeling brings.@

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Much ado about SALE!

It’s Saturday. And all the roads lead, not to the beach, but to the mall where a 3-days SALE with some prices slashed to as low as 50% was hyped.

There was a traffic jam as people from all walks of life jammed the entrances before the mall opened at 10:00 am. So, who says that life is hard, that we need to tighten our belts, that the economic crunch is worldwide? Not in my part of the planet. Life is only hard in the newspapers. In HongKong, everyday is a SALE day for all the stores. In the Philippines, it is not frequent that a mall announces a sale. Therefore, Filipinos rush in where there is a mall-wide sale.

I didn’t know that there was a sale in the mall. I dropped my wife and kids at the mall at 2:30 pm as they planned to just do some window shopping. But seeing the SALE posters and the rush of shoppers, we had to change plans and adjust the budget.

They said they were going to call me at 5:00 pm as we were still going to attend the 5:30 pm mass. But they called at 6:30 pm as they could not decide what to buy amidst the so many things they wanted to splurge on.

When I went to the mall to meet them, I had a hard time looking for a parking space. When finally I entered the mall, I saw all the boutiques bursting with SALE items. The wide corridors were not spared as SALE items fought for space with the wily shoppers. The mall looked like a big ukay-ukay store. It was a sudden change of ambiance seeing so many people eager to buy things they ignored before. And they were egged to buy more by the festive air and the Christmas carols. There may be no Christmas decors yet on display, but the Christmas songs just bring ‘joy to the world’ even if the news said that health workers in the US were already protesting for possible job losses.

I saw many familiar faces – friends who could easily swing to Hongkong or Bangkok to buy clothes were busy flipping on clothes with 20% mark-off, and some at PhP 99.00 only; street kids in basketball shorts and slippers tried on discounted denims; couples with four… ah five… no it’s six children… who obviously belonged to what the government categorized as below poverty level, were also doing the shopping, or window shopping, and had a whiff of Jollibee, or Dunkin Donuts, or Chowking. With a sale as big as this, and shoppers as many as this, the really poor who can only afford to dream, and even the taong grasa who have no dreams, can enjoy their time in the airconditioned mall without buying anything as they can easily be lost amidst a sea of nondescript crowd.

We left the mall at closing time. Just like so many others. The Christmas carols were still blaring. The entrances were now closed and shoppers carried their heavy bags of newly bought items with strains of ‘Joy to the World’. Many were laughing as they literally shopped till they dropped.

It was a dark night and was about to rain. Tomorrow is Sunday. I hope that none of the shoppers will wake up to reality - that they still have food to buy, next week’s allowances to spare, rent, bills, tuition fees to pay, etc., etc. – and end up cursing that they shouldn’t have bought the items they paid for at a bargain, and laughed at last night.

The mall owners are still laughing.@

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Culasi, Antique: A day in the life of the fisherfolks

At about 7:30 am, they start hauling in the fishnet that the men had cast out at sea hours ago. Very far away, another line of men and women are pulling in the other end of the net.

The old and the young put in the much needed strength to pull the net. This is their early morning aerobics exercise. More sophisticated folks could have done the same in the gym with better results. But for these simple folks, they do their exercise as they seek for food for their tables.

As the end of the line looks near, the folks hope that it could be a good catch. They hope that today must be better than yesterday.

The two lines of people get nearer...

... and nearer. So is the awaited catch.

Small boys run to see what is enstored for them. Will they have a good meal today? Will their parents now buy them their requirements for school?

Ah, there it is! That net could make our day....

The boys seem to think that it is a heavy load. But nobody is cheering......

And the prized catch! Still nobody is cheering....

Behold! The fruit of hours of hard labor! And it doesn't even fill the shallow container. Yesterday, the catch was better. Yesterday's catch filled up seven containers.

Transient and local buyers start to flock to buy some of the catch. But the folks cannot sell. No, not yet. They first have to divide the measly catch among the so many stakeholders. And before they can even divide the catch mong themselves, they first have to wait for the person with whom they pawned the net they used. By practice, the de facto owner of the fishnet will first get his share before anyone lays a hand on the catch.

Meantime, while the olds wait for the owner of the net and the young ones play to while away the emptiness in their tummies, the men check on the net...

.. before they roll it for safekeeping, and ready to be unrolled again the following day for, hopefully, a better catch.

Others continue on their aerobics exercise by pushing the boat to higher grounds.

The weather can turn bad and the seas can be nasty. But the boat will now be safe. Today the catch is disappointing. But tomorrow is another day. And with the net and the boat safe and in good condition, and with the fisherfolks working as a team and undaunted by the challenges in life, tomorrow may just yield a better catch. @

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Lazy Sunday morning

What to do on a lazy Sunday morning?

The kids and the neighborhood are still sleeping. Only the hushed activities of the kasambahays are audible as they hurriedly finish their chores before they go on their day off. Once in a while, the varied imitations of my niece's myna bring to life the characters that passed its way - the hoots and calls of the sikad drivers, the calls of the ambulant fish vendor 'Isda! Isda!' so realistic it seems the fish vendor is just nearby, and the impatient calls of a neighbor's visitor 'Nik! Nikkk! Nikkkk!', which somehow, this morning I was thankful the myna has not heard any cuss words from the passersby.

The day is bright and the rains of the past days made the plants and the surroundings green and clean. I am out in our garden with the laptop to surf for the day's news. But it is such a beautiful morning that even the news could not sway my attention from sapping in all that beauty.

We go to mass every Saturday evening. Therefore our family’s Sunday mornings are meant to recharge the spirit, to catch up on lost sleep, to think of what has been in the past days and what will be in the coming days.

And to take a slow and simple breakfast to accompany the early musings of the day.


This Sunday morning, I have brewed coffee with pandesal and butter. And, have you remembered the taste of traditional oven-baked pandesal sold at dawn by ambulant boys of yesteryears shouting ‘Naaaapay!’? When in Iloilo City, particularly in Jaro, you don’t have to look any farther for the best pandesal. It is delivered daily – still hot - by vendors. And it tastes like the real pandesal of yesteryears - crisp and crackling outside, but soft and not too sweet inside with that pandesal taste that differentiates pandesal from monay, pan de leche or croissant. It is popularly called Pandesal Ni Paa, after the Panaderia ni Paa that baked it. The panaderia is found across the street from the Jaro Police Precinct beside the Jaro Plaza. According to its signboard, the panaderia was established in 1896. And that could be the reason why it bakes the best pandesal in Iloilo.



With piping hot coffee, buttered pandesal, a sunny perfect day, and a surrounding seemingly screened by a bower of leafy and flowery vines from a sickening and problematic world, what more can one ask? The kids are healthy and happy, the family seemed worry-free, and friends are just nearby to lend a helping hand, if in case. And there is no expensive maintenance drug to propel my waking days.

Life is not perfect. Life is full of problems. But there are plenty of reasons to be thankful about. For one, I thank God for giving me lazy Sunday mornings.

@

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It's fiesta time!

Today is Cabatuan's town fiesta.

We went to Cabatuan to have dinner. The whole day my kids had an affair in school, so the only convenient time for us to go to my mother's house in Cabatuan was at dinnertime.

When we arrived, it was already dark. Bermejo St, where my mother's house is located, was filled with parked vehicles. I had a hard time looking for a parking space.

We had a nice dinner. My nieces had prepared the food well. But as usual, I didn't feel like eating amidst so much food. So I just had a nice talk with older Bro who arrived from Manila this morning just to attend the fiesta, his first after so many years. He works as a ship captain abroad.



We decided to go to my aunt's house nearby for more food. And we noticed that the whole of Bermejo St. was filled with high school students in their CAT uniform. I learned that they were there for the torch parade. They were there to accompany the reigning Miss Cabatuan, who happened to live in the same street, and her court from the queen's residence to the town plaza for the coronation ceremony. I didn't know that the town fiesta was so elaborate indeed. This was the first time I witnessed such an event.



At the head of the royal march were small children who acted as small princesses and princes. Then the two court princesses and their escorts. The Cabatuan queen and her escort in full royal regalia then followed. After them were the queen's family and friends.



Bermejo residents were all beside the street to witness the march, and particularly to have a glimpse of the queen and her escort. For a moment, the street was transformed into a monarchic enclave where monarchs were resplendent in their gowns and fineries while the ordinary mortals gawked in their t-shirts, maong and tsinelas.

The queen and her escort were regal, fit for the throne, and looked familiar. Ah, no, not familiar. Ordinary mortals and subjects are not supposed to be familiar with their monarchs. It is treason.

At the back of the royal entourage was the town's band, which provided the fiesta noise.

And the last but not the least, after the band was my car carrying my family. By coincidence, the royal march started as we were about to go back to the city. The band which preceded us seemed to herald my coming and not the departure of the queen. Remnants of the torch-bearing students were still on both sides of my car as I drove. Ahhh... what a feeling. People thought, we were some sort of VIP's tailing the royal procession. And as the marchers turned right towards the direction of the town's covered gym, we headed straight to the city, where our own kingdom is located. And where this veritable insomniac lives. Thanks for insomnia. The royal march was at 7:30pm in the remote neverheard kingdom of Cabatuan. In less than two hours, because of insomnia, that royal march is broadcast in pictures for all in the techie world to see.@

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