adventures in neverland

they are vultures, actually. feeding on other people's miseries, helplessness, needs. armed with an endless supply of taxpayers' money sourced from the pork barrel funds, a mechanism that was put in placed with good intentions but has been abused, misused and corrupted in so many forms and permutations that the original authors of such law may no longer recognize its current state, nay may even deny that they were ever the brains of such a scheme. i don't know why or how it started that people (not only the poor, mind you) in this country viewed politicians as sort of a santa claus or an angel, their dark knights, who can solve their problems, end their miseries, help them have a better life. such mindset only benefited the politicians, especially those who don't have the interest of the public at heart, because that is how patronage is born. that is how they cultivate loyalty, that is how they plant the seeds that will blossom into a vote-rich and captured consti...

“a dream you dream alone is only a dream. a dream you dream together is reality.”  - jonh lennon. &&&&&&&&&&& forgive me for sounding like morpheus in matrix. but,  it's time to stop dreaming, all the neos out there. it's time to take the pill: blue or red? make your choice. and do it now. time is running out! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we want an honest bureaucracy, decent government, statesmen in public service then we should work hard for it. let's stop waiting for the next messiah to come around, let's demand for it now.  everybody says we have a president who listens, the son of edsa heroes, then let's make him listen. if his eyes are closed, let's open them. if he pretends to be asleep and still dreaming like the rest of us, let's wake him up. for he might be our last chance for salvation. (the rest of the politicians eyeing the next national elections are, sad to say, more of the same -- pigs wai...

"a  hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer. " ralph waldo emerson. trust the innate jovial disposition of filipinos to turn every gathering, even a protest march against widespread corruption in the government, into a fiesta. the gods gifted their cheerful spirit with a lovely weather -- just cool enough to let us stay in the outdoors for as long as we want without the need to fan ourselves or worse, die from the heat -- at yesterday's march calling for, among others, the abolition of the so-called pork barrel funds that have been abused and misused by lawmakers and their accomplice(s) in government agencies as well as in the private sector. it was heartening to see a rainbow of people -- young and old, lovers and singles, the religious and the non-believers, workers and businessmen, leftists and rightists,  straight and gay -- all coming together, united by the urgent need to restore decency in the government, punish the crooks ...

mind you, i am not religious though i love the pageantry, costumes, drama of a catholic ceremony be it a wedding, a fiesta, the lent, the palm sunday. i also love staying inside old churches when there is no mass going on, drinking  up the sense of bliss, savoring the rare peace and quiet that one can only find in an empty church. i love the scent of candles and incense burning, as well as staring at images of christ, the virgin mary, and all the other saints. my favourites will always be the images of the blessed virgin mary, the christ in the cross, the sto. nino and our mother of perpetual help. their still, steady gaze never fail to calm me down, as if reminding me that whatever happens, they have my back. that i can always count on them to be there for me. it's such a nice feeling -- knowing you are not alone. there is nothing like being inside the church and just be still, communicating silently with the gods and later on, with yourself. i also love the sound of the r...

(reposting to include the latest pork barrel scam worth, hold your breath, billions of pesos. billions , dahlins, billions! ) even the most callous,  passive, apathetic, jaded among us were moved (angered, sad, mad) after reading the billions of pesos in public funds that allegedly went to the pockets of corrupt government officials, lawmakers and their cohorts in the private sector who created fake non-government organizations to siphon off those billions. that the president refused to abolish the so-called pork barrel funds allocated every year to lawmakers and their pet projects (the money is not released directly to legislators but to their chosen or approved infrastructure facilities) made the people even angrier.  this is because the president -- the only son of the edsa heroes ninoy and cory aquino -- ran and won under the platform of  tuwid na daan (straight path), alluding to his administration's efforts to tread the narrow, thorny but righteous ...

“the giggling, blushing lovers, savouring their first innocent kiss under the clear, blue and white summer sky, made me do it,” mahatma gandah’s   love poem called untitled, because it’s nothing. “they made me realize that life as i knew it had been a false one.” @@@@@@@ the sky has turned crimson as the sun descended rapidly behind the mountains, happily giving way to dusk after a twelve-hour shift. it was a lovely sight, the fire in the sky, which has inspired millions of photographs on facebook and instagram posts; and has, in fact, graced countless paintings by both the masters and their disciples. unlike us humans, the sun would be getting home breezily, won’t be caught in a nerve-racking traffic that could test even the patience of a saint. while we have adapted to the devil spawned by the absence of sensible urban planning and the government’s lack of vision to once and for all solve the traffic mess, sitting idly inside buses, cars, taxis, pedicabs for hours...