adventures in neverland

i have nothing against filipinos who speak in english, after all it is the language of the learned, according to a controversial newspaper article. what irritates me are those who try so hard to speak it even if they are having a hard time, even if they can do it in filipino (para mas madaling magkaintindihan) because they are talking with another filipino naman and there are no foreigners in the group. i only take out my limited english when i am with foreigners (of course naman ano?), otherwise i speak in filipino. basta filipino ang kausap ko, i try to speak in filipino too. queze hodang hindi nila ako maintindihan o sagutin nila ako in english! quever! anyway, i don't begrudge filipinos who speak perfect english. that's their right. vakeet ako maiinggit anoh! eh marunong din akong mag inglis! haha. but please, don't look down on us who can't speak it well because we are poor and our parents are too busy earning a living washing the dishes of the rich, thus, t...

i had my first job interview in nearly four years this week. i was a train wreck, i tell you. i have always been uncomfortable about job interviews. in fact, i don't like doing it. i wish i could skip this part and just show up for work and prove to the company what i can do. if they don't like it, they can fire me anytime. no hard feelings. maybe because i am a journalist, i am used to asking the questions, not answering them. also, i don't know how to answer basic questions like why do you want this job, or why did you quit your job or what are your plans for the next five years. i know any idiot can answer them, even my three-year old niece, but i simply don't have it in me to come up with intelligent and honest responses to these difficult questions. (i know all the textbook replies, but they sound so insincere). lastly, i am not comfortable discussing salaries, a key part of any job interview. (i don't know why, despite writing about financial stuff ever...

ah the things we learned as children from watching teevee, the so-called idiot box that could shape young, impressionable minds.  while kids from more sophisticated neighborhoods (whose parents made it a point to talk to their children only in english) watched only sesame street , we watched all kinds of shows, be it german moreno's sunday special extravaganza showcasing the belle star dancers in their mind-boggling costumes and choreography or annaliza or iskul bukol . but the ones i luv were the old filipino films shown every afternoon, usually around 2 p.m. right after we washed the dishes and cleaned the dining room/kitchen after lunch. anyway, here are the things that i learned from those misspent afternoons in front of the tiny box that showed black and white pictures. from commercials: * you will grow taller, healthier and stronger if you drink milk everyday (from nino muhlach's milk maid commercials. unfortunately, nino didn't grow at all.). * you can...

i have a fascinating (an understatement, mind you) day today, which can be summarized into this: spirituality, extraterrestrials and the forces that keep us from moving on with our lives. ******** i woke up quite early to meet a friend whom i haven't seen for quite a long time for coffee at greenbelt three. still sleepy (i had a late night last night as usual) and hung over, i managed to take a very cold shower, put on my favourite weekend outfit (shorts, shirts, jacket because it might rain again and comfy shoes) and stepped out of the old, creaky building. outside, it was windy and the streets were still wet from the rains the previous night. it was a pretty quiet morning, without the usual crowd of office workers, businessmen, hawkers and policemen. makati on weekends is a ghost town. abandoned, the tall buildings stood still like unwanted luvers. i wanted to walk,  god knows i need to exercise (i feel bloated from all the late night eating and drinking).  but i w...

these are tough times for investors, especially short-term speculators in the stock, currency, bond and commodities markets. and for reporters too covering these markets. i have been there, i have done that and i must stress, i luved it! i luv the days when the market is in frenzy and investors are acting like crazy that even before you can put up a headline, the market is moving again. oh i miss the rush! lately, market movements have been unpredictable that even the most avid watchers are having a hard time forecasting its direction. even on the short term. ******** when the united states of obama was on the verge of defaulting on its debt a few weeks ago, investors were told markets (stocks) and the dollar were falling because of worries that the world's biggest economy might lose its much coveted triple a rating. most analysts and other market watchers assured that once the u.s. hurdled this difficulty, there would be a relief rally. after the debt bill was passed, s...

i never had a surplus of time. until now. i am drowning on it. tick tock tick tock. this must be how my mother felt all her life, being a stay at home house maker. maybe that's the reason why she is always chill, she hardly ever loses her cool.

it's like waking up in a twilight zone. or being inside a movie within a movie directed by joey gosiengfiao, written by pedro almodovar, with the set designed by salvador dali. sometimes i feel like burying my head ala alice into the rabbit hole just to escape from this sick circus, where the mad hatter it seemed had established his fiefdom. oh i am not being pretentious here. you know me better than that! ****** at the senate hearing, former chairman of the philippine charity sweepstakes office (the government agency in charge of the lottery) manoling morato, dapper in a beige suit, apologised to a senator over a remark he made a few years ago on his tv show. morato apparently called the senator, then running for a senate seat under the opposition, a liar. the usually feisty morato, who was tongue tied for a few seconds, even asked for his forgiveness. the senator just smiled. i was disappointed. i like morato when he is baring his fangs, ready to bite and kill. ...

i rooted for him when he decided to run for president. i am not embarrassed to admit that despite the endless teasings i got from friends (take note, they were ateneans too) who argued that he was too callow and too timid to run a country that needs a bold leadership with a vision on where the country should go amid the backdrop of a sinking global economy. i know, i know. i was carried away by nostalgia (those glorious days of the first edsa revolution that threw away a dictator) and the memory of his luminous parents, the heroes of that revolution: his namesake senator ninoy aquino (his death sparked the revolt) and president cory aquino (her grief became the nation's sorrow). i just shrugged off these teasings that could turn nasty at times, especially after a few tequilla shots. my firm belief, just like the rest of those who voted for him, was that he was the least likely to steal from the government and won't tolerate corruption. i was simply tired of presidentia...

cynics have long predicted the death of local cinema citing the drop in the number of movies produced and shown in the past several years as well as the deterioration in the quality of these films. these pessimists do have a point. the dominance of hollywood movies, the advent of the internet, the belief that pinoy films are dumb, baduy and lousy (excuse me, hollywood blockbusters are just as stupid, bad and bakya.) simply kept the audience away from local films. ****** i luv filipino movies, especially the ones made during the so-called golden age of local cinema when lino brocka, marilou diaz abaya, laurice guillen, mario o'hara, ishmael bernal, mike deleon, mario delos reyes, joey gosiengfiao lorded over the industry. when regal films, viva films and some smaller production companies always made it a point to come up with one or two brilliant movies a year. ***** ((i don't know about you, but i will choose bona, kapit sa patalim, sister stella l., insiang, kisap ...

on wednesday the 13th (my lucky number. what can i say, i am a witch.), i attended the economic forum sponsored by the economic journalists association of the philippines or ejap. a star studded affair attended by the central bank deputy governor diwa guinigundo, the finance head cesar purisima, the world bank's country manager bert hofman, as well as bankers from bdo, citibank and standard chartered bank. aside from lending glamour to the event and supporting my friends who are officers of ejap -- the country's only organization of business journalists covering, what else, business and economic beats -- i was intrigued by the forum's topic: awash in cash: making liquidity work for the economy. ********* i luv the topic. a bit technical but could be understood if you are patient enough to listen. then do some readings afterwards. i did. the question on most reporters' mind (including myself) was: where is that extra cash? how come we remain dry? (no pun intende...

i always believe in angels. when i was a kid, i used to pray to my guardian angel whenever i was scared, sick, or needed help for my examinations. ah such simple problems really. who would have thought? ******** it's 30 minutes past two in the morning and i still can't sleep. i kept on thinking about my taxi ride this afternoon. after attending the ejap economic forum at dusit hotel in makati (i was there to support friends like current president mitch remo and directors jimmy dove and iris gonzales) and a chitchat with mitch and iris at sm's prestige lounge, i decided to go home. i queued for a cab at sm. as usual, after telling the driver where i wanted to go, i totally ignored him. i took a book (martin amis's money) from my bag and started reading. i always carry a book in case there is traffic or i am stuck somewhere, alone, bored, and has to while away the time. while the cab was waiting for the red light to change along ayala avenue, the driver aske...

why did i bother to come back, i wondered as i searched the smoke drenched bar -- filled with sweaty kids dancing to the band's version of pitbull's americano -- for somebody nice enough to go home with. there were about a hundred kids inside the bar, 17 and up, all genders, wearing their weekend uniform: cut off denim shorts and skin tight blouson for most of the girls and jeans and shirt for the boys. it was a bar for middle class kids. most of them were speaking in english or a mixture of english and filipino. latest model of cellphones and iphones on their hands. *********** amid the crowd, one guy caught my attention. chinito. tall, lean with spiky hair. he was in black jeans, red checkered shirt with the sleeves folded up to his elbows. i was in my weekend best too: dark jeans (d squared), black v-neck shirt (ck), cardigan (rl) and blue sneakers (paul smith).  no underwear. i smiled at him. he gave me a cold stare. my first rejection for the night. somehow it...