Before the end of the innocence

Remember when the days were long/ And rolled beneath a deep blue sky/ Didn't have a care in the world/ With mommy and daddy standing by/ When "happily ever after" fails/ And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales...
...Who knows how long this will last/ Now we've come so far, so fast/ But, somewhere back there in the dust
That same small town in each of us/ I need to remember this/ So baby give me just one kiss/ And let me take a long last look/ Before we say good bye...
...But this is the end/ This is the end of the innocence - Don Henley "The End of the Innocence"

I met with some of my elementary schoolmates still based in Manila for a few hours of banter over pichi-pichi, barbecue, and originally San Juan fare pancit from Aling Banang and Big Scoop ice cream. There was plenty of food to go around for the eight of us who made it to the feast. Some of us have not seen each one for over thirty years. This is catching up bigtime.

I had to give them something, a small token for finding time to meet a classmate who came all the way from the south. I knew copies of the latest scandals will be a good give-away. I was not wrong. It was well appreciated. We went online for a video chat with classmates now based overseas but we were only half-successful. Still we had a good chat with those sacrificed sleep just to stay with us.

We first knew each other when we were in the age of innocence. As I recall now, we did not even had romantic notions then. It was the age for fairy tales, the happily ever afters. After thirty-five years, not everyone has her happily ever after, but they live more happily even after. That is what matters.

Today we can talk without embarrassment about anything. And I mean anything and everything. Someone in the group said this would not be possible a few years ago. We are once again at an age when we can get away with most things. It's a big jump from our simple innocence then to the harsh cynicism today. Don Henley sang about the end of the innocence and one's need to go back, to take one last look, before we all say goodbye. I think that's the reason why we like these mini-reunions.

Hindi Ako Papayag

Even the fruits, yes the fruits, unite against the Con-Ass. The fruits formed a coalition called Fruits Against Con-Ass, United (FAC-U). To show their indignation against the shameless railroading of 1109 in the House, the fruits labored to video tape their objection to the asses conning us. Here is the fruit of their labor.


Cheap that I am, I didn't want to buy all those fruits, tape them and take videos. Instead I planned to take videos at a fruit stand. I couldn't get myself to ask permission from the vendor, afraid he'd say "Hindi Ako Papayag".

For those where Youtube is blocked, here is the same video from another video server:

Happy financial independence to all!

Remember the '70s commercial jingle "ipagpatuloy ang kaunlaran, mag-impok sa bangko"? The tagline has since been used by banks in an attempt to promote domestic savings. We perennially lag behind in economic performance compared to our Asian neighbors. Raising investments is one way of aiming for a higher economic growth. Investments require financing that will can be sourced from domestic sources like savings.

Household savings, according to official government data, have consistently been decreasing. The data also shows that remittance from Overseas Filipinos is a major source of aggregate household saving. OFs should be encouraged to save a portion of the remittances using formal channels.

There is a Youtube channel that showcases videos to promote a culture of savings and encourage the channeling of these savings into productive investments in financial instruments and business ventures. There is also the Financial Learning Campaign advocacy of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas which aims to encourage the productive uses of remittances, not only for consumption or spending for the basic needs, but also for savings in different forms of financial instruments and/or investments such as in small- and medium-sized enterprises or microfinance. They also have the OF videos there. O, ano pa? Save na!

12 little things

If you notice the "Hindi Ako Papayag" video on my sidebar, most of the personalities there are politicians. Except for Cooky Chua (singer, Color It Red) and Alex Lacson, writer. You probably know Cooky but who is Alex Lacson?

Alex Lacson is a UP/Harvard bred lawyer. Alex’s claim to fame is a simple 108-page book called “12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do to Help Our Country.” He believes that a great part of the solution to our country’s problems will come from our people – from us, the ordinary citizens of our country.

Here are the 12 commandments in his list.

1. Follow traffic rules. Follow the law.
2. Whenever you buy or pay for anything, always ask for an official receipt.
3. Don’t buy smuggled goods. Buy local. Buy Filipino.
4. When you talk to others, especially foreigners speak positively about us and our country.
5. Respect your traffic officer, policeman and soldier.
6. Do not litter. Dispose your garbage properly. Segregate. Recycle. Conserve.
7. Support your church.
8. During elections, do your solemn duty.
9. Pay your employees well.
10. Pay your taxes.
11. Adopt a scholar or a poor child.
12. Be a good parent. Teach your kids to follow the law and love our country.

Simple and doable, isn't it?

He also has 10 tips for our Overseas Filipinos:

1. Spend your vacation, your dollars and other foreign currencies, in our Philippines. Visit other countries, too, but do spend time and your money n the Philippines.
2. Encourage and teach your relatives back home to be good citizens and good Filipinos.
3. All OFW’s, Balikbayans and Pinoy Expats should do more during elections in RP. Tell your relatives back home who you think is best for the country.
4. Buy Pilipino, wherever you are in the world.
5. Adopt a poor child as a scholar back home.
6. Support a charitable organization. There are many good charitable organizations that truly help build our Philippines to become a better place for all of us. (He recommends: Gawad Kalinga, Pondo ng Pinoy, Caritas Manila and World Vision, among others.)
7. Teach your children about the Philippines, and to love it and its people.
8. Speak positively about our Philippines and our people.
9. If you are remitting funds to your relatives in the Philippines, teach them to save 15% or 20% of the funds.
10. Invest in the Philippines.

For more information go to the 12 little things website.

Kung Fu died after hand combat?

Based on a Yahoo news item.

I know this post can be bad but I cannot help it. Internet reports say that "Kung Fu" star, David Carradine, may have died from masturbation. The Thai police disclosed this as they probed the evidence after the 72 yr old actor star was found hanging naked and bound in a closet.

"There was a rope tied around his neck and another rope tied at his sex organ, and the two ropes were tied together and hung in the closet," a Thai police commander told reporters. How could David do that (to) himself? It's a stretch of imagination. He must have been practicing for his latest movie called "Stretch". How fittingly ironic.

In a twist of fate, the forensic expert working on the case is named Porntip Rojanasunan, as in Porn Tip. If the actor who played Kwai Chang Caine asked tips from this man, he could be alive today instead of being found dead in an embarrassing position. Maybe they will indicate the cause of death as by "hand combat". But it's a stretch.