Elmer Blogger

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Being Proud of Filipino Creativity

I found one link in our company intranet blog posted by Dwayne, our Creative Director about the Filipino ingenuity. It is a very heartwarming story that I never hesitated to post my comments about it.

While Filipino contribution to the world hasn't been prominent (talk about Wright brothers and Isaac Merritt Singer from America, Austrian Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Russia's Vladimir Kosma Zworykin and Ivan Pavlov, Britain's Britain's Richard Trevithick, Italian pizza or India's curry, Swiss cheese and French wine) Filipino workforce is more widely-known for dedication to job, creativity and appreciation for work.

Photo shows a weaving shop filled with busy Pinoy workers weaving some creative products, most of which will find their way to the glitzy boutiques of Parish, London and Tokyo. It's true that many Filipino ideas have been sold to and patented foreign companies for mass use. This is mainly attributed to the failure of the government to support such product which could have benefited the Filipino people by generating jobs, boosting investor confidence and retaining the honor to the name of the inventor rather than the wealthy conglomerate.

And even if the government is often at the receiving end of endless blaming, many of its agencies work hard despite the usual problems such as logistics and camaraderie among its people. One of which is CITEM which serves as facilitator among manufacturers and buyers. The result has once again proven that Filipinos don't need expensive machineries to come up with quality design. Especially in the furniture world, the work of hand has dominated the ones that are built by machines; a clear indication that nothing beats the old hand.

In a country more known for its domestic helpers and chaotic South than skilled laborers and serene beaches, this news is definitely a shot in the arm, an inspiration that shows little-known hardworkers share the dream of a prosperous nation, and not just the overseas Filipino workers.

PHOTO CREDITS: William Gordon. Originally published at core77.com.

Monday, January 23, 2006

The Manny Pacquiao Victory

The victory of Manny Pacquiao has indeed ushered a surge in confidence among Filipinos, hungry for redemptions amidst all debacles faced on a daily basis.

I was watching again the movie Fan Chan (My Girl) while ironing clothes at home while listening to the Internet feed of GMA 7 on its partial coverage of the boxing between Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales. Somewhere in the south, another Morales was being inaugurated as President of Latin American country of Bolivia.

And since the anchorman on air seemed not too interested in the coverage and had to rely on updates from a reporter fielded in a raucous rendezvous with local fans, I stopped listening and instead turned to ESPN boxing page to see whether there is a blow by blow coverage. There was none. But it was interesting to see their scorecard and analysis per round, with a web page updated every three minutes or so. Even if I see many articles in ESPN predicting Morales to win this fight, I never got disappointed. After all, I am rooting for a fellow Mindanaoan, win or lose.

The first two rounds were split between the two boxers. But the third to the fifth seemed to favor Morales’s way. I had no way to see whether their claim was true; I was a little partial with their scorecards especially that one of them has a Spanish name and may be a little bit biased with Morales. They also had good views on how each boxer made way through each of the rounds.

In the sixth round, the tables have been turned and Pacquiao’s punches were hitting at will and Morales was apparently becoming tired of the fight (I watched a short video highlight) showing he had a good grip of the ropes when he began to get manhandled, like a lizard clinging for its dear life on the ceiling of my childhood house). Consistently, 10-9 was scored in favor of Pacquiao on the later rounds.

Then I noticed the updating of the scoreboard seemed to stop. I was busy with the movie and my housework that I did not notice the commentary that indicated Manny Pacquiao exacted his revenge over Erik Morales.

I can only imagine how ecstatic the country has been, with this development. As barbershops, eateries, movie houses at shopping malls were filled with excited audience, anxious to see if their hero will bring home the bacon this time. He did! From the flag-waving Filipino fans by the ringside of Thomas and Mack Center to the flag-waving citizens at Plaza Miranda, the country is one in celebration.

With a bonanza of P200 million (plus pay-per-view receipts, minus tax) from his latest fight, Manny Pacquiao is now bounded with wealth. With firm support from the President of the Philippines, he is now bounded with power. With several commercial endorsements and movie appearances, he is now bounded with fame.

Hopefully, despite the lures of these luxuries of life, he will still continue to be a model for the entire Filipino people, for his victory has united a society divided a nation, something that the President of the Philippines could not do.

****

During our SFC household meeting, Chito got us a recorded fight between Pacquiao and Morales. What Manny did was indeed heroic. The fight has the makings of an epic until Miguel Arroyo and Chavit Singson climbed the ring and tried to get as much publicity as they can. Worse, the President of the Philippines made her own way of being thoughtful, no matter how much boos she would be getting. Had Morales won the match, I won't expect Mexico's president Vicente Fox to give a call to congratulate him.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

ESPN's new look

I just can't help but admire how ESPN continues to evolve as my favorite sports web site. Just like what I planned to do -- a chronicle of events that shaped Davao all these years -- it also detailed how the web site revolutionized the way sports journalism is delivered online.

With videos, high quality photos and content-rich pages, I can be stuck in the site for an hour reading the articles (provided I haven't visited the site for the past 72 hours). And with the quality of their content so good that ESPN people began to think it's even more informative that the daily newspaper's sports section pegged at a dollar -- for free. Which led them to create Insider, a fee-based special section that contains NBA rumors (haha!), specialized content and other interesting facts and stats. I subscribed for six months spanning 2002 and 2003 but later ditched it when I found some of the posts were reposted by generous subscribers on one fan forum. I later found another sports info source and became irked further when I can only see those orange "Insider" logos across ESPN's NBA front page, mastered by Chris Ford and John Hollinger. I promptly posted my own sulking words towards ESPN.

But it did not last long before I came back frolicking over the scoresheets of ballgames between my favorite NBA team and formidable foes. ESPN is simply creative enough to rebrand itself as one of media's telling example of how journalism should be mixed with entertainment. All you need to do is setup your broadband connection and the information keeps on shooting in your brains.

While its cable presentation still is awesome (I think they feature at least five SUNS games telecast on a lazy Saturday morning all throughout this season), its web site reinvents itself with those never before imagined technologies plugged into your browser (Desktop scoreboard, ESPN 360, etc). I just keep on switching the tab of my Firefox browser when the Phoenix Suns has a game and I am in office.

I can't wait to see what they bring to the table next time they make an update. Congratulations on your tenth year!

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

If English is a crazy language, is Tagalog also the same?

Melanie Marquez has been battered with similar "Erap Jokes" type of forwarded messages, allegedly more truer than fabricated.

At a talk show after her break-up with Derek Dee, when asked if she had some words for Derek's mother, whom she partly blamed for the separation: "Oo nga," said Melanie, "Pero i-English-in ko para maintindihan niya." She looked into the camera and, with the peremptoriness of royalty, said, "And to you, Mrs. Dee, I have two words for you. Ang labo mo!"

Perhaps it was Melanie Marquez, maybe it was Kris Aquino or cr8ve phone SMS, but it's alarming to see how the quality of English language deteriorates when it became part of the Tagalog lingo. Many call center applicants don't get the job because of poor English proficiency. But honestly, it's even more difficult to discuss the Pilipino topics as subject in my primary and high school years: pangungusap, pambalana, panag-uri, balarila, pangngalan even more for me who grew up talking in Cebuano dialect.

When I receive an SMS from someone I tend to be lenient to understand what the message means even if the grammar is wrong and the Taglish combination is rather freaky. "Kain muna me" or "BRB".

When coños talk about things they mix everything up so their inability to speak straight English has become more obvious, "Let's make tusok the fishball", "I'm so init na; make paypay me naman o.", "Pare, she’s so malabo, pare."

And even the not so coños have their own way of talking, seems like a cross between gaytalk "chuva" (what the heck is the meaning of this?), and commonly accepted phrases like "Deny to death" (may you die in denying?) or "Kaka touch naman!"

Even when I was in Davao two years ago, I heard new terms "haller" (simply means hello) and "gerger" (sexual intercourse). I wonder when will this lexical imbroglio will lead us in a few years. It's like people have nothing to do but try to revolutionize our language.

Ask the children to spell words and most of them will fail because many of such words have been twisted. Who told you to use the word "anywayz" in a sentence?

Even traffic reporters at AM and FM stations in Manila have been hit with this chronic malady. Too bad. Let's get this strait and hope we can fix the mess. I don't believe Tagalog is a crazy language. And so before foreigners go gaga on learning how to speak it, let's first learn our own Tagalog dialect properly.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Bob Martin and Mindanao

Bob Martin deserves a mention about his positive feedback of Davao City and Mindanao. An American with Filipina wife, he has lived in Mindanao (mainly Davao and General Santos cities) for the past years. And even if his country of origin often issues travel advisories on Mindanao, his web site www.mindanao.com is a testament that Mindanao is not a land of conflict. It is a land of people from various ethnicities harmoniously living and looking for a progressive Mindanao.

I agree with his statement that most people who consider Mindanao a dangerous place are the ones who never got into the place and will probably have a hard time to disprove their thoughts (and from other media sources) until they go to Mindanao themselves. There are dangerous places to go, of course, but many areas in Mindanao are safe to go. I consider Davao City, Cagayan de Oro City or General Santos City even safer (read: better place to live) than Metro Manila. The thing is that if you go to Mindanao or any other place for the first time, you must exercise caution. He hit the nail when he said "common sense". :)

Whenever I tell people I am from Davao City and they do not know where it is, I tell them it's in Southern Philippines. They start to paint a grim look at their faces and ask me, "Is it safe there?". I just shrug off their worries and tell them, "of course!". Just like the lunch I had with clients at Harbour Plaza last Friday. Their perception about Mindanao is that it's a land of war and kidnapping and bombing.

Davao City is hosting the Asean Tourism Forum in a few days and I hope it will be a successful one. It's a chance for Davao City and Mindanao to be known as an area for tourism and not about war, kidnapping and bombing.

I wish journalists will be more responsible about what they write. And may they learn a thing or two from an American like Bob Martin.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Letting Go

This piece of forwarded e-mail from former Hong Kong buddies Jun (now in Tokyo) and Aggie (now in Singapore). It's about letting go. To me it's very difficult but as long as you are exerting effort to let go, that's a start. And as we start the new year, this one might be a good dose for everybody:


There are people who can walk away from you. And hear me when I tell you this! When people can walk away from you:

LET THEM WALK

I don't want you to try to talk another person into staying with you, loving you, calling you, caring about you, coming to see you, staying attached to you. I mean hang up the phone.

When people can walk away from you let them walk. Your destiny is never tied to anybody that left.

The Bible said that, they came out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not for us. For had they been of us, no doubt they would have
continued with us. [1 John 2:19]

People leave you because they are not joined to you. And if they are not joined to you, you can't make them stay.

LET THEM GO.

And it doesn't mean that they are bad persons, it just means that their part in the story is over. And you've got to know when people's part in your story is over so that you don't keep trying to raise the dead. You've got to know when it's dead.

You've got to know when it's over. Let me tell you something. I've got the gift of good-bye. It's the tenth spiritual gift, I believe in good-bye. It's not that I'm hateful, it's that I'm faithful, and I know whatever God means for me to have He'll
give it to me. And if it takes too much sweat I don't need it. Stop begging people to stay.

LET THEM GO.

If you are holding on to something that doesn't belong to you and was never intended for your life, then you need to......

LET IT GO.

If you are holding on to past hurts and pains......

LET IT GO.

If someone can't treat you right, love you back, and see your worth.....

LET HIM/HER GO. (Ugh!)

If someone has angered you.....

LET HIM/HER GO.

If you are holding on to some thoughts of evil and revenge......

LET IT GO.

If you are involved in a wrong relationship or addiction......

LET IT GO.

If you are holding on to a job that no longer meets your needs or talents.....

LET IT GO.

If you have a bad attitude.......

LET IT GO.

If you keep judging others to make yourself feel better......

LET IT GO.

If you're stuck in the past and God is trying to take you to a new level in Him......

LET IT GO.

If you are struggling with the healing of a broken relationship.......

LET IT GO.

If you keep trying to help someone who won't even try to help themselves......

LET HIM/HER GO.

If you're feeling depressed and stressed .........

LET IT GO.

If there is a particular situation that you are soused to handling yourself and God is saying "take your hands off of it," then you need to......

LET IT GO.

Let the past be the past. Forget the former things. GOD is doing a new thing for 2006.

LET IT GO.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Our 15th Member

We used to call him "singkaw" in an apparent reference to his twisted elbow after he fell down from the carabao he was riding when we're in grade school. If the painful reminder of that fall were still prominent, the monicker would not dissipate -- ever. Even when he is now a police officer whose in charge of 91 "able bodied soldiers", as his recent e-mail would describe his troops, a scar on his elbow is still evident of that fateful day.

Grecel is a man of gallant stance, loud, intimidating voice and affable, contagious laughter. Right from the start he had the leadership quality, showing off his skill as a neophyte troop leader of our Kawan 177 under Ma'am Papin in Grade 2. It was around this time when he lost his father, a salesman and probably his inspiration to do these stuff, to cardiac arrest. Couple it with the fall, and he was a skinny kid, whose elbow was cast and later subject to taunts of classmates and friends.

Singkaw...

When bullying was common in our neighborhood, the only way to get around him was to scamper around and shout the word which only sparked his fits of rage chasing his antagonist.

He was my classmate in Grade five and the annual boy scout camp is to be held at Malagos, home to the Philippine Eagle. It was raining and he was absent for the past two days due to fever. But he surprised the class of Bougainvilla under Ma'am Alejandro when he showed up at the departure day, wearing the rosary as his necklace, ready with provisions for the camp.

In high school, he was our Company Commander, a rung under the corps leadership of Aldrin, the Corps Commander, Adjutant Warlito, Logistics Officer Joanne and me as the Intelligence Officer. He could easily pass as the leader of the battalion but was instead appointed in the most influential post of all. He commands leadership among the two platoons of male cadets, who are his close friends off the pitch.

In college, he was a high ranking official at University of Southeastern Philippines ROTC corps, Davao's consistent topnotcher at annual tactical inspection. It was 1994 when I was in my second year and a sophomore at University of the Immaculate Conception when our school scored a sensational upset over Rodel, Iga and the rest of the Ateneo de Davao ROTC, an intra-city rival. But when it was the turn of USEP, we got swept to third spot, after Notre Dame of Marbel coveted the cinderalla finish. When I asked John Elmer about the feat of USEP-Mintal joining their cadres of Obrero campus, he proudly told me it's because one of our childhood friends was lording over the disciplined troops, ushering them to another top podium finish at the end of the inspections.

It was not surprising when he skipped Mechanical Engineering and went through a military school in the north. By that time I was in UIC as a programmer and I seldom hear about him.

Recently, I learned he was assigned in Maragusan, a town in Davao del Norte bounded by pristine ecological beauty and attraction to local and foreign adventure seekers. At the same time, it was known that many Communist rebels are in the area. Probably he was put there because he deserves such challenge.

And when he found time to search for something a few days ago, he found my photo online and got curious of what is going on. I immediately invited him to be the 15th member of our Yahoogroups. A day later he is officially a member of mintal_barkadas, joining us in reminiscing and keeping in touch.

Just as Apolinario Mabini was the brains of the Philippine revolution despite being a polio victim or Lance Armstrong withstood bouts with cancer to win his seventh Tour de France title, being "singkaw" was never ever a reason for Grecel to lead the 91 gallant men serving the country.

Welcome to the Group!