Achieving Happiness

Being innately grungeslashlaid-back in my clothes has not,   immuned me from curiousity about couture as a form of self expression and art. Like aconfirmed fashionista (which I’m really not), I’d read the fashion updates and reports in th glossy magazines where many of friends of college now work: Metro, Preview; as well as the foreign high fashion publications such as Vanity Fair and  the ever-reliable Vogue. 

Last night I had a dinner-interview with Philippine avant garde fashion designer Eddie Baddeo,and he was such a revelation.

Before I go any deeper into our interview, I simply have to state that he was so beautiful! I’d totally forgotten that he was male because he looked so much like a dainty, fragile porcelain doll. I kept addressing him as ‘Ma’am,’ and he was very gracious about not correcting me.

But the best thing I liked about him was how humble, unassuming and down-to-earth he was. He spoke of his craft as his passion, and how he coped with the sometimes harshly discouranging challenges that came his way. We talked for two hours, and we barely ate the Thai dinner served before us.

Eddie is known in the Phiippines for his unusual fashion design sense. Reputed to be an innovative and inventive artist, he was once tagged as "the bad boy of Phil. Fashion." I’m no fashion critic, but judging from the way he described his work and from the fashion spreads in the internet on his creations, it does appear that he deserves the label.

He was once employed as house designer of movie/tv actress Boots Anson Roa’s garment factory and apprenticed designer of then couturiers Miguel Paez and Robert Castaneda in the early 80s.

hmm, work beckons…

It’s Saturday morning and I’m alone at the office. Everyone else is off enjoying the four-day Chinese New Year holiday, and I’m here doing research.

Oh well.

It isn’t as if had any other place to go to today. If I stayed in the room I’m renting, I’d've just plonked in front of the tv til moss and lichen grew all over me. It doesn’t do to read, either; the perpetual-early-morning-cold-weather makes me feel sleepy, and after only three or four pages I already feel my eyelids drooping.

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I’ve realized that it’s something of a crime here to have bad hair. Most women here (excepting the old folks) have had something done to their hair — straightened, dyed, cellophaned it — every chemical processing procedure for hair known to man. The number of shampoo brands and variants in the stores are freakin’ mind-boggling — often they take up more shelf-space than any other health and beauty product.

The funny thing to all this, however, is this: most Chinese don’t take baths everyday, and they don’t wash their hair very often. I’v been told that what they do is put some kind of cream on their strands before they go to bed, and when they get up the next morning they just brush their manes, use the hairdryer for a bit of volume, and presto! tv ad-quality hair.

I will not pass judgment on this not habit, but I cannot help but cringe a little, thinking of all the chemicals on the scalp building up…

In the meantime, I have already been advised to have my hair treated. Specifically, to have it straightened. Easier to maintain in the mornings, and through the day. I happen to have wavy hair, and since its mostly wash-and-go for me every morning, by midday I’ve already begun my transformation into a Scotchbrite Mop.

On a really cold day and I direly wish I could go without washing my hair, I can’t help but think the best thing would be to have all my locks chopped off. A few years back I had cropped hair, the razor missing my scalp just three inches and I would’ve been completely bald. I liked it because it was a very low-maintenance kind of style.

If I shaved my hair now, I’d have less hassle trying to keep it from turnin into a fright wig, but I’d probably freeze to death. Cold air attacks the head first; and thus it should be the first thing we need to cover an keep covered. 

Anyways, the procedure recommended for me (according to my more fashionista-type co-workers in the paper) is called Thermal Reconditioning. According to a flyer I’ve been handed on the street, thermal reconditioning is "…A permanent reforming of the structure of hair, done with the same chemical solution as used in perms, but with a flat iron instead of perming rods. Thermal reconditioning is better for wavy hair rather than kinky or curly hair, which will show a curly root too quickly. Results last six to ten months, and then only hair regrowth needs to be thermally reconditioned."

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The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines is supporting the (stupid) calls of the DepEd that English be reinstated as the official medium of instruction.

Of course, the TUCP can always be expected to back recommendations like this. After all, The TUCP is all about creating a labor force open and vulnerable to all forms of exploitation: basta employed, period.

English as the medium of instruction.

Bakit, sa bahay ba ng mga karaniwang Pilipino, Ingles ang wikang ginagamit ng mga magulang para kausapin ang kanilang mga anak? Ingles ba ang lenggwage ng mga manggagawa sa export processing plants sa Timog Katagalugan; sa mga palayan ng Gitnang Luzon; sa mga pier kung saan dumadaong ang mga barkong nagbababa ng mga produktong hinahakot at pinapasahan ng mga istibador na kapwa mga Bisaya mula sa Bicol?

Not to criticize Filipino teachers, but most  of them especially in the public schools are not fluent or conversant in English; not even those who teach the subject are. Hindi naman kasi  natin talaga wika ang Ingles –bakit ipagpipilitan ito?

Mahusay at mainam na marunong ang mga Pilipino na magsalita ng Ingles, pero ang pag-aaral at pagtuturo nito ay hindi ang dapat gawing prayoridad ng DepEd, kundi ang pagtitiyak na: 1) Sapat ang sweldo ng mga guro; 2) Sapat ang mga eskwelahan at mga silid, pati na mga kagamitan para sa patuloy na lumalaking bilang ng mga estudyante sa mga pampulikong paaralan; 3) Sapat ang bilang ng mga guro; 4) Tama ang kurikulum na itinuturo, partikular sa mga subject ng kasaysayan, sibika at kultura.

Bakit ipipilit na Ingles na muli ang medium of instruction? Para i-train ang mga Pinoy na magtrabaho sa mga call center, o magdomestic helper sa Hong Kong o Saudi at turuan ang mga anak ng mga employer nila na mag-Ingles?

Hong Kong is an international, global city. But most Chinese here don’t speak English - at best, most only have a smattering of it. But they’ve done well! Despite the refusal of the British to teach the locals English even after colonizing Hong Kong for a century, the people of Hong Kong are doing more than ok economically, financially speaking.

Halata naman kasi ang mga motibo ng mga Brits for not making English part of the school curriculum: kung natuto ang mga Instik na mag-Ingles noon pa man, malamang mas maaga nilang napalayas ang mga gweilo (foreign ghost, or demon, they Brits are called here) dahil di na sila kailangan. The Chinese are the best when it comes to math, after all; and they have a very keen business sense. Who needs the British?

Parang sa Pilipinas — who needs the American  or Japanese  or European MNCs and TNCs na wala namang ginawa kundi higupin ang resources ng bansa, at samantalin ang siil at barat na paggawa sa Pilipinas? Dapat magtayo tayo ng mga sarili nating batayang industriya na magsisilbi sa pangangailangan ng mga Pilipino. Mapapatakbo ang mga pagawaan, opisina at tanggapan na Filipino ang wikang ginagamit ng mga tao upang mag-usap, gumawa ng mga transaksyon at umunlad.

By all means, teach English — but within the proper context and with the proper objectives; and only as a specific course or subject.  We study and learn and speak the language because it is what will enable us to communicate with the world at large; pero sa kasalukuyang sitwasyon at kalakaran ng lipunang Pilipino, elitista ang mag-aral at gumamit ng Ingles. Ginagamit ito ng mga nasa poder, mga nasa malalaking negosyo para tiyaking hindi naunawaan ng mayorya ang mga ginagawang pandaraya, pandurugas  at paniniil sa kanila pagdating sa mga batas, panukala, patakaran.

Mas maipapaliwanag ang kasaysayan ng bansa, ang mga pang-araw-araw na karanasan ng pang-aapi at pagsasamantala sa mamamayan ; ang mga hakbang na dapat gawin upang mapalaya ang bansa at ang sarili sa pagsasamantala ng gobyerno, ng sistema at mga traydor na tagapangtanggol nito sa wikang kayang unawain at gamitin ng mayorya sa Pilipinas, at hindi ito Ingles.

Ginagapos lang natin ang ating mga sarili at ang mamamayan kung sa isang dayuhang wika natin ilalahad ang ating mga karanasan bilang isang bayan at sambayanan.

Paano natin uunawain ang mga tunay na kalagayan, at paano natin haharapin ang mga hamon ng panahon kung ang mga paliwanag ay nasa isang wikang hindi nauunawaan ng pinakamarami? Hindi wika ng masa ang Ingles, at bagamat dapat naman talaga itong pag-aralan at ituro, hindi ang pag-aaral at pagtuturo nito ang dapat manaig sa malawakan at mas popular na paggamit wikang Filipino. #

There’s a blog I’ve stumbled upon that’s titled HongKongphooey (sorry, I don’t link things here), and mainly it’s a long, hilarious and seemingly endless rant about how the writer hates Hong Kong, it’s weather, its inhabitants, the transportation system, the money - heck, almost everything. I’m under the impression that the guy has no choice but to stay because his work is here; but given the chance, he’d pack his bags in a jiffy.

But not before spray-painting with obscene graffiti all the walls surrounding the Hong Kong executive government offices.

Anyways. I don’t hate Hong Kong; but I’m not insane about it, either. I love the order and efficiency of the transport system and the technology and art that have evidently one into the architecture of the corporate buildings; but the coldness and rudeness of the Chinese here..unfuckingbelievable.

I think that the freezing weather here is further exacerbated by the anti-social attitude and public conduct of the people here. They rush to and fro, never apologizing when they bump into you; they don’t stand up and give their seats on the MTR to old ladies. There’s an atmosphere of …apathy and antipathy. It’s like they loathe each other,  loathe  foreigners, loathe the world. Not that I’ve really experienced any racial discrimination, but hell, these people don’t seem to know how to smile or laugh. At the grocery, say at ParkandSave or Wellcome, the women have expressions of creeping hopelessness on their faces as they choose between decaf instant crystals or decaf coffee fine powdered. When they converse to each other in public places, they  look and sound like they’re arguing. It worse with the men: they always appear to be on the brink of brawling and tearing off then stuffing each other’s neckties down each other’s throats. 

They look constipated. It’s the relentless worrying and hurrying and meaningless scramble for money, money, money.

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My first (and so far only) experience with Hong Kong friendliness was last night when I went with my friend Chi to downtown Central to look for CDs. We were passing through an alley when we came across a man selling CDs from a carton box. He was about 5′6 and lanky; and he had a shock of messy hair. He wore Elvis Costello glasses and white, high-topped Chucks with his red hoodie sweater.

Chi and I skimmed through the titles and after a minute unearthed two albums by Jeff Buckley and the Doves.

To my surprise, while Chi and I were pondering over how the hell Jeff Buckley drowned ("Pare, drugs yun. Malamang bangag…" "Siguro lasing. Matindi hang-over…"), theguy pipes up.

"So what’s your favorite Buckley song?"

Hands downand unanimous - Last Goodbye.

Chi and the man (I think he was about 35) went on to talk about good ol’ sainted Jeff, I looked at the man and saw how animated his face had gotten. How comfortable and even happy he looked talking to us. His hands weilded an invisible baton, conducting the notes to a once-popular but still well-loved new-wave beat. He went on to explain things about his "business."

"Very unstable. Sometimes I come here Tuesdays and Wednesdays; sometimes I’m also here on Thursdays and Fridays, usually from 9:30-11:30pm."

He was an unlicensed street vendor, but his goods were original and new. The cellophane shrink wrap was still intact on the disk boxes. I think he got them off from friends and contacts from the big CD stores. Bottom-prices: what would ordinarily have a sticker printed $125-$150, he sold for $50-$70.

Music. Unites people - even those from the grouchier races.

More later…

It surprises no one that the Macapagal-Arroyo administration has started to eat away at the funds supposedly alloted for the victims of the Marcos dictatorship and for the agrarian reform program.

After all, what else can one expect from a government that cheated, lied and stole itself to power? A government that allows — even justifies in indirect but insidious ways the massacre of civilians, political activists, human rights advocates and journalists? 

The original amount was pegged at P10 B, but now it’s come out at senate-led investigations that there’s already P2 B missing.

Even as KARAPATAN, SELDA and other organizations fighting for justice and indemnifaction of the Marcos victims continue to press the government into finalizing, passing and implementing a law that will finally release the funds into the hands of the victims and funnel what will be left of it into agriculture, it can only be an act of prudence to point out and accept that the chances of this law coming to pass under Macapagal-Arroyo are only two: slim and none.

Human rights and justice are anathema to this administration, so hell-bent is it on crushing political dissent and opposition, and protecting its turf and illegal, immoral claim to office. Despite widespread protests, it has (1) legalized the establishment of a national ID system; (2) pushed for an anti-terrorism bill; (3) started the process of amending the 1987 Constitution with the clear motive of perpetuating itself in power and removing all obstacles in its way such as possible opposition from the Supreme Court and Congress.

Human rights is the last thing on the mind of this government and its executive. It even promotes killers to higher ranks! That, and welcome rapists in uniform, and let said rapists hide in the US embassy offices. 

Human rights? US military forces are on a rampage in the regions, blatantly joining in operations with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) against civilians they tag as terrorists or terrorist supporters.  Scores of Muslim Filipinos are in various jails in Basilan, Zamboanga and Metro Manila serving time for supposedly being members or suporters of the Abu Sayyaf, Jemaiah Islamiyah, or The Osama Bin Laden No.1 Fans Club Forever. Most of these Filipinos have not been formally charged, or given legal assistance, or given the chance to explain themselves in the proper legal venue.

In the meantime, Balance Piston 2006 - like previous mutual training exercises between the US and the Philippines - is nothing but a ruse to cover up the real intent behind the deployment of US military forces: to protect US investments in Mindanao; to re-enforce US military supremacy in Asia; and to wipe out all political and revolutionary forces that stand against US imperialism and its globalization agenda.

So many problems, yet the immdiate solution remains starkly solitary: remove the US-Macapagal-Arroyo regime and appoint a transition council that will pave the way to the creation, hopefully,of a new system of government which will not take human rights — as well as civil and democratic rights - so lightly.   

Charter Change is not the solution, and neither is transforming congress into parliament. How can these provide solutions to the continuously worsening economic and political turmoil in the country , when the very same faces, interests and ruling factions will also be the ones to take charge in the supposedly new-type of government?

According to the position paper of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) on charter change, shifting to a parliamentary form does not address the issue of who really wields political power in this country.

Bayan cites a study by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) showing that in 2004, two-thirds of the members of Congress come from political families or clans. The study goes on to show that Congress remains a “fortress of privilege” with the average net worth of a congressman being P21.9 million and a senator P59.3 million. A quarter of all senators have a net worth of P100 million.

"Shifting to a parliamentary form of government will not prevent the same multi-millionaires from entering the corridors of power nor will it check the already endemic problem of corruption because those in power continue to amass wealth and privilege," the BAYAN paper goes on to state.

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7:19pm Presswork is nearly over! Am so freakin’ relieved!

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I worked in Congress for five years, and apart from the great honor I felt bestowed upon me by the Kilusan for letting me work closely with the likes of Crispin Beltran, Satur Ocampo etc, I can say that the best thing that I can say about the entire experience is that it confirmed my most fears and beliefs about Philippine mainstream, traditional politics.

When pundits and political commentators refer to Congress as a massive crocodile pit, they’re being kind to congressmen and mean to crocodiles.

I am certain that there’s more than a handful of politicians who have it sincerely in their hearts and minds the intent to do good and to serve their constituencies - but holy heck, it’s very difficult (a feat akin to Sisyphus pushing his fabled, cursed rock up the incline) to push a genuinely pro-poor and pro-people, patriotic agenda because representatives are forced (and eventually, they become part of the rotten system if they haven’t been doing so from the beginning) to toe the Majority’s line (and the Majority line,for the most part is 99% anti-poor. After-all, they support the corrupt executive).

Would it benefit the Filipino people if Congress was abolished?
Or a better question - have the Filipino people benefitted from the laws passed by Congress? The EVAT, the lateral attrition law, the EPIRA? 

Random reports in Hong Kong:

1) Public school teachers last Sunday held massive protest against too many work hours, too much stress; demand immediate review of new education reform program;

2) Two-hour blaze destroys squatter area,300 left homeless;

3) Construction workers union also hold protests against exorbitant registration fees.

Reality report:

Waste paper collector Tai Kwok-tsui, 90, confronted police officers at a dump with a cutter after they threw away her scrap paper andtrolley which were supposedly blocking the street. She lashed out at them, "How dare you treat an old lady like this?! I’m going to beat up whoever threw away my things!". Her belongings were returned, along with an additional trolley.

In random order, what I did last night after coming home (well, it’s not home-home. Home is where my husband is, sniff):

1) Watched Monk;

2) Watched Japanese soap opera/made-for-tv-movie with unbelievably cheesy title but good plot and characterization "Crying out Love in the Centre of the World" (Sekai no chusin de, a e sakebu). Since there is no cable tv and cannot watch Gulong ng Palad which I’d been following to the incredulity of my husband before I left Manila, have resorted to watching Japanese soap instead;

3) Read  Irvine Walsh nihilist book "Glue" given by new friend Chi who has two adorable kids and wife Cherry waiting to give birth on Feb. 7;

4) Took a very warm bath. It’s unbearable to bathe in the mornings, nevermind that there’s a water heater;

5) Folded newly-laundered clothes with freezing hands;

6) Cut toenails at risk at slicing toes open because hands were jittery with cold;

7) Ate lemon chicken dinner.

The last item reminds me of something: the Kamei chickens here in Hong Kong are Frankenstein-type creatures. Genetically modified chickens that are the mutated descendants of at least six chicken breeds! Gaaaaaaah.

Hong Kong health trivia

The three biggest killers in Hong Kong (by deaths per year):

>Malignant neoplasm:11, 685

>Heart disease: 4,969

>Cerebrovascular disease: 3,218

Hospital beds per 1,000 people: 5

Chinese medicine practitioners per 1,000 people: 0.7

Suicide rate (women): 11.3 per 100,000 people

Suicide rate (men):13.4 per 100,000 people

Amount annually spent on weight-loss products and services: $33 billion

Doctors: 10,731

Pharmacists:1,414

Dentists, 1,907

Registered enrolled nurses:43,383

Midwives: 5,136

sources: wrongdiagnosis.com, world health organizaton, vegan family magazine

Call me naive, but it seems pretty clear and simple to me how the current situation in the Philippines should be read. The political factions currently in power (and theirequally recyclable equals among the second liners of wanna-be-powers-that-be) are showing undeniable signs of weakness.

The fractures within their system and organization are way beyond hiding, and they can no longer be fixed by a simple call to unity or the issuance of various fake-sincere platitudes.

The fact is, those who have remained in power for so long — keeping the rest of the Filipino people particularly the poor and the working masses under the yoke of poverty, ignorance and degradation– are losing their grip on the reins.

Even their armed and foot-soldiers have long begun to air their doubts and grievances against the Palace and are, little by little,building their strength to, perhaps, lash out against the inhabitants of the Palace.

The demarcation line between the oppressed and the oppresors has been drawn in wide but definite strokes. The Philippine government, the incumbent and its predecessors have done very little or nothing to make this nation and its people truly sovereign. They have established an economic and political system that strictly excluded the growth and development of the rest of the poor and working people, and only accomodated the self-serving goals and ambitions for wealth and power of the elite.

What do with such a system? How to take action when the pieces are coming in to place and decisiveness to lead is required, even necessary? The exploited and oppressed and those who truly represent their cause, willing to surrender their own life’s ambitions and even their own lives for the furtherance of the cause of the masses (the workers, the farmers, the urban and rural poor, middle class) will be the ones whose voices should be heard, and whose chained might will be unleashed.

But everything’s a process, and other factual, objective considerations are far too numerous to ignore (and it would be foolhardy to do so), so the resolution of all current political conflicts and the impact they have on the economy and every other aspect and sector of Philippine society will still be a long way in coming.

As the ruling system weakens, the opposition will strengthen: those who seek to replace it with another system  that will serve the interests of the exploited and pave the way for a Philippines that is truly sovereign and independent will exert greater effort to bring it to an end. What is crucial, however, is for the greatest and broadest unity be forged among those who want a different kind of nation to emerge. Principled unity, genuinely democratic and by no means controlled or manipulated by elements whose bottom-most loyalties lie primarily with their own elitist, economic classes.

In the meantime, the results of a recent survey indicate that Filipinos are still considering the option of popular protests as a means to tilt the balance of power and shake up the already chaotic system. (I’ve translated the data because the original news release in English, I found, carried a lead that directly contradicted the rest of the report’s content:

Mayorya ng Pinoy, susuporta o sasali sa People Power kay GMA kung pumutok

Limang taon makalipas ang ika-tatlong People Power sa loob ng dalawang dekada, marami pa ring Pilipino  kumikilala sa People Power bilang paraan ng pag-aalis ng isang pangulo. Ayon ito sa isang Survey ng Pulse Asia noong October 2005 na nilabas kamakailan.

Sa 1,200 na respondents, sinabi ng 42 percent na hindi sila pumabor sa huling tatlong nagdaan pag-aaklas laban sa gobyerno, subalit mas malaking 58 percent ang nagsabing susuporta sila sa mga pag-aaklas kung mapatunayan ang mga sala ng kasalukuyang presidenteng si Gloria Arroyo.

Samantala, sa huling tatlong People Power, ang naunang People Power o EDSA Revolution na nagpatalsik sa dating diktador na si Marcos ang nakakakuha ng pinaka-mataas na paborableng rating na 36 percent. Samantala, 10 percent lang sa mga respondents ang hindi pabor na January 2001 uprising laban naman kay pinatalsik na presidente Joseph Estrada; at eight percent ang sumuporta sa pag-aaklas na ginawa ng mga Estrada loyalists apat na buwan matapos mapatalsik si Estrada.

Ginawa ang survey mula Oktubre 15-27, 2005, batay sa mga face-to-face na interview. May margin of error ito ng plus o minus na six percentage points at a 95-percent confidence level.

Hindi pa rin humuhupa ang mga akusasyon ng pandaraya at pagnanakaw laban kay Arroyo. May 22 percent pa sa mga sinarbey ang nagsabing lalahok pa nga sila sa mga demonstrasyong para mapatalsik si Arroyo. Ang pinakamalaking bilang ng nagsabing susuporta silangunit hindi sasali sa mga demonstrasyon ay mula sa Mindanao (58 percent) at Maynila (50 percent).

Pinakamarami naman ang gustong sumuporta at sumali sa mga kilos protesta ay nasa kabuuan ng Luzon (34 percent). Sa Visayas naman pinakamataas ang bilang ng sinarbey na nagsabing hindi sila susuporta o sasali sa mga rali.

Kabilang sa mga dahilan ng mga hindi gusting sumali sa mga rali ang nagsabing marami silang inaasikaso, kasama na ang kabuhayan ng pamilya (25-48 percent). Isa naman sa bawat apat na kinausap ang nagsabing wala silang inaasahan na pagbabago sa pagpapalit ng pamunuan. May 18 percent ding nagsabi na ito ay dahil sa kakulangan ng mahuhusay at may kredibilidad na pinuno.

Eight percent naman ang nagsabi mayroon silang “people power fatigue.”

Sa mga kinausap, mababa ang bilang ng mga sumali sa kahit isa sa tatlong people power revolt. Sa buong bansa, tinatayang nine percent lang o apat na milyong Pilipino ang nagsabing sumali na sila sa kahit isang people power rally. Sa mga residente ng Metro Maynila na edad 18 na noong 1986, may 1.4 na milyon o 20 percent ang nagsabing lumahok sila sa 1986 EDSA uprising.Mas maliit naman na 13 percent o 200,000 ang sumama sa pag-aaklas ng Enero 2001. Walang kahit isa naman ang sumama sa May 2001 rallies.

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Being away from my country somehow has made me feel so much closer to it. This distance is allowing me the gift of being more objective.

The Filipino domestic helpers I meet and talk with everyday are living proof of why radical changes are needed in the economic and political set-up. The stories of their lives and their experiences give testimony to the truth that the Philippines is so far from being the ideal home to its people because of how those in power manipulate the government, the country’s resources and its laws. Social justice is nothing but a phrase here.

A few stories:

Tuwing Chinese New Year, wish ng ating mga kababayang namamasukan bilang domestic helper dito sa Hong Kong na maging galante ang kanilang mga amo. Bakit, kamo?  Umuulan kasi ng mga lai see, o mga red envelops na may lamang pera at good wishes! Chinese New year din kasi ang pinaka-busy na panahon para sa mga taga-Hong Kong, at lalo na para sa mga domestic helper. Umabot lang kasi sa maximum HK$3000/buwan  ang sweldo ng mga DH dito sa Hong Kong, at karaniwang HK$500 lang ang tinitira nila para sa mga pansariling pangangailangan dito.

Iba-iba ang karanasan ng ating mga kababayan sa lai see, pero pare-pareho ang pinaggagamitan nito: pandagdag sa sweldo, at panustos sa mga kailangan ng mahal na pamilyang naghigintay sa Pilipinas.

Para kay Delia Lagadi, president at trainor ng Philippine Citizens Crime Watch Association sa Hong Kong, laging mataba ang nakukuha nyang lai see envelop. May 16 na taon na sya sa kanyang amo na nagtatrabaho sa Chinese University, at umaabot sa HK$2000 ang kanyang kabuuang natatanggap na lai see money. Sa improvements ngkanyang bahay napupunta ang lahat ng ito.

Hindi naman kasing swerte si Linda Chi, pitong taon nang DH sa Quarry Bay. Dati rati, katumbas ng isang buwang sweldo ang kanyang natatanggap na lai see money, pero mula nang mamamatay ang kanyang amo ay hindi na ganito ang nakukuha nya. Bagamat namamasukan pa rin sya sa asawa ng kanyang yumaong amo, hindi raw ito kasing-mapagbigay.Nilalagay naman nya ang anumang naiipon nyang lai see money sa kanyang handicraft business sa Pilipinas na fossilized flowers.

Isang libong HK dollars naman ang nakukuha ni Noemi Omanito tuwing New Year. May 17 na taon na sya sa kanyang amo sa Prince Edward. Magaling si Noemi manghilot, manicure at pedicure at maggupit ng buhok, kaya sya rin ang ginawang hairdresser ng kanilang amo. “Maayos ang serbisyo ko sa kanila, kaya maganda rin ang bigay nila sa akin,” aniya. Ibinibili nya ng alahas ang kanyang lai see at hinahat-hati sa kayang apat na apo. Tubong Sta. Cruz, Ilocos Sur si Noemi.

Lumalabas na pinakaswerte pagdating sa lai see si Narcisa Reyes, o Ate Lali. Isa syang volunteer sa Bayanihan Kennedy Town Centre, at trainor sa dressmaking, tailoring, paggawa ng sabon at bridal accessories. Uammbot sa tumataginting na HK$4000 ang kanyang natatanggap na lai see kada new year. Naka-pitong kontrata na sya sa amo nya sa Parkview. Binabangko nya ang kanyang pera at ilalaan daw nya ito sa kanyang retirement na hinaharap, at para may maibilin mga regalo sa kanyang siyam na apo.

Sa huli, maliit man o malaki ang kanilang nakuhang lai see, malaking bagay pa rin ito para sa ating mga kababayan. Isang buong taong matapat at masipag na pagtatrabaho din ang kanilang binibigay sa kanilang mga pinapasukan, kaya’t talagang well-deserved nila ang mga Chinese New Year lai see lucky money.

Kahit  masabak sa mga panganib at problema, patuloy pa rin ang paglikas abroad ng mga Pilipino upang makapagbigay ng mas magandang bukas sa kanilang mga pamilya.   

Kung hindi sila lalaban, napipilitang magtiis ang mga OFW ng mga wage cut, kawalan ng mga benespisyo kabilang na mga day-off . Alam kasi nila na bawat dolyar na maipapadala   ay malaking tulong sa kanilang pamilya sa Pilipinas kung saan patuloy na sumisirit ang cost of living dahil sa pagtaas na rin ng presyo ng langis at singil sa kuryente, transportasyon at iba pang batayang serbisyong panlipunan.

Sa loob lamang ng 2005, higit P10 kada litro ang nadagdag sa presyo ng gasolina nang magtaas ito ng 21 beses. Dahil sa EVAT, nadagdagan pa ito ng tatlong piso. Ang presyo ng 11kg cylinder na LPG na dating P482 ay umabot na sa mahigit P500.

Ayon naman sa  National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), ang   daily family living wage para sa isang pamilya ng anim ay pumapatak na sa  P667.20. Napakalayo nito sa average  minimum wage na ang average ay kakampot na  P222.93.  Sa  National Capital Region (NCR) ang pinakamataas na   highest regional minimum wage rate na  P325. Malayo pa rin ito sa family living wage rate na P681.

Batay sa ulat ng  Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP o Central Bank of the Philippines) ang kabuuang remittance ng mga OFW sa unang 10 buwan ng 2005 ay umabot sa matayog na US$8.8 bilyon. Mataas ito ng  27.1 porsyento o  US$6.9 bilyon na naitala sa gayung ding panahon noong 2004. Galing ang malaking bahagdan ng remittance sa  U.S., Saudi Arabia, Italy, Japan, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates at Singapore. Remittances ang bumubuo sa 13.5 porsyento ng  gross domestic product (GDP) ng bansa.#

I wrote this article in May 2004. It was supposed be 

published in the Sunday Inquirer Magazine.

 I don't know why it didn't come out. In any case,

ONL is one of my favorite groups ever (yes,so 

lahat ng kokontra wag nang magbasa-okay Gian Paolo, hmmmm?!)


I wish I brought with me a copy of their first album. 

I like some of the songs in the second album,
but the first is really, well,I could play the
 CD all day and not get tired of it. Clem, the composer of the group,
is referred to O Brilliant One by this writer. 
He's humble to boot.

-----------------


Their first release "Just like A Splendid Love Song" has been number
1 on NU107's midnight countdown for three straight weeks. Snatches of
their other songs have been used as background music for GMA's teen
dramadies such as Click. In Cebu and Davao, many are frustrated to
find that their album can only be brought in Tower Records and Music
1 stores. With little or even no hype, a new band is slowly moving to
centerstage on the strength of their new-wave sound and the loyalty
they are generating among Manila's twenty-something to early-thirties
yuppie crowd.

Meet Orange and Lemons (ONL), four boys from Bulacan whose collective
slogan is refreshingly unpretentious: play well, make listeners
happy, and make more music.

The band's frontmen Clem Castro, 27 and Mcoy Fundales, 26, are
hometown boys, born and raised in Baliuag, Bulacan. They struck up a
friendship, and afterwards forged their musical partnership as high
school freshmen. Like many of their older contemporaries, they
idolized The Beatles, and it was the legendary band from Liverpool
that in inspired them to write their first songs and construct their
first melodies.

ONL's drummer and base guitarist are brothers from neighboring
Plaridel, Ace Del Mundo, 26 and JM Del Mundo, 25. Both are
determinedly into music for the long haul, , saying they'd even work
as clerks in a rinky-dink record store just so they can continue
being part – however obscurely – of the music scene.

With the release of their first album under Toti Dalmacion's indie
label Terno records, Orange and Lemons is swiftly becoming known as
the latest newest new wave band to follow, taking up where the
Eraserheads and Rivermaya have left off. The boys, however, hasten to
say that they're not strictly a new wave band.

Not a new wave band

Mcoy who acts as the band's spokesperson, says that it just so
happened that their sets – they play regularly at Gweilos in Palanca
St. Makati and Mayric's along Espana – in their earlier gigs mostly
included new wave songs. The audience, college students and yuppies,
and a few older denizens of Makati's corporate world clamored for
more, and the boys ended up playing new wave songs more than any
other kind of songs.

ONL's first album "Love in the Land of Rubber Shoes and Dirty Ice
Cream," is composed of 10 songs that pays tribute to the legendary
Beatles, Morrissey, The Smiths and other bands of the 80s. The
comparisons between ONL's music and those aforementioned are rife;
and more often not this is enough to get listeners to pay closer
attention and want to rush to the store to get the album. But beyond
the comparison, "Love in the Land of Rubber Shoes and Dirty Ice
Cream" can stand on its own and claim fame for the band that produced
it.

Named after an album of a Wiltshire, UK group XTC (the actual name
of the album is Oranges & Lemons), the group owes much to the Beatles
and Morrisey and other bands of the 80s. The band, however, pays its
debts promptly and with interest. Though composers Clem and Mcoy
cannot be credited for having composed anything really new or
definitive, what they have done, however is to create more of a great
thing and add to it their own unique and to some degree brilliant
touches. The melodies and song structure may bear strong semblances
to those of the artists they emulate and count as biggest
influences, but the sentiment and the lyricism are most definitely
their own.

"We can play other kinds of music. We're into RNB, jazz, metal; but
right now the people who come to our gigs want to hear new wave, and
that's what we give them," he says. "The nostalgia factor is very
strong. New wave immediately connects people to their past, and it
makes them remember happy times. Our sets are always happy events
that way."

Sure enough, Gweilos on a Wednesday is jampacked with twenty and
thirty-somethings yelling out song titles by The Wild Swans,
Psychedelic Fur, the Sundays, House Martins, The Cure, and of course,
the Smiths and Morrissey. The audience sings along to the band, and
ever so often, Mcoy would oblige and turn over his microphone to a be-
necktied yuppie, crooning "If you leave, don't look back. I won't
waste one single day…"

Mcoy has boy-next-door looks and has a free and easy manner, even
malambing. When performing, he looks like he's really enjoying
himself, and establishes contact with the audience by smiling and
nodding. During the seconds-long lull between songs, girls in the
audience call out to him and take pictures with their camera-phones.
As for Clem, he fits into the role of being the group's John Lennon.
Her wrote most of the songs in the album as well as the 10 others
that are scheduled for the second, although he shares credit for the
melodic structure and arrangement with Mcoy.

On stage, Clem is barely contained energy and adrenalin, his guitar
taking a beating yet producing amazing sound. Off stage, he is
alternately quiet, even reserved. Then, when the conversation takes
an interesting turn and he is gripped with an opinion, he speaks with
intensity. He excitedly runs a hand through his curly hair, his China
eyes bright.

And has it been mentioned that these boys can actually sing? Unlike
many of their counterparts in other start-up bands and even in the
established groups, the boys' vocal chords are trained to produce
actual music, and not just screeches, moans or agonized screams.
Clem's rendition of "Kailangan Kita" or McCoy singing "Days and
Nights" are enough to prove that these boys are for real.

Musicians in training

If ONL has a John Lennon in Clem, and a Paul McCartney in Mcoy, then
the band should also have a George Harrison and a Ringo Starr.

Bassist JM, the youngest in ONL, certainly fits the Sir George mold.
He sits quietly in his corner, listening as the others do the
talking, only answering when directly asked.

"I wish I had more time to practice," he says plainly, when asked
what he wants to do to improve his skill. "I want to read more books
and get a better guitar, and make fewer mistakes when playing." JM
looks more boyish than Mcoy, and does remind one of the late George.
Performance wise, JM provides a steady backbone, a hardy rhythm to
the lightning-swift playing of the two leads. He keeps his head
bowed, as if concentrating.

Drummer Ace is his brother's opposite. Where JM is quiet, Ace is
gregarious and communicative. He offers his opinion frankly, calling
a spade a spade.

"I believe we have what it takes to succeed. Sure, we don't have
formal music training, and we don't have hi-tech equipment, but we
love what we do, we're great at it, and we're determined to keep
getting better," he says. He recites a litany of sorrows against the
music industry and how it's being run. He echoes the sentiment of
genuine musicians who fail to secure the support of the
establishment, the same establishment which puts money in the
production of, say, novelty songs with suggestive to overtly lewd
lyrics.

JM and Ace have no other ambition than to be the best musicians that
they can be. Ace admits to locking himself in his room, practicing a
minimum of four hours on his drumkit. "I'd practice longer, pero
nabubugbog nang mga braso ko. I wouldn't be able to play during
gigs," he laughs. The brothers are conscious of how much it costs to
be a musician in training. "The cheapest guitar strings cost P1,500 a
set; drumsticks are P250 a pair, and the best thing that can be said
about these sticks are that you can actually play with them without
splintering them," he adds.

Sour and Sweet

While ONL is only recently getting recognition, it has been actually
been around for quite a bit.

Clem and Mcoy formed the original ONL in July 1999, together with Ato
Santiago and Mike Salvador. With the help of friends such as Maly
Andres, who played bass for the band Violent Playground, they were
able to produce and record two singles, "She's Leaving Home"
and "Isang Gabi" which were released in December 2002, in an indie
compilation album No Seat Affair! Vol. 2.

The first single enjoyed airplay in a local rock station supporting
the so-called independent bands. ONL began to generate a modest
following, but was crippled when Ato and Mike decided to leave the
band.

Undiscouraged, Clem and Mcoy took in Ace who originally played rhythm
guitar in an alternative band named Colossal Youth.
"Truth were told, Ace was the one who all gung-ho about keeping ONL
intact. He would come over to the house and say "Sige pare, okay lang
yan, tuloy natin ang ONL!" Mukulit. Clem and I were just about ready
to give up," Mcoy remembers.

Ace was so determined to get ONL back on its feet that he shifted
from guitar to drums. It took him four months and eight hours of
practice daily, but he did it. "For the love of ONL," he says.
It was certainly an uphill struggle for the boys. They all had
college degrees tucked under their respective belts, but what was
crucial was they get jobs that would deliver them the most cash at
the shortest possible time.

Mcoy admits to having sold hamburgers; he declines to say for which
fastfood restaurant. Ace was the only one who had a more or
less `normal' job. "It was boring, but it was a living," he says of
his former work as a draftsman. For the most part, Clem, Mcoy and JM
did networking.

Networking?

"You know, selling products to a network of people, and expanding the
scope of your contacts you could sell more products," Mcoy explains
matter of factly. As the interviewer still looks blank, Ace steps
in.

"We sold Forever Living products."

Oh.

They all begin to sound so defensive it's hard not to laugh.

"We didn't go door-to-door or anything."

"We did earn a lot."

"It was so we could get money to buy instruments and peddle our demo
tapes around."

Okay, okay.

They got a new manager, booked a few gigs, and after a few weeks,
word was spreading about an up and coming new wave band whose own
compositions rivaled the covers they did.

When Jeremy Kelly of the Lotus Eaters came to the country and chanced
to hear ONL's first single, he all raved about it, saying that the
song "is a well-executed journey into the major / minor chord
sequencing so redolent of English pop music at its best. The bitter-
sweet music of Orange and Lemons makes an ideal accompaniment to the
English Autumn, a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness and it is
only a matter of time before their music is known here."

Fans of the group maintain egroup, predictably called
orange_and_lemons@yahoogroups.com and there their the members rant
and rave about the boys and their performances. No, it's not just
girls and women who post, but men as well: business executives, music
reviewers, and many other professionals who profess to be addicted to
ONL because the group's music `takes them back to their youth. One
even posts his own reviews, calling ONL's music as " Positive,
inspired and absolutely, brilliant."

The boys are far from getting jaded.

"We haven't really gotten anywhere yet; and we're very, very grateful
to the people who show their faith in us and encourage us," Clem says
fervently.

The laconic JM agrees. "Nakakatuwa naman ang suporta." Make no
mistake, even when he has his head down when he plays on stage, JM is
still aware of the happy energy their playing generates.

Fans of the group already have plans to help their favorite quartet
get to the top. They rub their thumbs raw texting radio stations to
include ONL's songs in their daily and weekly countdowns. They fax
and email and spread the word about where to get ONL's album; but
most importantly they troop like devotees to all of the boy's gigs.

These four boys just might be the next big thing. As Clem jokes,
something people will remember Bulacan for aside from the pasalubong
staples chicaron, inipit and boxed sweet tamarinds.#

"In literary and art criticism there are two criteria the political and the artistic…

There is the political criterion and there is the artistic criterion; what is the relationship between the two? Politics cannot be equated with art, nor can a general world outlook be equated with a method of artistic creation and criticism. We deny that there is an abstract and absolutely unchangeable political criterion, but also thatthere is an abstract and absolutely unchangeable political criterion; each class in every society as its own political and artistic criteria. But all classes in all class societies invariably put the political criterion first and the artistic criterion second…What we demand is the unity of politics and art; the unity of content and form, the unity of the revolutionary political content and the highest possible perfection of artistic form. Works of art which lack artistic quality have no force, however progressive they are politically. Therefore, we oppose both works of art with a wrong political viewpoint and the tendency towards the "poster and slogan" style which is correct in political viewpoint but lacking in artistic power. On questions of literature and art we must carry on a struggle on two fronts.

- Mao Zedong, Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art, page 88.(bold italics mine)

————

I haven’t bought a map to Hong Kong. I don’t think I’m going to need it- mostly I’ll be taking the bus and the rail. There are rail and bus schedules, and quite coherent directions. There’s isn’t any chance that I’ll get lost so long as I keep reading the signs.

What I need here, however, is a guidebook.

On my first afternoon here, I went walking down Hollywood Road here in Sheung Wan. This area is mostly known for its antique and curio stores.Big vases, warrior wooden effigies and marble or stoneBuddha statues supposedly dating back to this or that dynasty. Ivory tusks carved in minute and intricate details depicting images of a fishing village, a busy village market, a pond full of gracefully yet fitfully moving koi.

There are galleries and art shops three on every block. Paintings and tapestries and tea stores (selling valuable stone and chinaware — fragile things of pristine white, creamy loam brown, greenglass green) and antique furniture exhibition stores featuring chiffarobes and lounging tables, folding doors, ottomans varnished and finished to a high, shining gloss. There are bead stores with rows and rows of tables on top of which are greenjade bowls full of clay, glass, wood and china beads millefiore,chevron, eyes, bodom, granulated silver and gold, tiny bone spheres.

I like this street. I feel like I’m drowning in the wealth of images, the rich luxury of man-made creation. I am quite content to stand in front of the display windows, or look into the glass cases and feel myself somewhat taken over by awe. Man-made beauty and art: it’s been quite a while since I’ve been able to appreciate them at leisure, and now that I am able to so, I somewhat feel weakened.

This is the same feeling I get whenever I read, say, John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman, or certain passages by Albert Camus ("And here are trees and I know their gnarled surface, water and I can feel its tatse. These scents of grass and stars at night, certain evenings when the heart relaxes - how shall I negate this world whose power and strength I feel?")

So now I bring along my guidebook.

At the risk of sounding like a stereotype (or a religious nut, or a cult member like what anti-tibaks libel people who read revolutionary literature), I will write that I read Mao every night. I read his words to remind of what I was trained to be, what I am, where I should really be, and what I should really be doing.

And should do even now, even as I try to regain my bearings and get all my ducks in line.

A new friend of mine saw the book in my bag yesterday and asked me what it was.

"My bible," I answer, but only half jokingly.

It’s my mini Book of Answers and Magic 8 Ball combined.

Back in Manila, I suppose I got overwhelmed by the daily despair of writing about, reading about the political killings, the relentless oil price hikes, the bickering between the know-it-alls and self-righteous politicians. This weakened me against the contradictions that sprouted in the crevices between my interior self (weak and wavering sometimes) and how I related to and did my work. Weariness at doing the same things the same way every time caused my exhaustion.

It’s really a case of being too near the freaking trees to see the forest.

I had to back away a bit, away from the trees (the leaves, the bark, the flowers of which I stopped seeing, and the songs of the birds that perched on them have ceased to sound like music to me) so I can once more learn to appreciate the forest for what it was and all that it means to me and to millions of other people.)

There are two paintings here in a gallery I discovered right down the end of Hollywood road nearing Queen’s Row. The two big oil paintings feature a youth - a girl from the Red Army during Mao’s time (the 1950s). She is clad in olive green fatigues, a garrison belt cinched at her waist, where a red bandanna was also tied. She stands in the middle of a halo of soft golden light, her armalite (or some such weapon) in her capable, confident hands. An emerald butterfly is floating above her head. A small, happy smile is one her face, and her gaze is directed front — as if seeing right into the future, and what she sees pleases her.

The other painting is also of the same girl, only this time she is sitting on a rough wooden bench. She has placed her weapon next to her, standing upright and propped against one of the legs of the bench. This time she is looking at it, speculation and decision in her eyes: "I am resting now, and there is quiet all around me. If I need to wield this weapon, to use it - when the time comes and it is necessary to do in defense of myself and my country, will I be able to do so?"

She pauses, and answers her question herself: "I will."#

Okay friends and readers, hold on to your hats: am writing this from Hong Kong.

Call this a vacation, which is what it really is. With a measure of shame I admit: am taking a break when back in the Philippines (and even here in Hong Kong) all other matino political activists are working like crazy. Oh well, no use being guilty about it. I’ve resolved to merely go with the flow, eat vegetables like my husband keeps urging me to do, and recover my loss energy and strength as soon as possible so I get back to my real life.

This break is affording me a chance to rethink and discover new things about myself. I’ve realized that my social skills are really no downright poor: in the last ten years, I have mostly associated with people and organizations who carry more or less the same ideas as I do about the the world and how life should be lived, so now it’s like I’m learning how to communicate again, this time with people  (decent, hardworking, kind and considerate)  whose worldviews are quite, well, far and different from mine.

I am learning to stop making assumptions, and to stop being surprised or even shocked that the people I meet and speak to have very little awareness of political discourse or economic analysis. This is a very eye-opening experience, and quite humbling as well.

  "There is more to the world than is dreamed of in your philosophy, Horatio…"

I am learning how to walk all over again.

I have also realized that it is already IMPOSSIBLE to divorce one’s self from one’s awareness of the world. The accumulated experiences and training of the last 13 years makes it impossible for me to not see and look more deeply into people and developments, as well as the circumstances that shaped and moulded them. It’s like having an extra pair of eyes, only this other pair has x-ray vision.

The most pressing concern of migrant groups here led by the Asia-Pacific Migrant Mission and United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL) is the wage cut policy being pushed by the Hong Kong government and treacherously supported by the Philippine government through its consulate here (well, if it’s not outrightly opposing the policy, then the Consulate is essentially supporting it right?.)

The policy is intended as a tax-generation measure by the Hong Kong government, supposedly aimed at ensuring that Hong Kong’s  economic woes will be shared fairly throughout the community. The APMM and UNIFIL, however, are strongly campaigning against the wage cut, pointing out the obvious:  wage cuts — along with increasing  fees and charges will have a devastating impact on the economic welfare of migrant workers and their dependents back at home.

There are more than 240,000 foreign maids working in Hong Kong. More than half of them, about 150,000, are Filipina. The rest come from Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal and the Indian subcontinent. Hong Kong does not officially define a poverty line, but NGOS put it around HK$2,500 per person a month. On that basis, 18 percent of the population of 6.8 million lives in poverty.

Magkano nga ba ang natitira sa isang OFW na DH dito kada buwan? HK$500? Ang kalkhan naman kasi pinapadala sa Pilipinas — kay Nene at kay Totoy na nag-aaral; para makapagpasemento ang iniwang pamilya ng bahay; para makapag-ipon ng pondo para sa napakaraming emergency na laging dumadagsa sa buhay ng mga manggagawa at iba pang maralita.

There are Filipino migrant groups here - quite unlike the APMM and Unifil- who refuse to take action on such economic (and ineveitably political - as it all boils down to the orientation and thrust of the Philippine national government which negotiates with the host country’s government) issues and instead focus on providing rest and recreation for our kababayans here.

I don’t think there’s nothing immediately wrong with that - I would be the last person to say that our kababayans who work here as domestic helpers or entertainers do not need these R&R venues because I know how horridly difficult and physically draining their jobs are. It should be pointed out, however, that it is infiniely more important to defend and protect the economic rights and job security concerns of migrants than to make sure that they can play volleyball or badminton on their Sundays off.

It was in 2003 when the HK   government announced plans to cut welfare payments. The move, the government tries  to justify, will bring savings of HK$1.03 billion this year and next year, HK$1.55 billion in 2004/2005 and HK$1.71 billion in 2005/2006.

Yup: savings at the expense of migrant workers and their families.

——

I have yet to find a bookstore here. Rows and rows of ukay-ukay shops, but no  Booksale-type stores. Hmmm. Am not really interested in gadgets (and the most my husband wants is a relatively powerful telescope- he’s into astonomy), and I’m not into food (apart from the fruit. I like fruit, and its cheap here), so am mostly on the lookout for bookstores and theater companies that show plays in English while charging less than an arm or a leg. A finger, two at the most is all I can afford.

Because of the stupid services of Sun cellular company which transmits  your messages about an hour after you’ve sent them, my sister Majalla, myself and my husband had a late dinner last night and discovered one of the irrefutable reasons why so many Filipinos in the slammer insist that they’re innocent of the charges made against them. There really is a posibility that many Pinoys currently in jail for murder, rape, etc are innocent. 

After the botched-up dinner and movie plans, we cut our losses we went back to the house, turned the tv, and sat down to a meal of barbeque.

So there we were, eating, and the program on tv happened to ABS-CBN’s ‘SOCO,’ or Scene of the Crime Operations, and it was hosted by veteran journalist Gus Abelgas. We’d never seen the show before, and we were thinking, heck, maybe this will be like CSI (which my sister is a great fan of) so we didn’t change channels.

Ten minutes into the program, all three of us were crying out in despair.

Forensic investigations in this country belong to the stone ages. Investigators use old newspapers to wrap materials and objects used by suspects, and they touch said objects (including  weapons) with their bare hands!  No gloves, no special paper, no nothing. They have no tools or technology to analyze fingerprints or blood stains, and they mostly rely on, well, hunches to put two and two together. Hunches and blind luck — in one of the cases presented, the mother of the man suspected of raping, stabbing and killing a 75 year old woman surrendered her son to the police.

Holy gee.

In the show, the expert in charge of analyzing handwriting found at a crime scene ( a letter allegedly written by the killer)  used a Mongol pencil and she kept touching the evidence with her bare hands. She didn’t even think of dusting the paper for fingerprints, and cross-checking them with those of any of the suspects they had lined up.

They have no means of analyzing saliva or semen or DNA samples. It clearly appeared that all investigations cannot proceed beyond the surface level — cuts and abrasions, cause of death, etc. The only way to find the killer, it appeared, was to make intelligent guesses and to gather circumstancial evidence. Judging from the SOCO program which is touted to be an honest presentation of crime scene investigations are conducted in the country, autopsies are limited only to the skin and physical appearance of viscera.Heck. If they find convincing and plausible enough circumstantial evidence, the authorities nail and jail the suspect. Nevermind if there is still the big possibility of error.

Most likely, iniisip ng gobyerno na dahil mga mahihirap lang naman ang pinapatay, at kadalasan mahirap din ang pumatay, di na kailangan ng mas masusing imbestigasyon. I can picture the NBI and DOJ higher-ups thinking: What’s one less tambay, tindera, manggagawa o manggagawa - nakatira lang naman sila sa mga maruruming komunidad o mga liblib na lugar sa probinsya; mga lugar na nagiging mga pugad ng kriminalidad o ng mga komunista. Who’ll miss them?

Only families from the upper classes have the money and resources as well as influence to push for continued investigations into the murder of their loved ones. As for the rest, chalk it up to malas - ilibing na lang ang bangkay, at hayaang mabulok ang suspek sa kulungan o mabitay.

It doesn’t come as a surprise that not a single killer of the more than 100 political activists and journalists have been apprehended and brought to justice. Even if for a moment we pretend that this monster of a government did have the will to investigate these brutal killings, it’s highly doubtful that it will come up with credible findings.

The Macapagal-Arroyo adminsitration has not lifted a single finger and call for full investigations and judicial inquiries into the murder of Bayan Muna, Anakpawis members and leaders; journalists. None of the suspected perpetrators from the military and the gangster/political clans are being hauled off and charged.Gloria herself has not  publicly voiced concern over the killings, much less order the concerned authorities to take necessary action. Inutil ang Department of Justice, walang pakialam ang  National Bureau of Investigation.

Oh well, judging from the SOCO show, the NBI does not have  the necessary expertise to deal with  killings of any nature - pulitikal man o hindi. Kahit nga mga mas simpleng krimen, di kayang imbestigahan ng maayos. #