==> HEROES...of the very best kind

yes juan de la cruz, a Filipino won the “2009 cnn hero of the year” and no, it’s not manny pacquiao! (as if naman. with all due respect to the fans of pacquiao and boxing, please dont bite my head off but, my personal take on this sport is that it does not belong to the 21st century, it belongs to the middle ages!)

im referring to an educator from cavite by the name of efren penaflorida. in an interview after the awarding ceremonies in Washington, efren said that 90% of the $125,000 that he won will go to the organization(DYNAMIC TEEN COMPANY) and 10% to the church. with the victory of efren, im inspired to write about heroes for a change as im usually provoked into writing about the latest shenanigans of politicians, who are heroes only in their dirty, corrupt and polluted minds. writing about real heroes is a refreshing and welcome change for me.

i will not write about who efren is and the work that he does, all that is now public knowledge, rather, i would like to give tribute to THE KIND OF HEROES THAT I ADMIRE.

there are so many out there who do wonderful deeds that help multitudes of people, but to my mind, there are only a handful of them that i know by name. for now, they remain nameless and faceless, but one thing im certain of, they have big hearts.

why the anonimity, you may ask, the answer is…. HUMILITY…SELFLESSNESS, these admirable character traits common to these special breed of people may answer that question. i admire people who do their good deeds QUIETLY...was'nt there a wise man by the name of jesus, the only begotten son of God, the acknowledged lord and saviour by all christians, who once said "do not let the right hand know what the left hand is doing"...they are the people who do not seek the limelight , who do not bring photogs to document their work to feed their own egos, who do not need to be patted on the back for a job well done, who do not need to be in public office to help the poor, who do what they do without any monetary considerations...

they are the doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who leave their comfortable oftentimes luxurious lifestyle to go to the poorest communities of the world, to help the sick who do not have access to any form of healthcare...they are the lawyers who accept pro bono cases to defend the rights of the oppressed against the injustices of this world...they are the nuns, priests, pastors, missionaries…men and women of faith that spread the word of our lord, to urge the people to choose peace and to love and respect one another, to the most dangerous parts of this planet...they are the teachers who for a measly amount of money they call salary, travels several kilometers, more often than not spending their own money for teaching paraphernalias, just to reach the students who are hungry for knowledge, waiting for their tutelage and guidance...they are those millionaires or billionares who chose to leave their money not to their next-of-kin but to reputable organizations that takes care of the poor, the underpriveledge, the marginalized…the forgotten people of the society...they are out there, doing what they have to do out of the goodness of their hearts, not asking for anything in return except maybe for the people that they have helped and whose lives they have touched to live well and someday help someone else so that the cycle of kindness continue…

you see, in my book, its not easy to be a hero. it is almost always hardwork whose only reward is the fullness of the heart and soul…on hindsight, its not a bad deal at all…to think that all the riches of the world cannot buy any of us that…

as I look at the picture of that event in Washington last night, seeing the ten finalist(out of 9000 nominees) onstage, in a sea of people wearing evening gowns and black ties, i cannot help but shed tears of joy and pride for the DYNAMIC TEEN COMPANY and their leader, who stood out on that stage wearing our native white barong tagalog with a very simple Philippine map embroidered on his chest. when asked by a journalist who his personal heroes are, efren replied…the volunteers of the Dynamic Teen Company all over the Philippines and the people who have supported their organization. he did not give their names… i guess he knows …among their kind it is understood…names are not important…fame and personal recognition is not their goal.

cheers efren, well done...

==> YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED to...

a MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE between a POLITICAL PROSTITUTE, este, POLITICAL BUTTERFLY and a BUSINESSMAN/TRAPO.
our "loving" couple hopes to serve our beloved country as the next president and vice president in 2010...
now that the engagement has been formally announced…
straight from the horse’s, or is it the crocodile’s mouth?…
let me extend my heartfelt greetings to the future bride and groom…
best wishes…
congratulations…
and…may I add, both of you certainly deserve each other!

the bride, once, rather, often described a “political prostitute",este ulit, "political butterfly” because of her tendency to flit from one political party to another, depending on which side of the political bread is buttered, seems to be giving mrs pidal a run for her money as the worlds greatest “kapalmuks”. i thought, there’s no way anybody can beat or even seriously challenge any member of the pidal family in that department, but now, given time and opportunity, our bride can give them a run for their money. how can she explain running with a presidential candidate who only months ago she helped evict in his office as the senate president, and whom she voted to be investigated by the same body for corruption charges? anu yon ? paki explain nga….ay huwag na lang, gets ko na.

the groom, proud to be a former tindero from tondo is now a proud billionare who swore to high heavens he never used his public office to obtain juicy government contracts. oh, come on…talaga? swear? di nga? isn’t he the same guy who married into a relatively rich political/business family from las pinas, the aguilars? that’s right, the aguilars can be described as “rich” by Filipino standards, they were in local politics and they have several businesses. but, when our groom joined politics, specially when he sat as speaker of the house of representathieves, the profits of the aguilar businesses skyrocketed and just shot to the roof ! their net worth now has multiplied mannnnnnnnny times over. its either our groom is an excellent businessman or he is one hell of a lucky guy. 1+1=2 right? not really , in pinoy politics 1+1=11 !

now you ask, how did these two personalities got together in the first place? strange bedfellows indeed. at the very least the bride seems to be highly suspicious of the groom”s business and political “under-the-table” dealings. was there a pre-nuptial agreement? if there is one, how much did or will the bride get? true, they have nothing in common…oh, wait a minute, they do have something in common…they share a common interest. they already have fame and fortune, so, what else is left except, POWER. both does not have a running mate or could not convince their partymates to run with them, so...they decided to use each other! he gets a runningmate and she, got somebody to finance her candidacy. forget your principles(if you've got any), forget the differences on issues, forget shame, forget pride, forget that you do not exactly "like" each other at the very least...throw all that and focus on our goal...

the groom wants to alleviate poverty and the bride wants to tackle environmental isuues. CUT THE CRAP! both of you wants to be the most powerful people in this country to feed you supersized egos. Haay naku…men and their vanity!

==> HO, HO, HO…”SEASON’S” GREETINGS!

what do you know, im back before i could even miss myself on this blog! i knew i wouldnt be bored for long...

you cant deny it, you can smell it in the air. i dare you, take a deeeeeep breath, and it will choke your lungs senseless…yes juan de la cruz(JDLC), that “season” is definitely fast approaching.

no JDLC, im not referring to the yuletide season which is being celebrated by christians all over the world, what im referring to is a season being celebrated in this country every 6yrs…i’ll give you a hint…it is the favorite season by the crooks, you know… the corrupt, the unprincipled or those with the wrong principles, the opportunists, the bureaucratic thieves, the dagdag-bawas specialists, the prostitutes(of the political variety), the survey manipulators, the paid hacks, the carpetbaggers, the turncoats, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera…i intend to write about these characters one by one in my future posts.

i don’t know about you JDLC, but it’s a season im not too happy to celebrate. problem is, there’s no stopping it , its going to happen whether we like it or not! so, instead of wallowing in depression at the thought of the inevitable , lets just find humor in the circus that’s about to hit town, “the 2010 presidential campaign extravaganza”…send in the clowns and let the show begin, jarannnnnnnnnnnnn…

==> BORED...FOR NOW

i wanted to write something for this blog today, coz I haven’t written anything in awhile, but, I find that it is hard for me to write anything if im not provoked enough by an idea, a topic, a scandal, a controversy or... whatever. its not as if everything has been coming up roses in this country these days. in fact, its more of the same, if not worse.

with the litany of bad news that I hear everyday on tv, have I become indifferent, shockproof or simply...numb? Have I just resigned myself to the idea that this is the norm…to just accept that this is it…umasa ka pa...umasa pa ko!

but, as the 2010 presidential election nears, i expect the attacks of the candidates against each other, to be more vicious, more aggressive, more wicked and 100% malicious in most cases. expect their paid hacks to zero in on the frontrunner, unleashing all their venom on the poor man, sorry noy, you of all people should know that this will not be a walk in the park. also, let us not forget that as mrs pidal’s term of office comes to an end, expect this administration to do a lot of desperate acts(like what they did in the past when they are in a tight fix), to cover their tracks and save their ugly and filthy behinds(its not as if they do a great job of it,"i am sorry", "iam not mr pidal my brother iggy is", "we just played golf in shenzen", "mr bolante is just an acquaintance", the list is endless!), kaya…abangan ang susunod na kabanata…

so…I predict, my days of passivity will not last long. sooner or later, i’ll be jolted from my slumber by some stupid hullabaloo. for now…let me drown myself in my state of world-weariness. not to worry though, there is zero chance I’ll die of boredom…not in this country!

==> DISTRESSED, DISMAYED, DISAPPOINTED

im trying to figure out what word best describes what I felt yesterday when I went to the cemetery. distressed, dismayed, disappointed, or maybe, all of the above. distressed at the situation that is right in front of me, dismayed at the blatant display of the pinoy's lack of discipline and disappointed that we have all become slaves to our need to use plastics. every year, as we enter the manila memorial park gates, we are greeted by bags after bags of garbage as far as our eye can see. worse, the entire grounds is practically blanketed by all sorts of trash, from discarded plastic wrappers that once contained, candies and chips, to plastic cups, empty plastic bottles, leftover food wrapped in styrofoam boxes, and the likes. this year is no different. the sea of people that went on nov 1st , left one hell of a view for the people that went on nov 2nd like myself…a sea of mostly plastic garbage. if its any consolation to me, the situation in public cemeteries are worse, to say the least.

discipline it seems, is a word that is rapidly disappearing in the consciousness of the filipino. we follow the rules of the countries that we travel to and does the opposite on our home soil. ive heard all sorts of excuses but to me, none makes sense. our lack of discipline stems from our lack of respect for our country and its people. plain and simple.

what is this love affair between people and plastics? we all know that plastics are usually the culprits in a lot of environmental disasters. it clogs the drainage system which results in floods. it is found in the stomach of dead animals like birds and other marine species, its in the water that we drink, the food that we eat and the air that we breathe. take a quick survey of your home and you’ll find it everywhere! there is plastic in practically every facet of our lives. im beginning to seriously ask myself this question, can i manage to live my life without using plastics? sadly, im afraid the answer to that is...no. not yet at least.

next year, when i go back to the same place, hopefully, the words distressed, dismayed and disappointed will not be replaced by disgusted, discouraged and disillusioned...