Sunday, September 04, 2011
Yakan Cloth
Sunday, May 16, 2010
of airport stories and elections (unrelated, really)
luck does really run out after all. after getting away with waking up at 3:59am for a 5am flight some 3 weeks ago, i find myself here at the puerto princesa airport waiting if i can get into the 5:55pm pal flight. unlike the Iloilo flight 3 weeks back, this time, i was idly having lunch with tess (ahrc intern assigned here in elac puerto princesa) and ate lorie (elac coron’s project coordinator when I did my internship there in 2005) in a restaurant 5 minutes away from the airport. i missed the check in time by 5 minutes, and the person in front of me was the last one accommodated for the flight. the airline staff would later inform me that had I arrived on time, i would have gotten a free ticket. anyway, i had been wanting to blog for the past days but work (or procrastination) took precedence.
last monday, the first automated elections took place in the country. i volunteered to do election work for the legal network for truthful elections (lente), and was sent to monitor the elections in bulacan. the elections were rather uneventful, to say the least. not that it went smoothly, in fact there are problems that needed to be addressed. while doing the rounds in selected voting centers some time late afternoon, i was chatting with some ppcrv volunteers when a guy approached us. apparently, the pcos machine in one of the precincts bogged down in the morning. he was concerned because the filled up ballots (which were quite thick already) were just stacked on top of the table in plain view of everyone else. he was asking about procedures, which i gladly answered. much later we asked him if he was a pollwatcher for any candidate or part of the board of election inspectors. to both, he answered in the negative. he was a concerned citizen / voter. i simply thanked him for his concern and told him that this country needs more people like him.
after reflecting over the occurrences that day, i realized that we need more people like him, the guy overly concerned with the ballots. indeed, the philippines is never short of heroes -- “ordinary” people who care for this nation. before he left us i told him, “kuya, bilib ako sayo. mabuhay ka!”
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postscript: while luck sometimes does run out, God is good. i had already checked-in and will be manila-bound (and back to reality) later at 5:55. :)Saturday, April 24, 2010
of "teacher duties" and choices
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
my homecoming
almost 5 years ago, i joined the ateneo human rights center's summer internship program and (luckily) got sent to coron to do my internship with the environmental legal assistance center (elac). for a month, i carried on my internship duties; got to meet different people; and experienced (almost) all sorts of adventures and misadventures in this quaint town and its neighboring islands. more importantly, that month sort of "sealed the deal" of my wanting to continue law school.i'd always say that my month-long stay here in the calamianes is most humbling, that i realized after having worked with some of the most selfless people i've met in my life. my experiences in the islands in northern Palawan really left a lasting impression on me. little did i know that i would actually fulfill my "promise" (to myself) that soon, i'd be engaged in alternative lawyering.
five years ago, i just finished my first year in law school and was really unsure if i wanted to continue with it. five years later, i come back to the calamianes after almost a year of being a lawyer and (almost) certain that i am in the right path.
five years ago, i remember giving a paralegal training to a fisherfolk community in coron on the fisheries code. five years later, i find myself back in the calamianes doing back-to-back fora on human rights.
five years ago, when i was set to leave the islands at the end of my internship, i said to myself that i will soon give back to this place which has given me a lot (like triggering my want to continue law school and pursuing my environmental advocacy). five years later, i am back and (would like to believe that) i am starting to fulfill that promise.
earlier today, i once again set foot inside the immaculate conception church in culion island, the same church where i fervently prayed that i pass all my first year subjects. today, i said my thanks to the Lord for bringing me again to this place, the same place which helped me decide. today, i thanked Him for bringing me to this path and asked for His continued guidance. most importantly, i whispered my thanks to Him for bringing me back to this very important place, for bringing me back home.
Friday, January 01, 2010
looking back at a fulfillling 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
one lazy monday afternoon...
...in starbucks rockwell (the usual place). i was facebook-ing to kill time. i actually had better things to do (like check papers) but opted to procrastinate (yet again). 2 girls and a guy sat beside on the table (actually on the chairs) beside mine, then i overheard this conversation:
girl (looking at the guy's drink): ano yan?
guy: chocolate...
girl: ah...
guy: bakit ano ba yang drink mo?
girl: mocha frap. hindi na kasi ako nagcho-chocolate eh...
Friday, January 09, 2009
experiencing art. 299 of the revised penal code of the philippines
"Art. 299. Robbery in an inhabited house or public building or edifice devoted to worship. x x x
(a) The malefactors shall enter the house or building in which the robbery was committed, by any of the following means:
1. Through a opening not intended for entrance or egress. x x x"
the morning of 08 january 2009 -- the morning i planned on catching up with snooze time -- i woke up to the voice of my brother, shouting, "ico, yung laptop mo wala!" then followed by my sister-in-law's voices saying "pinasok tayo kagabi!" those 3 words resounded in my head for a good few seconds before i heard "pati camera mo nawawala!" with that, i suddenly stood up from bed then went out of the room. the empty sofa in the living room is probably the most ghastly scene in my mind.
we live in a compond with a security guard supposedly keeping the place safe (the guard probably fell asleep). upon checking the other rooms, we discovered that the robbers came in thru an unlocked window in a room located in the ground floor. they then went to the upper floor.
i usually leave my things in the living room located in the second floor, just outside our bedrooms. my routine every morning after the bar exams was to sit in that sofa and go online for the whole day. so i would just leave my laptop and camera there in the sofa when i go to bed. every morning, the my black hp laptop would be the first thing one would notice in the living room. now it's gone, along with my canon dslr. with the laptop were tons of photos i've taken using the camera as well as all my personal files and records and the forum 2008 (ateneo law yearbook) files. (the yearbook, by the way, is almost done... see endnote (1) below)
then i saw the room where my brother and i keep our clothes. it was ransacked! (as in parang dinaanan ng bagyo!) we later on found out that the burglars even got some of the rosaries and an image of the madonna and child which were part of my late mom's collection. (imagine, pati mga rosaryo at poon!)
if there's one good thing, the burglars didn't enter the rooms where we were. for whatever reason. god knows what could have happened if they got into our rooms. at least only material things were taken. but of course, i can't help but be sad. people who know me, would know how well i take care of my things. plus the thought that the laptop was a graduation gift from my aunt and the camera was a gift from my brother and sister-in-law. so it has lots of sentimental value. (oo, talagang senti ako) then everything in the laptop! i don't know where to start recontructing them. oh, my presentation for my monday class is there. then i remembered placing some IDs in my camera bag. things just really get worse.
i spent the entire day thinking (and well, sulking), praying, and hoping.
thinking how this could have happened. i've been living in this place for the whole 26 years of my life. and i always felt very, very secure when i'm home. now that this security has been breached, i don't know where and when i could find that security again. i'm also thinking how long i could stand by my word that i would not leave the philippines, no matter what.
praying and hoping that i get my things back. i literally stormed the heavens with prayers. more than being my most prized worldly possessions, these things, as i said, have lots of sentimental value for me.
praying and hoping that things would get better after this. it's not really a good way to start the new year. with god's grace, i/we hope to get by this.
thank you to those who texted to check on me/us. we're ok and safe. thanks. it's very much appreciated.
- - - - -
(1) dear ateneo law 2008 batchmates, i would like to apologize and ask for your patience for this delay in the yearbook production process. rest assured that the layout team and all of the forum 2008 editors and staff would exert our best efforts to redo the entire yearbook and have the yearbook printed as soon as possible. thank you very much for understanding.
