Archive for October, 2009

“Pangaasi Yo, Apo”

“Pangaasi Yo, Apo”

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The picture above was taken from the Facebook album of Danny Durante, whom I assume is a Baguio resident.  The place looks to be like Cresencia Village, which can give a completely SFW portrait of things I can’t bear to imagine.  For those living in the lowlands, this is what a landslide looks like.  It carries away homes… and indeed, it carries away lives.  It’s like an avalanche without snow, yet as cold and unforgiving as anyone could imagine it.

As I write this, I’m fresh off a drinking session at Cubao X in the effort to forget.  I want to forget about things I don’t want to – and I cannot in good conscience – write about stories I heard today, like that of the taxi driver.  The taxi I rode in was driven by a driver from Cagayan who lives in Marikina.  His words tore at me like I would pieces of paper when I fold paper cranes:

“Pangaasi yo, Apo.”

October 11, 2009 12 comments Read More
“Kakaasi Da Piman”

“Kakaasi Da Piman”

Back home, we always thought that living in the mountains brought us closer to heaven.  The spirits of the mountains will always protect us.  The mountains will provide all that we need.  When we prayed, our prayers will reach the gods faster.  The jagged edges of the mountains will break up the storm into bits and pieces.  We trusted the mountains so much, we thought we were invincible.

“Kakaasi da piman,” La Trinidad Mayor Artemio Galwan wailed, as 150 people were buried in a landslide last night.  The wrath of Typhoon Pepeng has left the North devastated, decimated, destroyed.  The crops have failed, roofs were torn off houses, and at this very moment, people are perhaps shivering in evacuation shelters for lack of dry clothing and medicine.  You don’t say “kakaasi da piman” in vain; it is an expression made in great sorrow, helplessness, and grief.  “Kakaasi da piman” is an expression reserved for only the most pathetic of tragedies, when human pride gives way to vulnerability.

October 10, 2009 1 comment Read More
Thank You (Updated)

Thank You (Updated)

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Saturday, October 10, 2009
3:04 AM

I am writing this early this morning, fresh off some good food and good beer with Peter Juan, Jayvee Fernandez, and Ade Magnaye at Chilli Peppers at Valero, Makati City.  Tonight, two new honors have made it to my (metaphorical) mantle; the reward of being one of Globe’s Digital Tribe for Luzon, and the award for Best Commentary Blog for the Philippine Blog Awards 2009.  I hope that even in this inebriated, euphoric, drunken state, I can still give you all my thanks.

October 10, 2009 29 comments Read More
Northern Luzon Needs Your Help (Updated)

Northern Luzon Needs Your Help (Updated)

Typhoon Pepeng is wreaking havoc in Northern Luzon. There are reports of landslides, floods, and devastation in the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, and my homeland of the Cordilleras. The worst part for me, personally, is that many of my friends still live in the area, and are suffering the brunt of this storm. Messages from friends are describing a waterworld in Baguio that I never got to experience in 22 years of living there, and it saddens me to realize that the geography of Northern Luzon makes it a challenge to help people.

Let us rise up to that challenge; not only as Filipinos, but as human beings who help out in times of calamity, disaster, and devastation.

For us here in Metro Manila, the Internet has been a powerful tool for rescue and recovery in the wake and wrath of Typhoon Ondoy. We can harness that same power for the victims of Typhoon Pepeng up north, and perhaps translate that to a relief effort that will alleviate their suffering.

Here are some important links that you should bookmark by now:

Rescue Hub North Luzon is where you can report SOS and emergency calls for flood, rain, and landslide victims in Northern Luzon. Please fill out the information forms as completely as possible to help facilitate rescue and assistance.

GMANews.TV’s Disaster Response Database is a unified disaster response form from GMANews.TV. Again, please fill out the forms as completely as possible.

Disaster Response Data is a Google spreadsheet that you can monitor for disaster responses in your area in Northern Luzon, which is useful if you still have an Internet connection or if you can maintain contact with friends and family members in the North.

GMANews.TV Google Map is a tagged Google map of disaster-stricken areas in Northern Luzon.

ABS-CBNNews.com’s Google Map tags the extent of the flood, which was also done by GMANews.TV on their own Google Map.  I appeal to both organizations to please, just this once, consolidate their efforts to create one map so that we can have a reliable disaster mapping tool that can save lives.

Bayanihan Online contains a resource of relief, rescue, and aid-related links for Typhoons Pepeng and Ondoy.

If you can, please consider donating stocks of easy-open canned food, rice, clothes, and medicines to the families in evacuation centers. For now, ABS-CBNNews.com reports that families in disaster-stricken and disaster-prone areas in Baguio have been relocated to evacuation centers at the following locations:

  • Lourdes Grotto/Mirador Hill
  • Aguinaldo Elementary School
  • St. Vincent Gymnasium
  • Irisan Barangay Hall
  • City Camp Youth Center

Thank you very much; ag-yaman cami kiña-yo amin.

October 9, 2009 5 comments Read More
Umami

Umami

When my aunt was diagnosed with – and recovered from – cancer, she started preaching the evils of vetsin. Part of the “healthy living” message she shared to us was that monosodium glutamate is carcinogenic, that it contains bad chemicals that pose a danger to our health, and too much linamnam doesn’t do the body any good.  I didn’t hear her compare vetsin-laden food to asupre at dagat-dagatang apoy, but that doesn’t stop her from taking an occasional bite of shrimp tempura.

Mom, however, is an avowed fan of vetsin. The whole point in her cooking – whether it was caldereta or puto muffins stuffed with pizza topping – was that it wasn’t edible without at least half a pack of Ajinomoto sprinkled on the dish before it is served.  MSG occupies an almost-revered position in the spice rack, right next to sesame oil and liquid seasoning.  Dinner was never “dinner” until me and my brother raid the kitchen for more rice to finish off the viands.  Yet Mom always makes a point about “dieting.”

October 7, 2009 6 comments Read More
… And My Vote for Bloggers’ Choice Goes To…

… And My Vote for Bloggers’ Choice Goes To…

For the past few days, I’ve been browsing as much as I can of the entries of the nominees of the 2009 Philippine Blog Awards’ Bloggers Choice Award.  It’s a very unsettling feeling to read all of them blogs considering how nice many of them are, but I want to make sure that my vote counts.  It counts for one vote.  Anyway… here goes.

I can’t write in Filipino for the life of me, but I still believe that to write in one’s own language is a great way to communicate and to debate.  Yet whatever language a writer uses to opine, to articulate feelings, and to argue, it’s vital that there should be a bit of enjoyment and LOL involved, especially in this sometimes-ultra-serious world called the Internet.  While entertainment is a goal, it cannot be separated from the responsibilities that come with having an opinion, and to make sure that a particular opinion spreads a message to, and motivation for, its readers to act and to react.

My one vote for Bloggers’ Choice, therefore, goes to Billycoy’s Blasted Brain Blogs.

October 7, 2009 3 comments Read More