Ferdinand Marcos -martial law

Cory Aquino – failed coup attempts

Fidel Ramos – economic growth?

Erap Estrada -  corruption

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo - martial law-like rule, failed coup attempts, economic growth?, corruption

Christine a.k.a. happyslip is popular for her humorous videos depicting mostly of her Filipino family heritage. I’m a fan, the lady is down -to-earth funny. For the first time, though, she cries on video.  Guess being home is overwhelming, eh.

She’ll be traveling across the archipelago with the Department of Tourism. I just think that this is the wittiest promotional activity that the government has done so far. Imagine millions of YouTube viewers across the globe (translation: potential tourists) watching her as she tours around the wonderful tourist destinations.

The last 10 minutes of our conversation revolved around that one idea he popped up. He currently is a jeepney driver in Quezon City. He talked how he admired me for what I have achieved and wished that he is also “in the office doing honorable job”. The Filipino version of what he said is actually more striking, he said, “Sana mas marangal ang trabaho ko.”

I asked him how much is he earning in a day. He said a good day would have him bring home around P600. I’m amazed, because as I told him, a regular office employee earns only P300-350 per day, answers to a nagging boss and has to be in the office at 8 am and leave only after 5 pm. That unlike him, they don’t own their time and certainly don’t own the business.

Lots of Filipinos leave for abroad because they thought life abroad is better. Maybe. Or maybe not. Some think lowly of a farmer and thinks that an office secretary is a better job.

I just think it’s all about perspective. A change in perspective creates a big difference in the way we live our lives and further, how people create impact in our country.

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We now have the missing link for active trading, an online payment processing system. I wonder how local auction sites will take eBay’s aggressive plans.

I just reached my limit last week-end, and decided to take action against the abusive MMDA enforcers. I basically called up the MMDA head office and inquired from the Personnel Officer, Antonio Pagulayan, to clarify their policies. Here is what I got.

If any of these abuses seem familiar to you, Mr. Pagulayan has asked that you call either the MMDA hotline (136) or call the METRO BASE at 0920-938-9861 or 0920-938-9875 and ask for an Inspectorate. They will send inspectors to the place where these MMDA officers are extorting, even while you are arguing out of your apprehension.

1. MMDA officers are not allowed to group together in order to apprehend.

They are not even allowed to stand together in groups of 2 or more. The only time they are allowed to work together is for special operations (probably when they apprehend groups of buses for smoke belching);

2. Swerving IS NOT a traffic violation. Moving one lane to the left or right is not swerving, no matter where on the road you do it. And it is even less of a violation when you do it with a signal. Swerving is defined as shifting 2 or more lanes very quickly. So you can argue your way out of this, and call the Metro Base for help;

3. Sadly, using the yellow lane is a traffic violation and will get you a ticket. However, buses are really not allowed to go out of the yellowlane, so if you see selective apprehension of private cars only, you may complain;

4. MMDA has confirmed that your license MAY NOT BE CONFISCATED at a traffic apprehension. The only time they can do so is if you are part of an accident, or it is your third violation and you have not settled your fines yet. They are only allowed to give you a ticket, which you can contest. He recommends actually receiving the ticket in some instances, so that you can report the officer who did it.

Also, you are free to ask any of these officers for their “mission order”, which is written by their supervisor. If they apprehend you for a violation that is not in their mission order for the day, you can report them and they will receive disciplinary action.

So go out and enjoy! And drive safely!!!

* Isn’t that too early, senior state prosecutor Villaignacio asked. Aren’t we supposed to show the world that we are serious about stopping corruption? Yet, the verdict isn’t felt yet, and here we are so excited in giving pardon to a former president convicted of corruption.

* Will he admit the guilt?

* How can the political climate calm down if he is pardoned when the political opposition, Erap’s troop, are still banging the president with attacks, most recently the impeachment complaint?

Update from “it’s.not.about.me” – Safe is dangerous (from the treasure chest of Life 2.0)