Dubai on A Friday

I just noticed that for the past three years I post only one post and I do it every August. So, to break that inclination, I will try to begin posting more than one, starting today….

Dubai driving on a Friday

If you go out on a street in Dubai on a weekday, the streets are not empty and it is never empty up to the wee hours of the morning. But on Friday mornings, it is a different story. You can actually count with your ten fingers the cars that you can see.

Filipino FM

If you’ve been out of the country for more than five years, and going home takes one a year, all things seem to start to fade and you feel out of the loop: the latest fashion-both hip and tacky, the latest food fad, the habitual evolution of the Tagalog language peppered with the gay lingo –swardspeak according to some, the yearly (?) installment of Shake Rattle and Roll, the ubiquitous pop songs blazing from Jeepneys and almost everything Filipino.

That is why it is a welcome change that TagFM started broadcasting around here. Much to my delight, they play old OPM songs on Friday mornings! 

Charter Change

Hi there.

Been in around social media for years now and I still can’t find something that satisfies my need to express. Be it Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, I might post for a couple of days or every other day, but after sometime, the drive to communicate fizzles out. Well…

On latest Philippine update…the ChaCha (Charter Change for the uninitiated) has been a fodder for debate on Facebook among other issues. I’ve been asked, “This time, would you support Charter Change?” Honestly, amending the Constitution requires a lot of trust on the part of every Filipino, at least for those who are aware that there is a problem in the first place. Trust, is hard. Because we were so burned by what happened during the Marcos time and we bowed during the EDSA, never again.

I believe, yes, a change is in order. Yes, we can manage with changing the term of Presidents to eight years, yes; I believe we can handle changing our system to Parliamentary.

We have got to stop being afraid. If lawmakers use the Charter Change movement to further their own agenda, that is to stay in power more than they are allowed to and drive the country to further to economic rut, the new Filipino will be there to resist. We will not allow it. See what happened to Gloria, to Erap, to Enrile. Although we are still a long way from making unintelligent choices, (they were able to run for office and get elected in their respective bailiwicks), a change is happening. A dying breed of traditional politicians is on their way out. We are on our way to finally cleansing our government of the ills left behind by the Marcoses and their ilk.

We have a more vocal generation now, although we have a propensity to comment irresponsibly on social networks and hide behind “freedom of speech”, we are evolving, towards a more emboldened and opinionated Filipino.

And I thought I will never see this in my lifetime.