November 4, 2009 at 9:00 pm (1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Angst, Humor, Personal, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, The Pampanguenos, The Past, Tristesse)
Karma.
Believe me, in the 42 summers I have lived, I have seen enough of it to want to avoid it. Despite that, I know it’s coming… And it’s going to hit its exact targets, nothing more and nothing less. The comforting thing is that I know, with absolute certainty, that it’s going to hit everyone else as well. How much fun can that be???
*unfinished*
October 21, 2009 at 9:31 am (2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Ilocanos, The Manilenos, Tristesse)
Let us all remember that while the weather is sunny and warm in Manila, typhoon “Ramil” [ international code name: "Lupit" ] is battering Northern Luzon and our already suffering Ilocano brothers. It comes so soon after supertyphoon “Pepeng” [ international code name: "Parma" ] battered and flooded Northern Luzon, inundating Pangasinan and causing landslides to isolate Baguio City and much of the Mountain Province. The prices of vegetables from the North have skyrocketed, making these a luxury instead of a necessity on the family table. If you can afford to “eat your veggies” these days, you’re rich.
AY, the travails of being in the “Typhoon Belt”!!! 
October 19, 2009 at 8:00 am (2000s Philippines, Current Events, Family Traditions, Humor, Random memories, Religious Traditions, The Cebuanos, The Davaoenos, The Global Crowd, The Ilocanos, The Ilonggos, The Laguna Tagalogs, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos, The Tarlaquenos, The Tayabenses / Quezonians)
Assumption Convent High School Batch 1969 celebrated their 40th anniversary “velada” last night, Sunday, 18 October 2009 at the auditorium of the San Lorenzo campus. They were some of the most accomplished ladies in the land. Among the ruby jubilarians were Tess Barcelon, Lody Barranda, Jojo Borromeo, Charo Cancio, Lynnie Castillo, Fay Chan, Annette Chanco, Coritha, Tutti Crisostomo, Aida Cui, Nini Diaz, Deng Dimayuga, Emy Faustino, Paula Feria, Gigi Fernandez, Nena Fule, Vicky Ignacio, Stella Illustre, Ito Kahn, Roxanne Lapus, Tess Lopez, Clarita Magat, Marivic McCann, Annie Molina, Mayen Ordoveza, Nenuca Ortigas, Mau Padilla, Lidia Pamontjak, Annie Rocha, Rose Rodriguez, Marivic Rufino, Tina Samson, Helen Silva, Pandy Singian, Tina Ty, et. al..
Happy Homecoming, Ladies!!! 
************************************
“Walking Through Years of Friendship: The Assumption High School Class of 1969″
By: Tess Z. Lopez
It’s show time for the glittering rubies of High School Class 1969!
As we prepared for the velada, we swung to the tune of “Pretty Woman, in celebration of life as fulfilled women in our chosen vocations. We rocked to the beat of “ These boots were made for walking” remembering the twelve years we walked together at the Assumption Convent, coping with the disciplinary measures of the Assumption nuns, cramming for quizzes and tests and, on the fun side, sneaking out of the watchful eye of Mang Segundo to eat at Blums Coffee Shop in old Herran! Those were fun days when life seemed so simple and everything a bed of roses. After all, we belonged to the Age of Aquarius and “Flower Power’ was the “in” thing. We became idealists, seeking peace and harmony in a world racked by global turmoil.
As we bade goodbye to the ivy walls of the Assumption after graduation, we began our individual journeys to fulfill our destinies. We were full of queries where life would lead us to and what the future had in store for us. Young as we were, we were charged with an adventurous spirit, and were willing to challenge whatever stood in our way of fulfilling our dreams. And true enough, with determination, we found our niches in the world. Many of us became full time mothers, others chose to pursue a career or business while raising children, a few have remained single. No one chose the religious life!
Forty years after high school, we come together again to celebrate the friendships that were nurtured through the years. Thanks to the Age of Technology, the Internet has successfully located classmates who have been silent in the different corners of the world. Our friendships, aged by the passing years, resonate with the happy and sad times that have been shared through the years. Age and the passing winds of time have developed new episodes in our lives. A number of us have become widows, others are now young doting grandmothers and many have retired from their careers. A few have left us forever to live in eternal peace. We may not be as physically fit as forty years ago, but the class still holds on to a wellspring of zest and enthusiasm for life, seeking new dreams to pursue, never holding back to the ongoing challenges of life.
In whatever path of life my classmates have taken, I take pride that all of them have become the “ideal woman” that the Assumption education prayed we would be. In their sphere of life and work, Class ’69 has given dignity to womanhood, shared their material and spiritual resources to their families and workmates, taken up their crosses with strength and patience and in a thousand ways given of themselves for the betterment of society. Truly, this has been the dream of our Mother Foundress! As the curtain goes up on October 18, forty glittering rubies of High School Class 1969 will bring the show down in a dance medley celebrating Life, Love and Friendship.
October 11, 2009 at 7:00 pm (2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Manila Houses, Personal, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Manilenos, Tristesse)
A priest said it so well in a recent homily: “The Filipino stops being a Disaster Himself… during a Disaster.” Comic, but True.
There were so many instances of True Heroism during the Typhoon “Ondoy” Deluge of 26 September 2009, Saturday. Many people risked their lives to bring others to safety. Indeed, some of them lost their very lives in the process. Many people went out of their way to ensure the safety, not only of immediate family, but also of friends and neighbors. Stranded commuters shared their resources with each other during those endless hours. Many soldiers rose valiantly to the occasion and showed amazing strength and resolve as they undertook rescue operations in very difficult conditions.
No sooner than the Typhoon “Ondoy” floodwaters of 26 September, Saturday, started receding that many, many charitable Filipinos [ ladies, gentlemen, and yes, even children ] looked at their pantries and storage rooms, and in many cases even went to the groceries and supermarkets, to purvey essential goods to share with the flood victims. What was all the more remarkable was that many of these individuals chose to bring and share these essential goods with the flood victims themselves as one-family relief operations. With altruistic resolve they quietly headed to Marikina, Cainta, and other affected areas and generously distributed relief goods to their devastated fellow Filipinos. And they did it without any urging other than their own.
The Filipino expatriates all over the world also rose gallantly to the calamity. Within 24 hours of Typhoon “Ondoy’s” floodwaters, Filipino expatriate communities started gathering relief goods and big packages started arriving in Manila from the four corners of the globe. Through TV, YouTube, and Facebook, Filipinos abroad faithfully kept track of the calamitous developments and responded accordingly.
It was a Disaster. But the unprecedented Concern that Filipinos showed to their affected countrymen made it another proud and great moment for the country. It was something that raised The Filipino to the High Altar of Humanity.
October 4, 2009 at 6:31 pm (1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Personal, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Davaoenos, The Global Crowd, The Ilocanos, The Ilonggos, The Laguna Tagalogs, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos, The Past, The Tarlaquenos, The Tayabenses / Quezonians, Tristesse)
When I was very young and blissfully ignorant, and that was many, many, many years ago, the arrival of a typhoon was a happy development, specially if it reached Signal Number Two, because that meant that classes were suspended. We children could look forward to playing most of the day inside Lola Charing’s big house, which was impervious to floodwaters and strong winds. We liked to “play house,” “cooking-cooking,” Barbie dolls, G.I Joe figures, “Sungka,” “Piko,” “Patintero,” Hide and Seek, Exchange Places [ in the elegant living room, of all places 
], ”Old Maid,” “Monopoly,” “Scrabble,” etc.. We could watch our favorite cartoons on TV in the afternoon [ "Superman," "Aquaman," "Mightor," et. al. ], and eat all the sugary delights — today’s “tooth decay specials” — we wanted from Lola Charing’s fully-stocked kitchen, and I mean fully-stocked [ "Selecta" and "Magnolia" ice cream; "Pare" Bito Nuqui's homemade "Mantecado" ice cream of carabao's milk and slivers of "dayap" lime rind { IF there was any left after Brother Andrew and us hungry grandchildren! }; Ate Talia Padilla's homemade cakes, "ensaimadas," "sans rival," traditional pastries like "panaritas," "caramelitos," etc.; "barquillos" and "broas" cookies from Lola Nena Gala, "Panaderia de Molo" cookies from Lola Gely Lopez, "See's" chocolates, etc. ], and from Aling Maring’s and Aling Esa’s nearby sari-sari stores [ "Sarsi" soda, "Mirinda" soda, "Tarzan" and "Texas" bubble gum, "Choc-Nut" peanut chocolates, "Butterball" butterscotch candy, "White Rabbit" candy, etc. ] for “merienda.” Those simple pleasures were what typhoons meant to us grandchildren.
Typhoons then didn’t seem so bad. Yes, we would see helicopter footages of the Central Luzon provinces — Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac — inundated in floodwaters, but everyone was smiling and giggling as they waved to the cameras of RPN Channel 9 [ or did President Marcos or Madame Marcos also order them to do that??? ]. And because we were stuck in the house with Lola Charing and Ate Talia during such days, we grandchildren also saw, to our collective chagrin, more episodes of “Aawitan Kita” starring the irrepressible Armida Siguion-Reyna and other howling singers. I remember “Didang,” a particularly strong typhoon in the early 1970s. Now that one caused a lot of damage! We also had no school for a week! Yippee!
Thirty years later and Everything is so different now…
The coming of a typhoon nowadays in the 2000s means Difficulty, Desperation, Destruction, and yes, even Death.
I had not realized until now that one could actually get killed in a flood. I stupidly thought that it was only a matter of swimming well with all kinds of strokes — doggie-style, backstroke, freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke, etc.. Yes, one could get electrocuted by an open electric wire in the water, or, fall into an open manhole [ what with all the steel manhole covers being stolen for sale to steel recyclers! ]. Or contract the dreaded “Leptospirosis” [ infection from rodents' feces ] by open cuts and wounds. But what I didn’t know was that one could just be swept away by the rampaging waters, and be hit, all too helplessly, by all kinds of flotsam and jetsam — floating vehicles, uprooted trees, loosened concrete, wooden beams, G.I sheets, stones, and all — until one is simply… DEAD. Just like the villains in those “Indiana Jones” adventure movies!!!
Last night, I was at Santo Domingo Church for the third day Novena and Mass in honor of the “Santo Rosario,” Our Lady of the Rosary [ an Old World tradition I took from my Lola Charing ] . We lifted our hands and the “Our Father” was sung beautifully by the grand choir and, and oddly enough, rather soulfully by the congregation. I thought of all our fellow, suffering Filipinos and the terrible videos seen on TV and YouTube… and my mind’s eye replayed the horrors over and over, and over again. And I wept… Of course, Social Me kept my composure [ ramrod straight posture! Queen Mary-esque pulchritude ] but the tears just flowed. I was lucky, only a few, unused things got wet… but many other people lost their livelihood, hard-earned possessions, homes… and lives!!! The Sheer Devastation wrought by typhoon “Ondoy’s” floods on Filipino Life was just so awful, wasn’t it?
And now, there’s supertyphoon [ first time I've heard the term!!! ] “Pepeng” whirling towards the Philippines… Ohmygod. What worse devastation can that one bring???
It’s Time… It’s Time to Pray, and Pray Hard, like we never did before.
It turns out that our Old People, who prayed hard and prayed often, really knew what they were doing. 
*unfinished*
October 1, 2009 at 7:21 am (1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Personal, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Past, Tristesse)
From now on, I will no longer accept any comments from amorphous entities in cyberspace. There are far too many stupid and irritating comments coming from nobodies who don’t have the guts to back their comments up with their actual identities. I don’t see why anyone has to hide behind a pseudonym when I myself am laid out all over the place for everyone to see. I don’t have anything to hide and neither should any of my readers.
From now on, comments with no real names, no email addresses that can be confirmed, and no reliable identity checks will no longer be allowed.
I don’t care if it means a lessening of the hits this blog receives per day. Because I never did care about those things in the first place.
September 26, 2009 at 3:10 pm (2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Manila Houses, Personal, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Davaoenos, The Global Crowd, The Ilocanos, The Ilonggos, The Laguna Tagalogs, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos, The Tarlaquenos, The Tayabenses / Quezonians, Tristesse)
Manila and environs literally went “Under the Sea” today with the 24 hour nonstop rains of typhoon “Ondoy”…
It would be ideal and so “above it all” for me to say that I wasn’t affected at all by the flooding of typhoon “Ondoy” [ international code name: "Ketsana" ]. OF COURSE I WAS. Although the house is built on high ground, water just came from nowhere at 11:00 a.m. and quickly inundated the basement level, where I had a lot of good things stored for future use. Antique Filipino furniture, paintings, art books, vintage photographs, cushions, antique textiles, silver, china, crystal, impedimenta, etc. all went underwater for many minutes before they were patiently gathered one by one by the industrious and conscientious househelp. Surveying the catastrophe hours later, I was happy enough that the things were not lost; true, several were damaged, but that’s Life! I was actually more concerned with the health of the staff.
I thought I had it bad, at least until I saw the TV coverage hours later. Ohmygod!!! Quel desastre!!!
So where were you???
September 23, 2009 at 5:34 am (2000s Philippines, Current Events, Design and Decoration, Domestic Travels, Family Traditions, Personal, Random memories, The Global Crowd, The Ilonggos, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Pampanguenos)
September 22, 2009 at 1:57 pm (2000s Philippines, Angst, Current Events, Domestic Travels, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Global Crowd, The Ilonggos, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, Tristesse)
It is only expected that those here in Manila, used to a life of ever-increasing expenditures, are clueless as to what the amounts — usually very considerable — they spend for food, grooming, clothes, shoes, bags, jewelry, home, entertainment, travel, etc. can actually buy in terms of life-changing equipment for our fellow Filipinos in the far-flung provinces of our country.
On the tenth day of our trip, 14 September 2009, Monday, Tess Lopez brought upcoming Silaynon artist Carlos Ruiz and I to the Vallehermoso Central School to conduct an Art workshop for the Grade School children; the art works would be used for Christmas greeting cards to raise badly-needed funds for the Saint Francis of Assisi Parish Church of Vallehermoso and its Parochial School which burned to the ground a week before we arrived.
And while the Vallehermoso Central School was a perfectly charming place [ an old "Gabaldon"-type school building designed for tropical Philippine weather set on commodious grounds ] with perfectly charming students and noble and concerned teachers, I came face to face with the reality [ for the umpteenth time ] that much of the resources that we take for granted in Manila could go a looong way for the children, happy and content as they are, in this distant provincial town…
And so one thinks of the affluent life that has always seemed normal, even ordinary for the fortunate ones: endless dinners at “Lolo Dad’s,” “Le Souffle,” “Aubergine,” and “Antonio’s” [ and lunches in similar places ]; regular salon and spa treatments at the Shangri-La and Mandarin hotels, Emphasis Rockwell, and at BeloMed; European couture dresses and British and American bespoke suits; French and Italian leather shoes and bags from Hermes, Blahnik, Vuitton, Ferragamo, Tod’s; all the modern Italian furniture and interiors; theater seasons in London and New York, the casinos in Las Vegas and Macau; the safari trips to Kenya and the larks to Morocco; etc., etc.. Imagine All the Real Needs that All those Luxurious Wants can buy!!!
Someone did tell me, long ago, that the excess resources one has should not be used for one’s pleasures, but should instead be used to help others.
I countered that “It’s so much more fun to make messes of ourselves!!!” *winks*
September 22, 2009 at 1:54 pm (1800s Filipinas, 1900s Philippines, 2000s Philippines, Design and Decoration, Domestic Travels, Random memories, The Cebuanos, The Global Crowd, The Ilonggos, The Manilenos, The Negrenses, The Past)
Of course, Negros Oriental Governor Emilio “Dodo” Macias M.D. reacted suitably when I casually mentioned over the Bais fiesta lunch at Angelo and Ruby Teves’ house [ 10 September 2009, Thursday ] that “Dumaguete = Teves,” at least in Manila circles. The good Governor — despite being at the top of Negros Oriental politics — was magnanimous and politely agreed that it was the popular perception, at least in Manila circles.
The Teves are generally regarded as a Spanish mestizo family, like so many of the Old Negros Oriental aristocracy. But according to them, the original family name was actually Tan of Chinese origin.
The most prominent Teves these days is the current Secretary of Finance Margarito “Gary” B. Teves. He is acknowledged by the clan as a financial genius as well as an upright man of unquestionable integrity. He is a son of the formidable Herminio “Miniong” Teves by his first wife.
