Why I Live In The Philippines?

A friend named "Maeng Ni" posted this. Lahat ng sinabi niya nakakatuwa at totoo... When I travel, people often ask me why I live in the Philippines ? Well here it is...

It is the only place on earth where...

• Every street has a basketball court.
• Even doctors, lawyers and engineers are unemployed.
• Doctors study to become nurses for employment abroad.
• Students pay more money than they will earn afterwards.
• School is considered the second home and the mall considered the third.
• Call-center employees earn more money than teachers and nurses.
• Everyone has his personal ghost story and superstition.
• Mountains like Makiling and Banahaw are considered holy places.
• Everything can be forged.
• All kinds of animals are edible.
• Starbucks coffee is more expensive than gas.
• Driving 4 kms can take as much as four hours.
• Flyovers bring you from the freeway to the side streets.
• Crossing the street involves running for your dear life.
• The personal computer is mainly used for games and Friendster.
• Where colonial mentality is dishonestly denied!
• Where 4 a.m. is not even considered bedtime yet.
• People can pay to defy the law.
• Everything and everyone is spoofed.
• Where even the poverty-stricken get to wear Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger (peke)!
• The honking of car horns is a way of life.
• Being called a bum is never offensive.
• Floodwaters take up more than 90 percent of the streets during the rainy season.
• Where everyone has a relative abroad who keeps them alive.
• Where wearing your national colors make you baduy.
• Where even the poverty-stricken have the latest cell phones. (GSM-galing sa (magnanakaw) .
• Where insurance does not work.
• Where water can only be classified as tap and dirty.
• Clean water is for sale (35 pesos per gallon).
• Where the government makes the people pray for miracles. (Amen to that!)
• Where University of the Philippines where all the weird people go.
• Ateneo is where all the nerds go.
• La Salle is where all the Chinese go.
• College of Saint Benilde is where all the stupid Chinese go and;
• University of Asia and the Pacific is where all the irrelevantly rich people go.
• Fast food is a diet meal.
• Traffic signs are merely suggestions, not regulations.
• Where being mugged is normal and It happens to everyone.
• Rodents are normal house pets.
• The definition of traffic is the 'non-movement' of vehicles.
• Where the fighter planes of the 1940s are used for military engagements and;
• The new fighter planes are displayed in museums.
• Where cigarettes and alcohol are a necessity, and where the lottery is a commodity.
• Where soap operas tell the realities of life and where the news provides the drama.
• Where actors make the rules and where politicians provide the entertainment.
• People can get away with stealing trillions of pesos but not a thousand.
• Where being an hour late is still considered punctual. (Grabe talaga 'to!)
• Where the squatters have more to complain (even if they do not pay their tax) - than those employed and have their tax automatically deducted from their salaries.
• And where everyone wants to leave the country!
  

What's Happening To Us!

I found this alert in my inbox this morning... Pls be careful. Dont accept even calling cards from strangers per incident below. Even calling cards are not safe!!!!

A man came over and offered his services as a painter to a female putting gas in her car and left his card. She said no, but accepted his card out of kindness and got in the car. The man then got into a car driven by another gentleman. As the lady left the service station, she saw the men following her out of the station at the same time. Almost immediately, she started to feel dizzy and could not catch her breath. She tried to open the window and realized that the odor was on her hand; the same hand which accepted the card from the gentleman at the gas station.

She then noticed the men were immediately behind her and she felt she needed to do something at that moment. She drove into the first driveway and began to honk her horn repeatedly to ask for help. The men drove away but the lady still felt pretty bad for several minutes after she could finally catch her breath. Apparently ,there was a substance on the card that could have seriously injured her.

This drug is called 'BURUNDANGA' and it is used by people who wish to incapacitate a victim in order to steal from or take advantage of them like REPEATED GANG RAPE. This drug is four times more dangerous than the date rape drug and is transferable on simple cards. So take heed and make sure you don't accept cards at any given time alone or from someone on the streets. This applies to those making house calls and slipping you a card when they offer their services

PLEASE SEND THIS E-MAIL ALERT TO EVERY FEMALE YOU KNOW

Don't trust even foreigners or men with female allies... evil cannot be determined by their looks .

Bagamanoc's Location

Whenever, I go to Bagamanoc town to buy some fresh fish at the coastline, I never failed to notice the damaged concrete structures nearby, which according to locals were one time residential houses.

At the ground level, it is very hard to imagine the extent of the damaged done by the rising sea level and the location's vulnerabilities.

Perhaps these pictures would give a better perspective for our local leaders, policy makers and as well as ordinary people like us, that indeed there is reason to be alarmed and to take appropriate action.

Second picture, is a bird's eye view at northeast angle. This point is where the northeast moonson originates that batters northeastern municipalities during the last and first quarter of the year.

The last picture was taken at the east angle of the island.

Note the entry points for Pacific swell during typhoons and tsunami in case the epicenter is located at the northeastern or eastern seaboard.

Given this scenario, I think our town planners and policy makers should not rely on fatalism when making decisions that would endanger lives, properties and environment in the future.

The 65.5% Question

I was reading this item from NCSB dated May 2007 about Poverty Threshold in Urban and Rural Areas - Bicol. And it never came to me as a surprise regarding their findings.

...The disparity in the cost of living between rural and urban areas is highest in Catanduanes where living in the urban areas cost 65.5 percent higher than living in the rural areas. Among provinces, urban areas in Catanduanes have the highest annual per capita poverty threshold reaching P22,841. On the other hand, cost of living in urban areas in Masbate is only 13.3 percent higher than living in the rural areas of the province. Masbate has the lowest urban and rural per capita poverty thresholds - May 16, 2007 NCSB.

Many would asked including me. Why?

Perhaps In Our Wildest Dreams

There is something fishy about these proposed projects like the shipyard and fish port in the northeastern shores of Panganiban and Bagamanoc towns. While we aspire for a better future for our community, we also need to be analytical and discerning...read more