incessant rambling

"It's the people - the poor sector which is the largest part of our society who should choose and decide who they want to run or replace the government, not the few elitist and the churchmen ." erap was quoted saying this over the phone in an interview with the Inquirer . considering that it was the elite and clergy who brought about his fall from grace, i understand his sentiments. just a little bit, he has redeemed himself not because of all the good he has done, but by using his voice that compels people to listen whether they adore or abhor him.

i attended the late night service in Redemptorist Church and was silently contemplating the words of the priest. In his homily he casually interjected that he doesn't understand why erap needs to be pardoned as erap always claimed he is innocent. obviously, a sheep that doesn't follow the flock of vidal. amen to that.

we usually say "pardon me" when we burp in front of people. if only it was that simple in the case of erap. his pardon does not serve any purpose to the filipino people except strengthen the long held perception that the scales of justice tip towards those that have money, power and influence. except that when erap burped, i can smell the rotten stench of arrogance mixed with delusion of grandeur brought about by alcohol. he claims to be innocent and that the filipino people have acquitted him in the eyes of God. i wonder if we pray to the same God. instead of asking pgma to grant erap pardon, Cardinal Vidal should have gotten out of his palace, visit the nearest national penitentiary to see that thousands more repentant criminals deserve his intervention for pardon rather than one who claims to be innocent up to this point. on the other hand, these criminals can't afford the millions of contributions that erap gave to vidal - they barely have centavos to buy milk for a s...

I have a Cat that lives in London. Well, she happens to live there after taking up her masters and hopefully, she'd have decided by now to take up that job tomorrow in a company that offered her a post. We haven't really seen each other for a while but i live vicariously through her and her travels. she sent a recent invite to view some of her pics in Annecy, France and i was able to get her permission to post the pics - with a few minor artistic alterations. Enjoy this one. i can almost imagine the scents in the market. ah.. if you want to know more about annecy go to wikipedia and search for annecy and you'll come up with an interesting write up about the town north of france. perhaps one day, i'd be able to cross THAT bridge (cat, you know which one ha ha ha). Note: photos courtest of Catherine Huang; Annecy, France

i had to do some work and needed to get to a coffee shop where they allow me to plug in my laptop. thought of a couple of options and decided to work in brown cup (st. patricks). along the way i passed through redemptorist church in Cebu City and had to stop as i saw the spectacular play of the setting sun behind the church. good thing i carry my trusty camera in my car just in case something like this happens. and nope, the title is not about the end of the world, just a play of words referring to the time of day. :)

Barili is a small town Southwest of Cebu City, roughly about 60 kilometers and you can get there in about 45 minutes. That is, if you don't stop over in Carcar to get their artery clogging pork chicharon. Main attraction of the place is Mantayupan falls that contributes to the electrical capacity of Cebu province. There are fantastic roadside places that overlook the tanyon strait and you can see the majestic kanlaon volcano in negros oriental. the place we went to is on top of a cliff and had an amazing view of the barili-cebu shoreline. The town itself is an interesting visit as there are old houses that probably date back to the time spaniards ran around the country. we're not complaining, if not for the horny friars and some mestizos, we wouldn't have interesting castillan malay features. Note, the pictures were taken sometime March 2007

I wrote in a previous entry that a lot of the pregnancy in this world are simply results of an "accident". Made me think how the universe came to be, are we, for some strange inexplicable reason, a result of a celestial accident or experiment gone bad? if that is the case, the Big Bang theory makes really good sense and answers all of the questions of where we came from. hmmmm

I was getting ready to scoot out of the gym when a gym-mate came in with a big frown on his face. He apparently got stuck in a client meeting that took up some time off his workout schedule. Out of the blue he asked me how much it costs to buy a dozen roses. As it turned out, his wife is celebratin her birthday. I thought for a while and said: "The cost of a dozen roses is a priceless smile from your wife." His frown turned into a look of surprise and he said, "Heck... am buying two dozen roses for my wife."

former teen stars, has-been actors turned married men were asked about the importance of sex in a marriage in a tv show called "Moms" and what sort of advice they can give their sons. like some pathetic self-help (uhmmm, it probably is not the kind of "self-help" you think i was referring to...) lecture, they went on and on about sex to be an act of procreation that should be done between married couples. I am sure that 99.99% of sexual acts committed by people in the showbiz industry does not fall under the category "married". and if i am to believe all the gossip going around, more than half of those sexual encounters are not between adam and eve, more like adam and steve. before i continue, i categorically wanted to state that i am not encouraging extramarital or premarital sex. on the other hand, to state that sex should be exclusively for procreation is about the same thing as saying that the family is nothing but a farm where you take a hen and roost...

We all know the story by now: 190 congressmen were allegedly given Php 200T after a breakfast “Christmas Exchange Gift” meeting last October 11, 2007 with the president. Vice Governor Suplico of Iloilo claimed it was some sort of bribe attempt to push for a weak impeachment case against President Arroyo. In a massive dose of amnesia, everyone claimed they never got the brownie take-home bag after the party. Then came along Rep. Cuenco (Cebu) who claimed he got Php 200T and was quoted live in a local radio show that it was the usual Christmas Gift from the Palace. Hours later, and perhaps furious phone calls from his colleagues, he went back on air and claimed it was all a joke. In the first place, Rep. Cuenco is not known to have an exceptional sense of humor nor is he known to indulge in light banter. Second, his tone during the interview was that of irritation because the interviewer was asking pointed questions about the other congressmen receiving money. Third, his comment that it ...

Nope, i did not mispell that one - and i'm not referring to that girl who turned down your advances either. When people talk about beaches they immediately imagine shorelines, cottages and tourists as usual subjects. Well, i've had enough of that - so much so that i decided to take pictures of other BEACHY things in San Remigio Beach Club north of Cebu province. the series of pictures were taken early morning, i climbed across the private wall separating the private beach resort from a fishing community and stumbled across some really interesting shots of fishermen panning for fish fry, a father and son checking out fishpens made from crude bamboo structures, children sitting underneath a tree that was aflame with green tinges from the early morning sun, a banca floating on top of shimmering flecks of water. inside the resort, i took a picture of the swing set that made some interesting shadow patterns. using the same theme, i took a shot of some of my colleagues takin...

amidst an ocean of stars, i sit still and quiet. i contemplate what lies ahead and just as quickly, i descend into darkness and wake up to another day. photo 1 : swimming in stars photo 2 : star struck lovers photo 3 : a bright idea location: tops, cebu city

got invited to attend the Samsung StyleWatch series of fashion shows and i took the opportunity to take some pictures. considering that i am seated by the sidelines it's a wonder the pictures came out pretty decent.

when i see couples i try to imagine their sex lives. everyone has some story to tell. visit PostSecret and read up on anonymous stories and secrets posted by people all over the world using postcards.

like every trying-to-be-good catholic, i go to church on sundays to pray for a better week and ask for forgiveness for some, ok, a looot of things i'm not particularly proud of. on these days i bring along my camera with the hope that i'd catch something interesting. the churches featured here includes the cebu cathedral and the sto. nino church in downtown cebu. some of the pics are of people littering around the church - beggars that cling to your shirt and merchants that sell everything and anything. the old ladies hanging at the entrance of the churches sell candles and prayers that go along with it. think of it as a deposit for heaven. in sto. nino church, i saw this very very pregnant lady standing by the arched entrance to the priest's quarters. made me think how religious my family is- my great great grandfather was a friar. 'sus ko po!

We have a critical crisis for the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philippines. We tag an industry as a sunrise sector for its potential to expand and deliver returns in terms of revenue and employment generation. One such industry is the BPO group that has been tagged by the Philippine Government to deliver 900T jobs for the Filipino people and deliver an estimated revenue of USD 11B by 2010. The numbers look promising, the 2007 estimates indicate that we already have 190T employed in the Call Center Sub-Sector (CCS) of the BPO industry and the country is posting a Compounded Annual Growth Rate of (CAGR) 63% in terms of human resource expansion. On the other hand, in 2 to 3 years the Call Center Sector will stagnate and move on to more competitive countries that can fill in the growing deficit in Philippine resources: qualified human capital. As with any other economic indicator and activity, the BPO industry is dictated by the Law of Supply and Demand. According to ...

2005 January I was on my way back to the Philippines from Sri Lanka and I decided to stop over Malaysia and visit my good friend Val. My previous travels to Malaysia were overnight affairs and I was locked up in the Hotel for most of the stay, that or running to meet with potential business partners for the company I was working for at that time. In any case, Metro Kuala Lumpur (KL) is an amazing city due to the number of old structures that litter the whole city. What's nice about the city is that they have a strong conservation program for old buildings / structures. At that time, the city was about to celebrate the Chinese New Year "Gong Xi Fa Chai" and most residents are out of town, leaving me free to roam around and take some interesting pictures. I was able to visit Merdeka Square where the Sultan Abdul Samad Palace is also located. Around the area you will find the Old City Hall that looked amazing at night due to the gold cast light from the lamppost. From there,...