The ir-RAJ-tional answer

After the major, major upset that downsized the Filipinos morale, we found a shed of light in the hope that our Miss Philippines might grab the Miss Universe tilt. It was an intense moment. Venus Raj, the Philippines’ representative for the pageant was regarded as the crowd favorite and even got the top votes online.

She strut her stuff at the Mandalay Bay. Venus got the numbers for the swimsuit and evening gown competition. The whole 7, 107 islands of the country were excited if she will take home the crown up until she reached the coveted 5^th place of the Top 5.

And the story ends there. She made it to the Top 5.

Seriously, I am still so proud of her. For the longest time, we have never seen a Filipina reach that far, considering the fact that she has almost lost her chance to join this pageant due to her citizenship queries. It could have been a better day, but it just turned out to be good. And good is not bad at all.

Heads up, Philippines!

What the Philippines.

It was just later this afternoon that I first heard of the hostage crisis involving Ronaldo Mendoza, a former police officer, and a couple of foreigners inside a tourist bus. The way the story was handed out to the press, it seemed like everything was harmless and calm, maybe because of the fact that the hostage taker is a comrade.

At first everything seemed to be flowing smoothly. In fact, the hostages were given food and the bus was supplied with fuel just so the air conditioning of the bus would not be disrupted.  Kids and some of the elder hostages were also freed not later this morning.

Things started to get complicated for as I got home, some of Mendoza’s relatives were being seized by the police, I think in the efforts of getting the hostage taker’s attention. It was believed that he is watching the news on TV while inside the bus.

True to that, just a few moments later, there were gunshots heard from the inside of the bus. And then the camera was focused to the driver of the bus who was handcuffed into the steering wheel. A few more moments later, the driver miraculously got out of the window and ran hysterically shouting that everyone else inside is dead.

That’s when the “mighty” law enforcers surrounded the bus and “tried” to get Mendoza in “every way possible”. Just like that, the hostage drama became a hostage comedy. Some of the police tried to shatter the glass door and windows of the bus and candidly, one of them threw the axe inside the bus not just once, but twice. It really looked stupid.

After a gazillion hours later, they have smashed the door down and a sniper FINALLY got Mendoza down. When it was confirmed that Mendoza is dead, some of the hostages that were still alive inside went out shaking, crying and traumatized by the situation. I feel sad for them. It almost made me cry. Later on, a report was released saying that at least eight hostages held for 10 hours appear to have survived the incident.

PERSONALLY...

Now, there are a lot of major concerns constituted at the course of this unfortunate event. First is the lack of a strategic plan coming from the police force. WHOEVER is in charge in this incident should be sacked. The police force, our police force, looked downright stupid and unprepared as they set off to try to put Mendoza down. The fact that it took them ten whopping hours to get this job done is already a manifestation of how disorganized they were.

They have strategized of getting the attention of the hostage taker by publicly assaulting his relatives without even realizing that it could result an adverse effect to the inconvenience of the hostages. And yes it did.

MEDIA. I think the best way that the media should have contributed is by shutting their selves out of the situation. What the situation calls for is a news blackout. Being a Journalism graduate myself, I know how important it is to get the facts straight ahead, plus the raging competition that looms between new agencies. But this is a different situation. There was a time that Mendoza aimed a series of gunshots at the media men, which I think is a way for him to cause a diversion. He wanted the police to split their attention as we all know that media men are hard to shoo away from a high profile case like this.

As I’ve said, there were gunshots aimed at the media men present within the vicinity of the hostage area, and it is said that a civilian was hit by one of these gunshots. These bystanders never learn. I think it is really in our nature to pry on every controversy even if it can put us into harm. Just like what happened when Mendoza was confirmed dead. A swarm of “usiseros” rushed into the scene and blocked the way of the hostages getting out of the bus. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it is a form of obstruction of justice, when someone else just comes into the middle of a police operation. The rescue of the hostages is still considered as a part of the police operation, so everyone, including the media men who rushed into the bus, should have been arrested. The scene of the crime has not been cleared yet, what if a grenade was set somewhere there and someone accidentally kicked it. It will become a greater threat to MORE lives.

In line with that, I was intrigued by the fact that none of the local officials of Manila were there to assist the police of securing the vicinity of the crime scene against bystanders, because as I’ve said, it is a great threat to them. I don’t know about all of these, and these are just my opinion.

LASTLY...

That being said, I know that the Philippines is now in the brink of a tourism breakdown. But I hope that everyone will understand that this incident is in the discretion of just one man. Overall judgment of how Filipinos are should not be reflected on one man’s act. It is unacceptable that he has claimed the lives of innocent people just for his personal claims, but this is life. It just happened that bad decisions were made this day. It was a bad decision that he went aboard the bus and took everyone hostage. It was a bad decision that the police weren’t able to shut down the situation earlier as possible without having anyone get hurt in the process.

Let us not let this situation bring us down. I suggest that we better take this opportunity to make out a better citizen in us who would wisely make better decisions in the future.

Heads up, Philippines!
 
*DISCLAIMER: This is my personal account on the hostage crisis. Get the facts straight here.

Philippine Basketball Anthology

It’s with a heavy heart that I discuss this matter. Being a die-hard Ginebra fan, of course, a part of me still weeps as they were beaten out of the playoffs series earlier than expected by the team that later on bagged the conference title, the Alaska Aces.

ALASKA WHO?

There are a lot of points that are worth discussing in that win. First, at the beginning of this conference, no one really thought that it could boil down into this.  A lot of people were actually talking of how strong the revamped Talk n’ Text lineup is. After the acquisition of Kelly Williams and Ryan Reyes earlier on the eliminations, TNT rallied a 14-game win stretch that gave them the first outright semis berth into the playoffs. Meanwhile, defending Fiesta Conference champions San Miguel Beermen were also on the spotlight as they have re-acquired their winning import, Gabe Freeman backed up by some of the league’s best players, shooters and defenders. The SMB franchise did not disappoint as they went all the way to achieve the second semis berth and eventually, graced the finals series once again to defend their crown. There are a lot of notable teams that battled it out into the playoffs as well. The Rain or Shine Elastopainters, who gained the wildcard spot gave their all as they tried to snatch the semifinals slot from the B-meg Derby Ace Llamados.  Probably the most controversial team of the conference, what with the personal grievances of their star player, James Yap.  But the team also lost their thunder from the Beermen. The Barangay Ginebra Kings brought controversies as well, as the team acquired a lot of the best players in the league to play along with an already talented lineup, but the problem is that they couldn’t work on the chemistry of the team. They got Willie Miller, Mike Cortez and Yancy de Ocampo but all in all, it was a fail. All those trades resulted to nothing but sorrow, especially to the dismay of the fans.

It was a different story though with the TNT franchise. After a long break, they were toppled by the Alaska Aces in just a snap. It was evident that Chot Reyes and his boys weren’t able to contain the momentum that favored Alaska’s wins. Alaska had its share of complications as well. Every team in the PBA was actually affected with the bout of players traded from one team to another. Alaska lost their top gun Willie Miller to the Ginebra Kings in exchange for Finals MVP-to-be Cyrus Baguio. The trade gave out better results in favor of the Aces as they found a new “Ace” player in Baguio.

THE ROAD TO THE FINALS

 Before facing TNT, Alaska came from a highly momentous and epic battle at the quarterfinals series with the Barangay Ginebra Kings. It was a do-or-die match on both teams, and obviously, the Aces were the better team.

So, the Aces and the Beermen, two of the winningest teams in the PBA went head-to-head to get the conference title that easily went to the Aces in just six games. Finals MVP was awarded to LA Tenorio and Cyrus Baguio. The Aces are now the second winningest team in the PBA, tied to the Crispa Redmanizers of the yesteryears. Incidentally, it is also the 100^th PBA finals game and the last for “The Jet” Jeffrey Cariaso.

 ALL-"NEW" PBA

The next season is just around the corner, which will start with the PBA Draft Pick with former Atenean and Smart Gilas stalwart, Rabeh Al-Husseini leading the pack of hungry PBA wannabes. Aside from the rookies to watch out for, we shall be enthralled with the new system of the PBA, as a regular season will have three conferences just like what it did before. We will also be witnessing the emergence of two new teams in the league, from Meralco (formerly the Sta. Lucia Realtors) and Petron (formerly the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados) along with its new coaching staff and probably players as well.

And so the countdown begins…

JGL and FRIENDS...

#itdoesntmakesense

Life is full of questions.

These are the what’s, where’s, when’s, why’s and how’s that we need answered in order to move on. But somehow, questioning isn’t just enough to move on. It’s like what they say, “action speaks louder than words” – whereas our questions are the words that doesn’t do much at all. It’s in action.

Come to think of it, I am a (wo)man of questions. I always ask. And when I don’t get the answers straight, I continue to ask more. Not realizing that I should have worked on finding the answers to my questions. But what if I’m just really a “Curious George” who wants everything questioned? (just like that)

Is it wrong to ask questions?

I don’t know and I may never know either. Do I need to act upon it? No. It won’t save my life to answer that question on questions. So what’s my point? Do I need to make a point?

Do I need to explain this? Oh questions. Our love/hate relationship continues.

On to the next one…

Cam on!

Have you ever had the best vacation ever?

I did.

Last year, as a graduation gift from my ever-loving Tita, she booked me a trip to Vietnam. She has been working there for almost eight years now. It wasn’t my first time abroad, but it was the first time that I flew on my own.

So, Vietnam

Vietnam is not as progressive as Singapore neither it is underdeveloped. Their city is a fusion of trees and concrete buildings. In the Philippines, I would probably compare it to the likes of Manila and Pasay City. But the outpour of foreigners is really impressive. You can almost see one wherever you go. Later on, I found out that it’s because foreigners feel safe there. The country is under a strict compliance of gun ban and the residents give high regards to the law enforcers. One more thing that I was so shocked to witness is the ratio of cars to motorcycles in their main streets, or even on the alleys.  I may sound exaggerating but the ratio, I think, is in every 2 cars, there are 8 motorcycles.

My Tita lives on the 10^th floor of an apartment building and every time the rush hour comes, it is a funny sight seeing the streets of Vietnam clogged with motorcycles like ants crawling in a traffic jam.

I was there for over a month and it has been a place that I can call home. It is safe to say that I fell in love with the place, the ambiance, almost everything about it. But just like my trip to Singapore, I have listed down the top 5 reasons why you should visit Vietnam.

5. Pho, Banh Mi and more!

I have blogged about my food tripping in Vietnam and it is plain to see that I am a huge fan of their food palate.

4. Wi-fi access everywhere

Since arriving there, my Tita has given me her Blackberry phone with a Vietnam accessible SIM card. I was shocked upon learning that almost every establishment around the city has a wi-fi access even at the cinema! And it’s for FREE!

3. City Tour, Damsen, Vung Tao

What’s a vacation without sight seeing? Aside from the busy alleys and Tita’s workplace, I was able to tour the city and Cu Chi tunnels through a package tour at Sinh Tourist. Their historical story is actually interesting and inspirational. I’ve also visited Damsen, the city’s version of Enchanted Kingdom. I wasn’t able to try some of the rides because Tita feels that they’re not that safe. So we just tried to tour the whole theme park by foot and via the monorail train. The only ride I was able to try is that log jam-slash-horror-house-with-dinosaurs-instead-of-monsters nightmare on wheels. OK, I am exaggerating. But really, I was spooked and was just screaming all throughout the ride. Dinosaurs keep popping in and out the way trying (and really did to me) to scare those at the ride.

Lastly, if Brazil has a Christ the Redeemer statue, Vietnam has it’s own mini-Redemption statue at Vung Tao. It takes a ferry ride of 30mins to get to Vung Tao. You can compare it to a fishing village, like in Quezon Province. It was a long and steep walk going to the top of the statue but it was worth it. The view of the shoreline was beautiful, and it was a bit cloudy that day. Imagine if you get to witness a clear blue sky along the shoreline.

2. Ben Than Market/Saigon Square

For someone like me who has a lot of people to give pasalubong for (family, cousins, high school friends, college friends), looking for the right thing to give them is such a task. I went to Saigon Square with a ready list on my mind of what I should buy. But it was just so distracting seeing a lot of things that you would want to buy for yourself! I mean, everything is just so cheap and nice. Shoes, bags, shirts, DVDs, accessories and even shades are so tempting there.

The same thing happened to me when I went to Ben Than Market, the place where you can buy authentic souvenirs from Vietnam like embroidered wallets, figurines and other native products like spicy dried squid, candied fruits and several nuts.

1. Coffee

This is hands down my favorite part of being in Vietnam. From their instant coffees (Nescafe, G7) to their Café Sua Da (iced coffee with condensed milk), their coffee never failed to perk me up and brighten my mood. Their premier coffee house, Highlands Coffee has a lot more than coffee as well. Their cakes, pastries, teas and Nasi Goreng is the best! I hope they’ll franchise a branch here in the Philippines soon. : D

INCEPTED.

INCEPTION.
Where do I begin?
The storyline? Effects? Joseph Gordon-Levitt?

It was love at first sight.
I'm lost for words.

This definitely makes it to the list of my favorite movies of all time. Super!

You are the only inception..

I know, I know...