A break on the topic of Philippines and the Pinoys

I think I will lay off the topic of Philippines and its wonderful flaws for a while. It's causing me unnecessary stress right now. I am so far away from the country, yet I am highly affected by it. Why do I care so much? I think I got my caring side from my grandmother on my father's side. She is such a caring woman that she is always on the side of the poor, the underprivileged, the sick, the needy, and the like. Me, I'm the same. Sometimes this can be overwhelming though.

No matter how much I want to run away from it, to not really care, to just want to do my own thing, to just have fun carelessly, whimsically, freely, to be nobody, to hang out, to chill, and what have you, this I-care-I-should-do-something attitude always follows me. Whenever I see unfairness, injustice, inequity, the rebel in me comes out. I start to grow either a horn and a tail, or a halo, depending on the occasion. Sometimes, I just want to not care. Sometimes, I just want to live my own life, unaffected by the world around me.

It's not that I want to give up on this effort to better the world; I know I can't do it alone. I know that the only way to reach it and be satisfied with it, is to touch a persons life, one at a time. I've heard of those jaded individuals who no longer want to do anything, who chooses to not participate anymore, who decided to join the bandwagon, because they did not see their ideals come true. Too idealistic. Me, there must be pragmatism to all these efforts. I don't intend to change everyone and how they think. My intention is to just change one person's mind at a time. And hopefully, there will be that one person who will make a great difference in people's lives.

So thus, my blog will rest on the Philippine topic for a little bit, till I get fired up again. In about three weeks, I will be back in the Philippines, trying to build my business. I will be there six months to a year, and who knows, I will have plenty of things to write about. I'm sure I'll see something everyday that I can definitely have a comment on.

Note to self: write two posts a day when I'm in the Philippines. One positive. And one negative. Good balance. In life, everyone must find the middle ground. Otherwise, they are either high up on their laurels, in fantasy world, or lacking enough reality.

So yeah, I am going to take a break on the topic of the Philippines. Major headache sometimes. That is what I get from being a political science major and a political activist in the US. I should have stuck to the math and sciences. At least I could have found an lonely office corner somewhere figuring out equations. But then again, things happen for a reason.

War in the Philippines, War on Poverty, War on Crime

Driving home from work today, I saw a yellow Hummer 2 right next to me with a huge sticker on its tinted rear windows just above the spare tires. It read: Today! A soldier died so you could keep your freedom.

My immediate response was: Today! A soldier could have lived so he could enjoy his freedom.

It's ironic that a gas-guzzling vehemoth of a vehicle they call H3 would display something like that, for many people now believe that we're in the war in Iraq for oil and petroleum, and not in the name of freedom. We bomb Iraq and the other Middle East nations just so we could get some kind of control over the oil. After all, the US is the biggest energy consuming nation in the world, not to mention, the most wasteful as well. But as far as that sticker goes, it's partially true, because that soldier can no longer enjoy the freedom he himself was fighting for.

I am a pacifist, as I prefer dialogue and dimplomacy until all those involved turn blue in the face. Unfortunately, if you have power, like the US, war is so inevitable, and we will wield are super police powers over anyone we think is trying to violate what we think is right. But then again, who really is right, right?

I pay respect to the soldiers that have lost their lives in the war, in any war for that matter. Each soldier has face, a family, a brother, a sister, a mother, a father, a husband, a wife...a story. Each story is different. With each story, is a life, a human being. But in the end, the only people that will see the end of this war are the dead soldiers themselves. How unfortunate.

I am not going to attempt to connect this story to the Philippines. The only connection I can see right now is the war within the Philippines itself. It's a war on poverty. A war on corruption. These two wars in themselves make up different battlefields. Battlefields of political corruption. Battlefields of environmental destruction as seen with illegal loggers and death of the inhabitants. Battlefields of unfair employment. Battlefields of dirty streets. Battlefields of homelessness. Battlefields of human trafficking.

Many Filipinos fight on these battlefields every single day of their lives. They are the modern day Jose Rizals. But there are so few of them. There are more corrupt cronies. I am hoping that one day, the nation will wake up, and rise to its potential, where the Filipino people will no longer tolerate corruption, where they can finally say: I am sick and tired; I am going to make a change. This change may not be big. But I am going to make a change one person at a time. One person at a time. That's all it takes.

Filipino Filipino+politics philippines corruption political+corruption poverty crime Pinoy pinay filipina

Evil Land Lord teamed with Evil PLDT, A Force to be Reckoned with

We live in an increasingly globalized society, thanks to the wonderful and innovative technology called telecommunications. Specifically, telephone and internet. Even the most rural corners of Ilocos and the boondocks of the provinces are connected to the world via internet. With the help of laptops and wireless fidelity aka wifi, you can be connected internationally while taking a dump.

Hmm. Break. Gotta eat this chicken pot pie.

Back to telecom. I have a Globe sim card in my Blackberry that is roaming here in the US. Wow, I can receive text messages for free from my friends and family across the Philippines. Though service sucks overall, I guess you get what you pay for. One thought about cellphone service in the PI: Why in the world do people continue to use Globe and Smart, when Sun Cellular has free Sun to Sun phone calls? This is really mind boggling for me. Note to self: When I get back to the Philippines, convince all my friends to switch to Sun or get a new phone with a Sun sim card.

Then there's the monopolistic giant they call PLDT. I'm glad that the cell phone companies are getting in the action. I hate monopolies. So bad for consumers. Are you following my drift? Yes, this post will lead towards the monopolitic evil in the form of PLDT. What's my beef?

I have a friend who just moved into a condo in Makati. One year lease. The unit doesn't come with an AC since the previous tenant took it with her, and the landlord refuses to put in an AC and wants my friend to put his own. Speaking of landlords in the Philippines, they really do live by that name "landlords". They act as if they are the kings and queens of the kingdom called Third World. They are the lords of evil, if you ask me. Fine, not all. But a lot of them, in my experience, have been quite Napoleonistic, wielding power. Talk about power tripping. But that is another blog altogether.

Back to the monopolistic power tripping of PLDT. Actually, I take that back. It's not power tripping. It really is a monopoly, thus real power. So come to find out, the previous tenant not only took the AC with her, she also owed PLDT about 7000 pesos for her telephone line. So when it came to reconnecting the line under the new tenant, PLDT said that balance has to be paid for first. What the fuck kind of policy is this? First, the previous tenant should be held accountable for this, not the new tenant. Thus, the new tenant should not be held back. Second, the landlord should have taken care of it right away when the previous tenant moved out. It's called "deposit." Helllllooo?

So Evil PLDT cannot offer my friend a new line, even though he has all the qualifications, which are two IDs, recent pay stubs, and the lease agreement under his name. Greedy, evil PLDT wants the balance paid, or else my friend will not be connected to the world. What the fuck in hell policy is this? Bayantel or some other companies are not yet connected to this building, which is right across Greenbelt. So two lords have a hold on consumers. PLDT and the Landlord. I wonder if you pit the two evils together, who would win? Does two evils cancel each other out? In this case, they become a bigger force.

So here's the deal; if the lord of the land does not deal with Pucking Long Distance Telephone company, my friend will just move out and find some other lord of the land to deal with. Can anyone say, where the heck is the consumer's group? Consumer watch group? Do people even care about this? Who the heck is protecting the consumers? Where are they? Congress? Senate? President? Petition? Democracy? Watch groups? Watch dogs? Where are these concepts?

When I come back to the Philippines, I will write to the president of PLDT. I will write to my senator. I will write to my congressman. I will find a consumer's group that can help deal with this issue. This is unfair. This is unjust. Because they are monopolistic, and there are no other competition in that area, in the end, the consumer is the loser. That is the Filipino. We keep getting screwed. Time to fight back. Time to let my people go.

Addition:

After doing some research, here's the information for Consumer Welfare in the Philippines. I am including this on my blog now so that I have a reference later when I have problems with products and services in the Philippines.

http://www.bps.dti.gov.ph/ConsumerWelfare_ConsumerAdvisories.php

Filipino Telecom Telecommuncation+in+the+Philippines Filipino+Internet PLDT Bayantel condo landlord Philippines+Internet+Provider Philipppine+Long+Distance+Telephone Telephone Long+Distance