#MillionPeopleMarch

I will admit to it, I want to wear white and at the very least drop by the march but I am otherwise occupied so I sadly can’t be there.

I support what the march stands for. It is not about anarchy, it is about citizens voicing out their cry against the pork barrel and everything it stands for.

I am just glad I have a few hours to tune into the media coverage of the march before I have to be busy again. I support the cause in spirit and will be tuning in via the internet for news and updates.

One thing to note though, apparently, a certain Mr. and Mrs. Corona were spotted trying to attend the march and was heckled, booed and driven away!

Well, HELLOOOOO what do you expect?! Mr. Corona, were you expecting everyone to open their arms and suddenly hug you since you wore white?! (Maybe he just can’t resist a themed t-shirt day? Remember he kept asking his cohorts to wear different color shirts back then?)

Unfortunately, white apparently isn’t his color. Everyone kept commenting on his man boobs. Just. Simply. Hilarious.

I still cannot believe his nerve. Seriously. 

Also, it has been said that the opposition are trying to ride on this event and make it an anti-Pnoy thing. I would like to believe that our democracy is relatively evolved than those of, say, the Arab Spring countries where opposing forces keep trying to angle for a power struggle amidst the fray and chaos. (On this note, the discussion of new democracies, the Arab Spring and it’s growing pains, should be also be discussed another day).

Let us be clear with this though: TODAY is a cry against the pork barrel and everything it represents. It is a cry for the government to do something about all of this.

TODAY is NOT a rally to bring the current administration.

The nerve of these opposition people but, I suppose, such people never sleep. I wouldn’t expect them to anyway.  

In a country where often the hot new issue makes everyone forget about the previous week's hot issue... and last week we were hit by the year's Habagat among the many major things that happened last week (and so many they were).... I'm sure the culprits are crossing their fingers and hoping we've all forgotten everything.

BUT let today's march be a reminder to you Janet Napoles: We have not forgetten you!

Let the games begin: Where in the world is Janet Napoles? 

Commentaries on issues of the week

I’ve heard these commentaries from various people I've recently spoken to. 

Some of them are funny. Some of them, I must say, worries me. 

On Snowden:

Person A (holding up a newspaper): Why is Russia so thick skinned like this, giving asylum to Snowden with their buddy buddy with the US?

On Napoles:

Person A: Stupid Napoles, she should have gotten out of the country earlier. She already was able to get so much money, why was she still staying?

ME:  Um, you know Napoles is a (alleged) criminal. We should want her to be caught.  

-

Person B: Well, for me, these things are ok (corruption), as long as they’re done well.

-

On Shootings:

ME: Oh, so you study at (insert US school)? Wait… isn’t that the one with the shooting?

Person C: Yeah, but let’s face it… All schools have shootings these days.

On Egypt:

Person D (watching CNN): O, stupid Egyptians, look now they don’t have a president. They shouldn’t have revolted, look where they are now.

ME: Well, they were revolting against a longtime dictator. I’m sure they didn’t know this would happen.

Person D: Well, they should have had thought of a replacement before they overthrew him.

ME: I think initially they were looking to the military, which they believed to be credible, to lead for a while but now there’s a power struggle and it seems the military is still inclined with the old regime.

Person D: They should have asked the old guy to stay, he’s been there for years, and he must know what he was doing.

ME: Hmm?

On Habagat

ME: Grabe naman nitong Habagat.

Person D: What’s Habagat?

ME: Hello. It’s been on the news for days.

Person E: Ah monsoon rains, ang lalim lalim pa ng term.

Filipino Pride: The Apprentice Asia & FIBA Asia

The Apprentice Asia

I used to tune in the Apprentice in its early days. I know Donald Trump can be cheesy but what can I say? The concept of a business/entrepreneurial reality show is just something that interests me despite it's potential cheesiness. 

I haven’t tuned in to any of that last few seasons though so I really didn't make a point of tuning in to the Asian version until I found out a Filipino won. I was able to watch a replay of the season finale on AXN. I must say, Jonathan Yabut makes me proud. His performance on the show was impressive and his personal story is a good one.

"you're hired"

He mentioned that he was also a fan of the show from its early days and was familiar how the game was played and so he played it well. His opponent, the Singaporean lawyer, strikes me to be very true to her roots, in that Singaporeans are seen to be more stiff and more clinical. The stereotype is that they are achievers and competitors, yes, but are also seen as too academic. During the final task and the last boardroom interview, it seemed to me that the Singaporean girl somewhat cracked and at some point she was in tears. She kept on saying she has a mix of smarts and emotions. I don’t know if that convince me. I guess, it didn’t convince Mr. Fernandes either.   

Meanwhile Jonathan Yabut mentioned that he used a brand of Filipino "diskarte" with regards to his strategy. And, really, in life and in business, it can't be all straight laced rules. Life is unpredictable, circumstances are unpredictable and certainly business is unpredictable. So, I suppose a pinch (or more so) of "diskarte" is a good thing to utilize in The Apprentice. 

Jonathan Yabut is certainly a good story. He was educated through scholarships and remained an achiever through his stints in the corporate world.  After his Apprentice win, he was quoted as saying "When I wear this Filipino flag pin, it's not because I'm too nationalistic. It's because I want to serve as that inspiration to the rest of my country that there is hope, that I represent that hope in them, sir. That despite the fact that you may be from poor beginnings, you can make it big"

I don’t know, but it’s these things, (relatively) small victories that we Filipinos also should celebrate.

I like the idea of Jonathan Yabut. His message is simple yet it is positive and it is about hope.

He is a positive representation of the country, a nice counter image to all the negative things that the world has assumed / may assume about Filipinos.

FIBA ASIA

Round 2, Group E rank #1 team is the Philippines!

Must say, the sometime sports groupie that I am was quite happy that I was able to catch the game that put our team in the top spot (Philippines vs. Hong Kong) despite the fact that it was such a terribly slow and sadly pathetic game.

More than half of the time Hong Kong was playing poorly and, unfortunately, the Philippines played worse than them. For a while, I wasn’t sure what to think (because I haven’t watched any of the FIBA games so far). So I was like: Was our team so poorly formed? Why is this group of guys playing worse than UAAP teams? Isn’t this supposed to be the national team? How did we even win our other games? How did we get to round 2? So the other countries were even worse than these 2?! What is happening?!

SLOW: Hong Kong vs. Philippines 3rd Quarter - 37 vs 36 score!

Afterwards, I read online that apparently some players got injured and were sore after the Philippines vs. Qatar game. So the plan was for these star players to get reduced playing time while the other players are left to work against Hong Kong, which hasn't won a game in round 2. Unfortunately, this plan backfired when Hong Kong actually tried to play to win, even if it won't make a difference for their standing (they will be eliminated regardless).

BUT ANYWAY, it all ends well as the Philippines eventually won against Hong Kong and, as a bonus, topped Group E in round 2. So, it’s on to the Quarterfinals against Kazakhstan we go on Friday.

Little victories – is what I said that we should celebrate so, ok, let’s celebrate this first then.

First place in Group E: feels like 2^nd place overall, for now.