Category Archives: The Philippines

Postscript to A Storm

September 30 8:00 am ,
After the Storm

After the Storm

After lashing out and wreaking havoc to the Philippines and leaving 246 people dead, Ketsana then demanded Vietnam to bear witness to its great power of destruction, leaving another 20 people dead.  In another part of the world, an earthquake caused a tsunami to race to the Samoan shores, leaving, in this part of the world, 99 dead.  Very recently, Australia bore witness to a red dust storm that turned it crimson for a few terrifying hours.

As if taking a cue, people are likewise greatly unsettled after being at the receiving end of repeated blows: first, the financial collapse of the world markets, and now, atmospheric convulsions of the epic and never-before-seen kind.

The unsettling thing is that this time, man knows he has brought it upon himself.

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Posted in: Insurance, Life Stories, The Philippines , Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Ondoy (Ketsana): A Storm Brings Out the Spirit of Bayanihan

September 29 1:02 am ,
Bending, Not Breaking

Bending, Not Breaking

It was a dark night.

But the Filipino have had many a dark night, and have had endured many a storm.

But the storm that one Saturday night was different.

It started out like ordinary rainfall, just a drizzle, in fact.  There was wind, yes, slight howling, barely noticeable, dark night eclipsing the dark clouds. Just your ordinary night. Two nights prior, the resident storm-forecaster PAGASA issued storm warnings, but in those warnings, they have relegated Ondoy’s (international codename: Ketsana) category to that of a minor storm.

Nothing to worry about.

No one was prepared.

The rains came.  A deluge.

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Posted in: The Philippines , Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Eating In Style – At Half the Price

August 15 1:36 am ,
The Psychology of Hunger

The Psychology of Hunger

A sea of gastronomic fare set amidst gleaming cutlery, lit with chandeliers dripping from adorned ceilings, while strings serenade the night – it was a sight to behold and I tried to hold back the moan gurgling from my chest.  I look over at my husband and I know he feels the same.  I can see the same desire in his eyes.

A buffet spread in all its glory.

And we are paying for all of this gastronomic, marvelous, excellent (I could go on) – food – at half the price.

Half the price.

Oh, and did I mention, the setting is a five star hotel.

Sofitel and Shangri-la, Spiral versus Heat

Allow me to usher you to the world of the truly rich, where USD$50 dinners can be had for – yes – half the price.  But – there is a but – (and here it is again) but only if you are a member of the privileged set.

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Posted in: The Philippines, Travel, Wealth Attraction , Tagged: , , , , ,

Remembering How the Philippine Economy Was In Year 2007

August 7 12:38 am ,
To Remember is to Learn

To Remember is to Learn

When in November 2007 a tank pummeled down the gilded glass doors of the Manila Peninsula Hotel at the main business district of Makati City in Manila, Philippines, heads began to shake. The country had been experiencing a re-emergence, a resurgence of some sorts, economically. Filipinos had begun to cling to threads, albeit thin, of hope – that the country may finally be shaking the vestiges of its zest for change and choose one unbending path as a nation.

But then another madman decided he wanted to hold the reins of the country. The government had to show that it was in control, hence, the tank. It took all of six hours before he was crushed, but in his wake came threats of another martial rule marked by the imposition of a curfew and the suppression of press freedom. Filipinos waited with bated breath for a crash.

After all, thus was the fate of the Philippine economy – it stumbles at the onslaught of both the familiar and the unfamiliar, teeters at the brink of a dark night.

And the Philippines was just starting to get it right.

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Posted in: The Beginning, The Philippines

Remembering President Cory Aquino

August 3 2:28 pm ,
Remembering Cory

Remembering Cory

At around 3am on August 1, 2009, D and I were woken by a sound.  We did not know what it was, I thought it was an earthquake but the walls were not shaking, D thought it was just the sound of a door slamming. We slept, perplexed.  Something had bothered the peace of the night.

In the morning, I knew why.  An angel took in her last breath and ceased to be.

President Cory Aquino had succumbed to the colon cancer that she had battled for several months.

I remember

The year was 1983.  I was barely out of my childhood.  The television was on and I saw my mother burst into tears.  Ninoy Aquino’s bloodied body had just hit the tarmac.  He came amidst the flurry of yellow ribbons (I barely understood the symbolism), against the advice to him that it would cost him his life.  It was a much anticipated return, the return of a hero, who was imprisoned and exiled through the machinations of Marcos.

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Posted in: The Philippines

2004: The Philippines on the Verge of a Collapse

August 2 9:51 am ,
To Fly The Flag

To Fly The Flag

The Philippines stands on the precipice of an unraveling. Experts from the University of the Philippines School of Economics confirm a dire warning earlier issued by the chief of the London-based Standard Chartered Bank – the Philippines is going by the way of Argentina, that is, it is a ticking time bomb, precipitating towards an economic collapse.

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Posted in: The Philippines