Transit

The most annoying thing about the holidays is the endless stream of news reports about how a lot of people are going home to their families. You have riveting news reports about people getting on boats.

So?

If you live in the Philippines, you know what I mean. I get why media devotes time talking about travel. The Philippines is an archipelago so people naturally travel a lot. But it seems to me like a whole load of nothing. People are getting on a bus. Wow.

Geez.

The Others

One day, a strange man came into our office. He was dressed like a soldier but clearly wasn't one. He wore no badge of rank or insignia of any of the armed forces. He was visibly uncomfortable, taciturn and whatever little he spoke was barely audible. Despite this, the man was in some position of authority for he was sent to record court proceedings between two particular parties that he was associated with. Video recordings aren't allowed in court which is why he was sent to the office. The Clerk had to make sure the man deleted the offending video.

I learned that the man and the two parties were "Lumad" or indigenous folk. Apparently, they have their own pseudo-government to which the tribesmen owe loyalty to. The strange man was a member of their own police force. He had no weapons, or at least none that we could see. These folk are a society operating within a society. I heard that their government even issues licenses for various things. Lumad folk are often shocked when they discover their "motorcycle licenses" count for nothing when they get caught by the national police.

Compared to the other mini-societies in the Philippines, the Lumad are small-time. At the other end of the scale are the full blown insurgencies such as the various Muslim groups down south (take your pick). Now those ones have no problem gunning down any soldier or lawman that dares step into their "territory." Some parts of the Philippines are completely out of the government's control as the infamous SAF massacre in Maguindanao would demonstrate.

It's disturbing that there are people running around the country that consider themselves first as something other than Filipino. Healthy societies shouldn't have this problem. However, the mentality is understandable and the cause for this is due to yet another piece of historical baggage weighing the country down.

There was no "Filipino people" before the Philippines. When the Spanish arrived, they took a bunch of islands and called it a country. That's it. There were no cultural considerations, only conquest. You could call the Philippines a mistake once you realize how arbitrary its composition is. The result was that you have a whole bunch of people divided by ethnicity, language and religion forced together because the winds happened to blow the Spanish galleons a particular direction. It sounds like the premise of a bizarre reality TV show but it's never funny when the shooting starts.

That's why we have a bunch of people constantly screaming for "autonomy". It's no surprise that you have groups like the Bangsamoro, MILF, BIFF, BLT or whatever new alphabet soup organization that just stumbled out of the jungle. Blood and religion is always going to be more important to people than a decree by some distant government that we belong to some nebulous group. The desire for federalism is motivated by a similar sentiment although at least it would be a legal solution. Yet, the threat of separatism is ever present.

The most important thing to know about these groups is that they don't care about the Philippines. The only thing they do care about however, is the generous aid we keep sending them. "Filipino" is irrelevant and meaningless to these people. If they could cast off the country like a rotten cloak, they would. When the government starts talking about the latest "peace deal" they've been hammering out with the separatists, the deal is probably a scam in which the country gives up everything for the promise of "peace". They're not interested in "fair" and will give up nothing. They've already won and just want to make it official.

It will all crumble in the end. 

11/2/2017

These past few months haven't been so great. I haven't felt good in a while and I've been gripped by a foul ennui that I can't think straight. But I should write something. I wouldn't want to disappoint my handful of readers.

Must it be politics again?

Shobaleader One - Cooper's World

Squarepusher - Stor Eiglass

The War Goes On

People are "alarmed" about the recent uptick of killings in Duterte's drug war. It's a forever war, apparently, as the president has made clear he'll be fighting until the end of his term. Duterte promised during the presidential campaign to stamp out the drug menace within six months. It's doubtful anyone seriously believed this. The promise people did believe however, was that Duterte was going to kill all the "bad people" involved in drug crimes. A politician keeping his campaign promise to kill people...it's pretty funny. 

So why the alarm? Duterte made no secret about what he planned to do. Even now he still casually talks about having people shot as casually as one would talk about the weather.

As much as the priests and elites whine about the "sanctity of life" or whatever, they can't deny the fact that Filipinos elected Duterte as their president. He won! He won on a "just shoot 'em" platform. How can one reconcile their ideas about Philippine society with harsh reality? Perhaps it's time these people had a critical re-examination of the world we live in. They hold an image of Filipino society that's no longer true. The old idea was that Filipinos are spiritual, moral, deeply devout, good Christians, etc. If that's the case, why are Filipinos OK with all of this? In fact, why are we OK with a lot things that we shouldn't be OK with? 

Our society is rotten to the core. The election of Duterte was an admission of that. If government must be evil then we might as well put that evil to use. True to form, as was in morally bankrupt tyrannical governments of the past, the state conducts its grim business in a brutally utilitarian fashion. There's only numbers. How many people dead this week? We've given up on the niceties of due process and such.

I'm not sure how I feel about seeing Filipino society descend into total cynicism. I am indifferent but lately I've been troubled but I can't seem to organize my thoughts on this. 

Something deeper is going on here. 

Hollow Knight OST - Dirtmouth

Dead Rising OST - Mall Music 3

Troubles Elsewhere

What a week it's been.

Off in the South, you have some group I bet nobody has ever heard off until recently, take over Marawi City. Government forces are taking it back street by street but it's been a rough going to put it mildly. The most recent incident is some eleven army soldiers being killed in a friendly fire bombing. Why is it called "friendly" fire when it hardly is? 

In the North, some guy shot up a casino. Who knows? People were panicking that it was a terrorist attack. Now it seems it wasn't. Regardless, a lot of people died.

The Philippines being an archipelago has its advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that problems are localized to some degree. Terrorist activity is more common in Mindanao than elsewhere. One disadvantage however, is that it can be hard to care about something when it seems so far away. It's cruel to say but one has to be mindful of one of the fundamental flaws of Filipino culture. Relationships are a series of rings extending outward from the Filipino. He cares for those closest to him first but grows more and more indifferent the further the ring gets. "So there's a hubbub in Mindanao. Typical. Big deal." When news of the gunman in Manila broke, people were more interested in the latest NBA game. It's hard to feel.

But I have a hunch we'll all be feeling something soon enough.

Miasma

One of the worst things about work is the smell.

On some days, the police bring in a large group of detainees. Sometimes, they bring in a major haul from a drug bust or other operation. No matter the reason, the halls become crowded and packed with people.

To call them "people" is just good manners. But these are the true "masang Pilipino". The poor, the forgotten, the wretched, the desperate and the guilty all find their way in those godforsaken halls and when they do, oh boy. As you can imagine, these dregs of society aren't a hygienic bunch.

The smell is hard to describe. It first hits you like a slap in the face and you feel like you're actually walking into some kind of physical wall. The smell is a potent mixture of stale sweat, unwashed clothes, excrement and despair left to stew in a barrel of vinegar. It's the smell of raw humanity; the illness of our society in a new form. If you can't see what's wrong with the Philippines, then you'll certainly smell it.

The smell is so strong that if you spend a minute in midst of the teeming mass, it actually starts to stick on your clothes, on your hair... on your face. You could breath through your mouth but your body might actually retch in fear of contamination by some sort of airborne acid. It's a smell that brings to mind thoughts of plague, death, decay and ruin. That wouldn't be wrong. If the people are detainees from the local overcrowded prison, there is a legitimate concern of contracting some kind of illness. Inmates are sickly as a natural consequence of prison congestion, not that anyone cares. They might as well be lepers.

Did I mention the office building has practically no ventilation and on top of that, its also extremely dusty? Just take a deep breath of the still tolerable air before you leave the office and then rush through the halls as fast as possible. You can run if you want to, people will understand.

Hazard pay.

TES V Skyrim OST - Far Horizons

Terror in Bohol

For a supposedly tough "strongman" type of leader, the enemies of the Philippines seem to be on the rise on Duterte's watch. You got the Chinese building artificial islands near the country but to be fair, there's little we can do about that. You got the NPA in the strongest position they've ever been for years and making all sorts of outrageous demands while adhering to a very loose definition of "ceasefire". You got communists infesting the cabinet ready to implement their obsolete ideas and lastly, you got the Abu Sayyaf acting up again. Remember those assholes?

The Abu Sayyaf are currently hiding out in some ditch somewhere in Bohol. Thankfully, many of them have already been killed including their waste-of-life leader although government forces sustained some casualties. The Abu Sayyaf's plan was pretty audacious - sailing all the way to Bohol with all those men and equipment and intent on kidnapping some unlucky foreigners as is their modus operandi. Worse, they managed to evade capture for quite a length of time. What gives? You'd think they'd be scared of Duterte.

For his part, Duterte has offered a one million peso bounty per head on the Abu Sayyaf, dead or alive. He's ramped up the rhetoric and gave the order to have them all killed but that's pretty much what was gonna happen anyway. I dunno. It might not be fair to say this but there seems to be a lack of zeal coming from the President. When it comes to two-bit (alleged) street druggies, he rants and raves but when it comes to actual direct threats to the state, he's pretty blase. Giving the NPA the time of day was bad enough but the Abu Sayyaf have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. They're not even making the minimum effort of at least pretending to fight for their own Islamic state or some political goal. How lazy. They're really just a bunch of bandits at this point.

The Abu Sayyaf should have just sailed to Bohol to enjoy the sights and the beaches instead of trying to kidnap people. It's summer after all. Time for vacation! Hey Omar, drop that gun and bring the banig. Find a nice white sand beach and take a load off. You know, you can just relax under the shade of a palm tree after eating some lechon halal food while sipping some cool coconut juice. Wouldn't that be the life?

Not for them, hopefully.

Holy Weak

Holy Week is supposed to be the special time of the year when we reflect on Jesus' ultimate sacrifice to save mankind. But looking at the country nowadays and the rest of the  world, there's not much worth saving, I think.

I dunno. It's kind of like Christmas. At some point, the magic is gone. Everything feels so empty. Holy Week is just a time when you're off work.

Jesus should come back already and get it over with.

I Hate Adele

I hate Adele. I think she's one of the most overrated singers of all time. My mother loves her songs but too bad. I, on the other hand, think all of her songs are garbage.

To clarify, I don't hate the person. I hate the songs, which are all terrible without exception.

I liked Skyfall. It was a pretty good James Bond movie. Adele's song for it was just a mess, however, and ruined the movie for all time.

Why do I hate her songs? Just listen to it. It's always about two people talking to each other over the goddamned phone. She sings about people trying to talk to each other. Wow. Here's a song about the difficulty of communication. Big deal. Hello from the other side? More like goodbye.

Its not just the substance of the songs but how they sound. Allow me to ruin every Adele song for you. Listen to any one of them. If you'll notice, all she does is overextend her vowels. It's all long, drawn-out vowels. I had the misfortune of listening to an Adele song over the car radio one day. What song it was doesn't matter since they're all the same anyway. She sang only three words in the span of ten minutes, stretching out the vowels of each word to pad time. I could stomach her ululations no longer and smashed the radio with my fist. Mercifully, it changed into one of those stupid AM radio shows but that's miles better than Adele.

The sound of twenty jackhammers pounding into concrete while a jet takes off overhead is lot better than having to listen to her inhuman wailing.

Anyone can sing like Adele so why does everyone treat her songs like they're so special? Go ahead and pick up any piece of writing you want. Grab a newspaper. Take a place-mat from Jollibee, for all I care, and read the contents aloud. Stretch every vowel for ten to thirty seconds. Congratulations. Collect your Grammy.

Her songs should be banned as a war crime.

Civ VI OST - Mama Munu Dile

Blood Money

Since this is all everyone talks about, here goes.

Earlier this month, some rich prick was driving his sports car on the wrong side of the road and hit a fish vendor who was on his motorcycle. The perpetrator was driving so fast that, by some accounts, the victim flew straight through the air. As expected from the sick, cruel, and rotten spirit of our society, pictures of the poor victim's mangled body was uploaded onto the internet for the social media hyenas to gawk at. The family of the victims opted to settle the case and received what one would assume to be a very generous payday. No case was filed before the courts.

This needs to be explained.

When a crime is committed, it is committed not just against a private party but also the state. Criminal cases have a civil aspect and a criminal aspect. The private victims may opt to settle the civil liability but, in theory, the state must continue to prosecute the criminal aspect to punish the offender. In practice, prosecutors typically drop the case when the private complainant settles. Sometimes, the reason is understandable: it is difficult to prosecute when the victims are no longer interested in cooperating. Sometimes, not so.

To put it plainly, he got away with killing a man by paying off the widow. Life is cheap; people are just walking peso amounts. Does this offend you? If it does, then there may be hope for you. But don't blame the victim's family though. Litigation can take years or even decades. You'd be lucky to see a good sum at the end of the whole process given the fees and expenses. It totally makes sense to accept the huge sum immediately. The poor simply cannot afford the process. The kids can't wait for that college money. But yes, the whole thing is a complete and utter disgrace and an example of how low we've come. Might as well just suck it up, swallow your sorrow, take the blood money and call it justice.

"Justice" is literally a luxury in this country.

Oh, you thought I'd write about that incident where some rich kid shot a nurse in the leg? No, that's small time. The nurse didn't even die. Everyone talks about how that incident with the kid is some kind of "rich versus poor" story but what about this? Tell me, why are the people more outraged about the rich kid's "special treatment" than the one about the reckless driver? A guy kills a man and not a peep.

Where was the outrage?

Dio - Holy Diver

Dire Straits - Money for Nothing

Getting knocked down by food poisoning ain't fun.

Untying the Knot Part 1

A few days ago, I was invited to a wedding dinner at the Grand Majestic. While I wish the new couple all the best, marriages always remind me of one of my favorite topics in Law: annulments.

The Philippines is one of the only two countries where divorce is illegal, the other being the Vatican. Pinoy Pride! The reason for this is that the institution of marriage is given such reverence to  the point of absurdity. The constitution is set up in such a manner that state interference in this aspect of civil relations, allegedly for the sake of its protection and preservation, is totally justified. Well what can you do. Our constitution was drafted in the aftermath of EDSA and the loudest voices in the room were allowed their input. This included the Church, back when it was relevant and respected. The Family Code followed shortly.

To say that Divorce is absolutely illegal is a bit inaccurate. Divorce is, in fact, allowed in the Philippines but only if you're a Muslim who married under Muslim personal laws. This raises interesting questions. Muslim marriages are considered just as valid as any other marriage. In fact, bigamous marriages, normally considered invalid, are given a pass if Muslims are involved. Isn't it a little questionable that the state seems to grant exemptions to the general law based on one's religious preference? Why can Muslims opt out but the rest of us have no choice simply because we have different beliefs? Does separation of church and state ring any (non-wedding) bells? The state is supposed to be secular in its outlook but come to think of it, the grounds for annulment are based on Catholic Canon Law. Meh, I'm not really an expert. When I asked my Civil Law professor about these things, he seemed wishy-washy on the topic and was happy to quickly drop it as soon as I got the message he wasn't interested. One of the things that sucked about Law school was that nobody seemed interested in more academic discussions about the law. It was all bar exam this and bar exam that. I digress.

So your marriage sucks. What are your options? You have legal separation, a.k.a. "separation of bed and board", a.k.a. "prolonged suffering". The spouses are separated but the marital bond is not so don't get any crazy ideas like finding another person to love and care for. This remedy is considered preferable to annulment because there might be a chance the couple  will cool down and get back together again. I guess a microscopic speck of a chance is better than no chance at all. Fitting for a nation obsessed with the lottery and other number games.

There are marriages that are voidable, which means they are valid until they are declared void. It sounds a bit stupid but yes. Usually this refers to marriages executed under duress or when the consent of one or both parties is vitiated. There are specific circumstance enumerated in the law and some of them have special rules. Think of shotgun weddings as a clear example. There's a limit though: as soon as the circumstance vitiating consent is over, you have four years (if I recall correctly) to bring an action to declare the marriage void or else you're deemed to have consented to it. No worries. Four years is plenty enough time for Stockholm Syndrome to kick in.

Then there are those marriages which are considered void from the start. For example, bigamous marriages are illegal as are incestuous marriages. Another example is a marriage celebrated without a marriage license. These are void ab initio so dumping the spouse is usually quick and easy. However, not all marriages are this lucky.

Next time, the insanity of psychological incapacity...

Miss Universe ng Buhay Ko

Last Monday, the people at the office were all abuzz about the Miss Universe competition. They were glued to the radio and whooped and clapped. It was the same situation for the other offices in the building.

If you think this is the part where I decry the fact that people are paying more attention to a beauty contest than important issues, you'd be wrong. Let's be honest, have you seen the headlines lately? It's depressing shit. What would you rather watch: a bunch of drop-dead gorgeous women or a bunch of congressmen in session? Would you rather see people making merry and having fun or people talking about the brutal, senseless murder of a foreign national? Would you rather see babes in swimsuits or the slow-motion collapse of society?

Forget the usual tut-tutting and just relax and drop out. If there was ever time to tune out and just let the cruel universe have its way with us, now is the best.

If Duterte won't let us have our wonderful drugs, we'll just dull our senses some other way, thank you very much!

Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World

Doggy Dog World Part 2

What brought on the previous article rambling on about the morality of caring for dogs more than fellow human beings, is because of a recent incident concerning the killing and eating of a dog.

Last year's Metro Manila Film Fest included a movie called "Oro". First things first, I didn't watch any of the offerings of the MMFF. I usually don't because they're usually garbage pushed by the big studios to promote their "products", both human and material. I heard the recent line-up was much better since it featured "indie" stuff. Whatever.

Oro had a scene which involved the slaughter and eating of a dog. Apparently, the scene was so graphic, that the Chairperson of the Film Development Council of the Philippines asked a representative of the film production team about it. She was told that it was  just a goat and some prosthetics. As it turns out, that was a lie and they really did kill and eat a dog.

Personally, I find lies much more offensive than the death of an animal. Nevertheless, this didn't sit well with animal rights groups. Social media, or the "outrage machine" as I like to call it, raised a big stink, as expected. The whole thing devolved to a he-said, she-said. Some say a pig was used. There was talk that two dogs were killed. I don't have the patience to dig into any more to this story because this story isn't the ultimate point. Besides, you probably already know how the story goes.

The point is this: there was outrage over the killing of a dog. In response to this outrage was outrage that the outraged people were more outraged over the killing of a dog than the outrageous killing of four people, which was a true story (The "Gata 4" Massacre) that the movie was based on. Taking the outrage a step further, and making it more topical, people expressed outrage that people are more outraged over the death of a dog than the thousands allegedly killed in President Duterte's  outrageous campaign against drugs, which is outrageous.

I hate social media.

If I may go off on a tangent, social media, I've observed, is just full of people signalling their virtue and trying to one-up one another in appearing more virtuous. The first group of the condescenderati wanted to appear all good and noble in protesting the dog slaughter as animal rights is still kind of chic. They were outdone when a second group protested the misplaced priorities of Philippine society in holding the lives of dogs higher than the supposed hundreds of people being killed every day. Taking it a step even further, and advertising their leftist street cred, some even argued that dog-eating is done because the poor do what they must to survive and its just those privileged bourgeois who whine about it and forbid the oh-so-noble Filipino "tradition" of eating canines. They never mentioned that in the Social Studies books.

I am aware of, and have no problem with, the dog-eating that happens in many parts of the country. However, I wasn't aware that people would go so far as to elevate it to some kind of proud cultural rite. Sometimes people are just hungry, you know?

So back to square one. Was all the outrage about the butchered dog, when our own countrymen are butchered, misplaced? Well the whole thing stands on a flimsy premise: that the people outraged over the dog are the same people who cheer on President Duterte's alleged killing of suspected criminals. It's possible to be outraged by both. They're not mutually exclusive. It's just cheap rhetoric. The outrage over the dog just seems amplified and high-profile while the outrage over the ever-rising pile of human corpses seems muted.

Perhaps the real kicker in all of this is that something was done about the dog but nothing is being done about the killings in the streets. With regards to the movie, people were reprimanded, people were suspended and awards were revoked. As for the humans...? That's the thing that really stings, eh?

Maybe we are really going to the dogs.

Doggy Dog World Part 1

A week ago, a stray dog wandered into the parking lot outside the office building. Normally, there's nothing unusual about a stray except that this was no ordinary mongrel. It looked like it had a breed; a Rottweiler by the look of it. It was a very big dog and would have been even bigger and more intimidating if it wasn't visibly starving. It was weakly limping about with its legs shaking. It's ribs and hip-bones were sticking out and its guts looked stuck to its spine.

Many regulars, myself included, felt pity for the creature and donations of food soon went its way. One of the security guards looked after the dog and even expressed his openness to the idea of adopting it. It was clear that with food and care, it would be a good dog to have. It looked like it would have had a good physical appearance, if fattened up, and it had good temperament as well. It was very, very friendly in a way you wouldn't expect from a normally mean-looking breed. Still, maybe it was just friendly out of desperation. It isn't wise to quickly trust a strange dog. The prudent thing would be to test it and see if it growls around certain types of people, if it zealously guards its food or if sudden noises and running set it off but I digress.

The reason for sharing this is that it brings to mind a common criticism often leveled at dog owners or people who are kind to dogs in general. "Why can't you extend the same kindness to fellow human beings?" There are street dogs and there are street people. Is it wrong to be more caring to stray dogs than people?

It's easier to feel sorry for an animal than a fellow human being. Not all animals, mind you but those animals which are cute and are often made into pets. Dogs are probably the go-to for this. There's a certain "innocence" attached to dogs. There's this idea that dogs are just these good, noble and loyal creatures who would wait forever for you outside a Japanese train station. They are, after all, man's best friend. Hence, it's always a bad thing when a dog dies in a movie. There's nothing quite so deliciously villainous as the designated bad guy signalling his evilness by kicking a little dog.

 But yes, this particular guilt-trip is familiar. The life of a human being is more important than that of a animal. Yes, but is it more important than a dog? I say yes but only because that's something I agree to as a member of civilization. There are many people in society that are living arguments to the contrary. There are people who are no better than dogs. The President seems to believe so. There are people who literally act like dogs. Even this whole damn country is going to the dogs.

We owe human beings more than dogs because the lives of people are more important. I'm disturbed that I can't seem to articulate why this is so. The fact that I secretly question this is probably a reflection of my dwindling compassion, inner corruption and ever-warping sense of morality. I have to remind myself that if, hypothetically, me and a dog were both drowning and a person chose to save the dog over me, I'd be a little bummed.

How about a third option. Can't one be nice to both dogs and humans? Why should anyone care, really? The universe doesn't seem to care. God doesn't seem to care. The sun shines alike on both the flowers and the weeds, the good and the wicked. If good is being done, does it matter to who or what it's being done to or will the argument shift on how being good to an animal is not a sign of good morals? If actions towards animals are free of any moral color, does that mean it wouldn't be wrong to torture a dog?

This is getting out of hand.

How did feeding a stray dog turn into a debate on morality. Overthinking things is hell. The world is a frightening place, cold and gray. Sometimes all you can do is just do what you believe is right. Back then, giving the dog some food seemed like the right thing to do. So sue me,

A few days later, the stray dog disappeared. The security guard told me that it had simply wandered on, maybe to the next lot. It was a stray after all. It's either on it's next great adventure or stewing in some idiot's pot. Typical. Did our supposed acts of kindness even amount to anything? Does anything ever amount to anything?

Speaking of dog meat...

Work Hazard

What a way to start the new year; a lingering four-day illness.

I used to only get sick once or twice a year but ever since I began working in this dingy office building, it's once or twice a month now. The place is dirty and dusty. Prisoners and assorted poor people (yeah, I said it) come in and out and they're not the cleanest people on the planet. We work in cramped interiors where we spend the all day breathing on each other. There's no ventilation whatsoever and the windows don't even open. The storage room on the fourth fourth floor is full of cat shit and urine.

I should be getting hazard pay or something.

Start With a Bang?

The new year has barely begun and already half my new year resolutions are broken.

"Happy" new year, eh? I guess we'll just have to see about that, won't we?

What is it about the media's obsession with firecracker-related injuries? Statistically, they're insignificant. Yes, they happen. It's impossible to have zero firecracker injuries nationwide. But what's the point? Who cares?

Then there's the stray bullets. Tragic, true but then again, it just happens. People are stupid and fire guns indiscriminately sometime. Big whoop. A more interesting statistic would be injuries from discriminate firing. How many got hit by guns fired at them on purpose or are people in no mood for that during the holidays.

It's just one of the media potboilers. It's just another one of those standard things we're supposed to talk about. Unless the number of injuries even reaches close to the amount of people allegedly killed in the "drug war", I doubt there's any sense to a moral panic.

Yeah, just rambling to show I haven't died yet. 

Slow day....