Bigotry on OFWs

This piece will be my first since I came from vacation last 2nd of June 2007. Due to several factors, I haven’t been able to write since May this year. Nevertheless, I’m back in a writing mood with unexplained anguish. Yesterday, I received an e-mail from a buddy, Jake, urging me to write on my blog in the form of a vengeance to a certain pig. Honestly, I was surprised what he means and with curiosity I downloaded and opened the attachment. Upon reading the article, I immediately understood what he meant. The pig he’d mentioned is the author in a column of a magazine, People Asia. Although physically the author is no doubt an overweight woman but I guess, the adjective referred by my chum to her is the unpleasant piece she wrote on OFWs whom she met in Dubai and in the airplane.

Malu Fernandez in her column “Fierce and Fabulous” narrated her trips from Boracay to Greece. I never knew that being a columnist, you are as highly paid that you can travel to any place that you’d fancy anywhere in the world. How I wish I pursued my high school guidance counselor’s advise to get a journalism degree rather than fulfilling my 6th grade teacher’s wish to become an engineer. In Boracay, she wrote that spraying Baygon everywhere nearly killed herself. I thought our featured “elite author” was staying in an air-conditioned villa rented by their group. Or maybe in Boracay, no matter how expensive your room is, mosquitoes are everywhere. Oh! Bad publicity for the premier tourist place in Central Philippines. Paging DOTC Secretary Ace Durano, can you please counter Ms. Fernandez pronouncement about Boracay? Believe me; she doesn’t like the beach in general not because she hates sand, bugs, etc. With her vital stats, who likes to wear a two-piece bikini? You know, it’s not a scene where you’re looking on Katrina Halili or Kristine Reyes at the beach.

Not contented in destroying Boracay’s tourism, she made a false narration about OFWs in Dubai. Inside airport premises, you can’t sell cell phones and perfumes if you’re a passenger! If she means those who are employed as saleslady in Duty-Free Shops, believe me, Ms. Fernandez envied them since they’re as good-looking as commercial models back in Philippines. But she’s referring to the passengers for sure coz she wanted to slash her wrist when trapped with them. And what’s wrong if you’re a DH as she mentioned? It’s an honorable job coz at the end of the day, they contributed a lot in improving financial difficulties of our country and mind you, they might have thrown in more tax to the government than Ms. Fernandez had. If the content of her column is written by a foreigner who had just encountered OFWs, maybe we’ll understand. But Ms. Fernandez is a Filipino citizen or maybe having dual citizenship earning a living back home. To write a side comment on OFWs in general is a bad investigative journalism unless People Asia is basically a tabloid. Ms. Fernandez had met only OFWs with a DH classification that’s why she feels superior to them. She never met for sure OFWs who drive fancy cars like Nissan Armada, Mercedes Benz models, Toyota Camry, Lumina, Caprice, and many more, in Middle East countries. Her knowledge on OFWs is limited only on Domestic Helpers, maybe because, minus her make-up and not so attractive cleavage, she looks like them. I never knew that AXE is a perfume; I thought it’s only for under-arm protection. But Ms. Fernandez is fond of watching Philippine TV commercials, I guess. Unless, she stays long in the Middle East, then she will definitely found out that buying top of the line perfumes is just a normal occurrence to OFWs.

Still as a writer, Ms. Fernandez should be sensitive in all her ideas. We live in a democracy and part of it is to write freely as we think but it doesn’t give you the authority to throw mud to human beings especially if it’s untrue and worse to your fellow kababayan. Her friends may find it funny but it is not to the majority of the OFWs. We opined that Ms. Fernandez column is not based on truthfulness but on the idea of just belittling the OFW community.

A fellow Cebuano, Roland G, intimated me this morning that the main reason for her indifferent column is an OFW might had mistaken her to be a DH in the plane, on her way home.

A Visit To My Hometown

As mentioned in my last blog, I write this piece at my permanent residence in Gun-ob, Lapu-lapu City. My flight back home is quite tiring, travelling by bus through the causeway between Alkhobar and Bahrain. On weekdays, I observed that the border in-between two kingdoms is almost zero with cross-country travellers. The Cathay Pacific Flight landed Mactan Cebu International Airport last May 1 at 11:30AM and I was met in the airport by my wife, Fe; kids, RR, Macky, & Nina; and surprisingly grand-daughter Jazzy who's also my god-daughter. Typical to OFW's on vacation, we do shopping at Duty Free Shop before I visit my parents in Pinamungajan, Cebu.

Prior to my vacation, I had already inquired my sister, Coring, the status of the road towards my hometown. It was still under construction on my last visit and had been very bad during my last four visits. I normally visit my parents annually and during those times, I'm afraid that one of the nuts tied to my car would fall-off due to shocks created on excessive road potholes. Luckily, this visit is very relaxing in terms of road condition. Concreting is completed, asphalting is commendable with rip-raps installed at cave-in areas. For a person like me who earn a living abroad thru managing various construction projects, I guess the job is acceptable. However, the work doesn't stop there because maintaining the road is more challenging. I wish the government agency assigned will not sleep in their offices but monitor the road condition and made immediate repairs in case of worn-out areas.

I arrived at Pinamungajan before lunch on the 3rd of May together with my wife; daughter, Nina; & nieces Eji & Giselle. It's always emotional to see the people who brought you to this world specially at their age who are both 75 years old. Fortunately, they are both healthy and as usual happy to see their son and family. We shared pork "humba" during lunch, prepared by my mother, Francing which is in fact a favorite dish of my extended family in Lapu-Lapu City. At night, I attended the Ginoo & Binibining Pinamungajan beauty pageant. I'm not sure if this is the exact pageant title because I observed that both contestants are all not sons & daughters of Pinamungajan. Nevertheless, the pageant looks fine with their amazing electronic tally sheets. The program started very late in reference to the time mentioned in the program that is 8:30PM. I arrived past 9:00PM and surprisingly the reserved tables almost empty. I wondered if the locals officials understand punctuality. With people like me who happen to work in a foreign land and had been very particular on scheduled time, the situation is a shame and I wonder if this will change coz it seems people had already accepted the fact. The pageant started at 10:30 PM and finished unbelieveably at 2:00AM.

The following day, Friday, I was busy attending my visitors from Lapu-Lapu City. As expected, my hometown is full of strangers who had been invited I guess by my kababayan. The streets are full of revelers with food and drinks all over. I wander if how much amount of money spent during this festivity and how many people are in debt as a result of excessive spending. At night, we are about to watch the PDA Scholars including JR Siaboc and Yeng Constantino. I thought that because the evening's affair is different from the previous night, I told my dear wife that we'll come an hour late from the scheduled time expecting the venue to be full. But lo & behold, the reserved tables are the same from the previous night. The general admission benches are almost full but the reserved seats are completely opposite. The so-called VIPs are behaving the imperialistic way, thinking that the program won't start without them. This is totally unacceptable and ill-mannered. As usual, the program started at 10:30PM and anyway my daughter although sleepy enjoyed a lot with the music rendered by the winners of PDA Scholars. The concert ended at 2:00AM and followed by disco dancing. I tried to stay for a dance or two but weariness prevail.

The good thing I observed in my hometown, is the number of native born individuals turn priests. Thanks I guess to those who help financially and spiritually on these kids who opted to select a holy vocation in life.

Quality of Philippine Officials

Last April 14 was the start of voting overseas for positions in the Senate and the party-list as well. Here in Alkhobar, KSA the voting center is at International Philippine School in Alkhobar (IPSA). In Precinct 4, I was the second certified voter who cast my vote and I find it very convenience when voting during working days due to less people at the center. Of course, having selected the candidates which I believe could uplift the country's law making body, is a fullfillment as a Filipino citizen.

However, latest news about the country regarding election campaign is so sad. Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales was so proud as interviewed on television promising barangay heads in Iloilo with P10,000 if they can deliver 12-0 in favor of the Team Unity candidates for the Senate which are of course from the administration. Comments left and right regarding Gonzales pledge came in depending on whose camp came from. I don't mind on the observations from political parties who participated in this mid-term election. But for neutral camp coming from us, OFW's who prefer to work hard in a foreign land, those pronouncements are unethical, shameful, selfish, degrading, and a grave violation of election laws. I guess the justice secretary had forgotten that he's an alter ego of the president and whatever he gonna uttered in any medium, will reflect the position of the government. Granting that the money is from his personal account, having bestowed the promise to barangay officials would paint an image of vote buying no matter how he will expain it's purpose whether it's for the barangay's benefit considering that we are in a campaign period. The worst thing is that the promise was delivered by a person who takes care of justice in our country. Do we Filipinos really deserve this kind of quality on our government officials? Are the blood sacrificed by our heroes will be going to drain? How long are we as a nation can accept this kind of political culture? Is there brightness coming ahead for the next generation? Sometimes, I'd agree with a co-employee here in my company who argued with us during discussions, that the only way to stop corruption in our country is to kill all its citizens with age 6 years and above. The assertion is just to humor us but personally it makes sense.

On my next post, I will surely be writing in Cebu since from the end of this month, I have to enjoy my annual vacation. Of course, it's nice to spend my work leave with my family. Surely, I would experience the festive atmosphere during campaign period until the election day on May 14. But before that, I'm looking forward to attend my hometown's (Pinamungajan, Cebu) annual fiesta on May 3 & 4.

Moral Lesson (For Your Joke Only)

The story below had been e-mailed to me by Jake of Tiaong, Quezon.
___________________________________________________

I was a very happy person. My wonderful girlfriend and
I had been dating for over a year, and so we decided to get married.
There was only one little thing bothering me ...
it was her beautiful younger sister.

My prospective sister-in-law was twenty-two, wore very
tight miniskirts, and generally was bra-less.
She would regularly bend down when she was near me,
and I always got more than a pleasant view of her private parts.
It had to be deliberate. She never did it when she was near anyone else.

One day "little" sister called and asked me to come over
to check the wedding invitations. She was alone
when I arrived, and she whispered to me that she had
feelings and desires for me that she couldn't overcome.

She told me that she wanted to make love to me just
once before I got married and committed my life to her
sister. Well, I was in total shock, and couldn't say a word.
She said, "I'm going upstairs to my bedroom, and
if you want one last wild fling, just come up and get me."

I was stunned and frozen in shock as I watched her go
up the stairs. When she reached the top she pulled off
her panties and threw them down the stairs at me.
I stood there for a moment, then turned and made a
beeline straight to the front door. I opened the door,
and headed straight towards my car.

Lo and behold, my entire future family was standing
outside, all clapping!

With tears in his eyes, my father-in-law hugged me and
said, "We are very happy that you have passed our little
test.....we couldn't ask for better man for our daughter.
Welcome to the family."

And the moral lesson of this story is :

ALWAYS KEEP YOUR CONDOMS IN YOUR CAR !!!!!

IIEE Code of Ethics

This week, I'd got an e-mail from the former president of the Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers of the Philippines, Inc.-Eastern Region Chapter, Saudi Arabia (IIEE-ERCSA) of which I am a member, in the person of Engr. Nelson J. Tagapulot (NJT) from WESCOSA. The subject is about engineering profession to stand-up against the country's corruption practices. The area under discussion is the lamp post installed during the ASEAN summit hosted by Cebu. Although the PDF attachment on the e-mail is not exactly right as per the venue and date is concern, that is another matter and understandable. People outside Cebu opined that when the same name is mentioned, it is Cebu City. Little that they know that Cebu is a province with Mandaue City as the exact location of controversial Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) built on the funds of the provincial government. The other venue of the summit is at another component city of the province of Cebu that is Lapu-lapu City where I reside. The lamp post are erected on the ceremonial streets from the airport towards hotels and meeting venues as well. These locations can be found in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-lapu, both in the province of Cebu.The lamp post become controversial when one of the lossing bidders filed a case to the Ombudsman for an investigation on the cost per lamp that were ranging from P80, 000 to P300,000 depending on the type and location of the lamp post. By experience, these amounts were astronomical for a lamp including the fixture and poles even if you include the manpower for trenching, sanbedding, cable laying, backfilling, cable termination, pre-commissioning and start-up.

But this posting will not tackle on the lamp post issue although it's the main subject matter on hand. Upon receiving the e-mail from our colleague, I kinda feel guilty for not discussing this corruption issue officially thru IIEE-ERCSA Board Meetings. Upon reading the e-mail, I forwarded my thoughts in the form of a query to IIEE Region 7 yahoogroups inquiring their position on the subject. After two days from my e-mail, I received a reply coming from Wille C (cebu_power@yaho.com) inquiring me if there was a violation of Philippine Electrical Code on the subject lamp post. Honestly, my first reaction is I'm at a loss. I was just wandering why the reply is about a violation of PEC. I believe that he's reply told me that as long as the PEC is not violated, corruption is acceptable.

"A tough question" commented NJT on the reply. On my respond to his query on PEC, I copied the words from my colleague that the content of his e-mail is a tough question. I said tough, because it's hard to answer a question that is far from the previous subject which is corruption. I hope IIEE Region 7 had not been blind on the subject itself. Asking me on a PEC violation is something absurd. I jokingly told Willie C that the lamp is just a resistive load and an analysis on ETAP is not required. It's my confirmation that for sure, a technical violation is nil. But what about professional code of ethics? I guess the former president of IIEE-Qatar Chapter is right. The code of ethics had been violated and being a professional organization, it is our social responsibility to share our expertise on the matter because it belong to our field and we live in the place where the irregularity happened.

Making our voice heard on the issue doesn't mean that the suspended personnel are guilty. It has to be proven anyway by investigating authority. Our stand against corruption is to let the community know that we are around and behind them against this plague. I'm looking forward that someday, IIEE 7 will not discuss only technical issues for their own professional growth but to the community where they live as well.

Let me give my appreciation to the former president of IIEE, Qatar Chapter, Engr. Mar Agbayani for his postive rejoinder and NJT for his personal call on the subject matter.

If the engineering profession will not help in weeding-out corruption in the Philippines, then who and when?

Local Bets In My Hometown

Despite my absence in Pinamungajan, I never fail to monitor the town where I was born. Thru the new communication facilities worldwide called the internet, people like me, had benefited its and been able to know the current events by way of reading the internet news. I might be very unfair to other newspapers in the country but I prefer reading Sunstar first before I went to other publications. The reason I guess, is I'm more inclined to be aware of my own province rather than the whole country in general. In fact, despite my distance, I knew very well the controversial and possibly the most expensive lamp post including its fixtures. Being a Professional Electrical Engineer (PEE) by profession and a member of Saudi Aramco Project Management Team based in Dhahran, KSA, I knew very well that something is wrong in the procurement. But that's another story.

Yesterday, upon browsing Sunstar, I happen to read that a classmate of mine, Glenn Baricuatro will be running as mayor of my hometown and affiliated with the group of the incumbent Governor Gwen Garcia. It's been so long that I haven't met Glenn although I occasionally read his name being the Head of PENRO. Nevertheless, whoever won the election, my only concern is the welfare of the town residents of which several of my relatives specially my parents and siblings resides.

The Yapha family had been in control the town after the Marcos era and unfortunately, there has been less improvements made after two decades of leadership. The culture of direct financial endowments are still practiced and I don't see any progress in the future. People has to be taught how earn a living for their needs like permanent jobs.

Having new leadership doesn't mean the previous leaders are bad but I guess, the town needs new ideas for its people. As long as the campaign are concentrated on positive issues of the town other than name-calling, then I guess both candidates beneficial to the town. I urged them to achieve a new level of campaigning other than using the old and ineffective way which results only hate and disagreements. After all, both their objective is to improve the life of their constituents.

Intellectually, I hope Glen thru the years, had improved.