June 30, 2008 - Sydney

I was inundated with SMS and email messages from the Philippines including one from South Africa courtesy of Dole greeting me a ‘HAPPY FATHER’S DAY’ a day after our reunion. My wife thought I was still out-of-sorts courtesy of the hospitality of Manong Bart and Chito’s families. As Vic said the beer and whisky flowed generously.

Manong Demi was a fellow guest so he didn’t do any cooking. Our hosts spared no expense nor effort to make the occasion memorable. It’s Crown lager Night and Chivas Regal. I had to explain to all who greeted me that Father’s Day here is in September.

June 2, 2008 - Sydney

I read the Philippine news in the internet and watch the ABS-CBN news program ‘BANDILA’. I do this as a routine everyday and as far as current affairs of the Philippines is concerned I am up-to-date and I do get the feeling of DEJA-VU almost every time The same-O(ld) story, same crime, same promises by the same politicians.

The eradication of jueteng, the computerization of voting, the elimination of the communist, the self-sufficiency of rice, the extermination of the Abu Sayyaf, etc. Tell me mates, have you not read these news and promises before?

The original title of this piece was ‘No commitment / No attachment’. And I seek to identify the mindset of the average Filipino which is to leave the Philippines as soon as they can. You dear readers have left the country as I have. We have even brought our families with us.

May 30, 2008 - Sydney

 
Had I known I would be writing articles in this website I would have taken a lot of pictures around Magsingal and gone more in-depth in re-discovering the place where we all grew-up and giving us the bond that tie us together.

I was there December to January to visit my mother Emilia Tolentino, formerly of Manzante and North Central School. She died on my second day. Like most old people, she is living alright but she fell off her bed and went fast after that. After her accident, she can still talk straight, a few days later, she talked like she drunk a couple glasses of vodka and a few days later, comatose.

May 16, 2008 - Sydney

Australians are different from Filipinos in a number of ways and I want to share some of the more glaring ones.

When I was new here and absolutely jobless, I had the opportunity of meeting a sleeping guy in the local mall. He was slumped in one of the benches and sitting next to him, he woke up and we made acquaintance. In one of those ‘How small the world is’ moment, he turned out to be the father of my daughter’s classmate and the nephew of our next-door neighbor in Kapitolyo, Pasig.

The reason he was sleeping was that he just finished his rounds doing his mobile car-wash business and catching a few winks preparatory to his night job in the post office. He offered me a job assisting him with his mobile car-wash business and with nothing to do I said yes.