… and so it ends, and begins, again

Time does not fly. It just zooms away.

Nineteen days is not a very long time. I can even recite my itinerary day-by-day, blow-by-blow. And I swear, not much blowing was done.

Yes, time out is over. By normal standards though, whenever I go to the Philippines for any length of time, I am not really on an absolute break. But of course, what does constitute a break? Chika lang. I'm not gonna masturbate about breaks.

Anyway, it's not yet time to blog about what happened in 19 days. Suffice to say that I did enjoy my stay, reacquainted myself with some companions of my youth (naks!), spent time home listening to my mom gush about our parish priest (she'll adopt him soon if she can and it's definitely better than urging me to take up THAT habit), and did spur of the moment stuff that I will not regret though will toy with in my mind from time to time.

One thing I am kinda disappointed though is that I never got the chance to meet with some blogger friends. Oh well, next time.

By tomorrow, it's Hong Kong life once again. It'll probably be another 19 months or so before I can take that break again. Or not.

It's fine. Time zooms away. Right?

How to lose your social life in 10 hours

You woke up feeling refreshed after a relatively good sleep. Good because your mind was not filled with what should be done the next day for everything has been set in motion.

The evening, you thought, would be quite easy for your usual schedule has changed and you could probably swing by the bar and meet your friends for drinks.

Then your morning workload hit. You held your plans at bay and put your mind on the job at hand. Like a predator zooming in on a prey and thinking about how you could bring it down the fastest and easiest way. You wouldn't want to be too tired to enjoy your feast later.

Lunch time came and you set off for your favorite Nepali restaurant. Good food, good price and a place to have an easy conversation over a can of Coke and a stick of cigarette.

You went back to the office to do the remaining stuff in your list simply marked as TTD. The hours ticked.

Then Chip Tsao apologized. And you found it wanting.

Sorry but I'm just misunderstood. Sorry but English is an international language open to interpretation. Sorry but it was really a satire. Sorry but it was fictional. Sorry but it was not my intention. Sorry but blah, blah blah.

Why couldn't it be just 'sorry I was wrong'?

You realized you got to do more against racism and class discrimination.

Thus, you stayed in the office until 1:00 am. Then you remembered that April Fool's Day just passed you by.

Between agitation and titillation

I want to blog about sex and love.

But it's hard to have a titillating blog when you are confronted with the face of Chip Tsao splattered in the internet, print media and TV. How can I think of blogging when all I want to do is wash that oh-so-innocent smile off Tsao's face and tell him that there's a big difference between satire and a distasteful piece, a witty article over a racist writeup against a whole people and a particular sector who have been eating abuses and discrimination for breakfast?

Tsao can go the whole stretch of defending his column but at the end of it, Filipinos and the Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong felt demeaned.

If he made fun of GMA instead, I'll probably cheer him on. If he espoused a change in the situation of domestic workers in Hong Kong, I'll sincerely invite him for a cup of tea.

While Tsao's face haunts me for a couple of hours a day, another blood-curling news that keeps me from blogging comes by: foreign maids are not included in any statutory minimum wage for HK workers. The reason given by the Labour Advisory Board was that since maids work for 16 HOURS A DAY, they cannot likely give them its equivalence of HK$12,480 in a month!

Hmmm, so is the problem with the wage or the working hours?

So after a series of meetings with government agencies who gave them hope they'll be considered in this process, foreign domestic workers are again left in the ditch. Typical Hong Kong.

Maybe next time I'll really blog about sex and love. As long as my libido and romanticism hold up against my agitation at looking at Tsao's photo and dreading the next bad thing to happen to FDWs.

Pasakalye

Maraming pwedeng mangyari sa loob ng isang buwan. Maari nang tirhan ng alien molds ang naiwang kape at mag-amoy ipis ang hindi sinindihang yosi.

Pwede ka ring magka-crush, lumipas ang crush, magka-crush ulit sa dating crush hanggang dumating sa punto na sobrang diluted and nonsensical na ang salitang ito and it has become similar to saying "I love you" while you are reaching the peak in a one-night stand. Or a one-hour stand.

Sa loob ng isang buwan, pwede ka ring mawalan ng ganang mag-bate: mag-bate ng mga topics, pigain ang sarili at write them into a piece that can make sense of your jumbled thoughts. It's much easier to write about women's day, the murder of Rebelyn and even the irresponsible charge that Filipinos are 'Superbug' carriers than compose your thoughts on what you have done for the day.

Kaya marami kang unfinished drafts na pinaglipasan na ng lasa kaya ayaw mo ng tapusin. Pwede ka ng magpa-gimik ng choose your own ending.

Pwede ka ring maka-byahe sa loob ng isang buwan. You will like the place. It's serene, has no high-rise, walang nakakabaliw na traffic at maraming nakakabaliw na lalaki. Then you'll realize that it is more artificial than Hong Kong especially when you hear of the crackdown against Burmese migrants or the gay-bashing of a group of thugs during Gay Pride that did not even solicit a reaction from the powers that be. Doon, tago at ibinubulong ang mga bagay na dapat ay pinag-uusapan in the open at isinisigaw sa lansangan para malaman ng lahat.

Also, mare-realize mo rin na malagkit ang magpa-aromatherapy massage especially kapag hindi lang langis ang naipahid sa'yo..

In a month, you'll realize that you have only one more month to go before you can again take the jeepney.

Pagkatapos din ng isang buwan, pwede ka na ulit mag-timpla ng kape sa bagong mug at magsindi ng bagong yosi.

Then you'll realize na masarap pa rin ang mag-blog.

Singular sensation*

Recently, I've been having thoughts about being single. I don't know why but maybe, just maybe, it's because I am.

Or maybe it's because every time I talk to a family member, any one of them is bound to ask me if I have "someone" in my life. Then, I'm always bound to say, "I don't have a someone. I have many-ones."

Or maybe it's because of a botched meet up with A.

Or maybe guys and relationships are the usual topics I have with my gay friends. I don't mind.

Maybe that's it. I don't mind being single. You can't miss something you never had, eh?

I know what it's like to be in a relationship. Having been around with people in various stages and types of romantic relationships has given me a fair picture of what's it like. Yeah, some may disagree and say that to really know one is to be in one. I do concur but it does not debunk what I so far understand about relationships. It is the same as I don't have to be a woman to understand the basics of women's concerns.

Being in a relationship has its ups and downs. There are high moments and low ones. It's a life bound by the same economic, political, social and cultural conditions, blah blah blah. Just like being single.

I do believe that everyone has to have someone with them. But it is not necessarily with a romantic someone.

I am single but I am not alone. I've never felt alone and it's probably due to the constant presence of comrades, family and friends. It's a belongingness that works for me now.

I don't mean to say that I'll be single for life. Romance is not known to be ageist. And yeah, I will take THAT step sometime, somehow.

As matters stand now though, I am happy being single. Anyway, who says that happiness cannot be had single-handed?

* Title was suggested by G: the ultimate sensational single (?) guy.

ID’ed

Dahil marami akong sinulat pero isa man ay hindi pang-blog, ito na lang …

Salamat kay Kiks sa pag-aayos.

This Sunday and beyond

This Sunday will have the first major protest action of OFWs in Hong Kong against the ban on direct hiring imposed at the start of this year.

I mentioned the issue in a previous post and the points remain unchanged. The new rule still sucks. It sucks not only for domestic helpers in Hong Kong because it covers everyone in all countries and even professionals as it stipulated that direct hiring for them shall only be allowed for 10 employees per company.

A couple of things though came up after the issue has been brought to fore.

First is the barrage of statements from no less than the people responsible for rule that have not helped at all but instead muddled the basic flaw of the rule. Ranging from the ridiculous reason that only a few will be affected – yeah right, so let the overzealous recruiters have these precious few to get overcharged as well – to the even more ridiculous and made up distinction between name hiring and direct hiring.

Then there's also the matter about rehires and those applying with new employers. The memorandum does not make any distinction and so even if agencies currently say that these OFWs are not included, there's no telling when it will finally become a blanket rule. Probably if protests fizzle out.

To top it all off, there is this Administrative Order 247 recently issued also that directs recruitment agencies to be more aggressive in seeking out labor markets for Filipino migrants. Considering that the Magna Carta for OFWs explicitly said that the government does not promote labor export, this order obviously says otherwise.

While a growing number of OFWs get laid off from work, have their wages reduced or are facing non-renewal of contracts, there is still no clear program of protection and services established to cushion the blow of the raging crisis to Filipino migrants.

What we have are OFWs from Taiwan who got fired last year and are still waiting in vain for that promised assistance package. What we get is the news that an OFW in Hong Kong got hit by a bus and died reportedly because he was walking dazed and disoriented after getting the axe as well.

What we do now have is this ban that offers OFWs to unscrupulous recruiters in a silver platter.

So yeah, a major protest action is called for. Surely won't be the last in the very near future.

*****

On a more personal note, I've been slacking recently. I'm still managing but I do need to up my ante if I am to pull off what I should be doing in the next few days.

Time to resort to what I have learned whenever I'm jittery and dreading what is about to come: it will happen and all I can do is prepare myself so that by the next day, I can still say that "it ain't that bad".

Uninspired

Nag-enjoy sa Slumdog Millionaire. Nagka-crush ulit kay Tony Leung sa Red Cliff. Agitated pa rin sa ban on direct hiring. Nakipag-chikahan sa dalawang kaibigan hinggil sa relasyon. Nakipag-dinner sa mga beckies. Nakipag-inuman. Nakipag-date.

Pero wala pa ring ganang mag-blog.

Masyadong malamig ang winter.

Siguro.

Again, again, again

If a policy can be called the "undead", I think ban of direct hiring can qualify as such. It just keeps on rearing its ugly head every time you think it is dead.

Around this time last year, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) issued Memorandum Circular No. 04 that prohibited direct hiring or sometimes called name hiring of Filipino migrants. Direct hiring is processing without going through recruitment agencies, thus exempting the applicant from paying placement fees that run up to more than P100,000 for DHs even though the legal limit is only the equivalence of a month's salary. This policy also carried the ridiculous employment bond brouhaha.

Due to the uproar MC-04 created, it was withdrawn after one month.

Now, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) issued a memorandum, (again!), banning direct hiring. But this time only targeting domestic helpers while for white-collars, direct hiring is limited to up to 10 employees per company. Like a broken record player, DOLE justified the rule to (again!) "protect OFWs."

Such a reason and such a rule are not new. In 1994, POEA issued MC-41 that basically said the same thing and also aimed for the same protection mantra. For years OFWs, especially in Hong Kong, campaigned against MC-41 and in 2001, DOLE issued Department Order No. 11 that revoked MC-41.

Now, DO-11 said: "In line with the State policy to afford adequate protection to Overseas Filipino Workers, POEA Memorandum Circular No. 41, Series of 1994, is hereby revoked".

What kind of a convoluted mind can use the same reason to justify two opposing sides – banning direct hiring and allowing direct hiring?

What is tricky about the new DOLE order is that it now focuses mainly, as I said, on DHs. This is probably because they were shaken by the reaction of the white-collar workers on the MC-04 and thought that professionals will now be more accepting of the ban.

But targeting only DHs should not make the ban more acceptable. In fact, it makes it more condemnable for it withdraws government responsibility to protect DHs who are very vulnerable during this time of crisis. It transfers such responsibility to recruitment agencies who we all know are mainly a blood-sucking bunch concerned only on how they can make the most from the migration process.

Agencies that provide a semblance of protection to OFWs and services to those in need are as rare as an honest word from GMA. But on second thought, honest and GMA don't really mix. So just think of Edward Cullen's family in Twilight.

But like in the same story, even "immortals" can die. They just need to get chopped into little pieces and burned to ashes.

This is probably what the ban also deserves.

Before 2008 left

The holiday season turned out real happy and such a blast.

• We were able to pull this off: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=O13X_F0XWlM. It was political and, at the same time, so fun to do. It did rain but it did not dampen the anti-chacha spirit of the dancers.
  

• Gifts. This was the only Christmas that I received more than two gifts including a Magical Orb that told me that I'll have a boyfriend this 2009 but we will also break up within the year. Talk about giving me a high and crushing my morale in a span of one minute.

• Went to a Christmas party with my gay friends and drank the whole night away together with never-ending stories and laments about men and relationships. Why does Christmas, at times, bring to fore what should not be brought up? Still, it was loads of fun. Then I went home with a slight hangover and a big crush. Joke!

• Finished reading Twilight. Though it's not something I am inclined to read again – as is my habit – it was alright. Half of the time I was reeling to strangle Bella to make up her mind and the other half imagining how it feels like to be torn between the likes of Edward and Jacob. It was a light read. Somewhat like Harry Potter but with fangs.

• Greeted the New Year with fellow migrant workers and became the Fruitsalad Queen. I am not sure if I ever stopped smiling and laughing for five straight hours. Does it mean that I'll be like this for the rest of the year?

Other stuff that happened here and there: a dinner with Kiks and a good friend, Steve; an unplanned sleepover that made me discover an unknown sleeping disorder of mine, and; the biggest 'birthday' event I've ever been.

It was a perfect two weeks. Well, almost … if only Israel did not go all berserk, bombed Gaza, and spouted the same mantra of "terrorism" that Bush used to spout just before he invaded Afghanistan and Iraq.

Happy New Year everyone!