The Baguio City Panagbenga Festival this month was formally opened Valentines Day. The Festival, which celebrates Baguio’s diverse flora, will have its grand parade on the 27th. I’m going to try to attend the festival from the 24th to the 26th but sadly I will miss the parade. If anyone will be in Baguio City during the said dates, feel free to email me for company.

Official Site:
Panagbenga Festival

In light of the recent Makati, Davao and General Santos City bombings, it’s time to ditch those oversized bags again in favor of either teeny-tiny bags or no bags at all. We’ve all sort of gotten used to bag checks before entering… well, practically anywhere. But this time, they’re actually trying to look at what’s inside the bags again. I remember not even being done unzipping mine at the Glorietta 4 entrance when the security guard waved me off and let me pass through without checking if I have a homemade bomb under all those Starbucks receipts and, possibly, sanitary pads.

I went to Edsa Shangri-La yesterday and apart from checking the trunk and underneath the cars, security people also now open the door on the passenger side and let dogs sniff inside.

All these safety measures seem a little delayed to me. A bombing happens, all the securities are in place, wait a few months and everyone’s a little lax again and wham! I mean, is the Abu Sayaff really going to bother to bomb malls now that security is tight? They’ll bide their time and wait for “ningas kugon” to set in.

And finally, on Tuesday, a friend and I went to the UP Fair, and while Rivermaya was onstage, people in front of us just started running away from the stage. We had no idea what was going on but we ran, too. We weren’t exactly willing to stick around to find out, just in case it was a bomb or something. Turns out two jerks, who were not even UP students, were fighting and people just panicked.

The funny thing was Rivermaya was performing “Ul B Safe Here.” After everyone stopped running when they didn’t hear or see anything blowing up to bits, they slowly returned near the stage. Just then, Rico Blanco, the lead singer who wasn’t even the least bit alarmed by the commotion even though we’re pretty sure he saw it, sang the last line of the song: “You’ll be safe here.” Ironically funny.

It’s getting hot unusually early this year and the frogs aren’t coming out onto our backyard for their 5:00p congregations anymore. I get tan lines just walking along Roxas Boulevard for about ten minutes. Both the Pasig River and Manila Bay are beginning to give off a slightly fetid smell, which is noticeable if you happen to be walking along them when an especially loaded pocket of breeze hits you. This would have been tolerable if not for the combined aroma of canal sewage and unwashed bodies. Don’t forget to bring your handkerchiefs, especially if you commute, because the heavy humidity means you are more likely to smell what other people had for lunch. 0_o

I recover from all this by chilling at Starbucks in Intramuros. Ahh, I *heart* airconditioning and the smell of coffee.

Typically in Manila, February is one of the best months to be alive. No, not because of the garish Valentine’s decors (my, aren’t we a bunch of VDay haters), but because of the lovely weather we have.

Rather, the lovely weather we used to have. The cool weather we normally enjoy this time of year has disappeared. Summer is definitely here!

Every morning, I step out of the house on my way to class and find a folded newspaper on our porch, which I dutifully bring to my father’s reading chair. That’s the only time I actually come in contact with the newspaper.

But with nothing better to do last night, I picked an old copy of the Philippine Star (I think it was dated February 16th) and started skimming the articles. Then I came across one of the stupidest articles I’ve ever read.

“How to lose weight this Lenten season

…So you’re basically killing two birds with one stone, as my friend Ramona put it: You lose weight and you earn brownie points in heaven.”

I guess I should’ve known how ridiculous this was going to be from the title of the column itself, “Chuvanness”. Wtf.

The columnist basically jaws about how thin she is, and how much thinner she wants to be. She talks about how everyone in Metro Manila is on a diet — the poor, having no choice, and the rich and middle class opting to diet. (She also mentioned how two Sundays ago she was surprised to find out that Ash Wednesday was so soon and gave advice by checking the bulletin on when Lent actually is.)

What sort of idiot manages to blather on through a whole article talking about dieting and warping Lent?

(wait… I just did, didn’t I?)

If you were walking around Binondo and its surrounding streets on the 8th and 9th of February, you would have been dodging dancing red lions deftly and rhythmically hopping and slithering around live firecrackers and reaching for red packets hanging in front of stores. These packets typically contain Php 1,000 and above. Considering they dance in front of almost every store that has the sense to partake in the new year’s spiritual bounty of luck and prosperity, it’s quite a lucrative day for them.

On the night of CNY eve, there was a televised stage performance in front of Binondo Church and the show also showed shots of Filipinos buying prosperity items in Megamall, etc. My dad saw the show on TV and remarked that probably more non-Chinese than Chinese are buying those stuff. I told him that maybe they’re just buying them for fun and isn’t he glad that there’s a lot of wannabe-Chinese out there these days? He snorted, “It’s the crush for Jerry Yan speaking.”

On CNY: It was quite exciting when I woke up at 10:00a to the beating of the drums that reverberated throughout the city but the feeling was getting old around lunchtime when black firecracker fumes started to seep in the windows and my head throbbed at the loud beats playing ALL day (literally every 10 to 15 minutes) until very late afternoon. We get more than one dance group performances in front of our store and all our relatives went down to watch each and every one and, in my case, take pictures for you guys. ;-)

[Belated] Happy Lunar New Year, everyone.

I would be hypocritical if I said I wasn’t as excited as the other couples out there to actually celebrate Valentine’s Day with that one person you love. But heck, we didn’t even plan it. We were busy with each of our own workloads in the confines of our own offices when suddenly one goes– “Hun, you wanna go have dinner tonight? My treat.” And the other goes, “Sure, as long we see that [cheesy date] movie the town is so hyped about.”
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Valentine’s Day (otherwise known as Venereal Disease day) in Manila is amusing to watch. Earlier on the 14th I was at the mall with two of my friends and it was filled with interchangeable couples — female holds rose(s), male holds female’s bag in one hand and her waist with the other. The female’s smile is directly proportional to the number of roses she’s been given. The male’s smile is also directly proportional to the female’s, since if she’s not happy he’s sure as hell going to hear about it.

The latter part of VD was spent with my family — I gave my parents roses partly because my mother was blowing the foghorn about being unloved by her children. I’m going to be extremely unromantic and say that peddlers were selling roses up and down the roads at 20php each. :) (The second I handed them over my parents said, “Oh, and who gave you these, huh?”)

We had dinner at Eastwood in a resto called Italianni’s. The prices are a little steep, but Italianni’s makes it worth it. The servings are generous and the food is fantastic. Same goes for the service, which warrants a return.

On another note, it’s terrific to see that Manila Metroblog is finally up and running. Cheers, everyone! :)

Three separate explotions rocked the Philippines today. The explotions were set in Mindanao (Southern Philippines) and at Ayala Center in Metro Manila.

At around 6.30pm in Davao City, an 81-mm mortar exploded outside the Ecoland bus terminal in Matina district where one person was killed and six people were injured.

Thirty minutes later, at around 7pm, another blast caused chaos outside the Gaisano Mall in General Santos City. Five people died and fourteen were injured.

Shortly, after the Davao blasts, Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) spokesman Abu Solaiman contacted DZBB, a local radio station, and owned up to the bomb blasts. He then claimed another blast was to be set of and said that the blood bombings were a “Valentine’s gift” to the President.

After the interview, at around 7.30pm, the third blast ripped through a bus and set two other buses on fire at the MRT Ayala Center Bus Terminal in Makati City. The blast killed three and injured dozens.

News Sources:

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Los Angeles Times

CNN