I remember a time when you can drive along Edsa at 2 a.m. and it would be completely deserted. That’s no longer true today. I’ve tried commuting at 10 p.m., 11, 12, 1 a.m. and it’s all the same. Vehicles everywhere.

My dad tells me it’s because all the companies have shifting now–and of course, there are the call centers. No matter what the time, someone somewhere is working. Also explains why the lines are outrageously long at the MRT at 1:30 p.m. We are seeing the emergence of new rush hours.

Parents of more than 25 students are grieving in Bohol today as 25 students died from food poisoning and more than 400 suffered stomach aches and then rushed or admitted to hospitals all over Tagbilaran City, Bohol’s capital. Doctors said that the children died of cyanide poisoning, where cyanide was produced by the digestive system after eating raw cassava. Cassava is a widely grown crop in the Philippines and is normally eaten boiled or sweetened. The Department of Health in Manila is yet to comment.

News Sources:

ABS-CBN News

It’s easy to tell if March is already here. The students losing sleep over exams, thesis and term papers, yet being overly excited about summer. The dizzying heat of the day yet coolness of the evenings. The fires razing homes and establishments. Yup, it’s definitely March.

It’s really ironic that most of the fires in the metro happens during the month that the government declared to be the Fire Prevention Month. Ozone Disco in 1996, Manor Hotel in 2001. More than a hundred perished, thousands affected by the loss.

How many more houses and communities will burn down before we learn our lesson? Unfortunately, I have this feeling that we never will.

My sister and her daughter went back home to Australia today. Her friend volunteered to drive us to the airport. Sitting at the passenger seat, I was marveling at the numerous buttons on the dash and on the wheel of her friend’s new SUV.

The CD controls in the steering wheel and the digital display weren’t the one that really caught my attention — it was the sticker above the CD slot: Warning: Please don’t put in pirated CDs.

Is this just a Manila thing or do they put the sticker in all the models distributed around the world?

I went to Quiapo this morning to get an NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) clearance and I passed by all these stalls selling bootleg DVD copies of some of my favorite movies. I asked my mom to buy them for me but she said pirated DVDs were being confiscated in MRT stations. You could supposedly now get in trouble for being in possession of one.

That wouldn’t have mattered to me at all if not for the fact that we were indeed going to take the MRT2 to get to Marikina.

Oh well, next time I’m taking a cab. Ha!

Now that I think of it, what’s the NBI doing allowing those illegal vendors to set up their booths a stone’s throw away from their office, huh? Tsk tsk.

Unless you know the head of the National Statistics Office, or the President of the Philippines, or someone useful like that, you will have to line up to get a copy of your birth certificate.

First of all, the NSO “Serbilis Center” on East Avenue is one giant pressure cooker. Outside, it’s crowded with people selling ballpens. Inside, it’s crowded with people sitting around looking dazed because there are a million obstacles keeping them from getting their birth certificates.
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I finally got to take the LRT yesterday. Angeli, Ain and I took the LRT from Katipunan to Cubao since we wanted to watch a movie at the Gateway Mall.

Anyway, the LRT ride was uneventful (hmm) but interesting since I haven’t had the chance to ride in an LRT since I came back here in the Philippines. The stations and carriages were pleasantly clean and it wasn’t that crowded since I suppose it wasn’t rush hour yet.

The Gateway Mall is accessible upon exiting the LRT, so it’s really convenient. Movies there are 99php a pop, unless you’re placing reservations which cost 120php, afaik. The mall even has a nice garden to eat in — very pretty, but a little steep in the pocket.

At 5:30p.m. we found ourselves back in Katipunan, barely in time to watch Rivermaya perform. I heard from a friend that someone we knew flashed the bandmembers, but that’s another story all together. ;)

As most Manileno’s love to spend their summer at preferrably cooler climates, a lot would take a vacation from the city for the crisp 15 degree Celcius mountain air of Baguio. On a short historical note, Baguio was a preffered destination for American Occupation Forces which would have been a rest from the stiffling Manila summer.