I had to make an advisory to other editors that our Philippines reporter and I will take the day off because idiot president hastily declared a holiday late Thursday afternoon. We could have made better plans for the long weekend.

Despite the declaration of a holiday, the event at the central bank pushed through. Of course, you can’t reset a thing like this without making a mess of bank presidents’, CEOs and conglomerate owners’ schedules.

The good thing here though is that the roads are less congested. Wohoo!

I worked for a bit at Starbucks in G5 because of companies (or rather pushy PRs) that insist on their own way, forgetting that there is such thing as editorial independence. Diva execs, pushy PRs, and unreasonable company policies–what a way to end the week.

Upon arriving at the central bank, I noticed there were new paintings at the 3rd floor lobby. One staff member told me they have just acquired the collection of UCPB and that is now scattered all over the main building. Unfortunately, I only had time to see three paintings when there must have been hundreds of them. I had to work my butt off last night.

One time I will tell my friends at the BSP comms dept I will drop by to see the sculptures and paintings in their collection during one less hectic day. It’s not easy to gain access there and I had been going in and out of their premises regularly for years as a reporter. Might as well take advantage of that.

They gave me this uncut live currency to add to my collection of like items and commemorative coins. I’m still looking for the uncut 20-peso bills where I had former central bank governors sign their names. Two of them sadly passed on. That item is one of the, if not the most precious souvenir I had kept as a banking reporter. The girls’ dad must have it with him, including my analog cameras.