Category Archives: personal

THIS IS WHAT I’M AFRAID OF: DATA CAPPING

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Since Bayan now will be folded under Globe, there is now a possibility that it would impose that much-dreaded data capping.

I need my data. I am an online journalist after all. I have my Facebook and Twitter accounts open at all times because my job requires me to. I have to access YouTube videos and be able to upload or download large amounts of data because I also post in our CMS and do all sorts of things when uploading a story. I stream videos and audios, especially oral arguments at the Supreme Court. And I download—all sorts of things.

And here I am contemplating whether or not I would bump up my speeds and be tied to another 24-month lock-in period. Or I can pay P5,000 to be able to be free of that lock-in contract.

To quote this IT professional-blogger:

The employee then calls Globe Telecoms, and encounters a straight run of awkward, plain disinformation:

He is told that this data cap is mandated by the NTC.  Telcos asked NTC to include this in administrative memoranda back in 2011, and had NTC not rejected the proposal, this would have given Globe Telecoms and PLDT-Smart the means to impose caps. This would help them to expand their customer base, by enabling them to take on more customers at a reduced level of service.  It makes absolutely no sense that the National Telecommunications Commission would impose a restriction on commerce this way, and not have consumers fight back.   (A word of advice to you at Globe Telecoms:  Fire whoever they were who devised the call center agents’ script, effectively making these workers lie for you.)

So what to do, what to do?

A SORT OF REVIEW | PATIS TITO GARDEN CAFE

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(This is not a sponsored review)

The twins and I spent our Christmas week in Los Banos and the weekend before the New Year, Mel and I decided to try Patis Tito Garden Cafe in San Pablo City. Driving there is a cinch, about 30 minutes away from our place in UPLB via the Maahas-dating-sabungan road (in my 34-year existence, I still could not get the name of that road near IRRI).

This is the much-hyped restaurant of Patis Tesoro, formerly known as Kusina Salud, the fusion Filipino cuisine resto. Hyped in the sense I’ve been reading so much about it in the past that it piqued my curiosity.

If you’re coming straight from Manila, the resto is faaaaaaaaaaaaaar. It’s along the road going to Villa Escudero and everybody knows that is already spitting-distance away from Tiaong, Quezon. From the highway in Brgy. Sta. Cruz, you turn left at a corner near a gas station and a narrow road would lead you there. Just follow the signs.

Open-air dining area of Patis Tito Garden Cafe (Photo by Likha Cuevas-Miel)

Lovers of old Filipiniana would like the place. There’s an exhibit of some antiques, handicrafts and Patis’ creations–and I made sure the twins would not venture there unless I like hurting myself and am willing to pay several thousands of pesos for the damage caused by the Demolition Twins. The weather was cool and breezy, making our late lunch pleasant and laid back.

Simple table setting

Table setting is unpretentious and uncomplicated. Menu is simple enough, no tongue-twisters there. Don’t forget to order the Enseladang Pako (Fern Salad)! It’s made of fresh edible ferns, itlog na maalat, cheddar cheese, kesong puti, newly ripened tomatoes, lots of onions, nuts, vinaigrette and probably other ingredients that escaped my tongue. Too bad it’s for sharing. I would have loved to keep the entire serving to myself.

Enseladang Pako (Fern Salad)

We ordered Chicken Inasal for the kids, Bistek Tagalog (Isabella, one of the Demolition Twins, liked the sauce drizzled over her rice),  Garlic Rice, and lots of Ripe Mango Juice that the twins swiped from under their father and Nanay Gie’s noses. Bill is around P2,000 for 3 grown-ups and two pre-schoolers. The food is OK, pleasing to the palate but not as stupendous as I thought it would be. The way some people or newspaper(s) had been praising the place caused me to place my expectations that high. But the fern salad was exceptional.

There was some kind of aviary in the cafe’s garden and Isabella and Adriana were entertained by the squawking birds and I wonder if the birds weren’t traumatized by the kids’ louder squawking. The garden was wide enough for the twins to run around, slip and fall.

Overall, it was a nice lunch but if you’re coming straight from Manila, it would probably be not worth it. If you’re city-bred, you would be enthralled by the ambiance (the house adjacent to the dining area is cool) but for a promdi (who grew up at the foot of Mt. Makiling), it’s nothing special. Visit Patis Tito if you’re already in Laguna or in nearby Quezon towns of Tiaong, Candelaria or Dolores. Try to call for reservations; I got the feeling that you have to given the limited seating they have there.

Patis Tito Café is at 285 Barangay Sta. Cruz Putol, San Pablo, Laguna. Call 7244231 and 0906-4439092

 

IT’S ALMOST CHRISTMAS BUT…

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I feel guilty whenever I want to spend money to celebrate the holidays knowing millions out there in Visayas, in places I’ve been in Samar and Leyte are still without homes or proper food to eat everyday.

As Sir Gerry Lirio told me, I need to be debriefed. I refused to accept that I was traumatized by my experience because that was tame compared with what the other journalists had been through.

Still my Christmas seems dysfunctional already. I would probably need counseling.

Palo Cathedral with its roof torn up and peeled by the 300-kph winds of Typhoon ‘Yolanda’ (Haiyan). Photo by Likha Cuevas-Miel

AND THE BOOK CLOSES WHEN WE TRY TO FORGET…

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Catbalogan Pier

 

…But I know things won’t change
About how we feel, how life goes on
And it feels so strange
And so the light fades away
Try, try, try as I may…              

                                                                —Phil Collins, “Everyday”

And for as long as I live, I will never forget the things that I’ve seen the two weeks ago. Some of my photos are beautiful and at the same time haunting. The truth in those pictures could never be hidden but the raw emotions could only be felt when you’re there. Photos could tug at your heartstrings but it’s different when you feel the pain in the air.