We’re so fucked up that the outgoing finance chief says we’re in dire straits that we need more tax measures because we can no longer borrow.
Then this monster did this:
My journo chat group is on fire. Other news orgs are no longer welcome, only crony media and bloggers/vloggers paid by Marcos himself like unTh*king P*noy, who says FDI is capped at 40%. (The idiot doesn’t know the difference between foreign direct investments and foreign ownership which are completely different 🙄).
So now we are all banned from government briefings. So we all had put our heads together and we now have an action plan that I can’t even write about here in case some stranger ends up here.
I can’t even… And my boss was messaging me, asking me about Philippine trends now and I need to chase gov’t investment plans, infra projects, and new regulations. 🤬
One of the journos in the chat group said maybe GMA was included to give legitimacy to crony media like SMNI and Net25. I said no, GMA is claimed by Imee Marcos. She filed her claims before the SEC in 2007, I was there. She said the shares owned by the Duavits are shares held on behalf of the Marcoses while they were in exile. That’s why she filed for an invalidation of GMA’s IPO.
My bff L, who is not even a reporter, messaged me, “The news are exhausting, right?” And I said, “I can’t even turn off news because I’m a reporter 😭”
And this idiot doesn’t know what a Solicitor General is! OMG!
I asked for a break from my manager. So I’m no longer going to Singapore next week because our other Manila reporter will be flying to Bohol for a break. Then the following week, I will be the one taking a break. Screw conferences.
So I was telling bff L that maybe we need to get away for a while and stare into nothing. Here, I found the perfect place:
Patron Silver and the shot glasses I’ve downed this lunch time. 90 proof (45% alcohol). Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Things are so bad that press conferences come with alcoholic drinks because our hosts know how stressed we are right now. Twitter has made every reporter I know depressed today with a series of bad news after bad news, the primary one is having an incoming press secretary who is a lawyer suspended by the Supreme Court and her only claim to fame is being a fake news peddler VLOGGER/blogger. She red-tags people and is very hostile to media.
During Duterte’s admin, I have experienced being unwelcomed by the government as we legit reporters were not given seats in a national economic conference while the bloggers like uTh*king P*noy are given a special section where they can write and tweet inanities. These people who just add GDP cumulatively and declare that Duterte will end his admin with a 45% GDP growth 🙄 These people who cannot make heads or tails of FDI, stock market, mergers and acquisitions, and benchmark interest rates. I had to write my stories on the floor on those days despite my being in business clothes. That’s how bad it was.
My group chat has been on fire today. Marcos is putting hostile people in place to barricade us to prevent transparency and truth.
A lot of my friends and colleagues said they have turned off Twitter today due to the series of WTF stories coming out.
At UCC. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Despite downing a couple of shots of Patron, one of the strongest tequilas known to the market, I didn’t get tipsy. But just to be safe, I went down from the hotel where we had the lunch briefing to have coffee and work.
My laptop bag with cat scratches. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I wasn’t really productive today but I was able to secure an interview with an Indonesian company for one of my reporters. I’m a generous boss; I farm out the things that land on my plate and I do not hog them for myself. Besides, I should be doing more value-added things like big scoops and more global/regional stories so I shouldn’t be doing small stories that suck up my time.
Sketch. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.comAt UCC. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
But I’m so brain-dead now that I could not pull up my watercolors to finish this sketch. Perhaps tomorrow when I’m in the zone?
My friend from my old TV network told me he wants to quit now and join corporate. I told him, he better jump now when the offer still stands because the threat of the incoming justice secretary is serious. It’s martial law all over again, closing down independent media and promoting crony media like SNI (owned by a Duterte ally wanted by the US FBI for sex trafficking and other offenses) and Net25 (Iglesia ni Cristo station).
The demonization of media and the legitimization of disinformation peddlers like Think*ng P*noy and M*rk L*pez has started. The more that we will get harassed, the more that we will be suppressed by this government. This red-tagger is now more empowered to call us communists that will automatically put us in the shoot-to-kill order of the military and the police.
How can you even feel safe in this kind of environment? In the US, the level of harassment of newsmen is not as dire as in the Philippines, where journalist killings are as rampant as in war zones in other countries.
He is now threatening the media owners that, hey, ABS-CBN will not be anisolated case anymore.
The incoming Sec Gen of the National Economic and Development Authority is a nice guy and I often had bets with him about the outcome of GDP numbers every quarter when I used to cover the macroeconomy. However, this does not negate the fact that he used to work with Marcos Jr when the latter was the governor of Ilocos Norte and I doubt his capacity to say no to shenanigans as he is more if a “yes” man more often than not.
This is the reason why my brother is/was invited to be an undersecretary under this administration. This guy and my brother have almost the same specialization and they had worked together on my brother’s doctoral dissertation. My older sister and I already expressed our disgust if he accepts the offer.
My mom was offered a director position to head a unit at the Department of Science and Technology. But the papers would have to be signed by Jr so my mom declined and said she’s already deaf but in truth she cannot stomach working under Marcos. She said two candidates for National Scientist declined the award because Jr has to present them the award. That’s how reviled he is.
Meanwhile, I got so frustrated this morning because I got disturbed by a journo in India last night. She was the one asking me for favors and yet she’s the one who appears to be more demanding than my own reporters. 🙄 She thinks that editing analysis articles is a piece of cake.
Learning to say no.
I had a journo messaging me at 8 pm asking to discuss her analysis piece. I said no, we will discuss tomorrow since I have children to attend to now.
A content editor was asking many simple questions about a story I edited, I asked, can you address your concerns to the journalist who wrote this? It is 11 pm and I am already in bed.
I have started turning off my Microsoft Teams because they always mistake I am available 24/7. Is there a way that makes Teams put you on an “away” mode automatically at a certain time? I have no problems with emails because I can ignore them. But instant messaging is really intrusive.
my FB post
And I spent most of my day today dealing with that story.
Boundaries. We need boundaries. I hate co-workers nagging me during off-hours for work-related matters. I’m no machine! All bosses should also know how to stop this bad habit like their staff is working 24/7. Ghad, we’re not slaves!
STRESS RELIEF
#catloaf. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
This is not a perfect cat loaf as Sushi’s front paw is showing. I can’t resist squishing them when they’re in a complete cat loaf position. I don’t know why. They evoke squishy stuffed toys of my youth?
Another stress-buster for me is scrolling through IG, looking at drawings, figuring out how I can do a similar thing. I learn by looking at their step-by-step posts.
I also browse through Amazon before sleeping and check out prices of Daniel Smith and Rembrandt watercolors and Lazada for Holbein sets. As if the prices would change 🙄 These friggin’ brands are sooooo expensive and yet…I want them. I know the joy of jumping from student grade to almost-artist-grade and they’re miles apart. What more if I get to use artist-grade colors? 🥰 I couldn’t bring myself to buy Rembrandt because that thing costs USD 180!
Maybe when I’m good enough to exhibit, I will brave it and spend PHP 9,000+ for a tin of watercolors. 😶
I will buy this as a gift to myself. I’ve reached my quota of gifts to myself (new piano, computer keyboard), maybe I will do this in December???
Or or or…maybe when I go to Japan I will buy myself a huge set of Holbein watercolors and all the pens I could cart away in my bag.
In the meantime, let me browse through e-commerce sites for these babies until I fall asleep. 😂
So I’m typing here using my very pink Logitech keyboard and my phone to blog about how terrible it is that there is a system-wide Converge blackout here in QC. I’m using my Smart data just as my phone is on fire due to multiple calls, which I will write about later.
First off, I drove to Msi-ECS this afternoon for a Lenovo repair. This company also accepts gadgets (laptops, tablets) from other brands like HP, Asus, Acer, Dell, etc).
Driving along Marcos Highway. Took me 1.5 hrs roundtrip for 20 mins of service. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
The service was quick since I called them up on Friday for scheduling and pre-fill up of data sheet.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com.com
The rest of the afternoon was spent on emailing and instant messaging people. I can’t believe that it takes hours to do these things.
Then the group that I had been helping during the height of the lockdowns in 2020 had asked for assistance again as the Aetas of Capas, Tarlac have no means of livelihood due to the pandemic and the children would be having face-to-face classes now. The teachers are asking for white shirts for the children as they have no clothes to wear to school.
I began my messaging and call brigade to mobilize my connections. So now they have been sending financial support and another friend said she can have the shirts made in Taytay T-shirt factories for only PHP 40 each. My mom’s friends are sending books and other people are sending school supplies.
I will ask my corporate connections for donations in kind (probably through their own foundations) for school materials or food supplements for these kids, whose families were displaced by the Clark Development Corp.
Sixteen years ago, I’ve written about the Aetas’ dire situation (in Morong, Bataan), especially when it comes to their education or the lack thereof. Sixteen years have passed and it hasn’t changed much.
It’s about time that I make that long-delayed trip to Tarlac and meet this community of indigenous people that I had been helping remotely. I will ask a friend for book donations as well. My reporter-friend and I will arrange a trip together since he was the one who helped distribute the milk powder that I solicited from a food conglomerate way back in 2020.
This is the reason why I can’t leave the Philippines. I have the means to help them and make a difference, in my own little way. I can also write about their plight for one of the broadsheets since I’m friends with most of their editors, as I had been doing in the past. The indigenous peoples of this country are the most forgotten/neglected groups in this impoverished country. They don’t have voices and only a few of us can lend ours.
As I said in my essay, Love Letter to Myself, we need to work at the bottom of the pyramid to be able to spark change.
And oh, my crazy cats have destroyed the screen on my bedroom window because they’re chasing birds outside my window. 🙄
My destructive monster, Kimchi. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Herbed chicken for dinner. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I was basically useless the whole morning since I was asleep most of the time. I’m sleepy still.
I fixed my container garden again after it was ravaged by the heat that battered us pre-election and election week. I pulled out the casualties and re-potted the new ones that I bought yesterday. Gardening is really therapeutic because you spend hours doing something with a blank brain. I’m still not satisfied with it so next week I’ll be adding more plants 😄
I got frustrated with the rain today that I decided to book 3 days, 2 nights in Pico de Loro. Rain or no rain, we will return to the sea. At least the rains would not be that disastrous at the beach compared to if we went camping.
I hiked this area (used to be called Hacienda Looc) in 1996 and it used to be surrounded by mangroves. It was a very beautiful and secluded paradise but at that time it was a scary moment because one wrong turn I faced an armed soldier…It’s ironic that I would be coming back to this area after 25 years as a guest of the land grabbers. 🥴 I’ll see if I can live with myself being here as part of the bourgeoisie set that fueled the land grabbing.
Anyway, I think I need to take a vacation leave during the week we would be here. After my trip to Singapore (if that would even push through), I think I deserve a break.
I saw in our group chat the photos of the other journos who went to have an after-party following our drinking session. The photos showed they haven’t broken up the party even if the sun was already high and bright and they were all sipping coffee. I was asked to join them before I went home at 11 pm but turned down the invite and said this tita is already dead and needs a bed. I could never do that kind of night out at this age. When I was younger, I was like that every week as I had all the energy and will. We even bar-hopped until the wee hours. I guess age really catches up with me and my priority right now is being comfortable. What I promised a friend who also attended the event last night was a lunch date because there are so many things we needed to catch up on.
Hahaha! Now I get why there are those who “do lunches”: It’s because they could no longer do the cocktail hours.
I hate to say it but lunches and coffee dates are more preferable these days. 😂
S. Korea is starting to open up to tourists and I guess I can go to our Seoul office later this year. Japan has yet to follow, which is kinda frustrating because my multiple-year visa is already expiring in April next year.
Let me see first how my travel itinerary for the year shapes up. Getting OKs from London is really frustrating. Which reminds me, I have to battle it out tomorrow with bosses regarding my travels and coverage. 🤪
In the meantime, I’m staring at this Sombrero island painting. Waiting for inspiration again…
I just got back home from a large drinking session with colleagues from the industry but I didn’t drink that much, only got dizzy with the silvanas I ate. We had talked about many things that should stay within the four walls of that venue. All I can say is–and what the oldies told us—that we should take seriously all threats to our lives and the safety training that we would be taking soon.
We should be braver now and make a stand—and we should support one another even if we are from competing news agencies.
More flowers! Photo by CallMeCreation.com
This is the first time this week that it didn’t rain. Since it was too late to go anywhere far, I decided to just drive to QC Circle and buy more plants to replace the ones that died during the deadly heat of the past few weeks. So here we are, a thousand pesos poorer.
While I was buying plants, I had let the girls take rides in the mini amusement park at the Circle. Even though they’re already tweens, they still enjoy such stuff, especially since they were cooped up inside the apartment for week because of the rains.
Paddling in this green pond. Photo by CallMeCreation.comPhoto by CallMeCreation.com
Then we had dinner at Saigon Pho along Maginhawa St. I told them we should explore other cuisines so that when I bring them with me abroad, they would be more comfortable eating a variety of food.
Twin I ate three, while I only had one. She said it was delicious. Photo by CallMeCreation.comPho. Photo by CallMeCreation.comPhoto by CallMeCreation.com
Now they have discovered the wonderful world of pho. They loved it. They had beef, I had chicken (because I felt I already hit my beef quota for the month). I told them next time we will go to Muang Thai along Malakas St.
Muang Thai menu c/o Zomato
Since dine-in is back, I can bring them again to Little India and some other specialty restaurants in Salcedo village that are tucked away inside the CBD buildings like Warung Indo (Indonesian) and Sultan Mediterranean Grill. And of course, my favorite—Little Tokyo in Makati, which is a community of Japanese restaurants where Japanese bankers go. The former MUFG Manila head told me about this little diner there that seats only 15 people that serves the best ramen in Manila and for the life of me I already forgot the name. It’s also in Little Tokyo where I can have my okonomiyaki fix. I mean I’ve been spoilt by Osaka, the food bowl of Japan, and I had a wonderful time eating in small diners there even though I couldn’t read the menu. Because of that, it’s now hard for me to find good Japanese food now that I had the best the country had to offer. Most of the Japanese restaurants here have been “Filipinized” i.e. salty. Somebody asked me, where did I have the best Japanese food, I told him/her (cannot remember now who asked), that I attended this reception by the Japanese government for the delegates of the ADB Annual Governors’ Meeting, which was graced by then-Finance Minister Taro Aso in Yokohama. They spared no expense–they served the best Wagyu steak, best sushi, sashimi and other dishes that I could no longer identify. One Japanese official shared with me a shot of sake and he told me that was the best sake there is. I could tell because it was so smooth. The best teppanyaki I had was in the middle of nowhere in Kinosaki.
Teppanyaki. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I digress.
The point I’m trying to make is that the girls shouldn’t be just confined to mall food. They told me that they remember that we used to go to malls a lot before and I said I hated those weekends but we only went because their dad is a mall rat. That’s one of the reasons he hated me. I didn’t like malls, I didn’t like window shopping, and I didn’t like mall food. When I had the energy, I took the girls to UP so they can play in the grass and climb trees. They picked flowers and weeds. They played make-believe games while running around. I bought them ice cream and taho (silken tofu) from the ambulant vendors scattered around the campus. They needed fresh air and real food and not be confined in malls and see all those things that tempt them to be mindless consumers of stuff. I brought them to QC Circle to play in the playground when it was newly constructed. I let them run around and play games with the other kids. It’s healthier and cheaper, too.
So I’m not surprised that he feeds them pizza and burgers when they’re with him on some weekends. 🙄 Oh well.
Gotta sleep and tackle the Sombrero island painting tomorrow.
