. 

Ah… t’was the fall of ‘92, 
     on cold october nights…
        when some boys fell in love.

  Sixteen years hence.
     sixteen long years.
        the memories, the friendship,
           the poem— remain.

A poem

Let me tell you something about the town where I was born — Santiago City.

Santiago is in the province of Isabela, the second town entering the province if you come from Manila.

The original name of Santiago was Carig.  Legends had it that in the old times during the Spanish colonization era, the town was always under siege by bandits and lawless elements taking away the people’s livelihoods and belongings.  These acts of atrocity continued for quite some time.

One day, while these thugs and crooks were doing their yet another “round” of barbarism, a knight-like warrior came into the townfolks’ rescue and single-handedly repulsed the invaders.  That was the last time the headhunters, or whatever was left of their tribes, assaulted the town of Carig.

St. James the Apostle

People then thought the savior in white stead was St. James the Apostle. Thus, in honor of their hero, they re-named the town Santiago, which is the Spanish name of St. James.

This is how I remember the story told to me by one of my elementary school teachers.  There could be another version or a more detailed one but that basically is the substance of it.

The feast day of St. James is July 25 so the feast day of Santiago, the town, is thus obviously observed and held on July 25 as well.  I recall there are lots of activities during our “town fiesta”.  There were these “moro-moro” shows back then, there were parades, open houses, basketball tournaments, carnivals or “peryahan”, and mass celebrations.

I was born in Malvar, a barangay near to the “centro”.  Our house was dwarfed by the Navarro Compound to the left and the Kaunlaran Palay Buying Station to the right.  There used to be a PC (Philippine Constabulary) Company in front directly across the street.  We also had a house in Baptista Village in Calao.

I spent my whole preparatory years (Kinder to Grade 6) at La Salete Elementary.  During my elementary days, I was a sakristan at the St. James Parish Church beside our school.  Being a sakristan ’compelled’  me to visit the far-flung barangays of Santiago back then.  I was very active serving Sunday masses and holidays. Thus naturally, I was always at church serving during feast days.  Sometimes twice in a day.

It is therefore not surprisingly that despite being away from Santiago for quite some time now, I can recall vividly its feast day.  July 25.  Look it up.  I cannot miss this date.  I should not.

Our family moved to Baguio in 1983. For the next ten years, I occasionally come back to visit my Lolo and Lola until both of them died in a span of some couple of years.  I hardly go to Santiago now.  For the last twelve years or so, I’ve only been there twice, but just to visit the cemetery where my Dad and my grandparents were buried six feet under.

By the way, about the houses, the one in Baptista Village was later on sold and the one in Malvar was razed by fire in 1985 and later sold as well.

I wish to come back and visit Santiago with my family one of these days.  They have not seen my birthplace yet.  And then some of Isabela as well.  My good friend Bong (www.awonderfulblog.com) is also from Isabela, in a town called Alicia.

Aside from seeing it for myself for a few hours during those two All Saints’ Days’ visits, I heard a lot of good stories about Santiago from old friends.  How it improved dramatically over the years.  How it became a city in 1994.  How beautiful it is.

Maybe it’s the consequence of its geographical location.  Maybe it’s her people.  Maybe it’s because of St. James the Apostle perpetually guiding this town.  Whatever it is, it’s worth celebrating and honoring the Patron Saint who once saved this town even just once a year.  On his feast day.  On July 25.

Incidentally, today is our 10th year wedding anniversary.

#

A week ago I received an email with the subject: “REMINDER / BE ALERT: JULY 18, 2008, PHILIPPINES WILL GET 8.1 EARTHQUAKE”.  Maybe you have received the same warning or heard of it one way or the other.  It apparently came from a certain Mr. Juseleeno Nobulega DaRoose.

Anyway, it does not matter.  That will not happen.  What I’ll be telling you now is something that really occured exactly 18 years ago.

On July 16, 1990, a devastating earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 in the Richter Scale hit the Northern part of Luzon in the Philippines.  Too much had already been documented, told, and retold.  I want to share mine, or at least what I could recount from it.  I was in Baguio.

It was a Monday I think (read: I searched it in Google).  Around 4:15 in the afternoon.  Most likely, during any other circumstances, I was supposed to be in school.  And why not, I was in third year taking up engineering in one of the more reputed universities in the city.

There were some half-dozen universities and colleges in Baguio back then.  The more known ones, at least for me, are the University of “if you play; you pass” ; the “if you pray, you pass” University; and the “if you pay you pass” College.  Let’s just say I was the praying type.

(Cheer up citymates. You know the joke, let’s get over with it).

So for what happened, a question remains: “Was that plain luck or a divine intervention”?

On that fateful Monday, our school declared no classes because of a threat of a full-blown strike from the student body who were protesting yet another round of tuition fee increase.  If you do the math, we were on the fourth week of protest already spending more time in the quadrangle than in the classrooms.

So when the classes were suspended,  no student was in the school.  Who knows what might have happened then: stampede, fire, panic… The other schools were not as fortunate.  Several students had perished due to collapsed building and others just simply accidentally jumped to their death thinking they had a better chance than staying put.

I was sleeping when that killer quake happened and woke up on the first strike.  I was swaying while going out of the house.  When I managed to get out, I already saw some people on the roads, hysterically screaming while stores and houses start to crumble and glasses break.  Some were praying as if it is the end of the world.

I joined the panicked souls knelt on the road.  While we were kneeling and praying, the pavements started to crack and created a big fissure. Shouting and crying, we headed straight up to who knows where.  We ended up in a public school were we stayed the whole night.  Outside.

Shocked. Restless. Sleepless. Wet. It was drizzling that evening.

Photos of the devastation caused by the Earthquake in Baguio on July 16, 1990. Original pictures courtesy of www.geocities.com/lingayenbay

There were several strong aftershocks that ensued.  We can even hear the tremor before the earth actually moved.  That’s how paranoid we were.  Maybe because we were hungry.  Maybe because it was dark due to the blackout.  Or maybe we just lost our collective senses.

The following morning was a realization of what happened.  It was a clear day. And we all saw how Baguio was devastated.  The Summer Capital of the Philippines was a complete mess.  Renowned hotels and buildings collapsed; bodies buried in the rubbles; survivors searching for their losses or for food which comes to mind first;  hearts broken.

We were also isolated from the rest of the world so to speak.  The three main roads leading up to Baguio were inaccessible due to cuts and landslides.  The earthquake (and its aftershocks) had its greatest toll  on Kennon Road.  Although Naguillan Road and Marcos Highway seem fully restored, Kennon Road never recovered.  If it were a baseball player, he was in and out of the disabled list.

We went back to our grandparents’ house the day after the earthquake and began to sleep inside after two days.  Others were not as lucky as they have completely lost their houses due to collapse and landslides.  Others stayed with more stable relatives, others built their tents in Burnham Park.  Still others remained in the public schools for the next couple of weeks.  I had my share of experience helping dig up some friends who died and were buried.  It took us six days for one of  them.

Kennon Road and the Lion Head. Pass by here if you have chance when going to Baguio.

Slowly though the people of Baguio fought through it.  All of us helped one another in any which way we can.  There were no rich or poor, young or old, kings or vagabonds.  We were one.  We survived. 

Lights started to be restored, roads fixed.  Classes soon resumed.  And everything seemed to return to normal.  Look at Baguio now.  Search Baguio.  Look at the pictures now.  Visit it. Go there. And come back.  Then come back again. 

It is a great and beautiful city once more.  And no amount of earthquake shall take it away from us.

Unless the prophecy above comes true and straight in the city’s heart on Friday.

Then we will rise up as ONE once again.  THAT feeling I missed.

#

Ok, the title might be misleading.  Karate is Japanese but unless there is a better martial arts movie than this Daniel-san-Mr. Miyagi classic, I’ll use it as a reference even though my kids are, in fact, into taekwondo.

It started when last summer, we were thinking of what activities the kids may want to enroll into to keep themselves busy.  While attending a mass on a Sunday at our local parish church, there was an announcement that they are offering taekwondo classes to students and relatives of the school where my daughter studies.

Taekwondo is a South Korean martial arts; and in fact it’s the country’s national sport.  In Korea, tae means “foot”; kwon means “fist”; and do means “art” or “way”; thus taekwondo basically means “the way of the foot and fist”.

Taekwondo - foot... fist, ...and fun.

The schedule was used to be twice a week during the summer (Wednesdays/Saturdays) from 2:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon.  When classes resumed last month, they changed the frequency to once a week only but this time from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. 

From that first day for nearly two months, the classes were mostly concentrated on exercises, simple meditations, basic drills and formation.  They were ably trained by Sir Arnold Gariega and Sir Ronnie Bale, both black belts from the Philippine Taekwondo Association.

Last Saturday June 28, they had an examination for promotion from white belt to yellow belt.  The examining officer was Sir Jun Labing likewise from the Philippine Taekwondo Association and also a Marine. The test is composed of both the basic Poomse (Foundation Forms), Three-Step Self-Defense Forms, Basic Strikes and Blocks, and also oral examinations. (See the execution of Formation Form No. 2 here by John Mitchell at YouTube).

The karate kids proudly display their new yellow belts

To cut to the chase, everyone in the “class” passed so they are now officially either an 8th or 7th grade Yellow Belt.

Today is the start of their Yellow Belt sessions.  It means there will be more contacts.  The  instructors had advised the students that they will learn some sparring, combats, and self-defense techniques in this stage.  They are now required to don padding specially the arm and shin guards.  Likewise, body armors and headgears will also be needed.

I sense they feel better with a yellow belt.  The uniform is already pure white so a little shade of another color will not hurt.  Yes, yellow is a little bit soft and you wished they would be wearing an imposing black instead… but then again, we’ll get there.

When we enrolled the kids, we did not intend them to be Olympians or Bruce Lee (I know that’s another form of martial arts but you get the point). We are just glad that taekwondo trains the kids to be disciplined and self-reliant,  self-confident and modest.

I say the kids are enjoying it.  And as a parent, I enjoy seeing them having fun and setting goals.  So when my wonderful friend Bong satirically blogged a column entitled “Hey Dudes, Read My Lips: “Don’t Have Kids!”", I have another one reason to disagree with the title. 

June 29, 2008.

Just like most Filipinos, I am glued to my television set today to watch our very own Manny Pacquiao try to wrestle the WBC Lightweight title crown from Dangerous David Diaz. Here is a running diary, all time local, Sunday June 29.

1:00 PM

• The official coverage of the “Pacquio-Diaz Lethal Combination” by my favorite tv station: the Kapuso Network, GMA-7 begins.
• Noticeable in the boxing rings are the banners of Tecate, Top Rank, HBO PPV, Mandalay and MP.

1:05 PM

• Nicole Angela sings the Philippine National Anthem.  Very good rendition; no diva effect.  Purist will surely laud her singing as she maintains the original beat of composer  Julian Felipe. 
• Manny Pacquiao is shown in his locker room punching the air (isn’t he supposed to stand still, hehehe… well, he did just that at the end of the song, though).

1:07 PM – Commercials

• Solmux featuring Aga Muhlach… Gran Matador starring Dingdong Dantes… Bulldog Super Glue…
• Clear Shampoo.  Three of todays young stars from ABS-CBS star in this commercial: Piolo Pascual, John Lloyd Cruz, and Bea Alonzo…
• A 5-second commercial of Gulf Max Supreme, LBC Delivery (15 sec), and another Bulldog commercial…
• Alaxan FR featuring Manny Pacquiao, whohooh!

1:09 PM

• Time for the United States National Anthem. (David Diaz is apparently an American born in Chicago, although he’s a Mexican at heart).  Jasmine Villegas sings this one again  (she’s the same girl who sang when Pacquiao beat Juan Manuel Marquez last March, I think.  De Javu coming…)
• This time, David Diaz is shown jogging while the anthem is being sang.
• Side note: It seems you can sing or play the Star Spangled Banner any which way you like if it makes you cool (see: Jimi Hendrix).

1:12 PM - Commercials:

• By the way, this special is brought to you by… San Miguel Beer, Smart, Alaxan, Ginebra San Miguel, Solmux, Revicon, LBC, Nation, PLDT MyDSL, Motolite… and in part by Blue Tac, Royal, McDonalds, Mister Donut and many others… It’s so fast I did not get them all…
• 15 seconds of San Miguel Beer featuring Jet Li…  Solmux again (30 sec.)…
• LBC, the guy on the jeepney scratching his hand, then eventually falling, cool…
• An old Boysen commercial, with a typical mother-in-law monsterity if that is a word…
• Cord Marine Epoxy… Axe… Appeton Weight Gain…
• Chowking.  You know the Chef here also drives and delivers for Chowking ( I swear he’s the same guy hehehe )…
• Motorstar… Mach 5 Energy Drink… Bulldog… Purefoods Tender Juicy Sweet Corn…
• Revicon featuring Robin Padilla…
• GMA-7’s upcoming Telebabad shows; Kim SamSoon, Lalola, Gagambino, Survivor Philippines, and Codename: Asero.

1:18 PM

• Mike Tyson was shown for whatever it’s worth.
• Manny Pacquiao enters the ring at 1:19PM.  David Diaz follows suit (being the champion) at 1:21.
• 1:21PM Official Start: “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!!!”

1:26 PM – Round 1

• Manny Pacquiao’s shorts has a RICOA at the back, Cafe Puro on his front right and Xtreme (Magic Sing)  on his front left.

We miss these multi-sponsored shorts from Manny.

1:30 PM – Commercials

• Smart featuring Piolo Pascual. “Si Piolo naka Smart Buddy na!!!”…
• Alaxan with Manny jogging (15 sec)… Ginebra Gin ‘to Ginto Promo…
• Cord Marine Epoxy “No Camera Trick” commercial.  I wan to believe but is the hammer true? hehehe…
• Head and Shoulders Anti Dandruff Shampoo.  The commercial where it shows that a baby does not have a dandruff.  He’s also bald.  By the way, I’m using Head and Shoulders…
• Cherifer Syrup (15 sec.)… Shakey’s (30 sec.)… another 5-sec. commercial of Gulf Pride 4T…
• Frenzy condoms (wink, wink)…
• Coke. An angel descends from heaven and transforms to human because of Coke and the first one she talks to is me (hehehe).
• LBC Bank.  Edu Manzano stars in this one.  He is now one of the most bankable commercial endorser around…
• Purefoods Chicken Fun Nuggets… Waterstop water sealant… Revicon.

1:35 PM – Round 2

• I notice the Smart logo is on the ring canvass. Cool.  How much was it

1:38 PM – Commercials

• Solmux again with Aga Muhlach.  He reminds me of me…
• PLDT MyDSL and its freebies (15 sec)… SMB again with Jet Li and Manny Pacquiao…
• Bulldog. It’s the “Baliktad” stunt, “Bumaliktad ka na”…
• Gulf Max Supreme…
• Appeton Weight Gain.  Could be the only “cartoon” commercial in the list; can’t they afford real people? hehehe…
• LBC… Motolite Express Delivery (30 sec.)…
• Gillette Vector’s from Zero to Hero (30 sec.)… Knorr Cubes (15 sec.)… Waterstop… Alaxan…
• Gran Matador with Dingdong.  Also having quite the big breaks now.

1:43 PM – Round 3

• Manny Pacquiao’s gloves are red; David Diaz’ are white.

1:46 PM – Commercials

• Smart Money with John Lloyd’s “money” coming around to date Bea in 30 seconds (“Pambayad ng Bayan”)…
• Revicon… SMB with Jet Li biting some kind of a flower stalk… Rexona starring a sidekick and Robin Padilla…
• Nation Paint.  A man staring at a talking wall saying “Ang pader na ito and mukha ng bayan…”
• Bostik.  I expected it to air two or three times more but it did not; it’s about a patch-up something and it’s made in France….
• Mach5 Energy drink: some 30 seconds of dance moves…
• Liveraide with Robin Padilla…Smidgets starring Michael V. … Gulf (I missed what it is this time)…
• Sunsilk with Marian Rivera and two other upcoming stars; Marian has indeed come a long way after her MariMar re-make exploits…
• LBC… the “Katapusan Na” episode… funny stuff…

1:51 PM – Round 4

• Corner sponsors are Tecate on the red corners and Mandalay on the whites.

1:55 PM – Commercials

• Purefoods Sweet Corn Hotdogs. This features some little kids as chefs… and some real corns inside a hotdog… need to try this some time…
• PLDT MysDSL Plan 990 (15 sec.)… Alaxan with Manny and a random guys with a pulled arm muscle (15 sec)…
• Cobra Energy Drink…. Shakey’s Fun, Family, Pizza commercial… Motolite Express Delivery is 24/7 in key cities (30 sec.). Is the delivery guy one of the eventual ninongs here?…
• First trailer shown: “Wanted” starring Angelina Jolie; with 2 million kids, she’s still hot…
• Vulcaseal Colors. Only appearnce in the Pacquiao-Diaz tilt so I have to mention its punchline “Parang Pintura”… Yeah right,  only one timeslot but aired twice in succession (repeatedly once again I supposed hehehe)…
• Appeton Weight Gain (Pido Dido is unemployed)… the 5-sec. Gulf commercial…
• LBC Delivery; the anniversay rose…
• Cobra Energy Drink; the guy looks like Dan Allado, need to confirm this…
• Surf Bars new Blue and Green bars (where’s Lumen?)… SMB and Jet Li again (I realized Manny is also on the commercial hehehe, baloney)…
• GMA plug of Kim SamSoon (do they also pay for this air time?).

2:00  PM – Round 5

• Not much on boxing here… I went to the restroom…

2:03 PM – Commercials

• By the way, every end of a round, the slomo replay is always brough to you by Revicon, just so you know it.
• And after every slomo, we must be reminded that “this special was brought to us by… presented by… and in partnership with …”  Are we clear? Always.  After each round.
• Gran Matador with Dingdong… is he really drinking Gran Matador?   It’s good but I just thought he may afford a more expensive brandy (Ok, not that a P70 Gran Matador is not expensive but…)…
• Solmux… PLDT MyDSL….
• Boysen’s “PIntados sa ‘king puso” commercial.  Timeless…
• McDonald’s Delivery… Revicon with Robin…
• Blue-Tack; sticks I think; looks like clay…
• Royal Tru-Orange; nice commercial although I still cannot fully understand the concept.  Seems like Kung-fu Panda meets Transformer…
• Cream Silk with Toni Gonzaga.  She’s come a long way, too.  I used to really like her until she bolted to 2 hehehe…
• Gulf Max… Master Ice Pore Minimizer… LBC… Alaxan with Manny and some random guy running.

2:08 PM – Round 6

• There were four ropes in the ring for each side: Red, white, blue, white… clearly Philippines’ colors.  Diaz does not stand a chance (If indeed he’s Mexican).

2:12 PM – Commercials

• Ginebra San Miguel with two PBA superstars and a Billiards guy in a ” Isang tagay para sa Barangay” commercial; they look like Fil-foreigners! I hope they understand what barangay means hehehe…
• PLDT MyDSL and where to get them; well, Villman, PCI Express and SM malls (15 sec.)…
• Cobra Enegy Drink again.  Its punchline is “Tatag ng Puso, Tibay ng Dibdib”— just like Manny.
• Shakey’s.  I like the concept: firsts, achievements, family, whatever the occasion go to Shakey’s.
• Liveraide again with Robin Padilla.  I don’t know he does not drink anymore (chika lang); I don’t even know if he really drinks or he stopped already.  Love your liver guys.
• Mister Donut.  Michael V and a trilogy of sorts.  Three Mister Donut commercials in succession: Twist, Choco, and Smidgets (one minute run time).  Michael V is one of my favorite artists.
• Gulf… Cobra… Rexona’s “Can I make Akbay”… LBC remittance….
• E-Aji Potato chips (15 sec.)…
• By the way, all slomo replays from the previous round are presented to you by San Miguel Beer.  Always.

2:16 PM – Round 7

• Just so you know, the referee is Vic Drakulich and he is wearing blue tops and black pants.

2:20 PM – Commercials

• Alaxan with Manny Pacquiao… Purefoods Sweet Corn Hotdog…
• Talk and Text “Gaan Kasama” commercial; you know, the “Who me?” ad where in the end you see Manny Pacquiao (again, who else?), Rodin Padilla, and Ruffa Mae Quinto…
• LBC; the guy receiving an umbrella just before it rains… Gulf Pride 4T… Clear Anti-Dandruff Shampoo…
• Coke Zero; the cliff scene (30 sec.)… Chowking Chao Fan commercial “Iba ang kain pag kanin” — right  on! Except that most of us are content with NFA rice these days…
• Master Ice Pore Minimizer; the male/female mirror scene… Another 5-sec Motorstar ad…
• Boysen Roofguard, where a guy goes up his house during a rain and his wife followed him with an umbrella…
• Another movie trailer:  “Hancock” starring Will Smith…
• Axe Cologne, some weird-looking guy.

2:25 PM – Round 8

• There were some signal transmission in the network… coverage went off for some seconds a couple of times… Thanks God it did not happen during commercials runs.

2:28 PM – Commercials

• Smart Buddy Low Hello… Alaxan with Manny and his friend’s pulled hamstrting…
• SMB’s “Great move, great beer”  with Jet Li…
• Trailer: The Mummy.  Jet Li will be in this installment with Brendan Fraser… I watched the first two “The Mummy”’s and even the third one I forgot the title “Spider King” I think…  Brendan Fraser rocks!…
• McDonald’s delivery, featuring items from the “Kung-fu Panda” movie…
• ML Kwarta Padala with Ogie Alcasid in a carnival act (30 sec.)…
• Nation Paint’s “Ang guwapo ng pader” segment… Frenzy Condom’s “Are we good”…
• A montage on our ever-growing GDP featuring Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo presented by PCSO (or was it Pagcor?).  Anyway, spread the charity virus.  Fearless forecast: Look for this GDP to go down drastically when a new president is installed. And then he/she will improve it during the course of his/her term.  Always happens…
• Rexona Deodorant with Robin Padilla and a sidekick… Gulf Max Supreme… Aga Muhlach’s Solmux…
• GMA-7 probably knows (may have inside information that a knockout is coming) it is it’s last chance to plug in its Telebabad shows, so here it is: Gobingo, 24 Oras, Joaquin Bordado, Dyesebel, Kim Samsoon, Dalja’s Spring, and Pinoy Idol Extra.

2:33 PM – Round 9

• In an unexpected twist of event, the normal show in between commercials was cut 38 seconds short of its normal 3-minute showing.

2:37 PM – Commercials

• Cord Marine Epoxy… Gin ‘To Ginto Promo of Ginebra San Miguel…
• Smart featuring Filipino sports icons  Jimmy Alapag (basketball), Veronica Domingo (Taekwondo), PJ Tierro (Tennis), and Manny Pacquiao (Boxing)…
• ML Kwarta Padala… Knorr Cubes (15 sec.)… Alaxan again…
• Last movie trailer: Mamma Mia…
• 5-second back-to-back commercials of Motorstar Explorer and Gulf…
• Revicon with Robin Padilla.  He basically exposed himself here literally showing all his cuts and bruises…
• SMB with Jet Li doing a sommersault to snatch some bottles of beer… Waterstop Water Sealant.

2:41 PM – Official Announcement

• The ring announcer says that Manny Pacquiao from the Philippines won at the 2:24 mark of the ninth round. Big deal hehehe…
• Bob Arum and Manny was interviewed.  Manny is improving, I should say… in the interview.
• David Diaz was also interviewed.  I swear that on the live radio broadcast earlier, he said something like “he’s so f*?%ing [bleeping] fast…”!  This was obviously edited in the tv version… I hate delayed telecast.

2:52 PM – Turned off the television.

Some random thoughts.

• Turned off the tv because for sure they will interview all of Manny’s relatives and friends and everyone will be an expert in boxing once more.
• At the start of the coverage, the commentators would be Quinito Henson and Chino Trinidad with special guests Manny Pinol and Nonito Donaire.  Thus there were three of them in American suit and tie who speak Tagalog throughout the coverage and one in Barong Tagalog who speaks English the whole time.
• There were at least 3,060 seconds of commercial time.  And some 1,620 seconds of a program showing two boxers fighting on top of a television screen with brand names changing faster than you can say “Chavit”.
• Did I say I bought some stocks of GMA… Good times…

.

Frank, of course, is typhoon Frank.  International codename: Fensheng.

This is apparently the sixth typhoon to hit the country judging from the first letter of its name.  PAGASA names the typhoons in alphabetical order but unlike the recent past, names are not exclusive for females now but rather being alternated between ‘blokes’ and ’sheilas’.

We felt its fury around 2AM yesterday (Sunday) in our place and the onslaught was unwavering until the late afternoon.  Power went off at 6AM and was restored around 2PM.  Heavy rains and sweltering winds caused knee-deep floods in the area.  How uncomfortable is it to go out?  The 7:15AM mass at our local parish, normally attended every Sunday by 500 to 700 parishioners, had only nine that moment.

Surprise, surprise.  Early Sunday evening, the government has suspended all elementary and  high  school classes in all the provinces you can reel off in the rays of the Philippine Flag sun ( I forgot them but at least I know there were eight and most of them have no classes today, Monday).

As of this writing, typhoon Frank is now somewhere in Pangasinan and headed for China.  It left scores of victims across the country and rendered hundereds homeless.  It paralyzed some transportation and delayed others.  But its most notable mark in its brief stay is the capsizing of M/V Princess of the Stars off Sibuyan Islands which left at least a hundred people dead and several others wounded.

PAGASA said Frank had weakened.  Here’s hoping it can not do any further damage.

.

June 19.

This is my first ever post.  I just hope there would be more.

Met with my old ( I mean college) buddies last night at the Grilla in the Forum (Robinson’s).  They looked old.  I wish I had brought my camera, but anyway, I believe there will be other time for photo ops.

One of them, Bong Saculles, introduced me to wordpress.com .  He has a good blog site which he started here, so I guess I’m gonna try it myself.  Visit Bong’s  awonderfulblog site and see for yourself.

WordPress looks cool.  I am hoping to learn more about the tools.  I actually don’t know how this post will look like when published so I cannot wait to click on the “Publish” button.

Today is June 19, Jose Rizal’s birthday.

See yah…