Category — sa buhay

Second Global Forum on Migration and Development is being hosted in Manila, where apparently the government believes that migration is development, that to escape poverty one must escape from his country-and worse, that its citizens agree wholeheartedly.

Sa ginagawa ng pamahalaan na pagsuporta at pagsusulong mga programa tungkol sa migration, eh parang basta na lang nilang isinasangkalan yung mga OFWs para maging sakripisyo upang maisalba ang lagay ng ekonomiya sa bansang PIlipinas.

Palagi na lang ibinabalandra sa mga manggagawa sa Pinas yung mga pinapangakong magandang buhay sa ibayong dagat, yung pagkakataong mamuhay ng maginhawa at makapagpadala ng di hamak na mas malakaing pera sa mga kapamilyang naiwan sa Pinas, nang hindi nabibigyang pansin yung kakulangan ng oportunidad na matino sa mga Pilipino. Oo, madaming trabahong pwedeng mapasukan, (sa maniwala kayo o hindi, madaming pwedeng mapasukang trabaho) pero sasapat ba naman yung sweldong kikitain ng mga manggagawa sa patuloy na pagtaas ng pamasahe, ng langis at nga mga pang araw-araw na gastusin?

[Read more →]

Panalo naman talaga ang mga pinoy pagdating sa pagkakakitaan. Kani-kanina lang napanood ko sa TV Patrol sa TFC yung bagong modus operandi ng mga magnanakaw ng pera sa ATM.

Ang nangyayari, nilalagyan nila ng aluminum foil na may pandikit yung nilalabsan ng perang wini-withraw sa ATM. Kaya naman kapag may nagwi-withraw, walang lumalabas na pera. At siyempre, kapag nabinyagan ka ng ganitong karanasan, eh magtataka ka at maari mong isiping may sira ang makina ng pera. Tapos sa susubukan mong tumawag sa 1-800 na customer service kaso , mas madalas na wala naman sasagot na tao sa iyo. Kaya ikaw, bilang taong nagulat sa pangyayari ay uuwi na lang na puno ng pagtataka at tanong sa pangyayari. Maiinis ka kasi wala kang pera na na-withraw. At iisipin mo na lang na i-report ang pangyayari sa susunod na pagkakataong mapapadaan ka sa branch ng bangko. [Read more →]

“Hindi lang siya kaibigan, di
lang siya kapatid. Di lang kasintahan, o kaisang-dibdib. Di lang siya asawa, o inang uliran.
Siya’y aking kasama, sa mapagpalayang kilusan.”

-kasama mula kay Gary Granada

For the last two decades, the name Crispin B. Beltran has been associated with pickets,
demonstrations, strikes, and generally everything connected to the militant labor
movement. Not surprising with him being the chairman of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).
Since August of 2001, however, he has become known as something else - a member of
one of the biggest, most influential bastions of conservatism in the country, the House of
Representatives. From 2001-2003, he was one of three Bayan Muna solons. From 2004 up
to present, he now stands as the chairman and representative for labor and urban poor
concerns of the Anakpawis partylist. Ka Bel breathes, lives and practices the politics of
change and nationalism with the same fervor he does as a leader of the parliament of the
streets.

But no less interesting than his politics is his personal life. His love life alone is the stuff of
movies, megged by the late Lino Brocka or Ysmael Bernal, crossed with Jose Javier Reyes.
Since 1956, Ka Bel has been married to the former Rosario Soto from Malolos, Bulacan.
There’s a joke circulating around activist circles that goes “Ka Bel is a voice who should be
heard in the Lower House, but in his own house, it’s Ka Osang whom he listens to.”

This is their love story.

Ka Osang is the product of a broken home. Her parents separated early in her childhood,
and as the youngest among the three children, she was left to an elderly relative, her
father’s aunt who lived in Gagalangin, Tondo. Ka Osang grew up wanting for nothing - she
was given new dresses and jewelry whenever she asked for them.

But in exchange, she had to be obedient to the very strict, and sometimes unreasonable
rules of her grandmother. She was entered in La Concepcion, a convent- school, and was
told never to look at members of the opposite sex. “Wala talaga akong kaalam-alam sa
mga lalaki nun. Si Papa lang at yung mga kapatid ko ang pwede kong kausapin.” (”I knew
the least thing about boys or men.The only males I was aware of were my father and my
brothers.”) [Read more →]

Akala ng mga tao na nasa Pilipinas kapag nasa America ka akala nila madami ka ng pera. Ang totoo, madami kang utang, dahil credit card lahat ang gamit mo sa pagbili mo ng mga gamit mo. Kailangan mo gumamit ng credit card para magka-credit history ka, kase pag hindi ka umutang o wala kang utang, hindi ka pagkakatiwalaan ng mga kano . Pag wala kang credit card, ibig sabihin wala kang kapasidad magbayad.

Akala nila mayaman ka na kase may kotse ka na. Ang totoo, kapag hindi ka bumili ng kotse sa America maglalakad ka ng milya-milya sa ilalim ng init ng araw o kaya sa snow. [Read more →]