RH Law

I've never felt so passionate over something for so long. The feminist in me is crying and shouting in wild joy. Again, it's not about shoving principles down people's throats. It's always about choice.

Part of my conscious ultimatums prior to child bearing was the RH Law. My faith in humanity is partially restored; the branches of the government despite the plethora of errors in so many facets has done one right. That's still a good thing.

And to commemorate this win, I've decided this afternoon that the #RoadToPixie must go on. They say feminists cut their hair short as a political statement. Then let this be it...

Now, let's fight for more freedom. Let's all choose to be in the correct side of history (specially when left is right).

#SafeSex #RHLaw #NoGloveNoLove #ProChoice #ProGoodLife #ReproductiveHealth #NotReproductiveDeath #SeparationOfChurchAndState #TaxTheChurchIfTheyInterfereWithState

Dear Raul Dancel

A reply to this social climber rant disguised as journalism.

The Philippines -- Metro Manila might be a ruckus; a dangerous, noisy place to live in. But I'd rather be braving this danger and feeling the vibrant culture, the bass-driven beats, the non-1984* way of life in the country I was born. I'd rather be anything THAN be a stuck-up balikbayan who suddenly feels all high and mighty just because he uses 'lift' instead of 'elevator' and 'takeaway' instead of 'take-out' -- as if those words will give him some effed up sense of entitlement. In case you don't know, BPO employees and Harry Potter fans were able to learn all that without having to leave the country.

I have greater respect for people who can speak 4 different languages -- accents included -- fluently. People who goes from country to country, absorbing and learning different cultures and traditions instead of idioms, slang or whatever-isms they picked up in that place. People who travel to feel small, as opposed to those who do to feel big.

Now, a person who cannot comprehend simple 'Filipinisms' and Filipino way of life-- even if he was born, went through preschool, puberty and adulthood in the Philippines just because he was exposed to a few years of 'Singlish' and 'discipline', should not be writing at all.

And yes, this is another ad hominem tirade, but sometimes, some things must be addressed such that the growing ignorance will be kept at the minimum.

*1984 is a novel by George Orwell depicting a dystopian society where people are so disciplined and anal because they are under the watch of 'Big Brother' and behaving otherwise will literally kill them.

So Far

At 26*, I just turned 27, I'm in that point of life where I eject toxins out of my life as I've realized that life is too short to spread myself too thin and end up suffering.

I value my family -- my husband who showers me with love (in the form of hugs, kisses, jokes, intimacy, finances, food, thoughtfulness, respect); my parents who are there for me as I am there for them; and my siblings -- as different we are.

I have friends, they're real and are not mere names that accummulated on my social media blackbook(s); we sometimes don't talk for long periods of time but when we do, it's still like it is -- 5, 10, 15 years ago.

When meeting other people, I keep my mouth shut - at first. I observe. How they behave, interact. I don't impose me. When I've gotten a hang of these new people and I enjoyed their company, they are promoted to friends.

I have fun, but not with strangers anymore. There is always a gaping hole, an emptiness after socializing with phonies. I laugh and scream my lungs out in joy -- with people I love, people I care about.

I respect other people's times. I am punctual, majority of the time; and I respect people who knows how to respect other people's time -- after all, time is the only thing we cannot really earn back.

I love myself, I fully realized that all the money in the world -- working like farm animals to get to that money -- is worthless if your health and wellness struggles. I love myself enough that I make sure I get enough sunshine, breathe fresh air.

I measure my happiness with the number of morning hugs I get from my husband and number of hours of sleep each night and not with the number of social network likes. I stretch -- probably more than my muscles, bones and joints can handle, with yoga.

I plant, I care for animals. I read books, articles, poetry -- I have been reading since I was four. I follow the news, I stay aware and informed on the real and important stories; I put gossip, fashion and drama at the least of my priorities. TV time has decreased immensely than I used to 7 years ago. Stretching the mind is just as important.

I admit faults. I am fast at apologizing and fixing them. When other people have faults, I give chances, I explain what was done wrong, and I try to fix things if I can do it so as not to hassle the other party. In the event that the other party used up all the chances, I come up with a solution such that similar events will not transpire anymore. To avoid further conflicts. I forget faults. Give me time and space and I forget faults. Repeat faults and brat your way, and I don't forget, nor forgive; at this scenario, toxins are identified and ejected from my system.

Then we go back to to the first paragraph.

*Originally penned February 21, 2014

Olivia, will you marry me?

Ang misteryo sa'kin dito ay yung bakit apektado ang karamihan ng tao.

May nakapagtanong na sa'kin kung lumalabas ba ako ng bahay at wala akong pakialam and/or alam sa "misteryong" ito.
Na parang napaka-walang kwenta kong tao dahil sa apathy ko sa hinayupak na billboard na to at sa bagong pelikula ni Piolo.
Mga biktima ng media ang mga naging "curious" dito.
At pasensya kung sa mas importanteng bagay ko tinutuon ko ang pansin ko kesa sa billboard na ito.

Olivia billboard mystery solved
MANILA, Philippines -- Mystery solved, and Olivia said yes.
The "Olivia, will you marry me?" billboards are part of a marketing campaign for Pioneer Woodlands condominium in Mandaluyong.
A new billboard appeared on EDSA that says, "Olivia Said Yes! So we bought our first investment together at Pioneer Woodlands Mandaluyong City."
On the week of Valentine's, mysterious pink billboards with the words "Olivia, will you marry me?" popped out accross main thoroughfares in the metro. Also written on the billboards were the numbers "21414," that many assumed to be Valentine's or the proposal date.
It turns out, "21414" refers to the weekly price of a unit in the said condominium. "For as low as P2,141.4/week," said the new billboards that recently popped out.

Cross that out (Part Trois)

Read the first part so you'll be able to understand the whole process. Part One is here and Part Two is here.

And so, for the final steps

9. Releasing of the cheque. BDO texted us that the cheque is ready for release.

Upon providing the seller with the down payment in item no. 7 (in Part two of this trilogy), we prepared an acknowledgement receipt, two copies, one is seller's copy and another buyer's copy.

This is what the bank required from the seller to provide to claim the cheque. And a valid ID/

10. Bringing home of our car. And so, we went to the seller's house, and gave her two boxes of Tipas Hopia (optional) and finally brought home our car!

Next on our agenda were:

• Giving the car a name
• Buying a car cover (since our garage isn't covered)
• Duplicating the car keys
• Photocopying the OR, CR, Deed of Sale and payment acknowledgement documents.
• Smile. We are now car-owners!

Cross that out (Part Deux)

Read the first part so you'll be able to understand the whole process. Part One is here

6. Providing Bank with necessary documents. Now you need to bring to the bank the documents obtained after the transfer of ownership.They advised us that a car history check will happen, this will take about 3 days and finally advised we pay the down payment to sellers, as they will release the cheque in 3 to 7 working days.

7. Paying down-payment. BDO only allows to pay 70% of the total cost, so the 30% less the earnest money, we provided the seller -- in cash as we don't have a chequing account.

8. Getting a Comprehensive Insurance. After three days, the bank loan officer asked us about insurance. This is where it got a little confusing. The sellers bought TPL insurance in LTO, but what the bank needs is a Comprehensive Insurance with Acts of Nature included. They advised us to get one as the TPL cannot be used at this point.

Being the busy office people that we are, the first thing we did was go to the internet to search for an Insurance. I contacted MAFPRE and followed Standard Insurance's online car insurance auto-calculator for a quotation. Standard Insurance provided lower rates (lower by PhP 5,000), so it was the obvious choice.

For a less than 2-year old car with 3K km on it's mileage, Standard Insurance priced the insurance at Php 11,000. We settled payment online through credit card and the insurance policy was sent through email. They, however, needed to create another version of the policy which has the mortgagee's name (BDO). They asked us for the mortgagee's name and address to include in the insurance policy and asked as well if we want to send the policy to the bank by ourselves or alternately, they can send it. So we let them send it to the bank, one off our plate.

Another 5 working days passed since we sent the bank the Transfer of Ownership documents. Total days, 28 days.

As of 2:33 pm today, this is how far we've gone. I'll post on the final steps again maybe next week. Part 3 is here.

Cross that out (Part Un)

I have always been a fan of listing down things. From the most mudane everyday shopping lists and to-do lists to the more abstract list of things I must do before  turn 20, 30, etc...

This month, I decided to finally cross out GET A CAR off of that list. This is on my list of things to do before I have a baby. Mike and I have only been borrowing cars from my brothers and his dad before. If we get a baby, I don't wanna go through he hassle of having to borrow a car if said baby decides to get ultra ill at 3 in the morning.

So we have decided -- well mainly I decided, if it was up to the boy, he'd get a big bike instead, to buy our first car.

Let me walk you through the process -- which up to now is still not finished. The important documents/points, I'll italicize.

1. Deciding on the car. First things first. What car do we want. Here were our considerations:

• Carbon footprint - being the pseudo-green that I am, I wanted a car with the most gas mileage. 800CC is currently the lowest for cars,  running at 14-21 km/liter.
• Price - we set our budget at the PhP400K - 500K range.
• From here we decided on either a Suzuki Alto Deluxe or Hyundai Eon GLS

2. Brand new or Second hand? Then we started canvassing suppliers. We just typed the name of the cars we're interested in at Sulit.com and out came a myriad of search results both second hand and brand new. We were initially considering getting a brand new Suzuki Alto at first mainly because it's cheaper and for some strange reason that I trust Japan more than I do Korea.

Until my brother showed me an ad for a second hand Hyundai Eon 2012 GLS with only 33K on its mileage, priced at 345K. A brand new one would cost 498K, so that's already 150K savings. And given it's mileage, we're pretty sure it's used very very seldom. Plus there's the add ons of a back up sensor/camera, leather seat covers and 3M tinting. So yeah, we got sold on that. We met up with the seller, left an earnest money of 15K and advised that the rest will be through bank financing.

3. Finding the bank to finance. BPI had this online facility to apply for an autoloan. Since BPI is our primary bank, it immediately became our go-to-bank. I was really hopeful that they'll approve the autoloan. But they didn't. BPI rejected our autoloan application. I am a little hurt with this; Something about me and husband being with an employer for a fairly short amount of time. Not even considering that my husband was with his previous employer for 4 years.

Good thing there's still plenty other banks out there. I went and applied at EastWest bank and BDO. I applied directly at EastWest, and BDO with a broker.

Eastwest was the fastest one to process, though the lack of support to clients kind of turned me off. They approved the autoloan in a day without asking you for any requirement. Just fillout a form which they sent me through email. Then they replied to my email saying I am approved then asked for the details of the seller to have the car appraised. They'll reply again with a long list of requirements without any explanations. I called them to clarify things, though the loan officer seemed very distant and uninterested in our business.

With BDO, it took a little longer to approve because they ask for the requirements first. Then once approved, they'll ask you to come over to their office in JMT Plaza in Emerald Street (in front of Podium). What I liked about this is that the broker was very accommodating in providing all the details.

Requirements which the bank asked us to submit for approval of autoloan were:

• Latest ITR or Certificate of Employment with Compensation and 3 months' payslips of buyer and co-maker.
• Valid IDs 

This took about 5 working days.

4. Choosing the bank among those which approved. With EastWest, we need to open an account to be able to go through with the autoloan. BDO on the other hand, is our secondary bank and we have a savings account and credit card with them. I had to internally decide on this factoring in the fact that BDO is open even Saturdays and Sundays on malls. That basically decided it.

So me and my husband went to the BDO Consumer Lending Office and there we signed the Chattel Mortgage Promissory Note and was provided the Credit Approval Advice Memo (which will also serve as the guarantee letter to the seller). We then went to a BDO branch to pay the Chattel Mortgage fee and then we provided the Credit Approval Advice Memo/ Guarantee Letter to the seller.

At this stage, they provided us with the second set of requirements which will be needed for transfer of ownership:

• Original Notarized Deed of Sale between you and the car owner
• Stencils of the vehicle Engine and Chassis
• Original LTO OR and CR under the name of the new owner

This took another 5 working days.

5. Transfer of Ownership. Now this, the seller decided to do this part themselves. We offered being there on this process, though perhaps there is a fear on their part of us running away with their car, so they said they'll do it for us but we'll just pay for processes/ fees. We agreed. After all, one off our plate. This is the nity-gritty.

To process this, a Deed of Sale needed to be signed and notarized by buyer and seller. Then, the car must be brought to Camp Karingal for PNP Clearance, Stencil and Macro-etching, though the owners said they just processed everything in LTO Laloma where the car was registered. Then they finally processed Transfer of Ownership to new owner (us) by presenting Deed of Sale, PNP Clearance, Stencils, a TPL Insurance (acquired in LTO under Great Domestic Insurance) and the buyer's TIN ID. 

Another 5 working days. Total days spent, 21 days.

As of today, 6:07 pm, this is what we've accomplished. I'll blog again on the next steps. Part 2 is here.

Rash Story

Dear Phoebe*, 

Yesterday, at the St. Luke's ER "decontamination chamber" I was alone with a guy who also had the "rashes". He came in earlier than me. We were both measles / dengue candidates. He was sitting across me in the room. He had a Herschel backpack. He was wearing a white shirt with what looks like lomo-shots of a surfing community, raggedy straight cut jeans and what seemed like Pumas. He was on his iPhone. He looked at me with a weird stare when I started humming Lorde's A World Alone. He was also reading a Gabriel Garcia Marquez book. When he opened his backpack, a Murakami paperback spilled. He laughed when I tried moving a few minutes after the anti-histamine shot and blurted out loud "Shet, nakakahilo pala yun". We both wore masks (because we're contagious) so I wasn't able to see his entire face but he had an aquiline nose (well at least based on the nose bridge that shows above the face mask). Also, his eyes were light brown and a little bloodshot.

His last name was Solis. That's all I have, doctors called us with our last names only. The doctor asked him if he was from the south; a province from the south -- to which he replied, "yes, Iligan".

I'm so sorry if these are the only details I have, I was groggy as fuck after that anti-histamine shot and was sedated afterwards. I hope you can find him. We were both diagnosed negative of measles and dengue. He had viral infection and with quite low WBC. We were both advised for return check up with an Internal Medicine doc after 2 - 3 days. Maybe you can hangout by St. Luke's around those days?

I just knew I found the boy for you.

Love,

Nay-Yea*

*Names were changed for reasons unknown.

News, Math and Science Over Prayers

Please tell me how this prayer thing works. I've been turned off by non-stop prayer requests from the social media like it's gonna make a difference. Prayer doesn't do anything to you or anyone around you; what it does is it makes you believe that you are doing something, for yourself or for others.

And so I have only been sharing news articles, studies, scientific and mathematical facts on social media. Because if you ask me, I'll take news, math and science over prayers any day.

* * *

I hated math, if its expressed in an abstract form that wouldn't benefit me in the practical, real world -- like numbers and letters combined; I can't solve it. Put it in a form of money, of days, of time, then I'll get a better grasp of it. I function better if given a context. This problem must be solved because that's the only way I can determine if the salary I earned will be able to pay for all my expenses, or if the rate I'm doing this thing is enough for me to finish it by Friday morning.

* * *

I tried praying in a especially difficult exam back in college, but it didn't help. Sure I was studying, trying to solve the equations, then by the end of review time, I pray. When I retook the subject, I tried praying again. No luck. By the third time, I lost faith and decided to work my ass off solving the problems -- over and over again. Memorizing the formulas. Understanding mathematical concepts. Then I passed. No prayers involved.

I guess this is one of the reason my faith fell between 2004 and 2008. But the process wasn't easy. Just like finding faith, losing faith doesn't happen overnight. It involves a series of events that would transpire and make you question your values, logic, politics and the people around you.

Like how could this guy be so religious and yet is a retarded cheater who seemed not to uphold any values or moral code in their body? Or why do the archbishops get big-pimpin' cars from politicians? Why do priests and religious leaders endorse a candidate for public office? Why is the Philippine legislature a  helpless victim of the scriptures? Why can't I find REAL separation of church and State? Why are 'celibate' priests meddling with people's sex lives, if they chose to be chaste, why force everyone else to be chaste as well? Fuck, it's not like we're forcing them to fornicate. Why is the Vatican so god-damned wealthy? Why are our holidays all after Catholicism? Isn't it a form of discrimination? If I were in Buddhist/ Jew/ Hindu/ Pagan's shoes, wouldn't I be offended or confused why are we always saying "the Philippines is a Catholic country"? Why are wars fought in the name of religion? Why are religious groups tax-exempt? When I get really broke, should I start a religion to cash in on 'offerings' and tithes? Could it be that Jesus and the disciples are just stoned when they were saying Jesus walked on water, or the Israelites were high as fuck as well when they said manna fell from heaven? If I'm an all-powerful being, would I waste my time taking note of sins committed and listening to people whine about their stupid choices? Why are the LGBTs being discriminated when it clearly said "Love thy neighbor as thou love thyself"? Why is there too much hypocrisy, too much double standards? Why should I run my life based on one book, when there's millions others to be read?

There are even more questions that I asked. Though I don't real wanna bother you with it.

And this led me to some conclusions. 1) Faith does not equate with religion; 2) Having a moral compass is not directly proportional to practicing a religion; 3) Religions divide mankind; and 4) I can't find myself confined by ancient rules when the whole world is moving forward

So I became agnostic. But I realized that's just me being chicken in calling myself an atheist. I guess I'm an atheist. But I'd rather call it humanist. It was a bumpy set of years following 2008 with me out of faith, a little apathetic and stoic, searching -- researching on what I really am.

Until I discovered Buddhism, which is frankly, the only 'religion' which appealed to me. Though I'd rather call it philosophy. There is no immortal, omnipotent higher power in Buddhism, just a bunch of people deciding on their actions, how they live their life and following a path to enlightenment.

* * *

I hated math, but I love how with math, there is always a method to verify if something is correct. I love science and how we can test hypothesis until we come up with a conclusion. Only Buddhism encouraged that, you don't just follow dogma, you are given a deeper understanding, not spoonfeeding; you are taught Newton's law: For every action, there is equal and opposite reaction -- Karma.

I don't apologize if my choice to be logical and rational is not in congruence with anyone else's. I don't pray, I'd rather read the facts.

“Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future:
It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology;
it covers both the natural and spiritual; and it is based on a religious sense
aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity."

“If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism."

- Albert Einstein

11th cor 28th

Huwag mo akong
Pagtawanan
O baliwalain

Ang bawat luha na
Pumatak, dumaloy
Ay lilipas din

Ngunit sa bawat
Panahon na iyong
Sasawayin,

May takot na
Namuo, lumago
Sa puso, sa isip.

Aking naaalala
Nakasulat, nakaukit
Nakubli sa ilalim;

Nahihirapan
Takot na lumaban
Baka iyong lisanin.

Kung umiiyak
Pagkat akoy nasaktan
Iyong intindihin

Lahat ay magagawa
Magpapaalila; manatili
Sa iyong piling

Humihingi ng tawad
Sa kamalian,
Paumanhin

Nagpapasalamat
Sa panahong inukol
Sa pakikinig.

Mahal kita higit sa
Sarili, sa buwan
At mga bituin.