JEEP adventures: Underground injustice + Smart shopping and outfit planning + Philo Ponderings: True love is knowing each other beyond physical means

With my last JEEP session at Marikina Public market, I suddenly felt sad upon hearing that there was another shootout in the market, leaving a person dead. It's sad because a similar incident occurred 3 weeks ago, where someone was also shot dead.

In both incidents, the motive for the crime lies on a common ground: the person shot dead has unpaid debts to a certain person. I find it sad that people would kill each other just for debt; where's the moral integrity within it?

I asked this to my boss Sir Rey about it, and the reason why the killers are not caught is that aside that they ride in motorcycles and wear bonnets and do it in a hit-and-run fashion, the main reason why these people do kill people is that they are paid for it. Sir Rey told me that these killers are paid approximately 50k per head. Imagine: a person's life that is worth a mid-line laptop, or a mid-line DSLR, or 2 motorcycles. Frankly speaking, I find this really wrong that a person's life is equated to a certain amount of money. A person's life should be priceless in the first place! It's a depressing reality in society on how they would price people; their morals are really degrading all for the sake of money. Tsk Ttsk.

Hearing such a depressing story, I didn't have enough motivation to clean up the streets and stalls of the public market, that I decided to go grab an energy drink to boost myself up. Then I continued to work, up until I heard the rain is coming near, then as the rain poured real hard, I went inside and ate at the carinderia area. This time, I ordered pancit canton instead of spaghetti for a change. And yes, I love socialist food for the fact that it's cheap and tasty as well, just like mom's cooking (but of course, no one can beat mom's cooking unless I get a girlfriend who is equally good in cooking skills hahaha)

After the rain stopped, I went back to cleaning the streets, and made one more perimeter walk along the market zone of Marikina, fearing my life that anything bad could happen (given two shootouts occurring in a matter of a month). I had this paranoid feeling while strolling around the market zone, but thankfully, everything is safe, despite having 2 encounters of fist fights in the area . . . and I thought Marikina Public market is generally a safe place. Apparently, it's not.

I was asking myself on how I would remember Marikina public market since it is my last JEEP insertion, and I would probably remember it in two ways: one is that it is a place with accommodating and hospitable people, with people telling their success stories, and the other as a place where underground injustice exists within the thousands of stalls selling various goods within the market, where paid killings and fist fights would occur.

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As my JEEP insertions have ended, I decided to drop by the Nike outlet store at the riverbanks mall to shop for a new outfit. Yes I know that branded clothes are expensive, but if you buy them at outlet stores, they are generally cheaper. Like my case for example: I was able to buy myself a nice pink polo shirt and walking shorts, all for less than 2k! If I buy them at a normal price, I'd probably reach around 4k for the said outfit.

And it doesn't mean it's cheap, it's out of style. The outlet store does sell current items, and no, they are not old (old meaning more than 2 years old). All of the stuff I bought from there (comprising a backpack, a yellow shirt, a pink polo shirt, and walking shorts) are new that they are even sealed! Translation: if you want to save money on designer / branded clothes, an outlet store is your best friend.

As for my outfit,I plan to wear it sometime this week since I'm planning to pair the outfit (pink polo shirt + walking shorts) with my SB Dunks (which are coming this week after a month of waiting). I wonder if the outfit will overall look good (but even with using just a pair of Havaianas, it's a perfect summer outfit).

I may be a guy, but slowly, I'm trying to get a hang of color coordination and proper fashion sense.

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Personally when it comes to relationships and even if I have not been into one), one of my pet peeves with couples is when they give lavish gifts to each others. I've heard stories of boyfriends giving BMWs or Benzes to their girlfriends, and I have heard of college relationships where the guys would buy the girls designer clothes for a monthsary celebration. Seriously, it is not right! In fact, these people are NOT truly in love, if you would analyze it through Max Scheler's Ordo Amoris (in lay man's terms, the order of love).

Max Scheler says that there are four levels of importance (halaga in tagalog), and they are (in order): spirit, soul, life, and material. the spirit and soul are the most important because they are the ones that will guide us into discovering ourselves in a deeper sense, beyond what our bodies are capable of. Both of them think beyond what man can think because despite being concrete in one way or another, man will constantly push himself to find the concreteness of his being beyond himself. Think of our relationship with God; although we are unconsciously aware that god is loving us, we as human beings, push ourselves towards knowing God more and understanding much better the importance of Him to us.

On the other hand, the least important is material importance as it is the kind of importance that only lasts for a while. An example? Say a computer; when you buy a new computer, you'd be jumping for joy at first, but as the months go by, you'd suddenly have a wanting to get the one that is newer than the one you have (even if the computer is barely a year old! oh technology). As for life, although it is important for us to keep our bodies healthy, it is less important than the spirit and soul because life does end (when we die) but the spirit and soul are immortal things that go on even when we are in the afterlife.

Upon reading Doc Gus' book (as we have an upcoming Long test this friday, aka hell friday), I was struck at the part when it say that true love is when you get to know the relevance and importance of that special someone, beyond the physical means. What made me get stuck by this? Well because of my recent annoyances of couples PDA-ing around campus (and even in the library, OMFG). People may tell me that I'm just jealous because I'm still single and all, but for me, the problem with couples these days is probably the lack of understanding with each other. Sure, each may have that ecstatic feeling when they are holding hands together, or going out for a date, or kissing each other, but when they fight with each other for various matters, the ecstatic feeling becomes a bitter feeling. Sad right?

I know that I don't have any right to say things about relationships (being the single-since-birth person I am), but what my friends told me about their Theology class is that true love is when you love the person no matter what, even if that special someone makes mistakes and all. It should be the importance of beyond material level, but it should be along the level of life and soul, wherein you understand each other.

And to think divorces are rampant these days . . . sad sad reality, isn't it? But I hope things would still change.

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*POSTSCRIPT: My philo entry is a bit confusing since i just finished reading the assigned chapters yesterday. I got to go back to them and re-analyze them to understand it better.

*POSTSCRIPT 2: I don't think I can push through with my project photo diary since there's a lot of things to do this coming month. Probably will do it sometime in October (after finals) or November.

*POSTSCRIPT 3: Lots of papers coming in. Just fight and fight.

*POSTSCRIPT 4: PLEASE LANG. Wag niyo akong gawan ng issue.

JEEP adventures: A story of the hardworking fruit and vegetable vendor.

After having worries of being almost late for my JEEP session today (traffic was terrible at Quezon Blvd. a while ago due to the horrendous rains), I was able to make it just in time to start my JEEP session once again as a litter picker.

Although I was suppose to be cleaning up the area of Marikina Public market by picking up all the litter (which ironically consists of mostly cigarette butts, as smoking is supposedly prohibited in the area. Geez, law breakers), I had an hour long conversation to this lady who seems to be your ordinary fruit and vegetable vendor, but upon hearing her story, it got me interested, leaving my work for a while and listening on how she lived well despite various economic factors such as the great recession.

She was a graduate from CEU, and was a dentist (or a doctor? I forgot, but I remember her mentioning that she went to some med proper in UST), she had two kids both studying in private Catholic schools, and aside from her current work as a fruit and vegetable vendor, she has other sideline jobs to make up for her daily living. What amazes me about her is that she manages to purchase decent educational plans for her children, has her own house and lot, and is not in debt. She's quite an amazing woman, considering that she worked hard to have a good life for both herself and her family. Even if they do not live lavishly, I can see through them that they are living a comfortable life.

Among one of her narrations that gave me quite an interest is on how she lived her college days. She was the typical college girl, who goes out with friends, who studies hard, and who has lots of extracurricular activities. She didn't join any fraternities, but she does have good friends from various fraternities. In fact, she is quite close with them that she was considered a "honorary" member of these fraternities (yet she never joined any of them). Also, she did have her shares of trying out vices, having tried marijuana, smoking, and alcohol. Yet, in all instances, she said that she has never become addicted to any of the three. She just tried it, then that's all. She didn't find it addicting at all. Her reason? She pointed out that the problem with most people involved with vices is that they have a great lack of control. Take smoking for instance. She did smoke for a while during her med proper days, but upon quitting, she has never then held a stick of cigarette again, and the same applied to marijuana. As for alcohol, she just takes moderate doses of it, and she's fine with it, without getting drunk.

As for her child rearing, she's proud that she was able to train her children to 1) do their best in school, 2) Instill discipline without physical violence, and 3) Teach them to be practical shoppers, all at a young age. Impressive much, considering I only see a few families who value such things, as today's society sadly involves child rearing through lavish material things (even if the parents can't realistically afford such a lifestyle). Although she doesn't scrimp her children when it comes to food (of which I agree), she teaches her kids to be practical when it comes to buying things like bags, shoes,clothes, etc. Despite being on the lower middle class, she still manages to reward her children with rides at Timezone, if her money permits her to do so.

As for the fact that she is not in debt, it amazes me considering she may be one of those few people who don't personally believe in the thing called loaning and credit card so much (hey, we do share the same principles when it comes to that . . . I do have a credit card but I don't really use it since I don't like the word "utang" inscribed all in my head, especially with my parents). Sharing my story on how I manage to buy lavish stuff through gimmicks and saving up, she did the same thing during college. From saving up ten pesos a day, she eventually was able to come up with 10000 pesos worth of her savings that she used to buy clothes in Bangkok (with the help of her sister, who works there), and sold them here at a profit. From there she was able to buy things, such as a car, educational plans for her children, an apartment that she uses for rent, and her own house (the land, she said, was given to her by her father). Overall, her hard work paid off.

She was one of those rare kind of people you'd probably see these days. Happy with a simple life, free of debts and problems.

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Sidenotes:

1) A week without Philosophy makes me feel somewhat mentally unproductive. Can't wait for Monday's lesson :D

2) The nice thing about Marikina Public Market is its socialist-oriented meals. For 24 pesos, I can have a bottle of Coke Zero and a Spaghetti / Palabok meal that tastes better than those found in most fast food chains. In fact, you can survive the whole day with 100 pesos, which can supply you with 3 meals plus transportation (if you live at the Marikina area)

3) I seem to be liking this whole JEEP idea. It makes me see how it is to live a less lavish lifestyle.

JEEP adventures: Alleviating the static hours.

August 15.

11:50pm.

I was at the office of the Marikina public market, waiting for my assignment for my first JEEP insertion. I got my t-shirt (the one used for my insertions), and then I was assigned to be a litter picker at the market (together with my Philo classmate, Patrick Lontok). Didn't get what I wanted (to clean up fish scales when selling fish), but at least I get to do something productive.

12:00pm.

Our work has started. Being new to this kind of job, I get myself oriented on how to use this tool that seemed like extra-large version of tongs (which is used to pick up trash on the streets and inside the market). Got to see my other friends there, who are either selling fruits and fish or are also litter pickers. I continued my job, picking up every trash inside the market. I had this OC feeling of making the market as trash free as possible. While doing my job, a vendor borrowed my litter picker set, helping me by cleaning up bits of trash in his stall. Then I continued to clean up the place.

Another vendor asked me where do I study, and I said Ateneo. She told me that we were all rich, considering the tuition we pay every semester. I corrected her, telling her that even the rich (or to be more specific, the middle to upper class) are having difficulties of paying tuition, following the great recession that has occurred months ago. I filled up my trash bag, then I took another trash bag to fill it up with. After an hour and a half, me and Patrick decided to take a break (well our boss allowed us to have one, since we couldn't spot any trash).

1:45pm.

We went to this line of carinderias, and I decided to get a meal, consisting of spaghetti and a large C2 drink. I'd consider this as socialist food, as it cost me only 36 pesos (14 pesos for the spaghetti + 22 pesos for the C2) to have a filling meal. Also, the spaghetti was actually tastier than those found in those pang-masa fast food stores (like McDonalds and Jolibee).

Then me and Patrick started to wonder on how these people last from the boredom. Picture this: these vendors are there as early as 5am and stay there until 5pm. Sure there are a lot of buyers in the morning, but what about in the afternoon (aka the dead hours) and what if there are little to no buyers? What would they do in between these long, static hours? I myself would get bored in as short as one hour. But these people have static hours lasting as long as 3-4 hours. Ok sure some have televisions in their stall, but what about the others? Sometimes I look up to these people. Despite the static hours in their jobs, they would still work for that meager amount of money they would use for their daily needs.

2:30pm.

We went back to work, and for something different, we went around the whole Marikina market zone to find litter in the streets. Damn, the public market zone is far bigger than what I was expecting. The covered market zone would probably equate to around 8-9 of Suki Market (the market that's near our house). It was damn big that we thought that we got lost already. But since we know that the market zone is all covered, we just followed the covered streets. 10 minutes after, we were back to where our boss (sir Rey) was stationed.

We had a conversation with sir Rey, talking about what is life here in the market zone, the security of the place, the reason behind the multiple markets within the market zone (yes, there are markets other than Marikina Public market itself). It was an interesting conversation, getting to know on how people find ways to augment their wages for their daily needs, especially with a slumping global economy.

3:30pm.

Killing for time, we decided to stroll around the dry goods section, browsing on what they have in store. For me, it's a typical Divisoria with the variety of goods being sold, from clothes to shoes, to clothing, to wedding dresses, to jewelry, and many many more. Actually, it can be somewhat (only somewhat) similar with Greenhills in terms of selling lots of imitation stuff. Nonetheless, the dry section wasn't really of any big difference as compared to other similar places.

4:00pm.

Our shift's finished, and I was left wondering on this: how these people stand boredom so well for the sake of earning a meager amount of money for their daily needs?

Philo ponderings: What do you value?

Progressing to our lessons in Philosophy, Doc Gus discusses about how value can affect our way of feeling a particular object's presence to us, and on how value shapes, or destroys, who we are.

Let's deal with the former first. In my previous related entry, I have said that it is important to be ourselves than having an automated, monotonous life, as you get to explore who you really are and on what is your true being (in Padre Roque's words, "ang paghahanap sa meron."). Through our constant desire to discover who we are, one important aspect that is to be consider is on how we value things surrounding us. Value is a determining factor on how we find things important. An example Doc Gus gave is with UAAP. Look at this: first, even if the Basketball team loses, there's still a bonfire. If other teams (ie. Women's volleyball, Arnis) win, they will have a bonfire, but would still put great emphasis on the basketball team (who may have won or lost). The case in point here is that as Ateneans (or rather most Ateneans) value the basketball team, whether they win or lose, because these values have been shaped throughout time, which also adds to how values develop in our discovery of our true selves.

Another possible example of this is when it comes to love and relationships. In my case for example, it's a fact that I have encountered countless pretty and cute girls in the Ateneo campus alone (from acquaintances to classmates to close friends and the like), but from those countless number of pretty girls, I would value only a few of them since my value and importance of them to me gets shaped as I get to know them throughout time (that's why with me being more enlightened, I tend to like girls that I have known longer than girls that I have acquaintances with only; as you get to know her more, the more you place value on her, hence that girl becomes more important, and possibly more significant, to your life).

Point is that the more you get to know a particular person or object, the more you place value in it, because by placing importance to that person or object, you get to discover further your own being.

Yet, with values, one can shape or destroy one's self. The principle of value does not necessarily mean that you get to shape your true being further. A value that can destroy your discovery of your being? Good examples are the vices (drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, etc.). At first, we tend to do these things because of either peer pressure, coincidence, or accident. yet as we tend to do such things overtime, we eventually place value on these things, which being vices themselves and bad for our body, can destroy us eventually. Take gambling for example. At first, you'd gamble for a meager amount, then as time progresses, you tend to gamble with higher amounts, up until you would realize that you are in the brink of bankruptcy as you realized too late that you loss too much money and that you are swimming in debt.

Despite the possible negative implications of value, it is nonetheless important as with these mistakes, this helps us learn more about ourselves, hence the cliche "we learn from our mistakes and not do them again."

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Value. One word that can transform a lot.

First world does not mean leading the pack

After watching the documentary "Who killed the Electric Car" for IR class a while ago, I came to realize an important thing about First World countries, that they are not necessarily leading the pack.

Take the US on it's take on electric vehicles. A great potential for the future, electric cars is a viable solution to the perennial problem on gasoline, emissions, and oil crisis. California's idea of having electric vehicles (examples of this are the GM EV1, the Honda EV Plus, the Ford Th!nk, and many more) was a good way of addressing the problem. People were liking the idea of it. Launched in the late 1990's (around 1996), it was a revolutionary idea. Up until it's elimination and destruction of these electric cars in 2003 to 2005.

It was a sad and stupid idea for the US to eliminate this budding solution to environmental problems. Japan has been in the progress of further developing these electric vehicles back in the early 1990's (if I remember clearly, it was 1992 when Japan presented to the world the electric vehicle), and Japan is still in a progress of developing this technology (which is very evident with the recent popularity of Toyota's Prius hybrid vehicle). How about the US? Because of pressures from consumers, oil companies, and the government itself, the electric car was killed by the United States. So sad.

Looking this in a liberalist perspective, the US' move to eliminate these potential ideas was because of the persuasion and pressure it received from pluralist groups, such as the CARB (California Air Regulation Board), Petroleum and oil companies, some consumers, and even the Automobile industry themselves. Claims of dubious zero emissions of these vehicles, plus a low demand for these vehicles killed the electric car. Such persuasions caused by conflict forced the government to cooperate with pluralist groups by going in what they want, which bred to the upsurge of these big, gas-guzzling vehicles, such as the Hummer.

The consequence, in my opinion, is that the US dug its grave deeper. A couple of years later, the recession hit the country, prompting their citizens to sell their gas-guzzling cars because of surging oil prices, and worse, people were losing jobs, and the US started to be in deep shit, that despite President Obama's efforts to stabilize the US economy, it was a problem that will take time to solve.

In the end, I think US' decision on killing the electric car proved to us that first countries are not necessarily to be leading the pack. In fact, when it comes to such technology, Japan is doing far much better than the US, that they sell the Prius not just in Japan, but in the US and in the Philippines as well (During my trip to the US in 2007, around 10% of the cars I saw there were Priuses, and in the Philippines, there is still an experimental run on putting the Prius into market). In this aspect, the US made a significant lapse in decision-making that created a chain reaction of events to them and their citizens.

The end of rivalries? I doubt.

During Cory Aquino's wake at the Manila Cathedral, among one of the main issues there was the visitation of the Marcoses and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself. The Aquinos accepted the visitation of Bongbong and Imee Marcos, but somewhat was "cold" upon GMA's short 7 minute visit to the wake.

In my opinion, there seems to be a problem with this, epsecially with media's portrayal of it.

First, let's dwell with the Marcoses. Ok granted they have visited the wake of Cory, with the Aquino siblings confronting Imee and Bongbong, does this mean that the rivalry has ended, as how media portrays it? In my opinion, I think this is just a partial ending to the rivalry. The bigger part of the rivalry is still missing. For me, if the rivalry has truly ended, then Imelda Marcos, the first lady of the dictator, should have visited at least. Did she paid her last respects to Cory? As far as I know, she wasn't there at the wake, save for her daughter Imee and her son Bongbong. There's still some unresolved conflict behind it.

How about GMA? Well we all know that she did cut her trip short in order to visit the wake of Cory. People were cold about it. Media portrayed it in a cold way as well. Well yeah, GMA used to be an ally of Cory during People Power 2, up until the election fraud issues that GMA had in 2005, starting with the Hello Garci scandal. Not that I am Pro-GMA or Anti-GMA (I'm more of neutral when it comes to this), but at events like this, politics should step aside. GMA did have the freedom to visit or not to visit Cory's wake. She decided to do the former, and we should not politicize or be cold about it. If we are talking about sincerity issues here, well at least GMA did made a short visit amidst issues about her and the conflict she has between her and the Aquinos.

The point here? GMA did made a last-ditch effort to fix up her reputation by paying respect to the late president, and even offering a state funeral (which the Aquinos declined). Behind all the numerous issues behind her, the latest being her supposedly last SoNA, she still paid respect to a political figure that became her rival after the 2004 elections. In my opinion, GMA somewhat did something right for once as she made an effort to visit the late president. I'm not saying that the rivalries are over, but the good point here is that rivalries are set aside for this particular event.

How I wish Imelda Marcos visited and also paid her last respects to the woman behind People Power 1.