My Heart in Singapore

     I am back to home town in rural Philippines but I feel I left my heart in Singapore. It had been my home for almost ten years before a stroke sent me back here. From 2015, I had serious medical issues with my heart.

     It was February 2015 when I was first brought to the National University Hospital of Singapore and underwent a heart surgery to correct my acute aorta aneurism. They couldn't perform the whole correction because their priority was only to save my life.

Friends visiting me after my first heart surgery 

     Again in February 2017, I had a scheduled heart surgery to fully correct the defect in my aorta. After two full open heart surgery, I thought everything was back to normal and I have completely eliminated all health issues.

     To my surprise, in February 2019, I had a stroke and was rushed to the hospital for brain surgery. The stroke rendered me somehow with slow mobility and imbalance. This led me losing my job in Singapore and sent me back home for good.

My Snow Experiemce

     I was lucky to have worked with a Norwegian global paint company, Jotun, 2001-2010. It gave me the opportunity to go to the headquarters in Sandefjord, Norway. In one of the global technical meetings, I experienced snow fall at the venue of our meeting which was in some resort near the mountains.

My first snow experience in my entire life

With the global technical team

With Peter Langeid, chemist from Norway 

     It was on the day before our last day when snow started falling. When I woke up in the morning and I look out through the window, then I saw the white feathery droplets falling down. At first, I didn't know what it was. Only when I talked to my other Asian colleagues, we realized it was snowing. We walked out letting the snow fall on us to get the experience of it.

Must Learn Maturity

     I feel I have many things to learn to be mature in many ways especially in my thinking and behavior towards others.

These should be a helpful guide

    All these are hard to be part of our lives. It takes effort and patience to  to become part of our lives

Vice Ganda's Faux Pas

     No doubt many adore him and fall to his jokes that are very often demeaning, hurtful and unmindful of the feelings of the person. When she says like this, it is time for the masses not to believe him at all and stop patronizing his jokes. What they don't know is that he is now so rich because they created him, made him popular. If they withdraw their support, he will be placed where he is suitable and perhaps learn to be professional as a TV host.

When she says this, time not to adore him

     He can continue to joke on TV but should be sensitive to issues that definitely can alienate people. He should cease making fun of people because of their sex, skin color, religion, occupation, and the likes because people watching him gets the idea that it is alright to say such jokes. I know he is intelligent, he must learn to be intelligent in his jokes without offending co-hosts and the public in general.

37th People Power Anniversary

     Yesterday was the 37th People Power Anniversary and there was no huge celebration. The opposition discredited the ruling government led by the father of today's President, overthrown in 1986 in a peaceful uprising. The world applauded the peaceful change for it brought a promise of hope.

EDSA was empty, uprising seems forgotten

     The political events in 1986 brought promise of hope to the people. Everyone thought, myself included, it would have augured for the change that would drive the country to progress. After a long time, it has not change the lives of the people. The country has not progressed as I expected and the son of the then President is back in power. Something must be wrong.

     I am back here in the grassroots after my stroke and I am trying to figure out what went wrong. Why it has not changed for the better. I believe the struggle is among the powerful elites, the yellows closely identified with the Aquino's and the reds, the Marcos camp. In 2016, Duterte won because the poor voted for him as he was seen as the answer to their woes. Along the way when he was in power, the politicians closely linked to the reds aligned with him, and he in order to survive, allied with them otherwise the yellows can lead to overthrow him. 

     The elites reds won handsomely installing Marcos' son as the President. He is in power because the local leaders preferred him over the yellows to the detriment of the poor because no one really fights for them. The elites are fighting politically but the poor is disenfranchised for no one really fights for their interest. The worst part is that they are not aware about it. 

     The country has been focused on democracy, on politics after EDSA but no focus is given to the economics of the country. The imbalance of the wealth is maintained. There is still rampant poverty. 

Life Expectancy

     I saw this online and it pains to know the Philippines is 7th in life expectancy when it used to be as high as 3rd in the 70's if I remember right.

Poor 7th we are

     I am not surprised Singapore leads the pack as everyone there has job, it has well developed environment and is very efficient in all ways. The people has probably lower worry and medical care is superb. To see the Philippines among the bottom is a painful reality, an offshoot of the widespread poverty, unemployment and poor services such as the hospital. The country is no longer in the league of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Vietnam and Indonesia are overtaking the Philippines and I see that discipline is the common denominator.

     The Philippines is focused on political freedom but lags in the economic enhancement. Wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few while majority wallows in dire poverty. Politicians are mainly wealthy and looking only at the interest of the rich. Politics is a contest between this rich gang and that rich group 

Damn Cold Again

    Brrr! It's cold , the breeze is like ice. It is also raining, it's damp everywhere and the sun is nowhere to be seen. My extremities are cold. I don't use the fan. Good weather to sleep but it cannot be like this for a long time. It has been this kind of weather since Christmas last year.

The temeprature is not that low though