Two Carts in a Counter.

In Canada and the U.S., it's ordinary to see couples doing their groceries together; not in Manila.  Here, wives usually go to the supermarket with the kids or the maid in tow, or sometimes with the family driver.  Shoppers also rely on baggers at the check out counter to put their purchases in bags or lately, in cartons.

I, myself, am getting used to the bagger idea; before, I always did my own bagging.  I am also getting used to the Manila practise of leaving food trays and wrappers and plastic cups on the table at fast food chains.

When our household does its grocery shopping, we keep two carts rolling.  That way, I can go freely and select whatever food or item I want. In my case, I always check the sugar, sodium and fat contents of each food product I purchase.

 If you shop at a Canadian Tire, you pay and then you receive money above.

With this habit, I consume a lot of time in each aisle.  Twice, I sensed a security guard eyeing me with suspicion.  But anytime I feel that security is hovering around, the more I'd inspect an item or linger around to annoy the staff.  I'm not used to being watched or pried on at supermarkets or malls in Canada.

Lately, our favorite supermarkets have boiled down to three: S & R and The Metro at the Global City and Shopwise at Libis.

At S & R, we discovered their delicious and big blueberry muffins and their tender roaster-sized chickens. At Metro, we've become delighted with its wide range of products which include imported peanut butters, imported coffee for my Black & Decker coffee maker,  sugar-free cookies, a wide assortment of cold cereal, and the La Pacita crackers ( in see-through plastics), which has low salt and sugar content which we could not find in any other supermarket.

I buy the small plastic version which costs around 26 pesos a piece.

Shopwise also has a good selection of imported products, and its fruits are cheaper.

What I'm missing, though is my favorite peanut butter, Kraft, and the carton of egg whites only.  I'm also looking for more variety of low fat butter and sugar-free yogurt, ( Activa is not available in Manila) and more sugar-free products.

I'm seriously missing the cheese I prefer, the Cracker Barrel brand and other fruits such as plum, peach and persimmon.

My favorite cheese.

Most of all, I miss the sales and marked- down prices. I've been so used to entering the supermarket and getting hold of the store fliers before flying down to the aisles.  Any Canadian worth his salt would always check out slashed grocery items and buy on bulk a lot of times.

Of course, I have withdrawal syndrome for not having been able to visit lately any Canadian Tire, Ikea, Walmart, The Hudson Bay,  Shopper's Drugmart and the Dollar Stores.  I especially miss Canadian Tire for its car care products and its Canadian Tire money.  The Dollar Stores for their dollar-duct tapes, sandwich and freezer bags, roller brush, dollar- AA and AAA batteries and tin foil wrappers.

It's not just saving money, if you want to kill time, you can do it at a Dollar Store.

What's your memory of Luneta?

The monument of the Philippine National Hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal, who will celebrate his 151st birth anniversary tomorrow- June 19, stands proudly at the park named after him - the Rizal Park.  It's better known as Luneta Park.

During the execution of Rizal on December 30, 1989, the park was called Bagumbayan or Nuevo Barrio (New Town or the Tagalog word, Bagumbayan). This is also the site where the three martyr-priests, Gomez, Burgos, Zamora were shot.

Luneta or Rizal Park is certainly rich with history.  It is where the Independence Day from the American rule was proclaimed on July 4, 1946, and it is also the favourite site where Philippine presidents take their oath and where they're proclaimed president of the Republic.

I'm sure everyone has her/his own memories of Luneta Park.  

As a youth in the late 50's and early 60's, my father used to bring us to Luneta on Sundays.  He'd pack us eight kids into his huge green Pontiac and drive through Paco and onto the wide lanes of Dewey Boulevard, now Roxas Blvd.  

We'd run and inhale the sweet scent of Manila Bay (this to combat a nagging cough as my parents used to tell us). "Malinis ang simoy ng hangin, magaling sa ubo."

Of course the water of Manila Bay was clean and pure those days.  You can actually taste its saltiness as you clear your throat and try to inhale way deep down your stomach.  We'd even ride the bote or ferry for a short cruise of Manila Bay.

As we grew older, our trips to Luneta became scarce.  Sometimes some of us kids sneaked out on our parents and asked our cousin to drive us to Luneta to watch the skaters trut their wares, or we went there during school class trips.

As we matured even further in the late 70's and early 80's, Luneta became a place not to be.  The Park, although refurbished largely by the late Doroy Valencia and the ex-First Lady Imelda Marcos, deteriorated in status and became synonymous with cheap trysts and forbidden activities which took place in the many dimmed mazes of the Japanese Garden, along the shore and inside the cars parked near the Cultural Centre and the Folk Arts Theatre.

Even Rico J. Puno immortalized Luneta in his Tagalog version of The Way We Where, "namamasyal pa sa Luneta kahit walang pera."

Like its benefactors, the Marcoses, Luneta symbolized both the excesses and filth of the Martial Law years, with its mammoth structures and rehabilitation done in haste to court foreighn tourists and to hide the stink of the dictatorship, squatters in and along the Boulevard, among many others.

After the Marcos' downfall, new politics arrived and in the succeeding years, Luneta seemed to be forgotten with its crumbling pavements and vagrancy problems, until the late 90's and the early 2000's when Atienza and the Erap administration brought revival to the Boulevard by the Bay.

Luneta's Fountain

So Luneta continued to survive.  As Luneta was originally envisioned by the American colonizers,  (Philstar 2000 article), it was a dream.

"The dream had started at the turn of the century as the Americans sought to shape the city in the image of a great colonial capital. Daniel Burnham stood at the old Luneta (somewhere around the present Rizal monument) and saw that the greatest asset of the area was its proximity to the waterside and the "priceless" view of the magnificent bay and the daily magic of its fiery sunset.

But the port works were already in progress and were blocking the view so he immediately suggested the extension of the waterfront a thousand feet into the water. This reclamation would also allow for a hotel and other leisure facilities on either side of the extension framing a clear and unimpeded view of the bay. These were built within 10 years of the plan and have been part of Manila's historic landscape for the past 85 years. Three generations of Filipinos have enjoyed the priceless amenity of this open space. Future generations may not be so lucky."

Today, Luneta is on the roll.  With the Baywalk and an extended acreage into the Bay, the Park provides added tourist income, but less view, less clean air and diminished space for the strollers. 

Now, visitors to Luneta may take an evening Manila Bay boat cruise which features food and entertainment. 

No more wind in your face, as in our youthful years.

Of Daffodils.

By Gener

Were there daffodils

When you waved goodbye at the rusted gate,

And hopped inside the car in the starry-less night

Like a thief you disappeared faceless.

Nay, not a word

To give notice to people you dared insult,

With brazen tongue and deep-cut wounds 

You parted ways like the Dead Sea curling in two sides.

In your hasten trek to the devil's abode

The Good rested its case.

And the Bad sat inside your pit

Gnawing, smelling, consuming your innards.

The baby photos, the grown-up ones no longer adorn the walls.

The old room lost its satanic smell,

The soft eyes turned impishly devil,

The mind broke bounds and more.

The chubby cheeks of yester 'old, the short legs all,

The fresh umbilical still hang at the front,

The sadder face soon turned into glow,

The God had blessed you with a bow.

Look not, any further The Lord had said

To Adam, to Eve and the the serpent, too,

The Garden of Eden abounds with food

Yet the fleshy fruit is forbidden you. 

Like the curs'ed duo whose path'strewn with thorns

Them daffodils and bouganvilles may no longer bloom in your door,

The Sun God could trail and fail in your side

Forever for' get the darkroom where you're now.

Malaya at maingay.

 By Gener. 

Masakit ang sapak kay Bradley ng kamao ni Manny,
Muntik muntikanang tumumba and batang taga Amerika,
Nag intay kay Pacquiao na nanuod ng NBA muna,
Kumita ng limang milyong dolyar,
Sa wheelchair isinakay.


Si Manny nama'y sa Hollywood tumulak
At me shooting din daw,
Bitbit sila Jinkee pati dal'wang pogi,
Balik Sarangani naman itong Mommy D,
Naglupasay sa simbahan
Kasama'y batang batang pastor diyan.

Mga Pinoy ay pumusta, karaming talunan,
Manok nila'y di nasugatan pero dineklarang tinola,
Me rematch din daw agad, okay lang kay Mr. PacMan,
Bantay sarado ni Mommy D and susunod na iskoran.

Sabi ni Oscar De la Hoya dal'wang judges ibang trabaho na,
Ayon naman kay PPV Arum imbestiga bago rematch muna,
Sumawsaw din si Sharon Cuneta, you're still the champ Mr. Manny,
Ito rin daw ang sabi ng mga Pinoy kung saan saang bahagi.

Lumuhod at nagdasal si Manny kahit di pangalan ang nagwagi,
Sabi naman ni Jinkee ito ang kaluob ng Hari,
Panalo ngang tulad ni Bradley dating nama'y mala-kunyari,
Mabuti na ang dinaya malinis pa rin ang imahi.

Malaya si Manny sa dungis ng boksing kung saan kabahagi,
Lumaban siya ng todo todo pero tinono ng hurado,
Si Bradley nama'y nagulat din sa desisyon ng panalo,
Pero sa kanya pa rin ang sinturon ng welterweight dibisyon.

Mommy D inspects Hermes bag, gift from son Manny.

Maingay ang mga miron, mga pumusta't kolumnista,
Mga tagahanga ng boksing sa mundo dinaan sa tweet ang reklamo,
Baligtarin daw ang desisyon ibigay now na kay PacMan,
Sabi nga ni Shack O'Neal "Bradley isoli ang title at katad na crown."

Man o man, sigaw ng kabataan,
Manny ikaw lang, chorus ng mga kababaihan,
Anak ingat ka diyan sigaw ni Mommy Dionisia,
H'wag kalimutan ang Hermes na bag
pangako mo naman 'yan.

Manny's Money.

Time to retire, Mr. Pacquiao?

 I was having beer and some awesome pulutan while I watched the Pacquiao-Bradley fight yesterday, so the shocking announcement that Pacquiao lost the welterweight title to Bradley narrowly sunk in my woozy head and sated stomach.


All I remember was shouting for Manny to knock out Timothy, and feeling confident that Pacquiao was winning.

It's all over now, and it's all over the world that Manny Pacquiao was robbed of the title; that he actually won the match, and that only the two other judges saw Bradley won it while the rest of the boxing world saw it otherwise.

There are many theories floating around why the split decision tilted towards Bradley, (heavy Vegas betting favoured a Bradley win so the mob could win big money, Vegas would win if Bradley won so a rematch could be held to bring in more money to Vegas and to Arum's Pay per view),  but one stood out: Trainer Roach's statement that he didn't know if the Pacquiao-Marquez decision had anything to do with the Pacquiao-Bradley decision. A punishment, or a market correction, perhaps?

Anyway I look at it, Manny Pacquiao clearly won the game yesterday.

If I were a Team Pacquiao member, I'd whisper to the Idol to hang his gloves now. This is the best time for him to do it. Why?

He's still on top of boxing world, on top of the world.  Manny's fans are not just the Filipino people. He is adored and admired by many nationals all over the globe.  Even Jimmy Kimmel loves him.  If he were to retire now, he'd be remembered as a great fighter like Muhammad Ali was.

Manny has enough money already.  If he retires, he can concentrate on getting a money manager who can take care of his money wisely. No more giving it away as if there was no tomorrow.

Manny has political ambitions so if he retires now, he can focus on being a representative of the people of Sarangani.  I assume he will run for higher public offices in the future, so the better that he prepare early like studying for law as he announced before.

He has showbiz ambitions; in fact, he's due to make a Hollywood film.  His local showbiz career is questionable, though, and he should give it up.  Instead he can do sports documentaries or strengthen a sports foundation which helps poor athletes.

He has his religion to fall back onto, too.  Manny's recent bible packing can aid him well in his future undertakings.  The Filipino people are suckers for do-good men.

Manny Pacquiao knows how to play his games..well.  He was a poor boy of Sarangani who toiled to train for boxing.  He got what he wanted, and more.

If he hangs his gloves now, his countrymen will be spared of future angst whenever he enters the boxing ring to fight.  Anyway, they will continue to love and respect him the way they loved Gabriel "Flash" Elorde.

I say no rematch with Bradley, no more fights.

Living with diabetes.

I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2006, so I've been a diabetic for 6 years.  Before that, I thought I'd been eating healthy.

Pre and post diabetes, my breakfast consisted mostly of toast bagel and coffee,  then lunch varied from packed lunch of rice and meat to restaurant dining, mostly Italian, Chinese or Greek/Hungarian. Dinner was light, and coffee had been a constant.

I was also on eating out, usually on Sundays,  either Japanese, Thai, Italian and Canadian-American restaurants such as Red Lobster.

My favorite Thai resto - Golden Thai at Church and Dundas in Toronto

But what was unique to me was that I never ate on time for lunch.  My work entailed seeing clients, and a lot of times lunch had to be served after the last client had left, sometimes at 3 p.m. To appease the pangs of hunger, I'd munch on a bar of chocolate or chip and a can of regular Coke.

I think this pre-lunch ritual did me in for diabetes.

So I went to re-define my eating habits.

A Red Lobster yummy for me. Whenever I'm in TO, I frequent the Red Lobster in Scraborough.

For breakfast, I settled for a small bowl of oatmeal, or sometimes cold cereal with pieces of fruit and a piece of wheat bread toast with a slight spread of cream cheese or peanut butter and coffee.  My lunch was tuna salad without dressing.  I did away with soda and any form of chocolate.  

Dinner was small serving of rice and fish, veggie or meat.  When I got hungry at night, I made a peanut butter sandwich.  Eating out was still there, but I watched what I was ordering.  Plus of course there was exercise involved - low aerobics or dancing.

I got the occasional dessert, and red wine, too.

With this diet, my blood sugar dramatically went down, my FBS was consistently below 6  and my family physician said I was doing the right thing. And it helped that I kept tracking my blood sugar and maintained a diary of the food/menu I was ingesting.

Segue to living in Manila for sometime to visit ailing Mom.  There was food all around me served liberally throughout the day, ( e.g - two breakfasts, constant snacking and eating out).

White rice, Filipino dish such as kare kare, sinigang na baboy, asado, adobo, bulalo,  and Filipino merienda (snacks) like turon, bibingka, guinatan, puto (rice cakes) at home, and outside - more food.

Next time I was at my doctor's office, the blood tests showed an increase in blood sugar, although still tolerable.

Now, with the whole Manila household on full diabetes alert, we'd done away with two breakfasts and snack on boiled camote or saguing, and done a lot of grilling.  In the kitchen cupboard are brown rice, wheat bread, sugar- free sugar and sugar- free jam, Diabetamil cookies, low salt crackers and low salt everything, 1/3 less fat Philadelphia cream cheese. No pancake mix, chips nor chocolate.

If there's spaghetti, it's with own-made sauce (tomatoes, tuna and herbs), and guinisang ampalaya and other veggies are eaten generously.

No more bonchon, Italianni's and Mediterranean cuisine, for now.  Japanese food is still on the list when eating out, so is Sbarro's and Mesa for local cuisine, occasional Thai and tuna sandwich at French Baker and sariwang lumpia at Goldilock's.

A healthy favorite of mine - Lumpiang sariwa at Goldilock's

Note: I also discovered that one diet works for one and not for another. So, beware. Constantly monitor your blood sugar two hours after eating, at least 3 times a week and keep a journal, so you would know what kind of food will trigger your blood sugar or what will keep it down.

Jocks and nerds.

Athletes are heroes in high schools, and when they enter university, they become magnets for pro-league recruiters, and when they become pro, they become rich and famous.

In the Philippines, they also become politicians.

Philip Cezar, no. 18, played for Crispa.

Look at basketball star Freddie Webb who became a senator.  Also basketball heroes Atoy Co, a councilor and Philip Cezar, a vice Mayor. And the biggest name in boxing, Manny Pacquiao, a congressman. Webb and Cezar were my favorite PBA players, by the way.

Jocks as they are called, athletes and sportsmen are adulated and worshipped like actors.  In the collapsed communist bloc of yesteryear, athletes were considered "state assets," given extra ordinary perks by the politburo or the Party to bring home medals from world and Olympic events.

On the other side are the nerds, who,in junior high are peppered with insults and paper planes (remember George McFly in Back to the Future?).  In college, they become "term paper machine" for some jocks or worse, computer hacks for those extraordinary cheerleaders, and when they enter the workforce, they are tagged as low in EQ (emotional quotient) or eat alone in office snack bars with only the handheld or tablet as snack mate. 

People who people jocks become celebrities, too.  They become source for autographs, for free tickets for the game, for free photographs.  Those people who people jocks are usually nerds too who gloat over their found-position, as alalay, or minion.

Now that school has just started for some 21.49 million Filipino students, there would be jocks and nerds floating again around campuses.  But the more pathetic figures are those people who people around jocks, sometimes becoming a fly in the ointment, or spoilers of fun, or acting as if they were greater than the idol. In one Tagalog saying, becoming "ang langaw ay mas mataas pa sa kalabaw."

K - 12.

When we were kids, my mother enrolled seven of us siblings plus a cousin, in kindergarten prior to enrolling us in the public school system.

So there I was at the age of 5, under Maestrang Elo, learning the caton, a book with simple texts used to learn how to read.

Maestrang Elo kindergarten school was a stone's throw away from Namei Polytechnic, along Mabini Street.

In Maestra Elo's house, preschool youngsters attended morning sessions and learned the Spanish alphabet, prayers and reading method.  So, even before entering Grade I, most of the kids were already able to read.

Maestra Elo and her older sister were retired teachers when they opened their own kindergarten school in Mandaluyong.  Their school, located in the first floor of their beautiful house was popular among lehitimong taga Mandaluyong (old timers in Mandaluyong).  Later on, the school was transferred to a new wing in their house.

But when I was a student of Maestra Elo, our classes were held in the house, in the stairways, and in the sprawling garden.

This is the Mandaluyong Public Elementary School as it looks today. 

The caton system of reading was very effective.  I remember reciting the Spanish alphabet, as follows,

A a	B b	C c	Ch ch	D d	E e	F f	G g	H h	I i
a	be	ce	che	de	e	efe	ge	hache	i
J j	K k	L l	Ll ll	M m	N n	Ñ ñ	O o	P p	Q q
jota	ka	ele	elle	eme	ene	eñe	o	pe	cu
R r	S s	T t	U u	V v	W w	X x	Y y	Z z
erre	ese	te	u	uve	uve doble doble u doble ve	equis	i griega ye	zeta

 and easily learning how to read Tagalog words.

San Felipe Neri (Catholic) Church, along Aglipay St. in Mandaluyong.

There were no learning or reading aids then as we have now, like cassette tapes or video or cartoons. We only had coloring books during those days.

Now, my grand niece Tam in Seattle, at age four, already seems to know how to read. My sister, her Lola, narrated how Tam was given all sorts of ribbons by her prep school teacher because she's able to accomplish all the tasks given her.  Tam spent her free time watching educational cartoons even before she was able to walk.

Raising the standards in Philippine educational system should be a welcome change.  Starting this school year, 2012-2013, kindergarten is universally offered in the public school system and also a new curriculum will be introduced to Grade I and Grade 7 students. By SY 2016-2017, Grade 11/Year 5 will be introduced, and Grade 12/Year 6 by SY 2017-2018; with the phased implementation of the new curriculum which will be finished by the SY 2017-2018.

Some parents are against the introduction of these changes because these will entail additional costs and lengthen the number of years before their children will be able to finish a course in the university. 

Personally, I approve of these changes.  In Canada, new Filipino immigrants find it hard to have their educational attainment and profession accredited because the Philippine educational system is lacking two years compared to the Canadian school system. With the introduction of the K-12 system, the Philippines will be at par with the rest of the world.

This new system will make the Philippines more competitive in the world market, that's the bottom line. 

Going to the Movies.

When I was a kid my sisters would take me to the movies in the run down cinema called Riverside, along Kalentong in Mandaluyong.  We called it Riversurot because of the fleas populating the wooden seats.

There in pitch darkness, I saw double program LVN and Premiere-produced cine such as Familia Alvarado (the first ever movie I saw), Lo Waist Gang, and countless comedies which starred Nida Blanca and Nestor de Villa.

I was, maybe, five or six, then.

Ideal Theatre along Avenida Rizal, now gone.

Next, my aunt and uncle took me to first class cinemas, Ideal, Ever and others along Avenida Rizal, and saw Hollywood movies which starred Liz Taylor, Elvis Presley, David Niven,  Doris Day, Henry Ford, Julie Andrews, Ann Margaret.

My father also took us to the movies on Sundays; I remember he took the whole family to see Cursillo at the Cinerama, right after he joined the Christian movement which became very popular in the early 60s. 

Later on as an elementary student, my sister Jo and cousin Cel would pressure me in joining them watch Tagalog teen movies starring Rosemarie Sonora.

On my own, when I was already in the University, I would proceed to Cubao when classes got suspended and watch with my five-peso allowance any movies showing at the popular movie houses.
This was the time when I totally immersed myself in English movies only, with sporadic Tagalog clips directed mainly by Lino Brocka.

Movie directed by Lino Brocka, starred Hilda Koronel as Ligaya Paraiso.

Watching movies, whether in double-run theatres or air-conditioned cinemas, entail bringing in snacks with you. If there's no sitsirya, the fun is not complete.

Me and my siblings munched on chicharon (pork rinds) and mani (peanuts) at Riverside, wherein after, we'd have sorbetes sa pan de limon (ice cream on hot dog bun) on the way home.

Dirty ice cream was a favorite snack during my childhood.

At Ideal or Odeon or Lyric, my uncle brought ham or cheese sandwich and afterwards, took us to Wa Nam Panciteria behind Carriedo.

In Cubao, my favorite eatery was Ma Mon Luk for its huge bola bola siopai and pancit or mami. 

Old Ma Mon Luk in Cubao, famous for its siopao.

Clearly in the U.S. and Canada, movie snacking consisted of the American icon pop corn and soda and a piece of chocolate. Lately with the proliferation of fast food, concessionaires both in the Philippines and in North America, have added tacos, hot dogs, pizza, etc in their counters.

Price of movie tickets, together with movie snacks have gone up through the years.

Riverside which later became Amor, charged 30 centavos for adults; while a first run cinema cost 1.20 pesos.  Today, a movie costs at least 150 - 200 pesos, even more, if it's on 3D.

Bloor Cinema along Bloor St, Toronto, near Honest Ed's and U of T.

In Toronto, there used to be Tuesday half-price movies and matinee discounted- movies. Now, it would cost you 20 CDN dollars to see Avengers, Spiderman, a Bond or a Bourne movie.  On top of that, snacks cost another 20 dollars for pop corn, soda, or tacos.

Cineplex at corner of Eglinton and Yonge in Toronto

If you want to enjoy movies and save money, too, there's the option of renting a DVD or blu ray.  But action and sci- fi just don't look that good in the small screen.  You've got to see it big time, or on 3D with Dolby sound surrounding you and your eardrums.

For the upcoming Bourne Legacy movie, I'd surely see it on the big screen. Here's the  trailer, partly filmed in the Philippines.