The ActiveTalker

In a resolution dated April 12, 2013, the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) suddebly decided to refer to our country as “Filipinas”, instead of Pilipinas .

They said it was a “modernized” version of Filipinas, the name given by Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, in honor of then Prince Philip of Spain. It was originally called Archipelago of St. Lazaro by Fernando Magallanes (Ferdinand Magellan). Should he had not been killed by Lapu-lapu, the country would’ve been still named after St. Lazarus.

The name Philippines is supposedly an influence by the Americans who occupied the county after more than 300 years of Spanish regime. So when the country adopted the modern Filipino alphabet, the commission decided to revive the use of Filipinas instead of the Philippines we are used to using.

Although I’m not a Catholic, I prefer the name Magellan named our country, instead of Philippines named after Prince Philip of Spain.

Plus the fact if you try to google the word Filipina, whom KWF wants our country to be called, you’ll come upon porn sites or even mail order brides (except now that recently Filipna “dug mule” was executed in china.

Would you prefer to be called Pinoy or Finoy? Come on, change is inevitable, but sometimes, changing a thing you’re used to is not really a good idea.

(PS, I personally find the idea for the our country to be called Filipinas ridiculous.)

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Last June 25, while I’m at my work routine, the PA system announced we should be ready for an emergency evacuation if needed. We were instructed to remain calm and wait for further announcement if we need to evacuate the work premises. The second announcement came, we needed to evacuate the work premises, remain calm and proceed to the nearest evacuation site, away from the building and its work premises.

We did. But because of the nature of my job, I cannot bring anything inside the work premises, aside from my work and my tumbler filled with water, I calmly took some time to pass by the locker room to secure my bag. My bag is where I put my food, money, phone and other stuff.

I calmly evacuated the building along with hundreds of colleagues.

It turned out to be a
false alarm.

While at the evacuation site, I called my wife and told her I’m perfectly safe and just watch the local news for some updates. I am doing fine sitting on a curb, well away from our building.

How we all survived the scare? Being calm and composed. Part of it were the building security assuring us this is just a drill. Although I felt something wrong and even tweeted what’s happening, I still maintained my composure and stayed calm.

Being in emergencies like this, it pays that you KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON. (there is a “local version” of this British quote I saw on a shirt, Keep Calm and Carry Lang)

Thank you Lord, it was just a bomb scare.

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For this week, I my class watched a film to aide our discussion on faith. The movie was Leap of Faith.

The movie is about a con artist (Jonas Nightengale) who was forced to stop over a small town because of an engine problem. It was a poor town deprived of a good life, jobs for the people and the rain needed for their crops (corn). Nightengale was able to tell what the problems of some of the attendees and “heal” them. He did it with the help of his cohorts who were able to overhear the complaints of the attendees and radio it to him. The “fellowship” was quite a show. His group was able to put on a show with lots of light, music, “miracles” and left hope in the hearts of the people that wasn’t there when Nightengale’s group came.

But his scamming almost came to an end when sheriff Will Braverman found out about his being a criminal. Nightengale was able to save his “reputation” when he claimed that:

“Who can lead you off that crooked road? You need a real sinner!”

His activities continued until Boyd, a local boy who witnessed his parents died in an accident that left him crippled, believed that Nightengale can make him walk again. How can he (a fake faith healer) make a crippled boy walk again? Because of the boy’s strong faith, he was able to walk again. It was an event that triggered Nightengale to change, to stop being a con artist. He packed his things, and hitched a ride from a passing truck.

While he was talking to the driver, it suddenly rained after a long time of drought. The people rejoiced because of the two miracles that happened that night, the crippled boy being able to walk again and the rain. When they looked for Nightengale, they found out that he already left his motel room.

The movie tells us what faith should be all about. Here was a man who became criminal at a young age of 15, became a fake healer who cashed in on the hopelessness people feel by giving them a good show with lots of light and music. He manipulated people by using their faith to convince them to make “donations” for them to be saved. Until the impossible happened. What made the boy walk was faith, pure faith. Faith is more than knowledge. It’s also more than belief. It is about trust. It’s all about entrusting everything to the Lord.

It was a Saturday again and I was able to influence my lunchmates (classmates) from my graduate program to eat where I like to eat. I was able to lure them this time to an eatery I just discovered the last week. It looks just like a normal sari-sari store in Valencia St. at first glance, but if you’ll look closely, it has an eatery inside. The name of the place is Pampanguena’s Eatery (the name suggests that the food they serve is inspired by Pampanga’s cuisine.

I ordered, as the title suggests, a kare-kare or a pork stew in peanut sauce.

It was good. What made it more special is the shrimp paste that came with it. It was prepared with chunks of meat in it. Although it can stand on its own as a meal, it made the kare-kare taste better.

Overall, it was good. Although the kare-kare had only a few pieces of vegetable on it, I still enjoyed my lunch.

Every Saturday, together with my classmates, I eat at one of the “hidden treasures” outside the Polytechnic University of the Philippines’ Graduate School campus in Sta. Mesa, Manila. It is a place named “Looban Eatery” or literally, an eatery in the interior area of the district.

For 40PhP (roughly 1US$), you can feast on a meal consisting of a meat and a vegetable viand and a cup of rice. But last Sunday was different, they ran out of vegetable viands so I opted for Lechon Paksiw (roasted pig cooked in vinegar, garlic and salt.) to go with my Sisig. This time, instead of the usual 40PhP, it was 59PhP as I also added an extra order of rice.

The Lechon Paksiw had a large chunk of pig fat and I can’t seem to notice the taste of the vinegar. The Sisig was good, it even had bits of crunchy pig skin. Overall, I give it 9 stars out of 10. It was good and it sure filled the hole in my tummy.

Overheard on a conversation yesterday:

“Haynako, si Father ha!”

“Bakit?”

“E in-interview niya yung student nating madre. Tinanong kung ilang taon na daw siya. Sumagot si sister, 23 po. Tinanong ulit ni father, ‘nagka-boyfriend ka na ba?’ sumagot naman si sister, ‘opo father.’ ‘Kelan?’ ‘Nung highschool po.’ ‘Ang aga mo namang kumerengkeng!’ [tawanan ang mga estudyanteng nakarining – nasa stage pa naman after ng First Friday Mass]”

The issue here is, is that action (informal interview in this case) ethical for a priest to do? It may be a private joke, but it was said with the priest holding a microphone. And the other students find the joke “funny”.

It was highly degrading for the nun who was embarrassed by the comment given by the priest.

I was not present on the said mass so I wasn’t able to witness the actual “interview” so I will give the whole event the benefit of a doubt. I will not judge what happened by what I heard, but I will look to it as a reminder that before I act or say anything, I must take into consideration the feelings of other people around me who will be hearing my comments or witnessing my actions. In netizens’ lingo, “Think before you click.”