Marquez y los borrachos

(excerpt from my journal entry dated November 16, 2011, a Wednesday)

Last night, there were pictures and a video proliferating on the internet showing Juan Manuel Marquez stepping on the foot of Manny Pacquiao not just once or twice (sabi nga ni Ate Vi) but six* times(!) during their boxing bout. Question is, sinadya nga ba yun?

May mga nagsasabi hindi daw, kasi natural lang daw yun. Yun din ang sabi ng coach ni Manny na si Freddie Roach (and kung ako si Roach, yun din ang sasabihin ko, kasi nga the judges’ decision is final, so bakit ipagsisintir ko pa yun? Magmumukha lang akong whining…what?...loser? E nanalo na rin naman si Pacquiao).

Pero sa tingin ko, sinasadya yun e. Kasi kung naapakan mo ang paa ng kalaban mo habang nagsasabong kayo, kahit paano mai-insecure ka sa footing mo e. Mai-imbalance ka. So by instinct, you would adjust your footing first (in case hindi mo nga talaga sinasadya yun, gaya sa kaso ni Cotto(?)).

It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book daw, sabi ng ibang analysts. I found the video and shared it sa Facebook wall ko, with the message, “Andumi maglaro! Tapos nadaya pa daw siya? Eeew!” Parang kolehiyalang nakahawak ng tae e, ano? Ahehe.

E kadiri naman kasi pinaggagagawa ni Marquez that night e. He cheated by foot-stopping Manny, he headbutted Manny causing Manny’s brow to bleed, tapos, at the end of the 12^th round, he raised his hand and winked at the crowd, preempting the judges’ decision (which I think was manipulative and irresponsible). Tapos nang natalo na siya, he had the temerity to speak out and claim that he was cheated of his supposed victory? Nanang ko! The nerve of that guy!

And it turned out Manny was suffering from some sort of aching sa paa (kaliwa ata?), but he persisted throughout the fight and didn’t even complain about Marquez’ desperate tactics. He is really a gentleman fighter!

For all his dirty tricks and unfounded claims, Marquez lost anyway. Which only goes to show that Pacquiao was the better fighter all along. Kahit pa may mga buraot na Pinoy na nagsasabi na Manny “let them down.” Kapal naman nila. After the many times that Manny brought honor to this country. Magsasama-sama sila ng mga lasenggong tambay na uminsulto kay Jose (Manalo, of Eat Bulaga) kahapon dito sa lugar namin.

Kasi nga, Eat Bulaga was here para sa “Bayan ni Juan” portion ng Eat Bulaga. So everyone was excited to see them (Jose, Wally and Pauleen Luna). E yung mga tambay na lasenggo, wala lang siguro magawa kaya pinaringgan nila si Jose. Hindi naman daw gwapo, sabi nila, tapos nagsusuplado pa—or something to that effect.

E hindi naman daw kasi nagsusuplado si Jose. He was just staying in the trailer van most of the time kasi hindi pa naman nagsisimula yung segment nila. At hindi naman nila obligasyon to be chummy with everyone. They were here to work. Kung ako sa kanila, I would have done the same. Kaya lang binastos pa siya. Ayun, hindi daw tuloy ngumingiti si Jose during commercial breaks. Tao lang naman din kasi sya. Pero syempre nagpapatawa pa rin siya on camera. Kasi nga professional siya e.

Yung mga lasenggo daw, pinatawag ni Kapitan sa Barangay hall. I’m sure binoljak sila dun. Buti nga. Nanalo pala si Ate Gina ng consolation prize na P500 sa “What’s your ulam” category. Muntik na nga daw niya di marinig nang tinawag pangalan niya dahil sa ingay ng mga tao. Buti na lang daw tinawag siya ni Ate Cynthia. Oks na rin, di ba? She cooked Pininyahang Manok, btw. Chapter!

*The more intent viewers recorded the fight, reviewed it in slow motion, and actually counted 17(!) footstopping incidents. You DO NOT argue with these people.

Food for the spirit

(from my journal entry dated December 5, 2011, a Monday)

Binasa ko ulit yung first two chapters ng “The Artist Way.” For some reason, I keep forgetting the author’s name.* Which, I guess, only goes to show that she is an effective writer. Readers like me remember her writing more than we remember the author.

Anyway, I read it yesterday because I had thought of updating my “journey” in unblocking my creativity. Dalawa yung pinapagawa nyang activities sa book na yun na basic throughout the process. The first is this—journal writing—although the term used in the book is “morning pages.” The second one is the “artist date,” wherein one has to go out on a date once a week to “feed” the artist within with some new experience or insight, etc. It has to be done alone.

I can do that. I mean, I’ve always liked solitary dates—watching movies, viewing paintings at museums, going to bookstores, etc., all by myself. However, I don’t know how to schedule my artist dates. I mean, I can do it Saturdays or Sundays, but where do I go? I guess I have to list down places I’ve always wanted to go to.

Artist dates daw need not be costly. It can be a simple visit to a park or a tour of a “new” place. Hmm. There are some places in Metro Manila I’ve always wanted to explore. Pasig, for example. Or yung hometown ni Botong Francisco sa Rizal. (Ok, that’s not Metro Manila anymore.) Kaya lang, I don’t remember reading in the book how long an artist date should be. A couple of hours? One whole day? Nagba-vary na lang siguro. Kung employee ka working Monday to Friday, a few hours would suffice. Pero if you have a long weekend ahead, you can plan on a longer artist date, I guess. That would be nice…

We had Ginataang Totong yesterday. It’s sticky rice cooked in sweet coconut milk with mongo beans. I had Ate Gina cook it because it was rainy the whole day yesterday, and for sentimental reasons I suppose, I thought we should have some comfort food for meryenda. Foods like that were what we always had when we were growing up. Champorado, Ginataan, Lugaw, etc.

Sa tingin ko, the concept of comfort food has a lot to do with our memories, of childhood usually. The security and “snugness” you felt while eating something. One TV show I saw had guests have spaghetti and pizza as their comfort food. For the life of me, I don’t know how “comforting” those foods could be to me. But then, it’s THEIR memory and sentiments, not mine.

For my generation (who were not raised on fastfood, and I don’t mean everyone in my generation, that is), lutong-bahay (or home-cooked foods) are comfort food. The warmth of the food served before you while a storm raged outside. Or the “umami” of the nilagang kangkong with bagoong you ate with the entire family after your father just lost his job. Gets?

Buti na lang simple lang yung comfort food ko. Di mamahalin. The only complication there would be the coconut milk, kasi you get that sa palengke pa. I don’t know if the “instant” coco milk can live up to the natural.

Today being December and the ground being wet from all the raining yesterday (and last night), it’s time for comfort food. What about warm sunny days? Halo-halo and gulaman suffice. Ah, yes. Sinigang. But much as I’d like to think there’s a particular food I crave during summer, I am at a loss. Our family is not really “summery.” Growing up, we rarely went for bakasyon grande during summer. So what we ate day in and day out were practically the same for summer. But I do remember hot quiet days during Lent, which, back then, I found utterly boring. Now, I crave for those quiet boring days, what with these noisy little critters around the house. Chapter!

*Julia Cameron

This is not America (vs. Japan vs. Korea)!

(excerpted from my journal entry dated December 11, 2011, a Sunday)

We’ve always idolized the Americans so much that most Filipinos aspire to be “like them.” In a way, I think Americans are our “mentors,” and “role models”—de facto, that is.

I don’t know if that is true for other “young” countries (as opposed to “old” countries, e.g. India or China which has over a thousand years of history). You have young countries like Taiwan and Singapore “mentored” by China, and Pakistan “mentored” by India, but for the Philippines, it seems we turn to the United States for that. And for the longest time, we’ve done just that—culturally, technologically, in economics and politics—no matter how inappropriate.

And it’s really frustrating in a way because our conditions are soo way different from that of the US that I’m not sure it’s wise at all to make the Philippines “one of the places that try to make it feel that way,” i.e., like the US, sabi nga ng kanta ng Lokal Brown.

It’s not like Hawaii, which is a US territory and is directly ruled with an American mindset. Here, it seems we run the country with the aim to be “like America” (just observe the politics and laws of the land, mostly patterned after those of the US), but with a “Filipino*” mindset (which retains remnants of our brand of politics from the Spanish era: Padrino system, Mañana, etc.).

Just a few weeks ago, I saw Youtube videos showing “anti-Korean” sentiments in Japan. There’s this alleged “fake” K-Pop (Korean pop) mania in Japan spreading about, allegedly precipitated by a Japanese TV network who is said to earn lots of money with the rise of K-Pop in Japan. Dito sa Pinas, meron ding parang ganun—mga Pinoy na nahuhumaling sa K-Pop—pero hindi naman mania level.

In a way, I’m glad that little by little we are setting our sights on cultural influences that are closer to home. But it’s funny that, despite this development, I observe that THIS IS THE CASE ONLY because America, our “idol,” has set its eyes on Asia in recent years. Sure, we’ve had “O-shin” and “Samurai ng Shogun” (which didn't make it big with us, anyway) before this. But WOULD WE HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH BRUCE LEE IF BRUCE LEE HADN'T MADE IT BIG IN HOLLYWOOD?

I can’t help thinking that we’re still “Americanized” in our tastes and choices of influence. Gaya nitong animé. Can we assume na naging full-blown hit ang Japanese animé dito sa atin DAHIL NAGING “HIT” MUNA ITO SA AMERICA? But then I could be wrong. Japanese animé has always been appealing to Filipino children, with or without US influence (case in point: Voltes V, which was a big hit back in the 1970s, and Filipino children back then weren’t that “Americanized” either).

But you know what I find really funny? Yung animé hairstyle na usong buhok ngayon. Hindi ba parang buhok nila Cindy Lauper, Billy Idol, et al, noon? At kung papakinggan mo ang “Electric Youth” ni Debbie Gibson, hindi ba pwedeng pumasang Japanese animé soundtrack, gawin mo lang Nippongo yung lyrics? Hehe. Now, what do I make of this? It means we turn to Japan and Korea who, in turn, turn to 1980s America, which we, in turn, looked up to back in its heyday. Parang umikot lang. But then, who's turning to us? Who's looking up to Filipinos? (Obligasyon ata natin yun bilang Pinoy....)

In terms of being “fashionable,” are we Filipinos just late?  Or too early? Or just clueless? Or siguro panahon na para tayo naman ang mag-isip para sa ating mga sarili? I mean, it's perfectly all right to learn as much as we can from our "mentor countries," pero lagi na lang bang kailangan tayo ang “sumusunod sa uso” or “hindi nagpapahuli” (man, I hate that term!) sa pinapauso ng iba? Chapter!

*For lack of a better term, I have no recourse but to call our current political mindset “Filipino” simply because it's Filipino politics I'm talking about. Readers might find this derogatory, but as a point of clarification, I too believe that we have yet to evolve a system of politics that is truly ours and one that truly works for us, sabi nga ni Joey Ayala (if I’m not misinterpreting him, that is).

Pacquiao OVER Marquez! Yes!

(excerpt from my journal entry dated November 14, 2011, a Monday.)

Nanalo kahapon si Pacquiao over Marquez, although it was such a close fight. Of the four, three judges voted, or rather majority decision went for Pacquiao’s win, kasi one of them scored a tie between Pacquiao and Marquez, 14–14. The other two were for Pacquiao.

Ok, the Mexicans were not happy about it, although they can’t really accuse Pacquiao of anything because it was the judges’ decision. Besides, at the end of the 12^th round, Marquez immediately raised his hand as if in victory…and those who were for him had their expectations raised. That was stupid. Now those people are disgruntled. How do you promote sportsmanship now after that kind of behavior?

I myself am not comfortable about Pacquiao’s win. I didn’t get to watch the fight as intently as most people, but judging from the replays of each round, it was such a close fight, had Marquez won, I don’t think I’d be comfortable either (that is, if I am for Marquez).

Marquez’ style involved throwing a punch immediately after Pacquiao throws his punch. So it’s like “mirroring*” (albeit not exactly) Pacquiao’s moves, thereby presenting an opponent who is equal in intensity (I wouldn’t say "strength" because Marquez is stronger, by the looks of it, although Pacquiao is faster). Intelligent a fighter that he is, Pacquiao was probably caught off guard by that style.

There are analysts who say that Floyd Mayweather may now have an idea on how to fight Pacquiao. But knowing Pacquiao and Freddie Roach (yeah, close kami, noh! Ahehe), I’m sure they are already thinking up ways to deal with such a segurista style/technique.

I think, ultimately, it will depend on Pacquiao’s speed and agility to be able to counter this style, should it happen again in future bouts. He will have to be unconventional in his moves, transcend—or rather, push the limits of boxing styles and moves, and catch his opponent off guard by it. I mean, how do you “mirror” something that is not familiar to you, right?

But behind all this, I have this nagging suspicion that the fight may have been “staged” to a certain extent. That Pacquiao had intended to “seem vulnerable,” that it was meant to be just a ruse to have Mayweather finally fight Pacquiao.

Hmm…I’d be more comfortable if this is true, because I wasn’t that “sold” to his performance at the fight. I felt insecure. There have been fights before wherein Pacquiao “allowed” the bout to last more rounds than was necessary. I’m not sure of this, of course. People say Manny wanted to give the people the entertainment they paid for. Some say Pacquiao just wanted his opponents to leave the fight with the dignity of knowing they lasted more rounds with him. I think the latter is more probable. Pacquiao is humane and a gentleman fighter, what do you expect?

Overall, I think Marquez paid Pacquiao a tribute. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? I guess it was like, you can’t defeat Pacquiao unless you’re Pacquiao. Also, I think it should be included in the rules that, at the end of the fight, no boxer is to raise his hand (or gesture in any way indicative of “victory”) until the judges have made their decision and declared the winner. It’s just manipulative and irresponsible!

*P.S. The term the experts use is “counterpunching,” although what else is there in boxing if not for two boxers “counterpunching” each other? Huh?

Tough and tougher

(with excerpt from my journal entry dated October 22, 2011, a Saturday.)

An inspiration came to me. I want to explore this idea for a blog. Two things: (1) Fill in the blank: “It must be tough being so _______ and so good for nothing.” Bale, yung “good for nothing” part dun, yun yung punchline. Gets?

I originally thought, “It must be tough being so right all the time and sooo…good for nothing.” But then, naisip ko, it could be applicable to a lot of other qualities, e.g. “talented” (as in, “It must be tough being so talented and so good for nothing”), or “intelligent,” or “beautiful,” etc. Fill in the blanks na lang.


Na-surmise ko tuloy, lahat talaga ng qualities dapat may purpose. Like, kung maganda ka, dapat may silbi ang ganda mo. E kung maganda ka nga, wala ka naman silbi (unless mamatay ka na at gawin ka na lang fertilizer), that’s tough, right?

E pano pala kung negative yung qualities mo? As in panget ka na nga, tapos wala ka pang silbi? E di dapat “tougher,” as in, “While it is tough being so beautiful and so good for nothing, it must be TOUGHER being so ugly and so good for nothing.” Tama ba? Ewan.

Second thought: Blog entry about the irony of the Philippines being an archipelago surrounded by bodies of water and visited by no less than 20 typhoons each year, yet we still experience water and electricity shortages from time to time.


My point here is that if there is one force of nature that we as a nation should be able to harness and control, it has to do with the element of water, right? I mean, water is the most plentiful resource we have! Instead of polluting it and wasting it, why not control it and maximize its use? Biglang naalala ko yung Captain Planet a.


Ang mga Arab countries nga, panay ang export ng langis, e di tayo naman, mag-export din tayo ng mga produkto harnessed from water power. Big batteries and power containments (alla "energon cubes" sa The Transformers) harnessed from the power of our typhoons, or kahit man lang ambrosia-flavored water, or water fit for a king's bath. Ewan.

Aside from that, they say that with the oceans rising (because of global warming), the Philippines is sinking fast into the depths. How fast this will happen, I don’t know, even the scientists aren’t sure. But the indications are evident in the typhoons and floods that ravage the country worsening each time….