Hello friends. I’m still here. I guess it’s time again to write something about what’s going on. Let’s begin with my work. Other than my work (You did not miss anything, I really skipped it. LOL), I try to do more things to make living worthwhile in Singapore. I joined a hike to Gunung Datuk in Rembau, Malaysia 2 weeks ago. We were a hoard of 20 Filipinos, and it was nice to meet other people (new victims to tell them my deepest agony, hehe)..but like I mentioned in my previous post, I’ll try to appreciate whatever this country has set for me. I promise you, I’m minimizing all my racism, anguish and negative vibes already. ALREADY.
I heard there is another hike planned for next month, November, but it will be for four days, and I hope to say this without sounding arrogant, that I think I can do the activity physically but it’s just something my time can’t afford. I don’t get paid when I don’t work..and since I will not be staying just at home, it’s double murder for my pocket.
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I am excited for tomorrow because I will only be working until noon. Thing is, I don’t really know where I’m going yet. Nothing is finalized. Some friends and myself originally plan to take a trip to Desaru (I know it sounds Japanese, but no, that’s not in Japan) but then we cancel it for probably the first week of November, which is not really bad because it’s just 2 weeks away, and we’ll be a-month’s-pay-worth richer by the end of next week. So mostly likely I’ll just be taking some extra sleep and rest tomorrow.
Talking about money, I’ve decided to embark on mutual funds a little bit more substantial. I started having it 4 and a half years ago from Sun Life Prosperity but overall to date, I only get about 45% interest, which I perfectly know is not really poor..but it is also not the best. So, I started with Metrobank FAMI 5 weeks ago, and as of today, I get 6.82% interest overall (I include all charges and expenses as something I need to get back). Yes, that is only 5 weeks, and I know bank savings account can’t give you that, and time deposit schemes will only give that amount in years. Let’s be clear here that I’m not an agent (LOL) and I don’t get a single centavo of commission. I just wanted to share and give people some options on how they can manage their money, and be financially secured. You can leave me a message if you have questions, and I’ll try to get back to you but it’s better if you do your own work and study the funds. Each of us has different risk level that we can take, and I suppose you’ll know better yourself than anybody else. As for myself, I’m a risk taker, so I don’t have anything but equity portfolios both from Sun Life and Metrobank. I suggest you download their prospectus and read it. For a side-by-side comparison of different companies offering mutual funds and their rates historically, you can check out icap ph website (http://icap.com.ph/factsfignavps.asp), although I have to say that their server is down a lot of times. So if you can’t get in now, try again later.
Okay, enough of business. I’ve also registered for Run For Hope Singapore 2010. The 10-km run will be on the 21st of November, Sunday, in Changi. I’ve started running when I was living in Hong Kong (5 years ago) and the service apartment I had has some basic gym facilities. I’ve never really paid for a gym in my entire life, and I just prefer to be doing things outdoor. It’s free (or less expensive), and there’s free fresh air too. I have 4 full weeks of training starting by next week. My personal target is to finish the 10-km length within an hour or anything close to it. In a company run earlier this year, officially, I finished 4.30-km in about 23 minutes, giving an average of about 5 minutes per kilometer, but I know running much longer does not only double the time. It requires more strength and endurance.
I hate to annouce that my swimming career is on a relapse (LOL). I used to swim as much as 4 times a week, but I guess the last time I hit the pool was 2 months ago. I had a major major (LOL) depression with my work and I just didn’t had enough drive anymore. I’m not as enthusiastic as before, but I do plan to get back on it probably when I get home to the Philippines for good.
Coming up as well, although nothing much is set on stone, is trip to somewhere else to celebrate the new year 2011. We haven’t decided yet if it’s going to be a Thai or Malaysian beach, but hope we can get to either places rather than getting stuck in this city.
A sure activity for my passport is a flight to Manila early February 2011. Yey! Although, it’s really far from today, I find myself jotting down things that I have to accomplish beginning with my expired driving license. I miss driving so much, and since I’m the ever-law-abiding driver at your service, I will not drive. I will only be staying for 7 days but I hope I get a lot of things done. 
Alright, as you can see I just try to make my stay in this city more suitable. Afterall, I only have exactly 11 months left!
It’s a Saturday today but I woke up like I do during the weekdays. Okay, probably a few minutes late, but I was still quick. I know all of my Saturday shifts for the rest of the year since the beginning of 2010. Working during weekends is not really a big issue for me ’cause I understand if the extra time to make the job done makes sense, but in my current case, I know this is more just for show. To be quite honest, I’m not enjoying what I’m doing, where I am, and what’s happening every dismal day. I’m surprised at myself that I haven’t said anything of my full blown angst in this tiny country I set my foot on for the past 13 months. This blog has probably known myself better than myself ’cause there where times when I back read, and I couldn’t even recall that I said that, and I know I haven’t said much recently.
I might be unfair if I tell my wrathful tales for all the world to see about Singapore; the environment, its people, the system, basically just everything in this superficial country, because I’m just one person. My case could probably be a very specific example of hard luck, or I don’t possess enough patience, or I’m expecting too much, or I’ve been looking probably a tiny little bit high on myself. Believe me, I tried to find that out. I am almost convinced that I just don’t belong here (perhaps I just don’t really don’t) but then I realize I’m dissatisfied because I have a shaky hold of reality. I can’t get everything done the way I want. And it just happened that this particular moment, this particular spot in my life, has had the most things that went out the way I don’t want.
And so today, I woke up to welcome the brand new day and be a part of it.
Because I graduated 6 years ago, I only had to endure 10 years of basic education (plus a year for kinder), and 4 more years of university degree summing up a total of 15 years. This is the amount of time a normal Filipino would take to get up to a bachelor’s degree. I took up a 4-year course in the university, which is the shortest amount of time for any bachelor course. I never had any fancy pre-nursery, nursery, prep, or daycare, but I suppose that’s not very much a fad during my days (OMG I feel old).
Locally, I was able to work immediately after graduating, and since I had the chance to work outside the
With the Filipino diaspora that is so evident at the moment, the world recognizes us. A combination of about 10 million skilled and unskilled Filipino laborers are outside our country (including me hehe). They are employed by foreigners because the government can’t provide enough jobs, or the jobs back home are not well paid. The cost of living in the
Going back to education, I hope our leaders would see first the things that are more apparent in our education system. We have enough flaws. Our plate is more than full enough for things that we should prioritize. I recognize that the Department of Education got the biggest share in our national budget for 2011, which is probably a good start. But the matter is, is instead of worrying about the extra 2 years of schooling, shouldn’t we have an eye first on the condition of our public schools and facilities, or perhaps the lack of it? The quality of textbooks that we provide? The kind of teachers we have and how do we pay them? The ratio of students enrolling and dropping out? The overall resource we set for education from our national budget, and where these are going? I remember reading only weeks ago that some students in
With the new administration, I’ve always thought that our country is heading for the straight path. Because if that’s the case, we have to accept that we are back to reviewing the most basics of things instead of contemplating of how we are deprived of some 2 extra rice (because other countries have 2 extra rice on their plates).
Jeremy David Chua
St. Michael’s
University of the
There is nothing really to argue about Filipinos’ love for singing. Back in the old days, everyone knows what Minus-1 is (apart from the arithmetic). Karaoke was a hit. Expensive microphones that turn ordinary tv set into videooke has huge market for a nation where a third of its population is scavenging for food on a daily basis. Towering just about every slums that hoarded the streets of
Why? Because this is entertainment we can afford. And more precisely because we are just good at it (Filipinos in general, ahem, I don’t sing). Before the nurses and healthcare providers became the biggest human export of the
The talent comes in various forms too. From genuinely legitimate bar singers, to exotic cultural club dancers, to local celebrity singers and bands, and even to the international classical broadway, you can always spot a Filipino talent.
I’m writing something like this because of the recent global fame of a young Filipina, Charice Pempengco. She stars in the 2nd season of the American musical tv series, Glee. I’d like to give the creators of the show a job well-done congratulations because they made the right decision in getting her, at least profit-wise. I saw some clips from the pilot episode of the show’s 2nd season, but I’ve yet to watch the whole episode. I’ve been watching the series way before it was a hype, so I’m not seeing it only because Charice is there. She really has the talent, but I beg to differ with Oprah saying “She’s the most talented girl in the world”. What I’m trying to say is that yes she can sing, but it’s overrated. There are plenty of other Filipino singers that have more pleasing voice, and deserve better public attention. Charice made it not only in the
I can’t believe I sound like a total freak showbiz guru.
But still, a lot of fellow Filipinos watch her closely. Perhaps to cover up a bit the global shame we so much have, Filipinos find delight in being in the international arena. We tried so hard to stitch the biggest national flag there is, to encourage the most couple simultaneously kissing, to put up the longest barbeque skewer, or to produce the biggest platter of pancit malabon, (which led me to think if there are other countries where pancit malabon is native). We are overjoyed if the Philippine bet in the Miss Universe ended up in the top 5, or whenever Pacman beats up every Mexican opponent he faced. Because of these, Filipinos are already proud. Don’t get me wrong because there is nothing really wrong with that. Of course, it is definitely something to be pleased about.
What I really have to emphasize is that these things will not get our country anywhere far from where we are now. We are blinded by a thick dense cloud of false hope. Our nation is currently well-beaten up, and there’s no amount in decibels of Charice’s fantastic vocals would slightly abate any of these bruises. We are currently dealing with the internationally-famed Hong Kong tourists hostage, the missing British woman, the Jueteng puzzle, the over population and birth control controversy, public funds going somewhere no one knows of, the luxurious GOCCs, the haunt for Lacson, Dacer case, the Morong 43, MILF and the bandits of the south, state separation of ARMM, Ombudsman impeachment, the Arroyo case, the Ampatuan trials, the squatter and relocation facility, typhoon victims from way back more than a year ago, the reliability and truthworthiness of our police, all the daily crimes in Manila, and even the question of who really won the Vice-President position last May?.
I’m not pretending to be some righteous, blameless citizen here, but I’d like to remind that we have real problems at hand, and these things need serious attention if we want to make a difference. The country is tired of waiting, and just by how the Filipino individual has abundance of pride, we lack in sincerity. This sincerity and earnestness should start from the top, from the government, and then you will see everything will be sweet, much sweeter than any known Filipino singer in the entire history.
