The Manager (True-To-Life Series #1)

INTRO: Sometime ago, I have promised to create a series about how stupid Filipinos are becoming. Although I have not followed it up with any update yet, I have a few scenarios in mind I still am deciding whether it will be offensive to some people or not. With this entry, I am starting another series of, well, as the title bluntly suggests-- true-to-life stories.


Migrant workers have been one of the biggest revenue sources for the government. The word Filipino has become in fact synonymous to a person working outside of his native country. The major cause of this phenomenon is the lack of good-paying jobs available to skilled workers in the Philippines. In most cases those who are immigrating for jobs are parents who want to give better future to their children. This is the very case our story today is about.

I don't have the exact statistical figure to back this up, but it is largely known that OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) are mostly mothers working as domestic helps or as caregivers. Or at least this is the case I always know of. However, even as the mother works abroad and is earning decently, most of their husbands also do have jobs or a business they maintain in the Philippines.

Pat has been working as a domestic helper in Hong Kong for almost two decades already. At this rate, everyone may be thinking that her family could already be well-off financially, which is very not true. During her early years as an OFW, and that was shortly after getting married, she was able to put up an electro-plating business that her husband could manage while they still don't have a child. Her husband was a mechanical engineering undergraduate who have worked on the same line of business for some years. As the business took-off and they have started to get some profit out of it, Pat decided to end her contract with her employer to finally join her husband and start a family of their own.

Shortly after coming home, she became pregnant of their first child. It comes normal with most people, I think, that when you start to do well financially you become sort of extravagant not only yourself but to people around you as well. Elmo, Pat's husband, is fond of liquors and have developed a habit of giving drinking sessions to his employees and friends every single night. This habit took toll on the business and they have soon lost some important contacts and also began to loose money. All the while through her pregnancy, Pat have become wary of her husband's habit that have fueled many fights. The fights were not that violent, and in fact there never were bodily harms transpiring between them. Before the child was even due for birth, they have lost everything that they have ever owned, including the house and the business site leased to them.

The next several months, they have lived off the meager savings they have and renting a small apartment. Elmo, though, still is into the habit and have opted not to look for a job. A few months after she gave birth, Pat decided to go back to Hong Kong again to work, while Elmo stayed jobless with the reason that he has to take care of their child.

More than a decade passed and two more children later, Pat still is working in Hong Kong and have been buried in debts all over. Aside from her regular job, she maintain a semi-permanent job with a house-cleaning service agency, and she also during weekends collects aluminum soft drink cans at a park where Filipinos frequent. Finally, she decided to loan a big amount from a bank so they can put up a small restaurant; with hopes that in time she doesn't have to return to Hong Kong anymore. She have thought of this, with some encouragement from Elmo, as the latter is a good cook. They started off with a few tables and employing three people, while Elmo does most of the cooking and minding the cash register. Business was brisk for some months and they have decided to get three more people to run the restaurant.

Pat went home for a month for a vacation, and seeing that the business is doing well, she advised her employer in Hong Kong that she only will be finishing her next two-year contract and will be staying in the Philippines for good afterwards. The restaurant was earning enough to give her husband and three children a comfortable life; and the earnings she will have for her next contract will just be to pay off her loan from the bank, while the few extra sum will be for saving.

Three months into her new contract, Elmo informed Pat that the restaurant is loosing income and could use some funding to keep up. She readily sent some money to save the business as it was her only hope to finally stop working in another country and spend the rest of her time with her family. However, what was first a one-time rescue become frequent until she already could not pay back the loan. It turns out that two of her husband's brothers are now living at their house including their respective families. All of them have no job at all and have gone to live with their brother when they learned they were then doing well with the restaurant.

With too many people to support, the restaurant couldn't keep up with the demands and finally had to be closed. The two brothers and their families did move out afterwards, but Pat is back to square one and with a wealth of a loan to still pay for. Elmo have become so lazy that even the kids' school events that requires the presence of a parent he would ask for favor from Pat's kins. At times, also, Elmo would loan money from Pat's father but have not re-payed him knowing the old man wouldn't mind.

With too much burden in her hand, Pat called on her husband several times for help, but Elmo moronically reasons every time that the connection is bad and that he couldn't hear what she was saying. Pat have since then gave up on him and have got no choice but to shoulder everything, and leave her no good husband be as he want-- a slob. Her family has been advising her that she leave her husband and entrust the care of her children to Pat's father, but she opted to keep the family intact for the sake of the children. That option may be better for her, as it seemed the one who spends her earnings more is Elmo. The slob has since been called by Pat's kins as either "the mayor" or "the manager".

Pat, by the way, is my sister.

Megacity Of Decay

Yesterday afternoon, amidst heavy rain, two billboards collapsed on top of a bus terminal in Quezon City. This is with just a mild gust of wind. Some two years ago, there was a similar incident that claimed the life of a cab driver. The previous incident prompted the authorities to give directives to the public works department to check on the integrity of these colossal structures dotting the whole metropolis. Nothing was heard of a report about that directive or news of billboards being taken down in the last two years.

The last incident did not result in death, but several have been hurt and there was massive damage to private properties. The incident though leaves a big question about how safe these billboards are- as there are thousands and thousands of them all over Metro Manila alone, and there could be thousands more outside of the metropolis. That may be one freak accident and may happen only once in a while, but still that leaves a possibility of it happening again. Coming into consideration also would be that very often than not, these structures (or most other structures in the metropolis, for that matter- blame it on corruption in our system) are built using sub-standard materials and that most have been built sometime ago.

If you would look around this megacity, you would notice that many structures and buildings are quite old already. These posts danger to the citizens without a question as of course integrity of materials lowers as it ages. There are many buildings that are dilapidated and by international standards may be unfit for occupancy, and even some are dangerous to be close to for humans. Yet, these are still occupied and used. There has never been an incident before in the Philippines of a collapse of a building on its own without factors such as earthquakes or storms. However, it may only because we have been lucky so far and it will just be a matter of time before such a thing happens.

In the crossing between Ortigas and EDSA, just right across the POEA building, a massive hole has been dug for a building construction several years ago. The construction though was stopped when it was found that it was causing some problem to the foundations of the nearby elevated metro rail. The excavation was just a few feet away from the foundations of the rail system and just inches away from the curbside of the highway. It has been a source of anxiety for me every time I pass by the excavation on my commute to and from work, which is four or five times in a week. The hole has not been filled up back and has been widely agape for several years already. A wall made of G.I. sheet has been put up around the excavation to prevent any accidents of falling off into the hole, but it doesn't address the possibility of the sides of the excavation collapsing. If that would be the case, it could bring down with it a portion of the elevated rail system and the highway.

I tried to search for at least information about what are the steps taken or being taken by the government about such hazards in the metropolis, however I did not find any. With such a big risk to safety of the people, there should have been reports available to the public about government undertakings to tackle this issue. As if living with the constant threat of crime is still not enough, city life is further made stressful by these things that are otherwise resolvable.


Photo lifted from http://www.inquirer.net/

Chalk Works

Yesterday, to while the time away, me and my wife painted the chalk casts of Sesame Street characters we bought sometime ago in a flea market in Manila. The result is pictured above. They are not exactly works of arts- well, the casts are actually giveaways for a milk formula for toddlers on a promotion several months ago, and somehow the unused items must have been sold instead. Even the water colors that came in the boxes with the casts have dried-up and would not mix even with hot water. Nevertheless, it provided us a good time together at home and at the same time relieved me of stress from work (blame it on my new graveyard shift). It sure was a delight to see all three casts done well. The activity took no more than an hour to finish, but it was one quality time together that we could be reminded of everytime we see the casts. The only thing is that we couldn't get a cast of my favorite Sesame Street character- Elmo.