Unpublished, raw and personal - from my private journals and e-mail files:
I will be leaving the country in seven weeks anyway. Perhaps on the longest holiday and adventure I will ever have in years. So here I am at home. To do an inventory of possessions to dispose, keep, or take with me. I need to sweep away the cobwebs in my mind, unload the emotional baggage that is weighing me down, and be rid of the clutter in my life.
An old letter to friends is restored ... "San Miguel is not the end-all or be-all of my existence. Better to take the initiative and make things happen while I'm at my peak rather than wait for chance or circumstances when the company finds no use for me."
From the Kitchen to the Bathroom
Have you ever used a product for something other than its intended purpose? A family friend uses 7-Up or Sprite as water substitute for tahong shell (mussels) soup. Just add garlic and you get one sweet tasting broth. An office mate uses the same softdrinks to make hotdogs sweeter and juicier.
Water Issues in Metro Cebu Part 2
Much ado over a bito. Business, government, residents -- developers, lawyers, engineers, water resources experts -- clash over a sinkhole. It's the classic modern conflict: environment vs. development, water vs. money.
Water Issues in Metro Cebu Part 1
When I contemplate on a bottle of drinking water I am overcome with the sadness, frustration, and confusion of moral indignation:
A liter of premium gasoline costs P11.83. Diesel fuel is around P8.26. About the same price for 500 ml. or half a liter of bottled water.
An unscheduled trip to Ormoc City -- two hours away by fastcraft -- starts as a near-disaster until I wandered into the bus terminal and public market.
When I learned that the San Miguel Beer team was playing round 3 of the All-Filipino finals in Cebu against Alaska, and that I was going to cover it, I was not thrilled. First of all, I'm a basketball illiterate; second, I'm a jinx to our team.
If language is the portrait of a culture what does that paint about us multi-lingual Filipinos then? Comparing the different vocabularies makes for an entertaining diversion.
Filipinos have a curious attitude about status symbols, or what we call, aspirational products. For example, they wear diver's watch even though they don't dive, never have and most likely never will. Susmaria, some don't even know how to swim.
From Rags to Riches - A Love Story
The true story of a houseboy turned mechanic who became a company driver, then a millionaire at fifty after he retired from San Miguel Corporation.
Who was it who said, "with one good person you get the job done. With two people, only half of the work gets done. With three people, nothing gets done."?
An irreverent look at Cebu's biggest annual festival, the week-long celebration in honor of the miraculous Sto. Nino.
My titillating, fun-filled night with friends at Cebu's first and only gay bar featuring performances by drag queens and male strippers.