Shameless Shoo-Li

While reading about the quirks and quandary that besets our society, I try to latch on some public figures that feed my idealist tendencies. Unfortunately, these figures eventually succumb to the dark side.

I still remember back in the late 80s that a certain Commissioner of Immigration and Deportation would eat death threats for breakfast and take congressmen to task (whom she would lovingly call “fungus-faced”). Now, she’s at the beck and call of the Empress and when she was caught reneging on her promise to jump off an airplane, she just says she lied (cue in the maniacal laughter).

Or how about our local Dirty Harry who launched a shame campaign against drug dealers and was the darling of the Yellow Queen, but clung on to the Action Hero and did his bidding even when it was against public trust?

The latest one to break my heart was Mr. Shoo-Li of Mongolian Barbecue fame. He used to host a talk show (Mongolian Barbecue) and invited government officials (fake and eventually real ones). He pretended to be a Mongolian and talked with an ethnic Ongpin Chinoy accent. He would discuss issues at hand and make fun of the crassness that passes for our politics. He would be the outsider to the system (like most of us actually) who would make us think why things are what they are.

Mr. Shoo-Li was ably played by Jun Urbano, a noted director. (He based his character on his father’s portrayal of Genghis/Kublai Khan, I forget which.)

I feel betrayed now because there’s a commercial of him saying that change should begin from ground up, since rallies and any complaining against the system is counterproductive. (And then he ends up going to the rally after his sidekick tells him that there’s P500 for him if he joins.)

This is just parroting the Empire’s line, since this absolves the Empire from any responsibility, when in fact, we disobey the rules because we see that our leaders have that much respect for it in the first place. Our leaders’ degree of influence is indicative of how much they follow what is right (oops, please watch out for dripping sarcasm). So the lesson here is that if you want to improve your lot in life like what our leaders have done, either play the game or ship out (the latter of which is a more appealing option to most of us).

Government Gridlock & Gloom

Reading about Senator Pimentel’s proposed federalism change seemed like a good idea at first (as most ideas are), then I noticed something that wasn’t brought up in other forums. He was proposing seven senators per federal state to represent the Federal Senate, which would bring the total number of senators from 24 to 75 (by the way, 75 is not a number divisible by 7, so please clarify where I went wrong with my assumption). At any case, this would bring more chiefs to the table, more politicians messing around with our lives, with all the Indians (pardon the term) running abroad to escape this malady.

It’s crazy enough as it is that there are tons of barangay tanods (neighborhood watchers) in the village level and yet crime is rampant (or at least, not abated). We have the provincial elite wanting to test their chops in the capital and give scraps to their constituents as a token of their magnanimity.

On a related note, we seem to have a shortage of professionals due to these professionals flocking out of the country, skilled professionals which includes accountants, engineers, computer specialists, teachers, construction workers, managers, marketers, researchers, doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, etc. But we can’t seem to export what we have in abundance: lawyers &/or politicians. I guess they already have it made here (fair or foul), that’s why they won’t leave. Unfortunately, having a system that extols form over substance creates an environment which also emphasizes legality over propriety, and I think this is where lawyers would thrive. We are exporting the talent needed to build a country, yet we cultivate the talent used to create chaos in the country.

Latent Logs

I got into thinking about this after reading an entry from UDC. Basically, here are the dormant blogs that I used to frequent and I wish that would go back online:

VivaGlam! – My high school-college friend’s blog. This was basically a travel log with insights from the work trenches, plus her insights on her beliefs. Entries had become infrequent when she moved into multiply (which also had infrequent posts). I guess this is also part of getting married and managing a household while managing a career… Most recent post: February 10, 2008 (still recent, but there was a gap between September 23, 2007 and February 8, 2008)

Fallacious – My sister’s best friend’s brother’s blog (I just love these relationship connectors… Hehehe!). These are the random philosophical/inane musings of a UP CW Lit major, who is now a call center vampire… That change in lifestyle usually makes them too tired to write that creatively or maybe he’s more involved with actual work. Most recent post: April 1, 2007

Kitty Litter – An officemate sent me this link; it tells of a part-time professor who also works in the print & PR world. I think she went to using Live Journal, haven’t figured out her current site (or if she’s still blogging). Most recent post: April 13, 2007

San Juan Gossip Mills Outlet – Edwin Lacierda’s blog, found it through the same officemate. His legal insights (along with Punzi) are interesting to an ex-lawyer wannabee. I’m sure he’s busy with a host of other issues so he can’t go back to blogging. Weirdly enough, before I saw his mug on TV, I thought he would be as old as Abe Margallo (I still don’t know why). I apologize to Atty. Lacierda, he’s much younger than that… Hehehe! Most recent post: November 13, 2007