Typhoon Frank

It was almost a week ago when Typhoon Frank (internationally code-named: Fengshen) visited our country. It was Sunday morning, and I woke up to a dark room and the wind pounding on my closed windows. The rain was pouring noisily outside.

There was no electricity, and the house was dark. I managed to have breakfast with only candles for light.

I was out of touch for some time. No TV, no radio, and no Internet. Luckily, the mobile phones were still working, so I could exchange SMS with my parents and brother.

Electric power returned by midday, but there was no cable TV. My source of information was the Internet. I was able to track the path of the typhoon and found out that it would pass by our area late in the afternoon.

By mid-afternoon, the worst of the typhoon was upon us. Winds buffeted the trees in the yard, tearing off some of the branches. A bird's nest fell from one of the trees; the poor little chicks died when they hit the concrete.

Surprisingly, the electric power didn't go off. Cable TV was even restored, even as the typhoon unleashed its fury on our area. After a couple of hours, the winds and rains calmed down.

TV news started broadcasting all the horrific images of devastation in the other provinces of the country. Scores died in the wake of the typhoon. Near where I was, there was news of a couple getting electrocuted because floodwaters reached their electrical outlets before they got to higher ground.

The worst story was about a ship that capsized in the middle of the typhoon after huge waves hit it. Some 800 souls were aboard that ship, and it was only the day after that reports of survivors, only 20 at first and now 50, came out.

The name Frank has just been removed from the list of typhoon names in the country because of its strength and the devastation it wrought.

Taxi Drivers

I take a taxi to work every day. It's not because I want to, but because I have to so that I won't be late for work. It's an added cost for me, but at least I get to work on time. Aside from that, I don't have to take at least two jeepney rides to reach the workplace.

It's so convenient. I just get in the cab, tell the driver where to go, and I can sit back and relax as my cab goes through the early morning rush hour.

Filipino taxi drivers are a class of their own. They are proud of what they can do with their taxis. If you tell them you need to get to a place pronto, they'll go through all sorts of places to avoid the notorious Manila traffic jams so you can reach your destination at the time you wanted to, with more minutes to spare to fix your hair.

Just this morning, I had an experience with what could be a cab driver from hell. I was running late for an appointment and I didn't want to keep my colleagues waiting. So I got into his taxi and told him to get me to Makati by all means. Boy did he take my word seriously. If it weren't against the law, he could have ran over half of the traffic aides in the road. He was cutting here and there; if he saw space between two cars, he took advantage of it to put his taxi ahead of everybody. When we reached our destination, he was sneering at me as if he won a gold medal in the olympics. I must have been so shaken that when the people I was supposed to meet saw me, they all said that I looked like I saw a ghost.

Another characteristic of a Filipino taxi driver I find amusing is that they are very opinionated. With only the radio as their company almost all day, most of them are up to date on current events in the country. Do you think they passively listen to the radio? You are dead wrong. Don't get them started, and they'll give their take on all issues: from the rice shortage to the different crimes in the country, up to the performance of the President. Name it, and they know a thing or two about these issues. They can be wrong at times, but the fact that they know about these issues is certainly impressive.

Then there are taxi drivers who choose to be silent throughout the trip. They'll just drive you to your destination, and when you get there, they'll take your payment, thank you, and off they go.

My most memorable taxi ride was the one I took with a good friend. In the middle of our trip, Mr. Taxi Driver started pouring his heart out, telling us how his wife (actually a live-in partner) left him. The woman ran away with his best friend and left him with their children, and, dig this, HER children to take care of. He was thinking of just driving the taxi off a bridge to end it all. My companion talked to him, advising him how important it is to live and that, with the help of God, things would come to pass and get better. I just silently listened to their exchange, half amused and half afraid that he would drive his taxi off a bridge or a flyover with us on board.

What would my commute be without the taxi? It would be boring, I think. That's why I cheer the Filipino taxi driver for making life a bit more interesting.

The Honorable Endorsers

I can't believe I will agree with the Hon. Miriam Defensor Santiago.

Earlier this week, Sen. Santiago lashed out at her colleagues who endorse various products. A trip along EDSA would bear her out. There, you would see billboards of the honorable members of the Senate endorsing various products ranging from detergents to beauty products.

A male senator endorses a skin clinic, his smiling face and clear white skin serving as proof of the expertise of the clinic he endorses. He says he sees nothing wrong with what he's endorsing because even men need to take care of their skin too,

Another honorable senator endorses a glutathione pill, which is currently in the middle of a controversy for false claims. Some news anchors alleged that the pill contains less gluta than it purports to contain.

On TV, several advertisements also feature honorable members of the Senate. There's one that features a male senator who earlier announced his desire to become our next president. He is endorsing a detergent powder. His alibi is that he's teaching buyers to save by buying in bulk because it is cheaper!

My favorite features a lady senator who claims that with a new variant of Downy, you only need to rinse your laundry once. The lady senator says what she's doing is public service because she's teaching people to be environmentally friendly, since they will save a lot of clean water by using less water.

Imagine the scenario when one of their colleagues endorses a competing brand. Will they bring the debate in the Senate floor? Will one senator say that his skin clinic is better than that of his colleague? Or worse, will our lady senator propose a bill to ban detergents and fabric softener that will cause environmental damage and use more water than necessary? That will be the day indeed!

I hope somebody joins Sen. Santiago in denouncing these endorsements by the Senate members. Although she alleges that her colleagues are clandestinely campaigning for their bid in the 2010 presidential campaign, I personally think that these endorsements cheapen the offices of these lawmakers. They should be above these things and remember what they were in the Senate for in the first place.

Goodbye Summer 2008

A few days ago, PAGASA, the Philippine weather bureau announced that summer is officially over and the wet season is here. No sooner the office announced it, two strong typhoons came.

The first, code-name Cosme entered the country's northern parts. It caused so much havoc that the effects are still being felt today. Vegetable prices increased since, for us in Manila at least, these normally come from the northern provinces. Just this morning, I saw a news footage of bangus (milkfish) farms in Pangasinan wasted by the typhoon. The other typhoon named Dindo did not do much damage to the country and is now headed for Taiwan.

So far, Manila has not been directly hit by a typhoon but we have torrential rains almost every afternoon. The rains would sometimes cause flooding and traffic jams in the metro sometimes. You could imagine what would happen if the city is directly hit!

PAGASA later announced that we should brace for at least 18 typhoons this year. I hope it doesn't make our lives even more miserable after some natural and man-made disasters we have experienced.

Iron Man

Thanks to Labor Day which is a holiday, I was able to watch "Iron Man" this afternoon with my friends and I must say that I truly enjoyed the movie.

The movie followed the basic story of how Tony Stark became Iron Man. This time he's in Afghanistan, showing off his latest invention, the Jericho Missile. He was kidnapped by the enemy when he was wounded in an ambush. While in captivity, a fellow prisoner made an electromagnetic device to prevent a shrapnel from piercing his heart. Same fellow prisoner helped him create the original armor when he was asked to create a Jericho bomb by his captors. The rest of the story followed the usual good guy against bad guy kind of thing.

The plus for Iron Man is its cast. Robert Downey Jr did a great job as Tony Stark/Iron Man. His acting was never over the top. Ditto with Jeff Bridges who played the villain, Obadiah Stane. Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper is the usual decorative female character in this kind of film.

The special effects is also impressive. I especially love the scenes where Stark was testing the capabilities of his armor suit. There was even humor, in fact lots of it, in these scenes. I like the robot armed with fire extinguisher.

I only wish that there were more action since this is the initial film to what I believe would be a blockbuster franchise.

If you're going to see this film, be sure to stay on until the end credits finish. There's a bonus scene waiting for you.

Enjoy!