the past week (and the preceding one as well) has been very hectic, very toxic, and quite frankly, unbelievably busy.
since i arrived, i've covered a number of conferences: the 2nd international medical tourism conference; the 20th philippine advertising congress; the 6th asian network of major cities meeting; the first inter-parliamentary global meeting on hiv/aids; the launching of a unicef book on women and children displaced by armed conflict in the philippines, and a slew of others. whew.
also during the same period, i weathered a couple of typhoons, one super typhoon (which, thank god, made lihis. hahaha. anong english ng lihis?), an earthquake (i was at sofitel covering an event, the mayor of kuala lumpur was delivering a speech when the earth shook. i later learned that sofitel is on reclaimed land, that's why we really felt the quake. i immediately looked out (hello manila bay!) to see if a tsunami was on its way.
then last week, my friend antonio decided that he was tired of languishing in his jail. kinda. so he walked out of the makati court, asked people to join them and took over manila pen. wow. posh! couldn't he have chosen a lesser one? say city garden or best western? no. it had to be manila peninsula.
i tried to go, since i was just a few blocks away (we had a meeting, first on dela rosa, then by paseo de roxas) but the police has barricaded ayala and makati avenues.
one of our reporters made it early there, so she was able to get some nice shots while the whole she bang was going on. on the police's third attempt to ask the civilians, including the media men, to get the f*ck out of the place, she left, along with a handful of reporters and apparently, faeldon as well.
that was one of the reasons puno cited as he justified the "processing" and "arrest" of the reporters, they were asked to leave and they didn't, ergo, they were unwitting collaborators. my soon-to-be-lawyer friend that that is not possible. well.
the freaking peso is down, down, down. 41! we're back to the late 90s rate. shoot. my colleague who earns in dollars mockingly asked me to go back since every single time i go back to manila for the past three years or so, the peso would just drop. i'm beginning to believe him. when i arrived two weeks ago, it was at 43 something. last week, i had some dollars exchanged at 42.20. yesterday, it closed at 41 something. not happy.
not happy at all...
Thursday, December 06, 2007
typhoon, earthquake & a coup attempt: all in a week's work
Friday, November 02, 2007
richard davis
and since we're talking about some of the stuff i write about, here's one of them. link's also from the inquirer, which picked the story up.
who is richard davis, you might ask. he is a young fil-am soldier, born to a caucasian dad and a filipina mom. after arriving from an assignment in iraq, he and his friends celebrated. hours later, he was murdered.
his story so compelled paul haggis, the genius who wrote million dollar baby and crash, both oscar winners, to do a movie based on this fil-am soldier's mysterious death. he called it "in the valley of elah" and it starred tommy lee jones and susan sarandon.
the story is very special to me because it hit close to home.
richard thomas ong davis was a distant relative. i went to his wake, his funeral and the succeeding family events in his remembrance. i was doing balitang america four years ago but i begged off from doing the story for the newscast.
his mom, auntie remy is a very strong woman. and so is his dad lanny. at first, i was surprised to find out that they agreed to having this movie fictionalize their son's death. it did not make any sense to me because it would just open old wounds, which it really did, but when i talked to them, i realized that they just wanted to hold onto something that would tell parts of their murdered son's story. even if that meant revisiting and rewatching his ordeal, and his last few hours alive.
heyz seeker
Inquirer.net picked up my story on Heyz Seeker.
Fil-Am Captures Army’s ‘Soldier of the Year’ Award
By Momar G. Visaya
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 10:10pm (Mla time) 10/22/2007
NEW YORK – A soldier of Filipino descent emerged victorious at the recently concluded 2007 Best Warrior Competition held Oct. 1-5 at Fort Lee, Virginia and was declared the Department of Army’s Soldier of the Year.
Spc. Heyz T. Seeker, who represented the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, won the grueling competition after competing with 12 other soldiers in tests of physical fitness and military skills ranging from marksmanship to first aid.
“It’s still sinking in. I was really overwhelmed at first,” Spc. Seeker told the Asian Journal in a telephone interview Thursday, Oct 11.
The 35-year-old soldier is stationed at the Hunger Army Airfield in Georgia with the 75th Ranger Regiment. While he listed Grover, California as his hometown, his family is now based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
He was born to Filipino parents in Atascadero, Calif., and grew up in Grover. His father died when he was two years old and his mother remarried when he was 10.
“I only know stuff about my father through pictures and the stories that my mother used to tell me,” Seeker said.
His mother, Maxima Voelker, is from Bohol, which he describes as a “small and beautiful island in the Visayas”. Seeker’s first and only trip to the Philippines was when he was 15.
Spc. Seeker recognizes the fact that with this win, he is now in a different position. “This is an honorable position to be in and there’s a lot of weight on my shoulders now,” he admitted.
“My mission now is to promote the army and I will go out there to tell the army story. I plan to reach out to the struggling inner-city youth and tell them my story. I am a testament to what the army has given me,” Seeker said.
His Goal
Spc. Seeker is the first in his family to become an Army Ranger, and has said that his ambition is to become the first Filipino sergeant major of the Army, the Army's top enlisted rank. He grew up hearing stories of how both his father and stepfather had fought in World War II.
Spc. Seeker said three deployments to Afghanistan and one to Iraq helped prepare him for the competition.
“I love the Army, and I love living a structured life," he said. “I'm all about paving the way, leading the way and being the first at something. I was the first in my family to be a ranger, and I'd like to one day become the first Filipino sergeant major of the Army."
Asked about what he considers as his favorite part in the five-day competition, Seeker replied, “It has to be the first day of the competition, when we had to go before the board. I had to concentrate and focus on it and afterwards, I was pretty confident that I did well. I felt like a winner.”
His fathers’ footsteps
When he joined the Army in 1991, Spc. Seeker was following in the footsteps of his two fathers who were both World War II veterans. In his first enlistment, Spc. Seeker became a forward observer artilleryman and when he transferred to the National Guard in 1995, he was an armored crewman.
When he enlisted again in 2004, he signed up as an infantryman. During his second round of basic training, he raised his hand to apply for the Ranger Indoctrination Program.
Now an airborne Ranger, Spc. Seeker is looking to be the best in the Army through this competition.
Fierce
U.S. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada congratulated Spc. Seeker of Las Vegas for being recognized with the Army’s Top Soldier award.
“I congratulate, Specialist Seeker, for being named the Army’s Top Soldier,” said Reid. “While I am proud of all of our men and women in uniform, Specialist Seeker's exemplary service honors the country and honors Nevada.”
Spc. Seeker was selected as the best of 26 competitors representing 13 U.S. Army major commands, after a fierce battery of physical and mental tests. The results were based on his performance in simulated urban combat drills, battle drills, physical fitness tests, and written examinations.
Seeker and 11 other soldiers competed for the title of Department of the Army Best Warrior. The 12 Soldiers and an additional 12 non-commissioned officers spent a week at Fort Lee, competing in events such as the board, land navigation and warrior tasks.
The winners were announced Oct. 8 at the Association of the United States Army convention in Washington, DC. (AJ)
Culinary arts
Throughout his military career, Spc. Seeker has also kept an interest in the culinary arts, according to a news release from the Army’s Public Affairs Office.
For about six years between his Army enlistments, Spc. Seeker was a sushi chef apprentice in San Diego. Oddly, he never considered becoming a food service specialist for the Army.
"I wanted to roll around in a tank or become a Ranger," he said.
He's putting off his goal of opening up a sushi bar until he retires from the Army. In the meantime, he's focused on making his two deceased fathers proud.
"And I want to set an example for my kids so they can serve their country too," he said.
zambian chronicle
i covered the clinton global initiative's third annual meeting in new york city last september. i blogged about it, well, about one of the sidelights, which was seeing brad pitt and angelina jolie in person and listening to her speak.
anyhow, a friend forwarded to me a link to zambian chronicle, a blog, which i presume chronicles the events in zambia. in it was an article which i wrote.
it was titled "World Leaders Attend Clinton Global Initiative As Levy Urges The West To Redeem Themselves". i had to make a second look. i knew i wrote about world leaders attending the meeting but the "As Levy Urges the West..." part i do not remember writing.
what's going on?
so i read through the entire article. (disclosure: i don't normally read whatever i wrote once it gets to see print or gets published because i get hurt (literally) and my heart skips a bit or two every time i see a typo) with this one, i knew from the get go that i did not write the last five paragraphs that they (whoever) added.
i don't even know who levy was, until i read the whole thing, which i supposedly wrote.
i'm not raising a ruckus, but just for the record, i did not write the headline and the story's last five paragraphs as they appear in the link above.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
economic renaissance
that's what the philippines is experiencing right now, according to gloria macapagal-arroyo, who is in new york for the opening of the 62nd u.n. general assembly.
i covered her twice yesterday - first at the clinton global initiative opening where she was part of the morning plenary and the after-dinner coffee for community leaders in the east coast at the waldorf astoria.
she touted the country's unprecedented growth - the bullish stock market (which have reached record heights, she says), the strong peso (sorry na lang sa inyo, she says. yes, that what she really said. sorry na lang sa inyo. haha), and local and foreign investments amounting to billions and bilions of dollars. my goodness, that was dizzying!
outside the waldorf, a small group of protesters gathered. they denounced gloria's human rights violation record in the country, among other issues (corruption, killing of journalists, and the list goes on). their chants were drowned by the incessant blare of police cars sirens. there were a lot of street closures in midtown manhattan, and traffic was just crazy.
the highlight of my day?
gloria arroyo. not.
at the clinton global initiative, i got the opportunity to hear bill clinton speak. desmond tutu, yes, that bishop desmond tutu sounded very inspirational and funny. president hamid karzai had his funny moments too. al gore's still passionate about the environment. had he won - oh wait, he did win, the world would have been different. oh well, i guess we should all thank florida.
okay, the highlight/s, aside from seeing clinton. shakira! yes, she's here too, and she was part of the panel about teenage concerns. had a chance to talk a bit with petra nemcova (google it, just a little bit) without realizing who she was. brad pitt talked about how their foundation is helping new orleans.
for the longest time, i had been terribly unfair to her. i've been very supportive of her so-called nemesis (go team aniston!) but yesterday, i had a chance to hear her speak. i was mesmerized. i was charmed. i was lost. and now i'm found. haha.
she caught my gaze and returned it with a smile. i'm swooning.last night i tendered my resignation as a member of team aniston (sorry jen!) and today, i'm a proud card-carrying member of team jolie! angelina jolie rocks!
she's beautiful, no question about it. i was two feet away from her and i was just in awe looking at her. then she opened her mouth, and outright i saw, i felt the sincerity in her efforts to help the children where there were conflicts before. she talked passionately about the need to help nine million children displaced by war.
she inspired me. and now i'm a fan.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
independence day
it's the 4th of july! yay!
i can't believe i slept 16 hours! after a super duper hectic slash emotional slash stressful day yesterday, i dropped by a resto to buy my dinner. to go, please. i was planning to have my dinner away from it all.
so i got home around 7ish. put the boxed dinner on the dining table. left my messenger bag by the couch. went up to my room. turned on the tv and the computer. the bed looked so inviting. i sat down, then i lied. responded to a couple of text messages asking me to go out (it's a holiday! people are going out! let's drink!). i asked for a rain-check.
i woke up 8 hours later, at 3 in the fucking morning, with the tv blaring with infomercials and the computer playing songs from my iTunes. my eyes were aching. i slept with my contacts on. went to the restroom and saw my blood-shot eyes. damn, this is not good.
i realized that i just woke up. was it time for breakfast? at 3 am? i decided to crawl under the sheets and call it a night. who cares. it was an almost-eight hour cycle when i woke up around 11.
i feel better. then i thought about yesterday's mayhem and my blood began to boil. not again.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
i heart jfk
jfk the airport, that is. it's like i was deprived of wi-fi access for the past few days that i was like a kid in disneyland when we arrived at the jfk airport yesterday to check in for our evening flight.
becaause of a storm that was going east, our flight was delayed by about an hour but the pilot was good that he probably oversped up there, if it was all possible.
so i'm back in la-la-land. the weather last night was a bit cold and today's a wee bit too windy. i slept until around noon. i really need this rest to recharge, for tomorrow's the start of yet another hectic work-week.
i'm going to make some important steps in the near future and my mind's still quite muddled. i'll write about it as soon as i get more details. in the meantime, i need to do some catching up.
Monday, January 15, 2007
dream job
NBC Universal has three employees whose full-time job is to watch YouTube every day looking for studio-owned material.
Three. Lucky. Bastards.
New York Times has the full story.
Of course I'm kidding. Imagine the strain of watching video on your computer screens 8 hours a day! With millions of videos being uploaded by the day, these three people have their work cut out for them. They could probably die first before watching everything that YouTube has accommodated so far.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
sacramento in one day
j and i drove from san francisco to sacramento to cover the second inaugural ceremony of governor arnold schwarzenegger. ah. work.
we left daly city shortly around 8, and arrived in the capitol less than two hours later. some streets were closed because of this big event so we had to park a few blocks away. we walked towards the sacramento memorial auditorium where the ceremony was going to be held.
there were a few musical numbers that didn't actually matter. some of them even overstayed their welcome mat (hello, mariachi divas!). the program started around 11:30, probably in time for the 12 noon swearing in of the governor. why 12 noon? i have no idea. hehehe.
maria shriver looked splendid in her valentino gown. we were told that the governor was wearing a prada suit and that the bible which was going to be used in the actual swearing in has been with the schwarzenegger family since 1878.
the former mayor of san francisco, willie brown, started the ball rolling by calling all the special guests who would be joing the first family onstage, including the mayors of los angeles, san francisco, sacramento, san jose and other key cities. he also called on eunice kennedy-shriver, maria shriver's mother; then the schwarzenegger kids, then maria shriver. 
then ahnuld appeared onstage. on crutches! poor guy. he broke his thighbone (they say it's upper femur) in a freak skiing accident somewhere in idaho. he took his oath, read his speech (interrupted by applause 13 times!) and that's it.
oh, jennifer holiday also performed "and i am telling you..." and she was fuckin' awesome. oops, sorry. got carried away. j-ho has this tendency to contort her face in order to hit the really high notes but i don't think she minds. she's good. and as willie brown said in his introduction, 'there's no other singer in this world who could give justice to this song aside froim her.' sorry j-hud.
Monday, January 27, 2003
ping lacson report - balitang america
> BALITANG AMERICA - PHONE PATCH REPORT
> MOMAR VISAYA - LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
>
> STORY: Lacson in US to Appeal Court Order
>
> Philippine Senator Panfilo Lacson stated in an interview last week that he
> is going to appeal a California court's prior ruling that had declared him
> in default of the cases filed by handcuffs supplier Blanquita Pelaez.
>
> The case, filed against Lacson before the Superior Court of California in
> Alameda County stemmed from the balance nonpayment of some 41,000 handcuffs
> ordered in 1996 by the Philippine National Police from US-based Smith and
> Wesson Company. Pelaez was the exclusive supplier. Lacson was then the
> chief of the Philippine Police.
>
> On Jan. 10th, Judge Julie Conger ordered Lacson to pay more than 3 million
> dollars in damages to Pelaez after Lacson failed, despite several
> summonses, to answer a civil suit Pelaez had filed. He now has until March
> 5th of this year to file an appeal. On that day, he is scheduled to appear
> in court to present proof of his US assets to the plaintiff and her
> lawyers. This will enable Pelaez to get the 3 million dollars that Lacson
> has not paid yet.
>
> Lacson said during the interview that revisions in the business contract
> with Pelaez made the PNP responsible for paying Philippine customs and
> duties. These were supposed to be paid by the supplier instead. he
> therefore considered the deal grossly disadvantageous to the Philippine
> government
>
> A potential presidential candidate in the 2004 elections, Sen. Lacson also
> clarified during the interview hat there is "no formal declaration" yet
> from the opposition that he will be the party¹s official standard-bearer in
> the 2004 presidential elections.
>
> While he announced as early as November last year that he will seek the
> presidency, Lacson, in the interview was a bit coy, saying that he does not
> want to sound presumptuous and that the ultimate decision to run in 2004
> rests with his political party. He added that there are talks but nothing
> is official yet.
(Full Disclosure: The preceding report was what I filed for The Filipino Channel's Balitang America when they requested me to be one of their correspondents in California. A week earlier, I had the opportunity to interview Sen. Ping Lacson exclusively for the Asian Journal. It was held at Picanha, a Brazilian restaurant in Burbank, CA. Lacson was with his lawyer Siegfred Fortun.)
