On the Philippine police shooting a mother and son incident in Paniqui, Tarlac — Dracarys and my twisted sense of justice

 

This video of the fatal police shooting incident that murdered a mother and son in Paniqui, Tarlac, originally appears on GMA News YT channel, among other sources, and the storyis explained in English on Channel News Asia written by Gabrielle Andres, among other sources.

MY SOLUTION TO ALMOST everything is doing nothing. Though I’ve been enchanted by the concept of Katniss Everdeen—the symbol, the one voice of rebellion that will change the world—it’s just my default mode to meet people in the middle. In life I’ve learned I can’t defend my rebellious team if I don’t have the favor of the management. So, it’s necessary to win both sides by doing nothing. And contrary to popular belief, doing nothing requires every ounce of energy in our body. While many think that it makes you an enabler, sometimes a tremendous amount of power lies in remaining balanced. In fact, my friend Marjorie is someone rather close to being a Katniss Everdeen or even a Thatcher, while I take more of the Elizabethan path.

But events like this can trigger my inner Targaryen. A Hitler. Or a mad Jesus.

Prank callers or prank hotlines?

I WRINKLED MY NOSE in disgust the moment I inhaled the wisp of air polluted by gas leaking from a tank. The bottom part of which had a crack. Mild friction caused some sparking around that part. That could spread to a wildfire. The slightest movement could cause the tank to explode, explained my brother-in-law. Like the clanking of two Coke glass bottles.

In defense of Paula Jamie Salvosa

In the clip, a young lady constantly hollered at a female security guard at the LRT station (Metro Manila, Philippines) the words “I’m a liar,” her squeaking tone interchanging between a question and a statement.

The young lady explained that the guard’s rude behavior had enraged her. “I’m just returning the favor,” she retorted.
Source

LIKE A TIGER SHE ACTED. That might even be an understatement. I’m talking about Paula Jamie Salvosa—the young Filipina who made it to Internet stardom through a minute-long “AMALAYER” video clip a very responsible online citizen posted few days ago.

Verbal bullying, punch lines, and bruises

From curse words that were culturally proscribed yesterday to the same curse words that are commonly accepted today …

(Image credit: http://www.citytowninfo.com)

… culture has come a long way indeed.

 

REPORTING RESEARCH RESULTS RELEVANT to verbal bullying at a meeting of the American Psychological Association, Lilia Cortina and Vicky Magley found that rudeness is unbridled in the workplace. Their study indicated that 71 percent of 1,100 surveyed workers said that they had experienced pompous and outright rude behavior. Later on, with the increasing encounters of uncivil behavior came symptoms of anxiety and depression among victims of maltreatment. Those passive victims suffered the worst mental health. Similarly, according to bullyingstatistics.org, “Many victims of verbal bullying are affected in very real ways. Verbal bullying can affect one’s self image, and affect someone in emotional and psychological ways. This type of bullying can lead to low self-esteem, as well as depression and other problems. It can aggravate problems that a victim may already be experiencing at home or in other places.”

For 40 or 50 years, there has been an increased exposure to lack of civility. A survey conducted by a nonprofit research group, Public Agenda, reported 79 percent of interviewed adults said that lack of respect and courtesy in the (American) society is a serious problem and more than one-third confessed that they use foul language in public—clearly, this is verbal bullying in public.

Allergic reactions

I CAN’T HAVE THEM touch my things… Once in a while, I get in contact with allergens that the initial reaction of my sinus is to itch to the point that I want to sneeze! No, no, no. I’m not conversing about pollen grains scattered all over the atmosphere when the wind is blowing, or dust particles hurling from the ceiling when the maid in the house is cleaning—I’m conversing about people whose presence is simply annoying.

Birth of the fools

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! I am now in Baguio, facing a situation that bothers me. I am supposed to enjoy in this Youth Camp but the situation I am into isn’t something to smile at…

Stereotyped looks

ALONE, I WAS ABOUT to eat my lunch at the eatery located at the back of the Hotel New Arirang, the eventual campus of Pines International Academy, Clark. Yet before doing so, I paused in front of the huge golden mirror, hanged on the wall near the restrooms.

I saw two of my co-trainees passing by my back – Teacher Emerald and Teacher Jen. I tried to smile at them; yet I noticed they are prolifically talking. I also conjectured, perhaps, they are going to that eatery. So I just let them go there first because I’m used to being alone.

A feeling I can’t hide…

I’VE BEEN TRYING TO hide this feeling; however, I can’t! I must say this, or else, I might burst…

Whew! I’m exhausted! I just got home this evening and my mind is bemused!

Foods for everyone

THERE WERE TABLES ADORNED with red and white linen. There were waiters to serve the beef and the vegetables. There were bottles of sodas prepared for all. Tayid-tayid09 could have been as awe-inspiring as it can be.

Debates and scriptwriting in a general assembly

THE CROWD WAS PIERCING and there was a contour of students seated on the bleachers and the plastic chairs. I sat on the bleachers, joined my classmates arrayed with the BS Psychology students of Arts and Sciences. I dislike making a “grand entrance” if I walk through the center aisle towards the front-most chair, so I just sat there silently…

I arrived late for the CAS general assembly.

Annoying photo shoots

I WAS ACTUALLY TARDY for my photo shoot. I didn’t know that today would be the picture-taking for TOS winners and finalists. We had it in the AVR. When I arrived, it was Gypsy’s turn. Then I left for some moments and when I returned, it was my turn after Joejit’s (the USC President).

Gypsy said, “Oy yan si Al, magaling mag-emote sa picture yan… tignan mo man yung friendster niya.”

A Palawan-day wish list

TODAY, I'VE FINALIZED A list of my current wishes, which I’ve gathered in my mind the whole day...

1. I wish people who sardonically laugh in the tricycle would wobble on the back-ride and then they would fall from their seat so they will suffer a conked cranium!

Annoyance in conversations

OFTENTIMES, MY FOREMOST ALLERGIC reaction is when people holler at me. Some people love to correct me by defending their facts that are can even mislead us because they are more erroneous. Others are fond to instruct me with the pitch of their voice rising as if they know what they are discussing even though they know nothing.

Memoirs of R18

CRYSTAL LIGHTS WERE HANGING from the ceiling, reflecting a prism of diamond-like brilliance. Balloons were festooned on the stage, fronting sets of chairs and tables, which were adorned with linens, for a supposed-to-be-big audience. The audience, however, wasn’t that big… It was never big. If it was, then we might have been hallucinating....

R18 was a concert organized by Cram Productions. This production team is composed of everyone in the ABMC IV class batch 08-09. It was headed by Edwin de Leon with Gypsy Salazar and Michelle Ann Frazier; all of them are my classmates.

The yellow banana and the brown monkey

HAVE YOU SEEN A gay couple wherein one of them is dark brown while the other is yellow in skin tone? Well, I know such an uncanny-looking couple with such skin colors-combination. I often relate the yellow guy to a banana and the brown guy to a monkey.

When I see them, I call them the “monkey-banana partners”!

The “half dog”

THIS HALF-SLICED HOTDOG WAS our snacks yesterday during our retreat. It was thriftily drizzled with a mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise, stuffed in a typically-sized pair of half-sliced bread.

The new spelling of “exhausted”

IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH your TOS (The Outstanding Students) requirements, you would have to dash after every student and every professor and almost everyone who you need recommendation letters from. Then you would have to fill-in forms and you would have to defray for requests on records or certificates of moral character and so and so... In order to do that, you would have to climb the stairs from 1st floor to 4th floor and vice versa. You would have to print your curriculum vitae, which you would have to photocopy and distribute to those who you would want to believe in your skills (NOTE: This is a scenario seen on most students but not all).

The mare: Just a mistress (The truth about yesterday’s horses)

WE CROSSED THE FREEZING city of Angeles and arrived at the zero-degree savannah of Clark after taking photos of diverge views in an unknown park and window-shopping at the Oriental Mall while others fritter.

And then there we arrived…

The El Kabayo is a location in Clarkfield Pampanga where there are horses. (From the word itself, “kabayo” is the Filipino word for “horse”.) In here, we met two horse attendants who were wearing MP4 earphones hanging upon their ears.

Running with horses

HOW DOES IT FEEL to dash with horses like the ones in the photo? I suppose that would be very exasperating – just like yesterday…

Workloads yesterday were very exasperating too! (Running from the Accounting and Finance Office to the Multi Media Center and Publications’ Office just to request for a budget disbursement that has to be fixed sooner to defray a flight to Palawan, which has already been reserved and should be paid on the other day, and then climbing through the overpass just to traverse from one building – or campus – to another… and more, more, and more – a thousand “mores”!)

Shopping before partying in a Department of Annoyances

IT WAS PAST 1 P.M. and I was still waiting in the raucous horde of SM City Clark, being crammed with the people who complain about that precinct -- its sales boys, sales girls and all its services -- yet fervently wait and buy their necessities for the yuletide season. Some say the goods are too pricey; yet they still align in the elongated contour of people paying through cash, or credit cards (the latter is the most disturbing because it takes times). Some say the employees at the gift-wrapping center are shabby; yet they still line up to have their gifts wrapped. Some say the goods are second-rate and are made in China; yet they still ask their husband or boyfriend (or whatever they call them) to clutch it and join the array in the cashier to save time. Some say this and that, and so and so….

Mitch and April -- my co-editors in The Pioneer -- arrived almost simultaneously (1:30 p.m. perhaps); though Mitch came few seconds earlier. Seeing Mitch first, I saw her following the party’s motif – she was wearing a green blouse topped on her blue denim. Conversely, April was in her purple top. I was in blue, tight-fitting shirt, which I was supposed to change to green by purchasing sale-items at SM Department Store with the Molecule Tag.