CHARICE on GLEE

My fellow Filipino "Charice," a great singer, conquers GLEE, a famous TV show airing from the USA. Charice plays a foreign exchange student named "Sunshine Corazon" from sunny (except when there are typhoons, of course, which we get plenty of) Philippines! Showing starting today!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcWhiu3D5Mw

thanks to Journey4AP9 for the video.

The police officer's "jealousy"

Last night on TV news, a Filipino police officer was interviewed about a gang that had broken into an establishment, carting away valuables in the dead of the night. Describing how the gang entered the place it robbed, he said something like “Nakapasok sila dahil tinanggal nila yong jealousy (They were able to enter because they removed the jealousy).” Mr. Police Officer (Mr. PO) was referring of course to “jalousie,” which, according to dictionary.com is “a window made of glass slats or louvers of a similar nature.” Well, jealousy and jalousie do sound alike, and I indeed have heard in the past a few other people interchanging using those words, including my late grandmother. But when I heard Mr. PO say “jealousy” and not “jalousie” on TV news, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud (LOL!) because he said the word in all seriousness and conviction. And to think that it was police officer interchanging those two words, he who would have had some experience writing a police report involving perhaps a similar crime in the past. Especially because this sort of crime has become a staple already in the news (e.g., the “Akyat-Bahay Gang is always in the news—that band of thieves that is able to enter homes to rob using seemingly unimaginable methods and at unimaginable hours). Well, I hope Mr. PO's superiors saw his glorious interview last night and have by now inspired him to turn his jealousy into jalousie.

Mayor Herbert Bautista, Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, Councilor Winnie Castelo of Quezon City--three weeks!

It's been a little over three weeks now since the time that I had called up the office of Mayor Bautista of Quezon City to report that the campaign streamers used by him,Vice Mayor Belmonte, and Councilor Castelo (they all belong to the same political party) during the May 2010 elections in the Philippines are still hanging about on Himlayan Road near corner Aramis Street in Quezon City. The tattered remains of the streamers cling on wooden frames hanging precariously on some aerial cables, just waiting to fall on unsuspecting passersby or vehicles.

The lady who answered my two calls to Bautista's office told me that she will report and had reported already the matter to some "EPWD" section of the Mayor's office, and they should already be going to the place to remove 'em streamers. I also told her that their people should clean up the drainage in those roads because some already fallen parts of the streamers had clogged up the canals, and mosquitoes were feasting on the stagnant water (which is really quite dangerous since dengue fever is still rampant in the city).

Well, lucky me, three weeks hence and still no action from the Mayor's EPWD. Not even the local barangay (village) Chair Marivic Co-Pilar (Barangay Pasong Tamo) seemed to have the time to go around this part of her territory and noticed the junk up above and on the street level, not to mention the poor condition of the street itself which is traversed by hundreds of vehicles everyday. Or maybe she's busy preparing for the next village elections scheduled sometime this year. Well, good luck!!!

Belmonte and Bautista photo below from philstar.com