Signs of the Times
January 21, 2010Seen at a dressing room in Trinoma:
messages below say:
-discrimination?
-Only Asians
At a carinderia in Quezon City:
chop souy - masabaw na chop suey?
shrims? - ano yun?
breeded chicken- chicken na sosyal- may breeding eh.
pata team? -anong laro?
In fairness, the food was great. altho the surroundings will make your skin crawl
An Indecent Proposal
January 13, 2010
source: mgcpuzzles.com
The proposal to impose an expiration date on marriages is creating quite a buzz these days. As expected, people taking sides and the Church is in a near panic mode, saying that if it becomes a law there will be a higher incidence of crime as children deprived of love will be out in the streets, creating a rampage. As if. (Dear Church, with that assumption, do you think that where the parents are together and yet there is no love in the family, the children will not be going on rampage?)
For those who have high hopes for the proposal, dream no more. It is unconstitutional and will not become a law unless there is a change in the Constitution. Repeated throughout the Philippine 1987 Constitution is the phrase “[T]he State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution“. Furthermore, the proposal is discriminatory. Those who have a happy family life will suffer its effects as they will have to get married again.
Article 1 of the Family Code states:
“Article 1. Marriage is a special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life. It is the foundation of the family and an inviolable social institution whose nature, consequences, and incidents are governed by law and not subject to stipulation, except that marriage settlements may fix the property relations during the marriage within the limits provided by this Code.” Special means that it is unlike any other contract. Permanent means it has a lifetime effect. Not subject to stipulation means that the parties cannot by themselves, change the terms of their marriage, i.e. agree mutually to separate and to have nothing to do with each other anymore (walang pakialaman).
Even if there is a change in the Constitution, even if it is not against the law, the proposal IS a ridiculous proposal. Unlike an ordinary contract, the marriage contract produces effects which has legal implications. It is not like a driver’s license or a visa or a contract of work or a contract of lease. It produces long ranging effects, like children and properties. A valid marriage produces legitimate children, property relations, rights to support, parental authority, and other important issues.
1) If a marriage has an expiration date, what will happen to children who were conceived after the expiration of the contract but before the renewal of the contract? Will they still be considered as legitimate or illegitimate? If illegitimate, they will have rights different from their sibling who were conceived during the effectivity of the marriage contract.Will the legitimate children produced during the marriage still be considered legitimate after th expiration of the marriage, or finished contract na din sila after the expiration?
2) Upon the expiration of the marriage, how will the conjugal properties be divided? Dividing these will entail large legal expenses, which is what the proponents are trying to avoid. If for example, Manny and Jinkee’s marriage expires, who will have the house in Cali? Will it be divided according to the legal provisions on annullment and legal separation? Supposing the former spouses have separated but their investments are still earning, what will happen to the earned improvements? Who will get that?
3) If after the marriage has expired, are the spouses still obliged to support their minor children? Is the working former spouse still required to provide support to the spouse who is taking care of the minor children?
4) Who will have parental authority over the children? In case of disagreements as to how the children will be raised, who will prevail? Supposing the child wants to be an artista and one parent is ok with it but the other is not, sino masusunod?
1-ABAA, a women’s party list group who is proposing such law, says that this will further strengthen the family. How will the law achieve this when the contract which basis for the family is being reduced to an ordinary contract? Doesn’t that cheapen the concept of a family? If they really are after the well being of the family, they should instead propose a bill requiring free or affordable marriage counselling to couples having marital trouble or as a prerequisite for annulment. Or require psychiatric examinations for couples wanting to get married so that early on, it can be determined that the couples are psychologically capacitated to marry. Or to allow divorce.
They also say that with the proposal, families will be incurring less legal expenses and will not clog the court dockets. I do not think that they can avoid that as I have pointed out earlier, a marriage will produce legal affects which need to sorted out in the event of the end of the marriage. Couples who want to stay together will incur additional and unnecessary expenses to do so.
Personally, I think this proposal is being made to create buzz for the party list for the coming elections. Voter recall, hello. Wala na ba kayong maisip na mas matinong proposal?
Si Kulet at ang Kanyang Pet
January 6, 2010
Kunot ang noo ng pumasok sa office kanina ang nanay ni Kulet. Problemado. Di raw nya alam kung ano ang sasabihin o gagawin sa anak. Bakit ba?, tanong ko. Eto raw nangyari sa bahay nila:
Kulet: Kelan mo ba ako Mama bibigyan ng pet? Gusto ko ng pet.
Nanay: E di ba may pet chicken ka na?
Kulet: Ayaw ko na nun. Gusto ko naman ng iba.
Nanay: O sige, anong pet ang gusto mo?
Kulet: Gorilla.
Ano kamo , may manok ang anak mo?, tanong ko. Di kaya mamaya nyan, maghahanap na yan ng tupada? Gaga, sabi ni nanay.Tsk tsk. Sabihin mo sa anak mo, hindi pwede gawing pet ang gorilla kasi malaki ito at hindi kasya sa bahay ninyo.
Uwi ngayon si nanay.
Nanay: Anak, wag na lang gorilla ang pet mo. Mahirap mag-alaga nun.
Kulet: O sige. Basta pagawa na lang kayo ng swimming pool para may pet shark ako.
Libre Ang Mangarap
January 4, 2010Naalala ko pa nung graduation sa nursery ng pinsan ko. Siempre, mega-attend naman ako. Aliw kasi manood ng mga ganyan. Riot. Eto ngayon ang siste. Yung mga graduating students, isa-isang aakyat sa stage tapos magsasalita kung ano ang gusto nila maging paglaki nila. “When I grow up, I want to be a ….”.
As usual, marami ang gusto maging lawyer, doctor, nurse, etc. Kaklase ng pinsan ko yung dalawang anak ng kapitbahay namin. Sabi nung kuya, “When I grow up, I want to be a engineer.” Palakpakan ang mga tao. Nung umakyat na sa stage si JJ, hagalpakan sa tawa ang mga tao. Pano ba naman kasi, ang sinabi eto: “When I grow up, I want to be an NPA.”
Kaya naman pala NPA ang gusto kasi para naman daw maiba. Nung practise nila kasi, nagsabi din sya na “I want to be a doctor”. Sabi ng teacher, “Wag na nung doctor, ang dami na ng gusto ng doctor. Sabihin mo, pilot para maiba naman”. Nagprotesta si J. “Ayaw ko nga ng pilot! Ang gusto ko, burabod!” (May elementary school dito na ang tawag, Pilot. Meron ding elementary school dito na ang tawag, Burabod.)
Angko
January 1, 2010When my favorite sister (I only have one) went to Camarines Norte, all I asked for is for her to bring me some food treats. When she got back, among the things she brought were angko.
Found only (I think) in a certain town somewhere in Camarines Norte (either in Daet or in Vinzons, I am not sure), angko is a thumb sized treat made of ground sticky rice. Inside, the filling is made of sweet ground peanuts, like a peanut butter.
Update. What is fuuny-weird about this snack is that it is not well known, even to the Bicolanos. I am willing to bet that most of the Bicolanos I know have never seen this, much less tasted this goodie. Which is a bit sad because as you bite into it, the delicate blandness of the rice gives way to the sweet, nutty surprise inside.
