a life less ordinary

Before this was made popular by Urbandub with their rendition, I remember loving this song way back in highschool. Back then, my classmates only know Jennifer Love Hewitt's version; and this was the only "No Ordinary Love" song I knew. That's when I realized my musical taste was really different. =p

I love this video because of her wedding dress. Now if only I had the same abs, I will definitely wear something like this. =p

News Release

Blas F. Ople Policy Center

April 12, 2009

Filipino community rallies around 137 stranded bus drivers in Dubai; Ople Center seeks immediate probe and suspension of licensed agency involved in their recruitment

In keeping with the spirit of Lent, the “bayanihan” spirit was alive and well in Dubai as Filipinos pitch in canned goods, water, toiletries, and other food items to help 137 bus drivers stranded and looking for jobs after being deployed there by a licensed recruitment agency.

The stranded drivers were overwhelmed by the show of hospitality and generosity by Filipino community leaders who traveled in a convoy yesterday (Black Saturday). According to Ares Gutierrez, sub-editor of XPRESS, the paper that broke the story about the stranded bus drivers, most of the victims were confused as to what they should do next.

One of the drivers, Claro Oliver of Rizal province, contacted the Blas F. Ople Policy Center yesterday for help in pursuing justice against their recruiter, CYM International Services, a licensed recruitment agency. The agency promised the Filipino drivers good-paying jobs at Dubai’s government transport agency known as Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). Some of the drivers, some of who quit their local jobs despite years of service, have been waiting to be hired by RTA since January of this year. Desperate for food and cash, the stranded drives have resorted to scavenging a dumpsite for scrap food.

Former labor undersecretary Susan Ople, who heads the Blas F. Ople Center, urged the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to immediately investigate and if possible, suspend the said agency and its counterpart in Dubai, Al Toomoh Technical Services. “The sheer number of victims involved constitutes an act of economic sabotage by this licensed agency. We urge immediate action and for the owners of the agency to be barred from leaving the country.”

The bus drivers, nearly half of who hail from the province of Bulacan, complained to the Ople Center that their passports were being held by the foreign counterpart of their local agency in Dubai. This prevents them from applying for new jobs. Majority of the victims are professional drivers who have worked for years in reputable transport companies such as Baliuag Transit. The Center said the Philippine Consulate should intervene and obtain the passports of the stranded workers.

The plight of the 137 bus drivers were first exposed by Filipino journalists Jay Hilotin and Ares Gutierrez of Xpress publications based on a tip from a fellow Filipino journalist working at Gulf News. Word quickly spread through e-mail and soon, an assembly time and place were designated to enable Filipinos to join an aid convoy leading to the camp where the bus drivers were staying. A Filipino association of Airsoft aficionados whose game was suspended last Friday, pitched in by giving cash donations.

Aside from lack of food, the drivers were sharing living quarters near the Ajman garbage dumpsite. Their building’s electric power is sourced from a generator, giving them only 3 to 4 hours of electricity. The building also has inadequate water supply.

According to the drivers, they paid as much as P150,000 to CYM International Services in exchange for jobs at RTA. Some of the drivers have been staying in Dubai waiting for the promised jobs to come into fruition since January.

Based on interviews with XPRESS, driver Max Sumulong, 34, one of the victims, said last year CYM had offered him a job as a driver for Dh5,200 a month and he had given the agency 10,000 pesos (Dh1,000) as “processing fee”.

Eliseo Maximo, who has worked for 11 years as a bus driver in Manila, said: “We’ve been collecting aluminium cans, selling them at Dh4 per kg in Ajman, just to have something to eat.”

The stranded bus drivers are hoping that the Philippine Consulate can help them look for jobs in Dubai rather than be sent home. “Their biggest worry is on how they can repay the lending agency. If they come home, whatever they earn as bus drivers won’t be enough to pay off their loans and still sustain the needs of their families,” Ople explained.

Ople said she is awaiting documents from the bus drivers that would help speed up the POEA’s investigation into the alleged illegal recruitment practices of CYM International Services and its counterpart in Dubai. The Filipino community has lent the drivers a photocopy machine so they could consolidate and reproduce all the documents needed to bolster their case.

The former labor undersecretary also hoped that the 137 drivers would be able to meet President Arroyo, Vice-President Noli de Castro and other high-ranking officials in their visit to Dubai.

This makes me proud to be Filipino. Our small Filipino barkada in the office also donated some food items last Good Friday. I hope the drivers' case will be heard soon; not only back home but here in the UAE as well. And to illegal recruiters, sana makonsensya kayo.

What if your flight attendant can do so much more than serve you drinks and food? This guy made an Oklahoma-bound flight so much cooler. =)

One of my favorite non-fiction writers, Malcolm Gladwell; author of Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers; talks about spaghetti sauce.

I am staying out of someone's life for good.

How are you a better person today than you were ten years ago?
Sponsored by Nature Made.

 

I was 17 years old 10 years ago, and these are the good changes that have happened in a period of 10 years:

 

• I can hold my liquor better now
• I have acquired some meat on my bones (although the trick now is to reduce the percentage of body fat brought about by my now-slow metabolism.)
• I dress better (maybe coz I now have some money to shop where I want and a body that can finally fill out the Small size of  Western or European brand names)
• I am not easily amazed by "flashy" people. (By "Flashy", I mean people who look good, talk well, etc...).
• I am totally independent now and proud that I have survived on my own
• I dont sweat about the small stuff as much
• I learned a lot about myself; particularly, my strength to pick myself up again after weathering emotional storms
• I am more appreciative of simple things
• I acquired a nephew! And that is so much better than not having one at 17. =)

Share a song that gets you through the day.

Your_Universe

Rico Blanco

• If a man wants you, nothing can keep him away.
• If he doesn't want you, nothing can make him stay.
• Stop making excuses for a man and his behaviour.
• Allow your intuition (or spirit) to save you from heartache.
• Stop trying to change yourself for a relationship that's not meant to be.
• Slower is better.
• Never live your life for a man before you find what makes you truly happy.
• If a relationship ends because the man was not treating you as you deserve then heck no, you can't "be friends".-- A friend wouldn't mistreat a friend.
• Don't settle. If you feel like he is stringing you along, then he probably is.
• Don't stay because you think "it will get better." You'll be mad at yourself a year later for staying when things are not better.
• The only person you can control in a relationship is you.
• Avoid men who've got a bunch of children by a bunch of different women. He didn't marry them when he got them pregnant, why would he treat you any differently?
• Always have your own set of friends separate from his.
• Maintain boundaries in how a guy treats you.
• If something bothers you, speak up.
• Never let a man know everything. He will use it against you later.
• You cannot change a man's behaviour. Change comes from within.
• Don't EVER make him feel he is more important than you are... even if he has more education or in a better job.
• Do not make him into a quasi-god. He is a man, nothing more nothing less.
• Never let a man define who you are.
• Never borrow someone else's man. If he cheated with you, he'll cheat on you.
• A man will only treat you the way you ALLOW him to treat you.
• All men are NOT dogs.
• You should not be the one doing all the bending...compromise is a two way street.
• You need time to heal between relationships...there is nothing cute about baggage... deal with your issues before pursuing a new relationship.
• You should never look for someone to COMPLETE you... a relationship consists of two WHOLE individuals... look for someone complimentary...not supplementary.
• Dating is fun... even if he doesn't turn out to be Mr. Right.
• Make him miss you sometimes... when a man always know where you are, and you're always readily available to him - he takes it for granted.
• Never move into his mother's house.
• Never co-sign for a man.
• Don't fully commit to a man who doesn't give you everything that you need.
• Keep him in your radar but get to know others.

RANT #1:

I hate unnecessary small talk.

And in this country; people love unnecessary small talk.

The spiel never changes; it's always "Hi, how are you?". And I have replied a million times the same unenthusiastic "Fine" or "I'm doing good."

Even with Clients who obviously hates you; they still find the time and the effort to engage in awkward pleasantries.

This conversation actually happened:

Emirati Woman Client; Bigshit in Business Excellence: Hi, Franzine, how are you?

Me (knowing she's pissed): Good. And you?

Client: Fine. (then proceeded with the next line without skipping a beat) Listen, your Field Manager is here and they missed an interview with one of our Investors. How can this happen? I specifically told you that the Investor would be here at 8am; blah blah blah... (by this time, I am imagining lunch and thinking happy thoughts).

Me: They had another interview in another building; and this Investor decided to be interviewed today without confirming with us ahead.... (explaining away; with fake apologetic voice)...

And the conversation went on for at least another 20 minutes.

Can you see why I hate small talk? I would've appreciated it more if she just went on with her ranting straight away and not have initiated awkward small talk. I mean, why bother if you were to lambast my work anyway?

 RANT #2:

I don't understand why people press the Down button when they really want to go up using the elevator; or in this country, called a lift. It has happened countless times before; I see people impatiently pounding on the Down button. I thought they parked in the parking lot in the basement. To my surpise, they got in the lift with me. True enough, the lift went down and the same person who pressed the Down button got really mad that it went down when he meant to go up to the 3rd floor. How stupid is that?

Do they expect the lift will be faster if they press the Down button? My Indian officemate said that in India and Pakistan, there are signs near the lifts "Press Up to go Up; and Press Down to go Down". Apparently, some people press the Down button because the lift is somewhere up there and they're beckoning it to come down.  Silly.

Pasensya na. Sometimes, small things like these piss me off. =p