Wow - my first post on my blog! This is very exciting. Thank you Helen for suggesting this link - it was so easy to set up (truly idiot-proof!) - here's hoping I don't mess it up later (there are lots of options to customise that I will have to play around with later). Anyway - thank you for reading this, if you are here, and I will try to keep it interesting and a little briefer than some of the tomes I am known for!
Well - it is Wednesday here in Manila. Last night, I moved (again!) in to the apartment of an Australian couple here. Judi used to be our In Country Manager (ICM) - that is, the person who manages the volunteer program (Youth Ambassadors) here, and Bob is the manager of Sagric - this is the company here that manages most of the AusAID funded programs in the Philippines (and also runs the Youth Ambassador program). They are really lovely - great Australians, interesting and very down to earth. They are from Adelaide and are going home in a few weeks for their son's wedding - I think they are looking forward to a trip home! Anyway - they are very nice and they have a lovely flat in a quite swanky building - I don't feel like I am in volunteer land right now!!! It is also just a nice short walk to the office - different from the commute from Mandaluyong, where I have been staying at the Missionary Guest House (more about that one later).
So it is Wednesday and the weather is stinking hot. We are meant to be in to monsoon season now, which would have cooled it down, but the monsoon doesn't appear to have been informed because it is taking its sweet time. It is incredibly humid today - my traditional dripping sweat when getting into the lift at work act. The pollution is also really bad today. There are hills about 1.5 - 2 km away from the office and I judge the pollution by whether or not I can see them and how clearly. Today, I can't see anywhere near the hills - I would say that visibility is down to less than a kilometre. So that is not fun. I seem to have acquired a cough that I can't kick, and I am sure the pollution is part of it. We went away last weekend to the beach on a nearby island and the air was so lovely and clean. But when we returned to Manila, within an hour or two, I was hacking away again, so I think the air must be a contributing factor :( I think it is going to rain and thunder and give us a tropical storm this afternoon - should be interesting with the marches.
Which leads me to...
TODAY'S POLITICAL UPDATE: (cue introductory music, please)
Not sure if you are aware, but politics in the Philippines is a tad tense right now. There have been two key issues against President Gloria Macapagal Arroya (known as GMA). The first was that she announced a crack down on jueteng - an illegal gambling racket throughout the Philippines that many local government and authority people are involved in, so it has a lot of kickbacks and corruption associated and obviously a lot of people resisting its closure. It was this issues that brought down the previous president, Estrada. Except then it emerged that her husband, brother in law and son were all involved in it! So the yoghurt hit the fan (WVA people will recognise that expression!) and that saga-ed itself out. They were all also involved in politics - can't remember what exactly, except that her son was a congressman or something and is refusing to resign, and her husband did resign his post and fled to Hong Kong (they said it was to allow her to focus on governing etc., but might convenient that he isn't around to be prosecuted, hey?!). Then, this tape emerged that was purported to be GMA speaking to a Comelec (Commission for Elections) official during the presidential elections last year about the vote tally and how large her margin would be. Although this is not actually illegal in Phl, it is not terribly ethical and for weeks GMA didn't say anything about it, allowing only her inner circles to issue statements that the tape was faked. Anyway - eventually GMA issued a statement that it was her and she regrets the lack of judgement that led her to make the call. So now that tape is being played everywhere (the night they first played it in Congress was amazing - everywhere you went, from the gym to restaurants to shops to taxis, everyone was watching/listening. Was like Oz during the Melbourne Cup or something! She starts out the conversations saying "Hello Garci" and the grab of this has now become the most popular ring tone for mobile phones here!!!LOL People send it to each other by blue tooth and they have even set it to music! (little amusing aside. They now can't find Garci anywhere in the country! They are trying to issues him with summons to testify about this, but can't find him and keep bringing the summons back! That cracks me up). So anyway - when she did that, it set the ball rolling and the marches starting. Not big, so far, but steady. The military has gone on alert and there are people calling for her resignation. On Thursday last week she fired ten cabinet ministers (is now calling for all Philippinos to suggest replacements!!!) and then the next day they said they quit anyway (heh!) and called on her to resign. That is when things got ratcheted up to the next level and people started (again) talking about juntas etc. I might cheat and copy and paste some stuff I have written to others (shush if you recognise this!)
I wrote this last Friday, 8 July:
The political situation here is extremely tense as the calls for the President to resign are growing again. She is pretty isolated and it is all tipping on what the military will do now. We are currently at a military Red Alert and World Vision has raised its security level to Security One Alert. If it goes to Security Two, all expats (including me) are issued with an open ticket out of here and if it is three, we are on the first plane. Obviously, that will suckI waver between feeling like nothing is going to happen (this situation has dragged on for a couple of months now and never come to a head - one of the reasons that there has not been a massive people power, like the type that ousted Estrada and Marcos, is that there isn't really anyone better to replace President Arroyo) and feeling a bit scared - I have been in a war zone before, but never lived through a coup and never been evacuated. I am going away for the weekend (better to be out of Manila, methinks - about ten Aussies are going to the beach!) and taking a couple of extra sets of underwear in case I can't get back in!!!
And then this was on Monday 11 July:
Well - I think (hopefully) we are going to be okay. Friday was pretty tense (it was funny - we all got a message that we had to stay in our homes and not go out, and definitely not go to Makati, where all the protests were. Except a friend and I were going to the mall to see Batman Begins (man, was that a waste of two hours of my life!) and meet another friend. So we were on the phone to our volunteer coordinator going, "can we still go to megamall? I know there's a coup in the works, but can we go to the mall?" It was pretty funny. Anyway - I slept on the bus out of Manila on Sat morning so didn't see if there was build up outside the police or army HQ, and am not really sure what happened over the weekend. But yesterday, the Catholic Bishops Conference decided to NOT call for the President's resignation, although they do want a commission to investigate her actions. I think that might be a tipping point - they hold tremendous influence here (it was at their urging that Estrada and Marcos were overthrown) so their support (although it is not unilateral) gives Arroyo a reprieve and things may calm down. I still don't know if she will hang on to power, but if there is a transition, I am hoping it won't be a coup. The Bishops were very strident in NOT calling for a junta - saying that this was a very bad move and condemning anyone who took this line of action. So that is encouraging...Anyway - I will keep you posted, but for now, I think we are going to be okay. So thank you for your concern, and fingers crossed....Problem is - they are still stuck with a corrupt president. But Philippinos don't expect a president NOT to be corrupt - its automatic. So sad. And there is nobody better to replace her...
This is from Tuesday 12 July:
Since then, we have heard that there are going to be massive marches tomorrow (Wednesday 13 July) in Makati - they are expecting about a million people. This will be one of the turning points - seeing whether that many people do turn out, whether it stays peaceful and whether this heralds the start of ongoing marches. I was talking to one of the ladies at the office today who was out on the streets marching to overthrow Marcos in 1986 - how sad that we are in a similar situation almost 20 years later Philippinos are incredibly peaceful and gentle people and I don't feel in danger at all, just worried about the situation and not wanting to be pulled out. And it is hard when you are living in a place and become attached to it and emotionally invested in its future, but also don't know what is the best way forward any more. I feel so awful for all these wonderful people around me that they have to live with a corrupt government and they have to go through this, apparently time and again. And yet they stay so cheerful...
And back to today! We got a message from our new ICM, Lynette, BEFORE SEVEN this morning! It said that the marches were going to be all over Makati and stay away. But now they are concerned that Abu Sayaf are going to infiltrate the marches. I don't quite understand what effect that will have, except maybe to turn them violent more easily (that is the extremist group from Mindanao who specialise in kidnapping tourists from resorts and ransoming them - they killed the missionaries down there a couple of years ago).
Okay - enough political woes. I will keep you posted, but I think that is enough for one day. Apart from that. I am at work today and then having my tagalog tutor tonight. Tagalog is the main Philippino language - spoken on the main island of Luzon and in some other areas, although there are hundreds of dialects throughout the Philippines. Anyway, I am trying to learn but my teachers is not very good and I am also not terribly motivated! My office runs in English and everyone speaks English, and for some reason, I am finding it hard to pick up tagalog. So anyway - I had better find time after work to do my homework!
Hope you read this! I will endeavour to make future posts a little shorter, I promise! But at least you have some background now, to build from.
Signing off (and feeling so darn smug for having done this!)
Well - it is Wednesday here in Manila. Last night, I moved (again!) in to the apartment of an Australian couple here. Judi used to be our In Country Manager (ICM) - that is, the person who manages the volunteer program (Youth Ambassadors) here, and Bob is the manager of Sagric - this is the company here that manages most of the AusAID funded programs in the Philippines (and also runs the Youth Ambassador program). They are really lovely - great Australians, interesting and very down to earth. They are from Adelaide and are going home in a few weeks for their son's wedding - I think they are looking forward to a trip home! Anyway - they are very nice and they have a lovely flat in a quite swanky building - I don't feel like I am in volunteer land right now!!! It is also just a nice short walk to the office - different from the commute from Mandaluyong, where I have been staying at the Missionary Guest House (more about that one later).
So it is Wednesday and the weather is stinking hot. We are meant to be in to monsoon season now, which would have cooled it down, but the monsoon doesn't appear to have been informed because it is taking its sweet time. It is incredibly humid today - my traditional dripping sweat when getting into the lift at work act. The pollution is also really bad today. There are hills about 1.5 - 2 km away from the office and I judge the pollution by whether or not I can see them and how clearly. Today, I can't see anywhere near the hills - I would say that visibility is down to less than a kilometre. So that is not fun. I seem to have acquired a cough that I can't kick, and I am sure the pollution is part of it. We went away last weekend to the beach on a nearby island and the air was so lovely and clean. But when we returned to Manila, within an hour or two, I was hacking away again, so I think the air must be a contributing factor :( I think it is going to rain and thunder and give us a tropical storm this afternoon - should be interesting with the marches.
Which leads me to...
TODAY'S POLITICAL UPDATE: (cue introductory music, please)
Not sure if you are aware, but politics in the Philippines is a tad tense right now. There have been two key issues against President Gloria Macapagal Arroya (known as GMA). The first was that she announced a crack down on jueteng - an illegal gambling racket throughout the Philippines that many local government and authority people are involved in, so it has a lot of kickbacks and corruption associated and obviously a lot of people resisting its closure. It was this issues that brought down the previous president, Estrada. Except then it emerged that her husband, brother in law and son were all involved in it! So the yoghurt hit the fan (WVA people will recognise that expression!) and that saga-ed itself out. They were all also involved in politics - can't remember what exactly, except that her son was a congressman or something and is refusing to resign, and her husband did resign his post and fled to Hong Kong (they said it was to allow her to focus on governing etc., but might convenient that he isn't around to be prosecuted, hey?!). Then, this tape emerged that was purported to be GMA speaking to a Comelec (Commission for Elections) official during the presidential elections last year about the vote tally and how large her margin would be. Although this is not actually illegal in Phl, it is not terribly ethical and for weeks GMA didn't say anything about it, allowing only her inner circles to issue statements that the tape was faked. Anyway - eventually GMA issued a statement that it was her and she regrets the lack of judgement that led her to make the call. So now that tape is being played everywhere (the night they first played it in Congress was amazing - everywhere you went, from the gym to restaurants to shops to taxis, everyone was watching/listening. Was like Oz during the Melbourne Cup or something! She starts out the conversations saying "Hello Garci" and the grab of this has now become the most popular ring tone for mobile phones here!!!LOL People send it to each other by blue tooth and they have even set it to music! (little amusing aside. They now can't find Garci anywhere in the country! They are trying to issues him with summons to testify about this, but can't find him and keep bringing the summons back! That cracks me up). So anyway - when she did that, it set the ball rolling and the marches starting. Not big, so far, but steady. The military has gone on alert and there are people calling for her resignation. On Thursday last week she fired ten cabinet ministers (is now calling for all Philippinos to suggest replacements!!!) and then the next day they said they quit anyway (heh!) and called on her to resign. That is when things got ratcheted up to the next level and people started (again) talking about juntas etc. I might cheat and copy and paste some stuff I have written to others (shush if you recognise this!)
I wrote this last Friday, 8 July:
The political situation here is extremely tense as the calls for the President to resign are growing again. She is pretty isolated and it is all tipping on what the military will do now. We are currently at a military Red Alert and World Vision has raised its security level to Security One Alert. If it goes to Security Two, all expats (including me) are issued with an open ticket out of here and if it is three, we are on the first plane. Obviously, that will suckI waver between feeling like nothing is going to happen (this situation has dragged on for a couple of months now and never come to a head - one of the reasons that there has not been a massive people power, like the type that ousted Estrada and Marcos, is that there isn't really anyone better to replace President Arroyo) and feeling a bit scared - I have been in a war zone before, but never lived through a coup and never been evacuated. I am going away for the weekend (better to be out of Manila, methinks - about ten Aussies are going to the beach!) and taking a couple of extra sets of underwear in case I can't get back in!!!
And then this was on Monday 11 July:
Well - I think (hopefully) we are going to be okay. Friday was pretty tense (it was funny - we all got a message that we had to stay in our homes and not go out, and definitely not go to Makati, where all the protests were. Except a friend and I were going to the mall to see Batman Begins (man, was that a waste of two hours of my life!) and meet another friend. So we were on the phone to our volunteer coordinator going, "can we still go to megamall? I know there's a coup in the works, but can we go to the mall?" It was pretty funny. Anyway - I slept on the bus out of Manila on Sat morning so didn't see if there was build up outside the police or army HQ, and am not really sure what happened over the weekend. But yesterday, the Catholic Bishops Conference decided to NOT call for the President's resignation, although they do want a commission to investigate her actions. I think that might be a tipping point - they hold tremendous influence here (it was at their urging that Estrada and Marcos were overthrown) so their support (although it is not unilateral) gives Arroyo a reprieve and things may calm down. I still don't know if she will hang on to power, but if there is a transition, I am hoping it won't be a coup. The Bishops were very strident in NOT calling for a junta - saying that this was a very bad move and condemning anyone who took this line of action. So that is encouraging...Anyway - I will keep you posted, but for now, I think we are going to be okay. So thank you for your concern, and fingers crossed....Problem is - they are still stuck with a corrupt president. But Philippinos don't expect a president NOT to be corrupt - its automatic. So sad. And there is nobody better to replace her...
This is from Tuesday 12 July:
Since then, we have heard that there are going to be massive marches tomorrow (Wednesday 13 July) in Makati - they are expecting about a million people. This will be one of the turning points - seeing whether that many people do turn out, whether it stays peaceful and whether this heralds the start of ongoing marches. I was talking to one of the ladies at the office today who was out on the streets marching to overthrow Marcos in 1986 - how sad that we are in a similar situation almost 20 years later Philippinos are incredibly peaceful and gentle people and I don't feel in danger at all, just worried about the situation and not wanting to be pulled out. And it is hard when you are living in a place and become attached to it and emotionally invested in its future, but also don't know what is the best way forward any more. I feel so awful for all these wonderful people around me that they have to live with a corrupt government and they have to go through this, apparently time and again. And yet they stay so cheerful...
And back to today! We got a message from our new ICM, Lynette, BEFORE SEVEN this morning! It said that the marches were going to be all over Makati and stay away. But now they are concerned that Abu Sayaf are going to infiltrate the marches. I don't quite understand what effect that will have, except maybe to turn them violent more easily (that is the extremist group from Mindanao who specialise in kidnapping tourists from resorts and ransoming them - they killed the missionaries down there a couple of years ago).
Okay - enough political woes. I will keep you posted, but I think that is enough for one day. Apart from that. I am at work today and then having my tagalog tutor tonight. Tagalog is the main Philippino language - spoken on the main island of Luzon and in some other areas, although there are hundreds of dialects throughout the Philippines. Anyway, I am trying to learn but my teachers is not very good and I am also not terribly motivated! My office runs in English and everyone speaks English, and for some reason, I am finding it hard to pick up tagalog. So anyway - I had better find time after work to do my homework!
Hope you read this! I will endeavour to make future posts a little shorter, I promise! But at least you have some background now, to build from.
Signing off (and feeling so darn smug for having done this!)
posted by Kate | 5:52 am
3 Comments:
Kate - my technically illiterate wonderwoman! I am so very proud of your blogging ability!
Great to have this opportunity to be updated on your life regularly.
Will send you an email on my life shortly... seriously! I promise!
Much love sweetie, Candice
PS. Do you want me to send you over some Zarrafas?
yo!
Kate
It's Pip Bell here. Have really enjoyed the relays of your adventures thus far.
Our favourite place to go for breakfast is called "Cafe Mindoro" and it is run by people from the Philippines. Now I know where Mindoro comes from!
Really pleased you have found some less temporary digs. Just moved into my house last week and the whole moving and living out of boxes thing is not how it should be done!
Keep smiling in real life even if you can't SMS it,
Pip
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