Leaders, 1990-present

Noodles by Gwen Muranaka.

The Philippines has had 15 presidents since 1898. Japan has had 15 prime ministers since 1988. Beat that.

When all else fail…

Yes, that’s what Filipinos do when ballot machines malfunction during presidential elections. Amen.

Fireworks display at the Mall of Asia.

Watched these with Mariko last Friday at Manila’s Mall of Asia.

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In Pictures: IDU lecture at PNU.

Yesterday, the Intramuros Debate Union (IDU) delivered a lecture-workshop on basic Asian Parliamentary debating for the students of the Philippine Normal University (PNU) in Manila. 

It was in line with the IDU’s advocacy of promoting debating among the many colleges and universities in the country that have not yet discovered how satisfying that form of intellectual masturbation is. The speakers were Gian Carlo Garcia of San Beda College on the basic structure of Asian Parliamentary debate, Arvin Ramos of Collegio de San Juan de Letran on the speaker roles in Asian Parliamentary, myself (Lyceum of the Philippines) on case building and argumentation and LA Sevilla of Mapua Institute of Technology on adjudication. The PNU Psychological Society organized the event.

And here are the pictures taken through my camera (I’m yet to get the other pics from PNU by e-mail): 

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Pilgrimage to Manaoag.

My grandmom is an avid devotee of the Virgin Mary. The thing with that is, she would always go to a Marian shrine whenever she feels like going. She doesn’t plan about it, she’d just wake up one day having the idea of visiting the Lady.

That would be okay, of course, if the shrine is just next door. But yesterday, she felt like going to Manaoag Church, which is located five hours away by bus from Manila. And she asked me to accompany her.

Not that I have problems with it though. I love seeing churches. I admire their precious art collections. And I love their solemn atmosphere. It makes you want to pray intently. Which is what I did.

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