Solution to the Philippine Economic Problem

The population of the Philippines is just ridiculously big. 92 million in the whole country while 12 million of which lives in the capital. Plus Filipino expats like myself amount to 11 million. I guess god made us very very fertile and thank him/her that I am gay.

No wonder we import most of our goods including rice. We used to train Thai agriculturalists but now we are very dependent on their own supply. There are times that we have to import our well-loved pork from overseas, too, because there are just too many Filipinos pigging on this meat--guilty here!

In Manila, it is OK not to say "excuse me" when you step on someone's toes because one constantly does it every five minutes when walking on the streets. You can actually have your cock out and nobody will notice it because it is just way to crowded.

I have one solution to this overpopulation problem--Filipinos should be forced to drink a substance that will make them impotent. Mix this substance in the water supply for one month so that the old and new generations will not be able to have children anymore. Of course, this should be kept a secret like how the Catholic church keeps its riches.

In a few decades, population will go down and the environment will be able to recover. The economy will prosper so Filipino expats will come back to repopulate the country sensibly. They will lock priests and their supporters in mental institutions and fry their brains to omelets.

And only then the Philippines will be a very rich country.

Size Queen

Last month, I missed my graduation because it coincided with my Manila trip. I was not that keen anyway because earning the degree is far more important so I can register myself as a teacher here in South Australia.

Last week, I went to my old university to collect my certificate. When I saw the envelope, I told the university staff that she must be kidding. It was just way too big. I asked Steven to photograph it so here is the biggest parchment in the world.

Confront racism, says Cosgrove

Confront racism, says Cosgrove
written by:

MICHELLE GRATTAN

January 20, 2010

FORMER Defence Force chief Peter Cosgrove has urged Australians to confront the nation's dark pockets of racism, in a speech dealing frankly with violence against Indians and tensions with Muslims.

General Cosgrove said attacks on Indian students in Australia had become ''a major problem'', and the nature of the attacks made it easy to conclude they were racially motivated.

He also declared there was ongoing estrangement between the broader society and elements of the Muslim community.

His comments, in an Australia Day address titled ''Sunshine and Shade'', deal more openly and directly with race issues than many political figures have been willing to do.

But the speech also highlighted Australia's history of tolerance and positive attitudes to immigrants.

General Cosgrove, a former Australian of the Year, said the issue of violence towards Indians had been brewing for some time, but ''has erupted over the last several weeks to become a major problem''.

''I sense in relation to the spate of attacks on largely Indian people, in Melbourne and elsewhere, Australians are very concerned and disinclined to downplay, much less dismiss, the potential 'racist' elements in what is becoming a litany of criminality,'' he said.

''The problem for us is that the criminal incidents are cowardly and sly and it is easy to conclude that they are racially targeted.

''We are all dismayed that there might be some kind of warped campaign in progress.''

He said the vast majority of Australians who totally rejected any such despicable behaviour would welcome the rigorous prosecution of those ''preying on these visitors''.

''Only that outcome will satisfy our determination to be, and to be known as, a just and equitable society.''

General Cosgrove said he had lived in India for a year in 1994 and ''I love the place''.

Speaking to The Age after his address, General Cosgrove said that the number of incidents against Indians seemed ''too many to be coincidences''.

''Attacks recently by groups of people on individuals looks like a profiling approach to people from the sub-continent . Rather than say 'nothing to worry about', I'd rather look more closely.

''If you didn't suspect a racial strand you'd be mad,'' he said.

In his speech, General Cosgrove said that Australia's history back to early colonial days showed that periodically there had been ''episodes of bad blood between sections of the community based on ethnicity, or very occasionally on religion''. ''Yet they have almost invariably been quite limited in scope and duration,'' he said.

By the time of September 11, 2001, some of Australia's Islamic community already felt alienated and isolated from the mainstream. ''It is a volatile mix when especially younger people are told that they are surrounded by corrupt and impious behaviour at every hand.

''It is unsurprising that some of them then perform in ways which stigmatises the whole Islamic community.''

He said that amid the ''elevated temperature and polarised views'' that characterised this problem, it was hard to have a neat prescription. But ''we must not be panicked into somehow changing or restricting our immigration patterns because of these sorts of issues''.

''Secondly, we should be very careful before assigning major blame for the problem to our broad Australian way of life, as if the estrangement was all somehow our fault and we should change accordingly.''

His comments on violence against Indian students are in contrast to those of police in Victoria, who have consistently downplayed suggestions that they have been racially targeted.

See you later, Manila

For me, it was difficult to leave Manila because my family and some of my closest friends live there. I know it is good that they have moved on without me but it is also sad that there are only traces of me left in Manila. It was difficult to see some of my personal stuff in our Pasig home. There were also lots of unfamiliar places and it was not difficult for me to get lost.

I am missing my family and friends. I wish I had met more of them and spent some more time with them.

Despite being thankful to return to Adelaide, Steven wants to return to Manila very soon to see my parents again. He is officially part of the Mejia family.

Meeting the Family

Despite the cultural and linguistic differences, my family and Steven like each other. It was hard communicating at first but they were able the messages--Dexter is missed in Manila but somebody is taking care of him in Adelaide.

The relationship that they have developed is far better than I expected. Steven was very relaxed when he was with my family. My father showed him a lot of machines. My mother chatted with him about religion. She also spoiled him with tubs of ice cream.

When we said our goodbyes, both of us received hugs and tears from my mother. My father is not that vocal but I can feel that he is very happy where I am right now. The gay lifestyle is not something that they are familiar with and yet because of their love, they have accepted the fact that Steven and I are in a meaningful and genuine relationship.

I did not make any promises but Steven assured my mother that we are coming back the end of this year. I just hope our finances will allow it.

Meeting Friends

I spent a significant amount of our time catching up with some friends. Unfortunately, I was not able to photograph all of them. It was very nice to swap stories.

We met these people in very expensive areas of Manila. Global City and Eastwood are only two of the several business hubs in Manila. These are places where you would think that poverty does not exist in the Philippines. They have tons of shops, modern architecture and international cuisine,

My friends seem to be very happy where they are but I hope they can visit me in Adelaide some time soon. Thanks to Don Libao for the first four photos.

MOA and Manila

I really love the Mall of Asia so I took Steven and Peter to that mall. It was way too crowded when we went there though so it was difficult to really appreciate the place.

We watched "Avatar" on IMAX 3D and we were amazed. The special effects are grand but not too overwhelming. Unfortunately, the Metro Manila Film Festival was on so we were not able to watch a movie in an ordinary theater.

I also took them to Intramuros where Steven had an idea of what structures were during the Spanish era. Next time, I will definitely take Steven out of Manila.

Steven and Magic Sing

Karaoke is part of the lives of Filipinos. Most of us have our own karaoke machines and my mother has her own Magic Sing.

It did not take much convincing for Steven to try the machine out but then it is very obvious that my mother had already sung this song far too many times.

The Perfect Christmas Carol