Confessions of a Casureco II Employee

Its been 26 days, 11 hours, 17 minutes since I have last seen my payroll. Things have gotten so bad that I have been having my breakfast and lunch at the office canteen to minimize costs. Things have turned for the worse that I now walk from Santa Cruz to Francia to catch the Magsaysay-Del Rosario jeep. And to top everything, It takes me five to ten seconds to remember by ATM's PIN.

The power struggle between our Board of Directors headed by Msgr. Zosimo Sañado and OIC-GM Jane Barrameda is on course for a steep cliff. All transactions had been put to a screeching halt. No more gasoline withdrawals, ditto the salaries of employees and the payments to all our power suppliers.

Naga City and its neighboring towns faces the imminent threat of being cut off with power supply by Aboitiz, the new owners of Tiwi. This aside our inability to respond to all electricity related service and maintenance job requests. It is forced vacation leave for all Casureco II employees.

Let me simplify the power struggle to the mis- and uninformed:
Mons Nono Sañado and his majority bloc wants OIC-GM Jane Barrameda out.
To do that, they must get NEA's appoval.
The courts and legal documents have stressed that NEA has absolute control over ECs.
NEA requires proof of misconducts and illegal actions by OIC Jane before her ouster.
Mons Nono and his group opines that to investigate the OIC-GM they must remove her first, so they install Mr. Rolly Pante as new OIC-GM.
NEA insists on the proof before installing a new OIC-GM.
Mons Nono and his group refuse to sign checks unless the name bearing the OIC-GM is Sir Rolly.
The employees still recognize OIC Jane in the absence of a black and white of NEA's approval of Sir Rolly's designation.
Stalemate.

Crushed in the middle of all this brouhaha? The employees.

This my friends is a classic example of an irresistible force meeting an immovable object. The effect - a collision course with no impact. Neither party wants to budge letting ego, power thirst, unwavering self-belief, vanity and misconstrued infallibility to tear up this institution.

The irony of this struggle is both parties claim that they are doing this in the best interest of the cooperative. Both claim to be the saviors of an institution that is fledgling. Isn't it laughable now that in their quest to correct the cooperative, they are doing more harm than good?

Casureco II is on the brink of losing labor support and strength with disgruntled employees. The threat of being in the dark is imminent if payables are not settled. Service is compromised with the inability to act on consumer complaints. Labor and civil cases loom to pile up if the salary delay persists. And amidst of it all, two leaders who insist on thier positions, in their goal of improving services to the consumers. Never have we been made out as idiots as much as this one.

I know now that the one who gives in is the real party that cares for the interest of the cooperative. It is just sad that the employees are hostages in this tug of war of power. Power that was as attractive as a beat up Volkswagen when the cooperative was knee deep in debt in 2006, but, now as beautiful as the shiny new Ferrari with the 80 million income for 2008.

See, it was always about the money, and the power, and the money. And more importantly, this is also about MY money.

Defining the Peñafrancia Fiesta

Out with the new, in with the old. This I am told by several friends that this 300th Peñafrancia Festivities will be undergoing a major face lift. No more of the Miss Bicolandia Pageant (to be moved to before Traslacion or after the Fiesta). Scrap the Civic Parade, in with the Perdon which was done in prior years. Apparently, the city has seen the last of the wild beer parties.

This comes amidst an aggressive effort of the church and the city government to preserve the solemnity and religiosity of the occasion.

A band aid on gunshot wound? Definitely.

It has been decades that this occasion has diminished its aura of solemnity and religiosity. What kind of solemnity can you expect out of drunk men wrestling over the chance to touch the image? They could freely visit Ina at the Basilica for 365 days, and yet they wait at this very day, bathe themselves with gin, walk on foot, and box out the crowd to expect some miracle from touching the image?!

Can banning street parties remedy the fact that on the day of the festivities, it is all about the drinking sprees and less and less about the praying? Hypocrisy is what I see when in the past I have seen members of the congregation dancing the night away in those street parties, or conspicuously hiding in a crowd of partygoers.

How ever these people may deny it. Fiestas has long transformed into a civic and commercial occasion. Midnight mall sales, dolphin attractions, visiting rock bands, and street parties has slowly defined the Penafrañcia fiesta.

The question has evolved to:
Isay maarabot na artista?
Hanggang alas dose kayan ang SM?
Isay nanggana sa Miss Bicolandia?
Daog si Ateneo sa military?
Sain ngunyan na banggui may street party?

This attempt to purify the occasion is two decades too late. While commendable at the least, another failed attempt by our church and city leaders to straighten a backbone that in the prolonged crookedness has hardened to a hunchback. Goodluck with that band aid.

Great Love, Correct Love

You've heard it all before, from the over the top best friend on the wee hours of a drinking spree, an online blog on the wedding day of an ex, or the emotional outburst in the middle of the day crying out the name of the one that got away.

I know we all went through this phase. We've gone bonkers over a missed call. We've over analyzed simple good nights. We've interpreted even the austere gestures - the borrowed pen, the little brownie snack, or the free ride home. It was special, it was great, destined, complicated, bliss, forbidden, bitter-sweet and any other chocolatey adjective in between. It was our one great love.

(I admit miss getting goosebumps, or stuttering in front of a girl. Its been eons since I have composed in my mind the words, only to come up with a Hello. Kilig is a feeling which has deserted me and I cringe at the sight of HHWW-PSSP couples. At least you know where I am coming from.)

The truth is it was that way because we fantasize it to be that way. Deluded by a million Korean Boys over Acting telenovelas, cheesy forwarded text messages, over the top Sarah Geronimo romantic comedies, we want to have the same thing. We yearn to have our own little love story fairy tale endings. We create our own great love, written, produced and directed by our own hypothalamus.

We all want the drama of great love. You will always constantly wander about that childhood sweetheart who went abroad. You will forever replay the theme song of the one guy who had to marry off with someone he got pregnant. We rewind and play the memories in our head of every little detail of a dinner spent in stealth mode in fear of being seen by a deep penetrating agent.

We think it is great love because we wanted it to be that way. Of course, you'd get head over heels over forbidden love. The more that it is drawn away, the more we chase it. We are little children constantly aiming for the lollipop on the table. We fall off the stacked books. Our arms numb out tying to extend ala Mr. Fantastic. Our voices wear out with desperate attempts to harbor attention. The sad thing is, for some of us, once the lollipop lands in our hands, we find out it was never sweet all along. When it is ready to be devoured, we find to have never wanted it in the first place.

When love is stable, and assuring, and uncomplicated, and constantly present, usually it is taken for granted. It is a Ferris wheel of great loves. One yearns for her great love, ignores the guy who treats her as his own great love. All the while she is waiting for her great love to flee a relationship she cannot escape.

Why can't we just be happy with our correct love?
What is wrong with stable and assuring, and uncomplicated, and constantly present?
Right, same words rhyme with boring, predictable, and undramatic.
What kind of love do I have right now? You tell me.

The Pillars Opinion rant

Now I know that the word nostalgia is a pocket ready term for aging persons. Last night while I was skimming through the latest copy of the Pillars Opinion, a flood of memories was drowning me, in a good way. (Click here if you want to see online copies of archives)

The usual topics of TFI (tuition fee increase, as always), fraternities (staple article), Sexual Deviation - Chuvaness (no better topic?), Balikatan, SM Effects on Naga's businesses, BS DoTA and Urulay Ulay Atenista brought back images of Bonks wrestling Diablo on the antique PC, Ninoy puffing on his endless supply of malboros holding in his other hand magic cards, Fiel and OJ Bulao playing physical Tabuc style indoor basketball, and heartthrob King intent on finishing his latest crossword challenge. In the background is the voice of Elvie, our managing editor, cussing about the piss filled coke Litro, the trapped cigarette butts in between hardwood floors, the extended deadlines, and the occasional condom neatly wrapped in the doorknob.

As these images came like a flash, I immediately blurted out, "Is this all they could write about now? We certainly were better than this pretentious high falooting journalists wannabee." Insecurities abound, I gave every article a paragraph to catch my attention, only to turn to the last one, Urulay Ulay Atenista, only not to finish it for lack of interest. I wanted my ten minutes back.

Can I no longer relate to college level writing style, or are these new crop of Pillars writers taking themselves too seriously?

To be fair, we can never be impartial judges of ouselves, bias will always creep in when we try to compare our work to a similar rendition. Our parents manifest these all the time, "Kan kapanuhanan mi, lakaw lang kami. Ang balon mi diyes sentimos lang." Of course they could always walk, there were fewer vehicles. The streets were safer. The sun was tolerable then. Even the air was clearer back then. Try walking nowadays, and a 8 to 10 chance exists you'll get fumed with black smoke, a 1 to 10 chance your cellphone might get snatched. And a probability, you'll go home with heat stroke.

On the other hand, I cannot fathom how these young thespians would resort to analyzing the psychological effects of computer games to the young minds, or the effect of SM Naga to business and cultural statuses of the city, or heck, how the Balikatan exercises even matter. Why don't they stay within the ballpark for once? Talk about what youngsters keep up all night most of the time, young love, a bit of booze, cheap snack hangouts, heck talk about why thee are dental and clinic fees when you never use them.

Sounds like a rant right? I admit I am just frustrated to find that something that was once yours could turn into an old lady in a decade. It's like you have to relocate and leave a girlfriend behind. The distance doesn't work so you eventually break up. After ten years you chance upon her profile in facebook, click on a couple of albums only to find a wrinkled stressed shell of her herself in a family photo of her fifth daughter's birthday.

I am just saddened to realize either one of the two things, that I am too old to understand youth jargon, or that a typical parochial institution can suck the fun out of the typical campus journalism shenanigans - the hidden banters, the clues in inside jokes, the low blow articles, and the shocking exposes. For the life of me I want to believe it's the former, but this rather incompetent judge of talent insists the latter.

NBA Draft Day Deals: Shaq to Cleveland

The Big Diesel, Cactus, Aristotle, whatever is teaming up with another MVP in Lebron to try to capture his last title. He's still a force judging by his number and this screams like a panic move from Cleveland considering that their weak spots are obviously an agile forward who can guard tweener power forwards (think Lewis, Dirk, Josh Smith) or a bigger small forward to go into small ball when Lebron slides to the PF position (think Posey, Pietrus, Stephen Jackson).

I am not too excited by this move considering Shaq's age, his ability to pick and roll, and the stack of big men which are duplicated with his entry. They still have Big Z (whom they should try to move), Varejao (who can be effective if he can shoot the 15 foot J consistently) and Joe Smith (whom I think should start but wouldn't due to seniority's sakes.

They still have the midlevel and they free up some salary due to the expiration of Wally World's contract so they should get someone. if this does not wok out, they will still be free of the one-year rental of Shaq and of course Lebron who would bolt if they don't capture the title this year.

Addition Suggestions: Matt Barnes - Phoenix, Grant Hill - Phoenix, Antonio Mcdyess - Pistons, Charlie Villa - Bucks and Jason Kidd- Mavs.

NBA Draft Day Deals: Carter to Orlando

This is a bold move by the Magic that should generate some applause. They bring in Vince Carter, his chicken wing dunk, his half-man half-a-season reputation and 40 million plus in salary for Courtney Lee, Battie and Alston. Instead of staying put and hoping to sign Turkoglu, they acquire the versatile swingman who is perfect for the second or third option behind man beast Dwight Howard.

This deal should give Van Gundy more option and creativity with his offensve sets, now owning two good to great defenders in the wing position in Pietrus, a revelation during the 08-09 playoffs and Carter.

This must have the boys in Cleveland and Boston cramming for a deal to counter this one as the Orlando perimeter game just gets better. The question now is to re-sign Turk who can command 10 mil plus a year in salary which will definitely put them over the cap.

I dare the Magic to let Turk walk and go after Gortat, who showed a lot of promise playing D12's backup. And with the remaining money, spend on a backup PG, or a versatile PG-SG type. Suggestion additions: Ronnie Brewer of Utah, Brandon Bass of Dallas, Jarret Jack of Indiana, and Anthony Parker of Toronto.

Transformers: Just like watchin' porn

It's like watching porn, you know what to expect. A lot of slam bang, a lot of action, little to no drama. If there is even a hint of plot, it would last two minutes. It is just a pure thrill ride. Brainless action and skin flick.

This is what you will get from Revenge of the Fallen. A lot of action, I mean stacked, over the top explosions, and extended screen time for those masterfully digitized robots. Megan Fox in her eye candy role, and of course Michael Bay out of this world action scenes, think Bad Boys 2 highway scene.

Of course these types of movies should not be critically reviewed and be taken for what it is. It is a mindless action flick. Even if its constructed that way, still it should have a semblance of a coherence or hint of a plot.

Even the attempt at humor is a bit desperate. I think it is aimed at ten year olds, the humping dogs, or the humping robot on Megan Fox (understandable), the hysterical mother who wasn't remotely like that in part 1, or that new Mexican guy who is always terrifyingly screaming like a girl or hugging the next guy to him out of sheer fright are terribly forced and can only illicit Andrew E. levels shrieks.

Overall I would not complain of the robots, the animators did a masterful job. It was only on the execution portion that I am pissed. You setup a new villain, the Fallen, for extended time, only to be ripped by Optimus Prime in under twenty seconds in the final battle. What was that? The only good battle was when Prime died during the battle royal with Megaton and Starscream. In the other sequences, you cannot distinguish who is fighting who, if it's an Autobot or Decepticon or if the US military is even bombing the right guys.

This was a two hour and a half hour action chase filled ride which was slowly tuning into an extended clip of a movie in Gods of War or Final Fantasy. It could have worked if this was concise. If they are going to do a new movie, which will probably 100% occur, I hope they put it in the right hands, let Guillermo del Toro do it, or even Bryan Singer (even if he ruined Superman Returns), or Kevin Smith, he knows comedic dialogues, and we can possibly see some more of Megan Fox's parts. I am just fed up of the over the top, mindless action sequences of Michael Bay. He should be the fallen after this one.