NO COUNTRY FOR LITTERERS, OLD MEN

                 Grandchild Jasmine Julian, daughter of Rene Rafael
            who works in a multinational company in the island-state

SINGAPORE--We were waiting for an underground train at an MRT station in the Serangoon area when my recurring cough irritated my throat, and I was about to expel phlegm. My son, who works in a multinational company here, restrained me, pointing to the closed circuit TV camera above us.

Personnel of the Manpower Services are nearby, ready to pounce on the would- be phlegm thrower, hail him to court that will impose a fine of no less than S$500. Of course, after a quick due process.

In this rules- based island, the 6th wealthiest nation on earth, the law is the law. You can not escape it. Remember the Flor Contemplacion case? Death was her penalty for the killing of fellow Filipina Delia Maga. No amount of representation from the Philippine government stopped the implementation of their death penalty.

What did I do to my phlegm? Think about it and laugh aloud. Like the former Prime Minister of India who used to drink his own urine? For health purposes, according to some medical journals. I don't know if phlegm has health benefits.

My friends have asked me whether life in this expensive country is easy for everybody-- citizens and permanent residents.

I have seen old men--Chinese, Tamils, Malays, Indonesians--driving cabs and wiping tables and floors in restaurants.

I have seen old women--Chinese, Tamils, Malays, Indonesians--waiting on tables. Sometimes they look at me with their said, sunken eyes and my heart is broken.

They have to work to keep with the rent and the high cost of living here, says one of my sons who will be married to a Canada-based Ibanag maiden in December.

Singapore not a country for old people?

Quote of the week: "One who pursues spirituality alone goes into great darkness; one who pursues spirituality alone goes into even greater darkness. Yet one who pursues materialism and spirituality side by side (like the two wings of a bird) is happy in this world and the next." --Isopanishad

NO APAY NGA INSUBLIK TI PEDRO BUCANEG AWARD

The Pedro Bucaneg Award is the highest medal of honor in Iluko literature. The award was given to me during a convention of  Ilokano writers in Suso, Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur sometime in the summer of 2001, in the presence of Dr. Godofredo S. Reyes, 13-time president of the association. But I tried to return it in support of a cause--the vicious "attack" by writers identified with Gumil Filipinas in the Internet against Apo Ariel Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and the unexplained expenses of funds of the major national association of Ilokano writers. The political act was made through a letter dated August 5, 2009 to Ms. Elizabeth Madarang Raquel, then president of Gumil Filipinas, through Mr. Ariel Tabag, then secretary- general of the organization.

Iti suratko, imbatadko nga adda dua a kondision iti panangisublik ti PBA ket maisurat koma iti pakasaritaan ti Gumil Filipinas:

1. "Peter La. Julian, Pedro Bucaneg Award insublina a kas simbolo ti pannakipagriknana ken pannakitaktakunaynayna ken ni Apo Aurelio S. Agcaoili a nangtunton iti husticia iti pannkarabrabngis iti dayawna."

2. "Peter La. Julian, Pedro Bucaneg Award insublina a kas simbolo ti luksawna iti saan a nalawag a pannakadagup iti nau-or a pondo ken pannakagastos iti kuarta iti pannakabangon iti Balay ti Gumil idiay Suso."

Saan a nasungbatan ti suratko ngem inikkatda kano ti naganko iti listaan dagiti immawat iti kangatuan a pammadayaw ti Literatura Iluko.

(Siasino ngamin aya ti makailawlawag iti pudno a nagasto iti patta a idiay Suso a namkuatan ni Dr. Dedicacion Agatep-Reyes a nangibaga  a "bulok" ti gunglo?)
Incidentally, Ms.Raquel used the name of Mark Limon, a young MMSU instructor, in an article published in the Ilocos Times,  that maligned Apo Agcaoili.