BROWNOUTS IN MENIFEE

"agur-uray ti pusona
iti kuarto ti adu a laglagip
iti sungadan ti parbangon
dagiti am-amangaw, alimbasag
ken tarimbangon."


  A little bit scary to experience brownouts in an American community. Occuring  one after the other, the first was at 6:00 PM, lasting at least ten minutes; the other at close to 8:00 PM, when the Philippine sitcom ,"Strawberry Lane", was being aired. Sometime later, the lights went off briefly. It gave us the creep;  our son and his wife who are US citizens were in the night shift.
     The reaction could be from Philippine experience, where electricity suddenly goes off especially during the night and bad elements break into homes and robbing them of valuables. Homeowners sometimes are killed protecting their dwellings.
      Located in the Palomino housing project in AUDIE MURPHY RANCH, our two-story home was acquired last May by our son and his wife, both nurses in an American hospital.
     It's 9: 12 pm and the blogger hopes the efficiency of the American system holds out. My wife and I are in our fourth month in America as immigrants.

    

NAKEM CONFERENCE ON THE ILOKANO LANGUAGE

     Our best wishes for the success of the Convention of Ilokano language spearheaded by Nakem Conference scheduled in Baguio City, Philippines on October 23-25, at the Supreme Hotel.
     The affair will see also the launching of a book, the newest of its kind in Ilokano literature, "Memoria iti Amin a Dekada," an anthology of Ilokano poems, authored by Delia Caguia, a saluyot, born in Balungao, Pangasinan, who lives in Spain with her three children. Delia, who was widowed when her son was 9 years old (he is now 29) will be coming along with daughter Hannah to the Philippines for the launching of her book.
     Nakem founder and sparkplug, Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili, originally from Laoag City, is the coordinator of the Ilokano program of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The award-winning writer is the author of Ilokano lexicons and other writings in Ilokano, Tagalog, and English.
     Ilokanos are the third biggest ethno-linguistic groups in the Philippines. They are mostly found in the North Luzon region and in the diaspora in Mindanao, Hawaii and the US mainland.

CHAOS AND INFERNO

     The chaos in Metro Manila, especially the city ruled by the convicted economic plunderer, is actually a kind of natural order or scheme of things. Noisy thoroughfares, people coming and going, vendors selling cigarettes, sneaking in and out of traffic. Housewives doing the laundry in dwellings under bridges, overpasses--where do they relieve themselves when human nature calls? The living voices of the poor people in the squatters' colonies. The silent high-rising buildings, the palisades along the bay with murky waters where the downtrodden take their baths.
     This is an inferno of sulfur and fire, if there is such a physical thing, as conceptualized by the Italian poet Dante and Bible writers. But this could be paradise for the living for how could more than five million people co-exist and appear to be happy in a space as small as Singapore, the world's sixth richest country?
    It is us who create our own inferno of the living ? It is us who create our own version of Paradise, the Scriptural East of Eden, now wracked by violence and endless wars, where women are slaves and treated as garbage?

A THOUSAND DEATHS

     "A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants."--Arthur Schopenhauer

"

 

     There is great sadness in this family narrative when the son speaks ill of his Papa, his biological father. The sentence of a few well-placed words is read again and again but does not change; there is no other meaning except what is says pointblank, heartlessly. The blogger-reader, who is also a father, bleeds and dies a thousand deaths.

     "Time may bury itself in forget-me-grave, but memory is an active  narrative that lives on and on."

     Terry, Lito, Benedicto

    US businessman Terry Gabriel Tugade called from Santa Maria, California, saying he was passing the phone to Lito de Francia whom I have not seen for many years. They were attending probably a seminar, mostly Filipino participants, in the area. Lito who had a doctorate from the University of the Cordilleras in Baguio, is now "bigtime" in the land of milk and honey along with Terry. Lito said he was going to Mexico for a 10-day seminar and  would be dropping by in Menifee, where the bloggers lives. Then he passed the phone to another Ilokano writer Benedicto Tadena, originally from Ilocos Norte like Tito. After the usual amenities, Benedicto, who came to America in the 1990s, said he was working at Zodia Aerospace that makes house parts. He said he did not have the skills for the job--he is a high school graduate in the Philippines--but the company taught him how to make house parts. Then he passed the phone back to Lito who said he was sorry to terminate the conversation. And he bade goodbye .
     The conversation with long-lost friends lasted for at least five minutes pho
    His FB photo shows Terry a balding old person. The faces of Lito, a smiling individual, and Benedicto exist only in memory. The blogger met Benedicto only once or twice in the home country but he considers him a friend because he is a writer. Lito and Benedicto are much younger than us and have all the time to make the American dream. Terry, also called Tito, a name he hates, has made his dream come true but he is always on the move, travelling from one state to another to make money.


 

Memory: Jewelle Anne Julian and her cousins doing the blogger's laptop at the unfinished third floor
of the ancestral home in Laoag City, Philippines

 

 

The blogger's collection--magazines, books--some of which were given free
 to members of an Ilokano writing organization in the Philippines.

A scene from the Sin City the blogger and his family visited some years ago.

DUE PROCESS OF LAW

   
     The Union to which the Philippine nurse belongs to has filed a "grievance" memorandum (for lack of a better terminology) with the US hospital for the illegal dismissal of the former. The Union asked the hospital to reinstate the nurse and compensate her for the services she rendered or should have rendered but did not because of her dismissal. What the hospital did was a violation of the contract (collective bargaining agreement) signed between the company with the nurses' union.

     The blogger saw in this case the hospital's violation of one of the most fundamental values of American democracy: due process of law.
     Here was the situation:  A complaint was filed by the rival Philippine nurse with a high-ranking officer of the hospital. There was supposed to be an investigation of the complaint; they interviewed at least four nurses including the aggrieved Philippine nurse. The hospital withheld the names of the "witnesses" (also Philippine nurses to protect them, according to hospital official.)
     There were supposed to be five steps in the process, but it appears that they started with the first step and went to step five, skipping the rest of the protocol.
     The poor Filipina nurse was not furnished a written copy of the complaint, was not allowed to confront her accuser and the "witnessess". Suddenly, like lighning from the blue, the hospital hit her with a sledge hammer by dismissing her from the service.
   An outstanding well-like Philippine nurse who has been praised by fellow workers and even received awards for excellent services. Dismissed for "harassment" without any evidence?
     This is the American democratic system?
     The Philippine nurse has consulted a lawyer-relative who vowed to "fix," whatever that means, what was wrong in the case.
     Meanwhile, the blogger plans to write President Barack Obama about the situation and its consequences.
     The blogger is angry that fellow Filipinos in this so-called land of milk and honey, a bastion of democracy, has brought with them their despicable crab mentality that was swallowed hook, line and sinker by Americans with dictatorial tendencies.