Sinulog Festival 2010

Sinulog Festival Contestant

Let us embrace once again the Cebu Sinulog 2010 – the country’s largest, most expansive and most awaited festival.

This is the 30th year of Cebu’s Sinulog and the organizers call it the biggest Sinulog of all time yet! And because 2010 is an election year, we can expect a lot of politicians from all over the country with their very own contingents. I’m so excited! Viva Pit Senyor!

Aside from the main spectacle which is the Sinulog Grand parade, there are also other activities lined up by the Cebu City Government and the Sinulog Foundation until the grand highlights of the festival from January 9-18, 2010.

Can’t wait for the Cebu Sinulog 2010. I consider myself a Cebulog(Cebu-Sinulog) freak and this is the event I am longing for every year… hehe.

And by the way, for those who still doesn’t know “WHEN” the Sinulog 2010 takes place, it happens every 3rd Sunday of the January.

For those who want to have a copy of Cebu Sinulog Festival Songs of 2010 in mp3 format, here’s the free rapidshare download link I found in the net. Cheers!

http://rapidshare.com/files/328663797/Sinulog__pinayheaven.com_.mp3

Pit Senyor! Pit Senyor! Pit Senyor! Sinulog 2010!

The most celebrated patron saint in Cebu is the Señor Sto Niño de Cebu, the Holy Child Jesus.

Cebu's Patron Sto. Nino

A view of Sinulog 2010 Fluvial Parade (Old Bridge Mandaue City)

Sinulog 2010 Fluvial Parade

Cebu Sinulog Festival 2010 Parade Carousel Route.

Cebu Sinulog 2010 Parade Route

Viva Señor!… Viva Señor!… Viva Señor!…

In my own opinion, the best and most wonderful valentine’s gift for 2010 that you could give to your GF would be your sincere love to him/her. However, sometimes, you really need to give some material things in order to create a memorable moments in your life.

Top 5 Valentines Gift for 2010

1. Flowers. I bet every women really aspire to receive a bunch of flowers during Valentines Day. I once happened to give a flowers to my GF and she was really (really!) happy. I gave those flowers when I arrived at her house (we’re about to have a dinner outside) and she keep on insisting to bring the flowers with her in our dinner, lol. At that point, I realized how happy a women if someone will gave them flowers. Kilig to the max!

Valentines Gift 2010 - Flowers

2. A Self-made Album or Picture Collage. Yep, this will make your GF’s heart melt. Try this and you’ll see..

Valentines Gift 2010 - Personally Made Gift

3. A Jewelry. Could be an engagement ring or necklace. This is actually #1 on my lists but this kind of gift is a bit expensive.

Valentines Gift 2010 - Engagement Ring

4. A Sincere Letter. Though it seems so common and usual but this kind of gift will deeply touch the woman’s heart. My GF will really cry everytime I sent her a letter… I don’t want her to cry so I stopped giving her a letter nowadays. hehe…

Valentines Gift 2010 - Sincere Letter

5. Perfume or Ladies Bags. All women really like perfumes & bags and this kind of gifts are mostly appreciated. When I travel abroad, my GF keeps on requesting to bring her a perfume or ladies bags. I always happen to get an awkward feeling when buying these kinds of gifts at a boutique. Errrr..

Valentines Gift 2010 - Perfume

Valentine’s gifts for 2010 may vary from one person to another but what’s more important is to be loyal, respect and love your partner sincerely.

Yes, we all passed thru under my grandfather coffin when he was about to be buried and it’s very important that you only passed once. I really don’t know the logical reason behind it because I just followed back then what my older relatives told us.

Culture of Filipinos? Passing under the Coffin..

Could this be one of the cultures of Filipinos? Or Could it be a Chinese belief?  (My grandfather was a half Chinese btw) I asked my mother about it and she said “We do that because it’s a sign of respect to the dead and it shows that we all asked forgiveness to him so he can rest in peace.”

Funny because why not do this while he has still alive? I mean, why do people only realized the importance of a person when he/she is already dead? Why must conversions always come so late? Why do people always apologize to corpses? My grandfather had 8 daughters & 5 sons – he had bicker with his youngest son decades ago and since then they never talked to each other. It’s very sad my grandfather died with his heart unfulfilled.

Farewell to my Great Grand Father...

By the way, my LOLO died because of  Myocardial Infarction or commonly called M.I., otherwise known as a heart attack. Weird because he’s never been high blood and we constantly monitors his BP. In fact, during the time he was rushed to the hospital, the nurse recorded a BP of 110/70.  Suddenly after a few minutes, he died.

This is the most “traitor” illness according to the doctor… She even mentioned that the late Fernando Poe died because of this sickness.

6 Feet under... May you rest in peace. We all love you.

Today is life – the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today.

So you’d probably heard about Jacque Bermejo already? The infamous OFW from DUBAI who allegedly made a reckless and insensitive remark in Facebook (FB) wall about Filipinos after the typhoon “Ondoy”.

She (Jacque Bermejo) wrote: “buti n lng am hir in dubai! maybe so many sinners back der! so yeah deserving what happened!”

After so many Filipinos who have violently reacts to her post, she then replies: “cuz of u dnt understand!!!judge me sige!!! kya ala kayong asenso.even nature now is making statement big time!!!” See screenshots of Jacque Bermejo’s comment on facebook below:

Jacque Bermejo Facebook's Comment

Jacque Bermejo comment in Facebook

I myself flared up when I read her post but somehow I can’t believe that a Filipina can say this stupid remarks to its fellow Filipino’s. So, I then initially investigate if its true or not. Until I saw one of my classmates in high school was among her friends who worked with her for almost a year. I immediately sent a message to my HS classmate and asked about the latest Jacque Bermejo Scandal.

This was her reply: “I feel sorry for her because she’s (Bermejo, Jacque) a victim of a fraud FB account. She was crying on the phone and is now so afraid to go out because of all the hate messages she’s been getting the whole day. I don’t know how some people can find time to create a fake account just to damage another person. Mind you, Jacque and I are not that close but I feel the need to clear her name because I can just imagine how scared she is right now. Everybody hates her for a comment she never made.”

Actually, Jacque-Bermejo’sFB accounts have the same pictures until one was deleted when the hatred grew. But both have her multiply url name of “starfishbuang”. I agree, it’s a lame excuse that she was hacked but in my own point of view, Jacque used the same password on all her accounts including her gmail. In consequences, the so-called hacker probably has all access to her account.

I’m sorry for her though. What she said was stupid (if it was true) and she’s trying to correct it. Now about her damaging a married man, i heard from a friend of a friend that’s it’s true she sent messages to strangers to destroy the man’s reputation. Such an irony that her reputation is the one damaged now.

I’m beginning to drop my anger now, and honestly, so worried about my friends who are out-of-reach and who are declared missing.

As much as we wanted her to show up & give a public apology, let us not forget that there are thousands of Pinoys affected by Ondoy. It is best to use our time and energy into doing something helpful for the victims.

To Jacque Bermejo: I hope you’re not lying.

To the person who compromised Jacque’s FB account: The hell with you!

Pinay Mail Order Bride

Decades past, pinays who dreamed of having a foreigner male for a partner experienced a long process. The basic road was through referrals, same foreigners who have Filipino/pinay friends, acquaintances or partners themselves.

Pen-friend pages channeled through magazines and newspapers also provided avenues for mixed association. pinays then had to communicate to their future foreign mates through the regular mail. Other communication facilities, like telephone and telegram, were scarce, costly and impractical.

As in other nations, agents later came up with ideas of making remote romantic matching more efficient. They brought in the mail-order-bride packages. Like recruitment agencies, mail-order-bride agencies advertised a pool of pinays seeking foreigner partners to their offshore market. In the same manner, these agencies advertised for a fee their foreigner clients to their pinay mail-order-bride prospects. An undisclosed number of matches, no less than tens of thousands, culminated in pinay-Foreigner marriages through this route.

But when the Philippine government later noticed that mail-order-bride matching became a convenient facility for male foreigners to “own” pinay women as nothing more than their domestic helpers, it enacted a law in 1990 that criminalized the scheme. pinays who ended up having foreigner partners via the mail-order-bride route eventually decreased in number and the practice continued only under covert procedures.

But the thought of mail-order-bride carries on to expand in the Philppines and may have in fact flourished with everyone’s relatively at ease access to the internet. On line dating sites and services serve the same purpose of matching pinays seeking foreigner males for a mate, and vice versa, only that the process has become faster and easier for everybody to use.

However, although the concept might thrive in some men’s minds, describing any pinay as a “ mail order bride” is insulting to say the least.

Got my license in LTO SM Cebu..

I arrived in SM Cebu exactly 10 AM as it’s their opening hours.In my thoughts, I would be the first person to process or renew my drivers license which expired last september 18. But to my shock, people are already swarming in the area. And most of them had already filled up the HLO FORM for drug test and Medical.

By the way, below are the process/requirements in renewing your drivers license in LTO SM Cebu.

1. Medical Results and Drug Results from an accredited LTO laboratory.
2. Fill up ADL form from LTO.
3. Submit the duly accomplished form to E-PATROL.
4. Wait until your name will be called for ID capture and for payment of processing fees which is about P417 (no penalty). +P97 penalty for expired licensed 1 day upto 1 yr and +P150 penalty for licensed expired 1~2 years.
5. Wait for your plastic ID, DONE.

With so many people who’s ahead of me,I only managed to finished paying P400 to the cashier for my drug test and on my medical exam (not sure if that was called medical exam hence the so-called doctor only check my height, weight and ask if I am high blood or not, NO BP test. No more eye tests). For the drug testing, you need to submit your urinalysis in which you’ll have to wait for at least 1 hr to get your results.

@ 11:30 AM. I submitted my urine to the laboratory which they told me to come back in the afternoon around 1 PM to get my results. Grrrr.. Then I decided to file for a 1 day off my work (supposedly half day only). I told to my self that since I am already here, I better finish this Driver’s renewal thing once and for all.

@12:00. I had my lunch in KFC. hmmm.. sweet!

@12:30. And so, I learned my lessons. I was so panctual this time hoping that I can finish the whole process within an hour. However, my world began to sank when the guard (who receieves/distribute the results) told us that we’ll have to wait for the results to come.

@1:30. People started to heat up because they’ve told us that we can get the results by 1:00PM however it’s almost 2 O’clock and NOTHING. When we asked the guard, what happen and how soon will the result delivered? He just keep on saying “wait until the lab results will be delivered”. WTF?

@2:30. It was only then our results were relayed to the guard. And the worst thing, all 50 results were handed at once. What the hell? What’s there point in giving this result in bulk? I mean, they could have had it relayed once they have the results so we can proceed to the next step. I really don’t know what they were upto but I will NEVER ever goin to have may medical & drug test in SM again. My advice guys, go get your medical & drug test somewhere else, but of course to an accredited laboratory and proceed to the LTO E-Patrol for faster processing.

LTO E-Patrol Bus

@2:40. Damn, we all thought that we would be processing our papers right after it but when we arrived in E-Patrol LTO BUS which was located in the covered parking lot in Northwing SM, there were already so many people who were in-line. First come, first serve. Meaning, we are on the last priority.

@6:30. I got my new plastic License. Don’t bother asking why it took us so long.What choice do we have? LTO SM is down (computer problems), LTO Mandaue is down (under renovation) and Cebu City LTO is overcrowded. And so, we ended up to this LTO E-Patrol BUS which only process 1 person at a time. And not to mention, prioritizing people whom they can benefit (FIXERS).

Wow! 9 hrs just to renew my drivers license?. People I heard said that you should process your license renewal in SM because it’s faster and relaxing but what we experienced today tells me “DON’T ever waste your time again processing Drivers License in SM Cebu”. Believe me, it’s not worth it. Go to Danao or Mandaue and you’re good to go in just 1 hour.

Let me close this rant by saying “HLO Drug Testing Laboratory SM Cebu – You’re a bunch of stupid management & staff who only cares about getting more money without even thinking the agony of the drivers trying to fast-pace the process on renewing their license”. You guys should at least, show some urgency, to your customers.

Once someone enounces that motherhood makes a woman complete will probably find it more apt in the Philippines than anywhere else. pinay motherhood is a serious yet a very special attribute and gift to a woman. Although the role can be difficult sometimes, the sense of fulfillment it gives a pinay can be a genuinely awesome experience.

From the birthing of her children to the time they become adults and begin to spread their own wings to face the world on their own, children at their various stages test the natural strength and nurturing ability of a typical mother.

Pinay motherhood is also about being the initiatory spiritual guide, ethical advocate, basic mentor, a child psychologist, a creative person, fierce protector, nurse, doctor and front-line cheerleader all rolled into one for and because of her children. The tasks and responsibilities which motherhood entails make her a better person.

For notwithstanding being forced to awake in ungodly hours to nurse her child, she learns patience. A child with difficult eating habits forces her to be creative. An engagingly inquisitive child on the other hand, enhances her mentoring skills. An impatient child transforms her into a child psychologist.

And for all the little defeats, awes and apparently everlasting obligations of motherhood, the consuming and unconditional love for her children is at the core of a pinay mother’s heart. pinay motherhood is a never-ending story between a pinay mother and her children. One’s existence defines and nurtures the other’s. pinay motherhood indeed makes a pinay woman complete.

Pinay dating foreigner

This is a time when masses get in touch people fast and easy. Through the internet, data gets transmitted and received over long distances at the speed of light. And with it people easily find a global audience with whom they share ideas, make decisions, reach agreements, close deals or find romance. Today, the cyberworld pours with pinay dating sites and have opened countless doors for pinays who are searching for romance.

Philippine dating sites commonly feature article stories and photos of pinays or Filipino females. Beginning in the early 1990’s, more and more pinays with ages ranging from 16 to 50 years old have met men from Europe, the United States, South Korea, Japan and the Middle East countries through these sites. The common belief is that more than half of these pinays intend to marry, and often do end up in marriage, with their online dates, email mates or chat mates. These sites are thriving and have given occasion to the growing phenomenon of inter-racial marriages in the country.

The other side of why pinay Dating Sites are latching on world wide is largely ascribable to the appeal, inside beauty and cheerful disposition of pinays. They live up to everyone’s expectations. They are as excellent as pinay dating sites tell people they are. One American male person who finished up marrying a pinay once commented that aside from their unequaled oriental beauty, pinays are sweet, sexy and really love their husband with passion.

Get rid of your husband! File an annulment!

Why does it have to be one of my friends? Sorry for the rant but another friend of mine needs help with her annulment. She’s been mistreated by her ex-husband physically, mentally, and emotionally, even when they are not living together anymore. She wants to seek annulment, but she doesn’t really have huge funds for it. Can someone advise me on the following?

I already told her that annulment in the Philippines really requires a huge fund and the entire annulment process may cost her at least Seventy Thousand Pesos (PhP70,000). I don’t know where and how she would come up with that much money, especially, his irresponsible ex-husband doesn’t even give any support to her daughter. But I did tell her that if you have limited resources, you could file the petition as a pauper litigant (for filing fees) and seek free legal aid like Public Attorney Office.

However, most of the people I’ve talked who was successfully annulled in Philippines mentioned that it will really cost you more or less Php200,000. This package already includes; docket fee, attorney’s fee,   Psychological Evaluation/Report & Clinical Psychologist’s, appearance in Court, Stenographic notes, and other necessary fees or expenses just to obtain favorable result or decision. Obtain favorable result? Does that mean you’ll pay the judge?

By the way, for those who wanted to file for annulment here in the Philippines, here are the initial requirements;

1. Marriage certificate
2. Children’s birth certificates if any, both from the NSO.
3. Marital history which shall be used as basis in the petition and which shall also be required by the clinical psychologist during the test or evaluation.

For those who’ve experienced with the whole annulment process, does it really take at least 1 year before the decision?  Geez..

Filipina in Agony Abroad

This is a true story of my Filipina friend who’s married to a foreigner whom she met online. It’s been a year now since she got married to a white guy. Her life has changed both financially and emotionally as a mother. Yes, she was blessed with 6-month-old cute little baby.

I know many of you may NOT agree with it (including me) but in one way or another , the foreigner has also a point. I actually heard some news about it – The Alleck Baldwin Mail Order Bride remarks that enrages Philippines and Filipinos around the globe.

Anyway, here are her agonies:

1. My husband thinks our best tourism is the Filipina girls, and that’s why he came here, then he met me.
2. He doesn’t want our kid to live here because streets are the playground of the children, basing to what he saw.
3. Our politicians are corrupt; he kept asking me where our 12% vat go.
4. He laughs at small shanty houses in major roads; coz for him it’s terrible to see.
5. He never rides PAL, or sea ships of the Philippines .
6. Those Filipino vehicle drivers are “Crazy” or “Boang”, no clues and never give way to ambulance.
7. Hospitals are too far to be alive.
8. That ambulance brings you dead on arrival.
9. That majority of us live in 2 dollars a day.
10. That everybody wants to leave the country.
11. That government agencies is money greedy, he can prove it.
12. That majority just eat rice and fish.
13. That we fight with each other.
14. That we do not produce anything, if we do no quality.
15. That we suppose to have a very beautiful place but the government is busy in corruption.
16. Homes here don’t have grasses.
17. He wonders what country’s future be.
18. And more

All these are present in his husband mind and there’s no way she can change it. He shakes his head to our Country. It’s killing her softly and of course, she’s hurt.

I knew my friend! She has been defending Philippines ever since.  But according to her, his husband always give counter reasons and it just makes her looks-like a no clue Filipina too!

Are there any Filipina out there who got married to a foreigner or white guy and experienced this kind of agony to their husband?