The Egyptians I’ve dealt with here in the Gulf are likable and unlikable to a certain extent. And I think that they feel the same for the Filipinos and other expatriates. The parallelism between Egyptians and Filipinos on the way they behave here has something to do with “the way we walk” at our home countries.

The walking Egyptians in the Gulf are humorous (until their cracking of jokes diminished as their own people power begun to oust Hosni Mubarak; did you know that Mubarak means blessed and fortunate in Arabic?), oozing with confidence that some of them appear to be overconfident, and opinionated (ranging from opinionated to extremely opinionated; means that they probably are opinionated since birth). I almost clashed with few of them outside the work arena because they have the tendency to bully other expatriates in the UAE for different reasons. (It really takes a lot of patience and tact to deal with some of them.) I call it “territorialism”. It turns out that they are one of the first educated expatriates , aside from Indians, whom have been entrusted mostly managerial posts in different disciplines especially in legal and financial management when UAE was in its formative years. Attribute that to their proximity to the Gulf. The Egyptians though had an extreme advantage over whoever educated fellow lands here because of their proficiency in Arabic.

There really is no intention to take over. However, nature dictates, complacency is expected, other groups of expatriates including the Southeast Asians started thriving. Of course, you know what happens next. The game theory of survival of the fittest. I don’t think though that we need to eradicate each other because monopoly of jobs based on an expatriate’s nationality is unreasonable. Each kind has its forte, but yes, there will always be competition. To prove that one is worthy of his post and is indispensable. I guess that holds true whether we are in our home country or not. I’m not being biased here, but (most of the) Filipinos are healthy competitors. That is we try to be fair at all times. Most of us don’t even want to compete and will be passive until one steps on our dignity. But then again, “being fair” depends on one’s dictionary.

In general, I like the presence of the Egyptians. Like most Filipinos, they are educated. You get priceless points of view from them about anything under the sun. Hence, it inspires us to be guarded and to continuously improve. I also like them, especially when we are on the same side, because they speak well that they have the power to convince. Of course, it still depends on the resistance of the other party. I can go on and list our similarities, but the ironic point is that we can actually compete with each other in terms of quality of education and corruption in our home countries. Just like us, they also got queried why Egypt has so much potential, but remains poor. We understand more why they try to hold on to whatever power they have outside their home country.

Then we started being emphatic. We saw them in their lowest low, probably like our faces  that looked like soaked puppies at the peak of hostage taking of Hong Kong nationals in Manila. Now that their president has been deposed (after 29 years and 120 days in post, surviving six assassination attempts, and ranking 20th of the World’s Worst Dictator List by Parade Magazine in 2009), we talk about the parallelism again on how the late president Ferdinand Marcos flew to Hawaii, the formation of human wall (with a more dramatic version of Holy Cross and Quoran side by side), most of their rich businessmen packed their suitcases and are now in Dubai, intervention from US, that how we wish they have a counterpart of late president Corazon Aquino (well, that’s too much repetition of history!), and more.

We see the Egyptians in the Gulf walking like a true Egyptian again. Back to their old humorous selves, hopeful, and confident. I hope that they would learn from what transpired in governance in the Philippines after the 1986 people power revolution. If positivity alone can save the Philippines since then, ours probably is one of the richest countries by now. But no. Let me borrow from Peter Pan the movie, it takes faith, hope, and pixie dust…. and let’s add hard work to that.

Mabrouk (Congratulations) and bit-tawfiq (good luck) to the people of Egypt!

I was coaching two padawans (that sounds very Star wars; it means apprentice/student) last weekend on how to make cupcakes. We baked devil’s cupcakes and whipped butter frosting. Just because it is yellow, we decided to call it cupcakes for Noynoy.

[They experimented on the icing forms. To bake (and to eat together) is one of the fun ways to spend quality time.]

It is interesting how we tend to associate almost anything yellow to some of the Aquinos. In my most recent vacation, I noticed Ninoy Aquino mobile phones being sold inside the malls, amongst other special edition stuff. I am imagining right now the color, figuratively and literally, of the inauguration. As I am writing this, I am watching the local news providing a preview to the menu and other preparations for tomorrow. I am wishing that I can be home all day to watch the live coverage of his oath-taking.

Starting 30th of June, a lot of things is going to change. A number of officials are re-embracing their privacy, but not for our outgoing president GMA. I used to like a her a lot for being so smart. Apparently, being smart is both a strength and a weakness. Although I did not vote for Noynoy, I am trying to keep an open mind. Someone can be likeable enough in the end. What one does is going to ultimately speak for a person. So, let us all work hard for the big change. He can not do it alone.

Updated (30th June 2010): Here is the video of the inaugural speech of President Benigno Aquino III, the 15th president of the Republic of the Philippines:

(CLICK HERE FOR FULL TRANSCRIPT)

(This article appeared on one of the UAE’s broadsheets a day before the national elections in the Philippines. Quoting Noynoy Aquino as “an early favourite to win”. As they say, Noynoy without Mar is like Frodo without Sam. But it must be interesting to see him working with Jejomar Binay who was former President Cory Aquino’s first appointed local official after the EDSA revolution.)

It felt like my heart was bleeding during the first few hours of votes canvassing. I voted for Gibo Teodoro (with Dick Gordon as an alternate) and Mar Roxas, with no one else in my mind. The skyrocketing votes for Noynoy Aquino was no surprise, but it IS for Joseph Estrada and Jejomar Binay [it really helped to be nicknamed "Jejemon Binay", have the support from the brothers (Alpha Phi Omega), the endorsement of Chiz Escudero who has a significant youth following, and other factors].

If I would be asked to vote again, I will have the same choice. And I think you will, too, because we believe in our respective candidates. Our varied (informed) choices dictate that there is more than one who CAN really lead. That feels and sounds more than great.

Our candidates did not make it. Shall we spend the next six years being a pessimist? I am sure you will not.

The colors may divide us, but a rainbow shall work. Would you like to know how it feels when you are inside and under a rainbow? Everything is nice, professional skepticism would be around, but at the end of the day it shall only spell optimism.

While my blog and/or majority of the Filipinos are almost turning politics centric, which is irresistible because of the coming elections in the Philippines, let us take a break to welcome my new toy. Had I known that this is more than stunning and really suits me, I should not have hesitated long enough to get it.

This photo was taken by a friend-colleague that day the iPad was delivered to me. We were in a meeting room when I excitedly open it, and then she acted like one of those paparazzi (and until now she does not want to delete my photos from her mobile) .

While I explore the stunner, let’s go back to business. I have casted my vote already last weekend. And the big day in the Philippines is coming so soooooon! We may not have the same bets/choices, but I am sure that all of you will vote wisely.

Let us all pray for a peaceful and honest elections.

(Originally uploaded here.) This carton ballot box looks almost the same with those being used in the ongoing election in the UAE. Just take out the label and imagine sealer-tapes on each side of a more vulnerable box instead.

I casted my vote at the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi two days ago. That was before 12:00 noon and there were only three voters then. I brought a solid list with me, so it did not take much time for me to finish. I briefly sorted the names of the candidates though and found myself humoured to know their full names, which I probably would not easily identify if not for their aliases and popular names. Also, only that moment I learned that Jay Sonza was running for vice-president and Imelda Papin for senator.

I stayed in the precinct a little longer just to feel the control environment which is contributory to the possible results of the election. It turned out that I had too many WHYs:

(1) The absentee voting began on 10th of April. The same carton ballot boxes will be used until 10th of May. Can we please have more durable ballot boxes? Please take note that there are also ballot boxes taken to and from the Labor Office (also in Abu Dhabi) because there is a number of Filipinos assigned to cast their votes from there. You probably can calculate how depreciated the boxes will be after a month or before the actual counting of votes begin.
(2) I registered in August of last year. We were advised that the voter’s ID will be available (at most) by April. Until the day I voted, I did not receive it. The same applies to the rest of the voters in the UAE. I have no idea if this singly happened here. Instead, we were asked to present the original passport or any locally issued identification.
(3) After presenting the acceptable ID, the name of the voter was checked from the masterlist/registration; and the voter was asked to sign there and signify a right thumb print. But why is the ink delible? One sneeze can erase it.
(4) A few who actually registered last year cannot find their names on the masterlist/registration.
(5) There was no secrecy booth. Voters were asked to cast their votes over a shared rectangular table. Yes, a folder was there with the name of the candidates in it. But the area and arrangement was so open that my neighbor-voter can actually cheat (i.e. copy my list). In a way, I would be happy if somebody indeed copied my list. Since I believe I made a right choice. (I have, however, this inkling that the election will never be 100% clean, no matter how much we pray about it. And that is beyond my control. But I am happy that in the aspect that is within my means, I did my best. Shall my candidate win or not, I would support whoever would be officially elected.)
(6) I was asked to thumb print again on the ballot before slipping it to the box (there goes my precious choices!). Yes, the ink was doubly verified as delible. It was gone in a few minutes without really trying to intentionally remove it.
(7) I have chatted with the person overseeing the voting that hour. I asked a number of questions like the safekeeping of ballot boxes, custodianship of keys, other preventive and detective controls, and a lot more. I got a feeling that she wanted to shoo me away as soon as possible. Sorry, if I made you uncomfortable. But I think I will always have the right to ask that.
(8) Well, there are just too many WHYs.

One hundred two diplomatic posts (embassies and consulates) will have postal voting and 70 posts will have personal voting (voter has to cast his ballot at the embassy or consulate), and the new automated voting system in Hong Kong and Singapore (THIS IS ANOTHER WHY; why not in the Middle East?).

Of the 8.1 million Filipinos (workers and residents combined) worldwide, only 589,830 overseas Filipinos registered* for the May 2010 national elections. Well, of course, not all those who registered are going to vote.

*215,546 voters in the Asia Pacific, 66,745 in the Americas, 61,294 in Europe, 225,148 in the Middle East and and Africa, and 21,097 seafarers.

(Campaign groups in Laguna, armed with the appropriate summer hat.)

The absentee voting has started on 10th of April and my list is still in progress.

The ongoing campaign for the 2010 elections in the Philippines is, so far, the best and worst alike. Since I was fetched from the airport, Joey Marquez’s posters surprised me as I reunited with the Metro Manila sunset. Wow, he is racing again to be the Mayor of Paranaque. And as we passed by the towns in Laguna, ER Ejercito’s (George Estregan III, the incumbent mayor of Pagsanjan) photos welcomed us. He is running for governor.

I also got numerous spam SMS, trying to discredit some presidentiables. How strange that the spamming stopped when I roamed on again my Philippine sim card. The campaign tactics had progressed (worsen) a lot, to the extent that it is going to haunt you even when you are asleep (i.e. campaign jingles, etc.).

[Taken on Palm Sunday. On the campaign posters are some of my school mates in highschool, running to be the town's Mayor (incumbent Vice-Mayor) and the other one as a Councilor re-electionist.]

What piqued me most was when I recognized familiar faces (i.e. people from my highschool) on the campaign materials in my hometown. It is not that surprising though since they have the “politico material” in them since student council days. If I were not an absentee voter, I will definitely vote for them, as I told my family and relatives. But I have been debated just by saying that. Since they have a different (but unanimous) choice. It is a relief that I am voting overseas. Otherwise, I will go for my candidates again, whom they do not prefer (like the first time I voted, in 1998). I love it when we exercise freedom in making choices, and it does not affect the blood and consanguinity relations.

I hope and pray that we are all mature now, that we are making our choices not just to win affiliation and/or friends, that we do not decide based on emotions. The truth is, the candidates are all making big (almost impossible) promises. There comes the moment that you have to select blindly, with the sole basis that because you believe in that person.

If you are in this part of the world, see you this weekend at the Philippine Embassy. I think by that time my list would be complete.

(Photo taken at Welbart Exhibit in the Philippines, 2008). These men are like the politicians during the campaign period, trying to market themselves to the public.

I’ve registered for the absentee voting last August and now that the election is near, I still don’t have my final list. Although it’s only one vote that’s coming from me, I reserve my right to be choosy about the candidates. The possibility of cheating in the canvassing of votes is beyond my control. I think that one of the better things that came up now is the availability of several means to get oriented with the salesmen (aka political candidates).

The survey results are tricky to the undecided and to those who are investing on candidates. Here’s from one of my current reads, Freakonomics:

In order to figure out the relationship between money and elections, it helps to consider the incentives at play in campaign finance. Let’s say you are the kind of person whom might contribute $1,000 to a candidate. Chances are you’ll give the money in one of two situations: a close race, in which you think the money will influence the outcome; or a campaign in which one candidate is a sure winner and you would like to bask in reflected glory or receive some future in-kind consideration. The one candidate you won’t contribute to is a sure loser. So front-runners and incumbents raise a lot of money than long shots. And what about spending that money? Incumbent and front-runners obviously have more cash, but they only spend a lot of it when they stand a legitimate chance of losing; otherwise, why dip into a war chest that might be more useful later on, when a more formidable opponent appears?

Now picture two candidates, one intrinsically appealing and the other not so. The appealing candidate raises much more money and wins easily. But was it the money that won him the votes, or was it his appeal that won the votes and the money?

That’s a crucial question but a very hard one to answer. Voter appeal, after all, isn’t very easy to quantify. How can it be measured?

It can’t, really – except in one special case. The key is to measure a candidate against… himself. That is, Candidate A today is likely to be similar to Candidate A two or four years hence. The same could be said for Candidate B. If only Candidate A ran against Candidate B in two consecutive elections but in each case spent different amounts of money. Then, with the candidates’ appeal more or less constant, we could measure the money’s impact.

Here’s the surprise: the amount of money spent by the candidates hardly matters at all. A winning candidate can cut his spending in half and lose only 1 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, a losing candidate who doubles his spending can expect to shift the vote in his favor by only that same 1 percent. What really matters to a political candidate is not how much you spend; what matters is who you are (The same could be said about parents). Some politicians are inherently attractive to voters and others simply aren’t, and no amount of money can do much about it.

What’s your basis of selection of candidates?
a.) The results of sales of 711 presidentiables’ cups?
b.) Surveys
c.) Campaign ads
d.) Things that help you make an informed choice
e.) None of the above/ Others

Find me if you can. No, I didn't see it live.

Talk about five years in the making, Burj Khalifa (formerly known as Burj Dubai), the tallest tower in the world was officially inaugurated last night. The first time I saw this up and personal was few months ago when we checked the fireworks in the dancing fountain in Dubai Mall. It is really, really gigantic that it felt like looking up to eternity from that point. I did not get to see the launching face to face though. I hoped that they would do it during a weekend that I probably might have considered going there to be one of the many spectators, with eyes bewildered, as you can see in one of the photos. (I photographed these from the pages of one of the leading broadsheets in UAE.)

The fireworks display begun from one level to the other culminating on the over 160th floor/level (just imagine the speed of the elevators). Due to amazing pyrotechnics, the tower looked like it was going to explode. Until the inauguration, its final height (of 828 meters) was not disclosed by the developers.

Burj Khalifa

The fact that this tower in Dubai is now part of the history of tallest towers in the world is no surprise to me. Dubai has been known for making the impossible possible. What shocked me is that after all the promotion and marketing worldwide of its supposedly legal name “Burj Dubai”, on its inauguration it was introduced as “Burj Khalifa”. Burj is an Arabic term for tower or building. But why Khalifa? I was checking the related news on the launch and consistently the reason I got was  because Burj Khalifa name was one that reflected greatness. I partly might agree.  But we must remember that Dubai is known for branding almost anything with its name in it. There must be a big reason for dropping its name.

It might have been destined, but my couple of years stay in the UAE, brought me to some political orientation and issues even without necessarily seeking it. This is not a political blog, hence, I tried not writing about the rulers’ issues especially during the height of Dubai’s financial crisis. But to make the long story short, the rulers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi used to have (a past tense is safer) a tribal war (this you will not probably find in the worldwideweb). Their management style differs a lot: with Abu Dhabi as being the level headed one as against Dubai’s aggressiveness (hence, termed rebellious brother). Despite this silent competition, Abu Dhabi’s government generously supplied US$ 10 billion to Dubai’s government to meet the debt obligations of Dubai World.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed is one of the rulers of Abu Dhabi (and is the current president of UAE). That explains the change in name. Whether he demanded the tower to be named after him or not is another question. As a resident of Abu Dhabi, I do not think he would do that. He is one of the leaders whom I think is not hungry for recognition. Incidentally, he did not attend the inauguration of Burj Khalifa. Last year, its government rejected a proposal to build a tower taller than the (then) Burj Dubai. Had it pushed through, it will be called “Al Imlaq” or “The Giant”. Although much equipped by resources, they considered more the impact it will have on the air traffic in Abu Dhabi. Talk about social and environmental responsibilities. And guess what? The builders will not stop. They will redirect the proposal to Saudi Arabia. Do not be surprised if a taller tower would be launched in the next five years. And you know where.

Isa sa mga nami-miss ko sa Pilipinas ay ang pagsakay sa traysikel o traysikol (tricycle). Iba’t ibang anyo, mayroong makulay mayroong simple, mayroong normal, mayroong parang iPod sa lakas ng sounds system. Ang larawan sa taas ay natiyempuhan ko nang bumisita ako sa Pampanga noong isang taon. Sa ilang bayan sa Laguna, malalapad ang mga traysikel. Hindi siguro basehan ang lapad at timbang ng pasahero, pero dahil mas maluwang ang lansangan doon. Sa Antique naman, maliit ang traysikel pero talikuran ang istilo. Pwede pang sumakay ang apat sa likod.

Noong nagbakasyon ako sa Pilipinas, ang unang ginawa ko ay kumain ng taho na inilalako sa kalye. Sa susunod na pag uwi ko, malamang ang una kong gagawin ay kumain ng Jollibee chickenjoy at hopia na galing sa Binondo, at sumakay sa traysikel o dyipni (jeepney).

Pero hindi ako sasakay sa traysikel na may nakadikit/palamuti na letrang GMA.

I wrote here my hesitation to register for absentee voting, to quote:

Don’t get me wrong. I love Philippines. Not that I’m being lazy either. But there’s this initial not so optimist feel of what for? The governance that I’ve witnessed after each election is vicious. I remember one discussion with the locals here. They’re giving praises as to how educated the Filipinos they meet are, and they wonder why the househelpers and cashiers (in the malls) they meet are seemingly educated. “Most of them are college graduates. But maybe they find it necessary to leave Philippines for a while for a number of reasons. Not always the major reason, but for the better pay.” I said. “But what is your government doing? Philippines has a very good education system, you produce world class professionals, what’s wrong with your government?,” they asked. OMG, Prez GMA help! Kidding.

(The embassy is open during the weekends, Friday and Saturday, to accommodate more registration. Only those full of excuses won’t be able to register. Haha. I used to be like that.)

Believe it or not, (though my family are/used to be Marcos loyalists) Prez Cory touched me in a way that I (finally) registered for the absentee voting few days ago. Kudos to the people in Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi. They are efficient. I filled out the required form, gave a photocopy of my passport (you may provide a copy of labor card or its equivalent), signed in the signature pad, photo taken (they’re using an old Canon Powershot A300) , fingerprints scanned, briefed about the coming elections and availability of the voters ID, etc.

While waiting for my turn, I regaled myself by counting the number of desktops they have (i.e. there are seven PCs visible from the counter), looked at two Panasonic photocopiers, a no-name 14-inch television with TFC subscribtion, Prez Arroyo’s photo on the wall near the cashier, Vice-Prez De Castro’s photo near the photocopier, walls painted cream of white, at least a dozen blue monoblocks, (unintentionally) eavesdropped at other registrants’ conversations – hot topic: the lavish dinnner in the US (at this point some registrants sarcastically looked at Prez Arroyo’s photo near the cashier; hey, why is it near there? malicious question, heehee, coincidence of course), etc.

Registration is until August 30, 2009. More information here.

The only time I voted was during the 1998 presidential elections. I was too excited then, I even brought a list with me to the precint (first time kase). Who to vote for this time?