Trick or treat

As a mostly Catholic country, the Philippines does not really celebrate Halloween. We observe All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2), and many Filipinos will be trooping to the cemeteries this weekend. Many who work in Metro Manila but are from other provinces have started traveling to their hometowns this afternoon. The way Filipinos remember their dearly departed shock a lot of people from other cultures. During this weekend, our cemeteries will be like huge picnic grounds—family reunions with food and drink and children playing games. Most people will have more than one family member—extended family, not just immediate—buried in the same cemetery, so people will be walking around too, trying to visit all their loved ones. Prayers will be offered of course, but mostly, people will be telling stories about those who have passed on—especially the hilarious ones, so there will be lots of laughter too. Honestly, we're even like this during wakes (unless the death was violent or the one who died was still a child). Don't think of it as irreverent. Rather, think of it as a celebration of life—that of the one who has passed away, and that which we continue to live right now. So it's a quiet night in Metro Manila tonight. Except in some exclusive subdivisions (the term we use to refer to gated communities) which organize trick-or-treating for the children of families who live there. As a sign that a household is participating—that it has treats for the kids—the house has to be decorated for Halloween. The kids in Magallanes Village in Makati City are probably going around right now. I hope they reach this house—the family not only decorated the balcony and pedestrian gate, but the gate to the garage and even the street corner!

Point and eat

Chinese restaurants are very common in Metro Manila. One of the things I love most about them are these dim sum carts. A server goes around pushing a cart full of little bamboo steamers with different kinds of dim sum in them, you point to what you want, he puts it on your table, and marks the dim sum sheet on your table with what you got. I can have an entire meal with just dim sum—except for the chicken feet. Do you see it?

Bored

Can you imagine doing this for a living day-in and day-out? Very few pay parking buildings and lots in Metro Manila have those automatic ticket machines where you drive up to the machine, push a button, a ticket comes out and the boom goes up. Here, an attendant takes down your license plate number, hands you your ticket and pushes the button to lift the boom. At the exit, you hand your ticket and payment to another attendant in another booth. This lady is actually lucky because her little booth is enclosed and has an air-conditioner. Most do not have the luxury of the a/c and are completely exposed to the fumes of all the cars coming in and out.

Gadget bling

Gmask is a company that will wrap any gadget in ultra-thin skins that are resistant to water, scratches and dust. Swarovski-encrusted digital camera anyone?

Neon clock tower

Eastwood City is a 16-hectare real estate development of Megaworld Corporation near the crossroads of Quezon City, Pasig City and Marikina City. It's a high-density development with office buildings, condominium towers (currently ten), and a commercial and entertainment center which they call 'City Walk.' When non-residents like us go to the commercial center though, we just say we're going to 'Eastwood.' The place has movie theaters, a bowling alley, and a shopping and dining complex which I think is one of the most interesting in the metro, design-wise. The clock tower figures prominently in many of Eastwood City's marketing materials. It'll probably be used in the materials for that new condo going up.

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It's hard to believe that tiny little bodies can hold so much energy! It's only been two days since my sister and nieces arrived and I'm already exhausted—although in a very happy and satisfied kind of way. I'm just so glad they're not three little boys!

An early Christmas

The minute the 'ber' months come around, Metro Manila begins celebrating Christmas. Malls get dressed up with Christmas trees, lights and ornaments, shops display their Christmas merchandise, and everywhere you go and whatever mode of public transportation you take, cheesy pop Christmas songs blare out from speakers both mono and stereo. Personally, I don't mind the decorations, but I hate the music—and that's all I'll say about it. Anyway, there is something about our early and long Christmas season that I approve of wholeheartedly: the various projects meant to help the poor. Some are short-term, Christmas-only projects. I remember a toy shop which asked its customers to buy one extra toy to give to a child in an orphanage, which the shop would match with another toy of the same value. Then there are the long-term projects which use Christmas to try to raise both awareness and more funds, taking advantage of people's generosity (or guilt) during this season. The Children's Hour falls into the latter category. It is a fund-raising, non-profit organization which is trying to convince corporations, employees and individuals to donate at least one hour of their earnings once a year to help poor Filipino children. Now that's easy enough to do, right? The organization does not have its own projects—it gives grants to other organizations which help children. That makes a lot of sense, if you stop and think about it. The Children's Hour has a special emphasis on education and literacy, though feeding and health programs are also supported. After all, how can a child study when all he can think of is how hungry he is? I hope this box—and many others like it all over the Ayala Malls—gets filled by the end of our Christmas season on January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany.

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My sister and her three young daughters are arriving tonight for a one-week visit. Wheeeee! I will still try to post a photo everyday, but I hope you will all understand if I don't get to visit much this week. I want to spend as much time as I can with my four girls. Looks like I'm also celebrating Christmas early this year.

A little sparrow too

As promised yesterday, I present to you Naomi Emmerson as Édith Piaf. Actor, singer, dancer, director, designer, Naomi was born in Montreal, Canada and lives in New York City, and has been touring Piaf: Love Conquers All for several years now. The play has "The Little Sparrow" chatting with the audience in English, reminiscing about her singing, the music, the men in her life. To highlight certain experiences, she then sings—thirteen songs in the original French. You may have noticed the piano in yesterday's photo. That was for the pianist who accompanied Naomi in the songs. Here in Manila, the pianist was Carmela Buencamino-Sinco, a Filipino who is also based in New York City. Piaf's life seems to be as poignant as her songs. Now I want to watch La Môme.

Illustrated boudoir

Finally, a theater group that didn't prohibit photos during a performance! MusicArtes' only request was for people not to use a flash. They should also have asked people to put their little digital cameras in silent mode—the fake shutter sound of the camera of the lady behind me was irritating. I couldn't bring myself to take photos during the performance though—I didn't want to miss any of the lines or songs in Piaf: Love Conquers All, a one-person drama about the life and music of Édith Piaf. It had four shows in Metro Manila, staged at the Francisco Santiago Hall in Makati City. Tomorrow, I will introduce you to the very talented woman who acted and sang for two hours, and designed the costumes and this wonderfully quirky, illustrated set.

Portrait or caricature?

Waiting for the theater Onstage to open its doors, I saw these two artists creating portraits and caricatures from photographs at the base of the escalator.

Women

Since the year 2000, the Ateneo de Manila University has experienced a flurry of landscaping—among other, more serious matters, of course. This is especially true of the spaces between buildings which used to be covered only with crabgrass. Now, flowers, rock gardens and charming paths beautifully set off the campus' gorgeous trees. Earlier this month, traditionally the month of Mary for Catholics, a Marian walk between Gonzaga Hall and Berchmans Hall was blessed.



Mary, especially in her form as the Immaculate Conception, is the patroness of this Jesuit university. She is usually depicted with the moon at her feet, though I've seen versions with clouds or cherubs and various combinations of these three elements.



2000 was the year when the university's School of Arts and Sciences was split off into four schools (Humanities, Science and Engineering, Social Sciences, Management), each with its own dean, and all under the Vice President for the Loyola Schools. The first VP was Dr. Anna Miren Intal and the current VP is Dr. Maria Assunta Cuyegkeng.

Golden prow

Intrigued by the bangka that rowed across my sunset photo last Friday, I followed it as it crossed the harbor of the Manila Yacht Club. Here are some of the sailboats docked there. The tall building in the background is the 1322 Golden Empire Tower, a residential condominium along Roxas Boulevard. Its main boast is that every unit has a view of Manila Bay. It is currently the tallest building in the City of Manila, and the fourth tallest in Metro Manila. At 203 meters, it's downright puny compared to the world's tallest building.

Among bigger cousins

I was trying to get a photo of the sunset across the breakwater that protects the Manila Yacht Club when these two guys in a little bangka (canoe) rowed past. Now I'm forever left wondering where they came from—the breakwater extends all the way to the shore on that end—and what they were doing.

Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page and tour the skies of our beautiful world.

Circles and lines

The current decoration in the atrium of The Podium, one of two upscale malls in the Ortigas Center. Simple and elegant. I'm glad they didn't decorate for Halloween—some of the shops and restaurants did, and that's enough.

Power struggle

The Manila Electric Company, better known as Meralco, is the only power distributor in Metro Manila. In fact, it is the only power distributor in almost half of Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines. It was set up in 1903 by an entrepreneur from Detroit mainly to operate Manila's electric tramway system, with power generation and distribution only as an extension of the transportation business ('Meralco' comes from the company's original name: Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company). During WWII, the company's assets were seized by the Japanese. In 1962, Eugenio Lopez Sr. bought the company and it became Filipino-owned for the very first time. In 1972, when Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law, the government again forcibly seized control of Meralco and it was returned to the Lopez family only after the People Power Revolution in 1986. This year, there is another struggle for control of the power company—between the Lopez family and the Government Service Insurance System, one of the major stock holders of Meralco. Accusations are being hurled all over the place and, for a time, it was always front page news. The news may have moved on to the next big thing, but I don't think the power struggle has been resolved yet. The simple but elegantly curved building is the building most associated with Meralco and is located in the company's large complex in the Ortigas Center.