August 2008 Archives

By Izah Morales INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines – An economic crisis pushes people to engage in sidelines or extra jobs aside from the regular job they are already doing. But for 21-year-old Rodel Rosario of Los Baños, a sideline means the only way of making ends meet. Pushing a trolley from “Crossing” to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños has become Rodel’s “sideline” for two years now. “Kung walang trabaho, ito ‘yung sideline ko ang mag-tulak ng trolley[If I have nothing else to do, I push trolleys for sideline], ” he said. Every morning and afternoon, he is like an ice skater gliding on the train tracks, his feet alternately stepping on the steel (instead of ice) to move the makeshift trolley forward. However, his movement is not as smooth and graceful like an ice skater because his “skating rink” is the railway and his so-called performance is to push the trolley that carries a maximum of five passengers. A trolley ride costs P25, according to Rosario. As I traveled along the railway for about 15 minutes from IRRI to Crossing, Rosario told me how strenuous and dangerous it was pushing a trolley especially when the train was still operating. “Minsan may nabangga ng tren at namatay. Lasing kasi. Minsan naman na-didiskaril, [One time, someone died when a train hit him. He was drunk. Sometimes, some trolleys get derailed,” said Rosario. Despite the risk of accidents, people like Rosario continue to push trolleys especially now that the train has stopped its operation since typhoon Milenyo hit Los Baños. While acknowledging the dangers of his sideline, he could not imagine himself leaving it. “Mas gugustuhin ko pa rin sa riles, kasi dito, may kikitain kami. May hanapbuhay kami, [I still want to stay here in the railway because I can earn extra here. I can have a job],” he explained. A day of pushing a trolley under the heat of the sun, Rosario earns P150 to P200, which is enough to buy food for his family. “Pantawid gutom din. Sumasapat lang sa pagkain ang maghapong kita, [This helps me make ends meet. What I earn all day usually goes to food,]” he said.

By Janie Octia INQUIRER.net QUEZON City, Philippines – Medical board exam topnotcher Marlon Garcia always wanted to become a doctor. "I learned to love the profession as I was studying and I got to interact with the patients,” said the 26-year-old Garcia who finds the Anatomy and Surgery part of the board exam the hardest. Watch this video interview with Garcia: In an interview with INQUIRER.net, Garcia said the country suffers from the unequal distribution of qualified doctors and the lack of adequate facilities to perform medical procedures. He said most of the doctors are located in the city while far-flung provinces are in dire need of more doctors. "Ang ratio ng pasyente sa doktor is 1:50 o 100, so I guess we need to improve the manpower and facilities," he said. Garcia plans to take the United States Medical Licensing Examination and specialize in Internal Medicine and Cardiology. Though planning to practice abroad, he believes that Filipino doctors have an edge over other nationalities when it comes to doctor-patient relationship as Filipinos are more compassionate and personal. "The best thing about being a doctor is that you have the privilege is to help those who need you the most and those who are suffering from diseases. I guess every aspect of the human life not just sickness but the totality of a person," Garcia said. Garcia has not slept for the last two days waiting for the results until he got a call informing him he topped the board exam with a score of 88.75 percent. A graduate of Bachelor of Science in Biology at the De La Salle University Manila and Doctor of Medicine at the Far Eastern University-Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation, Garcia graduated cum laude.

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.net TAGUIG City, Philippines -- Stacking a dozen plastic cups might sound like a parlor game played during children's parties but some kids get to play it as a sport. In fact, a sibling of three Filipino kids showed that stacking can be serious fun. The Purugganan brothers Andrew, 16, Brian, 12, and Steven, 11, have been playing and breaking records in this relatively unheard of speed stacking contest. They and their proud parents Danilo and Victoria Purugganan are in the Philippines as participants in the the Passion Rush at the Bonifacio Global City. As the name implies, sport stacking requires players to stack up to 12 cups in a pyramid. While some people would take over a minute to stack up all 12 cups without them falling, these boys can stack the cups in threes, six, and dozen consecutively in less than 10 seconds. There are four basic categories in competition level speed stacking. These are the 3-3-3 wherein the player has to stack nine cups in threes then nest them back; the 3-6-3 is with 12 cups where the goal is to stack three sets of cups in threes, six and another threes; and the 1-10-1 also using 12 cups. The fourth category is the cycle stack, where the player is required to cycle through the three other categories. A fifth category is the doubles with two players doing a cycle stack with one hand each. The youngest of the Purugganans Steven is currently the world record holder for three categories: 3-3-3 that he completed in 1.86 seconds; the 3-6-3 category in 2.34 seconds and cycle stack category at 6.21 seconds. He broke the 3-3-3 and cycle stack records at the recently held World Sport Stacking Championships in Denver, Colorado. Steven and his brother Andrew also held the doubles championship title with 7.84 seconds, which they got at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships in Delaware. This was broken by Germans Timo Reuhl and David Wolf with a very close 7.65 seconds during the 2008 World Sport Stacking Championships. Their mother Victoria said the boys only started playing less than two years ago after watching the competition on TV. "They got interested in it so we bought them cups that they could play," she said, noting that they first joined the New York State Championships in October 2007 and from thereon, they've been breaking records. And like all athletes, Victoria said her children do some exercises before joining any competition, such as push ups and jogging. Even when they are not practicing, which she said is a lot, the boys still get to do other activities, such as playing other sports like basketball, swimming, baseball and soccer. Victoria said she is proud to let her kids compete in a sport they love while still having fun. She hopes that her kids will pursue the things they like and be successful at it.

By Izah Morales INQUIRER.net GONE are the days when you would hear a vendor shouting “Balut, Penoy!” in the streets in Manila early in the morning or late in the afternoon. In Pateros, which is known as the Balut capital of the Philippines, the scene just described remains. “It’s a legacy of Pateros. And that’s what we’re trying to preserve,” said Menandro Concio, president of Concio’s Food Corporation. Having been in the balut-making industry for 30 years, Concio wanted to save the striving industry of balut. In 2004, he introduced balut to the market in another form, which is the bottled balut or gourmet balut. Balut is a duck's egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. It is delicacy in the Philippines. Unlike the fresh balut, which lasts for three to four days, the gourmet balut’s shell life is up to two years. Turning balut into gourmet means offering it as a viand and not just a snack, said Concio. Packaging the product as a viand, balut can now be eaten as adobo, afritada, and caldereta. Because of the concept of balut as gourmet, it was featured in the One Town, One Product Philippines (OTOP), a program of the Department of Trade and Industry geared towards supporting micro, small and medium enterprises in manufacturing distinctive products through the use of local and indigenous raw materials. But would Filipinos eat balut in gourmet form? Concio does not expect the local market to accept his offering immediately since fresh balut is available. Nonetheless, he believed that the potential market for his gourmet balut is the international market. “The potential is great because it is a national delicacy, eh ang dami nating overseas Filipinos na craving for it,” said Concio. Concio has already exported his product in the Middle East in a trial shipment and will be shipping in the United States in September of this year. Watch Morales' video interview with Concio.

By Izah Morales INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines --When you’re single and a college graduate, would you rather be a mother of 11 kids who have come from different places and backgrounds? For 20 years now, Erlinda Lubi has been a foster parent in the SOS Children’s Village Manila, where 32 homeless kids are currently housed. Lubi, who is fondly called “Mama Erlin,” is now taking care of 11 kids from different age groups. Lubi shares her unforgettable experiences as a foster in this video interview taken by multimedia reporter Morales. Through SOS Children’s Village, the likes of Lubi are trained to become foster parents to homeless kids. Before she became an “SOS mother,” Lubi recalled taking a three-month course called initial motherhood. After two years, she again took a two-week refresher course. Lubi, however, stressed that learning to become a mother is not just limited to one course. It takes years. “Kahit college graduate ako, hindi mo masasabing, ‘Bakit yan yung pinasok mo, eh hindi mo naman linya.’ Sa isang nanay lahat ng courses nandun. Andiyan yung doctor ka, nurse ka, teacher ka, accountant ka,” Lubi said. While Lubi herself has no children, she has become emotionally attached to the children, as she admitted that she could not see herself leaving them. “Kahit sabihin mong mahirap, hindi mo na makuhang iiwan sila. Kasi para sa akin, hindi ko kino-consider na trabaho yung pagiging SOS nanay ko,” said Lubi. In her years of service, she recalled an incident that she could not forget. “Nagkaroon ako ng anak na sa isang oras mamatay na siya,” she said, stressing that prayers were what she held onto during those trying times. She made a deal with herself that when the baby girl survived, she would stay and serve the village as long as she can. After an hour, the baby cried. Today, the baby is a teenager who is in her third year in high school. Being a foster parent for 20 years, Lubi had this to say: “Walang napapagod na nanay. Walang nagrereklamo na nanay. Hindi mo ma-explain kung ano yung pakiramdam ng pagiging nanay.”