Last Saturday, fellow bloggers and I went to Binondo, Manila to see the San Nicolas Street, where old Spanish houses (as old as the 1800s) are still present, although waiting to be demolished.

Here are some of my photos, taken using my sturdy Nokia N73. I enhanced the photos using GIMP to make the colors more vivid.

Compromising The Old and The New

Having an old-looking house in the vicinity of relatively high-rise buildings (see the higher building at the back of the house, on the right side) looks odd, right? These houses survived the World War II bombings, in which Manila was left pretty much devastated.

A Cornered House

Maintaining the Unmaintained

Apparently, people here are hearing cricket sounds from Tricycles, so the sounds are not allowed to enter.

Cricket Sounds from Tricycles

These houses possess intricate decors which reminds me of old Europe. See the intricate door design below.

Driveway? Maybe Not.

And the sign across this house?

I Don’t Think He’ll Come Soon

A few days ago, someone forwarded me a video “Japanese R&B”. You see, in the world of Japanese Pop music which usually compromises of hot men (ikemen - イケメン) in a group (like NEWS, Arashi - 嵐), a Japanese singing R&B is something really new to me.

At first, my head did not get it. Japanese singing a “Black Music”? I didn’t mean to have a prejudice here, but really, isn’t it that we’re used to seeing “Black people” possessing fantastic soulful voices? But I must admit, Thelma Aoyama’s doing a great job in this song. The lyrics are simple enough for an elementary Japanese student to understand, and at the same time, I’m enjoying her great voice!

There are a few things I would like to point out though. I honestly think that the beat is not that unique. I’ve heard some progressions in other songs, I just cannot point out which song/s they are from, though. Also, the “yeah” at the end of the song is like, “WTF?” I mean, yeah, I know, it’s R&B, but they did not have to really stress it by adding that “yeah” at the end of the song. I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle whenever I hear it. Hah!

All in all, I enjoyed the song. I love the song, how sing-along-able this song is, and how much I have been understanding the song even if it’s in Japanese. I also love the melody, and how that two-voiced Thelma is blending well.

(By the way, she’s 75% Trinidad and Tobagan, and 25% Japanese. But that’s another matter.)

So there. Hope you enjoyed the music as much as I did!

Here are some tips I got from a colleague.

Protect yourselves especially against abusive MMDA officers. Have your drivers read this too.

Best also to PRINT AND KEEP A COPY OF THIS E-MAIL IN YOUR CAR FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.

TOOLS AGAINST MMDA OFFICERS

I just reached my limit last weekend, and decided to take action against the abusive MMDA enforcers. I basically called up the MMDA head office and inquired from the Personnel Officer, Antonio Pagulayan, to clarify their policies. Here is what I got.

If any of these abuses seem familiar to you, Mr. Pagulayan has asked that you call either the MMDA hotline (136) or call the METRO BASE at 0920 9389861 or 0920 9389875 and ask for an Inspectorate. They will send inspectors to the place where these MMDA officers are extorting, even while you are arguing out of your apprehension.

1. MMDA officers are not allowed to group together in order to apprehend. They are not even allowed to stand together in groups of 2 or more. The only time they are allowed to work together is for special operations (probably when they apprehend groups of buses for smoke belching).

2. Swerving IS NOT a traffic violation. Moving one lane to the left or right is not swerving, no matter where on the road you do it. And it is even less of a violation when you do it with a signal. Swerving is defined as shifting 2 or more lanes very quickly. So you can argue your way out of this, and call the Metro Base for help.

3. Sadly, using the yellow lane is a traffic violation and will get you a ticket. However, buses are really not allowed to go out of the yellow lane, so if you see selective apprehension of private cars only, you may complain.

4. MMDA has confirmed that your license MAY NOT BE CONFISCATED at a traffic apprehension. The only time they can do so is if you are part of an accident, or it is your third violation and you have not settled your fines yet. They are only allowed to give you a ticket, which you can contest. He recommends actually receiving the ticket in some instances, so that you can report the officer who did it.

5. Also, you are free to ask any of these officers for their “mission order”, which is written by their supervisor. If they apprehend you for a violation that is not in their mission order for the day, you can report them and they will receive disciplinary action.

So go out and fight for your rights if and when the occasion arises!

Since I get a lot of questions regarding how I canceled my Danvil policy, I decided to dedicate a blog entry about how I canceled my plan.

• Read Consumer Rights of the Philippines to equip me with proper information regarding the legality of the transaction I made

• Sent a letter of cancellation to Danvil Plans ASAP at mypolicy@myfamilyfirst.com. Also went to their office at the 4/F of Equitable Bank Bldg., Paseo de Roxas, Makati, to furnish my letter of cancellation

• Sent SEC my letter of complaint via email to Director Jose Aquino at jose.aquino@sec.gov.ph

• Sent a letter of complaint to the Insurance Commission at pubassist_ic@yahoo.com.ph

• Followed up Danvil through their customer service a lot of times, especially on weekends

To those who are planning to cancel their plan, here’s my advice, which I learned the hard way: Please review the Consumer Rights of the Philippines, and be empowered on how we consumers are ought to be treated. No one deserves a treatment such as how the sales representative in the said company did.

Please understand that from this point on, I cannot and will not entertain questions like, “How did you cancel your account?”

Thank you, and I hope this entry has empowered you in some way.