counting bombs

'twas the afternoon of my december birthday when i received word from my youngest sis about the explosions in unicity and jerry's, two shopping centers in iligan. i asked if the explosions were indeed due to bombs as she'd initially relayed or due to firecrackers exploding in unified booms. the answer was definite: bombs.

the bombs that blew off were deposited at the baggage counters by the perpetrators. they left a number wounded and immediately claimed the lives of two people -- baggage boys, individuals who earn honest living. this happened on december 18.

on december 19, another bomb was left behind in a bakeshop just across where the two shopping centers are. the improvised explosive device (IED) -- the politically correct term -- was placed inside a hollowed papaya fruit and was left behind by someone who ordered something from the bakeshop. due to heightened alert and all that, this was dealt with accordingly and the IED was detonated safely -- save for the fear it sowed from people around, no one was hurt.

when i got home to iligan from batangas last december 20, i felt the difference in the christmas air -- iligan is lacking of that this year. i expected to be welcomed by festive lights and feel more christmas spirit but... upon entering iligan, i had to strain my eyes to look for the lights. iligan was noticeably more quiet, more devoid of people than the last time i'd been around. i relayed this to my friends and one of them declared: "your birthday was literally a blast." i understood the context -- we're talking of IEDs in decembertime.

people are counting the days, the hours, the minutes to christmas day and the rest of the holidays and the good things that these days hold -- i can feel there's still excitement -- but, at the same time, we're also counting bombs here.

last sunday, december 21, another IED was left behind near maria cristina hotel. a group of scavengers discovered it on the vacant lot and the authorities who were alerted dealt with it accordingly. yesterday, two other IEDs were discovered -- the first of the two was left in trendline, another shopping center and the second was left near standard blue, a block away from the cathedral. these didn't have their chance to harm because they got discovered, too.

from the grapevine, they're talking about 100 IEDs to expect. the first number i heard was 15. 15 or 100, that's too many.

when the explosions last thursday made it to the national news, my workmates and even my bosses dissuaded me from coming home. they said i should just stay in luzon. however, my plans were fixed: i'm going home and i'll remain safe with my family and hometown friends. bombs or no bombs.

my yellow surprise

fave yellow
19th of december 2008
tanauan city, batangas


whoa, yellow
it was the night after my birthday and it was our christmas party. i left my desk & our workroom and announced i was going to change...

and changed was what i did. when i was making my way back to the engineering area, everyone was taking first-and-then-second looks at me... they just couldn't believe i transformed. hahahaha!

'twas fun getting all those surprise-induced and pleased reactions. i'm known to be such a stubborn (err... consistent) jeans-and-shirt gal so when i pulled my yellow surprise they were all like 'wow! what got into you!? you look so nice! dapat lagi kang ganyan.'

hahahahaha... wish!

world tour sunday

11.30.08 | around the world in one sunday

we went to experience the pasig river ferry ride and we ended up in hong kong, shanghai, the middle east, spain, singapore, greece, the rest of europe, the united states... until our feet got us to holy cow!

how so? see for yourself and just enjoy this album:
http://kulitjr3.multiply.com/photos/album/416

locations: guadalupe, along pasig river, escolta, the post office building, dambana ni andres bonifacio in ermita, the underpass, intramuros, the national museum, robinson's place

new things learned:
1. our group can make the philippines look so good (haha!)
2. taking pictures of malacanang palace is not allowed during the ferry ride
3. admission to the national museum on sundays is free

group composition: carlo, yoni, val, randz, jinx

breakdown of expenses (read: common damage to our pockets):
ferry ride fee from guadalupe to escolta - PhP45
kalesa ride around intramuros - PhP50 (this is better than having to spend pesos for a massage to soothe sore legs after all the "more walking" that we could have done)

this we can say: wow philippines! wow world! ;-P