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Kingston After Dark: The Body/Head connection (backup of my interview from 2019)

1991: The Year Punk Broke was pretty much my almost daily afternoon home video consumption in high school after cutting class and taking acid during the day.

I cannot understate how much the classic noise-rock and grunge-era tour documentary meant to me and opened my mind, heart and ears to a lifetime of appreciating bands with edge, passion and a feminist streak, not to mention the joy of seeing Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon clowning around with Kurt Cobain.

I never thought decades later I would get a chance to talk to Gordon myself. Her fabulous noise landscape painting band Body/Head (with fellow guitarist Bill Nace) has a sophomore record called The Switch out on indie giants Matador Records as of July 13. It is an unromanticized-yet-meditative collection of moody guitar swells and poetic fragments as well as an excellent boundary-pushing follow-up to their 2013 debut Coming Apart and 2016 live album No Waves.

It was a genuine pleasure for myself and my partner Elizabeth Gomez (a.k.a. psych folk singer Globelamp) to interview Kim and Bill before their upcoming BSP Kingston back room theater appearance on Friday, July 20.

Morgan Evans: BSP is a great, non-corporate venue that has grown out of community love and involvement. How did you end up stopping here?

Bill Nace: Someone offered for us to play there and it fit into our routing. I don’t know much about Kingston. I saw Television once. My friend Angel [Deradoorian] opened. There is a poet, Ben Estes, who actually used to live with Kim who I think lives up there now and runs a publishing imprint called The Song Cave. Is Grasshopper from Mercury Rev still there?

Morgan: Yeah, he’s my friend! I am hoping he will do a song with me on my next Walking Bombs album. Kim, I wanted to know if you saw The Center Will Not Hold documentary on Netflix about Joan Didion. I know you mentioned her in your memoir, Girl in a Band. Did you like it?

Kim Gordon: I did. I thought it was pretty fluffy, but I liked learning she would get up in the morning and wear her dark glasses to have a Pepsi for breakfast.

Morgan: I remember that part! It was amazing! Your music in Body/Head is so expansive. There is a lot of debate right now about visibility and why music called “experimental” is often given that category when it is made by white people and not by other races. Everyone can experience things in a unique way, even through a pop song. What was some formative music that made you start to dissect music in a different way and opened your mind? Your records are kind of an experience rather than someone performing a genre.

Bill Nace: That’s a big one. I think experimental is such a weird phrase. We are not experimenting. We know what we are doing. Experimental is like a word that is seen in contrast with pop music. I never feel like I am commenting on pop music or trying to deconstruct that. It is more our own thing. Everyone thinks of pop music as the norm but that doesn’t have to really be the case. There are unlimited access points into music.

Elizabeth Gomez: Kim, I’ve been in the music scene only a little bit and have encountered a lot of sexism. I can only imagine how much you have, being such a pillar in the scene for so long. As a rock icon, do you have any advice for women who want to keep focusing on their art and drown that stuff out?

Kim: I would just … play louder [laughing]. It’s no different than anywhere else, the culture. I guess I got used to working from a position as a bass player that was sort of a supportive role, initially. If you are not directly in the limelight you can be more observant about things and kind of … I don’t know. It’s so normal to be in a male dominated society that it’s kind of … I guess my bar of expectations is a little bit low. [Laughs.] Especially right now with a Supreme Court opening and everything. At the same time, you can’t really stop energy. The wrath of millions of women will be really hard to contain if Roe v. Wade gets really fucked with. It’s coming to a head, in a weird way. I hope it’s not coming to a head in like a “the end of the world” way [laughs].

Elizabeth: The bar is kind of low. I know what you mean. Our president is Trump.

Kim: I guess I am used to working with limitations, is what I am saying. I kind of like that, in a way. I make it work for me. By people not expecting certain things from you, you can kind of surprise them.

Morgan: So, the song itself and song title for your track “Change My Brain” jumped out to me. People cry about “fake news” and trolls try to muddy the waters online so people can’t determine facts anymore. It makes gaslighting easier. We all have some cultural biases, but you can just hear a song and it can make you relax or feel unity at times. That piece was strong and has a great crawling tension build. Music can reset our brains sometimes back to a better reality.

Bill: For us, we try to go in and focus and play. We play and then go back to what we have done and a world and thread happens without us trying to steer it. “Change My Brain,” I came up with that name on tour a few years ago as a possible 7-inch title. We had been on tour for awhile and I just felt insane. I think we like titles like that that are really open so the listener and audience are active participants, rather than putting a fine point on anything.

BALITANG NEGOSYO: InstaPay PH faces nationwide disruption, suffering Money Transfer outage and Reversed Transactions on both E-Wallets and Philippine Banks, leading to consumer frustration and regulatory intervention [#OneNETnewsEXCLUSIVE]

(Written by Miko Kubota / K5 News Patrol #4 reporter of OneNETnews & Station Manager and President of OneNETtv Channel)

MAKATI, MANILA -- A major disruption has hit the electronic bank transaction service industry in the Philippines as 'InstaPay' Philippines faces a massive money transfer outage, affecting key players like UnionBank, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), MetroBank, SeaBank, GCash, Maya and others. The recent outage is related to Pay QR (Quick Response), and to Send or Receive Money via Bank-to-Bank Transfer, E-Wallet to Bank Transfer, and vice versa. Customers are reporting that their remaining balance is being reverted back after 1-2 banking days, causing frustration and inconvenience.

The unexpected reversal of funds has left many consumers puzzled, especially those who had made transactions to the wrong and successful recipients or through the said Pay QR. Despite the issues faced by users, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has stepped in to regulate and prevent any unfair practices by 'InstaPay'. The central bank is working closely with accredited E-Wallet and Banking Institutions to address the situation promptly.

Reports surfaced on various social media platform posts in general and group posts, particularly in Facebook groups and personal accounts (per all owned by Meta Platforms Inc.), where users expressed frustration over the inability to conduct essential financial transactions. Despite efforts to transfer funds between accounts or to E-Wallets, users found themselves unable to complete transactions as expected.

The root cause of the outage appears to be linked to maintenance activities within the 'InstaPay' system. While these activities were intended to optimize service delivery, they inadvertently disrupted the normal flow of transactions, leaving both E-Wallets and Bank Institutions are in limbo.

Amidst the chaos, online netizens are turning in thru social media to share their frustrations, and a few are even taking legal action. Phone Calls and E-Mails between UnionBank and Maya (for this example) are taking forever to resolve and refraining to address concerns, causing some to question if the company falls under the Republic Act #11032 or 'Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018'.

Concerns have also been raised regarding the potential violation of consumer monetary rights, particularly with regards to efficient service delivery. The waiting times for Customer Support have been a major issue for users, causing brazenly massive dissatisfaction with the situation to surge even more.

In response to the public outcry, regulatory bodies such as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) have urgently intervened, closely monitoring the situation. If found to be in violation of regulatory standards, 'InstaPay' could face temporary revocation of its accreditation of BSP, potentially disrupting its operations as an electronic bank transaction service provider. Customers are advised to stay informed and consider alternative options like 'PesoNET' bank transfer if they encounter issues with the aforementioned electronic bank transaction service.

In the interim, affected E-Wallets and bank institutions have initiated maintenance procedures to rectify the issue and restore normal service operations until further notice. However, the timeline for resolution remains uncertain, leaving users uncertain about when they can expect a return to seamless transaction processing. We attempted to contact the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) through our news team via E-Mail at OneNETnews, but they declined to provide a potential public statement to us.

The future of electronic bank transactions in the Philippines hangs in the balance as authorities work to resolve the outage and prevent similar incidents from occurring. With the BSP keeping a close eye on the situation, it is essential for all stakeholders to cooperate and ensure a smooth and secure experience for users.

Additionally in resort to the last alternative transaction channel like 'PESONet' may offer a viable workaround for those seeking to conduct essential financial transactions without interruptions, which can be used for bulk transactions and transferring funds within 1-3 banking days, and cutoff times to be sent out for finalization and verification.

In some cases, when there's a nationwide system issue with InstaPay in the Philippines, all pending payments - whether you're sending or receiving money - may be reversed and charged back to your original amount. This includes E-wallet to E-wallet and Bank to Bank transactions that are not InstaPay-accredited transfers, regardless of whether fees were paid or if it was free-of-charge.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expressed their deepest apology for the inconvenience faced by those using InstaPay-accredited Philippine E-wallets and Banks.

SPECIAL THANKS to a disclosed former student of Metro Dumaguete College for contributing a news report.

STOCK PHOTO and LOGOS COURTESY via Google Images BACKGROUND PROVIDED BY: Tegna

SOURCE: *https://www.facebook.com/groups/431633063600097/posts/7081807368582600 [Contributedly Referenced FB Group Post #1 via InstaPay Concern Group] *https://www.facebook.com/groups/431633063600097/posts/7085896794840324 [Contributedly Referenced FB Group Post #2 via InstaPay Concern Group] *https://www.facebook.com/groups/431633063600097/posts/7086162924813711 [Contributedly Referenced FB Group Post #3 via InstaPay Concern Group] *https://www.facebook.com/groups/431633063600097/posts/7088099194620084 [Contributedly Referenced FB Group Post #4 via InstaPay Concern Group] *https://www.facebook.com/groups/431633063600097/posts/7088519631244707 [Contributedly Referenced FB Group Post #5 via InstaPay Concern Group] *https://www.facebook.com/groups/431633063600097/posts/7099769730119697 [Contributedly Referenced FB Group Post #6 via InstaPay Concern Group] *https://www.facebook.com/groups/431633063600097/posts/7100564683373535 [Contributedly Referenced FB Group Post #7 via InstaPay Concern Group] *https://www.facebook.com/groups/431633063600097/posts/7105003496262987 [Contributedly Referenced FB Group Post #8 via InstaPay Concern Group] *https://www.facebook.com/groups/431633063600097/posts/7105845296178807 [Contributedly Referenced FB Group Post #9 via InstaPay Concern Group] *https://www.facebook.com/groups/431633063600097/posts/7106023819494288 [Contributedly Referenced FB Group Post #10 via InstaPay Concern Group] *https://www.facebook.com/groups/431633063600097/posts/7108200742609929 [Contributedly Referenced FB Group Post #11 via InstaPay Concern Group] *https://www.facebook.com/groups/431633063600097/posts/7109255602504443 [Contributedly Referenced FB Group Post #12f via InstaPay Concern Group] *https://www.facebook.com/groups/592299542386957/posts/909937157289859 [Contributedly Referenced FB Group Post via BPI Clients Philippines] *https://www.facebook.com/100000881379603/posts/7345514128821227 [Referenced FB Status Post via Carlo Jung] *https://www.facebook.com/102722835485388/posts/658474872966609 [Referenced FB Captioned Post via Unionbank of the Philippines] *https://www.moneymax.ph/personal-finance/articles/instapay-philippines [Referenced Editorial News Article via MoneyMax] and *https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2018/ra_11032_2018.html [Referenced Law Article via LawPhil]

-- OneNETnews Team

COVID 19 PANDEMIC

COVID-19 Effects on the Philippines

    According to Pharmaceutical Technology Philippine is one of the high-risk countries from the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. The first case of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV, now COVID-19) in the Philippines was confirmed on 30 January 2020, in a 38-year old woman who arrived from Wuhan. Two days later, the Philippines recorded the first death outside China on 01 February 2020.

    The Philippines government declared a health emergency on 09 March, following a spike in new confirmed cases and local transmission. The COVID-19 Code Alert system was revised upwards to Red Sublevel 2 on 12 March.

    The Philippines government announced the entire country will be placed under a state of calamity for a period of six months. The declaration will enable national and local governments to quickly access relief funds to curb the spread of the disease.

    They started announcing local lock-downs (home quarantine) following the increase in global coronavirus cases. The entire Luzon island is locked-down affecting more than 50 million people. The lock-down prohibits people from going outside their homes except for getting basic necessities.

    Quarantining (lock-down) will be imposed in the Philippines barangays, municipalities/cities and provinces if at least two COVID-19 coronavirus cases are recorded in two different households in the respective locations.

https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/features/coronavirus-affected-countries-philippines-measures-impact-tourism-economy/

Economy

    Covid-19 make a lot of difference on the economy of the country. Philippines witnessed a slower economic growth in the first half of 2019, compared to 2018. The country saw a sustained economic growth of 6.3% between 2010 and 2018, while the growth slowed down to 5.5% in H2 2019. The World Bank estimates Philippines to witness full-year 2019 economic growth of 5.8%.

    The Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP) noted that the coronavirus outbreak could have a major impact on Philippine economy over the next few months.

    Ruben Carlo Asuncion, chief economist for Union Bank of the Philippines, noted that the coronavirus outbreak could cost the Philippine economy $600m or 0.8% of economic growth if it lasts for six months, as quoted by CNN Philippines.

    A series of unforeseen events caused an abrupt halt to the Philippines' strong growth momentum in early 2020. The Philippine economy carried its strong growth momentum from the second half of 2019 into early 2020 thanks to positive consumer confidence, robust macroeconomic fundamentals, and an improvement in the external sector. However, the eruption of Taal Volcano in early January, the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the region, and the rise of COVID-19 infection cases in the Philippines in March, forced the economy to a near halt in the latter part of March due to severe disruptions in manufacturing, agriculture, tourism and hospitality, construction, and trade. The economy contracted by 0.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020, the first contraction in over two decades, and was a sharp reversal from the 5.7 percent growth over the same period in 2019. Leading indicators that track economic activity in real time suggest that the contraction would be even more severe in the second quarter as most regions of the country entered an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in mid-March.

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/33879

Tourism

      PWC Philippines indicated that given the travel restrictions and closure of businesses, 88% of the respondents expect losses of over 50% of their 2020 revenues. Sixty-three percent of the respondents also say that they expect their businesses to normalize within six months to over a year. Such findings are worrying because the tourism industry contributed 12.7% of the country’s GDP in 2019, and provided 5.71 million jobs in the same year.

    Tourism industry is a major contributor, accounting for 12.7% of the Philippine economy in 2018, according to data from the Philippines Statistics Authority. More than seven million foreign tourists visited the country during the first ten months of 2019.

    Globally, the World Travel and Tourism council estimated that it could take up to ten months for the industry to recover.

    Nine months since the virus was first detected in China, there is still no sign that the spread is slowing down. The road to recovery can take longer than initially anticipated. Fitch forecasts that tourist arrivals and tourism receipts will not go back to pre-COVID levels even five years hence.

    The tourism industry, however, is expected to witness a major impact as the country closed its borders with China and other countries due to the coronavirus infection, Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez noted. Dominguez added that the exact economic impact of the outbreak is too early to be estimated but remained optimistic that the country can sustain its economic growth.

https://www.pwc.com/ph/en/publications/tourism-pwc-philippines/tourism-covid-19.html

Business

   Drawing on a survey of more than 5,800 small businesses, this paper provides insight into the economic impact of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) on small businesses. The results shed light on both the financial fragility of many small businesses, and the significant impact COVID-19 had on these businesses in the weeks after the COVID-19–related disruptions began. The results also provide evidence on businesses’ expectations about the longer-term impact of COVID-19, as well as their perceptions of relief programs offered by the government.

    Firms in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region have been hit hard by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, with dramatic and widespread falls in sales and employment. Firm sales in some EAP countries were 38 to 58 percent lower in April or May 2020, compared to the same month in the previous year. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been particularly affected.

    The pandemic will have a lasting impact on productivity growth as firm indebtedness and increased uncertainty inhibit investment, and firm closures and unemployment lead to a loss of valuable intangible assets. Support for firms is needed but must be based as far as possible on objective criteria, related not only to past performance or current pain but to the potential for firms, including new firms, to thrive in the future. To avoid unduly prolonging assistance, governments should build exit strategies into the design of support measures and commit to phasing support out by linking it to observable macroeconomic indicators of recovery.

https://www.pnas.org/content/117/30/17656

Lesson that We’ve learn during this Pandemic

"Not only does self-care have positive outcomes for you, but it also sets an example to younger generations as something to establish and maintain for your entire life."

CREDITS TO AARP ORG

    -This pandemic thought us to become stronger or having a courage in time of crisis. We must always be on a positive side that we will strive and cope this challenges that we are facing  because as the years will pass by this pandemic will be a reminder or a lesson that we must thought the next generation that no matter what happens as long as you will not give up and fight for everything that will come up you can reach your goal and strive. This also thought as about caring for others and working as one because once achievement will be more greater if there are people that help you to do great things just like our front liners we must learn how to cooperate by following the protocols that they give because if its not for them we will have more harder times that we even face before and we wont know what are we going to do.

 Ø  As a reminder if your experiencing the signs and effects of COVID-19 do not think of it that much just think on a positive way to feel better again. Positive mind could be a great help to cope anything that bother you even if it’s a deadly virus. We all know that we are all facing in the same situation but I believe that we can do it, we can wipe out this virus in this world for ones. Just follow the protocols that we are given and I know that we will all be better and we can do all the things that we’ve missed when the time comes.

Advocate Anjuum Khanna - What is the new agriculture Bill

Anjuum Khanna, Bangalore- Farmers protesting against the government because the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, seeks to remove commodities like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion, and potatoes from the list of essential commodities. 

Why are the Agriculture Bills being opposed?

The Government authority on 1 December neglected to arrive at a solution as the gathering of Kisan associations stayed firm on that their dissent will proceed. Accordingly, the 'Delhi Chalo' walk by farmers in the public capital entered seven days on Wednesday. Two of the three controversials Bills on agribusiness changes are set to become law subsequent to being passed by the Rajya Sabha on September 20.  These Bills were acquainted with supplant Ordinances declared by the Center before. Farmers and Farmer relationships the nation over have been challenging the laws. The Punjab Assembly on August 28 passed a goal dismissing the Center's statutes.

Naming the two agribusiness advertising change Bills as "against Farmer" enactment, There are many leaders who resigned, such as Shiromani Akali Dal MP and Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal left the Union Cabinet.

All Farmers are protesting because The Bill is intended to supplant a law proclaimed in June, in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown. It says stock cutoff points must be forced if retail costs flood half over the normal on account of non-perishables and 100% on account of perishables. Farmers Fear that the Bill would successfully sanction accumulating, as licenses will not, at this point be needed to exchange these products.

What are the three agri reforms in contention?

Farmers are opposed to there three Bills, First bill is about Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, Second bill is about Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and third bill is about Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance.

Agribusiness Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has guaranteed that the Minimum Support Price mechanism  will remain, and satisfactory assurance of land proprietorship was set up to secure Farmer interests.

What are they For?

It targets opening up agriculture sales and marketing outside the advised Agricultural Produce Market Committee or APMC mandis for Farmers. It eliminates obstructions between State exchange and gives a system to electronic exchanging of rural produce. 

It additionally precludes State governments from gathering market charge, cess or demand for exchange outside the APMC markets. Farmers see the destruction of the imposing business model of the APMCs as an indication of finishing the guaranteed acquisition of food grains at least to help costs or MSP.  Farmers contend that guaranteeing a bigger number of ranchers get the MSP for their produce and fixing wrinkles in the APMCs, rather than making these State instruments excess, is the need of great importance. 

This Bill identifies with contract cultivating, giving a structure on economic accords for the deal and acquisition of ranch produce. The Price Assurance Bill, while offering security to Farmers against value abuse, doesn't recommend the instrument for value obsession. There is anxiety that the free hand given to private corporate houses could prompt Farmer misuse. 

Also It eliminates grains, beats, oilseeds, consumable oils, onion and potatoes from the rundown of basic products. The alteration will liberate the creation, stockpiling, development and appropriation of these food products

Who is protesting?

Farmers in Punjab and different parts are challenging these changes. Badal, as well, offered her acquiescence after the Bills were passed.  Many Parties including TMC, Congress, DMK, and BSP,  Shivsena contradicted the agriculture area change charges, saying they were against the interests of little and minimal Farmers. Congress increased its risk against the Modi government, naming the move connivance to overcome the Green Revolution. 

About Advocate Anjuum Khanna,

Anjuum Khanna specialized in Civil, Criminal, Consumer, Cheque Bounce , Family law, Property law, Labour, Banking & Insurance. Anjuum Khanna  Services is an international business services provider based in Bangalore. The majority of Anjuum Khanna clients are Indian subsidiaries of foreign multinationals, predominantly in the specialized sector. 

Throwitback Thursday.

As the skinny season wraps up for this year just a reminder there are other worthy species to catch other then Corbina.

 I’m all dressed up with somewhere to go on this morning.  It’s pretty rare to see me go all in wearing full combat gear for the surf and yes I do own a stripping basket.

This is from seasons ago and I never posted a report because this is the kind of bite that comes with a gag order.    But now that a few years have passed well here you go... Targeting WSB from the surf is a bucket list activity.  I had some great intel from a long time and trusted fishing friend.  A hot bite usually last three days at the most in my experience (I believe this was day two)  Any longer then that you most likely will see some changes in the conditions that are enough to turn off the fish or make it luke warm.   The odds of being in the right place at the right time to stick one of these dudes on the fly is pretty slim.  So when it all comes together it’s pretty gratifying.  

Gear wise I have a Jim Teeney 7wt. It’s the super nothing special model.  A Lamson Litespeed 3.0 and I was throwing a t-8 shooting head I spliced into a Gudebrod braided running line.  The fly was a black/brown 4″ whistler style fly tied on a Gammi jig hook for fishing in dark water.

There are a few bucket list fish for the S. CA fly folks to try and achieve.

Starting with a legal Halibut then the bucket list goal is in one in the 30″ range. The same goes for WSB you first just one want to catch one in the surf period. After that 28″ is bucket.

Since I’ve started this I’ll keep it going...

26″ for Corbina.

BSP is 16″ +

YFC = 19″ +

Spot Fin is a tough one to consider.  Simply getting one on the fly is a nice feat. Especially if you are sight fishing them.  There are places in Mexico you can find super grandes compared to what’s on offer here these days.   

Stripers, I would consider a Striper a easier fish to tick then a WSB from the surf.

In Southern CA a bucket Striper on the fly is going to be around the 35″ mark.

I know this sounds crazy to some but I would not mention it unless I knew proof positive this is possible.

Of course YMMV greatly from mine but this is how I see it from my experience.

Finally, a funny observation.  Yes,  it looks like I could use a donut if you know what I normally look like.  I must have been training for a race during this time frame because I can tell by my face that I am at my racing weight. lol

‘The Monstrous Pile’

By: Karen Ann M. Parducho

BSP-1201

 “Hard work is the formula for Success.”

-Lailah Akita

    What would you do when one day, you come home to a monster load of school work, all piled up and towering on your study desk? One’s normal reaction would probably be to ask where on Earth they all came from. Just think back for a moment.. You’ll remember that the professor announced a quiz for next meeting. Oh, wait. There's that research paper with a looming deadline. There's also that one group project waiting to be started. Not to mention the major exams just around the corner. Before you know it, there are already stacks and piles of school works now waiting for your precious time and attention. With just a blink of an eye, your loads of unfinished and pending works had suddenly evolved to a monstrous level. You will find yourself cramming and pulling countless of all nighters. The bags under your eyes becomes more prominent. It's also worth noting that there's nothing but caffeine flowing through your veins. Just... How? When did it go wrong?

   A student’s go to reaction would be to blame their teachers and school for the countless of workload they gave. They’re the one who dumped all that work on us in the first place. It’s obviously their fault. Isn’t that right? Well.. Is it really?

   For a student, it’s easy to point fingers. It’s easier to put the blame on others, especially on the ones who are the roots of the problems. A great deal of students nowadays would blame the teachers or their school. Some would even go as far as to curse the whole curriculum itself. Let’s not deny the truth. We’ve done this once or twice, some even does it countless of times. It’s just more convenient for us to shift the blame and to deny our fault and mistakes. It’s the teachers who get blamed for our piled up school work when in reality, it’s mostly our fault.

   Let’s face it.. If you hadn’t surfed the internet for hours then that paper should have been written by now. If you hadn’t played mobile or online games the moment you reached home then you should have been done studying by now. If you hadn’t watched TV all day then you should have been done with your report by now. If you managed your time right then you shouldn’t have been cramming right now. We’re good with making up excuses for our mistakes and using others as scapegoats. We seem to set aside the fact that we could come up with solutions. We’re wasting the chance to improve ourselves by taking the easy way out. This, of course, applies to those who procrastinates. What if you are one of those students who has other commitments aside from school stuff? It still goes down to time management and setting your priorities straight.

  A teacher’s main goal is to help every each one of their students to improve. That includes giving them school works for them to work on. School works are those activities given by teachers to their students either to be done in school or at home. There are instances that it’s given one at a time. There are also cases when they are thrown at students stack by stack. They are always assigned a deadline for when it should be submitted. Students don’t usually like being given school works. Some even hates them.  

   Though, of course, there are special cases when the teachers are making it personal. That can’t be helped as not everyone in the teaching field are dedicated and genuine with their profession. There’s always this one teacher who purposely targets and attacks this one section with everything she or he got because of this one scene they did that made her despise them. Sounds like some cliché teen movie? I guess but it’s not really that far from reality. They do exist and they do make school life a hell lot worst. If that were your case, then it’s best that you take action and report them.

   My point here is that your teachers are just doing their jobs. To teach and to guide their students. Everything they make you do, all those exams and projects? They all have a purpose. Teachers are not enemies. Don’t see them as such. That workload on your desk? Think properly and be objective. Is it really their fault or was it yours?

   Before you blame others for your monster load of school work, re-evaluate yourself. Who’s to blame here really?

   Also, there’s this piece of advice I could give you. Stop dwelling on whose fault it is and start actually working. Those school work won’t be finished by themselves!

   College is a world filled with challenges and struggles. It’s all about obstacles and coffee. School work aren’t the only things a college student should worry about, unfortunately. There are more to come. This is just the beginning. Don’t worry. All this hard work and effort will definitely pay off. Look forward to tomorrow.

okay but tell me about that, then. will surviving the snap, and his friends / team fading away. his parents fading away too. #apparentlyilovepain

he’s hanging out with the whole gang when it happens .   his arm is around layla ,  and they’re all just eating pizza - cheese ,  so everybody could enjoy - a normal day .   zach’s  talking about something that happened over the weekend ;  they’re all laughing ,  he always overexaggerates and tends to  𝙢𝙞𝙭 𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝  somehow in his tellings .   will pecks layla on the head ,  taking her cup and warren’s for refills ,  having been there for the next story being told .   

back is turned as he fills up the cups ,  and he hears layla call his name ,  sounding  𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥.   quickly ,  he turns ,  but nobody is there .   their table is empty ,  save for the half eaten pizza and cups .   𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚝 …   𝚒𝚝’𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 .   people are becoming frantic ,  there’s screams and cries .   his eyes dart around ,  only focused on 𝙃𝙄𝙎 𝙋𝙀𝙊𝙋𝙇𝙀 ,  hoping that they’re just outside waiting for him .

he exits ,  drinks forgotten ,  scanning the parking lot and calling out each of their names .    𝚗𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚛 ,  𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚎 .   they wouldn’t just leave him ,  there’s no way .   taking to the skies ,  he begins circling around for his friends ,  mouth dry and head beginning to pound along with his heart .   where are they ? !

his brain is trying to rationalize .   maybe they went back to his place ,  maybe it’s a joke or a surprise .   he takes off ,  ripping his front door from its hinges as he enters ,  ‘   mom ,  have you seen warren and the others ?   is dad telling them another story of his glory days ?   ’   𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 ,  𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 .   

his mother doesn’t reply ,  nor does his father .   there was no trouble in the city from what he saw ,  but maybe something urgent somewhere else came up .   he searches the house ,  waiting desperately for someone to answer their phone ,  but they all say not in service or just keep ringing .   𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘𝚙 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚕𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚜 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚊 𝚠𝚊𝚕𝚕 ,  𝚐𝚊𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚒𝚛 .   

there’s an emergency broadcast ,  saying people all over the world have disappeared ,  and it should be a relief that it’s not just HIS loved ones ;  it’s not .   he’s all alone ,  now .   no layla ,  no warren ,  or zach ,  magenta ,  ethan ,  mom ,  dad .   𝗛𝗘'𝗦 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗢𝗡 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗢𝗪𝗡 .   mind is moving so quickly he can’t process a single thought ,  they’re all jumbled ,  like a tv showing white noise .   

what does he do now ,  where does he go ,  WHO IS HE WITHOUT THEM ?   𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝘀 ?

Economist sees steady policy stance from BSP in February

#PHnews: Economist sees steady policy stance from BSP in February

MANILA – An economist discounts any change in Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) policy rates this month despite the above-target inflation rate last January, citing a difference in several factors now compared to past breach.

The rate of price increases rose for the fourth consecutive month last January to 4.2 percent, exceeding the government’s 2-4 percent target band until 2024, due to acceleration in the prices of some food items like meat, vegetables, and fruit and fuel prices.

ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Mapa, in a report, said this is the first time since 2018 that inflation surpassed the government’s target, although the factors – increasing food and fuel prices – are the same.

“We expect inflation to remain elevated in the coming months with base effects and persistent cost side pressures to force the headline close to or above the 4 percent level,” he said.

Even with the latest inflation development, Mapa does not forecast any change in the central bank’s policy stance when the policy-making Monetary Board (MB) holds its first rate-setting meet for the year on February 11 “given the fragile state of the economy with 1Q 2021 GDP (gross domestic product) expected to remain in contraction.”

He said, “BSP Governor (Benjamin) Diokno will likely look past the inflation breach given that cost side factors were the main driver and after the national government ordered price caps on pork and other meat products while also increasing pork imports to help augment domestic supply.”

“We expect BSP to refrain from adjusting policy in the near term as Diokno provides monetary support to the economic recovery with monetary authorities hoping to ride out this latest breach until supply conditions normalize in the coming months,” he said.

The government has ordered a 60-day price cap on the prices of meat products in Metro Manila starting February 8.

Under Executive Order (EO) No. 124, issued last February 1, the mandated price ceiling for a kilo of kasim (pork shoulder) or pigue (pork leg) is PHP270 while it is PHP300 per kilo for liempo (pork belly).

Relatively, the price ceiling for dressed chicken is PHP160 per kilo.

Mapa expects a different response from the BSP this time vis-à-vis the previous inflation breach, citing that “unlike the 2018 episode, the PHP (Philippine peso) is on much more solid footing which could help mitigate inflationary pressures at least for imported items.”

To date, the peso is among the strongest currency in the region at its current 48-level against the US dollar.

“Thus, we expect the 2021 inflation breach episode to differ slightly from 2018 with monetary authorities utilizing proper communication strategies to guide inflation expectations and accommodate this cost-push inflation episode,” Mapa said.

He also noted that in 2018, the BSP did some “neutralizing policy actions”, referring to the series of policy rate hikes and the cut in the banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR).

BSP raised key policy rates by a total of 175 basis points to 4.75 percent in 2018 to help address the inflation upticks. It also slashed banks’ RRR by as much as 300 basis points.

Mapa said these decisions “caught the market off guard while also contributing to the confusion and inflationary expectations.”

“This time around, BSP may be more consistent with its policy messaging which would go a long way to restoring market confidence in the central bank,” he added. (PNA)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "Economist sees steady policy stance from BSP in February." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1129783 (accessed February 06, 2021 at 12:56AM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "Economist sees steady policy stance from BSP in February." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1129783 (archived).

Rate of BSP’s 28-day bills declines MANILA – The normalization of domestic liquidity after the Christmas holidays resulted in a drop in the interest rate of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’... https://trendingph.net/rate-of-bsps-28-day-bills-declines/?feed_id=70644&_unique_id=5ff87ca144011 #28day #bills #bsps #declines #philippinenews #philippinesnews #rate #trendingph

Farmers protest enters 12th day, Kejriwal to visit Singhu border today

NEW DELHI: Undeterred by an ongoing cold wave, farmers continue to camp at Singhu border (Haryana-Delhi border) as their protest against the Central government‘s farm laws entered the twelfth day on Monday. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his Cabinet colleagues is scheduled to visit the Singhu border at 10 am to review arrangements made for protesting farmers. Hundreds of farmers have been protesting on different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws–Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. The protests have disrupted normal lives in Delhi-NCR as several borders linking Delhi to cities in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are closed. At the Chilla border on Noida link road and Gazipur border on NH 24 has been closed for traffic due to farmers protests. Delhi Traffic Police has advised people to avoid Noida link road and NH 24 for coming to Delhi and use Apsara/ Bhopra/DND. Tikri and Jharoda borders are closed for any traffic movement. Badusarai border is open only for light motor vehicles like cars and two-wheelers while Jhatikara border is open only for two-wheeler traffic. At present, Dhansa, Daurala, Kapashera, Rajokri NH 8, Bijwasan/Bajghera, Palam Vihar and Dundahera borders are open while Singhu, Auchandi, Piao Maniyari, Mangesh borders are closed. NH 44 has been closed on both sides and the police has advised people to take alternate routes via Lampur, Safiabad and Saboli borders. Traffic has also been diverted from Mukarba and GTK road and people have been advised to avoid Outer Ring road and GTK road. Farmers’ leaders have held several rounds of talks with the government but all of them remained inconclusive so far. After the fifth round of talks, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has called another meeting on December 9. Meanwhile, a nationwide shutdown has been called by the protesting farmers on December 8. Opposition parties, including Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Samajwadi Party (SP), All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), Shiv Sena and National Congress Party (NCP) also supported the call for ‘Bharat bandh’. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which left the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to protest against farm laws, has also announced to lend its support to Bharat Bandh. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has also announced that her party will support the “Bharat bandh”.

source https://bbcbreakingnews.com/2020/12/07/farmers-protest-enters-12th-day-kejriwal-to-visit-singhu-border-today/

“The tale of being Teacher”

Intro muna tayo kung bakit ako susulat ng blog about sa pagiging teacher ko. Its been a challenging years kahit mag tatatlong taon plaang ako mag tuturo. I am writing this blog because I want to unload some baggage na nagpapagbigat ng dibdib ko. Kahit alam ko naman wala akong dibdib. Yagba lang mabigat saken. Kiddin aside. Hindi ko alam kung makakaluwag ba ng pakiramdam kapag natapos ko tong blog na to but hopefully ganun nga ang mangyari. Tatlong taon na din ang nakalipas nun huli ako sumulat ng piyesa at sa pagkakataong to naninibago ulit ako kung paano ko hihimay himayin ang bigat na nararamdaman ko. Napakahirap maging teacher dahil parang hindi ka pwede mag break down. Hindi ka pwedeng makitaan nang kahinaan. Mahuhusgahan ka ng kapwa mo guro at pati narin siguro ang makakabasa nito. Masakit minsan mga magaaral mo pa mang huhusga sayo o kaya magulang nila. Parang wala ka nang karapatan masaktan pag teacher ka kasi ikaw dapat ang mapagkukunan ng lakas nila. Hindi mo din ma share sa klase ano ang pinagdadaanan mo magiging madrama lang baka matawag pang sadboi manipulative keme. Pero ganun pa man wala naman ako paki alam dahil alam ko naman walang mag babasa nito. Panigurado wala din tatapos kung may makakabasa nito. Intro plaang ito wala pa sa konteksto kung bakit koi to sinusulat ngayon. Pero ito na simulant natin nang mailabas ko na ang aking saloobin.

                                                               1  Araw araw dala dala ang laptop na nakalagay sa paboritong red bag, mabilis maglakad at nanlilisik na mata pero hindi galit, isang guro nag nagtuturo ng agham sa isang paraalan. Isang simpleng silid aralan na magiiwan ng sandamakmak na alala at ligaya.. Naalala ko pa ang first day ng aking pag tuturo sa isang pamantasan. Hindi ko akalain mapapamahal ako ng lubusan sa aking advisory class. Sabi nga nila first love never die. Mukhang ganun din sa atin advisory na 7-jupiter. Sa totoo lang first week of class palang alam mo na kung sino ang mga pilyo at demonyo sa room kung mang trip. HAHAHA oo tama ka ng nabasa may demonyo sa room. Minsan un teacher minsan un student. Depende sa sitwasyon. Pero kahit nag mumukhang munting demonyito at demonyita ang mga anak kong ito. Mahal na mahal ko sila. Sa totoo lang hindi ko ng akalain sobra ako mapapalapit pero alam ko may kalakip itong takot sakin dahil kahit anong gawin ko kahit ngayon hindi ko pa den ma overcome kapag mawawalay na ko sa mga taong nagging malapit sa akin. Separation anxiety. I’m dealing with this shit for more than a decade and I lost a lot of friend from being dramatic and needy.kaya nun pag kapasa ko nun 2017. Kinailangan koi resolve ito mdyo hindi naman nag anon ka grabe pero di ko p aden maiwasan malungkot nun last day nan g klase kasma ang mahal kong advisory sa 7-jupiter. Sobra ko napalapit sa kanila lalo na sa mga demonyito at demonyita sa room nagawa pa nga naming mag swimming dahil gusting gusto tlga nila pinagbigyan ko naman at lalo ko naisip na mas lalo ako mapapalapit pero gaya ng sabi nila. Kalangan kong bumitaw kasi baka hindi sila mag grow. Pero masaya pa rin ako na kahit di ko na advisory un iba di pa rin nakakalimot lalo na si felix the cat. Di ko alam madalas sa buhay ko kung sino un pinaka nagiging ka close ko ay para bang nilalayo sa akin. Paulit ulit. Lahat ng nagiging bestfriend ko nawawala din kaya hindi na ko naniniwala sa bestfriend. Close friend nalang. Para sa akin isang title nalng ito. Wala naman kasi tlgang best na best. At some point iiwan nila tayo. Pero na iingit ako sa mga taong mayroon. Sana all nlng may bestfriend LOL. Masaya ako sa unang taon ng pag tuturo kahit maraming sakit at syempre first time kong maiyak sa room. Di ko makalimutan yon sa sobrang galit ko dahil sobrang gulo ingay etc. halo halong kaso. Biruin mo kada isang lingo magaling gumawa ng kaso ang mga gago. HAHAHA pero nakakamiss din pala. Isang bagay na alam kong normal pero nakakairita pero kahit ganon sila. Mahal na mahal ko ang mga anak kong yan. Kahit un iba hindi na nangangamusta dahil di n nila ako adviser o teacher. Pero sana kung pwede lang tlga kahit di na ako maging teacher or adviser nila ay mag evolve ang relasyon ko sa kanila. Hindi naman masama kung magiging kaibigan nila ako. Dahil alam ko palagay naman ako sa batch na to.

                                                            2 Araw araw dala dala ang laptop na nakalagay sa paboritong red bag, mabilis maglakad at nanlilisik na mata pero hindi galit, isang guro nag nagtuturo ng agham sa isang paraalan. Isang simpleng silid aralan na magiiwan ng sandamakmak na alala at lungkot. Alam ko marami din ako pag kukulang sa first advisory ko. Lalo na sa mga contest madalas wala ako dahil nagging focus ko ang redemption sa bsp alam ko at some point nag tatampo sila dahil nararamdaman nilang parang wala ako supporta pero ginagawa ko din naman ang makakaya kong paraan para suportahan sila. Marami ako pakana din sa section na to na di ko nagaw nun second year of teaching dahil sa mga kadahilang iba ang trip ng second advisory ko. Although nag tatampo ako dahil di ako sinurprise nitong mga to un teachers day pero na intindihan ko naman kung bakit. Maaring di lang tlga nila trip yon masyadong sweet.although masaya ako kasi wala silang ilang alam nila kaseng clingy din ako bilang adviser. Gusto ko kasi napaparamdam kong andyan ako sa kanila kapag kailangan nila ng kausap o kakampi sa tuwing kaaway nila ang mundo. Kasi alam ko pakiramdam ng nag nag iisa at walang kakampi. Napakahirap na wala kang makakasangga na aalalay sayo para lumaban. Ayoko danasin nila un mga bagay na dinanas ko na lumaban mag isa at sa huli nakalimutan mahalin ang sarili.

                                                               3

Araw araw dala dala ang laptop na nakalagay sa paboritong red bag, mabilis maglakad at nanlilisik na mata pero hindi galit, isang guro nag nagtuturo ng agham sa isang paraalan. Isang simpleng silid aralan na magiiwan ng sandamakmak na alala at saya. Second year of my teaching as a teacher syempre. I can say that I learned a lot from my previous advisory and former student. I handle students much better than before specially sa mga needs nila mentally. I am very lucky with 7-saturn. I can say that masuwerte ako sa advisory. Very special in my heart ang advisory ko in my second yr of teacher. They did things some things na di nagawa ng previous advisory pero sympre kanya kanya naman ng traits ang mga bata and I appreciate both of them. Hindi ko tlga akalain na I susurprise nila ako nun teachers day. I remember that time sobrang hapong hapo ako sa trabaho bilang teacher dahil hawak ko ang SINAG Club at BSP. Nagkakasakit na ko sa puyat at stress but they did something that touch my heart na di ko makakalimutan because I rarely receive gift and surprises. Take note ah surprises. I don’t expect them to surprise me kasi for the 27 years of my existence never pa ko na surprise not even in my b-day so sabihin na natin big deal. Not even my BSP Club surprise me pero they attempted din this year kasi may kasalanan eh nag surprise cake kaso nahuli ko tinago ang cake sa isang room so medyo di well played but my 7-saturn? They did well. I wish we can really have a very nice closing party and makapag bigay ako ng message sa kanila isa isa just like what I did sa previous advisory ko. I want them to hear how much I love them as a person and not just as my student. Tinuringko silang parang nakakabatang kapatid. Ayoko matapos ang relasyon naming sa teacher and student relationship lang dahil gusto ko kung pwede life time ko sila kasama dahil kung invite man nila ako sa mga b-days nila special celebrations. I’ll be there because I want to be reconnected and never cut the strings with them because I love them because they let me feel that they love me too. Kahit na medyo unfair na di ko ramdaman as a person because I have problems na parang di na nakakaradaman ng pag mamahal. Pero na appreciate ko dahil nakita ko pinakita nila na special ako kahit papaano sa kanila. May mga challenges kami kinaharap bilang advisory and I think and I hope na disclose naming kung ano man ang mga di pag kakaintindihan o bagay na maaaring nasaktan ko sila sa pananalita o pag sumbong minsan sa kanilang parents. Dahil para sa akin kung mahal mo tlga ang isang tao, gagawin mo ang pinaka mabuti para sa kanila kahit na minsan kailangan masaktan sila o masaktan ka dahil ayaw mo nakikitang nasasaktan din sila.

                                                               4 Araw araw dala dala ang laptop na nakalagay sa paboritong red bag, mabilis maglakad at nanlilisik na mata pero hindi galit, isang guro nag nagtuturo ng agham sa isang paraalan. Isang simpleng silid aralan na magiiwan ng sandamakmak na alala at pag-tanggap. Hindi ko matanggap na biglaang natapos ang nakaraan school year. Marami ang hindi nagging handa. BSP ako pero di ako handa. Hindi mannakita ng mga anak ko ang nararamdaman ko pero na lulungkot ako kung paano natapos tong taon na to. Hindi man alng ako nakapag paalam ng maayos sa kanila. Pero ganon pa man nag papasalamat ako na binigyan ako namapagmahal na advisory nitong nakaraan pero nakakalungkot dahil medyo late ko na din naisip sa sobrang katabaan ng utak ko na mag conduct ng online farewell party.masaya ako na atleast kahit ppaano kalahati ng klase ang nakadalo sa virtual farewell party namin at 4th qtr honors awarding. Un nga lang un iba halos I pm ko na pero seen at parang hindi kana kilala. Ayoko nalng pangalanan sino silang mga anak ko na parangnakalimot na agad hindi pa nag sisimula ang bagong s.y nila. Pero nagpapasalamat parin ako na umabot sa 25 ang mga dumalo at un mga di nakadalo ay nag pasabi naman dahil mahina ang connection pero un iba sadyang parang alam mo na. parang nakalimot na tlaga pero ganon tlga choices nila kung isasama ka pa nila sa routine ng buhay nila. Pero kahit ganon un iba mahal na mahal ko sila at hindi yon pwede tawaran ng kahit sino dahil ayokong may maligaw sa mga nagging anak ko. Kaya kung kailangan nila ako isang tawag lang dadating ako kahit na lumayas pa sila sa bahay di nab ago sa akin ang mag sundo ng kaibigang lumalabas o kaya ng mga nakakabatang kaibigan ko na ginwa ito dati. Di pa ko teacher nagagawa ko na so kaya ko din gawin dahil alam ko ung iba sa kanila sa eskwelahan lang masaya pag uwi na di na masaya sa bahay at ayoko dumagdag sa pressure na nararamdaman nila. Gusto ko maramdaman nilang may tatakbuhan sila sa oras na kailangan nila ng pangalawang magulang o nakakatandang kuya.

                                                               5 Araw araw dala dala ang laptop na nakalagay sa paboritong red bag, mabilis maglakad at nanlilisik na mata pero hindi galit, isang guro nag nagtuturo ng agham sa isang paraalan. Isang simpleng silid aralan na magiiwan ng sandamakmak na alala at konting sakit. Dhil sa tingin ko nag kulangako nag sobra sobra lalo na doon sa iba ay inaaya ko sila sa bagay na mapaglilibangan namin. Hinanap ko ang common denominator sa iba kong mga anak na di ko gaano naka close nun handle ko sila. Inaaya ko sila kung nag lalaaro ba sila ng mga na uusong laro katulad ng among us at valorant. At ayun un dalawa sa anak ko na medyo tahimik o di ko gaano nakilala ng lubusan at nakakalaro ko. Hindi ko na isasama si don kasi madalas naman kami nag uusap tungkol sa anong pinagdadaanan nya at open at palagay sya sa akin. Ganon din ako sa kanya open dahil ayoko magingclose. Ano daw? Basta wag mo na intindihin pang mataba utak lang makakagets ng corny jokes ko. So ito na nga si Lexter at Jacob at Is hang madalas kong kalaro sab aril barilan beng beng beng pew pew pew plok plok plok na larong to. Nakakatuwa although nun una medyo nahihiya pa ko mag pakilala bilang isang gamer. Tao lang din po marunong magalit magrage at mang trashtalk pag nababanas sa mga braindead na strategy at play making. Masaya ako kalaro ko sila kasi nakakalimutan ko kung anong lungkot na dala nitong pandemya lalo na sa masalimot na career breakdown ko ngayon taon. Panatag ako at kampante pero minsan nagtatampo ako kapag di ako naaya. Siguro ugaliko na talga to ayaw ko kasi napagiiwanan. Pero syempre kailangan ko intindihin baka mamaya kumpleto o iniisip nila na ganito ganyan. Pero sa mga nakaraan lingo to siguromga two weeks ago. Medyo lay low na sila sa pag lalaro nitong beng beng beng pew pew pew plok plok plok. At hindi ko inaasahan na ma iilang o kinakabahan o di ko alam ang hirap I express na hindi sya sanay makalaro o magingkaibgan ang isang tao na di nya ka edad. Naisip ko kaya siguro unti unti silang hindi na nag paparamdam dahil dito. Naisip ko may nagawa ba kong hindi maganda o nasabi kaya naramdaman nila ito? Lalo nan i Jacob. I trust him so much and confident everytime we play masaya ako kalaro sila kahit na sobrang ingay at toxic kalaro ni Jacob pero un tawa nakaka wtf eh matatawa ka den sa kanya ang it makes me forget the situation I am in right now. Pero nasaktan ako sa kutob ko. Na napagusapan naming ni don . di ko naman expect na gagawin ni don yon para ma confirm kung may ilang factor nga na nagaganap at aun nga tama ang hinala ko. Feeling ko di lang sya ang ganon sakin. Na insecure ako sa sarili ko. Na baka di lang sya aka pati si josh si ish kaya di na sila nakikipag laro. Timing pa na nag palit ng laro si Jacob dahil nagkakaproblema sya sa fps ng laro naming beng beng beng pew pew pew plok plok plok. Inisip ko nun isnabi nya na he thinks he might not play beng beng beng pew pew pew plok plok plok ay isa itong pamamaalam in a nice way. Pero naramdaman ko na di nya tlga siguro ako gusto kalaro or hindi tlga sya komportable. Pero wala naman tayo mgagawa parang ito lang din un nangyari sa akin before pero nagiging totoo lang naman tayo sa kung ano ang kinikilos natin sana langhindi nya bigyan tlga ng malice ito. I just want to beclose with them na alam ko nagging pag kukulang ko noon. Although na open ko naman na kanya at nakapag usap nak ami ditto pero parang alam mo yon. Kahit pinipilit kong okay lang ang lahat ay hindi okay. Parang may ilang pa din ako nararadaman na nararadaman nila o ni siya. Basta ang hirap. Ang bigat sa pakiramdam. Pero kahit ganon pa man alam naman ng nasa taas na wala akong ibang hinangad kundi para sa ikabubuti nila. Gusto ko maging parte padin ako ng buhay nila kahit na malayo o di ko na sila handle. Although we’re in the same club dahil member din sya nito. Kaya sana mawala ito at sana makapag laro ulit kami because its not funny to play alone because being lonely is more painful than being hurt. Ikanga ni Monkey D. Luffy kung nanonood ka ng one piece. Hehehe I just wish to play with them not just with lexter, Jacob and ish but to some of my anakis din.di ako galit kay Jacob siguro tampo oo kasi di ko inexpect na mararadaman nya yon sakin dahil nun una okay naman sa kanya. Minsan sya pa nga nagaaya kapag wala si lexter pero di ko ma gets biglang parangmay bago. Gusto ko malaman ano un pakiramdam na weirdness na naramdaman nya pero sabinga nila what you don’t know won’t hurt you. All I want is be appreciated by them at sa kanya din. I want to boost his confidence kasi kasma ko nga din sya sa club as his adviser din. Gusto ko ang mas ma improve ang trust and confidence nya sa akin dahil doon ko ma bibigay at mailalabas ang potential nya. Pero yun na nga. Kahit gusto ko silang makalaro nakakasad lang pero di mo naman ma open kaya ito okay lang. ang hirap tlga I deal din minsan ng separation anxiety kapag nasanay kanang andyan sila tapos biglang mawawala aun di nanaman tayo naging handa pero ganon tlga at babalik naman sa normal ang lahat kapag nasanay na ulit. Pero sana makapaglaro ulit kahit na alam kong impossible kasi may kanya kanya kaming hanap sa buhay at laro na trip pero sana makapaglaro ulit dahil masaya ako at nakakalimutan ang bigat na dinadala ngayon. Araw araw dala dala ang laptop na nakalagay sa paboritong red bag, mabilis maglakad at nanlilisik na mata pero hindi galit, isang guro nag nagtuturo ng agham sa isang paraalan. Isang simpleng silid aralan na magiiwan ng sandamakmak na alala at tawa. I just wanted to be appreciated not just by my student but by everyone. I’m actually a type of person who always want to hear the magic word we love you. I love you. Because in fact I am a very needy pero ang korny baka makulayan lang pero ganyan ang tingin ng ibang tao. Maybe because I feel lonely kaiht na di naman.  siguro sadyang sawa na din ako palaging naiiwan at palaging andyan lang kapag kailangan ka nila. totoo nga na ang taong mapagmahal minsan nagiging mapagmahanap kasi na uubos na un binibigay nyang appreciate and love paligid nya. ganito pala ang pakiramdam nakaka putang ina lang.. Love life? Oo mayroon alam na nya pero wala kong pang date wala tayong trabaho. Hehehe sobrang fuck up nang nangyari this year. Daming plot twist and bullshits happeningspecially in my career. Yung karapatan naming matanggap ang dapat matanggap pinagkakait. Aabot pa ata sa korte ang complain namin. Napaka sakit nun nangyari sa amin nun august at lalo na sguro sa akin. Dahil di pa nag start s.y marami na kong nagawa bilang isang guro sa pamantasang pinagsisilbihan ko. Naalala ko pa kinagabihan bago ang training naming bago mag start ang s.y ay sinabihan ako na mayroon akong teaching load at kinabukasan ay excited na ako para umattend ng traning. Nakaligo pero biglang makakatanggap ka na alanganin pala kami na di muna kami kasama. Napakasakit non hindi man lang ako pinakain muna ng breakfast ng umagang yon. 30 mins before the start ng training binawi na kasama kami at di pa sigurado kung may tuturuan ako ngayon taon.

                                                            (6) Araw araw dala dala ang laptop na nakalagay sa paboritong red bag, mabilis maglakad at nanlilisik na mata pero hindi galit, isang guro nag nagtuturo ng agham sa isang paraalan. Isang simpleng silid aralan na magiiwan ng sandamakmak na alala at kahit walang pera. Dalawang oras ko na sinusulat tong blog pero ang bigat pa din sa pakiramdam. Para wala kong masasandalan kundi ang computer at itong ms word lang ngayon para ipaalam kung anong bigat na nararadaman ko ngayon. 2 weeks ago I broke down so hard that I cried and feel sorry for myself medyo matagal na din at nagulat din ako sa nangyari di ko akalain mapapahagulgul ako sa sobrang lungkot at syempre ayoko naman Makita o malama nng iba na nangyari yon. Dahil para sa mga kaedad ko wala na ata kaming karapatan magingmahina lalo na sa sitwasyon ko. Ang hirap mawalan ng ginagawa na alam mong un ang nag papasaya at nagiging dahilan pa para mag patuloy ka. Ang saket pa den nun nangyari kahit 3 buwan na ang lumipas. Biruin mo 2 days before the start ng s.y aka ka sasabihan wala kang trabaho masakit pa sa heart breaks yong nangyari lalo na sa part ko dahil nakapag prepare na ko in advance at nag invest sa gadget pero wala bigo. Sinubukan ko nalng ibaling sa pag lalaro lahat ng frustration anxiety at stress ko makalimutan ko lang tong deputing thbigat na nararadaman ko. Pero hindi pa din enough. Pero alam kong lilipas din to all iz well all iz well. Trying to comfort myself through writing in a piece of paper.

                                                            (7) Araw araw dala dala ang laptop na nakalagay sa paboritong red bag, mabilis maglakad at nanlilisik na mata pero hindi galit, isang guro nag nagtuturo ng agham sa isang paraalan. Isang simpleng silid aralan na magiiwan ng sandamakmak na alala at sana magpatuloy pa. Sa ngayon magulo pa din balak ko natapusin tong piyesa na to. Hindi ko alam kung tale of being a teacher ba ang tamang title or super fucking dramatic series of shitness. Well ako ang writer ako masusunod wala naman din makakabasa nito maliban nlng kung mamatay ako sa sama ng loob o sa sakit na mayroon ako ngayon. Di ko alam kung nagging mabuti ba kong guro kasi alam kong nagging masamang bata ako nun ako’y nagaaral pa. sinubukan ko magbago nagawa naman pero may mga ilang habits tayo na di tlga matatanggal. Katulad nlng nitong pag mumura. Waazzup mga bitch. Tao pa rin po kaming mga guro. Hindi po kami perfect sa inaakala nyo nasasaktan napapagod nangangailangan din ng pansin. I just wanted to be appreciated and to be loved. A simple aying of loving me will make me feel important. Shit ang needy. Pero wala eh ayoko naman dayain at pekein pero nagiging manipulative sadboi ang dating. Pero fuck shit wala naman may pake kase wala naman makakabasa nito so tapusin nanatin tong kalokohan ng blog na to di ko alam kung may na pulot kayo pero ang masasabi ko lang? tuloy ang buhay tuloy lang..

Philippine Peso x COVID-19

Two years ago, my parents planned to sell some antique gold coins to fund a new car. They asked me, “when is the best time to sell gold?” I told them, “during a crisis.” They wanted a car back then and didn’t have the patience to wait for a crisis to roll by, so they went ahead and sold their coins.

Two years later and here we are, in a pandemic crisis and news is blaring that gold reached an all-time high of almost $2000 per ounce. On the one hand, I was smug about giving them the right advice. On the other, it’s hard to overlook the opportunity cost. We could’ve had a third more money if we waited.

It’s funny how we fretted for years because of the bull’s decade-long run. Almost a decade of economic growth with no signs of stopping. We kept worrying about how we’re headed to a crisis, and these kinds of things tend to be self-fulfilling, but the bull was hard-headed. We kept guessing, damn, what would kill this bull? People were so confident it was going to be the Sino-American trade war. But surprise! It’s a pandemic. Literally, nobody was able to foresee that.

Now we’re in a crisis, which means that everyone is running to stash their money into safe assets. The example above is a classic one about gold. Another will be the American dollar. The world runs on the dollar, after all. So during this time of crisis, we expect the demand and thus the value of the dollar to grow. This would mean that the value of every other currency will weaken against it.

So imagine my surprise when I heard that the Philippine peso barely weakened against the dollar. Hell, the peso’s value even grew. I compiled the rates myself and plotted it alongside its regional neighbors (Figure 1). I made every currency start from their value against the dollar from January 29, 2020 then plotted its change until July 21, 2020. I’m basically trying to see its progress from the start of the pandemic. The graph is also inverted, so higher up the graph the line is, the stronger the currency is.

Figure 1 

The red line is the baseline. Any currency below it means their value weakened from the start of the year, and any currency above strengthened. As you can see, most currencies are down since the beginning of the year, which is the expectation. Only four countries in the region were stronger now than when the pandemic started: Australia, New Zealand, China, and the Philippines. The first three were understandable since most people were impressed with how competently they handled the virus. On the other hand, the Philippines is a head-scratcher at the start, especially when reception on its handling of the outbreak was mixed.

Now for the note: This article is focused on the economic aspect of the COVID-19’s effects on the Philippines. More specifically, only on the country’s currency and its implications. In other words, it’s very macro. I have my own personal set of criticisms on the government’s response, but that’s not for this blog post. Today, the focus is on studying why the peso kept its value and how it affects the country’s economy. 

Why is the peso’s buoyancy surprising?

If you look at figure 1, you can notice that the biggest dip in the pesos’ value was when the community quarantine was first implemented in Manila. In retrospect, it’s clear that there was a quick rebound, but the outlook was grim during that time. Even the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) was stressing nonstop regarding the economic damage that the quarantine will bring (Figure 2).

Figure 2; source

That’s from the speech of BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno, and he’s right. The governor has been doing all that is necessary to ensure an economic rebound for the Philippines. Or at the very least, economic stability. You can see in figure 3 that the BSP has cut interest rates to give the economy a boost. 

Slashing interest rates is a common move by any country’s central bank when it needs to boost the economy. It’s like stepping the gas a bit if you’d imagine the economy being a vehicle (and raising it is like stepping on the brakes a bit). The basic idea is that the central banks make it cheaper for businesses to borrow money, making investing and growing the business more attractive. This also entices normal consumers to borrow and spend more, which is good for the economy. 

Seeing that the country’s credit rating didn’t get downgraded, I’d say his efforts worked. Indeed, Capital Economics even thinks that this monetary stimulus helps compensate for the lack of fiscal action. In other words, it’s supplementing the inadequacy of the government’s response to the pandemic (you only need to scroll through Philippine Twitter to see people vent their frustrations about this). 

Figure 3; source 

Figure 4; source 

Also worth noting for those not very economically well-versed that the BSP is independent of the government. At least it should be, but currently, there are no signs of politicians interfering with the central bank’s independence.

It is typical that when a country cuts its interest rate, its currency’s value will tumble. There are a ton of ways to interpret the interest rate, one of my favorite ways of seeing it is that it’s basically the price of money, roughly speaking. What dictates the value of a currency is how much foreign investors want it. The more they want it, the higher the demand, therefore the higher the price, and so the higher the value. If you cut the interest rate, which is basically the rate of return that investors can get from the peso, usually, this becomes less attractive to them. So less demand means lower prices and so lower value. This is quite simplified, but that’s the basic idea.

But as you saw in figure 1, the peso’s value didn’t go down. Besides the BSP’s negative outlook and the cuts in interest rates that usually mean it should go down, it didn’t. Why? This is what I tried to find out.

The reasons behind the PHP’s stonks

If the peso is up, that undoubtedly means that foreign investors like our currency, and our question is why that is the case. I found four possible explanations.

First is the simplest one: this is how foreign investors are saying that “despite the falling interest rates, we still trust the strength and resilience of the Philippine economy.” If they kept holding on to their Philippine investments even during a crisis, it means that they find our interest rate to be more attractive than other countries’ depressed rates.

The second is regarding remittances. The Philippine economy is built on remittances by an army of overseas Filipino workers (OFW). So much so that we dub them as the “modern-day hero” back home. So during the pandemic, everyone was worried that nobody was safe from the risk of losing their jobs, at home and abroad. Everyone expected remittances to take a hit (Figure 5).

Figure 5; source 

However, OFWs’ makeup has a secret superpower: a huge chunk of them work in health care. With the worldwide crisis being a pandemic, those OFWs are needed more than ever. This helped soften the epidemic (figure 6) since our remittance decline was only 2-3%, less than the predicted 13%. 

Figure 6; source 

Reason number three is the drop in oil prices. I wrote about this with more detail in a previous blog, in an appendix. But basically, the decline in oil prices happened even before the pandemic. It started when Russia and Saudi Arabia had a stand-off and went on a “how low can you go” battle over oil price. Sadly for them, the pandemic collapsed the demand for oil, further depressing the price. Now that they are working together again to save the oil price, their supply-side controls cannot lift oil prices up due to the demand-side pull. No one needs oil if planes can’t fly, and people can’t go around freely. 

Luckily for us, Filipinos, a fall in oil prices means a lower import bill. In fact, the Philippine Star even reports that we have a surplus of oil (figure 7), meaning we don’t need to import more.

Figure 7; source 

The last reason is the Philippine’s recent good track record for financial management. I know Twitter (and some webinars I’ve attended) might make you believe that literally, everything in the Philippines is a mess right now, but hear me out. The first measure we’ll look at is the debt of the Philippines.

I’ve heard plenty of misconceptions about debt. The narrative is that we are “baon sa utang” or buried in debt. First of all, debt is not a bad thing, as long as the country invests it and proves that it can pay it. Second of all, seeing numbers in billions is very tantalizing. Still, any interpretation you can make is basically meaningless if you don’t put it into context. The economy is in trillions, after all. So it’s good practice to put debt into context with a measure called “Debt to GDP”, which is basically framing the number to the economy’s size.

Now, standards for debt/GDP are different for emerging economies and developed countries. Rich countries have debts bigger than their entire economies, and everybody shrugs like that’s normal. Figure 8 shows the Philippines’s Debt/GDP from the year I was born until today. It is important to note that this figure is before the pandemic, so we expect almost every country’s debt to rise after this crisis (Figure 9).

Figure 8; source 

Figure 9; source 

As you can see, in recent years, the government has been doing an excellent job of whittling away at our debt by being thrifty. The point of me bringing this up is to explain the investors’ trust in the country’s prudent financial management. Despite the unpredictable nature of the president, Mr. Rodrigo Duterte, it’s public knowledge among investors that he is hands-off regarding the country’s economy. He mostly delegates economic policies to someone more capable (figure 10). Investors notice this, so despite being a bit turned off by his crassness, they’ve mostly held on. 

Figure 10; source 

The last figure I want to mention is the BSP’s record stash of foreign currency reserves (Figure 11). Having a stash of foreign currency is a safe way to preserve a currency’s value if it falls too fast. If your local currency is being devalued too quickly against the dollar, you can release some of your dollar reserves to equalize this imbalance by increasing dollar supply and lessening the local currency in circulation. 

Figure 11; source 

So, the next question: is this a good thing?

Do we really want a strong currency?

On the surface level, the knee jerk reaction would be: of course! The stronger, the better, right? If strong money signals a strong economy, why wouldn’t we want it?

Well, the reality is more complicated. In truth, the best is a balance. Pragmatically, we want our currency’s value to be low but not too low that people think our money is worthless and our economy hopeless. Let me explain by presenting two clear implications that affect most of us.

First is the competitiveness of our exports. In world trade, almost everything is denominated in dollars. So if our peso is healthy, that means that each peso is worth more dollars. In other words, each dollar is worth fewer pesos. So if you’re a foreign buyer seeking to buy goods in the Philippines, let’s say that your one dollar is equal to 50 pesos, which will get you 1 burger. If the peso gets strong, that might mean that one dollar is now worth just 25 pesos. So now, you need 2 dollars to buy only one Filipino burger. This makes Filipino burgers less attractive to foreign buyers.

This is why most countries accused of manipulating their currencies usually try to devalue their own money to make their exports more competitive worldwide. So in practice, a stronger peso will hurt our local businesses.

Second, a stronger peso means that remittances will be worth fewer for them. In the same example above, change the foreign buyer into an OFW. Every dollar you send to your family will just be worth 25 pesos instead of 50 pesos. To everyone who is already being financially squeezed by the pandemic, a stronger peso is an unwelcome development.

So, in the end, while a stronger peso is a sign that our economy is resilient and deemed desirable, it has its drawbacks. A strong peso is of little comfort to those who actually need it the most.