RP Boxing Champions

Donaire and Viloria became instant hits and heroes in the Philippine sports of boxing. I don't recall, if any, something similar to this in the past. Their wins were very convincing even with the under cards that won against non-Filipino opponents.

It was just sad that no matter what channel I tried to look for their televised fight, there was none! I have set that date to watch their fights. Do they need to be Pacquiaos first before full live fight is given coverage by television stations? What if the the Pacman falls in his fight with Hatton? Would these TV stations be scrambling for rights in the future fights of Donaire and Viloria?

It has been that way for Filipino TV stations. Not even a single station was able to air those fights! It was like that then . . . sorry to say . . . it's still the same way now! Okay! So, Donaire and Viloria . . . be ready to up your "ante" if and when Pacquiao fails to win against Hatton!

Passing Away

From August 2000 to April 24, 2001 we had 4 deaths in the family. First was our sister-in-law in August, followed by our father in September 12, lost our sister to cancer in November 4, then our mother in April 24 of 2001.

On April 11, 2009, almost exactly 8 years after, my brother passed away with complications from kidney failure that led to cardiac arrest. He is the husband of my sister-in-law who passed away in August of 2000. Though he would be 70 on September of this year, it was difficult to accept that he succumbed to an unlikely disease, uncommon in our family, just like the sister we lost to cancer.

Death is a reality that will happen to us all and must be accepted. But acceptance becomes difficult if the cause is not natural or it was untimely. It was a lot easier to accept the passing of our father and mother as they were 88 and 85 years of age then respectively. It was really about time for them to rest because 5 years before their demise, life was quite difficult for them to get along with. They both passed away quietly without pain. Our sister and brother faced the fact that their time was about to come for months. It was as difficult for them as it was for us. Their quality of life was way below normal during the months after they were diagnosed. The treatments and hospitalizations were more of an agony for them as it was for us seeing them in that state.

Pacman Retracts

(With apologies again)

What good is his word now? As with his blaming of his lawyers signing in his behalf with Golden Gloves, he blamed them, his lawyers. What the heck is this? Again he blames them for the airing of his fight with Hatton fiasco? Didn't he even dare Solar Sports to prove their side? It is just sad to see a famous boxer of the Philippines make a fool of himself. This does not seek perfection but mere common sense. He has so much money that he can do or say anything then pay his lawyers to take the blame! If I were one of his lawyers and with the easy job of "lawyering" for him, I'll take the blame anytime! Who cares anyway? He'll have to pay me well to protect his image!

Maybe he had a deal with ABS-CBN not to broadcast this or that until he has suckered Solar Sports into running after him! Who knows? He says he is into his last fights and is trying to gain more. He is like a small kid who tries to gain advantage through sacrificing others he controls!

Personally, I would rather have a Filipino boxer who fights a real fight, in deed and in mind! The "Pacman" could be a winner and champion as a boxer but a loser in mind! That's how the Filipinos lose the respect of other nations. Great in deed but poor in mind!

On Manny Pacquiao Again

First my apologies again for this article not being a "before and now". . .

This is in disgust for the "pacman". I have admired Manny Pacquiao for his achievements but lost all that admiration and respect after switching over to ABS-CBN for the right of airing his fight against Ricky Hatton. His excuse, even if it will be valid, that payment to him by Solar Sports is delayed, is a greedy excuse! He is earning so much that probably the delay will not make him any poorer or put him in trouble! He displays himself as a religious person but that only shows that he is only good for words and not in deeds!

His being famous worldwide will now have a question of what kind of a person he really is, for many people. It makes me laugh more now with his ambition to enter politics again. Why would anyone vote him when he does not respect his contracts? He did not even bother informing Solar Sports about it!

Even if retracts his committment with ABS-CBN, my admiration of him will not return. He has already shown his true color. A greedy person! I hope his sponsors will drop him

The Almighty will give him a lesson. He could lose his fight with Hatton because this will hang in his head until the fight. He will not see many punches that will be thrown at him.

To Filipinos, please do not vote for him if ever he runs for any government position.

Friendly terms

Recalling how close friends or associates used terms to address each other besides their name or nicknames, I remember my parents call them "Kumpadre or Kumpare" (for the male species) and "Kumadre or Kumare" (for the female species). That was in the 1960s. Well, that was for the more elderly or those married and/or with children. The younger generation male then picked up from this, shortening it to "Pare" among their male pals. I don't think the younger women then used "Mare" addressing friends.

Kumpadre, kumpare, kumadre and kumare are monickers (if that's the right term) for those who are godfathers or godmothers for a friends son or daughter. These monickers denote closeness of friendship that made it the reason why Filipinos used the terms for friends. In urban cities, I believe, the terms are still used in short as "pare or mare".

In the 70s, there were many terms used to address friends such as "Utol or 'tol" (meaning brother/sister), "pards" (a corrupted short for partner) and "Bro", often pronounced as "bru" adopted from the military short for brother. This was for the younger generation. The Kumpadre or Kumpare and Kumadre or Kumare were still much used by older people until the mid 1990s. The shorter versions of Pare, Pre or Mare are still used by the middle aged.

Some time in the 80s, the terms "Chong (tsong) and Chang (tsang)" were also used to address friends. It was the short for "Tiyong and Tiyang" that meant uncle and aunt. It was short lived though. In the late 1980s, if I remember right, I heard my teenage son and his friends again address each other as "'tol". Until now, it still seems to be the common reference among friends for the younger generation, something like 40 years old and below.

What it was in our city could be different in other localities, then and now.

Fashion & Style Trend

This fashion trend is only for men and boys because I don't really know how it was for women or girls then. If I remember right, somewhere in the mid-1960s to the late 60s, when pants were somewhat skin tight. I think it was also at that time that denims and jeans started to become a fad. You could not get in them with your shoes on. There were some styles that had zippers on the inner leg bottoms, just so to be able to get feet through them. Following those years, came the flared or bell-bottomed pants, in direct contrast. The Philippines is a trend follower of what is "in" in the U.S. of A.

On hairstyle, the Elvis Presley style with sticky and greasy pomade was "in" until some time mid-60s when the mop top Beatles started to gain fame. When the Beatles took center stage, that was the advent of the "long-hair" era. Other bands that became famous sported longer hair than what the Beatles had. The famous pomade lost its gloss and hold. During that era, many barbershops closed down. Womens' hair saloons were more frequented by long-haired men. I don't deny that I was one of them.

In the recent past, late 90s to present, the fad of over-sized or loose garments came in. It seems that old clothes of Dad in the 1940s or 50s were back (only not to size). Putting sports jerseys over them also became a fad! Many 'rappers' sported this fashion.

Hairstyle for men almost went nowhere! Why? Because the trend became "No-Hair"! Clean shaven bald head was in! Barbershops started crop again as there was no styling needed. They are the experts in shaving the head. No style to worry about. The hairstyle for men now is on how one feels about it. There are still a good number of younger guys who prefer bald. I think this trend about hair for men will not change not until an entertainer as famous as the Beatles or Elvis Presley will again set a trend.

Photo credits to Yahoo! Images

Employment & Population

Employment becomes difficult with the increase of population. When I graduated in 1975, as long as one had a college degree it was easy to find a good paying job. The population then was around 51 million. In 1990, it was difficult even to find a job, more so to get employed for the course I took. The demand for jobs at that time was on the IT industry.

Now that the IT industry does not have that much demand for employment, the Medical requirements for nurses is on the uptrend. My point here is, there are so many nursing graduates way back 5 years ago or more, unlike the demand for IT jobs before. How come there are still a majority of them that remain unemployed on their field? It looks like getting a nursing job abroad is a lottery! Many of them are waiting for the chance to find the "pot-o-gold" working abroad!

Based on census and statistics, the following graph shows the population of the Philippines:

POPULATION (in millions)

Indicator 1980 1990 1995 2000 2010

Total country . . . . . . . 51,092 65,036 72,859 80,961 112,963
Urban. . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,028 31,159 38,142 45,953 82,203
Rural . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31,064 33,877 34,717 35,008 30,760

Family Christmas Reunions

Until the early 2 years of 1990, we were having family, if not a clan, Christmas reunion every year as far as I can remember. We were still ten (10) sibling surviving until the 3rd quarter 2000 when my sister to whom I am next to passed away due to cancer. Except for her, all 9 of us were married and each had at least 2 children. Some of their older children had their own families too! So you could almost imagine how many there were of us in one house from Christmas eve to the following day. Same is true for New Year's eve and the following day!

As early as October or November of every year, plans are made on how Christmas festivities would go. Who would prepare or bring food, pot-luck style. Then, you could imagine the number of gifts under the Christmas tree. With gifts coming from each family to all the children. With 9 families giving around 27 gifts that would be a total of 243, more or less! Every year one among us would stand as an emcee to announce who gets each gift and from whom it came from. It takes about an hour to give those gifts to them.

By around 1995, when many of the children were grown ups and some of my brothers and sisters have moved abroad, we had smaller reunions until to none when our parents passed away in 2000 and 2001. The bad economy had also caught up with most of us that we could no longer afford festive occasions like that. My brothers and sisters who reside more than 250 kilometers away from our hometown Baguio City, could not longer afford to come and stay for the two holidays.

It was obvious that when my father still had a good memory until the early 1990s, he was the factor for those reunions. He would remember those who were not around. He was a strict disciplinarian and put much value for those once-a-year reunions. It was our mother then who would be coordinating the coming reunions. That's how our parents were until old age and memory gaps caught up with them.

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My vision was OFF!

OK so my vision was wrong on the then and now for the Pacquiao-dela Hoya Dream Match. It was a very easy win for Manny Pacquiao. Oscar dela Hoya didn't even seem to be a threat at all to the "Pacman"! He looked impressive during the weigh-in showing his "pandesal" abs! But that was all looks - no performance at all during the fight. He was just tapping at Manny! They were not even legitimate jabs! He was just annoying the Pacman.

If I remember right, the Golden Boy then wanted to be the promoter of Pacquiao. There was a controversial contract signing that Manny has denied because it was signed by someone in his camp. Eventually, I believe, the contract was not good and did not go in effect. Getting the contract to be null and void would have had some costs involved before and after. Probably more on the the side of Oscar "Golden Boy" dela Hoya. (Anyone reading this see where I am leading to?) So, there must have been some way for both parties to recover lost expenses. My guess is as good as yours! There is some pride involved in it, also before and after. But who cares about the pride? They are in for the money and nothing more! The Golden Boy blamed Roach when he lost to Mayweather, did he recover that pride going against the Pacman? Off course not! He "threw in the towel" even before the fight was to continue! It was a plain fact that he already earned the money, forget about the pride in retaining or regaining the title and who wants to get hurt more for the same money?

The fight of Pacquiao-Diaz was true to the last punch. Diaz fought gallantly although he was being battered by Pacquiao. Manny Pacquiao always did his best in training and the results always showed in his fights. Oscar dela Hoya said he prepared more than he ever did in any of his previous fights. His abs showed the results but not for his performance.

Manny Pacquiao fought according to his skill. Oscar dela Hoya did not fight to the skill that people know him for. I would have cheered loudly if he fell down face first like Diaz. Manny fought someone who just wanted "his money" back.

The End for the Pacman?

This would be an off-topic of then and now, but I felt that Manny Pacquiao might become then and would be now after his fight with Oscar dela Hoya.

3 or 4 months back from this date, it just came to me that the results of the fight will not be in favor of Manny Pacquiao. I wanted to blog about it but I don't know how it just came as a vision while I was awake. I was not watching TV or doing anything. Some sort of a vision or picture came in my mind out of nowhere of his beaten and bloodied face. I tried to watch all his previous fights and I did not see one that had that much beaten and bloodied face.

He was awesome and outstanding in his last fight against David Diaz because their height is almost the same. His win against Juan Manuel Marquez had cast some doubts in it. Against Eric Morales there were doubts on the condition of Morales having cut down much weight in short period.

His giving away of tickets worth millions and turkey for thanksgiving lately seems to be a premonition for the Pacman of what is about to come. Is it some sort of a "farewell" or "good-bye"? I believe he did nothing similar to this in his previous fights.

By the way I am not "seer" or a fortune teller. I just felt the need to post what I experienced for whatever worth it is or will be. I am for Manny Pacquiao to win his fight against Oscar dela Hoya. I believe in his skills but height does really matter in boxing.

UPDATE (11/28/08): Pacquiao giving up WBC Lightweight Crown? Is this another sign? He had more difficult fights in lower divisions! Yes, he overwhelmed Diaz but did he fight anyone else in that division? He's saying he's more comfortable now at 140 to 147!

Observations while Walking

When you reach the age of late 40s and above, there are many things around you that reminds of the past. In a city, now appropriately called a "concrete jungle", you'll find tall buildings and edifices that were not once there. In its place could have been a plain lot with bushes, trees, grass and other plants.


Our city would be no different from others 30 to 40 years back. The City of Baguio is also known as the City of Pines because of the predominant Pine Tree growth. The city used to have that fresh air scent of pine and that is what you experience when walking around town during those days. Hardly would you notice public transportation stop because of traffic. They would only stop to pick up passengers. Walking up or down the main street Session Road, you practically know everyone or looks familiar. It was rare to see a stranger but it was easy to detect a tourist. Sidewalk or street vendors were even a rare sight to see except, of course, in the public market.


Police officers were very respectful in their navy blue uniform as they were respected highly by the civilians then. There was a very low incidence of violence and crime then that the police had their eyes more on jaywalkers and littering! Concern for vehicular traffic and traffic violations was almost nil. Even with vehicular accidents. Drivers then were so disciplined and everyone was willing to give way to another. You could even call a taxi cab company for taxi service! They would not even flag down their meters from their point of origin! That's made taxi signs, " ON CALL" in our city famous.

Sports & Youth

In my younger days from the 60s to early 80s, I really loved sports. I played dodge ball, roller skates, some softball, chess, basketball, table tennis, lawn tennis, billiards, pool, some soccer, volleyball, badminton, pelota, duck-pin and Ten-Pin Bowling. The only sports facilities that we had to pay for were billiards, pool, duck-pin and ten-pin bowling. But they were relatively cheap because we were the youth then and could afford it. In our city, there was little concern about crime because the youth had practically many sports to engage in for free. It was only those not interested in sports that went into drugs and frat or gang like activities.


All around our city there were a lot of basketball courts from gyms to open-air standard full courts down to street half-courts. There were sub-standard sized courts to even smaller ones that players use smaller balls like tennis balls. We sometimes play for long hours until our strength is drained without worrying for the cost of using of the facility. The same free use could be said of volleyball, table and lawn tennis.


Probably since the mid-1980s until now, all of those free facilities are already pay-for-use facilities. The hourly rate is quite high that only well-off people could afford to use them frequently for two hours or more. It is sad to see many youth these days who want to be in sports but could not afford it anymore. This is one of the many reasons why the youth now have turned to cheaper computer games, use of drugs and gang activities. It is really a sad combination of seeing the past in your mind while seeing the present with your eyes.

Careers then . . .

During my elementary school days, I could recall my Mom talking about others who are in the banking or teaching industry. Maybe those were the high paying or respectable careers in the early to mid 1960s. She was so awed by children of other families in that job. Probably that was her way of telling us what course to take in college. One of my older brothers, our eldest, was into sales in the pharmaceutical industry. There was nothing really said about people in sales during those years. It could be that the term "salesman or saleslady" was a few grades, or levels, lower then when it comes to career. Another career that was said to give a good future was engineering. Quite odd, but during those days we thought, or we were oriented, that engineers were those who operated trains! That was why I never said in school that my Pop was an engineer (LOL), though he was both a Civil and Mining Engineer, and a good one at that!
Somewhere in the 1970s, the career as a salesman started to edge other careers. There were sales engineers and other sales people from other professions. As for myself, I was in the banking industry as a working student in 1974, then got into automotive sales in the last quarter of 1976. Why? My brother I was next to, was in that industry and I saw him making good! Commissions alone on one car sale is twice that of my regular one month salary with the bank! True enough I made it good and in less than 4 months, I was promoted as a Branch Sales Manager. The car sales industry was good in our country until early 1979, then it suddenly went slow in the second quarter. I was only 25 years old then and decided to find employment in the pharmaceutical sales industry. It was not difficult to find a job in those years as long as one had a college degree. When I got into that industry, I never thought that it was better, career-wise and the pay. As a medical representative, it was almost glamorous as you worked on your own time and disposal! Visits from higher-ups came only once a month or as rare as once in three months! There were so many perks in that industry then. Being in that industry started to look so good in the mid 1980s. It was a blessing in disguise for me to have left that industry in late 1982 when we started to go on our own business.

Now and the recent past, time has changed career opportunities. Sales and engineering careers are no longer that lucrative, except for Electronics engineering. In a third world country, there was nothing foreseen on this until the mid 1990s. Our country was entertaining "new" gadgets that were actually discards of first world countries. Anyone who specialized on them were simply misled. A good example was the Beta format video as against the VHS format. Same is true with cellular telephones. The career opportunities in our country, as of this writing, is the Nursing course and the Information Technology (I.T.). It hasn't changed for quite some time now.

Philippine Peso - Dollar Exchange Rate Review

Unbelievably it was difficult to search on the history of the Peso to Dollar exchange on the internet. It took me more almost a week to find one that would really show a history since the 1960s or earlier. And I had to dig deep into the web site. It simply just shows that many did not care about keeping records on it. To my recollection, the Philippine Peso was somewhere 4 is to 1 Dollar in the 1960s. And, had gone up to something like 7 Pesos to a Dollar in the early 1970s when the first oil crisis came about.

In my search for a history in this I was surprised to find one at seaquestdivecenter! It was posted by Benjamin A. Usigan under the title "The Evolution of Philippine Exchange Rate Policies". It was updated only until 1992. Here's an excerpt of some of the exchange rates on the article that I am quoting directly:

"From the post-war period up to the beginning of the 1960s, the Philippines maintained the official par value of P2.00 to US$1.00.

In response, the monetary authorities adopted a multi-tier exchange rate system starting April 1960. Under this system, exporters were allowed to surrender 75 percent nof their foreign exchange receipts at the official rate while the remaining 25 percent was valued at the free rate initially set at P3.20 to $1.00.

In November 1960, the decontrol program enlarged the amount of transactions valued at the free market rate to 50 percent of all foreign exchange receipts with the exchange rate at the free market reduced to P3.00 to $1.00.

On November 8, 1965, the decontrol program was completed and the peso was devalued to P3.90 to a dollar.

On February 21, 1970, the Philippines adopted the floating rate system with the first interbank guiding rate subsequently determined at P5.6282 to US$1.00 on February 24, 1970.

The peso's exchange rate experienced two hefty depreciations in 1983: from P10.083 per US$.00 in May to P11.0015 per US$1.00 in June (9.1 percent) and from P11.002 per US$1.00 in September to P14.002 per US$1.00 in October (27.3 percent).

After June 1984, when the peso depreciated by 28.6 percent from P14.002 to P18.002, the peso thereafter settled at P19.97 at the end of 1984 and appreciated by 7 percent to P18.4 in January 1985."

Source: http://www.seaquestdivecenter.net/peso-history.html

In early 2007, if I remember right, it had gone to something like 56.00 Pesos to a Dollar! As of now the exchange rate hoovers at around 47.00 pesos to a dollar. If my memory serves me right, the biggest jump was some time in 1984 when the exchange rate jumped from somewhere 7 is to 1 to 14 Pesos to a Dollar! I would say I remember that correctly because we had to stop construction of a house extension due to the sudden increase in construction materials.

Island of Palawan circa 1967-68 - Part 1

Thinking about the island of Palawan, it is almost 40 years now since we were there. Well, what I have to say here is how it was before because I have not been there since. It was there where I went through my second year in high school and half of my third year. Among a brood of 10, two of our youngest sisters and I were taken along there with our mom. Our father was then the superintendent of the Palawan Quicksilver Mines located some 14 kilometers from the islands capital of Puerto Princesa, now also a city. It didn't mean anything to me then. All I cared for was sports and as long as they had basketball there it was alright with me. The relocation of 884.56 km to 961.47 km south of our hometown didn't matter. It was our parents' decision and there was nothing we could do about it. It was like a dream. In an instant, we were there! No talk, no orientation - no nothing about anything that I could recall! When we got there, we never realized that we were going to live a life of a highly respected family (almost royal lol)! It was funny and at the same time weird living there during those times. It was as if the people there then were informed of our coming into town. The mining company even sent a car there from Manila just for our use going to and coming from school! We were the only students in the best school there that were being brought to and from school chauffered! We were treated very well and highly respected in that school run by nuns.


Actually, it was only in recent past about 5 or 6 years ago, that I came to realize all these. There are a lot of stories I could blog about here during our almost 2-year stay in Palawan. But as my usual self, I would not want to make this a boring article to read as I know most of you should be doing more important things online. Part 2 of this series will be my personal adventures, what I did on my own there that my siblings and parents wouldn't have known about. I hope I could write it very soon as I am excited myself to tell the stories about them too. Some of them were scary or weird growing-up scenarios.

As of this writing the Palawan Quicksilver Mines has mined-out itself for many years now. I have not been in contact with any of my former classmates or friends since we left. Having been online frequently for the past 4 years now, I have not come across any of them yet, inspite of some searches I have made.

Map Photo & Other PhotosCourtesy of:

http://www.haribon.org.ph/images and http://www.butterflytravel.ph/puerto_princesa.html