photo taken from Ivan Henares' blogThree years ago, I conducted a long interview with Fr. James Reuter S.J. at the Moro Lorenzo Sports Center. He was my dad's teacher back in high school and I had a chance to work with him when I was in 3rd Year high on the Animo Ateneo Project (that came out in 1983 not soon after Ninoy Aquino was assassinated).
It was the first time he had been inside the campus for a while and he told me that to him, it resembled the Roman Empire. The interview was very revealing as we were supposed to only talk about sports and the NCAA years but he touched on other topics that would be difficult to write about because it might piss off some people.
My colleague Ivan Henares told me about what was happening at the Xavier House in Sta. Ana, Manila and it sparked the piss fires in me. My beef with this country is our failure to preserve historical sites and records. Yet when Filipinos travel they always go to foreign historical sites and exclaim, "Sana ganito rin sa Pinas, no?"
I am not exactly the biggest SM fan because of their poor regard for the rights of employees. I don't know if you remember during Typhoon Milenyo, they kept the Mall of Asia open in spite of the bad weather. They even threatened to fine tennants who did not open.
I find it equally amusing that people say we have the best malls in the world. Eh, tangina naman no, wala ka naman ibang pupuntahan dito sa Manila kung hindi mall. Sa Boracay meron din Mall. WTF! In other countries, they do not need to go to the malls because there are so many other places to go to.
I mentioned in a past post that even in Corregidor, they plan to put up a golf course! I hope some golfer steps on a goddam landmine and blows his damned foot off.
The last thing we need are more malls and golf courses. We live in a Republic of Shopping Malls. They have everything... cinemas, veterinarians, salons, amphitheaters... We should all worship the shopping mall.
What this country needs is better governance than the corrupt one we have in place. What we need is greater priority on the economy, jobs, education, health care, and the environment. Whoa, don't malls supply all of that? At a price though.
Arrgh! I will never be a mallrat.
We should have never gotten independence because we have only shown ourselves to be incapable of governing ourselves. Look at all these bastards who pretend to be nationalistic; they're the first ones to skip town and go to the US.
Back to historical places. Look at Intramuros. When Dick Gordon was handling the Tourism industry, Intramuros was fixed up. Now, well... it's dirty.
Next thing I know is that some one will be building a mall in Tirad Pass. Wait a minute, they might get an idea. Shh!
__________
An classmate of mine, Martin Angala emailed me this morning and sent me this:
Hi Rick,
I read your comment (rant) on malls.
When I was reading that, I remembered the thoughts I had when I moved to Melbourne. I was amazed that there were so many things to do that didn't involve going to malls -- libraries, museums, parks, playgrounds, etc. and most of these involved little or no fees at all! I remember sitting on a park bench once on a Sunday. My wife and I were seated there, under the autumn sun, and the kids were playing on the grass. Wow, I thought, I could never have done this in Manila!
It was the first time he had been inside the campus for a while and he told me that to him, it resembled the Roman Empire. The interview was very revealing as we were supposed to only talk about sports and the NCAA years but he touched on other topics that would be difficult to write about because it might piss off some people.
My colleague Ivan Henares told me about what was happening at the Xavier House in Sta. Ana, Manila and it sparked the piss fires in me. My beef with this country is our failure to preserve historical sites and records. Yet when Filipinos travel they always go to foreign historical sites and exclaim, "Sana ganito rin sa Pinas, no?"
I am not exactly the biggest SM fan because of their poor regard for the rights of employees. I don't know if you remember during Typhoon Milenyo, they kept the Mall of Asia open in spite of the bad weather. They even threatened to fine tennants who did not open.
I find it equally amusing that people say we have the best malls in the world. Eh, tangina naman no, wala ka naman ibang pupuntahan dito sa Manila kung hindi mall. Sa Boracay meron din Mall. WTF! In other countries, they do not need to go to the malls because there are so many other places to go to.
I mentioned in a past post that even in Corregidor, they plan to put up a golf course! I hope some golfer steps on a goddam landmine and blows his damned foot off.
The last thing we need are more malls and golf courses. We live in a Republic of Shopping Malls. They have everything... cinemas, veterinarians, salons, amphitheaters... We should all worship the shopping mall.
What this country needs is better governance than the corrupt one we have in place. What we need is greater priority on the economy, jobs, education, health care, and the environment. Whoa, don't malls supply all of that? At a price though.
Arrgh! I will never be a mallrat.
We should have never gotten independence because we have only shown ourselves to be incapable of governing ourselves. Look at all these bastards who pretend to be nationalistic; they're the first ones to skip town and go to the US.
Back to historical places. Look at Intramuros. When Dick Gordon was handling the Tourism industry, Intramuros was fixed up. Now, well... it's dirty.
Next thing I know is that some one will be building a mall in Tirad Pass. Wait a minute, they might get an idea. Shh!
__________
An classmate of mine, Martin Angala emailed me this morning and sent me this:
Hi Rick,
I read your comment (rant) on malls.
When I was reading that, I remembered the thoughts I had when I moved to Melbourne. I was amazed that there were so many things to do that didn't involve going to malls -- libraries, museums, parks, playgrounds, etc. and most of these involved little or no fees at all! I remember sitting on a park bench once on a Sunday. My wife and I were seated there, under the autumn sun, and the kids were playing on the grass. Wow, I thought, I could never have done this in Manila!
No comments:
Post a Comment