You know you’re in an Asian country when the most fantastic food you’ve ever had is in an outdoor alleyway restaurant. It’s become standard to dine alongside roosters, roaches, a rat (that I swear was the size of a small cat), LOTS of bats (which, contrary to popular belief – or my belief at least – DO NOT see a head of human hair and think it is their nest), and cats? Regardless, the food is unbelievable. If you know me, you know that I am definitely not kidding because: 1) I am deathly scared of all creatures mentioned above (minus the rooster), and the food HAS TO be out of this world in order for me to ever get close to that zoo. 2) I normally don’t love Thai food. In fact, I usually go out of my way to not eat it.
That being said, this food is full of flavours I didn’t even know existed. I think they must serve this food in heaven. If not, they better start. I don’t even know why they bother trying to make Thai food in Canada. Why do we bother even serving food in Canada? This stuff is INCREDIBLE!
The last few weeks have been amazing! We’ve done everything from taking a very long and WET hike up a volcano (walking through rivers in my sneakers is not thing anymore!) and swimming in the crater!, smoking Montecristos and drinking scotch (I may have a new favourite
hobby?), learning the fine art of haggling with Filipino shop owners, and singing karaoke. Not just any karaoke though…karaoke wit
h a live band!! Yes, here you can fulfil your secret dream of having your own REAL rock band (not that wii business). The funny thing is, going to play karaoke here is like stepping into an episode of American Idol. I kid you not! For some reason, Filipinos are genetically blessed with great voices. So karaoke is really a showcasing of beautiful talent rather than making a fool of yourself like it is back home. Which means that karaoke will be nothing but a spectator sport for me for the rest of this trip!
So I last left off talking about how progressive and great laws relating to children’s rights in the Philippines are. I was really surprised but pleased to see how forward thinking the Philippines is in rights that they afford children. Granted there are gaps, but the reality is that most countries have some holes to fill. The disparity, however, occurs when walking the streets and facing the reality of the situation. Living and working in a generally cosmopolitan
neighbourhood, we’re not exposed to situations of poverty on a constant basis. But even this area has its share of street children. These are the very children who this legislation is meant to protect, but yet they are not enjoying the rights that they are supposed to be afforded. Instances like this make you wonder why (and how) laws that are filled with such hope and ideal are failing. I’m not saying Canada is perfect by any means, and I am aware
that we have our own issues to resolve, but the Philippines is not a country that cannot enforce the rights that it promotes. I recently attended a seminar hosted by Ateneo Law School on the Constitutional Assembly Charter Change (will explain what this is a bit later). One of the speakers put it very perfectly… “The Philippines is bristling with beautiful laws but they flop in execution”. This tells me that it is widely recognized, even by leading scholars, that there is much, much left to be desired in terms of law enforcement in this country. It really saddens me to see that so much effort is put into areas like the military, issues such as ensuring that the President can extend her term in office, and other ‘important’ governmental matters, while many children are suffering from overcrowded classrooms, dangerous forms of child labour including armed conflict, and a lack of general assurance of a bright and successful future.
In other news, the ‘revered’ president of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (or GMA as she is affectionately referred to as) is seeking to extend her term in office beyond 2010. How does she plan to do this? By proposing a ‘charter change’ (Cha-Cha for short – yep, Filipinos love their shortforms!) to house and senate members (known as the bicameral Philippine Congress). Constituent assembly or "con-ass" is one of the ways in which the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines could be amended or revised. Congress transforms into a Constituent assembly mode when they formally convene to propose amendments or revisions to the 1987 constitution, which in order to pass, requires a positive vote of three-fourths of all its Members. The anti-charter change forces are threatening massive protests that could lead to a public vote on the charter change issue, which can only be passed with a majority vote.
If that little politics lesson bored you, here’s the bottom line:
- Charter change in the Philippines is a very controversial event. The last time the constitution was appended, it led to the prolonging of the term of President Marcos and eventually, Martial Law.
So we are living through a little piece of history right here and right now!
Labels: philippines
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