The Word that Made People Happy

Sorry

It was a word that most indigenous Australians have been waiting for more than four decades and it came at a right time. It came as a surprise that the opposition has supported the apology when it was implying weeks before that it will not agree to such moves. The nation was ecstatic and everyone was unanimous that this is the start of the healing process and Australia can now move forward. This came at a very good time when the economy of Australia is bullish and it has a new leadership with commitment.

One blind post

As I was reading the news, my emotions ran high. It was the same emotion when Trillanes took over another hotel. It was exciting and at the same time disgusting. The Philippine Daily Inquirer is vivid enough to put emotions into words. While I’m no De Venecia supporter, I’m just wondering when will our politician sit down or stand up to finally get to work.

Have they heard about the number of Filipinos migrating here in Australia to work as skilled workers, professionals? Or are they blinded that these migrant Filipinos will return some favor to the country by sending remittances? Well, some of the fact here is they are bringing their family here and they do not have anybody else back home. While there’s a claim of increases in OFW remittances and the Philippine economy is becoming a model for other countries, the fact still remains that these small victories does not trickle down to the lowly Pandoy household.

When I read the news, I can’t help but recall an event that I attended back in Puerto Princesa City. The phrase that this man kept saying rang over my ear just like an echo or a ringing bell–“sabi ng Mommy ko… sabi ng Mommy ko…” indulge have a guess, I might say my mind to you about this guy. 🙂 *sigh*

Western Australia Needs More Workers

Western Australia is said to spend around Aus$600,000 to attract workers to answer the chronic worker shortages, Perthnow reported early last month. Some of the workers needed for this current call include school cleaners, gardeners and tourism tourism workers. In the Philippines, these workers might not be given that attention unless you are profession is one of the most treasured export of the country.

Heath Ledger, 1979-2008

The news about Heath Ledger’s death spread like fire over Perth yesterday as radio, TV and internet broadcast news about his untimely death. His family formally confirmed Heath’s death and described his death as accidental. While police downplayed foul play, mystery still hounds the cause of Heath’s death as initial autopsy were inconclusive and it might take about 10 days more to identify the cause of death of the rising star.

EDSA 2

Got this from Shari.

Bloggers’ Kapihan 3 Event

January 19, 2-5PM
Kape Tasyo (Freedom Bar)
Anonas, Quezon City

Another New Beginning

I wanted to start 2007 right, so I blogged about it and envisioned where I wanted to go. Let’s just take a quick look at some excerpt of that blog and what happened.

Metro Manila Film Fest, etc.

The Metro Manila Film Fest was held last December. It is the time of the year when most of Metro Manila residents get saturated with Filipino films and time for most film producers to make “better than usual” films (well, film makers are expected to make quality films every time but the Manila Film Fest is quite different).

Australia welcomes New Year first

Australia welcomed the New Year ahead of other countries. The iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge became a spectacular site as fireworks marked the start of the New Year in Australia. Meanwhile here in Perth, about 10,000 are estimated to have attended the NYE (New Year’s Eve) Disco in Northbrige.

Australia’s population now over 20M

Australia recently announced that its population has breached the 20 million mark reaching about 21 million in a recent official census. Western Australia was the fastest growing state in terms (both in population and economy).

News.com reported that “immigration accounted for 56 per cent of Australia’s growth, while 272,900 births minus 134,800 deaths made up 44 per cent of the increase.” This is a welcome news here in Australia as there were fears before that the country might suffer Japan’s predicament of having an aging population. The Australian government has placed incentives for couples who decide to have a child giving  a “baby bonus” of about Aus$4000 for a baby (dead or alive) and an additional weekly support (if alive).

On a personal note, I can personally say that the booming economy here in Western Australia is definitely felt at the household level. Almost everybody (even as young as 12) has a chance to land a job whether part-time, casual or full-time. Now, this is an economy working.

Back home, the Philippines has breached the 90 million mark. A July 2007 estimate was placed at  91,077,287. I can personally say also that my family back home are not feeling the fruits of the economic growth that the country is apparently achieving.

Busy, Busy, Busy… :)

Well, I might be stating the obvious but yes it’s been a very busy past few days/weeks but the good news is that my blogging hiatus came rewarded. 🙂 A poster presentation that I gave at Uni was awarded the first recipient of the Geoff Griffiths Prize and my recent introductory seminar went well (thanks to my colleagues at the trailer trash who came to listen. :)). So, many things happened in the past few weeks, Australia has a new prime minister (now I’m hearing some mates claiming to be proud to be Australians again!), Beckham-mania hit Australia while Trillanes “snapped” and holed himself with his mates in a Philippine five-star hotel, the Spice Girls were re-united and the US becomes the only developed country not to ratify Kyoto.

Thanks to Sasha, by the way, for the invitation to the Blogger Meet and Greet in Manila last 30 November. Well, for another obvious reason, I couldn’t honor the invitation but I would have loved to attend (maybe next year, given the chance). 🙂