1. Went to Tagaytay yesterday, about a couple of hours from Los Banos. Tagaytay City, which has been a booming resort town for a while now, is up on a ridge of mountains overlooking Taal Lake (the latter with an island in the middle and the still-active Taal Volcano on it). The view is lovely. We went to visit my aunt's summer home in some gated subdivision called Royale Tagaytay Estates (reminds of "Royale with cheese"). I was a little puzzled by the street names (Fillmore, Grant, Washington, Kennedy, Roosevelt) until I realized they were American presidents. My aunt had the great misfortune to actually live on Nixon Street. Probably only in the Philippines could you find a street named after Tricky Dick. Does Yorba Linda even have a street named after him?
2. Zoning laws don't apply: ate an excellent Filipino lunch (more of the same grilled fare) at Dencio's Bar and Grill. Right next to it was an actual Starbucks, with a large roofed terrace overlooking the lake and volcano, making it possibly one of the few Starbucks cafes in the world with a picturesque view. (Does the McDonald's next to the Spanish Steps in Rome count?) Probably coming up next: a Banawe Rice Terraces Starbucks.
3. The other day I was watching the news: President Macapagal-Arroyo was doing one of her surprise visits again (remember when she publicly berated the now-disgraced LTO Commissioner?), and this time she dropped in on a police station in Cubao. The head honcho wasn't there; he had gone to a conference in the U.S. and was already two weeks late. But what got the President's goat was a pile of porn VCDs on the boss's desk, next to a TV and VCD player:
[paraphrased dialogue, translated from Tagalog]
President: What are these?
Second-in-command [flustered]: Er, we confiscated those.
President [with look of distaste]: I think you were watching this.
[Second-in-command mumbles something.]
The Philippine Daily Inquirer picked up the story as well, with further comments from the President on moral responsibility, but unfortunately the news item was not accompanied by the image I saw on TV (which just about made me bust a gut): the President of the Philippines holding up a VCD clearly entitled "ANAL QUEEN." (My friend Jane later sent me an article confirming it.)
4. I won't be writing anything for a little while -- I'm off for the week-long Sangandaan conference next week, and then we have to pack for our loooong flight to San Francisco the following day. Back to our dog Shelby and our home on Ocean Beach...
Posted by the wily filipino at July 5, 2003 09:44 PM