First, they wanted to make criminals out of nine-year olds

Grabbed from http://ateneo.edu/news/ateneo-says-no-child-criminals.

Back in the Philippines, activists are fighting legislative moves to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) from 15 to 9 years old. Working abroad, I could only speak out on social media. Had I been there, it wouldn’t have been impossible to see me with activists marching against the bill. The last two days, especially reading about the twisted logic of congressmen and senators who are justifying such a move really got me down. I’m feeling hopeless about my country and the ‘public servants’ who are supposed to serve the public interest but in reality, are serving their monster president in Malacanang.

Of pho and pagodas

The motorcycle man took this photo of me outside a pagoda. I wanted him to be able to capture the serenity of the Buddha but I got this instead. 😊

Despite being a humble social development worker, I am lucky to be able to travel a bit for trainings, conferences, and some ‘me’ time. This weekend I took a van in Sihanoukville and went to the Vietnam border city, Ha Tien. This is my third visit to Vietnam. The first one was a ten-day visit in 2002, with my sister’s family. Her husband Tony is Vietnamese and they took me on my first travel abroad to Ho Chi Minh and Da Nang, a coastal town in the middle of Vietnam. My second visit was last year when my colleagues at the Ratanakiri NGO Network took me on an unplanned trip to the border city of Pleiku. We just spent the weekend there but it was fun because my friend Serey was with me.

You still know nothing ’bout me

I did say I will be braver and would write as if I needed to. This is one of those nights when I need to write. Forgive me if this offends your sensibilities. This is my most personal post yet.

I really had fun on my own tonight walking along the riverbanks of Ha Tien (Vietnam). But the night is ending on a sad note. Somebody who I have hurt so much seemed to be on a revenge rampage and again went on a tirade, attacking who I am as a person. It started out innocently enough. When I sent an angel emoticon, they said that it had horns; then said I was never a good person; then about me with no purpose in life but my job, then about me not being capable of thinking of anybody but myself; then about me not capable of loving anybody but myself. All of these are in the guise of jokes, with some ha-ha to make them palatable. Then more hurtful words with no more ha-has. It hurt me to my core because they are a person who I still love and respect, despite what happened between us.

My New Year Revolutions

Grabbed from https://www.skydiving.co.uk/event/2019-5thjanuary-opening/

It’s that time of the year when everybody tries to make a list of all that they want to do to be a better person, mostly, items refurbished from their undone list the past year. I think everybody should keep on trying no matter what. Life is a journey anyway, you win and lose, and what matters is that you try. To quote the pop sage, Miley Cyrus, ‘It’s the climb’. Ok, I’m joking about the sage part, but I admire her for being a staunch vegan.