Jose Mari Chan Day!

Yes, you read it right. I am officially proposing that Congress passes a law to declare September 1 in the Philippines as “Jose Mari Chan Day” and the official start of the longest Christmas season in the world. There is no denying that Jose Mari Chan is a living legend of Philippine music, a huge commercial success, the go-to playlist of Christmas songs in the country and the ambassador of Christmas in the country. Even foreigners who originally did not get it and resisted the idea have either surrendered or have joined Filipinos in welcoming Christmas in September. Some have even gotten into the tradition of posting iconic half face teasers and memes of Jose Mari Chan asking if he can come out now.

I don’t see any value, especially for the recipient, to be honored with accolades and recognition posthumously unless you can send it via séance or through a medium. Shoot all the naysayers and highbrow elitist snobs who impose their versions and ideas of what or who should get national recognition in music or the arts. The fact that a person has lasted several decades, created so many works that have been widely accepted, appreciated, even drew strong reactions mean that their work triggers response.

As far as I’m concerned, “If they spark Joy,” as Mari Komo said, then let’s love them back with recognition. Of course, it would take a huge stretch of the imagination for any Filipino not to love Jose Mari Chan or the longest Christmas season in the world. These are two very unique things we have, so lets celebrate them!

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We recently tackled the issue of middle-class to lower middle-class villages and homeowners associations (HOA) placing barriers, gates and guards at entrances to their villages while others collect P10 to P20 for entrance fees. This scenario has long been in existence and once in a while they get challenged or thumbed down by national or local government officials after people start complaining or because there is a proposed infrastructure project that requires the gates to be removed or relocated.

We tried to invite several local and national officials to join the program AGENDA on Cignal TV to help us understand the benefits and disadvantages of such barriers and what instruments or solutions are available in order to find a solution or a compromise. It’s interesting to note than even in LGUs where they actually put a stop to the entrance fees, we could not get anyone to join us on the program, They could not even send a spokesperson or rep. When we asked housing officials we also could not get anyone to explain how they arrived at their decision to ban the barriers and entrance fees. The only “brave soul” or helpful resource person was Atty. Ariel Inton, the former traffic czar of Quezon City and also a former city councilor.

Atty. Inton tried his best to explain the details and legalities concerning private properties and public lands or streets but his short version of what determines the outcome was simply the issuance of a “city or municipal ordinance” that allows or outlaws the use of security gates, barriers and exclusivity of a residential area. This is very revealing because after decades of repetitive conflicts, violence at entrance gates, we now learn that LGUs and their legislative council could have prevented all the mess or people being shot just by coming up with an ordinance. Ultimately politicians and government officials don’t want to step on people’s toes or implement inclusive policies that would challenge the sense of entitlement and exclusive elitist way of life of the rich and powerful. The problem is, now even the non-exclusive property owners believe they too have a right to put gates on every street corner either to feel safe, exclusive or to keep out criminals.

That mindset and problem-solving approach show us that there are several problems being solved the wrong way: First people believe that crimes are ever present in their neighborhoods because of strangers and non-residents passing through. Perhaps. People have taken action because there is no police presence in streets and community. Yes. The answers to their problem are gates and private security. WHY? The national and local government owe it to us taxpayers to hire more police officers, hire and pay decent salaries to barangay tanods, use video cameras for security and not as moneymaking scams for NCAP.

Members of Congress should be investigating and auditing the budgets and spending priorities of LGUs and the national government to find out how much goes directly to protecting property owners and taxpaying residents of every barangay. HOW MUCH is invested for the safety and security and peace of mind of homeowners? This should be a law!

We should not be paying additional for gates for every street corner, we should not be putting up street associations in non-exclusive barangays, or hire ex-house boys to work as pseudo street security guards. Every barangay captain, councilor and congressional district representative owes us that. We already gave to the BIR – now give us our money’s worth.

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Big juicy onions always make me cry. But now you can only get tiny, prematurely harvested red onions, BUT they still make you cry because of the scarcity and the price. Then I found out that 93 percent of all commercial salt in the country is allegedly imported, according to a DA official, and that many consumers are told in supermarkets that they can only buy one kilo of sugar at a time. My mother and wife obviously knew something because they habitually brought home unused sugar packets when they went to restaurants and cafes. In the meantime, friends are telling me to get back into poultry raising because every time they buy a whole chicken, all they get is an oversized pigeon.

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