The Philippines is an interesting place. Take today, where a disgruntled soldier-turned-politician took center stage by *sort of* taking over the Peninsula Manila, a luxury hotel near my office.
THANKFULLY, the standoff ended rather peacefully, but not without the government doing some unnecessary acts like teargassing the hotel lobby and ramming a couple of APCs through the hotel's doors.
Said politician was promptly arrested and trucked off somewhere, along with a priest, a former vice-president and some other miltary-types and civilians. Oh, and some JOURNALISTS as well. That last bit was a bad, bad move on the part of the government. So you government types, get ready to be crucified on public TV.
Tsk, they should know better.
*Coincidentally, the Peninsula was where Neil stayed during his 2005 visit.
So ANYway, we're back to normal...sort of. Because of this whole brouhaha, the latter part of my workday was cancelled. An important meeting was called off and moved to tomorrow. And tomorrow's a holiday. Sigh.
I know I may sound ambivalent about the whole thing, but I do have my opinions. And I shall keep them private for now. There's a lot of things wrong with this government (and the president), and there are ways to solve 'em. Just not this way. We really don't need stunts like this to prove a point. We KNOW the system stinks. And yes, GMA (the president) and her government will be weighed in the 2010 elections.
Okay, enough of that. Positive stuff coming up:
Thanks to all the readers, well-wishers and linkers who picked up our proposal story. We. are. OVERWHELMED (in a positive way) with the responses, e-mails and text messages. Friends, family and complete strangers have continued to make us smile every time we read our respective blogs. And thanks to
Neil for linking our blogs as well. Neil, you continue to rock our lives in new ways.
