at the bakery, or, the things that children see

jones ave., cebu city, april 2010

the forgotten

because we all have to come to terms with the inevitable: that one day, we will be forgotten



somewhere in the old downtown cebu city, october 2012

the unseen danger

we're always as safe as we dream ourselves to be... at least until we wake up...



somewhere in old downtown cebu city, october 2012

the tambourine man

why so sad mr. tambourine man? just sing, and somebody will listen.



colon st., cebu city, october 2012

threesomes is the theme...

...because 3 is an odd number. a collection of old photos from my photo archive, in which threesomes seem to be a recurring theme.

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shy guy, ayala center cebu, november 2009

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wanted: playmate, burnham park, baguio, april 2012

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wer na u? here na me, cebu business park, october 2009

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looking away, at the foot of the marcelo fernan bridge, mactan, cebu, september 2008

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it sucks to be the 3rd wheel...



especially when you have legs of stone, and you have no choice but to stay...



taken at the family park, tacloban city, leyte, february 2010

the need to feel safe

these days, even teddy bears feel the need to stay safe...



colon st., cebu city, october 2012

somewhere behind the gravestone

i found it a bit funny at first, seeing folks knock on their deceased loved one's gravestone once they arrive or just before they leave...



as if one were knocking on the door of somebody's house, or somebody's room...



but looking at it closer, you realize that knocking is a physical act



like the deceased loved one was just behind the gravestone, listening to you



as if by your simple act of knocking the dead would be made alive again, reclaiming the beloved dead from death itself, denying death its power.



at the mandaue city public cemetery, november 2012

in memory of the man with no face

somewhere in the old downtown area, cebu city, october 2012

the need to stand up

because the need to stand up is an adult concern...



colon st., cebu city, october 2012

first dibs

it's a common phenomenon: loyal customers camping out to get first dibs on the newest iProduct and such, but this has got to be pushing it to absurd levels...



sanciangko st., cebu city, october 2012

drive thru, or, the wide reach of globalization

junquera st., cebu city, october 2012

the last of the holdouts

but inspite of our insistence, we can't stay as children forever.



colon st., cebu city, july 2012

now, or, the way things are

old downtown cebu city, july 2012

the numbers

because there is more to our lives than how little or how much, more to our destinies than the figures or the math...

sanciangko st., cebu city, july 2012

childhood dramas

here's another one of them happy accidents. photographers often talk about the 'decisive moment'... this is more like the accidental moment, a picture taken only out of my compulsion to click the shutter.



alcoy, cebu, april 2012

the burning man

what is there left to burn when all that's left are ashes?

jones ave., cebu city, july 2012

looking in, looking out

at the sta. rosa de lima church, alcoy, cebu, april 2012

playground

"The political geographer, Edward Soja, sums it all up in the term “spatial injustice.” Soja argues that justice has a spatial dimension that is not as well recognized as legal justice or economic justice. Spatial injustice is evident in the way the geography of the city is configured to favor its wealthy residents, often to the detriment of its poor communities.

While the city deteriorates as a result of mindless planning and neglect, its privileged residents retreat into their gated enclaves where streets are safe and clean, sidewalks exist, and churches are less noisy and crowded. These exclusive villages have been carved out of city space as if they belonged to another country. In lieu of a visa, you must surrender a driver’s license to enter them if you are not a homeowner."

...

"Look around us and see what kind of city has resulted from the collusion between our public officials and private developers. It is a place that is patently inhospitable to open spaces. Instead of green parks, we have grey parking spaces. Instead of wooded walks, we have golf courses. Our landscape is a collage of billboards. We are choking in the fumes of motor vehicles. Behind the long shadows cast by high-rise condos are the squatter shanties put up by construction workers and their families.  The city they inhabit exists as shared space only in a fictional sense. Barriers everywhere, maintained by ubiquitous security guards, set the rich and the poor apart."

- Randy David, The Right to the City

children playing w/ their styropor boats, taken at the foot of the marcelo fernan bridge, cebu, june 2012

street vendors

at the gate of sto. nino church, cebu city, march 2008

notes on chillin' at a starbucks, or, the benefits of being a cow sipping a venti mocha frappuccino

today is sunday, october 30, and i write this while sitting at a starbucks and pondering on the vague discomfort that comes just by being at a starbucks. you see, i'm here because officemate steph, in a commendable act of charity, handed me a coupon for a free "tall" sized drink (a "Mocha Frappuccino", in this case), which i upsized to a "venti" (which is supposed to be the largest drink size in the starbucks scheme of things, which is funny because for the uninitiated, like yours truly, "tall", supposedly the smallest, actually sounds taller than "venti") for a mere P30 add-on. the coupon and starbucks' claims to corporate responsibility notwithstanding, me going to a starbucks for coffee still feels like supporting this whole global (but seemingly crumbling) capitalist system, with its accompanying notions of economic imperialism and inequality, so on and so forth.

i mean, it still strikes me as silly to pay P175 for coffee. although, aside from the coffee being good, it can be argued that one is not only paying for the coffee, but the cafe itself, the whole cornucopia of sensations neatly packaged into the word "ambiance": the airconditioned refuge from the heat, the comfy sofa and the smartly designed hardwood chairs with the subtle recess to snugly hold one's butt cheeks, the nice view of the street, the fine samples of the female subspecies attracted to places like this (example: the korean chicks on the 2 nearby tables silently reading), the invigorating smell of coffee wafting around and transporting you to a higher level of consciousness like you'd just inhaled a drag of marijuana smoke, bob dylan's jingly-jangly guitar and offbeat harmonica alternating with soft unintrusive jazz both echoing from the overhead speakers, the interesting semi-cubist semi-impressionist coffee themed illustration (not sure if you can call it a painting) on the wall of people reading in a library and a painter (i presume) contemplating his just finished painting interspersed with coffee cups and coffee pots (suggesting coffee's contributions to the advancement of literature and the arts, and by extension, civilization as a whole), and most of all, the strange (but not totally pleasant) way one's image seems to be upgraded by the simple fact of being in a starbucks (in the same way being in a jollibee supports one's assumption of middle class status, being in a starbucks is an indicator of belonging to a social strata that finds it acceptable, ordinary even, to spend P175 on coffee). [note that i say "in/at a starbucks" and "in/at a jollibee", as these sort of places have a photocopied feel to them, i.e., make a copy and plunk one down here, make another copy and plunk down another one over there, so on and so forth.]

the "ambiance" theory doesn't totally fly, though. a counter-example: that mysterious (for me, at least) phenomenon of people, usually younger folk, strolling around the various malls in the city while nursing a P175 cup of coffee. the fact that they're not in the cafe invalidates most of the supporting arguments of the "ambiance" theory, except i guess for the last part.

from my current perch, i have noticed a couple of times already the passengers of passing jeepneys outside curiously looking at this local incarnation of starbucks, and the people inside. us, i mean. and it doesn't look like plain curiosity. they have an i-wish-i-was-there-sipping-that-P175-cup-of-coffee kind of tinge on their faces, but not so much a desire for the place (or the coffee), but what the place (or coffee) represents. or am i only projecting?

either way, the fact that i get the benefits of the image upgrade just because i got a free coupon feels, well, kind of unfair: like i just swindled a shitload of cash from someone on the street (thanks steph!).

oh boy... all this introspection and the resulting guilt trip are just ruining this rather rare experience of chillin' at a starbucks. truly, there are benefits to being a bovine chomping unreflectively on a bit of grass... or sipping on a venti mocha frappuccino.