The Saturday Post. Long Awaited -- Not. Just Long.

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So I've moved to Makati. Well, not "moved" moved, but pretty close to it.

My weekdays have to start far earlier than usual, what with the commutes to and from work, and I'll have to get used to turning in early. No more weekday coffee evenings, no more Friday night tambay (what with Saturday classes, of course), no more weekday late-night blogging. Argh. If at all, any time I have for blogging will be Saturday nights.

(Even then, it seems my absence from the blogosphere wasn't noticed. Boo hoo hoo. Sing with me -- "nobody reads me, nobody twits me, am a-gonna eat some worms..." so there. Bleh.)

The Journal of The Jester-in-Exile will now be updated every Saturday night, in time for Sunday morning reading (or Monday morning, if you guys mooch internet access at the office). Expect the usual long posts then. Heck, expect that some Saturdays just might have two or more posts.

(Assuming that I still have the means and the interest to keep my blogs running.)

***
My move to the heart of chaos central was because I've taken on a job in an exciting new start-up (or as close to a start-up as I've ever gotten) -- of course, it being a start-up, there's a lot of things to set-up. A large part of my job involves setting up guarantees against that bane of engineering: the "puwede na yan" attitude. (Essential reading, by the way: Jon's A portrait of a software developer as hero. Seriously.)

See, a lot of folks out there tend to let things slide instead of making a complaint and thus force people to improve their systems, their processes and procedures, and their performance. Admittedly, I'm guilty of this as well; quite often, I'd rather just grin and bear the inconvenience to me rather than put my foot down and run the risk of losing my temper.

That wasn't the case this evening, however.

See, last Friday night I was saddled with rather heavy luggage, and so when the MRT turnstile at the northbound Kamuning station said "card rejected" after I had slid in my stored value ticket, I didn't go to the ticket office to have it replaced, thinking I could do this at my leisure and while there weren't too many people queueing.

It turns out I made a partial mistake.

About 6:45 PM Saturday evening, I was on my way southbound when I tried my ticket as any engineer would (yes, never assume; always test for the repeatability of the error). The turnstile sounded the alarm, I go to the ticket counter to have it replaced, but to my surprise instead of handing me a replacement card the teller slides back some money. WTF?

Getting over my surprise, I tell the woman behind the counter that I didn't want a refund and what I wanted was a replacement stored value card with the correct remaining value. The lady says that they don't do that, and that all they do is provide refunds for damaged tickets. The lady says that they don't have the capability to provide replacement stored value cards with values less than a hundred pesos, and if I wanted a replacement ticket I'd have to buy a new one (essentially adding some cash to the refund to make an even hundred).

Yet again, WTF? The card is just a glorified piece of magnetic tape. It's a no-brainer to be able to write data on it.

I said to myself, this isn't right -- there are no guidelines nor procedures written on the card indicating the replacement process for damaged cards, nor were there any posted information informing the riding public regarding that either. This Saturday night, it seemed that I was in no mood to be a victim of inefficiency, if not outright incompetence on the part of those designing MRT processes.

I asked the teller where I could find the guidelines. She says that they were found in their company rules and regulations, an employee handbook of sorts.

I ask how the riding public was informed. She repeats her answer on company rules and regulations.

I take out my notebook (God bless the Spot.ph people for that rather handy keepsake) and I ask to speak with her supervisor. (It was at this point when the security guard behind the turnstile and the one outside started walking close. Sheesh. Talk about an attempt to cow a member of the riding public into acquiescence; it's just their luck that they were faced with someone brash enough not to be intimidated by surly mugs.)

The supervisor comes out. I ask the question on replacement of damaged stored value tickets. I get the same answer that refunds, not replacements, are given to MRT riders.

I ask where such a procedure is documented for the riding public to read. I get the same answer regarding company rules and regulations.

I ask how can we, the riding public, be expected to be informed that refunds and not replacements are issued, if there are no collaterals (posters, flyers, or whatnot) that disseminate this information. (I was reminded -- though I did not mention -- that for laws to be expected to be followed, they do have to be published, although I was kicking myself in the head for forgetting that fact taken away from lecture of one of my brilliant professors.) The supervisor answers that it's been practice.

Fine, I say. I ask where I can find the MRT's complaints department. At this point, the supervisor asks what my goal is. I tell her that my goal is to point out to the MRT management how inconvenient this process is, and that a procedure for replacement cards containing the rider's remaining credit on the stored value card be put in place. I spoke of pointing out that it is the saving of time -- valuable time -- is generally the reason why people purchase stored value tickets, and that refunds do not serve this purpose.

The supervisor gives me a complaint form (quite cheekily, it seemed to me, was her question on how many I would need, but I didn't rise to the bait; right now, I'm wondering why complaint forms are stuck in the office and are not available to the general public -- a means of discouraging MRT riders from filing complaints, I wonder). I ask if I had to fill it up then or whether I could take it with me and submit it to her the next day, which I said I'd have to do because I wanted to be on my way (yet again, I didn't want any more of my time being wasted). She agreed, but she felt the need to point out that her shift starts at 2 PM, and that it would be best that I'd submit it around that time for her to forward.

Aside: I don't think that seems right to me; I want my complaint to reach the desk of whoever is in charge, not be filtered or "validated" by someone who has the responsibility of the station in which I had suffered this inconvenience. Since I was able to elicit the location of the Complaints and Actions Center of the MRT management (it's at the Shaw Boulevard station), and the office of the Station Division Manager (which is at the Araneta Center Cubao station) and the in-charge person, I'm probably going to go their directly and submit my form at the Shaw station (granting I have the time).

After getting my stuff in order, I still had to get my refund, add some pesos, and purchase a replacement ticket (which I did) then went on my way.

Aside again: I think it is only right -- and genuinely constructive -- for people to take the time to point out flaws in systems that they interact with, as Jon, Aileen, and Noemi have. In doing so, they are doing themselves a service by demanding the quality that they pay for, and they will also be doing a service to other people by making service providers improve their performance. Of course, in that quite a bit of time I lost, I could argue that I lost an opportunity that just might not happen anytime soon. (Did you guys know that Sinosikat was onstage at Gateway tonight? Sheesh. Okay, that's not exactly the opportunity I missed, but it sorta could've been.)

(Speaking of bands, heads-up to Kinosis fans -- of whom I wonder how many actually read this blog -- the band is looking for gigs here in chaos central. Heck, if I had the moolah, I'd sponsor a doubleheader with them and the kids of Lose Your Beer Belly. Support Pinoy rock! We accept donations! Hahaha.)

The complaint form is right beside me now. I'm going to get it done after this post is done.

Maybe I'll send an email to follow it after I've submitted the form and point to this site for them to look at the details.

Stay tuned for developments... heck, tell us your MRT stories.

***
Did I mention that I saw Angel and Bong of Kinosis earlier tonight? I think they're a couple now.

Gaaaah. Everyone's getting lucky except me. Boo effing hoo.

No surprise there -- I'm too poor, too busy, and not good-looking enough for them girls here in chaos central. Well, okay, maybe not all... this pretty nice person takes issue with my stock phrase (but that's because we're friends).

(See, and we're just friends. Gaaaad. Talk about being friend guwapo. Friends lang kasi eh. Boo hoo hoo. But wait -- on the other hand, I'm content with what little bits of bits that come my way... oh crap, that was a "okay na yan, puwede na yan, kuntento na ako diyan" moment, wasn't it? Haha.)

Aaaaanyway, it's because of that not-yet-sufficiently-challenged belief that I found a bit of amusement in reading Gibbs post and that of Rom's, where he and she talk about us guys' attempts at looking good (hey, how else are we going to attract attention?). I must say, I was all "noooooooooo!" at Gibb's talk on male facial maintenance, but I think I loved this quote from Rom far better:

And to top it all off, there’s this grand unfairness that guys actually get better looking as they grow older.

Seriously, Rom? Like, seriously?

Wow. Is that true? Would being a bit older be a reason for me to turning someone's head if I walk through Farmers' Plaza, Gateway, or SM North EDSA?

It doesn't seem to be happening; the only girl of whom I watched her turn her head to take a look at me is Linda Blair... and that happens only when I watch The Exorcist... and I can't say for sure if she's looking at me. Heck, even if she was, she's projectile vomiting in my direction.

(And both Sorsi and Ade have the temerity to claim that they have problems. Heck, Ade's already got marriage proposals and an invite to move to Davao from Ria. Heh.)

Boo hoo. Why can't that PBB winner Bea Somebody-or-other do to me what ApplesH did with her guy/s?

Haha.

(James Earl Jones voice from the sky, followed by rumble of thunder: That is because you're too poor, too busy, and not good-looking enough, Jester.)

***
Speaking of demonic possession, in a grisly follow-up to the killing and robbery in the RCBC Cabuyao branch, relatives of the now-dead suspects allege that the suspects were victims of a "rub-out". Excerpt from the Inquirer.net story:

But according to Olive Javier, her husband, a former barangay captain of Pagaspas, had never been involved in any robbery.

"This is too much. They have killed my husband Viveng and still they are linking him to evil acts," she said.

This was how the widow recounted the turn of events on Thursday:

At around 12 a.m., a loud noise was heard from outside before policemen in plainclothes forcibly entered the Javier residence.

They asked for Vivencio Javier but presented no warrant. Olive went upstairs to awaken her sleeping husband.

Vivencio came down to the living room and upon seeing him, the team leader said: "Are you the kapitan? We have something to ask."

Vivencio nodded, and the policemen led him outside.

Olive, sensing that something was amiss, put her arms around her husband. But two policemen shoved her into a room, shut the door and told her not to come out.

Two of the Javier sons were ordered to stoop and face the wall.

Olive was held in the room for 10 minutes. While inside, worrying that her husband and children would be killed, she heard gunshots.

When she emerged, she saw Viveng on the floor, his face soaking in his own blood.

Ricardo Javier said it would have been impossible for Vivencio to start shooting, or even to shoot back.

"Who in his right frame of mind would do that, knowing his family was in the house?" the elder brother said.

Olive said that during the raid, five of the Javier children and a year-old grandchild were in the house.

She also said the raiding team barged into the children's rooms and took six cell phones and two Playstations.

"Viveng's licensed gun was taken from under his bed and was used to make it appear that he started the shooting," Olive said.

She said even the money in her husband's wallet was missing.

A rather sick irony -- the suspects were likewise robbed and killed.

I know we all want justice done for the RCBC Cabuyao victims. In the same line of thinking, I want the same for Vivencio Javier, et al.

Brutality is NOT justice.

***
Still on those brutal crimes, the Inquirer editorial has this quote I agree with:

Perhaps the most important, capital punishment as a deterrent to crimes is a fiction. What deters crime is not the severity but the certainty of punishment, which comes out of effective law enforcement and firm and determined administration of justice. Some of our lawmakers seem to have forgotten this. As a result, there’s a distinct possibility that the death penalty will be restored once more and the nation will slide back to the barbarity of the Dark Ages.

Repeat after me: CERTAINTY OF PUNISHMENT RESULTING FROM EFFECTIVE LAW ENFORCEMENT AND DETERMINED ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.

In other words, track them fast, catch them fast, and convict them fast. Anything less is criminal.

***
On the other hand, that same editorial has this rather inappropriate quote:

Capital punishment is inhuman, barbaric and unchristian. More and more nations, especially those that have achieved a certain measure of progress and enlightenment, are abandoning it. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that more and more compelling reasons for its abolition have arisen, and that the goal of justice should be rehabilitative, not punitive.

I think our dear friends over at the Inquirer have forgotten that the Philippines is not entirely Catholic, let alone Christian. I think that they have forgotten that a significant chunk of our population could very well respond to this paragraph with "so effing what?"

Heh. I think one of my favorite quotes on that whole God debate is this one of Einstein: "We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangements of the books, but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God." (Do read DJB's post on that debate on whether Albert was an atheist or not.)

Heck, I don't care whether he was or not... his belief or non-belief in a Supreme Being won't take away from his brilliance.

(Oh, right, by the way -- our favorite atheist Benj and DJB are the spokesbloggers for FilipinoVoices.com. Cool!)

***
Speaking of brilliance, in a display of rather brilliant idiocy, Greenpeace has blockaded Pagbilao, preventing a coal ship from providing fuel to the power plant. Why brilliant idiocy? Simple, really -- check out this quote:

Greenpeace said in a statement on Friday that it took the action to send a message to the government that it should stop building and expanding harmful coal-fired power plants.

The Rainbow Warrior is in the country to spearhead the Greenpeace "Quit Coal Tour" in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The tour aims to promote solutions to stop climate change--an energy revolution away from the use of climate-damaging coal, and a massive shift to renewable energy, Greenpeace said.

First point: it's already built, stupid. You aren't stopping "building", you're stopping "fueling."

We know about global warming too, but unless they fund the "massive shift to renewable energy" and get their versions of power plants running RIGHT NOW, Greenpeace' action is ridiculous. Let's make it simple -- do you already have solar panels and geothermal plants able to supply 700 megawatts of power to the Luzon grid?

You don't? Didn't think so. It would've been far better to propose a scaled phase-out of combustion-based power plants, while power plants fueled or powered by renewables are still being constructed and ramped-up.

(Aren't they like spoiled brats? "I wan' it NOW!" Heh. Glad my nephew Nikko is far more mature than they are.)

Second point: the Rainbow Warrior acted as a hazard to navigation; heck, what they did was tantamount to a blockade of the port. The Coast Guard correctly points out their actions are illegal. My suggestion? Sink 'em. It's one thing to act responsibly towards the furtherance of an advocacy, it's tantamount to terrorism to further one's advocacy through crime.

Third point -- from an excerpt:

According to Greggy Romualdez, during a dialogue between Greenpeace activists, Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Immigration officials aboard the ship on Friday afternoon, ship skipper Michael James Ian Fincken, admitted that he was aware that he was violating the law when he blocked the unloading of another ship’s coal cargo.

Romualdez quoted Fincken as saying “that is how we send out our message.”

Though he admitted that he was not present during the dialogue, Romualdez said the incident was relayed to him by the four plant officials who were in the meeting.

Jett Velasco, Bureau of Customs official who was supervising the unloading of coal from Medi Firenze and participated in the meeting, confirmed Romualdez report on the incident.

Velasco described Fincken as “fearless” during the dialogue.

“I told him that he was violating navigation laws when he blocked his ship against another sea vessel that is unloading cargoes,” Velasco said over the phone.

Beau Baconguis, Greenpeace-Southeast Asia campaigner manager, who was on board the ship and a participant in the dialogue, said she could not recall Fincken making the purported statement.

“But if he really said that, it’s only because not all government laws are perfect. Sometimes, we have to take drastic actions for the greater good of the people,” she said.

"Drastic action", Ms. Baconguis? Have you not been reading the papers? "Drastic action", often criminal in nature, supposedly "for the good of the people", is one of the phrases certain elements in our society use to justify cheating in elections, murders of activists, rub-outs of suspects, hostile takeovers of public utilities and suchlike. With that one phrase, you have made Greenpeace no different from these people. Expressing contempt for our laws, are you? Hah.

Hey Navy? Coasties? You do have armaments on board your ships, don't you? Forget the diplomatic solution -- the crew of the Rainbow Warrior are not representatives of a sovereign nation state. They don't have diplomatic immunity; even if they had, immunity does not cover criminal acts.

Impound the Rainbow Warrior. Heck, sink the goddamned boat and turn it into an artificial coral reef. Blockading -- such criminal, even piratical, acts by these people give environmentalists a bad rep.

***
On another note, may Crispin Beltran rest in peace.

And I hope DOJ Secretary Raul Gonzalez is offered the same chance, what with his crassness.

I have never thought of Beltran as a great man worthy of emulation, but with Gonzalez's recent statement I am yet again reminded how the justice secretary is a great example of what NOT to aspire to be.

***
Heads-up! Essential reading on the issue on the cost of electricity here, where Tongue's Wrath speaks of system loss charge.

God bless engineering majors everywhere. Now, let's go find engineer-lawyers to take the lead in cleaning up this SNAFUBAR that is this "for the people" fight of government against MERALCO.

***
Hokay, I got my smiley about a few minutes ago. I think I'll end this post now and go to bed before I think of more things that could quite possibly ruin this sudden good mood.

Hmmmm. I think just maybe this good mood will take a bit of work to ruin.

Later, all.



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