8 Day Non-Working-Holiday (Happy 8 Bill)

It is Saturday and a start of another long weekend here in the Philippines as Monday is an official holiday. Tuesday would have been the fourth day for slouchers had not the president decided that it is too much vacation already. However, December is fast approaching and I am pretty sure that all of us are as excited as I am for the days off coming. And yes, bonuses are expected!!! Woohooo!

Did you know that there is a motion to add more vacation days during the Christmas season. Oh yeah! I am not kidding. Id this motion is passed, not only are we going to have the longest Christmas season in the whole world, but we are also going to be having the worlds longest official non-working holiday during the already looong Chrismas season.

Another reason to celebrate for most employees especially for the weekend warriors. Another bitter taste in the mouth on the side of big business ,foreign investors and also to the taxi drivers and others like him in the city.


A group of Manila employees turned weekend warriors enjoying a long weekend in Northern Luzon.

Just recently, House Bill 3152 was filed by a Cebuano representative in the lower house. Coined as Happy 8, it is "An Act Declaring Dec. 25 to Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 as Special Non-Working Holidays." According to the main proponent of the bill, he is just copying a bill in the United States where holidays are long weekends.

I am an employee, and I am pretty sure that I am going to benefit from this. It is either that I do not report for work at all during the said period (AS IF!!!) or that I work and be given additional pay incentive. Haha! Lucky me! But then again, I want this post to be socially relevant (LOL) and so I will try to prolong my rant.

The former administrator of the Republic of the Philippines (PH or PHL for short according to ISO standards ) made it automatic that holidays be celebrated the day next to Saturdays or Sundays for the very same reason. This allows people to travel and boost tourism and help SME's in the countryside. This is why we have seen in the last few years the surge of people going to the different tourist hotspots all over the Philippines. Now, just one look at the recent feeds in Facebook and we'd see photos and updates regarding our friends travels locally or even as far as going nearby countries . It used to be that mostly this type of trips happen only during the Philippines summer period. It is a different case now. Why do you think local travel and touring businesses peaked even if there was recession? Employees will not travel if there is a gap between the two day week-end and a holiday falling on a Tuesday or Thursday. That is not just practical. And so due to this, Anawangin was discovered by not just a few but by the throngs of Weekend Warriors who finally were able to find a way to spend holidays away from the city without thinking of the need to rush back after only one day of stay in Bohol or Pagudpud. And that is also the reason why Maricris Francisco and Jverly Pornea are in Sagada as of this writing hehe (sorry guys just cant help it since you did not invite your other classmates LIKE ME!!! LOL :D ).

Now back to where I was, the proponent of the bill was quoted by the Philippine Star as saying, ""The bill that I filed is very simple. It's called the 'Happy 8.' You know, I'm smart. My bill is only one page. I don't want to spend a lot of time on it. I just want to make something that will make people happy,"

First, to some degree the bill is a duplication of what is already being done or what was already being done. The previous administration made it a point to recognize long weekends, which is why they used to call it the holiday economics.



Big business like my man Ayala won't be taking the biggest hit, the ones to really lose are the small time guys left trying to make a living in the city who can't go to any province as there is simply no money to allow them to.

Second, the current administration basically said before that they find the former administrations holiday economics as unappealing to them. The main proponent of the bill is part of the current administration so there goes the question about the support factor from the current President who incidentally was widely supported by Big Business (except of course by Manny Villar's). If this bill passes, will Aquino sign it considering that it seemed they find almost all of Gloria's works as questionable. This the very same reason why November 2 was made a non-working holiday and then at the last minute the powers-that-be-had-second-thoughts and totally wiped out the idea.


Third, he based this from US standards. Compared to the Philippines, how many non-working holidays does the US have? The Philippines almost has one holiday every month. The US tends to celebrate only the Thanksgiving weekend, Christmas, Independence Day... (feel free to post a comment if there is any other holiday as I can't think of anything else.)

Personally, even if I find this beneficial to my personal needs for more moolah (hate this materialistic world LOL heheh), I find it still unfair for the company that I work for. There are some businesses who relies on fixed income especially the ones whose income are based on US working days. There are a lot of companies who are not tourism based. And there are companies who are in the brink of getting bankcrupt and it just so happened that the company that I am working for is one of those about-to-be-discarded (no I am just exaggerating). And I really think that they will bear the brunt of the 8 day non working holiday proposed by our smart Cebuano friend.

I can understand the vision of the honorable legislator but then again, he's got to look into the other side of the coin. Just this morning, my wife and I were talking about this abd the cab driver all of a sudden said, "How about us? If they are going to do that how many p[assengers will be left in the city? Those congressmen have all the money already, they do not even have to work even if it is not a holiday!"

Alright, alright he spoke in Tagalog and he added some slurs of hate but are you getting my point?? I am just translating it so our non-Tagalog speaking honorables will understand better!

It has to be balanced. All sectors has to be given adequate study. Anyways, that is what a law should be.. fairness for all.

My feelings for this... 50/50. Happy halloween guys!! Cheers!!

More of MagtiBLogz

A Family Reunion

When we got home last night, my wife had to jump back and make a double turn, spooked by what she saw as soon as she entered our gate.



I have never seen a manananggal in such a lil wendy hair and smile. Must be some rushed school project is what I thought. This chiz curl inspired creature could have been more of a character straight out of sesame street than one to be used for scare tactics. But still, my scared (pride on the line) wife disagrees. LOL NO worries there, it is almost halloween anyways.

Speaking of November 1, it has been a year since that impromptu reunion and inuman of sorts that our family had in Batangas. It is by tradition that the whole Magti clan will be gathered in the old Lino and Mariquita's abode every All Saints / Souls Day. Typically, the whole family will pray for our dearly departed and then have a salu-salo consist of whatever is put on the table by our Tita Mercing and Tiya Lucing. But last year was different, as it was more special. This was because two memebers of the family were to get married in a few weeks time. Maris was to marry Allexis, while yours truly was to be tied to my now wife. So it was also the day where we were able to introduce the about to be members of the clan to the whole gang. It has never happened before also that after the prayers and the salu-salo there would be an inuman. It started with about 2 to 4 younger members of the clan sitting in a semi-circle with beer at hand. After some time, the elder ones amongst the cousins joined in. It was a night of laughter. It has been a long time since were like that. Last time I think (but without the red horse) was when I was still in gradeschool when our granmother Mariquita was still living and singing songs about the tamarind tree. It was really a fun night with Kuya Jun and Kuya Boy serving as "bangka" while Ninong Gonie through the sponsorship of Kuya Father Alex as "taya". When the night ended, every one realized how memorable it was, that soon talk about doing it again after one year came up.

To be honest, I am excited. I am not sure if it is going to be the same as last years. But still I am looking forward to that day. I just hope I do not have to go to work which would really be a bummer.

The Hosts:


Prayer time:


And then these:

[Updated] Miami slimed green by the Celtics btb Kobe being Kobe

*******************************
UPDATED: In a champions fashion, the reigning heavyweight Los Angeles Lakers trounced the Houston Rockets in a thrilling come from behind win! Who else is involved in the game winning play? Of course, it is the Black Mamba itself through a slick assist pass to new teammate Steve Blake! (My cousin Ina is surely celebrating right now!!!)

And did I say "Nuf Said" earlier??? Lakers will 3-Peat!!!

*******************************

This is just quick. Given all the hoopla about Lebrons coming to Miami, the "uninformed" all of a sudden thought that their drive through the season would be easy. Again, I like Wade and Spoelstra, but adding James into the picture just did not put me in a lockjaw moment for the reason that I have mentioned already in some previous posts I made: The LakeShow is "The" Team.

Now, most of you readers would have heard the news already, James attempt at winning started again in futility. They were clobbered by the Defending Easter Conference Champs. They could pile up all the best players in the league in their team but it does not guarantee a winning result. Only 5 players can be on the floor and only one person can have the ball at any given time. And if one of those 5 is LeBoink, man he sure is gonna choke... again! Nuf said!

Lakers will 3-peat!!!


This Lakers cap was given to me after the Lakers won last seasons championship straight from LA. I have it with me while watching todays game. :)

Click here for more of MagtiBlogz.

Up in Bangui

When I was a kid, I used to look at the map and can't help but be curious on how it would feel like if I am on top of the country. I imagined myself falling off it as I thought the gravitational pull would be different since being on top means you are the edge of the world. Well my imagination is just that. As soon as I got off the van and stepped into the Bangui beach which is near the northernmost tip of Luzon, I knew I was safe. I forgot that the beach was facing north so I was looking towards the sea for the sun. It was only when I saw the sun to the right side of the beach that I realized that I could be seeing Taiwan ahead of me if only the world is flat as a map.

The Windmills of Ilocos is just awesome. I have to give kudos to Bonggang bonggang BongBOng Marcos for this. My feeling is biased against the family considering what we all know about the Marcos years but this one just allows one to think about the positives instead. Forgot how many windmills there are but they are huge.

The Windmills are located in Bangui, Ilocos Norte. I took the photo above at about 8 or 9 in the morning in our last day of our Northern Philippine trip. Had fun while we were there. Wish we had more time. But then again, there is always time to go back, just like this blog. Or maybe we can go further next... Hmmm.. Anyone thinking Batanes?? :D LOL

Here is another photo of the Windmill:




Click here for more of MagtiBlogz!!

Back! And No Turning Back!

Whoah! I am welcoming myself back to the blogging world. It has been so long since my last post I could not remember where the New Post button is on this blog. But since I found it already, fun times are back!

I've got lots of things happening to me lately and not just those friendly neighborhood or not-neighborly "inumans". We got to travel some and got to practice a lot of my supposed photgraphy skills as an extra in weddings and prenups. Went out with my family a lot also in the last few months, bonded with my wife, reunited with some close relatives, bought something really pricy but a very good investment, made upgrades on my gear, fb. Woooh! I assure you if I discuss everything, I'd be nuts in no time.

Moving on, I am planning to make this more and more a photoblog. I am really liking shooting streets lately that I'd be posting some shots I took in Boni in the coming days. And since I love shooting lovers, I think you will also see some of my wedding and prenup shots here. But not all photos will be posted as a friend and office mate is already setting me up a website specifically for that genre. DreamVinta is coming guys...

And speaking of, I am also offering back up photography services at least to my friends for now for weddings. I just want to be more familiar with the ins and outs of the job. Recently, some friends allowed us to shoot their prenups. The first one was in Batangas with Melody and Erwin. And about two weeks ago it was Tac and Nanette's. I then went back to Batangas a few days after to cover the actual wedding this time of Melody and Erwin. I want to thank them. A lot of learning and realizations are due. I am planning to be a pro but right now I am not yet there. But I will be.

Good thing that I have yet to meet a fellow photographer who is not keen on teaching a noob like me. At least that is in person, I encountered some online and I think they're just that because it is easier to shy away from teaching a noob shooter online than in person although I have a feeling that if I am face-on talking to that person he would not have second guessed himself and teach me some tricks of the trade. I am not sure, but I have a feeling that each photographer had to start from something and because of this he or she feels obligated to share what he / she learned from those master who came and taught him / her before. And that is cool.
One thing though, they will not teach you any if you are not even keen on reading the manuals of your gear as that is the basic rule. If not you'll only get RTM responses from fellow hobbyists.

So there.. a reborn, the return, the comeback.. whatever you call it.. I am back abd there is no turning back.. tis a new life to crunch out some blog attacks!