Pinoy hookers are classy; speak English well
In the 80s, when I covered the police beat, I’d routinely join the police in raiding prostitution houses locally known as casa, and other clubs and motels, which served as fronts for prostitution. And even before these prostitutes and their pimps could be taken to the police headquarters, they would beg us to spare and release them, telling us “ we are poor, we need money to support our families and our survival depends on our earnings”
As we knew before, these prostitutes didn’t have much choice and that they had been forced into this flesh trade by force of circumstances: extreme poverty, loss of jobs, and lack of education, marital breakdown etcetera.
Prostitution was the only way they could feed their families—it was really a matter of survival. And the sad part of these police operations, after a few hours they had been picked up, they were eventually released and went back to their regular routine--plying their trade. So this vicious arrest-then-release cycle was just a normal life for these people engaged in the prostitution.
However, I’ve learned lately that in our country, the prostitution landscape is rapidly changing: some women have become prostitutes by choice.
A few months ago, I had a tete-a-tete with a Filipino entrepreneur whose business affords him to frequently visit the Philippines .He asked me not to identify him for obvious reason; while we were talking, I was jotting some notes, so now here is his story:
Being a frequent traveler, I have been to various places and I’ve observed that prostitution now has gone more professional, meaning that women prostitutes are elegant, well-educated and some are even enrolled in some well-known universities.
A recent trip to Manila, I was billeted to one of the posh hotels in Makati. Since it was quite humid outside, I decided to while away my time staying in the hotel. At about 8 p.m. while I was to step out the hotel, a guy approached me asking me if I wanted to have some good time—well when I said yes, he accompanied me to nearby condominium where I found beautiful ladies.
I took one of them; well my intention was just to ask her to accompany me in a meeting the following day and right there I made an arrangement with her about the scheduled meeting. I was really surprised that aside from being beautiful, tall and sexy—by all standards she would pass off as one of the professionals working the Makati area.
Later I learned that she was 23 years old, and taking up law in one of the top universities in Manila. When I interviewed her, she handed me her calling card, telling me that every time I’d be in the Philippines and if I’d like her services—all I have to do is call her. And I‘ve learned that she is just one of the group of 20 escorts ladies who mostly belong to some well-off families.
She would not demand outright money, but what she would just ask me was a little money for her tuition and some allowance. Well, when I attended the meeting the following day, with the young lady in tow, some of my colleagues thought that she was my secretary, and someone even asked me if I wouldn’t take her to be an employee of our newly created company and then he would hire her.
However, when she was offered the office position, she politely declined telling us the she was committed to finish her law course. I could not imagine this young woman engaging in this kind of work and still she has this strong-willed determination to finish her course. She was really well focused on her ambition to finish her education and later quit prostitution. I’ve learned that some of them are part-time girlfriends politicians, and rich businessmen. In all my meetings, I had brought three beautiful ladies from the escort services—all of them spoke good English.
Well, we know that times have changed. With or without poverty, prostitution is here to stay; it would even advance from bad to worse. There’s no way by which we could stop the world’s deteriorating condition today.
The Bible has prophesied that”…. in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderer, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power. . (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
But this is our hope, in Psalms 37:9-10, it says, “ For the evildoers themselves will be cut off, but those hoping in Jehovah are the ones that will possess the earth. And just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more….”(New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures)
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
The compassionate Filipino nurses in our midst
While we are enjoying our breakfast one morning, my wife, Lilia who’s a nurse sighs and after stretching her back, tells me “ You know, Dad, it’s getting tougher, and tougher and very stressful to work in hospitals these days”
As I enjoy sipping my coffee, I keep listening to her saying “Look, most of us are always looking forward to our days off or the filing of our much-needed vacation. Being in the frontlines of the medical care, we have to face a number of difficulties --dealing with some demanding patients’ visitors, responding to patients’ and their relatives questions, especially when their doctors are not around to answer some of their concerns. It’s very emotionally draining seeing patients slowly deteriorating despite all things we have done caring for them. .”
Although, working at a hospital is very stressful environment, but look, I’m still working there doing my job because I love this work, Lilia says ‘
She adds, “ Aside from the heavy load on the floor, patients are getting heavier and more and more patients are being admitted—in short, more people are getting sick these days. The condition of the workplace is not good for doing one’s job well because of the understaffing which makes it doubly hard for us nurses to take care of these patients.
We are just human beings, we can’t detach ourselves and not be affected by this kind of work-- and most of us are burned out. We need to have a superhuman strength in order to give our 100 percent attention to our patients, And we also have to take into account the aging ranks of our nurses now whose ages range from 45-60 years old,” Lilia says.
For her part, my daughter Mao says that our Filipino culture on giving respect to the elderly is very effective way to ease patients’ anxiety—and by addressing Filipino patients as Nanay, Tatay, Ate and Kuya is a good way to calm them down, knowing that there is always a caring nurse ready to help them.
“ It’s good that I’ve taken up nursing instead of journalism because in nursing, I know how it feels to be human, as a nurse I’ve realized life is really that precious—and we have to give everything we can to save lives. A number of times, I have to skip my snack breaks just to do some social calls—meaning paying visit, saying simple hello to my former patients who have been transferred to palliative unit. It breaks my heart to see these patients and their relatives there. “Mao says.
There was this Japanese cancer patient whom I had the chance to talk about things we both love: books and filmmaking. While a Hungarian patient was undergoing chemotherapy, we chatted about our love for cooking—and because of that short talk, she not only didn’t notice the passing of time but also the anxiety of getting the chemo.
One time I have a chance to talk to some Filipino nurses, venting to me their frustrations that despite their compassion and loving concern in taking care of their patients, still working in hospital is both physically and emotionally tiring.
Well. I’m giving them a space in my column lest they might suffer from burnout and eventually—depression. Not only that, I have a soft spot in my heart when it comes to discussing nurses’ concerns and other issues simply because I have two nurse daughters working in Toronto, two sisters and sister-in-law who are practising nurses in New York. And so anything about nursing is a good topic in the family conversations and it’s always a part of our dining-table discussion.
Another nurse named Delia Gonzales says “Although, the new technology is supposed to make work easier to do but these computers have even slowed down the flow of work in the floor because by just checking the patients, assessing them and going back to computer to enter the password and input the data, then getting the doctors’ orders, going back to the patients to administer these drugs, rushing back to the computer to document things done to the patients— no wonder why these nurses spend most of their time in front of these computers instead of doing the bedside nursing work.”.
“We Filipino nurses are outstanding when it comes to our interpersonal relationship with our colleagues in the workplace because our inherent nature of “ madaling tayong makibagay”, in short we can easily adapt or go with the flow in our workplace.” Delia adds.
I’ve also learned that these nurses are prone to physical attacks on their job from patients who are confused or when they are dealing with psyche patients— and they could not even restrain them unless they really become violent.
Adding pressures to these nurses is the fact that some of their colleagues moonlight in order to augment their incomes. This is understandable, considering the instability of the country’s economy. So, what normally happens, by the time they report for work at their regular jobs as RNs in one hospital, they are already tired because of working earlier in another medical facility.
My wife, Lilia and Delia are alumni of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila College of Nursing Batch '72.
Well, what more can I say, except to say “ we all thank you—Filipino nurses around the world—for your dedication in giving your tender loving care to the needy patients.”
Despite life’s deteriorating condition, we can all look forward to the day, as the Bible says “no one …will ever again complain of being sick” (Isa. 33:24) and God “will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared.”(Rev. 21:4)--Bible in Today’s English Version
While we are enjoying our breakfast one morning, my wife, Lilia who’s a nurse sighs and after stretching her back, tells me “ You know, Dad, it’s getting tougher, and tougher and very stressful to work in hospitals these days”
As I enjoy sipping my coffee, I keep listening to her saying “Look, most of us are always looking forward to our days off or the filing of our much-needed vacation. Being in the frontlines of the medical care, we have to face a number of difficulties --dealing with some demanding patients’ visitors, responding to patients’ and their relatives questions, especially when their doctors are not around to answer some of their concerns. It’s very emotionally draining seeing patients slowly deteriorating despite all things we have done caring for them. .”
Although, working at a hospital is very stressful environment, but look, I’m still working there doing my job because I love this work, Lilia says ‘
She adds, “ Aside from the heavy load on the floor, patients are getting heavier and more and more patients are being admitted—in short, more people are getting sick these days. The condition of the workplace is not good for doing one’s job well because of the understaffing which makes it doubly hard for us nurses to take care of these patients.
We are just human beings, we can’t detach ourselves and not be affected by this kind of work-- and most of us are burned out. We need to have a superhuman strength in order to give our 100 percent attention to our patients, And we also have to take into account the aging ranks of our nurses now whose ages range from 45-60 years old,” Lilia says.
For her part, my daughter Mao says that our Filipino culture on giving respect to the elderly is very effective way to ease patients’ anxiety—and by addressing Filipino patients as Nanay, Tatay, Ate and Kuya is a good way to calm them down, knowing that there is always a caring nurse ready to help them.
“ It’s good that I’ve taken up nursing instead of journalism because in nursing, I know how it feels to be human, as a nurse I’ve realized life is really that precious—and we have to give everything we can to save lives. A number of times, I have to skip my snack breaks just to do some social calls—meaning paying visit, saying simple hello to my former patients who have been transferred to palliative unit. It breaks my heart to see these patients and their relatives there. “Mao says.
There was this Japanese cancer patient whom I had the chance to talk about things we both love: books and filmmaking. While a Hungarian patient was undergoing chemotherapy, we chatted about our love for cooking—and because of that short talk, she not only didn’t notice the passing of time but also the anxiety of getting the chemo.
One time I have a chance to talk to some Filipino nurses, venting to me their frustrations that despite their compassion and loving concern in taking care of their patients, still working in hospital is both physically and emotionally tiring.
Well. I’m giving them a space in my column lest they might suffer from burnout and eventually—depression. Not only that, I have a soft spot in my heart when it comes to discussing nurses’ concerns and other issues simply because I have two nurse daughters working in Toronto, two sisters and sister-in-law who are practising nurses in New York. And so anything about nursing is a good topic in the family conversations and it’s always a part of our dining-table discussion.
Another nurse named Delia Gonzales says “Although, the new technology is supposed to make work easier to do but these computers have even slowed down the flow of work in the floor because by just checking the patients, assessing them and going back to computer to enter the password and input the data, then getting the doctors’ orders, going back to the patients to administer these drugs, rushing back to the computer to document things done to the patients— no wonder why these nurses spend most of their time in front of these computers instead of doing the bedside nursing work.”.
“We Filipino nurses are outstanding when it comes to our interpersonal relationship with our colleagues in the workplace because our inherent nature of “ madaling tayong makibagay”, in short we can easily adapt or go with the flow in our workplace.” Delia adds.
I’ve also learned that these nurses are prone to physical attacks on their job from patients who are confused or when they are dealing with psyche patients— and they could not even restrain them unless they really become violent.
Adding pressures to these nurses is the fact that some of their colleagues moonlight in order to augment their incomes. This is understandable, considering the instability of the country’s economy. So, what normally happens, by the time they report for work at their regular jobs as RNs in one hospital, they are already tired because of working earlier in another medical facility.
My wife, Lilia and Delia are alumni of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila College of Nursing Batch '72.
Well, what more can I say, except to say “ we all thank you—Filipino nurses around the world—for your dedication in giving your tender loving care to the needy patients.”
Despite life’s deteriorating condition, we can all look forward to the day, as the Bible says “no one …will ever again complain of being sick” (Isa. 33:24) and God “will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared.”(Rev. 21:4)--Bible in Today’s English Version
Monday, May 10, 2010
Kahapon, ngayon at bukas
—mahal pa rin kita
By willie jose
Kung nakaya ko na kita’y limutin
bakit sa pangarap – ikaw’t ikaw pa rin
Kung ‘di na kita mahal, bakit sa isip
sabik pa rin -- ikaw ay makapiling
Ito’y kahibangan at kabaliwan
Kan’iyaw lagi ng mga kaibigan.
Ngunit para sa aking sarili,
Ito’y pag-ibig, tunay na nangyari
Sa udyok nila, ika’y nagpadala,
Inisip ‘di tayo sa isa‘t isa
Sayang na pag-ibig na inilaan,
Hirap ko, ‘di man pinahalagahan
Bago ihimlay sa huling hantungan
tanging biling ko —mahal kitang tunay
Sa maikling pahanon’g nagkasama
Aking madama -- tunay na pagsinta
Sa ngayo’t iba na ang ’yon sinisinta
Tayo sana ay muling magkita
Pagkikitang muli’y aking ligaya
Kahapon, ngayon at bukas—mahal pa rin kita
—mahal pa rin kita
By willie jose
Kung nakaya ko na kita’y limutin
bakit sa pangarap – ikaw’t ikaw pa rin
Kung ‘di na kita mahal, bakit sa isip
sabik pa rin -- ikaw ay makapiling
Ito’y kahibangan at kabaliwan
Kan’iyaw lagi ng mga kaibigan.
Ngunit para sa aking sarili,
Ito’y pag-ibig, tunay na nangyari
Sa udyok nila, ika’y nagpadala,
Inisip ‘di tayo sa isa‘t isa
Sayang na pag-ibig na inilaan,
Hirap ko, ‘di man pinahalagahan
Bago ihimlay sa huling hantungan
tanging biling ko —mahal kitang tunay
Sa maikling pahanon’g nagkasama
Aking madama -- tunay na pagsinta
Sa ngayo’t iba na ang ’yon sinisinta
Tayo sana ay muling magkita
Pagkikitang muli’y aking ligaya
Kahapon, ngayon at bukas—mahal pa rin kita
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