I Am Buraot

Here they come again. I knew what I’m about to take when I decided to write personal experiences about my life in Olongapo, or at least parts of it. Heat. I’m about to take some unnecessary heat.

Of all the searches online regarding the 2010 presidentiables, presidential wannabe Richard Gordon had the most positive posts online, according to ABS-CBN reports published March 18.

They were right. In fact if you try to do a search, all you see are links to his bio and how great and wonderful the man is. Except to articles made by me here at the barrio, on my site, and by other sites who have picked up the story. Continue Reading…

When the City of Olongapo is mentioned, the first things that would come to mind are two: the entertainment bars lining its streets and the name Gordon.

While the roots of existence of the former are well-traced, the existence and the reason why the latter became a household name is not much talked about.

Who really are the Gordons? How did they come into power? And how for several decades, did a single family dominate the entire political landscape of the city? Continue Reading…

“Ganito pala sa Olongapo, parang war zone.”

 This was the surprised remark from one of the media personnel from GMA-7 who witnessed what happened that fateful day in November 1996.

All the action were going on inside the SBMA where the APEC forum was being held, so it only makes sense for all the media, local and international, to be there. Fortunately for us, some GMA-7 staff, particularly Luchi Cruz Valdez (from The Probe Team fame) and a cameraman decided to go outside the former US base searching for exclusives.

They have found what they were looking for, the exclusive footages of how we got mobbed. And they were stunned to have witnessed what happened. Continue Reading…

In just a matter of minutes, after that quick anesthesia-less operation and humiliation inside the operating room, I was in a wheelchair being pushed by that UP volunteer all the way to the x-ray room and unto my assigned room, which was the orthopedic ward.

Weird. I don’t think I had any broken bone or whatever that needed me to be confined to that section. Unless some doctor thought a broken skull would be enough to be categorized as orthopedic.

I saw some empty rooms and wards along the way so I asked the guy why I was being put here. He said he got no idea but we both think it would be safer for me since it’s almost full and lots of people would see me, just in case. Continue Reading…

It was November 1996. The APEC Summit was being held in Subic Bay, Philippines.

It was a time for the country to show off its newly established Subic Bay after the former bases were left by the Americans under piles of ashes brought by the Pinatubo eruption. It was also the time for then President Fidel Ramos to showcase his Medium Term Philippine Development Plan. It was Ramos’ Philippines 2000. It was globalization. It was Olongapo.

Like most people in the progressive left, I was against it. I believe that if businesses can be allowed to globalize, we should also allow the workers to globalize. If capital can go around the world looking for cheap labor, then labor itself should also be allowed to find better pay anywhere in the world. What I’m for is simply for fairness.

The stage was set for mass demonstrations against globalization. And so we at the Sanlakas Olongapo were ready. Continue Reading…

For seven years, I have kept my silence.

With disconcerting thoughts, I have injected my veins with apathy. I have infused my brain with reflections of a selfish new me. I have permeated my consciousness with the dismal concept of your non-existence. I busied myself with the customary schedule an apolitical being would rather adhere to.

For seven years, I gave you time to help yourself.

I gave you the chance to renew your ways. All those times, you had the option to forsake those phantoms that constantly hound you. You had the chance to renounce ill specters that wander all around you. You had the chance to restore your dignity, not just to the entire world, but much more, to yourself.

For seven years, I have kept my distance. Continue Reading…

Jan. 21, 2010. This is the day a miniscule blogger was picked on by a pea-size brained Philippine government official. A blogger named Ella of Blog ni Ella is now facing libel charges from an article about those “rotting” merchandise inside the DSWD warehouses.

If you guys can remember, the Philippines took a beating from typhoon Ondoy last October 2009. It was October 23, 2009, when this site issued an article in reference to the original article of Blog ni Ella regarding the state of of some government relief efforts in some warehouses owned by the Department of Social Welfare and Deveopment (DSWD). Continue Reading…