OFFBEAT MAIL

Exotic Chinese food (Credit: Flickr) Had the Chinese government taken the initiative or done enough to immediately contain the novel Coronavirus from spreading waywardly into other areas, this pandemic wouldn't have gone too far to pester other countries like Italy and the Philippines whose governments had declared a lockdowns thus causing extreme fears among the people, not to mention the derailments of some economies worldwide. But the provincial government, where Wuhan is an integral part of, acted too late to lockdown the place. The local government in Wuhan should have prevented residents from getting out, especially those who were infected by the virus. Sorry to say this, but the Wuhan government officials were lackadaisical in their approach to the health dilemma, thinking that the problem was just an ordinary matter which didn't require much attention. Until the problem got worse resulting to some deaths in the area. I was wondering if they had underestimate...

The Manila lockdown shouldn't only concern about the activities of the Filipinos, especially those working both in government and the private sector. The presence of the thousands of Chinese workers must also be checked. They shouldn't be allowed to roam around Metro Manila and other areas. Perhaps, they should not be allowed to travel in and out of the country for now. Lockdown is lockdown. Boarding houses and buildings where these Chinese workers stay or work must be thoroughly checked as to whether they maintain hygiene and cleanliness. After all, Covid-19 originated from China before it spread across the globe. Even President Trump today declared the state of emergency in the U.S. As a result, panic-buying has caused chaos in many supermarkets now. There is danger that manufacturers may be affected due to lack of raw materials for production so that delivery of primary goods may be hampered. Among the items that are in great demands were alcohol, hand sanitizers, fa...

Online gaming The latest apprehensions made by Philippine immigration agents on at least 277 illegal Chinese nationals working at an online gaming company in the Ortigas, Pasig City was a pr oof that Chinese tourists are taking advantage of President Duterte's soft diplomacy with Beijing. And, regardless on whether the Philippines generated an estimated $200 million in revenues from online gaming, it is not a sure guarantee that the windfall will continue unabated by ignoring established immigration laws in the country. The arrest came after the Chinese Embassy in Makati City tipped the BID about the presence of Chinese  individuals who were wanted by the Chinese police, a newspaper report said. Since it is illegal in China to operate online gaming activities, some Chinese entrepreneurs have made it their bread and butter to dupe young and tech-savvy Chinese citizens to come to Manila in droves on the promise that they could work even without proper work permits. It...

A duck egg's embryo called "balut" MANILA -- As dusk sets in, a limping woman would carefully load up a basket full of egg embryos called “balut” in Tagalog, along with her small stool, on a small wooden cart and slowly descend to the street corner about 200 meters away from where she lived. Wearing her usual black sweater and a bull cap, Aling Inday, a native of Leyte province, would slowly position her cart on the sidewalk, close to the terminal of tricycles and jeepneys, where hungry drivers would usually buy “balut” to energize themselves from a hard day’s drudgery. Not far from her favorite spot is the police substation, where she could always run to file a complaint if anybody bothers her. She eases herself down on a stool to wait for customers; lights her small kerosene lamp to provide a little illumination enough to distinguish the money that changed hands between her and the customers. This activity goes all the way until the egg contents of the baske...

Angel "Bulaw" Gutierrez resting in bed at home. After parking my pen for a while,  the urge to get back to what I was doing since my semi-retirement in 2004 has again rekindled within me upon learning that a close relative is suffering from a serious ailment. I thought that the fire that's burning inside me has been extinguished completely. Admittedly, I was wrong. In fact, I forgot about it already until I got a message from a first cousin whose husband is currently stationed in Shanghai. Amie broke to me the sad news that his father needed a bypass surgery. Doctors at the Philippine Heart Center first diagnosed his father's ailment to be needing an angioplast surgery. However, further examinations revealed that something more complicated needed to be done. According to Amie,  she thought that it was okay to proceed with the heart operation. But the doctor who examined him said that it's no longer possible to push through with the impending surgery beca...

Feisty Philippine President Rody "Digong" Duterte just kept mum Former DDS hitman Edgar Matobato answers questions at the Senate public hearing. on the allegations of a former member of the Davao Death Squad  (DDS) that he ordered the killing of at least 1000 victims while Duterte served as mayor of Davao City. His silence on the accusations of a certain Edgar Matobato, a former DDS hitman who got his wages as part of the ghost employees of the Davao City hall,  can be misconstrued as a kind of recollection if he indeed was involved in such killings?  Unlike in the previous occasions, President Duterte has a habit of cursing and mouthing bad words when confronted in public, a trademark which no longer surprise a lot of his supporters and cabinet officials. "That's his character," one of the cabinet officials said. Or it could be that President Duterte is thinking something else? With Koko Pimentel's denial of providing protective c...

 LOS ANGELES-- On any given Sunday morning, a bunch of people congregate at the copious parking lot of a big retail store chain at the corner of Main and Carson Streets in the city of Carson. But don’t mistake them for early morning shoppers . Instead, they’re a blend of ordinary workers and pensioners, who simply couldn’t think of anything else to do to battle it out with boredom. On such a given day, they made it a habit to wait for a private bus that will take them to casinos in Las Vegas Strip, Pala and Pechanga--two border casino resorts in California, to try their luck on gaming. This is the usual scene here each Sunday morning. While the rest of the flock attend a mass at a nearby Catholic Church to atone for their sins on such a special day, they’re enjoying the luxury of exchanging pleasantries and whatever jokes they could afford to belt out in their own native languages—Tagalog, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and, of course, English. From a distant, I could...