Sunday, July 29, 2007

Another prayer I wrote (January 2005)


Image from: http://www.treklens.com/gallery/Africa/South_Africa/photo171782.htm

Two years ago, my sister asked me to write a prayer for the publication of the school where she works. The prayer was supposed to be based on the bible passage: Gospel: Mk 1:14-20, which goes:


Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God:
”This is the time of fulfillment.
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;
they were fishermen. Jesus said to them,
”Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

But following is the prayer I wrote:

Lord, I am a broken-winged bird in many ways, in more ways than I care
to know or count. Yet You love me unconditionally.

I fear so many things: sickness, suffering, anything's being seemingly
out of kilter in my life. But I know You are there through all these,
reaching out to me all the time, willing me to take Your hand and draw
strength from You.

Please build up my faith for oftentimes it appears about to run out.
Be patient with me as I grow in Your love from the knowledge that the
resurrection of Your Son, the glory You bestowed on Him did not come
without trials but was made the more meaningful because of these and
Your unflinching love.

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

The prayer hardly conforms to the Bible passage and I cannot understand why it was that which I wrote. But the image, more accurately, the concept, of the broken-winged bird has never left my mind ever since a cousin called my attention to the song sung by one of the black groups in the seventies (Fifth Dimension? Friends of Distinction? Earth, Wind and Fire?). She said then it was her favorite and I still remember the first strains of the song. Though I've never seen an image of it, the thought just stuck somehow.

Only a few minutes ago, I looked for an image in Blackie and found what I have uploaded. One of the comments made on the picture was: "Oh yes, I feel sorry... There is nothing worst for a bird than having a broken wing... But, if he flew away, it is a good news, no?"

Earlier the one who took the picture had captioned it thus: "I was visiting some folks on a farm close to Pretoria, when this Whitefronted Bee-eater with a semi-broken wing come an sit close by us. He really looked hurt. But when we try to help him, he flew up into the trees and disapear (sic).

I hope you feel as sorry for him as I did."

A prayer I wrote in August 1, 2005


Lord,

Sometimes, our lives resemble the rough seas that Peter and his friends were up against, one stormy night, eons ago. They were fearful then, as we often are now, of the seemingly endless travails life brings.

But you came to reassure them, "Take heart, it is I; have no fear." And so we trust that as you saved them, so will you save us.

Please grant us the grace and the serenity to trust in your mercy and love, to believe that no matter what, You will prevail and all will be well.

Amen.

Monday, July 23, 2007

A suicide favorite

For some time now, potential suicide victims have gone up a billboard along EDSA to catch attention. Today, in the news was an ex-MMDA employee who went up the billboard to commit suicide, or so it was bruited.

Then a knight in shining armor came to reassure this prospective suicide of his job back at MMDA. Damage control because of the bad press he has been getting these past days?

Expect the billboard to be an even more active site of prospective suicides. One can catch the press' attention, and even better, it can mean having a job waiting for you. At MMDA, for one... unless you lose your footing and land, head first, to your death.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Pathetic or funny? You decide.

Case 1: Years back, yes several years back, when CDs weren't yet in existence and Betamax was it, I'd often borrow from the neighborhood shop that delivered Betamax tapes for rent. I can't recall now the title of the tape I borrowed but what I'm certain of is that it was of a Filipino movie. Just when the movie was about to end, however, the tape stopped. The last few scenes weren't shown. I called the lady in charge of the business (I think she was a maid who doubled as shop girl) and she didn't seem surprised. Guess how she offered to address my dilemma? No she didn't say she'd send me a complete version. She instead suggested, "Gusto mo ikwento ko sa iyo ang ending?" I was dumbfounded. I don't think I ever borrowed from that shop again.

Case 2: I have this maid (yes, she's still with me). Years back I asked her to have a few reviewers for my tutees photocopied. I think there were four pages in all. When she came back, I asked for the change (I had given her one five-peso coin). She said, "ay guin ubos ko na lang pakopya." In other words, she had one extra copy made -- which I didn't need. Rather than get mad I vowed to always try to make sure I gave her just enough each time I wanted something photocopied. This maid, too, is the type who would give me the nearest medicine she finds whenever I'd ask her for something specific. Good think I'm not too sick to notice. Mankind should thank their lucky stars she isn't a nurse or doctor. Speaking of which...

Case 3: Ages ago, I was prescribed medicine for an allergy. I cannot remember now if it was Komed or Kwell but the thing is, the drugstore gave me one instead of the other. Luckily, I read what the medicine was for and saw it wasn't for what my ailment was all about. I called the doctor to clarify and it was the other medicine the drugstore ought to have given me. Doctors ought to have better penmanships, really, although of course not all of them have indecipherable handwriting.

Friday, July 20, 2007

BOSSI RELEASED

So goes the Philippine Star's headline today, 21 July 2007. Great news! In fact I thanked God yesterday when I found out. Except that on the front page of Philippine Star, too, is a news article that's titled, "4 Abus bolt Basilan jail." The second article goes:

"Zamboanga City - Sixteen inmates, among them four Abus Sayyaf terrorists involved in the Dos Palmas kidnapping in Palawan in 2001, escaped from the Basilan Provincial Jail in Isabela City before dawn yesterday."

Coincidence? Check out the article in http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Headlines&p=49&type=2&sec=24&aid=20070720200

Meanwhile, the Philippine Daily Inquirer's headline today is "Kidnap for kidnap did it". It is subtitled:
"`We have your family,' gov't agents tell abductors". Check out the article in
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=77888

The Chair

It's sad when someone so powerful is so devoid of compassion. Years back, when I needed to go to Cavite for the installation of a bishop, our car was color-coded so I wrote Mayor Jejomar Binay, then MMDA chair, to ask how I could get an exemption for that day. I addressed the letter to his house and his secretary called me up to give me instructions on how to go about it. We were able to go to Cavite without being fearful we'd be stopped. We had a permit from Mayor Binay, then MMDA Chair.

A few years later, I met him in church and decided to thank him personally. When he saw I was in a wheelchair, he said I should get year-long passes instead. I never managed to do that while he was chair. He has since been replaced by the OTHER.

The OTHER is something else. He puts pink fences in the middle of most roads. He has his reasons except that those reasons which justify the infrastructure discriminate against the disabled. Where before I could cross streets in my wheelchair, this is no longer possible because of the pink fences.

today, 20 July, disabled folk like me wheeled/walked in crutches to his office. Bully for him he didn't entertain them but let his surrogate face the disgruntled citizens. He acceded to an interview which came out on TV, though, and said, "Hindi lahat ng gusto ng tao pwedeng maibigay. May limitasyon din dapat", or something to that effect. Think dear OTHER, the disabled are such not of their own choosing. As it is we are physically challenged and you pose another challenge for us, something we don't need but which you can and do control? How dare you create even more barriers for us. And what about the Accessibility Law? Are you so powerful that you are exempt from obeying that law? How heartless can you get, how insensitive?

Years back, my husband brought the matter up in a forum and one of the employees in his place of work berated him in an email-- he had an ax to grind and all that, the lady said. So OTHER-sounding. An apologist? I doubt. Someone just as heartless. Months later, she wrote my husband in effect apologizing indirectly. She knew what it was like to be disabled, she said, because weeks after she wrote my husband, she fractured her leg and was in a cast for months.

Oh well, THE OTHER, there's such a think as DIVINE JUSTICE and though the wheels of God grind slowly, they grind exceeding small.

Robert Alejandro

This guy is so talented and he seems nice. Years back he left for Canada to try his luck out there. By then the TV show Probe had transferred to Channel 2 and it was sheer coincidence that I saw him crying on the show because he was so homesick. Now it seems he's back in the Philippines. We're lucky to have him back.

His family owns Papemelroti which I used to patronize back when I was in college. They had cute stuff then-- stationeries, ceramic figures, wall hangings, etc. I haven't been to their stores in a while which is why I speak in the past tense. But I guess, the quality is the same if not better.

Back to Robert. How well he draws and how quickly. The other night, I caught the tail-end of Probe which featured his visits to Pampanga and Bulacan -- a virtual food trip. He didn't enthuse too much about the food, so I guess they were okay but not spectacular. What caught my attention, though, was how he sat down on the pavement across an old house and started to sketch it. Wow, I thought, he was like a photographer taking a snapshot of the house but better. Several strokes went into that sketch and each was painstakingly done. Wow!

For more on him, check this out: http://www.papemelroti.com/08-31-02.htm

SIne Totoo features Wish Ko Lang's Good Samaritans


One Saturday evening, my husband, son and I watched Howie Severino's Sine Totoo on GMA7. It featured two Good Samaritans circa 2007, whom GMA's other show, Wish Ko Lang, discovered. One of the Good Samaritans was a nurse, the other a man with lung problems. The set-up was like this.

Pekto of Bubble Gang and Bahay Mo Ba 'To fame was guised as a man with elephantiasis, a condition where one's lower extremities (in Pekto's case, just one) become really big. He was put atop a wooden platform with wheels and positioned at the bottom of the stairs of one busy street in Metro Manila. Pekto would wave people into helping him get across to the other side of the stairs, but he was largely ignored. The nurse though, spoke to him and advised him to go to PCSO for help. She sad she couldn't lift Pekto up the stairs but was reassuring somehow. Meanwhile, there was this other man, likely a TB patient per the medicines he was shown to be drinking regularly in a later footage (Rifampicin) who paid heed to Pekto's pleas. He said, "Tutulungan sana kita pero kaka-opera lang sa akin." Unlike the nurse though, this man in true Good Samaritan fashion, asked two passersby to assist Pekto and gave them P20 each to do so. IF you recall, the Good Samaritan paid the people in the inn to take care of the man he saw lying on the street. He himself couldn't stay on to see to the man but took an active hand to see to the welfare of the man in the street.

Note that the man who paid the two younger men to help Pekto lived in a shanty. He didn't have enough money to buy all the medicines he needed yet he unselfishly shelled out P40 to help a complete stranger. Between him and the nurse, I think he was the better Samaritan. True, kind words are always welcome but Pekto needed help at that point. Still, I guess she was worth commending because in the end, the show gave her some gifts and the kind man, a Good Samaritan store to own.

Holland Tulips - Great Service


A friend is in the hospital. Prior to her confinement, she expressly told me she didn't want visitors because she doesn't like hospitals. So I thought I should send her flowers, instead.

Way, way back, I asked Holland Tulips if I they delivered. Way, way back they said that they would if the flowers bought were at least a Php1000 worth or more, I think. Yesterday, I called Holland Tulips in Gateway and asked. They no longer set a minimum amount for delivery. Instead they charge between Php195 and Php250 for deliveries.
Ummm. Not bad, I thought

So I had the maid go to Gateway to pay for my order: Flowers (rotterdam bouquet) - Php425, Ribbon and card - Php50 and delivery Php195. Total Php670. A bit stiff, yes, but efficient. Chris of Holland Tulips in Gateway told me he had forwarded my order to their branch in Galleria which is closer to Medical City. He advised me to call an hour from the time we spoke to check if the flowers had been delivered. Before the hour was up, my sick friend called me up to say thank you for the flowers!

Now, that's fast and efficient service. Congratulations, Holland Tulips. You haven't yet disappointed me.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Filipinos and Speaking English

This morning, I was watching the morning show in my favorite channel. The mail anchor was talking to a Claretian priest, Fr. Calvo, who's based in Zamboanga. They were talking about the release of Fr. Bossi who was held captive by a Moro group in Basilan. (I would identify that group if government finally had a definitive answer to the issue, but what government has said has been denied... anyway, back to the conversation of the newscaster and the priest.) Apparently, the priest Fr. Calvo had a foreign accent, but the anchor kept speaking to him in Tagalog. Fr. Calvo understood the questions but replied in English. It made me wonder then whether the anchor didn't realize that the priest was a foreigner.

Fast forward to the anchor's interview of Fr. Bossi. Now this anchor is big-time in the network, and talking to a freshly released kidnap victim should not be delegated to a lesser mortal, I guess, so he was charged with talking to Fr. Bossi. Again, the anchor spoke to him in Tagalog. But Fr. Bossi said, apologetically, "I'm sorry I don't know Tagalog." Wow, the anchor truly groped for words then. He asked one question which was rather stiffly phrased after which the female anchor took over, more adeptly.

My point is this. It's not bad to speak only Tagalog well, that's nationalistic and all that. But if you're in the broadcast industry, you should be able to speak good English because what happens if your subject cannot speak Tagalog as happened this morning? I found the experience sad, disappointing. I know the nationalists won't like my stance but I don't think speaking fluent English makes one less of a Filipino.

Are Filipinos lazy? Why don't people in broadcasting bother to study English if they are inadequate in the language? Too old to study? I don't think that should be a factor. Yao Ming, an NBA player from China, used to need an interpreter when he started out in the US. Now he speaks English without any qualms. On the other hand, this anchor I wrote about was exposed to the English language since the early grades, I guess, because even public schools in the country teach English. I also know for a fact that he studied in a private Catholic school for college. Sad... I hope his experience this morning will make him sit up and decide to study how to conduct interviews in English. Sure he has a masa image and all that, but he should also set the example to the people he may claim to cater to that like him (should he finally decide to), they can also learn to speak English and other new things. It will only help them get ahead...

I hope should he somehow learn of this observation of mine, he won't take umbrage. My respect for him hasn't diminished at all. I'm just saddened that he hasn't done anything about this weakness of him when it shouldn't be a problem. He's not dumb, after all.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Han's Tools, Shangrila

I'm livid. A few weeks ago, we got our son a Momo steering wheel. We felt so lucky that it was on sale and came with an adaptor for a 1996 corolla. Was that coincidence or was it rigged by the salesman (we'd told him our car model)? Whatever, my son was happy especially when the store's installer came to the house to install it. The car's original steering wheel was all right, so with the car horn but my son was complaining that it felt icky as he had removed the leather covering which had seen its time.

Last night, my husband used the car and he said the car horn slid? sank? downwards, ergo it couldn't be used. This morning I got in touch with the installer. He said he'd come after lunch. When I told him to come at 2 so my husband could be around, he answered back:

"Mam chek m na kng mrn ako naitabi adaptor. Parang kulang yng kinabit dyan. Kng wala ako. Tx kita. Dalhin na lang ninyo car Saturday. Sa Hans."

I texted back, "Didn't you use the adaptor that came with the steering wheel?"

His reply: "Yes. Parang kulang wacer yan man." (So why did he install it if the parts weren't complete?)

I texted back: "My husband will wait for you at 2 this afternoon. Please come."

He texted back: "Kahit pumunta ako dyan kng wala washer. Use les.. Kaya nga tinanong ko yng saletman kng sure tama lahat. Sure daw. D na sa akin pinakita."

I called Han's Tools and berated the one who answered me. What sloppy service. Imagine if the horn had conked out while there was heavy traffic and a car or truck in front of ours was moving back. We'd just have to watch it hit us, or maybe shout? Crazy. Or worse, what if a pedestrian were crossing and the one driving our car couldn't honk? I dread the could have beens.

I insisted with Raymalin of Han's to send the installer over to the house to fix the problem this afternoon.

Minutes later, he called back to say we should bring the car to Hans at 330 this p.m.

My goodness, what if the scenarios I painted came true? I insisted the installer should fix the problem here in the house. The Hans guy said he'd refer the problem to the manager.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy... He still hasn't called.

PS At around 4 this p.m. the installer came. To cut a long story short, after he finished fixing the horn, he came in to see me. He asked for transpo fare. P300 he said, because he took a taxi. The nerve. But so I could get him out of the house, I asked my husband to give him the money. Earlier he was saying (when my husband wasn't around yet) that maybe the horn was pushed too hard by my husband. I told him "Sabihin mo sa kanya." He immediately buckled and said, "Hindi na po kailangan, okay na yon." Natakot? Ang antipatiko. I hope I never see him again. Before he left he told the maid "hindi pa ata natuwa si Ma'am." How could I be when he was so arrogant. he showed me the washer, two types. He said he had one kind in the house and had to go to Han's to get what was for the car. I asked him why he installed the steering wheel when he knew the washer was missing. He said, "Sa iba kasi pupwede naman yon eh. Matigas lang siguro ang pagpindot." kakainis............

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Instituto Cervantes, Manila

This will be sketchy at best as I don't want my blood pressure to go up, in a manner of speaking. Last week my sister told me there was going to be a guitar-cello recital at Instituto Cervantes. She asked if my husband, son and I wanted to go. it was a free recital, she said, so I said yes to her invitation. Saturday we picked her and her daughter up. Show was slated to start at 8 p.m., we were at the venue's lobby by 7:15. There was a light shower outside and the entrance didn't have an awning so we got wet, but what the heck, we were going to listen to good classical music.

As people were streaming in, the lobby was filling up. I wondered why we weren't let into the hall yet but my sister said there was a movie screening ongoing. Fine. we people watched. Saw the Orosa sisters, one of whom writes reviews on performances for Philippine Star's Sunday magazine, Starweek. The young mestiza lady assured us we could all be accommodated because that had never been a problem in any of the performances at Instituto. (She and my niece knew each other but for naught, as you'll read later.)

Fast forward to 8 p.m. Someone announced, "Those with reservations may go in first." The man had a typewritten list of names against which he checked those coming in. Fine. Shortly after those in the list and a few others not in the list went inside the venue, what do you know, the man was moving his palms signifying "no more room." By then the lobby still had a good number waiting to be let in. But the man, now looking like the bad guy in The Matrix was adamant. In true Espanol fashion. "I'm sorry," he said though he didn't look apologetic at all. The Filipino by the doorway pointed to me and he called me and my husband asking, "You have reservations?" I said, "No." He looked at the hall, waved us in with a "tsk, tsk" expression. As the Filipinos were adding chairs to the aisles, he signaled for them to stop doing so. The Filipinos meekly obeyed. I asked my husband to tell him we had 3 other companions outside and he looked at us, one eyebrow raised, "Sorry. You should feel lucky you're in." Pray tell, he meant our companions would just have to go home? I told my husband we should leave but he said he'd let our son take his place. I guess at that point my husband thought they'd change their policy and let everyone in. When my son finally came in in lieu of my husband, my son said, "Mama, nakakahiya kina tita. Let's go out." That's what I wanted to do in the first place. So we left the hall and the Espanol didn't look like he cared. He ignored us. Once outside, although I'd have wanted to leave right away because I found the place and people so inhospitable, my other companions chose to linger. How optimistic of them. It was 8:15 by then. The Spanish guitarist and the British cellist didn't enter the venue and chose to talk to the Matrix contravida lookalike. They managed to thaw him a little because he let a few more enter but unluckily for us, we weren't among those. I pitied most the young men and ladies who were obviously music students because some of them even had guitar cases with them. Possibly they came straight from school.

Bully for the Instituto for being so inefficient. They should have given numbers to people entering the lobby so they'd have known when to stop letting people in. We waited for an hour only to be shooed away.

Of course the Orosa sisters were let in. So that this happened will never be known to the general public. They took care of media, maybe because they were media and old. Oh well, that's the last Instituto Cervantes will see of me.

I thought this would be sketchy but I guess I was just too angry to stop.

the experience brought to mind my experience in Germany 26 years ago. My sister brought us to a recital. The hall was full. what do you know, the organizers let the overflow crowd go up the stage to watch the concert/recital from there.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Very helpful, interesting, informative websites

From time to time I will update this list.

1. For definitions of words, etc.: http://encarta.msn.com/
2. For Philippine entertainment news and gossip: http://www.pep.ph/index.html
3. For Philippine news: www.inquirer.net
4. For games: http://games.yahoo.com/games/front
5. For info on anything and everything: http://www.google.com.ph/firefox?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official ( I bought a book on how Google came to be but have been to busy to read it. Will get round to doing so one of these days.)
6. For ordering stuff: www.amazon.com
7. How to format research papers using the APA (American Psychological Association) style: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/02/

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Snippets



This is so mababaw because it's showbiz but between Dennis Trillo and Alfred Vargas, I prefer Dennis. For one, he isn't pa macho. And I don't think he ever had anything cosmetic/surgical done to his face. Alfred looks like he had a nose job done. He's also forever making porma. While Dennis always looks naturally groomed, Alfred has done weird things to his hair. This week in Unang Hirit, he looks like a Koreanovela or anime star. Di bagay, he's no spring chicken. But to his credit, I've seen Alfred at mass in the parish though he kept looking around. Checking if anyone had noticed him kaya? How mean of me.

##########################################################################################

On a more serious vein, last night I was awake when Reporter's Notebook was shown. Rather unusual because I haven't been able to watch anything beyond the news at midnight for a long while. What caught my attention was the topic: lower prices for medicines. Years back I became aware that Senator Mar Roxas was espousing this but wasn't getting the support. So last night I was glad to see that Teddy Boy Locsin of the Lower House is endorsing it, revealing even how representatives of pharmaceutical companies in the gallery were egging him to check if there was a quorum when voting for the bill was being considered. He was livid and had them ejected.

I can't remember now who made the point about the same drugs being sold in India and Pakistan at a lot less, but not here. Later, when Leo Wassmer, head of the pharmaceuticals association was asked, he mumbled through respect for Intellectual Property Rights or some such. But as an advocate for lower drugs countered, drugs should save people rather than simply promote profit.

I think it's not that drug companies should operate like charities, but at least they should price reasonably enough to realize healthy profits and a healthy populace. Oh well, I do hope Mar Roxas and Teddy Boy Locsin succeed in their crusade. Oh yes, and Risa Hontiveros too. Hopefully that will bring the smile back to her face. it always saddens me when I see her, forever angry. She didn't use to be like that. I'm scared for her and her children. She's a widow with several kids. Her soldier-husband died post an asthma attack in Baguio. If she doesn't slow down, she might leave her kids before they're old enough to fend for themselves. True, she may be trying her best to make the country a better place to live in, but still...

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Buying Stuff for the House

Yesterday, just before we left for Holy Mass, I saw the toilet seat cover and it looked uber-unsightly. Being in a wheelchair, my back is usually turned to it when I enter the bathroom, so it was only yesterday when I saw the state it was in. Earlier the maid told me to get a replacement for the bathroom shelves on top of the toilet bowl as it was about to fall apart. So when I saw the toilet seat's condition, I decided it was buying for the toilet day.

When I told my husband about the toilet seat (my maid said it has mushrooms sprouting-- benefit of the doubt though without my glasses on I saw brownish thingies which I thought were grains of rust) he went to the other room where, lo and behold, he found the replacement we bought months back but which he hadn't gotten round into installing. Men... the ultimate procrastinators. At any rate, it meant buying the shelves na lang.

When we were in Rustan's, my husband suddenly thought of getting a curtain rod for the other toilet. The one before had sagged and was removed. We didn't bother to have it replaced because I thought it would mean drilling the walls again. I hate it when walls are bored because what if suddenly you don't want what ever you put in there any longer? Then you get a gaping hole which is so unsightly.

Anyway in Rustan's we saw this curtain rod that had no screws. Instead its length was adjustable. One just had to tug to get the desired length. And it cost less than P400. So we got that. Unfortunately the only shower curtain in Rustan's that would have suited the yellow bathroom had bamboo prints (nice enough) but was too costly: P2800. Further, it didn't seem water proof. So scratch the idea. Decided to put up a spare shower curtain in the house with Chinese (Japanese?) characters in black and red, hardly a nice fit for the yellow everything in the bathroom But it just had to do.

After getting the curtain rod, we went in search of the toilet cabinet for putting in the shampoos and other stuff. It was virtually an exercise in futility as all the ones available in Rustan's were these things you suspend around the shower. Way too small. We saw a possibility in a store whose nice beds cost a whopping P170 plus thousand. It would have been okay except that it was made of something which we were sure would be rusty in no time.

So off to True Value and guess what, we got something similar -- we're almost sure it will rust in no time. Clerk said it was made of brass but it was chrome plated, ergo a certain rust candidate. He suggested then to spray paint it with metallic paint. I hope it will take some time before this happens. Thing cost P3800 plus.

At True Value we also saw the lineup of water pumps which we might have to get soon to address our flood problem. Our neighbor got in touch with a contractor who's charging P120,000 for putting up a new drainage system. (our system is connected to the neighbor's or theirs is to us.) Getting the pump would cost us P8k plus, and maybe, labor just P1.5 k.