Updates and Thank You's

To everyone who has read my blog and is helping my family out, THANK YOU. May God bless you.

Here are links to some sites that have covered the story.

GMA News

Abante-Tonite

Watch the news, GMA, ABS-CBN and other stations for updates.

Now, I truly believe that there is still hope for this country. I am really overwhelmed at how people have commented and how people want to help. Please continue to do so. And PLEASE, PLEASE, continue to pray. And once again, THANK YOU.

The world has gone crazy.

So, I just had the worst day of my life.

At around 1:30 PM today, at Valley Golf and Country Club, Antipolo City, Mayor Nasser Pangandaman, Jr., Mayor of Masiu City, Lanao del Sur, his father, Secretary Nasser Pangandaman of the Department of Agrarian Reform, and company, beat my defenseless 56-year-old dad and my 14-year-old brother to a pulp because of some stupid misunderstanding on the golf course.

This is a golf course. I have been a golfer all my life, and I have never seen anything like this. NOTHING. This is hard to comprehend. And it happened to my own father and my own brother too. Right in front of my eyes.

My brother and I were playing golf at the South Course of Valley. We were on the 3rd hole, and we see two golf carts going past us, overtaking our flight, and setting up to tee off on the next hole. My dad goes up to them and asks them why they would do that, why they would overtake us without even asking for our permission. Golf etiquette 101. One of the guys says that they're with the flight in front of us. (So what? That doesn't give them the right to just pass us WITHOUT asking.) So, we go to the 5th hole. The flight behind us catches up with us, and asks us what caused the hold up. We said that this flight just slipped in front of our flight. So we complained to the marshall. We play the 5th hole and walk towards the next hole, where there is a teehouse, and both the flights in front of us were there, talking with the marshall. The mayor of Masiu City, Lanao del Sur talks with my dad. Things get heated up. Voices were raised. But never, in my wildest dreams, did I ever imagine that someone would pull out a punch. Apparently not. He attacks my father. His flightmates, maybe 2 or 3 of them, rush to his aid and beat up my father. My 56-year-old father. My younger brother and I could not just watch. We rushed to break the fight. My younger brother pleads to the mayor to please stop it. To not hurt my dad. To just stop. His words still ring through my head..."Sorry na po, sorry na po...tama na...tama na po..." With his hands in front of his chest in a praying position. PLEADING. The mayor socks him in the face. My brother defended himself. My dad is still on the ground getting clobbered. My brother is the same way. I try to stop the fight, but all I can do is stop one person. There were 4 or 5 of them attacking now.

Someone breaks up the fight. I thought it was all over. The mayor shouts to his caddy: "Hindi nila kami kilala! Sabihin mo nga sa kanila kung sino ako!" And believe me, I had no idea who this person was. But now I know. He's the person who, with 4 other men, beat up my 56-year-old father and my 14-year-old brother. He's the person who sacks a pleading 14-year-old kid in the face. He's a person who, I am sure, is gonna rot in hell.

I lash out, but my dad held me back. I was screaming my lungs out, shouting to this mayor, telling him about what he had done. I said: "Nakakahiya kayo. Singkwenta'y sais anyos ang tatay ko. And kapatid ko kakatorse anyos. Anong ilalaban nila sayo?"

The mayor looks at my brother, point to his face, and says, "Tatandaan kita!" And he tells me that my brother has a bad attitude and that I need to watch him. WHAT THE HELL?! So, my brother's bad for defending his father?!

We leave. We walk to the clubhouse to file a complaint. My brother asks for a doctor. My dad could barely walk. Their group comes to the clubhouse, sees my brother. Once again my brother pleads, says sorry, and is crying. He was CRYING, for crissakes. But no. The relentless mayor still punches him in the face, and then sees my dad and goes after my dad again. Him and his friend pull my dad to the ground, pulls at his feet, and steps on him like he's dirt. I run to him and try to hold him back, holding him back by his shirt, while this other guy and this girl tries to stop me. She tells me to just stop it. I scream in her face "they're beating my father up and you want me to stop?!" I pull at his shirt--I don't let go. All I can see was my dad being trampled on. I didn't even see my brother getting beat up.

People pull them away. I get my dad, and I saw my brother. His right ear was bleeding. I freaked out. I told the receptionists to bring my brother to the clinic. I pull my dad away. People were separating us.

My mom and my older brother come. I tell her Bino's right ear is bleeding. They both look like they could kill. My dad holds my brother off, I hold off my mom. When I finally got my mom under control, my older brother gets away and I hold him off. Two of the mayor's bodyguards pull out guns. I embraced my brother from the back, just holding him back, crying. The receptionists came to us, crying, hugging me, my dad, and my mom, whispering to us to just leave. "Maam, umalis na po kayo, may mga baril sila...Maam...umalis na po kayo please..."

I am pretty sure the Secretary of DAR did not take part in the fight, but he just watched all this happen. He watched two of his sons, as we figured out, the other guy was his son, too, beat up my father and my 14-year-old brother. He didn't do anything to stop it. And this person is what now? A cabinet member. A politician.

Sounds like something out of a movie, doesn't it? But this is what happened. TODAY. The day after Christmas. To my family. And all I ask for is JUSTICE. The people at Valley Golf did not seem to want to help us. None of the security guards even tried to stop the fight. Right in the clubhouse. I came back after the fight was over and talked to the receptionists. They say they did not see anything. The general manager of Valley Golf would not give us the names of the men who made my brother's ear bleed. It took him an hour. Maybe even more than that. He seemed to not want to help us. Because, we were against the SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM and the MAYOR OF MASIU CITY, LANAO DEL SUR. They were all scared.

The world has gone crazy. Two politicians beat up a defenseless 56-year-old father and his 14-year-old son. At a golf course. I swear to God, I thought golfers were decent people. You would think politicians were decent people. I guess not. I guess they gang up on 56-year-old men and beat up pleading 14-year-old kids.

Please pray for my dad, my brother and for my whole family. Please pray that we get JUSTICE. Oh God, please, give these people what they deserve.

Excited

I know , I know. I haven't blogged in a while. I don't even know why. No creative juice pumping through my veins. No nothing. I guess the only reason why I'm writing this blog is because I need something to do while my fingernails dry. Yep. :))

So, uhm, we had a SNOW day! December 5, 2007. Too bad there wasn't enough to actually play in. And, dumdumdumdum (dum is right) I ALMOST wiped out four times. Slipped on the ice. Grrr.

And this technician from UC IT said my Windows Vista is corrupted. WTF, mate.

(Ok, that was random).

Anyway, back to why I'm excited. I have my last exam tomorrow at 4:00 (I know, SO annoying) then I go to the Bakunawas (WUHOOOO) then I fly out Saturday. That's why I'm excited. I'm going home, yo!

Mark your calendars folks! December 10. I'll be in Manila. HAHAHAHA.

SO excited for the warm weather. Gives me a 3 week break from freezing my ass off here. (It's -7 today, loves. Yeah.)

Yeah well. That's all I wanted to say. See you guys. ;)

Living the Dream

This is in response to the Bambina inspired blog entries you have.
This is a Carlotai inspired entry.

Turning pro. Definitely not me for a while. But a good friend of mine. Yes, let me broadcast to the world (to those who don't read his blogs anyway). Carlos Fabregas turned pro today.

And all I could tell him was that I am SO excited for him. I was overwhelmed. Because, he is living everyone else's dream.

Including mine.

I know, I probably should have been inspired by the JRo legacy, a Filipina in the LPGA. Or the Dorothy Delasin legend. But no. Those were of different times. The circumstances are different, way, WAY different. Having someone turn pro NOW makes a lot of difference. It makes a HUGE difference for us who aspire to do the same. It makes you think that hey, it's not impossible in our time. He can do it. So can I.

He's living the dream. He's living every golfer's dream. He's living MY dream.

I wish you all the luck in the world. Be strong. Keep faith. You'll do great, Carlos. :)

Gorufu o shimasu

Today was a golf day. Haven't had one of those in a while. YES.

I was at the range from 10:03 AM to 2:23 PM (clocked in and out those times), hitting balls nonstop. I'm not kidding. NONSTOP.

I got a few things down though. I'm totally fixing my swing now.

Swing thoughtS. :)

Club face position. Feel as if it's shut on the backswing. As if my left hand is under my right.
Set up. Relax right shoulder. Should be lower than left.
Swing path. On the arc, not outside.
Grip. Stronger right hand grip. (Wow. All I've been asked to do for the longest time is to weaken it.)
Set weight shifting with left knee. Yep.
Let arm fall after setting. Extend right arm. Retain angle.
Drill. Top of the swing, shift all weight to left foot. Let hands drop (extend right arm three times) then swing through.
SYNC-ing.

That's pretty much it. Got A LOT of work to do this winter. :)

Wacko

Long weekend yo. And I didn't have any plans. Good job. Haha.

Our football team won though. Beat UCon. 27-3. UCon. (Coach Bong, if you're reading this, UCon is University of Connecticut. HAHA.) OOOOOOOOOOH. OOOOOOOOHH. OOOOOOOOOOOOH. *claps 4 times* UC!

And yeah, the coolest cheer ever.

"Everybody knows, UCon blows!"

Good job. :))

There was this person (who probably drank too much) who puked all over three rows of the Nippert Stadium (our football stadium). Disgusting. Right behind us, too. *puke*

Well, I went with Merb, her boyfriend Jason and a couple of their friends to the movies. Finally got to Newport. FINALLY. Haha. But on the way, Jason actually exercised his lack of common sense (and evidently a bit of his drunkenness) through his questions.

Jason: How old are you, Bambee?
Bambee: I think you know how old I am. (I thought he did, too, because I mean, it was such a big deal for people and I thought Merb would've mentioned it or what)
Merb: She's only 17.
Jason: Huh?! How did that happen? Do you have longer birthdays in the Philippines? Do you have 400 days in a year there?

=)) (Oh man. That was probably the most stupid question anyone as ever asked me.)

Back in the apartment he put a bottle of Mike's Hard Lemonade in front of me, insisting that I drink it. I didn't.

Jason: Oh man. I shouldn't have offered you that Mike's Hard. You're underage underage!!!

Yeah, I know. :

And by the way, he kept defending his 400 days in a year question all through the night. He said it was a legitimate question. Uhmmm...NOOOOOO!!! :))

On the way back from the movies, Jason asked some questions again.

Jason: How did you get your citizenship?
Bambee: I'm not an American citizen. It'll take a while before I get one, if I ever do.
Jason: Oh, so you're an ILLEGAL ALIEN!!!
Merb: She's not illegal. She's got a visa. Oh my God, Jason, stop talking!

=))

Sunday was a SLEEP ALL DAY day. Haha. YESSSS. Wake up at 12:00. Have breakfast. Pretty much watch movies the whole afternoon then go to bed. ;)

BUM day in other words. Haha.

Workout

I'm going to start this blog by describing how I've been feeling for the past few days. Homesick. And well, working out doesn't really help. I kind of compare how we work out here to how we do it back home (though I didn't really do much of that). There are still times when I wish that I was working out with my old teammates, just cracking jokes every now and then to make our early (5:00 am) workouts more lively and our afternoon (5:00 pm) workouts less tiring. I just miss them SO much. I miss our little "gym" in Montecito. I miss Coach Jojo. I miss everyone. :'(

So, workouts. We don't do much heavy lifting. And I say this compared to the other sports. I mean, in my opinion, some of the things we lift are quite heavy, but seeing how the soccer boys work out and how the baseball boys work out just makes the weights we lift look (I should say feel, but not really) TINY.

We first do warm-ups that consist of lunges, high knees, butt kicks, knee pulls front and back, shuffles and sprints down the track. Then we do bench squats or no bench squats with the 45 pound bar, with 5, 10 and 15 pound weights on it. Then we do the bar on the platform. And let me just describe this. It is a 45 pound bar (no weights. PLEASE! Haha.) that we do 6 sets of 6 of each of the following: shrugs (just pull shoulders up, which isn't so bad), high pulls (pull 45 pound bar up to chin with elbows at the height of your head), push cleans (pull bar up and turn wrist, causing the bar to sit on your wrist facing up, at the height of your shoulders), SDLs (or something like that, which aren't so bad either) and lift the bar thing (I forgot what it was called, but it isn't so bad). The high pulls and the push cleans are DAMNED hard. But the push cleans just suck. I swear, I feel like my wrist breaks every time I do it. : Then we do laterals with weights and front ones (I don't know what it's called). Sometimes we have abs work, sometimes we do the machines. Plus 10-15 minute CARDIO on ellipticals or bikes.

It's not so bad, except the first time I did the bar on the platform I developed a muscle knot on my left shoulder, and I couldn't turn. :))

Well, we do it with the boys, and this is another thing that makes me miss Montecito more. Our boys are shrimps (with the exception of Blake, and maybe Nick and Jared). They actually carry the same weight we do. It's kind of funny, and annoying. Haha.

Alberto (the lone Spaniard on the team, lone international on the mens' team) actually steals the 10 pound weight from us (girls) so some of us do 12.5 or something. It's hilarious. Just this morning, he walked by us after doing the laterals with the squats, and he says "Alberto's shoulder is fucked up." With 10 pounds. Aw, come on. :))

I swear, I think Kane actually fell over with the laterals + squats. Can't get any shrimpier than him. :))

Well, the baseball boys were working out next to us, with another trainer, and they were carrying 95 pounds on EACH arms and walking 30 yards down the turf. Back and forth. OH MY GOD. I felt SO bad for them. They were carrying 3/4 of MY body weight with one hand. It was just INSANE. And they get to rest for like every ten yards, so they drop the weights, and I think one of them dropped it on his foot. It's sad. Poor them. :(

And we have one of these sessions again tomorrow morning. Grrr. Gotta sleep. Peace. <3