Monday – 11 Oct

[smartads] I was up really early this morning, for awhile.  I got up at 0410 to watch the Cowboys lose.  And I do mean the ‘Cowboys lose’ not the ‘Titans win’.  But a win is a win, no matter how you get it.  After the game I stayed up a little longer to check fantasy football, but then it was time to go back to bed.  I finally got up for good at 12:10pm.

Yesterday was 10-10-10, I didn’t even really know until it was already 10-11-10.  To the best of my knowledge nothing special happen on 10-10-10 anyway.

Lita is trying a new ingredient in the BBQ sauce.  Of course it’s a secret.  Don’t know why she wants to change it because it is already selling so well, and so many people like it.  But it’s her BBQ so I let her do what she wants, I just advise.

I know that I’ve said this once or twice before, but I’m really, really low on material today.  I’m going to have to come up with something that is nice to tell y’all that didn’t actually happen today, but did happen to me here.  Oh, okay, I have said that almost every post, but you’ll see, it’s really, really, really (extra really to take up space) true this time.

Titing ‘officially’ opened his little store today.  I don’t get the camera back until tomorrow, so you’ll have to wait for pictures of how it looks now.  It does look different than the last pictures I put on here only a day or two ago.  I don’t know everything that he will be selling there, but I did see some pancit today.  He still has to close down when Lita opens up her BBQ though.  Titing has a little display case on his stand now.  Actually there is one on the BBQ side too.  They were both bought today, I think.  I didn’t even see them until I finally got outside.  I’ve been cooped up in the computer room looking at fantasy football results all day.

Lita made some of those candied banana’s today to sell.  You remember the ones I talked about before that are made with brown sugar.  Those things didn’t last very long.  She made a dozen and 11 of them went pretty fast.  She just ended up eating the last one though.  She’s not suppose to eat too much sugar, but I can’t stop her from eating all sugar.

Around about 3:20, I decided it was time to eat.  I had to have BT’s again.  I had 3 with a bottle of Tropicana Twister juicy pulp orange juice.  I’m going to need something else to eat besides bacon.  I have some of the Ramen noodles left still, but it’s getting so low, I don’t want to use them all up.  Our trip to Tacloban in 3 weeks is going to be very welcomed for me.  I hope they have something new there though.  I don’t want to keep eating Underwood Chicken Spread only.  I’m still hoping for some stew I like to be there.

Speaking of stew.  Gary made it back home to Angeles.  Welcome back Gary.  He has my stew and other things with him.  He’ll be here in Calbayog sometime in the near future, and I’ll be able to get that from him to last me a little bit longer.  I’m not in a hurry though, because the sooner he gets here, the sooner it is gone.  But I’m sure going to be glad to taste that beef stew, even if it is from a can.  The beef jerky too.

I was talking with the owner of The Jungle Restaurant in Cebu.  One of the things they have going for them is they advertise that they can get almost anything to eat there that you want, even if it is not on the menu.  At first I was asking for some high quality beef, but found out that the best they can get is the Australian beef, which is very good, but not quite the standard set in the US.  In addition to that, the price is so high, it is almost impossible for a non-rich person like me to get.  I then asked him about Tex-Mex food.  He said, no problem.  Just let him know when we are coming and he’ll be sure that we get served well.  I’m really going to be glad to check that place out.  In addition to the food, they have a show that I’ve been wanting to see too.  It seems like a can’t miss place while visiting Cebu, but I’d like to see it first hand, before passing any final judgement on it.

I see on TV that Adam Lambert is here in the Philippines now.  Just got here today, and he has already visited the police station.  Seems he has a necklace or bracelet that is made out of empty rifle shells.  He was stopped at the airport and taken to the police station in a police car.  I saw him giving an interview after that, so I guess he is not in jail.

The head engineer at the Ciriaco Hotel is planning a big party for all his employees before the big opening of the hotel next month.  Yes, next month.  The hotel is suppose to open for business on Monday 8 Nov, exactly 4 weeks from today.  Anyway, he was looking for someone to make the food for all the employees.  Well that’s a lot of food for us, even for us and Titing combined.  However, Judith has the means to make such a large meal.  Evidently she needs to put in a bid to get it.   I’ll have to get more details on that, but that is my understanding at this time.

Well that’s the end of my list.  I even added the Adam Lambert thing and the Jungle Restaurant thing in there.  They are not on my list.  I’m not quite to 1000 words yet.  I’m at 991, but at the end of this sentence it should be 1005.  Nah, it was only 1003, but now it’s over 1010.  I’ll have to come up with something to fill in the rest.  Let me go outside to see what’s going on.  Hang on!

Tagalog word of the day:  paa (pa-ah)  means foot.

No nothing going on.  No one won the lottery or anything.  I do have some lottery tickets from the other day that I have not checked yet though.  It’s no different than when I play in Texas, I win little or nothing.  The jackpots here are not quite as high as in Texas either, but I really don’t care.  First of all, I’m never going to win anyway.  I’m just contributing to the lottery fund.  Second, even if I did win, whatever I win to pay off my POS and finish my house, is plenty.  I don’t need more money than that.

Seems that everyone at Ramil and Robbie’s house is sick, except Robbie.  Or at least they all have really red eyes.  Ramil is suppose to go to Manila tomorrow, so I don’t know what’s going on with that.

We have another ‘very happy’ guy outside eating.  A customer for the BBQ eating at the table.  Lita wanted me to bring the CD player out there to play them some music while they ate, but it doesn’t work, again.  It’s a pos too.  Everyone was looking at me when I brought it out, it didn’t work, so I had to bring it back in.  It just made me look stupid.

I can’t think of anything else to write.  Sorry.  I’ll make it a point to have some good things tomorrow or at least I’ll try the best I can.

Largest Loot in History
Much has been said about the late President Ferdinand Marcos being the world’s richest man. While this title was not officially designated to Marcos, the late dictator, however, was known as the man who took away the largest loot in history. While deposed President Joseph Estrada faces plunder charges for allegedly amassing some US$82 million in kickbacks and payoffs during his 31-month stint at Malacanang Palace, Marcos had reportedly stolen billions of dollars. There were different versions of the fabled Marcos wealth.

The fabled Marcos wealth reportedly consists of billions of dollars and tons of gold bullions deposited in several banks in Switzerland. Government lawyers claimed that Marcos had used dummy foundations to hoard his wealth. Among such foundations that the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) had identified are Sandy, Xandy, Wintrop, and Rayby.

Former Senate President Jovito Salonga, who served as the first PCGG chairman under the Aquino administration said the agency had identified 51 Marcos bank accounts in Switzerland, 23 of which are in Credit Suisse; 3 at Swiss Bank Corporation in Fribourg; 15 in Swiss Bank Corporation in Geneva; 6 at Banque Paribas in Geneva; 3 at Hoffman in Zurich; and one each at Lombard Odeii and Trade Development Bank in Geneva.

According to former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez, the Marcos family still keeps some US$13.4 billion in deposits at the Union Bank of Switzerland under the account of Irene Marcos-Araneta, on top of a hoard of 1.241 tons of gold at an underground bunker at Kloten Airport in Zurich. Chavez also disclosed that former First Lady Imelda Marcos has 800,000 ounces of gold in unfrozen accounts in Switzerland.

Before this, Australian private investigator Reiner Jacobi, who served as a PCGG consultant in 1989, had unraveled the so-called Irene Araneta account and even went to the extent of claiming that the Marcoses had a US$250-billion gold hoard in Switzerland. The PCGG, however, described Jacobi’s claims as exaggerated and too fantastic.

In October 1999, Filipino businessman Enriquez Zobel, a known crony of the late president told a Senate committee that the Marcos wealth could have swollen to US$100 billion in gold and dollar deposits, the bulk of which is deposited with the US Treasury. In his sworn testimony, Zobel said the Marcos wealth is distributed to gold deposits, dollar accounts, and real estate properties located in various parts of the world.

The Marcos gold deposits alone, Zobel said, may have reached US$35 billion. Zobel had also mentioned the US$13.4 billion Irene Marcos Araneta account at the Union Bank of Switzerland. The gold bars are allegedly kept in various banks in Portugal, Vatican City, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Solomon Island, and the US. Zobel said Marcos obtained the gold bars after the Liberation (1946) from the Yamashita treasure and from soldiers who sold their gold bars for only US$20 per bar. Another version was that of Rogelio Roxas who claimed that Marcos’ men seized the real golden buddha from his house at Aurora Hills in Baguio City on April 5, 1971. The buddha reportedly costs billions of dollars.

In February 2001, the Philippine Daily Inquirer disclosed the alleged attempt of Irene Marcos Araneta to launder billions of dollars in deposits under the 885931 accounts from Union Bank of Switzerland to Deutsche Banks in Dusseldorf, Germany. Aside from the Marcos family and the Philippine government, the 9,539 victims of human rights under the Marcos regime have interest in the Marcos wealth.

Salamat, Palaam