Lawyer and Foreign Service Officer. Back in the ๐ต๐ญ after 2+ years in ๐ซ๐ท. ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฟ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐.
IG: villanuevavictor.
Today I learned that Philippine eagles are extremely monogamous. They are counted in breeding pairs because once they find their partners, a pair of PH eagles remain together for the rest of their lives.
Kind of crazy to recall, as a child in the 90s, Holy Week was such a borefest--no TV, no internet, no establishments open, we weren't allowed to play outside, not allowed to exhibit any sign of cheer, pretty much compelled to be somber and follow through elders' long prayers.
Annoying how Lazada customer reviews are all about packaging and delivery. Guys, I wanna know if these things work the way they should, not how fast delivery was or how nice the bubble wrap!
Sometimes I wonder (and judge) how some people on Twitter have all the time to have a take on everrythiingg. Like, wow, I see this guy/girl's opinion RT'ed from politics to tinola to latest celeb break up, to strangers' public quarrels, etc.
Nothing wrong, I'm just bemused.
A block away from infamous Wai Ying eatery in Binondo, found this all-veggie meat Chinese restaurant serving really tasty savory dishes, even their sisig tastes almost like sisig with the veggie meat texture almost like crunchy pork skin.
Got a 'combo meal' of 3 ulam for P180
Taking this color scheme a bit seriously with teal and yellow tableware from an online shopping app. I'm thinking maybe a more neutral dining area abaca carpet now. And real plants!
What is this
@pandayancomph
Pandayan Bookshop? Why are you selling globes like this? This is in your Monumento store. Please take them off the shelves!
#DALS
โCโest tellement un truc de ouf !โ ๐
Sa danse prรฉfรฉrรฉe, le juge quโil redoute, son objectif dans Danse Avec Les Starsโฆ Billy Crawford se dรฉvoile dans son portrait โจ
RDV dรจs Vendredi prochain pour dรฉcouvrir la nouvelle saison de Danse Avec Les Stars ๐ชฉ
Twitter people nowadays are so intolerant of reality that not everyone shares the same worldviews and values that the automatic response to everyone they disagree with is hostility--palagi na lang cancelled, dragged, burned at the stake.
The West PHL Sea (WPS) / SCS is literally my day job in the WPS Division of the DFA but today instead of briefing papers, talking points, *etcetera* ๐, I join 7,000 advocates in the
#takboparasaWPS
run.
Public support is the fuel that drives policy and action forward.
In fairness to Sharon Cuneta, galing. Serenading the crowd with love songs and then rousing them up in fiery chanting, shifting her speech from corruption to k-pop without a script, talks about her family, then concisely sums up her husband's platform perfectly.
Everyone ugly crying in the cinema towards the end of 'How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies' then SM abruptly turns on all the cinema lights right after the last scene revealing everyone's sobbing faces was awkward and hilariously anti-climactic. Haha bwiset.
Got dressed for work, went down after an hour in office barong and gave them another reprimand. "Ano, kailangan ko ba magmukhang abogado para respetuhin nyo? Samantalang yung mga (redacted) pakalat-kalat dito parang sila may-ari?? Ni di nyo sinusuway nagyoyosi kung saan (etc)..!"
My French residence permit expires today without me exercising the option to come back, extend, or apply for citizenship. Early this year I decided to return to the PH to take on a career in the PH foreign service. Nanghihinayang ba ako? (1/x)
We should realize we share the world with so many others who don't see things the same way.
Our parents and their generation, for example, didn't grow up the same way we did, and you can't force them to automatically adopt same progressive views on say, politics or gender...
@ronnrobby
Bukod sa oras, the mental energy to be angry, concerned, stressed about every issue-of-the-day on Twitter, 90% of which are probably things one can very easily just ignore. Like wow, di ko kaya yon haha.
Do we always burn them at the stake every instant they same something disagreeable? Of course not. We talk, or we just let them be.
Sometimes I see Twitter dragging high school kids out for making mistakes, saying immature, politically incorrect things. Wow. They're kids people.
I hesitate belaboring nuances in terms used in articles but there's value in accuracy. There's persistent (or deliberate?) confusion in use of words "sovereignty" and "territory" to refer to some maritime features in the ๐ต๐ญ West PH Sea, like Ayungin Shoal, a submerged reef. (1/4)
I am increasingly anxious as election day nears. If you've followed me the past years, you know I've wagered my fate, let go of my chance to 'get out' and committed myself to serve in the PH whoever wins. There are days I feel so hopeful, there are days I feel immense dread.
My best friend from Germany visited for the weekend. Theme of this tour was historic and modern Intramuros--from the walls of the old city to the invisible barriers of modern enclaves that show the intense contrasts of the PH society then and now. Hope he wasn't too overwhelmed.
One of the causes of my anxiety is I've committed myself (literally sworn) to enter a career next month w great hopes that I'd be serving under a govt I can be proud to represent, even letting go of the chance to be a citizen of another country. Tumaya na ako sa Pilipinas. (1/n)
My photo app reminded me that my current dp was taken exactly a year ago. This time last year, my friends and I went on a road trip across Normandie. Hay, I miss.
(Mes excuses ร mes amis bretons pour la derniere photo lร )
Never dived in my life till today. My instructor thought it was a good idea to take me directly to sea on first day to get the anxiety off right away after first pool session. Ngiting first time diver! I can't find the right words how amazing the underwater world is!! Ang gandaa!
I needed sense of purpose to keep me going and I wanted to devote my life to something more than self or family. I'm not the sum of my particular set of experiences, interests, and talent, only to live obscurely in Europe. I was having fun but little sense of fulfillment. (3/x)
Taking this color scheme a bit seriously with teal and yellow tableware from an online shopping app. I'm thinking maybe a more neutral dining area abaca carpet now. And real plants!
New dining set arrived. Still need more plants and books, figurines and photos maybe, to fill that wall shelf up. Books are not yet in order. Kulang pa rin ng rug.
Almost got me too. They're really good at it, they lured me until the part they were on the last OTP request for the final bank transfer until I came to my senses.
Script involved pretending to be bank reps updating my records and giving me rebates, OTP to 'confirm my identity'.
A lawyer friend got scammed, losing P75,000 debited from his bank account to a GCash account. Beware of unsolicited calls even if they have you personal information and able to send "OTPs". Do not engage. They're getting more and more sophisticated.
Short answer, no. Nuanced answer, I reminisce and fantasize on what my life in FR would have been, esp during stressful moments at work, and when confronted w the agony of living in Manila. But these are only fleeting moments of daydreaming. (2/x)
My mantra as a tourist nowadays--is it worth it if not for its Insta aesthetic? If not, skip it. Been duped many times now by restos/activities that look good but are actually total rip-offs. People do things for clout now and don't admit it, pretend it's amazing on social media.
The boomers are at it again. Sometimes I wonder if we should bother challenging deeply-held outdated worldviews or just wait for the natural progression of generations and wait our turn. (Which is also a very sad thought, considering these include our parents).
Final day of my 15-day trip across parts of central Visayas I've never been to before.
A month before I officially assume my office, this was sort of a way of rekindling a love affair with the PH gone a bit stale after spending a few years abroad.
Ang ganda mo, Pilipinas.
Traveling for 2+ weeks overseas with a seven-member family with parents close to their 70s and a nephew just barely three years old can be exhausting! But I treasure these moments while everyone can still travel together.
Not surprised with viral videos like this. The Netherlands, 'small' as they are (not even half the size of Luzon), is world's 2nd (2nd!) largest agricultural exporter in terms of value just behind the US. Ahead of all the world's largest countries. How? Technology, for one.
This is the current standard of an โagriculture-drivenโ economy. Unless we operate at this level and while the yield of our farmers largely remain at the level of self-sustenance, I donโt think we can call ourselves that.
@13thFool
Yes! This is how I came to know and eventually availed of the 3 day hike myself (Pula - Cambulo - Batad) -- through a French expats FB group. Almost indispensable part ng itinerary nila ang Ifugao, along w Palawan. I wouldn't have thought of it otherwise kasi di ito uso satin.
Lol, it's them who are confused and are playing a dangerous game. Anong file a lawsuit, on what ground eh? Haha. You really want what you're asking for? Be our guest and 'ban' Facebook in the Philippines, eh di kayo yung nawalan ng platform. Our lives would be much better.
I took a nap during lunch break, my head on my desk with my arms as pillow. Thought to myself, "I wish I had a nap pillow" and did nothing more.
Tonight my social media ads are all showing me desk nap pillows. What sorcery is this??
I guess an important lesson I have to learn as an incoming career officer is to take PH's political tides in stride, as we inevitable serve diff admins every election cycle. Promote the best interest of the PH abroad and keep a moral compass to guide me whoever heads the govt. ๐ฅฒ
Forgot to tweet this. Part of the trip we spent in Manjuyod sandbar off Bais in Negros Or. after dolphin watching. At high tide it submerges in seawater and transforms into a giant turquoise blue swimming pool. Fishermen would come to sell shellfish of all kinds for lunch.
@Keniji
Matigas daw nung nilakaran nila, akala nila buhangin. Sabi ko no its not sand, its finely crushed dolomite stones freshly quarried from mountains 600km+ from here... ๐
Doing a personal project of rebuilding my blog and I came across this 'day in the life' reel I made when I was in first year of LLM that I never uploaded. Lol I miss.
Includes impromptu Italian and Russian lessons from my classmates.
Today marks the 8th year since the Arbitral Award on the South China Sea was rendered, which conclusively settled the status of historic rights and maritime entitlements in the SCS, declaring w/o legal effect claims that exceed the limits of maritime entitlements under UNCLOS.
READ
#DFAStatement
: Statement on the 8th Anniversary of the 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea
Also found in this link ๐๐ป
#DFAForgingAhead
Again, sovereignty over territory can only be based on land, and up to 12nm seaward from a state's baseline.
Thus, there's no way in int'l law, particularly UNCLOS, for ๐จ๐ณ more than a thousand km away, to exercise any maritime claim, let alone sovereignty, over Ayungin. (4/4)
Unintended social media break past days. Got too busy settling down in my new place, troubleshooting appliances, moving in stuff, etc. Doesn't help that
@enjoyGlobe
is taking ages to install internet and there's weak signal in my unit.
Also, officially started work w the DFA!
๐Batad Rice Terraces, Ifugao. This landscape photo doesn't do justice to majestic height of these terraces, which form an ampitheater-like arena with the verdant Cordillera mountains as its stage and its spectacle at the same time.
Often wondered why PH primetime newscasts always been headlined by parochial crimes--particularly those caught on CCTV--car crashes, theft, brawls, name it. News of national significance, politics, international news--news people should know--are buried way in the end.
As due diligence, did a solo dry run walking tour (w LRT ride) of "old Manila" (Escolta, Binondo, Quiapo and Intramuros) I curated for my German friend coming over in a few weeks, down to which side of the roads we'd walk, the vegetarian resto in Chinatown we'd have lunch...
Done voting! Lined up before 6am and done in less than an hour. Praying for the best for our country.
[Not in the habit of pangongopya pero sa 10 nasilip kong mga boto ng mga nauna sa kin (since it's quite easy to see with the gigantic ballot), 6 ang ok sa tuktok. Ginanahan ako]
Intramuros 'express' bike tour (Part 1).
Balikbayan and foreign friends visiting always a good occasion to do tourist things in your own city. Never done this particular tour of Intramuros before!
Three ++ years on and covid finally caught me (for the first time?). Been having random fits of dry cough the past week and didn't think much of it. What prompted me to test today was loss of taste this weekend. Still a cause for concern or is it like ordinary flu nowadays?
Newfound obsession with coffee and my new pump espresso machine. Spending hours reading about and watching YT videos on coffee. I can sense my coffee barista era coming. โ๏ธ
For the record, I am deferring my actual start of duty for xx months. (We're allowed to.) I still plan to wrap up pending law office work, and I intend to spend xx weeks across the ๐ต๐ญ. (Saying this to avoid raising any eyebrows should you assume I'm already on govt payroll.)
I always wonder Filipino news even say "non-showbiz" to refer to a boyfriend/girlfriend. It's such a useless descriptor and really cringey. I mean, if the partner wasn't a celebrity we would know right, exactly kasi hindi nga kilala.
Early morning commute to the office. Not sure which agency sets bus stops but I hope they put several along Macapagal Ave where none currently exists betweek PITx and Taft. Always leaving to fate that one just magically stops where I join a random congregation of other commuters.