Potpourri of Reflections

Rules and regulations
I have a really hard time when things are rigid. It’s like my wings are being clipped and I can’t fly. I have an even harder time when all these rules and regulations don’t make sense at all. At the end of the day my experience is that if there is an inner commitment, you don’t really need all these rules. I belong to a meditation school where there are almost zilch rules. Yet I have been leaving my suitcase there unlocked every year for more than ten years now and it is always untouched. Expensive things can be left at the dining room, and they will be untouched.  


I have a real problem when things lack compassion. In our last meeting an executive of ABS-CBN said: “Gina, why don’t you take this on?” You know there was a Filipina who won X Factor in Israel. She is not rich. She is a caregiver and her family in the Philippines is poor. That’s not even Phillippine money. Then I heard that the BIR is going to take 30-percent of that?! For heaven’s sake, let her keep the money to help her family. It’s not even Philippine money so why not let her keep it? It’s an award for heaven’s sake!


That’s  how my mind operates. There may be these rules but my mind doesn’t know rules — it just has a basic feel for what is right and wrong. There is a problem when there are rules — and then that’s it. There is no room for movement. No room for consideration. With me, it’s my heart that rules. 


Then there is this Corona issue with PNoy…this is my take. From my experience, the team is everything. Everything. If everyone in your team is aligned by the same values, the same goals, flight can take place. PNoy is president. He deserves the right to have a team he believes in. My goodness — the Chief Justice of the Philippines — you want to have that person resonant with your value of no corruption. This is PNoy’s stand. I personally don’t see what is wrong if PNoy activates for a Chief Justice that he resonates with otherwise how can he eradicate corruption if his experience is the  Chief Justice doesn’t resonate with decisions he feels deeply about. I find it totally kosher. But that’s me, and I don’t know the intricacies of government regulations.


Heading PRRC, I have come across so many things which don’t make sense. My people don’t get thirteenth month, don’t get overtime pay — maybe because if it is allowed it would get abused. But what happens is the rules prevent the abuse, but it also prevents the rewarding of honest overtime labor. This makes it very difficult to work for government. Maybe that’s why people make hakot. Just thinking out loud. 


There must be a way to reengineer government so common sense, truth and compassion prevails. Sometimes it feels like the rules and regulations presume that  corrupt people are at the helm so they make these rules to make it difficult. But what if people are honest and visionary? Oh well...



Let me end with something lighter.



I FELL IN LOVE WITH PIGS
I went to Iba, Zambales and was amazed to see the piggery had NO smell whatsoever. I went inside and these cute little pink pigs were nibbling at my feet. I fell in love with them. So I am sending to Iba our new line of G Stuff shampoo, conditioner and body mist for dogs, which I am sure can do for pigs as well. It even includes a breath fresher. I am going to have the cutest pigs ever! I was told there are pigs that don’t grow big. They stay small. I asked my farm manager to find me a pink one that doesn’t grow big. I am so looking forward to have this addition to the family, I have been searching the net on how to train pigs. I have been told they are even more intelligent than dogs! 


When something captivates me, I think about it. I even have a name for my future piglet:s “Cutie Pie.” Although my cook, who I am designating the yaya of my future piglet, wants the name to be “Sweetie Pie.”


Do you know what my kids want to call my future piglet? In a dead pan way and with the hint of a snicker, they said, “Mom, can we call her ‘Lechon’?” Sigh. Kids… If this ever happens I am going to make sure the yaya keeps my kids, my driver and my security far away from my new baby. I am already imagining a piglet in my office.


I want to make my piglets in Iba a tourist destination. The place is really coming up. You can pick your own veggies, eat it or bring it home, play with free range piglets that do not smell at all, kayak in a crystal clear river that ends in a white sand beach, bathe in hot springs.


I will let you know how the pig thing goes.

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I can be reached at [email protected].