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The Search for the Mysterious Merkado CTTO
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The old man in the toga has already blocked me on Facebook. Right now, I'm wondering who is this "reliable source" known as Merkado CTTO. Okay, he spelled it out as CTTO Merkado. CTTO means credit to the owner. However, I prefer to call it Merkado CTTO instead of CTTO Merkado. My reasoning would be that CTTO could easily be edited as the surname Cotto. Maybe, let's call this person Merkado Cotto. The fact that we don't know him reminds me of an incident in the past.
I could remember the late presidential candidate Atty. Miriam Defensor-Santago or MDS for short. She always reminds me of my feisty former economics teacher who chastised me for the better. I'm still thankful for my fierce economics teacher who actually helped me after she had to flunk me. The incident, more than a decade ago, had Atty. Harvey Keh of the Kaya Natin (We Can) movement. It was during the impeachment of the late Renato Corona. There was this Mr. Anonymous source. Man, it really blew up MDS' fuse when Atty. Keh himself made a claim to "good governance".
Man, I recall my former high school economics teacher when MDS ordered the arrest of a certain Mr. Anonymous. These lines crack me up until now:
“You’re acting on anonymous source, every time there is something that requires identification of the source the prosecution says there is no source, it came anonymously. Who is Mr. Anonymous? I just want to ask the PNP (Philippine National Police) and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) to issue an arrest order against him,” the Iloilo senator said.
I really laughed so hard when the late MDS lost her temper. I'm annoyed whenever people say she's just a crazy disrespectful woman. She lost her temper when the prosecution didn't do their job well. She lost her temper because of what could be spurious sources. How can anything in a trial be sourced by well, Mr. Anonymous or Miss Anonymous? "There was no source, it came anonymous!" is a classic line that I'll never get over with her. How can you prove innocence or guilt when there's no source but it just came from Anonymous. A lot of stupid blog comments these days come under the guise of simply Anonymous or an account called Unknown.
As for the term Merkado, it's pretty much a Filipino word meaning wet market. It's also the Spanish word for market. With the Spanish colonization, Spanish words got mixed with Malaysian words in several Filipino languages. Suddenly, I remembered one of my Chinese language teachers who was also very feisty. That Chinese language teacher of mine said in Hokkien in her class, "Are you selling eggs? Are you selling chicken?" It was because the class was so noisy. I could remember getting scolded by the same teacher for participating in the market-like noise. The same went for my teacher who was pretty much like MDS. A lot of parents may not like her but I respect that teacher until now. I still thank her for having a huge impact in my life.
I guess the best way to interpret Merkado CTTO (or CTTO Merkado, take your pick is) that the source is from the market. I could remember going to the market and gossip is often found there. I guess that arrogant old man in the toga got his sources from a market gossip. In short, it's not a reliable source at all.
JoseRizal.com Today is Rizal Day, and I found myself admiring him. I don't have his level of genius. Some people often joked that they practiced the Rizal hairstyle. He was only 5.28 feet, which may have been considered tall at that time compared to today's standards. This takes me back in time when my Filipino teacher (forgot her full name) asked, "Do you have to be born a Filipino to be truly Filipino. If we must accept it, Rizal's blood was Chinese." Rizal would be a Chinese mestizo. Look into his history. Rizal's great-great-grandfather was a Chinese immigrant . Those questions forever shook my mind slowly but surely. I'm Chinese by blood, but I was born in the Philippines to Filipino citizen parents, even if my great-grandparents were mostly from China. Concerning Rizal's ancestor, this is an interesting detail: Domingo Lamco: A Beacon of Resilience Domingo Lamco, also known by his Chinese name Cua Yi-Lam (“Ke Yi-Nan” in Mandarin), was a trailbla...
It's Buwan ng Wika or Month of the Language. One of the songs that's often sung in the Buwan ng Wika program is "Ako'y Isang Pinoy" or "I'm Filipino" in English. I remembered this song was sung in the Filipino language class. I did hate the Filipino language, especially as an ethnic Chinese growing up in the Philippines. Examining the lyrics The lyrics go like this with English translation: I am a Filipino Ako'y isang pinoy In heart and soul Sa puso't diwa Filipino born Pinoy na isinilang In our country Sa ating bansa I am not good at foreign languages Ako'y hindi sanay sa wikang mga banyaga I am a Filipino who has my own language Ako'y pinoy na mayroong sariling wika Gat Jose Rizal then spoke Si Gat Jose Rizal nooy nagwika He preached in our country Sya ay nagpangaral sa ating bansa It is said to not love one's own language Ang 'di raw magmahal sa sariling wika The smell is more than stinky fish Ay higit pa ang amoy sa mabaho...
The song "Dayang Dayang" was given a parody cover called "Dayang Daya". Oftentimes, the song "Dayang Dayang" is thought to be Indian. Instead, it's arguably said to be from Muslim Mindanao or was brought in either from Malaysia or Indonesia. Historically, some of the settlers in the Philippines were Malaysians and Indonesians. So, it's probably safe to say that most Filipinos of brown skin descent are mixed Malay and Indonesian. I was even reminded how I mistook a Malaysian woman for a Filipino woman. Back on topic, the parody song has an introduction that says, "Kami Bumbay galing sa India..." (We're Bombay coming from India). I even tend to refer to Indians as Bombay--something I ended up tactlessly saying during my first trip to Singapore. Many times, Filipinos tend to use Bumbay not as a racial slur but to simply refer to an Indian. Some Filipino-Indians don't even mind being called Bumbay for a reason. I guess they got accust...
