THE PILATES BEGIN

The power walks that were first routed via Bakal 1 conveyed Joseph Hubertus Pilates tnrough a roadblock into the reluctant furniture restorer's rented shop before hopping through the stalls of a bazaar to finally procure a pack of replacement batteries before Sunday's breakfast at Jollibee. 

In Baloc, what is probably the most prevalent and oldest medical practice in the world, obligatory to Muslims and Jews who are both Abrahamic with more than common heritage, was celebrated with non-kosher and haram beer and pork like cats flirting by the roadside on the day of a funeral to inspire the first contrology session. 

Monday's payment request was finally acknowledged during Friday's huddle on managing the impact of the Khmer New Year on the Bali Assembly as yet another inbox purge nailed the Phonom Penh Workshop and concluded a system audit through the footprint reporting of meaningful reach and scale. 

But the lechong paksiw moments were when anemia was reported to have been reversed with the confirmation of a career progression in recognition of Bulan's driving proficiency.

The onset of the performance management review conversations as discussed in the Kuala Lumpur Forum's finance report debrief and subsequent exchanges between ASEAN collaborators on social protetction begot the Bali Workshop, an emergence that is as uncertain as signing on to a coal phase-out and as definite as the approval of a requested reaallocation. 

At the regular weekly meetings, it was decided that the Phantom Biler will accommodate a walking season with at least three pilates sessions and a series of gym workouts ... 

BREAKFASTS AT DUSIT THANI (The ASEAN Gender Week)

After the minster was cleared of foreign exchange traders, the laicized cleric instructed from the mountain in the Town in Heaven that "GEDSI must be embedded in energy project design and delivery to drive gender equality and inclusion in energy employment, and build capacity on socially inclusive and gender-responsive energy transition" --- words so esoteric that the spy, instead of gathering intelligence for the Phnom Penh Workshop, opted to usher a welcome dinner at The Pantry, consecutive breakfast buffets so tedious that Lawson's was obliged to host the Last Supper. 

The Secretariat proposed during a huddle that Dusit Thani's breakfast buffet be reimagined as Aling Sosing's freshly grilled pork liempo that can be chopped into an Amorsolo sisig after the morning shift, that its noodle station be exclusive for displaying Japan Town's ramen selection.  

In Little Tokyo, the geishas of Ramen Nagi and Misaki seduced the Phantom Biker with an overpriced sashimi breakfast platter and ramen bowl that hinted of cold sake and two mugs of Suntory highball instead of The Pantry's nubile roving barista, all that for a hefty P4,18 price tag that coud have covered a seat at Michelin-selected Umu.  

Breakfasts at 5-starred Dusit Thani are overrated.

Indeed, the bachelors of Bakal 2 and their dogs preferred slurping balut and penoy higop with inutak at San Roque's church in Pateros to start the day, or a double plate brunch of Nanay's Pancit Malabon with the traders and merchants gathered at San Bartolome's massive church, or even grill an imaginary gilik-flavored bangus for the devotees of San Jose de Navotas' universal church.

Breakfasts can be Maundy like a birthday present of tokwa't baboy and litsong manok wrapped in the Bali Procurement --- 17 years in the Craft celebrated with a Black lager and merlot --- or even an Easter kosher dinner for a vigil to keep an 83-years old soul from wandering and guide him into the spirit world...

THE KUALA LUMPUR FORUM (1 month to Japan)

There were three gentlemen from the Philippines and one each from Timor Leste, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

Four of them made it to the hotel lobby photo and perhaps, one of them will be invited to pay homage to Santa Marta, sister of Mary and patron saint of housewives and restaurant workers, the portkey to an audience with the ghost of Simon Bolivar somewhere at the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino where the Magdalena River passes through before diving into the Carribean Sea for a long swim across the Atlantic Ocean to deliver a communique to the guardians of the Anatalya coast along the Mediterranean Sea. 

That disptach was conjured from the mist of a muddy confluence of two rivers that created the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and inspired the transformation of Petaling Jaya from a 486-hectare rubber estate into a satellite town. 

A day before, the Kuala Lumpur Forum received a doctor's prescription for a confirmed hotel booking and a rush travel insurance procurement, an inbox purge and quarterly timesheets at the transit hotel, and a $100 ransom for a passport that almost got left behind. 

It was also decided during a hotel restaurant huddle that the two meetings bumped off by PR 525 be compensated with a plastic bag of mutton rendang and egg panotta for lunch, and a dinner of overladed Kambing Bhukara Briyani.

Thus was how the declaration for Santa Marta and Anatalya evolved: 

• a report submission before the ambassador checked in
• a campaigner's overview of the Belem outcomes and how the adaptation of just transition might get lost, damaged, and possibly compensated with climate finance 
• unlocking the airline gates to Colombia in a month's time and Turkiye in 8 months with an incantation from a shared agenda for the content gathering interviews

The welcome dinner was sober and dominated by a conversation about ASEAN member state beers, an abstinence whose dullness was punctuated with a cleavage spied around Independence Square, the abundance of subtle hustles at the River of Life, the erect phallic symbols of Kuala Lumpur, and a nuked beef rendang dinner at the Central Market.

It was also announced at the ensuing press conference that the Phnom Penh Workshop as well as the Bali Assembly are now in the advance stages of procurement despite a slight delay in Manila, to ensure that CSO key moments are as harmonious as the flavors of sup kambing and buttered chicken with naan bread.

In Poblacion, Supergirl and Wonderwoman dressed an old-time burger and vanilla milkshake with two cups of red wine from PR 526, bloody enough for the Blues Brothers to croon how an extra service under the red lights of Padre Burgos was politely declined, skewered into crimson pork barbecue, and marinated in 2 bottles of Red Horse Stallion. 

The morning after, the Phantom Biker crashed a car-free Sunday in Ayala Avenue to chase after bikes of various makes and collect sweat from nubile runners of diverse sizes to season an adobong baboy breakfast at the Legazpi Sunday Market.

The Holy Week went live and palm branches go on sale after the Sunday mass at San Pedro de Macati.

Pugad Baboy delivered fresh clothes but missed Marilyn Monroe at the Filling Station during a lunch of half-burgers, pizza, and root beer floats. 

Catholics officially embarked on a visual fast as the saints of Guadalupe Church were covered with the color of penance that foretold of a death in San Jose City... 

THE AGONY OF A PAYMENT REQUEST

St. Joseph was a bodyguard with the celestial mission of protecting the mother of Jesus, and already had children when engaged to Mary thus implying that they didn't have a child together, which earned him veneration as the "most chaste" guardian of virgins. 

St. Joseph, being the patron saint of Bakal 2, is the progenitor of a fiesta meal ---   sinaing na tulingan, sinuglaw, malasadong inihaw na panga ng tuna, overcooked dinakdakan --- that were served in a garage to insulate visiting friends from the distress induced by registering a new bank account, signing a financial agreement, and initiating a payment request that almost fractured the Kuala Lumpur Forum. 

The disbursement did got through, pathetically stumbling through blockages while the Bali Assembly is being procured, while an impact story from Phnom Penh take shape from the fragments of three weekly meetings, a catch-up with the broker, updates from the Sta. Martha Conference, and an abbreviated finale on business development.    

The Barangay Night was On-The-Level though and themed Tanduay-red, almost like bottled red wine and the color of left-over menudo and glistening street barbecue that ushered the first call for the 9th Inclusive Business Forum in Manila and delayed an end-of-project report.  

On the week of St. Joseph;s feast day, blood was drawn at high precision through online banking apps that were activated with emails and signed time sheets from the marching band to induce a post-payment review of a policy toolkit while revisiting the bike trails around Bakal 2 all the way to the Sunday market in Munoz...  

A SHORT IMPACT STORY

Comms is a portrait in a landscape of plastic flowers, ceramic bowls, and a cache of strategic tools for an early sacramental extra-strong beer that drafted storytelling skills into a communications plan. 

The impact, though strong and strategic, must be sweet like a morning iced tea.

It should be infused with developed ethical content despite its being caricatured for an ice breaker. 

An impact story, when refined and shared, will be a perfect fit for the first version of a narrative.

Almost like the ballad of The Hague about how a blockage hostaged the Kuala Lumpur Forum until a Financial Administrator intervened to trigger Step 07; so unlike the Jakarta narrative that is ready to be gathered at the ASEAN Gender Week in Manila through a registration link for a breakfast meeting with the Line Manager whose  payment request was confirmed by a footprint report to have been disbursed, but not for the Bali Assembly procurement nor a 3rd session on business development or financing a coal phase-out advocacy. 

In Bakal 2, the plot is about a pair of litsong manok in the bike trail crowing the impact of an unmasked opthalmic loveliness that inspired a partial credit card payment. 

An impact story can be a sad tale of unrequited young love, of Normita who bequeathed herself to a rich heir in Paniqui, of Leah who married an older man from Mapandan, of Leonor Rivera whose regrets resonate in the abandoned spaces of the Maria Clara House in Camiling. 

It can be the account of two fishermen whose bangus catch from Lingayen Gulf were sold as packs of kinilaw, sisig, inihaw, and sinigang at SNR-Calasiao.  

Another angle is how the Binmaleys built a church for Our Lady of Candles to commemorate the purification of the 40-days old Christ, and Apo Baket "calling" (mantaoag) a farmer to build her a church that is now the abode of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of Manaoag.  

The real story however is that although the cost of pale pilsen has not increased, the chreap sisig sucked...    

THE MEANING OF M

M ain't the Chief of M16's Secret Intelligence Service but a reluctant caregiver somewhere in London.

M stands for Maligaya where 50 (or Roman numeral L) birth years were celebrated with a thousand shots of Scotch whiskey and American bourbon.

M was the meeting in Hogwarts where lobbyists were rewarded with bags of eggs, and the men in aprons who converged in Baloc on the 8th of March. 

M is the enigmatic Specialist of terse one-liners that almost compromised the Kuala Lumpur Forum, an escalation required to finally link a project ID to a grant number.

M is the impact story that will be narrated in Manila, the main agenda of a biweekly task force huddle, and the other matters discussed in the other meetings.    

M are the morning rides that punched through pay windows for a second booster shot before the Bali Assembly was registered for the ASEAN Gender Week.   

M can be the litsong manok, a musky pinangat na hito, or a tray of itlog maalat that compensated The Ironman of Bakal 2 for his services.

M is mass at the historic Barasoain Church and a GRO named Margareth who was treated to her first ever birthday cake during the homily.   

M is a moustached Plaridel enshrined and celebrated in Bulakan, and a Requiem Mass for a misogynist congressman at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Marilao.

Finally, M stands for the Michellin Bib Gourmand emblem that adorned Chie-Chie's Batil Patung like tubs of lechon karahay, chibul, and dinakdakan floating in a sea of egg drop soup.