THE SAINTs

William McKinley is the 25th president of the United States, progenitor of Donald Trump's tarriff madness, executor of the  American expansionism era that included the annexation of the Philippines, and presiding officer of the usual Monday meetings. 

He was elected as president in March 1897, almost two months before the murder of Andres Bonifacio who should have been the first president of the Philippines and possibly a vehicle insurance assesor.

Thus was the name behind Fort McKinley, home of the "Polar Bears" of Asia which is one of only 3 infrantry regiments created and deployed outside mainland USA, later renamed to Fort Bonifacio after World War 2, once the headquarters the Philippines' army and naval forces. 

But Pochok only cares about anethesizing a nasoendoscopy biopsy with its famous grilled bangus, oblivious to the lights of High Street in what is now the Bonifacio Global City, the 43rd most expensive piece of real estate in the world that got it converted fom a military base into an integrated business hub. 

McKinley may be a prominent American politician and Bonifacio a venerated a national hero but neither are saints like the blessed server at Souv by Cyma who preached on the virtues of a Chilean sauvignon blanc for the starters (salad and bread) and entrees (clam and solomos pasta), and why Chilean merlot, in the absence of a Greek wine in a Greek restaurant, is best for the main course (beef kalamaki) specially while responding to a regional retreat survey. 

It was St. John the Baptist's divine intervention that spared the lives of men who were about to be executed by vengeful Japanese occupiers in 1944 to spawn the legend of Bibiclat's Taong Putik.

 

Prayers to St. Jerome ended a cholera outbreak in 1866 that led to the veneration of both its images at the Roman Catholic and the Iglesia Filipina Independiente shrines in Baloc. 

St. Luke once again delivered on Cigna to usher the triumph of the Kuala Lumpur procurement over bureaucracy, and to finally conclude a chase for foreign exchange after Tuesday's catch up where Melbourne agreed on a status quo for the First Quarter report.  

Amidst the din of emails and a top-up, the distraction of a possible inception workshop in Bali, and a preview of Belem after Rayong, the Phantom Biker entreated the Sacred Heart of Jesus who is also known as Christ the Worker, and the martyred St. Sebastian to interecede for a favorable outcome beyond a succesful thesis presentation and reclassification, beyond the confirmation of a meeting in Tulat.

Finally, a brunch of smoked kielbasa sausage, fatty pork belly, a rack of ribs, and beef briskets were entrusted to the patronage of St. Lawrence to ensure PR 736's safe flight to Bangkok after two nights of reheated sinigang na talakitok and tokwa't baboy in Bakal 2 bookended a cheap ramen lunch in Cabanatuan.  

THE SLACK

Life is a Kapampangan buffet lunch: savory, rich, delectable.

But it was actually a nondescript bowl of soupy balao-balao --- food of both Gods and mortals -- that elevated the flavors of Saturday's sumptuous spread in what could have been bland nilagang gulay, a typical fried catfish, and even an overfried lechong kawali.  

Pretty much like a particular week in Bakal 2: tedious, monotonous, routine.

Until a contentious non-compliance was resolved and a challenging extraordinary procurement in Kuala Lumpur waived. 

Somehow, these dulled the sharp mundaneness of cancelled Monday meetings and the daily grind of sorting through electronic mails and messages, the chagrin of being reimbursed in pesos rather than dollars, and the struggle of composing a compelling farewell note. 

A surprise top-up of $140,000 for Phnom Penh and Manila hailed the fiscal year's first conversation with partners; what can possibly be the appropriate business models for sustainable housing; a cheap ryokan in Japan maybe or climate-resilient settelements around the Santuario de San Vicente de Paul Parish and Shrine of the Poor --- ideas that were bookended by the Thursday Group with the crispiness of fried tilapia and the delicate texture of estofadong pata.   

Bangkok's impact measurement training will be virtual after all. 

Reports must be submitted before the dealdine.

Thus, the Phantom Biker finally broke out of its cocoon for a take-out goto, a dine-in Jollibee breakfast, a prayer to St. Jerome, and a futile search for foreign exchange. 

The slack spawned possibilities: a trade-in for a Toyota Zenix maybe, an opportunity in the Senate perhaps, a probable 3-step reclassification? 

What's certain are the replacement stoves and and spectacles, an updated bank account, clean air coolers, and a replenished larder before Tropical Storm Ramil made landfall. 

SOLAR PANELS OF OUR MINDS (Breaking Out of Phnom Penh)

Pursat is the Middle Kingdom of 10 solar panels that was redacted in the minutes of the Monday meetings.

From the silhouette of its Kravanh Mountains, boiled leaves were harvested by Khmer Rouge stragglers that were marinated in Pursat's version of the prahok ktis and served as a unique wild cardamom soup with a fish roe garnish that hinted of Monday's pangat na hito and per diem resolution. 

Kampong Chhnang is the New Kingdom with only 6 solar panels, the manifestations of a digital rights review and a sustainable housing discussion.

A day before, huge pots of Khor Bourguignon adorned its pavements where fair finance was debated as either an attrition against credit card debts or topping up three bank accounts while in a nearby canopy, a committee of nubiles carried stacks of potted eel stew and 9 cans of beer on their nimble heads.   

Battambang is the Old Kingdom with 18 solar panels granted from Mao Tse Tung Boulevard where the Ironman of Bakal 2 chaired a caucus.

There, cows graze in flooded ricefields before being herded by a lost stick into plates of delicate Khmer steak and crispy fresh corn, antecedants to a famous bowl of savory yellow pork noodles that transformed into a Khmer-style spicy papaya salad and omelette at a tropical garden near the pumping station. 

Muddy and rugged were the the roads to the solar panels of Cambodia, somber as the monologue of a commune chief and the daily ritual for morning alms, poignant as the children bathing and catching fish in the irrigation ditches, and seductive like a pasenger of PR 2621 flashing the outline of her underwear beneath flimsy white pants to steal the thunder from the shine of the new Techo International Airport and a classy hotel transfer.

The long rip back to Phnom Penh was punctuated by roadside snack of grilled fish paste and boiled rice noodles in lieu of a doubtful farewell dinner.

Instead, the Russian Market laid out a curbside feast of crabs, shrimp, squid, salmon fins, and sea snails while the Grab driver waits somewhere.  

PR 2262 was on time but did not serve wine.

Back in Manila, the blessings of Our Ladies of Remedies in Malate and of the Holy Rosary of La Naval de Manila were implored for the day's nasoendoscopy after an early morning reunion at the Salcedo Saturday Market... 

THE BANGKOK CLIMATE ACTION WEEK

Hot gasses must be banished to save the world from hell.

So I came, I spoke, I moderated after 3.5 months of self-imposed seclusion at home that was long enough to render a pre-boarding sleepless night in Bakal 2 and a diarrheic episode at Panay Avenue.

"We must elevate justice principles and community voices in transboundary energy transition financing," I told the Monday meetings at the airport, adding that "We need to strengthen the alignment of financial institutions with climate commitments".

What I did not tell them is beer will be the liquid rice accompaniment to Aree Seafood's grilled salted tilapia and Soi Polo's Michelin-listed fried chichen, and to perk up a boring networking cocktail reception at the Conrad Hotel.  

In Bangkok, the inbox opens every morning and in each episode, complicated procurements were slowly untangled, a report was polished for review and sign-off, and another flight booked, among others, before engaging the running track of of the Benchakitti Forest Park for the benefit of climate justice, for the last bowl of Tomyum Noodle Soup before the Ploenchit Market closes down at 2 pm, and for the first serving of crispy prok belly as the stalls opened at the Rangnam Market at 5 pm.

A digital arrival card was unexpected but the makeshift kitchens in the streets of Bangkok look and smell the same where hawkers scurry in preparing an 8-course Thai welcome dinner for the horde at Baan Glom Gig who were being prepped for the execution of a 2026 Flagship Activities Masterplan. 

Rangnam turned out to be a fluke, some place at the Victory Monument BTS Station where I used to buy crispy pork, sticky rice, and sweet Thai coffee for breakfast.

The Isan food stall in front of the gas station that is being demolished is gone, so are the pork rib noodles and dancing shrimp vendors. 

Free airconditioned air and wifi wafted from a King Power Duty Free Shop but I did not pass through 6 BTS stations for that. 

I should have taken the train to Yaowarat or walked to Silom.

But the Grab driver already dropped me at a self check-in kiosk that opened the E-gates of Suvarnabhumi Airport. 

A ligtning alert took the duration of a Conclave but there was enough time to catch a first class bus to Bakal 2 where the remaining credit card and phone bill payments wre finally transacted...

THE SPECIALISTS

The CARDIOLOGIST confirmed the itinerary to Kampong Chhnang, Pursat, and  Battambang before elevating to the 11th floor: "The walkie-talkie is back in Angeles City so my support role is done. The first payment though got stuck in Phnom Penh but you can continue with your prescriptions from the Heart of Jesus".

The ONCOLOGIST observed a diminished and  abbreviated Monday meeting while arranging donation cans: "Indeed, the chief planning officer is benign so I will cancel the next-generation sequencing since the donation from California has been transacted. You will have your 4th scan after 3 months".  

The THORACIC SURGEON reviewed then endorsed a policy brief from Kuala Lumpur: "Your lungs were inflamed. We are thankful for your good progress, our answered prayers, and the evolving case studies. Today is Padre Pio's feast day. I will check on you again after 3 months".

At the 2nd floor chapel, she communed with the images of Padre Pio and Our Lady of Gudalupe who kept her company in the ICU.

She gazed at the rising sun from the balcony of 17E in Tower 1, grateful for a new day and perplexed why Monday's happy lechon spoiled so quickly.

 

The OTOLARYNGOLOGIST responded to a network request before completing the confederation's one program report for Asia: "We need to perform a rhinoscopy in October to secure a hotel booking and a session plan in Bangkok".

The HEMATOLOGIST smelled of high precision blood works from San Jose City: "You (to Bulan) drove through the rain but we can only determine thalassemia after 3 months.    

Chapter 4 of an inequality report was listed as either a burger breakfast, braised beef noodle soup and dimsum, classic pancake, a cheesy patty, or menudo.

The Phantom Biker sneaked a quickie to the alterator before Cigna's denial of "own travel" and accommodation costs in lieu of the Thursday Group's interpretations of the lechon as a sashimi and chicken inasal from an Entered Apprentice.

DAYS OF THE MENDING

The Bangkok and Phnom Penh meetings were locked in. 

Climate finance commitments will be aligned with the stars to reconfigure three meetings, a field vist, and a team dinner.

A side hustle in Kuala Lumpur between two more Thai engagements is taking shape.  

One final glimpse of the Canberra reports exposed the signed guidelines and a committed support package for Jakarta.

Monday's shuffle progressed into Saturday's steady strides.

Black Velvet celebrated an employment eligibility.

A petite eye doctor threw pink shoes at managed healthcare.

Near beer, pizza, and chicharon fell an ancient molar.

Absence monitoring, workforce management, and a single source solution are the Signs of Change.

Case researches were elevated into an inclusive nexus for just energy transition that was explored and probed in Manila.

Payment was requested for cleansing electronic folders and organizing vistual boxes during the Monday meetings.

The troika of the Ironman, the Chef, and the Caregiver prays as the Phantom Biker for the complete mending of a Braveheart...

BRAVEHEART

The Grim Reaper hovered to sqeeze her soul.

It was almost over but her heart, reinforced with prayers and aided by the spirits of her father and brother, fought back with great courage and determination.

Not yet, and thus was how the intubated who lived and the comatose who woke up broke free from a feeding tube and the shackles of a urinary catheter and an intercostal drain to liberate free air from the suffocation of a venturi mask and regain composure from the beeping noise of a multiparameter monitor; strong and valiant in the face of danger and adversity that rendered a central line, a sequential compression device, and incontinence pads moot and academic.

He wanted to but why can't he cry hard enough? 

Perhaps it was the stone hearted pragmatism that, throughout the ordeal, delivered a communications work plan to nudge a Dutch email account, resolve the remaining financial agreement, and secured slots for Jakarta at Bangkok's Climate Action Week and Kuala Lumpur's Energy-Business Forum, provisions that justified the launch of a multi-country program practitioners guide and the first engagement with a digital economy framework agreement. 

He remained level-headed in the Monday meetings, tranquil and collected in responding to Manila's proposed presentation, drafting an agenda for Phnom Penh, and DocuSigning requests for payment. 

But resoluteness is just a facade, a survival mechanism, his heart's pleadings and gratitude known only to the deities, his most sincere and vulnerable moments exposed only in heaven's portkeys.

Like on Friday morning at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. 

Their eldest might have missed the surgical staple extraction and spyrometer exercise in Room 6200 but his daily post-ICU hustles from Tower 2 (10L) and Tower 3 (22V) revealed a steady and reliable heart that kept the refrigerated ginisang monggo and nilagang baboy from Bakal 2 warm and delectable. 

On Friday afternoon, the last of a phalanx of doctors signed the discharge papers at a cost of P17,640.20 in lieu of P2,603,453.40.

We have relieved happy hearts, grateful for her brave heart that pulled us through: she had a face-off with a flatline and prevailed.

Somewhere up there, the deities heeded our prayers and smiled kindly on us. 

Back in Bakal 2, the Samara Suntrust skyline faded into flavors of near beers paired with litsong manok and sinigang na ulo ng salmon, and a smorgasbord of dinakdakan, pocorns, luncheon meet, tinumis, bopis and the first of early morning walk exercises...