"May state of emergency... tara, nuod tayong movie!"

I flew in this morning for a meeting, but upon arriving at our Makati office, it was noticeable that only a handful of employees were there. Apparently, a "State of Emergency" was called because of an impending coup. Our local office, which has always been a model for paranoia, hit the panic button and sent everyone home. There was even an email that asked all employees to bring all important files home in case Makati would be reduced to rubble and a make-shift office has to be rebuilt. (Told you they were paranoid.)

Needless to say, my meeting was cancelled, and I found myself at the office doing nothing. My computer won't connect to the local server, so there was no point working. Hanging out at the secretaries' area, I could hear them planning an afternoon shindig since there wasn't any work. Same thing happened when I called my friends who work in Makati, they were all saying:

"May state of emergency, so pinag-half day kami. Gimmick tayo! Tara, nuod tayong movie tapos dinner sa Casa Armas, tapos Absinth."

After EDSA 1 and 2, this is how seriously people take these "revolutions." We've made it an excuse to go home early and party hearty! This is good, because it shows how resilient the Filipinos are, and it just reinforces the fact that we can laugh and enjoy in the face of adversity.

A few friends from Singapore also flew in today because a friend of ours is getting married tomorrow. Out of the 6, 5 were first time visitors to the Philippines. Ergo, my worry was they'd freak out given the country's situation upon their arrival. Surprisingly, they were totally cool about it. And why? It's because they see that everything is functioning normally despite this "state of emergency." Malls are packed. Restaurants are full. Everyone's partying like it was a weekend (which it was), so they were oblivious to this supposed turmoil.

While having dinner, they said that their relatives and friends from Singapore started calling them up to ask how they were, and their replies ranged from "we're ok," "we're shopping," and "this is such a cool country!" The most interesting and candid remark was: "hey, if this is how a state of emergency looks like, i wonder how much fun it is when everything's normal."