October 12-18 2025
It’s funny to me to see people selling “used” items on Carousell for amounts that are equal or greater than the exact same item in Lazada/Shopee that is brand new. Lack of awareness, perhaps?
This one still baffles (and amuses) me. There are only so very few items on this planet that is worth more than newly-made, and Carousell is chock-full of items that are not on that tier of vintage value. I tend to shop at Carousell for items that I would not mind being second-hand – that’s where I got my nice wooden step-stool at my unit – very cheap, very sturdy, and just the perfect height to reach things on top of my cabinet.
However, I tend to see some items that are egregiously priced. For me, whenever I see a good item on Carousell, I hunt its new counterpart at Lazada and Shopee and get the baseline new price (on average). Then I look at the Carousell item, and look at the offer price. If that offer price is way too close to a new price, I just move on. That shows to me that the seller has a bad sense of awareness, and I’d rather look elsewhere.
While I was rent-hunting for weeks, I was amused by some listings that said “no weird rules”, and then when I inquired further, it seems for some, that stipulation was more like something that should come with an asterisk. Because they got so desensitized by what they imposed for so long that they thought their weird rules weren’t weird anymore. They had weird rules, they just thought they were normal because likely previous co-tenants meekly complied.
I’d write a whole-ass blog post about this renting thing. I was fortunate that when I started working in Singapore many years ago, I was able to snag a room right away because my supervisor/co-worker had a co-tenant that deadass left straight to the airport and flew out without settling things, and I came in just the right time to swoop up the opening. So for years, I did not need to move out and find a new rental place, but now as my supervisor got married and moved to a rental condominium with his wife, I’ve looked for my place for weeks. As of this writing, I moved from Holland Village to Geylang.
Back to the post. What annoyed me during the process of rental-hunting, so many main tenants were drinking their own Kool-Aid too much. I’m looking for an affable flatmate, not Sheldon Cooper. I was sensing so much BS from some main tenants I’ve talked to that I took a breather and struck some self-imposed requirements off my criteria (and added in some more) because I’m casting my fishing rod on the waters and I’m just getting janitor fish.
I’ll just say the obvious that the media will never say: they had no incentive anymore to cooperate. They will go to jail regardless of what happens in this long investigation (like Napoles), but the politicians who profited off them would either slink away unharmed or get jailed but will be freed later. Both these people know that too. Being state witnesses was an incentive to them. Who won’t prefer shorter jail stays? But that’s off the table apparently, so they refused to cooperate anymore.
What’s the solution? People might not like this but it’s the only logical choice: offer them what they want. It’s either the ICI gets all the testimonials they could, or they just get slightly less of it.
Also, just saying – I can’t shake off the feeling that the ICI’s “powers” have been crippled from the very beginning. In my opinion, President Marcos did not make this commission powerful enough.
I stand strongly with my opinion. I think the Discayas know that they are the guilty scapegoats – while they are guilty of dealing in corrupt construction works, they are also perfectly in place to be the public point of derision. It’s very much like how Janet Lim Napoles became the convenient face of the PDAF scam – she’s the mastermind, but she was also used as a convenient tool for the public to scorn while (many of) the politicians who benefited from the scam roam the streets as free men.
So why would they coopertate with the ICI? There’s no benefit to them in a good way after being denied the chance to be state witnesses. Sure, their sentences might get a teeny tiny bit of reprieve. Sure, they might get to ask for some things in return for testimony and effort. But all that pales in the face of the reality that they are being roasted alive in their own lard, and the politicians who buttered them up and received kickbacks are scrambling behind the scenes to save themselves and deflect any glare on them. Even if they go down with the Discayas in jail, they’ll be in comfortable “detention rooms” instead and will be free sooner or later anyway.
So how could the investigators and prosecutors make the Discayas sing? Simple but effective – give them what they want (without denying the outcome). Go tit for tat. If they want to be state witnesses, give them a status where they are but they’ll still go to jail. But to be fair to the investigators and prosecutors, it’s just a matter of getting all the testimonies they could, or just slightly less of it. If they deem the Discayas’ testimony of great value, they should offer value in return to this doomed couple. I mean, even monkeys in labs learn what incentives are. They are expecting the Discayas to sing without reward. How the fuck does that work?
Also, this ICI felt crippled from the beginning. When they had Baguio mayor Benjamin Magalong on board, I knew this was a clusterfuck – Marcos should have not put any incumbent local or national officials in any capacity to be in this investigative commission, regardless of their fidelity or intent. Impartiality is necessary, and even a 0.1% shadow of doubt is still a shadow. And also, President Marcos should have made this ICI more legally powerful (in investigation and summons) than merely an investigative body with some leeway and a cheap office tenancy. But to be fair to him, it’s made as a “commission” – sooner or later, itl’ll close shop and its ultimate result is a report and boxes of evidence.
This post gives me the ick. When a fucking news agency tries to sell you something with this kind of cheesy tryhard line, avoid. Save your money.
Yes, I put the “how do you do” graphic. It irritates me. The gross pandering language. I can slightly forgive this shit because they were clearly trying to promote their sponsor and sell their tech. But it just creates the opposite effect – it’s not some classy tech bro selling you pricey tech, this post sounded like some hobo that got onto TikTok lingo. Nope. Save your money, look for YouTubers instead of some legacy media tryharding to sell tech.
Briathrail // Albert 2MNG 
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