A Day in the Life of Anselmo 1

I have to get up early. There's nothing unusual about it. I've been doing this for the past few months since I came to this city -all the way from South Cotabato. Five o'clock in the morning and my day begins. I have to be at work at the station at six. Oh, sorry. I forgot to introduce myself.

I'm Anselmo L. Sanchez, Jr., 21 years old, from South Cotabato. I came to Cagayan de Oro City to look for work. Well, it didn't take me long to get it. When I was a kid, things went around really slow. Not much to do, but something happened that shook my life and everybody else's in the Philippines. Yep, that's right; it was the Takeover. Ever since the Takeover, things started moving really fast. My dad, well, my folks, used to complain when I was a kid how corrupt the government used to be. Ha ha, it still is; but nobody cares anymore. That's because of the Takeover.

I was only ten when the Takeover happened; so I don't know much about it. All I know is that the government isn't really doing much anymore and the real power is with the EOGC. The government won't dare cross the EOGC. If it does: ZAP! A government building gets toasted by a laser from an EOGC satellite in space. But think about it: ever since the EOGC took over, we don't hear about police extorting drivers anymore. You don't hear about politicians dancing themselves crazy during election time to get votes. That's in the past now: nobody cares about politics. Ever since the EOGC took over, there's only one think everybody talks about now: work. And there's a lot of it.

We're too busy to think about politics. After all, my dad says nothing good came out of talking about politics. Who gives a damn about some senator shouting himself hoarse with another senator over his budget? Ever since the EOGC took over, it brought everybody who isn't a politician a lot of work -and a lot of money, too. So who gives a damn about who the mayor, the senator, or the congressman is? We're here to work. And we work because we get paid -very well.

What's the EOGC? You sure you don't know? It's a giant group of corporations ruled by one man. They call him the Taipan. It controls the economy of the Philippines, well, most of it anyway. All the Visayas and most of Mindanao (except the ARMM) are completely under the EOGC's control. The government has Luzon and the ARMM -but we're too busy to even think about that.

What? Who's the Taipan? Man, you've got a lot to learn, my friend. He's a rich businessman from Cagayan; born and bred. He built the EOGC from scratch and turned it into a multibillion-dollar empire that spans Asia. Oh, and before I forget; his name is Eric, Eric Ong.