Reflections from the Soul (A Recollection day Reflection)

Yesterday for me would be one of the most memorable days of my life because first of all it was my 21^st birthday and I’m looking forward to graduating at last in my Computer Science degree after 5 years in college. But what made this day memorable aside from the fact that it was my debut was that it was this day that our recollection for the graduating college students from our university took place. There were 3 departments scheduled and attended the said recollection so the venue were somehow filled with graduating students. We sometimes had joke yesterday with some of my classmates saying in our dialect “nanimaho na ug toga dire”. Though it was not the first time that I joined recollections before graduating cause I have attended same event during my elementary and high school days, this recollection was totally different since were totally grownups now and we are a step closer in facing the real world and we need some reflections and listen to some words of wisdom on what we are going to do after our graduation day. In other words, we need guidance and blessings from the LORD for us to be ready on the challenges we were facing outside of school and into the real world.

The first part of the half day event was the celebration of the Holy Eucharist for the recollection to become successful, inspiring and so that GOD will bless those who attended the recollection both the students and the speakers that came to share their experiences and some tips on how to become successful in our lives. Good for me also since it was my birthday so no need for me to go to church in the afternoon. What a gift for me for my debut; a word of GOD plus words of wisdom from those who became successful in life because of their faith in GOD. When father gave his homily, he simply told us the true meaning of a recollection and saying why we came to attend. Recollection is isolating ourselves and our mind from the real world and come closer to GOD, that’s what father said upon sharing to us the true meaning of recollection. He also urged us to listen carefully to the recollection and to get things that will be helping us on our journey to the real world. The mass ended with my smile in my face knowing that I received a special gift from GOD and that was inspiration to continue my dream and become successful in the future.

The recollection started few minutes after the mass ended. The recollection also started with a prayer and some singing religious song with choreography to lift our energy and spirit up to be both physically and mentally present, ready to listen and apply what we will hear from our speakers. There were 7 speakers ready to share to us the keys to success. There was 1 of them that was an attorney, 1 that had a construction business and had stories of falling down but standing up again and fight, another 1 was soon to be a foreign diplomat, even 1 of them was daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal and half sister of the President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. I will just provide the summary on what they have shared because even I didn’t memorize word by word what they have said but I really got the main points in which the speakers want us to know.

For them, there were 4 things that we must do in order for us to become successful in the future like them. First was knowing into my inner self what I meant to be, knowing what I want to be in the future or what are the things that I wanted to do in spite of the risks or trials that may came along the way. I recalled one of the speakers shared his stories of being a mining engineer. For him, yes the environment where he works or his workplace were very dangerous, going inside a tunnel finding gold mines with huge rocks would fall anytime, but he wanted to become a mining engineer so he pursue it and finished it. But being a mining engineering alone was not he meant to be. He and all the speakers were also meant to share the word of our LORD to those who needs it. Upon hearing this thing, it made me thought of what are the things that will make me happy and what are the things I wanted to do in the future. Honestly if I were going to ask myself, there was no clear picture yet on what will I going to do when I graduate, there was this side of my heart and mind that I wanted to teach and share my knowledge to those who need it, but there is also one side thinking I will do my best to land a job abroad to secure my future. This recollection had helped me in seeking what really I meant to be. Few weeks from now maybe I could decide 100% on what I wanted and meant to be.

Second thing is how will I grow up? Not literally to grow in terms of height but growing as a better person in the society, growing in terms of skills in job or interpersonal and intrapersonal communication skills. There was one speaker who said that one way of growing up is to learn new skill every day and don’t waste any time that are not related to the things that will make you successful. Competition in the workplace is very tight, so we need to grow for us not to be overtaken by those who are younger and eager to learn than us. Since I don’t have any experience on working in a bigger company yet, this thing could somehow inspire me to learn new things that are very helpful in my future jobs or develop my skills more to become an expert on one field then learn new skill so that I could be very productive the time I will have my job.

Third key point they taught us was to cope up with the flow. Cope up with the flow so that we will not be left behind by our competitors in the workplace or in our field. With technology changes rapidly, so as the learning of new students who are younger than us. They told us it is very important to know the things that are happening in our place for us to be able to go with the flow and be able to compete and even outperform those who are way ahead than us in terms of experience.

Fourth key point and I believe the most important thing was to know the meaning of success by sharing to others. In the field of Information Technology (IT) there was a term commonly known as open-source. Those things that are free like software and information that are free to access, use and modify by others fall into this type. In the field of IT open-source software took the market by waves as the primary competitor of the commercial ones. Since it is open for other programmers or developers to modify and to improve, the development would be very fast since there are a lot of people working as compared to commercial where the development is only within their company. So the main point in this analogy is that when we share what you have, others will most likely share also what they have, so both of you learned and move up together. It is hitting two birds with one stone indeed. Both of you don’t need to start from scratch instead you just capitalize on the knowledge that is already available and improve by adding what you learn and what others shared to you. Selfishness is a bad attitude so we must left it in school as part of our competition days and look at the future with sharing in our mind.

All those four key points are very inspiring and very essential aspects that will bring us to success. But the speakers pointed out the most important thing in life to become successful in our lives and that is to have GOD in our lives in times of happiness, success, trouble, problems, everything that will come into our lives. I can always recall one speaker told us that we people didn’t choose our GOD, but GOD chooses us as his people because HE believes in us. GOD chooses us because HE loves us and want us to be HIS sheep and HE is the Shepherd. Know GOD very well by reading the Bible and listen to his word even if we are busy. Always find time to talk to GOD in terms of prayers and GOD for sure will guide you.

What a wonderful present for my 21^st birthday, this probably the best gift I have and I will never forget it. Those words and those people will always remain in my heart as the people that inspire me guide me into facing the future.

My 21st Birthday

March 24, 1989, the day when I was born. That day seemed to be the beginning of the mission in which the Lord GOD had given to me. Now it is 21 years since that day happened. 21 years of full of challenges,fun,excitement,problems and many more that no adjectives or noun could define it. Now its my 21st year of existence, there are a lot of things I wanted to thank and also I wish for.There are things that need to think about and things to do. 

Guys had their debut when they reached 21. So now I'm officially an adult I guess cause that how I defined it. The start of maturity for me since I already reached the last day of my teenage days and the first day of my mature days. So first thing I want to wish for my 21st birthday is to become more mature since my on my way to find a job and experience the real world. More mature on everything, the way I act, I talked, I think, everything most especially with my working attitudes and decision making.

Next on my wish would be good health. I can't become mature if I'm not in good condition. Good health not only for me but for every people I loved; my family, my relatives, friends, classmates, my girlfriend, my enemy, all that has became part of my life for the past 21 years. Hope to be with you for more years to come.Health is wealth indeed. I have a lot of things to accomplish so good health must be a priority for me.

Hope that this is the start of building up a bright future for me and my family. The beginning to realize my dreams, to build the future for my soon to be family; my wife and my children. Thank you LORD GOD for all the blessings that you have given to me for the part 20 years. Hope to give me more blessings to share to those who needed it the most.

No celebration planned, just go to church and just spend the day with my family, have dinner together and maybe some quality time talking, laughing as what we always do everyday.

Once again, a happy happy birthday to ME...........

Harapan: The ABS-CBN Vice Presidential Forum a Big Success

The giant media network ABS-CBN once again conducted another forum this time the guests are the candidates for the 2^nd most powerful position in the country, the vice president. The forum was dubbed as Harapan: The ABS-CBN Vice Presidential Forum and still part of the network’s advocacy on honest and clean election or known as “Ako ang Simula” which was inaugurated last May 10, 2009. This was the 3^rd forum hosted by the network as the first 2 were participated by the presidentiables. The said event has the goal for the people know the vice-presidentiables; their profile, their backgrounds, what are their priorities and plans if elected as the next vice-president of the Republic of the Philippines by answering questions about the social problems the country are facing like corruption, poverty, education,agriculture etc. and these questions will be coming from first, their co candidates, next from the moderator and lastly people coming from different sectors of society. There were 7 aspiring presidentiables but there are only 6 who took the challenge and also to took the change to present to the Filipino people their intentions and their plans for the country and also to convince people to vote for them. The candidates who were present were Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay of the United Opposition (UNO), MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando of Bagumbayan Party, Sen. Loren Legarda of the Nacionalista Party (NP), Sen. Mar Roxas of the Liberal Party (LP), Jay Sonza of Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) and Perfecto “Jun” Yasay of the Bangon Pilipinas Party. LAKAS-KAMPI CMD candidate Edu Manzano failed to attend the forum for reason not mentioned. The forum was held at the La Consolacion College in Manila and was lived telecast on national and local television channels of ABS-CBN and was hosted by Ted Failon.

For me, this forum where the vice presidentiables were the guests is very important because being the second most powerful position, people must also decide for a good vice president in case if the president is out either voluntary, accident or ousted. So knowing the vice presidentiables is also very important and this vice presidential forum could be one of knowing and scaling these candidates more as they are oblige to answer every questions thrown unto them and also to present their plans and platforms of government in solving the cancer that hurting the country for so many years. I watched the whole duration of the vice presidential forum for me also to know each of them especially those who don’t appear that much on t.v advertisement and those who were not that popular as compared to those traditional politician who their faces appear every elections promising again what they had promised before when they first ran in public office 9 years ago. As a first time voter also and being part of the Filipino youth, our vote is very important so I will make the right decision on who will I going to vote. I listened carefully on every word that came from their mouth in answering questions and even their behaviors on the whole duration of the forum. And apparently, there are candidates that talked non-sense, still promising those old promises of free medicine, access to quality education, fight corruption, affordable prices of basic commodities, agriculture etc. but there are also those who showed a lot of sense in answering the questions. For the benefit of everybody especially those first time voters, I will evaluate very vice-presidentiables based on their answers to the questions, how realistic and relevant their answers are, whether they gave the right answer to the question or are they just fooling the people. This evaluation is personal so no other people involve or influence my opinion. Up to now, I am still undecided yet to whom will I vote.

1. 
   
   
   
   Mayor Jejomar Binay – on the first parts round of the forum, it was the clash between him and MMDA chair Bayani Fernando. Binay asked a very good question to Bayani Fernando on why he is allowing his men in MMDA to violently demolished informal settlers and destroy the goods where sidewalk vendors sell on sidewalks, identifying it as human rights violation. I admired him barring Fernando from calling these poor people “squatters”. His primary weapon maybe is his experience being a 17 years mayor in Makati City known as one of the most progressive city and the center for business and commerce in the country. I also liked his answer as one farmer from Nueva Ecija who was badly affected by El-Nino phenomenon, that if we have a good leadership, el-nino will not be a huge problem as what the current administration failed to do and even making el-nino as reason to cover their lapses. Good leadership will help farmer to produce more. However, his plans and programs for education in remote areas are not clear to me when one teacher from Zambales who are teaching aetas in mountains asked question on what are their solutions to the education problems in remote areas. Binay instead answered what he has made to the education in Makati which I believe impossible to implement in remote areas. Overall, Binay is a good vice president in this country based on his experience, education and his advocacy of good leadership.

MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando – “Mr. Political Will”. It was a clash between him and Mayor Binay on the first part of the forum. Honestly, I don’t really agree on his answer or on his actions regarding the violent dispersals on sidewalk vendors. He categorized it as part of his belief that implementing the law will make our country prosper. Yes I agree that we need to follow the law but it is not necessary to exert force. Instead have a dialogue with these vendors and give them a place to sell their goods. He also called illegal settlers “squatters” but he was corrected by Mayor Binay saying that “we must give dignity and respect to these people”. However, he made a right point in his solution to the worse effects of el-nino through engineering a reliable irrigation system that will help farmers water their farms. Also his plans on the education on increasing the salary of teachers to 40,000 a month is very promising, but is it possible? For me, there are a lot of problems in the education sector like classrooms, books etc. classroom in public schools now are not a conducive place to learn. Well overall, Bayani Fernando could also be a good vice president for his political will, but sometimes we don’t need to use force to our fellow countrymen. This could also be a disadvantage for his candidacy as many witnesses violent dispersals on sidewalk vendors in Manila.

Sen. Loren Legarda – being the only female candidate, Loren could have the edge among other candidates in terms of voted from women as she understood them more among the other candidates. For almost the whole part of the forum, it was a clash between her and Mar Roxas each of them throwing questions with each other even blaming and attacking personally. Personally, there are some points were I got disappointed with her answers on some of the questions because she don’t hit the nail in the head. But her advocacy on environment could also be her asset especially for those who love the environment. also she kept on telling to the people what are her legislations like the climate change act, her continuous battle for free medicine and benefits to elders. She even had a debate with Sen. Mar Roxas on her prime advocacy. Mar Roxas asked her why is she strongly fighting climate change while the Philippines are just a small contributor to the causes. Her answer impressed me that though we contribute little, we are the once that could be badly affected since we have a very long coast line and we are vulnerable to the effects like strong typhoons, el-nino and floods. I believe that boosting the awareness on climate change most specially its effects could help us to be more ready for the future so that Ondoy and Peping will not happen again. She got my attention there. Additional benefits for teachers could also be a better solution but for me not totally will solve the problem of poor education quality mostly in rural areas. For me, Loren could also be an effective vice president but she lacks on platform for the agriculture, economy employment among others. Free medicine will always be impossible for me in contrast to her promise. 

Sen. Mar Roxas – author of the cheaper medicine act and probably one of the best speakers on the forum. He answered every question direct to the point. He even insulted Loren Legarda for not following mechanics of the forum saying “those who don’t follow instruction lacks self discipline” referring to Loren not following time limits and even rebutting while Mar is answering the argument. Loren even referred him as Balimbing as he is transferring from opposition to administration and now back to opposition. He explained to the people why he supported the VAT and E-VAT bills and he was saying he was pro poor. He said that collecting tax is not bad but stealing taxpayers money is the bad act. He even said to Loren that that money she used on her advocates came from taxpayer’s money. He also said that we need tax to fund government projects. On the issue on land reforms, he safely said that it’s up to the Supreme Court to decide on that issue. He even spoke Ilonggo dialect when she asked Loren on the importance of climate change. For me, Mar was wrong in his thoughts that Philippines shall not focus on climate change because we are the most vulnerable among other countries in the world. We need to educate our people that this problem is not a small problem but a very serious problem. But he provided good answers on agriculture and irrigation, to remove rice importation and to increase rice production among local farmers, to fund them and to lower the cost of fertilizers and pesticides while increasing the value of their harvests. On education Mar also said that giving teachers the right benefits will solve the problem. He said that their advocacy “Kung Walang Corrupt, Walang Mahirap” will be the solutions with the problems of education as the department were among the most corrupt in the government. For me, Roxas also got experience and the knowledge, but he has to prove to the people that he is really pro poor and a certified Mr. Palengke and Mr. Botika in his advocacy in lowering the cost of medicines in the country.

Jay Sonza – one of the underrated candidates based on surveys but he proved to the people that he is a serious candidate with a sense of urgency to lead the country and the people to move forward though making change in leadership and politicians. Known in showbiz for a long time, Jay was among the best speaker in the forum as he refused to throw mud to his opponents instead answering questions which the people deserves and from his heart. When he was aked by Mar Roxas on if ever Mar and Noy-Noy wil win, will he be open to render his service to the government and what service would that be. He replied with confidence that he will and it will be on the agriculture sector. He argue that it needs someone who is expert on the field of agriculture to solve the problems and being a farmer in Mindanao, Jay is qualified to do so. He consistently giving realistic answer and asking relevant questions like how will the candidates solve corruption as all of them keep saying they will fight corruption? But How? This question is very good for me. When asked by Ted Failon if given a chance to wish on a genie and that genie was Pres. GMA, he humbly answer that he will wish to enlighten the minds of every Filipino people that this is the last chance for us to make a change and to move forward. Jay also gave impressive answers on his solutions to agriculture problems like stop rice importation and proper irrigation. In education he also gave sufficient answers on reversing the budget to level the rural areas to the city and to have equal tax allocation and not just in Manila. Overall, Jay Sonza impressed me a lot in that forum though I don’t know him that much. The fighting spirit is there together with faith in GOD.

Perfecto “Jun” Yasay – another underrated candidate, Jun Yasay’s advocacy is more or people becoming future entrepreneurs and zero corruption. I don’t know this person but he also impressed me on his answers to the questions especially in agriculture and education. In agriculture, he supports removing rice importation, removing middle man in buying the products of farmers and teaching farmers how to sell their products by teaching entrepreneurial skills. On education, I also agree in his principle regarding the misconception to the importance of education that was taught to the children. It is not enough to teach children to teach education to have a good job, instead teach them to become future entrepreneurs. But this would take a long time taking the basis of the education problems of the country. Nonetheless, it’s good that there is a person that really wants the people to become somebody in the future. Still Mr. Yasay needs to gain popularity for this endeavor to become a reality.

Still a long way to go for these candidates to know their fate in May 2010. Even me is still undecided on who will I be voting. Jay Sonza is a pride of Mindanao and being in a people in Mindanao, he truly understands what are our needs, Binay proved to be a good leader as he made Makati a primiere city in Asia, Mar Roxas is a person with credibility and have accomplished in helping the poor, Loren with her climate change and environment advocacy and Jun Yasay with his dream of making Filipino business minded and zero corruption. These credentials made my decisions becoming tougher. Maybe weighing these and be vigilant will help me deciding who will be my vice president.

Earth Hour 2010

Once again, the world will going to witness another initiative in fighting the worsening effects of global warming that was triggered by unusual changes in the earth's climate. This initiative is known as THE EARTH HOUR where homes and business establishments are encouraged to turn-off their lights for 60 minutes or 1 hour to save energy and also to help fight climate change. Last year, this world wide initiative was a big success being joined by hundred of millions of people around the globe and I'm proud to say I am part of that hundred of million. this year the event will be on Saturday, March 27,2010 from 8:30 to 9:30 P.M. Lets all take part on this another historical event in saving our dying mother earth.

more from http://www.earthhour.org/Homepage.aspx?intro=no

The true meaning of a Presidential Forum

A presidential forum can be best described as a job interview. Presidential aspirants are the persons that are applying for a job, which is to become the next president of the Republic of the Philippines; the employer of course is the Filipino people and their comprehensive resume can be composed of their profile; their educational background and their experiences as a public servant. The whole duration of the forum will be the interview process. The presidential aspirants will answer what are their platforms of government, what are their solutions to the problems the country are facing; poverty, peace and order, employment, corruption and energy crisis etc. how they answer these questions will going to be a huge factor for these aspirants to be hired by the Filipino people as their new leader and that will be happening in the May 10, 2010 elections. Those who attend every forum are those who are really interested and willing to take the job as the next leader of the country and those who won’t attend means that they don’t need or not interested on the job.

Listening and watching a forum could be one of the best ways for the Filipino especially those who are first time voters to know more about the candidate. These forums are the venue where the presidential aspirants really speak what are their plans for the country and how they will govern its people.

A call to the youth to stop being passive; be vigilant on what is happening in our country. We are the future elders, what are our decisions in this present time will greatly affect our future, the future of our country, our children and our children’s children. Maybe deciding for the best leader in this election could be a little beginning for a big ending. And we can only know who is the best is if we inform ourselves about the aspiring leaders. Watch every forum or debate these candidates will attend for you to decide the best, a leader that is pro pinoy and pro to success..

also visit this following blogs:

http://chuvachienes.com/2009/03/12/the-list-of-presidentiables-2010-philippines/

http://2010presidentiables.wordpress.com/

Jovit Baldivino, a true filipino talent

There is one contestant in a talent search here in the Philippines specifically the Pilipinas Got Talent that has captured the hearts of every Filipino people because of his powerful voice and wonderful and colorful life story. His name is Jovit Baldivino, a 16 years young native of Batangas province.

Jovit was just a simple kid, a son of poor family with both parents were jobless. His father suffered tuberculosis and only his older brother worked for the family. Jovit even divided his time only between school in the day and selling shomai at night just to help his family. But these misfortunes in his life didn’t hinder him to show to the world what a true Filipino is by sharing his powerful voice and his inspiring life story.

He sang the song popularized by a well-known band Journey entitled “Faithfully”. The song was kindly difficult to sang but it was just very easy for Jovit to sing. He sang the song very well with confidence that made the judges and the audiences stand from their seats. Even one of the judges cried upon hearing his life story. Truly, Jovit symbolizes a true Filipino, never gets discouraged in the problems but instead continue to believe in its potential.

Who knows, he will become the next Arnel Pineda the Filipino vocalist of Journey. This is another world class Filipino talent in the making.

Please continue supporting Jovit in his quest for the champion in Pilipinas Got Talent and to realize his dream, to bring his family out of poverty and to become a world class singer. Stay humble Jovit.

Rotational Brown-out in Davao City (the effects of El- Niño Phenomenon)

For 3 consecutive days, residents in davao city has been experiencing a 1 hour rotational black-out. It is rotational since power interruption was scheduled to different areas in Davao city in a 1 hour interval. In our area, the 1^st occurred at around 7:50 p.m, the 2^nd was yesterday around 4:00 p.m and the 3^rd was last night at around 7:00 pm. All these 3 black-outs lasted for an hour. This rotational black-out was the identified solution to the power shortage not only in Mindanao but throughout the country which is the one of the bad effects of the el-Niño phenomenon. The Philippines has been experiencing sudden increase in temperature causing water levels in dams to drastically reduce to critical level. Rivers that power hydroelectric pumps of electric companies also decreases resulting to scarcity in the supply of electricity. According to the reports in news programs, this rotational black-out will continue till March or even longer depending on the changes in the weather of the country. Not only was the supply of electricity was badly affected by the El-Nino, but also the water supply, water companies also calling to the people to conserve water as the dams starting to reached its critical level. It hasn’t rain in the country for almost 2 months now.

For me, rotational black-out for 1 hour is a good solution to the problem of power shortage that we Filipinos are facing right now. But for the electric company, they must give a warning or distribute schedules of power interruption to affected areas so that people can also prepare especially those business establishments where electricity is very important. Everyone must now help conserve electricity and even water for the future. With the effects of global warming helping El- Niño to become hotter, we will expect much more difficult problems in the future. We must practice ourselves conserving what we have for the future of this mother earth. This rotational black-out is a help alleviating global warming. Lets all help and contribute in saving our EARTH. Conserve electricity and water…