a lost brother

oct 31, my 2nd son turned 19. he had a few of his classmates for some snacks and some bonding moments.  then a novena was said. my siblings arrived, all six of them in various degrees of prosperity and misery.  all but two are always with us in our family gatherings.  the 4th child lives farther away and cannot simply come even during these family gatherings.  especially the 3rd child for he lives in laguna, he can only come when finances permit.


he cannot come and go as he pleases for his earnings cannot allow it.  he is lost himself.  he has given so much of himself to his family neglecting his duty of respecting himself. the amor propio (pride of oneself) is lost. i wont talk about it unless he starts opening up, but i will talk about this with the other siblings.


once you lose yourself, you begin to lose self-worth. when you've given up so much of yourself, you lose your dignity. there has to be some limit and you should know when to stop giving. else,you would stop living . . .

political will

that was quite some muscle shown by no less than the governor of our province. he caused the meeting on all city and municipal mayors with their planning officers to discuss convergence of individual action plans of each city and municipality to jive with that of the province's thrust.  he promises all-out support for each city or municipality for as long as it it able to justify such a program.

veteran planners say the governor is competent and has the track record to effect drastic changes in the governance of the province.  he has ran his native city as a determined technocrat rather than a compromising politician.

so let's keep our fingers crossed...
of course, if he means well, i am ready for it...
that's what we owe to our people..

disgusting politics!

Last monday the barangay (village officials)and SK (youth government) elections was held nationwide.  it was a double whammy! In our barangay, two of my friends ran opposite each other, one was with the administration (by law, barangay politics is non-partisan) and the other for the opposition.  Although my personal choice would have been a better leader, the people around him and who are influential, makes him no better than the other.  The elections disproved the notion of clan voting, since money still talked.


I was particularly disturbed by the SK elections.  Vote-buying is as rampant as the barangay elections.  To think that they are young!...

a cousin's wedding

Last saturday, a cousin was wedded to her long-time boyfriend. She is the second of three daughters.  Except for her eldest sister, i knew little about them.  But her father, my uncle, had fondest regard for me.  A month before the wedding, he asked me to help compose a farewell note to her daughter which he will deliver during the wedding.  He was kinda distraught when I told him it has to be his piece.  Eventually I did compose something for him.
During the wedding reception, he started off with a wonderful opening, but to my surprise, the rest of his speech was mine!  It felt different when somebody delivered my speech.  I had goosebumps all over.
To top it all, I was asked to say, in behalf of all her cousins on the paternal side) a few inspiring words to the newly-weds.
If only my uncle had made efforts to bring her daughters closer, it would have been such a grand event... 

my finances

today i attended a financial education expo.  it was some refresher for me, since i also taught some finance in college. i had a smattering of finance, considering i studied economics in a master's course.  it's a different perspective when you just teach and when you actually apply it to your own finances. theoretically, finance is not really that hard. it is when you apply your learnings that is most tricky.

since the lecturers were from the central bank talking banking, they would naturally encourage saving your extra income into financial instruments.  but who would really allow money to accumulate in the bank until retirement. the failure of the US financial markets which affected the world economy will make us think twice. sure, the government would bail out these banks.  this means, instead of punishing imprudent banking behavior, the government (our very own money, or the taxes we pay) is in fact used to save the bank which is a private operation and in which the government really has no business in.

what could have been done is criminalize imprudent behavior, zealous supervision and monitoring of banking and financial transactions. no bailouts please! taxpayers' money must not be used to pay off greedy investors. that includes us --- ordinary depositors.  this means, we must aways closely watch our assets in depositary banks, or always ask our financial advisers how our investments are doing.

this means, everyone of us should have some working knowledge of finance.

In the service

for fifteen years i taught at a local college.  it was such a rewarding experience for me that even today i still long to be a mentor.  now, more than ever, after almost ten years in government service, i found even more reasons for teaching.  when i was teaching, i was so critical of government, and of government servants.  of course, this has since changed.  there are still those bureaucrats who enrich themselves, despite the oath "...hindi ko gagamitin ang aking panunungkulan sa sariling kapakanan..." (i will not use my office for my own ends); and there are still government policies that do not address poverty, but even encourage dependence on govenrment.

i am lucky to have a former teacher, a colleague, a co-worker, and now a boss, who is still that committed and so productive. and he demands much from each of us the highest standards of work performance we can give.  some would say he is a slave-driver.  i cannot disagree, but he gives consideration to us.  he has given us so much also.  that is why, i also try my best to work well and together with my co-workers, we try to excel.

and i would like these traits to be instilled among the students for we will lose the youth if we do not inculcate in them this culture of excellence.

a passion

everyday since early part of this year, i started a new diversion. fun rides on a mountain bike. every weekend and on holidays, together with a few friends from around town, we do up to 40 kilometers. sometimes on the road. other times on mountain trails and off-roads.  it's good for my health. and since i quit smoking two years ago, i now enjoy fresher and nicotine-free breaths.

sometimes other bikers from next town would join us. they have much better and more expensive bikes. me, i'm content with a less than 10,000 peso bike, as do my fellow bikers. we do this for our health and only for the weekends. maybe when we're rich enough to be able to bike away every day then we'd probably have more pricier bikes.

anybody wanna ride us this weekend?

philippine politics

it's both funny and sometimes tragic. the way politics are in the philippines.  funny, since they make enemies of friends, even of kinfolk. at times, they last for as long as the election period.  most times however, these animosities last for generations.  even the supporters tend to bequeath their favorite candidates to their scion.
tragic, since elections leave behind a path of destruction among the rival politicians and their clan.  and the most damage done is among the poor supporters.  i say poor, not just economically but politically as well.  especially the poor.
these are the most hopeless and most dependent portion of the electorate. they depend on their candidates not just during the election period, but even throughout the incumbency of his favorite politician. in terms of employment or smatterings of funding from government coffers.  they also lose politically. they exchange their vote for a few hundred or thousand pesos.  sometimes they risk limbs, and even lives.
this is one factor why we wallow in abject poverty. not just economic, but political, as well.
and this has driven out not just a few hundred filipinos to a foreign land, feeling hopeless.
no matter what however, i still think the filipino can. someday... somehow...

work ethic

backsliding p.noy?

it is becoming apparent now. p.noy, the much-awaited messiah? the one --- who will usher in a new dawn? where is he now on his promise of raising the filipino out of poverty?


contrary to good economic sense, he has just doubled the dole-outs.  a palliative for ending poverty is to directly give dole-outs to the poorest of the poor.  it will just increase the misery of the filipino. even encouraging the attitude of receiving something without having to do anything.  i'm talking about the conditional cash transfers to the poorest of the poor in selected households nationwide. a poor family gets 1,400 pesos a month for medicine and education. the only condition is their children go to school everyday for the next five years, and the mothers go regularly to the health center.


can we call this a new paradigm for solving poverty? a way out into the new morning for the filipino? 


this is even much cruel than marcos' or arroyo's. i think he will get negative grades even lower than gma's.

Starting With Me!

one campaign slogan in the recent elections (may2010), "simulan ko!" (i'll start with myself!")  this refers to making a change that starts with me, as a responsible voter.  that a better tomorrow can happen and it has to start with me.
100% true! i don't have to depend on city hall for my needs, there are simply too many dependents now.  i can, with all my friends, make a change for the better.  if i cannot be heard, i will make others believe in what i believe in.  if there are more who believe, then maybe we could have a louder voice.  corporations who make defective products are now at the mercy of consumer groups who could stage a boycott.  governments are at the mercy of their voters.  in our small city, we should not make city hall the sole source of our livelihood, there is simply too many of us sharing a measly budget.
we should try to redeem ourselves, and we should not wait for government or the church to do it for us. we ourselves should make it happen for us.

economic development and population 

population pressures has definitely a direct effect on economic development.  high population growth rates means more young dependents subsisting on a relatively small working population.  in a micro situation, this means, every worker has many children to raise. this includes cost of education and medical care.  for its part, a greater part of government budget must then also include more on social services like education and health. 

if there were less dependents, there would then be more for other expenditures like better housing and secure tenure. government may be able to concentrate more on economic services like employment generation, housing, livelihood programs, etc. 

this is one reason why i support the idea of having small families, planned households, informed choice.  this will free up some of our meager incomes to more productive activities. meaning, if we are able to halve our expenses on education and health care, we may be able to buy our own home lot, and eventually improve our houses, and probably invest on income generating ventures.  

10-10-10

10-10-10. october 10, 2010.
many of us try to make sense of the world around. the year 2000. jan 1, 2001 (01-01-02) or feb 2, 2002 (02-02-02), etc. but 9/11 couldn't have been significant were it not for the attacks.
everyday should be special. what is more important is how relate to others. do we greet our neighbors early in the morning?  its hard to really smile after a long night's sleep, but we could try to!
do we patiently wait in line at the bakery? maybe the other guy is really hungry, or another, why not we offer him a place ahead of you, what's a few seconds lost!
do we give in to the counterflow in a crowded street?  nothing passes until you give in.
do we try to overtake other vehicles in traffic and risk life and limb of others?
in a 2-hour travel, the average time a fast vehicle gets to his destination does not really amount to 5min, so maybe he has something really important, so let him pass!
these are just some of the simple things we could do or avoid to make the world a better place! to heal it!

is there hope for the filipino?
there was a discussion about the future of the philippines, of the filipino. will the filipino still be able to rise above oneself and be a respected person in the hall of nations?
without a doubt. i still believe the filipino can.

once he is able to get away from the yoke of dependence --- that the city hall is not the answer to almost all his needs.
the moment he sees the need the change the small things in his home, his community --- like responsibility in garbage disposal.
when he begins to transcend beyond personal reasons and take an active part in the barangay --- demanding performance from local leaders he chose to man the barangay hall .

yes, i think the filipino can still do it!

do you?

i think there is a real and urgent need to instill in us, filipinos, the problem of how to alleviate poverty. and that time is ... NOW!
poverty is not just a state of economic helplessness. this also means you are helpless against the politicians, except during the election period.
but the ordinary pinoy can try to inch his way out of the mires of poverty.  there are so many examples around us. but most of us refuse to see most of the time. with some great difficulty --- blood, sweat, tears, and other bodily fluids --- have oozed out of our parents just to see us through school. with ease, we while our time away with barkada, which mostly set the trend of how our future should be.  some yielded, some persevered.  those who yielded ended up in early, mostly forced, marriages. and before they know it, they have sunk deeper into misery, of helplessness. many end up as failed marriages and broken children.  some of those who persevered also shed their own.  however, since they know the meaning of sacrifice, they willingly accept ridicule and humiliation and have now landed as successful professionals.  some even ended up as distinguished in their fields of specialization.
this is not just an economic story. this is also a political story. when we decided to do something about changing our future, we have changed our political and economic life.

a step at a time . . .
that's how it all started ...
that's how things started
great things come from small beginnings!