What a day that was…

(looking at all three papers, I can’t help but think if there may be a cosmic joke within all of this, too)

Idea for Children in Evac Centers

There’s a suggestion  to send toys, books, and board games to evacuation centres. Im not sure if this has been taken up by any of the relief operations (I’m yet to confirm with Tulong Bayan). It’s a pretty good idea for everyone to consider.

Also, the Black Pencil Project is still collecting school supplies for day care centers in Manila.

*Photo of toys from http://www.yourkidmatters.com

It shouldnt just be temporary

The things we do and the help we give now shouldn’t just be for this week. We have got to think about the long term: after we pack the goods and distribute, after we sympathize and console, WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO NEXT? And it’s not just the government’s problem. It’s all of OURS.

this is a re-post.

Speech of Senator Mar Roxas Declaring his Vice Presidential Bid

21 September 2009, Club Filipino, San Juan

Maraming maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat. Magandang tanghali po. Happy Holidays to our Muslim brothers.

Salamat, Noynoy, sa tiwalang ipinagkaloob mo sa akin. Salamat sa karangalang maging kasama mo sa paglilingkod sa bayan. Thank you for this opportunity to work with you as we raise the banner of reform. Thank you for the privilege of joining you and all our kababayans in the fight for decency and integrity in public service, and for a government that puts the people’s interest first.

Taos-puso ko pong tinatanggap ang hamon na isulong ang tunay na reporma sa ating bansa.

Taos-puso ko pong tinatanggap ang responsibilidad na maging kabalikat ni Noynoy sa kanyang laban para sa pagbabago.

Taos-puso ko pong tinatanggap ang maging katambal ni Noynoy Aquino.

But this fight is not just about Noynoy and me. It’s bigger than the two of us, it is bigger than the Liberal Party. It is about our collective thirst for change.

It is about our thirst for change finally overcoming those who want to continue the tayu-tayo system, the horse-trading, the greed, the self-interest, the transactional politics that has been the biggest roadblock to progress and prosperity for all.

Tungkol ito sa matuwid laban sa baluktot. Tungkol ito sa tapat laban sa tiwali. Tungkol ito sa tama laban sa mali.

Noy, you have raised the banner. Ito ang bandila ng reporma at pag-asa. Ito ang maglalagay ng pagkain sa mesa, dahil hindi na nanakawin ang pondo ng mga magsasaka. Ito ang magbibigay ng trabaho sa taumbayan, dahil hindi na kokotangan ang mga namumuhunan. Ito ang magpapaabot-kaya sa presyo ng gamot, dahil hindi na makikipagsabwatan sa mga abusadong pharmaceutical companies.

My friends, this is going to be a tough battle. We should not be lulled into complacency. We are up against forces who will fight tooth and nail, fair and unfair, legal and illegal, against us. Sa kanila yata, tuloy ang ligaya; sa atin naman, tuloy ang laban.

Kailangan nating isulong ang bandila ni Noy at ng reporma. Mahirap ang laban na ito, pero nasa kamay natin ang ating kapalaran.

Kung bawat araw, ang bawat isa sa atin ay makahimok ng isa pang kasangga natin, tiyak ang ating tagumpay.

Our opponents will exhaust all avenues in order to win. They have been robbing us for so long, and they want to continue robbing us. Pero hindi tayo papayag na manakaw din nila ang ating pag-asa.

Taglay ni Noynoy ang susi ng pagbabago: matapat na puso, malasakit sa kapwa, at pinakamahalaga, pagmamahal sa bayan. Buong-loob kong isinusulong si Noynoy Aquino. I am honored to join him in this field of battle.

To all of us here in this hall and all across this great nation, who are fighting alongside him, make no mistake about it: We will not back down from this fight, not now, not ever.

The fog of cynicism has already lifted from our hearts. Ngayon, puwede na muling mangarap.

Sama-sama tayo. Hindi namin kayo pababayaan. Lalaban tayo!

Let the clouds cometh

 

One of  my favorite privileges of working in a (semi) tall building is the view. On one side, we can see the Makati skyline, on the other the Marikina/Montalban mountains, and on the other side, the Manila Bay sunset.

 

And even on a rainy day, the sky does not cease to be beautiful.

This side is QC and far left is Manila Bay. There are some days that any stress, any workload, any chore can be forgotten with just one amazing performance by the sky. 

Let the clouds cometh. 

And later the sun will shine through.  

Photo taken from my boss’s office, 11/14 May 2009.

Almost Cebu

 My mom got a free ticket from a local  airline last Christmas. Knowing I  would enjoy that ticket more than she  would, she gave it to me and made me  finalize the booking. I picked Cebu  and paid a whopping PHP 2, 500 on  taxes (at the back of my head I knew I  shouldnt have because promo fares  are much cheaper*).

 The tendency of “being there” and  standing in line made me decide to  just get on with it (pay up) and wait  for the Labor Day weekend. There are  ways to make my Cebu trip cheap and  there were friends filling me in on  how. 

Last Sunday, however, I found out that I would have to stay in Manila because of an important meeting over the weekend. After a long and hard process of “letting go” – I find out now  that the meeting IS NOT happening. 

Danggit!! (Yes as in the dried fish from Cebu). 

I still have a few hours to pack and leave Manila and have some peace for three days… 

 

BUT NO. 

The decision is to stay and rest HERE (and hide). There are things that need to be done, and things that need to be dealt with here and now. 

And an alternative trip has been planned. 

Hehe. 

 

I waited for two months for this Cebu trip. Now I guess, I have to wait a little longer. 

From hindsight, it really doesn’t matter where I would go. What matters is what I would do.

And this weekend’s task list looks promising. 

So that’s 2,500 PHP out the window (can’t be refunded and if I rebook, I get charged for a heck of a lot of other things which I swear are NOT worth the hassle). I guess that’s alright. Whatever I accomplish this weekend has a bigger value than that.

And I also learned an important lesson. For this Cebu trip, I was charged for taxes for two one-way tickets. I booked it as a round trip ticket but each route was taxed separately. It kinda made me think that the gift certificate/free ticket wasnt really a gift/free at all.

My take is, I would rather pay for the real thing than be made to believe I am getting a nice deal from stuff like this. 

So to hell with that PHP 2,500. I am going to be a lot smarter next time. 

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By the way, YTRIP was featured in Manila Bulletin’s Student and Campus section  (29 April 2009). Thanks to Jaser for a great article. Wanna read it? Click HERE :-)

 

*Cebu map from http://www.cebu-hotels.com

On Travel and Blogging

Blogging has made venting, bashing, and self-expression sooo easy that we forget (most of the time) the need to put things in context when we type away.

Since I hit 23, the word RESPONSIBILITY has been on my back and it has become part of my writing, expressing, and even venting framework. True, it is easier to just go on and write, blog, and let the world know how you feel and when… but people tend to take things out of context and misinterpret most of what we say and post. No matter how many smileys you put in there, when you sound like you’re bitching, you are bitching  (even if you really werent). 

This post’s direction now, though, is on travel and blogging. When we travel, of course we write about our experiences – the good and the bad but I realized that whatever information we put out there, it becomes history and memory. People will recall. You will recall. And no matter what happens, because blogging is not censored, your post will be taken as truth. There may be doubt yes, but it is still – supposedly – close to the truth. 

 

  That’s why we should be    careful of what we say and  post, or at least – we should  be responsible with the way  we frame our words and  blogs. As a stickler for  propriety, we should always  have some level of respect  for everything we write    about – and this also shows  the level of respect we have  for ourselves. 

Travel and blogging have to have context. When we write, we have to have context so that readers would understand where we are coming from. 

Of late I have found people who wrote about complaints and insights gained from travel… and I appreciate all their thoughts and shares. What hit me though is sometimes, our personal insights – no matter how enlightened they would seem – need to be enriched and challenged. They need to be contextualized. 

… and after all the insights you generate, when you travel and blog, and share all of what you have learned, what does it make of you? 

The whole experience must have enriched you, whether it was good or bad… and hopefully, that kind of growth would show when you express yourself.

 

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Photo by Cherryl Si (c) 2009