Honored By World Vision

Last night, I attended along with my wife the Loyal Donor Dinner of arranged by World Vision. It was a night in tribute to the loyal donors of this charitable institution. World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. They reach out to people who could share a portion of what they have to help poorest of the poor and aid them and their communities.

With an amount of P600 per month, one will be able to sponsor a kid to school. With this amount a kid is given a chance in life to elevate their life and eventually help their own family.

The dinner was held at the Petron Cultural Hall of Petron Megaplaza in Makati. And this was for honoring donors their loyal sponsors who have sponsored children to school the past 5 and 10 years. I was among the 5 year donors.

Upon registration, each donor was given a lei of sea shells by some of the young kids who were part of the sponsorship programs of World Vision. Each sponsor was also given a World Vision pin that states 'I sponsor a child'.

During dinner, a group of sponsored kids from Pinyahan, Quezon City played a rondalla to the guests. And while being serenaded by these kids, each 5 year donor were handed a small plaque of appreciation for continually supporting their programs.

One highlight of the dinner program was with a speech made by a guy named Nick who was once a sponsored kid since 1975 and has now become a successful business person who owns 5 companies and now is a COO. During his speech, he narates how he was given the opportunity to change his and his family's life from being a farmer upto what he is now. It was such an inspiring speech. Eventually, our emcee told the guests that Nick owns the company who has started growing Cream Dory fish locally and competes with imported Dory fishes.

Actually aside from Nick, another guy was among the 5 year donors who was also once a sponsored kid from kindergarten to college and comes from Isabela.

It was a good celebration and I'm glad that I was able to help poor kids to enter school and have their opportunity to change their own lives for the better. I hope more Filipinos would also extend their hands and join World Vision in helping kids have a brighter future.

To learn more how to sponsor a child to school through World Vision, follow this link: http://www.worldvision.org.ph/

Thanks to HotelsCombined also for having a Donor drive for World Vision.

Pacquiao vs. Cotto

Just this weekend, the Filipino boxing hero, Manny 'Pacman' Pacquiao once again brought fame and glory to the Filipino people after winning against Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico, giving Pacquiao a world record for winning 7 weight levels in boxing history.

Great job Manny..You're truly the Pound for Pound King of Boxing

Pacific Region in Disaster

In the last few days, disaster after disaster has occurred in some countries in the region. Mother nature appears to be trying to tell us something.

Last Sept. 26, tropical storm Ketsana (local name: Ondoy) just passed through the Philippines, putting Manila deep in flash floods and mud leaving about 300 people dead. The typhoon continued its path to Vietnam as a typhoon flooding some of its central cities. Cambodia along experienced flooding because of this. Ketsana caused a number of casualties also in this countries and millions worth of damages to property and livestock, and thousands of families displaced and in need of relief. A super typhoon, Parma (local name: Pepeng) is also near the Philippine area of responsibility threatens the cities submerged by flooding caused by Ketsana.

Three days later Sept 29, an 8.0 magnitude underwater earthquake broke out in the Pacific causing a tsunami to hit Samoa and Tonga. This left more than 100 people dead. Another underwater earthquake occurred near Samoa again the day after at 5.5 magnitude

Sept 30, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake occurred in the island of Sumatra in Indonesia which brought casualties of about 500 already. The day after, two earthquakes on the same island also erupted with magnitudes of 6 up. These earthquakes were also felt in Singapore.

It seems very unusual that natural events have been occurring consecutively in this region and occurs just day after the other and earthquakes occurring twice in the same area. Is this a sign that our Earth is trying to inform us something? Is it a sign that the world is changing? Or is the end of days is nearing?

I hope that cities and people in this region gets more prepared on unforseen events that may come in the future, that less people get displaced or become casualties.

Is it a sign or simply a coincidence?

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/30/cyclones.earthquakes.tsunamis/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Gov't, private developers liable for flood damage in Manila

MANILA - Government agencies and private developers are jointly liable for the massive loss of life and property in several Metro Manila cities for practicing poor urban planning and allowing commercial and residential structures to be built in flood-prone areas, according to "green" architect and urban planner Felino Palafox Jr.

Palafox said a 1977 World Bank-funded study identified Marikina Valley, the western shores of Laguna de Bay, and the Manila Bay coastal area as among development areas that should prepare for flooding, earthquakes and possible changes in topography.

The Metro Manila Transport, Land Use and Development Planning Project (Metroplan), which was finalized by Hong Kong-based consulting firm Freeman Fox and Associates, has been used as a blueprint by urban planning developers and various government agencies and urban planners. Unfortunately, he said corruption and lack of planning has led to the shelving of some of the plan's recommendations.

"You see the irony here. National government agencies are aware that there is a flooding level of so many meters, then another national government agency would approve subdivision plans for only nine-meter high houses. There are about 32 signatures to obtain just to do a development project. It's like an obstacle course," he said in an ANC interview last Tuesday.

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He said the Metroplan addressed flood-mapping in Metro Manila, ecifically after the massive typhoon in 1970. He said the Metroplan included the construction of the Manggahan Floodway, which would divert floodwaters from reaching Metro Manila by diverting the water to the Laguna Lake.

"There was supposed to be a Parañaque spillway to flush out the excess water to the Laguna Bay and South China Sea, but this was never done. It was part of the recommendation," he said.

Palafox said the study recommended the monitoring of the Marikina Riverbank so that the water would not reach 90 meters. Likewise, no structure should have been allowed within 9 meters from the riverbank, he added.

http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/09/30/09/govt-private-developers-liable-flood-damage

Mikey During Ondoy's Savage

Found this picture over the net which I also heard from a FM station of Mikey Arroyo buying some liquor during Ondoy's fury. What the heck is a stupid politician buying liquor for? Is he planning to donate his liquor to the drunkards affected by Ondoy???

According to the post from Facebook.. “Was buying food for keeps… then we saw Mikey Arroyo in Rustans Liquor Section asking the salesman for a brand of hard alcoholic drink. Effin Crazy! Just a few kilometers away from Katipunan, people are needing help for search and rescue, and there he was buying bottles of alcohol. See for yourself and tell me what you think.”

Shameless Jacque Bermejo

It is very sad that after the plight of many Filipinos who have suffered and even died on the onslaught of typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana), a fellow Filipino is able to speak of insanely about the people affected by the severe floods.

I've come to know of this Jacque Bermejo who happens to be in Dubai and made a statement in here Facebook account "Buti n lng am hir in Dubai! maybe so many sinners bak der! so yeah deserving wat hapend!" ('Fortunately I'm here in Dubai!... So yeah deserving what happened!')

It's very insensitive or rude of her to make a statement. And bad for her she is getting more bad image over the internet. No one have the right to be happy in the suffering of other people.

Typhoon Ondoy Drowns Most of Manila

Numerous videos of different accounts from the flooding all over Metro Manila due to typhoon Ondoy which passed Manila September 26 2009.

Wandering Juan

After our trip to Puerto Princesa last month, I joined in the Photo Contest of Cebu Pacific Air that is called Wandering Juan. This contest searches photo moments that feature a pair of slippers in it in 3 different categories: Sights, People, and Travelogue.

From the pictures that I have loaded, here is my entry for the Sights category that was chosen entitled Suspended in Air. Unfortunately, they have tagged it with a wrong location of Busuanga, instead of Puerto Princesa.



While here are my 2 entries for the People category: Father and Son


and On A Buffalo Ride

Jollibee, the Traffic Enforcer

I found this video from YouTube where Jollibee is doing the traffic. I found this cute and my guess this is somewhere in Legaspi.

Mikey Arroyo Grilled by Winnie Monsod

Here's a video of an interview with Mikey Arroyo in Unang Hirit yesterday morning about the unexplained assets of the Presidential Son.





He looked like he's controlling himself from punching Mareng Winnie.

Willie and Joey on Cory's Funeral

In line with the Funeral of Cory Aquino, Willie Revillame gave a statement which made many unhappy.



And here is Joey De Leon's reaction during Eat Bulaga.

Cory Aquino's Funeral

Last Saturday morning, Philippines' former president Corazon Aquino has died due to colon cancer. And after 2 days in La Salle Greenhills, her body was transferred to the Manila Cathedral.

Her convoy, took the path of EDSA and to Ayala Avenue to pass by the monument of her husband, Benigno 'Ninoy' Aquino. I was a bit fortunate to be working near Ayala in Philamlife Bldg which gave me the opportunity of taking pictures of this momentous event in Philippine history. Here are some pictures I've taken this noon time.

Yesterday was a day that was dedicated for fathers. It was a special day and the day became more special as I celebrated it with my family. It was just a simple celebration. We just opted to go out for dinner.

Anyways, we started the daya by hearing mass. Unfortunately our priest didn't do any blessing for the dads for he had done it already last week after he got confused on the actual date of Fathers Day.

And so last night, we decided to go to Don Henrico's restaurant in West Avenue in Quezon City. At first we were thinking of heading to Penang Hill restaurant in Greenhills but fortunately we didn't as we were told that traffic was really bad there last night and restaurants are jam packed with families celebrating as well.

Coming from home in Caloocan, we drove through Quezon Ave to get to the restaurant. It was not that packed last night and so we got seats after a few minutes.

While waiting, we took some pictures of Janine whom is sporting an I Love Daddy shirt.. hehehe.. well Jen bought it for her for tonight. We ordered for a Supreme thin crusted pizza, a baked ziti, and Don Hen's signature Buffalo chicken.

It was such a good dinner and the best thing there is watching Janine eat by her own.

Kid Salon

When I was younger, I remember getting myself rejected by a barber from cutting my hair. This is for a reason that many barbers or haircutters find kids as a very hard client to handle. Kids tend to move a lot and is very hard to instruct to stay still. I guess being on a seat for sometime may be very boring for a child.

Well, I saw why it was so now that I had a toddler myself. My wife would have a hard time to make my baby sit still while she cut her hair. We even only had successfully cut her bangs while the baby's asleep and when I tried to distract her.

Luckily, these days Kid Salons have opened up in the metro. I think it's a blessing for parents to ensure their kids would have a better haircut even when they move around a lot.

And so, we went into this Kid Salon one Sunday before mass in Robinsons Galleria Mall in Quezon City. The haircut costs Php270. Also, I think the salon had other branches in other major malls in the metro.

The salon's setup is that instead of barber's chairs, they had race car carts as their seats for the kids. This way kids may take hold of their car's steering wheels. Also, beside their big mirror is a TV screen where they played cartoons to distract the kids. And aside from that, the salon is filled with stuffed toys, toy cars and other stuff that kids can play on to.

And so, the first thing we did is select a car chair. I chose the red one for my kid. And so with my DSLR I started taking shots of my baby as her hair is being cut. We had asked for the Mr. Bean cartoons to be played on the TV as it is my baby's favorite.

And after about 15 minutes of snips and cuts, it's done. And Janine now has her new apple-cut style. It was such an easy one for her hair cutter.

Tribute To My Camera

In my personal travels, one thing certainly had been in my top of the list of thing to bring. This is my digital camera.

It was in 2004 when I first bought my own digital camera, a Sony Cybershot DSC-P91. I bought it at around Php26K back then as it was just newly released in the market.

It was in time for my first leisure trip outside the country and my first to Singapore. With it, I was able to capture our moments and memories while we were there and that started my facination with taking pictures.

With the years I had my camera, I've captured quite a number of memories and moments. I was able to bring it on top of the mountain in Mt. Maculot and Banaue, on the beaches of Boracay and Bohol, into the caves of Sagada, up to the Great Wall, and the Grand Canyon.

My Cybershot has produced me very high quality pictures and great flexibility with my choice of using preset modes or doing manual adjustments just like in a DSLR. I loved how I was able to capture beautiful night shots with it though I had to buy a tripod to give me better shots. One good thing with it is that it uses 2 rechargeable AA batteries, which is easy to find in case I lost charge.

Through the years it had been with me, it sadly endured some misfortune like when it was dropped by a photo staff in Disneyland when I was in Los Angeles in 2004. Then in December of 2007, it suffered from the wintery chills in the Grand Canyon when it whites up all zoomed shots. But lastly in 2008 it finally bade goodbye when it plunged down a pool.

Overall, it served me very well and I can say that it had been one of my best properties whom I've bought in a very good price. Irrepairable it may be, I have kept it still as a memorabilia.

Anyways this year, I have acquired a new camera. It is a Canon 450D DSLR camera. Going forward I'm looking into the future of having a very good relationship with my new camera. I'd hope I'd be able to bring as well to odd spots to capture my future memories.

Well, so far from my kid's birthday to our hike to Mount Pinatubo, it has not failed me. But I've still need to take more time to learn all the capabilities of this new camera and maybe later buy an additional lens and flash.

Moving to Another Company

Just October of last year, I made the decision of leaving my old company, WeServ Systems which is a subsidiary of Fujitsu Philippines hoping for a better opportunity to another company. And so, I've decided to move to ProV International which is located in Makati.

It was such a hard decision to make. After all, I have spent 8 long years in WeServ and have made a lot of friends and stature in the said company. But again, due to economic reasons and having a new family I have decided to proceed on moving to ProV. Well ProV offered me about double of what I earn in WeServ. Such an irresistable offer.

And now, jump 6 months after. I did not realize that I'll be again undergoing a transition to a new company. This is something I have not thought of doing but due to the current situation I had to do it. Since January, ProV had laid off a number of people. Since last year, many employees are disheartened by how things are going on. Some have left and some were forced to leave.

And so, starting tomorrow, I'll be joining the fleet of people who decided to move on to another opportunity. I feel fortunate that I landed on a project which has offered to take care of us in this times of economic crisis. As other felt the burden of looking for a new employer, I had a hand who caught me from being thrown out of the window.

As I face a new opportunity beginning tomorrow, I hope this would end up better. I hope I won't get disappointed like I had with ProV. And hopefully in the next few month, we finally join Besix.