INC Centennial Celebration - July 27th 2014

INC Centennial Celebration - July 27, 2014, at Iglesia Ni Cristo Church, Magsaysay, Baguio City.

Iglesia Ni Cristo Centennial Celebration. INC 100th Year Anniversary of the church. We may not be there at #PhilippineArena physically, but we were able to witness the worship service officiated by Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo, the INC Executive Minister, through a video conference. God blessed His chosen ones. An unforgettable day.  God was truly with us!

NATURE OF MISSION

July 19-20, 2014 - Kias, Baguio City. Two-day worship service at our locale in celebration of the 100th year anniversary of our church.

NATURE OF MISSION "Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, And gather you from the west; I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' And to the south, 'Do not keep them back!' Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth"(Isa. 43:5-6, NKJV)

The Affair of the State and Why It Should Matter to Us

"Labor is the parent of all the lasting monuments of this world, whether in verse or in stone, in poetry or in pyramids." - Dr. Edward L.Kramer

They said a nation is only as good as its leader and the people who govern it. I am no expert in the political arena. What you will read here is just my personal opinion as a citizen of this country. I try to avoid this topic as much as I can, but I think I should also share my thoughts about this issue since it concerns the well-being of its people, and that includes me. I believe the "affair of the state is also my affair."



Speaking of well-being, if you check the archive list of this blog, you will notice the skipped months. It is a tell-tale sign of my person's state of being. Those were days, weeks, and months when I was in so much pain and depression. There were days when no medicine can ease the gnawing pain. I just stayed in bed with the lights off. No reading. No writing. No blogging.

The way the pain and depression mushroomed out of the blue, one day it also vanished like a snap of a finger. I am not complaining, mind you. I hope it stays that way forever. When I am good and able, I notice almost everything. I hear almost everything. And I sometimes poke my nose to where I should not be, to the irritation of some people. I won't apologize, though. This is who I am.

Now is also the time to take a closer look at our nation's state of affair. The unending case of PDAF or "pork barrel" is frustrating, especially when you think of your hard-earned money (taxes) just deposited in someone else pocket. It makes me seethe to know that these politicians will buy just about anything, and live like royalties with our money. 

Wikipedia says: The Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) is a discretionary fund in the Philippines available to members of Congress. Originally established as the Countrywide Development Fund (CDF) in 1990, it is designed to allow legislators to fund small-scale infrastructure or community projects which fell outside the scope of the national infrastructure program, which was often restricted to large infrastructure items.^[1]

The PDAF is commonly called the "pork barrel", and has been the subject of much public criticism following exposés on abuses perpetuated by members of Congress on use of the fund in 1996 and 2013.

Now there's another "fund case" to study and to dissect. This one goes like; "is it constitutional or not?" The Supreme Court declared the key provisions under DAP (National Budget Circular 541) as unconstitutional, and this may cause a possible impeachment case against the president. (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/breaking-news/2014/07/01/dap-key-provisions-declared-unconstitutional-351237). However, President Benigno Aquino III said this is constitutional, and he cited these (below) as his basis during his national address on July 14, 2014.

It is not only my conscience that dictates the efficient spending of funds; various provisions of the law that is our country’s Administrative Code clearly allow for the use of savings. For example, let us now read Book VI, Chapter 5, Section 39 of the 1987 Administrative Code of the Philippines:

“—Except as otherwise provided in the General Appropriations Act, any savings in the regular appropriations authorized in the General Appropriations Act for programs and projects of any department, office or agency, may, with the approval of the President, be used to cover a deficit in any other item of the regular appropriations…”

As you can see, this law openly gives the President the power to transfer savings to other projects. It does not limit the transfer to only one department or branch of government. In other words: We did not transgress the law when we implemented DAP. (Full speech: http://www.gov.ph/2014/07/14/english-national-address-of-president-aquino-on-the-supreme-courts-decision-on-dap/)

UNDERSTANDING THE DISBURSEMENT ACCELERATION PROGRAM - (Public Record)

The Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) is a stimulus package under the Aquino administration designed to fast-track public spending and push economic growth. This covers high-impact budgetary programs and projects which will be augmented out of the savings generated during the year and additional revenue sources. The DAP was approved by the President on October 12, 2011, upon the recommendation of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) and the Cabinet Clusters.

The DAP was conceptualized in September 2011 and introduced in October 2011, in the context of the prevailing underspending in government disbursements for the first eight months of 2011 that dampened the country’s economic growth. Such government intervention was needed because key programs and projects, most notably public infrastructure, were moving slowly. The need to accelerate public spending was also brought about by the global economic situation as well as the financial toll of calamities in that year. While the economy has generally improved in 2012 and 2013, the use of DAP was continued to sustain the pace of public spending as well as economic expansion.

I really don't know how this battle will end, but I do hope the public will suffer no more. Looking at all the figures in these budgets, no one should have gone hungry. Yet, who am I to judge what's right and what's wrong. In time, the guilty will be apprehended, and I should say - the good ones will prevail. But, history will tell us otherwise. However good the intentions are in the beginning, it all ends up in doubt. It is just a story repeated time and again...

*Photo credit to the owners.

Global Warming - A Morning Of Indifference

"To do more than is required of you is a good way to bring yourself forward."- Dr.Sidney N. Bremer

I am restless. There are so many things I wanted to do all at once. It's not that I am frustrated in a negative way, if there's such a thing. Only that my hands are tied in a sort of way, right now, and I can't do some of the projects in my to-do list. Oh well, I can always write about anything, can't I?

The weather forecast at 5 p.m. Wednesday said the tropical cyclone Glenda was last spotted 160 kilometers west of Zambales, and was moving towards Bajo de Masinloc. There are still places where signal number 1 alert remains, but all in all, it has died down. They said that the Philippines is visited by more than 20 typhoons in a year, and most of them destructive. Glenda was the first typhoon and the first major storm to hit the Philippines since super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) devastated Leyte and Samar in November of 2013, killing a total of 6, 300 people, as per the official death toll by NDRRMC. 

Yesterday, they said it was signal number 2 here in the mountains. Judging by the mere drizzle yesterday morning, you wouldn't think of it. But I know other places were not so lucky. I have not been watching the news lately, but from my twitter news feeds, it looked bad especially in Metro Manila and the nearby towns. As of this morning, the news said Glenda left at least 20 dead and 5 missing. Tsk! Tsk!

Now that I think of it, here is a topic close to my heart. Mother Earth and Nature's fury. Global warming. Ozone unzipped. Freak storms. Hurricanes. Cyclones. We've watched so many "nature-inspired" disaster movies, and more are coming soon in the ads. Some may say, these are just movies. But if you look closer, it actually represents the true state of our Mother Earth. 

But what is "global warming" really? When you search the net, it says: 

1. "a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants."

Well, you don't need a lot of sophisticated translations to understand that this is bad for the world. Bad for us. Bad for the future generations, if there will be one. There are so many little things we can do to help prevent a catastrophic climate change. Small ways that may look insignificant, but the numbers will prove us wrong. 

I am also guilty as charged. For the more I use tissues, the more I use plastic bags, plastic cups, plastic anything, has a big impact in the environment. What more if we just dump it carelessly. Just throwing a candy wrapper on the street is a big mistake. Yesterday, when I went home from work (I came from graveyard shift, of course), a man who, judging by the basket he carried, came from the market, just threw a styro cup outside the jeepney's window. I was so disappointed and upset. How can someone, after all the disasters happening around us, be so indifferent with his environment? 

I guess people will never learn, or simply do not care about the future of this planet. It's probably easier for them to just shrug it off. I did, before, when I didn't care. I can't remember what changed my belief. I just realized that no matter how small a gesture was, it will greatly impact the world in general. And so, I try to do my share of caring for nature as best I can. 

For my family. For my friends. For my community. For my country. For the world. But mostly, for me. For it makes me happy that even in little ways, I have a say on what's happening in my world. 

Keep On Going...Through The Years!

"Think for it, plan for it, work for it, live for it, throw your mind, might, strength, heart, and the soul into your actions for it, and success will crown you as her favored child." - Dr.Sidney N. Bremer

"Let us, then, be up and doing, with a heart for any fate, still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labor and to wait." - Longfellow 

  "Many a man has never found himself until he has lost his all. "

Change Your Way Of Thinking - What Makes You happy?

"It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels he is worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him". - Abraham Lincoln

My doctor said I should stop stressing myself and "get your life organized". She said to cut back on what I don't need and prioritize on what is important. My close friends who knew me for being a perfectionist all said that "you must stop being hard on yourself. Relax." They echoed what Woman's Today wrote about stress. It read - "Relax! A recent 15-year study of more than 3,300 people found those who went through life feeling hostile had an 84% greater risk of developing high blood pressure. Change what you can in life and accept what you can't."

It is easier said than done. For how can I relax and be content? I'm over forty and no prospect in sight. No house of my own, no car, no big savings, no ring on my finger and with a cancer. The brilliant Theresa who was once the envy of some of my classmates remains a rank and file employee. A long-time ago state scholar who could have been a head of a successful organization. But time flies, and nothing close to those ever happened. 

What went wrong? Looking back, there's no easy answer to that question. I could blame my parents, my siblings, our station in life, bad luck, the weather, etc. But it all comes down to the foolishness of youth and the wrong decisions along the way. Decisions that altered my life from a pre-set course. When I think hard about these things, that's when I don't find any joy in life anymore. These worries made my life miserable, sick in the mind and in the body. Depression caused me so much suffering that I sometimes lost the will to go on.

Should I let this go on? Obviously, I must not. First things first, I must change my way of thinking. I've learned that men are straight forward about most things, while women tend to be very particular in details. Women think about little things that needs to be done unblemished, and when they fall short of their standard, panic sets in. Trying to be perfect is definitely a sure way to develop anxiety and depression. When I'm stressed, I feel like I'm a failure and most times I feel guilty. I feel that I have not done my best and I should be punished for falling short of my own expectations. When these occur, headache and backache kicks in. I can't breath. I'm always nervous and always expecting the worst. Therapy and medicine will not even work. It's during one bout when I can't sleep, and I had nothing to do but think, that I realized my conscience was hurt. It's hurt because I do not listen to what it's saying.

It's frightening when you have to confront yourself. It took all my strength just to look deep within me. Brave enough to accept defeat for presumed failures. Acceptance about the maladies of life and its horrible shroud. But it doesn't mean I have to live with it. It means opening one's mind and going through the change. Change means taking a break. A break for being sorry and depressed about the things that I can't change anymore. Acknowledging one's weakness and the things that are out of our control. In the end, realizing that we can achieve excellence, but not perfection.

Acceptance is the key to a person's peace of mind. Once this is achieved, you can take back your life. Take control of it. Forget what you cannot change and concentrate on what you can. Feeling better about yourself is a miracle. It let me focus on my self-worth and what I can do for others and the world at large. Of course, it's not magic that with a snap of a finger you can make it happen overnight. It requires a lot of discipline and dedicated work. But these are nothing compared to losing one's self-confidence.

I still dream big, but with joy and great expectations that these will not remain dreams. I know because I have laid out a plan and a course of action. I have to go back to school, not in the old ways, but though Distance Education. As Dr. Sidney N. Bremer said - "To win life's race, the mind must be put to training". I never stopped reading, studying, researching and writing, and going back to formal schooling is a way to get me back on the trail. I don't have to be a president or anything like that. For sure, it's something that will make me happier. I know what my passion is. I want to write and continue writing. I want to be published someday. In fact, I have started a research that may make this happen one day. This makes me happy and it will make me very busy to be depressed anytime soon. What about you? What makes you happy? Happy enough that will make you change your way of thinking. 

Fading In The Background

"No man may become great without feeling himself humble and insignificant when compared to the world about him and the stars above him and the harmony with which Nature does her work." - Dr.Sidney N. Bremer

 Life begins at forty. That's what's being said about people reaching the fourth decade of their lives. I don't know about men, but for women like me, and single to boot, it's a difficult stage to adapt to. For one thing, you are forced to fade in the background. People no longer sees you as trendy and significant. People, especially the younger generation, no longer sees you as someone that matters. You are no longer in the list of people to invite to, to hub nub to, to be seen with, to hang on to words and expressions you can repeat and share and referred to. A has been...

It's sad, but it's a fact of life. You woke up one day and you realize you are no longer the mainstream. You realized you're just like the "new wave" songs back in the 80's and the 90's. You had your moments, you had your 'fifteen minutes' of glorious fame, but it's all in the past. You wake up one day to turn on the 'radio' and the 'songs' you hear are quite a different tune. You wanted to say, hey, I can sing  that, too. But they would just look at you with eyes that says, no, your time is past. You can sing from time to time, but this is a whole different setting with new artists.

And so, I am forced to fade in the background. I wanted to wallow in dismay and defeat. But when I looked in the mirror, the person looking at me says "no, you don't". I see a face fading but still radiating with even more wisdom and understanding. A brave person that time has tested to stand proud of what she is. Then, as if by magic, the path spread wide and clear in front of me. I know where I am going. I know what I am doing. I know what beautiful and amazing chapters and stories I still need to write. The story of my life at forty and beyond. Who cares if i'm fading in the background? I know my worth. I know what I survived. I know what I want and I am excited to face it all - alone. For now. Can you say the same? 

       

To Be Young And Brave

"No matter who you are, or where you are maybe, you can do something to change the world for the better." - Dr. Edward L. Kramer

Siblings born unplanned are the most to suffer survival crisis. I don't have the numbers to prove it, but I'd seen some and I've met some. In fact, one of them is my youngest brother. He came in this world when life was at the most difficult in our family. The only support comes from the meager income of my father as a driver. I was ten years old, I believe, when my mother went into labor. The room we lived in at that time was awful. It was one of those small tenement houses near the smelly Pandacan swamp. Those were horrible two years of my life when we were forced to live there due to unforeseen circumstances. I remember dreading going home from school because it was hot and humid and odorous. My siblings were pitiful because we didn't have a television back then, and they didn't have the passion for reading books as I do. They would peep in the neighbor's windows, and then I would hear it being slammed in their faces. Such was the case that I found more solace in my studies. I would be lost in my books, and my dreams, and not a day I wouldn't wish of getting older at last. 

One day, I had to go to Fabella Hospital alone because my father was working, and my mother needs someone in the hospital. I remember the boy crying. I know I was not happy because even at a young age, I know deep within me we were not privileged and life is hard. The doctors and the nurses kept praising me, saying what a brave and silent girl I was. I never spoke much those days unless asked a direct question. I had nothing to say to the world. But I know my soul says my mother is even braver, bringing a fifth child in this world.

Back then, I would say my brother was born thin and small and with a big head. Only later I would know the word "meningitis". He survived, but he grew up to be a sickly person, both in body and in behavior.He grew up resentful of life in general. We grew up, too, but our station in life did not improve. We moved since then from that horrible place, but still poor to my dismay. My brother never experienced the good life I had before he was born. For some reason, since the year he was born, we had seven years plus seven years plus seven years bad luck, if you can believe that. 

He never liked school and studying is a hateful word. He stayed in the province to continue his schooling, nonetheless, and I went to work places as far as overseas. He finished high school after eight years of labor. Some even said the teachers let him graduate just to get rid of him. You may wonder why I am telling this. Well, I was and still close to him. Maybe because I was the eldest and he was the youngest. The times I went home to our town, we used to talk about our dreams, how we're going to have a big house, a tricycle or a jeep for him, and a business for me. Some of those remain to be dreams.

He has a wife and a child now. A boy so like him. Still poor but of better circumstances. I miss them and sometimes I regret not giving more, spending more quality time with him. But maybe we did something right along the way because he stayed sane and made something of his life now. It is still a struggle for him not getting a good paying job because of lack of a better education, but I salute him for being brave enough to love and to take responsibility for other people. Some born under the same state are not so lucky.

I believe I will schedule a leave soon to see my nephew with him. He's getting bigger and he barely knew me, and time flies. Tempus fugit....

What You Think You Are

    
"The mind is everything, what you think you become. - Gautama Buddha

    

'To win life's race, the mind must be put into training.' - Dr. Sidney N. Bremer.  I couldn't but agree with this. Many times in my life, I have doubted a course of action that I planned. Things that could have changed my life today. And no matter how excellent it was at that time, it never happened because I doubted it. Such was the case when I was supposed to take up Psychology in college, but opted to switch to Accounting, which I never practice in any way my whole career. It's sad, but that is the reality. I am not saying this because I am still dreaming of "what ifs" and "it could have been". I only visit these "chapters" in my life to remind me to "live what I think is right" and never hesitate. 

     

"What we do tomorrow depends largely on our thinking today." And so I planned to go back to school many times, but since I am working and I am not physically well, I am putting it off for sometime. However, today I found an opportunity for Distance Education. I know this is a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice, but this is something that I have to do if I am to realize the career path I still would like to take on. Documenting it this way will not only remind me, but will pave the way to the "marked gate".

I am reading the Volume II of Successful Achievement Course by Dr. Sidney Bremer. It has inspired me immensely that I would like to share some of his amazing thoughts. 

• That is not the amount of knowledge, but the capacity to apply it, which promises success and usefulness in life, is a truth which cannot be too often inculcated by instructions and recollected by pupils.
• Knowledge merely gathered together, whether in books or brains, is devoid of powers, unless quickened into life by the thoughts and reflections of some practical worker.
• Always read with your thoughts concentrated, and your mind entirely engaged on the subject you are pursuing. Any other course tends to form a habit of desultory, indolent thought, and incapacitate the mind from confining its attention to close and accurate investigation.
• We should read slowly, carefully, and with reflection.
• Take time to deliberate and advise, but lose no time in executing your resolution. To perceive accurately and to think correctly is the aim of all mental training.
• See yourself in the very place in which you most desire to be engaged, in the very work you would love best to accomplish.

"The mental attitude we take toward anything determines to a greater or less extent its effects upon us." - Ralph Waldo Trine 

"Mind is the great lever of all things; human thought is the process by which human ends are ultimately answered." - Daniel Webster

LOOKING BACK THROUGH THE YEARS, AT SITEL BAGUIO 3...