It has been called “The greatest Filipino ever made.” Watch The complete movie. BusyBB
Thursday, September 30, 2010
The League of Extraordinary Filipino Gentlemen
“Those who say that we’re in a time when there are no heroes, they just don’t know where to look.” Read more. Hurricane Ike Pics
Are OFWs Contributing To The Brain Drain?
We have heard of “Brain drain,” but have we ever stopped to think about the other side of the story? What is happening now, if one looks at the bigger picture, is … Read more. Top News
What's Your Favorite Original Filipino Song?
2Rivers presents the most recent features stars: Christian Bautista, Jed Madela, Erik Santos, Iwi Laurel, The Tux, Nexxus, Tropical Depression and Second Wind. Be Carol
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
My Favorite Christian Bautista (English) Songs
Color Everywhere
I'm Already King
The Way You Look At Me
Photo courtesy of lyrics.wikia.com
My Favorite Erik Santos (English) Songs
See also Erik’s version of May Bukas Pa
See video of the original May Bukas Pa from Rico J. Puno
Photo courtesy of Filipino Music
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Are Overseas Workers Really Contributing To The "Brain Drain"?
To hail our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) as “Modern-Day Heroes” is a noble and worthy way of honoring the crucial role they play in the economic life of our beloved country.
But, in a larger sense, the diaspora of Filipinos achieves a more significant and longer-lasting accomplishment to our country as a whole. We have heard of “Brain drain,” but have we ever stopped to think about the other side of the story? What is happening now, if one looks at the bigger picture, is “Brain gain” – gifting us with the experiences and skills learned from other cultures to enhance and enrich our own.
This is the essence of the anthology From America To Africa, a collection of tales of Filipino women from all corners of the globe – encompassing also the entire spectrum of the human condition.
This humble piece is more than just an essay, it is also a celebration of the achievements – and victories – of Filipino women on the world arena.
There is something providential when a life touches another. We are here on earth to fulfill our own destinies, and it is the people we meet along the way who bequeath to us lessons that there is more to life than living. I have been blessed with being associated with beautiful souls. The late Senator Raul Roco is a prime example, for whose presidential bid I have volunteered and campaigned. His sincerity and genuineness as a human being inspired me and evoked within me those ideals that fortify decent people in our “quite imperfect world,” to borrow a line from a classic song by the Carpenters.
It is Roco’s solid conviction about the equality of women that made me see them in a new light, as if for the first time. And it is also because of this new-found enlightenment that I was able to fully realize the significance of a particular book that I would not have otherwise. Allow me to share with you the story of how this book came to be.
In the beginning was a woman. Journalist and book editor Lorna Kalaw-Tirol, co-founder of the Phil. Center for Investigative Journalism, has reaped National Book Awards for her works such as Duet for Edsa and The World of 1896. Adding to this partial list of stellar achievements is Coming To Terms, a collection of 15 essays about midlife.
One of the invited contributors was Imelda M. Nicolas, the chair of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women from 1992 to 1998, and would later on organize the first Global Forum for Woman Political Leaders in the Philippines in January 2000.
The book was read, among hundreds of thousands around the world, by Josie Opeña Disterhoft, a Chicago-based advocate for education and human rights. She is the author of Developing A Child Care Program: A Health System Decision-Making Guide, and a consultant to the American Medical Women’s Association. Touched by the stories, she suggested to Imelda: Why not publish a similar book of essays about Filipino women overseas?
“I embraced the idea wholeheartedly,” writes Imelda in the Foreword. “Among other reasons, I wanted to pass on the gratifying experience I had in writing my essay to all the women whose stories needed to be told and shared. Lorna was just as enthusiastic about being the book’s editor and co-publisher.”
With 19 writers, pen-and-ink portraits from Lynett Villariba, and a thought-provoking painting by Lina Llaguno Ciano in the cover – plus a lot of people who had contributed in their own significant ways – the book From America to Africa: Voices of Filipino Women Overseas, my favorite anthology, was born, and eventually proved to be an evocative and stereotype-shattering literary experience.
It is a beautiful cross section of people, places and experiences, “a wonderful diversity of Filipino women who have found homes everywhere in the world,” writes Imelda.
What can one glean from this book? For one thing, it shows the many ways Filipino women have achieved her rightful place as a co-equal in what are still largely men’s turfs. Take my hand and let us journey into the wonderful world of women –Filipinas all.
One of the most exhilarating adventures is the life of Ambassador Narcisa “Ching” Escaler – a perfect poster girl of what Filipinas can perform on the world stage. As chief of the Philippine Mission in the United Nations, she had “a front row seat to world events as they happened, like the fall of the Berlin Wall and the consequent reunification of the two Germanys, the Gulf War, Nelson Mandela’s release and the beginning of a post-apartheid South Africa, Chairman Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s first appearance in an UN conference, the collapse of communism ad the break-up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, the failed Uruguay Round trade negotiations. More than the front-row seat, however, I was an active participant in negotiating international decisions that impacted on such world events.”
Juanita Salvador-Burris, PhD, is the founder and first executive director of Woodlawn Development Associates, a non-profit community development corporation in Chicago. An articulate advocate of right to accessible human need, specifically jobs, she gave a rousing speech to Chicago city officials and taught them that individuals are more important than institutions.
“I spoke of how deeply fundamental a job is to an individual’s life. I spoke of knowing many in my community who, for two or three generations, have never had jobs, and generally have a debilitating helplessness and lack of initiative in creating their days, much less their future.”
There was enthusiastic applause after her speech. “When I went back to my seat, the officials leaned over to me and asked me to go with them to the banks and corporations to get them to give funds and jobs to their programs.”
My favorite passage is the beautiful, bittersweet, liberating revelation from Dr. Eumilia “Nini” Bautista, a retired nuclear safeguards inspector at the International Atomic Energy Agency of the UN, and a sobresaliente cum laude PhD holder from the Universidad de Madrid in Spain, who’s now based in Vienna. She is the epitome of a successful life. But the road to the top, as we all know, is filled with detours, She gives voice to our collective ennui.
“Modesty aside, I might even have had it all: envious friends jabbing left-handed compliments; career, home and family, friends; a modicum of creature comforts, travel, awards, community involvement. But I have also had my share of frenzy, of hectic workaholism, co-dependence, frustrations, disappointments, intrigues, almost legal battles, broken relationships, envious friends, and ruthless backbiting – the whole gamut of human existence. In fact, that’s the whole caboodle that’s called life. And one learns and tries to remember the lessons well, and one forgives again and yet again, and tries to forget. One is wounded and embittered, and then is healed. One stumbles again and again, limps, and finally gets back on one’s feet.”
See my profile on Raul Roco on The League of Extraordinary Filipino Gentlemen. Photo courtesy of NewFilipina
Saturday, September 18, 2010
The 7 Laws of Attracting Good Luck
Luis Manzano is one lucky guy. He is famous as a movie actor and TV host In comparison, Helen Keller seems to be unlucky to the extreme: she was blind, deaf and mute.
But she herself never thought of herself as unlucky – and there lies the crucial secret of her immortality. Helen Keller turned towards the unseen beauty and miracle of life – and she inspired countless millions to lift themselves out of the deadly trap of self-pity.
All of us can attract good fortune by learning the secrets of lucky people.
Believe that you are lucky. Keep in mind that everything happens for a reason – and something good always comes out of it.
“If you believe you are fortunate most of the time, you are likely to exhibit behavior that makes people more responsive to you,” according to Martin Seligman, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Authentic Happiness.
Control your emotions. Self-discipline is one of the pillars of success. Negative emotions like anger, shyness and resentment rob you of peace of mind and destroy you from within like the termites in Boracay Mansion
Of course you are only human like in the Hiram song by Zsa Zsa Padilla, but “It’s one thing to feel these negative emotions and another to show them,” advises Raymond DePaulo, chair of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and author of Understanding Depression.
Keep an open mind. Good fortune is yours for the taking but only if you learn to let go of your prejudices, inhibitions and delusions of persecutions. Stop thinking of yourself as Jason Bourne – the CIA is not after you.
“You can improve your luck by training yourself to be more trusting of people and confident that positive outcomes will result from these encounters,” says John Krumboltz, professor of education and psychology at Stanford University.
Embrace random events. Get out of your shell and think of the world as yours. Be on the look-out for opportunities but not like those dugo-dugo conmen.
Remember: “You are a child of the universe,” as it is written in Desiderata. You are “no less than the trees and the stars – you have the right to be here.”
Avoid envy. Envy is tantamount to greed and conjures images of crocodiles carrying sacks marked $. It is akin to gluttony which is one of the seven deadliest sins according St. Thomas Aquinas. The kindest and most diplomatic word to describe envious people is pathetic.
Although you can take you cake and eat it too – it’s called “enjoying the fruits of your labor” – you have no class if you gobble up the whole pie.
Develop people skills. You don’t have to be a customer service representative to learn how to get along with people. But be not a courtier either. Take the advise of Pops Fernandez and Joey Albert in the Louie Ocampo song: “We play the games of different folks with different strokes and keep our points of view.”
Be a Connector: “Most connectors are lucky because they interact with large groups of powerful people who, in turn, share information and contacts just to stay in the loop,” wrote Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference. “Sociability, energy and openness breed luck.”
Look for the silver lining. Lucky people always see the bright side of every situation. They can discern the blessings in disguise. The only way to fully realize how lucky you are is to be conscious of the good things in your life that seems to be denied to other people.
Never forget the Jewish proverb about the fellow who had the blues because he had no shoes – then he saw, on the street, a man with no feet.
Lucky you!
Photo courtesy of PinoyShowbiss
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Confessions Of A Semi-Sort Of Warlock
I remember the ghost and I still remember the feeling of horror. She was a child, oh ’bout three or four. At first I was afraid, like, who u? Hello, I don’t know even know your name! She didn’t tell me ’bout the life she had though I’ll listen very fearfully; but deep inside I’ll never see the feeling of emptiness that made her feel sad.
But then again, she’s dead.
Unhallowed Ground
I see dead people when I was a kid. Wow, what a killer sound byte! Pardon the pun. Ah, the age of innocence, the prequel to Eve’s – or for that matter, Adam’s – apple or guyabano or singkamas or whatever that is. I grew up in an old mansion in Antipolo. That’s why when I’m in Overlooking or Tikling, I sing “Country roads, take me home…”
Our laundry woman, Aling Yolly, an immortal if she’s still alive today, told me that the former owner of the house, because of his hatred for the church, buried her daughter in his garden rather than have her blessed. Unhallowed ground, and I know exactly where that is.
Hex marks the spot, I say.
Traumatic Scene
Part of my happy childhood memories with my grandmother – my parents died when I was a baby and I was the only child – are the nightmares from her bedtime stories.
My grandmother, who speaks Latin and Spanish, once lived in Siquijor, that fabled land of witches. She told me a secret years before Rhonda Byrne: Like attracts like. Never curse anyone, she forcefully admonished me.
But hey, I was eight, what do you expect? When I was in my 20s in the 90s, I saw an extremely vicious woman berating a friend of mine. My friend was told by his mother to get payment from the debt owed by the woman but she transformed into a dragon. I pulled my friend away, telling it’s not worth it, assuring him that the dragon lady will lose more than what she owed because of her greed. I was joking of course, trying to lighten the traumatic scene.
The next day, I remembered my grandmother – because the woman’s house burned to the ground when twilight fell.
Deep Purple
Bad things happen to people who do bad things to me, and I don’t know why. Coincidence probably. The good news is, it doesn’t affect decent people to whom I spontaneously bond. Conversely, back biters get uncomfortable around me. I won’t say I can read minds, but I can sense if somebody is sincere or not, most people are not, but I don’t have gaydar.
There was a guy who got really nasty in a birthday party I went to in Sampaloc at the start of the new millennium. He was drunk, exceedingly obnoxious, calling me names because I won’t go to bed with him. Looking back, I marvel at how I was able to control myself. But I did, and walked away.
Next I heard, days later, he was mugged on that scandalous night. He was beaten deep purple, all his valuables taken away and he’s left for dead in the jagged darkness that possesses Manila
Summer Heat
The last such incidence was just recently. A friend and I took a cab to bring his dog to the vet. The taxi driver said we should just pay a certain amount because his meter’s broken. It’s hard to catch a ride and the summer heat is demonic, so we were forced to agree.
In the next block, the driver was flagged by a traffic cop who appeared out of nowhere like a malignant jack-in-the-box. There was no traffic violation but the encounter left the driver scratching his head and making whining sounds.
Powers of Man
I am sharing these true stories as I try to put my occult background in the proper context. What I want to talk about next is the invaluable contribution of Jaime Licauco in spreading enlightenment on supernatural phenomena for the world in general and me in particular.
His classic treatise Understanding The Psychic Powers of Man, whose original publisher was no less than Ben Ramos himself, the co-founder of National Bookstore, bequeathed me a semblance of normalcy, that, though I dare to be different and am admittedly unconventional like Johnny Depp, I’m not freak because I believe in clairvoyance, reincarnation, astral projection, witchcraft, karma and my latest obsession, the human aura.
Jaime Licauco gave me the answers and pointed me to the right directions.
“Each time we have published his controversial articles in Sunburst Magazine the response has been electric from all over the world,” writes the late great Philippine Star co-founder Maximo V. Soliven. His equally famous Foreword was retained in the 2008 revised version from Anvil. “Read this book and perhaps you’ll understand why.”
Photo courtesy of PinoyMovieRentals
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