Time to reflect

Forwarded email message (originally written in Filipino)

A rookie soul went to heaven and was in front of St. Peter. The soul and St. Peter were walking around heaven while holding hands in a big room filled with angels.

St. Peter stopped in front of a group of angels and spoke. “This is the receiving room. In this room, we receive all prayers,” St. Peter said.

The soul peeked at the room and saw that everybody was very busy sorting out the prayer requests that came from earth.

They continued on their tour of heaven and encountered another group of angels. St. Peter explained to the soul, “this is the packaging and delivery section, this is where all the blessings and provision are packaged and delivered to the people who requested them.”

The soul noted that the angels are as busy as the previous group. The angels have to cope up with the record number of prayer requests for blessings that they receive everyday and answered that needed to be delivered everyday.

St. Peter and the soul went on with their tour and proceeded to the Acknowledgement Section. The soul can’t help but notice the measly number of angels in the room. “Why is it so quiet in here?” the soul inquired, “don’t they have anything to do here?”

“It’s sad,” St. Peter replied, “after receiving the answer to their prayers, only a few people return an acknowledgement.”

“How should one return an acknowledgment?” asked the soul.

“It’s simple,” St. Peter started to explain, “just say ‘thank you Lord'”

“What are the things we should be thankful?” asked the soul.

“If you have something to eat on your table, clothes to wear, shelter and bed then you are richer than 75% of the world’s population,” St. Peter explained.

“If you have money to save in your pocket and have spare money to buy food, then you are one of 8% of income earners in the world,” St. Peter pointed out.

“If you got this message on your computer, then you are part of 15% of the world who have access to the Internet,” St. Peter continued. “If you woke up without any sickness, you are very blessed compared to millions of people who died in their sleep because of poverty,” St. Peter said.

“If you have not experienced the fear in the midst of war, sadness inside a prison, suffering and famine, you are much blessed than more than 700 million people living in the world,” St. Peter stressed.

“If your parents are still alive and are still living together in marriage. Your case are just a few.”

“If you can still look up with a smile on your lips, you are not included in the majority who suffer trial and tribulations.”

-Anonymous

…in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (New American Standard Bible)

Taking up Lorelle’s Blog Challenge: Describe Blogging

I’m baaaaack! 🙂

Thanks to those who checked out Blogbastic for any update these past few days. I am glad to inform you (and I’m much relieved) that the last major meeting that I helped organize at the office is finally over. Next stuff will be report writing and, of course, return to my blogging routine. 🙂

This is my 100th blog entry and I think it is just but fitting to take on a blogging challenge as a celebration. I’m supposed to write this post last June 22, so this is a late reply to Lorelle’s blog challenge. Her challenge is to describe blogging (better late than never??:) ). She cautioned bloggers, however, not to take the task lightly as she’s not only looking for a text book definition but a personal conviction of what blogging is. This challenge is almost similar to what Jayvee of abuggedlife has placed long ago–describe your blogging passion.

So, I’m taking on both challenges.

I remember when I was an elementary student, I was a member of a certain religious group. We were required one time in that religion to write a daily journal, something we can look back and meditate on. Back then, I hated writing manually as my handwriting can’t keep up with what I’m thinking (so, my handwriting end up so bad as in really bad–ever heard the comment, you write like a doctor!–and sometimes I end up composing a bad essay)–I prefer to write using a typewriter back then. It was the rule (write daily) but I couldn’t comply because my hand hurts when I write long journal entries (unless I’m really psyched up to write a nice hand-written article).

It was only early last year when I discovered blogging and it brought new life to my passion for writing. Being a trained journalist I needed some outlet–reason that I became a freelance journalist once. But most of the time as a correspondent (and maybe the reason I wasn’t able to submit so much stories) I just wanted to speak my mind even if it doesn’t make sense and I just wanted to express my outburst about something. So, after just writing for a fee then discovering blogging I blogged at Friendster, Point of View to Padayon, then moved to WordPress, where I became Blogbastic!

Blogging, to me, is writing/broadcasting in general but could specifically be taken as history, autobiography, news article, column, novel, comics, radio/video broadcast (podcasts/video streams) among others. It has become a stress-reliever for me–a way to meet my mind and be at peace with it. I’m doing this for free and, as I’ve said before, stats doen’t matter but it certainly gives me a different high when it’s high. 🙂 Comments are also a welcome note.

I haven’t experienced any cyberbullying or anything (and hopefully will not) but I found good friends online from Massa P., Alma, Chico, Jun, Sir Sonnie, Jaypee, Sir Danny, Paolo, Raymond to even better known personalities such as Sir Howie, Chuckie, Yuga, Joey, Erwin among others. Blogging has expanded my social network virtually and I can say that it’s not only limited now to Friendster, Facebook or Multiply. It has also improved my ranking on Google!

Blogging as a life changing experience? Well, I’m definitely blogbastic and a certified blog addict so maybe these are the changes that occured but hopefully these are not detrimental–I kept on reminding myself, with great power comes great responsibility. Blogging has empowered me to be heard and write my take on various things. This power, however, has also kept me vigorously reminding myself (as what Massa P used to say, which I think she’s consistently reminding me–live life and never let blogging swallow it).

Blogbastic is currently a news blog where I try to blog about my host country’s news and its Philippine connection. I also try to blog about most pressing issues around the world and also try to look at seemingly trivial news that may not land on the first page of new media or traditional news channels. It still is my pseudo-personal (if I may borrow the term from Jayvee 🙂 ) blog. I believe Blogbastic also serves Filipinos around the world to connect with their roots in the Philippines.

I’m blogging while I still can and while I still have the sanity and presence of mind.

Someday, I will be looking back and I’m quite optimistic that I’ll be cherising the posts, comments (good and bad) and will be appreciating that I made the move to sit down and blog. 🙂

Busy…

I have 28 draft posts on the line, some of them are history. However, with months becoming weeks and soon becoming days before we leave for Australia, I’m currently very busy working on my last hurrah at the office. So, please bear with me, although I believe some of you can’t stand it–my stats are going down this week!

I’ll be back in two weeks–PROMISE!!! But if there’ll be any urgent blogs that I need to post, I surely will post them in 5 minutes (as I always tell my wife–and she doesn’t believe me I can do a post under 5!?) 🙂

Oh well, this is one of them. Ciao!

By the way, please visit Massa P., she’s got an interesting rendition of Myblog in her recent post! 🙂 

Quick rant

For some reason or another, I can’t post any comment on any blog–even my own. I’ve replied to the comments of Shari‘s comments on two of my posts and also to Ederic‘s comment but when I hit the post button my comment won’t be posted it’s just–empty!??

Is this just another technical glitch that might last for a few hours as I’ve experienced before? But it’s been more than 20 hours since I’ve been trying, randomly, to post comments on blogs everywhere–wordpress, blogger among others–to no avail. 😦

UPDATE: Apparently my comments were filtered as spams as I found out in a wordpress forum. Imagine your own comment as spam?? How good can akismet be?! But the odd thing though is I can’t post a comment in any other wordpress or non-wordpress blog!!?

I left the test comments just for the record. I’ll try to post another comment in some blogs tonight. Hopefully I’m not marked otherwise my blogging career is over!!! wahahaha! 😦

Philippines on watchlist on worst human traffickers

The Philippines is known to be an exporter of skilled and professional manpower, however, it has recently landed on the watchlist of Big Brother US as one of the worst human trafficker countries as reported by CNN.com. In its report on human trafficking, the US spared no one even listing vital friendly states as worst offenders.

New worst human trafficking countries included Kuwait, Malaysia, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The US also listed Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan and Venezuela among the worst offending countries according to the CNN report.

I believe part of the Philippines reaction to this report and in response to alleged irregularities among immigration employees, the Bureau of Immigration recently dissolved its monitoring and enforcement unit at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Apparently there are still good souls within the Bureau that the unit was dissolved on its alleged connivance with human traffickers.

Worst human trafficer countries have 90 days to clean up their acts or face sanctions. Those in the watchlist, which included 32 other countries including China, the Dominican Repulic, Egypt, Mexico and Russia, are given one year to act on the evaluation or face another assessment and possibly sanctions.

North Korea, UN and big bully US

Al Jazeera recently reported that North Korea will soon get its money. The procedure to release a number of bank accounts frozen has started while the world awaits for North Korea to finally abandon its nuclear ambition. North Korea, however, missed the mid-April deadline to scrap its nuclear program but it never missed to test a short-range missile towards the sea of Japan. 

With this development, the US is eager to start anew the six-nations talks by early July so they could move forward to the agreement that was made on February 13, 2007 where North Korea agreed to do as follows (Source: Al Jazeera Report):

• Shut down its main nuclear reactor facility within 60 days of deal
• Allow UN nuclear inspectors entry for all monitoring and verification
• Discuss list of all nuclear programs and materials including plutonium extracted from fuel rods
• Declare all nuclear programs and disarmament of all existing nuclear facilities
• Begin talks on normalizing diplomatic ties with the US and Japan and resume high-level talks with South Korea
• US, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea to initally ship 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil within initial phase
• Additional aid up to the equivalent of 1M tonnes of heavy fuel oil to be delivered to North Korea upon compliance

Around US$20 million was reportedly deposited with the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia and was frozen after the US alleged that it was linked to North Korean money laundering and counterfeiting. However, the US apparently not only eyed this bank but even suspected development funds coursed through the United Nations as a source for money laundering and other illegal activities.

According to a source inside the UN, the US accused UN projects in North Korea as a source of money for the communist regime. My source informed me that the US went as far as threatening to withdraw its funding with the UN unless the UN withdraws all of its projects based in Pyongyang. The UNDP bit the US bluff and withdrawn all of its projects in North Korea this year.

UNDP made a statement in connection to the US allegation and has consistently denied that its funds are transferred directly to the communist regime. It strongly asked the US to substantiate its allegations but have not received any to date.

Here’s the excerpt of UNDPs statement on the US allegations:

Allegation: In 2001 and 2005* UNDP transferred US$7 million to a North Korean government entity called the National Coordinating Committee for UNDP (NCC).UNDP Response: The NCC is UNDP’s counterpart agency within the North Korean government.  UNDP’s records show transfers to the NCC for 2001 and 2005 totaling only roughly $175,000, most of which was used by the North Koreans to host agricultural workshops for participants from Africa and Least Developed Countries in Asia.  The workshops covered topics such as vegetable growing and seed processing.  The money was used mainly for consultants and training activities and not for equipment.

Allegation: $2.8 million was transferred by the NCC to North Korean missions in Europe and New York, which used the money to purchase buildings and houses.UNDP Response:  As stated above, UNDP records show that total UNDP payments to the NCC for 2001 and 2005 amounted to only roughly $175,000 and that a large part of this funding was in support of agricultural workshops.

Allegation: UNDP paid nearly $2.7million to purchase goods and services from companies linked to a North Korean entity designated under U.S. law (E.O 13382) as the main North Korean financial agent for sales of conventional arms and ballistic missiles.
UNDP Response: UNDP has no record of any dealings with one of the companies.  In 2004 our records show that UNDP procured $22,000 worth of workshop equipment and supplies from the other company, on behalf of UNESCO.

Allegation: UNDP procured “dual use” equipment for North Korea, including a GPS system, computers and accessories, and a mass spectrometer. 
UNDP Response: As part of a project to monitor floods and droughts devastating vulnerable arable land in North Korea, in June 2006 UNDP did procure a GPS system costing $65,000 (including 18 personal GPS devices); spectrometer equipment costing $6,000; and various computers, printers, etc.  The project, which centres on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS), was initiated by UNDP and the British government in 2000.  GIS/RS systems are increasingly common in many developing countries and assist with land use classification, natural disaster monitoring and crop yield estimation.  UNDP supports similar initiatives in the Maldives and India.  The project in DPRK has progressed quite slowly since 2002 and was reassessed by an international expert in 2006.  The equipment in question was procured as a result of this reassessment. 

Allegation: On several occasions UNDP local employees withdrew from UNDP’s accounts and circulated counterfeit US funds amounting to tens of thousands of dollars.
UNDP Response: UNDP takes allegations of possible counterfeiting very seriously.  It knows of no instances of possible counterfeit currency linked to its operations in North Korea. UNDP recently transferred to U.S. authorities $3,500 in suspect counterfeit funds that do not belong to it but had been in its safe in North Korea for some time. 

Allegation: UNDP retaliated against a staff member who expressed concerns over UNDP operations in DPRK, and threatened several others.
UNDP Response: UNDP has not retaliated or threatened any staff members. A former consultant who served on a series of short-term contracts for UNDP, including in North Korea, has raised concerns over some aspects of UNDP’s operations there.  These concerns have been reviewed, including by UNDP senior management.  The individual was interviewed by the UN Board of Auditors as part of the recent external audit of UNDP’s operations in DPRK.  The individual does not currently work for UNDP, having left the organization in March 2007, upon the expiration of his most recent short-term contract. 

Retired Fil-Am General claims Bush knew about Abu Ghraib

The Fact is… we violated the tenets of the Geneva Convention. We violated our own principles and we violated the core of our military values

As the US forces starts a fresh campaign against insurgents in Iraq, the ghost of Abu Ghraib prison scandal continued to haunt Bush’s war on terror. The scandal was opened up again after the New Yorker magazine reporter Seymour M. Hersh interviewed Retired Major-General Antonio Taguba about his report on the alleged tortures and abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq revealing fresh information and implying that top officials knew about the tortures and abuses, Al Jazeera reported.

The White House has denied that President George W. Bush knew about the Abu Ghraib tortures as implicated by Retired Major-General Taguba. Retired Major-General Taguba also alleged that then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had access to the photos of the alleged torture and abuses but might had refused to see it. Rumsfeld denied having knowledge of the photos and alleged that he only knew about the incident through the media.

Eleven prison guards were subsequently convicted for abusing and torturing Abu Ghraib prisoners, some of whom were beaten to death. Al-Jazeera also reported that Retired Major-General Taguba revealed previously undisclosed information:

Taguba spoke of other, undisclosed material, including descriptions of the sexual humiliation of a father with his son, who were both detainees and “a video of a male American soldier in uniform sodomising a female detainee” that was never made public or mentioned in any court.

Retired Major-General Taguba apparently received a warning from a general that he will be investigated for his report. Nearly three years after the report leaked to the public, the Filipino-American was asked to retire last January 2007 without any reason.

He (Taguba) said he was “ostracised for doing what I was asked to do”.

Related Links:

• Some of the released Abu Ghraib Photos
• The General’s Report
• Complete version of the Taguba Report
• Who is Major-General Antonio Taguba

Blogbastic is a C+ Philippine Traveller

Found out from Yuga about a cool project assessing how well-travelled one is in the Philippines. 

Blogger Eugene Alvin Villar recently launched a beta version of Lakbayan (travelling), which rated a traveller’s coverage of the Philippines. Lakbayan was inspired by the visited countries project, however, Eugene was industrious enough to separate tourist spots to minimize overrating. It was a long form but it was fun. Too fun that I’ve got excited commenting and forgot to edit my comment–me and my fast fingers! (how embarassing and irresponsible!).

I credit my being above average traveller to my former employer–a foreign assisted government project in the Philippines. It got me places and a few rewards flight from Philippine Airlines! 🙂 However, I was a spoiled traveller then as everything was taken care of for me most of the time that when I started travelling on my own–booking a flight, hotel among other things was a little bit challenging. Of course, things changed now.

It feels good to know that I can proudly say that I’ve been to places in the Philippines not only on official business but as a local tourist. The Department of Tourism‘s WOW Philippines Project was one of the reasons that visiting Philippine tourist destinations has become more affordable than usual. 🙂

Oh, ano pa’ng hinihintay ninyo? Tara na! (What are you waiting for? Let’s go!)

My Lakbayan grade is C+!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

Tech-savvy teaching, blog passion and blog path

Back in the days when teachers have to use everything under the sun to make learning an unforgettable experience. I remember having to deal with crudely written lessons on Manila papers, blackboards stained with white chalk, diorama made from newspapers among other things. I’m glad that while I studied in a developing country, I was blessed to have diligent teachers and attended reputable schools.

The internet was just made public and was hardly accessible to most people when I started college. So, when I was given a chance to study in Australia I was very impressed that they used Blackboard a lot, however, this was not your ordinary blackboard–it was a web-based e-learning tool. We posted assignments, downloaded lectures and even had our essays checked for plagiarism. 

So, when Inquirer.net reported that blogs are replacing blackboards in Singapore, it certainly brought back good memories. It was also good to know that the University of the Philippines Los Baños was also eyeing blogs as extensions for distance education, which is a welcome development given that schools in developing countries won’t be able to afford (and will not have any funds) a web-based learning software like Blackboard.

When I first blogged more than a year ago, I never expected that blogging would be a potentially addictive habit more so a versatile tool. Blogs are used as journal, review, education medium, venue for political rants, source of income and lately a blogger pointed out other possibilities that blogs can be of use like a tool against poverty and hunger. It actually did already made this change as with the Red Blog, UN Vietnam among others.

Problogging is slowly spreading so, Philanthroblogging (blogging for a noble cause) is also starting. So, what path do you think you’re going with your blogs–are you going pro or Philanthro or just neutral?

Whatever you choose, live your life, enjoy it and blog about it 😉

 

Feels Great to be a Filipino!

After being tagged by Jonas, Shari and finally by Chuckie, I think it is fitting to finally(!!!) post this blog entry especially on this special day–Philippine Independence Day! So, without further ado, here’s my thoughts on why it feels great to be a Filipino!

• Filipinos are resilient even in times of adversities. This character is fuelled, at times, by our faith in God and our innate determination and will to persevere.
• Filipinos are generally kind and can get along with any other person or race.
• Filipinos are well known to be hospitable people who would give the best to guests, no matter what.
• Some of the people that make me proud to be a Filipino included Ninoy, Francis M., (hate it or not) Marcos, Sakay, E-heads among others.

These are general characteristics of every good Filipino and these are not yet the tip of the ice berg–I mean there’s a lot more to this so, it is just the start of a loooong list. However, as with everything good, there’s a bad side, too. Chuckie initiated another tag game to highlight and perk Pinoys around the world to contemplate on uniquely Pinoy bad traits and try to change–but that’s another post. 🙂

Now, I’m done! I have to tag 10 more so that the ball continues to get rolling. The ball’s with Dan, Ivy, Mimie, Rudyard, Paolo, Lynette, Elaine, Czille, Massa P. and spilling my own thunder.

Mabuhay ang malayang Pilipinas!