#laagnitantong

I got on board with my new project, funded by the Australian Aid with the Department of Education (DepEd), on July 1, 2013. I was then tasked to conduct trainings on the new government coding system for financial transactions called Unified Account Code Structure (UACS). This included preparation of training materials, booking training venues, and finalizing training dates. Given that DepEd is a huge government agency, the conduct of trainings covered the whole of the country. That being said, the venues were scattered around the archipelago. And drive to tour around the Philippines is reinforced. But the prospect of reaching all major parts of the country was unmet because the travel advisory from the Australian Aid prohibited project consultants to travel to Mindanao - that means the whole of Mindanao. My colleagues and I were kind of sad, disappointed is the best description of the feeling, because most of all (3 out of 4) hailed from Mindanao - Marisa Dahan is from Iligan City ...

If you wanna grow, You have to let go If you wanna live, You need bad things leave If you wanna move up, You have to get baggage move out If you wanna be somebody, You have to be like everybody

Because we were used to be close friends and many people knew about it, it is inevitable that they will ask me Al's whereabouts whenever and wherever I see them. Even in social media, like facebook, our mutual friends would message me, "me balita ka ba kay Al?"   It's been about three years now after we parted ways. One article in this blog talked about Al whom I knew and befriended since our grade school. Since we were the only effeminate (though we kept ourselves in the closet then; hiding in the closet was because being gay in remote provinces like ours was believed to be demonic and thus tabooed) boys then, so we understood each other. Our friendship became stronger when we each had jobs. We party together along with some other friends, gays or girls behaving like gays mostly, all the time until I landed a job in Metro Manila. Years later he stayed in my place while hunting for work. Then later after having found and resig...

First was China. It was not because of the boundary conflict, but because I was denied of tourist visa. It was not really denied; my bank account maintaining balance did not meet the minimum requirement. In short, and I conclude, the tourist trip to mainland China is an opportunity or shall I say luxury of the elite. Poor tourists and backpackers like me which only set specific funds for a specific purpose such as trip like this had no opportunity for tourist travel to this country. Taking advantage of the promo plane fare by the Cebu Pacific Air, I got the roundtrip ticket 6 months advance. My  Manila - Beijing ticket only cost me a thousand and a hundred pesos. My return ticket Shanghai - Manila cost me almost the same amount of pesos. So it was so affordable and was I think a special treat for myself. Been wishing to climb, trot, take a pic of the famous Great Wall in Beijing. Been dreaming to step on the only man-made structure visible in the outer space. Been wonde...

An Angel arrived in our family and we named her JC Bella!   Proud to be practicing my neonatal care skills with my little niece, Wanwan! Dipping her on a basin of lukewarm water, wiping her whole body my hands with water and baby bath soap, repositioning her supine then prone, and yet seeing her enj ... oying the whole rite, was such a fulfilling and surreal experience. She's definitely aptly called Wanwan: An Amazing Angel! Nicknaming her Wanwan is based on that AAA alliteration. Wan is how we pronounce the count of 1... Wan is how we call our friends named Juan and her father is named thus... Uttering the word "Wan" twice is how we express our word of endearment... Wanwan really means first and only one.  

I only see her during my old age. I only knew her because she used to visit my mom. Tiya Dada, we called her; though my mother insisted that we should call her Nanay Dada. She is actually my mother's distant Aunt. I heard few stories about her and the most reliable, I should say, among them is the story relayed to us by my elder brothers. All I got from them are bad testimonies of her, even from my parents. It was known that she was once very affluent. Her family owned a passenger boat, had a mansion in Siargao island. And she was known to be mata-pobre - she looked down or scorned poor people. My siblings experienced spending a night sleep in the boat because they were never given an accommodation inside the mansion, when once they visited there with our parents. I was kinda fortunate not able to experience such maltreatment. My parents and our family somehow belonged to the category poor people, and we humbly accept that. As relayed by my mother, Tiya Dada's affluence ...

"Cge na naman plzz. Payag naman ako sa gusto mo. Kailangan ko lang talaga ng pera. Cge na naman. Mamasahiin pa kita. Parang awa mo na plzz." Message sent, tambad ng celpon ko... Susugalan ko 'to. Kailangan ko talaga ng pera ngayon. Nangungulit na naman ang girlfriend kong mag-date kami. Nakukulitan na ako pero hindi ko kayang tanggihan dahil kababalik lang namin. Due date ko na rin sa buwanang globe plan ko. Maarte itong baklang 'to. Pero kailangan ko siyang pagbigyan. Siya nalang naiwang kleyente ko. Sabagay, meron pang iba, pero siya ang maayos. May trabaho... at sa tingin ko, maganda ang trabaho niya... at sa palagay ko, malaki sahod niya. May sariling bahay. Napuntahan ko na yon, dalawang beses. Alam ko na pa'no pumunta dun... kahit ayawan niya ako, pwede ko siyang dalawin. At may itsura. Di ko akalaing may itsura si Cris. Natatawa ako pag naalala ko... iniisip ko kasing pangit siya. Maarte kasi! Nung isang taon ko pa siya kinokontak, panay lang ay...

I posted this status in my Facebook few days before the 2013 National Elections in the Philippines: I would like to reiterate the time to discern the best lawmakers for the good of our beloved nation. My list of 12 Senators I believe can bring in new good things follows: Aquino   Angara Cayetano Escudero Gordon   Hagedorn Hontiveros Pimentel Poe Trillanes Villanueva   Zubiri Please vote also, my dear FBarkadas! Let's exercise our right of suffrage!   No Enrile or Villar nor Ejercito; enough for Magsaysay and Legarda!!! Few days later, the results come out and the newly elected Senators are the following: Poe Legarda Escudero Cayetano Binay Angara  Aquino Pimentel Trillanes Villar Ejercito Honasan As can be seen, 7 of my senatorial bets have landed in the top 12. 3 of my disliked candidates have indeed caught a spot. When I checked on their educational background of the first 11 (since the 12th spot is still contestable cons...

One time when I was window-shopping, I happened to spread out a T-shirt with print that says, "Don't grow up; It's a trap!" I managed a simple guffaw. Precisely because I knew it personally to be always true. My Professional Record I believed I am a very responsible person, notwithstanding some irresponsible undertakings I have had in my whole life by far. When I am given the chance to prove myself, I hold on and see to it that I am very much responsible for everything that comes with it. I am not a university graduate but I can compete with any of them. At work, I perform my job beyond what is expected of me. But historically, of my 15 professional years, I have recorded an average of two years in working with an organization. Check my professional record in italicized fonts below: As a College Instructor with Saint Paul University Surigao = 3 years full time; 2 years parttime As the Municipal Accountant of Municipal government of Anao-aon, Surigao del...

5th year anniversary celebration True love sucks! Big time! Love for real is unfair; it is always one sided. You will find yourself loving someone who cannot love you back the way you love him or a kind of love you expect him to reciprocate. But if you love that person to the depth of your heart, mind and body, then you are so willing to wait. That befell on me. 5 years later, our partnership still stands despite the many challenges So here I am hoping, waiting and still loving unconditionally. I happened to fall truly, madly, deeply in love with a man who's definitely gay but lives in a closet. I believe he fully embraced his gayness but he seemed to hide it from everyone he knew from work. He made it an excuse that the high school students he is teaching math would find him queer. Being a confirmed gay teacher he felt would put his integrity at risk and may subject him to children's mock and ridicule. I got it that he wanted to save his face. But hello! This i...