#laagnitantong

We owe it from God! Bigtime! The four children of Crisanto Gastardo, Sr. decided to savor his second life by blowing parties especially during his natal day. In behalf of our two elder brothers working abroad, my Sister En, her husband Jun, and I went home for the purpose. We arrived at our parents residence two days ahead of Papa Tantong's birthday on October 25 to afford enough time for the preparations. We initially thought of celebrating the day away from home, in a hotel or resort in other town, just like our Mama Dulcing's last July. Our first choice was the Laguna Dream Resort in a far barangay within Surigao City but due to present day insurgence we canceled it. The second option was to check in in one noted hotel in the City, the Gateway Hotel. Due to proximity to our home residence, we opted not to. So we ended at choosing the nearest beach resort in nearby town, the Rose Beach in Ipil. We successfully gathered our immediate families and relatives. ...

It may be obvious that I applied for a job in DSWD's KALAHI-CIDSS for the following reasons: a. higher pay b. longer term c. new experience d. attractive addition to my resume Higher Pay I actually mean higher net pay. Withholding taxes on my salary in my previous employer, which was based on purely compensation income, hurt me so bad. As I am single and my total professional fee is kinda large that my taxable income falls under the 30% withholding rate, a one-third cut from my pay is significantly affectively huge. In my current work with DSWD's project, my pay is subject to a profession tax of 10% plus 3% final tax; this is a 50% cut from my prior periods' withholing taxes. Indeed, it affords me a sigh of relief. My present pay though is a bit lower than before, as it is an entry rate with a promise of increase upon contract renewal, but the total net pay is much higher. Longer Term The project I am presently in is...

A week of fortunate and unfortunate events: Monday and Tuesday: I was trapped inside the hotel, the Grand Tower Suites, for two days, from September 26 to 27, due to rampaging Typhoon Pedring. While standing beside the function room's window, I heard the violent wind whistling, dragging along with it heavy rains. Since the Typhoon Frank, I knew better than roam around Iloilo city fearing that it might flood, so much so that the city is situated below the sea level. This information I gathered from one of my co-lecturer in Iloilo workshop that week. We just flew in that gloomy monday morning; with me were participants coming from Region 4A. However, half of our expected participants will be coming from the Bicol region. They were supposed to fly that same morning from Legazpi City to Manila and connect to flight from Manila to Iloilo but all flights that day were canceled due to the storm, along with the pi...