Filipino Nurses in the UK – A Video to Watch for all Pinoys Out There

Once in a while I stumble upon videos in the internet that really make my heart swell. I hope you guys will find this inspiring, the way it inspired me enough to share it.

Filipino Nurses in the UK

Before You Cast Your Vote…

There is this email sent to me showing photos of a beautiful house in the US. The pictures speak of the opulence of the house and its decadent ornateness – of all its parts and rooms.

 

At first, I was thinking that perhaps, one wealthy sheikh or prince from the Arab world owns it. The house reflects the same gilded style that royalty are so fond of.

 

 

 

While my jaw kept on dropping lower and lower to the floor because of my shock and amazement at the sheer luxury of everything I was seeing, my eyes also started watering because of the dazzling beauty of the whole house!

  

 Then, I could not believe it when I read that this house actually belongs to one of the presidentiables in the Philippines – none other than the ‘poor beginnings’ guy who portrays himself as one with the poor people whose votes he is wooing, none other than Manny Villar.

So, our hopeful president-in-waiting has actually built himself a grand mansion in the US in preparation for his retirement, perhaps? His campaign jingle portrays him as someone who had experienced spending Christmas in the streets and yet, in reality, he lives like a king away from the eyes of the people he (pretends) to want to serve as their President

If this house is indeed his, I have one word for him: Hypocrite!

I don’t know when he built this, maybe when he was still a Congressman representing Las Pinas (am not sure about his actual constituency that time). Has Las Pinas known any progress yet? Or when he was Senator? Or when he was still a professional land grabber. Whatever.

Am posting this for all of you to ponder upon before you cast your vote.

Shame, shame, shame

I stumbled upon this report in the internet and it somehow did not surprise me – just shook me to the core, because it is something to be slapped by the truth, even if you knew about it all along.

Philippines Ranked 4th Most Corrupt in the Asia-Pacific Region link: http://ph.news.yahoo.com/abs/20100309/tph-philippines-ranked-4th-most-corrupt-85c5a6c.html

Shame. But I am not giving up on my dear Philippines. Even if I am far away, I pray for it and care for it because it is the only land I can call my own.

Give Change and Enlightened Politics a Chance!

I would like to encourage all my fellowmen who have a burden for the Philippines to consider Presidentiable Dick Gordon and Vice-Presidentiable Bayani Fernando as their candidates. To me, they are the only candidates most likely to bring the nation forward into the 21st Century, making all of us proud to be Filipinos even more.

As experienced local executives, they know how to inspire volunteerism and a sense of responsibility among their constituencies. They have shown through their work in Olongapo (Gordon) and Marikina (Fernando), that it is actually possible for Filipinos to unite and be selfless citizens.

I totally agree with what Gordon said in the video above that they have proved their mettle already by fixing their own communities first. All the other presidentiables and vice-presidentiables have been in the political scene for so long but have not actually done to their respective communities what Gordon and Bayani have achieved in theirs.

It does not hurt to give change and enlightened politics a chance, does it?

Happy Valentine’s Day!

My precious friends, I wish you all a happy, happy Valentine’s Day. May you all be recipients of love from your family, friends and God.

Home

Our family just arrived  from a 4-week holiday in the Philippines, where we did a lot of important things. Of course, we spent some time with our loved ones and that was really very good especially for my boys. They were able to hang out with their cousins, some of whom they have only met for the first time, while others, they have been acquainted with for years with whom they were just too eager to play again.

It was difficult for me to tell which part of it is the highlight of the whole trip – until I got back here in the UK. Looking back, the highlight of the trip is not one particular event or day. It is an inexplicable sense of belonging that I don’t feel anywhere else on earth. It is that feeling that for a certain period of time, I was safely home, where everything is familiar and yet acutely new as well, because I have been away for a long time.

We were there to have the boys circumcised, so understandably, we were holed in for almost two weeks in my parents’ house, unable to go anywhere else because the boys were still sore. But even then, I feel like it was not a wasted trip. Spending time with my mother, who was widowed very recently, re-acquainting with her world full of concerns for her school and even just simply seeing her again in the flesh after a long time of being away, made the whole trip worth it all.

I was not particularly happy with the state of politics in the Philippines at the moment, especially when major elections are fast approaching. I did not also enjoy the fact that our money seemed to evaporate into thin air right before my eyes everytime we went out shopping for food and other neccesities. And yes, “development” is still far off from my beloved country. But I don’ mind. For me, it is still the only place on earth closest to heaven.

CNN Hero of the Year is a Filipino

Image: from Google images

I am not sure where the votes came from but I am sure that if it is worldwide online voting, Filipinos are a force to contend with. Filipino Overseas Workers are deployed to nearly every country around the world and being the techno geeks that we are, we can really be counted on to support whoever he is we want to support with our online votes.

But then aside from our sheer number, I think that Efren Peñaflorida is indeed the worthy winner. Given that he himself did not have a lot to give away in terms of materials possession, he worked with what he had in order to make a difference in the lives of the young people he served, and that is what proved his strength of character.

To Efren, congratulations! To the rest of the Filipino people, mabuhay kayo! As what Efren said in his aceptance speech, there is a hero within us that is waiting to be unleashed. I hope and pray that we find the strength to be the heroes that we can potentially be and set our country free from the shackles of poverty and greedy politicians.

For the announcement of Efren’s victory, go to this link: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/11/16/cnnheroes.tribute.show/index.html

It’s That Time Again

It’s that time again when our “Pambansang Kamao” gets into another epic fight with another legendary boxer. In other words, it’s time to help him in prayers again, which I do everytime he has a fight. Not because I want Manny to win for the sake of winning, or getting more famous, or becoming richer. I do it because I believe in Filipino talent, but talent with humility and due respect for God’s grace.

To all fellow Filipinos out there, let us not only revel in the afterglow of Manny’s victory, but more so, let us join him in his prayers for victory PRIOR to his fight. He has a formidable opponent this time, more than what he had in Hatton. He needs our prayer support.

Another Pathetic Story From Home

I just found this circulating among my Facebook friends and I am posting it here to help spread the word. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/175402/blog-about-rotting-relief-goods-at-dswd-warehouse-sparks-cyberspace-queries

If this link does not work, try this one: http://mabuhaygirl.multiply.com/

If this true, which I am more inclined to believe, then heaven help us! My knees are weak just thinking about the callousness of the officials involved here. Thousands of typhoon and flood victims have gone without basic necessities and there they are storing all those donations and allowing them to rot in the warehouses.

Please spread the word, people. Let us do something about the blatant neglect of the Philippines government in almost all aspects of governance. Let us harness the power of the internet and show the President and all local government officials that they cannot just sit down in their jobs anymore and still expect our respect.

Bahay Kubo by Foreigners

I must admit I hate it when a song is bastardized. I would ask my hubby to stop singing a song when he changes the lyrics to make it sound funny. But when I saw this, I wanted to post it here. I don’t know why they chose to sing Bahay Kubo. Whatever, watch it and enjoy…

I am making sure that my two boys, who are growing up in a foreign land, will never forget their native tongue. My youngest son, who is turning eight years old soon, has already mastered counting one to 10 in Filipino. I let him do it sometimes so that he will not forget. It’s a tall order to maintain their knowledge of the Filipino language, given that they are always exposed to English in school, in the media, etc. but I know, in the future, it will pay off for them if they will grow up knowing it.