Shopping according to the Movie

That’s JUST money.” Can you remember someone saying to you this line putting a proper emphasis on the word “just”? Nowadays, it seems that money is indeed just money. A paper instrument to get the item you want. Imagine spending money in a matter of a click. The internet provides you that great service. Before, money makes the world go round. Now, even if you don’t have money, you can still buy what you want since money comes into a new form these days: credit cards! During a busy day of shopping on malls, a swipe or two is enough and your bills are already paid even without a single penny on your pocket! Wow! Imagine a life where your bills are being paid by someone else.

So how to be a one-day millionaire? (Not how to become a millionaire in one day, okay?) Here are some few easy steps:

1. Make sure first that you have the ability to pay. Say, your a young executive who earns 30,000 pesos a month. If you are what this step describes, then you can freely proceed to the next step. If you are not, you can always find “other” means to get into the next step.
2. Go to a bank- Apply for a credit card. You can choose from different bank offers of credit cards. There are those who offers credit limits but there are some banks who offers unlimited credit.
3. Wait for a few, and shop, shop and away! Being a one-day millionaire doesn’t just mean to spend your credit card limits, but spend it the high-end way. And that means including designer brands Prada, LV and Hermes into your shopping list.
4. After shopping, it is important to put your card straight to the wallet without even glancing at it! It takes a talented man/woman to do that! No worries. That should summarize your shopping day. Shopping should be managed to be as easy as A,B, C.
5. The last step and the most glam way of ending your shopping spree is to flaunt your shopping bags! It is fulfilling to see those envy eyes looking around you. And those dreamy looks that wanna be shopaholics give to you.

Life is an experience. You should at least experience a lot of feelings before the inevitable happens. And feeling rich for one day should be in the list  of feelings you might want to try. At least for less privileged people like me. By following those few easy steps, then feeling rich is just a card away.

Sadly, this essay doesn’t provide suggestions on what to do after your “one day millionaire experience”. But since life is an experience, whatever happens next after spending so much should also be felt! But at least whatever may happen, you get a lesson out of it.

If you still don’t have any idea what happens next after spending the limits of your credit card then we’ll give you a hint. A ringing telephone! Then the next thing you do is now according to your judgment.

As an extension of this essay, I suggest you watch the movie “Confessions of a Shopaholic”. There you’ll learn how pleasurable it is to shop, but if you want to, just forget about the down side.

I’ll have to hang-up there, my phone’s ringing again! And wait, my door bell’s ringing too!

Towards an Obese-Free Body

Obesity is rampant in the Philippines. As Filipinos adopt more of the western lifestyle and diet as reflected by the so-called “McDonald’s index”, a segment of our population inevitably becomes subject to the consequence of being overweight and finally obese. Actually, over 500,000 Filipinos are already obese.

source: http://www.stanford.edu/group/ccr/blog/obese%20mcdonalds.jpg

Wikipedia defines obesity as a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems. To determine your body mass index (BMI), your weight and height is being compared. People who have a BMI between 25 kg/m2 and 30 kg/m2 are overweight while people who have a BMI greater than 30 kg/m2 are considered obese.

source: http://blog.gamer20.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/russianwrestler.jpg

As I watched ABS-CBN’s late-night documentary program “The Correspondents” yesterday, talking about the topic of obesity in the Philippines, I was awaken by the true lifestyle of obese people. Yes, they eat too much food, causing them to overweight but most of what they featured are people who are naturally fat. Naturally fat in a sense that they get it out of heredity. There is one person they interviewed where no matter how hard he tries in exercising, he’s still fat. Abner Mercado, the reporter of the documentary who is also obese based on the BMI test he did in the program, interviewed this person six years ago. I was hoping for a positive result after six years, but there he was pretty much looking the same since the first time he was interviewed, six years ago. I see no difference with his physical appearance six years ago and at present. But the difference with this man is that he exercises a lot this time. He may still look big but he could already be out of being obese for exercising regularly and he could be considered healthy now.

You see the issue here is not the weight but the measurement of us being healthy or not. I know some people who look fat but they are healthy. And there are those who are thin, which we assumed to have a normal, healthy body, but actually malnourished. I believe that it’s not on the body mass but on the health itself. Being healthy translates to eating nutritious food and exercising properly. I don’t think that it’s on the weight. I have a friend who thinks she’s fat and obese but can carry her body well. Obese people are those who cannot afford to walk, run or even climb stairs that is far or high enough since they cannot carry their body due to their weight. But my friend can do these things without exerting so much effort. It is just her self-esteem that determines she’s obese and not her actual health which could be considered healthy despite of her weighty appearance.

It is also not on the food we eat. There are people who eats a lot, but don’t become fat or obese. There are also people that no matter how hard they try in eating less amount of food, they still grow big. While watching the documentary, I was with a dorm mate who also assumes that he’s obese. He said that he was depressed watching the show so he will not eat a lot anymore. But according to Asian Bariatrics, an advocacy group committed to create awareness on the problem of obesity, dieting should be partnered with physical exercise. If a person does eats a lot but exercises regularly, he could prevent obesity.

With this, I would like to contradict the notion that the documentary gave to the audience that eating a lot could cause us obesity. I say that it doesn’t apply for all people. Of course, there are people who eat a lot and eventually become obese but some of the people they featured in the program are naturally fat. A woman interviewed, even admitted that she was fat even when she was a kid. I’m not a doctor, but I assume that her case is hereditary. Maybe she got it from her parents. So it is not always the food we eat that should be blamed.

Therefore, I conclude that it is not on the food we eat or how big we weigh on the scale but it’s the wholeness of our health practice. The prevention of obesity relies on our self-discipline. Not all fat people are unhealthy. So in order to avoid being obese, we should practice balance. No one’s stopping you from eating a lot as long as you exercise a lot too.

sources: http://asianbariatrics.rxpinoy.com/new_challenge.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity

Why Did God Choose Haiti?

Haiti is a small western country but Why did God chose it as the center of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake?

www.flickr.com

I can just imagine how difficult it is to survive with that super earthquake considering that Haiti is just a small island country. In the Philippines, typhoon victims already struggle to survive, so how much more that in Haiti, it lacks medical services and other necessities. and what hit them was even greater than the super typhoons we had in the Philippines last year. It was a 7.0 magnitude earthquake! That was strong enough to rapture the whole island country of Haiti.

www.flickr.com

When I google some pictures of the Haiti Earthquake, I could only see one common feeling—sorrow. People there have all the reasons to be sorrowful. Hunger, lack of medical aide, people died due to the earthquake and many others are still missing.

As I analyze it, what happened in Haiti is worse compared to what happened in the Philippines just months ago. We are not actually talking about hundreds who died here but thousands and counting.

It’s a good thing that today, movements around the Globe are trying to find ways on how to extend their help. Social Networking sites like facebook and twitter already have applications that could help the victims by just making a click. See? You don’t even need to personally go there to help, by just searching in the internet, you could find trusted sites which will make you extend your help.

Humanitarian missions around the world has also sent their teams. Even third world countries such as the Philippines have a team sent there to help the people oh Haiti on their medical and other needs.

By just looking at those picture, I’m sure you would show compassion to those people. So if ever, you have a chance to help, then HELP NOW!

A Runway for Politicians

Every election time, politicians across the country take the opportunity of gracing events that they know many people would attend. In many cases, politicians flock to major festivals and even minor barangay Patronal fiestas to solicit votes in the coming elections. Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo is not at all exempted from this political trend.

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Hailed as the Hall of Fame for the best tourism event in the country for winning three consecutive years, Dinagyang is the perfect runway for politicians.

Yesterday, during the finale of the week-long celebration, I got a complimentary ticket from a friend to watch the Ati-Ati Tribe contest. Aside from the colorful costumes and spectacular performances coming from the tribes, I’ve bumped in to some major politicians running in May 2010.

At the entrance of the grand stand where we would surrender our tickets, I was shocked to bump into a familiar face. Familiar because he’s one of the hosts of a popular noon time show and a member of the famous TVJ trio. Yes, re-electionist Senator Tito Sotto. We arrived an hour late yesterday but I guess it’s too early for a person to leave when in fact the competition’s not even half way done. With this, I remembered the famous Filipino quote “papunta ka pa lang, pabalik na ako.” (You’re just coming but I’m already leaving) Although he flashed a smile when he saw us, I will not excuse him for leaving too early.

I also saw Mar Roxas, Ralph Recto and Bong Bong Marcos in the event. All of them left before the show was done. Actually, they left just minutes after the host welcomed them. What they did was to flash a smile, work on a pose and wave. Resembling beauty queens and models. Although I understand that they have more commitments to attend to, leaving early in the event seems to be unpleasant to look at. You see that after getting what they need, (which is a formal introduction for them to be recognized and seen by the people) they just left the place just like that. I even saw Senatoriable Ralph Recto hurrying to leave as if he’s attending another event that is miles away.

The objective they had in mind is clear. They just want a “photo-op”, a chance to let the people know that “Hey! I’m here, please notice me!” They weren’t there to celebrate with the people. If they were, they should have finished the whole event to at least show the people that today, celebrating with the people they will lead in the future is their priority. A sort of a runway model, it’s not important on how long they stayed on the runway, as long as they were seen on the runway.

I hoped the thousands of people who came for that event yesterday also realized what I meant by this. If just finishing the whole event is already a burden for them, what more when they address our problems once they win? So please vote wisely!

Crab Mentality

(This is a response to Neal H. Cruz Inquirer article entitled “Miriam’s response to disqualification petition.”)

source: http://isangpanata.wordpress.com

As I see it, the disqualification case against Sen. Miriam Santiago wasn’t meant to disqualify her to run for a senate seat but just to embarrass her publicly. This is indeed according to Santiago a “sham petition”. I’m not a fan of Sen. Santiago since there are times that I don’t like her and time that she pleases me with her intellectual prowess. But my take on this issue is against the petitioner of this disqualification case.

The petitioner is found to be Atty. Nombraan M. Pangcoga. But the Senator suspects that there is a person behind this plot against her. No other than her long time foe, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno. But the suspicion isn’t proven yet, nevertheless, I find the petition to be baseless and purely biased. Just a matter to publicly embarrass the senator to the public.

Crab mentality. One phrase that strongly summarizes the whole thing. When you’re up, no matter what, there are people who will try to bring you down.

This is known to be one of the negative traits we have as Filipinos. And this among anything else, should be the one we must abolish! Why can’t some other people accept others victory and their own loss? This is the main reason why in the Philippines, come election time, losers would not gracefully accept their loss. They would accuse the winners of fraud claiming that they should be the actual winners. In the US, I could even see politicians who would publicly announce their concession. Why can’t we do that here? The answer? Crab Mentality.

This social norm could also be the reason why petitioner(s) would want the disqualification of Sen. Santiago. As for the latest rankings of surveys, she is the leading candidate in the senatorial race. This could explain why her political enemies are doing everything that they could to ensure the senators loss in the coming elections. But that in my opinion could be difficult to achieve. This controversy has only brighten up the senators chances for another term in Senate. People are not buying the idea against her, that is why she remains No. 1 in SWS and Pulse Asia surveys.

This is just one of the many electoral issues that could be related to crab mentality. And I’m guessing many more to come since it is nearing elections day already. I’m crossing my fingers that this election could have a fraud free results. I’m also hoping to see politicians humbly announcing their concession and not anymore yell about being a victim of some make believe fraud!

No Surprise

UPV is for underdog presidential candidate Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro. He is the bet of the UPV community to become the next president of this country after a mock election held last January 18, 2010 organized by the Katilingban sa Kahanginan (KaKâ), Kabataan Party List and the University Student Council. A surprising result considering that UP is a critic of the administration where Gibo’s party is under.

Source: http://w3.xs.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/gilbert-teodoro-2.gif

I wasn’t surprised that frontrunner Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III didn’t won the mock election but the win of Teodoro was a shocker. I have some classmates that voted and will vote for Teodoro both in the mock and actual elections but I thought they were a silent minority. I didn’t believe that he would win, even in just a mock election, since he is connected with the administration which is the subject of many criticisms in this university.

Actually I expected Manuel “Manny” Villar to win since his political jingle became an overnight sensation around the campus. He ended up second. But the reason for Teodoro’s win may be traced on the day itself. Gibo had a forum at UP Iloilo City Campus the same day when the mock election was held. Smells Fishy isn’t it?! He could’ve persuaded the UP students through his intellectual tongue to vote for him in the coming election. Students from the Miagao Campus came in the forum and went back in Miagao to participate in the mock election. Their decisions on who to vote may have been influenced by the forum.

This is actually the second time that Gibo won in a UP campus. The first was last December in UP Diliman. If I’m not mistaken, it was organized and participated in by the College of Law. According to a tabloid article, the reasons given by the students who voted for him is that they were impressed with his intellectual answers in several presidential forums that he participated. This is another shocker since UPD students are known to be anti-administration.

Are UP students forgiving enough that they would let another administration bet to lead this country again? Maybe UP students don’t care whether a candidate is an administration ally or not as long as he has what they are looking for in a president.

My take? Gibo has the intellectual capacity to run this country, but with the President running for Congress and a potential revival of Charter Change, Gibo could be Arroyo’s puppet president. After all, if ChaCha pushed through, I wouldn’t be surprised if Arroyo be the Prime Minister under a new charter. I couldn’t dare take more years of Arroyo after almost a decade of her presidency.

Gibo won the heart of the UPV community, but the question is will it reflect the actual results on May 2010?

Say No, No to Politics

Efren Peñaflorida just dreamed to teach out of school children using push carts. He never wished to be in the limelight. But with his undoubted heroism, all his efforts were recognized. Soon enough, he made everyone proud by winning last year’s CNN Hero Title. After this achievement, what’s next for Efren? Will he run for public office?

source: http://pinayentertainment.blogspot.com/2010/01/cnn-hero-of-year-efren-penaflorida.html

I hope not. Efren and his team’s intention to help less fortunate children to have primary education is just so sincere that Efren running for public office could ruin it all. We were all inspired with his story and he has already proven himself. He should continue his advocacy of helping children. With the limelight chasing him now, I hope that he will not be blinded.

Recently, he is being rumored to court Philippine actress Angel Locsin. Well, that is not at all bad if his intentions are true but his advocacy is being overshadowed by rumors. And then, many politicians want him to run for office. The deadline for filing of candidacy is all over, but I hope even in the near future, he wouldn’t be encouraged to enter the dirty world of politics. Politics could ultimately ruin his clean image. If I were him, I’ll take advantage of the attention he gets from the media to expand the reach of his advocacy which is teaching the children. He could be a good role model for other people to start their very own push cart education too. He could raise funds in order to send these children to formal schools. The possibilities for him are endless, but I hope politics is not in his mind.

I hope his sincerity and humbleness stays. May he not be blinded by anything or anyone. Many street children need his “pushcart” education so I hope they continue it in order to instill more children with good values. Politics will just be a tool to ruin his genuine intentions. So it should be a no, no!

Trade: Its Ups and Downs

Miagao is a town strategically located in the heart of two key destinations in the island of Panay. It lies south of Iloilo City, the center of commercial trade in the region of Western Visayas and north of San Jose De Buenavista which is the capital town of Antique Province. Both take an hour ride to and from Miagao town. With its location, Miagao is a good site for business and trade. However, the businesses of the people in the town’s public market seem to be down right now.

We visited Miagao Public Market, known in the locality as “tinda” which literally means trade, and asked the merchants and vendors the problems they encounter in their businesses. All of the stall owners asked agreed that the biggest problem they encounter is the lesser income they get compared to the previous years. One stall owner said that what they earn in a day is enough to pay their laborers and only a small amount is left for profit. He said that the building of new commercial establishments owned by Chinese businessmen could be the reason why their sales went low. This could be reasonable since if we consider the place of the public market located in the “ubos” or a low lying area, trade is more accessible in the “takas” or a high area where commercial establishments are situated.

However, one owner disagreed and said that in previous years, even if they have many competitors, they still managed to earn high. She concluded that the reason for this is the economic crisis we are experiencing so far.

Some other problems include lack of maintenance in the public comfort room, no direct line of water and lack of ventilation. These problems have already been addressed to the office of the Mayor by the Miagao Vendors’ Association (MVA). The funding to address these problems has already been approved but the MVA is still waiting for the start of construction of new market facilities.

Minor shop lifting is very much rampant but due to good security according to the vendors, there are no cases of major robbery. Shop lifting according to them is more rampant during the day, when most establishments are open, compared to night time.

However, the problems that the vendors and stall owners encounter are only minimal compared to the benefits they are getting that still sustain their daily living. The people in the public market are still positive of their future, trade will still continue even if the economic crisis is still present. The vendors are not affected by the presence of big commercial establishments. The Stall owners in the Public Market rise up to the challenges they encountered and will encounter–this explains why their businesses are still alive until now.

No More Extensions!

source: INQUIRER.net

The Supreme Court approved the petition filed by the Kabataan Party List for the extension of the voters’ registration. Thus, there was an extension of registration, but for first time voters only. The voters’ registration extension took place last Dec.21-23 and Dec.28-29. However, the approved schedule by the Supreme Court was until January 9, 2010, not including the holidays.

Mr. Jessie Borro, Election Officer III of the town of Miagao explained why the COMELEC decided to shorten the approved schedule. Under R.A. 8189, 120 days before the election, no registration should take place. January 9 which is supposed to be the deadline of the extended registration falls under the 120 days before the election, thus, a shorter extension was done.

For me, the extension seems to be ineffective to attract more people to register. It is really unacceptable that Filipinos tend to cram big time! During the deadline of the first registration thousands flock to register, now that it was extended, the COMELEC offices receive less than expected registrant! In fact, only 63 first time voters participated in the extended registration in Miagao. A disappointing figure considering the big unregistered population of Miagao.

Borro also enumerated the possible problems that would occur in the election proper such as the following:

• Registered voters who failed to vote for two (2) successive elections will be deleted from the list. This could result to confusion as voters don’t have enough knowledge of this rule. My suggestion? COMELEC should put a note under the list of voters in every precinct regarding this info.
• For the Precinct Count Optical Scanner or PCOS machine, there is a delay of delivery by Smartmatic, the winning bidder for the automated election. With this, a fully automated election may not be realized if the machine’s delivery will continuously delay. Also take note that COMELEC didn’t buy the machines but they have paid so much just to rent these machines because that will be very disappointing if we would end up in a mixed election (automated and manual). But I think that it is too early to predict the outcome of the election process. I’m crossing my fingers with this one!
• In positions where we need to vote several candidates, votes should be exact. Once a voter exceeds the maximum number of candidates, all votes for that certain position will be invalidated. However, if a person votes fewer candidates than required, the votes will be counted. I advice the voters to prepare a list of candidates to vote before coming into the precinct.

The COMELEC officer also shared some advantages of the automated election as compared to the manual one:

• Voting will now be from 7 am- 6 pm, an extension of three hours compared to the previous elections which was only until 3 pm.
• Transmission of votes will be faster. In two to three days, the winners in the National level will already be proclaimed. This also means that local and provincial level results will be out in a matter of hours.

Kate Aubrey Hojilla, chairperson of the Kabataan Party List in UPV-Miagao said that their group will hold a voters’ education seminar and mock election for the entire UPV community on January 18, 2010. Meanwhile, the municipality of Miagao will also have its voters’ education either on January or February. This is a good step considering the need to educate the people on the voting process itself since the concept of automated election is new to us. But only a few people could be reached by the voters’ education. I suggest they put it on far-flunk baranggays in order to educate the voters in places where information dissemination is not as easy as a, b, c.

Problems could occur starting today until the Election Day itself. COMELEC should troubleshoot their expected problems before it’s too late. They changed the previous system because they think the new one’s better. They should prove that, or else we would be once again laughed out by the world. May the winners be the real representatives of the people’s votes in order not to create anymore speculation of fraud. This election could be a make or break, or even the last chance for our country in providing a clean, worry free election.

ALL THAT IS WELL ENDS WELL

source: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/106/299410659_a5a47b7bbd.jpg

Iloilo City has been eyeing to be a premier city by 2015. In line with this, the city had seen major developments in the past few years in preparation to level with premier cities such as Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao. But a premier city wouldn’t be one if it has a chronic energy problem. To solve this major dilemma, the city government, with the leadership of Mayor Jerry Treñas decided to approve Global Business Power Corporation (GBPC) – Panay Power Corporation (PPC), the major power supplier in the city, of its plans of building a 100-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Brgy. Ingore in La Paz District.

But the project is not safe from criticisms. Many government and private sectors all over Panay have raised their concern about the plant’s environmental effects. They believe that coal-fired power plants will contribute to the worsening problem of Climate Change. In fact, Governor Salvacion Zaldivar Perez of the province of Antique, chairperson of the Regional Development Council (RDC) of Western Visayas along with four other governors of Region VI filed a petition sent to Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo requesting Sec. Lito Atienza of the Department of Environment and National Resources to cancel the Environment Compliance Certificate (ECC) issued to the project. It was noted by Gov. Perez that her office was not consulted by the city government of Iloilo regarding the project.

Building a coal-fired power plant in the city will be a good alternative in solving the city’s power problem. The city has been disrupted in putting up other major developments because in many instance potential investors back-out because of its tremendous energy problems. The coal-fired power plant technology will be constructed with the help of the Formosa Heavy Industries Corporation (FHIDC). To ensure that the project is safe from any environmental and health concerns, city officials travelled to Taiwan, with air fare and accommodations sponsored by FHIC and GBPC-PPC, to its three plants “using a circulating fluidized combustion bed that ensures its plant meet the standards set by the World Bank and the Taiwanese Government.”

The officials submitted a report to Interior Undersecretary Austere Panadero that the plants they visited had a “state-of-the-art pollution abatement system” that proves the cleanliness and safety of coal plants.

I will quote and agree with Vice Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog in saying that energy projects are safe “as long as it is a private investment that adheres to and promotes strict environmental conformity.” I wonder why with all its proof of becoming a safe source of energy for the city, many concerned groups are still against it.

How can a city like Iloilo become a premier city when one of its basic problems is still not solved? It is always a problem that even if a government has all its good intentions towards a project; it is always criticized resulting to a delay of a supposed to be solution to end its basic problem like that of Iloilo City.

But all that is well ends well for this major development. In spite many disapproval coming from different sectors, the coal-fired power plant is finally ongoing its construction. With its completion, its energy problems will no longer be the hindrance for major developments to take place.

sources: Iloilo officials give nod to coal-fired power plant-newsinfo.inquirer.net
Gov. Sally Ambushes Iloilo Coal-Fired Power Plant Project-simpliving.blogspot.com