25 years of NINOY AQUINO

I do not know Ninoy Aquino but I have read a lot about him and the fact that with his death, came our country’s freedom from the dictatorship of the Marcos regime. I read books about his life, watched documentaries about his assassination and scoured the internet for more information regarding how he died. His death was a terrible tragedy. A loss that the Filipino people have mourned over and over again. A terrible tragedy for his bereaved wife, Cory and to their family. From my readings, he made history by being the youngest senator elected at the age of 34, and one of the most charismatic as well. He believed in the Filipinos and in the Philippines and this is affirmed by his famous statement forever commemorated in the 500 pesos bill, “The Filipino is worth dying for”.

He was the anti Marcos senator and he was one of the courageous ones, brave enough to voice out his opinions on the Marcos family and their regime. But this I have to say for Ferdinand Marcos. I think that he was one of the brightest presidents the Philippines has ever had. If only he had used his intelligence and governing skills for the good of the country and its people rather than on enriching his coffers and that of his cronies.

I lament the fact that after 25 years has passed, the mastermind to his killing is still but an empty face. That just goes to show that in the Philippine judicial system, if you have the money then you can get away with anything. Their should already be justice given to Ninoy’s death. The mastermind of the killing should already be brought in front of the courts but sadly it is not the case. The Aquino family still has not had justice for Ninoy.

I am fortunate to have had the luck to be working for someone who had a personal interaction with Ninoy. My General Manager in the office had known and spoken to Ninoy for about 4-5 times before Ninoy was killed in 1983. Allow me to share his story below.

Excerpt from Sir B’s email to us:

I feel honored to have personally known Ninoy. Our friendship began by coincidence. From 1980 to 1983, Ninoy left to live in Boston, both for medical reasons and political exile. I had moved from New York to Boston in 1980. Ninoy sought local Boston advice on his home financing in Newton, Massachusetts, an upscale neighborhood outside Boston. Through mutual friends, we were introduced. While discussing the best ways to get mortgage financing in Boston, I got to meet Ninoy at least 4 or 5 times, including one Saturday afternoon in 1981 at his brick house in Newton.

There we discussed mutual likes (Beatles), the ARPANET, a declassified military communication system (later became the Internet!) that he had just heard about at Harvard, politics and our equal passion, the greatness of the Pinoy. We would tell each other stories about “talinong Pinoy” and both agree…. Iba ang Pinas!Then, he paused and looked at me…. and said, if you love the Philippines so much….. “what are you doing here?” For a solid minute…. I felt embarrassed to say I had been in the US for the money
I looked at him and said…. “Tama ka, it’s time to go home.” He smiled and said… “Pare, you won’t regret it… iba ang Pinas… di ba?”

I got myself re-assigned by Bank of Boston to Manila in April of 1982. I saw him one more time before left…. and he said “Nakaka-selos ka…. hayaan mo…. malapit na rin ako babalik.” “Kailangan baguhin natin ang mga nangyayari dyan” (Ninoy had a way to make you believe – as I did for just a minute – that it was only you and him who were going to make ALL those changes!).

I never saw him again. Ironically, though his martyrdom….. binago niya talaga ang Pinas.

Iba talaga ang Pinas! Believe it. No matter where you go, what you become, be proud of your heritage. Iba talaga ang Pinoy! Walang kapantay sa buong mundo!

Ipagdiwang natin itong mahal na Araw ng Mga Bayani….. kasama tayo lahat dyan!

And thank you, Ninoy… for your advice…. I never regretted it.”

Thank you Sir Ben for sharing that nice story with us and for everyday uplifting the Filipinos.

Filed under: all about the philippines , heroes, philippines

KC+Richard=For the First Time

Am not much of a fan for Tagalog movies but I will keep “For the First Time” with KC Concepcion and Richard Guitterez on my list of must-see movies. I am not a big fan but this movie intrigues me. It is indeed a movie with a lot of firsts: 1) first time that the 2 big station networks (ABS & GMA) have gotten together for a project; 2) first team up of KC and Richard- the offspring’s of showbiz families and so many other firsts. Richard has been leading man to countless other stars and I have not noticed any particular chemistry and this time with KC I see something different. There seems to be genuine chemistry involved but hey, I could be wrong and this might be another “gimmick” for the movie to earn much. Although I am not much of a showbiz lover, I find myself interested to watch and make my conclusions on the movie and added to that is the plus of having most of the movie shot in Santorini, Greece. This movie has been hugely pimped by the 2 networks but mostly I think by ABS. Am not sure of that fact though because I am more of a Kapamilya rather than a Kapuso. One more controversy attached to this movie is the fact that their 1^st day opening falls on the same day as the Marian & Dingdong free concert at the Araneta. A fact that Anabelle Rama and Sharon Cuneta have complained about. Let the people be the judge! Mark this day, August 27 for the opening of “For the First Time” directed by Joyce Bernal. For me, I’d rather watch KC and Richard on the bigscreen rather than Marian & Dingdong live.

Filed under: all about the philippines , movies, philippine showbiz, philippines

Making Money Online in da Philippines

I have just recently been serious about making money online. Some people have been doing it successfully for some time now but I am just taking my baby steps towards the ultimate goal of being able to profit with my writing/blogging. I have started on the simple ones. They earn slow but they are earning. Although I haven’t had any payouts yet from those sites. I hope to receive one in the future and I will for sure document it in here. My site is dedicated to the ones who do not have much know-how on internet marketing but are wanting to try it. I am based in the Philippines and will try my hand at this. I am at this stage as well and hope to at least get something out of it. I will be documenting my experiences with online marketing and when I get payouts, I will for sure post them in here for the viewers. I want to be able to help individuals as well be successful in this endeavor although they are not as informed and as skillful like this kidblogger that I just stumbled on,Carl Ocab. After reading and going through his blogs, it seems that he is earning tons of money and take note, he is just 15 years old. How I would like to be able to achieve that right now.

My site is dedicated to the newbies who don’t have that much of a knowledge but are willing to learn all the stuff with me. I am also learning as well because I am still a newbie and I haven’t accomplished a lot too. We learn together. Share our thoughts as well as share some tips and useful stuff for this venture. So let’s make money online Filipinos.

Lots of luck for us….

Filed under: Making Money Online , blogging, internet marketing, money online

Pickpockets in the streets of Metro Manila

Yesterday I was on my daily route of going home around 7:30PM. I was staying late because I had some things to finish and to review as well some things to write. I was waiting for my favorite buses so I walked to the waiting area and lucky me I was able to catch one of my favorite LRT/AYALA Leveriza buses and got a seat as well although it was in the back area and for that I have to be thankful. Amidst all the body bumping action because the bus was brimming with passengers, I noticed this thin guy who seemed to not be at ease. He was always looking around and even if he got a seat, he stood up again and wanted to body bump and I knew that something was wrong. Something was really whispering in my ears and my heart felt that it was not right but of course I just put it at the back of my mind. When a lot of people got down at the LRT stop, the bus was almost a thirds empty. There were only a couple more left including some funny looking guys sitting in the front. And the thin guy that I noticed earlier was already standing still at the back of the driver of the bus.

My heart was beating fast. I passed by a police station and thought that I might get out there but it passed already before I could say STOP. Then we were traversing this part of Buendia where the World Trade Center is located and it was kind of isolated and devoid of people that I was afraid to go down even if I was thinking that the bad guys might scream HOLD AP! and get all our belongings. Although I didn’t have much to lose. My cellphone was probably the most expensive thing around in my bag. I was clutching my bag to my chest when suddenly this funny looking guy was eyeing me and smiling at me. I thought, “the nerve”. He never gave up eye contact and I had to stop myself from constantly glaring at him because of that. I glared again and now he was openly smiling with all his teeth showing. I just kept silent although the urge to give some sarcastic remark was in the tip of my tongue. But I thought to myself that If these were the bad guys, they might do something bad to me. He was grinning from ear to ear and I had to stop myself from smacking him on the head. They got off a couple of meters after. There were 7 of them. When they got off, the lecherous grinning man even waved at me. The nerve.

When they got off, my fellow bus companion commented that he knew the 7 men who got down were pickpockets because they were constantly body bumping with everyone who was going to get off the bus. I’m sure a few wallets were sacrificed last night. Am glad nothing of mine was stolen. Thank God that it was not a hold-up but just plain stealing. These men didn’t want to work for their money. They wanted the easy way out. Methinks, the bus driver and assistant were also into it. Who knows,they had no reaction whatsoever. Or maybe they were just too afraid to do anything about it even if they knew because they might be retaliated by those goons. The harsh realities of life in the Philippines. Pickpockets abound here. Sometimes they can even be in the guise of children. I hope that this problem might be alleviated but I also think it would be a long time in coming since theft is usually associated with poverty…So sad!

Filed under: Daily Travel Diary, all about the philippines , bus trips, philippines, scared

Beijing Olympics 2008-partial medal tally

Everybody seems to be hooked on the 2008 Olympics in Beijing so I find myself heading off to search the internet for the most updated information that I could find as of August 14, 2008 at 5:30PM Philippine time. Unfortunately my fellow Filipinos as I was checking the roster of countries and the medals that they won I found out that our Philippine Olympic team has yet to get one. I am really disappointed but hey, we still have time to rack in some medals. After the disappointing performance of Boxer Harry Tanamor after facing his first opponent, Manyo Plange of Ghana in the 48-kilogram light flyweight category. Tanamor was said to be the country’s best hope for a gold in this years Olympics. Well with the defeat of Tanamor, for sure we might have problems getting to that gold medal but hey other medals will do. Here is the link to the latest medal results for the 2008 Beijing Olympics (thanks to CNN) – Beijing Olympics medal tally. It seems that China and the US are tied for the number of medals but of course China has 20 golds and the US only 10. Go China! Even if our Philippine contingents have yet to get one medal I will also be rooting for a fellow Asian country. Go China!

Filed under: all about the philippines , beijing olympics, News, philippines, sports

digital photography- fire shot

the flame

I have read a lot in the photography magazines that FIRE perhaps is one of the most difficult mediums to photograph so I tried it out one evening. The timing was right, everybody was sleeping soundly. I had my camera and the batteries ready. I had my candle, match and white background and then the camera and I’m good to go. Turned out the lights and started shooting as many as I can but only 1 stood out. Here is my first ever experiment with shooting fire. I was photographing the candle flame. It’s not that good but hey I’m just practicing. Enjoy! Feel free to let me know your comments, thoughts, advices, and extra tips. All will be welcome.

Filed under: My Photography , digital photography