Skip to content

Current Affairs

I chose to stay, Prof Monsod but what happened?

“I cannot do everything but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do. And with the grace of God, I will do it” – Prof. Monsod

Economics 11 is just one of my required subjects in my BS Food Technology course . The year 1976 was my Junior year in UP Diliman and I made sure that Prof. Solita Monsod was my Economics teacher because she was known to be kind. None of those terror teachers, please. Economics is not exactly my cup of tea. Science subjects were my forte. I didn’t know it then but it was also the semester that my mother died of breast cancer and Monsod’s kindness helped me pull through with make-up exams.

It was Martial Law times and I don’t recall her talking much about the state of the country like she did in the Honor and Excellence video taken by one of her students last October 5, 2010.

Honor and excellence was ingrained in all UP students. I don’t recall the people responsible for placing it in my thoughts. Prof Monsod however elaborates that the ““fruit of honor and excellence” is ““competence and integrity”.

What hits hard is staying in the Philippines even after graduation.

“The Philippines needs you more than you would ever think. And if it is not you, who else will do it?” says Prof, Monsod

I have often heard the monicker ““Iskolar ng Bayan” in all of my college life. Prof. Monsod drives the same point . As scholars of the people, UP students owe a debt of gratitude to the Filipino people, whose taxes paid for part of that education. Fighting the dictatorship was a struggle that I fought for as a student in the state university.

I understand Prof Monsod.

Read More »I chose to stay, Prof Monsod but what happened?

President Aquino’s 100 Days Town Hall Meeting

I was supposed to post these photos in BlogWatch.ph but for some reason , I can’t upload the photos. I was able to cover the Town hall meeting with the theme ““Isang Daang Araw sa Isang Daang Matuwid: Report Kay Boss,” where President Aquino presented his report on 100 days. I had no access inside La Consolacion auditorium but that was fine since the new media team provided us a “Bloggers’ room” with strong WIFI signal. Yay, a first.

Here are photos I took this morning.

noynoy-aquino-100days

noynoy-aquino-100days1

noynoy-aquino-100days1A
Read More »President Aquino’s 100 Days Town Hall Meeting

Shock over the Mendoza-hostage killing of Hongkong Tourists

hostage-drama-quirino-grandstand
Arriving in Manila as a tourist in another country and to hear deaths of tourists in my own country was just so sad and shocking.

I just arrived from Kota Kinabalu at 10:00 PM tonight. I knew about the hostage taker Sp Rolando Mendoza when I read twitter updates at around 3:00 PM, the time I checked out from the hotel. It alarmed me that it started at 10:30 AM and still not much progress on whether the hostage drama would end. My husband said that a person like that is unstable. That should have been a warning signal for the negotiators.

Boarding the plane back to Manila at around 7:45 PM, I had no idea that a bloodbath ensued at 7:30 PM. There was no wifi at the Kota Kinabalu airport for me to monitor the hostage drama. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it to end in bloodshed. The bad news was relayed to us when my husband and I sat inside our taxi cab.

Read More »Shock over the Mendoza-hostage killing of Hongkong Tourists

In memory of Cory

““I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life.” Corazon C. Aquino

noemi-at-cory
That photo above is a screen capture of me taken from the Laban ni Cory documentary. I feel honored to be part of the memorable documentary. I had no idea that video was taken until someone told me. It looks like I was reflecting as I ventured out on my first attempts of citizen journalism.

Through all the combined 15 hours of coverage during your funeral procession, this has got to be the greatest outpouring of love that I have witnessed in all 52 years of my life.

I will not forget the people who sacrificed their lives for democracy.
I will make sure that my readers are aware of the implications of the Constituent Assembly before the 2010 elections, and that we should oppose Charter Change perpetuating President Arroyo and her allies in power.

I will continue with the fight, to help maintain our democracy.

cory-aquino

noemi-at-media-truck1a
(Photo credit to Malou Escasa)

Read More »In memory of Cory

The Inaugural

noemi-dado-inauguralme-grandstand2aat-malacanang3a

You know , I didn’t vote for Noynoy. During the campaign, I received some flack from rabid and irrational Noynoy supporters. It then came as a pleasant surprise when my request for Blog Watch media accreditation was granted. When Blog Watch started in September 2009, we were unknown to politicians. Most of us are not even political bloggers. A staff of a presidential candidate wanted to check our motives — ‘Do you have political motivations?’ Getting the candidates to take us seriously was a challenge. Credibility needed to be established. The faith in bloggers started when Vibal Foundation hosted us in their Philippine Online Chronicles. We appreciate their efforts in helping us attain our goals. We’ve been tenacious in getting candidates to be interviewed and succeeded in getting seven out of the nine presidential candidates. Pretty soon, media outfits, presidential candidates and supporters started to follow us on Twitter or Facebook. The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) released a report, Online Coverage of 2010 Elections: Citizen journalists at work, which said: ‘Unprecedented in the country’s election history, bloggers and citizen journalists covering the 2010 elections were given media accreditation IDs by the Commission on Elections (Comelec)’. The accreditation affirms the work we have been doing for Blog Watch.

I am proud to be part of history as one of the first bloggers to officially cover the Inaugural from the Quirino Grandstand to Malacanang Palace.

Today is the first day of the new president. There will be no honeymoon period for me. My reasons for not voting him as my president still holds true today. But I love my country more. It is the choice of 40% of the people. It will not stop me from being vigilant. In fact, the new administration wants us to participate in good governance. The work of a president starts on day 1. I will be critical but fair . I will not rant without basis. I will acknowledge positive measures.

The mood was festive yesterday especially those dressed in yellow. I knew it would be a sea of yellow during the Inaugural so I decided to wear blue and purple as contrast. I did not really cover much of the Inaugural. I was busy interviewing the people and knowing their sentiments so I don’t have much photos of the day. Besides, the battery of the camera ran out on me. Let me share some of the awesome photos of Anton Sheker. He had to protect his turf and stay there for 7 hours. Kudos to Anton. (Please do not copy these photos. They are copyright to Blog Watch and Anton Sheker)
Read More »The Inaugural

Ambivalent towards Erap

I feel ambivalent towards Erap.

I neither like nor dislike him. My feelings has something to do with the memories of my little boy. My 6 year old son adored Erap. Luijoe thought the world of the former president. Luijoe yelled at the top of his voice that Erap was the smartest president in the whole world, in a jumpacked room at a plane ticket office ten summers ago.

In his booming voice, he threw his hands up in the air , twirling around the room, “Mom, President Erap is so smart, the smartest president in the whole wide world”.

awkward silence

Nobody in that room could deny not hearing my son’s adulation. It was May 2000 at the height of Erap’s unpopularity. I wanted the floor to open up and swallow both of us. I could feel the steely gaze and snickers surrounding us. My boy never sensed the awkwardness of the situation but I wanted to save face.

“So , why is Erap the smartest president in the whole wide world?”, as I squeaked the question to my naughty son.

“Mom, his jokes mom. He says the funniest jokes. That is very smart of him” (or something like that)

See my son had a great sense of humor and loved to throw a joke or two. Then he discovered the Erap jokes during one of our conversations. Luijoe overheard us laughing to our heart’s content on an Erap joke. He wanted to know why were laughing. He badgered to know the joke. So I narrated the joke

Erap: Miss, do you have a ballpen?
Clerk: Sorry, sir we don’t have any ballpen
Erap (angry): Why did you name your store “Penshoppe“?

royal_elastics 043.jpgHow my boy laughed! Luijoe loved to tell this joke to everyone . One time, Luijoe and I passed by Penshoppe ( a teen fashion store) in Glorietta mall and I teased him if he wanted to go inside with me , so I could ask the same question Erap asked. Luijoe tugged me away. hehe

I bought him the book , “Joke ni Erap” by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism in early 2000. Luijoe often packed this Erap Joke book in his backpack and kept re-reading those jokes that he could understand. He loved the book so much, he even labelled it with his name. Here are a few of his favorite jokes culled from that book.
Read More »Ambivalent towards Erap

Feeling the loss of a dream

To the Noynoy supporters

Take time to read carefully from beginning to end including citations from columnists. This is about the grief and sense of loss (then road to acceptance) as the title suggest. This is not about you. Be happy your candidate won instead of making fun of people’s pain. Of course, you are entitled to get pissed (at the author of the Business World article I quoted) as we are entitled to our sadness. Remember that the quality of a victor shows in how he treats the defeated. thank you.

Juan VoteMay 10 called upon #juanvote to close the day with our anecdotes of the historic first national automated election. Right before we went live, the breaking news of the Comelec hit us hard. The speed of the results just stunned us. Thirty-five (35%) of the votes were just transmitted. Noynoy Aquino took a lead.

I was restless that night, unable to sleep. Did I waste 9 months of my life to voters’ education when I could have ventured into more profitable endeavors? You might all know by now that I didn’t vote for Noynoy Aquino because he didn’t fit my critieria of competency, character, coherent platform and clear vision. The night before May 10, I told myself that no matter who the president will be and as long as it is a fair and clean election (unlike the Hello Garci scandal in 2004), I will support the new president whoever he/she may be.

Just like sudden death, the impact of the news was shocking. How could 40% of the voters ignore “several candidates far more qualified by a record of public achievement than Noynoy” ? As Rene Azurin expressly wrote

“Mr. Aquino, because he is famous and a celebrity, can claim authority over us without any demand to show prior proof that he is at all qualified to exercise it. That’s intrinsically unfair. Of course, this is not Mr. Aquino’s fault. It is our fault for allowing ourselves to fall — stupidly, let us admit — under the spell of celebrity.”

Read More »Feeling the loss of a dream

About

a mom blogger who advocates constructive engagement in issues on family & society.
Facebook-f Twitter Instagram Spotify Podcast

Touch By An Angel © All Rights Reserved.