Pardon on Erap, A Second Chance?

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erap.jpgMy first reaction was disappointment at our President when she granted absolute pardon to Erap. What happened to all that government money spent on his trial? By giving Erap that absolute pardon, our president restored all his civil and political rights, which were automatically removed by his conviction of atrocious crimes involving illegally amassing billions of pesos by virtue of his public office. I am not going to talk about the political implications of Erap’s absolute pardon.

I believe everyone should be given a second chance to fix things right. The thing is a deal was worked out in that Erap can keep some, if not most, of the money he got during his years as a so-called public servant. This was openly admitted by Estrada’s lawyers and Malacanang and is reportedly included in the document giving him executive clemency. I feel bad that he gets to keep most of the money . More than $15.5 million in bank accounts believed to be owned by him would remain in effect, Bunye said.

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Best Friends forever

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I am in Cebu City right now for an overnight business trip. It feels great to be home. Well, not exactly at my old home. We sold our family home a few years ago because none of the siblings live in Cebu. Home is where the heart is or my hometown, where I spent the first 16 years of my childhood. Part of my agenda entailed a meet up with my grade school best friend, Rowena. It’s been 34 years since we last saw each other. Yes, the last time was at our high school graduation. I’ve never forgotten her though. The problem was I didn’t stay long enough in Cebu to reunite with high school friends whenever I went for my semestral break or vacation. Memories of high school popular cliques and my mediocre school performance made me want to avoid any reunions. But whenever I was in Cebu I often wondered what became of her.

Six months ago, I received a text message from Rowena. I was happy to hear from her, of course. Her reaction surprised me even more “I’m crying that we finally talked to each other”. I was thinking Did we have a fight? is that why we drifted apart?is that why she is crying? My heart remembers the love, the camaderie, the laughter and the innocence we shared as kids. She told me that I often gave her roses and cake for her birthday. Was I that sweet? Did I really sneak out those roses from my mom’s rose garden? Did I “steal” cake from our bake shop just so I had a gift for Rowena? I desperately wanted to remember how I was as a young me.

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Thank You for the Thank You Day Concert

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Thank You Day
I had no plans to attend the Thank You Day concert not because I feared a repeat of the Glorietta 2 Explosion but because I felt too old for a live “rock” concert. The last time I attended a concert, my heartbeat was racing like crazy but I’ve been supporting the National Thank You Day since day 1 so I just had to be there. I told  my daughters to go ahead to the concert as I was still busy with a grief support meeting. My meeting ended earlier than usual and fortunately, I was still able to catch up with the Toblerone Press Conference with my two daughters at the Highlands Restaurant together with JM Tuazon, Karla, Anton with Rach and Aidan and Juned, Annalyn with her adorable twins.

Unlike Annalyn, I wasn’t starstruck. I barely knew the bands, celebrities and even the hosts. Sure I knew who Lucky Manzano, Mo Twister, Francis M and Jay-R but the rest? I had to tap on Juned’s shoulder and ask “Who is he/she?”. haha.

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Glorietta 2 Explosion Memories

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explosionMy hubby sent me a text message yesterday to get away from the [tag]Glorietta Ayala Malls[/tag]. He knows it’s my favorite mall since it was just a 10 minute drive from our old home in Makati. I texted him back that I was in another mall and not to worry about me. As soon as I reached home, I googled for “[tag]Glorietta 2 Explosion[/tag]” and was surprised at the Google Search Engine Results. I was suddenly taken back in time. Lauren’s May 18, 2000 entry showed up on the first page that there was a Glorietta 2 explosion on May 17, 2000 which injured teenagers mostly since the blast occured near a video arcade:

Glorietta 2 was bombed yesterday ( the third bombing in just a week ) and one of the girls in my batch, Ana May, was there and got hurt. Twelve were injured and mostly teens cos it happened at the Synergy video arcade (the other arcade we go too sometimes). I guess it’s good that me and Stephen aren’t, well, exactly friends cos if we were, we woulda been there like every other Wednesday and I don’t really like the idea of my body parts flying all over the entire mall.

Why Glorietta 2 again? Not that I want other parts of the mall to be blasted away. It just seems so suspicious. I was at the Glorietta 2 entrance just a few weeks ago and remember raising my eyebrows when the security guard didn’t check my bag. He was busy reading the text messages from his cellphone. (Ayala Mall security, remove their cellphones while on duty please)

Anyway, just 3 days after that May 20, 2000 entry, Lauren wrote another one and this time on the SM Megamall Bombing that happened on May 20, 2000 where a janitor was killed.

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Recycled Old-look Home Furniture – Blog Action Day

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action_125x125.jpgToday is Blog Action Day. On October 15, bloggers around the web unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind – the environment. Every blogger will post about the [tag]environment[/tag] in their own way and relating to their own topic. I chose to talk about my recycled old home furniture in our environmentally friendly home. Building an [tag]Environmentally-Friendly[/tag] Home meant discussing big ideas behind even the smallest details.

When my husband and I discussed the theme of our furnishings, we decided on eclectic design so we had a reason to utilize our antique furniture which have been passed on to us by our great grandparents. Butch said “wood adds warmth to a home. How would I know? I am not an interior designer. Butch had been researching for the past year on the look of our new home. I wanted contemporary furniture because well, I wanted something new. We compromised by blending old and new furniture in our cozy home.

carabao_cart.jpgAllow me to show 2 furniture pieces crafted by using old discarded wood for new “old-look” furniture. These pieces of wood were taken from the junk yard. So anyway, let’s start with the this lowly carabao cart used by farmers in the rice fields.

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Photo Hunt – Smelly

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shoe cabinetPhoto Hunters theme this week is Smelly. I chose our family’s Shoe Cabinet which is nestled in the far corner of the second floor. Some of the shoes in there are smelly whenever I pass by. It’s one reason I place a deodorizer inside the cabinet. I know when it’s time to replace the deodorizer when I smell the stink again. The solution really is to eliminate the shoe odor from the source. Other than deodorizer, there are other ways of eliminating shoe odors:

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Holy Rosary Podcast

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rosary.jpg The blue rosary in the photo belongs to Luijoe. A month before he died, he placed it lovingly on the rear view mirror of my car so mama, you will always be protected. Little did he know that he would be in heaven a month later, watching over me and the rest of the family. The Holy Rosary played an important part in my son’s life. My heart often tugs at the memory of my son chastising me for not saying my regular prayers. One night, he pulled me over to our bed because he wanted to pray the Rosary. This lazy mother begged off saying “I don’t feel like it…it’s too long to pray”. That memory often brings me tears of regret that I wasn’t supportive enough of my son’s staunch faith in the Holy Rosary. I should have just prayed along with Luijoe even if I didn’t feel like it. In the eulogy given by Luijoe’s pre-school teacher, she talks of Luijoe as he prayed the rosary:

One time I assigned him to lead the rosary. He was murmuring. One of his classmates told him to speak louder. So loudly but seriously with a big voice he uttered the prayers. At the end of the rosary, all of his classmates clapped their hands. Then, he shouted innocently,”This is not a program..This is a prayer!”

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How To Manage Your Online Reputation

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online_reputation.jpgDo you need help monitoring your reputation? Want to know what bloggers think about you? Fear no more…Just have a photo taken with the Master Abe “Yuga” Olandres dressed for the first time ever in business suit and you’re all good. Haha. Kidding aside, you should have been at the recently concluded Search Engine Marketing Conference 2007 (SEMCON) and listened to Abe talk about Tracking Buzz: How to Manage Your Online Reputation– Do you need help monitoring your reputation? Want to know what bloggers think about your business and your products? When you undertake a search for your company name or brand is negative information relating to your company showing up in the search results? Is your company and brand reputation being adversely affected by these negative high ranking results? Protect and enhance your business by controlling how your name and brand appear online and in search results.

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Nintendo Wii Games are Fun

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wii_and_bloggers.jpgIf I didn’t know what the Nintendo Wii Games Console was all about, I’d think Jayvee, AJ, Juned including my daughter are loonies waving their “wands” about in front of my TV set. Jayvee brought along his Nintendo Wii and lots of party games to amuse the bloggers. The gathering was intended to be a podcast event which included the guys behind The Man Blog. The Man bloggers took forever to arrive so the interactive Wii games filled the gap.

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Feelings Towards Desperate Housewives Slur Episode

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desperate housewivesI thought an apology was enough to placate the hurt feelings of our Filipino countrymen over that Desperate Housewives Episode on Some Med School in the Philippines. Today , Friday (October 5, 2007) at 6:00 PM, there is a planned demonstration/picket at ABC Studio, located at 77 West 66th St. between Columbus and Central Park West. To protest ABC’s wholesale defamation of Philippine-trained medical professionals, a plan of action has been undertaken in some Fil-Am communities.

1. Many Fil-Am communties throughout the US, like the Northern California National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) regional chapter, are meeting to undertake local mass actions against ABC and the Disney Corporation because of this attack on their community;

2. In San Francisco, the NaFFAA are forming a Philippine Anti-Defamation Coalition working with members of the Philippine Medical Society, the Philippine Nurses Asociation, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (California Chapter) and other groups and individuals who were educated in the Philippines and who feel that the ABC [tag]Desperate Housewives[/tag] episode will have a profound negative on the public perception of them. They are planning on engaging in creative actions that will impress on ABC the gravity of the slight inflicted on the Filipino community.

3. Benj cites an indignation letter from the members University of the Philippines Medical Alumni Society in America.

Eric Gamboa, MD, doctor-member of UPMAS even said here: How many of you have been asked by your patients “what med school did you go to?” I have. Lotsa times. It seems that if you’re not White or if you even have some hint of an accent that you’re not as good as the American grads. SO wrong.

So is this taking it overboard?

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