Mayor Nasser Pangandaman Jr. (DAR chief’s son) Mauled A Father & Son at Valley Golf and Country Club

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News Flash Media IN Focus hosted by Cheche Lazaro will discuss “Dela Paz and Blogging” on January 15, 2009, Thursday live at 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. at ANC Channel 27. T

For our episode on January 15, 2009, Thursday, our topic is about “Dela Paz and Blogging.”

This blog post will be updated regularly for links to interesting blog posts and news

January 5– News update Pangandaman kin face child abuse, injury raps over golf ‘brawl’ and Pangandamans file countersuit over golf brawl.

Check out the Online Petition for Pangandamans’ Resignation

(Update December 29- View the news video from GMA News as Bino, the 14 year-old cries on TV )

As soon as Caffeine Sparks plurked the GMAnews.tv report of DAR chief, mayor son accused of mauling golfers in Antipolo ( ABS-CBN has this news report), I read it immediately together with the blog post of Bambee de la Paz where she relates that

The world has gone crazy. Two politicians beat up a defenseless 56-year-old father and his 14-year-old son. At a golf course. I swear to God, I thought golfers were decent people. You would think politicians were decent people. I guess not. I guess they gang up on 56-year-old men and beat up pleading 14-year-old kids.

I don’t have a father anymore and my son would have been around the age of the 14 year old boy so my heart just went out to both father and son as Bambee describes how they were beaten up. I mean, wouldn’t you feel the same way if that was your father and brother or son? Yes, it could happen to you too.


(Photo credit to abs-cbnnews.com video)

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Holiday Greetings from My Family

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The season flows. Magic is in the air. Christmas memories for the children evokes the fragrant aroma of Gingerbread Men Cookies. I love the Christmas spirit but for some, the holidays can be difficult and lonely. My husband is not spared from Christmas blues. It is a struggle he faces every holiday because our Luijoe is not around. He says, I wish the Holidays are over. Different circumstances for different folks. Maybe one of your loved ones is in the hospital, maybe one is leaving the country or is not present at your household.

You are not in the minority if you find yourself in a less-than-ideal holiday. How easy, but untrue, to tell ourselves the rest of the world is experiencing the perfect holiday, and we’re alone in the conflict. A holiday is one day out of 365 days. We can get through any 24-hour period.
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Holiday Parties and Family Reunions

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Holiday parties are everywhere the past few days. I was supposed to attend a Blog and Soul party yesterday but I felt stressed out at the last minute. I just decided to stick it out with the the ManBlog party held at our home last night. More of Lauren’s friends, of course. Our home is always open to parties and Lauren surely knows how to take advantage of this opportunity.

Parties are so much fun. Even if I am not actively involved in their party, I enjoy hearing Lauren and her friends laugh and cheer which is so reminiscent of my teenage parties at our home in Cebu. Have some fun, right?

This year, I limited the parties that I attend, not because I am anti-social. Driving to and fro the venue can be a pain in the neck. A party is supposed to be fun so I make sure I am in tip-top shape to celebrate. I allow my thoughts to think “Have some fun”.

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Photo Hunt: Wide

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Photo Hunt theme is Wide and my photo today is the wide backyard of my brother’s home in Missouri. When I left his home in mid-October, the weather was just cool and lovely. The Autumn colors were so pretty to look at too. It was my first Autumn experience.

But look at it now, two days after Thanksgiving. Everything is covered in snow. I can’t imagine living under those weather conditions. I don’t like the cold climate.

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UP Lantern Parade

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Hi everyone! This is Lauren ghost writi- I mean, guest blogging for my mom today. I wasn’t actually planning on attending the UP Lantern Parade yesterday but since I had activist things to attend to at Vinzon’s Hall, I figured I’d stick around and take a couple of photos. Plus, I’ve never been able to catch the lantern parade; I tried to when I was in college, but my classes would end too late and I’d get there only to reach the tail end of the parade. This year, as you all know, is UP’s Centennial anniversary and the 2008 lantern parade is supposed to be a bigger spectacle than the previous ones. I’m not sure what time it ended, but the parade was still far from over when I left at around 7.

My first mistake was bringing a point and shoot camera instead of my mom’s DSLR. Despite the crowd, I was able to take fairly decent pictures of the first few lanterns but my photos started getting progressively crappier as the sky got darker.

Palma Hall was too crowded for me to get a decent view of anything, so I walked over to the front of the Faculty Center where I could still worm my way up to the front.

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Department of Tourism with Happy Slip, Partners with MTV for 2009 Global Campaign

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Happy Slip (Christine Gambito) is in town since December 9 and I only found out today. Yehey invited a few bloggers for dinner at Alchemy for a sneak peak of Department of Tourism (DOT) and MTV plans for 2009. The intimate dinner gave us lots of time to chit-chat in a very informal setting. I am once again reunited with Happy Slip and this time we had more time to talk about Filipina dating online ads appearing in her myspace account which is now deleted.

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Lesson Learned from Shoes Thrown at President Bush

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Most of you have already seen the video above when an Iraqi journalist throws shoes at Bush in Baghdad and where President Bush shrugs it off:

“So what if the guy threw his shoe at me?” Bush told a reporter in response to a question about the incident.

“Let me talk about the guy throwing his shoe. It’s one way to gain attention. It’s like going to a political rally and having people yell at you. It’s like driving down the street and having people not gesturing with all five fingers. …

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Being Right

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Being in recovery is not about being right. It’s allowing myself to be who I am and accepting others as they are. I cannot help it if others perceive me in a positive light while others look at me as the complete opposite. One’s perception of me is based on another set of circumstances while others based it on my past mistakes.

That concept of “being right” is difficult for many of us if we have lived in systems that functioned on the “right-wrong” justice scale. The person who was right was okay while the person who was wrong was shamed. The value and worth may have depended on being right; to be wrong meant destruction of self and self-esteem.

I don’t have to stand up for myself when I know I did nothing wrong but I have the responsibility to set boundaries and take care of myself. I do not need to justify taking care of myself by condemning someone else. I avoid the trap of focusing on others instead of myself.

At first I could not figure out what Patricio Mangubat’s entry on The Genesis of Every Blogger Byte meant. I wonder what he meant when he said:

People like Butch Dado and his lovely wife Noemi, Dang, Janet, JV and all others are trying their darnest best to keep the Pinoy Blogosphere clean as a whistle but this stupid ingrate tried to spoil everything.

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