Bridging Leadership for Youth

What is the role of young Filipinos in shaping the history of the Philippines?

This is a question that we, at the Asian Institute of Management would like to contend with. In the midst of the complexities in our country, we, the young have started to look deeper into ourselves and reflect how we can be relevant as future leaders of the Philippines.

If you are aged between 18-24 years of age, a young Filipino leader who share the same questions as us, we invite you to join our journey. We invite you to apply by clicking www.tuloytulay.aim.edu and see what we can do together in shaping our common future ahead.

The call is being made by the Team Energy Center for Bridging Societal Divides and the Development Resource Center of the AIM through Tuloy Tulay, a leadership program for young Filipinos.

It would be a journey of knowing, of understanding and hopefully, one that of doing... together.

Padayon!

this journal will actually change your life 2009

i got this really cool offer from FreeSpeech Publications that invited bloggers to get a journal, entitled this journal will actually change your life 2009 planner for free. yes, i am not kidding that is the title of the journal emblazoned all over the front page and on the spine.

but it is free, and i only have to give a review for it.

how hard can it be?

alas, it was a bit hard. as they say, life happens and here i am coming in a bit too late. just the same here are my thoughts on the this journal will actually change your life 2009 (tjwacyl 2009).

my first difficulty is writing a review for a product that has too long a name. i mean, come on who would actually want to write a review for tjwacyl 2009, when you have to repeat its name, heaven forbid - this journal will actually change your life 2009 over and over again. ok, i am no marketing guru, but i know that product recall gets lower and more difficult for customers to get your name right if your name is more than a few words long. not only would it be difficult to pronounce, it just takes up too much space in texts and too much letters in emails.

the starbucks planner is a goody in this one. simple and classic, just the way most people like it. i said to myself tjwacyl 2009 must have something more in store than its name for it to get a good review.

the feel.

tjwacyl 2009 is hard bound with black letters jutting out of the cover. there is nothing funny about it, nor is there something serious about it. it is just plain weird to have those letters jutting out on black background. hey if i have to do a change, i wouldn't be as easy to enjoy it if i am being invited by such a sight.

the starbucks planner was more easy to understand. its covered in leather, nice finish at the beginning, you have a pen holder and pages to start writing. at least i know that this starbucks planner is a planner. not something that wants me to do something else.

physical features.

tjwacyl 2009 is hard bound, it has two book marking strings and nice colored paper in between. but that is just about it. what if i wanted to put a pen right next to it? or what if i want to carry it along my bag, without coming to a point of whether i will bring it or not (because it might be too heavy or bulky. i guess, what you see is what you get for tjwacyl 2009. nothing much to offer except its sturdy covering (with those words emblazoned up front).

going inside.

however, things start to change as i thumbed through tjwacyl 2009. one of the first few pages i laid my eyes upon was that picture at the left. wow, i quote: all proceeds for this journal are going to the building of wells and schools, and the planting of trees all over the world.

we invite you to become part of the solution.

visit www.ineedalifeline.org and help change the world.

ayun naman pala e, may laman naman pala e.

ay sus! then it dawned onto me tjwacyl 2009 is not all about just a regular planner. it is something that has a social objective. something grand, something my mediocre mind can only dream of doing. here is a journal who actually wants to do something.

i just do not know whether they would be true to their word or not. but at this point, at this product review, i think they certainly made a point. that to get tjwacyl 2009 would contribute to something more than just making rich people have a better conscience in drinking their coffee.

features inside.

then the rest is just your-plain-old-things-that-you-expect-with-a-planner. there's the calendar of course wherein you can put your scheds to your dentist, your exam, your paper, your date, whatever date that needs remembering. it also has 1/3 of a space devoted for journaling. hmmm, i tried to do journals in my jvp year in 2002. but i think i will fail miserably. but that is the point of journals right? to have a space to write. i must admit that starbucks also did the same, to be say that it is a journal is to say that its coffee is cheap.

and of course you have your interesting facts and figures on the journal, practical quotes, mood chart, food chart and everything else that i think are informative, but i do not expect to find in a journal. i mean you know, if i want a journal, i would not buy tjwacyl. but if i wanted to help out and be informed on some interesting things about the world in general, and to at least keep track of what i should be doing at a particular date, then tjwacyl 2009 might be something that i can appreciate.

at the end of the day, i think it boils down to what freespeech publications wants to do. i think i lacked the clarity to understand their message. i am just a simple dude, working/striving to keep his commitments and schedules in order, i also wanted to help out the world, and probably bring back some of the things that can help it. but i am not so sure that i am clarified of tjwacyl 2009.

so i say, tjwacyl 2009 might be a little confused on what it wants the user to do. does it want the owner of the journal to change? or does it merely want to help the owner to put down his schedules, have some interesting facts on the side? or does it want to have some contribution in helping save the world?

i guess, it will really help out freespeechpublications if they can sort these things out. i mean there are still some months left. i think for it to be a truly powerful tool (for change, for calendars, for helping the world, for whatever), it has to start off by being clear on what it wanted to become.

isang sentimo para sa iyong iniisip.

and we're back!

and we're back!

days of adventure!
being sandwiched between two storms
negotiating the wind
the waves
the land
now, i know why batanes is such a lovely, lovely place.

now, if only i can organize the thoughts and the pictures.

and we are off...

to the the land of the winds.

smallest province in the philippines.
honesty cafe
marlboro country
mahatao lighthouse
ivatans
vakul
batan
sabtang
vuhus

batanes.

we'll see you in a bit.

singiteras in the morning

for those of us working class who take the fx every morning, probably knows the feeling of waiting in line to get to that ubiquitous air-conditioned work who will ferry us to work with the least smell of smoke and sweat.

its been almost a year since i have been lining up at the suki market to get to makati. for that amount of time of queueing, you get to notice some people already. familiar faces, familiar actions that for one way or the other, i have began to assign code names so that i can tell stories of these people.

so there were these four ladies who turned out to be my favorites. let us describe them.

singitera # 1 is on the heavy side. she has a perpetual cough and and twitches her head from side to side.

singitera # 2 looks like singitera # 1. she looks like she's her sister. and they arrive together all the time.

singitera # 3 has short hair and gets off at cash and carry. she usually arrives early and lets singitera #1 and #2 in her line. once they come in.

singitera # 4 has long hair and usually wears a shade of purple that i do not understand. she is usually the most talkative among the four.

in the past two weeks, i have been promising myself that these ladies would hear something from me, if they get into hearing distance from me. i imagined the confrontation to be bloody, and me losing my cool, and i would be having a bad day. but every time i see them doing their thing, i get infuriated because it has been unjust for everyone who falls in line every morning. in fx lines, mrt lines or in any queue for that matter, it is always first come first served. no jumping in line. no breaking the line. that was taught to us by my grade 1 teacher. and i kinda liked mrs. fernandez so i knew that it is never right to jump in line. even if the other person is really a close friend and i am in a hurry already. i just have to line up.

and so this morning, i saw singitera #1 and #2 rushing off to pay already. and of all people behind them, it was me! i braced up. i can hear my heart thumping more violently. any time now, singitera #3 and #4 would be coming.

and i saw them singiteras coming to the singiteras already in line. i took a breath and:

me: excuse me, the line is over there.
singitera #2: a-a-a-pat ang binayaran namin.
me: oh well.

what do you do at that particular moment? do you raise hell just to uphold justice. or do you just continue to say nothing because they have grown accustomed to this already.

i chose neither. they have to know that what they are doing is wrong. and i cannot just stand there and let them have their way. someone has got to take on that task. and even if they do the same thing again. i will still tell these singiteras - the line is over there.