Felix catus, the House Cat Family

"Ako'y may alaga, pusang mataba..." sabi nga ng isang nursery rhyme. But in my case, ako'y di lang may alagang pusang mataba, kundi apat na pusang mataba. Sa totoo lang hindi naman talaga ako mahilig sa pusa. I would say I'm more a dog lover. Ang aso kasi matapat. Kahit paluin mo, they will just wag their tail in submission. Ikaw pa ang aamuin. Sa pusa, well, lalapitan ka lang pag may kailangan. Lalayasan ka isang araw at pag balik, buntis na.



Kaso isang araw, may isang pusang nagawi sa bahay namin. Buntis ang lola niyo. At dahil kami'y likas na may soft spot sa mga hayop, we let her in. Sa isang sabsaban, este, kahon sa may tindahan namin siya nanganak. At yung mga anak niya, ayun ang naging mga pusa namin. Dahil sa likas na lambing at kakatwang mga katangian ng mga pusakal na ito, ayun, I eventually fell in love na rin to cats. Nakadagdag pa ang kakapanuod ko ng Animal Planet kung saan laging bida ang, siyempre walang iba kundi ang mga big cats.


Tsaka kasi itong mga pusa namin, siguro dahil na rin sa amin sila lumaki at nagkaisip, ay, sa kakatwang dahilan, may mga katangian ng aso - at least sa departamento ng katapatan. Halimbawa, tuwing bibili ng pandesal ang tatay ko tuwing umaga, ayun, sunod ang mga kuting sa kanya. At dahil takot na lapain ng mga labrador at mga askal malapit sa mismong bakery, hihintayin na lang nila si tatay sa ilalim ng isang nakaparadang sasakyan. Minsan, pag maloko si tatay, sa kabialng kanto siya dadaan. Siyempre, todo hintay pa rin ang mga muning. Makalipas ang isang oras, makokonsiyensiya si Papang at babalkan ang mga muning. Ayun, ilang kalmot sa paa niya ang kanyang matatamo.



Hay...ang pusa nga naman. OK na rin na may apat kaming pusa...and growing ha. At least, di na kailangan ni Nanay ng plastic na pusa sa tindahan na palaging nagwa wave para raw swerte. Siguro naman, mas swerte ang buhay na pusa di ba?

Planting Manila Fire Tree: Protecting Manila from Another Ondoy

A week ago, Metro Manila and surrounding areas commemorated the 1st anniversary of a tragic event in Philippine history - Ondoy. Who would forget that day (September 26th 2009) when for a few hours, a month's worth of rain unusually poured in to drench the Philippine capital, almost erasing it on the map. It was the country's worst flooding in four decades. Hence, it was worth commemorating, not only to celebrate and honor the brave unsung heroes who rose to the challenges of that crucible times but also to remind us of our duty towards Mother Earth, to remain faithful to the biblical commandment given us, which is stewardship of all creation.

As I watched on television the activities commence, my eyes caught one interesting placard calling to "Save Sierra Madre". This was from one of the activities held in Marikina City, one of the localities greatly hit by Typhoon Ondoy. As highlighted by government and non-government organizations, deforestration of the Sierra Madre mountains brought about by illegal logging, mining and conversion of forest lands to commercial subdivisions was among the major factors that have aggravated the flooding experienced by Metro Manila during Ondoy. Because there were no trees to hold off the flood waters from the mountains, they rushed freely to the metropolis and eventually gave rise to those traumatic neck-deep flooding. It is just right to correct this through reforestration.

Replanting our depleted rainforests not only ensures that we don't experience another Ondoy again (or at least it mitigates the havoc to be wreaked by another Ondoy-like typhoon especially in terms of flooding) but it also makes our surroundings beautiful. Good thing is, we don't necessarily have to go to the mountains literally to participate in this undertaking. Even within Metro Manila, we can start replanting our boulevards, parks, center islands, sidewalks and other areas with sturdy perennial fruit-bearing or ornamental trees, which is again a positive response against global warming.

Two years ago if my memory serves me right, MMDA had a massive campaign to plant cadena de amor plants along EDSA. Not only did this made EDSA beautiful, but the plants were said to have helped control air pollution on this busy road stretch.



This time around, why not try covering Metro Manila with beautiful Manila Fire trees (Delix regina), also known as arbol de fuego, or royal poinciana? I had first seen one of these trees along the vacant parking spaces of the old Araneta center some 10 or 15 years ago. I was curious then as to what this tree was called. It reminded me of Japan's cherry blossoms because of its orange to red-orange sprouts falling to the ground when the wind blew. I noticed what fell were actually not leaves but some kind of small clustered flowers. The tree has intrigued me since then. In UP Diliman where I spent college, some of these trees are standing tall and proud along the University oval. Its umbrella-like canopy can spread widely, sometimes wider than its height. For me, the Manila Fire Tree is our version of the mythical oak trees of North America. Why not? This tree is mythical in itself because of the blazing effect it gives our avenues, parks, streets and gardens. Thanks to its red to orange red blossoms, it's as if it's telling a story to anyone who really pays attention to it. The tree is inspiring and I hope the government, particularly MMDA and the local governments give the Manila Fire tree the promotion and recognition it so deserves.

I don't know where this "plant a tree now" blog entry came from. But I agree with Czarina Gatbonton's controversial answer in the Bb. Pilipinas 2010 final Q&A, that the tree is the source of the air we breathe and thus the source of life on earth.

A splash of experience in Acuatico

It's supposed to be a team building in Laiya, Batangas. But it turned out to be a complete relaxation. No planning. No discussion about work, etc. We just took a carefree day, an important break from the worries of corporate life and the hustles and bustles of city jungle.

We started the day right by appreciating the good weather and the scenic views while on the way to Acuatico.




The facade of the resort was indeed welcoming.


Finally, I was able to experience how it feels to submerge my body in an infinity pool. Sana maulit muli.

The food was great!

Facilities were okay. It was a bit wavy at the time we were in.




Time to bond with the team. It was a blast.

Why I'm proud to work at Accenture

In Accenture, an essay writing contest has been recently launched to enable regular employees to express how proud they are working in the company. In a two-page essay, they must be able to answer the question "Are you a proud Pinoy Accenture employee? Why?" Today, in fact, is the deadline.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't make it. For some reason, I couldn't write when there's pressure involved, when there's a deadline to beat. Sakit ko na yata ito. That is why I don't see myself pursuing any career in writing. And it makes me sad.

Although I wouldn't be able to submit any entry, the question lingers in my head nonetheless. It's like last song syndrome. It keeps repeating in my mind. It makes me reflect deeply on something: Am I really proud as a Pinoy Accenture employee?

I have been with the company for only barely two months. It might be too early to say that I am indeed proud. But so far, really, I've never been prouder. The company is progressive in every aspect - from compensation and benefits, to security, to international certifications, to global interconnectedness, to processes and tools, to programs related to innovation, etc. But I guess the primary thing that makes me proud working at Accenture are the people I actually work with. I've never seen any group of people who is as devoted to their work as these people. For us working at Accenture Procurement, we wouldn't get compensated for OT rendered unless we're able to accumulate at least 16 hours of OT - the company would pay us on our 17th hour and every hour after that- still subject to tax of course. Thinking about this policy from an outsider's point of view, we virtually don't get compensated at all for extra "labor" time, which typically totals less than 16 hours come payout cut-off (in the Philippines, you get paid on the 15th and 30th of the month).

But I was amazed one weekend when I went to the office to pick something up. My whole team was there - working passionately. I asked them if they were aware of the policy regarding OT, that we would only be compensated for our 17th hour of OT, and all that. They said yes - and they didn't care. All they wanted to do was to finish their work on time - to ensure that the requests are fulfilled on schedule and that our customers and clients also meet their respective project deadlines, deliverables and budgets. I was made to realize how our role was critical to achieving these. I was humbled. I learned something from them. While I was concerned about how OTs benefit (or not benefit) me at Accenture, my colleagues (and many of them are actually reporting to me) in contrast think of the people we serve within Accenture. While I was in a way being self-centered, they on the other hand were altruistic.

I believe time is the greatest gift any employee can offer to a company. I have seen how my team mates freely give their time and devotion to the company without even thinking of monetary compensation. I guess many Pinoys do. In local parlance, we call that "malasakit" (solicitude). And such work ethic is what makes me proud about working at Accenture.

Venus Raj: Her Major, Major Success in Miss Universe 2010

Everyone's talking about Ms. Venus Raj and her controversial "major, major" answer in the Miss Universe 2010 Q&A. In fact, Yahoo has even run a "major, major" feature video for Ms. Raj and how she almost made it to the crown, had she not "blew" it on the Q&A portion. Truly, this year's Miss Universe 4th runner up has stirred a lot of buzz in the entertainment and social world that it seems people have talked about her more than the actual winner, Jimena Navarette of Mexico. In a beauty-pageant savvy country like the Philippines, this is nothing new. We are a country thirsty for an icon or source of pride and inspiration, and beauty queens like Venus, with her runner up finish, are considered heroes of our time, just like athletes like Manny Paquiao are in our hearts. As P-Noy has put it, her achievement in the recent Miss Universe pageant served as a ray of sunlight in a rather cloudy Philippine image in the international community especially after the tragic bus hostage drama in Luneta.

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I felt a sense of loss personally that Venus didn't get the crown when she was "almost there". She was obviously a crowd favorite, not just by Filipinos but by spectators from around the world. If she's not, then the Miss U venue wouldn't have been shaken by overwhelming cheers and applauses when her name was called as the last Top 15 semi-finalist. Also, I heard Donald Trump made a post-pageant personal annotation that he was actually rooting either for Ms. Mexico or Venus. I see a business and political undertone on this statement. Ms Mexico because, obviously, Trump and the MU Organization have an unexplainable bias in favor of Latinas. And Ms. Philippines, most likely because of Venus inspiring "cinderella-like" story; had she won, it's easy for Trump and his company to market the new Miss Universe, capitalizing on Ms. Raj's rise from poverty to fame and her unique struggles in the province where she practiced catwalk in rice paddies. Trump could have marketed Venus and her Ms. U success along the over-rated theme "dreams do come true" or something like this. This would have been truly memorable.

Then again, this is just "could-have-been" scenario. Venus went home not as new Miss Universe 2010 but as 4th-runner up. Still, she brought pride and honor to her country who really needed it.

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I guess the Q&A portion was played unfairly this time. Why were there different questions when these questions have obviously varying degrees of difficulty? The MU Organization should have stuck to the last year's format of one question for all contestants. In that way, the competition was made apple-to-apple, the stage was levelled and the decision on who deserves the crown will be based solely on how well each contestant answered the (same) question. Sadly, the question asked to Ms. Philippines turned out to be the most difficult, because, as one expert commented, it was a 'psychological' question. They said even US Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama couldn't give a "winning" answer themselves.

Ms. Raj answer was actually "safe" and she answered the question with obvious glow and relative confidence. I just thought what she actually meant wasn't well articulated in her answer. If I were asked of the question, I could have said:

"To be honest, I cannot think of any mistake, let alone any major mistake, in my 22 years right now, because the overwhelming love and support of my family and countrymen have simply made them fade away. There's nothing to correct even if I were given the chance to go back in time because these mistakes, whatever they are, have taught me important lessons in life that have made me a better and stronger person that I am right now, who is ready to take on the world and the universe not just for myself but for my country and people as well. To everyone who supported me, thank you for bringing me here."

Something to this effect. But there's bias in here already since I had more time to think about the answer. I couldn't imagine how Venus felt at that time. She could have been caught off guard by Mr. Baldwin's question.

In the meantime, I look forward to another Venus Raj on the rise. I just hope it wouldn't take us another decade to produce another Miss Universe winner.

What has been P-Noy's accomplishments in the first two months of his presidency?
That seems to be a big question to ask. I rather leave the answer to people who professionally take politics as their cup of tea. But I guess I have freedom as an ordinary citizen, having cast his vote in the recent national elections, to comment on at least some aspects of his leadership.

At Infosys, we were required to undergo rigid language training with Berlitz, to ensure we can really converse well in English and hence be effective on the job. In one of the assessments, I was asked by the Berlitz consultant something like: If you were to vote somebody for President (it was the height of the May 10 elections), what do you think are the qualities that person should have to merit your vote and why? Being measured for spontaneity, diction, grammar and linguistic range, I answered as honestly and wittingly as I could that the person should possess an unbendable character and exceptional leadership skills, such that he or she could make the most prudent decisions on urgent and challenging issues of national significance on his or her own, amidst pressure and hostile conditions, while sharing the governance with the people. That is the only way I see the candidate could truly lead the country forward. Of course, my actual answer was five sentences longer but these were pretty much the gist of what I said.

Looking back, I couldn't help but smile at such response. Truly, it was a conditional answer to a conditional question. And as I know conditionals, you could
pull out any answer out of thin air, they could be as ideal as you wish, and yet are still valid. As expected, the real condition we have now is far from ideal. Noynoy Aquino is now president of the republic. Asking myself the same question again, does P-Noy have unbendable character (which I basically just meant integrity)? Yes, considering his low profile and transparent lifestyle. No wonder he got 85% public trust rating which is by far, as per Pulse Asia, the highest in local history given to any president. I even admired him for showing his first pay check worth something like P65K, a far cry from the salaries of the executives in the multinational company I work in. But does he have exceptional leadership qualities? That's a different story. As Boy Abunda puts it, it's debatable.

Lately, I just couldn't ignore his perceived "weakness" coming alive - his inability to mete out judgment on significant national issues on his own. Critics have been recently calling P-Noy's sisters as the "four witches". It's a known fact that the president consults his sisters prior to making any judgements or appointments. It is said that the sisters were “too fussy” in selecting the applicants, such that only those “whom they knew personally” would get appointed. Is that the reason why many of those belonging to what is called "Hyatt 10" have made a political come back under the Aquino administration? Because these folks are "personal acquaintances"? Conversely, is that also the reason director Nilo got axed from PAG-ASA? Because the sisters didn't know the man "personally"?

To be fair, I'm sure the sisters weren't the only people the President primarily consults on political affairs. May be for Nilo's case, he consulted other men or experts on the issue serving him, perhaps the DOE secretary or some congressmen. Whether it's Nilo's case or any other case, these groups obviously have interests to protect and so the President should have wisdom on his own to make the necessary and ultimate decision on the matter. I however was particularly dismayed about his eventual decision to terminate Nilo. According to DOE's press release, Nilo was axed because he lacked 2 days of CESO. But according to Nilo, he was terminated because somebody painted a bad picture of him to the president, whispering that he be removed from his post for political reasons - he's a political "threat" or something.

The latter can be considered a mere speculation. Besides, any executive is said to serve at the president's pleasure. In other words, if the President no longer wants Nilo in his administration, he could by all means lay him off anytime. But P-Noy should have moved away from making arbitrary decisions and followed an acceptable process to verify at the very least the veracity of such accusation against Nilo. Yes, I agree to the Palace's thrust to fill in the bureaucracy with only qualified individuals - meaning CESO passers. But, doesn't the President know the "exemption to the rule" concept? As released in the news, we only have three remaining experts in PAG-ASA. Now that one has been terminated from office, who else could we count on to provide weather forecast to the public considering that we are located along the typhoon belt? He could have given Nilo chance to complete his CESO or provided him a "grace period" or put him on a "probationary" period. Okay, it is not the first time that PAG-ASA provided an inaccurate weather forecast in the past decade but is axing its head a solution? Besides, that poor performance couldn't be blamed solely to one man - in fact, it's the government's lapse. We couldn't procure the most cutting edge weather forecasting technology due to perennial budget constraints and so these scientists have no choice but to make do on whatever equipment and personal technical expertise they have. What's annoying is that the President seems to have listened to the "whispers" of the powers that be, capitalizing on his outrage over the latest blunder committed by PAG-ASA under Nilo's leadership.

Yes, being President is a daunting task. You couldn't help but listen to differing views, contradicting advices and clashing interests. But I guess I see my brother's point now when he expressed his fear that Noynoy Aquino lacks the ability to critically decide matters on his own, to do the "balancing act" so to speak amidst differing political pressures, so he could stay true to his mandate to uphold the interest of the majority and his commitment to defend the poor.

Last Thursday, the Palace announced with finality that August 23rd will not be a holiday. Many working citizens were hoping it would be declared a holiday so they could have at least a day off from work, since it is the President's father's death anniversary that the nation will supposedly commemorate anyway. But they were disappointed. Is this because the President listened to the dictates of Makati Business Club? Because declaring special holidays would harm businesses? After all, his Department of Tourism secretary is once the President of such powerful organization of the elite.

Again, whether P-Noy has really that ability to "stand on his own feet", to make sound, fair, and inspiring decisions in his six years in office is a test of time. In the meantime, I don't want to raise my expectations.

Transcript of My 26th Birthday

Date: July 18, 2010

Venue: Home (bahay lang - maulan eh).

Program: Nothing much. Videoke lang as usual. Songs were mostly OPM and ballads. May 90s songs din. Kung sabagay si ate at nanay lang naman ang kumakanta. At around 5 PM, mom's amigas came over. Finally, the genre of songs changed - mas lumuma. Either OPMs in the 70s or Visayan songs.

Invited guests: Cousin (1 person); Neighbors (15); mom's amigas (7)

Food: Main course - rellenong bangus, lumpia, adobo, igado, spaghetti, pansit, lechon (worth P6,000.00). Dessert: Goldilocks cake ube and cheese flavor, fruit salad
Note: Take outs for everyone were encouraged para maubos ang pagkain.

Additional notes: No photos taken. Nakalimutan. It rained prior to the "party". They said it's sign for good luck. May blessing ni Lord.