Quoting Jun Lozada

Jun Lozada has said a lot and I salute him for that. In this age of SMS and internet, no one should be allowed to keep one’s mouth shut especially if it is for a greater good, if it was for the TRUTH. As Filipinos, I believe there’s a Jun Lozada in all of us: a tinge of corruption, a number of mistakes, a dose of wit. But most importantly, like the Filipino in him, we have a conscience, the courage and the heroism to end the forces that is keeping us in the dark.

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If there is one good output from the weeks of senate hearing on the ZTE-NBN deal, it would be a publication of quotable quotes from the man himself, Jun Lozada. At least it’s not another book of text jokes and definitely not a compilation of terrible English statements. As I told my colleague, “The headlines rolling underneath one’s TV screen can be changed frequently to quote him. Everything he says is pang-headline.” A Book of Quotes by Jun Lozada? Why not and I am serious.

My First Blog Birthday

It was my first blog birthday yesterday and I almost forgot all about it. It was a good thing I never forgot any of my children’s first birthdays. In fact, I am the kind of mom who plans months ahead of their first (and second, and third and so on and so forth birthdays).

The Making of U.P. & Me

I am writing a blog as an entry to the “100 Kwentong Peyups” in celebration of the University of the Philippines’ 100th year. It’s turning out into an autobiographical sketch and it might take a hundred years to finish. Whose story wouldn’t when one is lucky to have a new life at UP? So for now, I am posting her a survey that will give you a peep of my upcoming U.P. and Me.

Pap Smear and A Mom’s Health

Mommies are so protective of their families especially their children that the slightest change in their health or mood ring the worry bell. Don’t we panic at the sound of cough or the slightest bump on their heads regardless of their age? When they complain of feeling an ache here and a discomfort there, don’t we want to bring them to the doctors right away? Like any other basic needs of our children, providing the best remedy, medical or otherwise, is what we want for our children.

Now here is the question, do we also provide the best remedy for our own ailments? How many times have you visited the doctor when you feel under the weather? Have you had your Pap Smear test yet?

My New Header Photo

I took this new header photo when we visited a Community-Based Forest Management area in Nueva Ecija. Here is the full picture. More photos are in my Free Coupons blog

Musings of a Frat Mom

“S#@!”, I exclaimed when I first read in the papers that another graduating student was dead because of alleged hazing rites in UP. I would find out later that he was not only graduating in October. He was also a student leader and a hope for a better future for his family who lives in Tiaong, Quezon. I watched the news yesterday while I feed my 10-month old son. I saw Mrs. Mendez grieve the loss of her boy, Cris, the boy whom she must have fed in the same way that I now feed my own: sitting on her lap, opening his mouth to every spoonful of food that is offered to him. So innocent, so trusting. Mrs. Mendez was so bereaved that she fainted as her son’s casket was entombed. The scene reminded me of jokes about funerals but this time, I didn’t laugh. I couldn’t laugh. The mother’s unbearable pain reached me through the TV. My heart burned as I felt her anguish, her sorrow.
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I too have gone through a physical initiation once, a long time ago. Today, I am torn between explaining the reasons for such ritual and condemning outright its cruelty. Fraternity/ Sorority members know why it has to be done. We were indoctrinated to believe that this is the way. In my youth, I would defend it against anyone who dares question. I would even arrogantly say, “It’s because you’ve never been there, that’s why you can’t and will never understand.” Now, I look back and reflect. In my mind and my heart, I no longer want it to be that way.
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Perhaps it’s the experience of motherhood. That unique experience of nurturing life instead of hurting it. It makes me review the relevance of physical initiations. Perhaps it’s because of one incident two years ago that gave me a peek of what might happen if my own children decide to join fraternities and sororities.
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My daughter was in kindergarten (in her former school) then. I woke up one morning and saw a bruise in her thigh. She was 4 years old then and I asked her what happened. She answered, “Wala po.” But she tried to keep the bruise from me. I silently urged her to tell me saying I won’t get mad at her. She eventually said, “My teacher pinched me.” I was shocked! I was mad! I was hurt! Hurt for my child. Hurt for myself. I went to the assistant principal to complain. She accommodated me but tried to ask my daughter if the bruise (which she saw) was there because of her own doing.

“Bakit ka may pasa anak? Nabangga ka ba sa table?”

The gall! But my daughter did not falter. She looked straight into the assistant principal’s eyes and shook her head.

“Kinurot po ako.”

“Nino?”

“Ni teacher ___.”

A day after, I wrote a two-page letter to officially lodge my complain to the school. When the teacher heard about this, she called for a PTA meeting to complain against the complainant. She didn’t say if she knows it was me. Later incidences would prove she suspected me as the whistleblower. Nothing dramatic came out of that meeting because I opted to remain silent. Why? Because most of those who were present already declared that the complainant should have talk to the teacher first before going to the assistant principal. I felt really bad but at least, the PTA President, asked us to continue checking on our children to look for bruises or cuts. I presume he believes that teachers pinching students do happen.

It dawned upon me afterwards that I almost raised hell when I saw my daughter’s bruised leg. If a pinch can stir such emotions in me, what will my reaction be when my child comes home beaten black and purple? What will my reactions be when they come home lifeless? I shuddered at the thought. Watching Mrs. Mendez faint, I guess I will be like her, a thousand times over.
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I hope that Cris Mendez’s death makes a difference in the culture of violence that has tainted UP. I hope it makes a difference in all other universities and places where fraternities and sororities are extolled but perverted. I hope it wakes up these brotherhoods and sisterhoods to rethink and stop the violence. At one point, I thought, why should this have to happen at this time when UP is celebrating it’s Centennial? Then again, I thought it’s coincidental, perhaps cosmic that it did happen today. A reminder that alongside UP’s legacy of scholars and free thought lie a string of senseless violence. A fact that should not be ignored. A cancer that should be cured.

Howa’s Bayongs

Noemi Lardizabal-Dado’s blog about I’m Not Plastic venture inspired me to showcase my mama Susan’s bayongs. See my picasaweb slideshow.

The Story Behind Howa’s Bayongs

My mom, called Howa (baby talk for Lola) by her grandchildren, 3 out of 4 of them mine, is a very creative and resourceful lady. She was into recycling stuff way before environmentalism became a fad. Well of course it wasn’t because she wanted to save Mother Earth even then. It was more of the need to save some money for our family’s basic necessities. Being a working mother (she was a teacher) to four children in the late seventies and early eighties was difficult especially on a tight budget. To make both ends meet, she reused and recycled.