Smiles in Disguise

Most of the people around me would probably describe me as one happy person who never fails to inject humor even at the dullest moment. This is probably because of my disposition to take things at the most positive way possible. However, there are times when despite the positive aura I try to bear I could not help but endure that silence from within and disguise a smile I knew I never meant to display. These are the moments when I could only stage a fancy stare towards the farthest horizon and make every words phrased so awkwardly just to form sensible thoughts.

At some point, there a disappointments, frustrations and regrets I can never fathom to rationalize. These are thoughts I could hardly process and make some justifications to appease my restless soul. During these moments, I can only be as sane as possible but inside it is ripping me apart. Things become uncontrollable and I can no longer reconcile them to what is at hand. When frustration creeps in, I just take a deep sigh and look forward to a good night sleep to let it pass and hopeful that tomorrow will be another good day!

Uncovered

Since its inception in 2005, the DILG Region VI has been promoting and sustaining Knowledge Management as a core principle towards  excellence in local governance. This also led to the paradigm shift for the Department as a knowledge-centric organization, fostering a culture of learning. This mechanism has been embedded to the establishment of the Local Governance Regional Resource Center which serves as the KM point of the Department. Working on the KM cycle, the LGRRC is in the frontline of KM activities in the region. This new approach has been very beneficial for the Department as well as to the Local Government Units as end users.

Working on the platform of transferring tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge, LGRRC has been a repository of knowledge products from the various best practices of LGUs in the region which have been used in the benchmarking of performance as well as a source of ideas for future innovation. The availability of these materials has become a selling point for the Department in its effort to popularize the different programs and projects under its banner.

The concept of participation and multi-stakeholdership has been very vital for the Department as the LGRRC expands its network of alliances to academic institutions and Non-Government Organizations working in the local governance aspect.  This provided the LGUs with wider opportunities and venues for knowledge acquisition and replication. The materials available within partner institutions have been very significant in the Department's effort to offer knowledge products across all facets of local governance. Convergence has also become an advantage for the Center as it pursue the strategies of Knowledge Management, creating a focal point especially in the region when it comes to material resources and manpower through the pool of experts.

In the long run, the biggest barrier would be the lack of a champion who will be spearheading the implementation of the KM in the organization. The support from the top management will be very critical as KM  processes require capital investments (infrastructure and manpower).

True to the adage, Knowledge is indeed Power and Knowledge sharing is empowerment. Like energy it remains potential unless we create movement which makes the energy kinetic in nature. So to say, the impact can be marveled upon once we transfer knowledge outside our realms.
http://lgrrc6.org.ph/
http://wvlgrc.org/

Cracked

Consequential-ism would always teaches us to examine standards for the rightness and wrongness of our action. Definitively, ethics plays a big role in our action in whichever facets of life. Software piracy has been a constant headache for industries who have been investing billions in its research and development. The recent news on the underground business of illegal software distribution has been hurting the industry itself. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20004783-93.html  

It all boils down to affordability and accessibility of the software especially those who come from countries or areas where their national GDP is incomparably lower than the average requirement for decent living. However, with the rise of IT-based industries, the demand for softwares have been increasingly dictating the surging price which even a regular employee would hesitate to buy. This is even worst when software piracy is tolerated and has become a mainstream choice over the original. Who would not like this, when the cracked version is way cheaper than the original. At some point buying original becomes a source of guilt and frustration after knowing a friend acquiring the same software at the cheapest price possible. Is it not unfair?

The end does not always justifies the means but when it comes to price and spending capacity, buying pirated and original seem to be relatively fine!  Then the promise of not sharing it for conscience sake tries to rectify the action but afterwards a needy friend would always be another story. So the blame game now tries to point out whose action should be considered liable, the seller of the pirated copy or the person who shared it to others in the act of goodwill? (This will need another blog concentrating on normative ethics)

New generation softwares have been the name of the game and having it in original is tantamount to huge investment which at our end point seem to be impossible to recover considering our competitors (in a business set-up) would have the cracked version of the same software sparing them from cashing out that big. Then the loser's sign creeps in the forehead!

Perhaps, software companies should start thinking the other way around. Well it is a challenge to turn the tides towards the consumers whose thinking revolves on how much rather than if it is right or wrong. Punitive measures will not work I suppose, especially in countries where there is limited capacity to crack down the illegal trade, unless they will have to invest much and set-up one for each target country.

At my point of view, it is time to rethink the campaign strategy of these software companies. In countries where retail is a dominant style of procurement, why not come-up with pre-paid software offers which come handy to those who only need it for a specific time. This might be like load wallets or e-loads common to cellphone users wherein you only pay what you want. The strategy might be effective in countries like the Philippines (taking-off on the assumption that loading business has been significant contributor in the growth of mobile providers).

This might not be an overnight job but with careful measures initiated by the software industries along with the host countries, the issue might be taken minimal. However, as long as the crack versions are made readily available, still consistent patrons would prefer this over the original, unless they grow some concern for the software companies (Conscience working here insert ).

N.B.This is conscience perhaps talking behind my back while doing this piece. I am not confessing anything in this blog, the authorities might be tracking every piece in the net (paranoid) but I enjoyed the cracks(ers). They are life savers, by the way they helped me along the way finishing my communication degree in college.

On girls and balls they hit hardly

Recently I have been hooked severely into these girls who can hit the ball the hardest way possible and this is so much appealing to my senses. In every time they do it, I can't help but to feel the intensity of that hit smashing the ball down straight the line and make some point! This is the women's volleyball of the UAAP Season 76 where all the hypes and dramas have been adding a colorful twists into every details of the event. 

I have been a fan since I knew some of the early girls way back in Season 72, I was cheering then for UST with the likes of Venus Bernal, Roxanne Pimentel, Mary Jean Balse and the beautiful and charming Angelie Tabaquero. I also got to follow their off-season games in the Shakey's V-League. I do play volleyball but not that serious as getting into the varsity team. At least I know the basics, I play the game and I know the rules. 

Quite sometime, succeeding seasons have born out lovelier and talented ladies who can just hit the ball as simple as reciting the ABCs. Some of these ladies don't have that towering height but hey they can leap as if they are six-footers and the strength is just awesome. I really appreciate those ladies who have been into the sport and quite giving some serious time in improving their skills. I have been witnessing transformations from the rookies who turned out to be excellent players as seasons go by. 

The likes of Rachel Ann Daquis, Manilla Santos, Michelle Penetrante, Charo Soriano, Aiza Maizo and Angela Benting have been superstars on their own rights they powered their respective teams to what they are now. The league has also produced setters whose volleyball IQ is so amazing. These are the likes of Denisse Tan of UST, Wendy Ann Semana of FEU who can also be a great attacker, Janet Serafica of Adamson and the list goes on. Their contemporaries include, Rhea Dimaculangan of UST, Jem Ferrer of Ateneo, Kim Fajardo of DLSU, Ivy Perez of NU and the wonder lady I really admire among them, Gyzelle Sy of FEU. Season 76 has also a revelation for rookie setters. One of them is Ateneo's Jia Morado.

Volleyball has absolutely taken the center stage and the appreciation of  the Filipino crowd. It has been a growing sport and UAAP has just created a new sporting flavor in the menu. Media mileage has also gotten its hold on the on-going popularity of the sport (thanks to them).

Today, I am very sure MOA arena will be going gaga for the last game of the UAAP season. Crowds in blue and green will surely flock the venue as the arch rival teams try to make history on their own respective sides. And I am one of those who will cheer for the blue, but in the end of the game what matters most will be these girls proving that they hit balls hardly and they can keep our hearts rallying for them behind those hits.

Surely this will be another milestone for volleyball in this country. I'll be preparing the couch, and all hearts out for the BLUE!

 

Out for quite some long time

Frequent official travels, loads of work in the office and pounds of school requirements had been making me crazy with lots of chasing and pleading just to beat  the deadline. Technically I was out of the couch and I missed this time when I can just sit down and write anything that buzzes in my restless mind.

Definitely I am not yet back to the couch where I am so used to spend the lull times surfing TV channels while munching anything I found edible inside the fridge. Here I am kilometers away from home doing field work. I love doing this for sometime a great way to end the monotony in the office routine. This time I have to cover 15 towns in Antique for validation of projects they earned after making it to the Seal of Good Housekeeping list. This is a mechanism introduced by the late Secretary Jesse Robredo focusing on the LGU performance on financial accountability and transparency. The million peso reward is an incentive for passing this assessment under the Performance Challenge Fund, which entitles an LGU to submit project proposals relating to the basic infrastructure services they want to fund. I will have to write a separate article on these programs soon.

Meanwhile, travelling in the land where the mountains meet the seas has been a close and personal encounter for me. I believe it is all about the serenity of the place that really touches my sensibilities. The laid back yet fun and exciting way of living is what sets this place apart from others. Perhaps my inclination to this type of living has an added value on why I love this place that much. That explains why I always volunteer doing the fieldwork for Antique when opportunity comes. I have this realization, that perhaps I was not born to appreciate the noisy and crowded urban jungle instead I am more productive and relaxed in a place like this. So can I ask for the re-assignment now?

Perhaps, this is the couch outside the couch. I have been out for quite some long time but I am enjoying those times I am away doing fulfilling things and feeding some goodness in the soul. I recommend this to my Yellow Boss! He can bring her bitch, that might give some perspective on him and change the whole thing before the 16. (Unsolicited ranting here)

Anyway, I am sharing the things I am seeing for the past days through this viedeoclip courtesy of the lens master Ruperto Quitag. He has awesome photos on his FB Page you might want to see. Here are the links:

https://www.facebook.com/ruperto.quitag?fref=ts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjIKe2wgqCA&feature=youtu.be

Enjoy!

Out of the couch

Great realizations indeed come from the gloomiest days of our lives. They all come as a reflection of every struggle that we endure. They all become a testament of our resolve to hold on with our faith, no matter how the heavens would play along with our emotions, stability and resiliency. 

I have been a no great appreciator of HOSPITALS and all the things associated to it, even though I thought of becoming a DOCTOR before (not until I found BLOOD as the eeriest  thing ever). My father has been admitted for the first time in his 57 years. It has been the scariest experience I ever had, the fact that I always tend to over-react and over think (perhaps the result of my overly used imagination). It has a been a panic experience. I have to deal within the walls of the hospital and painfully endure the smell that would always make me sick and nauseated. The confines of the hospital scares me too much that I don't attentively look into its every detail. 

The whole experience had been a conquering state and a food to my soul. Aside from winning the battle against my fears, it has been an eye opener on my part. It has opened realizations that indeed my purpose in life, my greatness lies within my family. And it has slowly injected me the reasons of my previous failures. That they were  not failures without any purpose. That HE has used those failures as an instrument to bring where I am and what I am. 

Several times I have been questioning the whole experience as unfair on my part, by which I remain with my conviction that I could have deserved better. My past paced life has been so concentrated with the desire to achieve more. 

Staying in the hospital for almost a week has been an opportunity for me to reflect and reconsider. As I juggle my career and my obligation as a child, the thought of reviewing my commitments struck me unguarded. The fear of losing one family member has reminded me, indeed my couch belongs with them. I may over-reacted but the whole thing humbled me and kept me grounded. 

Tatay is now recovering after his two trips at the hospital. All the tests were made just to assure his condition. It has been an exhausting ride and it has been draining on our finances. I learned to deprive myself of the extravagances and the whole process has provided me great insights on money-spending.  

After all, being out of the couch has never been bad at all. 

Contentment

Heading to the polling precinct, I was trying to recall the candidates whose names I'll be shading in the ballot. I made up my mind and only four names made it to my list of senators and the rest of the local positions I'm sure I will be filling up completely.

 I was on my clandestine purple shirt paired with washed-out jeans and my comfortable slippers. I was looking ahead of the place and I really feel the excitement that has been sending me shivers through my spine. I know, even the modest vote of mine will surely be a part of the change we have been trying to call for. 

I hurdled the long lines under the beating heat of the sun. At around 11:30 in the morning I was holding the ballot and I was so eager to fill it up with the name I have in mind. I started to shade the small circles across the candidates name. The feeling was surreal, I checked my ballot several times before heading to the PCOS machine. It was even more liberating seeing the screen flash a congratulatory message after successfully reading my vote. It was the beginning of my success. I candidly head out of the voting place with so much delight seeing my right index finger with the purple ink.

Seven in the evening when the voting precincts had called it a day! Now the counting begins and my faith relies on the right decisions made by the people and the system. Now I am hoping that at the end, the battle shall be won not by the politicians but by the people who rallies for genuine reform and  favors the best and suited individuals for the position. We owe it to our vigilance, we owe it to our determination and our  conscience to deliver the righteous decision. I faithfully believing and praying for the best results. This time I'll find the best contentment!