Inauguration of the Philippines 15th President

Today June 30, 2010 is the inauguration of the 15th president of the Republic of the Philippines.  A historic day for all Filipinos.  A new beginning unfolds in Philippine history.

Just minutes away from 12:00 PM Phil. time, Benigno Simeon Aquino III was sworn into office by Justice Conchita Carpio Morales at Quirino Grandstand in front of approximately six hundred thousand people, as estimated by the police.

A lot of foreign dignitaries were present and of course there are also a lot of celebrities present and performed to entertain the crowd.  The National Anthem was sang by no other than Ms. Charice Pempengco, this time with the right rendition of the song.

President elect Benigno Aquino III or P-Noy gave his inaugural address mostly in Filipino dialect with english language in between to address international concerns.  His speech lasted for twenty minutes.

He admits that being the president of the Philippines he have lots of problems to face so he calls for the Filipino people to help him carry the cross in the road for a better Philippines.  He promised that his government will not be only for a few people but for all the people irregardless of status in life.  He promised to lead by example and appoint only the right people in his cabinet and above all he won't betray the trust that the Filipino had given him.

President Noy mentioned in  his inaugural speech the following issues his government is going to take action:

     a.  People who are used to unlawful ways of getting their ways into the government or the midnight appointees

     b.  Our need for a better educational facilities

     c.  Our need for quality infrastructure projects for better tourism and business

     d.  Giving life to emergency employment once implemented by his late mother former President Corazon Aquino to generate work for the local people thereby enhancing the economy of the local areas

     e.  Strict tax collection by the Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Internal Revenues

     f.   Philhealth for all for three years

     g.  Provide housing in safe areas

     h.  Recruit additional forces for the Armed Forces of the Philippines to effectively protect the Filipino people 

     i.  Extend help to the farmers by providing additional irrigation and direct access of farmers to the market giving the direct benefits to the farmers themselves and the consumers.

     j.  Provide better jobs here in the Philippines to minimize the need of Filipinos to work abroad

     k. Peaceful solution for Mindanao conflict.

President Noy also addressed his detractors and said that he can forgive them and in fact he have already forgiven them,  but for those who have done wrong to the Filipino people, he has no right to forgive and forget.  Justice should be served accordingly.

President Noy's inaugural speech is so full of promises and is better appreciated by the masses because it was delivered mostly in Filipino dialect.  I just hope that concrete works in fulfilling these promises will be started soon.  Promises will just be promises again by the next government once they are not translated into actions.  

A Heart Pounding Bus Ride at EDSA

After a long time, I have again experienced a heart pounding bus ride at EDSA.  It's been three years since we transferred to our new residence in Taguig and since then my route going to the office in Alabang was changed.


Before our transfer, my everyday travel includes a bus ride along EDSA and South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), from Buendia to Alabang.  I usually ride on non air conditioned bus primarily because they don't stay that long at bus stops to pick up passengers and most of these non air conditioned bus drivers drives like crazy that we reach Alabang at no time....just what I need so I won't be late for work.  It was really a scary ride but somehow I gotten used to it.

Opening of Classes - Bookstores' Party Time

It's school time once again.  School year 2010-2011 officially started one week ago but for some it started one week earlier.  No wonder bookstores nowadays are packed with parents and students looking for supplies needed at school.  It's bookstore's party time.

Celebrating Father's Day 2010

It's the 3rd Sunday of June, a special day dedicated for all fathers, the head of our family.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all fathers especially to the three special men in my life, my father, my brother who is a father to two energetic boys and of course to my husband who is the father of our two adorable kids.

My father already joined our creator a long time ago and I don't have that much memories with him but one thing I'm sure is that.......he loved me and my little brother.

To celebrate this special day, we started the day by attending the morning mass and because it's father's day, the priest's homily is of course related to all fathers.  The priest reiterated the importance of the special gift fathers can give their children, and that is, their TIME.  Time is so precious nowadays that fathers are so occupied with their jobs that time for the family had been sacrificed, so it is a very big challenge for fathers to find time to be with their kids, play with them, talk to them or just listen to them. The homily was really enlightening not only to the fathers but to the whole family as well.

After hearing the mass, we decided to just spend the day at home, watched Wall-E for the nth time on Disney channel, prepared items needed for our kids' school tomorrow and my hubby and children had their nap while I'm working on this post.

For our lunch, we called for a food delivery from North Park.  We enjoyed their chow mien, yang chow, soft tofu vegetable stir fry and lechon Macao....yummy. 

Chow Mien

Fan Chow

Soft Tofu Vegetable Stir Fy

Lechon Macao

It's just a simple way of celebrating father's day but for the kids, it's already a treat for them.  It's really that simple to please children and make them happy. Hearing a lot of  "I love you" and getting a lot of hugs from them already brightens up our day.

Summer Weekend Getaway: Tagaytay City

It's already June and only a week more and it's school time once again.  Rainy season is also approaching, in fact this past week, heavy rains was experienced in Metro Manila especially in the afternoon.

Before classes start and rainy season really sets in, I'm thankful that my husband and I have managed to schedule an out of town trip last weekend, a treat my children were expecting since the end of school last March.

Tagaytay is the nearest  place we can think of spending our summer weekend this year.  Cool weather without the long travel.  Besides, my husband had signed up for a complimentary voucher in One Tagaytay Place Suites Hotel, and we had to use it before it expires this year. 

Saturday morning, off we went to Tagaytay, hoping that the weather will cooperate with us and that we can visit some place in Tagaytay by taking public transportation.  My husband's cousin drove us to Tagaytay but he'll be back to Manila in the afternoon and hopefully he can fetch us on Monday afternoon. 

After 3 days and 2 nights of stay, we had fun and the children really enjoyed the experience.  One Tagaytay Place Suites Hotel is located near a main road and taking public transportation is really convenient....jeepneys and tricycles abound the area.

We tried horseback riding, a simple picnic with site seeing, hiking and cable car ride at  Picnic Grove.  We visited Tagaytay Residence Inn mini zoo, attended mass at a nearby "Ina ng Laging Saklolo" Parish (a walking distance from the hotel), swimming at the hotel's swimming pool and a little exercise at the hotel's mini gym.  We also enjoyed the buffet breakfast at the hotel.

The weather also cooperated with us, Saturday ... a sunny day, Sunday...a light shower in the morning but the sun managed to be up after that, Monday ... it was sunny in the morning but when we left Tagaytay at noon, heavy rain poured and it was really raining hard until Santa Rosa exit but when we reached the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), it was sunny and there's no trace or signs of any rain.

Below are the pictures taken during our stay at Tagaytay.

Me and my daughter at Picnic Grove, riding Obama...yes, Obama is our horse's name.  A little bit scary, she's big and it's our first time to ride a horse.  Taal lake and volcano is on the background.

My husband with our son riding Marimar.  Our little boy enjoyed the ride.

A nice view of Taal lake and volcano at Picnic Grove.

Picnic Grove's short hiking trail and cable car ride

Pictures at Tagaytay Residence Inn mini zoo

"Ina ng Laging Saklolo" Parish Church

A dip at the hotel's pool

At the hotel's mini gym

We really had a great time at Tagaytay and we hope to be back for some other adventures.  We still have to try the zipline which Picnic Grove offers.

Two Year Old Smoking Expert

What’s happening to this world? Another case of irresponsible parenting or just plain ignorance of the health hazard issues of smoking?

When I first heard about this featured news on ABS-CBN, I thought it was just a plain fun just for the sake of having a video of a two-year old puffing cigarette and making buzz in Youtube world. But just the same I was intrigued and searched for the video in Youtube.

The original video is now a hit, having 2,427,572  views as of this writing. I watched the full length video and I was shocked. There you see a two year old boy puffing cigarette in front of all grown-ups and children.  Nobody even tried to stop him.

It’s just like an ordinary thing for him….observe how he holds the cigarette…he’s an expert. Just take a look and see for your self.  Here is the link: Two Year Old Indonesian smoker. Sorry I'd like to embed the video in this blog but I just can't get the the instructions right.

I’ve learned from the news that this video already caught the attention of people in the World Health Organization (WHO)….they should be…we should be…..a lot of information campaign are going on to inform people of the hazard of cigarette smoking and yet you'll see more people smoking and worst, they're getting younger and younger, just like this case, only 2 years old.  Haaay........

I hope and pray that all parents will be enlightened and be responsible enough to raise their kids well.  Children are blessings and they should be loved and cared for.

Raising good children - the toughest role for parents

My husband and I are blessed with two wonderful kids, a girl and a boy.  Our eldest, a girl is now 8 years old and our youngest is a boy, now 3 years old.  Like just any other parents, we wanted the best for our children and we want them to be a godly and responsible individuals someday.  Someone we can be proud of, something we can claim as our greatest achievement as parents.

Raising good children nowadays is a very huge challenge for parents.  One factor in raising good children is discipline but with all the outside influences our children are exposed to, it's really hard to instill in them the discipline that we wanted them to have.

Very young children just like ours can be easily influenced by television (it may be advertisement or shows) and by people surrounding them.  They are just like sponges that absorbs everything that is being fed to them.  What they see, they always tend to believe in.

Knowing these factors influencing our children, somehow, we now have an idea on how to effectively discipline our children.

Regarding television, we try to limit our children's viewing time to two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening and we screen whatever shows they are watching.  But this television rule is effective only whenever we are at home.  During weekdays, they are left to the care of our stay-in house helper and we can't really be 100% sure that she follows what we are instructing her...we just hope she does and from time to time we check on them through telephone.

For the people surrounding our children, for now the most influential is our house helper who takes care of them while we're at work, my daughter's classmates, my children's playmates and of course me and my husband.  Aside from ourselves, we have no total control on the people surrounding our children.  So this is where the real challenge is.

As parents, we are the role model of our children so whatever behavior we are showing them, good or bad,  will always be imitated by them.  It is really hard for us because as we all know, nobody is perfect and that we always have our own flaws.  We know what is right and what is wrong but sometimes we still tend to do what is wrong...human nature?

When we were still single, we may have gotten away with some of our bad behaviors but now that we have children we have to be conscious of what we are doing.  If we want to effectively discipline our kids we should discipline first ourselves.  How can I tell my kids not to bad mouth if what they hear from me are mostly trash...how can I tell them to listen if I don't know how to listen to them...how can I.....how can I...

It's really tough....accepting that our behavior is wrong and try to modify it....it's really tough but for our children's sake, we need to do it.  It's our responsibility not only to our children but to our community and to God.