Tag: philippines

On (Slowly) Losing my Friends

~ Amerl ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been living in Canada for over four years now. I was told by a lot of people that the longer you stay outside the country, the less friends you get to keep in the Philippines. I thought that was bullocks because my friends and I promised each other to communicate often. I was a silly girl.

On my first few months, there were definitely some communications going on. It was mostly on Facebook and Viber. We would chat on FB messenger and have some group message going on. Slowly though, I realize that I was the first one that would approach them. If I don’t say hi, I would never get any message. After a year, I started to wait for them to contact me. There were definitely a few, but it started getting less and less until I don’t chat with anyone anymore. So I sort of started to reach out to them again but it was all futile because I was mostly the one handling the conversation. I didn’t want to strain any friendship I have with my close friends but this distance that they’re putting is enough for me to back off.

I’m still friends with them on FB and follows them on IG. I would like their posts but rarely comment. There’s the occasional ‘Congrats’ and ‘Happy Birthday’ but that’s it. I used to post these lengthy-ass FB birthday posts and reading them on my FB memories when they pop-up gives me such bittersweet feeling. At some point, these people were my friends, my confidants and partners-in-crime. Now, we’re mostly just colleagues with some good memories.

 

Advertisements

Philippine High School vs Canadian High School Upgrading

~ Amerl ~ Leave a comment

Before anything else, let me just say that I’m neither a teacher nor an expert in the education system of both countries. I am a student and this is obviously from my point of view. 

To make things easier, courses (subjects) that I’ve taken in the Philippines will be written as “high school [course]”, for example “high school Bio”. Courses taken in Canada will be written as “[course] upgrading”, for example “Bio upgrading”. 

I graduated high school in the Philippines. We’re one of the last few high school batches that graduated with only 10 years of basic education. As of SY 2011-2012, the Philippines’ Department of Education has started to implement the first phase of k-12. Before k-12, high school was only 4 years which means that even if I already graduated in high school, I’ll still be considered a high school student in Canada because of that missing 2 years. Luckily, I was already done with my first two years of Nursing education and so I didn’t have to go back to a traditional high school. 

When I say traditional high school, I mean going to a high school, prepare for prom and graduate with a toga and cap. I would have spent two years doing Grades 11 and Grade 12. But hey, I actually told myself that would have been better rather than spending money just to get my Grades 11 and 12 courses. 

Academic upgrading is pretty much taking up some high school courses in a college/university for various reasons.(Though a student can also do some upgrading in a high school but s/he’ll be stuck with the high school kids.) Some of the reasons could include:

  • the student needs higher grade than what s/he currently has.
  • higher GPA is needed to get into a program.
  • It’s been years since the student has graduated from high school and s/he needs to take it again for his/her desired program
  • an immigrant where his/her high school qualifications aren’t at par with the Canadian system.
  • Blew up the diploma exam and now has to get better grades (because there’s no diploma exam in upgrading!)

These are some of the reasons of a lot of my classmates in upgrading. I have classmates who just graduated in high school and some who are over 30 years old just figured out what they really wanna do or finally have the time to do what they want.

Back to the topic, what’s the difference between my high school education in the Philippines compared to my high school upgrading courses in Canada? To make things clearer, I’m doing my upgrading in a college (nope, not a university… that’ll be too expensive). I’ll try to compare it using only the courses that I’ve taken namely  Biology (0120&0130/Gr 11&12), Chemistry (0120&0130/Gr 11&12) and English (0130/Gr 12). I took Math (30-1/Gr 12) but I won’t include it since I had four Maths in high school: Elementary and Secondary Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry. I feel like it’s sort of unfair to compare just one Math upgrading course to four different Math disciplines. 

BIOLOGY

Biology was very interesting. I’ve done Bio in second year of high school. I remember memorizing different bacteria, families and parts of a plant. I remember genetics (it was in the 2nd grading and my fave topic until now) and planting corns without fertilizer (we produced tiny corns). One of the highlights of our Bio class was dissecting an earthworm. We were quite disappointed that we didn’t dissect a frog like some schools probably do. Our teacher told us that it wasn’t allowed anymore and we have to just settle with the earthworm (we had a fat, long one). Needless to say, we found soil in the earthworm. 

In Grade 11 Bio, some of our lessons consisted of respiratory and circulatory system. It’s not surprising to me considering that I already did my Anatomy and Physiology course in college before but it’s the fact that we took this in detail. I don’t remember much doing this in high school. We might have but not in enough detail that we have to memorize the parts and functions of the respiratory system or which chamber does oxygenated blood goes. I DID THAT IN COLLEGE!

When I moved on to Grade 12 Bio, we did much more complicated stuff. We did the nervous and endocrine systems. Aside from all these hormones that I have to get familiarize again, we also had to memorize it and know which affects which. Our second experiment is by far the most exciting experiment I’ve done for all of Bio. WE DISSECTED A FETAL PIG. YES! We didn’t do a frog, we had a pig. Apparently, even some high schools do it. They buy off a pig (killed/died humanely) and have us cut it open and look at the different body systems. We were able to identify which one is a pancreas or how squishy it actually is. We also have genetics as one of our topics and thank goodness I still remember Punnet square. But I don’t remember doing a dihybrid cross nor doing a sex-linked trait (might/might not have done it in high school). 

ENGLISH

I did English pretty much since I started going to school. Therefore, I didn’t have much problem in my English upgrading. For this course, we barely did anything orally in front of the class. We had 2 or 3 reportings then the rest of our oral grades is just from our seat. Since our class is more focused in writing, we did a lot of essay assignments and made our own poems. We had classes held at a computer lab where our teacher blocked any web browsers to avoid Googling (but thank goodness I have a phone). It was actually my English teacher who caught a lot of my writing mistakes such as tenses and punctuation, something that no one has done yet even after reading some of my essays. 

Compared to my English upgrading, we did a lot of oral practice in my high school English. It was in fourth year high school that I finally started to have less fear on going up front and talk to the crowd because of the various speaking exercises that we did. Even though we’ve been doing declamations and orations since first year high school, it was my fourth year high school teacher who really pushed us to think fast and talk flawlessly (I’m still working on the “flawlessly” part). 

In both English courses though, we had to make a final written output. For my high school English, I had to a term paper and successfully defend it to graduate (my topic was about conformity). For my English upgrading, we had to make an essay about a foundation or philanthropist “who makes the world a better place” (my essay was about Gawad Kalinga). 

CHEMISTRY

I did Chemistry in 3rd year high school. I remember answering “Dihydrogen monoxide” for H20 and our teacher said it was wrong because it’s just supposed to be water. I asked this question in my Grade 12 chem teacher and she said it’s “sort of” acceptable but not much actually uses it. 

The one experiment that I can remember from my high school chemistry was titration. We had this burette and flasks and fancy chemicals that we’ve barely used. We were so excited to titrate and was disappointed one titration after another as we kept on overshooting our solution. Actually, this is the only experiment I remember. Probably because some aren’t as memorable as this one. A lot of my high school Chem lessons came back to me as I do my upgrading. But maybe because we only had one Chem course in high school that almost half of the lessons that I learned in Chem upgrading is new. 

In Grade 11 Chem, we learned how to name compounds, something that I also learned in high school Chem. The first few lessons were a breeze, actually… Grade 11 Chem was fine. A lot of the lessons were not new to me except for some like identifying the nonpolar/polar compounds and stoichiometry problems. I was able to get good marks in this course because I feel like a lot of these were review. In addition, we also did cool experiments which included titration! This time, I was able to get the perfect peach colour that we want. There were also a lot of boiling and dangerous chemicals that were able to handle. I felt like a mini scientist!

Grade 12 Chem is different though. Lesson started off easy, enthalpy change then moved on to more stoichiometry questions then voltaic/electrolytic cells then organic chem stuff (of course there are some more lessons in between). The experiments includes some corrosive materials and lots of boiling. At one point, I BROKE A MERCURY THERMOMETER! I was so scared and nervous because I thought my teacher would scold me. But she didn’t! And I asked her if I have to pay for it and she told me not to worry because it was an accident. They only charge those who were obviously playing. Phew! I remember breaking a cover slip in high school Bio and I had to replace it.

The coolest thing that we did though was making Nylon 6,6. I felt like a little kid while mixing the chemicals and trying to pull out some strands. A few days ago, I was browsing through our lab manual for Grade 11 Chem when the last page included making soap. MAKING SOAP! I’ve made soap before, IN COLLEGE! And here it’s in the Grade 11 course. 

The biggest thing that’s very different in my Philippine high school experience compared to my Canadian upgrading is of course the language. However, being taught in English isn’t really new to me. My high school see to it that our subjects are more or less taught in English (except if the teacher is struggling already ^_^). This is one of the reasons why I was able to adjust fairly well in the new educational environment. 

On Learning Baybayin

~ Amerl ~ Leave a comment

Baybayin (or wrongly known as Alibata) is the ancient writing of the Philippines. My interest for Baybayin started when I was in high school but it’s just now that I’ve taken the time to pratice it.
Practising writing Baybayin is difficult. The main reason is that this wasn’t taught in the school and I wasn’t really exposed to this. When I saw the characters, it really looked foreign to me and I was at awe. These characters looks so cool!

20130905-210015.jpg
Then I started practising with it. First with my name, then my parents’ name then more Filipino words. It’s quite fun actually because I feel so unique knowing this art of writing where only a few Filipinos takes interest in.

20130905-210306.jpg
As I practice writing, I divide the word into syllables based on how I hear them and how they were supposed to be in Tagalog. This is kind of tricky actually because there are times when I think if what I’m doing is right or wrong. What made it more difficult to learn this is that there’s no website that I can find that offers practice lessons for Baybayin. It gets me so frustrated to just follow the principles that I’ve read and take it from there.
My learning in writing to write Baybayin can be compared to how I learned writing in Korean. First is that I divide the word by syllables then supply the corresponding letter. Except for Baybayin, one syllable is one character.
Truthfully, I find learning the Korean writing easier than learning this. Well, it just adds to the fun, right?
Below is my name in the English alphabet, in Baybayin and in the Korean Alphabet.

20130905-210954.jpg

Sam Concepcion’s No Limitations (Review)

~ Amerl ~ Leave a comment

This is like the next song that I’ve heard from him after I heard him sing in Kris TV (that was a long time ago). He was singing Forever Young and still, his talent in performing is very much visible. Gone was the boy who won Little Big Star. He is no longer the skinny Boy Bawang of Super Inggo. He is now the manly, hawt and talented Sam Concepcion.

I have never expected him to have music like this. I used to think that he would stick to like bright music videos and songs. But, I was proven wrong. His manliness and darker side showed. His biceps and abs… oohh, he grew up reaaaaally well. The whole music video is shown in darker hue maybe to add seriousness and mysteriousness of the MV.

The MV might be set post-apocalyptic or in the future. There were flying cars and tall buildings. People were clothed in dark-colored clothes. The setting is in a room where there is a chandelier on one side and appears to be quite worn.

Sam’s voice definitely change. I remember seeing comments before when he sang “Kung Fu Fighting” about how girly and high-pitch his voice was. If those people can hear him now, they might flip out. He sounds so good right now and the song is a definite awesomeness. And add those dance choreography. It might not be the most awesome out there but it’s definitely a something.

When the mystery girl was revealed, I was quite disappointed to see Solenn. It’s not because she’s not good enough (SHE’S PRETTY!) but because I think she’s too old for Sam. During the ‘intimate’ parts that they have, I can’t feel any spark whatsoever about them. They look good together but they just don’t make the cut. This is the only part though that I got so disappointed.

I’m quite happy right now to see this music video. Truth be told, I’ve been waiting for a long time to see Filipino music videos like this, Well-thought and tailored. You can really see the effort that they exerted to make this video something that many people would want to watch. They should be given a pat on the back. This is something world-class.

Rating: 4/5

My Life in the Philippines vs. My Current Life in Canada

~ Amerl ~ 19 Comments

There have been lots of times when I tell myself “Oh this is so different from back home”. Of course it is, I’m not back home anymore, I am out of my home country. I am now in this new country where I am the foreigner and I am the one that speaks the weird language. Along with the big move is the big change in my life which can definitely affect my hopefully existent future.

In the Philippines, I am a student, a full-time Nursing student. I study, I go to school, I make projects and receive money from my parents (and grandma). In between those are the hanging out with friends and spending money that I didn’t even earn, just given. See, I had an easy  life. My mom’s abroad and my dad is a police officer with a rank. I can ask for money to buy for my books and other necessities. I just ask for lunch money and things. I don’t have to work because why should I? My parents can provide everything for me. I can easily finish Nursing in four years without the worry of not being able to pay my tuition or buy the requirements. I was well-provided.

Even before I came here, I already knew what to expect. I expected that I would have to work, save money for college, go to school and voila! I’m a nurse. Easy to say but not really. It’s such a struggle… and I’ve been here for just two months. I’ve already applied to a school,  a college not a university, and I was rejected! Never in my entire life would I thought that I would be rejected! Turns out that the deadline was done and I have to wait for the next opening. Result? I’m an out of school youth for a year.Cool? Yeah. Hint: sarcasm. Then it all came to me, this is more difficult than I thought it would be.

I have never worked in my whole life! Like work with pay, not just house work or school work. Growing up in the country where education is very much treasured and the only way to go up to the top of the rank is to graduate from a top university and have good grades, I’m pretty much excited to finally experience having a work. Back home, students are students and working students USED to be rare but now it’s starting to become common, and I don’t know if that’s good or bad. MOVING ON. Since I didn’t have an experience (except for clinical exposures but whatever), I really thought that I would have problem in applying. But hell no, after a month of arriving, I GOT A JOB! How cool is that? I get to have experience, connections and MONEY! Money for school!

My life here is definitely different. I dare say that I am more independent now but only by an inch. I’m naturally a shy person and I have problem dealing with new people, what more in dealing new people that are FOREIGNERS? But I’m starting to listen to my own self-pep talk about confidence and louder voice. Ha! Going out of my comfort zone can be difficult but not impossible. As the ‘national advice’ of Filipinos go during times of struggles, “Tiwala lang” or in my local dialect Bisaya, “Salig lang” or in English, “Just Believe”, all I have to do is believe in myself and to Him up there :)

My life in the Philippines and Canada  may have many similarities but can never be the same. I’ll just have to make the most out of it :)

Dear Mayor Oscar ‘Oca’ Moreno,

~ Amerl ~ 1 Comment

Karun nga nakadaug naka, Congratulations :) wala diay ko giboto sa imo tungod kay dili pa ko pwede. Kung pwede na unta, iboto taka. Wala ko nagpakusog sa imo, tinuod ni tungod kay gusto ko maka-testing ug bag-o nga leader dani sa atong dakbayan. Kani nga letter akong gi-post tungod kay gusto ko nga daghan makabasa ani ug dili lang ikaw (kung mabasa ni nimo ^_^). Gisulat ni nako basedsa akong opinions ug dili tungod sa uban. Base pud ni sa akong gakakita sa atong dakbayan karun.

Mayor, HUGAW kaayo atong city. Gabaklay-baklay ka usahay dani sa city? Tan-awa gani, murag nanga-immune na ang mga tao sa kahugaw. Murag basurahan halso tanan dapit sa Cagayan, maskig aha mutan-aw, naa jud nay basura. Kabalo man ko nga naay mga binayran nga tig-limpyo ani pero enough bana sila? Mura man ug dili enough arun mu-lipmyo atong city. Nakalakaw-lakaw ko dana sauna sa Divisoria during kadlawun unya tsada kaayo ibaklay kay dili man kay sa limpyo kaayo pero medyo walay hugaw unya tsada tan-awun. In-ana pud unta kung buntag, tsada pud tan-awun.

Unsa imong plano arun malipmyo atong siyudad? Diba gusto man ta nga daghan ta mga bisita? Gusto ba nimo nga hugaw ilang una makita? Dili ang ka-tsada sa Cagayan? Naa man mga laws about anang paglabay sa basura pero halos dili gaka-implement. Maskig mga barangay officials murag keber ra man. Dako kaayo ang plaka kung unsa ang mga punishments pero murag dili man gakasunod, piyong man tanan. Unta imo ning masulosyonan. Dili lang sa kalimpyo sa palibot sa sentro pero apil nasad sa mga gagmay nga iskinita ug lagyo nga barangay. Naa unta’y project like pinalimpyuhay nga barangay unya naay tsada nga prize arun sad ganahan muapil dili ang mga barangay officials kundi apil sa ang tanan tao.

Adtong Sendong, isa among pamilya sa mga nabahaan. Pasalamat nalang mi kay walay namatay sa amo o kinsa man nga gikan sa among barangay. Nakadungog ko nga isa daw sa factors nganung ina-adto ka taas ang tubig nga nangadto sa mga balay kay tungod kay mabaw na ang river. Medyo mutuo ko ana labi na kanang medyo hunas, medyo klaro na jud ang ‘river bed’. Unta pang-lawuman na ni kay arun kung mutaas ang tubig, dili baha diretsto. Unya daghan unta mangrooves ug mga kahoy ang ipang-tanum arun mu-hold sa tubig ug unta dili na ta maka-experience ug bagyo nga murag si Sendong.

Kabantay ka anang traffic? Sauna kay sa Gaisano dapit ra nako na gaka-experience, karun kay sa halos tanan agihanan na. Nganu kaha? Tungod siguro kay sa kang mga intersections bitaw, walay traffic aid. Naa lagi, pagkataud-taud kay mawala ra dayun. Ang mga sakyanan tawun, ga-inunahay na hinuon ug tabok nga mas makataas ug dugay pa sa traffic.

Ug unsa manang mga parallel parkers? Kanang mga drivers bitaw nga ga-park lang  bitaw jud sa highway? Okay ra man unta kung kadjut ra pero kung dugay man gud, samok na. Imbes gagmay kaayo ta’g agihanan, mas gagamay na hinuon ug samot tungod ani. Adtong ga-tuon ko ug drive, tsada kaayo ni silang pangbanggaan kay ga-dugang-dugang sa ka-traffic. Imbes two lanes, gaka-one lane nalang. Samok kaayo bitaw. Maayo unta kung gagmay like motor pero unsaon taman, sakyanan man jud ni. Pastilan.

Palihug pud ko anang smoke belching. Related man sad siya sa kalimpyo sa Cagayan de Oro. Naa jud nang mga sakyanan nga wagas kaayo ang kahugaw sa ilang tambutso pero keber lang japun kaayo ang drivers/tag-iya. Tawun, tabon-tabon nalang ta ani. Diba naa may law ana about sa smoke belching? Naa ba? Kung naa, palihug ko ug implement ug tarung. Kung wala, pwede na i-city ordinance?

Kana bitawng JRB Memorial Hospital (City Hospital) ug NMMC (Provincial Hospital), pangit kaayo. No offense pero medyo lain man gud siya. Public hospitals pero igang kaayo. Diba dapat tsada unta na kay government-owned man? Kay dapat ang kamaayo sa katawhan ang gina-think? Ngano murag lain man? Naka-DR ko dana sauna sa NMMCC pero kaluoy kaayo sa mga buros kay mao pa’y gabati, dili pa jud kaayo in-ana ka tsada sa facilities. NO OFFENSE PEOPLE. Maayo nalang kay duha na ang DR sa NMMC. Kung hospital man gud, medyo dugay man jud siguro na arun mag-improve pero unta makit-an sad. Dugang electric fan, beds ug NURSES! Kanang maka-ingun bitaw ang pasyente nga ‘Ah, maskig wala ko’y kwarta na-hospital japun ko ug maayo’. Dili bitaw kanang pag-gawas kay makasulti dayun nga ‘Pangit kaayo oi, guot kaayo nga igang’. Believe me, daghan ga sulti ug negative things.

Ug sa edukasyon bitaw. Gikan man ko sa public school sa elementary ug naka-testing naman jud ko nga gaka-hutdan ko ug libro tungod lang kay nana sa mga last nga part akong apelyido. Dili na unta ni ma-happen kay unsaon mana ang fair education? Ug more classrooms and teachers ug chairs pud diay. Diba nga the children is our future? Pero unsaon mana nato sa ila nga mahimo ug tsada nga future kung ang ilang present kay pangit?

Kana untang mga laws and regulations bitaw, ma-implement unta na ug tarung. Dako kaayo, ‘NO LOADING AND UNLOADING’ pero ang jeep dadto ga-alley pero ang traffic aid nga naa sa kilid murag ga-buta-buta lang. ‘NO PARKING’ pero ga-linya ang mga sakyanan nga ga-linya. Daghan kaayo pedestrian lanes pero dadto jud sa wala mu-agi. Unsa mani? Bugok ta mga taga-Cagayan de Oro, tapulan o wala lang jud tarung ang pagka-implement sa law? Snappy unta ang law. Nganung murag keber lang kaayo ang mga officials nga ag-pakalabay anang mga sakyanan nga nag-park sa mga ‘NO PARKING’ zones? Kinsa diay dapat mag-punish ana sa ila?

Mayor Moreno, sa pagkakarun mao sa ni akong masulti. Pero unta, sa imong pag-sunod kay Mayor Emano, naa pa kay mas daghan mabuhat nga maayo ug ma-implement ug tarung ang mga laws and Regulations arun mas mulambo ug mu-tsada ang Cagayan de Oro.

:))

 

Why Do I Hate Grace Poe’s Commercial?

~ Amerl ~ Leave a comment

Grace Poe, or as how she introduces herself, FPJ’s daughter, is currently running for Senator. Of course, she needs publicity right? And that’s where her commercials  comes in which annoys the hell out of me.

PLASTIC. PURE PLASTIC. The acting is bad and so she should feel bad. “Si Grace Poe”. Heck? And WE know that she’s the daughter of FPJ, but why does she have to use it as part of her commercial? Does that mean that she can’t actually win if she won’t use any influence which was started by her father?

THIS! There’s more about Grace Poe… but I don’t think she’s showing much about her. I think this is all about her father and how she wants to continue  his legacy? FPJ was a great man (Accdg to his friends, I never met him) and I think that using him as the ‘ticket’ for a senatorial seat is just plain low.

I think this is where the Philippine politics is going. Using influential people as backers and using their names to gain votes (Noynoy). She may be a good leader (MAYBE!) but her commercials really annoy the hell out of me. I hope this would end sooner like TODAY!

To the Future Mayor of Cagayan de Oro

~ Amerl ~ Leave a comment

So the national and local elections is just months away and lots of politicians are starting to become epal. Commercials here, commercials there, commercials everywhere. But I’m not here to talk about these epal politicians but about my ‘open letter’ to whoever would be voted as the new mayor of my city.

Mayor, I hope that you won’t be a ningas-kugon. I hope that you’re ‘loyalty’ and ‘honesty’ will last for a long time until your term ends. I don’t want to hear any corruption problems and issues on how you run the city. The people voted you because they trust you and they ‘think’ that you can lead them.

I have made a list of what I perceive to be my CDO when run by an awesome and responsible mayor.

  • CLEAN CDO. A CDO where you can just walk even in the daytime without having the problem to change route because of the danger of being too close to a smelly pile of junk. I want to see a CDO where whenever I look around, I can see near spotless roads and perhaps some leaves from the trees. And oh, I want lots of trees. Those trees that people ‘planted’ on the middle of the road are bit of a failure because I never saw them grow as they tall and as useful and pretty as they should be. I love walking on the street at early morning because the roads are almost spotless and there’s this vehicle which cleans the road *cool*. I want a not very dusty roads. Every time I ride a jeepney on the way to somewhere, when I wipe my hankie on my face, I instantly see a very dirty handkerchief. *tsktsk* Strict implementation of DO NOT THROW YOU GARBAGE ANYWHERE. Please just please.
  • LESS PEOPLE LIVING ON THE STREET. These are the people that I hate seeing especially those that I see everyday. Whenever I go to school, there is this certain family that lives beside a food chain and they are really annoying the hell out of me. The mother and other family members are obviously able-bodied but I don’t think they’re really doing much to alleviate their current status. I also hate seeing these street children because they are born to parents who are either not really able to raise them like even a middle-income families could or they’re just too irresponsible to take care of their children. I hope that they would make an independent body and not just rely on DSWD to actually take care of these people because they can only do so much and a little help can actually make a huge difference.
  • BETTER TRAFFIC FLOW. CDO already has lots of vehicles compared before. And that means more rowdy and uncivilized and not so law-follower drivers. I hope that they would strongly implement whatever laws regarding traffic and that includes where to load and unload passengers, where to pass and where to park. They should be stricter with this because this can really add more to the current traffic problem of the city. I also hope that they would be able to make a very big parking lots somewhere in divisoria or wherever because I hate seeing these cars parallel parking on the sides of very narrow roads. It just adds to the problem of traffic and I don’t think these drivers aren’t much of a help because they just left their cars there for a loooooooooong time. In relation to this, I hope that there would be a stricter implementation of people passing on pedestrian lanes. These are painted on roads for reasons and should be use for it’s own reason. I hate seeing people from Centrio going to Gaisano just crossing the road without using the pedestrian lane. Is really walking just a short distance too much of a hassle or you’re just letting your laziness overcome you.
  • PROMOTION OF EDUCATION. Education is supposed to be a right, but now it’s just a privilege. I hope that one day, there would be a really strong program and campaign to promote education to everyone and for all of us to have the equal right to be able to go to school. I also hope that there would be more classrooms and more school paraphernalia that would be allotted to enable children to be more inspired to study. More teachers, I hope, should be hired and good benefits should be given to them because teaching the future of our country is not an easy task.
  • BETTER HEALTH CARE FACILITIES. I have been exposed to the clinical area and all I can say is that, “Thank goodness my family has enough money to have me go to a private hospital whenever I get sick”. Why? Because I don’t think that our public hospitals is good enough. What’s with a humid and smelly ward? I don’t think that is conducive for healing. I hope that they would actually start to slowly make a project for a better service to people. I’m not saying that our public hospitals are ugly and filthy but I’m just saying is that we can do much better than what we’re showing right now.

I don’t know if I had made my points across but I hope I did. Some people may agree or disagree with me. Some may also have more suggestions to be added to this list. But I hope that you, MAYOR, will be able to lead our city and show it’s full potential.

God Bless.

I Need A Better Philippines

~ Amerl ~ Leave a comment

I was watching Don’t Tell My Mother which featured Philippines and I was quite happy that the host has managed to get a sneak peak of the downside of Manila while seeing the fun side of it. While watching, I can’t help by really think of bad things about our country’s capital city. Since this is our capital city, it could actually reflect badly about the whole image of the country. Since Manila is dirty, a visitor could easily say that Philippines is dirty.

The population of the Philippines is BOOMING! I did hope that only our economy would boom. Well, we can say that side by side with poverty is people with no jobs who just thought of having sex as their past time. I hate seeing poor families having lots and lots of children. How can they even sustain these kids if they can’t even take care of themselves? And not they are asking help from the government? Who do they think they are? They are just adding problems to the government. Instead of just lazing around, they should have just looked for jobs or signed up on those workshops run by the NGO.

The slum area is one problem of the government… of THE PEOPLE IN THE PHILIPPINES! It is such an eyesore. I don’t understand how people managed to end up on those slum areas. Some are born there already. Unfortunately, many people living in these places are those who have lots of children, kept on gambling and drinking and doesn’t have any plans with their lives. They are like the palamunin of the government.

 

Can this be true, CAGAYAN DE ORO?

~ Amerl ~ 1 Comment

I have lived here in Cagayan de Oro ever since I was born. For the past 17 years, I have seen lots of improvements and downsides of the city. I have my own opinions, good and bad, about my city.

Before April 2011, I saw Cagayan de Oro as a ‘clean’ city. Of course, I have observed that their are trashes everywhere, but I have never thought that our city is really THAT dirty. When I went to Cebu, I was amazed on how clean their city is. Yes, there are still garbage a bit here and there, but the cleanliness is nothing compared to Cagayan de Oro. I have told myself, wow, Cagayan de Oro is really dirty. Then we went to Hong Kong for a vacation and please, it’s WAY cleaner that Cebu. You’ll actually feel embarrassed if ever you would throw even a wrapper of candy because the place is almost spotless clean. Can CDO be like this too?

I have a list of things that I would to see here in our city. Of course not immediately because that’s impossible, but I hope this would be sooner.

  • CLEAN CITY– I would like to go out of my house without not worrying about stepping on an animal feces or seeing a pile of garbage on the side. Aren’t we trying to attract tourists here? If that’s the case, then why don’t we clean our city first? Aren’t we embarrassed that these tourists can see how dirty our place is?
  • LESS TRAFFIC– I have experienced travelling from our house to Divisoria at 6 am and the travel was a breeze. No rowdy drivers, faster travel time, no traffic jams and other traffic problems. However, during rush hours, the traffic is unbelievable especially near Gaisano as well as the street near Coca-Cola and Cogon (I’m sorry, I’m not good with remembering street names). Traffic lights should also be put in stratgeic places especially those without RTAs. And I hope RTAs will really work because some of them just stand at the side. I hope traffic problems would be less.
  • NO MORE ROWDY DRIVERS AND UNDISCIPLINED PEDESTRIANS – and that means drivers who knows where the jeepney stop is and where is not. For the Jeepney drivers, anywhere is a jeepney stop except if there are RTAs or police or security guards who reprimand them. Also, people should know why pedestrian lanes exist. This is actually very irritating because it shows lack of discipline and inability to follow simple rules.
  • LESS STREET PEOPLE- or family. At Divisoria, every morning, there is this family who sleeps beside Dunkin Donuts. It’s annoying because they actually are potential workers but then they just ASK FOR ALMS. There was a little child, maybe 1 year old, who just struts there without clothes on.  Also, these people who live in the streets are very annoying. There are times when I eat food while walking because our break time is only very short, then this street child would usually just go in front of me and ask for my food. I haven’t eaten enough yet. There are lots of people who lives on the streets and I hope their is a branch of government or NGO who would address to this problem.
  • BETTER HEALTH FACILITIES– I was already exposed to the City Hospital and Provincial Hospital and I was really disappointed. This is a government-owned hospitals yet I don’t think this service is enough. Personally, I would rather go to German Doctors Hospital rather than to the government-owned hospitals.
  • CURFEW– which should be properly implemented. This is the reason why a lot of minors are being involved  in crimes. Policemen and officials should be alert when they see minors because their safety could be endangered or they are the ones who could endanger someone else’s safety.
  • DEEPER RIVERS – remember Sendong? They say that one of the cause of the flood was our shallow rivers and I agree. The river is getting shallower and I hope that soon, they will have to act to make a the rivers deeper.
  • CLEAN ELECTRICAL WIRING – one of my hatest sight. You look up, and the first thing that you see is a badly-tangled electrical wiring. I heard that the government is starting to fix this problem.

These is my list. I understand that for Cagayan de Oro to progress, it should not only be the government who will work but also all of us. All of us are affected on the things that happen in our city and we should be involved.

(more stuffs may be added to the list) ^_^