I Have A New Person to Admire

And he is no other than Pope Francis!

Reading about him and his life and witnessing how he is during his visit here in the Philippines made me think about how i am in the mercy and compassion department.  I have always thought of myself as generally merciful and compassionate and i look at him and realize i have to do so much more.  There were moments during the meets that made me cry and perhaps that was compassion in a way but it was all up here in the head , not so much translation into action.

So i resolve to be more compassionate, less to become angry, forgiving the faults and inadequacies in others, more patience because a holy man in our time has made it his life's mission to do so.  And i can only follow.  It isn't easy i tell you but...

On Not Getting Attached To Things

Learned somethings today:

1. If you buy real estate where the title is under the name of the parents both deceased, make sure that before you transact with anybody you have already seen the special power of attorney authorizing that somebody to sell and that there is already an extrajudicial settlement signed by all the heirs. The spa and the extra judicial settlement should already been notarized. If it's not notarized, it's not legal.

2. Ask for copies of latest real property Tax receipts.

3. If you haven't checked the title, do it. Check if there are encumbrances and what kind. Ask a lawyer to help you. Example of encumbrances could be that it is currently mortgaged. A clean title meaning without encumbrances is always preferable.

4. If you apply for a loan using the property you want to buy, tell the bank loan officer all the details. Don't assume that just because they have an investigator, they know everything. If the owners are dead, tell them. The more they know , the more that you will be protected later on because they will make sure that they have a firm hold on their investment.

5. There's no way you'll get lost if you have access to google map, use it.

6. Be polite to all parties involved even when they are not appointed on the spa, you might need their help later on.

With all the difficulties involved in buying a property, i am telling myself not to get attached even when we already like it to the point of spending so much on improvements. Give it all the effort you can and then more, if nothing comes out of it still then let go. By the way, prayer counts a lot so you might want to commit everything first.

About being heard...

There is a need for each one of us to be heard no matter how trivial our concerns to others may be.  If we are listened to even if initially our concerns are not immediately realized, somehow our feeling of discontent is appeased.  It is the same for the housewife who spends all her day, mothering the children taking care of all the things that needs to be taken care of sometimes forgetting herself.  If at the end of the day, she can't share all her burdens to her husband, then the relationship will slowly deteriorate.  The same is true for a husband who's burdened by the fact that he needs to provide for his family and comes home to a house where he can't share his concerns.  The same is true for Senior Police Inspector Rolando Mendoza.  He was a family man with three children, a decorated police officer who was dismissed of bribery charges.  While he may have been guilty of the charges filed against him, it also does not excuse the courts' delay in settling the case.  While the case was pending, his life stopped, he can't find job and it must have been really a personal torture for his life to be unfolding the way it was considering that he was an achiever.

Senior Police Inspector Rolando Mendoza was charged of robbery, extortion and grave threats by a manila hotel chef after he was accused by five other police officers of using drugs to extort money from him.  Mendoza was fired 2009 but he claimed that he was innocent.  The case apparently took a snail pace which in a way is another way of not being listened to.  Ultimately, it ended in 9 fatalities including the hostage taker himself.  How sad could that be?...

Joyride..Jeepney Rides..

If you have been to the Philippines, you can not help but notice the Jeepney. It is the most popular means of public transportation here. It is also the most colorful, the most useful, hindi lang pang-publiko, pampamilya pa. Really! At almost all family occasion that requires transporting several people at least cost, the Jeepney is present. It has become a national icon.When US troops left at the end of world war II, there were hundreds of surplus jeeps left either sold or given locally. True to Filipino ingenuity, we made several changes to the body. Filipinos added roofs to protect passengers from the elements, enlarged the body to accomodate several people and then painted and decorated it as if it were a moving extension of the home. Thus, you will see rugs, curtains, throw pillows even on jeepney. And so it was in this tradition that my beloved parents are shown here, photos courtesy of twistedsunshine. This was taken during the wedding of Kristin Lagria and Joel Namoc at Tagbilaran City, Bohol. It is nice to be seated facing friends and families which we only see now and again during reunions and family occasions. Gatapok jud ang mga bol-anon diri.

By the way, the two pictures above are from wikipedia. Going back to the topic at hand, notice in the 3rd pic that there's a small rectangular stool in the middle. Yup, that's right. In Bohol at least, the drivers maximize the jeep's capacity so much so that you will find it really difficult to get out of the jeep because even the center aisle is occupied. But no one really complains because for one, it is a way of life in Bohol and secondly, Boholanos are by nature easy to please, good-natured people. I think.

Barasoain Church

I had ambitious plan for Maundy thursday. I was going to suggest to him that we visit old churches. Infact, i already made a list of all the churches:
1. Malate church - Nuestra Senora de los Remedios
2. Manila Cathedral
3. San Agustin church - Church of St. Paul
4. Quiapo church - Minor basilica of the Black Nazarene
5. Twin churches of Bustillos - the St. Anthony of Padua shrine and Our Lady Of Loreto(church of Sampaloc)
6. Binondo church
7. San Beda church - Abbey of Our Lady of Monserrat
8. San Sebastian Church
9. San Vicente de Paul church
10. Mt. Carmel church in new manila
11. Santisimo ROsario Parish aka UST chapel
12. ST. Andrews in makati
13. Sto. Domingo church in Quezon City
14. Church wiiht the bamboo organ in Las Pinas
and a lot more not forgetting St. Francis church in Ortigas.
Wednesday night was fight night. Harsh words were exchanged and i was deeply hurt by what was said. There was nothing new to it except that having heard it again at a time when i expected that he would mellow down after exerting effort to please him and not getting what i wanted, at the same time persistent doubts in my head on why he was not answering my calls, really blow me off.
I made resolutions that night. Early thursday morning, i visited St. Francis church and just sat there at the back pew crying. I would have wanted to do the station of the cross but i don't have a guide so i ended up doing a personal prayer. After that exhaustive silence, i decided i to go to edsa central market to do some marketing.After,reaching the condo, they were still asleep and i also went asleep.
Later that day, he decided that we go to Laoag and so we packed our bags and went. I was just silent all through out this time even when he asked me whether we should go to baguio or to laoag, what i would like to eat. I only talked when i asked him during one of our stop if we could possiby visit barasoain church in malolos. And so we exited through tabang and looked for the famous barasoain church.
Upon reaching the church, we marveled at the various saints ready for procession. We lighted candles.We took some time to pray. We took pictures. I am happy to have visited this church. My maundy thursday has certainly improved. Thanks be to God.

BESSANG PASS

The trip to Sagada from Sabangan crossroads was only 7 kms upland but since we were traversing a new route over the mountains to Ilocos Sur, he decided we might as well pass on Sagada. Add to that was the fact that we were told that we needed to cross a river before reaching cervantes. We were looking up at the sky and saw rainclouds on the horizon. We needed to pass that river before the rains starts. We didn't know yet how high the waters would be so he was driving as fast as the roads will allow.

Again, the roads are literally breath-taking. I thought that the roads will be different now since we will be going through interior through Ilocos Sur. I thought wrong. Again, we were cliffdriving.

The Bessang Pass in the Ilocos sur was constructed so that it feels like you're in the great wall of china. When you are on top, you can actually see the downward spiral of the road. By this time, all gadgets are low on power so no documentation on that. But my, you have to wonder at government efforts to make the road safe and in good condition and there was even no credits on billboards on whose effort the roads were made. I think, in a few years many will be traversing that road and be in awe of everything that can be seen. It's not your regular tourist attraction but if ever your visiting banaue , i highly recommend going to ilocos sur on road trips via bessang pass. By then, the bridge that they are currently constructing over the river would have been completed already. If you decided to visit it now, i recommend taking only suv. Cars would drown in the river. Thanks to his skillful driving and the fortuner's make and God Almighty for HIS provision, we were able to cross the river. There is something that can be said about overcoming hurdles and barrier. IT makes you believe in yourself even more. And while we were fearful, and happy to overcome those mountain roads and that river pass, when we are only passengers, how much more self-affirming could it be to him who drives us through? A can do attitude could certainly get you places.

A nation of servants

Chip Tsao , a HK columnist who said that the Philippines as a nation of servants, shouldn't flex our muscles at the master from whom we earn our bread and butter , is not only arrogant but is also a throwback to a time when the massess are not allowed to question those who are in authority just because those who rule are far wealthier and more influential.

Being a nation of servants is not something to be ashamed of. It's honest work. Arrogance in itself is not a bad trait, it has it's uses every now and then and we can even tolerate it. Merriam-webster defined arrogance as an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptous claims or assumptions.

But not his kind of arrogance. We did not forfeit our right to protest just because we have more than 130,000 Filipinas working as domestic help in hongkong. I'm glad our government was quick to protest. Fellow bloggers, let's be vigilant of people like him.

New nurses in the family!

Congratulations are in order for two LG young ladies via salinasal and emmalou tagab for passing the nursing board exam given last november 2008.

PRC said 39,455 or 44.51 percent of the 88,649 who took the November 2008 Nursing Licensure Examination (NLE) passed the grueling two-day test. Which means that out of every 10 bright individuals who took the exam, you 2 are among the 4 people who made it. Celebrate it, it's not a common achievement.

Congratulations also goes to the parents who made it possible. I'm sure Nong venancio and nang anne, nong lito and nang fatima are bursting with pride and their smiles a mile wide. God is good all the time.