ADRIAN'S HABILIN LETTER FOR HIS GRADE 6 BROTHER

Milestones are coming up: Adrian's Confirmation, Valentine's Day, our 15th anniverary (legal/civil), Adrian's graduation, my 40th birthday...What I would give to have my husband present in even just one of these occasions...It's tough being an Army wife.

A Soldier's Promise

A Soldier's Promise ...

I cannot promise you every night of my life. I cannot promise to be beside you for every difficult moment, every trial, every hardship. In truth, I can promise you that I will not be with you for most. I will leave you at inconvenient times. I may miss the births of our children. Any special date to us may be tainted with the anniversary of the death of one of my friends. I will ask you to take over whatever life we have built together for months and years at a time. And will then crash back into that life that you have used your sweat and your tears and your heartache to keep together and try to take it back as I knew it before. I will shut you out at times because it will be the best way for me to hold it together at that moment. I will lie to you. I will tell you I don't know things when I do. I will not always tell you where I am going, when I will be back, or who I am with. I may not call you for weeks and months and you will not be able to call me. You will ask questions that I won't answer. You will know answers to questions that you will hope you never need. I will share things with my brothers that you will never understand. They will know things about me that you never will. They will be a support to me in some things that you cannot be. I will miss birthdays. I will miss anniversaries. I will have to get to know our children over and over again. I may need time to process things that seem natural to everyone else. It will seem that someone - or something - will always take precedence over you. You may lose me long before you ever thought possible. I will uproot you and ask you to re-establish our family anywhere in the world, in any season, at any time - over and over again. Sand and mud will be tracked through your halls from the boots I am too tired to take off. I will leave you when you beg me not to. I will stand at attention while you cry beside me. I will not turn my head and I will walk away. I will knowingly break your heart. And I will do it again - and again.

I cannot promise you all of me. I cannot promise that to our children. I cannot promise you much of anything.

But if you will have me, I can promise that as I march away from you it is not without sharing your heartache. I promise you that every time I break your heart I will be breaking mine. Every time that I cannot answer you I will be protecting you. Whenever you want to call and you have no number to dial I will be wanting to do the same. I will protect everything that we have created together with every fiber of my being while you do the same back at home. I will honor you in everything - every moment that we are apart and every moment that I am with you. I will fight harder and push further knowing that I do so for you. I will see the faces of our children in every life that I protect. And I will carry you with me in everything until my sandy boots once again sit just inside our door.
By: Soldier's Heart

Basilan

My heart bleeds for the soldiers who were killed in Basilan and my heart goes out to the families they left behind. We are praying for them, as I am continuously praying for Armand and all the soldiers fighting in Basilan...For those who think that an all-out war may be the best thing to do, please take a moment to think of those who are actually doing the fighting. You are lucky that it's not you, your father, your son, your brother, your husband who are out there putting their lives on the line. Hey, that's my husband and my son's father out there! I'm praying like I've never prayed before for what lies ahead. At this hour of great need, I have to learn to lift everything to God, surrender everything to Him and have complete trust in Him.

Musings...

Military wives coping with prolonged absence of their husbands: others status quo; others eat and drink; others get depressed; others have affairs; others have cosmetic surgery; others go ballroom dancing…Me? -- I make-over the house, clean and re-organize everything and transform the garden!

FACEBOOK MESSAGE FROM ADRIAN'S TEACHER

Good day, Mrs. Arevalo! ü

Sorry, I wasn't able to read your message right away. But I'm sure you already have the police jacket by now. ü

I want to thank you for inspiring and supporting Adrian to perform well in his studies. ü He's one of my best students when it comes to reporting Balitaan and in all the topics in Araling Panlipunan 6. ü Actually, since he was one of the first to report with complete props, I told his classmates (6-Malvar students) to be also as good and as prepared as him. ü True enough, the next reporters also did their best, inspired by what they saw from Adrian. ü

Adrian is also one of the students with the highest score in quizzes and highest Magis Merit Points because of all his efforts for the subject. (He also got so many MMP in their GP for interviewing Senator Trillanes. I'm sure it was a great experience for them.)

So thank you very much, Mrs. Arevalo. I'm really fortunate for having Adrian in my class. ü

By the way, feel free to contact me anytime in FB. ü

God bless. ü

Grateful for the great angels,
∞§∞ Ella Perez

To My One and Only Everdearest Honeybun

I always tell you I love you but I don't often declare it to the world...Happy 13th anniversary Nibun. I LOVE YOU! There, now the whole world (wide web) knows.

My Pride and Joy

Adrian's 2nd quarter grades: Christian Living Education 94. English 95. Filipino 97. Math 91. AP (Social Studies) 97. Science 94. Average 94.67 (.33 points short of being 1st honor!) Music A. Art A. Penmanship B+. PE B+. Club B. CLE Character A. Deportment straight A's. Great job Adrian! We're so proud of you!

In light of the Aug 23 hostage-taking incident...

The Filipino Today
By Alex Lacson

After the August 23 hostage drama, there is just too much negativity about and against the Filipino.

“It is difficult to be a Filipino these days”, says a friend who works in Hongkong. “Nakakahiya tayo”, “Only in the Philippines” were some of the comments lawyer Trixie Cruz-Angeles received in her Facebook. There is this email supposedly written by a Dutch married to a Filipina, with 2 kids, making a litany of the supposed stupidity or idiocy of Filipinos in general. There was also this statement by Fermi Wong, founder of Unison HongKong, where she said – “Filipino maids have a very low status in our city”. Then there is this article from a certain Daniel Wagner of Huffington Post, wherein he said he sees nothing good in our country’s future.

Clearly, the hostage crisis has spawned another crisis – a crisis of faith in the Filipino, one that exists in the minds of a significant number of Filipinos and some quarters in the world.

It is important for us Filipinos to take stock of ourselves as a people – of who we truly are as a people. It is important that we remind ourselves who the Filipino really is, before our young children believe all this negativity that they hear and read about the Filipino.

We have to protect and defend the Filipino in each one of us.


The August 23 hostage fiasco is now part of us as Filipinos, it being part now of our country’s and world’s history. But that is not all that there is to the Filipino. Yes, we accept it as a failure on our part, a disappointment to HongKong, China and to the whole world.

But there is so much more about the Filipino.

In 1945, at the end of World War II, Hitler and his Nazi had killed more than 6 million Jews in Europe. But in 1939, when the Jews and their families were fleeing Europe at a time when several countries refused to open their doors to them, our Philippines did the highly risky and the unlikely –thru President Manuel L Quezon, we opened our country’s doors and our nation’s heart to the fleeing and persecuted Jews. Eventually, some 1,200 Jews and their families made it to Manila. Last 21 June 2010, or 70 years later, the first ever monument honoring Quezon and the Filipino nation for this “open door policy” was inaugurated on Israeli soil, at the 65-hectare Holocaust Memorial Park in Rishon LeZion, Israel.


The Filipino heart is one of history’s biggest, one of the world’s rare jewels, and one of humanity’s greatest treasures.

In 2007, Baldomero M. Olivera, a Filipino, was chosen and awarded as the Scientist for the Year 2007 by Harvard University Foundation, for his work in neurotoxins which is produced by venomous cone snails commonly found in the tropical waters of Philippines. Olivera is a distinguished professor of biology at University of Utah, USA. The Scientist for the Year 2007 award was given to him in recognition to his outstanding contribution to science, particularly to molecular biology and groundbreaking work with conotoxins. The research conducted by Olivera’s group became the basis for the production of commercial drug called Prialt (generic name – Ziconotide), which is considered more effective than morphine and does not result in addiction.

The Filipino mind is one of the world’s best, one of humanity’s great assets.


The Filipino is capable of greatness, of making great sacrifices for the greater good of the least of our people. Josette Biyo is an example of this. Biyo has masteral and doctoral degress from one of the top universities in the Philippines – the De La Salle University (Taft, Manila) – where she used to teach rich college students and was paid well for it. But Dr Biyo left all that and all the glamour of Manila, and chose to teach in a far-away public school in a rural area in the province, receiving the salary of less than US$ 300 a month. When asked why she did that, she replied “but who will teach our children?” In recognition of the rarity of her kind, the world-famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States honoured Dr Biyo a very rare honor – by naming a small and new-discovered planet in our galaxy as “Biyo”.

The Filipino is one of humanity’s best examples on the greatness of human spirit!

Efren Penaflorida was born to a father who worked as a tricycle driver and a mother who worked as laundrywoman. Through sheer determination and the help of other people, Penaflorida finished college. In 1997, Penaflorida and his friends formed a group that made pushcarts (kariton) and loaded them with books, pens, crayons, blackboard, clothes, jugs of water, and a Philippine flag. Then he and his group would go to the public cemetery, market and garbage dump sites in Cavite City – to teach street children with reading, math, basic literacy skills and values, to save them from illegal drugs and prevent them from joining gangs. Penaflorida and his group have been doing this for more than a decade. Last year, Penaflorida was chosen and awarded as CNN Hero for 2009.

Efren Penaflorida is one of the great human beings alive today. And he is a Filipino!

Nestor Suplico is yet another example of the Filipino’s nobility of spirit. Suplico was a taxi driver In New York. On 17 July 2004, Suplico drove 43 miles from New York City to Connecticut, USA to return the US$80,000 worth of jewelry (rare black pearls) to his passenger who forgot it at the back seat of his taxi. When his passenger offered to give him a reward, Suplico even refused the reward. He just asked to be reimbursed for his taxi fuel for his travel to Connecticut. At the time, Suplico was just earning $80 a day as a taxi driver. What do you call that? That’s honesty in its purest sense. That is decency most sublime. And it occurred in New York, the Big Apple City, where all kinds of snakes and sinners abound, and a place where – according to American novelist Sydney Sheldon – angels no longer descend. No wonder all New York newspapers called him “New York’s Most Honest Taxi Driver”. The New York City Government also held a ceremony to officially acknowledge his noble deed. The Philippine Senate passed a Resolution for giving honors to the Filipino people and our country.

In Singapore, Filipina Marites Perez-Galam, 33, a mother of four, found a wallet in a public toilet near the restaurant where she works as the head waitress found a wallet containing 16,000 Singaporean dollars (US $11,000). Maritess immediately handed the wallet to the restaurant manager of Imperial Herbal restaurant where she worked located in Vivo City Mall. The manager in turn reported the lost money to the mall’s management. It took the Indonesian woman less than two hours to claim her lost wallet intended for her son’s ear surgery that she and her husband saved for the medical treatment. Maritess refused the reward offered by the grateful owner and said it was the right thing to do.

The Filipina, in features and physical beauty, is one of the world’s most beautiful creatures! Look at this list – Gemma Cruz became the first Filipina to win Miss International in 1964; Gloria Diaz won as Miss Universe in 1969; Aurora Pijuan won Miss International in 1970; Margie Moran won Miss Universe in 1973; Evangeline Pascual was 1st runner up in Miss World 1974; Melanie Marquez was Miss International in 1979; Ruffa Gutierrez was 2nd runner up in Miss World 1993; Charlene Gonzalez was Miss Universe finalist in 1994; Mirriam Quiambao was Miss Universe 1st runner up in 1999; and last week, Venus Raj was 4th runner up in Miss Universe pageant.

I can cite more great Filipinos like Ramon Magsaysay, Ninoy Aquino, Leah Salonga, Manny Pacquaio, Paeng Nepomuceno, Tony Meloto, Joey Velasco, Juan Luna and Jose Rizal. For truly, there are many more great Filipinos who define who we are as a people and as a nation – each one of them is part of each one of us, for they are Filipinos like us, for they are part of our history as a people.

What we see and hear of the Filipino today is not all that there is about the Filipino. I believe that the Filipino is higher and greater than all these that we see and hear about the Filipino. God has beautiful story for us as a people. And the story that we see today is but a fleeting portion of that beautiful story that is yet to fully unfold before the eyes of our world.

So let’s rise as one people. Let’s pick up the pieces. Let’s ask for understanding and forgiveness for our failure. Let us also ask for space and time to correct our mistakes, so we can improve our system.

To all of you my fellow Filipinos, let’s keep on building the Filipino great and respectable in the eyes of our world – one story, two stories, three stories at a time – by your story, by my story, by your child’s story, by your story of excellence at work, by another Filipino’s honesty in dealing with others, by another Pinoy’s example of extreme sacrifice, by the faith in God we Filipinos are known for.

Every Filipino, wherever he or she maybe in the world today, is part of the solution. Each one of us is part of the answer. Every one of us is part of the hope we seek for our country. The Filipino will not become a world-class citizen unless we are able to build a world-class homeland in our Philippines.

We are a beautiful people. Let no one in the world take that beauty away from you. Let no one in the world take away that beauty away from any of your children! We just have to learn – very soon – to build a beautiful country for ourselves, with an honest and competent government in our midst.

Mga kababayan, after reading this, I ask you to do two things.

First, defend and protect the Filipino whenever you can, especially among your children. Fight all this negativity about the Filipino that is circulating in many parts of the world. Let us not allow this single incident define who the Filipino is, and who we are as a people. And second, demand for good leadership and good government from our leaders. Question both their actions and inaction; expose the follies of their policies and decisions. The only way we can perfect our system is by engaging it. The only way we can solve our problem, is by facing it, head on.

We are all builders of the beauty and greatness of the Filipino. We are the architects of our nation’s success.

To all the people of HK and China, especially the relatives of the victims, my family and I deeply mourn with the loss of your loved ones. Every life is precious. My family and I humbly ask for your understanding and forgiveness.

GODBLESS US ALL.

TYPHOON ONDOY

With the generosity of my family, in-laws, relatives and close friends,we were able to collect PhP25,700 in CASH & PhP5,000 in KIND for SAN ROQUE,MARIKINA. Melo & I were able to pack 200 grocery bags with the following items per bag:CDO Bingo corned beef,Ligo/555 sardines,CDO meat loaf,Wow Ulam,Nissin mami,80g Alaska milk,200g misua,& matches which we personally distributed last Monday, October 5, 2009.

We pray that we'd have more funds so we can reach out to more people! We're doing it one small step at a time. We are appealing to our friends and relatives here in the Philippines and specially overseas to share their blessings and donate to the Typhoon Ondoy Victims in any way, shape, or form. A little goes a long way.

Please e-mail me at yannimammi@yahoo.com, text me at 09228873161 or leave a message in my FACEBOOK Account if you wish to donate in cash so I can send you my bank account details. You may also send in your donations in cash or in kind to either my house or my mom's house in AFPOVAI, Fort Bonifacio. We live a street apart from each other. Please, please extend your help! There's only so much we can do on our own. We need your help.

THANK YOU and GOD BLESS!

MY DAD!

GENERAL ANSELMO SAYSON AVENIDO JR.


General Avenido is a retired Police Deputy Director General (equivalent to 3 stars) of the Philippine National Police (PNP). He was the Chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) with the rank of Secretary, in 2006-2008. Prior to this position, he was the Director General of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), with the rank of Undersecretary in 2002-2006. He was Undersecretary for Peace and Order and later Undersecretary for Administration, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), in 1999-2002. He is a well-rounded person in terms of education, training, experience, outstanding accomplishments, and awards.

He graduated valedictorian from elementary and high school. In 1967, he graduated from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Summa Cum Laude, Academic Star Awardee, and No.1 in class. He finished three (3) master’s degrees: Master of Public Administration, University of the Philippines, as entrance college scholar (1973); Master in Business and Government Administration, Ateneo de Manila University, with honors (1983); and Master of Military Art and Science, United States Army Command and General Staff College, Kansas, USA, also with honors (1984).

He took up basic and high-level military, police and other related courses here and abroad, including the Special Warfare Course and Rough Terrain Airborne Course conducted by the Special Warfare School in Taiwan (1972); Senior Officers Preventive Logistics Course conducted by the US Army Armor Center in Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA; Senior Police Officers Course in Crisis Management conducted by Interpol in Lyon, France (1994); Policing in a Multicultural Democracy and Money Laundering conducted by the University of East London, in London, England (1997); and Senior Executive Course Against Corruption conducted by the International Law Enforcement Academy in Bangkok, Thailand (1999).

He was assigned to different military and police units in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. He occupied various positions in different levels, like Chief of Police, Company Commander, Provincial/District Director, Regional Chief of Staff, Regional Deputy Director, and several key positions at the National Police Headquarters, such as Director for Operations, Director for Plans, Director for Personnel and Records Management, Director for Comptrollership, Chief of Directorial Staff, and Deputy Chief of Administration (No.2 position in the PNP).

He also served in other key civilian positions in government, like Sergeant-At-Arms, Batasang Pambansa (1979-1983); Member, National Intelligence Board (NIB) (1979-1983); Secretary, Sub-Committee on Urban Crimes, Cabinet Cluster “E” (1989); Executive Director, Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC), Office of the President (1999); Consultant and Special Assistant to the Chairman, National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) (1998-2002); Board Director, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) (1999-2002); Technical Assistant, Government Panel Negotiating with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) (1994-1997); and Member, Government Panel Negotiating with the RPMP/RPA/ABB (2000-2001).

He attended several national and international conferences on public administration and on crime and drug prevention and control, and headed several Philippine delegations to these international conferences. In 1993-1994, he served as Secretary-General. Association of Chiefs of National Police of ASEAN (ASEANOPOL). In 2004-2006, he was the Chairman of the Far East Working Group, International Drug Enforcement Conference (IDEC). In 2006, he was the Chairman of the Working Group on Drug Profiling, Anti-Drug Liaison Officials’ Meeting for International Cooperation (ADLOMICO).

He was also faculty member, Ateneo Graduate School of Business (1983); Corporate Treasurer and Board Director, AFPMBAI General Insurance Corporation (1982-1985); Vice President and Board Director, Public Safety Mutual Benefit Fund Inc.(1997-2000); and Board Director, AFP Savings and Loan Association Inc. (1999).

Aside from receiving 34 military and police medals, he was selected as outstanding junior officer, field commander, and senior staff officer of the year on different occasions. He was recipient of the 2002 “Cavalier” award for public administration given by the PMAAAI.

He is a true Boholano, having been born and raised in Bien Unido, Bohol. He is married to Agnes Yaptangco Rivera of Hermosa, Bataan. They have three daughters and one son who are all professionals.

HI, I'M JO ANNE, AND I'M A PESCETARIAN!

Say what?

How can somebody like me succumb to the dark side? I, who have had a lifelong love affair with four-legged land animals? I, who associated vegetarian cuisine with grass, weeds and herbs?

Yes, I have deliberately and successfully altered my eating habits. Goodbye meat, hello fish, vegetables and brown rice!

Don't get me wrong, though, I haven't actually gone totally vegan. I am not that disciplined yet. I still eat white meat of chicken occasionally and creatures that live underwater or animals that swim. (No, I'm not teaching pigs to swim!) I just decided to take small steps toward good health and well-being. In short, I am literally sick and tired of being sick and tired.

For those who are wondering what is wrong with me, well where do I begin? Looking back, I still think my health had been pretty normal as a child. There was nothing out of the ordinary with the way I would get sick nor with the way I got well. I had normal childhood diseases like measles, chicken pox, bronchitis, tonsilitis, etc. like everyone else. I was even athletic, active, and a lakwatsera. My cousin from the States, even called me a "fireball."

I may already have had the signs but I guess I just never really gave it serious thought. I simply thought that bruising easily and often without cause, 45-50 days in-between periods, and bursting with energy one day and feeling lethargic the next, was anything unusual.

It was only on my third month of pregnancy that I found out that there was something wrong with me. I had a hard time infanticipating. It was a very difficult pregnancy. I was throwing up more than I was eating. In fact, there came a point when I could no longer tolerate food. One night, I felt my world closing in on me. It was something I've never experienced before. I can't explain how it felt, I was just sure it wasn't right. If not for the baby I was carrying, I would have dismissed it as normal for someone who was pregnant to feel. But I am glad that I asked to be brought to the hospital. The doctors said I was already dehydrated so I had to be confined. I went through the routine tests. Thay informed me that there seemed to be a discrepancy in my blood test results that needed further testing. So a hematologist performed bone marrow extraction on me. Results confirmed what he suspected me of having. I was diagnosed to be suffering from Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP).

I can't explain what it is it on layman's term but this entry from the wikipedia might help: "ITP is the condition of having a low platelet count (thrombocytopenia) of no known cause (idiopathic). As most causes appear to be related to antibodies against platelets, ITP is also known as immune thrombocytopenic purpura or immune-mediated thrombocytopenic purpura. Often ITP is asymptomatic, however a very low platelet count can lead to visible symptoms, such as purpura (bruises), or more seriously, bleeding diathesis. A normal platelet count is considered to be in the range of 150,000–400,000 per cubic millimeter (mm3) of blood for most healthy individuals. (note: MINE WAS 21,000 ONLY AT THAT TIME!!!) Hence one may be considered thrombocytopenic below that range, although the threshold for a diagnosis of ITP is not tied to any specific number. Symptoms of ITP include the development of bruises (purpura) and petechiae, especially on the extremities, bleeding from the nostrils and bleeding at the gums, any of which may occur if the platelet count is below 20,000 per mm3.[9] A very low count (<10,000 per mm3) may result in the formation of hematomas in the mouth or on other mucous membranes. Serious and possibly fatal complications due to an extremely low count (<5,000 per mm3) may include subarachnoid or intracerebral hemorrhage, lower gastrointestinal bleeding or other internal bleeding. An ITP patient with an extremely low count is also vulnerable to major internal bleeding caused by abdominal trauma, as might be experienced in a motor vehicle crash. Fortunately, these complications are not likely in a patient whose platelet count is above 20,000. In many cases, ITP's cause is not idiopathic but autoimmune, with antibodies against platelets being detected in approximately 60 percent of patients. Most often these antibodies are against platelet membrane glycoproteins IIb-IIIa or Ib-IX, and are of the IgG type. The famous Harrington–Hollingsworth experiment established the immune pathogenesis of ITP.(IN MY CASE, MY IMMUNE SYSTEM EATS MY PLATELETS).

This medical jargon is gobbledegook to me. All I know is that I was born with it and probably going to die with it. Will it be the cause of my death? I don't know. My doctor tells me to live like a normal person with no restrictions other than common sense. Yet in the same breathe required me to periodically have my platelets counted and warned me to stay away from crowded places as my immune system is weaker that a normal person's.

I took steroids while I was pregnant and way after I gave birth. I blame it for my weight gain and snail-paced weight loss. Even now that I'm already "normal" (meaning my platelet count is maintained above 100,000 but still below 150,000), I am still given doses of it every now and then when my platelet count drops, like when I get sick of flu or some ailment related to my immune system.

Prednisone, the steroids I had to take, I believe, is responsible, solely or partly, for the complications and repercussions which arose from me taking it. I took steroids to keep my platelet count up but in effect, it affected so many of my internal organs. For one, it affected my reproductive system. I have polycystic ovaries; it altered my menstrual cycle. I had amenorhea; I only have my period once to thrice a year! On top of that, hard as we tried, we never got pregnant again. My OB/Gyn then gave me fertility medicines but I think affected my liver. It also affected both of my kidneys. I have urolithiasis or multiple stones in both kidneys. Add to that polyps in my intestines and occasional gastrointestinal bleeding everytime I am weak or eat something hard to digest.

But despite and inspite of these afflictions, I am still very optimistic about my future. I am blessed that I was given the chance to change what I could, while I could.

I have no intentions of giving up or of dying, not yet anyway. I still have a lot of plans for myself and for my family. I still have a long way to go to fully recover from the abuses that I inflicted on my body with all the junk and fatty food that I ate in my lifetime. But I'm slowly getting there. Everytime I feel I'm slipping, I just think of my husband, my son, my family and the life ahead of us and suddenly I'm back on track.

Hi, I'm Jo Anne. And I'm a pescetarian!!!

REST IN PEACE MARIE!

To my childhood friend Marie (Maria Tereza Paynor Sia), it was a good fight...I admire your unwavering faith, strength and courage as you battled the Big C. May you now find eternal happiness with our Creator. You will never be forgotten, Marie. We will miss you. We will be praying for you and your family. Rest in peace, my friend...Till we meet again...

HOUSE BLESSING

ATENEO GRADE 4 FATHER & SON NIGHT