Life, Day by Day

I met Pocholo when we were both enrolled in a pre-med course in La Salle Bacolod. He eventually changed course and became a lawyer while I plodded on to become a doctor. I only stayed for 2 years in La Salle Bacolod but that was enough to create a lasting friendship.  Thinking back, he was not your typical teenager...although I found him both serious and funny, Philip as we called him then was also very responsible, caring and helpful.  On hindsight, he was very protective towards all of us that he seemed to be older and more mature. In fact it is only now that I learn that he is just one month older than I am. I have many good memories of  Philip "Pocholo" Dabao as Philip and later as Pocholo.  He became Pocholo or Pochoy to me, 25 years later when I attended the homecoming in La Salle when he was the alumni president. As time went on, I would see him rarely...but every time we did, we always have a short chat catching up on each other's lives. I have this one spec...

As 2009 ended, and remembering new years past, I had a lightbulb moment when I realized that hey! 2010 is the last year of  the first decade of the new millennium. I remember when the year 2000 was approaching, how people were placed in a panic mode because of all the dire predictions being thrown around as early as 1997. I admit I had some blessed candles available "just in case".  Of course, nothing really happened...January 1, 2000 was just an ordinary sleepy day (after all that celebrations) and life went on.  But since I am a list person, I can't help but think about what I did and did not do...what changed or did not change, what happened and did not happen during the last 9 years?  The first 5 years were basically uneventful...I say so because I could not remember anything important, so I presume nothing happened.  For posterity and remembrance and before I forget everything I decided to make a list (being a compulsive lister who most of the time misplac...

It's been a long time since I last undertook a long road trip without car air-conditioning...so long ago, that I have forgotten how the wind feels like against my face.  Last Friday, I went to Barangay Pandanan in the mountains of Murcia town riding an old KIA vehicle and although I initially balked when I first saw our ride...this experience is something I will always remember with a smile. The moment we set out, I knew it was going to be a fun day.  As soon as we were out in the highway,  the cool wind was brushing my face and lifting my ponytail...The air was filled with the smell of grass and cut sugarcane...I could smell the molasses in the air as we passed areas where there are sugar centrals...I saw the mountains of Negros and Mt. Kanlaon clearly and not through tinted windows...I heard the rush of water in the rivers and creeks we passed.  The road trip awakened precious childhood memories that I thought I have forgotten.  It was a wonderful, wonderful d...

This question was posted on Avalon.ph as part of a contest to win a Moleskine Colour a Month Daily Planner in 12 Notebooks 2010 . For those who are not familiar with moleskines, this is a brand that identifies a family of notebooks, diaries, and folio books. It was created as a brand in 1997, bringing back to life the legendary notebook used by artists and thinkers over the past two centuries: among them Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Ernest Hemingway. I have a small handy black notebook which I carry everywhere I go and frankly, it is one of my best finds in 2009, one that would count for someone addicted to notebooks like me, as one of those things to be thankful for. The year 2009 has been both a blessing and a stressful time for me...so many things have been happening day in and day out since January that I seem to have lost track of time and suddenly, December is here! But one thing for sure, in everything that has happened to me this year, God's hand was there...He sen...

In August 1972, I remember a big flood happened also in Luzon . For more than two weeks, heavy rains pummeled Luzon before then President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. Floodwaters merged with the Pampanga and Agno rivers and submerged most of Central Luzon. This became known as the Great Flood of 1972. I remember working in the gym with classmates preparing relief goods. Classes were suspended in some subjects so that students can help instead. Less than a month after...Martial Law was declared. I don't know why I suddenly remembered this fact...maybe because like Marcos then, GMA's popularity and approval rating is at its lowest today. It's like deja vu...the atmosphere of political conflict, the morale of the people, the air of discontent among the people is eerily similar. Is this a sign? I am not saying that GMA is going to declare Martial Law...but somehow I feel a great change coming. Maybe this is our second chance...maybe God is telling us somethi...

A truly heartbreaking video made by Glenn Omanio .

Last Thursday, Tropical Storm Ketsana (better known in the Philippines as Typhoon "Ondoy") entered the Philippine area of responsbility. It was not even a storm yet but a tropical depression. The next day Friday, it was declared a typhoon and signal no. 1 and 2 were raised in parts of Luzon including Metro Manila. However as it swept across Luzon on early Saturday morning, packing winds of 85 kilometers per hour, or 53 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 100 kilometers per hour, "Ondoy" dumped 42.4 centimeters, or 16.7 inches, of rain in just 12 hours, said Nathaniel Cruz, the government’s chief weather forecaster. He said the rain that fell in those 12 hours was equivalent to the amount of rain that Manila received in the whole of September. To make matters worse, it was high tide and the water levels of 2 dams, Angat and Ipo were at critically high levels as well. By sunrise Metro Manila and it's environs were underwater. And for the first time, places t...