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Sharing some Coffee pics that I personally took. The first picture is a White chocolate latte I ordered from Rivoire in Florence. The two pictures are both french vanilla latte ala TIm Hortons powderXD. Presentation wise is ok lol, but the taste is sooo good.

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Sharing some shots I took during my Europe trip with my family 2018 Summer

Blog pic attachment for “My Photography Frustration” post

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My CSR E-SL Final Thoughts

It has finally come to a point we reached one of the last few days for this term and today we are about to present the final video outputs for groups A and B. Our E-Service Learning Project is called “Gabay ng Kaagapay” …  “Gabay” means Guide while “Kaagapay” means “Side by Side”. Normally, this kind of project is supposed to be a face-to-face activity, wherein you get to go to the organization, be able see the beneficiaries and interact with them as well as the leaders and the team that supports the.

However, due to this COvid-19 pandemic… it has really limited everyone’s movement as well as the learning opportunities to meet and connect with new people. To be honest I had second thoughts on taking up CSR, because I really prefer the face-to-face encounter. I know me and the other felt the same way on how we can accomplish the final CSR project as well as can we learn new techniques and skills in class, but then I had a change of heart and decided to take CSR this semester. I was even happier to be able to enter in Ms. Pia Manalastas class, because I know that with Ms. Pia’s guidance and support everyone in class will be able to learn a lot.

To our surprise and amazement, it was possible… with everyone’s collaboration in sharing their ideas, experiences, and skills we were able to accomplish the impossible. We even learned how to step up and leave our comfort zone, like for instance when I did the ice breaker activity, I normally do not take videos of my whole body, because seeing myself made me feel insecure again and its evident I gained a lot of weight during the pandemic. If ever I take a video of my whole body, I will be wearing a mask to hide my face, especially when I am dancing. However, this experience made me remember to love myself and pay no attention to haters. The people who accept you for who you truly are, are the only people that matter. I also did it for the beneficiaries because it reminded my reason for doing silly my TikTok videos or Dubsmash and it was to bring a smile to someone’s face. Whenever I hear people commenting that watching my vids made them laugh and forget their problems made me felt happy. Seeing that beautiful smile on their face and having a good time is a rewarding experience for me. This feeling is also what I always feel when I do my trainings with our sales force; being able to motivate them, push them to aim for their goals, seeing them happy in getting their checks and hearing their life changing stories is an accomplishment for me. The success in our E-Service Learning “Gabay ng Kaagapay” really boils down to being able to help them to stand up and have another chance in life and passing our legacy to the organization MLALAF. Through them we were able to pass and share our knowledge to other future beneficiaries who will need this push for them to get back up on their feet.

We also receive a lot of praises and thanks from COSCA and MLALAF because hearing we are the first to really create a program that contains all the details, the backdoor of the process, the guidelines as well as the training materials is something that they can continue to use in the future.

This has been truly a wonderful experience and it would not be possible without everyone’s dedication and support seeing this through till the end. Apparently, even if it is a FULL ONLINE course you can still learn a lot and even learn new skills. Why I say this? Because I am surrounded by a lot of talented people within my group and never have, I ever felt inferior to them, because everyone supported and understood each other circumstances. In the end we all share the same journey in life from; working, family priorities, our MBA journey, our challenges we each face, our relationships, and our failures… the experience and situation in life may be different, but in the end, we have one thing in common… we are alive.

What is next in my life after my CSR journey… I might focus first in continuing helping our sales force to stand up in life and share what knowledge and advices I can give to them. If they become more richer than me then I would be one of the happiest persons, because even if the world does not know about me… its fine, but I will feel very happy knowing that my efforts alone was able to help someone succeed in life. In return what I pray is for the Lord to repay me by giving my family good health and long life.

I thank Ms. Pia, my E-Service Learning groupmates, may case groupmates, MLALAF and COSCA for giving us this opportunity to be part of this life changing experience not only for us, but also for the people we have helped. God Bless and stay safe.

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E-Service Learning final planning

How the holiday flew past by and we all said goodbye to 2020. I have some fair shares of struggles and bad experience last year and pray that this year will be a good year for everyone. Now it is already January 2021 and the term are almost over. We are almost at our last stretch for the E-Service Learning and I feel like there are still a lot of things that I should be doing for the group and for our participants. Luckily despite our groups hectic schedule our coordination and communication never cease to amaze me. I would like to congratulate Grazzie, because she is one amazing person for always making sure our group and group B’s plan are aligned. She makes it a point to always coordinate with everyone especially to some of us who could not attend to the zoom meetings with MLALAF and sir Niku of COSCA. I am impressed of her capabilities and her sheer dedication to make sure that everyone is well inform so that we know what the things are we can do for the project.

I always try my best to attend the zoom meetings even when I found that I would be assigned in Pangasinan for a month, because we just launched a new Forest Lake branch situated in Bayambang. My role during the launched is to support the training needs of the branch and help orient the new Assistant Sales Director with regards to the presentation materials. One of my worries during this ordeal is my communication with my E-Service Learning group mates, because the hotel I will be staying does not have good internet connection. I prayed hard that at least my SMART internet data has a good reception, because if I do have a good signal, I will be able to coordinate with my groupmates and then worry about my bill shock next month lol. What is important is I can participate and try my best to contribute my service and knowledge with the group and to the participants. Funny thing about this scenario is that I was more worried about my E-Service Learning project rather than my safety, because I will be constantly expose to a lot of people in proximity and pray that we will not be penalized for the event.

For the past 2 weeks (1st and 2nd week of January) everyone is doing the final phase of the project which is preparing the training materials as well the training presentation for the beneficiaries on January 16, 2021. I am excited to participate in this event because I have always enjoyed conducting training session wherein it has the same atmosphere that I am constantly expose to in Forest Lake whenever I conduct my training session. One of the things I expect during the training session is seeing the beneficiaries listen intently, participate in the activities, and have an amazing time. We even scheduled a MOCK training session wherein me and my partner Diane Villanueva will be discussing on opening the online store in either Facebook or Shoppe. I was the one who is in charge with the shoppe training presentation, wherein I was thinking how I can simplify this training and make sure that the information I share is accurate. I even tried coordinating with the Shopee help center to clarify a lot of information such as the requirements and the registration. Me and Diane also coordinate on the style and theme of the presentation… Diane even showed me a few samples she had already made for the “putting up a store on the FB Market”. After seeing those samples, I simply aligned it and did a lot of screen shots on how I did the registration process so that everyone will be able to understand the process. I even watch some YouTube videos on people who made a blog guide on how registered in Shopee and sharing their experiences when they first started out. This proves to show how accessible the information is to everyone just by using your mobile device. Prior to our zoom meeting schedule for the MOCK-up training last January 14, 2021. I recently found out that our midterm exam for my OPSMAN class was scheduled on January 16, 2021, because originally our midterm was supposedly on January 9 and since it was a Holiday our midterm exam was postpone. It was moved the following week, which was January 16,2021 1:30pm to 5:30pm. Our training schedule for the beneficiaries was on the same day and about the same time. I was sad about it so immediately told my groupmates and Diane of my predicament. The group understood my situation and felt sad that I could not be there to help with the training presentation. I endorse my presentation materials to Diane and participated the mock training session so that I can share my inputs and knowledge to the group.

Surprisingly, I was still able to be part of the training session on January 16… and it was a form of an ice breaker. I wanted to help out Jayar as he was the host for the event, so I lend him a hand with the ice breaker part and when we did it during the mock training, everyone agreed that the best person to really do the ice breaker was me. So, what I did is I made video (nearly 3minutes long) of the ice breaker in a form of an exercise that eventually led to them dancing to one of the trends in Tiktok. It was such a fun experience making the video and what is even more amazing is watching the zoom clip of all the beneficiaries participating and enjoying the ice breaker.

What I learn from this experience is that no matter what challenges we suddenly face, its important to think of ways on how to come up with an alternative plan to be able to succeed in the task at hand rather than feel defeated. In the end if we admit defeat that means we have already lost the battle without trying to stand up and fight it. So, try to focus on the situation at hand and think of ways on how you can help manage it.

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My love for Sweet Coffee

I have never in my entire life thought I would come to love coffee, because back in the day the taste of coffee for me was bitter for a sweet tooth person such as myself. I would even wonder my cousins, classmates and friends enjoy coffee. Even when I was in college I never really crave for coffee, in fact whenever I go to Starbucks, I would always order Vanilla Frappuccino blended whip and I would even ask for some chocolate drizzles on top. Even in Seattle’s Best I will order the strawberry shake and that will be my dessert drink for the day. I prefer Quickly, Zagu, Fruitas and Big Chill, because I love sweet drinks and back in the day, I chug on 1-2 liters of coke every day.

I started drinking coffee when I first started working at Forest Lake Manila South located in Binan Laguna (one of our memorial park branches). I was still feeling a bit sleepy at that time and my brain was not functioning yet, so one of our security guards (I call him kuya dante) made me some coffee and he made it in such a way that I will like it… a very creamy and sweet coffee wherein I did not taste the bitterness of the coffee. I asked kuya dante how he made this coffee and next thing you know, every day I started to drink 3-4 cups of coffee every day for some reason coffee has this magic that makes it perfect to drink in the morning during breakfast. I can see why people would always have a cup of coffee first thing in the morning every day, because it wakes up your system. Maybe it is because of the caffeine and the sugar effects and when I had a migraine my doctor told me coffee helps relieve headaches/migraines and from then on, I became a coffee lover. I even enjoyed making my dad his morning coffee, because he and I have the same taste when it comes to coffee and it is the nice sweet creamy coffee.

Everywhere I go I will always buy coffee; my favorite coffee so far is a white chocolate mocha coffee or caramel macchiato with extra caramel drizzle (Starbucks, Seattle’s best, Coffee bean etc.), but for Tim Hortons it’s definitely the French Vanila hot pls. I even look forward to the holiday seasons because Starbucks will serve my 2nd favorite coffee which is the Toffee Nut Latte with extra toffee nut crunch on top and I prefer this one Frappuccino blended whip, because its much more sweater and creamier. The hot coffees are always the less sweet ones than the Frappuccino, but it also helps wake up your system even more when it is hot. I would even take a lot of coffee pics for Instagram purposes and would even try to make one at home, because its much cheaper rather than buying your coffee at the store and you get to enjoy making it. Last year, my cousin bought me this beautiful blue Keurig coffee maker from the US with 60 of those Café Bustelo sweet creamy con leche Keurig pods and it only lasted for 1 month lol. Sadly, the Keurig coffee pods are extremely expensive here in the Philippines, which is I had to buy the Starbucks 40 Keurig pods at 70% discount. The reason I got them at a good deal because they were about to expire by December 31, 2020. Believe it or not they were all consumed before December 31, 2020, because at home I am not the only coffee lover. My aunt and cousins love coffee and so I have a lot to share of my coffee and we all enjoyed it.

I also bought a white chocolate mocha powder (Café de Vita), a white chocolate syrup and even bought in Lazada the P46 electric whisk to make that sweet foamy milk to put on top of my coffee and the taste was heaven for me. I even tried the coffee Dalgona challenge from tiktok as well as the Dalgona Matcha tea, which is quite more difficult, because I ended up making homemade Matcha ice cream lol which explains the sudden weight gains during quarantine. If you guys also want to, know yes, I even tried the Starbucks tiktok drink and the funny thing is instead of saying the actually name of the drink which is “Iced White Mocha with Sweet Cream Foam and Extra Caramel Drizzle Venti Size” … you’ll just tell the people at Starbucks the tiktok drink and viola coffee is serve. That is the wonders of social media as well as the internet you get to discover what’s the best cafe’s in the area, and I always make it a point when I travel, I must try the coffee there and enjoyed sipping a nice hot cup of coffee while chilling in the coffee shop. Not only do I get to enjoy my delicious coffee, but I also believe that if I hangout in a coffee shop, I would meet a cute guy that will approach me and who knows he might be the ONE. What can I say I am a hopeless romantic person that believes in the stuffs that happen in movies can also happen to me in real life. In the end we can never know, but what I am pretty sure of is I will be enjoying my coffee time with or without the cute guy in the picture.

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My photography frustration

I have always been fascinated with art, all the cool vivid colors you see in paintings, or the amazing structures that you see in Singapore such as the Gardens by the Bay, the mosaics you will see in Park Guel made by the famous Antoni Gaudi where you will see a lot of those beautiful colored mosaic and even the famous Sagrada Familia and then the Sistine Chapel located at Vatican City where you’ll see a lot of sacred artifacts and statues. Another thing that is considered an art is Photography, the way the professional photographers capture those important moments as well as the feeling of both the photographer and the model (be it a person, object, nature, or a beautiful scenery). The irony of all of this is that I never expected or realize photography to be a form of art, because to me back in a day, it is just you taking random pictures of almost everything. You do not put a lot of time and effort in it and I do not feel it to be rather difficult… boy was I wrong, and I apologize to the professional photographers for me thinking like that in the past. Photography is hard… for you to be a professional you must study for it and spend a lot of money investing on a very good camera, which is one of the important things you need to consider should you take up photography.

In my case I just use my handy dandy trusty cellphone… Luckily technology has really improved, especially the camera quality of the new generation of cellphones being release each year. Just by using your own cellphone device, you can take a lot of good pictures. Of course, since I am still unfamiliar with the settings (just the basics) on how you adjust the exposure, lighting, contrast of the picture as well as the other settings on your phone, there is will away someone who will automatically become the extra person/official amateur photographer who will take pictures of everyone and I am one of them. Do not get me wrong I really enjoy taking pictures of others and most of the times a lot of selfies, but I am more drawn in taking pictures of almost everything around me, especially when I’m travelling with others I would immediately disappear, because I would be going around taking pictures of almost anything even the food or drink. In fact, almost everyone does that, food pictures, wacky group photos with a nice scenery background or anything silly or out of the ordinary happening… because for the sake of “its all for the gram (Instagram) or FB post and now there’s a new one Lyka where its similar to Instagram, but you earn money (ewallet) for every “liked” picture that you post you earn credits that can be use to purchase in real life. Example… Tim Horton accepts Lyka payment (wow). However, not everyone will be able to notice your post or content and be able to see if you have a talent for capturing those special moments or make someone happy with your post.

Aside from a good camera… what does it take to capture a great shot? From what I understand, a good subject/model for the frame (not entirely a person), an awesome background to capture, a theme or idea for the shot, good lighting source, good weather 😊 (we must pray for a good weather that matches your theme), technique and mastery on how to utilize the settings of your camera (focus, brightness, flash, exposure etc.), the right angles (be ready to be flexible), and most importantly for me is the heart. I believe that putting your feelings into the pictures you take and have fun while doing in this manner you bring out the beauty of your pictures. Hence my Photography frustration, because I really love taking pictures, especially whenever I travel… I love capturing those beautiful sceneries, sculptures, historical monuments, and even the beautiful paintings moment. Whether my pictures will be notice or not I don’t mind, because in then end when you share your experience to others, you too can provide them guidance or the courage to explore in trying new things. Seeing them appreciate and grateful of my post or content is a rewarding experience that I’ll never forget.

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My aspiration to become a Travel Blogger

Traveling is one of the best learning experiencing that anyone will appreciate in their life. Reasons why I believe so because it’s all about the adventure of discovering more about yourself. However, traveling is basically not for everyone, because you must have the guts and confidence to get out of your comfort zone to experience the world around you. When you are a travel blogger you get to share your experience to others and hopes that you were able to make a difference in helping them out. Of course, I am not an expert, but I can try to share some thoughts or ideas base on my experience and it is up to the readers what they think. When you do decide to travel there are certain things you have to prepare before you make a move. Here are some of the things that come to mind if I am a first-time traveler:

1. Plan it – before travelling you must plan first where you want to go, because basically it’s like you jumping into battle immediately without knowing where your enemies are. This will make you wonder or confuse as to what you should do when you reach that point. So, it is better to plan your destination trip before proceeding to the next stage. I recommend writing down the places that are within your reach first and will eventually expand to other areas locally and international.

2. Let us do some research – Once you have a certain destination that you have in mind… it is important to research on it so that you’ll have an idea what are the fun and exciting things you can do when you get there. You should also look on:

·       Travel quotations from travel agencies or if you are up to the challenge you can do a backpacker’s trip (travel on a budget). Its best to book everything in advance rather than 1 month prior to your trip, because its much cheaper or unless you are lucky to get one of those promo seat or package deals then you are good. Just make sure to read the fine print on every deals you get before saying yes to it.

·       Check the weather update status for the whole duration of your stay so that you’ll know what clothes to pack or is it best to travel on theses dates. Example: going to Boracay during the monsoon season is not the best time to travel, because it’s not safe and you will mostly be cooped up in your hotel rather than enjoying the beach.

·       Look into the activities that you can do such as sights to see, the best food to eat, the tourist spots and the prices of each attraction you will see or do. This way you will be able to assume or estimate as to how much pocket money you should prepare prior to the trip and the right clothes to wear for the activity.

·       Another thing to consider on your research is to check if you will require a VISA to enter the country or certain travel requirements you will need to prepare (permits, med, etc.) and the governing rules of the country/state/local area. By doing so we will be able to get an idea on the do’s and don’ts of the place that you’re going to.

3. Make a summary guide/itinerary of the places you or your group will see together. This way you will be able to tell how much money each person should prepare whenever they decide on the activities they want to do. (ex. Amusement parks – transportation, ticket, foods, and souvenirs). Having an itinerary or two is one of the ways to make sure your trip is organizing and easy to manage.

4. Prepare for the trip – Start by making a thing to do list wherein you will write down all the important things to bring, luggage, what to wear, medication, passports, pocket money, ticket, gadgets (camera, cellphones, charger etc…). I also recommend not to splurge on shopping for your trip, because eventually you will do some shopping when you travel. Bring enough clothes for each day and pack at least one to two days spare of comfy travel clothes.

5. Prepare some travel tips 101 – This is very important tip when you are a first-time traveler, because you are going to a new place and you must always consider to be responsible with your safety. Like for instance:

·       You are Lost and do not know how to get back to your hotel – It best to always bring with you the calling card of the hotel, because with the card alone it will specify the address and the contact details of your hotel.

·       Buy a local sim card (with internet) this way you can always use the internet to help you navigate the area and tract the location you want to go. This will even help you provide tips on the fastest route to get to your destination (google maps etc.). You can even use it to call your hotel for guidance. This can also help you converse with the local by accessing a translator on your device this will help in some ways bridge the language barrier.

·       The buddy system is one of the basic safety measures to do, especially when you’re traveling in a group making sure no one gets loss or left behind.

·       Meeting spot/place – when you’re exploring a new area that is far from your hotel (ex. Your hotel is in Osaka, but you went to Kyoto for a tour) it is best to set a meeting spot where you and your companions can meet up at a certain time, that way when you don’t have a means of communication this method can be useful. However, I still recommend you get a local sim, because it’s much easier and convenient to go around and communicate with your group.

6. Lastly Relax and have fun – Numero uno is relax and have fun, if your itinerary plans fall apart… just inhale and exhale plan an alternative activity that you can do rather than ruin the rest of your trip. When you go on a trip, there are times you will experience unfortunate events that are out of your control (rainy weather, your luggage was lost, stomach ache, the tour bus broke down etc.) if that happens just relax and focus on what you can do to remedy the situation. Like for instance your tour got cancelled because of a rainy weather then you can explore the hotel facilities or go to the mall instead, if your luggage is loss report it immediately and buy new clothes… by the end of the day what is important is that your safe and it is not the end of the world scenario. You are there to enjoy, relax away those stress vibes to recharge yourself. You live only once… so enjoy life to the fullest.

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Sharing the video I made and posted on tiktok. Read my 2020 Ipon Challenge Blog to know about Ipon challenge experience

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2020 Ipon Challenge

It has probably been years since I last saved, because most of my money immediately goes to my bill payments for the house each month, buying sustenance at home (such as food, toiletries, laundry, cleaning etc.), then things I need for work (supplies, clothes, shoes etc.) and lastly spending money when I go out (family, friends and officemate or sales force). Although when it comes to my personal interest or hobbies it is not quite often, because I will only buy stuffs when its necessary. Then I saw and bought this alkansya can that says “#IponChallenge for 2019”, were you start saving from January 2019 until the end of the year and when you succeed, you will end up with Php72,000. Printed on the alkansya are highlighted moneys bills (these are categorized by P1000, P500, P200, P100, P50, P20 and P10) and underneath each money bills are circles where you shade them for each money that you put inside of the can once you completely shaded all of the circles, you’ll end up with Php72,000. However, I got this alkansya can last November 2019 where I paid about Php100 for it at Landmark. Normally you do not buy these, because it is either useless or too late cause the year is almost over so why bother. I did not think about it too much and just bought it. What is P100 pesos when the end results will give you Php72,000 and for me it is an amazing achievement, because I believe it is never too late to start the challenge even if its almost the end of the year. I just scribble the sides of the can and wrote “Started November 2019 to 2020” … I made it a point that the year 2020, I will start my savings journey again as I am not getting any younger anymore and I needed to start thinking about my future.

I got really excited with my new year resolution for 2020 and so I first opened a new savings account at Eastwest bank near our office. I put in my first Php30,000 savings I’ve earned last 2019 and even added another Php25,000 last March 2020 (right before the lockdown started). Then Covid-19 pandemic happened making it difficult to save. Earning money is hard especially for me since I am in the training department, because all our training events have been cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic, making the ipon challenge even more challenging for me as I barely earn enough to make ends meet.

Saving during the pandemic is hard, because you must allocate the majority on the things that are important. Numero uno are the basic essentials (foods, meds and lots of disinfecting items) and the monthly bills. It is a good thing its pandemic, because you get to avoid the temptation of buying or shopping right? but no, because technology has greatly evolved wherein online shopping (Lazada & Shopee) became the latest trend during the pandemic. This made it difficult for me to save because I can access everything online. I always try my best to shell out any money I can to help with the expenses at home and to be honest our real breadwinner is still my dad, because he is the one providing for everyone at home, which is why I wanted to start saving so that no matter what happens I have spare money in the bank that I can use for emergencies.

Saving money is not a walk in a park… you must be very discipline when it comes to your everyday expenses and try your best to set money aside for saving. In my case whatever money, I can scrounge up or what’s left from my salary I try my best to always set it aside for my alkansya. This is very hard for me, because I always wanted to help my dad out in providing for my family, but of course my dad would always tell me to focus on fixing my life first and get back up on my feet again. I promise myself to still try to help- out to the best of my abilities, so I sacrifice my personal interest and try to manage my finances by focusing on the things that our important. As each month passed, the shaded circles keep on increasing and every time you look at feel very happy and excited to see what you have accomplished. January 1, 2021 I finally opened my iponchallenge alkansya can and started counting the money bills that I have collected, and it was a worthwhile experienced. I never could have imagined that I could have accomplished this challenge even more so not be tempted to use the money I have worked hard in saving in buying something for myself (like a new laptop or a new phone). Instead, I deposited everything in my Eastwest savings bank and even added some of the money I earned last December 2020.

This made me learn that saving money is really a tough thing to do, because temptation is everywhere, and you might end up spending it all when you give in to your desires. However, I know the fear of not being able to do anything when the time has come and not a day goes by that I do not think about it. The money that I will save can become something that will help me in the future either it is for a career path change, for personal leisure, investments or for emergencies. We can never really tell, which is why saving for the future can be hard, but in the end, it is important because you will never know what the future holds.

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Lesson of Money, Lessons in Life

Have you ever wondered what life can be if you are a millionaire? Or if you won the lottery or won big time in the casino? These are thoughts that actually run in head and I’ve even experience a time when I almost won Php 25Million pesos and then when that happens your favorite statement would be, “Sayang panalo na sana” or “Malas”, which is why a person should be addicted to gambling.

One of my dream goals in life is to be financially stable and after hearing the video about “Lessons of Money, Lessons of Life”. I have learned an important lesson… which is I am not a money expert. There are a lot of mistakes I made in the past that I eventually moved on. I never told the truth about my money situation and would always in a tone that for them I sound ok, but in fact I do not and here in our world the majority of the people, especially to the people (who don’t pay you back) likes to approach you asking for some money they can loan from you. Two way that can happen in this scenario, which is you either lend them the money or not. If you do lend them the money and your confident that they won’t pay you back then you just lost it, because when you try to remind them they will either ignore you or get mad at you. Another thing that can happen is you did not lend them the money but then you will be bombarded with complaints. Like your too stingy when you have enough money to spend (which the truth is you do not), but since you weren’t honey with your situation it always comes back to you. Learning about avoiding telling the truth and being honest with the situation could be a more effective way for you to avoid losing money. Should you still decide to lend them, you have control on how much. Should I have been the person I am now, maybe I would not be fooled by them and could have save money for the future.

Another rule that I appreciate on the talk is “invest to the known, before the unknow”, Invest on things that are important or a priority for instance should I invest on a new car or rather invest my money in a new property or in Jewelry, because eventually these investment will grow in time. Another thing I was considering is to sell my car and if I sell my car what can I do with the money I will gain. Will I re-invest it in a new car or use part of my money to be debt free in order to be free from the interest or save it for the future and add that to my emergency funds. This is another lesson I’ve learn is to always have an emergency fund, it could be either use for when you are jobless for nearly 8 months or I can allocate it to my families energy funds. Another thing to consider since I play to work in the US this could help me start of my new life there.

Money has always been one of my challenges that I haven’t succeeded yet and I would always tell myself that if I could be financially stable I would be able to provide medical support for my parents and my brother. Its one of the reasons why I wanted to migrate in the future and see what opportunity waits for me. It could either be in the US, Australia, or Canada, which ever shows promise that will help secure me and my families future.

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Learning to become and Ethical Leader

Learning values starts at the comfort of you from our parents, afterwards your schools you will be attending, our culture, the workplace, and any organization or community you participate in. The people you will meet (classmates, friends, colleagues, and other groups will eventually partake in) and the experience we be learning will shape our values in life. An Ethical Leaders starts with the values and your personal beliefs, but becoming one is hard. There are some instances that we make decision based on what you believe is right, but then realize it might not be the best course of action for others. Learning the five ethical frameworks being discussed in one of my teacher’s videos in class as well as listening to the professor Kirk O. Hansons about business ethics in the next normal helps you understand what kind of approaches should you do when it comes to ethical decision and leading by examples. An example would be taking accountability for your own mistakes. Like for example this happened to me probably around 8 to 10 years ago when I made a mistake assigning the sales ownership of the sellers. Long story short I gave full sales commission to the other seller because I failed to conduct further investigation or probing to both parties, because one of our policies or values instilled by my mentor is to never involve the customers in any sales disputes. Eventually I was able to realize my mistake base on the gather information and documents presented to me. What I did was owned my mistakes by humbling apologizing and take full responsibility for what happened. I immediately told her what I will do to remedy the situation and that is to pay out of my own pocket. I do not know if that was the right course of action, but it is something that I must learn the hard way and show a good example to my subordinates. After that I feel really good inside, because there were no regrets despite me losing money I was able to gain a learning experience as well as the trust of my sellers and respect from subordinate. Base on the five ethical frameworks, which are Utilitarian, Rights, Justice/Fairness, Ethics of Care and lastly Virtue Ethics. Base on my example, was I able to apply justice and fairness and was it right or Virtue Ethics.

In an organization, it is important to know the ethical issues that transpired in the office and after evaluating each case, the organization can now decide to conduct ethical training for the whole organization. I believe an organization or conducting business on an ethical standpoint can lead it to success, because you gain good brand image as well as loyalty and trust from your customers. Another thing I learn, this was mention in the talks that having a positive culture helps manage the people. Ethical leaders are more effective in providing inspiration and motivation because you always look at the well being of the whole organization including the stakeholders. You see everyone as a vital part of the company and treat everyone equally. When it comes to ethical decision you have hear each and everyone sides or opinion then weight everything and discuss it with the people involve in. I am not perfect person, but if you grew up in a positive culture and have your values and belief then becoming an Ethical Leader is not far behind for me to achieve. Another thing that I strongly believe in is the Golden rule quote which is “Treat other that way you want to be treated” This saying is very powerful and its something that I always carry with me every day wherever I go and its something that I would proudly share to everyone.

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Looking at the Life of St. John Baptist De La Salle

St. John Baptiste De La Salle is born from a wealthy family, yet he chosen a path to become a man of faith and became a priest. He is the founder of the “Institute of the Brothers of the Christian School”, but before we proceed let us go back to where the film started, which takes place when Adrian was looking for De La Salle. Adrian meets Mother Superior and a man discussing about the funding request they require for the school, but the City doesn’t support their cause, because the City is more focus on upgrading the city from the buildings, aqueducts, public facilities and the market.

Their problem right now is what will happen to the school and how can they keep up with the children’s education without a budget. Adrian also has the same concern which is why he was looking for John who later introduces himself to him. Adrian seeing how things now at the school felt like there is nothing more De La Salle can do to offer any help, because they too have a pressing matter to look at, but De La Salle kept his cool and asked Adrian to ride with him back to his house in order to talk about his visions and coming up with plans to make it happen. They met Andrei the thief who stole his cross which he then followed back alley and he saw the people living in poverty. Seeing as Education is a way to change someone’s life, made him even more passionate in fulfilling his mission of starting a school for the poor.

In this era the wealthy people look down on the poor and treat them poorly, but to De La Salle he treated the poor as equal, especially the Teachers that Adrian recruited. The teachers that Adrian recruited didn’t have an education background of an educator which De La Salle agrees, because to them background is not important, but dedication to learn the arts and the passion of becoming a teacher is different.

The family loathe the idea even more, when De La Salle offered the teachers their home (Mansion) to stay and even eating with them in the family dining room. De La Salle even went back to the dark alley and donated some clothes to Brenda and to her parents. Andre witness this and remembers De La Salle offer of friendship towards him. Even though his sister was making a huge deal out of into the point of accusing one of the brothers as a thief, De La Salle immediately admitted that he took her clothes to donate to the poor. Eventually the family got fed up, so De La Salle decided to relinquish his status as well as selling his property to have his sibling share the proceeds.

After a few years of providing free education and giving out free bread to the poor. The teachers in the end left De La Salle one by one, because they did not want to go back to live in poverty. Andre show is up to join De La Salle on his quest to create a school for the children who cannot afford their education. Brothers return one by one and they eventually form the “Institute of Brothers of the Christian school. Of course, as time passed De La Salle as also being hated, because the educator in Paris did not like their system to be change. One of which is their earnings by utilizing some of the children to work until they could.t work any longer.

The teachers guild in Paris planned to destroy De La Salle with the help of one of the brothers who betrayed him by framing him of fooling Mr. Clement’s son into thinking he it was De La Salle who convinced a minor to purchase the property. The even went as far as informing the POPE to dissolve the group all because of their greedy intention.

De La Salle eventually left to travel around the world while be chased by the police due to case of Clement’s son. He contracted a disease and that eventually let to his death, but on his death bed he was able to die in peace when he heard all the children laughing outside his window. After watching the film made me realize the challenges, hardship that he faced. He chose a life to help the children by providing them free educations they need. Children should be nurture and taken care of not take advantage by having them work at a young age and use the earnings for their welfare in the guise of school funding. This proves how amazing is De La Salle is and shows that no matter what the challenges they will encounter just continue to have faith in his and entrust our life in His hands. 

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Minsan Lang Sila Bata

The documentary video shows three stories or experiences of the children living in poverty in Cebu, Ormoc and in Dapitan Mindanao. These Children have their own ways to survive and that is by working in slaughterhouses, Hacienda and at the piers to try to provide some income for their families. These children, who’s ages are between 10 to 14 years old, are working relentlessly instead of enjoying their childhood by going to school and playing with other kids. 

At the start of the film, it will show you the slaughterhouse in Cebu, upon seeing the first few minutes of the video made me avoid eating pork and beef for a week. Not only the environment is very disgusting, but how they kill the animals is inhumane. Either they use electric shoots to the brain or manual knife slit on the throat. The schedule slaughter hours are between 10:00pm until 3:00am in the morning, so that the meat will arrive fresh in the wet market. I had to mention the time schedule for the slaughterhouse, so that you have an idea what time these kids come in to work and the time their work will be finish. These kids work at wee hours in the night, but what is painful to see is how these kids are being allowed to work at such a dangerous environment. I remember when I was about their age (let say 12 years old), whenever we watch PG-13 films or films that have gory scene… my mom will automatically cover my eyes and when I asked my mom “why is she covering my eyes?” She would respond by saying either “I’m too young to see those scenes” or “its to early for me”. Even when there was a construction happening in the house and I wanted to help out all the adults will say “I’m too young for this” or straight hard-core answer of “No!”, I should just play with my toys instead or watch cartoons, because its dangerous for me and I might get hurt.

In the documentary though, the adults working in the slaughterhouse allow these children to work despite that the danger and it not really allowed, because its in the Child Labor law. Children below 15 years old are not allowed to work when their working environment is dangerous and unhealthy for the child. It’s very unethical for a child to be working at such a harsh environment. Children like Tikboy and Dio are called “Batang Matadors” their job involves cleaning/skinning off left over hair on the animals (using a big knife). These kids often get injured like slipping, knife cuts, and even burned bruises because the pigs are pipping hot. Their compensation or payment is either the fats of the meat and if they are lucky some meat. Wherein after their time in the slaughterhouse they will hop a ride with their boss (amo) to the wet market to try to sell some of the meat and earn some spare changes.

The children in Ormoc working in the Hacienda often referred to as young Hornals are expose to extreme heat that can cause heat stroke, some carry a huge knife (Machete) to cut the grasses, while the others clean-up the area by picking up the grass. To some children like “Dalena” really prefers studying, but she and her siblings must work, because it is their mother’s decision. To some families, the parents of “CITO” wants their child to study, but because they needed to earn money to pay off their debts (particularly with the owner of the Rice fields). Cito sacrificed his studies to help his family, outgrow his childhood to become an adult. It gets more difficult for the children in Mindanao Dapitan that works in the pier, because they are the ones who have the most difficult task. They will carry 40 kgs of cement and carry it out of the boat by passing it to the adults.  What is annoying is the adults have a buddy system, while the kids take overall 40kgs of weight with their slim bodies all on their own. They do not get to eat and will only be allowed to rest a few minutes and even if they ask permission to leave just to go home for a bit to eat they won’t be allowed to come back to work. Its not only unethical, but also child abuse.

Watching videos like this really can give you a knock on the head. So, if you ever see someone complain about their life this video is an eye opener. It will really make you realize how blessed you are in life compared to these children who never experience a good childhood.

Reference: https://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno7658.htm#.X8qEEM0zZyw

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Making my 25-year Life plan

This is probably one of the difficult things for me to do in life and that is making my life plan, especially if your looking at 25 years from now thinking what my life would be. I know most people will find this silly or me being dramatic, but to me it is hard to the point I really avoid making plans. However, since its one of my requirements in class and for me to get some good points I must face the music and do some research on how to create a simple 25-year life plan.

I remember when I was still in Highschool, College and even at work one of the questions I would be asked about is “How do I see myself 5 years from now?” This question alone will make you really think, because you can never tell what the future holds, but you can make it as one of your dreams or goals in life. Making a life plan takes a visualizing and goal setting, you also must write it down so that you would always be reminded of these goals. It could be a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual goal. Another way to put it is short term or long-term goal and to be honest, one of my dream goals is to be physically fit or beautiful and sexy like a model. I was able to achieve the beauty features, but the physical part still working on that plan. Another would be to land a job as a flight stewardess so that I can fly around the Philippines and then be upgraded or promoted to international flights, because I love traveling the world and be able to become independent. This also did not pan out, because I am “overqualified” literally speaking and to translate it means I am on the heavy side. It is a fun memory that I always share whenever I conduct my trainings with our sales force. I always emphasize the fact that we all have different circumstances or experiences in life and it could be either good or bad one, but even if it doesn’t turn up the way we wanted it to be doesn’t mean we have to stop… we just have to make a new plan.

In that moment I tried to make to make a simple 25-year life plan, but the span of 5 (five), 10 (ten) and 15 (fifteen years). The first column, which was the 5-year plan was easy to manage. However as I reach the 10 year and 15 year plan tears started to pour out, because it’s a vision I don’t really want to see nor accept yet and the funny thing is I work in the pre-need industry wherein your constantly expose to the inevitable scenarios. Even now as I am writing this blog, I cannot stop my tears from coming out. I suddenly started to pray as I was finishing my 25-year life plan and focusing my attention on my Action plan for my short term and long-term goals using the template provided by our teacher Ms. Pia Manalastas.

As Lasallian business leaders we are being groomed to learn to plan for our future, be visionaries, learn how to manage our life efficiently, economically, financially, effectively, and sustainable. Creating the balance and putting God as our center in our lives. I personally have my fears and I fear what may or may not happen. We must learn to entrust our life and put our faith in God’s hands, because we do not know what the future may bring. However, by planning, we can prepare for the future from health goals, financial goals, personal development, pleasure, or quality time with the family.  Struggles are part of life’s learning experience and for us to be strong we must encounter hardship in life. I end this blog post I want to share a poem that my catholic teacher made us do in class back when I was still in Elementary level. The project was making a poster about a poem titled “Footprints in the Sand”. As I read the poem again it reminded me that even through our most lowest or saddest moment in life God will never leave us and will provide a means to uplift us, support us, help us in another way or form without as knowing. God has plans for us and that is to not waste our life, but instead live our life to the fullest.

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Doing CSR under the new normal

I could never imagine experiencing a pandemic in my entire life. I have always thought stuff like these only happen in the movies like the one I watched a few months ago titled “Contagion”, which is about a new deadly virus that spread across the world creating a lot of fear, tension, depression and chaos. The movie shows some similarities in terms of how the virus can be easily spread through respiratory droplets and fomites. Unlike in the movie “Contagion”, our situation can be controlled and manage so long as we follow the Covid-19 health and safety protocol guidelines given by the CDC and WHO, which are wearing a mask, face shield, practice social distancing and sanitizing everything even yourself whenever you go out.

In CSR, ideally its more of a face to face interaction and hands on activities for us to appreciate and truly learn the values of serving the community. For me I really prefer face to face interaction, going to the location, meeting the beneficiaries and the people we will be helping is something I always look forward too, because I’ve done some community service back in the day when I was still part of a community called “Ang Lingkod ng Panginoon”. One of my memorable experience are the outreach programs in Muntinlupa area like visiting BILIBID prison (minimum security level) and visiting one of the learning centers for kids in front of the City hall in Muntinlupa. I was excited to do the CSR, but due to the Covid-19 Pandemic all school lessons and activities (including CSR) will be done online to protect the safety and well being of the faculty and the students, but despite that sir Ramon V Del Rosario Jr. still promises that DLSU will still continue to provide quality education to us students as it is one of PHINMA’s mission. Adjusting to the new normal is pivotal to everyone by finding the balance necessary to achieve our goals. For CSR we will be doing E-Service Learning, its something new to us, because we do not know how where to even begin. What we did though is coordinated with our group for E-service and I belong to group A. We first schedule our first E-group meeting and where we re-introduce ourselves and get more acquainted. We agreed to have weekly meetings which will happen on a Tuesday 7:00pm until 8:30pm and just like what we learned during our class with Ms. Pia Manalastas, our meetings will also be recorded for our groups reference as well as one of members will provide the minutes of the meeting and send it to everyone.

We decided to do brainstorming by sharing our thoughts on the project as well as ideas one of which is what kind of project and the group or organization we will choose for our E-service. Eventually after meeting MLALAF in one of our session and the project that we will be doing with them… both groups schedule a meeting with MLALAF to get some final insights with the project and submitted our groups proposal. The name of our project is “Gabay ng Kaagapay” wherein our groups focus in creating livelihood programs for the “Kaagapay sa Life Foundation”. Looking at the proposal alone there is a lot of work to be done, but it is something all of us are excited to experience.

At first, we thought that doing CSR online is easier than face to face, but it is not that simple. In fact, what I learned from this is that even if everything is being done online it has a lot of challenges that each members of the group are experiencing. Number one is the internet connection, work schedules, family situations, other pressing matters like electricity disruption or the damages caused by the typhoon, and health (physical, mental, and emotional). Every now and then we all message each other to provide emotional support or advices such as “How to get through the struggles of 2020?” “Should I continue my MBA during this pandemic?” or talk about less depressing issues by sharing funny experience in our past life or what we have in common. One of the advices that Sir Ramon V Del Rosario shared during his talks Is that “There is no secret formula, just look at the positive side. Hang in there and have faith”. In there end its up to us how we face our challenges, but if we give up when we are on near the finish line… we will regret it. Key words are focus, patience, balance, and faith… We are nearing the end of 2020, let’s pray that our 2021 will be a good year for all of us, but while waiting let’s continue to adapt to the new normal.