cieloapo

[cieloapo]

“our special day”

The month of love, February finally came. It was the month that I’m always looking forward to as it was my birth month. Birthdays are always special for me since I always feel loved and important during that day, but who would’ve thought that my 2020 birthday would be more special? Special in a way that there are more candles, more visitors, and of course, more people crying and mourning.

Few days before my birthday, we received a call from my Aunt that something had happened to my Grandfather. We rushed to our family house to check up on him, when we arrived, we found out that was stroked once again. He actually got a stroke a month prior to that and the doctor said that the next time it happens, it’ll probably be his last. It was sad as the time had finally arrived.

We were supposed to bring him to the hospital but he said that he didn’t want to, so there, in our family house, with my aunt who’s a nurse, my grandfather was bedridden. It was hard seeing him like that, his body was as heavy and stiff as a branch of a tree and he was even vomiting blood. Remembering it still stings as if it was a fresh wound.

As I’ve spent my remaining days with him, it slipped on my mind that I was still a student, that I also have responsibilities outside home…so even though it was heavy for me, I decided to go to school, to somehow catch up with the activities I’ve missed. Our P.E. class just finished, it was tiring, more tiring for me as I’ve poured all of the frustrations  I've had the past few days into our activity but little did I know that it was just a calm before the storm.

Lunch time came and it was also the time I’ve received the most saddening news in my life. It felt like my world stopped, like everything and everyone around me didn’t matter. It was expected yet I was still shocked, so shocked to the point that I didn’t even notice the tears falling down my face. That moment, all that’s running through my mind were just regrets. Regrets because I should’ve just decided to stay at home…to be with him until his last breath…to be there with him to say the last goodbye even though I know that he won’t be able to respond to it anymore.

And that is how I welcomed my 15th birthday, with regrets and sadness with my heart. Time has passed and the wounds have healed already too. The past birthday I’ve celebrated is now full of pure happiness. I just know that he’ll always be the first person to greet me even though I can’t hear it anymore. 

[cieloapo]

“The Journey of our Future President”

Maria Leonor Santo Tomas Gerona Robredo, the 14th Vice president of the Philippines was born on April 23, 1965 in Naga, Camarines Sur, Philippines. She is the first of three children of Regional Trial Court Judge Antonio Gerona and Salvacion Santo Tomas. She completed both her elementary and highschool education at the Universidad de Sta. Isabel in Naga. She then went to Manila to study economics at the University of the Philippines Diliman, in 1986 she earned her degree in economics. In the following year, Leni got married to Jesse Robredo whom she met on her work at Bicol River Basin Development. A year later, their eldest daughter Jessica Marie “Aika'' Robredo was born. While being a first time mom, Leni still pursued attending her law school at the University of Nueva Caceres, in the year 1992, she graduated. Two years later, their second daughter Janine Patricia “Tricia” Robredo was born. In 1996, Leni passed the bar exams in her second attempt. A year after, Robredo started serving in the Public Attorney's Office. In 2000, their youngest daughter Jillian Therese Robredo was born.

From 1998 until 2008, Robredo became the coordinator of the Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligan or popularly known as SALIGAN which is a Naga-based legal support group that aims to encourage young legal professionals to help provide legal services to people living in the rural communities. Unfortunately in the year 2012, her husband Jesse Robredo, the Philippine Interior Secretary died from a plane crash. The Piper PA-34 Seneca light aircraft crashed in the sea near the island of Masbate, Philippines. Robredo along with the two other passengers who were flying from Lapu-Lapu City to Naga, Camarines Sur were killed in the incident. After what happened, Leni then continued to be strong for her 3 daughters and a few months later, she became the chairperson of the Liberal Party in Camarines Sur. In 2013, Robredo ran in Camarines Sur’s 3rd congressional district against Nelly Favis-Villafuerte who was a member of the Villafuerte who was known by their family dynasty. During her time in the congress, she was also the vice chairman of the House of committees on public accountability, good governance, revision of laws, and other 11 house panels. During those years, Robredo was able to become the co-authors of many bills such as RA10633, HB02630, RA10651, HB04968, RA10717, HB06132, and many more. In 2015, she surprised the nation with the news that she would run as the Vice President of the Philippines with Mar Roxas as his presidential running mate under the Liberal Party. Robredo won the election with 14,418,817 votes defeating her rival, former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Robredo then was appointed to lead the government agency that focuses on housing programs. Through her term, Robredo was able to do a lot of things especially when the pandemic hit our country. Under the Office of the Vice President (OVP), she was able to provide free shuttle services for frontline workers, free swab tests, free telehealth services, and personal protective equipment. She even raised funds and was able to raise a total of 17.3 million php which was used for relief operations across the country. 

On October 7, 2021 she officially announced that she will be running as the president for the 2022 national elections as an independent candidate. A few hours later, her camp revealed that she picked the senator and Liberal Party president Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan as her running mate.  On February 8, 2022 the official campaign started and Leni along with her team kickstarted their campaign in Leni's hometown, Naga, Camarines Sur. This was followed by more campaigns that took place in Libmanan, Camarines Sur, in Quezon Memorial Circle at Quezon City which was dubbed as the “Pink Sunday” event as it took place on February 13, 2022. After that, Leni then campaigned in the provinces of Capiz, Aklan, and Mindanao and was followed with a rally and caravan in Iligan. Following that, Leni flew to Iloilo to campaign at the Iloilo Sports Complex which held an estimated 40,000 supporters which was preceded with campaigns in Manila and Cavite and just recently, Robredo’s campaign held their largest rally yet that took place at Ortigas Center in Pasig which was called as the “Pasiglaban grand rally” that held an estimated amount of 137,000 attendees. All of these are proof that many people are really rooting for Robredo as the next president of the Philippines and if she wins, she will become the 17th President of the country. 

She really is someone that I believe can lead the country very well. The amount of bills and projects she has done for the Filipino people just proves that she is someone that is not just hungry for the power and entitlement to be the president but someone who really loves the nation and the people living in it. Even just seeing her on TV screens, I can’t help but get goosebumps as she radiates hopefulness, something that the Filipinos really need especially in this time and I believe that if we as a nation, help and support her, we will be living in a much safer and better country. 

[cieloapo]

so this is me trying

"I've never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try" is something I can relate to ever since I was a child. I wasn't born gifted or talented in music or even in art, probably something not a lot of people can relate to but that's what makes me different from them and because of that, I've conditioned myself to always try my very best in order for people to keep on looking at me. And that is how my journey started. I go by the name of “Cielo” which translates to sky in Spanish. I was born in the year of the rooster during the season of Aquarius which was on February 7, 2005. 

Just like most kids, I also started entering school at the age of 5 at Shining Hope Academy, a school near our house. That time, life was stress-free as all that I do when I go to school is to sing nursery rhymes and when I get home, I just play with my cousins until it's time for us to eat dinner. On weekends, I’d always sleep over at my aunt’s house as they don’t have a daughter and because my cousins live there as well but this stress-free life of mine changed when I finished kindergarten as I was accelerated straight to 1st grade which was something new to me because they are all new people and all the subjects that we had to study was something I haven’t encountered yet. It took me weeks to be able to try to fit in with the class but eventually, I became close with them though they somehow treat me as their baby as I was one of the youngest in the class. 

As my elementary years go by, I became very close to them to the point that I cannot even handle transferring schools for Junior High School. It was hard for me to transfer as I am an introvert, I myself that I’ll be having a hard time meeting people and trying to fit in with the new environment but then I realized that if will forever be like that, I’ll be having a harder time in the future that’s why I took the courage to take the entrance exam for Culiat High School’s Science, Technology, Engineering (STE) Program, a program that has a same curriculum as the science high schools in the Philippines. Luckily, I was able to pass the exam and that was when another journey of my life started. It was also hard, even harder than what I felt when I was a kindergarten student. My class starts at 6 in the morning and ends at almost 4 in the afternoon, very tiring for 12 year old Cielo. The grading system was shocking as well as they have a maintaining grade that if you fail to meet, you’ll be kicked out of the program. But instead of being unmotivated, I used that pressure to study hard and because of that, I was able to survive my first year in junior high school with honors.

As I move into higher grade levels, the difficulty and pressure increases too. As someone who isn’t academically gifted and a math hater, I had a really hard time since we have two math subjects. Even when I try to study it carefully, I can’t help but still fail some of my quizzes. That's why I envy my classmates who are really good at math. But I also took that opportunity to ask them for help and in return, I helped them with the subjects I know I’m good at and because of that, many friendships were built. I entered ninth grade and just like what other people say, it really is the most fun yet stressful year in high school and I agree. The subjects were becoming more difficult but lots of opportunities rose up too. In the same year, I was also able to join journalism contests and research contests in which I placed 5th and 2nd respectively. Pandemic then came and classes were resumed virtually. It's sad as it was my last year  in junior high school and yet I won’t be able to spend it with my classmates personally but still, we made our last school year memorable. All of us were able to move up with flying colors which made our adviser happy. 

A few months later, my senior year as a HUMSS student at New Era University started. Just like what I always say, it’s hard. Meeting a new group of people again and trying to fit in with the new environment but I guess this time, it’s a bit easier for me now. Because of the amount of contests I’ve been exposed to during my junior year, I somehow managed to be more confident about myself and because of that, I’ve found a new group of people I can call my friends. 11th grade has been going well and I hope that this continues until my 12th grade as having good grades will be one of my gate passes to enter my dream university in college which is the University of Santo Tomas. If I will be able to enter UST, I would like to take Asian Studies as this course catches all of my interest. I also dreamt of being able to live and work abroad, that’s why I believe that this course will be suitable for me.

I really was never a natural but then life challenged me to try and try and try and here I am now. Ready to face the world and also, to try and try again to be a more successful person. 

[cieloapo]

so this is me trying

“Lily, what happened to your scores? Your former teachers told me that you were one of the best in class…”. These are the words that kept on playing like a broken record on Lily’s mind as she walked home. She had the shiniest wheels before but now, they’re all rusting. Being the most brilliant student in the class has become her most protected reputation but then someone else lit up the room and that’s when everything started to fall apart for her. Card day came and Lily dropped from rank 1 to rank 2, it affected her so much as being smart was her only way to make herself and her family proud. “Lord what will become of me, once I’ve lost the only thing that I have?” she said to herself as she got home.

Write a prompt: “Describe the first time a character realizes she is not as smart as she thought”