Undas Tips

October 31, 2019Xavier Sampangpost your comment

All Souls’ and All Saints’ Day spans the first two days of November. Known in Filipino as Undas, it’s a time for visiting the graves of loved ones which usually end up as family reunions. Undas has consistently been one of the most widely celebrated holidays in the Philippines. Others take the opportunity to travel out of town for vacation. Wherever you are headed expect traffic, warm weather, and local stores to close down. Here are some tips and things to remember before leaving your home.

Unplug all electronics, appliances, and check toye gas stoves before leaving your house. Shutting off your main power breaker for double measure can also help.

Make sure all doors and windows are locked. Secure any openings that can be used as entryways to your house.

Pack and secure all food and drinks for your trip. Amihan may be coming in, but still expect high temperatures during the daytime. Keep everyone in your party hydrated.

Plan your itinerary. Undas spells traffic in major roads and streets close to cemeteries so plan your routes before you move out. Planning your trip can minimize wasted time sitting on your car.

Make sure your vehicle is road-worthy. Make a BLOWBAGETS checklist to make sure you get to your destination.

Five Benefits Filipinos can get from ASEAN Integration

November 10, 2017Ariel Arcebidopost your comment

Ever of dreaming of traveling abroad? Maybe getting the latest Gucci bag or designer clothes without going all the way to Italy? How about learning a new field that only a foreign country can teach.

These are some of the benefits that you as a citizen of the Philippines can reap once the country is fully integrated to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) membership. The goal of the ASEAN is to become one of the world’s leading economy like the European union nations. It order to achieve that goal it is better to be working together rather than doing it alone and to give the people a chance of better living.

The Philippines is hosting the 2017 ASEAN summit this month and will be spending P15 billion to make it a success in order improve better relations with the other nations.

Ten Southeast Asian countries – the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam – all united to improve their economies and to discuss on the various issues like border disputes, trade agreements and exchange programs i.e education and employment.

Benefits of a citizen belonging to an ASEAN country member

1. Lower cost of living

The ASEAN Economic Community wants to eliminate if not lessen the taxes exporting between countries, which will lower the prices of goods.

“Once our borders are open to trade, it is a possible it will lower some of the costs of exporting the goods and therefore what we’re doing here is increasing the purchasing power of the population,” said Ronald Mendoza, Dean of the Ateneo School of Government.

This open flow of goods and services means that your money will go much further as products become cheaper.

2. Improved job opportunities and general well-being

Products or goods not previously available in the country will be easier to access.

A good example would be the availability of items like chocolates, clothes and fruit products not native to the local country. Before ASEAN, these items i.e apples, oranges and chocolate are hard to come by and expensive. One has to import to avail these hence, taxes are imposed.

Now apples and chocolates have become more common than the average mangoes or bananas thanks to the agreements signed by ASEAN members.

Service providers like air transport and healthcare are encouraged to setup foreign offices which means for us easier access to travel or healthcare.

Increasing foreign investments have always been the goal of the ASEAN in order to be a power house in the world economy which would mean removing limitations and applying proven international business operations to the whole region. The more options the more choices citizens have to improve their quality of life.

3. Better job opportunities and education abroad

The exchange of free information and skills is essential to the development of the ASEAN charter. Nationals can work abroad increasing productivity thus more job opportunities for the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). Facilitation of visas and employment passes for skilled labor will ensure protection for the workers.

It will not be limited to the workers but to the students as well. ASEAN universities are allowing more foreign students to study in their campus thus increasing mobility for them in the region.

It will give the opportunity for the young people to open up to new cultures and expand their horizons. Giving them a fresh perspective to what would be their goal in life. Allowing them to be more confidence in coursing the future of their home countries.

4. Less hassle in traveling

ASEAN integration has made it possible to travel to other countries and in the process tourism has grown exponentially. It has given more opportunities for the tourism industry to promote the local scenery and earn more revenue.

Traveling to the other ASEAN countries will enable the nationals to realize that they are not alone in the road to economic success but together as one whole Asian region they can make a difference in world policy. To aspire for the ASEAN unity.

5. Philippines prosperity

With the full integration of the ASEAN countries, investments, services, job skills and a free market would enable the Philippines to have economic prosperity and the benefits will eventually trickle down to the citizens’ benefit.

To achieve all the goals of the ASEAN, every nationals must work towards a common good and not just its own country’s well-being. Cooperation is the key ingredient to make ASEAN a success. It is not about signing treaties or agreements but it is the people to fulfill the dreams of the ASEAN founders.

Once achieved, it will extend beyond borders and will boost national security, international trade, reducing poverty and economic competitiveness.

NINOY AQUINO: REVISITED

August 21, 2017Trojan Santiagopost your comment

Known as the most vocal opposer to the Marcos regime, Benigno Simeon “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. was one of the most renowned politicians in the Philippines.

But before being put into the limelight as one of the Marcoses’ tough critics, Aquino became famous for his gifts as a public speaker and his brilliant mind, as well as for his great ambition not only for himself but for the nation.

In commemoration of the 34th Anniversary of his martyrdom, let us revisit a tale-old story of a fallen hero and a public servant, his life, struggles and legacy…

YOUNG NINOY

Ninoy Aquino was born on November 27, 1932, in Tarlac Province, to a prominent family. He came from an entrenched familial elite which to this day dominates Philippine politics. While being physically appealing and impressively articulate, the young Ninoy started off his career as a war time journalist. At a young age of 17, Aquino was the youngest correspondent to cover the Korean dispute for Manila Times.

At the age of 22 he was elected as the mayor of his hometown, Concepcion, Tarlac and by the time he was dubbed as the “Wonderboy of Philippine Politics” Ninoy made history as the youngest ever to be elected as senator at the age of 34.

NINOY’S FIGHT

“It would always be the same crooks, the same money interests who would take fullest advantage of democracy or any kind of government in the Philippines, while the poor and the brave would always lose out. The batters change in the game of Philippine politics, but the baseball team remains the same and the game remains fixed,”Ninoy once said.

Prophetic.

As everyone thought, Ninoy would clamber up to the nation’s highest office as the Liberal Party’s standard bearer in the 1973 presidential elections. The declaration of Martial Law on September 21, 1972 was bound to usher a defining moment in Ninoy’s evolution as a political leader. The military rule turned Ninoy to be the most high-profile disparager and political prisoner of Ferdinand Marcos, as the government suspends the constitution, abolish the congress and silence its detractors and the media.

Incarcerated in Fort, Bonifacio, Ninoy’s guilt was tried on the charges of murder, subversion and illegal possession of firearms. The political wonderboy then went on a 40- day hunger strike that nearly cost his life. During these trying times, he began to question his faith and wondered how God would allow such suffering and despair. But it is in the depths of desolation that he found spiritual transformation and felt ashamed for whimpering when his character was placed under the most challenging times.

Ninoy then was pronounced guilty by the military tribunal and was sentenced to die in 1977. Ninoy, however, avoided the death row since human rights violations under the Marcos government gained intense international perusal which caused the government its inability to carry out death sentences.

THE EXILED ADVOCATE

“A pact with the devil, is no pact at all.” Ninoy said as he decided to renounce his agreement with then First Lady, Imelda Marcos.

The “pact” was arranged when Ninoy supposedly agreed to the First Lady’s two conditions during a secret visit in the hospital: (1) He will leave, but will return to the country. (2) While in America, he should not speak ill of the Marcoses.

After seven years and seven months in solitary confinement, the opposition’s leader got amnesty in the strangest sort of way as Marcos allows him to fly to the United States for a bypass surgery.

As the Aquino family tried to rebuild their lives in Boston, Massachusetts, Ninoy called off his agreement with the Marcoses by spending his remaining years giving lectures and public speaking engagements across United States that are critical of the Marcos government.

THE RETURN THAT NEVER WAS

“If it’s my fate to die by an assassin’s bullet, so be it… the Filipino is worth dying for.” Ninoy said during his flight back home to the Philippines on August 21, 1983. As he was joined by several journalists on the plane, he delivered more chilling statements that is prognostic of what was about to happen by the time he set foot on Philippine soil.

His years in prison, and exile in the United States may have softened the toughest critic of the Marcos regime, but that did not stop him from restoring democracy in what was deemed as the darkest era of the Philippines.

Although the restoration of democracy seem futile, it was high- time for the champion of the unrest to make a glorious comeback that he was well deserving of. But just as when the Senator descends the plane’s gangway on that historic 21st day of August, Ninoy was fatally shot on the head.

THE AWAKENING

The Marcos regime may have not seen it coming but, Ninoy’s unexpected yet foreseen death seemed to be the last straw. As the nation rose in defiance, and the courage exhibited by Ninoy through the years was most infectious at that time.

By the end of 1983, the Philippines’ economy plunged into bankruptcy and the nation’s turmoil cannot be contained. The Filipinos decided they had enough. Marcos gave into public pressure and had called for a snap election. Ninoy’s widow, Cory Aquino was chosen by the opposition to be their presidential bet.

When the 1986 snap election was marred by rampant cheating and violence the collective courage of a nation unrest grew bigger than ever. From what seemed to be an alarming act of rebellion comes a massive protest by prayers. An estimated 2 million people gathered during the peak of the EDSA People Power Revolution on February 1986.

In the morning of February 25, Corazon Aquino was declared President of the Philippines.

THE FILIPINO IS WORTH DYING FOR

What could have happened if Ninoy Aquino lived?

The Filipinos are known for being resilient, may it be deadly natural disasters or violent political agendas. Filipinos are known to make it through the toughest times. Ninoy’s death may have happened during a unique time in the Philippine history.

During the Marcos’ regime, the Filipino people have reached the point where human rights, aspirations and promises of good governance have long been denied. All those suppressed feelings of turmoil, unrest and disappointments combined made the people feel that they were about to lose patience and most of all, hope. Ninoy’s death turned out to be the tipping point, in which the Filipinos have finally exclaimed, “We have had enough!”

If Ninoy Aquino have lived, the Filipino people may have still trudged along chaos and confusion. In a point where the Marcos government may have still remained in their position. Maybe it would have been over eventually, but not likely with the lighting speed turn- of- events during August 21.