PEBA AWARDS 2011, KABLOGS and THE KABLOGS JOURNAL would like to thank our sponsors and donors

AYALA VIPinoy Cards an Ayala Malls Overseas Pinoy Program, NOKIA Philippines and Globe Kababayan by Globe Telecom

PEBA Awards Tweets

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

PEBA 2010 PHOTO CONTEST

Author: LordCM | Posted at: 5:45 PM | Filed Under: , , , , |

Entrants


Bukas para sa lahat ng amateur na Filipino photographers (blogger or hindi blogger) na 18 years old above na nagtratrabaho or naninirahan o nag-aaral saan mang panig ng mundo.


Participants can submit ng tatlong entries pero hindi lalagpas sa 5 photos.


Entries




Ang mga larawan ay dapat original na kuha ng kasali at hindi pa naipublished.




Content


Ang mga larawan ay color or black / white photographs na nagrerepresenta or typify


LOVE, FAMILY, LABOR, HEROISM, COURAGE, OFW ABROAD


(using the host country as part of their subject/s).


Digital Image Submissions


Ang quality ng image ay hindi bababa sa 8" x 10" at 300 DPI


Or maaring ang photo ay kuha gamit ang minimum of 3.2 MEGAPIXEL camera sa pinakamataas na image setting at isusubmit through email bilang JPEG FORMAT


Ang images na hindi nakapagmeet ng ganitong criteria will not be considered. Ang mga larawan ay walang borders or frames.


Ang bawat larawan ay may filename ng pangalan ng Photographer plus information, location, profession/work and interpretations


Example:


Example: fredsantos1.jpg
Location: Toronto, Canada
Profession/Job: Computer Engineer
Interpretations/Short Explanation: OFW family beach outing, OFW family togetherness, OFW family bonding


Other Uses


All entries will become part of PEBA. Photographs submitted to PEBA Photo Contest but any photos not selected to be included in the Photo Exhibit may be chosen for use elsewhere in PEBA related publication with full credit given to the photographer.


SUBMIT









Winners will receive a trophy and gift packs from PEBA and 'Best Photo Entry 2010'.




May tatlo pong winner na kukunin ang PEBA.


Deadline of submission will be 30th November 2010. Please note that your entries will be printed/blow up for exhibit at SM and other partner venues as well as during the awarding ceremony. Join now!








ALL Photo entries are viewable and "likable" in Facebook Fan page of PEBA













BELOW ARE LAST YEAR FINALISTS ENTRIES
"Proud to be a Filipino", by Floyd Amor, Singapore   
"A symbol of Filipino pride, wear it, anywhere, everywhere -worldwide"


"World-class Bayanihan"




"Open Hands" by Jayson Mayugba, Dubai, UAE served as the second home country for most Filipinos, they always keep their mind open and hands  available in order to help and keep environment clean.


"Snow Survival" 







"Filipinos will still make their way to survive even the heaviest snow falls." 





"Wear Your Smile" by Chris Luzana - Nova Scotia, Canada
"OFW: Makabagong Bayani sa makabagong panahon. They tend to smile even they felt homesick"


"The Climb of every OFW" by Rey- Mournes Mountains, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom







"It is not what on the other side of the mountain, but it is the climb that matters". The image depicts the courage and optimism of every OFW which bring hope and happiness to their loved ones back home."



"My Blessings" by Noel Ablon, South Corniche, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
" My greatest blessing is my family, my only treasure here on earth"

Share|

©2010 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Subic Bay 89.5 FM and Internet Radio, Sponsoring PEBA 2010

Author: Mr. Thoughtskoto | Posted at: 10:32 AM | Filed Under: , , , |




89.5 Subic Bay FM Radio


PEBA's 2010 Live Event Series 101, a one-on-one live interview between Mr. Felix Jigs Segre, PEBA's top PR Man and Project Director on PEBA events media promotion with Ms. Rhoan, Station Manager of 89.5 Subic FM












Miss Rhoan, the station manager of Subic Bay FM Station was the female host of PEBA 2009, and a member of the KABLOGS Supporter as RHONB (AKA PINKOY)





©2010 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards

Friday, September 17, 2010

OFW: FAMILY FIRST

Author: The Pope | Posted at: 11:47 PM | Filed Under: , |

This is a repost, The original post sparked a great deal of positive comments on Ms. Yanah Paguio Bautista's and was also published in her blogsite Life's a Twitch. An inspiring blog that touches the lives of its readers particularly the OFWs and their families around the world. Ms. Yanah is former OFW from Dubai, UEA and is now an English teacher for Korean nationals in the Philippines, a freelance writer and takes an active role in PEBA events and advocacy.


OFW: FAMILY FIRST


**No this is not a PEBA entry.. i just wanted to share this to everyone..**

Pangarap ng bawat magulang ng mabigyan ng magandang kinabukasan ang kanyang pamilya. Magandang bahay, edukasyon at simpleng kabuhayan. Ilan lamang iyan sa pinagsusumikapan ng isang OFW na naghahanapbuhay sa ibang bansa. Isakripisyo ang simpleng kaligayahan na hindi makapiling ang mga mahal sa buhay alang-alang sa kinabukasan ng mga ito. Titiising malayo, makikipagsapalaran sa banyagang lugar, mangangamuhan sa ibang lahi upang maitaguyod ang pamilya at ang pangangailangan ng mga ito.

Si Sheila, dalagang ina. Umalis patungong Dubai upang mamasukan bilang isang katulong. Iniwan ang apat na taong gulang na anak sa kanyang kapatid na dalaga. Ngayon, magtatatlong taon na niyang hindi nasisilayan ang anak. Pero patuloy ang pagdating ng padalang pera na may nakalakip na larawan. Regular din ang pag-uusap sa pamamagitan ng telepono. At sa bawat pag-uusap nilang mag-ina ay hindi nalilimutan sabihin ni Sheila sa anak kung gaano niya ito kamahal. Sa pamamagitan man lamang ng telepono ay maiparamdam niya ang pagpapahalaga at pagmamahal dito. Sa murang kaisipan ng bata ay naitanim na sa kanya na ang pagsasakripisyo ng ina na malayo sa kanya ay tanda ng dakilang pagmamahal nito para sa kanya. Sinwerte si Sheila na nakatagpo ng mabait at matulunging amo., nakaipon at nakapagpundar agad sa loob ng tatlong taon. At sa susunod na taon ay uuwi na siya. Uuwi na siya sa kanyang anak, puno ng pag-asam, pag-asa at pangarap na hindi na muling mahihiwalay pa ulit dito.

Si Larry, solong anak ng mag-asawang medyo nakakaangat sa buhay, nakapagtapos ng kolehiyo at pinalad na matanggap na inhinyero sa Saudi. Sa kanyang unang taon ng paghahanap buhay sa disyerto ay saka naman tinamaan ng matinding kamalasan ang pamilya. Ang ama ay mayroong Lung Cancer at ang ina naman ay naaksidente, ngayon ay isa ng imbalido. Sa tindi ng karamdaman ng ama at kalagayan ng ina, nagdesisyon si Larry na ipagpatuloy ang pagtatrabahosa Saudi upang matustusan ang pangangailangang pinansyal ng mga magulang. Matuling lumipas ang panahon, dalawa..tatlong taon..nasa Saudi pa rin siya kaakibat pa rin ang obligasyon sa pamilya, nakilala niya si Melissa, nagkamabutihan, ikinasal. Lumipas muli ang 2 taon, niyaya ni Melissa si Larry na bumalik ng Pilipinas magtayo ng maliit na negosyo at magkatulong na alagaan ang ina (pumanaw na ng nakaraang taon ang ama ni Larry), habang unti-unting bumubuo ng sariling pamilya. Ngayon ay may dalawa na silang supling, negosyong stabilisado at masayang kapiling ang ina ni Larry.

Si Rina, ina ng tatlong anak, tumulak papuntang Dubai upang makipagsapalaran, lumisan ng apat na buwang gulang pa lamang ang bunso. Tatlong kinabukasan ang kailangan niyang paghandaan. Hindi gaanong pinalad, at dala ng problemang pampamilya, kinailangang bumalik ng Pilipinas makalipas ang walong buwan. Nagbalik ng hindi nakikilala ng bunso at kinapangilagan ng dalawa pa. Pinilit magsimula ulit. Sa ngayon ay kahit paano maayos naman sila, nakakain ng tatlong beses sa isang araw, ngunit hindi iyon sapat, lumalaki ang mga bata, lumalaki rin ang gastos. Kailangan mapaghandaan ang kinabukasan. Si Rina? Aalis ulit siya, muling lilisanin ang lupang sinilangan upang makipagsapalaran muli. Magbakasakaling mabigyan ng katuparan ang mga simpleng pangarap para sa kanyang mga supling.

Bawat taong lumilisan at iniiwan ang mga kani-kanilang pamilya upang magtrabaho sa ibang bansa ay may kanya-kanyang kwento, kanya-kanyang pagsubok, iba’t-ibang pangarap na pinanghahawakan. Magkaganunpaman, pinagbubuklod sila ng iisng adhikain…ang maisaayos at mabigyan ng magandang buhay ang mga minamahal. Kakayod ng todo, titiisin ang hirap at lungkot alang-alang sa pamilya. Yan ang tatak ng Pilipino.. above everything else, FAMILY FIRST!

Saludo ako sa mga matatapang na OFW Pilipino!

Author: Ms. Yanah Paguio Bautista

Share |

©2010 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO PEBA 2010 NOMINATION

Author: Mr. Thoughtskoto | Posted at: 9:31 AM | Filed Under: , , , , , |
Why join PEBA Blog Award Contest 2010?

For bloggers, na parehong nakabase sa Pilipinas at sa ibang bansa, this is the common question.

Some of us blog for a cause, some of us blog for money, but most of us, blog on a personal note. 

I would like to ask you to come and join me this 2010, and the rest of the wonderful men and women - the nominees of PEBA 2010 at home and from 10 countries and states to blog in a higher level.

Let us blog to inspire. Let us move and touch people. That is the advocacies of the Philippine (PINOY) Expats/OFW Blog Awards, Inc. To honor the inspiring bloggers who made a difference in OFW's and Filipino lives. 

More bloggers headed the call. Thank you. 
 We will introduce a mash-up of their profiles in the coming days, as we salute these men and women who share their talents, time, skills, and ideas and thoughts for us to learn from. 



----------------------------------------------------------
Here's a STEP by STEP GUIDE TO PEBA NOMINATION.


1. Please fill up the nomination form HERE

2. Grab the Support Banner (see PEBA 2010 Support Banner image below) and display it in your blog's side bar for PEBA verification and tracking link. This process enable us to verify that your email and your blog site was not used for malicious intent, and that you personally subscribe to support PEBA 2010.



3. Post a blog entry related to PEBA 2010 theme about FAMILY or specifically "Strengthening the OFW Families, Stronger Homes for Stronger Nation".  

You may please read PEBA's opening entry entitled 
"PEBA 2010 Season | Focus on Strengthening OFW Families!" 

which explains the theme for your reference in creating your official blog entry. A "repost" of your previous written blog article can be edited and submitted subject to the approval of our technical committee.  Blog entry can either be in Filipino, Tagalog, English or Taglish. Various ways of expression is allowed, i.e. photo/s, poem, song lyrics, music, video, cartoons, drawings with written post relevant to the theme, prose, poetries, essays, personal narrative, etc.

4. A banner logo (see PEBA Logo below)  should be contained in the blog entry as image linking to Pinoy Expats Blog Awards, Inc, (https://pinoyblogawards.com/) 








5. Please inform us through this or through the NOMINATION FORM on the completion of the above requirements so that we can imediatelyly review your site, and subsequently request our PEBA Team to render its evaluation and grant accreditation to your blog entry as Official Nominee of PEBA 2010. Please include the url of your entry.

6. After we have reviewed your entry, we will notify you as an Official Nominee of PEBA 2010. For further information, please visit our site containing PEBA 2010's Contest Guidelines.

7. Deadline for entries will be at 12 midnight Saudi time on 31st October 2010 (5AM Philippine time, 01 November 2010).

8. Finalists will be announced on 01 December 2010.  A recognition rite, or awarding night to be attended by well-known Filipino celebrities, will be held on December 16, 2010.


If you want our VOLUNTEERS to support you along the way, please feel free to contact the following persons who will more than happy to assist you.






Share |







©2010 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards

Monday, September 13, 2010

Something Close to Our Hearts

Author: Mr. Thoughtskoto | Posted at: 1:34 PM | Filed Under: , , , |
FAMILY


Your husband, son and/or daughter


Your wife and your baby


Your kids

Your Dad and Mom...

These are the people close to our hearts, na kahit saan man tayo mapadpad, maabot man natin ang langit or sumadsad man tayo sa pinakailalim ng lupa, 

sila at sila pa rin, ang laman ng ating puso't isipan.

We are not talking about anything here except love for the family for whom, aside from our individual dreams and desires, na nagtulak para tayo makarating saan mang dako ng mundo.

I encourage you to join PEBA, by writing a blog entry about them, and kung paano we can keep our love with them, despite the distance, and on how we can make the bonds and relationship stronger.

Malungkot man or masaya, share it for us to read and learn. Share it for the good of others. 


Photos courtesy of Punchstock
Share |

©2010 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards

Friday, September 10, 2010

Official Statement of the Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards (PEBA) on the Proposed Cuts on DFA and OFW Legal Assistance Fund

Author: Mr. Thoughtskoto | Posted at: 2:11 PM | Filed Under: , , , , , , |

We stand as an alliance of Filipino Expats and OFWs whose primary advocacy is to promote the welfare and safeguard the rights of our fellow Filipino workers abroad through blogs, we would like to call for the President Benigno S. Aquino and the members of the Philippine Congress to reconsider the proposed cut on the Legal Assistance Fund of the Department of Foreign Affairs’ budget.

This act is dangerous to the already deplorable conditions of many OFWs who are incarcerated in various countries needing legal assistance.  The legal complexities of those who have been abused, ill-treated and became victims of unfair labor practice are costly and a lengthy fight.

The proposed cut would undermine the ability of our Consulate Offices to file legal actions that would protect thousands of Filipinos abroad working for their families to survive the poverty-stricken living condition of our fellow “kababayans” in the Philippines.  

How unfortunate that this is what we get for being the “modern day heroes.”  No country would treat their heroes this way; it is insane to reducelegal assistance fund to a meager 27 million a year.  The lack of funds as a reason for letting piteous Pinoy OFWs die in other countries brought by inability to legally defend their case would be tragic, senseless and an insensitive display of our government’s agenda on OFWs and other migrant workers.

Please, please!  We seek for your forthright defense of our already underprivileged sector whose only intention is to let their families live a good life, send their children or siblings to school, save the Philippine economy and let our nation become great again.  As Filipino Expatriates and OFWs, we provide our nation with new hope, we let the world see our eminence in various field, we make each of us proud to become Filipino and yet, the government has been less and less appreciative of our contribution by decreasing our means to be protected from legal scuffles. 

As united bloggers in different parts of the world, we will continue to knock, beat our drums and reach every home with Internet to let the world know that this is not fair, that this is an injustice to our welfare and would send our many fellow Filipinos working abroad into the mud of legal demise.

We hope that this plead will not fall on deaf ears, we are in a new era of governance, our new administration have relentlessly brandished renewal as their guiding thrust,  prove to us that you care for the OFWs by scrapping the proposed cut from DFA’s Legal Assistance Fund.

Pinoy Expats OFW Blog Awards (PEBA) pinoyblogawards.com
PEBA-OFW Alliance Action Group
Kablogs (Gateway of OFW Bloggers) www.ofwkablogs.com

For more information on this statement, please contact:
PEBA, Inc.
Felix Jigs G. Segre, Program Director, Head of PR & Media Affairs
Tel. Nos.: +63915.393.4770 or +632.219.1018
Email:
Email:


Share |

©2010 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Pres. Aquino's Cut in Legal Assistance and OFW Social Services Fund

Author: Mr. Thoughtskoto | Posted at: 4:20 PM | Filed Under: , , , , |

SUPPORT THIS ONLINE PETITION NOT TO CUT OVERSEAS BUDGET FOR SOCIAL SERVICES OR THE DFA's LEGAL ASSISTANCE FUND or LAF. JUST CLICK 'LIKE'



Facebook
I like




Below is an excerpt from Susan Ople's blog, an OFW advocate explaining the impact of this budget cut to the OFWs





"So in cutting down (or chopping off!) more than half of the DFA’s budget including that to be used for legal and other forms of assistance to Filipinos overseas, the consequences may be the following:


1. The task of repatriating trafficked victims and other distressed OFWs shall now fall on: 1) individual politicians from senators to mayors; 2) OWWA which are made up of contributions of workers who left the country legally; 3) the very individuals and agencies that conspired to victimize these workers thus diminishing the crime and reducing the entire matter into a bargaining situation.
I would have added the NGOs except one can really count on one’s fingers the number of NGOs that could afford to repatriate workers even from neighboring countries like Malaysia and Singapore.
No. 1 weakens institutional governance because it would lead to the politicizing of welfare assistance to OFWs in distress; it will also cause enormous lag time in providing onsite assistance – time that could mean the death or survival of an OFW.
2. RA 10022 or the amendments to the Migrant Workers’ Act states that the DFA can now use its legal assistance fund to file cases against abusive and exploitative employers and agencies outside the country. The Ople Center and other NGOs were happy to know this because the filing of such cases would greatly boost our anti-trafficking efforts. But with only Php 27-M for an entire year, how can the DFA even hope to pursue such cases? And what about the 3,000 Filipinos in jail, some of who have been detained more than their penalty calls for? If the current legal assistance fund is insufficient in looking after the legal rights of our OFWs, what more just a quarter of that amount? For an entire year!
3. Our foreign posts serve as the refuge of trafficked and maltreated workers. In Dubai alone, the welfare center is overflowing with at least 200 stranded workers at a single given time. A video taken of appalling conditions in Saudi Arabia for workers awaiting repatriation stresses the need for more funds, not less particularly for posts with a high concentration of Filipino workers. If we cannot afford change, then how can we see it? In this case, the OFW sector is not asking even for more funds — though it has every right to do so. But at the very least – a status quo. For now. Especially for a sector that brings in billions in dollar remittances that makes for a positive credit rating from international credit rating agencies. Why cut social services for OFWs?
Unless — the unjustified cuts are but another symptom of internal conflicts driven by magnified, puffed-up bureaucratic and political hurts. Read:factionalism. This may be a valid observation because of how deep the cuts are. Too deep to be superficial; too ruthless to be developmental. The cuts were made to hurt, and hurt bad – except that the wounds are being inflicted several times over on the bodies of the innocents.
We do want to hope again. The yearning is there, it is unmistakable, and while we are watchful, it is a watchfulness for both the bad, and most especially for the good. Honestly, I would prefer the inconvenience of a noisy wang-wang to the heart-wrenching wail of an OFW unable to come home despite numerous beatings from her employer. NFA – no funds available. So what else is new?
This latest move of chopping off millions meant to protect the rights and welfare of our OFWs is simply unjustifiable. When a child leaves home, a parent does what is humanly possible, despite the distance, to make sure that he or she is alright. The Assistance to Nationals Fund and the Legal Assistance Fund of the Department of Foreign Affairs is the budgetary equivalent of that.
With such drastic budgetary cuts, this administration might as well have cut lives short.
“Kayo ang boss ko!” Prove it to millions of OFWs and their families here at home, Mr. President. This is in your power to change. Do not cut the budget for the DFA’s assistance to nationals and legal assistance fund."




Share |

©2010 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

The Filipino Today by Alex Lacson

Author: Mr. Thoughtskoto | Posted at: 12:20 PM | Filed Under: , , , |

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 a 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.



Share |

©2010 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
 

Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards, Inc. (PEBA) All Rights Reserved. The Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards, Inc. Blog re-design by Ion Gonzaga • PEBA2011 Graphics Design by