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HUMAN RIGHTS.
It’s not left nor wrong but rights! I have not been made aware of the etymology of this word but I am sure that this post is a right move. I didn’t mean to confuse but I just want to share a speck of insight re: HUMAN RIGHTS.
EVERY HUMAN RIGHT SHOULD NEVER BE DENIED BY ANYONE AT ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. I know for a fact that there exists a universal declaration of human rights but not all of this rights are accessible to peoples under certain countries and destitute situations.
But what is the basic and unalienable right? DIGNITY. I learned this not through my own effort but through the awareness and a bit of lecture that I gained through joining the World Youth Alliance. We do not live anymore in the time of Viktor Frankl that has been characterized by much hatred and violence. Were people were forced to live a life worst than that of the animals. Freedom neglected, dignity smugged, tattered and soiled! But there still exist violence. Dignity is still undermined in some places.
In the Philippines, dignity is less in the slums - squatters we call them. Houses that are shanties on vacant lots or tents under the bridge. Vagrants - taong grasa (human grease) - that walk aimlessly at the main thoroughfares of the country begging for many isn’t a once-in-a-blue-moon scene. Street kids who are forced to labor for them and their families to live. It would take a mile to enumerate all things related to the modern-day Hitler of our time - poverty.
Poverty deprives man of his dignity. We may not be aware of it or simply got used to it. But allow me to lead you to the first step, come and see; then, be compelled to act. Look at them, then look at yourself. Poverty is no fairy tale nor a construct of reality - it’s reality itself, it’s the Philippines itself. Come and see - be aware! Preserve DIGNITY!
(You might be interested to join WYA. It’s easy, sign the charter and uphold it! God bless!)
LIVE moBlog: JP2 Conference [1]
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I’m now watching Fr. Marty Macasaet’s talk. Very interesting. An indepth image of the Filipino youth of today. Sad, though, for I wasn’t able to be right on venue but on a remote classroom, a few meters away tvia live telecast. Cool! Here is a pic.
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LIVE moBlog: JP2 Conference [1]
Happy Mother’s Day, Ma!
A fun tribute for my mom! 
The real message is at the end…
To all the mom’s out there especially to my mama… Happy Mother’s Day! God bless!
Educate with the Heart
Educate the heart with the heart… of Don Bosco. My own version of the Strenna of the Rector Major for the Salesians of Don Bosco. I did this design for the cover of the HS 2008-2009 Diary:
Altered it a bit:
today’s earth day!
Yes. Today is Earth Day! I grabbed the logo above from the Earth Day Network site. The Philippines is also celebrating it. I saw tarps hanged at certain MRT stations in Manila when I went there last Friday. Too bad I wasn’t able to click my shutter for it. But, actually, you’ll mistake it for a political campaign propaganda rather than a material to promote Mother Earth (I believe you know what I mean ). Anyway, here’s a copy of the program lead by the Cultural Center of the Philippines in partnership with a number of NGOs and businesses among them is HARIBON Foundation (which I’m proud to be a member of).
Too bad I won’t be able to join today’s celebration - in person. I’ll just pray for the success of the activities and it’s lasting effect that would surely benefit our Home and our Future! God bless!
via et veritas et vita
The lyrics of the song Pass it on rings in my mind. “It only takes a spark, to get the fire going…” The Gospel today seems apt and timely. Darkness has been the attribution given to what we are undergoing as a nation. This dim vista is brought about by the confusion that’s been lingering around. This is where the question of truth, the question of life lies.
The news across the nation, for the past few months, contain these questions. We face the unending dilemma: “who’s telling the truth.” We are threatened by the seemingly lacking supply of food. And so the eternal litany of problems begin to fill our days - again, and again, and again. Overpopulation, corruption, destabilization, pollution, education et al - to many to mention. In darkness, we are indeed.
“…a spark, to get the fire going.” For F. Sionil Jose, one of our National Artist for Literature, that spark would ignite one bloody revolution that would eradicate the ongoing culture of unlove for our nation, for our countrymen. A revolution against self-exultation, against that love that knows no suffering (not quoted, my personal interpretation).
Well, for me, let that fire be love. “I am the way and the truth and the life (Jn 14:6, NIV).” When Jesus said that He is via et veritas et vita, I can’t but remember His suffering and death on the cross - the profession of His love. Thus, made me think, love is the way, the truth, the life.
And so the song goes on, ” That’s how it is with God’s love,/ Once you’ve experienced it, you spread His love to everyone;/ You want to pass it on.” Amid this anxiety and despair that we are in, Jesus reminds us that the sole solution to these problems is LOVE. If we only choose to love our neighbor, to walk the extra mile for them, to say the truth, to respect their rights, to eat half rice, to begin to think of our brothers and sisters (not only our relatives and friends but most importantly those who are set aside by the society), and to start suffering for them - I believe, this would get the fire going.
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Ready to tell the truth to the nation? This PR Agency in the Philippines might help you.
TIC: The Alabang Orientation
Yesterday we went to Alabang - Tuloy sa Don Bosco. It’s a street children village near the posh subdivisions and commercial centers of Alabang. The village is being run by Salesians and other volunteers from the religious and business sectors. We went there for an orientation to boot our teaching immersion with the kids of tuloy. Let me share with some of the photos I took while we were there.
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- Kerwin
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- The Future Salesian Educators
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- One of the Stations of the Cross
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- An angle of the chapel's sanctuary
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- Aries reads the letters on the wall.
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- Fr. Beng and my classmates
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- Fr. Rocky with my classmates
For more photos you may check this. By the way, TIC means “Teaching Immersion Chronicles.”
Pandayan 10 - Through my Lens :)
Still not done with my post. For the mean time, feed on these photos..
Salesian Family in the Blogosphere
Still working on my Pandayan 10 post and the photos and videos that come with it (just for the info of everyone… 
) Anyway, I took this divert to plug this new blog portal I’m working on.
It’s a link / RSS portal of the blogs belonging to the members of the Salesian Family. Since I’ve found out that there are a lot of Salesians (priests, sisters, brothers, past pupils, volunteers, etc.) blogging from different parts of the world, I thought it practical to have a single blog to aggregate their feeds and store their links.
If you happen to know any blog being authored by any member of the Salesian Family, take a few minutes to answer this form. Thanks!
Pandayan - 10 (Foundry)
Just came from Pandayan 10 in Letran - Calamba. I really wanted to write my whole experience here (plus post the stills and videos I’ve taken). Too bad I’ve little time to write and I’m too tired to integrate everything in a single post. Hmm… let this be a teaser. Hopefully, I’ll be able to finish the whole post tomorrow!
