Rest in Peace

"Later on in life, you will realize that it is neither your successes nor your conquests that will give you satisfaction. It is your contribution that really matters – paying back what you owe the community that nurtured you." - Sec. Jesse Robredo 

So many photos of the late Sec. Jesse Robredo have been posted online, but no other photo struck me as much as this one did. I think this one, among all the other photos I've seen, best captured his extraordinary character, his joyful, positive disposition despite the circumstances. Although I haven't followed his short stint as DILG Secretary, I've heard a lot of exemplary things about him, especially from my Bicolano friends. He is truly a man of integrity and I hope that we will all be inspired by his legacy. I feel like tearing up every time I see updates about him on Facebook. I'm sure my friends from Bicol are twice as affected. 

In 2003, he gave this speech to the college graduates of Ateneo De Manila University. I'm part of that batch and I hate that I don't remember the speech at all :( It's quite long, but I urge you to read it and be inspired by the way he lived his life. Read it, when you start getting discouraged about our country, when you feel that nothing can't be done to remedy our seemingly insurmountable issues. The least we can do now is to emulate the same optimism he had when he was still alive. 

Sec. Jesse may have passed on but he continues to touch the lives of many Filipinos. Rest in peace, Sir. 

Snow Patrol!

I didn't think I'd still get to watch Snow Patrol live. Months ago, I was looking for another fan to watch with me but I was surprised to find out that my usual concert buddies are not Snow Patrol fans. Sure, the band has acquired enough airtime to put it in the mainstream - and its songs have been used in onsite wedding and photo AVPs too many times - but not many people know the albums much less, pay to see the band perform live. I still wanted to watch though, until I started with work and the floods happened and the concert was pushed at the bottom of my priority list.

Deja Vu

 After what happened on September 26, 2009, I didn't think I'd find myself packing relief goods again for disaster victims of a calamity with the same magnitude as typhoon Ondoy. Yet today, I was doing exactly the same thing, at the same venue, for the same reason. As you all may know by now, Manila was placed under a state of calamity due to the continuous rains that have caused extreme flooding around the metro (again). I've heard for some, this disaster is even worse than typhoon Ondoy. Unlike Ondoy that lasted only for a few hours, this one has been going on for days, and the rain continuous to pour as I write. No one probably anticipated that another calamity of this level would hit the country (at least I didn't). I thought, after that fairly recent disaster, it won't happen again any time soon, and that the rain had to stop sometime. It's been almost three days and the weather isn't getting better. I haven't seen the sun in two days. The mood has been dreary all over, and it's just devastating to hear and read about flood-affected areas in the city.