Giving :)

Something inspiring for me and maybe for you as well! Hope we'll never grew tired of giving whatever we can to others! :)

MnT, RSWs

Reaching a life achievement is waaaaaaaayyyy merrier with friends who happen to be true friends! I'll miss my MnT friends! :)

Ang Tinta. Bow.

Hello! How are you? Kumusta? Ano ang gagawin ko para tuminta ka na? Sayang ng Php 40.00 ko. Huhuhu. Tinta please? Bakit? Please! A □ □ □ Wala na namang tinta! □ #1≥♀○«Å P1II Tinta Please. Bakit ka ganyan? Nakailan ka na? Sayang ng tinta. Huhu. Tsktsk. Hmp. Please be careful! Please be gentle! Please don't be too much sayang! Huhuhuhuhuhuhuhu. Tsktsktsk. tsk. tsk. tsktsk. ! Bakit ganito?


-Isang novelang nakita ko sa isang lumang notebook na nagsasalarawan ng aking pakikibaka, kagustuhan at pagiging desperado na mapa-tinta ulit ang aking yumaong GTech. Hahahaha.

Photo from: https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/2606844588/agnw05g58weygtkvgezv.jpeg

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Photo taken during the Feast Day of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in the Carmelite Chapel in Concepcion Pequeña, Naga City. :)

Sir Jori says...

After posting my 'catharsis' in facebook regarding my failed attempt to land a spot in the Top 10 of the Social Work Licensure Examination, a former professor of mine, sent me a private message and pretty much reminded me of the things that i should have given more attention to. I just thank God for giving me a teacher like Sir Jori! Though we're not close, i guess the fact that he sent a private message indicates his care to his former student. Kudos to Sir Jori and may his kind multiply a thousand folds. :)))

Something for you!

ITO AY PARA SAYO! Sa nag-iisang ikaw at wala ng iba! RRR! :)

Unemployment Series

Unemployed like me? I found available jobs at Molino! Hahahaha. Ang masasabi ko lang, mahirap talaga ang buhay umemployed. :))))

This series is inspired by Alekkss' Unemployment Series.

Cheers! :)

I dreamed of reaching the top and i failed. Not only did i dreamed but i also gave my best shot but my efforts were somehow futile. I was disappointed with myself and i have no one and nothing to blame except myself. I was scared about what other people might say. About their expectations that i failed to meet and about what they will be saying. That was my initial reaction.

But now, i'm over it. I accepted things as they were and as they are. Perhaps there's something greater that is waiting to be realized. The horizon is wide and far ranging and instead of flooding myself with disappointment, fear and ill-feelings, there are countless reasons why i need to celebrate what had happened like the fact that BUCSSP remains as the Top Performing School of Social Work in the Philippines and of course, the fact that almost all of my friends (of course including me) passed. 

So sa lahat ng nagturo, gumabay, umagapay, dumamay, tumulong, nagmahal, nagpasaya, nagpangiti, nagbigay ng inspirasyon, naghatid ng motibasyon, umasa, nagdasal, nagpamisa, nagpakain, nagtweet, nagmessage, bumati, nakiramay, nakibahagi at nagpugay sa akin -- SALAMAT at SALAMAT ng marami!

With love na may halong pagmamahal,

Russ Daniel Oliva Baldoza, RSW

Human Welfare Advocates No More.

          I spent almost my whole life in Naga City. Though I was born in Polangui, Albay, I grew up in the Maogmang Lugar which I humbly call as my happy place. Basically, I became conscious and got in touch with reality in Naga. I developed my skills, forged and started relationships, earned life experiences in Naga. Also, the me I am today is the product of my stay in Naga during my developmental years from childhood to adolescence. My happy place is infamous for its Participatory Governance which was started by the late Secretary of Interior and Local Government and my personal idol and inspiration, Sec. Jesse Robredo. It is his leadership style, which is now fondly called as “tsinelas leadership” which I would want to emulate ever since. From my limited comprehension of his leadership style as well as observation during his term as mayor, I guess his “tsinelas leadership” means getting in touch with the people you serve, with the members of your organization and most especially, you walk your talk. Aside from that, tsinelas Leadership for me entails that as a leader, you walk among your people, you guide them but you don’t dictate to them the things that they should do.

                On the other hand, since my first year in college, I was bombarded with the different knowledge and skills expected to a social worker. Aside from that, every now and then, professors would remind us that we have to have the attitude also that social workers are expected to have. I am proud to say that somehow, I learned and I managed to remember some things worth remembering. Among those things is the Principle of Self-Determination. The Principle of Self-Determination is one of the many principles that social workers are expected to adhere. In this principle, social workers are expected to respect the person’s capacity to decide for what is better for himself or to his group. Also, social workers are expected not to dictate or influence the decision-making process of individual unless otherwise the decision of the person is perceived as something that will inflict harm to himself or to other people around him.

                Tsinelas leadership and the Principle of Self-Determination - two different concepts with different origin, one from the public administration perspective while the other from the social work perspective yet they bear the same message: giving the people a chance to raise their voice and determine what is good for them. Throughout my imperfect “career” as a student leader in college (especially when I was the HWA President) and even in high school, the two concepts I mentioned are my top two tenets. The tsinelas leadership which implies simplicity, getting in touch with the member of my organization and walking my talk and the Principle of Self-Determination which gives the members of the organization to opportunity to identify, decide and implement things that they think will be beneficial to the majority of the members. When I was the president of HWA, my battlecry is to empower the members of the organization by reminding them that they are the organization and to involve as many students as possible in the different processes of the organization in such a way to remove the notion that the organization is equal to the officers. Aside from that, some of the important decisions of the organizations were also opened to debate and discussion before finally leaving things to voting. For example, from imposing a theme selected by the officers for a specific event, students were asked to nominate their desired theme, present the idea and most importantly to vote for the theme that they think is the best and beneficial. Good thing that the my fellow officers in the organization shares the same battlecry that I have wherein at the end of our term, we can say that things (though not perfect) have somehow changed such as students’ passivity was transformed to pro-activeness and some became more assertive with regards to their ideas. We tried to institutionalized things by changing the organizational structure of the organization which placed to the top the General Assembly as the highest policy making body of the organizations to make sure that the members (collectively) will still be powerful than the officers and officers will be accountable to the members of the organization and that the decision of the assembly will most of the time (if not always) will be followed or prioritized. My perception then was that we were able to start what I called as “WEvolution” where students became more involved, more empowered and happier of their status as members but I guess that was only a perception – my perception.

                Sadly, things changed and some are continuously changing. I guess I have to remind myself that change is the only constant thing in the world. But what is sadder is that the gains that we have a year ago was slowly being erased and that we are slowly sliding back to where we begin. The existence of the organization and the purposes for which it was established is not anymore being respected. Today, all decisions regarding the organization, crucial or not so crucial, fall into the hands of the omnipotent beings in the department who can simply overturn the decisions of the General Assembly for whatever reason or reasons (mostly subjective, baseless and biased) without lifting a finger. The guidance and supervisory function of the faculty was elevated to decision-making while the members of the organization have no choice but to accept the decision of the faculty regardless of its fairness to the members. The fate of the organization is now rested upon what the faculty dictates which destroys the concept of STUDENT organization. I am not questioning the capability of the faculty to decide for the organization dahil naniniwala naman ako na walang magulang ang gugustuhing mapasama ang kanyang mga anak. But at the end of the day, it is the students who lost their chance to develop better decision-making skills, better assertiveness and better identity as an essential part of the organization and of the department. It is the students who lost their chance to enjoy the privilege that the principle of self-determination offers and it is the students who lost their chance to be heard.

                Gone are the days when the organization can determine the concept of the activities that it wants to implement freely. Gone are the days when members of the organization could vote, suggest and comment on what they want freely. Gone are the days of empowered students. Gone are the days of students’ self-determination. Gone are the days of the Human Welfare Advocates that was established for the students, by the students and of the students. Gone are the days that the Human Welfare Advocates can be branded as a student organization. Self-determination and Participative Governance in the Human Welfare Advocates died and along with it, the very essence and the very reason of existence of the Human Welfare Advocates died. Until the important people in and out of the organization will not redefine their roles in the organization, nothing will change and the Human Welfare Advocates will forever be dead.

disclaimer for myself

i'm becoming busier every day. requirements after requirements are being given by the six major subjects that we have (if my memory serves me right or was it five?). anyway, a lot of catching up is still to be done with regards to my blogging. however, i don't have the luxury of time and the internet access that i need. sayang! anyway, as things become more challenging, i must learn to adapt. hindi pa ata ako graduating. third year pa lang ako. kung ganito ang third year, ano na kaya ang fourth year. anyway, since, i gave a promise to myself to blog whatever i would like to blog, the so be it. as usual, just like what is written on the right corner of my blog page, posts here (mostly) are ante dated. haha. ayos na yun basta may post. :)

second semester worries

the second semester for this academic year is dawning. new set of classmates, new professor, new and harder course or subjects to attend to, same old notebooks, new schedule that i personally don't like so far and i guess a different me. i don't know but i guess i should step up my game in academics thinking that mama personally said that she wants me to graduate with a laude honors. sabi ko, ayos lang yan ma miski mayo basta maggraduate but she insisted. i said i am worrying because i think my grades for the first semester are low and thus, i will not be eligible for academic scholarship. worse, if i have a grade below 2.4, my and my mother's laude dreams will be forever gone. personally, i told myself that whatever happens, it's okay with me. pero ibang kaso kasi kung nagsabi na ang magulang mo na sa graduation day mo ay may laude honors ka. this is the first time my parents demanded such things. noon wala naman, saan at anong kaya namin, okay na sila. things change nga naman talaga. rock on! pero ang sa akin, i'll do my best that's to achieve a laude honor. pero ngayon pa lang ay tanggap ko na kung wala. pero habang may pag-asa pa, the flame of optimism still burns inside me.

moreover, with the advent of the second semester, i'm preparing myself for lonesome times. i mean, having breakfast and lunch alone which though i personally dislike, the new schedule and the situation will compel me to do so. inaasahan ko na ang mga oras ng kalungkutan lalo na at hindi ko kaklase ang mga kaibigan kong madalas kong kasama. pero classmate ko ngayon sina angelo and melvz. we were supposedly the los lakwatchero brothers because of what we did last summer (if my memory serves me right) which was to have movie marathon, and lakwatcha of course! pero things changed. hindi man nila alam or hindi man nila napapansin, i feel aloof when i'm with them. ni hindi ako minsan nakakasakay sa kanila dahil may mga bagay na alam nilang dalawa na hindi ko alam. tipong, magkasama nga kami pero parang hindi rin. perhaps, masyado lang silang nagcclick at napag-iwanan ako. haha. actually, i would have wanted to ask angelo kung bakit hindi na kami ganun ka-close ngayon kumpara nung dati pero i don't have the guts and i can't find the right timing. aaminin ko, nalungkot ako at first pero natanggap ko na. ewan. wala na akong masabi. yun lang naman ang naisip ko ngayon. ACCEPTANCE and good thing that hindi ako yung taong sinisiksik ang sarili. haha.

moving on, what i am actually worried about this new semester is the prospect of me having many lonesome times. yun lang naman. pero still just like what i had mentioned a while ago, i am still optimistic that there are ways to reduce that lonesome times of mine. tingnan natin. maaga pa para magsalita ng tapos. GOOD LUCK FOR ME THIS SECOND SEMESTER! >.<

realization 3

laisa and i had a wonderful conversation in fb chat last night if i am right and in the middle of the conversation, we had realized one important fact.

sabi ko most girls are too fixated with the though of having the ideal guy that's why they end up getting hurt. sabi niya naman, while girls expect for guys to be ideal, some guys try to be ideal too. that's why girls and guys end up hurting each other

justice for laesybil

a news reached me through sms that a schoolmate was found dead after being raped in an area near their house in bascaran, a rural community in daraga, albay. actually, she is from our neighbor college, the college of business, economics and management (cbem). she is also a third year student who is taking BS Accountancy, a valedictorian when she graduated in high school and a consistent dean's lister of cbem. what could have been a bright future for her and her family was crashed by an immoral person.

yes, perhaps, i don't know her personally but i don't think personally knowing the victim is a requirement for a person to stand-up against rape, violence and other kinds of inhumane acts. that's why when prof. mirabueno (bu cal) encourage the used of black ribbons as DP in fb, i changed my fb profile picture and when i was asked by laisa to make a lay-out of the tarp to be displayed infront of the department, i immediately did it. just like what i mentioned in the bu-cssp social work fb page, our silence is not needed at these times. we need to stand up. we need to condemn all acts of violence committed against any person. we need to join the call for justice for laesybil so that her death will not go in vain. come to think of it, i would not want it to happen to my friends and family members. JUSTICE!

justice!

i was tasked by laisa to help her in the lay-out and in the messaging of a tarp that will be displayed infront of the department in connection to what happened to a student of bicol university and this is what i made:

well, i know its just normal but i'm just happy that our condemnation and message was spread directly to 35 persons and was shared with 20 other more persons. calling for justice is not easy, but together, we can make our voices heard. :)

volunteerism

i remembered that just after the values enrichment for the first year which happened on august, the "wishing wall" posted on one of the white boards of AH ICTC was not removed. perhaps, nakalimutan na. upon seeing it, i was thinking to remove it but i did otherwise. i get my blue sign pen and write as many wishes as i could with the help of my classmates and batchmates. ako lang yung taga-sulat at sila ang taga-bigay ng wish. so, i started putting any kind of wish from success of madam vida for her doctoral studies, marriage for madam che, money for those who need it like me, good health, lovelife which happens to be the blockbuster wish, and so on. then, if my memory serves me right, my "wednesday girlfriend" terelle as she calls herself put there:

after some time, perhaps weeks, may sumagot! aba! pwede daw siya. haha. magpakilala ka nga sa akin ng masubukan! well, sympre joke lang yun. departmental policy bans intimate and romantic relationships between social work students. babaeng kaibigan na lang. haha. bottomline, wala lang. natuwa lang ako sa pag-volunteer! keep it up and thanks 'anonymous!'

as for love, it might come. it's coming! ♥

handsome me

this photos taken and made into a mosaic by kuya bjorn daryll manjares oropesa made me look very handsome (at least in my own perspective) that it becomes surreal. haha. ewan. pero anyway, thanks kuya bjorn for the stolen moments. :)

oktoberfest!

HELLO OCTOBER! :)

starting october (perhaps the busiest month for the first semester of AY 2011-2012)

with optimism and joy! KAYA TO!

feeling

PARANG ANSARAP MA-HEART BROKEN NGAYONG MGA PANAHON.

businesses

TODAY, I HIT TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE.

FIRST bird. i finally got my Professional Driver's License which will be good until 2013 after almost a week of going to the Land Transportation Office and that is quite an achievement for me. haha. yehess!

by the way, i wonder why i do not heard the name of LTO under the most corrupt government offices. i am thinking that perhaps corruption in LTO is lesser compared to those agencies labeled as corrupt and that is awful because from experience, corruption there is evident. tsktsk. hope proper authorities will soon act to curb corruption there.

SECOND bird. i am now a registered voter of Naga City after registering at the COMELEC Naga Office after LTO. i insisted to have myself registered way ahead of the 2013 Senatorial and Local Elections to avoid the rush, the siksikan and long lines when the election is just months away which is quite a practice of Filipinos since then. yehess! sooner, i can exercise my right of suffrage. :)

******

tomorrow, i'll go back to Legazpi to hopefully finished many impending businesses with regards to HWA, Blue Feathers Society and of course my enrollment for the 1st semester of AY 2011-2012 and i'm afraid i'll celebrate my birthday there for the first time. tsktsk. as usual, it is enrollment and my parents are cash-stripped therefore there is no pamblow-out. walang pondo! tsktsk. i guess i need to find other reasons to have a beautiful, happy, memorable yet simple birthday.

but hopefully, i can go back in Naga sooner than later or perhaps Friday. haha. HOPEFULLY!

******

ATE alex, your always welcome though i know it's not that of an effort. well, i'm preparing my gift which i will give to you sooner or LATER. HAHA. kthanksbye ate alekks! :D

RH now

i can't stop campaigning for RH Bill in my own little ways especially that tomorrow (if i am right) is the scheduled debate about RH Bill in the House of Representatives. well, i guess i stated the reason why i am for RH Bill passage. let me state some of my reasons by quoting the staunch RH advocate Carlos Celdran, "the bill aims to provide awareness and education. it isn't about abortion or population control." i would like to believe that at this point in time, i don't personally need RH but thinking about the millions of Filipinos living under the poverty line, we need to educate them. we need to give them the chance and opportunity to choose their path away from poverty by (in this case) giving them access to both natural and artificial family planning whichever they would want to use. we are a nation of strong 92 million and more Filipinos. yes, i believe that population is our very asset but then again, this bill is not about population control and i would like to believe that the bill will paved way for a sustainable population growth which will be very helpful for the country. we cannot waste more and more time. our time is now! i'm pro-life. pro-quality life for the Filipino people. pass the RH bill!

as to the opposition of the catholic church, well, i am a proud catholic but i think supporting the RH bill will not make me less of a catholic because i know God wants the best for His people and God wants better life especially for the poor. but let me quote another statement, this time from Leloy Claudio with regards to the opposition of the Catholic church. "Condoms and anti-colonial novels are, after all, eerily similar: they piss off the powerful because they liberate" and perhaps you can read his blogpost about the RH bill and the Catholic opposition through this link.