Part 2: A Road to Anawim

As part of our service learning journey, my group went back to Anawim Lay Missions Foundation Inc. to share again some moments with our dear lolos and lolas. This time we took a different route going there which I can say better than the first one. We brought some stuffs for them. While we were on our way I was thinking if the lolos and lolas i had interact with can still recall me. Immediately after we arrive we went to a small hall where gatherings are being held. 

There was another group with us who was also there to share some moments and make the lolos and lolas happy even in a very short span of time. After the program, we attended a mass which regularly held during Sundays.

The day was about to end and before we say goodbye we asked the lolos and lolas to have some picture taking with them. Almost all of them were so excited to face the camera and surprisingly they know how to do the wacky. It was a nice feeling seeing the joys on our dear lolos and lolas. In God's perfect time I know I would be able to come back in this institution to bring again joy to each and everyone of them. More than anything, I thank the Founder who had given our lolos and lolas a home and the staffs of Anawim who spent almost all their hours for our lolos and lolas and also to those who supports the foundation.

"Goodness is the only investment that never fails"

- Henry David Thoreau

Part 1: A Road to Anawim

It was a nice and sunny day for the group. A day before the event, I was thinking a lot of things. I couldn’t explain the excitement. Our group had decided to visit the Anawim Lay Foundations, Inc. Anawim Lay Foundations, Inc is a non-profit organization which its mission is to support the elderly “lolos and lolas” who were abandoned, who has no relatives or families who could take care of them. It is an organization who provides care and happiness to all elderly. The Chairman and Founder of Anawim Lay Foundations, Inc is Mr. Bo Sanchez. It now exists for 18 years.   

We had a long ride going to Montalban. It took us 2 hours to get there riding a jeepney from Sta. Lucia Mall Pasig to Montalban, Rizal. Then we had to take another ride which is a tricycle and it took us 20 minutes to finally get to our destination.

Tita Mila, one of the social workers of Anawim welcomed us with a warmth smile. She oriented us on the organization’s background. After our interview with Tita Mila, we went to activity center where they held their mass and other activities. On the same schedule, a group of friends were also there to conduct and activity. There was one lola who noticed us arriving and she immediately approach and greeted us one by one. She was so accommodating and even offered us a chair. Her name is Lola Judith. Lola Judith greeted me a “Maligayang Pasko!” and so I greeted back and hugged me.  After few minutes another lola came near to me and ask me to sit down beside her, she is lola Violeta. She showed to me the stuffs she received from the visitors who went there earlier. She’s wearing a scarf, bracelet and she has a bag with her which she showed to me an empty wallet. After few hours, we had to packed up and say goodbye to the lolas and lolos. We decided to come back to spend another few hours for activities with the lolas and lolos.

As we leave the foundation, we have already planned to bring something for the elderly when we come back. It was a long day, not on the hours spent in the foundation but on the hours spent for the travel. But I guess that day was a day well spent.

Insights in Marcopper Case

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth which forms into economic material.

Philippines used to have very rich natural resources and minerals. This is why most companies were trying to get into mining industry. Marcopper Mining Corporation is obviously one of those companies who wanted to take advantage on the rich resources of the Philippines. While reading the case, I could picture out the messed they made not only to our natural resources but to those who are relying on it, the local residents.

Marcopper Mining Corporation was operated in Marinduque Island back in 1969. The beautiful mountain and lively river became grey and dead which once the major source of living to the communities of Marinduque. Although the company became the largest revenue contributor and employment provider these would not suffice the impact that mining operations had created not only to our natural resources but to the community's health as well. 

Years have passed yet the case of Marcopper still hangs in the Court. Moreover, the destruction that the mining operation have made remained in the community of Marinduque. People can no longer depend on the river and other natural resources that were once their major provider. What saddens me more is that, it was not the only scandal happened in the Philippines and the Government just let these mining companies operate without imposing parameters that could protect the natural resources and the community. I hope it is not too late for the Government to realize that mining operation has a lifetime impact in our natural resources. I also hope that the next generation can still see the beauty of nature and not the destruction made by these mining companies.

Silent Initiative: Pedro’s Commitment to the Hearing Impaired (A Remarkable Case of Success)

Silent Initiative is a about the success story of a man on his endeavor, the Lamoiyan Corporation. Most of us are already familiar with the brand Hapee Toothpaste. Behind this brand is a remarkable story of the company and its owner.

I was unsure if what I have read was actually a case. I never saw a sentence or even a phrase that shows an indication of a case problem. In fact, I see it as a happy problem. The company is stable and continuously growing in terms of its brand position. But that was not just the highlight of the story.

Mr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro, the CEO and President of the Lamoiyan Corporation have gone through tough times before the Lamoiyan Corporation has stood up where it is right now. His first company, known as Aluminum Containers, Inc. was so successful in year 1980’s. He supplied toothpaste containers to multinational companies such as Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive. After prosperous years, due to innovation, these companies have switch in using aluminum containers and have used plastics containers instead which lead Mr. Pedro to give up 200 employees and later on forced to close the company. Mr. Cecilio Pedro’s faith in God brought him to a new beginning. After a while, he saw an opportunity on creating a product of his own which now known nationwide as Hapee toothpaste. The strategy of Mr. Pedro was to attract consumers by selling the product having the same quality with the competitors but at the lower price. Lamoiyan Corporation was able to penetrate the market despite of tough competition.

Even before Lamoiyan Corporation has been established, Mr. Pedro is already committed on his providing equal employment. The company is providing employment to PWDs particularly the hearing impaired individuals. Aside from equal employment program of the company, they are also active in various Corporate Social Responsibility programs. Mr. Pedro’s success story has taught me that a man does not need to be sufficient enough to extend his hand to those in need.

CSR: Environmental Sustainability

Few years ago I got the chance to witness the first National Advertising Conference conducted by Philippine Junior Marketing Association. I have been edified on Corporate Social Responsibility through our speaker Ms. Regina Lopez. She expounded her desire to rehabilitate the Pasig River. Her dedication to this project just amazed me. 

Maintaining a good environment has a great impact on the companies and the consumers. If we effectively sustain the environment, this will eventually create different sources that would support the needs of people. Environmental sustainability is the process wherein the biological system can still produce enough for the human societies’ needs. Companies are becoming active now on creating projects related to our environment as part of their CSR. 

Environmental sustainability is significant for all of us. Thus, this is something that not only the companies have the capacity to perform. Everyone has to contribute, by just merely disciplining ourselves in waste disposal is something that can make a huge difference. 

Consumer Protection: Goods that are Truly Good, Service that Truly Serve

God has given us so many resources where we get what we need for our daily activities. These needs became more accessible for us since many companies have emerged to produce goods. Goods are tangible products being purchased by the average consumers. On the other hand, services are intangible yet we could feel it through experience. As companies develop rapidly, it seems that some have forgotten to set limits. We are now exposed to various goods that are not delivering welfare for the society. Moreover, we experienced different way of servicing. These are goods that are not truly good and service that truly serve. 

Low quality products, hazardous products, products that are being advertised to deceive the audience, unhealthy food, unsatisfactory service and the likes are some of the goods that do not truly deliver goodness for society or consumers. Many companies were tempted to engage themselves in unscrupulous practices in order to earn high sales and market shares. Moreover, there are companies which provide these goods to the market and yet they could acknowledge Corporate Social Responsibility in their companies. In recent time, providing employment to community is no longer the only responsibility of the company. One of the things that most of the companies look into consideration now a days is the effect of the product to society at large. Through consumer protection act, most of the companies set standards for their production. Consumer protection is a security of consumers for purchasing goods or services against unethical business practices such as unfair trade practices, unscrupulous and exploitative production. 


For business perspective, consumer protection is important in various ways; Consumer protection compels businesses to comply with a standard measure for production that would eventually attract number of consumers and would increase loyalty through customer satisfaction. Consumer protection apprise businesses that the resources they get are from society so in return they should give back what is due to consumers by providing the demand of the economy, social responsibility and environmental sustainability. As we all know, companies that are pro-earth, pro-society and pro-economy are mostly being patronized by the consumers. Consumer protection helps to screen out the exploitative practices and be able to provide right promotion and advertisement to the audience. By providing the right promotion and advertisement to the audience may avoid misleading in which buyers lose their trust on the product and its company. Lastly, consumer protection directs the companies to follow the policies of the government in which in the long run would give a good impression on the company. Observing consumer protection has a huge impact not only on the consumers but on the company as well.



Doing the right thing always produce a positive outcome.  

Service Learning: Corporate Social Responsibility

As a person who is consistently doing a morning exercise at the park, I become familiar with other individuals who performed morning exercise as well. Some of them joined the aerobics. These people are mostly on their 40’s. There are also few young people who performed Arnis.

Doing a jog in the morning is also my way to free my mind from stress or thinking too much. So I came up to consider health as my proposed issue in my community. For me it would be easier to propose a program especially if the people involved are open minded in the particular issue.

However, these people I encounter every day is not the reason why I decided to take Health as my propose issue for my CSR.  The reason why I chose this was because of our neighbor who has a small grocery store. She is a petite woman at her 40’s. She assists me whenever I need to buy something. Until one day, I have notice she no longer in the store to assists the buyers. I just found out that she had a stroke. I know if someone can only pay attention to her condition, she can easily recover. So I thought if there would be an organization who would aim to help community members on their recovery, it would be a huge help for the family members of the patient. 

To provide a right proposed plan in my community, it is a requirement to assess the community’s need in this kind of program. Knowing the health condition rate of my community is a must and until now this is what I’m still trying to arrange with the people in-charge in our Barangay.

People, Planet & Profit

In economic perspective, an organization helps the individual on their livelihood. However, the companies should not end in just providing people a job to live their means. There are other factors which every organization should take into consideration -People, Planet and Profit.

People, planet and profit are the components of multistream approach. More and more companies now a days are practicing this approach. Corporate Social Responsibility for example is now popping up in most of the companies. Multistream approach according to Neubert/ Dyck is taking stakeholders as part of organization's responsibility. This creates balance on the companies financial stability and those that may be affected by the company's performance.

The video below shows the sustainability of the organization by taking compelling to people, planet and profit at the same time.

Service Learning: Searching for the Right One

My whole Sunday was spent on searching for the right one. I had opened more than thirty websites to search for organizations which I may consider to be the best for the group.

One of the criteria which I inclined to look for is the location. Since all of us in the group have work commitments, we preferred at least an organization that would not consume a lot for the travel time. The second factor which I well thought out is the enforceability of the organization towards their objective and the level of commitment of the people on their organization’s mission.  

The top three among the organizations which I was able to search are The Academy of Hope, CRIBS Foundation Inc. and PREDA Foundation.

The Academy of Hope is located in Cabuyao, Laguna. They rehabilitate individuals who are victims of drug abused and people who are experiencing depression and anxiety. They also facilitate individuals with mental disorders due to tragic circumstances that happened in their lives. I have also found out that the Academy of Hope is tie up with a known private organization.

CRIBS Foundation Inc. has different objective. This organization is into child caring. They support homeless children to find foster parents who can provide them special care. It is located in Marikina. Some private organizations coordinate with CRIBS Foundation Inc. on their Corporate Social Responsibility.

Lastly is the PREDA Foundation which is located in Olonggapo city. Mr. Shay Cullen, the Founder, is actively raising campaign against human trafficking. The organization rehabilitates young individuals who experience drug abused, maltreatment/ physical abused and women who have been into prostitution. Most of their programs and articles are posted on their website. This organization is actually my preference. However, the location is just bad for our schedules due to travel time.

At this moment our group is still deciding in which organization we will spend our 6 hours service learning activity.

Handling Financial Predicament, Talk to Suze Orman

Success can be defined in different ways by different people. Most of us tend to associate success by having material possessions and financial freedom.

The first thing which I have learned from the video is modesty. Suze Orman never felt ashamed to tell her story. She even mentioned about her job as waitress years ago. I could not imagine that back then she already knew Steve Jobs.

How people manage the finances now a days are too far from what people do back then. Before, a person may enjoy traveling abroad upon reaching their retirement. However in this era, people even at their 20’s can already travel having money on their own pockets. Most people are now adopting vanity. Then credit cards exist. Most live in life beyond their means. I guess it’s one of the reasons why financial adviser or analyst became a trend as most of us don’t know exactly how to manage the finances (even myself is guilty of this).

According to Suze, the following are the laws of money which can avoid financial predicament.

Law #1: Truth creates money, lies destroys it.

Law #2: You have got to look at what you have, not at what you had

Law #3: You have got to do what’s right for you before you do what’s right for your money

Law #4: You must first invest in known before the unknown.

Law #5: You must always remember that money has no power of its own

Planning your Future

To have a financial freedom is not just about getting a high paid job, obtaining a good life means being able to handle your financials.

Today and years from now inflation rate will be gradual in which the money that has been saved in banks will no longer have the same value from the time it has been deposited. Therefore, engaging in a long term investment is important. According to Suze, people should look for investment that is at least equal or more than to one’s expenditures. As a banker, I was able to learn the types of investment and for me, Money Market is apt for a conservative type of clients, just like me. Before getting a commitment with the bank, it is important that a person should at least have the basic understanding on how money goes through investment. 

There is a quote which I read in the company where I am currently working and it goes like, "Learn to live within your means, having extra money does not mean that you have to spend it. Learn to invest for your future retirement." The message is so simple yet powerful and I believe this is one of the tools to be able to achieve financial freedom.
  

"Many people take no care of their money until they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time." Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
 

 

Juggling Work, Life and Faith

Balancing work, life and faith is the most crucial thing for people who have many priorities in life. There are things to consider when setting priorities. Most people take family as their first priority but usually get compromised when there are unexpected issues that happens in our lives.

I can relate to Pat Gelsinger's talk about balancing family, work and faith. Though I don't have kids yet, spending quality time with the people special to me is part of my priorities as well. I am glad to have a supportive family who understand me whenever I have to spend most of my hours with my studies and with work-related stuff.

Balancing work together with personal life requires discipline. I believe it is inappropriate to see someone doing his school homework in the office or perhaps to see someone taking some office work at home while spending time with the family. The best way to balance life is to become a discipline person especially on time and dealing with deadlines. A person should also remember that above all, saying a prayer before doing the daily tasks can make a difference. 

Called to Do God's Work

To see streets kids, mendicants, family living along the streets are now commonly spotted anywhere in Manila. Back when I was a kid, I used to ask my mom why these people are in such situation. I felt bad. I even remember the time when I asked my mom, “Why the kids sniffing a plastic bag with rugby?” Whenever I see street children, many questions come across my mind, “Where are their parents?” “What do they eat?” “Where do they sleep?” As she explained, she would say that those are the unfortunate people who couldn't afford to find a decent place to live. Sometimes she would tell me, those kids sniffing a plastic bag with rugby are so hungry and it is the only way for them to surpass starvation. After her long explanation, she would say that we should be grateful and should ask God's grace every single day because we have not experience the same situation as them. These words retain in my mind until now.

As I grow old my perception about life has changed. Why I am working hard is not basically just because of my personal interest. I work hard because I really want to be the person who would create a change to every hopeless child. I want to see children valuing education. I want to see every youth valuing the morality, attitude and discipline.

I would like to share a video, which I really find interesting and makes a lot of sense to me. I have watched this video from the website girleffect.org. I hope this video does make sense to those will watch as well. 

I know this goal is not easy and it would take a long journey and hardwork for me to achieve it but I know with God’s help I can make it happen.

The Story of St. John Baptist De La Salle (From a short film Who Are My Own?)

As I entered in my new endeavor as a Graduate student, there are different thoughts that came into my mind. Aside from familiarizing the buildings and offices of the university, I found it interesting to know as well where the name of the university came from. What I only knew was that the university was named after St. John Baptist de La Salle who was apparently a priest, that's it! After watching the film, I was enlightened and was inspired with St. John Baptist de La Salle. More so, I appreciate better the DLSU as my chosen university.

St. John Baptist de La Salle is known as Patron Saint of Teachers. He was born on April 30, 1651 to Louis de La Salle, who was then a city magistrate of Reims and to Nicole Moet, who was a daughter of minor nobility. He was actually the eldest among the eleven children. His family's position in life was considered fortunate. He was able to study at College des Bons Enfants. After completing his degree in Master of Arts, he was sent to Paris to enroll in the Seminary of Saint Sulpice. At that time, crisis occurred and education has little opportunity for the poor people. He lived in time wherein there was a great disparity between the rich and the poor.

The film "Who are my Own?" is so old. At first, I wondered why it was titled that way. Then, as I watched the film, my question has been answered. There was a part in the film wherein St. La Salle met Andrei in the middle of a riot. As he tried to calm down the people, Andrei approached him defensively, stole his cross and run. As he tried to look for Andrei, he was able to get into a dim and creepy place. He met a family who never seem to like his presence except for Nervada, the old woman's daughter. In the middle of the conversation, the old woman said "Don’t let him takes a pleasure here, He can always find with his own kind" then St. La Salle replied, "My own?, I wonder who they are". 

In the film, I have observed that St. La Salle possesses very strong and genuine words. I saw how he took a great risk just to establish a Christian school for children. He never got scared that he will lose everything. Almost all the teachers whom he recruited quit after he gave the bread to the poor which were supposed to be to them. I felt his struggle especially when he travelled with no food at all and he tried to knock to any household to ask for a piece of bread. The part which I like the most was when Andrei went to his office and offer himself to St. La Salle to become a teacher even without a piece of bread. That part shows that even a hard heart can be soften, if God wills it. 

His passion to help his community especially the less fortunate astonished me knowing that he belongs to a good family and he never experience the same thing which poor children experienced yet he felt the agony of the people. Thus, he reached out to those who were in need and live as if he was one of them.