The Freudian Slip Of A Bacolodnon

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I just came back from Manila, having attended the 11th National Sandugo Awards for Local Government Executives at the Diamond Hotel. Our Mayor, Cicero Borromeo, is a Sandugo Awardee for the first time. Acting Mayor Jimmy Tiaga accepted the award in his behalf. Together with Major Tiaga were me and Tito Treas, our Municipal Treasurer. I call him Tito because he is my mother-in-law's cousin. It was an inspiring night, to witness the grand awarding ceremonies. It was my first Sandugo Awarding and I have to admit I was starstrucked by the many VIPs present. Included in the VIPs were Sec. Francisco Duque himself, DOH secretary, his Undersecretary, Mario Villaverde, and other popular governors and mayors of other cities and provinces. TV personality Pinky Webb was also present that night to receive a commendation in behalf of ABS-CBN's XXX for their expose on illegal selling of blood products. Negros Occidental was the most be-medalled province that night, with majority of the awarde...

This morning, the first step to a historic piece of legislation for Candoni took place, when more than a hundred local folks gathered at the Public Plaza to attend the Public Hearing. The Public Hearing was for the proposed User Fee Ordinance. Barangay captains and officials were present, including teachers and school heads, barangay health workers, department heads and ordinary folks. Our Community Health Allies and Reform Team president was also present. Even our Acting Mayor and Acting Vice-Mayor were present. It was an opportunity to inform the community about the User Fee. Of course, I was invited again as one of the resource speakers to shed light on the value of User Fee. It was a productive open forum because it allowed ordinary folks to clarify certain issues, especially on the manner of identifying the legitimate indigents in the community. According to the User Fee Ordinance, patients seeking medical attention at the Main Health Center will be categorized. Category A are tho...

Yesterday was the culminating activity of our annual Nutrition Month Celebrations. I was the resource speaker of the Culminating Program. Despite the heavy rains, many students, teachers and barangay health workers still flocked to the Public Plaza to witness the simple culminating program. We were supposed to do another round of Hataw Exercise but because of the bad weather, we proceeded to the various contests instead. There was cooking contests involving all the high schools of the town. While the cookfest was going on, there was the Nutri-jingle contest. There was also a Nutrition Masscot Making contest. There was also a Nutri-speech Contest, sort of a declamation contest but with Nutrition as the theme. Meanwhile, at the Municipal Hall, the Poster Making contest and Slogan Making contest were held. At the Rescue Center, we held the Awarding of our Well-Baby Contest which was held last Friday and conducted our Nutri-quiz, participated by high school students from various barangays....

Survey on Sexual Attitudes Among Teenagers Link to powerpoint presentation on our recently conducted It Can Wait: No To PMS in Silay last week.

I just came from a friend's funeral. He was my wife's former high school classmate, my collegemate and friend, and even my compadre. He was just 27 years old. He was a talented person, a genius when it came to computer graphics. I even worked with him during my stint as the school's yearbook Editor in Chief. He was part of my CD team. After graduation, I kind of lost track of him although I would hear news from him through social networks like friendster or facebook. Of course, the last time I saw him was during my son's christening. He was the eldest of two siblings. His younger sister is also a good friend and a fellow Lasallian. Just like his sister, he was a very good human being. In the short span of time that I got to know him, I had the impression that he was a very good friend. We had a nice time in Davao when the entire CD team of the Yearbook went to have our R&R and submitted their raw data. He used to date a high school classmate and friend as well so we...

Our It Can Wait Premarital Sex Seminar, Classroom edition, in St. Francis of Assisi School in Silay was a success. My team of "It Can Wait Brigade" (as dubbed by Nurse Romar), left Candoni as early as 4 am and went immediately to Silay City (more than 130 kilometers away from Candoni). I arrived there at around 9 past and was met by my former High School classmate, JR Abello, the Vice Principal for Academics of SFAS. I was introduced to the Principal and the rest of the faculty. There were around 67 students from the third year and fourth year levels. We immediately started the seminar, starting with a dependable icebreaker. We then divided the group and separated the boys from the girls. We gave them time to prepare for their group chant or yell. During the Games of the Genders after lunch, the teams presented their group chant. The Classroom series is actually a condensed version of our youth camp and it basically retained the lecture portions, including the SGD part (small...

Ever been in a situation where someone wanted to give you a hug or kiss and you weren't in the mood and you were trying to escape? Embedded video from CNN Video P.S. the dog here is very funny.

Watch live video from alfasport_fm on Justin.tv The Longest eclipse in your lifetime. Trivia: The last longest eclipse was in 1955 over Manila, Philippines (cited by CNN)

July 22, 2009: Longest solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting 6 minutes 58 seconds. The last solar eclipse this long was in 1991 The last total solar eclipse over the Philippines was in October 24, 1995, lasting 2 minutes and 10 seconds. Techinically speaking, the last solar eclipse over the Philippines was in January of 2009 (annular). There were other solar eclipses over the Philippines during the 20th century. One in 1955 and one in 1988, the latter I can very well remember because I was Grade One when everyone of us were brought outside of the classrooms to witness the solar eclipse. The next solar eclipse over the Philippines will be on April 20, 2023 and it will be a hybrid solar eclipse. Eclipses are usually associated with many events, usually bad, that are happening in the world. True or not, this solar eclipse will be another fascinating event to witness.

After 11 years since I graduated from USLS-IS, I was invited to speak before young Lasallian achievers during their annual recognition rites at the High School Covered Court. It was my first time to be invited by the school to be a keynote speaker for a prestigious event. I was feeling at home when I went back to my alma mater. I have to admit that I still feel awed and intimidated to be with former teachers. It has been 11 long years. When I was introduced and while I was approaching the podium, I felt my knees trembling for the first time. I have done a lot of speaking in public but this is perhaps the first time I felt nervous. It is definitely different to be speaking infront of teachers, students and their parents. During the middle of my speech, I noticed that my hands were trembling. I had to hold the microphone with two hands just to keep the mike from trembling as well. I was able to save my speech and I wish to share it: Good Afternoon. I am honored to be among fellow Lasalli...

Many things have happened since Man stepped foot on the moon 40 years ago. The space race has definitely persisted beyond the Cold War which triggered the Space Race actually. It used to be between the United States and former USSR. Since then, many countries have also launched their own man-made satellites, including the Philippines. For an official list of countries with man-made satellites launched into orbit, click here . The Philippine satellite is named Mabuhay I, also called Agila 2. It is a communications satellite launched in 1997, providing telecommunications services for the Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation. According to wikipedia, the satellite provides the most powerful coverage in the Asia-Pacific region. The satellite was deployed to orbit by a Chinese Long March 3B rocket in Sichuan province, on 20 August 1997. It is expected to achieve a mission lifetime of more than 15 years. Agila is a Filipino word for Eagle, which in a sense is a tribute to the endangered ...

I read in the news this morning that the Philippines is among the countries worldwide that has the least number of AIDS/HIV cases because the Filipino society practices circumcision among males. Experts say, circumcision reduces transmission of HIV. It used to be a medical enigma why we practice circumcision. There was a time when its medical purpose was questioned and was solely referred to as a cultural practice (especially among Jews, Catholics, and even Muslims). Now, it is widely accepted that circumcision can prevent AIDS among males and females alike! So perhaps a circumcised penis should be one of the qualifications for a husband among the females! But how does the removal of the foreskin of the penis a "saving grace" against HIV? According to a website called About.Com, recent studies have proven conclusively that uncircumcised men are at a much greater risk of becoming infected with HIV than men who are circumcised. In some studies, infection rate was 50 percent les...

A week ago, the family were having a stroll in the mall when we dropped by a Confectionary exhibit. I am not sure if it was a competition but many "cake fans" went to visit the exhibition and look at cakes in various designs.

A video of doctors singing a tribute to their ultimate idol, Michael Jackson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf0-0Y3woyc

To those who voted and supported my blog, thanks! I am still nominated for Week 170 Filipino Blog of the Week. If I get three weeks in a row, this blog gets to be elevated in the Filipino Blogs Hall of Fame. Thank you very much for the support. Here's the link of the list of winners since the start of the competition. Keep on voting for me for Week 170.

To be an agent of change: It is a hard task for an inexperienced doctor such as myself. However, the last 5 days spent in Tagaytay together with fellow and more senior doctors from around the country have been inspirational. It was the boost that I needed. Immersed in this God-forsaken job of public health, life can be very frustrating. There are things you wanted changed simply because the system is wrong and instead of being lauded for it, you end up being persecuted. This idealism is not exclusive nonetheless to young and neophyte doctors. Even the more senior and experienced ones still contain some blaze of idealism. They too wanted things to be done the right way. But they too are limited by the powers that be. Be that as it may, this perception of powerlessness should not prevent us from desiring to be ideal, to pursue what is true and fair. Nowadays, government doctors are perhaps the least appreciated and most abused and politically used. A good example alone is the inequity in...

Snapshots of the activities during the training for Health Leaders and Managers for the Poor in Tagaytay, sponsored by Zuellig Family Foundation: