Cervical Cancer Prevention Awareness Month

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I'm trying to conquer my fear! The man in the middle is our Local Chief Executive- Mayor Joet S. Garcia together w/ our City Health Officers.

The four sacrificial lambs together with Ms. Beauty Titlist Abbygale Arenas-De Leon, model and anti-cervical cancer advocate of the cervical cancer society.

There is always a reason to be joyful and feel blessed by just being a woman. This especially when given priority over others for certain health reasons.  Just two weeks ago I was given a dose of anti-cervical cancer vaccine, being one of the lucky beneficiaries of the City Government of Balanga’s program to fight the second leading cause of death among women in the country next to breast cancer.

So thankful for having leaders who are greatly concerned about their employees’ health. 

Three doses of anti-cervical cancer vaccines were given to female city hall employees. Payments are on a staggered basis. What made us the envy of other LGU’s was that the last dose was FREE of charge. Isn’t that amazing? This is big savings on the part of those beneficiaries whom cannot really afford to have it all done on their own pocket.  What makes it funny is, I was chosen to be an advocate of this program initiative, and at first I was really hesitant for I am so allergic to any public exposure but when I realized the objective of this program, I told myself, at least I was able to help and connect to others to let people know the significant of this project to every women’s life.


Please follow this link from PIA WEBSITE for a more comprehensive report.

Mother's Day Special

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There’s no word that can perfectly describe or illustrate a woman who has prepared the best of everything for her child.  Being a full-time Mom is the greatest role that a woman can play to at least claim that she has lived up to the real essence of being a woman. Lucky are those women who are given opportunities to enjoy both motherhood and a great career at the same time. My mother plays a big role in my life as she has always guided me to become tough in my chosen field. I am what I am now because of her. She prefers to sleep beside me every night for fear that I might have sudden chest pains. She prepares my food and my clothes, even though I wanted to do it myself. She’s a very sensitive, but loving wife, so thankful for having a very patient and understanding father.  We both have the same hobby- cooking and gardening. She doesn’t have any diplomas to present because at certain times in her life as she was growing up, she had become the breadwinner of their family. During those times, almost all members of her family looked up to her for support. What makes her amazing is that despite the difficulties encountered, she was able to help my father to put us in school to earn our degree. A very simple and kind woman whose only desire is to serve her King and Princesses. Now it’s my turn to repay her for all the sacrifices she has gone through for us so that we can find our own place in the sun, guided by her principles. I owe everything to my Mom and I love her so much. Hope she gets to read this. Don't let the day end without making your Mom feel that this is her special day. Para sa mga Dakila at natatanging Ina…Happy Mother's Day!

Confronting Mortality

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When you were a kid, did you experience being afraid of seeing coffins? How about staring at a dead body inside the coffin? Did you react fiercely when someone teased you about seeing you walking headless?  Then would you knock on wood three times believing that doing so would prevent the bad omen from being realized? Those were just situations that really measure our courage in facing our own fear…the fear of death.

Death can be terrifying. Death in any recognizable form is inescapable and unpredictable which makes us incredibly vulnerable physically and emotionally. This contradicts our instinct to remain a living, a breathing organism. So what do we do? We try to manage this fright. Generally, when reminded of our mortality and when the potential to experience existential anxiety is heightened, we are extremely defensive. I myself even ask those silly questions. Am I ready? Then why do I feel afraid when I experience sudden shortness of breath? Why do I panic when I experience sudden palpitations, or asthma attack? Just last month I was diagnosed with having a minor heart disorder. Based on the result of laboratory test administered to me at the Philippine Heart Center (PHC), it was discovered that my heart’s muscle is thickening, particularly the wall at the lower chamber on the left side of the heart (the left ventricle). I also have Premature Ventricular Contractions or (PVCs), or premature heartbeats originating from the ventricles of the heart as explained by my doctor. (Premature ventricular contractions are premature because they occur before the regular heartbeat.) I was again given another medicine for maintenance. My doctor told me that I could live and grow old with it provided I take extra precaution. Any form of infection should be treated right away; especially those, which affect the head and neck since they are, body parts nearer to the heart. Antibiotics should be taken prior to any dental procedure to eliminate possible infection. Now I need to increase my emergency fund to six digits in preparation for any untoward incidents. Stressful bodywork out is limited, but a 3-5 minute walk done regularly will be fine. I don’t want to run out of time so given the chance; I will live my life to the fullest until such time my body succumbs to rest.  I try to leave all my worries behind. Only God knows when we cease to exist. Take care of your health to enjoy life.

2011

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I could say that the previous year was full of hardship and mediocrity. It taught me how to value life more and trained me to appreciate things regardless of how they affect my way of life. It told me that in my life’s journey, more humps along the road means more chances to slow down. I believe those are the best times to view my horizon before proceeding to a new leg of my journey. As I move on to a more challenging path in my career, reality sinks in. When you embrace the virtue of public service, there is no turning back. I must start to learn and practice new things in order for me to cope with the real scenario of managerial leadership. In proving one’s self to be a leader, one must learn how to be prudent for him to reach his goal. Work trends nowadays are like a competition --- no one wants to lose. Commitment and dedication is the key.

For the past year, my life had been routinary. I don’t know if it is fate or it is just the result of being too distant. I think it’s the latter. To the people who thought I do harm and not good, my sincerest apology. I am just living by my principles. For now, I just want to keep my ideals. I may not be a doer in many ways, but at least I try my best to do things right.  I just want to welcome the year with positive thoughts in mind.

God has all the mercy.

Living in a Bully World

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One time, as I was walking along Claro M. Recto in Manila, I saw a group of young beggars screaming while throwing stones from one corner to another. Broken glass littered the main street. As I yelled to warn them, I saw a thin woman with longhair sitting at the corner of a cluttered area. As I observed, she was having difficulty breathing as she was trying to lift her head to grasp for air. As I tried to reach out to her to ask if she was fine, she got restless. Taking a closer look, I noticed that her bony hand was chained. She was insane, and she was bullied.


The woman was a picture of helplessness. She was weak not because of her insanity, but because she was a victim of bullying. Wikipedia defines “bullying” as a form of aggressive behavior, which may manifest as abusive treatment, the use of force or coercion to affect others, particularly when habitual and involving an imbalance of power. It may involve verbal harassment, physical assault or coercion and may be directed persistently towards particular victims, perhaps on grounds of race, religion, gender, sexuality, or ability. The "imbalance of power" may be social power and/or physical power. The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as the "target." Bullying consists of three basic types of abuse – emotional, verbal, and physical.

Life becomes more complicated and exhausting not because of the people around us but because of how we treat them and how they afflict us. Working in a place with different kinds of personalities and attitudes, experiencing unfair treatment & judgment from a co-worker is like being a comic-hero, Tarzan, trying to survive in the jungle. You’re like living in a bully world. Your sanity will surely be tested. Battling with your emotion is just a normal phase if you want to survive. For me dealing with all this simply calls for one solution --- always try to see things in a different perspective. As Ellen De Generes’ said, “Be kind to one another.” Maybe someday I would be known not as a woman with a great attitude, but rather as a person who has no enemy. It makes more sense to me. I’m crossing my fingers. It is really hard to live by this principle, but it is truly rewarding for someone like me.

The Trees of Life

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Giving hope by means of tree planting is a guarantee of good life and clean air for the next generation. Caring for our environment is another way of giving extended life, especially to people suffering from health diseases like asthma, bronchial pneumonia, cancer of the lungs, etc. Being asthmatic, I am now more concerned about protecting our environment, especially from air pollutants. That’s why I am appealing to our agriculture sector to think of ways on how they can properly dispose of rice husk and straw aside from the traditional way of burning and turning them into dust. They must think of other alternative ways or other potential on how they could be converted into fertilizer, ethanol, or into other useful things. Burning them will pose many hazards on our environment particularly on the air we breathe. We need to adopt modern technology, but without sacrificing our environment. Toxins from the air we breathe today affect our health and may have hazardous effects.

The activity is initiated by the National Greening Program (NGP) supported by the City Government. It is embodied in Executive Order No. 26. Signed on February 24, 2011, it is a priority endeavor to bring back the lost forest cover of the country. There are about eight million hectares of denuded forest nationwide. The goal is to plant billions of trees. By planting trees, the government hopes to mitigate the effects of climate change, protect biodiversity, stop erosion, restore watersheds, and ensure food security. Denuded land will become productive and provide additional income for rural families.

A Woman in Progress

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 When the wind of trials blow in your direction, you can do nothing but to stand firm and hold on to your faith that God will never leave a woman to fight without a weapon in order to survive. There are things that happen in life that sometimes really test our leadership ability in handling difficult situations. When the storm subsides, you will then start to assess the damage right away--- take all the broken pieces ruined by the wind and patiently try to piece them together. It may not have the same form again, but what matters most is you learn how to handle the situation without losing your trust in Him. Don’t be afraid of what everybody else thinks of you. Remember that the paths in life we take are long and hard, but those difficult paths we walk through are the ones that might lead us to the most beautiful views of life.  At the end of the road, there are still many dreams waiting to be realized.