People | MagandangBalita.com

Ladyshwalla, the bride-to-be, twitted a link from a Saudi online paper entitled “Imagine a World Without Filipinos.” Initially, I thought it was the email that circulated where hospitals, oil tankers, the IT industry, call centers and many other sectors plunged into chaos when Filipinos suddenly disappeared.

To my pleasant surprise, it was an article by a Saudi national. It spoke of how dependent they have been on Filipinos. And the clincher:

We should pay respect to Filipino workers, not only by employing them but also by learning from their valuable experiences.

Wherever the Filipino worker maybe, in Saudi, Canada, Singapore or Makati, Tarlac or Naga - you are held in high esteem.

Coincidentally it’s the birthday of Jose Rizal today.

Filed under InForNation, Inspirations, People

In the weekly email I send as a supplement to MabutingBalita.net, I mentioned that Pentecost, (the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and Mary) and Mother’s Day fell on the same day this year. It must be because mothers receive a special grace from God to do what they do, and to love unconditionally and without limit.

A woman becomes a mother once life is conceived in her womb. For men, it is impossible to understand how it is to carry a child inside your body for nine months. The changes, anxieties, pain and discomfort are quite difficult to fully explain. Yet, mommies bear this burden. It does not end there.

When we were born, there is the feeding, bathing, waking up in the middle of the night, worrying when you are sick, teaching how to walk, talk and get toilet-trained, etc. This lasts for around 10 years (sometimes more).

When the teenage years come, the mothers work continues. There is still the feeding, guiding, relentless worrying, waiting up, advising and a whole gamut of ings.

Even when the baby becomes an adult and has a family of his or her own, mothers continue to be mothers. Even if they are now called lola or granny or mamita (as my officemate’s children call their grandmother), they still are mothers. Caring, giving, guiding, praying for us.

A mother is forever. Because she loves.

Mama, Mommy, Nanay, Naynay, Nana, Inang, Ina, Mom, Mamu, Momsie, however you are called - you are loved.

Thank you for everything.

Happy Mother’s Day to my mama, to Gina the mother of my children and to all mothers.

Filed under General Interests, Inspirations, People

• Comment

Found via Fr. Stephen Cuyos, MSC’s website - The Tagalog (Pilipino) translation of A Blogger’s Prayer.

Plumatek is an online friend I’ve been following for her use of blogging as an instructional tool for teaching Filipino. I came across her post when she was still in the process of translating it. Now she has the complete version, along with the references and citations.

Very academic Menchu! I hope somebody from wikipedia or wikipinas takes note of your work.
Great job!

Filed under Bright Ideas, TEaCHandLEARN, InForNation, BlogLight, People

• 2 comments

The calls for IT jobs you ordinarily encounter are mostly for web designers, graphics artists, call center staffing or programmers. This one is not for any of those. It also does not involve selling or marketing or a graveyard shift. This is a specialized career path that can open up a lot of opportunities for growth and development. Not everyone is cut out for it, but maybe you are.

MBTC TECHNOLOGY, Inc., the IT Company of the Metrobank Group, is looking for a IT Training Assistant.

Candidate must have a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology or other IT-centric courses and must possess good oral and written communication skills.

These are pretty generic requirements, I know. Any IT Graduate worth his salt will qualify. If I were to list down other “must-haves“, I think the traits below would be the equally important and required for the position.

Love for Learning. Most often, what you need to know is not necessarily taught in schools or are applied in a different way. Learning does not end after graduation,. It is lifelong. A must of you want to succeed in your career and your life.

Technical Skills. Finishing an IT course does not mean you are an expert, but at least you should possess the “basics“ like troubleshooting what’s wrong with a PC; identifying why a computer can’t connect to the network; and work with basic web and multimedia applications. If you possess more skills like programming in PHP, DotNet, etc., that would be a plus for you.

Presentation Skills. This is where those oral reporting and communication courses you took would come in handy. If you can be at ease in front of your class discussing the new widgets of Wordpress or different environmental issues, you might be a good candidate. If you can express yourself fluently and be able to impart your knowledge to other people well, a career in IT education and training might be a good fit for you. If you (instinctively) know that the first thing you should think about when you are making a presentation is constructing the learning objectives, score yourself some additional points.

Documentation Skills. Those reports and the thesis you made should make this point a little easier. Whether you used MS Office or Open Office, documentation is something often neglected but becomes a crucial skill in the workplace. Grammar, sentence construction, style - something bloggers who work on their craft are familiar with - gives you an edge.

Positive Mental Attitude. All else being equal, everyone would rather work with someone who exudes and lives optimism. (If I were to decide, this should be the first criterion.) In life, as well as the corporate world, challenges will come. I’d rather side with someone who thinks about the solution rather than focus on the problem.

If you think you are what is described here (or at least near it), email me you resume at jun.asis@gmail.com and I’ll forward it to them. Or you can submit your CV at:

MBTC Technology, Inc
11F PSBank Centre
777 Paseo de Roxas corner Sedeno St.
Makati City

Filed under General Interests, InForNation, Personal, People

• Comment

Question: How much of what you read online (or offline) is good or positive?

After reading or watching bad news, ask your self: How do I feel? Better or worse? Especially reading or watching negative news before sleeping, you would find yourself more tired or stressed when you wake up.

Try this: read an inspirational story such as those from Chicken Soup for the soul before sleeping for a week. Or find small-town news of ordinary people helping each other out, of that young buy who risked his life to save his friend, you know, the little things that do not make it to the front page. You will notice that you wake up more relaxed and in a better frame of mind.
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The current state of this site is not what I’ve envisioned it to be. The CNN-ish fonts are intentional. I want this site to be the bearer of good tidings and news. ( My other site, MabutingBalita.net is the site for the Good News).

Consider this a beta version. When the site becomes gold, it will be more community-based and less mainstream (meaning, it will not focus on what the big media outfits put out). The real stories and lives of the Filipinos around the world and events that affect them will be its main feature. This is no little task for a full-time employee and family man who also is involved with several organizations and advocacies. (One has to sleep too, you know). If you have ideas on how this can be done or you are willing to help, just drop me a note and let us exchange ideas and collaborate.
For now, I just scour the blogs and my everyday experiences for inspirations. Like these:

Shakey’s Pizza delivers (and no, this is not a paid post) and now you can pay with your Credit Card. I’ve been wondering why there are so few businesses which are taking advantage of this. PLDT has its SWUP after all but I have not heard much after the launch. Taking it a step further, how about a roving “Pay Your Bills through Credit Card” guy? He can take cash too, though that makes him a likely target of mugging but these are just details. The technology and feasibility is there.

Thank God It’s Friday! from Noemi. She left a Macbook, and maybe can include the byline ..Aboutmyrecoveredmacbook hehehe! It was returned (Though I’m not sure if she had fries with that=). Hats off to you guys. That’s customer service, honesty and good guy values we want to see more of everyday. I’m sure that there are a lot more examples of these that are not being reported or discussed. If there are some more, please ping me so we can put them here.

If I become a TV news producer, I would make good deeds the headlines rather than novelty or feel-good fillers. I wish one government station or major network would dare to be the source of good news more than the bad news. On second thought, why not a YouTube-like streaming good news? Paging Karlo, Greg and Web 2.0 guys…

Another great find is from Pedestrian Observer. Filipinos have great talent and artistry, and Charmaine Clamor is making waves in the Jazz scene. She describes her style as Jazzipino, a testament to her roots and influence. More details here.

To cap it off, Chris features an item from Entrepreneur.com.sg praising Filipinos for their friendliness and even suggesting the Philippines may be the Blogging Capital of the World.

Wouldn’t that be great?

Give us more of these good news everyday.

Filed under Good Business, Bright Ideas, General Interests, InForNation, BlogLight, Personal, Inspirations, People

• 2 comments

The Vision of MagandangBalita.com is to become a portal and repository of the good news and good things happened, are happening or will happen to Filipinos and the Philippines; a positive influence for us all. Can you help make this come true?