By Rolo B. Cena
The Gulf Files
Dumaguete Star Informer
31 October 2010
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Few days before the October 25 Barangay and SK elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) issued a list enumerating multi-termer barangay officials. In the same statement, it issued a stern warning for disqualification and criminal charges for those who ran for another term.
My senses pulled me back after hearing these pronouncements. But let’s attack these statements as seriously and intelligibly as possible. Along the same plane of thought, derailment in the process, which starts from qualifications check to filing of the Certificate of Candidacy (COC) to acceptance of the COC, is perceptible.
Definitely, the sets of qualifications are expressed in the Constitution and the rules of the elections in the Omnibus Election Code. For all intents and purposes, these two provisions must be considered intelligently at all times by concerned parties.
With the set of qualifications, terms of engagement and a sound knowledge of electoral process fully comprehended by candidates and by the Commission, “post facto” disqualification should not be an issue. If I may opine, multi-termers should have been warned prior to filing the candidacy unless the Commission itself is completely derailed, a lapse only the petite lady is culpable of.
Needless to say, if these conditions have been substantially provided to the candidates, under the law these multi-termers are “estopped to deny”, and therefore, ignorance of the law does not excuse them from complying with these statutes (Article 3, Chapter 1, Civil Code of the Philippines). Consequently, they may face criminal charges at the end of the day.
Under the constitution, the electoral exercise is considered sacred. As such, maintaining its sanctity should have been done at all cost. The Commission should have been ready with their game plan at least a month before. However, the truth of the matter is: they are not!
Readiness is nothing but an effective and efficient response to the given demand, actual or potential. The potential problems brought about by typhoon Juan in the areas of Isabela and its nearby places should have been carefully incorporated in the contingency plan of the Commission, if at all they have.
Readiness is nothing but an immediate response to the “spur” of the moment or conversely the clear and present danger. The election failure in the town of Datu Unsay, Maguindanao should have been given preferential attention since it was a remake of history, an “entrée a la carte” that is readily available in the menu list for action. The problem is not with the electorate, it lies within the competency level of the Commission to apply their best analytical framework given the same phenomenon to address concerns with utmost urgency.
Readiness is nothing but the immediate response to potential issues when alternative courses of action failed. In some areas of Negros Oriental, Sorsogon and nearby areas, to name a few, the electoral exercise started late due to the late arrival of the ballot boxes. Sources revealed that there was actually logistics issue within the Commission. Several employees were accused of deliberately delaying the process of turning these boxes to accredited forwarding companies in order to secure the nod to deliver these parcels to areas by themselves. Why? It is per diem vis-à-vis money issue. Investigation will be carried out, they said!
Readiness is nothing but preparedness. Cub and Star Scouts know this, literally and figuratively. The Commission pronounced that everything is ready; everybody else is. On the contrary though, according to Elections and Barangay Affairs Department (EBAD) Director Divina Blas-Perez, out 42,035 Barangays, only 18,926 or 45.06% concluded their exercise as scheduled. The remaining 55% suspended their exercise due to unavailability of ballot boxes and election paraphernalia; only a minute portion of which is attributed to the devastation brought about by super typhoon Juan.
Numbers don’t lie; numbers are objective. What actually went wrong?
Juxtaposed with the twists and turns of the classical Filipino melodrama, the Commission has not been able to change according to the requirements of the times. Arguably though, the superlative degree of inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the system are still evident in the present times; the Philippine electoral process has never matured; it never will. The Commission cannot, their nerves dictate; neither the electorate, their guts require.
For as long as refusal to change is reciprocal, deviations like fraud, abuses, violations, lapses, or late remedial exercises which have been infused into the system over time, weaving true-to-life accounts of Hello Garci or the Ampatuans Story will always be as natural as Eve tempting Adam with the apple in the Garden of Eden orchestrated by the serpent called GREED.
In fact, that’s the way the cookie crumbles, to say the least, lest I may be cited with contempt!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Trapped!
By Rolo B. Cena
The Gulf Files
Dumaguete Star Informer
24 October 2010
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Lifting the miners one after the other through the customized iron capsule was a reality slowly unfolding, a real-life drama that have surely inspired the entire world. It has captivated my senses; it moved me and indubitably, the rest of the world.
The old adage “There is light at the end of the tunnel” was absolutely validated by this moving episode of human survival. Trapped under more than two-thousand feet for seventy solitary days, the incident would have sent to some the signal to quit believing they could survive; this skepticism would have contaminated the number which would have eventually led to a mass resignation – resignation from living.
But there is more to the story than the saving grace. What actually enthralled the whole world was the resiliency of the team to remain composed throughout the period. After NASA found out the condition of the skilled workforce, the government mobilized concerned units to send them provisions; technology was brought to their temporary abode just to keep them going. Surely, the incident made these people create a positive environment despite their geographical alienation from home, literally and figuratively, of the moment.
The unfaltering unity their leader, Luis Urzula instilled and maintained through and through added more icing than the normal. In situations like this, factionalism may have ensued; unwanted or provoked attempt to disorganize the esprit de corps this team has prior to the incident would have even surfaced. But their oneness outstood and outbested human frailties, biases and indifferences. Certainly, survival of the fittest or even of the unfit would have dictated their psyche; it has indisputably driven their will to exist when the going got tough.
Mario Sepulveda, 40, the second of the Chilean 33 who was shafted up said: “I have been with God and with the devil. I seized the hand of God, it was the best hand. I always knew God would get us out of there.” This is (was) faith expressed in a tone suggestive of stern belief that he will survive; that they will survive.
The ordeal of being alienated from their loved ones for seventy days would have caused them to stay breathless underground; the ordeal of being alienated from the beautiful creation for seventy days would have caused them to remain hopeless underground. Had it not due to their belief to survive, they would not have tasted the freedom and enjoyed the sweet embrace of their loved ones; life would have been aborted at the instance they allowed themselves to be succumbed by the monster called death.
But they remained steadfast; faith has saved them without a doubt.
And what added surprise to the rescue drama was the presence of Sebastian Pinera, the President of Chile who insisted to become one of the witnesses of the rescue operations. He was amazing; he was not being political; he was true to the calling of the position whose mandate came from the constituents of his country the Chilean 33 included.
Historians should correct me now when I say that the same act from a Philippine president or from any political figure in general was never done before; definitely, it will never be done unless he is seeking refuge from the entire Filipino community for an electoral favor.
The story of Sonia Roco, the wife of the former senator Raul Roco, along with other survivors of the Hyatt Baguio Hotel rubbles following the earthquake that shocked not only the Philippines but the entire world as well was as spellbinding as the story of the Chilean 33 sans the customized iron capsule called Phoenix. Sonia Roco and other survivors were rescued after days of manual works; the Chilean 33 were saved after detailed planning and careful execution; a plan that resulted to a well-thought of recommendations by NASA.
Debatably though, we Filipinos have been trapped, literally and figuratively, more than two-thousand feet underground: The three-hundred-thirty-year reign of the aristocratic Kingdom of Spain whose intensity caused tribal Filipinos to wage war is more shivering than the Chilean drama; the terror-faced Japanese control whose physical and sexual abuses sent tribal Filipinos to psychological and reality-based death is more quaking than the Chilean drama; the twenty-year reign of the greatest dictator to have lived on earth that led Filipinos to orchestrate a guerilla movement called New People’s Army (NPA) is more shuddering than the Chilean drama; the eleven-year reign of the petite lady who championed scams and scandals, re-defined and espoused public-condemned Marcos dictatorship is as shaking as the Chilean drama.
Without a doubt, we will still be trapped under more than two-thousand feet under all circumstances if we do not re-define the unique Filipino resiliency, re-conquer the EDSA 1-inspired unity, or re-embrace the uniquely Filipino faith this time.
It has to be now or be trapped underground once more.
The Gulf Files
Dumaguete Star Informer
24 October 2010
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Lifting the miners one after the other through the customized iron capsule was a reality slowly unfolding, a real-life drama that have surely inspired the entire world. It has captivated my senses; it moved me and indubitably, the rest of the world.
The old adage “There is light at the end of the tunnel” was absolutely validated by this moving episode of human survival. Trapped under more than two-thousand feet for seventy solitary days, the incident would have sent to some the signal to quit believing they could survive; this skepticism would have contaminated the number which would have eventually led to a mass resignation – resignation from living.
But there is more to the story than the saving grace. What actually enthralled the whole world was the resiliency of the team to remain composed throughout the period. After NASA found out the condition of the skilled workforce, the government mobilized concerned units to send them provisions; technology was brought to their temporary abode just to keep them going. Surely, the incident made these people create a positive environment despite their geographical alienation from home, literally and figuratively, of the moment.
The unfaltering unity their leader, Luis Urzula instilled and maintained through and through added more icing than the normal. In situations like this, factionalism may have ensued; unwanted or provoked attempt to disorganize the esprit de corps this team has prior to the incident would have even surfaced. But their oneness outstood and outbested human frailties, biases and indifferences. Certainly, survival of the fittest or even of the unfit would have dictated their psyche; it has indisputably driven their will to exist when the going got tough.
Mario Sepulveda, 40, the second of the Chilean 33 who was shafted up said: “I have been with God and with the devil. I seized the hand of God, it was the best hand. I always knew God would get us out of there.” This is (was) faith expressed in a tone suggestive of stern belief that he will survive; that they will survive.
The ordeal of being alienated from their loved ones for seventy days would have caused them to stay breathless underground; the ordeal of being alienated from the beautiful creation for seventy days would have caused them to remain hopeless underground. Had it not due to their belief to survive, they would not have tasted the freedom and enjoyed the sweet embrace of their loved ones; life would have been aborted at the instance they allowed themselves to be succumbed by the monster called death.
But they remained steadfast; faith has saved them without a doubt.
And what added surprise to the rescue drama was the presence of Sebastian Pinera, the President of Chile who insisted to become one of the witnesses of the rescue operations. He was amazing; he was not being political; he was true to the calling of the position whose mandate came from the constituents of his country the Chilean 33 included.
Historians should correct me now when I say that the same act from a Philippine president or from any political figure in general was never done before; definitely, it will never be done unless he is seeking refuge from the entire Filipino community for an electoral favor.
The story of Sonia Roco, the wife of the former senator Raul Roco, along with other survivors of the Hyatt Baguio Hotel rubbles following the earthquake that shocked not only the Philippines but the entire world as well was as spellbinding as the story of the Chilean 33 sans the customized iron capsule called Phoenix. Sonia Roco and other survivors were rescued after days of manual works; the Chilean 33 were saved after detailed planning and careful execution; a plan that resulted to a well-thought of recommendations by NASA.
Debatably though, we Filipinos have been trapped, literally and figuratively, more than two-thousand feet underground: The three-hundred-thirty-year reign of the aristocratic Kingdom of Spain whose intensity caused tribal Filipinos to wage war is more shivering than the Chilean drama; the terror-faced Japanese control whose physical and sexual abuses sent tribal Filipinos to psychological and reality-based death is more quaking than the Chilean drama; the twenty-year reign of the greatest dictator to have lived on earth that led Filipinos to orchestrate a guerilla movement called New People’s Army (NPA) is more shuddering than the Chilean drama; the eleven-year reign of the petite lady who championed scams and scandals, re-defined and espoused public-condemned Marcos dictatorship is as shaking as the Chilean drama.
Without a doubt, we will still be trapped under more than two-thousand feet under all circumstances if we do not re-define the unique Filipino resiliency, re-conquer the EDSA 1-inspired unity, or re-embrace the uniquely Filipino faith this time.
It has to be now or be trapped underground once more.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
From the Desk of a Manager
By Rolo B. Cena
Pulp Bits
Dumaguete Sun Star
05 September 2007
“Wait ‘till you become a manager,” said his boss when he was still working as an assistant in a government corporation.
More than twenty years ago, Andrei projected to become a manager when he reaches his age now. He protracted everything: his attitude towards work, attendance, company culture, profession and professional growth. He vowed he should not be identified as a pro-employee neither a pro-employer.
Andrei started as an Accounting Clerk for a rural bank. Despite the fact that he did not graduate, his work performance was noticed by the President’s wife. After a month, the Board sent him a pink slip elevating him to the position of an Internal Auditor which at that time was vacant. The critical department was only manned by his self. Three hard months passed and he recommended to hire two assistants which was soonest approved. He thus became the Senior Auditor acting as Department Head. He would usually and normally represent the department in the management committee and board meetings.
Normal in the course of an auditor’s job, he uncovered a long-practiced anomaly which amounted to almost one million pesos orchestrated in perfect connivance by the branch manager, credit and collection officer, cashier, and bookkeeper. Sensing this, the four personnel resigned one after the other. That catapulted Andrei’s prestige as an auditor.
He thought he already made heaven on earth. One day, in his usual visit to the Office of the President, he was asked to defend his audit findings in the court. Aware of the consequence of presenting any audit reports inside courts of law, he smartly requested for a verification audit to be done by a group of external auditors which was granted. Soon, the opinion of the external auditors was handed and as expected, they arrived at the same figure as he had. The two audit findings were exactly the same. This time, his ego was enhanced and as always, he was flying sky high like an eagle.
Like a Jumbo jet in nimbus, Andrei knew that soon he had to stop flying. One day, he was asked to fill out the life insurance form naming the Bank as the beneficiary. He called his family in Manila for the most appropriate thing to do given the situation. They vehemently instructed him not to sign the form and instead resign. Young and fresh from college as he was, he gave in to his family’s instructions: he resigned. His graceful exit from the bank paralyzed the case for reasons he did not bother to ask. The president and the members of the board wanted him to stay, but since no resignation is subject to any approval, they unwillingly let go of him.
He moved to and joined his family in Manila where luckily he got employed immediately. At this juncture, he already made arrangements for his graduation to at least prepare him for the next step ahead. Not lifting his own chair, he was always noticed as “promotable.” The hang-over he had from the bank plus the comments of his first employer in Manila gave him the urge to apply for a work in a government corporation. By God’s grace he boarded this company which later gave him so much in the same way as the management trusted him so much. He was single-handedly picked out to be trained in London, Hong Kong, and Singapore in relation to his new job. This company made him what he had become now.
The constant change in the national administration and the political instability of the government propelled him to retire from this government corporation after more than ten fruitful years. He enjoyed his retirement pay and at the same time landed on a new and challenging job.
Amazingly, he was offered to be the General Manager of a property / building management business in manila whose gross monthly income was twenty million pesos and with more than thirty employees under his wings. The president of the company believed so much in his experience and training that when he demanded his “desired salary,” the President never had a second thought in giving – plus other benefits. It was during this time Andrei learned the real meaning of “managing, management, and manager.”
Managing has been part of his life. I believe you would all agree that managing is part of our daily routine. There’s no question about that. If managing is an easy tone, management would also be. It was during this time Andrei learned what a manager really is and what it takes to be.
Andrei continued flying high like an eagle in the free and beautiful but tempting sky. As the eagle assuming the crown of being the king of aviation, he proudly held up his head up high like a king in the corporate world. So high as his position was, he knew and thought he was. Honestly, he never failed to manage: he can deal with the business proprietarily, deal with people professionally, and matters with good sense and judgment. He can take good care of the business like a good father of the family.
Coupled with this success in the corporate world or in his profession was somehow a deteriorating relationship with his family. Simply, he just had no time for his wife and kids. Thereafter, Andrei’s eldest began complaining about his time. As required and expected, the manager is supposed to be on top of everything and supposed to be 24/7 on call. This, he believed drained his energy and starved his system. He gave 25/8 to his job and none to his family. He began to feel the losing side of a manager. This situation urged him to resign early from this post and agreed with his wife to move to the province and join her family.
But since Andrei’s resume’ spoke better than what he can say, he believed he couldn’t hide the real him. He could not simply work as an ordinary being in the organization, modesty aside. Conversely, just can’t be a simple staff anymore.
Soon Andrei was hired as an Administrator of all the businesses of a rich Chinese man whose family owns a resort fifty kilometers away from the central city. After staying in the main office for about two months, the president asked him to manage the resort – well, it was expected. He could not say no. First, it was what he applied for. Second, he committed to help. His commitment can sometimes really pester, if not, kill him. He can easily commit without thinking the consequence in the long run. In that resort, he again opened his eyes to the realities of a manager’s life – sensible sacrifice for the sake of the responsibility the position entails.
In this part of the globe he saw men of varying and different nature: ill-mannered, refined, sophisticated, educated but not intelligent, intelligent but not educated the real intelligent guys, the real educated ones, and simple men. Others were, he knew very elementary and self-explanatory. Educated but not intelligent is simply a person who has the ethics and etiquettes but doesn’t have the academic excellence to boast for. That is, he is simply “mannered.” On the other hand, intelligent but not educated is the type who can boast of his “brains” and what’s inside, his degrees and his academic excellence but the one who doesn’t have the “manner.” One lesson for being a manager here is: he learned to deal with people objectively regardless of who they are.
It was supposed to be a “paradise-lost-now-found place” but it did not attract his body and soul for a longer period of time. He was kind of attracted at first, or at least during the time when he was writing his stories and poems. Later, he got bored. A sacrifice about the attitudes of the management, the owners, the staff, the guests, and everybody – made him decide to quit managing. He re-considered the thought of joining the academe once again. He did enroll in the Post Graduate Course.
Then luck became his when he was invited to an interview for a managerial post in a newly opened BPO company in the city. Just got lucky he guessed and he got the job. Thereupon he soared high again. The eagle in him took off from, this time, a nobler field, taking sky high without limits to where he is now. It was in this heaven made on earth that he fully comprehended the manager’s life.
Some says a manager’s life is easy: gets into the morning late, read newspapers, check mails, check emails, drinks coffee, signs documents or even checks, then does his real works. Takes occasional lunch meetings, attends to functions on official capacity, then goes back to office, drinks coffee or juice maybe, according to what is prepared by the beautiful secretary, checks the emails, then leaves the office. Does some work out or play tennis or badminton (or maybe golf) with some colleagues or friends. How he wished this is life; but it’s not it. This is not the way managers live, and this is not the way he lives.
He reports for work as early as seven in the morning, checks his mails and emails, responds if required and necessary, signs documents, and does the check up rounds like a medical doctor. After doing the ocular inspection, he goes back to his office and starts working. He works until he forgets about lunch break; somebody has to remind him of this. He eats his lunch late most of the time, and goes back to the office. He works and works, does some important phone calls, attends meetings and official functions, entertains guests, does some marketing. When the day is almost over, he goes out into the production floor, talks to production people and after they leave, that’s the time his real work begins. He works and stays late in the evening – sometimes till midnight, one or two or three or four or even five and six a.m. the following day. Well, who cares, it’s what his job calls for. Goes home, then takes a fifteen-thirty minute nap and takes a quick shower. Forgetting sometimes to take breakfast, he frequently leaves the house to meet the seven o’clock habit.
Most often dates don’t ring a bell anymore. One time, it was the birthday of his kid, and he seemed to forget that he must be home early again to be with his family, at least during this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dine. He doesn’t even remember their wedding anniversary, or his wife’s birthday. There are times when he wanted to cry but he can’t. The reason is simple: he cannot afford to show to the people that he is actually weak inside, or simply affected. Oftentimes, when managers cry, it is done with a big “bang” over the situation. Worst, if they don’t, they land the ICU of the nearest medical center in town. Yes, this is one life of a manager; and this is Andrei’s life.
Not all managers’ stories are success stories – I mean, they can be in terms of financial rewards, fame or prestige but on the human side, they are not. Managers are sad. Because they can never please everybody, the manager usually works on this principle: work honestly for the employer and God and everything else will be fine. The manager is the most hated man in the company. When his decision becomes unpopular, the entire team would ask for better; when the decision favors the masses but endangers the Business, the Management or the Board attacks. Worst, if the manager decides for the people, he loses his fortune. One thing is sure in management: managing is not a popularity contest.
This can be just one side of the coin. Of course, there are times when managers are happy. They play tricks, games, and mingle with people who like people – people who are true and who like true people. Why? Because in business, I learned one dictum: as long as one needs and uses you, then he is a business friend. If he does not need you in your business, he is no longer a friend. True! We long for true people in the neighborhood. While most managers cannot most of the time be true to their business associates or contacts, some of them really wants true links, true hearts. You can count Andrei in the pool of true colored-managers.
Yes, we usually take the highest and the most outrageous of flights in our lives that we sometimes forget we have to come back to the place where we take off. It’s inevitable and pardonable. It happens to everybody. What matters is we learn from this. In the flight where only managers are allowed to pilot, everybody in the plane must count on them. Managers are equipped to lead. If they can no longer lead, then managers cease to live.
Who wants to take the place?
Pulp Bits
Dumaguete Sun Star
05 September 2007
“Wait ‘till you become a manager,” said his boss when he was still working as an assistant in a government corporation.
More than twenty years ago, Andrei projected to become a manager when he reaches his age now. He protracted everything: his attitude towards work, attendance, company culture, profession and professional growth. He vowed he should not be identified as a pro-employee neither a pro-employer.
Andrei started as an Accounting Clerk for a rural bank. Despite the fact that he did not graduate, his work performance was noticed by the President’s wife. After a month, the Board sent him a pink slip elevating him to the position of an Internal Auditor which at that time was vacant. The critical department was only manned by his self. Three hard months passed and he recommended to hire two assistants which was soonest approved. He thus became the Senior Auditor acting as Department Head. He would usually and normally represent the department in the management committee and board meetings.
Normal in the course of an auditor’s job, he uncovered a long-practiced anomaly which amounted to almost one million pesos orchestrated in perfect connivance by the branch manager, credit and collection officer, cashier, and bookkeeper. Sensing this, the four personnel resigned one after the other. That catapulted Andrei’s prestige as an auditor.
He thought he already made heaven on earth. One day, in his usual visit to the Office of the President, he was asked to defend his audit findings in the court. Aware of the consequence of presenting any audit reports inside courts of law, he smartly requested for a verification audit to be done by a group of external auditors which was granted. Soon, the opinion of the external auditors was handed and as expected, they arrived at the same figure as he had. The two audit findings were exactly the same. This time, his ego was enhanced and as always, he was flying sky high like an eagle.
Like a Jumbo jet in nimbus, Andrei knew that soon he had to stop flying. One day, he was asked to fill out the life insurance form naming the Bank as the beneficiary. He called his family in Manila for the most appropriate thing to do given the situation. They vehemently instructed him not to sign the form and instead resign. Young and fresh from college as he was, he gave in to his family’s instructions: he resigned. His graceful exit from the bank paralyzed the case for reasons he did not bother to ask. The president and the members of the board wanted him to stay, but since no resignation is subject to any approval, they unwillingly let go of him.
He moved to and joined his family in Manila where luckily he got employed immediately. At this juncture, he already made arrangements for his graduation to at least prepare him for the next step ahead. Not lifting his own chair, he was always noticed as “promotable.” The hang-over he had from the bank plus the comments of his first employer in Manila gave him the urge to apply for a work in a government corporation. By God’s grace he boarded this company which later gave him so much in the same way as the management trusted him so much. He was single-handedly picked out to be trained in London, Hong Kong, and Singapore in relation to his new job. This company made him what he had become now.
The constant change in the national administration and the political instability of the government propelled him to retire from this government corporation after more than ten fruitful years. He enjoyed his retirement pay and at the same time landed on a new and challenging job.
Amazingly, he was offered to be the General Manager of a property / building management business in manila whose gross monthly income was twenty million pesos and with more than thirty employees under his wings. The president of the company believed so much in his experience and training that when he demanded his “desired salary,” the President never had a second thought in giving – plus other benefits. It was during this time Andrei learned the real meaning of “managing, management, and manager.”
Managing has been part of his life. I believe you would all agree that managing is part of our daily routine. There’s no question about that. If managing is an easy tone, management would also be. It was during this time Andrei learned what a manager really is and what it takes to be.
Andrei continued flying high like an eagle in the free and beautiful but tempting sky. As the eagle assuming the crown of being the king of aviation, he proudly held up his head up high like a king in the corporate world. So high as his position was, he knew and thought he was. Honestly, he never failed to manage: he can deal with the business proprietarily, deal with people professionally, and matters with good sense and judgment. He can take good care of the business like a good father of the family.
Coupled with this success in the corporate world or in his profession was somehow a deteriorating relationship with his family. Simply, he just had no time for his wife and kids. Thereafter, Andrei’s eldest began complaining about his time. As required and expected, the manager is supposed to be on top of everything and supposed to be 24/7 on call. This, he believed drained his energy and starved his system. He gave 25/8 to his job and none to his family. He began to feel the losing side of a manager. This situation urged him to resign early from this post and agreed with his wife to move to the province and join her family.
But since Andrei’s resume’ spoke better than what he can say, he believed he couldn’t hide the real him. He could not simply work as an ordinary being in the organization, modesty aside. Conversely, just can’t be a simple staff anymore.
Soon Andrei was hired as an Administrator of all the businesses of a rich Chinese man whose family owns a resort fifty kilometers away from the central city. After staying in the main office for about two months, the president asked him to manage the resort – well, it was expected. He could not say no. First, it was what he applied for. Second, he committed to help. His commitment can sometimes really pester, if not, kill him. He can easily commit without thinking the consequence in the long run. In that resort, he again opened his eyes to the realities of a manager’s life – sensible sacrifice for the sake of the responsibility the position entails.
In this part of the globe he saw men of varying and different nature: ill-mannered, refined, sophisticated, educated but not intelligent, intelligent but not educated the real intelligent guys, the real educated ones, and simple men. Others were, he knew very elementary and self-explanatory. Educated but not intelligent is simply a person who has the ethics and etiquettes but doesn’t have the academic excellence to boast for. That is, he is simply “mannered.” On the other hand, intelligent but not educated is the type who can boast of his “brains” and what’s inside, his degrees and his academic excellence but the one who doesn’t have the “manner.” One lesson for being a manager here is: he learned to deal with people objectively regardless of who they are.
It was supposed to be a “paradise-lost-now-found place” but it did not attract his body and soul for a longer period of time. He was kind of attracted at first, or at least during the time when he was writing his stories and poems. Later, he got bored. A sacrifice about the attitudes of the management, the owners, the staff, the guests, and everybody – made him decide to quit managing. He re-considered the thought of joining the academe once again. He did enroll in the Post Graduate Course.
Then luck became his when he was invited to an interview for a managerial post in a newly opened BPO company in the city. Just got lucky he guessed and he got the job. Thereupon he soared high again. The eagle in him took off from, this time, a nobler field, taking sky high without limits to where he is now. It was in this heaven made on earth that he fully comprehended the manager’s life.
Some says a manager’s life is easy: gets into the morning late, read newspapers, check mails, check emails, drinks coffee, signs documents or even checks, then does his real works. Takes occasional lunch meetings, attends to functions on official capacity, then goes back to office, drinks coffee or juice maybe, according to what is prepared by the beautiful secretary, checks the emails, then leaves the office. Does some work out or play tennis or badminton (or maybe golf) with some colleagues or friends. How he wished this is life; but it’s not it. This is not the way managers live, and this is not the way he lives.
He reports for work as early as seven in the morning, checks his mails and emails, responds if required and necessary, signs documents, and does the check up rounds like a medical doctor. After doing the ocular inspection, he goes back to his office and starts working. He works until he forgets about lunch break; somebody has to remind him of this. He eats his lunch late most of the time, and goes back to the office. He works and works, does some important phone calls, attends meetings and official functions, entertains guests, does some marketing. When the day is almost over, he goes out into the production floor, talks to production people and after they leave, that’s the time his real work begins. He works and stays late in the evening – sometimes till midnight, one or two or three or four or even five and six a.m. the following day. Well, who cares, it’s what his job calls for. Goes home, then takes a fifteen-thirty minute nap and takes a quick shower. Forgetting sometimes to take breakfast, he frequently leaves the house to meet the seven o’clock habit.
Most often dates don’t ring a bell anymore. One time, it was the birthday of his kid, and he seemed to forget that he must be home early again to be with his family, at least during this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dine. He doesn’t even remember their wedding anniversary, or his wife’s birthday. There are times when he wanted to cry but he can’t. The reason is simple: he cannot afford to show to the people that he is actually weak inside, or simply affected. Oftentimes, when managers cry, it is done with a big “bang” over the situation. Worst, if they don’t, they land the ICU of the nearest medical center in town. Yes, this is one life of a manager; and this is Andrei’s life.
Not all managers’ stories are success stories – I mean, they can be in terms of financial rewards, fame or prestige but on the human side, they are not. Managers are sad. Because they can never please everybody, the manager usually works on this principle: work honestly for the employer and God and everything else will be fine. The manager is the most hated man in the company. When his decision becomes unpopular, the entire team would ask for better; when the decision favors the masses but endangers the Business, the Management or the Board attacks. Worst, if the manager decides for the people, he loses his fortune. One thing is sure in management: managing is not a popularity contest.
This can be just one side of the coin. Of course, there are times when managers are happy. They play tricks, games, and mingle with people who like people – people who are true and who like true people. Why? Because in business, I learned one dictum: as long as one needs and uses you, then he is a business friend. If he does not need you in your business, he is no longer a friend. True! We long for true people in the neighborhood. While most managers cannot most of the time be true to their business associates or contacts, some of them really wants true links, true hearts. You can count Andrei in the pool of true colored-managers.
Yes, we usually take the highest and the most outrageous of flights in our lives that we sometimes forget we have to come back to the place where we take off. It’s inevitable and pardonable. It happens to everybody. What matters is we learn from this. In the flight where only managers are allowed to pilot, everybody in the plane must count on them. Managers are equipped to lead. If they can no longer lead, then managers cease to live.
Who wants to take the place?
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Florence
By Rolo B. Cena
The Gulf Files
Dumaguete Star Informer
17 October 2010
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Incidentally, this is not all about nurses and nursing profession; this is about women of the society, young or old, and their search for justice.
To date, three young and jovial Florence of the society are dreadfully derailed by irresponsibly-imposed human cruelties that would undoubtedly alter their respective life.
Symbolically, Florence comes from the name Florence Nightingale, the mother and founder of Nursing Profession. Briefly, Florence founded the Nursing profession by volunteering to attend to the wounded victims and soldiers during the Crimean War. Since then, Nursing has evolved into a very lucrative and attractive profession for women and later for men as well, a profession that cares for the world.
Florence, Charice, and Raissa: Highly spirited young women whose convictions apparently would have reached heights had they not encountered this grotesque form of inhumane and selfish disposition of freedom to live and the power to serve.
Florence, not her real name, a volunteer Nurse in Maguindanao was gang raped. Charice, a twelve-year old girl from Olongapo was raped. Raissa, a Law student became the victim of bomb explosion.
In support to their plight, members of the Nursing Community and the constituents of the City staged protest rallies and demonstrations to call the attention of the Administration for the speedy disposition of their cases. In consolation to Raissa, a Committee mandated to investigate the matter was formed comprising the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court.
The atrocious and cannibalistic attackers of Florence are believed to belong to rich and influential families. As per the newscast in one of the top rated terrestrial giants, an aggregate number of men from the son of the school principal, to a drunkard, and to a certain vice mayor of the locality, etc. are allegedly involved.
The attacker of Charice is the wisdom-dehydrated city executive whose mandate to run his public office comes from its constituents including her. It was such a boorish display of good governance and a cruel assassination of gentlemanliness and fatherhood.
It was an unintelligible move from equally incomprehensible minds of raising an issue of social or ideological conflict through a piece of grenade or improvised domestic bombs unleashed in the last day of the Bar Exams. Such a conflict between and among ideologies and academic points of view over something unresolved to date by intellectually blessed group of men brought to the streets these irresponsible members and started barking at a wrong tree. And sadly, Raissa, a member of the peer-pressured group was herself a startling victim.
Florence and Charice were victims of flesh hungry monsters that thrive in the urban areas disguised as political figures who claimed to be pro-life advocates supporting the government that defines its governance as “off the people, poor the people, and buy the people” while Raissa was a victim of an uncalled-for explosion of ideological conflicts and idiosyncrasies of young minds enslaved by a medium called brotherhood.
Of the three cases, my fearless forecast of the perceptible application of whitewash is on Florence and Charice. It is a known fact in this country that whenever influential families are involved, money talks louder than justice and power controls the process all through the promulgation of the verdict. In the case of Raissa, hopefully the committee will come up with an unbiased findings and sound recommendations to sanction the culprits. In case big fishes are behind this bombing, which hopefully will not be the case, whitewashing would just be as flawless as expected.
And what will happen to the victims in case of whitewash?
Except for Raissa, Florence and Charice will be living in humiliation for the rest of their lives; and their perspective will change from good to bad, withdrawal may ensue. The worst of it all, these monsters will continue to deface the earth and attack all human life forms and mercilessly subdue them to their powers in the most hostile vehicle: lust! These monsters will continue to breed like the reincarnated aliens from the dark ages that only the magical powers of the Olympian gods can cause them to perish forever from the face of the greed-controlled Philippines.
Raissa can still continue with her studies and become a lawyer in the future sans the beauty of strolling the countryside, courtrooms and justice corridors in a naturally-created pair of foot. Though life would continue, one that is at her disposal will be constricted and delimited.
The bad thing about obnoxious discharge of power, great or small, is that the owner can hardly be pressed to submit to authorities or be annihilated from earthly existence all at once.
Selfishness consumes the minds of these predators that even death by gas chamber would not suffice; insecurities rule the psyche of these marauders that a temporary accommodation at the purgatory does not justify. May the gods of the River of Death consume their impassionate souls and insatiable lusts or be encrypted by the hypnotic-eyed Medusa to be caused completely immobile for the rest of their lives.
Even if we bury these tormentors in the chamber of Judas the Iscariot, the near-end repentant Judas will certainly despise them.
The Gulf Files
Dumaguete Star Informer
17 October 2010
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Incidentally, this is not all about nurses and nursing profession; this is about women of the society, young or old, and their search for justice.
To date, three young and jovial Florence of the society are dreadfully derailed by irresponsibly-imposed human cruelties that would undoubtedly alter their respective life.
Symbolically, Florence comes from the name Florence Nightingale, the mother and founder of Nursing Profession. Briefly, Florence founded the Nursing profession by volunteering to attend to the wounded victims and soldiers during the Crimean War. Since then, Nursing has evolved into a very lucrative and attractive profession for women and later for men as well, a profession that cares for the world.
Florence, Charice, and Raissa: Highly spirited young women whose convictions apparently would have reached heights had they not encountered this grotesque form of inhumane and selfish disposition of freedom to live and the power to serve.
Florence, not her real name, a volunteer Nurse in Maguindanao was gang raped. Charice, a twelve-year old girl from Olongapo was raped. Raissa, a Law student became the victim of bomb explosion.
In support to their plight, members of the Nursing Community and the constituents of the City staged protest rallies and demonstrations to call the attention of the Administration for the speedy disposition of their cases. In consolation to Raissa, a Committee mandated to investigate the matter was formed comprising the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court.
The atrocious and cannibalistic attackers of Florence are believed to belong to rich and influential families. As per the newscast in one of the top rated terrestrial giants, an aggregate number of men from the son of the school principal, to a drunkard, and to a certain vice mayor of the locality, etc. are allegedly involved.
The attacker of Charice is the wisdom-dehydrated city executive whose mandate to run his public office comes from its constituents including her. It was such a boorish display of good governance and a cruel assassination of gentlemanliness and fatherhood.
It was an unintelligible move from equally incomprehensible minds of raising an issue of social or ideological conflict through a piece of grenade or improvised domestic bombs unleashed in the last day of the Bar Exams. Such a conflict between and among ideologies and academic points of view over something unresolved to date by intellectually blessed group of men brought to the streets these irresponsible members and started barking at a wrong tree. And sadly, Raissa, a member of the peer-pressured group was herself a startling victim.
Florence and Charice were victims of flesh hungry monsters that thrive in the urban areas disguised as political figures who claimed to be pro-life advocates supporting the government that defines its governance as “off the people, poor the people, and buy the people” while Raissa was a victim of an uncalled-for explosion of ideological conflicts and idiosyncrasies of young minds enslaved by a medium called brotherhood.
Of the three cases, my fearless forecast of the perceptible application of whitewash is on Florence and Charice. It is a known fact in this country that whenever influential families are involved, money talks louder than justice and power controls the process all through the promulgation of the verdict. In the case of Raissa, hopefully the committee will come up with an unbiased findings and sound recommendations to sanction the culprits. In case big fishes are behind this bombing, which hopefully will not be the case, whitewashing would just be as flawless as expected.
And what will happen to the victims in case of whitewash?
Except for Raissa, Florence and Charice will be living in humiliation for the rest of their lives; and their perspective will change from good to bad, withdrawal may ensue. The worst of it all, these monsters will continue to deface the earth and attack all human life forms and mercilessly subdue them to their powers in the most hostile vehicle: lust! These monsters will continue to breed like the reincarnated aliens from the dark ages that only the magical powers of the Olympian gods can cause them to perish forever from the face of the greed-controlled Philippines.
Raissa can still continue with her studies and become a lawyer in the future sans the beauty of strolling the countryside, courtrooms and justice corridors in a naturally-created pair of foot. Though life would continue, one that is at her disposal will be constricted and delimited.
The bad thing about obnoxious discharge of power, great or small, is that the owner can hardly be pressed to submit to authorities or be annihilated from earthly existence all at once.
Selfishness consumes the minds of these predators that even death by gas chamber would not suffice; insecurities rule the psyche of these marauders that a temporary accommodation at the purgatory does not justify. May the gods of the River of Death consume their impassionate souls and insatiable lusts or be encrypted by the hypnotic-eyed Medusa to be caused completely immobile for the rest of their lives.
Even if we bury these tormentors in the chamber of Judas the Iscariot, the near-end repentant Judas will certainly despise them.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
K + 2
By Rolo B. Cena
The Gulf Files
Dumaguete Star Informer
10 October 2010
Students and parents, tighten your belt! This is going to be a tough situation for all of you.
The announcement of K+2 by Secretary Armin Luistro of the Department of Education last 05 October 2010 during the celebration of the World’s Teachers in Pasig was, for me, a test of the waters under the bridge.
Firstly, consultations from stakeholders were not conducted. Secondly, amendment to the Education Law of 1982 was not undertaken. Thirdly, the readiness is questionable.
Sec. Armin Luistro announced that the consultations from all stakeholders shall be conducted starting this month until February 2011. What is he trying to convey to the general public then that after the fact works in this administration? Look what happened to the botched 23rd of August rescue drama!
Additionally, he professed that the program will start in 2011. And further, he said that whether or not it will succeed, he will stand firm by it. Was the legal requirement called amendment of the law in question, which requires series of congressional and senate hearings in the presence of the public done?
Are we ready, as a nation of education-battered Philippines for the shift? Do we have enough classrooms, textbooks, equipments, and teachers? Do we have the required and necessary curricula for these addenda?
The answer is obviously NO!
Cory Aquino championed democracy and served it back to our table since 1986. For all intents and purposes, Cory would consult from all parties before making a decision. It seems that P-Noy is comfortable with opening his big mouth without consulting. He even promised to the entire nation in the same ceremony that he will not leave any problem untouched. Let us see!
Assuming, for the sake of argument that consultation from stakeholders and amendment of the Education Law which were actually and technically by-passed plus the questionable readiness are fully complied with, does the administration fully understand what lags us behind in terms of educational system?
Quality!
And by quality we mean - in particular order, quality pay for teachers, quality teachers, quality curricula or instruction, quality textbooks, and quality classrooms.
Without looking at statistics, our teachers are insufficiently paid. For this reason, they are lured by the high earnings overseas even working as domestic helpers only. On separate travels, I have spoken to several housemaids in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and England who are teachers by profession. Exasperatingly, by profession I mean, they are not just graduates, they are licensed! What the heck are they doing in those places when they are supposed to be teaching young minds in the pale-painted four-walled classroom as called for by their code of ethics?
Quality teachers, whew! Pardon me but this is true. Quality teachers are dying not because of old age but because of the progressively diminishing quality of Education Curriculum we are offering in the tertiary Level. Another story of quality teachers: A Physical Education major teaching science in the tender levels and a teacher stood corrected by her students with her pronunciation of several English words in several occasions.
As a due diligence, I usually read the textbooks of our kids. Surprisingly, several textbooks appear to be excellent from the outside front cover until I read through a page with glaring mistakes. Worst, I really know the subject matter by heart. It was disgusting when concerned agencies would allow these books to be circulated in the entire archipelago without the benefit of reviewing the contents whether or not these conform to the standards, or whether or not the presentation of the facts or ideas are accurate. Hey, some writers are beginners in the field of textbook writing, henceforth, amateurs in the field of education.
Question: why do these writers write these silly textbooks? What triggers which? Who benefited from whom? How much?
Blunt as this may sound but nothing is more fitting than to define quality education in this manner: A fairy-tale-quality teacher delivering a-paper-manifested-quality instruction using an impostor-written-quality textbook with matching imaginary apparatuses while holding her class under the shade of a tamarind tree on a third shift.
Bingo! Sec. Luistro is dreaming!
While it may be true that we are the only country with a 10-year cycle of basic education, adding two mandatory years in the preparatory and two more years in high school does not solve the problem; it does not even help uplifting the quality of education this runner-up country boasts to date. I agree with Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, President of Ateneo de Manila University that this new program sounds good but when we really hold it, it doesn’t make sense at all.
Will K + 2 change the major, major equation?
Unfortunately, without addressing the issues on quality: pay, teacher, instruction, textbooks, equipments, classroom, etc, it will not and it will not at all add value to the present system. Putting new wine into the old wineskin does not help but will only damage the store.
As an educator, I would like to maintain my synthesis that in the face of cultural disparateness which is increasingly evident in the post-modern Philippine culture, the present Philippine Educational System seems to be more damaging, not enriching and convincing.
Arguably though, for as long as the old school rules the symbolic Malacanang of the Imperial Manila, not anything from the ailing Philippines will improve. Not even the public-perceived charismatic programs of P-Noy can!
Greed can never buy quality!
The Gulf Files
Dumaguete Star Informer
10 October 2010
Students and parents, tighten your belt! This is going to be a tough situation for all of you.
The announcement of K+2 by Secretary Armin Luistro of the Department of Education last 05 October 2010 during the celebration of the World’s Teachers in Pasig was, for me, a test of the waters under the bridge.
Firstly, consultations from stakeholders were not conducted. Secondly, amendment to the Education Law of 1982 was not undertaken. Thirdly, the readiness is questionable.
Sec. Armin Luistro announced that the consultations from all stakeholders shall be conducted starting this month until February 2011. What is he trying to convey to the general public then that after the fact works in this administration? Look what happened to the botched 23rd of August rescue drama!
Additionally, he professed that the program will start in 2011. And further, he said that whether or not it will succeed, he will stand firm by it. Was the legal requirement called amendment of the law in question, which requires series of congressional and senate hearings in the presence of the public done?
Are we ready, as a nation of education-battered Philippines for the shift? Do we have enough classrooms, textbooks, equipments, and teachers? Do we have the required and necessary curricula for these addenda?
The answer is obviously NO!
Cory Aquino championed democracy and served it back to our table since 1986. For all intents and purposes, Cory would consult from all parties before making a decision. It seems that P-Noy is comfortable with opening his big mouth without consulting. He even promised to the entire nation in the same ceremony that he will not leave any problem untouched. Let us see!
Assuming, for the sake of argument that consultation from stakeholders and amendment of the Education Law which were actually and technically by-passed plus the questionable readiness are fully complied with, does the administration fully understand what lags us behind in terms of educational system?
Quality!
And by quality we mean - in particular order, quality pay for teachers, quality teachers, quality curricula or instruction, quality textbooks, and quality classrooms.
Without looking at statistics, our teachers are insufficiently paid. For this reason, they are lured by the high earnings overseas even working as domestic helpers only. On separate travels, I have spoken to several housemaids in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and England who are teachers by profession. Exasperatingly, by profession I mean, they are not just graduates, they are licensed! What the heck are they doing in those places when they are supposed to be teaching young minds in the pale-painted four-walled classroom as called for by their code of ethics?
Quality teachers, whew! Pardon me but this is true. Quality teachers are dying not because of old age but because of the progressively diminishing quality of Education Curriculum we are offering in the tertiary Level. Another story of quality teachers: A Physical Education major teaching science in the tender levels and a teacher stood corrected by her students with her pronunciation of several English words in several occasions.
As a due diligence, I usually read the textbooks of our kids. Surprisingly, several textbooks appear to be excellent from the outside front cover until I read through a page with glaring mistakes. Worst, I really know the subject matter by heart. It was disgusting when concerned agencies would allow these books to be circulated in the entire archipelago without the benefit of reviewing the contents whether or not these conform to the standards, or whether or not the presentation of the facts or ideas are accurate. Hey, some writers are beginners in the field of textbook writing, henceforth, amateurs in the field of education.
Question: why do these writers write these silly textbooks? What triggers which? Who benefited from whom? How much?
Blunt as this may sound but nothing is more fitting than to define quality education in this manner: A fairy-tale-quality teacher delivering a-paper-manifested-quality instruction using an impostor-written-quality textbook with matching imaginary apparatuses while holding her class under the shade of a tamarind tree on a third shift.
Bingo! Sec. Luistro is dreaming!
While it may be true that we are the only country with a 10-year cycle of basic education, adding two mandatory years in the preparatory and two more years in high school does not solve the problem; it does not even help uplifting the quality of education this runner-up country boasts to date. I agree with Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, President of Ateneo de Manila University that this new program sounds good but when we really hold it, it doesn’t make sense at all.
Will K + 2 change the major, major equation?
Unfortunately, without addressing the issues on quality: pay, teacher, instruction, textbooks, equipments, classroom, etc, it will not and it will not at all add value to the present system. Putting new wine into the old wineskin does not help but will only damage the store.
As an educator, I would like to maintain my synthesis that in the face of cultural disparateness which is increasingly evident in the post-modern Philippine culture, the present Philippine Educational System seems to be more damaging, not enriching and convincing.
Arguably though, for as long as the old school rules the symbolic Malacanang of the Imperial Manila, not anything from the ailing Philippines will improve. Not even the public-perceived charismatic programs of P-Noy can!
Greed can never buy quality!
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