Letter to Commissioner MELO of COMELEC

Sir:
First of all, congratulations for pushing through our first automated election. Your resolved results in the first real QUICK RESULT in the history of Philippine election. May I suggest the following for our next election to be more efficient:

1. The PCOS machine should be distributed to the local COMELEC branches two-weeks before election. They can utilized monasteries, seminaries, churches, mosques as temporary warehouse guarded by PNP or by the Military.

2. The memory card should be distributed one-week before election to the local COMELEC for testing. Representatives from SMARTMATIC, accredited election watchers, political parties should be present as witnesses. The memory card should be sealed again and the boxes signed by the witnesses. Any defective memory card or PCOS machine should replaced immediately.

3. The Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) should be properly trained on the function of the PCOS machine, the system of voting and trained on time-motion techniques.

4. The PCOS machines and memory cards should be distributed to the precints 3-days before election and guarded by the PNP or military.

5. The list of voters should be posted in the precint two-days before election.

6. There should be express voting lane for senior people and physically-challenged.

7. Watchers of political parties and watchdogs should not be allowed inside the precint when voting is on-going. The BEI should be given power to expel them when needed. They will be allowed only when it it is time to print the precint result for them to act as witnesses.

8. The voters should show an ID when voting since the voters list contain no picture for proper identification. This should be checked by the BEI.

9. Setting up of PCOS and other election paraphernalia in the voting precint should be done a day before election.

10. On election day start at 6:00Am and end at 8PM. You may designate a special time for the elderly (6:00-8:00AM) and a special time for first-time voters (6:00-8:00PM).

Again congratulations.

Arnel L. Cadeliña

The battle for clean water. A call for action.

Our rivers are drying up quickly.Climate change and diminishing water supply are now wreaking havoc to millions of people around the world. In Lucena City, the huge and growing population will cause water to be dirty and unsafe to drink. Several years from now, if we will not help LUPATA amd DENR, turning on the faucet and having water pours abundantly will be a distant memory in Lucena.
Our action should be decisive this year because bringing clean water to every home is key to break the cycle of misery and poverty. We should not allow the time our children will devout hours to fetch water because this will kill their interest in developing their skills and thinking of establishing their own business. Fetching water is some kind of slavery and it is already happening in Africa where females are tasked to haul water as far as 3 km from their home. They can not go to school and choose a better occupation. We should not allow this to happen.
For those who are based in Lucena, Pagbilao, Tayabas and Lucban I am challenging you to be part of an advocacy to protect our source of water.Call me 0919-278-9171, email lenra1967@yahoo.com. Let us make the first step.

Choosing a City Mayor

I am asked by a Knights of Columbus friend who will I vote for Lucena City Mayor. I did not answer quickly knowing that the present candidates never campaigned based on platforms (the usual thing in Lucena Politics)and we never experienced (never ever!) hearing them debating on critical issues. However I drafted my own criteria to elect one:

[ ] The true public servant (mayor) stands out because he has no personal agenda.
[ ] He lives for no reason other than to fulfill the will of the people – to serve the
public interest.
[ ] He wields no power other than the strength of his principles and the influencing
force of his character.

If nobody will pass the above criteria (woe to Lucena City!), I will rather abstain voting for Mayor.

Winners vs Losers

Winners seek answers to problems , losers see problems in every answers.
Winners are people who have plans, losers are people who have excuses.
Winners are those who see the difficult as possible, losers are those who see the possible as too difficult.
Winners tend to say “ What can I do for you?, losers tend to say “That is not my job”.
Winners make mistakes and say “ I was wrong”, losers make mistakes and say, “ It’s not my fault”.
Winners say “ This is good, but there must be something better”, losers say “ This is good because it’s the way it’s done before”.
My friend the tribe of winners are waiting for you, join the bandwagon!

SENATORS

The Senate of the Philippines after the EDSA 1 revolution was known for showmanship rather than substance. We can not hear anymore the thundering voices of Claro M. Recto and Jovito Salonga who made the Senate Hall as the bastion of quality debate and nationalistic laws.

This coming May election I am endorsing the following candidates.
May they make a difference:
1. ACOSTA, NEREUS JR. - Liberal Party
2. BAUTISTA, MARTIN - Liberal Party
3. DRILON, FRANKLIN - Liveral Party
4. HONTIVEROS, ANA - Liberal Party
5. LACSON, ALEXANDER - Liberal Party
6. MAZA, LISA - Independent
7. OCAMPO, SATUR - Bayan Muna
8. TAMANO, ADEL - Nacionalista Party

RETREAT

One benefit of working in a Catholic school is attending a yearly retreat.

This year I am so blessed to attend the 5-days Ignatian Lenten Retreat at the San Jose Seminary in Ateneo. Sr. Rose Lynn Doromal, DC, upon learning that one of her staff can not attend the retreat due to illness pitch me in as a replacement.

It was a very good time because it took some day off from home and work to engage God in quiet prayer and meditation. I reflected on the graces I received for the past year ( so many!), the problems and challenges ( equally many). The Ignatian retreat is distinct because I was provided a retreat director ( Emoy a former Jesuit seminarian) whom I meet each day for 1 hour to share fruits of my prayers.

It is spiritually uplifting especially when my feet were washed by Jesuit priests during the Holy Thursday mass and kissing the cross on Good Friday. On both occasion I felt the holy spirit descended on me.

Just in my 2nd day of retreat with the great help of being silent for more than 24 hours I realized that my strength is in General Management and Administration of a company, business or organization. This is what I am and doing it will make me happy.

On the third day I realized that in my life there is no accident. Everything that I possessed and every people that I met or will be met are part of chaotic events done by Unseen Hands. It is up to me to make it less chaotic.

During the Holy Saturday Vigil, which is the longest mass I attended because of 9 bible readings, 9 responsorial psalms all done by singing, transformed my view of the passion of Christ. From the candle lights procession up to the proclamation of Easter, I was overwhelmed on the power of a great Catholic tradition that can not be found in other denominations.

I will carry the images, the sacredness and the power of the Holy Triduum Lenten retreat until the end of my breath.

I am challenging my blog readers to experience it yourself. You may start by visiting www.cisphil.org.

DISCIPLES

For the past 23 years that I am working, I already identified three kinds of workers where an employer or entrepreneur can measure the level of commitment.
The highest kind of workers are the disciples. These people believe in what the Administration is doing and believe in the leadership of the top management.
The second type are the fence sitters. They are the wait and see types and will just stay in their office the whole day and just do their daily work.
The third type and the worst are the saboteurs . These are the people who do not believe in the leadership of the top management and at the same time causes harm to the organization.
The disciples are easy to identify because they are high-performing individuals and whose personal objectives are aligned to the organization. They will not involve themselves in office politics rather focuses on developing their competencies.
Now, look around in your office or business, who are the disciples?.

Toxic 2.0

Toxic people intoxicate the mind of others that it may result to hypocrisy.
In the workplace you can not escape meeting them whether you are in the high-rise building of Makati or in a government office in Maguindanao.
In my experience, toxic people wear their mask everyday to hide their insecurities and fear. They love to spread rumors because it is their weapon to hide their sins or shortcomings.
Literally run when you meet them in your company corridor or suffer absorbing the negativity that emanates from them.
We have three ways to avoid the trap of toxic people:
1. Have a good family.
2. Have good friends
3. Do good works
Toxic people influence the lives of others by speaking lies and deception. Do not take this road and do the opposite.
A life doing good and helping others will bring multiplier effect hence your influence is immeasurable.
Good lives can be as simple as just decency in every room.
Remember, hardships and diseases are nothing if you have Good Family, Good Friends, Good Works.

Work

Work for me is sacred. To do nothing is a blasphemy. If you will made me choose to sit down all day long versus cleaning the toilet, the latter will win hands down.
If I did my job and there is spare time to read you can find me enjoying books, magazines and all printed materials that inspires me.
I am always working and learning at the same time. This you may call work ethic but for me it is to drive away the evil of laziness and negative thoughts.
My father said hard work rules!
No doubt he was right, it is the primary rule of life!

COLLEGE

When I was in college our family was always in dire straits. There are times we have nothing to eat. I have no choice then but to work.
From the beginning I know that my strength lies in my brain and not in my fingers. So I persevered to write articles and puzzles for the college newspapers. The university paid me P600 per issue and added to that the scholarship I enjoyed being a dean's lister made me survived the high cost of college.
What is appalling today is the kids that receive all these college expenses for free from their parents, while then I worked hard to manage these things.

DEATH OR ASSUMPTION?

When I was 22 my father died. I saw him agonizing in the hospital caused by complications of diabetes. He was a good guy. He sent his children to college on a meager salary as a welder. I remember him telling me to focus on my studies so that I will not be like him. But deep inside he is my idol. His daily heroic sacrifices are imprinted in my mind.
When he died, I instantly became the head of the family. Lucky I am I was employed right after graduation at Pag-IBIG Fund. All my earnings then were used to pay the tuition of my two brothers and the rest as our food expenses. A day after my payday it was very common that nothing was left for me except a few pesos for my transportation. But I have no inkling then to blame anybody on the hardships I incurred nor being the sole breadwinner.
It is clear to me that I should put my 2 brothers and my mother first before my need.
In the end , I realized that the death of my father is something over which I have no control.
It gave a lesson though that there is always a smart way to run a life and it is to live well, do exciting and worthwhile things and be a force for good.
A life well lived is the most worthwhile goal of a person.

Best School

I was asked by a friend how to evaluate a school where he can send his children. At first, I was adamant knowingly that I lacked the rubrics. But as he insisted, I gave him a straightforward answer based on my experience as a parent of a 16 and 11 years old.

" The most effective school is the one that operates from a value system that places a HIGH PRIORITY ON PEOPLE AND RELATIONSHIPS. This school should recognize that relationships play a pivotal role in learning, teaching and administration".

The best way to see it: observe the school administrators then judge.........

Letter to the Next Philippine President

Educational Leadership: Must for the Next President
By: Arnel L. Cadeliña

To the Presidential Candidates:

Presidential elections are here again to test our ability to discern who among you deserve Malacañang. Your usual techniques of giving us promises relentlessly by infomercials, radio and print advertisements are now beginning to clog our brains. Again you are telling us that you are somewhat a messiah that will deliver us in our present ailments and predicaments. Food in every table, jobs in every family and health for all. Promises we heard from your predecessors since our republic was born after World War 2.

I don’t need to tell you that the past governments failed us repeatedly. Just look around you and decide.

For your millions of OFW countrymen toiling around the world, do you feel their agony of being away from their family?. Did anybody from your inner circle told you that every night as they lay down their aching back, your OFW feel that nobody cares for them?. Have you realized that the present administration, instead of trumpeting the creation of local jobs, happily announces their success of sending million OFWs?. Did you listen to their aching hearts and wounded relationships trying to be remedied by texts or long distance phone calls?. Even in their slumber have you thought that they are visited by whispers that no jobs await them when they return?.
What then you should do so that this May election will be different from the past?
Have a education agenda and be an education leader.

You are not deaf when your peers from other countries belittled our education system. Their perceptions that the middle, upper-middle class and the rich goes to rich-elite private universities while the 90% poor are either out-of-school or schooled by colleges or universities classified by foreigners as “glorified high school”. Is this reality angered you and make you determined to reform the system from day one of your office?

Have you realized from being in the top of the pyramid that the result of this imbalance is a classic phenomenon of overproduction in the absence of job production?. You don’t need to hire a prophet to predict that a social volcano is brewing to explode when million-army of educated unemployed start to be restless.

We will vote for you if you act decisively on the following education-related issues:
1. Requiring Deped , CHED and TESDA policy makers to have a coordinated
efforts to create challenging, clear content standards to guide classroom
instructions and learning. These standards can be assessed and measured by
scrutinizing classroom instruction.
2. Once a standard is set the government should develop a five-year plan to
support the research and development plan of having a national assessment.
3. Provide more funds for health care of low-income students by giving
subsidized meal programs.
4. Provide more funds to increase the budget for education.
5. Work for the increase of the salary of public and private school teachers.
Help them to have lesser income tax in order to augment their take-home pay.
6. Provide more scholarships in the masters and doctoral programs on science
and engineering.
7. Focus on the creation of jobs. Specifically jobs that will match the skills
of the graduates.

These are only seven issues and I believed there are more that can be suggested. The most important thing is that we need you to transform the education system of our country.

It is a long and difficult road but it is much cheaper than quelling armed revolution.

Again you should convince us first that the education issues, such as indicated above, will be addressed decisively. Once you decided that you will be one of us in this goal you will have my vote and once you are in Malacañang we will not waiver in watching your educational agenda. If you forgot about us and you begin to drown in the cup of power, we will march to your gate to remind you. Come hell or high water.

(Mr. Arnel L. Cadeliña resides in Lucena City. An MBA graduate of Ateneo and currently work as GSU Director of Sacred Heart College. Comments are welcome please e-mail arnelcadelina@gmail.com)

Father's Day

I have a friend laid-off of his overseas job and now stay in his home without income, savings and a remote chance to find an overseas job in the soonest time possible. His once vibrant personality is replaced by a timid and serious looks. Being jobless reaches his inner core that he began to feel useless.
How can you provide hope when everything around you seems embrace hopelessness?.
Two days ago, his son came from school crying and my friend asked why. The child said that he can not go to school anymore because his classmates teased him of having always no money.
My friend was devastated. He can take ridicule from anybody of having no money but for his son to suffer because of circumstances not his fault is not acceptable. He as a father can do something to earn money but his 7 years old can not. Who is going to act then, he asked himself.
Yesterday is Father's Day and that day he packed his bag and went to Manila to look for a new job. Not for his sake but for his child.
A man can be transform when he became a father provided that one ingredient reaches his core: love.

My dream

I was on my last day of my retreat in Lucban, Quezon. My mind is at peace and i am totally recharge. After several minutes of reading, I fall asleep. in my golden slumber, I have a dream. Let me share it with you.
A priest is very popular in his parish that his charisma attracts followers and believers. One day a poison letter is send to the bishop,priests of other parish and to lay people. The letter accused the charismatic priest of having a woman and getting her pregnant. Naturally, gossips and rumor mills circulated in the parish. The priest is devastated. For one month he refused to meet people and never say mass to any church. The poison letter is like a spear wounding his heart.
Then one day, the people is surprised to see the priest greeting people outside the church and began to say mass more passionately. The people are amazed on the transformation of the priest and they asked him how he overcome the gossips. The priest just say "I recognized that I can not please all people, that it is always possible that a leader is not a leader unless he is ready to be wounded".
After several years, the priest became a bishop and he transform his church by refusing to be served by anybody when he is invited to a lunch or dinner; he transferred his room air-con to the visitors waiting area; his room is bare only bed a small table and chair can be found; he refused to buy expensive car and rather take the bus or jeepney; he made sure that as a bishop he is a servant especially of the poor.
When he died, all parishioners weep as if a part of them died. He is the only saint they met in their lifetime.
As I wake up, I am crying because still I have to meet such priest/bishop in my lifetime.
Do you know somebody?

The Tao of Charlie Munger

Charlie Munger, 84, is Warren Buffett’s principal sounding board and co-strategist. With his help Buffett has evolved from a successful but small-time money manager to the world’s richest man, with unparalled global influence – and on the eyes of some admirers, he wouldn’t be where he is without Munger.
I am one of his loyal fan and maybe one of the few Filipinos who seek his wisdom on investing. Let me share to you Munger’s five thoughts to help investors in today’s recessionary environment:
Avoid the Middleman. Maybe we should think twice about or brokers and mutual funds. Munger says that due to its middling performance and high fees, the money management industry as a whole “ gives no value added” to its customers. “They are croupiers taking profits out of the System”.
Pick Common Sense over Math. Another knock against the pros? Their obsession with statistical analysis – “boring gravel sifting,” as Munger calls it – obscures insights about which businesses are poised to succeed. “ These people od involved computations, and they are walking right by great boulders of gold.” Meanwhile, he and Buffett “just look for no-brainer decisions…..We don’t leap 7-foot fences.”
Think Like Ben Franklin. Munger believes in educating himself deeply about, well, almost everything , “invading other people’s territory” to develop a “mental latticework of theory” to shape his investing decisions. His poster boy for this approach: Ben Franklin. “He was a self-educated man who wandered over vast territory, “Munger says. “He recognized that he needed higher math, so he went out and learned algebra….. Learn your gaps, and fill them. That’s what I do.”
Sit on your assets, if you can. . While most investors associate Buffett and Munger with finding good stocks cheap, Munger points out that quality can trump price. “If you buy something because it is undervalued, you have to think about selling it when it approaches your calculation of its intrinsic value,” he says. That’s hard. But if you buy a few great companies, then you can sit on your ass. That’s a good thing.”
Source: Smartmoney interview; recent speeches; Poor Charlie’s Almanack

Motivating people

In the corporate world and in the academe one common findings I discovered. To motivate the best and the brightest there are only 2 key factors needed:

1. You should give the best people the freedom to do his job. The high-performing people should be treated as professionals and should not be micro-managed. Because they really don't like to be managed at all. They prefer to be led, being provided with a clean set of goals and objectives and given the creative freedom to accomplish their targets. They seek empowerment that comes from a leader
who trust them completely.

2. The best people wants to have an impact and to be recognized for it. the company should always remember that their best people are passionate on what they are doing. They can easily be spotted because these best people aligned his objectives with his boss or his organization.

To motivate employees is easy, the difficult thing is having the skills and the will to do it.

FrancisM

We are made to contribute and Francis Magalona was one of the few who carried the banner. Our generation is marred by confusion and rebellion to authority that we viewed as repressive and protector of personal interest. Francis M songs expressed our generations sentiment and his death pierced our heart. So long Francis, we are sure you will still write and sing songs in heaven!
KALEIDOSCOPE WORLD

So many faces, so many races
Different voices, different choices
Some are mad, while others laugh
Some live alone with no better half
Others grieve while others curse
And others mourn behind a big black hearse
Some are pure and some half-bred
Some are sober and some are wasted
Some are rich because of fate and
Some are poor with no food on their plate
Some stand out while others blend
Some are fat and stout while some are thin
Some are friends and some are foes
Some have some while some have most

Every color and every hue
Is represented by me and you
Take a slide in the slope
Take a look in the kaleidoscope
Spinnin' round, make it twirl
In this kaleidoscope world

Some are great and some are few
Others lie while some tell the truth
Some say poems and some do sing
Others sing through their guitar strings
Some know it all while some act dumb
Let the bassline strum to the bang of the drum
Some can swim while some will sink
And some will find their minds and think
Others walk while others run
You can't talk peace and have a gun
Some are hurt and start to cry
Don't ask me how don't ask me why
Some are friends and some are foes
Some have some while some have most

Every color and every hue
Is represented by me and you
Take a slide in the slope
Take a look in the kaleidoscope
Spinnin' round, make it twirl
In this kaleidoscope world

Rebelyn Pitao, 20

(Evangeline Maasin Pitao, Rebelyn's mother. MindaNews photo courtesy of Rene B. Lumawag, Pixels & Cutlines)
A teacher from Davao who was abducted last Wednesday was found dead last March 8. She is just 20 years old, living the difficult life as we all experienced on a daily basis. She is a woman who committed no crime and whose only case her torturer and murderer can think of is that her father is an NPA commander. The sins of her father the criminals make sure she shouldered the pain. They mutilated her genital and stab her repeatedly with ice-pick. Rape is evident.
The church is beginning to observe the lenten season but this early we already grieved because of this terrible injustice.
If this government will not arrest the criminals they will bear the brunt of the people's anger.
What happened to Rebelyn only validates that evil still resides in the heart of those who are supposed to practice Christian virtues.
They are an abomination in the eyes of God and the murderers can never rest in peace!.

College Education = Middle Class

College education is under question nowadays. Some people bashed it as worthless while others claimed it is a waste of time and money. The thousands who graduate yearly from colleges and universities will find it difficult to land a job in today’s recessionary times. The more than 35,000 nursing students who passed the board exam recently can not be entirely absorbed by all hospitals in the country. The law of supply and demand will surely come into play and it will result to lower salary of nurses. This reality further fuelled the fire that college education will likely not give the parents the return of investment they dreamed since their child was born.
The diploma-mill-school aggravates the situation by producing graduates who do not possessed even basic written English skills.
Why I am then proposing that the Filipino youth should pursue their college education?. BECAUSE THERE IS NO OTHER WAY to earn a regular salary, have a formal employment and crawled to middle class but to earn a college education.
There are people who sarcastically point to us that they can earn money without completing their college. Their ultimate hero is Bill Gates who dropped out of Harvard in his 2nd year, created Microsoft and never looked back.
I always loved to point to them that they are not Bill Gates who has parents earning lots of dollars, who studied in the best and expensive private elementary and high school, who has a country that passionately reward creativity and out-of-the-box thinking and a business environment where venture capitalists abound.
The challenge is clear for Filipinos that the Philippine environment is chaotic, bureaucratic and dwells on penalty rather than rewards.
But college education can change the landscape. It can make Filipinos open-minded, challenges traditional mores, invests more, entrepreneurship focused, back democratic process and support politicians with right economic policies.
The problem is when Filipinos college graduate do not possess the above characteristics. This will validate the claim that colleges and universities failed on their sworn duty. This failure will result to a life of hand-to-mouth existence even though a college diploma hangs in the wall.
Those who love the Philippines I am sure will not allow our country to slide in the level of North Korea or Zimbabwe.
We can do it by acting as one race and with one aspiration: the creation of a middle class with characters shaped by a solid college education.

Arnel L. Cadeliña