this is a tribute to all my college friends, fellow-students and professors
so shall i remember the countless days spent inside the room and out
of all the memorized lines, written and said aloud
there is that of banish and vanish in literature
and also goes the life, liberty and property prose
who can forget the little old lady who spoke of travels abroad
she mentioned spain, rome, paris and mars who knows
the long lost daughter of rizal, she spoke to the wall
dare anyone listen? one or two at most
the history sire was a master who coined names for many
chicken for me, pooh for winnie and placido penitente
he was intrigued to be dating ms i can't name names
ms lovely clothes told us the "just friends" phrase. hmmm
t'was the second year when the block got together
coming from three original groups, heterogenous at start
brought together by projects and spiritual classes
sharing stories, notes and fear of numbers
who would have thought it'd take just a semester
for jm to tear the block sched during enrollment off the board
write it down, write it down! they said
so we can all take it together- one class after all
then we moved to creating videos, shows and films
there were fights but more of laughter and tears
can you remember the breakthrough artist?
she got the dream role- sadako verdadero
think of all the nights and days spent without sleep
how thankful you were for 24 hour stores and coffee
looking back even tough exhausted and haggard
i really think there should have been more!
you know what you'll never forget?
the intolerable smell at the little theater and falcon bridge
taking spearibs for lunch five days a week and smelling like it
goto at stairbucks and gulaman at kiss- king of balls
mr tan and dr manimtim are your favorite administrators
face it, you love the way he says filipino curses
and can't help but wish that your legs would look like hers in 30 years
i wonder where/when can i find more of them in this lifetime
as time passes by i can't help but shed a tearful glance
not at regret , frustrations and i told you sos
but in gratitude of all the time spent on words of wisdom
at the study center, the halls and the media center
if things could rewind and happen again like a video tape
id put the tape in a box, hide it deep in a closet
let whatever things that happened remain in storage
untouched, unmanipulated and constant
this post is not enough to thank the bright mind of mam jen
for exhausting her strength, nobility and love
to allow us a firm grip on the ropes of education and life
no other mentor as of yet has spoken the terms college like a friend
could this be the end of the road? please no
i hope the best in luck, in chance and in God
may you all my friends remember me once in a while
not for my quirks, but for what good we have been through
i'll surely miss you but i will not forget
how happy my college life has been just knowing y'all..........
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
at work
well you may be wondering why its been so long since i posted, you can ask mr dividina and he'll tell you all about it. anyway another reason, aside from the play fest is that I now officially have work!!!! Home radio has taken me in to become a newscaster and they want me to start waaaay before graduation- next tuesday that is.... well i've been training and im finding it ia bit hard not to sound too young and create a style of my own that fits the easy listening format of the station.
i would just like to share something i have read from team asia:
Attracting Foreign VisitorsBy Michael Alan HamlinFebruary 21, 2005
For the first time since the Asian Financial Crisis and the election of former president Joseph Estrada, we're seeing a spate of large business conferences taking place. The fact that conference producers are again willing to take the significant financial risks associated with organizing a meeting suggests new optimism in the Philippines in general, the Philippine economy, and, yes, the Philippine government in particular.
You may understandably wonder how this can be so in the aftermath of recent downgrades of the Philippines' credit rating. In fact, Moody's not just downgraded the Philippines, but slapped the country down two notches. But the truth is that credit rating downgrades - like business news - generally trail reality, often by substantial gaps. Paco Sandejas, a venture capitalist, is fond of saying that by the time you read the news in BusinessWeek, it's old news. He was implying that venture capitalists and other investors want to act before an opportunity becomes generally known. Investors want to come in on the ground floor of opportunity.
So do analysts. But they don't. Analysts at rating agencies like Moody's base their analyses on a number of factors. They spend time "on the ground" in the country being evaluated, talking with government officials, economists, bankers, businesspeople, academics, and other influential publics. They sample the sentiment of these publics through formal surveys. They evaluate economic and fiscal indicators of the country's health. And they read reports in the business literature, like BusinessWeek, and they watch CNN.
The problem with all of these sources is that they report history - with varying degrees of accuracy. And on the basis of that history, ratings agencies like Moody's make predictions about the future. The thing to note here is that the present essentially is ignored. It's ignored because no one, in reality, knows what present conditions really are other than in an anecdotal way. So the supposition is that if historical data appears dismal, the present must be more so, and the future, well, it looks bad.
One reason that analysts believe this history, and in the Philippines' case, assume the worst, is that there is no credible information available that suggests otherwise. Senior government officials from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Department of Finance go on road shows and undertake other communications efforts in an attempt to sway analysts' views. But to analysts, these officials have an obvious and natural bias, and therefore lack credibility. Especially given all the negative news that's available.
One way to address such negative perceptions is to push positive information - such as business and investor success stories - to analysts, media, and other influential individuals. Success stories in which foreign investors, for example, discuss how well their organizations are doing in the Philippines, are credible because the source of the good news is not employed by the government. The story becomes even more credible when it is picked up by a credible media outlet, like our favorite business magazine, BusinessWeek.
Is this news any less historic than the other sources of information analysts base their analyses on? No, it's not. But it is positive news.
This is important for obvious reasons. But it is worth remembering that in the absence of news, people assume the worst. And, when all the news is bad, people assume it's going to get even worse. In reality, the Philippines has many, many success stories. In the IT-enabled services sector alone, many of these stories were on display at the e-Services 2005 Exhibit & Conference recently. They included animators, software engineering firms, design engineering, medical transcription, contact centers, and others.
Unfortunately, there were few foreign visitors (Those that were there were very high quality guests, and pleased with what they saw.). And the reason there were few foreign visitors to view and hear these success stories is that perception outside the Philippines of the Philippines is very negative. When one foreign analyst invited to speak at the conference was asked how the Philippines can improve its image, he responded that the country needed to do whatever it took to attract a big brand to invest here.
When it was pointed out that there are many big brands here already, the analyst was stunned. Because it is his business to know what's going on in the Asia Pacific, including the Philippines. But he didn't. The truth is that the Philippines can't sit around waiting to be noticed. It needs to proactively communicate the happy reality that many big brands invest and operate here extremely profitably, as well as local corporations and entrepreneurs.
It will take a strategic, coherent, meaningful, and credible communications program to alter perception of the Philippines. And it won't happen in a day. But it can begin to happen over a six-month period. In a year, perception can be dramatically changed. But not unless the Philippines begins to communicate now.
i would just like to share something i have read from team asia:
Attracting Foreign VisitorsBy Michael Alan HamlinFebruary 21, 2005
For the first time since the Asian Financial Crisis and the election of former president Joseph Estrada, we're seeing a spate of large business conferences taking place. The fact that conference producers are again willing to take the significant financial risks associated with organizing a meeting suggests new optimism in the Philippines in general, the Philippine economy, and, yes, the Philippine government in particular.
You may understandably wonder how this can be so in the aftermath of recent downgrades of the Philippines' credit rating. In fact, Moody's not just downgraded the Philippines, but slapped the country down two notches. But the truth is that credit rating downgrades - like business news - generally trail reality, often by substantial gaps. Paco Sandejas, a venture capitalist, is fond of saying that by the time you read the news in BusinessWeek, it's old news. He was implying that venture capitalists and other investors want to act before an opportunity becomes generally known. Investors want to come in on the ground floor of opportunity.
So do analysts. But they don't. Analysts at rating agencies like Moody's base their analyses on a number of factors. They spend time "on the ground" in the country being evaluated, talking with government officials, economists, bankers, businesspeople, academics, and other influential publics. They sample the sentiment of these publics through formal surveys. They evaluate economic and fiscal indicators of the country's health. And they read reports in the business literature, like BusinessWeek, and they watch CNN.
The problem with all of these sources is that they report history - with varying degrees of accuracy. And on the basis of that history, ratings agencies like Moody's make predictions about the future. The thing to note here is that the present essentially is ignored. It's ignored because no one, in reality, knows what present conditions really are other than in an anecdotal way. So the supposition is that if historical data appears dismal, the present must be more so, and the future, well, it looks bad.
One reason that analysts believe this history, and in the Philippines' case, assume the worst, is that there is no credible information available that suggests otherwise. Senior government officials from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Department of Finance go on road shows and undertake other communications efforts in an attempt to sway analysts' views. But to analysts, these officials have an obvious and natural bias, and therefore lack credibility. Especially given all the negative news that's available.
One way to address such negative perceptions is to push positive information - such as business and investor success stories - to analysts, media, and other influential individuals. Success stories in which foreign investors, for example, discuss how well their organizations are doing in the Philippines, are credible because the source of the good news is not employed by the government. The story becomes even more credible when it is picked up by a credible media outlet, like our favorite business magazine, BusinessWeek.
Is this news any less historic than the other sources of information analysts base their analyses on? No, it's not. But it is positive news.
This is important for obvious reasons. But it is worth remembering that in the absence of news, people assume the worst. And, when all the news is bad, people assume it's going to get even worse. In reality, the Philippines has many, many success stories. In the IT-enabled services sector alone, many of these stories were on display at the e-Services 2005 Exhibit & Conference recently. They included animators, software engineering firms, design engineering, medical transcription, contact centers, and others.
Unfortunately, there were few foreign visitors (Those that were there were very high quality guests, and pleased with what they saw.). And the reason there were few foreign visitors to view and hear these success stories is that perception outside the Philippines of the Philippines is very negative. When one foreign analyst invited to speak at the conference was asked how the Philippines can improve its image, he responded that the country needed to do whatever it took to attract a big brand to invest here.
When it was pointed out that there are many big brands here already, the analyst was stunned. Because it is his business to know what's going on in the Asia Pacific, including the Philippines. But he didn't. The truth is that the Philippines can't sit around waiting to be noticed. It needs to proactively communicate the happy reality that many big brands invest and operate here extremely profitably, as well as local corporations and entrepreneurs.
It will take a strategic, coherent, meaningful, and credible communications program to alter perception of the Philippines. And it won't happen in a day. But it can begin to happen over a six-month period. In a year, perception can be dramatically changed. But not unless the Philippines begins to communicate now.
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