Carlo Ople

These songs left me speechless.

With You Tagalized

Umbrella (Tagalized)

This is in response to a recent article published on Inquirer.Net about how politicians overspent in the 2007 Senatorial Elections for their media campaigns. This was pointed out by election watchdog group called Pera’t Pulitika. Apparently they got their data from a credible source - AC Nielsen, one of the premiere research agencies in the world. The cap is P135M and that’s already a lot of cash to spend on media if you ask me. According to the article, Prospero Pichay led the group of over-spenders hitting an estimated media spending of P224M. The other senators who overspent were Villar, Arroyo, Angara, Defensor, and Legarda. The total combined spending of these 6 senators reached more than P700M, and that’s just for a Senatorial campaign in a 90-day period. With this in mind, I pose 3 questions. The first one is how the hell will these politicians get an ROI for this major investment? The second one is how much more money will be spent on 2010 when we see some of the richest men on this country battle it out for the Presidency? Lastly, why weren’t the violators sanctioned? Read the rest of this entry »

When was the last time you cried? This maybe something regularly discussed by women but I’m sure that men don’t really talk about this much. Anyway, for the first time in a long while I found myself in tears today and it wasn’t about anything sad. It was a really humbling experience that I think I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. Hopefully this is the start of something good and I just wanted to share it with everyone through this blog.

I went to the usual VCF Sunday Service at Music Museum, Greenhills, which is led by Pastor Dennis. To those who are not familiar, the service starts with a worship. A live band plays and a group of people take the stage and leads the singing for the church. For this particular Sunday, Jonas was the one leading the worship and I have to say that they did a really good job. Everyone was clapping and got really involved with the songs. I was singing along casually but then there was this one slow song which really struck me. When the melody started I was already drawn in, and then the lyrics flashed on the screen and then it happened.

“Here in your presence, we are undone. Here in your presence, heave and earth become one.”

The experience was just surreal. It was like time space warp, shaider style! My voice was drowned out by emotion and every cell in my body started to rebel against the natural instinct to be conscious of my surroundings. Instead I felt myself singing louder, closing my eyes tighter, and then having this feeling of being washed over by an intense feeling of peace and calm. There was no feeling of sadness and guilt. Then I started crying. Lol. Talk about a weird experience huh?

I’ve always been a very confident person. I was always sure of myself and this was one of the drivers why I think I’m doing well at work and in business. It’s that passion for excellence. However, this is also one of my biggest character flaws. My ego has put up a shield around me to the point that I don’t really reach out for friends and even to God. I trusted myself more than anyone else.

Now everything made sense. Why did one of my early business ventures fail? Why did I lose two of my best friends? Why did I almost lose my girlfriend of 7 years? Why did I almost die due to that gunshot wound?

For years, God has been smashing those walls that have covered my soul and my being. It was a painful experience, but I’m glad that I can finally say that I’ve been humbled enough to go down on my knees and accept that there is something greater out there - that life does not end when your body stops functioning.

Thanks to everyone over at Victory for making life more meaningful.

Does the Filipino youth still know who Ninoy Aquino is? Or is he just a face that they see on the P500 peso bill? With all the problems that we face these days as well as the great digital divide between generations, it’s not hard to imagine young men and women more consumed by the drive to survive and going through the daily grind than to actually give a damn about the country. Let’s face it… I myself am only 26 years old and I come from a political family yet I’m not fully aware of what Ninoy was all about. All I know is that he “died” for the country. What more for the younger generations? Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s something interesting. Pampanga Congressman Mikey Arroyo, son of PGMA, is all for Charter Change. However, he’s only for it if it will happen after the 2010 Presidential elections. According to him, there is really no intention or hidden agenda to extend the term of her mother. However, we’ve already seen broken promises before. Remember in 2004, PGMA said she would no longer run for the Presidency and yet she did? What’s to stop her from doing the same thing all over again today? Read the rest of this entry »

I just got an e-mail from Nick, the EIC of Filipino Voices. I was confirmed as a contributing writer! Wooo! I’m really thrilled about this since I’ve been following that blog/web magazine for quite some time now. Oh by the way, don’t worry since I will still be regularly updating this blog as well as my gaming site, waukster.com.

Brilliant. Amazing. Insane. 3 words to describe this video by one of the most famous Filipino Youtube personalities out there - Moymoypalaboy.

Two senators from the bloodline of Ninoy Aquino are going against the old saying that “Blood is thicker than water”. It started off with Noynoy Aquino releasing a statement that he’s very disappointed that the country hasn’t moved forward since former President Marcos was removed from office. Instead of progress, our country has been on a slump. Former Senator Tessie Oreta, a well-known administration ally, countered by saying that Noynoy shouldn’t say that since his mother was actually President and also ran the country after Marcos.

If you think about it - both of them are right. LOL. Read the rest of this entry »

Just like love - age doesn’t matter for call centers. LOL. One of e-Telecare’s star agents is actually a 57 Year old grandmother named Patricia Salvant. She lived in the US for 20 years and when she came back to the Philippines, she decided to go for a rather late career in the call center industry. Seriously though, watch the interview below and I’m sure you’ll understand why she’s good at what’s she’s doing. Her work philosophy is great and her English is just superb.

Every Sunday I go to Victory Christian Fellowship over at the Music Museum in Greenhills. This week, the speaker was former basketball MVP Alex Compton. Initially I was a bit worried since I didn’t have a clue as to what a basketball player had to say about spirituality. However, I was really floored after hearing him speak. His talk was one of the most powerful messages I’ve ever heard in my life and I can’t help but blog about the experience.

Singer, Actor, and Producer Francis Magalona confirmed that he’s ill with Leukemia a few days ago. It’s really sad things like this happen because it’s a brutal truth that will forever haunt human life - we are all prone to sickness regardless of our job, color, build, or education. The best we can do is to try to live life as much as we can and in the process try to lower the chances of getting sick. I would like to take this chance to offer a silent prayer to one of my favorite Pinoy rappers.

Francis’ official statement after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

The CBCP, led by Archbishop Lagdameo, renewed their opposition against Charter Change before 2010. This is exactly my sentiments as I explained in my previous post. The timing is just too fishy and it really looks like PGMA and her gang are up to no good. Let’s do Cha-cha when we have a new President with a fresh mandate. Let’s do it in the right environment, not when it’s clouted with doubt and possibly ill-intent. There’s nothing wrong with shifting to Federalism - but not now. Read the rest of this entry »

‘Nuff said. XD

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has finally revealed the true motive behind the Bangsamoro GRP-MILF deal that her administration has been pursuing secretly for the past few months. The main reason? It’s to lay down a precedent to an eventual move to amend the Philippine Constitution to change the form of government into Federalism. While I am not 100% against Federalism, I am just really concerned that this is just a ploy to extend her term in power. I’m not an expert political analyst, so I’ll try to talk about this issue as much as I can without political jargon. Why do I think this is just a ploy for her to extend her term? Find out after the jump. By the way, I also embedded video interviews of Senators Pimental, Pangilinan, Legarda, and Zubiri.

Here’s a video of Inquirer.Net’s multi-media reporter Alex Villafania with Senator Chiz Escudero on online political campaigns. It’s fascinating that the current breed of Senators we have are actually internet savvy.