Pers. Social Responsibility

They Want Justice

May 19th, 2009

3 comments

Update: 68 of the 137 drivers still in limbo

For sure you have heard of the 137 stranded bus drivers in UAE. Right?

They went to Dubai with the hope of giving their families a better future, they took the risk, quit their regular jobs in the Philippines, borrowed money and off they go. Well, they did arrived at Dubai…. sans the job. Now they are broke and in debt.

According to these drivers, CYM, their recruiter, offered them job as drivers for $1,500 a month. Each of them gave the agency 10,000 pesos for the “processing fee” and the agency also asked them to secure a 150,000-peso loan from a lending agency recommended by them. These drivers also claimed that they’re made to sign undated cheques worth 405,000 pesos addressed to a bank and the lending agency, payable in 15 months.

In Dubai, they were housed in a building beside a garbage dump. Without food, they either rely on the kindhearted Filipinos or scavenged for tomatoes in the area to serve as “ulam”. Even though the job is a hoax, now they are being pressured to pay the lending agency.

A H1N1 Virus

May 14th, 2009

2 comments

CNN carried this banner story last week : WHO raises pandemic alert to second highest level.

The Swine H1N1 virus is affecting hundreds of people around the world, creating fear among citizens and govt. scrambling to cope with the disease which originated in Mexico. As of this writing, more countries in Europe and the West are affected by the virus. No reported incidents yet in the Philippines. But what puzzled authorities is the way the virus is spreading in progressive countries where young and healthy citizens are getting infected, in contrast to the pandemics in the past.

Accordingly, this virus is a combination of 3 strains– swine influenza, avian influenza and human influenza. It was still unclear how the virus was transmitted to humans, but what is certain is the the virus had mutated and humans don’t have natural defenses on this, yet.

Blogging Is Supposedly Fun

May 2nd, 2009

3 comments

I never thought I will find blogging a satisfying activity. I’m not a born writer, I took up engineering and did not consider (English) writing and speech then as important (so please be considerate for grammatical and spelling error). But because of calling (a.k.a. destiny, purpose in life) I ended up doing something that I never imagined doing. I find pleasure in public speaking (training, teaching), coaching and mentoring. I have been doing this in volunteer work as well as in my corporate career.

My experiences in the corporate world is bitter-sweet, and saw how other people is experiencing the same, so I thought why not start a yahoo group to serve as support group for us. So I began sharing my experiences, not because I find myself better than others, but exactly the opposite. I hope to get tips from others of my struggles in life, at the same time, share the lessons from my painful experiences. My problem with egroup was, when I hit the send button, I have no control already of what I wrote. Thus, I started blogging more than 3 years ago after finding it as better platform in sharing but at the same time control of my copyrighted work.

I find satisfaction knowing people are helped with my mistakes and other lessons in life that I shared. Of the 3 years of blogging, this blog

connected separated families ( 1) relatives living in different continents and had no contact with each other for 2 decades found each other thru the comments section of this blog (2) a father became aware he has a son from an old sweetheart (after 18 years)
provided resource materials on spiritual intelligence to students and applied it in practical nursing.
helped struggling small enterprises
provided helped to young entrepreneurs and young professionals
provided answer to victims of sexual harassment
provided job referrals.
lead people to salvation (acceptance of Jesus as their Lord and Saviour)

and so on… This is fun.

New Media and Social Responsibility

April 30th, 2009

2 comments

I am hesitant to discuss this, weary that I may embarrass the people involved. I’ll be sharing 2 stories where people help others “in their network”, who are in dire need. But, I will twist the story a little bit so the people concerned will not be identified.

Story # 1:

This blog, Sonnie Side Up, is (still) part of Entrecard community because of the marketing opportunity it provided and the relationship it built with other blogs. There’s this blogger normally active and engaging became unusually silent or inactive for a while. We send private messages and email but it was unanswered until we received news that 2 members of his family were hospitalized and in serious condition. This blogger was recently retrenched from work and turned to blogging to make a living. As other bloggers in the community came to know of the situation, each one extended a hand. Some visited them to show and give support, others send their help via pay pal and still others, send help via western union.