happy 5th month audrey!

Yesterday we celebrated our daughter's 5th month with a small handaan. We've been marking her "monthsaries" since her first month. Before I became a mother, I had this belief that celebrating monthsaries for a baby was a little too much. Motherhood does indeed change you in more ways than one.  I've come to the conclusion that baby celebrations are really for the parents, not for the kid. So it doesn't matter that our daughter won't remember her 5th monthsary cake, because we will (and it was delicious!). And in this age of cameraphones, Audrey will be able to see just how much we loved having her every month.

Cake is always good

Her parties are nothing fancy, though, and we celebrate it with the people in our household. Last night we had spaghetti, barbecue, chicken, and crispy pata. We served spaghetti to everyone in our building for merienda in the afternoon.

The barangay with the Ball

Can't have a picture without Papa!

I can't believe it's been five months since we welcomed Audrey to our family. That means I haven't had a decent night's sleep in five months, but I wouldn't trade our little ball of cuteness and love for all the sleep in the world.

Praying you'll always be a happy baby

Happy 5th month my darling! Mama and Papa love you so much!

NGO Spotlight on Excel PH

Excel Center for Educational Leadership (Excel) is the NGO that I started two years ago to address a gap in the public education sector.

When you think of NGOs addressing education, you think of poor but deserving students. Scholarships. Books. School supplies. Support for underachieving students. These are the usual forms of support that NGOs provide to public schools and their students. All well and good, those students deserve to go to school and receive quality education as much as anybody else.

The school head influences the kind of environment our students learn in.

Which is why Excel focuses on training public school principals on leadership. The principal is the head of the school; his or her decisions and actions impact not only the school but also the community. Under poor leadership by a principal, no matter how much scholarship money the students receive, quality education is just beyond their grasp. We need both student support and teacher support in order for our public education system to improve.

Excel trains new principals and head teachers in the area of personal leadership and community engagement. We aim to complement the Department of Education's own principal training program, through the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP), which provides the more technical aspects of leadership and management within the structure of the DepEd. Our goal at Excel is that our principals develop their own personal strengths as leaders in order to fully engage their community and think more innovatively.

Excel's second batch of Fellows from Pampanga are ready to hone their leadership skills.

We are inviting you (yes, you, dear reader) to be our partner in strengthening our principals' leadership skills. You can actually "Adopt a Fellow" by donating just P200 to Excel. That P200 will shoulder the food and materials of one of our Fellows for one seminar. Our Leadership Development Program is composed of four modules or four seminars. If you want to adopt one Fellow for the whole duration of the LDP, you can donate P800. If you're feeling particularly generous, you can also sponsor our entire batch of Pampanga Fellows for one seminar--25 Fellows for P4500 for their food and materials. If you're really looking to unload a couple hundred thousand pesos, you can also fund the costs of training a whole batch for the entire LDP, including speakers, transportation,  and accommodation via our corporate sponsorship packages. Our Pampanga batch is now halfway done, but you can opt to sponsor the remaining two seminars OR sponsor our next one.

Several ways to support our principals!

To know more about us or how you can help, you can visit www.excelph.org or shoot us an email at marketing@excelph.org.

audrey at the dfa

This morning our family had a little field trip over at the DFA Aseana office in Parañaque to apply for a passport for Audrey. Since I also needed to renew my passport to reflect my married name and updated civil status, I booked a family appointment for us at their online appointment website (www.passport.com.ph) for 7:30am.

We got to DFA before 7 as you are supposed to be there 30 minutes prior to your appointment. Initially we were directed to the Courtesy Lane section, for senior citizens, PWDs, pregnant women, and minors under age 7. However, that service was apparently for the aforementioned people without online appointments. We were told to have our printed online application forms verified by DFA personnel.

Fortunately, not being in the Courtesy Lane did not mean we were not given priority (as applicants with an infant). While we waited for the counters to open at 7:30, my husband photocopied my passport just outside the area. I made the mistake of printing out a scanned copy of just the information page of my passport (I had forgotten my passport when I was photocopying the requirements). If you have the e-Passport, you need both pages—the personal information page, where all your details are written, as well as the adjoining page.

Photocopy BOTH pages.

The kind lady officer directed Audrey and me to sit with the senior citizens. After a few minutes, Audrey woke up, and thank heavens did not make a fuss. At 7:24 (I checked my watch when their boss lady told everyone to open their counters), they started processing the priority applicants, us included. 

After checking our requirements, we then headed to the second floor to pay the fees. They grouped us again with other priority applicants so we were able to finish quickly.

The last step is encoding, where you have your picture taken. Since we were the first batch of appointments for the day, our number was almost immediately called. Most of the counters were open so they were able to serve everyone who was done at the cashier. Audrey had her photo taken first, sitting on top of a box on the chair with me holding her under her arms. This took a lot of arm power on my part since I had to crouch down while holding her up so I won’t be seen by the camera. I also had to grasp her under her shirt so my hands would be hidden. Then, thanks to a combination of the officer’s stapler and Harvey’s “Audrey! Look here! Audrey!”, we were able to snap a pretty good passport picture of our baby. It took several tries, but fortunately Audrey cooperated.

Why yes, I have extra long arms.

If you won’t be availing of the courier service to have your passport delivered, you’re done at this stage. We wanted ours delivered so we spent a few extra minutes paying for the delivery service.

Total time at DFA (including waiting time): 1 hour, 10 minutes.

Total time of the passport renewal and application process for Audrey and me: 40 minutes. Not bad!

P.S. 

Suggestion for DFA:

If you will require a personal appearance of infants for passport application, please have easy access to restrooms with changing tables. Audrey pooped after the first step, and we were told we could change her in the second floor. Once we got there, though, the guard told us the restroom was downstairs and outside. So we had to go back down. Then because there was no changing table, we just laid the baby in between the sinks with a blanket. The space was big enough, but barely. Audrey kept grabbing at the sinks (which were raised) while I changed her.

Our makeshift changing table

On the other hand, thank you for the quick service and clear instructions. Except for the Courtesy Lane/Online Appointment mix up, things went smoothly. All in all a good experience.

Note: Because the taking of video and photo is not allowed inside the DFA, I took the liberty of just sketching our experience. As you can see, I have exceptional skills.

the robredo reputation

(Or, The Robredo Reputation vs the Marcos Millions)

"A sterling reputation is better than striking it rich; a gracious spirit is better than money in the bank."

-Proverbs 22:1 (The Message)

I was reminded of this verse today while pondering the highly anticipated vice presidential race between Leni Robredo and Bongbong Marcos. I am very much for Robredo, as are majority of my Facebook friends (at least, those whose opinions I actually value). But I also see pro-Marcos comments on various posts, some level-headed, some...not so much.

It's in this great debate that Proverbs 22:1 rings true. Jesse Robredo left an excellent legacy behind; his reputation of being matino at mahusay was celebrated by the nation--albeit belatedly--and praised by politicians. His family, who have always stayed low-key, were suddenly thrust in the spotlight.

And here we see that a sterling reputation is indeed better than riches. Jesse Robredo's untarnished name, coupled with his and Leni's character and a  fine upbringing of their three daughters, has managed to kindle a spark of empowerment in millions of Filipinos. In the Robredo family we saw how humility is a vital ingredient in power, how a good name is more influential than billions of pesos, and how important one's family is in the shaping of one's character.

For the millions who voted for Leni in the VP race and will not stand for another Marcos in power, the achievements of Ferdinand Marcos the dictator during his 20 years in office pale in comparison to the human rights violations committed in his tenure. The Marcos name became synonymous with torture, extravagance, corruption. The effect of this tarnished name is now felt by the junior Marcos, who has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the human rights violations during martial law. So despite the millions of dollars the Marcos family has in various offshore accounts, it could not buy the good name and integrity that many Filipinos have found in the Robredo family.

If and when Leni Robredo is proclaimed vice president, I am sure that somewhere, Jesse Robredo would be proud of how his family protected and upheld the name he left behind. He would be mighty pleased that Aika, Tricia, and Jillian are living off of the lessons he and Leni imparted to them, rather than living off of big bank accounts.

Happy birthday, Sec. Jesse! May your legacy of good governance and exceptional public service live on through your family and every person whom you have inspired. Dios Mabalos!

As they call you in Naga, Happy Birthday Pogi!

NGO Spotlight on Kaya Natin

Today's NGO is Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership.

This is the group started by the late Sec. Jesse Robredo, former governor Ed Panlilio, and former governor Grace Padaca, together with my husband and me, way back in 2008. KN has served as the support group for like-minded government officials. If you need someone to vent out to because your police chief refuses to arrest the top drug lord in your city, if you need ideas on how to streamline government services in your municipality, if you need support for your proposed bill on transparency, the KN members are all there to help each other out. We also do youth leadership trainings and trainings for public officials, depending on our partner organizations.

The KN Champions of Good Governance

We have over 40 local and national government officials as members, including the presumptive Vice President-elect Leni Robredo, widow of our founder. It's like Alcoholics Anonymous, only we're not alcoholics, and we're not anonymous.

We are addicted though, but to a good thing--good governance.

If you want to be a proactive citizen and be involved in all things governance and politics, by all means sign up as a KN volunteer here. We'd love to have you!