Government Relief And Rehab Program According to My OFW Friend #PersonalStory

Last November 8, 2014, my OFW friend came over in my place just to tell me about the killer typhoon Yolanda that damaged the Visayas region especially Tacloban. His personal version why it happened and the way the government treated such emergency situation.

He told me that the Pinoy Administration was not ready to act in case huge national disaster befalls our country. And, they need advance planning for every facet of government administration. His sentiments are well received by my own views about this subject matter.

Truly, Pinoy Administration has planned for rebuilding Tacloban and other places, but it takes them a long time to implement. At present, Yolanda survivors are clamoring the ways our government treated them. It’s their lives that has been damaged; their livelihood that has been ravaged and they need support from the government to start all over again.

After a year of relief and rehabilitation by the government, still, majority of the victims are not fully revive by such program. The rate of their action programs are very slow compare to the things that the victims needed. The slow-paced rehabilitation for them tends to give negative result on the government side. Even though how the Pinoy Administration tried to pacify the situation, political elements are bringing more chaos and demonstrations.

This coming January 2015, the Pope from Vatican City is scheduled to visit Tacloban and the government’s trying other places to finish like the airport, roads and other infrastructure. The local officials of Tacloban are not in full cooperation with the present administration that made this place as media arena and a time for the government to hasten the job in Tacloban for Pope’s visit. Besides for finishing the roads, it must be repaired completely.

Planning, coordination among government agencies and local officials, proper inventory and distribution of relief goods are crucial in ensuring that aid reaches the intended beneficiaries immediately. Audit of typhoon Yolanda relief operations released last September, the Commission on Audit (COA) noted that more than a month after Yolanda pummeled the Visayas, P736.3 million out of the P740.2 million in cash donations for Yolanda survivors remained unused and deposited in the bank account of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Most of COA’s adverse findings had to do with poor inventory, storage and transport of relief goods, which in some instances, resulted in relief goods getting wasted and much-needed help getting delayed.

To make sure that funds are immediately used to assist survivors of calamities, COA said that implementing agencies must come up with a program of work for the efficient use of disaster funds.

“When activities among concerned agencies are well coordinated and strategies in project implementation are improved, disaster funds will immediately cater to the purpose for which they are intended.”

It is a must to all government official leaders to plan ahead of time, search for solutions to all facets of the government management system. Therefore, Filipino leaders are the prime mover of every natural disaster that may occur within the framework of their responsibilities.

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Remembering Fashion Show Models #PersonalStory

I remembered my best friend the other day. She’s the most beautiful lady I’ve ever mingled with during my college days. She told me about what she felt while attending a fashion show – in a ringside seat. Read her musing, by way of “pouting your lips while reading.”


My trying-hard female friend’s musing about the fashion show and its models.

For a minute I thought the models had lost out. Or maybe I was facing the wrong way. The huge blot of passionate pink behind me deserved a second look, if not a few hundred more. Her dress, if I may refer to it in passing, was a magnificent monstrosity of ruffles, beads, ruches and stitches; her face a palette from one of Van Gogh’s particularly crazed moods.

Or should I turn my chair East, and face the multicolored splendor of “Pity-ya”? (Apologies to Michelangelo).

The 48-degree angle was also nice. Apart from the slight discomfort, owing to half-sitting on my neighbor’s lap. I would enjoy looking at the lady with white skin.

Or should I…

“Could you, for God’s sake, sit still lady?”

“I’m so sorry,” I say sweetly, “but I thought this was the real show.”


What is it about attending a fashion show that makes all of us declare war on sense and sobriety? As if attending a voodoo session, we dress and do up our faces to look like creatures possessed, who will any minute begin to writhe on the floor and roll their eyes to some throbbing mumbo-jumbo, as if to exorcise the little green monsters in the head. Thank God for the smudge-proof mascara, moisturizing eye shadow, and long-lasting lipstick. What would we do without these small mercies in life?

The thought of other women on stage, beautiful, lissome, with never-ending legs, dressed in exotic clothes, like rare birds of paradise fluttering provocatively on glossy branches, seems to rob us of all objectivity. Instead of being mere spectators to an event, we try to become the objects of attention ourselves.

There is nothing wrong with dressing to kill; it’s a happy death indeed that comes from the lethal arsenal of good looks combined with good taste. But when a public appearance becomes an occasion to plume one’s insecurities, the brighter the better, taste goes for a toss.

There is no point in envying the models on stage; it’s their business to look good, they are there because they look good. So, how about sitting back, relaxing, and enjoying the show, instead of being in a constant state of anxiety whether anybody is looking at you or not?

Each woman has her own kind of appeal, and while it may not be the kind to set the sky on fire, it’s not going to work for her either, if she hollers the battle cry and dons war-paint every time another beautiful woman is around.

The idea is not to simply draw attention, that’s the easiest bait for anybody to bite, but to draw the right kind of attention, and that can be achieved by an honest appraisal of your looks, the suitability of certain fashions for your body, and a healthy dose of self-esteem.

And there are times when it is infinitely more pleasurable to put your feet up, give up the unequal struggle and enjoy a chance to see rather than be seen.

Like they say, if you can’t join them, dear readers, give them a big hand.

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