Believe in Your Brand, Make Use of Your Bashers, Boost Your Presence

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Sa totoo lang, if we won't treat our own, even stinky, shit as a worthy product
, who else will dare to even smell them. One way to do it is with the packaging. Parang food lang yan, wrap or plate them up with something colorful, creative or unique, add some flashy but affordable trinkets, decors, ornaments and whatever knick-knacks you can find, personalize it with a brand logo, product info or thank you card, add extra service that is rarely given by other competitors like some freebies, samahan mo ng endorsements ng mga influencers, take advantage of the free publicity your bashers create, and they would eat up all your shit.

I would have done the same, but something inside of me keeps twisting my arms to do otherwise. I maybe wrong in listening to that voice insidey head, but I have no regrets.

Mayabang, entitled, egocentric, with malicious intentions, wrongly-motivated, self-proclaimed, maingay with those iconic shout-outs, narcissist, hypocrite, kulang sa pansin, at kung ano-ano pa ang mga binabato sa akin noon, hanggang ngayon, dahil sa pagiging blogger.

Honestly, I wanted to get out of this profession,  but I call it an advocacy, though I'm just too opinionated to stay away....and with so much opportunities coming my way almost everyday, how could I resist?

Pasensiya na po. Mahinang nilalang. Marupok, minsang mapaglinlang, umaabuso, pabago-bagong paniniwala, nagmamatigas sa ilang prinsipyo, nagpapakatotoo, nakikipag plastikan, halos lahat pinapasukan at pinapakialaman.

But situations do change. Noon pilit akong pinapaalis na sa pagiging blogger, ngayon suportado na uli ako. Noon nawawalan ako ng gana sa mga nakikita kong pangyayari sa likod ng pagiging blogger, ngayon naisip ko na kung mawawala ako ay nariyan pa rin yung mga tunay na nakakasira sa ating bayan. Mga ipinagpalit ang prinsipyo para kumita lamang.

Napakarami rin namang walang katotohanan sa mga binibintang paratang sa akin. Pero mas madalas akong matuwa at matawa kapag may nakikidebate, panay ang bash at paninira, lahat ng galaw nakikita na parang may CCTV sa akin ay nakaumang 24 oras araw-araw. Tapos babanatan ka ng mga below the belt kapag wala ng logical na masabi in.his or her defense. In fact I miss those days when there's a long thread of people ganging up on me. Asan na ba ang mga bashers ko? Nagsawa na ba kayong punahin ako...hehehe....o baka naman nasa mga shadows lang kayo, waiting for the next opportunity to strike. Even to the point of reaching out to the PRs, events organizers, brands, and fellow bloggers. Ganoon sila ka threatened sa akin pero they disguise it as a concern for the welfare of the brand or the bligging community, so they could keep the opportunities to themselves.

Ang daming nagsabi na inggit lang sila. At least effective daw na napapansin talaga ako. Negative publicity is still publicity at dagdag online presence. The views, the views, the views...It's all about the views. But I never really cared about the views, well not until I've learned you coukd really earn a considerable amount from the views. Lol.

But we've seen so many with a huge following and stats at viral or trending stages but their sites are filled with the usual chismis, showbiz, scandals, rehashed trending topics, controversial issues, etc.. Some were even accused of setting up their own scandalous acts, and we fell for them, thus making their content viral.

I keep repeating this similar statement over and over again because it continues to proliferate and thrive like unwanted weeds in my vegetable garden.

However, has anybody advised you that weeds can be used as part of our compost or fermented plant juice too. Just us how our bashers could also be as useful to our online presence.

Fighting Maroons look back at their historic UAAP 81 run

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Reveal interesting behind-the-scenes secrets and surprises

If there’s one good thing that has come out of this pandemic, it’s that friendship and family bonds have gotten stronger, despite or because of the physical absence.

A tightly-knit family and the best of friends because of their shared experience, the UP Fighting Maroons of University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 81, held a long overdue reunion Friday, July 17 and hopped on a Zoom call for a virtual party.

Dubbed Zoomustahan with UAAP Season 81 UPMBT, the get-together was attended by Season 81 captain Paul Desiderio, that season’s MVP Bright Akhuetie, Jun Manzo, Juan Gomez de Liaño, Javi Gomez de Liaño, Diego Dario, Jarrell Lim, Gelo Vito, Janjan Jaboneta, Will Gozum, Pio Longa, Jaydee Tungcab, JJ Española and head coach Bo Perasol. Season 80’s UP courtside reporter Agatha Uvero and Nowhere To Go But UP: How a Basketball Team Inspired a Nation author Naveen Ganglani hosted the e-vent that was aired on Facebook Live so UP fans and the public could join the reunion.

The giddy group recalled their favorite memories of the UP Men’s Basketball Team’s incredible run in 2018, exchanged updates on what they have been doing during the quarantine, revealed behind-the-scenes thoughts and conversations of Season 81 and uncorked a few secrets that still surprised many.

Team captain Paul Desiderio jokingly recounted how much of a challenge it was to lead his team that year, but how his fellow seniors – Diego Dario, Jarrell Lim and Gelo Vito – shared the load and made the job easier.

The boys recalled special moments – like that classic inbound pass from Juan GDL that Bright caught at the precise moment and laid up for the winning points while Paul Desiderio fought tooth and nail to get Papi Sarr out of his defensive position. That shot opened the gates for the Maroons’ first real ticket to the Finals as it erased the Adamson Falcons’ twice-to-beat advantage and put them at par with Adamson in a knock-out game for a Finals seat.

“That was a classic. There was no way to rehearse that the way it happened, even if it was a play that was designed by Coach Ronnie (Magsanoc) at practice. Nobody could have prepared for the way it was executed,” he said. “That’s why we still talk about it today.

But prior to that blistering Final Four run that began when the Maroons played a masterful game against La Salle that catapulted them into the Final Four for the first time in 21 years, the Maroons were floundering and being inconsistent. From heady conquests of some teams, they would succumb to teams they could easily beat. Most glaring was a Second Round game against UE where they were whipped by the Wartriors in the first half.

Jarrell Lim recalled the moment. “There was a game against UE where Coach Bo got really mad. We knew we could win that game easily, but we were playing badly. In the dugout, Coach Bo said something that really scared us. He said, “If we lose this game, I’m going to resign.” That was a wake-up call for us. That was the turning point. That was when we really talked to each other as teammates and we began to take things more seriously.” The Maroons saved the day with a decisive win over the Red Warriors in the second half. From that point onwards, they never looked back.

“Nag-usap kaming mga seniors, I think losing-record kami non. We said ‘We can’t let this happen kasi ito na ‘yong last year namin.’ Naisip namin to talk to the coaches, and we all got our acts together,” Diego Dario added.

Still there was talk that UP got to the finals because they were simply lucky. Coach Bo dismissed that impression without hesitation.

“Hindi ka naman mananalo nang magic lang, na walang galing. Even if you keep on fighting, , if you do not have the set of skills to match up with one other, ang hirap, hindi makakaya yon,” Perasol said. “There were a lot of times in UP history na puro laban lang. Hindi mo matatawaran ang laban ng mga taga-UP. But this bunch of guys, hindi sila puro lumaban lang. You have to consider the skill level of these guys.”

There was a lot of light-hearted ribbing and teasing among the reuniting Maroons, one of which was pointing out Bright Akhuetie’s incredible appetite for Crispy Pata, determining who had the biggest appetite at dinners and parties (Javi GDL, Will Gozum, and Pio Longa) and who was the most “makulit”. The band of brothers – who were obviously still very comfortable with each other -- was not beyond asking Will Gozum (who has since joined the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde) to go back to UP “habang may pandemic pa”. Later in the reunion, Season 82 teammate and Mythical Team member Kobe Paras and new recruit Malick Diouf also joined in the fun, conversing with their brothers rowdily and familiarly.

The UP Men’s Basketball Team (UPMBT) made history in UAAP Season 81 by breaking their 21-year Final Four drought and making it to the Finals for the first time after 32 years.

This is the second batch of Fighting Maroons to do a virtual get together during the quarantine period. Back in April, members of the 2014 UPMBT, the team which rejoiced at ending a 27-game losing streak that prompted a controversial bonfire celebration, also had a Zoom call hosted by Fighting Maroon stalwart and game announcer Mikee Reyes.

UP basketball fans had a chance to win prizes by answering trivia questions and joining a raffle that was part of the ZOOMustahan.

Reminiscing the Yesteryears Working for the United Nations

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The photo above is 13 years ago with colleagues based in Cotabato city, when I was still working as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) staff for the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations (UN).

Coming from an ICT reliever work at the International Labour Organization (ILO), also a UN organization, whenever their female ICT was on maternity leave.

The stint at ILO probably got me a favorable advantage to be employed full-time at WFP. ILO was responsible in letting me know about the vacancy and encouraged me to apply. I believe my performance at ILO was more than satisfying.

Working for WFP got me visiting Mindanao (our Cotabato, Iligan and Davao offices) very often since it was the site of our main operations due to the conflicts happening in Mindanao. Frequented Legazpi city too because we also had an office there, though only for a short time, to address a calamity concern. Since we were setting up all offices from scratch, I had every opportunity to learn how our system works from scratch.

WFP exposed me to working with diverse people from different nationalities. Our Country Director was American, our Logistics was from Korea, our Finance was from Myanmar, etc., and several.ICTs from different countries also made their way to the Philippines to help setup our ICT infrastructure.

It was also my first opportunity to go out of the country and receive training in Bangkok, Thailand where our regional headquarters is located.

The organization was not perfect but it was among the ones that gave me the best learning experience because I was involved in most aspects necessary to fulfill my duty. From liasing with government agencies to get permits for our radios, tower antennas, satellite phones and dish, to the procurement of our workstations, servers, and other ICT equipment sourced from both abroad and locally, to preparing yearly budget plans for ICT upgrades and maintenance.