The Contradiction

One night, I was in my hotel room. Sipping my chai tea latte from Starbucks.

The following morning, I saw this outside my window, just beside our hotel building...

This is just one scene. There was that cancer patient in Bicol who lived in a rural area far from medical facilities, in a house that could barely be called one. The woman who lost everything, her two children, her rag-making business and her house when the typhoon Ondoy struck Metro Manila. Theirs are stories I promised myself to tell. One day, when I'm worth it , when I truly understand their lives, I would. 

Sometimes I feel guilty. Sometimes I lament at how things are but mostly, these stories just prove to me how resilient Filipinos are. That bottom line is, we will survive all contradictions.

Bacolod: Hopeless Place To Be For Food Lovers

 Long over due Bacolod post!

Haha. I was in Bacolod a few months ago. It was my first time there although I've heard my office mates rave about Bacolod food. My office mates who frequent the city already have a list of places to eat so all I did was just follow their footsteps and voila, Bacolod food trip!

First Night:
Dinner: Old Pala-pala - it is sort of a dampa style. We bought fresh seafood at the market just in front of the restaurant and asked the restaurant to cook it for us.

Dessert: Caleia Cakeshop - this one is really a well known pastry shop in Bacolod. You just ask any taxi or tricycle to take you there. My first impression was Caleia is like a department store of pastries! They have a wide assortment of cakes and pies so much so that it was difficult to choose what to try.

Shrimp in garlic sauce

Sinigang na hipon

Grilled fish: This one really made me miss Palawan.

Baked scallops, really a must!

Calamares

Wattap, manga?

Ice cream cakes at Caleia

They said Caleia's classic moist chocolate cake is a must.

Verdict: It is a must, though a bit too sweet for me. I prefer the moist choco cake from Felicia's more

This one is Caleia's Pecan Ice Cream Cake or something. This too, is a bit sweet for me.

Second night:

Dinner: Pepe's - a restaurant located at a complex in Lacson Street. Haha. Forget the exact address.
Massage: Cocoon - a massage located at the L' Fisher Hotel
Dessert: Felicia's

I ordered tuna in mango dressing. Really delicious! It is a must. 

My office mate ordered this grilled chicken with herbs. Really good too!

Their full body massage costs PhP400 for an hour. 

Like Caleia, Felicia's is also quite well known in Bacolod

Felicia's moist chocolate cake which I prefer more than Caleia's. 

Butter Sansrival: 

Third night:
Dinner and dessert: Kuppa at the airport (no photos!)


For travelers on a budget, Bacolod is one place to really visit. Food and lodging are not costly plus the vibe of the place is great too. People there are nice siguro kasi ang dami din sugar sa kanila. =)

My Job in Photos

Whenever people ask me, "what's your job?" or "what do you do for a living?" or "why are you always not around, really what is it that you do?" or "you get to travel a lot, that must be really cool don't you think?", I would often end up giving a huge sigh before asking back "Do you really want to know or you're just asking for the sake of asking?". To set the record straight, I work for Social Enterprise Development Partnerships Inc. (SEDPI). I am also used to mispronunciation of SEDPI: as sometimes it is SEPDI, SIDPE or SEDPE to some people. As a program officer of SEDPI, I am also a training associate of the Ateneo De Manila University through its Microfinance Capacity Building Program.  It's not that I don't want to talk about my work. It's just I really don't know how to describe it without discussing elaborately the world of microfinance, development, social entrepreneurship, consulting, research, training; and as we would like to put it, the strategic link between all of it.

As they say, pictures tell a thousand words. People think that all I do is go to the beach and lounge around. Partly my mistake because what I usually post on my social networking site are photos of us on our "rest and recreation mode". Okay.  I'll let you have a glimpse on what keeps me busy, what is it really that we at SEDPI do and why I'm not always around. I included photos of my fellow SEDPIps. 

SEDPI on migration and development: a project with an NGO to conduct financial literacy to remittance receivers all over the Philippines. This photo though was taken in Zamboanga Del Sur.

My job also often requires liaison with local government units and community leaders.

Financial Literacy Training in Magsaysay, Misamis Oriental

Photo ops are really often part of  my/our job: My office mate with one of our participants

Facilitating a training in Claveria Cagayan De Oro

Providing technical and mentoring assistance to our partners in Catmon, Cebu

Designing development interventions involves a bottom up approach and multi stakeholder processing to ensure that  the interventions are meaningful and relevant to them. (in Dagami, Leyte)

Learning by doing: Mentor budding social entrepreneurs and be mentored by one of the finest as well. (With the British Council I Am a Changemaker Winner, Cebu)  

Research is one of my tasks that I enjoy doing the most. From designing the tools to processing, presentation and writing the research results. Conduct research at matutong gawin ito under various circumstances. Kadalasan ay sa gitna ng bukirin, tabing-dagat, eskwelahan at palengke.

As always, kapag nagriresearch ako I'm always thankful for the  warmth of Filipinos. Hindi ko na mabilang kung ilang tahanan ang nagpatuloy sa akin para sa ilang minuto ng kanilang oras na aking hihingin.

Their stories are worth telling.

My office mate facilitating Participatory Rapid Appraisal to a group of farmers in Southern Leyte.

Ang makihalubilo sa komunidad, marinig ang kanilang mga kwento ng hirap, saya at higit sa lahat ay pagasa para bukas.

Ang marinig ang mga kwento at karanasan ng ating kababayan sa ibang bansa at ng kanilang pamilya dito sa Pilipinas ay hindi pumapalya na magbigay ng magkahalong saya at lungkot.

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In the course of doing our job, hindi lamang iilang beses ang mga karanasan ng stranded sa bangka, jeep, at kung ano ano pa. (In photo: ang aking office ng ma-stranded sa isang lugar kung saan kelangan pang hilahin ng tractor ang jeep na sinasakyan.)

My work keeps me in touch with realities of life. (Photo by Dimps)

Ang pagligo kung saan-saan.

Sumakay sa single na motor sa ganitong mga kalsada

Matutong matulog kung saan-saan

Magtulak ng sasakyan

Sumakay sa iba't-ibang uri ng transportation: motorboat na walang katig, habal-habal, potpot, skylab, motorpot at marami pang iba.

Cross rivers

Kakaibang pagdaong. =)

Resource mobilization and strengthening partnership (Rubbing elbows with Fr. Ben Nebres, former ADMU president)

Exploring new partnership