This is what happens in our country: petty thieves are treated like rats—chased, beaten, sometimes even killed. But those in barong, who plunder millions, are honored guests at government banquets, their sins washed away by power and influence. What kind of people have we become when theft is not just tolerated but expected?

It is easy to say that poverty breeds crime and that a hungry man will do anything for survival. But if that were the case, why do we see the wealthiest and most privileged dipping their hands into public funds as if it were their birthright? These are not desperate men stealing to feed their families; they are comfortable, well-fed, and highly educated. And with every budget hearing, infrastructure project, or public procurement deal, they find a way to skim off the top. Worst of all, they do it shamelessly, as if looting came with the job description.

That sense of entitlement to loot has become so deep-seated within our culture. We see it in small ways: the market vendor who sneaks an extra push of the weighing scale, the cashier who “forgets” to give the right change, and the jeepney driver who keeps the excess fare. These are minor offenses, but they reveal a mindset: if you can take something without consequences, take it. It is the same mentality that allows politicians to siphon off billions, just on a grander scale. Theft in the Philippines is not just a crime; it has been a skill, an art passed on from one generation of crooks to another.

But the worst part, however, lies in how people justify it. There are always excuses: “I deserve this,” or “Everybody does it,” or “It’s only a little bit,” or the classic, “At least I am not as corrupt as the others.” We have a nation of thieves who never think of themselves as thieves. The public, so used to being cheated, shrugs and moves on. Noisy during scandals, silent after elections. We do not tolerate corruption; we vote for it, celebrate it, and defend it when it benefits us.

Religion, which ought to guide men to what is right, is distorted so that it could facilitate theft. A politician distributes millions in “charity,” and priests queue up to shake his hand. A corrupt official bankrolls a grand fiesta, and people praise him for his generosity. Never mind where the money came from. As long as there is lechon and fireworks, everybody’s happy. Religion should cleanse the soul, but here in the Philippines, it seems to act like soap, just to wash away your guilt.

Let us now talk about families. The man who steals and gets caught is disgraced. But he who steals but does not get caught becomes the hero. He says, “Para sa pamilya,” building a mansion out of stolen money. Parents encourage their children to work in government, not to serve but because “may pera doon.” Honesty is taught as a virtue in schools, but in real life, we admire those who know how to cheat the system. The best thieves do not hide in the shadows; they sit in air-conditioned offices, signing papers that bleed the country dry.

But no matter how ordinary corruption appears, it is not harmless. Every peso pilfered is fewer books for students, fewer medicines in hospitals, and fewer roads properly built. People die because of corruption—literally. Floods worsen because funds meant for drainage projects are pocketed. Fires rage because firefighters lack proper equipment. Filipinos suffer not just because we are poor, but because we are being robbed blind by those whom we trust to lead us.

So, what do we do? At the very least, stop romanticizing thieves. Stop making heroes out of villains. Stop treating stolen wealth as something to aspire to. If we are to see change, we must be angry—not just at the moment the news breaks, but every single day these crooks stay in office. Because in the end, the biggest crime is not that they steal—it’s that we let them.

The entrepreneurial journey is a rollercoaster ride of highs and lows, moments of exhilarating triumph and periods of crushing doubt. It’s a path paved with relentless hustle, fueled by an unwavering passion that can sometimes flicker and fade. But what happens when that fire starts to dwindle? How do you reignite the entrepreneurial passion that once burned so brightly?

The answer lies in recognizing that passion, like any flame, needs nurturing. It requires a conscious effort to rekindle the spark, to re-engage with the core reasons that drove you to embark on this journey in the first place. Here’s a roadmap to help you rediscover your entrepreneurial zeal:

1. Reconnect with Your “Why”:

At the heart of every successful venture lies a powerful “why.” This is the driving force behind your entrepreneurial aspirations, the reason you chose to take the leap. It could be a desire to solve a problem, create a positive impact, achieve financial freedom, or simply express your creativity. Take time to revisit your “why.” Write it down, visualize it, and allow it to re-energize your spirit.

2. Embrace the “Growth Mindset”:

Entrepreneurship is a constant learning process. It’s about embracing challenges, adapting to change, and continuously seeking new knowledge and skills. A growth mindset is crucial for reigniting passion. It allows you to view setbacks as opportunities for growth and to see challenges as stepping stones to success.

3. Redefine Success:

Often, entrepreneurial passion wanes when we become fixated on external metrics like revenue, market share, or social media followers. Instead, redefine success on your own terms. What truly matters to you? What goals are aligned with your core values and aspirations? Focusing on intrinsic motivators can rekindle your passion and fuel your drive.

4. Seek Inspiration and Connection:

Surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals can be a powerful source of inspiration and motivation. Attend industry events, join online communities, and connect with mentors who have experienced similar challenges. Sharing your journey and learning from others can reignite your passion and provide valuable insights.

5. Take a Break and Recharge:

Sometimes, the best way to reignite passion is to step away from the grind. Take a vacation, pursue a hobby, or simply spend time with loved ones. A change of scenery and a break from the daily routine can help you return to your business with renewed energy and perspective.

6. Celebrate Small Wins:

Don’t underestimate the power of celebrating small victories. Acknowledge your progress, no matter how small. This can fuel your motivation and foster a positive mindset. Recognizing your achievements, however minor, can fuel your passion and remind you of the progress you’re making.

7. Reimagine Your Vision:

The entrepreneurial landscape is constantly evolving. It’s essential to adapt and reimagine your vision to stay relevant and competitive. Look for new opportunities, explore emerging trends, and consider how you can leverage your existing skills and resources to create something new and exciting.

8. Embrace the Journey:

Entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s a journey filled with ups and downs, moments of exhilaration and times of doubt. Remember to enjoy the process, learn from your mistakes, and celebrate your successes along the way. This mindset will help you to understand more on how you should manage the business – focusing on the learnings and not feal being burdened by the challenges that come along the way.

Rekindling your entrepreneurial passion is a journey of rediscovering your purpose, reconnecting with your drive, and reimagining your vision. It’s about embracing the challenges, celebrating the wins, and finding joy in the pursuit of your goals. Remember, the flame of passion may flicker, but with dedication and a renewed sense of purpose, it can burn brighter than ever before.
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If you have any questions or would like to share your thoughts on the column, feel free to send an email to jca.bblueprint@gmail.com. Looking forward to connecting with you!

Balota, is a movie that is streaming this week and it is not a simple dish. It is a satire, critique and a clapback and a dunk on the faces of the movie’s audience.

During the 2007 elections, a former sexy star and a land-grabbing tycoon are in a tight race for mayor. Emmy, a strict yet popular teacher in a small town, is assigned to the Board of Election Inspectors for her local precinct. When violence erupts, she runs into the forest with a ballot box containing the last copy of the election results. Armed only with her resourcefulness, courage, and wit, she tries to outmaneuver the goons who want the elections to fail. Her loved ones and community are caught in the crossfire as she pays an increasingly steep price for defending the democratic process.

Teacher Emmy is played by Marian Rivera and the movie was not cheesy nor glamourous, it was downright ugly, real and as the PhilStar Headline said hitting the right spots. Written and Directed by Kip Obeanda, Balota rakes 135 million in the Box Office.

What can be seen in the movie that resonates big in us, the audience. It was to me a reminder that the people can get victory on a society that tramples decency and righteousness. That the corrupt can be held accountable and be put to jail. And that, it shoves away the notion that the good finishes last and the bad wins in the world of Philippine politics. The movie also showcases a teacher who is sure of her conviction and that when offered a big amount of money, the teacher can stand tall against the enticing offer and reveals a stronger and decent teacher that cannot be bought, that will never sell-out her principles, no matter what.

This maybe a sure fiction based on real stories but as a former Board of Election Inspectors in those times of 2007, I am aware of the hard work and travails of teachers who used that rusty ballot yellow boxes we call Balota.

From the get-go, we were shown that Balota brewed a concoction that would unravel a jolt to the usual political dynasty, vote buying realities of our electoral system, it reeks of gutter stink that the characters call as Baklang Kanal. The same description fits our elections, its gutter level stinky and gutter level dirty.

Teacher Emmy showed that we can resist and at times refuse the imburnal waters, we have been drinking for a long, long while.!

THAT gospel episode about Christ commanding Peter to “go to the deep and lower down your nets for a catch” (Lk 5,4) reminds us, among other things, that we should be bold and aggressive in our Christian life, stretching ourselves to the limits to do apostolate and actively cooperate in the continuing work of human redemption.

Peter at first told Christ that he tried to fish the whole night before and caught nothing. But because of his strong faith in Christ, he just obeyed what Christ told him, and lo and behold, he caught a big amount of fish. Fully astonished, he could not help but tell Christ to depart from him for, as he said, “I am sinful man.” That was when Christ told him to be a fisher of men.

We need to understand that our Christian life will always be involved in the continuing work of human redemption. It is in essence also an apostolic life, something that we have to be most aware of and for which we should be duly trained. The ideal to pursue is to be zealous in doing apostolate, always coming up with effective apostolic plans and strategies.

Christ’s intense desire for human redemption, expressed in his words, “I came to set fire to the world, and I wish it were already burning!” (Lk 12,49) should also be the desire of a true disciple of Christ.

This is something we have to be more conscious about, since right now I believe that many of us are buried under a heavy albeit deceivingly sweet yoke of spiritual lethargy. We take things easy in our spiritual and apostolic life. What would arouse us are mainly material and worldly things.

We need to react to this stranglehold of our spiritual and apostolic life, helping one another to be more spiritually alive, considering each one’s conditions and possibilities, giving good example and timely pieces of advice and suggestions, and leading the way in actively cooperating in this exhilarating divine adventure God is inviting us to join in this life.

Everyday, we should be seized by that urge to “carpe diem,” to kind of strike while the iron is hot. If we have faith, each day brings with it its own adventure orchestrated by God in his abiding providence, and we are invited to it since we are supposed to be co-agents with God in our life here.

To be sure, our life here on earth is never just an interplay of our plans and the other natural forces. God is very much in it, a fact that we have to be more aware of it and more importantly, better skilled in handling. We cannot go on unmindful of this fundamental truth.

We should not be afraid to enter and take most active part in this drama with God and others, because even if it involves everything and all sorts of trials and difficulties, it is always worth it. This is what our life is really all about. We avoid making a fiction of our life, deluded by its false images.

To top it all, if we have faith and trust in God, we know, in spite of passing contradictions, that what we get involved in is always something for the good of all of us in all aspects of our life, from the most personal to the most global.

Threats to the family are aplenty that we cannot and must not just rely on authorities for protection. Children of school-going age need parental care and protection more than what authorities can provide. We know too well that authorities could only provide limited supervision and protection to school children. School authorities can only oversee school children while in the confines of the school premises.

Beyond class hours and outside the school campus, we cannot expect school authorities to still be responsible for school children. It is the responsibility of parents to do their share in providing care and protection to their children after school. While there are police authorities providing school safety and protection, they too can only do so much of their task within the area of the school.

Reports regarding students being duped into vices and other undesirable activities by peers must be a cause for concern among parents. These problems are prevalent among high school students who are found in groups that engage in off-campus activities. These youthful students call their groups as fraternities and sororities. Observers however consider these groups as gangs for they do not have the characteristics of real fraternities and sororities. All that these groups do are nefarious activities like forcedly collecting money from hapless students who are threatened with harm by the gang.

In other instances, these groups engage in misguided activities. They do not have any clear purpose than enjoy the company of their gang doing what they want to do afar from the sight of their busy parents. Students of this generation seem lacking in parental guidance and influenced by misguided elements of society. We are aware how peer groups take primacy among the influential factors in the life of students. It poses to parents the great challenge of combating the evil forces that drag students to misguided activities. We cannot rely on others, not even authority figures, for the care, protection and guidance of our children.

But we must give attention to the factors that lead to the way students behave today. We may unconsciously be allowing our children to take misguided paths. A lot of media blitz from television programs require parental guidance but parents simply do not care providing children the needed guidance. In school, values education is part of the curriculum but matters like children’s rights and related topics on freedom and privacy sometimes go offhand, giving the students the wrong notion of independence and less respect for parental guidance.

In their eagerness to assert the rights being taught in school, students often go beyond the parameters by totally excluding parental guidance in the vocabulary. The indoctrination of wrong and misguided values by various sectors are the unwitting cause why students are falling into unwanted and undesirable activities. All these may still be traced to seeming lack if not the utter failure to guide their children and to perform their basic parental obligation.
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