You see them everywhere—the fathers pushing battered pedicabs under the hot sun, the mothers calculating a supermarket bill with trembling hands, hoping the few coins left in her pocket will suffice. And yet, despite the backbreaking work, the pinched budgets, the hopes bound with fraying hope, brutal reality: it painfully costs to reside in the Philippines, but pay is laughingly meager. The numbers just do not square, and to boot, the mighty feign they do. It is an evil joke, to be honest.

A new college graduate is blessed to get a job for P15,000 monthly—after deducting taxes, that’s only enough for rent, fare, and food. A sack of rice, of course, already costs more than P2,500, and onions—onions!—reached a record P700 per kilo. Everything else goes up except the one that must not: wages. The typical Filipino is stuck in a money seesaw, with expenses always rising and never budging, and families having to live paycheck to paycheck or, for most, on credit. What’s so maddening about it is that the government officials, the same ones who are supposed to be making sure there is a fair wage, are obstinately out of touch.

You hear them remind others to “Magtipid kayo” (Save up) or “Pumili ng mas murang pagkain” (Eat cheap food) as if poverty is a question of poor consumer decision. As they sanction billions of confidential funds, show up in galas dressed in designer barongs, and flaunt their five-star vacations at our expense—expenses that come out of the mouths of these people they scold into tightening their belts. And do not forget those corporate overlords who treat employees like disposable machines. A call center agent works the graveyard shift, serving irate foreign customers for P18,000 a month, while his CEO receives millions in bonuses.

A construction worker risks his life building condominiums he could never dream of affording, for a day’s wage that can only pay for a jeepney ride and canned sardines and rice lunch. Even government workers, who think that they are sheltered by salary standardization, usually see their salaries gobbled up by supposedly unlimited deductions, so they barely manage to make ends meet. What do they do? They quit. The top nurses, engineers, and teachers flee abroad to countries that pay them what they’re worth, and who can fault them?

A Filipino nurse earns P20,000 monthly, while her Canadian counterpart earns the same in a week. OFWs remit billions to keep the economy going but at what cost? Children have no idea of their parents, families hear voices on a screen, and generations are formed out of absence and longing. The Philippines is a nation that exports its people since it could no longer sustain them. And what about the left-behinds? They hustle.

A full-time teacher moonlights selling beauty products, a government administrative personnel takes his habal-habal for a joyride after office hours, and students work to make both education and online peddling happen just so they could send money home. Everyone is exhausted, everyone is hanging on by a thread, but the system never changes because the people who run it never have to live it.

The sucky thing? Filipinos are patient. Too patient. We have this strange knack for laughing at our own misfortune, joking about our “petsa de peligro” moments, downplaying economic gaps with a frustrated “Ganito talaga ang buhay.” (That’s just the way life is.) But do we have to? Do men and women have to work themselves to death just to eke out a living? Does living hand-to-mouth have to be such an endless, untameable game?

It shouldn’t. But until the powers that be wake up—or the people wake them up—the vicious cycle persists. The cost of living will increase, wages will still be criminally low, and Filipinos will still push every peso to the breaking point, while the ones responsible sleep soundly, dreaming of their next foreign shopping extravaganza.

AN anecdote I heard sometime ago taught me the lesson that charity should never be dry and cold, but rather warm, full of affection. It was about a nun who got sick and stayed in bed for days in the convent. When asked how she was treated by her companions, she said that she was treated by the nuns in the convent with charity, but she missed how her mother treated her with affection.

For charity to be true charity, there should never be a distinction between it and affection. Charity should not only be an act of the will. It should always be given and expressed with affection.

Without affection, all signs and expressions of civility, mercy and compassion would be hollow. They would all be a sham, for affection is the beginning and end of charity, the integral packaging of love that can have its highest point in mercy and compassion. Charity without affection would be a strange charity.

And the model for this is none other than Christ himself who in spite of the seriousness of his mission—nothing less than human redemption that would have its culmination in his crucifixion—never neglected to show affection for everyone.

First, he lived 30 of his 33 years of earthly life in a family, and we can just imagine how the family atmosphere was when both Mary and Joseph knew who their son was. We can be sure that the home life the Holy Family must have been invariably characterized by affection, to say the least.

Even in his public life when Christ was busy going around preaching, he always showed affection and compassion with everyone, especially with those who were sick and possessed. With his apostles who went around with him, he always managed to spend time with them in some lonely place where they could rest and talk with greater intimacy.
It’s important that we make deliberate effort to develop our affective life. There now are many threats and dangers that can undermine it. We can now easily take others for granted, especially those who are close to us, like the family members.

We can easily fall into familiarity that may not breed contempt as much as it breeds indifference and unconcern. Then, there now are many distractions, especially coming from our new technologies, that can hook people into endless games and other self-absorbing and self-seeking activities. In this regard, there is a great need for self-discipline and a strong sense of order and priorities.

If not the above, then we can have the dangers of perfectionism, self-righteousness, obsessive-compulsive rigidities and oversensitivity. These can imprison us in our own world that can use as defense mechanisms such practices as rash judgments, the keeping of grudges and resentments, the unwillingness to forgive, etc.
There also are the dangers of sentimentalism, particular friendships, loquacity, gossiping, backbiting.

We have to learn how to deal with our unavoidable differences and even conflicts in some matters. We somehow should welcome these differences and conflicts because they serve to expand and enrich our understanding of things.

When we manage to practice affection in our family life, we actually would be putting ourselves in a good position to handle the demands of all the other aspects of our life—spiritual, professional, social, etc.

We can pray better, work better and relate ourselves better to the others when we know how to be affectionate in our family life. We can be very simple, and our ability to understand people and things better, as well as to discover more things of interest in others, would be enhanced if we are affectionate with others.

By 1875, Alexander Graham Bell, with the help of his partner Thomas Watson, had come up with a simple receiver that could turn electricity into sound.

Other scientists, including Antonio Meucci and Elisha Gray, were working on similar technologies, and there’s some debate over who should be credited with the invention of the telephone. It’s said that Bell raced to the patent office to be the first to secure the rights to the discovery.

On March 7, 1876, Bell was granted his telephone patent. A few days later, he made the first-ever telephone call to Watson, allegedly uttering the now-famous phrase, “Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.”

It was just that and now , we are witnessing and using the revolutionary impact of the Smart Phone . Smartphones have significantly revolutionized our lives in various ways:

1. Connectivity: Easier to stay in touch with people globally.
2. Access to Information: Instant access to vast information online.
3. Convenience: Multiple functionalities in one device (navigation, shopping, banking, etc.).
4. Entertainment: Streaming movies, playing games, listening to music, and more.
5. Productivity: Apps that help us stay organized and efficient.
6. Health and Fitness: Track physical activity, sleep, and health metrics.
7. Photography: Powerful cameras for capturing and sharing moments.
8. Economic Impact: New job opportunities and mobile commerce.

But it all started small, crude and even without much hope. The inventor Mr. Bell surely has no inkling that more than a hundred years in the future the phone would be the most important thingy for all mankind.

Research indicates that smartphones can significantly impact social behavior and relationships, with men potentially experiencing stronger social disconnect compared to women. Excessive smartphone use may lead to behavioral addiction, such as social media or gaming addiction, negatively affecting mental health by causing depression and anxiety.

Mobile phone distraction can also reduce psychological well-being and attention control. Studies highlight gender differences, suggesting that men might face more substantial emotional challenges due to smartphone use, underlining the importance of balanced digital interactions and maintaining real-life connections to mitigate these effects.

In all, phones have advanced exponentially from that first call, now who knows what will happen to the future with the Smart Phone in it?

Since the ratification of the 1987 Constitution, congress has yet to enact an enabling law prohibiting political dynasties. The utter failure to pass such legislation is due to the lack of interest of legislators as they will be the most affected. We know too well how politicians had maintained a stranglehold of elective positions and power with family and kin partaking the limited posts available. Such practice results in the concentration of political power within and among family members.

It deprives others of the opportunity to obtain elective office as the same are held exclusively beyond the reach and access of citizens who too are qualified to hold such offices. Incumbents and those in power have the edge in getting the position they presently hold. The tremendous force being wielded by the one in power who has at his disposal all necessary resources to ensure victory for him and every body in the family who are seeking elective office as well.

But we have been into such iniquitous situation ever since the provision against political dynasties was enshrined in the Constitution. The provision is well intended to equalize the playing field insofar as access to public office is made available to the citizenry. The idea may have been inspired by the bad experience during the two-decade Marcos rule where political power were concentrated on individuals who are blessed to be so by the powers that be. Many local officials then had served office as long or even beyond the two-decade dictatorship of the ousted despot. These officials stayed in power for as long as they willed to the deprivation of other citizens who also want to serve the office being held. The only result of this bad experience was the inclusion of a provision on term limits in the Constitution and the Local Government Code.

Dynasty according to one legal luminary, former Comelec Chairman Christian Monsod, who was one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, is committed in two ways. It may be simultaneous or successive. The more prevalent practice is successive dynasty wherein the elected post is passed among family members in succession after the end of the term limit.
Such practice deprives all others aspiring for the post from getting the office as the incumbent has always the decided advantage for wielding power and resources to ensure keeping the post. In the other mode, family members seek elective office simultaneously and acquire control over positions of power. This is the case of the senatorial bets of the opposition who are being charged for building dynasties. But we have one unique case in point of both modes in the election bid of Alfred Romualdez who is bent on succeeding his father as mayor of Tacloban while his wife running simultaneously for a seat in the city council. But there is no enabling law prohibiting dynasties.
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We all experience those days when our energy seems to ebb and flow like the tide. We feel vibrant and productive one moment, then sluggish and depleted the next. Understanding where our energy goes is crucial to optimizing our well-being, productivity, and overall quality of life. This article explores the various energy drains in our lives, providing insights into how to manage them effectively and reclaim your energy.

The Energy Audit: Identifying Your Energy Drains

The first step to understanding where your energy goes is to conduct an energy audit. This involves examining your daily routines, habits, and activities to identify the things that sap your energy and those that replenish it. Here are some common energy drains:

– Stress and Overwhelm: Chronic stress, deadlines, and overwhelming workloads can significantly deplete your energy reserves. The constant fight-or-flight response triggered by stress exhausts your body and mind.

– Poor Sleep Habits: Insufficient or poor-quality sleep is a major energy drain. When you’re sleep-deprived, your body and mind don’t have time to recover and recharge, leading to fatigue, irritability, and reduced cognitive function.

– Unhealthy Diet and Hydration: Consuming processed foods, sugary drinks, and excessive caffeine can lead to energy crashes. Dehydration also significantly impacts your energy levels, as it disrupts your body’s ability to function optimally.

– Lack of Physical Activity: While exercise may seem like an energy drain initially, it actually boosts your energy levels in the long run. Regular physical activity improves circulation, strengthens your muscles, and releases endorphins, which have mood-boosting effects.

– Toxic Relationships: Relationships that are draining, negative, or stressful can significantly impact your energy levels. Surrounding yourself with supportive and positive people is crucial for maintaining your energy.

– Excessive Screen Time: Spending too much time on screens, especially before bed, can disrupt your sleep patterns and reduce your energy levels. The blue light emitted from screens can interfere with melatonin production, which is essential for regulating your sleep-wake cycle.

– Lack of Purpose and Meaning: When you’re not engaged in activities that align with your values and passions, you’re likely to experience a sense of emptiness and lack of motivation, leading to low energy levels.

Reclaiming Your Energy: Strategies for Renewal

The frenetic nature of contemporary life frequently results in feelings of exhaustion and depletion. Reclaiming your energy is not a luxury, but a necessity for a fulfilling life. Start by identifying your energy drains. Are you constantly checking your phone? Are you overcommitted? Once you pinpoint the culprits, begin to implement strategies for renewal. Prioritize sleep. Adequate sleep, a balanced diet, and regular physical activity are essential for maintaining optimal physical and mental well-being, thereby enhancing one’s capacity to cope with stress effectively. Take mindful breaks throughout the day, even if it’s just for a few minutes to stretch or breathe deeply. Disconnect from technology and spend time in nature. Engage in activities that bring you joy and recharge your spirit. Reclaiming your energy is an ongoing process, but by making small, consistent changes, you can create a more vibrant and fulfilling life. Once you’ve identified your energy drains, you can start implementing strategies to manage them effectively and reclaim your energy.
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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!