www.akomismo.org

Amidst the celebration of Pacquiao’s fight, I am even more exhilarated by a 1 minute video I first saw during the fight.

First, here’s the clip. Second (after the clip), let me tell you how I feel and what I think about this whole campaign.

What is AKO MISMO?

From what I’ve seen and read, AKO MISMO is a campaign.

It’s a campaign for Filipinos to take action towards helping the Philippines rise and move forward.

It’s a campaign to help instill the awareness in Pinoys to take action instead of complain or blame.

We each have a role in making our country great! Not just somebody else’s role.

It’s MY role! It’s OUR role to make the Philippines a great country!

(read what the www.akomismo.org website says about the campaign).

AKO MISMO - my own thoughts, my own words.

JM and I share the same feeling about seeing this video. Nakaka-pangilabot!

Frankly, the first time I saw the ad, I was half-expecting to see an endorsement for another politician.

Pero dehins, men!

This ad was about us Filipinos taking-charge! This campaign is about us Filipinos taking responsibility for our beloved country and doing our share, each in our own way.

In an exchange of messages via Facebook, JM and I reminisced about our NAMFREL volunteer days.

That role of helping our country, that’s the feeling I’m feeling now!

And it’s so exciting finding out that hundreds of thousands of Filipinos are taking a stand and making a commitment to help our country.

All star cast

Ely Buendia, Charise Pempengco, Maxine Magalona (and truly and strongly I feel Francis M is in there too!), Mon Fernandez, Efren (Kuya F, behind a kariton school ), Luis Manzano, a priest, a muslim lady, a medical technician, Angel Locsin, Arnel Pineda, a women’s rights advocate, a Pinoy Hollywood director, and more …

These are the people who captured and communicated, in this video, the commitment for our country! Ang galing! Ang galing!

The www.akomismo.org website

I visited the website just an hour ago. And I am overwhelmed! In a span of 7 hours, they’ve gathered 14,000 commitments on the wall of commitments from thousands of Filipinos.

My first commitment was to spread the word through my blog - www.akomismo.org . And I’m doing it right now!

Source:www.edwinsoriano.com

The Jeepney

What is a Street Paper?

"The Jeepney Magazine" is a Filipino publication produced by the Urban Opportunities for Change, Foundation Inc.

The Jeepney Magazine has two main goals:

1. The first is the presentation of the stories and hearts of the Filipino poor. It is our intent to communicate the needs, struggles and more importantly, the victories in the midst of those struggles, of homeless people, to an audience that can make change happen.
   
2. The second is the provision of jobs, with dignity, meeting or exceeding the Philippine minimum wage. The provision of jobs, is modeled by the over two hundred autonomous street papers in the world today. The vendors of these papers receive fifty to ninety percent of the papers cover price.
   

Where can You Find The Jeepney?

Buy Jeepney at:

• Ayala's Glorietta 3 (2 weeks each month in 2009)
  
• Robinson's Metro East (April 16-31 2009)
  
• Robinson's Galleria (future dates to be determined Feb 1-15 2009)
  
• Eastwood (April 1-12 2009)
  
• University of the Philippines
  
• Faith Academy International School (Antipolo) (Tuesday and Thursday mornings)
  
• Mocha Blends - Cainta Branch on Ortigas Extension
  
• Greenhills Shopping Center (Corner of Connecticut and Missouri)
  
• Lasalle Greenhills (look for Coach Marlon Maro)
  
• Intramuros - 2 Jeepney vendors
  
• Manila - near UST
  
• Manila - Ermita
  
• Katipunan Avenue near Ateneo
  
• Masinag - corner of Sumalong and Marcos - Traditional Vendor
  
• Trinoma Mall (May 18-31)
  
• PowerPlant Malls (pending)
  
• Help Place Vendors in safe and thriving locations. If you are connected to any establish-
  
• ment mentioned above, please email us. -bill@thejeepney.com 
  

Source: http://www.thejeepney.com/what_is.html

Poor Cebu folk get medical help

Poor Cebu folk get medical help  By Patricia Esteves Updated May 04, 2009 12:00 AM

A volunteer doctor of the Bukas Loob sa Diyos attends to a young patient during the group’s medical mission in Barangay Guba, Cebu City.

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Mang Mariano, a 60-year-old farmer living in the hinterlands of Barangay Guba here, has been suffering from persistent cough and joint pains for a few months. He has been ignoring his illness but he does not have money to pay for the medical bill at the municipal hospital.

Mang Mariano is not the only the sick one in his neighborhood; many children and adults are also ailing, but do not seek any treatment because their families are too poor to afford it.

When he learned that the Bukas Loob sa Diyos (BLD, meaning “open in spirit to God”), a Catholic organization founded in Manila, would conduct a four-day medical mission in Barangay Guba, a few meters from where he lives, his heart leapt with joy and he thanked God. For a time, he had lost hope that he would get help because he and his neighbors live in the uplands where life is just really difficult, and besides, he had no stable job.

But today is different. Upon seeing the smiling members of BLD-US, Mang Mariano and his neighbors flocked to the area and were very happy. He was also both surprised and glad to see his neighbors in Guba and adjoining mountain barangays form a long queue and converge in makeshift tents for medical consultations with doctors from the United States.

The 160 BLD volunteers, who were just too happy to help, were organized into different teams. Some were in charge of registration, while others took care of the flow of patients, supplies, and medicine distribution.

Several doctors and dentists from the country and all over the United States, including Hawaii, joyfully took care of the medical, dental and surgical needs of the community. At the end of the four-day mission, over 6,300 residents received much needed medical care.

Spreading God’s love

The BLD members’ resolve to come home and serve in a remote community in Cebu was not dampened despite the economic slowdown in the US.

Dr. Bong Encarnacion, a BLD volunteer based in New Jersey, said the mission is an annual event, part of the BLD’s commitment to let their impoverished kababayan feel they are loved and have not been neglected by God even in these most dire times.

“The mission is about willingness to accept God’s call to care for the poor. One can spend his entire life studying to know God but all that effort is wasted if that person does not know or has not felt God’s love. We are all poor in a way but we have felt God’s love and we just want to share it through our mission work,” he added.

Sharing blessings

“The BLD community worldwide strives to reach out to those in need, sharing their blessings and continuously loving them,” said BLD’s medical mission coordinator Nong Bustos.

“Despite the economic crisis, the BLD-US groups are here to help the poor and make them feel that they have not been forgotten,” he said.

“It’s our willingness to come down from our comfort zones to make the poor see and feel God’s love and grace through us,” he added.

Bustos said they have been doing medical missions and other outreach activities for many years now as part of their commitment to reach out to the less fortunate and give thanks to God.

“We realize that undertaking the mission may not change their lives physically or materially, but we trust it will help change their outlook in life,” Encarnacion said.

“We pray that the little we do for them may give them hope and that gift of hope enables us to serve so willingly and gratefully,” he added.

From just a small community in Manila, members of the BLD community now live all over the world.

Source:http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=463875&publicationSubCategoryId=130