Society – Page 4

In Pictures: Guiuan Eastern Samar, a Year after Yolanda

November 10, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar 4 Comments

Guiuananons looking at the poster which shows the government’s accomplishments on the rehabilitation of Guiuan Public Market.

If Tacloban City in Leyte is considered by many as the ground zero of Super Typhoon Yolanda (International name: Haiyan), Guiuan in Eastern Samar is known as the point of Haiyan’s first landfall in the Philippines. It was at 4:40 a.m. on November 8, 2013 when Guiuananons felt the wrath of Yolanda, with maximum sustained winds of 235 kph and gustiness of up to 275 kph that killed a hundred of them. Although most of Guiuan did not experience the great storm surges that killed thousands of people in Leyte, the town suffered the strongest winds that destroyed its buildings and infrastructures.

Now, after one year since the devastation occurred, how is Guiuan now? Here are some photos I took around the town and nearby places on 6 and 7 November 2014 which will give us a glance of Guiuan a year after Yolanda. [Read more…]

Tacloban City, One Year After Haiyan (50 Pictures of Commemoration, Hope and Recovery )

November 9, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar 19 Comments

Various pictures of Tacloban City one year after Super Typhoon Yolanda devastated the city.

We have shown you Tacloban City in pictures 7 months after Super Typhoon Yolanda (International name: Haiyan) struck the city on November 8, 2013. We’ve also shared images from around the city and nearby towns 9 months after the typhoon. Now, as my fellow Taclobanons commemorate the first Yolanda Anniversary, I want to share these 50 photos which I took around Tacloban on November 8, 2014. [Read more…]

10 Things only OFWs will Understand

October 13, 2014 By Joy Cortezo 8 Comments

To make everyone aware how being an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) like myself and the journey that all the other people who are walking in the same shoes as mine should be given an ample volume of respect and consideration, I have scribbled 10 things that might help each one of us understand more about our modern heroes today. [Read more…]

Sto. Niño Shrine and Heritage Museum after Yolanda (45 Pictures of What’s Inside It Now)

October 11, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar 6 Comments

Sto. Niño Shrine and Heritage Museum Tacloban

Sto. Niño Shrine and Heritage Museum as seen along Real Street in Tacloban City. Picture was taken on October 9, 2014.

Sto. Niño Shrine and Heritage Museum is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Tacloban City. But I guess many of the city’s and neighboring towns’ residents have never seen what’s inside it. Sto. Niño Shrine, as what the locals usually call the place, is one of the several presidential rest houses built under the administration of the late President Ferdinand Marcos. It was specially built for his wife Imelda Romualdez Marcos who was raised in Tacloban City.

Sto. Niño Shrine is located along Real Street. From outside, it looks like just an ordinary mansion, but inside, it houses a chapel for the Leyte’s Patron Sto. Niño, several rooms with their own motifs, a grand ballroom, beautifully crafted furniture, and priceless artifacts, such as paintings, dioramas, religious relics, antique collections and ivory sculptures. [Read more…]

10 Reasons Why Public Teachers Deserve a Salary Increase

October 7, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar 21 Comments

Classrooms in a public elementary school in Basey, Samar. This picture was taken 9 months after Super Typhoon Yolanda.

I finished my elementary and high school studies in public schools. And just like a typical pupil in a public school, I experienced bringing a bolo for cutting grasses, sweeping our classroom, and walking in my tsinelas (slippers) going to school and back at home.

The World Teacher’s Day which was celebrated last October 5 has already passed, but for me, our teachers should be appreciated every day. Our teachers play a major role in shaping our country. Whatever subjects they are teaching, they produce Filipinos who become the builders and leaders of our nation. Although I’m not a government employed teacher by profession, I have loved ones who work as such, and I can understand what they are going through.

There are already proposed bills that aimed to give public teachers in the Philippines an increase to their current salaries and benefits. Unfortunately, these laws are still pending due to budgetary considerations . My compassion goes to our dear teachers. And in my personal opinion, they are more than deserving to receive higher wages and benefits. Here are 10 reasons why: [Read more…]

Why Filipino Parents should become the Hope of our Nation

September 28, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar Leave a Comment

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in what our national hero Jose Rizal said that “the youth are the hope of our nation”. In fact, this article was inspired by him.

So why did I say that Filipino parents should become the hope of our country? Without further ado, here are my reasons why. [Read more…]

11 Things that are Poor in the Philippines (Why Our Country can’t Progress)

September 15, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar 33 Comments

Houses of poor Filipinos

Apparently, our country is not yet highly developed. Millions of Filipinos are still poor. A lot of households in our country are still struggling to survive financially and economically. No matter how the government tells us about our current economic achievements, poverty is still evident across our country.

Others might say that those Filipinos who are poor are lazy and just reliant to our government. But look, many of our countrymen are already working hard, yet they’re still trapped in the limbo of poverty.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is there are unfortunate things that exist in our country that are making many Filipinos poor no matter how hard they work to become rich and have financial freedom. Poor things give birth to more poor things. And if we want to fight poverty in the Philippines, we might want to take a look at these 11 things that are poor in the Philippines and why our country is struggling to progress. [Read more…]

20 Ways to Be a Responsible Filipino Citizen

September 13, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar 1 Comment

We, the citizens, are the first leaders of this democratic republic country. We are the roots of our leaders. In other words, we are the ones who choose the people who will lead our government. Our leaders and government officials originate from our votes. Thus, for our country to improve, progress must begin with us. We have to be responsible citizens to achieve personal and national development. So without further ado, here are 20 things we can do to become responsible Filipino citizens. [Read more…]

14 Good Filipino Habits that Make the Philippines a Great Country

September 2, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar 13 Comments

There may be negative traits that are common to many Filipinos, such as crab mentality (envy and insecurity), mañana habit (procrastination) and tardiness, that are hindering our country’s progress and human development index. But on the other side, we also have several positive traits that make us one of the most admirable people on Earth. The following good habits make the Filipinos great people and the Philippines a great country. Let us do our best to preserve them. [Read more…]

7 Ways to Overcome Crab Mentality

August 27, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar 2 Comments

Crab mentality is a term that describes a way of thinking of a person who always try to pull down other people, not wanting them to succeed while he or she is being left behind. It’s a metaphor that refers to the crabs in a bucket. The crabs try to escape from the bucket but because they grab and pull down each other, they always fail individually and collectively. Crab mentality is also an attitude that clings on the phrase “if I can’t have it, neither can you.”

In my previous article, we’ve identified 10 signs of crab mentality in a person. That article created a buzz, and a lot of Filipinos reacted to it. Many of them liked and shared it, humbly accepting the fact that we are indeed guilty of that mentality and we need to improve as citizens of our nation. On the other hand, there are some who got offended, stating that Filipinos should not be described as such. [Read more…]