Legacy: Leaving things better than they were

It was Samuel Smiles that once said:

“Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.”

Today, August 21, 2012, the nation mourns the loss of a well-loved man. My Facebook news feed is filled with news articles, anecdotes, and statements of regret for a man, many feel, had gone too soon.

Junior Chamber International (JCI), an organization I belong to, gave him two awards: The Outstanding Young Men in the Philippines in 1990 and Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World in 1994. These are awards given to those who have excelled in their fields. Their contributions should be significant enough to create a positive change in their communities.

What Made Sec. Robredo Special? 

First, Metrics, Transparency and Accountability. 

He believed that the citizenry has a right to know about its government’s transactions. Transparency allows people to understand government. The people can exact commitments from its servants provided they know what the success metrics are.

In short, government enters into a contract with its people on the things that it promises to deliver. Government also tells its citizens by what standard success or failure is to be measured.


Second, Citizen Engagement.

He believed in customer service. In the video below, he emphasized that the services are need-based. Government develops processes and capability so it can deliver those needs.

He also stated that PROCESSES are just as important as the OUTCOMES. Translated, it may mean that if I were the citizen, the manner I was served is AS IMPORTANT as the service I received because I have a stake in it.

Citizens have to be empowered, consulted, and be allowed to participate in the process of delivering outcomes. He not only wanted a government that was working, he also wanted to develop responsible citizenship.

This is a fresh perspective about government service, especially when the temptation is to be average and top-down.


Third, Loving Father

On the day his plane went missing, he was hurrying so that he could catch his daughter compete in a sporting event. He would have moved heaven and hell to be with the ones he loved on this long weekend. Part of his option was to take the bus going home if he took his previously-booked-commercial flight.

The consequence of leading using these paradigms. 

In an article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the Secretary’s concrete gains in local governance included, among others:

  • strengthening local government with aptitude and competence;
  • establishing a transparent merit-based hiring and promotion system in his local government unit;
  • ridding the city of illegal gambling, smut, and jueteng; and
  • winning the confidence of his constituents because he consulted them.

I am sure that in the succeeding days, more anecdotes will be told about his character as a family man, a loving father, and as a dedicated public servant.

Just how is destiny created? 

Stephen Covey has a proposition for it in his book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind.

This habit is the habit of vision. It recognizes that mental creation PRECEDES physical creation. It is like that blue print we create before building the house of our dreams. It is what your child answers when you ask him or her what he wants to be when he or she grows up. It is that vacation you write down at the beginning of the year, that promised-spouse that you have been praying about, that career you have wanted to build, that community that you wanted to empower in more ways than one.

If none of those pegs were there, then routine takes place. Everyday living would then become total circumstances dictated by the external environment. The Locus of Control would cease to be internal and therefore, become less directed.

Sec. Robredo created a unique brand of government service first in his mind. He stuck by it even when he became part of the National government.

I guess that is why we feel his loss. Not many think like him.

Gone Too Soon


Yes, he has gone too soon. But his legacy stays on.

Rest in peace, Sir.

 

PS> Attributing the original photo of the Secretary from Team Robredo. Thanks

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The open hand is a double-edged sword

The hand can be a double edged sword.

THE HAND SHAKE.

I normally open my right hand and extend it forward when I introduce myself to a client or to a person I have just met. I do it as a matter of courtesy. I also signal a handshake at the end of a fruitful meeting. Or perhaps, when I apologizing to a person I may have wronged.

THE OATH.

The same gesture is repeated: I open my right hand, raise it upward, and perform a gesture that looks like a half-surrender. I have done this once when I was asked to appear in court. I was asked to put my left hand on the bible and raise the right hand to swear that I was going to tell the truth in the court of law.

The other instances I recall doing this was when I took oath as an officer and finally a president of a Junior Chamber International chapter, Kagayhaan Gold. I took an oath to serve the organization willingly. I took it upon myself to be responsible for my chapter and take care of its members as well.

THE SLAP.


Of course, the same open palm can be used, not to shake another hand or to profess the truth. Rather, it is used to assert dominance and inflict physical pain on someone else. The video I showed you above is about a motorist who seemed very upset about a traffic enforcer.

It appeared that during the height of his anger, he let loose several open palms towards the traffic officer.

THE OPPORTUNITY: BE PROACTIVE. 

Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, discusses this first habit: BE PROACTIVE. It is the habit of choice. What it means is that I am a product of my choices. As I make them, I am responsible for their consequences.

This is easier said than done. The call to be proactive is most compelling during those moments when our emotions are surely to get the best of us. When anger and frustration are so strong, all the more we are being asked to handle our feelings.

THE FOUR HUMAN ENDOWMENTS.

According to Stephen Covey, we have four human endowments:

a. Self Awareness: We are able to discern our thoughts and feelings. We have the ability to examine and hold ourselves in check.

b. Imagination: We are able to see, in our mind’s eye, our current experiences and thoughts. We are able to project consequences and play them out without actually executing them in the real world. This is pretty much akin to the fight scene in Sherlock Holmes. 

c. Conscience: We have our understanding of right and wrong.

d. Independent Will: We can act independently from external influences.

In lay man’s terms, we can choose our responses if we put our emotions in check. We are not able to enjoy the endowments if we are so overcome with emotions that our reactions are clearly predictable.

I think the gentleman just wanted to vent his anger. He did not expect what would happen next when he used his OPEN HAND.

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Upgrading A Flag Carrier

Just last night,July 28, a friend posted this link on his Facebook page:

I flew to Davao City via Philippine Airlines today. I received a pleasant surprise. This is my first time to fly to Davao on a Boeing 747-400 jet. I normally expect a Boeing 747 if it were a mid morning flight to Cebu.

It was a rainy afternoon in Manila today, July 29. However, the situation in Davao was totally different. It was a hot and humid 32 degrees Celsius. It IS common to expect a delayed flight given the traffic congestion at Manila airports. This afternoon was no different.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised when we boarded our plane. The interior looked very clean and presentable. The look and feel of the interior is pretty much what @charleston888 posted in youtube:

Best of all, the plane had inflight entertainment I could choose from. I scanned the film genres. The content was rich and varied. The inflight movies available included comedy, drama, suspense. I forget the other choices. I had my eyes fixed on a Filipino movie I failed to watch: UNOFFICIALLY YOURS:

And so I selected the movie, hoping that I could finish the entire movie before I landed at the Davao International Airport.

Angel Locsin

Alas, I dozed off. I was not able to start the movie just as we taxied off. We had a good hour of waiting at the runway and another 90 minutes of flight time. That would have been enough to finish the movie. I woke up as we were being served free coffee, water, tea, biscuits, and peanuts.

So which part was I watching when the crew turned off the movie? That part where Angel and John Lloyd were at the rooftop, discussing why Angel would not accept Lloyd’s love. I hope I will be lucky to have my return flight feature the same library so I can finish the movie.

Thank you Philippine Airlines. I look forward to more flights with you.

Today, the acronym, PAL, meant different for me: Pinanood ko si Angel Locsin (I watched Angel Locsin).

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Paying Last Respects to Stephen R. Covey

The 7H DVDs

The DVDs where SRC explains the concepts in the 7 Habits

 

I have two runs of Stephen Covey this week. Last Tuesday, I found out in the news that he had already passed on. It was a weird feeling to play his videos knowing that he had just died.

I took my 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in 2008. Since then, I have been doing my level best to live the habits in my personal and professional life. I applied to be certified to run the 7 Habits under Franklin Covey Philippines, Inc. and help spread the keys to effectiveness to individuals and corporations.

I was hoping one day that I would be sent to Corporate Headquarters and meet him personally. Suffice it to say that I will no longer have that opportunity to make that happen. Despite that, I am still grateful that I have and am still participating in his mission: LIVE, LAUGH, LEARN.

Rest in peace, TEACHER.

 

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SCUBA and Fear of heights

The fun part

Sunday and Monday are diving certification week at Anilao Beach Club in Batangas, Philippines. If the weather and water conditions permit, I and my friends undergo four open water dives as a requirement for open water certification.

While I was attempting my second dive, suddenly my fear of heights go the best of me.

The pool dives were easy because i could see the floor. The bottom was easy to discern. But yesterday was different. The Anilao bottom was slopy. Visibility was very limited.

I think fear got me at the beginning. Because of this, I felt awkward and discoordinated. I distrusted myself, my peers, my equipment, and my dive instructor. And when that sets it, nothing works.

I could not balance myself. I could not descend. I was hyperventilating even as my head was still bobbing in the surface. If I were to extricate myself from my body and look at me from the outside, it was like seeing a very scared child. Suddenly, what I knew and what I know about diving flew out of the window.

It was not that I couldn’t. It was just that I was scared of heights and I did not want to dive. Fear had taken over, and fear got me stuck. It was funny that my fear of heights got trigged when I was doing down.

Looking up did not help ease the fear. In fact, it fed it.

It helped that I told my dive master about the fear I had. Talking about it made me exhale a bit of my fears and share it with my dive buddies. Then, I trusted myself more.

I was able to complete the second dive with important lessons:

1. I will have to deal with my own heights. Whether the height is sloping up or down, I will still need to decide if I want to hurdle it or not.

2. SCUBA is a gear-intensive sport. You trust that most of the time the equipment will work. As in flying, there is pilot error. When fear or panic overtakes you, the mind activates it’s own dirty tricks department.

3. Focus works. I threw fun out of the window. Perhaps, fun is the reward for choosing to put fear in the back seat. Whatever it is, my fears form part of the objection. I can either empower it, or master it.

4. Surrender. I can either resist it, or let go. Either mindsets have consequences. So which one do I want?

I love the surprises that the ocean holds. But you have to pay your dues for this gift to be presented to you. The biggest barrier is not the water.

It is that thing between my ears.

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Diving

Where I take my diving lessons

I had taken my second pool class in diving. This is one of three steps needed to acquire my diving certification. Here are some of my personal struggles:

1. I have to remind myself to breathe through my mouth when underwater. On several occasions, I have forgotten this rule and noticed that my body’s reflexes force me to go up for air.

2. I have plenty of hours above land. Underwater is a new world for me. I cannot wait to see what underwater looks upclose. I have had two intro dives before. But I only stayed a few minutes. Here was a chance to get to know underwater for a lifetime.

3. Equipment intensive. The diving rituals are detailed about equipment and safely checks. Going underwater is a total submission to elements and a careful trust on the equipment’s promise of reliability. If you take little things for granted, diving can cost you your life.

4. Diving requires a buddy you can trust. Panic is the biggest enemy of a diver. Just like in life, if you do not think, your defaults will take over.

This reminds me about Stephen Covey’s rule, Be Proactive. He says you have choices. If you do not use your head, nature and self preservation takes over. Fight or flight. No room for a third alternative. The dive buddy hopefully does the right thing when the diver himself is not able to think straight underwater.

5. Don’t forget to breathe and have fun. I’ve told myself constantly to breathe through my mouth. And I have done so. When I hear the sound of bubbles rushing to the surface, it is a signal that I am doing the right thing.

I enjoyed the pool. Perhaps when I take to the open water, fun and joy will begin to set in.

Wish me luck!

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Memory gaps and the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Proud to see my name :)

I’ll be in Angeles, Pampanga until Thursday, Feb 24, 2010. I’m running a 7 Habits Workshop for National Grid Corporation of the Philippines. This is a special run for me, equipment-wise. My help forgot to load my tech bag. This is the black trolley I carry with me always whenever I conduct training for companies and other organizations.

Since my household help was usually reliable in loading the same things whenever I travel, I did not check the contents of the car trunk.I only realized that I did not have my training war chest when I arrived at the venue some 120 kilometers later.

There goes my slides, my sound system, my lcd, my wireless remote, my wires, and the rest of my training armory.

I suddenly felt very unsure of myself. I battled between having someone bring the bag here in Angeles or wing it and start over again.

Luckily I brought my spare laptop, a 45-day old back up of my data in a hard disk, and then the power cord. Good that the venue had a decent sound system, a windows laptop, and an lcd.

The smallest DLP player I have ever used. Half the size of a small DLP Player. Cool!

Boy was I glad that I had everything I needed! The only thing left to do was to redo the content. I went through the training manual again and started from the basic slides; setting aside the anguish and the regret  over the hours i spent preparing.

I did the slides again from memory. I revised one module at a time. I just believed in myself and allowed the participants to work with me. I am not sure if they noticed my concerns yesterday. But all I did was to be at my best to focus on them and their needs rather than my own feelings of inadequacy.

How did my day end? It ended with a trip to ShoeMart; a visit to the computer shops to look for a VGA cable, a USB card slot, and a wireless presenter. It also ended with a personal reward of char broiled tuna belly.

Thank God for stores like CDR king. I bought the things I needed without shelling out an arm and a leg (but the VGA adaptor for my mac cost an elbow and a knee).

I went to bed early, tired after wrestling with my own personal challenges. I felt that I had survived one whole day between wanting to trust or wanting to blame.

My simpler recipe for a successful workshop? Trust, fun, reliable technology, mastery of subject matter, and a deep faith in myself, my participants, and the Lord. Today, my MAC went back to work. Everything else is back to normal. But my self trust is higher over this unfortunate incident.

I went back to basics. Even if I had all the bells and whistles in training but did not have subject mastery and self trust, no amount of equipment can cover that gaping hole of inadequacy.

It would have been horrible for the participants to go home with bellies full of delicious food, yet starving because their greater needs were left unmet.

My spartan war chest

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My MACBOOK Air Overheats

The Dashboard view of my CPU's temperature

My Macbook Air’s CPU shot up to 102celsius when I stream movies or music online. I know streaming is not exactly a strength of the Macbook Air. The unit gets uncomfortably hot even though I have an air cooler fan below it.

Heat is probably what I gain after going for a lightweight, easier-to-lug-around laptop. I still like the air. But I am using it less and less now.

My unit has gone to back to the repair shop twice since the 2010 new year. I am happy that there is such a thing as Apple Care. None of the comforts of a warranty agreement replaces my need to actually use of the product.

My experience of the air, I think, is about form and wow factor. I can expect it to be reliable for short presentations and document processing.

But for streaming and videos, perhaps a different mac will perform better.

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I got reset.

THE CIRCUMSTANCE

I drove my mom to the airport early morning of last Friday, August 7, 2009.  She was taking Cebu Pacific so on my way back home, I decided to take the Nichols exit, then head south at the South Luzon Expressway.

THE EVENT

At around 4:00 am, I cruised at about 90kph on the outermost lane of the expressway. And as I passed this 18-wheeler truck, I saw that it had suddenly swerved to its left.

SNC00098

I had no where to go but straight. A few moments soon after, I heard a loud bang on my right side. The truck had hit me on my right doors. At about 90kph, gravity took over instantaneously.

I recall hitting the brakes and feeling vigorous thuds on my feet. This must have been the anti-lock kicking in but to no avail, perhaps, because my car’s tail had already spun clockwise. For a brief moment, I was face to face with the truck’s front, and then moments later, I heard a loud crash coming from the back.

At this point my car had spun from the outermost to the innermost lane, 4 lanes across. The car had stopped moving and hit the concrete fence.

SNC001021

When I went out, I saw that the bumper had been torn. The trunk was completely disaligned. I looked at the two right doors and the rear fender. The collision had torn the metal like sheets of paper and exposed the side impact bars.

My torn sides

My torn sides

I also took a picture of the lower part of the car where I must have first had contact with the 18-wheeler. The picture below shows a tear.

I think this is the first point where the impact was the strongest.

I think this is the first point where the impact was the strongest.

ASSESSING THE DAMAGE

I knew I was not hurt. As my car twirled, I felt the force of the twirl pressing me tightly against my seat. I could only say to myself  “oh no” a few times, but not enough time for my life to be flashing right before my eyes.

I went out of the car, shaking and knees trembling. There before me was the sight of the 18-wheeler. 3 men slowly climbing down and looking underneath. The driver had said that they already lost their steering guide and was already heading for a collision with the pylons.

I don’t recall anyone from their group coming to me and asking if I was hurt. All I could ask them was what happened. The driver, whom I later knew to be Mang Ed, said that they had lost steering and was fast heading towards the skyway pylons. Somehow the collision reset them back to the center lane where they could brake safely.

It sounded like the misfortune actually saved their lives.

REPARATIONS and REACTIONS.

I’m inclined to talk about the reparations at a later blog. Suffice it to say that it took me a while to speak to the owner of the freight truck but got to an agreement about repairs.

i surprised myself during this incident. The thought that i got out of it unscathed made me control my emotions even more. I wasnt angry. I think I was more into the problem solving mode. I wanted to make sure that I got the paper work filed. I also wanted some closure about how to proceed with claims and other related stuff.

I was able to drive my car to my friend who owns a collision repair shop. I had last seen him years back when I was involved in another traffic accident.

MY MENTAL REPLAY

The drive back home was quiet. I called home to tell my loved ones that I had been involved in an accident and that I was fine.

Then the what-ifs set in.

During the quiet drive, I had a good time to reflect about my concerns: debts, obligations, and other worldly stuff.

And then, there was family and loved ones. What if? How would the news be broken? What happened if the outcome had turned out differently? What if I survived and yet suffered a disability?

One thing was certain, I was safe. I was alive. I was unhurt.

I was thankful; grateful for receiving a new lease on life.

I called my friend Omy, and thanked him for selling the car to me a few years back. Had he not done so, and all things being equal, I would still have driven my old car when that accident took place.

I was just so thankful that the car I drove ensured my safety.

THE MESSAGES I GOT.

I have only been able to tell this story to a few of my friends. Of course, they were worried. And still they were able to insert a quick funny jab like: “Bad grass lives long, glad you are safe.”

Most of the messages were along these lines:

  • “Go to church and say your thanksgiving.”
  • “The Lord loves you.”
  • “Miracle.”
  • “Thank God you’re safe.”
  • And of course, my loved ones had an outpouring of their love and affection.

Mel, my landlady said that I had been RESET.

WHAT I THINK RESET MEANS

When my Mac’s performance becomes erratic, i reboot it. I hope that after I reboot, the unit goes back to its right performance; that it performs as intended.

What I got last friday was a reset; a return to original configurations:

  • perhaps to listen more than hear;
  • to notice more than see;
  • to speak more than talk;
  • to pay more attention than seek it;
  • to be grateful rather than just be thankful;
  • to be more thoughtful than dutiful;
  • to be more giving than exacting;
  • to be more contrite than sorry;
  • to celebrate more and worry less;
  • to be more worshipful than routinary;
  • to feel more than think;
  • to surrender more and trust myself less.

I think I recall when the resetting happened. This was when I spun out of control and held on. Since there was nothing I could do, I surrendered and trusted that all will be well.

Posted in Nature, Random thoughts, Social Events | 3 Comments

SCAMMED: My good intentions turning into bad results

SCAMMED: My good intentions turning into bad results

I fell prey to a scammer last Monday, March 23, 2009. I wanted to buy a used iphone over ebay.ph and I saw this one i particularly wanted.

This is not my first time in internet purchasing. But i let my excitement rule over this particular day. I was reflecting the whole week whether or not I would share this experience with you.

Setting aside my bruised ego. I decided I would.

Actually there are two of us from the JCI movement that fell prey to this person last Monday.

My scammer’s name is Dennison Reyes Chan. This is the name he bears on his fake license. He also goes by the name of Richard Reyes Chua. He posts items for sale in ebay.ph and sulit.com.ph

Both these persons exist in real life. But the license details are different from the one posted here.

Here is his bogus license:
?screen-capture-2

The usual conversations in online bids is that if you like the product, you would normally contact the seller using the number he leaves on his featured item in any of the online sites. If you come into an agreement, you would then arrange for the exchange.

You either meet face to face to exchange or use an intermediary like GCash or a bank for deposits. He does his share by sending the parcel to your preferred address. Online purchases have worked this way since. It is a trusting community. But not everyone is on the same page.

Here is the modus he used on me and the others he has scammed:

He posts an item up in ebay.ph, says that the item is in Baguio, and leaves a number. In the case of the Iphone that was put up for bid, the claim was that he has three bought from the US and he is selling one.
You send him a text message and he replies. In the case of last Sunday, he said that he came from Church with his family.

He will pretend to be a father and asks his daughter whose names go by Crystal Chan and Dianne Chan to send you an email with attached pictures of your desired unit, a business permit of a hardware store in Baguio called Pine Hardware, and a picture of a driver’s license.

He also leaves an account number for you to deposit the payment to. He asks you to fax the deposit slip to a number in Baguio or wherever he says he is based.
He promises to send the item via parcel as soon as he confirms your bank deposit. The coup de grace is for you to confirm the deposit by emailing or faxing it to him. The bank will never reveal his data because there’s bank secrecy.

He will speak good english to make him sound more credible. He will stop talking to you as soon as the deposit is made.
He withdraws the listing from ebay.ph or the online portal he posts in. The moment you agree on a price, the price on the item changes. That way, you will never be the winner. In the case of ebay, it will only entertain winning bidders.

Here is his bogus business permit:

?His bogus business permit

His Email Template:

Hi po Mennen!

Here are some more images of the iPhone my dad asked me to email u…. and attached are his IDs too.  Hope this will be helpful…

The total price of your iPhone is P24,000.00 shipping is included. Just email me here if ever you have some technical questions when you recieve the iPhone. Otherwise, everything’s in the manual anyway. Hope you’ll really enjoy it! =) We will have it sent to your address via Air21, it’s door to door, it’s just 1-2 days delivery. I have restored the settings too, so expect it to be in full factory trim, everything’s complete and intact, it’s openline already, firmware is updated to latest 2.2.1, you may install applications from iTunes, all accessories and packaging are complete.

It’s ready to use..

You may confirm the serial number of your iPhone for your warranty… here’s apple’s support website.

https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do

88831G471R4    –    Other Countries  -  Philippines

Here are my dad’s account details: You may make payment at Allied Bank, Sucat, Savings 1620-12618-5 Dennison R. Chan/Pine House Hardware, Benguet pls. Fax the deposit slip to our office to (074)4423638 or email it here if a fax machine is not available. Dad will have it shipped to your address that same day, you’ll receive it the morning the following day or two.

Please text my dad your mailing address and complete name so my mum can prepare the package tonight. Good day po!

Hope you will really enjoy it! =)

Some of the pictures he sent included details of the supposed unit he was to deliver to me.
?
So there goes the scam. In the end, it is still caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware.
Our Text conversations:

screen-capture-31

screen-capture-4

Will there be hope of getting justice here? Perhaps. But if ever it does, it will not come fast. It will probably take a long time considering that that there are stonewalls being put up by the organizations the scammer has used to perpetuate his crime.

What are my lessons here? How can JCI members help? Here are my suggestions:

If ever you want to bid, please ask a fellow JCI member in your area to verify whether the data anyone provides is true.

I’d like to say buy from trusted sites. Ebay is a trusted site. But you can’t trust all the players who study the technicalities very well.

Save up and buy brand new. Most of the time, online bidding works. But you also have people wanting to beat the system. Will I still trust the system? Yes I will. But take all precaution to enforce your end of the bargain. Insist on a meet-up and item-money exchange instead of parcel deliveries. be wary also of moving money by cell phones.

Please spread this document around to as many people as possible.

To my scammer, I read in an article that talks about the difference between companies that excel and companies that tumbled over.

You know what the difference is?

The excellent companies always considered the consequences to other party whenever they decided or acted.

The companies that failed only thought about themselves.

Posted in Business, Junior Chamber Blogs, Social Events | 10 Comments