About Myself At around 5am.

of October 27, 1990, a baby boy was born at the Perpetual Succor Hospital located in Sampaloc, Manila. It took his mother more than a day of labor before he was delivered. As a result, the baby boy upon birth was place in an incubator due to breathing problems. The baby boy survived and became the center of attention and happiness in the family. After a month, the baby boy was christened at the Holy Trinity Parish Church, Sampaloc, Manila and was named Cyril Rei B. Raymundo. The baby boy learned to walk whane he was 10 months old and two years later became the entertainer of the family due to his extra-ordinary prowess in speaking using the English language. He only learned his tagalong during his pre-school education at the age of 7. Thats me folks! Im Cyril Rei B. Raymundo, now 22 years old and presently residing at 04-K Mabini St., Tuguegarao City. I grew up in Manila not knowing that after 16 years I would be living in this place. During the early times, being new in this place which is far away from where I use to live gave me the shivers of culture shock. My relatives who have had reside in this place for a long time always tells me that this is a nice place and also suits the life style I use to have when I was in Manila. But no matter how I try to convince myself to live with ease and peace of mind in this place, I still cannot adjust. It is very difficult for me to adjust. It is very difficult for me to adapt. I even think that it is my own fault for not wanting to accept the truth that I am now living in this place. Many of my new friends always ask me why I transferred to a less urbanized place. I told them that I have no option but to stay here with my family. Nevertheless, I will try my best to learn how to live with comfort in this place and call it a home of my own. I am a friendly person, Ive got a lot of friends having different characters, behaviors, attitudes and status in life which gives impact to our friendship and sometimes creates gaps between us. Despite those gaps, I tend to show the real me no matter how they react and what they say, because it is the time that we will know who are our real friends that can accept us even during our worst moments. I understand everyones likes and dislikes and the situations that embrace them which influence their behavior and attitudes. I cant tell that all the best of attitude is in me, I am not the one who will praise my own self to be the best. Simply being a friend of mine will be the best way to unfold who is the real me.

(Examination Days) Most difficult part of the exams. The final exams are around the corner and some of us spares no efforts to prepare for them. So do I. But I do have some doubts. There are too many things to review and to be done. When I finish this one, I will forget another, which troubles me a lot. For my part, the most difficult part of these final exams is the course about Logic. It contains too much and the only way to pass it is to purely dedicate time and efforts to review and understand the coverage. I really want to get good grades to acquire a scholarship. However, I will do my best to have a good or decent grade for this semester and give more efforts for the upcoming semesters. Its been a while since I went out of school and now I have the right momentum I need and had have adjusted once again to be a student.

Comic Strips Each day, Dustin invites readers into the lives of the Kudlick family, who have welcomed the strips 23-year-old namesake back into the house after college for just a little while.

Mind you, the Kudlicks are not a dysfunctional family rather they are highly functioning with mother (Helen), father (Ed) and daughter (Megan) suddenly living again with devoutly dysfunctional Dustin, who at 23 is unemployed, unmotivated and unable to see any of that as a problem.

An inveterate dreamer, Dustin refuses the prescribed route to success working his way up. Instead, he insists he will patent an inventionjoin the PGA Touror take his comedy act to television. Until then, he works temporary jobs for a day or two sometimes a week and then quits or is fired and the process begins anew. One day, hes a meter maid, taking down soccer mom SUVs. The next day, he is a private detective investigating a cheating spouse: I have to follow some lady around the golf courseher husband thinks shes moving her ball.

The comic strip detective finds his life vastly complicated when Breathless Mahoney makes advances towards him while he is trying to battle Big Boy Caprice's united mob.

Dick Tracy was a honest man trying to live a normal life, but what destiny held for him would turn his life upside down. Dick had a girlfriend named Tess Trueheart, a photographer who he was greatly in love with, after making the proposal she said "yes!" hysterically. Then shortly after, Dick and Tess would go to her parent's home to tell everyone the good news, when they had gone to her parents grocery store, they saw it had been robbed by a gang of thugs, lead by a man named Big Boy Caprice. After shooting Emil dead Dick was knocked out by Caprice and he kidnapped Tess, Dick got up, saw the damage they had done, he then proceeded to promise he would rescue his fianc and would make sure that justice would be done, Dick was so dedicated to find his woman, wife to be, etc. that served him as inspiration, he became a plainclothes full detective, after rescuing his fianc, he decided to embrace his new career using the latest in technology and his great detective skills and a firm believe in justice. He apprehended a great amount of criminals thanks to his characteristics, he was feared in the criminal underworld, easily clearing out rooms just with his presence.

Drawing "We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do nut suffer less because they have no words." Sewelle, Anna. Black Beauty.(2000) Do you consider yourself a pet lover? Do you love animals in general? Can you imagine yourself as a little boy in a trailer far away from the depths of socialization? Once upon a time there was this boy, and this boy had a friend. No matter how hard times got he had Bo. The boy was incredibly happy because he had always dreamed of having a dog like that, a companion. Then your friend dies and you are left standing. Can you imagine the pain?

Graph

The economy therefore grew at an average of 4.09 percent during the 10-year period. That, however, is much less than Estradas performance of 4.7 percent (3.4 percent GDP growth in 1999 and 6.0 percent in 2000), and slightly better than Ramoss average of 3.6 percent from 2003 to 2008 or Aquinos average of 3.34 percent from 1986 to 1992.
Table 1. GDP Growth Under 4 Presidents Year 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 AQUINO 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 RAMOS 1999 2000 ESTRADA 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 GDP growth rate,% 3.4 4.3 6.8 6.2 3.0 -0.6 0.3 3.3 2.1 4.4 4.7 5.8 5.2 -0.6 3.6 3.4 6.0 4.7 1.8 4.4 4.9 6.4 5.0 5.4

2007 2008 2009proj 2010proj ARROYO

7.2 3.8 0.0 2.0 4.1

Source: Government sources; authors own projections for 2009 and 2010

But a comparison of economic performance on the basis of GDP numbers as the only criterion is inappropriate for a number of reasons. First, the terms of office of post-Marcos presidents are uneven. Arroyo would end up serving for 9.5 years or almost a decade, followed by Aquino (seven years), Ramos (six years), and Estrada (2.5 years). Second, the national income accounts system was revised twice during Arroyos watch, which means the GDP numbers in recent years may not be comparable with those in earlier years. Third, Professor Felipe Medalla of the U.P. School of Economics has raised several methodological and measurement questions on recent GDP numbers. To date, his questions have yet to be answered by government statisticians. More importantly, though, the government cannot claim full credit for the countrys economic performance because there are factors that affect economic growth that are beyond its control. The government doesnt control the weather, which affects agriculture immensely in monsoon Asia. A devastating El Nino or a La Nina could spell a big difference on whether agriculture output would be robust or weak. The more open the economy, the more it is subject to the vicissitudes of the outside world. While the rest of the world was on a rapid, sustained growth, the Philippine economy benefited through galloping overseas remittances, stronger exports, and higher foreign direct investments. This happened during Arroyos watch and shes been trying to claim credit for it. But she has nothing to do with the sustained global expansion. And with the sudden reversal of fortune, when the financial bubbles burst, and with the world economy now in a full-blown economic crisis, the Philippine economy has significantly slowed. Unfortunately for Arroyo, this also happened during her watch. The world economic crisis exposed the long-term reforms that any Philippine president should have addressed seriously and which Arroyo failed to do: the diversification of

Philippine exports, the overdependence on overseas migrant workers, the rapid population growth rate, agricultural modernization, and fiscal sustainability. At the very least, a meaningful way of evaluating economic performance is whether a particular administration has met its own targets. The assumption is that at the time the targets were set, government authorities have enough information to know the available resources, technology, and government capability to meet the targets. Using this performance criterion, the economy grew much less than planned levels, except for 2004 and 2007, both election years. But the ongoing economic crisis, the gap between the planned level and projected level will be much more serious during Arroyos final years: 2008, 2009, and 2010.
Chart 1. Underperforming Except During Election Years GDP, Planned versus actual

An even more important way of evaluating economic performance is whether the peoples well-being has improved. For the common man, the impact of the economy on employment, poverty alleviation, and hunger mitigation is more important than the GDP number. Better or worse?

An appropriate question is: are Filipinos better off now than when Arroyo took power in 2001? Do they have decent, stable jobs or are they either unemployed or underemployed? Are they poorer or richer? Do they eat regularly or do they go hungry occasionally? In her first SONA, Arroyo spoke about her vision of winning the war against poverty within the decade. But after almost nine years, she is fast losing that war. Poverty worsened from 2003 to 2006 using official government statistics. And with high inflation and food prices in 2008 and rising joblessness, it is reasonable to expect poverty to worsen in 2009. At current expectations of slow recovery, it is highly unlikely that the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving poverty by 2015 will be met, even as neighboring countries (Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia) succeed in rapidly reducing poverty.
Chart 2. Deepening Poverty Incidence

Arroyo promised to create 10 million jobs or about 1.5 million jobs annually from 2004 to 2010. Shes way short of her target. Worse, the decent jobs in manufacturing continued to disappear while more part-time, less secure jobs were created.
Chart 3. New Jobs Created Versus Targets Actual new jobs compared to low (1m) and high (1.5m) targets:

On her first SONA she promised food on every table, but that also did not happen. Instead, the Philippines became the worlds number one importer of rice. And almost nine years after that first SONA, hunger incidence has reached its peak at 23.7 percent, according to a recent Social Weather Stations survey. Unemployment, poverty, and hunger are interrelated. Survey results show that unemployment and hunger go together. This reveals the weakness of the Philippine socialprotection program, which provides very little protection for those who are needy, including those who lose their jobs. The incidence of hunger is a problem that has been exacerbated by the ongoing economic crisis, and it has progressively worsened under the Arroyo administration.
Chart 4. Unemployment-Hunger Link

Budget mismanagement But should all these surprise us? Despite the large increases in the national budgets during the last nine years, education, health, and public infrastructure did not get the priority they deserved. From 2000 to 2009, funding for public infrastructure has been modest at less than 1.5 percent of GDP.

President Arroyo undermined existing budget institutions. The budget process should be transparent and predictable. Yet Arroyo revealed her disrespect for the constitutional process by habitually operating on reenacted budget. None of her nine regular budgets

were approved on time; usually, there is a full quarter delay. In three of her nine years, she ran the government for the full year without an approved budget. She has pushed executive action to its limits by exercising the power of the purse under the shroud of secrecy.

Anecdote No dont worry Im not going to start a bible thumping or anti-Christ post here! Anyway I am not religious in the traditional sense although I know quite a bit about Christianity.

My anecdote starts at the point when we are born. Its a general assumption that we are all born clean and free from sin, if you want to call it that. We are all just tiny blank canvasses waiting to be scrawled upon by some talented and some not so talented artists.

Now what if that were not the case. What if we were born into Hell and our lives did not begin at birth, we were just being given another chance to prove ourselves worthy to get to Heaven. You see I just cant get my head around the concept of a fiery abyss where bad people go to be tormented forever. However I can believe that we are all given this chance to learn and experience life on Earth as a precursor to attaining true happiness in Heaven.

Those of us who dont not succeed are merely given a second chance to make things right by being born again into this world. Those of us who are chosen worthy may ascend to Heaven to live in a place where life is good for everyone.

This belief of mine has little to do with the bible or traditional religion. The terms Heaven and Hell could easily be substituted with Utopia and Suffering.

So in this school of learning on Earth, we should all try to contribute as much positivism as possible. After all the very future happiness of our souls depend on it.

Editorial Comments WHAT was signed yesterday with much fanfare by the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MNLF) was a document titled, Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro. It is a framework to the long-sought peace agreement that would end the decades-old Muslim rebellion in Mindanao and not the peace pact itself.

But even if what was agreed upon was preliminary, it was still an important first step in the journey of a thousand miles towards achieving peace in Mindanao. No wonder President Noynoy Aquino and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had to grace the event.

Check our new look and tell us what you think.

The optimism was guarded, but it was optimism nevertheless.

In a way, the initial success gained by the peace negotiations means the doves are taking the initiative from the hawks as far as mapping out the direction of efforts to resolve the Mindanao conflict is concerned. The hawks all-out war call has been stymied.

This does not mean the all-out war line has been totally vanquished. In every peace negotiation, hawks always continue to lurk in the edges ready to pounce once the talks fail or finding ways to sabotage the proceedings. In the current peace effort, land mines are everywhere.

Snatches of conversations Father Son Conversation

Once day, father was doing some work and his son came and asked, Daddy, may I ask you a question? Father said, Yeah sure, what it is? So his son asked, Dad, how much do you make an hour? Father got bit upset and said, Thats none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing? Son said, I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour? So, father told him that I make Rs. 500 per hour. Oh, the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, Dad, may I please borrow Rs. 300? The father furiously said, if the only reason you asked about my pay is so that you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or other nonsense, then march yourself to your room and go to bed. Think why you are being so selfish. I work hard every day and do not like this childish behavior. The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boys questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think, May be there was something he really needed to buy with that Rs. 300 and he really didnt ask for money very often! The man went to the door of little boys room and opened the door. Are you a sleep, son? He asked. No daddy, Im awake, replied the boy. Ive been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier, said the man. Its been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you, Heres the Rs.300 you asked for. The little boy sat straight up, smiling oh thank you dad! He yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled some crippled up notes. The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at his father. Why do you want money if you already had some? the father grumbled. Because I didnt have enough, but now I do, the little boy replied. Daddy I have Rs. 500 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you. Father was dumbstruck.

Moral: Its just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life! We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family.

Sitcom Pepito Manaloto

Pepito Manaloto received generally positive reviews especially how it shows the lessons each episode. The comedy was also praised for being original and highly favorable. It was also one of GMA's highest rated shows and has already won awards. The show's cast was also praised being very much talented for the show and how they make audience impact. Also, how the show ended and when it was announced that it would be back on air was both critically acclaimed.

Influence of Zodiac sign

My belief is that the nature of our behavior is based on astronomy; hence the reason that people who share the same zodiac sign have very similar characteristics, and sometimes a combination of people with certain zodiac signs cannot get along or are very compatible. Sometimes I can tell from a persons sign because of their behavior, and likes and dislikes. Learning more about astrology and the zodiac signs helps us to understand people and their actions. Many argue that it is coincidence, but the odds are too high to be that.