who is Jun Lozada?

I’ve heard a lot of buzz going around about this person named ‘Jun Lozada’ but I didn’t pay attention to any of it.

Tonight, I was given the opportunity to learn more about Jun Lozada. He was the resource speaker for a Leadership forum series at Ateneo entitled ‘Mulat Diwa’ (the opening of the consciousness). He not only spoke a bit about his current situation but he also spoke about his childhood and how his past experiences and especially the influence of his family had a big impact in what he did.

When I found out about the speaker for the forum tonight, I was ignorant enough to be very skeptical. I figured that he was just the usual Filipino politics celebrity person-of-the-month. Basically, someone who is power hungry, starved for attention, and was just like the others involved in government.

Fortunately enough, my perceptions were proved wrong. From the moment he walked in to the auditorium filled with people, wearing a simple gray shirt and jeans, I saw a man who was obviously exhausted but still managed to smile and crack a few jokes about his unfortunate experiences.

To me, he seemed really genuine and sincere about the messages he wanted to convey. Here are some of them:

- we can’t just wish for a brighter future, we have to work for it

- we have to be aware of what is happening around us. without this, we will just continue to be a failing state

- when you want to help, it should be unconditional

- we have a choice. either to tolerate or to reject what is happening to our country. If we choose to reject, then we have to act now and not wait for someone else to do it for us.

To tell you the truth, I’m still not fully aware of all the details of the story behind Jun Lozada’s experience. I’ll let you take the first step towards AWARENESS by looking into that yourselves. I’m also not going to go into detail here and provide information of what he did or whether or not I condemn his involvement - I’m not trying to change anyone’s mind about that.

But what I am blogging about is that tonight, I saw a man with love for his country - and we can all learn about that.

27

a week ago from today, I turned 27. (yep, 27, and NOT 30! :p)

this year, I did something different. I decided to face my birthday head-on and really CELEBRATE to start my 27th year off on the right foot.

The festivities started on the eve of my birthday with a ’salubong’…big buddha dinner, time zone games, and red box sing-a-thon!

Thanks to Cherry, Mapet, Ace, and Ian for a very fun night!

Then the night/early morning continued with a mini surfrise party c/o Jing, Don, Pip, Sha, and Rorenz at Matanzas mansion!

Again, NO, I’M NOT 30! My not-funny friends just thought it would be nice to play a joke on me and have everyone think I’m 30 years old.

Then we capped off the work-week with a joint birthday celebration at the office where we (february birthday celebrants: me, ET, and Ernie) treated officemates to merienda and where I hired a sorbetero to serve ice cream!

But the fun didn’t stop there! We ended the week at Anawangin (Zambales) where I ate, slept, swam, ate, slept, swam, ate, and slept…just what I wished for when I blew the candles on my cake!

I’m just realizing now how fun it is to celebrate your own birthday! What a great week filled with good friends and fun-filled activities!

I have a strong feeling that 27 is a going to be a good year. Thanks everybody for celebrating with me!

leadership

Sometimes, I really really dread going to school. So much so that I start to question WHY I went back to school. Tonight though was one of those nights were I really understood and appreciated being back in school.

My professor invited Mr. Rapa Lopa (co-founder of Pulse Asia) to speak to our class. He discussed with us what Pulse Asia does and about some of the ideas behind his other projects like ‘Hapinoy‘.

Mr. Lopa’s message was of optimism and hope. He said we have to get out of our comfort zones to seek the grace of courage. It takes very little to make a change but before we can make change, we have to be AWARE of what is going on.

In the Philippines, the example given and acknowledged is that compared to other countries, we have complicated political and economical problems. A part of the reason for this is because Filipino’s in general, only have concern for their immediate family units. In general, the majority of Filipino’s show no concern for the country as whole. The political and economical problems become such a standard way of living that people now choose to tune these issues out of their daily lives.

But, the truth is that although the problem may seem large, there is still hope and a reason to be optimistic because there are many things we can do to help. Even the smallest actions have a ripple effect that may truly result in something with a bigger and greater impact.

The talk really tied together the lessons we’ve been trying to cover all semester:

self + context = response

’self’ is about understanding ourselves. Why we are the way we are. For me, the idea here is that you cannot give what you do not have. If you don’t have a good understanding of who you are, how could you even begin to understand others? A good exercise that we’ve used this semester to learn more about ourselves is the Enneagram.

‘context’ is about understanding that there is a need greater than your own and knowing that there is something you can give back. It doesn’t have to be something big. In our class, we’re learning to determine and better understand our individual contexts through the genogram and lifebook exercises. One of my favorite statements to explain ‘context’: to much is given, much is asked.

‘response’ is what happens when we take our ’selfs’ and place it in the proper ‘context’. The idea is to understand that despite our own needs, we transcend them for a cause and a reason far greater than ourselves. The response should also not feel forced but something so natural that it almost feels ‘like breathing’.

Bottomline, ‘leadership’ is defined by the quality of the response. It is not about the degree of your influence that is caused by your leadership. We cannot judge based on impact alone because there is a ripple effect to everything we do. (basically, walang judge-jadjan!)

Wanting to be a good leader and providing a good response is a personal choice. It’s comes down to what you believe in and what your principles are. What examples do you want to be for your kids?

so what can we do?

It can be as simple as donating to a charitable organization in need. If money is the issue, give what you can by volunteering. Giving up something that may seem trivial to you may actually have a big impact.

material wishes

1. Lomo Color Splash Flash
2. Fuji Instax Mini
3. Pentab (with item #4)
4. MacBook (with item #3)
5. Duyan
6. Flip (or some other simple flash memory camcorder)

(not in order of importance or priority )

Hillary

Democrats of the US should be grateful that for this election, choosing their Presidential nominee is turning out to be so exciting! Either way, history will be made in 2008 and I think the Democrats will take it all the way so it’s really a win-win situation. Right now, it’s just like watching a football game and both teams have been tied throughout the first 3 quarters and it’s now reaching the 4th quarter. Wowoweee!

So who would I vote for? Hillary all the way! As she said (I think), ‘it took a Clinton to clean-up after the first Bush and it’ll take another Clinton to clean-up after the second Bush’. Taking the serious issues aside for the purposes of this blog, how much pressure cool would that be for Chelsea?! Plus there’s the whole Bill factor…boy, have I missed good ‘ol Bill.

Anyway, I’ve always had an infatuation with women in power. Some of the female leaders whom I have been fortunate enough to have met can not only do what their men counterparts can do but much MORE because they are female. One specific example I have observed is that they can play with more emotions than what most male leaders are capable of.

To be a woman and to excel in the corporate world is not an easy thing to do. But for those who have successfully done so by gaining the respect of their colleagues and at the same time have managed their personal lives well enough to have the right ‘balance’…wow!

I’m not saying Hillary is one of these women. She is far from being my idol and I don’t think there’s anything that would make me want to trade places with her. However, if when she gets elected as the first female President of the United States of America, she will validate all the other women in similar positions. She will serve as an example to show that women are capable of being GOOD leaders.

This is one of the remaining glass ceilings that must be broken and I can’t wait for it to happen!