Last Thursday I was one of the few bloggers invited to witness the Tang Galing Mo Kid! awarding event held at the Manila Hotel. I was there 15 minutes before the call time of 11am and the event started at 12nn. While people were coming in, I was taking pictures and when I was done I seated myself and knitted till the program started. I hate it just waiting without doing something.

The program started with a group of “cool” singers who sang Pinoy Ako, Manila, VST & Company’s Sumayaw Sumunod, and Adik Sa Yo. They had 2 guitars, 1 bajo de arco and maracas. They were soothingly cool at high noon!

After, the Hiyas ng Pilipinas Children’s Choir, conducted by Maestro Nicanor Infante, sang the Philippine national anthem. With a small group, their voices were powerful and sweet and really harmonious. They sang another song after then national anthem while we remained standing. I just forgot what the song was but snapshots were shown on the widescreen while singing.

After being introduced, Alex Dan Tacderas, the Category Marketing Manager for Beverages, started telling the story why Tang Galing Mo Kid! was conceived. Tang believes that there the exceptional greatness of kids should be celebrated and acknowledged. It will encourage others to think the same, that it does not limit the age to do something great. One of his examples was recorded in the Bible. How Jesus fed the 5000 started with the boy “which had five barley loaves, and two small fishes.” (John 6:9, KJV)

And so, Tang made a nationwide search through various organizations like Club 8586, Inc., Dynamic Teen Company, Girl Scouts of the Philippines, Handicapped Intensive Rehabilitation Through Employment, Women of Wallem, and PAREF Rosehill School, and chose seven of the most remarkable among the young heroes.

He even introduced a person who lived 140 years ago, who sold fans just to bring his 2 siblings to school.

He turned out to be the Father of the Katipunan, the Father of the Philippine Revolution, and considered by many Filipinos to be the first president despite not officially recognized as such: Andres Bonifacio.

KESZ VALDES

A former street beggar and labor-exploited child, young Kesz Valdes began teaching other kids personal hygiene through demonstrations at the tender age of six. A year later, with no consideration of a reward, Kesz began to volunteer by giving out slippers and books to street children and scavengers roaming the streets.

RAYNOLD DELA CRUZ

Raynold dela Cruz, a “My Rights” volunteer, is an active advocate for children’s rights and was recognized with a “Good-Deeder” Award and a “Young Mandela” title in 2010 by the South African Embassy and the Dynamic Teen Company during Nelson Mandela Day. He is now a trainee in the Dynamic Teen Company with a project he recently launched called “Saving Kids with First Aid Kits”, which aims to provide first aid kits to public school clinics, while also raising funds by selling ice candy made with Tang.

U MAALAM and TRUBADOR WISELY

U Maalam and Trubador Wisely used their creative skills in creating an illustrated comic collection aimed at uplifting the lives of others. After class, they both try to sell the comics at a higher cost to rich executives, lowering publication costs so they could sell the comics to the masses at a much lower price.

ANGELA SERAFICO

Love for God is epitomized in young Padre Pio devotee Angela Serafico who spends her time helping less fortunate children. The multi-faceted young artist is a violinist, writer, public speaker, and painter. In response to the recent Typhoon Sendong, Angela sold two of her paintings, donating the proceeds to the calamity victims.

MARTHA BALAGAT

Young Martha Balagat, in her first grade, created and illustrated her own book and is a contributor to the Junior Inquirer where several of her pieces were featured. On top of that, she teaches Catechism every Saturday with her mother, at their parish where she reads to underprivileged children and creates visual aids for her classes with them.

DANNAH SUAZEH

Dannah Suaze, a Laguna Council Representative, inspires less fortunate children to be responsible citizens by teaching Catechism and reading. She does all this through her active participation in Barangay, Church, and Girl Scout Programs.

The presentation of the awardees was done by Geline Chua Caedo, Asst. Brand Manager of Tang Kraft Foods Philippines.

The event was graced by the inspirational speech of the CNN Hero of the Year for 2009, Efren Penaflorida, encouraging the kids (and everyone else) to do good to all and not choose whom to help, disregarding color, gender, status in life and education.

A toast was requested…

…with matching confetti…

The children’s choir for the last time…Ako’y Batang Bayani.

Of course I had a picture with Efren Penaflorida…

…and another one…

I was given a loot bag by Tang.

The food, by the way, was quite ok. I was just limited since most in the menu, I do not eat, like pork and shrimp. I enjoyed the cake, though, by Fancy Cakes & Crepes, Inc.  Of course there were lots of Tang juices around. It is what was used for the toast, too.

By the way, here is one of the awards (one for the nominator and one for the nominee/winner) that I was able to capture before the event started:

Since it was the first time to visit Manila Hotel, I had a picture taken by the greeneries…

And the hotel facade too…

It was truly an inspiring event, hopefully, others will emulate the character of the kids who were awarded for their success despite the difficult circumstances in their lives. No one is never too young nor too late to start. Tomorrow is promised to no one but we can do something TODAY.

It is a natural thing for humans to find the easy way out. Sometimes, though, out of wanting not to spend on something that will be good for making the load lighter, people will carry the weight and justify it for a good exercise. A good exercise happens if all the muscles are stretched and not just focused on a few parts over and over again, every day of your working life. You will not be giving time for your body to heal. Making use of material handling to make your everyday work easier so that you can finish more in less the time is being wiser. You have to make work serve you and not you serve the work.

There was a call for 10 bloggers who would like to join the Back-To-School Shopping Challenge at Tutuban Center in Manila on May 14. Since I have 3 children who are still in school, I joined. I really do not know yet what will be done or what the actual challenge will be. I’m guessing that it could be for a certain declared amount, buy as much school supplies as you can. Since it is in Tutuban, I’m sure the prices are low compared to National Bookstore or other school supply stores elsewhere. The Tutuban Center representatives will be choosing 10 bloggers from among those who signed up. I hope to be one of them.

Jewelry making has been very helpful in relieving stress. That is, it should be done so objectively by the person who wants relief. Making your own jewelry and yet continuously thinking of your problems that give you stress will not help. It is your choice to be subjected under one or the other. There are even cases of children who are mentally ill that they find peace of mind in the same craft. You start with a few and as you go on you may find out that you get addicted to the art. You will then spend time looking for special beads. A charm for charm bracelet is a very nice way to gift someone special especially that you have made it personally.

When I needed to apply for NSO documents (5 birth certificates and 1 marriage certificate), I went to the usual place I got it about 2 years ago. It was no longer there. It got nearer but if I knew right away then I could have saved some time to spend it on the processing instead.

When I got to the place where it moved to, the window in-charge of the forms had a big “CUT OFF” post. I asked what time it cuts off. It depends, I was told, on the influx of orders, but it opens as 7am so I was there the next day (last Wednesday) around that time. There were already about 300 people waiting.

I waited, made ready my forms and the money which was P215 x 6 documents. I took my knitting stuff out and knitted while I waited. More than an hour had passed and the announcement said they got offline. It was suggested to go to other places where NSO documents are also released. Between Makati and Pasay, I chose the latter. It was already afternoon. I ate on the way.

To my surprise, the queue was just 1/4 the lot of those in Alabang. Another surprise was, the cost per document was only P140! If I was to get only 1 document, P75 difference would have covered the transportation, food and time spent. With 6 documents, however, that is either a big rip off if I got them in Alabang!

My question now is, how come, Alabang price is a lot higher since it gets its documents from an online system only? Are they allowed by the government to increase their price as such? What for?