Choose the Best Candidates: We Have the Final Say

         by Vic Odarve.

Elections have been the traditional process by which a people choose representatives because several candidates with varied goals desire to hold public office in a democratic society. Elections allow citizens to express themselves, invoke symbols of nationalism or patriotism, and more. Elections break up the monotony of daily life, with government officials leading our economy in a downward spiral, with the country suffering as a result. The decision to elect public officials to hold public positions is, as it always has been, yours to make and is irreversible.

Presidentiables

 Participating in the election process really invokes the symbols of nationalism or patriotism. It gives us satisfaction in our need to feel a sense of belonging to our country, the place of our birth. Hence, the events during election time that include rallies, banners, posters, and television coverage suggest the importance of our participation. Sharing a post on social media like the Facebook edifies fellow voters. The Philippines is an electoral democracy, but sometimes corruption and a lack of transparency continue to undermine democratic development. Elections have historically been marred by fraud, intimidation, and political violence. Vote-buying and vote-selling obstruct the democratic process, yet they remain pervasive in some parts of our country. Taking part in monitoring a clean and honest election is one of our nationalistic roles.

Oligarchs loan written off in 2006

 Election is the time to give people an opportunity to have their say. President Duterte approval and trust ratings remained high just weeks before he will leave the office after the May 2022 election. The first-quarter survey of PUBLiCUS Asia showed 67.2 percent of the respondents approved of the President's performance in the past 12 months. Duterte's trustworthiness rating was at 61.8 percent. This indicates that his anti-corruption and drug campaign works.

Whatever other reasons voters may have in their minds, participation in the upcoming election serves to reinforce our self-esteem and self-respect. For the neophytes in politics, voters have a chance to dig deeper if the candidates are the best applicants for the government position. He could not be the perfect candidate—but maybe the best among them. At least the voters can choose better candidates for public servants.

By arousing emotions and working toward a collective objective of improving our country by electing good-performing government officials, it gives us a chance to replace below-par performers in our governance platform. By helping our voters through education, we can select candidates that cannot be bought and fooled by big businesses, crooked government officials, and oligarchs. Graft and corruption, tax evaders, and drug lords have been the perennial problems in this country. These are the main culprits behind why our economy is on a downward trend. One thing is certain: let others also know that they must vote according to their conscience, even if they do accept money.

Graft and Corruptions Investigation

Choosing the best candidate can be a challenging job, and when none of them seems to be a perfect fit for the public position, always vote for people who will best represent and uphold biblical values. Candidates, who are usually groomed and supported by media giants and rich and powerful oligarchs, must be investigated if they have records of graft and corruption. They may be the recipients of the ill-gotten wealth, groomed by the oligarchs, supporters of the communist party, or simply good in promises but not in deeds. If they are one of them, crush them from your list. Do not vote for them, even if they are endorsed by the President. Do not sell your votes to save our country. Believe in God's supernatural touch. The Bible says,

"When we humble ourselves and pray, God will heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14)!"

Philippine politics can be toxic, frustrating, and even boring for many. But the choice to select candidates is ours and is irrevocable when the dust of all our cities incarnadines the sunsets of the world.

 

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Join the Bohol Fiesta Celebration, Please!

            By Vic Odarve

The Bohol fiesta celebration, widely ridiculed that the island will sink due to the surge of visitors during the month of May, attracts relatives from all over the world, allowing them to engage in the festivities with the locals and share their blessings for the entire year. It is, without a doubt, a unique practice that the indigenous people have followed since time immemorial.

One of the highlights during celebration

Most native Boholanos who live outside the province feel obligated to visit their ancestral places, which provides an opportunity for a family reunion and the introduction of relatives and friends. The celebration piques people's interest in returning to the island, tying their roots to where they came from while also providing time for bonding and reuniting with old friends.

Another thing they can do is go sightseeing in the places where their grandparents used to hike. It is an expanded universe. When you met up with your old friends, you never lacked for conversation, and your talk on this occasion was non-stop and wide-ranging. At that moment, it is like you are traveling to the past where you want to look back on your childhood years that were filled with events and memories.

During the month of May, villages often have colorful displays hanging along their streets, welcome signboards for visitors, and different neon lights during the celebration. There are also carnivals where people can play, enjoy different rides on Ferris wheels, or just enjoy the native foods being sold at different stalls. With open arms, the populace invites friends, relatives, and even strangers to participate in the large food preparation at homes. Highlights during celebrations are basketball and volleyball games, discos, dances, and beauty pageants and clan reunions. The festivities also include processions with floats adorned with images of each village or town’s patron saint and sometimes local beauties. Lots of fun to join!

Old folks at home

The folks have considered the fiesta celebration as part of their tradition. Fiestas serve as a thanksgiving of the community people to their patron saints for the whole year's blessings they receive; they share what they have, not just the material things, but also the joy and happiness; and they thank the Lord above all for everything He has given. They save money for a year and spend it during the fiesta just to have something to serve and celebrate. Through good and bad times, the fiesta must go on.

Visiting the places where you roamed before

Bohol Fiesta seems to shape the homing instinct of the Boholanos, and the Bohol fiesta celebration is indeed a unique one. Boholanos, residing within and outside the country, come home during the month of May to join the annual fiesta celebration. It is a never-ending journey of their lives, extending to the next generation. Seeing the happy faces could already alleviate the burden after the celebration. For foreigners, hospitality and warm receptions are worth emulating. For the senior Boholanos, the celebration meant the excitement of meeting their old friends. Because life is so short, we should live to the fullest expression of ourselves before we cross to the other side of the universe.

Join the Bohol fiesta celebration, please!

 

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Old Pictures; Beyond Forgetting

        By Vic Odarve

Old photographs capture priceless moments, recall details, and remind us of the footprints of our forefathers. Old photos are a living witness to the happiest or saddest moments in our lives; they allow us to recall all the details later in life and rewind how life was spent during those times.

Ancestral house -Mayana

Yes, in my ancestral home, old, framed pictures hanging on the wall remind me of where I spent my childhood days, my great-grandparents’ heydays, and some of the most memorable parts of my life. In one of the photos, I was once a platoon leader of a boys’ scout group getting ready for a jamboree competition in a nearby village. In a scout drill formation, we were dressed completely in uniform and wore caps on our heads. Even in black-and-white, it was clear that we were students at Mayana Primary School. Scouting has been a part of my life for longer than I can remember. My parents told me that I always loved scouting during my primary education. And this old picture confirms it!

As I continued to scan the photos, old memories from the distant past began to flash back and forth in my mind. The traces of memories that appear to disintegrate over time seem real and fresh. Looking back to my childhood days, with the days spent together with our great grandparents and country people, these memories are beyond forgetting!

Boys Scout 1967

It is indeed enjoyable to see these old pictures. It stirs our memories and recalls the days of our youth. I would like to rewind to the good old days when we played basketball games during fiesta celebrations. Now, the village of Mayana is one of my favorite getaway destinations. Going back to the old trail of the San Miguel Academy, I can feel like walking through mist and clouds along the mountain ranges, meeting all the fairies and magical creatures, and watching the birds doing orchestra along with the canopies. Whenever I remember my good old childhood days, it is sort of a feeling that cannot be captured on camera and is more than the old pictures hanging on the wall.

There really is no place like home. Old pictures remind me of the places and events where I come from; the land of my birth; and with all its diversity, the good and the bad, I would like to go there first over anywhere else in the world. It is just proper to share our good old days and momentous moments with our sons and grandsons to show how we lived our lives before.

College Days- U of Bohol

The Bible puts it this way:

"Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen, and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons." Deuteronomy 4:9

For those of us who are still alive, old photographs serve as a reminder and a trigger for our memories. It is beyond forgetting!

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China and Russia; Equated to Hitler's Germany

                 by Vic Odarve.

Authoritarian rule, expansionist policy, and bullying small and powerless neighbors are all common denominators in countries that started a massive, bloody conflict and saw it spiral out of control. Authoritarian rule is like martial law, in which a few elite people make decisions and control the economy. They must extend areas under the pretense of releasing their enslaved people to strengthen their authority and for economic reasons. They intimidate and bully small and powerless neighbors with their advanced and superior military hardware. It was done earlier by Nazi Germany. China and Russia are now equated with the Nazis.

Russia's President Putin

Both China and Russia are authoritarian countries; that is, only a few manage and control the government and repress their citizens. Russia, a corrupt country, fights for its survival to make its place safe from corruption. Since authoritarian rule represses its citizens, many journalists who try to investigate the government’s shadowy activities and transactions die a horrible and excruciating death, leaving no traces nor investigation. Both countries have a tightly controlled political system that leaves little room for dissent. Confrontation seems futile; people are too scared to form a united opposition. Some European countries, including the United States, accuse Russia of "selective prosecution" and abuse of the legal system. One common ambition of these two countries is to expand their present territories, whether by force or by other stealthy means.

Putin wants to restore the old USSR with Russia as the center of its power and a powerful army in the heart of its satellites, including Ukraine. Russia has warned the United States, NATO, and the European Union to stay out of his invasion of Ukraine because it possesses nuclear weapons and could lead to nuclear Armageddon. Putin is far more dangerous than politicians.  In his 20-plus years of rule, President Putin has conquered Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, sliced part of Georgia, and helped Syria's civil war. He is now invading Ukraine and warned NATO to keep their hands off from the war or else he will pull the trigger on his nuclear arsenal.

President Xi Jinping

China, in addition to planning to annex Taiwan, claimed almost the entire South China Sea (an area defined by the "nine-dash line," which Beijing claims stems from 2,000 years of history in which the Paracel and Spratly island chains were considered integral parts of the Chinese nation). Both the Philippines and China lay claim to the Scarborough Shoal, which is located 100 miles (160 km) from the Philippines and 500 miles from China. China, on the other hand, turned deaf ears to their neighbors’ complaints, built an airstrip, and conducted oil exploration in the contested South China Sea.

With a powerful military at their disposal, both countries tend to intimidate and bully their neighbors through military posturing, invading sovereignty, and annexing territory. Economic sanctions have been imposed on Russia, but this has had no effect on Putin; Asian countries have filed cases against China, but China has ignored them.

As always shown in history, appeasement or concession to an aggressor does not work, as in the case of Hitler; economic sanctions may bite, but do not always sway these leaders to back down; military solutions accelerate the fuel burning. The only diplomatic effort may save us from these conflicts and a nuclear explosion. These leaders, when cornered, choose instead to escalate the crisis and risk an all-out confrontation. But China and Russia offer their own new world order calculus, which, most people say, can be equated with Nazi Germany.

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An Unattainable Dream: An Ideal Family

                By Vic Odarve

Even though all families can be robust and healthy, only a few appear to have it "together," while others appear to fight to keep their own. An ideal family is a caring environment in which happy and loving parents and socially and academically successful children bind the members together. The members of the family share pleasurable experiences and work together as a unit, while the parents resolve conflicts constructively through efficient communication. However, only a few succeeded in the real world; for others, an ideal family remains a dream and imagination.

A perfect family remains an elusive dream

 In an ideal family, parents, as prime movers, must provide comfort and emotionally fulfill all members. They must be cheerful and loving and spend positive time together with the kids, building their wonderful feelings and relationship in the process. Talking, planning, and working on certain things together builds strong family ties. Since every individual is unique and disagreements arise, conflicts must be dealt with constructively. Effective communication provides an emotional and sound environment.

Outstanding family results in a well-knitted and strong child-parent relationship bonded together by love. They look at their parents as models. They should love each other as much as their father loves their mother. They learn how their parents do everything to keep the family connected and bonded together; how activities are managed and controlled to make the world go around harmoniously.

An ideal family is like a beautiful sunset of Mayana

But in married life, it is not always a picture of beautiful sunsets; sometimes the journey is rough, and temptation abounds along the way. When I visited a friend of mine a few days ago, his family seemed perfect; a beautiful home with three kids, beautiful cars of the latest model, a beautiful wife managing good company; everything, as it would appear, was perfect. And he was just promoted to an executive in a big company; his career is in high gear. But after spending a weekend with them, I noticed their family was not a happy one. There seemed to be a feeling of disunity among them. The negative attitude of the children was clear, as was the insecurity of love, etc. The wholesome relationship was obviously missing an ingredient that could not be replaced by all their material possessions and professional accomplishments.

A happy moment

Sometimes couples’ relationship and life satisfaction set off to their lowest point; turning sour, humiliation, distress, troubling, sleepless nights, and, if not well attended, ending in divorce and separation. Even kings, princes, and celebrities in our society separate from their wives or husbands one after the other. In 1527, King Henry VIII of England, after feeling dissatisfaction with giving birth to his wife, a son, separated from his wife Catherine and married Anne Boleyn. This act was not approved by Rome and, after years of conflicting views, England established their own Anglican Church. There are celebrities, too, that have been very successful in their careers, but not so successful in their marriages. One of them is the famous Elizabeth Taylor, who has taken sacred vows eight times and still finds the ideal family elusive.

Henceforth, for several people, the search for the ideal family exists only in their imagination. The commitment of love and dedication for husband and wife and children is simply out of the spectrum; numerous culprits wreak havoc on the relationship, which finally leads to an ugly end... to divorce and separation. When parents separate, it creates a great pain in the whole family, but as time passes, children learn to adjust and understand that family life is not at all ideal!

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When a Child Smiles

                   By Vic Odarve

A baby's smile is more than just a smile. It's a smile that creates a bonding and attachment feeling. A child's smile is stronger and more enticing than any other smile. It's contagious in the sense that it may make other people grin. Children are God's blessings, and their smiles capture the mood of the day. When a baby smiles, we can't help but smile back. Something unusual is happening inside your heart, a sense of connection and bonding. This sensation has a significant impact on their growth. They felt comfortable and secure. Their manner of communicating and delivering essential information is through smiles. Your payback smile, too, helps the babies learn and understand the world around them. Thus, gradually, and steadily, connection and bonding emerge —A bond becomes stronger when two atoms share one or more pairs of electrons in a molecule.

Attentive and observant

 What makes their smiles more powerful, and enchanting are their innocent and fascinating faces. Their simple, sincere, and straightforward smiles can attract more than admiring looks. Their cheeks rise and the skin around their eyes bunches up... a true feature of a true smile. Their smiles are also bliss for all those seeking the happiness of other people. Unlike adults, whose smiles are often fake and superficial, children offer perfect smiles. Going back to our old pictures while we were still young, carefree, and eager to explore the world is itself a source of entertainment. Our smiles, then, were once powerful and fascinating, showing the world our innocence!

Their smiles are powerful

Children could make others smile. Their gestures and smiles are very interesting to observe, especially if they are doing funny things in a crowd. It can brighten your day and make you forget about your daily toxic stress. It changes your depressive mood to a happier one and sets the tenor of your day. Hagler, who has been involved with the foundation for children for over a decade, said seeing the kids' smiles on their faces brings a smile to my face too. Over the long term, smiling can have a positive effect on our well-being, improving our health, perception at work, social life, and making us feel happier and less stressed. A good smile can help release emotions, especially those emotions that might be bottled up inside our hearts.

 Therefore, children’s smiles are something that connects us together to their world; they are so unique and interesting that it makes others smile. Their smiles are more than smiles! 

 

     

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Quizzes That Students Love

       BY Vic Odarve

One student quipped after the quiz, "It was so simple but challenging." 

Students love this type of quiz. They find the quiz on finding the determinants, inverse matrices, and eigenvalues, and eigenvectors give them the opportunity to test how far their learning has progressed on that course. That is, taking a simple but challenging quiz!

Engineering Mathematics Quiz

What makes it simple? It is simple because the given matrices during the quiz were almost like the examples discussed in detail during the classroom session, except for a change to one of the entries in every row. This type of quiz is challenging because it uses open notes, books, and other related materials. Laptops are allowed where they can use the program MS Excel. But everybody must observe the "strictly no borrowing materials from classmates!" rule.

Another word of caution! Solutions must be legibly written and presented in detail, or step by step. Laptops are used only for counterchecking or guiding as they are works in progress. That’s it, and nothing more!

Why does this type of quiz work?

Open books, notes, and related references during quizzes are welcomed by engineering students. Mathematics, especially dealing with matrices, is difficult to work with. As the size of the matrix grows, so does the difficulty of computation. Rules are sometimes complicated and require complete understanding before our confidence in getting the correct answer develops. Memorization of procedures does not work well if done without understanding, as you will soon forget the procedures as the solution progresses. Most often, in matrices, a change of a single element or entry will change the whole environment of computation. The solution is very sensitive to the slightest changes in the initial condition of the matrices. Just like in chaotic theory, any error in a single step can produce a large error in the final answer. That’s why opening notes, books, etc during quizzes works well with matrices. The main objective is to familiarize students with the algorithm on how to get to the final answer.

The reason is clear. Let the students learn the basics of matrices' operations. With almost all computation nowadays done by a computer, we are preparing our students for this world ahead. It is then that the classroom learning comes to work in the open fields after completing their course. In the real world, computers and engineers work hand in hand in the industrial fields.

What was the result?

As expected, silence engulfed the whole classroom as the quiz started. Everybody was busy and concentrated on their work. There will be no searching for solutions on another piece of paper. All eyes were on their own paper. The time limitation for the quiz was enforced. A real-world in a classroom!

What was the result of that quiz? Sixty percent (60%) of those who took the test passed. Failed students came to me for various reasons. Some confided that they had not prepared well and were not listening during classroom lectures. In summary, failed students had reasons with the same denominator. It's the same old stories! They are still clinging to their old bad habits! They vowed to change the old ways. They blamed themselves for failing the quiz! One thing is certain: the lecturer is not to blame!

So, what is next? Some wept and, admittedly, vowed to change for the better! Then I told these poor youngsters, "Go and change your ways, for it is not too late. More quizzes are coming. Unless you change your ways, you will not pass this course. "

Sounds biblical? Yes. Students must change their ways to pass the course. In the early parts of his preaching, Jesus often told the crowd to change their ways and believe the good news so that they would not perish. Everybody must be prepared.

He said, "The time has come; the kingdom of God is at hand. Change your ways and believe the good news. ""

1,15 Mark

"I tell you: no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish as they did. "

13:3 Luke

That’s it. Failed students must change for the better, for they will not only pass this course, but one day they will also meet the One sitting on the throne for final judgment on all mankind.

 

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