Fiestas are ubiquitously celebrated in the Philippines. The country is known for its myriad of colorful festivities, usually in commemoration of feast days of saints. Historically, towns in the Philippines devote at least one day in a year to honor their patron saint. This is a non-working holiday because the people of the town have to go to the church and attend the holy mass. Farmers and elite alike say their prayers to the saint after whom they seek protection for their town, whether it be deadly disease or natural disaster.

The Fiesta is also a syncretic manifestation of how Filipinos espoused both their indigenous belief in animism and the latter imposed Christianism by their Spanish conquerors. The fiesta was used by missionaries as one way of attracting mass converts to Catholicism. Colors, dances and sounds of animism were retained and were infused with saints and banderitas of the colonizer.

Some Filipino values are also vividly shown during fiestas like hospitality and ningas cogon in the form of extravagant spending on fiesta. People in the town embrace relatives or even foreigners from other towns or places for a day or two within the confines of their homes to share in their celebration. Often, they butcher one or more animals like pigs, cows and goats to for their visitors during the fiesta. They also buy new, and sometimes, expensive things like curtains to show their visitors that they really prepare for their fiesta.

Modern fiestas have retained the colors, sounds and dances of the old. However, some modern concepts are introduced due to the impact of mass media and the globalizing world. Throughout the entirety of fiesta today, psychedelic shows are done, various competitions are staged and the long and excessive bragging speeches of local politicians. A week-long celebration is also manifested in big cities and provinces and is usually bejeweled with local and national movie stars.

Fiestas and colorful fiesta banderitas are indeed legacy of the old world our ancestors knew and the modern world we embrace today. You can never find such festivity anywhere in the world. Truly, the sights and sounds of fiestas are what we Filipinos are looking forward to amidst the turmoil and predicaments we are in today.

But what exactly is to be ‘nationalist‘ with the use of the national language?

I speak four languages. I am learning my fifth language as well. My mother tongue is the Iloko language, which is predominantly used in Northern Luzon and some parts of Mindanao. This language is the most beautiful language to me as I grew up with using it. Filipino, the national language, and English are the next languages I learned. These language ware taught to me during elementary school days. The last one, Spanish, was acquired when I was in college because my degree necessitates the use of this language. Perhaps, the next language I’ll acquire is Bisaya, which is one of the most dominant languages in the country.

Now, going back back to the question, does the use of the national language make you nationalist?  

Speaking the national language for the sake of being called a nationalist is a shallow or superficial manifestation of one’spatriotism. Knowing when and where to speak the national language is another story. If, for example, you are abroad and you meet fellow Filipinos, using Filipino as lingua franca is a manifestation that you affiliate yourself with your being a Filipino, even if you can speak another lingua france like English. This is also true when, for example, you are inside the country and meet someone whose mother tongue is different from yours and both of you speak Filipino to understand each other and not English, then it is a manifestation that you care for your national language.

I noticed some display of ‘unnationalist‘ tendencies in using the national language way back in college when my department obliged us to use Filipino. This is so because of the strong grip of a certain disciplinal perspective focusing on the use of one’s own language in writing or re-writing history. I opposed it. I don’t believe that using only Filipino in interpreting, deconstructing and writing history is what we need. If that is the case then, history will be just one story for a certain group of Filipinos which are the Tagalogs whose language became the basis of the national lingua franca. Whether we like it or not, the Philippines is culturally and geographically disunited, leading to the creation of many languages across the archipelago. With myriad of tongues, different versions of history should be written in different languages if we want a holistic approach in redefining history in terms of a language.

Now that we are in the midst of celebrating the month of the National Language, we should ask ourselves why we are doing it. Are we doing it because it is mandated by the government? Or we are just doing it to perpetrate the norm which is believing that the Tagalog-based, Manila-centric language should be rightfully called the National Language, and not Bisaya which is the most widely spoken language during and even after the selection of a national language. But before I forget to mention, the Tagalog-based national language has become the most widely spoken language today in the country as it already surpassed Bisaya in terms of speakers due to massive inculcation of it in education curriculum and mass media.While having a national language is crucial in nation-building, using it to conquer and diminish other languages in the country is destructive.

During my last year in college though, I already started working. I worked as an associate researcher at a research firm based in Mandaluyong. I was tasked to do primary and secondary forms of business research. Most of our clients are multi-national companies. What I love about my job as a business researcher is talking with people of different colors. Being ambivalent both in written and spoken Spanish, my very common assignment before was to talk to key opinion leaders from Spain and Latin America. I worked for about a year with this company.

When I left the company my next job I had was an online job. I worked as an internet marketer for a design firm based in Illinois. Everything is virtual. What you only need to do is to grasp the essence of competition on search engines (or Google for that matter) and everything will be perfectly fine. Knowing how to compete for a website and strategizing on proven effective techniques in internet marketing are two great ways how to have a meaningful career online.  In terms of payment, mind you, my monthly salary at the research firm pales in comparison with that of my online job.

However like any other job, there are some adventures and misadventures along the way. My first online job started smoothly but it ended with huge frustration with my bossy boss. The first month was, of course, a time to get to know the ropes of the business. I was given some materials to read about internet marketing, SEO, online advertising among others. I diligently read these articles and they were helpful. My first task for the month was to send emails to law firms across the United States and Canada. The rejection rate was too high that my boss kept on telling me to produce positive results. He might not be aware that the email template was too boring to read and that he gave me very poor instructions on how to proceed with a fruitful email campaign. He even cut down my time thinking that I was unproductive.

It was then that I realized to be bold in telling him that we should do this and do that in order to attract law firms. He agreed. I also created good content for distribution which became valuable for the law firm website in the long run. And then came the unprecedented numbers of law firms that became interested in our proposal. My boss was satisfied and he brought me back to full-time.

I was able to generate a lot of partners for link exchange, guest blog posting and valuable links for the website. The end result being higher page rank and higher rank on search engine page results for the website. I really gave my best shot because I love what I do and law firm marketing is but a fun to do because of my interest in law.

Misadventures with this job started when my boss became too bossy and too annoying to communicate with. His presence on Gmail chat is formidable. Aside from the excessive checking of daily update, he always wanted to see positive results. He is also the most sarcastic person I have ever met on the internet. I can’t generalize that all Americans are like him because I had some American friends before and they are all friendly and easy to go along with. In fact, a lady teammate who became very close to me resigned and left the team because of our bossy and irascible boss. Although he was thousand miles away from us, it seemed that he was standing in front of our computers with that stern look on his face.

Even his personal assistant who is a close friend was not able to escape his wrath. It was a consensus among the members of our team that he is one hell of a boss. Other workers who belong to other teams under him also complained about his attitude, albeit only amongst us. He might not be aware that he is the hot topic of the team or he is just to apathetic to know it. Another worker who resigned because of the boss annoying attitude went as far as saying straight to our boss’ face that he should instead ‘hire Indians whom he can treat that way, and not Filipinos’. Of course, that is a very racist remark but I can’t blame him for saying that.

But the disaster came when he fired me and my close friend who is acting as the team lead and his personal assistant. He fired us out of the blue. He went as far as saying that we lied to him and that I was bloating my time and did nothing for his company. He did not even give the salary of my friend for one month. I got my salary, although decreased by 30%, through pleading him to give what was due me.

The real story behind his false allegations is that because of intermittent internet connection and recurring power outages, my friend was not able to go online at all times that he needed her. Repetitive excuses don’t work with our boss, and we power outages and intermittent internet connection are beyond our control. It was his rule as well that if my friend won’t show up for a day, he will penalize her with a 50 USD decrease in her salary. Yes, my former boss is really crazy.

Now that I and my friend have found new jobs online, the memory of Big Brother Boss is fading away. I have a good boss right now who is better and my friend has her own boss who is kind and generous as well. When we talk about our former boss, we can’t help but regret the days that we were with him because there are a lot of better bosses out there who can give higher payment, kind and understanding and can treat you right as an employee and not a slave. I and my friend are earning higher with our online jobs now than before, without much stress, disappointment and an annoying boss.

The first time I read this novel was when I was in high school. Summer breaks are boring and I always find reading good books or good novels at that relaxing and entertaining. The owner of the book is my cousin who is now based in Canada as a nurse. She left it when she went back to Manila during her vacacion grande to see our grandmother. At first I was hesitant to read the book because I have never read a Victor Hugo before. But then again, there is something about the book that enticed me. Aside from the fact that some national heroes of the land were inspired by this novel, Les Miserables is also a great musical in theaters. It took me two days to read the novel and when I finished reading, there was a part of me that became gentle and kind.  

Perhaps one great lesson I learned from this novel is compassion. My favorite part of the novel is the exchange of words between Jean Valjean and Bishop Myriel when the former is captured by the police and the latter told that he had given Jean Valjean the incriminatory things as gifts. In fact, one of my favorite quotes from the book is the kind advice of the bishop to Jean when he said that “Jean Valjean my brother you no longer belong to evil. With this silver, I have bought your soul. I’ve ransomed you from fear and hatred, and now I give you back to God.” Such words of compassion had changed the destiny of a man who wanted to redeem himself in the face of mockery and rejection of society. In real life, we might not be aware that our words have great impact on the person whom we are addressing our words to.

The sad yet victorious stories of Fantine and Cosette, the revolutionary ideas of Marius and the redeemed Jean Valjean are a cornucopia of love, hatred, deceit and compassion. No other novel I read encompasses these human values in a single book than the Les Miserables. It simply stands out on the bookshelf.

One tried and tested SEO strategy for law firm websites is guest blogging. Guest blogging is a process where in you create a meaningful, informative content for another law firm website blog. In your content, make sure to include your a link that points back to your website. This is a great way to generate authoritative links from websites belonging to the same niche.

Establishing guest blog partnership with other law firm websites is but a time consuming and challenging task. One of the hardest people to convince are lawyers so you must have that very convincing words in order to sway them into partnership. One approach to this is creating an effective email content stating the benefits, the partnership, the time-frame and the nature of the content that you want to contribute. In case you do phone brigade, make sure that you have a great spiel and knowledgeable about guest blogging as lawyers are by nature inquisitive and talk a lot.

In so far as the content of the post you will contribute, make sure that it is relevant to the website blog, the practice areas of the partner law firm as well the writing technique of the writer of the firm. However, you can still do your style as long as it is relevant to the general content of your partner website. Some law firms might also ask you to do some commentaries on their post where in you can put a link back to your website. This is an easier task but sticking to what is posted on your partner website does not give the readership a broad idea what your law firm is all about aside from,perhaps, small information about the firm and the link and the anchor text you use in your commentary.

Guest blogging is really a great way to boost law firm websites page rank as well as the ranking on SERP. Links embedded in a blog post is more valuable than, say, a link on a resources page as it is an editorial endorsement. Links embedded in a post will soon become valuable as the page rank of the blog post will go up, making your website go up in terms of page rank as well.

1. Machu Picchu – majority of us might not know how great it is to visit this historical site in South America. The Machu Picchu was declared World Heritage Site in 1983 and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. This lost city of the Incas is a testimony how much the world has changed in the last millennium. This historic site testifies against colonialism in the Old World. The city is known locally but it only gained stellar popularity to the outside world when it was exposed by an American in 1911. I hope that when I see this great city in the future I can say to myself that it “has changed me more than I thought and I am not me any more. At least I’m not the same me I was” to quote Che Guevara.

2. Lourdes, France – I am a Roman Catholic. No devout Catholic would not know this place.  Great stories about Marian apparitions in Lourdes had garnished my faith during childhood. Aside from the glitz, the lights and glamour of Paris, this humble place at the foot of the Pyrenees is the major attraction of France.

3. Bali, Indonesia – Although a neighbor, I have never been to Indonesia. Bali is home to Buddhist temples and Buddhist monks in a predominantly Muslim country of Indonesia. This place is considered the ‘last paradise on earth’ because of the serenity and immaculate beauty of the place. When I go to Bali I’ll make sure to attend a local Buddhist ceremony like wedding or social dance.

4. Pyramids of Egypt – No person who went to school does not know the pyramids of Egypt. This ancient wonder is a living legacy in stone of the old world reminding us that no matter how much the world will change, some things remain the way they are.

5. Rapa Nui or Easter Island, Polynesia – This might be a weird place for some but I just love this place because of the mystery that envelopes the island. This island is known for its monumental statues.

So, am I ready to conquer the world? Yes, I am. With these places in mind, dreams are realities.

One of my recent projects involved internet marketing for a project management software website. The website itself has high page rank. However, the website does not rank well for the search term ‘project management software’, making it less profitable for the company. The main goal of the project was to spread the word about our software on virtually all project management blogs or related websites.

As the head of the advanced link building team, I was tasked to monitor the progress of each team member. There were about a dozen of us working for this project. Each member had to search for blogs and websites where we can post our project management content on a regular basis.

Like any other form of marketing, incentive plays a major role in getting as many blogs as we can where we can post our content. In return of letting us publish an article on a project management website blog, the company is ready to give away full licenses to its software. The cost of the software is around 400 USD and that is already a great incentive. However, there were webmasters who needed more convincing words other than the incentive. This is where I should step in. As the team leader, I was tasked to reply to queries of webmasters regarding the content, the software and why we are doing this. My skill of convincing people to agree into posting our content on their website has been honed in this project.

At the end of the project, our team was able to generate a lot of websites where we can post our content. This is a great result for the company. The benefit can be seen not only in terms of high sales turnout but the higher rank editorial endorsement will give the company in the long run for our search term ‘project management website’.

When I took the UPCAT in 2004, I was lucky to be one of those who received that elusive admission notice from the Office of Admissions. Before taking the exam however, I was not that confident to pass it because I had only about some months to review for it. I applied during the summer of 2004. My sister accompanied me to the Office of Admissions because I was not familiar with the UP Campus then.

The UPCAT is usually administered on the first week of August, a month known for heavy rains and strong typhoons. It was raining when I took the UPCAT at Malcolm Hall of the UP College of Law. There were about 200 fellow examinees in the room chilling like me because of the unmoderated air conditioned room. I did not know that the room is air conditioned because I thought all rooms in UP are like the ones in public high schools.

The first part of the exam was language proficiency. It was an easy part. I did not feel any pressure answering all the items in this subtest because they were relatively easy questions. The next part is Science. This was a challenging part of the UPCAT. Most questions came from chemistry, an area in Science I am not good at. However, there were questions from Physics and Biology that were easy to answer. Some say that a regular question in the Science part that comes up in the UPCAT is about the food chain. Very vivid in my memory, a food chain diagram was there asking which part of the food chain suffers the most when one group acting as primary consumers will peter out.

The last two subtests, Mathematics and Reading Comprehension, were not easy to answer as well. However, the math part was relatively easy. It consisted of basic trigonometry questions and algebra. Surprisingly, there was one question from Geometry. The Reading Comprehension was also a challenging part of the UPCAT. You should know how to read between the lines and deduce the answer from premises stated in the selection. Some parts of this subtest were in Filipino. There was also a comic strip about social drinking.

After the exam I was emotionally and intellectually drained. I was exhausted. The exam started at seven in the morning and it ended five hours later. I was also hungry as a wolf after the exam because I forgot to eat my cookies during the exam. After we were dismissed, I went straight to the jeepney station only to find out that all jeepneys headed to Philcoa were all jam-packed with fellow examinees and their companions. I waited for an hour under the waiting shed across the UP School of Economics, the college of my would-be college sweetheart.

After some months the results were out. I was notified by my sister who is based in Makati about the positive result. I was in the province during that time because a cousin of mine died of heart attack. I was baffled with the result because the exam was really really difficult. According to a survey conducted among UP Diliman students, 7 out of 10 UPian consider hearing the good news one of their most unforgettable moments in life. I am one of those seven UPians.

One of my recent online projects is online marketing for a law firm website. I was a part of a team and my boss is based in Homewood in Illinois. I was tasked to do SEO or Search Engine Optimisation for Dolan Law Offices. The bulk of my work was link building. At first I did not know what to do or how to do link building for a law firm website. However, my boss was generous enough to train me for two weeks on how to do such challenging job.

My first task was to email law firms across the United States and Canada, especially law firms having the same areas of practice like ours. I was able to generate a handful of law firm websites for a link exchange or putting their links on our websites in exchange with putting ours on their site. This is a win-win agreement because our website and theirs will benefit from it in the long run.

Emailing law firms or lawyers for a link exchange partnership is a very tough job to do for SEO. Often, webmasters or lawyers reply in the negative. Others are doubtful of the benefits of a link exchange. Few threw some cursed or bad words because, according to them, what am I doing is ‘spamming’. I tried to explain to them the benefits but they are just too closed minded about this effective SEO strategy. A handful of webmasters or website owners replied yes. After emailing about thousands of law firms across the two countries, I only got about three or four dozens of websites that are willing to do link exchange.

One important thing to do when doing link exchange with another law firm website is choosing the right anchor text to use. One cardinal rule in law firm website SEO is using the right anchor text. Of course this is also true to all websites doing SEO. Doing SEO without the right anchor text is just like ‘not knowing the harbor you are headed to catch the right wind’ to paraphrase Seneca.

With the right anchor text, you must also check whether the link pointing in to your website is working on your partner’s site. Some webmasters are deceiving because they intentionally make your link broken so that you won’t benefit. Regular checking of your link as well as the anchor text is advised.

Another thing to watch out for is the ‘no-follow’ attribute a partner might place on your link. You should check whether your link on your partner’s site is do-follow so that it will pass link juice to your website, leading you to rank higher on SERP or Search Engine Results Page.

In case your partner website has a lot of categories on their resources page, make sure that your law firm website is listed under the right category. Some webmasters are also generous enough to put our link on their sidebar or blogroll, making our website rank higher on search engine results for the anchor text we use.

After some months of doing link exchange for our law firm website, some good results were seen. For example, more potential clients were contacting the law firm and the website had landed on the first page of the search engine results.

I will be creating post about anything under the sun. However, the focus of my blog will be on life, project management, health-related issues, political issues, internet marketing and online marketing.