This post was written last June 21, 2009.
Tomorrow, June 22, 2009, I will be turning 33 years old.
I had always dreaded this age.
I was always told that great men and women die at 33 years old.
Alexander the Great died at 33 after conquering the world.
Jesus Christ died at 33 after preaching the Gospel.
I am 33.
I am not afraid of death. I think I am prepared for it.
What I am afraid of is dying when I have not accomplished anything yet.
A long stay in Manila made me think about my life and I decided to make an inventory of everything that I have done in my 33 years of living, but that was difficult.
How can I define my achievements as my own?
I decided instead to just take stock of what I have learned in my 33 years of life.
1. In whatever you do, always ask for God’s guidance. I have never achieved anything without approval from above. Everything I have, I asked first from God through prayers. Sometimes I am confident, sometimes not… but what is important is that as you pray you also work for the fulfilment of your requests.
2. In everything you do, there is no substitute for great preparation. May it be as simple as brushing your teeth or as difficult as taking the Bar Exams for Lawyers. It always pays to have prepared for anything you do. Remember what they said about luck… luck is nothing but the meeting of good preparation with great opportunity.
3. It is always important to have a vision. Having a vision will enable you to be grounded and focused on your daily tasks and makes you do it properly and excellently. People who have no vision and therefore no focus tend to be more “kalat” in their thinking. I am not an organized person. But, in my few accomplishments in life, I have learned that having a vision of your end goal is a big key to success. And I do mean vision, imagine yourself in the ideal situation that you want.
For example, when I took the Bar, I imagined myself during the first Sunday of the Bar. I do not want to be nervous, so I knew I had to study well. I did not want small irritants like health concerns to bug me so I prepared my Backpack for D-Day to include every conceivable solution for any mishap (vomiting, headache, tummy ache, hunger, period, etc…) That is why I had such a big backpack on the day of the exam, as if I was going to climb Mt. Everest.
The same thing happened when I got pregnant. I played the day that I will give birth, a thousand times in my mind thinking about what I need, who I need to call, what to do, etc… I was able to give birth with the least of worries. I was previously so afraid to give birth, but thinking about it in my mind helped to psyche myself for the Big Day.
4. Always, always be humble. It pays to remember that you are but an actor in this play called life. Do not assume that the world revolves around you. It is wrong… wrong… wrong… Even if it seems true or you feel that it is true. Don’t believe it. People around you have lives of their own, families of their own, their own dreams to fulfil. You are not the messiah. Even if you helped every person in the world, it does not make them less of a person than you are that enables you to control them. They are people in their own right.
5. Be grateful. It always helps to thank people who helped you in your everyday life. If you are grateful, you also become humble. However, if you helped people, don’t expect them to give back. If they do, then thank them, if not, just let it go. They have no responsibility to give back especially if the help they received was voluntary. Just let it go. It is okay for other people to be ungrateful, as long as it is not you. Kaya kung hindi naman bukal sa loob mong tumulong, huwag ka na tumulong, sasama lang ang loob mo kung di man lang nagpasalamat ang tinulungan mo. If you want to help, just help.
6. Respect other people. When you respect other people, you become more emphathetic, more humane and become more caring and compassionate. When you respect them, they will respect you also. I do not only mean respecting your parents, or your boss. I mean respecting their things, privacy, their space, especially their lives. If you respect other people, they will leave you alone. Remember, respect is the key to tolerance and tolerance begets peace.
7. When you arrive at problems, always think… is this really my problem or someone elses? If it is someone else’s, you are not compelled to solve it. Sometimes, people have the tendency to displace their problems and limitations on other people and it becomes our own. It burdens us and makes us less of who we are. I am an eldest daughter. I went through life always thinking about my brothers, my family and all their concerns. So Filipino! But, then, I realized, are my concern about them really “my concerns” or am I just treating my whole family like a baby and making them dependent upon me? I realized, I had to start teaching my siblings to decide on their own and not make them so dependent on me. I realized I had to teach them to solve their own problems. In Filipino: “Huwag mo problemahin ang hindi mo naman problema.”
8. The last one that I always practice daily without fail is: if it doesn’t kill you, just let it slide. As we go along our daily lives, people will hurt us and make us feel lesser than who we are. Other people react to these irritants, but for me, as long as it does not create damage that will kill me, my family or my reputation, I just let it go. If it is constructive, I welcome it, but if purely designed to destroy my work and my reputation, I just let it be. I am confident in my work. I let it speak for me. If some people would decide to malign me, then go ahead. My next successful work will speak for me. This gives me peace of mind and allows me to focus on my work and being in the service of my fellowmen. I will always remember a saying I once read somewhere, “if people speak ill of you, then live in a manner that no one will believe them.”
So far, that’s it. Eight important lessons. Actually, I would suggest you also listen to “Sunscreen” by Baz Luhrmann. When my husband and I first heard it during the late 90s and early 2000s, we tried to follow every advice. It was really a treasure. I hope you do listen to it. Just google it.
In about 36 minutes, I will turn 33 years old. Happy. Contented. Living the life I wanted. And I only have God to thank for this meaningful life.
Thank you.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
OF DEVOTION AND PARADES
OF DEVOTION AND PARADES
By: Atty. Remelisa G. Alfelor-Moraleda
University President
University of Northeastern Philippines
Iriga City
Last June 22, 2009, which was incidentally my birthday, the Bicol Association of Catholic Schools (BACS) came out with a statement saying that, after reflecting on the issue, they decided that all their member-institutions will no longer participate in this year’s Penafrancia Fiesta Military Parade Competition.
I have to say that this did not surprise me at all. I have been getting varied reactions from most of these Catholic schools regarding the said Competition in the past years and I believe that it is about time that they came out with a statement that reverberated to every corner of the Bicol Region, and commenced the debate raging now about the separation of the church and the state.
The University of Northeastern Philippines (UNEP) already arrived at the same decision way back academic year 2007-2008. We don’t have to elaborate on the circumstances on why or how we were able to reach this decision. However, in this article, I will instead outline on how a school, sectarian or otherwise, may be able to discern their position on this matter.
Our University has joined this event for many years already since the 1980s. In fact, our contingent has always been one of the most awaited features of the Parade. Observers, devotees and guests from everywhere in the Bicol Region lauded our participation, whether we brought home the bacon or not. And why not? The University has always given its all in providing the best performance in this competition.
For years, we have always participated with a passion of a Manny Pacquiao training for his next boxing bout. We had always taken this competition seriously. Getting the best trainors, reasonably spending as much as we can, confident that our preparation is enough to come out with a performance that is worthy of our reputation.
However, as in any endeavor, one comes to a point where one re-examines why we participate in an event that seems to have already paled in meaning. We carefully deliberated on our reasons why we should participate and tested it against our reasons why we should not.
Regrettably, we arrived at a decision that announced to us that there is no relevant purpose anymore in continuing to participate in this event.
How did we arrive at this conclusion?
1. The first argument that is always used by the organizers of this event is that the Penafrancia Military Parade Competition is an expression of our devotion to Our Lady of Penafrancia. We can not argue with this statement. An expression of devotion is relative to the person who is expressing that devotion. It is subjective and is not capable of an objective examination. However, is it not a better expression to participate instead in the Translacion which is a truly religious activity? This is the time allotted by the Church to focus on the devotion to Ina and the start of her 9-day Novena. Ina is the star of this show and as a University that encourages such a devotion, this is a better way to drive the point rather than let them participate in a Military Parade and off-tangently hope that they drop by the Church also on their own.
The University has already done this in the past several years. We have organized our students to participate in the Translacion with great success. After the activity, we encourage their teachers to discuss their experience in class and truly this has been a more effective way than attending the Military Parade, which to our mind just grazes the target of providing avenues of expression of our devotion to Ina.
2. There is also the argument that the Penafrancia Military Parade is an effective medium to market and promote our school. Actually, we have anchored our involvement in the competition in this argument, every year, to justify our participation. We have studied this as part of drafting the marketing plan for our school, however, we found out that it is more cost effective to do our marketing more directly through ads in tri-media. We have implemented this and true to our study, statistics show that advertising in tri-media is more effective than participating in this event. Definitely, this argument does not hold water.
3. It has also been argued that the Penafrancia Military Parade Competition promotes inter-school camaraderie. To be honest about it, there is no inter-school camaraderie that happens among student-participants. The students are trained to be focused on the competition and do not have time to interact with student-participants of other schools. Besides, this is more effectively fulfilled by other activities such as participation in the PRISAA, Tertiary and Secondary Schools Press Conference Competition and other academic and related activities, not in the Penafrancia Military Parade.
4. It has also been argued that the Military Parade Competition instills discipline and meaning to military training. Well, to be frank about it, the discipline that they say this competition instills is supposed to be already innate in the participating school and just expressed in the competition. If a school contigent does not have discipline in their school, it will always show in their performance in the competition. Again, this argument does not hold water.
On our part, we have also several reasons that point out a stronger argument against not joining the competition.
1. Participation in the competition is getting more expensive every year. For our participation in the 2006 competition alone, we had to spend around more than P400,000.00, almost half a million for trainors, uniforms, make-up, allowances, transportation on the day itself, meals and other incidental expenses. For the uniforms alone, we had to spend more than P100,000.00 for the band alone. It should be noted that majorettes and band members are scholars of the school and therefore cannot afford to buy their uniforms on their own. The University spends for it. This does not include the revenues that are lost in scholarship programs for the band and majorettes. This also runs into the hundreds of thousands.
For the ROTC and CAT participants, we also have to spend for their meals and transportation on the day itself. The parents only shell out for the uniforms of their participant-children. Some parents save money by borrowing uniforms or renting it from others at a much lesser fee than providing their children with new ones. They also have to give their children allowances to defray expenses that they may incur while in Naga. The competition therefore also means more expenses for parents who are already burdened by the high cost of quality education.
Truly, participation in the parade has become impractical for us in the University of Northeastern Philippines, for our students and for our parents. Of course, as an institution, we can still afford it, but should we continue to spend onerously for an event, the objective of which can already be fulfilled effectively by other activities at a lesser cost?
2. Preparation for the competition has been physically draining for our students and our school. When we were still participating, preparation starts in May when we start drafting our operational plans for the year. Training starts in July. Student-participants train every day in the afternoons after class, increasing to a frantic crescendo as the competition draws near. Our majorettes and band members miss classes in the last two weeks before the parade as we let them focus on the competition. Therefore, they had to work harder than their classmates when they get back to their classes after the competition. Is this sacrifice worth it? We are compromising the academic performance of these students in order to perform our best in the competition. Is this fair?
3. There is also a problem of coming up with the right number of students to participate in the military competition. After the passage of the NSTP law which makes military training voluntary for students, there is a patent decrease of students choosing military training for their NSTP requirement. We had to make military training a requirement for our Criminology program as part of their curriculum to be assured of the numbers needed to come up with a contingent for the parade competition. This should also be addressed by the organizers of the event, something which until now, they have ignored.
4. Lastly, although admittedly we have no proof or evidence of this argument, we still want to express that we have great doubts in the carrying out of the rules of the competition. Through the years, although there seems to be great effort in addressing the concerns of the schools in terms of having a fair and just competition, still the issues prevail and continue to hound the organizers of the event. Our school cannot continue to subject itself to a competition whose organizers are suffering from a reputation of bias and lack of integrity. I regret having to say this, but this is the view of most of the school authorities in the University and we cannot discount this. Of course, I acknowledge that this is a subjective opinion, but like in any democratic country, we expect that our opinion also be respected. This is why we have declared and maintained that unless and until there is a revamp in the organizers of the event, we will continue to forego participation in the Penafrancia Military Parade Competition.
These being our sentiments, our institution proposes therefore the following recommendations:
1. On the issue of economic factors, we suggest that the LGU also defray some expenses of the participant schools by giving a mobilization fund that can somehow ease the burden of the participant schools. For example, maybe covering the transportation expenses or the meals of the participants would be a great help. It is should be noted that some schools ask the parents to defray the cost of transportation and meals. In our case, our school spends for it. We can take the case of the City of Legazpi which gives a token assistance of P10,000.00 to at least defray the cost of transportation everytime we are invited for a competition in their city. I hope the City of Naga considers this recommendation and follow the example of the City of Legazpi.
2. On the issue of the dwindling numbers of students participating in the ROTC program, the organizers can decrease the number of required warm bodies to come up with a contingent. I really do not know how they will do this, but maybe they can also promote the ROTC program in the schools.
3. On the issue of the integrity of the organizers, it is also necessary for the City to evaluate the performance of the organization carrying out this event. Is there a need for change? I also urge the City to conduct a consultation participated in by the schools to get their opinion regarding this issue.
Having said all these, we would like it to be clear that our school is not against military parade competitions. In fact, we have been conducting military parade competitions for several decades already during our Activation Day celebrations. However, we are one with the Bicol Association of Catholic Schools in saying that the military parade should not be conducted within the 9-day Novena to Our Lady of Penafrancia. We should focus more on Ina and on our faith and not in endeavours that actually has even the capability of eroding our faith to Ina.
We would also like to clarify that our school is not calling for a complete boycott of this competition by other schools, but rather a call to re-evaluate our purpose for participating in this event. I just hope that this article be able to aid the schools in reaching a decision that is just for all concerned.
With that, I still say, Happy Penafrancia Fiesta to all of us and may we just continue to respect each other’s opinion as what is expected in a free and democratic country.
By: Atty. Remelisa G. Alfelor-Moraleda
University President
University of Northeastern Philippines
Iriga City
Last June 22, 2009, which was incidentally my birthday, the Bicol Association of Catholic Schools (BACS) came out with a statement saying that, after reflecting on the issue, they decided that all their member-institutions will no longer participate in this year’s Penafrancia Fiesta Military Parade Competition.
I have to say that this did not surprise me at all. I have been getting varied reactions from most of these Catholic schools regarding the said Competition in the past years and I believe that it is about time that they came out with a statement that reverberated to every corner of the Bicol Region, and commenced the debate raging now about the separation of the church and the state.
The University of Northeastern Philippines (UNEP) already arrived at the same decision way back academic year 2007-2008. We don’t have to elaborate on the circumstances on why or how we were able to reach this decision. However, in this article, I will instead outline on how a school, sectarian or otherwise, may be able to discern their position on this matter.
Our University has joined this event for many years already since the 1980s. In fact, our contingent has always been one of the most awaited features of the Parade. Observers, devotees and guests from everywhere in the Bicol Region lauded our participation, whether we brought home the bacon or not. And why not? The University has always given its all in providing the best performance in this competition.
For years, we have always participated with a passion of a Manny Pacquiao training for his next boxing bout. We had always taken this competition seriously. Getting the best trainors, reasonably spending as much as we can, confident that our preparation is enough to come out with a performance that is worthy of our reputation.
However, as in any endeavor, one comes to a point where one re-examines why we participate in an event that seems to have already paled in meaning. We carefully deliberated on our reasons why we should participate and tested it against our reasons why we should not.
Regrettably, we arrived at a decision that announced to us that there is no relevant purpose anymore in continuing to participate in this event.
How did we arrive at this conclusion?
1. The first argument that is always used by the organizers of this event is that the Penafrancia Military Parade Competition is an expression of our devotion to Our Lady of Penafrancia. We can not argue with this statement. An expression of devotion is relative to the person who is expressing that devotion. It is subjective and is not capable of an objective examination. However, is it not a better expression to participate instead in the Translacion which is a truly religious activity? This is the time allotted by the Church to focus on the devotion to Ina and the start of her 9-day Novena. Ina is the star of this show and as a University that encourages such a devotion, this is a better way to drive the point rather than let them participate in a Military Parade and off-tangently hope that they drop by the Church also on their own.
The University has already done this in the past several years. We have organized our students to participate in the Translacion with great success. After the activity, we encourage their teachers to discuss their experience in class and truly this has been a more effective way than attending the Military Parade, which to our mind just grazes the target of providing avenues of expression of our devotion to Ina.
2. There is also the argument that the Penafrancia Military Parade is an effective medium to market and promote our school. Actually, we have anchored our involvement in the competition in this argument, every year, to justify our participation. We have studied this as part of drafting the marketing plan for our school, however, we found out that it is more cost effective to do our marketing more directly through ads in tri-media. We have implemented this and true to our study, statistics show that advertising in tri-media is more effective than participating in this event. Definitely, this argument does not hold water.
3. It has also been argued that the Penafrancia Military Parade Competition promotes inter-school camaraderie. To be honest about it, there is no inter-school camaraderie that happens among student-participants. The students are trained to be focused on the competition and do not have time to interact with student-participants of other schools. Besides, this is more effectively fulfilled by other activities such as participation in the PRISAA, Tertiary and Secondary Schools Press Conference Competition and other academic and related activities, not in the Penafrancia Military Parade.
4. It has also been argued that the Military Parade Competition instills discipline and meaning to military training. Well, to be frank about it, the discipline that they say this competition instills is supposed to be already innate in the participating school and just expressed in the competition. If a school contigent does not have discipline in their school, it will always show in their performance in the competition. Again, this argument does not hold water.
On our part, we have also several reasons that point out a stronger argument against not joining the competition.
1. Participation in the competition is getting more expensive every year. For our participation in the 2006 competition alone, we had to spend around more than P400,000.00, almost half a million for trainors, uniforms, make-up, allowances, transportation on the day itself, meals and other incidental expenses. For the uniforms alone, we had to spend more than P100,000.00 for the band alone. It should be noted that majorettes and band members are scholars of the school and therefore cannot afford to buy their uniforms on their own. The University spends for it. This does not include the revenues that are lost in scholarship programs for the band and majorettes. This also runs into the hundreds of thousands.
For the ROTC and CAT participants, we also have to spend for their meals and transportation on the day itself. The parents only shell out for the uniforms of their participant-children. Some parents save money by borrowing uniforms or renting it from others at a much lesser fee than providing their children with new ones. They also have to give their children allowances to defray expenses that they may incur while in Naga. The competition therefore also means more expenses for parents who are already burdened by the high cost of quality education.
Truly, participation in the parade has become impractical for us in the University of Northeastern Philippines, for our students and for our parents. Of course, as an institution, we can still afford it, but should we continue to spend onerously for an event, the objective of which can already be fulfilled effectively by other activities at a lesser cost?
2. Preparation for the competition has been physically draining for our students and our school. When we were still participating, preparation starts in May when we start drafting our operational plans for the year. Training starts in July. Student-participants train every day in the afternoons after class, increasing to a frantic crescendo as the competition draws near. Our majorettes and band members miss classes in the last two weeks before the parade as we let them focus on the competition. Therefore, they had to work harder than their classmates when they get back to their classes after the competition. Is this sacrifice worth it? We are compromising the academic performance of these students in order to perform our best in the competition. Is this fair?
3. There is also a problem of coming up with the right number of students to participate in the military competition. After the passage of the NSTP law which makes military training voluntary for students, there is a patent decrease of students choosing military training for their NSTP requirement. We had to make military training a requirement for our Criminology program as part of their curriculum to be assured of the numbers needed to come up with a contingent for the parade competition. This should also be addressed by the organizers of the event, something which until now, they have ignored.
4. Lastly, although admittedly we have no proof or evidence of this argument, we still want to express that we have great doubts in the carrying out of the rules of the competition. Through the years, although there seems to be great effort in addressing the concerns of the schools in terms of having a fair and just competition, still the issues prevail and continue to hound the organizers of the event. Our school cannot continue to subject itself to a competition whose organizers are suffering from a reputation of bias and lack of integrity. I regret having to say this, but this is the view of most of the school authorities in the University and we cannot discount this. Of course, I acknowledge that this is a subjective opinion, but like in any democratic country, we expect that our opinion also be respected. This is why we have declared and maintained that unless and until there is a revamp in the organizers of the event, we will continue to forego participation in the Penafrancia Military Parade Competition.
These being our sentiments, our institution proposes therefore the following recommendations:
1. On the issue of economic factors, we suggest that the LGU also defray some expenses of the participant schools by giving a mobilization fund that can somehow ease the burden of the participant schools. For example, maybe covering the transportation expenses or the meals of the participants would be a great help. It is should be noted that some schools ask the parents to defray the cost of transportation and meals. In our case, our school spends for it. We can take the case of the City of Legazpi which gives a token assistance of P10,000.00 to at least defray the cost of transportation everytime we are invited for a competition in their city. I hope the City of Naga considers this recommendation and follow the example of the City of Legazpi.
2. On the issue of the dwindling numbers of students participating in the ROTC program, the organizers can decrease the number of required warm bodies to come up with a contingent. I really do not know how they will do this, but maybe they can also promote the ROTC program in the schools.
3. On the issue of the integrity of the organizers, it is also necessary for the City to evaluate the performance of the organization carrying out this event. Is there a need for change? I also urge the City to conduct a consultation participated in by the schools to get their opinion regarding this issue.
Having said all these, we would like it to be clear that our school is not against military parade competitions. In fact, we have been conducting military parade competitions for several decades already during our Activation Day celebrations. However, we are one with the Bicol Association of Catholic Schools in saying that the military parade should not be conducted within the 9-day Novena to Our Lady of Penafrancia. We should focus more on Ina and on our faith and not in endeavours that actually has even the capability of eroding our faith to Ina.
We would also like to clarify that our school is not calling for a complete boycott of this competition by other schools, but rather a call to re-evaluate our purpose for participating in this event. I just hope that this article be able to aid the schools in reaching a decision that is just for all concerned.
With that, I still say, Happy Penafrancia Fiesta to all of us and may we just continue to respect each other’s opinion as what is expected in a free and democratic country.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Passing the Real Estate Broker's Exams
Last Saturday morning, I was surprised when my mobile phone was inundated by texts from several people congratulating me on passing the Licensure Examn for Real Estate Brokers which I took last May 31, 2009 at the University ng Makati, JP Rizal, Makati City.
I couln't believe my great fortune. I had been on this quest since the late 1990s, taking the exam... I think twice on the prodding of my mother who has always been my booster in taking all sorts of exams for all sorts of reasons.
Previously, I did not pass it. The simple reason being that I did not study or prepare for it before thinking that attending the seminar is enough. Well... after my experience with taking the Bar Exams to which I passed on the first try, I have come to this exam more prepared and more studious than before.
My recent journey towards this goal has been prodded by the fact that allegedly, this year is the last year that the exams will be managed by the DTI. Next year, it will be the PRC which will manage the examinations leading to maybe requiring a Bachelor's Degree for this exam. I had two reasons for taking it: one, is that this being the last year of DTI and therefore perceived to be more easier to take and if ever this becomes a regular Bachelor's Degree program, I can easily open the course in our school. Second, is for my Mom. My Mom had always wanted to make me take the exam. It really is not clear to me why but she has always encouraged me to take this exam right after college and even the Exam for Insurance Brokers. Maybe when we have the celebratory dinner, I would be able to get a better grasp of her reasons. Professional reasons is a bonus but certainly is only on the background.
Preparing for the exams was quite difficult. During the seminar-review I was always late. I missed important topics. During the study period of about three weeks, I was very busy being the start of the school year. However, I decided to dedicate the last week before the exams to diligent study.
As I have done during my Bar Exams, I played the day of the exams in my mind taking note of what I might need. Although this time, I was more confident and thus did not do the overkill that I was famous for. Therefore, I did not lug around about 20 kilos of stuff as I did during the bar. Besides this is just a four-hour exam on one Sunday. I don't have to be that prolific.
What I was worried about though, being the Secretary of the seminar-review class I was tasked to arrange the transportation and accomodations of my classmate. I was also able to do this, but I did not want to be bothered that much during my stay in Manila so I brought along Manay Nilda Brila, my executive secretary to help me. She was our punong abala in Manila. Anything that the group needed she provided. I would not have such a worry free exam prep if not for Manay Nilda.
I would also make mention of the wonderful people of Kabayan Hotel Pasay. They are the most positive people in the world. They never say no on any of our request. Only if it is truly unreasonable that they do. When you are surrounded by such positive people, your mind clears up to accomodate more information which is maybe why I passed this exam.
Truly, it is an experience to remember. I will be blogging some more on this in the coming days. For now, again... thank you to all who congratulated me. All for the greater glory of God!
I couln't believe my great fortune. I had been on this quest since the late 1990s, taking the exam... I think twice on the prodding of my mother who has always been my booster in taking all sorts of exams for all sorts of reasons.
Previously, I did not pass it. The simple reason being that I did not study or prepare for it before thinking that attending the seminar is enough. Well... after my experience with taking the Bar Exams to which I passed on the first try, I have come to this exam more prepared and more studious than before.
My recent journey towards this goal has been prodded by the fact that allegedly, this year is the last year that the exams will be managed by the DTI. Next year, it will be the PRC which will manage the examinations leading to maybe requiring a Bachelor's Degree for this exam. I had two reasons for taking it: one, is that this being the last year of DTI and therefore perceived to be more easier to take and if ever this becomes a regular Bachelor's Degree program, I can easily open the course in our school. Second, is for my Mom. My Mom had always wanted to make me take the exam. It really is not clear to me why but she has always encouraged me to take this exam right after college and even the Exam for Insurance Brokers. Maybe when we have the celebratory dinner, I would be able to get a better grasp of her reasons. Professional reasons is a bonus but certainly is only on the background.
Preparing for the exams was quite difficult. During the seminar-review I was always late. I missed important topics. During the study period of about three weeks, I was very busy being the start of the school year. However, I decided to dedicate the last week before the exams to diligent study.
As I have done during my Bar Exams, I played the day of the exams in my mind taking note of what I might need. Although this time, I was more confident and thus did not do the overkill that I was famous for. Therefore, I did not lug around about 20 kilos of stuff as I did during the bar. Besides this is just a four-hour exam on one Sunday. I don't have to be that prolific.
What I was worried about though, being the Secretary of the seminar-review class I was tasked to arrange the transportation and accomodations of my classmate. I was also able to do this, but I did not want to be bothered that much during my stay in Manila so I brought along Manay Nilda Brila, my executive secretary to help me. She was our punong abala in Manila. Anything that the group needed she provided. I would not have such a worry free exam prep if not for Manay Nilda.
I would also make mention of the wonderful people of Kabayan Hotel Pasay. They are the most positive people in the world. They never say no on any of our request. Only if it is truly unreasonable that they do. When you are surrounded by such positive people, your mind clears up to accomodate more information which is maybe why I passed this exam.
Truly, it is an experience to remember. I will be blogging some more on this in the coming days. For now, again... thank you to all who congratulated me. All for the greater glory of God!
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