Happy New Year

Less than three hours more and the first day of 2008 dawns.

But before the year 2007 ends, I can't miss the chance of reminiscing how this exciting year has been.

During the 525,600 minutes that passed, many things happened. I got a job, met long-lost friends and new people, got a job, bought new clothes, traveled overseas, dreamed of new ambitions, climbed mountains, opened this multiply account, blah blah blah. The list goes on (and I don't want to appear too personal in this blog).

Time is terrific. No doubt Einstein was so into it. I tried studying his theory of relativity during my days in the university. It was totally surreal, but very sensible and brilliant. I'm now reading another book of Alan Lightman that talks about Einstein's obsession about time. Einstein's Dreams is a novel that tells of how the Nobel laureate conceptualized time and how he saw it in his dreams. It's fiction of course, but Lightman's knack for prose and poetry made the book at par with the genius's real thoughts. Surreal, but fascinating.

And now comes 2008. An interesting year for everyone: the US Presidential Election, The World Youth Day in Sydney, The Olympics in Beijing. And I am pretty sure more surprises will pop out as we go along the new year.

To everyone, have a blessed new year.

Cheers!

Finding Neverland

Think of happy thoughts, and you will fly!

Neverland. The land where children never grow older. The place I tried to find amongst the stars in a moon-lit night when I was younger.

Everytime I visit my hometown, I think of how my childhood went, and how I missed being a child. Every corner of my old house bears a memory that still lingers clearly in my mind. There was that wall with my first ABCDs, that small table I used for studying, those stairs I have stepped on since I learned how to walk, that sink which now have become very low for me, and that farm where I spent my best summer days.

I came home before Christmas to visit my parents and relatives. It's overwhelming how many things have changed in a matter of two years. People got older, and new faces in the family arrived. I too am not getting any younger - I'm turning 22 this week!

I thought Neverland is somewhere up above the sky, never to be seen. But I found it! I only have to think of happy thoughts - good memories - to bring me to my own Neverland.

the plight of philippine tourism

These days, tourism ads of Thailand and Malaysia are read in most major business magazines around like The Economist, Time, and Fortune. While these places are good vacation destinations, I am definitely sure that they pale in comparison to what the Philippines can offer.

I have met foreigners saying that the archipelago has better beaches and more exhilirating dive spots than its neighbors. Why not, when we are at the center of the famed Coral Triangle. Our festivals are definitely as colorful as our neighbors', our malls are among the best and the biggest in the world, and our people are definitely the warmest in Asia.

And why does the Philippines remain travelers' third choice (or even lower) among the ASEAN countries? Sadly, bad news, either political or security-related, always hover over the archipelago, repelling would-be visitors (including investors) and creating a negative impression to the entire world. Also, this plight is exacerbated by poor infrastructure, a lackadaisical tourism campaign, and underdeveloped tourism destinations. I am pretty sure there's more to the Philippines than Boracay.

Merry Christmas!

I started being a volunteer tutor for kids in a public school when I was a sophomore in the university. It was no ordinary goody-goody task that went like a walk in the park. It was a big commitment - more like a walk in the most unlikely places in the city. Sometimes I would really have to miss hanging out with friends on a Saturday afternoon, or sacrifice some hours of study just to be with the rowdy kids waiting for their kuya to teach them Math and English. And up to now, during weekends, I still find time for these little angels. It's truly tiresome, but all worthwhile.

This is my eye-opener to a world so divided between extremes. As Christmas is just around the corner, I hear my friends talking about how excited they are for shopping, or how eager they are for their party in a five-star hotel, or where their families are spending Christmas eve. But when I go to the slum areas I see kids running around without slippers asking me if my house was also demolished as theirs, I see families living in shanties uncertain of what to eat for their next meal, I see people living in dehumanizing poverty.

It's not my intention to accuse the well-off of moral indifference and blatant selfishness, nor to sound utterly cynical. I only wanted to express how I see society is so full of contradiction. In so many times, how I want to be insensitive so as not to feel distressed. But reality hurts, it slaps me in the face.

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When I was young, how I loved Christmas. Aside from the sound of ubiquitous carols that never failed to lighten my feelings, there are also a lot of food (it's fattening season), rare family reunions, and, between Christmas and New year, is my birthday.

Christmas is truly fun, but there's more to it than this. Each one should not forget why gifts are given, why there a star atop the Christmas tree, why we wake up early and attend misa de gallo (gallo is Spanish for rooster), why we celebrate Christmas at the first place. Besides gifts, food, and fun, Christmas is Christ's birth.

It's sad though how people tend to forget or care much less about this. While the greeting "Happy Holidays" has become a convention, I still prefer the old way that goes "Merry Christmas (and not X-mas)".

Merry Christmas to all!

While I was working

November for me passed by like barely a week at work. Ooops, am I starting to sound workaholic or like a yuppie version of a university geek? Well not really. I just realized I haven’t written any blog for almost a month now, yet I have burned my all my eyebrows making sure my bank lends its billions to corporations all over the globe and earn heaps from it.

Speaking about Citi, its CEO resigned earlier this month. Truly, the pinch (or punch) of the subprime mortgage crisis in the US is now becoming more and more felt as financial giants have started to become more and more honest about how much they are losing because of it. And Citi is one of the hardest hit. Thank God this world’s largest bank is too colossal a creature to knock out with one blow, otherwise I would be jobless by now.

While I was working this week, two typhoons squeezed Luzon, wrecking havoc in provinces surrounding Metro Manila. It was reminiscent of last year’s Milenyo which came when I was outdoors along Taft Avenue (of all the places). Seeing branches and galvanized iron flying around was terrifying. One lesson learned: never use your the umbrella (ella, ella, ey, ey… okay, enough of this) during typhoons if you don’t want to end up in Manila Bay floating along with branches, roofs, and all sorts of debris.

While I was working yesterday, the earth shook for almost a minute. At 12 noon, I felt a bit weird and shaky and thought it was just my tummy. But I saw my stuff on the table moved, heard my officemate cried “Earthquake!”, and then realized it was indeed the ground shaking, which was later reported of magnitude 4. Earthquakes are nothing new for me - I grew up with them. Back in the days of eruptive Mt. Pinatubo in early 90’s, earthquakes were common in Mindanao. I remembered two of these that woke my family up in the middle of the night. I was crying for I thought it would bring our old house down to the ground. The next day, I was in the library after class studying about earthquakes, tectonic plates, the Ring of Fire, Charles Richter, blah bah blah.

While I was working today, Senator Trillanes and his band of brothers walked out of the courtroom and staged another infamous drama in Makati. While I don’t totally discount his claims as pure lies, I definitely don’t agree with his inconsiderate means of achieving his end. Almost four years ago, he caught the nation’s - and the world's- attention at Oakwood. He was charged (and up to now being tried), became practically a celebrity, elected senator, and just today did another baloney in – wherelse? – the Manila Peninsula Hotel. Five-star hotels, beware!

The Philippine economy this year has been performing its best after twenty years in the doldrums. Surely, issues may linger in the government, but these perennial problems can never be solved by getting a new president each time we feel discontent. Even India and China, with sky-rocketing economic growth rates, have this dishonesty plague. Conditions in Russia are even much worse. And don’t tell me the US is corruption-free.

Yet these countries are able to assure the world of their political stability which serves as framework for economic programs that bring benefits down to the masses, and hence poverty reduction and better quality of life among the people. And, take note, these changes don't happen overnight. They take years - and even decades - of stability and national cooperation. And what about this small noisy group calling for yet another 'change'? My feet! Spare the nation of yet another economic and political turmoil.

I’m not trying to condone any misdoings here. I believe what should people remember is that there is due process for everything, and that personal interests should be set aside to attain what’s good for everyone. As I have always told my friends in UP, enough of going out to the streets, and start reading your books and doing your homeworks and experiments. And to our statesmen, enough of throwing mud amongst yourselves and start fulfilling what you are ought to be doing in the halls of congress, senate, or Malacañan.

While I was working in Citi’s GK village one Saturday of this month, I remembered the little boy I have been teaching catechism in another slum area in Manila. When I arrived one afternoon for a session on prayer and loving one’s family, this four-year-old asked me if I still have a house. That morning, his family’s shanty was demolished. Now he is living in a makeshift abode together with others in what used to be a basketball court. Living conditions have become much worse for him, his family, and his entire neighborhood.

I felt very sorry for him. He thought that my world was like his. This, however, gave me the impression - and the realization - that I am living in two worlds.

Trekking Mt. Maculot

It was my sixth time to trek Mt. Maculot in Cuenca, Batangas yesterday, but it was my first time to camp out at the peak and take photos of the spectacular views. I was with two buddies (and former MBB blockmates in UP) Jan and Flaegil.

After setting up our tent, we had some chit-chat with Manong, the owner of Maculot's "7-11", who told us about the mountain's best-known legend: the woman who jumped off the Rockies, which is part of Maculot that overlooks Taal lake. Her name by the way is Maricris (I'm not sure with the spelling) and she left a suicide note saying "I love Maculot". How moving. Her body was recovered in the thick forest beneath the Rockies nine days after the incident.

Another interesting story about Maculot is that many people have already got lost along the trail. Count me in. Late last year, I, together with three others, almost spent a night in the thick, dark forest. Thank God we were lucky enough to make our way back to civilization, but only after obtaining a lot of scratches, bruises, mosquito bites, and mud all over our clothes.

At any rate, trekking Maculot is a worthwhile experience. Mountain hiking can be a very good hobby.

Flattened

I just finished Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat. It's a great book - it taught me a lot about how the world is being shaped by globalization, which is not at all bad contrary to what I have been told since gradeschool. Nowadays as the world gets flatter and flatter, almost everyone is basically competing on the same playing field regardless of where one is - be it in America, or China, or India, or Bulgaria, or the Philippines. Business, politics, and science have never been as exciting as before. The only way to take advantage of the opportunities in Planet Flat is to get proper education, proper attitude, and proper ambition.

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My department got the third prize in Citibank's Halloween costume and design competition. That was enough consolation for working until 2 a.m. in setting up our decorations. Pictures will be posted next week.

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Meanwhile, I'll be taking a week off from the hustle and bustle of Planet Flat to take care of more important stuff. After this retreat, it's business as usual - but with a bit more zest.

Adieu!

Blasted!

Yesterday, another blast came that may send us back to the doldrums of fear and mistrust.

Just when our economy has gotten its break from the backwaters of the global market, and just when yet another political hot potato came out straight from the hellish halls of our dear politicians, another element of reality came with a blast.

The perpetrators proved themselves as barbarians who don't deserve any place in a society that is humane, progress-oriented, and peace-loving. Their empty ideologies and feeble motives are their own burdens with which they have not an iota of right to afflict others, much less end other people's lives and cause sabotage to the entire country.

Amidst all these chaos, I guess what all want is peace - and change!

Life in a Bookshelf

There is one research that reckons a person can read, on the average, around 500 books in his lifetime. If one were to live for 70 years, it translates to roughly seven books every year. I failed to clarify though if this includes academic books; and if this does, I'm well within (or above?) the average. But for geeks and bookworms - count me out! - this may seem an underrated estimate. But in any case, reading books is one of the best hobbies one can delve into. Every page of a book tells you more about the real world, and every flip of a page may bring you to realms unimaginable.

I started reading when I was four. Okay, I could only read words pausing at every syllable and not understanding most that I uttered (except for no, not , and, the, and other two- to three-letter words). After lunch, I would rather grab the newspaper and read as if I could add any knowledge to myself than take the siesta which I really hated (of course, escaping from my yaya to play in the the rice fields - my playground - was another fun alternative).

Then I started writing on walls using the white chalk-like marker my grandfather used for carpentry. In most parts of the house, especially the living room, were scribbles of a-b-c-d-to-z and dog, cat, map and whatever three-letter word I could to spell. To me they looked like masterpieces for, back then, I didn't know the difference between the alphabet and hieroglyphs. To my folks, it was vandalism. But my grandmother, who was a school teacher, appreciated my murals and asked to preserve them. They all stayed there until I was about 11. Until now when I pay a visit to my old house, I can still see some artifacts of my earliest "essays" on the walls.

My first reading books (not coloring books of which I also had a number, my favorite being Batman and Robin) were The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams, Catwings by Ursula Le Guin, and The Ghost Army whose author I can't recall. They were real treasures. They made me imagine a world of my own with dancing fairies, villain ghosts, crying and talking toys, and flying cats. Of course, all these images I got from TV, but reading opened a different horizon and created a lasting experience.

Now when I look at my shelves (and I don't mean library), I see books of different sorts. In the bottom shelf are books I burned my eyebrows with during my years in the university: Immunology, Molecular Cloning, Moelcular Biology of the Cell, Developmental Biology, etc. They now seem like white elephants, but still remain very good reminders of the years that passed nonetheless. Right beside them are my new finance books and manuals I now read - I'm just so into them. I also got a number of other books on the upper shelf - science fiction, history, business (the World is Flat among others, a must-read), style guide (The Economist Style Guide and Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, another must-reads), philosophy, humanities, all sorts of stuff.

Reading is fun. In some moments it may become another I-do-it-tomorrow pasttime. But like any other hobby, one needs to develop the love affair. I had mine started when I began writing on walls. But I'm no bookworm.

In the Interim

Exhausted, too preoccupied, stressed out, tired. These are the days when I can think of so many things to write yet don't have the luxury of time to do so, or much less the effort and the enthusiasm to get my ideas flowing when I'm at my desk. This is what I call writer's block, or isn't this?

Hmmm, maybe I'm just stressed out. Or maybe I'm better off imagining stuff than writing them, translating them to words, and sentences, and to essays, stories, and books. Surely, I'll never be a T.S. Elliot, or a JRR Tolkien, or a Thomas Friedman.

Or maybe I just missed the way I get my thoughts flowing when I draw, using my charcoal or pencil and my six-year-old notebook which I still keep and use until now. Doing this makes use not words and grammar, but plain strokes and shades that go spontaneously with the spur of imagination and dexterity. I do abstract drawing. Many, many people find it hard to appreciate my black and gray artwork. I object for I find them all better than the those expensive works hanged in exhibits and museums. But again, I'm no artist.

Or maybe this is, among other possibilities, the aftermath of my adrenaline rush this weekend when I was pursued by an ugly rabid dog, my most dreaded creature in the planet. In my best effort to burn some fats and chill out in the open air, I went out to jog but, unfortunately, ended up sprinting for my life. I hate rabid dogs.

Or maybe, just maybe, I only need to keep on smiling, for the world has had enough troubles to bear.

Lunch at Antonio's

Simply a gastric treat with style and elegance. Truly a fine dining. Nothing beats the food, the ambiance, the service, and the price!

One funny anecdote though, I met Antonio - the man himself. He introduced himself to me, we shook hands, and I asked him in utter stupidity "Where's the washroom?"

That was one of the biggest boboos I ever did in my life; to ask the chef about where the washroom is simply unimaginable.

At any rate, fine dining at Antonio's is the best!

Law of the Heart

While reading Alan Lightman's book entitled The Discoveries, Great Breakthroughs in the 20th-Century Science, I went accross Ernest Starling's "Law of the Heart", which states that the force of the muscular contraction is proportional to the extent to which the heart muscle is stretched.

This sounds very scientific. But come to think of it: it can mean something relevant to any person... if you know what I mean.

Meanwhile, I'm now engrossed at reading the book right now. It showcases 24 monumental scientific works that shaped modern science. It tickles the scientist in me, though I have already turned my back on molecular biology to pursue a totally different career path. Still, the book is worthwhile reading. Truly for geeks and non-geeks (who are comfortable with calculus, physics, molecular biology, and a bit of physiology) alike.

Amazing India

This week’s Time Magazine again features India. Undoubtedly, this subcontinent is a charging elephant. In 50 years, The Economist predicts it will become an economic superpower surpassed only by China (the US being only the third). In fact, China is now wary about its southern neighbor as it poses a potential threat to usurp its niche in manufacturing, IT, and research.

A booming economy of over a billion people (GDP growth of over 8%!), a world-class skilled workforce composed of brilliant and dynamic young professionals, and a vast, rich territory. All these helped India recover from the doldrums despite its seemingly chaotic politics, multi-layered bureaucracy, and unabated graft and corruption by public officials. It is amazing to note that the subcontinent has been through a lot of troubles after its independence 60 years ago. The division of the subcontinent into a Muslim state, which is Pakistan, and Hindu India left wounds in its history and among its people. Wars that followed further widened the gap between peoples who once lived together in one empire under the Mughal rule and under the British colonial rule that followed. Then came another painful partition that gave birth to Bangladesh.

In the early 90s, lackluster India almost defaulted its international debt after years of economic downturns. But rational political will, a rare incidence in India, turned the subcontinent’s predicament 180°. It served as momentum for economic reforms and propelled India’s amazing recovery.

Reading about India made me think about the Philippines. Both countries experienced the same economic boom during the early 90s, and were even dubbed economic tigers. India made it – and is now even called an economic elephant (not a white elephant) – but the Philippines still remains a promise unfulfilled.

Nevertheless, it is not always just to compare Philippines with India. The former has a long history as a civilization. Its ancient cities first rose alongside those in other parts of Asia and Africa. Its merchants started trading across the seas long before the West stumbled upon the New World. The Philippines, on the other hand, was composed of fragmented autonomous barangays when the Spaniards came in 1516 and started founding towns. The islands never had a concept of a single nation until 1898 when the Philippine Republic was proclaimed. But this proclamation still remains, until now, a project. The Philippines is not yet a nation, but a nation still being built.

So when you think about the troubles our country is in, think of them as birth pangs of nation-building. India has learned a lot from its centuries of existence. The Philippines still has to learn its lessons. And maybe one day (I hope this will come soon), the country will see the same growth that made India undoubtedly amazing.

If given the chance, I would like to go to India to see personally how this future super power prepares to take the world’s center stage.

goodbye toenail...

My lesson for the day:

Take care of your toenails if you don't want to have one of them removed in the OR. Ingrown nail avulsion really hurts, and I'll be limping for the next five days.

Thriller!

Nope, not by Michael Jackson, but by a hundreds of orange-clad gentlemen from a prison in Cebu! Truly awesome! Everyone should take a look at the clip to realize that prisoners are capable of doing something more than riots and all those unlikely stuff. And what's more amazing is that the clip is taken in - of all places - the Philippines. That should say something good about the country. The prisoners really rock!

Check it out at http://youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o

Up Dharma Down in this week's Time Magazine

It's about time Up Dharma Down gets international renown for its superb music. Their electronic neo-soul genre puts them above all other local artists whose music are all but unique. Try listening to the songs in their album 'Fragmented' and you'll be soothed by music and rhythm that tickle not only emotion, but also appeal to sophisticated taste and appreciation - not pop, not rock, just perfect.My personal favorite is Oo (which I thought at first as titled 'Di mo lang alam') and Lazy Daisy.

Yosi Break

When I was fourth year in the University, teacher in PI 100 challenged me to write in Filipino the essays he was requiring each one to submit. It was torment for me because writing in Filipino is not my cup of coffee.

But funny things do happen. Just today while having my yosi break from work, I was able to knit some Filipino phrases which - lo and behold - became my first Filipino poem. Clumsy and cheesy though, but these ideas I got from looking at people who burn their stress away with a stick of nicotene.

Ang sarap magyosi, mag-isip, nakatunganga kaharap ang malahiganteng building sa 'sang sulok ng makati.
Tadtad sa trabaho, sawi sa pag-ibig, magulo and isip; lahat nadadaan sa lason ng nicotine.
Naninibago, nahihirapan, naguguluhan, parang ewan.

Pero masaya pa rin, lumalaban, natututo, nakakaraos kahit papaano.

Tama na ang pagkukunwari, tama na sobra-sobrang pag-iisip.
Napapanahon na para mapalaya ang sarili, at lumipad, lumanghap ng preskong hangin na nagtatanggal ng lason ng yosi.

Minsan ay naiisip, bakit magulo ang buhay? Pero kung tutuusin, kaya nga magulo, para maging maayos.

Reading through the lines, what do I mean to say? I don't know. Maybe those yosi breakers do.

Murphy's Law

Two years ago on the deadline of my thesis manuscript submission, everything went from bad to worst. That is a long story to tell --- a series of unfortunate events --- which eventually ended to my ONLY final manuscript file being corrupted by a computer shop in UP Shopping Center where I planned to have everything printed (a day ago my printer went berserk).

And now, Murphy's Law is again at work. I'm now in the airline lounge awaiting my flight. Just this morning I had headache. Then the camera I'm bringing is not working at all. The memory card I bought is of different type. I discarded my toothpaste and other stuff in the inspection counter. I took an expensive lunch in the duty free shop not knowing there's an airline lounge with free lunch, internet, etc. What's next? Hmmm. I'm certainly not hoping for anything much worse.

Tonight I'll be in Singapore, and tomorrow I'm arriving in Sydney. It's winter Down Under, so I bought my winter clothes with me (c/o Citibank, hehehe). And it pours there, so I still have no escape from the rain. Oh, have I brought my umbrella?

I hope my cam works tomorrow. I can't wait to take a photo of kangaroos, emus, dingos, koala bears, funnel spider, black widow, great white shark. hehehe.

Do's and Dont's in Riding the MRT: 7 Habits of an Effective MRT Commuter

As a commuter, I am among the hundreds - or should I say thousands - of people crowding the MRT stations of EDSA, Metro Manila's main thoroughfare, everyday. And of course, this weekday, if not daily, routine could have been a tremendous challenge for me if not for some do's and dont's which I learned after a year or so of faithfully patronizing one of Metro Manila's popular, albeit second only to the ubiquitous jeepneys, public transport.

Here are my 7 Habits of an Effective MRT Commuter:

1. Always keep a stored value card with you, or better yet, always keep a spare card. Otherwise, you might spend half of your travel time cuing by the counter amidst a sea of people, especially during rush hours. Stored value card saves your time and money (bonus rides are truly a delight!), and spares you from the sweat and inconvenience met by rushing commuters once they step inside the MRT station.

2. Be patient. Taking public transportation is always about being patient. When I was in Cologne, Germany, one of the guys I befriended while waiting for my train in the station told me that in his country, patience is very much needed if you take public transport. There, trains arrive in some stations in 20-minute -- or even 30-minute -- intervals. So one should always be prompt to catch his train lest he should wait for another half an hour the most. Dilly-dallying is a no-no. But here in the Philippines, you find jeepneys, buses, tricycles, and padyaks everywhere, so much so that people have enough excuses to slack off and waste time in the morning because, anyway, they can always ride the noisy tricycles that pass by their houses or hail the jeepneys or buses at any given corner of the street. No wonder why the streets here in Manila are all clogged by these public transports that are poorly regulated and so notorious in disobeying simple traffic rules!

3. Once inside the train, don't stay between the doors if you want to have a peaceful ride. People coming and going in each station are very eager to do so, so much so that they are ready to topple anyone along their way: so keep out of their way! Go straight inside the train and look for a vacant seat (you're lucky if there still are) or grab a hand rail which you shall hold on the rest of your ride. One reminder though: don't forget to wash your hands or apply an alcohol or hand sanitizer after if you don't want to get the latest disease-causing microorganism in town.

4. Beware of opened windows. To cut costs, the MRT Authority might have decided to turn off the air conditioners of the coaches at some hours of the day. Sometimes, they are put it off in the morning. Commuters on their way to work sweat like pigs inside the coaches, notwithstanding the throng of people that makes things much worse. Or sometimes, they are turned off in the afternoon. People going back home after a day's toil at work will find their plight even more toilsome jam-packed inside coaches, deprived of much needed oxygen (this is a serious threat!), space, and comfort. So the next time you take the MRT, beware of opened windows for they bode a hellish ride. And one last tip: think twice of taking the second or middle coach; it's the one whose air conditioners are always turned off.

5. Beware of snatchers. Snatchers in the train, as any other snatchers you find in every corner of the city, are very crafty and dexterous. They can actually slip their hands into your pocket without you feeling it. The next thing you know is that your wallet is already in somebody else's pocket or your cellphone is already being sold in Greenhills. So as much as possible, keep everything in your bag and guard it with your life.

6. Be a gentleman. In so many instances while in the train, I have seen seated men pretending to be asleep or taking no notice whenever an old lady enters the cramped coach and stands in front of them while trying to balance herself as the train moves and grip the hand rail which dangle too high for her arm's reach. These were such poignant scenes, but nonetheless disappointing as it shows how unmanly these men are.

7. Enjoy the ride. Taking the MRT can be a worthwhile experience. My weekday trips to Makati have made me familiar with the sights of the Metropolis (at least those that are within my eyes' reach). The elevated railway offers commuters a good view of EDSA that is almost always cramped with vehicles, a quick glimpse of the busy areas of Cubao and Magallanes, an impressive panorama of the Makati and Ortigas skylines, and - to the lucky ones - some picturesque moments with the beautiful Manila Bay sunset which, at one instance, cast its reflection on the polluted Pasig river, creating a very romantic scene that made me think that Manila might be, after all, not as ugly as I thought.

Post-grad adventures

Andrew Agunod Jr.
Youngblood
Philippine Daily Inquirer

March 22, 2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Now that graduation is near and a new batch of fresh graduates is about to try its luck in the country’s job market, let me share my almost-yearlong, post-graduation experience looking for a job.


My last months in the University of the Philippines (UP) were very tense: all kinds of final reports, a thesis, org activities, not to mention the series of exams that I had to go through before acquiring that precious UP diploma -- my passport to the professional world. I survived all of those and even graduated with honors -- something I was really proud of and which gave me the belief that I was among the “highly in demand” graduates in the country. But I was wrong!


Job offers didn’t come on silver platters. My "kayabangan" -- which, by the way, is typical of some students of the premiere state university -- got the better of me. I didn’t go “prospecting” for a job months before graduation. I held on to the belief and confidence that companies would be competing among themselves to hire me once they knew I was a UP graduate. But to my dismay, I found out that the State University seemed to ring a bell no more.


In fairness -- to me and to my alma mater -- my unemployment is more of a “product” of circumstances than of incompetence. (Here goes the kayabangan again.) The one and only job I applied for (way back in April last year yet) was in a research institute in UP Manila. I expected to be immediately hired because I thought my prospective bosses would have no reason to doubt about my competence, plus “potentials.” After all, I was a UP graduate.


But UP, as any other government institution, is a multi-layered bureaucracy. I was summoned to a first interview in June. The second took place the following month. But then my appointment had to be approved by the UP president, but it was not expected to come soon. Months later, maybe. When exactly, even the people processing my documents could not be certain. Applicants accepted in May get to start working only in the following December, I found out.


So in July, I considered another job elsewhere, albeit alien to the course I finished. Molecular biology and biotechnology graduates in the Philippines (there are only around 30 graduates each year and only from UP) usually end up in the academe (either teaching or doing research), or in medical schools and graduate schools here and abroad. Since I didn’t like to teach and didn’t have plans of studying again (still got to earn!) and I did not want to go to medical school either (I have had enough of headaches!), my only option was to go into research. But pursuing such a career in a Third World country is not at all financially rewarding—not to mention the perpetual process of applying for the job (certificate of eligibility, medical exams, computer exams, two month-long interviews; by the time you start working, your first salary is not even enough to cover all that you spent for all these and your bills!). Thus, I didn’t have any choice but to “cross into another field” and see what was in store for me in the corporate world.


No, it’s not that I’m leaving science mainly because of money. Molecular biology was very exciting for me. I never thought that I would be doing the same stuff scientists did in TV shows I watched when I was a kid. Biotechnology, cloning and immunology, PCR and other interesting topics: Only a privileged few -- in a country like ours -- are given the chance to learn these in lectures and experiments that often involve very expensive gadgets and reagents. I also had excellent company around: the best professors and the brightest “block mates” (we have four summa cum laude awardees in our batch!). Taking the course taught me discipline.


But back in high school, economics was my most favorite subject; science came only second. But my nerdy habit of watching Discovery Channel and National Geographic, enhanced my penchant for science -- specifically molecular biology and medicine -- while my interest in things that had to do with business and economics eventually fizzled out in the face of an exciting scientific revolution that sees no end until now.


Hence, my decision to abandon my dream of becoming a scientist somehow seeks to fulfill a “long-lost” wish. Nevertheless, I still highly admire Filipino scientists sacrificing so much to advance science and research in the country despite tremendous odds. Indeed, to be competitive, the Philippines needs a robust R & D program. Yet, Filipino scientists and researchers, many of whom are known for their significant contribution to science, remain the most underpaid professionals in the country. I met many of them in UP but, aware as I am of the fact that they are given so little recognition, if at all, by a society too preoccupied with other concerns (valid or not), I can’t help feeling sorry for them. I hope that the government and the Filipino people will soon realize their value and importance, otherwise more and more Filipino talents, ingenuity, resources, (including opportunities to excel in the international arena) will be lost.


My decision to “change course” brought me to an entirely different world. After several interviews, I finally was accepted as a “management trainee” for a bank. The job was great! It was like getting paid high for studying accounting (how I love this subject!), general banking laws, personnel supervision and bank products and services. However, in the middle of my training, I realized that the kind of tasks I was being groomed for -- operations and branch work -- was not to my liking. So I quit. My decision did not mean that I didn’t like banking or that I hated routine tasks. I resigned because I believed that something else out there is the right job for me.


Hence, I’m now actively looking for a new job. Every week, I get a call from different companies for an interview. And because of this my friends have taken to calling me a professional interviewee. Indeed, at this point, with all the good and bad experiences I have had, I could, perhaps, write a long essay on the “do’s and dont’s in job interviews -- for applicants, of course.


Looking back at these experiences is quite stressful. While my batch mates are already working, I’m still going through interviews. But I have not despaired, I believe that I will have my job very soon. For now, at least, I’m learning how to be patient, optimistic and to make good use of my time.


Congratulations to the graduates of 2007 and I wish you all the best!


Andrew Agunod Jr., 21, is a graduate of molecular biology and biotechnology from University of the Philippines, Diliman.

Summer Kick-off: Conquering Pico de Loro

Standing 664 meters above sea level, Pico de Loro is the highest mountain in Cavite. It may not be as mighty as Mt. Apo, as mystical as Mt. Banahaw, or as legendary as Mt. Makiling, but Pico de Loro harbors an adventure that truly delights seasoned mountaineers and first-timers alike.

Pico de Loro means Parrot's Peak. It got its name from the peculiar rock structure found very near its summit. Commonly called the rock, the beak, the head, or the totem, the four- to five-storey high structure offers an exhilarating experience for those who dare conquer their fears by climbing its top. And I'm proud to say that I'm among those few who made it to the top.

Of course I must admit that it wasn't a breeze for me, especially that I have fear of heights and am not at all an expert rock climber. Well, I wanted to take sports climbing as my PE in UP but, unfortunately, I always ran out of slots. Nonetheless, climbing an actual rock without prior training proved to be a more exciting experience.

It was a sunny Sunday morning when I, together with some friends, drove towards the mountainous region of Ternate in Cavite where the Pico de Loro is located. Along the way and very near the starting point of the trek, we passed by the famed and utterly mysterious Magnetic Road, which is part of the highway that traverses the hilly terrain of Ternate. Motorists are greeted by the dilapidated road sign saying "Magnetic Road: Accident Prone Area" or something to that effect. Exactly why or how the phenomenon occurs I don't know, but I'm critical about it's being magnetic. Maybe it's just some kind of illusion. But interestingly enough, while on the downhill portion of the magnetic road, we stopped our engine and found our vehicle moving uphill. It was weird, and totally violated the law of gravity. But I still doubt the existing rumors unless I'll hear scientists explaining to me the cause of such a phenomenon.

Trekking Pico de Loro lasts for about, on the average, three hours. We started hiking at 10 a.m. after parking our vehicle just beside the mothballed and deserted DENR office. The area is a national park and is thus a protected environment. But the sorry state of the office tells visitors that the government might not be at all serious with the implementation. Worse, I even heard sounds of chain saws echoing in the forest when I was at the mountain's peak.

The beginning of the trail led the group to a patch of land under a reforestation project. It was nice to know that some groups, including students from La Salle, are aiming to plant a million trees in the area. My concern though is that they should plant trees endemic to the area like the narra, apitong, and yakal for doing so would restore the original forest and thus make it conducive for the original flora and fauna.

During the first hour we skirted the mountain, passing through sloping hills, patches of farm lands, dirt roads, horses that got in the way (beware of getting behind them: their kicks are fatal), dogs that bark so loud (but don't bite at all), and the base camp where we were suppose to pay our registration (I was asking, What for? I suppose it's for the trail upkeep. I do hope they use the contribution justly) and which signaled the start of the uphill trail.


As the group went along, we encountered familiar sightings common to other mountains that we've climbed before. There were long, thin, crawling bamboo branches (or twigs? I'm not sure though with the term since bamboos are grasses) that dangles along the path reminescent of the forest of Mt. Maculot where I was lost last year. Then there where towering yet surprisingly slim trees trying to compete with other trees for sunlight, hence forming a green canopy that leave the forest floor cool and dark. Butterflies abound, though not the brightly colored ones excellent for butterfly farm business. We also saw beautiful and unique flowers which, to science-oriented people like me, may definitely find delight.


The mountain's peak is covered by knee-high grass that turns golden brown during summer. Hence, our final ascent was like walking through an aisle - albeit abruptly inclining - laid out with a golden carpet. Along the way we encountered fellow mountaineers on their way down and sliding - and I mean literally - on the grass-covered slope. And that, I realized, proved a real treat after and hour or so marveling at nature's beauty at the peak.


Upon reaching the peak, we were rewarded with a marvelous 360-degree panorama of the surrounding terrain, including a breath-taking view of the mouth of Manila Bay and that of the fine beaches of the protruding peninsulas of the Cavite coast line (Puerto Azul looked like stones throw away from the peak).


But that was not all for the peak was but mere appetizer for the utterly adventurous trekker. The rock totem, standing at the edge of the ravine a few meters down the peak on the other side of the mountain, was the ultimate prize. At first, most of us harbored hesitation and fears of climbing it for one wrong step was enough to send us hundreds of meters down the thick forest - and that would definitely be a disaster!

However, courage conquered our fear and teamwork brought us all to the top. For my part, the thought that others could make it propelled me to muster all the strength and daring I had to climb as well.


Luckily, we didn't have to go straight up the totem as seen from the peak for there was an easier way to get on top through its other side - and I mean easy by the standards of an experienced climber. I will no longer talk further about how I got to the top; all I can say is that it took me some time and some patience on the part of my companions.

But what's worth telling is that I made it to the top!

Lovely Lucban

The Trip to Lucban

It was the 11th of March 2006 at around 3:45 in the morning. I, together with a friend, was set and very excited to start our adventure trip to Lucban, a beautiful town in the province of Quezon. We sleepily clambered up a bus at one of the bus terminals in Cubao. Since it was still wee hours of the morning and that the travel was a bit long, we decided to sleep all throughout the travel and recover many lost hours of sleep (the day was after my final finals week in UP).

After a two-hour travel, we were finally in Lucban. Climbing down the bus, we were welcomed by the cool fresh breeze that I rarely, or never, experienced in Manila. Lucban is quietly settled at the foot of the grand Mt. Banahaw which is towering 1, 875 meters above sea level. Lucban is situated at the northwestern border of Quezon Province with geographical coordinates of 12º33' East longitude and 14º7' North latitude. Lying on a slope Northeast of Mt. Banahaw, the town stands at an elevation of 1, 500 feet above sea level.

Lucban is 160 kilometers from Metro Manila via Lucena, the provincial capital of Quezon and 133 kilometers or roughly three-and-a-half hour bus ride via Sta. Cruz-Pagsanjan route and can easily be reached by public transportation.





Lucban, Pahiyas, Longganisa, and the Buntal Hat

Lucban is very famous for its annual Pahiyas festival in honor of their patron Saint Isidore the farmer. It is also well known for the tasty Lucban longganisa which is sold at almost every street in the town. Little did i know that the known has more to boast for. It's people are exceptionally warm, the environment is extraordinarily clean, and another particular tradition continues to thrive: the buntal hat weaving. And with that I marveled at how these people preserve their tradition inspite the problems the modern world poses.

Tracking buntal hat weavers in Lucban was not difficult. There were many traditional shops in the town where one could ask for information. I went to a shop near the church where I met Nanay Lorena, the shopkeeper, whom I asked about buntal hats. She replied with words I could hardly say, much more understand: sambalilo and maglalala. Strange they may seem, the former is the local word for sombrero, and the latter is local for buntal hat weaving. She gave me the address of a lady who she personally knew.

Meeting the Traditional Artists

Nanay Tita lives in A. dela Cruz Street, one of Lucban's narrow streets that are outlined by closely built houses which look more like facades in city alleys and very unusual for a provincial town. Upon my arrival, I was greeted by her warm smile and delightful hospitality. She just came from a neighbor's house for her usual Sunday morning chats with her kumares. One of them was Nanay Letty who also came with her to meet the unexpected visitor.

A continuing heritage

Nanay Tita Elloso is 61 years old and is married to a farmer. She has four children, all of whom are already married. The oldest daughter now lives in Manila where she works as a midwife in a hospital. Her other married children and her granddaughters live with her.

Nanay Tita started weaving buntal hats when she was 12 years old. As far as she could remember, her great grandmother was also a buntal hat weaver. The skill was eventually passed on to her through her mother who learned it from the grandmother. Buntal weaving in the family is like a legacy bequeathed from one generation to the next, from mother to daughter. She has not finished any degree in college but is somehow content with her job as a full time weaver like her mother. But the present generation of the family - her daughters and granddaughters - are not keen on pursuing the tradition. What they desire is to finish a degree and get a job in Manila. The handicraft, for her, is becoming a family heritage abandoned, with she being the last in line. How much often she recounted to me her disappointment.

Nanay Letty Iglesia, Nanay Tita's long-time neighbor, kumare, and fellow buntal weaver, is 48 years old, also married to a farmer, and has 4 sons. She started weaving when she was in grade school, though she can no longer remember her exact age then. What she remembers is that she used to observe her mother do buntal hats at home as a child, until she finally became interested and decided to learn and continue her mother's trade. But unlike Nanay Tita, she works as a laundry woman aside from being a weaver. That she jokingly told me that she's a labandera by day, and a buntal weaver by night. Unfortunately, she has no one to teach in her children as she doesn't have daughters. Her granddaughters, despite her desire to teach them, are in no way interested to weave. What they want is to study. This gave her the same disappointment as Nanay Tita.

My arrival in Nanay Tita's house (by the way, I am with a friend whom I pestered to accompany me), spurred the attention of other neighbors who were taking their usual Sunday morning siesta. Little did I know that when I was talking to the two women, several others came in - children from the streets, some men who just wanted to get involved, and, to my delight, other women who are weavers and kiping makers or matikikiping as the locals would call. These women were present the entire time I was there and also shared their ideas.

Buntal hat weaving is a very common activity among women - mothers and grandmothers- in Lucban. These women do the weaving at home alone or with their kumares in the neighborhood during their usual chikahan sessions, as Nanay Tita confessed. These women, like my generous respondents, also learned the skill from their mothers. They do it as their primary job, or as a supplementary money-earning activity.

The buntal fiber as raw material

The main material used for the handicraft is the buntal fiber derived from the buri palm. Endemic to the Philippines, the buri (Corypha elata roxb) is considered as the largest palm in the islands and can grow to up to 20 to 40 meters in height. It has a characteristic large, fan-shaped leaves and stout petioles ranging from two to three meters in length. Its trunk can grow up to 1.5 meters in girth.

Buntal fibers are cylindrical in shape and are extracted from the petioles or palaya of the palm by retting or pulling. These fibers are exported from the nearby town of Siriaya, a known buri fiber production center, and sold in Lucban at P30 per bundle, a quantity enough to make one hat. The buntal fiber is also used for as the raw material for baskets, loom weaving, and in various items as shoes, slippers, coin purses, pen holders, window blinds, wall papers, screen dividers, desk organizers, etc.

Other types of fibers obtained from the buri palm are the raffia, which composes about 90% of fibers derived from the palm and is extracted from the young shoot or leaf, and the buri, which is from the matured leaf. The buri type of fiber is used for making hats, placemats, and bags. Raffia fibers are perfect for upholstery, shoes, slippers, tying materials, portfolio, and a lot more.
Fibers from buri palm are durable, amenable, and long-lasting, making them as one of the most important fibers in handicraft industries. And interestingly enough, not a single part of the palm, much like the closely related coconut tree, is laid to waste. Elegant furniture can be made from the midribs of the palm, fermented toddy from the sap, edible starch from the trunk, "ubud" from the bud, and rosary beads or buttons from hard seeds. The palm is also cultivated in other countries as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Madagascar.

The buntal fiber bought in Lucban are already extracted and bundled by producers in Siriaya. The process of extraction, as the women recounted, is tedious and manual. Some machines are available, but according to them those done through the traditional means are a lot better. The fibers are pulled (hinuhugit) from the petioles of the palm, dried, and bleached. These then sorted out according to fiber size, bundled, and delivered to other towns.

The fibers that are bought in Lucban are yet to be subjected to a selection process before they are woven. The women themselves, using a certain crude implement, further segregate the fibers, a process called pag-iilo. The fine fibers, called pino, are used for the initial phases of weaving that will from the simula, while the coarser fibers, called the bastos, are used to weave the remaining part of the hat or the dahon.

The process of buntal weaving

Paglalala, or buntal hat weaving, is a home-based industry, transmitted from generation to generation, and labor intensive as it requires simple and crude tools. Only women weave, while men are involved mainly in making the implements and in the upstream process of fiber extraction and preparation.

The women describe the weaving process as salin-salin. Using the pino or fine fibers, the tuktok of the hat is made. In order to create a round, flat layer of weaved fiber, a wooden implement called ipitan is used that clips and holds steady the fibers while the first layers of the tucktok are being weaved. After weaving a disc with a diameter of more than 5 '/2 inches, the woven fibers are then transferred into a hulmahan or mold, a cylindrical wooden implement that forms the ulo of hat. Weaving then proceeds by following the shape of the mold until the height of 4 1/2 inches. Then the dahon is weaved using the coarse fibers. It is about 5 '/4 inches in length. These measurements are standard and followed by all the weavers in the area.

An essential part of making the buntal hat is the creation of the butas. These are designs applied to the ulo of the hat. Weavers have their own original designs and these can be outlines of different shapes created by particular patterns of weaving. Nanay Tita, for instance, applies small round designs which she learned from her mother. Nanay Letty, on the other hand, makes use of larger round designs. The finished product is ironed to flatten the dahon and trimmed to remove any excess fiber.

An essential part of making the buntal hat is the creation of the butas. I was amazed by the skill of Nanay Tita and Nanay Letty who both demonstrated the weaving process while I was interviewing them. Interestingly, their fingers have acquired the dexterity which made the weaving seem a second nature for them. With their distinctive Southern Tagalong accent, they spoke and laughed with me as they did the handicraft to which their fingers have accustomed. But Nanay Tita, complaining that she was old already, committed a single mistake that deformed the hat she was doing. Patiently, she unweaved the fiber and repeated the process from the point she made the mistake.

The buntal hat is sold in traditional shops found at almost every street in the town. Buntal hats delivered to these shops are painted with various colors and added with different designs. These hats are also exported.

Buntal weaving as business

Traditional art forms are created for the service of life. However, the buntal hats in Lucban may not seem to qualify as such since these hats are made mainly for business nowadays.

Buntal hat production involves contract labor arrangements or subcontracting arrangements where women weavers are provided with fibers for production and paid for each hat that they produced. The investors, called namumuhunan, pay them P120 for each hat the produce. Nanay Letty can finish one hat in 3 to 4 days, while Nanay Tita, who weaves full-time, can finish one in two days.

Still, the money they earn is not enough to make their daily ends meet. Nanay Tita relied heavily on his husband's farm produce to finance the education of their children while her wages from buntal weaving are only supplementary. Nanay Letty works full time as a laundry woman and weaves only during the night. His husband is also a farmer.

The buntal hat as a traditional art form

Buntal weaving started in Baliuag, Bulacan before World War II. In Lucban, the people claim their sambalilo as their very own and, along with the famous Pahiyas, is a symbol of their town's identity.

Today, buntal hat weaving continues to thrive as a traditional activity in the town, though most women, if not all, do it mainly for motives of wages. In a contractual arrangement where each one is paid according to the number of hats produced, women are left with no opportunities for creativity as what the system resembles is an assembly line were productivity is measured in terms of quantity, not quality.

Nanay Tita and Nanay Letty have each been producing identical hats far a long time, and have not changed the design of the butas which would create uniqueness of the product. It is in the shops where their woven hats are painted and adorned with ribbons and laces.

But personally, I still like the plain buntal hat that truly reveals the ingenuity and intricateness of the handicraft and its creators.

Coda

Buntal hat weaving remains as a traditional activity among some women in Lucban. However, it faces a formidable danger of being forgotten as the younger generation chooses not to learn the craft and as commercialization of the product prevents the women from exercising creativity in their work.

***
I wrote this paper last year for my Fine Arts 28 class which is on Philippine Art Appreciation under Sir Dodo Defeo.

The benefits of leisure

Politicians also have no leisure, because they are always aiming at something beyond political life itself - Power and glory, or happiness.

-Aristotle


Interesting! This morning, while cleaning the shells on display at home (they have turned dusty gray), I learned something new about how they actually grow. Most shells (if not all) grow their shells clockwise. That is why you can see distinctive clockwise patterns in them. Interestingly enough, you can also note, especially in some species (e.g. gastropods), their sizes before they assumed their present size. Try observing your shells on display at home, you'll be amazed. That's something new I learned today! Truly, leisure time (too much of it) brings a lot of learning.

Risk management, anyone?

The secret of life? The secret's in the sauce.

- tagline of Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)

I'm excited. I'm just days away from employment in another - and far better - bank. I have one final interview left before finally saying goodbye to the unemployed sector of which I have been a desperate member for more than two months.

And the job? Risk management. Alright, it's the same job as Ben Stiller's in the movie Along Came Polly. Well, I just hope everythings goes well in my interview next week with the American group head for risk management in South East Asia who is based in Singapore.

Right now I'm reading about - guess what? - Financial Risk Management. Wikipedia really comes in handy, especially for totally ignoramus people like me. 

MRT moments

Pasahero 1: Padaan ho.
Pasahero 2: Wala nang lugar. Ang sikip sikip na!
Pasahero 1: Eh, galaw-galaw nang kunit para hindi ma-stroke!

*******

Pasahero1: Galaw ka naman dyan pare, ang sikip-sikip na dito.
Pasahero2: Gago ka pala eh, and sikip na nga!
Pasahero2: Eh gago ka rin!
Ako: (Silently) Mga gago pala tong dalawa...

*******

Pasahero 1: Ang sikip-sikip talaga sa MRT. Ang init!
Pasahero2: Di magtaxi ka na lang kung magrereklamo ka.
Pasahero3: Oo nga, magtaxi ka na lang!
Ako: (Silently) Ang sikip na nga, nakikisawsaw pa sa usapan 'tong isa dito...

Unhappy Meals!

A Chicken McNugget is corn upon corn upon corn, beginning with corn-fed chicken all the way through the obscure food additives and the corn starch that holds it together.

-Michael Pollan, science journalist

I just finished reading an interesting article written by Michael Pollan and published in the New York Times about the prevailing dietary trends of Americans. Entitled Unhappy Meals, the article is fun to read as the author's wit and superb knowledge about the subject will never bore you as you go along the long essay.

You can read it here. It's quite long do, so take your time and grab your favorite vitamin fortified, low salt, low cholesterol, omega3-rich, and preservative-free chips -- and find yourself guilty of what Pollan calls Nutritionism.

the previous weeks

The previous weeks have been quite stressful for me. Not that I underwent extreme physical labor. What I experienced were more of disappointments and upturn of unexpected events that made my life more difficult and complicated, at least in this job hunting phase I'm in right now.

While in an interview in Ortigas:

"Is the company earning?" asked the General Manager of a multinational company who gave me a quantitative graph for analysis. I immediately said yes, noticing that the graph showed an increasing trend. That was the start of the booby which until now leaves me clueless as to why it happened to me.

It was as if a total black out closed down the entire circuitry of my brain. I was totally incapable of analysis, much less doing simple arithmetic operations. Imagine, I couldn't even arrive at the answer of - guess what - 5.3/1.06. It took me five minutes (or even more) to compute it. It was really a shame - a big shame on me. I spent four years in the university solving calculus problems and analyzing more complex graphs and just end up clueless as to how to determine simple ratios using arithmetic.

Later on when asked to explain the graph and still clueless, I went on stating the most stupid analysis I have ever made in my entire life. I watched in horror as my interviewee changed his facial expression, as if wondering if I ever am a UP graduate. Nevertheless, I got back on my senses towards the end of the interview and, to my consolation, I did answer correctly some of the questions. But it was too late already to undo what happened earlier. I went home wondering why it all happened. My important lesson: at least I learned that 5.3/1.06 is equal to 5!

During the PAASE international scientific conference in Century Park Hotel:

Being chosen as one of the presentors, I was supposed to speak about my undergraduate thesis. Hours before my presentation, GMA dropped by to deliver her keynote address to the scientific community whom she impressed with promises and financial support (well I do hope that at least half of them will be realized). She also took lunch there. Upon leaving, I was one of those who shook her hands (talk about being shtar shtruck! Hehehe).

When it was my turn to present, I was really very nervous. I thought that a three-day preparation was not enough, especially that I was going to talk in front of scientists from here and abroad. But thank God, everything went well. During the Q&A portion, the question asked by Dr. Baldomero Olivera (who, by the way, is this year's Harvard Scientist Awardee) was the one I expected the most: What is semidominant mutation? Thus, I gave the perfect answer (modesty aside, ahemm).

But the thing is that because of my trying too look and speak excellently in the conference, I’m now offered a job by Dr. Olivera and Dr. Concepcion in the Marine Science Institute of UP Diliman. They wanted me to join their group on their research on Conus and Turrid snails. Undoubtedly, these creatures are among the very amazing invertebrates on earth. They are very venomous (and many people don’t know about this) and live all throughout the archipelago (shallow or deep sea water). There have been reported incidents of people dying or injured because of these snails. More importantly, these snails hold a lot of promise for drug discovery – their venom is rich with a plethora of pharmacologically active peptides.

Surely, research work is very noble, intellectual, and, in the Philippine setting, very patriotic. However, I can’t see myself doing it. Though I finished molecular biology, I am now more inclined to pursue a career in the corporate world. And honestly, finding one is very difficult provided my background in science and my lack of technical knowledge in accounting and business. But I’m really trying hard to get a good job. Hopefully I’ll start working again in two weeks’ time.

Hence, I might not accept the job offer though I admire the efforts of Filipino scientists to advance science and research in the country amidst tremendous challenges. Indeed, what the Philippines needs is a robust scientific and research background to make it competitive. Yet, Filipino scientists and researchers, in spite their international fame and significant contribution to science, remain the most underpaid professionals in the country. How I look with utmost respect many scientists I meet in UP, but can’t resist feeling sorry over how their intellectual value is deemed insignificant by a society too preoccupied with other concerns, valid or not. They should also be called bagong bayani. I hope the government and the Filipino people will realize this soon, lest more and more Filipino talent, ingenuity, resource, and opportunity to excel in the international arena will be lost.

Presently:

Today is Ash Wednesday so I already heard Mass this morning. Earlier this morning I was observing the bird couple nesting in our garden. They're now teaching their fledglings how to fly! I’m now on my way to an interview in Makati in a company involved in mass media. Wish me luck!

IDENTIFICATION OF A TRUNCATING MUTATION IN THE HOMEODOMAIN (HD) OF PAX3 IN THREE GENERATIONS OF A FILIPINO FAMILY WITH WAARDENBURG SYNDROME TYPE 1

Part of a scientist's duty is to inform people - in layman's terms -
scientific breakthroughs that are relevant to society and to each one.
Thus, while preparing for an oral presentation this week for an international
scientific and engineering conference (PAASE), I thought it's good to post
the abstract of my undergraduate thesis.

Enjoy reading!

**********

IDENTIFICATION OF A TRUNCATING MUTATION IN THE HOMEODOMAIN (HD)
OF PAX3 IN THREE GENERATIONS OF A FILIPINO FAMILY
WITH WAARDENBURG SYNDROME TYPE 1

Andrew Agunod, Jr. and Cynthia Palmes-Saloma, Ph.D.
Laboratory of Molecular and Cell Biology, National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City

ABSTRACT

Waardenburg Syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant genetic disease characterized by defects of neural crest (NC) origin arising from mutations in genes associated with NC cell migration, differentiation, and survival during embryogenesis. We present three generations of a Filipino family with eight (8) Waardenburg Syndrome type 1 (WS1) affected members showing congenital unilateral or bilateral hearing loss, eye pigmentation defects, patchy hypopigmentation of the skin, white forelock, and dystopia canthorum. Mutations in the PAX3 gene which encodes a trancsription factor have been implicated in WS1. In this study, we screened for mutations in the DNA-binding paired domain (PD) and homoeodomain (HD) of Pax3 in all affected members. The paired domain which is frequently involved in WS1 cases and is encoded by exons 2 and 3 contained no mutations. However, in all affected members, there was a C→T transition in nucleic acid 1033 (C1033T) resulting to a nonsense mutation in codon 233 (R223X) affecting the homeodomain region, thus indicating that a mutation in one of the alleles of PAX3 is sufficient to cause the repertoire of neural crest abnormalities in WS1-affected individuals.

INTRODUCTION

Waardenburg Syndrome (WS) is an autosomal dominant neural crest abnormality associated with most common cases of congenital deafness. It has an incidence rate of 1 in 40,000 individuals and is known to exhibit wide genetic and clinical heterogeneity [1]. One of the four types of the disease is Waardenburg Syndrome 1 (WS1) which is characterized by dystopia canthorum (lateral displacement of the inner canthi of the eyes), congenital unilateral or bilateral sensorineural deafness, heterochromia irides (defect in eye pigmentation), white forelock, and patchy hypopigmentation of the skin.

The only causative gene associated with WS1 is the PAX-3 gene, coding for a transcription factor expressed by developing cells during embryogenesis. The neural crest cells that originate from the dorsal region of the neural tube actively express Pax3 which is required for their survival and differentiation into various tissues including the neurons in the peripheral nervous system, ganglia in the gut, pigment cells in the skin and eyes, and facial cartilage. PAX-3 is a member of the paired type gene family conserved among different species. It contains a paired box domain, an octapeptide, a homeodomain, and a Ser-Thre-Pro-rich COOH terminus. The paired box domain and homeodomain are conserved regions that bind to DNA and are essential for proper functioning of the Pax3 transcription factor which directly activates, in synergy with Sox10, the MITF gene that encodes another transcription factor critically involved in melanocyte differentiation through its action on tyrosinase gene expression [2]. Mutations in the Splotch locus of chromosome 1 in mice generate an animal model for WS1.

Sequence analysis of more than 90% of individuals with WS1 showed mutations in the PAX3 gene varying from simple single point mutations to large deletions. Mutations are numerous in the conserved regions of the paired box and homeobox regions found in exons 2-4 and 5-6 respectively. Knowledge on how these mutations caused the phenotypic characteristics seen in WS1 as well as the epistatic relationship between MITF and PAX3 have provided new insights on the role of genetic factors in the emergence of a disease phenotype that could help in the prognosis and management of the disorder.

In this study, we show that WS1 in three generations of a Filipino family is due to a C → Ttransition mutation in nucleic acid 1033 (C1033T) in the homeodomain region of one of the alleles of PAX3 resulting to a stop codon TGA in amino acid 233 of the transcription factor.

METHODOLOGY

Identification of a WS1 family. A three generation family with WS1-affected members was diagnosed by physicians studying pigmentary defects and was referred to us for further genetic workup. Affected individuals exhibited dystopia canthourm, a defining feature for WS1. Blood samples were collected from eight (8) available members of the WS1 family. A written consent was signed by the family members granting the researchers permission to use pertinent data and photographs for research publication purposes.

Genotyping and sequence analysis. Total genomic DNA was extracted from whole blood using Wang’s method. Primers were designed to amplify exons 2, 3 and 4, coding for the paired box, and exons 5 and 6 for the homeodomain of Pax3. Primers were designed to anneal at the intron-exon boundaries. Large scale PCR amplification was performed and the resulting products were gel-purified using Wizard® Minicolumn (Promega). Direct DNA sequencing using ABI-PRISM™ 377 DNA sequencer was then performed for all the samples. Sequences obtained were analyzed using Chromas™, Sequencher™ version 4.0.5 (Gene Codes Corporation, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA) and Multalin™ (Corpet, 1988; http://prodes.toulouse.inra.fr/multalin/multalin.html). The PAX3 reference sequence was obtained from the Ensembl (www.ensembl.org) database.

RESULTS and DISCUSSION

Waardenburg Syndrome Type 1 is a genetic disease characterized by defects in neural crest cells during embryogenesis and has an occurrence of 1 in 40,000 individuals worldwide [3]. The pedigree of the three-generation family in this study exhibits an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance, confirming early investigations. There are 8 WS1-affected members in the family. The proband (II-5) has an affected father (II-1) and 3 of her siblings (II-1, II-10, and II-12), including herself, are also affected. Two (2) out of her 4 children (III-4 and III-6) inherited the disease while all the children of her normal siblings did not show any signs of WS1 (Figure 1 A). This pattern of inheritance where 50% of the children of an affected parent inherits the disease is characteristic of an autosomal dominant disorder.

Waardenburg syndrome is known to exhibit wide clinical heterogeneity due to differences in disease penetrance [1]. Affected members shows variable degrees of skin hypopigmentation, hearing loss, and eye and hair pigmentation abnormalities (Figure 1B). All were diagnosed with dystopia canthorum which is the defining feature for WS1. The full blown WS1 phenotype was observed in the sister and daughter (middle photo, Fig 1B) of the proband, who are both deaf-mute due to profound bilateral deafness, and have blue eyes and distinctive white forelocks. These symptoms were completely absent in normal members. The phenomenon of WS1 disease penetrance remains highly unclear. Moreover, while it was observed that some individuals with the same PAX3 mutation have varied phenotypes, there are those with a single base mutation and whole gene deletion that have similar features [4]. Nevertheless, genetic background and nonrandom environmental factors are pointed out to influence disease etiology [5].

The paired domain region is a critical binding domain of PAX3. Since the paired domain is upstream of the homeodomain, an abrogation at exon 2, 3 or 4 can lead to the abrogation of the homeodomain as well. Though mutations are numerous in both areas, mutations in the paired domain seemed more critical and more frequent in studies of WS1 families. PCR amplification of exons 2, 3 and 4 from the proband yielded fragments of 330, 312 and 382 bps, respectively. Products from exons 2 and 3 were gel-purified and sequenced. DNA sequences were visualized and edited using Chromas™ and sequence alignment was performed using Multalin™. The two exons subjected to direct sequencing revealed clean chromatograms with no indication of any sequence variations from the control. This result indicates that the paired domain of the proband is unaffected and suggests the existence of mutation(s) in some other part of the gene.

Primers FP and RP designed to amplify exon 5 showed products 240 bp in size. Products of the same size and intensity were amplified for all samples (Fig. 2A), eliminating the possibility of a large-scale deletion in the gene. Direct sequencing of Pax3 exon 5 DNA from the proband revealed a double peak for C and T as shown in Fig. 2B. The wild type C is located at nucleic acid 1033 and is part of codon 233 coding for arginine. Substitution by a mutant T (C1033T) in the sequence results to a stop codon (R223X) truncating the protein. PCR products were also sequenced indirectly by cloning in TOPO® vector. Sequencing revealed two alleles: a wild-type exon 5 with a C at nucleic acid 1033, and a mutant allele with a T at the same location (Fig. 2C). The same non-sense mutation was first described by Baldwin et al. [4] and is documented in the Human Gene Mutation Database (HGMD CM984205 www.hgmd.cf.ac.uk) as one of the causative mutations of WS1. This truncating mutation is detrimental to the proper functioning of Pax3 as it produces a protein without a DNA-binding homeodomain. Fortin et al [6] showed that the paired domain and homeodomain regions of Pax3, though individually possessing different sequence preference and high affinity as modular units, function interdependently and cooperatively in binding DNA in vivo. This implies that a mutation in either domain can lead to an impaired or dysfunctional transcription factor.

Direct sequencing of samples from other members of the family showed the presence of the same transition mutation C1003T in all WS1 individuals. The father, sister, son2, and daughter are heterozygous at the same region in the chromatogram while the unaffected husband, son1, and son3 demonstrated normal peaks (Fig. 3). This showed that the heterozygous allele C1033T was inherited by the proband from the father and was passed on to the third generation of her family.

One of the known functions of Pax3 is to transactivate the expression of MITF which is known as the master gene for melanogenesis (OMIM 156845). An impaired Pax3 affects the development of neural crest cell-derived melanocytes due to deficient levels of expression of the MITF gene that codes for a transcription factor which directs the expression of genes indispensable for melanocyte development such as the tyrosinase gene, TRP1, and TRP2 [2]. Melanocytes are responsible for pigmentation in the skin, eyes, and hair. They also form part of the cochlea of the inner ear. This explains the disease phenotype of WS1 patients where patients suffer from pigmentary anomalies in the skin, hair, and eyes and partial or bilateral hearing loss. Dystopia canthorum is present in almost all cases of WS1 and is considered as the defining feature for the genetic disorder. The phenotype is a direct consequence of mutations in Pax3 which is involved in the proper formation of facial structures.

In mice, a homozygous mutation in PAX3 is embryonic lethal due to an impaired development of the central nervous system. In humans, heterozygous PAX3 mutations lead to WS3, a more severe type with limb abnormalities. In another study, Pax3 was revealed to act in synergy with Sox10 in transactivating MITF expression [7].This provided an explanation for the molecular basis of WS4, another WS variant with additional feature similar to Hirschsprung Disease, implicating SOX10.

Primers designed to amplify the paired and homeodomains have been demonstrated to successfully amplify the desired regions from both wildtype and affected individuals. These primers can be excellent tools for screening for mutations in the Pax3 gene of WS1 patients.

CONCLUSION

Waardenbrug Syndrome Type 1 (WS1), a rare autosomal dominant disease, is known to be caused by mutations in the PAX3 gene. Pax3, a transcription factor, important for the development of neural crest cells, contains two DNA binding domains, namely the paired box and the homeodomain. Mutations in both regions have been known to cause WS1. The WS1 phenotype was observed in a three-generation family exhibiting defects in neural crest cell development such as eye pigmentation abnormality, skin hypopigmentation, whit forelock, dystopia canthorum, and sensorineural defects. Sequence analysis successfully established that exons 2 and 3 of the preoband was similar to the wildtype control. Direct and indirect sequencing of the homeodomain region of PAX3 revealed a heterozygous transition mutation in nucleic acid 1033 (C1033T) that resulted to a nonsense mutation R223X. This point mutation resulted to a truncated protein responsible for the characteristic WS1 phenotype in the three-generation family.

REFERENCES
(1) Waardenburg PJ. 1951. A new syndrome combining developmental anomalies of the eyelids, eyebrows and nose with pigmentary defects of the iris and head hair and with congenital deafness. Am Jorn of Hum Genetics 3:195-253.
(2) Bondurand N, Pingault v et al. 2000. Interaction among Sox10, Pax3, and MITF, three genes altered in Waardenburg syndrome. Hum Nolec genet. 9:1907-1917.
(3) Read AP and Newton VE. 1997. Waardenburg syndrome. J. Med. Genet. 34: 656-665. Retrieved March 21, 2006 from http://jmg.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/34/8/656
(4) Baldwin C, Hoth C, Macina R and Milunsky A.1995. Mutations in PAX3 that cause Waardenburg syndrome type 1: ten new mutations and review of the literature. Am J of med genet 58:115-122.
(5) Morell R, Friedman, TB, Asher JH, Robbins LG. 1997. The incidence of deafness is non-randomly distributed among families segregating for Waardenburg Synsrome type 1 (WS1). J. Med. Genet 34:447-452.
(6) Fortin A, Underhill D and Gruss P. 1997. Reciprocal effectof Waardenburg syndrome mutations on DNA binding by the Pax 3 paired domain and homeodomain. Hum Molec Genet 6:1781-1790.
(7) Potterf SB, Furumura M, Dunn KJ, Arnheiter H, Pavan WJ. 2000. Transcription factor hierarchy in Waardenburg syndrome: regulation of MITF expression by SOX10 and PAX3. Hum. Genet. 107:1-6. Abstract retrieved March 20, 2006 from Pubmed database at http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov

THE CALL

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction." -Albert Eistein

I was about to break down in utter hopelessness when suddenly a call came... Yes the call I have been expecting weeks before. I couldn't believe it, but that was the call, the call that would save me from the oceans of uncertainty.

Now what I have to do is to nurture optimism and get rid of this trifling pessimism that has clouded me for weeks. Andrew, wake up! You got a lot of things to do. Work! Work! Nunc!

JOBLESS BLUES I

Five months have passed since my graduation and I still linger on the nostalgia of my life as a student. Why? Simply because I still don’t know how it feels to be a professional. I still don’t have work!

My last months in the University were very tense: papers, thesis, org activities, and not to mention, a litany of exams which I have to go through before the UP grants me the diploma as passport to the professional world. I survived all of those and even graduated with honors – something which I became really proud of and gave me the impression that I was among the highly in demand graduates of the country. But I was wrong all the while!

Job offers didn’t arrive on a silver platter. My kayabangan, which by the way is typical to some students of the premiere state university, got the better of me when I didn’t start looking for a prospective job months before graduation. I held the impression that companies will compete against one another in hiring me once they know I’m from UP. But it seems that the State University no longer rings a bell. Until now, only a few of the companies I applied to responded.

But in fairness on my part and to my alma mater, my case is more circumstantial rather than due to my incompetence (here goes the kayabangan again). The one and only job I applied to last April was in the National Institutes of Health in UP Manila. I expected immediate hiring because I believed they would not have any doubts on me since I’m UP graduate myself. But UP, as any other government institutions, is a multi-layered bureaucracy. My first interview was on June, my second on July, and my appointment approval by the UP president is still unknown (even the personnel processing my documents are themselves uncertain of how long it will take). For one, applicants accepted last May aren’t yet working up to press time.

So on July I started to look for a job elsewhere and outside the course I finished. Molecular biology and biotechnology graduates in the Philippines (there are only around 30 graduates each year and only from UP) end up in the academe teaching or doing research, medical schools, or graduate schools abroad. Since I didn’t like to teach, didn’t have plans of studying again (still got to earn!), and no longer intend to go to med school (enough of headaches!), my only option was to do research. But pursuing such a career in a Third World country is not at all financially rewarding, not to mention the perpetual process of applying for the job (certificate of eligibility, medical exams, computer exams, two month-long interviews: by the time you start working, your first salary is not even enough to pay what you spent for all these!) Thus, I didn’t have any choice but to cross boundaries and see what’s in store for me in the corporate world.

Thanks to the internet, job seekers now have their best friends: jobstreet.com, jobsDB.com, and a lot other job websites seeking to help desperate job hunters in this country of around two million people unemployed (count me in!). These sites are where major companies (except for a select few) advertise their job vacancies and accept applications from job seekers who create and deposit their resumes online.

Through these websites I applied in top companies as Nestle, Unilever, Abbott Laboratories, San Miguel Corporation, Procter&Gamble, and so on. But I only received replies from a few companies because most of the job vacancies are in finance and marketing totally unrelated to my course in college, but not at all alien to me.

Since high school, business and economics have been among my interests along with science. But thanks to Discovery Channel and The National Geographic, my penchant for science – specifically molecular biology and medicine – flourished while my liking for anything that has to do with money drowned into the depths of today’s scientific revolution.

Have I got any regrets then? None at all! Molecular biology has been very exciting for me. I never thought that I will be doing the same stuff as the scientists I saw in TV when I was a kid. The DNA, immunology, cloning, molecular genetics, PCR, ELISA: only a privileged few – at least in a country like ours – are given the chance to learn these in lectures and experiments that often involve very expensive gadgets and reagents. I also had excellent company around; the best professors and the brightest blockmates (we have four summa cum laudes in the batch!). Taking the course taught me discipline in my studies and making good use of my time.

During these days, how much I long for the day when I start working. As each day passes, I get more and more desperate; but something inside tells me that the right job for me is coming. This leaves me thinking when that job is coming, and what a lot of stress it gives me!

*Written sometime August of last year. Watch out for Part II.