Who better than a Filipina American friend to tell us her story — for first timers, vacationers, eco-tourism aficionados, or homesick travellers to the Philippines? When I received Carol’s e-mail a few months ago, I was so fascinated by her “talk story” that I just had to ask if I could feature her e-mail as the first travel diary to be showcased at RadiantView.com.

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August 26, 2007

This morning, I received an e-mail from one of my friends in the Filipina Women’s Network 2006 Future Search Summit google group about the Malu Fernandez fiasco. I decided to write a blog entry a week after the Pinoy blogosphere rocked cyberspace with the story. This is because I wanted to find out what gifts we received from this miserable situation.

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August 15, 2007

In my marketing, public relations, community service, and event management worlds, the keyword “sexy” means “attractive,” “appealing,” “hip,” “trendy,” “in vogue,” “fashionable, “in style,” “contemporary” and all the positive adjectives you can think of.

Dr. Belen Lardizabal-Dofitas, a gorgeous, multi-talented Filipina mom (a.k.a. my youngest sister) from Quezon City, Philippines breastfeeds her almost-five years old son, Matthew. When Belen was in Oxford, England last year for three months, upon her return to the Philippines, Matthew couldn’t wait to get his fill of mother’s milk. Mind you, Matthew has been my favorite poster child since he was born. When he barely turned two years old, Matthew and I bonded — and guess what, it was about constructing sentences in the English language, with the correct subject and verb placements. I could see the “aha!” lightbulb expression on his face as we cheered him during our Christmas English lessons… But I am digressing! Matthew is Belen’s fourth breast-fed child, and yes, he’ll most likely be breastfeeding when he’s five years old. Mama mia! I asked myself, “When is he going to stop?”

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August 13, 2007

My younger Filipina sister, Myrna Lardizabal de Vera, is back from Italy where her family took a well-deserved vacation. We talked about the wonderful adventures they had in Sorrento and Rome — including a surprise performance for their group by noted opera singer, Andrea Bocelli, and a visit to the Vatican Palace. I cannot wait to check out the 500-plus photos of their summer vacation!

Before she left for Italy, Myrna informed me that I could now see her in action from the convenience of my laptop computer. Really! I finally made the time to watch a video of a typical Planning Commission meeting she chairs in the dynamic city of Hercules, California. Ever since she took her oath of office as an appointed commissioner two years ago, I had not been able to attend a commission meeting. In April of 2007, after serving a few months as Vice-Chair and Acting Chair, Myrna de Vera was voted by the Commission as the new Chairperson. I’m so proud to be a witness of her leadership, courtesy of the internet. My heart goes out to Myrna since I know that she wholeheartedly studies and reviews the issues and plans of the city’s development in accordance with the Master Plan and prepares thoroughly for every commission meeting. Yes, democracy in action!

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