Congrats to the 2009 nursing board exam passers!

Results of the November 2009 Philippine nursing board exams have just come out and we would like to congratulate the country’s new batch of nurses who passed. The bad news is that only 40 percent of the 94,462 graduates who took the nursing licensure exams made it. I wonder what options there are for those not in the list. Either they will try again in the 2010 licensure examinations, continue to work in hospitals or try their luck as caregivers where no license is required.

Most of those in the list of topnotchers come from little-known universities in the provinces. For example, this year’s top spot went to Clarie Morales Bontol of Iligan Medical Center College Inc. No. 2 was Noel Bryan Cueto of Lyceum Batangas and on No. 3 was Dickson Araza Laude of St. Scholastica’s College of Health Sciences-Tacloban. This only means one thing.. You don’t have to be in Manila and study in an expensive nursing school here to get good education as a nurse. So far, the only school in Manila to figure prominently in the top 10 passers of the 2009 nursing board exams is the publicly-run Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.
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Mayon Volcano now on Alert Level 4, major eruption forecast within days

As of 2:30 p.m. today, December 20, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has raised the warning for Mayon Volcano from Alert Level 3 to Alert level 4. This indicates that a major Mayon eruption won’t happen by New Year, as earlier predicted. Phivolcs now says a “hazardous explosive eruption is now possible within days.”

As a result, the government’s seismic and volcano agency has further extended the danger zone to 8 kilometers from the summit at the southern sector and 7 km at the northern sector.
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Possibility of Mayon Volcano eruption is high – Phivolcs

Photo credit: Manila Bulletin

It’s Christmas in barely one week, and I feel for our countrymen in the Bicol Region, specifically those in Albay province, who are having sleepless nights over the possibility of a Mayon Volcano eruption. We don’t think, at this point, that they’re rejoicing over the holidays.

As of the latest bulletin from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) today, Dec. 19, humans and human activity are still not allowed in the identified 6-KM radius Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ) as well as the 7-km Extended Danger Zone (EDZ). In addition, areas that are within 8 kilometers of the crater have been warned to look out for “increased volcanic activity.”
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Requiem for victims of the Maguindanao massacre

The bad news that greeted the nation last Monday affected me so much that I didn’t have the strength to blog about it until now. Still couldn’t believe that something of that horrific magnitude could happen in this day and age, in this supposedly democratic country. I could only manage to write something on my Facebook wall, and my friends joined me in condemning the incident as barbaric and cowardly, indeed. Some couldn’t resist throwing in expletives or two. The general mood was one of anger and indignation, even though most didn’t personally know the people who met their tragic fate.

I am of course referring to the Nazi-style execution of a group of journalists, lawyers and family members who were supposed to file a certificate of candidacy in behalf of aspiring Maguindanao governor Datu Esmail “Toto” Mangudadatu. The suspects are the rival Ampatuan clan who is presently lording it over Maguindanao politics. With the incident, I don’t know whether they will still lord it for long. It was sheer stupidity on their part to do something as brazen, when they know the whole world is watching. They’ve also caused extreme embarrassment to the Arroyo government. Even when their political dalliance with President Arroyo is strong, the public and even international groups as high as the United Nations will hold everyone accountable for what happened.

Even worse is the incident’s implications to the idea of a free press in the country. One of the fatalities was Mindanao reporter Bong Reblando of Manila Bulletin, the newspaper I write for. I’ve met Bong once or twice when I still worked for the newspaper full time. It was kinda surreal conjuring images of someone you met before and then equating it with violence. Media is a small world after all, and the other journalists who talked or dealt with the victims on a regular basis were simply stunned. It appeared that the journalists who went with the convoy were invited precisely because it was thought that they would deter any violent plan from Mangudadatu’s political rival. Turns out even the “Media/Press” badge wasn’t enough to spare them from the tragedy.

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October 2009 CPA board exam results: 2,888 out of 6,929 pass

The results of the October 2009 board exams given by the Board of Accountancy is out and am glad that the daughter of a friend who studied in one of Manila’s leading universities was one of those who passed. Passing rate was 41.68% which means there were still more who failed than passed this tough exam

Congratulations to the country’s new batch of accountants! Without a doubt, this remains one of the exacting and demanding professions there is and they deserve to be taken care of. Businesses wouldn’t be running soundly and anomalies wouldn’t be uncovered without them, right? Accountants also remain very much in-demand in the Philippines and abroad… especially the latter where the most talented number crunchers have relocated.

Judging from the top passers of the latest board exam results, it seems being called a top accountant isn’t any more the monopoly of top universities in Manila like UP, De La Salle-Manila, UE and UST. This year’s CPA board exam topnotchers come from reputable universities in the provinces.
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A People Power funeral shaping up for former President Aquino

Over in Barrio Siete, I talk about how a People Power funeral is shaping up for the late Former President Cory Aquino who will be buried beside her husband Ninoy later today at the Manila Memorial Park. The Aquino family has eschewed state honors so her remains can spend some time in church (Manila Cathedral), being known as deeply religious in her lifetime. Judging from the throngs of people who paid their respects and lined up in the streets the past few days, there’s no preventing Tita Cory’s admirers and supporters from flocking to the cemetery to attend her burial, despite the threat of wind and rain.

These pictures are kinda late, but this is what I took of the crowd and the Aquino funeral cortege which passed by in front of our office building in Roxas Boulevard the other day. The crowds may not have been as thick as the one on Ayala Avenue, but it was overwhelming just the same. I can’t describe the feeling, but we certainly didn’t mind waiting for a long time just for a glimpse of her casket and her outspoken celebrity daughter Kris.

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Ted Failon’s wife dies, Korina is engaged. What will happen now to Tambalang Failon at Sanchez?

Just came home from a late-night gathering to read the news that Ted Failon’s wife, Trinidad Arteche Etong, died at 8:25 p.m. last night. If indeed she committed suicide, I had hoped she’d recover ( like a relative of ours who did the same thing and recovered). That would have shed light on this issue which is turning like a circus by the day.

The police treatment of the family and members of the household is quite unnerving. I agree with the viewpoints of some that the family, including the maids, should at least be given time to reflect, compose themselves and most of all GRIEVE. They can be held accountable at the proper time. Failon has so far tested negative of gunpowder and their daughter has spoken that the financial problems of her mother was behind it all. Politics should be left in another forum and not in this hour of need.

At about the same time that the “shooting” of Failon’s wife hit the news, so was Korina Sanchez’s engagement to Sen. Mar Roxas announced also yesterday. I did check the Senator’s Facebook account but there’s nothing about it yet. News has it that Korina has met the Roxas-Araneta relatives and a formal announcement about their wedding “sometime in 2010″ is expected soon.
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(Another) laptop robbery, this time in S & R Macapagal

I was about to park my car to buy a pair of tires in S & R Macapagal (Aseana Business Park) last night when I chanced upon this angry scene.

A group found out too late that their brand new Montero SUV had been broken in, its glass windows smashed. In a relatively well-lit parking lot with security guards. Losses included a brand new Acer laptop and money in six figures.

The victim (not in picture) was mainly mourning the loss of his laptop, placed in a knapsack, which contained important work records. We learned he’s a vice president of Volvo cars based in Singapore.

It seems only a few weeks ago when we wrote here the rash of laptop robberies in vehicles. This is the reason why I’d never venture out of the house these days with the Mac, even for the sole reason of “looking good while using wi-fi in a tony coffeeshop.” The prevailing moral lesson is that you should never leave your laptop and other gadgets in your car, even if you just have to pee for five minutes, or less.
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So long, Joe Capadocia

I was quite shocked to read the news this morning that one of the presidential choppers went missing. One of the passengers, Joe Capadocia, was someone I’ve known since the 80s, one of the few colleagues in media who eventually got appointed to sensitive positions in government. Prior to his untimely fate, he was Press Undersecretary of the Arroyo administration who treated his job of supervising media coverages like he was still tenaciously covering the beat.

Joe Capadocia was one of the first grizzled veterans I saw in the newsroom of the old Roces-owned Manila Times, back when I was a third year journalism student and just starting to get my feet wet in the media. As our defense reporter, he was so serious with his job and pursued it with a passion. There was a time when I wasn’t pleased because I wrote a typhoon report and it was only his byline that made it. JoeCap always wore a vest with many pockets in them and smoked cigarettes like crazy. I recall those days when the internet was unheard of, or even unthought of and news stories were dictated over the phone, then transcribed in the noisy typewriters of yore.
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