Because of the recent reformatting of our computer and of my continued pursuit of excellence (wohow!) in the academe, I am now busy updating, rearranging, cleaning, and managing everything in our computer. I have added several software components that handles my voluminous files much improved than the ones I have before. I need to bring back all our files (literally!) to each respective location as [same] as before so as to maintain how it was treated by my siblings. Now we're subscribed to Trend Micro PC-Cillin and Norton Antivirus Protection Centers as big replacements to our McAfee. These two are nasty and I need to overhaul all the settings. To enhance our productivity in Windows basics, I need to update our office to Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 edition (I am actually eyeing for the Groove product and OneNote). I now upgraded to μTorrent from BitTorrent for its ease of torrent assemblies and assignations. I, for now, rejected the service of Mozilla Firefox so as to give chance to the latest Internet Explorer and to avail its hottest addition: the Silverlight (I love it!). Who am I to forgot Windows Live?! Without the Live Writer, for example, I could have not written down good and manageable blog entries! Their interface is astonishing as ever! Now, I have some of the heavy packages from Adobe: Photoshop CS3, Bridge CS3, Stock Photos CS3, among others. Aside from the ever-reliable Windows Movie Maker, I purchased the Ulead MediaStudio Pro 8.0.

Well, these are just some of the things I am managing.

How hateful of me if I will not include my latest installed games: NBA Live 08 and Command and Conquer: Generals: Zero Hours. I know these are some fairly old games (will I exclude 08?) but these games are a must for me.

I am listening to the 3rd movement of Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 16 by Edvard Grieg while typing this blog entry.

I am really impressed on the step-by-step development/improvement of one of my favorite website: Good News Pilipinas. I am pleasured to have witnessed this website from their humble beginning--well, I am not sure if that was really their moment of setting this up but least to say the website that they have when I learned of their existence was, well, quite undermanned--to present where they account thousands of viewers (mostly Filipinos) from different parts of the globe. This could not be possible if not for Filipinos who greatly care for our country and that their aim of reaching the good news achieved by fellow Filipinos to every Filipinos across the world. I am simply exhilarated, I may admit, about their addition of comments box in every article (that is, managed by the WordPress.org). The number of authors and independent contributors have also increased. Advertisements now lined the website, if not dotted.

In months or so, number of people that will comment on every article might increase exponentially--not exactly the same as that of YouTube. Also, all levels of Filipinos in terms of living might get involved in collective reading because I have serious reason that majority of readers of this website land on class A, B or C. Anyway, that is not important.

Oh, GoodNewsPilipinas, as I heard it, was in an electronic board/signage at Makati Business District. Seems as if they're targeting investors/foreigners.

As for everyone, read every article in this website*. This may help in enriching our "sleeping" nationalism and love for country.

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*you're stupid if you'll think I'm referring to Convivial Recluse.

This blog entry was written while listening to Enya's Watermark and Cursum Perficio.

1. The Miami Heat, the 2006 champions, ended up garnering the lowest spot even when the Western and Eastern Conference combined. They are plagued with injuries.
2. Shaquille O'Neal could not take the Miami Heat, anymore, that he transferred/was traded to Phoenix Suns. Probably he dislikes being not able to play at the playoffs or that he finds Dwayne Wade too soft--he's a injury-prone player to the highest level. The trade consisted of big-time player Shawn Marion who has been one of Phoenix Suns' carrier. I wonder if D'Antoni got carried-away with O'Neal.
   
3. The Houston Rockets won 22 consecutive games! They have the most number of consecutive wins behind The Los Angeles Lakers of the '80s (or '70s?) with 33. Also, they were able to tied[-up] with the New Jersey Nets (of 2004) with the most number of consecutive wins with double-digit lead against their opposing team--that is, 10.
4. The overrated LeBron James is this season's scoring champ! He averaged 30.0 points per game while Kobe, the second placer and last season's scoring champion, got 28.3 points per game.
5. Steve Nash was now overthrown in the assists industry. Chris Paul, my soon-to-be-favorite and will likely be this season's MVP, beat him by a margin of 0.4 assists! He averaged 11.6 assists per game.
6. Oh my, the Lakers are back! They reigned supreme in the crowded and powerful Western Conference by grabbing 57-25 win-loss record.
7. The Boston Celtics had finally regained its position at the top of the Eastern Conference for decades by having to win this season's highest win-loss record: 66-16. They are six-game short of Chicago Bulls record during the late 1990's of 72-10.
8. The eight-placer at the Western Conference, the last seed to contend for the playoffs, has got 50 wins! That was attained by Denver Nuggets. By comparison to their Eastern counterpart, the Atlanta Hawks, that only got 37-45. This record was (I am not so sure here) the highest since the Phoenix Suns of the '80s attained such. (I am really not sure here; I do not have time for research for I am only renting a computer.)

The thick playoffs push are happening at the Western Conference. With nine teams struggling to get their target spot at the top eight, this season's probably the craziest for the Western Conference in years. Let's look at this great conference at greater depth:

The New Orleans Hornets (55-24), the conference's sole owner of number one spot, trails behind Los Angeles Lakers for just a half-game (55-25) and just one game to its co-division teams San Antonio Spurs (54-25) and Houston Rockets (54-25). Imagine the fifth placer, Houston Rockets, are just one game behind New Orleans Hornets--that's really incredible. Alright, let's look at the standing to get a better picture:

If there's Western, why there's no Eastern? I think the answer's been suggested by this blog's title.

Look at the second image! My oh my! They're really pushing for the position for them to get their home-court advantage! The top nine team's are simply incredible... they're neck-to-neck!

All this teams have three games remaining. With that, Phoenix Suns, current owner of the sixth spot, can still make it to the first place provided that they will win all their three remaining games while the New Orleans Hornets losing their three remaining games (of course, this observation excludes the teams between them). That's how competitive these teams are! And look at the seventh to ninth placers, they're all vying for the seventh spot and eighth spot (being which the eighth spot will be included in the playoffs while the ninth will be eliminated). That's why the bout between Golden State Warriors and the Denver Nuggets yesterday's very much important!* If in case the Denver Nuggets will close their standing at the end of the season having 50+ wins, that could be the first time in the history of NBA an eighth placer got 50+ wins--that is about .61+ percentage!

Alright, a reader might wonder why the Utah Jazz is the current fourth place when their win-loss statistics is lesser than that of the Houston Rockets and the Phoenix Suns. The answer is that Utah Jazz is the first placer of its division, the Northwest Division (and now they're clinched--that means they can never be outpaced by the team next to it, the Denver Nuggets). And to give credit to such, the NBA made it a rule to give division clinchers a better standing or, let's say, bonus. If the case that Dallas Mavericks has got a better standing than the Utah Jazz, the Utah Jazz still got the better standing. Here, we can see that Dallas Mavericks is just third at the Southwest Division--the most competitive division of the NBA; where the famed Texas-Triangle teams** plays.

Now, let's look at the ever-strong Southwest Division. The division still has got no clinched team since the Houston Rockets, New Orleans Hornets and San Antonio Spurs are still vying for it. If ever the Houston Rockets will win two of their last three games while the San Antonio Spurs will only win one and the New Orleans will lose all, then the Houston Rockets will hold the position for the top team in the Southwest Division and, with this, will be given credit and they're only chance of getting in to the fifth or fourth or third place is zero. Why zero? Because their standing will be better compared to Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz.

Well, enough of all this stuff. Let's do some realizations about how great this conference is.

The conference is home to:

1. The greatest active player and current second leading scorer in the league, Kobe Bryant,
2. my favorite team, the Houston Rockets,
3. my favorite player, Tracy McGrady,
4. the top four assist-men: Chris Paul, Steve Nash, Deron Williams, and Jason Kidd,
5. teams with great win-loss standing (Denver Nuggets, the Western Conference's current holder of the eight spot, could be the holder of the fourth spot at the measly Eastern Conference),
6. the-nation-with-the-largest-population's Yao Ming,
7. top seven scoring leaders except the overrated LeBron James,
8. in general, NBA's best players (I'm quite bias here),
9. among others.

Well, that's just it. I cannot think of anything to brag about this conference anymore. If only I have the patience to draw such a system of making lists, I could have had fifty.

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* The Denver Nuggets won that game 114-105.
** Houston, San Antonio and Dallas are located at Texas, USA.

Just an addition, I am thinking of including in my every blog entries the music/song that I am listening to while writing the blog. Alright, I'll start the soon-to-be-tradition on this post.

This blog is written while listening to Susumu Hirasawa's Yume no Shima Shinen Kouen, Ayako Ikeda's Sora no Kakera, Kuniaki Haishima's Make It Home, and Susumu Hirasawa's The Girl In Byakkoya.

For the record, I have been a member of Friendster--a social network service--since first year high school; that is, more or less seven years. My first Friendster account was made by my elder sister using her e-mail account. At first, I find it hard to digest its purpose--on how one can weigh the site's name with our social life, on how will it be possible for people to be "friends" on the web, on how will it make me happy, among others. Of course, those questions are just as usual to our [third world] country--developed countries have had those sort of online social services since the early 1900s. It has, indeed, taken the Philippines by storm. Almost all people had had their Friendster account. Some even used it as their official chat- and e-mail-machine minus the attachments. In extreme cases, some people used it as their output on how they want or dreamed themselves to become. Because most of my immediate friends have also their Friendster account, I need to indulge myself to this one. My Friendster URL [here] has become one of my most-visited and most-updated site. I have had this hidden urge of always updating my account, of filing up all the information and garnering testimonials. Of course, my indulgence can never be compared or be synonymous with addictiveness. I am, with air of confidence and self-said, just an average user.

Just as my world wide web world expanding--and eventually overtaking others--so as my search for a better social network service. I have gathered information from some of the top ranking websites who loves hierarchy. I consulted the then unpopular Wikipedia for complete (but untrustworthy) ranking of social network service companies based on numbers of registered members. Of course, it had became my standard of evaluation to weigh each of them since one cannot be popular if it is not good. With this, it came in to my knowledge the existence of MySpace (MySpace was unknown to the Philippines then--until now because of its sheer unpopularity). MySpace is still the largest social network service website in the Internet with which many of its members are from North America and Europe (the Caucasians, the first-world nations). I tried to register there. One thing that took a shot in my critical head is... it's messy. That's the word that I always accompany with MySpace. Tons of services can be found from MySpace--from their very-own video, music, blogs, among others, and those are the things I cannot comprehend very much. Maybe I could have appreciated those if my connection speed was tripled. Another thing that I do not like about MySpace is that they ask many things or that they require to fill-in too many information that some could be seen irrelevant and redundant. That is why my MySpace account never really been updated since I registered. Above all, there are tons of spammers and cyber-squatters (I am not pertaining to the real definition of cyber-squatter). So, I must drop MySpace.

I once tried hi5 and Orkut but, with the same condition as the MySpace, I decline to ride on them. These sites must be blonde-friendly. On that time, I am thinking of sticking to Friendster since it's hype and that I love informing other people of current events through their Bulletin Board. That is relatively easy compared to individual sending of e-mails and that it reach more people. I came on a hiatus. Partly because I indulged myself to online forums and communities that largely deals with my sphere of interests. After some times, with a glimmer on my eyes, an article barked on my head: it's Facebook on Time Magazine.

It's Facebook's era. For a short period of time, Facebook take the Americas and Europe by storm. MySpace, today, is in critical danger of being overtaken. As for me, I LIKE IT. The interface is really good--it's simple. The hyperlinks are user-friendly. Their service, all-in-all, is very good, if not excellent. This is the first website that I had encountered that has great emphasis on connection between schoolmates or simply workmates. This was also the first time for me to feel the urge to convince other Friendster users to switch to Facebook. Of course, that could be quite futile (it turned out to be futile, anyway) since they've absorbed Friendster pretty much. Anyway, I will not delve into this issue with much importance. Alright, I get to fill-in my information here although some are, up to now, pending. I searched for my fellow Filipinos who are already Facebook users and glad to know they're quite many. I am kind of elated, also, to know that Facebook has become one of the tools by psychologists, teachers, even investigators, etc. to know more of a certain people (please do refer to some controversies that had circled Facebook at their article in the newly-facelifted Wikipedia). Online groups here scored better in terms of substance and organizing method. Of course, I cannot exclude many games and chechebureches that jumped to the Facebook bandwagon. Facebook has become, for a moment, my primary social network service carrier [of which I am a member]. Why it's for a moment? Because I became bored. The interface has nothing to do with that nor their service in general. One reason is that many of my Friendster friends did not hopped-on in to it. I am still updating my Facebook account but not that as active and fun as that of its Friendster counterpart.

So I still sticked to Friendster. Not until it came to my knowledge the existence of Uber. I will not disclose how Uber knocked on my doorstep for my pride is at stake. One thing that really tickled me about this site is it's ASTIG and COOL. It's interface has got to be one of my favorite. The ease of joining has been, as I see it, their forte. Initially, one may have to note that the site's just simple or that it specifically caters to music- or video-lovers. Alas, that has not been the case. It actually emerged different from Facebook, Orkut, hi5, MySpace, and Friendster. Here, managing your OWN website is within-reach but quite tedious and inflexible (I am open to improvements since the website's new). What important is you can get to have your own website. It's new so there are only five or six available themes. Another thing is that its weblog service can rival Windows Live Spaces minus the Windows Live Writer and the blog-writing service of Microsoft Office Word 2007. Managing and editing of blog entries, pages, music, and videos are incredibly instilled here. It may, at times, serve as a [new] Photobucket account. Overall, this social network service website got a grade of 1.25.

Up to this moment, I am still contemplating on the issue of my major switch: from Friendster to Uber. If a reader may heed some help, I will wholeheartedly entertain it.

 Wait, did I just included Windows Live Spaces? I think I have sort out some of the reasons why I LOVE Windows Live Spaces from my previous blog (I can't remember it's archive).

Ahh... it's been three or four weeks since I posted my last blog here. I have been so busy these past weeks. And last week's my life's "hellest week".

Hey, how many weeks have I written so far? Five. That five corresponds to five days of no sleeping, minimal eating, no defecation, minimal bath-taking, and tremendous STUDYING. Yes, I have had confined myself to handouts, voluminous books, thick but incomplete notes, and problem sets. Of course, I just could not leave the three ballpoint pens I used during that course and my one-and-a-half yellow paper. Did I just included my brain?

How was it that I have done all these? Well, I must admit, I'm no good a student. Meaning, I seldom study during a semester--and this semester's my worst. My worst being which I spent more than half of this semester sleeping in my bed--that is, according to my roommate who had just graduated. I am guilty for that. Yes, I am, indeed, sleeping my whole time there. There were days were I would not go to all my classes just to sleep or that simply I could not lift my timid body even if my bed's enlaced in three-month-without-washing bed sheet. In some circumstances, I would simply not go to my class and just walk and observe the people and the place (man, my head's like that of a taong grasa). Because of that, I had averaged 6 to 7 absences in all my subjects with excessive numbers in two. These has what characterized my sixth semester here. Oh, I haven't answered the question. Well, I've done all those intense studying because I am chasing for the grade requirement of each of my subjects. Several of them, as what has been instituted in our university, must have at least 60% standing to pass. As for me, it's way below that number and, in correspondence, I need to have way high grades just to compensate for such a stupidly low standing of mine. At least I still have this notion of wanting-to-pass. I do not resort to hopelessness. There were reasons and factors why I have such a stand... Maybe I'll just reveal that next time.

Now, how was the result? It was simply breathtaking. Of that course of days, I have had developed this kind of thinking: ang babaw ng kaligayahan. You cannot imagine I removed successfully three subjects. When I heard of the news that I passed my removal in one of my subject, I covertly exhilarated and thanked my roommates for all their prayers (I've been begging for their prayers whenever I take a exam. Hehe). You see? Before my face will turn to gray whenever I just saw a whole number 2 in my class card. Alas, it's still not over. I have one subject that which the standings will be released this Tuesday. That subject has had made my hair grew on its end ever since. That subject, of all, is the least that I could pass. How I wish I could pass that subject. Why? It's got three subjects next to it. When I failed that one, I'll be a doomed 5-and-a-half-year student.

I swear I will change this thing in me. I swear it to everything.

I think I must do some characterization of my hell week (five days) as to give justice to this blog's title:

1. I average two exams per day,
2. I average one to two hours of sleep every day,
3. I was not able to defecate in five days (that thing complete left my mind),
4. In one of my exam, I came late because I slept during the waning moment of my study session,
5. My bed's seem an ocean of paper and books,
6. Must I include in that ocean dozens of my mango-flavored Nature's Harvest bottle?,
7. My exams averaged five hours. That is, I spend an average of ten hours a day contemplating with exam papers,
8. I took all my subject's final exams (which one can be exempted),
9. I took three removal exams,
10. I walked for several kilometers. It exceeded my average in two weeks (must I say hundreds?),
11. I was only able to take a bath twice (Tuesday and Thursday),
12. I wrote two articles on Tuesday for PI 100 (those were really an emergency and, also, an upset),
13. For the first time, my face's been recognized in our department,

May be that's all I can type for this moment.

Oh my. I am so sorry for being unable to blog about the Celtics' snapping of the Rockets' historic winning streak. I have been so busy these days that I, too, wasn't able to listen to it live. Anyway, I admit that the Celtics deserve the win.

What has been the problem with the Rockets during that game? Let me share my analysis.

First, chemistry failed to happen. As I was watching the Rockets' version of NBA's Where Amazing Happen, I've seen that it was, indeed, their chemistry ("Where Chemistry Happen" segment) that really pulled off this team to the top of the elite Western Conference. It was theorized by many sports analysts and sports writers that McGrady's 11-game absence has blindly provided other Rockets player to step-up and gain much-needed confidence on the floor and make big games and, just to be general, adapt to the up-tempo style of play as incorporated by Rick Adelman. Despite McGrady's return, these players did not waned over their confidence and plays. It was McGrady who adapted to them. With this in hand, their chemistry builds up until it reach the point where NBA have never seen such chemistry going on in a team in recent years. Going back to this paragraph's topic, this chemistry that they painstakingly created and maintained was not sighted at their bout against the Celtics (and I must include their measly defeat against the Hornets). There has been not much passes. They have had only 16 total assists with which McGrady got 8 and their 'point guard', Rafer Alston, only got a useless 1.

Second, T-Mac succumb on pressure. It's very much evident with his ball handling. Whenever he gets doubled or even tripled, he held on the ball. He cannot find an open man which he always do. Of the later part of the winning streak, McGrady's fast. In this game, he slowed. Another is his scoring. He only made 4 field goals of 16 attempts. I am not questioning his heart, as always. I am, still, his fan.

To be continued...

The Great Tracy McGrady from bleacherreport.com

His Rockets are in the middle of a historic 18-game winning streak and haven't missed a beat since Yao Ming's season came to an unceremonious end. They are a mere 1.5 games from 1^st place in the powerful Western Conference, the strongest conference in recent memory. But Tracy Mcgrady is far from having seen that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. That won't happen until his team wins a playoff series. So, just who is Tracy Mcgrady? Does he fit the cliched mode of an underachieving talent? Or is he one of the greatest players this league has ever seen? A closer look at the player reveals that he indeed is closer to the latter than the former.

Tracy Mcgrady is, statistically, one of the greatest playoff performers in the history of the NBA. Mcgrady outshined Vince Carter in the 2000 postseason, when he first made a name for himself by playing tough defense. In the 2001 postseason, he averaged 34, 8 and 7. The following postseason, he averaged 31, 6 and 6. In the 2003 postseason, he averaged 32, 5 and 7 before falling in 7 games to the upstart Pistons, who would win the championship 1 year later. In 2005, he averaged 31, 7, and 7 before falling in 7 to the Mavericks. Last year, he averaged 29, 7 and 6 before falling in 7 to the Jazz, the 2^nd best team in the West, and the team that played the Spurs the toughest. He has averaged well over 1 steal and 1 block in career playoff games as well. Indeed, only a select few have had higher overall career playoff averages. Mcgrady has historically stepped up his game in the big stage. There is no doubt in my mind that, had he stayed in the Eastern Conference, or had better luck and / or teammates, he would have made several deep postseason runs by now.

The verdict, as of right now, 11 years into Mcgrady's hall of fame career, is that his shortcomings are physical, not mental. And by physical, I mean his infamous lower back.

When his back is healthy, Mcgrady is clearly the second best guard in the world, after Kobe Bryant. On some nights, his talent would even make him the best guard in the world. Mcgrady is, historically, one of the league's most productive 4^th quarter players, and, when healthy, has hit game breaking shots at as high a rate, if not higher, than his rival, Kobe Bryant. Mcgrady wants that shot and doesn't shy away from it, and I challenge any reader out there to point out specifically when he has choked in the postseason. Far from it, as I have already pointed out: Mcgrady's issues are not psychological.

When his back is healthy, Mcgrady is unstoppable in his forages to the rim, and his length and creativity allow him to finish. He isn't as compact and explosive as his counterpart, Kobe. He isn't as powerful a finisher as Lebron. He doesn't attack the rim as often as Dwyane Wade. But he is extremely deceptive with his moves, often using fakes to rock his defender the wrong direction. His hands are big enough to cup the ball effortlessly, and his left hand is as good as there is in the game.

Mcgrady is actually a better passer than Kobe Bryant in a half-court set. Part of this stems from the fact that he stands 2 inches taller and can see over double teams. He seems to have marginally better court vision as well, often finding the open cutter or a teammate off ball screens. It is amazing that, throughout the Houston years playing for offensively challenged Jeff Van Gundy, he averaged close to 6 assists a contest and found so many open teammates for layups. He is every bit the passer that Lebron James is, and an even better passer off the ball screen. His handles are impeccable, probably the best handles of anyone 6'8" or taller in the world.

Mcgrady isn't quite the open court player that Bryant, James, and Wade are, and he has to work harder for his buckets. Not only does he get less easy baskets off the fast break, but he settles more for the long jump shot. However, this has more to do with his ailing back (and narrower frame) than with anything else, because he is such a different player when healthy.

Back in the 2002-2003 season, people were debating who was the best guard, and possibly the best player, in the world, Kobe Bryant or Tracy Mcgrady. While it is clear who won that argument, it isn't like Mcgrady has forgotten how to ball since then, even though many detractors will have you believe that Mcgrady has taken steps backwards in his game.

Mcgrady had all of Kobe's moves on offense: the turn-around, rocker step, fadeaway, bank shot, step through, sky hook, the three ball, you name it. In fact, even today, only Mcgrady and Bryant are “complete” offensive players, meaning that they have a counter to every move. Lebron James needs work on his fadeaway when pushed out, Wade needs to learn to finish at the rim going left, and shooting in general, Iverson isn't very effective shooting the pull-up going right, Carmelo can add some range and a left hand, and everyone else isn't close. Mcgrady isn't as efficient overall as Kobe, nor is he as relentless, and his defense isn't at an All-NBA level, and these factors separate the two. But Mcgrady actually makes offense look easier and more effortless, when he draws multiple defenders and sets up an open layup, when he runs the pick and roll with Yao, when he lulls defenders to sleep and strikes from deep – many times he has you scratching your head wondering if he is indeed more talented than that other guy, Bryant.

But back injuries have limited Mcgrady from playing to his full potential. Anyone with chronic back pain and / or spasms know the cancerous effects of them. While you can continue playing, you are less effective. You cannot help but settle for that outside jumper more and more. This isn't some ankle or even knee injury that heals itself, but rather a lifelong injury. People assume that you are playing at full strength, because you aren't sitting out for weeks at a time, but you are only a shell of your full self. This is the reason why over the years Mcgrady hasn't gone to the hole as much, and why he has had to work so hard for baskets.

While the majority of the media, and even some former players, notably Charles Barkley, have called our Mcgrady's mental toughness in this regard, that he settles too much for the outside shot, I must humbly disagree that Mcgrady's problems aren't mental, but physical. He isn't a Vince Carter who doesn't train in the offseason, and he isn't Nick Anderson with some mental storm raining on his head. He isn't some one-dimensional scorer like Alex English or Carmelo Anthony, because he has a complete floor-game and handles the rock better than many starting point guards. Rather, he is a player who, as evidenced by his career playoff statistics and this recent win streak, puts his heart and soul out there as much as his ailing back would allow him to do so. Anyone who has watched him through the years would agree. And, when he is healthy, watch out.

According to basketball-reference.com, Mcgrady's hall of fame probability currently stands at 86%, placing him 10^th overall among active players and 61^th overall historically. Another way of seeing this is that, Mcgrady, all 28 years old of him, has already accomplished enough to rank him 61^st all-time and is virtually a lock for the Hall. He still has many, many good years ahead, and many chances to finally put to rest those first round demons that have haunted him.

written by Mayoclinic 32

One of their rookie and an elite international player pointed this out: "The team is going to go pretty much wherever he takes us," Scola said. "We know that. He's not making 35 points like he used to, but he's making us win. It's like 90 percent because of him. He's making everybody score points. He's making everybody involved. He's making the teams double-team all the time, and he's finding people, and he's making us win."

Adopt-a-School gets P4B from donors

From P400 million in 2006, the Department of Education's "Adopt-a-School" Program last year received a record P4.05 billion, or more than a 900-percent increase, in donations from the private sector.

"That's solid proof that the private sector has been responding well to our call for greater involvement in improving basic education," said DOE.

DECS thanked the program's benefactors even as he appealed for more partners. The program's 2007 figures surpassed the combined P2.09 billion in private sector contributions to the program from 2000 to 2006, according to the DOE.

The program is based on the principles of volunteerism and multiple partnerships for education, was launched in 2000 with the passage of Republic Act 8525.

The contributions went to the DepEd's health and nutrition projects, technology support to education, the reading program, infrastructure, teachers' training and professional development, and direct assistance to students in public schools.

Angelico Mercader, the Adopt-a-School program's officer-in-charge, said this year the aim is to "aggressively mobilize resources for more responsive intervention and for the private sector to prioritize education in their corporate social responsibility efforts."

The program's 2007 partners included, among others, the following firms and non-government organizations:

Fortune Tobacco Corp., Allied Banking Corp., Jollibee Food Corp., McDonald's, Smart Communications, Philip Morris, United Laboratories, Unionbank, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Intel, SM Prime Holdings, Megaworld, D & L Industries, Johnson & Johnson, Colgate-Palmolive Phils., Tan Yan Kee Foundation, Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce, San Miguel Foundation, Coca Cola Foundation, Ayala Foundation, Meralco Foundation, GMA-Kapuso Foundation, ABS-CBN Foundation, Aboitiz Group Foundation, Rotary Club of Manila, La Salle Greenhills, Systems Technology Institute, Habitat for Humanity, and the United Nations Children's Fund

It's really astounding the fact that the donation increased more than 900 percent last year (2007) as compared in 2006. This has to be one huge step in transforming our already decaying education (whatever that may be)--which can be very much attributed to the government--in to a very good one, if not the best one (I have been so general here). Anyway, contrary to all these, it's quite late to see that it's been 7 years since the passage of RA 8525 that reflects on volunteerism and multiple partnerships for education. Perhaps the turmoil sent in by the administration of Joseph Ejercito Estrada and the economic and political instabilities during those years had put effect on this program. But what can we do when the good things are happening right now?

I just hope that the Department of Education will have to handle this huge amount of money with great care as to not tarnish it with any hint of corruption--whether indirect or direct--and to properly budget it as to focus on problems that need most concern. Personally, I want the most of its breakdown be spent on teacher's training and professional development because we lack good teachers--that is, in quality and quantity. Next may be the improvement in infrastructures and better equipping schools with educational tools.

May our children benefit greatly with this.


(Wow! This is my first formal blog for Windows Live Space! )