"Tourism is Everybody's Business"

I will not make criticisms to the initiatives made by the Tourism Council and the Provincial Tourism Office of Negros Oriental. I will just present here some comparisons on what Bohol and Negros Oriental did for making an effective action in promoting their different tourist spots. I hope this presentation will help us to understand our participation in making our province more aggressive in developing our natural and man-made tourist attractions.

Bohol and Negros Oriental are provinces in the same Region. Both provinces are under Region 7 – Central Visayas. Both provinces have something to show in terms of beautiful tourist attractions. Bohol has the chocolate hills, tarsiers, nice beaches, caves and waterfalls. Negros Oriental has caves, beautiful beaches, waterfalls, lakes, university town, and top dive sites. Both are full of resources to show to domestic and foreign tourists. But why is it that Bohol is more successful and developed in terms of their tourism industry compare to Negros Oriental?

The reason why Bohol is more successful with their tourism initiatives adhere towards the involvement of the whole sectors in the plan. Bohol adopted the concept, “Tourism is everybody’s business”. They made awareness what they have starting from the ordinary people up to the right authorities who push tourism industry as the primary source of generating their revenue. They created an environment that the people, government, and private sectors should be focused. They are involved in promoting Bohol. This is the reason why their tourism industry booms.

Experts said that Negros Oriental has a lot of potential tourist attractions and in fact some are already famous. But the problem is the proper coordination of the stakeholders. Some people are not aware of what we have in Negros Oriental and they don’t care about it. Although there are already initiatives being drawn, but there is a problem of implementation and commitment of the projects. The structure is not really clear to everybody. These problems cause a sluggish promotion of Negros Oriental’s tourism industry. These problems have been addressed during several meetings with the SMED Council of Negros Oriental but there are still unanswered questions.

For the province to successfully improve the tourism industry, I think there should be proper coordination of every sector involved in this industry. I remember an owner of a travel agency had a problem with the rainbow plate for their transportation making problems on their services offered to travelers and tourists. I hope this is already addressed. Aside from promoting the tourist spots we have here in the province, the tourism office will look first on the development of the sites, the transportation, accommodation and people within the province will be informed of what we have. If possible people will be involved in planning through their representatives. I commend that the Provincial Government of Negros Oriental has already laid budget for the development of the tourism spots in the province. This is an indication that the provincial government is serious with the improvement of out tourism industry. I hope the people involved here will work their part and serious with what they are doing..

For everybody, we have to help our province. Don’t just be blind, deaf or mute about our province. Be involved. We will do our part as citizen of this province. The government can’t do everything for us. We have to do our share. Everything will be successful if everybody will be involved and make initiatives to promote Negros Oriental. We have a lot to offer. We have plenty of potential attractions that other provinces don’t have. Let’s make tourism as everybody’s business and I’m sure we will be successful for what we are aspiring of. This is for all of us Negrenses. This is our pride.

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Wonders of the Nature of Man

How does man defines his rationality? How does man act? And how he deals with the environment he belongs?

Man has his perfection and his imperfections. He is perfect in the order of being, but is insufficient in the order of operation. Which means that he possesses existence which makes him a complete being. He has a matter and form (body and soul) which makes him complete as a man. In that sense, he is perfect as a being.

But man is insufficient in the order of operation, both in his spiritual nature and his material nature. He has in him the elements of the body and soul, by whatever terms they may be called: body and soul, mind and matter, body and spirit. The body, while being complete as a body, is limited in its capacities (operation), limited in its structure (size, weight, strength), and limited in its duration (mortality). The mind (intellect and will) on the other hand, reaches out to the infinite, universal, the highest level of aspirations. His capacity to know (intellect) and his capacity to desire (will) are both infinite. His quest for knowledge has no end, and his desire for things has no end either. But this capacity to know and to desire is only in a mode of sequentiality, not simultaneity. That is, man is capable of knowing everything and of desiring everything not all at the same time but one after the other. They constitute man’s imperfections and limitations.

In spite of these limitations, however, man surpasses all other material creations by virtue of his intellect and will or what may be summed up as his rationality. Man is a rational animal who, unlike all other animals, is capable of thinking and desiring, of understanding causality, and capable of perceiving his ends beyond the here and now. He knows how to play the game in diversity and to adapt what he is accustomed to. These are the reason that man keeps on finding his purpose and continue to discover what he has to discover beyond imagination. These created man as different from all other creatures.

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A Finale is not always Final

Things in this world are not absolute. I guess we cannot find any absolute matter in this world just like finding the perfect one. We are on the dilemma of what actions we may think of to pursue whatever dreams we may have. We can only find the right person or right things in our life. Everything has ending.

We come to a point that whatever we have right now, these will just go afterwards. Ending is always there. That is why we have to be prepared if these will happen soon. Everything being started has always ending. These are just temporary. We may encounter people and later on become your friend or someone whom you can lean on. We may experience extraordinary feelings that you could not explain like joy and happiness. However, it will just end at certain time. Life is very complex that sometimes you cannot solve the puzzle in it.

But whatever we may experience, started or ended, we should not be worry. Final is not always final. Instead, it is sometimes the beginning of a new chapter of hope and aspirations. It is the start of looking forward for the best and a start of new environment to adjust. I know it’s very hard to start and sometimes we don’t know how to start it. It is not clear where are we going and it is difficult to begin with something you don’t know. The purpose of ending is to begin with something more valuable and better life.

We want a better life and the purpose we are here in this world is to be happy. Do not deprive yourself of the happiness you want in life. Live your life to the fullest. You have the right to be happy. That’s what we are always aiming for. Make a finale as the beginning for a new journey, a new journey to live and love, a journey towards satisfaction, a journey that make your life more valuable and successful and a journey that leads to happiness.

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Foundation of Good Behavior

If there's one thing that often to note, to emphasize and value about human beings this is nothing but his conduct or behavior. It does not only dwell in mind but also to the hearts, spirit and action of a human being. It grips tight in the personality and this is the basis to know who will be given the highest appreciation and value.

All men are molded by good values and the right disposition is the fundamental basis of all values being taught since childhood. We cannot deny the fact that molding of good values should be done right from the beginning because of the reason that this will be the foundation of the conduct which you can posses until you will grow old.

Today, as teenager you are the one in this stage that need more guidance and direction in possessing good values in life. The aggressiveness to learn and listen the things that you want to know and to clarify so many things is an inherent trait you have. Because of this reality, the lessons you will get from whatever undertakings you have answer what you need. It is the right time for you to learn the different values that connects your personal beliefs to the norms of the society. The lessons may give emphasis on how you will socialize to others and it will harness your natural goodness that you should have as teenager who aspires of giving importance in life.

The true meaning of life comes from how truthful we are and how we value people around us. We are naturally created as good men and women. The only thing we can do it is to apply what we learned from the school, our parents, our peers and people around us who directly or indirectly affect and influence our behavior. There’s nothing better than to do better things for everybody. Our values define our character which specifies our personality.

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Is it all for Profit?

For most of us, we believe that business is all about profit. If I ask you now about business, I’m sure your answer would be business is an economic activity undertaken by businessmen for profit. This definition is not as simple in concept as it is simple statement.

Business has never been easy to define and conceptualized. It is easier to go into it in practical terms. And it is easier to analyze it in specific details where thinkers and practitioners may specialize than to put the details together in one whole concept and truly say “this is it.”

The term business may be viewed from two perspectives namely, (a) general, which includes any human undertaking; and (b) specific, which refers to the economic activity undertaken by businessmen.

Any human undertakings can be consider as business just like making negotiations and managing people. Whether we like it or not business is everywhere. When you go on a date - that's business. Making agreement ia s business transaction because it involves risk-taking. To be more specific, yes business is for profit undertaken by businessmen. But to say that it is undertaken for profit does not mean that it is undertaken for profit only. The philosophical imperatives provide principles for business for behavioral mode which specifies the business ethics and the principles aims to provide quality life which gives social responsibility.

Business is first and foremost a fundamental social process, the primary objective of which is to satisfy human needs. We know that we cannot make everything for us. The nature of man in his perfection and imperfections gives him the need for completion and need for complementation. Because of scarcity, this natural social process creates industry responsible for the economic function of providing society with a venue for goods and services and filling in the gap between the goods and those who need the goods. The emergence of industry has generated opportunities for businessmen and business firms to undertake the specific activities of production and distribution, thus performing economic service motivated by profit. The whole cycle provides man with his economic goods to satisfy his human needs.

We should be corrected of what we know that the business of business is to do business. This is the reason why business should take part in helping the society by their corporate social responsibility. We are all responsible of what we are doing. Although we are naturally self-centered as I mention in my previous blog but real happiness can be found from others. Self-fulfillment can only be achieved and more meaningful if others are being considered in which they became happy of what you achieved. You can never be of what you are today without the people around you. Sharing is always our business and that’s the bottom line.

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Six cups of coffee a day can increase your lifespan?

For those who are coffee lovers, I think you will be happy for this good news. If you think coffee is not totally good for your body, then you should be aware of this. A new study shows that drinking up to six cups of coffee a day won’t shorten your life span, and for women that daily coffee habit may even protect against heart disease. I’ve learned these things from my professor during our class in one of my courses in DBA. So, I researched this news. Then I found out that this study conducted by Spanish researcher headed by Dr. Esther Lopez-Garcia.

The Spanish researchers who conducted the study are excited about their findings, but they stop short of prescribing coffee jolts to all. “Our results suggest that long-term, regular coffee consumption does not increase the risk of death and probably has several beneficial effects on health,” said lead researcher Dr. Esther Lopez-Garcia. Lopez-Garcia stressed that the findings may only hold true only for healthy folk. "People with any disease or condition should ask their doctor about their risk, because caffeine still has an acute effect on short-term increase of blood pressure," she said.

In the study, the Spanish team looked at the relationships between coffee drinking and the risks of dying from heart disease, cancer, or any cause in almost 42,000 men who participated in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study and more than 84,000 women who had participated in the Nurses' Health Study. At the study start, all participants were free of heart disease and cancer.

The results show that as coffee consumption increases, the overall risk of death decreases. The association is explained mostly by a decrease in [cardiovascular disease] deaths, Lopez-Garcia says. Women who drank two to three cups of coffee a day, for instance, had a 25% lower risk of dying from heart disease than non-drinkers [USA Today]. However, the study found no association between coffee drinking and cancer deaths.

The findings, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, do not pin down the cause of coffee’s apparent benefit, and researchers also say that the lower risk of death did not appear to be linked to caffeine as those who drank decaffeinated coffee also had lower death rates than those who did not drink coffee [Telegraph]. But a few different theories regarding coffee’s healthful qualities are percolating.

Coffee beans are chock-full of antioxidants, chemicals that can protect DNA from damage and promote cell survival. What’s more, coffee may also reduce inflammation inside the blood vessels, thereby lowering the risk of heart disease, Lopez-Garcia says [Science News].

Of all these benefits, then we might be confident that drinking coffee is totally advantageous. Although there have been findings that tell the benefits of coffee, we must also consider the adverse effect of drinking coffee especially for those who have prior diseases. It can cause osteoporosis and if you drink much, you may be too dependent on coffee. The best thing to do is to consult your doctor. There’s no best way to be sure of your health condition by asking your doctor. Remember, the study conducted for those people who don’t have any illnesses and they are not certain with the relationship between coffee drinking and cancer deaths.

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Habit Towards Study

All learning, however, is a process which settles into certain steps. Students with learning problems, however, may still have generally inefficient and ineffective study habits and skills. Becoming aware of your learning style will help you to understand why you sometimes get frustrated with common study methods.

In these challenging times, the thirst for learning with knowledge creation as its primary goal will be utterly overwhelming. Fueled by the rapid developments of technology, socialization, and globalization, learning is the essential component of all success. Learning must be the dominant responsibility of all students for their eventual success comes from it and its application.

Basically, you study because you want to learn and you want to fulfill your aims or ambitions in life. Thus, you should be mindful about doing your duties and responsibilities such as taking quizzes, reciting in class, doing homework, and submitting term papers, case studies and reports. A good grade should not be your goal. The truly serious student does not "study for a grade." His goal is to learn the information for use throughout life. Grades are simply a measure of how well he has learned. Good grades come to you as a byproduct of the true goal of learning the material.

Effective study habits are a very import part of the learning process. Good study habits are all about keeping to a daily routine and giving all subjects equal treatment. The facts, ideas, and principles you acquire from these could be your weapons in facing future challenges. If your study habits are weak, take a "study skills" course or have someone show you good study habits.

However, let us remember, too, that your purpose in learning is more important than what you learn, for it surely propels and drives us to crave for more. An efficient working method will serve us through life, but many of the things you learn will just be forgotten. Yes, you will forget some of what you have learned. You all do. But the more of it you have "locked into" your head, the better off you will be. Also, it will be a lot easier for you to relearn what you may have forgotten, when that becomes necessary. Being systematic about study will do a lot. Habit then comes to your aid.

According to one of the Chinese proverbs, “Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.” This is one of the treasures that cannot be taken from you. A successful author wrote, “I enjoy learning and I learn easily. I am keenly interested in the skillful application of my innate knowledge that unfolds and the practical knowledge I acquire.” His awareness of his potential expands as his knowledge progresses and his skills improve.

Evidently, there is that demand for each one of us to discover everything the world has. The problem is that many of us feel that what you know all there is to know already and that you can be contented with the way your lives are going. The determined person, on the other hand, knows the application of what he learns allows him to become considerably closer to his goals.

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A good investment that pays higher benefit

With many discussions about health, I’ve learned something different today. My mind had full thoughts of what would be the right exercise to burn fats and become healthy. And I think most of us are now conscious about the things we can do to reduce the risk of having different diseases. I have known some friends who actually bothered about how they can be healthy especially the kind of lifestyle we have right now. Some of them have started to do simple walking just to burn their extra fat deposits. Some went to fitness centers jut to become fit. Some are very conscious about the food they eat so they started to eat raw foods. Some bought healthy products just to be sure that they will look sexy and healthy.

I can really say that the healthy-conscious year had just started. Diseases that we do not bother or we do not know before are now already popular like cancer (cancer of the lungs, heart, kidney, prostate, bones, blood and so many others). With these, I think people are now awake of the reality that anytime we can be victims of these diseases. We do not want to be hospitalized. It’s very expensive to have illnesses. The treatment and medicines are now expensive. Are we willing to give up more money? Or do we have the resources for us to pay the hospital bill? For those who can afford then this question may not be very difficult for them to answer because I’m sure they are willing to give up their resources for them to be healed of their illnesses. But how about those who cannot afford? What will happen to them?

Since, we have known this reality then we should be careful about our health. We know that there is a big trade-offs in answering the problems of our body. That is why a good and meaningful investment in life is to invest in health first. Everything would be meaningless if we don’t have the life to live anymore. Our aspirations and dreams would not be attainable if our health is at risk. The benefit you can get out of your investment in health is more than the profit you can earn from all other investments. Experts said that prevention is better than cure. If we started to practice a healthy lifestyle, the susceptibility of having illnesses would be lesser and sometimes you will not experience it at all.

In my class, I always emphasize that they should care about their health. We have only one life to live so we must take care of it and give value to our existence. We know the consequences of a bad health habits so we should use our being rational. If we know that what we are doing is bad for our health then stop it. Do not wait for the effect before it’s too late. But then again as humans, we embrace more of the things we are prohibited of. Masarap ang bawal ika nga. Well, it’s up to you. Would you want to risk your life and your existence? If you say yes, you are not different from those who commit suicides. You are killing yourself so softly. God never gave us a life to destroy rather He gave us a life to live on its full benefits and meaning. So, value your life more than anything else. Start investing on a healthy lifestyle. Remember prevention is better than cure. 

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Will May 21, 2011 really be the END OF THE WORLD?

I was bothered by news that May 21, 2011 is the judgment day. According to them , Jesus Christ will come and will judge the living and the dead. They said that it has proven that this is the exact date that the world will end. Then I asked myself, what will happen during that day? Does God will select those who will be in heaven and those who will be fitted to hell?

I am really confused with this news. And I think familyradio.com is the one propagated this kind of information. According to this site, May 21, 2011 is the end of the world and is not going to be on 2012 as many of us had known. Why do they say that this date is the end of the world? How sure are they of the end?

Maybe most of us would ask. Many would be bothered. I think lots of people right now looking for the reality of what they predicted. Does anyone knows that the world will end? How about you? Do you believe that God will judge that day and He will come?

In this complicated world, a lot of things happen. So many speculations and predictions have been drawn. It may be true or not. We do not know exactly the real truth. We have encountered different events. Events maybe not familiar to us or events we expected to come. But I think what’s important is that we should be ready all the time. Some said that it’s good to think that today is your last day so that you will be reminded that you have to do good things and love people around you. If judgment day will come then I think we have to prepare for it although we are not certain of that day. Is May 21, 2011 really the end? What do you think? Is this only a scam? Or do these people behind this speculation trying to make publicity?

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The Need to Study Economics

Everyday we deal with economics; whether we all know what it means or not at all. In our everyday activities, economics is one very important field that is always applied. As I said, some may not know that meaning of it. However, it pays to be able to know and understand the meaning of it so that we will be able to appreciate it more. Several definitions have been given and are enumerated as follows:

Web definitions of Economics:

• The branch of social science that deals with the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services and their and their management. 
• A social science studying production and consumption through measurable variables. It involves analyzing the production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services. 
• The science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth, and with the various related problems of labor, finance, taxation, etc. 
• The study of the economy. 
• The study of choice and decision-making in a world with limited resources. 
• The study of how people choose to use scarce resources to satisfy their needs and wants. 

Other Definitions:

• Study of the steps of the production of products, how they are distributed for selling to the public and how the public response to buying the product. 

Economics as a broad-based social science, begins with the fundamental assumptions that resources are scarce and human wants are unlimited. Economists therefore focus on the analysis of choices forced by these assumptions. Example: Today, why do you major in a particular field for instance? You may have a wide number of talents and interests whom you may want to develop but because of limited time and money, you are forced to choose a single major (the one that you are currently pursing) from different competing options.

Students may have a lot of reasons why they study economics but only one of which is an interest in theorizing about the allocation of scarce resources among competing ends. It has to be observed that economics being a broad-based science covers almost all aspects of life. In the pursuit of a decent career and development of good citizenship, economics offers a lot of help.

Again, you may want to ask why study microeconomics or macroeconomics? By studying microeconomics, the students are given the opportunity to learn how to apply microeconomics principles to actual decision-making problems. While studying macroeconomics enables them to understand government's decision making and the economy as a whole.

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Management: An art or a Science?

Management is not an easy task. It requires patience and effort to become very effective in managing people and resources. Some of us may think that management can be done by anybody. Yes, anyone can but this would only be more effective and efficient if you have the courage and enthusiasm to handle different task in the organization. Maybe some of you would think that it’s very easy to become a manager because a manager will not do the actual day-today basis transactions in the company but rather delegates the task to people within the organization. To tell you, managers would not be effective if he will not apply the qualities of being a leader. To become manager is not an easy task especially if you are dealing with people in organization. A manager should have the broad knowledge and perspective in order to come up with decisions favorable to different stakeholders of the organization.

Management is both a science and an art. It is a science because it applies systematic method. It follows with the different fundamental of systematic approaches in relation to the inquiry of the natural laws of land. Just like other sciences, it passes through analysis of human behavior and the environment around him. The scientific method has played an important role in building management knowledge and improving managerial skills. The field of management has taken long forward steps since other beginning of this century. It involves philosophy which is the science of science. It also involves economics which concerns about how scarce resources distributed to satisfy human needs and wants. And even natural sciences can be applied in management. There is now adequate knowledge for a solid foundation, but it should not be assumed that other scientific method will soon provide all other answers. Managers have to contend with uncertainties that cannot be removed by scientific endeavor. 

Management is also an art. It is considered as art because management styles differ from one person to the other. The art of management is a personal creative power plus skill in performance. The contemplation of problems, events and possibilities develops personal creative power, while experience, observation, and study of results contribute to skilled performance. In other words management art involves envisioning orderly whole from chaotic parts, communicating other vision, and achieving other goal. It is considered an "art of arts" because it organizes and uses human talent.

The degree how likely management can be considered as science or an art differs on how manager exercised his managerial functions. Decisions in the organizations rely on how he perceived and how he learned from different experiences. He is also much willing to consider the scientific explanations on how person behaves and how he motivated by actions around his environment. What matter most for managers is that they are able to be rational and making people more effective and efficient.

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RH Bill: What's the real score?

RH bill has been an issue since President Noynoy came to office as the Chief Executive of the Philippines. In fact, this issue is came to a point that sectors affected gave their debates and stand with the issue. The issue now lies on morality, efficiency and beliefs. There are people who understand the purpose of the bill. There are those who do not understand what its ultimate reason and there are also people who believe it’s against the way of Christian life. This was remained an issue since it was never clear to everybody how the government should stand with the issue.

PNoy had expressed that he is in favor of Reproductive Health Bill. He wants to pursue and discuss the pros and cons about it. In fact, he consulted already different sectors which this bill might affect. He already talked to the CBCP, which is the strong opposition of the bill. We knew that the church, in the first place, strongly opposed the RH bill because according to them it’s not morally upright and it does solve the problem of population growth. It will just open another door of problems because it will encourage abortion and create unhealthy living.

Well, going back to PNoy, although he already expressed his intention but his camp denied that he is explicitly gave his support for the bill to push through. Instead, PNoy’s  spokesperson qualified their side and explain further how the government treated the issue which make it confusing. We don’t really get what is the firm and common answer of the Malacanang. That’s why until now, it’s still a topic that never ends and makes the process very slow. We can’t move on and make decisions about it because until now it’s unclear to everyone.

I would commend if the government will be firmed with their stand and they should already end the issue of wandering. It seems the government is sailing with two rivers that they do not know where they should go. To stop the issue and to be fair to everybody, the government should decide immediately and make their final actions about it. Once and for all, What’s the real score PNoy?

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