YOU HAVE A JOB, I HAVE A CALLING

RECAP OF THE STORY:  The suspect Jesus Manalo brought his 6-year old son to SPMC (Southern Philippines Medical Center) in Davao City due to the injuries suffered by his child who got hit by a van.  His child had broken bones in the legs and has facial bruises.  He has been in the Emergency Room for quite a while and its already wee hours of the morning of the following day he brought his child to the Emergency Room. 

SPMC spokesperson claimed that the patient was given care, seen and assessed by the doctors and nurses and in fact is on traction.  And the labs of the patient are being processed.  The only issue why they were kept waiting on the ER was because there are no extra beds to accommodate the patient. 

Wow!!! 

As a nurse myself, waking up to this kind of odd news from the Philippines… I honestly dunno what to feel.  Sure I felt bad for my fellow medical practitioners, who got stabbed by an 18 or 19 gauge needle by the patient’s father but knowing the typical and very common customary protocol in the Philippine hospitals, I reckoned today to read and research further about the news before giving any comment.  It would be very ignorant to just put my comment in the open and later look imprudent.  Yes I have watched the video of the SPMC spokesperson, and yes, I have also read all the aggressive comments of the netizens defending which side they take.  Which side I am taking?  The accused’s side – AND DON’T ADJUDICATE ME MY FELLOW NURSES!

And now I’m being so cheeky about that, read before even arbitrating me.  I have also read the article on Facebook shared by one of the blabbermouth RN that he went to school for 4 years, let alone the 1 extra year nurses has to spend to review and take the license examination only to be taken ‘ easily’.  Yes that’s certainly true!  I am with you on that.  And true, we oftentimes take our lunches late, worry so much when the patient have not had a bowel movement for days and so we can get the bilirubin level down, and oftentimes holding our own urge to pee because we have an hourly insulin drip with fluid titration! I hear you on that!  And worst, we can’t attend important family holidays because we need to take care of people that we don’t even know!  And yes, our profession is noble – but it’s no longer noble when you itemized your private frustration and you were beseeching the public not to take you ‘easy’!  Such arrogance!  Why?  You had a choice!  Why did your take up nursing?  That is why Foundation of Nursing a.k.a NCM100 is being taught in the first semester because you can still change your mind and swerve to another direction.  You graduated and passed the boards and took an oath – MEANS YOU SIGNED UP FOR THIS!  You yourself had been awarded multiple times, yet you do not see the small details on the picture!  You failed to address the frustration of the patients’ father.  And it is sad.

Yes, it is true, they were seen, and they were assessed and were taken care of.  Even if you guys would say, the patient is medically stable…even if you say the patient’s lab is being processed with pending results, even if you say they were not verbal and just silent, isn’t that a RED FLAG?  Where are the nursing communication skills you got from your Bachelor’s Degree of Nursing! YOU DO NEED TO UPDATE THE PATIENT WHATS GOING ON WITH THE TERMS HE CAN UNDERSTAND!!! Even if you have to do it every hour, so be it! Nursing isn’t all about knowledge and being the chief of MEDSURG!  Patient especially the patient’s family would not understand what is the importance of CT scan and they will never understand the importance of blood works not until you educated them in the level of rapports they can comprehend!  Mr. Manalo who right now behind the bars for frustrated murder – his frustration could have been vetoed if only he was accommodated with dignity regardless of financial capability, education, or status in life.   There should never be discrimination!  Everybody is of equal importance.

If he was a movie star, would they of treated him the same way?  I want an honest answer for this question! 

SPMC lacks manpower? So the Philippine Regulation Commission released the Nursing Licensure results yesterday, so of the 9,114 new RNs who proved their competency plus all the jobless RNs and plus RN’s who works in the call centers who have their licenses, why not hire  and train them!? That’s more than enough to fill the need of a lot of hospitals in the whole archipelago.  A lot of hospitals are like this – private or public!  They want new nurses to work for free!  A nurse would be very lucky if she gets Php150 allowance.  But for government hospitals, it is always – due to lack of compensation budget! The root cause again?  MASSIVE CORRUPTION IN THE PHILLIPPINES!  A new RN has to work for free to get 6months to 1 year of experience.  That’s the worst thing that needs to be changed!  Where do nurses go?  To Saudi Arabia, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and USA… all because it’s hard to get a job in our very own country Philippines.   Its power tripping game!   It’s a struggle to even get hired in my very own locality back in the days. My applications were trashed many many times!  HR don’t actually care if you’re a caring nurse even if you have the nursing license, all they care about is that the daughter or the niece or the neighbor of their friend’s husband’ cousin will get the job! That is the sad reality! And when these “blessed” gets the job, it’s a sense of entitlement! Oh yeah! I AM AN RN!!! YEAH!!! IM COOL, AYT?

Am I bitter!? Yes I am!  Because back in the days in the Philippines when I was a new nurse, I personally experienced being overruled by people who are in position and never gave me a chance to prove myself and be compensated at least but they would rather get the service of student nurses to attend to patients!  Not fair.  Not fair at all!   I have worked hard and PAID HARD (yes paid!!!) to get the hospital training I needed and give a professional nursing service without compensation for the heck of training! You wanna be an IV Therapist Nurse? Pay Php3, 000.  Take it or leave it!  Philippines should be ashamed of the fact that they educated me to a bachelor’s degree level, yet they never trusted my competency level to practice and be fairly compensated as an RN and it’s very ironic that USA is the only one that opened a big door of opportunities for me.  I was educated in the Philippines but my real job as an RN started here in the USA.  I never have to pay for experience; rather, they pay me to get an experience!

I am not defending the suspect who stabbed the ER staff just because I am saying he was right.  Whatever circumstance he is on, that doesn’t give him any right to stab anybody.  But if you’re not yet a parent, you would by no means fathom the urgency this father have.  People who are on crucial need have very vulnerable emotions to the attitudes of the people around them.  I once was, when I have to run to the Emergency Department in 2014 because my daughter’s middle finger was caught between a metal spring door and yes, as a nurse, I know my daughter will not die, aware that worst case scenario, I would still have several hours ( I mean long hours) before blood dehydration will occur.  But as a mother, at that point, I swear I would never understand triage when it’s my very own daughter screaming for help! (And thankfully, there were no other patients in the Emergency department when I ran that day without a bra and sandals on! We didn’t have to be triaged!  We got so lucky!).  They attended to my daughter and did surgery the soonest to save the hanging finger.  But the best thing about that experience, I realized as a nurse, that just a simple pat on the shoulder, a squeeze on the hand or kind words from a nurse and a simple assurance and update of what is going on is a very big deal. 

Nurses, it’s okay to touch and hold your patients.  Take a minute to talk to your patient, let them know you are with them.  Let them know, they can call or ask you whenever they have questions.  Provide them information and involve them in the decision for their own care.  Uphold advocacy!   

 They are a little act of kindness, yet it does wonders!  Go above and beyond! 

So to all medical staff that is compensated, you’re blessed!  You are blessed to be compensated and blessed to bring hope to your patients.  Be a BLESSING! 

You might have a very NOBLE PROFESSION but I have a calling!

CALLED TO BE A NURSE… Lorena Joy Berja – Monk, BSN RN

DUTERTE BASHERS UNLIMITED

Hello again everyone!  I wanna thank ya'll for the unceasing LIKES, SHARES and sweet messages on my inbox and I may not be able to respond to everyone, I'd like ya'll to know how grateful I am that my blog entry I am DUTERTARD  reached to so many people and still counting every day!  

I am overwhelmed above and beyond!  I took a screenshot of it and this is just from one certain group.  Thank you Duterte2016, Duterte, Duterte International Movement and OFW groups!   I saw different groups sharing it on their pages! I wish and hope this blog entry will reach the same number of audience and more!  Salamat!  

I hankered to give a reply to some of the more intelligent and more bizarre comments I came across for weeks but I held on to my horses first and wanted to reply when my emotions are at bay in fairness to the negative comments.  Some of them are funny and some of them are from a more intelligent point of view.  I am unable to reply to them all, but here are a few.   

Out of 48 countries in Asia, Philippines is the 14th poorest country in Asia.  Time to wake up dude!  We are already there - there in that 'PAGHIHIRAP' you are talking about!  Aren't we?   25% of the Philippines population already falls below the poverty line, or correct me if I am wrong, the data could be more than that!  Do the research - even if you don’t do that inquiry, just open your eyes really wide!  Do you really live a privileged life that maybe you don't come in contact with poor people living in the shantytowns? Corruption has fueled the poverty in the Philippines - for decades!!!  Seen how the Philippines is one of the most ecologically rich country in Asia? YET WE ARE ONE OF THE POOREST! 

Let's base this off of facts and not FEELINGS!  Let’s address your first comment on when did God condoned killing.  Leviticus 24:17 “anyone who takes the life of a human is to be put to death.”, so thieves, drug dealers and murderers are killing people.  And good thoughts and hopeful wishing isn’t stopping them.  Now, for your second comment, he is not good for the economy – do you know how much tax money go everyday towards the corruption and criminals that have not been dealt with?  So by your own reasoning, you are a Duterte supporter! Thank you for coming over to my side!  Yes, Davao City can be a very small part of the Philippines, BUT IT IS ONE OF THE BEST PART OF THE PHILIPPINES.  You know Davao is the only advanced city in the whole archipelago?  Let’s call 911!

I am shooting you back that question.  If you really are a true friend, why bash your friend if he likes Duterte?  Isn't that's a big face-off of your being ill-mannered?  I dunno what’s your standard for a friend but I want a friend who respects my opinion and value my opinion even if they don't agree with me - otherwise, I would have a sufficient reason to dispatch a discourteous person out of my coordination.  That's how I give myself importance because I have self-respect and I would never settle for anything less.  I deserve a good friend.  Do you rate yourself this way for you to get yourself jammed with a person that is disrespectful to you? From your comments, I can only determine that your friends disrespect your opinion all the time and you become accustomed to that!  I feel sorry for you because it makes me have an impression that you have no real friends because you tolerate your friends to bash you because of your opinion.  Now my question is, did you really understand the whole article?  And is my argument one sided?  YES!  Because I support Duterte!  And I stand behind that!  I am not here to defend all the candidates, let them support their own and you support your own in a very intellectual way!  Please feel free to re-read my previous post so you better understand it.  

Okay, addressing your comment...

1.  1:25 ratio, innocent to guilty?  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  10,000 INNOCENT contrasted with 250,000 GUILTY???  How many innocent people are killed every day by criminals VERSUS criminals killed in Davao?  Please do some MATH on that!  And you seem so worried for the criminals…that make me worry right now.    

2.  MASS MURDER.  Mass murder usually comes around with no rhyme and no reason to whom that harm is being bombarded.  Davao’s governance only targets are criminals; it wouldn't be considered a MASS MURDER like what you are envisioning. Mass Murder happens and disaster plans are mostly activated when this happens.  I am just defining that incase… otherwise…you don’t know!  I am just trying to help!  Peace Yo!

3.  I have a question too that I hope you can answer.  CAN YOU STANDBY AND WATCH THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT PEOPLE BEING KILLED EVERYDAY BY THESE CRIMINALS YOU LOVED SO MUCH?  Don't the innocent deserve a chance to live their life in peace?  God does say VENGEANCE IS MINE, but you seem to confuse vengeance with justice.  Duterte deals with justice.  And unfortunately, most people literally think that Mayor Duterte literally puts the killings in his hands.  THINK PLEASE.  Davao City Police gets orders for arrests and in circumstances of resistance, that's when they pull whatever it is to be pulled!  Get it?  It is the same way everywhere in the country right?  But Davao isn't the type of city that most places in the Philippines are like!  DEFINITELY NOT CORRUPT.  Criminals aren't being taken advantage either.   No Padrino style of governance! The families of the criminals aren't given a chance to make 'PADULAS', or to call their Ninong who is a Mayor, or Uncle who is a Congressman or Lolo who is a Kagawad!   If you need to go to jail - YOU GO TO JAIL.  IT’S NON-NEGOTIABLE.  If you repel arrest and you retaliate with the authority, then you can repose in peace.  And this is why they will gladly take that chance to rather die because they cannot buy their way out of jail in Davao.  So they rather be taken dead rather than alive.  

Thank you for your reply.  I value your opinion about Miriam Defensor Santiago.  And true, she very well might have the uprightness and brainpower, but the criminals and the criminal facet and the bribery that has swamped our society in the Philippines isn't going to stop just because of MDS integrity and intelligence.  The fact that you did not find any substance in my article is no consequence to me.  I tried to make it as easy to understand but still some people fail to grasp the concept.  But let me put some fact out here that nobody can deny...INTEGRITY AND INTELLEGENCE HAVE NEVER STOPPED THE CRIMINALS - IT IS ONLY THE FEAR OF PUNISHMENT. 

So my last advice to you Sir Lourd is to try to walk down the streets of Manila with Miriams INTEGRITY & INTELLEGENCE.  

So, since you wanna quote the bible, where was David's due process when he killed Goliath?  So, by your perceptive reasoning,  David should have took Goliath in for due process to the courts.    I quote what you said, "NPA's, terrorists and bigtime druglords and syndicate abound in the area but the "GOOD mayor" (you say good??? okay!) has not killed any of them."  This cracks me up but THANK YOU FOR THIS "good" INFORMATION.  Those drug lords operates outside his governing location for a good reason coz if they did, they would be in demise.  People are being murdered, kids being kidnapped, women are raped, corruption is out of control, if this continues, Philippines will be a bloody mess STILL.  So, the Philippines is STILL going to be a bloody mess REGARDLESS!  So the question is only these.  

1.  Do you want it to be a bloody mess for things to get better? Like it would with Duterte?

2.  Or do you want it to be a bloody mess and continue in the road of corruption and get worse?  

Thank you for your comment but I have had so much people from all walks of life, even people that claims they have no education who agreed, understood and supported my article and they had no problem understanding it...but I will try to make my next article shorter and easy to understand (just for you) if that's the case.  I am sorry it’s hard for you comprehending it.   With your biblical issues, in Matthew 5:17,  Jesus addressed the Old Testament like this "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to FULFILL them. In short, The Old Testament still stands as it is! That was in direct reference of the Rabbi's questioning the law of the Old Testament to Jesus! Nothing was corrected.  New Testament is the continuation.  Well, with your concern that what I should reconcile are the provisions and the Philippine Constitutions versus the legality of Duterte’s governance in Davao, let facts be facts, most of the politicians in the Philippines do not like Duterte.  Don't you think if they have some evidence of him doing something illegal, they would have arrested him by now?  So, I think, you're so concerned about Duterte's supposed illegal activity and want me to address it when the politicians you support have yet to charge him with any crime but you already call him a criminal.

Lastly, please make up your mind because your comment is both in English and Filipino.  Do you want English or you want all these in Filipino? And my apology for not addressing your comment "give to Caesar what is of Caesar and give unto God whatever belongs to God" because I actually cannot grip what you are trying to aim at.  

Oh!  Thank you grammar nuts!  When you can't win an argument, it results to porning at GRAMMAR!  Is "porning" isn't the dictionary too?  Please find out for me! 

I should use this rule soon!  hmmmm!

So, i gotta go DUTERTE Nation & Duterte Haters 

I NEEDED SOME WELL DESERVED REST!  

But wait...I wanna feature strongheaded DUTERTARDS!!!

Proud of you Dr. Bryan!!!

No no!!!  No crying allowed! Just kidding! Thank you for the big heart you have for Philippines!!!  Yes, Stay positive and TIWALA LANG!!! 

Rise Up Philippines!

Love,

Lorena Joy Berja - Monk

Yes, I’m a DUTERTARD.

I have been silent; I have been just an audience of all these chaos in the online arena between the cry babies who are bashing Duterte and the ‘Dutertard’ defendants.  So let me stand as a Dutertard and I will let you judge me after you read this blog how ‘retarded’, ignorant and uneducated I am…

It is downright maddening every time I read articles coming from famous people who discredits Mayor Duterte.  People from the showbiz industry who I have admired since the time began, personalities like Jim Paredes,  Gab Valenciano, Celdran and even Mar Roxas himself. And also acquaintances I have placed in pedestal – friends and acquaintances that I knew are nice, intelligent and smart,   in just a snap – the way I think of them got altered – in a debauched way!  I am sorry but that is just how I feel.  My opinion, my accountability. 

Ever since Mayor Duterte declared his Presidential bid, it rocked the whole nation (even the OFW nation).  It was implausibly legendary.  It even went to Yahoo News International.  For someone local to make it to Yahoo News in the US is something!  Since then, it became the trending topic of online squabbles of the Filipino netizens not only in the Philippines, but Filipinos around the world – like me.  I am not even in the country but here I am very infuriated at what these Anti-Duterte people are mumbling.  And calling people who support Duterte as “Dutertards”, “DuDirty” and the list goes on and on.  What really made me mad is what Gab Valenciano has posted in his Facebook account.  The fact that this guy is standing up for his opinion about Duterte running for President but then crying about other people having an opinion about him is childish at its finest!  So Gab if you say that people should respect your opinion, then you should respect other people’s opinion even when it is about you.  And to call out other people’s lack of education when you don’t really know these people and call them ignorant is a child’s response.  I guarantee you a 100% that there are people with higher IQ and education that yours that support what Duterte is doing.  And I am one of them.  Unfortunately, I can prove you wrong, coz I am educated.  I am not ignorant.   You cannot call it out as a morality issue and then say people who support Duterte are uneducated and ignorant when they don’t agree with you.   Education and morality are two separate things and not linked.  You can be educated and have no morals and you can also be moral without education.  Does that ring a bell in your axons? Dendrites? Myelin sheath perhaps? Okay, okay! Let’s leave neurology – let me explain this in a biblical point of view. 

To those moralist and religious critic, let me itemize these characters in the bible.  Noah was a drunk.  Jacob was a liar.  Rahab was a prostitute.  David was an adulterer and a murderer.  Yet God handpicked him to be a “man after God’s own heart”.  Isaiah preached naked.  Peter denied Jesus and Judas sold Jesus for 30 silver.  And Jesus knew Peter and Judas will do it from the time He was handpicking them.  And worst, all of his disciples fell asleep while praying.  Here is more.  So, why do you think God blow up and killed everyone in Sodom and Gomorrah?  That question can be answered by simply reading the story in the Bible. Genesis 13:13 tells us: “But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD". "For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it".  The wickedness of the people of these cities must have been going on for quite a while for God to eventually say ENOUGH.   How many people did God killed in the bible?  How many first-born Egyptians did He kill?  There’s just no way to count them all, so this list goes on and on.  But does that mean God is wicked?  No.  It is true that God has intentionally killed many people. (God never “accidentally” does anything.) In fact, the Bible records that He literally wiped out entire nations including women, children, cattle, etc. In addition to that, God killed every living creature upon the face of the earth with the exception of eight people and the animals on the ark of Noah.  He spared Noah. But in order for God to commit murder, He would have to act “unlawfully.” We must recognize that God is God.  Same thing like the father of Davao City, in order to protect the whole public from criminals, he has to act for the good of the many. 

Still concerned about morality & standards?  “Scared” that your kids will be growing criminals and immoral if Duterte becomes the President?  You guys are crybabies!  Did President Aquino take a great deal of running your household for the 8 years he is the President of the nation and disciplined your kids?  Take charge of your kid’s discipline people!!!  Frightened that Philippines will become like Somalia if Duterte be seated as a President?  Why?  Have you been to Somalia to say that?  Such elite minded!  The most number of anti-Duterte are people who were not even able to travel to Visayas or Mindanao.  Most of these people if not  born with a ‘golden spoon are the “moralist” and religious fanatic who aren’t reading their bibles,  that is why it is easy for them to throw morality issues and call the Duterte supporters as ignorant and uneducated.  It is really easy to throw ruthless cards when you are living outside of reality or surrounded with prosperity.  People who have not had a tiniest hint what it is like to live day by day being anguished at how high the price of the rice per kilogram and people who lived their whole lives not being affected of the mass political corruption.  The gigantic problem of the Philippines is CORRUPTION…which is the foremost grounds of scarcity that leads to so much criminality.  There are not so much resources because this wealth is already in safe.  Safe in the bank accounts of these gluttonous officials who uses their power by all means for their private good.    

Look at most of the politicians in the Philippines, highly educated but also highly corrupt.  But let’s look at the track record of Duterte.  He has proven than he can run a city.  There’s a reason that Davao is a safe city.  I lived there myself for 5 years.  I hear people cry out for human rights...what about the human rights of the victim’s family that these criminals have violated?  I for one am mourning for the justice for a relative.  I want justice for the victims, not the justice for the criminals that you who hated Duterte are crying for.  The people who sat back and let these criminals take over our society are the ones who helped create a Mayor Duterte.  Trust me; there would be no need of Duterte in our society if the county wasn’t taken over by corruption.  He might not be the President that you want…but in my standpoint, He is the President that your country needs.  Duterte might not care about human rights, could be true.  But this is sure thing, neither do criminals.    But in my standpoint, He is the President that your country needs. DUTERTE DONT CARE ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS could be true... BUT THIS IS SURETHING... NEITHER DO CRIMINALS!  

And it is funny that these personalities who are bashing Duterte are the ones that don’t live in Davao and just base their judgement from hear say.    Have you ever lived in Davao?  Mr. Celdran has experienced Davao and I put my hands together when he applaud that Davao is nice and all beautiful.  And I used to like Ramon Bautista and I actually felt compassion when he got slapped face on by Inday Duterte (but right now, I’m feeling like, SERVES YOU RIGHT Mr. Bautista! Haha).  I admire the Valenciano kids.  I admire Chiz Escudero.  I admire Leila Delima.  I admire Mar Roxas (because of his unblemished and wholesome image).  Right now, if I am going to be asked, what happened why I suddenly lost grip of all my admiration of these people, the answer is because they are bashers and bully of the Duterte nation.   The fact that these people cannot support their candidate or their candidacy without bashing Duterte only shows a lack of the ability to have an intelligent reasoning.

Philippines have a real chance to take center stage as an economic power in Asia with Duterte. What is holding the Philippines back?  What has always held it back is the corruption that has ruled our country since winning our independence.   We have the richest fishing industry, rice farming and tourism in all of Asia for the most part.  Philippines should have been leader of economic power in Asia long ago. Why is it not?  We have let the political corruption steal our birth right. The bible says “if your right hand offends they cut it off. If your right eye causes you to sin pluck it out. For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell”.   The Philippines is about to lose a left hand and a right eye; better that the Philippines cut down the corrupt than the country suffer as a whole. 

I am a Filipina living in the United States as a US Citizen.  But I really love my homeland Philippines.  I love it that’s why I want a whole lot of change.  I don’t want to be one of the victims of ‘laglag bala’.  And I myself have been a victim of how deceitful are these employees working in Ninoy Aquino International Airport, from the airport officials down to the porters and the airport cab drivers.  It is maddening and frustrating.  Landing from a very long flight, a baggage porter (who works for the airport) took my luggage and set them aside one by one out from the running conveyor despite that im screaming on the top of my lungs that “I CAN DO IT!  PLEASE DON’T TOUCH MY LUGGAGE!!!”, but still does anyway without a mandate from me and would insist that I have to give him money for it.  That’s just the first part of scuffle.  Here comes now the Bureau of Customs.  Electronic gadgets checks, and since she can’t find anything to charge, would go ahead and say “Sayang naman Ma’am, uuwi pala kayo Mindanao, di na tayo makapag JOLLIBEE!”  (How unprofessional!!!  In her Airport Police uniform, to make such remarks to a balikbayan like me, it’s disgusting! I find it so unprofessional.)  I was like, WTH!?!  So just to make things really fast coz it looked like she and the other airport cop was rummaging through my carry-on bag, I took a 100 peso bill and gave it anyway.  And to my surprise, THEY ACCEPTED IT!!! And only then I got a go signal from the male cop his hand shooing me away already to go! Wow!!!  Now to the cab driver, to transfer to NAIA Terminal 2, this cab driver wanted to charge me 2000 pesos!  Just for transfer.  I told him, that that’s too much!  He got really mad and said, He waited and I took time loading up my luggage up and went to a Drive Thru to get my girls a drink and myself because the airport courtesy stops for immigration and bureau of customs was energy draining itself.  So he has reasons to charge 2,000 pesos ($65).  I also reasoned it is really so much.  So then he gave me his winning guilt-trip card.  “Galing naman kayo America Ma’am, ambunan mo naman kami kahit konti lang.”  So I gave in to 2,000 pesos and I thought it was over until “Maam, pasalubong pa po galing sa maleta”.  For a moment, I became so jumpy that I thought it was a forced hold up.   So I gave a few extra chocolate bars because he was asking in behalf of his kids.   One can say I am very gullible.  I am not.  I swear.  I just have a soft spot.  I always think that I am more blessed and I’m not going to be rich with 2,000 pesos.  Maybe he needed it more than me and that God sent me to him to fill a need. 

On my way going back to the United States, I went through the document screening by the entrance door of the NAIA where documents like greencard, passport and marriage certificate if screened if ur name is different from your passport.  One guy screener told me, “Alam mo Ma’am sa tingin ko, FAKE ang marriage certificate mo!” As a traveler in a hurry to check in for the flight bound internationally, what do you expect me to feel?  Of course NERVOUS AS HELL!  Even if I knew for myself my marriage certificate is genuine, if an airport official “thinks” its fake, then I am going to be in trouble.  When I handed him the amount for the immigration fee with an extra 500 pesos with it he smiled and gave me a thumbs up and he hurried to give me back my passport, my marriage certificate and my greencard and stamped my immigration fee receipt!  For me, its nerve wracking!  As a traveler, I cannot let any hassle come my way of not being able to see my husband anymore if there appears any problem – or the other way around, that my husband can no longer see his child that I have with me on that travel.  It’s going to be a mess!

So, you see what I am saying?  I desperately want changes!  I have only experienced this in NAIA!  And it’s very embarrassing that this is my homeland Philippines.  Yes, I am already a US Citizen, but I am dreaming of a better Philippines.  Right now, I cannot even trust that my American husband and my kids go to Manila without me.  Because there’s a lot of frauds from the doorway of Philippines which is NAIA who itself is already decorated with fraudulent airport cops and airport security.  What the hell!?  So how much more going out from the door of the airport?  Manila is hellish!  I only can breath and can wiggle around freely when finally I am boarding the plane from Manila and land either to Davao or Gensan City or land in Japan or Korea for a layover flight.  It’s ironic how I feel much safer in Japan and Korea than from my very own country’s capital city. 

One day, I wish to be able to go home to my homeland Philippines without the fear of ‘laglag bala’, bureau of customs charges, wicked airport officials, cheating taxi drivers and worry free that my luggage would be missing or my American family would be exploited.  There is always that fear of what if…

Question is, will it still happen?  Will Philippines ever recover from the damages that corrupt government officials did?  Albert Einstein says that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  We keep electing these politicians who talked and promised but are people of little action but of high corruption.  I’m talking about the general.  I have seen Duterte in the slums and the homeless fighting for their rights.  But all I hear people talking about are the rights of the criminals as to why they don’t like him how he treats the criminals.  What have any of these candidates done for the poorest of our society?  Every politician I could think of in the recent past has only taken advantage of the hard working citizens of our country for political and financial gain.  If your only argument about Duterte is about how he treats criminals, then it’s a losing argument.  Duterte fights for the human rights of the poor and the needy of our society, while you fight for the human rights of the criminals.

And I have one last piece of advice for all the Anti-Duterte, how not to lose your friends…DON’T BASH THEIR CANDIDATE, JUST SAY POSITIVE THINGS ABOUT YOUR CANDIDATE.   You can always upkeep your candidate without bashing another.  You will look like a RETARD and I don’t really mind being a DUTERTARD because attacking and hounding supporters of another candidate just to shove your point for your candidate confirms a lack of your ability to have an intellectual dispute!   

Now signing off…Lorena Joy Berja – Monk, BSN RN.  Educated but Dutertard. 

NO EXCUSES...NO LOOKING BACK

I will find my way, I can go the distance...I'll be there someday - If I can be strong. I know every mile will be worth my while, I would go most anywhere to feel like I belong heart emoticon heart emoticon heart emoticon I am on my way - I can go the distance! I don't care how far - Somehow I'll be strong. I know every mile will be worth my while I would go most anywhere to find where I belong. Thank you Jesus! 

i miss ya'll guys! 

have you ever felt once at least once in your life that you wanted so much things to be done, goals to be achieved, and thoughts to be put into action yet you find yourself stucked and idle???...and that you are trying hard each day to make the next day better and convince yourself that 'tomorrow is another day' yet when the sun rises to your face all you can say is..."TOMMOROW IS ANOTHER DAY! Again!!! And you spend the rest of the day trying to figure out how you will brave for the next day...only to find out that its almost the end of the month and again...convincing yourself...I'LL START 1ST OF THE MONTH!!!  Well, that's so me right now! Its February 27 :)

Not that something is wrong...

Not that i am struggling about something...

I am a nurse, yet, I actually dunno what exactly that is called in Psychiatry - but in secular term, I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT ITS CALLED - LAZINESS!  And honestly?  I don't feel good about being stagnant! Waking up late midday working or not working and ending a day with nothing to show.  I am depressed of something i dunno about.  I am thinking of a lot of things i want for the future and i exactly know what to do - but i don't have the energy to stand up everyday to do the first step.  Ironically at 4:25AM in the morning i am up and braving this up! Its two things. I am ending my struggle of being stagnant right this very minute by (re) starting this blog again (coz obviously this is my first blog for 2015) - but it also means I will be knocked out almost whole day today in my bed). hmmm!

Last Sunday, as we were trying to hurry for church and as the last person getting out of the house and turning off the TV, i was able to catch a few of Joel Olsten sermon live on TV.  I dont know about the guy...but yes i heard his name from a lot of people.  And i believe that the Lord even for the 1 or maybe 2 minutes i was trying to turn off every appliances before heading out to church, he appointed that time for me to be able to hear the exact words i needed to hear.

"If you want your life changed, GET UP AND WALK"!  Just like the paralyzed man that Jesus healed when he went to Capernaum,  Jesus told the paralyzed man, GET UP.  With no more questions, NO MORE EXCUSES, he got up, rolled his mat and walk away without looking back! 

NO EXCUSES, NO LOOKING BACK.

Sometimes, we want a lot of things to happen to us.  We know how to get there.  Yet we have so much excuses.  We have so much baggage to carry and reasons why we cant (yet) do it.  Unforgiveness is one.  We have a tendency to pamper ourselves and treat ourselves as victims of the circumstance that makes us think we are crippled to do the things we should do.  We tend to hang on to out pasts that has nothing to do with our present situation yet it makes us anxious to try again.  

I am guilty of that...so now I am standing up, roll my mat and brave up! 

PS...i need prayers! 

<3 <3 <3 

Filipina Out and About in PANDA EXPRESS!!!

Laziness ladeeeeddeeeee laddeeeedddaaa J  my hands were full and still are full.  ***sigh***  But I love this very occupied life that I have right now rather than being not being ingenious.   I would rather be busy than to be bored.  I have a new job that I really love to begin with…it is very rewarding and yes, I get tired and busy but at the end of the day, what matters most is that I was able to give a little piece of my life to my patients.  

Pate Rehabilitation Center specializes with TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury (from strokes, head injuries related to vehicular accidents and something like accidents that led them to lose their speech,  mobility and ability to reason  and it is my daily prayer and goal that my patients can all go back to their independent life after the therapy.  I am so much in a good place and I thank God for this blessing.  If only I am a teenager trying to figure out what would I be when I grow up, I would decide to be a Physical Therapist in a heartbeat! <3 And now, I am looking into the area of Rehabilitation Nursing! It is very rewarding to see your teenage patient would walk for the first time after their accidents from 16months ago! And it also makes you teary eye when a high school football varsity would finally look at me in the eye and track the direction of my hand when I say look to the right or look to the left after the motorcycle accident that made him paralyzed for 3months now.  The best things in life aren’t things…

If you have lovedones needing physical therapy, visit the webpage Pate Rehab, Pateway, Anna, TX

 Life has been in so much frazzle for the last 4 weeks.   It was indeed an Enormous Change. And yeah, though the busy-city-life we are into right now is making us bushed up at the end of our shifts, we still find time to find comfort.  In foods!!! There is no way I can cook since most of the kitchen stuff are still yet to be packed this next Monday when we are off.  So when I want to be Asian…or let’s put it this way…when you want to be very Filipino and cant find a way to cook yet because you are so busy working here in Texas?!

 COMFORT FOOD?!! Try this…

fried rice or rice noodles (pansit canton) with 2 sides $7.99
Shaylin's favorite:  crispy fried beef & beef on mushroom + fried rice
Joy's order (not my favorite coz everytime i come visit Panda Express my order varies. lol
                               orange chicken + sauteed vegetables + rice
                               PLUS EXTRA RICE FOR AVA & AVERY

and ohhh!!!  our usual drink when its Panda Express! 
MOUNTAIN DEW Yeah!!!
One for all...All for One - FAMILY SIZE! 

and we ordered total of...





 

OOPppssss i'm not done yet! PANDA EXPRESS experience isn't (in my own opinion) if u wont grab their FREE TERIYAKI sauce.

 

and Shaylin doesn't really care for my teriyaki sauce. this is what he wants!

  

 

and if you decide to take it home for appetizers in your table :) they sell it in a bottle! 

 

 

and if u wanna be discounted for an extra siders on the menu next time u come, answer this suvery online!

panda express FREE entree' survey!

i just did mine! *** winks***  ^_^

 

and ohhh!!! the fortune cookies!!!

 

 

We have 4 but we actually only opened 3.  Avery's fortune cookie is somewhere in on of my purses! LOL (no reason why...but just lazy to open it...but here is our fortune cookies' content.

 

Shaylin...

 

 here is mine...

 

Ava

 



here is our happy driver!

 

Now i feel like i want to go to Panda Express and use my FREE Entree!  hmmm...Bye ya'll!!!  Its DINNER!!!!