Kindergarten

I read an article about this before, but I could not remember where I read it. So I wrote my own version of it. This is somehow similar to the original text. I hope I will get hold of that article again. It is a really nice one.

In kindergarten, I learned everything I have to learn about life. I don’t have to graduate elementary nor finish high school nor get a degree in order to to be taught of the lessons in life. Kindergarten is already enough for me to go on living.

In kindergarten, I was taught to say “please” when I need something. And I have to tell it in a polite manner of speaking, giving due respect to the person whom I am asking a favor.

I was taught to say “thank you” when I received a snack, a toy, a gift, words of praise or whatever things others gave me. I have to say it cheerfully, wholeheartedly, with a smile.

I was taught to say “excuse me” when I will pass by two persons speaking, or if I will say something while a conversation is going on. This happens often when my parents were talking to someone and I would be asking for something from them like accompanying me to the comfort room or giving me a drink of water.

I was also taught to say “sorry” when I did something wrong. When I was young, I often hurt my playmates or offend other people or bully my brother. And my mother would always make it  a point that I will apologize to the person whom I have hurt or offended.

I was taught to value rest as part of my everyday life. My mother reminded me to take an afternoon nap. This helps me recharge after a tiresome morning of play and lessons, and prepares me for an afternoon of play.

I was also taught share. Whatever food or toy I have, I have to share it with my playmate or a friend. Selfishness was already discouraged in kindergarten.

I was taught to obey my parents, authorities, and the law. If I do, I will never be put to trouble.

I was also taught to be honest. Do not lie. Tell the truth. Even if it meant being spanked, I must tell the truth. If not, I will suffer greater consequences.

I was taught not to steal or get the belongings of other people. It is bad. I will not have everything, neither do other people. I have to be contented of what I have.

Most importantly, I learned to love people. As a child, all hatred should be gone before tomorrow comes. My friends are my friends. My enemies did not remain as my enemies. There was always rooms for reconciliation. I learned to accept them regardless of their name, their color, the look of their faces, their body size, their social and economic status, their parents, their toys, their houses and their way of dealing with me. As a child, I learned to accept the fact that all of us are different but we can all play together harmoniously.

Life’s lessons are already instilled to a person early on in his/her life. It’s just a matter of applying it continuously. As we age, we tend to be so busy in other things viewed as needed for surviving in lthis life. But we often missed the little lessons our teachers taught us when we were still young and we end up being revengeful, unforgiving, selfish, corrupt, rebellious, ungrateful, complainers, busy, tired, burnt out, and disrespectful.

We may have received ribbons in elementary, graduated with honors in high school, earned a bachelor’s degree, and got a license, but if we forgot to be good boys and girls, these achievements are of no value.

Be good.

It’s kindergarten.

It’s Not About the Trophy

For senior Organizational Communication students of UP Manila, the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) Student Conference and Grand Prix Competition is a much-awaited event.

It has a one-day seminar on topics about public relations in general and social media among others. There is also an interschool competition where teams from different schools create a PR plan for a certain case. Entries will be screened and only seven will enter the finals on the second day of the event.

This year, four teams submitted their entries.

Two teams qualified for the finals.

The whole batch of UPM OrCom supported their two bets.

The teams did not make it to the top three.

But there were no tears of failure and regret. Instead, there were beaming smiles from the teams, from the OrCom students, and from the UP professor/ team adviser.

Why?

There are so many benefits already. The OrCom students learned a lot from the presentations of PR plans of other schools. They got to know what PR practitioners and other professionals look for in a PR plan. The comments from the judges were helpful in spotting holes and good points in those presented by the finalists.

What else? They also learned that in Public Relations, winning is not about the trophy. It is about how a person as a practitioner relates effectively and efficiently to his/her publics. As long as he/she does his/her job well, he/she is a winner.

 

This made me proud of how the University of the Philippines Manila trains her students in the field of PR.

“We are trained not to win contests or competitions, but to land on the job that we want.” (Barrientos, 2011)

The Power of WE

I thought that I could do almost everything. I am young, full of youthful vigor, enthusiastic in doing a lot of tasks at the same time.

I am great in multitasking. That’s what I think.

But a group work in a major subject in OrCom shattered this fantasy of mine. I may be an expert “dovetailer” or multitasker but not all work yields a desirable product or outcome.

A groupmate made me realize that I should admit and accept the fact that I cannot do all things on my own no matter how intelligent or talented I am. I know of others who can help me in accomplishing my task. I can delegate parts of the work to people who are skilled or specialized in doing certain things. I should not be overconfident that I would obtain the best results when I do things on my own.

So I changed my work mentality. I started to yield to the force which is better and surer than my own energy. There will be less stress and better time management, fewer resources wasted and more quality achieved.

We can do almost everything. We are young, full of youthful vigor, enthusiastic in doing tasks using each and every one’s specialized skills.

We can yield a better output, a more desirable outcome.

It is not about what I can do. It is about what WE can do.

~to my groupmate, thank you for teaching me the value of WE

Ipagpatawad Mo

“Ipagpatawad mo, minahal kita agad.”

I could not believe it. I just watched a music video of a French guy singing “Ipagpatawad Mo” with some French words included in the song. He is even paired with Miss Universe-Philippines Venus Raj in the video. Youtube views of his MV soared to more than 14,000 within a span of one week.  The music is relaxing, and somehow the style sounds quite familiar. Everything, from the French artist to the musical instruments used, is familiar. I could still picture myself grooving to the beat.

I could still remember him sing that song for the first time. It was during his band’s rehearsals way back in summer. And I could still not believe that it would sell.

Julien Drolon is a proof of how public relations and social media work in someone’s image.

It was March 2011 when Team EAZ (composed of Alyssa Ayes, Alyssa Batu, Jenny Mae Recla, Mark Sanchez and I) started making a PR plan for Julien and his band. They did not have a big name yet in the music industry although they have performed in some places like Hongkong and Shanghai. So our team was tasked to promote his first single, Phil So Good, last summer. This would eventually lead to his launch of the band’s album on June 2011.

We used the social media as supplementary efforts in promoting the band and Phil So Good, and what I can say is that it was quite a success. We were able to have people download the song for free through orangemagazinetv.com and mediafire.com, and reach the goal of having 12,000 fans in their Facebook fanpage. A Tumblr account made for the campaign became a tool for information and also announcements about the mall tours and other performances of the Julien Drolon band. Bloggers began to blog about him and Phil So Good. They were later featured in local songhits or music magazines and radio stations.

People started to get to know the French guy who composes and sings songs of peace and love and happiness for the Philippines.

Thanks to public relations and social media. The Julien Drolon band is now making a big name in the Philippine music industry.

“I’m in the Philippines…and I feel so good, so good, so good.”

Movies that Define Me

Bombs are blasting around me, screams of war and the rattling of M-16’s and machine guns filled the suffocating smoky air. After a wink of an eye, a doctor wearing thick-rimmed glasses and a surgical mask looks at me with piercing eyes examining a psychotic person strapped in a chair. Then, I am a lonely teenager in the midst of a chaotic high school party, silent and helpless and longing to break free. In reality, I am just staring blankly at an empty wall.

Movies play a huge part in my view on life. Like a typical person, I watch almost any kind of movie. In fact, I have watched hundreds of movies already and the only ones which remained fresh in my memory are those which struck my imagination so hard that I sometimes treat reality as a part of a film. I prefer to watch a movie that tackles about the problematic side of life rather than one filled with fantasy and an expected happy ending. Some of my all-time favorites are The Band of Brothers,Saving Private Ryan, Anne Frank, Speak, The Butterfly Effect, Grave of Fireflies, and Fame (2009). My preference does not mean that I am a depressed person, psychologically unsound, sadistic or masochistic.  In fact, I am an optimistic person. These are my favorites because they make me look deeply into life and the world, the different world views of people of different times, and how the people in the stories deal with life’s challenges and uncertainties, whether they succeed or fail.

My imagination runs wild most of the time especially after watching a really good movie. And before I knew it, I am already adopting some of the attitudes or points of view of the cast. When I achieved something great, I tend to sing my heart out with joy just like the students of the New York Performing Arts School in the movie “Fame (2009)”. In times of loneliness, I sometimes felt like a refugee of World War II or a victim of school bullies. Sometimes I have a feeling of regret over things which I should have done but have not and I wish that life would be just like The Butterfly Effectwhere I can have a chance to look at all the results of my options in making a decision. Movie scenes have highly influenced my responses to certain experiences, especially those which have similarities in my life.

My past experiences with my adventure-filled childhood, broken family and high school politics affect my attitude on choosing films. The kind of movie I watch defines me as a person. Though I am a positive thinker, I am interested with the problems encountered by humans in their everyday lives or in times of danger and suspense. I desire to know how to resolve a dilemma although I admit that I am not a superhuman. I find this attitude of mine as a good one because I exercise my imagination most of the time and because I am able to identify possible solutions to certain life problems. On the other hand, my perception of reality has become tainted with imagination that I tend to forget who I really am. I am not the soldier in Normandy. I am neither the psychotic patient nor the high school party rape victim. I am really the person staring blankly at an empty wall.

-i wrote this for my Speech Communication 183 class (Audio Visual Communication) last 2nd semester AY 2010-2011

Most Requested Topic (?)

Okay, sit down, relax. Let us talk about Philippine politics: the national government, the executive, legislative and judicial bodies, the Senate and the House of Representatives, the 1987 Constitution, Cha-Cha, nepotism, clan rules, political dynasties, elections, the national debt and budget, pork barrel, the opposition and the administration.

While I am typing those terms, I feel uneasy. And when you’re reading it, I assume that you don’t feel relaxed. Well, that is what most of us will feel when we encounter those words.

Why should we care about politics, anyway? And, why should a communicologist like me (and maybe you) care about it, too?

Studying Organizational Communication in the University of the Philippines Manila is not just about evaluating companies, managing relationships, and making communication plans. I realized this when I took a subject on Development Studies 126 (DS 126) or Socio-Politico Institutions and Behavior. The description might be unexciting but the lessons are rich in knowledge and stuff about nation-building, governance, and national or local interests.

As I study Philippine politics and government, I begin to understand that communication has been and is still playing a vital role in the making and managing of this nation.

Philippine elections show how symbols and other images affect the behavior of the Filipinos and the supporters of a certain politician running for office. I find the campaign messages of the candidates very amusing. I think it would be nice if I devote a separate blog post for this topic.

The organizational structures of the national and local government show a highly bureaucratic nation. The structure is quite tall, resembling an almost isosceles-type of triangle. No wonder, a message from the masses, if following the protocols of the government, has to travel all the way up the steep bureaucratic ladder for it to reach the topmost position.

I started to see how personal interests over organizational interests led many of our leaders and government employees to engage in graft and corruption. Speeches delivered by politicians contained sugar-coated messages which, in truth, were not altogether beneficial to the Filipino people. Vague promises of fighting corruption and eradicating poverty are content of these speeches, clear messages of deception and/or confusion. The media’s role in being the fourth branch of the government affects the people’s perception and understanding of the current state of the nation, the leaders, and the other issues our country is facing.

I can go on talking about how a communicologist can be useful in the realm of politics and governance. But it would be better if I tackle one topic at a time next time.

So, what do I want to say in this blog post?

Politics is not a boring or taboo topic for people in the field of communications. As a matter of fact, we need leaders and government employees who are good communicators, honest ones, and sensitive people. We are in need of communicators who understand their audiences, and who are sensitive to their nonverbal language, too.

What else can I say? We should not feel uneasy about this area of life. Organizational communicologists can change the nation!

Paint OrCom RED

OrCom students are generally viewed with certain stereotypes, one of which is that we do not support and/or join progressive movements of students.

Orcom people are not activists. They are elitists. They support capitalism. They work in multinational and other private corporations. They do not join in rallies. They are not very much concerned with the budget cuts, the privatization of social services, the national government, and the issues in the University of the Philippines Manila.

But think twice. We, OrCom people, are not numb citizens of the nation. We do care about the issues our University is facing. The dilemmas of the masses and the crises our nation is undergoing are not hidden from our sights, and we do not ignore these things. Instead, we have our own way of showing the people our insights, our concern about what is going on. We use the power of word of mouth communication by sharing information and our concerns with our friends, loved ones, and students from high schools and other colleges or universities. We also use the power of social media by spreading videos in the digital world.

Here are videos which the OrCom batch of 2012 made in support of the budget cut strike of the University of the Philippines Manila and other state colleges and universities (SUC):

I know that there are other things we can do aside from the ones mentioned above.

OrCom also has a say on this matter.

When Storms Surge

I am starting to get tired of the continuous arrival of typhoons this last half of the year. Almost every week, a low pressure area will be spotted near the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR). Before all Filipinos could recover from the damage and distress brought by the latest typhoon, another one is on its way ready to inflict additional damage to the nation.

“What should we do? Can somebody give us weather updates? Who will help us in times of danger?”

These are the questions which linger in the minds of many distressed, alarmed, or worried Filipinos as they begin to feel and see the coming crisis in the country. The good thing is that our government has agencies or departments collaborating to extend help to the people and to provide preventive measures and solutions.

Pondering on these things, I came to realize that storms are not just those which are natural in character.

But OrCom people are trained to handle these storms.

Looking at an organizational communication perspective, storms are also the issues or conflicts that strike, harm, or attack the organization. These may be in the form of internal problems like employee relations, clashes in organizational roles and behavior, technical dysfunctions, and conflicts of interests, or external problems like stakeholder relations and undesirable image or reputation. These are as difficult and as damaging as natural calamities. But OrCom people are trained to handle these storms.

OrCom practitioners are the PAGASA* of an organization, we communicate with our stakeholders about a conflict or crisis at hand, its progress, its damage, or whatever information we need to disseminate. We Orcom practitioners are the NDCC** of an organization, we play vital roles in managing conflicts, planning repair actions and strategies, and responding to the demands of the situation. Organizations count on us OrCom people in times of distress for we have the skills in facing and eliminating the blows that befall our territory.

Organizations count on us OrCom people…

When a storm surges in an organization, people ask:

“What should we do? Can somebody give us information about this? Who will help us in this time of danger?”

Ask an OrCom practitioner. He/She will definitely be of great help.

 

*PAGASA- Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical & Astronomic Services Administration

**NDCC- National Disaster Coordinating Council

 

Understanding Salt

Looking at Salt, I observed that her unique and unexpected behavior affects all the occurrences in the story. Her behavior showed a lot about how she thinks, feels, and acts. Salt behaved differently, depending on the situation she’s in and on her projected personality or identity. It was quite difficult for her to work as a CIA agent while performing her duties as Chekov, the Russian spy to the United States. But the big turning point of her attitude towards her allegiance to the secret family of Russian spies revealed who Salt really is. She may be having so many identities and responsibilities but in the end, her real self steps in.

By examining her deepest history, as a young girl, Evelyn Salt grew with her parents who were US ambassadors and who later died in a car crash. She might have a peaceful and wonderful life back then when her parents were still alive.

After the accident, Salt was recruited to the secret elite military/spy training school in Russia with the ultimate goal of defeating the powers of the USA. Here, Salt was groomed to be one of the best, if not the best, skilled spies in the world. Her perception of the world was changed. Her once-peaceful disposition was turned into an action-packed life of weapons, combat, intelligence reports and ultimate survival.

Wearing a behaviorist lens, this sudden change in environment affected Salt very much for her nature of being a child of two people committed to goodwill of nations to nations was overcome by the nurture of the anti-US Russian ideology. Her “father”, Orlev, stimulated her to kill for the furtherance of their plans and for the achievement of their ultimate goal which is to cause the US to fall into pieces. She responded by adhering to the principles of her embraced ideology which is to execute the plans skillfully and excellently.

Salt then became an agent of the CIA and of the FBI, hiding her anti-US plans and her identity as a spy while preparing for her next attack as planned by Russia. Yet these occupations of hers did not stop Salt from acting like any human being.

She found a different tug of emotion because of Michael Krausse, the spider hunter who later became her husband. Her tortuous life took a different turn when she met the person who accepted her no matter what she has done or who she really is. She found someone whom she loves aside from her “Russian family”. While living with Michael, she served as an FBI agent to the US for two years after her release from North Korea where she was tortured because of allegations that she was a spy in that Asian nation. For two years, she was regarded as a traitor to the “family” and must pay for it by assassinating the Russian president.

Her husband abducted and her assassination task accomplished, she returned to Orlev for renewal. Seeing her “family” kill the captured Michael in front of her made her behave in contrary to the expectations of her “family”. She did not think of her ultimate goal of defeating the US, instead, she thought of taking revenge of the life which her “family” took from her. She did not feel the same thrill and excitement when given the last phases of the plans in achieving their extremist dream, instead, she felt a sense of betrayal and anger towards her “family”. Until the end of her last task before the plan will be executed, she did not act as what was expected of her, instead, she intervened in the execution of the plan, thus, betraying her entire “family”.

Evelyn Salt may have become a machine designed to combat and to kill. She may have behaved for almost all her life as a tough, aggressive, elite soldier of Russia who was loyal to the anti-Allied Forces principles of her “family” under Orlev, but her status did not mean that she will remain behaving that way forever. By emphasizing on Evelyn Salt’s human nature to act for what one’s conscience says is right, what one’s instinct feels is good, and for what one’s mind decides for the benefit of the human race, we will be able to see an optimistic view of human nature and also of Salt’s potential to grow outside the brainwashed system in Russia as a better person and as a better citizen of her country.

Aside from Salt, Michael Krausse made a great impact to me in this film. Besides from being attracted to Salt when they met, Michael was the cause of Salt’s waking up and of her eyes opening to the truth. After so many years of being blinded by the ideals of the elite Russian forces, Salt was taken back to the real world by Michael in three separate occasions. First was when they met at the garden or zoo when they were young adults. Michael introduced Salt to a world of nature which is full of wonder and beauty, very different from the world of nurture where Salt came from. Second was when Michael fetched Salt after her release from the North Korean prison and opening to her a lifetime of love and acceptance, which is entirely different from what she feels in her “family” where hatred and violence is a necessary core value. Lastly, Michael in his death wakened Salt from becoming brainwashed again by Orlev. His death prompted Salt to realize that Orlev had taken everything from her already (her love, her life) and moved her to seek revenge by making the ultimate plan a huge failure, saving the lives of millions and millions of people across the globe.

Were it not for Michael, Evelyn Salt would never have awakened from a nightmare of blindness in blood and violence.

A New Child in a New World

Wide-eyed and carrying a backpack filled with papers and a notebook, I could not exactly remember the feeling that I had when I first entered the University of the Philippines Manila as a freshman. It was a warm Tuesday of June 2008 and I was getting excited to attend my first class, Spanish 1.

“… I did not know what I was getting into…”

I am not a Foreign Languages student. I enrolled in UP Manila under the degree program of Organizational Communication. Honestly, I did not know what I was getting into. I kept on telling myself that I would be playing an entirely new game in my life, something that was totally unknown to me.

So with big eyes I faced the façade of the College of Arts and Sciences, hoping to get a clearer picture of OrCom and of what I would be four years after. Along with my fully loaded backpack, I also carried my childhood dreams which I had way back in high school when my world was not that big and not that very complicated.  I started to climb the stairs of Rizal Hall.

“… I get to see what OrCom is all about…”

The adventure and the pursuit of my childhood dreams started that day in June. Now, three years have already passed and little by little, I get to see what Organizational Communication is all about and how far it has taken me into reaching my dreams. I may have not reached any of my dreams yet, but I can see that my training in Organizational Communication is a great help indeed.