Calamian Islands of Palawan

I was about to change the Asia Living TV channel my son was watching till he fell asleep but WOW! What was showing was a documentary of very beautiful islands and the seascapes around. To my surprise, it was in the Philippines, at the Calamian Islands of Palawan. If there is one popular place in the Philippines I haven't seen yet, it is Palawan!

I hope I could share whatever I chanced to watch, so I searched YouTube and found videos featuring Calamian Islands, which consist of group of islands and they are Busuanga, Coron, Culion and other smaller islands.

Enjoy viewing these very beautiful islands, seascape, Coron Island lake and the deep waters...

Pearl Farm in Davao and Mission Impossible

I hope those who read my previous post The Special Child’s Rights will be able to read this post because it tells what happened before we adopted Lyca, the special child. I assumed the responsibility to care for the mother and child after birth and also brought them to the relatives especially the grandfather of Lyca who lived in a remote town in Davao, a province in the Philippines. The biological grandmother of Lyca stayed for a while in Manila to see this child so she was already with mother and child and a cousin, when we all went to Davao, my daughter Lauren also with us. My daughter and I stayed in the city of Davao while the grandmother, cousin, mother and child proceeded to the remote town where they lived. Lyca was already one year old at that time, her disabilities already known to many.

Lyca’s mother had wanted me to adopt Lyca since birth, but I was ready for whatever can happen when they reach their home in Davao. I said I’ll stay in Davao City to wait for them to come back, but only for 3 days. Whether they come back to me or not after 3 days, I’ll go back to Manila.

In the meantime, Lauren and I had the opportunity to stay with one of the closest persons to me when I was a child, her name is Ningning and lives in Davao City, and also the opportunity to spend a two days and two nights vacation at the most popular resort in Davao, the Pearl Farm Beach Resort in Samal Islands. At first I thought it was really a Pearl Farm so I expected to see shells with pearls but they said it used to be a pearl farm. It is now a resort that was initially exclusive for tourists until they opened it to the public. It has two white sand beaches and another two or more beaches at a smaller island.

That two days and two nights vacation at Pearl Farm Beach Resort felt like a gift from God. It was the first time I took a vacation leave from the office after 15 years, and it covered the eve and the day of my 50th birthday!

The video posted here was created by Ully Jerus, the President of Makati Toastmasters Club at that time, but it was just a series of photos that were of course shot by me, or Lauren if I was the subject. Ully used the "Mission Impossible" soundtrack which I feel is very appropriate because the only reason why I was in Davao was because of my mission to take back Lyca which seemed impossible at that time. I was also known as "Malui", and that explains the title of the video.

To make my story short, Lyca’s biological mother fought for her child to be brought back to me. Their place is not suitable for Lyca’s condition because it is a remote town two hours away from the nearest hospital by boat and four hours by bus, and there were limited facilities at the hospital. Worst was the grandmother couldn’t accept that Lyca has disabilities so she wouldn’t tell everyone about them. The latest that I’ve heard was the biological grandmother of Lyca has already accepted that the best for this child is to be under my care.

The Victory

I’d like to fulfill my promise to tell the story about the ancient city of Nikopolis or Victory City in Greece, but there is more to say about victory that can inspire today’s people, so let me see how I can put them together in one package.





Nikopolis (Victory City) was founded by the first emperor of the Roman Empire, Octavian, to commemorate his victory over Antony and Cleopatra during their sea-battle (Battle of Actium) in 31 BC. It was Antony’s defeat in this battle that caused him and Cleopatra to commit suicide. Nikopolis expanded as it welcomed the remaining inhabitants of Cassope the Ancient City, and other nearby villages that were earlier destroyed. Octavian was later named Augustus, meaning “sacred”, because his rule initiated an era of relative peace. Upon his death in AD 14, he was declared a god by the Senate, to be worshipped by the Romans, and the month of Sextilis was officially renamed August in his honour.
Seeing Nikopolis with my own eyes will always be a memorable experience reminding me of two victories: the victory of Augustus and the victory of the University of Asia and the Pacific Chorale. I almost forgot that it will also remind me of these Seven Determinants of Victory of John Maxwell which Augustus and the UA&P Chorale possessed to be victorious:

1. A victory begins with a VISION
A vision of winning - a vision of going “over the top”.

2. The next key to victory is INSTRUCTION
Any achievement must be preceded by careful planning. The better we understand the problems, the greater our chance of victory.

3. There is no success without proper CONDITIONING
Sometimes victory is not achieved by the one who first took the lead. The winner is the one who can work harder for longer periods without quitting.

4. Victory can be realized only if one has a TARGET
The thrill of victory comes only when a stated objective has been reached. No target, no thrill!

5. Victory can be secured only with the help of OTHERS
Victory doesn’t say, “Look what I did,” but “Look what we did”. It’s not my strength, but our strength, not my plans, but our plans; not my work, but our work. Therefore, it’s not my victory, but our victory!

6. Each person must fulfill his or her RESPONSIBILITIES
Every person is important. Failure occurs when a person feels that if he or she does not work, it won’t matter or won’t hurt the group.

7. The last and most important key to victory is YOU
Only you have the power to determine the sacrifice, energy, and time that you will supply to become a winner.

Remember: the seven determinants of VICTORY are Vision, Instruction, Conditioning, Target, Others, Responsibilities, and You!



According to Wikipedia, Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else unrelated. When I was with the UA&P Chorale in Greece to watch them compete in Preveza's international choir contest, I watched them rehearse but at the same time, I was holding a John Maxwell book and was trying to figure out how I will relate Maxwell's chapter on determinants of victory to a speech I was composing for an upcoming event of Toastmasters Club. It was strange because as I listened to the choir, I could hear and see the picture that I was trying to complete in my mind. I asked myself, "Why am I holding this book? Is it for my speech or for the choir?" But I was more surprised to know the awarding will be held in an ancient city named Victory City. I knew the UA&P Chorale will get awards, but more than what I expected, they got gold medals for all the categories they joined, and the grand prize! Maxwell’s Seven Determinants of Victory, awarding at Victory City, and UA&P Chorale’s victory. Was this just a coincidence of occurrences with redundant words or was there serendipity?

Ancient City

Some readers might have noticed that I added digital photos and even changed some. I didn’t expect that the change in the title of this blog and putting more photos will make me more excited! That explains why most blogs have a lot of digital photos inserted. They don’t only attract the readers but also motivate the writers. In my case, “I Don’t Want To Retire!” as a title also makes me more energized and motivates me to share whatever topic I can think of. Probably the real essence of not retiring is not to stop thinking about beautiful ideas and experiences and sharing them.


The photo that I found which can relate to the first item in my “Dreams List”, which is to travel to Greece, reminded me not only of beautiful memories but also of the very rich historical value of the places near the town of Preveza in Greece. The Ancient City of Cassope, for instance, where a photo of the ruins is shown here, was destroyed by the Roman forces in 177-176 B.C. (notice the person afar at the left to give you an idea how far the ruins are from one of the amphitheatres, that are just big white rocks now, where I stood to shoot the photo).




The next photo shows the opposite view from the same amphitheatre, where my daughter Lauren is seated at the photo. At the background is the top of a rock called Stefani near Zalogo Village, about one kilometer from Cassope. The white figures near the cliff of that rock is called “The Monument of Zalogo” or giant sculptures of dancing women symbolizing the 22 Souliotisses women with their children and 6 men who sacrificed themselves by dancing till they fell off the cliff, so as not to be enslaved by the Turks, on December 13, 1803.

When I was a kid, I had wished to go to Greece to see the places of the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. I didn’t know that a vast learning of the most beautiful war stories in history awaits me if I go to Greece. Watch out for my entry about Nikopolis (Victory City).

Amazing Grace in Greece

I was in Greece with my son and daughter in July 2005, when my employer’s Top Management announced the need to close down our department by the end of 2005, which will result to us, the staff, to be retired involuntarily. If that was announced earlier, I wouldn’t have gone to Greece, since the transportation alone was expensive. However, whenever I’d think about that and the events that happened in Greece, I’d always end up very grateful that the announcement was made later because I consider the trip to Greece an amazing grace from God.

The trip to Greece was an opportunity for my daughter and me to watch the University of Asia and the Pacific Chorale where my son was a member, compete during the international choir contest at Preveza, a small town in Greece. From the Athens airport, we rode a bus and on our way to Preveza , I’ve seen a very beautiful spot that can be seen in any part of the world, but the site of the clouds emitting rays of the sun at that time looked very special to me. It appeared like a sign that God’s graces will be showered to the UA&P Chorale so I told Arwin Tan, the choir master, “It looks like you’re going to win!”, while we were all looking at the clouds.

I watched the UA&P Chorale rehearse, and during their breaks, I would read the John Maxwell book that I brought. A chapter of that book was about John Maxwell's determinants of victory, and I was astonished because the choir sounded like the winner whom John Maxwell would like to address his “determinants of victory”, so I copied it and was read by Arwin Tan to the choir.

During the contest proper, while listening to the UA&P Chorale, I knew I was right. I knew they will emerge as the winner. Not only did they sing like winners, there was even a Divine Intervention during one of their first songs titled "O Magnum Misterium" ("Oh Great Mystery"). The climax of the song was a series of "Alleluia" and about two seconds before that, the nearby church's bells rang and blended with their song then stopped right before the final alleluia! It was very beautiful!

Not Finding A Job But Finding More Friends

The reason why I enrolled in Interior Design after I learned I will be retired by end of 2005 was to be able to still work when I reach the compulsory retirement age of 65, and be able to continously support the special child whom we intended to adopt. While studying, I also had to help my husband run the coffee kiosk. There was also a time in 2006 we tried the call center business with my brother, but realized we will need a big sum of money for the monthly operations cost if we seriously want to pursue that business, and that scared us.

Every time I got involved with a new business, I stopped attending my Interior Design classes. It was a good thing that each term of the course was only 3 months so stopping temporarily was easy. In 2007 though, we were obliged to pay in cash a total amount of more than 800 thousand pesos for the balance of the lot we purchased in 2004, or our down payment will be forfeited. I needed to find a regular job so I stopped schooling again. This time I can’t tell if I can still go back to school since we no longer have the extra funds for it.

In the Philippines, looking for a job at my age is hard. I’m still hoping however, to be employed in the networking company that will soon open a branch here in the Philippines. I’ve chosen this company with the vision that I can help transfer its technology to my country, because I had the chance to assess this company's application systems in Singapore and found them very impressive. In the process of learning more about this company, I had the opportunity to travel to Singapore and Malaysia, and meet friends also from other Asia-Pacific countries like Taiwan, Hongkong, Thailand, Korea and Indonesia (photo was shot by Hendri Jap of Indonesia).

I can’t help but relate all these events to that mission of spreading God’s message, because there are now more people who can help me with that mission, regardless of religion.