freda marga ( ai en [ love and grace ] )

i have the most brilliant and amazing christmas gift ever in my entire life this year, my daughter, my baby freda marga. 

how to pronounce FREDA

in a time where i have settled my heart, mind and soul to be a single human being forever she came right away and change the course of my future.

freda marga, a name i have given her to pay honour and tribute to my late father alfredo and my mother melita in an indirect way. freda a similar sound to alfredo and m the first letter initial of my mother's name....thus freda marga came into being.


i would also like to pay honour and submit my utmost respect to the mother of my child, my wife, hui min. for bravely bringing freda marga into this world from her conception, pregnancy for thirty-eight weeks and till her delivery. that in her young age she managed to do a normal delivery...as the midwife always utter during the delivery " with all your might"...with all her energy she pushed and pushed until  we heard our freda marga's first cry. the very reason i wanted a chinese name for my daughter to pay tribute to her mother. AI meaning love and EN meaning grace. Ai En, fruit of our love and a grace from God.

in hindsight, most of my contemporaries already have their children that grew taller than them, can hold hands while they walk on the streets, can already tell what their children want in life...pero ako ay magsisimula pa lamang sa buhay pamilya at gawi ng may isang pamilya. i do not know where it will lead to but all i know is i know how to start, and i humbly welcome wisdom from another mother, from another father, from friends whom have already crossed the paths before me.

at her 7th year i will be 40 then and my life then has just begun...

at her 18th i will be at my golden years... and i hope that when someone marry my daughter i will still be around and walking her to the aisle.

while others ask for a baby in their lives, i was given this wonderful blessing when i have asked for it and it came in a time where i am of age, very much of age for that matter and i am ready emotionally and intellectually.

sino ang magsasabing may takdang hangganan ang pagiging isang ama o maging isang magulang. ang diyos ang nakakaalam ng hiling ng ating mga puso at ibibigay niya ito sa panahon na tayo ay higit pa sa ating kahandaan.

a child, a baby, is and will always be a blessing and i want to blessed with more......

maaring ang aking pagiging magulang ay nahuli man sa aking edad at nahuli ng simula. ano mang oras at panahon ay ang sandali upang magsimula. dinadalangin ko na ako ay gabayan ng panginoon at bigyan niya ng ibayong lakas upang magampanan ang habambuhay na responsibilidad na ito.

freda marga, i hope that the love we will shower you from now on will be the same love that you will have for us when we need it together with your mother.

you were born in the time that social media is prevalent and much utilized. it is nice to utilize it and spread the good things that is happening to us, become an inspiration and making history everyday. but remember, we will not choose a gadget, a media platform over a quality and precious time with you.

you were given to us before christmas and you are the most amazing gift to us. in time that you will come to know about this and  decipher what this is all about, we do hope that this would put a smile in your face. just always be the best that you can be. mommy and daddy loves you. merry christmas.

isang pirasong tuyo at isang bandehadong kanin

sa buhay,  ang isa sa mga pamantayan ng masaganang buhay ay kung ano ang nakahaing ulam sa iyong hapag. minsan iisang ulam na ubod ng sarap, minsan nama'y iisa na nga ay wala pang tiyak na taguri o lasang pagkakakilanlan. minsan ay may pagpipilian, minsan naman ay wala, and at times there is really nothing on the table than a table salt and a potable water from the well (tubig-poso).

it is an everyday struggle for a living individual on what and where to eat and who to eat with.. sometimes. food is a basic necessity we all know it, but it differs from different people on how they give importance and how they value food on their tables. 

today is the international day celebration of labor day, dakilang araw ng mga manggagawa, at sa mga dayuhang mangagawa iisang hangarin lamang ang patuloy na pinaiiral.... ang mabigyan ng masarap na buhay ang ating pamilya at siguraduhing may ihahaing ulam sa kani-kaniyang mga hapag.


in the far-flung rural areas in the provinces you will come to realize how hard it is to literally live everyday and to exert efforts to put  food in each tables. it is an irony that those who till the land and produce our staple food do not have even food of their own, walang isasaing na bigas, walang ulam na isasabay sa kanin, nasisiyahan na sila sa isang basong kapeng tinimpla sa pinaglumaang baso ng peanut butter at kung sakaling may bigas man wala namang ulam. it is a festive season for them if they have rice and dried fish on their tables. isang pirasong tuyo na pilit pagkakasyahing iulam sa isang bandehadong kanin, nilalasap ang bawat subo nito.

in these trying times let us remind ourselves that each and every grain of rice, each and every slice of bread or meat, each and every ounces of water we take, each and every sweets we crave for...it is a product of labor and of sweat before it reaches our pallete.

appreciate it, savour it, respect it....while stocks lasts...

tatlong taon at tatlong dekada

there maybe some people whom have seen me from afar and those who have seen me in a near distance that will say i am an accomplished person...and will only see what is around me materially but they really do not know the whole of me.

maaaring kilala lang nila ako sa aking pangalan, sa aking tirahan, sa kung sino ang aking mga magulang at mga kamag -anakan...ngunit hindi nila ako nakikilala ng lubusan.

yes, i am an accomplished person in my own right and in my own little ways. i have had a share of failures and triumphs for the past 33 years, and in those years i have invested on things that will define me as person.

i have invested on material things but at the same time i have invested on things that is more relevant, more important and more essential. nagpundar ako ng pagmamahal; pagmamahal sa aking magulang, pagmamahal sa mga kaibigan at lalo at higit.. pagmamahal sa diyos.

i have invested on camaraderie. pakikipagkapwa, pakikipamuhay, pakikipamayan... sa mga taong aking nakakasalamuha sa araw-araw. i have always adhere to the value of camaraderie, no man is an island...walang sinuman ang nabubuhay para sa sarili lamang....

sadyang napakayaman ng aking tatlong taon at tatlong dekada sa mundong ibabaw. i am healthy and wished that will always be. i  have the right frame of mind in any situation or instance that i maybe, i am happy and there is so much happiness in  me, that i am able  share my happiness to those who need it and it comes naturally. i am sincere, in the same way that people around me is in their sincerest.

i may have a different personality that others see and others feel, but that difference sets me apart to any person that you have known in your lifetime.

                                                                                                                                                                       i am not a saint, i am a sinner at times, but i am a sinner who ask for forgiveness and repents.

hindi magkamayaw ang mga salita na naglalaro sa aking isip upang buuin ang kaisipan ng pasasalamat sa lahat ng nakalala sa aking espesyal na araw na ito. sino ako upang pag ukulan ng sandali, ng minuto, ng segundo upang iparating sa akin na ako ay mahalaga at minamahal.

at mula sa awiting "your heart today" i would like to end with this message

and when i've done, all that i could

yet there are hearts, i cannot move

lord give me hope

that i may be your heart today

marami pong salamat.