I decided to compile my posts with hashtag #Reflection on Facebook since I became a member more than ten years ago to keep a record of my personal thoughts and insights based on the various lenses I wear as a human being. The posts reflect my feelings, musings, reactions and opinions to a given development or subject matter at the moment of its writing. I shall indicate the dates per post and also the subject matter if I can still remember them. This article will continually be a work in progress. I hope you as reader will like it.
September 24, 2019: Old school concepts are so virulent in this country. No matter how you highlight new ideas (which are not even new in other countries), you get pushed aside. It is so contagious, so viral, so deadly – it pushes innovators to think they are destroying systems that work but actually doesn’t. Sad. We are covered with an invisible but impregnable mantle of traditionalism or resistance to change like soot that continues to permeate the air. In other countries, new, innovative ideas are spreading like wildfire, changing economies, bringing nations to higher level. In the Philippines, disruptive ideas are like glitches, anomalies to well-entrenched traditions. When I look at theoritical academicians who set the standards and traditional politicians who know every trick in the book to go around these standards I cannot help but be sad. The doers, the innovators, the iterators are caught in between the thinkers and the talkers. I wonder when we can free ourselves.
August 21 2015: Each of us has our own advocacy but I challenged the young, enlightened, forward-looking ICT sector to demand for and question whether the National Candidates have a concrete ICT agenda. If truly we are a strong sector contributing second to OFWs in our country’s economy today. Questions like are you in favor of setting Department of ICT, are you going to support a Philippine Digital Strategy that encompasses PH Cyberservices and IT products global promotions, Speedy and Universal Internet Access for Filipinos, Tech/ICT For Education Initiatives, creating Startup ecosystems and investing on TechPreneurships, eGovernance and Open Governance (ie FOI), investing on platforms to make government not only transparent but efficient, Innovation for Business. If we don’t – we will commit the same mistake again – fooled by political lip service.
August 22 2015: Reflection on a rainy weekend: I had the chance to talk to a young and innovative first-termer councilor of a town yesterday during the PCL summit in Bacolod. We work in the same circles because he has driven attention to his LGU in the ICT sector. I am humbled to hear that my works have inspired him to run for office. Sadly, when I asked about his plans for 2016, he sincerely said he will go back to the private sector and thats why he always like my FB posts that bid politics goodbye next year. I am sad for his LGU and pray he will find enlightenment. And I pray for myself too and all the leaders out there who simply want to make a change but need to deal with the realities of politics.
August 25 2020: Leaders are now asking for more emergency powers. Question. What’s not in their current power now that deters them to call for all stakeholders to collaborate and design solutions, build systems and platforms to detect, test, isolate, treat and trace cases, empower frontliners and strengthen the public health system, and extensively educate communities of their role in fighting the pandemic? Emergency powers to lockdown, quarantine, test, close borders, regulate movement – but those are already covered by the inherent principles of police power ans sustained by a long line of jurisprudence. And the bigger question – will granting politicians more powers directly reduce the transmission? And increase their leadership and competence overnight to manage the situation?
August 25 2017: Finally, the almost three hours of “immersion” on Israel’s startup/innovation ecosystem comes to a close. Enjoyed the night listening to an Israeli startup mentor sharing tips to our Bacolod/Iloilo geeks specializing in AI and bots. Learned why Israel with 8M people have 20,000 startups and is number two country in startup ecosystem. And PH with 100M people and 500 startups. Three factors – we need to improve on teamwork skills. As it is said – we cannot make all the mistakes we need to make to learn in our lifetime – we need to learn from other’s mistakes. Two, rid our ecosystem – of the “losing face” syndrome. If only 2 of 10 startups make it, the 8 are not a failure but resources for learning. Three, every startup should never start even a single code before knowing what he wants to address. Then on the education side – our new found mentor says there is a problem with the “egosystem” in our schools. Teachers must accept that they are not the source of all knowledge, and students must be left to solve the hardest questions. Really inspiring discussion.
August 25, 2012: In my visits to Taiwan and the US, particularly in North Carolina, Texas and DC, I have never regretted spending a sizable amount of time in the museums. Terribly awesome! Despite the entrance fees. It gives one a chance to time travel. To appreciate history, to see how people lived before and to know how things originated. That is why paying a visit to my friend Lyn Gamboa of the Negros Museum last week makes me sad – as to how little we value and support our Negros Museum. As I have always stressed – food, heritage, sports and adventure tourism will make a big difference to the economy of Negros Occidental and Bacolod. I wish I had the power to help fulfill this reality.
August 26 2019: For 377 years, we were entertained by fiestas. We lost ourselves in the merriment. Until now, after 118 years of self – governance, we are still being entertained by fanfares, showbiz and festivals. Cheers to the heroes who have stood for us, fought for us, spoke for us, thought for us, planned the future when the rest of the so-called nincompoop leaders simply joined the revelry. #FiestaMentality #NationalHeroesDay
September 2 2013: One of the loneliest human experience for me is being able to clearly visualize how the future will look like with a measure or a step to be undertaken in the present and no one, or handful understands or supports the vision. Sadly visionaries are seldom decision-makers, and decision-makers are seldom visionaries. But when a visionary is also a decision-maker – I can just imagine the power to create great and sustainable futures.
September 4 2017: Our childhood dreams never die. They just linger around until we decide to go after them again. As a child, I have always wanted to cook, experiment, and share what I cook with others. I know good food and I love to eat. My father and grandmother taught me good food is not expensive. I have seen how my Lola transformed scraps of ingredients to one delectable dish. Friends who eat with me say my appetite is contagious. I appreciate the uniqueness of every place through its food. A country’s food, how it is prepared, and served, speak so many things about its culture and people. I think I am going to pursue my dream. There is no age limit to pursuing childhood dreams.
April 7 2019: When politicians spew a lot ot motherhood statements, people cheer. Like idiots. Yet many ask me to speak that way. I don’t want to change my style – I want to share real strategies that already worked in other cities and environments, solutions and ideas that are scalable and doable, given the proper leadership, platforms anchored on real KPIs, cost-benefit analysis for all projects using public funds – but then again – we love to listen to empty sweet promises. I hope we create an alternative world. So we can have a more inclusive future for our cities around the country. Voters need to listen carefully and seriously to what politicians are saying. Go beyond the first layer and analyse the promises. Those who are more educated can guide others, instead of just grabbing their popcorns to watch the circus. Thinking out loud.
May 2 2017: Time is relative. Today – time is more valuable than money. So no matter how much money you earn if it eats up all of your time – productivity on a per hour basis is still low. Today the amount of work one can produce in a full 8 hour day could be worth the value of what one can produce in a month – given a monthly salary. Salary based on time encourages sloth and low productivity. Salary based on output is the wave of the future. The more time you have – the more resources you have. Sadly – many are fond of using their time for doing nothing. More sadly, there are those who expect to be paid for doing nothing.
May 2 2017: Methinks darkness never really go away, it’s just that too many light-bringers continue to hold the light up no matter how difficult things can go. Just like trials and difficulties never really end, it’s just that there are people who continue to think of solutions and just keeps on doing whatever they can. Believing. Keeping the faith. That’s why we have sunny days, because there are people who reflect the sun – even when they are burned to their cores and they radiate smiles knowing that they can never lead everyone to cry. To the light-bringers, the sunshine gatherers, the smile-bearers – hang in there.
June 16 2020: USOLICITED ADVICE: For all private learning institutions with some leeway to design teaching methodologies, please don’t wait for government.
If you message me – I can send you links of all ITU, ILO and International Organisations materials to teaching in the 21st Century. The concepts revolve around CO-LEARNING and teachers become co-learners as well.
Once you have the links, pick your best teachers and immerse in design thinking process. Understand where you are as a school, what needs to be done, learn what worked for others and design what you need and will work for you.
Don’t be spoon-fed by DepEd and CHED – no one has the monopoly of a wider vista about global trends in education. Do it yourself.
And most importantly – LEARNING is NOT about GADGETS – it is more of content, methodology, accessibility, relevance and clear success indicators.
July 15 2020: When I create and share my ideas, I share myself. So I take things personally. That’s why I’m very comfortable not having many friends – because I don’t invest so much time in seeking friends and being liked, I seek people whose minds can co-create things with me so I can create value for others. That’s how I define my life – a great opportunity to experiment. And create value. The mind is a powerful tool – everything that’s man-made that we use today comes from someone’s mind. Their makers invest their minds to these products and systems. The world does not value that. But the thinkers and makers don’t care – innovators don’t need the approval of others – they find satisfaction in seeing outcomes and validating their ideas.
July 15, 2015: Life would be almost meaningless if we do not have mission. I believe each of us is assigned a mission, however grand or simple, that we must accomplish and I don’t think we have to look far and wide for what it is. It is the task that we have today. A lawyer, a leader, a teacher, a doctor, a nurse, a media person, a baker, a dentist, a carpenter, and driver, an office employee – we all each have a mission. And the service that we do, when we care, when we put ourselves into it – that is our mission when we become the embodiment of service to others. This is my reflection tonight in the light of information that a friend who is in a critical stage was not given proper medical attention. And a nurse simply advised “paimna lang paracetamol”. I have many friends who are nurses and I do not mean to throw them in a bad light but I pray to God tonight that He will not allow people who have this attitude to have the gift of this profession. They do not deserve this mission.
July 22 2012: Reflections from the Dark Knight “Shooting”: I thank God for my natural courage against failure. I lived through life always never afraid or ashamed of failure. I had lots of them – and was never bothered. I hear people saying I will fail and never really mind because when I am on to something – I am on to seeing the results – whatever it is. Just like what I learned in Silicon Valley, young people are encouraged to fail, to risk, to start and never be afraid of failing. For failing means you’re doing something. Many people don’t fail – because they don’t do anything. I believe the top reason why people don’t do what they want to do is that they are afraid to fail. Well, here’s the deal Dark Knight – you shouldn’t have gone shooting people just because you failed a test. To all the young people out there – never be frustrated when you fail. What does not break you will make you strong! And never let society tell you you are failure – tell them – instead – now I know one way not to do it!
July 27 2015: The system persists. This system will spawn the same type of politicians. Dole out is a cancer that all sides use, either personally or through government funds. Everything is about personalities. I have nothing more to say about our politicians. And I do not want to be a part of this system anymore. A system that lives and breathes on personalities, rather than looking inside and putting institutional reforms. I will fight my battles outside. And spend the rest of my years – doing what little I can with all other stakeholders – to empower people to have more jobs and opportunities, find decent jobs, so they no longer be gullible to politicians.
Jocelle Batapa Sigue 