A Welcome Ornithological Phenomenon

At 4:00pm on April 6,.my son John noticed a beautiful green bird perched on our shaded clothesline. Appreciating its beauty, he called his brother Joseph and they took pictures of the parrot-like bird. It is resplendent in its cool and soothing shades of green.

After a few photo shots, the bird flew some feet away to the steel backdoor. It perched on the black-painted steel grills, some 9 feet from the floor. It was so tame and it was never intimated by our raucous presence.

To test whether or not its welcoming attitude is authentic, I climbed up the steel door and came a foot near it. The beautiful creature didn't budge. It warmly obliged to the camera clicks and the soft wows of the group.

In no time, the family became superstitious. John ventured, "Could the bird be Yam?", noting the diverse shades of green which was Yam's favorite color. How come it suddenly appeared at a time when we were preparing to visit Yam's grave? Any message being sent through the bird? Or is this meek and elegant member of the aves a reincarnation of the lively and lovely Yam?

For the past week, Yam didn't have her usual flowers since Mom had a trip to Manila. We were readying ourselves to go there for an afternoon walk and to bring some fresh flowers. It was also an opportune time for the visit of a long-time friend from Baguio who just arrived a day before.

Whatever, this green creature's visit is just so pleasurable and soothing. Superstitious or not.

John Ryan "JR" de Guzman

I occasionally watch the Richard Gomez-hosted game-show, "Family Feud". But today's show was extra-special because the challenger team was headed by a special person - John Ryan "JR" de Guzman from Pampanga.

I first met JR de Guzman on September 30, 2006. At that time, our daughter Yam just had her bone marrow transplant and it would take about 14 days for her new marrow to produce her own blood. She needed massive blood transfusion and we were scouring the whole of Metro Manila for friends and acquaintances who could donate blood. My son John, a member of the Alpha Phi Omega (APO) Fraternity, got hold of an APO directory that included the members' contact numbers. He texted more than 50 of them.

Among the few who responded was JR. He braved the aftermath of typhoon Milenyo and travelled all the way from Pampanga to Asian Hospital in Muntinlupa to donate his life-saving blood to a child he doesn't know. He arrived at about lunch time, lined up for screening with other potential donors, and eventually had platelet extraction through an apheresis machine by evening time. His travel, queueing, screening, waiting and extraction took him more than 14 hours. We had him in for the night where we were staying and that time served as our only bonding time. After breakfast the following day, we brought him to SM-North Edsa where he waited for his bus back home.

JR and my son John maintained communication after that. When Yam passed away, we informed him about the loss of his "kadugo". Though we never had the opportunity to be close to each other, we always felt a special affinity to him.

So, when John mentioned that JR and his family will challenge the family that won Php1.65M in Family Feud, we were excited. I came home early and didn't get out of the house anymore to make sure I watched the episode. And I didn't regret. The de Guzman family won handily over the Grande family. And they won the Php150k jackpot in a dramatic fashion - scoring exactly the last 10 points needed to win the jackpot at the last question.

The de Guzmans return tomorrow (March 12) to defend their crown, and hopefully to win more in the game. We're happy for JR and his family. Above all, we're happy to see on-TV-screen a person who helped extend the life of a child he didn't know - our daughter, Yam.

Thanks and thanks again, JR. May you have a fruitful, happy life.

PZFUGLHKKZKT

Angara denies cut in budget of some SUCs

Angara denies cut in budget of some SUCs
12/30/2008 | 10:54 PM
gmanews tv

MANILA, Philippines - Administration senator Edgardo Angara on Tuesday denied reports that the Senate has cut the budget of some state universities and colleges (SUCs) when it passed its version of the 2009 proposed national budget.

"(That is) not true. In fact, I am giving some SUCs extra budget for research and development," Angara said in text message to GMANews.TV. He did not elaborate.

He said the research and development funding, especially in times of desperation, is very important to find new ways of livelihood such as new skills, training of people "so that when the good times come back, there are people who are prepared."

In an interview earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said the senators put more funding in the research and development.

"The fund for research and development will be put together as pool of resources that the universities and colleges can tap," Zubiri said.

He added that the research and development fund is intended to address the issues on food and energy as well as poverty mitigation to address the looming global recession.

House Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora has warned against a showdown between senators and congressmen in the next meeting of the bicameral conference committee because of the reported cuts made by the Senate on SUCs in the provinces.

He said the senators cannot expect the congressmen to agree on the cuts it made on the academic institutions in their areas.

Among the schools that received cuts in the Senate version of the budget were the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University which lost P9 million; Batanes State College, P3 million; Cagayan State University, P9 million; Isabela State University, P30.5 million; Nueva Vizcaya State University, P18 million; and Quirino State College, P29 million.

Other that received cut were Bataan Peninsula State University, P9 million; Pampanga Agricultural College, P2 million; and Ramon Magsaysay Technological University, P14 million; Bicol University, P3 million; Camarines Sur State Agricultural College, P29 million; Partido State University, P19 million; Capiz State University, P3 million.

Cebu Normal University, P12 million; Cebu State College of Science and Technology, P6 million; Negros Oriental State University, P9 million; Siquijor State College, P23 million; Samar State University, P14 million; J. H. Cerilles State College, P19 million; University of Southeastern Philippines, P44 million; Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology, P4 million; Mindanao State University, P21.5 million. - GMANews.TV