Angel's Steps around UST

Hopefully, many years from now, these steps around UST that both #RafaAndAngel will pay off as they pursue college education. While am not even sure how they can enter UST in the future, they are a couple of ways to help ensure a transition into college life. This second semester, on a couple of weekends, Gil brought #RafaAndAngel separately to UST and "sit in" the Ad Prac 4 classes.

And see the campus too.

And grab a happy meal with toy at McDonald's along P. Noval Street, and a free copy of the Phil. Daily Inquirer too!

Still pretty with pink finger nails

Our little girl is already exploring the world of beauty and has selected permission from Cecile to put on manicure on her five-year old fingers.

Yes, all ten of her fingers a slice of pink. Pink takes it color from red. It is the color associated with beauty, charm and politeness. Childhood and femininity. Angel's favorite color is pink. Her bedroom called, "the pink room" is filled with pink stuff from her princess outfit to pink-colored stuff toys and dolls.

Back around the 12th century, an Italian artist named, Duccio painted a version of the Madonna and Child, with the Child dressed in pink.

Being part of World Orphan Sunday

As part of 2015 World Orphan Sunday celebration, we took a long drive to Antipolo to join Mike and Malen and other families to be part of a documentary that promotes the advocacy of fostering orphans around the world.

This celebration is being organized by Christian Alliance for Orphans.

A few rules are waived like drinking orange juice around Cloud 9 Hotel and Restaurant in Antipolo.

While Rafa explored the place, Angel met a new friend, named Chosen, son of Sam and Hope Carino too!

Let us continue to find ways to open up our hearts and homes to orphans around our community.

Learning around The Greenhome

Scrabble is a very good board game that strengthens one's vocabulary. Did you know that this game is available in 29 languages and was first developed by an architect? Guess, building words has more impact than building homes for Alfred Butts. It even became a game show in 1984, many years before #RafaAndAngel stepped into our own lives.

It was inducted in the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1992.

#RafaAndAngel played their very first Scrabble game with Daddy Gil this month.

Hopefully, many more days learning new words through Scrabble.

Rafa's Steps Around UST

One day, many years from now, our son, Rafael will walk through the Arch of the Centuries. Hopefully, he would have passed either the high school or college entrance exams to become a Thomasian. Or maybe, earned a tennis scholarship? There will continue to be many steps around UST for #RafaAndAngel as they explore and discover what UST means to our own lives and how this university will have an impact on the #StepsOfOurLives today and tomorrow.

It will be a long journey. Many bumps along the way, but it will be a fun-filled beautiful journey with our children, #RafaAndAngel

The Images around the Church Of Morong

As we prayed inside the Church of Morong, I took a few pictures of the larger than life religious statues which would be part of the Holy Week procession on Good Friday. According the historical marker found in the walls of the facade, the Church of Morong was "entrusted to the Recollects in 1607." That would make this church more than 400 years old. The marker also says that the church was a witness "to the Morong Katipuneros fight for freedom during the revolution against Spain." The church was also part of the heroic stand of the Cavalry Unit of USAFE Unit as part of the "western section of the main line of resistance" during World War II. Given the rich historical value of the Church of Morong, we would wish the more Filipinos would actually visit this church and help in maintaining it's structure and antiquities.

Maybe, one day the #StepsOfOurLives" will bring us back again to the Church of Morong.

Steps around the Church Of Morong

The #StepsOfOurLives this Holy Week brought all of us to Morong! We left Tahanan Village early Thursday morning, around 7am. Yes, that was early already, given that we had to prepare our kids for the trip. We picked up Rene at StarBucks front Tiendesitas which was one of the few outlets open this Holy Week. None of us had been to Morong. Even, Rene, hasn't been to this part of the country. The Felicianos, who had joined us for a couple of road-trips are also newbees to Morong. I just googled resorts around Morong and after a few inquiries, confirmed our accommodation at Alpina Beach Resort. On our second day in Morong, we visited the Church of Morong around 2:30pm, Good Friday. The Felicianos, together with Rene, did the Stations of the Cross, while Cecile and I just sat on the wooden church benches together with Rafa and Angel.

Lucky for all of us, there was going to be a 3pm Holy Mass.

Fascinated with Peter Pan

For the past couple of weekend, Rafa and Angel have been watching the 1950s version of Peter Pan. We all have seen the Robin Williams version on Fox Family, but our kids seem to be fascinated with this classic version. We all know that Peter Pan based on the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J. M. Barrie. This 1953 American animated film produced by Walt Disney was originally released on February 5, 1953 by RKO Pictures.

Peter Pan is now part of our weekend "big screen"movie experience. So far, we also have seen "Frozen" and Angel's favorite, "Beauty and The Beast" which is my favorite too, specially, the song, "Be Our Guest."

Rafa's First Steps Into Manresa

Yes, our son, Rafa, is already in a big school. Really a big school.

Coming from Smart Explorers last year, he is now Kinder in Manresa where there are probably a few thousand students, from nursery to high school. Where there is a huge football field and a covered basketball court. Where there is a canteen, where one needs to segregate. Where there is a library with a "castle" and a bed where Rafa has jumped up and down. During his first day, both Cecile and I took a day off from our work and be part of this milestone, the first steps of their lives into Manresa

These will all be part of his steps to learn and be educated as a young Christian.

Adoption Facts

According to DSWD, from January to November 15, 2012, a total of 457 cases of children were issued with certificate of a child legally available for adoption (CCLAA). RA 9523 requires a certification of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to declare a “child legally available for adoption” as a prerequisite for adoption proceedings. From 457 cases issued with CCLAA, 24 cases were matched to local families. Another 38 cases matched to local families whose CCLAA were issued in previous years. A total of 62 cases were matched to local families from January to November 15, 2012. But more than the facts, I guess, we can't really measure the emotional joy or anticipation that Filipino adoptive kids have in their hearts as they wait for families to open their hearts and homes to them. Sec. Dinky Soliman says, “There are so many children in orphanages and other child-caring agencies waiting to be adopted. But families hold back on adoption because of its stigma.” If you want to share love this Christmas, just call KBF at 9121160 / 9121159 and their team will be more than willing to help you through the adoption process. It is really worth every minute and peso spent for opening up our homes to adoptive children.

Photo shows DSWD Usec Parisya Taradji explaining to print and broadcast media the important message to reduce the stigma of adoption.

The story of Justin and Ashlyn

Through our own journey in this advocacy campaign, it is very inspiring to meet other adoptive families and hear their own stories. As fellow adoptive parents, I see and learn many similarities and differences in our journey. Meeting Craig and Michelle and their adoptive children, Justin and Ashlyn, is a blessing that we would like to share in this blog. The Craigs are among the many foreigners who have adopted Filipino children. They have lived in the Philippines for nearly 24 years. They first learned about KBF through Chosen Children, an orphanage for special children. They adopted their first child named Justin.

“Our first response was pure joy in our hearts when we heard that we had been matched with a child. We wanted to jump in the car and drive the 5 hours to meet our precious little one right then and there. Of course, we followed procedure but the excitement grew by the day!” says Michelle. Recently, Ashlyn, 2-year old girl joined their family. “We are always encouraging others that have a desire in their hearts to adopt to go ahead and take that first step. The first step is always the hardest, not knowing what you may be doing. Once we contacted KBF, we were encouraged as they led us through each step and informed us what would be next” adds Craig.

Ogie shares his voice to Adoption

I have never really met Ogie Alcasid before. I only see him on TV as sometimes, Cecile and I would watch "Bubble Gang" on Friday nights. Then, a few days ago, we finally met at Loud Box Recording studio, where, together with the McCann Philippines team led by my wife, Cecile and my Comm Arts thesis team led by Rachel Ching attended the recording session of the adoption song, "I Love You Anak."

“I love you anak” sung by award-winning artist Ogie Alcasid, hopes to change the mindset of many Filipinos about adoption and encourage families to open their homes to adoptive children. Ogie prides himself as being a family man. He is married to Regine Velasquez, with whom he has a son, named, Nathaniel James. Down the road, we envision Filipino musicians and talents, from various genre, whether pop, rock or jazz, to all get-together with adoptive and their kids to sing many songs about adoption! Would that collaborative work be a beautiful and meaningful experience? Together with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Inter-country Adoption Board (ICAB) and McCann Philippines, and all its partners and friends from Center for Family Ministries, Kaisahang Buhay Foundation, Dominguez Marketing Communications, Adoptive Families Foundation and others, this Advocacy Campaign on Adoption entitled, “Love Sees Beyond Differences” will go further that anyone really expects. Like what Ogie said during the media launch,"I'm glad that they've used music as a start, as a kick off for the campaign because music is very powerful. We always say that music is the language of the soul.”

Yes, this campaign has soul!

Loves Sees Beyond Differences

It all started last February when Cecile and I attended a media event as part of "Adoption Consciousness Week." This program was held at Sulo Hotel in Quezon City. Cecile and I have never really been to this hotel and we were on the road early enought to attend this media event. During the program, I sat besides Atty. Abejo of ICAB, which stands for Inter-country Adoption Board. I had mentioned that Cecile and I were communications practitioners, doing advertising and PR work. And Atty. Abejo and I came to the conclusion that we could develop an advocacy campaign on adoption. Today, that small talk is now a full blown campaign that brings together, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Inter-country Adoption Board (ICAB) and McCann Philippines.

Picture shows Cecile and Jen DeVera-Paraiso of McCann Philippines talking to Bobby Tinio of ICAB during the media launch of "Love Sees Beyond Differences. Yes, we finally launched this adoption campaign entitled, “Love Sees Beyond Differences.” This campaign seeks to let more Filipino and foreign adoptive families like the Villas, Logans and Skopakow share their stories and their adoption journey. Hopefully, this will inspire more Filipino families to open up their hearts and homes to thousands of adoptive kids waiting in various child-caring agencies and orphanages around the country, very much like Rafa and Angel who are now part of our own families and Greenhome. “We have long sought to undertake a communications campaign give a new, more relevant perspective about legal adoption. Now, the Department, together with ICAB and McCann Erickson has finally made this possible,” says DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman. "

Yes, that is award-winning songwriter and singer, Ogie Alcasid, listening to Cecile as my wife explains the role of communications in creating positive impact on everyday lives of Filipinos, specially, adoptive families!

Angel’s 2nd birthday

Our little daughter, Angel, celebrated her 2nd birthday weekend in many ways. Whatever the way, form or manner of our daughter’s birthday, what counts the most is the family being together on this weekend. We opted to spend a whole morning at Active Fun Bldg at Bonifacio Global City (BGC). Cecile has been very proud of this building as this is where the new McCann WorldGroup offices can be found and directly below their offices is a new playground, Active Fun. The moment Rafa and Angel saw the play area, they were pulling us to get inside the place. But there was a line of kids with their parents who were all eager to enter. The Toys R Us store directly besides Active Fun would provide temporary relief but still Rafa would run around the place.

We joined our kids for an hour inside the playground. Rafa and I took a few turns going down the slide, which was relatively high, but very safe. Rafa would attempt to climb up the slides. But he would slide back. Angel was too small to slide down and could only watch her brother. Initially, she was afraid of the pool of plastic balls but after a few minutes, she would swim through through thousands of plastic balls. Dad got drowned here too. Often, we can’t imagine where Rafa and Angel would get all their energy and stamina. Where? But I guess, they, too, want to spend as much time with their parents as we would like to spend as much time with our kids. And on Angel’s 2nd birthday, time was the best gift we could give our daughter! Happy birthday Angel. We love you!

Pictorial at Kraft Philippines

I know that back in the late 80s, Kraft was one of the clients of Cecile when my wife used to work at J Walter Thompson. I remember, during those days, I would call, 574681 and Zeny Toledo would answer. Zeny was Cecile’s secretary back in JWT. She is still with JWT and my wife is now with MWG. But this blog isn’t about advertising agencies but about the pictorial of our kids, Rafa and Angel, for a feature article at “Working Mom” Magazine for their June 2012 “Father’s Day” issue. Yes, father are being featured next month in a mom-centric magazine. And today is the day we openly declare to media that Rafa and Angel are our loving adoptive children! Am earlier pictorial was scheduled at the grounds of Mirriam College, but agency work tied me down. Yup, sorry, this isn’t about agency work. It’s about a pictorial on the week of Angel’s 2nd birthday.

Lola Meya joined us for this pictorial, together with Yaya Salome. Like my kids, it was my first time inside the Kraft Philippines compound. And my mom had some good memories of Kraft too, back when she was working for the Manila Chapter of the Phil. National Red Cross. But really, it was time spent with our kids that made this day another milestone on this birthday month of Angel. I really wasn’t prepared for this pictorial, even, my experience. Luckily, I brought an extra white colored shirt. Cecile prepared two sets of clothes for our kids. Unfortunately, work tied down Cecile at MWG. Chester, the photographer, was good with our kids. Using the leaves that Rafa would play with as a toy to get the kids to smile! Good tactic! Thanks Chester! I only wish that my wife, Cecile and mom could have been part of the pictorial. She would say, “Matagal pa ang paghintay natin kaysa sa actual na pictorial.” She was right. We arrived on time, around 4:00pm and got the lights and camera running around 5:00pm. But I was used to these delays. Nothing new for me. And the kids were having fun too!

Our playpen

We have a little playpen in our Greenhome in Legaspi Village and for the past few months. This playpen has become their little kingdom and it is from here, where they would watch "Toy Story."

According to Wikipedia, the earliest use of the word "playpen" was from the Oxford English Dictionary back in 1902.

Our playpen is square-shaped and has vertical bars, which so far has withstood the pressure of our kids. Often, Rafa would be climbing in and out of this playpen. Soon, Angel would have her way in and out too of this playpen. We have not attached anything that moves or lights on this playpen! It has no side pockets.

It should have less obstacles as possible. And best not to have too much pillows or kumot inside the playpen. Chief's keeps this stuff to a minimum as our kids could get entangled with the kumot or sleep with the pillows over their own faces.


Once, I slowly got into this playpen as Angel was watching tv. But I remained at the center. Chief was a little worried that it couldn't support my weight. And once Rafa saw me inside the playpen, he quickly jumped over and joined Angel and me.

Now, I had to get out. Sometimes, I wish, I could with our kids inside this playpen.

Extremely Close, Incredibly Loud

Last Friday, Chief and I caught the movie, “Extremely Close, Incredibly Loud” at Greenbelt Cinema. Yes, it was Chief’s birthday and we both blocked off work schedules to spend the day together.

It started with our gift for Chief. A Nestle Dolce Gusto Coffee-maker that Chief had always wanted. I got that gift from SM Makati. Just buying that gift can be a whole blog as the promo merchandiser from SM Supermarket and SM Appliance Center had different “pitches” for the same product.

Then, we had lunch at Italiannis Greenbelt. We have been here a few times and I have always enjoyed the unlimited bread, which often gets me “full” even before getting the main course.

Chief wanted to watch “The Vow” but Tom Hanks pulled us to watch “Extremely Close, Incredibly Loud.” The first scenes alone gave us some jitters. Thomas Schell, played by Tom Hanks was being buried. He died during the attacks at 9/11.

A series of flashbacks establish a scavenger hunt between father and son (played by Thomas Horn), who should have been nominated for a Best Actor Award in the recent Academy Awards. Thomas says, "if things were easy to find, they wouldn't be worth finding." Oskar explores his father's closet, breaks a vase and finds a key in an envelope that is labeled with the word "Black". The scavenger hunt for “Black” will take him three years, but I wouldn’t reveal how the hunt ended in this blog.


It released a few tears for Chief and I after the movie, which we will probably watch when Rafael is old enough to understand the words "if things were easy to find, they wouldn't be worth finding."

Learning from The Descendants

Last Saturday afternoon, Chief and I, together with my mom watched “The Descendants.” And we all liked the movie. Nothing fantastic in terms of cinematography, but the storyline would touch anyone’s heart. And the Hawiian music which featured artists like Gabby Pahinui, Ray Kane and Keola Beamer playing slack key guitar. Wikipedia defines slack-key guitar is a fingerstyle genre of guitar music that originated in Hawaii. The style originated from the Mexican cowboys.

George Clooney has clearly transcended himself from being the young doctor in ER and even once, putting on the cape as Batman.

Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, the story revolves around the challenges of Matt King, played by George Clooney. He has to take care of his two daughters, Scottie and Alex and the family estate which has been passed on to him by his descendants. His wife, Elizabeth, suffers an accident and won’t recover from a coma. Matt is sole trustee of the estate includes 25,000 acres of pristine land on the island of Kaua'i. Reminds me of our own property in Catandunganon, Camarines Norte.

The story gets complicated as one of the buyers is connected to Brian Speer (played by Matthew Lillard). Matt learns from Alex that his wife and Brian had a relationship.

Won’t reveal the ending as Matt and his daughters tracked down Speer through island of Kaua'i.

The movie serves to remind us on the challenges of parenthood. How we should balance work and parenting responsibilities. How we should spend more time playing and talking to our kids who are growing up fast and right before our eyes. Matt called himself as a “back-up parent” which we hope we won’t call ourselves in the future.

The night after the lights

Every year, our friends get together to share the Christmas spirit among ourselves. As couples, Cesar and Marivic, Bob and Monch have been our friends for more than 25 years. Yes, our friendship goes back more than two decades.

The Parejas and Novales have their kids already. Actually, no more kids. Young adults. Cesar and Marivic have Miguel and Ia. Miguel now works for a listed company at PSE while Ia will soon finish college and maybe, study abroad. Bob and Monch have both Rad and Trey studying at Ateneo. Photo shows the young Novales boys (Trey and Rad) and Ia Pareja (right).

Us, we are young parents, raising Rafa and Angel within the confines of our greenhome in Legaspi Village and around Makati. Have not yet gone together as family to as far as Tagaytay. Or maybe, the Big Apple some day soon.

This photo shows all of us parents enjoying coffee at Coffee Blendz after watching the light show at Ayala Triangle and enjoying dinner at CBD Restaurant. We had walked all the way from CBD Restaurant to Solaris Bldg along dela Rosa Street, in Legaspi Village to find a coffee shop as most coffee shops were closed by that time... 11pm.

By that time, the siblings were already asking their parents, "What time are we going home?"

Happy new year to all the parents in blogosphere!

Burgers and Gifts @ CBD

It is all our first time together to eat at CBD Restaurant which is owned by the Meat Plus Group. It's Shake and Bake is one of my favorite drinks, but it has too much calories. The place was full on the last night of the Christmas Lights Show at Ayala Triangle.

There was a long line facing the cashier. But surely, all the other places around Ayala Triangle would have SRO crowd during these past few days and most specially, on the last night of the Christmas Lights Show. Young and old folks alike, from all walks of life, have come to Ayala Triangle to enjoy the 20 minute lights and music show.


Photo shows Angel opening her gift from Monch.


Photo shows Rafa opening his gift from Marivic.

Maybe, next Christmas, the park authorities can make the show interactive? Have live music? Light, jazz music. Or even a caroling festival among local choirs? A giant Christmas tree at the middle of the park? Free goodies for kids? Or even Santa?