Wherever you are, here or abroad, whoever you are, and whatever you do, you can still be an advocate. An advocate is one who believes in something, one who has a conviction—and does something about it. This may be on any issue or subject, like senior citizens, prisoners, grief, health like breast cancer, diabetes, hypertension, drug rehabilitation, street children, housing, abandoned children, sexually abused women, breastfeeding, and many more.

What it takes to be an Advocate

Believing in one thing is something, but doing something about what you believe in is another—that is being an advocate. A lot of people are passive about what is happening around them. No matter what happens, they still do not care at all. It is high time that we begin to care. One can never live alone. One can never tell—who knows, one time or another, it will be you or me who will be on the receiving end of one’s compassion, empathy, or help.

If you have a calling, try to do something about it. Say, if you feel that street children need your help, find out more about them, what their needs are, the demographics, what is being done about their plight, what groups are involved, and how you, as an individual can contribute.

Do not just hand them some money, this may be a relief to them, but it is only temporary, not a long term solution to their problem. Even if you are in a foreign land, you can still make a difference—actually a lot of difference.

First, you can check on what your local Filipino community is doing. There might be some projects, like fund-raising or awareness projects that they are involved with. Find out how you can get involved. You may also check the Internet—but be wary for there at lots of scams.

Be an advocate NOW:  silent or active

You can either be a silent advocate or an active advocate. Silent means you can support the advocacy by giving some money for the different projects. As an active advocate, you may be directly involved with the projects that are being handled. Say, be a member of the various committees, be there onsite whenever you have the chance, if you are a writer, write about the projects for awareness, or launch a personal campaign so that your friends and relatives can become involved.

There are so many ways to be involved in an advocacy. The most important thing is to know what your heart really believes in and do some action NOW.

I am actually reminded of a study I chanced upon recently. It’s called “The Vanishing Values of the Filipino Family.” These were the results of the survey conducted by Alveo Land, a subsidiary of Ayala Land, among their clients and other interest groups. The results were no less unnerving. It found out that:

- Nine out of 10 Filipinos believe that social values are already disappearing in the Philippines, foremost among them respect for others, and especially elders. Only one out of five perceived their parents to be worth emulating.

- There is hardly time for family bonding. About 60 per cent of Filipino home owners are working overtime. Roughly half of those surveyed spend less than four hours a day with their children, and one out of five Filipino spouses do not spend any time at all with their partners. As a result, couples now argue about their lack of time together, more than arguing about finances or differences in parenting styles. This is worsened by the fact that 50 per cent of Filipino families don’t go out for family vacations.

- One fourth of the respondents feel that health and fitness is an important aspect missing in their lives, and half of the population confess to not having any health or relaxation activities at all (unless you find staring at the computer a detressing activity).

- One third of all Filipino homeowners feel unsafe in their communities. Among such attributes as orderliness, accessibility and the like, safety and security in the community is the most underserved need.

- The last concern was the lack of religious expression. One out of every five Filipinos no longer attend church of any kind. The urge to do good deeds and perform charitable acts is strong within Filipino families; however, this desire is not necessarily backed up with concrete follow-up action.

What is good is that the Ayala real estate group has launched its parenting portal through its  masterplanned suburban project, the Verdana Homes Mamplasan in Laguna. I checked out the site at familybonding.com.ph and found it awash with useful tips and family-oriented activities you can do to benefit your children.

Among the components of the website are Tips for Families, a Family Calendar for posting of related activities, a Family Forum for the discussion of important topics, the  Family Blogs where one can share stories and online Polls.

Users can have real online interaction with fellow parents so that you can share common concerns and be each other’s support network. Aside from this, the Verdana Homes people also conduct live coffee talks and on-site activities to bring parents, their children and the extended family together.

“No one can deny the popularity of the Internet. Instead of treating this medium as an enemy, we utilize this influential medium to provide more expedient, but nonetheless sincere and exciting ways for urban Filipino families to bond,” explains Jennyle S. Tupaz, Alveo Land’s Division Manager for Project Development.

It is nice to see companies like Alveo Land take the initiative to push for the preservation of the Filipino family. We’ve always admired Alveo projects for their top-of-the-line amenities and comprehensive approach to housing. This approach makes sure that no man is ever an island, but lives harmoniously with the greater community. With Family Bonding, we can now see all of their nurturing action on the Web.

Dalaw na!

Do you like corned beef? O may sakit lang ba ang tinatanong?

Thirty or so years ago, all the karne norte we ate came from the United States, Brazil, or Argentina. Remember how we badgered our “stateside relatives” to bring us Libby’s, Hormels, and Hereford, seeing how it used to cost an arm or a leg to buy it here

Not anymore.

Today, there are Honey, Campo Carne, Purefoods, Argentina, Swifts, and CDO corned beef – all made in the Philippines and many of them better-tasting than the imported brands.

We also used to import all of our food processing equipment, but today, Benjamin Almeda and his sons’ factory in Gagalangin, Tondo, Manila, are fabricating some of these machines at half the price of the German makes. As we import less, we save more. Our dollars stay inside the country rather than paid to foreign businessman. Ang resulta – a better balance of payments. Mas konting utang sa World Bank.

This is another reason why entrepreneurs are dubbed the engine of the economy. Would you want to count yourself among the select people who will push the Philippines on its way to being a proud and self-reliant country, sa wakas. At long last.

I think by now you understand why our beloved Pinas needs many people who will set up their own businesses. But there is one more important reason.

Entrepreneurs who set up businesses in small towns and cities help develop these areas and thus stop the rural people from leaving their homes to migrate to the big cities.

If you come from the provinces, can you count how many of your kababayan and kababaryo migrated to Metro Manila, Metro Cebu or Metro Davao? And while you’re counting, can you also include those who left Pinas for contract employment in Hong Kong, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Italy, etc?

Why did they leave? If there were enough entrepreneurs who were able to set up enough factories and other business establishments in your town and employed many of your kababayan, don’t you think some of the migrants could have stayed instead of left?

Do you know what else I am trying to suggest by asking you these kulit questions? I am trying to tell you not to look too far away from home when looking for a site for your future business, if you have a mind on one. Set up your store or your factory right where you live or were born. Wouldn’t it be exciting to help build up a new growth area or “boom” town? Your very own bayan!

Rare is the Filipino mother who tells her young son or daughter: Child, when you grow up, you be an entrepreneur, ha?

A teacher, yes — the so-called noblest profession. Or a doctor – naku, every family needs one. Or a lawyer – aba, galing-galing, so dignified. What about an engineer or a nurse or therapist with outstanding prospects to work abroad – aba siempre! And a salaried corporate manager in a multinational ? – yes na yes din.

Indeed, why should a self-respecting person go into business – a trade associated with exploitative, profit-taking capitalism. Or ruthlessness na mala-Shylock. Dyahi. For shame!

But have you thought of it this way?

The everyday reality is most people need or demand goods and services – these are the consumers or the general public. Other people supply these goods and services and these of course are the entrepreneurs. Together, they make up what is known as the economy. Demand and supply are the forces that make the economy work and vibrate.

When there is demand for goods and someone supplies it, money changes hands and profits are made. The more goods are demanded and supplied, the bigger the profits and the more the money that goes around the economy. This is how an economy prospers and grows. The main person who makes this activities happen is, sino pa – si entrePinoy.

EntrePinoy helps a country prosper not only by producing and supplying goods and services that are in demand and therefore makes profit but also because in the process of producing goods and services, he employs other people. Needless to say, when he employs workers, he pays them salaries. This gives workers buying power and enables them to become more active participants in the economy. As more and more people buy, the more profits entrepreneurs will earn. The more the entrepreneurs profit, the more they are able to hire people and to pay them well. And so the benefits go round and round in a circle in a spiral in an ever-growing prosperous, generous wheel.

Further, entrepreneurs who succeed and grow help other entrepreneurs succeed and grow too. How does this happen? Well, few entrepreneurs are self sufficient. No entrepreneur is an island, wika nga. Most depend on other entrepreneurs for their raw materials, parts, and supplies. Aling Lilia, a ready-to-wear garment manufacturer buys tela from Divisoria Maramingtela, a wholesaler; buttons, zippers and accessories from a suki in Tutuban mall; sewing machines and small sewing tools from a Singer dealer. A few months before Christmas, when Aling Lilia is hard pressed to serve peak orders for RTW, she sub-contracts some of the sewing to her kapitbahay and kumare, Aling Cora who is a fine costurera. As Aling Lilia prospers so do Divisoria Maramingtela and her other suppliers as well Aling Cora, her sub-contractor.

Do you see how the success of one business benefits other businesses with whom it is linked with? Do you see why it is true that “growth begets more growth?” And do you see the entrepreneur at the center of it all, making it happen?

O di ba, yes na yes din dapat sa pagiging entrePinoy. It is every bit as dignified and rewarding as any other profession – if not more.

During my teenage years, I moved to a new neighborhood in Makati that had a separate area for medium rise condos outside. The people I eventually befriended turned out to be neighbors in the medium-rise condo community and have been friends since they were very young. When I asked them how they met, they said they met in the playground or while swimming in the pool. From then on it was really easy to spend time as they were growing up since their houses were quite literally a stone’s throw away from each other.

I think medium-rise condos are perfect for young couples who work in the city but would like to have kids and raise them in a safe, family-friendly environment. For those who don’t know what they are, medium-rise condos are a cross between a single detached house and a high-rise condo. It has all the advantages offered by high-rise condos like garbage management and security, plus the atmosphere and appearance of a planned neighborhood. All medium-rise condo clusters have shared recreational areas, pocket gardens, landscaped lawns, and swimming pools, making it a great place to raise children. With the added security roaming around the cluster, you don’t even have to worry too much about keeping an eye on them all the time.

Medium-rise condos also have lesser numbers of storeys, and its architectural design keeps you from feeling as though you were living in a box by allowing more natural light to enter the corridors and the unit. Multiple storeys make efficient use of the land, which is why developers can afford to build them near business district. And since medium-rise condo clusters are always located within urban areas, you can get to work on time and be near the kids, in case any emergencies happen.

Since medium-rise condo clusters are a family-friendly place, I think they might be a little bit strict about having guests over and throwing parties. I suppose it’s just a matter of keeping the noise down and being considerate to the neighbors but at least in high-rise condos, the people who live there more or less have the same kind of social lifestyle so they might be a little more used to the noise and having people come and go.

While I’m still single I don’t see myself living in a medium-rise condo cluster because it just doesn’t suit my lifestyle. If ever do decide to settle down and raise a family though, I would definitely want them to grow up in the warm, friendly, and safe environment that medium-rise condo communities offer.

Another advantage of both condos and townhouses is that you don’t have to worry about maintenance at all - the association takes care of all those things. The downside is that you’re definitely going to have to live within the association rules. They might have certain provisions against owning pets or renting out your unit, and these restrictions might make it difficult for you live there or resell the property. Still, there are many benefits to community living, such as a pool, gym, and 24-hour security, which you could probably not have afforded on your own.

Depending on what kind of lifestyle you’re living, townhouses may have the upper hand over condos. A townhouse allows you to live more independently - you’ll have your own garage or parking space, you can enter through your own front door, maybe you’ll even have a little bit of back yard. Some people prefer condos to townhouses however, because the former tends to be located near bustling business centers, malls, transportation, restaurants, and other facilities - all of which are very attractive locations. Townhouses are usually located a bit further from business districts and are not as easily accessible through public transport.

It all boils down to a question of lifestyle choice. Would you rather live in a house or in an apartment? A townhouse works more like a single family home and provides more privacy, whereas a condo lets you live in close quarters with your neighbors. Both condos and townhouses foster community living on the residents but the former offers cosmopolitan living whereas the latter gives you a little more independence.

The kitchen is probably the most important room of any house. Not only is it the place where food is prepared; it’s where the whole family convenes and bonds together over a good meal. Small kitchens can be quite a challenge, both in terms of daily usage and design options. But just like any part of the house, you can make the most out of your small kitchen space with a little careful planning. Don’t get too excited and start doing a complete overhaul of your kitchen. Before making any major changes, you must first assess what your kitchen has, figure out which items can be moved, and which appliances are worth updating.

For the walls and ceiling, choose bright colors as these will give the illusion of more space through the tone and scale. Keep the color and scale in mind when choosing tiles for the floor. Patterns in laminate flooring and narrow-strip wood creates an illusion of length and depth, and just like the walls, lighter colors automatically enlarges a room.

Pick light finishes for your cabinets and opt for open shelves and glass cabinet doors to add depth to the room. If you don’t really want to experiment with wallpaper on your walls, spice things up a little by using wallpaper to line the shelves - provided that they match the overall color scheme. Also look out for cabinets that have special features, such as spice racks and appliance storage racks, so you can maximize your storage space.

Kitchen countertops are usually the first thing you notice in a kitchen and you can use them to make a bold statement. Look at the color scheme you chose for your walls and ceiling and use complementing colors for your countertops. The advantage of having a small kitchen is that high-end countertop materials like granite are more affordable because you’ll need less to work with. If you don’t want to go for the high-end variety, ceramic tiles are an excellent choice - they’re inexpensive, easy to install, and easy to clean and maintain.

As for the appliances, many manufacturers create small-scale versions of their most popular products, from refrigerators to microwaves. Bulky appliances will eat up counter space and will make the kitchen look smaller and cluttered. Make sure you choose “Energy Star” rated appliances, which are 10% more energy efficient than the average appliance and will save you money on your electricity bills.

Photo credit

It is the innovative drive of the entrepreneur that continuously improves daily living. If we compare the way we live with the way that our grandparents and great grandparents did, wouldn’t we say we’re better off in the sense that we enjoy more and better products and product choices, equipment, appliances and gadgets that make us feel more comfortable and let us perform our work better, faster, and with less mistakes?

Here are examples of innovations which have changed our lives:

From the traditional clay stoves using wood fuel, we now have:

· Kerosene stoves

· Gas stoves

· Electric stoves

· Stoves that can alternately use gas and electric power

· Multi-purpose cooking ranges that can roast, grill, and bake

· Turbo broilers

· Convection ovens

· Microwave ovens

· Specialty cooking devices like shabu-shabu cookers with side grillers

· LPG-fueled grills

· Crock pots or slow-cookers

· Rice cookers

From mats, wooden beds or papag, we now have:

· Mattress beds

· Brass beds

· Canopied beds

· Double-deck beds

· Pull-out beds

· Sofa beds

· Folding beds

· Water beds

· Hospital beds (that can be cranked up and down)

· Beds equipped with air compressors guaranteed to prevent bed sores (for bed ridden persons)

· Orthopedic beds

From the industrial revolution to what is now known as the IT age, entrepreneurial innovation have been making profound changes in the quality of lives and life styles.

Innovations in Information and computer technology or ICT has wrought the most recent and most pervasive changes not only in industry, commerce, and the management of the workplace but every conceivable dimension of human life such as education, communication, recreation, music and the arts. Paperless offices, strictly no cash transactions, robotronics, voice recognition in computing – these may still be in the experimental stage but loom large in the foreseeable future.

If Steve Jobs and his partner didn’t put together the first Apple personal computer in his garage and if Bill Gates didn’t spearhead development of computer application software and other tools, can you imagine how differently we would have been leading our everyday life? You couldn’t have been reading this blog piece on entrepreneurial innovation, in the first place, could you?

Next: Filipino entrepreneurs who cashed in on their innovative drive.

And this is how I found myself attending a cooking class by Cake Queen Heny Sison one rainy weekend. Ms.Sison has a spacious cooking school-cum-coffee shop in Waltermart Makati which was filled that day with eager students. No, we were not set to learn about how to make her trademark desserts. It was for something Ms. Sison wasn’t really known for, but for which she was an expert just the same - Japanese cuisine.

Am sharing below some recipes, as well as some snippets from the session.

First on the agenda was Temaki-Zushi or do-it-yourself sushi rolls.

First, make the sushi rice. Rinse 360 g. of Japanese rice, strain and let stand for 30 minutes. Add 19 oz. water and put in rice cooker. As the rice is cooked,let it stand for 10 minutes. Prepare ingredients for sushi vinegar: 4 tbsps. rice vinegar, 3 tbsps. sugar and 1 1/2 tsp. salt. Stir together. Transfer hot rice to a large wooden sushi bowl, make a mound. Pour sushi vinegar over and mix rice by cutting across it in a fast slashing motion. Cool by fanning.

Assemble the temaki-zushi. For this, you need 800 grams of the prepared sushi rice, plus 120 grams of tuna,kani stick,mayonnaise,cucumber, eel, nori seaweeds and Kikkoman soy sauce. Squid, shrimp, sea urchin, salmon roe and tamago or rolled omelette can also be used.

Take a half sheet of nori and place it on a rolling mat. Spread a thin layer of cooked rice evenly over the nori, leaving a one-fourth inch of nori on each side. Dab a little wasabi in a line across the rice.Place other ingredients on top or the side of the wasabi,but too many or it will not roll well. Roll it carefully and evenly away from you, pressing it firmly. Remove the rolling mat, trim any ingredients that are protruding from the ends of the roll and cut into 2-3 cm. length.

Serve with wasabi and soy sauce, horseradish and sweet-vinegared ginger.

The second recipe for our cooking lesson was the beef gyudon which is best served as a topping on a hot bowl of rice. Gyudon is a popular dish in most Japanese restaurants,including fastfood joints like Yoshinoya. I was quite happy to know that making it is moderately easy. You just need to have good, thin slices of beef.

How to prepare gyudon or beef on rice: Cut 500 grams of white onions lengthwise and then slice thinly. In a medium-size saucepan, bring a cup of white wine and 1/2 cup of water to a boil over medium heat. Add 500 g. of thinly-sliced beef and simmer for a few minutes, skimming the surface of the broth as it foams.Add 3/4 cup soy sauce, 3/4 cup mirin, and 4 tbsps. sugar. Press down lid of the saucepan and simmer for three minutes.

Remove cover, add the onions and again simmer until the onions are transparent and soft. Ladle cooked beef and onions together with some sauce into a bowl filled with rice and garnish with pickled red ginger.

A great example of this is Kanin Club. Foodies have been talking of this uniquely Filipino restaurant for a year now. Curiously enough, this growing chain of restos can be found in the South only: the maiden branch is in Paseo de Sta. Rosa in Laguna, which is conveniently along the road to Tagaytay; while the second one just opened recently at the Westgate Commercial Center in Alabang. Both establishments are packed with people during mealtimes, especially weekends; this, in itself, is a testament to Kanin Club’s success among rice-eating Filipinos.

At Kanin Club, rice in its various incarnations is,admittedly, the star of the show. We had this glorious-looking Sinigang na Sinangag which was accented by crunchy vegetable tempura that I was happy enough to munch on. The sinangag or fried rice just had the right sourness of sinigang without a trace of the broth. Being a sinigang lover, I was amused at the seemingly magical concoction. There were tomato slices, sliced green pepper and generous chunks of pork belly or liempo on the big heap of rice, but no soup. It was good enough to appease our sinigang craving just the same.

The different rice variations give one a reason to come back to the Club. A bestseller is their Loaded Fried Rice, deliciously heavy with Chinese sausage, ham, crab meat, green peas, pork, and slices of scrambled eggs on top. Other must-tries are the Chorizo Rice, Tinapa (’Smoked Fish’) Rice, Daing (’Dried Fish’) Fried Rice, Bagoong (’Shrimp Paste’) Rice and Aligue (’Crab Fat’) Rice.

A dish that has made Kanin Club talked about is their Crispy Dinuguan. The dish is traditionally made with pork blood, pork or some innards and flavored with vinegar, garlic and green pepper. The Club’s dinuguan is another magic concoction since it certainly looked like dinuguan on the outside but tasted like lechon kawali on the inside. It’s easy to say that they deep-fried the pork belly first before covering it in the rich stew of pork blood. The result is a dish that even non-dinuguan eaters like me will learn to appreciate.

Aside from the Crispy Dinuguan, there were other ‘crispy’ items on the menu, actually. We tried an appetizer of Crispy Liempo. Then there’s Crispy Pata, Crispy Pork Binagoongan, Crispy Tenga (pork’s ears) and Crispy Tadyang.

The restaurant’s menu is quite long. Some are traditional favorites, while the others are unique twists to Filipino dishes, like the examples just cited.

Here’s what the resto recommends for first timers, aside from the usual ‘crispies’ and rice dishes:

Crispy Liempo and Thai Green Mango Salad for starters; Sinigang na Tadyang ng Baka or Salmon Belly in Miso for soup; Sigarilyas Express and Patola in Olive Oil for the veggies; and their signature dessert, Turon KC.

Turon is saba banana wrapped in spring roll and fried in caramelized sugar. At Kanin Club, it is even made more delicious with the addition of ube haleya, macapuno, sweetened red mongo beans and other ingredients usually reserved for another dessert, the Halo-Halo. The turon can be ordered with ice cream (a la mode) or without, but we preferred it in its pure form. It was a fitting end to our memorable meal at Kanin Club!

For reservations and inquiries, call Kanin Club:

In Alabang - 771-1400