RAYAH

Constant visits to my Ob-gyne excites me. Along with the usual check-up, i get to see rayah in a 2d format or what is known as Ultrasound (by the way, there’s this 4d format now which costs around 4,500 wherein you get to see your unborn in a colored format and you can actually check who-has-who features approximately 90% accurate than the old-style, nonetheless, it entails a large amount of cash to be intouch with your unborn nowadays). What proves more important than the normal pre-natal visits is that it actually binds me and my husband to a not-so-usual experience of seeing an unborn and preparing for her arrival.

Seeing rayah’s heartbeat double as mine gives me an unexplained feeling. I have observed her turn from one side of my tummy to another for the past 7 months now and i must say, she is one hyper fetus. I have survived listening to beethoven, bach and mozart everyday to work while inside the car just to support a scientific claim that it indeed helps one’s baby become brilliant, smart, witty etc.  Now, while posting this blog, rayah won’t stop kicking me. I can feel contractions in my stomach, medicine explains it as the Braxton-Hicks. It’s my Rayah saying "mommy, can we go home now?" (You see i have gone shopping for her things today and it took me 5 hours to finish everything, and yesterday we just bought her stroller with her dad for another 6 hours. wew! That’s the kind of exercise that i need though.)

Just as we were glued in the ultrasound monitor, Dr. Carmela Dy told us that its 100% baby girl and that she looked more like I am. Rayah’s my mini-me. (oh well, not to mention unsolicited stares from my husband, since he have been wanting to have a baby boy).  Overall, my weight and blood chemistry are normal. Rayah’s in breech position as of the latest ultrasound so it gives me an assurance of a possible normal delivery.

Overall, nothing can compensate for a wonderful feeling of going through pregnancy. I have never regret this feeling, not even once. I felt very blessed since the day i knew about Rayah- our Svetlana Viktoria Cortez Roxas.

settling down..

It has been a long time since i started updating my blog, after all, i had been a recipient of life’s many blessings which kept me the busiest person alive. Probably, what made me not update this for a heck of 7 months was because of two things, to wit:  1. I was busy with law school and 2. I was on that phase of "settling down."

Singly, i thought of leaning more to that side of "settling down" since there isn’t too much to talk about LAW. I am decided to write about what has kept me happy and blessed since then until now. A lot of my close friends are witnesses to how love has grown between me and my-then-boyfriend-now, husband. They have told me that i have changed a lot and that my priorities were changed. I used to be so independent and got what i wanted since i work so hard for it. Night-outs and those which require all night partying were not my idea but i always look forward to a music gig, though i am not a music-person.

I admit i am in the present state of wanting the best for our marriage. Like being happy and contented whenever we are together. Not looking for faults but instead trying to reinforce positive comments to your partner. I can be stubborn at times since i insist to be argumentative. I can still be the OCDC type when buying but i am glad my husband understands me and accept the things that are kind of hard to let go. My husband makes me do things that will make me happy. He feels that i have to let go the conservative side in me, since most of my growing up years were spent in Bicol. These are but of the nicest things i am most glad of having TJ beside me. Literally, seeing him sleep and waking up all engrossed by him.

I love dressing up and he loves dressing me up too. I love to pig out and be merry and he insists on loving that too. I love to cuddle from sunrise to sunset and he is like that too. He tells me that i still look gorgeous even if i am on my last trimester. He still thinks i am going to be a good mommy since i can be a homebuddy and a working mom at the same time.

Looking forward, we anticipate for Svetlana Viktoria C. Roxas. In a few months time, I am like those who always strive to know what is best. I know my mother instinct will guide me through. Now that i am already a wife to my husband, i wish nothing but the very best for us. I am vigilant on the things that will weaken us and probably lead us to some point of experiencing a "rocky" relationship, but since both of us pray hard and do good to each other, we can beat the odds of what is commonly called as, married life. 

POVERTY.. the unfinished musings from an old school me

Let me begin with what the heck is social justice?

Needless to say, we do not need concepts, we need efforts. PERIOD.

Just a happy thought..

I have began to realize that there is more to being happy these days. I thought contentment is the most important "feeling" or state every person must have. For the past few months or year to be exact i am living far from my relatives, truth is, i only get to see them twice a year. With the given fact, i am inclined to being lonely most of the time, but i wish not to be bothered by such dilemma lest i’ll forever be miserable.

With many things i have in mind to keep me busy i thought about doing well with work as an avenue to advance my being. Since, i am connected with sales, quota is just a by-word. Humble enough, i am sorry i havent exceeded the desired numbers, but i have constantly able to establish rapport with my clients, which cannot be bought nor paid for.

With my day to day interactions among them, i began to see life at its best. I thought contentment is the secret to being wealthy. I do not wish to expound on the 5 W’s and 1 H of contentment because it will take me years to finish an astonishing piece. We just have to take a look at the silver-lining of every opportunity that comes along.

Now, i am happy within.

Having an IPOD.

Lately, i had succumbed to an (i must believe a worthy) investment by buying an iPod mini. It was my dream to have one eversince. Now, that i have actually acquired a right over that thing, excitement creeps in.

Despite the fact that i dont get to watch tv anymore, i thought my iPod should compensate for the lost opportunity of being linked to the boob-tube. Anyway, i have began to think that i have a cause for buying such a small piece of technology- that is to stop piracy. Having to store as much as 1000 songs in an iPod memory will forbid one to steal music by buying pirated cds everywhere which according to a lot of sources, helps syndicates push through with their evil agenda and we know what are those anyway.

Now, i contemplate on the fact that i am not anymore a non-conformist. I love technology and its advantages. Before, i am saddened by the fact that nokia cellular phones for example are easily outdated by new sophisticated ones. Too bad. Now im grateful for my XDA (a company-given gadget), i do not have to think obsolescence anymore. Someday, i wish to own a house that is powered by a single remote control, a car that is driven via a voice identification tool, a pet that talks, a helper which is an iRobot, but never a boyfriend which is a product of cloning or technology itself for i must admit that in order to love someone, the mind and heart should dictate matters pertaining to love and life. Humans as we are, we are still the superior race and neither a bi-centennial man can contest such fact.

when LOVE knocks…

"The greatest weakness of humans is their hesitancy to tell others how much they love them while they’re still alive."

(CAVEAT: Im not suppose to talk about love matters here, i’m trying to drive at a different point, that of loving recits and law school in general while we are still alive.)

From my own point of view, i thought loving someone is as easy as getting 95 in class recits. Now, come on.. I know for us law students, getting that high is extraordinary, real extraordinary. But i do not mind, I find challenge and pleasure in class recits, as if we have a choice though.

We must learn to love reciting and being scolded. After all, everything all boils down to being trained to become one of the best lawyers this side of metro manila has ever produced. My point here is not LOVE as we all know it. My topic is about loving the study of law and not hesitating to grab every oportunity that awaits.

I have been vocal that recitations for me might come too depressing because i missed reciting a codal provision or cite a landmark case but hey, im still alive and kicking. We must not abandon the power of communicating what we have in mind as if we are not aware its a very powerful tool.

One of the basics of lawyering is communication and this early we have to have good communication skills. If that is not our forte, then try being one. Probably, as we go through the process we might just be forced to love it.

I know that being a good speaker isn’t given outright, nor you have to pay for it, it’s what practice that makes perfect. So erase the hate of being called for recit, its your chance to be known by your profs and at the same time relish the anguish and burden of not having enough time to sleep.

Just like being in love with somebody, we blush and then we tend to do everything to survive one hell of a recitation.

A PEEK unto the concept of HUMAN RIGHTS

Press statement

December 10, 2005

WTO MEMBER-NATIONS MUST TAKE HUMAN RIGHTS INTO ACCOUNT IN NEGOTIATING TRADE PACTS

"One basic human right that is often ignored is the right to food."

As the 6th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) unfolds this December 13-18, the Asia-Pacific Research Network (APRN) calls on governments to remember that their human rights obligations cannot be abandoned during trade negotiations.

Speaking at the forum People’s Resistance against Globalization and WTO: People’s Speak-out on Trade and Human Rights, APRN Chairperson Antonio Tujan points out that trade liberalization should not be an end in itself but should lead to increased human well-being through economic development.

“Human rights and economic policy are interconnected to a point that demands consistency in national and international law, policy and practice,” says Tujan.

Yet the WTO continues to reject any meeting point between its mandate to liberalize trade and human rights, something that is morally indefensible since most of the organization‘s members have ratified at least one of the major United Nations (UN) rights treaties, Tujan adds.

Increased trade does result in increased wealth, but this has not improved the well-being of millions of people worldwide. It has instead resulted in greater income inequalities– perpetuating poverty and impeding the progressive realization of human rights. Increased trade and liberalization have become ends in themselves, and trade negotiations pit governments against each other in a competitive process driven by corporate interests rather than human development.

Member countries have yet to make any sufficient attempt to ensure that its policy positions in international economic bodies are consistent with its domestic human rights obligations and with the human rights obligations of its trading partners. But international human rights law places obligations upon States requiring them to refrain from action (including the negotiation and implementation of international trade agreements) that could interfere with the enjoyment of human rights in other countries, as well as their own.

One basic human right that is often ignored is the right to food. The number of people who suffer from hunger and malnutrition is increasing. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), more than 850 million people lack adequate food. Every five seconds a child under the age of five dies of hunger or hunger-related disease.

Hence, agricultural trade in international food products must be part of the solution, rather than the problem. However, under the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), developing countries have been pushed to open their domestic markets to foreign imports that are often sold at less than production cost. Unfair trade rules, coupled with inequitable loan conditions of international financial institutions, have limited the policy space for developing country governments to meet their human rights obligations.

Access to essential services such as clean water and health is also a basic human right. States are required to equitably provide such services to all their citizens under their human rights treaty commitments. Yet, current negotiations on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) threaten to erode the ability of national governments to meet this requirement.

The WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) has also posed formidable obstacles to the progressive realization of the human right to health and life, particularly in terms of access to medicines. By protecting, or indeed mandating, monopoly rights for at least 20 years, and stifling competition from lower-cost producers, the TRIPS Agreement enables drug prices to be set high and to stay high.

The APRN thus calls on WTO member-states to undertake human rights impact assessments before concluding new trade agreements or revisions of existing agreements, as well as taking their human rights obligations into account in the course of implementing existing agreements. It also calls on information on human rights impacts to be included in trade policy reviews, including information provided by civil society sources.

To further deepen people’s awareness on the impact of the WTO and trade liberalization on human rights, the APRN’s People’s Speakout gathers together grassroots leaders to share their experiences and views on the human rights situation under the multilateral trade regime through speeches, interpretive dances, songs and other media. (end)

CHRISTMAS LIVES ON

We myt often wonder why we celebrate christmas in this day and age. History tells us that there’s more to celebrate than to eat, party and be merry. I am saddened by the fact that Christmas, in its literal and secular meaning is all about giving and receiving gifts as embodied in every parties we attend to. Here at home, the non-stop political crisis has taken its toll and the economy, nevertheless has dive down to its lowest point. We cannot help but to talk about politics here, after all, everything is intertwined.

I have my share of joyous moments during Christmas. Its being with my family that I value most. I might not have celebrated the season to its fullest and most meaningful extent, but i have kept every memorable experiences closest to my heart.

I have plenty of "wish-lists" not for myself but for others. Because they too deserve to be happy. They who do not have the means to celebrate Christmas. They whose hearts are pierced by everyday poverty. They whose morals are decaying. They who have weak ascendancy. They whose hope has been washed away. They who continue to love our country despite of…

@ 21

Today is my birthday! Good thing i have every reason in this world to be thankful about. I wouldn’t care less if nothing special or memorable happens today, after all, I’m a year older and wiser. Contentment is a big deal for an idealistic person like me.

Talk about being old, it’s just all in the state of mind. Some say, the older you get, the more serious you become towards a lot of things. I personally am not afraid to face such "dilemma"–that of growing old and being memory deficient.

As i face another "milestone" in my life, i plan to jot down my birthday resolutions, after all, as i look back at my past, i began to think how blessed i was considering i have been gifted with wonderful people who stood beside me through thick and thin.

I have a lot to talk about life, love and everything under the sun because of my sudden realization of how short life could be, but you see, i haven’t even enjoyed my supposedly birthday leave since i have to catch up on my doctor calls or else…

I’m 21 and i’m happy. My PDA is filled with warm greetings and wishes since last night. I have nothing to worry about, not even my fears nor my doubts for the next years to come, except to not forget to thank Him whose been with me for the past 20 years.

I admit i’m agnostic, but i feel i owe everything to Him… Thank you.

To God be the Glory.

Time

It is during one of my busiest moments that i feel time is of the essence. For a working student like me, everything should be productive, valuable and in order. I own what i do and i take cognizance for all my actions.

Sometimes when i feel that i have not made good my day, i become depressed and unproductive and yet whenever i am busy, at the end of the day, i feel burned-out or exhausted.

It’s the feeling of being able to live life to the fullest is what keeps me going… Meeting people, being friends with some of them is valuable indeed especially if intentions are pure and without any trace of doubt or pretentions. Before, I used to just lie down and see the clock tick without bearing in mind that i have actually plenty of things to accomplish, but now that i have learned that work and school is NO BIGJOKE, i came to conquer my laziness or being unproductive and managed to pull everything in order.

Now that i have come to this so-called realization, the old saying "time is gold" still is not a disputable presumption and will never be one.