Masquerade Costumes and Masks Ideas

We know that you are still thinking of what to wear to our Masquerade Party. Here’s some options you might want to look at.

One of our kabayans, Mrs. Merlyn Gabriel Dendy has offered to

loan her daughter’s accumulated costumes she had used with

Chiang Mai Ballet Academy. So if you have a daughter and

you’re interested, you may reach her at this email address: markandmerlyn@yahoo.co.uk

There are an assortment of masks (40-50 baht) and accessories available

at different accessory shops located at the 2nd to the 4th floors of

Central Kad Suan Kaew Mall.

At Central Airport Plaza’s 4th level, right outside B2S Bookstore are

anik-anik shelves that had kiddie costumes (Fairies, Princesses and

ghoul masks) and accessories a week ago. Please check, maybe they’re

still there.

Our ever dependable Tesco Lotus, Big C, Carrefour Supermarkets all

have kiddie costumes available all year round.

If you are within Chiang Mai, Blue Diamond is a costume shop that

has a lot of different costumes available for kids and adults alike.

This shop is where the school I work at usually rents costumes for

our school plays.  It’s on Natharam Road. The main landmark would

be Wat Natharam at the end of Natharam Road. It’s about 100meters

from Wat Natharam going to the right. Just follow the map =)

Looking forward to seeing all of you at the party, glammed-up and

all colorful!

PHILIPPINE EMBASSY COMMUNICATION: Advisory on Passport Issuance

19 November 2008

To: The Filipino Community in Thailand

The turn-around time for the issuance of the new machine-readable
passports may take a longer time due to the long Christmas and New
Year holiday in the Philippines (from 25 December 2008 up to possibly
4 January 2009) when almost all government and private offices,
including the Department of Foreign Affairs where the passports are
being processed, will be closed.

In anticipation of possible delays in the release of new passports, all
Filipino nationals whose passports will expire within the next six (6)
months or less, or those whose passport pages have all been utilized,
or those whose passports have less than one year validity and need to
renew their Thai visas, are hereby advised and encouraged to apply as
early as possible for the renewal of their Philippine passports at the
Embassy to avoid any inconvenience.

Kindly visit the Embassy website at www.philembassy-bangkok.net for
the requirements and other relevant information on the issuance of the
machine-readable passport.

Please feel free to disseminate this advisory to other Filipinos so that
the information could reach as many of our kababayan as possible.

For the Ambassador:

60th Thai-Pinoy Friendship Tees

So here are the shirts ladies and gentlemen!

They are Jipata-made round neck ecru colored shirts.

Sizes and Prices:

SS – 150 baht
S – 150 baht
M – 160 baht
L – 170 baht
XL – 175 baht

In the picture, Anzle Narrido is wearing a Medium size shirt and Gigi’s wearing a Small size.

The shirts will be available at the AFT-NRC Masquerade Party on December 6, 2008 at the Lanna Palace Hotel.

Limited edition shirts! Only 100 pcs made!

You may have shirts reserved for you by emailing us at aftnrc@gmail.com

Nakornpayap International School (NIS) Charity Car Boot Sale

AND THE WINNING TEE SHIRT DESIGN IS….

O ito na po ang pinaka-aantay nating lahat!

The polls are closed and the votes are tallied!

And the winning design is….. tee shirt design number 3!

Our tee shirts are made by Jipata Co. and are ecru colored round necks.

So mga kabayan, ito na po ang tee shirt prizes natin for our December gathering:

SS – 150 baht
S – 150 baht
M – 160 baht
L – 170 baht
XL – 175 baht

For tee shirt reservations, please contact your officers:
President Art Elbinias      – 084-482-3449
VP Linda Khampan          – 089-371-0808
Sec. Gigi Narrido             – 087-184-7618
Treas. Apple Garcia         – 086-181-2688

You may also have tee shirts reserved for you through email or SMS and deposit your payment through our Bangkok Bank Account # 531-0-57109-5 with bank acount names: Mrs. Ma. Apolonia Garcia, Mr. Art Elbinias and Mrs. Linda Khampan.

All you have to do is send Sec, Gigi Narrido at 087-184-7618 an SMS after depositing your payment. She will send a confirmation receipt via email or SMS to you as soon as your payment is confirmed. You may claim the tee shirt at the Masquerade party on December 6, 2008 at Lanna Palace Hotel.

Tee shirts will be available as early as November 18. Limited edition shirts po ito… we only had 100pcs made, so first come, first serve po!

It’s Your Choice! AFT-NRC’s Tee Shirt Design

In preparation for the 60th year of Thailand – Philippines Friendship celebration on June 14, 2009,  AFT-NRC has come up with 4 tee shirt designs for our community to choose from.

Tee 1 shirt design is traditional and it won  last month’s people’s logo choice activity with 25 votes. This logo will appear on the cover of the 2009 AFT-NRC’s Member’s Directory and commemorative mugs that will be available on December at our end of the year gathering. The other 3 tee shirt designs are stylized Philippine and Thailand flags.

The tee shirt design with the most votes by October 30, 2009 will be printed and would be available in December. Tee shirt style, size and color information will be released in October.

Members who would set their orders as early as October will receive discounts.

Send in your votes and orders to aftnrc@gmail.com. You may also leave your votes when you visit our multiply or word press account – www.aftnrc.wordpress.com  /  www.aftnrc.multiply.com

Watch out for AFT-NRC’s “Pinoy goes green” eco bag project! Designs will be available in October.

Thank you for your enthusiastic support of our Pinoy association’s projects!

The Gates to Heroism: Defining a Filipino Hero

By DIANA A. GALANG
National Historical Insitute

(First published online at www.nhi.gov.ph, 2007)

It is common for Filipinos to look for someone to idolize –saints, politicians, artists, models, etc., somebody they will glorify and imitate. Since the time of the declaration of Philippine independence, 109 years ago, many were acknowledged as Filipino heroes, more so today, that every individual who become so popular or the main character in any particular event is given the title “hero”. The essence of the word “hero” is past declining, today one need not to die or do such gallant act to be given the noble title or that some just won a boxing match. Time has really evolved and so does our standard in defining a Filipino hero. Will our forefathers who gave their lives for freedom feel insulted for this? Are these the Filipinos we’ll look up to for guidance through the times, aren’t our children losing the true meaning of heroism by our doings? All these things we should ask ourselves before giving the title “hero” to anyone.

But what does being a hero mean? Dr. Esteban de Ocampo, a known historian, stated in his book about Rizal that a hero means a prominent or central personage taking an admirable part in any remarkable action or event; a person of distinguished valor or enterprise in danger, or fortitude in suffering; and a man honored after death by public worship because of exceptional service to mankind. The true heroes of Philippine history deserve to be called so for they didn’t have any idea that one day they will be measured up, they just acted upon their principles. The concept of honoring heroes came only to the Philippines in 1900, when the Philippine Commission (Pardo de Tavera, Legarda, Luzurriaga (Filipino members) and headed by William Howard Taft) approved Act No. 137 combining the districts of Morong and Manila to be named as “Province of Rizal,” in honor of the most illustrious Filipino. Actually, this Act was disputed by many but the basis of the Commission was so strong that it has surpassed the public’s questions.

Since then, heroes were celebrated here and there, citing their names in every politician’s speeches, declaring holidays, naming streets, constructing monuments, etc. in their honor. Until one day, realizing that so many names were acknowledged as heroes, need to evaluate the situation was proposed. During Marcos’ presidency, he tasked the National Heroes Commission to come up with the criteria for national hero. On March 28, 1993, thru the President’s Executive Order No. 75, the National Heroes Committee was created, commissioned to study, evaluate and recommend historical figures to be declared as national heroes. The Committee composed of worthy members, with a series of discussions came up with the new criteria.

The criteria is composed of 10 standards: First is the extent of a person’s sacrifices for the welfare of the country. Second, the motive and methods employed in the attainment of the ideal (was his ideal purely for the welfare of the country and without any taint of self-interested motives, most of all the method of attainment should be morally valid). The third is the moral character of the person concerned (the person should not have any immorality issue that affected his ideal). The fourth is the influence of the person concerned on his age and or the succeeding age. Fifth is that heroes are those who have a concept of nation and thereafter aspire and struggle for the nation’s freedom (they must have desired the country’s freedom in any situation especially when there’s a threat of invasion in any form). Sixth is that heroes are those who define and contribute to a system of life of freedom and order for a nation (one who helps in the orderliness and betterment of the country).  Seventh is, heroes are those who contribute to the quality of life and destiny of a nation. Eight, a hero is part of the people’s expression (the citizen must have recognized and acknowledged the person as a hero). Ninth, a hero thinks of the future, especially the future generations, his concern for the future generations must be seen in his decisions and ideals). Lastly, the choice of a hero involves not only the recounting of an episode or events in history, but of the entire process that made this particular person a hero.

Filipino’s expectations of public figures are different now than it was more than a hundred years ago, maybe because of the realization that no one is perfect. This is the reason why today so many were acknowledged as heroes and many were voted in important governing positions with flaws and questionable characters. Lucky are those who aspire one day to be called a hero that the criteria was already set to pattern their decisions with. I hope that the criteria for national heroes will not only be checked against the historical figures but also with the politicians to whom we will entrust the power to govern our country.

MY 5 CENTS on the Teacher’s Training by PSTAT at Montfort College

by Gigi Narrido

The 20-hour training course required by the Ministry of Education (MOE) as a teaching license requirement has raised a lot of foreign eyebrows in Thailand. Coming from a school with 65% Pinoys in its foreign faculty, the issue has caused concern and raised questions yet to be answered by MOE and PSTAT.

Surprisingly, that our own administration knew little about it, although it is a government school. The first reaction I got from our school admin was that we should not worry because the school is government-run and it will protect its people. Hmm… protect us from what, though?

Anyway, a number of Pinoys in our school took the course by choice. The Caucasian farangs opted not to, stating that it’s either a big scam (by a handful of higher-ups) to con money out of ‘richer than average Thai teacher’ farangs or that it’s just a big waste of time because the ‘law’ will eventually change and die on its own.

This training received sneers and criticism even before it started. After reading  enough negative comments from various blog post predominantly written by Caucasian farangs, I was a bit skeptical myself. But then again the Pinoy mentality to wait things out until the last minute is not something I’m used to, and I don’t think that it’s a good idea for any Pinoy working abroad. So I mentally prepared myself for nothing but a 20 hours of boredom, a good waste of 4,000 baht and my precious weekend. I’m so glad I was proven entirely wrong!

The first two days of the training were a crash course on Thai culture and society. As a person who loves history, it was very informative and at times entertaining. Miss Puthachad ‘Sheena’ Sucharitakul did an amazing job explaining Thai cultural uniqueness, differences, and nuances that baffle the average farang like me. She even touched a bit on what I would call “Thai Psychology” – the way of thinking that is distinctly and unmistakably Thai, making them entirely different from other closely related Asian cultures like the Philippines. There were times that I even found myself saying, “Oh, okay” and “So that’s why” to my delight. If there had been a course like this offered when we arrived in this country, life and adjustment for the first 3 months would have been drastically different for us. Even so, the crash course made me realize my growing interest in Thailand’s history and psychology.

The third and last day of the course was handled by Mr. Abel Cadias, a kababayan whom I personally know and have worked with for 2 summers at his former high school’s EEP Camp. Abel laid out the facts about the license requirements to the teachers as a law that was passed in 2003. Odd huh, that they are implementing it only after 5 years? Well, this is Thailand! Better late than never, I guess.

As expected, there was a barrage of questions from the participating teachers that Abel answered to the best of his knowledge. He remained professional and witty while ‘under fire’.  It just so happened that he is the bringer of ‘good news’ to a bunch of inconvenienced people, most especially to the Caucasians of whom only a handful are education graduates or at least of related background. That’s why there just such a big fuss about it. The issue is undeniably controversial and may be the subject of many talks in schools and faculty lounges (if such room do exist in your school, because we don’t have any at ours!). The training did end in a good note with PSTAT President Dr. Usira Anomasiri promising that the organization will continue to help provide teachers the training, materials and assistance that we need to comply to the law. Now that is something that we should all watch for.

The bottom line is, this is Thailand and we are the farangs. It is a fact that we are living in their land, helping educate their children and get paid in their currency. Therefore we should follow their laws and rules, whether we are inconvenienced or not.

It is better to be good Pinoy citizens and follow our host country’s rules than lose the privilege that we enjoy in this country as their children’s educators.

Pinoy groups hard at work on the group presentation

jing lo! from bottom left, Norman Sinsuan, Anzle Narrido, Rowena Bolledo, Ruth Poja, Marge Espina, Eric Dilig and Minda Elbinias

PSTAT President Dr. Usira and training coordinator, Abel Cadias

Teachers having breakfast before the training

PSTAT training coordinator Abel Cadias with AFT-NRC officers, president Art Elbinias, secretary Gigi Narrido and Teacher's Rep. Dominic Cuales

Maria Odessa of Chiang Rai together with Anzle Narrido of Anubaan Chiangmai School

teachers relishing the afternoon snack time

big smiles

AFT Teacher's Rep. Dominic Cuales (middle) together with new comers, Nathan Mumar and Arlene Adeza

Alfhy Garcia and the rest of the Montfort gang

PSTAT Speaker and kababayan, Abel Cadias answering questions from the participants

(At the back) Navamin teachers, Norman Sinsuan and Minda Elbinias with PSTAT and Montfort higher-ups

PSTAT's Dr. Usira awarding the certificate to Minda Elbinias

June AFT-NRC Gathering at Lanna Palace Hotel

The AFT-NRC June 14 gathering at Lanna Palace Hotel was a success! A new set of officers for 2008-2010 was elected.

Nerissa de los santos, Myrra Enriquez and Ruth Poja

Crisalyn Torrecampo singing with the pinoy band

Vote tallying by Ruth Poja

Out-going pres Rox Oddie delivering her speech

Turn-over of the “globe” to the newly elected officers

Outgoing officers (top set) and newly elected officers (bottom set)

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