Staying Healthy in Rainy Season

          Since the rainy season has already been announced by PAG-ASA in the Philippines, I would like to share this article published by the Manila Times on June 26, 2013 for us to shoo away diseases during rainy season. Credits to the writer and the designer of the illustration. :)

Prepare for the downside of the colder weather such as water-borne diseases, respiratory infections and other illnesses.

5 tips to stay healthy this rainy season

          We can't just sing rain, rain go away to shun the heavy downpours these days. We have to prepare and protect our health and those of our loved ones, what with work and school in full gear.

          To make the most out of the weather and prevent sickness, MediCard Philippines share with The Manila Times easy tips to stay dry and strong this rainy season.


Always bring your umbrella

          Getting wet from a sudden downpour can cause sudden change with body temperature that may lead to fever and colds. To avoid getting sick, don’t forget to bring your umbrella with you wherever you go. It’s not only the best rain gear, but also a sickness shield against cough, colds or fever when you’re caught up on a rainy day.

Eat healthy

          Eating healthy food is the cheapest way to protect you from sickness. You can cook a hot soup to invigorate your body or eat Vitamin C-rich foods to boost your immune system to help repulse flu and infection. Watch out for diarrhea, one of the common rainy-day diseases often caused by eating spoiled or contaminated foods, so always remember to wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly to be safe. A delicious and healthy food is what makes rainy days a little warmer.

Wash your hands

          To keep you from getting colds, cough and influenza, regular hand washing is the best way to prevent the spread of viruses and bacteria and keep away diseases. Wash your hands properly by lathering soap between your fingers, under your nails and the top of your hands. Rinse and dry your hands thoroughly to get rid of the germs.

Drink clean water

          Water-borne diseases are very common during the rainy season. Be cautious of contaminated water sources that could bring water borne diseases such as amoebiasis and cholera. If you’re unsure of the water supply, boil it or buy purified drinking water to be safe.

Keep your surroundings clean

          Dengue, a fatal disease caused by mosquitoes, is the most rampant disease during the rainy season. Don’t leave any water stagnant and throw away the things that may promote mosquito breeding. Keep your waterways clean. Besides dengue, leptospirosis is rampant because of floods that may contain animal urine causes bacterial infection. Avoid wading in floodwaters to protect yourself from this disease.

Education for Sale

          While the NORSU stakeholders, particularly the students and parents, are enjoying the decreased miscellaneous fee brought by the resolution approved by the university’s Board of Regents (BOR), it is saddening to know that the students of other higher education institutions are carrying in their shoulders the burden of having an increased tuition and other school fees approved by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on May 19. There were at least 313 private higher education institutions (PHEIs) permitted to have these fee increase––a figure bigger than the 287 schools permitted in 2014.

          In the data released by CHED, these schools were approved to have a 6.48 percent tuition increase for academic year 2015-2016. It can be noted that the supplementary guidelines of CHED publicized in April 2015 only paved a way for the school administrators to take advantage by setting overpriced tuition fees and unreasonable presence of other school fees (OSF) that only resulted to an unaffordable education for a common Juan.

          In fact, it is not quite reasonable for CHED to base these increase in regional inflation rate simply because of the inadequate regular workers’ minimum wage which can’t fully suffice the needs of common Filipino families which include education.

          More so, the collection of the “confusing” and overpriced OSF in both state universities and colleges (SUCs) and PHEIs like Laboratory Fee, Development Fee, Energy Fee, Multimedia Fee, Aircon Fee, Sports Development Fee, Athletic Fee, PE Fee and other not-so-familiar fees are being shouldered and paid by the students which should’ve been included in the students’ tuition fee and should’ve not been collected anymore.

          If we are to conclude, the government’s implementation of deregulation and commercialization in education only deprives the common Juans to experience the thrill of college education. This only paves a way for opportunist/capitalist/profiteer to earn millions out of the commercialized education.

          Is this a part of the tuwid na daan promised to us by the government a few years ago? If yes, then there’s no reason for us to let another tuwid na daan successor to lead and rule our nation! What we need is someone who is not a puppet of capitalists and influential countries like US, someone who can build a new type of government that’s not Manila-centered, someone who is not as dark as his “bad” sides and someone who values education for all types of people. All we need is someone who gives importance to the presence of common and marginalized Filipinos. 

Unknowingly Deprived

          If I may ask, are you aware that we, Norsunians, have been somehow deprived of sufficient education in this institution we considered as our pride, our hope and our future?

          Most likely, your answer would be NO. Perhaps, you have been satisfied with the quality of education that NORSU is offering. I, for one, do also agree with you in some ways. No doubt that NORSU’s program offerings are of good quality because we have a lot of highly qualified instructors serving for Norsunians. Our university has some of the most outstanding professionals in various fields. However, that doesn’t end there. Their academic profiles are not the only bases to rate our educational quality.

          Come to think of some instances where we have been deprived of ‘sufficient time’ in teaching. In this university, we are implementing a twice or thrice a week meeting for regular subject courses. Probably, that’s somehow enough for us to learn sufficiently if and only if our instructor will always be present in almost all sessions. But straight classes like these could be a burden for us, right? Admit it. Not unless you are really that ‘responsible’ student.

          Once we’ve heard that our instructors will be absent for quite a long time for they’ll be attending a week-long seminar in a faraway place, it’s like the whole class will celebrate for it! But, the question, is that really a good news? Will we learn something from it?

          This is just similar to what Norsunians usually experience during the preparation for our annual Founders Week Celebration. For about a month before the actual week of the event, classes were shortened in order to give time for some students to have their daily rehearsals for different cultural competitions they were into. This could be another good news for some, a rest month perhaps! But then, this is really a great evidence of deprivation in our part. Our parents, relatives and some scholarship donors are paying good amount just for us to experience the education in a university yet we experience less time to have it. Remember, we’re not here to enjoy free times but to have memorable learning experiences. We are here to study and not to self-study and self-learn just because our teachers rarely attend our classes.

          Please don’t get me wrong. Mind you, I’m not a KJ! I’m not acting as hypocrite here because even I also enjoy these rest days. It’s just that I have noticed that most Norsunians were unknowingly deprived of the things that they are supposed to enjoy–the proper education. If we’re looking for leisure times, 3-5 hours subject load per day is not that too big to consume one whole day. It’s just a matter of time management.

          This is a very serious challenge for the new designated leaders NORSU especially those in connection with the academic affairs. I suggest, as an ordinary student, please implement activities and reforms that will pave a way towards students’ betterment and not only for what the students want you to do.

The Search for Imperfection

          One’s success can never be a good news to everyone.

          It’s been a trademark for us, Filipinos, that when someone reaches the heights of success, there will always be other people who will find ways to pull that someone down. Perhaps, to keep that someone grounded but actually, the intention is beyond this. Something that is caused by insecurity and jealousy. The so-called crab mentality is the right term to describe such.

          Now that the election for presidency is fast approaching, about a few quarters to go, politicians and politics-oriented people are exposing one another’s hidden secrets. Secrets that have been kept for years. Secrets that once revealed, can destroy a politician’s reputation in the eyes of the country’s voters. They’re like pulling one another’s tail not to make anyone succeed in getting the public trust.

In the previous months and years, some names were already mentioned and revealed to the public for being involved in the multibillion pork barrel scam. Almost all were in denial regarding the issues. We get it. Of course, who would ever want his/her reputation to receive stains from others? It’s like Domino Effect that when someone’s bad side was revealed, that someone will seek ways to expose others’ and those others will find another to do the same.

          To cite an example, just recently, we’ve heard of allegations against Vice President Jejomar Binay for the overpricing multimillion-peso New Makati City Parking building contract, alleged use of public funds for campaign and election purposes and many others. Perhaps, this is just a revenge of other politicians whose names were pointed out in the previous multibillion fund scam issue. Or perhaps, this is just a move of his future co-candidates for the highest position in the land since Binay is indeed one of the strongest presidentiables to beat. Well, we cannot blame them if that’s how they play the game!

          In some ways, we, common Filipinos, can benefit on what they are doing in the higher ranks of the society because, in that manner, we can be able to know who really the right ones are. The ones who really deserve our trusts.

          Probably, looking for our future leaders’ flaws is a thing that can help us decide on who to vote for the upcoming national election. Unfortunately, we cannot find the right person for the position because an ideal leader is nowhere. Why not understand their sides, weigh their good and bad sides, and search for the good deeds they did which can really help elevate the country’s current status.

          Remember, good guys are bad guys that haven’t been caught, if I am to revise the song “Good Girls” of 5 Seconds of Summer. There’s no absolutely good person. We all commit mistakes, we all commit sins. Looking for one another’s dirt will only ruin our country. Why not do the search for imperfections for ourselves first? Surely, we can find a lot of things we need to change. Crab mentality is for those damn insecure people only.

D for Presidency?

          Some known and not-so-known political personalities are perhaps starting to show off by now to the public. For about more than a year from now, millions of Filipinos will then again cast their supposed-to-be-powerful votes than can somehow create a societal transformation by choosing the most suitable leader who can put mesmerizing words into fruitful actions.

          Last February 11, Dumaguete City particularly Negros Oriental State University welcomed Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for an uncertain visit. It was attended by some NORSU higher ranks, faculty and staff, students, and some local media practitioners. The sixty-nine-year-old honorable spoke before the audience about the current national issues. He included in his speech the very antique beginning of colonization up until the current scenarios of Mindanao and the country.

          He even talked on the history of Bangsamoro in Mindanao and the highly centralized monetary system of Philippine government which has been described as Manila-centric. Incumbent solons were also criticized by Mayor Duterte saying that some are visibly “corrupt” while others are not capable of handling the positions they are holding.

          Well, I don’t have to put so much emphasis on these because the very reason of his visit is to inform everyone how Federalism would change the country’s ever biggest dilemma—corruption. Not to mention that he is implementing a federal type of governance in Davao City which made the latter one of the most peaceful and safest places on earth which can be reflected on its fast economic development.

          In my further readings and research about Mayor Duterte, I discovered that Dumaguete was not the only target of his visit and to note, it was a 30-day sortie, as what Christine Herrera of Manila Standard Today reported in her article. He has gone to Butuan City, Zamboanga City and Pagadian City before he reached the very ground of our city. Another set of visits is scheduled in Cebu, Puerto Princesa City, and Dipolog City—all perhaps are Visayan-speaking heartland.

          The article continues that the mayor will also be going to Luzon particularly Baguio City, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, and Pangasinan within the next 30 days. I wonder why he visits those places just to spread the words of Federalism, not unless he is into other ‘vague agenda.’

          I’ve also read in other online articles that he is not aiming for presidential seat nor be a contender of those renowned presidentiables which he also mentioned and strongly stressed during his NORSU visit. This mayor even said if he is into presidential run, he will wait for the ‘divine signal’ before he would make the much-awaited announcement.

          Probably, as of the moment, he is still in doubt. But for me, one thing is for sure, he is into a ‘certain’ national seat. Maybe, being a president is not yet for him because of the fact that he only holds a mayoral position and directly leaping for the highest seat of the land. Maybe, he’s in denial that what he’s doing is already part of campaign activity because it’s a NO-NO to Commission on Election (COMELEC). What’s the purpose of spending much money for the visits, for the ballers, stickers and tarpaulins?

          To the honorable mayor, if I may ask, how can you implement a national reform through Federalism if you will not be the president of this nation? If signal is what you’re looking for, try to examine the overall aspect of the Philippines today and you’ll realize that it’s the rightest time for change!

Enrolment Ease

          

          I’ve been in this institution for almost four years now. I’ve witnessed how NORSU faced its ups and downs and how an ordinary student like me handled patience-consuming enrolment system being imposed in this university for the past few years.

          Before, in order for a student to be officially enrolled, it takes him about two to three days to complete all necessary enrolment procedures. First, he needs to look for the last person falling in line just to pile himself to get his enrolment load form from college dean’s office. After which, he needs to go man hunting just to have his load form (which also serves as a clearance) signed by the college governor, college dean, his instructors, university librarian and other not-so-known personalities of the college and he directly proceeds to the advising of his subject load which also takes some time. The most crucial stage of enrolment then was the payment of school fees. It is where the student would need to prepare the biggest portion of his patience for a turtle-like speed of processing given the fact that only three cashiers were functioning.

          However, for a certain scholar, one still needs to process his scholarship papers at the Student Affairs Office that usually takes almost half-a-day to be released. He then proceeds to the cashier or Accounting Office to pay for the remaining balance if he enjoys a partial scholarship. Finally, he heads to the fourth floor of the College of Arts and Sciences building named ‘Skylib’ to, once again, fall in a very long line to encode his subject load and have his enrolment load slip printed as a true evidence of his very long patience.

          This year, through the leadership of the university’s OIC President Peter T. Dayot and the collaborative efforts of the different offices, students enrolled this semester enjoyed an ease on enrolment compared to the system of the previous years. I, for one, can attest to this improvement. I finished my enrolment processing in just a few hours: a few minutes in getting my enrolment load form from the dean’s office and having some autographs from our adviser and the dean, another few minutes for processing my scholarship at SAO and NORSU Gym where cashiering was located (since I’m a scholar) and lastly, about ten minutes in encoding and printing my load slip. 

          So why am I telling you this? It’s not because I want to brag that I’m the fastest to finish enrolling, nor to be close with the administration and make some “pasipsip.” It’s just that I want everyone to know that it is not impossible for NORSU to achieve a progressive development. It’s not impossible for NORSU to address its serious and complicated issues. Inconvenient enrolment processing of before had been one of these. If we are to look very closely, the administration’s solutions now to the enrolment processing of before are just adding 30 more cashiers and almost 100 subject encoders. This solution is not that complicated and as a matter of fact, it is just a very simple. NORSU main campuses have more than 13,000 enrollees each semester and therefore it shall have more operators for its enrolment to accommodate this big number.

          Sometimes, a complicated problem doesn’t have to be answered by a complicated solution. It just takes a simple solution to do the thing. We are just overthinking about something answerable by using our sentido común.

Sleep (Haiku)

By Ariel B. Dizon

My eyes closed for rest

As stars shine bright up above

On one Monday night.

Seconds turned to hours

Tiresome turned to fine feeling

How nice it would be!

Walking through the air

Going to unknown abodes

Clueless what awaits.

If time would permit

I'd like to extend some hours

To explore the world.

Give myself a break

From day's restless goings-on

To have some good dreams.

Dreaming about things

That real life would never give

To hopeless like me.

At some point, I think

This would not be forever

Morning is the end.

But who knows of life?

That dreams might be possible

I have to wait more.

Identity Inferiority

          How proud are we being called Norsunians? How about being dubbed as ‘poor but deserving students’? 

          Perhaps, some might not be pleased of hearing this. Some might not considering NORSU as their ‘pride’ as what it is being mentioned in the university hymn. These ‘some’ might feel belittled when they are with the students of high-profile universities.

          Let me share you some instances that triggered me writing this column. On one of the medical-dental missions [of our scholarship organization] I attended, a certain teacher of the school where we held the activity asked if where we were studying. My co-scholar whom I shall not mention his identity replied to the teacher, “Sa NORSU ra Ma’am.” Upon hearing his reply, the teacher rebutted, in an emphasized manner, “Ngano mang gi-‘ra’ man nimo ang NORSU. Di man angay.” Whether we like it not, this scenario has been very common when someone from the outside asks a Norsunian about the same question. Am I right?

          Another saddening reality is when Norsunians exit the university portals, they immediately take their IDs off as if they are very afraid of being distinguished as students of NORSU. It is as if they can feel inferior whenever they let their IDs freely hang around their necks until the streets of Dumaguete and some people see it. Isn’t it? As a matter of fact, some Norsunians don’t even usually wear their course or college T-shirts for the same reason as of not wearing their IDs outside the university premises. Never did some wear it even once.

          In addition, this inferiority about our Alma Mater even reached social media. For instance, we can notice to some of the Facebook accounts of Norsunians that they did not include on their profile information where they are studying. Instead, others even exaggeratingly include on their information that they are studying in UP-Diliman, Ateneo de Manila University or even in Harvard University. Amazing, right? Well, let’s just assume that they’re doing this for their safety against cyber-crime. Let’s just assume!  

          Why the earth are we, Norsunians, doing such to the school which is molding us into becoming competent professionals in the future? To think, we are very much privileged to step in this institution and learn somehow adequate knowledge that can be used in the real world. To think, NORSU has a lot of things that we can be proud of. Not to mention, NORSU is achieving high results in recent board exams which can be reflected on how good quality education NORSU offers to its students.

          Mind you, being a student of NORSU is not a shame but rather a privilege. There are many hopefuls out there who wished to be one of us but were not fortunately given the chance. Make good use of being a Norsunian. Be proud! Stand tall!

'Brain Drain' Game

          Just this morning, as of this writing, there is this not-so-close friend of mine who asked, in an informal conversation, what my plans are after I graduate college.  I just jokingly replied that it will depend on the opportunity that will come first the day right after graduation. However, when I throw the question back to him, he firmly answered that he will go abroad and look for a stable job. This answer of him is usually the thought of common Pinoys aiming for a better life for their families rather than spending most of the time of their lives working in their homeland just to strive for some little penny.

          On the afternoon after that conversation, as I was surfing over the Internet to read and look for ‘something good’, I found a certain article of Yahoo which was about the ‘brain drain’ dilemma that PAGASA, the national weather bureau, is currently facing. The article says that some of its meteorologists have left PAGASA to take better-paying jobs abroad. Obviously, this maybe because these experts only received trifling salaries that are insufficient to compensate their needs.

          But before I get closer to dealing with the issue regarding brain drain, let us first define this term for the benefit of those who don’t know. According to Google dictionary, brain drain is the emigration of highly trained or intelligent people from a particular country to another. This is one of the main problems that the developing countries are facing which includes the Philippines.

          In our individual community, it cannot be denied that once we heard our neighbor went abroad for good, we can easily stereotype that their family is well-off compared to ordinary type of Pinoy living. This is the main reason why professionals of our country risked their lives only to find their fortunate destinies in the developed countries like US and Saudi Arabia.

          If we are going to address the positive side of working abroad, we have a lot to say. To wit one, our country can benefit from this through the remittances of the overseas workers whom we considered ‘living heroes’. Looking at the other side, however, aside from the feeling of longing for workers’ families due to long distance, our country is really the one that is greatly affected by this. The experts or professionals who are supposed to be the ones who can help improve most of the aspects of the country chose to serve other foreign countries. Our super-doctors medicate the patients of US. Our super-nurses serve the hospitals of Saudi Arabia. Our super-engineers construct buildings for UAE. Our super-teachers educate the students of South Korea. Our super-pharmacists provide pharmaceutical care in Canada. These super-experts work for the betterment of foreign countries.

          On the other hand, even if that is now the scenario, we cannot still put the blame on them for serving other countries rather than our own for they only do these for the sake of their families’ future. Perhaps, if we really have to point out who to blame with this brain drain phenomenon in our country, the government is now facing bulks of fingers.

          If only the government gives some portion of its attention to these experts by offering bigger financial benefits, our country might not be facing brain drain anymore. We might now be boasting of the quality products and services made by our super-experts which are supposed to be enjoyed by all Filipinos. Remember, our country has some of the best institutions that produce globally competent experts. The government should not waste their existence!

Tap to Flap

     Firstly, I won’t be an interloper this time to give my personal opinions on the issue concerning the progress of the pork barrel scam case in the Senate nor provide some bias statements on the recent issue between the student and administration that the university is currently facing. Because in the very first place, I’m not entirely aware of the overall phase of each story and the truth behind every lie. So, let me just have this time to share my personal review on the newest addictive video game, the Flappy Bird.

     As of this writing, it has already been a month ago since the first time I heard about this tap-to-make-the-bird-flap game for Android phones. I’ve been seeing the posts of my friends sharing their experiences on this game on Facebook. Some were also boasting for their no more than 20 high scores.

With the curiosity in mind, I asked to borrow the Android phone of my classmate for a while to experience the thrill of playing this tapping game. At first and just seeing the start-up of the game, I was puzzled and asked my classmates “How come this game became popular?” I was able to raise that question because it can obviously be seen that the graphics of the game is low quality wherein the pouty-lipped bird that flaps and the background are both pixelated.

     As I played along, I became used to the simple mechanics in playing Flappy Bird. The player just needs to constantly tap the phones' screen to keep the bird flying and make it pass as many obstacles as possible without touching the green pipes. The game itself had proven to me that it is indeed amazing and addictive where it can hypnotize the player to proceed and play again once he failed in order to beat the phones’ somewhat low best score. After a series of rounds of playing, I didn’t wonder anymore why the video game became popular and caught most Android phone users’ attention.

     However, after a few days passed, I was greatly shocked when I read over the Internet the news about a 16-year-old boy who intentionally stabbed to death his 17-year-old brother just because his older brother repeatedly teased him on his 6-point high score on Flappy Bird. If you will be asked as to what do you think was the cause of this happening, would you answer that this is because of the addiction to the game? Well, if it is, we should not be surprised to the number of incidents similar to that of the two brothers.

     In this case, we cannot put the blame on the Flappy Bird game. We cannot conclude that Flappy Bird is a bad influence. It will just be up to the user how he is going to adopt the addiction to the game properly. I believe that the Flappy Bird was develop for entertainment and not to ruin one’s leisure.

     Before I will end this article, let me inform everyone that the Flappy Bird game was taken off from Apple’s App Store and Google Play by the maker of the game, Dong Nguyen not because of the authenticity and legal issues that is thrown to the game, but it is through the will of Nguyen to end the addiction.

***This article was published from The NORSUnian, the official weekly student publication of Negros Oriental State University.***

THANK YOU FOR READING!!! :) :) :)

(Comments, suggestions and reactions are welcomed and will be highly appreciated.)

Simple File Handling System

Here are the steps that I made in creating my Simple File Handling System.

          For the main class, I used the JFrame form. The following codes composed the main methods of my file handling system which include the Writing, Reading and Deleting the entire file.

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         Below is the design that I formulated in JFrame form. The Palettes that I used are also indicated below.

          In addition, I created another class (for the Reading function) within the main class above. For reference, here are the codes:

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package textfiles;

import java.io.IOException;

import java.io.FileReader;

import java.io.BufferedReader;

public class Readfile {   

      private String path;   

      public Readfile(String file_path){       

      path=file_path;          

}      

int numberOfLines = 4; 

int readLines() throws IOException{       

      FileReader file_to_read = new FileReader(path);                   BufferedReader bf=new BufferedReader(file_to_read);               String aLine;              

      while (( aLine = bf.readLine()) != null){    

            numberOfLines++;}  bf.close();  return numberOfLines;

       }
public String[] OpenFile() throws IOException {                         FileReader fr =new FileReader(path);                              BufferedReader textReader = new BufferedReader(fr);              String[ ] textData = new String[numberOfLines];                  int i;                   

        for (i=0; i < numberOfLines; i++) {                     

          textData[ i ] = textReader.readLine();

         }                   

textReader.close();return textData;
   } 

}

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          Next, I also created another class for the Writing function. I still located this in the main class. The codes are as follow:

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package textfiles;

import java.io.FileWriter;

import java.io.PrintWriter;

import java.io.IOException;

public class WriteFile {

    private String path;

    private boolean append_to_file=false;

    

    public WriteFile(String file_path){

        path = file_path;

    }

    

    public WriteFile(String file_path, boolean append_value){

            path = file_path;

            append_to_file=append_value;

    }

    public void writeToFile( String textLine ) throws IOException {

        FileWriter write = new FileWriter (path, append_to_file);

        PrintWriter print_line = new PrintWriter(write);

        

        print_line.printf("%s" + "%n", textLine);

        print_line.close();

    }

    }

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      The organization of my project package  is shown in the highlighted box below:

      Finally, the output of my program is:

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THANK YOU FOR READING!!! :) :) :)

(Comments, suggestions and reactions are welcomed and will be highly appreciated.)

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