(The Ako Ay Mabuting Pilipino video was uploaded to YouTube by jobalization.)

“Ako Ay Mabuting Pilipino” translates to “I Am A Good Filipino”, and it contains positive affirmations that can be made by people in government, students, policemen, Filipino citizens, and practically anyone here in the Philippines.

Here’s how to protect yourself from copy/paste happy people who help you prepare your speech…

If you read Pangilinan quits Ateneo amid flap over `borrowed’ grad speech (by Daxim Lucas, Philippine Daily Inquirer), you will see that whoever helped draft the speech of Manny Pangilinan attempted to change some of the words:

But having a lot of money does not totally make you a successful person. What you want is both money and meaning. You want your life and your career to be meaningful. Because meaning is what brings real richness to your life, to be surrounded by people you can truly work with-because you trust and treasure them, and they cherish you in return. That’s when you’re really rich, that’s when you really succeed.

You will find a copy at CathCath.com of the Manny V. Pangilinan Commencement Address at the Ateneo (March 26, 2010).

As you will see, the speech is quite long. And the “borrowed” section is quite short.

So if you’re going to deliver a speech, and you got help writing it, how will you find which parts may have been copied, especially if the plagiarized portions are short, compared to the entire speech?

TIP: Use CopyScape.com

As you can see from CathCath.com, it is quite easy to post your speech in an easy-to-publish blog. You can use a private blog, if you wish.

Next, go to CopyScape and type in the website address of the blog post which contains your speech.

(Please don’t try this now with the speech of MVP, because you’ll mostly find blog entries about this issue.)

Anyway, if parts of your speech contain wording closely similar to other popular speeches (which may have been blogged or published online), then CopyScape will show you the URL of those other webpages, and will even color-code the similar portions.

Yes, a lot of people don’t have time to compose an entire speech on their own. We rely on others to help us reach our goals. We work as a team to meet our objectives.

Let us make blogging and Copyscape part of our team.

…

Here’s a copy of the March 27, 2010 speech:

Commencement Address
School of Humanities & School of Social Sciences
Ateneo de Manila, Quezon City
4:00 p.m., Saturday, 27th March 2010

Magandang hapon sa inyong lahat. I want to thank father Ben and the Ateneo community for the honor of this doctorate degree. And congratulations to our Law School for having 7 of the 11 – ten topnotchers – in the recent bar exams!

Father Nebres, Father Magadia, trustees, faculty and staff, parents and siblings, graduates of 2010 – many congratulations. Thank you so much for this gift of fellowship with the sesquicentennial class. You’ve earned your diploma from a great learning institution, and you have every right to be proud. I have wracked my mind and heart with what I should say today. The weeks of fear and worry at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight, and sleep. And I’ve asked myself, what I wish I had known at my own graduation day 44 years ago.

The sad truth is that I don’t even remember who the speaker was at my graduation, or a single word that was said. So I begin these remarks with the expectation that I will soon be forgotten. I’ve been cautioned that on an occasion as this, graduates are only thinking one of the following thoughts: one – I hope these ceremonies finish soon because I can’t wait to take my vacation. Two – inspire me please. There aren’t too many doing that these days. Three – If MVP stops talking before I stop listening, I’ll give him a big applause. Four –If you hand out free tickets to the Justin Timberlake concert tonight, we’d give you a standing ovation. Yes, I’m happy to say that Smart will be giving away four free tickets right after this ceremony! Now that you’ve been sufficiently humored and bribed, let me earn my honorary degree, and turn thoughtful and traditional. More to do, more to achieve I come here today with the thought that despite what may seem to be the culmination of a successful life with this honorary degree, there’s still much to do. I come to say that one’s title, even an honor like this, says little about how well one’s life has been led –that no matter how much you’ve done, or how successful you’ve been, there’s always more to learn, more to do, more to accomplish. So I want to say to all of you, that despite your remarkable achievement, you too cannot rest on your laurels.

Some graduating classes in the past have marched into this place in times of peace and progress. In those easy times, we could have called on you to keep things merely going, and not screw things up. But we’re gathered here at a time of trial and transition, not only for this country but also for the world. Our economy slowed down last year because of a global recession – the result, in part, of greed and irresponsibility that rippled out from Wall Street. We continue to spend beyond our means. We avoid making the tough, unpopular choices. And in 44 days, we will elect a new set of national and local leaders. For all of you, these challenges are felt now in more immediate and personal terms. You will soon be looking for a job – struggling to figure out which career makes sense in this economy of ours. Maybe you have loans, and are worried how you’ll pay them down. Maybe you’ve got a family to help. Maybe you’re asking how your siblings can have an Ateneo education like you had. Against these issues, you may be tempted to fall back on the more visible markers of success — by chasing the usual brass rings. How much money you make, a fancy title or a nice car. Being on the roster of the ―rich and famous (or the ―most invited) guest list. But the choice of form over substance, fame over character, short-term gain over long-term goal is precisely what your generation needs to end.

Defining success
Coming from the Ateneo, I know that the pressure to succeed is immense. In fact, your biggest liability is the need to succeed. And your biggest fear must be the fear of failure. But first, let me define what success is. Let me tell you, money’s pretty cool. I’m not going to stand here and tell you that’s it’s not about money, because money is sweet. I like money. It’s good for buying companies and things – and for putting up a few buildings here and there for Ateneo. But having a lot of money does not totally make you a successful person. What you want is both money and meaning. You want your life and your career to be meaningful. Because meaning is what brings real richness to your life, to be surrounded by people you can truly work with – because you trust and treasure them, and they cherish you in return. That’s when you’re really rich, that’s when you really succeed.

Fear of failure
Let me now deal with failure. On this wonderful day when you stand on the threshold of what is called ―real life, it is – ironically – the best time to talk about failure. Nobody’s life is seamless or smooth. We all stumble. We all have setbacks. If things go wrong, you hit a dead end – as you will, many times in your life – it’s just life’s way of saying – time to change course. Now I cannot tell you that failure is fun. Periods of failure in my life were dark ones. I’ve had a lot of success. But I’ve had a lot of failures. I’ve looked good. I’ve looked bad. I’ve been praised and criticized. And it hurt like hell. But my mistakes have been necessary. I had no idea how far the tunnel of failure extended. And any light at the end of it seemed more hope than reality.

Now let me tell you about some of my biggest failures.

In 1995, first pacific invested in telecommunications in India at a time when the industry there was just getting started. Under the laws of India, foreign investors are allowed to own not more than 49% of a local telco. So we invited an Indian partner to hold the 51% majority. You all know how capital intensive the telco business is. To our utmost regret, our partner could not provide the counterpart capital. The relationship soured, and we had to sell the business. Since then, India’s telecoms industry has grown exponentially. So we lost significant value by divesting. If we had managed to retain this business, I would not need to make a living giving graduation speeches. But I have had personal failures as well.

I will now let you in on a well-kept secret. I was in 4th year high school in San Beda College, and was in contention to be valedictorian that year. It was an open secret that majority of my classmates were cheating –changing answers from true to false, ironically, in our religion exams. I felt I had to do the same to protect my grades. Several of us were caught – pero ako ang pinag-initan. I knew I was wrong, and deserved to be punished. Indeed, San Beda stripped me of all my honors. Finally, with the suspicion about rampant cheating, I was asked by the principal to name names. I refused. I disappointed my parents deeply. It took many years for the pain and bitterness to heal. Several years ago, I thought it was time to free myself from the rancor and memory of that experience. What better proof of reconciliation with San Beda than the 3 NCAA championships for the Red Lions?

Failure taught me lessons about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had imagined: I also found out that I had parents whose value was truly priceless. The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you can be secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life, my career and, most importantly, my moral values. So graduates, always remember this – success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts. MVP’s lessons for life as I come near the end of my remarks, let me wrap up with some old-fashioned, feel-good graduation advice:

First, hug and kiss those who helped get you to this day – parents, grandparents, friends, teachers. If you’re too shy or uptight to do that, please do the old fashioned handshake thing. But I recommend a hug and a kiss. Don’t let the sun go down today without saying thank you to someone.

Second, don’t forget that you have a body under your toga. Take good care of it. Engage in sports. It’s fun, and it is a laboratory for victory and adversity. How an athlete celebrates his triumphs, or overcomes defeat or injury, how he deals with a hostile crowd or a critical media, reflects what life is all about. Indeed, sports offers a richness all its own – it is a metaphor for life.

Third, remember you have brains under that mortarboard. You’ve been running it like crazy for four years, whining about all the books you’ve had to read, the papers you’ve had to write, the tests you’ve had to take. Yet thanks to that versatile, gigabyte hard-drive of yours, and a million Starbucks cups, you made it today.

Fourth, give one peso for every ten you earn. I saw my mother pass away 8 years ago, and she left this world without anything. Which means you’re not the owner of what you think you own – you’re only a steward, because everything’s on loan. So pass some of it on. If you don’t, government will just take it anyway.

Conclusion
As today’s door closes softly between us, those are my parting words. But there will be other partings and other last words in your lives. But today will not be complete without acknowledging what Father Ben has done for the Ateneo these past 17 years as the university’s longest serving president – the new Loyola Schools, all the new buildings, the UAAP championships and the bonfires. It has been a pleasure working with him. Thank you so much Father Ben.

I do have one last word for you, if I may. This was a gift when I graduated at the age of 19 – the gift of friends with whom I sat on graduation day, who remain my friends for life. So today, I wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you will recall those of Seneca, one of the old Romans i met in search of ancient wisdom: ―as is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters. I will now let you go. Through God’s providence, may each of you travel well that precious journey called life. And may your future be worthy of your dreams. My deepest thanks for the courtesy and honor you all have shared with me. Many congratulations. God bless you all. Good day and good life.

I will still take the good parts of MVP’s speech (I don’t feel that the entire speech has been devalued by those unfortunate sections).

Related: MVP apologizes to Fr. Nebres.

Lots of things to learn here, not only for me but also for my children. There’s no need to throw out everything. Let us find value where we can, and hold on to those which can help us.

When your relatives try to contact you, they won’t be able to (because your phone is off).

Anyway, here’s a copy of that warning message now making the rounds in various inboxes…

Its all started when I received a call from someone claiming that he was from [cell phone service provider] and he asked me to shutdown my phone for 2 hours for 3g update to take place. As I was rushing for a meeting, I did not question and shutdown my cell phone.

After 45 minutes I felt very suspicious since the caller did not even introduce his name. I quickly turned on my cell phone and I received several calls from my family members and the others were from the number that had called me earlier – [xxxxxxx].

I called my parents and I was shocked that they sounded very worried asking me whether I am safe. My parents told me that they had received a call from someone claiming that they had me with them and asking for money to let me free. The call was so real and my parents even heard ‘my voice’ crying out loud asking for help. My parent was at the bank waiting for next call to proceed for money transfer. I told my parents that I am safe and asked them to lodge a police report.

Right after that I received another call from the guy asking me to shutdown my cell phone for another 1 hour which I refused to do and hung up. They keep calling my cell phone until the battery had run down. I myself lodged a police report and I was informed by the officer that there were many such scams reported. MOST of the cases reported that the victim had already transferred the money! And it is impossible to get back the money.

Be careful as this kind of scam might happened to any of us!!! Those guys are so professional and very convincing during calls. If you are asked to shut down your cell phone for updates by the service provider, ASK AROUND! Your family or friends might receive the same call.

Be Safe and Stay Alert!

Please warn your relatives, just in case they themselves receive some “advisory” stating that they have to switch off their cellphones.

Has blogging changed your life? Has it affected the way you communicate with others? Has it helped your business?

Well, whip out that cell phone and record a talking head video of you explaining what blogging has done for you.

Or be more creative and add a music track, or show something humorous, or even add special effects if you wish. Just make sure you can store the video file in a CD or DVD…

…in a format that makes it easy to upload to YouTube or Facebook.

For example, here are file formats that Facebook will accept:

• QuickTime Movie (mov)
• Windows Media Video (wmv)
• AVI Video (avi)
• MPEG Video (mpg, mpeg)
• Windows Media Video (asf)
• MPEG-4 Video (mp4, mpeg4)
• Mobile Video (3gpp, 3gp, 3g2)
• Matroska Format (mkv)
• Flash Player Video (flv)
• DVD Video (vob)
• Ogg Format (ogm)
• Nullsoft Video (nsv)

For more details, please read Join the iBlog Video Contest over at iBlogPH.org

Have fun and good luck!

Here’s Pilipinas Got Talent Faithfully by Jovit Baldivino Journey American Idol Britain’s Got Talent 2010 (uploaded by kapamstk to YouTube):

Congratulations, Jovit! May you continue to inspire more Filipinos!

It’s true! Even Bo Sanchez has a personal story to back that up…

The story involves Bo’s mom and her health, and you will find the details in Bo Sanchez’ How To Use Words To Create Your Reality
http://bosanchez.ph/how-to-use-your-words-to-create-your-reality/

Go ahead. Read that and come back here.

Back already? Great! Now ask yourself these questions:

1. What do I keep saying about my own health?
2. What do I keep saying about my finances?
3. What do I keep saying about my lovelife and about my relationships?

Now get a pen and paper, and write down whatever comes to mind when you ask yourself the questions above.

Think and try to remember every single phrase that you have been saying all this time, that is related to the questions above.

Done already? That’s good.

Now go through the list that you’ve written, and look at your life and the situation you are in. Do you see any pattern? Can you prove for yourself if it is true the words really do shape your own reality?

Now say this everyday: “I am healthy, loveable, and rich. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.”

Say that for the next 21 days, and observe what happens to your life. And prepare to be amazed… at first. Do you know what replaces amazement? Yes, faith.

Because before you know it, you will understand and accept as a simple fact, that words really do shape your tomorrow.

TIP: Check out Bo Sanchez and his Truly Rich Club today!

The Philippine Schools Cyberbair (http://www.cyberfair.ph) aims to help students connect with their local communities, increase global awareness, and helps equip students with 21st century learning skills.

Janette Toral writes in Encouraging schools to join the Philippine Schools Cyberfair 2010: Believe & Unite:

This CyberFair competition/exhibition requires participants to complete three tasks – publish, reflect, evaluate. Student-produced projects will spotlight people, places, businesses and other things in their local community.

Please help get the word out. You can blog about this, post a tweet in Twitter, update your status in Facebook, or even mention this in your Multiply sites.

Janette also suggests another way to help: ” Provide technical advise to teachers/students in putting up their blog or website for their entries. Schools can register up to February 28, 2010. Website entry needs to be completed by March 7.”

If you’re a student or a teacher who wants to quickly put up a website, please sign up for your free tutorial at http://www.PinoyBizNow.com

Relax… you are not required to have highly technical skills. If you can send an email, then you can easily publish your own blog.

And if you can attach a photo to your email, then your blog will also have photos. If you attach more than one photo to your email, then your blog will automatically have an online album.

Given the March 7 deadline, please do not worry too much about the design of your blog or site. Focus more on the words that you will write, and how well those words will reach out and influence the different members of your community

So please sign up for your free blogging tutorial today at PinoyBizNow.com, and learn how your fellow Pinoys are using simple e-mail to build high-impact blogs.

Do you work hard?

You have to learn to work harder on yourself than on your job. If you make yourself more valuable to the marketplace, then you will earn more money:

Jim Rohn – How to have Your Best Year Ever (1 of 3)

Okay… how many books have you read in the past 90 days? How many classes have you taken in the last 6 months to gain more skills? What do your own results tell you about your activity, attitude and philosophy?

Jim Rohn – How to have Your Best Year Ever 2 of 3

Life asks us to “make measurable progress in reasonable time.”

And if you find that you have not made any progress? If you feel that you’ve somehow messed up? Sometimes, feeling something negative such as “disgust” can actually be a positive thing, as you shall soon learn about in the next video…

Jim Rohn – How to have Your Best Year Ever (3 of 3)

Now all you need is a life-changing day, the decision to act, plus the perseverance and discipline to follow-though.

May you have your best year ever this year, and in the years to come!

This will be different from the Speak Tagalog Podcast (in Viloria.com) in the sense that each Tagalog word or phrase can be accessed by clicking on an audio button.

If you want to know how to say things in Tagalog, please let me know and I will post the streaming audio recording soon.

For now, learn how to count from 1 to 10 in Tagalog.

Have fun!

Learn Tagalog Resources Online

Here are other places on the web where you can learn Tagalog.

• Learn More Tagalog

  http://sites.google.com/site/learnmoretagalog/

  Aureo P. Castro is turning into reality what he posted way back in 2001 in Geocities (LEARNING IN A DIGITAL AGE: CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY):

  Increase in Web Enabled Courses. It is predicted that there will be more and more courses that will be offered through the Internet. With the fast increase in population and the physical constraint of the existing colleges and universities, the only way to go is in cyberspace.

  Want a taste of journalism and information technology? Please visit Aureo P. Castro’s blog at [blog no longer exists], or sample his writings at Hamog Sa Umaga At Kanta Na Naging Tula [poem removed from docstoc] (morning dew and a song that turned into a poem)

• TagalogLang.com – “Tagalog Lang” translates to “Tagalog Only.” This site inspired me to place more clickable audio buttons, so that Tagalog learners can zero in on the particular word or phrase they want to hear, rather than search through a longer podcast episode.

As a result of being a DigitalFilipino member, I was able to meet and network with a lot of people from various walks of life. Some are entrepreneurs, others are probloggers, while even others are active in media.

I was also given the opportunity to attend eye-opening events such as the DigitalFilipino E-Commerce Summit, and also the E-Commerce for Entrepreneurs Hands-on Workshop Series.

Another great benefit of being a DigitalFilipino member is that you can join the Informal Sessions, where DigitalFilipino club members who “don’t have time to take part in hands-on workshops or webinars can just drop by and have a consultation or tutorial on their specific concern.”

Aside from getting practically one-on-one mentoring and training from these mini-sessions, you also get the chance to expand your network further by speaking and interacting with like-minded people interested in internet marketing and entrepreneurship.

Membership in the DigitalFilipino Club: $125 annually (individual membership).

There’s no minimum email length, but please try to keep your message to less than 1000 words.

On February 14, 2010 I will choose the winner based on how well your emailed message connects with me. For example, are you someone who will make the most out of that $125 membership (which you will get for free)?

Now’s your chance to get premium internet marketing training, plus form long-lasting friendships and alliances in the business and internet marketing world.

So if you’re a person of action, I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks!

So, where do we go from here?

The people behind the Meralco Twitter account (@meralco) need to immerse themselves for a few days in Twitter, and learn how to make better use of this. All they need to do is ask around, and people following @meralco on Twitter will surely help.

In Nick’s Twitter Will Transform Meralco he writes:

I expect it will take Meralco almost a year before they get it down. In the meantime, they will just have to persevere through the mistakes, through the criticisms – a lot of which is likely to come from me.

I don’t think it will take that long. Perhaps the PR folks at Meralco will be able to make better use of Twitter in as short as 3 days. It boils down to what their objectives are, and how they can meet those objectives as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Here are some tips…

1. Start a blog in Blogspot.com – This will serve as a backup website, just in case the Meralco website (http://www.meralco.com.ph) is unable to handle the surge in visitors. The main website will also need to publicize their official Blogspot/Blogger blog, so that people will know it is legit.

2. For future brownout schedules, publish a detailed blog post in Blogspot, and post a single tweet (or Twitter message) that looks something like: “Brownout sked, Oct 10, 5pm to 8pm – link to Blogspot blog post”

This way, there will be no need to post so many Twitter messages covering the same timeslot of a scheduled brownout.

3. Since a Blogspot/Blogger blog has an RSS feed, Meralco can use that feed and have it automatically posted in their @meralco Twitter account with the help of TwitterFeed.com

This way, the Meralco people can simply blog about an upcoming brownout (or other news/updates), and TwitterFeed will automatically post it in the @meralco Twitter account.

4. With the RSS feed, Meralco can also link this to an email autoresponder account. People can sign-up or subscribe to a Meralco brownout sked announcement list, and each time the Meralco blog is updated, an email will be broadcasted to those who subscribed to the list.

This way, people who do not always monitor Twitter will still be able to receive updates via email (if they wish to).

In the end, Meralco will be able to better serve their customers by providing needed info on a timely basis.

5. Meralco can easily monitor questions/comments posted on Twitter by simply searching for @meralco in Twitter search.

Alternatively, they can log into their Twitter account, visit the Twitter.com homepage, and click on the @meralco link found on the column on the right side.

6. Meralco can interact with people or answer their questions by simply tweeting @username followed by their response. For example,

@ManuelViloria Yes, we will… etc etc

7. I’ll add more tips here over time. And if you need extra help in terms of screencast tutorials that show how to do the above steps, please let me know so that I can prepare those tutorials for you.

Welcome to Twitter, Meralco. Thank you for finding another way to serve your customers better.

If you’ve been keeping track of the brouhaha over the selection of this year’s National Artists of the Philippines, you will know that several groups are up in arms over the choices “made.”

Here’s the video message of Gerry…

Here is a quick list of the popular stories written by Carlo J. Caparas, along with the name of the visual artist who illustrated those well-loved komiks series:

Ang Panday – Steve Gan
Pieta – Steve Gan
Bakekang – Mar Santana
Totoy Bato – Tor Infante
Gagambino – Karl Comendador
Mga Ligaw na Punglo (novel by Carlo J. Caparas) – Hal Santiago (illustrator)
Kroko – Hal Santiago

You can learn more by reading Gerry Alanguilan’s Why Carlo J. Caparas is NOT a Visual Artist

With the power of YouTube, blogging, and the internet, more people can share their voice online. I invite you to try blogging (or even videoblogging) today, so that you will gain a better understanding of how your actions (which have an impact on many people) affect the online world (and vice versa).

Those four honor guards are:

Army Pfc. Antonio Cadiente
Airman Second Class Gener Laguindan
Navy Petty Officer 3 Edgardo Rodriguez
Police Officer 1 Danilo Malab

To say that they displayed exceptional discipline while performing their extraordinary task is quite an understatement. Imagine, no food/drink break, no sitting down, no jacket or poncho against the wind and rain, and no bathroom break… for seven hours?

I say it took more than discipline to help them do what they did yesterday. They were most likely inspired by the life of Tita Cory, and the display of support, warmth, and love by the throng that surrounded the cortege from the Manila Cathedral all the way to the Manila Memorial Park.

Clearly, even after 26 years, Cory Aquino continues to touch the lives of so many Filipinos. She continues to bring out the best not only in those four honor guards, but in each and every Filipino who witnessed all these events right there in the streets, or on television and the internet.

Paalam, Tita Cory… Thank you for the gifts you have given to the Filipino people. May we continue to inspire and bring out the best in each other.