Out of Hiatus, Back in the Groove!

By Karen M. Soriano

IT’S BEEN awhile since my last article…week in, week out, my son Elijah and my dear friend/editor Teng, would remind about my next article. My mind just simply couldn’t get its flow so I can start typing away and get lost in my thoughts. Right now, my fingers are almost unstoppable, as if they have minds of their own.

Many events and issues with great substance could have been written about: a trip to another province (where I am now consultant to) with a successful Reforestation Project and an Environmental Protection Plan that actually works, could have been generously shared in my column… still I couldn’t conjure up an article.

Every time I sit down and try to write something, I would just end up staring at my computer and blackout. Why? What is happening to me? Have I lost my spunk and zest for expressing my thoughts and opinions? Is it due to the successive events toward the end of the year? Elijah’s exam week coming up perhaps, or planning what to do for his birthday? Or was it due to the Holidays and the pressure of coming up with a Christmas list and what gifts to buy for my love ones? I have good topics in my head, I just couldn’t write a body under the title.

Today I realized my mind just simply went on hiatus, exhausted and burnt out from previous challenges that I had to hurdle and just finished ironing out probably just before the 3rd quarter of 2008 kicked in. My mind needed to rest and be put at ease. I realize now the significance of taking a breather and going a vacation perhaps from time to time just to get away from it all…even just for a short period of time. To give ourselves a chance to unwind, re-charge and regain strength.

Since Elijah started studying in XAVIER, coming from a small progressive school, I told myself I shall lay low from work so I can closely over see his adjustment and instill in him a disciplined study habit…taking a break, having time for myself and going on a vacation especially one without him was far from my mind. Elijah and I are like 2 peas in a pod. Even my Mom noticed early on last year that I was burnt out already and suggested that I go to the states for 2 months to relax and put my mind at ease… I declined. My role was limited to a reliable friend to my friends, sister to my siblings, Mother to Elijah, daughter to my parents and Grand daughter to our Nanay…but Ms. Karen M. Soriano, Technical Director of Forestry to our family owned company was nowhere to be found.

It was only October or November of last year that I realized I should have gone on a short vacation to gallivant by myself, but since Elijah’s classes were heavily going on already I knew for me at least it was something I had to put off. So I took the opportunity (when it knocked on my door) to make a short visit to a new province and rekindle my passion for my work and love for nature, found joy in excitedly waiting for Elijah to come home everyday from school and proudly give me his happy marks and tell me how many chips he had accompanied with fond stories of his friends, after which we would proceed to doing his homework and by Friday if he was able to garner 5 or more chips, he would proudly come home with a HAPPY GRAM for showing good behavior and active class participation the entire week, and at the end of each quarter high grades in his report card and even awards that I would proudly share to our entire family and even my dearest friends. I took solace and joy in being there for my friends in need, being a good sister to my siblings and even doing Charity work toward the end of the year…

It was as good as a vacation, for I attended to sides of me that I took for granted to take care of while I was so busy being Ms. Karen M. Soriano, Technical Director of Forestry to Tayben Woodlands Foundation and even in some instances a “run to” person for our workers and farmers and of course juggling it with motherhood.

There is always goodness in situations that may seem unfavorable or negative to us for I realized the value of my friends and family even more, as for Elijah, no matter what the case maybe is always at the top of my head. I got my much needed vacation although not the kind that we would normally have… I got it in the form of LOVE, JOY and HAPPINESS by spending time with those that I love and love me as much.

Too much of everything although well intended will not do us good in the long run after all. I realized I need to learn to strike a balance.

As I welcome the Year 2009 with arms wide open, filled with so much hope and optimism, comes the return of Ms. Karen M. Soriano-Technical Director of TWFI. I am finally back in the groove but pacing myself, laying out plans for this coming year and the years to come but balancing it out with my other but more personal and important roles. WELCOME BACK!

 

On Motherhood…

By Karen M. Soriano

FOR MANY of you who might not know yet, I am a single mother to a five year old boy, whose name I researched and got from the Bible: Elijah Matthew Soriano, born on December 21, 2002, at exactly 11:15 a.m., weighed 7 lbs 8 oz., measured 52 cm. long, black hair and dark brown eyes. I would probably sound bias, but he was the most handsome baby in the nursery.

I stayed home for 10 months just so I can nurture and nourish him. I am a very hands-on mother up to this day. All the nanny was assigned to do was to hand wash his clothes, wash and sterilize his bottles. I jotted down all his “firsts”… First sponge bath, smile, laugh, rollover, when he first crawled, sat up by himself, stood up, first step, first tooth, first word (which was Mama, said on August 17, 2003), clapped hands, etc… And just last night (November 2, 2008), he learned to read a 4-letter word by himself while I was messaging my dear friend Teng on Facebook. He read “WHAT” but pronounced it as “wahhhhht” because he was confused with the silent “h.”

The columnist and her son Elijah. The boy loves to sing Frank Sinatra.

We both laughed so heartily while I was teary-eyed as usual. I realized, my baby boy, whom I carried in my womb for 39 weeks and 5/7 days is growing up so fast. We have come a long way…

Being a mother is more than just providing for and feeding them or teaching them their ABCs and 123s. It’s about nurturing your child, teaching them values and principles that will help them through life till the day they pass, as what our parents have done for us. It’s about guiding them with the decisions that they make and being there to support them when they start rolling with the punches of life, to raise them to be God loving, spiritual, to be aware and sensitive to their surroundings and to maximize their innate talents and capabilities that they have been blessed with and honed through time.

I am a single mother by choice… And after 5 years, I can honestly say, it was the gutsiest, and so far the best decision I have made in my life. It was not so much that I was not prepared to marry, but rather, after being with his father for so long, I realized, he was not the kind of man I envisioned myself to grow old with. Although for Elijah’s sake, we remain friends to this day, we have both welcomed and heartedly accepted that we are better off as that. Elijah, at his tender age of 5, has surprisingly accepted that too, so far with not much qualms. I constantly reassure him that Mommy and Daddy are friends and that we both love him no matter what.

Elijah when he was still a little baby.

I firmly believe that the child should never be used as the reason for staying in the relationship; they should not be used as the tie that binds for it is the immense love that the partners have for one another that trusses the union. It’s not the child who makes the relationship work and should not be used for leverage.

I didn’t want Elijah to be a product of a broken home; I didn’t want to put my child through that kind of emotional turmoil. Although I knew I would be faced with so many questions when he’s of age, it was a challenge I was willing to take rather than sacrificing our happiness and well being. I figured … how can I make my son happy if I, myself, was not genuinely happy?

I believe in the sanctity of matrimony, it is not something you jump into just because of an untimely pregnancy, in some instances it was the logical thing to do, some pressured into it, or to raise your “quality of living”. Marriage is a step you decide to take to celebrate your love for another, it is a vow that you make with God that you will love and stick it out with one another no matter what… that your love for your partner will not be wavered even if you know the worst thing about him/her. It’s about respect, trust, and acceptance. It’s not just about being there for one another during the good times, but more importantly being there to work through the rough patches as well.

But there are limits as to what one is willing to put up with… and there are givens about a person that we have to accept and live with. Issues that bothered and upset us about our partner early on, are the same issues that will upset and bother us even more when we are married.

Trying to continue to love someone and putting on a happy face (when one is truly not) is not something I can do nor endure for the rest of my life… I am after all entitled to be truly happy too.

Being a single mother is not easy, though it doesn’t mean to say that I enjoy being a mother any less. I enjoy and embrace motherhood just as much as any mother would, married or not. It took a lot of courage, fortitude and wisdom to make that choice from the very beginning, and it’s something that I take pride in. It is a blessing in disguise, for I discovered strength in me that I never would have imagined I had.

I thank God everyday for the strong support system I and most importantly Elijah have…My FAMILY (from my Grandparents, parents, siblings, cousins) and even friends. I wouldn’t have been able to survive such an ordeal without them.

Lij and I are just patiently waiting for the man who will love and accept us whole. But For now and even since the day he was born we are happy and content. We are the best buddies, each others favorite play mate, movie partner (provided it’s for General Patronage), shopping companion and even travel companion.

This is not a prescription of sort for people who are or were in the same situation as I, but rather just a sharing of my life experience. There is no one definite way of living one’s life. It’s a case to case basis. I just live mine the best way I know how for myself and Elijah but never forgetting to seek guidance from someone’s wisdom greater than my own and praying for the choices that I make as well.

I can’t wait for him to grow up so I can introduce him to farming trees, which I am very interested about.

 

“Our Leaders’ Heed to the Nation’s Rice Crisis”

By Karen Martinez

F-I-E-L-D-S… This is the answer of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the continuing rice crisis. Concomitantly, it is at aimed stabilizing and increasing rice supply, make food abundant and affordable and hopefully, make our country self sufficient by 2010.

F-I-E-L-D-S stands for Fertilizer, Irrigation and Infrastructure, Education and Extension, Loans, Dryers and other post harvest facilities, and Seeds, a food production drive clustered into six assistance packages: P500 million is to be allocated for support and production of fertilizer; P6 billion a year for construction of new irrigation and reconstruction of old ones; P6 billion a year for infrastructure, such as farm-to-market roads and “no frills” airport for agricultural cargo; P3 billion for education and extension to be handled by the Department of Science and Technology (P1 billion each allotted for capability building, trainers and technicians; and lastly, agriculture and fisheries education system); P15 billion available for agricultural credit as assured by Gary Teves and additional P5 billion available for rice farmers coming from Land Bank; P2 billion will be spent for dryers and other post harvest facilities and lastly, P8 billion for seed production (P6.5 billion for certified seeds and P2.7 billion for hybrid seeds) — a total of P41.7 billion in order to address the crisis.

Keeping in line with PGMA’s P40.5 billion FIELDS program, Department of Agriculture Sec. Arthur Yap just signed a five-year cooperation agreement with the Philippine-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to boost domestic “palay” production. The cooperation includes irrigation, technology, extension services and credit support. Cooperation and active involvement from the LGUs from the different provinces nationwide was also sought by Yap to implement the clustering approach, which under the DA is called “Ginintuang Masaganang Ani” rice program for active monitoring and extension work. “This DA-LGU partnership is crucial to the self-sufficiency plan,” he said, “because this medium-term program’s success on the ground will depend on the cooperation of LGUs,” specifically reaching out to the governors and mayors to work hand in hand with DA to attain self sufficiency and long term food security.

Also, for the first time ever, a national post-harvest program will be implemented through the distribution of community-based flatbed dryers and drying centrals that seek to check more than 5% in annual post harvest losses, he said. It has been reported that 30% of grains is lost due to improper handling and lack of drying facilities and storage.

President Arroyo, however, emphasized that in all these government programs that will be implemented to address the current crisis should be “transparent.”

President Arroyo said she is amenable to the proposal of our very own Rep. Baham Mitra, chairman of the House committee on agriculture, to appoint a Deputy Ombudsman at the Department of Agriculture to carefully watch and monitor its transactions, considering that farm spending is now perhaps larger than the budget allotted for defense. This is just to ensure that the money is spent wisely and in pursuance of transparency initiatives.

Apart from this recent proposal, Mitra, with the full support of House Speaker Prospero Nograles, proposed to get the active involvement of the top 100 companies in the country to get into “corporate farming,” which is aimed at enhancing production efficiency and ensure food supply for their employees and families.

According to Mitra, these corporations have the capability and sufficient funds to establish their own farms unlike ordinary Filipinos. They should work hand in hand with the government in controlling the problem for their employees are affected by it as well and will be the ones having a hard time.

True to form, the lawmaker is currently conducting regional consultations on food security with the farmers from provinces nationwide, like Pangasinan, Cavite, Batangas, Davao, Cebu, Bohol, etc. In his consultations, he came to know that the shortage in rice supply is caused by the government’s inability to support the agricultural sector — high cost of fertilizers, lack of seed subsidy and poor irrigation that have forced small time farmers out of business.

He suggests that the government should start using GOCC (Government Owned and Controlled Corporations) idle lands, military camps and installations and prisons that have agricultural lands.

However, long before Mitra and Nograles called for corporate farming, San Miguel Corporation has already been assessing the rice situation in the country. San Miguel has been stealthily forming joint venture partnerships with several financial institutions, cooperatives and local government units to implement corporate farming on 5,000 hectares of irrigated rice lands in Zamboanga del Sur. Hybrid seeds will be used together with fertilizers, pesticides, crop insurance and other necessary technical support will be provided. The manpower requirement of this project will be provided by the farmers’ cooperatives, having a profit sharing agreement with SMC.

Much of the credit for this project goes to SMC President Ramon Ang, they are surely serving as a template for other corporations on Corporate Social Responsibility, making a difference and being proactive, engaging the company in projects that dont just serve or help the immediate community but the rest of the country as well.

Today, I stand firm in optimism, my love for country and respect for the land where I come from, is fully restored. The government with the support of the private sector and other concerned agencies will overcome this crisis with flying colors. It will take a lot of willpower and perseverance, steadily focusing on our objective which is to attain Self Sufficiency. Let us all play an active role to help and work toward the Nations’ leaders’ GOAL.