As of the latest draw by the PCSO last Saturday night, no one has won yet the much coveted pot price of half a billion pesos(close to 13million US dollar)in the grand lotto. It is more than enough to last a lifetime and more to spare for charitable causes so who wouldn’t be enticed if not obsessed with the thought of getting the winning six digit combination. Everyone has high hopes I guess, including my parents, who never tried to bet and doesn’t even know how the lotto works only until recently when they’ve heard in the news about some Congressmen and Senators who admitted to buying lotto tickets because of the ever -rising pot price which is so far the highest in the history of PCSO. At 20 pesos a ticket, it is a small investment and a very small chance of winning at 1/28 million but still there is a chance. No wonder said my mom that the super long lines that would usually bring out the monsters within people didn’t have that effect, rather it had shown the glitters of hope in the eyes of people from all walks of life. Funny but true, superstitious Filipinos have their way of interpreting people, things and events in their dreams into numbers. Others opt to go to churches to pray that their number combinations will the the lucky one. Well just so you know it, this practice has been tagged as wrong by a retired Catholic bishop because it is a form of gambling according to him. For the majority of the Filipinos, this I believe is their way out of poverty but for some, it a chance of a lifetime to experience the best of what life can offer. Who can blame them? With the cost of living getting higher by the hour to exaggerate who wouldn’t want to be an instant millionaire, anyone?




Instant Grand Lotto Millionaire, Anyone? by PamG is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at watcomsngoes.blogspot.com.

According to a research study, lights contribute 24.6% of the total greenhouse gas emissions around the world, making it the biggest contributor to global warming. With this in mind, we should be more concerned and vigilant on how we could address it. During the yuletide season, commercial buildings, some government offices and residential houses are used to embellishing their giant Christmas trees and even the whole building/ house with hundreds and thousands of Christmas lights which are undoubtedly adorable but also are fire hazards. Not that I want to be a killjoy but the excessive use of these lights along with other Christmas decors using electricity would further aggravate the damage mankind has caused mother earth. In and out of our very own houses, we are already bombarded with regular bulbs to illuminate the different areas, appliances and gadgets that make life easier and fun for us. Well, I believe everybody should do their part be it individuals or groups to reduce the use of such if we are talking of significant contribution to reducing the effects of these greenhouse gases to mother earth. Here in our beloved city, I’m so much happy and impressed that our very own mayor is obviously an advocate to such cause. He wants energy-efficient bulbs for our streetlights all over the city that could last for years and lessens the bill of the city government at the same time thereby allotting whatever savings to other valuable projects. I hope also that there will be more companies like Philips who donated energy-saving bulbs to our city public market who will offer any assistance for the this noble cause. Simple ways, big ways, as long as these are sincere I believe this is a precious Christmas gift to mother earth.

Sometime last October of this year, the Education department issued a memorandum directing public school teachers not to give any assignments on weekends to elementary students. The reason behind is to allow these children to enjoy their childhood through play . This is necessary in order to build a healthy and successful environment towards adulthood of these children because they grow most rapidly during the early phase of life. So before they outgrow their interest in childhood play, it’s but fair to give in to their idea of leisure time. In view of this, I think this memorandum should also apply to students in private schools, more so to high school students both in public and private schools as well. This is because the trend of bombarding these students with loads of assignments deprives them the precious moment of rest at the same time bonding with family alongside doing chores in the house. With all the information and ideas educators are trying to embed in the students’ minds, IQ or Intelligence Quotient is undoubtedly gaining strength but EQ known as the Emotional Quotient, which has been pointed out by researches to have more significant bearing in adult life, being set aside and somehow neglected. No more time left for figuring out whatever happened to ‘BFF’s (Best Friend Forever) petty quarrel or mending the damage created by that teasing bout last week with your younger brother leaving him in tears or maybe simply being updated with wherever Mom got that “delicious-soh” new recipe she served during dinner. Better said than done, how about responding to the nagging of Mom to have my room plus the library be transformed in its original form rather than being an extension of the classrooms and Science lab in school. Life now-a-days is so fast-paced that time flies before our very eyes. I don’t want to miss any of my younger sibling’s birthday for that matter because of my whole day group work on a weekend due the following Monday or even Dad’s victory party after getting a promotion at work or even being in charge in the house for a day to give way for Dad’s and Mom’s much awaited date that has been postponed for the nth time. I myself have been wanting to be home on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon relaxing and listening to my kind of sound if not eating to my heart’s delight while watching the latest release of Harry Potter movie. So please, to the people in authority concerned, I appeal to you to take time to think about this matter. Alongside raising intellectuals, responsible and mature citizenry should still be on top of your list.