Prayers and condolences

'Quamplurimi et quam aptisimi" (As many as possible of the very best)

August 29, 2015

This  Lecturer was texted this morning that the father of Leader Michael Manauis died today.

Our prayers and profound sympathies on the untimely demise of Leader Michael.

Reflection Paper 3 - My Passion by Leader Michael Manauis

Passion came from the latin word 'passio" means  Suffering or Submission. 

That is why we call the" Passion of the Christ" because it depicts Christ suffering and submission to the will of his Father. But that suffering or submission is for his people. For his immeasurable love for his people.

Maybe this is a reason why the word Passion is now defined by Webster as a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something. Passion is also defined as any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, such as love.

Thus to me passion is submitting yourself in doing what you really love despite of any suffering that you are and will take.

When was the last time you made a great meal? From-scratch prep, serious gratification result. This morning? Last week? Last month? 

Reflection Paper 2 - Factors that shaped me as a Leader by Leader Michael Manauis

Everybody is born with innate capabilities to be a leader or to be someone. However, what make someone successful over others is the factors and experiences that a person undergoes. To understand myself further, I will be dissecting what are the factors and experiences that I've been through my life and hopefully will used as a guide to my life moving forward:

1.       Family  and relatives – My family and relatives have the greatest influence on me as I grow up.

a.       Tatang – influenced my about farming and always reiterated to me to study hard. Graduating and working in an office is a better life than working under the sun.

b.      Lolo Ipe – influenced me to be communicative, convincing and to be thrifty. He always says, so not spend more than you earn.

c.       Lola Miling – Influenced by to be closer to God. She taught me how to pray when I was a kid and attend mass.

d.      Successful Aunts and Uncles – showed me the way that if I study hard I can have a better life. They were my examples in life.

e.      Papa and Mama – they married at an early stage. Because of that, my father was not able to finish his studies. This was one of the dispositions I made in my life that I should be able to graduate before I get married.

My Mother died due to Cancer and no my father is also dying with Cancer. This is because they didn't take care of their health properly. With such realization, I really look after what I eat now. However, it's been very difficult to exercise on a regular basis.

2.       Community – the history of my town is known to be one of the last municipalities that Japanese occupied in the Philippines during World War 2. Our people are fierce people but very religious. In fact, I consider our people as the most God fearing people in the world. When people greet each other we use the words "Dios Nikamu" – "God be with you". When we knock on the doors we yell "Dios Apu" – "Lord God". When we say thank you we say "Dios MAbbalat". We commonly use the name of the Lord in most of our terminologies.

I also grew up playing with homeless people. The neighbor's is an old Japanese Barracks where homeless people lives thru the help of our municipality. I played with them, climb trees with them and go to school with them.

I also grew up with farmers. Thus I really observed at first-hand how difficult life is. This also assisted not to take away the poor from me. Rather, embrace them and give them empowerment.

3.       Schools – San Jacinto Seminary helped me to stand up on my own. Seminary also taught me how to have a study habit and work on schedules. Life in seminary taught me also the life of brotherhood. Seminary life allowed me to learn many musical instruments and many sports. Also, being competitive in grades and sports.

San Beda College taught me to maintain a good network. San Beda taught me that to compete with myself and that studying hard is my ticket to a better work in the future.

4.   Work Experiences – SGV taught me how to think like a boss and paying attention to details. My boss was a very fierce boss and will shout on people when he didn't like your work. For me to abstain from that, I studied how he writes, think and talk. When I do my reports, I always consider him. I think how he thinks and already think of the possible questions that he will ask.  Mistakes are not allowed in SGV. Small mistake can case millions of pesos of lost or taxes to the customers.

Working abroad made me realize that Filipino's are very capable, if not even better with other races. I also realized that working abroad; I am a mini-ambassador of the Philippines. I made sure that all I do in the Bahamas was to show that Philippines and Filipino's is a great race. I also saw how hard Filipino's work there specialty the domestic helpers and nurses. The live in a room with 8 people to keep their expenses lower.  Other than their main job, they have sidelines such as baby sitting, cooking etc. I also learned that some of the bad Filipino Traits are very hard to remove such as tsismis and being envious.

Working abroad allowed me to appreciate Philippines. It's one of the reasons I came back in the Philippines. I realized that with my experiences, knowledge and readiness will allow me to succeed in the Philippines and still be with my family and friends. It was so difficult to be far from your friends and family. I had some friends in the Bahamas but it's not the same feeling compared to being in the Philippines.

Working with FedEx allows me to understand how empowering your people brings out the best in them. 

5.       Financial Adventure – Earning a lot in the Bahamas made me travel the world and assisted my family and relatives in their studies as well as financial difficulty.

When I came back in the Philippines, I have a lot of money in my bank. However after 2 years, all that money is gone. All I had were sleeping investments (Lots for apartment complexes). I thought I was already living in financial independence. I had a mistake of not changing my lifestyle. My salary in PH was not enough to maintain my lifestyle thus resulted to withdrawals to my savings. I had a mistake not converting my cash and lots into earning investments. I had farm lots but all income from there went to my parents for their day to day expenses.

With this, I made myself financial literate. I read the Rich Dad Poor Dad, Pera Mo Palaguin Mo by Francisco Colayco, I read a lot of books in investing, stock market, mutual funds, bonds etc. Even as CPA, I will need to

How all my experiences will used in the future:

1.       Financial Literacy is important and financial independence should be a goal -  Upon understanding where I am when it comes to financial independence and financial literacy. I am not in the stage of gaining back all that I've wasted and working within the lifestyle I've set up. In addition, my plans to convert my sleeping investments to earning investments are within reach.

With this I also intend and currently providing:

1.       Tips on savings and investing to FedEx employees.

2.       Understanding further potential investments such as MP2 (Pagibig) and other bank offerings for FedEx employees.

3.       Tips on investing to my fellow OFWs in Bahamas. Mutual funds and stocks.

2.       Using my learning of financial literacy, experiences in farming and accounting. I intend to create a Cooperative of Farmers. This will assist the farmers in my town to be empowered and will earn more than the usual. Currently, the winners in farming are those Fil-Chi Merchants and owners of rice mills. But with the cooperative that I am envisioning, this will have a new player that offers the farmers a better choice with a good return to their investments.

3.       A combination of all of my learning, will allow me to each my goals in life. 3

What to expect in the next 3 weeks?

'Quamplurimi et quam aptisimi" (As many as possible of the very best)

It is going to be downhill beginning on the fifth session.  Save for the 3rd reflection paper, and the submission of the final requirement (the AV presentation and the summary of what was learned) it is going to be less tension filled and relatively easy.

Here is a recap of the next 3 sessions:

      5     Group team building             Genogram                                 Genogram and Reflection Paper 2

                                            Leadership and Decision Making

 

  6.   Call to arms - leadership       Passion                                   speech 5 minutes; start showcase                                                                                                                       presentation                                                       

     7.   What ails PH, the world    Fr. Nebres, Dean Albert, Dr Bengzon      Reflection   Paper 3

                                                      Albert presentation                        Leadership showcase presentation

We have advised the class to prepare for the final requirements, as we would start the AV presentation on the sixth session.  We are ahead of the syllabus as many have submitted their Syllabus, and since last week, many have uploaded their Reflection Paper 2.

What are the rationale (the WHY according to Leader Michael) behind these activities?

Genogram by Leader Michael Manauis

July 24, 2015

Writing this genogram is a very difficult task for me. Not because of not knowing my family well because I know them too well. Rather because my father is already dying. He was diagnosed with cancer but was not reactive to chemo and radiation. He was sent home to spend the remaining days of his life with his family and his friends. Since I have a work here in Clark, I had to stay here. Yesterday, he already asked for my presence and after this class i will drive to Cagayan Valley to be with him. 

Thus with heavy heart, I'm sharing you my genogram:

Father's Side:

Grandparents:

Felipe Manauis – Lolo Ipe is the 2^nd child of the 6 children. He has another 2 elder brothers from the first marriage of our great grandmother. He is a son of a shoe shine boy in Cagayan. He is dark skinned, flat nose but well groomed. When his father passed away, he stopped studying to help his elder half-brothers keep the family afloat and keep his younger siblings in school.

During the Japanese occupation, he was recruited as a guerilla soldier fighting with Juan Ponce Enrille in Cagayan.

After the war, he and his brothers then established MAN-VAL Liner from scraps of American military trucks. It was prosperous in the beginning until the Company closed due to emergence of jeepneys. He then became a delivery truck driver to Chinese businessman.

AVATAR - Campbell's Movie Review by Leader Michael Manauis

"Awvea ultxari oengeyä, Nawma Sa'nok lrrtok siveiyi (May the Great Mother smile upon our first meeting.)"

The plot of the story discusses that the Earth's Natural resources had been depleted leading to severe energy crisis. The Resource Development Administration mines for a valuable mineral - "unobtanium" in Pandora. Pandora is a planet whose atmosphere is poisonous to humans, is inhabited by Na'vi. 

To explore Pandora, scientists used "AVATAR", - a remote controlled biological body created from the DNA of the Na'vi and humans. With the AVATAR, humans are able to breath the Pandora's air.

Jake Sully is a crippled war veteran and a former marine. As a cripple, it seems that in the movie he has no ambitions; he is drunk and gets into trouble. (Campbell's – hero in his ordinary world)

Sharing my Enneagram Results by Leader Michael Manauis

Sharing my Enneagram Results - Maui

Reflection Paper 1 - My Defining Moments by Leader Michael Manauis

Defining moments usually happens very quickly, sometimes at the blink of an eye. They are unalterable. Our choices define our moments. They are either negative or positive.  The story of my life defines who I am now and what will I will be in the future.

I was born with parents who were undergraduate students and out of wedlock. After my birth, I was left with my grandparents so that my mother can continue her studies. My father chose a different path and worked as a jeepney driver. While other kids were drinking formulated milk for babies, I was drinking milkmaid instead.

When I was in grade school, I assisted my parents with their small dry goods business in the public market by selling slippers, rope, hat (sombrero) and sleeping mat every Sunday. I also assisted my grandfather who taught me how to work in the farm. He would always tell me “Study hard so that you don’t need to do this when you grow up.  You will work in the office and would not have to work under the sun like us”. He even showed me his cracked heels, calloused palm and dark skin as a result to working in the farm all day. He also showed me how people with office jobs dressed were compared to farmers. People in the office wear nice shoes and clothes. To my grandfather, education equates to successful future. So I followed his advice and studied hard. At a very young age, I have already set my goals to finish college and get myself a degree.