G A B I 🌙

             Republic Act No. 10661 titled  an Act Declaring the Month of November of Every Year as the National Children’s Month  and DepEd Memorandum 75, s. 2021 titled  2021 National Childres Month Celebration,  for the Welfare of Children (CWC) in celebrating the 2021 National Children’s Month (NCM) with the theme, “New Normal Na Walang  Iwanan : Karapatan ng  Bawat  Bata  Ating   Tutukan ”.   Poster by John Gabriel Aquino  The pandemic that struck us holds nothing but terror and nightmares—locking down schools, cities, and towns, as well as the dreams and opportunities of children, snuffing out the "life" of us. But more than that, this new normal brought light to new beginnings: a call for tremendous academic recovery with the expansion of digital platforms for education, and most importantly, a race to the development and procurement of vaccines with high efficacy. We are hoping that this va...

       I lived my 16 years near the seaside in Mindoro, Vigan City. The main livelihood there is fishing. Mindoro is also known for its fresh seafood, and vendors in the city proper would use the name of our barangay to sell their wares. When I was in elementary school, I always encountered multiple trucks loaded with dripping black sand that was taken away from the sea. And my ancestors always taught me that the sea was very far away, but as time goes by, the sea eats the fields little by little. It is very sad, but it is not too late for us to make a change, to make our environment sustainable, to be grateful, and to appreciate its beauty.           As a part of a community, it is important to play our roles and to be engaged in small activities in our locality. We can start by setting ourselves up as a role model for others. We can make a big difference in our world by simply cleaning, saving energy, following waste segregation, perf...

This school year brings a new modality of learning, which means we need to face new challenges. Blended learning is quite hard for me because I live near the seaside. The signal or connection is hard to find and sometimes it disappears during my classes, and I cannot do anything about it. Although some of my teachers are very considerate and don’t require you to join the class if you have a poor connection, some of the teachers check attendance. This makes me curious about what the situation is for the learners that are not financially stable. Besides the weak connection, the main problem that I face these days is a lack of motivation. During my freshman and sophomore years, I used school activities, events, and programs as a motivation to study hard. Events such as DepEd Day, High School Day, Recognitions, Completions, Camping and so on add more excitement to learning. We all dreamed about attending prom, having a sleepover because of research or thematic, and the iconic events of the...