Heaven answered my prayers as I was looking for sponsors for my WordPress blog’s upgrading to a domain website! Fellow Negros Blogger Glady Tomulto who blogs at ExprienceNegros.com sponsored my domain yesterday as part of my prize package for winning Negros Bloggers’ logo contest. I will be launching my official domain website, RepublicaNegrense.com next week Friday in lieu of the Skycrapercity Bacólod and Negros Bloggers Regular Meet-Up. I am looking for ways to innovate my website by adding contributors in RepublicaNegrense.com. I mentioned in my previous blog that I will be choosing one contributor blogger from Negros Oriental and another one from Negros Occidental but I guess I should accept more contributors since I am planning to have this website feature four kinds of blogs: Lifestyle, Travel/Leisure, Opinion and Food. RepublicaNegrense.com will be accepting as much as 8 bloggers to cover our four categories but only two, one from Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental will receive freebies courtesy of our sponsors and donors. I will be opening the registration for contributors now until next week Thursday.

On the same day of the launching, the Manila-based Bacoleño forum members of Skyscrapercity.com will meet next week Friday. Skyscrapercity.com, or colloquially known as SSC, is a forum website that features developments in tourism, investment and infrastructures across all countries of the world. Philippines has its own forum platform within Skyscrapercity with Bacólod City and Negros Occidental Province Thread is the official home of  Negrénse forum members, along with the associated threads like Heritage Watch, Samahan, Bacólod-Silay Airport Thread and many others. Since there is a growing number of forum members hailing from Negros Occidental, Negrénse forumers decided to form a conglomeration called Skyscrapercity Bacólod in order to have a network of actual people outside the Threads. SSC Bacólod members are staunch advocates for the preservation and promotion of Negrénse culture, heritage and investment. Apart from these matters, SSC Bacólod also gives back to the community by organizing Annual Christmas Gift Giving to our less fortunate kasimanwas.

With regards to the SSC Bacólod and Negros Bloggers Meet-Up last Negros Trade Fair, it was a resounding success! We also teamed up with the KONEK Forum in order to bring a more informative part to the program. I would like to thank Merci Pasalubong Treats and the Office of Congw. Mercedes Alvarez for supporting us in the event. If you are curious with what is SSC Bacólod or Negros Bloggers and know more about our advocacies and activities, you may leave your comment or send your inquiries to my blog email at mwm.magallanes@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to help you.

Lately, I have been noticing that my blog hits and readership has been soaring for the past few weeks. I am about to have 500 hits so far this week alone with readers from 50 countries and scattered over all livable continents of the world. For República Negrénse to be more interactive and more informative with at least one posts per day, I am currently looking for contributors. Since my blog is dedicated to Negros and everything about Negros, the contributors must also be Negrénse. Preferably, I would love to have a contributor from Dumaguete City or any part of Negros Oriental which can blog about tourism, heritage and culture. The scope of República Negrénse and its namesake, the República Cantonal de Negros of the olden days, includes Negros Oriental. República Negrénse wants to feature not just the sights and wonders of Negros Occidental but Negros Oriental as well. Apart from that, I would be also needing another contributor that is a resident of Bacólod City or any part of Negros Occidental.

Being a contributing blogger about Negros Island entails some perks, responsibilities and passion for our homeland. The contibutor should be well versed in English since our readers are of the international scope. Contributors must love to travel or explore new places to visit or restaurants to eat out and document them clear on camera. Since the blogging platform that República Negrénse is using is WordPress.com, the contributor must be also registered to the same site. If you are interested to be part of my blog and advocacy, you may send your profile details by adding me on Facebook. Send me your notification that you added me on Facebook together with a sample blog and the email you use in your WordPress account to my blog email: mwm.magallanes@gmail.com.

This is purely in a voluntary basis, only passion for Negros. If you are not into blogging but interested to support my blog by donating funds for my website’s upgrade to the domain website RepublicaNegrense.com, you may email me too. However, if one of us receives some special treats on travel or food because of República Negrénse, the chosen blogger should share. I am planning on selling República Negrénse t-shirts and merchandise which the contributors will avail for free. The contributor blogger is entitled and must avail membership in the Negros Bloggers, the elite group of bloggers in Negros Island. Membership in Negros Bloggers and joining me in República Negrénse will enable you to enjoy the perks and events that Negros Bloggers is invited or will be organizing, as well as privileges given to me or the group. Only one blogger from Negros Oriental and another from Negros Occidental will be chosen as my partners in República Negrénse. If you have what it takes, why not write for República Negrénse. Join now!

Last two weeks ago, as I just woke up at seven in the morning, I checked my Facebook for updates just like I usually do. In my notifications, I noticed I was tagged in a post at the Negros Bloggers Group Page. The post by Atty. Eli Gatanela informed me that my logo entry was chosen as Negros Bloggers’ new logo. To the Negros Bloggers, it was known as the alibata-logo owing to the alibata letters that dominates the logo itself. Someone quipped that the letter on the left of what seems to be an inverted heart was like surfing the waves. There have been many talks about what does this logo mean and why I chose it for my design. I will explain the elements one by one.

ALIBATA:

Just a refresher on our Basic Filipino History as taught in high school, alibata is the ancient writing script used by our ancestors in transcribing literature. Though practically extinct, a variant of the script is used by the Tagbanua people of Palawan though itself is threatened with extinction. Much of our knowledge with alibata survived was that Spanish friars in the early colonization period transcribed the alphabet in order to write catechism in the native language.

Alibata was almost forgotten during the duration of the Spanish era but the use was revived by Filipino Nationalist as a symbol of unique identity as a nation. Macario Sakay’s Tagalog Republic for example featured the alibata of “K”, an allusion to Katipunan, in his flags and seals. In the contemporary times, alibata has been used in other logos such that of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and as a security in the new edition of Philippine Peso bills.

As alibata is now associated with the heritage and pride of the Filipino people, it is but fit to also incorporate an alibata design to the new Negros Bloggers logo. The two alibata letters in the logo are equivalents of the Greco-Roman “N” and “B” which actually have the sounds “ne” and “ba”, alluding to the transliteration of the Negros Bloggers name in alibata. Though some language experts postulate that alibata  should be written from right to left like Chinese, it has been agreed that alibata’s way of writing is more closely related to Sanskrit which writes from left to right.

The Round-Tipped Sun:

When we say sun, it symbolizes the source of life of a land. Certain mythologies relating to life on earth have always been related to the sun. The early Philippine flag featured a mythical sun surrounded by three starts, in contrast to the present depiction of a faceless sun. While the mythical sun is featured in the Philippine flag, it is absent in the flags used by the República Cantonal de Negros. A few years ago, I had a tour of the Negros Museum and the guide pointed to us what looked like a Philippine Flag. She explained that while it looked like the Philippine Flag, it is in fact the flag of the Negros Republic. The round-tipped rays were deliberately placed in order to distinguish it from the Philippine Flag.

Negros gained her freedom from Spain when a blitzkrieg of attacks from North and South had Bacolód, the capital, surrounded on the 5th of December, 1898. Averting the possible massacre of the town’s Loyalist Spanish Residents, the Island’s Spanish Governor surrendered without a fight only to discover later that he was fooled by the Revolucionarios. The multitude of weapons he saw were just rolled sawali mats and painted wooden replicas of rifles. While initially allied to the Revolutionary Government of Emilio Aguinaldo with the Visayas Governance centered in Iloilo, the Negros leaders pronounced independence not just from Spain but from the rest of the Philippines itself. The Negros Republic had its own President, Parliament, Constitution and a flag, in short, it was a fully-functioning democracy. From this history I draw the significance of the round-tipped sun.

From merely a distinguishing figure in the flag, history gives new meaning to the round-tipped sun. It now symbolizes the ingenuity of a Negrénse in times of trouble and distress. The events of Cinco de Noviembre and how the simple Negrénse souls persisted in the troubled times of the Sugar Crisis in the 1980′s proves to us the resilience of the Negrénse. As the sun gives life and illuminates the truth presented to us, Negrénses shine in whichever place where fate places him. Countless Negrénses have proven their worth in the field of arts, academics, sciences and sports. The sun’s postion on the left of the logo recognizes the role of Bacolód, in the western part of the island, as the largest city and the hub of developments in Negros Island.

Red Square:

There also goes the question of why I chose Square as the shape of the logo and Red as the color. If you look closely in the logo itself, it is reminiscent of the Chinese name seals that are oftentimes square and always red. Not only is this true in Chinese culture, it is also a mirror of our close neighbors like Vietnam, Korea and Japan. Philippines is a melting pot of cultures and certainly has been influenced by our closest neighbors. Ancient texts have revealed that we have been trading with our neighbors for thousands of years and have adapted to some of theirs. The Filipino Culture in itself, even with the numerous European influences, is wholly Asian. Asia is a melting pot of diversity and Negros in itself is Asia’s miniature version. In tribute to the Asian values of filial piety, hospitality and respect that we Negrénses value so well, it is but fitting to present the Asian side of our identity in Negros Bloggers new logo. We are not merely bloggers or writers, we are keepers and guardians of heritage.

Yesterday night…

I had the privilege of hearing the sermon from Pastor Carlos Peña, a candidate for Senior Pastor for Greenhills Christian Fellowship. I really do not know him that much rather than the fact that he is the Executive Director of FEBC International and the past President of FEBC Philippines. The message was taken from 2 Timothy 1:3-18 which talks about the very afflictions of Paul and his hand of encouragement to Timothy, a young disciple of his that is taking on a big leadership role in the Church. As I was thinking of the similarities between me and Paul in this passage and any circumstances, I do got lost since I am in no way in Paul’s own shoes. What struck me however is the prevailing description of Timothy, the one whom he is writing the epistle to. His very Timothy is quite similar to the very “Timothy” I have with me.

Let me introduce to you Paolo Abdon. Paolo fits the very description of Timothy as he is also young, shy and has some temperaments that people would say a stumbling block to being a leader. Like Paul though, I saw a potential with this guy. This is not for me to edify Paolo but what I have in mind are the very people many simply pass away for leadership. This guy is not what the average people think of what a leader can be. For one thing, this guy did not even ask for a leadership position and almost declined it but accepted the challenge. What is different with him and the many people I know that started where he was is that they have something in common: the desire to know Christ more in their life and the passion to share to others who Christ is. That is what sets apart this kind of people even if you bring in a thousand kind of “charismatic” people.

Across the pages of the Bible, we can see at how God used seemingly unfit and “uncharismatic” kind of people in order to advance. I do remember where these Old and New Testament saints come from…

Jacob was a liar,

Moses was an unwilling leader and NOT a good speaker,

Gideon was weak with women,

David was a black sheep,

Solomon was a womanizer,

Elijah was just a simple depressed man,

Peter was a betrayer,

Paul was a murderer,

and John the Beloved was lonely…

yet God used these people for the glory of His kingdom in their very lowest of state. He was able to raise them up to where they are because either they were humble or God humbled them. God does not choose the “best” because he can CREATE the best from the very lowly creature we call ourselves. I just have to say this but people should not look to the outward appearance alone. One should look at one’s soul and how this person is changed by the grace of God from glory to glory. In the kingdom of God, it is not the best that serve Him but the servants. Christian leadership is not a talent show but learning how to be low so that God can use them in the highest and utmost. How about you? Do you have any Timothies around you? Look and decide.

I was asked to draft interview questions for my assigned article with SAVED Magazine. What are your thoughts in these questions? Feel free to answer them yourself or better yet correct and advice some revisions, if any.

1. What was your perception of God when you were young?
2. What do you think He was to you when you were young?
3. How did your parents influence your perception of God?
4. How did this perception of God influence you in your daily activities?
5. Did you ever struggle or doubt about the actions or even the existence of God?
6. Did you ever thought of searching for answers about God?
7. What made you search for Him?
8. What was your motivation for searching Him?
9. Who influenced you in your search for faith?
10. Who was the one instrumental in leading you to the path of faith?
11. When did you realize that you need Christ in your life?
12. When did you accept Christ as Lord and Savior?
13. Was there any difference in your life before and after you received Christ?
14. Was there any obstacle in your relationship with Him?
15. How did you cope up with the challenges of living a Christian life?
16. How do you see yourself as a Christian?
17. What is your current ministry focus?
18. What are your future ministry plans?
19. Do you intend to also engage in business like your parents did?
20. Do you have any other plans for yourself in the future?

These are my thoughts and dreams at hand. If ever you’ll see it, I hope you would not judge me. I am just a simple person wanting to express what is within me and through me. I wish you would understand me accordingly.