BARANGAY COMMONWEALTH AND ITS WARM PEOPLE.

This morning, I attended the assembly of the Barangay Commonwealth in Quezon City. I approached Barangay Captain Maning Co, who speaks impeccable Tagalog in a very poetic way, I introduced myself as a candidate for mayor of the City. When I asked if I could speak after the flag ceremony and then he agreed as I had told him it would take me only 2 minutes to talk to the people. After Captain Co had given citations to the young men who had turned away from drugs, I was allowed to talk to the people.  

The assembly was attended by all the employees of the Barangay including the department staff and the barangay tanod. Actually it was Kagawad Precy who told me to come and join the assembly last December after my group and I had presented the Puppetshow, Mga Aninong Gumagalaw ni Ophelia under the sponsorship of Goethe Institute. 

Before the start of the singing, my assistant, Tes and I distributed my flyers to the people. 

It was a very exhilarating time standing there in front of over a hundred people, warm constitutents of Barangay Commonwealth.  wanting to know who I am and I would bring to the position should I win. 

Instead of going through that, I pointed to them my blog, botokomahalaga.blogspot.com. 

In my talk I told them that drug addiction is rampant because these addicts have too much idle time and they have lost hope in finding change in their lives. (In my program, I have many activities to be done in the barangay level.)

"Hindi tayo kailangang umalis ng bansa upang humanap ng maaliwalas na kinabukasan. Ang gagawin lang natin ay alamin natin kung ano ang nais nating gagawin ng pamahalaan para mapabuti ang ating buhay. Sa aking programa, may blueprint ako kung ano ang nais kong mangyari sa ating Lungsod."

Then I told them also that my experiences as a literacy volunteer in Tondo -- Magsaysay Village and Smokey Mountain -- have given me enough lessons to engage in community development so that I could solve personal problems in the family, between spouses, and even in the communities. In fact, I even dabble in international politics for example in the US where Trump won with the help of the Russians. 

In other words, I am ready to tackle the tasks of running the City Hall for the improvement of the lives of the people. 

After that, I thanked Capitan Co again for giving me the opportunity to connect with his constituents.  

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