What would have been a pleasant and memorable celebration of my only and youngest daughter, Princess’ 18th birthday, turned out to be a stress-filled and ghastly occasion. On the 28th of January my wife and I went to your Redbox, Trinoma outlet to make a deposit of P3,000.00 for our daughter's birthday party and to see to it that the party goes on seemlessly and everything would turn out well. We were assisted by Marie. Weeks before the celebration we surfed the internet for the best venue and we finally narrowed it to a few establishments and picked Redbox Trinoma. On the actual date and I was on-board all the way to check it would be a worry-free making calls, long distance at that, to Ms. Marie. I even called Marie if my daughter already settled the bill and how much did she pay? She didn't tell me about the overpayment. According to my daughter she was handed over a piece of paper written on it was the P2,100+ which she has to pay more.So Princess not knowing we deposited half for 15 persons,gave the amount written. Marie said she asked her staff to give the change (overpayment) to Princess on a bill jacket. What my daughter got from the jacket were only loose change and there was no P1,000. Note that Marie first said it was P1,000 but later she said two (2) P500 folded bills. It was only when my daughter got home that we learned that she not only paid P1,100 but P2,000+ as she was giving me back the extra money she had. I immediately called Redbox Trinoma but Marie left already. I told the one on the other line what happened and the following day I followed it up and spoke to Marie. In the afternoon Marie phoned me back to say that Maricor, her staff, did give the change to Princess as she even said, "Princess eto yung change mo baka makalimutan mo." Princess told me that Maricor did not say anything to that effect. Moments after they left the bill jacket was seen on top of the barbut the P1,000+ change/overpayment was no longer there. Had it been there or had it was really told her, Princess would have gotten the money.Let me also call your attention to embarassing moments for my daughter and her friends had underwent. One, refill for food took a long time to come as replishment. I was instructed the night before to tell Princess to just lift the house phone to ask for refill, which she did but apparently fell to deaf ears. So when I checked with Marie she said it was only that time Princess asked for food replishment but the thing was she called early enough so as not to have gaps since not everyone got their fill. Second, may I asked what is your real policy on no leftover? Do they really have to finish all the food served to them on the tray? Or they have only to finish/eat what left on their individual plate. They were told to consume all, even those on the tray otherwise they were told that they will have to pay all P200 extra. So they were left no choice but to empty everything, eating the rice even with no viands left just to obliged. Princess told me: Daddy,"nagmukha kaming mga kawawa kasi pinilit namin ubusin lahat patui na yun kanin (rice) kahit wala nang ulam, tapos pag balik nung waitress at saka sila inawat saying "sige, sige na pwede na yan!" That was too embarrassing to my daughter, the host. I think there were lapses in communication or information that all the food taken in the room will have to be consumed. Our idea of "eat all you can,; no left over" is you don't leave any food on your plate. That's the common knowledge and so without proper coordination or briefing we would have followed the widely-accepted eat all you can; no leaf over policy by most establishment offerring the same. Had your own and distinct policy, which we find strange, been cascaded to us earlier, we would have silently oblige. Please don't get us wrong that we are bitter about what happened, I am only lodging these as a service audit to your establishment and your staff and that similar occurences would not happen again. I could take the embarrassment but not for my daughter on her special day which we have prepared and saw to it to be a happy and eventful one. Unless you shape up, this would be the first and the last time we would ever set foot to your establishment

I am doing a public service for a good neighbor whose aunt has been missing since Jan 1, 2010. Pls report or give me a call (0919 2813819 or 046 438-1335) if you have any infomation as to whereabouts of the old lady whose picture appears here. Here are the other details:

Name : Ester Culanding-De Leon

Age: 73 yrs old

Last Seen: Jan 1, 2010 Friday at Brgy Palico, Imus, Cavite, Philippines wearing a brown blouse

Contact person, if seen: Jose Arnel De Leon (0909 6925712) or Nancy A. Sarabia (0917 6922421 or 046 438-3575)

Creating Waves of Talent and Opportunity

PLDT enables CICT’s Convergence 2009, promoting education, investment, and employment in key cities. I took these photos accompanying this article as appeared in BusinessWorld p. S1/9, Philippine Daily Inquirer p. B3

PLDT CAMERA CLUB
I was fortunate enough to get invited to the re-launching of the defunked PLDT Camera Club, which I used to be a member of. To top it all, I was given the chance to share my "Journey to Photography".

So I dug into my old photos and got the veru first picture of a rose taken in Baguio way back. That was to show a contrast on how I evolved into a just hobbyist to a serious photo enthusiast. Shown are the photos compliments of the Club photographer during the event and my presentation.

I've just created my first tweeter account and it's fun. Here's the link to my account:http://twitter.com/ikeparboleda

Just posted my first tweet too about our late Pres Cory Aquino, our democracy icon: @gma7news:Nagdadalamhati ang buong bansa pati langit ay maghapong tumangis sa iyong pagpanaw.Salamat at paalam Pangulong Cory!

Champorado at Tuyo

It's gloomy out there because it has been raining for days now and a thypoon brewing up North. It's a lazy day. You would want to stay in bed all day or perhaps have Champorado (chocolate porrigde) and Tuyo (dried fish) for breakfast or even at lunch time. It's the perfect pair as puto't diniguaan, suman at mangga, etc. What a perfect time and a perfect combination as you savour the sweetness of the choco porridge with the tingling saltiness of the dried fish. It's ironic though how the two blend well despite their different and opposing tastes but it tastes perfect as you forget your name while eating it. I myself cooked them this morning as I write this blog my lovely wife, Norlyn, still enjoying eating the champorado and tuyo.