CONGRESSMAN EMMANUEL Pacquiao has been sworn into office as Representative of the Lone District of Sarangani to the Congress this morning at the Provincial Capitol Park, Alabel, Sarangani Province during the Inauguration Program officiated by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio.

According to reports Pacquiao personally requested Judge Jaime Y. Infante to be the inducting officer, so the latter assisted Justice Carpio during Pacquiao’s oath taking.

Gov. Miguel Rene Dominguez also took his oath for his last term as the province’s governor.

In his speech, he highlighted how Sarangani has improved from being the fourth poorest province in 2004 to being the 14th after his two terms as governor.

I HAVE always been told by people who care about me that I should always take care of myself no matter how busy I get. They say that I should eat a balanced meal on time, sleep regularly, and do some physical activity from time to time. I tried my best to do these but some things really just happen unprecedentedly and my health has been compromised several times.

I GREW up believing that I had the strictest father in the world. I had always been afraid of him because of the stories I have heard about how he imposed discipline to my older siblings.

But my father had never inflicted pain on me. No, not a bit.

I had very few memories with my father for the reason that, for the most part, we didn’t live under one roof. Raising a family of fourteen surely wasn’t easy. So, to make ends meet, he had to spend most of his time looking after our farm and our smith shop, which were our primary source of living. And since I had thirteen other siblings, I didn’t have a father-and-son-going-fishing moments with him, if you know what I mean.

A FEW moments ago, I had a brief conversation with one of our  graduates who is now a college freshman. Apparently, he said something that made me want to write this blog post.

Let me begin by saying, this kid was one of  those students who had helped even out the pavement to the guidance office. Not that he’s a troublemaker, teachers just keep an eye on students. Had he been enrolled in a bigger school, where his erratic behavior would have escaped the teachers’ attention, he should have been a hopeless case.

IN CELEBRATION of GandaEverSoMuch.com’s first blogoversary in August, blogger Orman Manansala is giving away prizes every week to lucky participants.

His first contest is the This-Is-Not-Just-For-Bloggers Contest, which, as the name suggests, is not a blog writing contest. It is open for those who have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, and other social networking site.

GandaEverSoMuch.com is probably one of the most influential blogs this year. The blog contains a collection of funny and sometimes emo posts about the author’s colorful life. You won’t get disappointed each time you visit the blog because you would always read something new as the author updates his blog everyday, whether he’s happy or sad, his posts won’t fail to make you smile.

TIME FLIES so fast. Tomorrow, my fourth school year at Alabel National Science High School will officially start. The first year students when I joined the faculty are now in their senior year. That also means I am three years older now. I don’t want to get older but I can’t do anything about that. What I can work on, instead, is how I can be productive this year.

What are the changes that will take place this year?

First, I was not assigned as a class adviser. Is that good news? I don’t think so.

LETTING GO of someone you love so deeply is probably the most painful decision to make, especially when you did all it takes just to keep her. But it is better to let go of her before she starts lying to you simply because she finds more happiness with another guy. They say, the measure of real love is when you become selfless and give up your own happiness just so that the one you love gets her own.