... aly borromeo: captain of the azkals and clinical body therapy / osteopathy ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, osteopath, quezon city, manila, philippines)

what's Aly Borromeo, the team captain of the Azkals like?  well, in an article written by mav gonzales, this is what he had to say about himself:  "I'm not a strict captain as long as you give your 110 percent.  Errors are acceptable only for a first time.  On the second time, I'm probably gonna shout at them.  They're gonna get scolded.  I get pissed off with slight errors where they do things without thinking, and when they try to force things."  

well, dem words are fightin' words!  and being the strict team captain that he is, no wonder then that the Azkals team was able to kick both balls and butts to reach the top!

a few months ago, Aly underwent surgery because of a meniscal tear in his knee.  i guess that as team captain, he's even stricter on his own game, giving perhaps more than the 110% effort that he requires from his own teammates.  

it's a good thing that when Aly visited my clinic, he came in with the meek and mild demeanor of a Bruce Banner and not with the raging passion he displays as the Incredible Hulk of the football field.  

i hope you get well soon Aly!  you make all Filipinos proud!  

... dr. jaime galvez tan and integrative medicine in the philippines ... (psychiatrist, psychologist, psychotherapist, counselor, life coach)

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dr. jaime galvez-tan is undoubtedly a consummate healer and living legend in the field of health care. with such status, one would easily imagine doc jimmy high atop a lofty pedestal. but on the contrary, he makes himself accessible to everyone and generously shares the knowledge and wisdom he's gained through the years.

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just to give you a brief backgrounder about doc jimmy, he is the former secretary of the department of health and and served as chief of staff of the DOH from 1992-1994. he is a professor at the u.p. college of medicine and is the country's foremost proponent of integrative medicine. in his clinical practice, he integrates western medicine with traditional chinese medicine (tcm), indigenous filipino healing practices, and other established healing systems.
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doc jimmy is also a prolific writer as he has authored at least 40 published papers on health and medicine. he has also co-written 6 books, the latest ones being "hilot: the filipino traditional massage (2006)" and "medicinal fruits and vegetables (2008)." he travels intensively around the world in his capacity as consultant to WHO, UNICEF, USAID, and many other organizations.
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doc jimmy is not one to keep his knowledge and wisdom to himself. in his attempt to widen his reach in helping people, he generously and tirelessly trains people to become holistic healers themselves.
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what inspires me most about dr. jaime galvez tan is his love for his students, his patients, and underprivileged people. after all, how can he not be well acquainted with the plight of the poor? he has done many long years of community work in the far-flung rural areas of the philippines which do not have any doctors. doc jimmy's compassion is contagious and we, his student healers, hope to continue his advocacies and noble work.
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here i am listening intently and learning all i can from doc jimmy's acupuncture and integrative medicine class.

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... a very close encounter of a very third kind ... (life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, philippines)

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it’s been quite a while since i profiled an interesting character worthy of being featured on my blog. so it’s a good thing to have chanced upon john roque, a friend of mine, who intimated to me an experience that shook his world. yup, you guessed it (or did you?)! he had a true-to-life encounter with a UFO!

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in brief, his story goes like this: one early evening, in a subdivision in pila, laguna, he was standing at a busy sidewalk with his mom and brother. far away in the sky, the three of them spotted a red flickering light. at first, they were willing to dismiss it as just one of those red lights on tall towers which warn low flying aircrafts to take caution.

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all of a sudden however, they saw the red flickering light dance and change into different colors. soon, the dancing lights became recognizable as an object which was slowly flying towards them. in a few seconds, the unidentified flying object hovered above them and as they gazed at it, they shook in both amazement and terror. at that moment, it seemed like time stood still for them (a “time warp,” he says). the road changed in appearance into a greyish sepia-like color and it seemed that no one else was there but the three of them.
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asked to describe what the spacecraft looked like, john mentioned that it was massive- the size of many football fields. rather than looking like a solid vehicle, it looked gaseous with dancing orange flames. It had numerous small portals yet the shape of the spacecraft was undefined. after a few seconds, the spacecraft whizzed through the air and suddenly disappeared.
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john, his brother, and his mom were left awestruck and dumbfounded. they regained awareness of their environment which was exactly the way it was before they sighted and experienced the UFO.
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in the months that followed, john noticed a strange phenomenon in himself. he was giving off sparks from his fingertips especially when he touched things. whenever this happened, it was so painful that he had to wrap his hands in towels to prevent the sparks. over a period of months, the sparks disappeared.
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since then, john gained a strong consciousness that extra-terrestrial beings are just around the corner. he dreads the thought that someday, another UFO encounter might take place and fears that they may do something terrible to him. the experience has also left john with a sense of isolation since people simply scoff at and dismiss his story.
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there! wasn’t that interesting?
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john’s story left me in deep reflective mode.
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pondering over the possibility of extra-terrestrial life has raised in me a lot of difficult questions about God and about the purpose and meaning of life in general.
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... zen roshi sr. sonia punzalan and the bahay dalangin zen community ... (philippines, life coach, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

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after a long hiatus due to work commitments, i am finally back doing zazen (seated meditation) at the zendo. i arrived early to make sure that i get to have dokusan (private interview) with sr. sonia shuni-an punzalan who is the zen roshi (master) of the bahay dalangin zen community. Aside from being a zen roshi, she is also a catholic religious sister of the cenacle.

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what is zen all about?

the zen poems below give you a taste:

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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everything just as it is,

as it is,

as is.

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flowers in bloom.

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nothing to add.

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- robert aitken, roshi -

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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if you understand zen,

things are just as they are.

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if you do not understand zen,

things are just as they are.

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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learning zen is a phenomenon

of gold and dung.

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before you understand it, it's like gold;

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after you understand it, it's like dung.

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... article on marlene aguilar and jason ivler ... (philippines, life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

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She ‘Displays Exemplary Unconditional Love’ But ...

by Nikko Dizon

Philippine Daily Inquirer (excerpt)

First Posted 02:01:00 01/22/2010

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MANILA, Philippines—Marlene Aguilar may take a thousand bullets for her son, as she has declared, but psychologists say a mother should also find a way for her child to take responsibility for his actions.

. An objective view of Aguilar’s actions would show that “to some degree, her actions were an exemplary, commendable display of unconditional love,” according to Randy Dellosa, a clinical psychologist and psychiatrist.

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“There was a willingness to sacrifice herself and to protect her loved one,” Dellosa said, noting the “enmeshed relationship” between the mother and son.

“[Sadly however], there was also a high tolerance for inappropriate behavior, and even an act of covering up for it... It’s something like a negatively dependent relationship. They need each other... where the mother is the rescuer of her son who needs rescuing,” he said.

. “A mother’s love should be limitless,” Dellosa explained. “But it doesn’t mean condoning the child’s mistakes because helping or getting help for the child, imposing disciplinary actions on him, is also a sign of limitless love.”

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... the first pinoy supermodel ... (philippines, life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

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well, guess who bumped into me... none other than the first ever pinoy international supermodel rocky salumbides.

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just to let you know what he's achieved, this former balut vendor/ construction worker was 3rd runner up in the 2004 Best Model of the World contest held in istanbul, turkey. he also won the 2004 Best Male Model of MTV Fashionista.

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what makes rocky admirable is that despite his awards and his being the favorite model of international fashion designers, rocky remains humble, down-to-earth, and unpretentious. he certainly is a guy with a demeanor to emulate!

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... counseling for transgendered, transexual, and gender-variant persons in the philippines ... (life coach, psychotherapist, psychiatrist)

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i met sharon for a counseling session this afternoon and she told me her story.
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as a kid growing up, she didn't have much care in the world. but as soon as puberty hit her, she fell into a deep crisis about her sexual identity. she became severely disturbed by the mismatch between her masculine mentality and her feminine appearance. for her, nature had played a dirty trick on her by making her a "man trapped in a woman's body."
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in order to halt the development of female sexual characteristics, she resorted to extreme dieting which made her frail and sickly in the process. years later, as she researched on the internet, she discovered that what she considered as her "affliction" had a name-- it was a condition known as "transexuality."
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this afternoon, sharon sought consultation with me for the very reason that she was ready to come to terms with her transexual self. she was ready to let go of the emotional baggage that had burdened her through the years.
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through individual counseling and group therapy with other transexuals, i hope to assist her well in her journey towards personal healing, growth, and wholeness.
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... fear of dolls; fear of separation from cellphone ...

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the second time around for just this month, i get another interview on phobias. this time, gma-7's ka-blog crew visited me to interview actual people who have the fear of dolls (pediophobia) and the fear of separating from one's cellphone (nomophobia).

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benj (wearing black), the lady with doll phobia, remembers being scared of dolls as early as 4 years old. what she fears most are dolls that are life-like, particularly dolls with realistic skin texture. she also fears the sight of doll body parts like doll arms, legs, heads, and torsos. with a doll in sight, she starts panicking. and as soon as the doll actually touches her skin, she becomes hysterical.

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ana (wearing yellow), has the fear of separating from her cellphone. she says that without her cellphone, she feels emotionally empty and alone because according to her, the cellphone is her lifeline to other people. it was only because her family members pointed out her exaggerated reactions that she realized there was something wrong with her. otherwise, she would have considered her fear "normal." just like benj, she gets panicky and hysterical even upon the thought of losing her cellphone.

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to help them with their phobias, i did talk some brief psychotherapy and exposure therapy on them. i also taught them some breathing and body-focusing exercises. in such a short span of time, it turned out relatively well, with benj actually holding a baby doll and ana being estranged from her cellphone for 10 long minutes.

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assisting me in doing the exposure therapy was the show's host, lucky mercado. being the prankster that he is, he did a pretty good job in provoking benj and ana to feel more phobic than ever!

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... counseling for transgendered, transexual, and gender-variant persons in the philippines ...

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i met sharon for a counseling session this afternoon and she told me her story:

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as a kid growing up, she didn't have much care in the world. but as soon as puberty hit her, she fell into a deep crisis about her sexual identity. she became severely disturbed by the mismatch between her masculine mentality and her feminine appearance. for her, nature had played a dirty trick on her by making her a "man trapped in a woman's body."

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in order to halt the development of female sexual characteristics, she resorted to severe dieting which made her frail and sickly in the process. years later, as she researched on the internet, she discovered that her "affliction" had a name-- it was a condition known as "transexuality."

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this afternoon, sharon sought consultation with me for the very reason that she was ready to come to terms with her transexual self. she was ready to let go of the emotional baggage that had burdened her through the years.

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through individual counseling and group therapy with other transexuals, i hope that i can assist her well on her journey towards personal healing, growth, and wholeness.

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... the psychology of michael jackson ... (philippines, life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

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i had the privilege of being interviewed by veteran broadcast journalist sol aragones for tv patrol. the interview was on the eccentricity of michael jackson's personality, and the intriguing evolution (or devolution) of his face.
. what i basically shared was that michael jackson's facial transmogrification may have been due to a psychiatric condition known as "body dysmorphic disorder."
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body dysmorphic disorder is characterized by (1) a preoccupation or obsessive concern over a slight or imagined physical defect, and by (2) significant distress or impairment in work life, social life, and/ or personal life.
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in michael's case, he was obsessed with the size and shape of his nose, which he apparently thought was unattractively bulbous or wide. michael probably thought that he had a "mountain" on his face which he wanted to reduce into a "molehill." too many surgeries though brought that molehill of a nose to near-total erosion.
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to a family friend, michael admitted that as a teenager, his nose was so large that people didn't recognize him to be the cute little child star that they had known. he felt that people had rejected him for his looks and vowed to make people "love him again."
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of course, there are other factors that may have contributed to michael's odd personality and his body dysmorphic disorder. first, he was emotionally and physically abused by his father. second, his superstardom as a child deprived him of the usual developmental experiences of childhood. third, he probably suffered from chronic major depression since he reported experiencing an overwhelming sense of loneliness and alienation as he was growing up as a teenager. fourth, gender identity confusion and and a forbidden sexual attraction to young male children may have been issues festering in the attic of his psyche. fifth, he probably feared that he may never equal or surpass the previous successes he had achieved. sixth, as with all people with a peter pan complex, he may have been struggling with the inevitable onslaught of the aging process. and lastly, he also suffered from chronic pain disorder with a concurrent addiction to painkillers.
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here are some artists' renditions of michael jackson's aging process sans surgery:
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and here are some renditions of michael jackson if he lived on to a ripe old age, with all the surgeries he's had:
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with all these said, it is only fair to acknowledge the "familiar side" of michael. despite all flaws as a person, the legendary michael jackson will forever be loved and remembered for his creative genius which has inspired the artistic pursuits and development of many.
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... profile of a pinoy voyeur cum callboy ... (philippines, life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

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just this afternoon, the crew of Ka-Blog (a tv program of GMA-7) visited me at my clinic.
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they wanted me to share some information on the sexual perversion known as "voyeurism."
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after sharing my five centavos' worth of knowledge on the topic, they asked me to interview an actual honest-to-goodness real-life 23-year old peeping tom. for the sake of anonymity, i'll give this guy the fictitious name 'Peping."
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my brief interview with peping gave me a peek into the origins and extent of his voyeurism. ..

peping's voyeurism started when he was a teenager. at 17, he worked as a waiter at a bar. because many of the bar's patrons found him charmingly pleasant and highly attractive, he began doubling as a callboy to augment his meager income. it was here where he had his first taste of gay sex. initially, he considered such acts atrocious especially since he was already married at that time. the more he engaged in homosexual play however, the more he succumbed to and became addicted to its titillating pleasures.
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during this time, peping lived in an apartment room just overlooking the bar. throughout the night, he would stealthily peek outside his window which gave him a clear and privileged view of all the sex acts being performed by the bar's unsuspecting customers.
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moreover, the wall in his apartment room had a crack which allowed him to become a secret spectator of his adjacent neighbor's sexual frenzy. asked whether his neighbor could also peep through the same hole in the wall to watch his own sexual acts, peping said that it could very well be..
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peping offered some final thoughts about his being a peeping tom and being a callboy. he said that being a callboy beats being a peeping tom anytime. he could be apprehended and incarcerated by the police for either "crime" but at least, in being a callboy, he gets some money to pay the bills.
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... stop smoking and lose weight through hypnotherapy! ... (philippines, life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

all the way from hilo, hawaii, dr. don hashimoto travelled thousands of miles to the philippines to offer filipinos a quick and easy way to quit smoking-- for good!
. naturally, when they learned that dr. don was in the philippines, many chronic smokers called in, excited to try out what dr. don had to offer. as expected, none of them were dismayed. in fact, all left dr. don's sessions confident that their urge to smoke had permanently vanished into thin air!

dr. don's healing program, entitled "Stop Smoking in 1 Hour," uses a combination of hypnotherapy and neuro-linguistic programming (nlp). these are 2 well-known methods for communicating with the subconcious mind to bring about desired results. these methods are safe, relaxing, and most importantly, proven to be effective. you may want to know more about dr. don's program by visiting his website at http://www.stopsmokingcenterhawaii.com/ or by calling 0920-627-2985.

by the way, dr. don also applies these methods on people who want to lose weight.

since dr. don met his patients at my clinic, i had the pleasure of asking him to do his "stop smoking in an hour" hypnotherapy program on me. here i am in the deep relaxing slumber of his hypnotic spell:
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of course, i'm not one who smokes.

so if you're curious as to what effect dr. don's hypnosis had on non-smoker like me...

well, besides feeling relaxed, the hypnosis fortified my resolve NEVER to EVER smoke!
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... hayop 'tong client na ito! ... (philippines, life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

just when i was about to close shop, i was surprised to know that i had one final client for the night. he had stealthily crept into my clinic and settled himself into a chair.

things were quiet and awkward for a while as he meticulously scrutinized me from head to toe. i couldn't look straight into his eyes though because they were oddly glowing like light bulbs. hmm...something was definitely paranormal here.
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he must have gotten more comfortable because he started purring out, i mean, pouring out his life stories. truth to tell, i had a hell of a time comprehending anything he said so i paid more careful attention to his non-verbal communication.

as the session proceeded, we found ourselves interacting intuitively, tapping into each other's minds.

the hour ended with me gaining a lot of life lessons from this lion-hearted client of mine. here's what i'll always remember from him:

• live life and take risks-- as if you possess nine lives.
• curiosity never killed any cat. on the contrary, curiosity is what makes cats really "live!"
• when you need love and attention, just purr and look cute.
• nap the whole day and occasionally wake up to break the monotony.
• upon waking up, stretch in bed and feeeeel the pleasure!

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… profile of an atheist … (philippines, life coach, counselor, psychotherapist, psychologist, psychiatrist)

one of the perks of my trade is that I get to meet a lot of off-beat characters.

one of them is jerry valencia, a lyceum psychology student, who has an interesting POV on life and on God.

to start things off, jerry unabashedly proclaims himself to be an atheist.

despite coming from a family that practiced traditional roman catholicism, he stopped believing in the existence of God ever since his high school days. he denies any traumatic religious experience and doesn’t attribute his atheistic beliefs to any incident in his childhood.

what he does say is that believing in God defies common sense, logic, and science. “to see (God) is to believe (that He exists),” he says. he cites the plurality of religions and cults each claiming moral superiority based on their monopoly of divine truth. he also takes notice of how religious people can be inconsistent in what they preach and how they live.

when asked about the meaning and purpose of life, he says that “we just live and then die.”

his wacky friends raine and honeyleth (shown in picture) only have good words for him. he is generally described as a good friend and a fine gentleman. in fact, even if honeyleth and raine remain steadfast in their faith, they say that a lot of jerry’s arguments make sense.

according to them, jerry can also be funny. during exams, when the members of the barkada are afraid of failing, they usually flock together to pray for God to help them pass. though jerry doesn’t join them, he occasionally (and seriously) whispers to them “isama niyo rin ako diyan, ha.”

one last thing: don’t be surprised if this atheist becomes a well-known campus figure at lyceum. he is “rumored” to be a candidate and popular bet for their school’s “mr. psychology” contest.

you know what, if he does win, his barkada might actually hail his victory as a MIRACLE!