Life’s Sneak Preview

That was August 16, 2003 when I headed for Davao City to attend the 2nd PIIE Mindanao Convention. Exactly two years after, I’ve visited the city of durian, again to take part in the 4th PIIE Mindanao Convention held at Davao Convention & Trade Center last August 19, 2005. Notice something on the dates indicated? Time for Kadayawan Festival! Oh.. yeah! What a perfect timing! Hehe! But just too bad I wasn’t able to explore more on the kadayawan festivities ‘coz I got busy with the convention. Geekks! Do I sound so killjoy then? Hahaha! Hope not.

That one-day affair was a joint-activity of the 4th PIIE Mindanao Convention and the 2nd Vis-Min Student IE Congress. This year’s theme, “EMPOWERING IE PROFICIENCIES: Making the Difference Towards Economic Progress” aims to encourage and recognize the great role of IEs for the continuous growth of the industries and the practice of Industrial Engineering. The affair aspires to provide us participants with valuable insights on the current best practices and techniques of process management to guarantee industry’s competitiveness and sustained development. Almost 400 people filled convention center, about 70% of them were the student IEs, the remaining 30% composed the professional IEs (where I belonged hehe!). So to speak, majority of the audience were students.

The program was started with a welcome address from a fellow IE, Hon. Antonio Rafael G. del Rosario, the co-owner of TADECO, Inc. and the Vice Governor of Davao del Norte. With his wit and eloquence, not only did he deliver such an overwhelming speech, but he inspired us IE professionals and all those aspiring IEs (the participants of the Student IE Congress) with those remarkable experiences he had undergone in the business and politics, applying his IE skills on both worlds. After a few more series of talks from the different speakers, an intermission number from the student delegation then followed. Well, just to liven up the gathering, and divert our attention for some energy booster. The crowd was really amused by those lively, wacky and funny presentations of the students.

One of the highlights of the event was the inter-school Quiz Bowl, participated by the different schools in Visayas and Mindanao (University of San Carlos, Ateneo de Davao University, Xavier University, Liceo de Cagayan University, Notre Dame, University of Southern Mindanao, and Urios College).  As I saw my students (LDCU contestants Novielyn, Ronald and Eduard) coming up on stage, gearing up for the challenge, I felt as though I was one of them, feeling edgy and all, hehe! On the first and second set of the quiz show, LDCU was just catching up either the 3rd or the 4th notch, succeeding USC, USM and XU. But when it reached the level of clincher, whew! Their scores got higher as they went on answering those tricky mathematical problems, unanswered by their rival schools. So in the end, my students grabbed the 2nd place, spearheading XU, ADDU, NDDC, USM & Urios. The undisputed USC got the 1st place then. I was twice happy ‘coz XU didn’t miss the 3rd slot (of course, though I’m with the LDCU academe, yet my heart still yearns for my alma mater XU, hehe!)

After the convention, the group proceeded to the Gateway for a dinner break. It was an ultimate IE bonding experience, with Ryan, Joel & Miguel of the PIIE Davao Chapter and Nick, Elnard, Alex, Deanna & Cristina of PIIE CDO.  It was almost 12 midnight, and was about to rain when the group decided to leave the place and headed to our respective homes. My aunt’s house was a bit distant then (45-minute drive away from the city), so me & Cristina just decided to spend the night at her colleague’s house. Whew! Thanks to Weng. He was such a hospitable host, he even drove us on the way to the dinner site, and fetched us when the night was over.. heading on our way to his house hehe!

The following morning, me and Cristina had to part ways ‘coz I was going to my aunt’s place at Panabo City. I wanna spend the entire day bonding with them and my cousins as well. My friends in Davao had been texting me to join them in their Kadayawan escapade, but I declined their invitation. It seemed as though I was a “party pooper”, hehe! Well, I was some kind of tired of my non-stop commuting, and thought a restful sleep at my aunt’s place would be such a big treat for me. Indeed it was! I had a very sound sleep then, and right after I woke up, whew! It’s food trip time! We then had a music bonding session, me on the guitar, and my cousins Jericho and Ida on the vocals hehe! Nalingaw ko!

August 21, 2005. Nangadlawon ko ug mata.. alas tres pa sa sayong kabuntagon. Grabe kasayo no? hehe! Well, it was because I had to depart early then. I still have to drop by at my hometown Malaybalay to spend some time with my family before proceeding to Cagayan de Oro. Hmnn.. I guess that ends my Davao escapade. For my upcoming adventures, just keep on visiting my blog site ‘coz I’ll be posting some more updates from time to time. Kudos.. and thanks for taking a peek at my postings.