the CHAMP

I will not be the person who I am right now (no matter what or how my friends or others perceive me) without the people I loved so dearly who made me and have touched even the most single detail of my being. I could hardly imagine, compare, and measure their contributions, sacrifices, and most of all, love that they have for me. I will always be forever thankful to them, because they are my daily inspiration to stand up after every fall, to move on after every painful experience, to accomplish great things after every failure, to have faith in God after every hopeless case one could think in my journey here on earth called life. Whatever the future has in store for me or who will I become tomorrow is because of these angels God has blessed me to whom the selected lines in some of my favorite songs I offer.       

 

YOU by Carpenters

(Myfather, Mr. Romualdo P. Bordeos, is the most important ‘man’ I have in life. He is a man of music for he really sings and plays the musical instruments like the guitar well, a good provider to the needs of his sons and daughters not only the material things, and most of all, a good father to us for he sacrifices even his own happiness for us. I accepted my whole being because of him especially when I was about to celebrate my 14^th birthday years ago, he wrote to me saying ‘he loves me much as his son and accepts my identity.’ To you, pa, I want to say how much I am indebted to you, and so the lines from the song You by Carpenters I sincerely offer)       

You are the one who makes me happy
When everything else turns to grey
Yours is the voice that wakes me mornings
And sends me out into the day
You are the crowd that sits quiet
Listening to me
And all the mad sense that I make

 

Mama by Spice Girls

(My mother, Mrs. Mary Grace Sanchez Bordeos, has taught me the values of perseverance, determination, understanding, and friendship. She will always be my mom whatever happens. I may not see her now because she was away from us her children for a reason, I want to say these words to her in the lines of a song Mama by Spice Girls)  

She used to be my only enemy and never let me be freeCatching me in places that I knew I shouldn’t be
Every other day I crossed the line I didn’t mean to be so bad
I never thought you would become the friend I never had
Back then I didn’t know why
Why you were misunderstood
So now I see through your eyes
All that you did was love
Mama, I love you. Mama, I care
Mama, I love you . Mama, my friend. You’re my friend
I didn’t want to hear it then but I’m not ashamed to say it now
Every little thing you said and did was right for me….

 

BECAUSE YOU LOVED ME by Celine Dion

(I have received much love from the entire family of and particularly, my first cousin, former MayorCeledonio B. Saludaga Jr. as well as his wife, Mrs. Gina T. Saludaga, who helped me shaped my future. Manoy-Mayor Jun as what I call my cousin encouraged me so well to accept the scholarship from the premier state university which I refused for three times. One evening, when Sr. Elma Carlon, SMAHE, the principal of the Holy Family, and I went to his house for Sr. Elma to personally invite him to be the Commencement Speaker during our Graduation Ceremony, he talked to Sr. Elma to encourage me to accept the scholarship. It was from him that I have learned to believe in his statement to me that ‘opportunity knocks only at once.’ I am very much indebted to him not because he offered to me the scholarship but because of his trust and confidence for me because he believes that I deserved it, regardless of consanguinity, than those equally best students in town. Because of this, I am now indebted not only to him but to the people and my hometown, Lavezares. For you, here is the line from the song Because You Loved Me)       

… For all the love I found in you
I’ll be forever thankful…

… You saw the best there was in me…
You gave me faith ‘coz you believed
I’m everything I am
Because you loved me

You gave me wings and made me fly
You’ve touched my hand I could touch the sky…
You said no star was out of reach
You stood by me and I stood tall
I had your love I had it all
I’m grateful for each day you gave me…
But I know this much is true
I was blessed because I was loved by you

You’ve been my inspiration…
My world is a better place because of you

 

You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban

 

(I have learned much from the country’s national university, the University of the Philippines. It was not only excellence, for this is where really the best and the brightest individuals in the archipelago have studied, but service and love of the country were the two most important values I have learned from U.P. I have ‘the best education’ in this beloved university. This where I started to see and react to the best and worst in my larger world; this is where I have learned that education is not only within the four corners of the classroom but outside of it; that memorizing or simply studying theories are not enough without relating them to the experiences and aspirations of the people in a society where we belong; this is where I learned independence; where I become mature as an individual in whole of its aspects, and becoming a critical person; and all of the factors that have made me to be prepared somehow in every challenge of the world, after my life in U.P. UP people (including I) loved so much to sing to their Alma Mater the hymn ‘UP Naming Mahal.’ I, actually, have a favorite line in that hymn, and it goes this way: “Malayong Lupain, Amin mang Marating, Di rin magbabago ang damdamin (di rin magbabago ang damdamin). But the lines from You Raise Me Up is also dedicated to U.P. which contributed much to me and my whole being. You Raise Me Up is also a favorite of my father.)

   

 

 

 

I WILL BE HERE by GARY VALENCIANO

 

(They did not hear me saying how much I love or value them, but I really love my brothers and sisters. I just imagine how sad life would be without them. So, the lines from the song I will be here is for you, my beloved brothers Eulo Jake and Yul, and sisters Aura, Jacqueline, and Chesca.)

 

…And the future is unclear
I…I’ll be here

I will be here….
You can cry on my shoulder…

And I will be here
To watch you grow in beauty
And tell you all the things you are to me
I will be here

I will be true
To the promise I have made
To you and to the
One who gave you to me

I…I will be here