“Barrio Siete” is an alternative collective blog by a group of bloggers who talk the talk, and walk the walk of its target audience — the socio-economic group who do not use pretentious and intellectual language that can not be grasped by ordinary human beings. Sa blog na ito, gagamitin namin ang mga salitang ginagamit sa araw-araw, sa kalye, sa iskuwela, sa bahay at sa opisina. We always have “Barrio Siete” in our lives, either the typical barrio where we came from, or a phase in our lives where we have to struggle to achieve our goals in life. I, Reyna Elena and the rest of my fellow bloggers came from a Barrio Siete. Because of that, we had to work twice as hard to get to where we are. Barrio Siete, our roots, our pride, our community. Soon, we will shower you with our views and opinions but we hope you find some inspiration in our stories.

La Kapitana

Reynz

Reynz hails from a Barrio Siete in Sorsogon. He is half n half. Half-uragon, half-bisaya, half-human. A Filipino-American, he is the voice behind reyna elena dot com, his personal and humor blog. A Cocofed Scholar and a graduate of Aquinas University in Legazpi City, he worked for one of the largest public accounting firms in Makati before migrating to the United States. Spent a year at Computer Learning Center in Philadelphia; 2 years at Alliance Francaise de Philadelphie; went to George Washington U in Washington, DC; then to Temple U in Philadelphia where he graduated with an Executive MBA. Lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for years and worked for two (2) of the largest broadcast investment firms in the United States as Controller/CFO then as Director of Finance of the country’s 4th largest housing agency until the financial crisis hit. He became the cutest unemployed bum. A CPA, he is now based in New Orleans, Louisiana as CFO of one of the largest housing agency in the state, dealing with housing tax credits, equity investments, real estate developments, involved in the redevelopment and recovery efforts of the city from several hurricanes.

Barrio Council

Members of the Barrio Council won’t be published.

Meet the writers and contributors:

1.) Ajay

Adventurous na Bisaya raw ako kaya nag-ambisyon na magpunta sa iba’t-ibang bansa at natupad naman ang pangarap na ito. Pero totoo pala yun, kahit saang ibayo ka magpunta ay babalik-balikan mo ang iyong “roots.” Kaya eto, nagsusumikap mabuhay sa ating bansang Perlas ng Silanganan. At higit sa lahat, di ko malimutan ang “roots” na aking kinagisnan. I left my heart in Barrio Leyte, and that’s the truth.

A Technews Columnist of Manila Bulletin, one of the Philippines most widely-read daily English paper. You can find her blogging at www.annalyn.net, which is her main blog, www.weddingfactsheet.com which is a wedding blog and www.balutpenoy.blogspot.com, a food blog.

2.) Bluepanjeet

Bluep is from Southern Tagalog’s Largest and most colorful Province, an Ex-Seminarian and being a consistent Dean’s Lister, he finished his degree in Nursing on a full academic Scholarship. He passed the Nursing Board Exam on the same year he graduated. He was the University’s In-house Reviewer for the Board Exam and an adviser for Thesis Writing of the College of Nursing.

Bluepanjeet is the author of On The Wings of My Dream

3.) Buraot

Buraot took B.S. Psychology at the Colegio De San Juan De Letran in Intramuros. It was there at the walled city, in a small park called Batibot where he became BURAOT the activist. A year later he was the bosstsip of Intramuros, running the programs and activities of all the cause-oriented student organizations in the entire Intramuros area colleges and universities. He is now based and blogging live from California, the west coast of the United States.

One proud Mangyan who hails from Oriental Mindoro, you can read his wacky and hilarious blogging style at Anak ni Kulapo and I am Buraot.

4.) Gloria Gamat

Gloria is 100% bicolana and is her parents’ unica hija, blogging live from Gubat, Sorsogon, the Philippines. She was sent to college under UP’s Iskolar ng Bayan Program and got her student allowance from her parents’ pigs and chickens. She was the first in her barrio to go to the University of the Philippines and was first in her family to finish college. Her father, a jeepney driver, had big dreams in sending all his kids to college and he started by sending Gloria – his eldest – to UP Los Baños. She then went on to finish BS in Chemistry and went to work in various analytical laboratories and then spent ten years at the prestigious International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños, Laguna as Researcher. Visit her at her Daragang Magayon blog.

5.) Kotsengkuba

Kotsengkuba a proud native of Nueva Ecija, now residing in the Barrio Sietes of Tagaytay and Cavite. A graduate of B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Santo Tomas in April of 2001. He passed the Board Exams for Electrical Engineers in the same year. An OFW, he was a QA Manager for a large laptop manufacturing firm based in China. Kotsengkuba is one of the incorporators of the Thomasian Scholars Alumni Association, Inc. Should you decide to donate to their cause, you could email him at kotsengkuba(at)gmail.com or pester him through his blogs Chronicles of Kotsengkuba and Adobong Starfish.

6.) Lalaine S.

Si Lalaine S. (26) na kasalukuyang nahuhumaling sa Barrio Siete ay mula sa barrio ng Matagbac sa Alfonso, Cavite. Sya ay kasalukuyang nagsusunog ng kilay sa Oxford University sa Inglatera. Sya ay nagtapos ng BA-Philosophy, magna cum laude sa UP-Diliman at MA-Applied Ethics sa Linkoping University sa Sweden at Utrecht University sa Netherlands. Sya ay bahagi (pa) rin ng isang PhD program sa Oslo University sa Norway. Mahal nya ang bansang Pilipinas ngunit mahal ang pamasahe pauwi kaya’t sa ngayon, doon muna sa Europa ang kanyang mga kwentong lamierda. She’s blogging live from England and this is her blog. Le silence, n’ose pas dis-donc.

7.) Malen

Malensky, the blogger behind My Nosebleed, is a true blooded Waray-waray kaya ingat kayo sa babaeng to’t habulin kayo nito nang punyal! Hahaha! Born in a banig, raised in the lowly streets of Barangay Malanday, cultured in Eastern Visayas Region. Sa maniwala kayo’t sa hinde, she said she was born into extreme poverty (mukha lang kase syang mayaman in real life hahaha!). She graduated with an Engineering degree without honors at Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa where she mastered the art of nosebleeding. She was an active youth leader who juggled between studying and walking the streets of Mendiola, Morayta all the way to Recto and Divisoria.

8.) Mel Beckham

Mel is your typical gay next door neighbour na mahilig sa kape, boys, pulitika, fashion, music, showbiz and everything imaginable and unimaginable. ‘She’ was born half-Filipino, half-Filipina. Half-native Mansaka, half-Ilongga. Half-dog, half-diva. Suma tutal 100% Barrio Siete dalagita. ‘She’ graduated from Brokenshire College with two majors under ‘her’ sequined belt, Management and Entrepreneurship. In ‘her’ short career in joining beauty pageants, ’she’ is a certified “Thank You Girl”. ‘She’ maintains a personal blog, “The Misadventures of Mel Beckham“. A blog that resulted from extreme boredom.

9.) Pehpot

Pehpot studied BS Food Tech in UPLB. She was on her second year when she realized she’ll do good on BS Home Econanay. And yes she did, she now hold three degrees on BS Home Econanay (major on scream) and currently on her fourth. She is a multitasker, she blog, she cooks, she breastfeed, she do the laundry. She is the mommy in front (not behind no) of Make or Break (pehpot.com), a parenting blog that focus on humor as a way to survive kids 101. Aside from maintaining her losyang figure (and make or break), she also maintain two more blogs and plan to put up some more. Blogging is her answer to her insanity, it’s cheaper than theraphy.

10.) Reesie

Reesie - the blogger behind Off the Top of my Head, is a Magna Cum Laude graduate in BS Information Technology from the University of Cebu. She is currently a research and IT support-slash-analyst in New Mexico and a Certified COMPTIA A+. Siya ay tiga Barrio Katugasan of Carcar, Cebu. Before making fly-like-a-mulawin to the United States, she spent sometime in her humble hometown in Cebu – teaching college freshmen a year and a half. She enjoyed teaching young minds how to do their ABC’s and 123’s, but heck, one nifty opportunity knocked in her bahay kubo. She is now blogging live in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the United States.

11.) Rob

Rob is from the small city of Angeles in Pampanga. He earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science at the Angeles University Foundation and has over 12 years of IT experience carrying different roles from software development, database architecture and project management. Most of the projects he handled are development and deployment of large, mission-critical applications from multi-national companies and government agencies around the United States. He is also the founder and author of Social Media Philippines. His goal is to be able to reach out and educate entrepreneurs and marketers in incorporating social media in their business processes to improve delivery of results, transform internal and external communications to conversations and expand brand presence using Web 2.0 tools. He is now in Fort Worth, Texas working for the government as an Application Security Architect and is preparing for his MBA.

12.) Silver

Silver is the blogger behind Dare To Speak Out. She’s a graduate of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Santo Tomas, Batangas with a degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She is a history and current events junkie as a result of 8 academic years of being involved in intensive academic competitions in those fields. She worked as a HR person – mostly in manufacturing (semiconductors and major food manufacturer) and trained in various HR facets and manufacturing standards (ISO and TS 16949). Silver was born in a Barrio Siete in Negros Occidental, but grew up in the suburbs of Southern Luzon. She never fails to remember her barrio siete roots.

13.) Maldito

Maldito is the proud owner of the humor blog thegreatmaldito.com. His blog was one of the Philippines Top Ten Humor Blogs in 2008. A graduate of Psychology , a used to be adviser, researcher and an in house psychiatrist, but now working as a pinoy with fake American accent. Hailed from the island of the sweetest people in the country, Iloilo, and now finding his own meaning in life in Cebu. He loves to travel, photography, music, dance, read books and create stories and everything nice as long as it is related to art. He strongly believes that pancit canton is the reason why he is still alive.

14.) Cora Dolorosa

Cora Dolorosa (not her real name) is an Overseas Filipino Worker based in Indonesia. Finishing high school at an agricultural school in the province, she went to a state university along Taft Avenue in Manila to graduate education.

After several teaching stints in Alabang, Quezon City and Manila, she went on to become an OFW where she’s been working as a teacher in Indonesia for the last 7 years. Sabi nya dun sya nag-aabang nang tsunami at tumutugis nang terorista.

15.) Mr. Nonsense

MrNonsense is Jesse Paez. He was born and raised by two solid parents in Tondo, Manila. He came to Iowa when he was 17 and is now raising a family in Washington, where a group of Filipinos adopted them as their own. Mr. Nonsense can often be seen in the Tacoma-Seattle area carrying a camcorder, accompanied by his two sons and his personal chauffeur, his wife. He uses his Tondo upbringing to nurture his children and to survive in a mental institution—>where he currently works. He enjoys basketball, cooking, singing, cartooning, producing short movies, and making his own furniture out of junked wood… because he’s so cheap. He is a self-proclaimed “Man of the House,”…when his wife is not home.

16.) Snow

Snow is the author behind Dear Bloggery. She has a bachelor’s degree in Accountancy and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Adamson University. She is married to a college schoolmate with one cute kid and currently juggling motherhood and corporate life simultaneously. Before she became a ‘babysitter’ for a bunch of research analysts, Snow used to be an analysts too in a multinational financial information firm handling financial data analysis and mergers and acquisitions transactions somewhere in Makati City. She also had a short stint in human resource consulting wherein she was exposed to compensation and benefits analysis. Snow is a certified internet junkie but she also digs on reading, web surfing, traveling, shopping and writing as her major hobbies.

17.) Lee

Napakasayang kasama ni Lee. She will never fail to make you laugh sa mga comments at napakagandang one-liners na binibitawan nya. Ngalay na ang panga namen sa katatawa pero siya di pa rin natigil sa pagpapatawa. Lee started as a machine operator and become head supervisor in the very first company that she worked for. Then shifted to a QC Manager from Phil to South Asia and later bacame Deputy Country Manager of one of the biggest European company. She is currently working in a European Trading Liaison office as QA/Tech manager.

18.) Jepoy

Jepoy is the co-founder of one of the oldest websites in the Philippines, GameOPS and the blogger behind Captain’s Log, a blog that traces its roots from a personal website he made in 1995. He took up Electrical Engineering at the University of Santo Tomas and during his 2nd year, shifted course and transferred to AMA University where he got his Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering and his CISCO Certified Network Associate license.

He blogs about technology at Captain’s Log, video games on GameOPS, and posts his pictures at On Screen. He is also currently one of the site administrators of myGlobe and operates an online store with his girlfriend, Lalaine.

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