An interview of a lifetime

Thoughts of moving to a greener pastures have crossed my mind several times in the past months. In fact, last January, I spoke to Mr. AAM, the HR Manager or Aminat and concurrently GSI. He promised to look into my application but he never really gave his commitment. He did reply to my email though and that’s fine with me. It’s not that I’m not happy with where I am today. I’ve been working for my current company for almost a decade and I want new challenge.

Last week was really a surprise since an Executive Search firm tried to contact me. I gave them my Training and later on my HR profiles. Last Wednesday, 23 February 2011, the Executive Search firm arranged an interview for me with the VP for Shared Services for an Industrial Group in Riyadh. I was hesitant at first since moving to Riyadh did not really cross my mind. Aside from that, I’ve heard horror stories about Riyadh. They also asked me to appear on skype which incidentally, I don’t have an account much less know how to operate it. I had to drag A. with me to an internet café in Al Khobar on that day.

The interview started very well until the third phase. I was able to answer all the questions they asked to me intelligently. It’s quite surprising actually considering that I haven’t been subjected to an interview for so long. I’ve been doing series of interviews as part of my role in recruitment but I was never the subject or the applicant. Experience is a very good teacher as they say since I just answered practically from my experience. I also knew that I had it and that the job was for me. They were wrapping up the interview when suddenly the VP for Shared Services asked me an illegal question. For the information of people who are not HR practitioners, illegal questions are questions that are unprofessional, unethical and discriminatory and are totally unrelated to the requirements of the position. As an HR practitioner, I was appalled by the question that was thrown to me. Nagpantig ang tenga ko so I just told the interviewer that “That is an illegal question. In the States, you could go to jail for that. It’s demeaning and discriminatory. I don’t think I’m interested in your company anymore, Sir.”

The interviewer was shocked when I told him that. Actually his face was frozen in the skype screen. I then told A. to turn off the camera. I never thanked them and he did not say anything. We just turned off the screen and walked away. I never regretted telling him that. As an HR practitioner of his stature, he should know better. We don’t do that kind of practices in our company. We are very professional in our dealing and I guess we embody our Core Values.

What the interviewer did to me is that he put me on the spot. I was on a lose-lose situation. Whatever my answer is, I would still be rejected. If I answered no, I’ll be lying to myself. If I say yes to his question, I’ll be doomed. Good thing my mind is sharp and I was able to retaliate right away. I was able to remember that what he asked me was an illegal question. I told him exactly how I felt that what he asked was an illegal question. I know that by doing so, I’ll also lose my opportunity to be hired in his company. I did not regret what I did. I turned the table very well and I rejected them before they could reject me.

What that company never realized is that I never applied to them. I was called upon by an executive search firm. I was not in a desperate situation where I would lie just to get the job. If I lied to them and was hired on the process, I don’t think I will be happy. I will never be happy in their company.

I consulted my friend D. before I underwent with the interview. He told me to just go through the process. How would you know that you have what it takes if you don’t try? So I head his advice and went through with the interview. There’s one thing I learned with that interview. I’ve learned that I was sharper than before and that my experience will be very helpful. If the interviewer would be fair, I am confident that I’ll pass it with flying colors.

If given another opportunity to be interviewed in the future, I would still say yes. There’s no harm in trying and I guess, interviewing skills is like a knife, the more you hone it the more it becomes sharper.

Insider Trading in our Cooperative

I’ve written a very lengthy email to the Board of Directors of our Credit Cooperative just to tell them know how frustrated I was with the dividend that I received. Of course, I did not admit it in my email (LOL). If there’s one thing that frustrates me most is when I felt that I was shortchanged on something. I know that life’s not fair but the Cooperative should be professionally run. It should never favor just one person particularly if the person happens to be an officer of the Finance Committee. They may think that their actions are innocent but it’s really tantamount to corruption. Corruption starts from small penny or action. It’s been proven once and again that power is intoxicating. It’s really sad that the action of very few members of the Cooperative is destroying the things that the Cooperative stands for. Here’s my email:

I raise this issue not because I’m not happy or bitter with the outcome of the dividend that I received but because I want to understand how the things work in our Cooperative. I am not questioning the shares of stocks owned by the founding members (pioneers) of the Cooperative. You guys worked for it and you deserved it. What I’m questioning is the shares of stocks owned by Mr. JBB who is currently the Finance Manager of the Cooperative. I want to understand how he was able to acquire so much shares (60,000) in just a short period. I once informed Mr. RE of my intentions to increase my shares. In fact, he sold the shares of Lorna Benitez me. I was happy because of the generous offer. I was however informed that no new shares will be sold because the Coop is applying for an increase in capital from the CDA.


The ownership of a bigger share is very important since the computation of dividend would greatly depend on it. I would like to know whether there were lapses or rules violated when Mr. JBB procured those shares. I don’t want to blame everybody including the Board who may have approved the acquisition of shares in good faith. I just felt that there was an absence of transparency since a lot of members including myself are interested in buying additional shares. If he bought those shares from terminated members, it should have been offered publicly to all the members first. The finance team should have made an announcement that shares are open for the public. I think this is where the lapses started since the person in question has access to financial records and with the intention to acquire more shares as well. In this case, I felt that Mr. JBB was given priority over everyone else. Was it because he had an access to the financial records? If he has not violated any rules because there are no rules in place on shares acquisition, I think it’s about time to create a rule or policy. What is important is that the rule will not just favor one person.


I still have faith in our Cooperative. I’ve met wonderful people here including you guys. I hope that this complaint will not be taken against me. That’s the reason why I want this complaint to be confidential. I hope you won’t mention my name if and when this will be discussed.


Thank you and God bless.

Happy Valentines!

I’m sure everyone knows that celebrating Valentines in the Kingdom of the Sands is a taboo. In fact, when you’re caught wearing red or carrying flowers on Valentine’s Day, you’ll probably be slapped or end up in jail. Those who are not in the Arab world may wonder how we celebrate our valentines. We’ll we Filipinos have our ways of getting away with restrictions. As they say, ‘laging lulusot ang pinoy’. Just like in the rest of the world, only those who have partners celebrate their valentines. What’s the use if you’re ‘Bingkong’? Ahhh … alam ko na, bingkongs like me celebrate the day with ourselves.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me but I really don’t want a commitment. At the moment, I just felt that I’m too sick to be into a relationship. The medication that I’m taking would consume all my energy that I’m always exhausted before the day ends. I don’t want to call myself stupid because there’s a person who offered to start a relationship with me but I refused. I wasn’t really interested, for now at least. I guess it’s not the right time but believe me, I have no regrets.

Can we be happy without a valentines date? We can I guess? In the Kingdom of the Sands, time flies so fast that you can barely notice anything. Valentines, like the Christmas and New Year are treated like ordinary days. The absence of commercialism on the occasion makes it all more forgettable. If you’re a person like me, who’s still single and without a partner, you’ll probably wouldn’t even think of the significance of the day. But yes, we can still be happy, with or without a valentine date.

The first thing that I would probably do tomorrow is to call my Mother and my siblings to greet them. I would also call Heart, my 8 year old niece to greet her happy birthday. I will still report to the office and go on with my daily routine. I will probably receive tons and tons of emails containing Valentine’s Day greetings. If I’m in the mood, I’ll probably reply. Being single will not stop me from enjoying the day because I still believe that happiness comes from within us all. We decide to be happy for us to be happy on Valentine’s Day. Sa mga bingkong na katulad ko, Happy Valentines.

Mubarak deposed

I was tuning in to the continuing coverage of Al Jazeera English when the presenter announced that Hosni Mubarak, president of Egypt stepped down. The Egyptian people were shouting, singing and crying in jubilation. I myself was thankful that finally, the Egyptians got what they wished for. In fact, I shed a few tears of joy myself.

I had a feeling that Hosni Mubarak doesn’t really want to stay. He was just forced by the United States to hold on to his seat. As you are well aware, US invested heavily in Egypt in term of Military Aid. They’re afraid that when Mubarak leaves, they’ll have to deal with new Egyptian head of state may not be very friendly to the US and Israeli’s interest. The US has been supporting dictators all over the world just to further their interest. They are also known to depose leaders that don’t support them. It happened to Marcos and Saddam Hussain. In the end, the Egyptians were able to topple a dictator without the pressure and interference from the US and the western world.

So, what’s next after the greatest Arab uprising in the history? It is still unclear what’s going to happen after Mubarak handed over the power to the Army. There will definitely be election and hopefully, a free and fair one. People Power has evils. It’s not entirely a fairy tale. It did not work in the Philippines because fast-forward 25 years after the EDSA revolution, we’re still poor and corrupt. We still elect unqualified and corrupt leaders. Hopefully, Egypt will learn from us. Inshallah!

Losing a friend

I’ve been through hell and back but it still hurts to lose a friend. While I was still in the hospital last year I’ve heard from the grapevine that J. has been spreading rumors about my illness at our office. He was in fact reprimanded by the person who overheard him. I felt sad when I heard the news but I took it with a grain of salt. I told myself what is the worst thing that could happen to me when I’m already in hell. I told some of our common friends about it and was so surprised when I suddenly received an SMS from J. asking me whether I have issues ‘tampo’ about him. I never replied to his SMS because for me, it doesn’t merit any reply. I just pretended that nothing happened.

When I reported back to the office, he welcomed me and even gave me a dried mango from Cebu. He did not enter my office and on several occasions, he would keep his distance away from me. I was offended of his actions because it’s obvious that he dreaded ‘nandiriri’ being near me. I told some people close to me about J’s attitude towards me and they said that I should just ignore it. So I never reached out because I thought that the awkwardness we have for each other would just end.

Well, the awkwardness did not end because I finally realized that I’ve just lost a friend. Last Friday, I called him to pay for A’s remittance. J. asked me who’s calling him. I concluded that he had already deleted my number from his contacts. Yeah, it hurts to learn that the person you consider to be your friend has already deleted you from his contacts. The question I’m asking myself now is ‘should I just move on and forget or pick up and mend the pieces?’

People Power in the Nile

I’m a fan of Al Jazeera English so most of my news source would come from this channel. I also from time to time watch BBC World News and France 24 but I would never watch CNN for known reasons that they’re biased towards their country and everything the West stands for. One time Ayman Moheldeen was reporting at the Tahrir Square (Liberation Square) in Cairo when suddenly a man from behind (him) started shouting that ‘No More Eid Mubarak’. At first I was about to laugh but suddenly I realized the enormity of the anger the Egyptian people towards their president, Hosni Mubarak that they wouldn’t want allow others to use Eid Mubarak as a greeting.

People Power in the Arab world by now becomes a trend after the Tunisians drove their president away. The Tunisians gain the respect and admiration from the Arabs World that Egypt and Yemen want to imitate them. In the case of Egypt, I think that it’s about time for Hosni Mubarak to go. He himself admitted that he’s tired and fed up and would really want to leave the office but fears chaos if he leaves abruptly. I believe that he really wants to leave but then, American doesn’t want him to. The US wants status quo and fears that the new Egyptian leadership may not be very friendly to them. They also fear that the balance of power in the Arab world will be altered once Mubarak is deposed.

People Power which eventually installs a revolutionary government would not work unless it’s followed by genuine reforms. In the Philippines, we had two People Power revolutions yet we’re still a failed state. We just got rid of the corrupt regime and replace it with the same people, in terms of their greediness level at least. The current also do the ill doings of their predecessors that it becomes a cycle. I think that was the reason why another call for People Power during the term of the then President GMA did not work out. People got fed up because it’s the psyche and system that should be changed first. Tunisia should learn from us and they should fare better than us. If Mubarak is ousted today, they also learn the lessons of the ills of People Power.

The question that the Arabs should ask now is what’s next after people power? Will they be able to muster enough support to persecute Mubarak, his family, et.al? Will Tunisians be able to recover the billions worth of gold smuggled out of the country by Bin Ali’s first lady? You see, it should not only be about people gathering and protesting. Every People Power should have a closure for the country to move forward. God Bless Egypt! God Bless Tunisia! God bless the Arab people.