Our district had a 3-day escapade in Cebu dubbed as the Queen City of the South. This came as a reward for bagging the 2nd best District in the Philippines for the E-Card program contest for the 1st Semester. Thank you Pfizer! By the way, this was my first time to explore and discover Cebu’s main district attractions.

As I also traced the roots of my paternal grandmother ( The Carillos and the Garcias ) I just can’t help but notice how rich the culture of the Cebuanos is dating back in the 16th Century. Armed with my Nikon DSLR, I was anxious to get pictures of their heritage parks and architectural wonders. Unfortunately, I was confined to shoot for an estimated of 4 hours only during the city tour since we had to go to our hotel for the much awaited celebration. Good thing I was able to get a few Sunrise pics to cap off our Cebu trip.

Au revoir Sir Gerry! ( 1st part )

"Gratitude is never invisible or silent." This statement struck me while I was listening to Edge Radio last week. Mr. Webster calls it "acknowledgment of having received something good from another."

As I was waiting for our Awards night to commence, I had the glance of the man whom I truly admire and give my highest regard. Mr Gerry Bacarro, our LEADER and RGEB to most of us, was generous enough to pose some pictures with the Sales force. I was a bit hesitant to approach him since it felt like asking for a picture with the President of the Philippines. Nonetheless, it took some guts to finally approach him, tapped his shoulder and told him " Thank you very much Sir for everything, you've been an inspiration especially to us na taga Mindanao." Then we had the "Kodakan" moment- a precious moment to say the least. It may have been the last chance to say Kudos to the person that has led Pfizer to greater heights and to where Pfizer stands in the industry now.

A couple of days ago, he shared his unparalleled wisdom as he was imparting his farewell speech to us and shared his realizations. These were as follows:

1. In order to succeed, you should OVERCOME your greatest fear.
2. You have no right to dream to be great outside, if you don't have a Champion-like spirit inside.
3. Without a challenging vision ( small or big) of a group, it would be like driving at night without headlights.
4. A high IQ could get you anywhere, but being good with people and working hard can bring you far.
5. In order to succeed, you must build leaders sincerely and unselfishly.

There are very few whom I've known who has exemplified true Leadership, unyielding passion and competence characterized by diligence, intelligence and hard work like Sir Gerry Bacarro- a leader like no other.

Pfizer & Me

My favorite song

When I first heard this wonderful piece, a profound realization reminisced : That I am a Masterpiece of He who made me...

I am Yours

Who am I?
That the Lord of all the earth,
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt.
Who am I?
That the bright and morning star,
Would choose to light the way,
For my ever wandering heart.

Bridge:
Not because of who I am,
But because of what you've done.
Not because of what I've done,
But because of who you are.

Chorus:
I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when I'm calling,
Lord, you catch me when I'm falling,
And you've told me who I am.
I am yours.
I am yours.

Who am I?
That the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again.
Who am I?
That the voice that calmed the sea,
Would call out through the rain,
And calm the storm in me.

Not because of who I am,
But because of what you've done.
Not because of what I've done,
But because of who you are.


I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when I'm calling,
Lord, you catch me when I'm falling,
And you've told me who I am.
I am yours.

Not because of who I am,
But because of what you've done.
Not because of what I've done,
But because of who you are.


I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still you hear me when I'm calling,
Lord, you catch me when I'm falling,
And you've told me who I am.
I am yours.
I am yours.

I am yours.

Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?
'Cause I am yours.
I am yours.

Engineer or Medrep?

Who in Mars would have thought that Mr. Reginald Torres Cua will someday be a Medical Representative? I mean, after hurdling a very challenging college life when he took up Industrial Engineering at Ateneo de Davao University, he was one of the few students who passed the string of exams and interviews made by Hitachi Computers. HICAP as we often call it, is a leading multinational electronics company in Japan in which every new engineer would seek to work for. He then worked shortly for Kodak Philippines before realizing that Manila was just too crowded to accommodate a newly -wed couple who was trying to build a family then.

But you know, his God has a cunning and distinctive sense of humour who sometimes works in mysterious ways. To “shorten the long” he eventually went to become a Professional drug pusher- legal at that- a.k.a. Med Rep. A colleague of his once told him kiddingly “ you’re not ordained to be a medrep, you’re an engineer”! It’s unarguable since he's introvert and his often straightforward attitude has no place in Sales career.

Over the years, he eventually developed his personality and even managed to cater an ever challenging yet rewarding Sales career. Modesty aside, last 2006, he bagged the highest National Sales performance ( in %age) in their team helping him attain the 4^th runner-up honors and just last year, he settled as 3^rd runner-up nationwide for their team.

In all of these, he can say that God is really in control of his life and has acknowledged that God's ways are better than ours... All praises, honour, and glory goes to Him alone.

Now is he an Engineer or Med Rep?

Maybe both can work in harmony.

Singapore and Philippines at a glance

:

Just recently, our company treated us to an all expense paid Asian trip to Malaysia and Singapore. It took 2 airplanes to lift some 120 plus medical representatives and office-based colleagues for a 6-day “drug pushing” holiday. It served as an incentive for hitting our 2007 sales target-the first in the last 6 years (Afoohh). Sacrifice and resilience had been compensated at last. Thank you PFIZER!

Though cruising through our Asian neighbours nowadays is like buying a high-end cellphone so to speak, the idea of being acquainted to a different culture thrills me the most. Btw, it’s my first time to have my passport stamped. :)

True indeed, Malaysia and Singapore has overrun us socio-economically. Take Singapore as a reference, it’s just .2% relative the Philippine’s land mass or just twice the area of Samal Island yet it’s Asia’s 3^rd richest nation or shall I say tiny island nation in terms of Gross National Product ( GNP). Philippines, with all its very rich Natural Resources lags at #11. It’s foreign reserves surplus is 147 Billion US dollars, more than enough to pay our Foreign debts in a day. Exceptionally overwhelming...

Make no mistake about my loyalty as a Filipino patriot but I just can’t understand why a tiny nation like Singapore who buys their drinking water in other countries and a population of less than 5 million stands like a Giant in World economy. Perhaps, it’s their culture, their colonizers, their attitude as a race or maybe it’s on their committed and incorruptible leaders. I salute their valiant leader- Lee Kuan Yew.

Hope. The Philippines , with all her riches has it and must have it. My mind keeps on drifting to a great country that once was, where we stood the 2^nd richest country in Asia next to Japan, where the exchange rate of the Peso to a US dollar is 1=1. The Formula: Discipline+Right Attitude+Leaders with integrity and God fearing.

For now, I can only imagine...

Who Am I?

Reginald Torres Cua

• Lived 30 years and counting
• Married for 4 years, 11 months and 22 days
• Newspaper and Music addict
• Frustrated musician and singer
• Three meals and two snacks a day
• Engineer turned Medrep turned investor turned blogger
• Diet is not in my dictionary
• I don’t believe in horoscopes yet it describes 90% of me, btw i’m cancer
• Drinks less than 8 glasses of water
• 1 cloned son – Josh
• 1 cloned brother – Richard ( twin )
• 1 crowned wife-ody
• 1 sexy sister-jen
• Extremely potent
• Does semenalysis once a year
• Has the best parents in-law in the world
• Son of a farmer
• Countless bronchial asthma and rhinitis attacks
  
• 3 jobs held in 9 years
• 6 hours of sleep every night
• Sex?? Ask my wife
• Son of an Able and Mighty Father
• Matt 6:33