Stigma Towards People with Mental Illness in the Philippines versus the United States

Stigma towards people with mental illnesses in the Philippines is rampant. There is a lack of sensitivity in referencing to mental health issues. Many forms and attitudes of stigma affect people with mental illnesses. However, there are differences in stigmatizing attitudes and discriminatory behaviors in the Philippines versus the US. Stigma are evident at home, school, workplace and in healthcare settings in both countries.

The Philippines, like most countries of the Western Pacific region, have a national mental health policy. However, in comparison to other countries, it was put into operation relatively recently. Community care for patients is available but limited mostly in big cities.

When I was in college in the Philippines, the topic of mental illness is taboo and not a favorite topic for conversation.  If discuss at all it is in whispers. I remember during my engagement and pre-marriage talks, my future wife families ask me If I have closed relatives that are mentally ill.  My answer was negative. I had feeling though that if my response was positive, our marriage plans would have been aborted.

One of the popular beliefs in the Philippines during my college years is that depression and anxiety are non-existent, and that mental illnesses are something to be ashamed of.  A qualitative study conducted by Tanaka et al. (2018) showed that this stigma is considered to be an effect of the public belief about mental disorders which consist of three themes:

First is familial problems, wherein the family rejects or disowns the family member who suffers from a mental disorder because they believe that it can be inherited. 

Second is unrealistic pessimism and optimism about the severity of the disorder, wherein the mentally ill either would certainly suffer from severe functional impairment or would be able to overcome any psychological suffering by themselves. 

Last is the oversimplified chronic course, wherein people without mental illnesses apply an acute illness model to those ill, and expect full recovery in the short term. For complete details on the status of mental health in the Philippines visit this site:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.706483/full

On the other hand an article on the Status of Mental Health in the US from the American Psychological Association published on May 2019 concluded that: 

Most Americans harbor positive views about mental health disorders and treatment (according to the results of a survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of the American Psychological Association).

A total of 87% of American adults agreed that having a mental health disorder is nothing to be ashamed of, and 86% said they believe that people with mental health disorders can get better.  For complete details visit:

https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/05/mental-health-survey 

However, A 2019 national poll from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) found that mental health stigma is still a major challenge in the workplace. About half of workers were concerned about discussing mental health issues at their jobs. More than one in three were concerned about retaliation or being fired if they sought mental health care.

Only about only about one in five workers were completely comfortable talking about mental health issues. The poll found a generational divide: millennials were almost twice as likely as baby boomers to be comfortable (62% vs. 32%) discussing their mental health.

On a more positive note, about half of workers were at least somewhat comfortable talking about mental health and most workers said they would help guide a troubled co-worker to mental health resources. However, even among those willing to help, about one in four workers said they would not know where to turn for mental health help. For complete details on stigma and discrimination in the work place visit:

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/stigma-and-discrimination

Finally on the Impact pf Covid-19 on Mental Health 

This year’s report includes a spotlight on the impact of COVID-19 on mental health, using the over 1.5 million people who have taken a screen on MHA Screening from January to September 2020. From these screens we have found:

• The number of people looking for help with anxiety and depression has skyrocketed. From January to September 2020, 315,220 people took the anxiety screen, a 93 percent increase over the 2019 total number of anxiety screens. 534,784 people took the depression screen, a 62 percent increase over the 2019 total number of depression screens.
• The number of people screening with moderate to severe symptoms of depression and anxiety has continued to increase throughout 2020 and remains higher than rates prior to COVID-19. In September 2020, the rate of moderate to severe anxiety peaked, with over 8 in 10 people who took an anxiety screen scoring with moderate to severe symptoms. Over 8 in 10 people who took a depression screen have scored with symptoms of moderate to severe depression consistently since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
• More people are reporting frequent thoughts of suicide and self-harm than have ever been recorded in the MHA Screening program since its launch in 2014. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread rapidly in March 2020, over 178,000 people have reported frequent suicidal ideation. 37 percent of people reported having thoughts of suicide more than half or nearly every day in September 2020.
• Young people are struggling most with their mental health. The proportion of youth ages 11-17 who accessed screening was 9 percent higher than the average in 2019. Not only are the number of youth searching for help with their mental health increasing, but throughout the COVID-19 pandemic youth ages 11-17 have been more likely than any other age group to score for moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety and depression.
• Rates of suicidal ideation are highest among youth, especially LGBTQ+ youth. In September 2020, over half of 11-17-year-olds reported having thoughts of suicide or self-harm more than half or nearly every day of the previous two weeks. From January to September 2020, 77,470 youth reported experiencing frequent suicidal ideation, including 27,980 LGBTQ+ youth.
• People screening at risk for mental health conditions are struggling most with loneliness or isolation. From April to September 2020, among people who screened with moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety or depression, 70 percent reported that one of the top three things contributing to their mental health concerns was loneliness or isolation.
• People who identify as Asian or Pacific Islander are searching for mental health resources more in 2020 than ever before. The proportion of screeners identifying as Asian or Pacific Islander increased 7 percent, from 9 percent of screeners in 2019 to 16 percent in 2020.
• While rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation are increasing for people of all races and ethnicities, there are notable differences in those changes over time. Black or African American screeners have had the highest average percent change over time for anxiety and depression, while Native American or American Indian screeners have had the highest average percent change over time for suicidal ideation.

For complete details visit:https://mhanational.org/issues/state-mental-health-america

Do you find this article informative? Do you have a relative or a friend that suffers from anxiety and/or depression? What is your personal feelings about mental illness? I will be glad to hear from you via comments. 

Today News from the New York Times:

Depression and anxiety fell in early 2021 but have been more common during the pandemic than before it, the C.D.C. reports.

 

Senior Citizens Living Alone and Me

Leif and Me-Am I watching TV? Yes, just closing my eyes for a Minute! Leif is Ditas Pet and Loving and Energetic Companion. 

According to a recent Pew Research about 12 million senior citizens ( 65 and older) live alone. They reside in their own homes, in assisted-living facilities or nursing homes. Most of these Seniors do not get regular visits from relatives and friends. Others have caregivers and help from relatives nearby. I could identify with these Senior Americans, although I do not live alone. My youngest son lives with me. He still works full time in a night shift, so I seldom see him. Sometimes, I feel I am living alone. However, I have one relative who visits me regularly and bring food and conversation that I welcome and treasured. Another relative calls me by phone or FB messages once a month. I have another relative that I see once or twice a year. 

Last but not least, Macrine (RIP) has relative that lives nearby.  She and her family have visited me bringing food several times during the last 6 months. I will not mentioned names, but you know who you are. I am indeed grateful for these visits. I feel very blessed in my aging years for these caring relatives and again thank you ALL. It is not good to be alone. Loneliness and isolation is not good for your mental health.

This weekend I feel very happy during the regular weekly visit of Ditas and Leif. Ditas brought a Big Roasted Chicken wrapped in Bacon and other goodies. 

The following photo show Leif and me, while we were watching a TV show after dinner, Ordinary Joe at HULU.  

Here's an article from the American Psychological Association (APA) on the current status of these 12 million Senior Americans for your information and reading pleasure.

12 million

The number of Americans over age 65 who live alone, according to a report by the Pew Research Center. The percentage of older adults who live alone quintupled from 6 percent in 1900 to a peak of 29 percent in 1990, and has slowly declined since then, to 26 percent in 2014.

69 percent

The percentage of those older adults who are women. In 1990, women made up a greater share of older adults living alone (79 percent). But since then, the percentage of older women living alone has decreased from 38 percent to 32 percent, while the percentage of older men living alone has risen slightly from 15 percent to 18 percent.

1/3

The share of older adults living alone who say they are financially comfortable. In contrast, nearly half of those who live with others say they are able to live comfortably. Twelve percent of those living alone say they don't even have enough money to meet basic expenses, compared with 5 percent of those who live with others.

48 percent

The percentage of older men living alone who say that they are "very satisfied" with the number of friends they have, compared with 62 percent of men who live with others. In contrast, women who live alone are slightly more likely to be satisfied with their number of friendships (71 percent) than women who live with others (67 percent).

61 percent

The percentage of older adults who would prefer to age in their own home, with a caregiver, according a to a Pew survey. Seventeen percent would prefer to move to an assisted living facility, 8 percent would prefer to move in with family and 4 percent would prefer to move to a nursing home.

Source: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2016/05/numbers

Meanwhile enjoy this photo from my recent hard bound book, Life Memories, Becoming Americans published by StoryWorth.

Finally:

From Yesterday New York Times: A recent study from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College found that 38 percent of 65-year-olds will develop moderate needs, almost one-quarter will have severe needs, 22 percent will have minimal needs and 17 percent will have no care needs.

Many older adults don’t have enough money saved. But others scrimp too much, lowering their quality of life. I hope you are in the group that is aging gracefully!

 

My Two Favorite Jokes for the StoryWorth Book of Memories

Here's my response to the query about my two favorite jokes for StoryWorth Book. My Book I titled Becoming Americans was just published into a hard-bound 435 pages with 100 B & W photographs just recently. I am very pleased with how the book turned out.

Si Malakas at Maganda- The first Pinoy couple( The Strong and the Beautiful)

This is my own English translation of the origin of the Filipino race. It is a story based on children's folklore written in the local dialect of the Philippines.

In 1972, after I received my US citizenship, I was invited by our Local Lions Club as a guest speaker during one of their monthly meetings. They requested that I talk about the Japanese-American War in the Philippines. This subject is one chapter in my autobiography, so I was confident about the content of my talk. However, I had no experience in public speaking, but had taken a speech class in college. Our speech teacher once said that before your speech, you have to put your audience at ease, so always tell a joke that is related to the subject of your talk. The following is the joke I told the group: The Origin of the Filipino Race.

Evidently, when God created mankind, he molded the human form using clay and an oven. The first time, he was doing this, God was so excited that he took what he was baking too soon. The human clay was under cooked or underdone. So it was pale and white. That was the origin of the White Race.

God was not happy, so he started to bake another human form. This time he got a telephone call from Satan. God was upset he forgot about what he was doing and the baking was over done, the human form was overcooked, and turned black. This was the origin of the Black Race. 

God then told himself, “This time it will be perfect. I will watch it very carefully and will not be distracted by any calls.” His baking was perfect. The human form was golden brown, and perfectly cooked. This was the origin of the Filipino race.

Note: The original form of the above story was from children’s folklore in the local dialect (Ilonggo or Hiligaynon) in the Philippines. The above article is my own English translation of the folklore. I hope it brightens your day! Needless to say, my talk was a success!

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And here's the second article/joke for StoryWorth Book.  Enjoy and be sure to smile!

 

There were 3 good arguments that Jesus was Black: 1. He called everyone brother. 2. He liked Gospel. 3. He didn't get a fair trial.

 

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Jewish: 1. He went into His Father's business. 2. He lived at home until he was 33. 3. He was sure his Mother was a virgin, and his Mother was sure He was God. 

 

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Italian: 1. He talked with His hands. 2. He had wine with His meals. 3. He used olive oil.

 

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was a Californian: 1. He never cut His hair. 2. He walked around barefoot all the time. 3. He started a new religion. 

 

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was an American Indian: 1. He was at peace with nature. 2. He ate a lot of fish. 3. He talked about the Great Spirit.

 

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Irish: 1. He never got married. 2. He was always telling stories. 3. He loved green pastures. 

 

But the most compelling evidence of all - 3 proofs that Jesus was a Woman: 1. He fed a crowd at a moment's notice when there was virtually no food. 2. He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just didn't get it. 3. And even when He was dead, He had to get up because there was still work to do. ________________

My Response to the Message in FaceBook:

Like it. How about a list that Jesus was a Filipino?

 

Photo Credit: NY Daily News

Can you write three proofs that Jesus could have been a Filipino ( not seriously, of course) . Here's mine

 

1. He ate with his hands. 2. He kiss his relatives on the cheek upon entering the room and 3. He was always late for most of the events he was suppose to attend.

 

Related Post: Read in the Internet: Jesus was Gay*

 

1. He surrounds himself with 12 men, he called his Disciples

2. He loves wearing flowing robes and linen garments and running naked

3. He never married( remain celibate) and had no known girl friends   

 

* https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2012/apr/20/was-jesus-gay-probably

 

Lastly: Just read this in FB recently-from a female celebrity;

 

God ( Jesus) is certainly not a female after watching 2 whales mating! 

 

 

 

Some Photos of Carenna Katague Thompson-My Youngest Grand Daughter

 

I am proud to present some of Carenna's photographs posted in her Mother's ( Ditas-my youngest daughter) FaceBook Page celebrating National Daughters Day last Sunday. 

Carenna is my youngest grand daughter turned 18 last May.  Below is also a video of her singing Breathe and my article when she turned 18 last May. I am a very proud Lolo!!!

 

Here's a video of her singing Breathe with classmates at UWC, Maastrich, Netherlands. This was taken last year during a practice session. Sorry for the background noise in the video.  

https://www.facebook.com/626896269/videos/pcb.10158556170531270/188055530053847

Meanwhile here's my article when she turned 18 last May.
 http://lwhileivinginmarinduquephilippines.blogspot.com/2021/05/carennakt-my-youngest-grand-daughter.html

 

Binging on the Emmy Award Winner TV Series-The Crown

Last week, I finally found the time to watch the Emmy Award Winning Netflix TV Series, the Crown. It had 63 nominations and won 21 awards this Season. There are 4 seasons and I am now in the middle of Season 4. I am really enjoying this series. The acting is superb and the cinematography stunning and mesmerizing (several awards in both categories). At the end of this article is a list of the 63 nominations and the 21 won awards this year. In one of the episodes, a joke about Imelda Marcos shoes was quoted by the character of Princess Margaret when she was in Manila.

In case you have not viewed the Series, here's a short write-up from Wikipedia.     

The Crown is a historical drama streaming television series created by Peter Morgan for Netflix, and released in November 2016.  It portrays the reign of Queen Elizabeth II throughout the decades, changing the cast every two seasons: 

For the first two, Claire Foy played Queen Elizabeth II, alongside Matt Smith as Prince Philip and Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret. For the third and fourth seasons, Olivia Colman takes over as the Queen, Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip, and Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret; also, these seasons introduced the adult Charles, Prince of Wales, played by Josh O'Connor, Diana, Princess of Wales, played by Emma Corrin, and Margaret Thatcher, played by Gillian Anderson. For the final two seasons, Imelda Staunton, Jonathan Pryce, and Lesley Manville will succeed Colman, Menzies, and Bonham Carter, respectively.

 

The Crown has been praised for its acting, directing, writing, cinematography, and production values, and has received many awards and nominations. It won all seven drama categories at the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards in 2021, becoming the first show to sweep the major drama categories. Before that, the series was nominated three times for Outstanding Drama Series, while also winning Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for John Lithgow in 2016 for his portrayal of Winston Churchill and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Claire Foy in 2017. It also won Best Television Series – Drama twice at the 74th Golden Globe Awards and 78th Golden Globe Awards, and Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards and the 27th Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The 4-Season Series had a total nominations of 412 and 123 wins. Awards and Nominations are for acting, directing, writing, cinematography and production values.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes reported a 97% approval rating for the season based on 107 reviews, with an average rating of 8.62/10 and a critical consensus: "Whatever historical liberties The Crown takes...are easily forgiven thanks to the sheer power of its performances – particularly Gillian Anderson's imposing take on The Iron Lady and newcomer Emma Corrin's embodiment of a young Princess Diana". On Metacritic, the season holds a score of 86 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Writing in The Atlantic, Shirley Li describes the drama as "sharper than ever" and "splashy", but observes that, in contrast to the first three seasons, the fourth criticises the Queen for her "ignorance" and "stubborn devotion to tradition". In the Evening Standard, Katie Rosseinsky wrote that the season's episodes are "dizzyingly beautiful and staggering in scope", and highlights the outstanding performances of Anderson and Corrin as respectively Thatcher and Lady Diana.^[50] In The New Zealand Herald, university professor Giselle Bastin described the season as "a masterly portrait of the turbulent 1980s" and complimented the production standards, casting and acting.^[51] BBC's arts editor, Will Gompertz, gave the series a rating of four out of five, praising Corrin and Bonham Carter but criticising Anderson's performance for "forever craning her neck from side-to-side as if scanning for a tasty lettuce leaf, while over-egging her Thatcher impression to such an extent she is close to unwatchable at times".

In a critical review, Dominic Patten of Deadline Hollywood complimented the earlier seasons but said that the fourth had "substantially tweaked timelines" and was "sub-standard soap", and that, despite Colman's performance, some of the other characters were like "Spitting Image live-action caricature". Writing in The Guardian, Simon Jenkins described the season as "fake history", "reality hijacked as propaganda, and a cowardly abuse of artistic licence" which fabricated history to suit its own preconceived narrative. The season has reportedly received backlash from the British royal family and some royal commentators. Royal historian Hugo Vickers stated: "In this particular series, every member of the royal family...comes out of it badly, except the Princess of Wales (Diana). It's totally one sided, it's totally against Prince Charles". Royal biographer Penny Junor criticised the season as portraying the British royal family as "villains", stating that "The Crown's royals are wild, cruel distortions of the people I've known for 40 years".

Olivia Colman and Claire Foy won the 2021 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series respectively for the episode "48:1." Josh O'Connor won the 2021 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for the episode "Terra Nullius." Tobias Menzies won the 2021 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the episode "Gold Stick." Gillian Anderson won the 2021 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in the episode "Favourites."

Here's a list of nominations and awards for 2021. I am hoping for Season 5 and 6 soon.

 https://www.emmys.com/shows/crown

Meanwhile enjoy this photo taken during Ditas and Carenna's 21-day trip and vacation to Croatia last month.

 

My Four Children Accomplishments for the StoryWorth Book

Parents are always proud of their children accomplishments. And I am not an exception. I am indeed a very proud Father of my four children professional accomplishments.

Here's Linked-In Accomplishments of My Four Children for My StoryWorth Book of Memories. My 4 adults children are Dodie (1958), Dinah ( 1961), David E III ( 1962) and Ditas (1965).

 Ditas Master's Degree Graduation, USC, 1993 

Here's Ditas Katague Information from LinkedIn  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ditas-katague

Expert in civic engagement, racial equity/inclusion, culturally congruent outreach and communications and the Decennial Census. Change Leadership, Fundraising, Development and PAC, Strategic Planning. Grief Yoga Teacher

•2019 Capitol Weekly’s Top 100 most powerful movers and shakers in California politics
Leading the State of California's efforts for a complete count in the Decennial Census (2000, 2010, 2020) Convene, coordinate, collaborate and build capacity to engage the diverse California communities in outreach to the hardest to reach populations.
. Chief of Staff to Public Utilities Commissioner covering all issues including telecommunications, water, transportation, energy, energy efficiency as well as legislative policy in these areas. Oversaw complex rule making and proceedings with evidentiary hearings, public participation hearings, administrative and procedural policies, including rate setting, quasi-legislative and adjudicatory cases.
* Accomplished Public Affairs professional able to manage legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts in 15+ Western States, with a legislative agenda including mortgage lending, privacy/security breach, employer sanctions, licensing, housing, and flood insurance.
• CEO and Chief Operating Officer for the most successful statewide grass-roots outreach program (using “GOTV- get out the vote” tactics) which has become a National model The "California, You Count!" Census 2000 and the "Be Californian, Be counted." Effort in the 2010 Census.
• Coalition builder, mediator and community organizer among diverse, multi-cultural groups
• Agile event planner & project manager that leverages strategic community relationships
• Political Action Committee (PAC) Assistant Treasurer and Operations manager for an employee PAC for a large national financial services company
• Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of the Business, Transportation & Housing Agency
• Relationship manager for large State Agency interfacing with Chief Information Officers and vendors (Information Technology and Management Consulting Services)
• Experienced project manager with a strong background in public/private partnerships, business process re-engineering, transition planning, economic and community development policy, information technology (IT) and change

 Ditas early retired from the State of California last June 30.

 ****************************************************************************

 Here's Dinah's Information in Linked In

Dinah Katague, CAMS

Dinah Katague

Compliance Officer, High Risk Member Unit, Technology Credit Union

Dinah started her career in BSA/AML in 2011 at Bank of the West. Within three years she was managing a team of 27 contractors to clear the FDIC items of the previous year’s audit. She was instrumental in growing the new department of 5 to 42. In 2017, Dinah joined Umpqua Bank as the CDD/EDD Manager. She managed two departments of EDD Analysts and CDD Specialists. Living in the “heart of cannabis growing country”, Dinah navigated her teams through the intricacies of the current political climate regarding marijuana, hemp and CBD, to become the subject matter experts for the bank. In June of 2020, Dinah joined Technology Credit Union as the Compliance Officer/Manager of the High Risk Member Unit. Her main responsibility is to help create, cultivate, develop, maintain and monitor the marijuana businesses direct and indirect program for the credit union. Dinah has been accused by some of creating a “Dynahsty” where ever she goes and they would be correct!

 

Experienced Financial Services Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the banking industry. Skilled in Analytical Skills, Software Documentation, Leadership, Financial Risk, and Risk Management. Strong finance professional with a Bachelor of Arts focused in Liberal Studies from California State University-Sacramento.

Through the course of my 15+ years’ experience, I’ve enjoyed the chance to manage and motivate teams toward consistent success. Colleagues will tell you I have a deep and intuitive grasp of business and team capabilities, and use this instinctive approach to expertly allocate staff and resources. A focus of my work has been employee engagement: by promoting an engaged and collaborative work culture, I’ve been able to develop staff members and deliver key gains to the bottom line. I also pride myself on adapting readily to new work challenges and environments.Compliance Manager, High Risk Member Unit at Technology Credit Union (Tech CU) Technology Credit Union (Tech CU)

California State University-Sacramento

******************************************************

Here's Davd E Linked-In Information

 

David E Master's Degree Graduation, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh,1988

Transportation Security Officer, SMF

• Transportation Security Officer

  Jun 2005 - Present16 years 2 months

  Ensures the safe arrival and departure of the traveling public. Screen baggage and passengers ensuring prohibited items are interdicted prior to boarding of aircraft.

• Senior Information Technology Consultant

  PricewaterhouseCoopers

  Sep 1997 - Feb 20024 years 6 months

  Provided Professional Services to State and Federal Clients. Clients included Inspector General of the House of Representatives, Department of Navy, Westpac 2000, Department of Transportation - Virginia.

• Policy Analyst

  Executive Office of the President

  Aug 1992 - Sep 19953 years 2 months

  Provided management and oversight of Federal agencies, during the Clinton Administration. Required specialized knowledge of government operations and financial systems in the Federal environment

Education

• Carnegie Mellon University

  Carnegie Mellon University

  Masters Public Policy & Public Management

  1986 - 1988

  Management Information Systems - Government Systems

• University of California, Davis

  University of California, Davis

  Bachelor ScienceAgricultural & Managerial Economics

  1982 - 1986

  David is single and currently works for the Federal Government (TSA) in Sacramento. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from UC Davis and a Masters of Science degree in Public Management and Policy with concentration on Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University. He used to work for the Office of Management and Budget(OMB) in Washington DC during the Clinton and Gore Administration. During the time of his employment with OMB we received annual Christmas cards from the White House as well as special invitations to special events such as the Easter Egg Hunting in the lawn of the White House and Parties for OMB employees. David E is learning how to speak Tagalog. During our 50th wedding anniversary party in 2007, he addressed the guests in Tagalog and made a good impression. His Tagalog is improving but still has the American accent. Macrine and I are proud of his desire to learn the language of his ancestry. Without David's help, we will never be able to enjoy staying in our island paradise in the Philippines for as long as we desire. Today, he keeps me company in this big house and talks to me about his plans to retire in the Philippines.
   

  *********************************************************************
  

  Dodie Internet In Information

   

Dodie, my oldest son was born in the Philippines, but immigrated to US when he was only 18 months old. He has a law degree from University of California, Davis and had been a successful prosecuting attorney in Northern California for several years. He early retired last year to devote more time writing his 3rd novel.  He is married to his former classmate, Ruth Carver, also a lawyer and they have 3 children, Philip, Alix and Marina.
 

Dodie Katague lived at Cloyne Court Coop from 1977-79 while he attended the University of California, Berkeley.  He graduated in 1981 with a degree in Geography. He graduated from the University of California, Davis, King Hall School of Law in 1985. Since then, he is a prosecutor in Martinez, California. Dodie is working on his second novel, "Rock Star Planet", a Young Adult science fiction adventure. He is now retired and finishing his third novel, "Devil Mountain DA", a fictional account of life in a dysfunctional district attorney's office. 

http://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?authorid=108890

I am a very, very proud Father, indeed!