THE AGONY OF A PAYMENT REQUEST

St. Joseph was a bodyguard with the celestial mission of protecting the mother of Jesus, and already had children when engaged to Mary thus implying that they didn't have a child together, which earned him veneration as the "most chaste" guardian of virgins. 

St. Joseph, being the patron saint of Bakal 2, is the progenitor of a fiesta meal ---   sinaing na tulingan, sinuglaw, malasadong inihaw na panga ng tuna, overcooked dinakdakan --- that were served in a garage to insulate visiting friends from the distress induced by registering a new bank account, signing a financial agreement, and initiating a payment request that almost fractured the Kuala Lumpur Forum. 

The disbursement did got through, pathetically stumbling through blockages while the Bali Assembly is being procured, while an impact story from Phnom Penh take shape from the fragments of three weekly meetings, a catch-up with the broker, updates from the Sta. Martha Conference, and an abbreviated finale on business development.    

The Barangay Night was On-The-Level though and themed Tanduay-red, almost like bottled red wine and the color of left-over menudo and glistening street barbecue that ushered the first call for the 9th Inclusive Business Forum in Manila and delayed an end-of-project report.  

On the week of St. Joseph;s feast day, blood was drawn at high precision through online banking apps that were activated with emails and signed time sheets from the marching band to induce a post-payment review of a policy toolkit while revisiting the bike trails around Bakal 2 all the way to the Sunday market in Munoz...  

A SHORT IMPACT STORY

Comms is a portrait in a landscape of plastic flowers, ceramic bowls, and a cache of strategic tools for an early sacramental extra-strong beer that drafted storytelling skills into a communications plan. 

The impact, though strong and strategic, must be sweet like a morning iced tea.

It should be infused with developed ethical content despite its being caricatured for an ice breaker. 

An impact story, when refined and shared, will be a perfect fit for the first version of a narrative.

Almost like the ballad of The Hague about how a blockage hostaged the Kuala Lumpur Forum until a Financial Administrator intervened to trigger Step 07; so unlike the Jakarta narrative that is ready to be gathered at the ASEAN Gender Week in Manila through a registration link for a breakfast meeting with the Line Manager whose  payment request was confirmed by a footprint report to have been disbursed, but not for the Bali Assembly procurement nor a 3rd session on business development or financing a coal phase-out advocacy. 

In Bakal 2, the plot is about a pair of litsong manok in the bike trail crowing the impact of an unmasked opthalmic loveliness that inspired a partial credit card payment. 

An impact story can be a sad tale of unrequited young love, of Normita who bequeathed herself to a rich heir in Paniqui, of Leah who married an older man from Mapandan, of Leonor Rivera whose regrets resonate in the abandoned spaces of the Maria Clara House in Camiling. 

It can be the account of two fishermen whose bangus catch from Lingayen Gulf were sold as packs of kinilaw, sisig, inihaw, and sinigang at SNR-Calasiao.  

Another angle is how the Binmaleys built a church for Our Lady of Candles to commemorate the purification of the 40-days old Christ, and Apo Baket "calling" (mantaoag) a farmer to build her a church that is now the abode of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of Manaoag.  

The real story however is that although the cost of pale pilsen has not increased, the chreap sisig sucked...    

THE MEANING OF M

M ain't the Chief of M16's Secret Intelligence Service but a reluctant caregiver somewhere in London.

M stands for Maligaya where 50 (or Roman numeral L) birth years were celebrated with a thousand shots of Scotch whiskey and American bourbon.

M was the meeting in Hogwarts where lobbyists were rewarded with bags of eggs, and the men in aprons who converged in Baloc on the 8th of March. 

M is the enigmatic Specialist of terse one-liners that almost compromised the Kuala Lumpur Forum, an escalation required to finally link a project ID to a grant number.

M is the impact story that will be narrated in Manila, the main agenda of a biweekly task force huddle, and the other matters discussed in the other meetings.    

M are the morning rides that punched through pay windows for a second booster shot before the Bali Assembly was registered for the ASEAN Gender Week.   

M can be the litsong manok, a musky pinangat na hito, or a tray of itlog maalat that compensated The Ironman of Bakal 2 for his services.

M is mass at the historic Barasoain Church and a GRO named Margareth who was treated to her first ever birthday cake during the homily.   

M is a moustached Plaridel enshrined and celebrated in Bulakan, and a Requiem Mass for a misogynist congressman at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Marilao.

Finally, M stands for the Michellin Bib Gourmand emblem that adorned Chie-Chie's Batil Patung like tubs of lechon karahay, chibul, and dinakdakan floating in a sea of egg drop soup.