Level Up. We usually hear these words when we play arcade or video games when we have already achieved a certain degree of success and we proceed to the next phase.

In the real world, we all look forward to hear the words level up which means so many things in different aspects of our lives. It can be for our serious relationships with our significant other from getting to know, to courtship, to being together, to the proposal, to marriage, to being married, to having a family of their own and so forth. These various stages represent not only milestones but level up's of the relationship. In one's career, it can also start from application, getting an interview, getting a call, being hired, entry level position, being promoted, working on bigger roles and so on and so forth. Everybody apparently wants to grow and to face new challenges and levels of success.

Nobody wants to stay static. We move to be better. We can see this in our biggest treasures, our children, from the moment they were born, to them being able to carry their feeding bottles, to eating food, to walking, to talking, to being independent and more. This shows that we conquer phases in our lives and move to new endeavors that we previously couldn't directly handle or manage. At the right time, right training, right age and right situation, we can make things better and conquer a new challenge in our life.

In God's best time, He will give us what we truly deserve. With his guidance and the help of our loved ones and people around us, no challenge is hard to win.

Let us continue to work to be better than what we were. Let us continue to reach our dreams. Let us not just be contented but let us feel the need to do more and to be more.

Level Up Ilonggos

I believe in lifelong education. Learning happens on a daily basis. It does not stop when we graduate and get our bachelor's degree.

We can get knowledge from our peers, from what we expose ourselves to, from various cultures, from outside school premises and for others higher learning from academic institutions.

I learn something new from the people I interact with. I absorb good, relevant and useful information. Furthermore, by choice, I have also decided to pursue post graduate studies. I am blessed to have received my Masters in Public Management major in Local Government Administration from the University of the Philippines OU Diliman Campus (2006). I am also glad to have finished an executive certificate program from the Asian Institute of Management, the Basic Management Program (2003). I am privileged to have obtained my Doctor of Management with concentration in Public Management from the Central Philippine University just a few months after I turned 30 (2009). Moreover, I have attended regional, national and international summits and conferences. The most recent is at the Theodor Heuss Academy in Gummersbach, Germany.

I dream to have a chance to be able to study even just an executive program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in the United States of America but as of the moment that still remains a dream given the constraints in resources and time. Most recently, very good study opportunities came my way. One is a call from one of the officers of the school administration of one of my former Alma maters for a possible scholarship in another country. I am honored to be considered but I am currently not too keen about this given that I have to leave the country most especially Iloilo City for almost a year to be able to finish it if I will be lucky enough to get the scholarship. Having a family of my own and being responsible to my duty to them and to the people I serve in Iloilo City, it seems to be such a long time to be absent and missing in action in my beloved country and city. The second opportunity for study advancement wasn't planned. It just happened when my wife started working in Manila this January 2012 and I started to miss her and my daughter so much. I suddenly had free time during late afternoons (after 5pm) and early evenings during the weekdays. It is not everyday that I have a sponsored and organized special project, event, fiesta or social gathering that I have to attend to or afternoon and evening classes in my job as associate professor of the Graduate School of CPU. Thus, I was looking for something worthwhile. I wanted to make myself more productive. I considered taking up Law as something that would keep me busy while also adding up to my skills and training as a public servant aside from what I have learned in my Masters and Doctorate degrees which are both focused on Public Management.

I was hesitant at first because it will be my first study having my own family and I'm not anymore in my 20's. I wasn't also prepared to take the LSAT, the critical analysis exam and the English exam because I didn't have time to review because of my schedules during that time before the exams. I told myself if I pass the LSAT then that's the go signal. I was so afraid to get to know the results. I am blessed to have been informed by The University of San Agustin Law School that I was one of the few (6 to be exact) who passed the LSAT. Now, I am gearing up to start studying Law this first week of June 2012. I always ask permission from my own family (my wife and daughter) so as to have their support in any of my endeavors and also seek for the understanding of the people I serve so that they know that I am not only doing this for myself or for my own family but also to make myself a better public servant. If God will lead me to be a lawyer, then so be it. It will take me 4 years the earliest to complete my Law school and it all depends on my family, my schedules and my commitment if I could pursue and be able to finish it.

I enjoy learning. I am blessed to be able to pursue post graduate studies and executive programs. I believe that education is a treasure that can never be stolen from us. Quality education can lead us to fulfill our dreams, to reach our best potential and to also be able to help others in times of need. As I hopefully will be able to embark on this new journey to be a lawyer four years from now, God willing, I am excited and at the same time a bit scared of what I need to do to make this new plan into a reality. Again, I will let God lead the way. Maybe 4 years from now, people will not only call me Iloilo City Councilor, Professor and Doctor but possibly also Attorney.

I may be doing a lot of roles as a result of the things I do and the academic level of accomplishments I have achieved but the best roles that I am doing now are being a husband and a father. My biggest of dreams is to be a great husband and an awesome father. I thank God for giving me a chance to work on making those dreams come true.