PRAYERS TO MARIEL, RAMON, AND JACKIE

     Our prayers and energies to Mariel, Ramon, and Jackie, who are stricken with illnesses that could be fatal to them. Mariel, a former officemate in the state-run  Philippine Informatione Agency lives with her daughter and two grandchildren in California while Ramon and Jackie are in Baguio City and Toronto, respectively. May the Lord Almighty be with them always.
     The blogger has not seen Mariel in person for more than a decade. I learned about her illness from Lina Suyat, also a former officemate in PIA, who lives with her family in West Covina. Same is true for Ramon, a media personality.  The last time the blogger saw Jackie was during a sort of a party in the yard of their house in San Mateo, Isabela. She is the sister of daughter-in-law Maria Ceoncepcion.
      Their illnesses affect the blogger who sometimes feels a great sadness thinking of them. How could such diseases strike them in their not-so-advanced years?

DOUBTING THOMAS

 
 There is this Bible story about Jesus walking on water and one of his followers, tried to do the same at the Christ's bidding. The disciple's first steps were successful but he doubted at this ability and began to sink. And Jesus said something about men of little faith. 

     The blogger, at his age, is wondering whether he can still set himself "afire" and produce poetry and fiction. But it has been a long time he has left the pen somewhere in a corner. Has the ink dried up?

     This reminds of the quotations of William Shakespeare and Gustave Flaubert. They said:

      "Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the  good oft we might win, by fearing to attempt."--Shakespeare.

     "Doubt--is an illness that comes from knowledge and leads to madness."--Flaubert

PRAYERS TO CANCER-STRICKEN SOULS

Our prayers and energies to cancer-stricken friends:

     1. Our prayers and energies to Jackie Diego Ignacio who has cancer of the bone in Toronto, Canada. Since being diagnosed for the disease, group prayers have been offered for her in the Philippines and in Canada. May the spirit of the Lord Almighty be with her always. Jackie is the sister of the blogger's daughter-in-law, Maria Concepcion of San Mateo, Isabela.

    2. Our prayers and energies to former colleague, Mariel Rilloraza, who has stage 2 breast cancer. She has been living with her daughter Audrey and two grandchildren in Pomona CA since 2005, and undergone the first of eight chemotherapy procedures that, she said, has weakened her immune system and caused all her hair to fall off. Her voice was weak and the blogger could not recognize it when she called her after more than a decade. Eventually, the voice became stronger and more alive as in former times and we laughed multiple times as we recalled past events in the regional office of the Philippine Information Agency in San Fernando City. May the spirit of the Lord Almighty be upon her always.energies

    3. Our prayers and energies to Ramon Dacawi of Baguio. The smiling journalist--that's how the blogger remembers him--is undergoing dialysis at a hospital in the city of pines.

THE BIGGEST ARENA IN THE WORLD AND POOR FILIPINOS

     Constructed on a lot in a newly-built city in a province near Metro Manila, the structure which was inaugurated last month has been billed as the biggest arena in the world.
     Where did it (the house of like-minded worshippers) obtain the the fund for its construction? From the members not only in the country but also those in various countries where the church has been established. The building, of course including labor, cost billions (compare this to the P2.7-B Makati City Government Building).
    Only from members? The church is known for its bloc vote and during elections, politicians troop to its house of worship in QC, seeking support of church officials. In exchange for millions? How much did politicians contribute to the construction of this edifice amidst the squalor and widespread poverty where at least half of the 100 million population eat only once or twice a day?   

FAILURE OF PHILIPPINE CHURCHES?

  

     F. Sionil Jose, the most translated Filipino author, is an Ilokano who traces his roots to Cabugao, Ilocos Sur. He writes in English only and regrets he can't write in our language. Jose, in his late 80s, is a critic of the Philippine condition and the social inequality in his country. Here is a comment he made during a PEN (Poets, Essayists, Novelists) conference in San Fernando City, La Union:

     "The degeneracy of our people illustrates too well the failure of the established churches. If it is true that we are the only Christian country in Asia, then such Christian values of honesty and integrity and belief in God should be imprinted in us."

    The blogger was one of the panelists in the conference along with Ilokano senior writer Juan S. P. Hidalgo, Jr.  fictionists Charlson Ong and Isagani Cruz. Jose and Cruz are columnists of the Philippine Star.

6.0 MAGNITUDE QUAKE HIST NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

  It must have shaken the house while we were sleeping, when the quake rocks Northern California at 3:20 this morning. The blogger remembers Tito Tugade and his family who live in the Bay area. CNN says the epicenter is near the Napa Country in the interior, where 15,000 people felt the strongest tremor.  In the TV we saw a long building burning, and a structure damaged and went down. It was the second biggest earthquake that hit California in years. The biggest was 6.9 in 1989.

THE PENTAGON BRIEFING

A cornocupia of dark
hate and brutality,
"apocalyptic vision of end
of days'
a horrifying narrative

of rape and death:
calculus of evil,
tinderboxes
of koranic verses
fired by black-hooded
executioners.

RAINS IN MENIFEE

     It's 4:40 in the morning. Lightning flashes came through the half-opened window blinds, followed by rumbling sounds of thunder. We waited for a defeaning sound that usually punctuates Philippine thunder. But nothing of the sort happend. Then the rains fell and we expected torrents as it gathered strength but it was only a short-lived pattering on the rooftop.
    A small puddle of water was created in the yard and no sign showed it would become bigger. It was a disappointment as clouds was only lingering in the sky. California is suffering from  drought and the state would have been relieved, at least for this day, if more rains fell.
     Would there be rains in the afternoon? My son who is the night shift in a hospital has just arrived and reported it was raining cats and dogs in Hemet.  

ASSESSING A PERSON

    

      The blogger starts by positing the question: How do you assess a person? By what he or she says and does, not necessarily on the basis of what he or she says? By his or her pedigree-- parents are rich and famous or parents are outstanding academicians who obtained their doctorates in foreign universities? By his or her looks--fair-complexioned, Spanish of Bombay features? By the way her or she dresses? Indeed, how and can you make a quick assessment of the person now before you who has  articulated a few sentences by way of questions that you may or may not answer?

SUNDAY MASS AT ST. VINCENT FERRER CATHOLIC CHURCH

Gate of Oscariz Roman Catholic Church when it was closed for several months
by the parish priest who quarreled with parishoners on money matters.

     Attended the 11:00 AM.Sunday mass at the nearby Catholic Church along Murrieta Road. Anib, Dianne, Nico, Jeric, Anib, Jr., the blogger and wife Estelita. Service offered by Filipino priest, Rev, Frederick Costales, who, years ago. officiated a mass  at the Oscariz, Ramon, Isabela Catholic Catholic Church.

JUST ANOTHER DAY

     The boys, Anib and Nico, college freshmen this October, are in their room upstairs. They are either sleeping or playing games in their laptop.
     Jeric, 4th year premed at UC Irvine campus, is in the adjoining room all by himself. He is either sleeping or reviewing for his exams.
    The couple Anib and Dianne who are in the night shift in hospital facility, are sleeping in their room.
    The wife is preparing an Asian lunch-- rice and a stew of okra, eggplants, paria, string beans, tomatoes, in the kitchen downstairs.
    The blogger,alone in the room upstairs, is reading last pages of Mitch Bloom's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven."
    The blogger contributes to the roaring silence.

RUMINATION IN MENIFEE

     This 90-year old senator is currently detained in a Philippine prison facility after plunder and graft charges were filed against him for the alleged misuse of his pork barrel or Disbursement Acceleration Progam. He allegedly pocketed more than P100-million in kickbacks in connection with the P10-billion scam involving senators, government functionaries and other high-ranking officials.  
     "I will win this case," he boasted to media, even if he is his own lawyer in the plunder charges.
     Nevertheles, he has hired as counsel Estelito Mendoza, one of the country's most brilliant lawyers and a factotum of the martial law regime of Ferdinand Marcos.
     He was the alleged architect of martial law that enabled the strongman to rule for more than ten years.
     The man was then at his prime, morally and intellectually.
     He may not have declined intellectually, but it appears he has deteriorated morally.
     His estranged wife claimed he has some 35 paramours. Does the number include his chief of staff who is also detained in the same facility for plunder charges?
     Can he redeem himself before he rides into the sunset and reconcile with his wife by whom he had two children, one of whom is following his footsteps as a politician?
     Can he be again in the good graces of the Filipino people who regarded him as hero of the Edsa Revolution that toppled his fellow Ilokano from power?
     Can he see the light like the former Saul who saw the light on his way to Damascus? Saul who became Paul was the persecutors of the Biblical Christians.
    
       
    

Part of Tribu Paraiso in Diadi, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines

THE GREEN CARD FIASCO

     It arrived today,this glossy green card that states, among others, that the blogger is a permanent resident of this country. My son who got the mails, enthusiastically gave me the envelope containing the card along with some other notifications.
     It was a short-lived celebration.The name on the card is that of my wife but the photo was not hers--it was mine.
     How did this happen? The blogger was thinking of the efficiency of the  system. How come that our photos were inter-changed?  Did the machine that prepared the card falter? They did not check the facts on the information sheet given them?
      My son, anyway, is doing something to correct the error which is not our own making.

THE PIT

All rights reserved

Vermin, half-truths, half lies
In front of them, on top of them,
behind them.

But their eyes are sunken, unseeing.

And it's still miles and miles
          to the gate
          of the ancient vineyard.

Arise, a poet-knight
And slay the snakes
In the pit of sex and perfidy.

Arise, a poet-knight
Redeem them, redeem them
From the grip of the impostor king.

All will be forgiven, comrade of the pen,
Arise a shining poet-knight. 

YESTERDAY

Quote of the day: " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."--Proverbs 1:7

  Sister Linda is going back to Hawaii on Monday after a two-week vacation in CA. She spent a week with our niece  Michelle, a nurse, and her family in Rancho Mission Viejo. Linda, our youngest I have not seen in years, was with us in Menifee for the last six days and we sort of "bonded" together. Yesterday morning, she, along with us and my wife, went back to RMJ for the last leg of her journey. We rode on Anib's BMW with  my son at the wheels. 
     Michelle and husband Ferdinand and their kids, Balong and Patricia, live in one of the apartments of a building on a rise of land overlooking the surrounding area. It has a parking lot with a shed and Anib manuevered his car in a vacant space. Michelle, in a white T-shirt,

 

was outside and had been giving instructions to Anib on her phone how to reach their place.     It was a more than an hour ride to Michelle's apartment, via the Cleveland mountain forest through the one-way Ortega highway, where we had a glmpse of Elsinore Lake. Earlier, Anib called Michelle and told her we would be having lunch at their place. And so we ate lunch prepared by Ferdinand who is a great cook. We had rice, grilled fish stuffed with sliced ginger and tomatoes, and stripped bamboo shoots mixed with. fried fish, and the Ilokano ensalada of very green an tende rangaw ti kamotig and cubed tomatoes. Eating the Ilokano dishes, we had the feeling of consuming it in the old country of our brth, the Philippines.       
    

WHAT EXACTLY IS AILING THE PHILIPPINES?

     It was a Saturday during the reign of the convicted economic plunderer, Joseph Estrada, that a PEN (Poets, Essayists, Novelists) international conference was held at the Oasis Country Resort in San Fernando City, La Union.pa
     The blogger was one of the panelists that included F. Sionil Jose, Charlson Ong, Star Columnist Isagani Cruz, and the Ilokano writer Juan S. P. Hidalgo, Jr. In attendance, too, were University of the Philippines English professor Nieves Espitola and Elmer Ordonez; and more than 300 Ilokano writers and English and literature teachers in the Ilokos--Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Norte, Abra, and Ilocos Norte.
     Hidalgo delivered the keynote address while Jose, recipient of the 1980 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Communication Arts, gave acidic comments on the country's political, social and economic state during the open forum.
     What Jose said then is still true today.
     "The country is not only suffering from poverty where people get hungry," he said. "It is suffering from spiritual poverty which is worse than poverty of the stomach."
     He said that in the village where he grew up, the parents are very proud that their daughters are going to Japan, when they know very well that many of these young women would become prostitutes in that country.
     Jose claimed that in Pagsanjan, Laguna, parents pimp for their young boys who sell their young bodies to pedophiles.
     "The degeneracy of our people illustrates too well the failure of the established churches," he said. "If it is true that we are the only Christian country in Asia, then such Christian values of honesty and integrity and belief in God should be imprinted in us."
     Nothing of the sort, according to Jose. He deplored that the country's priests live like princes and poor men's churches like the Iglesia ni Cristo and El Shaddai don't have lower class ideology.

 

 

"What do they really believe in?" he asked.

 

(At that time, INC and El Shaddai were supporting Estrada, whose ouster from the presidency was being demanded by the Roman Catholic Church, business groups, the academe and various sectors across the nation in the aftermate of the "juetengate" which triggered the impeachment trial of Estrada.)                                                    

Jose said he envied the Iranians who ousted the Shah of Iran in the 1970s. He said, "They, the Iranians, are not Catholics but Muslims. Their God is a fighting God."

"If we are interested in building the country, it is very important to look at ethics as solution to our problems," he said in the language of close to 10 million Ilokanos, mostly living in Northern Philippines.

"We go the worst from our  colonial masters--the Spaniards. the Americans, the Japanese," he said.

Jose said what Filipinos inherited was racism, the attitude of superiority, and the attitude of people from the Iberian peninsula that it is not honorable to work with the hands.

"From the Japanese, we did not get their high point that enabled them to become the great nation that they are. What we got from them was the sense of brutality and hierarchy," he said.

Jose, the most translated Filipino writer (he is an Ilokano who traces his roots to Cabugao, Ilocos Sur, but grew up in Tomana, Rosales, Pangasinan), hit the disparity between wealthy Filipinos and the poor. "It is obscene for one family to own a whole district of Manila wherein built mansions and skyscrapers," he said.