Even Nature cooperates. A most beautiful sunset backgrounds Leni Gerona Robredo’s rally in Bataan. Folks came out in the thousands. It is no different in a small province like Siquijor, or a much bigger one like Dumaguete, nor a midsized Zambales. Even Japan witnessed its first large mobilization of Filipinos, in the thousands.
The exuberance of joyful dancing, chanting, mobilizing are evident, proclaiming to the world, that the Filipino spirit is alive.
Not to be dragged down by its past, but hopeful for its pink rosy future. Artists paint, sculpt, compose music, write poetry, write essays, publish books and even held their first Bicol Book festival. The poetry book of 100 poems for Leni sold out in no time and now is into its second, might even be third printing.
Like art that is conspicuous everywhere in the provinces, so are spring hot pink hydrangeas, a symbol of authentic expressions of emotions in New York. Dual citizens registered to vote eagerly await their ballots to be mailed by the Consulate offices.
Pink tulips are in bloom, as if to say, our future is bright, for we can write a new narrative of engaging with a trustworthy, smart, honest, incorruptible, dignified 17th Philippine President – isang babae!!
Opo, isang babae and we pray we all get to vote our consciences’ choice of candidates adhering to our values of rule of law, honesty, transparency, and good governance. #NoToCorruption and no to the candidates who represent darkness of theft, tax evasion, misrepresentation, cheating, toxic machismo and an entitled attitude that Malacanang is this tax evader’s home, to this day, billion pesos have not been paid to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
Overseas voters reported pre-shaded ballots in favor of Sara Duterte in Sweden, Vancouver and Singapore, posting them on Facebook with images. One voter took the preshaded ballot to their local Philippine Consulate and demanded a clean unshaded ballot, tore up the pre-shaded ballot in front of theconsular officials, before completing the legitimate unshaded ballot. Citizen/voters are awake. They are the change that we have been waiting for, as ourselves, eager to have our votes matter in the most consequential elections of all times.
This coming Saturday, April 23 is #LeniRobredo‘s birthday. What is gratifying is seeing my non-political, quiet when it comes to politics, friends who are fully engaged and mobilizing folks to attend the rally in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, CA.
Heroic Leadership as the Jesuits demonstrated to us in more than 5 decades is “being consciously committed to extracting every kernel of potential from every moment. It is a foresight to see that commitment multiplied many times over. Great results emerge, one motivated individual at a time.”
I salute you VP Leni Robredo as you embody heroic leadership of “considering, internalizing, and shaping our collective mission to love our Inang Bayan to the point of collectively making solutions to our common problems.”
Thank you for displaying your courage, your nobility and greatness of heart, mirroring the hearts of our great people, enhancing us all as a people, to be thousand candles of lights for our homes! -@Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz
Movement for the Common Good Fired Up: Love is a Miracle – Never Give Up
Casual lunches amongst friends become sharing stories about the goodness of the “Kapwang Filipino,” the inner authentic selves full of goodness, solidarity, concern for the other, beyond oneself. We exchange poetry books, T-shirts, apron and bracelets – all about Leni.
Ano ba iyan? What’s going on? Why are the tsunamis of pink in Rizal where it rained all day, and wherein folks won’t budge, securing their spots in the rally? What motivated their sacrifices? Why are farmers walking on foot demonstrating their support for Leni? Why are fishermen doing a parade of their boats on the seas? Why are rains not even dissuading folks from coming together?
Could it be the “the almost imperceptible intrusions of grace, as Msgr. Flannery O’Connor said?
Wherein the story of Leni Gerona RobredoVP Leni Robredo moves forward beyond all these human experiences, mysteriously guided by the Holy Spirit – as the rains stopped just as Leni spoke to the crowd? Worried that the folks got soaked in the rains, Leni even asked how are they going home? And to please take a shower so they won’t get sick, she continued to worry about their heroic sacrifices.
Empathy and solidarity are golden traits of Filipinos, displayed in homes and amongst friends and families. But empathy from public officials campaigning in the public squares? Or solidarity, inventiveness – elderly nuns saving their allowances to buy paint materials for public murals in the grounds of St.Theresa’s?
What did Leni unleash when her campaign slogan is “It is more radical to love.” A common good ethos, perhaps?
“The common good refers to what belongs to everyone by virtue of their common humanity. The simple definition of the common good is “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfilment more fully and more easily” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1906). Promoting the common good cannot be pursued by treating each individual separately and looking for the highest “total benefit”, in some kind of utilitarian addition. Because we are interdependent, the common good is more like a multiplication sum, where if any one number is zero then the total is always zero. If anyone is left out and deprived of what is essential, then the common good has been betrayed.
“The common good is about how to live well together. It is the whole network of social conditions which enable human individuals and groups to flourish and live a full, genuinely human life. At the heart of the common good, solidarity acknowledges that all are responsible for all, not only as individuals but collectively at every level. The principle of the common good expands our understanding of who we are and opens up new sources of motivation. The fulfilment which the common good seeks to serve is the flourishing of humanity, expressed in the phrase “integral human development”.
“Such development requires that people are rescued from every form of poverty, from hunger to illiteracy; it requires the opportunities for education, creating a vision of true partnership and solidarity between peoples; it calls for active participation in economic and political processes and it recognizes that every human person is a spiritual being with instincts for love and truth and aspirations for happiness. Development must always include this spiritual growth, with openness to God.”
It is more radical to love, and beyond the politics of our common humanity is a shared sense of justice, decency and common good. These are the acts of willing generosity, motivated by a compulsion to give, with no expectation of any thing in return. These are my fellow countryfolks’ traits!
Thank you Bam Aquino and all the campaign organizers who keep on giving of themselves and from your examples, we too are inspired, to give.
Next Monday, April 11, 2022, Philippine Consulate is open for overseas voting until May 9, 2022 at 7pm – Philippine time which translates to 4am, May 10, 2022 Tuesday. Some of my friends are taking half day off to vote. Will you? -@Prosy Delacruz
Threats of red are the warm, pink hearts of volunteers, ignited into Solidarity and Pakikipagkapwa, by the red blood in them, mirroring God’s goodness.
They are fired up by their love of Inang Bayan: to create public murals, beautifully made sculpture of Maria Leonor, spoken word performances, murals on buses; unprecedented endorsements by student councils, faculty of civil law, local party list’s endorsements, 19 former financial executives, and mobilizations of thousands in Samar, Bohol, CAMANAVA, and more.
Some referred to these gatherings as tsunamis of pinks, inspiring folks to keep giving to others, mobilizing as well in cities outside of the Philippines: Los Angeles, London U.K.
Newspapers continue to report the high survey results of the other candidate and frozen at 16% for Leni Gerona Robredo which belies the ground game of enthusiastic volunteers gathering in thousands, mobilizing their neighbors and community, pooling their resources, creating their own campaign materials and essentially fueling and propelling this campaign to keep moving forward. Enthusiasm is not reducible to any metrics, and surveyors are unable to quantify how thousands have been mobilized since.
It only takes 22 million votes according to John Nery to win this presidency, as written by Philippine Inquirer’s Manuel Quezon III.
The surveys are questionable, given the sustained vibrance of the ground game of VP Leni Robredo ‘s campaign, resonating beyond the geographical borders of the Philippines into major cities around the world, week after week since she announced she is running independently.
One can credibly say, we are awake, ready to vote, to write a new chapter of electing an incorruptible, honest, smart, service-oriented, “people-first”, compassionate 17th Philippine President Leni Gerona Robredo who serves with integrity and uses an audit-compliant, ISO 9000 quality system of operations in running her current OVP.
May the force be with you, Madame Commander-in-Chief to be!
I got inspired sculpting a piece when I saw one of her speeches during a debate a few weeks ago. Her power impelled me to create an artwork that will represent beauty, love, integrity, and bravery.
I never imagined that I will meet her today, in the flesh.
An artwork inspired by a woman who is unyielding yet graceful, capable yet humble.
Thank you VP Leni Robredo for being an inspiration to many.
I was camping in Pismo Beach reading the 100 poems for Leni. I used my fingers to guide me which poem to read and it landed on page 50-51. It spoke to me:
Pink all over is all I see. From the pink icicle cactus flowers to wild pink flowers by the roadside to pink shaded sky at sunset.
Why do I only see pink when my eyes are used to seeing diverse colors of the rainbow?
Perhaps from my heart being inspired by volunteers of Leni Gerona RobredoVP Leni Robredo decorating the entrance of Emerald Ave in Pasig for “29 hours. Time check 5:09AM March 20, 2022. Finally done, after 29 hours, 2500 pcs butterflies and 36000 flower heads.Thank you team! Thank you Lord! Honored and priviledged to be part of history!”
Imagine the fervor and passion for this fearless leader who folks are following, even though they have the freedom not to?
Freedom to choose a new narrative for the Philippines – to be known as a country to have an incorruptible, smart, service oriented President this May 9, 2022! Holy Spirit, may it be so and deliver us all from evil!
Leni has served the public even as a non-profit lawyer, and continued to serve the common good as a Congressperson and as a Vice President shunned by the incumbent President, while frozen out of official Philippine funds.
Yet, she persisted to serve everyone and private companies and private donors gave to the Office of Vice President and she responded with being transparent and accountable using a quality oriented system, professionally passing audits by the Commission on Audits, and a European-based quality system called ISO 9000.
Yet, the opposite that our corruptible present administration, even the plain view vote-buying tactics of Cavite Governor,who believes his surrogate crime is unpunishable by law.
Why? Because even the current Presidential candidate has an outstanding tax bill of over Php 203 billion who is running as a colleague of the current President’s daughter. A candidate who is known as a tax evader and to which fact has been documented by BIR’s demand for payment.
Will you the voter enable BongBong Marcos’ corruption and allow evil to pass you by even as he declares presumptively even this early that the Philippines needs martial law? The criminal telling us he wants to commit more crimes!
Enough, we have the choice to vote our conscience just like the thousands mobilized in these #kakampink rallies. Time to put our common good first and foremost and the future of our children. Please vote pink! Remember to elect #LeniKiko2022 and #LetLeniLead!
We need not be slumped in the gutters, we can rise up to have a bright future of pink!!
An orange-brown monarch flew by as my husband created two verses for his poem, to describe his sensitive heart. I laughed out so loud, I believe the entire expanse of the camping site heard us.
Beautiful day to lounge around under the awning, watching raptors flying, observing, enjoying reading poems offered as gifts from the hearts of 67 poets.
We walked towards the beach, quite a distance, surrounded by mature eucalyptus trees. I wore my mask so as not to trigger my asthma.
I saw a couple resting, she had a crutch on.
Are you married, I asked.
“No,” she said, “just engaged.”
I asked, “Would you like me to take your photo?”
“That would be nice,” she said.
He approached her closer, and put his arm on her shoulder, as if not to lose her or be distant.
“See that guy, the love of my life? The guy in purple. I have been married to him 43 years,” I declared so confidently. After all our bliss nowadays is hard won, of struggles transcended, of social justice causes served, of two bright, compassionate and diplomatic children raised, and many community organizations founded, led and participated in.
She asked, How did you make it?
“Oh, have common interests, and we live a life outside of ourselves, by serving others.” We take care of our precocious, smart, kind, affectionate, fearless, adventurous, and compassionate #princess2015la.
She asked, “How do you keep it fresh?”
“Oh, adventures like this.”
This is where I spotted a couple quite at a distance, in a two minute hug, timed by an apple watch.
I shared that image with my hubby @enrique and right away, he hugs me – It lasted a minute.
A second round, this time, a 2 minute hug, timed by his apple watch. I joked earlier he could not last more than a minute.
Effective in giving me the extra boost to keep walking on the sand, cross streams, up the sand dunes, and back to camp. We must have traveled over 500,000 in our married life doing roadtrips, attending conferences, organizing national summits.
Last night, when he clasped my left hand, with his two hands, I warmed up quite fast and he told me that I immediately fell asleep.
Emerald Avenue in Pasig became a cherry-pink blossomed street with over 137,000 folks who came out to support @lenirobredo @bise_leni in her rally today. It was overflowing in hope because folks connected with each other and identified with Leni Gerona Robredo’s messages.
Even Ariana Grande reposted from her account:”‘I COULD NOT BELIEVE THIS WAS REAL ‘
LOOK: American singer-songwriter Ariana Grande reposted a video of the crowd at Vice President Leni Robredo’s #PasigLaban rally, singing her hit song ‘Break Free’ on Sunday, March 20. “I love you more than words,” the pop star said.” https://t.co/B9ABalqIEm
It truly is #exhilirating and gratifying to see fellow Filipinos rise up to show their love and support for the 17th Philippine President to be Leni Gerona Robredo.
‘
