She finished her bowl and asked for more rice. She had a green mochi ice cream for dessert. Her face lit up after as she savored the ice cream after eating the mochi. She says, “Grandma, I like mochi,” to which I said, “Me too, Sweetheart.”
She then sat in the library to read her books. After 15 minutes, she stopped. I asked why?
She came up with an excuse, but I did not buy it.
I said, “One hour of reading gives you an hour to do what you want.” She knew I said it in a not so gentle tone. It means Grandma will not budge.
So she sought an alternative to the “wall,” she needed a bridge.
She went upstairs and asked for her grandpa to come down. He said, “She only has 6 more books to read, as she read 2 books already on the way here from the library.
Still, they both started reading and just like that, she did more than an hour of reading all her library books. She was quite happy after to gain her freedom hour. We both respected her library space.
By 530pm, her mom picked her up. I shared that she read for an hour and ate all her veggies. Mom thanked me.
It was mostly happy, productive, and a brief not so happy moment to redirect her to be responsible. She is truly a joy to be with.
Let the light in: honesty, truth, accountability and integrity of public service!
The colors of our lives are being previewed now for us, hopeful in prosperity and radical in loving deeds to others. Pope Francis once said, “Love has no alibi.” Soon after #TyphoonOdettePH unleashed its mighty destructive powers, Leni Gerona Robredo organized a multifaceted process of responding: relief first, rebuilding and renewal of communities. Her leadership spoke so loud in deeds more than words to help the ravaged communities. But what about the Presidency?
When government officials in power are making excuses for not making the right electoral decisions in Comelec, we are watching the undermining of our elections. We are allowing a tax evader to run for the highest office, even defying the filing of his statement of assets and liabilities. Comelec sits on its sworn duties by choosing to neglect on the printing the ballots for the elections to be conducted properly. Why is it so difficult to choose right over wrong in this country? Why can’t they honor the public’s trust in them?
It is even more disturbing and unconscionable to witness a power grab of all installations and broadcasting transmitters that belongs to ABS-CBN, by unfairly denying its franchise only, to pass it wily-nily onto a billionaire supporter of the current administration. Magic or evil?
Similarly, the unconscionable transfer of underwater resources of oil and gas, once national assets of the Philippines, to a private individual, another ally of the current administration. Should we not have a new narrative of honesty in public service? Will we have public servants who will not breach the public’s trust?
We, the voting and dual citizens must not allow evil to simply pass us by. It is what fascism wants for us to be: afraid, and for us to allow our agencies to be hollowed out in its core, and for media to lose its journalistic mission, allowing unqualified youtube celebrities and public figures to interview Presidential candidates.
The May 9, 2022 elections is not a reality show, it is not a Boy Abunda nor a Toni Gonzaga youtube channel show. It is an election to change the narrative of stolen human lives, properties, and human dignities to respect the #ruleoflaw and govern with integrity and respect for human lives and properties.
We must elect a new way of being, electing the next 17th Philippine President to lead us with integrity, giving dignity to the power of the presidential position and ultimately, the dignity of over 110 million Filipinos in the world stage. We are not thieves, we are of royal blood, descended from the Lord Jesus Christ and we must rise to act with our conscience and good Christian/ Catholic values.
Photo 1 – #LeniAngatSaLahat – Leni to uplift us all!
Photo 2 – Pink Tulips with the Holy Family and the Blessed Mother and Jesus. I believe in their divine power to animate us with light.
Photo 3 – A new book in the making, with a vibrant illustration of new beginnings in agriculture.
A FRENCH TRANSLATION IS ON THE WAY!
Argos, a story by Christine Bellen Ang, will have its French translation by Eduardo Calasanz. Thanks to National Book Development Board – Philippines for their translation grant. The project is initiated by the Ateneo de Naga University Press and Savage Mind Bookshop. Illustrations by Jerameel Lu.
Photo 4 – Light of facts and truth guiding us
A FRENCH TRANSLATION IS ON THE WAY!
Argos, a story by Christine Bellen Ang, will have its French translation by Eduardo Calasanz. Thanks to National Book Development Board – Philippines for their translation grant. The project is initiated by the Ateneo de Naga University Press and Savage Mind Bookshop. Illustrations by Jerameel Lu.
Photo 5 – 10 – Hope in neighboring countries of South Korea, Japan, and more that struggled to wipe out corruption in their governments so their citizens’ lives are uplifted. #LeniForPresident2022
“When I interviewed Rodrigo Duterte for the ‘Philippines Graphic’ prior to his declaration to run for President, he told me: ‘I am not interested in being the President. I do not like to be President. Besides, I do not have the money. There should always be a prefix here. A prefix that’s something like, if I were Roxas, Binay, Escudero and Poe, then I would use the ‘I’ because it’s more convenient to express it. So, if ‘I’ become the President, I’ll give everybody a chance and tell them let us, at least for once in our generation, vote for candidates that could make a difference. For [our] own good, this time. Okay, maybe this time, we work on it. Let us give ourselves about one year. Then, we try to reform. Everybody—the Judiciary, Congress, the Military. Let us do it for ourselves.”Well I guess destiny, or maybe collective rage, had other things in mind. I did not vote for you, sir, but just the same, congratulations! I pray for your new calling and wish you all the best. You have six years, sir. I will hope with the rest of my country that despite the issues surrounding you, that somehow you will be able to succeed on a national level. I give you my word, sir, that I will be exceedingly fair (as I have always been) and will be watching you and your administration. Again, may God keep you and bless you, Mr. President. Mabuhay po kayo.” –Joel Pablo Salud of ‘Philippines Graphic,’ May 10, 2016.
If several reasonably-minded presidential candidates, Grace Poe and Mar Roxas conceded early, who am I to say that they are not right in doing so? If a respected editor-in-chief of ‘Philippines Graphic’ is affirming his mission to be a guardian of democracy, who am I to say that Rodrigo Duterte should not be the Philippine president?
The people have spoken, they have voted him into office.
After all, we all want a peaceful world to go about our daily lives. We want a country whose president cares about national security and its citizens’ safety. We want a country where its regulatory folks and police personnel are guardians and contributors to public safety and security.
But, hold, we are not calling for a return of the dark years of decades of Ferdinand Marcos’s type of dictatorship where all industries became his family’s, and where they plundered the Philippine treasury as if their own private checking account.
“Daang Matuwid” accomplished changes; in fact, a small businessman, Richard Cavosora wrote of seeing progress in his town in Laguna with more classrooms, more schools, more health clinics and previously poor families able to send their children to school, courtesy of the conditional cash transfer.
This current administration accomplished macroeconomic changes we can be grateful for. Once the laughing stock of the world, as the “Sick Man of Asia,” the nation is now the 70th freest economy in the in the world, according to the 2016 Index of Economic Freedom by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., and the Wall Street Journal.
The Philippine Star’s Jose Katigbak reported, “Hong Kong topped the 178 economies ranked in the 2016 Index with a score of 88.6 points, followed in order by Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland and Australia. They were the only countries rated as ‘free’ with scores above 80 points.”
Imagine that the Philippines not too long ago could not attract new business investors given the pervasive climate of corruption and instability.
But these macroeconomic changes were not enough, citizens observed a double standard, one for them, another for the presidents’ men.
Yes, our President Benigno Aquino III was honest, but his critical cabinet secretaries in transportation and agriculture left a lot to be desired. They failed to realize transportation and agriculture are major arterial industries that drive life into the economy and support the citizens’ lives. When these industries, as well as power, are not working, the country is not working, despite tall skyscrapers.
40 million out of 54.4 million registered voters cast their votes, as Comelec reported a turnout rate of 81 percent.
When he takes his oath of office, Duterte will be reminded that 62.5 percent of the registered voters did not vote for him. Only 37.5 percent supported him.
As of May 11, 2016, he got 15,877,848 votes, while Mar Roxas earned 9,662,133 votes.
It means as the first president from Mindanao, Duterte will have to resolve the peace and order situation in that region, get the negotiated Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBM) approved through Congress and integrate the warring factions into the fabric of Philippine society, so we all can go on with our civilian lives.
It means he will also have to unite with the other 62.5 percent of the voters who did not support him and will be scrutinizing him.
As of May 11, with 95.59 percent of the voting results tabulated and transmitted, Leni Robredo had an unofficial lead of 230,000 votes in the vice presidential race, garnering 13,966,851 while her opponent, Bongbong Marcos got 13,736,260 votes.
I personally gave her my vote, as she connects to fishermen, farmers and poor folks, with her “tsinelas leadership style” walking to visit them and inquiring about their plight. Like what visiting priests do to reach their upland parishioners, she would walk on foot to reach them.
I was also inspired by farmers who travelled from Sumilao near Bukidnon, a distance of over 900 miles to Manila and arrived after 19 days. These farmers were grateful for the assistance of Leni Robredo, the lawyer who many years ago helped them acquire titles to the lands they tilled for decades under the agrarian land reform law.
As to senators, I intentionally voted for 12 with a slate from multiple parties. I took the time to review candidates profile.
Voters did the same, as the top slate of senators are coming from different parties: UNA (1), Liberal Party (5), Akbayan (1), Independent (3) and NPC (2), perhaps to encourage all parties to come together for the nation’s common good.
Enough of partisanship and more of teamwork for the nation — that seems to be the message.
Enough of the divisiveness, become a team of varying perspectives to work for the common good of the Filipino people. Be a good teammate, not a selfish one who resigns and goes his merry way when the going is tough.
Did we fail to educate?
In the hallways of some call centers, drug dealing and prostitutes were in plain view. Check out Eastwood at night and call center employees are getting off buses to go to work at midnight. With better incomes, they are targets, lured to become users of illicit street drugs. One Christian Church in America considered them “crops to pick” and planned to build a satellite campus for prayer, right in the middle of these drug dealing sites.
With Rodrigo Duterte, voters reported, “he got us, he admitted to his mistakes, he admitted to killing 1,400,” to which preaching about the ten commandments, “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” became the compelling response of the Catholic bishops and priests.
“I will make the Philippines safe, I will dump the drug lords in the ocean,” Duterte kept saying to the voters.
Never mind that his statements bordered on a Mafioso style of governing. His words matched what folks wanted: safe streets, peace and order, even if achieved with unlawful means.
They do not remember the dark years of Marcos dictatorship, as the textbooks did not document martial law and they were too young to remember what truly happened then. Question for me: why did President Benigno Aquino III not initiate a curriculum reform and checked into the textbooks being disseminated by Department of Education? Why did he simply build classrooms, without paying attention to the content of the curriculum, miseducating millions who now voted for a Mafioso type of a president?
Some of these young voters, I come to know, even did their homework. They visited Davao and checked out how safe they would be travelling at night. They liked the idea of being able to walk at night, free from being accosted by unlawful elements and grateful for honest jeepney drivers in Davao. So they tweeted and reported that Davao is great and so can the Philippines be great. Not just fun in the Philippines, but truly great.
Then, the reality of living in Manila hit them upon returning. The traffic congestion, which took hours to commute, plus the “laglag bala” where bullets were planted by the airport security personnel, further aggravated the citizens who realized that the current president is not with us and does not care about us.
Transportation, airport safety and safe streets became compelling issues which cannot be ignored.
Even though they knew or have heard about “death squads” and “vigilantes” in the 1980s that reportedly killing 400 — only to be corrected by Duterte who admitted that over 1,400 suspected street criminals were killed — these young voters reasoned, “People change and that is before our times, let’s move on for progress.”
Trefor Moss of the Wall Street Journal reported on May 10 that Duterte told his supporters, “Forget the laws on human rights.”
Even though voters went for the current president six years ago, they went for change and that meant Duterte, the anti-establishment candidate.
Be that as it may, I believe God has a plan for the Philippines. It is time to bury the hatchet, resolve all conflicts and may this country heal with peace and order, economic prosperity, adherence for the rule of law and respect for all people!
“Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation” (1 Timothy 2:2).
I was a supporter of the watercolor arts done by Orly Castillo, who just died at age 75. When I met him, I liked the way he was into dialogues and deep conversations.
I bought the first painting “Alay sa Tinubuang Lupa,” an original that I raved about that became a template for many more to be bought by fellow activists.
One day, his girlfriend, Chona called asking for help in dealing with Orly’s temper. As forthright as I was, I told him about the laws here protecting women. Orly listened, but for a short period. He found it quite hard to survive in America and vented on his girlfriend who was a bank teller supporting both of them. He could not take it that he couldn’t just paint and sell his art.
He called me again one day saying he is saying goodbye for good. I had no idea what it meant. I drove looking for him in parks and the community center he would frequent. After several hours, I found him in his apartment. He appreciated that I cared about his life but I scolded him like a big sister would and told him if he did not value his life, my husband and I did.
One to two more counseling sessions with him, and with my husband that we requested him to help out with the kids and teach them painting. Where, he asked? I said, Search to Involve Pilipino Americans.
He did. He was happy to visit after several months to tell us that he got a grant to teach painting. Then, he met a woman that gave him a home in her heart, a psychologist. He was back painting. After a decade being married to her, he got restless and went back home to the Philippines. We lost touch.
He came for a visit years after and showed me another of his paintings. It was dark, it was confusing, and he kept persuading me to buy it. I refused. It felt like dark energies. I told him to reexamine what was bugging him inside. He did.
He came back months after and sold me another of his painting, a woman surrounded by abundant produce. I am looking for that last painting that he sold to me. It must be in the house somewhere.
I challenged him to paint me this painting that reflected his abundant, loving heart. I told him to capture how he felt while teaching the kids, painting. He came to me that day sharing about these kids’ stories. He apologized for being a brat, realizing the kids he was teaching had harder lives.
Today, I found it. It was meant to be found. Orly, you found your home, as your painting reflects your abundant home in the Universe, just like the last painting you sold to me!
Orly Castillo, you are the only artist that I have a collection of your works. They spoke to my heart – the gentle love that you have for your mother and your mother towards you, until that one painting I refused to buy. I am happy I found your painting of abundance.
May you rest in peace my dear friend, Orly Castillo! I missed our hours long conversation in my dining table. I am sorry but I just could not buy that one painting, it was too dark for me! We love you!
From a social segment trashed by the elite, relegated to a life of poverty; we all can give a window of hope, a lifeline for those marginalized to be uplifted. We need not be bureaucratic. We need to feel their pain and sufferings, and give them a chance to explore their potentials.
But, first, we must vote, as empowered, smart voters who care for our future, who care to give a helping hand to our children to become future leaders.
When we realize we are the change we have been waiting for, we rise up, regardless of income or age to help others rebuild their lives.
We must make sure our government is made accountable. Comelec must print the ballots, unless they are planning to subvert democracy and install an unworthy candidate. We see you #comelec and we are watching!!
We saw fog from Monterey to north of San Simeon, driving back from Monterey to Los Angeles, CA. It covered the blue ocean waters and made it seem like snow. In some parts, it seemed like water upwelling to the surface, simulating simmering water.
“Fog that forms over water is commonly referred to as sea fog or lake fog. It forms when warm, moist air flows over relatively colder waters. Sea or lake fog can occur over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes and other bodies of water.”- Google.com
The best views aren’t meant to be photographed. They were created to be enjoyed every moment
