2nd Part

(I learned later that he reached home that same hour we left the night before). After this, my friend with his company’s pickup brought me home around noon time. Tatay was already there and so was my brother and the carpenters. My wife and kids also were there but we spent the night and the night after at my cousin Doris home in Nula-tula. My first time to take a bath this night and I drank with Lolong the Johnny Walker I brought from home to help me sleep my worries.

Day 5: We just spent the day in Nula-tula and sometime in the afternoon another cousin from Samar came looking for us in the neighborhood, it was raining this day. He brought us grilled bangus and told us that they just came from our home and we should go there at once as Tatay has already agreed to evacuate Tacloban via the airport. So we arrived home in the afternoon and it was planned to leave 4am the following day.

Day 6: As we were about to leave home, a firetruck stopped but later on left us when we heard someone said “ayaw hito kay naka wheelchair”. Apparently, I could have been a burden to them on their way to the airport. We proceeded to the airport in two groups, my family with Tatay and my brother with the carpenters. We were the first to head out as my brother and carpenters secured the windows and doors at home before locking the gates behind them. Just before reaching the bridge in our barangay a white pickup with a Chinese-looking family inside stopped and offered a lift to the airport (4 kms away).

With the help of our neighbors we hurriedly boarded the bed of the pickup to our destination. I thanked the driver of the pickup as we disembarked and asked around where to queue for a flight out of Tacloban. Since we didn’t have tickets, commercial airline was out of the question so we proceeded to lineup for a chance to get on board the PAF C130. We were refugees in our own city and our stay at the airport was worse than anybody could imagine. We were treated by the PAF soldiers like POWs as ordered by their CO a COL. JOSE MIRANDILLA. Whenever a PAF plane arrives we were told by the CO that military dependents were first to board and next the rest of us. However, inside the airport were VIPs who were always the first one to board. We were among those in the front line of the refugees waiting for a ride out of devastation when the CO ordered me and my family to be checked by the PAF doctors outside to validate my obvious disability condition and Tatay’s ailment so we could be allowed to board the next flight out. This was only a scheme of the CO to rid some refugees who were already inside the waiting area for the next flight out.

The young PAF doctor, CPT JUSSEL F PARLAN, who examined us was disgusted over the CO’s action and he hurriedly wrote two medical notes stating that Tatay and I were fit to travel. However, we were not allowed anymore by the CO to be back inside the waiting area for the next flight out instead we were told by him to go to the end of the line outside. In frustration, my brother talked to another PAF officer in the vicinity and convinced him to allow me and Tatay to be back inside the waiting area. While inside, two non-pilot officers were discreetly helping us — CPT Ombao and CPT KALAW, the latter gave us his personal provisions of water and biscuits through another soldier. CPT Kalaw approached me later to tell me that he was only in-charge of security and it was up to the CO who goes on board the PAF C130. However, he added, he has asked a US pilot to accommodate us in their aircraft if ever we don’t get to board the next PAF plane. During this time a PAF GENERAL ROMEO POQUIZ passed by tagging along a soldier with DSLR camera, I tried talking to him about our condition but he only ignored me. At a distance, I observed him wear an elbow sling whenever he was being photographed by the camera-toting soldier. The airfield, aircraft and us refugees were his backdrops. We may have been treated badly by some officers of the PAF but the enlisted men, who were merely following orders, were discreetly sympathetic to the refugees with some even sharing their own water provisions. One of these soldiers was a SGT TOLENTINO. The big sergeant had a very long patience despite being mocked by an effeminate foul-talking young man who, ‘armed and threatening’ the soldier with a camera-phone, wanted to get past the cordon of soldiers. Later at night another PAF officer announced thru a megaphone: Since the foreign media noticed that we didn’t gIve you anything, we are now giving you biscuits and water plus carton to lie on. Fortunately the night was clear with stars above otherwise we would have been wet in the open.

Day 7: We woke up early anticipating our turn to fly out when the next PAF plane arrives. The plane arrived as a soldier searched and led us to hurriedly board the plane with my brother pushing my wheelchair. We arrived Mactan Airbase less than an hour later and were brought to the military hospital as I was on a wheelchair and Tatay was a senior citizen for standard medical checkup. But we begged off to be taken inside for checkup as we were anxious for a clean food and place to finally rest. We hailed a taxi outside the air base and all 6 of us cramped inside, the driver understandably took us despite our smell and dirt. We first went to a McDonalds drive thru for food then proceeded to my brother’s apartment. Our first day outside Tacloban.

The Meat Importers and Traders Association (MITA), has written President Ferdinand Romualdez M. Jr. (PFRMJr), through the Department of Agriculture (DA) undersecretary Domingo Panganiban, appealing for the president to issue an Executive Order (EO) “to further lower tariffs on pork imports for another five years to help address rising inflation and food security concerns.” Specifically, the EO requested will further reduce the import duty rate on pork at 5 percent in-quota and 15 percent out-quota for 5 years.

MITA was quoted saying “Since the conditions surrounding the issuance of EO 134 persist, we believe there is no need for DA to petition the Tariff Commission anew.” EO 134, signed by then President Duterte in May 2021, provided that in-quota pork imports or those under the minimum access volume (MAV), are slapped with a 10 percent tariff for 3 months and increased to 15 percent in the remaining months. This is lower than the original rate of 30 percent. The EO was issued amid spread of African swine fever (ASF) and the adverse effects in pork supply then.

Likewise, EO 171 was then signed last May 2021, which extended the 15 percent in-quota and 25 percent out-quota tariff rates for pork until Dec. 31 that year to bring down prices and stabilize the supply of pork in the country.

MY COMMENT:
I think that PBBM was being reasonable to have kept the headship of the DA given the multifarious problems inherited from the Duterte administration. The mandate of DA is crucial to the economy and lives of Filipinos which need 24/7 management. My 1 cent suggestion is to de-load the agency from functions that includes the aquatic resources management – create a Department of Fisheries.
ooo000ooo
NEXT TOPIC : “ADB approves $3.8 Million to protect Phil. Coral Reefs”
SHARE S & T THOUGHTS through E-mail: drpacjr@yahoo.com.

IN our liturgical celebrations, we can either be lavish or austere depending on the circumstances. What is important is what is in our heart—whether there is real love or not, whether there is a sincere effort to worship and please God or we are just making a show, whether we are making present the redemptive action of Christ or just playing games.
We are somehow reminded of this consideration in that gospel episode where Christ said that “there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down,” referring to the temple that was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings. (cfr. Lk 21,5-6)

Obviously, if our motives are sincere and our understanding about the liturgy is clear, we would really give the best that our capabilities can give. If we can give diamonds instead of just gold, then we would do it. We can never give enough to God. We can never be too extravagant in this regard.

But if all we can afford are just stones and pebbles picked up from the road, no problem. God looks at the heart more than the things we give him. And to God, there is no more precious thing than our heart if it is fully given to him. One good heart, faithful and full of love for God and others, is worth much more, infinitely more, than a world of precious gems.

What we have to avoid at all costs is hypocrisy in our liturgical celebrations. If we are really sincere in our liturgical celebrations, we will do and give our best. Even those little details of kneeling, genuflecting, singing and praying should be done in such a way that genuine piety can readily be seen. Such behavior not only would draw more graces from God but also would inspire others in their own piety.

I am happy to note that there is a marked improvement in the way our churches are built and furnished these days. The altars, the reredos, the ambos and the general interior decoration are being done in a splendid manner. The sacred vessels and vestments, the linens have, in general, improved in quality.

They somehow show the kind of faith and piety of the people in general, even if we also know that we still have a lot of economic difficulty around. They somehow show people’s knowledge of what truly matters in this life, what truly gives them eternal joy and not just a transient one. Their sense of beauty transcends the economic costs and all other sacrifices involved.

We just have to make sure that our liturgical celebrations are done with the proper dispositions. This is something that has to be studied and put into practice, since it is no joke to be involved in the liturgy properly either as a celebrant or a participant.

To be sure, the liturgy is not just some kind of dramatization. It is nothing less than the making present and effective of Christ’s sacrifice and his entire redemptive action. Both the celebrants and those who attend the celebrations should never miss this reality and should act accordingly. In the liturgy, everyone steps into the spiritual and supernatural world where Christ works out our redemption.

Again, this requires of us to have a deeply theological mind, where faith more than anything else rules all our human faculties.

I wrote this article in time when I was supposed to celebrate my birthday. So what do you think could its theme be? One of festive nature, right? Well, to some indeed, such a day is a time to enjoy—to “eat, drink, and be merry”, in celebration of another year that has been added to their lives.

For me, though, a birthday means so many things, depending on my stage of life. Basically, it has never been part of our family tradition to celebrate birthdays through some parties with invited guests, sumptuous foods, and lavish decorations. We were so poor to have such things. So in my younger years, a birthday was nothing but a day to remember. As a child, I would usually go to our house post and check if I had gotten taller based on my previous height markings.

In my teens, a birthday became a source of embarrassment, especially when it came during weekdays and some of my classmates would ask me to treat them to ice cream or the like that required me to shell out some amounts from my pocket that was oftentimes empty. I then tried to avoid such demanding friends every time my natal day came, even if it means skipping my classes in school.

When a meager and inconsistent income started to come my way, I then began to ‘celebrate’ my birthdays, but not the traditional way of again preparing a variety of foods and drinks with many invited guests. I would just do it with a close friend or two; we would eat somewhere, talking about topics of interest to us. Mine was just to mark my day with someone who could greet me in return. At least, someone became aware that it was my birthday.

To be quite honest, most of my birthdays in the past were never celebrated since it’s not really a big day for me. It’s just an ordinary day that I did not look forward to. In fact, there were times when I forgot a day was, after all, my birthday. Funny but other people were more aware than I was. I would just be surprised that somebody would greet me with a ‘happy birthday’.

But now that I’m getting older and nearing my senior years or old age, I am taking my birthdays more seriously. I am more grateful to God that a birthday comes my way, that I reach an advanced age, knowing that it’s only by his grace that I’m alive up to now. When I think of my younger years as a very sickly child, I could not help but wonder how I survived on many occasions without proper medication. There were times when I was bedridden, close to actually dying, but God spared my life in some miraculous ways, not because I am important—am just nothing and nobody—but because of his sovereign will.
This time, then, I look at my birthdays as an accumulation of God’s graces, provisions, and protection. It’s not a day to ignore, or set aside as unimportant. It is a solemn day to observe, contemplate, to thank God for. It means an added year to this life, a precious gift to reckon with, a token of God’s mercy. Hence it should be celebrated, not necessarily through lavish festivities, but through an open recognition of God’s faithfulness as the source and sustainer of life. A simple thanksgiving activity held with loved ones will do.