Jess Way

Not everybody knew Jess Robrero not until he met an untimely demise a week ago, when the seneca plane he was riding on crashed and plunged into a hundred and eighty feet deep seabed. Prior to his unlucky fate, he was in Cebu to address a forum and a ground breaking ceremony. For love of his family, he opted to take a private plane to catch up his daughter's awarding event back in his hometown, though he already booked ticket in a commercial flight.

The Filipino nation mourned. Losing a  true public servant. He was known for his tsinelas governance. When politicians race to brag  their accomplishments, Jess was never was. He served the public away from the glimpse of being talked. He extended help genuinely without getting any return. He was the catalyst of making a third class municipality into a first class city in just ten years. He did it, the "tsinelas way".

Tsinelas, simply a footwear. Anybody can buy it. It's very affordable. Cheap yet convenient to use.

Probably, Jess has a tsinelas personality. He was living a very simple life. He has the heart to serve other people. In fact, he was the Ramon Magsaysay awardee for local governance in 2000. 

Definitely, God has reasons why he called back Jess and join Him this early. Yet, he has left footprints of good public service which is worthy of emulation for all. 

He has carved a niche on his own, the Jess way.

Behind the RH Bill

Good Evening Everyone!

A little boy curiously asked his Grandfather one day,” Lolo, Is a wind still a wind if it doesn’t blow?” His bespectacled Lolo paused for a few minutes and said,” Well, apo it’s simply called air.”

Just like the little boy we have lot of questions crossing our mind. We need somebody knowledgeable enough to satisfy our quest for answers. More so if it will affect our personal being and the community where we dwell.

Our legislative halls have been flooded with various support and criticisms from the different sectors of the society, specifically on the RH Bill issue, which recently has a total of six versions pending before the committee. The Health Committee has the primary jurisdiction of the old bill and the Population Committee for the present bill and secondary referrals. With its latest version, House Bill No.96 – The Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act of 2010. The bills described as health bills, continues to stir the public.

True to our belief, the coin has two sides; the bill do has two faces. Proponents and supporters believe that the RH bill is pro-poor, pro-women and pro-life. They believe that its right based since the parents are given the opportunity to exercise freely and responsibly plan the number and spacing of their children through the use of modern natural and artificial family planning method , which are legal, medically-safe and truly effective which all, are embodied in the bill. They believe it is a health measure since it will improve maternal health and reduce infant mortality. Women are given opportunities to be productive freeing themselves from untimely pregnancies and abortion incidences. In the long run, it will reduce poverty and sustainable human development will be achieved, as a result of reduced population.

But the church teaches us that Life is sacred. A life in womb should be taken as a blessing because it’s God’s mystery of love.  It has a right to our protection and guidance. And we are morally responsible for them. In a position paper made by the Council of the Laity of the Philippines, they manifested their vehement objection on the bill primarily because reproductive heath and services tacitly approves the services of abortion as define by the United Nations. It has made legal the official funding for the population control measures and devices by classifying contraceptives as essential medicines, making it appear that human fertility is a disease that must be treated. They do believe that mandatory education of Grade 5 students on sexuality and family planning recommended in the bill unnecessarily exposes children at a very tender age, at the same time, violates the constitutional rights of parents to educate their children in accordance with their moral and religious beliefs. .

As citizens of this country, how would this proposed bill affect us, as a nation. Our parents taught us to be morally upright from childhood. Does it still work within us or has it been gradually eroded with the changes of time. Will the bill help us to be better off? Or   will it just be another vehicle to the same web of poverty. As far as our cultural practice is concerned, would it preserve our tradition as Filipinos or the other way around? Above all, how would this affect our already vulnerable physical well-being?

The state recognizes the sanctity of family life and protects the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception as provided by our constitution. The church, on the other hand, expresses his voice when issues are contrary to its teachings. The state and the church are inseparable.

And I quote the former Senate Majority Leader Francisco S. Tatad saying, “The oft-misquoted separation of the church and state does not separate the State from God. That’s why in the first line of the Preamble of our Constitution, we implore” the aid of Almighty God.” And the President’s oath to”preserve and defend the Constitution, execute laws, do justice to every man and consecrate myself to the service of the Nation,” ends with, “So help me God.”

(Delivered during the Efcom culmination program)

Education

For the past few days, I was pondering on something worth writing  and I guess education is relevant and fitting, just in time for the opening of classes.

Education.It is everybody's right and not a privilege. But with  education getting expensive nowadays, it is becoming more of a commodity where only the must-haves can enjoy.

Education is peculiar.Unlike any other human possessions, it cannot be stolen. It cannot be robbed. It doesn't loses its value over time. Once a person has it, it's part of him.It cannot be taken away but it can be shared.

We acquire education in private and exclusive schools as well as in public institutions.

Getting a private education entails a lot of money. We know school fee increases every year. The cost of books, school supplies, fare increases too.I never heard of these basic expenses decreasing but skyrocketing over the years.

Hence, a number of students from the private institutions have their exodus to the public schools because of the monetary considerations.

However, this shift has fueled the perennial problem which public schools annually experienced. There is the shortage of classrooms and books. Insufficiency of teachers.If not dilapidated school buildings and defective book contents. I hope this predicament would not lead to a half-baked learning.

When I was in grade school, I never experienced tagging a stool into class with me, afraid of not getting a place to sit. There was more interaction inside the classroom. We were not too overcrowded with only thirty students in a section. We had a one to one student book ratio.Absolutely,computers were unheard of.

I can only hope that education will be accessible to everybody irregardless of whoever has a larger pie. In that sense, I could say that education is really a right.

Rainy days

Summer days are over.Goodbye beach. Goodbye swimming gears. Goodbye hot temperature. Goodbye fans. Goodbye summertime.Rainy days are here again.

Our surroundings looks cooler now. The trees evaporates a new hope of growth.New leaves sprouted on its branches. A number of them have colorful foliage enough to magnet passersby. The dusty ground has gradually turned green, with new grasses growing abundantly.

Rainy days.It connotes peculiar things and events. When we hear the word rain, we think of umbrellas and raincoats. For those residents in the lowland, they fear for their lives because of floods, and landslides for those people living in vulnerable places and disaster prone areas.

People scamper to fix their roofs and eavesdrops to prevent water dripping inside their homes. 

However, rain also bring joy to some people. It will be a great development to the farmers.They can start planting their crops. Children I'm sure will be fascinated  to sail their paper boats on flooded streets and swimming with them too.

Whatever the rain will bring you, let us welcome it with open arms.

Grand Reunion

Eighteen years have passed. A lot of changes occurred. But we have the same passion to see the old faces of our classmates back in high school. Some have tremendously bloated and gained weight. Some have looked older than the others. We have aged. I, myself don a gray hair now, contrary to the black one when I was younger.

We have outgrown our childlike ways, but we never forget the memories we had during those days. We are all successful in our chosen professions. We have teachers, seafarers, engineers, policemen, nurses and many more. Not to forget the profession of becoming a parent. Some settled in other lands and others opted to stay home. In any way, I’m eager to see them again.

I can’t correctly figure out how I was elected as batch president. Although, I was a bit popular in school and excel in my studies. Probably, it started the whole thing. I thought such responsibility will cease right after we left the portals of the school, but I proved myself wrong. I have been tagging it wherever I go and probably go with me when I’m in a six-feet deep excavation, in God’s time.

With the help of the some of the officers, who were more active and passionate now about things, we rolled the plan of the reunion a year ago. The planning was an informal one. It was only in April that the plan was materialized. We became close internet buddies to keep updates of our plans.

Several suggestions surfaced in our discussions. We agreed to have a souvenir shirt and a banner to identify ourselves from the rest of the crowd. We did encourage everyone to send their designs for us to be able to decide which would be voted upon. Sadly, we only had two entries to chose from, my design and another from a teacher. Both designs eventually became the shirt and banner designs.

Reunions do come with food. Well, taken cared of. Two officers did the budgeting for the food and the recipes to be prepared, who were food majors in one of our high school remedial subjects. They knew better than I do in terms of taste buds. I preferred animal husbandry.

The big day comes. It was the 16th of May. Everyone was excited and prepared. The grand celebration kicks off with a holy mass participated by the graduates from 1950s up to the present. It could have been a family reunion too, had my father been alive today. My parents and brothers schooled on the same learning institution. How is that! A loyalty award for us..

The school ground was filled with smiling faces. It became a sea of alumni. They were small groups chatting from behind our location. A few of them stands beside the gate. Some cloaked themselves from the afternoon heat with the shade of the trees around. I can hear laughter and stories of the past. I can see waiters sweating profusely, busy preparing the food and beverages. I saw my high school teachers, who can still clearly identify me and the rest of the group.

The grand celebration hums to life with food and merriment and ended with an air filled with music from a local band.

Earthquake memories

The scenes of 2012 movie flashed back on my mind, when the quake occurred last Monday before noontime. I was comfortably sitting on my chair when I felt a gradual swaying motion. In just a split of a second, it became a 6.9 magnitude jolt which lasted for about 15-30 seconds.

I could hear the grinding sound of the office partitions like teeth of an angry animal looking for a prey. Furniture began to dance like having feet of its own. Suspended objects did their sway too. I kept telling myself, “The building is well-built and can withstand a major quake.” I whispered a little prayer, hoping it would not disintegrate and eventually collapse.

Everybody was in panic. I see worried faces around. I, myself was worried too. Some colleagues decided to take the stairs to get out from the five-storey building. Some decided to stay foot waiting for the tremor to subside. Well and good. No major injuries and material devastation occurred.

When the tremors subsided, everybody busied themselves calling their families and sending messages to check their whereabouts. I stayed calm. I decided to contact mine at a later time to avoid the network traffic. I know deep inside they’re safe.

The surroundings became monotonous. But my heart continues to beat profoundly. I tried to breathe normally and regain my composure. I tried to be sane in an insane situation.

When everything settles down, a young lady from out of nowhere came, peeping at the door and catching her breath. She was trembling. She uttered that waters already invaded the streets downtown. She must be paranoid about the text message circling around, about a tsunami scare. She probably had magnified the rumors running around out of fear. Earlier, the authorities raised a tsunami alert of struck areas.

The lady stirred the office again. Everybody rushed to inform their families and relatives to stay on higher grounds. How reliable was the lady’s information?

From the window of the building where we stayed, I could see people running and screaming. The news must have reached them too. There was panic around the city. There were vehicles strucked on the streets. The traffic got worse.

We monitored the news if indeed the rumors were true, only to find out that it was a false alarm. My God! How irresponsible the person was. He circulated the wrong information which caused panic and scare all over the city. He should be exiled elsewhere.

It was February 6, 2012 Monday. A day everyone would not dare to remember.