Ang Kalatas Volume III August 2013 Issue | Page 17

THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA. August 2013 | Vol. 3 No. 11 | Ang Kalatas Australia | www.kalatas.com.au

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OPINION

Call it serendipty, call it a love story
HAVE you ever found yourself in a situation where everything seemed hopeless, where you had actually given up on life itself, but then help suddenly came along? Call it the answered prayer, a miracle, serendipity, a lucky break or whatever else. When it happens, it can be completely life-changing. I had a friend who left the Philippines before he ?nished high school to migrate to the US. I actually knew him for just about three years. We were year mates and it was that time in our lives when we were going through a lot of formative experiences — our ?rst drink, prom, date, girlfriends, teenage angst, ?ghts, and a lot juvenile high school discoveries and craziness. A big part of our life then

JIM PAREDES
HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE
revolved around the barkada. Our peer group was our support system in almost all ways. We ran to our friends when we were in trouble or even just for company. We shared our experiences and secrets with our mates. We all asked for each other’s advice in many matters and ways. We also laughed, cried and did a lot of things together. My friend came back to the Philippines to visit a few years ago. We had more than a great

time. But it was only recently that I found out how terribly important his visiting the Philippines and seeing all of us again, were to him. It was much more than I, or he, had imagined. My wife saw him on her trip to San Francisco recently and he narrated to her what it all meant from his point of view. When he left during high school, we had almost lost touch completely. It was some six or seven years later when we heard from him. He was in Washington in 1974, and it so happened APO was touring the US at the time and so we got together but very brie?y. After that, he had disappeared completely — or so we thought. Time marched on, and since ‘74, we had all gotten married, had children and built careers and

gotten older with the passage of time. When he came back to Manila for a visit a few years ago, he had just been through a divorce. He had also lost his job, and was suffering from a bad back injury. He was also broke. He had told us that much. But I learned from Lydia, my wife, that he had come back to literally say goodbye to his past, and to everything else that meant anything to him. He was down and out on his luck. As far as he was concerned, everything in his life had bottomed out and there was really nothing to live for. He was here to take a last look before he was to bid life farewell. He came here not knowing whether we would even remember him. He had no great hopes about that. After all,
See SERENDIPITY, page 18

Life is full of surprises and wonder. At the very least, we can’t write anything off. Anything can happen, and it usually does.

Again, we deserve our politicians
HANDS up who wants the pork barrel abolished. I do. The recent allegation of corruption related to the pork barrel involves a businesswoman, some familiar congressmen, and 10 billion pesos worth of Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF. It’s not just the dizzying amount that set me off, it was the combination of these three that made my blood boil. Pork barrel corruption is NOT new of course. In fact when I think of corruption, I almost immediately think of pork barrel, and vice versa. As a society and culture where corruption is drummed into our consciousness daily, we are willing to let go of a small infraction in favour of good governance. But

ALLAN ESPINOSA A
PROCEED WITH CAUTION
one wonders how far our collective patience is stretched before we start acting against this legalised and organised theft. I have always wondered why it took 20 years for Filipinos to revolt against the Marcos dictatorship. Oh yes, it took Ninoy’s assassination to trigger a revolt. But does it have to involve losing precious lives, or in this case, losing 10 billion pesos of pork barrel for it to merit our attention

and anger? Peter Slipper, former Australian Speaker of Parliament, was accused of misusing taxi Cabcharge vouchers, worth about $1000, to pay for visits to wineries in Canberra. Both political parties called for his resignation before he left of?ce “in the interest of the Parliament.” One can only dream if only Philippine politicians were like Australian politicians. Our generation is now de?ned by an anxiety. We worry that, as a nation, the Philippines might not make it out of poverty; that we might be subjected to a cycle of endless corruptions. We, immigrants, are the result of that anxiety. But I would not worry about us here in Australia. My anxiety is directed to those loved

ones left behind in the Philippines. This pork barrel scandal once again con?rms that anxiety. A thorough investigation MUST be done. It is a matter of survival if we do. But the accused, including few senators, want to suppress such inquiry. That it is a “demolition job”, a “witch hunt” by the administration. This is their ‘reaction’ to the systematic and brazen theft of people’s money which could have gone the way of shelter, hospitals, and jobs. I wonder what keeps the people from hanging these politicians. These are the kinds of people who really twist my eyebrows. They want to de?ne and drag our legitimate concerns for inquiry into petty political squabbles or

politically motivated character assassinations, when they should be concerned about the welfare of poor Filipinos. We have encountered this behaviour, this mentality, a year ago before the former Chief Justice Renato Corona was impeached over bad use of his ? nances. It was even laughable when he feigned sickness at one point. Filipino politicians are a rare breed. They are more concerned entertaining you than serving you, to keep you from noticing their transgressions. The real joke is if we fall for it again. Allan Espinosa lives in Canley Vale NSW. He ?nished philosophy in Notre Dame University in Cotabato.

Heroes, then and now
“Though nature be ever so generous, yet can she not make a hero alone. Fortune must contribute her part too; and till both concur, the work cannot be perfected.” – Francois de La Rochefoucauld ONE of the highlights of my recent trip to America was having met the acquaintance of a descendant of Alexander the Great! The young man asked me to take his and his friend’s photos while we were touring the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and he returned the favour by taking mine. We exchanged names, and when he mentioned that his last name was “Skandre,” I immediately knew his special connection to the great kingconqueror. Alexander the Great was one of my favourite historical ?gures, and in one

DANNY DINGLE
A DOSE OF BROWN OPINION (ADOBO)
of the books I read about him (“The Persian Boy” by Mary Renault), the author wrote that when Alexander conquered the Persian empire by defeating King Darius, the Persians, who could not properly pronounce “Alexander”‘called him “Iskander” instead. The story goes that the world’s Iskanders, Skandres, Iskandars, and other variants of the name trace their bloodline back to Alexander the Great. August was declared the National Heroes month in the Philippines, and I thought it

apropos to mention my Grand Canyon adventure because I consider Alexander the Great a hero. History and his legacies tell us that he has given the world so much thousands of years ago. Between then and now, many heroes have walked on this earth, and everywhere, life is full of heroism everyday. Thus, we remember Rizal, Bonifacio, Aguinaldo, del Pilar, the Silangs and many others whose reformist ideas and gallantry helped shape the destiny of the Philippines. Still further down the centuries, we recall the bravery of Lapu-Lapu, Lakandula and Sikatuna. In more recent years, we remember the martyrdom of Ninoy Aquino. There also are the ‘passive’ heroes whose seemingly quiet actions were more than enough to create situations where acts of kindness were

Photo of R. Skandre at the Grand Canyon, whose family traces its ancestry to Alexander the Great

given. Think of Jesus Christ, or Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa. Other personalities’ place in history either categorise them as hero or villain, as in the case of Joan of Arc who became a French saint but declared as a witch elsewhere. We read about many ordinary men and women whose extraordi-

nary acts of kindness have helped save lives; the overseas workers whose sacri?ces have helped their families and the national economy; the defence personnel in war zones and emergency personnel in disaster areas whose brave and unsel?sh acts are done without regard for their own
See HEROES, page 18