December 1 - 15, 2018
OPINION
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
Reyfort Publishing & Entertainment
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Breaking
Point
By Rosette Correa
I always look forward to going
back home. While Canada is my home,
family and friends are in the Philippines,
and they are my home, too. Every time
I go back, it is a different experience,
for what lies where I come from is what
determines what I do in the present and
in the future.
My family came back from Iran
when the Islamic Revolution of Ayatollah
Khomeini that broke out in 1979 and
ousted Reza Shah Pahlavi. I was nine
when we came back, and was immediately
put back in school in February 1979 at
the nearest school where my brothers
went for their elementary schooling, a
small public school called Julian Felipe
Elementary School in Cavite City. It was
different from my school in Iran - the
children wore uniforms of white and
different shades of blue, depending on
which child in the family handed it down
to you after how many years of wash and
wear. I spoke to no one, because I only
spoke English after years of education
in an International School where my
classmates were of different nationalities
and came from different parts of the
world. I couldn’t understand a word
my teacher, Mrs. Sanchez, was saying
until English and Science came, when
she would speak in English and I could
finally open my mouth. One skinny boy,
Joel Legaspi, sat beside me and started
talking to me in his broken English, and
we became fast friends. He was simply
tickled by the fact that he made friends
with the inglisera and seemingly the
rich girl in class amongst some children
who lived in wooden shacks and had
pandesal and water for lunch, while I had
a delicious ham and cheese sandwich on
sliced white bread, with no crusts, and a
bottle of orange juice. Joel and I shared
many lunches after that - his humble
pandesal and handful of yema and my
Bulong
Pulungan
By Deedee Siytangco
Reprinted from Manila Bulletin
ANGEL THOUGHTS
‘My faith demands that I do
whatever I can, wherever I am,
whenever I can, with whatever I have
to try to make a difference.’
—Jimmy Carter, former US
President
We
add
our
belated
congratulations to Robert “Bobby”
Lim Joseph, recently installed as
commodore of the Manila Yacht Club
(MYC). MYC is a venerable institution
that offers yacht owners a docking
place in Manila Bay just outside their
modest clubhouse. We watched out
friend Bobby go through the simple
yet impressive ceremony, with guest
Paglingon sa Pinanggalingan
(A Look Back at One’s Beginnings)
rich-girl sandwich, and we have
become an unbreakable bond for
close to forty years, even with the distance
between us. At JFES, I was always sent
to elocution and essay-writing contests,
and I would win them because the
judges liked my accent and my English
vocabulary was more than what the other
kids could conjure up, primarily because
I was educated in English all my primary
school life. These were the perks in my
elementary school life - skipping school
and winning contests.
Most of my friends and I went on to
the public high school - Cavite National
High School - not because my parents
couldn’t afford the private school, but
CNHS had the best teachers in the
province, some of them were even my
father’s teachers! Throughout high school
my friends depended on me for notes in
English-taught subjects, and everyday,
we would recap the previous evening’s
episode of Little House on the Prairie,
The Love Boat, Dynasty and Falcon
Crest for our classmates who didn’t have
a television set. We would talk about all
the English programs on Channels 7
and 9, two of the four channels on the
tube at that time. We would retreat to
my house a few meters away on Garcia
Street, to eat bags of sliced bread and
peanut butter, and jugs of Sunny Orange
juice, listening to Top 40 songs, and my
cassette tapes from Indonesia that my
father would send me through DHL boxes
from Saudi Arabia, where he transferred
as an OFW after Iran. I wrote for the
school paper, The Cavitenan, every year,
until I became its editor-in-chief under
the tutelage of Prof. Enrique Escalante,
one of my mentors and one of the most
respected educators in Cavite City. Under
the tutelage of Miss Adoracion Aquino, I
became the stage actress I wanted to be,
and under Miss Trinidad Legaspi, I found
the beauty of the written word in Tagalog
of El Filibusterismo. All of them
have passed on, and I pay tribute to
all of them whenever I can.
We all went our separate
ways in college, and I spent the
next four years at the University of
the Philippines, finding out what I
wanted to do, and ended up with a
degree in Interior Design. Through
the years, I stayed in touch with my
friends even after leaving Cavite City
to live in Las Pinas, and we would
get together often even as adults so
that we can reminisce the good and
bad times, make fun of each other
and our teachers, and simply be
the kids that we once were during
simpler times.
As I go back and visit, these
memories come back once again, but this
time, I have a more determined purpose
for visiting. When we are educated with a
heart, we always want to make a difference
in this world, no matter how small it is,
and it is with this determination that we
actualize our goals not only for ourselves,
but for others. I have been blessed to
have had an education in the public
system not only because of the academic
excellence it offered, but because it gave
me a perspective outside of my small
world of comfort - a perspective of poverty
and neediness, and a desire to make a
difference in the lives of others. On the
faces of my friends and classmates are
years of hard work and determination to
make their lives and the lives of others
better - and in our small ways, we have
put together a college scholarship fund
for some of our classmates’ children
who cannot afford to go to university.
Those of us who are in Canada and other
parts of the world put our $20 Starbucks
coffee money for a month towards that
scholarship, making sure that even with
that humble amount, we can make the
lives of the future better with a good
education. Our peers in Cavite also put in
a few hundred pesos aside for this cause,
as well as many other causes. Now, we
are putting together some funds to help
with medical expenses of some of our
classmates who cannot afford medical
and hospitalization costs. We decided
that we have to do something for the
common good, and that we need to all
look back at where we came from in order
for us to move forward and take action.
Many Filipinos, here, elsewhere and back
home, have done this and are continuing
to do so, and they are the real workers in
the Master’s vineyard.
How meaningful it will be if we did
have a purpose for going back when we
do get the chance. Yes, it is necessary to
share our resources with others, not only
through celebrations, but also through
necessities. When we do this one person
at a time, we will be able to help many
through the next few years. This is how
we pay tribute to our education, and our
formation we received from our family
and our faith. This is why we look back,
so that we can move forward for others.
UNICEF CONTINUES TO AID
FILIPINO CHILDREN
of honor senator Tito Sotto,
making him officially the head
of the MYC for the next two years.
But we couldn’t help but gag
over the morning sun stench of the
Manila Bay. Whew! It’s a big issue
that Bobby has not neglected. One of
his priorities in being commodore is
to make at least their part of the bay
pleasant and garbage-free.
You see, our city mayor has
blithely abandoned his duties to clean
up Manila Bay and our city bay walk. Its
stench is disgusting and the baywalk
is dirty now. Makeshift stalls line the
once beautiful bay walk. As a resident
of Manila, I weep for my old city, once
the center of tourism, economy, and
historical spots.
Back to Bobby. He plans to enlist
the MMDA’s help in cleaning up the
bay portion of the MYC. Hurrah! A
small but very difficult promise! In the
meantime, congrats Bob! This new
mission jives well with your tourism
advocacies!
* * *
Now, who has not heard of
UNICEF?
This UN agency has been in the
country for the past 70 years now,
helping improve the lives of millions
of Filipino children. So it was but
fitting that the people in UNICEF
recently celebrated this milestone
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
with a “looking back” dinner.
With the theme “Bata Pa Rin”
(Still Young), the UN’s children agency,
celebrated years of service, while
staying young and passionate as ever.
Joining the anniversary gala were over
400 children’s rights advocates and
supporters—from the government,
the United Nations, NGOs, CSOs,
corporate partners, children and
youth, celebrity ambassadors, and
eminent citizens—who made a joint
pledge to support the full realization
of the rights of every Filipino child.
“UNICEF has had an eventful
and meaningful presence in the
Philippines,” said Lotta Sylwander,
UNICEF
country
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