Love Affair with Silence

My favorite time is the silence after all the students go out of the room. When I am left all alone. The sudden silence always feels like heavenly solitude. It feels overwhelming after the hustle and bustle of my students. Ironically, it is the time when I feel the utmost authority. The chairs are empty but I am left to own the world.

It is a time when I become appreciative of beauty from unlikely sources. I feel delighted with the buzzing sound of the antiquated electric fan. It becomes a soothing music. I recognize the beauty of the empty chairs with their repeating patterns. On my window, I come to see the butterfly tree with its pink flowers dancing like butterflies against the playful wind.

It is also a time for writing. When I can reach deep down in my soul and grasp its energy and emotion. Words cease to be elusive. And they build like formidable tower of Babel.

Above all, this silence brings me to talk openly to God my Father. In this silence he becomes not only my God, but also my intimate friend.

Thank God for silence…

JOEVIC AND PORTIA (Their Love Story)

Joevic and Portia were fire and water. They were world apart, like Mercury and Neptune. If they were seasons, Joevic was winter, Portia was summer. If they were drinks, Joevic was an ice tea, Portia was a whiskey. If they were deadly weapons, Joevic was a kitchen knife, Portia was an M-16 assault rifle. Maybe the only commonality that they had was their being classmates in high school. After that, no more. Obviously, because of their total contrast, they didn’t belong to the same clique in high school. Portia with her sense of adventure and ruggedness could never fit into Joevic’s silent and elusive world. For her, he was too quiet and meek. For him, she was too noisy and rough. Water and fire indeed.
What brought them together 16 years after high school was a tradition—a classmate from abroad should treat to dinner former classmates. Joevic went home from abroad. He went to the school where his former classmates Portia and Sheila work. They went out. Amid, their hi’s and hello’s, the love story was created.
The former M-16 rifle became a wife material to Joevic’s eyes. She transformed herself to an Eve for any good and deserving Adam. The former elusive and meek became himself an Adonis. In their silence and smile evolved the possibilities of love.
The spark did not take long to decode. After 2 weeks Joevic proposed love. Portia immediately said yes. After two weeks, they got married. That fast. Like rain.
God brought fire and water together… He mixed them… twirled them… They become one…
God has been faithful to create their beautiful love story. Their marriage is close to 3 years now. And Joevic, bringing back to God the union that God orchestrated, has just brought Portia down isle, to officially announce Portia is now my wife, my everlasting fire.

ANGELO REYES IN ALL OF US

What former Secretary Angelo Reyes said in his last interview is haunting. His words were, “ I did not invent corruption. I walked into it. Perhaps my first fault was in having accepted aspects of it as a fact of life.”

Those words provoked me. His words for me are simple. Corruption was already there. He just walked into the system. It was engrossed and so formidable beyond his capacity to triumph over it. Or perhaps the monstrosity of it slowly crept into him that a man, virtuous as he was, was caught into its lair and he was not able to get free.

He just could not. The monster was stealthy and tricky. It carried with it patches in gold and silver. And it catapulted him to recognition and success. Indeed, he became a very successful man.

But the monster was just so formidable that its stinging breath puffed out effusively. Former AFP Budget Officer Lt. Col. George Rabusa wanting to save his dignity and self respect revealed all. And for his honor, Secretary Angelo Reyes was moved to kill himself.

The plot of events had a commendable intensity. And all of us awaited every turn like we did for teleserye. But unlike our favorite teleserye the events are just real and they affect us all.

I do not see former Secretary Angelo Reyes as a man to be condemned. I looked up to him having known that he came from a middle class family and worked himself up the ladder. I just see him as many of us who have embraced a culture of corruption and accepted it as a fact of life.

Maybe many will argue with that point but I cannot really think of anybody in exception because we have embraced the culture of callousness. With our callousness, we have our silence. With our silence, we guard our comfort.

Our silence has produced crooked politicians, shady deals in government, poor infrastructure projects, and injustice to other people. Our silence makes other rich and powerful. We just go unaffected as long as we are not on the hitch, as long as we are not corrupt. But our silence just speaks all, from poverty to corruption scandals. Our silence also makes most of us corrupt. Like Angelo Reyes, we have walked into the system and accepted the crooked system as a way of our life.

On the other hand, I cannot be indignant to our silence. Perhaps we are silent because we see Jun Lozada who after divulging all and shaking the system still does not look at peace and happy. Perhaps, we see our government officials who were racked with issues of corruption but they are still now honored with another government position. We see them grinning on TV, and accusing others also with corruption. Perhaps we are silent because we see our helplessness against the existing odds. Maybe, we are not actually callous, only helpless.

I find late Secretary Reyes honorable. If he is not, I don’t know what to call the rest of us. So, I grieve for his death. I grieve to see success ending in tragedy. I grieve to see him so helpless amid the accusations. I grieve for his will to save his honor that took him years to build. May his soul rest in peace…

Now, I see two things that are worth dying for. First, Filipinos. Second, corruption.




Reyes' last statement: 'I walked into corruption' - Nation - GMA News Online
Reyes' last statement: 'I walked into corruption' - Nation - GMA News Online - The go-to site for Filipinos everywhere - Latest Philippine News

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Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences, and ReformSyndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power, and Democracy





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Message of a mother to a daughter

I am just so glad to see you now as a woman. Time seems to have snapped events and episodes that right now I have to accept that you are no longer a baby who clings on to me for assistance and comfort. You no longer cry to me for help because you are now learning to take responsibilities of your life and the complexities it sometimes brings. Indeed, through the years I have seen you emerging to be confident, independent, and willful. And I have just to take courage to accept the person that you are now and the person that you are to become. I have to take courage to accept that I don’t own you, you belong to your own destiny, to God’s divine plan.

You are just full of potentials, Star. I named you Star because I see you to be the light that you can be. You have been born to set your influence and stance. You have been born to be our light. Your Daddy and I found reasons upon reasons to live life cheerfully because we have you and your sister. We both see you bearing our pride, and our legacy. We see you reaching the heights that we had not arrived at. We see you embarking on dreams that we haven’t dreamt.

Now that you are a woman, Star, twinkle to the world. You can subdue it and you can own it. It will never be harsh on you but it will be there to uphold you. You can mold it and change it. You can trim it and beautify it. You are set to shine and be a star to other people. You are set to make realities and dreams come true.

I may have towering expectations for you but they are not impossible, because God’s will is even far beyond we could expect. God is set to bless and give you beyond what you or I could ever imagine. Remember that you can do everything through Christ who strengthens you. God is set to bless you. He is for you and not against you.

I am proud of the woman that you have become. You are the fulfillment of what we can be, and we are so happy to have you as our daughter. You are God’s wonderful blessing to us. Thank you for being you.. Happy birthday Star..

The crossroad

(This is the love story I read during the wedding reception of my close friends, Edward and Faith Agyekum. They are just so lovely as a couple. I love them both.)


When did fate create the crossroad?

Two thousand and three when Ed went for a medical mission in Iloilo. The venue was Iloilo National High School where Faith was a new teacher. How did the spark start? This is the story…

Faith taking advantage of the free dental check up, lined up for Ed. To tell you honestly, Ed was just interested with teeth and nothing more. And there went Faith with her dental problem. During the check up, Ed, being just a teeth lover, asked Faith to lie down for him to have a better view of his only interest, her teeth. But whoa, Faith refused to lie down! She insisted on sitting during the check up. Ed, being so eager for a good view of her teeth, urged her again to lie down. Faith, feeling so awkward on her skirt, again said no, and insisted on sitting during the check up. Well, like Delilah over Samson, she won. The check up was over. But for Ed it never was.

For the first time he forgot about his love for teeth, and started thinking about Faith, the woman who just refused to lie down. Funny start huh? But just like the typical Mills and Boon, and Harlequin romances, Ed was captivated with Faith’s strong will, and he encountered no woman like that before.

The next day, Ed was just so eager to meet faith again. So for this episode, a cupid played a part. Sir Julius Plondaya with his invisible wings, arrows, and diaper helped the search for Faith. Through him, the invitation to dine out was given. Faith refused. Another invitation was given. Again, Faith refused. The third time, she said yes, but she brought with her a chaperon. A local TV network won’t buy that for a love story plot. But after that, Ed has never ceased communicating with Faith. The friendship blossomed. Ed kept track of Faith’s life. He knew of her dreams, her experiences, her highs and downs, even the love relationship she had. Ed was just there, knowing…and waiting…

He found the opportunity to visit Faith again in 2005. The friendship still continued. And in 2008, Faith finally decided for a commitment. During that time, she told me that there never was a man like Ed. Ed finally became her confidence and her love. She since has begun seeing life just with him, happiness with him, and future with him.

I haven’t talked to Ed about his feelings… I felt not in position to… but every time I see them together and watch him hold her hand, I know that he is willing to face whatever the future may bring if it means loving Faith for always.

Tonight, as God’s perfect time, we gather for their love, and celebrate the happiness it now brings us all. Praise God that he makes things so beautiful in his time! Praise God for the teeth and the awkward skirt!

We Filipinos Can

We are honorable because we are Filipinos! We are products of revolutions that made the world respect our stance, and quest for freedom. The 300 years with the Spaniards never crushed our national identity. The oppression of the Japanese injured our flesh but not our spirits. The shackles of the Americans chained our flesh, but not our souls. We survived the catapults and sepulchers. We are unwavering, and brave.
We, Filipinos, are clothed with rich heritage of language, culture, patriotism, and heroic deeds. The honorable man, Benigno Ninoy Aquino Jr., even declared that we are worth dying for. Hence, many before us chose to die that we might live. We have been ransomed by the lives of our heroes and martyrs. We are special and unique.
Yet where are we now? The gruesome ills of our nation have tarnished the name our heroes had fought to preserve.
We champion corruption. Our country, in 1980, entered the Guinness Book of World Record for allegedly the biggest corruption of all time. The Office of the Ombudsman claimed that we lost P1.4 trillion to corruption and we continue losing P100 million daily.
The Asian Development Bank claimed that our nation has fallen behind its neighbors in economic development. The report said that our country’s fiscal situation remains tight, and the worsening corruption has eroded investor’s confidence.
Statistics also showed that our country is clad with poverty. Four million preschool children and 3 million adolescents in our country are underweight. Five million adults are chronically energy deficient. Experts believed that our situation is unlikely to improve as long as an estimated 28 million Filipinos are unable to buy food to meet basic nutritional requirements.
Our ills are crippling as we are beseeched by greed, economic instability, and hunger. Add to them our poor quality of education, unemployment and underemployment, and wars in Mindanao.
Hence, I echo Rafael Zulueta da Costa’s poetic lines, “Not yet Rizal, not yet. Sleep not in peace: There are a thousand waters to be spanned; there are a thousand mountains to be crossed; there are a thousand crosses to be borne.”
But again I say, we are ransomed by the blood of our heroes and martyrs. We are a sleeping giant who will once again rouse. Hence our destination is not perdition, but glory.
I agree with the late nobleman Carlos P. Romulo when he said that the seed we bear within us is an immortal seed. It is the mark of our manhood, the symbol of dignity as a human being. Like the seeds that were once buried in the tomb of Tutankhamen many thousand years ago, it shall grow and flower and bear fruit again.
That is why we are entering our jubilee. Our season of greatness, strength and prosperity is soon to come. We are like Samson who regained strength and trampled the oppressing Philistines. We are like Odysseus who after years of wandering reclaimed his throne in Ithaca. We are like God’s chosen Jew, entering the Canaan, the Promised Land.
We will never shame LapuLapu, Bonifacio and Rizal. As a nation, we are destined to rise and claim the honor and glory that we once have. We can make change, real and possible.
I cry with the group calling themselves as Bagumbayan. In their manifesto they declared, “We need change on all levels of society—not just of men, but in men…We all need to think, to feel, to act once again as one nation with one destiny, building on both our brightest prospect for the future and on the noblest traditions of our history”.
Yes, we need to reinvigorate our national spirit to rise from the depths and soar to greatness.
Change? We, God-favored Filipinos can!