Advocacy gives meaning to life

I have just finished discussing the meaning of the word “advocacy” with Junífera Clarita. I asked her if she has heard of it. She said no. So I explained it to her in the simplest way a nine-year-old kid would understand.

I told her that it is what a person is fighting for. It is a mission, a personal purpose. I cited to her an easy example which she is very familiar with: myself. She and her siblings are already aware that I advocate for the return of the Spanish language in our country. I explained to her that it used to be the language of Filipinas, that it was the language of our patriots, most especially José Rizal, and that it used to be taught in schools. I asked her if Spanish is being taught in her school. She said no.

“See?” I replied. “In the past, Spanish used to be taught in schools. But not anymore. And that is what I am fighting for. That is the reason why I always write about it in my social media accounts. Because I believe that when Filipinos learn Spanish, they will be able to recover their dignity which will bring them closer to Jesus Christ. Because Spanish is a part of us Filipinos.”

I also told her that I have another advocacy: the environment. The protection of nature. Because it is God’s gift to us. That is why we should value it.

For a brief moment, I paused and thought if I should devote more time to the environment than my fight for the return of the Spanish language. I think I should, given the alarming status of our environment.

I then cited a few other examples to make it more clearer to her. There are people who advocate for the women’s rights, people who advocate for the rights of poor children to have toys, people who advocate for sports, etc. I then asked her what she would like to advocate for. She also said the environment Well and good.

In closing, I told her that a person who has no advocacy is a dead person. He is alive, yes, but he is like a mindless robot who functions only to wake up, eat, then sleep. A worthless life. But a person who advocates for something is a person who has a heart, who is fully alive, and lives a meaningful life, a life with a purpose. I explained to her that even if I am a poor man, I do not feel that my life is meaningless because of what I am advocating for.

Throught it all, my daughter was attentive. And I’m glad she was.

PS: She has been studying Spanish for the past three weeks via Duolingo, so I told her that the Spanish for advocacy is “apoyo” or “defensa“.

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History with a purpose

Instead of sharing historical trivia simply for the sake of sharing knowledge about our country’s past, put it to good use. Share it with the purpose of enlivening our national identity. A Filipino enlightened by nationalism which is founded on our storied past will give him not just courage and character but a well-polished dignity to face adversaries greater than himself. No amount of exterior forces (China, US neocolonialism, etc.) nor interior challenges (political corruption, insurgencies, etc.) will deter him from moving forward if his national identity wields a power that is sourced from its veritable past. Remember: historical knowledge is power.

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Easter Sunday musings

 ^{_{“La Resurrección de Cristo“, tempera on pine wood board by Juan Correa de Vivar (circa 16th century).}}

I had an awfully difficult Holy Week. Instead of reflection and devotion, it was a week filled with anger, hurt, and even rage. 2024 in the first place didn’t start out right for me.

In January, I forever lost contact with the man whom I considered not only as my mentor of many years but also as my very own father. All because I was trying to answer his plea for me to help him from his manipulative and paranoid son. In the end, his son painted me as the villain. And I am forever banned from seeing him again.

Last February, my wife almost died. She had heart surgery due to a complication caused by her spreading cancer. We were charged more than a million pesos for it. For three frantic weeks, I desperately begged for financial help. I did receive plenty of aid from countless kindhearted people, most of whom were total strangers to me. But I didn’t receive any help at all —not even a simple consolatory message— from those whom I expected to be there for me. My father’s immediate family members and many close friends and associates totally abandoned me in my hour of need. So I swore to myself to never communicate with them ever again.

And just this month, or a few days ago, I was disrespected and humiliated by an alcoholic cousin-in-law when I defended his battered wife (my cousin) and his son (my nephew) from him and his hooligan cousins and friends. I really wanted to beat him up but couldn’t because of several circumstances: I was hopelessly outnumbered, his uncle owns the apartment unit where my family lives, etc.

Each time I tried to reflect on the significance of the Paschal Triduum, the abovementioned incidents became a difficult hurdle to overcome. Each rosary bead was enunciated with spite within me. Each waking day was met with rancor and resentment, and all nights filled with unrest.

I wanted revenge. I wanted retribution.

My sane mind tells me to forgive them, as God forgives me from my sins. But hatred always triumphs over my better judgment. My lame excuse: I’m only human.

To make matters worse, the spiteful emotions brewing inside me were compounded with grief and fear as I am faced with the scary thought that my wife is slowly dying.

I am not the type to question God for my fate, why the abovementioned incidents happened to me in monthly succession, nor to wonder what plans He has in store for me. For sure, He did not cause my wife’s cancer, nor did He want strife to occur between me and other people. For sure, He had wanted nothing but the best for me — for all of us. But I find it illogical to have an implicitly determinist view of God’s relationship with us mere mortals.

He gave us all freewill. But freewill has its ramifications. Those ramifications were what caused the ordeals that I had to face and endure. The only problem is how I overcome the negative feelings inside me to receive the graces that He is willing to give me through fervent and incessant prayer. This past Holy Week, I think I failed in that division.

Of course it is not too late. Because here I am writing about it and sharing it to you. I may be battle-weary but have never lost faith, and I am confident I never will. I am certain, too, that I will face more trials and tribulations for as long as I live, “mourning and weeping in this valley of tears”. Such is life, as they always say.

If there is anything I learned from all of this… I guess anger is really a gift because it reminds me of how truly weak I am, that I am not a great person, and that my anger signals me that God is just there waiting for me to have Him take full control of my emotions.

I am a forgiving person, but right now I am not ready for it as I am severely battered and bruised. But I will allow the hopeful notion that “time heals all wounds” to take its due course and see if it works. With God’s grace and guidance.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ suffered more than I did. The hurt that I felt was nothing more but a slap on the wrist compared to what he went through. Yet there was not a single drop of anger in Him. That is what I —or we— need to learn.

¡Alégrate! ¡Jesús ha resucitado! ¡Feliz Pascua de Resurrección!

Thank you all for helping my wife!

Great tidings! 😃

Finally, I was able to discharge my wife Yeyette from Asian Hospital and Medical Center. I was so overjoyed I thought I was going to be hospitalized myself! 🤣

^{My wife being discharged from Asian Hospital and Medical Center. May we never come back to this elitist hospital ever again… unless we become sickly millionaires, hehehe!}

We got out at past two AM on Saturday. Yeyette insisted that we shouldn’t wait any further. She was sooooo fed up being there. I could only imagine.

Many thanks to all my dear friends, relatives, and Facebook followers. Because of your unfathomable concern and generosity, my family and I were able to raise more than ₱800,000 in just three weeks! The rest of the bill was shouldered by Senator Robin Padilla (through the assistance of the Department of Social Welfare and Development) through the mediation of his adviser, mi amigo querido Orion Pérez D. شكراً جزيلاً

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) also chipped in. No less than Ike Señeres himself (former chair of PCSO), through the mediation of his brother Rey Señeres, facilitated the processing of the medical assistance funds. I was so humbled and elated when they reached out to me instead of the other way around. ¡Muchas gracias, señores!

Days before that, I also got a guarantee letter from the office of Congresswoman Ann Matíbag through the unceasing efforts of Kaye Síbulo and my dear college friend Elizabeth Palmos de Dolor. I can never thank you ladies enough!

Special thanks to our Barrio Captain Diwa Tayao and to Fátima Castillo, our city’s CSWD chair, who assisted me in the nick of time to correct a documentation error in the processing of my social case study which I was to present to DSWD. If not for their prompt assistance, my wife would have stayed an extra day at the hospital. ¡Mil gracias, amigas!

Through your help, we have finally overcome this seemingly impossible hurdle. We received so much support, with some even sending financial assistance twice! There was one CEO of a consultancy firm who sent in a fifth of the total bill (which amounted to more than a million), but she requested anonimity. There were others who were not able to send in monetary assistance due to their personal financial troubles, but at least they didn’t fail to give me moral support with messages of hope and comfort. Many also tirelessly shared my posts and tagged social media influencers to help out.

And of course, your prayers. Prayers are powerful. None of this would have happened without them. Thank you for storming the heavens with your strong faith. 🙏

But my family’s struggles are far from over because Yeyette’s cancer is starting to spread. So here’s what’s going to happen next: she will be staying with her mom in Bacoor, Cavite for the rest of the month through April. Then on May, she will stay in Abra de Ilog, Mindoro Occidental, her nature-tinged hometown, to recover her strength which was ravished by multiple maladies (cardiac tamponade, acid reflux, weakened lungs, etc.). She is still weak and could barely walk on her own.

The patron saint of Abra de Ílog, by the way, is Saint Raphael the Archangel whose patronage is healing. It was also in Abra de Ílog where I stayed to recover my health after my prolonged hospitalization years ago.

Once Yeyette is strong enough, she will return home to us here in San Pedro Tunasán, La Laguna to prepare for another round of chemotherapy sessions, probably at the end of May or early June. The last time she had her chemotherapy was at the height of the pandemic. She had ten sessions. This time, she will only have six. Nevertheless, it will still be costly. No chemotherapy is cheap. That is why I will have to continue the fundraising.

I am glad this hospitalization nightmare is over. But it is a humbling experience. I learned so many things from it. It taught me to be more resilient, faithful, and prayerful. It weakened my spirit and exposed it to unseen negativites, but not my will to battle them all. And that in the hour of need, we were able to determine who really cares for us.

My wife and I are truly grateful. Hindí co na cayó cayang isá-isahín dahil sobrang dami ninyóng tumulong at nagdasál para sa amin. But please know that each and every one of you are in our hearts and minds. We have read all your comments and messages. We know who reacted to and shared our posts asking for help. We are also thankful to those who defended us from our detractors. That is why we are indebted to all of you forever.

¡Muchísimas gracias! ¡Les amamos muchísimo! ❤️❤️❤️

¡A Dios sea toda la gloria y la honra!

Cancer can hit anyone

Cancer can hit anyone. It doesn’t recognize between rich and poor, healthy or unhealthy, young and old, good or evil. Whether you’ve done nothing but good towards your fellowmen, whether you’ve been living a healthy lifestyle or not, it can and will still victimize you.

Cancer can hit even the healthiest person, so all theories explaining its causes (stressful lifestyle, eating too much processed food, genetics, etc.) remain just that: theories. Even if you have completed all chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions to heal yourself of cancer, even if you have taken all the best pharmaceutical and/or herbal medications in the world, the disease can still take your life. No amount of wealth can save you from it.

Cancer might disappear, yes. But it can reappear. Even the best oncologists in the world do not understand its remissions and confusing reappearances and progressions. The only thing they can guarantee you is that cancer is a treacherous opponent.

Cancer affects not only the patient but also that person’s loved ones. The toll of trying to save that patient’s life usually becomes too much to bear and affects not only the finances but also the mental health of the people surrounding the afflicted.

It is unchristian —and beyond medical logic— to insinuate that cancer is caused by karma (which is a non-Christian belief in the first place). It doesn’t even matter if you’ve lived a saintly life — think of Saints Pellegrino Laziosi, Chiara Badano, Gemma Galgani, Aldegundis, etc., all of whom died from various types of cancer while living holy lives. Compare them to rich but corrupt people who had lived long but fruitful lives towards the end.

Ultimately, only God can save us from cancer. Only He can decide if we should survive from it. And I believe that only in the Afterlife will we fully understand why, in His Divine Wisdom, did He allow the existence of this malevolent disease.

So do not celebrate that the person you hate has cancer because of some casuistic Eastern principle. Do not even wish this disease upon your worst enemy. Because cancer can hit anyone.

We can only have each other to hold on to.

* * * * * * *

Please help me save my wife Yeyette. She has been battling cancer for four years. It has already affected her heart. She is still in the hospital because I couldn’t pay her bills after her emergency heart surgery. Then after this ordeal, she will undergo another round of chemotherapy sessions. I am sorry, but I cannot do this alone. I really, really can’t. I am sorry for literally begging. But this is the only option that I know of.

BDO
Branch: BDO San Pedro
Account name: José Mario S. Alas
Account number: 001190539223

Bank of the Philippine Islands
Branch: Ortigas Emerald
Account name: José Mario S. Alas
Account number: 9829-0918-41

Land Bank of the Philippines
Branch: Landbank San Pedro City
Account name: José Mario S. Alas
Account number: 2387-0391-23

GCash
Jim Allen Diezon
09128817823

GoGetFunding: https://gogetfunding.com/please-help-me-raise-funds-for-my-wifes-enormous-medical-bills/

For now, only God can repay your generosity and concern. Mil gracias a todos.

Pepe

An ashy Valentine’s Day

I’m now part of the social media team of Our Lady of Fatima Parish – Elvinda, San Pedro Laguna. The short article below is my first contribution to their Facebook page:

Have a blessed Lenten Season, everyone.

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The charter change puppet

^{United only for politics, nothing more (📷 Eloisa López / Reuters).}

I really do not understand all these anti-charter-change rallies. The powers that be have long painted charter change as if it is a societal evil that nobody should even dare discuss at the dinner table. Through the years, attempts at amending the Constitution have always been opposed and aborted. The mindset is that it should not be given the slightest chance to even go through normal deliberations. Political showdowns (in the guise of “prayer rallies”) such as the one we have witnessed last Sunday have created not the desired aversion towards charter change but only division and confusion in the populace.

Those opposing charter change must have forgotten that the very framers of the present Constitution allowed a provision for it. And it’s clearly stated in Article XVII:

Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by:

(1) The Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members; or

(2) A constitutional convention.

Since charter change has never been given a chance, and that reactionaries will always oppose moves to push it forward at any given opportunity, then the ONLY solution to this never-ending debacle is to scrap Article XVII altogether. But then again, scrapping it will require for the Constitution to be amended, of course.

The only possible solution to end this decades-old problem (which, in hindsight, is not really a problem) is to actually embrace the problem. But the powers that be will not have it. They would rather live in fantasy land, thinking that the rhetoric which they so proudly but blindly brandish, i.e., opposition to charter change, is the solution. So there goes the rub. Now we’re like hamsters inside a treadmill, viciously jogging in it to no end.

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¡Feliz Año 2024!

^{📷 George Tapan}.

Cada vez que comienza un nuevo año, solemos preguntarnos esto: —¿qué me espera para el nuevo año?

Pero un año no tiene nada almacenado para ti. Un año es sólo un número, un contenedor vacío. Más bien, deberíamos preguntarnos con qué podemos llenar el año 2024. Es absurdo esperar que un año nos depare algo bueno o malo. Somos nosotros quienes debemos llenarlo con cualquier cosa con la que queramos llenarlo. Esa debería ser nuestra mentalidad cada vez que comienza un nuevo año.

A todos los que lean esto (familiares, amigos, seguidores, críticos, etc.), rezo que las bendiciones, las gracias, y la misericordia de Dios se derramen sobre todos nosotros este nuevo año. ¡Feliz y Próspero 2024 a todos!

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Poemario Rizaliano

^{Translatio unius poematis Josephus Rizal in Anglicam per Nick Joaquín, Nationalis Artis pro Literature.}

Para comprender mejor el talante y la psicología de José Rizal, o quizás su amor apasionado por nuestra patria filipina, es mejor leer sus poemas llenos de amor y esperanza en lugar de sus novelas llenas de ira, desprecio, y dolor.

To better understand the viewpoints and psychology of José Rizal, or perhaps his passionate love for our country, Filipinas, it is better to read his poems that are full of love and hope rather than his novels that are filled with anger, contempt, and suffering.

Para más maintindihán ang sáloobin at psicología ni José Rizal, o ‘di cayá’y ang caniyáng marubdób na págmamahal sa ating bansáng Filipinas, más maínam na basahin ang caniyáng mg̃a tuláng punó ng pag-ibig at pag-asa en vez na mg̃a novela niyáng punó ng galit, pañguñgutyâ, at paghihinagpís.

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Navidad 2023

_{^{🎨 SaltaConmigo.}}

A todos los que lean esto solo quiero que reciban mis saludos navideños: ¡Feliz Navidad!

Sé que ha sido un año difícil para todos nosotros. Todos tuvimos que luchar contra diversas situaciones, lamentablemente contra amigos, colegas, familiares, e incluso contra nuestros propios demonios personales. Pero al final del año, todavía estamos aquí, todavía vivos y coleando, y listos para comenzar de nuevo para otra batalla. Como siempre dicen, la vida es un viaje.

Nuestra existencia es en sí misma una batalla militante contra la negatividad, contra todo lo malévolo. Nunca es fácil vivir. Es por eso que en este día especial, debemos estar agradecidos por la venida de nuestro Señor y Salvador Jesucristo, Él que es Dios encarnado para salvarnos a todos de este mundo muchas veces injusto que, tarde o temprano, dejará de existir. Nuestro verdadero propósito no es encontrar el éxito en este mundo sino cómo alcanzar Su reino eterno.

Una vez más, ¡Feliz Navidad a todos vosotros, y qué el verdadero espíritu de la Navidad esté siempre en nuestros corazones!