This has been a significantly eventful week, opening with the joyous celebration on the culmination of the Feast in Honor of the Holy Child, Cebu’s Fiesta Señor, last Sunday, and coming to a suspenseful weekend as the nation followed with bated breath the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Thanks to media, I have been able to keep up with the times, so to speak, and to participate still in events I used to be actively involved in. Like the religious rites, processions and Masses preparatory to and on the feast day of the Holy Child and then the culminating Sinulog celebrations in His honor.
Watching the grand presentations of all the Sinulog contingents, the out-of-town winning participants again displayed artistic mastery, as well as devotional ardor, in both Sinulog-based as well as in the free interpretation categories, even as our own Cebu contingents also rated. Cebu media should be commended, as always, for its complete coverage of the events from varied sites. Speaking of which, it is also by following fellow columnists’ points of view and observations, I hopefully continue to keep up with the world as well as with the times.
Meanwhile in these storm-wracked and flooded days, particularly in the country and in our own city, it is ironic that there should be a continuing rash of fires, which we only used to suffer from during the hot summer months, especially during Fire Prevention Month! And yet with all the flooding in certain places, a lot of water yet not a drop of (safe) water there to drink! Disease and famine in disaster-struck needy regions and areas also abound. But thankfully, charity and generosity from the more fortunate still abound and is manifested in the flood of aid and care from them. God bless them!
Then in these modern days when we pride ourselves on our having achieved a high degree of technology in construction and communication, it is also ironic that we should recently have two marine disasters, offshore in our own Talisay, and the other in Italy, with the La Concordia luxury liner listing perilously, and the loss of precious lives and property. Thankfully, the Filipino crew members, even if not all, of that luxurious liner might by now have already come home. To think that the other night I should chance on a movie on TV recalling (or reprising?) the Titanic disaster years ago!
Then, incredibly, the city should wake up on Monday morning to learn of the discovery of the mysterious loss (theft?) of some P1.6 million of Sinulog proceeds and funds, together with the safe, pried from an office cabinet they were stored in, in the Sinulog Foundation office at the Cebu City Sports Center. Apparently in just the few hours between the end of festivities and late office closing time about midnight Sunday, and the opening of the office Monday morning by the clean-up people. Suspects have been rounded up, including first, the guard supposedly on duty. What a true-to-life detective mystery whose unraveling continues, abangan ang susunod, even as officials assure they will replenish the funds for now, or consider it a loss. And what a whopper of a loss!
We move from one crisis to another, and now it is impeachment time on its fifth day today for Chief Justice Renato Corona, for which apparently now, “uneasy rests the crown upon (his) head,” if this Bystander might be forgiven for an atrocious “pun”-y observation. I have been following the impeachment proceedings and been fascinated by them, unfolding before me like the detective stories, novels and TV shows I used to be hooked on. And this time, I followed proceedings through until yesterday, fascinated by the courtly language, vainly hoping for some heated verbal fireworks, considering the contested subject. But I did catch on to some “playing it up to the audience,” particularly TV viewers. But I did admire presiding Senator Juan Ponce Enrile’s cool, precise language and professional conduct of the proceedings. I’ll continue following up on them when they resume next week.
In addition to my continuing interest and fascination with media, now with only this weekly column and my monthly Women’s Kapihan on radio after having retired from a lifetime as a radio broadcaster, I actively continue to be involved as an interested and Concerned Bystander.
Another personal interest and concern I have developed through the years is an admiration for art, developed in my first art education course at the then Cebu Normal School and later associations with some of Cebu’s best artists after the war, through my friendship with the late Julian “Juling” Jumalon. So it was a most pleasant surprise to read fellow Cebu Daily News columnist Jaime Picornell’s piece this week on “Juling” himself and the naming and dedication in his honor yesterday, of the street where he lived. I would have wanted to be there but still to finish this piece to submit it even after deadline time, thanks to considering friends at CDN. Let me share more about “Juling” with you next week, as well as on a personal encounter with another artist, fellow CDN columnist Raymund Fernandez.
I now look forward to our monthly executive committee meeting this afternoon of our Cebu Girl Scout Council.
Until next week, then, after the Water Dragon enters to start the Chinese New Year on Monday, may God continue, as always, to bless us one and all!