Where to, Guv?

Speculation about the political plans of Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia is rife after she decided to transfer her registration from Dumanjug in the 2nd district to Barili in the 3rd.

Guv earlier announced plans to run for senator under the opposition but after changing her voter’s address, many people said the announcement is merely a ploy and it is in the 3rd district where she will be busy next year. Her younger brother Pablo John Garcia is the incumbent representative but has since made the district open to all comers after he agreed to run for governor under the Garcia party called One Cebu.

It’s not the first time that a Garcia is being titillated to run for senator. In 2002, then Cebu Gov. Pablo Garcia was also urged to run for a higher office. Serving his third and last term as governor, pundits were saying the time was ripe for Pablo because he had the full backing of then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. This was before the “Hello Garci” scandal broke out.

I will never forget Pablo’s reply to speculation about the Senate bid by media practitioners and political pundits alike. Apparently tired of hearing these, he gave me, not the standard denial or confirmation, but a very funny reply: “Wa na koy panahon nga mag-artista” (Too late for me to be in the movies).

The context of that statement was the winnability of movie actors, who, owing to their huge popularity with the masses, were eclipsing veteran politicians in the senatorial races.

Pablo had served as lawmaker of the 3rd district from 1987 to 1995 but in 2007 transferred his voter’s address from Dumanjug to Argao town in order to wrest control of the 2nd district from Simeon Kintanar. With Governor Garcia winning her second term at the Capitol, it proved to be a seamless transfer and a rather easy win for Pablo.

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It’s May and people are booked to attend endless fiesta celebrations in provinces like, in neighbouring Bohol, or religious feasts especially those in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The second Sunday is extra special as gift giving and singing of paeans to mothers all over the world mark the day. But if we have to go back to the roots of this celebration, it was to mark and remember two words that make this world a better place: work and motherhood.

The first woman to have been honored in commemoration of Mothers’ Day is Ann Marie Jarvis of West Virginia who lived during the American Civil War.

Jarvis was married to a Baptist minister to whom she bore 11 children. Only four survived. Perhaps because she lost most of her children due to poor public health care facilities, she campaigned for the improvement of local health and sanitation conditions. By bringing the issue to the attention of other mothers, Mrs. Jarvis was able to organize the Mothers’ Day Work Clubs.

She gave lectures and mobilized people to care for mothers stricken with tuberculosis, giving them medicine and safe milk for their children. Two doctors and nurses would come to check and render follow up medical care, and that’s how a local community problem was solved, through the concerted efforts of mothers and the cooperation of local health authorities.

But perhaps Mrs. Jarvis’ enduring work is in fostering unity and amity at a time when political differences threatened the very fabric of American society. In the 1860s, much of America was embroiled in a costly civil war and Mrs. Jarvis’ town was no exception. Mrs. Jarvis quickly sensed the situation could divide club members, so she called a meeting and asked everyone to pledge that, “friendship and goodwill should obtain in the clubs for the duration and aftermath of the war.”

When a typhoid fever and measles epidemic broke out among the military personnel, Mrs. Jarvis and club members cared for them without any distinction between who wore blue (worn by Union soldiers of the north) and gray (the uniform of Confederates from the South). The work of the mothers gained for them highest commendations from officers and soldiers.

When the Civil War ended, public officials took steps to ease conflicts between the contending sides, and once again called on Mrs. Jarvis for help. Her peace formula was a simple program that called all soldiers and their families to attend “Mothers Friendship Day.” The highlight was a short program, where Mrs. Jarvis appeared in gray and another woman wearing blue. With the band playing in the background, the two women shook hands, while children urged their fathers to shake hands with their erstwhile enemies. The day ended with much crying and laughing.

After the death of her husband in 1902, Mrs. Jarvis and her daughters Anna and Lillie moved to Philadelphia to live with her son, Claude. She died there on May 9, 1905, at the age of 72. On the day she was buried, the bell of Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton tolled seventy-two times in her honor.

In May 10, 1908, Anna Jarvis organized a church program to honor her mother whose life and works laid the foundation for the worldwide celebration of Mothers’ Day.