Last Tuesday, we remembered anew that 11 years ago, on 9/11/01, one of the most significant man-made disasters of the modern world happened with the toppling of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York after a couple of hijacked bomb-laden airliners crashed into them, resulting in the deaths of almost 3,000 people.
I was in Texas then, visiting a daughter, when another daughter in San Diego called early in the morning, waking me up and asking me to watch the on-going TV report and coverage of that dreadful event which I did, uninterrupted, for the next 24 hours!
A couple of years later, on a visit to New York, I visited Ground Zero, then cleared and fenced, with a surrounding display of memories and tributes to those who died there. I have not been there since, but have kept in touch annually through press and TV.
This year, since last weekend, the media have been awash with memories and pictorial coverages of the Memorial there, including the Freedom Tower and underground museum still under construction at Ground Zero, surrounded by reflecting pools and cascading waterfalls, and bronze parapets with the names of the 2,983 who were killed there, documentary clips on a computer screen allowing visitors to search for specific names, memorabilia on exhibit at the Visitor Center, and the availability of an official book on the memorial, “A Place of Remembering.”
Last week, on Saturday the 8th, remembered by devotees as the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and after my return from the States, I resumed hosting our monthly “Women’s Kapihan” at 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at radio station dyLA. The subject of relevant current concern was “Disaster Preparedness”. Ironically, our invited guest, Cathy Yso, Executive Director of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, was unable to attend due to some disaster-caused road blocks on her way to the session. Ditto some of the members of our regular Cebu Women’s Network (CWN) Kapihan panelists for the same reason.
However, present were CWN Secretary Portia Dacalos, Board Member Madrileña “Mads” dela Cerna, Board Member Elsa Basanez who is always earliest to arrive despite residing in Lapu-Lapu City, and Chinky Sanchez Dy of Philippine Dairy who used to be one my active University of the Philippines students in my mass communication class, Lolet Aliño who is Executive Director of the Legal Alternatives for Women, Inc. (Law, Inc.) that makes the radio program possible, and Josie Ilagan, production assistant of the Media Advisory Program.
Portia said the government maintains leadership in disaster preparedness, but that eventually, the local officials responsible are at the barangay level. They need to have their own Waste Reduction Committees to manage this. In this connection, waste reduction is particularly important to reduce, if not totally ban, the use and disposal of non-biodegradable plastics which clog our streets and waterways. Madz said that Quezon City has already issued a plastics ban.
For more positive developmental news, we learn that the Ayala and Aboitiz groups, are bidding for the passenger terminal project of the Mactan Cebu International Airport to spur tourism in Cebu. The groups are two of the oldest conglomerates led by Hispanic families that have contributed much with our Cebu community and civic, educational, environmental, cultural and religious projects and activities, among others for Cebu’s continuing development.
We congratulate our young Filipino students, recently figuring in successful educational achievements. In mathematics, Farrell Wu, a 12-year-old high school freshman from the MGC New Life Christian Academy in Taguig City, who garnered a perfect score in the 2012 Austral-ian Mathematics Competition (AMC). He was the mainstay of the Philippine math team and one of only two students worldwide who scored 100 percent, the other being Bernard Teo Zhi Yi fro Singapore. Eleven other Filipino students scored 99-plus in this 2012 edition of the AMC.
In Philippine movies, we congratulate our Nora Aunor who won the Bisato d’Oro Award in Venice for her role in “Thy Womb”, entered in the recent Venice International Film Festival where it competed for the Golden Lion Award along with 17 other entries from around the world.
Historically, Cebu remembered the 113th birth anniversary and legacy of the late Don Sergio Osmeña Sr. last Sunday, Sept. 9th and honored him with Mass and floral offerings attended by the remaining clan of the Osmeñas at the Osmeña marker at the corner of Lapu-Lapu Street and Osmeña Boulevard.
Another Filipina, Sister Mary Pilar Verzosa, founder of the Pro-Life Philippines, died on the same day, Sept. 9th. She was then giving a seminar on the issues of abortion to medical and nursing students at De La Salle University-Dasmariñas in Cavite province. She would have turned 68 on Sept. 24th.
Still another woman, pioneer lawyer, judge, feminist, and advocate of women’s rights, Natividad Almeda-Lopez of Laguna, was remembered and honored on her 120th birthday anniversary the day before, Sept. 8th.
Also remembered during the week, was the oldest Filipino war veteran during the Philippine Liberation from the Japanese in 1942, Alfonso Fabros, who was described as a disciplined veteran until he died at the age of 111 a month ago in Nueva Ecija.
Back to Sept. 11th this year, which marked the 101st birth anniversary of the late Filipino fictionist and playwright, Clodualdo del Mundo, Sr. From Inquirer Research, we learn he was born in Sta. Cruz, Manila in 1911. He was a co-founder and the first president of the writers’ organization “Panitikan.” Together with Mars Ravelo, Pablo Gomez and Francisco Cochin, he was one of the prolific comics writers in the 1950s, who propelled the Tagalog comics into its golden years. One of his famous works was “Kadenang Putik.” He was awarded by the City of Manila with the “Patnubayng Sining at Kalinangan” Award in 1966. He died on Oct. 3, 1977.
On this note and until next week then, may God continue to bless us, one and all!