Remembering

So much that has happened, and continues to happen, during the past days this week, brings back memories and connections of what I had passed, lived through, and experienced. So when then editor in chief (now publisher) Eileen Mangubat invited me to write a column when Cebu Daily News opened in 1998, I thought I would write as a Concerned (not nosey, I hope!) Bystander. Watching the flowing stream of events through the years, I realize that the past is part of the present, and both, of the future.

As Fr. Jerry Orbos, SVD said in his latest Philippine Daily Inquirer column, also titled “Remembering,”: “It is important to accept and remember who we are and what we have been through.”

So when the bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Massachusetts last Monday afternoon (early Tuesday, Philippine time), it brought back memories of the 9/11 Twin Towers disaster in 2001. My daughter Amelia in Texas called and told me about the marathon tragedy and I watched the TV coverage right after. I was in Texas in 2001 when my late daughter Raquel called from San Diego as well. I stayed tuned to TV news coverage for the next 24 hours!

In the Boston Marathon twin blasts that resulted in three dead and 140 to 180 injured, thank God, the 10 participating Filipino runners had already passed the finish line before the explosions took place.

Last Sunday, the Third Sunday after Easter, I viewed on EWTN Pope Francis’ Solemn Mass for in The Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls (of Rome, that is.) I remember visiting there in the late 1980s with the help of a kind Filipino priest. The priest pointed to the circular or oval facial portraits of all Popes since St. Peter on the upper panels of the church, and noted that at that time, there was only one remaining empty circle. He wondered at that time if there would be only one more Pope after John Paul I.

Pope Francis, truly a Pope for our times, has told priests to practice what they preach. And in recognition of the current needs of the Church, he has created a group of eight cardinals from around the world, from North and South America, Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia, to advise him on running the church and reforming the Vatican bureaucracy.

And now for other significant events and people on the historical, cultural and current events scene.

Last April 15th, we learned that Silliman University in Dumaguete observed its 50th founding anniversary . Mention of the late Dr. Edilberto and Edith Tiempo as founders of the annual writing workshops there brings to mind the summer I took a course years ago at Silliman under Dr. Tiempo where his wife Edith was a classmate.

Then April 16th was the 59th anniversary of the Associated Labor Unions which owns and runs radio station dyLA, where I spent some 26 years as a broadcaster until my retirement, and where I still host the monthly Women’s Kapihan.

Tomorrow, the 20th, is the 90th birthday of Mother Angelica, who founded the now world broadcasting and telecasting EWTN, which my daughter Amelia and I had the opportunity to visit last year at Irondale and the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Monastery in Hanceville, both in Alabama.

This week has grown hotter, 33 to 35.5 degrees Celsius in Cebu, and 36.1 Celsius in Manila, with even hotter days predicted through May by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. What a time for us to observe Earth Day on April 21st, remembering the earth warming phenonmenon foreseen in Al Gore’s book “The Inconvenient Truth.” And shakier, too, this week, with earthquake tremors of 5.1 in Kidapawan in Mindanao, 6.8 in Papua, New Guinea, and 7.5 to 7.8 in India and Pakistan.

People-wise, boxing champion Nonito Donaire was defeated in the boxing ring, the third Filipino after Manny Paquiao and another top boxer to lose out. Where are we and they headed now, from here?

And more, with Joavan Fernandez and “Greco” Sanchez, sons of renowned political fathers, running afoul with the law.

But there’s bright news for a woman in this Year of Women, as we congratulate Prof. Felisa Etemadi on her appointment as Professor Emeritus, the first from the University of the Philippines Cebu. She was appointed by the UP Board of Regents, the highest governing body in the University of the Philippines System, on its 1286th meeting held in Diliman, Quezon City on Feb. 28, 2013. I remember seeing Feliz and meeting her during my brief teaching stint at UP Cebu, and also reading some of her published scientific papers.

This leads us on to our Women’s Kapihan which I hosted last Saturday on radio dyLA about Electoral Agenda of Women Candidates for the May 13h elections. Guest Mary Ann de los Santos, candidate for Cebu City Councilor in the north district, had served three terms as barangay captain of Lahug.

In a lively discussion with our Cebu Women’s Network panelists, Mary Ann, said she intends to sit down with one of our panelists, lawyer Noemi Abarrientos, to help in legislation plans. For women empowerment, she needs help to craft ordinances and laws, now that women are ready for this. Women have joined the military; 16 female cadets graduated with honors in 1993, with many now holding positions as barangay captains . Women make good public servants, even as they are active in their homes. Their qualities include humility balanced with flexibility; they have a heart and use compassion, are opposed to intimidation, are responsible to self and community, now employ literacy over ignorance, and have an all-over moderating influence in government. Thank you, Mary Ann, for that lively and though-provoking discussion.

On this note, we close, praying that God may continue to bless us, one and all!