Last Sunset of 2009 as seen from home











(As seen from my bedroom window)

(As seen from the second floor of the house)

At sunset today, I tried to catch the last rays of the sun in 2009.

I know that we have seen so much tears, fears, deaths, greed, lies and more lies in 2009. And we have also seen the best of the Pinoy – braving the flood waters, losing one’s life in saving others, standing up for the truth even if it meant losing one’s freedom and economic means, putting aside a lucrative career to push a cart and educate the less fortunate children (being hailed as the CNN Hero of the Year was a bonus), a woman judge accepting the case against a tyrant with equipments like backhoes and chainsaws and uzis and machine guns (well, we still have to see the beginning of the search for justice here)...

In 2009 we lost a beloved figure in Tita Cory, we also gained a reluctant Presidential candidate who has the values Tita Cory instilled in her brood – Noynoy Aquino.

Personally, in 2009, I went through a wringer and what pain it brought me! This made me realize that no matter what I do, when people have formed a judgment of who I am, and these people have the power to decide on my fate, it is still up to me to accept their decision or not. Standing up to POWER has its consequences and yet this made me stronger and more practical in looking at the world around me.

May 2010 be kinder to us, bring justice to those who have been wronged, and put a new President who cannot be bought, who cannot be bribed, who does not seek only a military solution to any problem in the country, and who honestly thinks of the country first before anything else.

MABUHAY ANG PILIPINAS!

My Very Special Grandnephew

My Special Grandnephew Kyle (seen here watering his Granny's plants)

His name is Kyle and he is very intelligent. He loves and knows cars. When he was one year old, he knew how to turn on the DVD player whenever his Granny (my Mom) wanted to watch some movies. He is five and comes home from school showing the stars he got from his classes. He is special because he has very senisitive skin. He turns red and scratches all over if he feels hot, is perspiring, or has eaten eggs or any of its by products. He needs to have his special lotion that stops the itchiness and he takes medications when the itching turns bad. There are times taking a bath (which he sooooo loves taking with the water VERY COLD) turns into an agony as he screams with pain – his sores aching from the touch of water.

Last Christmas, the most precious gift I had was hearing him say "I am taking a bath and it's not hurting me at all!" Even the religious sisters who live near our house rejoiced with us over this :) His parents have simple joys - they rejoice when he is finally able to go around the house in his short pants and sleeve-less shirt.

This past year, his mom and dad started to wean him out of his medicines and specially prepared milk, and started giving him ordinary growing-up milk. He has started to adapt to the milk (turning red around the eyes when he drinks, and then slowly his colour returns to normal).

This afternoon, after his nap, I walked with him outside the house thinking “this child needs to run and play outside.” He ran and jumped and ran a race with some kids in the neighbourhood until he started scratching. Immediately, my sister called him inside the house, and I saw for the first time what happens to him and how the family copes. A bowl of ice, a soft wash cloth, and he gets sponged all over with iced water to stop him from scratching. The ice-cold wet cloth must not be rubbed but patted. He instructs his Yaya “Ate, you have to make the cloth like a ball and then dab it on my skin!” I watched for a while and then I went up to my room and cried.

Merry Christmas, Kyle. Next time, Mama Deng will know better...

Bonding with Mom

Mom just went through an eye operation to remove the cataract from her left eye (the one on her right eye is not yet ripe but we have to keep a close watch on it because if it ruptures, its going to make her right eye blind). People who are following Mom's unending battle with her eyesight is aware of the sickness that runs in Mom's family - glaucoma. This can make a person blind if left untreated. Mom has only one request to us all - please do everything possible to save her eyesight. She said "I want to see my great grandchildren grow, I want to see until the day I close my eyes and open them to see Dad again in heaven, and Jesus too." So we, her children, try to do everything we can in our power to do just that. She has a very good eye doctor (Dr Ricardo Torno at Limso Hospital) who is very patient with her, very concerned, calls her "Mommy" and gave her this pair of cool sunglasses to protect her newly operated eye from all the elements in the world!

When the doctor operated on her eye last Friday, they have to bring her to the operating room. My sisters were there, my brother kindly drove my nephew and niece from Cotabato to Davao to be with their Granny, and I was on my way home to Davao from Pikit. I was receiving step-by-step texts from Ate while I was in meeting with the Cotabato IRD staff and when I received the text that said "They have wheeled Mom into the OR, she feels scared and Monette is crying." I paused and informed everyone that my Mom was being operated on and that I needed a prayer break :)

When I arrived home (around 8:00 PM), Mom was safely home, with one eye-patch, and two medications (drops) on the eye every two hours. I took over my two sisters and did this.

Mom wanted to go home to Cotabato City but the doctor did not allow her to do that. She missed this year's All Souls' Day celebration with Dad and sent this text message to my brother "When you go and visit Dad, give him my regards and tell him that I can visit him when I am back there." I laughed and said "Mama, you can say that to Dad right now and he is listening and will understand!" Mom looked at me and said "It's different because he is physically there." I don't understand because I talk to Dad wherever and whenever but I guess Mom can have her ways, too... so I said "Sorry Mom, of course you can say that to Kuya." (Hugged her, too!)

Now that Mom's eye-patch has been taken off, the doctor gave her this pair of cool sunglasses! I brought Mom to NCCC and she was so delighted to see so clearly the mall workers dance and see clearly the price tags :) Thank you GOD for giving us the resources to make Mom's eyes better. Thank you also for the opportunity to enjoy Mom some more :)

Mom is leaving tomorrow to go back to Cotabato and we have already brought her groceries for her small sari-sari store, the food that she bought is enough for three (herself, Nonoy the driver, and Inchai, the niece of my sister-in-law) and will tie them over the 4 hours drive. She is excited to share her good eyesight with our neighbors, her grandson Kyle and the priests and sisters who are her "adopted children". But she still has to see her eye doctor for a final check up before she leaves... and again I will not be with her as there is a meeting that has been previously arranged. My sister is taking over and this world is better because of sisters and brothers who are blessings in our lives.

LOVE YOU MAMA

Two statements for the release of Fr Mitch Sinnot

FROM NASSA - The National Secretariate for Social Action (Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines)

STATEMENT ON THE KIDNAPPING OF FR. MICHAEL SINNOT The CBCP National Secretariat for Social Action – Justice & Peace strongly denounces the kidnapping of Columban Missionary, Fr. Michael Sinnot, last October 11 in his home in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur. We appeal to the kidnappers of Fr. Sinnot to release him immediately so he may safely return to his parish and his community.
Fr. Sinnot has been active in various social services, like in the Centre and School for Special Children, which he established, and has been bravely working for interfaith, and peacebuilding programs in Mindanao.
We express our solidarity with the Diocese of Pagadian, headed by the Most Rev. Emmanuel Cabajar, and to the community of the Columban Missionaries.
We likewise emphasize that Fr. Sinnot’s kidnapping constitutes a flagrant distortion of the aims and aspirations of the peace-loving people of Mindanao. It is a desecration of the religious values and an infringement against the spirit of human dignity and solidarity, which the Muslims and Christians are jointly pursuing.
A crime of this kind is a fresh reminder of the need for a sustained effort in dealing with kidnapping and abduction committed by terrorist groups. We call upon the government to bring to justice those responsible for this outrageous crime and demonstrate that lawlessness and impunity will not be tolerated.
+ BRODERICK S. PABILLO, D.D National Director

************************************************************************************
From Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ)
An Appeal for the Freedom of Fr. Michael Sinnott

(A statement by Peace Advocates Zamboanga.)

THE kidnapping of Irish priest Fr. Michael Sinnott last Sunday, October 11, in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur is yet another serious assault against our hallowed belief in the sacredness of every human life, against the democratic order that enables us to live in dignity, security and peace as a community and society of God-fearing and law-abiding citizens.

The old age of 79 year-old Fr. Sinnott and the fact that he devoted much of his life to serve the poor and marginalized people of Mindanao, especially those in our home region, including indigenous and peoples of other religious faiths, make this kidnapping extraordinarily cruel and saddening. The value of Fr. Sinnott’s life and work is beyond any ransom price. For its despicable and unspeakable evil and barbarity do we strongly condemn this kidnapping of a holy man.

We, therefore, urge and appeal to our civilian, police and military authorities to exercise their duty and exert all efforts for the early and safe freedom of Fr. Sinnott. We propose that appropriate rewards be given to any person/s that will promptly help bring this about.

We appeal to our fellow citizens, including civil society peace and community development workers, to remain true and strong in the face of this assault against our shared principles and beliefs. We are again challenged by this crime.

We commiserate with the fellow priests in the Missionary Society of St. Columban of Fr. Sinnott in the anguish that his kidnapping may cause them, as they cause in us as well. We are confident – as we stand in solidarity with the Columban community in the Philippines – that no kidnapping, no act of violence against missionaries will ever, as it never did in the past, stop them in their mission to uplift peoples through the power of their faith, benefits of education, and emancipation through social justice and freedom. Indeed, the always divine yet often difficult and dangerous pursuit of this noble, life-giving mission holds the essence of true martyrdom, which calls all to work in the service of others no matter the personal cost.

We appeal to people to pray for Fr. Sinnott, for God to strengthen and preserve him in this his hour of great trial. And yes, let us most of all pray for the captors, that God may overflow their hearts with His miracle of repentance, mercy and grace. “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” – (Mark 11:24).

Zamboanga City, October 14, 2009.


FR. ANGEL C. CALVO, CMF
President

PAZ/ KATILINGBAN
CLARET
San Jose Road Zamboanga City
Tel: 63 62 9911168CP/ +639177102926

Western Mindanao

The past three weeks have been spent in facilitating trainings in Zamboanga and Ipil. The first training was five days with a group of Asian Catholics, 27 in all, on the Mission of Peacemaking. The core message for that workshop is "You make peace with your enemies, not with your friends." And who is your enemy? One whose story you have not yet heard because you either do not have the opportunity to listen to this person or you don't want to create that space for the person to tell his or her story. As one of the participants said "This is very very difficult for me!" Sigh... nobody said peacemaking is easy or all nicey-nicey.
The second workshop was a week of working with grassroots leaders, some of them barangay officials, and the core message for this workshop is "When you advocate for peace, you have to involve all stakeholders and anchor your advocacy in policies supportive of peace." And when we say ALL, we mean ALL and that is why it is important do to a stakeholders' analysis as well as dialogue instead of debate on who is the better among us. It was very interesting to note that even the barangay captains did not know that there is a Government's Peace Program.

For the information of the reading public, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines has drafted a Peace Program way back in 1993 with FVR as the signing officer of an Executive Order 125.

The government then identified 5 major causes of conflict in the Philippines -
• massive poverty and economic inequity;
• poor governance (local justice not implemented, lack of response in terms of basic services);
• injustice and abuse of power;
• control by few of political power; and
• exploitation of cultural communities and lack of recognition of their ancestral domain.

In response, the Government’s Peace Process has the following principles:
• …should be community-based, reflecting the sentiments, values and principles important to all Filipinos. Thus, it shall be defined not by government alone, nor by the different contending groups only, but by Filipinos as one community.

• …aims to forge a new social compact for a just, equitable, humane, and pluralistic society. It seeks to establish a genuinely pluralistic political society….

• …seeks a principled and peaceful resolution of the internal armed conflicts, with neither blame nor surrender, but with dignity for all concerned

The government also came up with the 6 Paths to Peace as the Government's Peace Program

• Pursuit of social, economic, and political reforms (that address the roots of the armed conflicts)
• Consensus-building and empowerment for peace
• Peaceful, negotiated settlement with the different rebel groups
• Programs for reconciliation, reintegration into mainstream society, and rehabilitation
• Addressing concerns arising from the continuing armed hostilities
• Building and nurturing a climate conducive to peace

On February 28, 2001, GMA (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo - present President) signed EO 03 reaffirming EO 125 "Defining Policy and Administrative Structure for the Government’s Peace Efforts". GMA stated the peace program in her 10 Point Agenda (or was it 11?) under Agenda # 9.

In 2004, Congress approved the National Peace Plan, and this has been integrated into the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (Chapter 14).

And yet, Peace work is seen as either a military endeavor or "it's the work of the religious leaders" or "leave that to the NGOs". This brings me so much frustration - the peace program is actually very doable and the government has the infrastructure (down to the purok level) and the budget (delivery of basic services or "seeing governance down to the grassroots"). I just hope that the barangay leaders who participated in the workshop can really do something in their own barangays to further the work for peace.

The third workshop is with a group of inter-religious leaders (Muslims, Catholics and Protestants) in Ipil - it was fun with the Bishop participating as much as the others in the group. The core message is "The world is made for diversity, we learn to live together or perish." (In other words - All religions have peace as their core message. We can tap into that to build a more respectful environment.) My greatest learning in this workshop is how important the presence of the Bishop was ... he participated in the guarding of chairs (ha ha, I wish I had that picture!), in engaging in an out-of-this-world conversation piece (I wish I had the picture of the debriefing laughing so hard with the Bishop, tears flowing down our faces), and freely speaking his thoughts, his feelings, his realizations. I just felt that what the IRD group was doing in Ipil had the 1001% support of this man! And you can see that the members of the group (Muslims, Protestants, lay Catholics) felt they could approach him. I salute you, Bishop Joy!

And then... I too have my typhoon story. I was at EUNTES in Zamboanga City when Ondoy first hit the country. There was such strong wind and rain. At around 2 o'clock in the morning of September 26, I woke up to the noise of what was like the dragging of chairs outside my room so I got up and opened the door to peep out and saw the plastic chairs on the veranda being "pushed around" by the strong wind! When it was much lighter, I met up with the other inhabitants of EUNTES and shared my story. The participant from PNG said "I got up and saw our chair missing so I looked for it and saw it thrown into the trash bin!" (and the trash bin is outside and below the veranda!). Sigh... we are proud to be Pinoys who help other Pinoys. And please dear God, spare us from future typhoons, inshaallah!!!