RICE PADDIES, MUD BALLS AND MODEST GOALS

The Levie Calipon-Lisondra story

by: Norberto Betita

Levie Calipon-:Lisondra

She learned to walk on rice paddies performing alternate errands while young, delivering food for her farmer father who worked hard in the farm to provide for eight of them siblings. Her childhood was replete and abounding with wonderful memories of playing and lurching on muddy rice field, throwing mud balls, chasing speed in planting rice and enjoying the heavy rains, especially during planting season. She ate lunches with the rest of the planters while wet and trembling from the cold breeze of the rainy season. She had those memories from age seven to eleven, in the rice field cultivated by her father as a tenant.

The remote Barangay of Awasan, Tago, Surigao del Sur, where LEVIE CALIPON-LISONDRA was born on April 17, 1956, never had the appearance nor did it have any indication of brighter prospects and opportunity for personal growth and development. In her young mind was the thought that if she ever chose to stay, she will be cramped in the borders of muddy fields and her future will be restrained by the inadequacies and scanty potentials which the small farming community offers. Together with her siblings, she dreamed to move away from the muddy boundary towards a better and greener pasture, and wider open playing field of life.

Celebrating her 60th birthday & retirement from PNB

She started to follow her humble childhood vision by walking a few kilometers to Tago Elementary School to be educated. She endured despite limited school provisions and there finished grade five. She then went to stay with her elder sister at San Miguel, Surigao del Sur and worked her way to finally complete her elementary education. At an early age of thirteen, driven by her earnest dream to get away from her dismal situation, she decided to work as house help and at night studied high school at the Tago Municipal Evening High School where she eventually completed her secondary education. With high school diploma on hand she followed her other siblings to find her future in Surigao City.

She found a job at Dexter Construction and was fortunate enough to have been allowed to enroll in college. It was for her a rare and singular opportunity which provided the road on the way to her humble dream of earning a college degree. She wanted not to waste her time; hence she tried to be just as efficient and effective as she could be in doing her assigned tasks while at the same time pursuing her college education. She believed and understood that education is central to all available sources that provide access to the gate of deliverance from the borders of scarcity. She was sure that the time devoted to the pursuit of knowledge will move her away from the isolated and dreary waste of her life to the future light of noonday. With unwavering faith and courage, she finally graduated with a degree in Commerce, major in accounting in October of 1981.

With son  Edgar Vincent

Since then she had been in different jobs; from a contractual position at PACEMCO, to a casual employment at the Provincial Capitol of Surigao del Norte, and on to selling insurance, until she finally landed a job as clerk typist of the National Service Corporation (NASECO), a subsidiary of the Philippine National Bank (PNB). While in such employment she took and passed the PNB qualifying examinations. After one and a half years in NASECO she was finally absorbed as a permanent employee of PNB with initial position as Bank Clerk of Butuan Branch in July of 1987. To have been employed at PNB was to her already a fulfillment of her modest goal. By then PNB employment is one of the sought after opportunity with its salary offer highest than all other banking and government institutions. She was eventually transferred to Surigao Branch in November of 1988.

In 1989, at age 33, she was married to her longtime friend Edgardo L. Lisondra. Their marriage was blessed with three children, all boys. During the next ten years of their marital partnership they were enjoying together a humble but happy life, facing just the typical challenges common in family life. With children still on their earlier childhood their combined family income was just right to support their needs. However, in the year 2000 the tragic loose of her husband as a result of cardiac arrest occurred living her widowed at age 44. Her son Eldon Ted was only ten and on his fourth grade in elementary; Arnel Jun at eight was in grade two; and Vincent Edgar, 5-year old was in kindergarten.

With sons Eldon Ted & Arnel Jun

The sole responsibility to raise and rear her sons is now laid and embedded upon her shoulders. The daily demand of support became a burden for her alone to bear. But there was no space for escape and evasion; she needed to be just as staunch and devoted to her children, notwithstanding her singular and extraordinary familial duty of being both father and mother. She trained her boys to do household chores such as, but not limited to cooking food as to be able to help themselves while she finds enough for their provision. As a devoted Christian, she believes in the proverbs of the wise King Solomon, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). As the boys grow in years and personal needs increased, she found her income insufficient to sustain the ever mounting demands. To supplement her deficient earnings she spent her weekends selling memorial park lots and insurance. 

She found it awfully tough to be a single parent, especially with the fact that her employment in the bank required of her to stay beyond working hours. Training her three boys of proper discipline and character building needs more time with them, yet she tried to utilize her remaining time with her children’s waking hours as effectively and efficiently as possible. She felt she could not just shift the burdens and responsibility of molding her sons to the teachers in school rooms or even in the church. As the vulnerability of teenage started to influence her boys, she realized that her second son is giving in to peer pressures. She became conscious of the fact that no matter how hard her effort to train her children some will nevertheless be tempted to walk the ways of the prodigal. Yet she never gave up. She extended the same unwavering love to her prodigal; she prayed in earnest for God to light his ways; she gave him the freedom to do what pleases him, while making sure that he will not be totally lost in the dark; and she waited for the time when he will finally recognize his missteps and failures as in the parable of the prodigal son. In times of tears, stresses and traumas, she found relief and liberation in the inspirational words of Sharon Jaynes: “Successful mothers are not the ones who have never struggled. They are the ones who never give up, despite the struggles.” During periods of intensifying burdens she gathered and received strength from the Lord’s invitation, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

On vacation in Bangkok, Thailand

Together with her humble career growth her sons had also grown enough to winning their early battles in life. She considered herself providentially blessed for having her eldest and youngest sons qualified for admission to study in a government university---Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT), where the costs of tuition and fees and board and lodging are considerably affordable. Her eldest son, Eldon Ted graduated with a degree in Education major in English. He took and successfully passed the Licensure Examinations for Teachers. He is now employed as English Teacher in Bangkok, Thailand. In deepest expression of gratitude for her mother’s great sacrifices, he afforded for her a funded vacation to Bangkok, Thailand---a short respite from her weary labors. From the same university, her youngest son also graduated with a degree in Business Administration, major in Entrepreneurial Marketing. He is now awaiting a call for employment with the Philippine National Bank after passing the qualifying examinations.

In my interview with Levie at PNB, she felt very excited telling me that “Indeed God has His own timing. After much prayer, continued expressions of love and concern, and extended time of waiting and patient yearning, Arnel Jan my second son already ‘came to himself’ as in the Lord’s Parable of the Prodigal Son (see Luke 15:11-32). He is at present back to his academic journey pursuing a college degree of Bachelor of Arts in English, and is now in his second year.”

Memories with fellow Philnabankers

Reminiscing her unforgettable years of childhood, she recalls those muddy experiences---rice paddies, mud balls and her modest goals. The rice field which her father tilled as a tenant and where she enjoyed the youthful vigor of chasing speed in planting rice and eating out of flavor meals while trembling wet in the cold of rain, provided her youthful years the opportunity to see in the open horizon of her life the silver lining which motivated her to move forward and away from such a disdained and disadvantaged beginning. She slowly trailed a step at a time the route to her modest goals. Although the path she trudged was mobbed and pestered by vexing adversities, she never chilled nor constrained. She looked far into the trailing clouds where the silver lining points the way and guided her finally into reaching the heights of her humble dreams.

As she prepares for her age of seniority while still sitting in her present position as Sales and Service Officer-Assistant Manager I of PNB Gaisano Capital Branch in Surigao City, she looks forward to her compulsory retirement at age 60 comes April 2016. She will always be deeply grateful to PNB for unlocking the gate away from the frontiers of destitution and opening the door that leads to the attainment of her worthy goals. She reverenced the memory of her parents with heart overflowing with gratitude for their love and treasured encouragement and motivation for her and the rest of her siblings to leave the confines of muddy fields and find joy into the future. She expresses her love and gratitude to her sons for joining with her in battle with the challenges of life. Her heart is filled with thankfulness to God’s providential hand which in mercy and love was extended during her most trying moments.In flashes of deepest reflections, she remembers the Christian heritage which her parents bequeathed, and hears in echoes David’s Psalm of gratitude often quoted in church discourses:

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

“He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” (Psalms 23).

A typical rice field in Tago, Surigao del Sur

For once she thought, “What if I had decided to be stuck on the rice paddies and muddy fields? Perhaps my children should have been exposed to the same childhood snags and strains I run through.” At retirement she wishes to visit the place of her birth and childhood and again walk on rice paddies, try once more to mold and throw mud balls and look far into the horizon beyond the open field where the trailing clouds of yesteryears provided for her the panorama of a silver lining which since then and now has conceptually bridged her way to the realization of her modest goals and her rise to the unadorned expectations and glory she once envisioned.

This is a story of no ostentations; neither does it portray the glory of superiority and sophistication. This is one kind of a humble, clear and truthful account of a Surigawnon which exemplifies that no matter the dearth of our beginnings, we can each rise above the threshold of our poverty and deprivation and on to a provident and meaningful life.

IN REVERENCE TO AN UNCOMMON HUSBAND AND FATHER

By: Norberto G. Betita

With his family

Life has always been a challenge to every living soul, not because we are meant to suffer but because it is required of us as sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father. We came to earth to be tried and tested to prove our worth in the context of God’s eternal plan of happiness. Jesus Christ, the only sinless man who ever lived on earth, suffered in excruciating agony in the garden of Gethsemane and carried His cross up the hill at Calvary and there crucified. We also are subjected to the pains of our own personal Gethsemane and are each to carry the cross to our personal Calvary's hill.

The multiplicity of alluring temptations which Satan has lodged to counter our innate desires to do good so filled the borders around our personal life that we seemed to have nowhere else to run but to submit to one or the other of his glamorous invitations. The enticement to a vice or inducement to moral digression is offered by him who is in control of all evils of the earth, only for his supposed victims to experiment and try. But as one takes the bait, he adds greasing to the slides for one to freely skid into the lake of dependence. Then he holds his sure victim with a grip that is very difficult to break. The vice then which started with only a sip of enjoyment in friendly persuasions eventually becomes a cruel taskmaster, a Goliath to face in daily battle. 

With daughters

Such was the case of my good friend and neighbour of many years, Martino R. Ensomo. I knew him when I was young in government service. The government agencies we worked for were interrelated in functions. Then we became close neighbours in the same government subdivision. We also served both in the General PTA when our children were still students at the Surigao del Norte National High School. I knew him to be a good man, except that I observed him to have a vice very common to many---drunkenness. Yet in many of our meetings where wine and liquor are a permanent component of the menu, I observed him to be such a sober man even when drunken, much different from any of the rest who are in the common drinking sprees. His voice remained soft even in harsh discussions. His emotional temperance was also observed in his dealings with his family. As I compared him with many of my friends and neighbours who are in the same vicious attachments to hard drinks, I considered him an uncommon husband, father and neighbour.

Although I am two years younger than he was, we retired just a few months interval. Since then we often meet around the neighbourhood. I always observed him to be such a homely man. He is very concerned of his family’s welfare and affectionate to his wife and children. I found his alcoholism totally different from what I learned about those who are addicted to what is popularly known as “the genie on the bottle”---alcohol, which is described as pervasive and destructive of the victim and his family. I sensed that he was not meant for such a vicious habit and I felt he regretted that he ever started it. Except perhaps for his craving of the substance, he was totally aware that he has to live ever strong as to never inflict upon his children, especially his only son, the overpowering force that had put him in bondage. In his struggle to resolve his dependence he submitted to the desire of his family for therapy and treatment. It was a long battle and he returned carrying temporary relief. However, his physical system perhaps had long been inhabited by such a harmful substance that had become so difficult to emit despite long medication. 

With his wife and eldest daughter

I consider his life as a lesson for everybody who is struggling to battle against the impulse and oftentimes compulsive temptation to drinking hard liquor. It was a Goliath that my good friend and neighbour had battled for years. We need to know that no matter how innately good a man is and how righteous his plans maybe, he can be trapped and be in bondage to the devil’s torment. These mammoth of alluring baits which are destructive to our body and spirits are within our daily view, which we need to be warned about. They are attractively advertised in giant television networks and produced by giant companies. I refer to cigarette, liquor and beer. They are meant to destroy and enslave people. There is an even more dangerous monster that is silently walking the streets and entering school campuses and clandestinely creeping into bars hungering for its prey. It is a multi-billion peso trade of Shabu drugs---methamphetamine---almost encompassing our country. It is a drug that can result to chronic addiction, violent behaviour, functional and molecular changes in the brain, and several other symptoms. Among its most desired victims are our innocent youth---the hope of the fatherland--- who are most vulnerable and easily lured into the experimentation of the pleasurable effects of the drug. The monsters behind these evils are tough and very clever that their agents and pushers can even penetrate inside heavily guarded prisons. Their covert intentions are to enrich themselves and destroy their victims. It is high time that we be aware for its venom might spread into the very doors of our homes and our families might be subjected to the devil’s ever tempting carrot.

His only son

I have my highest respect for my very good friend and neighbour Martino R. Ensomo for having fought his personal Goliath---a dependence on alcohol, without necessarily affecting the welfare of his family. I had seen his highest respect and greatest love for his wife. I had observed how he loved his children and how he fought for their educational battle even challenging the school’s academic rankings during high school. I am a witness of how his wife and children respected and loved him despite his enduring weakness. In view in our neighbourhood is a humble but beautiful house he and his wife built for the family---a monument to his accomplishment as a good provider. With his earnest desire to provide comfort for his family, he bought for them a second hand car. His children graduated with honors in high school; two of them earned college degrees from a premiere university---the University of the Philippines. His eldest daughter is a management graduate and his second daughter is a Certified Public Accountant. His only son, the last born, graduated from the Cebu Institute of Technology and is a licensed Chemical Engineer. The character traits of his children are living witnesses that they are rightfully raised and reared. The academic and professional accomplishments of his children will ever remain as an undying symbol of his good parenting in partnership with his beloved wife. 

As ageing weakens the body, complications took its tool. On October 25, 2015, at age 65, he was finally summoned to leave this frail existence. At his passing I heard negative comments about him, particularly about his dependence to a devil’s destructive tools. However, in my long association with him as a friend and neighbour, I will always remember and honor him as an uncommon man who fought his battle against a Goliath of adversity in his personal life while at the same time protecting his family from its destructive influence. I have my thoughts written in reverence of him as an uncommon husband and father; a worthy exemplar to emulate. I and my wife will miss that tender smile which he usually exhibited as we passed by their home. Farewell my dear friend Martin, farewell.

TEENAGE PREGNANCY: TRUE LOVE AMIDST FLAMING OPPOSITION

by: Norberto Betita

(This is an excerpt from my book)

The Francis Tom and Sheila Paredes Story

The couple Francis & Sheila Paredes

They were both deprived of patriarchal presence and guiding paternal hands. Francis lost his father at age three. Sheila was without a father since birth. They were journeying their common formidable frontiers even in earliest childhood placidly trailing the light that gleams along the dark and dreary road to the future. They were held and guided by the weary but unfailing protective hands of single mother-providers whose hearts are lined with precious rubies and courage reinforced with strongest steel.

Their teenage love story started with attraction and fondness of a 14-year old third year high school student at the Surigao State College of Technology (SSCT) and a 16-year old AB English college freshman at the Saint Paul University-Surigao (SPUS). Sheila was a student of Francis Tom’s mother. In a short time it developed into an infatuation which eventually culminated into a youthful loving relationship which their memory never failed to recall---July 23, 2003. Parents of both believed it is no love at all; they were too young to be in such a relationship that is only allowable for more mature individuals. Vigorous opposition began to mount, especially on the side of Sheila, which is not surprising considering her age of fourteen. A little later, Francis Tom’s mother expressed her clear opposition. But Francis Tom insisted that it is true love amidst everybody’s antagonism. In his young life, he remembered to have viewed and believed Sheila to be his life. He felt his being is empty for each hour that he did not have her in view.

On account of extreme opposition, especially as he was no longer allowed to visit Sheila, he went on heavy drinking and too much drunkenness. He tried to make a visit to Sheila’s apartment, but denied even more intensely by the latter’s grandmother. As a result of his continued attempts to meet with Sheila even in his drunkenness on New Year’s Eve of 2003 notwithstanding the warnings, he was eventually thrown from the motorcycle which he borrowed from his uncle, resulting to a broken front tooth and several abrasions in the body. The accident also caused injury to an old man bystander. In exasperation his mother sent him to the police which incarcerated him for three days for the injury of the old man. For a while he felt continued headaches which he attributed also to the same accident. From such actuations and eventual imprisonment, he thought he will finally be forgotten by Sheila. With his broken tooth and several injuries he imagined that Sheila will be disheartened and dismayed. But instead Sheila showed up and cared for her injuries each day until finally healed. In his final initiation with UPSILON PHI SIGMA ON February 21, 2004, Sheila still assisted her in the healing process of the physical effects of fraternity paddling. 

The family

Like many other boys his age, he has been exposed to the lure of pornography in the internet. In the vulnerability of youth, the smut and obscenity which are common in pornographic materials tempted him and triggered his desire to indulge in sexual experimentations. And their closeness together, resulted in an unwanted and irresponsible act not admissible for their age. They continued to meet, but the opposition on the side of Sheila’s mother increased. In March 2004 they eloped. However, his mother did not consent that they live together in such a very young age. Hence, with his mother’s persuasion, they returned Sheila to her mother. By his mother’s request Francis was allowed to visit Sheila. When Sheila transferred residence at Tagana-an in April of the same year, Francis still followed and visited her to prove the seriousness of his intentions. During one of his visits, driven by their closeness, another undesirable event happened which flamed the ember of opposition that had since been following their youthful relationship. In bitterness, Sheila’s mother swore no longer to allow Francis to visit or see Sheila anymore. He was considered a threat to Sheila’s future.

However, true love amidst flaming opposition finds its way for two hearts to be reunited. Francis clandestinely left his cellphone to Sheila and he eventually contacted her for them to meet once more. And in the same month of April of 2004, they again eloped.

Francis’ mother was so confused at the kind of affection and closeness that these teenaged possessed. While she was short of confidence that such a young love will take root, she eventually consented to help them hide from Sheila’s mother with the assistance of friends until the flame of anger subsides. Perhaps in her mind were wandering the thoughts of Francis’ being charged of kidnapping or any other criminal liability, but not Francis. The flaming opposition turned back to ember as soon as it was known that Sheila was pregnant. She had her first pre-natal check-up in May of the same year. There was nothing that the opposing parents could do but to support Sheila in her pregnancy to make sure of her safety and that of the fetus. Sheila was only 15 years of age. They could not be married in accordance with the provisions of law. Hence, they have to live together in a cohabitation relationship. 

With proud mothers and aunt

Not even his goodly mother-provider had the conviction that he would do well as a husband and father in his youthfulness. She worried that Francis did not even consider the weight of responsibility that was before him as an unemployed young man. But unlike the many young men who shunned responsibility after a mistake, Francis did not eschew his accountability and determined to stand by Sheila and their upcoming child to reciprocate the love that Sheila had shown him. While he was in the Dean’s List during his first year of college at SPUS in 2003-2004, he decided not to study until Sheila delivered the child. Despite his inadequacies as a young man, he wanted to prove that he is worth the love of his wife and forthcoming child. He wanted to drive a tricycle, but no tricycle owner would allow him because he was without a driver’s License. He applied for work at TT and Company and was employed with a daily salary of P90 equivalent to a twelve-hour duty. It was during this employment that he learned to rummage clean left-over foods from the clients of the restaurant and eat the same inside the rest room. He realized he never dreamed to be in such a condition, nor does his mother. Yet he appreciated those trying and deplorable encounters for it helped him learn the hard art of responsibility. He came to recognize the sweetness of freedom that comes with responsibility. It motivated him to do and make better his race to the future. His vision improved and his character changed.

After three months at TT & Company, he transferred to Jolibee. While in this employment their son Ranzi was given birth on November 6, 2004. Sheila was only 16 years old, a mother but not yet a wife. Francis became a father at 18, but not yet a husband. He dogged at supporting the needs of his son and Sheila all by himself. A recap of his and of Sheila’s fatherless march in their earlier life left him wanting and earnestly yearning to be a true father to Ranzi and a faithful husband to Sheila. He wanted never to repeat those sad experiences of childhood when he longed for a father’s hand and there was none to hold. He committed himself with a firm and resolute certitude that he will walk and run by Ranzi’s side as a father. He worked even harder. His efficiency and effectiveness as a worker was recognized; he was promoted and awarded as Best Station Leader. But even then, he came to a moment of deeper consciousness that no matter how hard he tried, his advancement is limited only upon the bounds of his inadequate resume and incomplete qualification. In moments of reflections he came to understand how hard life was to be a father at a very young age and unprepared. He now comprehends the value of listening and obeying parental counsels. Yet, there was no more way to escape the youthful parental responsibility, nor did he have any thought of shunning. He realized his mistake, yet he said, “I did not have any regrets, for notwithstanding my youthfulness, I am pretty sure that she was the woman for me. I love her and she loves me.”

Father and son

As Ranzi came in sight and welcomed the desirable embraces of still confused grandmothers, the remaining ember of opposition dispelled and was eventually extinguished. The fruit of the true love amidst flaming opposition healed the hearts. With better perspective, Francis requested his mother for assistance to go back to college while he tries to work part time to support their other needs. Sheila’s mother on the other hand also offered support. College at SPUS was expensive, so Francis transferred to SSCT. He shifted to a course leading to Bachelor of Science in Education major in English, while Sheila enrolled in the same school to complete her high school education.

To make sure he will have a much better resume as he prepared for future battles with life, he took every opportunity to be involved in extra-curricular activities at school. He was Vice President of the SSCT Student Supreme Government, and later as secretary. He joined Rotaract Club of Metro Surigao and became President. Sheila also joined the UPSILON fraternity and the Rotaract Club.

When the proper time and age came for them to be united in matrimony, they immediately scheduled to join the mass wedding on December 29, 2008. Their wedding was devoid of grandiosities and pretentions. They did not aspire for an elaborate wedding feast. All they wanted was to be legally bound as husband and wife for better or for worse. In love they were united and in dreams and vision for the future, they were not separated.

Francis was eventually graduated with a degree in education in 2009. In a matter of ten days after graduation he was hired to work at Chemical Alloy Corporation as a Lube Specialist and later as Account Manager for Caraga Region. For the first time, he tried to take the Licensure Examination for Teacher (LET), but failed. He was not frustrated. In 2011, he resigned and worked at the Kinglong Trucking and Barging Company (KTBC) as secretary to the General Manager. It was also the time when Sheila graduated from college. She also worked with the Kinglong Trucking to save and prepare for the LET. Together they took the LET, but both failed. That was kind of a trial for them, a test of endurance. But they determined and again saved and prepared for the 2012 LET examination. This time they are blessed as to hurdle together and so became duly licensed teachers. For a moment Francis taught college at the Siargao Island Institute of Technology. Eventually they jointly qualified and was employed at the Alegria National High School in May 2013. 

Mother and son

They were so focused on building the future of Ranzi that they seemed to forget that he is old enough at 11 to yearn for a brother or sister. But they say, it is in the plan. The same year that they started secured employments in a public school, they enrolled for the Master of Arts in Education (MAE). In the course of his master’s education he also started his research on the Sinurigaw grammar and then published his first book of “Sinurigaw: Pormada, Plastada, Tunada, Pasabot” on February 2014 which gave him the opportunity to be a presenter on the 12th Philippines Linguistics Congress at the University of the Philippines-Diliman in November 26-28, 2014 on the subject. On February 2015 his MAE thesis entitled “Impact of Mother Tongue-Based Language of Instruction in Learning English Grammar” qualified and was acknowledged during the 11th International Conference on Bilingual Studies at Chiang Kai Shek College. The same research paper also qualified during the 2nd International Sanrokan Conference on May 13-15, 2015 at the Romblon State University in partnership with UP-Diliman and NCCA.

In May of 2015, Francis and Sheila together marched with humble pride beside their mother-providers who still were mystified and choked with unbelief of their youthful journey to success, as they were together conferred the degree of Master of Arts in Education. Sheila was 27 years old, while Francis has just turned 29.

His popularity and prominence kept pace when he attended a linguistics conference held at the University of Southeast Philippines-Davao, on August 2015 as a presenter on the topic “Language Use by SSG Candidates in 2015 Miting de Avance: English or Mother Tongue.” He is also scheduled on September 23-27, 2015 to present his paper on “Sinurigao: Pormada, Plastada, Tunada, Pasabot at the 9th Free Linguistics Conference organized by the Linguistics Society of the Philippines and De La Salle University in Manila. He will be with his dearly beloved mother-provider, to let her feel that she is not a failure in all her sacrifices for him. Francis is a member of the Linguistics Society of the Philippines and the Linguistics Society of Mindanao.

As a teacher by profession, he definitely submits to the wisdom of what former President Elpidio Quirino had to say: “Teachers, as leaders in each community, you should spread light. Go beyond the present horizon. See if you can dig up something which will interest the people and make them follow you as their confirmed leaders." He had this posted on his Facebook timeline. 

The teenage couple with their son

He believes that there is no limit to what man can attain and achieve even after a desperate and reckless mistake and subsequent failures. Success comes by diligent effort and unwavering determination to rise from every fall and move forward with unflinching courage and faith.

In their desire to share their love story, especially to the Filipino youth who is now bothered by the statistics that one in ten young Filipino women age 15-19 has begun childbearing and one in five (19 percent) young adult Filipino women age 18 to 24 years had initiated their sexual activity before age 18 according to the results of the 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), Francis has this advice: “It is very nice to love and be loved. But it is best to wait for the proper time, proper circumstance and proper relationship before deciding to marry. To you young men please avoid the ever tempting invitation of pornography and the seductive lure of sexual experimentation; it can be an expensive, dangerous and destructive vice. Wait for the best and proper time to use your procreative powers. To you young women, don’t ever be tempted and persuaded by the lustful offensives of young men your age. There will eventually come in the proper time of your life the best man who will offer his most sincere love and walk with you in a wondrous march to the most sacred altar of matrimony. Sheila and I have made a serious mistake as teenagers and our journey to recovery had never been easy. Good that our puppy love turned mature even at an early age that we had learned to fight our battles and win. I am likewise lucky that Sheila in her teenage must have been looking for the love of a father and perhaps she found it in me, and unexpectedly she loved me without equivocation to be the father of his child and the best husband for her. But it only happens in a million. Young men and young women beware.” 

On their wedding day

The once dark horizon is now gleaming with light beckoning a brilliant and happier future for Francis, Sheila and Ranzi. Their story of true love amidst flaming opposition had become their bridge across the formidable frontiers which to them unmasked early in life. Opposition is no longer an issue, but respect---with both mother-providers now ever confident that their story of true love did and will eventually weather the storms along their longwinded journey to the future. The grandmothers of the teenaged-borne grandson--- Ranzi---are now waiting with eagerness for a new grandchild that will be born in maturity. Francis and Sheila, still young adults as they remain, are now appreciating the memories of teenage pregnancy and motherhood, and teenage fatherhood, while in constant nurturing of their true love and savoring their exultant accomplishments with better and definite visions to the distant but blooming future.

THE FURNITURE MAKER AND THE BOILED YOUNG CORN

The Lope M. Codilla, Sr. Story

by: Norberto Betita

(Excerpts from my book)

The furniture maker-Lope U. Cudilla, Sr. 

Even in moments when he is carried at the brink of that cavernous and gloomy void, receiving several bags of blood for transfusion, he still can afford to do his brand of being a man of humor. In the depths of his miserable and almost hopeless condition at the hospital he nevertheless crafts pranks that generate a smile from his compassionate visitors and blood donors. This joyful character remains in his lifetime as an antidote of every suffering that he has encountered in his life. Even his children and friends after witnessing his condition of needing several bags of blood for transfusion thought that he will not live long, but he pulled himself away from that sure pathway to his ominous and foreboding fate. He was sustained by his enduring faith in God and his continuing belief that laughter is indeed the best medicine to every misery and woe.

Whenever he felt sad and lonely he calls for relief by doing some jokes that would attract attention of those who are truly concerned of his welfare. Once, while viewing the General Conference rebroadcast at church my wife noticed him drinking water from a wine bottle which still carried the label and name of the brand. My wife visited him and requested him never to do such an appearance of evil in a solemn spiritual assembly. He just laughed and expressed gratitude that he was recognized. He felt that there are still people who are most concerned of his spiritual welfare. He swore never again to do the same. 

With wife Laurencia

Lope’s early life had been such a story of continued drowning into the depths of life’s whirlpools and swimming vigorously against the powerful adverse currents for survival. He is a native of Leyte. During his youthful years, life has been very difficult in their place. Nowhere could he find work to earn for a living. He heard about employment opportunities at Aras-asan, Cagwait, Surigao del Sur where a lumber company was regularly hiring employees. Moved by his passionate desire to find work, he wanted to try his luck and so he travelled from Leyte to Cebu and then to Tandag, Surigao del Sur. While aboard a pump boat from Tandag to Aras-asan the boat capsized and he was left floating in the sea. He was rescued by a man named Efren who brought him to Lianga, Surigao del Sur. He served with Efren’s family as house help, doing errands and household chores. In order to earn he went into amateur boxing. But he realized it has not done anything good for him. He felt frustrated by the turn of events in his life. He started to miss his family and he wanted to go home.

His eldest Lolita with children

There came a time in his life when he felt encircled in complete darkness and all his hope vanished. The pragmatic hardnosed experiences of life’s dismal contests and grapple with hardest times somehow compiled thoughts that derailed the mind. While his capability and training was only for a four-round in boxing, he took the challenge of fighting for six rounds, wanting to be knocked down and die. But he won instead.

He requested his rescuer Efren to allow him to leave back home. But he was held back until a replacement arrives. While he had the excitement of having the opportunity to go home, when his replacement Laurencia---the younger sister of Efren came, he lost his every desire to be reunited to his family. He said, “When I saw her, I felt we had long since known each other.” He felt reinvigorated and thought that life was may be just like a joke. And from such short attraction their love story and eventual marital journey began.

He stopped his boxing career and instead trained in furniture making in Efren’s shop. For a while they lived and served together in his brother-in-law’s household. But when his wife became pregnant of their first born, they decided to return to Cebu. There he continued working as a carpenter and furniture maker and eventually became and expert craftsman. While in Cebu, their first born Lolita was given birth. At first life was a little easier. However as four other children---Lope, Jr, Letecia, Lorito, and Leonardo, came into the family, life again became harder and harder. In consequence of poverty two of their children died in infancy. That was such a very painful experience. He felt being pulled back again into the whirlpool of life. Yet he swam his way back against the resurging current of adversity and continued to fight his battle for survival. 

One Sabath Day with the whole family

When Lope heard of a hiring for furniture makers, he applied and was hired to work in Surigao City. After a year working with Willy’s furniture shop, he was hired by a prominent furniture businessman, Mr. Kang. He felt secured with a salary of twenty pesos per day. However, another tragedy came into their family life when their son Leonardo died by drowning. In moments of reflection, as to why these things were happening to him and his wife, he again thought of life as being just a joke and he must have to press on.

His wife Laurencia was a full-time mother. While trying to make both ends meet from that meagre income of twenty pesos a day, another child was born---Lucresio. He was happy that in his circle of life, God was returning back one that was lost. But the whirlpool of adversity seemed not to surrender on him and another misfortune came when Lope was diagnosed with Hernia---a protrusion of an organ that descended into the scrotum. He was treated and was advised to rest for six months. There were no benefits for daily waged personnel during those times and that was real disaster for them. 

Son Lucresio and family

His wife Laurencia decided to start buying and selling corn from out of the very little assistance that Lope’s employer had given for them to survive. All that Lope could help was to cook the boiled young corn for Laurencia to peddle around the city, walking a total of six kilometres to and from downtown Surigao City, carrying the heavy basin full of corn for sale. When Lope’s condition began to improve, he started going with his wife in buying and selling young corn, while the elder children would watch the youngest son. For six months they lived solely from the little earnings that they have.

When Lope resumed work his wife continued to do buying and selling young corn to supplement his income. For a while they were able to support their needs, but two other children came into the family---Aleja and Louie. As these children came in succession, he always felt that God was slowly returning back all that were lost from him. Still he thought that life is a joke. When the two elder children begun school, their wallet became regularly empty. But they strived to meet their growing needs. They do not want their children to be deprived of their only hope for relief from the bondage of poverty. They wanted them to be educated for their future.

Then the most devastating pull from the whirlpool of life came. His employer closed business and he was left without a job. He was doomed to hopelessness. The wonderful visions for his children’s future became fogged and obscured. Being without a job while family needs were increasing was truly overwhelming. He and his family suffered the excruciating pain of extreme poverty. But with his guts to laugh even against the tearful experiences of their pitiable circumstance, he arose back with greater determination and profound conviction to win his battle together with his wife. He kind of heard a voice, “You can start over again and change your course from a downward, twisting, disappointing path to a superhighway to peace and happiness” (Richard G. Scott). Hence, he did not dread the winds of adversity against them but faced it with more courage and faith. 

Daughter Aleja with husband

He had nowhere to go but to join with his wife in the boiled young corn peddling. In the early dawn while the children are asleep, they would ride a bus to buy young corns from farmers and back home boiled them for peddling. Together they walked daily under the heat of the rising sun into the city proper, carrying over their heads the basins filled with boiled-young-corn. They did not send their children into the streets to beg, but to the schools to learn and educate.

He joined hands with his wife in the work which by then was their only hope for survival. He continued accepting occasional carpentry jobs, but not for long. Peddling boiled young corn became their regular source of income until their children went to high school and even through college. While others in their neighbourhood yielded in their battle with difficulties by employing their children into the same lowly occupation, Lope and Laurencia did not give up on the education of their children. He could not afford to have his children go hungry and stop schooling. He knew that education is the only way for his children to rise above poverty. It matters not to him if he and his wife have to continue swimming in the whirlpool of life, for as long as their children are safe in the shores to walk with backpacks full of provisions to confront their own challenges in life.

They planned their family life so as to make sure that their little income could provide all their needs. They were taught to live within their means and they obeyed. They tried to obey the Lord’s economic law, and they were blessed. There were times when they have to raise a pig or two for fattening and chickens to cover enrolments of their college students. In all his battles, his humorous character had helped him overcome stresses and defeating circumstances. 

Son Louie and family

The road that he and his wife tracked together with their five living children was never comfortable, but to him it was worthwhile. He knew pretty well then that he and his wife will not be able to rise above their circumstances, but they labored hard to equip their children and their posterity with battle gears to conquer life’s adversities unto triumph and victory. They built in their children’s life the necessary foundations that will prepare them to hold strong when challenges of their own will be blown against their road towards growth and progress.

He and his beloved wife first experience the joy of victory when their eldest daughter graduated with a degree in Science Education and passed the Teacher’s Licensure Examination. Greater joy and gladness came when all their children graduated from college. All their five children earned baccalaureate degrees---three with bachelor’s degrees and two with vocational courses. Their eldest is now in the United States of America; the second also a teacher by profession is now a college instructor; the third, the kind of a straggler and adventurer earned a degree in computer science and is now in business; the fourth a two-year courser was married to an American and is now preparing for her Visa; the youngest, although was earlier strangled in the vulnerability of youth, also finished two years in college. All their children were already married and they have eight grandchildren. 

Son Lope, Jr with his son

If he would be asked what is meant by the Lord’s promise that He “will pour out blessings where there shall not be room enough to receive”, he probably would joke that with all his five children now married and have children of their own, he really has no room enough to accommodate them.

Even when their children where already gainfully employed the furniture maker turned boiled young corn peddler with his beloved wife continued to enjoy the very humble trade they loved the most which prepared their children for future provident life enough to fight their personal battles with adversity and contribute to the good of society in which they live. Lope and Laurencia vowed to live together as one amidst hardships and misfortunes and the spinning whirlpool of life. In the dispersed twilight of their lives they sealed their marital covenants in a most sacred setting to live together not only for time but throughout all eternity.

They celebrated just this year 2015 their 50th wedding anniversary. Lope is now weak and feeble, deteriorated by long years of hard labor and ageing. While in the hospital he asked my daughter, “Kinsa man ka?” (Who are you?). My daughter surprised introduced herself and reminded that he knew her very well. He replied, “Wala man ko kaila nimo?” (I do not know you?) When he observed that my daughter was so worried about his condition, he told her “Ayaw’g banha sa uban, wala pa ko nawadan ug buot.” (Don’t tell others, I have not yet lost my memory). Even in his worst condition after a surgery, he still carried the thought that life is just a joke. The humorous optimism of the furniture maker turned boiled young corn peddler sustained him in his “walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” He still lives to tell his story to inspire his posterity and others who might have the opportunity to read the chronicle of his life.

GIVE PEACE THE CHANCE

By: Norberto Betita

(Excerpts from my book)

Photo from www.google.com.ph

It is ironical that because of our Christianity we vehemently oppose the maximum punishment of death in our country, yet we are killing each other. As a people I believe we need to think deep and better evaluate our situations and not learn and desecrate. We have so much knowledge and voluminous writings kept in history libraries where we can learn the wisdom of those before us in so far as the cost of our independence and national democracy is concerned. Yet while both parties in our internal conflict were long since sitting on the peace negotiating tables not only in our own domestic democratic conclaves, but also in internationally known councils of peace negotiators, we never have reached a resolve.

Our ancestors have long fought for our independence and freedom against tyrannical invaders and aggressors. Our National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal, in his sequel of the El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed -1891 - translations from the Spanish by Charles Derbyshire), was quoted, “There are no tyrants where there are no slaves.” (https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Rizal). For long, Dr. Jose Rizal fought his battles with letters and words. In his “El Filibusterismo” he wrote:

“It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal. It is like a stone wasted in the field without becoming part of an edifice.

“You must shatter the vase to spread its perfume, and smite the rock to get the spark.

“The school of suffering tempers the spirit, the arena of combat strengthens the soul.

“The glory of saving a country is not for him who has contributed to its ruin.

“Pure and spotless must the victim be if the sacrifice is to be acceptable.” (https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Rizal).

From several of his writings he was quoted:

Execution of Dr. Jose Rizal

“We want the happiness of the Philippines, but we want to obtain it through noble and just means. If I have to commit villainy to make her happy, I would refuse to do so, because I am sure that what is built on sand sooner or later would tumble down.” (Letter to Blumentritt, 31 January 1887).

“Filipinos don't realize that victory is the child of struggle, that joy blossoms from suffering, and redemption is a product of sacrifice.” ("Como se gobiernan las Filipinas" (How one governs in the Philippines), published in La Solidaridad (15 December 1890)

Indeed, our country’s journey to freedom and democracy costs one of the best Filipino blood. He was described by a friend thus: “His coming to the world is like the appearance of a rare comet, whose brilliance appears only every other century.” (Ferdinand Blumentritt, Philippinologist and Rizal's best friend, in his book Biography of Rizal, translated from German by Howard Bray (1898). https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Rizal). On the eve of his execution in December 29, 1896, he wrote his “Last Farewell”:

Oh how beautiful to fall to give you flight,
To die to give you life, to rest under your sky;
And in your enchanted land forever sleep. ("Mi Ultimo Adios", st. 5).

I go where there are no slaves, hangmen or oppressors;

Where faith does not kill; where the one who reigns is God. ("Mi Ultimo Adios" st. 13 - poem written on the eve of his execution (29 December 1896) - translated from the Spanish by Charles Derbyshire.).

Our great leader, Emilio Aguinaldo, the first president of the Philippines, during their struggles and fight for independence declared, "We cannot free ourselves unless we move forward united in a single desire." (Source(s):http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A08...
http://www.angelfire.com/on/philpres/agu...). In their fight for the ultimate freedom and democracy which was envisioned and which eventually brought Dr. Jose Rizal to his heroic grave, many also offered their lives to make us free. Then as we become free, we sing the anthem song:

Land of the morning
Child of the sun returning
With fervor burning
Thee do our souls adore.

Land dear and holy,
Cradle of noble heroes,
Ne'er shall invaders
Trample thy sacred shores.

Ever within thy skies and through thy clouds
And o'er thy hills and seas;
Do we behold thy radiance, feel the throb
Of glorious liberty.

Thy banner dear to all hearts
Its sun and stars alright,
Oh, never shall its shining fields
Be dimmed by tyrants might.

Beautiful land of love, oh land of light,
In thine embrace 'tis rapture to lie;
But it is glory ever when thou art wronged
For us thy sons to suffer and die.

Photo from www.google.com.ph

Now after more than a century of freedom---no longer “dimmed by tyrants might”, her sons “suffer and die” not from invaders hands but from the same slaves of yesteryears now becoming tyrants---a sad characterization of the seemingly prophetic words of Dr. Jose Rizal: “Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?” (El Filibusterismo, https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Rizal).

The dreadful injuries and damages of our internal war have resulted in physical mutilations and mental torments. Tender wives and children were struck with incessant grief as they witness the Philippine flag covered coffins robbing them of the joys of having their husbands and fathers back home. It is even pitiful for some of the insurgents as they die in battle without even the benefit of a decent burial or perhaps even the knowledge of their families. Most unfortunate are those civilians who lost their precious lives while inadvertently trapped in the switching of bullets between warring factions. Young men, who have been involved in this unending armed conflict between brother Filipinos, breathe their last of a wasteful life, while others live with animosity and hatred for their own brethren becoming permanents parts of their physical structure. 

 

Photo from www.google.com.ph

As I look far into the ravages and consequences of our internal war, I see a pathetically and absurdly dissolute desecration of human life and useless extravagance of national resources.

Together with Jeremiah of old, I express my lamentation: “Is there no balm in Gilead [the Philippines]; is there no physician there?” (Jeremiah 8:22). To those who sit in the panel of negotiators and arbitrators we ask, why not give peace the chance? Peace is a paramount priority that needs our unequivocal quest. It can be the antidote to many of our national ills. Perhaps as we sit together in the bargaining table, we should not be as the “scribes and Pharisees” which Jesus denounced as “blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel” who “make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.” (see Matthew 23:23-25). We need to remember that we are no strangers, nor are we foreigners, but fellow citizens of our beloved country---the Philippines, and are supposed to traverse all ideological boundaries and common cultures towards unity and peace. Thus, we need to eliminate the critical lenses that had long since blurred our view of a prospective peaceful reconciliation and instead utilize telescopic glasses to have a far better vision of an enlarged tapestry of the best benefits of peace. 

Photo from www.google.com.ph

King David in his psalms assured, “The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace” (Psalms 29:11). The Lord Jesus Christ likewise promised, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14.27).

Our centuries of Christian heritage allowed us to understand that real peace is a feeling of wondrous love, well-being, tranquility and protection that emanates from God. It is this peace that led Dr. Jose Rizal to pen these inspired words in his Noli me Tangere (The Social Cancer – 1887, as translated from the Spanish by Charles Derbyshire):

“I die without seeing the dawn brighten over my native land. You who have it to see, welcome it--and forget not those who have fallen during the night!

“Truth does not need to borrow garments from error.

“Fame to be sweet must resound in the ears of those we love, in the atmosphere of the land that will guard our ashes. Fame should hover over our tomb to warm with its heat the chill of death, so that we may not be completely reduced to nothingness, that something of us may survive.” https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Rizal).

While my thoughts was lingering deep and chasing ideas to write, my sight loiters at the window in front where my computer was set, reaching far beyond the horizon into the sterling blue sky---a backdrop of the red fruit-bearing “Tambis” tree. The strong southern winds had just concluded its passion after two weeks of continued rage. Into my mind rings; how wonderful the peace that nature brings. How glorious it would be to sound a trumpet of a call for peace to our contending brother Filipinos as a citizen’s personal duty. How magnificent to one day witness the glad tidings that peace is sure to convey. I, therefore, hope and pray that we as a people and nation may give peace the chance.

RESPONSIBLE MINING: OUR BEST HOPE FOR ECONOMIC RECOVERY

By: Norberto Betita

(This is part of my Book)

The Taganito Project involved JGC constructing an HPAL smelting
plant for processing low-grade nickel ore into nickel metal

I have read many social media posts and news feds about our struggles as a nation and as a people. We are wondering what is wrong with us as a people; what is happening with our government. It is reported that many of our people who go abroad are among the best and trusted workers and most successful in their fields of training. While at home in the Philippines they are longing for the same opportunities to be opened to them, but it is nowhere to be found.

My barber friend struggled to send his children to college. One of his daughters worked locally as a registered nurse in a government hospital. For several years she found no growth and progress in her married life. She decided to try her luck to apply for a nursing job in New Zealand. Her family borrowed substantial amount of money for the placement fee and other expenses. Her job was the same as her work in the Philippines. But in a short time she was able to pay her loan, bought a car and gave her poor parents the opportunity to take a vacation in New Zealand, a break not even in their dreams. Eventually she transferred to Australia and earns even more, supporting the needs of her parents and the college education of her niece and nephew. At the same time she replaced the nipa hut of her parents with a modest medium type house. She told me, if she had remained in the Philippines, she should not have been able to provide her own family and her extended families the provident life that they now enjoy. 

Silangan Project Portal. (http://www.philexmining.com.ph/about-us/silangan)

I was once assigned to conduct credit investigation on a young client for his car loan, a brand new Everest. He graduated from a local school in Surigao City for a three year course in Electronics. He first found a job in Manila and later applied for a job in Singapore. In a short time he was able to acquire a residential lot in their barrio where he built a loan free residential building. He also acquired farm lands. His car loan was fully paid long before the term expired. If he had remained working in the Philippines, he should not have been able to acquire these things at his young age. His only sacrifice is that he is far from his family.

I know of many local executives in government and banking institutions who could not even afford a second hand car, but only after they retired and received their lump sum benefits. Many high profile professionals---MBAs, Masters in Education, Doctors of Philosophy, and others, who worked for many years do not have that marks of abundance.

The design of the proposed declaration of  decline toward to Boyongan
and Bayugo  deposits. (http://www.philexmining.com.ph/about-us/silangan)

We might ask why? What is the difference of a Filipino Nurse working in Australia or New Zealand and a Nurse working in the Philippines? What is the difference between a state college three-year courser working in Singapore and a Bank Manager in the Philippines? Why the stark difference in their ability to improve their standard of living?

Well, we might reason that their earnings had a multiplier effect when brought to the Philippines. But even if they have to stay in the country where they work, they still are living comfortably. These are proven by many Filipinos residing abroad. They are successful because they work hard knowing that what they earn will provide them more than enough. In the Philippines we earn less than enough.

My friend works full time in the church as Church Education System employee. He earns a modest salary, much higher than the local salary levels. His family lives in a well furnished apartment. He is provided with a car by the Church. Once he had the opportunity to have training in Utah, U.S.A. He met his very close Filipino friend. He was given a ride on his friend’s sports car. He found that his friend worked as a janitor in the Church office building, while proceeding with his college degree and providing for a small family. College is expensive is America and my friend thought that maybe his friend had taken an educational loan. But at least he proudly indicated that he is proud of his work as a janitor and comfortably affording a provident life for his family.

Our concern therefore is how can we as a government regulate and stipulate enough employment income for our workers to provide for their fundamental needs---food, clothing, shelter and medical needs and education. And how can we regulate the prices of these prime commodities. All the barriers I mentioned, except perhaps on political infidelity, have their common roots---unemployment, underemployment and high prices of prime commodities. These result to our people’s inability to rise above poverty. Thus they become easy recruits to insurgency, easily induced to immorality and in their ignorance they choose to be silent participants in our political calisthenics and easy victims of vote buying---the path to political infidelity. Only those who tried their luck in business did find greater success. But they remain to be the greatest minority. 

We have so much wealth in store to help us, as a people and as a nation, to rise above our present economic ills. However, not much has been done to utilize the abundant treasures that are spread in our lands and kept beneath our soils. Responsible mining of these hidden immeasurable reserves and resources can be our best hope for economic recovery.

However, a great deal of secularization and our abundance of brainy fellows create diverse opinions and ideologies on matters affecting our country. The miners believed in the tremendous benefits of mining. The environmentalists decry mining as a destructive industry, unfriendly to environment. The unemployed and underemployed workers want mining industries to prevail for it provides higher salaries and sufficient income. The naysayers lined the streets crying foul over the possible destructive effects of mining. The journalists report every minute detail of disadvantages and drawbacks, but never the prospective high benefits. Even our laws seemed to have their own share of diversity. There are laws which favor mining and there are those which favor environmental protection, yet these laws are complementary. Many among the silent observers could only do nothing but scratch their heads.

Protest during Philex Mining Stockholder's meeting. (http://www.demotix.com)

Sometimes our civility comes far from being civil. Every now and then we marched the streets complaining against mining companies and our government. We only look at the faults, but never appreciate the good. We even go against the requirements of the law, demanding for our absolute democratic freedom to do as we please, even to the extent of burning the equipment of mining companies worth billions of pesos. I once had a discussion with my son Robert about absolute freedom and limited freedom which was a subject in their class debate. He was for limited freedom, because of existing laws which prohibits one from doing a certain act. He explained that to go beyond the limits of the laws as an exercise of absolute freedom is to limit one’s freedom, because he will be subjected to punishment in violation of the law, which may even require the violator to go hiding or be incarcerated in jail. But to live within the limits of the laws is to have an out-and-out complete freedom to do that which is right. Freedom is not free for it has a price measured in terms of consequence. Civility is to be a participant in deeds that are right and to object the wrong in accord with the limits prescribed by our laws.

While I was yet an employee of the Philippine National Bank, I question the wisdom of many banks coming into Surigao City to do business. The MMIC-Surigao Nickel Refinery, which generated economic abundance in the City was already closed resulting to economic downtrend. As a banking and finance graduate I am aware of what it is that banks are after when they invest to establish a branch in a place. Yet I saw no better prospect that would provide future sound business for the banks in Surigao City, particularly with private banks.

Our agriculture could not even provide for the food needs of our city and province. While we are situated in the shorelines with several island components, our fishing does not warrant an industry and not even enough for local provisions. Tourism is never an equitable resource for employment then and even now.

Protesters during the Philex Mining Stockholder's meeting
http://www.demotix.com)

The Diwata Mountains surround our place as to leave us only a small tract---a few plains, for us to plant staple crops not even enough to supply our local needs. However, beneath these mountain ranges are hidden since time immemorial, immeasurable treasures that can surely create our city and province into a very progressive economy. Banking researchers should admit that these are the prospects that they are looking forward to. They knew that the Mining industry will need billions of pesos in investments. It will produce incalculable revenues. It will provide good jobs for the people. Business activities will be intensified. And sure, the banking sector will be more than sustained in their operations. All these we are starting to experience now in Surigao City and Surigao del Norte. And if these economic activities continue uninterrupted, there will no longer be a need for our people to migrate to other areas or even abroad to find better employment.

While we have other resources from which we can hinge on to bolster our economy, mining is one of our best options to rise above our present economic struggles. I quote this report from Andrew James Masigan:

“Unknown to many, the Philippines possesses one of the world’s largest deposits of gold, silver, nickel and copper. A study commissioned by the World Bank estimates that mineral deposits in the Philippines amount to nearly $840 billion, based on 2010 prices. Put into context, $840 billion is enough to pay the country’s external debts 14 times over.

“Our mining industry is sorely underdeveloped, which is why we haven’t really benefitted from the God-given bounty of our land. Large-scale mining investors are waiting in the wings to help us extract our mineral deposits; unfortunately, the new Mining Law, which contains the working parameters of foreign miners, is still stewing in Congress. So for now, 70 percent of the miners that operate in the country are of the small-scale kind, particularly those that mine for gold.

“Despite having the third largest gold deposits in the world, the Philippines continues to lag behind in gold production. We rank 19th out of 100 gold-producing countries. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau reported that gold production even dropped by a massive 50 percent last year with an output of just 15.762 metric tons as compared to 31.120 metric tons in 2011. In contrast, Australia, a country with less gold deposits, had an output of 250 metric tons.” (source: PH is third in gold deposits worldwide—so where is it? by Andrew James Masigan
September 15, 2013http://www.mb.com.ph/ph-is-third-in-gold-deposits-worldwide-so-where-is-it/).

The Philippines has the third largest mineral deposit of nickel in the world. “New Caledonia contains 21% of the world’s nickel laterites, followed by Australia (20%), the Philippines (17%) and Indonesia (12%)” (source: http://www.geologyforinvestors.com/nickel-laterites/). It is also reported that “The Philippines is the fifth-richest country in the world in terms of mineral resources, according to Bulatlat. It also has the largest nickel reserves in the world…” (source: http://nickelinvestingnews.com/5850-nickel-philippines-indonesia-supply-demand-export-ban.html).

If only we have given more attention to these treasures which is our share of the earth’s riches which God so bountifully kept beneath our soils for us to utilize, we as a nation should have already advanced perhaps earlier than Australia. We should have been the economic tiger in Asia as prefigured and forecasted long before. Our people should have been saved from the ills of poverty and economic sufferings. We probably should have banished the forlorn sight of millions of the homeless and the slums from the sentimental portraits of our national history.

I was a young student in college when the MMIC-Surigao Nickel Project and Refinery was started early in the 1970s. It is one of the biggest nickel refineries in the world. I worked there as a security guard where I was assigned throughout the project area and witnessed how magnificent the giant refinery was as it stood a glorious economic provider for more or less 4,000 employees and their families, not to mention the economic boom that it provided the City and Province and the revenues and investment resources that it bestowed. I am a witness of the vibrant economic activities that it endowed the City of Surigao even in its early stages of construction. I was on guard when those sparkling nickel briquettes dropped from the large conveyors to the containers.

However, that billion pesos worth of investment was short-lived and the giant of a refinery turned to waste all because of our selfishness and greed. There had been several earlier attempts to rehabilitate the plant; in fact a high school classmate of mine who is a native of Surigao City and an Electrical consultant was hired to inspect the plant together with the investors and were sent together with other engineers to Australia to prepare the rehabilitation plan. But sad to say, for reasons unknown, the negotiations failed. 

Australia's biggest iron ore mine
(http://www.mining.com)

Perhaps from our economic window we need to look at what mining has done to Australia. They had been developing their mining industry very long before with consistency. They were not bothered by the ever changing demands of raw materials that come from their mining industry. Then when the demand significantly increased, they were ready to supply. Recently it was reported:

“Australia’s mining sector has been hailed as a saviour to the economy, protecting it from the effects of the severe economic downturns experienced in the USA, Europe and other countries during and after the global financial crisis of 2007-08.

“There is no doubt that the minerals and energy boom of the 2000s was responsible for much of the growth in commodity export earnings. It also protected economic growth rates and, to some extent, jobs during this time. The mining boom was in large part due to the significant increase in demand for raw materials and energy by China and India during their very rapid economic growth over the past decade.

“The mining sector currently contributes around 8.5% to Australia’s GDP (total output), and employs around 2% of the workforce (about 220,000 people).

“The mining sector’s biggest impact is on exports - in recent years it has made up over 50% of Australia’s total export earnings. The effect of the mining boom on exports has been huge – for example, between 2000 and 2010, the value of exports from mining rose by over 120%, from $63 billion to $139 billion.

“According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Department of Industry and Science, earnings from minerals and energy exports reached $195 billion last year.” (Australia’s ‘five pillar economy’: mining May 1, 2015 6.46am AEST http://theconversation.com/australias-five-pillar-economy-mining-40701).

“Mining contributes about 5.6% of Australia's Gross Domestic Product….Of the developed countries, perhaps only in Canada and Norway does mining play as significant a part in the economy; for comparison, in Canada mining represents about 3.6% of the Canadian economy and 32% of exports, and in Norway mining, dominated by petroleum, represents about 19% of GDP and 46% of exports. By comparison, in the United States mining represents only about 1.6% of GDP.” (Mining in Australia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_Australia).

Jubilee Operations # 1, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, 2007
http://www.sbs.com.au/dirtybusiness/

I am not an economist nor am I an expert mining engineer. I am just one of those wondering why we as a nation---a land blessed with so much mineral abundance, could not rise above our economic struggles and be like South Africa, Russia, Australia, Ukraine, Guinea, Canada and Norway. We have started long before and we were lost because we have never established a definite economic direction, a significant point of destination and purpose. Hence, we walk in circles; in every change of administration we find ourselves again back to where we began. We are no better than those men and women portrayed in a psychological experiment:

“Have you ever heard the old saying that people who get lost tend to walk in circles?

“Jan L. Souman, a German psychologist, wanted to determine scientifically if this was true. He took participants of an experiment to a large forest area and to the Sahara desert and used a global positioning system to track where they went. They had no compass or any other device. Instructions to them were simple: walk in a straight line in the direction indicated.

“Dr. Souman later described what happened. “[Some] of them walked on a cloudy day, with the sun hidden behind the clouds [and with no reference points in view]. … [They] all walked in circles, with [several] of them repeatedly crossing their own path without noticing it.” Other participants walked while the sun was shining, with faraway reference points in view. “These … followed an almost perfectly straight course.”

“This study has been repeated by others with different methodologies. All returned similar results.

“Without visible landmarks, human beings tend to walk in circles.” (FIRST PRESIDENCY MESSAGE June 2013, Walking in Circles By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf Second Counselor in the First Presidency See Jan L. Souman and others, “Walking Straight into Circles,” Current Biology vol. 19 (Sept. 29, 2009), 1538–42).

Our country, divided into miniscule islands and islets, is just a tiny part of an immense gigantic world. To insist on protecting our environment as against utilizing the vast resources that our most generous God had planted deep into our soils as a means to provide the best opportunities needed by our ever growing population of poverty stricken people, is to me a show of hypocrisy. How can we be so naive as to be concerned of the welfare of the people around the world when we don’t even have empathy and compassion on the people in our backyard by refusing to utilize the abundant mineral resources which God blessed our land? Why do we need to worry about the environmental problem of the whole wide world, when our very own small backyard is filled with hungering people? While we wanted the world to know that we are one of the willing contributors to the environmental protection of our planet earth, we need first to resolve or curve if not totally sweep out and clean our land with poverty. In the real sense, our inputs may not even be felt. The trees that we may have planted, may not even cover the vast mineral lands which were developed by the giant countries such as Russia, Australia, Canada, South Africa and others. While our people are suffering in poverty amidst the richness of our mineral lands, these giants of countries are enjoying the abundant economic life that the same mineral resources afford. We are a hungry and starving people standing on and surrounded in perfect view of the richness and blessed abundance of our land.

The chocolate hills of the Philippines

Don’t get me wrong, however, I still believe in the preservation of our environment. Yet, no matter our efforts, it is impossible for us to suppress the earth’s evolution as it did before. I do believe without equivocation “…that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory” (Articles of Faith 1:10). John also testified of the earth’s future: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea” (Revelations 21:1).

We therefore need to utilize these vast and incalculable resources of which our land is blessed while we still need them for our survival. We have laws enough to protect our environment while unearthing those hidden bounteous treasures. We have sufficient laws for the mining sector to follow so as not to viciously spoil and destroy our ecosystem. Let these laws awaken from their graves as zombies to propel the implementing agencies to strictly execute the provisions as being intelligently enacted.

As in the marathon, we have learned so much from our previous races and at this time we have started it right under President Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s administration. We are now on the way to a glorious finish. Visible economic landmarks are now in place. It is true that we still have so much to do, but we have more time, for the race is still a long way to go. However, rather than begin again, let us instead press on and hold fast to what have been significantly accomplished. The route may still be difficult, steep and uphill, but we have to follow through for that is the only way to victory.