MORE THAN A THOUSAND JOINED THE FIRST SCPS FUN RUN

By: Norberto Betita

Warm-up exercises

Days before the scheduled date three of my grandchildren were already excited to participate in the Surigao City Pilot School’s (SCPS) first ever fun run on December 14, 2014. Even when I told them that it’s a Sabbath Day and they are not supposed to take part in such activity, they reasoned that it is to be done very early in the morning while our scheduled Sunday services are in the afternoon. Besides, this is only for once during the entire school year and for a personal history before they will leave the portals of their elementary school---the SCPS. They thought perhaps that it would be just wonderful to write in their journals that they are among those hundreds of pupils and runners who participated during the first SCPS fun run in Surigao City. Two of my grandsons---Rulon Asher and Craig Kirby registered for a one kilometer run, and my granddaughter---Keeshia, who is the president of the SCPS Pupil Government, and who felt it a duty to participate, registered for a three kilometer run. 

At the start and finish lines

The fun run was purposely made to raise funds for the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) of the Surigao City Pilot School which is headed by incumbent City Councilor Engr. Baltazar “Batang” Abian as elected President. While the parents were eager to support the PTA initiative, it also aroused the interests of children to experience for the first time in running a race. This experience as it may be expected will be a catalyst for each child to one day build an interest in athletics and sports. Although I do not have part in the activity I went with my grandchildren and their parents. I am so excited to see their reactions and feedbacks after the run.

As early as 5:00 o’clock in the morning hundreds of students and parents were already in the assembly area at McDonalds. Children seemed to be very excited to run. I enjoyed seeing my grandchildren meeting with friends and talking about how they would run the race. There were a lot of flashes of cameras as pictures were taken for remembrances with parents, friends and classmates with tarpaulin fun run banners as backdrops. Everybody seemed to enjoy even before the run was started. Each group of runners for five, three, and one kilometer runs were required to have warm-up exercises which all so excitedly participated. 

My granddaughter Keeshia

When it was time for my granddaughter Keeshia to run the three-kilometer race, her mother tried to follow and check for her from each corner of the route. Then she sent a message to my son to check on Keeshia as she was reported to have been short of breath for a possible hyper ventilation attack and was possibly brought to the nearest hospital. Good that before my son left, he told me about the warning and I informed him that Keeshia already crossed the finish line with friends and was physically fine. When it was my grandsons’---Rulon Asher and Craig Kirby--- turn to run, Rulon Asher’s father took pictures at the starting line and then rush to take his motorcycle to find a corner where he can take pictures of the children actually running in the middle of the race only to find that before he could reach a corner the boys were already at the finish line. The experience was truly fun and the activity joyful. Much as I would want them to have a treat a McDonalds the store was filled to overflowing and so we went home and just have a special homemade burgers and fried bananas for breakfast prepared by their aunt. 

My grandchildren after the run

The following school day, Monday, my granddaughter Keeshia had to be absent due to muscle pains. One of my grandsons, Craig Kirby also experience severe muscular pains, but he managed to go to school. My grandson Rulon Asher did not as even have any physical disturbance a day after the run. When he arrived home from school he announced that most of his classmates who participated in the fun run were complaining about bodily pains, but he proudly told me that he felt nothing painful. Her physical body seemed to have been prepared for such an activity.

When I was diagnosed as having asthma a friend and colleague advised me to start a daily run. I was then a young 19-year old security guard. My first run was with him for a four kilometer uphill route and my lungs seemed to burst as we reached the summit. The following day I could hardly walk due to muscle pains. Hence, I made my succeeding runs on a shorter and a plainer route. Since then and for more than twenty five years I truly enjoyed running as an antidote for my asthmatic condition which I have been able to overcome as a result of my daily run. At the Surigao Vasquez Athletic field I would run five to ten laps a day followed by a 15-minute rope jumping. During Saturdays and declared holidays I would run from twenty to thirty five laps and sometimes run the 12 kilometers distance from Surigao City to Ana-aon, my hometown for a visit with my parents. Although my running was purely for physical conditioning and not for any contests, I had since love to recite the poem of an unknown author entitled “Champion” while running:

Preparing for the 1-kilometer run

The average runner runs
until the breath in him is gone,
But the champion has the iron will
that makes him carry on.

For the rest the average runner begs
when limp his muscles grow,
But the champion runs on leaden legs,
his courage makes him go.

The average man's complacent
when he's done his best to score,
But the champion does his best,
and then he does a little more.

I have since considered myself a running champion for triumphantly winning my race against asthma which until now no longer had stirred an asthmatic attack. I missed those long distance runs, but ageing and afflictions already made my feet plodding and faltering. 

Neighborhood friends and schoolmates joining the fun run

The more than a thousand participants in the first SCPS fun run surely enjoyed the community activity and perhaps would be so willing to again support the same and succeeding family fun action in the future. We should be grateful for the organizers and sponsors who made the fun run possible. Arousing the interest of children and adults in fun athletics and sports activities such as this will be a boost for a healthy community life. However, as we are to keep our lives in balance it would be such a fitting suggestion for the organizers to schedule the activities on regular holidays other than Sundays for everyone to have the chance to participate without necessarily sacrificing their observance and spiritual enhancing interests on the Lord’s Day.

WE EXPRESS OUR HEARTFELT THANKS AND WARMEST CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SURIGAO CITY PILOT SCHOOL AND THE SCPS PARENTS AND TEACHERS ASSOCIATION TOGETHER WITH THE SURIGAO RUNNER’S CLUB AND THE REST OF THE SPONSORS FOR SPEARHEADING THIS FUN AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY ACTIVITY AND FOR THE JOB WELL DONE! TINUOD GAJOD NA MARAJAW KARAJAW SA SURIGAO!

MGA SIMBAHAN SA “MORMONS” PUNO NAN MGA BAKWIT SA BAGYONG “RUBY”

ni: Norberto Betita

Sa suyat na gipitsahan Disyembre 3, 2014, na pinermahan ni Annette P. Villaces, Deputy CDRRM sanan ni Surigao City Mayor Ernesto T. Matugas, gihangyo an Mormon Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) sa Surigao City na gamiton an mga simbahan isip bakwitanan mahitungod na sa tagpa-abot na bagyong Ruby. Isip sanong sa hangyo sa City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, gilang-an dajon ni Robert Sherwin S. Betita, District President nan Surigao Philippines District an mga lideres na iandam an simbahan para sa mga mobakwit. Gipasiguro nija na jaoy igo na gamit panhinlo sanan mga gamit para kasilyas. Ija sab gipadumduman na hangyoon an mga mamakwitay na motabang pag mentinar sa kahinlo sanan kahapsay sa simbahan.

Gikan pa duyom nan Huwebes, Disyembre 4, 2014 nagsugod na pagpamakwit an mga tawo suod sa dagat didto sa simbahan sa mga “Mormons” did-on sa Narciso St. sanan sa Brgy Luna, Ciudad nan Surigao. Una na namakwit an mga miembro na naghuya suod sa dagat basi na sa hangyo nan mga nagdumaya sa simbahan tungod sa posibilidad nan pagdako sa dagat dungan sa mga balita nan radio sanan telebisyon mahitungod na sa bagyo na “Ruby” na kusog karajaw.


Basi sa impormasyon nan Branch President na si Ernanie Anding Disyembre 4, 2014 nan duyon may 742 na ka tawo an nobakwit didto sa simbahan sa Ceniza. Laong pa ni Anding na nadugangan pa ini hantod Disyembre 6, diin sa ila karkulasyon noabot ngadto na sa sobra 800 ka mga tawo . Naggikan ini sa nagkalainlain na barangay dapit sa dagat sanan kilid sa suba sanan bukid. An tanan kwarto sa simbahan giukopahan an iban didto rakan sa “multi-purpose hall” sanan sa agihan.

An sa Brgy Luna, laong pa ni Hon. Rico A. Nagas, Brgy. Chairman, nakalista sila nan 160 ka mga pamilya na may sobra 500 ka tawo---bata ug hingkod na pangidaron, an nobakwit didto sa amo na simbahan. Ini amoy ila taghatagan nan mga hinabang na pagkaon suyod sa panahon na jadto sila sa simbahan. Gani nakita nako an pag panhatag nila nan mga pagkaon didto gajod mismo sa suyod nan simbahan.

Didto sa simbahan sa Narciso St., may 32 ka pamilya o kinatibuk-an na 124 ka tawo an nakalista isip mga bakwit.

Laong pa ni District President Betita kabahin na sa panginahanglan nan mga miembro sa simbahan na namakwit daan na sila gitudloan na kinahanglan jaoy gajod ila andam na pagkaon suyod sa tuyo ka adlaw na gitawag na “72-hour kit”. An waya gajod makaandam daan na nagpreparar an mga lideres para suportahan an ila panginahanglan na pagkaon.

                   

Mga personahi sa Department of Health (DOH) sanan Department of Welfare Services
and Development (DSWD) nobisita sa amo na mga simbahan para sutaon an kahimtang sa mga namakwit. Unom ka mga Pulis--- PO1 Lhex A. Jadumas, PO1 Mark Vincent Dayondon, SPO1 Siegfried G. Agra, PO3 Edmund P. Argente, PO2 Alfredo L. Degamon, Jr., PO1 Janebeth P. Dela Peña an isab gidestino 24 oras para pagbantay sa kahapsay sanan kalinaw.

                                 

Para pagpawaya sa kalaay samtang didto sa bakwitanan nag-andam an simbahan nan dako na telebisyon tapos nagpasalida nan mga religiyoso na mga sine para kalingawan.

Laong pa ni District President Betita na nagpasalamat an simbahan na nakaserbisyo sa kumunidad labi na sa mga tawo na nagkinahanglan nan proteksyon sa posible na kadaut tungod sa mga kalamidad, kay isa man ini na paagi sa pagpakita nan pagmahal sa mga katawhan na amoy katujoan nan katukuran sa tinuod na Simbahan ni Jesu Kristo.

ENJOYING THE BEAUTY OF THE RAINBOW AFTER THE SUMMER RAIN

The Zita de la Peña-Maquiling story

by: Norberto Betita

Zita De La Peña-Maquiling

In her hometown of Liloan, Southern Leyte stands a lighthouse which serves as a watch tower and an accurate guide for fishermen and sailors towards safe harbor, particularly during inclement weather conditions. This rural municipality is located in the northern part of Panaon Island and a smaller portion being part of the mainland Leyte. A channel called “Wawa” which is popular for its “lilo” (whirlpool) from which the name “Liloan” (place of whirlpools) was derived, isolates the island from the mainland. However, a bridge was eventually constructed to connect Panaon Island into the mainland of Leyte. In this island town ZITA DE LA PEÑA was given birth on December 21, 1950 under extreme penurious circumstances.

On rare occasions young Zita, while strolling by the seashore of the scenic Liloan bay delimited by picturesque greenery and wind breaking hills, enjoyed viewing rainbows formed as temporary backdrops of the lighthouse after intermittent rains. Such wonderful sceneries shaped and generated in her young mind an abiding desire and enduring hope to be able to move away and be free from the abyss of destitution and misery which her family was confined. The lighthouse was for her a reminder that in her voyage through the oceans of life there is a guiding light to chart her course to the secured and safe port. The Wawa Bridge provided her with an assurance that in her life’s journey there will always be a bridge to connect her to her youthful dreams.

With husband Romanito Maquiling with their brand new car as backdrop

Young as she was but filled with vision, she made plans and struggled enough to withdraw and retreat from the mire of poverty and hardship that engulfed her childhood. Her parents could not afford to help her even to finish Elementary. Filled with enthusiasm to bounce from the quagmire of difficulties, she requested her grade VI teacher to accept her as a working student. She was welcomed and she served for a year enough to finish her elementary school.

Driven by her hope that there is such a bridge to connect her to her future and a lighthouse to make sure that her life’s voyage will eventually be guided to a safe harbor, she sailed to Manila and lived with her sister. Opportunity was opened for her to study high school. However, poverty seemed to continually follow her route to the future dragging her back to that awful beginning. While in her hometown of Liloan she was reminded of the continuing view of a rainbow after the rain in summer. She was grateful that she was experiencing life’s continued rains and even storms, for she is sure that there will be moments when the beautiful rainbow will form followed by a bright sunshine in her life.

Enjoying their vacation in New Zealand

Such thoughts provided her with unwavering confidence that she will one day be able to find a much bigger door of opportunity. Her youthful enthusiasm and optimism gave the impression that in her young mind were engraved the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “We are all inventors, each sailing on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.” During summer after her first year high school in Manila she envisioned another gate of opportunities and crossed the roaring currents of Surigao Strait to find a job even at her very young age that would earn for her enough to enroll the following school year. Perhaps she had been motivated by the thoughts of an unknown author: “I may not know where I end up. All I know is I have the courage for the journey.”

With their first grandchild in New Zealand

Her brother in Bad-as, Placer, Surigao del Norte introduced her to the Medina family who were in a copra buying business. She was employed as house help of Mrs. Concepcion Vda. de Medina, the mother where she served for a few months, after which she was invited by Mr. Ildefonso Medina, the son and his wife Rose to stay with them. Thenceforth she worked with Mr. and Mrs. Indefonso Medina in Bad-as. Despite her very young age, she determined to do her duties with efficiency and diligence. She thought that it was her chance to prove that she is a very responsible and a trustworthy young woman.

After one year, sensing that she already had enough savings to continue her schooling, she asked permission to leave. Knowing her noble plans and self-sacrificing efforts of going back to high school, she was instead offered to stay with them in Surigao City as a working student. She was overjoyed and the feeling deep in her heart was full of ecstasy. She rejoiced in grateful recognition that a bigger door of opportunity was opened for her. Immediately that school year she enrolled at the Surigao del Norte National High School (SNNHS) as a second year student. To her such an opportunity was very rare and she’s got to make sure her service with the Medina family will be even most acceptable and appreciated. She imagined that the opportunity was the kind of Wawa Bridge that will connect her to the bigger and brighter prospects of attaining her dreams.

The family

Indeed, true to her commitment she did her best and was accepted by the Medina family no longer as a house help or a nanny but as a foster daughter. In fact when Mrs. Medina went to Quezon City for her University of the Philippines one year scholarship grant, she went with the family and there enrolled in a high school in Quezon City for her third year. Back in Surigao City she again enrolled at SNNHS and eventually graduated from high school in the year 1970. The high school graduation to her mind was the first rainbow after the rain in her life. Her service with the Medina family must have been very exceptional that she was again given the opportunity to study college in a private school---San Nicolas College, which is more expensive than the rest of the colleges in Surigao City. Again she proved her worth and in the next four years---in 1974, she graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Commerce, major in accounting. To her it was just kind of a make believe. She realized that the symbolisms of all those landmarks---the lighthouse, the Wawa Bridge, the beautiful rainbow found in her hometown of Liloan, Southern Leyte which had been her inspiration to move on through life started to provide meaning into her life.

Still with the able assistance of the Medina family, particularly Mrs. Medina she was given the opportunity to work immediately after graduation in the Surigao del Norte School of Arts and Trades for six years. By some providential coincidence and good fortune she was invited by Atty. Rocha to work with Mrs. Gloria Rocha at the Philippine National Bank (PNB). She then was employed as Auditing Aide of the Commission on Audit under Mrs. Rocha, the Branch Auditor. There she started to see the conceptual bright sunshine of summer and enjoyed the resplendent beauty of the rainbow after the summer rain made abstract as a backdrop of her life. 

The beautiful rainbow after the rain

It was at PNB Surigao Branch where she met the man whose diligence and sincere expressions of love through daily hole-and-corner offering of red roses on her office table eventually touched her heart and led her to say, “I do” to ROMANITO B. MAQUILING in a marital covenant. Such boundless love and affectionate devotion for each other bore for them, four priceless gems which added beauty and meaning to their married life. During each loving parental embrace they gave each infant child as they come to life, they both promised and committed never again to let their little ones to ever pass the sad and lonely trek of their journey. Together they tried to walk and sail ahead and farther away from their common despondent beginnings discovering what little things of life are in store for them and their growing family. They were inspired by the words of Temple Bailey, “It is not possible for a married couple to reach happiness with eyes fixed on different stars; … they must set up a single ideal and work toward [it]. … Cease cherishing impossible fancies of impossible futures. Take the best of [your] dreams and fit them to life as it comes every day.” Day after day and year after year prospects of growth were opened and the gates of opportunities broadened. 

The Wawa Channel and bridge

As she now counts the modest achievements and accomplishments she had attained and all the heavenly blessings bestowed upon her family, her heart swells with deep and abiding gratitude and love to those who provided the key to the wide gates of opportunities afforded her ---the Medina family and the Rocha family. Until now she has never forgotten those “Alimango” (crab) labelled trucks of the Medina family while in Bad-as, Placer for they symbolized the transport that helped her cross the bridge to the future. She felt they were instruments in the hands of God to provide answers to her youthful prayers and dreams. Above all she expressed her deepest gratitude to God for His tender love and mercy as to guide her into a life far beyond her childhood expectations.

After 34 years of service with her last position as Auditor II for the Commission on Audit, and 6 years in the Surigao del Norte School of Arts and Trades or a total of 40 years of government employment, she finally made the decision to retire. The words of Og Mandino leave imprints in her mind: “The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your dreams.” Three of her children were already graduated with college degrees, the youngest having only a year more to finish. She felt she has been blessed more than enough. All she wanted now is to be with her retired husband for them to enjoy together the remaining years of their lives which have been yoked by a marital bond of more than thirty years. Their coffers are not overflowing with abundance, but their lives overflow with happiness. They believed the words of Democritus that, “Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold; the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul."

The light

She very seldom had the opportunity to visit Liloan, the town of her birth for she became an adoptive daughter of Surigao City, Surigao del Norte having spent almost half a century of her life in the City. However, as she now reflects on the memories of her youthful life in Liloan she is so much grateful that she took courage to leave the shores of the Liloan Bay for by so doing she was guided and eventually alighted in an even blissful seaboard of life. The symbolisms of those old memorable landmarks and wonderful sceneries had since become real and tangible verities in her life. The Wawa Bridge reminds of her crossing the channel from her difficult beginnings to the mainland of opportunities---elementary graduation, high school graduation and college degree. The lighthouse is reminiscent of a secure voyage which landed her into a safe harbor---a total of 40 years of government service, providing adequate provisions for her family. As she now harvests the glory and grandeur of her accomplishments and the joy of family life sheltered by a modest home, she feels like enjoying the beauty of the rainbow after the summer rain, which once in childhood was engraved in her mind giving hope of future brighter sunbeams to decorate and adorn her life. 

 

The nativity

         
The celebration of her birth is just a few days to the Christmas Day. As she now recalls the many empty birthdays and Christmases of her childhood, she is reminded of the story of that first Christmas morn recorded by Luke: “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7). Although her childhood birthdays and Christmases were deprived of even the most humble cuisine, toys or trees or tinsel, yet it was this Christmas story that inspired and encouraged her, and it was the Christ that gave her hope to rise above the condition of her penurious beginning, the attainment of which filled her heart and soul with deepest gratitude.

THE BARBER’S DREAM

The Proculo N. Ariar Story

By: Norberto Betita

With his beloved wife on his birthday November 12, 2014

Inside the lobbies of Barber Shops in the Philippines when televisions were still not a part of its entertainment as it is now, there had been so many humorous and sometimes even inspiring stories that were told while patrons are waiting for their turn, which were later popularized in a magazine as “Mga Kuwentong Barbero” (The Barber’s Stories). However, this story is not about a barber’s story told in barber shops, but rather a true-to-life story of a barber in Surigao.

The work of a barber in Surigao is one among the lowliest jobs available. I could remember that during my high school days I have my hair cut for 50 centavos. Now after fifty years, and just recently, each cut is only worth PHP35.00. This is not to mention the share of the barber shop owner which is about half of the cost. So that the barber’s life is really one of “poverty” which Mahatma Gandhi described as “the worst form of violence.” Yet one barber did not look at his poverty stricken life as a barrier for his family’s growth and eventual progress.

With his wife and grandchildren in New Zealand

Proculo N. Ariar was a life-time barber. Although he had worked once as a part-time custodian of a church, yet he has never spent each day not being in a barber shop, except on a Sunday. “Balod,” which he is fondly nicknamed meant waves of the sea tossed to and fro. His poor parents must have called him such instead of getting his nickname from his real name probably because they aren’t sure where he will be launched and unleashed as he takes his journey into life’s roaring seas. His parents could not afford to send him through college and he found no better choice than to take the open door of opportunity as a barber. While in such a lowly career, she married his wife Rolinda with whom he had four children, two boys and two girls. With a large family to feed he had to make good every opportunity to earn more as a barber. He seemed to have been motivated by Shakespeare’s words; “Whate’er thou art, act well thy part.” He determined to do better than his best. His only possibility to increase his income to meet the needs of his growing children was to serve well his clients to their best satisfaction until he was one of those mostly demanded by the prominent men for home service, where tips are generally paid much more than the regular cost of haircut.

With wife Rolinda and daughter Sarah in
in New Zealand

As his children reached school age, he knew he has to double his efforts. He dreamed that he should never ever allow that his children will be constricted or trapped in the lonely boundaries of extreme poverty and deprivations. He did not want his boys to follow the path he trudged as a barber and be barbers themselves. He wanted all his children to rise above the ills and difficulties that he had been going through. He is determined to do all he could to support them in their educational pursuits. Like Dr. T. P. Chia, he believes that, “Poverty and adversity have produced many of the most successful people in the world.” And, this gave him added hope and faith that all will be well for as long as he will not surrender his battle with hard times. He and his wife taught and motivated their children not to be ashamed of their poverty, but to set their heads high above the glooms of deprivations and slowly cross the obscurities and nothingness of the present onwards to the uncertainties of the future. He knew that the doors of future opportunities are wide open for them and he had no hesitations that they will make it with his guiding hands ever at their elbow. 

Tragedy strikes its terror as his eldest son died of drowning in the beach near their humble home. It was to him and his family a very painful experience. However, he faced it with courage and faith. While he did not know the answer to such tragic experience, he believes that God has His own reason. His knowledge of the Gospel allowed him to recuperate early from the pains of losing a loved one. Having been rejuvenated he set anew his focus on his three remaining children and guided them through their individual journey.

With their daughter Sarah's family in New Zealand

For a barber with very meager income, sending his son Rolando through college for a four-year computer course in a private school---San Nicolas College, required an enormous display of courage and faith. He and his wife had to find every available help from extended families to add to his income as a part-time custodian and as a barber where all his energy is invested almost in exhaustion. The immensity of his challenges was even magnified as his daughter Sarah had chosen a nursing course at Butuan Doctor’s College, a private college away from home. While an educational loan was granted, yet the major part of the expenses including the board and lodging had to be supported by him. Before financial demands call, he made sure that he has enough by laboring even more, always having faith that God will never leave him alone and unaided in his challenges. And, he felt never forsaken. 

Their new home

He should have been halfway relieved after his son graduated from college, but his youngest daughter Corazon had to be in college. Although she is a scholar in a government University---the Mindanao State University in Marawi City for a course in Accounting, but all expenses other than tuition are to be shouldered by him. He realized though that he had a barber’s dream which he needed to pursue and track for his children and a U-turn is never an option. He carried on with his struggles until he finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel and out from the dark and the shadows of the lonely trek he saw and felt the magnificent glory of the absolute realization and fulfilment of his dream. His son earned a degree in Computer Science and is now employed with the Bureau of Jail Management. His daughter graduated with a degree in Nursing and is a registered Nurse now working as an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) first in New Zealand and now in Australia. The other daughter earned a degree in Accounting, worked while still single, but chose to be a full-time mother after being married.

Daughter Corazon with husband

Battling against poverty and deprivation was never an easy adventure and exploit. But to Balod---the barber dreamer, it is even heartrending and harrowing to witness his children walk the streets in poverty and be a symbol of mankind’s defeat. This he did not want to happen to his children and his posterity. Balod and his family might have been tossed to and fro by the waves of the boisterous unmapped ocean of life but his voyage landed him safely into the blissful shore of success. He is a barber still although retired and enjoying a very meager pension from out of his very lowly career. He still goes to a barber shop to perform haircut, or conduct home service when called upon. However, his life is now elevated a little above poverty level. His long custom built small house where his children were raised is now replaced with a medium-type architecturally designed home which provides for him and his wife a little comfort for their old age. He and his wife spent a vacation in New Zealand and soon perhaps another tour in Australia. He recognized and acknowledged that the Lord made good His promise when He said, “…I, the Lord, would fight [your] battles, and [your] children’s battles, and your children’s children…(D & C 98;37).”

Son Rolando and daughter Sarah in
New Zealand

In the words of Plutarch is quoted: “An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.” Indeed it is for even in the small City of Surigao there is a mounting disproportionate figure between the rich and the poor. However, if each Surigawnon and all the Filipinos for that matter will only take courage and catch an optimistic and hopeful vision to rise above destitution, as did Balod---the barber dreamer, there is hope for our country to level up. For according to Celso Cukierkorn, “Poverty is a result of poor choices not of poor luck.” We can choose to be drowned in poverty or opt to step up while the doors of progress are ever open for all. There is no royal road to success, but the same road is always open for every willing and courageous traveler with help perpetually available along the route when sought upon with faith. The Barber’s dream is one example of a modest Surigawnon’s story of faith and courage and eventual triumph.

HOW THE TEACHER OF OUR CHILDREN BECAME OUR PARENTAL EXTENSION

by: Norberto G. Betita

During the teachers’ month I wanted to pay tribute to the Surigawnon educators and particularly to the teacher of our five children who had been our best parental extension.

When my children were starting school, I have come to realize that most of their waking hours were spent at school and under the care of the teachers. Ever since, I have been very grateful for the teachers who became our parental partners and extension in the nurturing and development of our children. I know that the primary responsibility lies upon us--- the parents, yet they have to leave the confines of home in order to grow and progress. While we as parents served as the first teachers, it is in the classroom setting that they have to be taught lessons that provide academic and secular advancement. I find no nobler and ameliorating terminology and librettos that could best describe my greatest appreciation and heartfelt gratitude for the labors they have done which contributed and influenced much the quest for learning and education of my five children.

The meager salaries they get out of their labors for the academic nurturing of forty or more students in each class they handle in partnership with the same number of parents seemed not a fitting equilibrium, yet they felt bound by their professional choice. Their contribution to society and nation building is immeasurable considering that from the highest position of the land; the most prominent of businessmen and professionals; the heads of government departments and corporate CEOs down the lowest positions all have passed tutorials from the most noble teachers. This made Marcus Tullius Cicero to say: “What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation.” Whatever and whoever we are now is a debt that we owe from teachers whose very lives were spent in great sacrifice to provide learning and education and eventual personal advancements for us all and our children. 

As parents, I and my wife have a very notable and unforgettable connection and association with a teacher of our children. When my children entered high school more than 20 years ago, MS. LYDIA LAVARES was just a young Science teacher at the Surigao del Norte National High School. Under her tutelage was my eldest daughter Hazel. We have no blood relations whatsoever, yet we felt that she had great concern for our daughter. We do not know if she extended the same interest on other students as well, but we felt then that we could trust our daughter to her care as a parental extension. She taught with diligence, she helped influence greater desire for learning, and she inspired and aroused her students’ mental faculties to aim high in their academic race. She believed in the words of Anatole France that, “Nine-tenths of education is encouragement.” Our daughter was not in the honor roll, but she encouraged her to take the University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT), and she qualified to study at UP-Visayas.

Ms. Lavares, a Surigawnon is a mother and a wife herself. She combines her parental responsibility to that of her teaching career. But more than her teaching expertise she’d been a very capable parental partner of the many parents of her students, and that she did not waiver in that extended trust. I trusted her for my children and she did never fail me.

The remaining four of our children all passed her tutelage. During those nurturing and tutoring years our trust for her as our children’s parental extension intensified and compounded. Her continued encouragement fostered and cultivated in our children an even inordinate desire to excel. My son Robert Sherwin graduated seventh honors and qualified for UP-Diliman. My daughter Lori Lynne, although not in the honor roll was best educated preparatory for college. My daughter Kathleen Beth graduated fifth honors and qualified for UP-Cebu. My youngest daughter got the highest honors from first year to third year and graduated valedictorian and qualified for UP-Cebu. In all of these high school achievements of our children, we are totally and extremely grateful to Ms. Lavares for her sincerity and total commitment in our parental partnership. In her we found the verity of Albert Einstein’s words: “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” I know she has her own family and children to nurture, but during most of the waking hours of my children which were spent in the restraints of the classroom and borders of school, she had been our most trusted parental extension and partner. She is loved by our children and her name has always been in their uncluttered memory. 

Our children have now all graduated from college. Four were already married and have their own families. Ms. Lavares has also grown to become a Master Teacher. She had been an Outstanding Teacher awardee. She even extends her expertise to other students by teaching college on part-time.

As our eldest granddaughter entered high school our connections again reconvened while longtime friendship remained. Indeed, “A teacher affects eternity; [she] can never tell where [her] influence stops.” (Henry Adams). The impact she has effected into the lives of our children are incalculable. As I now reflect on that long years of parental partnership my heart overflows with unremitting gratitude for her tremendous influence. So it is with all other Surigawnon teachers whose nurturing and tutoring have moved many people into achieving success in their individual lives.

HOW THE DRY-MUD FLOOR TURNED INTO GLOSS-TILES FINISH

The Candelaria Signar Lanugon Story

By: Norberto G. Betita

The address I was seeking was right at the town proper of Sison, Surigao del Norte, a small farming Municipality about 20 kilometers from Surigao City. I inquired from several residents until I was finally directed to a small nipa hut. I have seen so many actual representations and pictograms symbolic of abject poverty, and I was standing right in front of one which was an even more tangible dejecting view of a very depressed circumstance. I saw no door and the dry-mud floor inside was very clear before my naked eyes. I called for ‘anybody home’ because I have nowhere to knock. A man who looks older perhaps than his age came out from an elevated enclosure inside the house, greeted and invited us in. In the interior I saw one small bedroom with wooden floor. I did not know then how many children they have, but with the size I only guessed at least one or two. The man then introduced to us as the father. He is a farmer and his wife is a fish vendor in the small town market. I was very surprised to have been told that they have seven children. My thoughts wondered how they were accommodated in such a very small dismal room.

Such was the very memorable experience of one of my first assignments as a designated Credit Investigator of the Philippine National Bank (PNB). I was commissioned to conduct a character investigation on CANDELARIA SIGNAR LANUGON, a PNB qualifier who was then ready for hiring. With much compassion on the miserable condition of her family, although she was already married, I rushed my investigation report for her to be employed soonest at PNB which at that time was one of the highest paying employers. My thoughts then were focused with empathy that perhaps the employment might help her assist her biological parents in their distress. In a month or two after employment it was discovered that she was pregnant and I was blamed by the officers for not disclosing the matter. She has to avail of the maternity benefits even before her employment reaches a year. If it was known earlier and reported she should have been employed after her delivery. Yet deep inside, I was grateful that I failed to discover and disclose her physical condition for at least it relieved her of added financial difficulties associated with childbirth.

Candy as she is fondly called, entered Mindanao State University (MSU) clutching her belief in the words of George Washington Carver that, "Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom."---her desired freedom from extreme poverty. She eventually graduated with a degree in Business Administration as a college scholar from MSU in Marawi City. She married immediately after her college graduation to Rolando Lanugon a schoolmate at MSU who is also a graduate of a degree in Chemical Engineering. But she determined to remain the bridge for her siblings to cross the chasm that divides poverty and success. She had been into two local employments before she was employed at PNB. It was known that she was principally supporting her siblings who were in college also at MSU. This expression of benevolent financial provision for her siblings was kind of difficult for her considering that she is already married, yet in her thoughts were the motivating words of an unknown author: “When it rains tribulation, it pours mercy. When you are drowning in the seas of difficulty the life boat of ease comes to pull you out.” When her younger sister Myla graduated and could find no better employment, she encouraged her to go abroad. Candy supported her sister of every needed requirement until she was able to leave for employment in the Cayman Islands.

Her husband Rolando on the other hand could not find an appropriate job and therefore decided to consider better hands-on opportunities by thinking and creating concepts that could help him earn and perform best his imperative paternal responsibility as provider to give way for Candy to help her struggling family. With their combined efforts they started an internet café business from second hand computers repaired and refurbished by her creative husband. With her husband’s ingenious practical computer application and programming knowledge, they earned added income by preparing programs for local businessmen and graduating students. Their small business did not only provide for the family but also assisted Candy’s parents and siblings.

Despite her parent's awfully difficult circumstances, she encouraged her siblings to do well at school reminding them that "Education is the movement from darkness to light."(Allan Bloom). She knew that it is only through this means that they will be able to rise above their unimaginable deprivation. When her younger brother graduated from MSU and prepared for a Chemical Engineering Board examination, her hand of undying support was always extended even until he passed the board and was still seeking for employment. Now he works for the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory. As these siblings started to harvest from their employments they together pooled their resources to assist their younger siblings. One brother studied Marine Transportation in Manila and eventually became an overseas Filipino worker (OFW). Another brother also finished college and worked at RFC. At this time they together look back to that dry-mud floored small nipa hut were they were raised from infancy and childhood. Their parents were getting older and they wanted them to experience a modest but comfortable home for their old age. While they were sharing resources through Candy for the support of their younger siblings, they prepared plans for a new house for their parents. Materials were procured, foundations were laid and problems encountered. Candy being the eldest was always at the helm to resolve misunderstandings. All siblings felt bound to sustain her, she being the captain in their individual journey towards success.

Another younger sister graduated with a degree in Accounting from the MSU. When she failed in her first attempt to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Candy was first to comfort and motivate her to prepare for an immediate retake with Candy supporting the needed finances. And her CPA title eventually afforded for her a comfortable work abroad. Finally her youngest brother also graduated from MSU and became a CPA and is now working abroad. All these achievements were attained by the collective effort of everybody in the family with Candy at the lead and under their parents’ humble direction.

From that questionable investigation report that I submitted many years since, Candy rose from the ranks of PNB Surigao Branch. She knew that, “In order to succeed, people need a sense of self-efficacy, struggle together with resilience to meet the inevitable obstacles and inequities of life.” (Albert Bandura). Her ability to deal with customers and her marketing prowess gained for her the attention of PNB Management. She was eventually given the prominent position of Branch Manager, one of the youngest in the Region. Her husband Rolando was also appointed as Financial Advisor and later became SM of PNB Life. Their internet café business is still in operation. They have since grown into a family of six. Her children are now grown. Her eldest daughter earned a degree in Nursing and is now taking a review for the Nursing board. Her son who is now at MSU will be graduating this school year. The two daughters are still in high school and elementary.

The girl who was raised in that little nipa shelter with dry-mud flooring has since been blessed with greater and brighter opportunities for growth and advancement. Her "Strength grows through struggles. Courage develops in challenges. Wisdom comes from wounds." (Unknown). Recently she was hired by Asia United Bank (AUB) as Manager for their newly opened branch in Surigao City which is just across the PNB Surigao Branch. The salary must have been very competitive as for her to readily accept the offer. She resigned from PNB and now sits on the prominent desk as Branch Manager of AUB Surigao Branch. Yet as she left the portals of PNB her heart brims with gratitude for the institution which helped her triumph over her battles against abject poverty and destitution.

That little nipa shelter with dry-mud floor was long since gone, but the memories of mutually shared struggles and efforts among parents and siblings to move ahead in drumming beat towards success, remains a story of inspiration to tell for their coming posterity and for others to emulate. A more comfortable gloss-tiles finished home for the family was since erected in a permanent location. The once very crowded little room is now replaced with comfortable bedrooms to accommodate the families of siblings during homecomings.

Born on February 2, 1968, Candy is still young at 46 to have achieved success not only for her parents and siblings, but for her personal and family life as well. She now sports a brand new car on affordable installment. Her future is as bright as she moves forward with faith and courage strong. With her siblings now enjoying the harvest of their successes and supporting their parents in their age of grey, Candy now consigned herself to fully focus her priorities on her own family. She has dreams yet to be fulfilled long postponed while she was abetting her siblings’ journey to success. She persists with bold confidence that she could make up for those unfulfilled goals and aspirations. She believes the words of Dr. Seuss:

“You have brains in your head
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
Any direction you choose
You’re on your own
And you know what you know
And you are the one who’ll decide
Where you’ll go.”

Candy almost always had tears of joy and gladness in her eyes as she now contemplates her despondent and impoverished beginnings and the most humble achievements which they are now enjoying. Her gratitude to God for His mercy is unfathomable and most profound. She was superbly grateful that the sacrifices of her parents were recognized and acknowledged by the community, giving them an award as model parents for the Municipality of Sison, Surigao del Norte. Their story of family unity, harmony, peace, and love which in the end brought them all towards their individual victories against the stings and pangs of penury may not be in the chronicles of popular narratives among Surigawnons. Yet the anecdote of their family life is exemplary; one worthy of note and admirable reflection and emulation.

LOOKING BEYOND THE CLOUDS OF UNCERTAINTY

The Romanito B. Maquiling Story

by: Norberto Betita

Romy at Hamilton New Zealand

The cold breeze soothingly blowing from the Philippine Sea connecting the rim of the Pacific created beautiful heaves of sparkling blue waves moving forward into the crystal clear sea water along the shoreline. The whoosh and whizz of the easterly winds created a beautiful symmetry of the coconut folios and leaves laden twigs of trees as they moved in sequence of common direction. The clouds of silver and of gray moving in succession from the background of the far blue eastern sky gave beauty and grandeur to the horizon. As the rising sun spreads the wings of its gleaming light into the evergreen scenery, the place turned into a panorama of verdant radiance and majesty. The natural wonders of rivers and hills and caves and the lush of rainforest created a promise of a potential future. Such was the wonderful place of his birth---Lanuza, Surigao del Sur. Yet the gloom of poverty and the pinches of quiet sadness provided an unfit setting for the birth of an infant boy---ROMANITO B. MAQUILING on October 29, 1954. However, the stings of early deprivation never at any time dimmed or restrained his positive outlook for an abundant life.

During his youthful vim and vigour he determined to cross the seemingly unnavigable infinite ocean of tribulations which divided his present struggles and the undefined and unknown future. With visions high above the clouds of uncertainty, he packed the badge of his destitution and carried his only hopeful rudder---a high school diploma in his voyage to the unfamiliar seaboards of life. Perhaps in his young mind were the glimpses of Mark Twain’s words, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” So he sailed his life’s seas ever yearning for the storms to help him become an able navigator. He then knew that no matter how bad the storms, there is sunshine hidden above the darkened clouds. 

His journey brought him to Surigao City. He stayed with a close relative and started to navigate his life’s thoroughfare and explored the road less travelled in accord with his inadequate qualification. The door of opportunity slowly opened for him when he was employed as Janitor in the National Service Corporation, a subsidiary of the Philippine National Bank. From such a modest employment, he saw a light of hope gleaming bright into the future. The dirty work and the daily burdens of waking up earlier than everybody and staying late in the night, and the very meager compensation that it provided helped him realize that he needed to strengthen his anchors. He knew that the intensity of the winds and the waves of life will eventually make him a skilled sailor.

He dreamed and again looked beyond the clouds of uncertainty then set an achievable and realistic goal. He formed a plan to get to the top of his modest aspiration of attaining a college degree. Thenceforth, he started to move ahead to sail the vast and endless sea of his journey. He knew “the length of his line, though he cannot with it fathom all the depths of the ocean (John Locke)” he is bound to traverse. Yet he counted the cost and was determined to reach the impossible. He understood that he need not have to be an achiever to be able to start. Rather he needed to start in order to be an achiever. 

In due time, he enrolled at the Northeastern Mindanao Colleges for a course leading to a degree in Commerce major in Accounting. He invested his very limited income and vacant times between work schedules to take up college subjects as a working student. Hard times followed; making both ends meet became a seemingly insurmountable challenge. He was motivated however with the knowledge that he need not have to be imprisoned in the realms of difficult life while the immense door of opportunities is wide open. He struggled, he sacrificed, and he endured and eventually discovered the sweetness of attaining victory. In his achievement he understood best the words of the legendary Socrates, “The secret of change is to focus all your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” With a college degree on hand, he was equipped with an even stronger armor to face his battles of life. 

While thus in the process of beholding future prospects his eyes caught sight of a woman stationed under a common work confines. With their positions at variance, he found it difficult to even approach in sincerity. Hence, he expressed his feelings secretly by placing a rose each morning on the table of ZITA DELA PEÑA, the woman subject of his deep admiration and love. Time finally afforded for them a wondrous scenery upon which to create their fairy tale “they live happily ever after” kind of a love story which was eventually tied by a knot of marital bond. Four wonderful children were treasured gifts which in time came into their married life.

He was eventually absorbed into the regular ranks of the Philippine National Bank (PNB) after passing the required qualifying examinations. He grows from a Bank Clerk to various other positions. His employment at PNB became his best preparation for his growing family. Yet his work was not without challenge. In my long association with him as a fellow Philnabanker, I found him to be one kind of a worker whose efficiency is exemplary. He had the ability to handle almost all available positions in the branch. In the absence of anybody he is well ready to replace. He acts as cashier/sales and service officer; sales and service head; from the position of new accounts clerk to analysts, name it and he could handle any assignment. His marketing ability was a potential which was never given a break. For reasons only known to the recommending officers, I found him discriminated in promotions. Yet he remained sober and uncomplaining. Instead he utilized his marketing capabilities in part-time sales outside of employment to supplement his income to meet the growing needs of his children. Humorous ridicules are sometimes thrown on him for not being able to send on time his children’s allowances. But he stood with pride for having sent his children to study in one of the best universities in the country two of whom were already graduated and licensed. The third graduated from a local college after he surrendered from the rigors required in his university of origin. The fourth is still battling for a degree.

With his wife immediately after the blessing of their
brand new Isuzu

As he left the thresholds of his beloved institution---The Philippine National Bank which has been the emblem of his life’s successes, he carries with him the thought that, “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable…and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire…” (Orson F. Whitney, quoted by Spencer W. Kimball, in Faith Precedes the Miracle (1972), 98). As he sits on the couch with his most beloved wife Zita and reflects on the modest accomplishments they together attained---a humble yet comfortable home, a second hand car and and a brand new Isuzu, a vacation in Hongkong, Thailand and New Zealand, which he never once dreamed---his heart overflows with expressions of silent gratitude to God for the blessings. 

                                                                 
Looking back with thoughtful introspection when he first sailed his life’s seas, he discovered that the clouds of uncertainty were ever present in the journey. However, he found through his years of experiences that as he followed the flickering light of hope beyond the darkened clouds, the channels were made continually clear and safe for the weary traveler.