Faith, Hope. . . . . Charity

Operatiomn Tule- Vignette for Charity

2008-04-07T16:25:00.001-07:00

Circumcision is a pet project that the lion tamer and her pet meticulously conduct each year for the past four years now without much fanfare. Getting professional help from a country physician who charge them half the cosat he would ordinarily bill his customer, adding that the other half is also his modest contribution to our simple outreach program for the kids, the endeavor would be timed immediately after the end of the school year and would involve from ten to fifteen young boys with ages ranging from six to twelve, who, accompanied by their doting mothers would nervously subject their natural armors to the knif
Thus it was that on the first Monday of April, ten young lads trooped to the clinic of Dr. Rolando Salada just across the den of the aging cat for the ritual that would announce to the whole world their symbolic entry to manhood. Why the number decreased when compared to the previous year was due mainly to the gradual depletion of the of the “non-baptized” (di-binyagan) young lads that the periodic charitable work has resulted.

And as in the previous year, the kids owe their grateful appreciation to VW John Teng of Laong Laan Lodge No. 185 for footing the cost of the circumcision, and to him, the aging cat is likewise indebted for this charitable endeavor.

May his tribe increase!

A GIRL NAMED HELEN

2007-09-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

The aging lion no longer remembers whether it was the same Helen of Greek mythology who had the face that launched a thousand ships but he is still pretty certain it was Helen of Troy who ignited the creation of the Trojan horse that led to the city’s downfall.

The Helen of this story is amiable, light complexioned and is, by normal standards, charming although the best that can be expected of her is attract a lone pump boat owner should she desire to tie the knot and ring a wedding bell.

But just who the heck is Helen?!

Well, Helen is the eldest daughter of Eben and Vivianne, one of our neighbors near the gate of our backyard. The lion tamer thought of taking her to the metropolis two years ago so she can work with her daughter as a maid and in the afternoons when the work is lighter, could study a computer course using her salary for tuition fee and other expenses.

That plan was aborted because the mother of the girl also solicited from her brother in law (the father’s elder brother) financial support that she may study at Tagbilaran while staying with the father’s sister there. That request was granted, only, when the money arrived, the mother used it as down payment for a television set thereby dousing cold water to her ambitions of becoming a computer whiz kid someday..

She thereafter went to the metropolis accompanied by a cousin and work as maid for Philip Salvador, the ex beau of Kris Aquino, who, she narrates with nostalgia, was a landlord who was kind and considerate. But like most landlords, he would not grant cash advances that maids usually requests even on conditions that these be deducted from future salaries.

Consequently, she was ordered to return home to Guindulman and there do nothing. She also ventured as maid in Cebu City but apparently, the working conditions were not conducive to healthful living because after a lapse of only four months, she returned home jobless once again.

She dabbled on the Internet hoping to attract an American national who would offer her a marriage proposal just so she could alleviate the living conditions of her family. Nothing prospered however.

Meanwhile, their dilapidated shack was progressively being eroded by the elements. Rain droplets would seep in almost all corners of their hut so that whenever rain pours, it becomes an awesome challenge avoiding being wet. And when one considers that the area of their living quarters do not exceed 10 square meters, then one can well imagine the efforts the family had to undergo dodging the annoying liquids as these drop to the floor..

Also desiring to improve their daily lives, she narrated to a cousin in Manila through her cell phone their pathetic condition asking for P2,000 that the shack may be repaired. That cousin sent P1,500. Nipa thatches are already available and so are some old lumber that were purchased from a neighbor who demolished her house earlier.

Their two neighbors, Liza and Honeydew have plans of their own upon learning that money was received. They immediately approached the girl wanting to borrow the money but she would not let go of it, to the consternation of the two who silently vowed they would someday do something to get even.

Helen then approached the lion tamer asking for help that the shack may be repaired and consequently the request was relayed to the aging lion who suggested that under the circumstances, felling a coconut tree and having it lumbered for use as columns and trusses would be the best recourse. Of course, cutting expenses had to be incurred and under the circumstances the lion tamer was told she also had to subsidize it by pruning her own budget a little.bit

Preparation for felling down the coconut tree at the lion tamer’s backyard was arranged with the chain saw cutter and the tuba gatherer who will cut the palm leaves atop the tree. It turned out however, that a permit was needed from the office of the Philippine Coconut Authority and the red tape required so many signatures it would entail no less than a week to accomplish.

Dismayed at the prospects of venturing into a very slow process of having the coconut tree felled, the aging lion decided that felling the lone mahogany tree that towered inside their gate would be a better substitute since only the signature of the barangay captain is needed.

So the mahogany tree came crushing down the earth’s floor and as the girl was operating on a beach-walk budget, the lion tamer had to subsidize the cost of cutting these into sawn lumber.

Work started in earnest. A carpenter was hired at 20% discount and three other neighbors (except the husbands of the two who earlier wanted to borrow the money and therefore would not help) worked the “bayanihan” way, gratis et amore. But in consequence, the lone male kabir rooster of the aging lion was broiled as “tinola” for lunch and after two days, the house’ skeletal frame stood proudly where the decrepit shack once stood. Again, the nipa thatches lacked and so the lion tamer had to shell out from her pocket an additional sum that the roof may be completed.

As of this writing, the house is eighty percent complete and will still need about a thousand pesos more for the purchase of bamboo “sawali” that will be used as walling of the house. Meantime, the family covered the sides with curtains that moves merrily because of its attractive color whenever the wind blows.

To enable them to sleep at night, they cramp in the lone room that the carpenter temporarily made from the lawanit boards that were salvaged from the old shack. Not yet a comfortable living condition though, but definitely a lot better now than before when they had to dodge the rain droplets whenever the rain falls!

And so the aging lion contentedly moves his lower limb but without the right foot dangling to the floor!

Note: Comments will be appreciated. The aging lion will know that the recipients our there are still alive.

HELPING A NEIGHBOR BECOME AN SSS PENSIONER

2007-09-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

So you’re a member of the Social Security System already about to retire, or if not, have parents about to do so and because you have been regularly tuned to the radio station DZRH where Bro. Deo Macalma is a celebrated broadcaster hears Ms. Henny de la Cruz solves SSS problems over the radio and therefore thinks that getting your retirement benefits is a cinch should better think again. Of course it helps that there are brethren working in that mammoth organization to iron out the kinks but since the outfit is so big and is also struggling to have their records automated, giving their members their earned benefits as retirement age finally comes is still a wish many old age members can but desire. Take this epic case for example.

Pacheco Castrodes, our neighbor has reached the age of sixty last year and because he is sickly, decided to apply for early retirement. Knowing we have already helped another neighbor in the not-so-distant to past reacquire her retirement pension that was suspended previously, he also approached us that his application may be filed promptly and his pension received with dispatch. This the lion tamer eagerly welcomed and so on her next trip to Tagbilaran she went direct to the SSS office and there requested Gideon Rubillos for the membership data of the retiree-applicant to which the latter promptly complied with.

The membership data indeed showed that the member has already reached early retirement age but that the required 120 months minimum monthly contributions is still two months short having a value of P276,00. Upon reaching home she furnished Pacheco the data sheet to compare it with his record and noted that two installment payments were not posted. Advised by the lion tamer on what to do, the poor chap borrowed transportation money from his policeman-younger brother and there submitted to the SSS clerk the needed documents so that these may be sent to the main office for posting.

Three months passed and so the lion tamer called Gideon to follow it up but the missing two months were still not posted. To remedy the problem, Gideon suggested that the amount be paid instead to complete the required monthly contributions which the retiree-applicant reluctantly did as it meant not only borrowing transportation money again but also the P276 as well. After another trip to the SSS office at Tagbilaran he was advised to wait another month before finally submitting his claim papers since the bank form wherewith the payment was recorded still had to be sent to the main office for final posting..

Another two months lapsed and the lion tamer called Gideon again. He said that the required form may now be submitted to the delight both of the pensioner-applicant and the lion tamer. But another two months lapsed and nothing was heard from the SSS.

The lion tamer called again and was advised that Pacheco, the applicant go back to the SSS branch on March 7 but there still was a problem. Reluctantly borrowing transportation money again, he found out that a second tracer for a pending RR claim was again sent by the branch to the main office. What the “pending RR claim” was all about, the claimant could not explain to us.

Exasperated at the turn of events, the aging lion took the bull by the horns and emailed WB Gerard Gomzales at SSS Bacolod if he can help detailing to the latter his impressions on the issue. WB Gerard advised that the pertinent documents be xeroxed and sent to him which was done promptly the next day. Upon receipt WB Gerard said the problem was remnant of the previous difficulties on manual system and that these had to be tabulated manually at the main office. He assured the aging lion not to worry as he’ll be sending the documents to VW Freddie Ibay that have it manually tabulated to solve the problem.

But the tragedy that the aging lion suffered stood in the way. The aging cat totally forgot it until on May 14 when his eldest cub took him to Los Banos and there saw her daughter in law’s laptop with Internet connections and instantly remembered Pacheco’s case. He immediately emailed WB Gerard to facilitate processing as the poor man was ill such that if worse comes to worst his family may end up receiving death benefits instead of Pacheco getting his pension claim. WB Gerard replied it still is being subjected to “lice removal” (hinihinguto) and that the aging lion should not worry.

Then came June 6, the date of Laong Laan’s stated meeting. By luck the limping cat chanced upon VW Freddie Ibay and so reiterated to him Pacheco’s problem, to which the latter replied that he expects the task will be completed the next week and that there should no longer be a case for worry.

By mid June WB Gerard emailed saying that the problem was finally solved and that Pacheco be instructed to re-file his claim. To which he did and a full month later or in July his sister sent a text message saying a check for P27.000 representing eighteen months’ lump sum was received.

But that was not the end of the story. When the lion tamer and her pet finally went home to his den they could not see Pacheco in the vicinity. Silently the aging lion mused he may be like the many beneficiaries of their good deeds in Guindulman town who, after being helped would not even say a simple “thank you” for their charitable deeds.

But it was not so. A full three weeks later, Pacheco with drooping shoulders and still visibly sick, entered our gate and in an apologetic but smiling face said he purposely shied away the past three weeks as he was advised by the doctor at Cebu City to avoid talking whenever he can because there is a cancerous substance that is lodged in his throat and thus required vocal therapy. Of the P27,000, he said P5,000 is still available after P10,000 was spent for doctor’s fees and the remaining P12,000 spent on food, medicines, and paying of his younger brother on the advances that he made. He also added he’ll start receiving P1,500 as his monthly starting next month.

The aging lion could only smile and as an afterthought said it appears the “Grim Ripper” (Kamatayan) has decided to spare the souls of two sickly septuagenarians that are now ripe for the Great Beyond.

Bad grass and definitely not the Bermuda type.!!

Operation Tule'

2007-04-09T14:59:00.001-07:00

Brethren:

The aging lion is pleased to report that last April 2, Holy Monday, fifteen (15) energetic young boys were circumcised by a medical doctor who was assisted by a registered nurse, the lion tamer and with this writer acting as kibitzer.

This civic action program was done without fanfare, and without streamer to herald the event, only the word that a good deed is being spread. It can also be a good prototype for what can turn out to be a medium-sized project.

Credit goes to VW John Teng, DDGM of MD No. who bankrolled the cost of the event.

And here’s hoping these fine young boys will leave their indelible imprints in the sands of time when the proper time comes.

Cheers!

Leon

SUNSHINE FROM THE SHRINE!

2007-03-14T15:10:00.000-07:00

You may not be aware of this, but if you are a Shriner, then you are part and parcel of this story. Let the aging cat tell you about it.

Last February 24, immediately after the burial of Bro. Eduardo Palac at the cemetery atop the hill, the aging lion was animatedly conversing with his good friend Tante inside the Palac residence when a maid approached them saying: “Nong Jun! Sulti ni Manang Lor, gawas ka daw” which in the King’s language meant: “Nong Jun, Nang Lorma (meaning, the lion tamer) asks that you go out, and so obediently her aging pet complied.

Outside, he was introduced to an elderly lady who was accompanying a limping six-year-old girl, and was promptly informed the latter needs help. After asking the standard questions and the ordeal that the prospective patient and her caretaker-companion at the hospital will undergo should we take her to Cebu, and with her reply all being in the affirmative, the aging lion nodded and forthwith advised the lion tamer that a call to Dr. Felix Vicuna will be needed.. He also told the elderly lady to visit them at the lion’s den two days later so that if the result of the call is favorable then they will finalize the trip so that the girl may be operated upon. The girl, by the way, appears to be suffering from a congenital defect called clubfoot and is also frequently treated for epileptic ailment.

The next day, Sunday, a man on board a motorcycle came to the aging lion’s den and introduced .himself as a neighbor of the young girl. Also on board the motorcycle was a young boy likewise of the same age as the girl but with a deformed right elbow.. The man said he is the boy’s father and that a little more than a year ago, his son was merrily climbing a guava tree trying to pluck off some fruits while singing the nursery rhyme at the top of his voice. But the branch broke and down to the flat earth he slumped; and the last rhythmic word of the phrase “guavas are ripe” that he was singing instead turned out to be a loud “array!”

So on the next day, Monday, the lion tamer had two birds to hit with only one stone. She not only had to request Dr. Felix Vicuna to operate on the young girl with a deformed foot but also on the boy with a broken elbow. Fortunately for her, the amiable doctor said that these would be no problem and that we should bring the two prospective patients to Cebu and he’ll see what he can do. Which made the aging lion glad. Last February 3 after all, VW Felix Vicuna, Jr. was one of the honored guests who came direct from Cebu City to attend the installation ceremonies of Dagohoy Lodge No. 84 at the new Temple that the Bohol Masons are definitely proud of.

Her next task was to arrange with the local DSWD for the P500 financial assistance for their bus and boat fare in going to Cebu City and on this, the town mayor also added an equal amount thus giving the parents a thousand bucks each for transportation fare and miscellaneous expenses.

Then Sunday, March 4 came. The lion tamer was apprehensive because the aging lion decided that for financial considerations, it will be best that he is left behind in their den. . He calculated it will cost them an additional P700 should he tag along, but she was adamant. She is not yet well acquainted with the good doctor and felt something could go wrong if he will not tag along. Hearing the assurance from her pet that she can call him long distance to sort out whatever problems that may arise, she finally acceded that he be left behind.

Their trip to Cebu as well as the critical diagnoses that was performed by Dr. Vicuna on the two prospective patients at his office at the Cebu Doctor’s Hospital was expertly done with dispatch and no sooner the two, together with the boy’s father and the girl’s mother who will watch and care for them, \were admitted at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Hospital The staff, after all, knew that the two are patients of celebrated Dr. Vicuna of the Shrine.

By three thirty in the morning of March 9, the lion tamer’s cell phone rang and at the other phone, the boy’s father was frantic in asking what to do with the prescription slip containing anesthetic and other medicines, the cost of which were considerably expensive, that was handed to the by the nurse on duty as the boy was scheduled to be operated on that morning. Not knowing what to do, she instructed the caller to approach the resident physician on duty and inform him (or her) that the boy is a patient of the “Shrine.” Apparently that was the correct password because by the time the father called again, he said that all the needed medicines were already available and that the operation will be performed as scheduled. That of the little girl, however, was rescheduled as the good doctor decided that additional tests on her brain be performed to determine whether other medical procedures and medicines should be administered to her to insure that a more comprehensive and accurate diagnoses of her ailment will redound to her ultimate and speedy recovery.

By four in the afternoon, with the sun not yet setting in the proverbial West, the boy with a deformed elbow was out of the operating room attended to by the hospital staff and by the boy’s father who was obviously physically exhausted but with a wide grin registered on his lips.

And on this. Dr. Felix Vicuna. Jr. and the Shriners definitely deserve a hearty pat on the back for the noble act that they performed for the benefit of the young patient!

POTABLE WATER FOR THE RURAL POOR!

2006-12-03T11:33:00.000-08:00

It was neither a new nor a bright idea that burgeoned from nowhere; and if an analogy should aptly be made, it can be compared to a slowly-dying ember that the lion tamer decided to rekindle so that it may again relight its cinders and used sometime later, only, the subject of this article is not fire but water. And the precious liquid that she endeavors to engender can readily satisfy the water needs of several hundreds of residents of three different places. But let the aging lion narrate to you this unique tale right from the very beginning.

Some two years ago when the harelip assistance project was already in full swing, the lion tamer’s aging pet noticed that in addition to Harelip Repair, the calling card of Darin and Farrah Goertzen of Christian Service International shows that they also engage in the assistance of “Waterworks Projects” of rural residents. Thus, seeing the prospects of being of further service to her town-mates, the lion tamer approached a lady official of the town and explored the opportunity of providing water where these are needed. Consequently the latter said there is a baranggay that can benefit from the sponsoring entity as their source of potable water is a reservoir that is located at the upper portion of the community. She said that if a pipe is installed from the water source to the center of the community and faucets are provided in strategic places, then the “Jack and Jill” nursery rhyme that one sings during their school days will easily be a thing of the past. The rational option then was to prepare a request that is duly supported by a bill of materials complete with its estimated cost so that it may be presented to Darin Goertzen for review and consideration.

But local culture prevented the submission of the written proposal to the sponsoring organization. The proponents who made the written proposal, adept at preparing bloated cost estimates, assumed it should be no different from a budgeted public expenditure and therefore should be no less than double its estimated cost that can deflate the ego of the nation’s congressmen and senators. The cost of cement, deformed steel bars and gravel, among others, were outrageously overpriced even an ordinary laborer will notice the glaring attempt to fleece the donors of their moneys’ worth. The aging lion and his tamer therefore, ruefully shelved the idea, for if pursued, can only tarnish the good image that they had been patiently cultivating with the sponsoring charitable organization.

But some two months ago, while on her visit to another baranggay called Bulawan attending to another project in her capacity as vice president of the town’s ladies organization, she saw an inoperable water pump by the ridge that is adjacent to a ricefield of a hinterland baranggay and casually she inquired from a resident how come it was left untended for the use of the residents. The classic reply that she got was “lack of funds” of their baranggay. Remembering Darin’s calling card, she called him if that offer of assistance is still open and the reply that she got was “Yes.”.

Darin and the lion tamer then arranged for a meeting with a baranggay “kagawad” and the possibility for the rehabilitation of the jet pump operated deep-well was discussed. It turned out the job was not difficult. Presently, water about the size of a thumb freely ooze from the connecting pipe because it is still the rainy season that residents can still use, although water no longer comes out during dry-spell months. By installing a brand new jet pump as replacement and also by constructing a shade, it can easily benefit more than forty families that comprise some two hundred residents including children. It was agreed therefore that the cost of the jet pump and its appurtenances will be shouldered by Darin’s group while nipa thatches, sand, gravel and labor will be provided for by the baranggay. The residents also must clean the place. All these happened while the aging lion silently watched in the sidelines.

It turned out there is another inoperable deep well the water of which was also previously being extracted through the use of another jet pump at the upper portion of the baranggay and so was also inspected for possible rehabilitation. Unlike the first deep well, however, the water is about a meter below ground level and will need thorough cleaning before clean water may be pumped from the source. An arrangement with another kagawad therefore arranged to have the well cleaned before the materials are delivered by Darin Goertzen. The aging lion consequently was tasked to inspect the deep well to personally see to it that it was indeed cleaned of debris before the needed jet pump and its accessories are delivered .

On their way home, Darin also asked what happened to the proposed water project that the lion tamer asked some two years before and so the latter narrated to her what happened to his amusement. Needing but pipes and related materials, the work is not really difficult but the resultant effect will be inestimable. He assured both the lion tamer and her pet that attempts by intended recipients for petty thievery are not at all unusual but that we should not worry.. He said he automatically reviews the proposal anyway and gives only what is needed for the project adding that in most instances, he personally provides the actual materials thus eliminating the possibility of graft occurring on the project.

By Saturday December 2, Darin brought with him from Tagbilaran a brand new jet pump and was immediately installed gushing out clear and potable water. He also ordered at a local hardware that the needed cement, pipes and other materials and had these sent to the site so that the shed may be constructed. Darin also reported that the he has already arranged that the pipes and materials for the waterways at the Guinacut project is already scheduled for delivery the coming week. The materials for the second deep well, however, was held in abeyance as the baranggay councilor has not yet sent word that the site is already ready for the aging lion’s visual inspection.

Which makes the aging lion glad. He feels confident that all the three projects can benefit no less than five hundred persons and will be completed before the year is over considering their amiable relationship with Darin Goertzen of Christian Service International. With practically no funds to work on but with cordial and amiable relationship with the donors he and the lion tamer are able, like that American brother who reported at the Internet the successful installation of a water project that cost his group US$ 265 somewhere in Nueva Ecija some eight months or so before, helping these less privileged people is a pleasure worth more than its pecuniary value in gold..

And the aging lion yawns!

CLUBFOOT

2006-11-30T13:14:00.000-08:00

Tenderfoot and clubfoot are two words with entirely different meanings- the former represents the lowest grade of boy scouts whithersoever dispersed; the latter will be the subject of this unique but otherwise heartwarming article.

J A, a two-letter acronym, is the nickname of a three-year old boy named Jose Albert Molina who on December 21 will turn four. But when Bro. Felix Vicuna, Jr., the expert orthopedic surgeon who is single-handedly administering the charitable projects of the Shrine Foundation for Crippled Children in Cebu City asked him how old he is, the boy smilingly flashed out the middle and fore fingers of his right hand in reply to the consternation of his 33-year old mother and with her own hands helped him add his ring finger to indicate his age is already three. But the good doctor was instead keenly touching his thumb, almost massaging it, saying: “this finger needs fixing by grafting a tendon on the upper part of his hand and transferring it on the thumb so that it can move. The same holds true for the thumb of his left hand, at the same time gently moving it to show it also does not work “. Why Dr. Vicuna no longer paid attention to the young boy’s index finger, the aging lion could not tell, but it could be because that smallest part of the hand is good only for taking out the solid object that may have already hardened inside the nose (in local parlance, kulangot) and nothing else!! But let that yucky possibility not distract the aging lion from his chore of narrating this poignant but otherwise controversial article right from the very start..

It was barely three weeks ago when the baranggay captain of Guinacut, a seaside village of Guindulman town who, upon learning that the lion tamer is active on her harelip assistance project, asked if she can also help a young boy who was born with a congenital physical defect. She said she will try and asked that the boy be personally brought to us so that we can see if he can be helped..

We did see the boy and noted that his movements as a human being was disheartening. Instructed to move around the house, he would hold on to a sturdy object like chairs, sofas or bamboo railings, and like a chimpanzee would use his hands to move his frail body around, using the blades of his feet as he cannot set his foot firmly on the floor the way normal persons do. Left alone in sitting position, he would wave his two arms high above his head from left to right in alternating motion as if waving to the tune of a charismatic song and thus would be able to inch his way to the place inside the house where he wants to go. Which could also remind the reader of a battery-operated mechanical toy but without the rollers to make it move. Understandably, his trousers would collect the dirt on the floor as he performs that peculiar motion but he doesn’t mind. What mattered he was able to go to the place he wanted and that’s it.

The lion tamer was, however, adamant whether we should take them to Cebu City. Taking both the mother and the boy there for operation will understandably drain our meager resources and will surely adversely affect our scheduled visit to our folks in the big city for the Christmas holidays. But at the back of our minds we felt there is no way we can ignore this special errand of the GAOTU.. The only logical option then was to call Dr. Vicuna long distance for assurance that help, in addition to footing the hospital bills, is forthcoming especially because a modest allowance for the incidental expenses of both the mother and the young boy are to be expected. Fortunately, the good doctor assured us that that help will come similar to a relay- we take the boy and his mother to Cebu and he picks up the problem from there. With the aid of a mental speed calculator therefore, the aging lion estimated it would cost them from two to three thousand bucks to take them to Cebu before Dr. Vicuna takes over.

So the plan to have the boy operated on was formulated. The mother went to Limasawa in Leyte with her one year old daughter in her arms so that the relatives of her husband may care for the girl meantime she will be caring for her son at Vicente Sotto Hospital in Cebu City. Sadly however, she returned home with her youngest child still in her arms because the relatives of her husband in Leyte would not want to share with their burden as they most probably also have their own unbearable loads to bear.

The lion tamer for her part approached the DSWD office in Guindulman and asked for financial assistance. The office gladly did and appropriated P500, the maximum amount the DSWD office can defray to indigents. She next called the town mayor who also volunteered another P500 and so a check for P1,000 was finally withdrawn from the town’s only savings bank.

On the Sunday evening of November 26, the foursome composed of the lion tamer, her aging pet and the mother with the boy clinging at her back boarded the J & N Ferry at Ubay and on the early morning of the next day arrived at the famed Queen City of the South. After a side trip to the residence of her aunt for a hurried breakfast and a refreshing bath, they proceeded to the Cebu Doctors Hospital for their appointment with Dr. Felix Vicuna and there his expert diagnoses that was mentioned earlier was performed until finally by eleven in the morning, he scribbled his instructions to the staff of Vicente Sotto Hospital that the young boy be admitted and the preliminary tests, among them, x-rays, taking his blood pressure and other tests required by the operation be carried out

Those who have experienced accompanying patients to this government hospital will attest that being admitted as a patient can already be an ordeal, not because the staff are inefficient for surely they are not, but simply because the number of patients that need medical attention far exceed what the hospital can possibly handle. It is not unusual for patients who were admitted at the emergency room to stay there for a couple of days and wait for a patient to be released before he or she is formally admitted to a ward as replacement to the patient who was released. Fortunately for us the admitting nurse was a Boholana from Sevilla town who attended to our needs with dispatch and also because our patient is under the care of Dr. Vicuna of the Shrine Foundation which automatically entitled him to a bed in the hospital. Nonetheless, he had to be taken to the Orthopedic ward not on a stretcher as normally should have been done but on his mother’s back so as not to invite quizzical stares that he was admitted way ahead of the others. The ward, after all is a forty-bed room that already accommodates no less than sixty patients. The boy and mother were finally admitted to the ward at five in the afternoon and thus enabled us to return to the residence of the lion tamer’s aunt to rest and map out plans to return home the next day after giving the mother the P1,000 pocket money that the lion tamer smooched from the DSWD. On the side, the aging lion advised the mother to scrimp on her expenses hopefully to make it last at least two weeks and let the lion tamer worry where the additional pocket money will come from next. Silently, the aging lion also mused that perhaps Bro. Tony will not mind if part of the P5,000 that he generously sent will be channeled to this charitable activity that just appeared at our very doorsteps.

The mother, for her part, obviously had worries of her own. Probably expecting that the admission process will be done in a jiffy, or because she was also worried at her youngest child in Bohol, or it may be because the crowded condition at the hospital made her ill at ease as she is herself a polio victim with a frail body and thus felt she may not be able to endure the rigors of patiently nursing her son while at the hospital, she sent a text message when we were already on board a ferry to return home the next day that she be replaced by her husband to attend to the needs of their son at the hospital, a text that irked the lion tamer because of her lackadaisical attitude at having the defect of her son attended to. It’s good that she reconsidered at the last minute because word has it that her husband skipped his trip Cebu City otherwise it would surely have meant additional financial worries for them which would be quite difficult to solve.

Barring adverse medical tests therefore, the boy will be subjected to the knife today, Friday, the first day of December. Once performed, the next worry to mull about will involve the length of time it will take to enable him to finally stand on his own two feet unaided by sturdy objects like chairs, sofas and most probably crutches if his disheartening defect is not at all corrected?!

And the aging lion yawns!

Note: Please feel free to forward to your friends as you please.

ICING ON A CAKE BAKED SOME YEARS BEFORE

2006-10-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

October 21 was a particularly lousy day for the aging lion. Earlier that day, at about five thirty in the morning, he received a long distance call from the lion tamer saying she has finally arrived at our ancestral residence in Project 8 .The trip took forty four hours travel from our adopted hometown all the way to the metropolis, or a delay of almost nine hours when compared to our previous trip the month before. And there was no more need to relay the details, the power of cell phone technology already gave her the opportunity to chronicle the cumbersome details as these happened, delays that included a flat tire, the inability to catch up with the scheduled ferry from Allen, Samar to Matnog in Sorsogon, and finally, the threat of the Mega bus being impounded at Pasay, the last of which she managed to avoid by talking to the MMDA apprehending officer that she be allowed to take the taxi home while the latter and the bus driver were hotly contesting a certain traffic violation that could have further prolonged the already arduous ordeal. Luckily, the MMDA officer gladly consented by personally arranging with a cab driver that she be brought home, but only after she mentioned the name “Philmore Balmaceda” who the officer volunteered that Philmore has already retired, gladly accommodated her request and personally hailed a taxi and allowed to leave the scene meantime his companion and the bus driver were hotly debating on the supposed traffic violation.

Her trip to the big city of course was not without urgent reason. Their three-month old youngest grandson, his father’s miniature clone, was having health problems and is periodically being brought to the hospital because of intermittent fever. Not only was the ailment draining the pockets of his parents but it was also getting in the way of their daily work schedule. It was therefore time for “Darna”, err. . . . the lion tamer to lend a helping hand to sort things out. Some of the brethren in the medical profession, Doc. Billy, included may also be able to help. And the aging lion?! He had to stay behind, financial considerations and the upcoming palay harvest insured that joining her on the trip would be without valid reason!

At seven that morning, he decided to dry the five sacks of palay that was delivered to him by a tenant the day before and assured that it was harvested through upland cultivation, that is, irrigated only by rain water, he looked forward at having these milled and set aside for personal consumption as he was informed that rice produced from upland farming tastes better than those grown via irrigated process. But the effort was already becoming an ordeal, what previously was just a whiz of a job is now taking a lot of effort, and who says “only carabaos grow old?! Well, perchance, but why shouldn’t an aging lion??

By four in the afternoon, having completed putting the grains of palay in the sacks, he tiredly slumped on the garden seat at the veranda, and while at that worn-out posture, heard an elderly lady loudly knocking at the gate asking for “Nang Lorma” the lion tamer, at which the aging lion barked backed that she is presently in the metropolis. But the lady was obviously persistent, which piqued him all the more, and so he decided to approach the gate with the intention of impressing upon her that no transaction can possibly consummated as she is not around.

Imagine to his surprise and mild amusement when a charming young girl, about seven years of age and clad in Girl Scout uniform suddenly appeared at her back, clutched the aging lion’s knuckles and executed the traditional “Mano Po!” without muttering a word, and the ritual done, the elderly lady, her grandmother, explained that she is Annabelle Bernadas, the young harelip whom we have helped being operated on some two or three years before. Previously bothered by that ugly torn lips, she is now a good looking girl, definitely a young dainty beauty to behold. And she was among the fifty or so harelip patients whom the lion tamer has successfully engineered that she be operated on through Christian Service International and the Ramiro Community Hospital at Tagbilaran City.

Which made the aging lion glad “to the bone”. A good seed planted some years back has already turned into an admirable shoot!.

CLEANSING THE CHALICE, SHARPENING THE BLADE

2006-05-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

There‘s no way anticipating what the lion tamer would think of. Before her trip to the metropolis last March for example, she unexpectedly asked if she could allot P300 from our meager funds and when her aging pet asked why, she calmly said she is on a birth control binge. When asked what exactly does it mean since she has already hurdled menopausal stage, she supported her idea with three impregnable reasons. These are:

Paz, the mother of our first harelip patient named JR and the wife of Yukyuk, approached her saying she desires to undergo ligation and that her husband is amenable to the idea since they already have four children, only, they don’t have the P300 minimum donation that the Center requires, and

She is also taking Flor and Baby, Upiong’s and Junjun’s wives respectively, to the Center to undergo pregnancy test (isn’t this and the frog test the same?) so that if the two aren’t pregnant yet, then the she will cajole the Center to give them the needed birth control pills gratis et amore so that Cupid’s deadly arrows may not hit their fertile targets.

And so the mandatory (the lion tamer mandates, her pet obeys) request for funding was approved and off to the Center the four ladies, one past the menopausal phase and three still on fertile stages went. Predictably, one went through the knife and had her fecund organ ligated while the other two went home with the needed birth-arresting pills to defang the venomous sperms that their respective husbands scatter while doing their sexual assaults whenever time and opportunity permits. And the lion tamer? Well, she is now good only at threatening the aging lion with her proverbial whip because the aging lion’s armor now points at five-thirty, and never mind if it is sunshine or rainy weather.

And to make this short story still a little shorter, the first thing the lion tamer did upon her return after six weeks’ stay in the metropolis that commenced on the last day of March was to check on the status of the project that she left behind her. True enough, Paz and Yukyuk, the pair to whom she acted as fairy godmother when they got married some two years back (and don’t play the role of a mathematician will you?!, the time difference of two years married life and the number of years it will take to sire four children were caused by the fact that they had already lived together for four whole years before getting married) are now enjoying wedded bliss subject only to the limitation that all their four children are either wide awake or inside the house whenever they intend to perform their romantic somersaults since obviously amorous advances cannot be done under the very noses of their kids.

Flor no longer kicks Apyong on the groin whenever he makes sexual advances after arriving from the sea before dawn. All the couple do is shove their two young daughters to the corner of the room so that their rhythmic sexual jousts will not awaken them. And the reason they could not yet decide on ligation is because they are still mulling over the prospects of having a son to also become a fisherman someday. Word has it that there are even times when it is Flor who awakens Upiong in the midst of his slumber, and when asked by the latter whatever is the matter, would reply, “Can we do something totally enjoyable, or you would rather continue your sleep?!”

But Baby, Junjun’s wife, was a failure. When asked why, it turned out she discontinued swallowing the birth control pills allegedly because she did not like the taste. She therefore reverted to plucking the strings of rhythmic sexual cadence but whose cord obviously Junjun strung in error and lo! the sperm and the female hormone united as one. Baby got herself pregnant to the consternation of her Surigaonon husband who, in flawless Tagalog said (they met and got married in the metropolis some eight years back) “Ayaw kasing makinig sa titser!! Pero dapat, maligate na paglabas ng bata, pang- apat na yang nasa tiyan ah, mahirap na ang panglima. (All because she would not listen to the teacher!! But then, ligation is indeed necessary later; after the baby gets out of the womb, it being the fourth already, the fifth child will just result in endless misery.)

The lion tamer also added that Jimbo and Liza had already intimated to her that the wife will also request for a similar ligation after their fifth child is delivered this coming June.

To the obvious pleasure of the aging lion when she was making her report.

But the aging pet’s enjoyment was short lived. The lion tamer made another funding request, and this time involving the circumcision of Benjack, EJ and Christian, sons of Eben, Pilo and Jimbo respectively. When asked how much it will cost, her reply was a hefty P500 since the Center requires a P150 voluntary donation per boy but that she can haggle to lower it down to P100 as stipend of the guy who will do the job. The expected P200 surplus may then be used for unseen medical expenses like antibiotics or gauze bandage that may not be available at the Center, she said.

While the three kids were being interrogated however, another young boy named Kyde, who is Junjun’s eldest son, asked if he can also be added in the list, wherefore the aging lion ordered his tamer to ask the boy’s parents if they are willing. Having got the affirmative reply, she trooped to the Center much like a lady Pied Piper with four young boys in tow. But when they returned, only three went through the knife because the soft outward skin of EJ’s armor has not yet reached the inner core, thus the circumciser decided to skip incision on the organ of Pilo’s young boy.

Through it all the aging lion could but silently muse. Helping these married women avert pregnancy elicited a one-on-one persuasion and on this the lion tamer is knowledgeable. The number of children already existing, the varying temperament of the couple and even the delicate and touchy questions on sex had to be answered tactfully and wisely. One husband even argued that according to some, women who have undergone ligation show maniacal tendencies to which she replied that the word maniacal is cruel; what obviously result is that she is now more open to her husband’s sexual overtures. One ignorant and jealous husband even declares he will not allow his wife to have herself ligated to make it easy for him to know if his wife has been unfaithful. As if he already knew the powers of DNA and that he can afford it attendant cost!!

Circumcision, on the other hand, requires a much simpler procedure but proper timing must be observed. Planning it during end of school years, all that is needed is to scout for aggressive young boys who have not yet undergone the knife and presto, the project will be as good as solved to later prepare them for aggressive and amorous manhood. Last week as the aging lion was swimming at the beach for example, he befriended four young boys with ages about ten years old. When asked if they are already circumcised, two said yes while the other two posted negative retorts.

Of course there are costs to be met, but why bother? Since these projects are done on small scale, the lion tamer and her pet’s financial resources can somehow still manage to defray the cost , although indeed it would be better if someone out there can help to make the scope of the projects a little wider, for as any SSS pensioner will tell you, their pension can never be above starvation pay such that if one manages to survive, he should be able to fund the additional expense from somewhere else.

And what about the symbolic meanings of the words “chalice” and “blade” that were used in the title of the above-mentioned article?

But of course!! The aging lion thought you’ve read Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code (see Chapter 56) from where these words were copied as it is obviously to attract the readers’ undivided attention.

THE COMEBACK KID

2006-03-23T00:57:00.000-08:00

Those of you who still remember the article “The Pathetic Plight of Jonel Lustrado may find this sequel worth your leisure hour while those who have not yet done so are simply advised to scroll down and read it to understand what the phrase “comeback kid” is all about.

Last Saturday, March 18, the lion tamer and her pet had two female visitors at their den one of whom was already familiar named Dading, while the other, the aging lion could not remember. Amusingly, the lion tamer remarked that she is the mother of Isabel Bernadas, a teenage harelip patient whom we have helped some two years ago, while the other was the mother of Jonel.

So let the aging lion now rewind the hands of time as far as Jonel is concerned.

Of course the lion knows Jonel fully well. He is that young lad whom they brought to Cebu City at Chung Hua Hospital last September 29 to undergo “Magnetic Reasonance Imaging”, or MRI, a modern medical technique that effectively determines the patient’s ailment but is more expensive than the traditional x-rays that old timers are familiar with. On the next day, September 30, which was his 26th birthday we returned to Bohol with mixed feelings as the prospects of Jonel’s recovery was as clear as mud.

The lion recalls that he considered Jonel’s case as more or less already closed since the good doctor at Cebu City later advised the inadvisability of conducting an operation considering his worsened condition; the most pronounced of which was that he was already no different physically from a crab who has just shed his old shell and with his new shell still pliant, his strength is all but gone which in local parlance is called “luno!” Worse, the doctor also diagnosed his ailment as tuberculosis of the bone and that the chances of recovery were very slim, indeed!

The doctor’s words notwithstanding, the lion tamer was undaunted. If medical science is no longer of help (Doc Billy emailed saying there is a possibility it can be remedied in the metropolis but the cost would be gargantuan), then surely, the power of prayers still can, she said. And at the town’s parish newly-built “Adoration Room” that she frequents she added the name Jonel on the long list of names she usually ask the Lord for help. The mystic powers of prayer she added to the medicines that Bro. Jack Galbreath purchased at Cebu City and when it was fully consumed, she badgered the town’s medical center to give Jonel’s mother the needed medical tablets, the prescription slip of which she asked from Dr. Jesus Vicuna, Jr. at Cebu City later.

.And so back to where we started this story on March 18.

The mother of Jonel was in high spirits when she was telling her story. All these six months, she said that all that was in his son’s mind was to bounce back to normal, with the mother always around to lend a helping hand. Inside the house, she installed a bamboo railing and strung sturdy ropes which Jonel could grasp to exercise his hands and move himself around; and as he progressed, similar contraptions were also attached out of the house to enable Jonel to get fresh air outside. To the consternation of Jonel’s grandmother berating her daughter for giving too much attention to Jonel, and to which the mother simply dismissed the admonition by shrugging her shoulders. Which could easily remind the DeMolay readers of the “Flower Talk” that they have memorized so well. “You can go down to the depths, but your mother . . . .” Oh, well!

And he also did not forget the aging lion’s parting words on that epic September 30, during his birthday that communing with the Lord at the stroke of midnight is usually very effective for as the latter said, “there is no static nor unusual interruptions when you commune with God during that time for almost nobody else is praying!”

But it was not all physical conditioning that Jonel and his mother turned their energies into. Jonel’s time also glued his ears to the radio listening to religious songs, music and charismatic masses that made him commune with God on his own. One time on her visit, the mother asked the aging lion whether making offerings to the spirits at the brook where he met an accident some two years back will do Jonel any good and receive a reply in the affirmative. And when the lion tamer gave a quizzical eye because of the aging lion’s nodded as his reply, he simply later said that “Magic”, not the Salamanca type one usually sees on TV, but the magic that was clearly elucidated by Sir James Frazer in his book The Golden Bough do has that awesome powers of putting ailing persons back to recovery.

Miscellaneous help to Jonel came. In addition to prayers and medicines, donations were not also found wanting. Part of the US$ 80 that WB Dave of the American Samoa sent was generously spent for transportation and incidental costs to the mother whenever she makes a visit; their family was also included in the bags recipients of groceries for the noche buena of the four fisher families that WB Tony funded during the Christmas holidays.

More importantly, Jonel’s mother said he can now walk without a cane and even wished he could bathe himself at the beach. Wherefore the aging lion replied it is not at all a problem. All that was needed was to take Jonel down from the boondocks and presto, he can bathe on the beach at the lion’s backyard, with the lion preparing the food as cook, courtesy of the man of the house.

And so on March 25 they arrived with Jonel, his brother in law at the wheels and the two aging ladies at the back of the motorcycle. There they bathed at the beach and during lunch where they partook of a half-kilo liver mixed with mushroom and cabbage, and broiled “tulingan” that the aging lion himself cooked, they talked energetically about his physical progress which in modern parlance can be compared to a cell phone with two bars blinking while being charged, which means that while he has not yet fully regained his health, he is now on the road to recovery. He said he has not yet seen his family, his live in partner and his new-born son. He of course wish he could physically be with them to the reluctance of both his mother and the lion tamer fearing that a third child might ensue. To which the aging lion empathically remarked: “Of course that can be avoided, the efficient use of condom or some other contraceptives can easily avert that dreaded possibility!!”

After they left for home that afternoon, additional help for Jonel’s welfare followed. Upon being informed on the phone, the lion tamer’s cousin volunteered to purchase multi-vitamins for Jonel’s medical maintenance to further improve his health. For Jonel’s part which he said earlier, joining a group at their baranggay’s parish to serve during mass is a wish that he wants fulfilled to put him right on track.

Which augurs well for him, his live-in partner Wilma, his daughter and his new-born son who were left behind last September in Cebu City.

------

THE PATHETIC PLIGHT OF JONEL LUSTRADO

(Note: whole text is deleted. Readers interested to read the article are advised to open the previous posting as shown somewhere in the caption titled Faith, Hope. . . .etc.)

THE UNIQUE CASE OF MELVYN BERNALDEZ

2005-11-12T23:58:00.000-08:00

Barely three weeks after the lion tamer and his pet returned from Cebu City tending to the case of Jonel Lustrado, she again announced to his pet another unusual news. “Tay”, she said, “we have another crippled patient to help in our laps.”

Like machine-gun fire, she mentioned that subject is an eleven-year-old boy whose hips were badly dislocated as a result of a vehicle accident that occurred some seven years before. She narrated that the boy was hospitalized for no less than six months, two at Tagbilaran and four at Cebu City, immediately after the accident and while the wound and scratches healed, the infirmity on the hips and legs were not corrected. In addition, she said a case was filed against the owner of the provincial bus by a town lawyer but according to the parents, other than reimbursing the hospital bills, no other money was ever received by them. The case, they said, are still pending and undecided with the court.

Full of enthusiasm in her words, the lion could only lamely remark that there are two distinct problems which are to be tackled separately. On the medical side, there is a need to consult Bro. Jack Galbreath as he is the one who has contact with Dr. Felix Vicuna, Jr. in Cebu City. On the legal side, there may be a need to consult a lawyer-brother who can review the case if there is still something that can be done due to the length of time.

It turned out she already phoned Jack and that the latter remarked he would want to see the boy, which made the aging lion glad. On the legal side, the mother later presented to the lion tamer a folder that contained the details of the case which she said, she requested from the lawyer. To the consternation of both the lion and his tamer, there appeared in the folder two affidavits of desistance, one written in English, and the other in vernacular and signed by the father, saying that they are no longer pursuing the case after the defendant paid the medical bills of the patient.

The aging lion could only shake his head. With the affidavit of desistance, what else can be done? And why was the case allowed to drag by the town lawyer? The answer, it turned out, was not hard to find. The poor parents periodically bring fresh fish to the lawyer’s residence and undoubtedly it was a good legal remuneration in whatever angle one would look at it. The only depressing note is that the parents’ expectations will be turned to naught because of the strength and validity of the affidavit of desistance that the father signed in abject ignorance. Ah!! How common it is to see the abusive mighty cheat the unlettered and the feeble-minded!

And so as the wheels of time turned the lion awaited his meeting with his Worshipful Master. There is no need to rush things, he mused, the boy has already been crippled the last seven years and so a few more weeks wait will not do him further harm.

Until last November 7 when WB Jack called asking if we can bring the boy to Ubay town the next day. He said the Rotarians, a civic organization where he also belongs, is having a Medical Mission there and it can help much if the medical team can look at the patient to see if there is still something that could be done with the boy.

Without hesitation, we took the mother and the boy to the designated place where the medical mission was to be held and there, after diagnoses and picture taking, the doctor said that while the physical condition of the hips and the right leg has already considerably deteriorated due to the lapse of time, there is a fair chance that something positive can still be done.

The next day, on Wednesday evening, we rode the rickety ship at Ubay and by three in the morning of the next day., it docked safely at Pier One. We then rode a taxi to Cebu Doctor’s Hospital and by seven in the morning took breakfast at a nearby carenderia. Thereafter we proceeded to Dr. Vicuna’s clinic and there waited for him to arrive as his clinic hours starts 10:30 A. M.

At the appointed time, a gentleman entered the office marked “Dr. Felix Vicuna, Jr.,” and so steadfastly, the lion stood and immediately made the three familiar raps at the door, and simultaneously extended his right hand as sign of that familiar greeting known only to the members of the Craft and tactfully explained the purpose of our visit.. A little surprised but with a smile on his genial face, he clasped the extended hand and immediately diagnosed the condition of the boy.

His analysis was to the point. He said the condition could no longer be restored to normal saying only the GAOTU can bring back what has been damaged but that there still is a good chance that the situation can be improved and that we should not worry.. Dr. Vicuna said that the boy will be admitted at the Vicente Sotto Hospital (wonder if this is related to Tito Sen), there operated on and added that the expenses will be shouldered by the Shrine. He also said that the boy might be required to stay at the hospital from three to six months. As personal expenses also had to be incurred, we told him that Bro. Jack will attend to the food needs of the mother who will watch over him, and the doctor retorted: “Good” for a reply.

Subsequently, Bro. Jack arrived and thereafter we proceeded to the Vicente Sotto Hospital. There we remembered a comment that Bro. Jack made one time while referring to the case of Jonel Lustrado that “it is real hard to be poor’, for the hospital was overcrowded with the patients having to wait for their turn at the emergency room before being admitted to a ward. This we found out when, despite having the patient formally registered at the hospital on Thursday noon, the boy was only admitted into the ward room the evening of the next day. And undoubtedly, only after the lion tamer called both Jack and Dr. Vicuna asking if something positive could be done to facilitate things. To the credit of the good doctor, he personally attended to the problem.

It was already Saturday morning when the lion wrote this article and looking back, he could only cross his fingers and let father time dictate its pace. Melvyn is already at the hospital and his mother is dotingly watching over him. Hopefully, Dr. Felix Vicuna could do his utmost to improve Melvyn’s condition so that his gait would no longer be the same by the time he returns home after his stay.

And so that about ends this short article to enable him to take his bath and take a van on his way to Tagbilaran and there attend the second Saturday stated meeting of Dagohoy Lodge No. 84

THE PATHETIC PLIGHT OF JONEL LUSTRADO

2005-10-11T23:13:00.000-07:00

One day last August, the lion tamer arrived home late in the afternoon from a Civic Action program that was conducted by the members of GACSA, an association of the town’s residents who now permanently reside in the United States but were then at their hometown for a brief vacation. Unlike in previous occasions where she would get home obviously tired but with a happy smile on her face, that afternoon she went home as if somebody just swindled her or that her cell phone that has now become part of her life may have been stolen. The lion who was snugly resting on his rocking chair could therefore only ask: “What the heck happened?”

Her reply was unexpected. She said that while the medical team was already packing their things up, two men carrying another on a hammock and with an aging woman on the lead, suddenly arrived. The medical staff who were already tired and obviously were no longer interested to attend to the patient were cajoled by the lion tamer that the guy be attended to considering his pathetic condition, and after the usual check-up, was given the medicines that was prescribed by the doctor who attended to him. It turned out the ailment was not simple. From the lion tamer’s interview with the woman who accompanied the patient, she learned that Jonel, yes, that’s his name, slipped while laundering clothes with his back flat on the stony brook more than a year ago. The local “hilots” or herbolarios, attended to the aching back but instead of improving even got worse such that after three months from the date of the fateful accident, he no longer could walk.

To further confound his predicament, his lived-in partner got pregnant about seven months after the accident happened making the lion wonder; since he was already incapacitated and could no longer walk, how did he manage to get his partner pregnant in that woeful condition; or did she invent an alternative by initiating an unorthodox sexual .technique?! Shades of a very intriguing soap opera, the lion could only silently say.

And so she pointedly asked her aged pet: “Is there a way we can help?”

Without a vocal reply, the lion got hold of a book titled “A Century of Dedicated Masonic Service”, from the shelf and there leafed through its pages and found the telephone number of VW Lucas T. Ty. Again without a word, he dialed the number but the phone only rang at the other end.. As it was already past five, he assumed it must be an office phone and presumably the office staff, including VW Lucas must have left already.

Consequently, he could only say: “I’ll call again tomorrow, but perhaps, there is another way. There is a poster at the lodge on “ Hospital for Crippled Children” being administered by the Shriners where they have an office in Cebu City and Bro. Jack, who is himself a Shriner, perhaps can help. She immediately displayed that winsome smile and asked: “We’ll help Jonel then, won’t we?!” The lion could only look at her with an assuring gaze as no reply was needed.

We went to Tagbilaran City the following Saturday as it was our stated meeting and there the lion tamer explained the problem. Bro. Jack listened patiently and thereafter said: “Well, we need to have him x-rayed at Jagna or here at Tagbilaran before taking him to Cebu to determine what the problem is. Can you have this arranged?” We assured him we will.

A week later we took Jonel to the city on board the municipal ambulance but only after pumping 25 liters diesel fuel, a quantity that will enable the van to take two trips from the patient’s residence at the hinterlands of Guindulman which is nine kilometers away from town to Tagbilaran and back. At the government hospital the patient was x-rayed with Bro. Jack shouldering the hospital expenses while we defrayed the diesel cost. Fortunately, the x-ray results showed that there were no broken bones which prompted Bro. Jack and the lion tamer to feel at ease, realizing that the possibility of having a fracture on the spinal column has been ruled out. Obviously also, Bro. Jack was familiar with crippled patients as he next said: “We need to take Jonel back here in Tagbilaran next Saturday for a neurosurgeon’s check-up!” We said we will.

The next Saturday we again brought Jonel to the city on board the ambulance but only after pumping in another 25 liters diesel fuel. He was diagnosed by the attending physician who advised that an MRI or Magnetic Reasonance Imaging is needed to be performed on the patient. But it had to be done in Cebu as Tagbilaran has no MRI equipment to handle the delicate task. Also, as the attending neurosurgeon waived the consultation fee that easily would cost no less than P500 as he was a friend of Bro. Jack.

We went to Cebu City via the Ubay route taking along Jonel and his mother, who were fetched from their lair at their hinterland residence. Unexpectedly, we noted a pregnant woman and a little girl also on board the ambulance, with Jonel’s mother lamely
explaining that Wilma, yes, that’s her name, and her granddaughter will accompany us to Cebu as they decided she should temporarily stay with her folks meantime Jonel will undergo medical help. Also, it will solve the problem of Jonel’s live-in partner worrying with her post-delivery problems especially as it relates to financial matters as definitely Jonel, as the expectant father in his present condition, expectedly could not do anything.

The trip to Cebu was inspiring. Bro. Jack waited for us at the pier and took us, that is, Jonel, his mother, the lion and his tamer straight to the Chung Hua Hospital where the needed MRI examination was conducted. Wilma and her daughter, on the other hand, were met by her taxi-driver father, and went their own way.

The examination was completed late in the afternoon and the results were referred to another neurosurgeon and Dr. Felix Vicuna who pored over the results. After much analysis, they determined that an operation was needed. But there was as serious hitch. Jonel was also affected by tuberculosis of the bone and therefore the operation could not yet be performed as his condition may not sustain the rigors of the knife. The medical doctors therefore advised that he be returned home for a month, there to recover his health before the operation could be performed. We did but only after Bro. Jack bought the needed medicines for Jonel’s consumption out of Bro. Jack’s own pocket. He also defrayed the cost of the MRI and even took the two to his Cebu residence to spend the night in peace. As usual, we defrayed the cost of transportation.

On board the ship, the lion patiently explained the situation to Jonel and his mother with an analogy. Taking hold of a girlie magazine as example, he explained that the lion and her tamer’s help can best be illustrated by holding one edge of the magazine and with Bro. Jack holding another edge. The two other edges are their share of the responsibility, one each by Jonel and his mother to for us to solve the entire problem. This means that the mother should prepare the needed food of Jonel (mentioning vegetables that abound in their place) and with the latter earnestly resolving that his condition should improve and thereafter recuperate in a month’s time so that they can return to Cebu and have the operation performed. With sparkling look in their eyes, mother and patient nodded in agreement.

As the lion writes this article in the dead of the night two weeks after the Cebu trip (this article should have been composed upon our return to our den earlier, only the lion’s dilapidated computer was inoperative for two whole months), the aging lion could not help but contain his thoughts about Jonel. What would Jonel’s future be? Specifically, would his health improve to enable him to undergo the knife, and ultimately allow him to recover and walk again? And would his live-in partner with their two children (she recently delivered her baby which we learned was a boy), return to their lair in the boondocks as one happy family? And would our meager finances and even Jack’s wholehearted support not wane considering the unforeseen nature of his ailment the relevant expenses of which we still could not determine?

Which reminds this writer of the ending phrase in the parambulation of the fellowcraft degree which says thus:

“Charity suffereth long and is kind,
charity envieth not, charity vaunteeth not itself
is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not her own, thinketh no evil.
Rejoiceth not in inequity but rejoiceth
In the truth. Beareth all things, believeth
All things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
And now abideth faith, hope and charity these three,
But the greatest of these is Charity.

But of course, the Great Architect of the Universe may just favor us with his blessing and allow his creature Jonel to fully recuperate.

2005-01-19T01:51:00.000-08:00

LET THERE BE LIGHT!!

Regular recipients of the articles sent by the aging lion should be familiar with the names Andoy, Jimbo, Eben, and Pilo, the four fishermen who, together with their respective families, reside at the lion tamer’s backyard. Of course they are not the only fishermen in the area but the names of the others do not deserve mention as unlike the four, water and electrical connections were already installed in their respective places of abode.

Let the lion now tell you of this unique story.

Last November 3, the lion tamer woke up early as usual and said she will go with her ‘Nang Baby to Tagbilaran, and therefore the lion can freely roam around the place while she is out. But while doing so, would her now almost-toothless pet be solicitous enough to go to nearby Jagna where the office of BOHECO II is located and help facilitate the application for electrical connection of Pilo that it be approved? She said Pilo will soon sell his pig and with the proceeds, wants electricity in his house installed, only, the processing of the required papers appears to him complicated. Also, his three other neighbors are as desirous to have electrical connections in their respective houses but funding still had to be secured and therefore, would the lion also explore this angle??

Without much ado the lion proceeded to BOHECO II at Jagna and after congratulating Mr. Eugene Tan, the Resident Manager, for receiving the Most Outstanding Award from President Gloria Arroyo when she recently visited Bohol for leapfrogging from a Class D to Class A+ Electric Cooperative, the lion tactfully explained his purpose. Two problems were at hand: (1) is the loan that was previously being granted to applicants allowing a 25% down payment for materials and the 75% balance payable in installment still in effect thus allowing the three to also apply for electrical connections? and (2)would BOHECO install the needed electric posts since Pilo’s house is located at the farthest end reckoning from the street where the main line is located? The lion justified the need for electricity by mentioning that the four couples have seventeen children among them most of whom are already of school age and since the thrust of the government is to light the countryside and thus enable its citizens to moved onward for progress sake, then doing so will serve this noble purpose.

The first problem, Mr. Tan said, is no problem. The loan, while suspended previously, was recently revived. But of course, the lion had to sign as co-maker. The second, he said, can be remedied by declaring the work as “upgrading” which in effect will entail realigning the existing electrical lines of the residents in the area and thus justify the installation of the required electric posts. And since he is the Resident Manager, then the problem is as good as solved, and forthwith instructed three of his staff to accompany the aging lion to his residence at Guindulman and survey the needed job so that the work can immediately proceed. On the company’s staff car, of course!

On the way, Lito, one of the staff, said that what will complicate the installation of the posts is the possible need to get the consent of the landowner into whose lot the electric posts will be erected and the trees that must be felled as a consequence of the installation. The lion said the problem would not arise if the posts and connections are placed inside the perimeter of the lot were they reside. And that’s it!

Two days later, the lion tamer accompanied Pilo, Jimbo, Honey and Vivienne to the Jagna office with the two ladies alternating for their respective husbands. Honey served as proxy for Andoy as the latter is a “thumb-mark specialist” (in plain language, neither reads nor write) while Vivienne took the place of Eben because at the eight o’clock departure time, the latter’s pumpboat hasn’t as yet docked at the mooring site.

That afternoon, the group went home in high spirits. The seminar was very educational, they said. Eugene Tan, although already on the road bound for inspection trip when they arrived, saw to it that they are comfortably accommodated at the seminar, and their questions satisfactorily answered. To save on installation cost, Luis, one of the employees residing in Guindulman, suggested that the town’s electrician, although not licensed, hence not officially listed as authorized installer, be contacted for the job. To the consternation of Manoling, another employee from town, who insisted that the job be done “by the books” only to be admonished by the former whose functions at BOHECO rank higher that it would be alright because of the special relationship of the lion with Mr. Eugene Tan.

On going home though, the group wondered where to get the needed funds for installation as it was only Pilo who had. At home, the lion tamer asked his aging pet who could only mumble the following reply:

“We have already poked our fingers on this project, I guess there’s no use turning back. We’ll just have to fund it with our own and hope they can repay us back. Later, that is.”

The next day, November 6, was the lion tamer’s birthday. The lion contacted the Loloy, the town’s electrician and requested him to prepare the bill of materials for the four houses so that the estimated outlay may be determined. He was also asked whether he would accept the standard P350 installation job per house for half the price The task, after all, was the lion’s gift to the light of his life (the lion uses this phraseology to describe his tamer once a year), a gift not her own to physically savor but for the four fishermen and their respective families who have now become part of their lives. The electrician said yes.

`The electrician made the estimate, and whoooh!, the total cost amounted to P9, 166 with P3,957 to be paid in advance before electrical connections get underway. Fortunately, Pilo can defray his share, so that the lion had to shell out only P3,100 right away!

Monday came and the lion tamer posed another problem to her pet that almost stunned him. She said, “it appears we still have to shoulder the P1,050 cost of the electric meter”. The lion barked back: “I hope not because if it we do, then the project will be bound for the waste basket because P4,200 is an amount we can no longer spare!” Glad a quick check with Eugene Tan over his cell phone confirmed that the electric meter will be installed for free.

The next day, the lion returned to Jagna and after paying the P3100, followed up the status of the electric posts that had to be erected. Mr. Tan promptly ordered his crew to proceed posthaste to Guindulman and installed the two galvanized steel electric posts of about 30 feet in height and the attendant wires attached where the live electric current are to pass through and provide electricity to the neighborhood. To the awe and wonder of the residents and even to the lion for a job done faster than the wink of an eye. But the connection inside the houses will take a week or two to be done as the needed materials are still to be ordered by BOHECO I from Tubigon town which is about 50 kilometers from Tagbilaran or 125 kilometers via Ubay town and delivered to the intended users.

Then, Monday again. But it is the Muslim Ramadan and therefore there is no work in the offices in the entire archipelago. The next day, the lion phoned BOHECO but was informed by the secretary that Eugene was in Cebu en-route to Manila where he will be there for a week. The lion therefore requested her to follow-up the progress of the work and was informed that purchase of the materials will be on November 25 yet. So he instructed the lion tamer to send the following text message to Eugene:

“Will appreciate if you can hasten purchase of materials and installation of electricity on four houses. UR Sec said purchase is on Nov 25 yet” and received a text reply that he will text his staff accordingly.

Then November 22, another Monday, came. The lion asked his tamer to call Eugene Tan and follow up the status of the materials and was informed that it will be ready by November 24. But the materials had to be picked up from Jagna, he said.

. The lion overheard the conversation and immediately barked back that he will pick it up himself. Whereupon Eugene retorted that he will just send someone to deliver the items rather than for the lion to pick it up and two days later the requisitioned items were promptly delivered.

The next day, Thursday, Loloy, the town’s electrician, took over. Methodically, he installed the materials starting from Pilo’s house which was at the farthest end, and then to Jimbo’s then to Eben’s and finally to Andoy’s completing the inside wiring on Saturday. As he was not licensed, he approached a friend who will sign the papers needed for the permit and unexpectedly asked for money which more than ate up the discount that was previously agreed upon. The lion tamer was naturally furious because his basis for asking for more was because he learned that a neighbor paid another electrician P500 for the installation, and thus felt that he was unduly shortchanged in the deal, BOHECO’s standard rate notwithstanding. The lion tamer was finally able to impress upon him that she will just spend an additional P200 for the needed signature of his licensed electrician friend.

Then, another Monday came. But the needed permit could not be worked out as GMA advanced the observation of the National Heroes Day from Tuesday to Monday, which made the lion silently muse: “one of these days, GMA will just transfer the religious observation of Holy Friday to a Sunday. Ha, ha, hah”

Then Tuesday. To her consternation the electrical permit that will earn for the government only P55 per house will instead cost P550 with ninety percent going to the pockets of these municipal shenanigans. Professional and other processing fees not subject to the issuance of receipts, they said. That, the lion mused, is graft and corruption at the grassroots. No wonder this country can never not move forward.

Delegating the task of doing the actual follow-up to the lion tamer but giving her definite instructions on how to solve the dilemma, she worked her way out of solving the municipal red tape and managed to spend only P150 per house for it without actual inspection being made. The experience that she gained by interacting with the town’s officials through her various charitable projects paid off as most of the municipal officials are also active in church affairs. But the lion wonders, will these petty graft experts ever change?

The next day, December 1, she personally went to Jagna and presented the papers. Upon being told that a P100 connection fee still had to be paid, she requested the Finance Manager, Mrs. Daisy Cadavez whether the said fee can be added to the loan else we again will have to foot the additional bill, and fortunately, the lady said yes. The paperwork done, Mrs. Cadavez personally saw to it that final inspection be done the same day and since the staff assigned for inspections are already out, ordered the Materials Manager, the one who personally brought the materials to the site a week before and instructed him to do the job without delay. The lion tamer therefore went home towing along the BOHECO employee for the needed inspection who forthwith declared the wiring fit for the final connection and next day, December 2, BOHECO’s linemen arrived and finally lit the place. To the jubilation of the children and the four poor appreciative fishermen.

But the lion wonders. Surely its aftereffect will entail a repeat of the Christmas gathering that she organized last year (copy of the article is reprinted below). But with the meager funds of the lion now approaching rock-bottom, can a well-meaning brother from out there sponsor at least a part of the financial outlay required for the stipend of the officiating priest, the raffle prizes, the decorations and the special food baskets for the noche buena of the four fishermen and their families which last year amounted to about P5,000 or roughly a hundred US dollars ?!

And the aging lion leisurely rests its now-weak and limping paws!!

POSTRCRIPT

If you think the lion works with determination and dispatch, read what the lion tamer did on her own.

Last November 10, when Alice, the wife of Pilo gave her P1,000 as their share in the down payment of the electrical connections, she also added P2,000 with the specific request that the lion tamer put it aside for safekeeping as the said money was intended for the water connections further explaining that the money might just be spent unwisely. Whereupon the lion tamer asked if they are really desirous to have the water facilities installed, and received a nod for a reply.

The next day, the lion tamer approached her godmother who has a strong say at the water utilities firm and convinced the latter to have the connections installed immediately under her personal guaranty. Needless to say, it was done in a matter of only three days as all the paperwork and the attendant connections were completed on November 12 at a cost of P3,400.

Good the proceeds on the sale of the pig fully absorbed both costs, otherwise the lion most likely would have shouldered the deficiency. And the water connections of the three other houses, she opted to remain silent else it would have created a financial crisis to the lion that is worse than what President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo did to the entire country!

2005-01-19T01:50:00.001-08:00

ENCORE ON HARELIP REPAIR ASSISTANCE

Except for their relevance as human interest items, articles on harelip operation may now be considered drab considering the previous articles that were already written on this topic and posted on the Web. But the missus is now on her way again to Tagbilaran City leaving the aging lion alone in his den. With her are two harelips, a two-year-old boy named Ryu Simbajon and an eleven-year-old girl named Vicenta Jandayan, en-route to the city for their scheduled operation at the Ramiro Community Hospital. That counts them the sixth and the seventh harelips that the missus has personally assisted in this unique charitable project that she has voluntarily embarked upon in this definitely provincial and rural island where the famous blood compact of a Spanish conquistador and a native Boholano once transpired..

Of course, just mentioning statistics would turn irrelevant, because what difference will it make if the count reaches to an even thousand?! After all, with the many harelips being bruited about and after considerable lapse of time, the sponsor and Dr. Ronald Ramiro must have already exceeded this magic number. But consider these.

Ryu Simbajon’s father was also a harelip who was previously operated on, upon sponsorship of the same charitable organization, the Christian Service International, some eleven years or so ago. Still a young lad of about thirteen at that time, he could only remember the group of Americans that visited their barangay at the neighboring town of Candijay who offered his parents free harelip repair which they gladly and gratefully accepted. But that was way back in 1992, and when his son was born a harelip two years ago, he could only sigh and recall what the doctors said to him that this inborn defect, like diabetes, is hereditary. And what a distasteful and unwelcome genetic trait could a poor and unlucky offspring unexpectedly receive from his not-too-indulgent ascendants!

Vicenta Jandayan, like Ryu’s father, was also operated on some ten years or so ago, but has no way to remember how it was done as she was but nine months old at that time. Her mother managed to keep the post-operation instructions that were given by the doctor and from there we learned that it was the same Christian Service International that sponsored the harelip repair. To top it all, it was also the same Dr. Ronald Ramiro (a Senior DeMolay of the Leon Kilat Chapter in Dumaguete City) who conducted the operation, then but a budding professional who decided to embrace harelip surgery as one of his expertise in the field of medical surgery.

How Vicenta learned that the missus offers help to the needy harelips is in itself another story. Let me tell you about it.

The day after the missus returned home from Tagbilaran City after the successful operations on Ronald Casil and Roberto Hinampas, Jr. last August 14, three grade 5 pupils who are our neighbors approached her and asked if she could also help their classmate, a girl who also suffers from the same inborn defect. They explained that she was already previously operated upon but her manner of speaking is still defective. The best that the missus could say, therefore, was to advise them that the girl should come to our house so that she can evaluate for herself if indeed, help could be extended to the proposed patient.

The next day, Vicenta arrived and in a confident but slurred twang of her voice appealed for help. Apparently an honor pupil in her class, she could not top it because of her noticeable speech defect. If only something could be done to correct the way the sound that comes out of her dainty lips. And as she was making her poignant appeal, the missus patiently listened. Her mother, who was interviewed later, would narrate that despite her defective speech, she would boldly volunteer during class recitations, only, she would likewise often receive the scornful boos of impolite classmates who resented her innate talents.

And so when the date of the post check-up operation of Ronald Casil and Roberto Hinampas, Jr. came a week later, the missus immediately and promptly got the needed referral slip from Darin Goertzen and also consulted Dr. Donald Ramiro on the required second operation on the girl.

But the problem was not that easy to resolve, the good doctor said. Second operations are usually performed best if done within the year after the first is conducted. The lapse of ten years, while still medically feasible, will incur more than the standard medical fees and expenses because of the additional job to be done, and so the question was, would the sponsor foot the additional bill? Luckily, the missus already anticipated the problem and therefore had secured the sponsor’s acquiescence even before her shoes set foot at the hospital’s doorsteps. And the good doctor was sympathetic, Vicenta, after all, was one of his first patients. The said operation was therefore scheduled for the next week.

But it is not only the patients that deserve mention in this unique project. Darin Goertzen and Dr. Ronald Ramiro together with his medical staff undoubtedly deserve the lion’s share of the credit. There are also other kindhearted souls who made this continuing charitable deed possible. Among these are:

1.Judith, the rural nurse at neighboring Candijay town who referred Roberto, Jr. and Ryu Simbajon to us so that the required operation may be performed. We also learned she has a teenage son who embraced the spiritual world by donning the priestly habit.

2. A certain Mr. Fuentes, the school principal where Roberto, Jr. is enrolled, who took the cudgel of taking Roberto, Jr. and her mother to our residence early in the morning twice from their place at an interior barangay, so that together they can ride the van and proceed to Tagbilaran City. He also voluntarily gave the mother of Roberto, Jr. P200 pocket money.

3. The mayor of Candijay town who likewise donated P300 for Roberto’s miscellaneous expenses while at the hospital.

4. My good friend and brother VW Raffy (surname purposely omitted) who is out there in metropolitan Manila and who voluntarily sent in P2K to help alleviate the missus’ own expenses in shuttling to and from Tagbilaran City so that this project may not careen to an abrupt halt.

A village old-timer who is a cousin of the missus and who by now is acquainted with what she is doing could not help but quip: “I feel certain she will be remembered for this charitable deed. Doing something positive for those poor and young handicapped children will definitely leave an indelible imprint in the mind long after she is gone.”

2005-01-16T11:28:00.000-08:00

J. R. No. 2

A full week after the successful harelip repair was conducted on J. R. (the subject of a previous article that was posted on this page), the missus accompanied the patient and her mother to the hospital for the post-operation check-up. On board the van that took them to Tagbilaran include the town’s first lady who casually asked why she is going to the island’s only city. She matter-of-factly pointed to the young tyke who was born a harelip and now sporting a new face and whom she is accompanying for the needed check-up at the hospital.

Fe, that’s the name of the town’s first lady, mentioned that she also has a hired help who works as driver and who has a son with a congenital harelip, and that she, together with the town’s physician had already referred him to the provincial hospital for the needed harelip repair but to no avail. She therefore asked the missus if she could help. Her reply was that she will try and would she therefore be kind enough to instruct her driver to refer the couple and their child to us the next day so that they can be interviewed and the child’s condition properly checked for the needed referral?

Upon her return to our residence that afternoon she updated me on the very excellent progress of the child and also of the request of the town mayor’s first lady. True enough Rolando and Elena Boysillo, the parents of the would-be patient were at our doorsteps the next day taking along with them their seven-month old son named Roland. I mused, what a neat way of naming a child, all the father did was omit the “o”, and presto, the son has a name that is pretty much the same as his which is spelled Rolando. Better than what the word “Junior” can do!! And hey!, he and the attending physician are both named Roland!!

We then contacted Darin Goertzen of the Christian Service International who said that the needed referral will be issued soonest we meet. So on March 2nd, the day following the installation of the officers of Dagohoy Lodge No 84 which we attended, we went to his house and got what we wanted.

But the operation could not be scheduled by the attending physician. Ronald had a whooping cough and Dr. Ramiro was afraid the harelip repair could create medical complications The operation was therefore postponed two weeks with specific instructions that medical attention be secured from a competent physician at Guindulman town to insure that the ailment is healed before the operation can be done.

Two weeks elapsed but the boy’s condition did not improve and so it was postponed for another week. And another week; and still another week. Me and the missus felt agitated. Something or somebody is trying to derail our apostolic intentions, we mused. But we fully knew patience and perseverance are on our side.

Until finally, on April 10 the missus, the patient and his parents again went to Tagbilaran City for the needed medical attention and through the competent services of the Ramiro Community Hospital under the able hands of Dr. Ronald Ramiro, the harelip repair was finally performed to the now handsome young tyke.

As of this writing, the boy is now on his road to recovery and with the town’s first lady sending notice that a third harelip patient is again toeing the operating table.

And of course, me and the missus consider this apostolic deed as definitely worth our sweet and leisurely time!!

2005-01-16T11:27:00.000-08:00

HELPING MEMBERS TRACE THEIR SSS BENEFITS

Aware that idleness is the bane of retirees hence will be my waterloo when we visit our folks in the metropolis last April, I looked forward with uneasy concern my planned one-month stay there. I, of course, welcomed the prospect of attending the 2003 ANCOM whose venue was understandably transferred from Davao to Manila due mainly to the terrorist activities that suddenly became the order of the day in that southern part of the archipelago, but I reckon it will still be insufficient to keep me busy. And so, I resolved to do something to fruitfully while the time away during our planned four-week stay and thought that following up problems of retirees with the Social Security System or SSS would be a welcome respite. VW’s Joel Palacios and Sigfredo Ibay are, after all, sturdy members of Walana Lodge No 13 who can surely assist.

After determining the task that we surmised we can do, me and the missus thereafter proceeded to gather information on the persons in the locality whom we can help and decided that five deserving persons would make ideal test cases; and after due consultations with select members of the community, got their names and SSS numbers that will be the object of our planned apostolic deed. They are:

1. Sergio Rodriguez (deceased member)
2. Amador D. Amoguis
3. Filomena Riveral
4. Nemesia D. Castrodes, and
5. Hermogena N. Olaso

Immediately after the 2003 ANCOM this writer went to the SSS Media Department and looked for both VW’s Joel Palacios and Freddie Ibay. Joel, being the busy Vice President of the SSS that he is, is often out of his office but Freddie is and so I took him to task by giving him our list. He accommodated gladly and assured that help is on the way. Handing me his calling card, he advised to call three days later for the results.

Three days came and I did. But the girl at the other end of the phone said that Freddie has not reported for work the past two days as he was indisposed. Would I be kind enough to call again later?

The Monday following I again visited Freddie his den at the SSS who said that he already had preliminary results. These are:

1. The heirs of Sergio Rodriguez need to file the death claim with the SSS Tagbilaran branch. In addition to accomplishing the required form and the papers that were already attached, the birth certificate and the vouchers of burial expenses were needed.

2. Amador D. Amoguis is no longer entitled to benefits as he was already granted three partial disability benefits which is the maximum limit provided for by law as the said member did not reach the ten-year membership.

3, 4 and 5- Records show that these claims were cancelled by SSS Cebu. Since no details of explanation could be found at the main office, would I be kind enough therefore to wait another three days as Freddie will fax SSS Cebu for details? I said I will.

The three days came and I again personally visited Freddie at the office. The reply of SSS Cebu hasn’t arrived yet. And so Freddie prepared a referral slip addressed to SSS Tagbilaran requesting its branch manager to assist just in case the reply of SSS Cebu is not received. In addition, he gave me the name of Mr. Paulino Lao, Vice President for Cebu and the latter’s three telephone numbers and suggested that we call him direct.

We returned to Bohol the next week without getting the desired data. Upon arrival, the missus called Mr. Lao long distance, an arrogant SSS official and who even asked if the missus is a lawyer and that his office does not attend to third-party requests. And so, instead of meeting the problem head-on by directly calling him, I called Freddie long distance with an appeal that he personally do something about it. If possible, could Freddie request Joel to take over as it appears it may need the same muscle, that is, since both Joel and that egotistical Mr. Paulino Lao are both Vice Presidents of this elephantine institution, then probably, the latter will reply positively. He assured me he will and requested that I call again the next day.

The day following I delegated the task of calling Freddie to the missus. He gave the following information over the phone.

1. Filomina Riveral’s claim was reviewed and that the pension will be reinstated. All that is needed is for her to wait and in due time the pension check will be received.

2. The claims of Nemesia D. Castrodes and Hermogena Olaso were suspended because the applicable SSS forms that were prepared were not the proper forms. While the initial pension checks were issued to the retirees, these were subsequently suspended pending re-submission of the correct forms.

At this point Freddie then suggested that we accompany the claimants to the SSS Tagbilaran and there re-file the claims. Meanwhile, the name of Laura Berou was added to the list.

On June 3 we proceeded to Tagbilaran and directly went to the SSS. Mr. Gideon Rubillos, the branch manager, who was cooperative and referred us to Mr. Marino Talictic, in charge of complaints on pension claims. The latter immediately checked the data on his computer and confirmed that the three retirees, namely Nemesia D. Castrodes, Hermogena Olaso and Laura Berou were indeed suspended because the documents submitted appeared defective. Mr. Talictic advanced the information that there were irregularities committed sometime in the seventies where many ghost claims were perpetuated by hospitals on medicare benefits by registering unemployed persons and claiming hospitalization benefits. This, he alleged, is simply done by registering the person as a self-employed member. There were forty or so such cases who were suspended under this situation. He suggested that the needed documents be resubmitted to determine if they are indeed bona-fide members by requiring them to submit the applicable business permits and the income taxes paid during the year the person became a member.

The case of Filomina Riveral was very interesting. Records show that monthly pension checks are being sent regularly to the beneficiary. The question therefore is: “Who is receiving the pension checks?”

The death benefits of the late Sergio Rodriguez showed positive prospects. Mr. Talictic said that what is needed is simply to amend the Death Benefit Claim and on our next visit accompany the beneficiary to the office for the required interview taking along with her a postal ID and a residence certificate and presto, the claim will be processed!

We returned to our residence in Guindulman town quite excited at the turn of events but with one ironic twist of fate, the person who has been surreptitiously encashed the check intended for Filomina Riveral was a sister of the registered beneficiary!!

But of course, for this unusual exercise we have to thank both VW’s Joel Palacios and Freddie Ibay of Walana Lodge No 13!!

2005-01-16T11:26:00.000-08:00

MENDE’S WARD

The lion was snuggly seated at the cemented bench outside their backyard watching the “habagat’s” raging waves slam their fury at the seawall when he heard his tamer holler from inside the gate saying: “Maning just called, he requests you call him back at his landline phone.”

On the lion’s way back to the house, he was told Maning is asking whether his ward “Tata”, that’s the sobriquet for the name Isabelita Equipelag, can stay with them for about a month or two as she was assigned to do her “practicum” (or practice teaching) at the Guindulman Elementary School as final requisite to her graduation at the University of Bohol. The lion tamer also added that arrangements that she board at another place with sixteen other “practicumers” were already made but that Maning preferred that she stay at our den not only for cost consideration but also for her safety as well. Which made the lion chuckle; it now is clear that “cost consideration” is a phrase that all retirees must grapple with!

At the phone, VW Mende repeated his request and the two sentences that the lion could utter was” “VW Sir, your wish is my command. When will she come over?”

It turned out the transfer was not as easy as VW Maning thought it will be. The school administrator who was in charge naturally wanted that all “practicumers” were housed in just one roof as was the standard procedure in that kind of activity. But Maning was insistent and so he contacted WB David Tirol and explained to the latter his wish. His reasons were repeated and when WB David asked “And to whom will he stay?, ” VW Maning’s classic reply was: “At the residence of Bro. Jun in Guindulman!!” And thus ended the argument to finally plead his case.

Last August 9 at noontime while the lion as usual was at the backyard, “Tata” came introducing herself to the missus and promised she will return later in the afternoon with her bag and other amenities. And she did.

While at dinnertime that evening, we assured Tata that being Maning’s ward, she is definitely welcome at our house, and in between bites, told us her story.

Tata, now aged 23, is the fourth child in a family of eight children of a farmer-couple of one of the barangays of the interior town of Alicia called Katipunan, who, even at her very young age of fourteen already dreamt of becoming a schoolteacher someday.

But it was not an easy dream. As is common to rural folks, planting rice during seasons is ranked more important than being inside classrooms. Not only that!, she had to walk two kilometers each day (and back) at the adjacent town of Pilar where the high school is located. And so with the help of her schoolteacher, she started “nag-working” (a corrupted word coined for a desirous young student who is accepted as household help by generous patrons in exchange for free education) at the nearby town of Pilar and there finally completed her high school studies.

After graduation, her mother took her to the wife of one of the University’s owners at the island’s only city to enable her to pursue her dream and was promptly accepted as a working student.

But her stay in the place of her next benefactor was, to her, a little difficult to perform as the human traffic that daily goes in and out of the house was something she was not previously accustomed to. Which compelled her first benefactor to look for another patron where the girl can realize her dream without much difficulty. And that’s how she was taken in by VW Maning who has a farm in Katipunan where the parents of the girl live, and whose wife is also in the field of education, and promptly took her in their protective wings.

Tata at this time is already in the last stage of her studies and this coming October will finally earn her diploma. All these five years she has been with VW Maning, her job was to act as house caretaker during the day and when her patrons return from work in the afternoon, would attend classes at the University and there pursue her dream with vigor.

Definitely not an easy task for her and neither for her patrons who not only must provide for her school expenses but also for clothing, lodging and food. But as a philosopher once clearly echoed: “A dream, if done daily and with precision, can surely be turned to gold!”

Which makes the lion glad. He and his tamer may not be able to help much at this final push of her interesting search for her own place in the sun but knowing Tata’s dream may also prod the children of the poor fishermen at their backyard to dream of better worlds likewise.

And the lion at the sidelines roars!!

2005-01-16T11:24:00.002-08:00

ANNABELLE

Her full name is Annabelle C. Bernadas and is 2 ½ years old. Statistically, she is the seventh harelip patient that we have successfully helped through the sponsorship of the Christian Service International and the Ramiro Community Hospital and therefore no longer appear worthy of being chronicled in an article.

But her life and the circumstances surrounding her case simply cannot be ignored as a human-interest feature. Let me tell you her story as it unfolded before my very eyes from the very beginning.

Last August 31 at about nine in the morning, I was at our backyard leisurely separating the grains from the corncob when a female neighbor approached our gate asking for the missus. With her are a middle-aged woman, a twelve-year old boy and a girl with a congenital harelip. I nonchalantly replied that she is in church but will be back shortly and silently mused: “this is another job for Wonder Woman.”

Our neighbor narrated that she saw the girl at the Long Distance calling station and seeing her deformed lips asked her companion if the girl is her daughter and whether she would be interested to have her operated upon. The woman said that the girl is her granddaughter and on the second question said that she would. That was what brought them to our place.

Save for her inborn defect, Annabelle is an otherwise charming girl who was born in the metropolis last February 2001. To confound matters her mother died even before she reached her first birthday and her father, a jeepney driver, promptly got himself a live-in partner who already had two children who are older than Annabelle by a previous marital relationship. The arrangement apparently did not work out well (remember Cinderella with her stepmother and stepsisters?) and so her father brought her home to his own mother in an interior barangay in Guindulman last May in time for the annual fiesta. He left his daughter to his mother with the promise that he will return in July to take her back to the metropolis but apparently, it was a promise made to be broken.

The missus arrived from church and posed the usual questions and in fine she made the usual arrangements with the sponsor and the hospital. But it took Conchita, that’s the grandmother’s name, more than two weeks to get the needed verbal consent of his son and return to our place. Apparently, the mother also asked for financial assistance but since finance is a malady that is of worldwide affliction, instead received a reply from her son with the phrase: “Bahala na lang kayo sa apo niyo diyan!”

The operation was finally scheduled on September 18 but because of technical difficulties was only consummated the next day. Upon reaching home that night, the missus narrated that Conchita is an unlettered woman who could neither read nor write and therefore could not sign the required waiver for the medical operation such that she was even compelled to sign it herself. She also later called Conchita over the phone and instructed her to pass by our residence before returning home to their place so that additional instruction may be given her.

They did pass by our house the next day but there we learned that they checked out of the hospital without the needed clearance (AWOL, that’s the term for it) and therefore was not able to take with them the medicines needed to heal the wound. The missus was naturally upset because of the additional expenses involved but I cautioned her to be more tolerant as the grandmother is obviously ignorant of many things outside of her own world in her barangay. Calling the hospital, the missus learned that Dr. Ramiro is not available as he just left for Cebu City and that the required medicines are still in the hospital. Regretfully, I bought the medicines at the local pharmacy that the wound may heal. The hospital staff likewise confirmed .that the post check-up operation is scheduled a week later.

It’s now September 26 as this article is being written and the missus is again bound for Tagbilaran City on board her favorite van with Conchita and Annabelle all in a happy mood. The little girl, after all, no longer shows that ugly facial look and the Divine Architect willing, may even someday find her own Prince Charming in this rustic island that the aging lion and his tamer have made their permanent habitat!

2005-01-16T11:22:00.001-08:00

A CRUEL JOKE’S BRIGHTER SIDE

This article would not have landed in this Website’s infinite pages were it not for a humorous-sounding cruel joke that was sent by a brother through the Web in the vernacular (and translated by this writer in English) as shown below:

THE JOKE

Minsan, umuwi ng maaga si Mister para sorpresahin ang kaniyang kabiyak. Dahan dahan siyang pumasok sa kanilang bahay at hinanap ang kaniyang Misis. Nakita niya itong abala sa pagluluto at di namalayan
na siya ay dumating. (Once, a mister went home early to surprise his beloved. He slowly entered the house and looked for his wife. He saw her busy cooking and did not see him coming.)

Maingat siyang lumapit sabay takip sa mga mata ni Misis sabay sabing "NGES HU!!!!!" (He carefully neared her and simultaneously covered her eyes with his palms saying “NGES HU!!!)

Sabi naman ni Misis, " Lintek, nges- hu-nges- hu ka
pa diyan ikaw lang naman ang ngongo dito!!!!! (And the missus said “Heck, NGES-HU-NGES-HU- there you go again; when you are the only harelip in this house!!)

THE ARTICLE

Lyndon Amparo is a two-year-old boy in our hometown who sports a congenital harelip. His father is a co-worker of Rolando Boysillo whose son, like that of Primo Seroje, was operated on of his inborn defect last April at the Ramiro Community Hospital. Lyndon will then be the third harelip that me and the missus will help as an apostolic work in this rustic and bucolic place called Guindulman town.

We were already apprised of Lyndon’s condition by the town’s first lady before the operation on Boysillo’s son was conducted and therefore were already expecting his parents to come to us for the needed procedural requirements to undergo before the operation could be done. That time, we reckon it would be like shooting two birds with only one stone if the two boys can be taken to the hospital in just one trip. But Lyndon’s parents did not come.

By end of June, Evelyn Amparo, the mother, and with her son in her arms, finally went to our residence asking if we can also help her son. We said we will try. During the conversation, we asked her why they did not approach us sooner considering that they and Rolando Boysillo knew each other. She replied that they wanted first to know if the operation on Boysillo’s son will be successful. Asking them if they saw Boysillo’s son after the operation and if they were satisfied, the mother just nodded. I thought, of course, she is entitled to that!! Finally seeing her son handsome (although the mother shows a slight facial defect, she is obviously good looking) I consider her attitude a natural reaction since traveling to Tagbilaran City would indeed be a hassle if her son’s condition will not improve after the operation as she expects.

And so we contacted Darin Goertzen of the Christian Service International for the needed referral slip and who, in turn, enthusiastically gave the go-signal. Next, the missus called Ramiro Community Hospital so that the operation may be scheduled and was told that the doctor’s calendar of activities show that the job can be done the following week.

The day for the trip to Tagbilaran City came. We eagerly waited at the gate at five in the morning for the couple and the child. Four adults and a young boy arrived on a motorcycle an hour later. The driver who was hired for the trip, the father, a teenage boy who we later learned was the father’s younger brother, and the boy’s grandmother.

Seeing that the mother was not around, the missus asked for her. The grandmother first retorted that she is at home with fever. Pressed on for a more definite answer, she changed her statement and replied that she is at home caring for their second child. The missus then asked if she, the grandmother, will join them and was surprised to hear that her reply was in the negative. The task of caring for the needs of the child while at the hospital will be done by the father and his teenage brother, she said.

While waiting for the van to arrive, the grandmother talked to the missus and while it was not in an outright commanding tone, said that the boy needs special attention, as if insinuating that it will be better if the missus can also pinch in to see that the boy is attended to personally while at the hospital room.

The missus looked at me with discouraging, albeit perplexed gaze. She could not understand why no female relative decided to attend to the needs of the child while at the hospital. And so I patted her back saying: “Go with a smile on your lips, the more that young boy needs your helping hand!!

By one thirty that afternoon, I called the missus via her cellphone and asked if the operation was performed but was told that the harelip repair could not be done. While the boy was admitted to the hospital and dextrose attached to the boy’s arm, on close examination, he was found to have fever and so the doctor decided to postpone the operation for a later time. To the consternation of both the boy’s father and my wife! The doctor and the rest of the medical staff of course assured them that the operation will be done the next time they come around.

At hearing this, the face of the boy’s father brightened. He realized his eldest child’s inborn defect will finally be made a thing of the recent past, meaning that at some future time the phrase “NGES, HU, NGES HU will no longer be heard nor read like the cruel joke written above.

But will the boy’s mother or his grandmother troop to the hospital when the fateful day of the operation finally comes around?!

2005-01-16T11:22:00.000-08:00

UNTO THE EMERGENCY ROOM

It was already late in the afternoon of July 31 when the missus arrived from Tagbilaran City fully exhausted and obviously disappointed. Earlier in the day, she called via her cellphone that the harelip repair of the third patient could not be performed as the boy still had fever. The doctor therefore again postponed the operation for another date.

Upon arrival at our residence, she could not help but express her apprehensions. She is afraid the parents of the child might decide to withdraw from the planned operation. With two postponements already experienced, it is highly possible they might resolve not to pursue it any further thinking that the “Ginoo” (or Lord) does not want the inborn features of their son changed. And what could we do if this defeatist attitude get into their skulls’ membrane?! This possibility may sound queer, but in this rustic and bucolic place where superstition and age-old habits are still devoutly practiced, one can never tell what the rural folks will think of next.

After dinner, we both hied off to our backyard to enjoy the early evening sea breeze and evaluate our dwindling finances. With harvest still three months away, we reckon it’s time to methodically prune our expenses. Medicine is still top priority, our various projects must also continue, food shall be selected with the end view of purchasing the less expensive ones, while the planned visit to Cebu must be postponed for another date, otherwise, we may end up victims of loan-sharks who, like in almost all places, charge usurious interests. Five six??

At this juncture, Liza our neighbor, approached us and narrated that her family had a problem that is already unmanageable for them to solve. She said that her eldest son, Lotlot, who lives with her parents some fifty meters away from their house, was suffering from acute stomach pain and was vomiting the past three days. Her father already took him to a rural doctor who prescribed the medicine but that the boy’s condition did not improve. With their meager savings already fully spent and with nowhere to turn to, they decided to come to us for help.

Before I ever had a chance to open my mouth, the missus opened hers and decided to literally take the bull squarely by the horns, I silently mused: “It’s time for Supergirl”. But at age fifty-four, “Supergirl”? Ho, ho, ho!! But wait! She can ably fill the shoes of Wonder Woman; for after all, she often works wonders, and is undoubtedly wonderful!! But what happens to our fast-dwindling finances?? Heck, Someone up there will just have to attend to this later!

After getting all the information that she needed, she immediately rattled her instructions to Liza and thereafter went home to change clothes. Together with the patient, the mother and the grandfather, they rode a tricycle and took the boy straight to the hospital. They also decided to take Liza’s other two siblings along, Her husband, Jimbo, was busy with his occupation as fisherman and is still afloat somewhere in the fringes of Mindanao’s turbulent ocean.

The hospital administrator, apparently with the reported deaths of the quadruplets in metropolitan Manila caused by hospital indifference that was all over the radio still fresh on her mind, and also with the persuasive tongue of the missus assisting, decided to accept the patient without the required deposit. But only after the missus signed the prescribed form as guarantor should the parents be unable to foot the hospital bill.

The next day, the missus and the patient’s mother visited the patient at the hospital and noted that the flow of the dextrose at the boy’s arm was n

2005-01-16T11:19:00.000-08:00

DEATH IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

The lion has just returned from his Sunday morning chore of going to market for their weekly food provisions when on his way home he passed by the shanties of the fishermen at their backyard and there Liza, Jimbo;s wife said: “Nong Jun, patay na ang imong amigong si Cesar Pogi” (Bro. Jun, your friend Cesar Pogi, is dead.)

And so the lion retorted: “Ngano man?” (Why?) And she said: “Ambot sa’!” (I don’t know. ) “Pero namatay siya, kanginang mga alas tres sa buntag ra! (But he died only about three this morning.) she added.

So without additional word the lion entered their backyard and upon entering the house immediately reported the sad news to the lion tamer.

Just who is Cesar Pogi??

Cesar is a one-year old son of a septuagenarian neighbor who was born in November of last year whom the lion befriended and later he playfully nicknamed “Pogi”. The second son by a second marriage to a woman half his age, it is said that Cesar’s mother who was still in her early twenties when the ailing first wife was still alive some twelve years ago, the latter allegedly expressly wished that his husband marry the young girl once she pass out to the next world.

Whether this is true or not, one could no longer tell, but he did, and so, aside from his six grown-up children by his first wife and who have since lived apart from their father, the father later added another set of children composed of two boys, one now ten years old named Mark, and the other he named Cesar, who would oftentimes execute the “high five” or hold the lion’s hand to place it on his forehead for blessing, a custom widely known to the rural folks. At times the lion would take Cesar from his mother and playfully baby-talk with him to the child’s utmost delight.

The father is a “retired fisherman” whose family now subsists on the generosity of his adult children. His electric bills are paid for by a daughter who works for the local electric company and even the “pampers” of Cesar, a luxury item in this rustic place, is provided for by an elder brother. Another brother, now abroad, would also periodically send in remittance to his father to support their needs. But since these dole-outs are not regularly sent and are neither substantial, their daily subsistence cannot be considered luxurious and in all respects, may be considered as strictly on a hand-to-mouth basis.

And so it was that when the lion broke out the sad news to the lion tamer, it came to her as a total shock. Which made her remark: “How can we help?”, and got from the lion this reply: “Well, you can first visit them and see what you can do! For a start, bring a little money to enable the mother at least to buy coffee.” You may also decide to send five kilos of rice that relatives from distant places may have something to eat upon their arrival.

So the missus barked back: “Will two hundred bucks do?” “Well, the lion said: “For start, I guess that will do. But play it by ear. They may need more than that later.” Which she did.

An hour later she was back and said that the septuagenarian father, after receiving the P200, went out of the house but when he returned had with him a 4”x 8” plywood instead of coffee and sugar. Promptly, he took out his carpentry tools and proceeded to make a coffin the size where his youngest son would fit. Also, he matter-of-factly said that instead of holding a wake for several days, he and his wife decided it will be best that their child be buried the same afternoon. There is no need to stretch the agony any longer.

Upon arrival from the cemetery later in the afternoon, the mother said that the evening prayers will be held, but only for one night. And so the missus instructed his favorite twelve-year-old neighbor to ask for voluntary contributions so that at least, there will be something to partake after the novena that will be held later. Wherefore the boy promptly returned with fifty pesos in his hand.

So the lion said, “double the amount. I think, a hundred peso worth of pan de sal will suffice.” Much as we would want to give more, under these exigencies and considering the number of attendees during the evening prayer that would already be enough.

And so it was that one young soul exited from this to the other world without even a whimper. Quite handsome even with his frail but angelic face, he did not have a chance to show his wares and prove his worth in this unpredictable and cruel world. But then perhaps, it was for the better, facing extreme poverty, he probably deserves to be reincarnated to another time and place and there enjoy a more challenging and fruitful life instead on this that is extremely and totally in want.

J. R.

2005-01-15T17:45:00.000-08:00

By: Bro. Geminiano V. Galarosa, Jr.
Dagohoy Lodge No 84
(HM- LL 185, JS 169 and RP 147)

His son was born a harelip, but this fact was not the start of the story.

Sometime last November, the jack of all trades that the missus hired to fix the leaking roof of our house reported for work obviously in tears. We knew that his wife was already about to deliver their third baby and therefore silently wondered whatever happened to her or the still-unborn child.

Upon prodding by the missus, “Yuki”, that was the sobriquet that I gave him in replacement to “Yukyuk,” the peculiar-sounding nickname that he is otherwise called, admitted that his wife Paz, has just delivered their third baby but that to his consternation was born a harelip. His enthusiasm at having a third sibling who was born with an abnormality suddenly caved in, for he could not help but wonder out aloud at his misfortunes. Himself a son born out of wedlock and marrying a girl who also had a child before he married her, he naturally felt that his Maker was being unfair to him.

The missus tried to console him and realizing that she was not effective, cajoled me to pitch in and help. True enough, his feelings were at its lowest ebb. Obviously a handsome and fine young man, he barely completed elementary education, is now aged thirty, is rumored that he has at one time indulged in drugs, but through it all has bravely weathered life’s misfortunes believing that he can still overturn life’s troubles for the good. In addition to carpentry, he can also do masonry, install tiles both at the kitchen and bathroom, paint the walls and do various odd jobs at remodeling our residence that made him the indispensable jack of all trades of the ruler of the house. And I learned he is also a good cook hired during fiestas during the month of May which is a common sight in this rustic and bucolic island!

But this recent misfortune to him was incomprehensible. His two other children, a boy and a girl now aged seven and five, respectively, at the start would not even approach their brother and would call him “bungi”, the local translation for the word harelip.

I felt it was indeed now a job for tact and effective counseling. Patiently telling him that having a physical defect does not necessarily mean the end of the world for him and his family, I cited as example former Senator Ernesto “Boy” Herrera, a native Boholano also was born with a handicap who rose to become senator; and sensing that he was becoming receptive, also mentioned the internationally acclaimed “Max” Soliven, the publisher of Philippine Star, a widely circulated newspaper in the land. His face somehow brightened when I finally assured him that he should not worry so much for we will do our utmost to have his harelip son operated on to help minimize, if not completely cure his son’s inborn abnormality.

During our visit to the metropolis last Christmas, one of our more important tasks was to contact Sis. Perla Evasco of the Manila Bodies at the Scottish Rite Temple for help. She assured us not to worry as solution to the problem can be arranged at St. Martin the Porres Hospital upon our endorsement. All that was needed was a bio-data of the family and pictures of the would-be patient to support the medical request.

Upon our return to our hometown last January we learned that a similar operation can also be done at the Ramiro Community Hospital at Tagbilaran City upon sponsorship of Christian Service International, a charitable religious organization, and thus assured Yuki that help for his son is now on the way. We were told that Dr.Ronald Ramiro, son of the hospital’s owners, close kin of VW Rosauro “Boy” Rosales of New Jersey and husband of Dr. Jane Ramiro, the missus’ physician, will personally perform the operation. Yuki can only nod silently. We opted for this alternative as having the child operated on at the big city will entail so much expenses and hassle as transportation and lodging costs will definitely be prohibitive which the poor parents and ourselves can shoulder.

On February 9, or a day after this writer attended the stated meeting of Dagohoy Lodge No. 84, me and the missus finally talked to Steve Yoder of the said religious organization who prepared the required form for sponsorship. We also talked to Darin Goertzen over the phone and thus were able to finalize the needed support. Until finally, last February 18, the missus accompanied the patient and his mother to Tagbilaran City and there Dr. Ramiro performed the first of the two-phase harelip-repair at the Ramiro Community Hospital leaving the aging lion behind at Guidulman town.

The lion could only muse silently: “that young lad may not turn out as handsome as his father but should be near similar as the medical doctors can possibly do their level best in service to humanity!”

Classics

2005-01-15T06:51:00.000-08:00

Classics

Masonic Essays

2005-01-15T06:49:00.000-08:00

Masonic Essays

Morsels & Tidbits

2005-01-15T06:47:00.000-08:00

Morsels & Tidbits