Tacloban City Fiesta

     Last day of June is the fiesta of the city of Tacloban, the city where I lived and finished my secondary and college education. This year, I had at least three invitations but I managed to visit just one of them, my high school classmate, Dennis. I chose it because I get to meet some of my other classmates.

My close high school pals

      Fiesta is an age-old custom influenced by the Spaniards, having colonized the Philippines for more than 300 years. Fiestas celebrate the birthday of the patron saint of a place being predominantly Catholic. Every place has a patron saint and the residents would prepare foods to serve to their visitors from other places.

     It was fun joining in the celebration which I used to do before I became an OFW in Malaysia and Singapore, two countries of different culture, being Muslim and Buddhist predominantly.

High School Reunion After 40 Years

     We had our high school reunion recently after 40 years graduation from high school. I would say the celebration was so tamed compared to previous reunions. For one, it was only half a day event while it used to be a two or three-day affair. We had a mass at Sto. Niño Church, followed by motorcade through the city's main streets towards the People's Center where we had some party games and dinner until late night.

Only 8 of us from our class were present (1 not in the pic)

     The attendance from our class was abysmal, 8 of 40. That is a disappointing figure. I leave it to them to encourage attendance in the future. This time, I am not capacitated to lead as in previous years. 

     The attendance was so low prompting one classmate, Dr. Elmer, to plan for June 20, 2026 class reunion, allowing ample time to so many who are far away. There are so far 15 confirmees for that event. I've sent messages to remind but it remains unheeded. I'm not going to do it again. I will leave it to Dr. Elmer because I want to focus on my health.

15 has confirmed to date

Our IV-Einstein 1985 class photo

Rest in Peace, Pope Francis!

     Pope Francis, the ultimate head of the global Catholic Church passed away yesterday. I pray for his eternal repose and that a new Pope as good as him gets elected by the conclave.

Pope Francis in 2017 in Tacloban City

     I've seen him in person when he came to visit Tacloban City  after typhoon Haiyan which devastated Leyte not only by its strong winds but also with the unprecedented tsunami that killed thousands of people in my province of Leyte. He came to Leyte a year and a half later but it remained a sympathetic gesture that felt like being embraced by someone holy. I purposely came back to Leyte to fulfill a once in a lifetime experience to get a glimpse of the Pope.

     I will never forget that experience sort of a pilgrimage. I took leave from my busy work schedule and came back to Leyte to witness the event. As early as three in the morning, we had to be at the makeshift quadrants near the airport. I was part of the huge crowd waiting for the Pope who arrived as early as seven in the morning, as the sun was coming out.

     Before he began his holy mass, he made a tour around the crowd in his Pope mobile. There was a lot of excitement all around me. When his mobile car passed me by, I was mesmerized, and was not even able to capture a shot. That's how awesome the feeling that I couldn't explain.

     Then he delivered the mass in the makeshift stage. I couldn't concentrate on his mass because that time, I felt like I was under some spell, I don't know if it was because of hunger since we had no breakfast. I saw white light emanating from the sky that reaches the stage where the Pope was, some kind of scene in a fiction movie. I couldn't hear anything but peace and quiet and the white light and the seemingly white all around me. It was a fleeting scene that I would never forget.

Alangalang Market Day

     Tuesday is one of the market days of Alangalang town, the other day is Friday.  Sometimes I go to this market to buy fresh vegetables and the likes, it's definitely cheaper and fresh. Yesterday, I went to buy some vegetables.

This is the makeshift market while construction of the town's market is being finished

The Sad Tale of Ayuda

     Before the campaign period, DSWD and Tingog were using government resources in the guise of ayuda. The Romualdezes and Imee used DSWD programs to fool the poor masses in the countryside.

     In my poor village, for the last two years, there has been a lot of cash payout, 3k often, 5k in last week's payout for teachers (only in District 1 as its Congressman is Martin Romualdez). My brother, who is a teacher in District 2, didn't get any. Before last week's payout for teachers, it was all for the common tao.

     My village is led by-not-so corrupt Brgy. Captain(my niece) I would say. So what the Brgy. Captain did is to assign different people every payout so everybody in the village gets to share, so everybody is happy. Her scheme is to include beneficiaries from different house-hold every payout.

     One time last year I guess, our Brgy Captain told me she'll include me to be a beneficiary of AICS( I think it was this as there are so many payout acronyms). Then I searched what it is all about, I found out it is an existing program of DSWD especially for ex-OFW who have economic woes. So I did not object to what the Brgy. Captain offered. When I got included, almost all others in the village had theirs in past payments. 

     I went to get my benefit, thinking it was for ex-OFW, only to find out that they weren't ex-OFWs. They were common people who probably are close to their Brgy. Captains.

     Before the payout, an opening remark was given by Tingog which got me wondering. And the opening remark said that Tingog is giving them cash aid, who do the same, and the poor people applauded. I was dumbfounded, I didn't know this was a political payout. Luckily, I am a PWD with ID, I can jump the queue and get my share ahead of everyone else. I left as soon as I got my cash and bag of rice, helpless and all. To top it all, Tingog was the one talking and organizing the crowd, but when receiving the payout, it was DSWD staff who was responsible, a classic example of what are we in power for. It's so sad to know how they manipulate government resources to preserve their control over the poor masses.

Summer Is Coming

     Summer is coming as many have been wishing since a week before Christmas of last year as it has been raining since then. The sun is out and hopefully this is the onset of dry days to come.

Lovely day!

     With summer, it's the school break and village fiestas are happening in the month of May. I am not kidding if I say you need not cook, and watch out for the fiesta of the villages nearby to get free food. There are some in April and June, but mostly the whole month of May is fiesta laden.

     Hopefully this is the beginning of no more rain as it has been wet and the paths are muddy, and pools of water are everywhere. 

The Weather Is Fine Now

     The weather hopefully has turned to the dry hot albeit humid from the wet rainy since days before Christmas of last year. The beautiful morning skyline augurs of the nice day, second day in a row of without the rain. I saw the parched pathways as I did my early morning walk today

What a lovely day!

     It's going to be hot but it's better than the wet days we've had for over a month. It's sunny but the breeze is cold. It only gets worse around noon when the sun's heat is extreme. Hopefully, this is the beginning of our summer days.