By the Jal-o River

Paskwa sa Banwa. It's Christmas time in Balete. And every morning starting last Monday, people wake up early for the Dawn Mass at the parish church. It is a panaad , a personal devotion and a pledge to fulfill with the hope of getting something in return come Christmas Day when such sacrifice finds its culmination. It has been ingrained in us. Gifts to receive on Christmas Day or during its long season. We expect to at least receive one from our one of our elusive godparents. This expectation is extended to our doing the Misa de Gallo and the Aguinaldo Mass. It is us and our loved ones that should receive Christmas presents. We often forget that Christmas Day is the birthday of our Lord, or at least, the day we commemorate his "pitching his tent to dwell among us". We often appropriate to ourselves the attention that is rightfully of the Lord laying on the manger. It is us that should receive comfort this Christmas while Jesus remains languishing in cold and dir

Grupo Oeonungan is the political organization that has been ruling the Municipality of Balete since 1998. It has consistently won every political battle from its inception up to the present.  It is composed of all the incumbent municipal officials, all the punong barangays, SK Chairpersons and 98% of all elected barangay kagawads in the entire constituency of the municipality. On Sunday, December 16, 2012, the group is supposed to having its Christmas party together with its supporters and allies. It had planned out all the details about the event as early as November in anticipation of a heavy turnout. In an emergency meeting, the Mayor informed the rest that the core group has suggested and agreed to forego with the party and instead donate its budget to the victims of Typhoon Pablo through the Sagip Kapamilya of the ABS-CBN Foundation, Inc.   This notable gesture on the part of the group attracted the attention of the municipal employees who have been preparing for their 

My life as a ghostwriter keep me grounded on my cubicle for more than eight hours a day for the entire weekdays. In that chamber, only my mind and the fingers do the hard work and yet unable to push out the stale water out of my tired body. Precisely that on weekend, I see to it that I am geared up for the orchard to commune with nature, to rest my weary mind and to stretch out my physique in the hope of regaining its youthfulness. Wishful thinking, that is. Even then, now that my body is perspiring, my creativity is awakened by the visions I was framing along my path into the woods:  As I wandered into the woods, a song played in my mind, "Let thy love play upon my voice and rest on my silence." ( R. Tagore ) The voice seems to say, "Be still and know that I am God." ( Ps. 46:10 ) Then, it seems that it is morning again in my life... My eyes are opened and beheld the wonders He has made. So I went on, following an old trail trodden by ven

(Herewith is m y talk delivered during the opening ceremonies of " ENCHANTING: Idto sa amon sa Balete Photo Exhibit at the Museo it Akean " on October 13, 2012 in Kalibo, Aklan. The photo exhibit lasts until October 29, 2012 )  I go out of my comfort zone today to answer the question, “ Why EnchantingBalete ”? I am sorry to disappoint those who assume that it is a brand name. Enchanting Balete is not a brand name like Canon, Yashica or Nikon. We would like to give emphasis on this as we categorically parry off the observation of UNESCO Regional Advisor for Culture in Asia and Pacific, Mr. Richard Englehardt, of the realities of turning heritage sites into mere object of entertainment and commercialism. Neither we venture into falsifying authenticity for the sake of tourism, however you may call it today. To us, Enchanting Balete is more like the photographer and his handy camera. It is a paradigm through which we see things. It is much like Mr. Roy Escalon

You sat in front of me. But no words were uttered that are directed to each other. There were secret glances thrown, some tacit prayer murmured silently by fettered hearts that refuse respite.  I noticed your sad eyes and the pretty face you wore today. It is strange that such a beauty has such eyes that prefer the distant scene of empty spaces. Do they see the reddening sky as the sun kissed the horizon when others were seeing the juxtaposing neon lights along the stretch of Taft Avenue? A Donovan cut was playing softly in some unseen stereo. The commuters looked bored and tired and understand not a word. You seem to flow with it rather than riding this slow-moving carriage. The traffic was heavy today, just as it has been in Tita Cory's time and yet you have soared into the wishes of Brother Sun and Sister Moon . Was this a lovely day?, your mind asked your heart. Was this day filled with meaning to justify your resolve of seeing tomorrow's rays? Your brows curved and t

               The Municipality of Balete has been in the national limelight for the past two years when it was chosen as one of the 15 municipalities from all over the country to have been conferred with the Seal of Good Housekeeping Awards by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). The awards were won due to the fact that Balete espoused the values of good governance, transparency and accountability—values that the Seal of Good Housekeeping program are promoting for all government agencies to espouse. Prior to that however, is that the LGU has been a consistent regional contender in the EXCELL Award, short for the Search for Excellence in Local Governance. In one occasion, a team of evaluators for such program came over to validate the local data. They arrived, all in black t-shirts. The leader was honest enough to explain the reason why. He intimated that since they were visiting the town of Balete on a Friday the 13 th at that, they decided to all wea

( A similar entry has been also published as a note in SaintRaphael the Archangel Parish Facebook Account )  Nagapangutana ka, “Ham-an gid a nga si San Rafael Arkangel do patron it Balete?” “Ham-an gid a nga sa bug-os nga Dioceses it Kalibo o Provincia it Akean, ro Balete eat’a ro may patron nga Arkangel?” Iya sa Amon (Sinipi halin sa Apdo ni San Rafael) Mayad nga pangutana. Mabudlay ugaling sabton. Pero bisan pa, dapat gid man nga atong tinguhaan nga hangpon eamang nga maintiendihan ta rong aton nga gin-umpisahan. Sa rato, mabanta ta kun siin rong aton nga paadtunan. Amat-amat eang. Aton rong higayon makaron. Ibhi kami sa rayang pagpanikangon sa Daean. Estoryahan naton rayang mga bagay-bagay. Basi pa man, sa aton nga pagbaeayluhan it ihibaeo ag experiensya, mahangpan ta ag malingling rong kamatuoran. Umpisahan ta anay sa nahanabo kato. Mamasyar ay kita ku tiempo it mga Español iya sa aton. Partikular sa dag-on 1882 sa Balete. Kato nga tiempo, ro Balete hay isaea

      Gipos, my wife's distant cousin, paid us a visit the other day. The "brief" visit progressed into an excursion of various topics ranging from his application for an early retirement as bus driver of Vallacar Transit, Inc. (Ceres) to those nocturnal predators that raided our rabbits and chicken coop.  Gipos self-proclaimed to be one of the pioneers of Vallacar when Ceres Bus acquired a franchise for the Kalibo-Iloilo route more than a decade ago. Prior to that, he used to drive the R&K that once ruled the same route. When the former bought out the latter, Gipos together with a handful few was absorbed by the company.     Now in his middle 50's and still single, Gipos shows signs of getting burnout and to his mother and siblings exhibits what Dr. Jed Diamond called Irritable Men Syndrome (IMS) . He pays us occasional "brief" visit to unwind his frustrations, my wife and I being his shock-absorbers. At times, we would consume some bottles of beer, o

Yesterday (August 28) was the feast of St. Augustine of Hippo . I celebrated it in silence and alone with you. I reminded you about it as if you need reminding. All these years, I remain as restless as a young man as he ran in pursuit for some truths to satisfy his curiosity of his carefree days. You are witness to such restlessness. Time brought changes into all those that are. Here I sit a day after the feast day of my patron saint holding on to a past that is already gone trying to rally for its continued hold into the culture that is fast becoming obsolete. It remains present though in a mind fixated to those moments of wild abandon of bygone years. Here I endure and convince myself to accept the things of the present moment that are consequences of such puerile and reckless "indecisiveness." Yet my heart is not at rest. There is stubbornness that wanted to rebel against the "consequenced-past" and the "regrettable present." It is hard to vision

A friend wondered out loud: "Why the frequent absences and the belated updates of this blog?" I smiled back and quietly informed her, "Oh, I been wandering somewhere down the road." She insisted that I elucidate what I mean, thus this entry. Yes, my dear, I been wandering down the road and should you care, you can follow me on my steps: First, let us draw the line. For here is the first stop: At Petrufied's corner. :-). She's kind enough to show me where else to go in my early morning wanderings. The next stop is at Singapore's National Day Celebration where Lee Kuan Yew publicly aired his regrets for seeing too soon the sun setting on his beloved country's tomorrow. Mr. Michael Cook was kind to share "table" with me. :-) From the Lion City, I went back to hear the turno en contra at the Philippine Senate. Sen. Sotto was emphatic defending his ground. Back at home in time for the Feast of the Assumption, the Sangguniang Panlalawi

Olympian Rene Herrera (Photo credit:  InterAksyon.com/Joseph Agcaoili )    He finished last. The diminutive veteran runner and navyman Rene Herrera was the Filipino representative to the 5000 meters race in the 2012 London Olympic. Kaibahang Butch of the DYRU however related that Herrera was much applauded not because he bested the other 20 runners (although he bested himself in the Heat 1 with a record of 14:44.11) but due to his determination to finish the race even if he is the last man running in the stadium. Such attitude is what a true Olympian has to exemplify. It is not to win, but to take part (cf. Pierre de Coubertin ). It is as what Agence France-Presse  wrote in July 18, 2008 and I quote, " True Olympic spirit is often found away from gold medalists with their agents and sponsorship deals -- it is found in its purest sense in those that come last. "  Rene Herrera did finish last because he never quits. And because he never quits he comes first to the h

An elementary pupil was tasked by her teacher of interviewing the chieftain ( Punong Barangay ) of a barangay (village). Such is a hard tasked for a toddler in primary education, I reckoned.  But the child was adamant to oblige the wishes of her mentor. She asked her parents for help, who in turn, asked for my intervention. So one fine day, I arranged the meeting of the child and the village official. Their conversation went this way (in vernacular): Q – What is your name, sir? A – I am Roberto A. Cuare. I am the Punong Barangay of Barangay Morales. Q – What is the nature of your job, you being the Punong Barangay of Morales? A – As Punong Barangay, I perform the three-fold functions of the government. First, I am the chief executive of the barangay government. Second, I am the presiding officer of the legislative council, locally known as the Sangguniang Barangay. And third, I sit as the chairman of the Lupong Tapapamayapa, previously known as Barangay Justice, which is

Aragorn misses his Lady Arwen. The heavy downpour sets him in reverie. Rain. More rain. A dark gray sky. And yet I saw you smile. And I thought, you are weather-proof. Then something inside told me that I ought to smile back. I did smile back, appearing the fool. But honestly, I find our meeting a kind of sweet and memorable moment, although bordering to melancholic. You beckoned me to follow you to your place. Our pretext, oh, we do have lots of pretext to justify such meeting. We walked in the rain under the protective cover of your umbrella. That was romantic, I supposed. My subconscious though saw the two of us walking away with our reflections painted on the wet pavement and from a vantage point in monochromatic blue. That scene was lovely and yet lonely; so true and yet flawed. It was a sad scenery of a supposed happy moment worth remembering. Inside your place, you flooded me with your concerns, subtly informing me that I remain to be the man you can count on; y

    So that we may believe that God the Father has sent you to shepherd us, we pray for your oneness in mind and heart. We pray that you lead us away from the encircling gloom with your staff and protect us by your strong arms from the malaise that prowls like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.     We pray to Jesus, our Lord, that you parry the confusion out of our tired hearts and that you may win the trust and confidence of those that you pasture.     We pray that the Holy Spirit inspires you to break bread with your brethren and show us the example of how good and pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity.     With Mary, our mother, we pray for all to be sympathetic, to be compassionate and humble in dealing with one another whom we see Jesus in each of them, more so in the poor and the least among us.     Amen.

Republic Act No. 1716 is a very short law promulgated in June 21, 1957. It only contains two sections, the declaration and its effecacy. No other explanation was supplied. But the title speaks for itself and it says, "An Act Changing the name of Barrio Morthon in the Municipality of Balete, Capiz to Barrio Fulgencio". See herewith its capture form from Chan Robles Virtual Library :

A relevant resident by the Jal-o sent me the following text message through short message service (SMS) the other day. The message reads: "Look at the month of July, you have never seen this. This year July has 5 Sundays, 5 Mondays and 5 Tuesdays. This apparently happens once in every 823 years. "This is called money bags. "So send this to any 20 friends and money will arrive in 5 days. Based on Chinese Mythology, the one who does not pass this on will have money troubles for the rest of the year. It won't cost you much for that 20 text." ( sic )   In logic, this is called a fallacious argument , or better still, an informal fallacy known as a mixture of an argument from the scripture , retrospective determinism and argumentum ad baculum . Let us deconstruct it for clarity's sake. There are three components in the text message. First, the framer awed the reader with a fact, i.e., July 2012 being the most unique having 5 Sundays, 5 Mondays and 5 Tue

        O, Ginuo, amon nga Diyos nga Amay, ano kanami tan-awon ro imong mga tawo nga nagakabuhi sa gugma ag pag-ambitanay. Ano ka sadya pamatian ro andang kanta it pag-iegmanghuran ag pagbueuligan sa oras it pagtilaw!       Ikaw ro amon nga ginadayaw sa tiempo ngara it pagbag-o. Kabay, nga sa rayang panahon padayon kami nga ibhan ni San Rafael nga Arcangel sa among nga pagpamanawon sa daean it pag-eigmanghuran kay Kristo-Hesus. Ro imong presensya hay magtao kamon it inspirasyon nga panestigusan rong kamatuuran sa pihak kung pagtilaw it kapurilan. Ikaw ro among kaisog sa pagbag-o ku dapat bag-uhon, rong kaaeam nga nagagiya kamon sa paghimo it tama ag matarong nga desisyon.         Ro Imong Espiritu ro among manuglipay ag kabulig sa pag-abaga ku mga paeas-anon daea ku among responsibilidad bilang mga lideres ag miembro kung Kristianong Katilingban. Kabay, nga padayon imaw nga mag-tao it kaaeam kamon, eabi eon guid sa rayang adlaw it pagbag-o, sa among pagpang-eakaton nga na

With the expressed interest of giving the Pledge System a second look following its lull of more than seven years, questions from the younger generations are cropping up with little answers being justly provided for. Thus, in this article, let me devote some time approximating the answers to frequently asked questions regarding the system.   Question 1 (Q1) - What is Pledge System?   Answer 1 (A1) - Pledge System is a means of providing or extending expressed temporal support by the faithful to the local church where they are ecclesiastically part of for her proper objectives. It is a method of fulfilling one's obligation as provided for in Canon 222 §1   according to each person's possibilities by taking into account his or her familial obligations. Pledge is not tithing per se as biblically understood. Rather, it approximates tithing as while it is not compulsory, one binds herself/himself to the pledge she/he made before God and her/his neighbors (i.e., the local c

My promise of love: Ginakueang ako it bisaea Agud ika paabot kimo Pero bisan pa, akong hinyo Nga sa akong pag-ako Nga ikaw hay hinigugma Kunta hay mahangpan mo Ako hay tawo man lang May kinahang-ean, may kahinaan Indi ko kimo ika-promisa Pareho ko iba Rong mga bituon ag ro buean Una sa kaeangitan Haead ko kimo Akong taguipusoon Puno it nina Padayon nga nagabaga Bisan pa nga kon amat Hay maeuya. I wrote it because I am loved. I am loved and called to love in the process. I respond to it in my own pace. In my day-to-day approximations, I am becoming certain that Euclid's postulate that straight line is the shortest way from one point to another is wrong when it comes to human intersubjectivity.  In loving, I have to mean every word of it and approximate its meaning every day of my life. Aware of my strengths and flaws, I hasten to live its truth in my day-to-day struggles. Even if at times, love seems to stab the wounded and scarred heart.