The Day After the Feast of St. Augustine

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 out my path into the "desired future" lest I become a Sisyphean troll or a condemned Promethean man.

I must teach myself to accept the things of the present...to live with it (without judging its value?).

Yes, these are the images I painted in my mind a day after I celebrated my patron saint's feast day alone with you. Those were the thoughts wandering about in the region of dissimilarity, set aside my conjectures about the laws of attraction and gravitational pull vis-a-vis the subtle influence of the dictum, "Amor meus, pondum meum." But such things are as I said, conjectures.

Somewhere Down the Road

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 Panlalawigan enacted a pro-life Universal Health program contrary to what USAID has originally proposed per its pro-forma ordinance (the so-called KP Ordinance).

Then later in the day, I came across this Catholic Thing musing about the limits of liberal mind when encountering Catholicism. I lingered for a while and met articulate Dave whom I suspect to be a theologian of good heart.

Yes, my dear, I been wandering through a lot of corners down the road these days that I failed to update this blog. I am sorry for having you waited and for failing to inform you beforehand of my whereabouts.

I am sorry that I can't be at your feast day celebration too. Happy feast day, anyway. :-D

Never a Quitter

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 hearts of men watching in that London stadium. 

The Three-fold Functions of a Punong Barangay

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 tasked of mediating or arbitrating disagreements among the local residents. For that matter, I sit as judge in this quasi-judicial body.

Q – How many households are there in your barangay today?

A – Barangay Morales has a total population of 2,618 or a total household of 573 per the 2007 National Census of Population. Our population growth rate is at 1.3% per annum.

Q – What projects are being implemented today that will benefit the people in our community?

A – There are many projects being undertaken to address the situation in the community. We coded them under the SPECSE paradigm as follows:

a.     S stands for Social Services. Under this area, the Barangay takes active part in implementing the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) or the so called 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) among the poorest families. Also, it assists the DOH in conducting the National Household Targeting System-Poverty Reduction through the organization of Community Health Teams. Through these programs, the poor are made members of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. Parent-beneficiaries are required to enroll to schools their school-going age children and are enjoined at availing the health services being offered at the Health Center.  The Barangay also maintains a Health Station and a couple of Daycare Center situated in strategic areas in the locality. It actively coordinates with the DepEd and the Local School Board in the maintenance of the Morales Elementary School. It sets up Tanod outposts and established its own Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction Management outpost and linked up with the Balete PNP and the Municipal DRRMO.

b.     P stands for Political maturity. People empowerment is made possible to transparency, accountability and good governance. We make it happen through the conduct of regular Barangay Assembly and afford our people with the correct information and progress report concerning the administration of the barangay. In the implementation of programs and projects, we see to it that community involvement and their active cooperation.

c.      E stands for economic development. To compliment the 4Ps and NHTS-PR programs we encourage micro-financing to facilitate loan windows and the inflow of local investment in the community. In Morales, several lending agencies such as Taytay sa Kauswagan, Microsavers, Uswag, etc., open their windows to those who would want to start backyard hog raising, multi-cropping initiatives, etc. Morales is basically a farming community and most of my people derived their living through the fruits of their harvest.

d.     C stands for cultural identity. The people of Morales are proud of their heritage as part of the Baleten-on people. We hold dear to our hearts things or events that identify us from among the rest. We thus give time and the rest of our resources to upholding and preserving our cultural and heritage through our active participation it the annual Kultura Balete celebration.

e.     S stands for Spirituality. Our barangay officials took time to attend to their spiritual needs. Just of the recent, we underwent a Moral Recovery Program initiated by the DILG. Our SK officials too have their seminar on Ethical Standards for Civil and Public Servants. These are non-sectarian activity that seeks to rejuvenate our noble aspirations for our people. Having humane and God-fearing officials will not be to the disadvantage of the community and to the individuals, much to those sectarian groups in the barangay.

f.          E stands for the Environment. We are what we are primarily due to our environment. Without it, nothing can there be. Precisely that the Barangay is stringent on imposing environmental measures. Its proactive project is on its establishing nurseries for tree saplings, the conduct of regular tree planting and cleaning and greening in the community.

Personal Insights

·        Punong Barangays are tasked of fulfilling the three-fold functions of the government, i.e., as executive officer, as legislator and as judge in a particular community.

·        Punong Barangays, despite the burden their carry on their back are salaried very low as compared to executives, legislators and judges in both the government and private sectors.

·        Punong Barangays are the ones who have direct encounter with the people. They see, hear and feel their sufferings and daily struggles and yet they are paid low. They attend to their problems 24/7 a day and yet they don’t have social security insurance. 

Paint Me a Somber Sky in Monochromatic Blue

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; your strong arm in times of trouble.  You made me your hero that carries you always out of the troubled waters.  And yet you worry of my failing health, asking me directly if I still experience those dizziness and nausea.

I remember telling you that I got fired up whenever you requested me to do you some favor. You inspired me even if your presence is an interruption.  You excite me even if you disturbed my quiet. And I am always glad to be by your side. Then I felt strong and whole. Life is meaningful, is beautiful and true.

Even if it rained. Even if the rain flooded our lives.