Disasters

I am 68 years old, and in the course of my life, I live through several disasters:

1. Fire - In 1949, (I was not even born yet) Cotabato City went through a big fire that razed the whole town. It changed the lives of many people. Because of the fire, my parents who used to live and do business at the town center, lost their dwelling places, and the family business called “Community Bazaar”.  Everything was razed down. After the fire, together with my maternal kins, they relocated near the river bank, and opened a small cafeteria com retail business at Villaeron corner Mabini Streets. It was there that I grew up. While I was growing up, fire was the foremost disaster in Cotabato City. Houses were mostly built from wood. Water supply was inadequate and fire department was inutil. After their experiences, my parents were quick to prepare for the disaster. Our home had fire extinguishers, flashlights and a stash of empty flour sacks with tying strings ready for packing incase of evacuation. The children were also prepped. We were given steps to follow.....
a. The first thing to do was to untie our own mosquito net, to fold it and lay it down properly. The logic there was because the mosquito nets like curtains catch on fire easily.
b. To wear our shoes immediately, as wearing slippers would be more risky, prone to tripping.
c. To go in twos. I was to partner with my elder sister Helen.
d. To leave home immediately. To let the elders and the maids take care of the packing of our belongings.
e. To go to an open safe place like the plaza and to stay there and keep safe until the fire was over.
There were several fires in the course of my growing up, there were a lot of rebuilding too, but many families were displaced likewise. When I was in senior high school, there were two big fires in the city. Many of my friends and classmates houses and establishments were gutted down. My friend Cu BeeLian and her family, who were victims of the fire came to live with us until the end of the school year. After our high school graduation, they did not reestablish their business in Cotabato anymore but left for Manila for good. The same thing happened to my close friend Anita Go and many others friends and families that followed suit.

2. Flood - Cotabato City was flooded sometimes in the early 60’s. My mother was in Manila for a check up, a vacation or something and was stranded in Manila for awhile. My eldest sister Imelda (Theng Theng) was in high school, and I was in the elementary. We lived near the river, hence our place was among the first to get flooded, yet I remember our sari-sari store continued to open everyday. My father elevated the store shelves and counters. We walked on wooden planks elevated by soft drink cases, then it got so bad that my father had to use the cafeteria tables as boardwalks for us to traverse. As kids, Helen and I were unafraid. We played with flood waters near the river banks, trying to catch gurami fishes and little shrimps in a jar for fun. When the water got higher and higher,  we were prohibited to wade in the flood because of the strong current. We measured the rise of the flood by the steps of the staircase going to our abode on the half floor. Helen told me that if the water reached up to the second last step of the stair, my father would be evacuating us. It almost did but thankfully it did not. Then the water began to recede slowly. After the flood, the government began to dredge the delta, the city government elevated the roads. Up to the present time, many stores in town are still lower than the level of the streets. Those places in town still get flooded once in awhile.

3. Earthquake - We had a big devastating earthquake on August 16, 1976. I was by then married and living with Lucas and my in-laws on the second floor of LCT Hardware at Corcuera Street. When the earthquake struck, my son Roy was exactly one year, one month and one day old (Rather two days old). Our house and store went down. The house was partially destroyed but the store was completely totaled. Thank God, nobody died from that household that night. Not only was the earthquake big in magnitude, but tsunami also struck along the coastal area. Thousands of people died along the coast line. O Lord have mercy.
Few days after the earthquake, Roy began to manifest his first asthma attacks and was getting sick oftenly, since then. He must have inhaled a lot of dust that fell down from the ceiling that night. Now a days, I henceforth advise my children, to prepare surgical masks for emergency use during earthquakes because of the amount of dust that is going to be released when walls and ceilings crack open.
Life was extremely hard after the earthquake. For awhile, there was no electricity nor water. We had to clean up our own earthquake debris and rebuild from what was left of our house, and restart what’s left from the business. The family camped at LCT bodega at Lucio and Conchita’s house for 6 months. The available rooms were given to the grandmother, the children and their yayas to sleep. The able bodied adults like Luna, Tina, Lucas and myself slept at the big living room. The task of rebuilding LCT #1 (We had two by the way: LCT #1 and LCT #2) and the downsizing our old house and store was laid upon the shoulders of my poor husband. I tried to make the best out of my miserable life during this period. I had two more children during the transition years in 1977 and 1979. We were finally relocated in 1980, in a new building at the new location at Magallanes Street, merging the two stores into one, until the present time.

4. War - As far as I can remember, there were sporadic skirmishes between the Ilaga (Christians) and the Black Shirts (Muslims), as early as the early years of the 70’s. The clamor for Muslim independence was supported by the oil rich countries in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world for the flourishing of their Islamic religion. Imelda Marcos had to concede and build a mosque in Quiapo, Manila to appease Libya in exchange for oil. There was an actual war in the 70’s where bombardments occurred in Cotabato City between the military and the Muslim rebels everyday. The military flew planes over Kakar, to bomb the hiding insurgents, while the rebels retaliated by bombing the military installation of the Philippine Constabulary at the Colina Hill which was really close-by. Every morning, we could actually hear the bombings on the hill site. Every so often during the day, we could also hear the flying of cognizant planes and the bombings of Kakar. Politically, President Ferdinand Marcos made peace by creating an Autonomous Region. But peace did not come anytime soon, for there were more rebel factions that surfaced, the MNLF, MILF, BIFF, all wanting a bigger part of the bargain. Skirmishes, ambushes, ied bombings, atrocities and more battles sporadically continued, and continue to this day in the city and its surrounding area. Sadly I have lived through all of these.

5. Kidnapping for ransom - This atrocity happened sporadically for a long time too. I think they started since the later part of the 70’s until the recent millennium. They targeted mostly the rich businessmen and their family members. But who was to say who were rich! Everybody was doing business, working hard and saving for his children and the future. I was not really scared at first, for there were plenty of people better that us. We were rebuilding our lives after the earthquake. We owed the banks and more. My husband and I were very low keyed, I was merely a high school teacher. We were not extravagant and flamboyant. We lived a simple life. Our children were very young and we did not even spoil them with material things. But the bad elements (and they were many) were getting brazen and we suspected that other groups (soldiers and/or politicians perhaps) might be in cahoots. Then situation got worse by 1988 to 1991. They were not choosing only the rich, but anybody could become a soft target. Kidnappings became aplenty. New kidnappings began to surface in a span of weeks. The frequency of which frightened us tremendously. The school children of CCI  stopped going to school by January 1991. In a terrifying abnormal scenario, the school year ended on March 10, 1991, with only a handful of students attending classes. After I submitted my grades and cleared myself as teacher for the school year, I left Cotabato and enrolled my children in Manila. I did not want their education to be disrupted by the scalawags. My children and I lived in Manila for one year from 1991 to 1992, while Lucas stayed in Cotabato to earn us a living. It was so difficult to be separated. But as the situation in Cotabato improved a little, the kids and I returned back in 1993. Many families however were displaced during these times, and many young and abled people left Cotabato for good.

After few years, things seemed to quiet down a bit in Cotabato City, then a worst resurgence came back in 2009 to 2010. The kidnappers (again, we had suspicion that there was some kind of a connivance.)  became even more brazen committing their crimes with impunity. They were so daring, kidnapping during peak hours and in broad day light. They waited for victims at their homes with mortal launchers and armies in front of their gates. They forcibly grabbed their targets from their stores. They even kidnapped two people of the same family and demanded an even bigger ransom. My sister-in-law Conchita was kidnapped on her way home on October 8, 2010, few meters away from the gate. They killed the driver and her security guard, who were following in another car. Lucio my brother-in-law was able to put some resistance and escaped the capture. The news of such evilness broke out nationwide. The government sent in the Marines to secure Cotabato City. That put a brake somehow to the apocalyptic darkness that was pervading the city. Before the marines arrived though, everybody was self quarantining in his own homes, afraid to go out. When the marines came, things slowly got better. The political situation turned for the better too. We were most thankful when Rodrigo Duterte became our president, and Cynthia Sayadi became our mayor. Relatively, we are enjoying certain amount of peace right now. God must have heard all our ernest supplications. O Lord hear our prayers.

6. Covid-19 pandemic - 2020, on going all over the world.

Lord God, life is not a bed of roses. But you are with us during all these times of trials, disasters, and crises; helping me, helping us, helping our families. For these I am most grateful and thankful. Do keep us always in your love and safe keeping. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Our Lady of Pillar

My sister Helen went to Europe several times. Upon coming home from her travels, I listened to her many stories. The foremost story that enthralled me was her going to Zaragoza, Spain where she got to see the image of Our Lady of Pillar and the miraculous pillar itself.

“I just learned that Pilar in English, means pillar, as in the column.” She said enthusiastically. And her interesting story was about the miraculous appearance of our Nuestra Senora del Pilar to St. James who went to Spain to spread the good news. Accordingly, St. James was not very successful in preaching the faith because he was not very eloquent, so he asked for the help of the Blessed Mother. The Blessed Mother who was at that time still alive appeared to him standing on a divine pillar near a river. Divine because the pillar was not made from human hands, but rather, it came down from heaven. The Blessed Mother promised to help St. James and to give him plentiful of converts. As it turned out St. James was able to evangelize Spain, and in return Spain was instrumental in converting many nations. Henceforth, St. James is the apostle with the most Catholic coverts all over the world, including the Philippines.

After my sister Helen’s story, I also heard from one of the sermons of Bishop Collin Bagaforo, that Our Lady of Pillar was the first apparition manifested by our Virgin Mother, and it happened while she was still alive living in Greece or Turkey. It just shows us how sympathetic the Lady is to the call of those who need her help.

I was also curious because Our Lady of Pilar is most venerated in Fort del Pilar, Zamboanga, Philippines. When I was a little girl, I heard a story about a big flood in Zamboanga City. The Infant Jesus accordingly was missing from the statue by the wall. The Boy was found playing with flood waters by his Mother. The Mother came down and took the Boy back and the water receded. Of course this was only a story, and many people must have long forgotten about this tale. But indeed there was once a big flood in Zamboanga City, as well as here in Cotabato City too. Sometimes my memory surprises me.

And wonder of wonders, few years back, my sons Roy, Tomas and Emil were able to go on a walking pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella to the burial site of St. James. It was an adventure, an expedition as well as a religious pilgrimage for them. But their going there, drew my heart even closer to St. James and our blessed mother. In my prayers, I ask St. James to intercede for them.

Last night, I participated my tenth healing rosary on air. The bishop of Imus Cathedral was leading the prayers with the venerated image of Nuestra Senora del Pilar. The commentator briefly narrated the story of St. James and Our Lady of Pillar. Even though I knew of the story already, I was still very much enthralled to hear it again. Our Lady of Pillar in Imus had come to the aid of the Cavite people many times; whether it be man made or natural calamity. One of the disasters happened to be the cholera epidemic in Imus. Henceforth we as one people, and one nation are appealing to her again, to aid us during this crisis. O Blessed Mother, help us and pray for us.

Lockdown in Cotabato City

In the Philippines, because of the spread of the virus, president Rodrigo Duterte announced the lockdown of Metro Manila and the entire province of Luzon starting March 15, 2020; after which there would be no air, sea or land travel, coming or going to other parts of the Philippines. Cotabato City which is located in Mindanao gets most of our supply from Metro Manila, so people here began to panic. I bought medicines, food supply like noodles, canned goods, salted fish and other essentials, good for one month. But because of our shared building and existing shared kitchen policy with my in-laws, I became unwittingly responsible for our two households, namely the household of Luna and Tina Tan and their two maids, and the household of Lucas and Heddy Tan, our own two maids and one common cook, nine persons in all. (Our children are all dispersed in different places.)

Cotabato City began its lockdown on March 16, 2020. Three days later we closed our store and confined ourselves in our home. The first fear was getting the virus. We prohibited the maids to go out and we closed our homes to any callers. Nobody is allowed to enter our building. My second fear was, having not enough food supply to last us for a month. I tried to ration the use of our stockpile. My own personal biscuits, crackers, tea, chocolates, food supplements, I carefully approportioned them too. My sister-in-law Tina had a runner guy (who worked in her cellphone store), to buy her things. Sometimes I would request that same guy to buy me bread or fruits, but even then, I was afraid I might get him infected, so I did it as less often as possible. Our fresh food though like pork, fish and vegetables got depleted already during the first week of the lockdown, so I hesitantly allowed the maids to go to the market. Where as, the households used to market everyday, now we do it once a week, or even longer. I tried my best to stretch our food supply to last longer. We were not eating like paupers but we were not eating like kings either. Nobody was complaining (except maybe Luna, I heard him a few times.)

After few weeks, I found out that I could call for grocery and produce deliveries, henceforth I started calling and buying things. I was ordering more and better goods too. We began to eat better also. Still, I was most careful in using our stockpile to last us longer, for I was also giving aids to some of our former helpers.

After two months, I decided to buy flour and baking powder. Yesterday, with my remaining dried blueberries and with the recipe of my daughter-in-law Angel, I baked a batch of oatmeal blueberry muffins. Oh, it was so good for snacks and desserts, I tried refraining myself from eating it three times a day. Haha!

Thanks to the following persons who sent me food:
1. My sister Jeannette Yu - for sending me loaves of bread, fried chicken and raddish cake, and the suman today.
2. Margie Plando - for the big beautiful ripe mangoes.
3. Tina Tan - for the pomelos, pineapple and other fruits.
4. Nestor Alasalas - for bringing to me my own produce from my own lot, those sweet Manga Manila and coconuts.
5. Last but not the least, my household helps for sharing their banana-qs.

As of today, after almost a month, Cotabato City has a new positive case. Yesterday, my in-laws Lucio and Conchita came home from Davao after being held up for two months. The store is again open for business. I keep at home since I don’t work for the store. I am as scared as ever because of the new positive. O Lord, please put an end to the spread of the virus. Please put an end to this pandemic. Have mercy on us O Lord, have mercy.

Healing Rosary

Last night, May 6 at nine in the evening, my husband, my household-helps and I  participated in the 8th Healing Rosary for the World; live-streamed from Manila Cathedral, Facebook. It all began when Pope Francis led his flock in praying.
1. Pope Francis led the first healing rosary in Rome on March 19, 2020 during the Feast Day of St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus.
2. The Next Wednesday, March 25, on the Feast of Assumption, our very own Cardinal Luis Tagle in Rome, Italy, followed his footsteps by leading the healing rosary. Because of the big following among Filipinos, subsequently the healing rosary came to be recited in the Philippines every Wednesday at nine o’clock in the evening, covering different churches around the country. The following below are the sequences done by different churches: if my memory serves me right.
3. The third healing rosary was recited at the Sto. Nino Cathedral in Cebu City, with the original statue of the Infant Jesus.
4. Then at Antipolo Church with the miraculous statue of our Blessed Virgin Mary.
5. Followed by Dagupan Church led by Bishop Villegas with the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Manaoag.
6. Then at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Cubao, Quezon City with the replica statue of Our Lady of La Naval.
7. The 7th healing rosary was led by the archbishop of Davao in his residence in Davao City.
8. Last night, 5 different churches led the 5 mysteries with participation coming from various orders of religious men and women of the Philippines. The five churches that led the rosary were:
    a. Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in Quezon City
    b. Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Quezon City
    c. Church of Mary, Help of Christians, Paranaque
    d. Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Baclaran, Manila
    e. Church of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of La Naval Manila,  Sto. Domingo, Quezon City

Last night, the 8th Healing Rosary was quite long, as 5 different churches were leading each mystery. The different religious orders and groups were also given importance in their participations. There were singing of hymns, homilies and the recitation of the litany. I love the litany but I was not very keen with the homilies. In fairness though, some religious persons gave beautiful talks. I was just restless because the night was getting late and my husband and the maids had work to do the next day.

But I was very happy because many a friend were following the healing rosaries every week because I have been messaging and reminding them. And besides, because I felt that those five churches last night were somehow chosen very closely to my heart: I felt really close to Jesus and my blessed mother.
1. When I was young, my cousin Nelly, a devotee of our Lady of Lourdes and her sisters brought me to the Retiro Church to attend mass. There was one incident where I looked up to the crown on the statue and was mesmerized by the sparkle of the gems on her head. My cousin Adele saw my fixated gazed upon the crown, she thought I was kind of crazy. Hahaha. My going to that church had somehow brought about my own devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes.
2.  Ever since my father and my siblings moved residency to New Manila, Quezon City, I have personally felt that I belonged to the parish of Mt. Carmel Church whenever I was there. These days, although I am not living in New Manila anymore, I still prefer to attend my Sunday masses at Mt. Carmel Church whenever I am there. I truly love the serenity and the solemnity and the ambiance of the church.
3. I have never been to the Church of Mary, Help of Christians, but I had been drawn to this title of our Blessed Mother when I was praying for my son Emil while he was studying at Ateneo de Manila University. While praying the litany, for the intentions of Emil, I singled out Mary, Help of Christians to help my son with his hardships. Thank you O Blessed Mother for your many help. When this covid 19 will be gone and done, I will try to visit this church. My best friend Imelda Bugayong agreed to go with me too.
4. As you know, my siblings and I are devotees of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. When I am in Manila, together with my siblings, we go visit  Baclaran Church on Tuesday nights to offer our prayers and petitions to our mother to intercede for us.
5. I used to study at UST. The university is run by the Dominican priests, so too with the Sto. Domingo Church of Our Lady of La Naval. The Lady of La Naval is akin to Our Lady of Rosary. I visited Sto. Domingo Church few times, but I pray my rosary religiously these days.
O Blessed Mother, do intercede for us.
O God, have mercy on us. Have mercy on your people.

Reposting from Facebook

The last Sunday mass I attended was on March 15, 2020 at Queen of Peace Church before the community lockdown in Cotabato City on March 16. I was one of the readers and I was very paranoid because most of the people were not very aware of the gravity of the spread of the virus yet. (And careless about distancing). I was really scared of using the microphone too close to my mouth, sharing it with two other people; Cecile the first reader (I was the second reader) and our priest Father Samson. I wiped the microphone with cleansing wipes before the start of the liturgy, but still I was not very confident enough about its safety. After the mass, I left the church immediately, and together with my husband and my friend Siolan, off we went to the beach to bask under the sun and swim in the sea. Today marks my seventh Sunday to attend mass on tv.
O Lord, for how long will you deliver us from our anxiety and fear.