No Fun in the Philippines

First, there was this outbreak of war in Zamboanga City during the month of September. It took more than sometime for the government to contain the insurgency. The people of Cotabato were afraid that the war might spill over to Cotabato City where MNLF, MILF, BIFF and whatever factions and other criminal elements were ever present in our infamous city. The military was in red alert. There were aplenty of rumors of rebel sightings and other war mongering news. Many town folks quietly stashed food in case of a break out. But thank God, although there were few local skirmishes but none of that war connected to the Zamboanga MNLF rebellion.

After the war in Zamboanga, a typhoon that started in Mindanao swept away the war torn streets and flooded Zamboanga City. I wasn't able to keep track of the other places affected in Mindanao. All I could remember was telling an old old story regarding the shrine of Our Lady of Pilar near the port area. It was deemed miraculous by the people of the coastal town. People claimed that the Lady came down from the shrine to pick up the little boy who was playing with the flood water. People said they found the feet of the statue of both the Lady and her child covered with mud. According to the old stories, after the Lady picked up her child, the flooding miraculously stopped. The military encampment nearby and the people of Zamboanga have ever since venerated the small shrine on that fortress wall. I was telling our store secretaries that the people of Zamboanga should turn toward our Lady of Pilar. She could help them in time of distress.

After Zamboanga, typhoon Santi came and created havoc in the southern part of Luzon. The province of Isabela was greatly affected. I followed the news through my tv set. The people in that area were more prepared and resilient but still there were lots of damages and many unwanted lost of lives too.

Few days (or a couple of weeks) after the typhoon, Cebu and Bohol were hit by a major 7.2 magnitude earthquake. The tremor was felt even at far flung Cotabato City with an intensity four shake down. We had many friends in Cebu. We quickly called them up to ask of their where-about. It so happened that the earthquake struck during a holiday of Edil Adha. There were no classes and it helped spared the lives of many students when pubic schools buildings toppled down in many places. More than Cebu, Bohol suffered worse. More structures were destroyed, many lives were lost and  old churches fell into total ruins. A friend of my daughter Martha said something to this effect. "Maybe Philippines needs to set a day aside for all Filipinos to pray and ask forgiveness from God, for why else are all these calamities happening to us. They were too soon and too close, just within a few months time only."

October 4, I was awaken by my husband at 7:30 in the morning. He first informed me that everything was okay and that the children were all alright, and then he broke the bad news that my second home in Manila had a break-in during the wee hour at 1:30 AM. The first thing I did was to say a prayer of thanksgiving that God had protected my children from harm, then I quickly called up Manila to learn more details. Nothing was lost or taken but my family in Manila was greatly shaken by the incident. It happened that my children were all sleeping when the thief climbed up to the second floor window ledge. He was in the middle of getting inside the girls room when Marion woke up and saw the shadow of the thief half way entering through the window. Commotion quickly ensued as she screamed and Martha woke up, who saw the silhouette of the thief too. Marion ran out of the room and Martha followed suit. They screamed and banged on the door of their brother Emil hoping to escape the robber and to warn other people at home. "May tao, may tao" they kept on shouting. The thief left the premise immediately but our sense of security at home were all shattered. As of present, we are doing our best to continuously secure our abode. I hope that all the safety devices that we are putting up will keep us out of danger from robbers and thieves. Yet above all, there is only one refuge and fortress, it is my Lord and my God in whom I trust! I thank you God for protecting my children. The danger was really too close at hand. Thank you for saving them. Thank you O Lord for giving them guardian angels to watch over them. O Lord, please continue to love us and protect us. I am most grateful. I will try my best to be worthy of thy love. I love You my God!!!

While I was in Manila in October, news came from Cotabato that Mike the owner of Sugni, a chain of department store in the south was kidnapped in Cotabato City. He was kidnapped at Bonifacio Street at around 6:00 PM while he was supervising one of his stores. Two of his body guards were killed and he was carted away to the hinterland lairs of the muslim kidnappers through river passages for many weeks. We just heard that he was released this morning. O lord, protect us from the kidnappers!!! O Lord, protect us!

While still in Manila, my son Roy came home to the Philippines for a vacation. We went around a couple of places in Luzon, then we left for Thailand on November 6. While we were in Thailand, we followed up news from CNN regarding the massive intensity 5 storm that was to hit Philippines specially along the Visayas region on November 8. Lucas and I were quite worried about the family members left in Manila. We tried to text and/or call them to inquire about situations there. We were relieved that Manila was only slightly affected, but we pity our countrymen in the Visayas who had to bear the brunt of the biggest storm in the world. The storm hit Tacloban directly. Nephew Apollo and his wife Liezle and children lived in that city. We were confident that they would survived the typhoon because they lived in more sturdy houses. However we had not heard from them for several days for there were total power and communication blackouts due to massive damages. We only heard from them in the evening of November 10. Here I would like to reprint the letter I wrote to family and friends to inform them of the situations as far as I know of............

Written on Monday November11, 2013........
Hi,
Apollo and Leizle and children arrived Manila last night via military plane. They left Tacloban by foot to go to some military airport to come to Manila because they thought it was too dangerous to stay there anymore. The place after the aftermath had become lawless. There were no more law and order to keep. No electricity, no water, food or shelter. People were fighting for survival, looting, etc. Their building was intact but all their store merchandise were destroyed. In 5 minutes the water from the storm surged up to the second floor but luckily the building that they were staying which belonged to the brother of Leizle was a six floored building. They left Tacloban without bringing their clothes. They did not even dare tell people that they were going to the military airport to leave for Manila. There were many bodies along the way. Leizle told the children to close their eyes, so they won't see the corpses but the stench was terrible. Then while on the road, somebody I think who was also going to the airport took pity on them and let them hitch a ride. They arrived Villamor Airbase at night and that was the only time that anybody ever knew they were safe and sound.

But........

Many things have happened since but I have no time to go through details. Maybe when I am less preoccupied. I hope I don't forget the important moments that transpired these October and November. What is most important, as I shall keep on repeating is to thank God for his love and protection and blessing for my family. Please continue to love us and bless us O Lord. I love You!!!

Preoccupied

I am physically, mentally and emotionally preoccupied and drained out. As much as I wanted to write about life and about the recent security concerns in our homes, yet my mind can only think about my family and  the divine Lord. Thank you God for protecting and loving me and my family. God really lives among us and he sends his angels to protect us. He protects those who call on him. Thank you Lord, I am forever grateful. I will try my very best to be pleasing to you. Do continue to love and bless us O Lord.
When my mind shall begin to relax and be at peace, I'll come back to my blog and maybe write a long story about the break-in that happened to my second home in Manila.
For now, I can only thank, pray and communicate with God who is forever good and beautiful. I love you my Lord. Please be with us always. 

Admiration

Three things I admire in a person:
1. Good in math - due to my disinterest in numbers, I so idolize mathematicians, physicists, businessmen and those people whose careers depend on daily dealings with calculations. For one, my husband is good with numbers. Together we taught and guided our children while they were growing up to do better with their math subjects in school. Thankfully today they are all doing good in their own field of mathematical works. Sometimes at home, when my husband and children dwell and speak in numerical figures, my heart swells just listening to them. Their conversation may sound alien to me but I do feel so very very proud. My own admiration and fulfillment in my own family.
2. Ear for music - People say this is an inborn talent. My maternal side of the family seems to be more inclined to this ability but it did not pass on to us the next generation. Many of my siblings are tone deaf, so too with some of my children, haha! I am the only person among my siblings who knows how to play the piano and I learn mostly through persistency. Despite it, I remain so below average. My husband though has an ear for notes. He knows how to play the tune by just simply listening. He used to play the clarinet with the school band. At home he can play the piano with his right hand. I so envy people with an ear for music. I marvel at musicians, singers and gifted people. Why can't I be like them!
3. Linguistic ability - My late mother was a linguist and I idolized her so. Although I can speak three languages fluently: English, Chinese (Fookian) and Tagalog, yet my Mandarin, Bisaya and Maguindanaon are barely passable. My brain and my tongue are quite stubborn and slow. Hahaha! On the other hand, Lucas, my husband is good. He can speak more than 5 dialects/languages. He is just not showy infront of other people. Sometimes he can even mimic the accent and tone to certain degree. I find it very funny! Lucas is quite interesting, he may not be the handsomest guy and the sexiest person; but I guess, now they understand the reasons for the admiration :)

Auspicious Day

A happy prosperous auspicious day to everybody!!! Today September 19 is mid autumn festival day. If I am right, South Korea is also celebrating its new year's day today. A Happy New Year to the Koreans! Elsewhere in Asia, people are celebrating (good harvest) with dice game, prizes, plenty of food and mooncakes and tea. 

We used to do that here at home when it was relatively peaceful in Cotabato. But now a days many people have left or are not around. Yet I have high hopes that maybe things will change for the better next year. Today though, my spirit is high. I wear red for good fortune. I cook lumpia for the Tan family dinner. I have a box of four mooncakes which I bought from Cotiongbon Store. It is quite costly but there is no other store that sells this kind of delicacies here. (They are actually brought from Manila.) Tonight I put on my lanterns and multicolored lights for the occasion. I brew aromatic jasmin tea to go with my mooncake and Lucas and I will snack on it while watching television at night. Hahaha....what a romantic celebration, so rightly for a full moonlight night! Happy mid autumn festival to all!!!

Wanton Thoughts

These few days I have so many frightening thoughts and also some insights to ponder.

First of all, because I again almost caused a fire outbreak at home because of an unattended home cooking. I was steaming my siomai (dumplings) and while waiting for the water to boil, I went to play on my piano. I got so engrossed on practicing a new piece that I forgot about the double boiler in progress on the stove. After sometime, I smelled something burning. I jumped out of my seat, ran to the kitchen and quickly turned off the stove. The bottom layer of the steamer that was supposed to contain the water was totally dried out. The cloth that I laid out on the second surface of the double boiler (so that the dumplings won't stick on the pan) had patches of burnt spots. The burned cloth emitted the odor. If not for the smell, things would have gotten worst. That unattended cooking almost caused a burst of fire in the kitchen. In my stupor, I poured tap water on the heated dried out aluminum pan. My maid admonished me that it will cause the pan to warp, and indeed it did. All of my fault and stupidity! The dumplings though were not totally lost. They were still moist but they had burnt after taste. Despite everything, my in-laws, my husband and I consumed them all.

I got lingering shocks after the incident. It made me think about all of the other missed accidents I almost had. I had been reckless and careless. I thanked my guardian angels for protecting me and my family. I said a prayer of thanks. Many things could have been worst. I must be more careful. I am terribly sorry for being so careless.

Then this recent outbreak of battle in Zamboanga City between the muslims rebels and the government troops. It has been 5 to 6 days already since the standoff but things have not been solved until now. Many people are afraid that it will spill over to Cotabato. Although I am confident that Cotabato is safe, yet I lay awake at night thinking of the worst. To add to my apprehension, two nights ago, I watched this History channel entitled "After Armageddon" and it scared me to think that human beings can be so ruthless even in the brink of calamity and at the threshold of extinction. Contrary to that documentary film though, I did not experience such a scenario during the 1976 big earthquake in Cotabato City. I agreed there were no electricity nor water on the tap but stores were open the next day for people to buy medicine and food. Afraid of strong after shocks, the Tan families slept on a truck parked on an open space.(Tires party embedded on the ground due to the movement of the earth). People slept on the streets and houses were not locked because homes and doors were destroyed. Everything was in a disarray but fortunately there was no looting or robbery. Maybe people were better then? But that was more than 35 years ago.

Then I begin to think about my children, those who are still unmarried. I hope and pray that they will not have to be so all alone. Everyone of them need to have a wife or husband to take care of each other. I don't want them to worry about us here and I pray that they will all be safe.

Then I say to myself.....We are always afraid something bad is going to happen, why not anticipate of good and beautiful things to happen instead. God is beautiful and good and I am sure, he wants us to be happy and safe too. God will bless us all and He will make good and beautiful things happen to us.

Happy Birthday!!!

Yesterday September 8 was the birthday of our blessed mother. It was a blessed happy Sunday of thanksgiving because God had chosen the perfect lady to be the mother of our Savior. Without her, how can we human kind ever be saved. Jesus  gave her to us before he died on the cross. Together with the apostles, the Holy Spirit descended upon her during the Pentecost. We honor her today with many titles: Queen of Heaven, Queen of Angels, Mother of our Savior, Queen of our Homes, Mother of Perpetual Help, Queen of the Family, Mystical Rose, Health of the Sick, Help of Christians, Queen of Peace and many many more..........