Accents
Thank you, and best regards
That's a leave-taking of a title, folks, because the next column you'll be reading from me will be date-lined from the U. S. of A. As often as I can spare time from my 'grandmotherly' tasks, off to the keyboard I go. Promise.
In Daly City, California, Rudy and I will attend a happy occasion that occurs only once in fifty years: the Golden Wedding anniversary of his eldest sister Nelly and her husband Andrew Chao. After a brief stay with our daughters Rose and Raileen and renewing ties with California-based friends, we fly to South Carolina where Randy's lovable tyke Danika is waiting for Lolo and Lola.
Before all that, heartfelt thanks are due the lovely three- Cherry, Shemi, and Mary Ann- who took turns at the front desk of the Chito's Hotel where Rudy and I had been billeted for five months. Special mention to another threesome- Arlene, Evelyn, and Marian who served us at the lobby café. Theirs was courteous service Chito's can be proud of. Then the four who made up our room and had it smelling fresh every time we were back- Mark, Jiger, Jimboy, and Ricky who also dutifully cleaned the pool, a morning sked to this swimming-hooked senior citizen. There's the ever helpful 'Sekyu' Cesar ever ready to lend a hand with our grocery and laundry bags. They all made real Chito's Hotel catch lines: 'Amenities of a hotel...Comfort of a home.' And, not to forget Richie, unpretentious, unassuming descendant of the house, who wanted the lighting increased when we did computer work at the lobby, despite our wanting to conserve energy.
Thanks are due the ILAC (Iloilo Legal Assistance Center) lawyers with whom Rudy tussled, opposed, agreed, shared viewpoints: Janne Baterna, Steve Cercado, Sol Gamosa, Elay Guiloreza, Jojo Lutero, Pet Melliza, Bong San Felix. All veritable counterparts of the FLAG (Free Legal Assistance Group) luminaries. Indigent clients must be grateful to these attorneys as well as to the two mainstays in the leg work department, Leeboy and Toto.
Comes now the media crowd. To the Examiner's Diosa, Pet, Nestor, Rexcel, and Ed- I know you will maintain the paper's moral high ground once it takes off from ground zero. Then, let 'em awards and grants coming, okay?
Erly, I think with your commitment and dedication, plus the support of the very able Jinki and Wein, TNT will continue to grow, cover more ground, and increase its frequency. Eventually to become a daily, eh, Chris, what with the backing of management.
Rex, I'll have to salute you for the ardor and loyalty that contributed to make PN what it is today. Without fear or favor as the expression goes, I'd like to reiterate here: Keep up the good work. To Hazel, 'Tita Julie' hopes she'll bump into something she can be passionate about, reaching the emotional height that would make it burst into words and find space in your magazine.
And hey, what's that about the journalist's mandate? 'To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.' Whatever, wherever, and whenever the latter does the afflicting on the rest of us travelers on planet Earth - my two cents' worth will be coming your way from across the ocean. Feelings will get ruffled as we splash the negative; but what the heck, for as long as doing so would bring about the positive in our lives.
In closing, I'd like to retrieve what I wrote about my father 'who wished for me to throw in a nugget of wisdom in things I write. What father meant was to abide by the dictates of conscience in putting words into print. Henceforth, in my own small way, make a difference through writing- onward a one-way street without detours and always for the better.'
From the other side of the globe, write I will. Once more I say, Promise. When a slice from the wholeness of our human existence cries out for a statement, ours is but to try to flesh it out with much thought, consideration, and understanding among the many virtues of journalism. Meanwhile, how does it go in The Sound of Music? So long, farewell... I hate to go and leave this pretty sight... Adieu to yieu and yieu and yieu...
(Comments to lagoc@hargray.com)