"To All Filipinos"

My Fellow Filipinos,

When I was small, the Philippine peso was P2 to the $dollar . The president was Diosdado Macapagal . Life was simple. Life was easy. My father was a farmer. My mother kept a small sari-sari store where our neighbors bought sang-perang asin, sang-perang bagoong, sang-perang suka, sang-perang toyo at pahinging isang butil na bawang. Our backyard had kamatis, kalabasa, talong, ampalaya, upo, batao, and okra. Our silong had chicken. We had a pig, dog & cat. And of course, we lived on the farm. During rainy season, my father caught frogs at night which my mother made into batute (stuffed frog), or just plain fried. During the day, he caught hito and dalag from his rice paddies, which he would usually inihaw. During dry season, we relied on the chickens, vegetables, bangus, tuyo, and tinapa. Every now and then, there was pork and beef from the town market. Life was so peaceful , so quiet, no electricity, no TV. Just the radio for Tia Dely, Roman Rapido, Tawag ng Tanghalan and Tang-tarang-tang. And who can forget Leila Benitez on Darigold Jamboree? On weekends, I played with my neighbours (who were all my cousins). Tumbang-preso, taguan, piko, luksong lubid, patintero, at iba pa. I don't know about you, but I miss those days.
These days, we face the TV, Internet, e-mail, newspaper, magazine,grocery catalog, or drive around. The peso is a staggering and incredible P40 to the $dollar. Most people can't have fun anymore. Life has become a battle. We live to work. Work to live. Life is not easy. I was in Saudi Arabia in 1983. It was lonely, difficult, & scary . It didn't matter if you were a man or a woman. You were a target for rape. The salary was cheap & the vacation far between. If the boss didn't want you to go on holiday, you didn't. They had your passport. Oh, and the agency charged you almost 4months of your salary (which, if you had to borrow on a "20% per month arrangement" meant your first year's pay was all gone before you even earned it). The Philippines used to be one of the most important countries in Asia . Before & during my college days, many students from neighboring Asian countries like Malaysia , Indonesia , Japan and China went to the Philippines to get their diplomas. Like Thailand , they went to study agricultures in UP Los Banos and earned their bachelors in the Phils and now we imports rice from them. It's opposite now. Philippines used to be the exporter of any agriculture products but now it's different. We imports because not much land (farms) they can cultivate due to private sectors who focused on developing houses, buildings, supermarkets, mall and others. What happened now? What's the government doing? Checking their own pocket, their own personal interest and pork barrels. Wow!

Until 1972,like President Macapagal, President Marcos was one of the most admired presidents of the world. The Peso had kept its value of P7 to the $dollar until I finished college . Today, the Philippines is famous as the "housemaid" capital of the world. It ranks very high as the "cheapest labor" capital of the world, too. We have maids in Hong Kong , laborers in Saudi Arabia , dancers in Japan ,migrants and TNTs in Australia and the US , and all sorts of other "tricky" jobs in other parts of the globe. Quo Vadis, Pinoy? Is that a wonder or a worry? Are you proud to be a Filipino, or does it even matter anymore? When you see the Filipino flag and hear the Pambansang Awit, do you feel a sense of pride or a sense of defeat & uncertainty? If only things could change for the better....... Hang on for this is a job for Superman. Or whom do you call? Ghostbusters. Joke. Right?

This is one of our problems.

We say "I love the Philippines ... I am proud to be a Filipino."

When I send you a joke, you send it to everyone in your address book even if it kills the Internet. But when I send you a note on how to save our country & ask you to forward it, what do you do?

You chuck it in the bin.

I want to help the maids in Hong Kong .. I want to help the laborers in Saudi Arabia ... I want to help the dancers in Japan ... I want to help the TNTs in America and Australia ...

I want to save the people of the Philippines ... But I cannot do it alone. I need your help and everyone else's.

So please forward this e-mail to your friends. If you say you love the Philippines , prove it. And if you don't agree with me, say something anyway. Indifference is a crime on its own .

Juan Delacruz

"A Very Inspiring Story"...about 2 filipino children

Written last November 2006. I thought of sharing this with the rest. :)

I was on my way home today when I noticed two children sleeping on the streetside while people pass them by. They were clad in ragged clothes,sharing a worn-out small blanket covering them as they soundly slept on a cardboard.The little girl and presumably her younger brotherlooked tired and oblivious to the surrounding. Even the heat of the sun. People who passed them by watched - most probably shared on common emotion at the sight: Pity.

Yet not one ever bothered to stop.I was tempted to walk away and go straight home because I was so sleepyand hungry yet but I thought that it couldn't hurt to take a closer look.Out of the blue, I just found myself bending on my kneesto wake them up to ask if they're okay. A lady who was probably one of the students in a nearby university bent beside me to look too.The little girl sat up, shaking the little boy beside her lightly. I asked where their parents are and she said that her mom died and they don't know where their father was.

The young woman beside me asked them who'staking care of them and the child said that their grandmother has been taking care of them but they couldn't get home because they had no transportation fare - the profit from the bananas that they sold did not suffice. Fortunately enough, she does know where her grandma is at.We told them to get up because we're bringing them to Jollibee (it's a fastfood restau Filipino version of McDonald's).

The children literally beamed. Every child wants Jollibee afterall!"This is going to be the first time that we'll eat here," the little girl said enthusiastically.You can never imagine how that statement touched me. I looked at Helena and she smiled back - perhaps equally touched as I was.We got the two children a hearty meal of chicken, spaghetti, mango pies and a chocomilk. Helena and I got ourselves some pancakes and corned beef.The kids grabbed the food in a heartbeat and I wondered when was the last time that they actually had a decent meal.

It made me tell myself onceagain that I should count my blessings.Helena, apparently, is a working student who came from a modest background that's why the sight of the two children sleeping on the streets had completely bothered her. She said that her family once went on days without eating rice -just cooking the leafy vegetables in their farm backyard until it wasn't enough.For me, the sight of these two children, hungryand lying in that cold cement was beyond pity. It was the thought that God gifted us with a sense of compassion for others as a beginning. How many of us feel compassion towards a homeless person...yet merely shaking our heads? Why not act upon that very essential emotion that God endowed us with?Our compassion for others remains useless if we merely settle at feeling the emotion, not acting on it.

No one is too broke or too weak to help another, afterall.Helena was strengthened by her experiences having given her the very essential empathy.She understood what these children felt because she experienced it herself. Amazing how our God works? Some of us might not understand why trials befall us...why some us need to go hungry...why some of usneed to be sick. Sometimes, we fail to realize that these obstacles are meant to turn us into better individuals - stronger, wiser, and more appreciative of what we have...eventually helping us understand the way to heaven."This tastes sooo good," the little boy smiled up at us."Because Jesus loves you," I smiled back, "

What is your name, little one?""Gabriel," he hesitated. Gabriel,
although he pronounced it as GAb-reyel.An angel.

The little girl's name is Joanna.Reminds me of Joan of Arc. ;)
Joanna is eight and the Gabriel, five.

When we finished eating, Helena volunteered to take the children home. We got them some take-outs to bring home and a small amount which I know would not suffice forever, but would help them now and today. I told Helena that I was so blessed to have met her...and she told me that she knows she'll see me again soon.I took a ride back home. A feeling of warmth washed over me. Today alone, I met not one, but three angels. I can't wait for tomorrow.I'll remember to include this in one of the bedtime stories that I will share with my children one day.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Compassion is a gift but it will be heaven if it is only a beginning."