Think about it
Migs Zubiri, new hero
By Jun Velasco
“There is wickedness in the intention of wickedness, even though it be not perpetrated in the act.” — Cicero
OUR mother-in-law, former elementary school principal Rosario Gaerlan-Bernardo, died when we were about to write this column.
Also, moments ago, we were to have a cup of coffee with top newsmaker Raul Lambino at our favorite A Taste of L.A. on Roces Avenue, QC when the sad news reached us.
Dying, as we Christians know it, is a closure to a chapter in our earthly life, and opens the door to everlasting life where anguish, sadness and struggle are alien things.
A couple of weeks back, we gave a talk at a mass for our newly departed auntie, the former Paz Martinez Llamas. We said (to this effect) dying is a beautiful thing. We quoted the author of a book, “Embraced by the Light,” who documented her near-death experience. She wrote about her encounter with Jesus Christ and the angels and happy folk in heaven.
We thought she would not be fabricating anything in the book because she wrote about an intimate encounter with spiritual beings.
What she stressed was a whole lot of heavenly peace and joy anyone who dies experiences.
And so, in light of the passing of Cathy’s beloved mother, we should bid her “happy trip” with full confidence steeped in the faith that she had spent her best years as a great principal, teacher and socio civic leader in her prime. “Masing” (short for Mommy Charing”) — as we fondly call her — immediately struck us as a woman who knew what she wanted and got it. Having stayed in bed for almost three years, her entry to God’s kingdom is a fulfillment of what she had labored for through the years. She was a beloved daughter of the founder of the Philippine Independent Church in Dagupan, the late Bishop Gregorio Gaerlan, whose wife, Casimira, was an auntie of Speaker Joe de Venecia Jr.
Let’s pray for the repose of her soul!
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Founder/first president of Dagupan’s Fishpond Owners and Operators Association Alfred Dawana emailed us the following: “Jun, I read with great satisfaction your column on the efforts of Mayor Benjie Lim in “changing the face of Dagupan.”
But please allow me to say what you sorely missed — Mayor Benje’s unparalleled achievement in clearing the city’s rivers. I personally witnessed his serious and devoted efforts in the rivers clean up, dismantling the fish pens that caused fish kill in the past.
Because of his uncompromising river cleanup, the city is dramatically regaining its title as Bangus Center of the World with pardonable pride. Here in San Francisco, our kababayans cite his marine development program. Every Dagupeno should help him succeed. After all, Dagupan would not have been on the world map without its famous bangus product.
Please advise him though that while our rivers have been cleared of fishpens, some clever guys simply and recklessly threw off and dumped the used nets and bamboos beneath the river. The dirt and the poison/toxic materials left by the fish feed are still there. Extend my best regards to our beloved mayor. “
* * *
Many of our kabayan are impressed with Atty. Raul Lambino, lawyer of embattled former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, now Pampanga congresswoman.
Raul and this columnist served at one time as JdV’s chief of staff alternately. During the charter change debates a few years back, Raul and then Speaker Joe were always in the national headlines for leading the campaign for a parliamentary government. They lost, but lately, their cause is being revived with fervor because we have a very popular president, P-noy Aquino.
Our kin Mel Velasco, incoming president of the Rotary Club of Cubao West, is scratching his head over Raul’s ease in switching loyalty from FPJ to GMA, or from Joe de V to GMA, raking up the recent JdV-GMA break-up. Our view is that Raul, a lawyer, is just being a professional, with Gloria as client. It’s been pointed out though that Raul was Gloria’s senate bet in the last elections. He didn’t say it but Raul may be handling GMA on a case-to-case basis. Let’s wish him well in his chosen career as main defender of our embattled comprovinciano, GMA.
Over the phone, Raul says the administration of President Aquino is simply fanning mass hysteria against Gloria. “They can’t win in a court of law because our government is based on the rule of law which favors that which has the proof and evidence, not hearsay.” Their mode of attack is shame, ridicule, promote hate through the media, he adds.
Enters our friend, Senator Migs Zubiri of Bukidnon. Severely hurt and embarrassed by a label lunged at him by the general public as one who cheated his election as senator, Zubiri resigned his senate seat. The defining moment came when his children complained to him that their schoolmates were calling him bad names. With his resignation, Migs suddenly looked like a real winner again. You have to understand that most people love an honest man.
He will be a sure winner in the next senatorial elections, if you ask us. We remember a quote that fits Zubiri’s decision, “It’s better to suffer than prosper in falsehood.”
But turning back on a position of power on the ground that his mandate is under question instantly frees him from all liabilities. He should be emulated.
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