A walk with Mark

By Emmanuelle

One stood awed with the father; one gaped in wonder at the mother. When heaven showered gifts of “business acumen” and “sculpted form”, the couple as babies must have been exposed out there in the open all day long and overnight, pores bared to the sky.

With this their eldest son, when heaven rained, it poured. And poured.

His height towers over others but he bends down to you with a knight’s sweeping dash. Next, he zooms-in those eyes with the naughty glint straight into your eyes. You simply stagger back startled, utterly enthralled. When he grins that lopsided smile, wala na, consider yourself disarmed – the young, the old and the bold amazon.

And I haven’t gone yet into a discussion of his true charm – the inquisitiveness of the ever-young, the ever-daring and the always brave. 

How did his vote go when the Lower House lowered itself in the eyes of the nation and the world? Wherever which way his vote went, his constituents would have adored or forgiven him just the same. You see, when the honorable gentlemen and ladies made “pagpag” of the crumbled cookies from their shirts or their skirts, this gentleman from the fifth district of Pangasinan was right in the midst of preparations for what he optimistically termed as the “century challenge”.

The challenge? In three (3) days, from December 13 to 15, Congressman Mark O. Cojuanco, son of Danding and Gretchen, would dare to attempt to walk through the “kabuuang haba at lapad” of the eight towns and one city of his district – from Bautista through Alcala, Sto. Tomas, Villasis, Urdaneta, Binalonan, Laoac, Pozorrubio to Sison.

A walk for a cause – to initially establish the Educators’ Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, that local and foreign scholarships may be made more readily available to deserving teachers of the district “para maitaas ang antas ng kanilang kaalaman at edukasyon.”

The walk also aims to make the public realize the importance of having said qualified teachers handle the education of the young. And to ask for the public’s support and sponsorship that these educators may maximize “electronic connectivity” to share with others the fruits of their research, their particular specialties and experiences.  

Tough orders; tough expectations. But tough, too, is Mark.

From dawn to beyond dusk of the first two days, he set the pace. Because of his long legs, his stride was one-and-a-half to twice that of the average-height Filipino male or female. Most of the walkers had very average heights. They had to brisk-walk, fast-jog, or practically run after him and the lead pack. He also took the path less traveled; meaning, not the smoothly-paved highway, but rather the Barangay roads which the congressman had funded and constructed following the required width to accommodate two-way traffic. Sometimes stray pebbles cut through one’s rubber soles, its tops or sidings rubbing slight irritations to full-blown sores. Sweat dripped-dropped, bones creaked, muscles twitched. Everything ached, from sun-burnt forehead to ingrown-toes.

One drinks little or one had to seek out a wayside privy. One eats little, just for that spurt of energy to catch up with Mark’s hunched, determined figure way up ahead.

On the third day, he limped. All limped. Water was not down thirsty throats; it bulged within big, big sores, inside those awful, awful shoes.

Well, other than the above, it was fun though.

The mayors and the SBs, the uniformed mga Punong-Barangay, the principals, teachers, the kids and their parents – they cheered us in the schools. We cheered, too, whenever we get near the schools. The schools were the “recess subjects” of our walk – there, we rest.

 I look forward for another walk with Mark. Not to worry, Kimi. It will be all too public – with the people of the eight towns and one city of the fifth district of Pangasinan -watching, walking.

 

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/feelings/)

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