Hi, Sir!
Yah, I remember you from Yahoo...the former youth leader of Panglao, right?
Indeed, I am very happy that Mama Wincie has taken on her interest / cultural inclination even if I know how busy she is with work there...
Papa Rep is here in Tagbilaran City. My husband Jerome and I convinced Mama Wincie to bring him home from New York (after episodes in the hospital and nursing homes) during that time Lola Pining (his mother-in-law, Mama's mother) died in January 2006 so he could see her for the last time. After all, they/ we have live together for so many years, more than the time Papa Rep stayed with his parents. I have lived with my maternal grandmother for almost 36 years. The 34 years of that she spent in total darkness due to glaucoma. When my US immigration notice came in 2003, she told me that I cannot leave the country kung buhi pa siya. Now that she's gone and my sick father is here, feeling nako geriatric ward na kaha jud mi. Inspite of that, I am just so blessed and thankful to have a very loving, caring and considerate husband, Honey Jerome from Siquijor, who is so supportive where it concerns care for Lola Pining and Papa Rep. Now I feel that I must have done something good in this lifetime (or in my past life probably) to deserve such a good husband. There's no price tag on that.
Papa Rep is sick, cannot really move his legs and feels he cannot walk due to diabetes, arthritis, etc. He had stroke (twice already) but was lucky to have survived without being paralyzed or without being dependent on insulin (mahal bya jud kaayo ang mga tambal karon). Sorry, I cannot give you the exact medical description. I consider myself a stranger in that department. I must say, though, that compared to the time he was in the States when he took 8 kinds of medicines everyday, he is better off here in the Philippines, although at times he likes to recall and talk about the time he was mayor and how he encountered unscrupulous and corrupt officials in government (samukan na jud kaayo mi maminaw kay balik-balik, but I believe there's truth to his accounts)who, in my younger days, I looked up to as models. Pathetic! When I was ten years old, I was up on stage campaiging for my father when he aspired for the mayoralty position in Panglao long before or a year before Kris Aquino did her much-publicized act to campaign for Ninoy Aquino (1970 man ko, si KA 1971). What i mean is, it's so frustrating to think that those government officials I've looked up to before have skeletons in the closet - they have enriched themselves using the people's money... Our family even made a major sacrifice nga wa mi nag-balay even if we have acquired the building materials by installment or "hulog-hulogan" when he was still working in the bank owned by the Laurels in Cebu. Tungod sa kadugay, naabtan na nuon na mayor si Papa and he had to give up that major position in the bank para lang mag-"mayor" after he was persuaded by LoloTio. g***!!! I still can remember we were the "poorest "First Family" in Bohol during that time. In Papa's 6-year term, I can only count with the fingers of my left hand the time we appeared in official functions kay mauwaw mi kay "pobre" ra mi... Worst, because dili na moabot namo ang sweldo ni Papa kay nahurot na kay daghan mangayo - a big factor for a domestic squabble. Pila ra god pod intawn and sweldo ni Papa as mayor? Wa intawn mi laing gisaligan except si Mama. Papa was not the kind of mayor nga daghang negosyo man god - kakha-tuka ra bya jud pod mi. To save her sanity, Mama Wincie, aside from keeping the family together in Tagbilaran (while Papa was in Panglao) put her energy into her PE teaching profession at Bohol National High School and artistic passion as founder of the Bukang Liwayway Dance Troupe. We hated politics! We still do... The only "sakyanan" that we had then was a "second-hand" Willis jeep which my parents bought with the P48,000 that Mama won in the Sweepstakes. In all those 6 years with Papa entwined in Panglao politics, I can just count the times naka-gamit mi sa jeep because tua sa Panglao kay gikargahan og masakiton nga gihatod sa hospital or other concerns sa "servicio publico." Sa September 8, 2004 pa intawon mibarog ang bag-ong bay nga gipatukod ni Mama, which is a work in progress up to now. Mao nang nagpakabuktot intawn si Mama og trabaho sa America because of the house that our family greatly deserves - HONEST MONEY RA JUD TAWN NA - dili kinorupt ..At least, ang among pamilya wa'y angay ikauwaw sa mga tawo sa Panglao. If there were times that na-introduce ko as daughter of former Panglao mayor, it was during one of those times na judge na ko og contests upon invitation of Ma'am Nila and Sir Ondo Montero and Mayor Dumaluan. Allow me also to clarify that contrary to reports from some quarters in Panglao, "I am not a balimbing kay kinakontrahan jud na nako. Just because I was a judge during a different administration and an emcee in the inauguration of another administration doesn't mean balimbing ko. I just want to help in my own simple way - through culture and arts and NOBODY can ever take that away from me... Bisag hatagan pa ko'g kwarta para paliton along principio, dili nako ibaligya akong dignidad. Pobre ka mi but duha mi hugot nga principio sa mong pamilya - thanks to Papa Rep and Mama Wincie for that.
...In June 2004 when I was invited to be the lady of ceremonies of the separate oath-taking ceremonies of the group of a splintered group in the Sangguniang Bayan, this "HALANGDON" approached me and told me "DAY, INGNA IMONG PAPA NGA PA-ANDAMON OG KWARTA PARA MOLANSAD KA'G COUNCILOR (SA PANGLAO)." I answered him, "I don't have to be a politician to help people." He said "Lahi ra man jud, Day, (kung politiko ka)." In my mind, I was raring to tell him "Honestly, Sir, I don't need to run or to be in politics to be popular, if that's what motivate people to enter politics - the so-called popularity, fame, what have you... Aside from that, wa ko'y kwarta nga ipamudmud para ipamalit og boto sa mga tawo nga haguka og baruganan nga nagbaligya sa ilang kaugmaon" Pero, I didn't want to be impolite to that "HONORABLE" public official that's why I chose not to blurt everything out. PERO GRABE JUD KAAYO TO'NG INSULTO SA AKONG PAGKATAWO ANG IYANG GIPAMULONG.
Sorry, I've gone out of context, Sir. I must admit I am so emotional about politics - such a "dirty" game. Kung naa pa'y word nga molabaw sa "dirty," mao na na...I am just reminder because of the recent turn-out of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections here in the local scene. The public is supposed to have the liverty to choose their leaders, but the real scenario is, DILI NA PINILIAY BUT PINALITAY NGA GARAPAL. NO wonder the Philippines is going down the drain.
Anyway, ani lang ko kutob kay taas na kaayo akong litaniya...Nakapahungaw ko after a long time, bisag dili tanan... at least, di na ko magkondenar...
Thanks for remembering my father.
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