NOT JUST AN ORDINARY DAY FOR A NEGROSANON from a place WHERE ONCE, THEY SAY “ginapiko, ginapala ang kwarta.” It wasn’t your ordinary day when kids rushed to school in the wee hours of five in the morning and traffic snarled in front of the building housing our flat ( it is with a loft actually). Yesterday was to be my first day back to normalcy when meds were for maintenance rather than for emergency or “unang lunas,” a meeting of minds of people taking charge of our source of livelihood and the upkeep of what should be preserved, my own life included, the updating of records and docs that matter, and finally, of taking stock of what must be done for the remaining 11 months and 4 days to be precise. Yes, geomancers tell us that at the start of the Chinese new year come January 31, good luck and good fortune await those who were born in the year of the wooden horse. Yes Virginia, I was born under that year, not just a horse year, but a wooden one 60 years ago one bright day of the 5th of the second month of the calendar that Augustus Caesar imposed on much of the world conquered by the Roman empire. That should explain why my Aquarian trait would betray my quality as a human being, one that earned for me the reputation of being too fast for my own good (remember the horse) yet very, nay almost loyal to a fault on friendship and relationships irrespective of my self will and independence. But I am not Chinese, neither do I subscribe to astrology, their kind of foretelling the future based on the day we were born and the astral influence. Rather, I am a believer of a God who made me according to the destiny He planned for me, and of the ME spawned from the way my parents brought me up in this complicated yet still livable earth. The rest of my days have to be uplifted to the will of the ONE who made me after all, and shall come full circle on the day of my appointment to finally meet HIM. Our life is what we really make of it, misery is but a result of our defying what Jesus taught us so simply yet so hard to learn and follow. To go against the will of Our Father in heaven is misery, to follow HIM is heaven on earth. My environment during my formative years in Victorias City in the old rich province of Negros Occidental was neither ideal nor undesirable. The culture carved out of the sugar industry that made our province once the richest in the country, the feudal system that influenced public official’s elections, the seemingly green surroundings and cleaner air we breathed then, the genuine love for school and learning - these were more or less what made up the essence of my youth. That essence moved my spirit free, to search what I wanted in life, to hitch my wagons to the stars.. I lived almost 37 years of my life in the concrete jungle of Metro Manila, 23 years in Makati City, 7 years in Imus, Cavite and 6 years in Mandaluyong City and nearly a year now in Quezon City. True to its reputation, Makati City symbolized finance and glitz. I did make a fortune there. That city made me business – savvy. It gave me financial freedom. It evolved me from simplicity to complicity. It made me love the night life, sparked the ambition in me to create wealth and to secure power along the way. It made me so different from a simple lass who my grade and high school classmates knew. As my classmate Perla Apuhin (nee Sumaria) told me last year during our reunion in February last year, “I just knew Ed that you were up to something real big, an ambition by the way you thought, acted and did things.” She was right. But I wasn’t, as events turned out for me.. Our home city Victorias had this kind of air that made us search for bigger things than ordinary or mediocre. It however bordered on the thin line between arrogance and humility. That of superiority not inferiority complex, of pride that we were (still are?) special breed of people unlike others because our place was the sugar capital of the country, thus wealthy (ginapiko, ginapala ang kwarta!) It was and still is the city where the world renowned Victorias refined sugar was and is made. Until fate saw how my province almost went down on its knees economically due to sugar price slump in the world market. The “sacadas” were suddenly issues of the day, the change of fortune for some if not most hacienderos when before, top of the line cars lined their garages, each child had his/her own car, the uniformed nannies and household staff they had, the mahjong sessions, the glitzy parties, quite reminiscent of scenes (part of it) in movies depicting the booming economy of the superpower that was “mga kano.” Those were the days.. lessons learned from the economic slump were very bitter, yet, life changer. Negros Occidental, my cities Victorias and Bacolod, have now evolved into becoming the best place to live. Bacolod City is now ranked first as the Philippines most livable city. Victorias City is slowly but surely rehabilitating economically though admittedly, it will need more time to go back completely to its feet. So my day became extra-ordinary yesterday. It was made so by reminiscing the golden days of the land of my birth, and of Bacolod City, of my province – where “ginapiko, ginapala ang kwarta!” Tuesday, January 28, 2014 At home, 7:10 AM Phil. time :)
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:30:10 +0000
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