Angelito “Jett” Reyes (Photo by Sandee S. Masigan)

“In tough times, Lord,
let me stay motivated and calm,
Let me look how far I have come,
Rather than how far I have to go.
Let me continue to
count my blessings…
Not what I have been missing.
May every day bring new
chances to grow
New beautiful things to see,
New plans to do,
New goals to pursue.
And every new day
Is God’s miracle day!”
--Dr. LorinaCabaluna

It’s Palm Sunday  dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and  Holy Week starts on Monday. Let all believers commemorate Jesus Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem with palms at our masses on Sunday.  But let’s also put our final preparations for the coming Passion and Death of Our Lord.

There is still time to fast, make sacrifices and share with the less fortunate, forgive those who have done us wrong as we sincerely ask for His forgiveness. A  live telecast over NBN 4 of the Mission Angels Family Recollection at the Meralco theatre (thanks to Mission Angels’ president Manolo Lopez and his wife,  Maritess) from 9 a.m.  to l p.m. will enable homebound folks to tune in to the annual retreat led Fr. Jerry Orbos, SVD, the spiritual director of the MA.  Sharers will be broadcaster Ted Failon, couple Don and Ogie Alviar, and guest speaker Fr. Orly Sapuay, MS.

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Now for another “Kalbaryo” for the coming Holy Week and thoughts on how to prevent creative cheating during the May elections, Angelito “Jette” Reyes, who has been proclaimed the rightful representative of Taguig by the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal or the HRET (but is still awaiting Comelec go-ahead to assume the seat), is waging a campaign to  bring back the rule of law in his city.

Being declared the rightful representative of Taguig last February was indeed a big moral  victory for him although late in the day, if you consider how many weeks he can be congressman, if at all! However, the  34-year-old spunky, straight-talking former equities manager of a multi-national bank before he decided to serve, wants to restore the rule of law in his city.

When he ran in 2007 against incumbent (and still-seating Henry Duenas despite the HRET decision), he had a vision of a truly progressive Taguig, not only of that parcel of high-rise buildings and commercial hubs, “The Global City.”

This coming Holy Week, while the passion plays and “padasals” are going on, Jett will be praying that his fellow Taguigenos will see his battle for a new mandate in May as their own battle for their beloved city.

At our session in "Bulong Pulungan sa Sofitel," he showed us the print-out of the Comelec registration list of voters, which when you scrutinize it closely, will show double registrants, dozens and dozens of voters supposedly residing in the same address (only in Taguig, Davao City, and other hot spots!) and 621 “voters” over a hundred years old.

There are also 34, 378 voters with questionable addresses, some 3,659 names used more than once and other anomalies. Reyes admits that only a thorough cleaning of the voters list or a re-registration can rid the Taguig list of the dead, the “double” and the “triples” and the “floaters” with no addresses, and so on.

Reyes is optimistic  that concerned citizens like him will be vigilant this May 10 against cheating at the polls.

Being the son of a cabinet member (Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes) has not helped him much in his political battle, Jett told us. He is not part of the ruling party which supported Duenas in 2007 and now Mayor Freddie Tinga against him in May. And, his father has not lifted a finger for his cause nor is  he  expected to, by Jett who is running under a local party he helped form, the Lingkod Taguig. He and his four other brothers grew up in a household where integrity and honesty were guideposts of the patriarch of the family.

We wish Jett all the luck in his uphill battle especially on May 10.

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Still on another front, have you noticed how informercials rule the airwaves (TV and radio) with their promises of flattened abs, white skin that glow, bigger bust sizes, shapely bodies, added inches to your height,  more hair if you buy this and that product? It amuses me no end to watch these informercials but then they can get to be irritating when they go on and on during the day and night. They appeal to our egos and innate vanity and yes, they can be effective.

My gardener Dodong is one such “victim” of skin  whitener creams. One day I noted how reddened and raw his  face was. The culprit? He had put a cream that he promised a creamy white complexion but he didn’t read the fine print that warned of "no sun exposure" for at least a week! Fortunately for him , after two weeks, his skin healed. Was he whiter? Not so but wiser at least because the cream contained some retinoic acid that could, when exposed to the sun, literally peel off his skin!

Now on height – we Pinoys are generally shorter than our Caucasian brothers and sister and aside from skin whiteners, growth-inducing products rank second in popularity. Most haven’t passed BFAD  standards and some people have resorted to all sorts of gimmicks to gain additional inches to their height, forgetting that height is determined by the interaction of genes and environment, plenty of sleep,  and good nutrition.

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In the quiet and peace of the Holy Week, reflect on how to optimize your child or “apos” growth potential while watching informercials.Check with your pediatrician as to how much calcium he needs or how much protein to attain his growth target?

Happily, Abbott’s Nutrition’s Grow 3+ takes the guesswork out and supplies 24 nutrients that any child needs. If the child does not grow to be a six-footer, you can console him with stories of achievements of short men and women, like Napoleon Bonaparte and  our own Dr. Jose P. Rizal.

A blessed Holy Week to all!