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We have received many inquiries from our readers on who their angels are… we advise them to be patient as we will list them here as they appear in our calendar. So we begin again with the angels for those born starting Feb. 10 to the 14th. Their prince archangel is Gabriel (until March 20) and their angel is Damabiah.
Damabiah rules over oceans, rivers, maritime voyages, fishing, sailing and waters. He also protects against evil and bad spells and grants his charges wisdom, meaning love and kindness. They might travel a long way which will lead to their great discovery of a treasure, and this travel can be either physical or spiritual.
For those born Feb. 15 to the 19th, it is Manakel, who governs vegetation and aquatic animals. He is said to influence sleep and dreams and helps cure what is bad.
This family is closest to humans and Manakel understands the weaknesses of his charges or proteges. But he helps them improve themselves, to be kinder and more amiable if they need to be. They will then make good and just decisions. They also have pleasant manners and can gain friends easily, even among influential people. They are also ingenious, supportive and reliable and practical-minded.
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The candidates are off and running and so we say to them in all sincerity, Godspeed! Please remember us little folks who will inherit what you sow during election time. To all voters, think, pray, pray again before you commit your vote. The Pastoral Letter of the CBCP last Sunday urged voters to learn about the candidates and their platforms. And then to be active in informing others what you know and to volunteer for voters’ education programs in your parishes.
Finally, vote. Don’t waste your vote!
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The bird flu is no joke. So killing those love birds which arrived from Holland but made a stopover in infected. Bangkok, while lamentable for the birds, was necessary. The shipment should not even have been allowed to be unloaded.
Now that bird flu has also been traced to the United States, our Agriculture authorities should not pussyfoot with our country’s importations from there. For it is true that there are several big importers of American and Canadian chicken (cheaper even than our locals) which fast food chains like McDonald’s, Jollibee, Kenny Rogers, etc. use.
Maybe they should tell us now where they source their chickens!
Big supermarket chains also get from these big dealers because it is easier for them to source their poultry supply from them than import it themselves. Those smuggled vans of poultry which slipped through the Customs in Batangas were consigned to one such big importer. What happened to that investigation, by the way? Were the chickens in those vans free from bird flu?
Our local supply remains safe until proven otherwise. No case of bird flu has been detected among local chickens, DOH Secretary Manuel Dayrit and Agriculture secretary City Lorenzo stress. So if you still insist on eating chicken while the bird flu rages in Vietnam, China, Thailand, Japan, Korea and the US, make sure it is a locally-grown chicken. This time, nationalistic chicken users and eaters have the edge!
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Our belated sympathies to cardiologist Dr. Greg Patacsil and his children on the death of Norma, his wife last week… and also to the family of Calamba matriarch, Papal Awardee Doña Rita Cordova Mejia.
We were able to convey our condolences to the family when we motored to Pansol where the Mejias run a hotsprings resort. The sprawling resort with different facilities like cabanas, a reception hall for weddings and seminars, cottages, two-story townhomes with their own private pools and the like.
That was also a chance to have a reunion with old friend Tony Berango, one of Doña Rita’s sons-in-law, who arrived from the California with his wife, nurse Cecilia and their son Jojo. Tony is from Bacacay, Bicol but now, thanks to his second home in Biñan where he and Cecile brought up their children before they migrated, he speaks and writes in fluent and poetic Pilipino. In fact, he has several books on his favorite national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal in verse-form yet!
Tony is a super-patriot who spends his own hard-earned money to propagate the ideals of Rizal in Los Angeles and in his native Bicol. He sponsors essay contests among the youth in his hometown every December and is looking for a local publisher for his books on Rizal. He retains his Pilipino citizenship and comes home as often as he can.
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We also met Tony’s siblings who motored all the way from the Bicol region to pay their respects to the Grand Old Lady of Calamba. They were Hilario or Pito, a Spanish teacher who made us wish we had him for our teacher when we were in college. Etoy or Nestor, Ely who is the former mayor of Bacacay, Bernardita, Margie, Sosita, Prospero who is with the Bureau of Customs and Sonny.
The late Doña Rita was an educator, religious, civic and community leader in her prime and a philatrophist. She is survived by her children, Cecile, Aurelio Jr., Dr. Mario, Lucina Ginete, Nilo, Don, Benilda Rivera, Alfonso and Ramon.
