Shining lights

PINOY KASI


Shining lights
By Michael Tan
Inquirer
Last updated 01:41am (Mla time) 01/03/2007

MANY of the New Year greetings i got this year, through e-mail and text, were striking in the way they expressed thanks for the year gone by.

What struck me was that the thanks came more from middle- or low-income friends for whom the year had been difficult, shuttling between pawnshops and cell phone dealers to get a loan to pay tuition, medical bills, burial expenses. Yet they were the most effusive with their thanks--to God, to friends.

To express our thanks, we Filipinos like to share whatever blessings we have, so I'll be doing that: sharing some of the texted greetings that came in. But before that, I thought it important as well to do an "appreciation" for three great Filipinas, two of whom passed away just last year.

"Appreciation" is a term that's slowly replacing "obituary." I know it sounds odd to start the year with obituaries, but it's remembering, and appreciating, the legacies of loved ones and great minds that should help set us off on the right track for this new year. I intentionally chose three women for this appreciation, a way of recognizing that in spite of our very patriarchal institutions, and a patriarchal woman president, we are still a matricentric society, where women can and do trailblaze.

I want to start with Justice Cecilia Muñoz Palma, who died on Jan. 2, 2006. Her many firsts as a woman are legendary: topping the bar, becoming a public prosecutor, heading a Court of First Instance and, eventually, becoming a Supreme Court justice. She was well-known for her strong sense of fair play, holding her ground and dissenting with other justices on crucial issues. Although appointed to the Supreme Court by Ferdinand Marcos, she chose to campaign for Cory Aquino in 1986.

Today, when the Supreme Court has become, it seems, the only government institution that can stand up against an increasingly authoritarian executive branch, ironically now headed by a woman, we can only hope that the gold standard set by Justice Muñoz Palma will remain.

I never got to meet her; I only heard her speak during martial law. I was more fortunate with Dr. Estefania Aldaba-Lim, who faxed me a letter a few years ago after I wrote about Jose Rizal's "Letter to the Women of Malolos." It turned out that "Tita Fanny," as she was affectionately called, had organized a group of descendants of those courageous women. Their group was eventually able to get Dr. Nicanor Tiongson to write a book about those courageous young women of the 19th century.

I knew of Tita Fanny because she had been social welfare secretary during Marcos' time. She was responsible for transforming the department from a dole-out agency to one which sought to help the poor help themselves.

I eventually met her in person when she attended the graduation ceremony of one of her grandsons. We kept in touch sporadically and I continued to be amazed at how wide her interests, and causes were, from the Museo Pambata to Gawad Kalinga, from the rights of children to family planning.

Tita Fanny died on March 7, 2006. The last time I saw her was in December 2005, during necrological services for Dr. Alfredo Lagmay. Curiously, it was only at that service when I learned that, together with Dr. Lagmay, she was among the pioneers of psychology in the Philippines and that she was the country's first clinical psychologist. One day, we really should reconstruct the role of women in shaping the social sciences in the Philippines; certainly, Tita Fanny will figure prominently when we do such a retrospective, a prime example of how social scientists can descend from their ivory towers and get so involved in public service.

Finally, we need to remember Sr. Mariani Dimaranan, who actually passed away on Dec. 17, 2005, but because it was the middle of the holidays I didn't get around to writing about her.

I knew Sister Mariani from her work as chair of the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), set up by the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP) in 1974. She and her small band of feisty sisters were a thorn in the military's side, visiting political detainees and alerting the world to every new arrest, every new case of maltreatment, torture, disappearance. TFDP also launched livelihood projects, the political detainees producing greeting cards and handicrafts, some of which I still have today. One greeting card reads: "If you want to understand us, listen to what we're not allowed to say."

TFDP was there to pressure not just the military but also to shake the conscience of the more apathetic: the other religious, the bishops and eventually, Philippine society. Her persistence will be missed, especially as we see new arrests, assassinations and disappearances.

New Year greetings
Now to the texted New Year greetings. Last December, I mentioned that most of the Christmas texted greetings I got were in English. So when the New Year came around, it looked like my friends were more conscious about sending greetings in local languages. It was a bumper harvest of greetings, but because of space limitations, I had to choose only a few to share. Please bear with the translations; I took some liberties but, as translations go, it was impossible to capture the essence of the original.

The local language greetings were still mainly in Tagalog but Dean Zosimo Lee sent this in Waray: "An akon hingyap para ha imo ngan han imo mga pinalangga. Mabulawanon nga bago nga tuig (My wish for you and your loved ones: a truly prosperous new year)."

The Tagalog greetings were often quite eloquent. Two friends sent this: "Maulanan ang tanim sa hardin mo. Tanglawan ng bituin ang iyong gabi, at awitan ng ibon ang gising mo (May the rains nurture whatever you plant in your garden. May the stars light your nights, and may you wake to the songs of birds)."

This greeting was originally from community educator Al Santos, forwarded through a friend, Opel, now based in Belgium: "Parang mga singsing ng kawayan ang bawat taon. Tumitibay ang kahapon upang tukuran ang paglago ng bukas (Each year is like a bamboo ring, our yesterdays becoming sturdier, supporting the tomorrows that will spring forth)."

Someone should put music to this greeting: "Maghasik ng payapa, humabi ng awit at tula; magmahal, tumawa, makibaka, maglingkod sa kapwa, umasa sa katiyakan ng paglaya (Sow peace, weave songs and poems, love, laugh, struggle, serve people and hope in the certainty of liberation)!"

Somehow, English greetings are best when brief. I got a rather lengthy one talking about how important it was to light candles in the darkness, but I thought the message was best captured by the last four words in the text: "Shine bright, give light." This 2007, let's do just that, inspired by those who came ahead of us, lighting the way with their courage and commitment.