Just PINK Happy Thoughts and You’ll fly!

Gasp. Gulp. Gush. 

I had no words for the way the Cheerleaders for Leni/Kiko flew up in the sky during the proclamation rally of the Leni/Kiko Team in Quezon City. Like birds, they soared, and how! 

With mouth agape, I gazed in awe at my computer monitor, remembering the Peter Pan of my youth whose words always make me smile, “Just think happy thoughts and you’ll fly.” 

When I came to, I mused, These kids must be PINKing happy thoughts. Peering closely, my eyes seemed to have glimpsed my niece Dazha among them. She used to be the only reason I'd watch the UAAP Opening Season, where her school’s cheerdance team won the grand prize many times in a row. 

Nah, that was sometime ago, I thought. Dazha has since carved a name for herself at Disneyland and now as a dance instructor. 

But indeed it was Dazha!  She, with 25 other cheerdancers (past and current) from different universities, who used to be fierce competitors, formed the Cheerleaders for Leni. 

“We’re now more than 100 in NCR, Tita,” Dazha said when I finally had a chance to message her. “But there are many, many more all over the country!” 

Gasp. Gulp. Gush. 

“And in addition to Cheerleaders for Leni, there are other groups: Dancers for Leni, Life Events for Leni . . .” 

It was all too much to fathom. But when she uploaded to her FB page a video of about 150 volunteer dancers (hip-hop, ballet, cheer, jazz, contemporary, ballroom) produced by Life Events for Leni and Film Makers for Leni, I was totally  blown away. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQogkw0LDrk

However, the coup de grace that slayed and slew me was the cast of characters; it has no star billing. Every name is written with the same font size. But one name leaped at me: 

Lisa Macuja-Elizalde, a prima Ballerina, who became the first foreign soloist to ever join the Kirov Ballet; Artistic Director and CEO of Ballet Manila; and was the Vice-Chairman of the Philippine UNESCO National Commission.

Such is what’s making this campaign fly. Volunteers ask no favors, no rewards, no special treatment. Like Dazha and all the participants in this magnum opus of a video, we volunteer and PINK happy thoughts for a better tomorrow.  

Without a doubt,  

#SaGobyernongTapatAngatBuhayLahat 

(Under an honest and competent government, everyone will have a better life.)

“Always be joyful.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16 NLT 

Photo credits: All borrowed from the Net

PINK Murals on Good Morals

When even a famous master artist like Lydia Velasco takes to the streets and joins people of all ages and social strata in painting murals on community and private walls—under the heat of the sun—you know something sublime is simmering.  

PINK is at work.  

It’s the campaign for good and honest governance for a rosy tomorrow (transliteration of VP Leni’s tagline: Kulay rosas ang bukas). 

Painting murals (done and financed by volunteers) on the beauty of a better future if we had VP Leni at the helm, began with the presidential campaign in October. But it accelerated to a feverish speed when in Echague, Isabela, COMELEC personnel—abetted by men in uniform—painted white over a VP Leni’s team mural, painstakingly done by youth volunteers for days on a private wall! 

They claimed it was a part of the COMELEC’s directive to take down campaign materials that violated specified sizes. Immediately after that infamous white paint-over, VP Leni’s campaign volunteers painted the wall again. This time with plain PINK, a statement more eloquent than images and words.  

Many of VP Leni’s posters were also taken down in that northern province, which is reportedly the bailiwick of Marcos Jr., VP Leni’s rival. As more posters were taken down elsewhere, and after one other wall in Las Pinas City was painted over by unidentified men during a Marcos Jr. rally, mural painting went on overdrive! 

Men, women, and children all over the country now continue to paint PINK murals. These images of grace (there are many, many more on the Internet or un-uploaded ones) have but one message: An honest government brings about better lives for all.  

“Truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed.” (Proverbs 12:19 NLT) 

Photo credits: All photos are borrowed from the Net. 

Picture perfect: PINK Worth a Thousand Words

The lighting is flat; the composition is chaotic; the colors are washed out; the texture is uneven; and the subject is defocused.  

Perfect.  

This picture says all that I could not put accurately in words. It demonstrates all the reasons why I chose VP Leni for my president.  Based on her sterling track record, I believe she will bring our country to where it should be—a well-run home Filipinos deserve. 

This happened on her way to a rally in Cavite, where an estimated crowd of 47,000 people awaited her. But the political kingpins, who have ruled that place for years and are  supporting another candidate, put up roadblocks (literally and figuratively). According to news reports, the air waves were jammed,  posters were torn down, bus rentals were banned, road repairs suddenly surfaced, and many routes to the venue were closed. 

Result: monumental traffic jam! 

After getting stuck in the gridlock for more than four hours, VP Leni decided to hitch a ride on the back of a motorcycle. It was something nobody expected. It happened so fast that cameras were outraced to document it well. 

“A political gimmick!” her bashers chorused. Indeed, why would a person in her position even think of it? But look! Pictures, like grace, write more words that we can craft. 

She is not a stranger to motorcycle in all her years lawyering at the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) and later at SALIGAN, an NGO, where she defended the poor and the helpless to ensure their free access to the courts. She had gone and will go to places in/on any transportation available to ordinary people (bus, tricyle, cart, boat, jeepney) where she is needed, whatever it takes, rain or shine. 

A few weeks later, we read on the news again that she visited a miniscule community on an island politicians ignore—this time on a cramped boat!   

So this is not about riding a motrocycle in that place where she is a persona non grata; it is about having the heart to serve and serve well, even if it means going to danger zones. It is about being a courageous servant leader, a rarity these modern days.  

The servant-leadership theory in workplaces is defined as “focusing on your staff’s growth and well-being, and putting their needs first. Instead of you being served, you serve them.” 

That’s what these pictures paint so vividly for those who attend her mammoth rallies. It is why the color of hope, PINK, which her supporters chose as her campaign color, is worth a thousand words.  

“ . . . Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:43-45 NLT)

Photo credits: Thank you to all those who posted these photos online.  

Volunteerism: Phenomenal Passion for PINK

For six months now, I have been what my late mom would tut-tut at, "social butterfly," but which is my polar opposite. I have always shunned big gatherings, preferring meet-ups with close friends, family, and peers. I am content staying home writing, reading, musing, and solving crossword puzzles. 

But in October, the beginning of the presidential campaign, I metamophosed into a flitter.    

On social media, I joined and continue to join ad hoc chat groups (more aptly called work groups because we work and not chat) with past friends, from my childhood up to the workpace that I left years ago. This is not to mention current friends with whom I share the same values, and many new friends whom I will probably never meet in my life.  

Technology and our passion for PINK, premised on hope for good and honest governance, transformed me, and them! 

This PINK phenomenon has a name: volunteerism.  

As a former advertising creative director, I had worked with many art directors, who are now again my partners in creating ads. The same is true with many former peers and younger admen today. 

Tony and I distribute tarps (and pink parol last Christmas); veteran and amateur producers of competing ad agencies are combining their resources (talents, musicians, lyricists, and singers) to shoot commercials; celebrity talents and bands perform in rallies; account executives craft strategies and timelines; artists create logos, images, and memes. 

Nobody calls the shots, but everyone (of diverse ages!) is in sync. 

Unlike in the workplace where feuding egos derail work, in this campaign, egos are extinct. Nobody cares for credit or glory. Nobody counts the cost. 

Meanwhile, this same passion is ablaze among people on the ground: lugawan, putohan, pansitan, and community pantries; free transportation; printing and designing of tarps, leaflets, comics, and other materials; prettifying walls by painting murals; posting gripping photos and stories; uploading testimonies of eureka moments in print and on video; donating cash and whatever is needed; and many more. 

Often, I grab images on social media and ask to whom I may credit them. Nobody replies. Meaning, for kakampink (pink army for VP Leni’s team), it’s grab all you want. “We are all in this together.” Like me, many or all of the kakampink, have never volunteered in any political campaign before.  

That’s why we were enraged when Governor Remulla of Cavite accused VP Leni’s team of paying us to attend rallies. Not only was it an irresponsible statement, it was an insult to the essence of volunteerism, a burgeoning virtue never seen in such magnitude till today.  

My eyes well up just writing about this unlikely pro-bono collaborations (there are gazillions more, but space limits me). And I am not alone.  Members of my work groups ask, “Why am I so weepy these days?”

If my Mom were still around today, she'd most likely change "social butterfly" to "firefly" (light in the dark). 

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:10 NIV)

Papa God

Aside from the names of God in the Bible (Yahweh, Jehovah, El Shaddai,  Abba, etc.),  people sometimes stick to a nickname to keep Him close. 

A lady named Krista calls the Lord “Papa God.” She addresses Him thus in her prayers, during discussions in Bible study, and Sunday school.  

This disconcerts some of her faith brethren:   

“Yes, Abba means father, but to call the Lord of all ‘Papa God’ diminishes Him.” 

“It’s equating God to our earthly father whom we fondly call Papa.” 

“Being a father is just one of His many attributes—and to emphasize just His being a loving Father is a distorted view.”      

By consistently referring to the Lord as “Papa God,” others who hear it might be misled, limiting His attributes to their human father’s. They could miss out on the facts that: 

God is a demanding Judge. In Exodus 34:6-7 (NLT), God calls out to Moses, “’Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness . . . I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren . . . even children in the third and fourth generations.’” 

God is infinite. ". . . he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:17)  

God is Omnipotent. “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” (Psalm 33:6) 

God is our (to use today’s legal terms) Benefactor, Custodian, and Grantor:  “And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.” (Acts 20:32) 

Our CAMACOP LOGO encapsulates four of the all-encompassing attributes of an all-powerful God: 

Savior. Sanctifier. Healer. Coming King. 

Let us not be tempted to make God one-dimensional. We may have our favorite attribute of Him, but we need to worship and honor all of Him—infinite, from everlasting to everlasting.      

Photo credit: top  

Awe-inspiring: 100 PINK Poems for Leni

What is it about VP Leni that inspires 68 famous poets to write a total of 100 poems for her? 

Writer/director Floy Quintos posted on social media, "A kind of Renaissance has been brewing, have you noticed? A Renaissance of Hope." 

How did this poetry anthology happen? 

We read in the back-cover blurb of the book (published by San Anselmo Publications, Inc.), "Remarkably, the process of dissemination, submission, collation and editing took only four weeks—in time to have this collection of multilingual poetry printed and presented as a Valentine’s Day gift to Vice President Leni Robredo." 

Krip Yuson, a member of the editorial board, in his article in Philippine Star, wrote, “. . . the oldest contributor is 87-year-old Luis Cabalquinto, a New York-based oragon from Camarines Sur; the youngest is 17-year-old Yñigo Miguel Almeda, a biology freshman from Ateneo de Manila University.” 

The very young and the very old are of one mind when it comes to VP Leni!

Let me quote parts of what Executive Producer Marvin Aceron said that touched my core:  

". . . poetry is also the repository of our collective memory. Thus, the long term value of this book is that, many years from now, people will remember that this country was hit by the 2020 pandemic with a terrible president at the helm, and there was this lady who inspired us and took on this daunting task of putting our country back in order with the right political values . . .  

“Over time, politics will deteriorate again and people will forget. But people may relive this time of our lives. All they need to do is to open this book and be delighted and inspired again by the 67 poets, their 100 poems, and their muse, the lady in pink."

Grace appears in all colors; with this book, it came in PINK. 

I ordered copies for me and kin, but, alas, every single one has been sold out before the day was over! Kakampinks who heard about my plight immediately said they would be happy to lend me their copy. 

At least I got a peek of one page of the book—by a writer whom I have looked up to through the years. It went viral before, during, and after the launching. I tear up every single time I read it. 

Jose Dalisay explained, "I chose to write a poem from the point of view of Leni's late husband Jesse, whom I had the privilege to meet at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. I imagined what Jesse might want to say now, seeing his beloved at the forefront of a massive campaign to defeat dictatorship and restore peace and justice to our benighted country." 

Always with great humility and both feet on the ground, VP Leni exclaimed,  “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be the subject of a poem, let alone 100 of them!”   

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you . . ."  (1 Peter 5:6 ESV)

Photo credits: Top and bottom images were grabbed from the Net. 

Son, Mother: Hope for a PINK Future

When this photo (snapped by Aica Dioquino) first passed through my FB wall, I didn’t dare blink. Is this for real? 

It tugged at my heart as both a mother now and as a child then. From whichever point of view, the photo was grace beyond telling. 

I saw my young, innocent face full of joy and optimism for the future. At the same time, I glimpsed my old, lined face reaching out to the dreamer, ecouraging him, “There is hope, son. There is hope for a rosy furutre.” 

I may be waxing nostalgic and sentimental, bordering on maudlin, but these are the emotions that often visit me (sometimes they overstay) these days of feverish campaigning for our next president and team. 

In all my years as a voting citizen, I have never helped in any campaign as much as I am doing now: being a keyboard warrior (blogging, forwarding, messaging, liking, and all the “ings” you can think of when one faces the computer monitor); spending for PINK parol and tarps and giving them away; convincing individuals to help in re-sculpting  our beloved Philippines back to the good values that should always be our essence.    

These are painted in PINK words so eloquently in a POEM by Pablo Tariman, entitled “Snapshot.”  

Over five million other people (and counting) as of today, who saw this photo on their wall, are one in lauding Tariman's words, which mirror our own hope for a PINK future.  

"As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you." (Isaiah 66:13 NIV)

Sloppy, Messy handwriting

Griffonage, the new normal in this digital age among the X, Y, Z generations, is the term for careless, illegible handwriting. 

It didn’t exist in the silent generation (1925-1945) among adults. My parents had beautiful, readable handwriting, and so did their peers. 

The baby boomers (my generation) followed suit. We were taught how to write our alphabets properly in grade school—capital and small letters.  Some private schools even had subjects focused on perfecting cursive writing. In those days, you could tell who graduated from what school, based on their penmanship.  

Today, those who have never known a day without a computer, type on keyboards rather than write on paper. Without practice, handwriting becomes griffonage—sloppy and messy.  

Also today, handwriting is taught and encouraged only in grade school. Its importance has dipped rock bottom.  

It is a miracle that pharmacists can read doctors’ prescriptions!   

In my writing journey, despite the availability of digital writing gadgets, I have learned that the brain retains knowledge from handwritten scribbles, more than typed notes. Studies verify that the brain comprehends better when we commit notes to paper (perhaps because our hands are connected to our gray matter and our laptop is not?). 

Due to the glut of interesting and distracting things happening at the same time at super speed these modern times, people tend to rush things, including their writing. 

Writing by hand slows the world down. 

It helps me focus and think more thoroughly about the information I am recording. At the same time, it allows me to enjoy the grace that expands my thoughts and to form connections between them. 

According to psychologists, handwriting—because it is tedious—forces the brain to engage with the information, developing a strong conceptual and critical understanding since words are not jotted down verbatim. Therefore, the writer summarizes the information in a way that makes sense to him. 

In truth, I lapse often into griffonage because my mind thinks faster than my hand can write, but when I reread my notes, they’re crystal clear to me because my heart and soul know exactly the context upon which they were written.  

If you’re a digital fan, try writing by hand sometime.  

Walk on PINK

Jesse Robredo, VP Leni's late husband, was Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), at the time of his death in a plane crash on August 18. 

In life, Sec. Jesse was a highly-regarded, multi-awarded public servant, and an internationally recognized expert in local governance. As mayor of Naga City for 18 years, he transformed this once-lethargic city into a premier metropolis in the Bicol region (the Asia Foundation, 2012). 

Many people today remember Sec. Jesse as the leader who championed participatory governance, better known as "tsinelas leadership,” because he wore tsinelas (slippers) in public often. 

Now, VP Leni is walking in his shoes (slippers, rather) as she runs for president. 

Painting by Mark Anthony Taduran

This is no surprise. Long before the demise of Sec. Jesse, VP Leni worked to support her husband's concerns—as a legal adviser to the poor, pro-bono, and a helping hand to the marginalized (immediately during natural calamities). 

When she was elected VP, she put her office to work through her Angat Buhay (improved life) program, providing assistance for pandemic urgent needs and to disaster victims even in remote areas. These she had been able to accomplish in partnership with private enterprises who trusted her with their resources.  

Clad in PINK (the color of hope and the symbol of a rosy future), those of us who support her vision for this country walk with her. 

Like Sec. Jesse, we walk on slippers (PINK) with VP Leni, so our land will embrace hope after the May elections. 

Alas, we might have lost our way and have fallen into a filthy pit of rude language, revolting behavior, and rancid values over the last few years, but if we scramble up then walk . . . and walk . . . and walk on PINK, one step at a time by grace through faith, we will find our way again towards a governance that will listen to our voices and allow us to participate. 

"Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked." (1 John 2:6 ESV) 

Long or short?

Long hair is more difficult to manage vs. short hair.

Following the same argument, long sentences are more difficult to understand than short ones. But many of my university and MBA students think that big words and long, run-on sentences make for more impressive academic papers.

“I am not impressed with big words and long sentences,” I said, smiling kindly so as not to offend them. (Students today are more vulnerable than we ever were. A teacher has to be careful with her words or she might be accused of bullying: Republic Act No. 10627 on anti-bullying.)

“What impresses you?” one asked.

“Short sentences and short paragraphs,” I said.

“Why?”

“Because, unless we are Ernest Hemingway, who can write an impeccable sentence with over 400 words, our complicated sentences might be misunderstood by the reader—particularly the person who will grade our paper.”

And so I sit down with each one, pointing out where a sentence may be simplified. In the process, they see how a thought written in a shorter sentence becomes so clear it could be understood even by fifth grader.

In sharing the gospel, we sometimes use too many words, too, making it sound more complicated than it is. The Bible presents the good news of salvation in a simple language everybody should understand.

When Paul and Silas were preaching about Christ (Acts 16:20-32), they were imprisoned. Suddenly, a massive earthquake caused the jail door to open. The jailer panicked, thinking that his prisoners had escaped and tried to kill himself.  Paul shouted, “Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!” The jailer, trembling with fear, asked how he could be saved. Their simple reply, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” 

God’s love story need not be belabored. It is grace—short and simple that even a fifth grader can understand: God sent His Son to save us from sin and death.

How then, can we share the gospel to doubters and unbelievers in a short and simple language?