PINK Flowers Around My Heart

Two years ago, the Lord took Minna, my best cousin forever (BCF), home. I knew she was going to that eternal place where everything is beautiful, safe, and trouble-free. There, she could have endless conversations with our Saviour face-to-face.  

But her loved ones still grieved. 

I grieved, not only because I will never ever have those fun times with her again, but because she was so far away, and it was impossible for me to see her one last time to say goodbye. 

And so two years later we continue to grieve. 

“The Lord never really takes away the grief,” a dear friend, who recently lost a loved one, messaged me. “He just surrounds our heart with flowers.” 

I replied to ease his pain, “In my case, those flowers are PINK.” 

He messaged back, “Ha-ha-ha!” 

Minna would have readily caught the joke. If she were here, she'd know why I am so invested in PINK these political-campaign days, and she'd have a sharp repartee.  

Sharp. That’s one of the hundreds of adjectives I used to describe her. She was a genius in accounting, a distinguished executive in a big bank in New York, a writer and poet. In 1984, she penned this poem. 

On Earth, we all have fears on many different levels, especially when we are at the crossroads and fall into the valley. But we have been promised grace . . .  

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” (Psalm 46:1-3 NIV)

BCF, I miss you. 

PINK Plea: Vote Right for the Children

In two weeks, we will trek to the polls and vote for the officials who will lead our country in the next six years. Before we do, let us please think of our little ones. 

What the children will reap tomorrow depends on what we sow today. We need to vote right, elect role models, and leave a good place—where hard work, good values, inclusivity, and honesty are just as important as a strong economy. 

This is powerfully communicated in images by Robert Alejandro, one of the A-list artists I admire (hope to meet and thank him someday) and a kakampink (a fellow PINK volunteer), who has been producing tons of beautiful works of art for VP Leni’s team. He posts on his wall what I express in words in my books for children. 

I downloaded (all up for grabs, he said) those with children in them.  

"Why write for children?" people often ask me. I wish to help reinforce the vital values that kids learn at home, in church, and in school, or I don’t write at all. 

That’s why when artists, particularly creators for children (writers, designers, illustrators, editors, publishers, printers, musicians, translators, actors, producers, and directors), bonded together to endorse VP Leni’s Team, I wanted to be counted. 

Here is the formal endorsement of over 200 of us:  

The first paragraph of the text reads (translated from Filipino): 

"Every written story, every illustrated image, and every staged performance that we, people of the arts, create bears a collective dream and a prayer—may the work of our hearts usher in a peaceful and progressive life and future for the children."  

VP Leni, as shown in many of her photos, love children. A mother of three well-mannered daughters, and soon, by God’s merciful grace, the president of this country, she wants what is best for the children.  

On May 9, let us please shade those ballots with the future of all Filipino children in mind.   

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.” (Psalm 127:3 NLT) 

Photo credits: All images, aside from Robert Alejandro's, were also borrowed (CTTO) from the Net as uploaded by kakampinks from all parts of the country. My deepest gratitude to all. 

Push for PINKclusivity

This has been the recurring message of VP Leni through the years. 

After being relentlessly vilified as VP, Leni is unfazed and repeats what she has been pushing for since day one: inclusivity.* 

*All Filipinos. Everyone. Pinclusion. Nobody left behind. 

The evolution of her team’s campaign logo illustrates this: 

I am taking the liberty of translating her statements in Filipino, on various occasions, to English: 

 

Her team’s campaign slogan, which she crafted herself, encapsulates all of the above: ]

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

These, for me, are words of grace. And on Easter morning, after being belittled and badmouthed by three male candidates for president, with two male candidates for VP as witnesses, Leni issued this statement: 

Meaning, push for inclusivity! (My term: PINKclusivity)  

Again, why Leni for president? 

It is she whose values and platforms give me HOPE, as symbolised by the color PINK. It is she who  echoes God's Word on inclusivity. In her interviews and sorties, she never neglects to push it.  

"Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible . . . live at peace with everyone."  Romans 12:17-18 (NIV) 

Photo credits: CTTO 

PINK Oldies are PINK Goodies

“Doughnut. That’s how I feel like these days,” blurted my friend who always likes to sound mysterious.  

Figuring out her enigmatic remarks is like solving a crossword puzzle. Instantly clickety-clicking ideas in my brain, I replied, “Me too.” 

“What kind?” she asked cryptically again.  

“Pink-frosted.” 

“I am strawberry-flavored, with pink sprinkles,” she laughed, delighted that I got her drift.

It was an easy puzzle really. Invented in mid-19th century, doughnuts are ancient, like both of us. But they remain strong-sellers today, as bakers enhance them. 

Many come in PINK, the stand my friend and I (survivors of Martial law and veterans of the people power movement) have taken on seriously.   

This political campaign reunited me with long-ago friends, now mostly seniors and retired. We met again online, on FB pages for Leni/Kiko. If that isn’t grace, what is? Our bond has been reinforced by our shared values of decency and integrity in governance. We’re oldies now, unable to go house-to-house anymore, but after years in an oven called Earth, we have been baked into wisdom-goodies.     

Another friend messaged me with a statement punctuated with excitement, “I have been re-tired!!!” On social media, I see him and his wife attending rallies and donating materials for the Leni/Kiko campaign. New PINK tires run faster indeed.  

One other PINK goodie wrote, “I have an osteoarthrtic knee joint and several co-morbidities, so it’s my fingers that are doing the walking and campaigning.”  

I have many more PINK encounters: "Prayer warriors here!" They are my pep pills every day. If I included all of Tony’s, I could write a book or two! 

Oldies are as strong as ever. Many of us finance volunteers with our savings and retirement pension. Seniors comprise 11.3% of the Philippine population, based on the 2020 census. 

Be warned. The PINK doughnuts are coming at you!     

"Wisdom belongs to the aged, and understanding to the old . . ." Job 12:12 NLT

Photo credits: All the images are borrowed from the Net. CTTO. There is no way I can get all your permission, so I beg for your understanding.  

Five Men and a Lady in PINK

If the joint press conference of three candidates for president and two for VP on Easter morning were a movie, it would be a blockbluster. It was bursting with bluster. 

It starred five grown-up men having temper tantrums and plotting to massacre an unseen PINK widow. 

Successively, the men of high stature accused VP Leni of persuading them to withdraw, which they all resent (badly bruised egos?), and which they will not do—the reason for the press conference.

One even venomously sneered, his hurt pride overtly showing, that instead of him, “VP Leni should withdraw as the extreme sacrifice for the good of the country.” 

They went as far as warning us that a Leni win would be dangerous because the #1 contender would not take it sitting down.

I was lost at that point. How would a movie viewer or critic analyze such an epic film, starring five men, full of malevolence toward a PINK lady?  

The plot is a bit too ambitious; the dialogue, a shade too copius; the characters, a tad too malicious; and the theme, a little too hilarious. They rhyme! 

So I walked out of the blockbluster film with these questions: 

Why would five able-bodied men gang up and pick on the runner-up in surveys and not the front runner? 

Why would five macho males spend for an expensive venue and luxurious logistics to crassly spit on the PINK widow who is, at this point of the race, seems to be only #2? 

Why couldn’t they have condemned instead ills of the campaign such as the malicious sex video on the PINK widow’s child that is being used to malign her? 

Why couldn't they have promised to help in making sure we'd have clean, honest elections? 

Here we are, ordinary, grace-reliant PINK volunteers, full of HOPE for better governance, and here are five powerful men trying to steal that HOPE.   

"You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry . . ." (Exodus 22:22-23 ESV)

Photo credits: the second and third photos (CTTO)were borrowed from the Net. Thank you, dear kakampinks. 

Green + Blue = PINK

Something wonderful happened on 12 April 2022 that I have not seen in my lifetime. I am blogging about it now, because my joy cannot be contained.  

Age-old archrivals in the UAAP, Ateneo Blue Eagles and La Salle Green Archers, joined forces to show support for the presidential run of VP Leni Robredo.

The crowd, composed of fans of both schools wore PINK, Leni’s campaign color,  at the Mall of Asia Arena. 

I’ve always believed that sports unify many people of different races and religions. They come together when they support the same team, not caring if the people with them are different. 

But the way two opposing teams unified in this UAAP game was unprecedented. 

The game’s result (Ateneo got its 7th straight win over De La Salle since 2017) was not unexpected. The surprise grace, for me, was the answer to the call of both Ateneo and La Salle: 

Fr. Bobby is Fr. Bobby Yap, SJ, president of Ateneo; Br. Bernie is Bro. Bernie Oca, FSC, president of De La Salle.

There was a similar attempt in 2016, when fans were requested to wear black in protest of Marcos’s burial at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani and to oppose the extrajudicial killings. Very few came in black.  

But this time, the crowd was predominantly PINK. 

And instead of jeers and taunts during and after the game, the PINK-clad sports enthusiasts chanted “Kiko, Leni!”

Watching the game on FB live, I typed the day's significance, “Blue + Green = PINK.” The post was rewarded with 100 heart emojis. 

One, however, ridiculed it with a laughing emoji and a rough/rude message (translated to English here): You seem to be color blind. Green plus blue is cyan or blue-green. Hahaha!” 

That stumped me. What has happened to our brain?

I replied, “That is called metaphor in literature, and not to be taken literally. Peace.”  

On social media, I read many disparaging messages like this. But I won’t let them dampen my soaring spirit from that day bitter rivals both came in PINK.

“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3 NIV) 

What is PINK in Filipino?

At the risk of being petty, I will write about this once and for all, because a number of anti-VP Leni, or supporters of the candidate in red, insist on trivializing vital issues that will either ruin or rebuild our country's future.   

Some of the mocking replies (with matching laughing emojis) whenever I post kulay rosas are, “Google the color of rose. It’s red, not pink!”

Sad. Sob. 

This misinfornation stems from Google or Tik-tok or vloggers who belong to their camp. It’s heartbreaking that they ignore facts. I wonder how many have read any of the irrefutable documents below about the extent of devastation caused by the dictator during Martial law:  

1. PH Supreme Court
2. Court of Appeals
3. Regional Trial Court
4. US Federal and State Courts
5. Swiss Federal Supreme Court

6. Sandiganbayan

7. Article IX, 1987 Constitution  

8. Article VIII, 1973 Constitution  

9. Section 12 of the Omnibus Election Code

10 Coconut Levy Fund Scam

11. Masagana 99 Agricultural Program  

12. Testimonies of Martial Law atrocity victims  

13. BIR

14. Guinness Book of World Records
15. PCGG

16. Legitimate Media (Local/Foreign)

In addition to the above is a social media post quoted from Chapter 24 of the novel El Filibusterismo by Jose Rizal, which I found to be true.  

PINK means kulay rosas in Filipino and in Pilipino, and in Tagalog. All legitimate dictionaries (okay, Google, too) say so. 

So, is there truth to this campaign line? 

Yes. This we can say without blinking if we know that the flower "rose" is also rosas in Filipino, and that we have read some or all of the 16 documents above, and are choosing our candidates wisely.   

In fact, PINK symbolizes . . . 

Hope. Hope for a rosy (root word: rose) future under grace from above; hope for Filipinos to remember and go back to the values our forefathers taught us; hope for these good values to guide our elected officials tomorrow.

 “'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

PINK Tsunami: Up, Down, and All Around

“A rumor is going around that a well-funded demolition job on VP Leni and her daughters will be mounted after Holy Week,” I messaged my sister Aie. 

“There’s no way to stop the PINK tsunami,” she replied tersely. 

Well, I’ve seen an upsurge of the color PINK wherever I look since February, the start of the national political campaign. 

Tsunamis are surging giant waves.

But they begin small and insignificant under the sea and do not suddenly increase in height the way we know them. When the earth quakes or volcanoes erupt, those small waves travel to the shore, building up to higher and higher heights as the ocean depths become shallower. 

The PINK campaign in the beginning was small and insignificant, with very low numbers in polls. Not too many people knew of VP Leni’s track record. But as it rushes toward the shore for the May 9 presidential election, mammoth crowds from different places are coming together—and becoming bigger and bigger—out-sizing each other in numbers and creativity. 

Look up, and you see PINK above. 

Look down, and you see PINK below. 

Look around, and you see PINK from side to side.  

PINK tsunami? It certainly has the height, width, breath, force, and girth, and all superlatives that describe those giant waves.  

I mined the Net for news, photos, and video footages. How can I disagree with my sister?      

As a blogger on grace (16 years now), I have always believed that, like tsunami, grace can’t be confined at the bottom of the sea or on terra firma. We see it above, below and all around.

“. . . may the Almighty bless you with the blessings of the heavens above, and blessings of the watery depths below, and blessings of the breasts and womb.” (Genesis 49:25 NLT)

Photo credits: Not one of the photos is mine (ctto). I borrowed them from kakampinks who uploaded them to FB. Thank you so much! 

Piles of PINK Receipts

A popular word on social media during this political campaign is resibo (receipt): proof of payment. But the upsurge of fake news has re-defined resibo as: proof of truth. 

Sensible people validate their messages with resibo: unaltered photos, unedited videos, and quotes from reliable sources. 

But detractors of VP Leni sneer, “She has done nothing,” clueless about a VP’s constitutional job as simply being a spare tire, in case the president is incapacitated. 

These slanderers refuse to see that VP Leni—long before she was elected to a government post—had been working for poor communities, as a PAO and NGO lawyer and volunteer social worker. And as VP, she filled in gaps in government jobs, with the help of private institutions who trust her. 

Piles of receipts available online prove these.  

One of my many volunteer groups (called FB chat groups), is composed of past admen. Finding these piles of resibo, we decided to WFH together via our keyboards. The account executives among us craft the strategies and plans. The creatives (copywriters, art directors, and producers) execute them.  

We have grouped ourselves into teams, based on ad types, target demographics and psychographics. Oh, what grace the work has been! Hard labor that used to take months in the workplace are reduced to a day or two. 

How? 

Absolutely no need for these: talent scouting, contract signing, photo shoots, client calls, production meetings, fee negotiations, budget preps, and brainstorming for a campaign slogan. 

Each team simply chooses from piles and piles of PINK receipts showing hope in VP Leni, and uses the succinctly written unifying tagline provided by Leni herself.  

(A good and honest government ushers in a better life for all.) 

As in all projects for Leni’s team, nobody grabs any credit, or cares who gets it. Below are some of the many PINK receipts we transformed into a print-ad campaign. 

Each image demonstrates her work ethics and brand of leadership, which keep us hoping for a rosy future.   

What baffles me is that vilifiers play blind and deaf to these proofs. 

Worse, they deny the resibo in history books, official documents, and court decisions about the irrefutable damage Martial Law inflicted upon the Philippines and its constituents. 

These denials have opened our wounds of grief over deaths of friends, torture of innocent people, loss of jobs and freedom, and other unconscionable atrocities.    

"I will never understand—till my death perhaps—why people refuse to see the truth in resibo!" I messaged my kakampinks (pink allies) in frustration. 

"Chill," one wrote and attached the image below. "I'll lend them my rose-colored glasses." 

“’You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’ Don’t you remember anything at all?’” Mark 8:18 NLT 

Look! PINK is Peeking and Peaking!

PINK is peeking. 

PINK is peaking! 

This reminds me of grace. It is not something we deserve.  But it peeks into our lives, and if we receive it, and believe in it fully, it peaks! 

That's why I am deeply grateful for the groundswell of HOPE for a better tomorrow: that the good values we treasure (accountability, honesty, humility, sincerity, decency, and transparency), may once more be modeled by the candidates we choose to run our country after May 9, 2022. 

"Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given." (John 1:16 NIV)

Photo credits: All images were grabbed from the Net. Thank you to all sharers.