Last week, for our 62nd wedding anniversary and also Mother’s Day, I wrote about how I met my wife.
Many people called or sent me a text message congratulating us.
Some asked how we lasted this long at a time when many married couples break up due to a host of reasons.
For one thing, it takes education to go through the travails of married life. Certainly it is not a bed of roses. My wife and I knew what we were getting into.
While my wife had advantage in background—being the granddaughter of Nicolas Capistrano Sr., who was a revolutionary leader during the Philippine-American war and the only daughter of Dr. Vicente Capistrano of Cagayan de Oro City, and on the maternal side, the granddaughter of the late Congressman Ruperto Kapunan of Leyte—I had enough going for myself, having been an Atenean and a lawyer.
My late father, Emiliano Sr., was a district supervisor of schools. He and my mother were devout Catholics, teaching me the rudiments of life, and making sure I knew right from wrong.
Husband and wife must share, if not the same, close background. This is why I cannot believe that an educated rich boy can have a successful marriage with a poor girl from the province. That only happens in the movies.
Another essential ingredient in a successful marriage is trust—in each other and in God.
There were highs and lows. We had years when I did not have enough money to meet the mortgage payments, or go on vacations or buy things for the family.
My wife and I love praying together. We believe this can indeed move mountains. We passed this on to our children.
During hard times, we simply tried our best. My wife helped me a lot when I was having trouble making ends meet as a journalist. She worked hard sewing pillows and selling these to friends and acquaintances. She decorated homes and offices, being gifted with a knack for this.
My gulay, at times my wife earned more than I could imagine! Indeed there is no substitute for patience and hard work.
So my advice to newlyweds: love one another, have faith in God, trust each other, and pray.
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Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre wants to have Janet Lim Napoles, the mastermind of the P10-billion Priority Development Assistance Funds scam, a state witness. PDAF, also known as pork barrel, is public money allocated to members of Congress supposedly for projects for their constituents.
As state witness, Napoles is expected to rat on past and present legislators who benefited from the fund.
President Duterte has said he believes Napoles is the least guilty among those accused.
I don’t know where the President based his statement. Investigation shows the scam could not have been possible without Napoles. In fact, she got commissions ranging between 40 percent and 60 percent from legislators. The word “mastermind” was not used to refer to her for nothing.
And as mastermind, it was Napoles who was the most guilty.
No wonder, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales swore to block moves to make Napoles a state witness. Carpio-Morales has all the evidence to indict those involved in the scam.
I also believe that the Duterte administration should indict many more who profited from that scam. The previous administration was selective in its prosecution. It detained then-senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla, but I am sure many others, including members of the Liberal Party, were also part of the scam.
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The Philippine National Police Internal Affairs Office has exonerated the cops in that Tondo precinct where the secret jail was found. The cramped cell, the entrance to which was hidden behind a cabinet, held a dozen men and women. It did not have sufficient ventilation and the prisoners were made to use plastic bags as toilets.
The secret cell was discovered by the Commission on Human Rights. The police officers said the detainees were held there because of congestion in the main jail.
PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa defended the Tondo policemen.
The CHR has already filed a case of violation of the Anti-Torture Act. While those detained may not have been physically tortured, keeping them in a secret jail was also a form of mental torture—a violation of the law.
But did we really expect the PNP Internal Affairs Office to find fault in their fellow cops? This shows us the mentality of the police force—yes, those who are supposed to protect and serve us.
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The appointment of Danny Lim as chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority brings to fore the need for an elected governor of Metro Manila Commission. Remember how it was during the Marcos regime, when the former First Lady Imelda Marcos was governor of the MMC.
The individual local government units in Metro Manila have many contradictory and confusing ordinances. This is why an appointed chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority will only find it difficult to coordinate and find solutions to the metro’s problems hounding its 12 million residents.
Other cities in the region—Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore, for instance—have governors that can coordinate the ordinances of their cities.
For instance, while Makati allows banned vehicles on a day of the week, so long as there’s one or several senior citizens inside the vehicle, the ban won’t apply. But other cities don’t respect such exemption. There’s also the problem of garbage—where to dump them.
The appointment of an MMDA chairman is not the solution. The final solution is an elected governor.
