November is a month of remembrances. Which is why, November 11 of each year never fails to amaze me the way it is observed here in Canada.
Wherever you are..at work..at home, in the malls… in the subway and almost everywhere in Canadian soil., we stop to remember the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, both living and dead for their heroic deeds.
And it is done with much fervor and sincerity in both action and words.
The veterans and the military have a special place among Canadians.
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In another land some 10,000 miles away or so, there is another country that
pays homage to its departed heroes.
Filipinos have a different observance of Remembrance day. Its called Veterans day. It’s the time when government officials go through the motions of the usual wreath-laying rites at the tomb of the unknown soldier and of course the platitude of speeches and tributes.
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Veterans and seniors have also a special place among Filipinos. But more often than not, they are made to queue or suffer long waits at the benefits counter. For instance, government retirees have to run the gauntlet of
unending red tapes disguised as high tech procedures to speed up their monthly pensions but are actually a torture.
Some bright government functionaries have even the gall to assume that retirees, whose age range from 65-80 years old, are computer literate so they cooked up some hi-tech procedures to simplify pension claims for government retirees under the Government Service Insurance Corporation (GSIS) but actually only complicated things and contributed to their misery.
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If I am seething with frustration and anger of how Filipino retirees and seniors are shabbily treated, my heart still bleeds for the victims of the November 23 tragedy of Maguindanao.
It’s now exactly a year after the infamous massacre of 58 persons that included 32 journalists, some of them our friends and colleagues in the media profession.
The suspects in that mass murder, the Ampatuan clan of Maguindanao
continue to mock justice.
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With the trial dragging on at a snail’s pace, there are reports that the Ampatuans led by its patriarch former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. are allegedly intimidating witnesses to the point of killing
five of them to escape responsibility for their heinous crimes.
They are also allegedly offering bribes to the victims’ families, the police and the military. The prices range from P3 million to as high as P50 million
Pesos (roughly $150,000 to $1.5 million) to drop the cases against them.
Hiring a battery of top-notch lawyers, they have succeeded in delaying
the trial of their cases to the consternation of the prosecutors and families of victims.
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Latest report said a witness testified that the main suspect in the massacre,
Former Datu Unsay town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. had personally “executed “ 40 of the 58 victims. He had allegedly shot the private parts of the female victims among them the wife, sisters and aunt of his rival Esmael Mangundadato. He also allegedly mutilated the victims by cutting off their limbs and gouging out their eyes.
This makes Andal Jr. a “Verdugo“ or executioner. He also earns the notorious label as the Butcher of Mindanao. If proven guilty and we know he is and other family members and henchmen, may they rot in jail and be
thrown to the fires of hell and damnation.
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NOVEMBER EVENTS,HAPPENINGS: Birthday celebrants Avelina Garcia of Scarborough who observed her natal day last November 10 with only daughter Czarina and family and friends; felicitations to other birthday celebrants Victoria (Amy) Obtinario,Andoy Obtinario, Maribel Montemayor, Ace Alvarez publisher of Manila Media Monitor, my daughter Anagaile Soriano, my sis in law Blanche Soriano, my buddy Cecille “Bino “ Santiago and my beautiful but “Taray “ niece Monique S Soriano.
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The Knights of Columbus (KofC) Council 12582 garnered its distinctive award of gaining “Double Star Council“ status from the worldwide Knights of Columbus fraternal organization.
The council, based at the Our Lady of Assumption church in Bathurst and headed by Supreme knight Fidel de Guzman joins the elite 398 councils that have achieved the Double Star recognition.
The council has been active in various activities among them relief efforts in the last year’s “Ondoy“ disaster.
The Assumption church is headed by Fr.Ben Ebcas, mission director of the Archdiocese of Toronto Filipino Mission Center and is a melting pot among
Filipinos especially caregivers. It also established the first refuge and learning center for Toronto’s OFWs named after Juana Tejada, the caregiver hero who triggered changes in the live-in caregiver program of the Canadian government.
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