Hope floats

THIS is the best editorial I've read so far this year. It captures the essence of who we are as Filipinos in a time of tragedy - how we all come together, and give hope to others. It is the Christmas story all over again.

EDITORIAL: Rejoice for a nation reborn
InterAksyon, Dec. 25, 2011

We have heard the good news reprised in various ways, and each story, we have on good account, is true:

The child was found floating on a raft of debris. He was saved by a dog. She clung to a pig until some higher power calmed the seas. He lost his wife and son and daughter and ended up saving, and being saved by, a stranger. Oh, the selflessness and the courage, the triumphant spirituality and enduring faith: The survivors are too busy saving each other to grieve for themselves.

We have heard of the miracles as well as of more numerous tragedies that engulf but all the more give them brilliance, and like wisened men now understanding why every star is surrounded but never denied by the larger night, we know that both light and darkness exist to help us navigate to wherever it is we need to go – and, should we choose to do so, to find our way home.

And so as we had gone, we now come from all corners of the world. Carpenters, sailors, teachers, engineers, nurses, lawyers, farmers, entrepreneurs, doctors, students, mothers, fathers – babes and wise men simultaneously, us all – bearing gifts for every child lifted from carnage.

The pilgrimage for Filipinos this Christmas is to Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, and though God knows we are weary of uniting over grief, the nation embraces (yet again) the call to help sift through mud, trash, and logs. We embrace, yet again, the chance to help rebuild lives and homes, with as much zeal as we would curse out the evils that buried, and continue to bury, our compatriots. The corruption, ineptitude and apathy we decry. And then we put even our most jaded side aside to roll up our sleeves for the immediate tasks at hand, which include:

Donating in the face of corruption, working with the notoriously inept, and believing that this time around, nobody is apathetic.

How do we do it? How do we come back again and again, to say there is no hope, and then to show the hope to be as common as a loving parent, as a volunteer from every barangay, as an OFW in every home, as a Facebook account and a cellphone number that’s given up for spreading all things to #HelpCDO? How do we come to be our own best refutation of our most cynical selves?

Perhaps we look to CDO and Iligan as we did to Ormoc and Payatas and every town that drowned with every Ondoy and Pepeng and Ruping. Which is to say, here, all over here, there are as much children and whole families to be rescued and given room in our selfish lives, as there are seeds of hope to be planted in our own hearts. We are tired as a nation, and yet we know that in every tragedy, salvation is not the gift we bring for others, it is the miracle we hope to find for ourselves.

In the end, the wise men of the east got so much more than what they thought they were gifting the child in swaddling clothes. They received license to go home with vision and purpose, to rebuild cities on compassion, selflessness, sacrifice, and dreams shared with others. They received blessing to be reborn as simpler and humbler persons, but more worthy of their own nations, if not of their place in a Kingdom in heaven.

We are stubborn for the opportunity to see our nation reborn, with greater values of vigilance but also sacrifice, compassion, and united purpose. Tragedy that brings us home makes us both the wise men bearing gifts and the babe for which we would like to build a home. We are out to rescue ourselves.

The true spirit of Christmas is in giving

(First of two parts)

I’M sure that like me, you too are at a loss on how we can still make merry during the holiday season with what just happened in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City and other areas struck by Typhoon Sendong’s fury.

It is a common feeling especially among survivors, that sense of guilt over why we are alive or doing well while our neighbors, the victims, are not.

And we wonder why this tragedy happened so close to Christmas, as if it will hurt less if it occurred any other time of the year.

What I do know is that because of this tragedy, we are now better attuned to what the yuletide season is really all about. It’s about sharing and giving, not just among friends and family, but also with complete strangers. We help them not because they can help us back, but because they are hurting from the loss of their homes and their loved ones.

Ramon Jimenez Jr. (Photo NPPA Images)

This time of the year, it’s usually about how big a gift one can give, or how much we’d like to impress a boss, or a lover with our presents. But in the case of Sendong’s victims, any donation, large or small, will be much appreciated. These are gifts that will truly mean something and make a difference in a person’s life.

With everyone helping out, we can make the victims of Sendong less cold, less hungry this Christmas. Please keep those donations rolling. And if you haven’t done it yet, please give now. Check out the Internet for the different organizations that are assisting in the relief effort, such as Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Red Cross. Thank you.

****
Rosanna Roces

FOR my annual Christmas forum, I asked a number of leaders in government and politics, business executives, artists and food enthusiasts what their fantasy Noche Buena feast would be. Most of them were actually quite happy with their usual midnight spread, although a few did unleash their creativity and came up with an eye-popping, lip-smacking sumptuous array of dishes.

A number of them actually cooked the dishes served for Noche Buena, while others mentioned family members as the geniuses behind this dish or that. There were those who stuck to the traditional dishes with recipes handed down from relatives who’ve passed on, while a few—like foodie JJ Yulo—gladly dreamt about “a plate with roasted bone marrow with the marrow quivering like a freshly-made flan, and eaten with toast points, sea salt, and a parsley salad.” (I, on the other hand, want a foie gras-stuffed cochinillo. I don’t know how that will taste, but I bet it’ll be good!)

But amid all the food and festivities, most underscored that what’s great about the Noche Buena is having the entire family around to share it with. My friend Leah Castañeda put it best: “To me, there is no need for steak, lobster or foie gras as long as everyone is present and having a great time.”

Malu Gamboa

To everyone, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Peace, love, and prosperity to you all. And thank you for your continued patronage of this column.

Ramon Jimenez Jr., Tourism secretary—The centerpiece of my Noche Buena is the Christmas ham that I cook myself, which contains the secret family recipe handed down from my grandparents. It’s more than just a dish. It represents history and tradition which I would like my family to observe for generations to come. When you think about it, that’s actually what Filipino Christmas is all about—family and tradition, two essential ingredients that complete the Noche Buena experience.

Rosanna Roces, actress—I thought of bubble tea and pizza for Noche Buena, just to have something new on the table. But Pinoy tradition is hard to miss. We always have kaldereta and other Pinoy food. I want to dine on banana leaves.

Malu A. Gamboa, general manager, Azuthai, Cirkulo and Milky Way Restaurants—Our Noche Buena menu has been the same for as long as I can remember. Mama (Julie Gamboa) always serves the same family favorites at midnight. First comes a hot cup of chocolate laced with peanut butter that Chu, our yaya of 50 years, whisks to perfection with a very old batidor that has been with the family forever. At the bottom of the cup is newly harvested duman, the eagerly awaited Christmas present from our relatives from Guagua, Pampanga. Duman, toasted green malagkit rice, is a Pampanga delicacy that is only available around Christmastime.

Mike Navarrete

Queso de bola (microwaved for five seconds), Majestic ham, Hizon’s ensaymadas and our own Milky Way Macaroni Supreme Salad with bits of Spam, peas and pineapples are always star on our table. We don’t get to enjoy these dishes on regular days, which is why we look forward to celebrating and feasting on these once a year all together as a family.

Miguel “Mike” Y. Navarrete, adviser-Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (former CFO, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.)—For our Noche Buena here in Atlantic, Canada, we enjoy with friends and relatives delicious Atlantic lobsters, Digby scallops, steak, prawns, haddock, eggnog, etc. My wife Gina makes excellent leche flan for dessert. However, we do miss the lechon, queso de bola, bibingka, puto-bumbong, etc. back home.

My dream Noche Buena would be to combine the best of what we used to regularly have in the Philippines with what is special here. Lechon stuffed with Atlantic lobsters and Digby scallops enjoyed during a White Christmas, perhaps? Sarap!

Leah Castañeda with daughter, Carmen

Leah Castañeda, vice president, Bank of Commerce—Our Christmas Eve celebration ends at dinner, which I will prepare this year, and starts again at lunch on Christmas Day. I’m keeping it simple on Saturday—chicken relleno and a killer lasagna that takes five hours to make. I will prepare a light salad of greens (with arugula), feta cheese, honey roasted walnuts and Parmesan shavings. Dessert will be a rum butter cake baked by my classmate/architect Nina and brewed coffee aero-pressed (hopefully) by my dad.

In the off-chance that we get hungry after Midnight Mass and don’t fall asleep while walking home from the church, my mother will prepare a cheese platter (with Marca Piña queso de bola) and Virginia ham from the US, I’ll ask her to prepare authentic tsokolate the way her lola used to make it (with butter and sesame seeds). She also has a bowl of grapes to counter the richness of the cheeses. Let’s not forget the castañas.

If I had it my way, every year would be celebrated simply and quietly, but with the family complete at the dinner table.

(Conclusion next week...)

(My column Something Like Life, is published most Fridays in the Life section of the BusinessMirror. This piece was originally published on Dec. 23, 2011. Photos courtesy of interviewees, except where stated.)

BBDO wins bid to craft new PH tourism slogan

The Department of Tourism has chosen BBDO Guerrero | Proximity Philippines as the winning bidder in its P5.6-million "Philippine Brand Campaign focusing on Tourism" project.

However, no new tourism slogan was announced by the DOT, adding in a press statement that "further development of BBDO Guerrero's concept is underway, and the first iterations of the new campaign will emerge in the course of the first half of 2012."

A source at the DOT said Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. decided to defer the launch of the new slogan due to the calamity wrought by Typhoon Sendong.

Questions have risen, however, about just how fast the new brand campaign can be rolled out due to the limited funds of the DOT, which has an annual budget of only P2 billion. (For the rest, click InterAksyon.)