Bishop Colin Bagaforo of the Archdiocese of Kidapawan is appealing for donations for the quick relief and meaningful rehabilitation of victims and survivors of a series of strong earthquakes that have been shaking many communities in Mindanao, Southern Philippines since October 16.
A Quick Response Command Center for Relief Operations under the diocese’s Social Action Commission has been opened to receive help in the form of relief goods and monetary donations.
Donations may be remitted to RCB Diocese of Kidapawan through the Bank of Philippine Islands Account Number 008663-0571-55.
Relief goods, on the other hand, may include food supplies, drinking water, toiletries (food, shampoo, toothpaste), flashlights and solar lamps, tents, mats and blankets, medicines for children and adults, among others.
In Toronto, former Balita columnist and media colleague Peter Paul dela Cruz – who hails from Kidapawan – has also started a fundraiser to consolidate donations.
Bishop Bagaforo and Dela Cruz once spent seminary and college days together in Cotabato City. #####
Unreliable Balat Kalabaw
Yes, flurries formed a white sheet that covered Toronto on November 7.
No complaints. The first sign of wintry weather came on October 18 last year.
However, I have yet to hear Christmas carols and Yule Holiday tunes on-the-air.
*****
Four days later, after a quick melt, Toronto’s first heavy snowfall poured from morning till night.
This dashed any foresight of temperatures of over five degrees Celsius; not until spring.
Make no mistake. Ole Man Winter is and will always be just around the bend!
*****
It’s not winter yet, at least by official reckoning; although time went back an hour.
A bit past mid-autumn, the mercury is dipping, animals are hibernating, and folks are bundling up.
Trees, erstwhile garbed in amazing shades of red, yellow, purple, black, blue, orange, magenta, and brown, are shedding off its fascinating coat.
Standing tall and defiant, varieties of pine trees, birches, maples, perennials and other wooden creations persist in living through the next two seasons to renew its inner greener disposition.
Man can take sweet time to sow a seed but, in the words of poet Joyce Kilmer, only God can make a tree.
*****
Reel back to November 26, over fifteen years past, when my wife Evelyn, my sons Zadkiel and Nicoy, and I landed in Vancouver on our way to our adoptive home in Toronto.
With a lot of daylight layover hours to spare, I thought that a short tour of British Columbia’s hospitality and a quick thanksgiving meal in a fast food shop – our first on Canadian soil – would be proper.
Further, it would be a good moment to mark Zadkiel’s natal anniversary on November 27, in Philippine time that was 12 hours ahead.
However, as soon as the airport’s exit doors opened, my children retreated and strongly opined that we stay.
Balat kalabaw was no match to the cold draft that greeted us.
And there were no tricycles!
*****
Frankly, acclimatization is such a very long word and my relationship with it is complicated.
Every moment the freeze mocks my aging achy joint and shaky knee, good buddy Kuya Asyong – who marked another birth anniversary on November 11 — always chastises me: “Never dare Mom Nature. Befriend winter.”
Long-time Canadian retiree Tatang Saling, who hoarsely invokes “We the North!” now and then, agrees with Kuya Asyong, with a somewhat French twist: “Uwi! Taglamig? Uwi to the Far East!”
*****
My granddaughter Zarah does not seem to have any qualms about the three Fs: Freeze, Frigid and Frost; and neither is she worried of CSI (Cold, Snow and Ice).
Zarah will turn nine years old on November 30. Since I have started mentioning birth anniversary celebrators, I might as well offer belated greetings to my mom Isabel (who turned 87 on November 14), Nicoy (on October 30), my sister Marib (on October 9), my late brother Gie (also on November 14), and my late father Chito (on October 26). Never too late, huh!
Now, back to the narrative on Zarah.
After the first citywide cascade of white ice crystals, she woke up very early and excitedly led me to the pane: “Wowo, look! Snow!” And off she hopped to dress up in layers and get ready for school.
Meanwhile, her older sister Zoe looked forward to lace up her ice skates and don her hockey jersey.
Attention: Rocket scientists! Is there any truth to the premise that Canada-born and raised children develop a certain degree of immunity against the disgusting effects of a whacky wintry weather?
Know what? It really is sometimes hard to hide a quirk when a delighted child is not looking.
How I wish the cold makes me warm.
*****
What better way is there to keep warm than to sip hot chocolate while witnessing Jolly St. Nick, Mrs. Claus and their toy workshop friends from the “North Pole” make noise and show love in their 115th appearance on Toronto’s festive streets on November 17.
For some four years since we set foot in Canada, we joined thousands who joyfully greeted Santa, whose “Ho, ho, ho!” thrilled my two grandsons, then toddlers Gabe and Eli, to no end.
The mid-November cold blast seemed to have taken its toll on me soon after, but I still religiously watched the Santa Claus Parade through the years – on live television and reruns.
*****
Admittedly, I still get thrilled when I feel snow perch on my nose.
I’d love to etch a snow angel too, but I fear the cold ground might repel my patch-heated back.
First time I set foot in Toronto, kindred and friends told me that in a few more years, I would learn to dislike snow, just as I would taxes. Both, so said, are daunting concerns Canadians have to live with.
So, why whine about it? In these tough and trying times, let’s chill out and go for something cool.
Just love this time of the year; when all await the coming of the Season of Advent, Christmas and the New Year; and when all roads lead to malls, delis and banks.
*****
Oh, geez! Do Canadians really have to brace for a winter described as a “polar coaster” – mercurial ups and downs, sudden swings and turns, white blankets and slushy puddles, and all of winter’s trimmings?
That outlook had been around since August, when the latest edition of the 203-year-old publication Farmers’ Almanac was issued.
Almanac entries said it would be bitterly cold east of the Rockies to Quebec and the Maritimes and most frigid from the Prairies into the Great Lakes. Ontario’s north would likely have hefty precipitations.
“Copious snow, rain, sleet, and ice” would probably envelop the Greater Toronto Area.
Spring might not arrive until April 2020. Baby, it really will be cold outside in the next six months.
I can’t wait for the famous groundhogs to appear, while taking this piece of almanac news with a grain of salt.
Yup! Mr. Weather is so unpredictable. We can just keep our fingers crossed and hope for a wintry best.
*****
Nanonood kami ng laro ng Toronto Raptors at LA Lakers nang kami ay nabulabog.
Tiya Maria: “Hey, guys. Alam ninyo ba na dadaanan ng Mercury ang Sun bukas? Pihong magbabalik ang summer at makakapag-shorts at tube blouse na naman ako.”
Mang Pido: “Tiya, planeta po yung Mercury; hindi po pang-thermometer.”
Aling Soledad: “At mga anim na oras lang mangyayari yun. Umayos ka. Iwan sa tampipi ang shorts at blouse.”
Mang Pido: “Aba, Maria! Mahaba-habang winter ito dahil sa 2023 pa ulit papasadahan ng Mercury ang Sun.”
Kabesang Betong: “Maria, kung hindi kita kilala, iisipin kong bumili ka ng cough syrup sa Mercury.”
Tila nalungkot si Tiya Maria. Kami naman ay masaya dahil tinalo ng Raptors ang Lakers, 113-104.
*****
The next night, kami naman ang malungot. Nanaig ang LA Clippers sa Raptors, 98-88.
Si Tiya Maria? Masayang nag-announce na siya ay fresh na fresh after a long tub dip in her shorts and tube.
KSP kaya, gutom lang, tumbang preso lang ang larong alam o sadyang winter pasaway?
Worse, ang kawawang tampipi ay nakakalat sa sahig, gulagulanit na parang nilapa ng T-Rex.
Whoever, wherever, whenever and whatever, let’s go Raptors! #####
