To My Teacher Ofelia

15 July 2001

Dear Tita Fely,

My apologies if I have addressed you Tita kasi I found you to be a friend whom I have lost over the years. I want to say how much I appreciate you for being my teacher and giving me your best regards to who I am. You know me well.

If I haven’t thanked you, let me thank you because you believe in me. On March 26th, 1996, I wasn’t expecting to be a guest speaker at my dear Alma Mater, Sto. Domingo Community School. In fact, I’ve sent my intent to speak before my Alma Mater in high school, Luna National High School because I believed that I was going to impart wisdom to the graduating class of 1996. They may have regarded my intent as a joke. Thank you for inviting me to be the guest speaker. I was honored. Someday, I’ll give back something to the school that nurtured me.

I didn’t know what prompted you to let me join in the CED scholarship contest in 1983. It’s one of the highlights in my life. You played a big part of it. Thank you Tita Fely. We have worked well together with harmony and so much support. We brought fame to Luna, La Union. Our tandem as outsiders (we are not native of Luna) earned the town a place in history. I hope the people remember this.

In Maui where I was born, I continue to excel in my leanings (things I am keen about,) I don’t stop to discover and learn things. Life is a learning process. I am active in the community. I have joined the Maui Jaycees, Filipino Chamber of Commerce-Maui and now I’m one of the founding members of the Luna Association of Maui and I’m a consultant in the Luna Association of Oahu. I wanted to make sure they are doing what is best for the people of Luna in Hawaii and back home.

I’m also active in the local politics though I don’t have any intention in running a political position in the county of Maui. Perhaps I’m there to influence how a government is to be run. I don’t intend to run for politics in the Philippines as well. There are ways to help build society. We learned from the great empires of ancient history as well as the present. That is why HISTORY is not boring to me. History is ‘his story.’ It’s man’s story. It’s a collection of events in his life.

My whole being is so different, sometimes I don’t understand. I see things differently sometimes outside of the norm. I have learned from my mentors and the great Masters of all time.

Have I known my destiny or life’s purpose? My folks wanted me to get into the field of medicine (Western science) but I chose a different path. I took Liberal Arts major because I wanted to know what’s around me. I learned the social and natural sciences, art, literature, history, foreign language. I have plans of continuing my education in e-business, the fusion of business and information technology because this is the wave of the future.I have discovered that academics is just part of the whole picture of living. We have knowledge from the university but we earn the wisdom from making and learning from our mistakes in our journey of life.

I have many things I enjoy to do in the areas of writing, photography, filmmaking, computers, entrepreneurship, and medicine (Oriental science).

In Oriental Medicine, I have learned that our illnesses are attributed to ourselves. Our emotions make us sick. The food we eat makes us sick because of the toxins present in them especially that farmers are into inorganic farming rather than organic farming. It is encouraged that we fast and pray. This has been an ancient practice. Dad has practiced fasting and that was his secret of longevity. The Hawaiian medicine men ask their patient to practice ‘forgiveness’ for an unforgiving heart leads to illness and death. It would be hard for me to explain to people who have closed their gates of understanding and brand me weird. It’s like Noah being laughed at when he was telling the people of the coming of The Flood if they are not to change their ways.

I don’t have much friends but it’s not the quantity of friends that defines a person but the quality of friends that is around a person. You are a friend to me. Thank you.

After all these years, you believed in me Tita Fely. Thank you for keeping my speeches. Did you know how much it feels to be appreciated? To be given the respect?

I want to sincerely apologize for the incident at home when you were there to pay respect to my Dad on the day of his burial. I am deeply sorry for the acts of the people that day. They have no right to do that. I didn’t understand it as well. Have I transgressed the law? I am a learned man and I know the protocol. If I made the mistake, I didn’t know the local tradition. I believe in God’s divine laws rather than the tradition of men. There are so much dogmas which makes our society go into a circle and not spiraling out of it kaya di tayo umaasenso kung ganun.

People judge by their eyes and ears. I wish they learn to know the person first before they pass judgment. It’s too late. Damage has been done. The only thing to do is to disprove them and also learn for the fact that we have our own lives to live the way we see fit according to God’s laws and natural laws. Also we apply the principle of forgiveness as the Hawaiian kahunas taught their people.

As the song goes, “No matter what they tell us, no matter what they do, no matter what they teach us, what we believe is true.” Yes!

In closing, thank you for being my teacher and my friend Tita Fely. You have opened the world for me in 1983. We made history. God bless us all!

Sincerely,