Vol. 8, No. 6, June 21, 2004

Rodolfo P. Yu (Batch '69), in photo, a professor at MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology, served as an adjudicator in the 11th All-Asian Inter-varsity Debating Championship held at Assumption University, Bangkok, Thailand, on May 17-25, 2004.

This international event, also called "The All-Asians" which is the second largest debating competition in the world, was participated in by 120 teams and 186 adjudicators from People's Republic of China, South Korea, Japan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Republic of Bhutan, and the Philippines. The Ateneo de Manila University team was adjudged champion. The MSU-IIT team, despite technical difficulties encountered, defeated formidable teams from International Christian University (Japan), Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), and Universiti Malaya Sabah (Malaysia).

Prof. Rudy Yu has promised to train once again the elementary and high school students of Lanao Chung Hua School upon his return.

The Dys in Edmonton The Dy brothers in Edmonton, Canada, from left: Carlos “Bonnie” Dy (Batch ‘57), Peter Dy (Batch ‘66), Phillip Dy, and Jesus Dy (Batch ‘63) taken last June 3 at the University of Alberta convocation.  Phillip, son of Peter, obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering.  Meanwhile, Amy Wan-Dy, wife of Peterson Dy (Peter's eldest son), gave birth to a healthy 8 lbs.-1/2 oz baby girl named Trinity last June 16.

By Christine Veronica B. Uy

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT:
Preparatory Level:
Mrs. Lucita P. Castardo, Nursery & Kindergarten 2 Adviser (Probationary II), AB English, MSU-IIT, licensed teacher, earned Guidance & Counseling & Early Childhood Education units at UP, Manila; teaching experience: 10 years;
Miss Tomasita R. Celiz, Kindergarten 1 Adviser (Probationary II), AB English, MSU-IIT, licensed teacher, teaching experience: 5 years;

Primary & Intermediate Level:
Miss Marchie P. Balacho, Grade 1 Adviser (Probationary II), AB English, MSU-IIT, Cum Laude, licensed teacher, earned units in Education, teaching experience: 2 years;
Miss Norma Rae F. Arellano, Grade 2 Adviser (Probationary 1, New), BSE Chemistry, MSU-IIT, licensed teacher, previous school: Holy Child School, teaching experience: 2 years;
Miss Mary Jane D. Torayno, Grade 3 Adviser (Probationary II), AB-Filipino, MSU-IIT, licensed teacher, DFIW Gawad Sikap Awardee, teaching experience: 2 years;
Mrs. Leonor U. Tabasa, Grade 4 Adviser (Regular), BSEED (Filipino), St. Michael's College, licensed teacher, MA in Math, Cebu Normal College, teaching experience: 18 years;
Mrs. Annabelle A. Rapliza, Grade 5 Adviser (Regular), BS Math, MSU-IIT, licensed teacher, MA in Math for Elem. at STC-MSU, teaching experience: 14 years;
Mrs. Elvira L. Raganas, Grade 6 Adviser (Regular), AB History, MSU-IIT & BEED, SPC, licensed teacher, teaching experience: 4 years;

High School Level:
Mrs. Christine G. Lacastesantos, First Year Adviser (Probationary I, New), AB-History, MSU-IIT, licensed teacher, previous school: St. Margaret Learning Center, teaching experience: 2 years;
Mr. Windel A. Villastique, Second Year Adviser (Regular), Bachelor of Phys. Education, MSU-IIT, licensed teacher, school sports coordinator, teaching experience: 7 years;
Miss Rebecca L. Galgo, Third Year Adviser (Probationary II), AB-English, MSU-IIT & BEED, CMTI, licensed teacher, teaching experience: 8 years;
Miss Wenna C. Balaido, Fourth Year Adviser (Regular), Bachelor of Phys. Education, MSU-IIT, Cum Laude; Awardee, Exemplary Performance in Academics; licensed teacher, IPAG member, conducted dance tours abroad; teaching experience: 4 years.

Non-Advisory:
Miss Gemina P. Ancog, T.H.E Teacher (Probationary II), BS-Industrial Ed. (Electronics tech.), MSU-IIT, Cum Laude, licensed teacher, teaching experience: 4 years;
Mr. Joel M. Tiquel, Science Teacher/School Registrar (Regular), BSE (Biology), MSU-IIT, MA-Biology, licensed teacher, teaching experience: 7 years;
Mr. Arsus M. Varquez Jr., English Teacher - High School (Regular), AB-English, MSU-Marawi, MA-Educational Mngt., Public Admin./Bus. Admin., teaching experience: 16 years;
Mr. Wilfredo G. Mansueto, C.A.T. Commandant (Probationary III), BEED, SPC, MA-Public Adm., teaching experience: 3 years.

Mathematics Teachers, High School (Chinese & English Depts.):
Mr. Rafael Benedicto Sr. (Part time), BS-Math, St. Peter's College, MS in Math, UP-Diliman, previous school: MSU-IIT-IDS (Professor 6 Level), teaching experience: 41 years;
Miss Sun Lay G. Dy (Regular), BS-Math, Univ. of San Carlos, Cum Laude, teaching experience: 14 years;
Mr. Jude John J. Maña Jr. (Probationary, New), BS-Math, MSU-Marawi, Cum Laude, MS Applied Math, Mindanao Polytechnic State College, previous school: Oro Grace Christian School, teaching years: 2 years;
Miss Elizabeth P. David, Department Head--Grade School/English Teacher (Regular), AB-English, MSU-IIT, earned units in Elem. Educ., MA-English, St. Michael's College (partial completion), licensed teacher, teaching experience: 17 years;
Mrs. Normita Q. Alivio, Department Head--High School/Filipino Teacher (Regular), BSE-Filipino, University of Cebu, MA-Filipino, St. Michael's College (partial completion), licensed teacher, teaching experience: 11 years;

Non-teaching Personnel:
Miss Maricris T. Tejada, Guidance Counselor (Probationary II), BS Psychology, MSU-IIT, Cum Laude, earned units in Education, teaching experience: 2 years;
Miss Eleanor C. Tajoda, School Cashier (Regular), BS-Accountancy, MSU-IIT, working years: 7 years in LCHS;
Mr. Harvey T. Soliven, School Bookkeeper/Payroll Clerk (Regular), BS Accountancy, MSU-IIT; BS-Computer Science, St. Peter's College, working experience: 6 years;
Mrs. Christine Veronica B. Uy, Assistant Principal (Regular), BS Chem. Eng'g, University of San Carlos, licensed Chem. Engr., MA-Educ. Management, Xavier University (partial completion); College Dean, St. Michael's College, working experience: 4 years in LCHS.

Charles O. Sy, Batch '67

It was the nucleus of our childhood frolics. The main hub that embodied the spirit of our time and the passion of our youth. Within its confines echoed the hymns of our passage to adolescence.

The old Iligan public plaza was a landmark that would have been Iligan's premier historical treasure today had it not been demolished in 1965 to give way to a more contemporary scheme of park structure.

A People's Park.  The plaza, nestled in the heart of the city, was second home to many of us in as many activities conceivable. It was a people's park through and through. Pretty much like a minuscule version of London's Hyde Park, the plaza played host to a thousand and one other forms of leisure for city residents.  It was the most popular haven for early morning strollers and Sunday promenaders, a lucrative marketplace for itinerant peddlers and hawkers, and the most affordable destination for lovers' rendezvous.  Its vastness offered free air space for us to fly our home-made kites. The benches under the mango and mabolo trees were also the regular venues for family gatherings on moonlit nights.  The concrete lamp posts in the park provided kids like us a convenient station for games of antulihaw.  One could never lay claim to being an initiated plaza regular if he had not experienced the "electrifying shock" of his life derived from touching a short-circuited lamp post while at play.

Movies at the Park.  The plaza was the center stage of public ceremonies, political rallies, evening zarzuelas, religious assemblies, and assorted cultural extravaganzas.  It was also the converging point of our annual Independence Day grand parades.  Occasionally, the plaza served as arena for free outdoor movies staged by promoters of such products as Fighter Cigarettes, Cortal, and United American Tiki Tiki, among others.  Attractions like these were big events in our childhood days. They gave us a good excuse for a night out at the park.  There we squatted spellbound for hours on the park's neatly manicured lawn, watching the western sagas of Robert Taylor, Allan Ladd and John Wayne unfold on a propped up screen.  It never bothered us then that the movie came with frequent commercial intermissions.  To us it was enough that we were treated to a free movie. At a time and place when television was nonexistent, that was already quite a bonanza.

Rainy Days at the Park.  Rains at the old Iligan plaza were like manna from heaven. Every so often when water accumulated on its grounds after a prolonged downpour, we never missed the chance to stage our safari for crickets, dragonflies, grasshoppers, and bullfrogs, which were aplenty during rainy seasons. Wading barefooted in the temporary pool the morning after the rain was an adventure too good for any kid in town to pass up. It was the kind of fun to die for. And never mind the tongue-lashing we would inevitably receive from our mothers when we trooped back home drenched, ravished and looking like we had been to a war.

A Sanctuary for the Distressed.  While it was conceived, first and foremost, as a center of recreation, the plaza was also a sanctuary in times of calamity.  Its wide open space provided safety for families seeking refuge in the great earthquake that struck the city in 1953.   I remember that terrifying day when Mt. Hibok-hibok erupted on Camiguin island. The city shook with such intensity that drove families to scamper out of their homes in fright.  Lugging only our blankets and some basic provisions like jugs of water, we, as with many other families, sought refuge at the plaza.  Having been forewarned about imminent aftershocks, we camped out at the plaza throughout the night in hushed terror interrupted occasionally by the cries of babies,  murmurs of prayers and chants of "tabi Apo." We were instructed to keep still and stay down whenever the earth moved.  Otherwise, a fall caused by the tremor could result in insanity.  An insane folklore, no doubt, by today's convention.

A Refugee Camp.  In May 1957, when a big fire razed a large part of the city to the ground, the plaza again came to the residents' rescue with its vast open space. The park became a refugee camp for the fire victims.  For months it was full house at the plaza where residents with no alternate sites on which to rebuild their homes had set up shops to eke out what little they could for a living. The whole park was transformed into a sea of makeshift lean-tos. Other families sought temporary shelter at the LCHS campus. Others, like our family, were billeted at the city's several copra and rice mills.  The communal quarters provided for each family at the milling complex were extremely cramped but at least we were certain of one thing: rice there would be bountiful.

Amateur Hour.  The centerpiece of the old Iligan plaza was the gazebo (which we all referred to as the "kiosk,") a hexagonal structure of massive concrete. No single edifice in the city could match the kiosk as the center of  free recreation for the masses.  Not a Sunday ever passed without an amateur singing contest staged on this spot by the only radio station in existence then, DXIC.  Having lived within earshot of the park, I grew accustomed to the repertoire of the same old songs dished out by the contestants week after week.  The amateur hour, with Orlando "Lani" Padilla as perennial host, introduced me to such songs of the era like Diomedes Maturan's God Knows, Johnny Mathis' A Certain Smile, and Jerry Vale's Go Chase a Moonbeam.  Every so often on occasions like this, I would sneak out of the house after a quick evening meal to merge myself shoulder to shoulder with the multitude of spectators. It was not really the sheer love for music that drew me into the multitude.  It was the adolescent thrill of rubbing elbows with some barrio lasses amongst the crowd that mattered.

Playtime at the Kiosk.  For many of us, it was the kiosk that was the vortex of our orbit. The grooves on its concrete floor served perfectly as baselines for our game of patintero (known elsewhere as tubig-tubig). The thrill of the game came when the more audacious playmates, hell-bent on advancing to the next base, would balance themselves precariously on the outer ledge of the kiosk, way beyond the reach of the opposite team. I tried to imitate the same feat several times, and promptly fell off to the ground below in just as many times.

The kiosk had a staircase each on its front and rear sides.  Its steps often served as race tracks for our home-made miniature wheels fashioned from used Marco Polo thread wheels. Gears were carved out of the two sides of the wooden thread wheel, one side of which had a piece of cut candle wax attached to it with a rubber band. The wheel ran like tractors when the rubber band had been recoiled with an attached nipa broom stick. A product of simple yet indigenous craftsmanship that we don't see anymore in this age of electronic gizmos.

Iko & Maganda's Domain.  Underneath the kiosk was the basement that served as a favorite hideout in our game of hide-and-seek despite its awful stench.  But we soon steered clear of that site altogether.  Not because of the stench.  But because the basement had become a shelter of two of the town's hobos we knew only as Iko and Maganda.  Not a single soul in our group ever dared stray anywhere near the basement whenever the couple was holed up inside. It was, without question, their bailiwick. What could they be doing together in there?   We never knew. We couldn't care less. Besides, there were too many other things yet for us to discover, and many more innocent fun to explore in this carefree stage of our life.  Come to think of it, Iko and Maganda, too, were entitled to their share of fun at the park as much as anybody else. Paradoxically, their presence best defined the plaza's paramount reason for being: a haven for people from all walks of life.

Marie Janiefer Q. Lee, Batch '87

I’m leaving tomorrow (June 19) for Taipei, Taiwan.  I know that some people (that includes my conscience) are wondering how could a full-time mother to three kids leave just when the school year started.  Actually up until now I’m still unsure whether this is a good idea or not.  But there’s only one way to find out.

This is actually a trip to fulfill my role as a daughter and as a daughter-in-law, because I’m leaving with my two mothers, my biological mother and my mother-in-law.  The former is going to visit her 105 year-old aunt while the latter is going home to pay her last respect to an aunt who passed away.  Both mothers need somebody to guide them on this trip and I’m the one and only candidate for the position.  The minute we’ve all decided to embark on this trip “home” my phone has been ringing off the hook non-stop both night and day.  Because for days the only thing we’ve all agreed on was that we’re heading to Taipei; we couldn’t agree on the departure date, the airline to take and the travel agency to go to.  That’s how “united” and “coordinated” we are.  And this is just a sign that I should expect more fireworks along the way.

We can’t leave before the 13th because it was the wedding day of my cousin Hiram.  So it has to be the week after the wedding.  So it has to be tomorrow.  For weeks both mothers would change and re-change their minds but I have already set mine.  Either they go with me or they go on their own.  That’s my motto.  Because if I follow their every whim then up until now we still couldn’t get our tickets booked.  It would have made things easier if they would agree on some aspects of the trip so that I could just go along, but the sad part is that they don’t even change their minds in the same direction, so somebody has to stand firm and that somebody is yours truly.

So just the other day with our tickets and our visas at hand I went home very proud of my accomplishment and hoping to finally get some peace and quiet for once.  But at around 10 p.m. my phone started ringing again.  I said to myself: “Now what?!”  Then I heard my mother-in-law from the other end asking me where to buy dried mangoes as our gift to the relatives “back home.”  My immediate answer was “supermarket.”  And I guess it wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear because I was asked “didn’t you know that it’s more expensive at the supermarket?”  For awhile there I thought she’d ask me to go to Cebu and buy our dried mangoes from the factory.  Or if we have enough time, maybe she’d ask me to dry my own mangoes.  Then she said that she has a friend who knows somebody in Ongpin who sells it cheaper.  “Whew! That was a relief!” That means I don’t need to fly to Cebu.  After listening to her for hours I began to ask myself what was the purpose of the call again?  Was she asking me or telling me?  Well, anyway, baffled as I was and more baffled a little later I handed the phone to my mother.  I told her to settle the issue about dried mangoes by themselves since it’s no longer included in the scope of my “expertise.”  I gave them their tickets, their visas and I’m going to get them to Taipei in one piece. I leave the dried mangoes to them.

So tomorrow I’m leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again, I can’t help singing this line too.  I’m just not sure if I could still afford to sing when I’ll be all alone with my two mothers who want to visit two aunts.  Both mothers have only two things in common and that both of them have very strong personalities and both of them have me.  Knowing this I have only one wish and that is, I hope that when I take the jet plane back that my sanity is still in one piece.

Leonardo Tan, Batch '66

Well, it was two weeks ago that we all thought the official canvassing by the Philippine Congress for the President and Vice President had finally started.  And yet until now we still don’t know who won.  It has been more than a month now.  Our brilliant lawmakers are still debating about procedures and filibustering to protect the will of the people. One would think that all these should have been done and taken cared of prior to the election. Once more the Philippines has become an international big joke and it’s not funny at all.  Some of us still could laugh at the situation.  Some would justify that this is the high price of democracy.  The only ones laughing are our Asian neighbours who will benefit from our national disgrace and stupidity.  Once again we mortgage the future of the Philippines. The turning point that I was hoping for once again slipped away.

How could foreign capitals be lured to invest in the Philippines when our political leaders mistrust each other at every step or level in this basic democratic exercise called election?  With this culture of mistrust prevailing, it would be very difficult to govern a country. I wonder what was in the minds of all the presidential candidates when they attended a mass for peace together that Sunday before the election day sponsored by former President Cory Aquino?  It was a great photo opportunity but perhaps a blasphemous act done inside a cathedral when one thinks the other would do the cheating.

If ever there would be any constitutional convention, I believe it would be wise to invest in electing another set of delegates to write the new fundamental law of the land.  To convene the new congress to do the same task might save some money but again we won’t have the constitution that will be fair for all the Filipinos.  It won’t be a government of the people, by the people and for the people as fondly described by that great emancipator Abraham Lincoln.  Otherwise, there won’t be any significant change at all.  The traditional politicians will still protect their own interests as their foremost goal.  The interest of the country will be just an afterthought.  So we will still have the present situation of government by the few and for just a few.

Let us look at the Philippine Senate with only 24 members and yet we have close relatives sitting together as incumbent senators.  We have first-degree cousins.  We have a father-in-law and son-in-law team.  And in the next senate, we have a mother and son.  Yes, they were voted in by the people.  But don’t you think that this should be disallowed by the constitution in the first place?  During the course of the last political campaign, I thought I noticed something very good about Fernando Poe, Jr. when he omitted Jinggoy Estrada in the KNP’s original senate line-up for the very good reason that his mother Sen. Loi Estrada is already in the senate.  And I really admired FPJ for that.  But in the end, FPJ succumbed to the pressure.

Filipinos are great copycats and we love things Americans.  What I could not understand all these years is why did we did not adopt the Vice President as the presiding officer of the Philippine Senate like what the United States Senate has.  The VP is jobless anyway and his/her talent is just wasted as a mere spare tire.  With the VP as presiding officer of the senate, this could eliminate the endless squabbling and back stabbing for the jockeying of the Senate presidency and they should instead concentrate in what they are mandated to do as senators. Imagine the canvassing for the latest batch of dozen senators was not yet over, but it was already reported that Senator Villar was already doing his own canvassing in order to oust the present Senate President.

It seems that the only bright note so far about the recent election was the victory of Isabela’s new governor-elect Grace Padaca. A very inspiring tale of a modern day “David and Goliath.”  A crippled polio victim who was able to break the 3 decades dynastic rule of a family in that province.  Political dynasties have long been a problem and seems to be incompatible in a democratic republic such as ours.  We are not in a kingdom where political positions are appropriated to sons and daughters or husbands and wives.  But the constitution allows it and political dynasties prevail in every corner of the country. Yes, we limit the terms of office of the elected officials. But this has become a big joke too.  Political dynasty might not be harmful in the beginning.  But the political power they weld later inevitably becomes intoxicating when the thought of invincibility conquer their passion.  We should be reminded of the dictum: power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I don’t know the details of the Federal System being proposed by some.  But I fear that this would only encourage further political dynasties or the ugly term "warlords."  And this could even worsen the situation into a fragmented “kingdom.”

There is really an urgent need to reform our political system.  Correct the imperfections of our system with a new constitution drafted by an assembly of good men and women with pure intentions of returning the government of the Filipino people to its rightful owner: the entire sovereign people of the Philippines and not to a few.

Eulogies
Forwarded by Clem Estrera, M.D.
Petersburg, Virginia, U.S.A.

Three friends from the local congregation were asked:  "When you're in your casket, and friends and congregation members are mourning over you, what would you like them to say?"

Artie said:  "I would like them to say I was a wonderful husband, a fine spiritual leader, and a great family man."

Eugene commented:  "I would like them to say I was a wonderful teacher and servant of God who made a huge difference in people's lives."

Don said:  "I'd like them to say, "Look, he's moving!"
 

Reflection
By Graham Hicks
Forwarded by John Go & Alex Rodriguez  (Batch '65)

I asked God to take away my bad habits.
God said no, they are not for Me to take away, but for you to give up.
I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.
God said, no. His spirit is whole, his body only temporary.
I asked God to grant me patience.
God said no. Patience is a byproduct of tribulations, not granted, but learned.
I asked God to give me happiness.
God said no. I give you blessings. Happiness is up to you.
I asked God to spare me from pain.
God said no. Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to Me.
I asked God, make my spirit grow.
God said no. You must grow on your own, but I will prune you to make you fruitful.
I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life.
God said no. I will give you life so that you may enjoy all things.
I asked God to help me love others, as He loves me.
Ahhh, God said. Finally, you're getting the idea.

[From the Edmonton Sun, Canada]

When I was little, I wanted what many Filipino children all over the country wanted. I wanted to be blond, blue-eyed, and white.

I thought -- if I just wished hard enough and was good enough, I'd wake up on Christmas morning with snow outside my window and freckles across my nose!

More than four centuries under western domination does that to you.  I have sixteen cousins. In a couple of years, there will just be five of us left in the Philippines, the rest will have gone abroad in search of "greener pastures."  It's not just an anomaly; it's a trend; the Filipino diaspora. Today, about eight million Filipinos are scattered around the world.

There are those who disapprove of Filipinos who choose to leave. I used to. Maybe this is a natural reaction of someone who was left behind, smiling for family pictures that get emptier with each succeeding year. Desertion, I called it.  My country is a land that has perpetually fought for the freedom to be itself. Our heroes offered their lives in the struggle against the Spanish, the Japanese, the Americans. To pack up and deny that identity is tantamount to spitting on that sacrifice.

Or is it? I don't think so, not anymore. True, there is no denying this phenomenon, aided by the fact that what was once the other side of the world is now a twelve-hour plane ride away. But this is a borderless world, where no individual can claim to be purely from where he is now.  My mother is of Chinese descent, my father is a quarter Spanish, and I call myself a pure Filipino -- a hybrid of sorts resulting from a combination of cultures.

Each square mile anywhere in the world is made up of people of different ethnicities, with national identities and individual personalities. Because of this, each square mile is already a microcosm of the world. In as much as this blessed spot that is England is the world, so is my neighborhood back home.

Seen this way, the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort of dispersal of populations, is not as ominous as so many claim. It must be understood. I come from a Third World country, one that is still trying mightily to get back on its feet after many years of dictatorship. But we shall make it, given more time. Especially now, when we have thousands of eager young minds who graduate from college every year. They have skills. They need jobs. We cannot absorb them all.

A borderless world presents a bigger opportunity, yet one that is not so much abandonment but an extension of identity. Even as we take, we give back. We are the 40,000 skilled nurses who support the UK's National Health Service. We are the quarter-of-a-million seafarers manning most of the world's commercial ships. We are your software engineers in Ireland, your construction workers in the Middle East, your doctors and care-givers in North America, and, your musical artists in London's West End.

Nationalism isn't bound by time or place. People from other nations migrate to create new nations, yet still remain essentially who they are. British society is itself an example of a multi-cultural nation, a melting pot of races, religions, arts and cultures. We are, indeed, in a borderless world!

Leaving sometimes isn't a matter of choice. It's coming back that is. The Hobbits of the shire travelled all over Middle-Earth, but they chose to come home, richer in every sense of the word. We call people like these balikbayans or the 'returnees' -- those who followed their dream, yet choose to return and share their mature talents and good fortune.

In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever opportunities come my way. But I will come home. A borderless world doesn't preclude the idea of a home. I'm a Filipino, and I'll always be one. It isn't about just geography; it isn't about boundaries. It's about giving back to the country that shaped me.

And that's going to be more important to me than seeing snow outside my windows on a bright Christmas morning.

Mabuhay and thank you.

[About the author:   The foregoing is the winning speech of Patricia Evangelista, 19, of the Philippines, who won the International Public Speaking competition conducted by the English Speaking Union [ESU] in London early this month. The second-year Mass Communications student from the University of the Philippines, Diliman, beat 59 other student contestants from 37 countries, with her five-minute talk on the theme, "A Borderless World."  In November, she will formally accept her award at Buckingham Palace from Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and president of the ESU.]

Faithless
By Candice Ang Uy
Cebu, Philippines

There are those who say that she walks amongst us still
In the rustle of the autumn leaves and the birds' shrill trill

They speak of her with hushed voices and deep sorrow
In the long shadows cast by the candles' glow

She remains none among the living and none with the dead
Her restless soul with steady purpose treads

Though her cries are heard she is but unseen
As though a mortal she has never been

And yet she was once filled with Life
To her lord, she was his beloved wife

A breath of fresh air into this place she breathed
In her, pain and sorrow found its surcease

With her wise and tender ways
A joy she was to spend her days

But evil eyes watched her from behind
Envy and Hatred in their hearts poisoning their minds

Slowly they bided their time
For those unawares all was sublime

On an autumn night as this
Loud cries broke through the peaceful mist

In the glare of the lanterns' light
The vassal and his lady, their eyes blank as night

Adulterers, the evil ones shouted
Beneath their cloaks, hearts wildly rejoiced

Before the lord they were brought
All their protests were for naught

She had seen in his eyes
Furious cold that would not subside

How her wounded heart shriveled and bled
Not Death but banishment instead

His faithful vassal to be hanged by day
A message to all of the powers he held at bay

Upon her lord, her love, she laid her eyes
Revulsion and Contempt for her he could not disguise

She wandered for far and near
Aimlessly, praying for death to hear

Until one day they saw her no more
On the forest floor the cloak she wore

But Truth cannot be hidden for long
Like a sudden storm so strong

It broke upon the plotters' heads
The flash of his blade until they were dead

But of his lady he could no longer find
Save for the memories she left behind

Cursed he was to live his life in grief
Death by his hand soon came brief

Though much time has passed
Her tortured soul cannot breathe her last

In the sudden sweep of wind, you hear her cry
Her haunting weeping an echoing lullaby

As long as faithless love there be
She will carry on ceaselessly.