It's a Fact (Magazine Column)



Prime Weekly Edition Vol. 3 No. 10, March 10, 1988

On the front cover: Lalaine Robles

On the back cover: Gymnast Bea Lucero for the Milo print ads

          One of the magazine columns that I pioneered is “It’s a Fact.” It first appeared on Prime Weekly Edition magazine. The column featured interesting bits of information that I’ve collected from various sources since I was in high school. Later, as an alternate to another column that I started, “For the Record,” it was featured inside the pages of MOD magazine.

 

 

 

 

MOD Filipina Vol. 21 No. 914, March 10, 1989
On the Cover: Reyna Arroyo

 

This poem I wrote just after the onslaught of Typhoon Unsing. I was with the cause-oriented group, Lupang Ugnayan, during the time. I witnessed the devastation the typhoon made in Metro Manila. Many large houses in flush subdivisions were damaged, some beyond repair, but to my amazement, the shanties of indigent people near the seashore of Manila Bay, in the Port Area, remained intact and standing. So, I wrote a poem to dedicate that instance in time when Heaven showed mercy on the indigents. It was featured in the "Reflections" section of MOD Filipina March 10, 1989 issue.

SHANTIES IN THE EYES OF GOD 

(A message from Typhoon Unsing, January, 1989)
 
Destructive winds
          rage unchallenged.
All the powerfuls are cowardly hiding
          under their mattressed beds.
Not even the towering edifices,
          built from the sweat of others,
          can stand undamaged.
The oligarch’s mansion,
          built of expensive bricks,
          crumbles against nature’s might.
The blossoming garden of sunflowers
          withers in just a flash!
The fiefs of the corrupt
          are ruined beyond consolation;
          even ants care not
          for the rotten sugar stalks!
But lo! Look in the seashores;
          look in the slums,
          though flooded,
          the poor shanties stand.
Pieces of plastics, cardboards
          and used timber cleats
          – against a howling storm?
Yes, my friend:
          This time the weak are blessed.
For in the eyes of the Almighty,
          they are made of unbreakable bond!


 “Listen, my dear brothers! GOD chose the poor people of this world to be rich in faith and to possess the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him.” – The Letter from James 2:5, The Good News Bible in Today English Version.