Boots: I lost the battle but I won the war

This the whole world knew during the recent campaign: I pushed hard for Boots Anson-Roa because I believe she would have been a good Senator and I asked my friends and readers to also vote for her. You can just imagine how my heart sank when Boots didn’t make it to the Magic 12.

The trouper that she is, Boots has shrugged it off, charging everything to experience, but I hope that in the next elections she will run again. Who knows, she might – she should! – make it on her second try, just like Jamby Madrigal who placed No. 4 in last May’s elections, which was quite a leap from her "above No. 20" ranking the first time she ran in 2001.

Better luck next time, Boots!

The would-have-been-a-good-Senator wrote Funfare a letter which, as usual, I’m sharing with my readers. Here it is:

Dear Ricky,

Like Winston Churchill, "I lost the battle but I won the war."

In the recently-concluded but hotly-contested senatorial elections, I placed 18th among some 60 candidates vying for 12 seats. A good showing, pundits analyzed, for a political neophyte who reluctantly answered a late call unto the race as a substitute opposition candidate. A laudable record for a greenhorn whose entire campaign kitty approximated a miniscule of the average senatoriable’s budget, amidst lean and mean operations with a ragtag staff.

The election loss notwithstanding, I take pride in the "winning experience" that has left me not only unscathed and unscarred, but more importantly a more impassioned Filipino. Three months of stomping Aparri to Jolo rendered me an active witness to the marginalization of our people, matched only by the blessing of faith, grace and that rare gift of humor with which they address the trappings of poverty.

Thank you for the media exposure you afforded me. It supplemented our very modest advertising and PR budget. I also want to thank those who voted for me.

I aim to continue public service through media, public affairs and academe where I truly belong and where I can effectively embrace our constituents’ needs for information, education and uplifting entertainment. Only this time, I shall do it with even greater conviction, intensity and passion.

Pete and I have returned from a short visit to Washington D.C. where we quietly celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary on June 5 with our children and grandchildren.

Humbly yours,
– BOOTS ANSON-ROA

Clarification on Mark Gil

A few issues back, Funfare published the letter of a reader from Oakland, California, who added some items to Ann Montemar-Oriondo’s trivia list, mentioning that Mark Gil and the women he has had relationships with, including Jaclyn Jose whom the reader identified as once married to Mark.

Reader Marilu Hortaleza, 47, from Cebu City, who identified herself as "an avid fan of the Gil family," texted a clarification to that item:

Mark was never married to Jaclyn. His first marriage was to Bing Pimentel and it lasted for years. Then Mark got involved with Jaclyn and their relationship lasted for five years. Next came Maricar Jacinto, an equestrienne from the prominent Jacinto clan. They were married in 1996 – and going strong. I believe Mark when he said on SIS that Maricar is his last marriage and his true love.

Marilu forgot to mention Irene Celebre who, like most if not all the women in Mark’s life, is petite (Mark’s type).

Ma’am Loret, who’s like a second mother to Mark and his siblings, informed Funfare that Mark has two children with Irene, namely Gabby and Ira (now both in showbiz); two with Bing, namely Maxine and Timothy (whose screen name is Sid Lucero, the name of Mark’s character in Batch ’81); one with Jaclyn, namely Andy; and one with Maricar, namely Stevie.

Letter from Cathy Babao

I just got the following letter from Cathy Babao-Guballa, daughter of Caridad Sanchez and now editor of Me Magazine (Cathy started her writing career by doing film reviews for The STAR’s Entertainment Section):

Hi Ricky,

How are you? You were very much a part of turning the very first Migi’s Corner (at the Philippine Heart Center in 1999) from a dream into a reality. I really owe you a lot, Rick. Now, I’m starting a new phase in my mission and I wanted to share it with you. If you feel like sharing, maybe excerpting parts of what I have written here with your readers, please feel free to do so. Alya Honasan wrote about me and the ward project last June 20 in the Sunday Inquirer Magazine.

I wrote the piece below on the day of Migi’s 6th anniversary in heaven last June 3, 2004. The PGH project is really a huge task but I’ve always believed that if the Lord wants you to do something, He will equip and enable you far beyond your expectations.

SIX YEARS LATER

In the book The Purpose Driven Life it says – "God intentionally allows you to go through painful experiences to equip you for ministry to others. The very experiences that you have resented or regretted most in life – the ones you’ve wanted to hide and forget – are the experiences God wants to use to help others. For God to use your painful experiences, you must be willing to share them."

Today, I marked Migi’s sixth anniversary in heaven. Today, I believe my life has finally come full circle. After five years and 10 Migi’s Corners (which began in February 1999 at the Philippine Heart Center), we opened the first Migi’s Ward at the National Children’s Hospital (NCH) on E. Rodriguez. Migi’s Ward at NCH is a 15-bed facility for pediatric neurosurgery patients. These are children with hydrocephalus, brain tumors and other diseases of the brain that require some form of brain surgery. From corners, to rooms, to gardens to wards, God has been so generous and blessed and enabled us to do His work. For the first time, I did not cry while giving my talk at the ward’s opening. I was, to say the very least, choked with emotion when I saw the marker outside the ward, but surprisingly, the tears didn’t fall. Though I still miss Migi, I was so moved and struck by the realization at the way, like in the Prayer of Jabez, that God has expanded the "territory" of my work.

Six years ago, I thought that my world had ended and that a greater part of myself had died. Wracking my brains to find meaning in the early loss of my son, I did the next best thing – keep my promise to him that I would keep him forever in my heart. I’d like to believe that through the 10 corners that were put up in his memory, Migs continues to live on. Not only in my heart but in that of all the children who have been to his corners. It was the pain of his death that drove and inspired me to do this kind of work. It is now the pain, I realize that has set me free from my sadness.

My big task at hand is the 47-bed pediatrics ward (Ward 9) of the Philippine General Hospital. Early this year, I committed myself, in faith and obedience, to try and help rehabilitate the facilities here. Together with the adjacent Migi’s Garden, we hope to establish an entire healing complex at the PGH. This ward, as you know, is where the most underprivileged of our country’s children go. It is impossible to go there and not be moved by their plight and the conditions under which they live in. Once more, slowly, God has provided me with architects (spearheaded by the United Architects of the Philippines - Marikina chapter) and designers to help complete this mission. Slowly, the funds have been coming in to realize this dream. How God continues to enable and empower never ceases to amaze me. There is so much that needs to be done at this ward. Initial costs have been pegged at P700,000 to P800,000. If your heart is moved to help by providing funds or construction materials and supplies please send an email to [email protected] or text 0917-847-0126.

But more than just being a pitch for this latest endeavor, I guess the message that I want to share with all of you is that as we now reach mid-life (unless you plan to live to a hundred, 40 IS mid-life), we’ve all had our fair share of heartaches and pain. Some of them major, some minor. But pain, as Oprah says, is all the same. And whatever your loss or pain is, there lies your mission. Use it well, step out of the shadow of yourselves and reach out to others who walk the same path that you once did. In sharing yourself, you begin to heal and your life takes on a deeper meaning and the sad experience you had to go through finally makes sense. In losing Migi, I found myself. In using the pain to reach out to other sick children, I found my mission.

– Cathy

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])