THEN: Aug. 15, 1983 — 27 years ago
Here we are at Charles Bridge and the whole of Prague is before us in breathtaking splendor. What I have in mind is author Leon Uris who used the same bridge as the locale of one of the chapters in QB VII. His main character walked on this bridge that we are walking in now, perhaps breathe the same air and feel the grandeur of the old city. Prague has kept each monument intact through years of war and devastation.
But this time the flowers are in full bloom and there are flower stalls along the way. We discover that the stalls are state-owned and the flower sellers are paid a salary by the state. This is our first trip to Socialist countries and there are new revelations every day.
“Are the rooms bugged?” we ask each other. I remember Nestor Torre telling me poses I should take when going to the john. I mention this fact to our guide and he laugh.
“We just can’t afford it,” he says.
Our Filipino group in Prague is an interesting mixture, including lawyers Jejomar Binay, Honesto Cueva and Emil de Peralta; consumerist Julie Amargo; writer-researcher Soledad Perpinan; youth leader Pete Baguisan; labor representatives Rey Capa, Ben Alar and Ramel Paris; Aida Lava Dizon of education; and journalist Sylvia Mayuga. We are invited by the Russian Embassy to visit Moscow and to attend the labor conference in Prague, Czechoslovakia. I am invited as editor of the Makati Trade Times then published by Ely Diaz, a lawyer and politician.
It’s cold in Prague but Jojo jogs every morning around the International Hotel where we are billeted. He has to wake up early because our bus picksa all of us early to attend the 8 a.m. schedule at the Palace of Culture where the conference is held. We always marvel at how Jojo can look refreshed after his jogging while most of us just struggle along to the early breakfast.
Jojo is a Mabini lawyer involved in the defense of Jose Burgos and Tony Nieva. A man of the people, he attracts friends everywhere. A member of the Australian delegation plays cards with Jojo, Honesto and Pete and become “Filipinized” to the point that his own team would start looking for him in our train compartment every time he is needed. Jojo’s background in politics is deep and interesting. He plays it down by talking about it in very simple terms, discussing ideologies with the Russians and the Czechs as day-to-day fare.
“Public schools all the way” is what Jojo answers whenever he is asked about his academic background. He is people-oriented and believes in laws that will benefit the biggest number of People.” People: They are of the utmost importance. What good is the city if the people are not happy in it?”
At the Binay residence in San Antonio, clients, mostly laborers belonging to unions, come in any time. They need help. And aside from the legal advice, the Binay kitchen is open as well as to clients who live out of town and have a long way to go. Often, the patients of Ellen, Jojo’s wife who is a doctor, would join Jojo’s clients in the kitchen while waiting for the doctora to finish her rounds at a nearby hospital.
Aida Lava Dizon, a lively personality adept in organization work is known by most of the leaders of the peace council. She has been in conferences before this. She is the daughter of Jose Lava, Filipino lawyer, accountant and intellectual who is now based in Prague. Aida’s only son Jose Mauricio (Jomau) lives with his grandparents in Prague and attends a Soviet school. He is now 16 years old. The Lavas are responsible for teaching Tagalog in Moscow. Some of the Russian attachés and cultural people sent to Manila are proficient in Tagalog.
Well-known consumerist Julie Amargo shares a room with Aida and Sylvia. She is very religious and goes about her consumer causes with fervor. But she is also lots of fun, equipped with a sense of humor that caused us to laugh aloud even at the most serious moment. Julie makes it a point to go to church every day and she is lucky to find Jomau Dizon and our guide Sylvia Kulik to take her to Our Lady of Victorious Church in the Little Quarter where the Santo Niño de Praga has been ensconced for the last 300 years.
The Santo Niño de Praga is known to Catholics all over the world. It is a small wax statue 45 centimeters tall. The clothing is designed by devotees all over the world. Her clothes are changed 10 times a year during different seasons.
One afternoon at the Women’s Center, I’m lucky to listen to Valentino Tereskova and have a short interview with her. Being the first woman in space, she is very much in the news during our stay in Prague. She is now in her forties and is a colonel in the Russian Air Force. She is also a deputy member of the Soviet Presidium. She was applauded for her talk on the nuclear freeze issue.
The big surprise of this peace week is Yasser Arafat. His coming is not scheduled and we hear about it on the very Saturday that he comes. The Congress Hall is jampacked with people. He is big news this week considering his problem with Syria. He has a strong presence and there is loud cheering as he walks to the stage. He walks to the stage slowly, bowing and waving his hand to people he knows in the crowd. There is no visible bodyguard or no one in uniform around him. He speaks in Arabic and it is interpreted simultaneously into German, English, French, Japanese and Chinese. I am sitting on the aisle and not able to use the earphones which are attach to the seats. But it must be a good speech for the Nicaraguans who are cheering so loudly. Someone at the back makes a speech in Spanish interrupting Arafat in mid-sentence. Oh-oh trouble. But Arafat answers “Venceremos” and the whole room cheers once more.
Now: May 25, 2011 — 27 years later
The human rights lawyer of 27 years ago is now the popular Vice President of the Philippines. Controversial as ever, his rating in the latest survey is higher than that of Pres. Noynoy ‘P-Noy’ Aquino. Which means that he has the style that Filipinos like. He may yet become president if all goes well for him.
Arafat is still as controversial as Jojo but keeping a lower profile during the Osama Bin Laden episode. Tereskova is retired. So far she has been the only Soviet woman put into space.
Amargo is also retired but still a consumer advocate. Mayuga lives quietly in the province and has written another book Between the Centuries. Dizon is dead. My roommate in the train compartment from Prague to Moscow, Sister Sol Perpinan is still doing research. She used to publish BALAI, a magazine on research and statistics.