Dear Nanay,
I’m Jonathan Lacsa de Dios, owner of the publication PhilJewels, the first jewelry magazine in the Philippines. At the young age of 24, I dreamed of publishing my own book — a book about jewelry. My dream is to sell it through National Book Store.
Through my father’s help, I learned a lot about the trade and with the best training I had, I was so lucky to be the training consultant of Basilan Jewelry Association and Bariis Goldsmith Cooperative way back in 1997.
With the love I have for the industry I committed myself to teaching everything regarding jewelry manufacturing. I want to impart what my grandfather and my father have shared with me. I want to be part of nation-building through the jewelry industry as a jewelry educator. I want to make more books for the Philippine jewelry industry. I want to give back partly what I learned from books I bought from your bookstore, like How to Succeed, Positive Thinking, gem books and others.
I’m nothing without you, Nanay, even if you don’t know me. Please help me fulfill one of my dreams for the nation and the youth.
Jonathan De Dios
Dear Jonathan,
Thank you so much for your kind words.
It is very gratifying to hear someone who wants to give so much back to the country. I am sure all your students and readers greatly appreciate all the knowledge that you so passionately want to share with them.
As for selling your book in National Book Store, please visit our office at Quad Alpha Centrum, 125 Pioneer Street, Mandaluyong City. You can look for Juliet Gako or Letty Custodio and they can help you.
Sincerely,
Nanay
* * *
Losing Precious Photos
Dear Nanay,
Hello. I’ve been a fan of your column since the first time I read it. I’m 25 years old from Laguna. My problem is about my ex-boyfriend. We met December 2006 on the Internet and became friends until March 2008, when we realized that we were in love. We had a long-distance online relationship where we would e-mail, chat and he would call me every day despite the fact that he is in the US. It was my first time to have a serious boyfriend and it was a great feeling.
He promised me that he would meet me but it never happened. After a year of being in a relationship, he stopped communicating with me, and it hurt so bad. I realized that love can give you so much joy and so much pain, too. I realized that maybe he doesn’t love me anymore. But I’m okay now and have moved on.
My problem is that when we were still in love, we exchanged letters and I sent him all of my important pictures like my baby pictures, my family pictures, my pictures when I was in school and other important occasions. And those letters and pictures are still with him today. I tried to e-mail him, send messages and call but he’s never replied. I cannot contact him. I really don’t know what to do because I can’t go to the US to get my pictures. They are originals and I regret sending them to him.
If you have readers from San Francisco, please help me get those pictures from him.
The Girl
Dear Girl,
First of all, I will assume that you do not know any of your ex-boyfriend’s friends in San Francisco. And that if you know any of them, you have tried to contact them already, to no avail.
Because, if that is the case and he also refuses to answer you, I think you may just have to accept that those photos are gone forever. If he himself refuses to answer your e-mails and communications, it really does not look like you have much of a chance to get your things back.
I think the moral of this unfortunate story for people is “do not so easily give up things that are precious to you,” especially things that you cannot get back. Hindi mo na dapat pinadala yung (You should not have sent the) originals. In today’s modern world, it would have been so easy to just e-mail him copies of the pictures and keep the originals.
But look at it this way: it is not the end of the world. You still have your whole life ahead of you to make new photos and new memories.
Sincerely,
Nanay
* * *
If you have a question, e-mail us at asknanay@nationalbookstore.com.ph or just drop your letter at drop boxes in all National Book Store branches nationwide.