Rockin’ n’ rollin’ for GMA

For us boogie-crazy guys, the night of March 19 at the NBC Tent at Fort Bonifacio, Taguig, was something to remember. It was like olden times. RJ and the Riots played with their electric guitars and drums with gusto, and most of the hundreds of guests were on the dance floor, twisting and rock n‚rolling. Hits of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s drowned the chatter of the well-heeled dancing crowd – compositions of the BeeGees and the Beatles, the Platters, and what have you. The lights temporarily focused on First Gentleman Mike Arroyo boogee-ing with daughter Luli, and on the tiny Mikaela Arroyo, daughter of Mike Macapagal-Arroyo, executing fancy steps at the foot of the stage. The eternal kinetics mom, Lydia Buendia, showed what it took to perform "gloria-robics."

The affair was a fund-raiser of the Kagabay ni Glo led by Mely Nicolas, Evelyn Kilayko, Conchitina Bernardo and Charito Montenegro. Dolly Castillo, Celine Bautista, Menchu Geronimo, Marimill Hernandez, Frannie Jacinto, Cynthia C. Norton, Evelyn Ranada and Carmen de los Reyes as members of the welcome committee, made sure the guests – big businessmen, society matrons, NGO executive directors, Cabinet secretaries and their spouses, yuppies and religious sisters – felt welcome and happy. There were no campaign speeches, only the gentle Luli gave a short talk on behalf of her mother, PGMA, who was addressing a huge crowd in the south that evening.

The dancing-est night was far different from the serious meetings sponsored by the Kagabay stalwarts who gave lectures on what to do during the campaign period and on election day itself.

If all fund-raising events were the same as that of March 19, let’s have more of them.

An uplifting experience was the opening last week of the one-man exhibition of paintings by Malaysian Ambassador to the Philippines Mohamed Taufik at the embassy residence. Entitled "Recent Works," the exhibit consisted of representations of tulips and orchids and fruits in Van Gogh and Cezanne exotic colors. Colleagues from the diplomatic circle and some of Manila’s fine-arts collectors were visibly impressed that the ambassador would have time to produce paintings they would like to hang in their living rooms.

The ambassador announced that he was donating 30 per cent of the sales of his work to Gina de Venecia, president of the Congressional Spouses Foundation and founder of The Haven for Children in Alabang. He had visited the facility last year, and during the visit, he told himself he would do his part for the children.

He said that his inspiration in painting was depression. Strange, but true. He said he had a long bout with depression. He expressed gratitude for his government‚s department of foreign affairs, his family and doctors, for giving him support to overcome his condition.

"The triumph over my depression explains the bright and vibrant colors I have chosen for my paintings," he said. "They bring joy to me. They are happy colors quite timely with the summer that is here for all of us to savor before the typhoons. Weather is like life, we have good and bad times but we must weather all our storms. Bright as the paintings are, in fact, some are like Hawaiian shirts, they do not especially in these days of intense politicking, indicate my support for any of the candidates in the coming elections." He added that he hoped the sale of his works would bring joy to the children in The Haven.

The street children in Metro Manila, he said, "face the greatest adversity as well as setbacks in their lies at so young an age. They are in need of hope, they need heroes and heroines in their lives and they need inspiration."

On the act of giving, the ambassador quoted the Holy Prophet: "Any act of charity passes through the hand of God before it reaches the needy."

"For me," he ended his talk, "God has given me the hand to paint as well."

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