Tonette the mover joins the Lord

Monday, we could not believe what we read in our email. “Please pray for Tonette” and subsequent emails described her as being in the hospital with respirator and given only days to live by the Japanese doctors.

Those who were close to Tonette, especially among the Filipino scholars in Japan or those who worked with her in several projects or even those who knew her from a distance could not help but notice that this was a woman who could not keep still. In fact, she was described as a mover, in an earlier interview that appeared in the Philippines Today that can be accessed via internet.

Before being able to recover from the shock of knowing about Tonette now immobilized by aneurysm, the next day, Tuesday, the very sad unexpected news came through the internet. “Tonette joined the Lord at 10:46.” The requests for prayers continued. One beautiful plea was sent in by someone very close to her, “Lord, please send Your angels to accompany Tonette back to You.”

Big in life, and living her own for the sake of so many Filipinos, Tonette will surely be missed here but is most certainly most welcomed in heaven.

We share with you some excerpts about Tonette written by another scholar and colleague in Japan, Butch Talorete. As we do, please join us pray for her eternal peace and rest with the Lord. Here are portions of that 2002 write-up:

Antonia “Tonette” Binsol is a rare breed of Filipino. With an excellent education, a stable job and a promising future, she can be content with the daily humdrum of life. But Tonette is not run-of-the-mill; she is a mover, a symbol of the adage that “to whom much is given, much is required.”

Tonette is the founder and force behind the four-year-old cyber NGO Tulong Pinoy Movement (TPM), which is committed to supporting needy Filipinos by making use of information technology in building partnerships and empowerment-sharing with individuals and organizations worldwide. TPM provides the virtual venue by which these partnerships are mobilized for poverty alleviation in the Philippines.

Lofty this may sound to the casual reader, but Tonette is surely standing on solid ground. Believing that education is the key to personal and community empowerment, TPM has launched, among many other grassroots projects, the Iskolar Pinoy Program that has presently 80 beneficiaries and about 500 applicants. With only 3,000 yen or 25 US dollars per month (roughly the cost of 2 hours in a karaoke bar), you can help a poor but deserving college student in the Philippines complete his/her education and become a productive member of society.

Since the project began, the Iskolar Pinoy Program has produced many graduates, thanks to the tenacity and hard work of Tonette and her partners. In fact, Tonette believes in this project so much that she even sells phone cards just to help strengthen TPM’s funds. For indeed, given that many of the beneficiaries are aetas, indigenous tribes, negritos in Mindanao, and even child scavengers in the Payatas dumpsite, the task is daunting and requires all the financial and moral strength that it can tap.”

You can log on to The Philippines Today for the complete write-up about Tonette. Allow us to end this piece about her with her own words: “With the load I am facing each day, time is so precious for me. I’d rather deal with more significant moves than face those detractors whose mission is really unfair for someone who’s so focused at helping others. I think what should be required nowadays are helpers of helping people and not detractors. If you can’t be a helper, think otherwise.”

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