Changing the angle

I was a kid when I first heard about how rich and powerful the Abines clan was.  I had tagged long with my cousins to an inter-town basketball tournament in the 1980s.  We passed a huge house in Oslob and someone said that it was owned by the Abines family. Being kids, we were predictably impressed by the size of the house and proceeded to speculate on what the people living there were like. 

Later, I would read articles about the politics of “guns, goons and gold.”  Invariably, the Abines name would be used in the same sentence as “political dynasties,” “warlords,” and “private armies.”  Not knowing any better, I took this as gospel truth.  Being domiciled in Boljoon, I am a registered voter of the second district of Cebu.  When I first voted in 1998, I idly wondered where the private army was and why no one had offered to buy my vote. 

When my father was hired as counsel for the late Congressman Crisologo Abines, I was given pointed comments like, “Why did your father agree to represent that warlord?”  I had shrugged and said that everyone is entitled to counsel.   I had never met Congressman Abines personally but the idea of a warlord had stuck to my head. I had a vague expectation that he would, at the very least, exhibit qualities like the Dark Lord Sauron from J.R.R. Tolkien’s  “The Lord of the Rings.”

At that time, Congressman Abines (and sometimes, my father) were vilified in media.  Congressman Abines was portrayed as a ruthless murderer, despite the fact that he was actually shot by his assailant first and that he almost died were it not for timely medical attention.  I was busy reviewing for the bar at that time.  I decided to just ignore the news.

 In 1999, I finally met Congressman Abines at his home in Manila.   I was surprised at how gentle and soft-spoken he was.  He showed us the mango trees that he himself planted in the backyard.   He ate in the kitchen with everyone else, enjoying simple fare like fish tinola.  He doted on his family.  He was not scary the way I imagined warlords would be. 

Over the years, I would meet him at family functions. He was unassuming and laughed easily.  I would be secretly amused when I remembered the image I previously had of him, completely based on rumors and newspaper articles.

    “What story do you want to tell?”  the speaker at a photography workshop I sat in asked the participants. She proceeded to show different shots of the same subject taken from various angles.  A close-up picture of a child told the story of mischief evident on his face.  A photograph taken from afar of the same child showed him dwarfed by a massive wall.  It told the story of a child trapped by his environment.

I guess the same thing can be said about our perception of people.  The image will change depending on the angle we see a person from.  If we wish, we can make the image ugly and distorted.  On the other hand, we can change the angle and see another story.

I just feel lucky to have had the opportunity to see Congressman Abines from a closer perspective.  I knew him to be a kind and prayerful man.  We will miss him.

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