At 60: A Doctor Reminisces Peaceful Zamboanga,

Chinese Roots

BY EVELYN C. LUCEÑO

Dr. Roberto B. Torres celebrated his 60th birthday anniversary on May 13, this year, with an interesting and meaningful party in Chinese motif at the Astoria Regency, Pasonanca. It was prepared and orchestrated by his loving wife Zeny and their children.

Guests and well-wishers were his own family, relatives and friends which included the Honorable City Mayor Celso Lobregat, Congressman Erbie Fabian, Congresswoman Beng Climaco-Salazar, Councilors Rudy Lim and Rey Candido who came with their spouses; Rev. Fathers Totong Soliva and Alain Ruiz; government officials; business people; colleagues from WMSU and the Christian Family Movement; and former classmates, to name a few. All came with their bundles of good wishes - longer life, greater happiness, more success, and other positive vibes.

But very few knew that that very night, the celebrant had a profound wish which he has been nurturing in his heart for many years now. That is, to trace his Chinese grandfather’s roots in Amoy, China and to establish connection with his relatives there. His father and his grandfather nurtured the same dream before him. But both failed to fulfill the dream.

Dr. Torres reminisces how his grandfather during his old age, in his longing to go back to his homeland and people, used to walk the stretch of R.T. Lim Boulevard (then Cawa-Cawa boulevard) up to Sinunuc, “trying to find a way to go home to China”.

Dr. Torres’ grandfather was named Uh-Wang. He was a pure Chinese. At the tender age of 13 years, he came to the Philippines with his younger brother in 1866 in a small Chinese boat called “choon”, in order to escape poverty and oppression.

Uh-Wang married a Zamboangueña, the former Ms. Catalina Salvador Fabian, with whom he had three sons and three daughters. When he became a naturalized Filipino citizen, he was given the family name Torres by his godfather, a member of the Torres clan from Manicahan. His younger brother, on the other hand, took the family name, Macrohon, also a large and well-known clan in the city.

Dr. Torres has fond memories of his grandfather who regularly dined at the old Times Restaurant along Guardia Nacional, now Mayor Climaco Avenue. He feasted on the restaurant’s famous pansit with his Chinese contemporaries. The old man was an excellent craftsman, Dr. Torres remembers well. He made grandfather’s clocks which was a treasure to own, for many residents in Zamboanga. Uhwa was also a good tinsmith. But he was most well-known for his talent and skill in manufacturing bicycles, prompting the late Mayor Cesar C. Climaco to call him the “King of Bicycles”.

Grandfather Uhwa helped shape the artistic leanings of Dr. Torres. He introduced the young boy to the silent movies of Charlie Chaplain, cartoons, and Chinese movies. Likewise, the household’s cultural practices which included ancestor worship also shaped Dr. Torres’ openness and appreciation of the cultural practices and art forms of various tribes today. That is why his holding the position of Director of Culture and the Arts of the Office of the President, Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) is very apt.

Dr. Torres’ grandmother, Catalina, was the oldest child in the family. She was the elder sister of Patricio, the grandfather of Congressman Erbie Fabian. Dr. Torres’ father was Enrique Jr. who graduated valedictorian at the Ateneo de Zamboanga high school, night class. He had to assist his father Uhwa in the family business during day time. Just like the rest of his siblings, Enrique never attended Chinese school and never learned to speak Chinese. This was because their father, Uhwa, remembering the depression he experienced in his homeland, never encouraged his children to learn Chinese. The Torres household spoke Spanish.

This explains Dr. Torres’ passion and sincere commitment to teach Spanish during the early years of his professional life. This is also the reason why he is committed to support the city government’s efforts at preserving and promoting the use of the Chabacano language today. In fact, he authored the Chabacano workbook which has been endorsed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod and approved by the Office of the City Mayor as the official instructional material for grade schools in the city. On June 9 to 11, a seminar-workshop on how to use the workbook was conducted by Dr. Torres himself, among public school teachers, at the WMSU College of Law auditorium.

Dr. Torres is married to the former Ms. Zenaida Aliangan. The couple is blessed with four children Buddy, Lucky, Wealthy and Jewel; daughter-in-law Shareen and grandson Robbie Ryan.

Dr. Torres finished his Bachelor of Science in Education, major in Biology, cum laude, at the A.E. Colleges. Later, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology degree at the Southwestern University in Cebu City. He finished his Master’s degree in Education at the Universidad de Zamboanga and his Doctor of Education degree at Western Mindanao State University.

During the celebration, Dr. Torres shared values and principles which guides and animates his life to this day: to cultivate courage, affection and gentleness; to continuously wish for health, friends and contentment; and to give alms to the needy, comfort for the sick, and thanks to the Almighty.

Indeed, using the Chinese motif for Dr. Torres’ 60th birthday bash was more than just a whim. It pointed to the cherished colorful past and solid values which were inculcated in him by his Chinese grandfather Uhwa and by his own parents Enrique and Flora. It pointed to a life lived with meaning and noble purpose. It was meant to enliven the celebrant’s resolve to fulfill the dream of his forebears.

Dr. Torres looks forward to meeting his relatives in his grandfather’s homeland someday, together with his wife Zeny and children.

Tri Mumpuni:  A Modern Day Prometheus

It was 1992 and a Sundanese farmer and his neighbors in the village of Curug Agung, Subang, West Java, were being treated to a television broadcast that was deemed exclusive to the country’s urban centers. It was something they have long dreamed about but had remained elusive until now.

Electricity had finally come to Curug Agung and the farmer and the villagers watched in awe as a 12KW micro hydropower system that was recently installed was being tested at full capacity; churning out sufficient voltage to power a sawmill that the farmer owned, with enough excess electricity for 21 neighboring households.

The people of Curug Agung, so used to spending their evenings in darkness, leaped, screamed and hugged each other as they saw their village suddenly awash in light. “Now we have our independence! Thank you!” one of them cried in joy.

Like the famous titan Prometheus who brought fire from the gods and delivered it to the mortals to use, Tri Mumpuni, with her husband Iskandar Budisaroso Kuntoadji, brought electricity to this isolated village to help enhance the villager’s economic opportunities and improve their lives.

In a country with a population of nearly 250 million, about 105 million Indonesians, found mostly in rural areas, still do not have access to electricity, relying on fuel wood and kerosene for all their daily needs.

“Electricity is the backbone of economic development,” Mumpuni  says. “When I bring people electricity I see all life’s opportunities open up for them. It is a means of improving living standards to help realize your life dreams.”

The young couple formed Institut Bisnis dan Ekonomi Kerakyatan, IBEKA, or the People-Centered Business and Economic Institute, in 1993, a non-government organization committed to bring about change in the impoverished rural areas communities by promoting, developing and building micro hydropower systems.

18 years and 65 micro hydropower plants later, half a million people in rural Indonesia are now with electricity. And IBEKA has become an outstanding Indonesian example of social entrepreneurship, casting Mumpuni as a much-admired and influential leader in the field of renewable, small-scale, community-based development.

Tri Mumpuni developed a social conscience to helping the poor early in life. She witnessed the heart-rending plight of the marginalized while growing up in Semarang, Central Java. Her father, an economist, is a respected figure in their village. Their house was always used as the venue for a variety of community activities, from literacy programs to primary health care services. Her mother, a social worker, always brought the young Tri with her whenever she went from village to village to care for the sick. And during her teen years, Mumpuni spent a great deal of time with the family of Soepardio Rustam, the former minister of Internal Affairs. She credits them for teaching her how to work directly with the poor people in rural areas.

Like many young Indonesian girls, Mumpuni dreamt of becoming a doctor, but failing to make it in the selection process she decided to study agriculture instead in the Institute of Agriculture Bogor.

In her final year of university, she was given an opportunity by USAID to work with fish farmer families in North Sumatra on income generation and on integrated rural women and the environment programs.

She immersed herself in rural development work when she joined UNDP after university and managed a low-cost housing program for the urban poor. All of these experiences helped her develop a clear understanding of how to create community-based models for development.

When she meets fellow Indonesians who live in these remote, isolated areas living without electricity, she realizes how lucky she has been and how, “All Indonesians deserve equal access to this most basic utility. They are also citizens of this country, so why should they be deprived?”

Micro hydropower generation has been proposed and experimented with for many years, and although a proven technology, financial and regulatory obstacles have restricted its potential as the answer to Indonesia’s electrification woes.

In many areas, local initiatives that set up off-grid systems using micro hydropower technology closed down once the state-owned power companies enter the market and undersold the electricity.

With Mumpuni’s social development skills and entrepreneurial abilities, she designed a model for co-generation that allows the community-based system to connect to the government grid, and gain revenue from the arrangement. She lobbied tirelessly with government for and won her first concession in 1999.

This unique business model has attracted private investors as well. It has now become a viable economic investment activity that the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) adopted it as one of the Public Private Partnership models for the region.
Currently serving as advisor to President Yudhoyono of Indonesia on sustainable development, Mumpuni’s tireless work is also recognized by the global community.

In 2005, she received the Climate Hero WWF International Award. In 2006, she became an Ashoka Fellow and was also pronounced “Woman of The Year” by the Indonesian weekly magazine Tempo. She was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship in 2009. Last year’s Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington, President Obama, acknowledged her work, even mentioning her by name in his speech. This year Tri Mumpuni has been elected to be one of the recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Award.

While she has accomplished much, Mumpuni knows that the work is far from finished and that the tasks ahead for IBEKA remain daunting. She understands that electricity, like Prometheus’ fire, is but a spark to achieve greater things.

“Electricity is not our main goal,” she declares, “but the potential to build communities that are economically empowered. This is my highest task.”

Rep. Emil L. Ong:

The Father of Northern Samar,

2nd District

BY ABRAHAM JARITO NG, SR.

He who first conceptualized an idea is the father – or inventor of that particular idea. Should he nourish, develop and usher that concept into reality and put it into action, he could be named as its leader. And this was what actually happened in Northern Samar province with now Congressman Ong who originated the idea of dividing it into two districts just for political accommodation.

Lo, this turbulent nation held its national snap election in 1985 to prove the credibility of Mr. Marcos regime. By then it was Mr. Ong alone standing against the proverbial and powerful political clans in Region 8, including the  Samar islands. As a newly convert from Liberal Party to Ninoy Aquino’s PDP Laban Party, he campaigned vigorously and won votes for the party’s presidential standard bearer, the widow Cory Aquino. While it was almost a hopeless case to go against the man who controlled the nation with his iron fists, but by sheer miracle, the underdog lady candidate won by a silk margin of 2% over the Marcoses in this region.

The very reason believably why the elected new lady President of the Republic repaid Mr. Ong by appointing him later on not only as official PDP Laban Party Chairman in this region but as Secretary of National Food Authority. Two posts which won for him a seat later as the only Concon delegate from this region that amended Philippine Constitution in 1987.

Meanwhile, Mr. Raul Daza, a former Congressman of the then undivided Northern Samar was in his self-exile and didn’t have a fixed job in United States for his anti-Marcos sentiment. He joined with former Senators Raul Manglapus, Ninoy Aquino, Jr., Sergio Osmena, ABS-CBN owner Eugenio Lopez, Jr., and a dozen others. This situation made Mr. Emil Ong to invite Mr. Daza, being his province mate, to come back home and serve once more his constituents. Being very close to the Lady President, Mr. Ong recommended him for a specific job.

As a result, Mr. Daza became a regional commissioner of Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) whose specified duty was to keep track and seize back all illegally obtained wealth of the Marcoses’ cronies in the government. But which position had created various unsavory remarks by the Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines and by President Cory herself, Congressman Ong told this writer.

At this juncture, congressional election was already at hand. Just to accommodate Mr. Daza in maintaining his own political domain, swiftly the architect of Liberal Party, former senator Jovito Salonga, and Congressman Ong co-authored and filed a bill in Congress which was immediately passed into law dividing Northern Samar into two districts. This was an expedient maneuver of the Liberal Party senator even though not yet in conformity under the local government code.
Ever since, the 2nd district of Northern Samar has been governed alternately by Jose Ong, Jr., the Vicensio, Lucero and current Congressman Emil Ong, who is holding his post with gripping hands. Because according to him. “I want to accomplish something concrete for my district and its constituents. Like the long overdue yet unfinished Paninirongan Seaport project in Pmabujan town which I had already deposited some PhP 40 Million last year with the Philippine Port Authority out of my pork barrel allotment. As this is the lead agency tasked by the President of the Republic to undertake such project,” Congressman Ong said.

“Under my present second term, which shall end in 2013, I am also determined that my sponsored bill No. 2193 filed in last year’s 14th Congress becomes a law. It presupposes the creation of the “Northern Samar Special Economic Zone” for thte development of the three towns in my district: Mayor Andre Avalon’s San Roque, Mayor R.S. Tan’s Pambujan and Mayor Madelyn Ong’s island town of Laoang. My plan is the relocation of the present small airport at Catarman to Pambujan where its mayor is willing to donate his own 13 hectares vacant land by the seashore,” he added.

“Should this become a law we can get funding to develop our untapped tourists sites. So that we can provide more employment opportunities and livelihood for the people around. Like, for instance, the Mapanas Surfing Zone facing the Pacific Ocean; the Pinepesakan Falls whose depth, width and length are 100 meters, respectively. In here tourists can witness the different ocean’s fishes such as the flying fish, the big sharks, sea turtles, sea mammals and more. And then we also have these wild and big-bodied edible bats in Caohagan Island whose wings can span over a meter each.”

No less to be mentioned here are his having finished8 kilometers of cemented road project at Sylvino Lobos town; the milkfish project and organic fertilizer development both in his hometown, Laoang, so that farmers could be motivated for fish breeding production and the use of new generation organic fertilizer – instead of just depending on the old artificial one. But pressing of all his electrification project in Kahayagan Island’s six barangays which shall interconnect to the mainland Laoang town to spur economic growth and to avoid more frequent brownouts as is being experienced at present with the NORSAMELCO in Catarman. And to entice more investors, local and foreigners alike. To this he had already made an advance payment of Php 2 Million to the contractor of this project which the Congressman said hopefully shall be in operation by 2011 year ending.

Asked for comment about the irrigation project anomalies in Catubig River Valley, his district’s rice granary, which had involved to death, and yet unsolved up to now, the life of one its project contractors, Engr. Alex T. Lim of Catarman and the wasting of some Php 2.8 billion Japanese grant with no any satisfactory output, the Congressman lamented by saying that it was due to the neglect of the Arroyo administration lately for not posting right at the jobsite a monitoring agency to oversee the said project. There with no more rice production yet to sufficiently feed the hungry peoples, this was also the very reason why Korea’s Hanjin contractor just banished unilaterally from the air because the project’s money had dried up.

As I was finishing this article inside our PIRMI Travel Services office here in Cubao, Quezon City, a Samareño client was there inside. He overheard of my write-up and requested me to read the same. And I obliged to him. His comment is this: “I pretty well know Congressman Ong by his good family breeding and as a politician in my province for a long time now. Nevertheless, I have yet to see the major projects he has undertaken finished. For it appears to me that a number of his projects before and even now are still there unfinished. For instance, the planned two bridges in Brgy. Rawis and Kalumutan – which shall interconnect the municipalities of mainland Northern Samar, Palapag town to the 24,841 hectares of the island town of Laoang (which has its own pier) – are up to now just on the map. He has to perform his job with will power and see the result so I can join in chorus with other Samereños in singing to him the hymn of Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Avon Leads Race to 125,000 Kisses to Renew

Commitment to the Breast Cancer Cause

There is no cure for breast cancer – yet, and that is precisely why the campaign for the awareness and early detection of the disease should be intensified. Currently, these comprise our only defense against the number 1 cancer in the Philippines.

Avon, the company for women and foremost corporate advocate of breast cancer, renewed its commitment to the cause and launched the 2011 Kiss Goodbye to Breast Cancer (KGBC) campaign entitled Race to 125,000 Kisses at The Rigodon Ballroom of the Peninsula Manila. This year’s initiative invites everyone to positively respond to the call of battling the deadly disease by working together to build a giant pink ribbon through their “Kisses of Support.”

Hosted by Lyn Ching-Pascual along with KGBC advocate and actress Rhian Ramos, the launch brought together the campaign’s official partners Philippine Cancer Society, GMA Network, SM Supermalls, SM Mall of Asia, SM Cares, The Peninsula Manila, Reebok, and Bosom Buddies, the press, and a great number of supporters to encourage breast cancer patients and survivors all over the country.

One of the program highlights was the talk forum Kiss and Tell, which opened the floor to a panel of speakers who shared personal and poignant stories of their encounters with breast cancer.

Speakers included philanthropists and survivors Lara Melissa de Leon and Ces Schulze; PGH Breast Care Center patient Josephine Negranza; writer, singer, educator and husband to a survivor Jim Paredes; male breast cancer patient Antonio Nicerio; and Philippine Cancer Society Executive Director Dr. Rachael Rosario.

Avon Philippines President and General Manager Mike Gudgin, in his welcome remarks, shared, “As you know, championing the breast cancer cause is part of the Avon DNA. Breast cancer affects the very people that are closest to our hearts and continues to be one of the leading cancer killers of women today. As breast cancer continues on its rampage, we in Avon are more and more committed to fighting it.”

He continued, “Every year, we put this commitment into action through our Kiss Goodbye to Breast Cancer campaign where we raise funds and raise the all important awareness on this disease. This year, we fortify our commitment by staging the Race to 125,000 Kisses, in celebration of our 125th birthday. This is an opportunity for us to create more awareness on breast cancer. More people who are made aware means more people having the chance not to fall victim to the disease.”

To pay tribute to its partners in the crusade, Avon conducted the Global Ribbon Ceremony led by Mike Gudgin and Philippines Head of PR and Communications Faith Fernandez Aranton, where representatives of partner organizations were bestowed the Global Connection Ribbon. ‘Kiss’ pledges from schools and institutions were acknowledged, while guests also had the chance to make their mark and help fulfill the 125,000 target (in light of the company’s 125th anniversary) by taking part in the Gathering of Kisses and posting their ‘kisses’ of support on the KGBC Kiss Mantle, which was proudly unveiled as a fitting finale to the program.

How can you help support the cause? Participation in the annual KGBC event translates into a Kiss donation for all breast cancer victims.

The Race to 125,000 Kisses Run, consisting of the 5K and 10K events, encourages the growing community of runners in the Philippines to actively show their commitment for the cause. For a registration fee of P500.00 and P650.00 respectively, individuals will receive the Avon KGBC Race Kit, which already includes a singlet, race number and giveaway. Proceeds from the event, which will be held at the SM Mall of Asia Open Grounds, will go to the PGH Breast Care Center and selected provincial hospitals.

To join the Walk Events, simply purchase the 2011 KGBC T-shirt which comes with a Kiss Bag Tag for only P220 from an Avon representative. For every shirt purchased, P20 will be donated to the PGH Breast Care Center and selected provincial hospitals.

Finally, individuals may also show their support for the cause by purchasing the Avon Simply Pretty ColorBliss Lipstick, with part of the proceeds earmarked for the breast cancer fund. This fundraising product will be available in the Avon Brochure starting October 1-15, 2011.

With such a lineup, Avon offers each person – whether survivor, family, friend, or fellow Filipino – the chance to blow a kiss of hope, to make a difference and help sufferers Kiss Goodbye to Breast Cancer.

For more details and information on the events and how to find an Avon lady for the Avon products, call the Avon Customer Helpdesk at 864-2900 or log on to www.avonkgbc philippines.com.