Timing

Watching the Christmas story presentation on top of the Provincial Capitol after the holidays may have been deemed late but that night for me turned out to be perfect. The capitol grounds were very peaceful with no traffic and the absence of the usual crowds that filled the Ninoy Aquino Freedom park gave the silence that made the historical presentation of the Christmas Story from the Negros Oriental perspective very clear and comfortable. With a bench to ourselves, we watched and listened to the presentation. Beginning with the dramatic lighting of the star above the manger we were brought along for the visit of the Magi, to the coming of the Spaniards, followed by the Americans, and then the Japanese up until the time we earned national independence. It was a very pleasant and heart-warming Christmas story that made you reflect on who we are and what we need to do.

To add to the good fortune of timing was the presence of Gov. Emilio Macias III, who was with friends to evaluate and plan out betterments for this year's presentation, making it possible to personally express gratitude for his leadership and creativity in sharing the unique presentation to the public.

Another timing issue arises when we express our congratulations to Mrs. Monserrat Magbanua, or Auntie Monching as we fondly call her, for being awarded the Most Outstanding Oriental Negrense Award for Community Service. Since she came into my life many years ago, I always look at her as an exemplary Girl Scout, lioness and Red Cross volunteer. We are grateful to her for being a humble instrument in building the GSP and Red Cross buildings we now have in our community. We still meet at the Red Cross building for the board meetings and the most recent one was historic as the Board of the Red Cross Negros Oriental Chapter acknowledged the distinction of having two Outstanding Oriental Negrense Awardees serving in the current Board. Auntie Monching and Dr. Henry Sojor, the awardee for his contribution to the field of Education; Dr. Sojor serves as the Chairman of the Red Cross Board.

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Time is running toward the January 15 deadline for the Japan Exploration Petroleum Company Ltd. (Japex) exploratory drilling for oil in the Tañon Strait . We look forward to official results of the drilling activity as well as the related studies on the impact the activity had on the environment.

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Let us close with an encouragement to appreciate the time that was and be careful for the now, and that which is still to come, while acknowledging with appreciation the contributions of those who served ahead of us with this anecdote. My sister was recently working in the kitchen when she heard her 6-year old son call for her. "Mummy, Mummy!" he called. "Do you know that beautiful vase in the dining room that's been handed down from generation to generation?" "Yes", she said. "What about it?" "Well, the last generation just dropped it."*