All about people

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS and Disneyland. Done that.
Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Hollywood Walk of Fame. Griffith Park. Rodeo Drive. Been there.
Venice. Sta. Monica. Redondo. Done those also.
The Museum of Contemporary Art. Walt Disney Concert Hall. Even Staples Center. Been there too.
Is it the sign of creeping age, or it’s just me?
Coming to Los Angeles, the very shibboleths of tinseltown failed to raise the least interest in me. It was people I looked forward to: family and friends to rebond with, new acquaintances to develop, even strangers to fancy.
And my, did I find joy, aye, fulfillment in this journey.
I could have just listened to Apu Soleng’s stories about the Pineda-Canlas clan the whole day, two weeks on end without feeling any discomfort or losing interest.
Coffee with Uncle Vic at the nearest McDonald’s to home in Carson is a treat. Even doing the laundry in their jumbo LG washing machines made an enjoyable chore.
Coming to Mass at the St. Philomena church, with its Filipino choir, is divine.
More divine – if there is something comparative in degrees of grace – is hearing the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary alumni sing at Mass, as they did at the Thanksgiving Day affair of the United Pampanga Leaders Council.
Down memory lane I walked with my seminary brothers Rey Dizon, Dan Basilio, Al Capati, Bob Mungcal, Pio Lansangan, “Cousin” Rupert Lacson, Bot Portugal, Ed Medina, Jerry Pineda, Ody Cuero, Dan Dizon and Jerry Yumul – the last four with their better-halves – over Filipino dinner at Noy-Pitz in Glendale, extending over coffee till the wee hours at Pio’s house, our bond of brotherhood bandied and banded.
Later, there was our brother Vidal Aguas, prime mover of the Virgen de los Remedios devotion in Los Angeles, being bestowed the Most Outstanding Kapampangan Award for religious and civic service.
Like long lost brothers found were Jess Espanola, 2010’s MOKA in mass media for being the first and so-far-only Filipino Emmy Award winner, and hard-hitting columnist – he won’t be called “Ang Salarin” for nothing – Larry Pelayo of Pinoy Watchdog. Media solidarity at instant play here.
Most gracious host was Mike Cucueco, executive commissioner of the organizing Pampanga Day 2011 Celebration Commission, at his palatial home up the verdant hills of La Canada where I was transported to with my Uncle Vic by couple Leslie and Reesie Ducut.
And who would pop up one night but Millete Caparas-Ocampo, comrade in student activism, dear friend forever, with her son Raf-Raf. Great dinner we had at Curry House in Gardena, greater yet the conversation and camaraderie at Starbucks.
A serendipitous hit in Facebook: once Pampanga photojournalist Arlan Naeg, opening lines to the other mediaboys – Nel Dizon and Jonard Aquino, trooping to the Pampanga Day event at Hilton-LAX. Jonard planing in with his wife Pearly from San Francisco and planing out the next day to Las Vegas. The mini-reunion of sorts happily completed with Noel Tulabut coming from Clark.
“It matters not whether we meet for one hour or for one week, what is important is how our friendship is renewed everytime we meet.” That’s the formerly funny Jonard, turning a bit philosophical with age. And extending an open invitation to Pampanga-based mediamen to a reunion in Vegas before summer next year, with him taking care of the accommodations.
At Hilton-LAX too, sheer lukso ng dugo -- the Zapata blood – made me recognize a first cousin I have not seen in over 40 years – Veronica Zapata Rodriguez-Ramia, younger sister of drama actress Vivian Velez.
The joyful encounter continuing the following day with Veronica and husband Edward and friend Alex, our Aunt Jenna and Uncle Joe Barrameda taking me to lunch at Proud Bird restaurant near LAX. Yeah, a sumptuous buffet there but more (ful)filling was the renewal of family ties.
On the eve of my departure for home, apologetic was my Uncle Vic for “failing” to take me to Universal and Disneyland, Sta. Monica Beach at least, and Rodeo Drive this time around.
Yeah? I told him. And miss all these friends and family?
Really now, it’s not the sight, nor the site. Not the destination that counts. But the people that come one’s way, the people one meets there.
There’s the fulfillment of travel.

The Governor's speech

“NUNG NANU mang kasakitan,
lugud mu at pakamal ing kapakibatan
Kapampangan ku, daya ampon kaladua ku,
sese na ku ning Guinu, miyabe-yabe tamu…”
The stirring strains of the ditty wafted as though from the heavens, embracing every single soul with love of race, instilling in every heart pride of place, of pining for the native home, here amid the bounty of the adopted land that is America.
Not a few – not the least Gov. Lilia Pineda – at the jampacked Bateman Hall in Lynwood, California were moved to tears at such a touching rendition of Pampanga’s “spiritual” hymn – as differentiated from the official Imno ning Kapampangan – by a choral ensemble of the United Pampanga Leaders Council.
It was the perfect setting for the governor’s speech – in Kapampangan, naturally – at the annual Thanksgiving Day party of the UPLC, centered as it was on pamisasanmetung (unity), pamikakalugud (love), and pamagmalasakit (caring) – the very core values of the Kapampangan.
Calamities and disasters have so become integral in the life of the Kapampangan that we have not only learned to live with them but even to excel, to rise above them, Governor Pineda told her audience of over 500 cabalens.
At the recent floods that submerged a large part of the province, she narrated, residents that sought refuge in the upper floors of their homes and their roofs routinely refused rescue offers, saying they were used, and therefore well-adapted, to these dire situations.
The flood victims did not even demand relief goods, finding satisfaction with whatever came their way, secured as they were with their own provisions.
So unlike in the other inundated places where fights broke out at the relief lines, where the victims damned their local governments for failing to come to their aid.
“Maybe this is what others called the kayabangan (braggadocio) Kapampangans are widely known for. Most assuredly though, it is pride, to stand on one’s own, the can-do spirit of Kapampangan and his resiliency no matter how arduous the circumstances he is in that makes the Kapampangan equal to any adversity.” So said the governor.
And what greater adversity could there be than the Mount Pinatubo eruptions that threatened to erase Pampanga from the very face of the earth, she reminded her audience.
Here she paid as much tribute to the resiliency of the Kapampangan “born of his sense of belonging and his pride of race” as to the then-Senator Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for saving Pampanga from obliteration, for saving the Kapampangan from oblivion.
“When the national government proposed to let nature take its course, that is to allow Pampanga to be buried in lahar, GMA stood up to take the cudgel for our people, arguing that Pampanga is the heart of Central Luzon and would remain a fulcrum for the development of the region as well as Northern Luzon. In the end she convinced the government to save the province at all costs, even at the cost of P10 billion for its protection, as now clearly manifest in the megadike system and other rehabilitation works that spurred the nascent development of the province, as well as the whole Central Luzon region.”
The Macapagal-Arroyo presidency, the governor reminded her listeners, brought much to Pampanga in terms of development, citing the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, the rehabilitated North Luzon Expressway and the rise in investments at the Clark Freeport and increased flights at the Clark airport, as concrete proofs.
“In these trying times for our beloved cabalen, the former President, let us pray the Lord for Him to provide her with the strength, the fortitude to face all the accusations against her.”
There are those who asked, she noted, why the Kapampangans have not gone out in the streets to rally in support of GMA.
“We all respect the legal process. We remain faithful to our justice system. The greatest thing we can do to help her is to fervently pray for her, even as we keep our love for her in our hearts.” The governor’s words reminded us here of that truism of long ago: More things are wrought by prayer than this world ever dreamed of.
As one in prayer, so in love too must we all be for our beloved land, and in caring for our cabalens, the governor said, even as she paid tribute to the charity and goodwill of the Kapampangans in America to those back home.
“Individually, the money you send to your relatives are a big help in meeting their daily needs, and collectively, even a bigger help in moving the local economy. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you.”
Kapampangan ku, daya ampon kaladua ku, sese na ku ning Guinu, miyabe-yabe tamu…” With the recurring refrain, the governor closed her speech with the call: “Tuknangan ta na ing pamanyira (let us stop all these intriguing that causes dissension among Kapampangans). Let us embrace one another as brothers and sisters in that spirit of pamisasanmetung, pamikakalugud, pamagmalasakit.
Yes, the governor knows just too well the fissures in the Kapampangan community in LA. Which makes another story.
Anyways, the audience rose to its feet in a thundering ovation at the end of the governor’s speech.
Message clearly – and most sincerely – delivered there. Lessons, hopefully, well received.

Home in LA

PR 102 landed on time, 6:30pm to the dot, November 23. No more jokes on PAL meaning Plane Always Late.
Breezed through Immigration, the officer looking bored, uninterested with the perfunctory “How long do you intend to stay?” barely audible through his nose.
The response: “Two weeks at the most, sir” meriting successive thumps on my travel documents which he handed to me with the also perfunctory, “Welcome to Los Angeles.”
Straight to Carousel 6 to get my baggage. A long wait, the machine rolling hundreds of luggage, boxes, bags, when from the PA system emanated: “Philippine Airlines passenger Caesar Lacson, please report to Dock 50.”
My chest sagged, what wrong did I do?
I hastened to where I was directed to, finding Board Member Trina Dizon waving at me. I got the surprise of my life when who could be interviewing her but my best friend in the seminary – Flong Bundalian of Mabalacat, snappy in his black uniform. We had a hearty laugh and hugged.
LAX was jampacked, a number of flights from all over the world landing immediately one after the other. The queue to the exits was long and thick. A most reassuring sight was my Uncle Vic Bondoc waiting right at the end of the incline at the end of the exit hall.
At the coffeeshop sat Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda waiting for all the mayors who came in with her, let’s count them now: Mylyn Cayabyab, Lubao; Eddie Guerrero, Floridablanca; Katoy Naguit, Minalin; Romy Pecson, Magalang; Peter Flores, Masantol, Annette Balgan, Macabebe; Chito Espino, Arayat; now, was Porac’s Carling de la Cruz with us?
Anyways, after reporting for duty to the Gov, we took our leave and drove home to Carson City, CA, but a 20 minute drive from LAX.
Apu Soleng, all of 95, the last of my maternal grandmother’s generation, is the grand matriarch of the Pineda-Canlas clan of Sto. Tomas, Pampanga. Any trip to the U.S. of any member of our clan will be wanting, much wanting, without paying her a visit.
Ah, how the grand dame sheds tears of joy at each encounter with her brood!
Coming in time for Thanksgiving Day made this visit replete with meaning. The last time I had Thanksgiving with her was in 2000 when I sought temporary sanctuary here in the wake of the ambush on Roy David that killed three of our support staff in Pulitika Atbp. over dwGV.
Thanksgiving dinner was at the Bundalians, in-laws of my Uncle Vic, his dear departed wife Tita Choy sister to my friend Flong. We had a laugh anew at the LAX incident and a grand time reminiscing over our Mater Boni days.
And then came Black Friday.
For those not-in-the-know, Black Friday is day after Thanksgiving Day, the last Thursday of November.
So what’s all that to-do about Black Friday? It’s the day of days for shoppers, aye, the shopaholics’ very grand prix.
Specials known as “doorbuster” – the in term for the now passe “early bird” – offer as much as 70 percent discounts on all items, be they laptops, netbooks and cameras from Best Buy, shoes and apparels at Macy’s or JC Penny, shirts and pants from Old Navy and Gap – so sorry Deo Sambilay, there’s no Abercrombie & Fitch here in Carson City – pampering stuff from Bath and Body, and just about everything at Wal Mart.
Right after Thanksgiving dinner – with the stuffed turkey, but of course taking the centerpiece at the heavily laden table – the parking lots of malls and stores spawn mini tent cities, with sleeping-bagged over-eager shoppers wanting to be the first in line on opening time, this time made earlier at midnight.
No simbang bengi (dawn Masses) but shopping ganingaldo (before daybreak), witticized my uncle Vic Bondoc, long time resident here as we drove past Target teeming with as much tents as cars.
Right on the dot, 5 a.m. of S-Day, that’s for Sales, or Stampede, dummy, off we rushed to Best Buy for an Asus tablet advertized at $249.99 and an HP netbook tagged $250. Alas and alack, the whole store was awash in sweatered humanity, all in search of the best bargain. The lines to the cash registers choked in traffic of stainless steel carts laden with boxes of all sizes – from small – for the I-Pods and netbooks, to the gargantuan – for the 75” HD television sets.
Empty handed – the last of our desired items gone in 15 minutes after opening time – we repaired to Wal Mart only to find the laptop shelves cleaned up, and ended up getting burritos and coffee at the on-site McDonald’s for breakfast. No there was no sale at McDo, I was told.
It was more of the same chaos at Target, and at Macy’s and JC Penny – shopping, shopping, shopping as though there was no tomorrow.
For poor me though, it was all looking, looking, looking. What little dollars I had I kept tightly bound inside my pocket, afraid that if I loosened but a single Benjamin, I would as easily lose everything.
So, but for four sets of lotions from Bath and Body – for my three girls and the wife, there was nothing to show for my bargain journey. Yeah, it was even my cousin Remy Manese-Bondoc vacationing here from Edmonton, Canada that paid for those preening stuff.
No Black Friday bargains at Costco Wholesale but the place is as full-packed as the other sales havens. In the many times I’ve done the USA, Costco invariably makes my personal drug pusher, whence sourced my supply of Centrum Silver multi-vitamins, natural vitamin E and fish oil in capsules. Yeah, I freeloaded here too with my Uncle Vic swiping his Costco and Visa card.
Yeah, this is what I wrote in 2006 on an extended US trip as the “relativity of travel.” More than the destinations, it is relatives that make travel really fulfilling. For they provide all the comforts of home.