Missing Irene

Our teaspoons disappeared the day we came back to Hong Kong after Irene had left. We searched everywhere but never found them. No, we never thought she’d taken them with her to the Philippines, and eschewed other, more valuable stuff. It just underscored how helpless we had become without the person who quietly saw us through the day-to-day challenges for the eight years that she was with us.

Over the next few days, we started feeling her absence even more. Coming home tired from the office, we’d remember the times the table would be left set for us, the food still warm, or ready to be popped into the oven.

We’d remember our fresh-smelling laundry, or our neatly pressed clothes ready to burst out of our closets, because she seemed to enjoy sitting by the ironing board the most, with either her phone on standby, or her small tablet playing a favorite telenovela.

We’d remember how she quietly dealt with pesky delivery men from the post office or the water delivery company who’d buzz the doorbell continuously until someone came to the door. This, even more so when nobody came to drop the water bottles by our door the first time I arranged for the delivery myself.

Lately, we’d wonder how Irene managed to haul heavy suitcases up the top of our wardrobes where they sit when we’re not traveling, when we could barely lift them off the floor. Even the 5-kg water bottles that had always sat on the dispenser leave us struggling each time we try to lift them up to replace one that had just emptied.



How she managed to keep our floors shining and our bathrooms sparkling clean also stumps me. I remember clearly how she rose to the challenge when I complained about the brownish ring that formed around one bathtub. Next time she cleaned, the bathtubs and the anti-slip mats were all back to sparkling white. Now, the dark rings are back and won’t disappear no matter how long I scrubbed, and how many cleaning aids I use.

The Christmas decorations we had put up just before we all left to spend the holidays in the Philippines are still out, and serve as a reminder that we had long ago forgotten how or where we were supposed to store them.



But Irene is not the only one we miss. Now that she’s gone home to finally look after her own kids after helping raise our own, we remember all the others who helped us get through the challenges of living through the hustle and bustle in Hong Kong.

There was Lei, who endeared herself to our kids with her cooking. For a long time after she’d gone home after getting sick, our bunso would always say, “Nothing beats Ate Lei’s lasagna.” Our older kid has also only told us recently how Lei had patiently taught her how to cook, in particular her unbeatable carioca and palitaw.



There was also Ria, who bonded with our bunso the most, as she went out of her way to please the kid no end. We remember fondly the time we all went to Ocean Park on Halloween, when Ria got along with the bunso’s insistence on wearing costumes for the outing. Or how she’d quietly set the oven to the right temperature and did all the dirty work when bunso started trying her hand at baking. How bunso loved her, often calling out to “Ate Ria” in singsong fashion as soon as she arrived from school.

Looking back on all these women who faithfully, even lovingly, looked after us through the years that we were raising our kids and struggling to keep up with the challenges of living far from home, I get really amazed at how badly many others in the same position are treated in Hong Kong.



How could people be so harsh with women who left the comfort of their homes, many of them highly educated, just so they could earn a salary that provides them and their family a better future? How could they not see how hard it is for our women to adjust to a new lifestyle, while learning to cope with a heavy workload and worse, homesickness?

For sure, there are a few bad eggs, as there are in any society anywhere in the world. This is not a trait to be solely associated with foreign domestic workers, many of whom were merely forced out of their comfort zones by financial need.

For those who are being served by migrant workers now, it is not too late to show kindness, even respect. Talk to them, learn their story, understand why they were forced to leave home. It is only through mutual concern and understanding that we can foster a truly harmonious relationship within our homes.

Let not their departure from your homes be the only time you realize you had a friend with you all along.















 

Sacked labor official appointed anew

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Joel Maglunsod as executive director III at the Labor department’s National Maritime Polytechnic after firing him as undersecretary.

Maglunsod, a former Anakpawis party-list representative, was one of the progressive officials Duterte appointed as a gesture of goodwill for the peace talks with communist rebels. Anakpawis is part of the Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives.

Duterte fired Maglunsod as labor undersecretary last October but did not say why.



That time, Duterte was lambasting groups that were supposedly agitating workers and holding strikes that paralyze the economy.

The NMP website described the office as “the only government maritime training and research center in the Philippines” and is tasked with conducting specialization and upgrading courses for merchant marine officers and ratings, and with conducting competency assessments of seafarers.



In a speech before tricycle operators and drivers in Pasay City last January 23, Duterte again mentioned his firing of Maglunsod.

“So what’s the f***...We have been at war for 52 years. Do you mean to say you would win if given another 52 years? And you radicals believe in (Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria) Sison...Ayan ‘yan si Maglunsod, ‘yung sa - tinanggal ko na (I fired Maglunsod),” Duterte said.




Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo could not say why Duterte gave Maglunsod another position.

“I’ll check with him (Duterte),” Panelo said in a press briefing when asked why the dismissed Labor official was reappointed.



Maglunsod’s name was on the list of Duterte’s new appointees, including two diplomats while another two were Cabinet members who were given ad interim appointments.

Noel Eugene Eusebio Servigon was named the Philippines’ permanent representative to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations while Ma. Teresita Daza was appointed ambassador to Chile with concurrent jurisdiction over Ecuador and Peru.

Cabinet members who were given ad interim appointees were Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año and Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista.

Also appointed was Ana Dione, who replaced Maglunsod as Labor undersecretary.

Lakbay Dangal picks officers

The new Lakbay Dangal officers.

A group dedicated to promoting the study of Philippine heritage and history, especially in relation to Hong Kong, has reorganized and elected a new set of officers this year.

Lakbay Dangal, founded nearly nine years ago by fashion executive Sonia Zerrudo, will now be led by one of its original members Cecilia Eduarte, as president.



Also elected on Jan 27 were: Marites Palma, vice-president; Victoria Reyes Munar, secretary; Emma Ruth Gamido, treasurer; Jhoan C. Buendia, auditor; George Manalansan, Elpidia Abel and Mercedes Jaen, PROs. The committee heads are: Terry Ann Jimenez, Eva Gutierrez and Liza Marcelino, education and training; Teresa Tiffany Carbonell, Madelia Galve, programs.



Acting as advisers along with Zerrudo are community leaders Alex Aquino and Gurley Payne. At least two other Filipino professionals based in Hong Kong are said to have been invited to join the new board of advisers.




Lakbay Dangal, which uses the feminist color purple in its costumes and emblems, has distinguished itself for the walking tours it conducts for Filipinos and tourists, particularly at the different sites in Central where Philippine national hero Jose Rizal lived and worked.



One of its earliest achievements was winning the top prize in the historical tableaux contest held during the Philippine Independence Day celebration on Chater Road, sponsored by the Philippine Consulate.- DCLM

Filipino martial art ‘arnis’ takes root in HK

MATTI HK instructors and students pose for The SUN. 

By Vir B. Lumicao

Master Rene Sorezo

Behind the police headquarters in Admiralty, a group of men and women wearing loose red or black cotton pants and white round-neck shirts go through mock combat, using rattan sticks held in each hand.

That spot beneath a flyover at the northwest end of Harcourt Road Park provides an inconspicuous practice ground for a group of Filipino workers and some locals who are honing up on "arnis," an ancient Filipino martial art.

The group, Modern Arnis Tapi-Tapi International Hong Kong, or MATTI HK, is one of a few arnis schools set up by Filipinos who are promoting the national martial art in the city. The others include Abanico Tres Puntas and Lakas Katorse FMA Hong Kong.

Master Renato Sorezo, a fifth degree blackbelter in arnis, is the chief instructor of the group that he formed in 2007. The supervising instructor-grandmaster is Bambit Dulay, a 10^th degree red belter.

By Sorezo’s count, the group has had about 100 members since its founding, mostly Filipino domestic workers who spend half of their Sunday rest day going through the swing-block-strike motions of arnis.

But MATTI HK, like many other Filipino associations in Hong Kong, has seen its membership shrink over the years as practitioners return home or move to greener pastures.

“Ang members ko, kung hindi nagpo-for good, nasa isandaan. Yung iba nag-for good, umuwi ng Pilipinas, yung iba pumunta ng Canada at yung iba pa pumapasok,” said Sorezo, a civil engineer who is a member of Builders, a group of Filipino architects and engineers.

On weekdays, Sorezo is a principal works programmer for a China Railways-led engineering joint venture that built the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge and is now building a noise barrier project in Taipo.

Sorezo demonstrates bolo fighting with police officer-instructor. 

Sorezo said his group now attracts enthusiasts from different nationalities, including local police officers who are attracted to the exotic martial art.

At the time of the interview with Sorezo on Jan 20, he had a male senior instructor who was doing mock combat with a female instructor. It was the same officer who was administering the belt promotion exam for yellow belt aspirants.

“Ang isang yan, Chinese yan, pulis. Dati anim sila rito pero busy na yung iba, ang iba naman ay nagtuturo ng Wing Tsun, yung Chinese martial art,” said Sorezo.

Another foreigner-student is a Nepali man who, the master said, is keen to learn arnis.

Outside of Hong Kong, the Philippine martial art has spread to several other countries in addition to the United States, such as Australia, Canada, Belgium, Dubai, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Russia and Singapore.  

Two Filipino females, both new joiners, and a male OFW, were practicing various “tapi-tapi” or “counter-to-counter” moves of the stick fighting art, such as strike-block-counter strike, hooking and disarming, when The SUN chanced upon the group.

Sorezo said the MATTI HK members, who each pays $100 monthly dues, gather at the usual spot to train from around 1pm to 5pm on Sundays. They first do limbering to warm up and loosen their joints before the actual practice.

Aside from stick fighting, members are taught empty-hand combat, such as neutralizing an attacker who is armed with a knife or stick.

Sorezo also teaches “kali”, the Filipino art of knife fighting using blunt aluminum bolos and various knives, as well as the “dulo sa dulo” grip sticks similar to aikido’s yawara sticks, and retractable batons.   

Members also earn belt promotions as in other martial arts. The group holds promotion exams for belt aspirants.

Sorezo, who had been a judo and sikaran (Filipino footfighting) practitioner, said the self-defense training of his members is vital, especially in these times when you can be attacked without a warning just about anywhere.

Arnis was catapulted to its stature as Philippine martial art and national sport when President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed Senate Bill 1424 in December 2009, according the martial art its rightful niche and honor in history.   

The law, which dislodged sepak takraw as the national sport, was authored by then Majority Leader Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, a former national arnis champion.

For arnis masters and lovers, that event became the martial art’s crowning glory.