Filipino Centre Toronto's Arrogance Dates Back Years

Five years and three months ago, the Filipino Centre Toronto ended its intransigence and welcomed back one of its founding members, Dr. Francisco Portugal, reinstated his membership, and agreed to pay at least $400,000 to cover the cost of protracted litigation. 

I covered its annual general meeting on Oct. 22, 2014, and filed the story below. For reasons not explained, the story was removed from the website of Balita, the paper I covered it for, although it appeared in its print edition for that month. 

Because of its continued relevance to the Filipino community and also for historical purposes, I'm running the story again and publishing it on my blog at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/. Here goes . . .

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Volume 2, Issue No. 52

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .

 

 
Our latest as of Saturday, January 16, 2021, a re-issue of the article published October 25, 2014 

~ It all boils down to a costly exercise of power. Five years after he was booted out of Filipino Centre Toronto, Dr. Francisco Portugal is restored without much fanfare, his dignity intact. The cost of fighting to regain his membership is at least $400,000 - the amount of money FCT spent in deciding to settle. As he explains it, "the defense of our right to speak, to dissent and to differ" was very much the core of the litigation that ended in his reinstatement.

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THE $400,000-SETTLEMENT

Filipino Centre Toronto's Costly Exercise of Power

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

"What makes me mad is arrogance, pretension, putting on airs." - David Duchovny

TORONTO - Two civilian-attired security guards greeted arriving guests to the annual general meeting of Filipino Centre Toronto on Wednesday, October 22 at 7 p.m. I had come 20 minutes earlier but it wasn't until almost an hour later, or shortly before 8, that something of a morality play began.

The day before, on Tuesday, Oct. 21, Rey Tolentino, chair of FCT board of directors, emailed the information that I could cover it. The authorization extended to 14 others. I had earlier conveyed to him and FCT president Linda Javier that I would be there for Balita newspaper and my own The Filipino Web Channel on YouTube.

Anonymous tipsters had alerted me to the meeting. They said Dr. Francisco Portugal, the family physician booted out in 2009 for alleged "conduct unbecoming", would be reinstated as a member in good standing. 

The information implied that FCT's claims of improper behaviour were all for naught, and that the organization was willing to swallow its arrogance to restore the doctor's dignity. That was the whole meaning of the story. FCT's contempt of Dr. Portugal cost it at least $400,000 in prolonged litigation.

"The annual general meeting has been scheduled for members only," Tolentino explained on Friday, Oct. 17, thus effectively barring me from coverage. However, I insisted that I would come as a journalist. "I do not mean to crash that meeting but I'm now invoking the public interest in being there," I wrote back.

Four days later, Tolentino replied, saying "the FCT Board has allowed members of the media to attend the AGM meeting". 

Apparently, the concern was that Dr. Portugal was going to turn the meeting into what Tolentino called "a circus". He explained: "We also heard that x x x and his cohorts at the Press Club is planning to crash the meeting so no press will be allowed".

I was not covering for either FCT or Dr. Portugal. My coverage was for the information and knowledge of the Filipino community, specifically those in the Greater Toronto Area where FCT draws support.

So it was quite obvious that the presence of two burly guards at the entrance to FCT's Rizal Hall was to thwart any attempt to stage a carnival of sorts. To their credit, the guards, despite Tolentino's statement that "ID required for entry," did not ask for press credentials before I was allowed in.

The long media table was situated far at the back directly across from the stage. To take good photos of the principal players from that distance would require zoom lens. Moreover, the audience had their backs turned against the media.

Deliberate or not, the situation was not conducive to coverage as the press was practically segregated and caged. Movement was restricted, according to officials, and only the hired videographer could shoot from the sidelines outside the press area.

As I expected, none of the 14 other media persons from the Press Club showed up. Not being a social event, I thought that the likelihood of their attendance was absolutely nil. It proved prophetic.

Inside the hall, the atmosphere was one of uneasy calm. I could sense the general hostility towards Dr. Portugal. When he came in with his wife, the room fell quiet. None had welcomed him. One person, Fred Gamboa of the University of the Philippines Alumni Association, stood up to greet him. Soon, the couple sat at the last row of the half-empty chairs.

The night's events started off with a prayer. With heads bowed, everybody looked supplicant. If the members present could be so religious as to open their meeting with an entreaty for divine help, why couldn't they show courtesy to a returning member? The thought crossed my mind.

Dr. Portugal seemed, and made sure to look like, an outcast. His demands for reinstatement after he was cashiered in 2009 had fallen on deaf ears, sparking a costly five-year campaign to reclaim his dignity. It proved disastrous, for FCT had to fork out at least $400,000 to fight a legal battle that many people said should have been settled right away.

FCT had not made any public announcement that it was reinstating Dr. Portugal. As the meeting had gone past the presentation and approval of financial statement, Tolentino called on Dr. Portugal to deliver his address.

I thought that it was disingenuous for FCT to just yield the floor to Dr. Portugal without any explanation that he was being restored, specially to outsiders. I did not know anything. I simply assumed that since he was given the floor to talk, his reinstatement was implied.

In the agenda, it said Dr. Portugal had five minutes for his address. Not one watch was synchronized, however. Linda Javier's husband Felino, seated at the media table, bellowed "times up" twice as a signal for Dr. Portugal to stop. A second later, Tolentino joined in. But actually, he still had 29 seconds to finish up.

Dr. Portugal persisted, saying: "I have timed my speech for five minutes". Whereupon Tolentino remarked: "Well, you're not getting . . . "  Dr. Portugal continued despite the protestations. A minute later, Tolentino ended it with a firm "I'm sorry your five minutes is . . . you had a maximum of five minutes". 

Raising his hands as a gesture of submission, Dr. Portugal simply gave in. Linda Javier explained loudly that the "terms of the settlement said five minutes max". It ended just like that. (Video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqlJH4SIYsc&list=UUjYsgGZZAP7lpqJczW4z47g).

In Dr. Portugal's conciliatory speech, the prospect of reconciliation looked promising. Ironically, however, what he fought over the years - "the defense of our right to speak, to dissent and to differ" - was quickly thrown out of the window by FCT's insolence.

FCT could have been magnanimous in defeat, although it wouldn't say so. Allowing him to continue would not have cost a minute. I read the last part, all of four short paragraphs, exhorting FCT to a dialogue and to rebuild.

(Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmUpx-xg9YQ&list=UUjYsgGZZAP7lpqJczW4z47g&index=699).

Dr. Portugal's re-installation through an address to FCT members was for me a public thrashing of its leadership that had nearly brought the organization to its knees with litigation expenses of at least $400,000 - "monies," to quote him, "that could have spent on programs to benefit our people - our community".

The very principles that Dr. Portugal had fought for got another trouncing, courtesy of FCT again. 

The burly guards, the cold shoulder, the impounding of media in a corner, the stiff resistance to reconciliation - all by FCT - only strengthen Waves newspaper publisher Teresa M. Torralba's profound comment in Tagalog: "Naku parang may animosity pa rin sila." (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).

House Impeaches Donald Trump a Second Time

Volume 2, Issue No. 51

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .

 Our latest as of Thursday, January 14, 2021 

~ The end of Donald Trump has just been deigned days away from what the Constitution says of his lawful term as President of the United States. The people's representatives, a majority of 232 of the House's 435 voting members, have voted to impeach him a second time for inciting a rebellion against the bicameral legislature - a co-equal branch of the executive and judicial branches of government - in an attempt to stay in power for another four years. For all his arrogance and bravado, in the end, he's a sorry creature of his own devilish impunity.

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A RECORD SECOND IMPEACHMENT

Donald Trump's Historic Comeuppance

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“The kind of man who wants the government to adopt and enforce his ideas is always the kind of man whose ideas are idiotic.” ― H.L. Mencken

TORONTO - "You're fired!" took an ironic if dreadful turn this week as the man who originated it became its grudging recipient.

A total of 232 members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach (197 against) President Donald Trump, earning him the infamous appellation of being the only American president to have been impeached twice.

Trump's comeuppance has long been coming. He governs by tweets, propagates lies, stifles the truth, misrepresents facts, and apparently delights in sacking officials who displeased him.

It's unbelievable, and quite unseemly, that he succeeded in creating a vast pool of supporters bedazzled more, I believe, by the glitter of celebrity he wrapped himself in than by the way he runs and governs the nation.

Truth-telling does not appear to be part of his vocabulary as a businessman and as president. His art of the deal might as well be the art of the steal for it's almost always rigged in his favor.

His own blood despises him, such as his niece, Mary L. Trump, the 55-year-old daughter of his brother Fred "Freddy" Trump Jr., the oldest of the Trump siblings; and his 83-year-old sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, a retired federal judge, who eloquently said: "He (Donald) has no principles. None. None . . . His goddamned tweet and lying, oh my God".

As they have seen him close and personal, both their views are weighty and meaningful. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/08/donald-trump-gets-bashed-by-his-sister.html).

"For Donald," Mary L. Trump writes in her book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man, "lying was primarily a mode of self-aggrandizement meant to convince people he was better than he actually was". 

She adds: "Donald's displays of confidence, his belief that society's rules didn't apply to him, and his exaggerated display of self-worth drew some people to him. A large minority of people still confuse his arrogance for strength, his false bravado for accomplishment, and his superficial interest in them for charisma".

When the coronavirus struck a year ago and the disease (COVID-19) it brought metastasized into a pandemic in March, Donald Trump simply shrugged it off, saying it would magically disappear, and even suggested injecting people with disinfectants.

While the number of people infected and dying leaped to staggering heights, he showed neither humility to accept mistakes nor empathy to express concern. It's "arrogance for strength" in the flesh that Donald Trump was.

His "false bravado for accomplishment" materialized at the very moment he summoned law enforcement agencies and the military to drive protesters out of Lafayette Square in DC so he could stage his photo op standing in front of a church holding a bible aloft.

In all the news coverages I've watched online, the most horrifying was last week's assault on the U.S. Capitol. And when the authorities seized back control of the building from rioters, five people were dead and dozens injured. 

Videos and still pictures of that moment were so vivid as to evoke my own personal experiences as a young reporter and foreign correspondent. The historical parallels, such as the violent attack breaching the Capitol, the ransacking of offices, etc., are reminiscent of at least two events in Manila.

One is the so-called People Power revolution in the Philippines in 1986 which saw the end of Ferdinand Marcos' reign and his departure for Hawaii, and two, which was prior to that, the Plaza Miranda bombing of August 1971 that caused nine deaths and injuries to 95 others.

Both were life-changing episodes in contemporary Philippine history, like this one that unfolded on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC.

That Donald Trump was impeached yesterday (January 13, 2021), or a week after the siege of the Capitol, was good enough for me. It didn't matter if the Senate convicts him or not. That it was the second within the span of one year (the first impeachment was on December 18, 2019) only proved his incompetence.

What's important for me, at least, is a record for posterity showing that a man like Donald Trump could not just trample on the majesty of laws, individual rights, established institutions, and the Constitution, without being repulsed, held accountable, and punished.

 Donald Trump rightly deserves his comeuppance. (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).

U.S. Capitol Siege Had Filipino and Canadian Participants

 Volume 2, Issue No. 50

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .

 Our latest as of Wednesday, January 13, 2021 

~ The protest march was not a cookout nor an out-of-town excursion to see the usual tourist destinations in Washington, DC, and the Capitol. Hordes of people in all manner of dress, or undress, are marching to the beat of President Donald Trump's call to disrupt the final stage of vote-counting leading to the formal declaration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the duly elected president and vice president of the United States. Except that Trump did not see it that way. As in the past, he repeated the unfounded claim he was being cheated. "Stop the steal" ended in a coup with five dead and dozens of injuries.

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COUP ATTEMPT IN THE U.S.

A Filipino and Canadian Presence in the Capitol Siege

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Respect for sovereignty means to not allow unconstitutional action and coups d'etat, the removal of legitimate power". - Vladimir Putin

TORONTO - At least three scenes, both amusing and thought-provoking, in last week's turbulent attack on the US Capitol would probably end up as footnotes to the closing days of President Donald Trump's scandal-plagued administration.

Iconic symbols associated with three countries, namely, the Philippines, Canada, and Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, could be gleaned from film footages repeatedly shown on various television networks and social media. 

To me, they lent an international flavor to the siege one week ago that left five people dead and dozens of injuries. Felony charges have been filed by the FBI against 70 people identified as participants, authorities announced in Washington, DC.

To some extent, they also represented unspoken support for Trump and his relentless call to contest election results by inciting thousands of his followers to march, which they did, to the Capitol building. 

The conservative, right-leaning Republican Party - the party of (Abraham) Lincoln, as it is commonly called - enjoys a broad following among immigrants and communities of color, so advancing to the beat of Trumpism is not entirely unusual.

An unidentified person carried a "walis tambo" (soft broom) as part of his disguise. That cleaning tool, as most Filipinos know, is distinctive of the Philippines. (Full story at: https://tribune.net.ph/index.php/2021/01/08/fake-news-lawyer-names-capitol-hill-protester-as-dong-abay/).

Easily noticeable too even from afar was the red-and-white national flag of Canada, and the banned yellow-and-red emblem of the former Republic of Vietnam.

The haughtily masked man garbed in a Captain America costume was photographed with a makeshift shield attached to the broom inside the National Statuary Hall. That meant he was among the thousands who broke into the building. (Info at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Statuary_Hall#cite_ref-7).

If this guy was indeed a Filipino, he had the good sense of not bringing a Philippine flag to affirm his identity, for that could be interpreted in many different ways.

Presumably, the broom man is still scot-free as there has been no report of any arrest identifying him as the person disguised as Captain America. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2021/01/filipinos-among-those-in-attempted-coup.html).

Outside the Capitol building, a horde of protesters had gathered apparently waiting for what would happen to the people at the spearhead trying to break in. 

It's here where the Canadian flag was being waved with its unmistakable red field and white square and a stylized maple leaf in the middle. The Maple Leaf sticks out like a sore thumb in this sea of US and Trump banners, and MAGA hats. 

The sight raises many questions. Was it a Canadian citizen who was carrying the flag? If so, why would he drag Canada into the fray? Was this guy a loyal Trumpist? Does his presence there indicate Canada has Trump loyalists within its borders? 

I believe the basic question is: Have Canadian authorities taken notice of this incident which could be construed as interference in US domestic affairs? What's behind waving the Canadian flag in a highly-partisan event?

Now, to see Vietnam's old banner would seem understandable. Showing it harks back to the 70s, just before the fall of South Vietnam to the communists. It was the national flag of the Republic of Vietnam from 1949 to 1975, the year it reunited with North Vietnam to form the current Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Trump appears to be taken favorably by Vietnamese-Americans, especially those who escaped the war and eventually settled in the US from refugee camps, including one in Bataan province in the Philippines.

"Former South Vietnamese citizens who fled Vietnam in the late 1970s and 1980s as Boat People," says Wikipedia, "consider the current Vietnamese flag offensive and even sometimes even triggering as they see it as a symbol of an administration that had persecuted them during and after the war." (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).

Filipinos Among Those in Attempted Coup in the US Capitol

Volume 2, Issue No. 49

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .

 Our latest as of Monday, January 11, 2021 

~ For a moment, our attention was riveted to the guy whose presence in the riotous attack on the US Capitol on Wednesday stood out because of his Captain America costume. Because he carried a "walis tambo" or soft broom, many people believed he was a Filipino. A Filipino lawyer has identified him on a Facebook post. But the person who answers to the name said it was "fake news" and so, he was suing him and a colleague for cyber libel. Who really is Captain "Walis Tambo"? 

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WHO IS CAPTAIN 'WALIS TAMBO'

A Filipino Rebel in Pro-Trump Riot at US Capitol?

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“The best way of successfully acting a part is to be it.” ― Arthur Conan Doyle

TORONTO - From the pandemonium that broke out in Wednesday's (January 6, 2021) right-wing coup attempt in the US Capitol which claimed five fatalities, including a policeman and a woman air force veteran from California, came out some sort of welcome respite, a comic relief if one could describe it as such.

One thing sure, it's no fun to be in the middle of a violent confrontation between government forces and pro-Donald Trump protesters, but in the midst of it all, was this guy, helmeted, fully masked, wearing a cape of the US flag, and carrying a shield mounted on a "walis tambo" or soft broom. 

It's the "walis tambo" that has caught my attention and I don't mean to diminish the historic significance of the moment when rioters overwhelmed the police, penetrated the Capitol, and ransacked the people's House.

The guy stood out in the crowd of protesters in the Capitol's Statuary Hall for the unmistakable look of the comic character Captain America. Though the broom could be a dead giveaway of his culture or nationality, the article by Anthony Esguerra in Vice News did not identify the person behind the cloak.

There's the hint in the story that the guy was Filipino because of the "walis tambo" (broom made from grass) he proudly displayed. (Full story at: https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgqv3b/alarm-confusion-and-embarrassment-over-southeast-asian-symbols-at-pro-trump-riot).

That kind of broom is a typical cleaning utility in most Filipino households as its allied cleaner, the "walis tingting" fashioned from spines of palm fronds. (Incidentally, the walis-tingting is a popular Philippine metaphor to illustrate Aesop's quote: "in union there is strength.") 

The feedback from readers also assumed he was Filipino. "While others laughed, the broom man was generally slammed on social media in the Philippines, as people expressed disgust at the support for Trump and the mob.

"You are a shame to us, you drop that prideful instrument of (Philippine) identity down," the writer quoted a Twitter user.

A short article in a Philippine newspaper, Daily Tribune, said, quoting San Francisco-based Filipino lawyer Rodel Rodis, "We now know the name of the FilAm insurrectionist. (Thanks to Gemma Nemenzo). He's Dong Abay".

There's not much to say about Dong Abay, the alleged broom man. But the writer of the piece, Pocholo Concepcion, says:

"An absurd-looking pro-Donald Trump protester dressed in a poor copy of Captain America’s costume and holding a walis-tambo, who was part of the mob that descended on Capitol Hill in Washington on 6 January, was maliciously identified as Filipino singer-songwriter Dong Abay".

The writer's description that Abay was "maliciously identified" apparently stems from his personal knowledge of the person. 

"Abay," he wrote, "has been residing in the Philippines all his life. I should know. I was co-manager of his former band, Yano". (Full story at: https://tribune.net.ph/index.php/2021/01/08/fake-news-lawyer-names-capitol-hill-protester-as-dong-abay/).

Another paper, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, backs up Concepcion's claim, saying in its January 9, 2021 issue that Abay is a "poet and rock icon".

How Rodis and Nemenzo had concluded that the broom man - the "FilAm insurrectionist" - was Abay was not immediately clear.

Short of explicitly denying he was the "FilAm insurrectionist", Abay posted on Facebook that he will file a cyber libel case against Rodis and Nemenzo.

“This is to inform the public that I’m pursuing a cyber libel case to be administered by a U.S. lawyer against Gemma Nemenzo and Rodel Rodis for spreading fake news,” Abay said.

According to the Inquirer, Abay's friends had vouched that he was in the Philippines and "was shown to be in a gig for a local radio station".

So far, nobody has come forward to claim ownership of the broom man. Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law-enforcement agencies have farmed out to trace and arrest participants in the attack on the Capitol.

News accounts of the siege have described it as an "attempted coup," an "insurrection," and "domestic terrorism" incited by President Donald Trump in his desperate bid to hang on to the presidency. The US House of Representatives is poised to impeach Trump a second time as of this writing on Monday, January 11, 2021. (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).

Is It 'Winter of Despair' Because of the Pandemic?

Volume 2, Issue No. 48

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .

 Our latest as of Saturday, January 2, 2021 

~ Are we in the "winter of despair" as Charles Dickens had described it, or we're on the brink because of the coronavirus pandemic? We welcome the New Year and with its arrival comes prayers and hope we would overcome the challenges of the recent past that are still in our midst. In this era of the pandemic, we greet the Year 2021 with less ostentation and more caution for good reason - mankind's survival is at stake.

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2021 - THE 21ST YEAR OF THE 21ST CENTURY

The New Year and the Era of the Pandemic

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true".  –Alfred Lord Tennyson 

TORONTO - The year just passed wasn't virtual. All the world around it was and continues to be. The pandemic era is also the era of the virtual.

Activities we took for granted have been snatched from us by that omnipresent enemy so deadly we can only pray and hope for relief. Little by little, however, science is on the vanguard to tame if not conquer the vicious beast altogether.

Now it's the second year of the decade of the 2020s, the 21st year of the 21st century, and the 21st year of the third millennium. That's a long challenging stretch from the time we saw the light of day and the many experiences, joyful and poignant, we've had that had accompanied them.

I am reminded of the following passage from Charles Dickens' historical novel "A Tale of Two Cities" where he wrote: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair . . . " 

Well, the "spring of hope" he adverts to is a good 77 days away on March 20, 2021. Hopefully, the winter we're currently in would not be a "winter of despair".

When the year 2021 came knocking at the door at the stroke of midnight, we quickly embraced it minus the fanfare. We were sobered while deep in our hearts we envision it to be fruitful in many ways, a score better than all the years prior, blessed, and back again to where we'd left off.

We rang in the new year with the pealing of church bells and a colorful explosion of fireworks in keeping with tradition, and ancient beliefs, that doing such things would banish the evil that had visited us the previous year and once expelled, to remake our lives again comfortable and happy.

We're caught in the moment thinking of a brighter future than we're currently stuck in. We dream of instances where, again, conversations mean sharing a meal, having coffee, taking snacks, or laughing over jokes. We ache for company beyond people around us. 

We fancy strolling, running, jogging, biking, or hiking in parks, urban forests, or within the neighborhood. We want friends to visit and us to visit with them at a moment's notice and drive to wherever our interests take us. Those are invaluable things we hanker for. 

Welcoming the New Year within the confines of our homes, constrained by rules intended to safeguard our own, and the community's health proves we could be content and compliant with what our individual circumstances dictate what to do. 

We behave, we follow the rules, we abstain from fancy festivities in favor of the austere enjoyment with family and close friends, and in the process, we rediscover the importance and loveliness of being with kindred folks. 

So different this New Year's day event was that we almost forgot we're marking the passage of time made significant by how it messes our lives and how we try to rebuild.

Not since last year when the word pandemic sneaked into our daily vocabulary. COVID-19 was unheard of then. But its full, horrifying meaning could be found in the millions of lives it has taken and infected. The disease has caused untold consequences in our way of life and in public governance.

We can not engage in the frivolities of the past, not even celebrate the holidays now gone and upcoming, or we let ourselves be susceptible to the contagion.

The "new normal" isn't normal when it displaces us, uproots us from individual and family relations, removes us from the simple day-to-day reality of living a life without fear, without the anxiety of being knocked off our usual undertakings.

Year 2021 would not be the same as the year before it. We will be more restrained in our activities, more careful than we have ever been, more cheerful in confronting life's challenges. (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).