Lamentations of Chinese Great-GrandMa on Philippines -Taiwan 2013 Issue

    

     Last year 2013 was a heated battle between the Philippines and Taiwan over a fishing boat. The fishing boat was said to be in the Philippines perimeter without permission and so the firing went on. It was a major casualty for both countries as the issues on waters boiled up.

A s the news spread out in the media as if Superman flew the gossip in the wind. One cannot avoid the hurtful comments between the two countries as to how and why it happened and whose to blame.

At home, my father including my younger siblings shared one sentiment, according to them this country should defend its rights and as for Taiwan to back off and respect other countries' law. And so their emotions sets in every day.

One night while asleep, there were a couple who appeared before me, I am not sure if they could see me or not. Then, the small girl eloped with a tall white man despite her family's disapproval. I thought it was Mano Po but it turn out it did not. So the couple eventually had their family and they kept their vow til their hairs turn gray, they stayed by each other's side.

Then one time, there was this young boy who came running fast, the tall white man who came after him. Time changed the physical appearance of this tall white man. Then he was scolding the young boy but the small woman who was with him, stopped him from scolding and spanking the young boy.

As I look over, the young boy seemed to be my boy version. Suddenly, the old couple looked at me gently and said " Siya ang Daddy mo."  (He is your father).

Then the old woman cried and the tall white man comforts his spouse. Then the old small woman told me, "Hindi naman ako ganyan sa Daddy mo. Bakit siya ganyan kung makapagsalita. Di ako nagpakita ng ganyan ugali sa kanya at di namin siyang pinalaki ng ganyan." (Am I bad person to your father? Did I do something wrong to him? We did not brought him up to be like that).

Then, there were a lot of Chinese people who came by and the second thing I saw were tombstones wherein various Chinese characters where carved on it. Just like in the movie Mulan, where Mulan and her father prayed to the ancestors for guidance.

Each were speaking in Chinese, though I could not understand their language, it was clear to me that they were not happy about the incident. Each one of them, blames the other for the ill-mannered which our Dad and siblings stated. Then one of them, blames the tall white old man (our Spanish Great-Grand Father), for not because of his blood and resentments or conflicts with his Chinese in-laws all of these things will never occurred. I saw our Spanish Great-Grand Father defended his side, I cannot totally understand their conversation but it was enough for me to witness how our Great-Grand Parents became each other's body guard. Our Chinese Great-Grand Mother defended our Spanish Great-Grand Father from the insults of her family.

Upon waking in the following morning, I shared the story to our Dad. At first he did not believe me. But when I reminded him about the nickname which our Great-Grand Parents used to call him, there was a light which pass through his eyes. I told him to stop giving hurtful comments towards the Chinese-Taiwanese. I somehow concluded that our Chinese forefathers were from Formosa (former name of Taiwan). In the previous untoward incident between Philippines and Mainland China, our Dad cannot be stop from giving any resentments towards the Chinese nation. But our Chinese ancestors did not made their presence felt.

From time to time, Dad is still giving his comments toward the fellow countrymen of our forebears. But I guess they know wherever they are, that our Dad is speaking what is in his mind.

It is clear to me that though our ancestors are not here anymore, their spirits lives in us through the blood that binds us.

PS: All photos are taken from google.com