Ocean Breeze

Friday, September 24, 2010

Filipino Presidents

Manuel L. Quezon

2nd President of the Philippines

(1878 – 1944; President 1935 – 1944)

First President of the Commonwealth

“The ones who are worthy to be free are those who are smart and ready to suffer, those who were designated to fight for the said freedom even if it will cause him death.”

         Manuel L. Quezon, the first Commonwealth President, was born on August 19, 1878 in the town of Baler in the province formerly called Tayabas (now called Quezon in honor of the first Commonwealth president). His parents were Lucio Quezon and Maria Dolores Molina.
         Manuel was raised by a priest, the parish priest of Baler – Fr. Teodoro Fernandez. Father Teodoro Fernandez taught Manuel religion, geography, history and Latin. When Father Fernandez went to Manila, he brought Manuel with him. While in Manila, Manuel worked as a messenger and kitchen helper, while studying at San Juan de Letran College. They were poor but Manuel dreamed of finishing his studies. He came to know Fr. Tamayo of the University of the Philippines. He show fondness to Manuel and allowed him to study at the university for free. As payment, he served at the university. Throughout his time studying in Manila, Manuel continues to serve in the university. His father is already happy with this fate of Manuel. When his father pays him a last visit, Manuel can’t forget his last advice. “Son” said his father, “I’m going home in two hours. I won’t say a lot. Just always remember no matter how far you will go in life, do not forget that you came from a poor clan and that you belong to the poor. Do not forsake poverty. May God bless you! That was the last conversation of the father and son and never went to see each other again. During the revolution Quezon joined Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo’s troop. However, when he learned that Gen. Aguinaldo was captured by the Americans, he decided to find a job instead. He was fortunate to land a job in a Manila bank named Monte de Piedad. He was able to pursue his studies until he became a fully fledged lawyer.
          Quezon first serve the government in 1904. He was appointed as fiscal of Mindoro with a salary of one thousand one hundred pesos (P1, 800) a year. After six months, he was transferred to his native home province and served as a legal counsel of the poor and the oppressed. Quezon was elected as governor of Tayabas province in 1905. His main objective is to prove that the Philippines is capable of being an independent sovereign country. He let officials and leaders of every town and cities freely perform their duties in their respective jurisdiction.
         After two years, Quezon was elected to Philippine Assembly. At the end of the assembly in Congress, Quezon left the country. He visited Japan, Berlin, London, and United States. He became a frequent Philippine Resident Commissioner in United States. He began living in America on December 24, 1909. Upon his stay in United States, Quezon always reiterated his wish of freeing the Filipinos. In one of his speech, he told this to the listening Americans.
         “If I had to choose for the fate of my country, I would choose to be miserable but free than rich but under the rule of another country.”
         Quezon wanted through a law imposing the freedom of the Philippines or a law that America will promise to allow the Filipinos to rule and govern an independent government in the Philippines.This results to the creation of the Jones Law. The Jones Law imposes the freeing of the Philippines once Filipinos can have a formidable government. After the successful Jones Law, Quezon resigned as a commissioner to United States. He return to the Philippines and ran for the senatorial race. He won and became the Senate president on October 16, 1916. As the first president of the Commonwealth, he was sworn into office on November 15, 1935. The important legacy of President Quezon for the Philippines is his Code of Citizenship.

1. Trust God who assigned the fate of countries and its people.
2. Love your country because this is your home, a shelter of your love, source of your happiness and manly nature.
3. Respect the Constitution that declares your powerful will. It was created for your security and for your own good. Obey the law and try to implement it for the citizens and government officials.
4. Pay your taxes voluntarily and wholeheartedly on time. Remember citizenship possesses not only rights but requires responsibility and accountability.
5. Maintain a peaceful, honest and orderly election and follow the consensus.
6. Love and respect your parents. It is your duty to serve them well and be grateful.
7. Give worth to your honor as you value your life. A decent respectable humble living is more important than wealthy without honor.
8. Be honest in thoughts, and in actions. Be just, benevolent but honorable in dealing.
9. Have a frugal but orderly living. Don’t be lavish or pretentious. Be simple in dressing up and modest in your ways.
10. Be worthy of the honorable civilization of the nation. Respect the memories of our heroes. They live and die in an honorable fulfillment of duty.
11. Be hardworking. Don’t be ashamed of hard sweating for a job. Hard work is the road to a convenient living and adds wealth to our nation.
12. Be dependent on your ability to progress and happiness. Don’t lose hope immediately. Be patient for the success of your goals.
13. Perform wholeheartedly your duties. The job barely done is much worse than a job not yet started. Don’t wait for tomorrow what you can do now.
14. Contribute and help for the progress of the community and social justice. No man lives on his own, with his family alone. You are a part of a society which you owe responsibility and accountability.
15. Make it a habit of patronizing our local products.
16. Utilize and put to good use our natural resources. These are our wealth that cannot be separated from us. Don’t sell your citizenship.

        Aurora Aragon became his wife and it bore him four children namely Maria Aurora, Maria Zenaida, Luisa Corazon Paz and Manuel. President Quezon’s love for his country is incomparable but his love of his family is also admirable. President Quezon once wrote a letter to his wife and it says
         “I am saddened by the fact that I don’t spend much of my life to you and our children, especially you are the one who gave me enough strength to perform my duty to our motherland. Forgive me for my shortcomings. My love for you has never changed and will never be. My heart and my life are reserved for you. Your goodness will be unequalled as your spouse. You are the source of my happiness. At this moment, you must believe what I say because all of it came from the depths of my soul. Pray for me, my children pray for me. I am kissing you and calling God for all of us. If this is the end, I will wait for you in the serenity of heaven. I will not forget to guide you and through the intercession of the Almighty God, will save you from all evil.
          Manuel L. Quezon died of tuberculosis at Saranac Lake, New York on August 1, 1944.

Major World Events During Quezon’s Administration

Great Britain. Edward VIII abdicates; George VI is king, 1936

Germany attacks Poland, starts World War II, 1939

France. Occupied by Germany in World War II, 1940 – 44

Spain. Civil War, 1936-39

Italy. Mussolini seizes Ethiopia, 1936

Soviet Union signs non aggression pact with Germany, 1939

Manuel L. Quezon Images

The house as the witness rising of the birth of President Quezon in Baler, Tayabas on August 19, 1878.

The President Manuel L. Quezon in his attire as Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines

President Manuel L. Quezon

Pictures taken while confirming the Constitution of the Philippines. President Quezon was seen watching as the President of United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Constitution.

Manuel L. Quezon Images

In celebration of Day of Planting Rice, President Quezon lead as an example to give "honor to work "

A beautiful picture of President and First Lady Manuel L. Quezon after they were married in Hong Kong.

President Quezon holding one of his four children

The entire family of President Quezon, his wife and four children, in the presence of the well-wishers on his birthday in 1942.

A rare picture of a sick, joined by his carer: the President Quezon and his wife who is a nurse

Thursday, September 23, 2010

St. Thomas of Villanova

      St. Thomas of Villanova, O.S.A. (born Tomás García Martínez, Ciudad Real, 1488 - died Valencia, September 8, 1555), was a preacher, ascetic, writer and Spanish friar of the Order of Saint Augustine.
      Thomas grew up and was educated in Villanueva de los Infantes, in the province of Ciudad Real, Spain, where his parents owned a prosperous estate; therefore the name Thomas of Villanueva. Part of the original house still stands, with a coat of arms in the corner, beside a family chapel. In spite of his family's wealth, as a young boy he often went about naked because he had given his clothing to the poor.
      Even though he studied Arts and Theology at the University of Alcalá de Henares and became a professor there, he decided to enter the Augustinian order in Salamanca in 1516, and in 1518 was ordained a priest. Within the order, he held the positions of prior of the friary, General Visitor, and Provincial Prior for Andalusia and Castile. He was also a professor at the university and counsellor and confessor to the Spanish King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
      He was well known for his great personal austerity (he sold the straw mattress on which he slept in order to give money to the poor) and for his continual and untiring charitable efforts, especially towards orphans, poor women without a dowry, and the sick. He possessed, however, an intelligent notion of charity, so that while he was very charitable, he sought to obtain definitive and structural solutions to the problem of poverty; for example, giving work to the poor, thereby making his charity bear fruit. "Charity is not just giving, rather removing the need of those who receive charity and liberating them from it when possible," he wrote.
      In 1533, he sent out the first Augustinian friars to arrive in Mexico. He began to experience mystical ecstasies during Mass and when reading the psalms. Charles V offered him the post of Archbishop of Granada but he would not accept it. In 1544 he was nominated as Archbishop of Valencia but he continued to refuse the position until ordered to accept by his superior. There, aided by his assistant bishop, Juan Segriá, he put in order a diocese that for a century had not had direct pastoral government. He organized a special college for Moorish converts, and in particular an effective plan for social assistance, welfare, and charity.
     He composed beautiful sermons, among which stands out the Sermon on the Love of God, one of the great examples of sacred oratory of the 16th century. He enjoyed great fame as a preacher, with a plain and simple style. Charles V, upon hearing him preach, exclaimed, "This monsignor can move even the stones!", and he brought about public conversions. Some of his sermons attacked the cruelty of bullfighting. He also had a great devotion to the Virgin Mary, whose heart he compared to the burning bush that is never consumed. In 1547 he ordained as a priest the future Saint Luis Beltrán. He died in 1555 of angina at the age of 67. He was canonized by Pope Alexander VII on November 1, 1658. His liturgical feast day is celebrated on September 22.
      He is the author of various Tracts, among which is included the Soliloquy between God and the soul, on the topic of communion. Francisco de Quevedo wrote his biography. His complete writings were published in six volumes as Opera omnia, in Manila in 1881.
      He is the namesake and patron saint of Villanova University, near Philadelphia (USA), which was founded and is administered by the friars of his order, Universidad Católica de Santo Tomás de Villanueva in Havana (Cuba), St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Florida, (USA)and Villanova College, a catholic school for boys located in Brisbane, Australia.

Source: Wikipedia

Alimodian Town Fiesta 2010

St. Thomas of Villanova

     Yesterday September 22, 2010, Alimodian celebrated its annual patronal town fiesta in honor of our patron saint, St. Thomas of Villanova. We prepare a feast for the guests and visitor to rekindle ties and forge bond that was formed a long time ago and to reunite with kin and clans. It is also a time to rest or a comic relief from the usual daily routine to enjoy the festivities. The theme this year is “Climate Change: An Environmental Concern and a Social Responsibility Of All Alimodiananons” which emphasizes on the dire warning and repercussion brought by global warming and the citizen of Alimodian’s role to make a difference and help alleviate this cruel vengeance of nature.
       This is the story of our patron saint, St. Thomas of Villanova which we honor in this religious fiesta.

      Bishop Confessor (1488 – 1555) St. Thomas of Villanova is best remembered as the “Almgiver” and the “Father of the Poor”.
      Thomas was born in 1488 to Alfonso Thomas Garcia and Lucia Martinez Castillanos in Fuentellano but he grew up in Villanova de los Infantes.
      In 1504, he entered the University of Alcala and finished Master of Arts degree and Licentiate in Theology and taught Philosophy. He joined the Augustinian order in 1516 and was ordained priest in 1518. He taught theology in the University of Salamanca which is known worldwide up to the present. He became of the famous preachers of Valencia and Valladolid. High positions in the Augustinian order were handled by him.
      In his order, St. Thomas of Villanova rose to Provincial and from Castille sent out the first band of Augustinian missionaries to Mexico. Then he was nominated to the position of bishop of Granada but refused such nomination. Nevertheless, under obedience he accepted the position of Archbishop of Valencia and which he has served from 1545 to September 8, 1555. Here he labored at reforming the mortals of both clergy and laymen; he did away with underground prisons: a money gift which he received from the cathedral chapter for use in his place was used for the rebuilding of fire guttered general hospital. Moreover, he founded a college for young clergy and another for poor students. Children of indigent parents and foundlings were likewise provided for in an orphanage. For the benefit of the working people, masses were said at very early hours.
     Many miracles have been credited to him before and after his death. It was Cardinal Pardo of Toledo who ordained him; Pope Paul II whom beatified him in 1618 and Pope Alejandro VII who canonized him as Saint in 1658.
     Thomas of Fuentellano is more popularly known as Thomas of Villanova. Yes, he is a humble servant and an obedient follower as well. His life was one of the continuous series of self-sacrifice and charitable acts, healing the sick and converting hardened sinners.
     Thomas Castillanos Garcia is Thomas of Villanova.