Q.C.S. Club

 The Discovered Secret

Sincerely, Tom Bentley.  

(If you have special needs, please write ) 

I was deeply elated to be given such an offer from the heart of, a person, I don't know. I received your letter, read its content, and was conquered by the profound message, of all things, the secrets. 

"Knowledge has a beginning but no end." 

Born in a town, spent life on a farm, and studied in a town and in the city, I discovered that knowledge is amazing. In High School, I checked the test papers in English and Literature. In College, I became a Literary Editor of a College paper. I befriended professors, classmates, schoolmates, newspapermen, and radio announcers. I also checked the essay test papers of my over 20 classmates on a Law subject. I was a member of the winning team of the College of Education Debate. That was the first for the College of Education; usually, it is the College of Law. Then I became an Editor-in-Chief and finally was elected as Student Council president. This paved the way to deploy my 6 graduating classmates including myself to teach at the Philippine Muslim College, Jolo, Sulu, Philippines.

 

Indeed, knowledge has a beginning but no end. 

I studied at five Colleges and one Seminary. Took 4 courses Taught at private and government schools. But the fire of hope and persistence keeps burning. During the Marshall Law of the Philippines, when the sun rises, my vision points to go west, young man!

 From the Manila International Airport to the Washington State Airport to the Chicago O'hare Airport. Yes, America, here I come to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

I worked as a stockman at Florsheim shoe outlet store, then at Montgomery Ward, and took night classes at the Chicago College of Advanced Traffic and took Transportation and Traffic Management and Loss and Damage courses for three years. Upon graduation, I was employed in a Carloading company and finally was accepted at the Joseph Ryerson  Steel Company of the Transportation and Traffic Department as an auditor. The Department is the bread and butter of the company as bills of lading are to be audited.

I am retired and want another income as my wife passed away and my special needs are my mortgage bills and to give aid to those who are in need, the reason why your letter was God-send. It is not what we gather but what we scatter that is essential to ease the life of the needy.  And I believe in Second Notice. That Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. That whosoever believeth in Him shall not die but have everlasting life.

Thank you, Tom Bentley

Sincerely, 

Greg Trabanca

The October Affair

 Of Four Decades

Ber's October Affair was good

The decor was remarkable

The music was in the Senior's mode

The attendance was admirable.

Lovely children: Riz, Buzz, and Ron

Sister Linda and wife Nilda came

They came happy like the rising sun

To celebrate a man's day of fame.

Sunday Blog

 The Wonder of Life

A Tribute

 Unconquerable        

Out of Dipolog's Bamboo Garden

Came JESS to the City of Orchid

Then in the Skokie's Holiday Inn

Ber is the name that was awarded.

Thank God for whatever it may be

For his founding an association

The ZAMNAI of Zamboanga del Norte

This poem is a great appreciation.

It matters not whatever they say

Trials and concerns are always here

And there are two courts for us to play

And the venue could be anywhere.

GT's JOURNAL

 A Many Splendored Life

Elementary Days 

Enrolled in an Elementary School

Took writing, reading, and music

Pictures are posted on a wooden wall

Watched the baton: that's the music trick,

It's fun to be small, agile, and smart

In Boy Scouting, you are at the top

Pyramid building is where you start

To excel that no one can stop.

High School Years

Looming ahead is the high school years

You find yourself taking the P.M.T.

For discipline and to erase the fears

But lessons learned will forever stay.

Catholic school: freshman to junior 

Senior: Ateneo all-boys school

And last night high school at this juncture

Another step in life to endure.

College  Education

Med-Tech was poised to be in Manila

But circumstance altered the plan

Took drafting instead at Zamboanga

School of Arts and Trades was near at hand.

Then work for a Captain's persuasion

To maneuver the Pilot's tugboat

So foreign ships anchored by the ocean

Be given a berth at Zamboanga's port. 

From the ocean to Bukidnon's heartland

Nestled a College far from the highway

A meatless diet and discipline are grand

Work, study, and temptation held sway.

Adventist baptism in a river

Announcing salvation to the barrio

But realized this was hard to adhere

And what I learned changed the scenario.

Back home a parish priest came to visit

To offer a Seminary study

Pending on the Bishop to submit

The transcript to the Seminary.

Of the three, two pursued on the offer

With two days of stay at Dumaguete

Hope Bishop Surban may help and muster

Graces and mercy to let me be.

And the ship was docked at Manila's port

Two Jesuit priests welcome us on their Jeep

But my Seminary days were  so short

Those lessons learned were for me to keep.

Despite the good offer from the school

Of a Vatican scholarship

But there's a writing on the wall

And indeed this is a strong relief.

To Sweet Home via Cotabato

First class by M/V Filipinas

Compliments of just a passing through

In finite life's many arenas.

Back to the greenfield where air is fresh;

Rare, strong connection is everywhere

And life and beauty are in the flesh

 Yet Love matters: Home of lasting care.                     

Life's Lessons

 GT's JOURNAL    

"It takes half your life before you discover

life is a do-it-yourself project." - Napoleon Hill. 

(Author: Think and Grow Rich)

 The Taming of the Wildland

My dear friends, Life is never fun

During my days you have to rise

Early before the rising sun

Makes you healthy, active, and wise.

I have to pasture the carabao

A helping hand to plow the field

As in the farm you have to bow

To nature as you drive the sled.

Plowing the field is a happy time

The carabao is at your command

Pushing the plow within the slime

You are the king of the farmland.

The untouched field of grass and bushes 

Becomes a valued place for corn and rice

But fire will soon blaze them to ashes

Faith and care are the farmers' advice.

The brook and stream glide on their way

While hungry heron and kingfisher

Wait for the mudfish to go astray

But daily the mudfish grow wiser.

GT's Journal

 Letter to a Relative (07/08/2023) Sat

Dear Nong Posing,

How is everybody today? Dugay nang panahon nga wala kita magkita ug tungod lage sa pagapas sa adlawng kalihokan sa pag trabaho aron naay mabutang pagkaon sa lamisa, pasilungan ug lugar nga higdaanan. Apan wala gihapon mawala sa panumduman kadtong mga kagahaon nga nanglabay kay naa man na silsil sa alimpatakan tungod sa katam-is ug dalisay nga panghuna-hunaon.

At this point, everything is seen and heard in a split second. You'll be amazed at the progress of steps that humanity has hurdled. The TV, the computer, the cellphone. The world is a beautiful place to live; that is why life is worth living - to savor its sweetness, to feel its marvel, to see its beauty. 

I still remember that time when you opened your desire to make Mom Mering a part of your life. On a carabao-drawn caromata (locals' two-whelled wagon) a load of food with Nong Sotero (Teroy) Salcedo as spokesperson, we plied the road to the Melicor place at Sim (La Libertad). Mr. Salcedo with his former seminary day background greeted Mr. Melicor, " With due respect Mr. Melicor permit me to introduce and let you know that our brother Sinforoso Rombines desires to marry your daughter Maria." There was a graveyard cemetery silence. Then, Mr. Melicor, with the audacity of a farm owner and a mestizo spoke, " Can he support my daughter? We all posed our direction homeward. We comforted ourselves with silence and smiles.  However, the sun always rises to greet the world with its mystery and glad tidings. Tomorrow is a new day!

The trip was a disaster. We all went home but hope still lingered on your mind, I presumed. Minutes turned to hours then to days then to months and into years. However, hope unceasingly flows in your prime healthy life. And one day you approached me, " Doy can you come with me to see the Melicors?" "Of course", I said. We went first to see Mr. and Mrs. Melicor, then Mr. and Mrs. Galicia. Things went smoothly like a young coconut meat when you slide it in your mouth on a hot summer day. Delicious and refreshing.

Then, I heard of your nuptial. But I'm already on the deep quest of my odyssey from a town boy in the Philippines to a city man in America. ( A joke- when a man is in love with a woman, their siblings are girls but when the woman is in love with a man their siblings are boys.) 

A Looking Back ( Nonoy Quimbo - an Electrical Engineer, the son of Ingwa Quimbo who married a nurse from Dipolog city is here in Chicago told me some of this news about Labason)

How is Labason now? Maybe my classmates, schoolmates, and friends are no longer around. Who are the town officials that I am familiar with? Doroy Gitalan passed away and also Rudy and his wife. But Inteng Lovino may still be around. His two-story house was sold and the Lovinos live on their land near the Labason River between the Guanteros on one side and the Salardas on the other side. Tani (boxer) Felisarta whose parents live near the Maquilans and the Salardas (Virgie) and now the Maquilans property is owned by Pio Galon's family; while Tani (boxer) is a Barrio or Purok Captain. Currently, the Mayor of Labason is a Quimbo; the Gutalac mayor is also a Quimbo. The grandparent's wife is pakha (small feet). They have 3 sons and a daughter. Tenciong was married to Clara Mabilog (nurse), Cemen (Felix), and Cesar (Ingwa) married to a Tan, daughter of Insek Jose Tan of Usokan Kilometro Tres who has sari-sari store among suki sa sardinas, asin, gas ug uban pang kinahanglanong panimalay. The current Mayor of Labason is the grandson of Cemen and also the Mayor of Gutalac.

         Labason has an amazing history as I still have the scenario of "those were the days" of my Life's Journey. It's a town of successful men and women in their own special ways. The pioneering families:  were the families of Landowners: Bantilan, Canda, Burguete, Ybarley, Bolando, Batoon, Batoctoy, Daguplo, Galon, Quines, Hernandez, Fortich, Erojo, Bolando, Gitalan,  Educators: Melicor, Carloto, Cadungog, Isagan,  Orendain, Casini'o, Demerre,  Merchants: (the Chinese) Quimbo, Kho, Chia, Tan, Lim. Yap, Roleda, -Leadership: Sanchez, Tokong, Canda , Concha Ramirez, Galon, Carloto. 

        Kipit area - Families of  Salarda, Patayon, Galope, Singsing, Barroca, Panolin, Basa, Lagod, Doong, The Lalibertad (Sim) section - Families of Salcedo, Antolin, Rombines,  Jamanron, Sumicad, Dinapo, Salmorin, Edrial, Zamora, Vista, Briones, Openia, Magdayao, Chavez, Pacatang, Tindero, Dubrico,  

Sir Posing,  you have 2 daughters and one is married to a Tumoy and owns a Hardware store. Being a teacher are you still a fast walker and an industrious person? Regards to your dear partner Mom Mering. I have contact with one of Crispin Antolin's daughters who is teaching at a government school in Kipit, while the eldest daughter Charito, a teacher, I guess is married to a Muslim police officer. Nonoy is a farmer and married.                                                                                                                                              

King Solomon's Mines and President E. Marcos Gold Sr

 After the nightly one-hour virtual prayer, I indulged myself in the relaxing almost two hours and a half of a movie about King Solomon's Mines.

Dawned on my thinking of the Philippines' martial law president and strong man Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, Senor's gold. Was it real or just a figment of the political mind. And was the Yanashita's treasure also a part of it. But news and social media were all over reporting the many bank accounts deposited in several countries. The strong man had a will for the benefit of his family and the country. The Philippines is lucky and rich, to say the least.

Sto. Ninio de Oktubre

 Labagh Woods: June 24, 2023 

Hot Saturday potluck party of the members of the Sto Nin'o devotional group with 2 retired priests and one bishop; who were all Filipinos by birth. Two were naturalized American citizens of the state of Illinois and one may be a visitor from the Philippines. 

The picnic table was laden with the bounties of God. They were varieties of cooking in the different provinces of the Philippines. In fact, I have yet to notice hotdogs or American food gracing the two long fits together picnic tables.                                                                                                                   

Practically, the majority were in the red Sto Nin'o de Oktubre uniform. The breeze offered a  refreshing

atmosphere to the happy-faced picnickers as they scooped the food onto their paper plates.

Fr. Leoncio Santiago, the spiritual director, blessed the food and later gave his hospital experience of his two surgical confinements. He reminded the group to take care of their health as we are mortals and the world we live in is polluted with the new discoveries of how we eat, drink, and exercise for longevity.

The leader of the group, Gloria Key spoke on her hospital confinement experiences. She was grateful to her friends and members of the daily 8 o'clock - 9 pm virtual prayer that started during the Covit-19 pandemic. 

The vibrant faces, the relaxing get-away, and the food reminded me of living with passion and purpose.