Thanks to honest and nice people at San Miguel Brewery Complex who found my almost-dilapidated gadget.
My gratitude to Mr. Jimmy Espinosa, product supply operations assistant, Planner-Logistics Department SMC San Fernando Plant, who found my Treo and turned it over to Mr. Edmund Pascual of Emeritus Security for safekeeping.
My thanks too to media friend at SMC Mr. Francis Sison and staff Martin David for helping me get back my Treo.
Finding a lost cellular phone like a Treo in places teeming with people could be hard to some. It was not for me. Not at San Miguel Brewery Complex.
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We have a 13-year-old niece who is a PWD (person with disability). She cannot walk on her own and she could not speak too. Her mind is sharp though. She is not dumb. Far from it.
No thanks though to a heart attack that debilitated Vianca when she was four years old. She makes use of her own improvised sign language as her parents could not afford education for so-called special children. I guess that word "special" meant special prize too in terms of learning. The most that she got was pre-school education at a nearby Daycare Center.
Last year, I tried to ask that she be accommodated once again at that Daycare. Unfortunately, the teacher and administrator did not want her anymore in that school. Probably, they thought that she was mentally challenged and that she may pose harm to other day care kids. My appeal, even to the Mayor, only broke our heart.
I wanted her in school, even on "salimpusa" status, just so she could learn some more. I wanted her in school, just so she won't be idle all day long while other kids she play with are still in school. What does she do all day long? Watch and watch and watch TV. Recently, she learned how to play ("paris-paris") cards.
It's only during weekends or whenever me or my wife are off work that she gets to leave the house as we bring her to the malls or to McDonalds, her favorite.
When she is not on wheelchair, she crawls on one arm and one leg (she has both of those but is unable to move them). She is to be carried to the toilet by an adult whenever a need arises.
Over and above her physical incapacities, she is one happy teener.
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I made mention of the case of our niece as I'm reminded that there is hope for those who already lost their ability to walk.
Particularly those who lost their legs or amputees.
They need not fret nor sulk in one corner. An organization called Pampanga Development Foundation (PDF) has one program named "Walking Free Pampanga" provides artificial legs and other walking support like wheelchairs.
I never thought that an organization like PDF existed and has primed itself into helping PWDs. Not until I came across some papers in our office. PDF is headed by businessman Benigno Ricafort, a well-meaning Kapampangan.
Walking Free Pampanga is one of the many projects being undertaken by PDF under its HELP (Hope, Education, Livelihood, Prosperity) programs. It aims to provide 200 artificial legs and 500 wheelchairs this year to those who cannot afford them.
Prosthesis is very expensive. An artificial arm or leg would cost anywhere from as low as P20,000 to as high as stratospheric rates, depending on the quality, finish and material.
But rates would be immaterial. Especially for those who want to walk again on their own. And PDF is just making this happen for those who cannot do anything but wish that they had money to make them walk again.
What is good about PDF's project is that they want the undertaking to be self sufficient. KDF has embarked not only in the provision of artificial legs but also in coming up with a facility that will greatly help in producing the prosthesis products.
In partnership with CDC and the Clark Polytechnic, PDF has put up a laboratory inside Clark where measuring, fitting, refitting and adjustments of prosthesis can be made. And not only that, it will also train interested individuals and eventually facilitate their certification as qualified prosthesis technicians.
Walking Free Pampanga is one commendable project. I take pride whenever I hear of people and groups who extend helping hands to PWDs. It's not that I have a nice who herself is considered as one, but because it takes more than just being nice in providing the care and attention that PWDs need.
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There is an alternative family destination in Clark.
But sooner or later, it will become one of the most visited places of interest in Central Luzon.
Nayong Pilipino sa Clark Expo promises to be a great "living museum" that captures the great Filipino heritage and culture, both at pre-colonial and colonial chapters in our nation's history.
I'm all the more convinced at how this park - now open to the public from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. can become a center of living cultural heritage with the nationalistic Charito Planas (of Quezon Memorial Circle and Nayong Pilipino Pasay fame) as the chief architect and overseer.
I'm amazed at how Clark Expo (formerly the multibillion-peso Expo Pilipino which turned white elephant) is being revived by Clark Development Corporation. The expo is slowly coming out alive once again with CDC's partnership with Nayong Pilipino Foundation.
Clark's Nayong Pilipino was opened by PGMA only last December 2007, yet its major proponents had slowly renovated and put in place remarkable pieces of attractions.
It has two main areas - the colonial and pre-colonial. In these sites, you will find a replica of the Barasoain Church, the Rice Terraces, the vernacular houses at the Ifugao, Kalinga Village and the Torogan House of the Maranaos, the heritage houses of our Philippine heroes (Rizal, Aguinaldo, Mabini), The Convento Theater, and many other attractions.
There are also souvenir shops, a restaurant and mind you, lodging cottages which are so affordable and so clean.
And Atty. Planas and her staff have not even started yet with these significant improvements at the Clark Expo. She is pursuing NGO and private sector partners that will help improve on the Muslim and Aeta Villages inside the 3.5-hectare facility.
This vast improvement and renovation should also be credited to Brother Cris Cadiang, the former Nayong Pilipino project coordinator who, aside from burning eyebrows in initiating various projects, also pioneered a lot of activities like musical concerts and other cultural treats.
