Measuring The Unmeasurable

 

“The heart of science is measurement.” - Erik Brynjolfsson

    More than  2,000 years ago,   Eratosthenes  calculated  the size of the Earth  with   reasonable accuracy.  Calculating the Earth’s circumference  (the distance around a circle  or sphere) was his most lasting achievement. He computed this by using simple geometry and trigonometry and by recognizing Earth as a sphere in  space.  Most Greek scholars at the time agreed that   Earth was a sphere,  but none knew how big it was.

   How did Greek scholars know the Earth was a sphere? They observed that departing ships disappeared over the horizon while their masts were still visible. They saw the curved shadow of the Earth on the Moon during lunar eclipses. And they noticed the changing positions of the stars in the sky.

     Eratosthenes heard about a famous well in the Egyptian city of Swenet (Syene in Greek, and now known as Aswan), on the Nile River. At noon one day each year — the summer solstice (between June 20 and June 22) — the Sun’s rays shone straight down into the deep pit. They illuminated only the water at the bottom, not the sides of the well as on other days, proving that the Sun was directly overhead. Syene was located very close to what we call the Tropic of Cancer, about 23.5 degrees north, the northernmost latitude at which the Sun is ever directly overhead at noon.

     Eratosthenes erected a pole in Alexandria, and on the summer solstice he observed that it cast a shadow, proving that the Sun was not directly overhead but slightly south. Recognizing the curvature of the Earth and knowing the distance between the two cities would enable Eratosthenes to calculate the planet’s circumference. To determine the distance between Syene and Alexandria, Eratosthenes hired bematists, professional surveyors trained to walk with equal length steps. They found that Syene lies about 5000 stadia from Alexandria.

     Knowing the vertical height of the pole and the horizontal distance of its shadow as two legs of a right triangle, Eratosthenes determined the angle of the sun’s rays to be 7.2 degrees. That angle is one-fiftieth (1/50) of 360 degrees---the full angle of a circle. Multiplying the distance of the two cities by 50 (5000 x 50)  gave him the circumference of the Earth to be 250,000 stadia or 25,000 miles or 40,000 kilometers!

     Today, orbiting satellites routinely measure the earth’s circumference to be 24,901 miles. Eratosthenes’ ancient calculation  is only 00.4% off the modern measurement which is a remarkable feat considering the crude technology of his time.

A diagram showing how Eratosthenes measured the Earth

 

The Search For Truth

 

“Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” – John 18:38.

    Every time I come across the biblical passage in John 18:38, I have some feelings of regret. I would play the scenario in my mind: what if, Pilate lingered a little more to hear what would be Jesus’ answer to his philosophical question? Of course, the Bible is replete with Jesus’ expositions of what truth is. And yet, I am still interested on what Jesus would have said on this occasion. But Pilate, being a typical politician was not really interested in finding the truth. He was more concerned with pleasing the mob to improve his approval rating. 

     So, what is truth? That’s the first question that came to mind once I decided to write a book about truth. The dictionary defines truth as “the state or quality of being true.” Not a very satisfying definition. So I researched some more and unknowingly entered into an unfamiliar territory, an area of knowledge called philosophy and epistemology where I encountered many exotic terminologies so foreign to me. Anyways, my brief incursions and wanderings paid off by giving me a deeper understanding about truth.

     Accordingly, there are quite a number of views or theories of truth. But since I am not writing a treatise on philosophy, but just a simple book for the average man on the street, I would limit our discussion to only two views of truth: (1) Correspondence View, and (2) Coherence View.

     Correspondence View states that a proposition must correspond with a fact or event in order to be acknowledged as truth. If I say, “two plus two equals four!” nobody will disagree with me because I can always produce two bananas and another two bananas to make it four bananas! Mathematical truths are good illustrations of this view. Another area which is a good example of this view is history. When I say that “The World Trade Center in New York was destroyed on September 11, 2001 by smashing commercial jetliners on its towers”  I am stating a historical fact, never mind the conspiracy theorists’ claim that it was perpetrated by the deep state.

     Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969. But did it really happen? Quite lately, a certain group of people circulated a story about how we never landed on the Moon. The questioning intensified after the Fox television network aired ''Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?'' Those who doubt the Apollo moon landings maintained the United States lacked the technology to send humans to the Moon and was so desperate to appear to win the space race against the Soviet Union that it faked the moon mission on movie sets. They suggested that the shooting was done at a desert in Nevada.

     The doubters said the fake was done so poorly that there is ample evidence of fraud, including a picture of astronauts planting the American flag that allegedly shows the flag rippling in the wind. The skeptics contended there can be no breeze on the moon, so the picture must have been faked.

     Now, this may sound a trivial issue to some but come to think of it. Did man really land on the moon on July 20, 1969? If you believe so, what is the basis of your belief? Did you ever make a critical, unbiased study on whether this event really happened? Personally, I believe that it happened because I saw it on TV and heard it over the radio. But is it enough evidence? Can you believe everything you see on TV and hear on radio? Fortunately, I can enumerate some more proofs to back up my claim of its truthfulness:

1.     The astronauts who landed on the moon have returned and can testify that they were there and they are still with us.

2.     Both the NASA and the Soviet Space Agency staffed by hundreds of scientists and engineers have monitored the entire process of the moon landing and they have records of that activity in their archives.

3.     The astronauts have brought with them moon rocks and those rocks were studied and scrutinized by hundreds of scientists throughout the world.

4.     The moon landing was not a single event. It was repeated several times. Apollo 11 was followed by Apollo 12, 14, 15 and 16 and all have been successful. Twelve people in all.

     But what amazed me was the fact that, in spite of the overwhelming evidence of the truthfulness about the moon landing, there are still a group of people who sincerely believe it did not take place.

     It happened in LA a few years ago. One of those unbelievers by the name Bart Sibrel confronted astronaut Buzz Aldrin at a Beverly Hills hotel and demanded that Aldrin swear on a Bible that he had in fact walked on the moon. Aldrin, the second man ever to touch the lunar surface, who was already in his 70s by this time, punched the 37-year-old Sibrel in the face. Sibrel asked that assault charges be filed, but Los Angeles County prosecutors declined. A videotape of the incident showed Sibrel following Aldrin on the street with a Bible and calling him a ''thief, liar and coward,'' one prosecutor said.

     The second view, the Coherence View states that a belief or a proposition is true if it “coheres” or is consistent with the other things a person believes to be true. ^[1] Let me illustrate. Last year, there was a picture of a father from the Philippines which made rounds in Facebook. The picture showed him holding a placard which said “My daughters (2 doctors, 2 nurses) are working in America,” followed by the pictures and names of his daughters. At the bottom, he scribbled: “I’m an old man now. Send me food. I worked hard in Saudi [Arabia] to send you to school.”

     That picture generated so much sympathy for the father and ignited hatred and contempt towards the four “ungrateful” daughters among Facebook users. I, too, was incensed when I first saw it. But then, I came to my better senses and said to myself: Wait a minute, something is not right here. There must be a very grave reason why all the four daughters abandoned their father. Such despicable act runs counter against the fabric of the hollowed culture and tradition among Filipinos. It is simply not believable! So I withheld my judgment on the issue.

     The following day, one of the daughters spoke up also in Facebook. This was her version of the story: Their father abandoned them when they were still small and went away with a younger woman. It was their god-fearing mother who raised them alone and worked hard to put all of them to school. When they finished college and already working as medical professionals, their father, who was already old, contacted them asking for financial support so they took turns giving him financial allowance on a regular basis. But the father complained that the amount they were giving is not enough and he wanted his daughters to also provide financial support to his still small children with the other woman because he is no longer capable of working. Moreover, he threatened them that if they will not support his other children, he would embarrass them in Facebook.

     Now, who is telling the truth: the father or the daughter? Weighing the claims of both sides, I can immediately say that the daughter is telling the truth because her explanation is more coherent. Later on, the daughter’s claim was re-enforced by the concurrence and public testimonies from friends and relatives who know the family well.

     Today, pebbles of truth, mixed with clumps of lies, half-truths and falsehood are scattered all around---including the social media. It is our moral obligation to gather the pebbles to build our own structure of reality.

Falling Apples And Ocean Tides

    Up to the 17th century, our scientific knowledge was largely influenced by the Aristotelian thought. Aristotle's worldview can be summarized by the following fundamental principles:

§  Geocentric. The Earth is stationary and is at the center of the universe or cosmos. The moon, planets and the sun revolve around the Earth, completing a revolution about every 24 hours.

§  The universe is divided into two regions. The region between the Earth and the Moon (including the Earth itself) is called the sublunar region and the region beyond the Moon is the superlunar region.

§  In the sublunar region, there are four basic elements, these being earth, water, air, and fire. 

§  Objects in the superlunar region like the sun and planets are composed of a fifth basic element called ether.

     In Aristotle’s geocentric model, the basic elements move toward their “natural place.” To accomplish this, the universe is divided into four concentric spheres. The first sphere is the Earth itself. Surrounding the Earth is a concentric sphere that is the natural realm of water, surrounded by the natural realm of air, and  then  the  natural realm  of  fire above that.  Thus,  Earth sinks in water,  water sinks in the air,  and flames rise above  air.  Everything gravitates  toward  its natural  place  in Aristotle’s worldview,  and  it comes  across as fairly consistent with our intuitive understanding and basic observations about how the world works.

     In 1608, a Dutch spectacle maker, Hans Lippershey, announced a new lens-based instrument that made distant objects appear much closer.  The instrument would later be called “telescope.” The following year, Galileo Galilei heard about the Dutch “perspective glasses” and within days had designed one of his own---without ever seeing one.  Other astronomers and natural philosophers followed suit and trained the sights of their new instrument to the heavens. The telescope enabled them to see more objects in space. Galileo was able to make out mountains and craters on the moon, as well as a ribbon of diffuse light arching across the sky — the Milky Way. He also discovered the rings of Saturn, sunspots and four of Jupiter's moons. But the most profound and startling discovery was that the Earth is not the center of the universe. The observers discovered that all planets revolve around the sun---including Earth itself. Thus Aristotle’s worldview was proven wrong!

     The geocentric model was not the only prevailing view at the time. As early as the third century BC, Aristarchus of Samos proposed heliocentrism---the idea that the Earth and the planets revolve around the Sun. But Aristarchus’ heliocentrism attracted little attention---possibly because of the loss of scientific works of the Hellenistic period.  Aristotle was so influential that his geocentric model was embraced by the Roman Catholic Church and became part of her doctrines.

     When Galileo began proclaiming that geocentrism is wrong, that the planets, including Earth revolve around the Sun, he was arrested and accused of being a heretic for opposing church’s teachings. In 1633, he was tried and condemned before the Roman Catholic Inquisition. The crime of heresy was punishable by death. But because of Galileo’s stature in the scientific community, he was cleared of charges of heresy, but was placed under house arrest and told that he should no longer publicly state his belief that Earth moved around the Sun. He was under house arrest for 8 years until his death in1642 at the age of 77. It took the Church more than 350 years before Pope John Paul II issued an apology in 1996 to rectify one of the Church’s most infamous wrongs. 

     During Newton’s time, Aristotle’s geocentric worldview was practically debunked and the heliocentric model became the accepted norm in the scientific world. But for serious thinkers, a scientific question remains: Why do planets revolve around the sun? Isaac Newton was still a young university student when he began pondering on the problem. He understood that the planets revolve around the Sun because the Sun pulls them toward itself. But why don’t they just fall in and burned up? It is because these planets are initially in sideward motion. Just like when you tie an object with a string, when you swing around while holding the other end of the string, the object orbits around you. The force that pulls the planets toward the Sun is called gravity.

     In 1665 the Great Plague epidemic hit London in which a quarter of the city's population would die. Just like what we do today, they practiced "social distancing" to contain the outbreak. Schools were closed and students were sent home. Young Isaac Newton went home to Woolsthorpe Manor, his family's estate about 60 miles northwest of Cambridge. The epidemic lasted 18 months which gave Newton ample time to work on the gravity problem in the comfort of home.

     One late afternoon he was in the garden when he saw an apple drop from a tree. There’s no evidence to suggest the fruit actually landed on his head. But it was an “aha moment” for Newton.  He came to the realization that the force that pulls the apple to the earth is the same kind of force that keeps the planets in orbit around the sun. And while the Earth is pulling the apple, the apple is also pulling the Earth but since the Earth is so massive and the apple so relatively tiny, it’s the apple that comes to the Earth and not the Earth to the apple. Just like a small boat and a large ship floating stationary on the ocean pulling each other. Eventually, it’s the boat that moves toward the ship and not the other way around. Each object in the universe pulls every other object! That’s how Newton came up with the Universal Law of Gravitation.

     The universal law of gravitation  became  one of the prime movers  in the rapid advances of science and technology.  But the law is far from perfect.  Newton’s  mathematical model fails  when the objects are too massive and/or the distances are infinitesimally small. It took more than 200 years before Albert Einstein  came  up with his Theory of Relativity  effectively  superseding  Newton’s law.  Although  the theory of  relativity  is  more precise,  it is cumbersome  and  unwieldy to apply.  Today,  engineers  and scientists  still use  Newton’s law  in  space exploration  and  when calculating  trajectories  of  ballistic missiles or passing comets.

 

 

 

This one’s for the movies... but what a scary experience for my family

    Monday, December 2, 2019.  Our house in the village of Calaitan lies alongside the road that connects the city of Bayugan to some towns of Surigao del Sur due east traversing through a lumber-rich mountainous forest. It is a proposed national highway but during the mid 80s, it was still a private road owned and maintained by the logging company that operated in the area. During this time, I was teaching at the state university in Marawi and my two brothers were working as radio broadcasters in Davao City. Only my younger sisters, a nephew and a niece were in the house with my parents.

     Let me quote what I have written earlier titled ‘Mother’s Day Musings:’ “In those days, no public transport reached our place. But the mobility problem of the farmer residents was somehow eased by the generosity of the company drivers who gave rides to people they pass by hiking on the side of the road or waiting at some designated areas. On many instances you can see a comical but scary sight of dozens of people sitting on top of logs or on top of mounds of gravel of trucks racing at breakneck speed along the unpaved winding road risking lives and limbs. Seat belts were unheard of in our village.”

     One day, an Army sergeant passed by hiking. He was accompanied by a civilian paramilitary man which also served as his close-in security aide.  About one kilometer away from our house, the duo was ambushed by a band of communist rebels. Though they were wounded they were able to return fire and radioed their base in Bayugan for re-enforcement.  The base assured them that re enforcement is coming shortly. A helicopter gunship was also dispatched from the 4th ID headquarters in Cagayan de Oro toward our place.

     On the opposite side of the road fronting our house was a water canal that became so deep at the passing of time due to erosion caused by the constant flow of water in a sloping terrain towards the river below.  At that time the canal was already around 7 feet deep covered with vegetation on the sides. Without the knowledge of my parents and our neighbors, dozens of communist rebels were hiding there that day. They were part of the larger group that ambushed the sergeant an hour earlier.

     When the army soldiers arrived, the rebels engaged them to a firefight right in front of our house. My family dove into the foxhole under our house. That foxhole was dug by my father solely for protection in the event something like this happens. When the helicopter gunship arrived, the rebels scattered and retreated to higher grounds toward the banana plantation and the wooded wilderness beyond where they were methodically and surgically cut down by the helicopter’s automatic fire.

     After the gunbattle, my father checked everyone and thankfully no one was harmed. But our family dog was missing. I forgot the name of that dog now. Perhaps my nephew, Inggo, can help me jog my memory.

     After three days, you could smell the stench of rotting and decaying human flesh from the direction of the banana plantation and beyond. Then they saw our dog weakly coming up from the direction of the river. He looked so emaciated, shivering and was dripping wet.

     Looking back through those tumultuous years, I cannot help but be amazed at times at how my family suffered and survived. I lost a brother, almost lost my mother and a sister. I even almost lost my two other brothers. Each of these episodes have their own story, some are yet to be written.                                      

                                    

A Robbery That Happened In Bohol

     Tiya Leoning was my father’s elder sister. In her younger days, she studied at the Rafael Palma College in Tagbilaran, Bohol. Years later, when the school attained university status, it was renamed the University of Bohol which is still existing until this day. During weekends and other non-school days, Tiya Leoning would stay at her first cousin’s home in Calunasan in the town of Calape to help the family tend their their sari-sari store at the ground floor of their two-storey house which is the largest in the village. Her cousin, Isidoro and his wife, Felomina, had two college-age daughters Demy and Winnie who were  at  home  that time. A third daughter, Lily was in Cebu studying Medicine.

    On the evening of March 29, 1963, after a busy day, the family retired in their respective bedrooms in the upper floor after closing the doors and windows and extinguishing off all the available lights. Not long after, Isidoro heard a noise somewhere in the house. He called on Filomena who was in the adjoining room and requested her to light up the gas lamp nearby to check what’s happening. As soon as the light brightened the room, she realized that she was facing a gun pointed at her by an unknown man. The man asked Filomena for her money. Filomina gave the man her cash box with ten pesos inside. When the man saw that the cash box only contained  ten pesos, he got mad, pointed the gun closer and even pulled her blouse violently. Then the man entered the adjoining room where Isidoro was standing with hands raised and shot him. He also shot Filomina but missed. He then pushed Felomina out of the room.

    Another  man outside demanded that the door be opened. The intruder inside ordered Filomena to open the door and came in the second man with a revover and a flashlight. There was a third man outside acting as a look-out who would fire his gun every now and then to scare away any neighbor that might come to the family’s aid.

    Filomena and the rest of the house occupants: her two daughters, Tiya Leoning, her niece named Anastacia and a 10-year old nephew Cesario were all herded in the living room while the two men ransacked all the rooms, drawers and cupboards, looking for money and other valuables. After a while, the look-out outside shouted to his companions, “Let’s go, na, Bai, I am running low on ‘seeds’ (meaning, ‘bullets’).”

    After the men left, they checked on each other and thanked God that nothing happened to them physically except for Filomena who was sustaining a head wound caused by the butt of the gun inflicted on her by the first intruder. But Isidoro was not there among them. So they searched the whole house. In one corner, was a mound of  clean laundry while the basket which used to contain them  was overturned nearby. The daughters began to pick up the laundry. That’s when they discovered that those laundry were used by the killers to hide the body of Isidoro sprawled on the floor, bloody and dead. 

    A few days later, the robbers were nabbed by the authorities in the nearby town of Ubay. The police identified them through the physical descriptions provided by Filomena. They were thrown in jail and the protracted legal battle began.

     Isidoro has a cousin in Cebu who is a lawyer. He was the only lawyer of the family at that time. He finished law in the University of the Philippines a few years earlier and passed the bar exam the previous year. The task of assisting the government lawyers prosecute the case fell on his shoulders.

    On July 26 of that year, the Court of First Instance of Bohol, Branch 1 convicted the three robbers. They were meted the harshest penalty: death by electric chair.  Fourteen years later, on October 18, 1977, the Supreme Court of the Philippines en banc affirmed the decision of the lower court.

    The family lawyer who helped prosecute the case gradually rose to prominence. Eventually, he would become the 20^th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. On June 30, 2004, he officiated the swearing in of President Gloria Arroyo after Erap Estrada was ousted by the People’s Power, Part 2. After his retirement, he was appointed by Arroyo as the Philippines’ Permanent Representative to the United Nations. His name is Hilario Gelbolingo Davide Jr.

 

A pose with the 20th Chief Justice when I visited him at his residence in Cebu in 2016 with cousin Estrella Herbolingo Melgazo from Australia

Courtesy call on Governor Hilario Davide III at his office in Cebu Provincial Capitol. Beside me is Atty. Orvi Ortega, provincial legal officer. At the governor's left side is Jessie Melgazo, my childhood friend and neighbor.

The Bonfire, the singing and...the fall, ugh!

 

    I left Loma Linda a little past noon of August 26, 2011 gearing for a long drive.  At 2:15 pm, I stopped in front of Mommy Rebing Galope and Manong Ananaias' place along Robertson Blvd in downtown LA. They were already waiting for me. It took just a few minutes to put their belongings into the trunk of my car and off we went.

     It was a Friday and traffic was quite heavy along Highway 101. As I drove on this familiar route, memories flooded back in my mind. I have been traversing this route countless times when I was teaching in Oxnard and spending my weekends in Loma Linda. That was long time ago. After nine years, our church's camping in Lake Casitas gave me more than enough reason to traverse this strip of highway again.

     We arrived at around 5 PM at the entrance of the Recreation Area. The Osprey campground where we were assigned is situated at an elevated area along the northern shore giving us a spectacular view of the lake around 500 feet below. We were the second group to arrive. The first to arrive at around 3 PM was John Shue and Christina Brown,  Liza's friends who drove all the way from the San Francisco Bay area. In a few minutes, Brian, the musician, arrived with the the Amoras: Rudy, Glady and Joy.

     While Mommy Rebing prepared our dinner, we set up our tents. I had brought with me a new tent good for 4 persons but since I decided to sleep in my car, I gave my tent to Brian. Later on, Keni, Robert and Dan would join Brian in that tent throughout the duration of the camping. Since we were still very few, we held our vesper service around a table and dinner followed.

      An hour later, Dan Belding called me asking for direction. They have already entered the Recreation Area but could not locate our exact position. Together with Dan in his vehicle were: Elder Bobby Gevera, Robert, Keni and Junjun. Liza and  Farid, with their dog Wrinkle, arrived next followed by Pastor Ace. Dan was requested by Bobby to return to LA to fetch Sister Elsie, Keni, and Robert. They were able to arrive at the camp before the 10:00 PM closing time.

    Sabbath morning, we had our sunrise worship at a designated place with Elder Bobby as the devotional speaker. More campers arrived early morning. Pastor Ace's daughter together with 2 cousins of Liza arrived in a white Toyota Corolla. Pastor Ace drove back to Camarillo early morning to pick up his parents. Aileen and Aldrin arrived in a blue Mustang. Melody and her 4-year old daughter, Ela arrived, too, in a red car .

    During the Sabbath School, John Shue shared a mission story and I moderated the lesson discussion about true worship. The divine service speaker was Pastor Ace. Brian, the Amoras, Aileen and Aldrin and the young ladies took turns giving the special songs.

    It was very heartwarming and so inspiring worshiping God in the midst of His vast creation. While singing or listening messages, we could not help but gaze on the serene lake below disturbed only by occasional boaters cruising every now then. A couple of model airplanes in attractive colors displayed their acrobatic prowess, rising high in spiral path and diving so low that they almost touch the water and still managed to land safely in their miniature runway complete with white lines and markings just beside the lake.

     In the afternoon, the Santa Ana winds started blowing non-stop. The model airplanes returned to their miniature hangars and the birds took their place, gliding effortlessly above the lake powered by the warm winds but ready to swoop down when a fish was spotted.

    Our youth program led by Liza consisted of singing, Bible games and a group dynamics titled The Life Saving Station which I introduced. Treasure hunting was originally planned but was scrapped because of the ferocious wind. During the sundown devotional, I talked about the earth, moon, planets, solar system, galaxies and the great God who created all these.

    After dinner, we started gathering around a bonfire. Brian started singing the familiar country songs mostly by John Denver. He even accepted special requests that I dubbed him The Non-stop Country Station. All the while, I was moving around taking photos experimenting with low light from the bonfire and in combination with the flash. Then it happened.

     I was going to the other side when my right foot stepped upon nothing. My left knee suddenly bearing my entire weight twisted as my left foot reluctantly followed my right foot. My left hand was still holding my camera while my right hand tried to grab on to something solid to hold on. There was nothing solid but thorny thickets.

     I was still in a state of shock when I realized I stopped falling and all around me was darkness. I heard a commotion of voices above me and I heard my name being called a number of times. I tried to stand only to realize that my two feet have nothing to stand on and I slid again into a seemingly bottomless pit. That was when I realized that I fell in the ravine toward the lake some 500 feet below. I could feel the loose gravel grinding at my back and the thorny thickets brushing on my right arm while the voices above me were receding. Then suddenly my sliding stopped again. But I learned my lesson and I laid still. I know that the moment I started moving I would slide down further.

     When everything seemed to stand still, I realized that the darkness was gone. A number of flashlights were pointed in my direction but still I dared not to look down what's below me. I was afraid that if I turn my head downward, I would start rolling down. Then they called me if I was not hurt. I answered that I am okay. I told them that if someone can take the camera from my left hand and they could throw me a rope, I can use both my hands to raise myself up using the rope. They told me to lay still because they were calling for help. Then I heard Farid telling me that he was coming down toward me.

    When Farid came within arm's distance, I gave him my camera and he slid a little further below perhaps positioning himself to catch me if I slid down further. I asked him what is below us and he told me that a rock surface was protruding slightly and there's a big shrub on the side and that was where he anchored himself.

     The paramedics and the fire engine Rescue 22 from the Ventura County Fire Department arrived. A firefighter whose name I would know later as Shanon climbed down to my location to visually assess my situation whether I was hurt. He asked me several questions testing my coherence and alertness. I told him that there were some bruises in my arms because of the thorny thickets and the loose gravel and I felt some cramps on my left knee probably because of non-movement. Then he helped me stand on my feet on a 75 degree incline with loose gravel. He asked me to move my arms and knees, shift my weight from left leg to right leg and vice versa, wiggle my toes.

     Another firefighter climbed down, and a harness was lowered. The two firefighters helped strap the harness around me, the harness was then attached to a rope and I climbed as the rope was pulled up. Farid was also thrown a rope and he climbed after me. After I reached the top, another paramedic attended to me, examining different parts of my body and offered to bring me to the hospital for test and observation which I graciously declined.

     It took me a while to realize after the paramedics left that my left knee was sprained and I mistook the pain as cramps. Mommy Rebing and Manong Ananaias took out their muscle rub and massaged my knee while applying the ointment liberally. That night, I slept very little in my car probably because my body was still awash with adrenalin. In the morning, the pain in my knee was getting intense that I could hardly get out of the car. I had to keep it moving sideward where it did not hurt to keep the blood circulating and very gradually I got out of the car to join the morning worship where we thanked the Lord that in spite of the scary happening the night before, the Lord did not forsake His children.

     After breakfast, we broke camp. We were ready to leave behind the scenic place that became our home for two days. The shared experiences, the communion with God amidst nature, the songs, the laughter and the camaraderie, the mental images of the serene lake, the birds and the model airplanes, including my scary fall into the dark ravine will forever be part of our collective memory.

A Day With Joy

 

April 2001. It was a perfect combination. She has a driver’s license and a car but could not drive. Being new in California, I don’t have a California license but I can drive. What I have is a temporary permit to drive but only when accompanied by a person with a valid license. I have only a vague idea of some of the places we were to visit and don’t know one street from another. She has memorized the geography of Loma Linda and nearby cities. That’s how we got teamed up last Sunday for a day’s gallivanting and doing the errands she could not do alone.

I met Mercy Joy Corpuz way back in the early 80s at the Solijons’ residence more popularly known as 737 Constancia in Sampaloc. That place was then a regular hangout of people like Godfrey Calleja, Roger Saldia, Girlie Flores, myself and others. In fact Girlie eventually found her Romeo among those Alvin Patrimonio wannabes playing basketball in that vacant lot across the street. They are now residing in Mountain View College in Bukidnon with their two healthy boys. Girlie is teaching music while Jun works in the general maintenance section.

Joy has the height and bearing of a beauty contestant and Joandel  calls her Joy Tangkad to differentiate her from another Constancia habitué, Joy Gamponia, who is now residing in Seattle. At the time we first met, she was a fresh Journalism graduate from UP Diliman and was teaching at UP Los Baños. A typical UP student during the Martial Law years, Joy was an avid anti-Marcos activist in the same category with Joe Oclarit.

Her teaching stint in Los Baños was cut short when she went to Loma Linda University to pursue a master’s degree in Public Health. After obtaining her MPH degree she was hired by our denomination and was sent to Nicaragua as ADRA representative. She was only 6 months into her work in that country when she met an accident that changed her life forever. The car she was driving rammed into a huge military truck, whose fault it was, she could not remember now. She was in coma for 3 months. She stayed in a Nicaraguan hospital for one month until her condition stabilized before she was airlifted to Loma Linda Medical Center for treatment of severe brain injury.

Today she is blind in one eye, her speech a little bit slurry and walks with a limp. After a series of occupational therapy, her short-term memory is still poor but her long-term memory is returning. She has regained her wit and sense of humor. Her right arm still lacks full coordination but she can now do light chores like cooking and operating the washing machine. When working with her computer she uses her left hand to hold the mouse.

She was a gracious guide reminding me constantly of the traffic rules and signs that we conveniently disregard in the Philippines. She was a good navigator too except that I have to double check her directions because once in a while she got confused and would tell me to turn right or left when she meant exactly the opposite. Admittedly we made a couple of wrong turns.

We went to a gas station to refuel, to CompUSA to buy ink for her printer and to Cosco to buy some juice. Then we went to Loma Linda Medical Center and she toured me around. On the sixth floor, she proudly showed me the room which became her home for more than 2 months. It was one of a dozen or so rooms arranged in a circular fashion with the nursing station located at the center.

On our way to a Filipino fast-food restaurant named Manileño for a late lunch, we saw Dr. Levi Pagunsan driving a car with his wife Tess. He was pleasantly surprised to see me. We exchanged hellos and had a short conversation but he has to drive on because he was obstructing the traffic. It was a vegetarian lunch. I ordered halo-halo for dessert.                                         

                                  

A Significant Life

 

Emmanuel S. Bacleon, an ardent Filipino nationalist and a passionate student activist in his time, died peacefully in his home in Arleta, California last April 7, 2010. He was 58.

Manny's unassuming personality, humility and sincerity endeared him to his friends. He was a dutiful son to his parents and a caring brother to his siblings.

He was born on August 20, 1951 in Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte, Philippines, the fifth child among the nine children of Melencio Ala-an Bacleon and Irene Josefa Antiga Sarita. His father was a tailor and his mother was a full-time housewife. After finishing his elementary education at Candelaria Institute in Cabadbaran, he entered the Sacred Heart Seminary in Lawaan, Talisay, Cebu.

His high school classmates Celestino Mausisa and Mercurio Montenegro fondly remember him as small in stature with a big heart and very approachable especially when it came to helping them in their Latin subject where Manny excelled. He was the valedictorian of class 1967.

After his high school graduation, he stayed in the seminary for two more years as a college student majoring in Philosophy. Upon the encouragement and a scholarship offer from Fr. Matthew van Santvoord, MSC, at the time, the parish priest of Cabadbaran and Director of Candelaria Institute, Manny left the seminary and took up BS Physics at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City starting on the summer of 1969.

He was just few months into the university when he discovered his debating skills and polished it by joining debating contests and garnering awards as Best Debater and as Best Speaker during the USC debate in the same summer that he entered the university. For some time he was president of the USC Debating Team.

 During these times, the Philippines was simmering in a political turmoil. Student protests filled the air and on the streets. Manny found himself in the midst of heightened student activism and together with the rest of the studentry in the whole country took up the cudgel of toppling down the oppressive regime that was becoming unpopular by the day.

 He joined several student organizations. Due to his oratorical mastery he rose from the ranks and became the Secretary General of Samahang Demokratikong Kabataan (Society of Democratic Youth) in the province of Cebu. Later he joined the hard core revolutionary group Kabataang Makabayan (Patriotic Youth) and became one of its top leaders.

He was about to finish his studies in San Carlos when martial law was declared by then President Ferdinand Marcos. Manny was among those wanted by the military being one of the top student leaders and he went into hiding to elude arrest.

A few days before Christmas, Manny was with his sister Gilda attending the Misa de Gallo at the Santo Rosario Church in P. del Rosario Street in Cebu City when military-looking men approached them and whisked Manny away. Gilda remembers that day very well: December 16, 1972.

Manny never returned to their boarding house which was just located near the church. That afternoon at about 6 PM, Gilda received a call from the military camp in Jones Avenue informing her that Manny was in detention and that she had to bring him clothing, mat, mosquito net and other personal belongings. He stayed in the stockade in Jones Avenue for a few months. He was later transferred to Camp Lapu-lapu in Lahug, Cebu City.

While in detention, he joined tournaments in the game of chess with his fellow political prisoners and he won many times in those games. His sister Gilda visited him every week and brought him food and news stories of what's happening in the country. The prisoners had no access to newspapers, TV and radio.

In the summer of 1974, Manny was transferred to Fort Bonifacio Rehabilitation Center in Makati where he suffered torture and deprivation which caused him and other detainees to launch hunger strike. His sister Gilda got a first-hand experience of how relatives of detainees felt shame and humiliation as they underwent strict body search and inspection before they could see their imprisoned kin.

By this time, some concerned sector of the Philippine society started organizing themselves to help detainees and their families through legal channels. Foremost among these organizations was the Task Force Detainee who worked for the release of the political prisoners. Prominent nationalist lawyers like the late Senators Jose Diokno and Lorenzo Tanada extended their legal expertise and their resources through these organizations.

Manny was a beneficiary of these concerted efforts. He was released from prison weak and emaciated. His body bore scars due to physical torture. Later on his sisters realized that he bore psychological scars too. He was no longer the energetic and enthusiastic person that they used to know.

After his release he came to the United States to join his parents and some of his siblings who were already residing here. His years in prison made him incapable of finding work in his new country. But his sisters and brother were supportive of him. He was in constant medication to keep those mental demons restrained and to keep him from having nervous breakdown. Freed from the rigors of employment, his typical day included going to the library to read any book that interested him. He also tutored his nieces in their math and science lessons.

Manny had one dream that persisted up to the day he died. He wanted to go back to the Philippines to help his struggling countrymen in any way he could. But his sisters won't let him. Manny is gone but his indomitable spirit lives on

To many of his colleagues who were infected by his enthusiasm and learned from him, he is a hero. In the words of Dr. Raul Monton, a colleague who considered him his mentor during the student activism days, "He was such a likable and a fiercely unselfish nationalist who dedicated his life to serving the Filipino. He was unwavering in his conviction. There are only a few Filipinos like him. I will not forget the days we were together fighting the Dictatorship while others were just enjoying in their comfort zone."

Finally, Manny's favorite quotation is worth contemplating: "Every person dies; but each death varies in significance." Indeed, Manny's death was significant. But it was because he led a significant life, touching the lives of countless of his countrymen. A life that was willing to sacrifice for what he believed in.           

Epilogue

I wrote this piece as a eulogy during Manny's wake. Like Dr. Monton, I also considered Manny as my mentor. I first met him in the summer of 1971 when I attended a teach-in seminar conducted by him and other vacationing student leaders from Cebu and Manila. Manny and his group converted me and my friend, Misach, overnight and opened our understanding on the relevant political issues of the country at the time. I lost track of him after martial law was declared.

Thirty years later, I would meet him again in Los Angeles, California. He was sharing an apartment with their mother in San Fernando Valley while I was then teaching at a nearby city of Oxnard. I was a frequent visitor in their apartment during weekends where we enjoyed reminiscing our student activism days. Manny and I were actively involved in the organizational formation of the Cabadbaranons of Southern California where we were both elected as Public Relations officers. The following year, I transferred to New York and then to Alabama.

I returned to California in late February of 2010. I informed Manny that I was back and promised that I would visit him in a few weeks as soon as I get myself settled down and my schedule would allow me. That promise did not materialize. The week before my planned visit, his sister Emma informed me that Manny had already passed away.

Dé·jà vu

 It is a French term for “already seen.” It is that strange feeling you get when you are in a situation, and feel like you've been in the exact same place before, but really haven't; or meet a person for the first time but seems that you have already met that person before, somewhere. Buddhists point to deja vu as proof that reincarnation is real. But our present crop of scientists and researchers admit that they still don't know what actually causes it.

I have had two deja vu experiences and, thankfully, I found down-to-earth explanations to both of them. My first experience was resolved almost immediately but it took more than a year for my second experience to make sense to me.

Scene 1. In June 2001, I was part of an entourage who drove to northern Michigan. I described the details of that trip on my other write-up titled ‘At The Great Lakes On The First Day Of Summer 2001.’ One of our destinations was the idyllic Mackinac Island in Lake Huron. Since the island has no public transportation (motorized vehicles are not allowed on the island), we just walked around. When we reached the entrance to the Grand Hotel, I was mesmerized looking at the long stairway---as if---I had been to this place before!

Scene 2. In summer of 2002, I was driving solo, going northwest along US Highway 101. At that time, this was the farthest that I have driven northward from Los Angeles. I was in the vicinity of Santa Barbara when, suddenly, I had a weird feeling as if I had passed through this part of the highway before---the mountain formation ahead of me looked so familiar. I could not explain it so I just filed it in my mental database under the category UNSOLVED MYSTERIES.

Going back to the first scene, I was at the foot of a long stairway that led to the entrance of the Grand Hotel. The place looked so familiar… Shirley aka Shinar must have noticed my bewildered look and asked me, "Kuya Shem, have you seen the movie, ‘Somewhere in Time ?’ That movie was shot in this island, specifically here in Grand Hotel.” Oh, I see. Every tidbit of my mental processes seemed to fall into their right places.  My favorite movie, that I saw three or four times was filmed here. The added information  heightened my interest to explore the island some more.

In 1983, we had a day of gallivanting around Metro Manila with  Roger Saldia and Sandra Querol and we ended up at the Manila Film Center watching the movie Somewhere in Time. That movie was unforgettable to me for a number of reasons:

§  I like the tune of the theme song and became one of my favorites ever since,

§  I have an intriguing curiosity on the idea of time travel as a theoretical possibility, and

§  Richard Collier (Christopher “Superman” Reeve) met the girl of his dreams, Elise McKenna (Jane Seymour) on the grounds of Grand Hotel on June 27, 1912, of which 43 years later to the day, I was born.

One case closed.

I was in staying in New Jersey in the autumn of 2003. One lazy Sunday, I decided to watch a movie from among my DVD collection. I picked up  an old movie, The Graduate. I first saw this movie in 1968 when I was still a high school freshman. I always remember that movie because it was Dustin Hoffman’s debut and every time I see Hoffman in later movies, I am always reminded of The Graduate.  It was also in that movie that I first heard Simon and Garfunkel’s song Sound of Silence. As the scene moved on to the time when Dustin’s character was traveling to San Francisco in his convertible, the same mountain formation in Santa Barbara that gave me a weird sense of déjà vu the year before, flashed on the screen. It was an ‘aha-moment’ for me. No wonder the mountain formation in Santa Barbara looked so familiar to me for I first saw it in this movie 35 years earlier!

As I look back through my two déjà vu experiences I cannot help but be amazed on the indelibility of the human mind. A momentary scene, a wisp of perfume, an innocent laughter, a casual touch---all these sensory information are processed and meticulously filed in the inner recesses of your subconscious only to surface when a similar information is encountered in another time or a different set of circumstances.