Blessings in disguise

The most recent Social Weather Station (SWS) survey showed that an overwhelming majority of Filipinos are optimistic that 2007 will be a great year for them.

But where does the optimism come from? Could it be from an improving economy, strong financial inflows from OFWs, robust performance of many companies, a rebounding stock market, or other factors? Personally, I also feel that 2007 will be a good year. But I can’t pinpoint exactly why. Maybe we Filipinos are naturally optimists at heart unless proven otherwise. Or maybe we always choose to look at a brighter tomorrow instead of a darker one.

However, this Christmas, I got a book entitled "Blessings in Disguise" put together by PNB chairperson Flor Tarriela that may provide the answer to why we should be optimistic about our future. The book is a compilation of true stories from a cross section of Filipinos that chronicle how God can turn things around no matter how dark one’s circumstances may be.

Jovito Salonga shares how he was able to see the brighter side of losing a presidential election and in the end start one of the strongest advocacies towards integrity in government service. Donita Rose narrates how she rose from a career-destroying scandal to become one of the top VJs in the region and a role model for the youth today. Nationalist Alejandro Roces shared how he valiantly stood in front of a judge after clearly breaking the mock law of then President Marcos commanding all citizens to vote and being pronounced "not guilty".

Cardinal Vidal looks back at how he felt inadequate about being appointed bishop of Cebu when he couldn’t speak the language nor was he even Visayan but today realizing God was with him all this time. Popular teen actress Iza Calzado writes about how a sad experience in her life led her to taking a step towards showbiz and making it.

One of my personal favorites is from Laurie Westfall, a Filipina teenager who was a new student in a high school in California . In one of her exams, the teacher didn’t show up and a "substitute teacher" replaced him. The "sub" passed out the test papers, went to his desk and proceeded to read the newspaper oblivious to what the students did while taking the exam. Needless to say, rampant cheating occurred when the students realized the "sub" didn’t care. Students copied from each other and opened their notes and books to ensure high scores. They encouraged Laurie to do the same but she wouldn’t. After the exam, Laurie was disappointed at how unfair the exam was conducted. She had studied hard to do well, while the others cheated their way through.

The next day, the real teacher arrived and announced that "yesterday’s test was a test of character, that the "sub" in front of the desk reading the paper wasn’t the real "sub". The real "sub" sat behind them and saw all the cheating that happened. In the end, only one student passed the test of character, and even got the highest score in the exam without cheating, that was Laurie.

All these stories prove one point. That no matter what your present circumstance is, God actually has a plan for you and one day you will realize that His plan will work out for your good. No matter how much pain, darkness or tears you experience, if you put your trust in God and follow His path, things will work out.

I also learned that there is such a thing as God’s perfect time. The turnaround in our lives doesn’t happen when we want it to happen, it happens when God believes it is the perfect time to make it happen. For some it may be quick, for some it may take forever, but for God, the timing will always be split -second perfect.

If 91 percent of Filipinos are optimistic about the coming year, then the basis should be because we do have a God that looks over our lives and has the power to turn dirty water into the finest wine.

The year 2006 ends today, 2007 begins tomorrow. If for some reason you end the year on the dim side, then this may be the time to put your life in the hands of God and hum the tune from the musical "Annie." That the sun will come out, tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there’ll be sun.

PS. Blessings in Disguise is available at Powerbooks and National Bookstore

GSIS funds in peril

The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) is currently in the midst of a battle to protect P1.116 billion of its funds.

Last month, the GSIS petitioned the Supreme Court, seeking to stop Branch 71 of the Pasig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) from garnishing P1.166 billion of GSIS funds deposited in several banks. The lower court wants the GSIS to pay P1.116 billion for 78 lots mistakenly foreclosed by the GSIS in payment of a loan gone sour.

What the GSIS is protesting is the fact that it is being made to pay for the lots when it has already returned them to the private respondent, save for 15 of the 78.

Rosario Enriquez-Santiago is the private claimant in the case. She took over as claimant from her husband, Eduardo when he died. Originally, Eduardo took over as petitioner in the case filed by Jose Zulueta and Soledad Ramos seeking to recover the lots mistakenly foreclosed by the GSIS.

Zulueta and Ramos were the ones who obtained various loans from the GSIS and who were unable to pay. However, mistakenly included among the properties foreclosed by the GSIS to cover payment of their debts were the 78 lots in question.

The Supreme Court ruled in that case originally filed by Zulueta and Ramos that the GSIS should either return all 78 lots or pay the monetary value of the lots. Presently, to satisfy that SC order, the GSIS only needs to return the 15 unreconveyed lots or pay the value of the same.

But in the execution of that SC order, the Pasig RTC wanted to effect double indemnification for private respondent Santiago at the expense of the GSIS.

GSIS is now asking why it is being asked to pay for the lots which it has already returned. At most, it says it should only pay for the 15 lots. The GSIS also wants to avail of the option provided by the SC order — the option to just return the lots it mistakenly foreclosed.

In the course of the legal tussle, the Pasig RTC swept repeated motions by GSIS to stop the garnishment of its funds, despite the citing by the GSIS of a provision of its charter prohibiting the same, and despite pending appeals before the Court of Appeals.

Meanwhile, the CA has resolved that the GSIS should no longer reconvey the 78 excluded lots but instead pay for them. It was the CA, in CA-G.R. SP No. 84079, that ordered the Pasig RTC to carry out the execution starting with the amount of P400 million while the total fair market value of the 78 excluded lots are still being determined.

Of course, the GSIS also asked the CA to reconsider that order, arguing that it should be credited with what it has already reconveyed out of the 78 excluded lots. The CA thumbed down the GSIS petition for a status quo order.

But even as the GSIS was exhausting all legal avenues to be allowed to reconvey the excluded lots as the principal mode of satisfying the SC judgment, the Pasig RTC lost no time in initiating the garnishment of the P1.116 billion from GSIS bank accounts, through Sheriff Cresenciano Rabello Jr.

Rabello, according to the GSIS, started initiating the writ of execution five days before the GSIS received a copy of the writ, a fact which the agency is now questioning.  

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