A historic day - JAYWALKER by Art A. Borjal

I write this column, three hours before the House of Representatives meets in plenary session, to discuss what could probably alter the course of our history. Thus, at this time, I have no idea at all how the congressmen are going to play their role in this momentous occasion involving the Articles of Impeachment filed against the President of the Republic of the Philippines, Joseph Ejercito Estrada.

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Let me instead feature, for today’s column, an enlightening piece written by Davao Archbishop Fernando R. Capalla, DD, in 1998, at the height of the nationwide rallies against then President Ramos’ Charter Change (Cha-Cha) initiative. Archbishop Capalla’s piece entitled On Dialogue, reads:

We are people of dialogue. God initiated this dialogue by creating us in order to live in dialogue and in peace. As such, we have the moral obligation to search for the truth in freedom, the truth about God, about life, about ourselves, our country, our society, our world and the events around us. For it is only the truth that will set us free... to be ourselves, to love and respect each other, to enrich and develop each other and the environment, thus building a relationship of harmony and peace inspite of our social, cultural, and religious differences.

Through dialogue, we come to know the truth. When the truth possesses us, we discover aspects of the issue we have not seen before. We are then liberated from our mistrusts and prejudices. We eventually change our views. And as partners in dialogue, we together reach a happy consensus. Hence in authentic dialogue, there are no losers, only winners.

With this in mind, we can now make a shift in our perspective on the issues that face us and reconsider our respective role. The new perspective is Dialogue for Peace and Development. Our only role is that of partners in dialogue.

So we are all dialogue partners. We are all peacemakers and peace builders. Our peacemaking and peace building is directed towards the total, human and sustainable development of our people and our land. This is the common good. This is and must always be our real motive in any social, economic, political and cultural activity we undertake. In this new perspective, we are not promoters and oppositors, pros and antis, protagonists and antagonists, progressives and conservatives, concerned and unconcerned, involved and uninvolved, neutrals and partisans.

So we are and must be a people in constant dialogue with one another.

So wherever this friendly encounter is held, wherever the partners stand, whether separately or together, whether through media or correspondence, whether in private or in public, in the Churches or in Congress, in the streets or at home, in symposia or in consultation – the dialogue is characterized by an attentive listening on the level of words, meaning and persons, but most especially on this third level. Listening on the level of persons is possible only when there is love and respect, acceptance and openness, sincerity and truthfulness, calmness and sobriety, humility and patience, reasonableness and clarity. This is the attitude, the outlook, the spirit that leads to the discovery of the truth that will set the partners free to disagree without being disagreeable, and to arrive at or postpone a consensus for the good of all.

Without these elements in dialogue, the truth and consequently peace will always elude us. Without them, we are doomed to live with untruth and half-truths, errors and lies, deceit and mistrust. Without them, dialogue is turned into insulting, debates and bitter diatribes, into debilitating argumentation and anarchic squabble where the winner is determined by the tyranny of banners and placards, and, God forbid, by the tyranny of force of arms.

Because we are a multireligious and a multicultural society engaged in a peace process that is still holding, we can continue to prove, as it is being proven, that sustainable development and lasting peace through authentic dialogue are possible in a democracy and society such as ours.

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She sounded like an angel, in her letter of resignation sent to President Estrada, from her position as board director of RPN 9. Yes, Jeanne Young, ever personable and charming, always oozing with sincerity and heart, was apparently pained that she had to do what her conscience told her to do, that she had to do something that might, in turn, be painful to the friend of her mother, the legendary actress Mila del Sol.

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In gist, Jeanne said, in her letter of resignation, that she has to choose between Mother Church and things that belong to the material world. Jeanne’s decision was understandable, because I always knew her to be a devout follower of the Church. In several letters that she sent me in the past, I always saw, between the lines, her genuine love and adherence to the teachings of the Church. Which was why, on one occasion, when she generously agreed to be the emcee in the launching of my book, Walking Through the Pathways of Love, I sent her a token of appreciation – a small statuette of an angel. And I choose an angel, because that is what Jeanne Young is – a real angel.

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Dr. Perla Santos Ocampo, president of the National Academy of Science and Technology, and a former chancellor of UP Manila, one of the country’s leaders in the science and art of developmental and behavioral pediatrics, has initiated the formation of a distinguished group, the Philippine Society For Development and Behavioral Pediatrics, Inc., or PSDBP. This new nongovernment organization is composed of professionals involved in the field of developmental and behavioral pediatrics. In layman’s language, they look after special children with special needs.

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The PSDBP’s goals are lofty – to establish standards of expertise, to conduct research in the field of developmental and behavioral pediatrics, to provide competent care for all special children and their families, to initiate linkages and networking with institutions engaged with the care of special children, to advocate programs, policies and legislation, and to promote camaraderie among caregivers. Under Dr. Santos Ocampo’s leadership, there are high hopes these goals will be attained.

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To show its determination to make good positive things happen in this special field of endeavor, the PSDBP held its first scientific symposium and induction ceremonies last Sunday, November 12, at the Isla Ballroom of EDSA Shangri-La Plaza Hotel. Despite the fact that the rites fell on a holiday, a Sunday morning, the ballroom overflowed with people, mostly pediatricians, psychiatrists, speech pathologists, child psychologists, special education professionals, and social workers.

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In my talk, after I had inducted the first officers and members into office, I exhorted them to give focus to the needs of special children who come from the lower stratum of society. And I also expressed admiration that they were all there, on a Sunday, to light their own candle that can help light up the darkness that now shrouds the country’s economic, political and social landscape. Anyway, congratulations to Dr. Perla Santos Ocampo and her colleagues, among them Drs. Alexis L. Reyes, Stella G. Manalo, Rhandy Pe Benito, Joeclyn Eusebio, Antonio Remollino, and Bernadette Benitez, plus the many other professionals and PSDBP members who were there last Sunday morning at the Isla Ballroom.

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As I left the PSDBP’s inaugural venue, I expressed hope that the lecture of Dr. Santos Ocampo in the symposium, "Developmental Pediatrics: Past, Present and Future," which was the highlight of the gathering, will be preserved – and then echoed and reechoed. For it is a real eye-opener on a specialized field that affects the lives of some one million Filipino children who have special needs.

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Art A. Borjal’s e-mail address: <[email protected]>