Embracing the theme of reconciliation

Again let me point out that while the Sinulog Festivities was marred by constant rains (yes, it also affected the play during the four-day 30th Coral Tee Tournament at the Cebu Country Club) that drenched millions of devotees who joined the afternoon procession on Saturday (many of the devotees were not bothered by the rains, they were bothered by the rising waters of the floods). But this did not deter the millions of Filipinos and the thousands of tourists who came to Cebu to honor the Señor Sto. Niño.

Proof that the Sinulog Festival was a stunning success is seen by the 3 million people who flocked to Cebu for the Sinulog Festival, rain or shine. We also thank the Lord for a peaceful Sinulog, marred only by petty crime, which we cannot entirely prevent. There is, without a doubt, no comparison to the more than 700 injured during Manila’s Black Nazarene procession.

So our heartfelt congratulations to the Sinulog Foundation, Inc. (SFI) officials for a job well done (especially because of its Chinese theme this year) this time without any problems. Kudos also to Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and to our newly-installed Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma who gave a reconciliatory message during his Sinulog homily saying, “The city needs the province and the province needs the city, and because they need one another, then we need to reach out to get reconciled with each other.” Hopefully this reconciliation theme would be embraced by every Cebuano for the sake of Cebu; after all, when we pray the Lord’s Prayer we seek forgiveness.

I decided to stay home for the whole day. It was to be the first time in the so many decades that we attended the Sinulog that I opted to stay home. I guess the rains made me a bit lazy and I felt that the live coverage of SkyCable was more than enough for me to view all the contingents without catching cold or worse, pneumonia.

But Cebu’s Sinulog Festival was greatly blessed by the Señor Sto. Niño even if it rained on our procession and our Sinulog Parade. I was watching CNN and BBC news whenever SkyCable went on its advertising break and what we saw happening in other countries were historic floods in Toowoomba, Australia’s 3rd largest city, which produced a real hero when 13-year-old Jordan Rice rescued his younger brother when their car was stuck in the raging waters. In the end, he and his mother died because the raging flood got to them.

Floods also inundated a city in Brazil close to Rio de Janeiro where hundreds were killed by raging flood waters. So count us in Cebu as lucky that God only sent rains, rains that assure us Cebuanos that at least for the year 2011, we will not be suffering from a drought because surely those rains would refill our underground aquifers, where at least 3 million Cebuanos get their drinking water. So we thank the Señor Sto. Niño for all the blessings that he has showered on Cebu during our Sinulog Festival week.

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Speaking of reconciliation, last December 17, 2010, an incident happened along MC. Briones Highway in Mandaue City which was front-page news as it involved Mandaue Prosecutor Bienvenido Mabanto Jr. and a Japanese national, Mr. Tomatsu Miyauchi. Fresh from the Aug. 23rd incident that involved foreign tourists, this traffic incident got tongues wagging that our local Mandaue Prosecutor may have gone a bit overboard in handling this situation to his personal advantage over the foreigner.

Since I know Fiscal Mabanto personally, being a close friend of my uncle Atty. Eduardo Rosello and since Mabanto is a big bike enthusiast just like me, I refrained from making comments on this incident until we got a clearer picture. This was also the advice of my uncle Eddie. Well, yesterday, an Open Letter to Fiscal Mabanto Jr. was published in The Freeman in the Classified Section on page 29 written by Mr. Tomatsu Miyaushi through his lawyer Atty. Kim Grace Mendoza.

Basically this was a letter of apology coming from the Japanese national who said, “Revolting may our introduction be, it gave me a lesson the hard way. Unfortunately, the price of such lesson for me was the public’s misunderstanding of the real events that truthfully took place on the afternoon of Dec.17, 2010. For this, your image as a public servant was tainted unjustly. It is therefore apt, conscientious and profound for me to say, “I am sorry” for dragging you into controversy in an absurd manner.”

The Japanese national apologized twice in that open letter and admitted learning his lessons here in the Philippines, asking at the end of his letter, “I hope that you can find it in your heart to shake hands with me and let bygones be bygones.” Well I talked with Fiscal Mabanto and indeed he is dropping this case for he is not trying to get money from the Japanese but rather he wanted to right the wrong things written about him. Kudos to you Jun!

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