September 11 and all of us

It is September 11 again and time to remember an event that shook the world. Who would have thought that impregnable America would ever experience a blow in such a dramatic and humiliating way? It is one of those events that force us to think and seek an explanation why it happened. Like the assassination of JFK, it has become a watershed in contemporary history. Where were you when it happened?

I was at a formal dinner tendered by Speaker Jose de Venecia for Charge d’ Affaires Joseph Mussomeli. (He is now US Ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia.) Practically all the officers of the US embassy were at the dinner. We even joked that if a bomb exploded in JDV’s house, there will be no one in charge at the embassy.

The first message of the bombing came from Boy Nakpil. He called JDV to open the television because something big was happening. At that time there were no details yet but pictures shook the guests, including Ambassador Mussomeli.

In a few minutes, President GMA was on the telephone asking Mussomeli what was happening and if there was anything the Philippines could do to help. But since there were no details yet, Mussomeli thanked her for the call and quickly left the party. The other guests stayed a little longer to watch television, horrified.

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Everything happens for a reason. I was scheduled to leave for other Chinese cities in the north with some journalists but I was prevailed upon by friends to stay. It may be too hectic a schedule. It would have brought me to the legendary silk route and I regretted that. There was a reason but I would know it only later.

Towards the end of the conference, I was prevailed upon by some colleagues most of them from local media to propose to the ICAPP standing committee to organize a media forum to enable reporters and analysts to liaise with the political parties and enable us to connect with the rest of the world through other media channels.

I did think of it but it was something vaguely in my mind. Too few know of ICAPP and the work it does. It was Shen Pufang, vice president and deputy editor of Chinese Biznews who handed me a piece of paper containing the proposal. They had discussed the proposal among themselves and asked me to read it during the press conference.

I sat at the end of the hall wishing to move out as soon as the conference was finished. Pufang did not say anything to me at the time. I moved forward to get a better shot of the officials on stage. He gave me the piece of paper and asked me to sit next to him. He asked me to read the media forum proposal. I waited till the end when the Chinese interpreter began translating the closing remarks of a CPC official. At this point I raised my hand and asked if I could read the proposal. It was unanimously approved by the standing committee. Come to think of it, that was probably why I did not go to the north and missed seeing the Silk Route.

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Of the many field trips prepared for us by our hosts, the most memorable to me was a visit to a longan farm. As a part-time farmer, I wanted to know how they organized the farm quite apart from the spectacle of hundreds of longan trees in full bloom with fruits hanging close enough for us to pick and savor.

I wrapped the seeds in a napkin for replanting in Batangas instead of throwing them away.

How does it work? The land is owned by the government and there are different plots of varying sizes. Those who have buyers sell them directly. Those who do not turn it over to the local authority that has a marketing arm to take in the produce of farmers without their own buyers.

A second favorite was our visit to the Dongge Community Medical Services Center where the staff demonstrated the system for admitting patients. Most interesting was a section in which herbs were mixed and dispensed out as medicines. Guangxi of which Nanning is a city is said to have the widest variety of medicinal herbs. I can imagine what a Philippine medical center could do with our own medicinal herbs and save thousands instead of dispensing chemicals. Across the small laboratory was a section for therapeutic massage. Some of the delegates were able to try it but the queue was too long for me.

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If I had the money the souvenir I would have brought home from Nanning would have been the Phoenix-shaped Bronze Lamp from the Western Han Dynasty. This is a prized objet d’art. It is a pair of male and female phoenix statues, 33 cm high and 15 centimeters wide.

The pair was unearthed in 1971 from an ancient tomb during the Western Han period in Wangniuling of Hepa County, Guangxi. The Museum of Guangxi Autonomous region certifies if it is a Grade A copy.

The certificate includes instructions on what to do. “The phoenix neck is connected with the empty abdomen as a pipeline. When the abdomen is filled with water and the candle is kindled, the soot is let out into the water, preventing the indoor air from pollution.”

The phoenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of other ancient cultures. It is also found in Arabians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Indians.

According to Wikipedia sources “It is said that the bird’s cry is that of a beautiful song. The Phoenix’s ability to be reborn from its own ashes implies that it is immortal, though in some stories the new Phoenix is merely the offspring of the older one. In very few stories they are able to change into people.”

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Like many Filipinos I also have Chinese ancestors but we have lost touch because of the Claveria edict of 1849 that forced Spanish subjects to adopt Spanish names so they can remember who is who and enable administration of the colony better especially for tax purposes. The original Navarro was a Chinese who migrated and lived in Batangas. I have lost track but other Navarros among them Nelson Navarro and the late Roy Navarro say we are all related. Apparently this Chinese migrant spread his progeny across the land.