SHE and my father founded one of the pioneering nursery and kindergarten schools in Quezon City in the early 1900s. My mother, Isabelita Panajon-Lacuna, who hailed from Jaen, Nueva Ecija, ran and taught in the school until 1995 when Blessed Child Kindergarten, located at our residence in Barangay Manresa, finally closed down.
My siblings and I were planning to help expand it in Fairview in Quezon City and Antipolo but our father, who was not keenly grounded in business, stood in the way. At least two kindergarten schools in Quezon City have become very profitable after establishing branches in the city and Antipolo.
‘Our mothers gave so much that it shouldn’t just be on Mother’s Day that we remember them.’
It was the school revenues that saw my siblings and me through high school and college. My mother would welcome several relatives from her province to stay home as she and my father provided for their college education. Two of them also taught in the school. My parents were genuinely kind and generous to a fault and never tuned anyone who asked for help.
My mother was exceptionally nurturing to her children, rarely getting mad at any of us for our infractions and weeping silently after each firm but loving confrontation. In a truly unforgettable moment, I virtually collapsed in her arms sobbing with remorse when I returned home after running away due to disagreements with our father. There were no harsh words from her or my father.
There were also unhappy moments between my parents, especially during their aging years. When my father decided, after a heated altercation, to drive her away from home, my two sisters convinced her it was no longer worthwhile to be with our father and helped her pack her things This happened twice but she would always decide, at the last moment before leaving home, to stay. She would tell us, “Sino naman ang mag-aalaga sa tatay niyo?”
When my father lingered in the hospital for about five months trying to recover from a massive heart attack, my mother would be by his side holding his hand all day long, each passing day. We would take turns fetching her from our old home in Quezon City to the Makati Medical Center and bring her back at night, daily, until my father expired.
When my father’s condition turned from bad to worse, she was overheard by one of our helpers in the hospital room, telling him, “Romy, isama mo na lang ako.”
Some years later, a few days before she passed on after being in a coma for eight months, I held her hand while she repeated several times the only word she could finally utter, “Jesus!”
Our mothers gave so much that it shouldn’t just be on Mother’s Day that we remember them.
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As the Department of Justice prepares for the possible scenario that the government’s stand on the ICC jurisdiction “could change,” a legal brief is being prepared for President Bongbong Marcos as an “objective statement …. on the pros and cons” should the court eventually issues an arrest warrant to former President Rodrigo Duterte for condoning and presiding over crimes versus humanity during his indisputably brutal drug war.
In a press briefing, Assistant Justice Secretary Jose Dominic Clavano IV said, “Once the ICC warrants of arrest, if ever, are issued, then he will know what the legalities are, his options, and the President’s remedies.” This is apparently the government’s response to the disclosure of former Sen Antonio Trillanes IV, who has confirmed the arrest warrants are ready to be issued by the ICC.
The President has no recourse but to stop playing politics with the Dutertes and the latter’s followers as he has time and again rejected the jurisdiction of the ICC over extra-judicial killings. He knows too well that his international image, reinforced by returning to the Roman Statute, will improve substantially which will, in turn, buttress the country’s trust and confidence in him.
