THE LEGEND OF PIRITAY During the American occupation in the early nineteen hundreds, a farmer, together with his grade school son went to the forest to gather firewood. The father got so busy that somehow he forgot about his inquisitive and playful son who lost his way while chasing birds and butterflies. The father couldn’t locate him and even shouting aloud the name of the son did not help. It was about twilight time when the young boy, grinning happily suddenly appeared not far from where his father was waiting fearfully. Asked where he went and how he came back, the boy explained excitedly that he met a certain beautiful lady who invited him to visit many nice places inside the forest. He was even offered delicious foods before he was brought back to his father. The father inquired who and where the beautiful lady could be found. The son who had been taught in school about fairies said . She is FAIRY ‘TAY’ ( Meaning she is a fairy, father, ‘tay’ being a tagalog shortcut for ‘tatay’ or father). The father thought that the name of the lady was PIRITAY (Fairy ‘tay) and ever since the lady has been known by that name. It was not the last time that the lady appeared. She materializes suddenly whenever a child was in danger or in need of help. She was the GOOD FAIRY that protects the environment. Anybody she caught destroying the environment was led astray and would find it difficult to find his way home. That was why the lady fairy had a somewhat bad connotation before. She would be seen appearing in different ages, sometime as a pretty girl or a dainty old lady but all the time she was wearing red. Al those who have seen her remembered vividly that she was always wearing red attire. Whether she was a GOOD FAIRY or a GUARDIAN ANGEL wasn’t fully established but many swear up to this day that they have seen her or been offered help by Piritay when they were children.

FEAST OF MARTYRDOM It was all in preparation for the celebration of the Feast of St. John Nepomucene {May 16, 2012) – the Martyr of the Secret of the Confessional. While the house was being prepared. Repairs were going on at every corner of the premises. General cleaning was the order of the day- after all, in three days the Festival shall be celebrated and visitors were expected to come. A Catering service was hired. We bought all the needed items for a Fiesta. Our preparation was indeed interminable. The garden was trimmed of dried leaves and unsightly weeds. My helper noticed a small leak from our metallic water tank but I presumed welding could still wait until after the Fiesta. So, the leaking water tank was temporarily alleviated by roof seals and paint, and that was after discovering that our stand-by water tank was giving out foul-smelling water that has been stagnant for quite a while. I decided to rest for a cup of coffee when I discovered that the coffee maker was clogged and hot water won’t flow. I took my old but still functioning coffee maker just to discover too that its glass receptacle was broken. I took my last stand-by coffee maker and fitted it with an ordinary porcelain coffee pot to serve as its receptacle. Almost in state of opprobrium, I again discovered that the electric socket for the water dispenser was out of order; the maid failed to clean the whole receiving room and every other space connected to it. I almost poured my hot coffee on myself. I felt like shouting but I was aware I should keep my best composure at the moment. Feast Day came with everything seemingly now in order. We were ready for a prodigious celebration. My uniformed waitress and two waiters were totally servile ready for whatever was coming their way complete with smile and sunny front. A few minutes later, acrimonious feeling started when one by one invited guest explained their varied reasons for cancelling their coming… from doctor’s appointment to previous commitments to simple ‘silence’ or refusal to give any explanation. It was ordinary regular working day, I reasoned to myself. Everything ass too late anyway. All the necessary discomforts had to be accepted for all its sad effects for this too is Martyrdom in harmony with the Feast of a True Martyr of the Church. Sigh…!

A TRIBUTE TO MOTHER EARTH (On Mother’s Day) Mother Nature is a true living entity. Its existence is self-supporting. It has all the provisions for self protection and self healing for all its ailments. We, humans are only accidental occupants. We are a mere result of the continuous changes occurring on the surface of the earth millions of years ago. We differ from other creatures in the sense that we evolved to be rational, but rational as we are supposed to be, we are also doing the most irrational and most obnoxious behavior to our environment. As a sad result, our Mother Nature is getting somehow sick. In its inherent and natural process of healing itself, we, the rational creatures are the ones greatly affected in the form of varied calamities visiting our planet. Now we are in a hurry to save Nature but it is beyond our limited capabilities. Nature has its effective way of healing itself and it is now our misfortune to be adversely affected by the sophisticated natural healing process. It is too late. There is nothing that we can do. We have inured to hurt nature. Have to suffer the consequences such as Earthquakes, Floods, Tsunamis, Erupting Volcanoes, Landslides and many other forms of calamities left and right which are all results of Mother Natures protective measures, repugnant as they are to man. Mother Earth has a definite life span and it is not for itself to adjust to us, its temporary obstreperous occupants but for us to cooperate interminably with natural processes in the continuous existence of our environment. It is only when we humans realize this truth that we can truly live in harmony with our Mother Earth. This is only our hope to be saved. It is not too late. Let us stop our derogatory actions. Let us all open our minds and be cooperative to our government. Let us not be intransigent. Let us all focus on the importance of the harmonious existence with Mother Nature. Our Mother Earth is always ready to nourish us but let us be resolute… let us not vomit out the nutrients being fed to us. Let us rectify and let us not destroy the natural way of keeping us alive. It is our duty to be Altruistic to our Great Mother Nature on Mother’s Day.