Greening all over!

TODAY’S “green activism” campaign is nothing new to this columnist, in all humility. I am proud to say that as a 14year-old lad, I had my first encounter with an environment-preservation advocate some 60 years ago.

His name was Exequiel Singzon who, for many years, was a science teacher in the revered Colegio de San Vicente de Paul in my hometown of Calbayog City. He was a small man maybe just 5 feet tall, and always wore a “buntal” hat whenever he ventured out of his big two-story house.

On weekends, old teacher Singzon would personally pick up his copy of the Manila Bulletin issue of the day (yes, he was a subscriber) at the corner store my father was running.

In my elementary up to college years, the mixed-use store carried a complete line of Manila newspapers, as well as national and American magazines, among other light consumer durables. It regularly distributed the journals to major towns of Samar province. Calbayog was the only city serviced by PAL at the time.

Saturdays and Sundays would find me helping my father, along with two other hands, mind the store, and old man Singzon would engage me in light conversation. Some of his concerns about the environment were thought-provoking.

For instance, he advised me against using a toothpaste when brushing teeth. “It poisons the soil especially when you gurgle it out after brushing. It contains chemicals,” he admonished.

“Use flour instead, particularly, the one used for baking unleavened bread, sprinkled it with a little salt. It’s better.”

Some students of the teacher in high school would relate to me that their science teacher would only apply organic fertilizer which he concocted himself for his farm outside Calbayog, and in the big garden lot at the back of his house.

That must be the reason flowers and fruit-bearing trees there had healthy-looking trunks, branches, and leaves.

I say that old man Singzon, if he were still alive today, was surely deserving of a plaque from the DENR.

Meanwhile, the greening fad is all over the land these days. And it is heartening to observe the wideranging contribution to that advocacy by the public at large.

Environment enhancement and promotion is very much alive and sustained even in the provinces. And getting participatory support from all sectors of society.

But the present environmental awareness drive is not even an original concept. In the mid-1970s, First Lady Imelda Marcos launched the nationwide “Green Revolution.” It was so successful that privately owned vacant lots and even the front yard of residences were converted into vegetable and fruit gardens.

I would say that because of the fruits of Green Revolution, we somehow relished what it was to be selfsufficient even on a smaller scale.

Mrs. Marcos had an able and experienced community development executive in the project, a guy named Ramon Binamira.

*** A WEAK CHOICE BY L.P. (LP) Rep. Leni Robredo as the presidential running mate of Mar Roxas is a weak choice made by the Liberal Party. A good alternative for a running mate is one who can help deliver votes to the standard bearer.

Rep. Leni of Camarines Sur is one of the four vice-presidential contenders who come from the Bicol region which is said to have only 3.2 million voters. She is not exactly the strongest, in spite of her being an administration bet, among the four.

Escudero will take the lion’s share of the Bicol votes; next is Honasan and then Trillanes. I will consider Robredo a super-woman if, on her own appeal, she can deliver 200,000 votes in the region to her presidential partner.

Bongbong Marcos would have been a persuasive vote-getter for Mar. He has the command of the Solid North’s reported 6.5 million votes.

***

NOVENA OF ST. PAUL OF TARSUS. A small one-fold novena leaflet titled “A POWERFUL NOVENA FOR EVERY NEED,” containing a short prayer to St. Paul of Tarsus, was given to me by Col. Mat and Lita (Alviar) Luga and their daughter Jean. For the first-timers, it is to be recited for nine Mondays. The novena prayer:

“LORD JESUS CHRIST, I thank you for converting Paul of Tarsus, and for making him your Apostle to the nations. And you, O St. Paul, please pray for me. In your ministry, you glorified the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit with your powerful words and mighty deeds.

“You witnessed to the power of the Triune God over all evil: you blinded Elymas, the magician (Acts 13:9-11); you exorcised the fortune teller of Philippi (Acts 16:18); you caused the destruction of occult practices in Ephesus (Acts 19: 1820); you exposed the false worship of Artemis (Acts 19:26); you caused death to the viper that bit you (Acts 28:5).

“You magnified your preaching of the Triune God with healings caused by aprons and face cloths that touched your skin (Acts 19:12), and with the raising up of the dead Eutychus (Acts 20:7-12) during a Eucharistic celebration.

“St. Paul, please intercede for me now: (MENTION YOUR INTENTION). I promise to make you known to others, and I will glorify Jesus with my life of service to all. Amen

“Jesus, Divine Master, have mercy. St. Paul, pray for us.”

Here in Metro-Manila, the SANCTUARY OF ST. PAUL is at 7708 St. Paul Road, San Antonio Village, Makati City. Telephone 895-9701.